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the end of the Chisholm Trail (named after Jesse Chisholm) established during the American Civil War for supplying the Confederate army. This trail ran to the west of the settled portion of Kansas, making it possible to use the trail without creating hostility from the Kansas homesteaders.
McCoy advertised extensively throughout Texas to encourage cattle owners to drive their cattle to market in Abilene. By 1870 thousands of Texas longhorn cattle were being driven over the Chisholm Trail to the shipping center at Abilene. By 1871 as many as 5,000 cowboys were being paid off during a single day, and Abilene became known as a rough town in the Old West.[5] Due to their long legs and hard hoofs, Longhorns were ideal trail cattle, even gaining weight on their way to market. One story says that McCoy bragged before leaving Chicago that he would bring 200,000 head in 10 years and actually brought two million head in 4 years, leading to the phrase "It's the Real McCoy"[6]
Later life [ edit ]
McCoy was also the author of Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest, which was published in 1974, more than 50 years after his death.
Joseph McCoy died in Kansas City, Missouri on October 19, 1915.
References [ edit ]Archeologists have found a huge and complex water system underneath the tomb of the Mayan king Pakal, which lies at the bottom of the most important temple in the city of Palenque.
Arnoldo González de la Cruz, the head of the excavation, told a press conference that the underground canals provide a much more rounded hypothesis than previously available to explain why tomb and temple were built on that particularly site.
"The evidence supports the idea that this temple was built because of the existence of the spring," he said, adding that water-based hieroglyphs also support this idea. "They may have reproduced in a symbolic way the sinuous route the king hoped to take to the waters of the Mayan underworld."
Palenque, in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, was the capital of the Mayan region of B'akaal, which means bone region. It was one of the biggest and most important Mayan city states between the fifth and ninth centuries AD. Pakal's military campaigns during his long rule in the seventh century consolidated the city's domination of the region. His sarcophagus was found beneath the Temple of the Inscriptions in 1952.
Water was at the center of many Mayan beliefs. The underworld, or Xibalbá, was inspired by the thousands of interconnected underground waterways that criss cross areas of Mayan presence in southern Mexico and Central America. They are accessible through cenotes, which are places where the surface rock has collapsed.Over the past decade, the large technology companies of Silicon Valley have transitioned from a mindset of attempting to make government censorship impossible to a mindset of attempting to make government censorship unnecessary. Those with views which are in opposition to the progressive narrative have increasingly found their posts removed and accounts suspended on the social media platforms created by these companies. Though this is not a new problem, it has escalated since the firing of James Damore from Google and the unrest in Charlottesville. Those who are not part of the progressive movement, such as conservatives, libertarians, reactionaries, and the alt-right are increasingly finding themselves shut out of open discourse online, having to either signal compliance with the left or risk being de-platformed on the most popular social media sites. Though the alt-right has borne the brunt of this so far, it is unlikely to stop there, as the contemporary left does not value discourse in the same way as their classical liberal predecessors. There are several proposed responses to this situation, but none of them are likely to effectively deal with the problem. Let us examine these to discover their shortcomings, then craft a novel response that is more likely to succeed.
The Mainstream Libertarian Response
In the mainstream libertarian view, the large size of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, GoDaddy, Paypal, and others are astonishing success stories of free-market capitalism. They tend to view these technology companies as private businesses whose owners should be able to freely choose with whom they will associate or not associate. Indeed, many libertarians view ostracism as a nearly universal positive, working to reward preferred behavior while punishing dispreferred behavior. If these companies behave improperly, mainstream libertarians believe that the market will punish them by elevating an alternative to prominence.
Though ostracism on the basis of behavior is nothing new, the crowdsourcing power of the Internet has transformed it into a political weapon that can be used to ruin people unjustly. Moreover, it is capable of dividing an entire society along ideological lines. When reasoned discourse is shut down and unpopular viewpoints are suppressed by howling irrational cyber-mobs, those who are de-platformed are likely to have their internal victim narratives confirmed, radicalizing them further. This may serve as a precursor to a novel type of civil war, one which arises when the heated rhetoric that is naturally produced as a byproduct of democracy escalates into political violence and there is no peaceful outlet to reduce tensions before they consume the entire society.
In a free market, censorious behavior from the largest companies would be of little concern. As John Gilmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said, “The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” But it is also true that those in positions of power view checks, balances, and competition as damage and seek to route around them. Technology giants accomplish this partly by lobbying governments to regulate their industries in a manner that they can capture, as any other large companies would. But they have another weapon which can be even more potent: they can use their platforms to keep their upstart competitors out of search results and application stores. This can keep their competitors from gaining the brand recognition necessary to build the user base to become successful social media platforms. This was less of a problem in the early days of social media when turnover of the most popular sites was higher, but the near-monopolies of the largest companies are no longer as vulnerable.
The Conservative/Alt-Right Responses
In the view increasingly expressed by conservatives and alt-rightists, the Internet is an essential aspect of life in the 21st century, and the technology companies that deny people access to the most popular social media platforms, domain hosting services, and payment processors are curtailing both the civil liberties and economic opportunities of those people. The largest technology companies are effective monopolies, in that these firms are the only sellers of products and services that have no close substitutes. In response, they call for the state to regulate these companies as public utilities, much as they do to providers of electricity, water, and natural gas. This line of thinking also leads to support among these people for net neutrality regulations. Some argue that government regulation is even more necessary in this case, as the network effects and first-mover advantages of the largest technology firms mean that a competitor cannot provide the same quality of service even if there are no significant barriers to entry into the business of creating social media platforms, search engines, and payment processors.
However, treating social media as a public utility is likely to cause more problems than it solves. When governments began regulating other industries, innovation in those industries slowed. The companies which were nearly monopolistic either remained so or became real monopolies, as competition became even more difficult. Freezing current troublesome companies in place as major players rather than allowing upstarts to displace them is an undesirable outcome. This is exacerbated by the fact that public utility regulations are just as vulnerable to regulatory capture as any other regulations. It is also strange to equate losing social media presence with losing access to goods and services like clean water or garbage disposal, as one can live a healthy life without access to social media. Furthermore, the cost of regulation is likely to be high, and the regulated businesses will pass this cost onto their customers.
A Radical Proposal
To summarize the above responses, the mainstream libertarian would do too little while the conservative or alt-rightist would do too much. What is needed is an approach that can stop the censorious technology giants from abusing the power they have accumulated without causing the innovation-stifling and monopoly-calcifying effects of government regulation. This approach should use state power in a manner which does not expand said power beyond its current size and scope, but will solve the problem with minimum malign interference in the economy. Fortunately, there is a simple and powerful solution which may be explained in a straightforward manner.
To begin, let us note that all of these technology giants are incorporated companies. A corporation is a legal fiction created by the state to shield business owners from full financial liability and ease the enforcement of laws upon those businesses. It is impossible to create a corporation without involving the state, as attempting to do so without registering the corporation with a government will have no effect. The closest one could come would be to negotiate recognition of a business entity with limited liability with each customer of that business, but this would not be identical to a state-recognized corporation in terms of its interaction with the state. Two results directly follow from this. First, registering a corporation amounts to participation in a government program. Second, state-recognized corporations are not truly private businesses, but public-private partnerships in which the state provides limited liability through its monopoly on courts and the private business fulfills its purpose, whatever it may be.
In order to participate in a government program, a person or other entity is supposed to be in compliance with government laws. In the United States, the highest law with which a state-recognized corporation should be in compliance for this purpose is the Constitution. The Constitution contains a number of provisions which are supposed to limit the conduct of government, including provisions to protect freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, security against unreasonable search and seizure, and due process, among other rights. Because state-recognized corporations are public-private partnerships, they should be held to the same limitations on their conduct.
Thus, we arrive at an approach that meets the conditions described above. The technology giants that are currently engaging in censorious activities against viewpoints that they find disagreeable should be approached by the state and given two choices. Their first option is to begin respecting the aforementioned rights in accordance with the above argument and stop their censorious behavior. Their second option is to forfeit their corporate charters and right to do business as a corporation in the United States. This means that they would lose access to all government contracts, loans, and grants, could not be bailed out by taxpayers if their businesses falter, could not receive property taken through eminent domain, and the personal assets of everyone in the company would be available for paying civil damages. In other words, the leadership of the technology giants would have to choose whether to contribute to a more open marketplace of ideas or to become free-market businesses, either of which would be an improvement upon the current state of affairs. Even the hint that such a proposal is being considered by high-ranking federal officials would have the technology giants rushing to behave better, and could accomplish the same results as public utility regulation with far less threat to innovation.
Now let us apply the test described above,
“This approach should use state power in a manner which does not expand said power beyond its current size and scope, but will solve the problem with minimum malign interference in the economy.”
Currently, the federal government enforces anti-discrimination laws on bases other than those involving the people being de-platformed by the technology giants. This proposal implicitly adds the basis of political ideology to race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and other currently protected categories. While this may appear to be an increase in scope, it would actually work to level out some of the discrepancies caused by protecting only the aforementioned categories. In order to evade constitutional restrictions, the federal government typically uses carrots rather than sticks to gain compliance from state government and large corporations, in the form of only awarding federal funding to compliant entities. Here, strings attached to continued recognition of corporate charters takes the place of strings attached to funds, but the overall methodology is unchanged.
As for malign interference in the economy, the latter option may appear to be so, but it is not upon closer scrutiny. First, no rational person in a leadership position at a technology giant would choose it due to the enormous risks involved in running such a large business without the legal shield of a corporation. Second, if any technology giants did choose the latter option, the change of ending state-recognized corporations in favor of government independence and full responsibility would be a beneficial move toward a more free-market economy.
Objections
Such a novel and radical approach is certain to meet objections, so let us attempt to anticipate and deal with some likely criticisms. First, there is the potential for technology giants based in the United States to balk at this dilemma and respond by leaving the United States for more favorable conditions elsewhere. Though this may be extremely disruptive in the short term, it would remove the canopy that is blocking the sunlight needed by the seedlings that seek to grow and replace the technology giants. The end result would almost certainly be both a more open and a more free market in the long term. But this is an unlikely result, as they would not wish to lose such a large and wealthy customer base as the American people.
Second, such a move would certainly be challenged in court, and the Supreme Court may see fit to rule against it. If this happens, then nothing will be lost and awareness of the need to appoint justices who are more friendly to the anti-censorship cause will be raised. It would also provide a strong President with a chance to ignore the Supreme Court and force the issue, especially if public opinion is against the side of the technology giants. The dominance of the judiciary in the American system is a longstanding problem, and any opportunity to challenge its power is a welcome development.
Third, there is the claim that this proposal is more about open markets than free markets. This claim is not without merit, but the current market conditions are neither open nor free. Working toward free markets is the primary economic objective of libertarian philosophy, but in the meantime, an open unfree market is superior to a closed unfree market. It is important not to fall into the trap of political autism by doing nothing until an ideal libertarian textbook solution hopefully comes along, which may not happen.
Finally, one may wonder why the issue cannot be left up to the market. In the long term, the market is essential for solving the problem posed by the technology giants. But although this is necessary, it is not sufficient for dealing with the immediate problem at hand. Through their current market share and their abuse of the power that said market share provides them, the technology giants are making the market unfree. Like it or not, the state is the weapon currently in play, and unless it is going to be eliminated in the near future, its power will either be used to favor the established companies or their upstart competition.
Conclusion
The technology giants have managed to acquire an unprecedented amount of power over the lives of people all over the world. As Frank Herbert observed, “Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.” If the leadership of these companies decide that they wish to silence someone and ruin their finances for whatever reason, it is within their capabilities to do so. Some may cheer because such a fate is currently befalling the alt-right. But what they do to Christopher Cantwell and The Daily Stormer today, they can and will do to anyone they dislike in the near future. Unless the technology giants are reined in, they will provoke the state into regulating their industries as public utilities, which will set back innovation by decades. The mere threat of the above proposal is capable of not only stopping their censorious behavior, but of opening the markets enough for private competitors to free them.
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Like this: Like Loading...SWNS Woman was outraged after being banned from a men-only swimming pool
Gender-segregated time slots, advertised as 'Alhamdulliahswimming' on Facebook, will be offered on Friday evenings at the Inspire Sports Village in Stopsley, Luton, Bedfordshire, which was built using Olympics cash. The move, which benefits the town's large Asian population, will give men exclusive access to the larger 50 metre competitive pool, while women will have to use the smaller 20 metre community pool. One outraged female swimmer, who did not wish to be named, said: "The Friday night session for everyone is now closed because of the listed men-only sessions.
"I have asked a team leader about it - as there are no managers at the weekend - and he said it was a 'cultural thing'. "Why has one section of the community in Luton been allowed to dominate and take over the best pool in the borough? "I like swimming in the competition pool after a hard week at work on Fridays and now I can't without any discussion and very little advanced notice."
SWNS The lady wanted to attend a men's swimming session at the Inspire Sports Village in Stopsley, Luton
The gender-segregated sessions are named ’Alhamdulliahswimming', which is a Muslim phrase which thanks God for his blessings.
I have asked a team leader about it and he said it was a 'cultural thing' Female swimmer
Posters promoting the event, which were put up last Friday, strictly ask that 'navel to knee must be covered'. The poster states "The Strong Believers presents Men's Swimming" from 8.30pm until 9.30pm where "kids, adults beginners and pro's all welcome". Classes cost £3.50 for adults where men have access to the lanes and £2.50 for children who will have the shallow area of the pool. The women's sessions take place later in the evening and are more expensive, starting at 9pm through to 10pm and cost £3.80 for adults, and £2.60 for children. But women not wanting to use the community pool are reportedly being told to use other nearby swimming pools. People shared their strong views of the decision on Facebook.
SWNS A manager at the pool allegedly said it as a 'cultural thing' why the session is now male exclusive
Janet Cope said: "Who do these scum think they are and why is every one pussyfooting around them there (sic) not that important there (sic) guests in our country and there for (sic) they bide (sic) by our laws and rules no one should be bending over backwards for these ungrateful bastards." Linda McDermott wrote: "Going backwards#lutonwomensrights" Laukan Creasey added: "They should learn to tolerate other people." Michael Brown said: "There have been Woman-Only Gyms and Woman-Only sessions for years, the men are playing catch up. "Of course, I disagree with both. Discrimination is discrimination, that means both for excluding men and for excluding women." Another person, who did not want to be named, said: "Someone at Active Luton is behaving in an incompetent and provocative way by banning women from the best pool.
SWNS The gender-segregated time slots will give men exclusive access to the 50m competative swimming pool
"They should be sacked, and a suitable arrangement should be found which gives everybody access to the best facilities, which they have paid for through their taxes." Luton is believed to have a population of 258,000 people with the Office for National Statistics stating Luton has a significant population of Asian descent, with Pakistan making up 14.4 per cent, India 5.2 per cent and Bangladesh 6.7 per cent. An Active Luton spokesman defended the move and said on Friday evenings, Inspire offered gender-specific swimming sessions - albeit men had access to the larger competitive pool. He went on: "We regularly provide opportunities for different groups in our programme, including many different activities and swimming sessions. "Active Luton aims to provide everyone in our community, regardless of age, ability or ethnicity, with affordable and accessible opportunities to get active in ways which suit their wide-ranging needs and lifestyles."In recent days, the U.S. Government reshuffled the Middle Eastern deck dramatically, signing a framework agreement with Iran, but also buttressing America's traditional regional allies — supporting the Saudi-led Arab force in Yemen, lifting arms delivery constraints on Egypt, launching air strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Tikrit, Iraq after Iran's effort there failed, and summoning the Gulf Arab states to Camp David. If the U.S. plays its cards right, it can capitalize on these developments to stabilize the region and correct some of its earlier mistakes. But failure to do so will generate a downward spiral. The first step to success is understanding the underlying situation in the Middle East and then finding a way to place this agreement into that situation in a way that advances security.
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The nuclear agreement thus is but one part of the Middle East's political topography: A nation-state system with the loyalty of its own citizens at risk, millennial Islamic movements preaching the end to that system, and the possibility that the primary two such movements — Sunni Islamic ISIS and the Shiite Iranian Islamic Republic — will stumble into a regional sectarian conflict. As ISIS is so extreme that it can only be dealt with militarily, the real challenge for statecraft is dealing with Iran by resisting its hegemony and/or modifying its behavior.
To start with the nuclear framework agreement: Leave aside the tough negotiations ahead to finalize it and the ambiguities in competing Iranian and American descriptions of it. What is important is that this deal, if the final version looks at all like the White House factsheet, is the "least bad solution." Iran, despite current sanctions, has maintained its current nuclear program for years, and could continue. Tougher sanctions would require broad international support. That was doubtful before and with this deal is simply impossible. Military action against Iran would not amount to "war," despite the Obama administration's relentless admonishments, but would have to be repeated some years later, and would generate some sort of Iranian escalation. Finally, given the significant reduction in Iranian capabilities in the deal, and the international buy-in, Congress will be hard-pressed to scupper the agreement, but if it tried, it would throw America's international credibility — and containment of Iran — into a cocked hat.
Thus, stuck with the agreement, what are its core geostrategic elements? Forget all the numbers, apart from the one-year breakout timeline. Those elements are: Iran (1) maintains its status as a nuclear threshold state; (2) receives at some point almost total sanctions relief; and (3) ducks formal culpability for its violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) with its nuclear weapons efforts and secret nuclear sites by keeping all of its nuclear infrastructure, even if dramatically modified, and accepts only a vague requirement to clarify its nuclear weapons research — one it has evaded before. As such, it maintains not only its "face," which the administration claims was necessary for an agreement, but avoids having to decide, in former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's famous phrase, whether it is a country (thus responsible under international law) or a cause (answering some heavenly mandate).
In return, the international community receives (1) a shift from a few months to approximately one year in breakout time to a possible nuclear device, a significant plus; and (2) even more extensive and intrusive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which purportedly will make any effort to breakout almost immediately public.
The two sides' "gets" are linked, and will drive regional relations for years. The administration would argue that not calling Iran to task for its NPT violations encourages its transformation into a normal country. Perhaps, but by not having to account for its flaunting of international norms, Iran as a "cause" is inevitably encouraged to use its nuclear threshold status in one or another way, up to breakout, to advance its regional hegemony, i.e., one experience violating agreements without accountability encourages a second. In turn, the international community will have both early warning of any such endeavor, and seemingly sufficient time — a year — to respond.
This response, then, is the most important aspect of the entire deal.The deal does not work in geostrategic terms if it is not clear to all, including the Iranians, that the international community will act forcefully by all means necessary to block a nuclear device. Clearing this up must be job No. 1 for the administration, not only to ensure the agreement is adhered to, but to fend off the many in Congress opposed to the deal.
The administration, however, repeatedly hints that the nuclear agreement will encourage Iran to move toward "normal country" status. A metamorphosis of Iran toward normalcy cannot be ruled out. But apart from Germany and Japan after devastating defeats, such "flips" are rare, in the end not even secured with China. Thus the international community should continue containing, and if necessary, confronting Iran through our traditional regional alliances. The White House would likely respond that such a policy would undercut an Iranian transformation, despite numerous warnings — the latest from former Deputy CIA Director Mike Morrell in The Washington Post on April 5, that such transformation is far from likely.
Furthermore, if such an extraordinary societal, political — even religious — transformation could be derailed just by American pressure on Tehran to adhere to the agreement or accept compromises on conflicts far from Iran, then it s likely the transformation would not have sufficient roots to survive. Moreover, if the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and other forces opposed to Prime Minister Hassan Rouhani's reform agenda keep scoring victories across the Middle East unimpeded, their vision for Iran as a cause will be strengthened, not weakened.
The administration can thus best deal with options for Iran's development, including possible transformation into a normal country, by maintaining resolute resistance to Iran's behavior as a "cause." Such resistance begins with reinforcing the steps taken last week to deepen ties with America's Arab partners.
But the most important step to contain Iran, stabilize the region and win acceptance for the nuclear agreement is to threaten in advance use of force if Iran violates the agreement. The administration can argue that this is its announced policy, but the president's words here ring hollow, given his response to Syrian chemical weapons and his constant warnings against "war" with Iran. Congress should help by passing in advance an authorization for the use of military force against an Iran in violation, and the president should specify what red line, if crossed, would provoke a military response. Such steps could defuse American opposition to the agreement and deter regional allies from "going it alone."
The answer to the inevitable argument that such U.S. action would "undercut" the agreement or stymie Iran's transformation is obvious: The agreement might require us to pretend that Iran is a responsible international law-respecting country, but Iranian violation of its terms would prove conclusively that it is a cause unwilling to adhere to its agreements or cease undermining regional stability, and thus require the U.S. to take a different tack.
Ambassador Jeffrey is the Philip Solondz distinguished visiting fellow at the Washington Institute where he focuses on U.S. strategies to counter Iran's efforts to expand its influence in the broader Middle East. One of the nation's most respected diplomats, Ambassador Jeffrey has held a series of highly sensitive posts in Washington and abroad. In addition to his service in Ankara and Baghdad, he served as assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration, with a special focus on Iran.On ESPN.com, Neil Paine of Basketball-Reference investigates the relationship between a player's rebounding numbers and his team's rebounding numbers in search of players whose individual rebounding averages don't accurately reflect their contribution to their team's performance on the glass.
Portland Trail Blazers forward/center J.J. Hickson leads off his list of five overrated rebounders.
The following five players are examples of this phenomenon -- their individual rebounding numbers are impressive, but they don't seem to add much to their teams' rebounding performance when they're on the floor. J.J. Hickson, Portland Trail Blazers Superficially speaking, Hickson appears to be one of the league's best rebounders, averaging 10.8 boards per game (sixth-best in the NBA) with a 21.7 rebounding percentage (fourth-best). However, there's plenty of evidence that many of those rebounds have simply been stolen from his teammates, not opponents. Only Anderson Varejao and Reggie Evans have a bigger differential between their own rebounding rates and those of their teammates, but at least Varejao and Evans lead their teams to above-average rebound percentages while on the floor -- and improve their teams' rebounding when in the game. Despite Hickson's gaudy individual stats, the Blazers have a negative net rebound rate with him in the lineup, and they actually rebound at a better rate when he's not on the floor.
The Blazers have not issued a press release in response to the article with the words "double double" repeated 467,893 times but it could very well be coming.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | TwitterHow hundreds of thousands were killed in the 1945 Battle of Manila
Manila City Hall (1945). Photo courtesy of the Presidential Museum and Library
In expressing his resentment against the Americans, President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday recounted how thousands of Filipinos were supposedly killed when the United States took back Manila from the Japanese in 1945.
"200,000 died here. Ang Manila talaga (Manila really) flattened in just two days of bombing. These are historical [facts] that will never go away," Duterte said just before leaving for his official trip to Japan.
But just how accurate is the President's account of the story?
Known as the "Battle of Manila," the 1945 conflict is the "fiercest and first urban fighting in the region," according to HistoryNet.com, the website of the world's largest publisher of history magazines.
"Very few battles during the last few months of WWII [World War II] are known to have exceeded the brutality and destruction in Manila," it said.
It began with the campaign of the US to recapture the Philippines from the Japanese, whose soldiers launched a bloody war to keep Manila.
The Japanese blew up historic bridges, burned down houses, raped women and massacred innocent civilians, war crimes which later became known as the "Manila Massacre."
The Americans, meanwhile, retaliated using heavy artillery, including bombs that were dropped on the city daily.
During the month-long battle that battered Manila from February 3 to March 3, 1945, at least 1,000 allies, 16,000 Japanese and 100,000 Filipino civilians were killed, according to historians.
Seventy percent of utilities, 75 percent of factories, 80 percent of the southern residential district and 100 percent of the business district were also razed during the battle, according to "American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880 - 1964" author and historian William Manchester.
This gave Manila the unfortunate title of being the second most devastated city during World War II. After the battle, the Americans reportedly bulldozed what was left of Manila, flattening it to a pulp.
But there are some who say that this is a conservative estimate and the damage might be even worse than other atrocities committed during the war.
And this is already considering the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, where at least 200,000 were killed, and the British-American bombing of Germany's Dresden, which claimed the lives of at least 25,000, both in 1945.
But the only other atrocity that could rival the Battle of Manila is the 1937 Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanking, where Japanese soldiers raped and killed at least 300,000 Chinese people.
"When you listen to and watch the people who survived, you will feel their anger towards the heavy artillery shelling by the Americans; but you will also sense their hatred of what the Japanese did. On balance, then and today, they were glad to be liberated even at great cost to themselves and their beautiful city," according to Peter Parsons, who authored "The Battle of Manila - Myth and Fact."
This was not the first time Duterte brought up atrocities allegedly committed by the Americans.
Last September, he raised the 1901 Balangiga, Samar massacre, where residents over 10 were ordered killed by a US general, and the 1906 Bud Dajo massacre, where hundreds of Moros were killed by US forces in Sulu.Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court’s four liberal justices in the ruling. Supreme Court upholds individual mandate
The Supreme Court upheld most of President Barack Obama’s health care law Thursday, ruling that Congress did not overstep its power by requiring nearly all Americans to buy health insurance.
Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the court’s four liberal justices in the ruling, which says Congress had the authority to impose the law’s individual mandate under Congress’s taxing power.
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There was one rebuke to the Obama administration: The court ruled that the states can reject the law’s Medicaid expansion.
( PHOTOS: Supreme Court health care decision)
Still, the rest of the ruling is a surprise victory for the Obama administration, which faced a tough grilling from the court — including from Roberts — during the oral arguments in March. It guarantees that most of the two-year-old law will stay in place, avoiding the massive disruption to the health care industry that would have resulted if the mandate had been struck down.
"Simply put, Congress may tax and spend," Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. "This grant gives the federal government considerable influence even in areas where it cannot directly regulate."
"The federal government may enact a tax on an activity that it cannot authorize, forbid or otherwise control,” Roberts wrote.
( See also: Full coverage of the health care reform decision)
In a stinging dissent, Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested that the other justices wanted to wipe out the entire law. "In our view, the entire Act before us is invalid in its entirety,” he wrote.
In the ruling, Roberts wrote that the court rejected the idea that the mandate regulates people under existing commercial activity. But the court ruled that Congress can impose mandate under the taxing power.
"It instead compels individuals to become active in commerce by purchasing a product, on the ground that their failure to do so affects interstate commerce,” Roberts wrote.
"The question is not whether that is the most natural interpretation of the mandate, but only whether it is a 'fairly possible' one,” Roberts wrote. "The government asks us to interpret the mandate as imposing a tax, if it would otherwise violate the constitution. Granting the act the full measure of deference owed to federal statutes, it can be so read."
The ruling came as a surprise, as conservative justices appeared skeptical of the law during oral arguments in March. They seemed most skeptical of the so-called individual mandate, which requires Americans to have health insurance.
The justices did rule against another key part of the law, saying the law’s Medicaid expansion — which starts in 2014 — tranforms the program into something it wasn't designed to be.
"The court today limits the financial pressure the secretary may apply to induce states to accept the terms of the Medicaid expansion,” the ruling states. “As a practical matter, that means states may now choose to reject the expansion; that is the whole point. But that does not mean all or even any will."
But Thursday’s ruling now settles the big constitutional question once and for all: Congress can require people to have health coverage.
The court’s decision allows the law’s more popular provisions to survive, like guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing conditions starting in 2014 — the same year the mandate is scheduled to take effect.
The administration took a gamble when it asked the court last fall to hear the case more quickly than necessary. That risk appears to have paid off, providing Obama with validation before the November election. But it will also fire up Republicans who plan to campaign on a pledge to repeal the law in Congress.
Presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has vowed on the trail to repeal it.
Yet if the ruling heats up the politics, it may also speed up the implementation, especially in states that have stalled setting up the pieces of the law until the Supreme Court ruled. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for instance, vetoed a bill setting up a state exchange in May, citing the pending court decision.
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 10:19 a.m. on June 28, 2012.Motorhead have released a video for their cover of David Bowie's "Heroes."
Their gritty take on Bowie's classic 1977 song will appear on their upcoming Under Cover album. Motorhead's version was recorded in 2015 during the sessions for the Bad Magic LP, and was one of the last the band recorded before frontman Lemmy Kilmister's death that year. You can watch the video above.
" It's such a great Bowie song, one of his best, and I could only see great things coming out of it from us, and so it proved to be," Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell noted in a press release. "Lemmy ended up loving our version."
Drummer Mikkey Dee added that Kilmister was "very, very proud of it, not only because it turned out so well but because it was fun! Which is what projects like this should be — fun!"
The video is not only a tribute to Bowie, who died just a few weeks after Kilmister, but to their departed frontman as well. It features live black-and-white concert footage of the band from recent years, as well as heartwarming offstage footage spliced with candid photos of Kilmister.
The band played the song live only once, in June 2015 at the Aftershock Festival in Germany. Under Cover, which features covers of 10 classic rock songs, is due Sept. 1. You can pre-order it now.Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan Declares Jesus Is His Redeemer, Says Devil Can't Have Him
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Reflecting on his inevitable physical death, leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, 84, declared in a controversial video recording Tuesday that Jesus will save him from the grip of death despite his organization's creed that there is only "One God whose proper Name is Allah."
The declaration came the same day Farrakhan was shown visiting Bishop Larry Trotter, longtime pastor of Chicago's Sweet Holy Spirit Church, who was hospitalized last Wednesday with a "serious illness" following a trip to Israel.
"I thank God for guiding me for 40 years absent my teacher (Elijah Muhammad). So my next journey will have to answer the question. I'm gonna say it," Farrakhan teased briefly in the clip before declaring: "I know that my redeemer liveth."
"I know. I'm not guessing that my Jesus is alive. I know that my redeemer liveth and because he lives I know that I, too, will pass through the portal of death yet death will not afflict me," he continued.
The official creed of the Nation of Islam blends teachings from the Quran and "the Scriptures of all the Prophets of God." Even though the Nation of Islam also claims to believe in the " |
ization" — when broadband providers slow access to nonpaying companies' sites and services — should be banned. Also reportedly added to the draft proposal is new language designed to protect companies that require internet access, and a new ombudsman who will advocate on behalf of startups in disputes, with "significant enforcement authority."
Tom Wheeler has come under fire for his proposed open internet rules
The FCC officials told the publication that Wheeler has redrafted his rules in an attempt to address the backlash to his initial proposal. That draft proposal, which offered an internet "fast lane" for bloated internet providers, was lambasted by some of the United States' biggest investors, technology companies, senators, and even Wheeler's own colleagues at the FCC. Wheeler himself has responded to public opposition, first in a blog post on the FCC's own site, in which he claimed that reports stating the FCC was "gutting" the open internet rule were false, and later in a letter published by The Washington Post.
The new proposal may be similar to the old one
An unnamed FCC source said that "the draft is explicit that the goal is to find the best approach to ensure the internet remains open and prevent any practices that threaten it," but it's still unclear how effectively the new proposal responds to criticisms of the previous draft. The Wall Street Journal says it will include "language that would make clear that the FCC will scrutinize the deals," but also that Wheeler is not deviating significantly from his previous proposal, sticking instead to "the same basic approach" as before.
The fact Wheeler is willing to change his mind in the face of overwhelming public comment is good for supporters of net neutrality, but even inside the FCC, opinion is reportedly split on the approach to take. One FCC official reportedly described the situation as "a debacle," saying "we may not agree on the course, but we agree the road we're on is to disaster." Certainly, if the proposal isn't altered sufficiently ahead of its official review this coming Thursday, the open internet as we know it could be destroyed.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The city of Greensboro, along with six residents, filed a federal lawsuit Monday afternoon to stop a new law that strips the city council and its residents of a voice in how they run the local government.
The lawsuit calls the move by state lawmakers discriminator and “tainted with bad faith.”
Under the new law, Greensboro and it’s residents are the only municipality in the state that has no say in how they run their local government and the plaintiffs say that simply is unconstitutional, violating the 14 amendment and the North Carolina constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law.
The defendant is The Guilford County Board of Elections because they are the state agency that will have to enforce the voting changes.
The law changes the make-up of the city council, creates new voting districts and strips the mayor of voting power. The person behind the law, state senator and former Greensboro City Council member Trudy Wade, was mentioned in the lawsuit but is not named as a defendant. Wade did not return our request for comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit asks for a temporary and permanent injunction against the new voting districts as the 2015 elections near and plaintiffs hope it will come before a judge by Friday.
View the lawsuit (PDF file)Amazon just announced that it's releasing a new streaming media player for the fall, just as its competitors are also readying new video streaming boxes and sticks.
The new Amazon Fire TV streaming media stick has a quad-core processor, an upgrade from the dual-core processor in the last stick; supports faster Wi-Fi (802.11ac MIMO); and now comes bundled with an "Alexa" remote, which lets you use voice search to find stuff to watch. The new Fire TV stick still doesn't stream 4K video — which Amazon's full-powered Fire TV box does — but Amazon is clearly betting that a) over 7,000 HD channels, apps, and Alexa "skills" will still be enough to satisfy most consumers, and b) people who care about 4K web video streaming will shell out more money for it.
Comes with an Alexa remote, but still no 4K support
The stick costs $40, the same price as the previous model, but now includes the voice remote, which used to cost an additional $10. Amazon says the product will start shipping in late October. The company is also offering a $65 media buying credit to customers who activate their new sticks before the end of October.
Amazon's Fire TV stick announcement comes just a couple days after Roku launched a whole bunch of new streaming media hardware, including a tiny, $30 Roku Express box that competes at the low end of the market. (The Roku stick, which was introduced earlier this year, is the only Roku that didn't get a refresh.) And Google is rumored to soon be releasing a new Chromecast, possibly called the Chromecast Ultra, that would support 4K video streaming.Developers submitted five proposals for a second Emerson School of Hospitality.
While Buffalo school officials did not disclose the locations or names of the developers, four of the five have made their proposals public.
Proposed sites include:
505 Ellicott St.: Uniland Development Co. and Rocco Termini's Signature Development Buffalo have teamed up to propose a four-story school building at the north end of the block bordered by Ellicott, Oak and Tupper streets.
The site includes both a Uniland-owned property at 505 and 525 Ellicott, where a warehouse now stands, as well as adjacent land Termini owns at 400 N. Oak St. The school would be part of a larger $70 million project that would add a new office building and parking ramp near the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
75 West Huron St.: McGuire Development Co. and Buffalo Development Corp., headed by businessman Mark D. Croce, also joined forces to propose converting the historic Hertz building into a second school of hospitality.
The site would create a "campus-like" atmosphere by being just a short distance from the current Emerson at 70 West Chippewa St. in what the developers referred to as the "Hospitality Corridor." Besides classrooms, kitchens, a bakery and a restaurant, the new school would include a new gymnasium for both Emerson schools to share.
875 Seneca St.: Howard and Leslie Zemsky's Larkin Development Group – which owns the building on Chippewa where Emerson is a tenant – has proposed a custom-built, 75,000-square-foot school on a shovel-ready site at Seneca, Exchange and Smith streets.
The initial concept for an Emerson II started with Larkinville, which is an attractive area for the school district because of the neighborhood's growth and potential for walk-in traffic for another restaurant. There's also no high school between downtown and South Park High School.
817 Washington St.: Krog Corp. resubmitted its proposal to build a second Emerson in the former Trico building on the edge of the medical campus.
The school district originally designated Trico as its preferred location for Emerson, but the Board of Education walked away late last year after delays caused school officials to lose confidence that the building would be ready by Sept. 2018.
“We are taking the high road in responding again to an RFP we won the first time for Emerson II,” Krog President Paul R. Neureuter said in reference to its latest request for proposal.
“The two RFPs are almost identical. Nonetheless, and alone among the bidders, we are ready to start Emerson II now, certain we can have the school ready faster and in a better location than any other option," he said.
Neureuter also said the company will move ahead with the Trico redevelopment with or without Emerson. Without Emerson, the Trico project would have increased commercial space, a larger 117-room extended-stay hotel and 185 apartments – more than double the initial plan.
Barbara Seals Nevergold, the School Board's president, said the board has not yet set a timetable for reviewing the Emerson proposals and making a selection.
"It's a critical decision and we're essentially back at the drawing board," she said.Atlanta and most cities of the Midwest have very little in common. But when filming the movie The Founder, director John Lee Hancock somehow made Atlanta a stand-in for a range of cities.
The movie that came out this week chronicling the founding of McDonald’s is a story heavy on Minnesota, but filmed in Atlanta.
The Christian Science Monitor details how production designer Michael Corenblith worked some movie magic to transport audiences from the Peach State to the Gopher State (we clearly lucked out on the nickname thing).
Over the course of just a month, a purpose-built fake McDonald’s — designed to look like the original 1955 structure in Des Plaines — was constructed in Atlanta. From there, the structure was adapted, over and over again, to represent the spread of the fast food restaurant across the Midwest, and the entire country.
Corenblith told The Christian Science Monitor, “When you see Schaumburg, when you see Minneapolis, when you see all the McDonald's from around the country, those are subtle reworkings of only one set.”
The trick? Repainting the parking lots to orient the cars differently.
It turns out the McDonald’s restaurants aren’t the only things faked. Ray Kroc’s Chicago home is instead an Avondale Estates house, while the East Lake Golf Club stands in for a country club in Chicago.
The phenomenon is really nothing new; thanks to tax credits, Atlanta has gained the distinction of being Hollywood of the South.
Downtown, John Portman’s buildings have served as the backdrop for a range of films, including The Hunger Games, while The Walking Dead has brought zombies to Grant Park and seemingly everywhere else.
Goes to show, don’t always believe what’s in the movies.Researchers from the UK and Netherlands have identified five distinct subgroups of eczema, a finding that helps explain how the condition can affect people at different stages of their lives.
Doctors and patients have long known that the itchy skin condition can affect people in many different ways. Now Professor Sara Brown from the University of Dundee and collaborators at the University of Bristol and the University of Groningen, Netherlands, have shown for the first time that there are atopic dermatitis subgroups in children.
Professor Brown said: "This research study has confirmed that eczema is a very diverse disease, and it's provided evidence of distinctly different trajectories, including a group that hadn't previously been recognised, in whom eczema develops for the first time around six years of age and is often associated with asthma.
"We've also shown that genetic risk factors contribute to the most troublesome and long-lasting eczema, so these patients can be our focus for future research to improve care. It's also important evidence that we need to consider which subtypes of eczema may respond to which treatments in clinical trials to ensure the right children get the right treatment in future."
The researchers looked at 13,500 children from birth to 11 or 16 years, born in the UK or Netherlands. Around 40 per cent of children developed eczema at some time in their life. Through statistical analysis, the researchers were able to identify different groups including children whose eczema begins in infancy but then resolves, as different from children whose eczema starts later or becomes a long-term problem.
The groups were defined as:
Eczema starts in infancy and doesn't go away
Eczema starts in infancy and lasts throughout childhood
Eczema starts in infancy and goes away in early childhood
Eczema starts in mid-childhood (around 6 years) and goes away later in childhood
Eczema starts in late childhood (11 years-early teens) and then goes away
The largest group, approximately one-third of children with eczema, develop the disease soon after birth and mostly grow out of it by their fifth birthday. However, for the one in eight children with eczema who are in a group where eczema does not resolve, the disease can last into adulthood. These children are also most likely to have relatives with eczema and experience other health problems, including asthma and allergies.
Dr Lavinia Paternoster, Senior Lecturer in Genetic Epidemiology from Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences, who initiated the study, said: "This study brought together two European birth cohorts, PIAMA, from the Netherlands and ALSPAC (or 'Children of the 90s') from Bristol.
"The patterns of disease observed in these two cohorts were remarkably similar, which gives us greater confidence in the results.
"We've found some evidence of what might cause children to suffer from different subtypes of eczema, but we still need to do a lot more work to understand this further and work out how we can use this information in the clinic to better help patients."
Mrs Magali Redding, CEO of Eczema Outreach Scotland, added: "This is a fantastic step forward for research on eczema in children. Families are desperate for clues about their specific circumstances and hope for the future.
"To families of children suffering from eczema, research results like this paper on sub-groups of patients provide much needed hope for a clearer prognosis and ultimately better treatments.
"The impact of atopic dermatitis on people's quality of life can be devastating. With this chronic condition on the increase, the work of Professor Sara Brown and her academic colleagues is crucial and always welcome by our members."
###
Paper:
'Identification of atopic dermatitis subgroups in children from two longitudinal birth cohorts' by Lavinia Paternoster, Olga E.M. Savenije, Jon Heron, David M. Evans, Judith M. Vonk, Bert Brunekreef, Alet H. Wijga, John A. Henderson, Gerard H. Koppelman, Sara J. Brown in Journal of Allergy and Clinical ImmunologyFrom the college’s letter to Prof. Francis Schmidt:
This letter acknowledges that Bergen Community College (“BCC”) may have lacked basis to sanction you for your January 12, 2014 Google+ post of your daughter wearing a Game of Thrones t-shirt (the “Incident”). By sanctioning you as it did, BCC may have unintentionally erred and potentially violated your constitutional rights, including under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Upon further reflection on this matter and in order to bring this issue to closure, BCC will strike and remove from your employment file any adverse record in connection with this Incident, including without limitation Mr. James Miller’s January 16, 2014 email and Ms. Patti Bonomolo’s January 24, 2014 email. Likewise, any penalty or restriction you may have suffered in connection with this Incident, including as set forth in Ms. Bonomolo’s January 24, 2014 email, is hereby rescinded and acknowledged to be null and void. Part and parcel of this acknowledgement, the Incident shall not be considered in any future BCC decisions concerning your employment, including without limitation any decisions relating to promotion, sabbatical, compensation, or any future disciplinary proceeding. In sum, you will be in good standing with BCC as if the Incident never occurred, and BCC’s records shall so reflect. Lest there be any doubt, BCC recognizes and respects that you are free to exercise your constitutional rights, including your right to freedom of speech and expression, even to the extent that you may disparage BCC and/or its officials. Going forward, we ask simply that you abide by the rules, policies, and procedures that are generally applicable — to the extent consistent with constitutional and other legal commands — to all other members of BCC’s faculty.
Here’s the initial report from Colleen Flaherty (Inside Higher Ed) on the incident in April of this year;
Francis Schmidt, a professor of art and animation, … posted [on Google+] a picture of his young daughter doing yoga in a T-shirt with the new “Game of Thrones” season tagline in January, upon release of the trailer…. But one contact — a dean — who was notified automatically via Google that the picture had been posted apparently took it as a threat. In an e-mail, Jim Miller, the college’s executive director for human resources, told Schmidt to meet with him and two other administrators immediately in light of the “threatening e-mail.” … Schmidt said he met with the administrators, including a security official, in one of their offices and was questioned repeatedly about the picture’s meaning and the popularity of “Game of Thrones.” Schmidt said Miller asked him to use Google to verify the phrase, which he did, showing approximately 4 million hits. The professor said he asked why the photo had set off such a reaction, and that the security official said that “fire” could be a kind of proxy for “AK-47s.” Despite Schmidt’s explanation, he was notified via e-mail later in the week that he was being placed on leave without pay, effective immediately, and that he would have to be cleared by a psychiatrist before he returned to campus. Schmidt said he was diagnosed with depression in 2007 but was easily cleared for this review, although even the brief time away from campus set back his students, especially those on independent study. Schmidt believes he was targeted in part because he filed a grievance against the college a week before the post for being passed up for a sabbatical…. [Bergen Community College President Kay] Walter said she did not believe that the college had acted unfairly, especially considering that there were three school shootings nationwide in January, prior to Schmidt’s post.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has more; see also the threat by Firefly poster case from University of Wisconsin-Stout in 2011. Thanks to Robert Dittmer for the pointer.For other people named David Marshall, see David Marshall (disambiguation)
David Saul Marshall DKJP (12 March 1908 – 12 December 1995) was a Singaporean politician and lawyer who served as Singapore's first Chief Minister from 1955 to 1956. He was the founder and president of the Workers' Party of Singapore (WP).[2] Marshall was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the independence of Malaya.
Early life & education [ edit ]
Marshall was born in Singapore in 1908, to Sephardi Jewish parents Saul Nassim Mashal and Flora Ezekiel Kahn, who had migrated to Singapore from Baghdad, where they ran a business. His family name was originally Mashal, which was later anglicised as Marshall in 1920. He had at least six siblings. His brother, Joseph Saul Marshall, went to Australia and died in 1945 (in the Sydney suburb of Mosman) under odd circumstances which were potentially connected to the Tamam Shud case.
Marshall received a strict Orthodox Jewish upbringing.[3] Educated at Saint Joseph's Institution, Saint Andrew's School, he afterwards attended the Raffles Institution and the University of London.[4]
Legal career & war service [ edit ]
After graduating from the University of London, Marshall was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, London in 1937 and returned to Singapore to commence a legal career.
In 1938, following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Marshall volunteered for military service with a British reserve unit, the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force. He was assigned to "B" Company, 1st Battalion (1SSVF) – a company composed mostly of continental European expatriates. He was detained briefly by military police after objecting to the fact that he and other volunteers classified as "Asian" were paid at half the rate received by "European" members of the SSVF.
In February 1942, he saw action against the Imperial Japanese Army, in the Holland Road area, during the last few days of the Battle of Singapore. Marshall became a prisoner-of-war (POW) following the British surrender.[5] He was initially interned in Changi Prison before being sent to a forced labour camp in Japan.[3]
Reflecting later on his experience as a POW, Marshall commented:
[The Japanese Occupation] taught me humility... Three and a half years as a prisoner taught me humility... I realised [as a Japanese prisoner-of-war] that mankind is capable of cold-hearted cruelty. I can be angry, and I have no doubt I can be cruel for five, ten minutes. But the Japanese cruelty was cold-blooded, permanent and eternal. Man's inhumanity to man in fact, in real life, made its presence really known to me when I became a prisoner and saw it in action. Of course, I have known cruelty before. But wide-spread, long-term, cold-blooded, permanent cruelty, I've never experienced before, not even from the British Imperialists no matter how arrogant they were. That was a major shock, the feeling that here were human beings who were not on the same wavelength as me at all, who were not even human from my point of view.
Most of Marshall's immediate family had emigrated to Australia before the war began. After the war ended Marshall spent time with his family in Australia, before returning to Singapore in 1946.
He became a successful and prominent criminal lawyer. Known for his sharp eloquence and imposing stance, Marshall claimed that he had secured 99 acquittals out of 100 cases he defended for murder during Singapore's period of having trial by jury. When Lee Kuan Yew later abolished Singapore's jury system (1969), he cited Marshall's record as an illustration of its "inadequacy".
Political career [ edit ]
In April 1955, Marshall led the left-wing Labour Front to a narrow victory in Singapore's first Legislative Assembly elections. He formed a minority government and became Chief Minister. He resigned in April 1956 after a failed delegation to London to negotiate for complete self-rule. Replacing him as Chief Minister was Lim Yew Hock.
After resigning, Marshall visited China for two months at the invitation of Zhou Enlai, the Chinese Premier. Contacted by a representative of a group of over 400 Russian Jews who were being refused exit from Shanghai by the Chinese authorities, Marshall spoke with Zhou and managed to have them released.[6]
After returning from China, Marshall stayed on the backbenches before quitting the Labour Front and as a member of the Legislative Assembly in 1957. On 7 November 1957, he founded the Workers' Party of Singapore (WP). He won a by-election in Anson on 15 July 1961.[7]
Marshall lost his seat in Cairnhill Single Member Constituency to Lim Yew Hock, the Chief Minister, in the 1959 general election as a WP candidate, but won in Anson Single Member Constituency in the 1961 by-election. After losing his seat again in the 1963 general election as an independent candidate, he returned to practice law and remained active in politics even after J. B. Jeyaretnam became the leader of the WP in 1972.
From 1978 to 1993, Marshall served as Singapore's Ambassador to France, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. As an ambassador, Marshall always defended Singapore's interests, despite his differences with Lee Kuan Yew's government. He retired from the diplomatic corps in 1993.[8]
Death & memorials [ edit ]
Marshall died in 1995 of lung cancer.
In 2011, the Marshall estate donated a bust of Marshall created by Hungarian sculptor Peter Lambda to the Singapore Management University (SMU) School of Law's moot court, which would be named after Marshall. Marshall's widow expressed the hope that the tribute would inspire all law students at SMU to pursue the qualities of passion, diligence, courage and integrity that had distinguished her late husband's remarkable achievements.[9]
See also [ edit ]Vasily Polenov: Le droit du Seigneur (1874); a nineteenth-century artist's painting of an old man bringing his young daughters to their feudal lord. (1874); a nineteenth-century artist's painting of an old man bringing his young daughters to their feudal lord.
Droit du seigneur (; French: [dʁwa dy sɛɲœʁ], 'lord's right'), also known as jus primae noctis (; Latin: [ju:s ˈpri:mae̯ 'nɔktɪs], 'right of the first night'), refers to a supposed legal right in medieval Europe, allowing feudal lords to have sexual relations with subordinate women, in particular, on their wedding nights.
Some scholars believe the "right" might have existed in medieval Europe. Others say that it is a myth, and that all references to it are from later periods.
Similar customs have been recorded elsewhere.
Terminology [ edit ]
The French expression droit du seigneur translates as "right of the lord", but native French prefer the terms droit de jambage ( French: [dʁwa d(ə) ʒɑ̃baʒ], from jambe, 'leg') or droit de cuissage ( French: [dʁwa d(ə) kɥisaʒ], from cuisse, 'thigh').
The term is often used synonymously with jus primae noctis,[4] Latin for "right of the first night".
Ancient era [ edit ]
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is described as having practiced a similar custom: "He is king, he does whatever he wants... takes the girl from her mother and uses her, the warrior's daughter, the young man's bride."[5]
Herodotus mentions a similar custom among the Adyrmachidae in ancient Libya: "They are also the only tribe with whom the custom obtains of bringing all women about to become brides before the king, that he may choose such as are agreeable to him."[6]
When the plebians of the Etruscan city of Volsinii rebelled against the aristocrats in 280 BC, "They took their wives for themselves and placed the daughters of the nobles under the jus primae noctis, while all their former masters on whom they could lay hands were tortured to death."[7]
Medieval Europe [ edit ]
droit du seigneur The Mugnaia in Ivrea, Italy, taking part in a festival that supposedly commemorates a revolt against the
The medieval marriage fine or merchet has been interpreted as a payment for the droit du seigneur to be waived.[8] Alternatively, it has been interpreted as compensation to the lord for the young women leaving his lands.
A similar payment to church authorities has also been interpreted as relating the droit du seigneur. However, according to British scholar WD Howarth, the church at some times prohibited consummation of a marriage on the first night. The payment was for an indulgence from the church to waive this prohibition.
The life of Gerald of Aurillac written by Odo of Cluny (879-942) gives an account of the young nobleman demanding sex with one of his serfs, only to have the act averted by a miracle, sending Gerald on the road to sainthood. American historian Vern Bullough suggested that this illustrates that such behaviour was commonplace in the period, and that the "legend [of droit du seigneur] reflected the reality".
In the fourteenth-century French epic poem Baudouin de Sebourc, a tyrannical lord claims the jus primae noctis unless he receives part of the bride's dowry.[8]
The supposed right was abolished by Ferdinand II of Aragon in Article 9 of the Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe in 1486.
Later European references [ edit ]
droit due seigneur, in 1527 Hector Boece, the first historian to record the, in 1527
In 1527, Scottish historian Hector Boece wrote that the "right" had existed in Scotland until abolished by Malcolm III (r. 1058-93) under the influence of his wife, Margaret (later St Margaret of Scotland). The payment of merchet was instituted in its place. Boece attributed the law to a legendary King Ewen (Evenus) III. Modern French scholar Alain Boureau says that Boece probably invented King Ewen, but he was mythologising not polemicising.
Other Scottish scholars of his era quoted Boece with approval, including John Lesley (1578), George Buchanan (1582), and Habbakuk Bisset (1626). The historical existence of the custom in Scotland was also accepted in Scottish legal works such as James Balfour's Practicks (c 1579), John Skene's De Verborum (1597), and Thomas Craig's Jus Feudale (1603). English scholar Henry Spelman stated in his Glossary (1664) that the custom had existed in Scotland, but not in England. English jurist William Blackstone cited Boece's statement in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), while similarly noting that the custom had never existed in England.[15] In 1776, Scottish jurist David Dalrymple disputed the existence of the custom, arguing Boece's account was purely legendary, but his position was often seen as based on Scottish patriotism. However, according to Scottish legal scholar David Maxwell Walker, there have been instances recorded of the jus being claimed up to the eighteenth century. Walker concluded that it is possible that the jus existed as a custom in Scotland, dependent on the attitude of the king, and survived longer in remote regions.
The right was mentioned in 1556 in the Recueil d'arrêts notables des cours souveraines de France of French lawyer and author Jean Papon. French writer Antoine du Verdier also commented on it in 1577.
In Shakespeare's play, Henry VI, Part 2 (c 1591), the rebel Jack Cade proclaimed, "there shall not a maid be married, but she shall pay to me her maidenhead ere they have it".[20] According to French scholar Alain Boureau, Cade was demanding the payment of merchet, not the right of first night, but others disagree.
The Spanish novel Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda (1617) by Miguel de Cervantes contains an episode where a bride and groom escape a barbaric marriage custom in Ireland. According to British scholar WD Howarth, Cervantes was inspired by Peruvian marriage ceremonies and what is described is different from the classic version of the droit du seigneur as it involves multiple virgins. However, Cervantes' story was a source for the English play The Custom of the Country, written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger and published in 1647. The play has the classic version of the "right of first night" with money payment as an alternative. According to Howarth, this suggests that droit du seigneur was a familiar notion to people at that time, which he traces back to Boece.
The Jesuit hagiographical work Acta Sanctorum (Acts of the Saints), published from 1643 onwards, recorded the existence of jus primae noctis in its biographies of St Margaret and St Forannan.
English lexicographer Thomas Blount recorded the "right" as a medieval custom of some English manors in Fragmenta Antiquitatis in 1679.
French philosopher Montesquieu referred to the practice in The Spirit of the Laws (1748), saying that it had been enforced in France over three nights.
droit du seigneur, in 1762 Voltaire, the first person to use the term, in 1762
Voltaire mentioned the practice in his Dictionnaire philosophique, published in 1764. He wrote the five-act comedy Le droit du seigneur or L'écueil du sage[28] in 1762, although it was not performed until 1779, after his death. This play was the first time the term droit du seigneur was used. In eighteenth-century France, a number of writers made other claims about the supposed power of the overlords during the Ancien Régime, such as the droit de ravage (right of ravage; providing to the lord the right to devastate fields of his own domain), and the droit de prélassement (right of lounging; it was said that a lord had the right to disembowel his serfs to warm his feet in).[30]
After their travels in Scotland in 1773, Samuel Johnson and James Boswell documented the custom of the payment of merchet, linking it with the "right of first night". They paralleled it with that custom of Borough English, suggesting that the English custom favored the youngest son because the paternity of the eldest son was doubtful.
In Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, which premiered in 1786 with a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, the comic plot revolves around the successful efforts of the young bride and groom, Figaro and Susanna, to block the efforts of the unfaithful Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna. To achieve his aim, the frustrated Count threatens to reinstitute droit du seigneur.[32] It was based on a play by Pierre Beaumarchais.
British writer Isaac D'Israeli stated the practice had been widespread across Europe in his best-selling book, The Curiosities of Literature (1823). Sir Walter Scott mentioned the custom in his historical Scottish novel, The Fair Maid of Perth (1828).
Debate in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries [ edit ]
Scholars in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries gave the historical basis of the "right of first night" a good deal of attention. Over time, the Encyclopædia Britannica and the Larousse encyclopedias dramatically changed their opinion on the topic. French writer Louis Veuillot, a champion of Catholicism, wrote a book in 1854 disputing its existence. After an exhaustive historical study, German jurist Karl Schmidt concluded in 1881 that it was a scholarly misconception. After Schmidt, many of those who believed in the existence of the custom based their opinions on anthropological studies of tribal societies, though according to WD Howarth this was a misguided argument because of the disparity between the tribal societies and medieval European society.
In The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State in 1884, socialist Friedrich Engels argued it was real and had an anthropological origin.[38]
In 1930, Scottish legal scholar Hector McKechnie concluded, based on historical evidence, that the practice had existed in Scotland in early times.
Italian scholar Paolo Mantegazza, in his 1935 book The Sexual Relations of Mankind, said that while not a law, it was most likely a binding custom.
Non-European examples [ edit ]
As late as the nineteenth century, some Kurdish chieftains in Anatolia raped Armenian brides on their wedding night (part of what was then known as the khafir or hafir system).[39][40]
In the Hawaiian Islands, marriage in the Western sense did not exist until the arrival of Christian missionaries; there was no word for husband or wife in the Hawaiian language. The privilege for chiefs was often observed, according to "Sexual Behavior in Pre Contact Hawai‘i" by Milton Diamond.[41] A young girl's parents viewed the coupling with favor.[42] If she were lucky, she might conceive his offspring and be allowed to keep it. When western ships arrived, young girls and wives eagerly coupled with sailors who, given their weapons and large ships, were thought to be gods.[43]
The term has also been used to describe the sexual exploitation of slaves in the American colonies.[44]
In modern times Zaire's president Mobutu Sese Seko appropriated the droit de cuissage when traveling around the country where local chiefs offered him virgins; this act was considered a great honor for the virgin's family.[45]
References [ edit ]
BibliographyWhen President Obama takes the stage this evening for his annual State of the Union address, a likely theme will be how the Oval Office can work toward its goals on everything from income inequality to the federal debt without relying on an obstinate, unproductive Congress. In his speech last year, Obama threatened to sidestep the legislative branch on actions to mitigate climate change, specifically, if Congress failed to provide its own solutions. This year, environmentalists are hoping to hear more details on what that plan could entail.
Some of the major goals of climate policy wonks, like putting a price on carbon pollution, can’t happen without the help of Congress, but that doesn’t mean the president’s hands are completely tied; last week, the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University released a report, coauthored by former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, that details 200 climate actions Obama could take without Congress.
So what options does the president have? Here are a few ideas:
1. Continue the crackdown on coal pollution: This month the Environmental Protection Agency released a new draft of rules that would strictly curtail emissions of carbon dioxide from new coal-fired power plants; a second set of rules that would apply to existing plants is expected later this year. Slashing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, which account for roughly a third of country’s total GHG emissions, is a major pillar of the president’s climate platform, even though a lengthy review process and probable legal challenges from the coal industry mean the rules aren’t likely to take effect before the end of his term. But in the absence of a national price on carbon or other legislation, regulations like this are the most significant way the president can promote a transition away from our dirtiest power sources.
2. Fix fracking: Today, regulations for natural gas drilling companies are mainly applied by states, but the president has an opportunity to influence the industry’s practices when it shows up to drill on federal land. The Colorado State report calls on the Bureau of Land Management to apply stringent rules for fracking on public land, like full disclosure of what’s in the fracking chemical cocktail, zero tolerance for methane leaks from wells and pipes (a major, unregulated source of highly potent greenhouse gases), and more efficient water-use practices. The president also needs to set a more concrete timeline for how long fracking, often described as a “bridge” fuel between coal and renewables, will continue to be a major source of domestic energy, said Bill Becker, the report’s coauthor and executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.
“We recognize that natural gas is a logical transition fuel,” Becker added. “But we think that [transition] should be happening a lot faster than it’s happening now.”
Somehow, Becker said, the president needs to reconcile his “all of the above” energy plan with his stated goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020; working with the fracking industry to cut methane leaks is a great place to start.
3. Buy green: The federal government is the nation’s biggest consumer, spending roughly $350 billion a year on goods and services. That’s a lot of buying power to flex in favor of the environment. In 1993, President Clinton signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to favor recycled products; in his first term Obama pushed the envelope with another executive order calling for 95 percent of new government purchasing contracts to be for products |
The deal leaves BlackBerry in the smartphone market in name only, and will likely see it devote more attention to QNX and other parts of its business.
BlackBerry will be testing autonomous driving technologies just across Lake Huron from Michigan, the heart of the American auto industry, which this month passed landmark legislation to welcome self-driving cars to its public roads.On April 3, former Morning Musume's Kago Ai updated her blog for the first time in 6 months. She announced that she and her husband are currently separated, and are working towards a divorce.
Kago revealed, "I'm sorry that I haven't been able to update my blog since last October. During that time, I had taken a break from my activities due to personal reasons. I, Kago Ai, would like to announce�that I have separated from my husband, and we are in the middle of divorce talks."�
She added, "I will make the announcement again once the divorce has been settled. For now, I ask that you please watch over us quietly as we have a young daughter." To her fans and persons concerned, she apologized, "I'm very sorry to cause troubles and worries."
SEE ALSO: Kago Ai blogs about Tsuji Nozomi's birthday party with 2-shot photos with her
Kago stated, "I grew up in the show biz, so as a woman and a mother, I would like to resume my activities, and repay everyone for their kindness." Finally, she said, "I will do my best so that everyone will support me. Please continue to cheer me on."
Kago's agency also explained, "We leave private matters up to her. What's written on her blog is everything."
Source: Oricon
Image: Cinema Today
TagsThe hate group that has often called for violence against police and descended upon Baton Rouge last weekend armed with AR-15s established a local chapter less than a day before Sunday’s shooting.
On Saturday, Local WBRZ Channel 2 News reported that the New Black Panther Party formed a chapter in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The group, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a virulently "racist" hate group for their calls to violence against police and white people as well as patently "anti-Semitic" views.
Less than 24-hour later, at least three cops have been killed and three others injured when they were ambushed responding to an emergency call. Police have killed at least one suspect, have barricaded at least one other shooter, and a third suspect is believed to be on the loose.
The three shooters, according to a police BOLO ("Be on the Lookout") to officers, appear to all be black men and are reported to be wearing all black – the East Baton Rouge Mayor cautions that the identities and physical descriptions of the individuals is not yet confirmed nor are the motives for the attack.
Last Saturday, the New Black Panther Party arrived at the frontlines of the protest in Baton Rouge over the shooting death of local resident Alton Sterling, at the hands of police officers at point blank range as they held him down. The New Black Panthers came armed with AR-15 rifles taking advantage of the Baton Rouge open carry law.
© AP Photo / Emily Schmall ‘Police Purge’: FBI Warns of Plots to Hunt Down and Kill All Cops
Baton Rouge has become a ground zero for the fight between the black community and the police over excessive use of force and police brutality. During the protests last week, police arrested 185 protesters, many for just filming the event. Police appeared to be responding to a warning that had come in from the FBI cautioning of a potential threat for a "police purge" last weekend.
Many are wondering whether the New Black Panthers forming a chapter in Baton Rouge was the cause of Sunday’s fatal shooting of police officers are whether it was merely a symptom of a broader problem.
Video of one of the Baton Rouge New Black Panthers organization seems particularly eerie in light of Sunday’s tragedy with the individual saying to the local black community: "Quit killing each other (other black men) and what they need to do is just start killing. Let them know right here in Baton Rouge. New Black Panther Party. Black Power."
Thursday, 11 November, 2010 - 11:16
By Kate Chapman of NZPA
Wellington, Nov 11 NZPA - Sheathed in a cloud of smoke, more than 100 people gathered on Parliament's front lawn this morning to promote the benefits of cannabis over its legal counterparts alcohol and tobacco.
The protest was part of the Armistice Tour -- a nationwide promotion of cannabis law reform.
Despite the presence of police and parliamentary security guards many of those present were openly smoking cannabis cigarettes.
Spokesman Dakta Green told NZPA cannabis was a more natural, healthier option than other drugs and did not fuel crime.
"You smoke a toke on a joint right now, you're not going to all of a sudden going to be overcome with the urge to go out and rob a bank or belt somebody over the head.
"There's nothing within cannabis that turns you into a criminal."
The illegality of cannabis was what attracted criminals to use and trade it, he said.
While some people used cannabis for medicinal purposes, Mr Green said he wanted to see full legalisation.
"You cannot overdose on cannabis. There are many people that have died from drinking too much alcohol, one night of heavy drinking and you can die, tobacco will almost certainly kill you.... cannabis has never killed anybody."
More than 400,000 people were part of the cannabis culture including lawyers, judges and teachers, Mr Green said.
That meant they were regular consumers of cannabis and enjoyed using it.
"You cannot keep locking us up when the science says cannabis is safer than alcohol or tobacco to the individual and to the community."
Those gathered today were asking MPs to make peace with members of the cannabis culture.
Mr Green was part of the Daktory which opened in Auckland two years ago as a place where cannabis users could meet.
He said they had been holding temporary Daktorys as they toured the country and were looking to set up a permanent one in Hawke's Bay and Wellington.
They were restricted to people aged over 18 and no alcohol or other drugs were allowed.
Mr Green will stand trial in November following his arrest during a raid on the Auckland Daktory in January.
He hopes that trial will highlight his cause and that he will be cleared.The huge storm churning through the atmosphere in Saturn's northern hemisphere overtakes itself as it encircles the planet in this true-color view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. (NASA/JPL)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It began as a bright white dot in Saturn’s northern hemisphere. Within days, the dot grew larger and stormier.
Soon the tempest enveloped the ringed planet, triggering lightning flashes thousands of times more intense than on Earth.
The international Cassini spacecraft and ground telescopes have been tracking the turbulence since last December, visible from Earth as a type of storm known as a “Great White Spot.”
“It’s still going like crazy,” said Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
>> Listen: Cassini Spacecraft Records Saturn Lightning
Such planet-wide weather disturbances are rare on Saturn, where the atmosphere is typically hazy and calm. Since 1876, astronomers have observed only five other megastorms on Saturn.
“This is a one-of-a-kind storm,” said Andrew Ingersoll, a self-described planetary weatherman at the California Institute of Technology, who was part of the discovery team.
Scientists have long studied weather on other planets. One of the solar system’s most famous landmarks is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a hurricane-like storm that has been raging for centuries. Landers and rovers to Mars’ surface often carried weather stations, dodged dust storms and sought favorable places to park during the winter.
An instrument aboard Cassini, which is orbiting Saturn, first picked up radio outbursts on Dec. 5, 2010 from a lightning storm. Around the same time, amateur astronomers peering through telescopes saw a bright point in Saturn’s northern half. Further observations confirmed it was a brewing storm.
The storm system, which occurred during the start of Saturn spring, grew in size and intensity, eventually stretching around the planet. Scientists don’t exactly know what stirs up the storms, but they think it could be linked to the change of seasons.
At the height of the storm, Cassini detected 10 lightning strikes per second. Scientists said the electrical activity emitted by the bursts were 10,000 times stronger than lightning on Earth.
The findings were described in two papers published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.
The new work represents “some of the most detailed observations so far of such a dramatic event,” Peter Read of the University of Oxford wrote in an accompanying editorial.
Saturn’s violent weather differs from Earth and Jupiter in significant ways. Lightning storms on Earth tend to be localized and short-lived, lasting only a few hours. Jupiter storms can last for days and lightning is far more common there than on Saturn.
Since entering orbit around Saturn in 2004, Cassini has witnessed 10 storms in a region of the southern hemisphere known as “storm alley” because of the high level of storm activity.
The previous storms were much weaker compared with the latest one, the first to be detected in the northern hemisphere.Rockets to Unveil New ‘Clutch City’ Uniforms
The Houston Rockets are all set to unveil their new “Pride” alternate uniforms tonight but thanks to a mockup from the ever-reliable Conrad Burry we get to have our first look at what we can expect to see right now:
Sleeved reigns once again, “CLUTCH CITY” surrounds the number in a font similar to the 1980s-era Houston Rockets logo.
The term “Clutch City” was in response to a Houston Chronicle headline in 1994 in reference to the Rockets losing consecutive games despite holding late leads in the ’94 NBA Playoffs this just over a year after the NFL’s Houston Oilers did the same in record fashion. The Rockets would go on to win that series and the NBA Championship in 1994 and followed that up with another in 1995. The name has since been applied to Houston’s other sports teams during playoff runs.Iowa State Cyclones linebacker Willie Harvey (16) celebrates after a sack during the second quarter against the Toledo Rockets on Sept. 19, 2015. (Photo: Andrew Weber/USA TODAY Sports)
AMES, Ia. — Iowa State turned out more all-Big 12 linebackers than anyone during a nine-season run between 2005 and 2013.
A.J. Klein, Jake Knott and Jeremiah George. Jesse Smith, Ace Bowen and Tim Dobbins.
They all intercepted at least one pass during their careers. Klein recorded a pick-six four times.
Six rough-and-tough linebackers, but keep reading:
Klein, Knott, George, Bowen and Dobbins played in the NFL.
Klein, Knott, George and Smith combined for five first-team selections. Knott, Bowen and Dobbins represented five second-team spots.
Ten all-conference picks. Five pros.
Linebacker U?
That’d be an exaggeration, but it was am ISU defensive strength not long ago. Oklahoma had nine linebacker all-conference picks over those nine seasons. Texas had seven.
I repeat: Iowa State had 10, but the last two years?
Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kansas and Texas Christian boasted the first-team linebackers. Texas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma State and TCU had second-team picks.
Iowa State?
Crickets.
It’s high time that changes, and Willie Harvey just might be the guy that does it.
The sophomore-to-be started eight games last season. He had 59 tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks.
He was good, but not great. Consistency was lacking. He sometimes played reckless. Everyone, including Harris, had tackling flaws.
But there were signs that he might eventually become one of Iowa State’s linebacker “elites,” as former teammate Levi Peters called Harvey. He had eight tackles and two sacks against Kansas. He had 10 tackles against Texas Tech.
“Fierce competitor,” Peters once said. “Keep your eye on Willie.”
RELATED: Kane Seeley looking good at an ISU linebacker position
This spring, the Floridian has been on a mission to live up to the rep Cyclone linebackers before him established.
He’s been a sure-handed tackler. He’s made tailbacks think twice about invading his turf. He’s had a hand on a pass or two from Joel Lanning and Zeb Noland.
“If there’s one guy that’s shown up and had as good a spring as anybody, it’s Willie Harvey,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “Willie’s end potential is as great as he wants it to be — as good as any linebacker that I’ve been able to coach in terms of natural ability and instincts.
“We need that, because it’s a position area that’s a concern right now. Willie has played at a high rate, consistently throughout spring practice.
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“I’m really proud of what he’s done.”
Read for free in Cyclone Insider Android, iPhone app
At 6-foot and 230 pounds, Harvey not only looks the part, but plays the part.
“The guy can hit,” tailback Mike Warren said last season. “When you get tackled by Willie, you know it.”
Campbell’s defensive staff is looking for as many quick defenders as they can find to combat Big 12 spread, quick-tempo offenses. Harvey fits that, too.
“He can run," linebackers coach Tyson Veidt said. "That makes him stand out for sure. He’s 230 pounds, too, so he’s doing it with a big body.”
Harvey takes all this complimentary stuff in stride, like 247sports.com once calling him the “most unsung member of the 2014 recruiting class.”
He knows all-conference teams aren’t picked from a handful of good spring practices.
"I just want to be a playmaker for my team," Harvey told reporters recently. "I've put in a lot of work that has put me above a couple of guys."
He’s not above the Kleins, Knotts, Georges, Smiths and Dobbinses of Iowa State’s linebacking world. But there’s no reason to believe he can’t sometime soon make an all-conference name for himself.
Cyclones columnist Randy Peterson has been reporting on ISU during the past five decades. Follow @RandyPete.Cars could soon feature the ultimate backseat driver, an artificial intelligence technology that aims to make roadways safer by telling you when your mind is wandering.
In doing so, the Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi is taking autonomous vehicles in an entirely new direction, one that aims to improve the driver, Business Wire reports.
"Not only does this smart automation offer more safety and the possibility of an enhanced experience for the de-stressed driver, but it can also reduce road congestion and benefit the environment," Matthew Beecham, an analyst for the automotive research agency QUBE, said of car automation generally in a news release.
Mitsubishi calls the technology "deep learning," and it monitors the driver's behavior over time. The technology watches for patterns of normal, alert driving by gathering real-time data about the driver's steering, facial position, and even heart rate. When a driver turns unexpectedly or acts erratically, the system can detect it as the effect of distraction. This activates an alarm system, so the driver can address the problem promptly, if possible.
That is the idea, anyway, and Mitsubishi plans to present the new technology at the Tokyo Motor Show Thursday. The company said in a news release it plans to begin selling cars that include it in 2019.
Mitsubishi hits a large target with distracted driving. The 2013 count for deaths from distracted driving accidents was 3,154, according to US Department of Transportation data. That same year, distracted driving contributed to 10 percent of fatal crashes and 16 percent of all crashes.
"Distracted driving kills, there is no excuse for it, and it must stop,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a statement about a campaign in April to raise awareness of laws against texting while driving.
The distracted driving problem hits close to home for the Japanese carmaker, as sleepy drivers contributed to nearly 18 percent of crashes in Tokyo in 2014, and another 14 percent were caused by drivers whose minds were roaming, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
Road deaths from distracted driving are seen as highly preventable, so the US Department of Transportation runs a website, distraction.gov, specifically dedicated to the issue. The website features resources and education for teen drivers, parents, teachers, and companies. While education about the possible fines and dangers of driving distracted doubtless persuades some, no technology has yet been employed specifically to prevent crashes. Seat belts and airbags, after all, protect people as the crashes are happening.
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The detection technology responds to a general interest in advanced driver assistance systems, which are expected to serve a $9 billion market by 2025, Mitsubishi said in a press release, citing research by Fuji Chimera Research Institute, Inc. Mitsubishi intends to continue developing the technology to use in fully-automated vehicles, so although Tesla is pushing the envelope, working with cutting-edge artificial intelligence to teach cars piece by piece how to drive themselves, Mitsubishi can employ this in the short-term.
"It's an exciting time for engineers," Mr. Beecham said in a release. "The driving experience faces unprecedented change being wrought by these advanced new technologies."I never realized why I gained the weight in the first place.
Weight was never a huge issue for me. When I was younger, I wore somewhere between a 12 and a 14—-not too big, not too small. I had the normal teenage concerns about my body (like wondering when my cleavage would come in), but nothing that made me feel uncomfortable in my own skin.
That is, until turned 14.
In high school, the boobs came in, followed by some hips and a nice little butt. However, I wasn't moved one way or another by this development since; at that age, I was more concerned with Video Music Box than being a 'video vixen' or chasing boys. But while I was busy being the child I was, the men in my neighborhood began getting busy with fantasies of the woman they felt my newfound body made me to be.
It started off subtle at first. Lingering stares and comments under the breath that you couldn't quite make out. I couldn't understand why these men were speaking to me that way. I may have had breasts and hips, but I still looked like a child. I tried to hide my budding womanlyness under oversized baggy clothes, but that didn't work. After I turned 16, it got unbearable/ I literally had men grab me, pull at me, hiss and whistle at me. I felt like everyone knew I had breasts and hips and thighs, everyone knew I was a woman. But I didn't want to be a woman. I hated it, I hated the men and I hated me.
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I longed for a way to fade into the background. One day the answer came to me like an epiphany: food. See, those lustful men didn't have eyes for the chubbier ladies. They were pleasant with them, laughed and joked with them, but those girls were spared from the constant hissing and cat calls. They became my idols and I wanted to be them. So I ate. And ate and ate. I didn't even realize that food became my new baggy shirt, until one day on a break from college one of my childhood male friends stopped me in the street and said "What happened to you? You got big!"
Victory.
I was finally free. I was just another girl walking down the street and I loved it. For years this was bliss, until I started trying to date more and realized that I wasn't getting any attention from men. Confused? Me too. I spent so many years avoiding the male gaze, but now as the grown woman my younger self dreaded becoming, I wanted it. But now I had a new problem: all the men I want to pay attention to me don't want the big girl, they want the slim woman, and that's no longer me. Oh the irony.
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I longed for a way to fade into the background. One day the answer came to me like an epiphany: food.
So what do you do when you think you're a good woman, who deserves a good man, but they think you're unworthy because of your weight…you eat your sorrows away. At least that's what I did.
It became such a vicious cycle, mainly because I never fully realized why I gained the weight in the first place. I didn't realize how deep my self hate went. I was a young girl who hated herself and now I was becoming a woman who hated herself. Finally, I sat in my apartment one day and really had a talk with myself about my weight. Not about portion control or carb counting, but about my emotional weight. I realized that the food was my way of physically stuffing down of all the emotions I felt over being sexualized and treated like a piece of meat by men as a child. I didn't know that the issue wasn't me and my womanlyness, but the men and their lack of respect for my body. I bore their cross as a burden and allowed it to weigh me down in more ways than one.
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I now understand where my struggle with weight comes from and even though getting it off is a day-by-day process, I know that with every pound I work to lose, another piece of that emotional weight I've been carrying comes off as well. I'm learning to love myself despite my flaws. I've decided that I no longer want food to be my baggy shirt and I'm shedding that for good. My happiness is no longer about food or men; it's about me and finally learning to love my body for what it is. A Heaven-sent, honorable and worthy vessel of life and of love.The body of a woman.
—As told to Danielle PointdujourSeabin founders Pete Ceglinski and Andrew Turton say their automated rubbish bin invention is designed to clean up marinas and reduce pollution.
An Australian invention to reduce marine pollution is set to go global after becoming a viral sensation, attracting more than 120 million views online.
The unique ocean-cleaning technology, dubbed "Seabin", has raised more than $300,000 in two months during a crowdfunding campaign.
After becoming frustrated at the amount of rubbish floating around in the ocean, surfers Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski quit their jobs to come up with a sustainable solution.
They designed an automated rubbish bin with an electric pump for marina docks that many hope could help reduce ocean pollution.
I've only just started sleeping. We have absolutely been blown away, we knew it was going to be big but we never expected it to go off in such a way. Inventor Pete Ceglinski
With the help of WA seed investors Shark Mitigation Systems, the duo designed a prototype of the bin in Perth before taking it to market in Mallorca in Spain, a marina capital of Europe.
When the ABC first spoke with Mr Ceglinski in late December the crowdfunding campaign was "ticking along slowly" and had raised $50,000.
Shortly after the story was published, the invention's promo video went from 10 million hits to globally viral.
The Seabin video has been re-posted on dozens of international websites, racking up more than 30 million views on the site Cooler Magazine alone.
Mr Ceglinski said the worldwide response to the Seabin had been overwhelming.
"It's been absolutely amazing," he said.
"It was really slow for about three-and-a-half weeks or so and then my telephone started going crazy.
"We started to make $20,000 a day, and then all of sudden the video went viral, it was incredible.
"I was getting about four emails every minute, the Discovery Channel is coming over from America at the end of the month and CNN ran the story."
He said the attention had at first been overwhelming.
"It's freaked both of us out, … it's been a real eye-opener for two guys that have come from nothing," Mr Ceglinski said.
"I've been in the office 22 hours a day, it's been our life for the last 45 days.
"I think probably every marina in the world somehow called or emailed me. People from Japan, Korea, Maldives, Bora Bora. People from marinas without oceans even, just on lakes in eastern Europe.
"I've only just started sleeping. We have absolutely been blown away, we knew it was going to be big but we never expected it to go off in such a way."
The Seabin Project has partnered with New York environmental group Parley for the Oceans, who provide plastic collected from the ocean for consumer products.
The Seabins will use 70 to 80 per cent ocean plastic in their construction.
Hawaiian environmental group Sustainable Coastlines and UK health author David Wolfe have also both publicly supported the project.
Mr Ceglinski said the first priority was to send out 5,000 rewards to everybody that contributed to the crowdfunding campaign.
The duo is in negotiations with a French manufacturer that has factories in Canada and Perth, with a global distribution network.
Mr Ceglinski said they were hoping to sign the contract by the end of the month and sell to the market at the end of year.
But he said there would be considerable product testing first.
"We don't want to want have any problems and we need to iron out all the bugs, which I think is going to take three months of solid testing around Europe," he said.
The team engaged a Madrid-based marine scientist after concerns were raised about potential impact on micro-organisms.
"We would like to have some scientific data and facts behind us, and it's also a good opportunity to study to impacts of the Seabin and how much we can do with it," he said.
"We also have some fish-deterrent technology we are starting to incorporate."
Despite the international attention, Mr Ceglinski said he was yet to make a living from the invention.
"The money still needs to clear and then we can pay ourselves a small wage to pay the rent, but most of it is all going to production fees, patenting and lawyers," he said.
"It's going to get easier now, [but] we almost hit rock bottom."Jackson brothers
Four homeschooled brothers pleaded guilty Thursday to molesting their younger sister from the time she was 4 years old until she was almost 15 – and their parents and two other brothers still face charges related to the case.
The oldest brother confessed in December 2012 to molesting the girl after becoming a born-again Christian, and a pastor from the Baptist church in Wake Forest, North Carolina, contacted authorities the following day.
“He confided in his pastor and his pastor told him that was wrong and not the way normal families are,” said Perquimans County Sheriff Eric Tilley.
Eric Jackson, then 25, told authorities that he and all five of his brothers had sexually abused their younger sister for a decade, and authorities say their parents knew but did nothing to stop the abuse.
An elder at Hope Baptist Church, which Jackson and another brother attended, compared the pattern of abuse to other “horrible” sins such as adultery and homosexuality.
“If Jesus had not saved Eric, perhaps the devastating culture of this family could have continued, even to more generations,” wrote elder Scott Brown. “But the gospel transforms and shines light in dark places. Jesus was the source of light that caused things to be brought into the light.”
Eight of the family’s 11 members have been indicted in the case — which bears similarities to newly revealed claims that reality TV stars Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar may have covered up their eldest son’s molestation of his sisters and other girls.
The victim in the Jackson case told investigators that she believed she would go to hell if she told anyone about the assaults, which she said took place at least twice a week.
Eric Jackson and the second-oldest brother, Matthew Jackson, each pleaded guilty to first-degree sex offense and were sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison.
The brothers tearfully begged for the victim’s forgiveness during the court hearing, and they said they would do whatever God called them to do in hope of making the situation right.
“Forgiveness is not mine to give – it’s God’s,” their sister said. “You need to take it up with Him.”
Two other brothers, Nathaniel and Benjamin Jackson, each pleaded guilty to multiple counts of incest and were sentenced to up to 24 months in prison, followed by 36 months on probation.
The case against a fifth brother, Jon Marc Jackson, was delayed until July because his attorneys believe the judge had a conflict of interest, but prosecutors said he also will plead guilty in the case.
Aaron Jackson declined a plea agreement and will stand trial next year.
The parents, John and Nita Jackson, were charged with child neglect, child abuse, and accessory to sexual abuse and will remain jailed until their next court hearing in August.
The girl told authorities her mother had witnessed at least one assault and walked away.
After the eldest brother — who was the first to abuse his sister — contacted authorities, the parents fled with the victim to Colorado.
But the family was tracked down, and the girl was taken into custody by the Department of Human Services and confirmed the confessed claims of her brothers.
Tilley, the sheriff, said the family was “bizarre” and the father held “anti-government” and “anti-school” beliefs.
The eldest brother had difficulty writing his own name when he met with investigators.
“The children were home schooled with very limited education,” Tilley said. “They were very private and the whole yard has a fence around it — like a little compound. They’re very different.”
Watch this video report posted online by WAVY-TV:The Associated Press (AP) reports an alarming rise in convictions under hate speech laws in Russia. Many commenters on social media are imprisoned for inciting hatred after criticizing Russian policy, including the annexation of Crimea. The Kremlin is reluctant to share exact numbers when it comes to hate speech convictions, but AP claims there have been at least 233 people convicted of hate speech in Russia in the last year, up from 92 in 2010. At least 54 people have been imprisoned for hate speech in the last year, while others may have received lighter sentences.
The vagueness of the law gives investigators, prosecutors and judges a large degree of freedom to determine what constitutes hate speech. A law from 2002 outlaws extremism, which includes acts that undermine the security of the nation as well as acts which glorify terrorism or racism. While violent acts are covered by the law against extremism, non-violent acts like hate speech are considered extremism as well.
In 2014, the same year Russia annexed Crimea, Putin signed into law multiple amendments which tightened the restrictions against extremism. One amendment increased the penalty for non-violent acts of extremism, such as hate speech. The other amendment criminalized speech which undermines Russia’s territorial integrity, which makes it illegal to deny Russia’s claim on Crimea.
Andrie Bubeyev was one man who was convicted of hate speech. Bubeyev shared articles, photos and videos from Ukrainian nationalist groups on the Russian social media site VKontakte. The content was critical of Russia, including videos which referred to Russia as a fascist aggressor. After being brought to trial, Bubeyev pleaded guilty to inciting hatred against Russians and was sentenced to a year in prison. Weeks after that conviction, Bubeyev was charged with undermining Russia’s territorial integrity because he shared an article titled “Crimea is Ukraine.”
Bubeyev was surprised to be charged over his shares on social media. The content on his account was not viewable by the general public, but could only be seen by 12 friends because of his privacy settings. Bubeyev’s lawyer suggests that Russian authorities could only have become aware of his posts because they were tipped off by VKontakte.
Human rights groups in the country report that about half of all convictions for online hate speech are related to posts on VKontakte, and that the site may be more cooperative with Russian police than foreign-owned social media. VKontakte founder Pavel Durov sold the site and left the country in 2014, after coming under pressure from Russian police to share the personal details of users who were connected to a protest group in the Ukraine. VKontakte is now controlled by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who is said to be close to Putin.
Has Russia gone too far in censoring speech, or is it just taking reasonable actions to deal with extremism? Leave your comments below.
Share Have a tip for us? Awesome! Shoot us an email at [email protected] and we'll take a look!A Calgary group is pushing the city to ban shark fin soup, a move Toronto’s city council made on Tuesday.
Activists are trying to get city hall to ban shark fin soup from Calgary restaurants. ((CBC)) Advocates with Shark Fin Free Calgary are asking council to look at banning the delicacy in restaurants, which they say is inhumane and unsustainable.
"You know you’re having all these sharks killed just for their fins. And sharks are very important to the ecosystems. It’s an environmental catastrophe just for a bowl of soup," said group spokeswoman Tamara Chik.
"It’s done by an act called ‘shark finning’ where sharks are caught and their fins are cut off, bodies are discarded back to the ocean and they're still alive," she said.
According to Chik’s group about 30 Calgary restaurants serve the soup — which is seen as a status-symbol — including Silver Dragon in Chinatown.
The manager declined to be interviewed, but he said the $28-a-bowl soup is a popular item. It is a staple at weddings.
Marcus Cheug, who has eaten shark fin soup on a few occasions, said he has mixed feelings about the debate.
"I think it’s a real culture shock to … Chinese people," he said. "For Chinese culture eating fish fins has a really long history," he said.
Shark Fin Free Calgary has started a petition asking city council to impose a ban on the soup.
In Toronto councillors voted 38 to 4 in favour of a ban.On Wednesday, conservative icon and talk radio legend Rush Limbaugh said “Fox News is not considered the conservative network that it used to be” to many viewers in the heartland.
On his daily radio program, Limbaugh said “he has found when talking to people, including media people, in the east coast” and places like Washington, Boston, and South Florida that “virtually everybody thinks of Fox News as a conservative network.”
Limbaugh said he travels to Missouri for Christmas and the holidays and goes on golf trips all over the country and, “I’m here to tell you Fox News is not considered the conservative network that is used to be.”
He said he is “not trying to start anything up” and added that “when you hear the media” who “are all leftists” talk about Fox News, “it may as well be the John Birch Society as far as they’re concerned” or “whatever evil right-wing organization” and “that’s why they hate it.”
“That’s what they think it is,” he said the day after Fox News mocked and taunted GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump in a press release and compelled him to skip Thursday’s debate.
But Limbaugh said that, “You go out to the heartland of this country, and it’s not so much.”
“What would a conservative network be doing giving time to Michael Moore? Why would New York Times and Washington Post reporters be on the air to give opinions on a conservative network?” Limbaugh asked. “This is what peope are saying out there… that I hear.”
He said that Fox News’s identity is still “heavily tilted to news and analysis that you don’t get anywhere else,” but “I’m just telling you people’s perceptions as they share them with me.”
He blasted the mainstream media who view “everything through their their own prism of being in the Northeast and part of the liberal power structure that determines everything–social, political structure in that part of the country”—for thinking that Fox News is “just embarrassing” and “so right wing” when so many people in Middle America realize that Fox is moving more to the center. He said the mainstream media’s false perception of Fox News is “more evidence of the media being out of touch and not really knowing what people say,” especially in Iowa.
Limbaugh blasted the divide between elected officials/media elite and regular Americans and cited immigration as one of the main points of division.
In 2013, Limbaugh said it was “quite telling” that Fox News did not want him to discuss his opposition to the Gang of Eight’s comprehensive amnesty legislation.
“Now I told the people at Fox that I wanted to talk about this today three or four times and they wouldn’t do it,” Limbaugh said then. “They were not interested in bringing this subject up. I wanted to talk about this in relationship to the current state of the Republican party and they wouldn’t do it.”
As Breitbart News reported, Limbaugh said he “had to bring [the amnesty issue] up myself to whatever extent I did, and that by the way, is quite telling to me.”If you keep half an eye on fashion news, there's no way you've missed the sudden and explosive rise of Vetements. The Parisian "design collective" presented its first collection for fall 2014, making it very, very new.
Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
And yet, it's everywhere: covered in Vogue, worn by street style stars like Chiara Ferragni and Miroslava Duma, stocked everywhere from Net-a-Porter to Nordstrom (really!), and an LVMH Prize finalist. Vetements' leader, Demna Gvasalia, was named Balenciaga's creative director after Alexander Wang stepped down; he debuts his first collection Sunday, March 6th. The fashion industry is all in — but what, exactly, is Vetements?
First things first: Vetements is pronounced vet-MAHN and it's French for "clothes." Very straightforward. A little less clear: Who is actually behind |
How about an option in the holiday settings to automatically offer a contract extension to any member of your backroom team is approached by another club.~ by BarsideAdditional bonuses such as an assists bonus, a man of the match bonus, etc.~ by PineappleBlender"Pay as you Play" contracts for players like Hargreaves sound like a good idea.~ by ShevchenkoRemove players/agents ability to see your wage budget and demand wages and fees relative to it.~ by Govnar1Offer players incentive for not just scoring goals, but also for tackles, crosses, passes, etc or even overall rating at the end of the season.~ by Craig HarrisonThe dugouts are stretching across 2/3rds of the pitch and 5 or 7 subs sitting a mile apart from each other. They should be smaller and the subs closer together; likewise have the physio sitting in there for when he's needed, and when a player is stretchered off, have him actually get stretchered off (by the shortest possible route!!). Its a bit of a farce when a player gets a broken leg and walks off ahead of the physio.Also the ball goes through the stand when it's cleared; it should bounce around or something within the stadium, to make it feel more'solid' and realistic.~ by brightonrockWhen I change to a saved formation during a match, all the opposition settings and shouts are reset. Fix that, please.~ by Blinkenlights FaxloreAbility to choose penalty taker once a pk is awarded.~ by sixsecondsleftIntroduce ball boys, as it’s annoying having to watch your player run 20-30 yards to fetch the ball.~ by J-ROSEOr just make the ball teleport to the corner spot when it goes out. Also cut the delay when getting booked (ref-player strolling) and in case of injury (physio delays).~ by PorthosLower league stadiums with seats only on 1 side of the pitch.~ by b_ravenPace and acceleration are too overpowered.~ by CoentraoSet up the Widgets where you want. Then hit the TAB key or something to hide them all automatically. Hit the key again and they come back up again.~ by Eugene TysonMake changes in pressing dynamics and implement various types of pressing (such as classic hunting pack, one on one pressing (or mirror formation), space flooding, single pivot pressing, brick/variable pivot hybrids...). Improve/introduce dynamic repositioning of players according to ball position. This is necessary to enhance effectiveness of pressing.~ by Govnar1Reduce excessive precision of long passes. Only the best passers (Scholes, Carrick, Xavi, Beckham etc) should find targets consistently over 25+ yards.~ by Govnar1, CityAndColourImplement teams losing shape (formation disintegration) toward half time and/or full time as a result of exhaustion or lack of discipline.~ by Govnar1In-Game Shouts. I'd like the opportunity to communicate with players or team during a match, much like the pre match/half time team talk.~ by WeezerI'd love to see FM go back to the previous method of scouting. The current system and the whole "one day report" really irks me. I've found it better to send scouts out to any country other than ones they have "full" knowledge of.~ by looknohandsScouting is definitely overpowered at the moment in my opinion. We get to see player attributes way too fast and they are always 100% accurate regardless of scout used. Not even the best scouts should be able to give such an accurate picture of players ability and certainly not on such a short notice. This should be much more hit and miss, even for best scouts out there. Also please implement option to completely hide players attributes.~ by Govnar1Competition scouting is the way forward.~ by BarsideYou could instruct your scouts and/or youth academy to search for players and develop players with the traits that you want: attributes and preferred moves. noikeeeA way to edit scouting filter without removing the assignment and recreating a new one.~ by Eugene TysonWhen setting scout assignments, can we have "Continent" options, so I can just set a scout to Asia or Africa, as opposed to having to set them to portions of the continent? Or, can we set a time scale ourselves, and stack up assignments?~ by Dave CWould be nice if I could choose to not get these mass scouting reports. Maybe instead there could be some kind of list with recent scout reports which I could look into when ever I want to.~ by kizaruGive an option to automatically follow up regional scouting reports with a specific scout. I send random scouts out to areas but I want my best PA scout to verify how good/bad a player truly is.~ by joannes3000Drop or redesign the training level bars. In all the years they've been in the game, no one has been able to figure out just what the heck, if anything, they're supposed to represent.~ by Blinkenlights FaxloreDisplay more about manager's playing style on his profile based on TC concepts.~ by noikeeeA staff shortlist.~ by StamThe chairman i would like to be able to see a profile for a chairman, that shows his weath,bio on him,age ect. This is just a small feature. I'd also like to see a list of people looking to buy buy clubs.~ by toon army 06What about adding a Spoken Language(s) area for the manager?~ by jj1974I’d love to see Maps implemented into FM.In the build up screen before the match it would be really cool to see the location of the two teams, especially in Europe. It gives you the distance when playing in Europe but would love there to be a map with each team 'Pinned' where they are in the world. I like to know where I'm playing and when managing abroad I haven't really got a clue when playing obscure teams in Eastern Europe.~ by strettsThere could be a "Statistics corner" or something where one could enter to look for stats. The point is that I have always been missing the opportunity to see these "total stats" for my club or competition, and have had to satisfy with the records.~ by CalvincitoCan we have a trophy cabinet? Display and show off all the things your club has won, and a personal one to show the things you've won in the game?~ by Marc KempYou should have a job interview so you could usurp slightly more prestigious candidates by answering questions about your ambition for the club, the ways in which you intend to carry out your job, your ruthlessness in removing dead wood or loyalty to players etc. One board may require you to keep certain players on the wage bill far beyond their sell by date or another may want you to play an attacking brand of football whether you are successful on the scoresheet or not. Have the option to bring your staff from the team you’ll be leaving.~ by Jack27, Magnakai Haaskivi, Mr.BojanglesThere could be a board meeting every 6 months or so where you are asked to make yourself accountable for the performance of the team and other issues whilst maybe getting the chance to ask questions of your own.~ by S2008So far, all we have is "Feels the two of you could become good friends". How about we become good friends and I can call on you when I want to sign a player that has worked under you and I can ask you what his character is like before signing him? And then can you introduce me to an agent friend of yours so I can offload a "duffer" or sign my next striker? Or even ask you tips on how you beat a certain opponent, etc.~ by RorysRocketThrowThere are so many questions that don't have suitable answers and being repetitively asked the same things over and over is just plain annoying. Either revamp it so it's not long an annoying chore or otherwise delete it.~ by NiebiescyAllow managers to ask for specific stadium improvements such as undersoil heating, a roof, improving the capacity by X thousand seats.~ by PineappleBlenderWhy give me the option to request feeder clubs when it is obvious that the chance of actually forming a link is close to zero? Just grey the damn thing out until the board actually have real options.~ by BiggusDIn FM handheld, when you tell a player that they have to wait for their turn in the first team, the fans give their opinion, as do the board. this should be brought into the PC version.~ by coopie54When I have a news item about disciplining a player due to them being sent off in the last game, it'd be easier for there to be a box at the bottom of that news ietm telling me if and when they were last disciplined and what for, and how many cards they have received this season.~ by coopie54Improve the modeling of sponsorships. As it stands the rate of increase can be extremely slow. You can the biggest club in the world yet rake in a pathetic level of sponsorship money.~ by PineappleBlenderAllow managers to suggest that loans are paid off when you have sufficient funds.~ by PineappleBlenderAdministration & being in debt needs to be a much bigger deal than it currently is. Wage slashing, selling players cheaply, a real risk of panic. It's a huge deal in real life, but in FM it doesn't mean too much.~ by PineappleBlenderFor small teams or teams in debt to ask fans for cash donations (like Rangers FC's fans idea "Rangers Fighting Fund").~ by Jake DicksonMore features in the editor that will allow us to tailor the games "difficulty" i.e. things like the impact of morale, fitness, newgen quality, AI transfer aggressiveness. Basically anything that allows the user to tweak some of the inner workings so they can make their databases as hard or as easy as allowable.~ by Erimus1876Trends in tactics. If a team proves to be very successful with a certain tactic for seasons, then that tactic should become more popular and more AI managers should try to play similar. And it would be even more interesting if AI managers could copy your extremely successful tactics and eventually use your own tactics against you.~ by kizaruSeparate defensive and attacking formations (+ ideally implement fully dynamic formations).~ by Govnar1Add or Remove certain features you don’t want or set the ratio of what you do want within the game. E.g. Have press conferences set to 1 a month. Agents? Don’t like these, remove the feature. Maybe have options named so if people choose 'complete' then it'll be the complete game, other options would remove certain features based on their name.~ by!Steve1977Allow us to 'tag' certain clubs. So during holiday if a vacancy comes available either the game stops or the job is automatically apllied for.~ by jozza800Being able to increase the limit on how many items remain in your news from 225 would be a very welcome option. Possibly make it an option in the Preferences section?~ by PineappleBlenderI'd also like dynamic rivalries. As clubs evolve, change leagues, play in international competitions, etc, rivalries can grow or diminish.~ by cerudHow about travel having an affect on fatigue so that draws for competitions can actually have some sort of relevance e.g. players are more fatigued on the weekend after a journey to Russia in the week than they would be if the game was in France.~ by Johnson993Introduce a crossing-related PPM, something like "puts ball into box often" that would cause the player to try crosses regardless of his passing setting.~ by Chochip, 5uare2Yearly list of the worlds biggest talents not based on Potential ability, that would be spoilerific, but based on a mix of reputation, ability and age. It would be really great if this list would be saved like other awards, so you can see who makes it and not.~ by MatshitMake FM 13 64 bit, and give it proper support for multi-core processors.~ by thomitLess emphisis on results for managers of lower league clubs. More onto financial stability, long term building for future.~ by Matt ScratchleyYouth Academies in game like on FMOnline. Any country you like, 1 to 5 stars and only if its financially stable.~ by Sam Tiago CartwrightA scenario mode would be good. Adds a bit of variety to the game. Starting with a relegation based team under a transfer embargo with there star player injured etc.~ by Sam Tiago CartwrightThat sums up all interesting suggestions people posted in our website, the SI forums and our facebook pages. I tried to organize everything into categories, but please keep in the mind the order is random. If you spot any errors or you feel a suggestion should be removed from the list, feel free to comment.I will be constantly updating this article until the first official FM13 announcement gets out, so most likely the feature requests will get populated in the next couple of months.A big “” to everyone who contributed to this list.Bent is expected at Fulham for a medical after Martin Jol made a late bid to hijack the England international's move to Crystal Palace.
The £24 million forward had seemed likely to join Palace late on Wednesday but Fulham have pounced and are now poised to end their protracted pursuit by taking him to Craven Cottage.
Bent's move will be for the season and Fulham are expected to pay a substantial loan fee, and the majority of his £65,000 a week wages, if the deal goes go through.
The 29 year-old has endured a difficult 12 months at Villa Park under manager Paul Lambert and was sidelined for the majority of last season, largely due to the emergence of Christian Benteke.
He was also exiled from training with the first-team squad when he returned for pre-season and told he would not feature in Lambert's plans.
Newcastle and Fulham have both struggled to meet Villa's strict asking price - around £6 million - and Palace were confident of sealing an ambitious loan deal.
But Jol has moved swiftly for Bent and is also hopeful of beating QPR to the £3 million signing of Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Scott Parker.With a record A-League crowd of 60,000-plus set to pour into the Olympic venue for the weekend clash, the chance to generate massive attendances and gate takings in excess of $500,000 for one match – which could potentially be shared by the clubs – is proving a temping incentive as what is emerging as one of world football’s most heated contests continues to evolve.
Though there is little love lost between the Wanderers and Sky Blues hierarchies, the lucrative prospect of an annual bonanza at ANZ Stadium, to go along with one game between the teams at Moore Park and another at the soon-to-be rebuilt and rebranded Western Sydney Stadium has concentrated the minds of the not-so-friendly neighbours.
As things stand, with the former Pirtek Stadium set to undergo a three-year facelift in its transformation into a 30,000 capacity rectangular venue, ANZ is already the venue for five Wanderers games this season.
That includes two derbies expected to generate well over 100,000 in attendances between them and gate takings of close to $1 million.
This season's other clash at the Sydney Football Stadium will likely to be a 40,000 sell-out.
The current agreement between the Wanderers and ANZ to stage derbies will continue until their new home ground is back on line in 2019.
By then it’s thought a deal may already be in place to continue to capitalise on the city’s most cavernous venue.
It’s believed that although ANZ will undergo renovations of its own, starting in 2019, it will still be capable of hosting derbies with its current 83,000 capacity cut by around 30,000. When work is completed it will have a capacity of 75,000.
While members of both clubs have in the past resisted leaving their traditional homes for ANZ, the carnival-like atmosphere which awaits both teams on Saturday night in an audience which will be two-thirds Wanderers fans is expected to change some long-held perceptions.
The rationale from ANZ chefs is that staging an annual derby will only grow the rivalry between clubs by making the game accessible to a wider spectrum of fans.
To put that into perspective, the 60,000-plus gate expected on Saturday is over three times Wanderers’ previous record gate at Pirtek stadium of 19,627 in last season’s derby against Sydney.Thursday on CBSN, the live streaming video news channel for CBS News, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) compared President Barack Obama’s inaction in Syria’s civil war and the resulting death toll to the Rwandan genocide that was ignored by then-President Bill Clinton.
When asked what sort of stain the humanitarian crisis in Syria is on this administration, Graham said, “It will be the first sentence in Obama’s foreign policy resume. Rwanda was a stain on president Clinton’s presidency. He acknowledged it and regretted it. Aleppo is the symbol of a greater problem. What president Obama has done is empowered some of the most tyrannical regimes in the world with abilities they didn’t have when he came into power. They are stronger. They are more aggressive. His legacy is unleashing the forces of hell.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNENFifty years of data show that Democrat policies harm American blacks. All the promises of the post-Civil Rights era have failed. Worse, America’s Democrat leadership, especially its black Democrat leadership, no longer makes even a pretense of serving the needs of the American Black community.
Democrat elites, both white and black, are just like the European Union’s elites: serving themselves — their values and their bank accounts — without no regard for the people they ostensibly represent. Both the Democrats and the EU leadership ride roughshod over ordinary people’s values and ignore their needs. It’s high time, therefore, for American Blacks to have their own Brexit moment — call it a “Blexit” if you will — and turn their backs on the Democrat Party that has served them so badly.
In 1964, you had to give the Democrats credit for adaptability: After spending the late 1950s and early 1960s fighting desperately against the Civil Rights Movement, once it was a done deal they surveyed the landscape and realized that they could use the movement to their advantage. By attaching African Americans firmly to the government teat, Democrats figured that they could rely on a pacified black voting bloc to achieve perpetual political power. Indeed, LBJ is alleged to have made the politically incorrect boast that the Civil Rights act ensured that “I’ll have those n*****s voting Democrat for two-hundred years.”
Sadly, the Great Society legislation that LBJ and his Democrats instituted, while it has ensured those reliable black votes, has continued an American pattern: Every bad thing that has happened to blacks in America has been the result of government forces. Slavery lasted because the Southern legal system brutally supported it. Likewise, the Jim Crow era lasted as long and as virulently as it did because, again, the Southern legal system brutally supported it.
It’s almost certain that, without rigorously enforced laws separating facilities, criminalizing “miscegenation,” and foreclosing education and work opportunities, the free market would have improved black lives in the South. As Milton Friedman explained, in Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition, the free flow of wealth, without legislation and regulation impeding non-violent, non-fraudulent conduct, is the single best and fastest way to end just about any type of discrimination:
It is a striking historical fact that the development of capitalism has been accompanied by a major reduction in the extent to which particular religious, racial, or social groups have operated under special handicaps in respect of their economic activities; have, as the saying goes, been discriminated against. [snip] We have already seen how a free market separates economic efficiency from irrelevant characteristics. As noted in chapter i, the purchaser of bread does not know whether it was made from wheat grown by a white man or a Negro, by a Christian or a Jew. In consequence, the producer of wheat is in a position to use resources as effectively as he can, regardless of what the attitudes of the community may be toward the color, the religion, or other characteristics of the people he hires. (108-109)
Indeed, as Friedman cogently explains, discrimination is economically harmful conduct. In a free society, those pursuing their self-interest will inevitably realize that they must abandon it in order to profit:
The man who exercises discrimination pays a price for doing so. He is, as it were, “buying” what he regards as a “product.” It is hard to see that discrimination can have any meaning other than a “taste” of others that one does not share. We do not regard it as “discrimination” — or at least not in the same invidious sense — if an individual is willing to pay a higher price to listen to one singer than to another, although we do if he is willing to pay a higher price to have services rendered to him by a person of one color than by a person of another. The difference between the two cases is that in the one case we share the taste, and in the other we do not. (110)
Without the Southern government’s institutionalizing discrimination, it’s likely that ordinary people in the South would in a reasonable time have dropped segregation and discrimination in favor of free market profit. No wonder that Frederick Douglass, in the wake of the Civil War, pleaded desperately for blacks to be left alone, free from any government intrusion, whether blatantly harmful or ostensibly helpful:
“What shall we do with the Negro?” I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are wormeaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! I am not for tying or fastening them on the tree in any way, except by nature’s plan, and if they will not stay there, let them fall. And if the Negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone!
The logical thing when the federal government finally destroyed Jim Crow laws would have been to leave blacks alone so that they could freely pursue their economic and personal self-interests.
After all, by the early 1960s, and despite the pernicious effects of discriminatory legislation, the combination of a booming national economy and the stability of the black family meant that American blacks were slowly but steadily ascending the economic ladder:
The black poverty rate had been cut nearly in half between 1940 and 1960. In various skilled trades during the period of 1936-59, the incomes of blacks relative to whites had more than doubled. Further, the representation of blacks in professional and other high-level occupations grew more quickly during the five years preceding the launch of the War on Poverty than during the five years thereafter. [snip] In the mid-1960s, the out-of-wedlock birth rate was scarcely 3% for whites, 7.7% for Americans overall, and 24.5% among blacks. [snip] Throughout the epoch of slavery and into the early decades of the twentieth century, most black children grew up in two-parent households.
 Post-Civil War studies revealed that most black couples in their forties had been together for at least twenty years. In southern urban areas around 1880, nearly three-fourths of black households were husband-or father-present; in southern rural settings, the figure approached 86%. As of 1940, the illegitimacy rate among blacks nationwide was approximately 15%—scarcely one-fifth of the current figure.
 As late as 1950, black women were more likely to be married than white women, and only 9% of black families with children were headed by a single parent.
In sum, blacks were less well-situated than whites in the early 1960s, but their economic prospects were improving and their family situations were stable. This last point was especially important because we know with certainty that a two-parent family, meaning a married man and woman, is the best indicator of a child’s success, with single mothers being a remarkably reliable road to child poverty. Black lives in the early 1960s were by no means as good as they should have been, but they showed every sign of getting better.
With that positive trajectory, it’s likely that American blacks, if left alone would have followed every other demographic group in America toachieve some level of economic success, as well as integration into the greater society. The federal government’s only job should have been as a policeman to ensure that institutions were not systematically discriminating against blacks. The Democrats, however, under LBJ’s guidance went the opposite way, inserting the government into every aspect of black lives. The result is that, in the last 50 years, Democrats have once again subjected blacks to laws and regulations that eat away at their freedom, economic security, safety, and very lives.
In his eye-opening Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America, John McWhorter vividly describes one of the first results of the Great Society legislation: Hordes of idealistic young Democrats (aka, useful idiots) fanned out in black slums and earnestly assured employed black fathers that they should stop working and let the government provide welfare, all as a sort of quid pro quo for forced black labor that ended more than 100 years before. This policy was the stake driven into the heart of black America. It destroyed
This policy was the stake driven into the heart of black America. It destroyed the surest route to economic success — first education, then marriage, and finally children. Suddenly, black dads were extraneous, with Uncle Sam and his welfare check taking their place. Too many black men concluded that the only ways left to prove their worth were to father as many children as possible with as many women as possible, all while violently flexing their muscles in the greater community.
The other major sin Democrats committed against blacks was affirmative action. Affirmative action sounds like such a nice idea on paper: After decades of forcibly holding blacks to the back of the line (and the bus and the classroom), the government could undo that damage by using its coercive force to give blacks a head start in academia and the office place.
It’s possible that affirmative action would have worked if limited to a decade or so. Fifty years later, though, affirmative action has led to two ugly outcomes: academic mismatch, meaning that ambitious black students find themselves incapable of finishing college; and a deep, abiding suspicion in the workplace that any black person in a position of prominence didn’t achieve that position on his or her own merits, a belief that creates a toxic racial atmosphere. This workplace hostility isn’t helped by the fact that employers, fearing discrimination charges, are afraid to fire blacks, a dynamic that gives rational black employees license to slack off. The result, thanks to government mandates, is an increase in black failure rates and anti-black stereotypes in both schools and businesses.
With those damaging trends in mind, let’s visit where are blacks now, 50 years after the Democrats took charge of managing black lives. And do keep in mind that, even during Republican administrations, the Democrat Party has called the shots about directing government programs and funding towards American blacks.
When it comes to marriage, that insulator against poverty, especially child poverty, the news isn’t good:
African Americans age 35 and older were more likely to be married than White Americans from 1890 until sometime around the 1960s. Not only did they swap places during the 60s but in 1980 the number of NEVER married African Americans began a staggering climb from about 10% to more than 25% by 2010 while the percentage for White women remained under 10% and just over 10% for White men.
The fact that blacks aren’t getting married doesn’t mean they’re not having children. They are — children who don’t know their fathers and who may have innumerable siblings, each with a different father. Since 2013, the number being bandied about for black children born out-of-wedlock has been 72% — meaning a staggering 72% of black children are likely to grow up in poverty-stricken single mother households, often with dangerous boyfriends rotating through, leaving the children at grave risk of physical and psychological injury.
Things may be even worse than that 72% number indicates, though. According to a study available on the Social Science Research Network, “Examining the Birth Trends, Family Structure, Economic Standing, Paternal Relationships, and Emotional Stability of Biracial Children with African American Fathers,” the author, Tiffany Calloway, claims that 92% of biracial children with African American fathers are born out-of-wedlock, with 82% of those children ending up on some form of welfare.
Blacks are not faring well when it comes to employment either — especially after 8 years of Barack Obama’s hyper-Progressive, uber-Democrat Party economic policies. Even as the economy has had a sluggish improvement over the last 8 years, blacks lag significantly behind their white counterparts. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ seasonally adjusted numbers for July 2016, the black unemployment rate is double the white unemployment rate, and that’s true for all demographics — men, women, and teens:
% Unemployed Whites 4.3 Men 4.1 Women 3.7 Teens 14.2 Blacks 8.4 Men 8.2 Women 7.3 Teens 25.7
Given the poor job market for blacks, the breakdown of the family, and the incredible number of children without a father in their lives, it’s no surprise, I guess, that too many black Americans are deeply mired in poverty:
According to the 2014 U.S. Census Bureau ACS study (see charts below) 27% of all African American men, women and children live below the poverty level compared to just 11% of all Americans. An even higher percentage (38%) of Black children live in poverty compared to 22% of all children in America. The poverty rate for working-age Black women (26%) which consists of women ages 18 to 64 is higher than that of working-age Black men (21%). Poverty rates for Black families vary based on the family type. While 23% of all Black families live below the poverty level only 8% of Black married couple families live in poverty which is considerably lower than the 37% of Black families headed by single women who live below the poverty line. The highest poverty rates (46%) are for Black families with children which are headed by single Black women. This is significant considering more than half (55%) of all Black families with children are headed by single women.
Those numbers are disgraceful 50 years into the Democrats so-called “Great Society.”
Another factor unique to modern American blacks is something that I call “auto-genocide.” Taking over where race haters such as the KKK and Margaret Sanger left off, American blacks are dispatching themselves and each other with tragic vigor. In certain areas of America, it’s grotesquely true that the most dangerous place for a black child is in its mother’s womb:
In 2012, there were more black babies killed by abortion (31,328) in New York City than were born there (24,758), and the black children killed comprised 42.4% of the total number of abortions in the Big Apple, according to a report by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Given that black abortions accounted for 42.4% of all New York City abortions, it’s worthwhile noting that blacks make up only one-quarter of greater New York City’s population.
This same black auto-genocide plays out on a national scale:
In 2010 the Census report showed African Americans as 12.6% of the population, yet in 2009 the CDC reported African American women accounted for over 35% of all abortions. That’s over 1/3. [snip] In 2009 a total of 286,623 born African Americans died in this country. But that same year there were 1.2 million abortions in this country. If 35% of those were African Americans, that means 420,000 African American unborn children were killed that year by abortion. [snip] If African Americans do not value African American life in the womb, nobody else will do it for us.
When it comes to crime, especially violent crime, the statistics aren’t any better for American blacks. Last November, Breitbart.com compiled some of the statistics showing that black communities are aggressively preying on each other and, sadly, that they also account for a disproportionate number of America’s predators overall:
The reality of gun crime in America is that if one removes blacks from the equation, America’s gun crime falls squarely into the European realm — or at least, the European realm before Mama Merkel’s Muslim experiment. A logical, although politically incorrect question, is whether these numbers mean that blacks are inherently violent. I don’t think so. While it is possible that blacks have a genetic profile that leaves them more inclined to violence than old, inbred, white European cultures (see Nicholas Wade’s A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History ),* the endemic crime in American black communities can more easily be explained by Democrat policies.
The set-up for black violence in America is Democrat-run urban enclaves that have doubled-down on policies that ensure (a) fatherless families; (b) no work (e.g., high minimum wage laws); (c) absentee police; and (d) the inability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves. (Regarding that last point, statistical data shows that the single best way to reduce crime is to allow law-abiding citizens to have guns. It turns out that predators prefer hunting prey when that prey cannot protect itself. Predators are mean, but they’re neither stupid nor suicidal.)
Democrat leadership (both white and black) has recently embarked upon a movement that has worsened the crime levels black communities face. I speak, of course, of the Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) movement. Despite compelling data showing that police, given similar circumstances, are less likely, not more likely to shoot blacks than they are to shoot whites, and that police are at greater risk from black men than black men are at risk from police, BLM has used hysterical lies to as a way to infest America’s most troubled inner cities.
Thanks to BLM, beleaguered police are withdrawing from crime-ridden communities and are avoiding policing both small crimes (which the Broken Window theory says need to be policed to prevent escalation) and big, lethal crimes. The results are predictable — increased violence. Back in July, Heather MacDonald addressed the Ferguson Effect in America’s black communities:
Violence in Chicago is reaching epidemic proportions. In the first five months of 2016, someone was shot every 2¹/₂ hours and someone murdered every 14 hours, for a total of nearly 1,400 nonfatal shooting victims and 240 fatalities. Over Memorial Day weekend, 69 people were shot, nearly one per hour, dwarfing the previous year’s tally of 53 shootings over the same period. The violence is spilling over from the city’s gang-infested South and West sides into the downtown business district; even Lake Shore Drive has seen drive-by shootings and robberies. [snip] Through the end of May, shooting incidents in Chicago were up 53 percent over the same period in 2015, which already had seen a significant increase over 2014. Compared with the first five months of 2014, shooting incidents in 2016 were up 86 percent. Shootings in May citywide averaged nearly 13 a day, a worrisome portent for summer.
Since MacDonald wrote the above, Chicago’s gun crime rate has reached staggering proportions not seen since the 1990s, when America’s crime rate was slowly leveling off from peak violence:
Tavon was among more than 400 people shot in Chicago this month. There have been at least 78 homicides, marking August as the most violent month in the city in almost 20 years, according to data provided by the Chicago Police Department. And there are two more days to go. The city hasn’t seen a deadlier month since October of 1997, when there were 79 homicides. For the whole year, the count was 761, according to department numbers. Chicago has recorded 487 homicides and more than 2,800 people shot so far this year, compared to 491 homicides and 2,988 people shot all of last year, according to Tribune data. Chicago has a lower homicide rate than many other U.S. cities that are smaller in population. But this year, the city has recorded more homicides and shooting victims than New York City and Los Angeles combined, even though the two cities are larger than Chicago’s population of roughly 2.6 million. New York, with more than three times the population of Chicago, has recorded 760 shooting victims and logged 222 homicides, according to NYPD crime statistics through Aug. 21. In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million, 176 people have been slain and 729 people shot, according to LAPD crime data through Aug. 20.
Other black communities across America have also seen a Ferguson effect. BLM has provided ample proof that, despite some really bad apples, the majority of American police are not predators. Instead, they are on the front lines making sure that black lives actually do matter. Notwithstanding this overwhelming empirical evidence, Democrat leadership, both black and white, continues to harass police even as ordinary black citizens, the ones who aren’t showing up at White House gatherings, are dying on the streets and pleading desperately for a stronger police presence in their communities.
Despite the harm they’ve inflicted for decades against blacks, Democrats, both black and white, have a political lock on the poorest cities in America and the most dangerous cities in America. Take, for example, Cleveland.
Michael Goldstein, whose wife, Dr. Beverly A. Goldstein, is running for Cleveland’s seat in Congress. He has compiled a snapshot of the horrible ills more than two decades of Democrat rule, both at the local and the federal level, have visited upon Cleveland (with blacks being most strongly affected):
Cleveland ranks Number 1 in the nation in child hunger [Greater Cleveland Food Bank] and Number 3 in the United States in overall hunger (WRAAA [Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging] website, 2016)
Of the 435 U.S. House Districts, only 14 districts are poorer than District-11 (reported on WTAM AM 1100, March 17, 2016 |
that shooting, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, but the reaction of the 28-year-old victim matched the others: “Tough guys who said, No, I’m not giving up my stuff.”
None of the attempted robberies resulted in any property being taken, Mr. Browne said. “They’re batting a thousand in their lack of success,” he said.
The first mugging, on Oct. 15, involved a 42-year-old man, singled out as he returned home shortly after 11 p.m. The police said at least four men in two cars — a dark-colored Toyota Land Cruiser and a two-door Honda Civic with custom rims — pulled up alongside the victim before a passenger in each car got out and confronted him.Image copyright AFP Image caption Ebola testing at the African Cup of Nations football tournament in Bata, Equatorial Guinea
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set out plans for reform, admitting that it was too slow to respond to the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
At an emergency session in Geneva, director-general Margaret Chan said Ebola had taught the world and the WHO how they must act in the future.
She said the corner had been turned on infections but warned over complacency.
More than 8,500 people have died in the outbreak, the vast majority in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
Contingency fund
Dr Chan said: "This was West Africa's first experience with the virus and it delivered some horrific shocks and surprises.
"The world, including WHO, was too slow to see what was unfolding before us. Ebola is a tragedy that has taught the world, including WHO, many lessons about how to prevent similar events in the future."
Image caption The WHO says patient database figures give the best representation of the history of the epidemic. However, data for more recent weeks are sometimes less complete than in the regular situation reports
Dr Chan said that although disease outbreaks would continue to deliver shocks, "never again should the world be caught by surprise, unprepared".
The reforms announced included a "dedicated contingency fund to support rapid responses to outbreaks and emergencies".
There would also be improvements in international co-ordination and greater support for countries that needed to respond quickly to emergencies.
Image copyright AP Image caption Dr Chan: "We must maintain the momentum and guard against complacency"
This would also require vaccines and drugs to be brought to the market more speedily.
Liberia announced on Friday that it was down to just five confirmed cases - there were 500 a week in September. Guinea and Sierra Leone have both also experienced falls in infection rates.
Dr Chan said the worst-case scenario had been avoided, but warned: "We must maintain the momentum and guard against complacency and donor fatigue."
WHO figures show 21,724 reported cases of Ebola in the outbreak, with 8,641 deaths.I’d like to write a few words about something that was said, during the Saturday morning session of General Conference.
I grew up in Spokane, Washington. Living so close to the Canadian border, I frequently came across the random Canadian penny or dime. As a child, I learned that they were easily used to pay at the cashier but they were rejected outright by vending machines.
You see, those Canadian coins weren’t counterfeit, they were just foreign. The cashiers knew the difference… but the machines did not. And what separates the cashier from the machine is experience — and the willingness to learn from it. The cashiers knew that the coins were valued the same as their US equivalents by their customers. The foreign coins weren’t part of the official economy, but they were part of mine. I knew that I could use them to get cookies at the grocery store, to pay for a day at the local pool, or to pay my late fines at the library.
I’m both an out gay man and a practicing Latter-day Saint… and I’d like to speak to my brothers and sisters: as Latter-day Saints, we know the power of bearing testimony. And as LGBTQ Mormons, I would hope, we understand how vital it is to live our lives out loud. It’s my hope that our lives might be a testimony to our friends, neighbors, and leaders of our enduring and inherent value — a testimony that our lives and loves are simply foreign… not counterfeit.
We’ve come so far, and have so far to go. Sites like Mormons & Gays
do their part, but the heavy lifting will be done in our wards and in our neighborhoods as LGBTQ Latter-day Saints step out from the shadows and members of the Church who’ve not had any true frame of reference realize that they’ve loved someone gay (or lesbian or trans) all along.
It’s hard, after all, to hate someone you actually know.The perfect drink for your "Sister Wives" viewing party?
Five Wives Vodka has been sold in Mormon-dominated Utah since December without creating too much of a stir, according to the distillery. But the brand -- and its not-so-subtle reference to polygamy -- is too much for liquor regulators in neighboring Idaho.
"We feel Five Wives Vodka concept is offensive to a prominent segment of our population and will not be carried," according to a letter from the Idaho State Liquor Division to an Idaho distributor wishing to carry it. (Brand owner Ogden's Own Distillery posted the letter.)
The letter makes no reference to Mormons, which make up an estimated 23% of the population in Idaho (compared with 62% in Utah). But "I can only assume it's the Mormons they are referring to," Steve Conlin, director of marketing and a partner at Ogden's Own, a micro-distiller in Ogden, said in a statement. But "that makes little sense is they allow Polygamy Porter from Wasatch Beers of Utah to be sold. We're a little dumbfounded by it all."
Jeff Anderson, director of the Idaho State Liquor Division, told Ad Age that "we're a state agency that represents all of the people. Presumably, people of the LDS faith would not be shopping in our [liquor] stores, but that does not mean that we are not sensitive to them." But he said Five Wives was rejected for other reasons, too, including the fact that vodka is a "crowded and competitive category" and that "there was nothing that really differentiated [Five Wives] other than its name and its label that had five women with cats in their crotches covering their genitals. We make decisions all the time in what we can fit into our stores."
Mr. Conlin told Ad Age that the distillery is considering a lawsuit, calling the state's action "a blatant violation of commercial speech that is covered by the First Amendment." He added: "If you're practicing polygamy, then maybe you are going to be offended." But "Mormons are not supposed to be practicing polygamy," referring to the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially abandoned polygamy long ago.
Of course, the rejection brings a marketing opportunity: The brand has started selling "Free the Five Wives" t-shirts.
While Mr. Conlin concedes the name could be seen as referencing polygamy (especially since it's made in Utah), he said it carries many meanings. "The person who came up with name, she really liked the idea of five wives sitting around having a drink. There really is no pointed meaning to it and everyone can bring what they want to it... it's not about making fun of Mormons at all. Quite simply it's a name that seemed to fit."
As for Polygamy Porter, Mr. Anderson said his division does not oversee beer, rejecting Mr. Conlin's allegation of hypocrisy. The brew -- the label declares "Why have just one?" -- has gotten some complaints in Utah, where it is brewed. But it's also had strong sales, said Kevin Henry, general manager of the Wasatch Brew Pub in Park City, Utah. The brewery once promoted a beer called "St. Provo Girl," which Wasatch has promoted in billboards showing a woman holding a six pack with the caption, "nice cans." (The brew was later renamed "Provo Girl" after St. Pauli Girl complained about possible trademark infringement.)
"We've made a little fun of the great state of Utah," Mr. Henry said.Adam Sawkins, creator of the number one selling Xbox Live Indie Game of all-time, FortressCraft, had some choice words for Minecraft-creator and internet-celebrity Markus Persson and his online followers today after revelations that FortressCraft's website had been the subject of aDDOSattack.
"F**k you and your 'community', @Notch," Sawkins tweeted in the wake of the attack.
Sawkins has repeatedly been the focus of ire in the Minecraft community due to allegations that he cloned the Minecraft concept for FortressCraft (which subsequently made him quite wealthy.)
Sawkins has denied those claims, saying that FortressCraft borrows nothing more from Minecraft than Minecraft borrow from its own predecessors.
"We know *who* it was, but sadly we didn't get a note in the post saying WHY," Sawkins said to Eurogamer after the attack. "We've sailed over our cap for the month so far, and are going through the process of talking to the police about it.
"Under British law, yes [the police can act on the attack]. Hacking is a fairly serious crime over here, and it's not a personal site, it's a business site. Loss of earnings, all that crap. I personally wouldn't have bothered, but the guy who does my website is FLAMING over it!"Muted / Subdued Cascadia "Doug" Patches 2" x 3.25" Douglas Fir Cascadia flag patch, in subdued colors like those worn on camouflage or battle uniforms in the military.
Iron-on backing, but I highly recommend sewing the patch on as well.
$3.00 each, four patches for $10.00
Options One muted patch to USA $3.00 USD Four muted patches to USA $10.00 USD One muted patch to Canada $4.00 USD Four muted patches to Canada $11.00 USD
Gay Pride Rainbow Cascadia "Casgadia" Patches 2" x 3.25" Douglas Fir Cascadia flag patch, in the rainbow colors of LGBT Pride or the international peace flag.
Iron-on backing, but I highly recommend sewing the patch on as well.
$3.00 each, four patches for $10.00
Options One rainbow patch to USA $3.00 USD Four rainbow patches to USA $10.00 USD One rainbow patch to Canada $4.00 USD Four rainbow patches to Canada $11.00 USDEnough is enough.
"Can black men not be the white people of black people?"
That was the eye-raising comment on my Facebook timeline one day that made me stop everything I was doing to follow along because there was so much truth in it.
For the most part, this is a forbidden topic for black women. The world already hates black men enough for the both of us, so we try to keep any issues we have with them to ourselves.
To be the black woman who speaks down or holds our male counterparts accountable is to be brave.
True to double standards black men are, however, free to attack black women's character and then collectively smash our esteem into millions of pieces.
I'm not sure how it looks from the outside looking in, but from the inside, it's easy to see that black men are one of the most toxic, hateful and demeaning groups... to their own community... but black women especially.
For centuries, black women have been the spine that helped to hold black men up as they walked into the world that feared their beauty, their glory, and their history (before slavery we were Kings and Queens!).
And, up until recent decades, we were adored and treated as such.
Through the years, black women's roles have shifted and changed as the hardships that have hit black community shifted and changed. While I'm sure that's had an impact on black men, for better or worse, it's not the sole issue.
The heroin epidemic, Bill Clinton's 1994 crime bill, police brutality, and generally deadbeat black men are all to blame for the dramatic decrease of men remaining in black households.
Black men must start to realize that the system is rigged against them — leaving no room for error — not even for the pettiest of crimes. The judicial system has different standards for black men (and women) — slave standards. The system looks at us and wonders how to do away with us.
It's time for black men to beat the system and make a legitimate way — no matter the disadvantages that are standing in their way of advancement.
But I'll tell you what the solution isn't: The solution isn't blaming black women's independence for your woes.
Black women are known for their strength and ability to adapt; that's what we've had to do in order to ensure the survival of our families while our men were away whether they were sold off to another plantation, killed, or imprisoned.
Although black men's anger and aggression are taken out on us every day, I think on an unconscious level black men are more upset with themselves for failing time and time again (hypothetically their belief, not my own).
Black men have been forced to turn a blind eye while their women were raped and beaten, and then having to show a great level of respect to that very man — his wife's rapist. (Yes, black men and women are still mentally impacted by the actions of slavery today.) They're powerless against a system that anticipates and works toward their demise, and this stifles their growth.
Meanwhile, black women continue to rise above transgressions against as black men stand on the sidelines envying the strength that's given us the courage to heal while their male egos won't allow them to do so.
So they erupt into the worst kind of toxic masculinity — the kind that calls a woman a b*tch for not giving them play but turns around and calls her a "ho" for giving someone else attention.
They point fingers and blame their lack of respect for black women on the way we carry ourselves, instead of just learning to respect all women on a basic human level.
They repost images with our faces, our curvy hips, and they tell us we're whores or less than on a regular basis.
They've carry on the practice of hyper-sexualizing us.
They deem us "less than" if we're not a certain skin tone.
They deem us unworthy if we can't find the line between being independent and dependent that best helps them overcome their shortcomings in an non-threatening way.
Black men have decided to pick apart our more attractive qualities, instead of just loving all of us in the same manner that we do for them.
So it's no surprise that we've statistically been deemed the least desirable race of women to date despite being the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs.
And, if you talk to a black man and ask him why he dates white women he'll tell you that this is why.
Our independence and opinionated nature are said to be the culprit as to why our own men don't want us, and I suppose they took this as an opportunity to corrupt us for the other races of men who might think otherwise.
And still, a majority of black women hold an unwavering love for and desire to be with black men — deeply flawed and all — we remain your number one fans.
But, whose going to be our fan? Whose going to love us if not our own men?A Georgia woman has filed a lawsuit claiming that police planted fake drugs in her car so that they could arrest her for an episode of the television show Cops and defame her on national television.
In August 2013, Elizabeth Leigh Butler and her friend were parked behind a church when they were approached by Gwinnett County police Officer Paul Tremblay.
Unknown to the woman and her friend, the department had just signed a deal in May to film an episode of the show, and she was becoming an unwitting participant.
While searching the vehicle, Tremblay claimed to find a bag containing a suspicious white substance on the floor of her car. The substance was tested for cocaine and methamphetamine, but came back negative for both narcotics.
In an unedited portion of the video footage which was obtained in discovery, Tremblay states "that he was going to conduct a secondary test for cocaine and then 'give them the bad news,” according to the lawsuit.
The officer then claimed that the second test came back positive for cocaine and arrested both women on “loitering and prowling” charges which would air on the show.
Eventually, state investigators conducted a third test which came back negative of any illegal substances. All charges against Butler and her friend were dropped.
Unfortunately, the show had already began airing.
Butler is now suing Gwinnett County, its police chief and former police chief, the officer who arrested her, and Langley Productions- the company responsible for Cops. She is seeking punitive damages for defamation, false arrest, false imprisonment, failure to supervise, wantonness, negligence, constitutional violations and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Since the show aired, Butler maintains that she is still being defamed on a daily basis through social media due to her depiction on the program.
The question on whether or not law enforcement should be participating in producing entertainment reality shows sparked global conversation after a sleeping 7-year-old girl was shot in the head during a no-knock raid on the wrong home in Detroit.
The encounter was being filmed for an episode of “The First 48.”
Many believe the excessive tactics used were employed simply to create drama and excitement for the camera. The episode that cost the child her life never aired.
Following Jones’ death, the Detroit mayor banned police from doing reality television. Perhaps it is time for the rest of the world to follow suit.Beyoncé has received criticism for her role in Coldplay's new music video for 'Hymn For the Weekend', the second single from the band's new album A Head Full of Dreams, with some questioning as to whether her appearance constitutes cultural appropriation.
The video, directed by Ben Mor, sees the artist dressed in traditional Desi adornment while playing the role of a Bollywood actress, as Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin attends a local cinema to watch her latest production.
The video's mixed reception on social media has sparked an intense conversation on the constitutional difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation; with some labelling Beyoncé's guise as the former due to her performative use of cultural elements as a kind of costume. Others have questioned how the role of power structures plays into the definition.
Just gonna throw this out there, if Beyoncé&Coldplay are PROFITING from a culture that isn't there's and gaining praise, it's appropriation — cazafortuna (@caramelputa) January 29, 2016
Cultural appropriation is about power structures just as with racism. How is Beyoncé, a black woman, offensively appropriating? — nygma (@Seauxmali) January 29, 2016
In Coldplay's video, Beyoncé was wearing the traditional clothing with other women in the actual culture. How is that wrong? — Karisa. (@Karisanewkirk) January 29, 2016
If it had been a Desi artist, she'd have been invited to invest and appreciate our culture. — Keith (@holmeslaufeyson) January 29, 2016
Beyoncé did nothing wrong...y'all really gotta learn the difference between appreciation and appropriation — Oliver Queen (@Cyyyyyddddd_) January 29, 2016
Is Beyonce gorgeous in the vid? Yes. Is it cultural appropriation? Yeah. It could've been done without the exotica and mysticism. Is Beyonce gorgeous in the vid? Yes. Is it cultural appropriation? Yeah. It could've been done without the exotica and mysticism. #HFTW January 29, 2016
The video does also briefly feature Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor, with some critics questioning as to why Kapoor could not have been enlisted for Beyoncé's role instead.
why didn't they choose another desi woman instead of beyoncé — imad (@NORTHAFRICANS) January 29, 2016
Elswhere, the video looks to positively capture celebrational aspects of the city's culture, specifically India's Holi festival. Otherwise known as 'The Festival of Colours', it involves playfully chasing and splashing fellow particpants in colourful dry powders and water, as part of a celebration of love and the forgiveness of others. However, some pointed out the video's depiction of the festival is stereotypical in itself, specifically in its overuse in depictions of the country.
i dont even know what to say about this coldplay video except can white rock bands please stop filming holi videos in india, thank you. — ahmed ali akbar (@radbrowndads) January 29, 2016
it's crazy how literally all the india music videos hit all the same beats. holi paint, bollywood, poverty, spirituality. come onnnnnnnnn — ahmed ali akbar (@radbrowndads) January 29, 2016
So upset by So upset by @coldplay using my culture as a prop for their music video. India isn't just street kids and exotic women. #HymnForTheWeekend January 29, 2016
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Beyonce Coldplay |MISSION, TX – JULY 24: Immigrant Melida Patricio Castro from Honduras shows a birth certificate for her daughter Maria Celeste, 2, to a U.S. Border Patrol agent near the U.S.-Mexico border on July 24, 2014 near Mission, Texas. Tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, many of them families or unaccompanied minors, have crossed illegally into the United States this year and presented themselves to federal agents, causing a humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Rio Grande sector has the highest traffic of illegal immigration, especially of Central Americans, on all the U.S.-Mexico border. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
This post is the first in a series in which Washington Post’s polling experts will explain how today’s biggest issues shape public opinion — and vice versa.
Immigration crises, erupting like long-dormant volcanoes every few years, have redefined what ‘immigrant’ means to us. These crises cause us to react in deeply personal ways, forging our opinions on what laws we want and whether we will fight for them.
The latest round hit Americans like a tidal wave, with tens of thousands of Central American children surging past the U.S.-Mexico border, looking for food, shelter and family. News coverage spiked and sparked scores of protests across the country. Politicians were panned and polls show support fell for more lenient immigration laws.
What drives these reactions is not all pretty, according to research studying how we process immigration news. What immigrants look like – and where they come from – changes how we see the issue.
When immigrants are Hispanic, white Americans worry a lot more.
“Americans think of immigration in an ethnically specific way at this point,” Nicholas Valentino, a political scientist at the University of Michigan who studied the impact of news coverage on immigration attitudes, said in an interview. “They think of immigrants as Latino. Latinos trigger an anxiety in some Americans that other ethnic groups simply do not trigger. It changes both attitudes and behaviors on immigration policy.”
We have more anxiety over some immigrant groups
Valentino’s view is backed up by a study he conducted with Michigan colleague Ted Brader and Elizabeth Suhay (now of American University) using a high-quality national survey in 2003*. White participants in the study read mock Associated Press news stories about increasing immigration. Half of respondents were randomly assigned to read a positive-themed story (“Immigration heartens governors”) and half negative (“Immigration concerns governors”).
In addition to positive and negative stories, the survey randomly assigned each story to focus on either Jose Sanchez from Mexico or Nikolai Vandinsky from Russia, who were described in identical ways besides their name and origin. After reading the story, subjects were asked a series of questions on immigration policy.
Unsurprisingly, those who read a negatively-toned immigration story expressed less support for immigration. But the impact of seeing a negative story featuring a Mexican immigrant was double the size of a negative story about the Russian Immigrant.
Valentino and his colleagues investigated the differing reactions, and found that negative news featuring a Latino immigrant raised whites’ worries and anxieties about increasing immigration, but not for those about Russian immigrants.
Whites who read a negative story featuring an Hispanic immigrant had a strong political reaction. In addition to higher opposition to immigration, they became more supportive of an “English-only” law, asked for more information about the issue and were more apt to send an e-mail to their congressional representative advocating reduced immigration levels when asked in the survey**. Negative news about a Russian immigrant had little impact on political motivation.
Valentino and his colleagues found similar results in a separate experiment, based on interviews with local festival attendees, comparing reactions to a Hispanic immigrant to a European immigrant of different origin -– a Dutch Nicholas Van Dyke.
The experimental studies were small – fewer than 100 participants in each grouping – but the effects were statistically significant and large. Just 26 percent of respondents chose to e-mail a member of Congress advocating a reduction in immigration after reading a positive story featuring a Latino immigrant. Nearly half, 45 percent, sent congressional e-mails when the Latino-focused story was negative. But the negative stories had no impact when the subject of the story was Russian.
The findings point to a potentially powerful dynamic during media frenzies about immigration. Negative news about Latino immigrants makes white Americans anxious, driving up opposition to immigration and anti-immigrant activism.
Media coverage changes how we see immigration
Does this research match up with how Americans have reacted to the latest stories over undocumented minors?
In two clear ways it does.
Immigration coverage spiked sharply in mid-July, with the number of news stories mentioning immigration rising from roughly 2,000 per week to roughly 3,500. At the same time, Gallup polling found 17 percent of Americans calling immigration the nation’s “most important problem,” jumping 12 points from June to the highest in eight years.
On immigration support, a majority favoring a legalization-focused immigration policy overall flipped to a majority tilting toward deportation in a mid-July CNN/ORC poll. Nearly 200 protests were scheduled for a single day on highway overpasses across the country, and an Arizona candidate for Congress attempted to accost a bus of immigrant minors who turned out to be summer campers with the YMCA.
The child migrant crisis could be different
But the latest crisis – involving minors migrating from troubled nations – could be different, Valentino says. Those migrants may draw empathetic reactions. “It is harder to make the argument that these kids are just looking for a handout,” he said.
Indeed, Americans appear torn by empathy toward children and concerns about immigration’s impact on the United States. A July survey from the Public Religion Research Institute found 70 percent saying immigrant children should be offered shelter and support while beginning the process of determining legal status, and a similar number think they should be treated as refugees.
Chris Rice of Albuquerque, N.M., expressed a different kind of anxiety. “On the one hand, this is a tragedy that these people’s country is falling apart and they’re so desperate they’re willing to walk across Mexico. That’s sad,” said Rice in a telephone interview Tuesday. At the same time, he said America cannot accept everyone. “Knowing that we already have all of our own problems I don’t see us having the resources willing to do that.”
Rice doesn’t hold out hope for a positive resolution. “If they let them in, Republicans will call them bleeding heart liberals. If they don’t, liberals will claim we’re not holding up our values. I see it as tragic from the beginning to the end.”
Peyton M. Craighill contributed to this report.
* The survey was conducted using Knowledge Networks (now GfK’s KnowledgePanel), an online survey-taking panel which initially recruited respondents using a national random sample of telephone numbers. Probability sample surveys are designed to be generalized to the overall population. The total sample size included 286 white respondents, split into four experimental groups of roughly equal size (i.e. Positive story of Latino immigrant, Negative story of Russian immigrant). Read the full paper, published by the American Journal of Political Science.
** The web survey offered them the opportunity to send an actual e-mail message to their member of Congress.The top hookah products of 2016 (U.S. Market)
Hello again, and welcome back to the Masonshishaware blog! In today’s post, we are going to be going over a brief synopsis of hookah in 2016 with the top products in mind, though some products from 2015 will creep on the list as well due to them still reigning supreme. To keep this on a lighter and unbiased note, I’ll be keeping my opinions out of the topics for the most part and aiming to cover the crowd favorites of the year starting from top to bottom.
Diamonds in the rough
Charcoal is obviously one of the most important parts of a hookah session. You can pack a bowl like a god but if you’re using inferior product, it’s going to be a sad session. Highlighting “flat” style coals first a name you see posted a lot about in nearly every group is Cocourth. These flats excel in many ways like their uniformity, heat output, and longevity. They proved they’re a force to be reckoned with as most vendors near the beginning and middle of 2016 couldn’t keep them in stock.
Moving on to the quintessential “cube” coal due to overwhelming response, and only narrowly beating others in the price range, the top spot for 2016 goes out to Prestige coals. These cubes get excellent reviews and it should be noted that the longevity of Prestige is outstanding. I have heard testimonials that the product has nearly hit the two-hour mark when using a Provost/foil setup. Apart from their longevity, the size of these cubes is also quite staggering along with the consistency.
The last thing that should be mentioned for 2016 in regards to charcoal is shapes. I don’t mean inconsistencies with brands here, but new shapes we saw released. The main product I want to touch upon is quarter circle coals. Charcoflare released some great coals, that although weren’t talked about a lot at the end of the year, made a big impact at their debut. These quarter circles meant to fill your Heat Management Device (HMD) with the optimal heat necessary for a long-lasting session and sought to remedy the problem of fitting multiple coals inside without compromising space. Another new shape we saw near the end of the year was the Titanium Cubette. Not quite a “cube” and not quite a “flat”, this shape was just another great stride put forth in the industry, and having already massed a sizeable following it wouldn’t be a true 2016 list without mentioning them.
I’d like to see a (heat) manager please
Moving right along down the hookah to the heating method, two products made their 2016 debut and slayed the only prior competition. These products are the Oduman Ignis and Shishabucks Stratus. Touching upon the Ignis first, this product revolutionized what we thought of a HMD. You wouldn’t know it from its simplistic design, but use it once and you’ll see immediately why it was regarded as such a great piece to add to your setup. Basically, the two additions this product made were everything we needed to see from its predecessor. The Ignis is designed to handle three cubed charcoals or three flat coals comfortably and the slight nodules the middle has placed around the bottom area to keep your charcoal fully stoked came as a godsend to many in the community. Factor in a cheap price point and there is all the more reason this thing is still regarded as the best HMD we have seen.
Now let me jump into the Stratus. Pound for pound this HMD is beautiful in more ways than one. Pushing aside the flashy aesthetics, the design and overall performance from a very well received brand has made this a pinnacle in the eyes of many. It should be noted that the range of heat you can either add to or take away with a simple quarter or even eighth turn is remarkable and unlike anything we have seen with other HMDs and paired alongside a larger capacity this makes the Stratus the new top dog in terms of heat management.
Blendz
On to my favorite subject of any top list when talking about hookah; the tobacco. We saw a lot of different brands but undoubtedly the top dog of 2016 goes out to Trifecta tobacco dark blend. Originally released in very small batches at the beginning of the year, Trifecta dark blend came out swinging. If you were lucky enough to grab those first batches you were the envy of many. What makes Trifecta such a commodity is, well, everything. They focus on unique blends of flavors never seen in the industry and boast an insane longevity making it quite possibly the biggest name in the last decade amongst die hard enthusiasts. It is already apparent that 2017 will continue to be their territory as well.
Another great brand that received somewhat mixed emotions is Lavoo tobacco. Known for its extremely fine cut and low moisture content paired with that dark blend nicotine concentration we all know and for the most part love, there is no argument that Lavoo found its own place in the hearts and bowls of many during its short time in the industry. Apart from those characteristics the flavors are spot on yet unique enough to shine through in their own terms.
The last brand that really found its way after a slow start in 2016 was Ugly Hookah Tobacco. Ugly is beautiful, despite its namesake. What ugly offers is a higher nicotine leaf, a natural honey binder, a medium amount of glycerin, and traditional flavors with modern twists. In any flavor recommendation thread or comment in a community you will see an Ugly flavor or two being brought up for these specific reasons.
Lips more famous than a Kardashian’s
Yes, 2016 was all about the lips. Not the kind seen on YouTube “challenges” or reality TV, but the kind that doesn’t make your heart stop when a friend knocks into your hookah. Lip bowls were the biggest niche we saw due to the overwhelmingly large portion of the community flocking to various HMDs. We saw many different types ranging from full aluminum, glass and silicone combined, and even stoneware.
A brand that stood out in the community for innovation, functionality, and aesthetics were Stone Hookah Bowls. With the release of the Genesis and artist collection it was the need to have accessory for most of the year. Most of the products featured a lip designed to hold your HMD in place quite snuggly and were the first of their kind to incorporate a clay body lipped design. Factor in the handmade nature, beautiful glaze work, and uniqueness of each one and you have a product that is in its own realm.
The other lipped style bowl that received the most attention and positive reviews in 2016 is the Masonshishaware Onyx bowl. This product was heavily teased for nearly seven months drumming up a huge amount of hype and it wasn’t until the first batch made its debut that we really began to see just why it would change what we thought we knew about a bowl. The Onyx’s basin, overall artisanship, and unique design elements all come together in a perfect symphony making for the most technical piece of clay we have seen thus far in the hookah evolution.
The dawn of the machines
2016 had a lot to offer in terms of hookah pipes. With companies switching to machines to make clean and thicker pipes than we have seen in the past, the divide of traditional look hookah lovers versus the modern and sleek look enthusiasts was more apparent. Based on the community’s choices, brand’s sales records, and recommendations given out, a champion of each type was crowned.
For the modern look, it goes to B2 hookahs with no question. These pipes incorporate different height settings, feature “heat sinks” to help with cooling the metal and smoke, and are flat out gorgeous pipes. The initial batches were quite pricy but since then the price has come down making these stems more feasible for the average consumer.
In terms of traditional hookahs, Shika proved to be the most widely talked about pipe in every community. These hookahs are works of art and despite the brand being handmade, the models come nearly identical especially in quality. Shika hookahs are known for the beautiful exterior but the wide draw on just about every model keeps a firm customer base coming back and back again. It is apparent from many of the online hookah retailers that these pipes never stay on the shelves, which I contribute to having a full package deal that is absolutely worthwhile.
Not just for phone cases anymore
In 2016 only a few hoses came to market and even less seemed to be rampant through the communities. The most common hose for the year is easily made of silicone. These hoses use modern designs over their hot glue and pvc pipe predecessors and often come with an aluminum tip. Brands like Mya, Pharaohs, Droid, and Dream all laid their claims on the wallets of the community this year. Each did something a little different usually in terms of the aluminum tip, so respectfully each did well in their own way. Dream still seemed to hold the title of most purchased, but Droid and Mya certainly gave it a run for its money.
Base-d God
As far bases go for 2016 one has always remained a constant in any hookah community, and these are Bohemian bases. Classified by their Czech origins, Bohemian vases are not only a status symbol for anyone trying to make a certain hookah pop, but they are downright gorgeous. Reaching anywhere from around 80 to 100+ dollars, these vases are without a doubt the most sought after and highly praised item in the category. Search for a base recommendation comment or thread in one of the hookah communities and you will find at least a few people advocating these.Cost-cutting crusade ignores health savings
Updated
Health of a nation? Hardly. The burial of a pharmaceutical review could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions and pave the way for kneejerk policy, writes Deborah Gleeson.
While Treasurer Joe Hockey is complaining that Australia is running out of money to fund the health system, the Coalition Government has buried a report with recommendations for large-scale savings on drug costs.
Not long before the Gonski Review website vanished in late 2013, a less well known but potentially equally important review also quietly disappeared from view. Unlike the Gonski Review, this particular disappearing act barely made a ripple on the public's consciousness. But the burial of the findings and recommendations of the Review of Pharmaceutical Patents has huge economic, social and health implications for Australia.
The review began in 2012 and released a highly controversial draft report in April 2013. The final report was delivered in May |
required to protect her personal safety, which has been jeopardised in the past owing to such information being publicly available.
The statement goes on to note that Watson “receives absolutely no tax or monetary advantages from this offshore company whatsoever – only privacy.”
Watson is not the first celebrity named in the Panama Papers: previous reports on the cache (which is now in a searchable database online) have mentioned Simon Cowell, Jackie Chan and Sarah Ferguson, as well as a number of world leaders.
[The Spectator]
Contact us at editors@time.com.The Jerusalem municipality on Wednesday projected the US and Israeli flags onto the walls of the Old City in a show of appreciation over the US President Donald Trump’s expected recognition of the city as the capital of Israel.
From 7 p.m., the red, white, and blue American banner was projected next to the blue and white of the Israeli flag, celebrating the expected announcement. The flags were screened on the 16th century walls from Jaffa Gate in the direction of Mount Zion.
Trump was scheduled to make the controversial announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his plan to move the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv at around 8 p.m. Israel time, shifting decades of US policy.
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The move will address Israel’s long-standing claim to the city as its undivided capital, but leaders around the world have warned it could harm peace efforts and spark violence.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said that Trump’s expected announcement “is a historic declaration that sends a clear message to the entire world that the US stands with the Jewish people, the State of Israel and Jerusalem.”
“As a gesture and expression of the courageous friendship between the American people and the people of Israel, we decided to project the American and Israeli flags onto the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, the ultimate symbol of the strength of the Jewish people’s connection to Jerusalem for over 3,000 years,” Barkat said in the statement.
In addition, the Bridge of Strings that carries the light rail train over the entrance to Jerusalem was illuminated in red, white and blue.
The Santiago Calatrava-designed Bridge of Strings at the entrance to Jerusalem is illuminated in red, white, and blue in anticipation of President Trump's statement. (via @ndvori) pic.twitter.com/SIRTWN5Rji — Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) December 6, 2017
Trump’s announcement, making good on an election campaign promise, would mark a major milestone for Israel’s efforts to gain international legitimacy for its claims to Jerusalem. Israel calls Jerusalem its undivided capital, but the international community has refrained from recognizing it as such pending final status negotiations with the Palestinians, who seek the eastern half of the city as their own seat of power in a future state.
Israel’s government rejects partition of the city.
Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital could be viewed as America discarding its longstanding neutrality and siding with Israel at a time that his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has been trying to midwife a new peace process into existence. Trump, too, has spoken of his desire for a “deal of the century” that would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Palestinians, backed by diplomats and governments around the world, have warned that US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel could provoke a furious response that would unsettle the region.A UEFA TV blackout for the crucial Scottish Cup game between Hibs and Hearts was flouted by more than 100,000 fans.
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A screen grab from the Periscope stream. Picture; Periscope
200 Voices: find out more about the people who have shaped Scotland
Under UEFA rules, clubs are banned from having their games broadcast on TV so as not to clash with the UEFA Champions League.
However, thousands of supporters used online streaming and social media to try and watch the game, with one stream on social media channel Periscope having almost 70,000 viewers.
Link to the streams were posted on social media and gained momentum throughout the game.
Hibs won the match 3-1 against Hearts to advance to the next round of the Scottish Cup.
READ MORE: Hibs 3, Hearts 1: Cup holders blow their city rivals awayFrege, a functional language on the JVM, wants to give Scala a run for its money and entice developers.
Spotlighted during a session at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco this week, Frege is pure functional programming language with a strong static type system and type interface. Named for German mathematician Gottlob Frege, the language enables the use of Java classes and methods.
"Frege is a Haskell for the JVM," said Dierk Konig, a committer on the project and a fellow at software development and consulting firm Canoo. The language makes the Haskell "spirit" accessible to the Java programmer, producing a new level of safety, according to Konig, who gave the Frege presentation.
Haskell has been billed as a pure functional language, hiding low-level details and letting programmers focus on results rather than devising steps.
Frege serves as another functional language option on the JVM alongside Scala, Clojure, and now Java itself, thanks to Java 8's adoption of lambda capabilities earlier this year. In an email, Frege founder Ingo Wechsung said he sees a niche for Frege to fill in the JVM ecosystem. "In the functional realm, Scala has for sure a top position. It has the most complex type system of all languages I know -- not just JVM," he said.
"Clojure, on the other hand, is appealing for Lisp fans. Groovy somehow manages to close the gap between dynamic and functional languages. But the niche of a strongly typed, purely functional, and non-strict languages was vacant up to now. This where I see Frege."
The language is general purpose. "Anything you could do with Java, you could also do with Frege," said Wechsung, a senior IT consultant in Germany. He first went public with the language, which is now at version 3.21.500, in 2011.
Currently, Frege consists of a compiler, an Eclipse plug-in, a REPL (Read Evaluate Print Loop), and basic Maven support. Wechsung acknowledged such pain points as a need for better tooling, documentation, and integration with Java 8 functional futures, and he noted that "anyone is welcome to contribute to that what he thinks is missing."(Nick Normal / Flickr)
Are you relatively new to this bustling metropolis? Don't be shy about it, everyone was new to New York once upon a time, except, of course, those battle-hardened residents who've lived here their whole lives and Know It All. One of these lifers works among us at Gothamist—publisher Jake Dobkin grew up in Park Slope and still resides there. He is now fielding questions—ask him anything by sending an email here, but be advised that Dobkin is "not sure you guys will be able to handle my realness." We can keep you anonymous if you prefer; just let us know what neighborhood you live in.
This week's question comes from a New Yorker who's had it up to here with cash only restaurants.
Hey Jake!
Why are there so many cash only restaurants/businesses in New York? Besides avoiding the draconian fees charged by the credit card companies, is there another explanation? Is this a giant coverup to protect the profits of our city's ATM installation companies? Is ca$h still king?
Regards,
Cash Money Curious
A native New Yorker responds:
Dear Cash Money:
I share your paranoia and feel that it is justified! Back by my old apartment there was an Italian place that seemed to be doing great business—full from 6 p.m. till closing daily. It wasn't cheap, either; we're talking $50/person for an entree and a glass of wine. Yet it didn't take credit cards, and every night you'd see a procession of embarrassed diners caught short on cash walking up to the ATM at the local bodega three full blocks away.
That's a bad way to end a night, in terms of customer experience, and since the place was clearly successful enough to afford the credit card charges, I figured that they must be running a tax scam, underreporting their sales to the state and pocketing the difference—maybe even laundering money for Brooklyn's last remaining gangsters or something.
After I got your email I asked a friend of mine who runs a bunch of popular retail establishments in a fast-gentrifying part of town for his thoughts on the phenomenon. I'll call him Pedro. He wrote back:
Any place that doesn't accept cards or that has a minimum charge, is running a mafioso-style business that screams they don't care about you. At our cafe especially we hear all day expressions of surprise that they can pay for a coffee with a card. OMG we *prefer* cards: No cash to lose or get stolen or miscounted. A business that can't survive the 2% credit card charge is going out of business tomorrow anyway. That's just a CDB: a Cost of Doing Business like the rent or insurance. It's not optional, guys: you need to take cards. Which is why if the idea is cost savings, you're looking at a bad business with a terrible approach to its customers: basically they don't give a crap about you, just your cash. And yes, if a restaurant doesn't take cards they are stealing money from the state (no paperwork means no sales tax trail). You're giving the state money, their duty is to deliver it to Albany quarterly. Instead they steal it. Pretty awful? Most business people suck is why. Shortsighted, cheap, and unethical: Cash Only.
A place that doesn't take cards is bad, but a place that doesn't take cards and has an ATM right outside—that's just straight up evil. It's like "thanks for patronizing our establishment, let me kick you in the crotch on the way out!" Worse yet is the POPULAR cash-only place with the ATM, like Peter Luger's was back in the day, that makes you feel like the owner is just rubbing your face in it: "I got plenty of customers, so if you don't like this fleecing, go fuck yourself!"
(Courtesy Private Jake Dobkin Collection) enhanced audits where they look at all your bank accounts, mortgage payments, the kind of car you drive, etc. After you get out of jail you'll be lucky to have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, and that's the kind of risk that entrepreneurs like to avoid.
Or maybe it's the rise of the millennials as consumers? It seems like they're the ones most likely to be paying on cards, and not accepting them is a great way to discourage a whole demographic from patronizing your establishment. Or maybe you just don't want to get robbed by the kind of thieves which cash-only places attract. Seems like when you think about it, there's a lot of reasons to accept cards!
Luckily, the rise of Square and its competitors (and soon ApplePay and a whole class of bitcoin-powered solutions) has begun to drive down the cost and hassle of accepting credit cards. Soon, a lot of people aren't even going to be carrying wallets, and not accepting credit cards is going to mean turning away a large fraction of the public, so the cash-only establishment is probably going to become a historical phenomenon.
Weep not for the passing of these places. My friend Pedro is right: they're depriving the state of tax money that goes to support all of the necessary services of our society, like the police who they'd have to call when they get robbed, or the firefighters who come when their kitchen catches on fire. Fuck these owners; some New York traditions are really worth leaving in the past.
N.B. That's not to say cash doesn't have its place. Some customers prefer it for privacy reasons, say while dining at an S&M-themed taqueria, or shopping for sex toys. But it seems likely that almost all places will continue to accept cash alongside cards for the foreseeable future, so that's not an issue we need to need to consider yet.
N.B. 2: In an interview last month, Angelica Kitchen owner Leslie McEachern explained her longstanding decision not to accept plastic. "My whole philosophy on that has to do with the politics of credit cards, which have been part of the problem of the whole financial decline of this country," McEachern tells us. "Credit cards get people in a lot of trouble, and credit cards increase the price of the menu items. I don't see why for the convenience of credit cards for some people I should charge more for everybody."
I’m not going to question a genuine religious or political opposition to credit cards, but personally I think that’s putting the blame in the wrong place. The problem is that capitalism immiserates the poor and middle class and forces them to rely on credit to survive—blaming the credit cards is like blaming the crack pipes for the crack epidemic, or the fruit bats for ebola. The problem is the system, man.
Ask a Native New Yorker anything by emailing our tips hotline.New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) The Delhi Cabinet today approved a proposal to procure 2,000 buses, including 1,000 for the state-run DTC, to strengthen public transportation in the national capital.
These non-AC, standard-floor buses will be rolled out within a year, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Gahlot told reporters that the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) would be responsible for maintaining its new fleet. Earlier, DTC buses were being maintained by the company supplying the vehicles.
"As per the decision, government would procure a total of 2,000 buses, which includes 1,000 DTC and 1,000 cluster buses. All these buses would be standard-floor buses. In next eight months, cluster buses will start operating. DTCs new fleet will come in one year," Gahlot told a press conference here.
The transport minister also dismissed reports that the DTC would be shut down due to shortage of buses.
"After almost four years, DTC will get new buses and in view of this, it is a historic decision (to procure new buses)," Gahlot tweeted.
"...Delhi cabinet approves procurement of 2,000 buses (1,000 DTC & 1,000 cluster). DTC to maintain its own fleet now," he said in another tweet.
Several bus manufacturing companies had not been showing interest in DTCs tenders, floated several times in the past for the procurement of new buses, due to the maintainance costs.
The DTC has a fleet of 3,944 buses while the DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multimodal Transit System) runs 1,634 buses under the cluster scheme, as per the transport department statistics.
The combined strength of around 5,600 buses covers nearly 75 per cent of the identified routes in the city. A total of 799 mini buses also ply on 124 routes, according to the statistics. PTI VIT BSAElectronic cigarette companies are quietly winning the war on regulation by successfully lobbying state legislatures to exclude them from tobacco control laws.
Public health officials and smoke-free advocates say industry-sponsored bills have the veneer of public health—with provisions about banning sales to minors—but avoid the more stringent rules other tobacco products must abide by.
"These are Trojan Horse bills that look good but leave gaping holes in public health regulations," said Vince Willmore of Tobacco Free Kids. "They result in different penalties and enforcement from regular tobacco products, they exempt e-cigarettes from being included in smoke-free air laws, and some exempt manufacturers from state taxes as well."
"These are Trojan Horse bills that look good but leave gaping holes in public health regulations."
E-cigarette companies—which manufacture the battery-powered devices to mimic smoking by vaporizing a nicotine-laced liquid—say they are concerned for public health and that their devices are safer than traditional cigarettes so they shouldn't be lumped in with existing tobacco laws.
Opponents of the laws see it another way: that they'll undo decades of public health work. The lax rules could result in normalization of a potentially harmful activity, encourage smokers to take up the habit, and expose people to second-hand vaping, of which we don't know the impact.
The World Health Organization has called e-cigarettes safety "illusive", since the ingredients they contain are not always disclosed and there is not "adequate data on emissions." When it comes to helping people quit smoking, they also say the science is not conclusive. The US Centers for Disease Control takes a similar stance: that there is not enough evidence to understand the health impact of vaping. They warn of the potential for nicotine addiction, poisoning, and call for more robust regulation.
"These tactics to undermine effective policies stand to make smoking and the behavior of smoking socially acceptable again," said Cathy Callaway, associate director of state and local campaigns for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. "If the industry can keep people addicted to tobacco products, they'll be more likely to continue to purchase products, and the industry makes money."
The battle between public health advocates and industry is going on in various states right now
The US has been called a "wild west" for e-cigarette regulation since vaping is not currently regulated at the federal level. Right now, the FDA is moving to bring e-cigarettes under its jurisdiction through the Tobacco Control Act. While that's in the works, states have been filling the gap with their own rules and regulations.
So far, 38 states have moved to ban e-cigarettes for minors. But only a few—Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming—define e-cigarettes as tobacco products.
Of the remaining states that restrict sales to minors, 13 states explicitly exempt e-cigarettes from inclusion as a tobacco product and 19 define them in their own separate category. This means e-cigarettes don't face the same stringent restrictions regarding packaging, marketing, and second-hand exposure around regular tobacco products.
Several states are still weighing legislation. In Michigan, a bill passed through the house and senate last spring which stipulated that e-cigarettes cannot be sold to minors—but also that e-cigarettes are not tobacco products.
By doing that, they offer states a very clear way to limit sales to kids on terms that manufacturers prefer and that make it difficult for people to vote against the bill.
"These bills are written in such a way that was very hard for members of the legislature to vote against them"
"These bills are written in such a way that was very hard for members of the legislature to vote against them because of broad public support for restricting sales to minors," said Dr. Matthew Davis, Michigan's chief medical officer, who testified at both the house and senate committees against the laws in Michigan.
"I told them they did the right thing to restrict sales to minors of these products," said Davis, "but did not do so in a way that would optimally protect the public’s health."
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder could veto the legislation; he has previously said it might be more appropriate to use existing tobacco legislation to regulate e-cigarettes.
In other states, some public health advocates are having victories. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon recently vetoed a bill similar to the proposed legislation in Michigan. In his veto letter, he described the bill as "harmful to Missourians" because it "creates a facade of regulation." "
He was also concerned that the e-cigarette industry's involvement in drawing up these state laws might still have an effect on the FDA's forthcoming inclusion of e-cigarettes under the Tobacco Control Act.
As Gov. Nixon wrote in his letter, "At worst, this prohibition may be part of a larger strategy by the tobacco industry to stop the implementation of the FDA regulations or ensnare them in protracted litigation."
Even when the FDA's rule is passed, it won't actually apply to traditional areas of state regulation, such as smoke-free laws and tobacco taxes. These industry-backed bills will have a lasting impact on public health at the local level, particularly in places that haven't enacted municipal legislation to deal with vaping in public places. (So far, only a few big cities across the US have added e-cigarettes to their smoke-free laws.)
E-cigarette companies boast about their support of the bills
E-cigarette companies argue that these state regulations are good-faith efforts to keep kids safe.
"Not only have we supported state legislation to prevent the sale of e-cigs to youth, but we have also put in place a robust age verification process online, similar to retail," Jason Healy, the president of Blu eCigs, said in a statement.
"When it comes to marketing," he added, "we have voluntarily adopted strict marketing restrictions, such as limiting our ad placement to media and events where the target audience consists of at least 85 percent adults."
Willmore at Tobacco Free Kids is skeptical of these efforts. He said they contradict the steps taken by industry to hook people while they are young.
"E-cigs are copying the tobacco company's playbook to market to kids. They're using celebrity endorsements, cartoon pitches. They're sponsoring auto races and music festivals. They're using this wild array of sweet flavors like cotton candy and gummy bears that have been banned from regular cigarettes."
Blu—which has been among the companies pushing for these state laws—even included an ad in this year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, which showed a Blu logo in the middle of a tiny bikini bottom. "It's hard to come up with an ad," said Willmore, "that would be more appealing to teenage boys."Noir is traditionally a male preserve, all gumshoes lurking in corners, cigarettes drooping from cynically downturned mouths. If women exist it is as victims – wounded bodies shot or stabbed and usually found in a state of undress by our hero – or femme fatales, double-crossing their way through the plot in sharp shoes.
Now that's all changing. From American authors Megan Abbott, Gillian Flynn and Christa Faust to Brits Cathi Unsworth, Dreda Say Mitchell and Joolz Denby, a new generation of women crime writers are making themselves at home on noir's mean streets.
And with that change comes a different look for some of noir's most revered tropes. These writers give voice to the women who so often inhabit the fringes of noir, placing prostitutes, female gang members and porn stars centre stage, allowing them to be not the victims but the (anti) heroes of their tales.
They are also unafraid to tackle the worst side of female behaviour. Abbott's recent Dare Me follows a group of damned and damaged cheerleaders as they compete both in their sport and against each other, while the lost girls of Flynn's compelling Midwestern noirs Gone Girl, Sharp Objects and Dark Places sometimes lie and often cheat, damaging themselves and those they are closest to.
Similarly, Unsworth's latest novel Weirdo is both a seaside noir set in Norfolk in the 1980s and the present day, and an unflinching study of the horrors of teenage friendship. "Girls do such evil things to each other, they can be so manipulative and cunning," Unsworth says. "The Sophie Lancaster case, where she was murdered for being different, really affected me – there's so much pressure put on you not to stand out and I wanted to look at that, to explore why teenage girls have this need for one girl to be queen and the others ladies-in-waiting …"
Unsworth, who was called the "Queen of Noir" by author David Peace, is glad that more women are turning to dark crime fiction – "I think it's important that you have female voices, that you get to hear that side of the story" – but admits that British fiction has a long way to go before it catches up with its counterparts in the US.
"Writers like Megan and Christa can write what they want but I'm not sure that's yet the case here," she says. "Women crime writers are still pigeonholed. There's definitely more pressure on women to write a series character, essentially to write mainstream crime. Publishers will often say that male readers don't like women writing noir, although I've found that's not actually the case."Restaurateur Mark Brand (Save On Meats, Boneta, etc.) has joined forces with first timers Tyrell Shaw, Lindsay Lapierre, Matt MacDougall, and Alex Usow (his Sharks + Hammers, Sea Monstr Sushi partner) to open No. 1 Noodle House in the old 1 West Cordova address (the original Boneta spot at Carrall and Cordova in Gastown).
It’s basically a big ramen joint. They’ve been researching the hell out of broths and are now onto noodles (heading to LA on a ramen spree next week). The menu will be small – just three ramens (soy, pork, maybe chicken), fried chicken wings, bao buns, salads and Banh Mi sandwiches – with a small beer, sake and spirits component.
The place will be geared towards the chefs who work on the line all night and then don’t have many options for food and drink when they clock out. No. 1 Noodle House might stay open until as late as 4am, with a capacity for 75-90 people. Guest chefs will also regularly moonlight to create specialty dishes of their own.
Right now, the concept is for a 7 month pop-up, which Brand describes as a “business incubator”. If it works, they might stay or move somewhere else. Opening day is scheduled for late April or early May.PHILADELPHIA -- On the eve of a potential Wild Card game clincher, the Mets learned that they would have to continue their playoff push without another one of their key pieces: Wilmer Flores.
Manager Terry Collins said Friday that Flores would be shut down for the season due to a nagging bone bruise in his right wrist that has kept him sidelined for three weeks. The Mets had hoped that three days of rest would help Flores' wrist improve, but he remained unable to swing a bat on Friday.
The 25-year-old Mets infielder injured his wrist during a home-plate collision with A.J. Pierzynski in Atlanta on Sept. 10. Flores received two cortisone shots in an attempt to alleviate the discomfort, but his wrist remained slow to heal.
Mets' magic number down to one
Flores had established himself as a significant weapon against left-handed pitching, batting.340 with a 1.093 OPS, 11 home runs and 28 RBI. Rookie T.J. Rivera, who is hitting.337 in 32 games, has helped fill the void at second base in Flores' absence.
"We get the news that we're not going to have Wilmer Flores," Collins said Saturday. "Here's a guy that was absolutely murdering left-handed pitching, and we had a lot of spots where he came up big. So you put T.J. Rivera in there, and he's stepped up."
The Mets had often started Flores at first base against left-handed starters, and Collins said the club could consider turning to other players to fill that role, including Eric Campbell and the switch-hitting Ty Kelly. (Lucas Duda and James Loney are both left-handed hitters.)
"We'll find somebody," Collins said.
Maria Guardado may be reached at mguardado@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @mi_guardado. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
May 19, 2017, 10:09 AM GMT / Updated May 19, 2017, 10:09 AM GMT By Alex Seitz-Wald
Some Democratic leaders around the country are growing increasingly concerned that the party could be repeating its errors from the 2016 election by looking past voters' core concerns in lawmakers' eagerness to take aim at the president.
“We’re obsessed with what’s happening here, and a lot of American people are worried about that,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told NBC News during an interview in D.C. this week. “But if you’re out of a job or struggling with debt, you’ve got more primary concerns than even all of the drama here in Washington. And if nobody is speaking to it, besides this president, you’re going to stick with him. You just are. Even through this stuff.”
Some Democrats — especially those outside Washington, who are closer to their constituents and more removed from the Beltway — warn most voters are too busy leading their lives to pay attention to the ins and outs of the Russia investigations or the controversy du jour in the capital and are more responsive to bread-and-butter issues than the possible but unlikely impeachment of the president.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper makes remarks during a news conference at Credit Suisse in Morrisville, N.C. on May 9, 2017. Credit Suisse plans to add up to 1,200 jobs at its North Carolina technology hub. Gerry Broome / AP file
“Yes, Trump is hurting the country,” said newly elected North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. “But the bottom line is people are worried about getting their kids through college, making ends meet, and keeping their family running. Those are the things that they focus on.”
Cooper, who outperformed Clinton last year by winning a swing state state she lost, worries Democrats could lose focus of “pocketbook issues.”
“We have to communicate with people that we know we will help," he told NBC News. "And a lot of those people voted for Donald Trump because they were frustrated that their wages were stagnant, that they didn't see their lives getting any better. And it's important for us to show them that we are a better alternative.”
Since the election, Democrats have latched on to countless, sometimes conflicting, explanations for why Clinton lost. But one that has gained traction across is she spent too much time prosecuting Trump’s temperament and not enough selling her ability to help people. A study published after the election by the Wesleyan Media Project found Clinton’s campaign aired far fewer policy-focused TV ads than any other presidential campaign since 2000 — including Trump’s.
No Democrat is advocating going easy on the president or skirting the mounting White House controversies. But there are tradeoffs in prioritizing either scandal or policy.
“There’s room for both, and I don’t think they should be mutually exclusive, but I think we saw in the election that people want to see, 'What are you going to do for them?'” said Terry McAuliffe, the popular governor of Virginia and a close Clinton ally.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) delivers remarks on the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 26, 2016 in Philadelphia. Drew Angerer / Getty Images file
McAuliffe, a former Democratic National Committee Chairman, said when he talks about Trump, he talks specifically about how the president is impacting voters in his state.
“I think the message for us as Democrats is we’ve got to give people a reason to vote for us, not against Trump. I think that’s a much more powerful message,” he said.
At a Center for American Progress conference in Washington on Tuesday that served as the first cattle call for potential Democratic White House hopefuls, speaker after speaker took to the stage to remind the audience that Democrats “cannot be just a party of resistance,” as Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said in his keynote address.
Indeed, the left-leaning think tank's gathering, was billed as being about “Ideas,” and several speakers focused on issues like criminal justice reform and the economy.
But in the hallways of the Four Seasons Hotel outside the main ballroom — like everywhere Democrats congregate these day — attendees couldn’t help but buzz about the FBI investigation and the possibility of removing the president.
U.S. Representative Maxine Waters gestures as she delivers remarks on July 27, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Alex Wong / Getty Images
And it was Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) who brought the audience to whooping applause by declaring, "We don't have to be afraid to use the word impeachment!”
Waters has been in Congress 26 years, but her willingness months ago to become the first Democrat to call for impeachment turned her into an overnight sensation among the party’s base and a must-have speaker at left-leaning events.
As investigative bombshells drop, more of her colleagues have stepped up to grab their own moment in the spotlight by dropping “the I-word.”
But many Democrats privately worry that lawmakers and outside groups demanding impeachment are making a quick buck in a way that could ultimately be counterproductive for the party.
"There is increasing concern for a lot of us that jumping to impeachment talk before the facts are there and the American public are ready for it is a gift to Trump,” said one Democratic strategist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly.
RELATED: The Democrats vs. Trump: Full coverage
“No matter how much it can get you on cable TV or raise you money on the internet,” the strategist continued, “flipping to the last chapter of the spy novel before reading the book will undermine the damage this investigation is going to do to Trump by making the American people see it as political and prejudged.”
Even the some in the party’s generally combative left-wing has called for some brake-pumping.
“I don’t think you want to make that leap to impeachment until you follow a path that leads us there,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said during a CNN town hall this week. “Maybe it will [lead there] maybe it won’t. But I’m not there at this point.”
"Many people across America think that Trump's lawbreaking and seemingly treasonous acts sound horrible, but then look at their family and think more about whether they have good jobs and healthcare,” said Adam Green, the co-founder the Progressive Change Campaign Committee,
“Democrats should absolutely hold Trump accountable,” he continued, “but must also be disciplined about pivoting to our core message” on healthcare and jobs.
“Without that, the lesson of 2016 simply isn't being learned,” he added.In an effort to prevent destructive oil drilling in the Arctic, dozens of Greenpeace Nordic activists have boarded and occupied a Shell-contracted icebreaker in Helsinki harbour as it prepared to leave for the Alaskan Arctic. At 10:30 in Helsinki, Finland, 20 activists from 13 different countries boarded the Nordica and have locked themselves down throughout the ship, from the cabins to the top of the mast.
We are calling on the oil giant Shell to abandon its controversial plans to open up the fragile Arctic for oil drilling. You can show your support by writing to Shell now.
"We are here on behalf of the nearly 400,000 people around the world who in just a couple of months have spoken out demanding that Shell cancel its reckless campaign of Arctic destruction," said Greenpeace campaign manager in Finland Tapio Laakso. "Oil companies know full well that an oil spill off the Alaskan coast would devastate the environment and prove impossible to clean up."
For the first time in our history we are faced with the possibility of a world without ice at the North Pole, without a home for polar bears, narwhals and walrus. It is fundamentally wrong that Shell is making money drilling for more of the oil that has caused this melting in the first place.
The Nordica is one of two Shell-contracted icebreakers owned by the Finnish government. It is heading to Alaska to join its sister ship, the Fennica, to support the Kulluk and Noble Discoverer, the two drilling vessels en route to the north coast of Alaska to drill five exploratory wells for Shell in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas later this summer.
Shell is the first major international oil company to make exploitation of the Arctic a serious corporate focus. If it strikes oil this summer, other global oil giants will quickly follow and spark a dangerous Arctic oil rush.
Photo: (C) Greenpeace / Matti Snellman21-month period in the history of India when PM Indira Gandhi assumed extraordinary powers
In India, "the Emergency" refers to a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352 of the Constitution because of the prevailing "internal disturbance", the Emergency was in effect from 25 June 1975 until its withdrawal on 21 March 1977. The order bestowed upon the Prime Minister the authority to rule by decree, allowing elections to be suspended and civil liberties to be curbed. For much of the Emergency, most of Gandhi's political opponents were imprisoned and the press was censored. Several other human rights violations were reported from the time, including a forced mass-sterilization campaign spearheaded by Sanjay Gandhi, the Prime Minister's son. The Emergency is one of the most controversial periods of independent India's history.
The final decision to impose an emergency was proposed by Indira Gandhi, agreed upon by the president of India, and thereafter ratified by the cabinet and the parliament (from July to August 1975), based on the rationale that there were imminent internal and external threats to the Indian state.[1][2]
Prelude [ edit ]
Rise of Indira Gandhi [ edit ]
Indira is India, India is Indira. — Congress president D. K. Barooah, c. 1974[3]
Between 1967 and 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came to obtain near-absolute control over the government and the Indian National Congress party, as well as a huge majority in Parliament. The first was achieved by concentrating the central government's power within the Prime Minister's Secretariat, rather than the Cabinet, whose elected members she saw as a threat and distrusted. For this she relied on her principal secretary, P. N. Haksar, a central figure in Indira's inner circle of advisors. Further, Haksar promoted the idea of a "committed bureaucracy" that required hitherto-impartial government officials to be "committed" to the ideology of the ruling party of the day.
Within the Congress, Indira ruthlessly outmanoeuvred her rivals, forcing the party to split in 1969—into the Congress (O) (comprising the old-guard known as the "Syndicate") and her Congress (R). A majority of the All-India Congress Committee and Congress MPs sided with the prime minister. Indira's party was of a different breed from the Congress of old, which had been a robust institution with traditions of internal democracy. In the Congress (R), on the other hand, members quickly realised that their progress within the ranks depended solely on their loyalty to Indira Gandhi and her family, and ostentatious displays of sycophancy became routine. In the coming years, Indira's influence was such that she could install hand-picked loyalists as chief ministers of states, rather than their being elected by the Congress legislative party.
Indira's ascent was backed by her charismatic appeal among the masses that was aided by her government's near-rad |
[the criminals] watched Internet videos showing the execution of hostages by Islamic State fighters and sought to mimic them," AFP cited an unnamed source close to police as telling the weekly.
On Friday, three boys, including an 18-year-old, were arrested by the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Department in connection with the murder. The 18-year-old, believed to be the main suspect, has denied he played any part in the killing, Japanese media reported.
The suspects were arrested after police examined security video footage near the site where Uemura’s body was discovered. A group of people, potentially including Uemura, were seen in the area on the day he was killed.
A friend of the victim says Uemura had told him he was being severely bullied by older students and feared he might be killed, Japan Times reported. Uemura said his attempts to distance himself from them only incited them to greater acts of violence.
Japan has one of the lowest homicide rates in the world, with violent crime usually capturing the headlines.
The recent murder of two Japanese citizens – war correspondent Kenji Goto and his friend Haruna Yukawa – at the hands of the Islamic State sent shockwaves through the country.BEREA, Ohio -- Pat Shurmur acknowledged that defensive tackle Phil Taylor could be lost for the 2012 season to a torn left pectoral muscle, but the Browns aren't ready to write him off.
"He's going to miss a significant amount of time, more months than weeks," the Browns head coach said. "It's too early to speculate on how long that will be. Everybody recovers at a different rate. Our guess is he'll be a fast healer."
Taylor, the team's first-round pick last season, was injured while bench-pressing during an off-season workout on Thursday. He'll undergo surgery next week and the Browns will know more then about his prognosis. If it's a complete tear, he could be out six to nine months.
At a Friday luncheon at the University of Akron, team president Mike Holmgren held out hope. "I think there's a chance he can come back and play [this season]," he said.
Holmgren said he spoke with members of the strength and conditioning staff to find out what happened. He was assured Taylor "was doing everything fine, that he was not lifting too much weight for Phil. He already had done a couple of reps. I think we're doing everything right and I think Phil is doing everything right. He has been working out so well. It was one of those things that happened that nobody can predict."
Holmgren said the Browns might have to wait until final cuts to see which linemen get released, "but in a perfect world you'd like to have [a replacement] in camp with you."
In the meantime, the Browns drafted two tackles and signed two ends in free agency, one of whom could move inside if necessary. Former Bengal Frostee Rucker played inside in nickel situations and could fill in at tackle.
24 Gallery: Browns Rookie Minicamp 2012: Day 1
The Browns also drafted tackle John Hughes in the third round and Billy Winn in the sixth. The Browns have been criticized for taking Hughes so early, but Hughes hasn't let it affect him.
"No, I don't think about that at all really," Hughes said. "I'm going to come out here and play. People can think what they want. I know I can play and I can't wait to prove it."
He said Taylor's injury hasn't changed his approach.
"I had the same mentality that I had two days earlier: to play the best ball I can and try to be a good addition to the team."
He said he stepped up his work ethic his senior year. He also began to play the pass as well as the run. He finished 2011 with 51 tackles, including 12.5 for a loss.
"I think my biggest step was the mental part of the game," he said. "I got a lot smarter. I could diagnose plays a lot better. I didn't want to let my team down, I wanted to go as far as I could in my last year with the team and make history in Cincinnati."
Winn signed his four-year contract Friday.
"I'm going to come out and compete every day," he said. "None of us is on the team yet. We're all looking to compete against each other and make each other better."
Winn said he's most comfortable at the three-technique, which is where Taylor played. "I'd also say I play with a lot of speed at that position."
He said he and Hughes feel like they're in this together.
"We've already started to create that little bond," he said. "We're roommates so we've been doing a little chatting and going over the playbook. We'll help each other out and compete against each other and make each other better."
No Sweat: Ohio State linebacker Andrew Sweat was signed as an undrafted free agent, but didn't show for rookie camp. "I think he's made a decision he's not going to play," said Shurmur.
No Plax: Shurmur said team officials haven't discussed signing free agent receiver Plaxico Burress, who told Sirius XM radio the Browns are one of about four teams he'd like to play for.
On Benjamin: Shurmur took exception to a question about receiver Travis Benjamin dropping two balls in Friday's workout. He caught at least a half-dozen others.
"Let's not go there yet," Shurmur said. "I think they're all getting used to it. I think he catches the ball fine and he's fast-fast. In my opinion, for the most part the guys caught the ball pretty well. I think he's got good hands and he'll show it."
Schwartz signs: Second-round pick Mitchell Schwartz signed his four-year deal Friday, a source said. It includes a $2.206 million signing bonus and has a maximum value of $5.17 million. As of last night, the Browns had only three to go: Trent Richardson, Brandon Weeden and sixth-rounder Emmanuel Acho.
Regional appearances: Holmgren served as a keynote speaker in Akron at the first of two "Football Friday" luncheons this month. It is part of the club's regional market initiative which continues next Friday as Shurmur speaks at the Maronite Center in Youngstown.
Holmgren was joined by tight end Ben Watson and several Browns alumni. Jim Donovan, the voice of the Browns, emceed the luncheon, which included an appearance from new UA football coach Terry Bowden.
"This one is really about thanking the fans of Akron because they are such great fans down here... and expanding my reach in Ohio," Holmgren said.
Schwartz signs: Offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz, a second-round pick by the Browns, signed his four-year deal Friday, a source said. The max value of the contract is $5.17 million. It includes a $2.206 million signing bonus. They also signed linebacker Emmanuel Acho, a sixth-round pick, and Winn each to four-year deals worth $2.178 million, including a $78,680 signing bonus, according to Scout.com.
Staff writers Mary Kay Cabot, Dennis Manoloff and Tom Reed contributed to this report.Late last year, the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) of the small Mediterranean island of Malta decided against transmitting the matches of the 2014 World Cup in the Maltese language. Instead, the tournament will be shown in English commentary beamed live from stadia in Brazil. Many of Malta’s inhabitants are multilingual, fluent in English and Italian, so the broadcaster reasoned it could save the expense of offering commentary in the national language. It wasn’t just penny-pinching that motivated the decision, but sheer embarrassment: Maltese commentators, PBS suggested, were just not up to the job.
During two previous major football tournaments (Euro 2012 and the 2010 World Cup), commentary on the public broadcaster was littered with errors, odd digressions, and fuzzy ideas. A source inside PBS complained to Malta Today – an English-language newspaper – of the typically "poor quality" of Maltese commentators, who tended to "blabber on without describing what is going on in the pitch." One match announcer was under the illusion that the country of Yugoslavia still existed. Sitting in studios far away from the action, the commentators seemed to be demonstrating their remove not only from the matches they were summarising, but from the world itself. These gaffes cost Maltese viewers the chance of hearing the 2014 World Cup narrated in their own language.
Speakers of large international languages (like English, Arabic, and Spanish) can take for granted their immediacy and ease of access to the World Cup. The tournament is lavishly packaged and expertly delivered to them in their own tongues. For speakers of small languages – particularly those that share media space with bigger languages – the experience of accessing a major event like the World Cup can be comical and frustrating. Sometimes, it can be even a wounding reminder of their own smallness. George Micallef, a much-respected Maltese sports journalist, protested PBS’s decision to scrap commentary in his language. "I am hurt by this decision," he said. "I do not expect the national broadcaster to ignore the Maltese language in such a blatant way."
The love for football and the World Cup crosses all boundaries of ethnicity and speech. The tournament wraps itself in claims of universalism and harmonious inclusion, championing football’s ubiquity. But in its transmission and reception around the globe, the World Cup can often help impose one language over another.
Malta is one of the world’s tiniest countries and Maltese one of the smallest tongues of Europe, but language remains an emotive issue in much bigger countries as well. In Turkey, with its long history of the repression of the Kurdish minority, language is still a fault line. Though the public broadcaster TRT has a channel dedicated to programming in Kurdish and other minority languages, the World Cup will be broadcast only in Turkish.
Efforts are being made to preserve and rejuvenate the Andean languages still spoken in significant numbers in Peru and Ecuador, as well as indigenous languages such as Nahuatl in Mexico. All World Cup games in those countries will be broadcast in Spanish. In Indonesia, the World Cup will be broadcast in English and the national language Bahasa Indonesia, but not in large regional languages such Javanese (which boasts the twelfth highest number of speakers in the world), or in any of the local tongues that pepper the archipelago nation.
Resources and political imperatives play a large part in determining both the demand and supply of the languages that will narrate the World Cup. While the Maltese language may lack the financial backing to stake its claim on the tournament, certain states have a vested interest in promoting commentary in their own national languages.
When broadcast in Kyrgyzstan, Word Cup matches are divided into 18 or more five-minute blocks of commentary, moving back and forth between Kyrgyz and Russian. The dizzying rotation serves to maintain the balance between the country’s two official languages. Russian was once the lingua franca of Soviet Central Asia, but the independent countries of the region have sought to encourage the use of their native languages in building their young nation-states.
The balancing act doesn’t succeed in gratifying viewers. "It pleases neither Kyrgyz speakers who don’t understand Russian nor Russian speakers who don’t understand Kyrgyz," says Chris Rickleton, editor of Global Voices Central Asia and a journalist based in Kyrgyzstan. For the many Kyrgyz who understand both languages, the level of commentary leaves much to be desired. "Bilingual folks tend just to moan about the quality of the commentary, since most of the announcers are somewhat short of match practice." According to Rickleton, such is the general poverty of the match announcing that some Kyrgyz fans are glad for the regular switches between languages. "A journalist friend, Askar, tells me that 'when you listen to our commentators, after five minutes you’d be happy to listen to anyone else, even if it is just another one of our commentators.'"
Football fans around the world bemoan neophyte match announcing. For many fans raised on a diet of football in big international languages like English, it can be jarring to suddenly hear commentary in another tongue. When STAR Sports India began broadcasting certain English Premier League matches with Hindi commentary, it faced an immediate revolt from viewers. "Please spare us," one fan wrote, "get the English commentary back!" "You guys know how to mess up a good thing," tweeted another. In their view, the sounds of English commentary were part and parcel of the experience of imbibing English football. The neologisms, clumsy translations, and verbal explosions of the Hindi commentary were at best distracting. At worst, they amounted to blasphemous intrusions into the sacred space of top-flight English football.
Commentary is an integral part of the experience of televised football. In telling the story of a match, it completes the circle between the viewer and the spectacle. "If you’re watching TV and don’t understand the commentary, part of the experience is lost," says Ana Williams, a linguist and professor of Portuguese at Northwestern University. "Commentators involve whomever is listening, bringing them into the narrative. When you hear matches in your language, you feel more at home."
How easy is it to feel at home in a football match beamed from far away? In India, less than 10 percent of the population speaks English. Since 2012, local and regional broadcasters have made a concerted effort to deliver sports coverage in more of the country’s many languages. "In a digital world the consumer has the ability to access a variety of content in multiple languages," wrote Nitin Kukreja, president of STAR Sports India, in 2013. "Broadcasters would be doing a great disservice if they continued to use a cookie-cutter approach and did not use this opportunity to go deeper and serve the interest of all." For 56 matches of the 2014 World Cup, fans in the football-loving state of West Bengal will be able to watch for the first time a live feed of the tournament in Bengali. By screening international and local sports in Hindi, Bengali and other vernacular languages, Indian media corporations hope to find more viewers outside the major metropolitan areas, reaching an audience less circumscribed by class and English-language education.
Inevitably, the rapidly growing economies and media landscapes of large countries like India and Nigeria will bring the World Cup into more local languages. OSMI, the broadcast rights owner in Nigeria for the 2014 World Cup, will be introducing match commentaries in Pidgin English for the first time. Rotimi Pedro, OSMI’s CEO, was proud of the decision, noting that "this is a first in the history of sports broadcasting in the country." Pidgin is an unofficial language in Nigeria, an English-based creole spoken mostly as a second language across the nation. It transcends the various divisions of the linguistically diverse country. Now it will be used to deliver the World Cup in an accent and an idiom more readily familiar to many Nigerians.
In Kenya, radio commentary in local languages supplements the TV feed in English. "In some parts of the country, fans prefer to mute the TV volume and listen to Kiswahili commentary over the radio simultaneously," says Carol Radull, a Nairobi-based radio and TV sports presenter. "Kenya has a crop of very talented Kiswahili football commentators. Kiswahili is an animated language and the commentators are able to bring the drama to radio in a very expressive manner. More Kenyans are naturally conversant in Kiswahili than in English, so they appreciate the ability to listen to the game in their national language."
Kiswahili is a robust language throughout the region, but other smaller languages in Kenya are joining the fray. "Kikuyu commentary is also quite common and popular," Radull says. "Should radio stations begin to offer commentary in other languages like Dholuo, Luhya and Kisii, I'm sure they would find an audience."
As the experience of football is translated into more and more languages, there will inevitably be some of the teething problems described above in relation to Maltese, Kyrgyz, and Hindi. Ana Williams, the linguist, suggests that it takes time for a culture to develop its own fluent language of commentary. She is the author of O Jogo Narrado, a study comparing the function and style of football commentary in Brazil and France. Football was brought to Brazil by the British, so in its early days, Brazilian commentary was littered with English words: "corner," "referee," "football," "goalkeeper," "match," and so on. "When soccer fully impregnated Brazilian culture, these words were replaced by vocabulary in Portuguese," Williams says. She sees a similar process happening around the world. "In time, you’ll have what happened in Brazil. The more popular the game gets, the more the national language will assimilate the game."
That bodes well for a country like India, where the launch of vernacular-language commentary runs in parallel with the growth of a burgeoning football culture. But speakers of smaller languages – like Maltese – will still have to resign themselves to hearing the narrative of the World Cup in voices that are not their own.A White House spokeswoman early Wednesday rejected the suggestion that President Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey was related to the investigation into Russia's interference in the presidential election.
"Absolutely not," Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"There's no evidence of any collusion," she added, referring to one of the probe's purposes — to discover if there was any coordination between Trump's campaign and Moscow to influence the outcome of the election.
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Sanders was further pressed about the president's past praise of the former FBI director and why he decided to fire him.
"I think that it's very simple. He has the person that the FBI director reports to give him a very strong, very compelling recommendation that Comey needs to go," she said.
"He followed the recommendation of that individual and made the decision to fire James Comey," she said, referring to Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsFormer Trump refugee director did not notify superiors about family separation warnings Court rejects challenge to Mueller's appointment Trump says he hasn't spoken to Barr about Mueller report MORE and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein.
Trump on Tuesday fired Comey, the man who had been leading the investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The dismissal came in a signed letter from Trump to Comey that said it was time for a "new beginning" at the nation's "crown jewel of law enforcement."
The move shocked Washington and sparked outrage from Democrats, who said Trump was trying to shut down the FBI's investigation.WISCONSIN BADGERS
Division: Leaders
2012 record: 8-6 (4-4 Big Ten); lost Rose Bowl 20-14 to Stanford
Returning offensive starters (8): QB Joel Stave, FB Derek Watt, WR Jared Abbrederis, TE Jacob Pedersen, TE Brian Wozniak, T Rob Havenstein, G Ryan Groy, G Kyle Costigan
Projected starting offense: QB Joel Stave, so., 6-5, 220; RB James White, sr., 5-10, 197 OR Melvin Gordon, jr., 6-1, 206; TE Jacob Pedersen, sr., 6-4, 237; TE Brian Wozniak, sr., 6-4, 255 OR FB Derek Watt, so., 6-2, 230; WR Jared Abbrederis, sr., 6-2, 188; WR Jordan Frederick, so., 6-3, 215; T Rob Havenstein, jr., 6-8, 345; T Ryan Groy, sr., 6-5, 315; G Dallas Lewallen, jr., 6-6, 310; G Kyle Costigan, jr., 6-4, 313; C Dan Voltz, fr., 6-4, 300
Returning defensive starters (7): DE David Gilbert, DT Beau Allen, DT Ethan Hemer, DE Pat Muldoon, LB Chris Borland, LB Ethan Armstrong, S Dezmen Southward
Projected starting defense: DE Ethan Hemer, sr., 6-6, 295; NT Beau Allen, sr., 6-3, 335; DE Pat Muldoon, sr., 6-3, 258; LB Chris Borland, sr., 6-0, 242; LB Ethan Armstrong, sr., 6-2, 216; LB Brendan Kelly, sr., 6-6, 258; LB Vince Biegel, fr., 6-3, 225; CB Sojourn Shelton, fr., 5-9, 162; CB Darius Hillary, so., 5-11, 190; S Dezman Southward, sr., 6-2, 213; S Michael Trotter, jr., 6-0, 210
Return specialists: (2): K Kyle French, jr., 6-1, 200; P Drew Meyer, so., 6-2, 180
Key losses: RB Montee Ball, T Ricky Wagner, LB Mike Taylor, C Travis Frederick, CB Marcus Cromartie, CB Devin Smith, QB Danny O'Brien
Key additions: TE T.J. Watt, 6-4, 215; QB Tanner McEvoy, 6-6, 215; RB Corey Clement, 5-11, 210; WR Rob Wheelright, 6-1, 180; T Jackson Keeler, 6-7, 290
2012 review: No team experienced a more up-and-down Big Ten season -- perhaps in all of college football -- than the Wisconsin Badgers.
Wisconsin's offense was impotent early in the season, edging Northern Iowa, Utah State and UTEP and losing 10-7 at Oregon State. The loss cost offensive line coach Mike Markuson his job. Only once in the Badgers' first five games did they run for better than 3.6 yards per carry.
But as anemic as Wisconsin's early offense, the team settled in quickly and rolled for massive ground yardage in four other games. Wisconsin pulverized Purdue for 467 rushing yards, then battered Minnesota for 337. In a Leaders Division showdown with Indiana, the Badgers rolled up a school-record 594 rushing yards. In the Big Ten championship game, Wisconsin blasted Nebraska for 539 yards at 10.8 yards per carry.
Wisconsin picked up the Leaders Division title-game bid by default with Ohio State and Penn State ineligible. The Badgers finished 4-4 in league play but steamrolled to the automatic Rose Bowl berth with a 70-31 beatdown of Nebraska.
Among the highs last year was the performance of running back Montee Ball, who set the league record for most career touchdowns. But days after the Nebraska win, Coach Bret Bielema bolted Dairyland for Arkansas. Athletics director Barry Alvarez, himself a Hall of Fame coach, took over for the Rose Bowl, which the Badgers lost to Stanford 20-14. It was Wisconsin's third straight Rose Bowl defeat.
The Badgers hired Utah State's Gary Andersen, whose team nearly upset the Badgers in week three last year, to replace Bielema. On offense Andersen has mixed some zone read option with Wisconsin's traditional power base. Defensively, Wisconsin will switch to a hybrid 3-4 alignment.
2013 schedule: A31 Massachusetts; S7 Tennessee Tech; S14 at Arizona State; S21 Purdue; S28 at Ohio State; O12 Northwestern; O19 at Illinois; N2 at Iowa; N9 BYU; N16 Indiana; N23 at Minnesota; N30 Penn State
Key stretch: Wisconsin opens Big Ten play against three 2012 bowl teams and wins in all three could vault the Badgers back to the Rose Bowl for an unprecedented fourth straight year. Wisconsin overpowered Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium last year, but the Boilermakers have a new coach. The Leaders Division title could be decided on Sept. 28 when Wisconsin travels to Ohio State. Two weeks later the Badgers host explosive Northwestern.
Trap game: Minnesota. At first blush a rivalry game like this never should constitute a "trap" for teams, but Wisconsin has beaten its western neighbors nine years in a row. Minnesota is improving and the game is held in Minneapolis in late November. Depending on the Badgers' frame of mind, they could be either too high or too low, one week before the season finale against Penn State. New Coach Gary Andersen possesses neither the history nor the animosity for the Gophers that former Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema enjoyed (7-0) in the series. Sometimes that prevents teams from mental overkill during rivalry weeks. Other times, not enough emphasis is placed to placate the fans.
Glass half-full: With two of the league's best running backs and perhaps its best wide receiver and tight end, the Badgers scoot into their showdown with Ohio State unbeaten. Behind veteran linebacker Chris Borland, the defense stabilizes and sophomore quarterback Joel Stave continues to grow from caretaker to playmaker. The Badgers navigate through rivalry games at Iowa and Minnesota, take care of business against Indiana, Purdue and Illinois and play mistake-free football against upper-echelon squads Ohio State, Northwestern and Penn State. A 10- or 11-win season, even without a division title, could vault the Badgers into a BCS bowl, possibly the Rose, if Ohio State goes undefeated.
Glass half-empty: Wisconsin's offense fails to gain traction with Andersen's subtle changes and stalls similar to last year's slow start. An early road loss at Arizona State stunts their growth, and team fails to recover against Ohio State and Northwestern. Road trips to Iowa and Minnesota prove brutal, and the Badgers self-destruct in rivalry games. Wisconsin barely finishes with a winning record (similar to last year's 7-5 mark) and nets a lower-tier bowl.
The Iowa angle: We've discussed this ad nauseum from mid-2010 through this spring. The Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry was collateral damage during the Big Ten's first crack at radical realignment in 2011. The schools had played in 72 of the previous 74 seasons before the schedule revamp, which placed Iowa in the Legends Division and Wisconsin in the Leaders Division. It was difficult for both schools to accept.
Wisconsin won the last meeting 31-30 in 2010, an epic clash that stands like a fork in the road of the two programs. Wisconsin since has advanced to three straight Rose Bowls, while Iowa twice was jettisoned to the Insight Bowl. Last year the Hawkeyes hit rock bottom with a 4-8 campaign and are 14-17 since that game.
But the rivalry is back on the fast track, thanks to realignment No. 2. With Maryland and Rutgers joining the Big Ten in 2014, the league divided its football programs based on geography. That means the 3-hour drive between Iowa City and Madison once again will become an annual trip. Oddly enough, the Badgers must play in Kinnick Stadium three times (2010, 2013, 2014) before the Hawkeyes return to Camp Randall.
But there no longer will be Iowa overtones to this football series. Athletics Director and former coach Barry Alvarez was a former assistant under Hayden Fry. Bielema was an Iowa team captain, a former Iowa assistant and famously has a Tiger-Hawk stitched to his leg. Andersen has no ties to the state. That doesn't mean the fans will think less of the series, however. It stands tied 42-42-2 after 86 meetings. (Iowa leads the basketball series 79-78, so the rivalry is strong in other sports, too.)
Quotable: We're in a good spot. You're never going to get everything you want. You're never going to have it perfect. We wanted consistency. I think we got that. We wanted effort. I think we got that.. Wisconsin Coach Gary AndersenBlink-182’s upcoming album California will be a Tom DeLonge-less affair, as we already know. After parting ways with the band, the guitarist has kept busy by releasing music and penning a novel about the threat of UFOs. As it happens, DeLonge seems to be far more concerned with the latter.
In a new interview with Mic, DeLonge says that he quit Blink-182 to focus on a “national security issue,” specifically UFOs. Dealing with extraterrestrial dangers and the grind of touring with the band was too much for DeLonge.
“When you’re an individual like me,” Delonge says, “dealing with something that’s a national security issue, and you’re being gifted with the opportunity to communicate something you’ve been passionate about your whole life — something that has the opportunity to change the world over time — being a small part of that is enormously important for my life path. But I can’t do everything. I can’t tour nine months out of the year with enough time to do the enormity of what I’m setting out to do.”
DeLonge’s relationship with the band hasn’t been entirely clear since the split in January 2015. Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker said that his manager confirmed that DeLonge “didn’t want to participate in any Blink-182 projects indefinitely,” but the guitarist later claimed in an Instagram post that he “never quit the band.” DeLonge said last April that he and the group do have a future together, but the fact remains that he’s been replaced by Matt Skiba and isn’t involved in California, which drops on July 1."I think all Plextek engineers helped us a lot in so many ways.... we would like to express our thanks to all engineers in Plextek." Wavetech
"We have developed an excellent working relationship on this project." BAE Systems (Operations Ltd)
"I think that the Plextek team worked incredibly hard to adapt to the issues that were present and I was impressed by the systems." MOD DE&S
"You achieved the goal of developing a proof of concept device for which we are grateful. It has been a pleasure working with your team, and if opportunity presents itself, I would be happy to do so again." IQ Endoscopes
"You guys did a good job yesterday at showing off the product and I am very excited for trials this month." MOD DE&SCrash Bandicoot fans think they have worked out why jumping feels harder in the new remaster.
Image credit SmashHouseOok via imgur.
Since the exceptionally popular launch of Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy on Friday, some fans have complained that jumping feels off for both playable characters Crash and Coco. Jumps seem trickier and slipping off edges appears to be more likely. Finally, we may have an explanation.
Redditor Tasty Carcass believes the N.Sane Trilogy uses "pill shaped" collision boxes for Crash and Coco's feet. In other words, rather than being flat they are rounded so can easily slip off edges.
"This shape is used as the default for the Unity engine and some other engines," he explained. "It means that rather than falling off things, you sort of slide down them a bit first, even if it's a flat plane."
The positive aspect of this is you can extend Crash's jump, if you learn to harness this feature. Jumping while sliding off an edge, at just the right time, allows you to get farther as can be seen in Tasty Carcass's video below.
However, the big issue is it means you are likely to die if you just barely land on the edge of something. Not ideal. (Eurogamer has asked Activision for comment.)
Twitch streamer DingDongVG created a video providing a visual demonstration of the problem. From the footage, it seems Crash's jumping arc is sped up, meaning he lands just slightly quicker than in the original, and it appears he is sliding off the edge of surfaces.
This would certainly explain why the game seems harder now, especially for levels that require carefully timed jumps, but perhaps we just aren't as good as we were before.
It's worth noting developer Vicarious Visions had to rebuild the game from scratch as all the source code and reference material from the original was nowhere to be found. You can read more about the studio's journey in this article by Ars Technica.Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are seen inside Oxitec laboratory in Campinas, Brazil, February 2, 2016. Picture taken February 2, 2016. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The tiny South Pacific island nation of Tonga has declared an outbreak of the Zika virus after five cases of the mosquito-borne illness were confirmed and another 259 suspected, the country’s chief medical officer said on Friday.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Reynold Ofanoa said that officials became suspicious after a sharp rise in the number of patients suffering acute fever and rashes since the beginning of the year.
“We were suspecting a probable outbreak of either Zika, dengue or chikungunya,” he told Reuters, referring to two other mosquito-borne viruses. “So we sent the blood specimens for testing overseas and when we obtained the results it showed that we’ve got confirmed positive blood tests for Zika.”
The tropical archipelago had never previously had any confirmed cases of the Zika virus, Ofanoa said, so it was likely brought into the country by an infected person and then spread by mosquitoes.
“I think this is the first time it happened in Tonga, so surely the disease came from overseas.”
There were no immediate plans to introduce travel restrictions in or out of the country, he said.
Since it was detected in Brazil in April, the virus has spread to 26 countries in the Americas. The World Health Organization declared Zika an international health emergency this week, citing a “strongly suspected” relationship between the virus in pregnancy and microcephaly, a condition in which infants are born with abnormally small heads and can suffer developmental problems.
Brazil’s government is investigating the potential link between Zika and more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly. Researchers have identified evidence of Zika in 17 of those cases but have not confirmed the virus can cause the condition.A 14-year-old girl became pregnant after being taken to Pakistan by her father and forced to marry a man, a judge has said.
She was subjected to violence during which a gun was produced, according to Mr Justice Holman.
The girl returned to England where she gave birth.
Details emerged in a written ruling following a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in Birmingham.
'Harrowing'
Two weeks after the ceremony, the marriage was consummated, the ruling said.
The judge said: "The girl has given an account of the circumstances surrounding that marriage which are, frankly, harrowing.
"On her account... this was a grave example of a marriage which was forced under considerable duress, involving at one stage the production of a gun and physical violence upon her.
"The marriage was consummated about two weeks later after further threats to her if she did not permit her husband, who was then aged about 24, to have sexual intercourse with her.
"As a result, while still aged 14, she became pregnant."
Local authority officials wanted the marriage nullified, but the judge said the girl would have to initiate proceedings herself for this to take place.Nintendo has announced that the company has come out victorious in another patent case. Quintal Research Group, Inc. had filed a lawsuit against Nintendo with the assertion that the 3DS, DSi, DS, Game Boy Advance, and four other systems infringed a patent. On July 17, Judge Armstrong dismissed the case after determining that this was not so.
Devon Pritchard, Nintendo of America’s General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Business Affairs, said of today’s news:
“We are very pleased to have this case dismissed. The result in this case continues to prove that Nintendo will vigorously defend its innovations against patent lawsuits and will not pay to settle cases simply to avoid litigation. Nintendo continues to support patent reform efforts that reduce the unnecessary and inefficient burden cases like this one place on technology companies in the United States.”
Source: Nintendo PR
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PocketIt was a business advocate's perspective on oil pipelines in BC that sparked a spontaneous round of applause at a public discussion themed “Will new oil pipelines benefit BC businesses?”
Dressed in a suit and tie, Hastings Crossing BIA executive director Wes Regan spoke at the Wednesday event, hosted by Citizens for Responsible Economic Development (CRED).
“I don't think Vancouver in particular, or British Columbia in general, benefits from being a simple conduit for Alberta's corrosive bitumen oil products to traverse our beautiful geography – just so that it go over can choke Chinese cities with pollution," Regan said.
"I think that's completely backwards thinking.”
Wes Regan
People packed into the Creekside Community Centre to talk about whether or not proposed oil pipelines such as the Enbridge Northern Gateway or the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would bring in new jobs and economic benefits for BC.
Panelists agreed that while the pipelines could increase jobs -- 50 permanent positions and 4,000 temporary construction jobs, according to Kinder Morgan -- there was a huge amount of economic activity that would be debilitated in the event of a major oil spill.
Regan spoke about the diverse BC economy and the “incredible wealth of pristine wildlife” in the province, which he said would increase in value as other regions become more polluted.
Far from being a choice between economy versus environment, the prevailing sentiment in the room was that a clean environment was intrinsically linked to BC's economic future.
BC: not a resource economy
While Premier Christy Clark touted BC as a resource economy during the election campaign, the vast majority of British Columbians -- around 80 per cent -- have jobs in the service sector, CRED spokesperson Liz McDowell said. In fact, she added, the oil, gas, and mining industry employs just one per cent of the population in BC.
Many of the biggest job sectors in BC -- including the film industry, tourism, fisheries and real estate -- would suffer huge losses in the event of a major oil spill along the coast, she said.
Ecojustice lawyer Karen Campbell told the audience that while she often hears the oil industry's arguments for pipelines, they leave her unconvinced.
“When we're looking at a lot of the aggressive federal government promotion of the oil and gas sector, it's important that we put that perspective in the real context,” she said.
Pointing to a report by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, she said that in terms of job numbers (direct and indirect) created per million dollars invested, oil and gas sectors don't measure up.
"Transit creates 20 jobs per million |
. Meanwhile, when Lieber told the student who’d begun screaming about genocide to either leave immediately or get in line to ask a question, she actually did enter the question line.
The audience withheld support from the disruptors, having been swayed by Lieber’s initial reading of Georgetown’s speech policy. And the disruption itself lasted only a minute or so. Administrators and others remarked later that this had been a model for the handling of disruptive protests. A student op-ed condemned the disruptors and called on Georgetown to adopt the University of Chicago’s more extensive free-speech policies.
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All this contrasts dramatically with one of the ugliest but least known shout-downs of the year, the September 2016 disruption of a debate about the Black Lives Matter movement at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The Michigan Political Union, a non-partisan student debating society, had announced a debate on the resolution: “Black Lives Matter is harmful to racial relations in the United States.” This was not an official position but a claim to be disputed. Yet the topic was condemned in a student op-ed as out of bounds (the op-ed author had just interned for the Michigan ACLU). The student government quickly followed suit and condemned the debate topic as bigoted.
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Days later, the debate itself was interrupted when about 100 protesters forced their way into the already-at-capacity room, with 150 to 350 more protesters spilling into the hallway and lobby. Protesters jeered and hurled obscenity-laced tirades at the debaters for an hour while chanting, “black lives are not up for debate.” The debate was effectively shut down. (Much of this was caught on video.)
On advice from the university, the moderator had begun the debate by reading aloud the official university policy against protests that “interfere unduly with communication between a speaker and the audience.” The policy also warns that offenders may be removed by police. Yet the several campus police and university administrators present during the disruption said or did nothing to stop the shout-down. Even post-debate, the administration offered no statement of condemnation and doled out no discipline to the many protesters caught on video. In fact, university spokesman Rick Fitzgerald absurdly said of the hour-long shout-down featuring obscene rants that he was, “glad to see protesters and event organizers engaged in open dialogue.” This April, the student op-ed writer who helped galvanize the shout-down by declaring the controversial Black Lives Matter movement beyond debate was given an award for social activism by the school’s Women’s Studies Center.
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Since I recently testified before the Michigan state senate on pending campus free-speech legislation, I consulted well-informed Ann Arbor students on the campus climate. They told me that the Michigan Political Union has since had to avoid other debate topics for fear of similar shout-downs. When it comes to free speech, the debaters and many others at UM, Ann Arbor feel abandoned by the administration. Yet the university’s representatives testified at the Michigan hearing that free-speech legislation is “an attempt to fix something that is not broken.”
The next major shout down occurred on November 16, 2016, when around 20 protesters repeatedly disrupted and then shut down the first half-hour of a talk by conservative pundit Ben Shapiro at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Protesters had set up a private Facebook planning event, “F*** White Supremacy: Interrupting Ben Shapiro,” to which Shapiro tartly responded at the opening of his lecture.
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Claiming that Shapiro’s presence on campus was a threat to minority students, the protesters continually interrupted him with chants of “Safety!” Shapiro’s supporters answered back with counter-chants and angry calls for quiet. The university’s protest guidelines had apparently been handed out, and at one point audience members held up the sheets while chanting “free speech” at the disruptors. Yet police failed to enforce their own guidelines.
Shapiro had publicly complained before the lecture that only 3 officers had been assigned to the event when a substantial protest was obviously coming. After repeated interruptions Shapiro asked police to intervene, yet they refused. It turns out that demonstrators had actually arranged with university police ahead of time to disrupt and temporarily shut down the lecture. When the disruptors finally walked out, they confronted and intimidated conservative talk-radio host Vicki McKenna in the lobby until she had to be protected by police. The semi-chaotic event and its troubling aftermath were caught on video.
Although the university had actually enabled the disruptors, it issued a statement afterwards expressing “disappointment” at the interruption. One of the protest organizers later cited the failure of the university to discipline anyone as proof that he and his fellow disruptors had done nothing wrong.
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Afterwards, campus leftists petitioned the administration to ban the conservative Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter that had invited Shapiro. They also called for YAF members to be forced into “intensive diversity training”. When I testified recently on campus free-speech legislation pending in Wisconsin, I met students who had attended the Shapiro event and were still angry and concerned about the administration’s refusal to defend free speech.
These events held plenty of potential for violence, with protesters forcing the door and aggressively berating debaters in Ann Arbor and chants, counter-chants, and physical intimidation in Madison. Yet without overt violence, and with the country distracted by the election and its immediate aftermath, there was no national attention. The February 1 Yiannopoulos riot at Berkeley changed all that, while also drawing attention to a violent shout-down at New York University the next day.
On February 2, comedian and critic of political correctness Gavin McInnes was pepper-sprayed during a fight with protesters as he attempted to enter a hall at NYU to deliver his talk. After treatment by emergency responders, McInnes began his talk but immediately faced interruptions. Then, about 20 minutes in, so-called anti-fa (“anti-fascist”) protesters burst into the room and forced McInnes to flee. Scuffles between police and protesters outside the talk led to the arrest of 11, including a Trump supporter. As at Berkeley, the advent of “anti-fa” protesters in response to the election of President Trump had raised the level of violence. Yet the shout-down pattern had been set long before.
As the country debated the Yiannopoulos riot and President Trump’s suggestion that federal aid might be withheld from schools that refused to protect free speech, few noticed the shout-down of Israel’s U.N. ambassador Danny Danon at Columbia University on February 13. The disruptors were a coalition of left-wing groups, including the Barnard-Columbia Socialists, Columbia Against Trump, and various anti-Israel organizations. Between 50 and 100 protesters disrupted Danon’s talk seven times, rendering much of it barely audible. The chanting protesters were booed by the audience, which cheered when security guards finally led the protesters out. Although a Columbia spokesman claimed the disruptors would be dealt with under the university’s rules of conduct, a pro-Israel student leader doubted that any discipline would result.
Following the Murray and MacDonald shout-downs, and just as the Ann Coulter affair was coming to a climax at Berkeley on April 25, conservative radio host Rabbi Daniel Lapin was shouted down before an audience of 200 by a handful of protesters at California’s Cañada Community College. Lapin was speaking on the morality of capitalism. Although Cañada College has a policy banning shout-downs, administrators refused to clear the protesters and even left the room for a time. An exasperated audience began chanting in protest of the protesters. After 20 to 30 minutes of disruption and angry exchanges, the host YAF chapter had to sneak guests out a few at a time into a separate room to continue the lecture. Belatedly, a spokesman for the Community College District claimed he would pursue charges against the disruptors, but Lapin’s supporters continue to feel that far too little was done to end the shut-down.
In one of the year’s most extreme shout-downs, Robert Spencer, who writes on the role of Islam in jihadi terror, was shut down by close to 200 hecklers who screamed for an hour and a half as he attempted to give a talk at the University of Buffalo on May 1. Spencer was barely able to utter a complete sentence. Police and administrators present did nothing to restore order.
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About 40 members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) shouted down a panel discussion featuring Israeli military veterans at the University of California, Irvine on May 10. A year before, an SJP-Irvine shout-down had rendered a documentary on the Israeli Defense Forces effectively inaudible. That provoked a “warning” for the SJP from the university, dismissed by many at the time as a meaningless punishment. One year later SJP was at it again. UC Irvine issued a statement promising to review the latest incident and recommend “the appropriate course of action, if any.”
Students chanting “F*** ICE” drove a representative of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office out of a Northwestern University sociology classroom,where he’d been invited to give a presentation on May 16. The chanting demonstrators were allowed to enter the class by administrators on condition that they not disrupt the presentation. They immediately did so, however, driving the ICE officer out. The demonstrators, from various student ethnic and sexual identity groups. explicitly rejected the idea of any dialogue that might legitimize ICE. Administrators expressed disappointment at the disruption and said they were carefully reviewing facts in order to determine the “appropriate” actions to be taken.
If this is not a complete list of the lesser-known shout-downs of the 2016-17 academic year, it is probably close. (Although graduation addresses are a somewhat different phenomenon, the booing of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos at the Bethune-Cookman University commencement ought to be noted here as well.)
Obviously, shout-downs are more widespread than the most publicized instances would indicate. Yet even this fuller list underestimates their impact. Shout-downs of pro-Israel events, for example, are now a nationwide tactic, backed by a pervasive ideology. Each shout-down serves as a warning shot at pro-Israel student groups, potential speakers, and administrators nationally. The effect of a shout-down anywhere is to discourage pro-Israel events everywhere. You may not have heard about it, but campus Jewish groups have. The same nation-wide “warning shot” effect pertains to other controversial topics. How many professors will now invite ICE agents or order-control advocates to present to their class — or their school?
The ripple-effect of a single shout-down works on individual campuses as well. Democratic legislators at the Wisconsin hearing on campus free speech dismissed the problem as confined to outlier campuses like UC Berkeley. When told of the Shapiro shout-down at Madison, they fell back on the fact that Shapiro was able to finish his talk. Yet by causing 30 minutes of chaos and then stalking out, the Madison protesters were able to send a message of intimidation to students who might challenge campus orthodoxies. As I learned at Michigan and Wisconsin, a single shout-down left undisciplined by administrators chills speech and poisons the campus atmosphere long afterwards.
In short, shout-downs set boundaries for permitted speech and the effect spreads locally, nationally, and persistently if the shout-down goes unpunished.
And shout-downs are not being disciplined. Universities regularly move to calm public outrage with vague promises of action against disruptors. Yet rarely is anything done. I know of no single instance of serious discipline for any of this year’s many shout-downs. Unsurprisingly, UC Irvine’s hollow “warning” for last year’s shout-down did nothing to prevent this year’s shout-down. Wisconsin’s disruptors positively brag about skating free. Last year’s student intimidators got an award from Yale, while the student who stoked the Ann Arbor debate shout-down received an award from that school’s Women’s Studies Center. Not only are universities failing to discipline disruptors, some are actually patting them on the back.
Administrative malfeasance on shout-downs is pervasive and profound. Despite public statements of “disappointment,” administrators at Wisconsin and Northwestern effectively collaborated in the very shout-downs they later deplored. Police protection is frequently inadequate, and administrators often say nothing even when present at the shout-down itself. Disciplinary hearings are virtually unknown. Middlebury’s hearings, held under intense national scrutiny and pressure, are the exception that proves the rule, given the weak sanctions that resulted.
If constantly broken promises of serious discipline are somehow secretly being fulfilled, that is also a failure. The point of discipline is to deter future shout-downs. Student privacy can be protected even as the results of serious discipline are publicized. Despite the protestations of administrators in states where campus free-speech legislation is under consideration, the system is clearly broken.
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So where are we headed now? The optimistic view would attribute this year’s occasionally violent shout-downs to passing distress with the election of President Trump. That is not persuasive, since the previous academic year’s campus disturbances can just as easily be attributed to the Left’s ascendance under President Obama. In truth, the campus left is now emboldened regardless of who’s in power. The left is on offense for reasons that include, but also run far deeper than, whoever happens to be president.
The future now looks to be a contest between two trends: 1) increasing violence by a campus Left that has learned administrators will do nothing to stop it, and 2) efforts by administrators to prevent disruptions by locking out conservatives and other controversial speakers.
A fully empowered campus left unworried about repercussions will turn its violence and intimidation beyond visiting speakers to administrators, faculty, and students. This is already happening, as the nightmarish campus takeover at Evergreen State College, the UC Santa Cruz takeover, and various portentous incidents elsewhere indicate. Almost every speaker shout-down holds the potential for student-on-student violence, since many feature competing chants and angry back-and-forth that could easily burst into a direct clash.
At the same time, as Berkeley did with David Horowitz and Ann Coulter this year, administrators will find ways to manipulate the rules to shut out controversial speakers. They will police shout-downs not by disciplining disruptors but by kowtowing to Left’s speech boundaries.
One potential outcome would be broader civil violence as members of the public jump into the chaotic disciplinary vacuum to support their own side. We’ve seen glimmers of this already at Berkeley.
The only realistic alternative to a race between violence and silence is campus free-speech legislation that directly addresses shout-downs. Only the Goldwater proposal does that.The IMF just confirmed Breitbart News’ October 5 warning that Saudi Arabia’s cash reserves are in free-fall, with a new estimate that the world’s richest kingdom may be bankrupt by 2020.
Each October, the International Monetary Exchange issues its World Economic and Financial Regional Surveys. For the first time since the 1960s, the region set to suffer the worst financial agony over the next five years is the Middle East. Ground Zero for that pain is Saudi Arabia.
The reason for Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to balance its budget is that the 15,000 members of the six branches of the Saudi royal family buy national support through massive social welfare spending that requires a crude oil price of $103 a barrel to balance their budget.
The vast majority of the 30 million residents enjoy their standard of living due to government handouts. Saudi citizens tend to lack employable skills and are culturally not inclined to work. Of the 5.5 million that do have jobs, 3 million work directly for the government. The small private sector tends only to employ foreigners.
Although other Middle East nations are engaged in “active consolidation measures,” such as lower investment, hiring freezes, or energy price reform, Saudi Arabia’s government stated that they will make no austerity “tax increases and spending cuts.”
The IMF points out that “Large fiscal spending packages were announced in January and April,” as new King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud distributed $32 billion to the people to celebrate his coronation. As a result, the IMF predicts the kingdom will suffer a negative 21.6 percent “General Government Overall Fiscal Balance” in 2015 and a 19.4 percent negative balance in 2016.
Breitbart News in August predicted that the kingdom’s foreign exchange position would fall by $130 billion, from a peak of $750 billion in August 2014 to $620 billion by the end of 2015. But we were actually was too optimistic regarding the cash burn rate, with the kingdom’s central bank reporting net foreign assets fell in August “for a seventh month in a row to $662.3 billion, the lowest since February 2013.” With post-summer U.S. and E.U. seasonal oil demand falling, Saudi FX could be down over $150 billion this year.
While OPEC has argued that oil prices should recover to $80 a barrel by 2020, the IMF predicts an average of $60 per barrel, because the “the oil price drop is likely to be large and persistent.” But Goldman Sachs predicts crude oil prices will remain low for fifteen years because “Libya and Iran will add significant amounts of oil to the market of up to 2 mb/d, in the next couple of years, and Iraq (including Kurdistan) could meet as much as one-third of global demand growth for years to come,” according to Forbes.
Even more ominous for Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Energy Information Agency just reported that “Weekly Ending Stocks of U.S. Crude Oil and Petroleum Products” hit a 25-year high of 2.003 billion barrels, up 183 million barrels from the same week a year ago. That record rise came despite a 46 percent plunge in crude oil prices over the same period.
The wild card in trying to predict how long Saudi Arabia can remain solvent is the nation’s surging military commitments. The kingdom passed Russia in 2015 to take over the world’s third spot in military spending, with a defense budget of $80.8 billion, behind only the U.S. and China, according to IISS. But that was before invading Yemen and dramatically increasing Saudi secret funding of Islamist groups in Syria.We Just Raided Nissan’s Global Archives And You’re Welcome
Photography by Nissan
We live in a world where automotive research can be initiated as easily as speaking a voice command to initiate a Google Search. That said, there are countless resources and libraries, both offline and on, but it’s rare that a manufacturer has a comprehensive a library as Nissan. Let’s look at its earliest motorsport history, shall we?
I’ll skip the company’s early exploits in long-distance rallies and road racing, heading straight for the car that many know little about: the Prince R380. Credit where it’s due: Prince (and Nissan) were the Japanese automakers who first took on the challenge of sports car competition.
Prince R380
The name ‘Prince’ may not seem familiar to you, but the Prince Motor Company was one of the few companies to try its hand at auto manufacturing in Japan after the Second World War. By the early-’60s, however, the company was already sending its latest models to race against the world’s best—how better to develop road cars?
One of those cars is the grandfather of the GT-R, the ’S54’ Skyline GT that valiantly fought off a Porsche 906 in the second Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway. With more power, it finished close to the Porsche in 1964 but was not in the same league—so Prince took its most powerful straight-6 engine, the G7B-R (updating it into the G8) and crafted a mid-engined chassis for it.
1966 Japan GP
Prince wasn’t there to finish behind Porsche at its home race, and amazingly, the R380 won its first race, the 3rd Japan GP in May, with Yoshikazu Sunako (#11) behind the wheel. The company made an all-out assault on the event, entering a number of R380s, with most of them fairing well over the race.
Nissan R380-II
Once Nissan merged with Prince, the brightest engineers got their hands on the R380, deciding to update its aerodynamic and engine performance. If you’re familiar with the more modern R390 sports car, you’ll recognize some of its relative’s styling cues, especially at the rear.
1967 Japan GP
Nissan’s attention to the tune of a reported 220 horsepower straight-6 wasn’t enough to overcome the Porsche 906s entered into the 1967 race. Because of the number entered, R380-IIs dominated the top 10 but simply couldn’t match the German sports car.
What to do? Challenge speed records.
Nissan R380-II Speed Record Challenge @ Yatabe
Setting international speed records? Check. Early on in the Prince 380’s career, it was run on the Yatabe course in order to set FIA-recognized records, but the results weren’t valid on the non-FIA-approved track. Two years later, after setting Japanese speed records, the car was entered again with full FIA approval and scored a number of impressive records:
T. Yokoyama’s most impressive record has to be the 1 hour international speed record, averaging 235.06 km/h (146 mph) with little more than 200 horsepower at his back.
1968 Japan GP
This race saw both the now-privateer R380s face off against Nissan’s new R381. Built in both open and closed versions, with movable rear spoilers—and sometimes Chevrolet V8s—the new car was quick but now had to face Porsches, Daihatsus, and Toyota’s brand-new 7. If the car had raced in North America, it’d run under Can-Am regulations (Group 7 elsewhere).
The winner? The #20 R381, driven by Moto Kitano.
1969 Fuji Speed Cup
Continuing the car’s winning streak, it also took home the gold at the 1969 Fuji Speed Cup—its last big triumph before being replaced by the R382.
1969 Nissan R382 Shakedown Test
Now with a wholly Nissan-developed V12 engine, the Group 7 machine was without question a monster—and built just three years after Prince won its first big race. Take a long, hard look at this car…in period, it could possibly have been a front-runner in international competition.
1969 Japan GP
Why? In its first race, the car bested not only the Toyota 7 but a factory-supported Porsche 917K as well. R382 drivers finished on the top two steps of the podium, Yoshikazu Sunako and Motoharu Kurosawa—the latter you may know as Gan-san (ガンさん) from Best Motoring.
The R383
Like many racing cars, the R383 was developed into a car that had nowhere to race. The annual sports car event that it featured in was cancelled, and Nissan had little interest (or perhaps budget) to send the car around the world to compete in Group 7 or Can-Am.
A shame, as its 6.0-litre V12 developed a reported 700 horsepower…or as much as 900 when engineers bolted on a turbocharger.
What’s your favorite car from Nissan’s historic archives?
Source: newsroom.nissan-global.com
Join the ConversationClaremanson's Christmas ContestTheme: General Christmas Baking
From holding a recent poll, it seems the majority of you are most interested in baking traditional food for your country/family or food you usually bake over Christmas rather than a set recipe. Therefore I have decided that as long as it is relevant to Christmas in some way, shape or form in recipe, flavour or presentation it will be considered as an entry.
Rules and requirements:
You must include Christmas into your baking, decorating or surroundings in some shape or form else your entry will not be included.
If what you you usually make isn't very Christmasy looking or tasting then why not try to add some more Christmas into your food by adding Christmas sprinkles onto candy and cupcakes, flavours such as cinnamon or cranberry, themed cupcake cases, festive shaped cookies etc.
You entry must be new for Christmas 2013.
It must be homemade, not shop bought.
Please state in your eOne of the most impressive feats of muscular coordination in nature is the very common instance of a frog darting out its tongue in order to catch a fly.
No matter how fast you are, you could never rely on plucking bugs out of the air to stay alive; but for frogs this is business as usual. Nevertheless, it’s odd but true that a frog who is surrounded by dead flies on the ground, but no flying ones, will starve. Why?
The answer is that the frog doesn’t recognize immobile flies as potential snacks. A frog’s visual system is specifically adapted to seeing little things that are moving across its field of vision — and not things that are sitting still. Given how erratically flies move, it’s not surprising that the frog’s eating reflexes are very highly tuned to one particular kind of motion. But that high degree of specialization has left the frog with no system for recognizing munchies that are easy for us to see — like a fly sitting on the ground.
Of course, frogs can still see stationary objects: they don’t go bumping into rocks as they hop along. It’s just that the part of the frog’s visual processing center that responds to stationary objects does not associate them with food. You can’t really compare frogs to humans, but you might say it’s like meeting someone who is so accustomed to eating off a plate that he can’t recognize a cheeseburger that’s sitting on the floor.
One way to feed our hungry frog, then, is simply to lift the dead flies up and drop them again: that downward motion will be more than enough to trigger its reflexes, and it will then be able to enjoy its lunch of dead flies, just as happy as a toad.Earlier this month, Bill Reel did an interview with Samuel Brown, Mormon Scholar, where Sam gave some fascinating insight into the cross pressure many of us feel between religion like Mormonism and intellectualism or the secular. The interview was for the purpose of introducing the day long seminar on Book of Mormon translation held March 16 at USU, which I’m excited to watch as soon as the video comes out.
Bill is asking Sam about the anachronisms and 19th century content in the Book of Mormon that LDS scholars are beginning to accept and not deny as an “anti-Mormon lie”. Sam is talking about the new understanding we have of what Joseph was doing when he was “translating”, which may be more of a translation of a world or an idea or an understanding of God than a translation of an ancient text. Sam agrees with Bill that faithful LDS can take on an Expansion Model (ancient text with significant expansion by Joseph) or pure non-historical model of viewing the Book of Mormon. Then Bill asks the question we all have. The question that I had after spending several years flailing around in faith crisis and reconstruction. Paraphrasing Bill here:
That’s great that you have come to this understanding. And I have too. But why doesn’t anyone know about this??!! Why aren’t these theories more accessible in the church? Why don’t we talk about them? Why doesn’t the church address them? Why are so many people hurting and struggling with all this information and not know how to process it? So many people think this is all or nothing? How do we get to a place where this awareness is not on the fringe of Mormon academia?
This is a big question I have. And the main reason I am banging loudly to get this message out. Sam Brown spends most of the rest of the interview answering this question. It’s a brilliant answer. A lot of people are asking this question, myself included, and he handles it masterfully.
1. Not everyone needs it. For many people, the literal, simple view of the gospel works best. He uses the example of salt in the medical world. A study came out salt was bad for health, and it caused a massive overreaction. But it turns out it’s only a minority of people that are negatively affected. For most people, salt is just fine. Salt enhances flavor and increases our pleasure, and many people unnecessarily cut it out because of this study.
I don’t totally buy this part, but I do think there’s something important here. I think it’s most obvious for children. And maybe some adults. This correlates to the Fowler Stages of Faith. People naturally move from one stage to another. Moving from a literal to a nuanced view of religion is a natural phase of human development for most humans, but it’s best when it happens naturally and organically.
2. Cross pressure of modern and non-modern. Oh I loved this part. Quote from Sam:
I would resist just a little bit the notion that the best path forward for the LDS church as a whole or for the large majority of members is to embrace an academic gently postmodern intellectual approach to the experience of their religion…If we did have a church that continuously over the pulpit was encouraging us to take a basically secular view and I’m using secular in a more formal, precise term I don’t mean by secular as nonreligious I mean by secular the way Charles Taylor intended. A world in which religious faith and belief is seen as one option in many in which the complexities of earthly life are seen as the highest priority for engagement and acknowledgment in which a faith that is spontaneous or automatic or part of the environment is fundamentally untrustworthy. If for example under this counterfactual we had a church community in which every week over the pulpit we heard Mormon inspired or Mormon relevant secularist rhetoric, would that ultimately lead to even under its own terms greater human flourishing among the people who are in the pews or lead to a greater retention of people who are present. My sense is that Mormonism in its natural expression as a not particularly modern faith full of angels and demons and miracles and deep loyalty in an essentially ethnic identification is really a beautiful thing and it’s a beautiful thing on average for the people for whom it is natural as breathing and is a beautiful thing for people like me who have never been able to make that work. I was an atheist agnostic until I was 18 and although I am a devout theist since age 18, I am always intensely cross pressured. And I find that having Mormonism, speaking now about both the LDS church institutionally and about the majority of my coreligionists, be non-modern allows the kind of balance in my life even as someone who does not remotely fit the stereotype of the believing practicing Mormon. I feel like I’m better off for the institution being non-modern and letting me be cross pressured.
I want to do more study on Charles Taylor’s work here that Sam is riffing on. And especially the commentary James K. A. Smith has done on that. I highly recommend the interview Blair Hodges did with Jamie Smith. The idea here is that secularism is not bad. Through it, we are extending life, solving many of the world’s mysteries, and increasing quality of life. But it doesn’t answer everything. Humans still have a God itch. We seek for higher meaning. We understand intellectually the traditional, literal narratives of world religions don’t make sense. But we also feel secularism is inadequate in addressing our spiritual needs. That conflict is a cross pressure. We need to find new religious narratives that can balance the two.
I like the term cross pressure better than cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance implies to me that there’s a right and a wrong, I’m doing the “wrong” and I’m feeling the underlying dissonance of the “right”. Exmormons use this to describe the uncomfortable feeling of disbelief before testimony is shattered, sometimes only seeing two options belief or disbelief in a literal narrative. I love the term cross pressure which seems more agnostic on the morality or priority of the two competing ideas. There’s something important about the modern message of secularism. And there’s something important about the non-modern message I’m getting each week in church. From a review of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age:
Taylor’s landmark work, A Secular Age, tells a complex story about the fate of religion in the West over the past 500 years. Taking issue with an overly-simplistic secularization theory, Taylor portrays a cultural landscape that, rather than speeding the withering of religion, has instead proliferated a dizzying array of spiritual options. This pluralistic reality places “cross-pressure” on those who inhabit these spiritual positions, fragilizing them through exposure to other lived possibilities. The widely adopted modern value of authenticity increases this pressure, encouraging people to carve out their own unique spiritual path and to eschew traditional, ‘spoon-fed’ answers to life’s existential questions. Yet what remains throughout these modern challenges to religion, says Taylor, is the quintessentially human quest for meaning, and the struggle against a modern nihilism that threatens to deny it. In this contested space, he suggests, humanity’s religious past is being called into an as yet unimagined future.
Adam Miller expresses this in LDS voculary:
Given my careful, decades-long cultivation for doubt and skepticism, still even in that context it would be dishonest and in bad faith to say that regardless of how unlikely some of these beliefs are something very real and powerful and real is happening to me in the pew on Sunday when I bring myself back again. When I come back, again. When I kneel down, again. When I read the Book of Mormon, again. Regardless of all my skepticism of all the different kinds of questions we could raise, something is happening to me in a substantial, first person way that I can’t deny regardless of what doubts I have of these peripheral, historical third person questions. The pull for that is sufficiently strong that there’s no place else for me to go.
3. We are doing something. A lot of this information caught everyone off guard, all the way to the top. The church is working through this. First step is to get clean on the history. They’re doing that with the Gospel Topics Essays. This doesn’t happen over night, but it’s happening. As the new information is distributed, we will work on the nuanced narrative as we go.
4. It’s better to work for the new paradigm than have it handed to you. Brown quoted Alexander Pope.
“A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.”
He talked about how you used to have to work hard to learn all this information that you can now get in one click by googling CES Letter. Because you had to work hard to get all the information, you took it in naturally along with other material that helped you build a more mature understanding of history and nuance. So that by the time you sorted it all out, you also had more of an intellectual view of the world. A caterpillar that has to fight through the cocoon develops the strength to fly as a butterfly. Do the work for the caterpillar and watch it die, too weak to do the work required in its new life.
So there are four pretty good reasons that push back at the entire purpose of my ministry. I spent several years in turmoil going through faith crisis before it leading to faith reconstruction. Mormon voices like Adam Miller and Terryl Givens responding to my questions gave me more hope than the traditional old FARMS type answers. But I just didn’t get it. It wasn’t spelled out clearly for me. I’m too literal minded, I guess. Even though I intuitively felt the answers were with them, the nuanced Mormon scholar view was just making me frustrated, even angry, because I couldn’t piece it all together. But along with the the secular/intellectual world destroying my view of the dominant LDS narrative, I was intensely cross pressured by the abundance that the LDS Christ-centered life offered me and my family. That fueled me to power through until I reached a nuanced intellectual perspective of things that was sustainable.
So I said, I’m going to make a difference. I’m going to show people this view is possible. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy on this project, and I’m proud of the results so far. But Sam Brown does make me pause to think. Maybe it was best for me to suffer through those years. Maybe this paradigm doesn’t need to be popularized.
In conclusion, a few comments as we get ready for General Conference. We will hear non-modern messages that will cross pressure our secular sensibilities. Messages ranging the gamut, some we will like some we won’t like. Messages on Christian discipleship, sacrifice, sexuality, service, gender roles, deference to authority. We might hear Adam and Eve referenced to as real people. We probably won’t get nuanced messages like BOM non-historicity. Some messages will cross pressure us intensely. But I think that’s OK. We’re immersed in the secular world nearly 24-7, it’s OK to check out of that and into a non-modern world and let the cross pressure do its job.To read why the Houston Texans' defense was so bad to start the season, click here.
Coming out of the two-minute warning, the New York Jets had zero timeouts and were down 24-17 to the Houston Texans. After a false start penalty, it was 1st and 15 with the ball at the New York 29. On the left side of the formation, Houston was in man-to-man coverage with Quintin Demps helping over the top. At the other end, Brian Cushing faked a blitz before running out into the flat, Johnathan Joseph showed man coverage before sitting back in an intermediate zone, and Andre Hal stepped down to play in the middle of the field.
Ryan Fitzpatrick sees Joseph drop back and assumes he's playing off Brandon Marshall to prevent getting beat down field. Marshall cuts inside on a dig route. Fitzpatrick throws. Hal dissipates from the safety position and re-materializes in front of the football. He dives and intercepts the pass. Houston kneels the ball. Texans win.
This play doesn't happen five weeks ago. Five weeks ago, Rahim Moore was the starting safety. Moore doesn't have the speed, reaction, or aggression to make this play. He would have sat in the middle of the field, hoping Joseph or Cushing makes the tackle. Five weeks ago, Houston is playing an insipid scheme, having their defensive backs play seven yards off the ball in man coverage and playing not to lose. Five weeks ago, the Houston Texans were an entirely different team.
Since losing to Miami 44-26, Houston has won four games in a row against the toughest part of their schedule. They've turned into a 6-5 playoff contender because of their defense.
Weeks 1-6 Since Defensive DVOA 7% (23rd) -4.9% (9th) Run Defense DVOA -6.5% (21st) -9.6% (20th) Pass Defense DVOA 17.3% (23rd) -1.6% (6th) Turnovers Forced 5 (T-27th) 9 (T-16th)
Team Points Allowed Offensive DVOA TEN 6 -14.4% (29th) CIN 6 22.9% (1st) NYJ |
in June. “I always say I’m two weeks away from finishing,” he explained to The New York Times. “We coming this summer, baby! It’s going to be a hot summer up here, man!”
Nas will be heading out on a North American tour with Lauryn Hill starting in September, so dropping the LP this summer as promised would be perfect timing.In the previous post about Frink, we explored how smoothly Frink handles units of measure. In this post, we will focus on another deeply integrated feature of Frink’s: interval arithmetic. On Frink’s homepage this feature is described as magical. The aim of this post is to try and make sense of this statement. We will now give a quick rundown of interval arithmetic and then proceed to concrete examples. For a more detailed review of the subject, you can refer to Wikipedia, or for a Frink-specific treatment, to the interval arithmetic section in Frink’s documentation. On with it.
Interval arithmetic 101
In interval arithmetic, instead of using numbers, we use intervals. Specifically, we say that [3, 5] represents the set of numbers between 3 and 5. Given some intervals, we can define the basic arithmetic operations on them:
1 2 3 4 [a, b] + [c, d] = [a + c, b + d] [a, b] - [c, d] = [a - d, b - c] [a, b] * [c, d] = [min(ac, ad, bc, bd), max(ac, ad, bc, bd)] [a, b] / [c, d] = [min(a/c, a/d, b/c, b/d), max(a/c, a/d, b/c, b/d)]
Which should make intuitive sense if you squint hard enough. With (quite) a bit more thought, it is possible to define interval operations for more complicated functions, e.g. trigonometric functions. And that’s exactly what Frink does; most of its mathematical functions transparently support (real) intervals, so one can write:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x = new interval[-1, 4] y = new interval[6, 9] x + y // => [5, 13] x - y // => [-10, -2] x * y // => [-9, 36] x / y // => [-1/6 (approx. -0.16666666666666667), 2/3 (approx. 0.66666666666666667)] x^2 // => [0, 16] sin[x] // => [-0.8414709848079, 1]
(Note that Frink uses square brackets for function application/definition.)
Although the interval definition syntax is a bit verbose and likely to change later on, the usage is indeed transparent. That is, code written for regular values (like the code above) works with intervals without any modification. Also, as can be seen in the x^2 and sin examples, applying a function to an interval is not as simple as applying the function to the interval’s boundaries, but rather involves an actual analysis of the function’s behavior on the given interval.
And that’s all we’ll need for the purposes of this post. With this rudimentary knowledge of interval arithmetic, we are now ready to try and flesh out the claim that interval arithmetic is magical.
Interval hat-trick
Suppose I want to prepare a classic hat-trick: pull a rabbit out of a top hat. For this, I would obviously need both a top hat and a rabbit. The question is, how do I make sure that the hat fits the rabbit? I can’t just order any hat, it has to be large enough to contain the rabbit.
Since I know literally nothing about rabbits and their sizes, I will use the picture on the right, depicting a fairly typical rabbit, as a reference.
From this picture, we need to extract an estimate of the rabbit’s size. Luckily, the rabbit holds, as they usually do, a pocket watch, and using the handy table from this site we have an estimate of the diameter of a typical pocket watch:
1 2 pocketWatch = new interval[1.0, 1.9] inch // [0.0254, 0.04826] m (length)
As you can see, intervals are integrated with units; we could also have written new interval[1.0 inch, 1.9 inch], but this way is more concise.
Knowing the diameter of a pocket watch, we can draw a little “pocket watch scale” for the rabbit (on the same picture on the right). We are assuming that both the legs and the ears are foldable, so the measurement excludes this area. Looking at the picture, we can see that the rabbit is about 10.5 watches tall, and about 5 watches wide. Since I don’t really know how squishy a real rabbit is, let’s give both dimensions a bit of an error margin either way, so:
1 2 heightInWatches = new interval[10.5 - 1, 10.5 + 1] widthInWatches = new interval[5 - 0.5, 5 + 0.5]
Combining with the size of a watch we have:
1 2 3 4 5 rabbitHeight = heightInWatches pocketWatch // [0.2413, 0.55499] m (length) rabbitWidth = widthInWatches pocketWatch // [0.1143, 0.26543] m (length)
According to Wikipedia, a rabbit’s weight is:
1 rabbitWeight = new interval[0.4, 2] kg
Which means, assuming that a rabbit forms a perfect cylinder, that we can calculate the rabbit’s mass density:
1 2 3 4 5 rabbitVolume = pi (rabbitWidth / 2)^2 * rabbitHeight rabbitDensity = rabbitWeight / rabbitVolume rabbitDensity -> "water" // [0.013025216116065158404, 0.8077748579515481546] water
So rabbits float on water; definitely a useful thing to know next time you go out with your rabbit to the beach. (Also, by nothing but a total coincidence, the height that we estimated fits pretty well with the data given in Wikipedia.)
Under the same cylindrical rabbit assumption, the width of the rabbit can be taken as the width of the top hat we’ll be using. From which we gather that a magician’s head circumference should be:
1 2 3 4 magicianHead = pi rabbitWidth magicianHead -> "cm" // [35.90840403053133671, 83.387293804233881917] cm
Which according to the table here makes the potential magician either a giant or an extraordinarily small infant.
Having done this exhaustive research, we are now ready to order a hat. Just need to figure out where one buys a top hat these days…
Okay, so what do we have here? Essentially, we just did a calculation with built-in error propagation; which in itself is quite nice (and probably useful), but as every poor-soul-of-an-undergraduate-physics-student-stuck-in-a-lab knows, error analysis is not that difficult, even without the support of special programming tools (although I’m sure that said student would show nothing but great appreciation for such a tool). So apart from the magical theme, we are yet to achieve any real magic here.
But we won’t be giving up just yet.
Interval plotting
One good use of interval arithmetic techniques is for plotting. An illustration of this can be found on a demonstration page, which generates ASCII plots for equations. As can be seen in the Frink source for this page, the code that achieves this uses interval arithmetic and is quite compact.
Let’s try to figure out how it works. Before we do that, we need something to compare to the interval arithmetic approach. Since Frink doesn’t (yet) have any built-in plotting facilities, we will roll our own simplistic plotting solution. For this purpose, we can leverage Frink’s graphics support (which is much more interesting than what I’ll be showing here, see the documentation for the full story).
Without further ado, the naive plotting solution:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 naivePlot[lhs, rhs, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, xSteps, ySteps] := { g = new graphics g.drawRectSides[xMin, -yMin, xMax, -yMax] // a frame for the plot xStep = (xMax - xMin) / xSteps yStep = (yMax - yMin) / ySteps tolerance = 0.05 multifor [x, y] = [xMin to xMax step xStep, yMin to yMax step yStep] { res = abs[lhs[x, y] - rhs[x, y]] if res < tolerance g.fillRectSize[x, -y, xStep, -yStep] } g.show[] }
(the full source code for this and further snippets can be found in the repository)
The code should be fairly readable even without much familiarity with Frink. We are defining a function (as denoted by := ). The function takes two function arguments, lhs and rhs, each representing a side of the equation we are about to plot, and a bunch of numbers for the x / y limits and steps. Note that the curly braces must be on a separate line; which, from my point of view, is the only truly evil feature of Frink I’ve seen so far.
On line 3, we are initializing a new graphics object; this is the container for our plot. As a first step, on line 4, we are drawing a frame for the plot (otherwise, Frink might clip empty regions around it). Relative to standard mathematical plotting, the graphics object’s y axis is inverted, hence the minus signs on all y values.
Next, we need to step through the range of the plot; instead of using two nested loops, we are using a multifor, which combines multiple nested loops into a single construct. At every step, we are applying the lhs and rhs functions to the current x / y values and see whether they are close enough. If they are within the tolerance value, on line 15 we are drawing a filled rectangle to mark that position.
After exiting the loop, on line 18, we invoke the show method on the graphics object, which shows the result on the screen.
This is probably the crappiest plotting solution one could possibly write. The tolerance is abysmal, but since we are using a constant step, a smaller tolerance would take too many steps to achieve anything. As it is, even moderately spiky functions should throw the whole thing off. Nonetheless, this can actually plot something, and it’s good enough for illustration purposes.
Let’s put it to the test. The preloaded example on the demonstration page plots the equation
1 x^2 + y^2 = 81 sin[x]^2
Which should result in a bunch of circles. Let’s try to apply naivePlot to draw them. First, we’ll define a pair of anonymous functions for the parts of the equation:
1 2 lhs = { |x, y| x^2 + y^2 } rhs = { |x, y| 81 sin[x]^2 }
The { |x, y|... } syntax defines an anonymous function with two arguments. After setting the bounds and number of steps, we can create the plot:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xMin = -10 xMax = 10 yMin = -10 yMax = 10 xSteps = 300 ySteps = 300 naivePlot[lhs, rhs, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, xSteps, ySteps]
And the result:
Which is reminiscent of the circles pattern we should be getting, but not quite there. We can push up the number of steps:
1 naivePlot[lhs, rhs, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, 800, 800]
To obtain:
Since the step size is getting smaller, the points we are drawing are tiny. But the circles are definitely visible.
Now we can proceed to the interval arithmetic variant. Here’s the code:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 intervalPlot[lhs, rhs, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, xSteps, ySteps] := { g = new graphics g.drawRectSides[xMin, -yMin, xMax, -yMax] // a frame for the plot xStep = (xMax - xMin) / xSteps yStep = (yMax - yMin) / ySteps multifor [xx, yy] = [xMin to xMax step xStep, yMin to yMax step yStep] { x = new interval[xx, xx + xStep] y = new interval[yy, yy + yStep] if lhs[x, y] PEQ rhs[x, y] // doing interval comparison g.fillRectSize[xx, -yy, xStep, -yStep] } g.show[] }
The structure of intervalPlot is quite similar to naivePlot. The key difference is that instead of applying lhs and rhs to numbers, we are applying them to intervals. Specifically, at each iteration, we are creating intervals corresponding to the numbers between the current x / y values and the next (lines 11-12). As mentioned above, Frink’s support for intervals is transparent, so we can apply lhs and rhs to the intervals in the very same way as we did in naivePlot. But now, instead of using a tolerance value to compare the results, we are using the operator PEQ, which stands for “Possibly EQuals”, i.e. it tests whether the compared intervals have some overlap. This is one of a number interval-specific operators defined in Frink (for the full list see the documentation).
In the context of plotting, PEQ is exactly what we need; given that interval arithmetic produces the right bounds, there is no way for our code to miss solutions to the equation. To make this point more clear, we can consider two single-variable functions, f and g (which for simplicity we assume to be continuous). In the previous section, it was natural to view intervals as values with an uncertainty or a measurement error. But there is another way to look at them: an interval simultaneously represents all values in its range. With this interpretation, the expression f([3, 5]) is equivalent to sampling the function on the whole range of [3, 5]. That is, the interval f([3, 5]) contains all values that f can take on the range [3, 5]. So the assertion that f([3, 5]) PEQ g([3, 5]) == false means that nowhere in the interval [3, 5] the functions f and g can be equal. That is, PEQ guarantees us that there is no solution to the equation f = g in this interval. The converse statement, f([3, 5]) PEQ g([3, 5]) == true, is not as strong, it only tells us that [3, 5] may contain a solution to the equation, but it is not guaranteed (thanks to Alan Eliasen for clarifying this point). In the code above we assume that the solution does indeed exist, and we mark it on the plot (which may yield false positives if the resulting intervals are not tight enough; though that’s beyond the scope of this post). In this way, we can achieve (paraphrasing the comment here) a “step-perfect” plot – if a solution to the equation exists within a step, PEQ cannot miss it, which contrasts probabilistic sampling methods, like naivePlot, that can miss possible solutions. Since in intervalPlot we are covering the whole plot range with intervals, we should see all solutions to the equation within the range.
Okay, but that’s all just theory, what we really need is proof, and what can better serve as a proof than a picture. For the code
1 intervalPlot[lhs, rhs, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, 300, 300]
we get:
Which is a bit crude, since we are not making that many steps. We should remember though, that for the equivalent step size in the naive approach, we got almost nothing at all. Here, as promised, we are not missing any solutions in the whole range. It is possible to refine the plot by increasing the step size:
1 intervalPlot[lhs, rhs, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, 800, 800]
and yield:
Which is quite amazing, since this solution is as simple to implement as the naive solution, but it doesn’t require us to muck about with tolerance values and step sizes, the burden of heavy lifting is on the implementation of interval arithmetic.
All this power at my fingertips… Let’s try to plot something more ambitious. For this, we’ll define the following functions:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 /* A Gaussian function in one dimension */ gaussian[a, x] := exp[-x^2 / a^2] /* A 2d Gaussian centered at (x0, y0) */ gaussian2d[a, x, x0, y, y0] := gaussian[a, x - x0] gaussian[a, y - y0] /* A sum of 2d Gaussians with peaks at different locations. * `peaks` is a list of pairs designating the positions of the peaks. */ gaussians[a, x, y, peaks] := { res = 0 for [x0, y0] = peaks { res = res + gaussian2d[a, x, x0, y, y0] } return res } /* A 2d surface with bumps at integer locations. */ bumps[x, y] := cos[2 pi x] cos[2 pi y]
Which is just a bunch of different bumpy functions. The sides of the equation that we will be plotting now are:
1 2 lhs = { |x, y| bumps[x, y] } rhs = { |x, y| 2 - gaussians[0.01, x, y, peaks[]] }
Where peaks[] is a list of pairs:
1 2 3 4 5 peaks[] := [[1, 1], [1, 2], [1, 3], [1, 4], [1, 5], [2, 4], [3, 3], [4, 4], [5, 1], [5, 2], [5, 3], [5, 4], [5, 5], [7, 1], [7, 2], [7, 3], [7, 4], [7, 5], [8, 3], [8, 5], [9, 3], [9, 5], [10, 1], [10, 2], [10, 3], [10, 4], [10, 5], [12, 1], [12, 2], [12, 3], [12, 4], [12, 5], [13, 1], [13, 5], [14, 1], [14, 3], [14, 5], [15, 1], [15, 2], [15, 3], [15, 5], [17, 1], [17, 2], [17, 3], [17, 4], [17, 5], [19, 1], [19, 2], [19, 3], [19, 4], [19, 5], [20, 1], [20, 5], [21, 1], [21, 5]]
The exact details of the various functions are not that important, what’s important is that both lhs and rhs can be evaluated on intervals, and so can be plotted by intervalPlot. But first, let’s see what naivePlot can make of it:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 xMin = 0 xMax = 23 yMin = 0 yMax = 6 xSteps = 50 ySteps = 50 naivePlot[lhs, rhs, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, xSteps, ySteps]
Since this function takes longer to evaluate, I won’t bother with a larger step. And the result:
One would’ve thought that with all the fuss defining the functions above, we’d have something more interesting as a result, oh well…
Let’s try intervalPlot with the same step:
1 intervalPlot[lhs, rhs, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, xSteps, ySteps]
Now that’s magic!
Okay, okay, I know, it’s a bit gimmicky. Also, you might be thinking that defining some pathological function and then comparing the performance of the interval arithmetic solution to the joke of a plotting function that I came up with doesn’t really prove anything. And you’d be right, it is a somewhat inadequate comparison (though I would like to point out again how ridiculously simple intervalPlot ’s implementation is). If only I had something more solid to compare to.
I’m sure that most would agree that WolframAlpha knows a thing or two about plotting. Let’s see how it compares to intervalPlot. Though it would be a bit tedious to submit our complete functions to WolframAlpha, so we’ll simplify a bit:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 lhs = { |x, y| bumps[x, y] } rhs = { |x, y| 2 - gaussian2d[0.01, x, 1, y, 1] } xMin = 0 xMax = 2 yMin = 0 yMax = 2 xSteps = 50 ySteps = 50
Which is essentially the same as before, except that on line 2 we’re not using peaks[] anymore, but just a single peak. We can run
1 intervalPlot[lhs, rhs, xMin, xMax, yMin, yMax, xSteps, ySteps]
and get:
As of writing, running the equivalent expression on WolframAlpha yields the following:
Although I’ve no idea how Mathematica (and by extension WolframAlpha) implements plotting for this sort of thing, I’m sure that it’s not anywhere nearly as simple as our toy interval arithmetic function.
(Ironically, for the data above, naivePlot actually produces a plot with a point in the middle; but that’s not really a meaningful result, but rather a coincidence, since even a minor tweak, e.g. xSteps = 51, makes the point disappear. intervalPlot, is, obviously, insensitive to such tweaks.)
Having said all that, I’m not actually knowledgeable enough to be actively recommending interval arithmetic plotting solutions as a drop-in replacements for anything else. As in any other non-trivial numerical problem, I’m sure that this area has its own set of nuances, which were not apparent in the examples used in this post. Probably, the best approach to plotting is some combination of various techniques. But still, I find it quite intriguing that we managed to get so far with such a small investment.Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter
May 5, 2005, 5:56 PM GMT / Source: TODAY
For all its action, special effects, and costumes, what would "Star Wars" be without the instantly recognizable music of John Williams? The legendary composer says working with director George Lucas to create the music for the film series has been a journey of its own. As fans line up for the grand finale of the series, “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” “Today” national correspondent Jamie Gangel sat down for an exclusive interview with composer John Williams.
Jamie Gangel: This is movie number six for "Star Wars." How do you feel about sequels, and prequels for that matter?
John Williams: Well, it is true that this sixth "Star Wars" is meant to be the last one, if we can believe George Lucas. I sort of took it a step at a time as it came. What's nice now is that I can see because of the way this final story has gone that it all forms a completed circle. I must say I'm getting a big kick out of having survived to be able to do it.
With five Oscars, 18 Grammys and countless other awards, you might think composing these scores comes easily. But Williams, now 73 years old, likes to say it is more perspiration than inspiration.
Gangel: I read you once said you can't have writer's block in Hollywood.
Williams: Working in Hollywood for the orchestra world is a very time consuming and laborious job. People [can] probably not imagine how many notes there are in an orchestral score that can be played in a minute.
Gangel: How many are there?
Williams: Could be thousands, you know. For Star Wars, we recorded 130 minutes of music.
Gangel: You have how long to write that?
Williams: Well, however many weeks we can get in the post-production schedule, usually eight or 10.
Gangel: Wow.
Williams: It's not a lot of time. So, we can stare at the ceiling. But we can't wait for the paint to peel, so to speak.
Gangel: Are there many eureka moments?
Williams: There are occasionally eureka moments — off the top of my head, maybe Darth Vader's theme, you know, the imperial march.
Born in New York, a musical prodigy, Williams loved jazz. But he quickly found himself composing, and over the past five decades has created the mood and tempo for more than 100 movies. His most frequent collaborator? Director Steven Spielberg — they have worked together on some of the country's more popular movies — from "ET" to "Close Encounters" to “Indiana Jones” — and, of course, who can forget “Jaws”?
Gangel: You have ruined ocean swimming for many people, and it's the music not the picture.
Williams: That's very funny about "Jaws." Isn't that amazing, I mean, those couple notes that — that made such an impact.
Gangel: Did you know that music was going to be that scary?
Williams: No, not at all. If you could really manipulate that and do it every time and in every scene and in every film, we'd all be billionaires. And we'd be, you know, geniuses.
Despite all the accomplishments, Williams says one movie overwhelmed him — when Spielberg asked him to score "Schindler's List."
Williams: Spielberg showed me the film … I couldn't speak to him. I was so devastated. Do you remember, the end of the film was the burial scene in Israel — Schindler — it's hard to speak about. I said to Steven, "You need a better composer than I am for this film." He said to me, "I know. But they're all dead!"
Gangel: What's the highest compliment someone could pay you?
Williams: A contributing human being I guess, a contributing musician. If I can contribute something to the vast canon of the great music that's been done over the centuries, [that] would be a nice thing. I'll continue trying.Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin were spotted together for the first time in months on Thursday - with the pair stopping by the Bergdorf Goodman salon for a quick cut and color.
The former Secretary of State was photographed as she made her way to a waiting car after a day spent at the John Barrett Salon, showing off the results of her new $600 haircut and $600 dye job.
It was a softer and lighter look for Hillary, who likely never saw herself spending a Thursday afternoon inside a Fifth Avenue department store across the street from Trump Tower back in October.
Huma on the other hand seems to have tagged along for work purposes - with photos showing that Hillary's longtime aide did not have anything done to her tresses on Thursday.
Those same photos also show that she was tasked with carrying her boss' bag in addition to her own on the way out, all while trying to maintain her balance on the ice-covered sidewalk outside the building.
In the end, Hillary's biggest supporter was successful in getting both her $2,580 Prada Saffiano tote and her boss' $2,435 Givenchy Antigona bag safely to the car before the group drove away from the department store.
Reunited: Hillary Clinton (left) stopped by the John Barrett Salon in Bergdorf Goodman on Thursday with Huma Abedin (right)
Still standing: Huma was seen exiting the high-end department store (above) with her boss, who she has not been seen with in weeks
Bag lady: Hillary's top aide did not get a cut or color and seemed to be there for work, as she was seen carrying her boss' $2,500 bag (left in blue) in addition to her own $2,600 tote (right in tan)
Softer look: was photographed exiting the luxury retailer's Fifth Avenue shop with a new haircut and lighter hair color
This very public and photographed reunion of the Democratic party's favorite female duo comes as rumors continue to circulate about the possibility of Hillary making a bid for mayor of New York City.
Hillary and Huma have remained quiet on the subject, but would have to announce their intentions soon given that the election is this March.
It is worth noting that at the start of both her Democratic primary campaigns in 2009 and 2015, Hillary and Huma made a trip to John Barrett for a slightly new look.
Hillary also visited the salon in March of last year, at around the same time she managed to reach the number of delegates to eventually seize the party nomination two month later, thanks to the support of a majority of super delegates.
Huma meanwhile has stuck by her boss' side ever since her shocking election loss back in November to Trump.
That could change though should Hillary enter the mayoral race given Huma's experiences just four years ago when her now estranged husband decided to re-enter the political fray.
In 2013, Weiner decided to run for mayor of New York City and also agreed to be filmed for a documentary about his return to politics.
Weiner announced he would run in late May, but just two months later allegations emerged that he had continued to sext in the years after he resigned from Congress using the name Carlos Danger.
Among the women who had been corresponding with the politician was 22-year-old Sydney Leathers, who said that she had been sharing messages and explicit photos with Weiner as recently as April of that year.
She gave constant interviews, spoke with the press and even showed up to Weiner's election night party.
This was all captured by the filmmakers, as were the moments early in Weiner's campaign where his wife was the one who had to make calls and solicit donations for her husband while he assured her he was a reformed man.
If at first you don't succeed...: Rumors continue to circulate that Hillary could be considering a run for mayor in New York City later this year
Hillary went to Barrett in 2007 and 2015 with Huma (above on Thursday), right around the time she entered the Democratic primary, and last March when she became the likely nominee
Drama: Huma may not want to be involved in Hillary's campaign for mayor given her experience four years ago with her husband's run for the same office
Trading places: Should Hillary chose to run for mayor, she would be moving up to New York City at the same time President Trump is in Washington DC
Huma spoke about meeting Hillary for the first time in an interview last April, raving about her boss.
'You know these things that happen in your life that just stick? She walked by and she shook my hand and our eyes connected and I just remember having this moment where I thought; "Wow, this is amazing,"' said Huma.
'And it just inspired me. You know, I still remember the look on her face. And it’s funny, and she would probably be so annoyed that I say this, but I remember thinking; "Oh my God, she’s so beautiful and she’s so little!"'
Huma also said on the Call Your Girlfriend podcast that she had met Hillary once before this, but just as she took a group photo with the new White House interns.
She then took some time to gush about Hillary and how she will be remembered in the future.
'I think that if my boss quit tomorrow, she will go down as one of the greatest American women in the history of the world,' said Huma.
“We’re in the midst of campaigning in New York right now, and we’ve been looking through her record and the things that she did in the Senate and everyone she helped from 9/11 and beyond.
'I know she’s committed to making people’s lives better. I wish the world could see the Hillary Clinton that I see every day because it’s... because she has done great things for this country and I’m really confident that she can do great things for - on behalf of this country when she’s our president and I’m really looking forward to it.'
Bundle up: Hillary protected herself from the cold in a fur-lined jacket she has owned for years
New girl in town: Hillary and Huma were joined by another young woman on Thursday afternoon, who has been seen with the former Secretary of the State in the past
Don't turn around: Bergdorf is right across the street from Trump Tower in New York City
Helping hand: Hillary got a little guidance getting into her car from the driver (above)
Huma first began working for Hillary while she was still in college at George Washington University, being assigned to the then-first lady after getting a White House internship.
She then began to work with Hillary's personal aide and took over the position when Hillary began her successful 2000 run for the US Senate in the state of New York.
Huma was just 24 at the time and went on to serve as Clinton's vice chairwoman in her campaign for president.
She married New York Congressman Anthony Weiner in July 2010 in a ceremony that was officiated by Bill Clinton and covered in the pages of Vogue, getting pregnant with the couple's first child just a few months later.
The couple was not even a year into their marriage when news broke that Weiner had been sexting women online after he tweeted out a photo of his erect penis that he had meant to privately send a woman on the social media site.
He resigned from Congress soon after, and in December Huma gave birth to a son, Jordan Zain Weiner.
The two separated for good however last August when news of another sexting scandal broke, with Huma spending the next few months focusing on the campaign while Weiner eventually went off to rehab.The White House in 2014 in Washington, photographed from Pennsylvania Avenue. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
Michelle Obama's speech during the first day of the Democratic National Convention was generally lauded.
One sentence in particular garnered more attention, and controversy, than the rest:
That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.
The mention of slavery was a stark reminder for those who may have forgotten the White House's disturbing history or for those whose associate the iconic home with freedom and not the misery created in its absence.
Clarence Lusane, author of "The Black History of the White House," isn't one of those people.
The chair of Howard University's Political Science Department, Lusane has done extensive research on the enslaved people who built the structure and later lived among 10 of the United States' first 12 presidents.
He called the first lady's comment a "pivotal moment" in U.S. history.
First lady Michelle Obama became emotional during her speech at the Democratic convention, as she spoke about the possibility of the U.S. having it's first female president. (Video: The Washington Post/Photo: Toni L. Sandys/TWP)
"I'm glad that she mentioned the role of enslaved Americans at the White House, because she presented a larger audience with a history that most people are not being taught in our schools," Lusane, also a professor emeritus at American University, told The Washington Post. "I certainly wasn't taught that not only were many of our presidents slave owners, but that the most renowned building in our nation was, in part, built by slave labor."
Unlike at the U.S. Capitol Building and the site of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, "there's nothing at the White House that acknowledges its slave history, and perhaps a million each year visit the site," Lusane added.
[If Michelle Obama ran for office, Democrats would roll the ‘red carpet’ out for her]
While the history of slavery at the White House isn't widely known, historians say there's no debate about the accuracy of the first lady's comments.
Even Fox News host Bill O'Reilly partially agreed with Obama, acknowledging on "The O'Reilly Factor" Tuesday that her statement about slave labor at the White House was "essentially correct," according to Media Matters. But O'Reilly disagreed with the first lady's framing, telling his viewers that enslaved peoples at the site were "were well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802."
He also noted that there were white laborers "working" on the site as well.
O'Reilly also failed to cite and historical records to bolster his claims about the humane treatment of people whose very existence was by definition inhumane.
O'Reilly's comments provoked a furious backlash on Twitter.
#BillOreilly says slaves who built #WhiteHouse were well fed & had decent lodges. Bill-they were still slaves! — Carl Dix (@Carl_Dix) July 27, 2016
Thanks 2 #BillOReilly now I have better perspective on slavery! I mean, #SlavesSoChill they got free housing and food! Thanks O'Reilly! — Tim Wise (@tim |
and Unity can make it simple to port games to Facebook’s platforms without a bunch of extra coding, devs might as well gain some extra exposure. Facebook’s Oculus Home is already competing with Steam.
Meanwhile, these platforms’ support for mobile could allow Facebook to earn taxes on mobile games without owning its own mobile operating system. It once tried a different approach, building an HTML5 mobile web gaming platform called Project Spartan to sidestep the iOS App Store and Android’s Google Play. But developers dismissed it as underpowered compared to the native operating systems.
Facebook is on a quest to eat the internet. Feeds, messaging, video, live streaming, news, commerce, payments — Facebook wants a piece of everything you do online. It can’t make the world more open and connected if it isn’t connected to every way you…connect. As gaming grows as a behavior, Facebook can’t sit back and let Apple Google, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo own it.
The Oculus acquisition was a big step back into gaming through VR. Still, most of us spend our days not in a headset but in front of a glowing rectangle. Facebook won at online gaming years ago. The company proved it’s not afraid to be the underdog, challenging YouTube for video. Now it’s time to hit “Continue” on Facebook Gaming.BRING THE PAIN: A Dude Simulates Labor, Learns Something
Can women tolerate more pain than men?
Though Mythbusters has already weighed in on the side of lady endurance, one brave doctor has decided to take the experiment even further. After all, says Dr. Andrew Rochford, “there’s not one man in the world who's been through the most painful experience of them all: childbirth."
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Guided by an obstetrician, Dr. Rochford decided to personally undergo simulated labor pains through low-voltage electrodes attached to his abdomen. The voltage was carefully timed by a physiotherapist to mimic the contraction patterns of a woman giving birth for the first time.
Only two hours into "labor", Dr. Rochford ranked his pain level as "an eight out of ten" and immediately accepted nitrous oxide to relieve the pain. At three and a half hours, he was wrung out--and his smiling (female!) guides informed him that most women would have to continue laboring for another nine and a half hours. Wowza.
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After calling it quits just past the three-and-a-half-hour mark, Rochford apologized to all the women out there, including his wife, for thinking he understood what it was like to go through labor:
“Men of the world, you have no idea. Leave it to the women. Forget the whole pain threshold debate. We have nothing. Women win. Men don’t. The end.”
You've gotta see it.
Photo and video clip via youtube.comJul 14, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Jahlil Okafor (8) holds the ball away from New York Knicks forward Alex Kirk (53) during an NBA Summer League game at Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
The center position is dead in the NBA … right?
After all, the expulsion of the big man spot from the NBA All-Star ballot was supposed to spell the end of the long tradition of 7-footers governing the association.
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Undoubtedly, there has been a prolonged dry spell of elite talent at the five position. There remains no generational giant to inherit the dominating precedent set forth by the Wilt Chamberlains, Kareem Abdul-Jabbars, Patrick Ewings, Hakeem Olajuwons, and the Shaquille O’Neals.
While small ball and versatility consume the undivided attention of the incumbent NBA landscape, the importance of the big man in the modern-day game is secretly undersold.
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Yes, there has been an elongated drought of paradigm-changing centers — thank is large to the rash of inexplicable career-derailing injuries suffered by the generational bigs of this era; such as, Yao Ming, Greg Oden, Andrew Bynum, and sadly, Joel Embiid — but, that could all change over the next couple of seasons.
More specifically, Anthony Davis — the prototype 21st-century big man — is on pace to take over the crown as the best player in the game. Meanwhile, an army of young giants — most notably, DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gobert, Andre Drummond, Hassan Whiteside, and Karl-Anthony Towns — looks poised to infiltrate the big man’s dictating nature back into the NBA.
The above mentioned behemoths all share something in common: elite length and athleticism. However, the No. 3 overall pick in the past year’s draft, Jahlil Okafor, is a throwback of sorts. Some have even gone to label him as a plodder.
While his physical profile is nothing to sneeze at — standing at 6’11” in shoes, equipped with a 7’5″ wingspan and a 9’2.5″ standing reach — his measurables pale in comparison to that of a Gobert, Whiteside, Towns, and Cousins (all of whom sport a standing reach of greater than 9’5″),
Likewise, he lacks the jaw-dropping explosiveness and/or agility of a Drummond or Davis to compensate for his lack of upper-echelon reach.
Okafor, however, is not only bringing the big man back to the forefront of NBA success, he’s also looking to resurrect the back-to-the-basket game back into the good graces of modern day offenses.
He may lack the two-way potential of a Towns, but he unequivocally possess one elite skill — in his feel on the block — that not many 19-year-olds have even a rudimentary grasp of. But, due to his physical limitations, his niche expertise may pigeon hole his impact.
The popular, and low-hanging fruit, comparison is Al Jefferson — a low-post savant whose defensive liabilities often hinder the effectiveness of his teams. Sure, you can surround Big Al with the perfect complement of gritty defensive specialists (see the 2013-14 Charlotte Bobcats), but ideally you want your center, a defensive premium position, to anchor your D.
With that being said, the Philadelphia 76ers took a calculated risk when they took Okafor. Specifically, not only was Big Jah this best player available, Philly also houses Nerlens Noel, a 6’11” pterodactyl who proved last season he has a chance to become a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate as soon next year.
Thus, the pairing of Okafor and Noel should fit hand-in-hand, and Jahlil’s passing/vision out of the low-post — a skill that Jefferson lacks — should mitigate some of the inevitable spacing issues the Sixers’ twin-tower backline will present.
When the 76ers’ Summer League adventures began in Salt Lake City during the beginning of July, NBA fans and pundits alike watched intently to see if Okafor’s post game is as advertised. In particular, many wondered how he’ll operate in an NBA setting, and most importantly, how his defense will translate to the next level.
The Good
In the five Summer League games he participated in Utah and Las Vegas, Okafor averaged 15.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, per NBA.com; but he also committed 4.6 turnovers a contest, and shot an uninspiring 44.0 percent from the field and a grisly 39.1 percent from the free throw line.
As his anecdotal output would indicate, Jahlil was far from efficient in his Summer League stint; he did, however, exhibit his wide array of offensive skills and gave us a glimpse of his dominance on the block.
In particular, his footwork and fluidity in the post is truly special. His fundamentals are immaculate — from the way he catches, chins the ball, surveys the middle, crab dribbles and probes, before determining a course of action, to the way he so eloquently uses the glass on his repertoire of hook and push shots.
When operating on the low block, Okafor has a never-ending catalog of back-to-the-basket moves; he’s got counters on counters — from dream shakes to up-and-unders.
He may not be an “elite athlete” in the traditional sense, but his body control at 270-plus pounds and the nimbleness in which he exhibits in tight quarters suggest otherwise.
Jahlil also effectively offsets his middling explosiveness with his million-dollar oven mitts.
His gargantuan paws allow Okafor to not only finish around the basket with the greatest of ease, but to also manipulate double teams with a bevy of ball fakes. It gives him the ability to fight off doubles and split collapsing defenses with his hands and footwork.
Perhaps, the most impressive part of Jahlil’s performance this summer was his display of a highly efficacious face-up game. Even without a reliable jumper, Okafor routinely wheeled and dealed his way towards the rack.
His offensive game is a bewitching, lethal concoction of a Blake Griffin and a Brook Lopez. Explicitly, he combines Lopez’s push and hook shots with Griffin’s handles and unorthodox takeoffs.
While his pick-and-roll game is still very much a work-in-progress, when receiving the ball at the top of the key, he often gives a convincing pump-fake, unleashes a devastating between-the-legs crossover, before changing direction one more time with a pirouette spin move into a one-footed hook shot/floater.
Such skills are easily transferrable once the real games start come late October/early November.
On the other hand, contrary his dreadful assist-to-turnover numbers, Jahlil engender a cavalcade of good looks for his teammates when opposing defenses hard-digged and doubled.
Whether making the simple direct pitch back to the post-entry passer, or probing and delivering a cross court zinger to an open shooter on the opposite wing, Okafor showcased the one distinct skill in which separates him from the Jeffersons and Lopezes.
Defensively, Okafor gave us glimpses of how he can positively affect the game through his innate massive base and ballerina-like feet.
In particular, during his stint in Salt Lake City, the former Blue Devil did an exploratory job of providing the initial help; often walling off the boxes and swallowing up the opposing ball-in-hand paint invader by simply staying vertical/big.
However, whether it’s due to his lack of fast-twitch athleticism or effort, Big Jah is usually slow to recover and resume his rim protection duties. The good news for Sixers fans, though, is that come the regular season, Okafor will be tethered with Noel — who specializes in the expeditious art of helping and recovering.
In addition, during his stint in Vegas, the 6’11” 270-pound brute also displayed incredible lateral quickness when defending in space; whether it be blitzing the rare pick-and-roll, or when switched out on an island and tasked to guard an opposing primary ball-handler.
Looking forward to next season, Sixers coach Brett Brown would be wise to hard hedge the majority of the pick-and-rolls Okafor is involved in defensively — a la Jusuf Nurkic, who shares very similar measurables. In doing so, it exploits Jah’s strengths while camouflaging his weaknesses as a rim protector.
The scheme will also concurrently keep Jah involved and interested on the defensive end of the floor.
The Bad
The most glaring flaw Jahlil currently possesses is unquestionably his free throw shooting.
Like most towering big men with oversized hands, Okafor has yet to find a remedy to earn free, unimpeded points. Explicitly, he shot only 39.1 percent from the charity stripe in Summer League, and did not fare much better during his lone season as a Dukie, converting on only 51.0 percent from the line.
Crowd applauds Jahlil Okafor's first made free throw after an 0-for-5 start. — Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) July 14, 2015
His shooting form, however, does not seem to be an issue. His release is smooth and soft — free from a troublesome hitch or awkward follow-through.
A smooth release is not an indicator of promise, though; if DeAndre Jordan‘s free throw stroke has taught us anything, it’s that their woes at the charity stripe are much more of a mysterious matter, along the lines of the Bermuda Triangle.
As such, based on his scoring proficiency, teams will certainly be employing the Gore-A-Okafor (working title; suggestions welcomed) next season in an NBA arena near you.
In addition to his poor free throw shooting, the Chicago-native also had his fair share of troubles finishing through elite length.
Chiefly, in his much ballyhooed head-to-head matchup against Kristaps Porzingis — the No. 4 overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft — Okafor had at least three of his shot attempts sent back by the 7’3″ praying mantis.
Jahlil Okafor has missed 10 shots today. 5 of them were blocked. 3 by Porzingis. — Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) July 14, 2015
At this point, he is noticeably more patient within the tight confines of the paint when operating against a smaller or like-sized defender.
However, when defended by the likes of Porzingis, or within the presence of a bouncy weakside shotblocker — namely Larry Nance Jr. of the Los Angeles Lakers — Okafor has a tendency to rush his finishes and prematurely show the rim protector the ball.
With that being said, this is probably the first time Jah has ever faced somebody who towered over him — he’s always been the biggest and baddest big on the block.
Based on his vast armory of fakes and counters, he should be fine finishing over length once he slows down and utilizes his sizeable caboose to curate space under the basket — ala Zach Randolph.
Even if he doesn’t, there’s simply aren’t many 7’3″ walking skyscrapers, blessed with a 7’6″ wingspan and a 9’6″ standing reach, walking around in the association.
In fact, a quick search on DraftExpress’ historical pre-draft measurements database finds that, of all the current centers in the NBA, only Rudy Gobert (9’7″), JaVale McGee (9’6.5″), Lucas Nogueira (9’6″), DeAndre Jordan (9’5.5″), Brendan Haywood (9’5.5″), Brook Lopez (9’5″), Hassan Whiteside (9’5″), Karl-Anthony Towns (9’5″), and Robert Upshaw (9’5″) sport a standing reach of greater than 9’5″.
Thus, even if you conservatively include Roy Hibbert and Alex Len — both of whom were not measured as amateurs — into the mix, the only starting-caliber centers blessed with elite length residing in the Eastern Conference are Porzingis, Lopez, and Whiteside.
Another concern regarding Jahlil’s offensive game is the lack of prime post position he fails to establish on a consistent basis.
He is often too nonchalant when fighting for spot on the lock. Consequently, he usually receives the ball from 18 feet-and-out, as oppose to 13 feet-and-in — a more optimal area for a back-to-the-basket based player like Okafor.
In the Summer League, and even in college, Big Jah could simply crab dribble his way into prime position before going into his move. However, he is in for a rude awakening once the real games begin, as NBA teams will force an avalanche of live ball turnovers by shrinking the floor as soon as he puts the ball on the floor.
Such a problem will surely be exacerbated given the Sixers’ blatant lack of accomplished shooters.
Along the same vein, Okafor is at present a mediocre pick-and-roll big, at best, offensively. To be more specific, not once did he dive hard down the middle lane in Summer League after setting a screen. Alternatively, he floats aimlessly above the restricted area, or hoping to receive a pass while flaring out to the foul-line/elbow extended parts of floor.
If he is determined to be a pick-and-pop big, Jah will assuredly need to develop a reliable face-up 18 foot jumper. The enticing pump fakes he delivered during his Summer League stint won’t work so well when he isn’t facing overzealous D-Leaguers, hoping to make an impression on every other possession.
He did attempt a handful of Tim Duncan-like bank shots; and while none of them went in, the thought of developing a face-up J is a step in right direction.
The main thing is, save for the occasional offensive rebound and putback from time to time, Okafor does not enjoy any easy baskets. His field goal makes are aesthetically pleasing and adroit, but most of them are accomplished at an extremely high degree of difficulty.
If Big Jah can engender better post position and dive/seal hard off of short rolls against the weakside helper, Okafor’s scoring efficiency should skyrocket given his hands, footwork, and touch.
Defensively, as mentioned previously, he seems inherently slow to react to his help and recover responsibilities. At times, he can be exceptionally prompt with his initial help, only failing to recover back to his own man once the kick-out pass is made.
Other times, he gets too caught up in defending his own man, staying too attached on his primary assignment and ignoring all of his team-/help-oriented defensive duties.
In like manner, when dropping back on the pick-and-roll, Jah is often too concern on recovering back to his own man, and bails on his reasonability to pack the elbows hastily in anticipation to retreat back to the flaring opposing big, even if said big is an unproven scorer from 18-23 feet.
Outlook For Next Season
Full disclosure, as someone who fell in love with NBA basketball in the 1990s, I’m cheering for Jahlil Okafor to succeed — I’m all-in for the resurrection of the post game.
While I love the way the modern-day game emphasizes ball and man movement, and the way present day 7-footers are capable of hitting crossover step-backs, a part of me sorely yearns for the classic center matchups that consumed the eras prior.
Simply put, David versus David is not nearly as captivating as David versus Goliath. The NBA — for all of its talent and versatility — lacks the vintage Goliath.
By all accounts, Okafor is the betting man’s favorite to win the Rookie of the Year. He will be entrusted with the offensive touches and shots needed to put up big numbers. The numbers he accumulates may not be efficient, and he will commit a high volume of turnovers considering his anticipated usage, but his anecdotal output will be good enough to mask his deficiencies.
Defensively next season, he will struggle. But having an omnipresent defensive cyborg like Noel tethered alongside him will ease his weaknesses on D.
At worst, Big Jah will be a 16-18 point, 7-8 rebound per game pivot during his prime. Is he capable/willing to develop a face-up and turnaround J over his right shoulder? Bang and establish better post position? Dive hard and seal coming off of the roll? Such unresolved questions will determine whether his 20 points per game average will be earned efficiently or not.
Whether he can improve his rather undefined body and his conditioning — either through losing weight like Kevin Love/Tim Duncan or toning his body by adding muscle mass like Dwight Howard — will determine his prospects in evolving into a coveted two-way big.A hacking cough affecting thousands of patients this winter cannot be cured with antibiotics, doctors have warned.
The lingering illness, that can last several weeks, has been caught by so many people this year that health experts in Wales have issued a public message urging sufferers to stay away from their GP surgery.
The health boards covering Wales’ two largest cities stressed there is little doctors can do to help the cough, since antibiotics have no effect on these viruses.
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Instead, patients are advised to rest and take plenty of fluids.
Cardiff GP Dr Anna Kuczynska told Wales Online : “We know there is a particularly nasty, persistent cough in the community that lasts a number of weeks and is leading a lot of people to attend their GP surgery.
“Unfortunately, in most cases, unless the patient has another underlying chronic condition for example, heart or lung disease or diabetes, there is often nothing the GP can do to help other than recommend resting and drinking plenty of fluids.
“Antibiotics will be of no help for most normally healthy people. If you see blood or are breathless with your symptoms, have lost weight or symptoms are on-going more than three weeks, patients should get advice.”
Chief medical officer Dr Frank Atherton also warned that visiting a GP or requesting unnecessary help for a cough or a cold could take valuable appointments away from those in real need.
He said: “In many cases, people go to emergency units when they could have received the same advice from a local pharmacist or been seen and assessed in a minor injuries unit, GP surgery out of hours doctor.
”The message is clear. Choose well to help save lives.“
Advice from NHS England states that there is usually no need to visit your GP if you or your child have a mild cough for a week or two. However, you should seek medical advice if:Rocket League is, in my somewhat humble opinion, one of the best games of 2015.
The official Twitter account announced that the game has been downloaded 5 million times, which has to be considered a success, even if the payment model behind the downloads that were "free" through PlayStation Plus is somewhat opaque.
Rocket League is a "simple" game where you drive a car around a field and try to hit a ball into a goal. You can jump and boost. That's about it. It's also tuned to perfection; games that feel this "right" don't come along that often, and the five-minute rounds mean that there's always room for another round, even if it's 2 in the morning.
When a game grabs so many players, and finds so many fans among the press and other developers as well, it's worth taking a good look at what it does well, and how it achieves it. This is what we should learn, and what other developers may be able to steal, from Rocket League.
Overnight successes don't really exist
I keep hearing that Rocket League came out of nowhere, and I'll admit to thinking that myself. There wasn't much of a hype cycle for the game; one day very few people had heard of it, and the next day it was everywhere.
But you've played games that Psyonix has worked on. Ever hear of Gears of War? Did you play the amazing Onslaught mode of Unreal Tournament 2004? Have you heard of the pretty frickin' great A.R.C. Squadron mobile game? Maybe you're familiar with the name Bulletstorm? How about Nosgoth?
Psyonix either developed or had its hand in every one of those games, and more. This isn't a garage developer who had a great, high-concept idea for its first game; this is a veteran team with an amazing list of games under its belt that brought all those learned skills to create a game that looks simple, but does everything nearly perfectly.
You have to understand the rules before you can subvert them, and it's unlikely that Psyonix could have made a game that looks and feels as good as Rocket League without working on this impressive expanse of larger, more intricate games. Which brings us to our next point:
The simplest games are the hardest to do well
If Rocket League didn't feel this good when you played it, there is nothing else for the game to hide behind. There is no story. There are few actions the player gets to perform in the game. If everything didn't work well, it would have been a disaster.
Many games throw a large number of systems at the player, and if one or two don't work well it's not that big of a deal. There's a lot to do, right? Rocket League doesn't have that luxury. If the physics were off, the game would have been terrible. If the jumping wasn't balanced just so, the player wouldn't feel as if they were in control.
The game relies on many simple systems mixing together to allow the player to do amazing things, and that's a high-risk/high-reward strategy that only happens when the team is sure they can do each of those "simple" systems justice.
Keep in mind Psyonix had already tried this. The prequel to Rocket League was Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, a self-published PlayStation 3 game that earned middling reviews and didn't make much of a splash.
Think of the guts it took to take a game that wasn't well-reviewed and not much of a hit, going back to the drawing board and iterating on everything, including the name, to create something that has taken off so strongly with fans and critics. It's one thing to know you've found something special, it's quite another to be willing to bet your time and money on iterating on a game that gathered a respectable fan base, but has otherwise been forgotten by the wider industry.
"Powerful minimalism and simplicity in games is basically this idea of 'easy to learn, difficult to master,'" game designer Adam Saltsman told Polygon.
"Something that looks simple from the outside, but as you start to mess with it, you discover hidden depths," he continued. "At this point in my so-called career I am convinced that games like these are an act of discovery on the part of the designer too, much more so than an act of invention. Yes there is a process of refinement, of editing, after the discovery, the same way you have to clean up that amazing gemstone you found in the place where you thought there might be a gemstone only it was over here instead of over there but hey, you found a gemstone!"
Simplicity isn't easy, and it's not what you do when you can't afford to make something big. It's an approach that rewards precision, iteration, craft and, as Saltsman explained, a bit of luck.
"The real test of a chef doesn't come from elaborate dishes with luxury ingredients such as foie gras and caviar but from how well he uses the most humble foods in the pantry," chef Thomas Keller once wrote. "Consider the egg. I'm fascinated by seemingly simple dishes like an omelet or a crème caramel because they not only showcase the quality of their ingredients, but, more important, they also demonstrate the skill of the cook who prepared them."
Rocket League is Psyonix delivering, and serving, the perfect egg.
Timing is everything
Rocket League isn't competing with many games for the attention of players right now, and it has been released in a time when it's easy for fans to stream their games and draw in others. Rocket League is easy to understand and fun to watch, both of which helped it gain momentum.
AMAZING! More than 5 MILLION downloads since we launched on July 7! Your continued support for our game is truly humbling. Thank you. — Rocket League (@RocketLeague) July 29, 2015
"The timing of [Rocket League] worked out for us really well," Jeremy Dunham, vice president of marketing and communications at Psyonix, told Motherboard. "YouTube and Twitch are huge now. Video game streaming is everywhere. eSports is a thing. It's fun to watch. Because of our very specific release window, we don't have a lot of high profile competition to fight against to get people's attention. It's the collection of all these elements that is making the game successful."
The game's precursor may not have found an audience, but it's very possible the timing was just off.
"What Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars really was, was under exposed," Dunham said. "It came out in a time without the sort of bells and whistles that it needed to get to compete with AAA games that had massive marketing budgets or epic stories and amazing voice acting. It's today's eSports and streaming culture that has allowed us to find a better path."
That sort of confidence to keep at an idea, to watch it grow, can be a rare thing in gaming, and it's worth prizing.
"I mean by their own admission, Rocket League's creators probably should be credited more for their devotion to the concept and their sense for how best to refine their discovery, as opposed to inventing the thing, which is refreshingly honest," Saltsman said. "I would love for that to be the overwhelming public understanding of the creation of art. Down with epiphany, down with [lightning] strikes of inspiration, up with sensitivity and the courage to follow a hunch, and the patience to let your garden grow a bit."
Plenty of games don't find an audience, even if they deserve one. It can all come down to timing, and taking your time with something you believe in.
Everyone is equal, all the time
One of the most frustrating aspects of modern gaming is that inviting your friends to join you means that they're going to be behind the curve. You spend time unlocking new abilities, weapons and boosts that gives you an advantage. Until they put the same time in, they're going to be at a disadvantage.
There is no such system in Rocket League. You get better by practicing and learning how to use the few abilities of your car to their fullest, but a player with 100 hours has no game-given advantage over a player who plays for the first time. Every goal is fair. Every score is earned.
This makes it much easier to recommend Rocket League to friends, even if you have to spend some time with them against bots or in one-on-one matches. You even earn points for those matches to level up, even if doing so is only used for matchmaking purposes.
So many games think a leveling system that grants an in-game advantage is necessary to fuel "engagement," and of course this also allows you to sell buffs and boosts that let you level faster. Rocket League is made much more welcoming by ignoring this system completely, allowing everyone to compete based purely on skill.
To sum it up
It may seem like Rocket League came out of nowhere, but it's the next step in a multi-year journey undertaken by a veteran team. It may seem simple, but that sort of elegance of play is incredibly hard to find, and then perfect. The industry is littered with examples of games that didn't execute on their own ideas well enough to stand out.
"I think game developers and designers like Rocket League so much because fucking everybody likes Rocket League so much. Game designers are just a subset of humans in this case," Saltsman said.
"But... maybe there is another (not better, just... parallel) pleasure in it for us, because maybe we know more than 'normal people' how rare a discovery this is, how good a job they've done of refining this wonderful thing, we're the best kind of jealous," he continued. "We're living the dream because yes, finally, Rocket League exists AND somebody else had to make it."DOSING The dosages recommended in the following protocols are for an average size adult that weighs between 120-170 pounds (55-77 kilos). Adjust the dosage according to weight; ie. a patient that weighs 30 pounds would take one-fourth of the recommended dose. Shake the liquid products well before each use. To ensure the proper dosage, dispense drops by holding the dropper at a 45 degree angle. Mix the liquid products, of each dose, together in a glass, porcelain or paper cup (not Styrofoam, plastic or metal) then add at least 4 oz. (120ml) of water. Do not use distilled, sparkling, or reverse osmosis water. Let sit for at least 1 minute before drinking (longer is fine - up to 2 days). The products are most effective when taken in water. The products can be taken directly in the mouth without water, but this should only be done when water is not available.
HYDRATION Adult patients are urged to drink 2-3 liters or quarts of water per day (proportionately less for children based on weight). Drinking 2-3 ounces (60-90ml) of pure drinking water every 10-15 minutes during all waking hours causes most of the water to go into the cells, hydrate the cells, mobilize toxins out of the cells and ultimately mobilize toxins out of the body (mostly through urine & feces). Drinking large quantities of water even a few times per day does not efficiently hydrate the body nor does it mobilize toxins out of the body. Black tea, green tea, coffee, sodas & alcoholic drinks are not hydrating. Vegetable and some fruitjuices (lemon & lime) are hydrating. While most herbal teas are hydrating, when too much sugar isadded to herbal teas, they can be dehydrating rather than hydrating; therefore, the best choice ofsweeteners for herbal teas would be Nutramedix STEVIA.
STRESS AND DIET Patients are urged to practice stress reduction techniques (deep-breathing while visualizing with all 5 sense a relaxing vacation spot) for 4 minutes before each meal and before each bedtime. Patients should be in bed resting (whether they fall asleep or not) in a pitch-dark bedroom with minimal electro-magnetic pollution, from 11pm to 6 or 7am each night. Patients are urged to eat more raw, organic foods that are NOT genetically-modified and to avoid sugars, excessive starches, processed foods and fried foods. Avoid all known food allergies. If you are unaware of any food allergies you may have, we recommend avoiding all common food allergens – all cow milk and cow cheese products, all wheat products, all corn products (corn oil, corn starch, and corn syrup), peanuts and peanut oil (most oriental foods), soy products (it is a common filler in fast food restaurants), black pepper, white pepper, sugar (may substitute Nutramedix STEVIA), canola oil and hydrogenated oils. Patients who avoid these foods usually improve much faster.A teenage couple were arrested just 20 minutes after they mugged a man in Central Park — thanks the “Find My iPhone” app and NYPD-issued smartphones, according to police.
The two 15-year-olds came up behind a man walking home through the park near 96th Street and East Drive at about 7:30 p.m., according to Captain Peter Andrea, commander of the Central Park Precinct.
“Give me all your stuff, your wallet and phone,” the boy allegedly told the victim after lifting the ski mask he was wearing away from his mouth so he could be heard.
He then pulled up his shirt to display a semi-automatic handgun in his waistband, Andrea said.
The clueless Bonnie and Clyde fled with the 37-year-old’s cell phone and wallet, but they didn’t get far.
The victim borrowed a phone from a passerby to call 911, which immediately triggered an alert to the cell phones of officers patrolling the park, Andrea said. Cops were able to use the victim’s “Find my Phone” app to surround the suspects at 96th Street and West Drive, as they were fleeing the park.
Officers then called the victim’s phone, which was heard ringing inside the suspect’s right pocket, Andrea said.
The girl was carrying a bag containing the ski mask, wallet and gun, which was not loaded, cops said. Charges against the pair were pending Friday morning.I was an atheist. My husband a Pentecostal. Then we found something that works for both of us.
I grew up in an atheist home. It was a happy, kind-hearted and good-humored one, with parents who loved each other as much as they loved their kids (and still do).
Our family had its own traditions — summer trips to the cabin, car wash blitzes on the driveway, and sledding in the winter. Suckers for a hard-luck story, we fostered stray animals — abused pups, orphaned ducklings, one-legged pigeons... you name it.
My dad, a self-proclaimed redneck, was a man ahead of his time. Despite living in Canada's Evangelical Bible belt, he had the guts to speak up for gay rights at a time in our province when not many voices were.
He was unflinching in his pro-choice stance and raised two daughters who never believed that a woman should "obey" a husband. Love and respect, absolutely. But obey? Fat chance.
My mom was the same way. I remember her getting mad because evolution wasn't being taught in our public school, the instruction having been opposed by religious lobby groups.
My family wasn't anti-religious. We were just indifferent-religious.
Even looking back, there was nothing that religion could have added to my family life. We were good without God.
My husband grew up in a Pentecostal home. The churches he attended were hardcore — talking in tongues, faith healings, the Rapture, river baptisms, trembling hands raised to sky... the works.
As a child, he experienced more than one "End of Time" countdown where he would stare up in terror, waiting for the sky to open up. He had recurring nightmares of being sawn in half by atheists, who he was taught were agents of the Devil.
He was also taught by the church that dinosaur bones were put there by God to "test" people's faith, and that gay people were an abomination. He spent |
claimed.
Larossi Abballa, 25, stabbed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing to death outside his home in Magnanville near the French capital on Monday.
Afterwards he took the police officer's wife Jessica Schneider, 36, hostage before killing her but spared their three-year-old son.
ISIS fanatic Larossi Abballa, who stabbed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and his wife Jessica Schneider to death at their home near Paris. It has now emerged he may have had an earlier run in with Mr Salvaing, a police commander
Mr Salvaing with his wife Ms Schneider, both of them were killed by the ISIS fanatic in front of their three-year-old son
After killing the couple, Abballa posted a 12 minute monologue on Facebook Live, showing the crime scene before he was killed when police stormed the house.
Now as police probe why Mr Salavaing, 42, was targeted by Abballa, it has been reported that he hinted he already knew the commander while speaking to police as they tried to negotiate with him as he held the couple's young son hostage.
According to French daily newspaper, Liberation, Abballa said during the negotiations: 'He came to my home, now I've come to his.'
While another French newspaper, Le Monde reported the ISIS militant that Aballa may have had a grudge against his victims.
They added it suggests that Abballa had previous contact with Mr Salvaing who in the past had been stationed in Mantes-la-Jolie, where the killer lived.
French president Francois Hollande pays tribute to the slain couple in front of their coffins at a ceremony in Versaille
The coffins of the husband and wife were brought to the memorial ceremony and were draped in the French flag
Afterwards Hollande posthumously presented Mr Salvaing and Ms Schneider with the Legion d'Honneur, one of France's highest awards for bravery
Meanwhile, Ms Schneider also worked at the same police station as a police administrator.
It has also emerged that Abballa has already spent time in prison for 'criminal association in view to preparing terrorist attacks' after being accused of recruiting a network of jihadis of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He was freed in September 2013 after serving most of his sentence on remand.
The new claims come as French President Francois Hollande attended a service in Versaille today for the slain couple.
The coffins of the husband and wife were draped in the French flag as Hollande delivered a tribute to them.
Afterwards he placed a medal on top of each casket as he posthumously awarded them both the Legion d'Honneur, one of France's highest awards for bravery.
After killing the couple, Abballa posted a 12 minute monologue on Facebook Live, showing the crime scene before he was killed when police stormed the house
Police stand guard outside the couple's house in Magnanville near Paris. Abballa reportedly said during hostage negotiations with police: 'He came to my home, now I've come to his.'
The attack has revived French concerns about the ISIS threat after the group targeted Paris last year killing 130 people.
Anti-terrorism investigators are questioning three suspects and are seeking to determine whether the attacker was working with a larger network.
During the video that Abballa posted on social media after the killings, he also chillingly hinted at an ISIS attack on the Euro 2016 football tournament, saying: ‘We're keeping another surprise for the Euros but I won’t say anything more.'
Police later raided Abballa's home and found a hit list on his computer which contained six names. Prosecutor Francois Molins said they included 'rappers, journalists, police officers and public personalities'.
Hundreds of policeman and members of the public take part in a march in honour of Mr Salvaing and Ms Schneider
The vigil to the slain police commander and his wife took place outside the French Interior Ministry in Paris
Meanwhile, yesterday Mr Hollande joined hundreds of public officials to pay homage to victims Mr Salvaing and Ms Schneider at the Interior Ministry in Paris.
There, he and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned the world faced a long war to defeat terrorism.
Mr Hollande said: '(Fighting terrorism is) a long war to wage not just in a few countries but in the whole world, everyone can be concerned.'Last week was a bad one for Hillary Clinton’s consigliere, Sidney Blumenthal, who was touring the country to sell his new biography about Abraham Lincoln.
Instead of talking about “Honest Abe,” the mysterious former journalist was forced to focus much of his attention on his relationship with the former secretary of state.
Such was the case at a book tour event held at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. on Friday. A tracker with America Rising, a group opposing the Democratic candidate, asked Blumenthal if he would continue advising Clinton is she is elected to the White House. He was also quizzed about whether he agreed with the Obama administration that he would have been a political liability if hired at the State Department.
The former Bill Clinton White House aide refused to answer either inquiry, instead asking the tracker who he worked for.
WATCH:
Blumenthal was a close adviser to Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign as well as her tenure at the State Department. He sent her hundreds of emails containing political gossip, advice and sensitive foreign intelligence he gleaned from his vast network of sources.
If Clinton would have had her way, Blumenthal would have been hired at the State Department in 2009. But the Obama White House vetoed the idea because Blumenthal had spread anti-Obama rumors and rhetoric during the 2008 primary.
He was advising Clinton as recently as February, according to a Politico article. (RELATED: Hillary Is Still Taking Advice From Sidney Blumenthal)
Later, during the book signing portion of Friday’s event, the tracker asked Blumenthal who is closer to Clinton, him or her “body woman,” Huma Abedin.
Blumenthal declined to answer that question, too, and asked the tracker again who he worked for.
“You have to tell me who’s paying you,” he says in the video, which was shared exclusively with The Daily Caller.
The response was ironic given the lack of transparency that has defined the Blumenthal-Clinton relationship. Blumenthal was working for the Clinton Foundation while he was providing Clinton with off-the-books intelligence. He also served as an editor for The Daily Beast, where he planted pro-Clinton stories with journalists. (RELATED: Did Sid ‘Vicious’ Blumenthal Commission Anti-Rahm Emanuel Hit Pieces In The Daily Beast?)
In addition, Blumenthal emailed Clinton analysis and suggestions that would have helped an American defense contractor called Osprey Global Solutions, which was seeking contracts in post-Gaddafi Libya. Blumenthal had some sort of interest in the company, though he claims he was not paid by the firm or by Libyan interests. Clinton has said that she was not aware of Blumenthal’s close relationship to the company when he was emailing her.
Clinton herself sought to keep Blumenthal’s advice a secret. Her emails show that she frequently asked her aides to share Blumenthal’s reports with others in the Obama administration but to strip them of their identifying information beforehand.
WATCH:
Last week was a rough one for Blumenthal. The Clinton crony gave several interviews to promote his book, but interviewers were most interested in his relationship with Clinton.
In an interview with CNN he evaded a question about whether he has been interviewed by the FBI, which is investigating whether classified information was mishandled on Clinton’s server. He also denied that the FBI’s probe is an investigation, calling it a “security review” instead.
He also suggested that he has inside knowledge about the FBI’s investigation, telling CNN that it was his “understanding” that the Justice Department will issue a statement asserting that Clinton did not intentionally mishandle classified information. (RELATED: Sidney Blumenthal Claims Inside Knowledge About FBI’s Clinton Investigation)
The next day in an interview with CNBC Blumenthal finally acknowledged that the investigation is an investigation and not a security review.
He was also asked about his work for the Clinton Foundation and in Libya. He claimed that those relationships were not unethical.
Follow Chuck on TwitterRabbi Berel Wein Rabbi Berel Wein is a noted scholar, historian, speaker and educator, admired the world over for his audio tapes/CDs, videos and books, particularly on Jewish history. More from the author ► Rabbi Berel Wein is a noted scholar, historian, speaker and educator, admired the world over for his audio tapes/CDs, videos and books, particularly on Jewish history.
One of the current hot button topics here in Israel is pending legislation to make changes in the current process of converting non-Jews to Judaism here in the Jewish state. The bill itself has undergone many compromises and changes until it was approved by the coalition cabinet for presentation to the Knesset for a deciding vote.
Handing over the power to convert non-Jews to Judaism to local and communal rabbis in the long run will cause more problems than it solves.
The bill, in its original form was backed by Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, abetted by the Russian immigrant Yisrael Beyteinu party, and other smaller secular, left of center parties in the ruling coalition. It seemingly opened a loophole to allow for non-Orthodox conversions to take place and be recognized. That original bill has been modified now numerous times and that loophole has been closed and eliminated.
The thrust of the bill today is to allow municipal and neighborhood rabbis throughout the country to initiate and execute conversion processes. The bill in all of its forms, no matter how much it has been moderated and watered-down, is still bitterly opposed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which until now has been the sole arbiter of the conversion process. It is also being opposed and criticized by the haredi political parties and by many rabbinic leaders here in Israel.
On the other hand, some of the rabbinic organizations such as Tzohar have praised the bill as being the first step in a necessary reorganization of the bureaucracy that controls the conversion process here in Israel. As of this writing, the fate of his bill is still unknown. (The amended version, where it is a government administrative decision and not a Knesset Law has since been passed, ed.) However, the fact that it has come this far indicates that there is strong public support for such a measure. The bill still insists that all final conversion documents must be signed and approved by the Chief Rabbinate but that has in no way weakened the opposition to the passage of this legislation.
I saw a very different and insightful reason for opposing the passage of this bill in one of the Israeli newspapers last week. The journalist pointed out that synagogue and community rabbis, by the very nature of their personal involvement with the people of their area and congregation, are more prone t succumb to outside and personal influences in such sensitive matters as conversion than are the ivory tower, disconnected and scholarly rabbinical courts of the Chief Rabbinate who are currently invested with the execution of the conversion process.
I can testify from my own rabbinic experience that the synagogue rabbi is in a very difficult position when one of his leading congregants or personal friends asks him to convert a non-Jew who somehow nevertheless is attempting to become a member of that person's family. The very impersonal nature – the cold, bureaucratic, objective atmosphere of the current rabbinical courts of conversion – is itself in a paradoxical fashion a good guarantee that the conversion process will be legitimate and that the convert will be accepted by all groups as a true member of the Jewish people.
There is no perfect system that can deal with human affairs and achieve complete efficiency, fairness and alacrity. The conversion bill comes to attempt to overcome human nature and societal frictions. Its goals are lofty but in our practical world they may be unattainable. And the efforts expended in attempting to reach those goals may very well be wasted effort if not even counterproductive.
There is a great debate here in Israel as to how many non-halakhic yet Jewishly identifying people live in the country. There is no question that there are hundreds of thousands of loyal Israelis who are of Jewish descent or identify themselves with the Jewish people but who are nevertheless not halakhically Jewish. There is also no question that the overwhelming majority of them are not really interested in an halakhic conversion or in living a lifestyle of Torah observance.
Therefore the populist demands to somehow solve this “conversion crisis” by Knesset legislative action are largely motivated by politics and a basic misunderstanding of the concepts of halakhic conversions. Handing over the power to convert non-Jews to Judaism to local and communal rabbis in the long run will cause more problems than it solves. Not all rabbis are equal and neither are all rabbinic courts.
The conversion courts of the Chief Rabbinate have proven themselves to be effective and acceptable throughout the Jewish world. The new bill will force the Chief Rabbis to investigate and approve every rabbi who conducts a conversion, something which they do not have to do today since they rely on the rabbinical courts that they themselves have appointed and with whom they are acquainted.
Every piece of legislation brings about unforeseen consequences. Rarely are those consequences positive and beneficial. Tinkering with the conversion process, as inefficient and impersonal as it may be at present, will open a vista of new and unimaginable problems that will have to be dealt with in the future.Michelle Williams is reportedly in negotiations to star opposite Tom Hardy in Sony's upcoming comic book film Venom. First reported by Variety, she would be joining the already cast Hardy and Riz Ahmed. Ahmed is expected to be portraying the main villain Cletus Cassidy, a serial killer who ends up becoming the arch nemesis Carnage. Williams would play a district attorney and a possible love interest for Hardy. It is believed that the character may be Anne Weying, who was Eddie Brock's (Venom) wife in the comics and eventually came into contact with the symbiote to become She-Venom.
Williams would be a huge addition to the cast, who has been a constant presence during awards season. Some of her credits include her recent Oscar nominated performance in Manchester by the Sea, Wonderstruck, The Greatest Showman on Earth, and the upcoming film All the Money in the World. Venom is being written by Scott Rosenberg (Jumanji) and Jeff Pinkner (The Dark Tower), it will be directed by Ruben Fleischer, and is being produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, Palak Patel, and Eric Fineman. Sony has said that this will be a standalone film and will not play a part in the Spider-Man universe.More than four years after it launched its first waves of lawsuits, the world's biggest "patent troll" has won its first victory in a jury trial.
Late Friday, a Delaware jury ordered Symantec to pay $17 million to Intellectual Ventures, the Washington-based "invention marketplace" created by ex-Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold, which boasts more than 30,000 patent assets.
In its verdict [PDF], the jury found that Symantec had infringed two US patents, numbered 5,987,610 and 6,073,142. A third patent, 6,460,050, was found to be not infringed.
The complaint [PDF], filed in 2010, accuses Symantec's Brightmail Gateway and Web Gateway of infringing the '142 patent. That patent was filed in 1997 by Utah's Park City Group and essentially describes a system for distributing e-mail according to a set of predetermined "business rules."
The '610 patent originated with Ameritech, later bought by AT&T. The '050 patent was filed in 1999 by two columnists for computer magazine InfoWorld, Brooks Talley and Mark Pace.
While jurors sided with Intellectual Ventures, they awarded the patent holder less than six percent of the $299 million its lawyers sought, according to a Symantec spokesperson. The verdict form indicates the company was also asking for ongoing royalty payments, which the jury rejected.
"We are pleased the verdict came back for substantially less than the amount that Intellectual Ventures was seeking, and are considering our options to reduce the damages even further," the spokesperson said via e-mail.
In a statement, IV expressed gratitude to the jury for upholding the patents' validity. "We remain committed to defending inventor rights and protecting the interests of our investors and customers," said IV's head of litigation, Melissa Finocchio.
The same patents were used by IV to sue several other companies. Only Symantec and Trend Micro failed to settle. Trend Micro has a trial scheduled for May.
This isn't the first Intellectual Ventures jury trial, but it's the first one in which the jury reached a verdict. A trial last year against Motorola Mobility ended in a mistrial when jurors couldn't reach unanimous agreement. That case is set to be retried in Delaware next month.
IV was originally created as a "patent defense fund," getting investment cash from big Silicon Valley companies like Google, Apple, and Cisco. Soon, IV moved its focus to patent enforcement, and the firm is generally disliked in Silicon Valley.
The company claims it has received more than $3 billion in licensing revenue, most of which it was able to garner without filing lawsuits. In 2010, it began initiating litigation and has filed more than 50 lawsuits to date.OT:A madras would have me on the bog for way too long. Thats why i stick to scottish food like Tikka Massala - LYNCHYwhenever one of your sons make a plot against you, you drink - ThracianYeltsin resigned because the communists stopped drinking. - IthvanNot if you're pleasuring a swan. - CalantyrCK2Emer Yigit: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-infertile&p=17856777&viewfull=1#post17856777 Testy: Melisandre of Jerusalem killed Saladin with a shadow babyEnlil: Actually, my sources tell me that battles will now use a headset that detects neural strength to fight battles. You now can actually use the rage you get during the 15th peasant revolt to literally kill them all with your mind.CyaN: My heterosexual ruler likes the D Simmy93: Reminding us to never go full Lannister Pokonic: Look at him in his little cardinal robes! Only a heartless heathen would deny him a crusade for his birthday.Slobodan221: The woman who wouldn't be killed by an empireUFC's Jacare: I'm coming to take the belt (Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza told media at UFC 199 that he's coming to take the middleweight title. (Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, 36, formerly held the Strikeforce middleweight championship, but lost the belt to Luke Rockhold. The Brazilian contender sat cageside at UFC 199 last Saturday and watched Michael Bisping knockout Rockhold to capture the title.
During the post-fight press conference, Bisping addressed the possibility of facing Souza next. Souza recently underwent knee surgery and is expected to return to action in November.
Though Souza lost a split decision to Yoel Romero at UFC 194 in Las Vegas, he is 9-1 in his last ten outings and ranked at no. 3 in the middleweight division. He took home Performance of the Night for his technical knockout victory over Vitor Belfort at UFC 198.
Additionally, Jacare’s reaction to Dan Henderson knocking out Hector Lombard is caught on camera.
Check out the video above.
Contact Heidi Fang at hfang@reviewjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @HeidiFangIf Alabama and Florida State win out, they'll meet in Pasadena. Unless FSU somehow struggles with all of its weak schedule down the stretch and Baylor, Ohio State or Stanford puts together a streak of colossal blowouts, the unbeaten 'Noles will meet the Tide. And even in that unlikely scenario, FSU should be fine.
Updated bowl projections, with explanations and notes on the rest of the fallout below -- as always, let me know what you think in the comments.
Bowl Matchup (not always tied to conference standings) Team Team 1/6/2014 BCS National Championship (Pasadena) BCS 1 vs. BCS 2 Alabama Florida State 1/3/2014 Orange (Miami) Florida State replacement vs. At-large 1 Clemson Oregon 1/2/2014 Sugar (New Orleans) Alabama replacement vs. At-large 2 Auburn UCF 1/1/2014 Rose (Pasadena) Pac-12 1 vs. Big Ten 1 Ohio State Stanford 1/1/2014 Fiesta (Glendale, AZ) Big 12 1 vs. At-large 3 Baylor Fresno State 1/5/2014 GoDaddy (Mobile, AL) MAC 2 vs. Sun Belt 2 Ball State Western Kentucky 1/4/2014 BBVA Compass (B'ham) SEC 9 vs. AAC 5 Vanderbilt Rutgers 1/3/2014 Cotton (Arlington) Big 12 2 vs. SEC 3 Oklahoma State Missouri 1/1/2014 Capital One (Orlando) Big Ten 2 vs. SEC 2 Wisconsin Texas A&M 1/1/2014 Gator (Jacksonville) Big Ten 4 vs. SEC 6 Minnesota Ole Miss 1/1/2014 Heart of Dallas Big Ten 7 vs. Big 12 8 Iowa Notre Dame* 1/1/2014 Outback (Tampa) Big Ten 3 vs. SEC 4 Michigan State LSU 12/31/2013 Chick-fil-A (Atlanta) ACC 2 vs. SEC 5 Virginia Tech South Carolina 12/31/2013 Independence (Shreveport) SEC 10 vs. ACC 7 ULM* Pitt 12/31/2013 Liberty (Memphis) C-USA 1 vs. SEC 8 North Texas Tennessee 12/31/2013 Sun (El Paso) ACC 4 vs. Pac-12 4 Miami UCLA 12/30/2013 Alamo (San Antonio) Big 12 3 vs. Pac-12 2 Texas Arizona State 12/30/2013 Armed Forces (Ft. Worth) MWC 3 vs. C-USA 3/Navy San Diego State Navy 12/30/2013 Holiday (San Diego) Pac-12 3 vs. Big 12 5 USC Texas Tech 12/30/2013 Music City (Nashville) ACC 6 vs. SEC 7 Boston College Georgia 12/28/2013 Belk (Charlotte) AAC 3 vs. ACC 5 Houston Georgia Tech 12/28/2013 Buffalo Wild Wings (PHX) Big 12 4 vs. Big Ten 5 Oklahoma Nebraska 12/28/2013 Pinstripe (New York) Big 12 7 vs. AAC 4 West Virginia Cincinnati 12/28/2013 Russell Athletic (Orlando) AAC 2 vs. ACC 3 Louisville Duke 12/27/2013 Kraft (San Francisco) Pac-12 6 vs. BYU/ACC 9 Washington BYU** 12/27/2013 Military (Annapolis) ACC 8 vs. C-USA 5 Utah* East Carolina 12/27/2013 Texas (Houston) Big 12 6 vs. Big Ten 6 Kansas State Michigan 12/26/2013 Little Caesars (Detroit) MAC 1 vs. Big Ten 8 Northern Illinois Middle Tennessee* 12/26/2013 Poinsettia (San Diego) MWC 2 vs. Army Utah State Texas State* 12/24/2013 Hawaii MWC 5 vs. C-USA 2 San Jose State Rice 12/23/2013 Beef O'Brady's (St. Pete.) AAC 6 vs. C-USA 4 Arkansas State* Marshall 12/21/2013 Idaho Potato (Boise) MAC 3 vs. MWC 6 Buffalo Colorado State 12/21/2013 Las Vegas MWC 1 vs. Pac-12 5 Boise State Arizona 12/21/2013 New Mexico (Albuquerque) MWC 4 vs. Pac-12 7 UNLV Oregon State 12/21/2013 New Orleans Sun Belt 1 vs. C-USA 6 UL Lafayette Tulane
*: Filling in for another conference.
**: Already accepted bid.
Bold: In a better place than last week.
Italic: In a worse place than last week.
Hey, we finally joined Facebook!
BCS bowls
The first major shakeup of the season turns out nicely for the ACC. Not only is Florida State now in line for the national title game, the Orange gets two of the first three picks, since it gets to replace FSU and goes first in the at-large order. As the Orange is essentially an ACC bowl moving forward in the Playoff system, Clemson's the natural choice at 11-1 or 10-2, and a one-loss Oregon is the other.
Whether the Orange picks those first or third likely wouldn't matter, since the Sugar will prefer to keep its SEC ties. I've had Texas A&M going to the Sugar for a while now, since it'll likely be Johnny Manziel's last game (and the Sugar will need something to make up for the lack of national interest in UCF football), but now I think the Aggies lose at least to LSU and slip out of the BCS top 14, meaning they'd be ineligible.
Either Auburn or Missouri would make for a decent choice, but Mizzou fans will have just traveled to the SEC Championship Game to see their team lose to Alabama in this scenario. Auburn fans still have their whole postseason travel budgets to spend.
And with that, the BCS bowls would be set, assuming Fresno State makes it in by ranking either in the top 12 or in the top 14 and ahead of an AQ champion. Since the Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12 champions have their spots locked up, and the American champion (likely UCF) is guaranteed an at-large spot, that's that.
The rest of the Oregon impact
Since Oregon's loss likely opens up room for another ACC team (and Oregon itself is unlikely to fall out of the BCS), the Big Ten and Big 12 see their bowl pictures worsen.
Last week, I had either Wisconsin or Michigan State in the Orange, but now the whole Big Ten gets bumped down a spot or so. The Big 12 also has very little chance of getting a team in besides its conference champion.
That could also hurt Notre Dame, which looks like it's counting on one of the two Heart of Dallas spots not being filled by that game's conference ties in order to land in a game with decent exposure against a respectable opponent. If both the Big Ten and the Big 12 are able to fill that game, the Irish are really going to go slumming, since they don't have a tie to any bowl this year.
Also, the whole ACC moving up means Clemson's out of the Chick-fil-A, meaning South Carolina can go there now.
More from SB Nation college football:
Follow @SBNationCFBFollow @SBNRecruiting
• New BCS standings: Who’s No. 3 behind Alabama and FSU?
• Bowl projections: Bama-FSU and 34 other games
• Behold Stanford, your weird nerd overlord
• Stanford, Auburn, OSU favored in next week’s big games
• Long reads: Has Baylor crafted the ultimate football offense?Penn State rising redshirt sophomore linebacker Troy Reeder will transfer, sources have informed Lions247. The Wilmington (Del.) Salesianum grad will transfer to Delaware and is eligible to play immediately. Reeder’s father, Dan, played for the Blue Hens and his younger brother Colby Reeder committed to the program last week.
Reeder started 11 games for Penn State as a redshirt freshman, taking over for Jason Cabinda at the Will position when Cabinda moved inside to replace an injured Nyeem Wartman-White in the season opener. Reeder finished fourth on the team in tackles with 67 this season, including a team-high 11 in a win over Maryland. He had 5.5 tackles for loss on the year and had an interception against Illinois.
The 6-foot-1, 241-pound Reeder was selected to ESPN.com’s All-Rookie Team in the Big Ten in December and earned Academic All-District honors in the fall.
Penn State returns Cabinda, Wartman-White and Brandon Bell as expected starters at linebacker next season.When do you see actual businesses getting up and running under the current Compassionate Use Program?
The Department of Public Safety is required to issue at least three licenses to cultivators to begin producing medicine for a very small subset of children with intractable epilepsy by September 1. This law was passed in 2015. The regulations to implement the law were not finalized until February of 2017. Now we are only a couple of months away from the deadline to issue those three licenses, and the program is perhaps about to be embroiled in some litigation because of how the application process and the rules adoption procedure were handled.
You’ve said the Compassionate Use Program is inadequate and you think full medical legalization is necessary. Why?
One of the inadequacies under the current law is that doctors have to prescribe rather than recommend. A doctor cannot legally prescribe a Schedule I substance. So that is a problem because it is a threat to their prescription writing privileges and even their state license to practice medicine.
So who in their right mind would follow through with that?
Right. We’re probably going to see very few doctors willing to stick their necks out for this. So there are groups working in Texas working to fix that aspect. Perhaps in special session, but I’m not that optimistic that will happen.
Also, the conditions need to be expanded to include a broader range of illnesses and symptoms. The law needs to be changed to allow whole plant medicine, instead of a legislatively spliced plant that only allows this low THC, high CBD oil, which, by the way, won’t even treat some of these children that the law is written to treat. The ones that have the most serious cases of epilepsy need that THC. There’s something about that THC compound that helps to eliminate the seizures.
Even if these little tweaks were made to the law to fix it, I don’t believe the medicine would help a lot of them.
What does the public need to know about marijuana’s future in Texas?
Public opinion polling, especially that Quinnipac poll, is showing that public approval of cannabis, whether decriminalization, or medical or even recreational, is gaining unprecedented public support. And the sort of reefer madness punitive attitude that we grew up with is starting to fade. But politicians still think that their constituents think that way. In concern for their next election, they’re fearful to vote for marijuana.
So what I think really needs to change in Texas for us to see a change in the future, is for the public to look at who their representatives are, look at their voting records and make sure they get people into office who are not afraid to vote for marijuana or who believe in its capacity to help suffering.
Do you see a future for recreational in Texas?
I almost see the federal government descheduling it before Texas legalizes a recreational concept. But on the other hand, because in our great republic of Texas we believe in doing things our own way, there is the possibility that Texas could do what some other states have done and simply treat it like alcohol. And just have it be another highly regulated industry that is able to be researched for medical reasons if need be. Or profited upon by companies who are working in the industry and to reap the great tax revenue from it.
So although the current political climate suggests we will never see recreational, climates change and the tax revenue being brought in by other states isn’t going to go unnoticed forever. There are a lot of business and political interests in Texas that are very interested in creating a robust industry.
I actually believe the framework for the statute contemplates a free, open-market system in a way that some of the other states that allow recreational do not. Texas could take a turn and still has an infrastructure within its statute to allow competition the way Texas enjoys and believes.
You’re saying it’s inherently Texan to legalize weed?
Yes. Exactly.
This Q&A was conducted, edited and condensed by Dallas Morning News editorial board memeber Dom Difurio. Email: ddifurio@dallasnews.com
Lisa Pittman is a lawyer in with Feldmann Nagel in Houston specializing in medical marijuana. Website: colo-lawyers.com
CORRECTION: The regulations to implement the Texas' Compassionate Use Program were finalized in February 2017. A prior version of this story incorrectly said 2015. Also, Lisa Pittman's office is in Austin, not Houston.The Pittsburgh Steelers currently have one punter on their roster, and that is Brad Wing. The punter that was supposed to accompany Wing on the team's roster and battle for the lone kicking duties was veteran Adam Podlesh.
Podlesh did not report to camp due to his wife giving birth to their child. After a successful, but difficult, delivery, Podlesh is remaining at home.
"Adam has decided not to report to Training Camp at this time due to family obligations," General Manager Kevin Colbert said in a press release from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
With Podlesh not reporting to camp, he was placed on the Reserved / Did Not Report list.
The Steelers did not report if they were going to bring in another experienced punter to battle Wing for the punting position on the team.
The team is looking to improve from last year's punting performance from multiple punters. The Steelers finished near the bottom of the league in punting average and net punting average.Twitter users are roasting Donald Trump Jr. after he flaunted his apparent misunderstanding of basic math in a Tuesday tweet.
The eldest Trump child had attempted to make a snarky remark about an October 2015 Chicago Tribune headline, "Five Years Into Common Core, Many ACT Scores Below Average"—but ended up flunking a middle school math test instead.
"I would imagine that 50 percent are below average...that's how math works," Trump Jr. wrote. "The real question is what is the average now vs. before Common Core."
The problem is, that's not how math works.
As some Twitter users pointed out, Trump Jr. seemed to be mixing up "mean" and "median." If the first son wanted to calculate mean, he would add up all of the test scores and divide them by how many there were. But he'd get the median by putting all of the test scores in order, from smallest to biggest, and finding the one that's exactly in the middle, meaning 50 percent of the scores would fall on either side of it.
In other words, if Trump Jr. had said "median" instead of "average," he would have been right.
If you wanted to get technical, mean, median and mode are all types of averages, but Trump Jr. can't get away on a technicality with this one.
"What Trump Jr. said is true for one definition of 'average,' but not true for the other two," Justin Wolfers, an economics professor at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek. "If I were a grader, that's not a correct answer on my exam."
"When you give a tax cut to the extremely rich, on average it has a big effect on the mean [American family] and no effect on the median [American family]," Wolfers explained. He added that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made a similar mistake when at Monday's press conference she attempted to explain Trump's tax plan Wolfers said he has noticed a kind of fundamental misunderstanding about the difference between mean and median running through the Trump administration. President Donald Trump's current tax proposal, for example, promises a $4,000 raise to the average American family."When you give a tax cut to the extremely rich, on average it has a big effect on the mean [American family] and no effect on the median [American family]," Wolfers explained. He added that White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders made a similar mistake when at Monday's press conference she attempted to explain Trump's tax plan with a convoluted analogy about 10 journalists splitting a $100 bar tab after a night out.
"My guess is that Trump Jr. didn't mean anything sophisticated by his tweet—he just thought he was being clever," Wolfers said. "But in fact, what he tweeted wasn't entirely accurate."
It's not the first time a Trump family member has shown a poor understanding of basic middle school skills. Ivanka Trump has been known to struggle with vocabulary words like albeit, otherwise and relative. And just on Monday, the eldest Trump daughter admitted she didn't understand how birthdays worked, calling back to the time when she wished her son Theodore a "happy birthday" when he turned eight months old.
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What do we want to do? At the center of our project is a desire to fix the roadways that form the infrastructure that connects people together and enables modern life. Municipal budgets cannot afford to maintain existing roads, but the demands on our infrastructure keep rising. The aim of this project is to demonstrate a new, alternative paving system that is much more cost-effective, lasts longer, can offer new services to the public, and is both resilient and sustainable.
How can we do this? Factory built modular paving slabs that lock together to form a smooth, solid surface, but can be removed individually for repair, replacement, or sub-surface access. Embedded within each is a suite of sensor technologies that monitor the health of the paving slab and automatically report any problems.
Instead of painstakingly constructing and maintaining roads by-hand, on-site, using expensive and laborious one-off construction methods, our project will demonstrate the feasibility of producing road sections in factories, where the pavement can be cast under controlled conditions, resulting in a more reliable product, better quality control, year-round production, and just-in-time delivery.
Okay, so what's the next step? In order to get there from here, we must first build full-scale prototypes of our modular street paving slabs. These slabs will serve as the reference design for future projects.
We need to finish the design & modeling of our precast prestressed concrete pavement slab, then have forms made for full-scale casting by an existing precast manufacturer in the area. Using several copies of the reference design, we will work with an existing pavement installer to test the fit and performance of the design.
What's the money for? We need to finish the design phase, which means having our CAD/C |
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Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 4. Client-side requirements 4.1. Handshake ORIGIN] 1. If the user agent already has a Web Socket connection to the remote host (IP address) identified by /host/, even if known by another name, wait until that connection has been established or for that connection to have failed. NOTE: This makes it harder for a script to perform a denial of service attack by just opening a large number of Web Socket connections to a remote host. NOTE: There is no limit to the number of established Web Socket connections a user agent can have with a single remote host. Servers can refuse to connect users with an excessive number of connections, or disconnect resource-hogging users when suffering high load. 2. _Connect_: If the user agent is configured to use a proxy when using the Web Socket protocol to connect to host /host/ and/or port /port/, then connect to that proxy and ask it to open a TCP/IP connection to the host given by /host/ and the port given by /port/. EXAMPLE: For example, if the user agent uses an HTTP proxy for all traffic, then if it was to try to connect to port 80 on server example.com, it might send the following lines to the proxy server: CONNECT example.com:80 HTTP/1.1 Host: example.com If there was a password, the connection might look like: Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 12]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 CONNECT example.com:80 HTTP/1.1 Host: example.com Proxy-authorization: Basic ZWRuYW1vZGU6bm9jYXBlcyE= Otherwise, if the user agent is not configured to use a proxy, then open a TCP/IP connection to the host given by /host/ and the port given by /port/. NOTE: Implementations that do not expose explicit UI for selecting a proxy for Web Socket connections separate from other proxies are encouraged to use a SOCKS proxy for Web Socket connections, if available, or failing that, to prefer the proxy configured for HTTPS connections over the proxy configured for HTTP connections. For the purpose of proxy autoconfiguration scripts, the URL to pass the function must be constructed from /host/, /port/, /resource name/, and the /secure/ flag using the steps to construct a Web Socket URL. NOTE: The WebSocket protocol can be identified in proxy autoconfiguration scripts from the scheme ("ws:" for unencrypted connections and "wss:" for encrypted connections). 3. If the connection could not be opened, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. 4. If /secure/ is true, perform a TLS handshake over the connection. If this fails (e.g. the server's certificate could not be verified), then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. Otherwise, all further communication on this channel must run through the encrypted tunnel. [RFC2246] 5. Send the following bytes to the remote side (the server): 47 45 54 20 Send the /resource name/ value, encoded as US-ASCII. Send the following bytes: 20 48 54 54 50 2F 31 2E 31 0D 0A 55 70 67 72 61 64 65 3A 20 57 65 62 53 6F 63 6B 65 74 0D 0A 43 6F 6E 6E 65 63 74 69 6F 6E 3A 20 55 70 67 72 61 64 65 0D 0A NOTE: The string "GET ", the path, " HTTP/1.1", CRLF, the string "Upgrade: WebSocket", CRLF, and the string "Connection: Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 13]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 Upgrade", CRLF. 6. Send the following bytes: 48 6F 73 74 3A 20 Send the /host/ value, converted to ASCII lowercase, and encoded as US-ASCII. If /secure/ is false, and /port/ is not 80, or if /secure/ is true, and /port/ is not 443, then send an 0x3A byte (ASCII :) followed by the value of /port/, expressed as a base-ten integer, encoded as US-ASCII. Send the following bytes: 0D 0A NOTE: The string "Host: ", the host, and CRLF. 7. Send the following bytes: 4F 72 69 67 69 6E 3A 20 Send the /origin/ value, converted to ASCII lowercase, encoded as US-ASCII. [ORIGIN] NOTE: The /origin/ value is a string that was passed to this algorithm. Send the following bytes: 0D 0A NOTE: The string "Origin: ", the origin, and CRLF. 8. If there is no /protocol/, then skip this step. Otherwise, send the following bytes: 57 65 62 53 6F 63 6B 65 74 2D 50 72 6F 74 6F 63 6F 6C 3A 20 Send the /protocol/ value, encoded as US-ASCII. Send the following bytes: 0d 0a Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 14]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 NOTE: The string "WebSocket-Protocol: ", the protocol, and CRLF. 9. If the client has any cookies that would be relevant to a resource accessed over HTTP, if /secure/ is false, or HTTPS, if it is true, on host /host/, port /port/, with /resource name/ as the path (and possibly query parameters), then HTTP headers that would be appropriate for that information should be sent at this point. [RFC2616] [RFC2109] [RFC2965] Each header must be on a line of its own (each ending with a CR LF sequence). For the purposes of this step, each header must not be split into multiple lines (despite HTTP otherwise allowing this with continuation lines). 10. Send the following bytes: 0d 0a NOTE: Just a CRLF (a blank line). 11. Read bytes from the server until either the connection closes, or a 0x0A byte is read. Let /header/ be these bytes, including the 0x0A byte. If /header/ is not at least two bytes long, or if the last two bytes aren't 0x0D and 0x0A respectively, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. User agents may apply a timeout to this step, failing the Web Socket connection if the server does not send back data in a suitable time period. 12. If /header/ consists of 44 bytes that exactly match the following, then let /mode/ be _normal_. 48 54 54 50 2F 31 2E 31 20 31 30 31 20 57 65 62 20 53 6F 63 6B 65 74 20 50 72 6F 74 6F 63 6F 6C 20 48 61 6E 64 73 68 61 6B 65 0D 0A NOTE: The string "HTTP/1.1 101 Web Socket Protocol Handshake" followed by a CRLF pair. NOTE: Note that this means that if a server responds with a Web Socket handshake but with the string "HTTP/1.0" or "HTTP/1.2" at the front, a normal Web Socket connection will not be established. Otherwise, let /code/ be the substring of /header/ that starts Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 15]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 from the byte after the first 0x20 byte, and ends with the byte before the second 0x20 byte. If there are not at least two 0x20 bytes in /header/, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. If /code/, interpreted as ASCII, is "407", then either close the connection and jump back to step 2, providing appropriate authentication information, or fail the Web Socket connection. 407 is the code used by HTTP meaning "Proxy Authentication Required". User agents that support proxy authentication must interpret the response as defined by HTTP (e.g. to find and interpret the |Proxy-Authenticate| header). Otherwise, fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. 13. If /mode/ is _normal_, then read 41 bytes from the server. If the connection closes before 41 bytes are received, or if the 41 bytes aren't exactly equal to the following bytes, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. 55 70 67 72 61 64 65 3A 20 57 65 62 53 6F 63 6B 65 74 0D 0A 43 6F 6E 6E 65 63 74 69 6F 6E 3A 20 55 70 67 72 61 64 65 0D 0A NOTE: The string "Upgrade: WebSocket", CRLF, the string "Connection: Upgrade", CRLF. User agents may apply a timeout to this step, failing the Web Socket connection if the server does not respond with the above bytes within a suitable time period. 14. Let /headers/ be a list of name-value pairs, initially empty. 15. _Header_: Let /name/ and /value/ be empty byte arrays. 16. Read a byte from the server. If the connection closes before this byte is received, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. Otherwise, handle the byte as described in the appropriate entry below: -> If the byte is 0x0D (ASCII CR) If the /name/ byte array is empty, then jump to the headers processing step. Otherwise, fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 16]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 -> If the byte is 0x0A (ASCII LF) Fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. -> If the byte is 0x3A (ASCII :) Move on to the next step. -> If the byte is in the range 0x41 to 0x5A (ASCII A-Z) Append a byte whose value is the byte's value plus 0x20 to the /name/ byte array and redo this step for the next byte. -> Otherwise Append the byte to the /name/ byte array and redo this step for the next byte. NOTE: This reads a header name, terminated by a colon, converting upper-case ASCII letters to lowercase, and aborting if a stray CR or LF is found. 17. Read a byte from the server. If the connection closes before this byte is received, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. Otherwise, handle the byte as described in the appropriate entry below: -> If the byte is 0x20 (ASCII space) Ignore the byte and move on to the next step. -> Otherwise Treat the byte as described by the list in the next step, then move on to that next step for real. NOTE: This skips past a space character after the colon, if necessary. 18. Read a byte from the server. If the connection closes before this byte is received, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. Otherwise, handle the byte as described in the appropriate entry below: -> If the byte is 0x0D (ASCII CR) Move on to the next step. Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 17]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 -> If the byte is 0x0A (ASCII LF) Fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. -> Otherwise Append the byte to the /value/ byte array and redo this step for the next byte. NOTE: This reads a header value, terminated by a CRLF. 19. Read a byte from the server. If the connection closes before this byte is received, or if the byte is not a 0x0A byte (ASCII LF), then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. NOTE: This skips past the LF byte of the CRLF after the header. 20. Append an entry to the /headers/ list that has the name given by the string obtained by interpreting the /name/ byte array as a UTF-8 byte stream and the value given by the string obtained by interpreting the /value/ byte array as a UTF-8 byte stream. 21. Return to the "Header" step above. 22. _Headers processing_: Read a byte from the server. If the connection closes before this byte is received, or if the byte is not a 0x0A byte (ASCII LF), then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. NOTE: This skips past the LF byte of the CRLF after the blank line after the headers. 23. If /mode/ is _normal_, then: If there is not exactly one entry in the /headers/ list whose name is "websocket-origin", or if there is not exactly one entry in the /headers/ list whose name is "websocket-location", or if the /protocol/ was specified but there is not exactly one entry in the /headers/ list whose name is "websocket-protocol", or if there are any entries in the /headers/ list whose names are the empty string, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. Otherwise, handle each entry in the /headers/ list as follows: -> If the entry's name is "websocket-origin" If the value is not exactly equal to /origin/, converted to ASCII lowercase, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. [ORIGIN] Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 18]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 -> If the entry's name is "websocket-location" If the value is not exactly equal to a string obtained from the steps to construct a Web Socket URL from /host/, /port/, /resource name/, and the /secure/ flag, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. -> If the entry's name is "websocket-protocol" If there was a /protocol/ specified, and the value is not exactly equal to /protocol/, then fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. (If no /protocol/ was specified, the header is ignored.) -> If the entry's name is "set-cookie" or "set-cookie2" or another cookie-related header name Handle the cookie as defined by the appropriate specification, with the resource being the one with the host /host/, the port /port/, the path (and possibly query parameters) /resource name/, and the scheme |http| if /secure/ is false and |https| if /secure/ is true. [RFC2109] [RFC2965] -> Any other name Ignore it. 24. The *Web Socket connection is established*. Now the user agent must send and receive to and from the connection as described in the next section. 4.2. Data framing Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 19]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 1. Let /length/ be zero. 2. _Length_: Read a byte, let /b/ be that byte. 3. Let /b_v/ be integer corresponding to the low 7 bits of /b/ (the value you would get by _and_ing /b/ with 0x7F). 4. Multiply /length/ by 128, add /b_v/ to that result, and store the final result in /length/. 5. If the high-order bit of /b/ is set (i.e. if /b/ _and_ed with 0x80 returns 0x80), then return to the step above labeled _length_. 6. Read /length/ bytes. 7. Discard the read bytes. If the high-order bit of the /frame type/ byte is _not_ set (i.e. if /frame type/ _and_ed with 0x80 returns 0x00) Run these steps. If at any point during these steps a read is attempted but fails because the Web Socket connection is closed, then abort. 1. Let /raw data/ be an empty byte array. 2. _Data_: Read a byte, let /b/ be that byte. If the client runs out of resources for buffering the incoming data, or hits an artificial resource limit intended to avoid resource starvation, then it must fail the Web Socket connection and abort these steps. 3. If /b/ is not 0xFF, then append /b/ to /raw data/ and return to the previous step (labeled _data_). 4. Interpret /raw data/ as a UTF-8 string, and store that string in /data/. 5. If /frame type/ is 0x00, then *a message has been received* with text /data/. Otherwise, discard the data. 3. Return to the first step to read the next byte. If the user agent is faced with content that is too large to be handled appropriately, then it must fail the Web Socket connection. Once a Web Socket connection is established, the user agent must use Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 20]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 the following steps to *send /data/ using the Web Socket*: 1. Send a 0x00 byte to the server. 2. Encode /data/ using UTF-8 and send the resulting byte stream to the server. 3. Send a 0xFF byte to the server. If at any point there is a fatal problem with sending data to the server, the user agent must fail the Web Socket connection. 4.3. Closing the connection 4.4. Handling errors in UTF-8 Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 21]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 5. Server-side requirements 5.1. Minimal handshake ORIGIN] For instance: WebSocket-Origin: http://example.com Send the string "WebSocket-Location" followed by a U+003A COLON (:) and a U+0020 SPACE, followed by the URL of the Web Socket script, followed by a CRLF pair (0x0D 0x0A). For instance: WebSocket-Location: ws://example.com/demo NOTE: Do not include the port if it is the default port for Web Socket protocol connections of the type in question (80 for unencrypted connections and 443 for encrypted connections). Send another CRLF pair (0x0D 0x0A). Read data from the client until four bytes 0x0D 0x0A 0x0D 0x0A are read. This data must either be discarded or handled as described in the following section describing the handshake details. If the connection isn't dropped at this point, go to the data framing section. Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 22]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 NOTE: User agents will drop the connection after the handshake if the values returned for |WebSocket-Origin| and |WebSocket-Location| don't match what the client sent to the server, to protect the server from third-party scripts. This is why the server has to send these strings: to confirm which origins and URLs the server is willing to service. 5.2. Handshake details Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 23]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 If the server supports connections from more than one origin, then the server should echo the value of this field in the initial handshake, on the |WebSocket-Origin| line. Other fields Other fields can be used, such as "Cookie", for authentication purposes. Any fields that lack the colon-space separator should be discarded and may cause the server to disconnect. 5.3. Data framing Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 24]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 3. Send a 0xFF byte to the client to indicate the end of the message. Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 25]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 6. Closing the connection Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 26]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 7. Security considerations Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 27]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 8. IANA considerations 8.1. Registration of ws: scheme RFC5234] [RFC3986] "ws" ":" hier-part [ "?" query ] The path and query components form the resource name sent to the server to identify the kind of service desired. Other components have the meanings described in RFC3986. URI scheme semantics. The only operation for this scheme is to open a connection using the Web Socket protocol. Encoding considerations. Characters in the host component that are excluded by the syntax defined above must be converted from Unicode to ASCII by applying the IDNA ToASCII algorithm to the Unicode host name, with both the AllowUnassigned and UseSTD3ASCIIRules flags set, and using the result of this algorithm as the host in the URI. [RFC3490] Characters in other components that are excluded by the syntax defined above must be converted from Unicode to ASCII by first encoding the characters as UTF-8 and then replacing the corresponding bytes using their percent-encoded form as defined in the URI and IRI specification. [RFC3986] [RFC3987] Applications/protocols that use this URI scheme name. Web Socket protocol. Interoperability considerations. None. Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 28]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 Security considerations. See "Security considerations" section above. Contact. Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch> Author/Change controller. Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch> References. This document. 8.2. Registration of wss: scheme RFC5234] [RFC3986] "wss" ":" hier-part [ "?" query ] The path and query components form the resource name sent to the server to identify the kind of service desired. Other components have the meanings described in RFC3986. URI scheme semantics. The only operation for this scheme is to open a connection using the Web Socket protocol, encrypted using TLS. Encoding considerations. Characters in the host component that are excluded by the syntax defined above must be converted from Unicode to ASCII by applying the IDNA ToASCII algorithm to the Unicode host name, with both the AllowUnassigned and UseSTD3ASCIIRules flags set, and using the result of this algorithm as the host in the URI. [RFC3490] Characters in other components that are excluded by the syntax defined above must be converted from Unicode to ASCII by first encoding the characters as UTF-8 and then replacing the corresponding bytes using their percent-encoded form as defined in Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 29]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 the URI and IRI specification. [RFC3986] [RFC3987] Applications/protocols that use this URI scheme name. Web Socket protocol over TLS. Interoperability considerations. None. Security considerations. See "Security considerations" section above. Contact. Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch> Author/Change controller. Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch> References. This document. 8.3. Registration of the "WebSocket" HTTP Upgrade keyword 8.4. WebSocket-Origin RFC3864] Header field name WebSocket-Origin Applicable protocol http Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 30]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 Status reserved; do not use outside WebSocket handshake Author/Change controller IETF Specification document(s) This document is the relevant specification. Related information None. The |WebSocket-Origin| header is used in the WebSocket handshake. It is sent from the server to the client to confirm the origin of the script that opened the connection. This enables user agents to verify that the server is willing to serve the script that opened the connection. 8.5. WebSocket-Protocol RFC3864] Header field name WebSocket-Protocol Applicable protocol http Status reserved; do not use outside WebSocket handshake Author/Change controller IETF Specification document(s) This document is the relevant specification. Related information None. The |WebSocket-Protocol| header is used in the WebSocket handshake. It is sent from the client to the server and back from the server to the client to confirm the subprotocol of the connection. This enables scripts to both select a subprotocol and be sure that the server agreed to serve that subprotocol. Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 31]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 8.6. WebSocket-Location RFC3864] Header field name WebSocket-Location Applicable protocol http Status reserved; do not use outside WebSocket handshake Author/Change controller IETF Specification document(s) This document is the relevant specification. Related information None. The |WebSocket-Location| header is used in the WebSocket handshake. It is sent from the server to the client to confirm the URL of the connection. This enables the client to verify that the connection was established to the right server, port, and path, instead of relying on the server to verify that the requested host, port, and path are correct. For example, consider a server running on port 20000 of a shared virtual host, on behalf of the author of www.example.com, which is hosted on that server. The author of the site hostile.example.net, also hosted on the same server, could write a script to connect to port 20000 on hostile.example.net; if neither the client nor the server verified that all was well, this would connect, and the author of the site hostile.example.net could then use the resources of www.example.com. With WebSocket, though, the server responds with a |WebSocket- Location| header in the handshake, explicitly saying that it is serving |ws://www.example.com:20000/|. The client, expecting (in the case of its use by the hostile author) that the |WebSocket- Location| be |ws://hostile.example.net:20000/|, would abort the connection. Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 32]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 9. Using the Web Socket protocol from other specifications ORIGIN] o Optionally a string identifying a protocol that is to be layered over the Web Socket connection. The /host/, /port/, /resource name/, and /secure/ flag are usually obtained from a URL using the steps to parse a Web Socket URL's components. These steps fail if the URL does not specify a Web Socket. If a connection can be established, then it is said that the "Web Socket connection is established". If at any time the connection is to be closed, then the specification needs to use the "close the Web Socket connection" algorithm. When the connection is closed, for any reason including failure to establish the connection in the first place, it is said that the "Web Socket connection is closed". While a connection is open, the specification will need to handle the cases when "a Web Socket message has been received" with text /data/. To send some text /data/ to an open connection, the specification needs to "send /data/ using the Web Socket". Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 33]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 [WSAPI] Hickson, I., "The Web Sockets API", October 2009. Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 35]
Internet-Draft The Web Socket protocol October 2009 Author's Address Ian Hickson Google, Inc. Email: ian@hixie.ch URI: http://ln.hixie.ch/ Hickson Expires April 26, 2010 [Page 36]Jesse Watters weighed in tonight on CNN’s Parts Unknown host Anthony Bourdain‘s joke about poisoning President Trump.
“I think wanting to hurt the president is a job requirement over at CNN,” Watters began.
He ranked Bourdain’s joke below Kathy Griffin‘s photo shoot and above Fareed Zakaria, who liked the Julius Caesar performance that depicted Trump’s assassination.
“Think about if a Fox News anchor said something jokingly about assassinating President Obama.” Watters called out the hypocrisy of the media. “That would be the head of the New York Times, on all the network newscasts but because this is one of their own, they’re gonna cover up for him.”
Gillian Turner gave a semi-defense of Bourdain, pointing out he’s a “celebrity chef” and not a journalist and asked Juan Williams if such an employee from CNN has to remain neutral.
“I don’t take Bourdain that seriously,” Williams responded. “I agree with you, he is not journalist and I don’t think he was saying it seriously. But I think the right loves the idea that you can say there is hypocrisy or why isn’t CNN doing something to him and what if it had been Obama. You know, I get tired of this.”
“Well, go to sleep, Juan,” Watters joked.
Watch the clip above, via Fox News.
[image via screengrab]
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comThe 2016 League Cup final is nearly upon us - Liverpool and Manchester City meet at Wembley on Sunday, February 28th - and information around the venue's pub split has been released.
Please note the FSF doesn't play any role in allocating pubs to specific sets of fans, the Met Police share this information and we believe it's important fans know the lay of the land so they can make the most of their day.
The Metropolitan Police said: "Please note that Moore Spice (Engineers Way) was originally classed as an 'East' pub but is now a 'West' pub. Therefore Moore Spice is now Liverpool.
"The old Greyhound pub near to Wembley Triangle has now reopened after being closed for a couple of years. It is now an Indian Restaurant called 'The Arch' which will be open for the sale of alcohol on match days.
"There are a number of outlets which serve alcohol inside the London Designer Outlet and also on Arena Square. These are generally mixed so supporters can enjoy a drink together should they so wish."
Keep an eye out on our social media channels, such as Twitter and Facebook, for any further updates.
East - Manchester City
The Torch, 1 - 5 Bridge Road, Wembley, HA9 9AB
Crock of Gold, 23 Bridge Road, Wembley, HA9 9AB
Watkins Folly, 1 Empire Way, Wembley, HA9 0EW
Blue Check Café, 12 - 13 Empire Way, Wembley, HA9 0RQ
St Josephs Social Club, Empire Way, Wembley, HA9 0RJ
Crystal Club (Silverspoon), South Way, Wembley, HA9 9HF
The Parish, 120 Wembley Park Drive, Wembley, HA9 8HP
First Class Sports Bar, 125 Wembley Park Drive, HA9 8HG
The Wembley Tavern, 121 Wembley Park Drive, HA9 8HG
Flyers Last Stand, 45 Blackbird Hill, NW9 8RS
West - Liverpool
Moore Spice, Wembley Retail Park, Unit 2, Engineers Way, HA9 0EH
The Green Man, Dagmar Avenue, Wembley, HA9 8DF
Blue Room, 53 Wembley Hill Road, Wembley, HA9 8BE
Liquor Station, 379 High Road, Wembley, HA9 6AA
JJ Moons, 397 High Road, Wembley, HA9 7DT
Thirsty Eddie’s, 412 High Road, Wembley, HA9 6AH
Masti, 576 - 582 High Road, Wembley, HA0 2AA
Flannery’s, 610 High Road, Wembley, HA0 2AF
Station 31 (Speakeasy), 299 -303 Harrow Road, Wembley, HA9 6BD
The Corner House (Mannions), 313 Harrow Road, Wembley, HA9 6BA
The Arch, 324 Harrow Road, Wembley, HA9 8LL
Fusilier, 652 Harrow Road, Wembley, HA0 2HA
The Copper Jug, 10 The Broadway, Wembley, HA9 8JU
Powerleague, Olympic Way, Wembley
Dry trainsClose
Be careful who you kiss. Scientists find a link between women's unexplained infertility and a little-known virus that is believed to be transmissible by kissing.
The findings could give renewed hope to couples and women who have been struggling with conception and do not know the cause of their infertility. It can also lead to new treatments that could target the virus.
Researchers from the Italy's University of Ferrara analyzed the uterus of 66 female participants, of which 36 have normal fertility while 30 have unexplained primary infertility. The team was led by Dario DiLuca, Roberta Rizzo and Roberto Marci.
They discovered that 43 percent of these women have been infected by one of the lesser-known herpes virus called HHV-6A. This particular virus has not been found in any of the uterus of the female participants whose fertility was deemed normal.
Among the women aged 15 to 44 years old, about 6 percent have infertility problems. Of these women, approximately 25 percent are unexplained. This pushes many women to undergo fertility treatments, which are often not just costly but also traumatic. One of these treatments is IVF, and many women are not sure if the treatments will ever work for them.
In the new study, the researchers wrote that the cytokine levels of the HHV-6A-infected women were abnormal. Cytokines are a big group of protein that signals the facilitation of cell interactions, which play vital roles in the supporting the fertilized eggs. Cytokines also play a role in fetal development.
The HHV-6A-infected women also had higher levels of estradiol, a hormone that varies depending on the woman's menstrual cycle. Estradiol could trigger an HHV-6A infection. The virus multiplies in the salivary glands, however, it is not usually detectable in the saliva or blood. Therefore, the state of its true frequency is still unknown.
"This is a surprising discovery. If confirmed, the finding has the potential to improve the outcome for a large subset of infertile women," said Anthony Komaroff, a Harvard Medical School professor who studied the virus.
The researchers said that further research is required to confirm the preliminary findings. Additional studies will also be needed to see if an antiviral therapy can help the women who are infected by the HHV-6A virus.
To date, the scientific and medical communities have little data on HHV-6A. The virus was first discovered in 1986. It is one of the eight herpes viruses that infect humans.
The research was published in the PLOS One journal on July 1.
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For my latest interview I talked with author and poet Mallory Smart. I actually interviewed her a while back but I lost interviews from that page so I thought It’d be good to re-interview her.
1. What can you tell us about your most recent book?
My newest book that’s about to come out on July 2nd is HIPSTER IDIOT. It’s a digital micro-chapbook from Ghost City Press for their summer series. The poems are a chain of 8 hipster-centric love shouts into the void. They center around authenticity, identity, and of course iPhones.
2. What can you tell us about some of your other works?
Last October, right before I went on my most recent mania induced dash across the country I released a book called IM ANTISOCIAL, COFFEE NEVER LIES. It’s a two-part experimental swarm of weird poetry put out through Bottlecap Press (which is an awesome press btw). The book as a whole is a merging of tweets, absurdity, and confessional poems that form a kind of strange narrative about sex and violence.
I had been working this awful stress filled job at a local elementary school and just couldn’t take it anymore, so I quit, using a lame bullshit excuse (I think I even made my boyfriend make the call for me, I’m total trash). So the next day I decided to lay low. I went to Starbucks determined to just shake it off and while I was sitting there some business guy started to hit on me in this really invasive way. Which was weird in itself because I was this hipstery 21-year-old and he was an uptight 40-something business guy in a suit. Usually things like that aren’t such a huge deal to me but it was such an invasion of my personal space and I was annoyed and frustrated with the recent work issues. Me being the antisocial person I am, I refrained from saying anything to the guy (although I really wish I did now) and wrote about it instead.
So that’s what that book is about. It goes back and forth between talking about that specific experience and the discussion of harassment in a broader sense. There are also a lot of political breaks in the poems where I sprinkle in some off brand socialism, which I feel is another wonderful tool to fight the patriarchy.
Before that I had written my first chapbook, Fear Like A Habit, which we’ve spoken about before. I was most recently psyched to see on Goodreads that someone described it as Lynchian haha.
3. Do you feel poetry tends to go unappreciated these days?
I wouldn’t |
Christmas Island? Morrison: These matters continue to be dealt with in the practice we've been adopting for the last eight weeks under Operation Sovereign Borders and we'll continue to do it the way we've been doing it.
Reporter: Was the Australian vessel the first one to respond? Morrison: What occurs in these situations is where we get a request for assistance and if we're in a position to do so, we do.
Reporter: Have you spoken to Indonesian authorities about this incident? Morrison: It's our regular practice to be in constant communication with Indonesian authorities about all such incidents and that's a very standard practice.
Reporter: Is the boat still in trouble? Morrison: All the people that were assisted have been accounted for.
When asked why he couldn't be more forthcoming with information, Mr Morrison said: "That would go to our conduct of on-water operations, and I and the commander are not going to put our operations at risk through a public commentary of those operations."
Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles is demanding more details from the Government about the rescue operation.
"If there is a stand-off and our Defence Forces are being used in this way, then Australians have a right to know," he said.
"Mr Morrison is treating Australians with absolute contempt by continuing this farce. They can't keep hiding the truth."
This afternoon, Prime Minister Tony Abbott defended the lack of information being provided by his Immigration Minister.
Mr Abbott told journalists they were entitled to ask any questions they wished, but the highest priority for the Government was stopping the boats.
"None of you would want to jeopardise our operations to stop the boats, surely given that we have seen an absolutely tragic toll in terms of lives lost at sea while people smuggling operations continue," he said.
"None of you would want to jeopardise the success of these operations."
At the weekly briefing, Lieutenant General Campbell confirmed no boats had been intercepted in the past week, which means it has been about three weeks since the last arrival.
Mr Morrison says despite the slowdown in arrivals, the Government remained on high alert.
"We are now in the pre-monsoon period which is traditionally one of the busiest, and as we move into December, it's also the most dangerous time of year for people to get on boats," he said.
In the past week, 10 Iranian asylum seekers chose to return home, taking the total number of voluntary returns since Operation Sovereign Borders began to 77.
Topics: refugees, federal-government, world-politics, foreign-affairs, immigration, indonesia, australia
First postedWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senators introduced a bill on Tuesday to prohibit wireless companies from having clauses in contracts that prohibit consumers from suing the companies because of hidden fees or other contract disputes.
Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Al Franken of Minnesota introduced the measure, which would ban the common practice of putting clauses in wireless phone and data contracts that require consumers to use binding arbitration in the case of a dispute.
The proposed legislation is in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April that an AT&T unit could enforce a provision in its customer contracts requiring individual arbitration and preventing the pooling together of claims into a class-action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration.
The plaintiffs in that suit, a California couple, filed their class-action lawsuit in 2006, claiming they were improperly charged about $30 in sales taxes on cellphones that the AT&T Mobility wireless unit had advertised as free.
“This bill makes sure that Minnesotans have the ability to hold their mobile service providers accountable if they are cheated. It also ensures that any dispute resolved through arbitration is truly voluntary, and that consumers are not being forced into it,” Senator Al Franken said in a statement.
Companies generally prefer arbitration as a less expensive way of settling consumer disputes, as opposed to costly class actions, which allow customers to band together and can result in large monetary awards.
Some consumers have complained of things like being charged for data even when applications are disabled or their mobile device is turned off.
Wireless companies either declined comment or could not be reached for comment.
The CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group for wireless companies, called the legislation “misguided.”
“If the sponsors really want to help consumers, they should spend less time on stimulating the market for trial lawyers and more time working to free additional spectrum that can be used to deliver world-class wireless broadband service to American consumers,” the group said in a statement.When the Evangelical Environmental Network first launched, the core of our message was simple: If you love the Creator, you ought to care for the creation.
I still find the logic of that message compelling and unassailable. If you believe that God made this world, then love of God ought to entail a corresponding love for the world that God made. To be disdainful of creation is to show disdain for the Creator.
It’s right there in American evangelical Christianity’s favorite Bible verse, “For God so loved the world.”
The original word there in John’s Gospel was “cosmos” — a word that was, for John, as vast and comprehensive as it would be centuries later for Carl Sagan.
John 3:16 isn’t mainly about God as Creator, but about God as Redeemer, which only intensifies the point about God’s passionate love for the cosmos. God created the world and declared it good. Then God redeemed the world, thus dispelling any doubt about the Creator’s enduring love for the creation. (And yes, John 3 teaches, as Paul did, that God is redeeming “the world.” Jesus may be your “personal Lord and Savior,” but Jesus is not only your “personal Lord and Savior.”)
So that was the core of our basic message: If you love the Creator, you must love the creation. And caring for creation must also mean caring about creation. And that means wanting to know more about it — wanting to learn as much as you can learn about every facet and aspect, every realm and region, nook and cranny, quark and quasar.
Imagine someone who didn’t know their spouse’s middle name, or favorite foods, or hobbies, occupation, background or family. You would assume — rightly, I think — that such a person couldn’t possibly really love their spouse, because to love someone is to desire to know them better.
So that core message we had with the Evangelical Environmental Network shouldn’t just apply to environmentalism. It ought to apply to all of science. To all the many practical and pleasurable reasons anyone has to explore the sciences and to be excited and enthralled by science, evangelical Christians can add one more: It’s God’s world, God’s cosmos. God made it. God is redeeming it. God loves it. Anyone who loves God ought to love the world as well — and to love learning about the world.
We Christians ought to be famous for our love and devotion to the best, deepest, broadest and most ambitious science. We ought to be known for the same half-goofy, starry-eyed wonderment that the late Carl Sagan showed toward science.
But that’s not the case. Perversely, the opposite is true. We Christians have a long history of ambivalence and antipathy toward science. Sure, we can point to dozens of examples of devout Christians who were also top-notch scientists — Newton, Mendel, Francis Collins, etc. — but they stand out as exceptions.
And for American evangelical Christians the track record is even worse. American evangelicals tend to treat science as the enemy and to regard scientists as guilty until proven innocent. This is due to a host of reasons, foremost among them being the perception that evolution poses a threat to the Bible. But this unlovely (and, frankly, sinful) antipathy to science preceded Darwin — his work was not the first natural explanation rejected as a perceived threat to supernatural beliefs. And while the Scopes trial got the headlines, the formative main event in the 1920s for American evangelicals was the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy — another dispute in which science, particularly scientific criticism, was engaged in battle as the enemy.
That long history and the many causes and roots of evangelical Christian distrust of science are worth exploring in more detail, because if we want to overcome that distrust, then we need to understand it. I want to return to this topic in future posts to discuss some of the responses and approaches that I think are most promising and/or necessary for challenging and overcoming this anti-science reflex. But since I started thinking about this topic again due to a series of recent articles and posts, let me just wrap up for now by highlighting some of those.
I’m looking forward to reading the new book from Physicist Karl Giberson and historian Randall Stephens, The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Scientific Age. Giberson has been on something of an online publicity tour for the book, publishing a series of articles on its basic themes.
Anti-evolutionists like Ken Ham—and his colleagues at places like the Discovery Institute—constantly bash science as ideology claiming that its conclusions derive from “assumptions” rather than observations. After years of seeing science bashed, many evangelicals simply don’t trust it. And so they embrace a “science” that seems to agree with the Bible, oblivious to the fact that it has no support of any kind.
My only quibble there is with the word “oblivious,” which is inaccurate unless it’s qualified as, say, “mostly oblivious” or “willfully oblivious.” At the very least, this obliviousness is a choice, and having to make that choice means that one cannot ever quite be wholly oblivious.
At The Guardian (UK), Giberson writes that “Millions of evangelicals, including GOP candidates, are trapped in an alternative ‘parallel culture’ with its own standards of truth“:
By the time we were in college our generation of evangelicals had been educated into a profoundly different worldview than that of the secular, anti-Christian, Satan-following Ivy League elites we had been taught to fear. We understood the world to be a spiritual battleground with forces of good pitted against forces of evil. Real angels and real demons hovered about us as we prepared to wage these wars.
And at the Huffington Post, Giberson writes on “Why Evangelicals Are Fooled Into Accepting Pseudoscience“:
Why have evangelicals been so ready to reject the generally accepted conclusions of the scientific community on global warming? I want to suggest that the reason has nothing to do with climate science per se, but derives from the generally dim view that many evangelicals have of science and scientists — views that make it hard to distinguish credible science from fake challengers. One of the strategies employed most effectively by evangelicals in their crusade against evolution, which does pose real, although soluble, biblical and theological problems, has been to undermine the entire scientific enterprise. If science is a deeply flawed, ideologically driven, philosophically suspect enterprise, then why should anyone care if almost every scientist supports the theory of evolution? If the scientific community is just a bunch of self-serving ideologues with Ivy League appointments, then we can ignore anything it says that we don’t like.
All spot on and very true, but not the whole explanation for evangelicals’ rejection of climate science. The whole explanation would also include the very important factors of politics and money. Evangelical Christians who say they reject climate science explicitly indicate that this rejection is political, not scientific. And the subject of evangelical hostility toward science has become a hot topic lately for explicitly political reasons. The Republican presidential primary has become a contest to capture the evangelical Christian voting bloc, bringing about the spectacle of what Phil Plait calls “The increasingly antiscience Republican candidates“:He says he's taken away his son's cell phone and is optimistic the charges can be resolved outside of court.
It has come to light that De Petrillo's co-accused Tyler Rizzi, 24, faces additional charges from both before and after the Hamilton incident, Toronto Police spokesman Const.Victor Kwong says.
Just days before the Jackson Square confrontation, Rizzi was charged with threatening and an indecent act after refusing to leave a property in Leslieville in Toronto on Aug. 30.
On Sept. 11 he was charged with assaulting a security guard after a similar incident at Yonge and Dundas Square in Toronto, Kwong says.
On Sept. 14 he was also arrested on marijuana-related charges.
Kwong says Rizzi has prior charges "in the archives" including shoplifting and other offences.
The Rizzi family did not respond to interview requests Friday.
De Petrillo says the two men are friends through the BMX community, and that they travel all over – including Hamilton – to film each other riding at different spots.
He has reached out to the security company "to see if they wanted to have a dialogue," but hasn't heard back.
"I know (my son) is really sorry and regretful for doing that… maybe he could spend some time as a security guard to find out what it's like for a couple weeks."
mhayes@thespec.com
905-526-3214 | @MollyatTheSpecCancun is the most visited city in México, we have dozens of the most beautiful white sand and clear water beaches in the world, it’s a very touristy place which makes it a super safe place to go around, so don’t worry! You can visit every point of attraction feeling safe, don’t let news scare you. Just leave those ledger nanos at home! jkjk, It’s a super friendly city and mostly everyone speaks english.
There is Uber available from the Airport but taxis will fight them so they can take you, but around the city you can easily order Uber for cheaper price.
There are tons of Hotels you can pick from or just grab an airbnb, just try to stay on the black line in the map, I wouldn’t suggest to stay at downtown cancun, it’s kind of far and there is really nothing interesting to see.
Cancun Convention Center is located at the most touristic spot in whole Cancun, across the street you have most of the hotels, bars, clubs, restaurants, etc. It’s a super safe zone and police is all around.
Currency
We use Mexican Pesos, the exchange rate is around
1 USD=19 pesos 1 Euro=22.5 pesos
You can use your credit card almost everywhere, but get some pesos in case you need them, airport and hotels provide exchange services but the rates are pretty bad, so the best thing to do is use a debit card on an ATM.
Tourism
There is seriously a lot of stuff to do, so take a few extra days after devcon or you will regret!
Adventure:
I suggest you take a full day for every attraction and book ahead on their website. Or book itwith an Tour Agency.
Xcaret (Must go)
Xel-Ha
Subaquatic museum of Art. (scuba)
Cenotes/Xenotes (Natural pits, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath) (you can dive in)
Mayan Museum
Delphinus
Snorkel/Scuba Coral Reefs (Must go)
Xplor park
Shows:
Cirque du Soleil Joyà (Must go)(book ahead)
Xcaret at Night
Coco Bongo Club
Other Beaches/cities you MUST visit:
If you have the time you will not regret visit these smaller cities, they have amazing resorts, restaurants, and breathtaking exclusive beaches.
Playa del Carmen (Must go) 1Hr from Cancun— Ferry to Cozumel Island
Tulum (book here)
Holbox
Bacalar
Isla Mujeres
Chac Mool beach
Sightseeing:
Chichén Itzá (famous mayan pyramids) 3 Hours to get there.
Whale watching, not the kind of whales you are use to see in crypto!
Mayan Ruins Zona Arqueologica San Miguelito, Coba, El Rey Ruins
Restaurants:
These are some delicious, but Exclusive restaurants 30–80 USD pp.
Puerto Madero
Cenacolo
Porfirio’s
Harry’s
Cambalache
Nomads
Benazuza
BUT Don’t forget to try some real tacos! Yes, soft tortilla.
Nightlife
I guarantee you will have an amazing time if you hang out, Cancun parties every single night, and nightclubs get super crowded with thousands of people. Most of clubs have 1 special night, so ask around to see which is the hottest on.
Usually people will come close to you on the street to sell tickets, so I suggest you ask for the price at the place you want to go before buying it from them. (usually they have good deals but don’t let them fool you. (super safe place to hang out)
Mandala
Mandala Beach (10:30am to 5pm) everyday and tuesday opens at night
The City
Coco Bongo
Daddy’O
Palazzo
Coralina (day light club) Must go (Playa del carmen)
Mamitas Beach (day light club) (Playa del carmen)
Senor Frogs
Hard Rock CafeIt’s been a long time since kids sat with parents on living room couches watching live pictures from Mission Control in Houston. Even though NASA no longer looms in the American imagination as much as it once did, with a Mars expedition in the works and the rise of Space X and Blue Origin among others, a powerful case can be made that a renaissance is just around the corner.
Houston-area U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, who’s chair of the House Space subcommittee, has launched a new mission on Capitol Hill.
Babin says he wants to establish a bipartisan caucus to “advocate and protect” the space program.
“The work, the funding, our workforce, our capabilities – all at the NASA Johnson Space Center, which Houston is home to, and also to the space industry across Texas,” he says.
In Babin’s district, he says 14,000 employees work at Johnson Space Center. “We’ve seen some ups and downs over the last few years of our space program,” he says. “NASA’s overall budget is less than one-half of one percent of our federal budget. The nation’s investments in space drive our technology, advancements and inventions we have there… It’s hard to match the bang for the buck that we get (out of it).”
Private industry has always been involved in the space program and Babin says it will continue to drive the technology to push the space program further. “When we get back to the Moon and when we get to Mars over the next couple decades,” he says, “private enterprise and industry will be a huge, huge part of that… America needs to continue to control the high ground – and that’s space.”
Post by Hannah McBride.Is the mystery of DB Cooper about to be solved? FBI reveals it has new suspect 40 years after America’s most elusive fugitive parachuted from a hijacked plane
The FBI today revealed that it believes it has America's most elusive fugitive finally in its sights 40 years after famed hijacker DB Cooper disappeared when he jumped out of a plane over Washington.
Investigators said that they are testing the fingerprints of a new suspect after what they said is the'most promising' lead to date in its bid to crack America's only unsolved hijacking.
A mystery hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper, also known as DB Cooper, boarded a Northwest flight in Portland for a flight to Seattle on the night of November 24 1971, and commandeered the plane, claiming he had dynamite.
Evaded justice? Artists sketches of America's most elusive fugitive DB Cooper who hijacked a jet and extorted $200,000 from the FBI before escaping by parachute in 1971. Agents believe he may have died a decade ago
In Seattle, he demanded and got $200,000 and four parachutes and demanded to be flown to Mexico.
Somewhere over southwestern Washington, he jumped out the plane's tail exit with two of the chutes, and was never seen or heard from again.
The FBI today announced that it has a new suspect in the case who they are hoping to link to a tie Cooper left on the plane and cigarette butts in an ashtray using DNA testing and fingerprints.
There have been more than 1,000 suspects over the past four decades, but the FBI have described the new lead as 'looking like our most promising one to date'.
'We do actually have a new suspect we're looking at,' said FBI spokesman Ayn Dietrich as she revealed the twist in the investigation.
'It comes from a credible lead who came to our attention recently via a law enforcement colleague,' she said.
Map: Locations in Washington where Cooper was originally thought to have landed and where some of the ransom money was found in 1980
'The credible lead is somebody whose possible connection to the hijacker is strong,' she told the Daily Telegraph. 'And the suspect is not a name that's come up before.'
The FBI said that an item belonging to the suspect has been sent for testing at a forensics lab in Quantico, Virginia.
'We're hoping there are fingerprints they can take off of it,' she said. 'It would be a significant lead.
And this is looking like our most promising one to date.'
The FBI has refused to reveal if the suspect is still alive. 'Generally the large majority of subjects we look into now are already deceased based on the timing,' said Ms Dietrich.
It could be some time before the FBI gets the results back from the tests.
Plot: A hijacked Northwest Airlines jetliner 727 sits on a runway for refuelling at Tacoma International Airport on November 25 1971
The mysterious hijacking has intrigued federal agents and amateur sleuths since it took place in November 1971.
A man calling himself Dan Cooper boarded the Northwest flight after buying a $20 one-way ticket to Seattle.
After getting on the plane wearing sunglasses, he ordered whisky and lit a cigarette before passing a flight attendant a note that read: 'I HAVE A BOMB IN MY BRIEFCASE. I WILL USE IT IF NECESSARY. I WANT YOU TO SIT NEXT TO ME. YOU ARE BING HIJACKED.'
Cooper told the captain that in return for $200,000 and four parachutes, he would allow 36 people to leave the plane when it landed in Seattle.
The FBI agreed to the swap and the plane took off again under Cooper's orders to fly towards Mexico at an altitude of under 10,000 feet.
Somewhere over the lower Cascade mountains in southwestern Washington, Cooper stepped out of the plane with a parachute strapped to his back.
Clues: Three packets of ransom money, totalling $5,800, were found on the Columbia river in February 1980
Several people have claimed to be Cooper over the years but were dismissed on the basis of physical descriptions, parachuting experience and, later, by DNA evidence recovered in 2001 from the cheap tie the skyjacker left on the plane.
Items recovered from the skyjack include $5,800 of the stolen money, in tattered $20 bills and Cooper's tie
Many believe that Cooper was Richard McCoy, a Vietnam War veteran, experienced parachutist and BYU political science student who staged a similar hijacking several months later.
But the FBI has said that McCoy - who was killed in a shoot-out with law enforcement officers after a prison break in 1974 - simply didn't fit the description of Cooper provided by two flight attendants.Noting an urgent need, Toronto’s 519 Community Centre partnered with stakeholders and formed The FTM Safer Shelter Project. This community-based research project explored and documented issues of homelessness and shelter access affecting trans men in the Greater Toronto Area with the aim to improve access to safe shelter facilities.
Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 trans men who had experienced homelessness and 20 service providers within the shelter system. These interviews revealed that the overwhelming factors contributing to their experiences of homelessness and poverty include: loss of family at a young age, histories of abuse and violence, mental health issues, discrimination and marginalization specific to their lives as trans in a transphobic society.
Most respondents actively avoided the shelter system, choosing instead to sleep outside, couch surf, use substandard housing or the drop-in services of shelters without actually staying in them. These were all seen as preferable options to staying in a men’s shelter because of real fears of violence, and were also preferable to using a woman’s shelter due to a fear that their male identity and personal dignity would be undermined. In both situations, they witnessed and/or experienced policies and practices that were degrading to them.
“…I don’t know where I would go if I was homeless. I don’t really fit. I feel totally screwed.” – interviewee
The ultimate goals of this project were to document the experiences, needs and concerns of trans men in Toronto at risk for homelessness, to document the input, feedback and concerns of stakeholders within the shelter system, to develop a collaborative project that would facilitate dialogue between all stakeholders to strategize and identify achievable solutions to the challenges that trans men face in the shelter system, to build community-based research capacity within FTM communities, and to dramatically improve access to safer shelter for trans men in Toronto.
The resulting report, released in 2008, is an important contribution to the growing body of knowledge regarding equitable access to services for transgender people.
Download the 98-page PDF
More information can be found on the website of the Wellesley Institute, a Toronto-based non-profit and non-partisan research and policy institute.In accordance with Presidential Directive #755.689 the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has released the following nationwide BOLO alert to assist in the apprehension of suspected Russian hackers and election saboteurs:
In accordance with current U.S. intelligence protocols, and to ensure the validity of the claims against the suspects, the White House has officially declassified and released clear and convincing evidence of their nefarious deeds suspected earlier this summer.
Previously withheld CCTV images capture the DNC hacking just prior to the incident. This concrete evidence has been declassified to substantiate the need for official sanctions:
In addition, CIA Director John Brennan has turned over to FBI investigators previously withheld photographic proof – implicating the dastardly duo in the commission of the actual “hacking” itself:
The U.S. media will now confront the Trump administration official spokespersons with this undeniable proof and challenge their campaign’s duplicity toward this most nefarious international criminal endeavor.
There is a conspiracy to be discovered…
…And there shall be just desserts!
AdvertisementsEven to this very moment, I can’t believe that I managed to pull off such an endeavor.
With all the planning, background chaos, money issues, and other variables, I made it to Baltimore for BronyCon 2014.
You can ask my friend, TJ, who tagged along with me for the convention. On his end, it was practically the riskiest thing he’s ever done in his life, considering his batshit-insane parents. Though that’s about halfway correct. I won’t delve into that for many personal reasons.
But enough about that… how was the con anyway?
> [ Day 1: Arrival ] <
I woke up every 10-20 minutes staring at my phone’s alarm clock. If there was one thing I was sure about, it was the fact that I couldn’t trust myself to sleep for more time than I could’ve allotted. I’ve already had issues where oversleeping has caused more problems than it should, but this time, I didn’t want that to happen.
Eventually, I mobilized at around 3am, doing the usual rounds - showering, shaving, packing, and just triple-checking everything. However, what I wasn’t expecting so early was a race against time. You see, my bus was due to leave at 5am, and I left at 4am. The MTA was not my friend here, especially during these dead hours.
I was watching the schedule like a hawk, trying to pinpoint the time intervals and my chances of making it to the bus before departure. No dice. The bus left, and I had to wait until the next one in order to get to Baltimore in a timely fashion. At least the kebab I bought was pretty good - I bought it as breakfast to break a $50 bill so that I had change to pay an extra fee to get on the bus.
Skipping past the actual trip which was about 3 hours of me listening to an audiobook of Blake J. Harris’ “Console Wars” (a really great book, mind you), I arrived and waited for about 30 minutes for TJ and Malachi to pick me up. It was good to see Mal again after a long while since the end of the semester, so we all chatted about our respective summers, and other things.
TJ had to drop off his suitcase so we tried to find our Holiday Inn, which was the furthest from the convention. We mistakenly went to the closest one, though I stopped him in time since his bad directions are quite legendary.
Skipping ahead, we made it to the Baltimore Convention Center, stepped through the doors, and entered a sea of congoers heading in many different directions. It was my impulse then to take out my camera and start filming. We made a beeline for the artists’ alley (official called Blank Canvas’s Marketplace) to take a look at all the wares which were being sold. We’re talking t-shirts, plushies, ties, little trinkets, posters and prints, packs for the new MLP CCG, art commissions, 3D printed ponies, pin-up calendars, the whole shebang. For a guy on a shoestring budget, it was daunting.
For TJ, it was concentrated paradise. It was his first convention after all, so I indulged him to get lost in it and take in the sights. Our first stop was at the “Welcome Princess Celest” table where we saw our friends, Frist and Sarah. Frist was the artist behind the ask-blog, Cheerilee’s Chalkboard and was there to sell art and the like. We didn’t speak much, but TJ really enjoyed his short time talking. I wanted to ask for a commission, but my time in the artist’s alley was largely in service to what TJ wanted to do, rather than my own needs. Besides, I only had like… $50 spending money? Was broke all summer, since jobs in NYC are a pain in the arse to get.
Mindless mumbling aside, we check out the area some more and bump into another old acquaintance, viwrastupr. I remember Viw from /r/MLPdrawingschool, and he was nice enough to draw my OC for me in a pretty great scene - playing a video game with filly Rarity and filly Luna. My own was a colt too. TJ bought a few prints from him, with one of them being a small gift for Malachi. While at Viw’s booth, I caught sight of DustyKatt (dustykat) (the “manliest brony in the world”) and asked for a quick selfie. I caught sight of him many times during the con, and he was such a nice person.
TJ and I decided to head upstairs to take a little break… but then I checked Twitter and remembered that other friends of mine were at the con. Especially people that I wanted to meet. One such person was DJ Calcos (djcalcos). I rang him up, dashed on over to the Bronies for Good table, and after a while, there he was. We must’ve hugged for like a good minute or so since this was the first time that we’ve ever met in person. I’ve talked to him on Skype, visited his Twitch streams and all, but never got to meet up. BronyCon was that day.
Calcos did me a favor by leading me to another table that were selling these “#HorseFamous” and “not #HorseFamous” ribbons for $3 a pop, since he had one adorned on his badge - which already had a ton of other ribbons. I got the #HorseFamous one just because.
Cal and I said our goodbyes, and I met up with TJ again to survey the marketplace once more. We got to meet whitedove-creations at her booth, and we were both mesmerized to see her plushies up close and personal. They cost a lot, but hey, these were INSANELY good quality that you rarely got anywhere else. While at the booth, TJ and I got another selfie opportunity with Sabrina Alberghetti (a.k.a. Sibsy), one of the show’s storyboard artists.
TJ was on the hunt for fairly priced plushies still, and we struck gold when we found the 4DE booth - they were selling Twilight and Pinkie plushies for $20 each, or we could buy both for $30. TJ was immediately sold, but I didn’t come around until later since they were selling out fast (though that didn’t happen until the second day).
We also bumped into a guy who I recognized from the con last year - well, in photos. It was a guy who counted all the other black people he met at the convention, and I was number 38 on his quest.
That count steadily increased over the course of the con, and the last I saw, it was at 191.
Moving on, we decided to find a panel where we could sit down and watch the proceedings. We found an MLP plushies panel where WhiteDove and SpaceGalaxy were the panelists. TJ and I scoured to find seats, and when we sat down, he noticed someone that he was searching the con for subconsciously - a plushie maker by the name of zis-zas. I personally didn’t know him very well, but TJ was quite a huge fan of his work. There was also a raffle that was about to start, but we didn’t get tickets since we were late. However, a fine fellow who was bound to leave decided to give TJ his raffle ticket since he couldn’t stay towards the end. We admired the generosity and thanked him profusely. By the end of the panel, we made a beeline for Zis-Zas and TJ got to take a picture with him.
After that panel, we did some more walking to find the Baltimare Arcade. They really did nail the arcade feel - it was dark, the only lighting came from various projector screens, and the atmosphere was very lively as there were games galore - Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, Fighting is Magic, Street Fighter x Tekken, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Rock Band 3 (with a ton of pony songs in the playlist), what appeared to be Dance Dance Revolution (again, with pony songs in the playlist), and other classic games on small monitors, ranging from classics on Super Nintendo, the Sega Genesis, and the Nintendo 64.
Compared to the old game room style they did in 2012, fangames were by all means a faded memory - only Fighting is Magic was there to represent fan games, and that itself was a distant memory of days past since FiM only was “complete” due to people outside Mane6.
My own game, Pinkie Pie’s Perilous Platforms had no chance of sticking out, so I opted to go directly to the people… somewhat. TJ and I had to charge our phones, so we stopped in the Level 300 hall and I made an impromptu setup of my game - I didn’t get many people to play (only 2 that I can really recall), but there were many wandering eyes from various congoers who passed by and saw the game in action. I even got to talk to a father whose son was learning to code and looked very impressed at my work. I gave him some words of encouragement and they went on their way.
Right next to me were a couple of musicians that were playing some folksy-like music, and from out of nowhere, acracebest and jaxblade decided to do a little jig. It was hilarious, yet phenomenal as they were totally in sync with each other. I got it on video, so that was quite a memory. Afterwords, we got a selfie in with the both of them.
We bumped into them again, and Saberspark was with them. Too bad he was making a beeline for the con center for something important.
Meanwhile, we got some lunch at the Pratt Street Ale House across from the con center, and then decided to go to our Holiday Inn (the HIExpress on Russell Street).
Please note two things: first off, it was the furthest hotel from the convention center (a good 30 minute walk away), and that we were in a city that we were very unfamiliar with. It was… an experience. Along the way, we took in the sights, saw a homeless guy who apparently was a Redditor, and after long enough, we made it, checked in, and promptly lamented at the fact that we had assumed that the walk would be pleasant. WRONG.
At the hotel, I unpacked my bag (which had all my stuff) and plugged in my Ouya to the TV. We were both grimacing at the fact that our feet hurt, and we never wanted to walk that length ever again. Thankfully, we learned that there was a shuttle service from the hotel to the convention center, so we avoided walking to the hotel for the entire weekend.
We went back to the con for the musician’s panel, which was a riot. So many fun moments and it was just a good experience. We were also there to meet an old friend of mine, DinsFire64, since we were constantly tweeting each other but not finding each other at the con. Eventually, we did. From there on out, we were hanging out with Din and other folks that I remembered from Reddit.
I also found Omnipony again and had a small chat with him since I haven’t seen him in person since that August 2012 meetup in NYC where I also met IbeConCept.
We had dinner with them, and I also got to say hello to the lovely Strumpet-chan! I remembered her from Summer BronyCon 2012 with her Rarity cosplay. I never got a chance to take a photo with her, but it was nice to chat with her for a short while. We had lots and lots of fun at dinner, and eventually (after some fun at the hotel), we went to Bronypalooza. Most of the night was about rock/metal and there were a lot of great performances from Cyril the Wolf and Tarby. Even Calcos went on stage to perform, and that was pretty rad too. Like many others, everyone was ready for the EDM section and it was beyond amazing.
I didn’t stay to the end, sadly, but what I witnessed was great enough to stand on its own. Also, I still highly rate DJ Tetsuo’s set at the con because of how fun it was in the crowd. It was then that we called a taxi (we used Uber, since the con gave out a code for a free ride), and promptly crashed for the night.
> [Day 2: Adjustment] <
We only had about 6 or 7 hours or sleep, but it was bliss in |
$35.6 million. It should be noted that there were assets attached to this sale.
Looking at domain name only sales, sex.com’s sale price of $13 million tops the list, followed by fund.com at $9.9 million, and porn.com at $9.5 million.
Other valued domain names include porno.com ($8,888,888), diamond.com ($7,500,000), z.com ($6,784,000), slots.com ($5,500,000), and toys.com ($5,100,000).
South African domain names
Business Insider’s most expensive domain name article is based on DNJournal findings, and we looked at information about South African domain names from this source.
MyBroadband also contacted some well-placed local sources to establish how much people paid for some high profile.co.za domains.
It should be noted that the domain name prices listed below are only for confirmed sales where the amount is known. It does not include private sales where the details have not been made public.
The list below provides an overview of some of the most expensive.co.za domain names ever sold. An exchange rate of 1USD = 12.46ZAR was used.
Property.co.za – R4.33 million
Property.co.za was sold by Gavin Durni to a group of South African Internet entrepreneurs for $350,000 (around R4.33 million). The domain name is now registered in the name of JAG Web Marketing, and the site is set to be re-launched.
Homeloans.co.za – R3.09 million
The South African domain name homeloans.co.za was sold for $250,000 (around R3.09 million). There is currently a placeholder website on the domain, which is registered in the name of JAG Web Marketing.
Insurance.co.za – R1.25 million
Insurance.co.za was sold for $100,000 (around R1.25 million). The domain name hosts an insurance comparison and quote website, and is registered in the name of Bold Horizons.
Jobs.co.za – R1 million
The Jobs.co.za portal was launched in 1997, purchased by BidorBuy for a rumoured amount of R1 million, placed under new management, and re-launched in August 2008. The jobs portal did not gain traction as expected, and was sold to PNet in 2012 for an undisclosed sum.
Finance.co.za – R871,000
Finance.co.za was sold by Durni Companies LLC for around $70,000 (around R871,000) in 2012. The domain is currently registered in the name of OPM Holdings, and is displaying a placeholder website which states that the domain is for sale.
Fly.co.za – R809,000
Fly.co.za was sold by Durni Companies LLC for $65,000 (around R809,000) in January 2010 at an auction in Las Vegas. The domain is currently registered in the name of UK-based Relentless Media, and is used as a website for discounted flights.
Porn.co.za – R561,000
The SA domain name porn.co.za was sold in November 2009 by RickLatona.com for $45,000 (around R561,000). The website is registered in the name of EuroDNS SA, and redirects to a mobile adult website.
AutoInsurance.co.za – R455,000
In August 2010 the local domain name autoinsurance.co.za was sold by Durni Companies LLC for $36,500 (R455,000). The domain name is now registered in the name of UK-based Relentless Media, and hosts a car insurance quotes website.
Furniture.co.za – R411,000
The domain name furniture.co.za was sold for $33,000 (around R441,000) in 2010 to the South African furniture company ThisSideUp.co.za. The domain is now owned by Beds Direct Trading, and is used to host the Beds Direct website.
HorseRacing.co.za – R250,000
Horseracing.co.za was sold on Sedo in December 2010 for $20,000 (R250,000). The website is registered in the name of Dotcom Internet, and is used to host a horse racing website.
Toys.co.za – R250,000
Durni Companies LLC sold the domain name toys.co.za for $20,000 (R250,000) in January 2010. The website is registered in the name of Philipp Kloeckner from Germany, and hosts a placeholder website which states that the domain is for sale.
BusinessInsurance.co.za – R237,000
BusinessInsurance.co.za was sold by Durni Companies LLC in May 2011 for $18,975 (R237,000) in a private transaction. The domain is registered in the name of JAG Web Marketing, and is used to host a business insurance quotes website.
Bridge.co.za – R218,000
Bridge.co.za was sold in a private transaction in October 2011 for $17,500 (around R218,000). The domain is owned by Onesys, and hosts the Bridge financial website – a platform for taking out short-term loans.
Blackjack.co.za – R218,000
RickLatona.com sold the domain name blackjack.co.za in July 2009 for $17,500 (R218,000). The domain currently belongs to Rogier van Willigen from the Netherlands, and is used to host an online Blackjack guide website.
Casinos.co.za – R218,000
RickLatona.com sold the domain name casinos.co.za in July 2009 for $17,500 (R218,000). The domain belongs to Rogier van Willigen from the Netherlands, and is used to host an online casino website.
Education.co.za – R187,000
Gavin Durni bought the domain name education.co.za for $15,000 (R187,000) in May 2011. The domain is registered in the name of Jan Badenhorst, and is used to host the College SA website.
Domains.co.za – R187,000
In April 2010 domains.co.za was purchased for $15,000 (R187,000). The domain is owned by Domains.co.za, and is used to host the company’s website where users can register domain names.
Life.co.za – R181,000
Gavin Durni purchased the domain name life.co.za in August 2010 for $14,536 (R181,000). The domain is registered in the name of JAG Web Marketing, and is used to host an insurance website.
Financing.co.za – R168,000
In February 2012 Durni Companies LLC sold the domain name financing.co.za for $13,500 (around R168,000). The website is registered in the name of TradeMark Unlimited, and hosts a placeholder website.
Cloud.co.za – R112,000
Cloud.co.za was sold to VPS Networks for $9,000 (R112,000). The domain is owned by VPS Networks, and is used to host the company’s website.
More about websites
Google and mobile-friendly websites
South Africa’s ugliest websitesMORROW, Georgia (CNN) -- Jobless for nearly a year, Michael Rivers was about to walk out of his house a few weeks ago to catch the bus for another daylong employment hunt when a radio announcement stopped him.
With Ludacris at her side, single mom Joya Montgomery, 26, proudly displays keys to her car Sunday.
"This is Ludacris, and I'm giving away 20 free cars...."
The famous rapper was pulling an Oprah in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
The rapper announced that if listeners were able to pay the taxes, registration, tags and insurance, they should go to his nonprofit Ludacris Foundation Web site and write 300 words about why they deserved new wheels.
"And make it good," Luda warned. Watch Ludacris talk about his "stimulus" plan »
Four thousand people took him up on his challenge, and in a few days, more than 2,000 essays poured into the Nissan South dealership in Morrow, Georgia, that had teamed with the rapper on the used-car giveaway. See and hear the winners tell their stories »
Rivers' essay was among them.
"I didn't even wait; I just continued out that door to the community center, sat at a computer and let all my emotions come out," he said.
Rivers described riding the city bus with his 14-year-old daughter to make sure she arrived safely at school and how he recently celebrated the small victory of getting his 17-year-old autistic son, who can't tolerate crowds, to stand calmly for a few moments outside the bus stop. He doesn't live near a grocery store so he has to bring home the food he can carry on the bus.
Rivers was laid off from his job as a court clerk in the summer of 2008, and making job interviews on time isn't easy when the bus is often late.
But on Sunday afternoon, Rivers was giddy, slightly bouncing as he spoke. He stood shoulder to shoulder among the 20 winners and their friends and families waiting to see their cars.
"I don't care what it is," Rivers said. "I'm grateful for any car with four wheels because it beats two heels."
Winners received 30 days of free gas, which will be a big help to Joya Montgomery, a 26-year-old single parent of a 4-year-old, 8-year-old and 3-month-old.
She has been waking before 5 a.m. and walking to the bus stop, while it's dark, with her children to begin a long journey to her job and to drop them off at school or a friend's home.
"It was scary at times," she said. "You don't even know who's out there. I was always looking over my shoulder.
"I just can't believe I won. I'm real happy."
In the parking lot, the crowd was dancing. But the bass of Ludacris' latest single blasting from the dealership's loudspeakers was secondary inspiration for one Atlanta grandmother. Fifty-one-year-old Vermelle Jackson was so excited to have a 2005 Mercury Sable to drive around grandchildren, nieces and nephews that she swiveled her hips around and dipped it shockingly low to the ground.
"Lord Jesus.... He brought this car to me, baby!" she shouted, arms raised. "This is God's work!"
Actually, the giveaway idea came from Chris White, the jovial, hand-shaking manager of Nissan South. "I knew someone who knew someone who knew Luda and, you know, we just made it happen," White said.
The concept seemed like a winner for everyone. Like many dealerships, Nissan South has not yet been reimbursed for the money it spent upfront during the federal government's Cash for Clunkers program that allowed customers to trade in older cars for $3,500 or $4,500 credit.
When the popular program ended August 24, the car dealer didn't want to turn away customers who kept streaming in, expecting to get the same discounts.
So Nissan South continued giving customers identical low rates and taking their used cars. The Cash for Clunkers program and the continued discounts totaled nearly $800,000 in the hole for the dealership, said owner Scott Smith.
"We're grateful for the Clunkers program because it really helped business, but it's a lot of money to be without," he said.
At the end of the year, the cars given away under the Luda program, which were not technically acquired during the Clunkers program, may be eligible as charity tax write-offs.
"We like to think of it as not being about the write-offs," White said. "It's more like we had a chance to do something positive in the community that is going through a really hard time right now."
White helped place a few radio spots and within two days, more than 2,000 essays had been sent in. That number quickly shot to close to 4,000.
Ludacris and his mother, Roberta Shields, who directs his foundation and helped give away the cars Sunday, and the rapper's foundation staff of about a dozen helped read the essays. To validate the stories they found most compelling, they made phone calls and interviewed people who knew the finalists.
"We ended up calling a homeless shelter to reach one gentleman whose cell phone had gone out, and he was recharging it," Shields said. "We didn't know if we'd get ahold of him, but we finally did. All he wanted was a car to help him go out for job interviews."
Ludacris was particularly moved by the story of a Sudanese refugee who has experienced every hardship imaginable, the least of which was a broken-down car. The two sat down Sunday and had a long talk.
"That's one of those stories that really had me like, man, I thought I had faced some adversities in life," the rapper said in a quiet moment away from the crowd. "But I've not faced adversities at all compared to what he's been through. I cannot imagine going through what he's gone through and still be that strong."
Mading Duor, who escaped civil war and was providing for his four children on a school maintenance worker's salary, was crossing a street in Decatur, Georgia, when a driver ignored a crosswalk and hit and killed his 4-year-old son.
Karen McCrea, who attends church with Duor, wrote the winning essay.
"I don't expect anyone to understand [what I have been through], but I know that people come to me with a good heart now," he said. "I couldn't believe it when she called me to tell me. I said, 'You are kidding! It cannot be!' "
Neither McCrea, from Atlanta's affluent Buckhead area, nor Duor, neatly dressed in a shirt buttoned to the collar, seemed like Ludacris' demographic. They nodded their heads to his music anyway, smiling.
"Oh, I know his music, I know it, yes," Duor said. "I will play it [in my car]."
All About Ludacris • AtlantaAttorney General Eric Holder has written a letter to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) saying that a drone could not be used against a noncombatant American. In response, Paul has said he the Senate should move ahead with John Brennan's nomination as director of the CIA. The vote is being held this afternoon.
The letter followed a 13-hour filibuster of Brennan by Paul and several other senators, who objected to the possibility of domestic drone strikes on U.S. citizens.
"Does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on U.S. soil?" Holder's letter reads. "The answer to that is no."
Read: Holder's letter to Sen. Paul
Paul said Thursday afternoon that he's happy with the response and that he urges the Senate to proceed to a vote on Brennan's nomination.
“I’m quite happy with the answer," Paul said. "Through the advise and consent process, I’ve got an important answer."
Paul added of the Brennan vote: "Yes, we’ll hold it as soon as people want to today."
Senate Republicans have said there will be two votes this afternoon, one a 60-vote hurdle to end the filibuster and the other to confirm Brennan as CIA director. Confirmation is expected.
As for his own vote, Paul said: “I’m still thinking about it.” He said there are still questions about the drone program but, "I've kind of won my battle."
In an earlier letter, Holder told Paul that "it is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States."
In a subsequent exchange with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Holder said it would not be constitutional to kill a U.S. citizen on American soil if that person does not pose an imminent threat.
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Thursday that "the president has not and would not use drone strikes against American citizens on American soil," suggesting Paul's questions were "wild hypotheticals."Dennis Pitta has made significant progress in his second comeback from a fractured and dislocated right hip, but it's unclear whether the Ravens tight end will play again.
Pitta is likely to begin training camp and the regular season on the physically unable to perform list, according to NFL sources. If Pitta began the season on the reserve list, he would be required to miss at least the first six games of the season.
Pitta hasn't been medically cleared to practice since his second serious hip injury in as many years. He has rehabilitated the hip to the point where he's able to do some route running and individual drills, but wasn't allowed to fully participate during the Ravens' offseason practices.
Dr. Derek Ochiai, an orthopedic surgeon and hip specialist who practices in Arlington, Va., said if Pitta were to suffer a similar injury again, "his football career would probably come to an end."
"Unfortunately, there's a reasonable chance it could happen again to Dennis with another fracture-dislocation of the hip," said Ochiai, who doesn't treat Pitta. "It's not a given, but it's definitely possible. It's also possible it's a lightning-struck-twice kind of thing and it doesn't happen again. That's the best-case scenario. Once you have recurrences of an injury, statistically, it's more likely you will continue to have issues going forward.
Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta talks about working out at the Ravens facility and recovering from his hip injury. (Baltimore Sun video) Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta talks about working out at the Ravens facility and recovering from his hip injury. (Baltimore Sun video) SEE MORE VIDEOS
"It's football, you're not playing chess. There's a lot of twisting and cutting regardless of actually getting tackled that can put a lot of stress on your hip joint. Unfortunately, Dennis Pitta's hip joint isn't normal. It can't be normal after a fracture-dislocation, but it can be repaired."
Signed to a five-year, $32 million contract in February 2014 that included $16 million guaranteed, Pitta is guaranteed $4 million this year regardless of whether he's able to play.
Pitta was hurt last September against the Cleveland Browns when he caught a pass, planted his leg and re-injured his hip without being hit. He underwent surgery for the second time last fall and was placed on injured reserve.
"Like Peyton Manning coming back from neck surgery, there's a risk-benefit analysis every player has to go over with the doctors," Ochiai said. "A hip injury isn't going to paralyze you; he just has to weigh the downside and risk.... I wish him the best."
Pitta first injured his hip when he landed awkwardly after jostling for a pass in the end zone with strong safety James Ihedigbo during training camp in 2013.
"A couple of things are going to have to happen for him to play ultimately," head coach John Harbaugh said during minicamp in June. "No. 1, he has to be cleared by the doctors. And, No. 2, he has to decide if he wants to play because obviously there will be some risk involved. He hasn't been cleared by the doctors.
"As you've seen before, he's been doing the individual part of practice. Minicamp, unless you're cleared, you can't come out to practice. I don't know if that's a rule or our policy, but that's the way it goes. Until he gets cleared by the docs, he won't be able to practice and we'll just have to see where that goes from here."
The Ravens used the NFL draft to prepare for Pitta's potential absence and tight end Owen Daniels leaving in free agency to join former Ravens offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak with the Denver Broncos on a three-year, $12.5 million contract.
They drafted Minnesota tight end Maxx Williams in the second round and he's expected to be an immediate contributor, working in tandem with returning tight end and projected starter Crockett Gillmore. They also picked Delaware tight end Nick Boyle in the fifth round to further bolster the position.
Gillmore has outstanding size and is a strong blocker at 6 feet 6, 275 pounds. He caught 10 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown as a rookie last season after being drafted in the third round. Gillmore also caught a touchdown in the Ravens' AFC wild-card playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
awilson@baltsun.com
twitter.com/RavensInsiderQuote Changed App Config
launch/0/type: default
launch/1/type: default
launch/2/config/oslist: linux
launch/2/description: Launch
launch/2/executable: Binaries/Linux/RocketLeague
launch/2/type: default
Thanks as usual to SteamDB, it seems Rocket League is making preparations for the promised Linux & SteamOS version.Hooray!I can't wait to get some games going, I've been wanting to try it badly ever since I first heard about it. Hopefully the wait is nearly over!The last we heard is that it would be out before the Xbox One version next month, so I'm hoping for the end of this month.This could easily be the next game we end up doing a tournament for after our current GRID Autosport tournament is finished, but it depends on the release date.(Official)Soccer meets driving once again in the long-awaited, physics-based sequel to the beloved arena classic, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars!A futuristic Sports-Action game, Rocket League, equips players with booster-rigged vehicles that can be crashed into balls for incredible goals or epic saves across multiple, highly-detailed arenas. Using an advanced physics system to simulate realistic interactions, Rocket League relies on mass and momentum to give players a complete sense of intuitive control in this unbelievable, high-octane re-imagining of association football.Former NHL defenseman Sergei Zubov was named an assistant coach of the Russian national team on Monday, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation website.
Zubov will be responsible for coaching the defensemen and help prepare the national team for the 2016 World Championship in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. Zubov said he will remain an assistant coach of SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League, in addition to helping head coach Oleg Znarok.
Zubov, who played in the NHL for 16 seasons with the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Dallas Stars, will also help prepare the national team for the 2016 World Cup and 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
Zubov, 44, won the Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1994 and the Stars in 1999. He played in 1,068 NHL games, including 12 seasons with the Stars. He had 152 goals and 619 assists in the regular season and 24 goals and 93 assists in 164 career games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
He won a gold medal with the Unified Team at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. Zubov also represented the Soviet Union in three IIHF World Junior Championship tournaments and one Under-18 European Championship.The Bayern Munich boss took a swipe at the media after receiving criticism for his team selection and admits he does not know if he is a better coach than Jose Mourinho
Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola has hit back at the media for criticising his team selection, insisting that players have to convince him that they deserve to play, not journalists.
Reports in Germany have suggested players are not entirely happy with Guardiola's style, suggesting they do not understand his methods.
The coach left Mario Gotze out of Saturday's DFL-Supercup defeat to Wolfsburg, which prompted further questions from reporters.
"We played in a competitive match, Mario Gotze did not play, you might also ask about Arjen Robben or Thomas Muller," he said. "I cannot say in every press conference why one player or another did not play.
"Only 11 can play, the players know that and the press should too. Gotze is one of my favourite players. Last season he played in all of the games except two or three.
"But they have to try and convince me on the pitch in every game, not in the past. They have to convince me, not journalists."
Ex-Bayern and Germany player Lothar Matthaus also took a pop at the Spaniard, claiming Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is the better coach, though Guardiola was not interested in comparing himself to his former Real Madrid rival.
"Everyone can criticise. Journalists can also criticise me. Mourinho is one of the best coaches in the world. I don’t know if I’m the best, I’m not here to be the best coach in the world, but to give the best for the team.
"If we win, they say we’re good, if we don’t win, they say the players don’t understand me, there’s drama. Everything depends on the outcome."
Guardiola's former charge at Barcelona, Pedro, has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United, with Louis van Gaal admitting he would add a lot to the team.
And the 44-year-old believes that the winger is good enough to feature for any team in the world before discussing Bastian Schweinsteiger's move to Old Trafford.
"There is no doubt about it. He is European champion for his country, with his team he is La Liga champion. He is champion of everything. When you play lots of matches for a team such as Barca you can play in any team in the world.
"He has played in lots of positions and I wish him well, he’s a good player and a good guy.”
"Schweinsteiger, if he doesn’t have any injury problems, I am convinced will triumph and play for Manchester United. It’s a shame that in the last two years he’s had several injuries and he was not 100 per cent."The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, to recognise Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or meritorious service. Before the establishment of the order, Australian citizens received British honours.
The Queen of Australia is Sovereign Head of the Order,[2] while the Governor-General is Principal Companion/Dame/Knight (as relevant at the time) and Chancellor of the Order. The Governor-General's Official Secretary, currently Paul Singer, is Secretary of the Order.
Levels of membership [ edit ]
The order is divided into a general and a military division. The five levels of appointment to the order in descending order of seniority have been:
Knight and Dame of the Order of Australia (AK and AD – discontinued, original quota of 4 per annum);[note 1][3][4][5] Companion of the Order of Australia (AC – quota of 35 per annum);[5] Officer of the Order of Australia (AO – quota of 140 per annum);[5] Member of the Order of Australia (AM – quota of 365 per annum);[5] and Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM – no quota).[note 3]
Honorary awards at all levels may be made to deserving non-citizens – these awards are made additional to the quotas.
Insignia [ edit ]
The badge of the Order of Australia is a convex disc (gold for AKs, ADs and ACs, gilt for AOs, AMs and OAMs) representing the Golden Wattle flower. At the centre is a ring, representing the sea, with the word 'Australia' below two branches of golden wattle. The whole disc is topped by the Crown of St Edward. The AC badge is decorated with citrines, blue enamelled ring, and enamelled crown. The AO badge is similar, without the citrines. For the AM badge, only the crown is enamelled, and the OAM badge is plain. The AK/AD badge is similar to that of the AC badge, but with the difference that it contains at the centre an enamelled disc bearing an image of the coat of arms of Australia.[note 1]
The star for knights and dames is a convex golden disc decorated with citrines, with a blue royally crowned inner disc bearing an image of the coat of arms of Australia.[note 1]
The ribbon of the order is blue with a central stripe of golden wattle flower designs; that of the military division has additional golden edge stripes. AKs,[note 1] male ACs and AOs wear their badges on a necklet; male AMs and OAMs wear them on a ribbon on the left chest. Women usually wear their badges on a bow on the left shoulder, although they may wear the same insignia as males if so desired.
A gold lapel pin for daily wear is issued with each badge of the order at the time of investiture; AK/AD[note 1] and AC lapel pins feature a citrine central jewel, AO and AM lapel pins have a blue enamelled centre and OAM lapel pins are plain.
The order's insignia was designed by Stuart Devlin.
Membership [ edit ]
The Order currently consists of four levels (one discontinued) and the medal, in both general and military divisions. Since 2015, the knight/dame level has been discontinued on the advice of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Awards of Knight and Dame of the Order have been made in the general division only.[note 4]
While State Governors can present the Officer and Member level and the Medal of the Order of Australia to their respective state's residents, only the Queen of Australia or the Governor-General can present the Companion level (and previously also the Knight/Dame level).[6]
Award criteria in detail [ edit ]
The different levels of the Order are awarded according to the recipients' levels of achievement:
General Division : "Extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or to humanity at large".
: "Extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or to humanity at large". Military Division: Not awarded in the military division.
There was a quota of four per year, excluding honorary appointments. The Knight- and Damehoods were conferred from 1976 to 1983, and from 2014 to 2015, and thus are not currently awarded.[5]
Companion (AC) [ edit ]
General Division – 'Eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or to humanity at large'.
– 'Eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or to humanity at large'. Military Division – 'Eminent service in duties of great responsibility'.
Excluding honorary appointments, until 2003, no more than 25 Companions were appointed in any calendar year. In 2003 this was increased to 30.[7] This was increased in 2016 to 35.[8]
Officer (AO) [ edit ]
General Division – 'Distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or to humanity at large'.
– 'Distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or to humanity at large'. Military Division – 'Distinguished service in responsible positions'.
Prior to 2003, the quota was 100 Officers appointed in any calendar year. In 2003 this was increased to 125.[7] This was increased in 2016 to 140.[8]
Member (AM) [ edit ]
General Division – 'Service in a particular locality or field of activity or to a particular group'.
– 'Service in a particular locality or field of activity or to a particular group'. Military Division – 'Exceptional service or performance of duty'.
Prior to 2003, the quota was 225 Members appointed in any calendar year. This was increased to 300 in 2003,[7] to 340 in 2016,[8] and to 365 in 2018.[9]
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) [ edit ]
General Division – 'Service worthy of particular recognition'
– 'Service worthy of particular recognition' Military Division – 'Meritorious service or performance of duty'.
There are no quota limits on awards of the Medal of the Order.
Nomination process [ edit ]
Since 1976 any person may nominate any Australian citizen for an award. The nominations are reviewed by the Council for the Order of Australia,[5] and then approved by the Governor-General. The Order is awarded on Australia Day and on the Queen's Birthday public holiday in June, when public announcements are made about new awards, on the occasion of a special announcement by the Governor-General (usually honorary awards), and on the appointment of a new Governor-General.
People who are not Australian citizens may be awarded honorary membership of the Order at all levels.
Appointments to the Order are not made posthumously; however, if a nominee dies after accepting an appointment but before the relevant announcement date, the appointment stands and it is announced as having effect from no later than the date of the nominee's death.
Awardees may subsequently resign from the Order, and also may have their award cancelled by the Governor-General.[note 5]
Appointment process [ edit ]
A nomination for an Order of Australia award starts with an Australian citizen filling in a confidential form and submitting it to the Honours Secretariat at Government House in Canberra.[10][11] This form is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act.[12]
The nomination forms are given to the Council for the Order of Australia.[5] Who attends meetings of the council and reasoning as to why a nomination either did or did not result in an appointment is confidential.[13] The council makes recommendations to the governor-general, who presents the order's insignia to new appointees,[5] The council may also advise the governor-general to remove an individual from the order.[14][15]
Announcements of all awards, cancellations and resignations appear in the Commonwealth Gazette. People awarded honours have the option of not having the information appear on the "It's an Honour" website.[16]
History [ edit ]
Establishment [ edit ]
The Order of Australia was established on 14 February 1975 by letters patent of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Australia, the Australian monarch, and countersigned by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. The original order had three levels: Companion (AC), Officer (AO) and Member (AM) as well as two divisions: Civil Division and Military Division. At the time it was also announced that Australian prime ministers would no longer nominate persons for British Imperial honours, but this new practice did not extend to nominations by state premiers.
On 24 May 1976, the level of Knight (AK) and Dame (AD) and the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), were created by the Queen on the advice of Whitlam's successor, Malcolm Fraser, and the Civil Division was renamed the General Division. The level of Knight/Dame was awarded only in the General Division.
The original three-level structure of the Order of Australia was modelled closely upon the Order of Canada,[17][18] though the Order of Australia has been awarded rather more liberally, especially in regard to honorary awards to foreigners. To date, only 24 non-Canadians have been appointed to the Order of Canada, while more than 390 non-Australians have been appointed to the Order of Australia, with 40 to the "Companion" level.
Knights and dames [ edit ]
The neck badge of a Knight of the Order of Australia appeared at the base of the coat of arms of Sir Ninian Stephen
Following the 1983 federal election, Prime Minister Bob Hawke advised the abolition of the knight/dame level. On 3 March 1986, the Queen co-signed letters patent revoking the level, with existing knights and dames not being affected by the change. In the period 1976–1983, twelve knights and two dames were created, all but one of whom, (Prince Charles), are now deceased.
On 19 March 2014, Prime Minister Tony Abbott advised the Queen to reinstate the level of knight/dame and the Queen co-signed letters patent to bring this into effect. The change was publicly announced on 25 March, and gazetted on 17 April 2014.[19] Up to four knights and/or dames could be appointed each year, by the Queen of Australia on the advice of the Prime Minister of Australia after consultation with the Chairman of the Order of Australia Council.[3][20]
Five awards of knight and dame were then made, to the outgoing Governor-General, Quentin Bryce; her successor, Peter Cosgrove; a recent Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Houston; a recent Governor of New South Wales, Marie Bashir; and Prince Philip.
The Australian Labor Party continued to oppose knighthoods and damehoods. Leader of the opposition Bill Shorten stated in March 2014 that the party would again discontinue the level if it were to win the next Australian federal election.[21]
Abbott's tenure as prime minister ended in September 2015 due to a second leadership spill which he lost to republican Malcolm Turnbull. Some commentators believe Abbott's declining popularity was in part attributed to the furore that ensued after he bestowed a knighthood on Prince Philip in the Australia Day honours for 2015. Abbott survived a first leadership spill two weeks later. A subsequent spill saw him replaced by former head of the Australian Republican Movement, Malcolm Turnbull. Two months after coming into office, on 2 November 2015, Prime Minister Turnbull announced that the Queen had approved his request to amend the Order's letters patent and cease awards at this level, after Cabinet had at his suggestion agreed that the titles were no longer appropriate in the modern awards system.[22][23] Existing titles would not be affected.[4] The move was attacked by monarchists[24] and praised by republicans.[25][26] The amendments to the constitution of the Order were gazetted on 22 December 2015.[27]
Current membership [ edit ]
Officials of the order [ edit ]
Royal members [ edit ]
Charles, Prince of Wales was appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK) on 14 March 1981. As he is not an Australian citizen, even though he is the heir to the Australian throne, this would have required the award to be honorary. To overcome this issue, his appointment was created by amendment to the constitution of the Order of Australia by special letters patent signed by the Queen, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.[28]
In March 2014 the knight and dame levels, which had been abolished in 1986 by Prime Minister Bob Hawke, were reintroduced to the Order of Australia by Tony Abbott. At the same time, Abbott announced that future appointments at this level would be recommended by the prime minister alone, rather than by the Council of the Order of Australia, as is the case with all lower levels of the order. In accordance with the statutes of 2014, |
Commentaries on the Laws of England, by 1769 the common law had recognized that even a prostitute could suffer rape if she had not consented to the act.[14]
Section 16 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828 read as follows:
And be it enacted, That every Person convicted of the Crime of Rape shall suffer Death as a Felon
Here, "death as a felon" means death by hanging and confiscation of the land and good, which were pronounced against felons, as opposed to the quartering which befell traitors. "Thus it was assumed that the definition of rape was so well understood and established by the common law of England that a statutory definition was unnecessary."[15] The death penalty for rape was abolished by section 3 of the Substitution of Punishments for Death Act 1841 which substituted transportation for life. Transportation was abolished by the Penal Servitude Act 1857, which substituted penal servitude for life. These sections were replaced by section 48 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. Penal Servitude was abolished by the Criminal Justice Act 1948, which substituted imprisonment for life. These sections were replaced by sections 1(1) and 37(3) of, and paragraph 1(a) of the Second Schedule to the Sexual Offences Act 1956.
In January 1982, the Government accepted an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill the effect of which, if enacted, would be to compel judges to sentence men convicted of rape to imprisonment. This followed a case earlier that month in which John Allen, 33, businessman and convicted of raping a 17-year-old hitchhiker, had been fined £2,000 by Judge Bernard Richard, who alleged the victim's "contributory negligence"[16][17]
The final paragraph of section 4 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 provided that it was rape for a man to have carnal knowledge of a married woman by impersonating her husband. This provision was replaced by section 1(2) of the Sexual Offences Act 1956.
Rape ceased to be a felony on 1 January 1968 as a result of the abolition of the distinction between felony and misdemeanour by the Criminal Law Act 1967.
The definition of rape at common law was discussed in DPP v. Morgan [1976] AC 182, [1975] 2 WLR 913, [1975] 2 All ER 347, 61 Cr App R 136, [1975] Crim LR 717, HL.
A statutory definition of "rape" was provided by section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976. This was intended to give effect to the Report of the Advisory Group on the Law of Rape (Cmnd 6352) and to the opinions expressed by the House of Lords in DPP v. Morgan.[18]
It read:
(1)For the purposes of section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 (which relates to rape) a man commits rape if— (a)he has unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman who at the time of the intercourse does not consent to it; and (b)at that time he knows that she does not consent to the intercourse or he is reckless as to whether she consents to it; and references to rape in other enactments (including the following provisions of this Act) shall be construed accordingly.
In R v R[19][20] it was held that the word "unlawful" in that section did not exclude "marital rape" (see Marital rape#England and Wales).
Section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 was substituted on the 3 November 1994 by section 142 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, providing a new and broader definition:
“ (1) It is an offence for a man to rape a woman or another man.
(2) A man commits rape if - (a) he has sexual intercourse with a person (whether vaginal or anal) who at the time of the intercourse does not consent to it; and (b) at the time he knows that the person does not consent to the intercourse or is reckless as to whether that person consents to it. (3) A man also commits rape if he induces a married woman to have sexual intercourse with him by impersonating her husband.
(4) Subsection (2) applies for the purposes of any enactment. ”
The effect of this was to make what is termed male rape amount to the offence rape instead of (where it took place in private and both parties were over 18 - s.12(1A) as substituted) or in addition to (in all other cases) the offence of buggery. The first person to be convicted under the wider definition (for attempted rape) was Andrew Richards on 9 June 1995.[21] The word "unlawful" did not appear in this section because of R v R.
That section was replaced on 1 May 2004 by section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, providing a still broader definition. References to vaginal or anal sexual intercourse were replaced by references to penile penetration of the vagina, anus or mouth. It also altered the requirements of the defence of mistaken belief in consent so that one's belief must be now both genuine and reasonable. Presumptions against that belief being reasonably held also now apply when violence is used or feared, the complainant is unconscious, unlawfully detained, drugged, or is by reason of disability unable to communicate a lack of consent. The change in this belief test from the old subjective test (what the defendant thought, reasonably or unreasonably) to an objective test was the subject of some debate (see [4] and [5]), as it permits a man to be convicted of rape if he thought a person was consenting, were the circumstances thought by a jury to be unreasonable.
Capacity
At common law a boy under the age of fourteen years could not commit rape as a principal offender[22] as he was irrebutably presumed to be incapable of sexual intercourse. This rule was abolished by section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1993. A boy under the age of fourteen years could commit rape as an accomplice.[23]
It was never decided whether a boy under fourteen could be convicted of attempting to commit rape as a principal, rather than an accomplice, if he attempted to have sexual intercourse or actually succeeded in doing so. The reported dicta did not agree on this point.[24]
A woman could not commit rape as a principal offender, by the nature of the offence, but she could commit rape as an accomplice.[25]
Attempt [ edit ]
Section 37(3) of, and paragraph 1(b) of the Second Schedule to, the Sexual Offences Act 1956 provided that a person guilty of an attempt to commit rape was liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years. Attempted rape became a statutory offence under section 1(1) of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981. But the maximum penalty was not affected by this.[26] The maximum penalty for attempted rape was increased to imprisonment for life by sections 3(1) and (2) of the Sexual Offences Act 1985.
In the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976, the expression "a rape offence" included:[27]
attempted rape
aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring attempted rape
Compensation [ edit ]
Special provision was made in relation to rape by sections 109(3)(a) and 111(6) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.
See also [ edit ]
Key cases related to deceit and consent in the context of rape charges in the UK:
UK undercover policing relationships scandal - police officers obtained sex by deceiving as to their identity, as part of their duties
R v Linekar [1995] 3 All ER 69 73 - case in which Court of Appeal gave rulings on cases of "rape by fraud" in English law
Notes [ edit ]
^ R v Assange in this instance should not be confused with a 1996 Australian case by that name relating to unauthorized computer use.[4] in this instance should not be confused with a 1996 Australian case by that name relating to unauthorized computer use.One of the staple criticisms of Richard Dawkins—the Official Lightning Rod of New Atheism™—is that his stridency turns people away from evolution as well as from atheism, so that he actually converts people into both creationists and, if they were originally nonbelievers, religionists.
The former criticism is nonsense, of course. I’ve never in my life met someone who told me, “You know, I’d accept the truth of evolution if only Dawkins would shut up about atheism!” In contrast, there are hundreds of people whom Richard has drawn to the truth of evolution through his many books and lectures on the topics. For those who says he’s hurting the cause of science, let them adduce some evidence!
Until today, the other criticism—that his strident and shrill “militancy” has the same counterproductive effect on nonbelievers, turning them into Goddies—has also gone unevidenced. But there was, again, plenty of evidence to the contrary. Exhibit 1 is what used to be called Dawkins’s “Converts Corner,” now called simply “Letters, Converts“. There are 120 pages of these, each page containing 12 letters. If you do the math, that’s 1440 people who wrote in, most testifying that Richard’s writings, especially The God Delusion, helped wean them from their childish superstitions. And until now that mountain of evidence completely refuted any claims that Richard turned atheists into believers.
Now, however, we have precisely two testimonies of how Richard has changed atheists back into believers.
They’re both recounted in an article in the Torygraph by Damian Thompson, “Is Richard Dawkins leading people to Jesus?” That’s a pretty provocative title given that the “people” number two—or rather, as we’ll see, 1.25.
Here’s Thompson’s first story about a friend:
My schoolfriend Michael – an atheist for decades – rang me the other night and told me he’d returned to the Catholic Church. “And you’ll never guess who converted me,” he said. “Your wife?” “No! It was Richard Dawkins!” He explained that he was, and is, a huge admirer of Dawkins the biologist. (I’m with him there: I read The Blind Watchmaker when it first came out and was blown away.) “But then I read The God Delusion and it was… total crap. So bad that I started questioning my own atheism. Then he started tweeting.” Like a loony on top of the bus, no? “Exactly!”
Well, this person’s atheism must have been pretty shaky to begin with if it was finally overturned by tw**ts. After all, the strongest argument for atheism, the lack of evidence for Gods, isn’t much affected by what Richard says on Tw**ter. And if “Michael” said that The God Delusion was “total crap,” well, even if he didn’t like the lack of Sophisticated Theology™ in that book, it’s hard for me to see anything there that would drive someone into the arms of Jesus. It’s as if you read a bad critique of homeopathy on the internet by someone who, say, mistook it for herbal medicine, and became so incensed that you started taking homeopathic medicine. As with God, the lack of support is widespread if you simply look beyond one source. There are, after all, more books on atheism than just The God Delusion.
Thompson also links to an article by Judith Babarsky at the “Dead Philosophers Society” at the Holy Apostles College and Seminary, “Reading Richard Dawkins led to my conversion.” An excerpt:
Truthfully, I found [The God Delusion] a waste of my time as it afforded me no cogent arguments concerning the existence or non-existence of God. In fact, not only was Dawkins disrespectful of opinions other than his own, I found his statements about Jesus to be so ill-informed (and, mind you, I was no fount of scholarly information myself) that I resolved to actually learn something about Jesus Christ. Reading Dawkins challenged me to go beyond my comfort zone and honestly confront the issues holding me back from a full commitment to faith. My sense of The God Delusion is that it is written as a testimony to Dawkins’ belief system (which I call fundamentalist atheism) and that the author cherry picks convenient quotes to bolster his opinion that esteemed scientists (such as Einstein) couldn’t possibly be ignorant enough to actually believe in a supernatural God, no matter what they may have said to the contrary. In fact, anyone with any intelligence at all couldn’t possible believe in a supernatural God. Dawkins is preaching to his atheist choir and evidently they loved the book based on their many five-star recommendations of it. But in that sense, Dawkins is no different than the many Christian authors who write in a similar manner. There is a pre-judgment that whoever disagrees with the premise of the book is, essentially, an idiot! Well, I don’t like to be called an idiot.... And that was the beginning of the last leg of my journey to conversion to Catholicism.
Babarsky gets this wrong: Dawkins wasn’t preaching to the choir, but to those on the fence. And the evidence (yes, that’s right, evidence) suggests that he was extraordinarily effective. The notion that he was calling believers “essentially, idiots” is Babarsky’s own take, not something Richard says in this book. Her “conversion” was apparently based on a reflexive reaction to her own offended sentiments.
Unfortunately, Thompson misrepresents this letter, for at the beginning Babarsky says this:
Recently returned from a Mission Trip, we headed straight to our family week long beach vacation. On fire from my week in Canada surrounded by mostly Catholics, I must have appeared overly zealous to my eldest stepdaughter. An avowed atheist, she recommended I read Richard Dawkins’, The God Delusion, which had been suggested to her by her fallen away cradle Catholic boyfriend. Never one to shrink from a challenge to my admittedly unexamined faith in one God, I was intrigued and logged onto Amazon to check out the book. I immediately bought it and began reading.
She was already religious, and not just superficially so, as she’d been on a “Mission Trip.” She was also primed for Catholicism. All Dawkins’s book reportedly did was give her the shove to fully embrace the Catholicism she must have been contemplating.
So let’s calculate. If we count Babarsky as, say, 0.25 of a reverse convert, since she was apparently a committed Christian to begin with, we have 1.25 reverse converts to Christianity here, compared to about 1440 converts to nonbelief. The ratio of Dawkin’s effectiveness, then, if you count a ratio of 1 as “neutral” (as many converts to nonbelief as to belief) and 0 as “totally ineffective” (no converts to nonbelief, some to belief) is 1152. I’d say that’s a high index of effectiveness!
But Thompson, riding the Journalistic Gravy Train to Hell, must conclude otherwise (you can’t praise Dawkins in the Torygraph), and ends his piece like this:
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I might conclude that Prof Dawkins secretly converted to Christianity decades ago, and then asked himself: “How can I best win souls? By straightforward argument, or by turning myself from a respected academic into a comic figure fulminating against religion like a fruitcake at Speakers’ Corner, thereby discrediting atheism?”
Really? REALLY? Dawkins has converted over 1100 individuals to nonbelief for every person he’s reportedly turned to Christianity. How does that make him effective as a tout for Jesus?
I don’t like to call people names here, but Thompson, in this last paragraph, not only completely distorts the facts, but gratuitously insults a gentle though passionate man, one deeply wedded to reason who, because of that, has attracted the opprobrium of faitheists and underemployed journalists everywhere. I’ll equate Thompson to the south end of an equid facing north.LogoWatch exclusive In April last year, London design outfit FHD proudly announced it would be rebranding the UK's Office of Government Commerce (OGC) - the HM Treasury tentacle "responsible for improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement".
FHD's MD Adrian Day trumpeted to the sound of whalesong: “We are seeing growing demand from clients for consultancy support that spans branding, strategic and stakeholder communications, and this brief from OGC and OGCbuying.solutions is a perfect example of the need for a more integrated, informed approach to branding. We have worked on a number of successful corporate branding projects in the past few months and this project is an exciting new win for the business.”
Catherine Hastings, director of communications at the OGC, chipped in with: “We were impressed with the integrated approach FHD had to offer, which combined expertise in workings of government.”
So far so good - nothing more exciting than some traditional Strategy Boutique Newspeak. However, the wheels came off this particular rebrand in spectacular style when the new logo was presented to OGC staff.
According to an inside source, the graphic had allegedly already been inscribed onto mousemats and pens in anticipation of its imminent deployment, but it took OGC foot soldiers around 20 seconds to realise why this particular bit of joss-stick-driven madness was going to end in tears (of laughter):
On dear, oh dear.* Well, at least it appears that FHD really does have expertise "in workings of government", as a quick 90 clockwise rotation reveals.
Quite remarkably, our informant suggested that, having spent the cash, OGC intends to roll out the logo anyway. Well, we contacted the OGC for comment, and a spokesman gamely explained: "The OGC is currently overhauling the design of its corporate materials following a new strategy and forward direction. As part of this, the OGC has been developing a new visual identity, one aspect of which is a new logo.
"The proposed version, which you have sent over, has been shared with staff, and is now going through final technical stages. It is true that it caused a few titters among some staff when viewed on its side, but on consideration we concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters 'OGC' - and is not inappropriate to an organisation that's looking to have a firm grip on government spend!"
He concluded: "The new identity has been extremely well received, as it presents a very clean, uncluttered and modern identity."
The mind boggles. For the record, and in case you'd like to get your hands on a rebranded OGC mousemat, we gather staff have stripped the building of every example not nailed down, so check eBay later this week for your five-knuckle shuffle collectable. ®
Bootnote
*You're right - that's not enough "oh dears". Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...
Oh yes, we contacted FHD for a comment, but no one had got back to us at time of publication.Get the biggest Everton FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Everton FC Under-21 manager Alan Stubbs is set to be appointed Hibernian boss.
The Edinburgh club are poised to unveil the 42-year-old on Monday with David Unsworth tipped to follow him from Goodison Park as his number two.
Hibs sacked Terry Butcher on June 10 after just seven months in charge as the former England defender presided over their relegation from the Scottish Premiership when they lost a two-leg play-off against Hamilton Academical.
Stubbs appears to have beaten off competition from former Hibernian assistant manager Mark Venus to land his first managerial position having impressed Easter Road chief executive Leann Dempster in what have been described as ‘positive talks.’
Barring any late change of heart, Dempster is now ready to recommend Stubbs’ appointment to the board.
A lifelong Evertonian from Kikby, Stubbs started his playing career with Bolton Wanderers and overcame testicular cancer while at Celtic to earn a dream move to Goodison.
He went on to make 193 appearances in two spells with the Blues, leading them to their highest ever Premier League finish (4th) as captain in 2005.
Stubbs joined the coaching staff at Everton in 2008 and last summer was one of the internal candidates to be interviewed by Bill Kenwright to succeed David Moyes before Roberto Martinez landed the role.
For all the latest Everton FC news, click hereThe Death Of Boris Yegorovich
Once upon a time, there lived a second-guild merchant in the city of Moscow, named Yegor Kirillovich. He had four sons, named Mikhail, Ivan, Konstantin, and Boris. Mikhail was the strongest of the four, and became a well-known soldier in the armies of the Tsar. Ivan was the most virtuous of the four, and decided from a young age that he would spend his days in contemplation of God. Of the four, Konstantin was the most charming, and it was correctly said that he would make his way quickly through the Table of Ranks.
Boris was the youngest of the four, and he was neither strong nor virtuous, and certainly not charming. But he had smarts to spare and excelled in all of his studies. Although he was mostly interested in medicine, it was decided that he would take on his father's business. However, even as he learned more of the ways of the world, Boris feared his death. He knew the inevitability with which his work and profit would be washed away. And so Boris was very unhappy.
While Boris' brothers were just as much his father's sons as he, Boris was known as Boris the Merchant's Son.
However, one day Boris the Merchant's Son was looking in a market at the base of a tower when he came upon a thick, blue book with inlays like fine flaxen hair. He opened the book and found that it was full of diagrams of rituals and tables of pronunciations. The rituals were for impossible things, like speaking to the dead or walking through walls. As he read, Boris' lips bent into a crooked smile. He bought the book and read it at home, hoping to find a way to avoid death. There he found many wondrous things, but he did not find how to avoid death. Although filled with wonder and hope, Boris was still unhappy.
This was how Boris the Merchant's Son became Boris the Sorcerer.
One day, Boris the Sorcerer was practicing a particularly difficult spell from a particularly difficult book. Since he had found the book, Boris had immersed himself in magic. He had torn at it with ravenous hunger, stuffing into his mouth with both hands. He had learned many wondrous things, and had learned them not by days but by hours. But still he sought to save himself from death, and still he could not. And still he was unhappy.
The spell he was practicing involved the speaking of words in a language that had been dead since the reign of thrice nine tsars, and would end with a pound of wheat transforming into a pound of grasshoppers. The gnarled stump of a man who had sold it to him had assured Boris that the book had been torn from the walls of Jacob Bruce's own home. Boris doubted it, but the spells seemed straightforward enough.
Upon hearing that his son was destroying a pound of flour, Boris' father, Yegor, who had always hoped that Boris the Merchant's Son would someday become Boris the Merchant, was furious. His face became red like a hot iron.
"My son!" he bellowed as he burst into the room, "What are you doing!? That's perfectly good grain you're wasting! And what is that infernal chattering you're engaged in!? Why are you not at you studies? Why do you waste your time with this nonsense!?"
Boris was startled when his father burst in, and fumbled the words to the spell. The grain turned into a pound of ladybugs, which dispersed and skittered away into the cracks in the floor. Boris spun around and shouted at his father "You blockhead! You dundering oaf! How dare you interrupt me like that! Do you know what might have happened had I been working on a serious spell!?" Boris lept forward in rage, and struck his father. For a moment, Yegor the Merchant was frozen with shock.
But after a moment, the shock in Yegor the Merchant's eyes vanished, replaced by fiery anger. "GET OUT!" he bellowed, "I HAVE ONLY THREE SONS! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" He grabbed a large copper samovar from the table and hurled it at Boris' head. For a second, Boris believed that this would be his end, laid low by a tea heater. At the last moment, the samovar went wide, smashing into the wall next to him.
"OUT!" Boris didn't need to be told twice. He rushed to his room and gathered whatever books of magic he could carry. A lamp crashed into the wall next to his head. Boris lept out the window, his father's curses and missiles flying after him.
When he had run far enough, Boris stopped. His heart beat like a hammer, and his lungs breathed fire. "Now I must work for my living," he thought to himself, "But how…?" Then Boris the Sorcerer hit upon an idea, one which made the ends of his mouth curl up with joy.
This was how Boris the Sorcerer became Boris the Worker of Small Wonders.
Boris the Worker of Small Wonders had a shop in Khitrovka, where he worked his small wonders. Even with the location, Boris' reputation for small miracles was such that drew the rich and powerful, as well as the poor and seedy. The money made little difference to him; it was just a means to more learning. He brewed potions of love and success, read palms, and communicated with the dead. However, unlike most of his fellow workers of small wonders, Boris actually did work the wonders he claimed to. It was simple work, and he saw it as good practice.
Boris' father's word was truly a merchant's word. One year and one day after he had disowned Boris, he died in quite curious circumstances. When Boris heard the news, he gave a grin so wide you could count his yellow teeth.
Three days before the funeral, Boris' eldest brother, Mikhail, came to the shop, covered in so many medals it looked as though he wore the night sky on his chest.
"Come to father's funeral, Boris," he harrumphed from behind a luxuriant mustache, "That's an order! I know you and he never got along, but you're his son! It's only proper!" Boris said nothing, and only smiled. Mikhail the Soldier left burning with frustration.
Two days before the funeral, Boris' second eldest brother, Ivan, came to the shop, so covered in gold and white thread, it was as if he wore the sun.
"Come to father's funeral, Boris," he intoned behind a thick beard, "I know you and father had your differences, but it's what God would want." Boris didn't say a word, and flinched slightly at the word "God." Ivan the Priest left uttering prayers for his brother's soul.
On the day before the funeral, Boris was visited by his third-eldest brother, Konstantin, who wore such fine clothes it was as though the angels of heaven had sewn them.
"Boris, go to father's funeral," he said with a voice like velvet, "I didn't like him either. If you ask me, he could have stood to be slapped around a bit more. But it looks bad if one of my brothers misses his own father's funeral." Boris laughed in Konstanin's face. Konstantin the Politician left Boris' shop, unable to reach a compromise.
The day his father was put into the ground, Boris slept in, picked his nose, studied a book bound with human flesh, read a palm, farted, and went to sleep.
This was how Boris the Worker of Small Wonders became Boris the Bastard.
Boris the Bastard had a prosperous business, for despite his name, he still worked wonders, both small and large. He had attracted the interest of several young ladies of good reputation, and many more of lesser reputation. His magical studies came along steadily. His father was dead, having been eaten by something from the inside out. And yet, Boris was still uneasy. The magical books of Moscow were only so many, and he felt he was no closer to saving himself from death. He felt the rumblings in the streets, and knew that it was only a matter of time before something bad would break out. And bad things that broke out tended to break seedy, unpleasant lechs who worked as workers of wonders.
Then, on the last page of the last book in Boris' collection, he read about a place called the Library, where the books of all of all the worlds were held. It would be there that he would find his cure. There was a ritual for finding passage in Moscow, but the book warned that it involved A Grave And Terrible Sin, Unforgivable By God. Boris' lips twisted into a queer little smile as he read, his teeth yellow and crooked.
And that was how Boris the Worker of Small Wonders became Boris the Wanderer.
Boris spent many long months and years in the Library. Some of the other patrons were from Moscow, and knew what he had done to get there. They hissed at him and called him a miserable wretch. But Boris made sure to never break any of the rules of the Library, and so everyone had to leave him alone. Boris studied and studied alone, leafing through book after book in search of a cure for his death.
But he found none. Boris wailed and gnashed his teeth as he thought about how unfair it was that the same fate awaited him, Boris Yegorovich, Boris the Wanderer as awaited his father and his father's father and so on from the dawn of time. A creature with a body like a spider, but the face of a man, told him to be quiet in a voice that sounded like rustling papers. Boris obeyed, and continued to read.
He found that he could not disappear his death, but he could take it out of himself. Several wizards had done it in the past, but their death had always been found somewhere. No matter how well it was hidden, some wandering young third son would come along and grab it, rendering the poor wizard helpless. Boris pondered what to do, knowing he didn't want to remove his death until he knew where to put it.
When Boris found himself back in Moscow, he saw that something had indeed broken. The tides changed and things were turned upside-down minute by minute. The old Tsar of All of Russia had been laid low. Now some man who looked like his brother Konstantin declared himself Tsar of the People. Then just a few months later, he too had been overthrown by a man claiming to be Tsar of the Workers. Now the lands were divided between many Tsars - White Tsars, Red Tsars, Tsars of the Peasants, Tsars of the Mountains, Tsars of the Desert, Tsars of the Anarchists. As Tsar fought Tsar, and their armies clashed across the land, Boris knew that this was his time. But he puzzled and puzzled on what to do with it.
Then, one day, he learned that the Red Tsar would wipe away thirteen days from the calendar. Boris' thin lips curled into a terrible smile. He knew when his death would be. But to make his way to the Moscow-That-Wasn't, the Moscow of the first day of February, Boris knew he needed ingredients. He had them all, from amethyst to witch's eye. He had them all but three.
"What is it, brother?" Mikhail asked as he made his way into Boris' shop. His uniform was thread-bare and splattered with mud. The medals were all tarnished. "What was so important I was called away from fighting the bloodthirsty menace?" Boris smiled, and bade Mikhail the Soldier to come closer.
And that was the last anyone heard of Mikhail the Soldier.
"What is it, brother?" Ivan asked as he entered the shop. His robes were torn, and he had received brutal slashings on both cheeks. "What is so important that I have been called away from praying for the soul of this nation?" Boris grinned and beckoned for Ivan the Priest to come nearer.
And that was the last anyone heard of Ivan the Priest.
"What is it, brother?" Konstantin asked as he came into the shop. His clothes were severe, because the clothes of a representative of the workers, particularly one who had until recently been a Kadet, had to be acceptably worn. "What is so important you have dragged me away from penning polemics on behalf of the masses?" Boris giggled and asked Konstantin the Politician to come towards him.
And that was the last anyone heard of Konstantin the Poltician.
Boris whistled to himself as he painted the bloody sigils in preparation for midnight. And that was how Boris the Wanderer became Boris the Three-Times-Damned.
At midnight, Boris the Three-Times-Damned walked through the sigils painted in the blood of three brothers. Outside, there was the sound of a bustling city. Then, as he stepped into the city of Moscow-That-Wasn't, all was silent as a forest in winter. He made his way from the back of his shop-that-wasn't, walking onto the streets of Moscow-That-Wasn't, on February 1st, 1918. The streets were empty. Not even a fly buzzed in the still city. Boris smiled.
Returning to his shop-that-wasn't, Boris prepared the ritual for removing his death. After several hours of frenzied work, plucked his death from his bare chest. He felt a sudden coolness in his arms and legs as he looked at the pale, slimy thing in his hand.
He took his death and stuffed it into an instant. With some difficulty, he threaded the instant through a moment. He rolled the moment into a split second; then doubled the split second into a whole second. The second was devoured by a minute, which was then stuffed inside of an hour. Finally, the hour containing his death became a day, a giant puffy thing. Boris' dry lips twisted into a smile. Even if someone could find the day of Boris' death in all of the thirteen days that weren't, and in all of Russia-That-Wasn't, the day would spit forth the hour of his death. If caught and cut open, the hour would release the minute of his death, which would be over in sixty seconds. Even if they caught the minute, they'd have to capture the second. And that's when the real challenge would begin for any would-be Boris-slayer. The second would yield a split-second, then a moment, and only then the instant. And only once they had caught the instant of his death, would Boris be vulnerable.
He took his death, wrapped up in a day, and made his way to the tallest church in all of Moscow-That-Wasn't. There he hung his death from the highest cross of the highest tower. Let some snot-nosed princeling try and get at that, he sniffed as he climbed down.
Boris wiped his brow and made his way to the portal, looking neither right nor left to the city of Moscow-That-Wasn't. This was how Boris the Three-Times-Damned became Boris the Undying.
One night, after my seventh drink, I told this very tale. An old man with a face like a coffin said to me "You know, even now, you may find Moscow-That-Wasn't. And if you determine the day, and find the hour, divine the minute, split the second, capture the moment, and snatch the instant, you may find the death of Boris Yegorovich."
He smiled "To go to that place, you must spill the blood of three brothers." He leaned in close, and his teeth were like stones and his breath was like death. "But don't fret. They needn't be yours. Any three will do." And I ran from that place, and spun on my head like a top three times.Boot is a build system for Clojure projects. It roughly competes in the same area as Leiningen but Boot's new version brings some interesting features to the table that make it an alternative worth assessing.
If you don't know what Boot is I recommend reading this post by one of Boot's authors first: Clojurescript Builds, Rebooted.
Compose Build Steps
If you've used Leiningen for more than packaging jars and uberjars you likely came across plugins like lein-cljsbuild or lein-garden, both compile your stuff into a target format (i.e. JS, CSS). Now if you want to run both of these tasks at the same time — which you probably want during development — you have two options: either you open two terminals and start them separately or you fall back to something like below that you run in a dev profile (this is how it's done in Chestnut):
(defn start-garden [] (future (print "Starting Garden.
") (lein/-main ["garden" "auto"])))
Now there are issues with both of these options in my opinion. Opening two terminals to initiate your development environment is just not very user friendly and putting code related to building the project into your codebase is boilerplate that unnecessarily can cause trouble by getting outdated.
What Boot allows developers to do is to write small composable tasks. These work somewhat similar to stateful transducers and ring middleware in that you can just combine them with regular function composition.
A Quick Example
Playing around with Boot, I tried to write a task. To test this task in an actual project I needed to install it into my local repository (in Leiningen: lein install ). Knowing that I'd need to reinstall the task constantly as I change it I was looking for something like Leiningen's Checkouts so I don't have to re-install after every change.
Turns out Boot can solve this problem in a very different way that illustrates the composing mechanism nicely. Boot defines a bunch of built-in tasks that help with packaging and installing a jar: pom, add-src, jar |
attention from the collapse of values, political justice, and rational discourse. Are these devices not unlike a fake substitute for a mother’s breast, as Fromm forewarned? They fill the gaping void, they are agents of what Daniel Quinn terms “mother culture”, they are the great “lie whispered in our ear”, Huxley’s soma, they are what Morris Berman quoting Winnicot calls transitional objects, they try to replace the gap, the lack, of what Jean Liedloff calls The Continuum Concept. Yet there can be no real substitute. And millions of deluded Americans wishing for a proto-fascist demagogues like Trump to turn back time to the 1950s isn’t a real solution either.
If demagogues, religious fundamentalists, war-mongerers, and stooges for global capitalism are ubiquitous on our screens and newsfeeds, the normalization of ignorant bigots like Trump accelerates, because it seems as if there are no exceptions, no leaders with any semblance of humanity on our monopolized airwaves. For liberals and court historians, there really are no alternatives, because the ideological blinders are so firmly implanted (see: The End of History and The World is Flat).
A few weeks back, CounterPunch and other alternative media fell victim to a (trademark in progress) “Bezos Drive-By”, with the publishing of this McCarthyite smear against the alternative media by the Washington Post. By the way, my marked-up paperback copy of Escape From Freedom has a blurb from the Washington Post on the front cover. How many current WP journos and editors do you think can spell Gemeinschaft? (For reference, there could be one at The New Yorker, though, as per the usual milquetoast from them, he doesn’t mention Marx, Hegel, Kant, or Freud once in his piece.) We’re taking bets, and I’m going with zero. There is a “trump card” though: you can win the entire pot by egging/silly-stringing/toilet-papering Craig Timberg’s car/house/face.
The accusations of Russian involvement are absurd, but they do make evident what Marcus termed One Dimensional Man: if you are not a friend or servile quisling of the US military or national security establishment, you must be a Ruskie agent, or at least an unwitting pawn.
The ascendancy of Trump is intimately bound up in the commercialization of public and politically oriented discourse, with deadly, narcotic effects. Here’s Habermas, from 1962:
“Today the conversation itself is administered. Professional dialogues from the podium, panel discussions, and round table shows- the rational debate of private people becomes one of the production numbers of the stars in radio and television…it assumes commodity form…discussion, now a ‘business,’ becomes formalized; the presentations of positions and counterpositions is bound to certain prearranged rules of the game; consensus about the subject matter is made largely superfluous by that concerning form…conflicts, once fought out in public polemics, are demoted to the level of personal incompatibilities.…Critical debate arranged in this manner certainly fulfills important social-psychological functions, especially that of a tranquillizing substitute for action…” (3)
If you have to literally be a billionaire, like Trump, or raise a billion dollars in campaign money, like Clinton, to become President today, well, that’s a huge problem, to put it mildly. Yet in our neoliberal, post-truth world, it’s just one’s personal opinion, nothing more, and no deep thinking is needed: there is very little reflection on any normative guidelines for political campaigning among the public or our representatives in Congress.
How to resist this onslaught of ignorance? An antidote to this tranquillizing effect of commercialistic public debate in mass media is desperately needed. Funding and support for alternative media, socially and eco-conscious non-profits, and civil disobedience and protests against the rising tides of intolerance and authoritarianism are our only hope. The sectarianism, numbness and isolation from the disparaged and dispossessed, and the petty personal conflicts among leftists should be addressed starting now. For the atomization and alienation our culture spreads does not stop at our doorsteps simply because Das Kapital is on our bookshelves, or we attended that local production of The Threepenny Opera.
There is, in fact, no shelter from the storms of neoliberalism, which are only slated to get worse. To all those who are willing to “give Trump a chance”, my only reply is: “¡Ya Basta!”
Notes:
1.) Marcuse, Herbert. One Dimensional Man. 1964. Boston: Beacon Press, 1991. p. xli.
2.) Fromm, Erich. The Art of Loving. 1956. New York: Bantom Books, 1963. p. 73.
3.) Habermas, Jurgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. 1962. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1991. p. 164.Le American Bear is a sunglasses-wearing, morbidly obese cartoon brown bear, dressed in an American flag t-shirt, who loves hamburgers and freedom, cannot speak in complete sentences, and gets around in a mobility scooter because walking is too hard. He's a blunt parody of American excess, one who might not be out of place on South Park. Except for one thing. He's the credulous foil to and perpetual victim of pro-Israel, anti-America conspiracies by "Jew-bwa-ha-ha.gif" (the internet's favorite anti-Semitic cartoon), and the White Supremacist internet absolutely loves him:
Via Daily Stormer
On dozens of white supremacist and white nationalist news sites, message boards, and chans, Le American Bear comics are shared, where they're used to humorously punctuate arguments about Jews' control over white Americans too stupid and gluttonous to notice. It's among the most popular, if not the most popular, cartoons in this dark basement of the internet. But it doesn't come from there. Anti-Semitism makes for unlikely bedfellows, a point you might infer from the strange history of "Jew-bwa-ha-ha.gif" (also known as "Le Happy Merchant"), the derogatory Jewish caricature beloved in equal measure by message board white supremacists and just-for-the-lulz trolls, and in fact created by a 90s version of the latter for a former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. And now, to that noxious brew, add another ingredient: the Finnish internet. Yes, Le American Bear can be traced back to Finland's answer to 4chan, a now-defunct image board called Kuvalauta. It was here, in 2008, that the popular meme Spurdo Spärde, the progenitor of Le American Bear, was born. According to Know Your Meme:
Spurdo Spärde is a poorly drawn character based on the sprite image of Pedobear. It was originally conceived in the Finnish imageboard Kuvalauta to mock the newcomers who often flooded the site with hackneyed reposts, one of the main materials being images of Pedobear. The character is coarsely drawn on purpose and accompanied by captions that are misspelled and stylized in all cap.
In other words, Spurdo Spärde is a simpleton, a rube, an all-purpose boob. And it wasn't long before Finnish chans starting dressing Spurdo up in costumes. One of those costumes was Le American Bear:
Le American Bear seems to have started out as simply a parody of Americans: He's stupid, he's addicted to hamburgers, he thinks drinking Diet Coke is good for his health, and he's willing to protect his freedoms with a gun. Quickly, however, the main dynamic of the comic was established: "Le Happy Merchant", who Le American Bear uncritically accepts as his "greatest ally", repeatedly tricks Le American Bear into acts of violence and self-harm that either enrich Le Happy Merchant, serve Israel, or both. It's a modern version of a centuries-old trope, a Der Sturmer cartoon run through a chan filter. The fact that the cartoons are funny, in the internet-culture way, is the scariest thing about them. Le American Bear is also a kind of perfect meme culture replication of the crankish, extreme anti-Zionism of the Western and Northern European far left, whose arguments about America, Israel, and the Middle East can be ungenerously summed up with the following cartoon:
Of course, no vision of a Jewish conspiratorial global order is complete without a truther version of 9/11:The TCG Version of Legend Duelist 2 has been announced!
Legendary Duelists was full of brand-new cards for heroic figures from Yu-Gi-Oh! This winter, take a walk on the dark side with Legendary Duelists: Ancient Millennium, featuring brand-new cards inspired by some of the most villainous Duelists to grace your TV screens!
The enigmatic creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus, lured Yugi to Duelist Kingdom in a bid to defeat him and complete a corporate takeover! In their climactic Duel, Pegasus dropped his cartoonish façade and unleashed the true power of his Deck: the monster devouring Thousand-Eyes Restrict! Legendary Duelists: Ancient Millennium offers upgrades to some of Pegasus’ most terrifying monsters like ThousandEyes Restrict and Illusionist Faceless Mage.
There’s no low the morally bankrupt Weevil Underwood wouldn’t stoop to if it would give him an edge over the competition! Whether he’s throwing Yugi’s Exodia cards into the ocean or sneaking copies of Parasite Paracide into Joey’s Deck, Duelists love to hate the master of insects. Now his strategies have evolved once again in Legendary Duelists: Ancient Millennium, featuring a new parasite card, a mutated version of the Insect Queen, and a heavily armored and upgraded Cocoon of Evolution!
Bandit Keith believed in creating his own luck, largely by lying, cheating, and stealing his way to the top of the Duelist Kingdom rankings. His powerful Barrel Dragon nearly knocked Joey out of the tournament, and in Legendary Duelists: Ancient Millennium, there’s a new model that can eliminate up to 3 cards per turn if luck is on your side! You can also make a little luck of your own with a card that can change all your coin toss results to “heads” when you use an effect that requires 2 or more coin tosses. Legendary Duelists: Ancient Millennium also gives love to the rivals and villains of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, featuring new cards for Professor Crowler’s Ancient Gear Deck and Jesse Anderson’s Crystal Beasts, as well as new cards to help unify Chazz Princeton’s many strategies!
The complete set of Legendary Duelists: Ancient Millennium is 53 cards:
• 27 Commons
• 10 Rares
• 8 Super Rares
• 8 Ultra Rares
Release Date: February 23rd, 2018
SourceThe USS George H.W. Bush, an American aircraft carrier parked perpetually off the coast of Iran, appears to have attracted the attention of Iran, and officials say that Iran’s use of surveillance drones to keep an eye on the massive US warship is a “nuisance.”
Officials also hyped the presence of small Iranian naval boats operating off the coast of Iran, claiming them to be “naked aggression” for sometimes being close to the US carrier, despite also appearing to have never actually left Iranian waters by all indications.
US officials have repeatedly made a big deal about Iran having ships off their own coast, while Iranian officials have responded by saying that they think a better question is why the US warships are 7,500 miles away from their own territorial waters, and constantly looming around Iran’s coasts.
The US has had warships off the Iranian coast for years, mostly to shore up their constant threats to attack Iran. Iran, by contrast, has focused on a small, coastal navy whose use would be purely defensive. Given the mostly offensive nature of the US presence, that Iran is preparing to defend itself will always be a sore spot.CEDU Educational Services, Inc., known simply as CEDU (pronounced see-doo), was founded in 1967 by Mel Wasserman and his wife Brigitta. The company owned and operated several therapeutic boarding schools and behavior modification programs in California and Idaho.
Origins [ edit ]
CEDU origins go back to Synanon,[1] a cult founded in Santa Monica, California in 1958 by Charles Dederich.[1][2] According to Paul Morantz, JD,[citation needed] Synanon..."went from the first ever no doctor involved self help drug rehab (Synanon I), to a building of a new society in Synanon cities to lead the world into the 21st Century (Synanon II), to becoming a self-claimed religion (Synanon III)."[1]
The troubled teen industry[3] today largely consists of Synanon and/or CEDU offshoots.
History [ edit ]
Original CEDU period (1967–1985) [ edit ]
The average time a student spent at a CEDU school was 2½ years. The school year was year-round. The original CEDU program did not believe in use of medicine. Three times a week for four hours students would attend Raps, pseudo-psychology group sessions led by untrained staff. Students and staff were incentived to "indict" students for minor rule infractions in the name of emotional growth. Yelling was appropriate and expected.
Expansion (1982–1990) [ edit ]
In 1982, a small group of students and staff, including founding headmaster Dan Earle,[4] left the Running Springs campus for Bonners Ferry, Idaho to open Rocky Mountain Academy (RMA). RMA's curriculum and philosophy were identical to the original school, CEDU Running Springs. On rare occasions staff and students were transferred between schools. The staff generally transferred campuses for promotions, students were transferred because the staff felt a "fresh start" was the best (and usually last) option for the student.[5][6][7] Rocky Mountain Academy was one of the largest employers in Boundary County during the period, diversifying its timber and agriculture economy.[8]
Around 1990 the facilities began to accept that some of the teenagers could need medications.
CEDU Education - Brown Schools (1998–2005) [ edit ]
CEDU Education was sold to Brown Schools while it was at its peak in the market; all the schools were full and everything was going well. Two years into its ownership by Brown Schools, the staff turnover was extremely high, no one with any time or stability in the company was left, and CEDU Education went backwards.[9] IN 2015 CEDU reopened as Moshava California and currently has around 300 "campers" that are sent there each year
Closure [ edit ]
Brown Schools operated 11 boarding schools and educational facilities in California, Idaho, Texas, Vermont, and Florida. Facilities in Austin, Texas and San Marcos, Texas were sold to Psychiatric Solutions Inc. in 2003.[11] CEDU closed in early 2005 due to financial problems.[11][12] Several CEDU employees reported to Lake Arrowhead Mountain News, however, that pending litigation against CEDU for abuse and violation of rights as well as citations against the schools contributed to the downfall.[13] In March, 2005 Brown Schools declared bankruptcy, in part because of legal costs related to lawsuits filed by the families of several former students. The same year, Universal Health Services bid $13.5 million for the Brown School properties in bankruptcy.[14]
Idaho Educational Services [ edit ]
Universal Health Services Inc.,[15] a public company focused on hospitals and behavioral health centers, subsequently reopened three of the former CEDU facilities: Ascent, Boulder Creek (located on the former Rocky Mountain Academy property) and Northwest Academy. These operate under the new name of Idaho Educational Services. Each program is overseen by individual directors.[16]
Influence [ edit ]
The history of CEDU is largely the history of the development of parent-choice, private-pay residential programs. A significant number of the schools in the Emotional Growth/Therapeutic schools industry were developed or strongly influenced by people who were originally inspired by their CEDU experience.[17]
CEDU Offshoots [ edit ]
A number of behavior modification facilities/CEDU offshoots were opened by former CEDU staff and students, including
Celebrity and CEDU [ edit ]
The first facility was located in California — not far from Hollywood. The busy life of the persons in the entertainment industry meant that some of the known celebrities had less time for their children and outsourced the upbringing to CEDU. In relationship with the closure of the facility as local newspapers stated:[19]
Tuition at CEDU schools was about $5,700 a month. Actress Roseanne Barr and broadcaster Barbara Walters are among the rich and famous who have sent their children to the academies, according to a Spokesman-Review report in 1998.
In the news [ edit ]
1993: A 17-year-old boy disappeared from the Campus. He was never found.[20]
1994: A 14-year-old boy disappeared from the Campus. The family believes that he was abducted. He has not been found.[21]
July 1994 - Jon A. committed suicide in one of the dormitories of lower Camelot at Rocky Mountain Academy.[22]
1997 - Five persons were injured in a riot at Northwest Academy.[23]
2002 - CEDU Educational Services, Inc. pays settlement to former client on charges of abuse.[23]
2004 - Parents search for their son who ran away from CEDU Running Springs.[24]
2009 - A police investigation is conducted into the unsupervised presence of the convicted killer James Lee Crummel on the CEDU Running Springs Campus in connection with the two disappearances in 1990s.[25]
2012 - The first book about CEDU is published by Waxlight Press. The Discarded Ones: A Novel Based on a True Story by James Tipper marks the first detailed account of life at the school in literature.[26]
2015 - Dead, Insane Or In Jail, a CEDU Memoir[27] written by Zack Bonnie was published
See also [ edit ]
Notes and references [ edit ]In Windows 10 UWP, alarms are simply Toast notifications with the "alarm" scenario. And to make an alarm appear at a specific time, you use a scheduled Toast notification.
Quick Summary
If you are already familiar with sending scheduled Toast notifications, you need to do two things, (1) use the "alarm" scenario on the Toast XML content, and (2) ensure you have at least one button on your Toast, as seen below. If you're not familiar with scheduled Toasts, please read this entire quickstart.
ToastContent toastContent = new ToastContent() { Scenario = ToastScenario.Alarm, Visual = new ToastVisual() {... }, Actions = new ToastActionsCustom() {... } };......
1. Install UWP Community Toolkit NuGet package
In order to create notifications via code, we strongly recommend using the UWP Community Toolkit Notifications library, which provides an object model for the notification XML content. You could manually construct the notification XML, but that is error-prone and messy. The Notifications library inside UWP Community Toolkit is built and maintained by the team that owns notifications at Microsoft.
Install Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.Notifications from NuGet (we're using version 1.0.0 in this documentation).
2. Add namespace declarations
Windows.UI.Notifications includes the Tile and Toast API's.
using Microsoft.Toolkit.Uwp.Notifications; using Windows.UI.Notifications;
3. Construct the notification and specify scenario "alarm"
The Toast notification content includes text and images, and also buttons and inputs. Please see Quickstart: Sending a local toast notification and handling activations to see a full code snippet.
To make your Toast behave like an alarm (continuous looping audio, pops full screen on Mobile), set the Scenario to Alarm as seen below. And also ensure that you have at least one button on your Toast, or else it will not be displayed as an alarm.
ToastContent toastContent = new ToastContent() { Scenario = ToastScenario.Alarm, Visual = new ToastVisual() {... (omitted) }, Actions = new ToastActionsCustom() { Inputs = {... } Buttons = {... (omitted) } } };
4. Schedule the alarm to appear at a certain time
In order to make your Toast (alarm) appear at a specific time, you will need to use a scheduled Toast notification. This is essentially just a Toast notification with a delivery time.
You will construct a ScheduledToastNotification rather than a normal ToastNotification, and then you will call AddToSchedule rather than Show to schedule the notification for a future time.
DateTime alarmTime = DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(1); // Only schedule notifications in the future // Adding a scheduled notification with a time in the past // will throw an exception. if (alarmTime > DateTime.Now.AddSeconds(5)) { // Generate the toast content (from previous steps) ToastContent toastContent = GenerateToastContent(); // Create the scheduled notification var scheduledNotif = new ScheduledToastNotification( toastContent.GetXml(), // Content of the toast alarmTime // Time we want the toast to appear at ); // And add it to the schedule ToastNotificationManager.CreateToastNotifier().AddToSchedule(scheduledNotif); }
Ensure your alarm will wake the phone from sleep
In order for your scheduled Toast to show exactly at the time you specified, you need to request access to background execution. Otherwise, while the phone is in sleep mode (screen off), your Toast may be delayed for an unknown amount of time (typically 30 seconds, sometimes longer), since the phone is conserving power.
Simply call RequestAccessAsync at some point in your app (like inside your App.xaml.cs). This only needs to be called once after your app is installed, but there is no harm in calling it multiple times.
await BackgroundExecutionManager.RequestAccessAsync();
Remove a scheduled alarm
If a user deletes or cancels their alarm, you will need to remove the ScheduledToastNotification that you scheduled.
Simply get a list of the currently scheduled Toast notifications from GetScheduledToastNotifications, find the notification that you want to remove, and call RemoveFromSchedule.
Note that if the alarm has already appeared, it will NOT appear in the scheduled notifications list. Instead, you can remove an alarm that has already appeared by using ToastNotificationManager.History.Remove, where you can remove a Toast by its Tag and/or Group.
var notifier = ToastNotificationManager.CreateToastNotifier(); // Get all scheduled notifications var scheduled = notifier.GetScheduledToastNotifications(); // Find the one we want to remove var toRemove = scheduled.FirstOrDefault(i => i.Id.Equals("userAlarm01")); // And remove it notifier.RemoveFromSchedule(toRemove);
Scheduling recurring alarms
The scheduled Toast API's do not have any recurrence options built in. That means you will have to use periodic background tasks to re-schedule your repeating alarms.
Here is a basic algorithm that you should use to continuously schedule your alarms.
Schedule your alarms up to 5 days in advance Configure a TimeTrigger background task that runs every 24 hours Have that background task re-schedule the alarms up to 5 days in advance
The code snippet below registers a background task that runs every 24 hours, and when the task triggers, re-schedules all the alarms. See the full code sample on GitHub for more details.
Note that we are using the Single Process Model for background tasks, which is only supported in builds 14393 or newer.
private void RegisterPeriodicBackgroundTask() { if (!BackgroundTaskRegistration.AllTasks.Any(i => i.Value.Name.Equals("DailyTask"))) { var builder = new BackgroundTaskBuilder() { Name = "DailyTask" }; builder.SetTrigger(new TimeTrigger(24 * 60, false)); // Every 24 hours builder.Register(); } } protected override async void OnBackgroundActivated(BackgroundActivatedEventArgs args) { var deferral = args.TaskInstance.GetDeferral(); if (args.TaskInstance.Task.Name.Equals("DailyTask")) { // Re-schedule the notifications await DataModel.LoadAsync(); DataModel.EnsureAllScheduled(); } deferral.Complete(); }
ResourcesIf Anthony Kennedy is Hamlet, Earl Warren is Hamlet’s ghost. Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Mark Wilson/Getty Images and Harris & Ewing Photography/Creative Commons
Every schoolchild knows that in 1954 Brown v. Board of Education overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, the infamous 1896 separate-but-equal case, but every expert knows that Brown did no such thing. Earl Warren’s landmark opinion contained no sentence saying, “Plessy is hereby overruled.” Brown did not even say that Plessy was wrongly decided. Warren’s watershed Brown opinion merely said that Plessy was a case about segregation in transportation—railroads—and that Plessy’s separate-but-equal doctrine did not apply to the field of public education. The lesson here is that at least for certain world-historical, once-in-a-generation rulings, the basic rightness of the court’s result within the broad sweep of human affairs—the court’s success in seizing the moment and doing the right thing—sometimes overwhelms the precise language of the court’s exposition. To bend a phrase from Lincoln, in some of the biggest battles the world may little note nor long remember what the court said, but it will never forget what the court did.
The June 26 ruling on same-sex marriage is the closest the court has ever come to a repeat of Brown. Of course, no two cases decided decades apart on different issues could ever be identical in every respect—Heraclitus taught us long ago that one never steps in the same river twice. But there are obvious parallels between Obergefell v. Hodges and Brown v. Board. Brown’s deepest thrust was to proclaim the dignity and equality of black Americans, and Obergefell is likewise a powerful and profound affirmation of the dignity and equality of gay Americans. Beyond equality, the two cases celebrated the substantive and symbolic significance of bedrock societal institutions. Brown was an ode to education, and Obergefell is an ode to marriage. Brown’s majority opinion crossed party lines. A Republican appointee spoke authoritatively for the court with not a crack of daylight between him and any of the court’s Democrat appointees—no divisive dissent or distracting concurrence from any of the justices from the other side of America’s partisan divide. Ditto for Obergefell.
Surely these and many other similarities were not lost on the author of Obergefell, Anthony Kennedy, who grew up in the shadow of Earl Warren. As a youngster in Sacramento, California, Kennedy worked after school in the state house, when Warren was governor. “I knew Earl Warren very well,” Kennedy said in a 2005 interview. “[I] knew his children and played in the governor’s mansion.” Warren was famously bipartisan, a fact not lost on Kennedy, who in that same interview highlighted the fact that, as an incumbent governor in 1946, Warren “ran on both the Democratic and Republican tickets.” Warren is the only person in California history to accomplish this feat; analogously, Kennedy is the only current justice who routinely sides with Democrat appointees in many key cases and with Republican appointees in many other key cases. (Recall that, although appointed to the Supreme Court in 1987 by a Republican president—another famous California ex-governor named Ronald Reagan—Kennedy had to win confirmation in a Democrat-controlled Senate that had just nixed Reagan’s earlier nominee, Robert Bork.)
Because this swing justice truly swings, and at times openly broods on which way he should swing, some consider Kennedy a judicial version of Hamlet. If so, Earl Warren is Hamlet’s ghost, a judicial father figure whom Kennedy sees in his mind’s eye. In a landmark 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Kennedy co-authored a section of the court’s opinion that detoured to ponder the relationship between Brown and Plessy, even though the case at hand involved abortion, not race. Four years later, in Romer v. Evans, the first major Supreme Court victory for gay rights, Kennedy spoke for the court to condemn a Colorado referendum that openly bashed persons of “Homosexual, Lesbian or Bisexual Orientation.” Romer was decided exactly 100 years, to the week, after Plessy v. Ferguson, and this disgraceful case—the case Warren would powerfully undermine (though not quite overrule) in Brown—was once again on Kennedy’s mind. He opened as follows: “One century ago, the first Justice Harlan [in his now canonical Plessy dissent] admonished this Court that the Constitution neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.”
In the opening minutes of the April 28 oral argument in Obergefell, it was Kennedy who, unprompted, explicitly invoked Warren’s two most famous decisions on race: Brown v. Board and Loving v. Virginia. Loving, of course, was the 1967 landmark case in which Warren struck down a state law banning racial intermarriage. Warren grounded his ruling on two principles, equality and a fundamental (albeit unenumerated) right to marry—the same two principles that Kennedy himself would intertwine in his majority opinion in June.
In Obergefell, Kennedy wrapped himself in Loving, citing it approvingly almost a dozen times. The only opinion that Kennedy favorably mentioned more often (barely) was his own majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 case striking down state sodomy laws—an opinion that, according to Justice Antonin Scalia’s angry and self-fulfilling dissent that day, portended a right to same-sex marriage. And as Kennedy himself noted on April 28, in another line full of portent, the time span between Lawrence and Obergefell roughly matches the 13-year gap between Brown and Loving.
Noting the rhetorical contrast between Warren’s spare style in Brown and Kennedy’s fondness for sweeping and soaring prose, some legal commentators have faulted Kennedy’s grandiosity and self-importance. But perhaps Kennedy is simply more honest about the court and the world beyond. Whereas Warren pulled his punches in Brown, Kennedy speaks openly and passionately (yet politely) of the demeaning aspect of the laws he strikes down. And Kennedy’s supercharged vision of judicial power is just what one might expect from a youngster who grew up watching Earl Warren lead America and the court into the history books.
The biggest difference between Warren and Kennedy is that Warren spoke for a unanimous court. But Warren had all the formal advantages and trappings of the chief justiceship; Kennedy does not. Warren did not have to contend with the operatic diva known as Antonin Scalia. And most important, Warren’s world was not deeply and pervasively split along partisan lines. In 1954, there were many liberal Republicans and many reactionary Democrats in America.
No more—and no more in large part because of Brown and Loving. Once race leaped onto the midcentury American agenda, Congress eventually had to choose sides. When, led by President Lyndon Johnson, Congress sided with Brown’s vision of racial justice in a series of civil-rights and voting-rights laws, grateful Southern blacks surged into the Democratic Party. Conservative southern whites, encouraged by Republicans Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon, abandoned the Democratic Party to become Republicans. The party of Lincoln became the party of the Confederacy, pushing liberal Northern and Eastern Republicans out of the party. Today, the realignment begun by LBJ, Goldwater, Nixon, and the Warren Court has resulted in near perfect polarization. On almost every issue in Congress, the most conservative Democrat is still to the left of the most liberal Republican. Almost no one in high elective office truly swings, mediating between America’s two entrenched political parties and their sharply differing worldviews.
This is all the more reason to celebrate rather than to mock Anthony Kennedy, one of America’s last remaining Lincoln Republicans, who hails from gay-friendly Northern California and hearkens back to an earlier Lincoln Republican named Earl Warren.
This is the first of two Slate articles on Obergefell. In his follow-up piece, Amar will analyze the Obergefell dissents and offer his own version of what an ideal Obergefell opinion should have said. For more on Justice Kennedy as a Northern Californian Lincoln Republican, interested readers may wish to consult Chapter 4 (“Anthony Kennedy and the Ideal of Equality”) of Amar’s latest book, The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of our Constitutional Republic. Chapters 3 and 5 of the book feature more material on Brown and on the geographic and partisan realignment it helped precipitate.Daily Relay | On 30, Oct 2014
Photo via TrackTownPhoto
Luke Puskedra doesn’t want to make it too formal. Why would you? There’s no need for an official title. That would make the situation complicated. Let’s just keep things simple. It’s for the best.
I mean, they’re just getting food. That’s it. Food. It’s not like it’s some candlelit dinner on the Cinque Terre beachfront. He’s taking her to Papa’s Soul Food in Eugene, OR. It’s jus—oh, she asked if he can pick her up?
Does that make it a date?
Wait, should he bring her flowers? Don’t wear your tattered University of Oregon Cross Country t-shirt: you need to impress her. For God’s sake, find a button-down shirt. When was the last time you ironed this? This is going to be a disaster.
Okay, let’s not overreact here. Maybe this isn’t a first date. It definitely won’t be one if you show up seven minutes late. It definitely won’t be a date if you choose the brisket and she orders the pulled pork sandwich. But what if she eats the sloppy-pressed foodstuff with a knife and a fork, does that mean she cares about her appearance? Does that mean she’s trying? Is this a date? You should have brought flowers, you goof.
Whether or not this particular interaction was a “date” is a matter of semantics, and depends on which party is recounting the tale. But date or not, this wouldn’t be the last dinner Puskedra would share with his future wife, Trudie, a former Oregon tennis player.
This weekend in New York City, Puskedra has plans for another first rendezvous – this time with no ambiguity and a clear title: his marathon debut. He’ll be taking the plunge into an event that he might as well wind up married to.
“I’m excited and a little nervous… all of the emotions that go with running the first one,” Puskedra said recently over the phone from his home in the mountains of Park City, UT.
Long-known for his long distance prowess, the move up to the marathon was an inevitability for Puskedra. From a relatively young age, the powerful, yet sinewy frontrunner showed his readiness for over-distances. As a freshman at Oregon, Puskedra immediately made the jump to the 10K, running 28:34.17, which ranked sixth all-time at Oregon. He was 5th earlier that year at the ’08 NCAA Cross Country Championships. Two years later, he’d improve on his finish, taking 3rd at nationals.
This sort of thing came natural to him. His success rose in direct correlation to the distance of the race. His innate ability for longer races stood out immediately to Oregon Associate Head Coach Andy Powell.
“Luke has a pretty special ability to be able to run for a long time,” said Powell. “His ability to do tempo runs and long runs is just about better than anyone I’ve ever coached and I’ve had some good guys come through.”
The two always joked, fairly seriously, that the marathon was always going to be somewhere in Puskedra’s future. So it wasn’t a surprise that when Puskedra told Powell he was running New York, his former coach said that he had wanted him “to run one since his sophomore year of college.”
But even before he left Oregon, he was tempted by the roads. In January 2012, his senior year, Puskedra ran an impressive 1:01:36 half marathon debut on the flat Houston Half Marathon course. It had been six weeks since the NCAA Cross Country Championships — not quite the buildup one would imagine after a long fall. But again, the 13.1 distance proved an easy conversion for Puskedra. That was due in part to the fact that his training was already geared towards it. Additionally, Puskedra’s lanky frame is best-suited to competition away from the tight turns and crowded pack-running of the track.
“After nationals, my training for the half was just more tempos and longer stuff, but it really wasn’t much different than what I was doing during cross country or track at the University of Oregon,” Puskedra notes. “We just added a few more intervals and miles.”
Puskedra’s transition to the roads, much like his transition from standout collegian to the Nike Oregon Project, was bridged by the relationship between Powell and Nike Oregon Project head coach Alberto Salazar.
“Obviously, I didn’t have a lot of experience coaching anyone in those longer distances,” Powell said. “So I picked Alberto’s brain and got some good training advice from him.”
Whereas downtown Houston’s pancake flat topography lends itself to fast times, New York’s bridges, rolling hills in Central Park, and unpredictable weather make it anything but an easy course. And that’s precisely why Salazar and Puskedra chose it. A challenging course should play into Puskedra’s greatest strength, which is for lack of a better word, his strength.
“Alberto and I decided that Chicago’s flat course probably wasn’t as good for me as New York. And because of some of the successes I’ve had, most of them are in cross country, we thought that would translate to the marathon with a hillier course.”
“There’s a lot less pressure for New York,” he adds.
The pressure to run a certain time isn’t looming over Puskedra’s head. He’s out there to compete. And, compared to the only other Nike Oregon Project member to make his marathon debut, there are almost zero expectations surrounding Puskedra’s race.
Back in April, in front of the screaming masses, double Olympic and world champion Mo Farah came home to a 2:08:21 eighth place at the London Marathon. You would think that the weight of the “passionate” British media coupled with Farah’s credentials would have made one or two major cracks in Farah’s impenetrable armor. But the hype didn’t affect him. Or, at least Puskedra never saw it.
“He was so relaxed each session,” Puskedra says. “Even if a workout didn’t go as planned, just to see him, the best guy in the world, just be able to accept that, and being able to walk away from the session with confidence rather than |
Bush’s plan? What needs to happen as a precondition for progress? What action is he taking now, what steps does he pledge or propose for the next few months or years to get the caravan rolling in the right direction?
On these matters, he has said little and done less. “Some will say it can never be achieved,” he said of his vision. But, he added, 60 years ago, few could imagine a free and peaceful Europe or a friendly, democratic Japan. Yet those transformations took place. “And a future of transformation is possible in the Middle East,” he said, “so long as a new generation of leaders has the courage to defeat the enemies of freedom, to make the hard choices necessary for peace, and stand firm on the solid rock of universal values.”
This only begs further questions. Which “enemies of freedom” is he talking about? (All of them?) Who will “defeat” them, and how? What “hard choices,” and whose? He appears to absolve the Israelis of the need to make any. In recent weeks, he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have said they would still like to hammer out an Israeli-Palestinian accord before they leave office. But in the Knesset, he suggested such a peace might not fall into place for another 60 years, long after everyone in the room has passed on. No deadline pressure here.
If he wanted to be truly bold, he might have proposed the accomplishment of his vision by Israel’s 70th anniversary, a mere (and foreseeable) decade hence, as John F. Kennedy did with the moon walk. That, too, would have been over the top, but at least it would have been seen as a call for action to be taken now by the living. But President Bush chose not to be so daring even in his rhetoric.
This tendency—his failure to devise tangible goals or carve out a path to meet them—was on display again Friday in Riyadh, where Bush had flown to celebrate the 75th anniversary of formal relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Bush met privately with King Abdullah to plead for expanded oil production and thus lower gas prices. The king brusquely turned him down, just as he turned down a similar request from Bush last January.
Later in the day, the Saudi oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, twisted the knife a few notches further by saying, at a press conference, that his government had already increased production by 20 percent—then added that this move was in response to requests from some 50 customers all over the world, not just from Bush. (In other words, he went out of his way to avoid giving even the impression of doing the United States a favor.)
The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, took another poke at Bush. “The president showed great concern for the impact on the American economy,” the prince told the press corps. “We of course sympathize with that.” Period. The end.
So humiliating—and after the White House press secretary, Dana Perino, had alerted reporters on Air Force One that the president would be asking for just such a favor. “Clearly, the price of gas is too high for Americans, and it is causing a hardship for families with low income,” Perino said. “We do count on the OPEC countries to keep adequate supplies out there, so the president will talk with the king about that.”
What is going on? It’s bizarre that Bush should expect the Saudis to sacrifice their economic interests for the sake of doing him a favor. It is no less odd that Bush, through Perino, would publicly announce his plea in advance, thus setting himself up for humiliation. Finally, on a point that goes beyond political blundering to national policy, it is damningly revealing for Perino to say that we “count on the OPEC countries” to maintain adequate oil supplies. Maybe, in the name of sovereignty and for the sake of our vital interests, Bush should be taking the initiative, doing something on his own to bring oil prices down—for instance, devising a national energy policy that offers incentives, or sets mandates, to reduce demand.
We see a pattern. In the Knesset, Bush wove a vision of a transformed Middle East without any notion of how to get there. Similarly, if less grandly, in Saudi Arabia, Bush asked the king for a break on oil prices, without any notion of why his wish should be granted or of what favors to grant the king in exchange.
In both countries, Bush displayed no feel for diplomacy, no concept of what it entails, no sense of how to harness power into influence or assets into leverage. He thus not only comes away with nothing but leaves the world with the impression that we have even less power and leverage than we do.Dr. Gabor Mate: Ayahuasca Is The 'Antidote To Western Psychological Distress'
Dr. Gabor Maté was at first skeptical of the healing power of ayahuasca, but after experiencing the “spirit vine” for himself, he’s one of its biggest advocates.
It had such a profound effect on the doctor that he now calls it an “antidote to western psychological distress and cultural alienation.”
“It put me in touch with a deep love that I both wanted and had been running away from all my life,” Maté told The Georgia Straight. “I saw how deeply beneath the usual conscious mind the plant could help you penetrate into yourself.”
Maté, the author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction—in which he discusses the impact that trauma has on people who later become “addicts”—initially dismissed the notion that ayahuasca could heal the mind as “mumbo jumbo.” But after one session with a shaman visiting from Peru, the doctor now helps run ayahuasca sessions twice a year.
“I could see how deep it takes you into your psyche and beyond your psyche, actually, into some deep truths—sometimes very painful, sometimes very beautiful, but always potentially very edifying,” he said.
The hallucinogenic tea, brewed of a tropical vine native to South America as well as other ingredients, has roots in indigenous cultures there, but is attracting a growing interest among Westerners who seek “purifying psychological journeys” documented by every outlet from The New York Times to The Fix.
Maté has worked in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with patients suffering from drug addiction, mental illness, and HIV. In January 2016 he spoke in-depth with The Fix contributor John Lavitt about properly addressing the deep roots of drug addiction. “They didn’t know they were traumatized…They thought they were just fuck-ups,” he said.
“They thought they were just bad people," he went on. "They didn’t realize that they were using the addiction to soothe a deep pain that was rooted in trauma. In all cases of addiction that I have seen, there’s deep pain that comes out of trauma. The addiction is the person’s unconscious attempt to escape from the pain.”
Maté is featured in the documentary The Path of the Shaman, which follows “Dave,” a healer who hosts ayahuasca retreats with the help of Dr. Maté.
Even the director of the film, Todd Harris, attested to the life-changing potential of ayahuasca. After participating in a ceremony with Dave, Harris said he was “freed” from his alcohol and marijuana addictions, allowing him to develop a more “deeply connected” relationship with his family.Star Wars Battlefront II, The Sims 4, and Skyrim VR all launch next week. Clear your calendar.
The Empire’s time has come. Star Wars Battlefront II launches November 17 on PS4, with early access beginning November 14.
The spectacular next chapter in the storied franchise, Star Wars Battlefront II features an explosive single-player campaign following the exploits of Commander Iden Versio, leader of Inferno Squad. Guide Iden in the immediate aftermath of the second Death Star’s destruction, and witness the war through the eyes of an imperial soldier.
For those interested in a little competition, Star Wars Battlefront II continues the multiplayer tradition with a refined suite of modes that takes players from the ferocity of ground combat into the flurry of the battlefront in space.
For a full list of new games coming to PlayStation next week, read on. And enjoy The Drop!
New Releases: Week of November 14, 2017
PS4 — Digital (Out 11/16)
Ashes Cricket is the officially licensed videogame of cricket’s greatest rivalry. Bringing all the fast-paced action, big hits, and skill that you see in the greatest cricket competition on Earth.
PS4 — Digital
Tired of two-wheeled vehicles? ATV Drift & Tricks is the ATV game for you! A quads-only racing game with both solo and multiplayer play.
PS4 — Digital, Retail
As Ben Tennyson, it’s up to you to save the world. Take on some of Ben’s most infamous enemies, including Zombozo, Queen Bee, and the Weatherheads.
PS4 — Digital
Cat Quest is an open world RPG set in the pawsome world of cats! In search of your catnapped sister, you pounce into the massive continent of Felingard — a world crafted in the style of overworld maps of yore and purring with cat-tastic characters, stories, and puns!
PS4 — Digital (Out 11/16)
de Blob is a 3D platformer where players maneuver their hero, de Blob. Equal parts amorphous blob of paint, struggling artist, revolutionary and juvenile delinquent.
PS4, PS Vita — Digital, Retail
Magnastar has spellbound the people of Asteria into obeying him. It is up to you, the Demon Gazer, to wield the power of demons, liberate Asteria’s citizens, and shine the light of revolution!
PS VR — Digital, Retail (Out 11/17)
A true, full-length open-world game for VR has arrived from award-winning developers, Bethesda Game Studios. Skyrim VR reimagines the complete epic fantasy masterpiece with an unparalleled sense of scale, depth, and immersion.
PS4 — Digital
You are balanced on the edge of a cliff in an old rusting car. The sun is setting behind the horizon and night will soon fall. With no immediate means of escape, perhaps all that’s left is to attempt to feel some connection with the world at the end of it all.
Knights of Valour
PS4 — Digital (Out 11/16)
Arcade never dies! Experience the side-scrolling, beat ’em up arcade masterpiece!
PS4 — Digital
A dark and violent crime thriller set against the backdrop of 1940’s Los Angeles.
PS4 — Digital, Retail
Join your favorite Super Heroes and Super Villains from different eras and realities as they go head-to-head with the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror in an all-new, original adventure.
PS4 — Digital, Retail
Outcast: Second Contact is the complete Remake of the cult title Outcast, the first 3D open-world game in video game history and pioneer in the modern action-adventure genre.
PS4 — Digital, Retail
Road Rage is an over-the-top, knock-down-drag-out motorcycle combat game that tests your skill on a range of badass bikes. Race, fight, and hustle your way through the ranks of an insane outlaw motorcycle gang.
PS4 — Digital, Retail (Out 11/17)
Set in the Onechanbara universe and taking place at the prestigious Kirisaku High School (known for its balanced curriculum of sports and academics), this is a story of survival: five students cut off from the outside world and surrounded by a seemingly endless flood of zombie hordes.
PS4 — Digital, Retail (Out 11/17)
Enjoy the power to create and control people in a virtual world where there are no rules. Be powerful and free, have fun, and play with life!
PS4 — Digital, Retail (Out 11/17)
Embark on an endless Star Wars action experience from the bestselling franchise. Rush through waves of enemies on Starkiller Base. Line up your X-wing squadron from an attack on a mammoth First Order Star Destroyer in space. Or rise as a new hero — Iden, an elite Imperial special forces soldier — and discover an emotional and gripping single-player story spanning thirty years.
PS Vita — Digital, Retail
It’s time to show off that ink! Enter the world of Tokyo Tattoo Girls, where you will select a companion girl and battle the Syndicate by conquering the 23 Wards of Tokyo! Power up your companion with gorgeous Japanese tattoos and unleash her true power!
PS Vita — Digital
VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action is a booze em’ up about waifus, technology, and post-dystopia life.
Logan Lucky Logan Lucky
Il Behaviour- November 13 at 10:30/9:30c (Showtime)
Damnation- November 14 at 10/9c (USA)
Search Party- November 19 at 10/9c (TBS)[ENGSUB] Minah Starts Office Party in "I Will Be On Your Side" MV for Greatest Future Sitcom
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Minah stars in Greatest Future, a musical movie about an office workers who breaks out of the normal cycle of life to do something fun. We can all live vicariously through Minah in this. Is there anyone who's not afraid of living a monotonous life stuck inside the four gray walls of a cubicle? I certainly do.
Minah starts an office riot, throwing papers everywhere, standing on desks, and causing an absolute ruckus, resulting in thousands of dollars in damages and a report to HR. But the whole office happens to be trained dancers and singers who are able to spring into flawless choreographed dance moves as soon as Minah starts singing. Although the vocals are weak at parts, you can't expect someone to sing perfectly when theyre spinning around in circles and making kissy aegyo faces at the camera.
The movie has a lot of other music videos, presumably of other cheerful songs that the youth can relate to. Minah is regular office worker and her co-star is an aspiring idol star. I think you can see where this is going. And tell me, because I haven't seen it and have no idea what happens in it.
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DisqusThe 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment mustered for a three-year term (1861-1864) in the Union Army at the outset of the American Civil War when the prevailing enlistment period was three months. During offensive movements, it sustained high percentages of casualties at the Battles of First Bull Run (20%[1]) and Antietam (28%) and a catastrophic 82% at the Battle of Gettysburg. It is most noted for its service on the second day at Gettysburg.
At a pivotal moment in the 1863 struggle at Gettysburg, Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, commander of II Corps, ordered the First Minnesota to charge into a situation where it would be outnumbered by at least 5 to 1. The general's purpose was to buy minutes of delay with human lives, and one survivor spoke afterward that he expected the advance to result in "death or wounds to [every single one of the attackers]."[2] The regiment fully and instantly obeyed the order, suffering at least 82% casualties among those making the attack; this action contributed significantly to the preservation of a key Union defensive position on the heights of Cemetery Ridge.
When given the opportunity to speak about the regiment after the war, both General Hancock and U.S. President Calvin Coolidge were unrestrained in their praise. Hancock placed its heroism highest in the known annals of war[3] and ascribed unsurpassed gallantry to the famed attack.[4] Emphasizing the critical nature of the circumstances on July 2 at Gettysburg, President Coolidge considered, "Colonel Colvill and those eight companies of the First Minnesota are entitled to rank as the saviors of their country."[5]
History [ edit ]
Organization and early service [ edit ]
United States Army infantry corps badge worn during the Civil War by Sergeant Chesley Billings Tirrell of the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Company C. Tirrell participated in all of the 1st Minnesota's battles. Insignia part of the collection held by the Minnesota Historical Society.
On April 14, 1861, Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey, visiting Washington shortly after the bombing of Fort Sumter, tendered the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry to the Federal government under Abraham Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops. It was organized at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on April 29 and remustered for three years service on May 10.
First Bull Run [ edit ]
On July 21, 1861, near Manassas, Virginia, the regiment fought in the first major battle of the Civil War: the First Battle of Bull Run. While straddling Rickett's Battery in support, it saw heavy fighting on Henry House Hill in close proximity to the enemy. The 1st Minnesota was one of the last regiments to leave the battlefield and suffered among the highest casualties of any northern regiment: 49 killed, 107 wounded and 34 missing.[6]
During the 1st Minnesota Infantry's initiation to combat, its honorable conduct was readily distinguishable from that of the other regiments in its brigade:
The First Minnesota Regiment moved from its position on the left of the field to the support of Ricketts' battery, and gallantly engaged the enemy at that point. It was so near the enemy's lines that friends and foes were for a time confounded. The regiment behaved exceedingly well, and finally retired from the field in good order. The other two regiments of the brigade retired in confusion, and no efforts of myself or staff were successful in rallying them. I respectfully refer you to Colonel Gorman's report for the account of his regiment's behavior and of the good conduct of his officers and men.[7]
Antietam [ edit ]
During General John Sedgwick's ill-fated assault on the West Woods,[8] the regiment suffered significant casualties (1 officer killed, 3 officers wounded, 15 enlisted killed, 79 enlisted wounded, 24 enlisted missing, for at total of 122 [28%] of 435 engaged)[9] as Union forces were routed on that part of the field. The brigade commander noted, "The First Minnesota Regiment fired with so much coolness and accuracy that they brought down [three times one] of the enemy's flags, and finally cut the flag-staff in two."[10]
Gettysburg [ edit ]
July 2 [ edit ]
Monument to the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment at Gettysburg Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, located on Cemetery Ridge, off South Hancock Avenue.
The men of the 1st Minnesota are most remembered for their actions on July 2, 1863, during the second day's fighting at Gettysburg, where the regiment prevented the Confederates from pushing the Federals off of Cemetery Ridge, a position that was to prove crucial in the battle.
Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, commander of II Corps, ordered the regiment to assault a much larger enemy force (a brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox), telling Col. William Colvill to take the enemy's colors. The fateful charge bought the time needed for other forces to be brought up. During the charge, 215[nb 1] members of the 262 men who were present at the time became casualties in five minutes, including the regimental commander, Col. William Colvill, and all but three of his captains.
The unit's flag fell five times and was raised again each time. The 47 survivors rallied back to General Hancock under the senior surviving officer, Captain Nathan S. Messick. The 82% casualty rate stands to this day as the largest loss by any surviving military unit in U.S. history during a single day's engagement, allegedly equaled only by the 82% casualties suffered by the 33rd Alabama Infantry during the Battle of Perryville (though that second figure is questioned by some historians).[14][15] The unit's flag is now in the Minnesota Capitol's rotunda.
The more majestic of two monuments to the 1st Minnesota at the Gettysburg National Military Park bears the following inscription:
On the afternoon of July 2, 1863 Sickles' Third Corps, having advanced from this line to the Emmitsburg Road, eight companies of the First Minnesota Regiment, numbering 262 men were sent to this place to support a battery upon Sickles repulse. As his men were passing here in confused retreat, two Confederate brigades in pursuit were crossing the swale. To gain time to bring up the reserves & save this position, Gen Hancock in person ordered the eight companies to charge the rapidly advancing enemy. The order was instantly repeated by Col Wm Colvill. And the charge as instantly made down the slope at full speed through the concentrated fire of the two brigades breaking with the bayonet the enemy's front line as it was crossing the small brook in the low ground there the remnant of the eight companies, nearly surrounded by the enemy held its entire force at bay for a considerable time & till it retired on the approach of the reserve the charge successfully accomplished its object. It saved this position & probably the battlefield. The loss of the eight companies in the charge was 215 killed & wounded. More than 82% percent. 47 men were still in line & no man missing. In self sacrificing desperate valor this charge has no parallel in any war. Among the severely wounded were Col Wm Colvill, Lt Col Chas P Adams & Maj Mark W. Downie. Among the killed Capt Joseph Periam, Capt Louis Muller & Lt Waldo Farrar. The next day the regiment participated in repelling Pickett's charge losing 17 more men killed & wounded.[16]
In his official report, Confederate Brigadier General Cadmus M. Wilcox perceived the inequality of the fight differently (bold emphasis likely refers to the First Minnesota):
This stronghold of the enemy [i.e., Cemetery Ridge], together with his batteries, were almost won, when still another line of infantry descended the slope in our front at a double-quick, to the support of their fleeing comrades and for the defense of the batteries. Seeing this contest so unequal, I dispatched my adjutant-general to the division commander, to ask that support be sent to my men, but no support came. Three several times did this last of the enemy's lines attempt to drive my men back, and were as often repulsed. This struggle at the foot of the hill on which were the enemy's batteries, though so unequal, was continued for some thirty minutes. With a second supporting line, the heights could have been carried. Without support on either my right or left, my men were withdrawn, to prevent their entire destruction or capture. The enemy did not pursue, but my men retired under a heavy artillery fire, and returned to their original position in line, and bivouacked for the night, pickets being left on the pike.[17]
July 3 [ edit ]
July 3 Monument to 1MN Regiment, flanked by the barn and farm house of the Codori family
Rebounding from the horrendous casualties of the previous day, the survivors were reinforced by detached Company F, and the reunited regiment was moved slightly northward on Cemetery Ridge. Destiny placed the remaining Minnesotans at one of the few places where Union lines were breached during Pickett's Charge and required them to charge advancing Confederate troops once again. It is here that Capt. Messick was killed and Capt. W. B. Farrell mortally wounded, and then command fell to Capt. Henry C. Coates.
During the desperate and chaotic fighting, Private Marshall Sherman of Company C captured the colors of the 28th Virginia Infantry[18] and received the Medal of Honor for this exploit. The Confederate flag was taken back to Minnesota as a prize of war and is kept but not publicly displayed at the Minnesota Historical Society. In the mid-1990s, several groups of Virginians threatened to sue the Society to return the 28th Virginia's battle flag to the Old Dominion. The Minnesota Attorney General advised that such threats were without a legal basis, and the flag remains in the possession of the Society.[19]
After being knocked out by a bullet to the head and later shot in the hand, Corporal Henry O'Brien repeatedly picked up the fallen colors of the 1st Minnesota and carried a wounded comrade back to the Union lines. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism.
Later service [ edit ]
The 1st Minnesota continued to serve in the Army of the Potomac, participating later in 1863 in the Bristoe and Mine Run Campaigns. It was mustered out of service upon completion of its enlistment on April 29, 1864, at Fort Snelling. Enough of the regiment's veterans reenlisted to form the nucleus of the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Battalion, which returned to Virginia and served through the end of the war.[20] Other veterans provided officers for the 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment.[21]
Casualties [ edit ]
First Minnesota Civil War drum, 1861
The 1st Minnesota Infantry suffered the loss of 10 officers and 177 enlisted men killed in action or who later died of their wounds, plus another 2 officers and 97 enlisted men who died of disease, for a total of 286 fatalities.[20] and 609 wounded.[1]
Bull Run
Antietam
Gettysburg
Bristow
Petersburg
Continued lineage [ edit ]
The 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division (Minnesota Army National Guard) traces its roots back to the historic 1st Minnesota Volunteers.
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
^ [11] Conducting an enumeration by individual names in 1982, Robert W. Meinhard of Winona State University accounted for only 179 (68.3%) casualties for the single day of July 2, 1863.[12][13] Presumably, Meinhard's and Lochren's conclusions are each based upon the same handwritten records from the regiment; accounting for the disputed 36 (=215-179) soldiers is the prerogative of the reader. The 215 casualty figure is disputed. Morning muster on July 2 for the eight companies (A, B, D, E, G, H, I & K) involved in the suicidal attack was 262, and evening muster on the same day was 47. To arrive at the casualty figure of 215, the Regimental Historian (Lt. Wm. Lochren) subtracted the muster figures (262-47=215)(82.1%) and asserted that "[every one of the] 215 [missing men] lay upon the field."Conducting an enumeration by individual names in 1982, Robert W. Meinhard of Winona State University accounted for only 179 (68.3%) casualties for the single day of July 2, 1863.Presumably, Meinhard's and Lochren's conclusions are each based upon the same handwritten records from the regiment; accounting for the disputed 36 (=215-179) soldiers is the prerogative of the reader.
Bibliography [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]An Arab driver plowed his vehicle into a crowd of people at a light rail station along the seam-line between East and West Jerusalem late Wednesday morning, killing a Border Police officer, and injuring 14 more people, one of them critically.
“Ten people were wounded, one of whom is in critical condition,” emergency services spokesman Zaki Heller said.
Magen David Adom paramedics reported that two people were seriously hurt, and three moderately injured.
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Policemen were among the injured, according to Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch.
The fatality was named as Border Police officer Jedan Assad, 38, from Beit Jann, a Druze village. Assad was a father to a three-year-old boy; his wife is five months pregnant. His father said later that Assad “loved his service, and loved Jerusalem,” and called for agreements that would prevent more fatalities, “be they Jews, Arabs or Druze.”
Palestinian Ma’an news agency identified the terrorist as 48-year-old Ibrahim al-Akary from Shuafat in East Jerusalem, a father of five. Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades tweeted out pictures it said showed the attacker, who it called Akazi, one of which showed him lying on the ground after being shot.
Police said the driver hit several pedestrians at a light rail station on the corner of Bar Lev and Shimon Ha’Zadik streets, close to the Border Police headquarters on Route 1, and then continued driving along the tracks, hitting several cars along the way until finally crashing to a halt.
Akary then got out of his white commercial van, carrying a metal bar, and began attacking a group of policemen before Border Police at the scene shot and killed the attacker.
Footage quickly emerged (WARNING: graphic images) of bystanders at the light rail stop being run down by Akary, while some managed to elude the speeding van.
The attacker’s brother, Musa Muhammad al-Akary, served 19 years in an Israeli prison for the 1992 kidnapping and murder of IDF soldier Nissim Toledano in Lod. He was released in the 2011 deal that freed IDF soldier Gilad Shalit from Hamas captivity, and was expelled to Turkey.
Police units at scene of attack in Jerusalem. Injured taken to hospital. pic.twitter.com/XaYVGPhppH — Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) November 5, 2014
Police spokesman Asi Aharoni said the presence of police who had been deployed to increase security in the capital enabled a quick response to end the attack.
Aharonovitch, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, and Police Commissioner Yonatan Danino arrived at the scene soon after the attack.
Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri wrote on his Twitter account a message of support for the attack. “We join hands with those who avenge the blood of those injured in al-Aqsa,” he wrote.
Vehicle strikes number of people in Jerusalem. Emergency units at two scenes treating injured. Suspected terror attack — Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) November 5, 2014
This was the second such attack in the last two weeks.
On October 22, Abdel Rahman Al-Shaludi, a resident of Silwan in East Jerusalem, drove his car into a group of pedestrians waiting at a light rail station in Ammunition Hill, killing two people, including a three-month-old girl, and injuring several others.
Shaludi was shot by security guards as he tried to make an escape on foot and later died of his wounds in the hospital.
On August 4, a Palestinian man rammed a tractor into a bus – near to the site of Wednesday’s attack – killing one man. A pedestrian, later named as Avraham Walz, 29, was run over by the tractor as it headed toward the bus and died of his injuries.
A police officer and Prisons Service official who realized what was happening ran up to the tractor and fired a volley of shots at the terrorist as he sat in the cab, killing him.
AP and AFP contributed to this report.Following his opening press conference for his upcoming title fight, Mikey Garcia talks to reporters about all the noise surrounding a potential showdown with Vasyl Lomachenko. Check out what Garcia had to say about the fight and why he doesn't see it happening:
"Well I know that there's a lot of talk between the media and the fans - they wanna see [Lomachenko] fight bigger challenges. He's fighting smaller men and he, himself, doesn't give himself that much credit for fighting Rigondeaux, for the size advantage. Well I'm moving up in weight! Even though I'm champion at '35 I'm moving up in weight to fight bigger men because I do want that challenge.
"If he's ready to move up to '35, you know, we could definitely do that. I know that Bob [Arum] won't say anything positive about that, I don't even know if he's interested in actually facing me. The way I know Top Rank works, they'll have somebody else in line for him to win a title at '35, maybe even at '40. Most likely he's not gonna want to face me because Bob won't allow it.
"I don't think [Arum would let Lomachenko near me]. I think Bob Arum has been doing business so well for so long — the way he runs his business — that it's not in his best interest to face me with his fighters, whether it's financial reasons, or taking a loss, or whatever. I think he's not gonna be very excited to do business with me. But I know Lomachenko would take the fight, I would also take that fight so maybe down the road we could actually have that fight."
Garcia on how he sees that fight playing out:
"I think I beat him. I think my skills, my abilities, my strength, my size advantage definitely helps me. He's a great fighter, he's got great skills, but I wanna see him fight guys at least in his division. You know, other champions like [Gervonta] Davis or [Miguel] Berchelt, guys that are the same size and are very talented as well...
"I think [Lomachenko] still has a chance to beat these guys, like I mentioned, but they present a real challenge, not smaller guys."
On Lomachenko's aura of invincibility:
"Well he's gotta do what he's gotta do no matter who's in front of him. You can't deny the skills, you can't deny the speed or the footwork or the different angles. It's there. You see it. Whether it's a small guy or a bigger guy — he did it with [Nicholas] Walters too. So you can't deny that. But in order to give credit, or more credit, he needs to be facing bigger men, or at least men his own size, in his weight class to be able to get that credit..."Lawmakers would like to see unified response procedures by the state's public universities to campus sexual assaults
Buy Photo From left, state Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, first lady Sue Snyder, Debi Cain, executive director of the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, state Rep. Marilyn Lane and state Rep. Laura Cox talk during Michigan's first campus sexual assault prevention summit at the Lansing Center in Lansing on Monday, June 8, 2015. (Photo: Romain Blanquart/Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo
Michigan can't force its public universities to adopt a unified approach to handling sexual assaults on their campus, but they can dangle incentives to encourage changes, several lawmakers said Monday at the end of a day-long summit on the topic.
The schools claim autonomy under the state constitution, leaving much of their decision-making outside the influence of lawmakers.
But lawmakers sent money to the universities and can use it to help force change.
"We can support efforts with our resources," state Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, said. "We use carrots in ways we can't use sticks. It's an important way for us to be a voice on these campuses."
One of those carrots was announced Monday — $500,000 to be awarded in grants to universities for new programs to combat sexual assaults on campus.
State Police Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue announced the money during the Let's End Campus Sexual Assault summit, sponsored by Michigan first lady Sue Snyder. The money was included in the 2016 budget after a tussle in the Senate to get the funding.
Guidelines for the grants will be announced in the coming year and be established by a committee.
"We are going to work to end sexual assault on Michigan's campuses," said Etue, the director of the state police.
There were 159 reports of sexual assaults on Michigan's public and private college campuses in 2013, the latest year complete figures are available. That's a 62% increase from 2001.
Three Michigan universities — Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan — are being investigated by the federal Education Department's Office of Civil Rights over how they handled specific sexual assault claims. The number of these types of investigations has increased more than tenfold across the nation from 2009 to 2014.
The summit was cohosted by four state lawmakers – Warren, Republican Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker; Republican Rep. Laura Cox and Democrat Rep. Marilyn Lane.
Lane and Schuitmaker were among those advocating for a unified system across the state. Cox suggested she'll continue to look at how the issue is handled. She expressed concern about universities using administrative investigations to handle rape reports.
"I have a bit of angst … about how the universities can address it themselves. It's a crime."
In Michigan, no statewide standard exists for how universities should respond. Each university is free to set its own policy within federal guidelines.
At the University of Michigan, that means the school's own police department is often left out of sexual assault investigations, which are instead carried out administratively. Michigan State University requires police be called for all student sexual assault reports, but it will also carry out a parallel administrative investigation. Policies at the state's other public universities are about evenly split between those two approaches.
The dual approaches can have widely different results when it comes to punishment. A student convicted of sexual assault through the criminal justice system faces a potential jail or prison term, and a listing on the state's public sexual offender registry. A student found in violation of a school sexually harassment policy, including rape, at worst faces expulsion from school or, in some instances, is ordered to write an essay.
A number of other states are wrestling with the same concerns and are using legislative remedies to address the issue. In Rhode Island, a bill introduced last year to mandate colleges to report sexual assault incidents to police is being allowed to die. In its place is a new bill that would form a study commission on the topic.
Lawmakers in Virginia and New Jersey also introduced bills this session that would require college officials to promptly report all allegations of on-campus sexual assaults to local law enforcement agencies. The Virginia proposal was scaled back before winning approval. In New Jersey, in the face of opposition from colleges and women's advocates, the bill's sponsor introduced another measure to create a study commission.
In California, guidelines introduced in May include requiring agencies to test rape kits, better coordinate interviews so victims don't have to recount a traumatic experience multiple times, and make sure students |
for example), literature at eye level, and the lightest at the top (sci-fi, romance), with cookbooks on the side for easy reference.
By location
My own shelves are sorted by region (the setting of the book, not the birthplace of the author). I took a cue from McNally Jackson, a bookstore in downtown Manhattan, whose fiction section is sorted by author’s region.
The system starts with Joan Didion’s Californian White Album on the bottom left, crosses the US to John McPhee sitting in New Jersey and Colson Whitehead and Teju Cole wandering around New York, and then goes roughly east across the world, ending in Duong Thu Huong’s Paradise of the Blind and Yaunari Kawabata’s Snow Country. There’s one section for transatlantic and fictional lands—putting Henry James’s The Ambassadors and Game of Thrones books together.
Internal logic within sections
One colleague reports sorting by topic, and then by his reaction to the books within each topic. Novels, nonfiction, manga, and plays are placed separately. “And then within those groups I arrange by how much I liked the book, left to right, with the rightmost books being unread,” he says. Another friend sorts the books overall by topic and then by color with each category.
Don’t even keep books
The editor for this story said she doesn’t even really like to keep books: If she likes something, she’s more likely to give it away, leaving behind books she hasn’t read or didn’t like.
Utter chaos
Quite a few advocated strongly for no system at all. “I like hunting for a book I’m sure I have without knowing where it is,” wrote a colleague’s partner. “It’s like browsing through a used book shop.”
Says another colleague of his system: “What’s it called when you have tons of boxes in storage and just swear the one with the green mark on the left side has the book you’re looking for… if you could only remember the reference point for the ‘left side’?”Puma evoPOWER 1.2 Japanese Dragons Boots Edition Red / Light Blue
The new red Puma evoPOWER 1.2 2015 Dragons Soccer Boots will be worn exclusively by Cesc Fàbregas in Saturday's Premier League clash against Manchester United. Puma athletes such as Mario Balotelli, Dante and Olivier Giroud will wear the new red Puma evoPOWER 1.2 Dragons Cleats from next week. Part of the Puma Dragons Soccer Cleats Pack, the new red / light blue next-gen Puma evoPOWER feature a unique design with a special dragons pattern on the heel. Puma launched the second generation of the popular Puma evoPOWER in mid-January 2015.This is the new red Next-Gen Puma evoPOWER 1.2 2015 Dragons Football Boot.The new Puma evoPOWER 1.2 Dragons Cleat has a mainly red upper with light blue applications. On the heel of the new Puma evoPOWER 1.2 Dragons Soccer Boots is a striking graphic dragons pattern, inspired by Japanese dragon mythology.Designed to increase kicking velocity and accuracy, the upper of the next-gen Puma evoPOWER 1.2 Graphic Boots feature the one-way stretchable microfiber AdapLite with GripTex for better ball control in all weather conditions.The turquoise outsole of the new high risk red Puma evoPOWER 1.2 Graphic Boot is the same used for the first generation of the Puma evoPOWER.In April 2015, Puma will also unveil a special limited edition Puma evoSPEED 1.3 2015 Dragons Soccer Cleat, which features an eye-catching design with a unique Dragons all-over print.Renewables International
Back in 2013, when everyone was focusing on the price of the Energiewende, I pointed out that Germany would only be the 16th most expensive US state in terms of monthly power bills, primarily because the Germans consume so much less electricity than Americans do. There simply is a difference between prices (which admittedly are relatively high in Germany) and costs (which are prices x units consumed – in other words, the actual power bill).
This month, the BDEW announced (press release in German) that the average German power bill fell from 85 to 84 euros in 2014. Note that this figure is an abstraction, not a true statistical average; specifically, it is based on the abstract assumption of 3,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed over the year. In other words, lower consumption did not reduce power bills in Germany in this calculation.
My calculation from 2013 was based on exchange rates applicable at the time. But the exchange rates have changed considerably since – instead of around 1.30 US dollars per euro, we are now only talking about 1.05 USD. That difference changes the calculation considerably.
As we see here, there is no region of the US where power bills would be lower than in Germany right now. Granted, almost all of the change is the result of the exchange rate, and electricity is not traded anyway between the US in Germany, so the exchange rate is of limited use. But I used the exchange rate applicable in 2013 back then, so I’m going to use the new one now.
Critics might argue that the main difference otherwise is the far lower consumption in Germany, which is easily less than half as great as any other place in the contiguous 48. Americans, those critics might argue, are thus getting more electricity for their money. They would be right. But people do not want loads of electricity as an end in and of itself. They want to do things with electricity. So if the Germans are happy with their efficient lights and household appliances, they don’t need more electricity.
The biggest difference in consumption, which is clearly visible within the US data, is air-conditioning anyway, which practically does not exist in Germany (where it is simply not needed). All of the US regions labeled “South” have much higher average monthly consumption levels resulting from air-conditioning. A fairer comparison would therefore include heat expenses, which are higher in Germany than in the southern United States. But Germany does not use much electricity for heat, so we would have to include expenses for oil and gas.
For the record (PDF), Germany would have the sixth lowest monthly power rates if it were a US state.
In short, this comparison does not tell the whole story. The main take away is nonetheless important – the reason why the Germans are not up in arms about high electricity prices is because their electricity expenses are relatively low. And as the most recent data show, those expenses remain stable.
Source: Renewables International. Reproduced with permission.The Associated Press
CAMDEN, N.J. — A self-employed builder from New Jersey hopes to be out of the hospital by Saturday, days after he accidentally shot a nail into his heart.
Dennis Hennis of Vineland says he was working on a neighbor's roof when his nail gun jammed last Saturday.
Hennis tells WPVI-TV in Philadelphia he tried to clear it when it felt like someone poked him in the chest. A 3 1/2-inch nail hit the right side of his heart.
Hennis needed to be resuscitated after he went into cardiac arrest in an ambulance before he was airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden.
A team of cardiac and trauma surgeons repaired the damage. Dr. Michael Rosenbloom tells the TV station that Hennis is very lucky to have survived the puncture wound to his heart.Like a billion other people, I download things illegally. I'm also an actor, writer and director whose income depends on revenue from DVDs, movies and books. This leads to many conflicts in my head, in my heart, and in bars.
From an industry standpoint, physical media has a great advantage: It is its own copy-protection. Even disregarding the DRM built-in to discs, to make copies is hugely impractical for the average consumer. But physical media is disappearing. We simply don't need it any more. Remember slinging out your VHS collection? That's how I'm now thinking about my DVDs. And don't think you're safe either, Blu-rays.
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With bandwidth and storage increasing exponentially, getting cheaper, and consumers becoming more tech-savvy, it's becoming easier every day to grab free copies of books, movies and albums. This is why Internet users are thrilled. Including me. This is why people in the entertainment industry are terrified. Including me.
***
I live in London and many of my favo(u)rite TV shows are American. So if I want to see the latest episode of South Park or Friday Night Lights I'll head over to Pirate Bay or ez.tv and nab a torrent moments after broadcast. I once even downloaded Shaun of the Dead to use in my reel, because it was easier than ripping the DVD.
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Torrenting is probably too hassle-y for the average viewer: Installing Transmission, VLC, perhaps re-encoding to watch on my TV—but I'm pretty techy (ok, a geek) and have been doing this for years. However, if a show is available on iTunes—as South Park is to me now I've set up a US iTunes account (yet another tech hassle I had to overcome…)—I'll click and buy. It's simple, quick, better quality, not to mention legal. It's also cheap. Graham Linehan (creator of The IT Crowd) described this situation to me as "better than free." Matt Stone and Trey Parker of South Park have always tolerated torrent sites hosting pirate versions of their show, as I imagine they see it as constant promotion. Also, they've realised there's nothing they can do about it.
The promotion argument makes sense. South Park for example makes money from from syndication, advertising, merchandising and DVD sales (although the latter market is dwindling) so perhaps the extra visibility helps.
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The visibility argument certainly makes sense for my short-lived BBC show. I'm revamping my website right now and my web team asked me if I would like them to hunt down and put and end to the torrents and RapidShare links to The Peter Serafinowicz Show, which was recently released in the UK on DVD. I said no because the show is still relatively unknown and I'd like as many people to see it as possible. In fact, I've used the torrents myself when I haven't had a copy to hand.
Much of it is already up on YouTube. If people like it enough they'll want to buy, to own, the DVD, which has lots of great extra stuff, but the DVD isn't even sold in the USA. The freely available content serves as a calling card for me, and for the other cast members and writers, hopefully enabling us to produce more hilarious stuff for the world's discerning comedy fans.
If you know where to look, the whole contents of the DVD, extras, menus, all in super quality, are available instantly, for free. Great!? Except I don't make any money, nor does anyone else involved with the show. The PS Show started out on YouTube, with me and my brother James shooting stuff for zero dollars, using basic equipment and making it look as good as we could. But all comedy can't be made like this. A slick show like 30 Rock couldn't exist without a huge budget to pay all the writers, actors, cameramen, production staff etc. Who's gonna pay these people in the future if everything is free?
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***
"Ownership" is starting to change its meaning. If you buy a movie from iTunes you "own" the right to watch it on certain devices within certain constraints. When you "own" a DVD, you have the right to watch it whenever and wherever you want. However: you must watch ten minutes of promos, trailers and anti-piracy threats. I'll take the download, please.
But often you can't do it legally: I recently wanted to show my son Disney's classic Jungle Book and intended to get it on iTunes. Unfortunately, it is currently incarcerated within The Disney Vault. So I'm afraid I simply DL'ed a pixel-clear pirate copy which arrived in seconds. My moral justification for this? I once bought the VHS. It's your own vault, Disney!
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I recently got an iPad while I was in the US (my Gizmodo review is coming soon) and have been using its excellent iBooks app. The backlit screen isn't perfect for reading, but it's close. I bought quite a few books but there was one in particular (recommended to me by the comedian Tim Minchin) that I was super keen to read: Ian McEwan's latest, Solar. It wasn't available in the iBooks store, so I tried Amazon via its (inferior) Kindle app. As I tried to check out, it told me that it was unavailable in my country (I have a UK account). Exasperated, I downloaded a pirate copy and was reading it within minutes. My moral justification for this? I will now advertise the book. "Solar is a sun-tastic read!" (Seriously, it's great.)
I own a physical copy of Anthony Lane's brilliant collection of New Yorker reviews, Nobody's Perfect. It's a heavy read (around 3 lbs.) and I wanted to get a copy for my iPad. I tracked down an ePub version of the book at the Barnes & Noble site, assuming, since iBooks also uses the format, that I could tranfer it to my iPad. Only the iPad doesn't read Adobe-encoded ebooks, not now at least. With the help of some sympathetic Twitter followers I then spent around ten futile hours installing Xcode and obscure Python scripts (not the funny ones) on two different computers in what seems to be the only method one can use to illegally decrypt Adobe ebooks. My moral justification for this? I've paid for the book twice.
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***
Frank Zappa once said that Communism could never work because people like to own stuff. I felt a similar way about CDs when music began to arrive in MP3 form. Now, my music happily resides in my iTunes library, spread over various computers and iPods.
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Music's purpose is to be heard. It doesn't need to live on discs in boxes on a groaning shelf any more. When I go into a Virgin Megastore or HMV (a rare occurrence now, a vestigial habit) I just see a huge room filled with redundant plastic. Now with Spotify and other streaming services I'm even starting to begrudge the space taken up on my hard drive.
I recently directed the music video for Hot Chip's "I Feel Better." Contractually, the video had to be hosted on EMI's official YouTube channel, which disabled non-UK users from viewing it, limiting its audience by around 80%. Frustrated, I put it up on my own YouTube channel with no region restrictions, and at time of writing is just shy of a million views. EMI then remotely disabled embedding on my version, thereby limiting its audience again. If you're in the business of promoting a band, why would you want to stop people watching their promotional video?
***
I don't understand business, but I can see that the old model needs to change. Perhaps it'll involve direct micro-payments. Perhaps you'll pay Apple or whoever a monthly flat fee to license all their content. Most importantly, I believe that the direct and deepening connection artists now have with their fans, be they independent bands or Hollywood talkshow hosts, will play a huge part. But one thing is for sure: artists will always make art, and money-makers will always find a way to make money.
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In the meantime, I'll be suing myself for pirating my own show. And I'm pretty scared, because I have an amazing lawyer.
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Peter Serafinowicz, a celebrated British writer/producer/director/actor/musician/comedian/voice model, is joining us for a few weeks to talk about the tech issues that delight, frustrate and motivate him every day. He recently launched his Peter Serafinowicz Show DVD in the UK—also on YouTube—and will soon release his Look Around You DVD in the USA. This fall, he will be starring with Will Arnett in a Fox sitcom created by Arrested Development's Mitchell Hurwitz. If you don't already follow Peter on Twitter, you should be ashamed of yourself.A flight of beers at Pasteur Street. Photo courtesy of Pasteur Street Brewing Company.
It's half an hour to midnight and despite the flurry of impending activity, Mark Gustafson and Tim Scott are staying cool. I'm simultaneously working my way through the three different brews in front of me, a Mexican-style dunkel from Phat Rooster Ales, a Belgian-style wheat beer from Tê Tê, and a rye IPA from Fuzzy Logic Brewing Co., all of which were brewed right here in Ho Chi Minh City. The sheer number of locally produced craft beers in town is why, in exactly 30 minutes, the duo are planning to add 20 new taps to the lineup at BiaCraft, bringing the total up to 50. They're also in the process of adding an on-site machine to can growlers to-go on the spot, a more effective method of preserving carbonation than bottling.
"It's highly excessive," says Scott brightly.
"But we're all about excess," adds Gustafson, with a slightly manic gleam in his eye. "We started realizing we didn't have enough taps for all the beers out there and we didn't want to leave anybody out. So I asked Tim, 'What do you want to do? Five more? Ten more?' And he's like, 'Why don't we double it?'"
When BiaCraft opened just a couple short years ago, the thought that there would be enough locally brewed craft beers to fill that many taps, let alone customers to consume them, would have sounded like lunacy. Although Vietnam has a longstanding beer drinking culture, the bia hoi that locals have been sipping streetside on ice for generations tend to be generic lagers like Bia Saigon and 333 that go down easy in the sticky, humid climate. What started as a few maverick microbreweries determined to produce gutsier, more varied suds quickly mushroomed into something much larger. Beer aficionados in Ho Chi Minh City can now choose from roughly a dozen local breweries, take a craft beer tour on back of a scooter, or learn a few tricks of the trade at a pop-up event by the Saigon Beer School. As both the quality and the quantity continue to rise, brewers are getting creative and turning to regional ingredients to stand out. The results have been so good that neighboring markets, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand, are scooping them up, and some of the better brews have gone on to collect international accolades.
In some respects, Vietnam's craft beer scene mirrors the organic growth of the American one, which can can trace its roots back to a small group of amateur homebrewers after the fall of the final Prohibition laws. Similarly, the ones to kick things off in Ho Chi Minh City were all die-hards for whom brewing was as much of a personal passion project as it was a business venture. Today, the community is doing its best to maintain the friendly vibe first cultivated in the grassroots scene as brewing here morphs into a bigger business.
Inside East West Brewing Co. Photo courtesy of East West Brewing Company.
When Scott and Gustafson opened Quan Ut Ut, an American-style barbecue restaurant with around 300 different bottles, they became a magnet for all the homesick beer geeks around town. "We started selling it so fast that we had to ration people to ten bottles a day," recalls Scott. The two also poured their own small-batch homebrews, though in the beginning the operation was so tiny that they were secretly storing them in plastic bottles. "We'd open at 4 o'clock and people would be waiting, like, 'Can we get those beers now?'"
In 2014, Platinum stepped onto the scene with kegs of a single pale ale, followed by Pasteur Street Brewing Company. Thanks to the collaborative nature of the tiny community, some of the larger ventures helped convert craft beer aficionados into full-time professional brewers. After trying the homebrew at Quan Ut Ut and going, "Wait, you made this yourselves?" Michael Sakkers launched Phat Rooster. When Gustafson injured himself in a motorbike accident and was unable to brew, Lucas Jans, a software developer from Portland, Oregon (so devoted that he said he'd drink their beer "even if it came in a Ziploc bag") offered to come over and do all the heavy lifting in exchange for free beer. Shortly thereafter, he opened Lac Brewing Co. By 2015, there were half a dozen microbreweries in Ho Chi Minh City, with interest growing by the day, and Gustafson and Scott started thinking about opening a proper bar.
"We realized pretty quickly we didn't have enough beer of our own to open a craft beer bar, so we just started asking everyone. Some of these guys were like, 'We're brewing at home. Do you wanna sell our beer?' and we're like, 'YES!'" says Gustafson. "And this is the mothership! A key point about the role that we've played in the community is that we couldn't have done it without the other brewers. When we opened that first night, the place was packed. It was the first time you could get six different beers and there wasn't a Tiger in the house, there wasn't a Heineken. After a month or two we were up to ten lines. And then it was like, We need to add more lines. I need more, more, more."
Fermentation tanks at East West. Photo courtesy of East West Brewing Company.
One of the earliest breweries to start upping the ante was Pasteur Street Brewing Company, launched by Alex Violette, a brewmaster from Boulder, Colorado's Upslope Brewing Company, and John Reid, an American expat in Ho Chi Minh City who was working in a nightclub. Rather than simply trying to replicate what he had been doing back home, Violette crossed continents with a very different sort of vision. Before brewing even properly started, he traveled around Vietnam hunting down ingredients.
"Alex and John's vision wasn't just to have American craft beers made in Vietnam, but to make real Vietnamese craft beer," says Mischa Smith, a fan who visited the bar so often he wound up joining the team as "Head Sales Dude." The concept of making distinctly Vietnamese beer resulted in creations like Passion Fruit Wheat, Jasmine IPA, and most notably, the Cyclo Imperial Chocolate Stout, a robust beer made with cacao beans sourced from a single isle in the Mekong Delta by artisanal Vietnamese chocolatiers Marou. Of all seven beers I try on my visit, this is the one I can't stop sipping. It's smooth, rich, and dangerously drinkable, despite its hefty 13-percent alcohol content—no wonder it won Gold in the Chocolate Beer Category in last year's World Beer Cup. To Smith, using Vietnamese ingredients in all of these is just common sense. "If you're getting a pale ale or whatever, why would you buy it here if it's the same shit you could buy down the street? Why would you buy a porter made with coffee extract when you've got coffee beans growing up in Dalat?"
Needless to say, working with fresh ingredients has its pitfalls and some of Pasteur Street's inventions have been more successful than others. Fluctuations in acidity and sugar levels mean that one batch of IPA with pomelo may not be quite like the other. Rather than hide these differences, the brewers do their best to keep the base consistent and celebrate the subtle variations. The spirit of experimentation has also occasionally taken the team to some strange places.
Pasteur Street's IPA. Photo courtesy of Pasteur Street Brewing Company.
"From the first day, people kept asking Alex, 'So when are you gonna make a durian beer, ha ha ha?' And then one day I show up for work and there's a keg of durian beer," remembers Smith with a shudder. To the uninitiated, the stench of Southeast Asia's so-called "King of Fruits" has often been compared to moldy blue cheese, sweaty feet, and even rotting human flesh. "Some people liked it, but it's hard to get over the smell because you're tipping it right in your face. Most people came in and were like, 'Oh, can I have a sip… OK, what else do you have?'"
"That's when we stopped giving out samples. I'd actually like to see it again, although maybe with a different twist," says Brandon Watts, Pasteur Street's general manager. To this day, the team remains divided over whether or not the pungent brew should be revived. In a nod of confidence to their current brewmaster, he adds, "Dave [Byrn] could make it good. Dave's a fucking wizard."
Pasteur Street isn't the only game in town playing around with local ingredients in their batches. East West Brewing Company, a slick two-story newcomer with an on-site brewery smack in the middle of District 1, has been making batches of sparkling ales with lychees, IPAs with calamansi limes, wheat stouts with Asian pears, and porters with organic Vietnamese coffee beans and palm sugar. When I swing by the space, brewmaster Sean Thommen is in the process of tinkering with a German-style Rauchbier flavored with the smoked bark of acacia trees. In his Portland, Oregon past, Thommen embraced some pretty daring brews, including a pho beer with cinnamon, star anise, coriander, and whole roasted bones, marrow and all. I ask him if he would attempt a similar feat here, on the soup's home turf.
The brewers at Pasteur Street. Photo courtesy of Pasteur Street Brewing Company.
"It was actually a really good beer, man. But you always have to temper some adventure with reality," he says. Since craft beer is still something of a novelty here, the kookier creations beloved by beer geeks in the States might not fly. That being said, he's happy playing around with small batches of funkier concoctions, while filling the 1,500-liter tanks with something a little more palate-pleasing. "We'll get weird with fermentation and different yeasts and things like that. It's nice to have the pilot batch, because we can do more experimental things with Vietnamese ingredients that might appeal to people's adventurous sides. For the most part, though, we're focusing on classic styles. We're trying to build bridges here and we want to be able to share this culture with the Vietnamese."
It's a valid point, one I hear reiterated when I pay a visit to another big game in town. Opened in December in a handsome exposed-brick space, Heart of Darkness Craft Brewery boasts 20 gleaming taps, two full-time brewers, and its own cicerone, or beer sommelier. Of the options on the board, only five remain constant, while the other 15 rotate, often based on whatever mood the brewers have been in lately. That might include the Dream Sensation, a wheat beer spiked with an aromatic blend of ginger, lemongrass, and kaffir lime, or Charlie's Chocolate Chili Stout, with Vietnamese cacao nibs.
"We wanna make sure that if you come in here and you're an absolute beer geek, that we blow your mind. And if you're a craft beer newbie, we can give you a flight of six beers that'll take you on an interesting journey and give you a good introduction," says partner and CEO John Pemberton, an Australian-born Brit with a booming baritone and eyes that light up whenever the subject turns to suds. "Brewing is such a wonderful, wonderful science. To me, it's like a 3-D puzzle, because you have so many different possible combinations and variables."
A flight at Pasteur Street. Photo courtesy of Pasteur Street Brewing Company.
Unlike Violette or Thommen, who started out as career brewers, Pemberton came over from the corporate world due to a decade-long obsession with craft beer that started in Brookline.
"When I lived in Park Slope, there was this amazing Polish deli that had a room stacked to the ceiling with American craft beer and no two six-packs were the same. So I put on about 20 kilos, but got really into it," he says fondly. The beer belly disappeared during seven years in China where, much to Pemberton's chagrin, "there wasn't any beer worth getting fat for." He'd more or less resigned himself to swilling mediocre pilsners when a friend turned up with a homebrew that flat-out floored him. He offered to pay to assemble a system that could produce up to four kegs at a time. "You can't buy anything for it in China, so we had to beg, borrow, steal, but in the end, the system turned out excellent beer. I got completely obsessed, to the point where I quit my job and I'd spend all day researching. I'd pass out and wake up with my face on the keyboard at 7 AM."
Even after IKEA headhunted him out of early retirement and transferred him to Ho Chi Minh City, Pemberton continued researching and brewing on the side. Last March, he quit his day job again, this time for good, and dedicated himself full-time to opening the bar. He's quick to acknowledge the achievements of those who came before him and welcomes the friendly egging-on that comes from other brewers bouncing around different ideas.
"It's a really cool scene, because it all stemmed from homebrewing. You can go on homebrewing forums and it's amazing the amount of time and energy that people will give to a complete stranger. I think that's carried over to the craft scene," he says. To this day, Ho Chi Minh City's leading brewers are often each other's close friends and best customers. "I mean, it's beer. What's not to be nice about? At the end of the day, we're all just putting more options out there. Really, the only good beer is the beer that you like."
Whether that beer happens to be made with durian or passion fruit, Japanese hops or Vietnamese chocolate, there's an eager audience here ready to taste whatever happens next.
BiaCraft 1 Le Ngo Cat Street, District 3; +84 8 3933 0903; biacraft.com
East West Brewing Company 181-185 Ly Tu Trong Street, District 1; +84 91 306 07 28; eastwestbrewing.vn
Pasteur Street Brewing Company 144 Pasteur Street; +84 8 3823 9562; pasteurstreet.com
Heart of Darkness Brewing Company 31D Ly Tu Trong, District 1; +84 903 017 596; heartofdarknessbrewery.comHarold Camping, who used his sizable Christian radio network as a platform to repeatedly predict the rapture, died Sunday in his California home at the age of 92.
After a fall on November 30, Camping was unable to recover from his injuries and "passed on to glory," announced Family Radio Network.
Camping gained a national following as a Bible teacher via the radio network he founded in 1959 and grew to more than 200 stations by 2009. But he became controversial after his failed prediction that the world would end in 1994. CT noted at the time:
Thousands of devoted radio listeners heeded his warnings to some extent. Camping's end-times views have been considered inconsistent by some because his teachings appear to affirm premillennialism, while Camping considers himself a reformed amillennialist. The views concern the centuries-old debate on the return of Christ and his 1,000-year reign on earth. Camping's teachings spawned organized debates and spin-off books,...
1The late Rehtaeh Parsons. via Facebook.
Update: The RCMP's commissioner Bob Paulson has commented on a potential partnership with Anonymous by saying "If they want to work with us, they’ve got to take their masks off, sadly, but I don’t think they’re prepared to do that. We’re open to working with everybody in society." They have also said that, based on "new and credible information," the Rehtaeh Parsons case will be reopened.
In the days following the suicide of Rehtaeh Parsons—the teenage girl from Halifax who committed suicide after being gang raped, photographed, and harassed—the hacktivist group Anonymous is playing a game of chicken with the authorities in Nova Scotia. Anonymous says they have the names of four suspects, and are threatening to release that information if justice is not delivered. Those names have in fact been circulating in small online circles, but the information has been withheld from publication on Anonymous’s largest social media channels. All of this has caused a storm of negative feedback from those who view Anonymous’s actions as destructive “vigilantism” while Anonymous maintains they are only involved because “several crimes have been committed in Nova Scotia. A 17-year-old girl killed herself because the police failed to do their jobs.”
I spoke with a member of Anonymous who is directly involved with the operation to bring Rehtaeh’s rapists to justice, in order to get a better handle on their motivations.
VICE: How do you go about sourcing the information that has led to naming the four suspects?
Anonymous: The information we have gathered comes from a combination of internet research and informants. It's a lot more like being a journalist than it is being a detective. We use advanced search techniques to comb the internet for statements, photos, videos, whatever we need. We can locate statements by suspects made years ago on accounts they may not even know still exist. We've also developed a level of trust with our online community and they feel comfortable speaking with us because they know we'll protect their identities. We validate their information in the same way the police might, by cross referencing stories and doing background checks on the individuals who are providing the information. There's also a psychological factor. It's important to recognize the motives behind the person who is providing you the information. Some people just want to be involved so they'll embellish their accounts or perhaps they want revenge. You can't always count on a person's memory either so it's important to test them to discover if the story they are telling you has been compromised by time or their emotional state.
In this case, did your sources approach you?
Most of the sources approached us, but we tracked down quite a few of them by examining the online interactions of the victim and the suspects.
What have you learned about this case so far that you want people to know?
Only half of this case is about those four teenage boys and the alleged rape. The real guilty parties here are the adults that violated Rehtaeh. I would like to see those boys punished for what they did because I think it sets a terrible example for the other young men in Nova Scotia, but almost even more I would like to see the police and the school system pay for what they did to that girl. They had a responsibility to be there for her, to protect her and to relieve her torment. They failed at every turn to help her. Now they're all too busy blaming one another. The school claims they didn't know. The police say they couldn't find any evidence. They're both guilty of incompetence.
What happens if you have the wrong person?
I became specifically involved in this operation to prevent that. I didn't get involved in Steubenville. I didn't like the way it was handled. People were called out and in some cases forced to prove their innocence before being let off the hook. It seemed a lot like guilty until proven innocent. I have experience tracking people down online. We would never go public on this unless we were 100% sure. Fortunately, this isn't really an issue. The boys who committed the assault were very public about what they had done. The photo taken of the rape was circulated throughout the school, possibly to hundreds of kids—this of course goes to back my previous statements about how incompetent the school administration was.
People are using this idea of us possibly implicating the wrong individuals to detract away from the real issues. We all know who the police and school officials are that are guilty in this case. I think it's also important to note that justice systems often find innocent people guilty and sentence them to prison, or even in the U.S. for instance, death. So it's nonsense to compare the justice system to Anonymous, but I doubt I'd be embarrassed if our track records were viewed side by side.
How would you respond to columns like Chris Selley’s in the National Post that say your efforts are not needed?
Wow, you picked a real winner there. Well, no offense to Chris Selley or the National Post, but he seems to insinuate that if the police screw up and a few rapists get off the proper response is “tough shit,” move on to the next case. For that, I think he's a moron. Let's slow down for one second and assume that I did release the names of those rapists... what law am I breaking? I suppose they could sue me for slandering them. Of course, to do that they'd have to prove I was lying.
This gets worse: he says we should ignore the photo being spread around the school because it probably happens all time. We can't expect the legal system to punish everyone that's passing around photos of women being raped, now can we? It's “fairly routine adolescent behaviour.” Chris Selley article epitomizes the rape culture. Selley is equating a traumatic rape with a picture of a girl’s breast she took in a mirror and sent to her boyfriend.
What similarities do you see between this case and Amanda Todd's?
I think both deaths were preventable. I think Rehtaeh's death will be similarly exploited. Politicians will go on television, as they already have, and talk about how now is the time to focus on this problem. They're going to say we need to do more and then they'll probably announce funding for some sort of study on bullying—or talk about how they're going to dedicate themselves to solving this issue. If you could solve bullying by talking about it on the news, we'd all be over it by now. What can a Justice Minister do to stop bullying? He's miles above the problem. We need action in the schools where the children can feel it.
What are you going to do if the RCMP cannot bring any justice for Rehtaeh?
I think someone should warn the women at whatever college these boys end up attending that the guy sitting next to them has no respect for their humanity and will likely violate them the first chance he gets. A lot of people have said we should only take into consideration the wishes of Leah Parsons, but I think we have a responsibility to every young girl that could potentially get dragged in to a dark room with one of these assholes. However, I don't think it's fair for me to make the decision to out them |
building within the game? Fathom the gameplay possibilities of being able to rob any bank, drive a motorcycle into any grocery store, or fight your way to the top floor of any skyscraper only to shoot out a window and parachute safely to the ground below. While definitely not possible (at least not on current consoles), the ability to seamlessly explore both the exterior and interior of a fully rendered city without load screens would be a dream come true, and such a feature would redefine the sandbox genre.
Casinos
Rockstar proved they could make a great poker game with Red Dead Redemption. Nothing was more relaxing in that game than seeking shelter in a pub during a thunderstorm and starting a game of cards with a group of strangers, strangers that actually talked and made the game feel real. I believe the developer could take this concept ever further and include casinos in Grand Theft Auto V, complete with multiple gambling games and poker tournaments that you could even play online for in-game cash. Player characters could even be required to dress up before they’d be allowed to enter the casino to make it more realistic. Even though functional casinos existed in San Andreas, Rockstar could do a lot more to make them even more expansive and engaging.
BMX Bikes…And More
BMX bikes are something everyone wants back in Grand Theft Auto. There’s just something special about them. But Rockstar could do more than just give us this beloved transportation device back; they could also add in skateboards and roller blades while they’re at it. Maybe even water skis. And as long as they’re doing that, why not make it possible to do tricks on them as well, like ollies, grinds, flips, and so on? Nothing would be more fun than skateboarding off a skyscraper, doing a few flips, then bailing to pull your parachute and land safely on the ground below.
RPG Elements
What I loved about San Andreas was the light role-playing elements the game provided players. I remember starting a new game and driving to the gym to buff up my character as quickly as possible. While Rockstar has confirmed that player customization isn’t possible in this sense in the next GTA, I still think it’d be a fun addition. They could even integrate a weapons proficiency stat, forcing players to go to shooting ranges before they’re considered experts with a specific gun. Other possibilities include making it easier to sprint the healthier you are and giving players better control of unique vehicles like motorcycles and jet skis the more often they drive them.
Scuba Diving
The Grand Theft Auto franchise has taken players everywhere from land to sea to air. But one place it hasn’t gone is underwater. Imagine exploring old sunken ships or beautiful coral reefs across the ocean floor. The ability to fight sharks and octopi could be a distinct possibility, as could using a new vehicle: the submarine. Pointless? Probably. Fun? Definitely. And isn’t fun what GTA is all about?
Diverse Locales
One of the things that could set GTA V apart from its predecessors (except San Andreas) would be the inclusions of locations that are a bit more diverse than the main city the game takes place in. Adding in natural forests perhaps in the form of national parks, complete with wildlife, would make for fun places to explore outside of the concrete jungles established in past games. And that leads to…
Hunting
Plenty of games nowadays feature hunting. Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry made killing local fauna for their hide and meat a fun distraction, but GTA can probably do it better. Imagine walking through a woodland park, complete with tourists and family picnickers, rocket launcher in hand, blasting bears, deer, and rabbits apart to the screams of fleeing onlookers. Sometimes killing people gets boring; the addition of hunting could rectify that situation pretty quickly.
Urban Legends
Rockstar has always utilized hidden Easter eggs to reward their vigilant Grand Theft Auto fans with secrets most players would normally miss. But the best surprises are the ones that no one can confirm. I remember hearing rumors of Sasquatch roaming the woods and driver-less cars moving over abandoned country roads in San Andreas. I recall spending hours searching for Ratman, a creature rumored to live in the abandoned subway tunnels in GTA IV. Even if these tales were myth, it was still fun to seek them out, adding a creepy and unsettling tone to an otherwise action-oriented game. I say Rockstar can do more, perhaps adding Slenderman or another disturbing creature to the game to get players spooked. Sometimes the best way to play a game is in a way that it’s not intended to be played, and pretending to be a ghost hunter of sorts provided some of the best time I spent playing the Grand Theft Auto franchise.
Dynamic Events
One thing that made Red Dead Redemption so fun was the plethora of random events that occurred as you traveled. You could be riding your horse into the sunset, soaking in the view, only to be interrupted by the cries of a couple being mugged on the side of the road. You could save them, you could keep on traveling, or you could kill everyone and take the loot for yourself. Such dynamic events added a nice flair of surprise every time you encountered one, and I think the same principle could be added to the next GTA. Imagine riding a motorcycle down the street only to see a firefight break out between two rival gangs in an alleyway. It would be the player’s choice whether to ignore the crime or engage in whatever way they want.
There’s a lot Rockstar could do to make GTA V better than I already know it’s going to be. Some of my ideas aren’t possible…yet. But I know one day they will be, and I hope by then my dreams will become reality.
What about you? What do you want to see in GTA V?
0 SharesVANCOUVER — An ad taking up the entire front page of the Vancouver edition of 24 Hours calling Liberal Leader Christy Clark the “comeback kid” is being brushed aside by her chief rival.
NDP leader Adrian Dix says he will leave others to judge the ad, but he says he thinks political parties should not be spending money on “creating illusions” around a story.
The ad, placed on the front page of the free daily, shows a photo of a triumphant Clark underneath the words “paid advertisement” and it also shows poll figures that indicate Clark is perceived to have sounded most like a premier during the televised leaders debate earlier this week.
The full poll by Ipsos Reid is not referenced in the newspaper ad, but it isn’t as flattering as the ad would suggest.
The online results show of the 677 British Columbians surveyed, more people thought Dix had won the debate than Clark and a wide majority thought Dix had better ideas than Clark.
Clark says the front page ad was for sale and her party bought it, adding the fact that it’s advertising is clearly marked on the page.The USDA's plot to deceive consumers over "raw"
Is the USDA actually trying to destroy consumer health?
Why the USDA is more dangerous than terrorists
Almond Growers and Handlers File Federal Lawsuit - Seeking to End "Adulteration" of Raw Nuts
(NaturalNews) After having their organic almond businesses devastated by the USDA's bizarre decision requiring mandatory chemical fumigation of almonds, the almond industry is fighting back. Fifteen American almond growers have filed a lawsuit against the USDA in an attempt to repeal the requirements that all almonds grown in California be fumigated or pasteurized. (Virtually all almonds sold in the United States are grown in California.)Since the USDA's ruling in 2007, organic almond growers in California have been economically devastated by the mandatory fumigation of almonds. Because USDA rules don't apply to almonds being imported from other countries, however, the industry has seen a huge shift away from U.S. growers and towards almond growers in Spain and other countries. Some American almond farmers have even called the USDA's decision "a plan to destroy the U.S. almond industry and put small organic farmers out of business."The mandatory almond fumigation requirement is seen by health-conscious consumers as not merely bizarre, but downright fraudulent. That's because the USDA's regulations allow fumigated and pasteurized almonds to be labeled "raw," thereby intentionally deceiving the consuming public and instantly destroying consumer trust in the labeling of all almonds.By any honest measure, the people making these decisions at the USDA can only be described as either idiotic or criminal. To enforce regulations requiring the intentional mislabeling of raw food seems more like the actions of a criminal racket than a government agency. While online pharmacies selling mislabeled pharmaceuticals are routinely raided and shut down by U.S. authorities, when the government itself engages in similar deceptions, it declares itself above the law and immune to prosecution.This lawsuit by U.S. almonds growers aims to overturn the USDA's deception. These fraudulent actions on the part of the USDA have generated an enormous amount of criticism from the raw food community, whose members depend on almonds to make raw almond milk, raw almond "burgers" and other raw foods preparations. As leaders of the raw foods movement rightly insist, fumigating or pasteurizing nuts destroys as much as 90 percent of their original nutritional value, altering proteins and destroying disease-fighting phytonutrients. The USDA, however, remains remarkably illiterate on this topic, have never made a single statement acknowledging any qualitative difference between cooked foods and raw foods.As the editor of NaturalNews.com, I find the USDA's ignorance on fundamental matters of nutrition to be nothing short of astonishing. As it is the U.S. government department responsible for much of the food supply, it should be on the leading edge of nutritional knowledge, not stuck in the 1950's, before scientists knew about plant enzymes and disease-fighting phytochemicals that are easily destroyed by heat or chemicals.Notably, the USDA has also supported the FDA's plot to irradiate the U.S. food supply while intentionally misleading consumers over the fact that their foods have been irradiated. See my article, "FDA Plots to Mislead Consumers Over Irradiated Foods" at https://www.naturalnews.com/023956.html My only explanation for the USDA's insistence that the U.S. food supply should be fumigated, irradiated and cooked to the point of nutrient destruction is thatfor the U.S. population. With Big Pharma now deciding key regulatory decisions of the U.S. government, the USDA's actions seemed designed to create a nation of health degenerates who will demand unprecedented levels of pharmaceutical "treatments" that enrich the drug companies.If that sounds a little too conspiratorial, rest assured that U.S. corporations engage in conspiracies all the time: Conspiracies to hide negative drug studies, conspiracies to influence the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid to avoid saying things like "eat less meat," and conspiracies to ensnare consumers in an endless cycle of consumption, disease and debt.In fact, most of what happens between government and private industry today is founded on conspiracy -- which simply means two people sitting in a room, plotting how to bilk consumers for the most profits.Whether the USDA is openly conspiring to destroy the U.S. food supply -- or is merely run by bumbling idiots who are nutritionally illiterate -- is debatable. But the results of its actions are not. By destroying the healing qualities of fresh produce and nuts, the USDA is denying consumers access to the very plant-based nutrients that are just barely keeping people from developing full-blown cancer, diabetes and other serious medical conditions. As more and more fresh foods are destroyed by USDA regulations, our population will spiral downward into a state of degenerative disease and misery.In doing so, the USDA will have accomplished what all the terrorists in the world could not do: Destroying the U.S. food supply and leaving its population to rot.It is unimaginable to think that this could be happening accidentally. For government agencies like the USDA and FDA to put such policies into place,. In other words, somebody wants to deny consumers access to raw food. They want everything to be dead, processed, fumigated, homogenized, pasteurized, irradiated or otherwise destroyed. This is most likely being pursued solely for corporate profits (a diseased population is not only easier to control, it also spends a lot more money on pharmaceuticals and medical services).I've said it before, but it's worth repeating:. If such policies are allowed to continue, you can kiss the United States of America goodbye. It will never survive the disease, death and financial bankruptcy that's sure to follow such assaults on its food supply.That's why this lawsuit by California almond growers is so important: It may allow us to free almonds from the destructive designs of the USDA, restoring the integrity of this important source of nutrients.Of course, suing the USDA is hardly the correct response to such terrorism assaults on our national food supply. If we actually lived in a country that sought to protect its population, the Pentagon would send a team of Navy Seals into the offices of the USDA (and the Almond Board of California) with flashbangs and assault rifles, and they'd arrest these criminals for their attempts to threaten the U.S. food supply. After sentencing, they could be shackled and lined up in a California park where consumers could throw -- what else? -- irradiated rotten tomatoes at them.What follows is yesterday's press release on this issue from the Cornucopia Institute:WASHINGTON, D.C. A group of fifteen American almond growers and wholesale nut handlers filed a lawsuit in the Washington, D.C. federal court on Tuesday, September 9 seeking to repeal a controversial USDA-mandated treatment program for California-grown raw almonds.The almond farmers and handlers contend that their businesses have been seriously damaged and their futures jeopardized by a requirement that raw almonds be treated with propylene oxide (a toxic fumigant recognized as a carcinogen by the EPA) or steam-heated before they can be sold to American consumers. Foreign-grown almonds are exempt from the treatment scheme and are rapidly displacing raw domestic nuts in the marketplace.Tens of thousands of angry consumers have contacted the USDA to protest the compulsory almond treatment since the agency's new regulation went into effect one year ago. Some have expressed outrage that even though the nuts have been processed with a fumigant, or heat, they will still be labeled as "raw.""The USDA's raw almond treatment mandate has been economically devastating to many family-scale and organic almond farmers in California," said Will Fantle, the research director for the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. Cornucopia has been working with almond farmers and handlers to address the negative impacts of the USDA rule, including the loss of markets to foreign nuts.The USDA, in consultation with the Almond Board of California, invoked its treatment plan on September 1, 2007 alleging that it was a necessary food safety requirement. Salmonella-tainted almonds twice this decade caused outbreaks of food related illnesses. USDA investigators were never able to determine how salmonella bacteria somehow contaminated the raw almonds that caused the food illnesses but they were able to trace back one of the contaminations, in part, to the country's largest "factory farm," growing almonds and pistachios on over 9000 acres.Instead of insisting that giant growers reduce risky practices, the USDA invoked a rule that requires the gassing or steam-heating of California raw almonds in a way that many consumers have found unacceptable."For those of us who are interested in eating fresh and wholesome food the USDA's plan, to protect the largest corporate agribusinesses against liability, amounts to the adulteration of our food supply," said Jill Richardson, a consumer activist and blogger at: www.lavidalocavore.org "This ruling is a financial disaster and has closed a major customer group that we have built up over the years," said Dan Hyman, an almond grower and owner of D&S Ranches in Selma, CA. His almond business relies on direct sales to consumers over the internet. Hyman notes that his customers were never consulted by the USDA or the Almond Board before they were denied "a healthy whole natural raw food that they have eaten with confidence, enjoyment and benefit for decades."The lawsuit contends that the USDA exceeded its authority, which is narrowly limited to regulating quality concerns in almonds such as dirt, appearance and mold. And even if the USDA sought to regulate bacterial contamination, the questionable expansion of its authority demanded a full evidentiary hearing and a producer referendum, to garner public input neither of which were undertaken by the USDA."The fact that almond growers were not permitted to fully participate in developing and approving this rule undermines its legitimacy," said Ryan Miltner, the attorney representing the almond growers. "Rather than raising the level of income for farmers and providing handlers with orderly marketing conditions," added Miltner, "this particular regulation creates classes of economic winners and losers. That type of discriminatory economic segregation is anathema to the intended purpose of the federal marketing order system. "Retailers of raw almonds have also been expressing their unhappiness, based on feedback from their customers, with the raw almond treatment rule. "We've been distributing almonds grown by family farmers in California for over 30 years and we regard them as the common heritage of the American people," said Dr. Jesse Schwartz, President of Living Tree Community Foods in Berkeley, CA. "We can think of no reply more fitting than to affirm our faith that ultimately the wisdom and good sense of the American people will prevail in this lawsuit."Barth Anderson, Research & Development Coordinator for The Wedge, a Minneapolis-based grocery cooperative, noted that their mission has always been to support family farmers. "We weren't surprised when Wedge shoppers and members wrote nearly 500 individual letters expressing disapproval of the USDA's mandatory fumigation law for domestic almonds," Anderson said. "Our members especially did not like the idea that fumigated almonds could be called 'raw.'"According to the USDA, there is no requirement for retailers to alert consumers to the toxic, propylene oxide fumigation or steam treatment applied to raw almonds from California."This rule is killing the California Organic Almond business," said Steve Koretoff, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and owner of Purity Organics located in Kerman, CA. "Because foreign almonds do not have to be pasteurized their price is going up while our price is going down because of the rule. It makes no sense." Koretoff added.Two groups of consumers that have been particularly vocal in their opposition to the almond treatment rule are raw food enthusiasts and vegans. These consumers may obtain as much as 30% of their daily protein intake from raw almonds, after grinding them for flour and other uses. Studies exploring nutritional impacts following fumigant and steam treatment have yet to be publicly released. A Cornucopia Institute freedom of information request for the documents is awaiting a response from the USDA."We raw vegans believe raw foods, from non-animal sources, contains valuable nutrients some not yet well-understood by scientists," stated Joan Levin, a retired attorney living in Chicago. "These nutrients can be destroyed by heat, radiation and toxic chemicals. We support the continued availability of fresh produce free of industrial age tampering," explained Levin.Cornucopia's Fantle noted that the Washington, D.C. federal district court has already assigned the almond lawsuit a case number, beginning its move through the judicial system. "We believe this is a strong legal case and hope for a favorable decision in time to protect this year's almond harvest," Fantle said.Image: Flickr/Quinn Dombrowski
In the early 1500s, a brewing revolution was underway in Germany, inadvertently led by a group of brewers who had taken to lagering (lagern being German for 'to store') their beers in caves. By allowing their beers to ferment in this way, the brewers found it gave their brews a crisper taste than ale and everyone at the olde biergarten agreed that it tasted pretty great. The reason for this remained a mystery until the early 1900s however, when the hybrid strain of yeast responsible for giving this newfound beer its distinct flavor profile was at last isolated, allowing for the wholesale production of a drink that we've all come to know and love: the lager.
Today, the 16th century Bavarian brewers' accidental discovery is responsible for the most consumed alcoholic beverage in the world and drives a lager industry worth over $250 billion. Yet the success of lager has not stopped beer scientists from continuing to experiment, although the creation of new beers is a much more controlled process nowadays. Case in point is a team of researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, which has developed a new method for making yeast hybrids in the lab, and have already put one of their four new hybrid species to use in a new beer recipe.
The team's research draws on the wisdom of the old-school German cave brewers who, in their quest to make ale (a drink almost as old as humanity itself) accidentally encouraged the natural hybridization of two species of yeast. Known as Saccharomyces eubayanus, this bottom-fermenting strain of yeast was naturally selected by the cold environment of the caves, unlike the top-fermenting yeast Saccharomyces cervisiae which is used to make ale.
While the UW-Madison team was still making use of Saccharomyces cervisiae to form one half of their hybrids, their yeast hybridization method was slightly more high tech than just putting some barrels in a cave for a few months. The team made use of plasmids, circles of DNA that can be used to manipulate genes in cells, to encourage yeast hybridization by expressing a natural yeast protein that allows two different species to mate. Moreover, the plasmids used to facilitate this process can be removed after the hybridization of the two species is complete, leaving each of their individual genomes unchanged.
"We can achieve hybrids at rates of one in a thousand cells," said William Alexander, a postdoctoral research associate at UW-Madison and the lead author of the paper. "[Our method] is much more efficient than nature."
The work being done by Alexander and his colleagues was detailed in a recent article published in Fungal Genetics and Biology and will have important implications for brewers and others who work with yeast.
According to the team, it will allow brewers to get creative and experiment with flavors that wouldn't have been possible before. At the moment, a problem for brewers looking to mix it up in the flavor department is that most industrial species of yeast are sterile—they cannot produce spores and thus cannot be bred into a new hybrid with other types of yeast. What is more, the team's new method is incredibly efficient, capable of producing new hybrid yeasts in just a week.
"The advantages of the technique are speed, efficiency, and precision," said Chris Todd Hittinger, a UW-Madison professor of genetics and the senior author of the new study. "If you have a favorite ale strain, for example, you should easily be able to hybridize it with a wild strain using this method. Within a week, you can generate a large number of hybrids of whatever two species you want, creating forms never seen before. There is a lot of potential out there for new flavors and combinations."Video: Elephant warning Video: Elephant warning
Entire elephant families bolt when they hear recordings of trumpetings made by other elephants fleeing from bees.
This is the first demonstration that elephants may make specific sounds to warn of particular threats, although they have also been observed “roaring” when threatened by lions.
“Six out of 10 elephant families fled from the loudspeaker when we played the ‘bee rumble’ compared to just two when we played a control rumble and one with the same call shifted to a different frequency,” says Lucy King of the University of Oxford, who heads a team in Kenya investigating the meanings of elephant vocalisations. The fleeing elephants also shook their heads violently, as if trying to deflect bees.
In 2007, King and her colleagues demonstrated that elephants flee in terror from bees and from recordings of bees. Last year, in follow-up trials, they successfully protected human settlements from encroachment by elephants by wiring beehives together as a fence.
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Bee rumble
The latest findings open up the possibility of using recordings of the “bee rumble” as a deterrent as well, helping to prevent potential conflict between humans and elephants.
Elephants are terrified of bees because they can crawl into their trunk and sting them from inside it. They also sting around the animals’ eyes, leaving painful welts that take weeks to disappear. The researchers believe that the rumbles alert both the elephant’s family and neighbouring herds to the threat, and may teach young elephants that bees are dangerous.
Monkeys and birds are known to produce slightly different sounds to warn of different types of threat. Putty-nosed monkeys native to Nigeria, for example, make different sounds to warn of leopards or eagles.
Journal reference: report to appear in PLoS ONERoger Clegg at The Corner spotted this one:
I’m not sure, but I suspect that once upon a time “juvenile delinquent” was a liberal euphemism for “young criminal.” As often happens, however, eventually even the euphemism is thought to be too harsh, and so a better one has to be found. And so one has: This Obama-administration press release yesterday talked a lot about “justice-involved youth.”
And so it does:
In an effort to help young people involved in the justice system find jobs and housing, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced $1.75 million for Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and nonprofit legal service organizations to address the challenges justice-involved individuals face when trying to find work and a place to call home. …
“The future of our nation depends upon the future of our young people – including young people who have become involved with our justice system,” said Attorney General Lynch. “By helping justice-involved youth find decent jobs and stable housing after they return home, these critical grants provide a foundation for a fresh start and offer a path towards productivity and purpose. In the months ahead, the Department of Justice will continue helping justice-involved youth enrich their lives and improve our country.”Who created Caitlin Snow, the alter ego of Firestorm super-villain Killer Frost, who appears regularly on The Flash?
According to DC Entertainment, nobody.
That’s right. Caitlin Snow, the brilliant scientist working for Harrison Wells, fiancée of Ronnie Raymond and friend of Barry Allen, aka The Flash, sprang fully formed into existence without a creator or creators.
But that’s okay, because, by the logic employed by DC Entertainment, nobody created Barry Allen either.
Let me explain. See if you can follow me here.
As I’ve described elsewhere (http://comicsequity.blogspot.com), many years ago DC Comics established the first program to provide comic book creators with a share in the revenues generated by their creations in other media. This concept became known as “creator equity participation” and it was a small but significant step toward compensating creators for their work beyond a simple page rate. For me, personally, it’s been moderately lucrative (thank you, Bruce Timm, for putting Killer Croc in the animated Batman) but in recent years it’s also become an increasingly frustrating and, lately, infuriating process.
The reason, I believe, is the shift of corporate culture at DC Comics that occurred around the time Paul Levitz left his position as publisher.
As a comic book creator himself, Paul displayed a protective empathy for creators. Once the creator equity concept became policy, Paul applied it liberally and proactively– often notifying writers and artists their creations were due to receive equity participation when creators would otherwise have no idea. For thirty plus years, under Paul, creators were valued and supported as equity partners. (We can argue about the level of support, whether the percentage creators received was commensurate with their contributions, but we can’t deny that the support was there, and it was consistent.)
All of that changed when Paul left, and DC Comics became, officially, DC Entertainment, a fully subsumed cog in the Warners Entertainment wheel.
I first learned how this change would effect DC’s approach to creators equity when I received a letter from DC Entertainment’s new president, Diane Nelson, informing me I would no longer receive equity payments for Power Girl because she was now considered a “derivative” character. To soften the blow and show “appreciation” for my “contribution” she enclosed a check for $1000.
Thank you, Diane.
The next thing I learned about DC Entertainment’s new approach to their comic creators equity program was just as distressing, given how many characters I created for DC over the decade-plus I wrote for the company: if I wanted to receive an equity participation contract for a character I created, I had to request one, in writing, for each character, before that character appeared in another media, because DC would refuse to make equity payments retroactively.
By a rough guesstimate, I probably created over five hundred characters for DC between 1969 and 1985. Most of them were minor one-shot creations, and some of them, like Felicity Smoak (now a regular on Arrow) were minor supporting characters who’ve taken on a new life in other media. Unless I’m willing to commit a large chunk of my life to tracking down each character and filing a separate equity request in anticipation that somehow, some day, one of these characters might end up on a TV show, I risk being cut off from any share in the fruits DC enjoys from the product of my labor. A share which DC acknowledges I’m due– but which DC refuses to assist me in receiving.
Thank you, DC.
But now we come to the catch-22 of DC’s new approach to creator equity agreements. Assuming I perform my due diligence (which should really be DC’s due diligence) and dig up references to characters I’ve created that might soon be appearing in other media (maybe as a chess piece, or a Heroclix figure, or a recurring character on The Flash), and assuming I file the necessary request form in a timely fashion– DC can still decide, unilaterally, that my creation is “derivative” and they don’t owe me a dime.
What, exactly, is DC’s definition of a “derivative” character?
It’s a character that DC decides was “derived” from some other previously existing character.
For example, Power Girl– “derived” from Superman, because, like Supergirl, she’s a relative of Superman. Which means I can’t claim to be her co-creator because Superman is a pre-existing character. Fair enough, I suppose. The logic here is that Superman is the original creation, so Power Girl is derived from that original creation, so in effect, Power Girl is an extension of Superman, which means, by this tortured logic, that Power Girl was more or less created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Uh, no.
This was the tortured logic National Periodical Publications tried to use back in the 1940s when Siegel and Shuster sued National for the rights to Superboy. National (the company that preceded DC) argued that Superman was the original creation, which Siegel and Shuster sold to National, and that Superboy was just a “derivative” creation. A court-appointed legal referee found that Superboy was in fact a unique creation and that National was guilty of copyright infringement. Sadly for Siegel and Shuster (and for creators everywhere), legal expenses forced the creators to sell National the rights to Superboy in a consent decree that obscured this fundamental finding. But the finding is pretty clear:
Characters “derived” from other characters are legally unique, and DC’s claim that “derivation” deprives creators of any equity participation rights in those characters is nothing more than an immoral, unethical, deceitful and despicable money grab.
Yet, it gets worse.
Let’s say DC agrees you created a character, like, for example, Killer Frost. In your original creation, Killer Frost had a secret identity named Crystal Frost. Later, a “new” Killer Frost is created for the New 52, and this new Killer Frost has a secret identity named Caitlin Snow.
You’ll be pleased to hear (I hope) that DC agrees I and Al Milgrom are the co-creators of all manifestations of “Killer Frost.” We are also considered the co-creators of Crystal Frost. And, of course, by the twisted logic that credits Power Girl as a derivation of Superman, Al and I must also be the creators of Killer Frost’s New 52 secret identity, Caitlin Snow.
Right?
No. We’re not. And DC insists we are not. And I agree with DC.
Caitlin Snow was created by Sterling Gates and Derlis Santacruz.
Except, according to DC Entertainment, she wasn’t. Because she was “derived” from the original creation of Killer Frost.
Which means Al Milgrom and I created her.
Except, according to DC Entertainment, we didn’t.
Nobody created her.
Or, rather, nobody gets credit and creator equity participation for creating her.
And that, my friends, is truly obnoxious and despicable.
DC Entertainment has created a marvelous catch-22 that allows them to cheat creators by using both sides of an argument to serve DC’s interests.
According to DC, Sterling Gates and Derlis Santacruz didn’t create Caitlin Snow. Don Newton and I didn’t create Jason Todd. Ric Estrada and I didn’t create Power Girl. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster didn’t create Superboy. Bob Kanigher and Carmine Infantino didn’t create Barry Allen.
These characters just appeared out of nowhere.
But the money for their exploitation goes directly into DC’s bank account.Channing Tatum, actor, excitable emailer and predictable YouTuber, took part in an AMA on Reddit last night, confessing his love for the broom in Fantasia.
His answer as to which is his favourite Disney character wasn't the most interesting exchange, but I just couldn't resist that headline.
What probably is of more interest to cinephiles is that he had the same reaction to the Wachowskis' Jupiter Ascending as the rest of us.
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"Jupiter Ascending? What was that?" one user asked him.
"Great question. I have the same one to myself." He replied, getting thousands of upvotes for his honesty.
He also discussed his infamous HAHAHAHAHAHA email regarding 22 Jump Street that came out during the Sony leaks, which was charmingly hand-typed with minimal Ctrl + V.
Asked how long it took to type, he replied: "I'm sure exactly how long. (sic) I hit the h and a for a long time before I realized I could copy and paste. I'm not the most tech savvy person around but it did become a lot easier and faster."
He also settled this important matter.
"Would you rather fight a Danny Devito sized John Stamos or a John Stamos sized Danny Devito? You're both naked."
His response:" Can I just fight a Danny devito sized Danny Devito because I think I could take him and I would be on top or I could just use him as a spinner as I'm assuming we're going to have sex after we fight if we're naked."
Tatum did the AMA to promote upcoming Magic Mike sequel Magic Mike XXL, revealing to the disappointment of his ardent fan base that he won't be full frontal naked in it.
@christophhooton‘Every country is sovereign and able to make its own rules to admit people,’ a government spokesman said after several Canadians were denied US entry
US authorities are entitled to search mobile devices owned by Canadians seeking to cross the border, a Canadian government spokesman said on Saturday.
Canadians traveling to Women's March denied US entry after sharing plans Read more
Several Canadians traveling to attend Friday’s inauguration of Donald Trump as president or Saturday’s protest march in Washington were turned away at the border earlier this week.
One group was held for two hours and made to unlock and hand over their mobile phones for inspection before ultimately being denied entry.
One of the group, Sasha Dyck of Montreal, told the Guardian: “We said we were going to the women’s march on Saturday and they said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to pull over’.”
Each member of the group was photographed and fingerprinted, before border agents first told two French citizens they had been denied entry to the US and would need a visa for any future visit.
“Then for the rest of us, they said, ‘You’re headed home today’,” Dyck said. The group was also warned that if they tried to cross the border again this weekend, they would be arrested. “And that was it, they didn’t give a lot of justification.”
In a statement emailed to Reuters on Saturday, Scott Bardsley, press secretary to Ralph Goodale, Canada’s public safety minister, said: “When entering another country, including Canada, it has always been the case that goods accompanying a traveler may be searched to verify admissibility.
“Every country is sovereign and able to make its own rules to admit people and goods to manage its immigration framework, health and safety.”
Hundreds of thousands of people attended the Women’s March on Washington on Saturday, a crowd far larger than that which attended the Trump inauguration, with thousands more marching in cities across the US. Around 150,000 marched in Chicago and events were also staged in cities around the world.
Relations between Canada and the US are under scrutiny following the election of Trump, who has vowed to put “America first” and renegotiate a trade agreement with Mexico and Canada.
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, spoke to Trump on Saturday, about trade and to congratulate him on his inauguration, according to the prime minister’s office.
“The prime minister and the president reiterated the importance of the Canada-United States bilateral relationship, and discussed various areas of mutual interest,” a statement read.
“The prime minister noted the depth of the Canada-US economic relationship, with 35 states having Canada as their top export destination.”This clip chosen to be G
The style of animation and the choice of cross-sections to illustrate how the machine gun works are well suited to the film’s purpose as a training film for the army. The use of repetition (inherent in the multiple action of machine-gun fire) and slow motion, along with explanatory text boxes, clearly present the viewer with a comprehensive overview of the gun. The Owen Brothers creatively employ 16mm colour film stock to differentiate components with different colours. While the film is silent, it was most probably accompanied by a lecture or live presentation by a member of the armed forces.
An animated cross-section of the Browning machine gun illustrates the mechanics of operation, including the springs, cams and levers which facilitate firing. Text boxes highlight the various components and the clip is animated to show how each component contributes to the machine gun’s function. A detailed cross-section focuses on the trigger mechanism and shows both single round and automatic firing movements. Text boxes pinpoint each relevant component.
Thanks to the generosity of the rights |
In the last race of the year, at Riverside, Jerry Titus drove a Shelby Mustang to victory to edge out Cougar for the manufacturer’s championship by a slim margin of two points.
With such fierce competition, we wonder how Shelby reacted to building a custom Cougar for the street to compete with his own G.T. 350 and G.T. 500 road cars. Mercury dropped out of the Trans-Am in 1968, a fact Royce Peterson attributes to Cougar giving Ford “too much competition.” Ford gave Bud Moore the factory program to race Mustangs in the Trans-Am for 1968 and 1969. Carroll Shelby had his plate full with his Shelby Racing company and building cars for the street, something Dan Gurney did not have to deal with.
“We sent Gurney a letter once asking him to tell us his end of the story. He wasn’t even allowed to have any input at all. He was told the thing was happening and his name was going to be associated with it. He did some publicity shots, and he said it could have been a lot more.”
We ran into the Cardinal Red XR7-G pictured here at the Cougar Club of America (CCOA) 50th anniversary show in Tulsa this past April. Brian Carpenter was competing in concours judging with his “G-car” and had scored the highest point total (just 10 points deducted) of any car judged.
Carpenter is not new to the Cougar scene. He currently owns eight classic Cougars and was familiar with the XR7-G when he ran across this unrestored original in 2003. He knew this was a true XR7-G car. He wanted the Cougar for its many options, which is when he began looking into the history and discovered XR7-G Cougars were built on the same assembly line as the 1968 Shelby Mustangs.
A big deal is the power sunroof, which Brian believes is the “very first” American car with this option. Installing a sunroof in a small number of cars would hold up a factory assembly line of that time. A specialty shop is what Mercury needed. Shelby American had been assembling Shelby Mustangs in California. For 1968, A.O. Smith Corporation, a pioneer making fiberglass parts (for Corvette), would take over G.T. 350 and G.T. 500 production in Ionia, Michigan, conveniently located 129 miles by rail from Dearborn Assembly, where Cougars were built.
On this same assembly line, side by side with Shelby Mustang production, workers turned out XR7-Gs. This fact elevates the XR7-G to more of a hand-built car, over and above assembly line production.
“They started putting the sunroofs in at A.O. Smith,” Carpenter said. “When they were cutting [the roof] and pressing in the sunroof, they were making the roof a little wavy, so to hide it all, they all got vinyl roofs. They installed some at A.O. Smith, and then to improve quality, some of the cars went back to ASC, which had its own installation place in Detroit.”
The front valance, modified to accept Lucas (or Marchal) fog lights, was another specialty change that A.O. Smith would have to make to the Cougar XR7s that Dearborn Assembly shipped by rail to Ionia. A.O. Smith’s production line also installed Raydot side mirrors, made in England, drilled the hoods for pins, and installed fiberglass hood scoops, which A.O. Smith made. Many other items came right out of the Shelby parts catalog, an incentive for Shelby to get involved with Cougar production.
How hot was this Cougar build compared to a Shelby? The XR7-G Registry points out the first XR7-G was a concept built in the fall of 1967 for Hertz. The next eleven cars had X-code, 280hp, premium-burning 390 two-barrel engines and C6 automatics. They were slated for display in airport terminals and train stations, and were delivered to Hertz in February 1968.
Another 188 XR7-Gs went to Hertz to fulfill its initial request for 200 that got the program off the ground. A popular engine choice was the 390 GT four-barrel, backed by an automatic and 2.75:1 gears in a 9-inch rear axle. Options included sunroof, power steering, A/C, disc brakes, and tilt-away steering.
Shelby Automotive, the Michigan-based company founded in 1968 when Shelby American in California stopped modifying Mustangs, contracted with A.O. Smith to continue assembling XR7-Gs for the balance of 1968.
Production started March 1, two months behind the Hertz timetable. With a half model year left, total number of cars built was 619, per Kevin Marti.
Carpenter’s 1968 XR7-G came with the 390 four-barrel, which is rated at 325 hp. The hottest version would have been one of the 428 Cobra Jets, of which a mere 12 were made and five are known to exist. Just three were 428 CJs with four-speed transmissions.
Carpenter found out his XR7-G has DSO 84, which is “Home Office Reserve” shipped to “Ford Motor Company, L-M Los Angeles Sales” in Pico Rivera, California. He speculates Mercury might have used this car for promotions, such as for salesmen to drive to dealerships in California to show them the G package so they would order cars.
Although the Marti Report shows the car was built on March 21, this XR7-G didn’t ship to California until “almost June,” just a couple months before the 1969 models came out. A Ford employee, Lorraine May from Venice, California, bought the car from the L-M Sales Office. George Huismann, who owns Design Concepts, an OE supplier for Ford, bought the rare Cougar next and brought it home to Detroit in 1986. Huismann sold the G to Dan Hennon, quality manager at Ford’s Lima, Ohio, plant. In 2003, Hanna sold the Cougar to Carpenter, who restored the XR7-G to concours condition.
At A Glance
1968 Cougar XR7-G
Owned by: Brian Carpenter, Battle Creek, MI
Restored by: Owner
Engine: 390ci/325hp V-8
Transmission: C6 3-speed automatic
Rearend: Ford 9-inch with 3.00 open gears
Interior: Leather & vinyl bucket seat
Wheels: 14×6 styled steel with XR7-G center caps
Tires: F70-14 raised white letter Goodyear Polyglas
Special parts: XR7-G option (see sidebar)
The XR7-G Option
• XR-7 interior including leather seat upholstery; woodgrained dash with tachometer, trip odometer, oil pressure and amp gauges; map lights; rear seat courtesy lighting
• Unique interior console with switches for fog lamps and sunroof
• Aluminum running-cat valve covers
• XR7-G center caps
• Lucas fog lights in a unique front valance panel
• Raydot bullet shaped remote controlled racing side-view mirrors
• Fiberglas hood scoop, non-functional
• Chrome locking hood pins
• Vinyl roof covering
• Leather door pull straps
• XR7-G trunk lock cover
• Sport grip wrapped steering wheel with gold Cougar emblem
• Dashboard identification Cougar XR7-G in gold
• Wood shift knob with inlaid gold running cat
• XR7-G badges on passenger side headlamp cover and C-pillars
• Rear valance with chrome cutouts for slash cut “pipe-in-pipe” exhaust tips
• A third, extra-loud horn, made by Delco-Remy
XR7-G Engine Availability
Code Engine Horsepower Torque Notes 6 302 2V (not published) (not published) Low compression F 302 2V 210 @ 4,400 295 @ 2,400 J 302 4V 235 @ 4,800 318 @ 3,200 Premium fuel S 390 4V GT 325 @ 4,800 427 @ 3,200 Premium fuel R 428 4V CJ 335 @ 5,200 440 @ 3,400 Ram air X 390 2V 280 @ 4,400 403 @ 2,500 Premium fuel
Courtesy XR7-G RegistryMarvel has chosen a writer for its forthcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie adaptation, reports suggest.
Chris McCoy will take responsibility for a rewrite of the original script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Marvel Studios
McCoy's work has appeared on the movie industry's annual 'Black List' of highly-rated yet unproduced scripts on three occasions.
Beatles-themed time travel adventure Get Back made the list in 2007, a futuristic dating comedy titled Good Looking got the nod in 2009, while coming-of-age movie Good Kids appeared last year.
Nicole Perlman from Marvel's former writing programme produced the first draft of the script.
The Guardians of the Galaxy movie was confirmed at Comic-Con last month and is expected to be released in August 2014, after Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/gettyimages-53443069_1.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/gettyimages-53443069_1.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/gettyimages-53443069_1.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > A new study has found the answer to a mysterious buzzing sound that has baffled scientists for years. ( TARIK TINAZAY/AFP/Getty Images) ( TARIK TINAZAY/AFP/Getty Images)
A team of marine researchers have traced a vexing humming sound in the ocean to what they believe to be deep-water animal migration.
Simone Baumann-Pickering, an assistant research biologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, announced her team's discovery at this week's Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans.
Scientists have long been puzzled by the mysterious buzz, detected in the mesopelagic zone. Through the use of acoustic instruments, the deep sea researchers were able to meticulously analyze the low-frequency sounds and determine the most likely suspects were massive schools of fish and other deep-sea dwellers darting through the depths of the ocean.
"We’ve been speculating about the source for these sounds for a few years now and had always hypothesized that the origin is from midwater animals," Baumann-Pickering told weather.com in an email. "The most likely candidates within that community were fish as many fish species are known to produce sound."
The findings thrilled oceanographic scientists at the conference who observed the research could help them better understand the mysterious routines of many sea critters that remain elusive.
"I think this is some of the most fascinating research to come along in some time," David Gallo, an oceanographer at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told weather.com. "It’s a part of the world we know little about."
Rob Williams, a marine researcher for the Oceans Initiative, said the research would be important for comprehending how animals underwater communicate and travel.
"The finding 'rings true' because sound is the primary way that many marine organisms probe their deep, dark environment," Williams said. "I think of Dr. Baumann-Pickering’s results as reporting a marine counterpart to the dawn chorus of songbirds we enjoy on land, or the songs of cicadas during hot summer days."
Williams said he shared many of Baumann-Pickering's lingering questions over the interpretation of the sounds.
"What do these sounds mean?" he inquired. "What purpose do they serve? Are they mating calls? Are they sharing information about the discovery of a big, important prey patch, in hopes that someone else will reciprocate and signal back when they find prey patches in future?"
(MORE: Sound Check: Marine Mammals and the Noises We Make Below the Surface )
Although he hoped further research would answer many of these uncertainties, he believed the findings gave conservationists one more reason to be concerned with "rising levels of human-generated ocean noise from shipping, seismic surveys, pile driving and sonar."
"Much of our work on ocean noise to date has focused on disturbance of individual whales," Williams said. "We are now starting to recognize chronic ocean noise as a ubiquitous habitat-level stressor. If human-generated noise is masking this hum or buzz, we may be tipping the balance between predator and prey, and changing the way that ecosystems function. This signal that Dr. Baumann-Pickering describes happens to fall in the frequency band dominated by noise from distant ships and seismic surveys. As noise levels in the ocean continue to grow, it will be important to describe the function of this signal, and in parallel, understand how human-generated noise may be masking it."
Many of the scientists at the meeting were eager to continue to delve deeper in searching for deciphering what the fish were doing, believing further study would help fill in the perplexing gaps of deepwater biology.
"(The) scientists have come up with a solid set of explanations, but the phenomena remains somewhat mysterious," Robert Carney, professor of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University, told weather.com in an email. "How much is really known? Here we run into a murky area. The Navy listens to the ocean a lot and has been doing so for a long time. It's possible that more is known than is acknowledged."
Listen to the sound below:
MORE AT WEATHER.COM: Deep Sea MonstersMy name is Will Harrison and allow me to welcome you again for another Backlog Adventures character guide for the Blizzard MOBA Heroes of the Storm. In our last guide, we covered the awkwardly, awesomely adorable melee specialist Murky. This time around, I’ll be talking about the newest support character in the game, as well as the first support Hero from the Diablo universe: Kharazim, the Monk of Ivgorod.
Who? What? Why? I’m hungry.
Calm down. First: I am in no way a professional Heroes of the Storm player, just a video game journalist who has fallen in love with the game. As such, your mileage may vary in regards to my advice, play styles, and suggestions.
Having said that, my guide is for anyone curious about playing a unique type of healer in HOTS that possesses a great deal of mobility, burst healing, and a slightly high skill cap.
If you find yourself famished, I wholeheartedly suggest you find your nearest Korean restaurant. I’m craving drunken chicken noodles at the moment.
Moving on!
Kharazim: At a glance
Monk is a highly mobile support Hero that can accomplish much. His ability to pick from one of three traits allows him to wear many hats, even while filling the role of healer. Thanks for a teleporting dodge and the ability to heal while retaliating, Monk is great at staying in a lane by himself and forcing back specific Heroes.
He also excels in team fights, able to stand in the thick of most encounters and provide area-of-effect healing while helping to pick off stragglers or trap enemies by pressuring them with attacks.
A rundown:
Positives
Monk is a great in-lane partner, giving Heroes that using lose the laning phase a fighting chance at pressuring.
A malleable team mate, able to fit into just about any composition thanks in part to his traits.
A surprisingly effective late-game fort pusher and jungler, able to take mercenary camps by himself without losing HP.
A great gank squad leader, able to initiate, flee, and attack enemies that lose their way in the woods.
One of the few Heroes (in my opinion) with viable Ultimates.
Can be hard to kill and can place himself into position with ease
Negatives
Lacks any kind of crowd control buttons.
Possesses a high skill ceiling and will require effort and patience to learn.
Extremely hindered by a number of ranged Heroes, as well as Heroes that can blind or stun.
While he can provide solid damage numbers, he has to work for it. Just about every Hero can deal with Monk’s attacks by simply walking away from him.
Both Ultimates require precision map placement, as they can easily miss.
Can be a frustrating team mate in solo queue, as some people will insist on taking a damage build when they should be healing.
TRAITS
Monk’s defining characteristic is that he can pick from one of three traits that change his kit in interesting ways.
The trait will be picked as the Level 1 Talent. All three greatly change how Monk is played, but there isn’t a hard and fast rule yet as to what works best. For a healing build, it is obvious that Transcendence is the premium choice. However, providing off-heals or going for a damage/healing hybrid build makes Iron Fists and Insight both viable choices.
Regardless of what you choose, Monk’s trait will require him to find ways to punch things. In the early game, this is easy enough as Monk can dominate the laning phase, especially if using Transcendence. Against a majority of Heroes, this trait will allow Monk to stand in-lane and pummel minions, healing him of any errant damage that may occur.
His ability to get basic attacks in is much easier if laning with a friend, and as such he is a great second Hero to have with you during any phase of the game. His other abilities allow Monk to fill a variety of roles.
ABILITIES
Monk’s basic abilities give him access to unparalleled mobility, the only basic ability, AOE heal in the game, and a punishing barrage attack. Radiant Dash has myriad uses, from escaping a pack of enemies to teleporting to a hurt team mate and making the save. This ability can be used on Heroes, as well as minions, but not structures. In specific situations, Radiant Dash can be used to chase down and finish off a fleeing enemy, or if you’re fast enough, avoid stuns and captures from characters like Johanna and Kael’Thas.
Breath of Heaven is a great early phase heal that does so in an area of effect, as well as providing a movement bonus. The basic healing numbers provided can mean life or death for a team, which makes Monk most effective while standing in the middle of a scrum and actively healing with his W while providing additional heals via basic attacks.
Breath of Heaven becomes even more important as the game goes on, gaining the ability to clear most status effects, heal twice, or provide additional health for each team member affected. In my opinion, one of the best basic heals in the game, if not the best.
Deadly Reach is a curious ability due to how hard it can be to effectively use it. Because the ability is merely activating a period of basic attacks, it means that you can’t move while channeling attacks through the spell’s duration a la Tychus’ Overkill. For attacks to come out, Monk will have to be standing still. As such, it is quite easy for enemies to just walk away and avoid conflict all together.
This is where Monk’s complexity and high skill ceiling come into play. he lives and dies by being able to generate basic attacks, and you won’t always have the luck of a skirmish or team fight breaking out in the middle of a pack of minions that provide stationary targets to batter. Deadly Reach is best applied in situations where Monk has been placed in opportune areas, such as when an enemy has no choice but to walk completely around Monk.
Deadly Reach is also the key to Monk’s surprisingly effective siege damage and mercenary camp skill. Left to his own devices, Monk can whittle down the health of a structure with ease, thanks in part to his ability to heal himself while attacking. Likewise, Monk can take late game mercenary camps by himself and in specific situations.
ULTIMATE ABILITIES
While it looks like Monk’s two Ultimates are healing and damage-spec exclusive, I don’t consider this to be the case 100% of the time.
Seven-Sided Strike can be a powerful attack if Monk is in the right position; doubly so in ganking situations. If a single target is in the circle of effect, Monk can take off as much as 50% of a Hero’s health. As such, it is a great tool to use against a wandering or isolated tank like Chen. Likewise, Seven-Sided Strike can serve a purpose during massive team fights in that he becomes Invulnerable, being taken off the board as a target.
As with Deadly Reach, Seven-Sided Strike has a massive flaw, in that avoiding the attack is as simple as walking away. Proper application of the ability requires a stun-focused team composition and, as with everything Monk does, great map positioning.
So, which Heroic ability is the right choice? It comes down to a matter of personal preference and confidence in skill, as I find both to be worth choices. Seven-Sided Strike can be great in a team fight because it will allow Monk to stand in the middle of a scrum while dealing damage and avoiding being hit. Likewise, if you catch the enemy tank out of position or in a ganking scenario, Strike can eat around half of their health before they even have a chance to react.
Your mileage may vary on Divine Palm, as a perfect confluence of actions need to come together for the ability to shine. While the easiest use of Divine Palm is to save yourself from certain doom, there is no better feeling than popping it on your team’s tank during a team fight. That being said, the ability has a few caveats. First, it is entirely possible that if you place Divine Palm on a team mate that the enemy heroes will just stop attacking their target, voiding your use of the Heroic. Secondly, the range of use on Divine Palm is incredibly small, so Monk players must be cognizant of how many uses of Radiant Dash they have available. Finally, the timing can be downright terrible to figure out, and even the smallest amount of lag means the difference between a dead tank and a team fight turn around, all thanks to Divine Palm.
The choice is yours, but more often than not I find myself choosing Seven-Sided Strike, even in healing builds. There’s a lot of utility there if you’re able to get a team stun chain going or position yourself in the enemy escape route and Strike them as they entire your attack area.
Talents
Since I’ve already covered the Level 1 Talents in the Traits section, I’ll add a small note about the frustration that can arise while playing Monk. Because of the nature of his basic attacks, it can be hard as games progress to make use of whichever Trait you choose. This is due to the fact that team fights happen more often, and applying Deadly Reach/basic attacks becomes much more of a choice for Monk, forcing you to pick your moments of attack carefully.
If you find that your numbers in regards to damage, healing, or siege are not where you wish them to be, consider taking a look at how and where you are positioning Monk at any given phase of the match. Monk is not the type of healer that can be played from the back line, unless your plan to is to spam Breath of Heaven. However, at that point the enemy has already won, as they are forcing Monk to stand out of attacking range, neutralizing any additional healing from your Level 1 Trait pick.
My advice for getting your basic attacks in and making the most of your Trait is to know when to fight and when to run. Monk’s healing and damage from his Trait tends to be a slow build, so attempting to jump in to save your stupid Diablo team mate from a 1 v 3 situation is just going to get both of you killed in most situations. Be aware of what Heroes have the hardest time getting away from auto attacks, and be ready to strike when you see those characters blow their cooldowns. Targets like Nazeebo can be easy marks in hectic team fights because they’ll have to decide between attacking the Monk or going after a higher priority target. What Monk lacks in burst, he makes up in accruing damage/healing and getting better as team fights grow in length.
With all that said, let’s move on and talk about the Level 4 and up Talents.
Level 4 Talents
Foresight
A situational pick, for obvious reasons. There’s utility in Foresight if you’re going against Zeratul, but the talent should otherwise be avoided.
Overtake
One of the biggest flaws of Deadly Reach is using it to attack a mobile target. In most cases, an enemy Hero can literally walk away from Monk, thus stopping the attack. If you’re not in an area where you can Radiant Dash to a target that allows you to attack with the full duration of Deadly Reach, taking Overtake will not only help get the most out of your barrage, but also provide a burst in speed for the purposes of retreat. This is the talent to take if you’re going with an Iron Fist build.
Healing Ward
Healing Ward has really been put through the wringer when it comes to nerfs. Once a staple choice for each and every healer, the totem is now relagated to an “Eh.” pick. While Ward is probably more useful as a team pick-me-up before or after a team fight, away from any potential enemy that can snipe it before the full 10 seconds is up, it does have applications during battle. Dropping the Ward during a tightly packed team fight may be enough to cause distraction to or away from it, potentially saving a team mate from focus fire.
I consider it a toss-up between this and Protective Shield, but usually go with Healing Ward. It can help while taking mercenary camps and provides enough health to keep people from Hearthing back to base before a major push.
Protective Shield
On paper, Protective Shield appears to be the obvious pick. In application, I find that the ability doesn’t jive with the hectic, always doing something nature of Monk’s play style. The Shield can prove to be useful if you have a major heavy on your team such as Diablo or Stitches, but otherwise I find that Healing Ward provides more of an overall benefit.
Level 7 Talents
Echo of Heaven
Whether you’re going with a healing or damage build, Echo of Heaven is the Talent of choice for Level 7. The second burst of healing in an already great AOE heal adds up quickly, no matter if you’re helping friends or hurting foes. The Talent has great synergy with Iron Fist builds, as it provides a great healing burst that more than makes up for not taking the healing Trait. Nothing else in the Level 7 tier is really worth your time.
Way of the Hundred Fists
The biggest problem with Hundred Fists is that it directly hinders Monk’s ability to activate his trait. At Level 20, this will deal a little over 400 damage upon Dashing to an enemy. While this may sound like enough to finish off a retreating foe, it goes against Monk’s ability to stand stalwart in the middle of a fight, generating healing/damage through continuous attack. It also doesn’t help that this has no applications for tower diving, as Radiant Dash can’t be used on buildings.
Clairvoyance
One of two redundant picks in the Level 7 talents, Clairvoyance is rendered a moot pick by the mere existence of Foresight in the Level 4 tier. While the area of effect isn’t as large with Foresight, it can be used more often. If you’ve already picked Foresight, I cannot ever see this as a pick, and certainly not over Echo of Heaven.
Cleanse
Another Talent that has been beaten black and blue with the nerf bat, Cleanse just isn’t as strong as a utility pick as it once was. On a character that already has a bevy of skills and abilities that require precise activation and reflexes, Cleanse can be seen as an inferior pick when the Level 16 Talent Soothing Breeze exists (even if Breeze doesn’t remove Stuns.)
Level 13 Talents
Quicksilver
Movement speed bonuses are rarely, if ever, a bad thing. The added bonus to this, well, bonus, is that it can mean the difference between alive friends or food for your enemies. There may possibly be some overlap between this Talent and Overtake, allowing you to get ahead of a retreating enemy as you’re attempting to Deadly Reach them. This Talent is a good choice for healing builds, but some may prefer taking Fists of Fury, purely for basic attack generation.
Spell Shield
I always seem to be at odds when potentially picking Spell Shield. While the idea of a burst of damage reduction while in the thick of it seems like a solid talent pick, it never really seems to be enough to warrant it’s choosing over other Talents. It is nice to have a defensive Talent for Monk that lets him keep his feet in the fire for a bit longer, thus increasing his productivity as team fights grow in length. I’m just not too sure if it is a more valuable choice over the likes of Relentless or Fists of Fury.
Relentless
Monk is incredibly weak to any kind of stun or crowd control due to the nature of how he deals damage. As such, Relentless does a great job of keeping Monk mobile and punching. This ability is another great choice for healing builds. If you aren’t looking to bolster the duration of Deadly Reach, Relentless is, as always, a solid choice.
Fists of Fury
Four seconds of Deadly Reach means more healing, damage, or mana, depending on which Trait you’ve chosen. A longer duration also means more of a chance of catching up to an opponent that is either attempting to flee or is trying to walk out of Monk’s attack range. I feel that this is the go-to choice for damage builds, and not necessarily a bad choice for healing builds, given that the healing Trait gets a nice boost from a longer Deadly Reach duration.
Level 16 Talents
Soothing Breeze
Do you like the sound of an AOE mini-Cleanse? I do. Soothing Breeze is one of two Talents at Level 16 that really makes Monk’s healing utility stand out and turn Breath of Heaven into possibly the best basic ability heal thus far. While this doesn’t do anything for stuns, Soothing Breeze will still keep everyone on your team moving, talking, and seeing during team fights. This is the Talent to pick if your team has an abundance of crowd control. Especially useful against teams with Sylvanas, Malfurion, Stitches, Johanna, and more.
Circle of Life
Perhaps the biggest weakness of Breath of Heaven is that it has too many viable Talent choices. Circle of Life is an amazing boost in raw healing numbers if you’re the type of Monk that prefers standing in the middle of the dog pile. The added healing from Circle of Life in straight up 5 v 5 situations can literally turn the tide in a fight and makes the second burst of healing from Echo of Heaven into an amazing Talent choice. If the enemy team is full of bursty damage, Circle of Life is the way to go, and probably the best overall Talent in the Level 16 tier.
Blinding Speed
While I don’t think Blinding Speed is a bad Talent, it is hard to argue taking it over Soothing Breeze or Circle of Life, even in damage builds. I do appreciate that this Talent allows Monk to be even more mobile and allows him to be a little more reckless with his Dashes, which is usually something that will get most Monk players killed quickly. Blinding Speed may be a decent beginner ability, but I can’t see it being a better choice than the previous two Talents.
Blazing Fists
With this Talent, Deadly Reach turns into a spammable ability on a short cooldown that turns Monk into a constant melee threat. In damage builds, Blazing Fists will increase Monk’s ability to take mercenary camps and push against buildings tremendously. Exclusively for damage builds.
Level 20 Talents
Transgression
Transgression is a great choice if your team is lacking in damage output or already has some team-wide shielding options. While Transgression won’t increase the amount of time Monk is Invulnerable, the amount of damage it allows Seven-Sided Strike to churn out is impressive, even in healing builds. If you don’t need Storm Shield and you’ve already chosen Strike, this Talent is the way to go.
Peaceful Repose
I feel like this ability is meant for beginners who are trying to get used to the timing, reflexes, and positioning required to effectively use Divine Palm. In a healing build, I’m not sure it provides better utility than Storm Shield, but if you’re having problems against a team that is sly to the timing of Divine Palm and continue to switch targets before KOing the Palm recipient, this may help ease your woes.
Storm Shield
As a former Discipline Priest raid healer, I know all too well the value of a well-timed shield. Storm Shield is a momentum shifter, and one that, when combined with Breath of Heaven, turns Kharazim into an absolute wall of a healer who can do what few healers in HOTS can do: stand his ground. If you’re going healing build, this is the Talent to take.
Epiphany
I honestly don’t see the use in this ability. In my experience, Monk doesn’t have much trouble with mana, especially if you’ve somehow taken the third Trait. Far better choices in the Level 20 tier.
BUILDS
First, the healing build:
This is a fairly standard healing build, though a few changes can be made based on the enemy team composition. The choice of Ultimate is really up to personal preference, but I find Seven-Sided Strike’s damage to be beneficial, especially in the all too common 2 tank meta-game.
At the Level 13 tier there is some room for customization, as an argument can be made for the benefits of an increased duration in Deadly Reach. if you aren’t planning on picking the mini-Cleanse at Level 16, Relentless is a good way to protect yourself. Spell Shield is also viable if you find yourself being bursted down into oblivion.
The Level 16 pick will also depend on the enemy team. Do they possess a bunch of slows and non-stun crowd control? Go with Soothing Breeze. If not, the healing increase is absolutely the way to go.
Level 20 is pretty cut and dry in my opinion: Storm Shield in combination with Breath of Heaven is a strong combination that can turn a team fight. If you’re having trouble hitting Divine Palm, go that direction. I’m not gonna tell you how to live, yo.
Now for the damage build:
Damage builds with Monk have to be treated with some finesse, and playing him with killing intent requires a different approach than just playing an Assassin class. Monk’s strength is focusing fire on enemies that have blown cooldowns or foes that have been properly crowd controlled. Because of this, damage builds can sometimes be make or break depending on your team composition.
Strong communications is key, as Monk players will want to form 2-3 person gank squads that float between lanes during the pre-Level 10 phase of the match. Laying in wait in stealth while calling for the move to kill is where Monk is strongest, allowing him to play clean-up and either finish off a retreating enemy or jump in and heal his squad mates if the fight turns ugly.
Don’t be afraid to run away. Monk has to pick the most opportune moments to act, and acting alone or attempting to singlehandedly sway the flow of a battle is nigh difficult. Provide constant, efficient damage and help thin the herd. As with the healing build, Monk is able to get better as team fights progress.
As for the build, it’s all pretty straight forward. Once you reach 16, you’ll pretty much be able to handle mercenary camps on your own thanks to Deadly Reach basically never being on cooldown. The Level 4 and 7 picks are up for grabs, You may very well want to go with Healing Totem and Hundred Fists, but keep in mind that Hundred Fists will be shortchanging the flow of your basic attacks (but can be an effective killing strike.)
Tips, Tricks, and Kung-Fu Fighting
Monk’s best dance partners: Illidan, Anub’Arak, Johanna, Malfurion, Uther, Kerrigan, Tyrande.
Those most likely to kill Monk’s master: Illidan, Anub’Arak, Johanna, Malfurion, Uther, Kerrigan, Tyrande.
Just plain annoying: Murky, always Murky.
I’m not sure if this is a known tip, but you can buffer Deadly Reach by popping it when an enemy isn’t within reach, then using Radiant Dash. You’ll immediately start attacking the target you teleported to.
There are few things more satisfying than having a lumbering, high-health oaf like Diablo or Stitches wander at you by their lonesome, thinking you’re helpless, only to Seven-Sided Strike half their health off.
Any enemy with range is going to grab your goat during the laning phase. Either grab a partner who is adept at handling ranged or find something to rotate lanes with.
Anyone with stun will ruin Monk’s day. Thus, don’t forget that Radiant Dash can be used on friendly and enemy minions alike; handy for getting out of trouble if your team mates are nowhere to be found.
Best maps: Spider Queen, Haunted Mines, Infernal Shrines, Garden of Terror.
Worst maps: Battlefield, Dragon Shrine.
Professional footwork
I hope this guide will help anyone out who is considering going down the path of enlightenment. Personally, I think Monk is a great character who is a lot of fun once you get around his learning curve. It may take some practice, but you too can learn better living through punching.
Will Harrison is a freelance video game industry journalist, as well as the games critic for the Toledo Blade, a daily Pulitzer-winning newspaper in Toledo, Ohio. Contact Will via email through backlogadventures@gmail.com or on Twitter @DoubleUHarrison.If you are an American who supports President Donald Trump, late night comedian Seth Meyers has a special message for you.
The NBC late-night host echoed rapper Eminem‘s anti-Trump freestyle rant with one of his own, calling on viewers to “get off the fence” and choose whether they support Trump or his show.
You read that correctly. More liberal tolerance:
Taking a cue from Eminem, @SethM |
4 to 6 on my left and from 6 to 8 on my right.
—Arianna Zaccagnini, SFG2, SFL, Iron Maiden, S&S “Sinister” achiever
The Plan Strong methodology drastically improved my deadlift, 220 to 260kg [485 to 573 lbs.] at 75kg [165 lbs.] bodyweight. It has helped me pull over 3.25 times my bodyweight doing no assistance exercises.
—Jake Garcia, SFG II, 2015 Fall TSC Men’s Elite Runner up
My deadlift from 420 to an easy 440 in 4 weeks. This program was simply more enjoyable. The constant waviness in the loads, sets, reps, etc. allowed me to focus purely on the technique of the lift rather than the weight on the bar. As far as straight results go—no other program has yielded that much success in such a short amount of time. My student Akira, an experienced 145-pound lifter improved his bench press from 275 to 300.
—Chris Abbott, SFG II
My students’ results: Ward Hamilton’s deadlift from 420 to 535lbs.; Colin Barden’s weighted pullup from 70 to 115lbs. in 3 months. Far and away the best programming methodology I’ve used.
—Dan Costello
My deadlift increased from 515 to 595lbs.
—Stephen Ladd
My student Jeanie Shellman is an Oregon state powerlifting champion and record holder in USPA sub-masters’ division. Using Plan Strong and SFL principles we took her squat from 230 to 275, bench press from 145 to 200, and deadlift from 225 to 405lbs. in 18 months.
—Wesley Edge, SFG, SFL
Plan Strong was the most unique and informative programming material I have ever been exposed to. Not only does this methodology of programming deliver outstanding results, it also offers the perfect balance of variability and continuity to keep training both fun and focused.
One case study is my wife Mira, whose sport is weightlifting. We have been using programming inspired by Plan Strong for her (specifically her squat programs) for a few years now. During that period, she has progressed from being competitive at the local level all the way up to earning 1st place finishes at Master’s Nationals and Master’s American Open! Her next goal is to compete at Master’s Worlds for weightlifting, hopefully in 2018 … if she keeps progressing at this rate, she should make it onto the podium and be a strong contender for gold!
I only wish I had found this material sooner!
—Tony Gracia, SFG Team LeaderThe Drum has released the first magazine edited using artificial intelligence (AI) following a partnership with IBM Watson to create the special issue.
The Drum Ai Issue
The magazine, published today (15 June), includes a number of features that involved the analytical functions that IBM's AI can provide in order to examine the role such technology can provide to modern day marketers.
1,000 special editions of the issue have been sent to readers with a personalised The Drum Top Trumps Super Marketers card placed on the front featuring Watson analysed personality ratings. These will be available to match and play against other opponents through a specially created new online app. Those without a card will also be able to challenge other marketers in the industry by logging into the app and comparing their scores with further competitors.
Watson has also been trained to answer questions put to it by industry luminaries around the insights of advertising legend David Ogilvy and a number of predictions around potential winners at Cannes Lions this year have also been made by the AI.
Also contained within the issue is a guest leader by IBM Watson chief David Kenny, a debate on the merits of AI and an analysis of the development of the Queen's language over her reign as monarch, displaying how the technology can analyse the evolution of brand language.
Gordon Young, editor-in-chief of The Drum, commented: "The Drum was given the opportunity to play with the IBM Watson system to help create this issue and, as a result, much of our content benefits from artificial intelligence. You can judge for yourself whether that is better than our normal intelligence, but rest assured our team wasn’t quite as relaxed as our cover might suggest. Many thanks to Watson and the IBM team for giving us an insight into the possibilities of this amazing technology, which we believe will help change the world – as we hope some of this issue’s features will attest."
Writing in the magazine, Kenny said: "Right now AI is more about people querying machines. My dream is that Watson will ask us questions, giving computers abductive rather than deductive reasoning skills. Abductive reasoning will lead to conversation and dialogue with humans. And that in turn will lead to more creative thinking, because machine learning means cognitive computing systems will become smarter over time on their own. We’re on that path now, but much work is ahead of us."
The cover for the magazine was also specially shot by photographer Julian Hanford, featuring some of The Drum team involved in the making of the issue.
Subscribe and purchase the latest edition in print of through the app on The Drum website.In the autumn, when days get chilly and nights are downright frosty, it's a great comfort to make a piping hot meal that warms you from the inside out. This pot pie is a delicious dish for chilly fall and winter evenings. A crispy crust lines the top of a pot filled with fragrant, hot and thick vegetable stew. It is simple and quick to make, entirely vegan and customizable with your favorite veggies! The recipe, inspired by Vegetarian Times, can easily be customized to feature the best vegetables from any season of the year, including asparagus and peas in the spring or green beans and tomatoes in the summer.
Gluten-free flour works great for this thin crust, and vegan butter, such as Earth Balance, gives it the same buttery flavor as favorite non-vegan dough recipes. The same gluten-free flour is used to thicken the stew. Use the vegetables here or, as the season shifts where you are located, use your favorite in-season vegetables.
When we say 'fully loaded' we mean fully loaded. The variety of vegetables will give your pot pie a range of textures and flavors. (Photo: Jaymi Heimbuch)
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yields: About 6 servings
1 cup cup-for-cup style gluten-free flour (I use multi-blend flour from Authentic Foods)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tbsp cold vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)
Ingredients for the filling
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium leek, chopped (white and light green parts only)
1.5 cups fennel bulb, chopped
2 large carrots, diced
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp ground black pepper
10 crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp cup-for-cup gluten-free flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium red potatoes, diced
2.5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 small yellow squash, diced
1 head broccoli, cut into very small crowns
1 ear of corn
The ramekin used to bake the pot pie also makes for a handy dough crust cutter. (Photo: Jaymi Heimbuch)
Cooking directions
For dough: In a large bowl or food processor, combine the flours and salt. Cut margarine into flour mixture until crumbly and evenly distributed. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons ice cold water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and set in refrigerator to chill. For filling: In a large skillet or pot, heat the olive oil. Add the leek, fennel, carrots and mushrooms, stir to coat with oil. Add the herbs. Sautee 5-7 minutes until just barely tender. Stir in the garlic and flour. Add the potatoes and broth. Bring to a high simmer, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Remove the pot from heat and add in the squash, broccoli and kernels cut from the ear of corn. For pot pies: Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the dough from the fridge and let sit for one minute. Dust a work surface with a little gluten-free flour. Gently roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thickness. Flip a ramekin over, place on dough, and gently press down to make a mark. Lay out and mark as many rounds as you need. Cut the marked rounds out of the dough with a knife, making them just slightly larger than the outlines you made with the ramekin. If you have a cookie cutter the same diameter as your ramekin, simply use that to cut out rounds. Fill your ramekins to the top with the pot pie filling. Gently place the dough rounds across the top. Press the dough around the sides of ramekin with a fork to seal the edges. Poke a few small holes in the center of the dough to let steam escape. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and place in the center of the oven. Bake 30-40 minutes or until your dough is crispy and turning golden brown. Let cool 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
It may be hard to resist digging in, but give the pot pie a little time to cool before you eat it. (Photo: Jaymi Heimbuch)
Fully Loaded Vegetable Pot Pie
This pot pie recipe can be adjusted to accommodate vegetables during any season.THE GARDAÍ IS to launch a free Child Rescue Ireland (CRI) Alert smart phone app that will help notify people with a CRI alert and keep them up to date with information.
The launch coincides with National Missing Persons Day tomorrow.
The CRI Alert system was launched in May of last year and has been utilised twice since its inception, on 29 July 2013 and 28 November 2013.
Child abduction
The purpose of the CRI Alert is to seek the assistance of the public when investigating child abduction cases.
It does so by publicising relevant information and details which facilitates members of the public in identifying the abducted child, suspect or vehicles involved in the abduction and immediately feeding that information back to the investigating gardaí.
The app is hoped to be an added addition to the alert system and was created with the assistance of the Vodafone Foundation Ireland. The app is available for free on Apple, Android and Windows Media platforms.
The gardaí said that the app further increases the channels available to them for publicising a CRI Alert and utilises two strands – a notification for when a CRI alert is issued and a space to securely maintain up-to-date information which may include photos.
Criteria
Commissioner Callinan welcomed the smartphone app initiative saying that “strict criteria must be met before the CRI Alert is issued. If these criteria are met, CRI Alert information is distributed by An Garda Síochána to the public through a range of communications channels”.
He said he hoped the additional means of a smartphone app will help get the message of the CRI Alert to the public, adding that “over 50 percent of the public in Ireland own a smartphone and as a result the potential for quickly reaching vast numbers of the population with critical information is enormous”.
A CRI Alert will only be initiated when there is a reasonable belief that there is an immediate and serious risk to the health and welfare of the abducted child.Marching Squares 3, staying sharp
Marching squares with exact edge intersections allows us to triangulate a wide variety of shapes. However, it does not preserve any sharp angles that we draw. The corners of a square will be cut off. The edge intersections remain, but the sharp feature inside the cell is lost. This time we'll make sure that those features are maintained. You'll learn to Calculate normals of edge intersections;
Store Hermite data;
Discover sharp features;
Decide which features to add;
Resolve ambiguous cases. This tutorial is the third in a series about Marching Squares. This tutorial has been made with Unity 4.5.2. It might not work for older versions.
Painting with sharp features.
Hermite Data
At this point we know where the edges or our square cells are crossed. This allows us to create a better approximation than always placing the edge vertices at the midpoint. Unfortunately, this is not enough to preserve any sharp features inside the cells, like the corners of a square. To reconstruct – or at least reasonably approximate – those features we also need to know at what angles a cell's edges are crossed.
Features inside cells are lost.
We could represent the direction of an edge crossing with a normal vector, which points away from the filled space. So we store both the intersection point and normal, which means that we're working with Hermite data. That means we have to store two additional 2D vectors per Voxel. That's quite a bit of extra data, so we better make use of it!
public Vector2 xNormal, yNormal;
Surface normals of the actual square.
We also have to copy the normals when creating dummies, though it's only needed for edges that we'll end up using. So only the Y edge's normal for X dummies and only the X edge normal for Y dummies.
public void BecomeXDummyOf (Voxel voxel, float offset) { state = voxel.state; position = voxel.position; position.x += offset; xEdge = voxel.xEdge + offset; yEdge = voxel.yEdge; yNormal = voxel.yNormal; } public void BecomeYDummyOf (Voxel voxel, float offset) { state = voxel.state; position = voxel.position; position.y += offset; xEdge = voxel.xEdge; yEdge = voxel.yEdge + offset; xNormal = voxel.xNormal; }
The next step is to actually store the normals, which is the responsibility of the stencils.
Square Stencil Normals
Normals for the square VoxelStencil are straightforward. When we find that our stencil's edge is crossed on the right, we add a normal that points to the right. The same goes for the other three directions. However, that assumes that we're filling the voxels inside the stencil's area. If we're actually emptying the voxels, then the normals should point in the opposite direction. So the final direction depends on the fill type.
Square normals.
protected virtual void FindHorizontalCrossing (Voxel xMin, Voxel xMax) { if (xMin.position.y < YStart || xMin.position.y > YEnd) { return; } if (xMin.state == fillType) { if (xMin.position.x <= XEnd && xMax.position.x >= XEnd) { if (xMin.xEdge == float.MinValue || xMin.xEdge < XEnd) { xMin.xEdge = XEnd; xMin.xNormal = new Vector2(fillType? 1f : -1f, 0f); } } } else if (xMax.state == fillType) { if (xMin.position.x <= XStart && xMax.position.x >= XStart) { if (xMin.xEdge == float.MinValue || xMin.xEdge > XStart) { xMin.xEdge = XStart; xMin.xNormal = new Vector2(fillType? -1f : 1f, 0f); } } } } protected virtual void FindVerticalCrossing (Voxel yMin, Voxel yMax) { if (yMin.position.x < XStart || yMin.position.x > XEnd) { return; } if (yMin.state == fillType) { if (yMin.position.y <= YEnd && yMax.position.y >= YEnd) { if (yMin.yEdge == float.MinValue || yMin.yEdge < YEnd) { yMin.yEdge = YEnd; yMin.yNormal = new Vector2(0f, fillType? 1f : -1f); } } } else if (yMax.state == fillType) { if (yMin.position.y <= YStart && yMax.position.y >= YStart) { if (yMin.yEdge == float.MinValue || yMin.yEdge > YStart) { yMin.yEdge = YStart; yMin.yNormal = new Vector2(0f, fillType? -1f : 1f); } } } }
Circle Stencil Normals
The same goes for VoxelStencilCircle, but normals are a bit more complex for circles. When filling, normals are equal to the vector pointing from the stencil center to the intersection point, normalized. When emptying, it's the other way around. Let's add a helper method for that.
Circle normals.
private Vector3 ComputeNormal (float x, float y) { if (fillType) { return new Vector2(x - centerX, y - centerY).normalized; } else { return new Vector2(centerX - x, centerY - y).normalized; } }
Then Invoke it with four all four edge cases.
protected override void FindHorizontalCrossing (Voxel xMin, Voxel xMax) { float y2 = xMin.position.y - centerY; y2 *= y2; if (xMin.state == fillType) { float x = xMin.position.x - centerX; if (x * x + y2 <= sqrRadius) { x = centerX + Mathf.Sqrt(sqrRadius - y2); if (xMin.xEdge == float.MinValue || xMin.xEdge < x) { xMin.xEdge = x; xMin.xNormal = ComputeNormal(x, xMin.position.y); } } } else if (xMax.state == fillType) { float x = xMax.position.x - centerX; if (x * x + y2 <= sqrRadius) { x = centerX - Mathf.Sqrt(sqrRadius - y2); if (xMin.xEdge == float.MinValue || xMin.xEdge > x) { xMin.xEdge = x; xMin.xNormal = ComputeNormal(x, xMin.position.y); } } } } protected override void FindVerticalCrossing (Voxel yMin, Voxel yMax) { float x2 = yMin.position.x - centerX; x2 *= x2; if (yMin.state == fillType) { float y = yMin.position.y - centerY; if (y * y + x2 <= sqrRadius) { y = centerY + Mathf.Sqrt(sqrRadius - x2); if (yMin.yEdge == float.MinValue || yMin.yEdge < y) { yMin.yEdge = y; yMin.yNormal = ComputeNormal(yMin.position.x, y); } } } else if (yMax.state == fillType) { float y = yMax.position.y - centerY; if (y * y + x2 <= sqrRadius) { y = centerY - Mathf.Sqrt(sqrRadius - x2); if (yMin.yEdge == float.MinValue || yMin.yEdge > y) { yMin.yEdge = y; yMin.yNormal = ComputeNormal(yMin.position.x, y); } } } }
Although we're not seeing any of it, we're now storing Hermite data. The next step is to put it to good use.
Showing Sharp Features
The first question we should ask ourselves is what counts as a sharp feature. A 90° angle and anything below that seems obvious, but what is the upper limit? 100°? 120°? Different maximum angles will produce different visual results. There isn't a single correct answer. So let's add a configuration option to VoxelMap and let's use a default of 135 degrees.
What is still a sharp feature?
public float maxFeatureAngle = 135f;
Configuring maximum sharp feature angle.
Of course the voxel map doesn't deal with cells directly, so it passes this data to its voxel grids.
private void CreateChunk (int i, int x, int y) { VoxelGrid chunk = Instantiate(voxelGridPrefab) as VoxelGrid; chunk.Initialize(voxelResolution, chunkSize, maxFeatureAngle ); … }
Now VoxelGrid needs to remember it as well. But instead of storing the angle in degrees, we store its cosine.
Degrees, radians, and cosines.
private float sharpFeatureLimit; public void Initialize (int resolution, float size, float maxFeatureAngle ) { sharpFeatureLimit = Mathf.Cos(maxFeatureAngle * Mathf.Deg2Rad); … }
Preparing for Sharp Features
The detection of a sharp feature will have to happen when triangulating individual cells. Right now TriangulateCell does all the work directly in its large switch statement. However, it is about to become quite a bit more complicated. So let's introduce separate methods for each case, using the same method signature and just copy the code from the case blocks into their new methods.
The sixteen cell configurations, grouped by type.
private void TriangulateCell (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { … switch (cellType) { case 0: TriangulateCase0(i, a, b, c, d); break ; case 1: TriangulateCase1(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 2: TriangulateCase2(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 3: TriangulateCase3(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 4: TriangulateCase4(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 5: TriangulateCase5(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 6: TriangulateCase6(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 7: TriangulateCase7(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 8: TriangulateCase8(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 9: TriangulateCase9(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 10: TriangulateCase10(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 11: TriangulateCase11(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 12: TriangulateCase12(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 13: TriangulateCase13(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 14: TriangulateCase14(i, a, b, c, d); break; case 15: TriangulateCase15(i, a, b, c, d); break; } } private void TriangulateCase0 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { } private void TriangulateCase15 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddQuad(rowCacheMin[i], rowCacheMax[i], rowCacheMax[i + 2], rowCacheMin[i + 2]); } private void TriangulateCase1 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddTriangle(rowCacheMin[i], edgeCacheMin, rowCacheMin[i + 1]); } …
Actually, let's go a step further and add additional methods that add triangles, quads, and pentagons given a cache index. Then the new case methods can use those and won't have to deal with the complexity of the vertex cache directly.
Anatomy of a cell and its vertex cache.
private void TriangulateCase15 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddQuadABCD(i); } private void TriangulateCase1 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddTriangleA(i); } private void TriangulateCase2 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddTriangleB(i); } private void TriangulateCase4 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddTriangleC(i); } private void TriangulateCase8 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddTriangleD(i); } private void TriangulateCase7 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddPentagonABC(i); } private void TriangulateCase11 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddPentagonABD(i); } private void TriangulateCase13 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddPentagonACD(i); } private void TriangulateCase14 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddPentagonBCD(i); } private void TriangulateCase3 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddQuadAB(i); } private void TriangulateCase5 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddQuadAC(i); } private void TriangulateCase10 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddQuadBD(i); } private void TriangulateCase12 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddQuadCD(i); } private void TriangulateCase6 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddTriangleB(i); AddTriangleC(i); } private void TriangulateCase9 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { AddTriangleA(i); AddTriangleD(i); }
And so the code that started inside the switch statement ends up in their own methods.
private void AddQuadABCD (int i) { AddQuad(rowCacheMin[i], rowCacheMax[i], rowCacheMax[i + 2], rowCacheMin[i + 2]); } private void AddTriangleA (int i) { AddTriangle(rowCacheMin[i], edgeCacheMin, rowCacheMin[i + 1]); } private void AddTriangleB (int i) { AddTriangle(rowCacheMin[i + 2], rowCacheMin[i + 1], edgeCacheMax); } private void AddTriangleC (int i) { AddTriangle(rowCacheMax[i], rowCacheMax[i + 1], edgeCacheMin); } private void AddTriangleD (int i) { AddTriangle(rowCacheMax[i + 2], edgeCacheMax, rowCacheMax[i + 1]); } private void AddPentagonABC (int i) { AddPentagon(rowCacheMin[i], rowCacheMax[i], rowCacheMax[i + 1], edgeCacheMax, rowCacheMin[i + 2]); } private void AddPentagonABD (int i) { AddPentagon(rowCacheMin[i + 2], rowCacheMin[i], edgeCacheMin, rowCacheMax[i + 1], rowCacheMax[i + 2]); } private void AddPentagonACD (int i) { AddPentagon(rowCacheMax[i], rowCacheMax[i + 2], edgeCacheMax, rowCacheMin[i + 1], rowCacheMin[i]); } private void AddPentagonBCD (int i) { AddPentagon(rowCacheMax[i + 2], rowCacheMin[i + 2], rowCacheMin[i + 1], edgeCacheMin, rowCacheMax[i]); } private void AddQuadAB (int i) { AddQuad(rowCacheMin[i], edgeCacheMin, edgeCacheMax, rowCacheMin[i + 2]); } private void AddQuadAC (int i) { AddQuad(rowCacheMin[i], rowCacheMax[i], rowCacheMax[i + 1], rowCacheMin[i + 1]); } private void AddQuadBD (int i) { AddQuad(rowCacheMin[i + 1], rowCacheMax[i + 1], rowCacheMax[i + 2], rowCacheMin[i + 2]); } private void AddQuadCD (int i) { AddQuad(edgeCacheMin, rowCacheMax[i], rowCacheMax[i + 2], edgeCacheMax); }
Detecting Sharp Features
Cases 0 and 15 have no edge crossings so we don't need to change them. Case 1 is the first that might have a sharp feature. How to find out? We have two lines crossing adjacent edges of the cell. If those lines cross at a sharp enough angle, we treat it as a sharp feature. If you have two vectors of unit length, then their dot product is equal to the cosine of the angle between then. Our two lines don't have lengths, but we could use their normals. If we invert one of them, then we end up with the same angle. So we can use the normals to determine whether we have a sharp feature.
Finding the angle of a feature.
Because the normals have unit length, their dot product is equal to the cosine of the absolute angle between them. If this ends up larger than the limit that we set, then we have a sharp feature. Let's create a method for that.
private bool IsSharpFeature (Vector2 n1, Vector2 n2) { float dot = Vector2.Dot(n1, -n2); return dot >= sharpFeatureLimit; }
However, we have to make sure that we exclude parallel lines. As the angle between such lines is 0° – which cosine is 1 – we would count them as sharp. But we will run into trouble later when trying to find their intersection point. So disqualify line crossings that are close to 0°.
return dot >= sharpFeatureLimit && dot < 0.9999f ;
Now we can test whether case 1 has a sharp feature. Initially don't do anything yet if we find one, and add the usual triangle if there isn't a feature.
private void TriangulateCase1 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { Vector2 n1 = a.xNormal; Vector2 n2 = a.yNormal; if (IsSharpFeature(n1, n2)) { } else { AddTriangleA(i); } }
You can sculpt a sharp feature to try this out. Simply use the square stencil, or use the circle stencil to control the angle at which you cross edges. Fill a voxel and then cut away until you get the shape you want. It might take a while to get the hang of this, as you always have to include at least one voxel in your stencil.
An invisible sharp feature.
The next step is to find the intersection point of two lines. How can we do that? A line can be represented by a point and a direction. Any point on the line can be represented with the formula P + Du, where u can be any number for an infinite line, both positive and negative. We have two such lines and they cross at some point X.
Two lines crossing.
Looking at the first line, we know that the vectors D 1 and X - P 1 are parallel. Of course both are perpendicular to the line's normal vector N 1. This means that the dot product between them and the normal is zero. So we have N 1 · (X - P 1 ) = 0.
Going from P 1 to X, perpendicular to its normal.
An alternative way to go from P 1 to X is to take a detour and go to P 2 first and then follow D 2 u 2. So we can replace X - P 1 with (P 2 - P 1 ) + D 2 u 2, which again ends up being parallel to D 1 and thus is perpendicular to N 1.
Taking a detour.
So now we have N 1 · ((P 2 - P 1 ) + D 2 u 2 ) = 0, which we can rewrite to extract the variable that we need, u 2 = −N 1 · (P 2 - P 1 ) / (N 1 · D 2 ). This tells us how far along D 2 we should walk, starting at P 2, so that the line between us a P 1 becomes perpendicular to N 1. So we finally find X by calculating P 2 + D 2 u 2. You can get D 2 by rotating N 2 by 90° using the perp operator, which is the vector (-N 2.y, N 2.x).
private static Vector2 ComputeIntersection (Vector2 p1, Vector2 n1, Vector2 p2, Vector2 n2) { Vector2 d2 = new Vector2(n2.y, -n2.x); float u2 = -Vector2.Dot(n1, p2 - p1) / Vector2.Dot(n1, d2); return p2 + d2 * u2; }
Now we just have to invoke this method to find our intersection point. To get the edge crossing points that we need for this, add two convenient properties to Voxel.
public Vector2 XEdgePoint { get { return new Vector2(xEdge, position.y); } } public Vector2 YEdgePoint { get { return new Vector2(position.x, yEdge); } }
Of course once we have the new point, we have to triangulate it. Instead of a triangle, we'll need to add a quad. And because the sharp feature could end up pointing inwards – forming a valley instead of a peak – we should add it as the first vertex, effectively creating a triangle fan centered on it. That way the triangulation should always be valid. Let's add a new method to VoxelGrid to take care of all this.
private void AddQuadA (int i, Vector2 extraVertex) { AddQuad(vertices.Count, rowCacheMin[i + 1], rowCacheMin[i], edgeCacheMin); vertices.Add(extraVertex); }
Triangulating sharp features, valleys and peaks.
Now we can finally go back to VoxelGrid.TriangulateCase1 to find the point and add the quad.
if (IsSharpFeature(n1, n2)) { Vector2 point = ComputeIntersection(a.XEdgePoint, n1, a.YEdgePoint, n2); AddQuadA(i, point); }
Unconstrained sharp features.
The result looks good for the square stencil, but while sculpting with circle stencil the feature point can end up outside the cell. We want to keep features local to the cell, which we can do by clamping to cell bounds. Create another handy method for that.
Clamping a peak.
private static Vector2 ClampToCell (Vector2 point, Voxel min, Voxel max) { if (point.x < min.position.x) { point.x = min.position.x; } else if (point.x > max.position.x) { point.x = max.position.x; } if (point.y < min.position.y) { point.y = min.position.y; } else if (point.y > max.position.y) { point.y = max.position.y; } return point; }
And use it in TriangulateCase1.
if (IsSharpFeature(n1, n2)) { Vector2 point = ComputeIntersection(a.XEdgePoint, n1, a.YEdgePoint, n2); point = ClampToCell(point, a, d); AddQuadA(i, point); }
Clamped sharp features.
Clamping works when the sharp feature is a peak, but not when it's a valley, as that can create degenerate triangles, which makes the grid structure painfully obvious. Better not have a sharp feature at all in that case.
Better discard valleys that are out of bounds.
To support this we could adjust our clamp method to only clamp on the maximum sides an indicate failure if a minimum side is passed. We now want to return two results, which is not possible. We solve this by turning the point into a reference parameter. That way we don't get a copy but a reference to the actual variable from the invoker's context. That means that we directly alter that variable, which allows us to return a boolean indicating success or failure.
private static bool ClampToCellMaxMax ( ref Vector2 point, Voxel min, Voxel max) { if (point.x < min.position.x || point.y < min.position.y) { return false; } if (point.x > max.position.x) { point.x = max.position.x; } if (point.y > max.position.y) { point.y = max.position.y; } return true; }
Now we can adjust TriangulateCase1 so it only adds the feature if the clamp succeeds, otherwise add the normal triangle.
private void TriangulateCase1 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { Vector2 n1 = a.xNormal; Vector2 n2 = a.yNormal; if (IsSharpFeature(n1, n2)) { Vector2 point = ComputeIntersection(a.XEdgePoint, n1, a.YEdgePoint, n2); if (ClampToCellMaxMax(ref point, a, d) ) { AddQuadA(i, point); } else { AddTriangleA(i); } } else { AddTriangleA(i); } }
Alternatively, by returning after adding the sharp feature we only need to write AddTriangleA once and can eliminate the else blocks.
private void TriangulateCase1 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { Vector2 n1 = a.xNormal; Vector2 n2 = a.yNormal; if (IsSharpFeature(n1, n2)) { Vector2 point = ComputeIntersection(a.XEdgePoint, n1, a.YEdgePoint, n2); if (ClampToCellMaxMax(ref point, a, d)) { AddQuadA(i, point); return; } } AddTriangleA(i); }
Valid triangulations, though not always sharp.
Checking the Other Three Corners
Case 2 goes similar, but uses different edge points and other clamp criteria. And of course it needs to add different polygons. I marked the differences with case 1.
private void TriangulateCase2 (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { Vector2 n1 = a.xNormal; Vector2 n2 = b.yNormal; if (IsSharpFeature(n1, n2)) { Vector2 point = ComputeIntersection(a.XEdgePoint, n1, b.YEdgePoint, n2); if ( ClampToCell |
straight. “Oh, it’s not for reading. It’s for this.” He then proceeds to curl the book like a 10-pound dumbbell.
Pratt, of course, isn’t nearly as naïve as his character — that might be medically impossible — but he is no less polite. While Schur prepares another scene on the municipal building steps, Pratt welcomes me into the relative warmth of his trailer.
“Every once in a while on a job you have one or two people where you’re like, ‘Oh God, I have to deal with that asshole,’ you know? We don’t have anyone like that here,” he explains. “We’re really lucky. And it all starts with Amy. Whoever is number one on the call sheet sets the tone, and no one here is in a bad mood because she’s never in a bad mood.” I mention that Schur also seems bizarrely calm and balanced. Pratt agrees. “I feel like the whole set could be on fire and he’s the guy who would be like ‘OK, guys, let’s form a line and walk out slowly.’ And somehow no one would burn to death.”
Suddenly the door to the trailer swings open and Rashida Jones, or at least her ghost, swoops in. “Hi, Rashida!” Pratt exclaims before lowering his voice. Jones, dressed in all black, sunglasses glued to her face, Slurpee-sized coffee in her hand, looks tired. Actually, she looks as if tired hadn’t slept for a few days, then got in a bar fight with exhausted. “Is it OK if I just put my head down for a while?” she asks. “I’ll be quiet.” Then, by way of explanation, she adds, “I was at Watch the Throne last night.” Pratt and I mutter a few apologies and inquiries about the sold-out Staples Center show, but soon Jones is facedown on the trailer’s kitchen table, sunglasses smooshed against the wood.
Trying to keep my voice down, I ask about Andy Dwyer’s dazzling falls and how much of the physical humor originates with Pratt. “I wanted to be a stuntman growing up, actually,” he whispers. “Stuntman first, acting later. My brother and I would practice falling down the stairs, play-fighting, all that stuff. Around here it’s gotten to the point where the writers don’t actually specify what the stunt is anymore. They just write, ‘Andy takes a spectacular fall of some kind,’ and I get to create these things in the moment.” He pauses. Jones stirs slightly. “The truth is, I am definitely falling and hurting myself! But I never want to admit it.”
Outside again and the sun has finally emerged. When not busying themselves pulling cables, moving microphones, or shepherding reporters to and fro, the Parks crew take turns standing in the one patch of direct-hit sunlight in a driveway just behind the temporary set. The dozens of upturned, squinting faces suggest a religious revival or a particularly well-washed chapter of Occupy Van Nuys. Though he’s stuck in the shade, Schur is now at least wearing a puffy coat. “Here’s the proof that I never would have survived in the 1400s,” he jokes. “I refused to put on a jacket even though it was four feet away from me the entire time.” He confers with Aubrey Plaza, who listens between fervent blasts of text messaging. Amy Poehler, impossibly chipper, claps me on the back. “Hey, how’s it going? We treating you all right?” Before I can answer, she’s pulled back in front of the cameras.
I drift backward into the sunshine to talk to Adam Scott. It’s disconcerting speaking to him, if only because his understated friendliness in person is exactly as it appears onscreen. He tells me about the plans for shooting the Party Down movie in the summer, about his two kids, and how he initially auditioned for the part that ended up as Ron Swanson. The whole thing is so casual and pleasant that I barely remember to turn on my recorder. For Scott, the real joy of joining Parks has been the constant evolution of the characters. “I feel like there’s an amnesia about most sitcoms,” he says, where prior actions and relationships are always consequence-free. So he’s relishing the chance to play the straitlaced Ben Wyatt as the lead in Leslie’s own gushy rom-com. “I got choked up when I read the scene where they confess their love via court reporter,” he says. “I made my wife read it right away.”
There’s hubbub and Jones suddenly appears, looking 1,000 times peppier (with a coffee cup that’s about 1,000 times emptier). “You guys,” she cries, “Aziz is so famous.” It seems that the real-life Tom Haverford, her friend date at the Jay-Z/Kanye show last night (and, judging by her hangover and the existence of this bananas photo, early this morning, too), was mobbed like royalty by the floor-seat-having masses. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she raves. “But I guess it makes sense. That show is kind of the perfect Venn diagram of his fame. He’s basically the court jester of the Throne.” After she finishes explaining the appeal of seeing the same song performed 10 times in a row to an incredulous Scott, she and an unsmiling Aubrey Plaza talk about the slow growth of Parks and the chemistry it inspired.
“We had to push a rock up the mountain for the first couple of years,” Jones begins. “There was no security. And last year, when we taped almost the entire season without knowing if we were coming back or how people felt about us, it created a bond.” I turn to Aubrey for her thoughts. “Yeah,” she says, with perfectly withering April eyes. Then silence.
As the stillness stretches out and makes itself uncomfortable, there’s definitely a moment where I consider faking a seizure, anything to break up the super-intense vibe Plaza seems to have trademarked. But then a question appears in my mind like a lifesaving EpiPen: “Are you enjoying the opportunity to play sides of April other than snarky?” She doesn’t blink: “Yeah.” My heart falls. I’m doomed. I look to Jones for help. But then, mercifully, Plaza keeps talking. “It’s really fun. It’s nice to know the writers aren’t just writing jokes. They’re writing a whole person that can change.” Another pause. “Like normal people do.”
Jones appears so pleased at this relatively chatty outburst that she picks up the thread. “It may feel coincidental that this show is able to switch tones and be sweet and then be really funny, but it’s not. It was always really important to our writers, and Mike especially, to make a show that was not cynical and had a heart at the center of it.”
Plaza pipes up with her tongue, as ever, planted firmly in cheek. “The only thing that’s changed is Chris Pratt and his list of demands. He’s just an asshole now.” Jones adopts her own deadpan delivery. “Such an asshole.” Over her shoulder, I spy Pratt. He waves happily.
The last scene of the morning involves Leslie trying to keep her campaign business separate from her government work. She’s such a stickler about the divide that she attempts to carry on simultaneous meetings, one with April and one with Ben, on opposite sides of a doorway. Then April locks her out. It’s amusing but hardly memorable, with Poehler’s broad physicality doing the bulk of the humorous work.
But to Schur, it’s much more than a joke. He breaks into a nuanced and, quite frankly, fascinating description of the Hatch Act, a 73-year-old federal law that forbids employees of the executive branch from engaging in partisan political activity. “This is what I love about our show,” he says, visibly thrilled. “It’s funny, but mainly it’s an accurate celebration of an obscure law that was passed because Republicans were mad at FDR.” He rubs his hands gleefully (also, they’re most likely numb).
After Schur yells cut, lunch orders are taken and I prepare to leave. Amy Poehler, already being hustled off to film a talking head on the building’s front steps, squeezes my shoulder. Schur apologizes for the weather and for the fact that I never got to see any of Pawnee’s famous murals back on the lot in Studio City (including recent additions to the gallery “Cornfield Slaughter,” “Lament of the Buffalo,” “Needless Slaughter,” “Slaughter Gone Wrong,” “Eating the Reverend,” and “It’s Raining Blood and Death Everywhere”). “I’ve always wanted to do a political storyline like this,” Schur says, “but because of the Hatch Act almost the entire second half of the season takes place on nights and weekends, away from the office.” He then expresses some sympathy for NBC, but not due to the network’s faltering ratings and the difficulty of its upcoming decision on whether Parks, critically adored but audience-challenged, will get a fifth season. “I honestly wish we could use more of the beautiful $58 million studio they built for us,” he jokes, shrugging. “But it’d be against the law.”Last weekend’s EcoHack conference, at NYU, showcased some fascinating–and inspiring–examples of how the Internet and heavy data-crunching can help solve environmental problems. Here are some highlights (the full list of participants is here ).
dontflush.me
Leif Percifield, a Parsons graduate, wants to do something about the 27 billion gallons of raw sewage dumped into New York’s harbor every year. His remote sensing system collects data from “combined sewage overflows,” so that residents can know when the sewers could be about to overflow. The aim is to get New Yorkers to think about whether to flush at that moment, and, in time, to help the DEP fix the larger problem. He’s currently fundraising on ioby.
Hacking deforestation
Robin Kraft, of REDD Metrics, is visualizing deforestation in near-real time. He said maps of forest-cutting normally show only year-to-year effects. By presenting “sub-annual data” in a compelling way, it’s possible to better understand the impact of government policies, and influences like commodity price movements on how fast we’re cutting trees and how many we have left.
Old Weather
Who cares about the weather in 1914? Stuart Lynn does. An astronomer by trade, Lynn explained how Old Weather wants to recover weather observations from British Navy logbooks. Why? Because such data is useful for scientists trying to build up a picture of historical weather patterns. The project has signed up over 20,000 online volunteers to transcribe the data into a useable format.Project recommendations on how to organize branches.
This document discusses organizing branches in your remote/origin for feature development and release management, not the use of local branches in Git or queues or bookmarks in Mercurial.
This document is purely advisory. Phabricator works with a variety of branching strategies, and diverging from the recommendations in this document will not impact your ability to use it for code review and source management.
Overview
This document describes a branching strategy used by Facebook and Phabricator to develop software. It scales well and removes the pain associated with most branching strategies. This strategy is most applicable to web applications, and may be less applicable to other types of software. The basics are:
Never put feature branches in the remote/origin/trunk.
Control access to new features with runtime configuration, not branching.
The next sections describe these points in more detail, explaining why you should consider abandoning feature branches and how to build runtime access controls for features.
Feature Branches
Suppose you are developing a new feature, like a way for users to "poke" each other. A traditional strategy is to create a branch for this feature in the remote (say, "poke_branch"), develop the feature on the branch over some period of time (say, a week or a month), and then merge the entire branch back into master/default/trunk when the feature is complete.
This strategy has some drawbacks:
You have to merge. Merging can be painful and error prone, especially if the feature takes a long time to develop. Reducing merge pain means spending time merging master into the branch regularly. As branches fall further out of sync, merge pain/risk tends to increase.
This strategy generally aggregates risk into a single high-risk merge event at the end of development. It does this both explicitly (all the code lands at once) and more subtly: since commits on the branch aren't going live any time soon, it's easy to hold them to a lower bar of quality.
When you have multiple feature branches, it's impossible to test interactions between the features until they are merged.
You generally can't A/B test code in feature branches, can't roll it out to a small percentage of users, and can't easily turn it on for just employees since it's in a separate branch.
Of course, it also has some advantages:
If the new feature replaces an older feature, the changes can delete the older feature outright, or at least transition from the old feature to the new feature fairly rapidly.
The chance that this code will impact production before the merge is nearly zero (it normally requires substantial human error). This is the major reason to do it at all.
Instead, consider abandoning all use of feature branching. The advantages are straightforward:
You don't have to do merges.
Risk is generally spread out more evenly into a large number of very small risks created as each commit lands.
You can test interactions between features in development easily.
You can A/B test and do controlled rollouts easily.
But it has some tradeoffs:
If a new feature replaces an older feature, both have to exist in the same codebase for a while. But even with feature branching, you generally have to do almost all this work anyway to avoid situations where you flip a switch and can't undo it.
You need an effective way to control access to features so they don't launch before they're ready. Even with this, there is a small risk a feature may launch or leak because of a smaller human error than would be required with feature branching. However, for most applications, this isn't a big deal.
This second point is a must-have, but entirely tractable. The next section describes how to build it, so you can stop doing feature branching and never deal with the pain and risk of merging again.
Controlling Access to Features
Controlling access to features is straightforward: build some kind of runtime configuration which defines which features are visible, based on the tier (e.g., development, testing or production?) code is deployed on, the logged in user, global configuration, random buckets, A/B test groups, or whatever else. Your code should end up looking something like this:
if (is_feature_launched('poke')) { show_poke(); }
Behind that is some code which knows about the 'poke' feature and can go lookup configuration to determine if it should be visible or not. Facebook has a very sophisticated system for this (called GateKeeper) which also integrates with A/B tests, allows you to define complicated business rules, etc.
You don't need this in the beginning. Before GateKeeper, Facebook used a much simpler system (called Sitevars) to handle this. Here are some resources describing similar systems:
There's a high-level overview of Facebook's system in this 2011 tech talk: Facebook Push Tech Talk.
Flickr described their similar system in a 2009 blog post here: Flickr Feature Flags and Feature Flippers.
Disqus described their similar system in a 2010 blog post here: Disqus Feature Switches.
Forrst describes their similar system in a 2010 blog post here: Forrst Buckets.
Martin Fowler discusses these systems in a 2010 blog post here: Martin Fowler's FeatureToggle.
Phabricator just adds config options but defaults them to off. When developing, we turn them on locally. Once a feature is ready, we default it on. We have a vastly less context to deal with than most projects, however, and sometimes get away with simply not linking new features in the UI until they mature (it's open source anyway so there's no value in hiding things).
When building this system there are a few things to avoid, mostly related to not letting the complexity of this system grow too wildly:
Facebook initially made it very easy to turn things on to everyone by accident in GateKeeper. Don't do this. The UI should make it obvious when you're turning something on or off, and default to off.
Since GateKeeper is essentially a runtime business rules engine, it was heavily abused to effectively execute code living in a database. Avoid this through simpler design or a policy of sanity.
Facebook allowed GateKeeper rules to depend on other GateKeeper rules (for example, 'new_profile_tour' is launched if 'new_profile' is launched) but did not perform cycle detection, and then sat on a bug describing how to introduce a cycle and bring the site down for a very long time, until someone introduced a cycle and brought the site down. If you implement dependencies, implement cycle detection.
Facebook implemented some very expensive GateKeeper conditions and was spending 100+ ms per page running complex rulesets to do launch checks for a number of months in 2009. Keep an eye on how expensive your checks are.
That said, not all complexity is bad:
Allowing features to have states like "3%" instead of just "on" or "off" allows you to roll out features gradually and watch for trouble (e.g., services collapsing from load).
Building a control panel where you hit "Save" and all production servers immediately reflect the change allows you to quickly turn things off if there are problems.
If you perform A/B testing, integrating A/B tests with feature rollouts is probably a natural fit.
Allowing new features to be launched to all employees before they're launched to the world is a great way to get feedback and keep everyone in the loop.
Adopting runtime feature controls increases the risk of features leaking (or even launching) before they're ready. This is generally a small risk which is probably reasonable for most projects to accept, although it might be unacceptable for some projects. There are some ways you can mitigate this risk:
Essentially every launch/leak at Facebook was because someone turned on a feature by accident when they didn't mean to. The control panel made this very easy: features defaulted to "on", and if you tried to do something common like remove yourself from the test group for a feature you could easily launch it to the whole world. Design the UI defensively so that it is hard to turn features on to everyone and/or obvious when a feature is launching and this shouldn't be a problem.
The rest were through CSS or JS changes that mentioned new features being shipped to the client as part of static resource packaging or because the code was just added to existing files. If this is a risk you're concerned about, consider integration with static resource management.
In general, you can start with a very simple system and expand it as it makes sense. Even a simple system can let you move away from feature branches.
Next Steps
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I dare you to not be delighted by these guys.
When most people think of referees in sports, certain words come to mind. Words like assholes and idiots and variations on the word fuck. But a new video that features mic'd up NHL refs paints a very different picture. A kinder picture. A downright polite picture. It's almost as if the world's greatest and nicest little-league coaches strapped on some skates and roamed NHL rinks. The whole thing feels very Canadian in the best possible way.
My favorite moments are probably when one ref says with total sincerity and not any sort of sarcastic malice: "Let's go sit for a couple!" to players he's giving a penalty, and when one ref is astounded by the fact that it looks like a Zamboni hit the boards before the game.The most popular coding language for the web is javascript; so much so that since the advent of HTML5, it has now been officially accepted as the default standard. Javascript has moved beyond a smaller client-side browser-based language to become integrated not just for front-end design, but also for back-end server-side development. As a result there are has been a huge growth of Javascript libraries, ranging from the popular JQuery library all the way through React.js, Angular, and VUE.js.
While can seem a little overwhelming deciding which library or framework to use for developing your pages, once you get an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the different languages, the decision becomes a good deal less complicated. There’s no reason to stick with a single library, and different frameworks have different purposes. This is absolutely as true with Raphael.js as it is with any of the others.
However, before we discuss this, let’s take a step back. The main area where Javascript continues to reign is in front-end development, which continues to be one of the biggest growth areas on the web. This is the case for some fairly obvious reasons; it is the part of the web that people see. One of the biggest appeals of developing for the front end, is that it is an excellent place for artists to show their work.
Historically, artists will work with any medium that can be manipulated for creative purposes., but each generation finds new ones that become popular. As cave walls were a popular artistic medium in the earliest stages in human development, modes of expression soon moved toward creating sculptures in stone.
As new materials appeared, they too became used for artistic expression. Throughout much of civilized history, canvas and oil paints made it possible for fantastic paintings to be created. In fact the word “canvas” has now become synonymous with any artistic medium.
Today, one of the most popular artistic media is the web, and the web browser has become a new canvas. Artists flock to the web, not only because of its flexibility, but also because it can serve simultaneously as a gallery for works, be they individual masterpieces, or functional and usable artisinal pieces. If it can be created, it can be viewed by anyone, by typing in a simple URL or clicking a link.
The web becomes the gallery, and the browser becomes our canvas, but we need our tools, our paint, and our brushes. This is where Raphael appears.
What is Raphael?
Named for the artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, Rapahel.js is a javascript library designed specifically for artists and graphic designers. It is the brush that you can use to apply images directly to the canvas of the browser.
With Raphael.js you are given the power of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) to be able to use your web browser to created detailed drawings, which, when combined with the pigments available in your CSS paint kit, you can create beautiful and professional graphics right on the screen, without having to rely on using uploaded images. As Javascript has already become the official language of the web, it should work seamlessly with almost any browser, and load quickly into any web page.
Scalable Vector Graphics
Let’s take a look at Scalable Vector Graphics, or SVG. As a graphic artist, you may already be familiar with SVG. If you’re not, let’s break this down a little. Vector graphics are a method for creating digital images using mathematical commands in a two or three-dimensional space. If you remember your high-school math, you’ll remember the XY axis. That is your two dimensional space, with X representing a horizontal coordinate, and Y, the vertical. (For three dimensions, you add Z for depth, but that’s beyond where we’re going here). Scalable Vector Graphics are simply a method of describing drawings in this system using an XML format. Here’s an example for drawing a circle:
<svg width="80" height="80"> <circle cx="40" cy="40" r="30" stroke="#000" stroke-width="1" fill="#FFF" /> </svg>
You’ll note that we are defining the size of the circle and then the XY axis at half of the size, and then the “r” simply specifies the radius. Pretty straightforward, right?
Raphael Demonstration
Using SVG drawing images into an HTML page will work, however it can be fairly clumsy for actual graphic design. It is necessary to define each and every element, and your code can end up a little cluttered. You can do much of what you want, but you will need to define each and every element, and it requires a little more complex visualization to be able to create more elaborate designs. Styling the image means jumping back and forth into your CSS files, or putting awkward inline styles directly into your code. Actually creating art or useful designs beyond those simply shapes can require a monumental amount of effort (not to mention how unsightly your code can start to look!)
Let’s take a quick look at what Raphael can do. With only a few lines of code, you can draw far more elaborate shapes, using vectors as if you are handling a brush or pencil. Here’s the same image, using Raphael.
<div id="container"></div> <script src="http://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/raphael/2.1.0/raphael-min.js"> </script> <script> var paper = Raphael("container", 500, 300); var dot = paper.circle(250, 150, 30).attr({ fill: "#FFF", stroke: "#000", "stroke-width": 1 }); </script>
If you run this in your browser, you’ll see that it works very similarly. However in the code, you can see a few difference. First you’ll note that we have defined a container div, and within the Raphael object, we have set some clearly defined dimensions on the XY axis. This your canvas. Like a painter, you have set up your work space. You have a clean, blank surface with which to work. Everything you work on, will now live within your canvas (in this case, named named as the variable “paper”). You can see that not only did we define the circle, but we also defined the XY location on the paper itself. However, as Raphael is a javascript library, we have the ability to be a lot more flexible and can create shapes that could be painstaking if done manually using SVG in the XML format. By bringing in some of your basic mathematical skills, you can create shapes that would have taken a long time to create, using other methods. Here’s an example of one of the creative things that you can do:
window.onload = function() { var paper = new Raphael("container", 500, 300); for(var i = 0; i < 5; i+=1) { var multiplier = i*5; paper.circle(250 + (2*multiplier), 150 + multiplier, 50 - multiplier)
With a few few quick calculations using the power of Javascript, you can generate an image that looks like this:
You can begin to see the possibilities. Raphael let's you enter create complex images mathematically right in the page, without having to jump back and forth into the CSS file. Let's take a look at what we can do if we just add a little bit of styling right into our original image:
var dot = paper.circle(250, 150, 30).attr({ gradient: '90-#000-#FF0000', stroke: '#000','stroke-width': 3,'stroke-linejoin': 'round', rotation: -120 });
Your simple circle is suddenly no longer just a plain image on the page. You should get a result that looks like this:
The results you get start to take a genuine artistic flair, and suddenly your SVG images start to come alive. If you are already familiar with the power of using SVG, you already know that there's a lot more that you can do than making pretty colored circles. You can draw pretty much any shape that comes to mind, ranging from other basic geometric shapes, to straight lines, to curving arcs and patterns.
Why use Raphael?
After going over some of the demonstrations above, I can already sense the excitement you are feeling as you become familiar with what Raphael can do. While there are a few other libraries that can do similar things as Raphael, such as D3, Raphael is distinct for a few reasons.
D3 is certainly a very powerful tool and will do much of what Raphael does. Most of what you can do in Raphael you can also do in D3. Many will argue that D3 is far more powerful, and indeed it can handle more complex graphics, particularly for business purposes. However, from an artistic standpoint, you already know that you don't always want to use the same tool for everything. Sure D3 is powerful. So is a heavy duty spray gun. That does not mean that it is right for all artistic purposes. Sometimes you only need a simple brush.
Raphael also has a few advantages that D3 does not. Raphael has a much lower learning curve. From an artistic point-of view, you may not wish to spend months getting used to your tools, when all you really want do is to start painting. Another huge advantage of Raphael is that it will work in older browsers. Older versions of IE do not allow SVG to be rendered directly. Raphael will even work in IE6, something which very few modern tools can claim. From the very important standpoint of usability and user experience, as a rule, you generally do not want to force users to change their tools simply to see your beautiful creations. Raphael is also popular, meaning that not only is it likely to be around for a long time, it also means that there is a ton of support available for free! Who can argue with that?
There really is no reason not to learn Raphael, especially considering the ease of entry, so why not jump right in and start creating?Charles Henry Selick (; born November 30, 1952) is an American stop motion director, producer, and writer who is best known for directing the stop-motion animation films The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), James and the Giant Peach (1996), and Coraline (2009). He studied at the Program in Experimental Animation at California Institute of the Arts, under the guidance of Jules Engel.
Early life [ edit ]
Selick was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, the son of Melanie (née Molan) and Charles H. Selick.[1][2] He was raised in Rumson.[3] Selick did little but draw from ages 3 to 12. Selick's fascination with animation came at a young age, when he first saw both Lotte Reiniger's stop-motion movie The Adventures of Prince Achmed, and the animated creatures of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad by Ray Harryhausen.
After studying science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick and art at Syracuse University and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, Selick eventually enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) to study how to be an animator. While a student at CalArts, his two student films, Phases and Tube Tales, were nominated for Student Academy Awards.[4]
Film work [ edit ]
Disney [ edit ]
After his academic studies, he went to work for Walt Disney Studios as an "in-betweener" and animator trainee on such films as Pete's Dragon and The Small One. He became a full-fledged animator under Glen Keane on The Fox and the Hound. During his time at Disney, he met and worked around the likes of Tim Burton, Rick Heinrichs, Jorgen Klubien, Brad Bird, John Musker, Dan Haskett, Sue and Bill Kroyer, Ed Gombert, and Andy Gaskill. Years later, he claimed he learned a lot to improve his drawing, animation, and storytelling skills from Disney legend Eric Larson.
Freelance work [ edit ]
With a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Selick was able to make the short film Seepage, which won an award.[5] Then he spent several years freelancing in the Bay Area, directing still-famous commercials for the Pillsbury Doughboy and Ritz Crackers, and sequences of John Korty's animated feature Twice Upon a Time. He also storyboarded fantasy sequences for Walter Murch’s Return to Oz and Carroll Ballard's Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (with designs by Maurice Sendak). When he created an acclaimed series of MTV station IDs and an award-winning six-minute pilot for an animated series called Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions, Selick attracted the attention of director Tim Burton, whom he had known at CalArts, and was catapulted into features directing.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) [ edit ]
Selick made his feature-directing debut in 1993 on Burton's production The Nightmare Before Christmas — the first full-length, stop-motion feature from a major American studio. While the film was a moderate success at the box office, it received critical acclaim and eventually achieved status as a cult classic. Nightmare was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and won the International Animated Film Society's Annie Award for Best Creative Supervision, beating out The Lion King.
James and the Giant Peach (1996) and Monkeybone (2001) [ edit ]
In 1996, Selick followed with a second feature, James and the Giant Peach, his live-action/stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book. The innovative film received widespread critical acclaim (Time Magazine's Richard Schickel said it was even better than the book),[6] and it won the top prize for an animated feature at the Annecy Film Festival in 1997, despite low box-office receipts.
Selick's third feature was Monkeybone, a live action/stop-motion adaptation of an underground comic. The film was a flop both commercially and critically.
Life Aquatic (2004) and Moongirl (2005) [ edit ]
After developing stop-motion animation on Wes Anderson's feature The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Selick joined the Portland, Oregon-based animation studio LAIKA in mid-2004 as supervising director for feature film development. After joining LAIKA, Selick directed his first computer-generated animation film, the award-winning short film Moongirl, the inspiration for Candlewick Press's children's book of the same name.
Coraline (2009) [ edit ]
Selick's first feature with LAIKA was Coraline, based on the novel Coraline by acclaimed author Neil Gaiman, and released in 2009. It was the first stereoscopic stop-motion animated movie.[7] The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Coraline was nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe, all for Best Animated Feature.
Working with Pixar and present work [ edit ]
Selick left Laika in 2009.[8] In 2010, Selick joined with Pixar and The Walt Disney Company in a long-term contract to exclusively produce stop-motion films.[9] This not only returns Selick to his original roots, but also reunites Selick with numerous former friends and co-animators. His new studio, called "Cinderbiter Productions", is self-described as "a new stop motion company whose mandate is to make great, scary films for young 'uns with a small, tight-knit crew who watch each other’s backs."[10]
Selick and Cinderbiter's first film under this deal, a project called ShadeMaker, was set to be released on October 4, 2013.[11] In August 2012 it was reported that Disney had stopped production on the project, saying that due to "a creative and scheduling standpoint, the pic wasn't where it needed to be to meet its planned release date." Selick now has the option to shop the project to another studio.[12]
In 2011, The Shadow King was green-lit for production.[13] After spending a reported $50 million, and due to unspecified concerns over future costs and benefits, Walt Disney Pictures canceled the project in August 2012,[14][15] allowing Selick to shop the project to other studios.[13] In February 2013, it was reported in a press release by Selick that K5 International would be handling sales at the European Film Market.[16] It is unknown when the film will actually be released. In August 2016, a rep for Selick said the film is "in turnaround again" while Selick is continuing work on his other two projects: A Tale Dark and Grimm, and Wendell and Wild.[17]
On 28 April 2012, it was announced that Disney had optioned the rights for Neil Gaiman's novel The Graveyard Book. Later that same day, it was announced that Selick would direct the film after work was completed on ShadeMaker. It is currently unknown if the adaptation will be live action or stop motion.[18] After the studio and Selick parted ways over scheduling and development, it was announced in January 2013 that Ron Howard will direct the film.[19]
On October 16, 2013, it was announced Selick is working on a live-action adaptation of Adam Gidwitz's children's novel A Tale Dark and Grimm.[20]
On November 3, 2015, it was reported that Selick is developing Wendell and Wild, a new stop-motion feature with Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key based on an original story by Selick.[21] In 2018, the film was picked up by Netflix.[22]
In June 2017, Selick was reported to direct the pilot and subsequent episodes of a Little Nightmares TV adaptation produced by the Russo Brothers. The release date of this adaptation was not revealed.[23]
Style and creative temperament [ edit ]
Joe Ranft, Selick's friend and sometime collaborator, stated in a 1999 interview in Salon magazine[24] that Selick had a "rock 'n' roll-meets-Da Vinci temperament." In Ranft's words "He'll still go off to his office to play guitar or electric piano to ease off and think," but at the same time Selick operates scientifically. "He gets an outrageous premise—something that comes from a real dream place—then approaches the aesthetics of it like a mechanical engineer: What can we build on this foundation, how do we buttress it? If we have a mechanical shark, how does it kill? Will it shoot things from its snout?" Ranft said Selick has an uncanny gift: "He can articulate things through animation that people couldn't say otherwise."
Filmography [ edit ]
Director [ edit ]
Others [ edit ]The Abric Romaní provides 10 000 new fossil remains about the domestic activity of Neanderthals
The diversity of the stone raw materials used for the lithic industry and also the variety of the animals hunted show long-term occupation of this specie in this territory.
The distribution of the hearths and the archaeological remains from level Q reinforce the division of the occupation surfaces into sleeping, animal processing, tool knapping and rubbish areas.
PHOTOS – CATALÀ – ESPAÑOL
The Neanderthals of the Abric |
around the fingerprint cutout. This was a big concern among Nexus 6P case buyers last year; I spoke with an individual who detailed the cause of this defect. When the cases are made via injection molding or other methods, there is a large amount of heat. As the polycarbonate cools, air pockets can form in a long and narrow fashion stemming from the fingerprint cutout. From a consumer perspective, it looks like a scratch, yet this was a manufacturing issue.
The following areas of the case stayed the same despite not serving any real function for most people. There is a small lanyard hook at the bottom of all Ringke cases; maybe it’s a trademark design, or they just felt like adding one. This presents a large issue for their clear cases because it allows dust, dirt, and everything in between to get inside your nice clear case. Unlike their Air series, Ringke did not opt for a micro bubble texture on the clear region, resulting in what looks like an oil spill. As I mentioned in the Google Clear Case review, there is rainbowing on any place a polycarbonate section touches the glass. This is especially true with the large region covered by this case. I tried to carefully put the case on without pressing on that area, only to be met with gigantic rainbow effects.
Dirt is this case’s worst nightmare, as all of it shows easily because the whole back touches the phone. Every tiny piece of lint and dust will show through the case. I carefully removed all the dust, used a can of air, then briskly placed the phone inside. To my frustration, dust still managed to find its way in. I wouldn’t even consider placing this phone inside my work laptop bag because I know it would come out looking like I took it from a dusty closet.
On a more positive note, Ringke claims the Fusion offers MIL-STD 810G drop protection, making it just as protective as the Speck, Spigen, and Otterbox. This same protection is also offered by the fragile yet sleek looking V20, so keep that in mind. No one verifies the case lives up to that standard other than the company making the claim, but I don’t doubt the Fusion’s protection whatsoever. Some standards such as the MIL-STD 810G seem easy to meet if you engineer your case correctly.
I believe Ringke needs to work on addressing the rainbow issue, and in doing so they will fix my other complaint regarding the dust through the addition of micro dots. As of right now, I wouldn’t recommend their case until something is done to fix this.
Incipio Dual Pro
When it comes to color, Incipio has your phone covered with their Dual Pro. Gold, red, and black all are offered in a nice looking case that can be found on Amazon, Incipio's website, and Verizon for around $35 or less.
The Good Color Incipio chose to offer some nice colors compared to other companies. Buttons All the buttons are very responsive and easy to find.
The Not So Good Size The choice of materials here likely led to this case being larger than it should have been. Cutouts For some reason Incipio chose to make their cutouts on the back so large that even my Otterbox Defender’s look small.
Incipio makes cases for everything from smartphones to laptops, giving them a very diverse background. As with most other case manufacturers, Incipio primarily caters toward Apple products, which can be seen with their excessive selection of cases offered for each Apple device. During my last year in school I owned a Surface Pro 4 and housed it inside an Incipio case. I tend to be overly OCD/cautious when it comes to electronics, hence why all my phones, tablets, and devices have been inside a case since day one.
While Incipio doesn’t offer a wide selection of cases for Google’s Pixel line, they do have a few good choices. I was surprised to see more cases being offered compared to last year’s Nexus 6P, which was only given one case and color, while the 5X had a slightly better lineup. I’ve owned both the Octane and Dual Pro cases for previous phones, but I haven’t tried the Carnaby yet.
The Dual Pro features a hard shell Incipio calls “Plextonium,” which is still just polycarbonate as they denote on their website. Silicone is used inside (I always thought it was a softer TPU/TPE), so reading that was certainly interesting. Silicone is not ideal for cases because it will stretch out over time, as Otterbox, Seidio, and other companies have come to find out. Most cases use TPE/TPU for its favorable properties, including retaining shape better even after removing your phone countless times. I’ve never had a Spigen case become loose over time, yet all my silicone ones have.
An interesting tidbit: only the black model has a soft touch finish to it. I don’t know if this is by design, or the way they finish the black one. I could only find a gaudy gold case when I bought my Pixel XL. I usually don’t care about the color if the case does its job. The gold does a decent job hiding fingerprints. This is unlike the black one, which is a magnet for oils and dirt. Compared to Dual Pro cases in the past, this one is exceptionally thick—and no, that’s not a good thing. I don’t see this case offering any more protection due to the added thickness. Rather, I feel it’s due to the use of silicone as opposed to TPU. Aside from the bulk, I can’t say I appreciate the larger fingerprint/camera cutouts. I’ve already noticed scratches on my fingerprint scanner, so any more exposed glass through the back is not something I want. I did order a skin to cover just the glass, but that won’t be here for about a week. Some of this added bulk might be a good thing because of the case’s slippery texture.
Just about every negative thing I’ve mentioned is more about me being a very picky person than there being something inherently flawed about the case’s design. There are several positive aspects of this case, such as the few color options (gold/black/red). The latter isn’t nearly as common these days. If you plan to keep your phone in this case without removing it more than a few times, I don’t see the silicone losing its shape as much over time. It is ultimately up to you when deciding which case to use.
Tech 21 Evo Check
Simple, elegant protection is what Tech 21 offers all without any added bulk or fancy marketing. You can purchase the Evo Check case from Tech 21's website, or from Verizon currently unless Amazon decides to stock it in the near future.
The Good Design I don’t think there’s a way to look at this case and say it’s ugly. The checkered back looks stunning from all angles. Protection All good things can also come in a well-designed, sleek case with the benefit of great drop protection.
The Not So Good Buttons Trying to push the power button is like trying to move a building. It won’t budge without a ton of force. Cutouts Tech 21’s choice for a precise fingerprint cutout and a large camera cutout confuses me. Why wouldn’t they stick to precision for both?
I prefer cases that offer good drop protection and a slimmer profile, as I’m sure most readers will have noticed at this point. I chose the Tech 21 case because it was well suited to offer protection all with a nice looking low-profile design.
My experiences with Tech 21 only date back to when I bought my S7 Edge earlier this year. I found their case to be great in many areas, particularly with handling drops. Their claim to fame seems to be how well the cases hold up to drops while still protecting the phone/tablet inside. I’ve seen many YouTube videos showing someone drop the case off a balcony onto concrete/pavement with no damage to the phone. I would never test this myself, and I do not recommend ever doing so because anything is possible.
Tech 21 offers a few styles in their EVO line that all look too similar for most people to tell apart. They have the Evo Check, Evo Check Active, Evo Elite, Evo Gem, Evo Tactical, etc. Only the Evo Check is offered for Google’s Pixel line. Even though each style looks similar, their functions are different. Each case relies primarily on a material they call “FlexShock,” which is another fancy way of saying some sort of TPU/TPE material. One thing I will say about their materials is how hard they feel relative to other cases. They might be using a higher density form of TPU/TPE to protect the phone against larger drops.
I opted for a Black/Smoke Evo Check case since my Pixel XL is Quite black. The contrasting checkered pattern gives the phone a tactile or even stylish look. Physically, this case is only slightly larger than Spigen’s Rugged Armor, yet it claims to withstand bigger impacts. Inside, there are ribbed buffers lining the border along the sides; it then has thicker top/bottom sections that aide in impact absorption. I found the bottom thickness to be annoying at times because I rest my phone on my pinky, so these deeper cutouts started to hurt my finger after a while. The backside of each cutout is virtually flush with the phone to give you better access for charging and headphones. While their fingerprint cutout is great, I can’t say I appreciate how large the camera one is. I won’t say it hurts anything because it doesn’t, but precision is part of a case’s beauty when it’s this sleek. Speaking of sleek, you won’t find the Evo Check to offer much if any grip if that matters to you.
Let’s talk about my biggest issue with this case: the power button. I was very pleased with both the volume keys after pressing them, then came the power button… I don’t know why it’s so damn hard to press or how they let it ship like this, but it’s a nightmare. I thought my first one was defective, so I swapped it out only to find the same issue. The button simply doesn’t want to move when you press it. I’m currently using the case with the hope that prolonged use will cause the button to break in somehow. If Google made a native way to turn off my screen via the fingerprint scanner I would do that, but unfortunately only 3rd party apps can do that so far. This would solve the power button issue during normal usage, but it doesn’t excuse the problem to begin with.
Aside from my complaints with the awful power button, I find this case to be very pleasant during day-to-day usage. I will update this review later if the power button situation changes.
Case By Google - Silicone
Google is generally good at keeping things fresh. They have managed to continue that tradition by offering a wider variety of cases in a number of colors. The Silicone has many nice features, as well as a few flaws that may ultimately be the deciding factors for you.
The Good Appearance The case has a sophisticated design that looks very professional. Cutouts Due to the open bottom, every USB accessory should fit without an issue.
The Not So Good Texture It is very slippery and would be easy to drop. Material The silicone is bound to stretch with general wear and tear.
Let me start by saying that this case is very simple and elegant. It does not try to be anything it’s not. There are no extra flourishes that make it seem too decorative, other than the “G” on the back (Google’s signature stamp). The Silicone case I was sent is grey, and this neutral tone gives me a more business-oriented vibe. I can picture it sitting on an executive’s desk during his coffee break. However, looks are not the most important thing.
Google chose to make this from a conglomerate of three materials: it has a polycarbonate shell wrapped in soft silicone, which is then lined with a velvety microfiber. This combination gives the case a very sleek feeling, but at a price. It is so slick it could slide across sandpaper. Some areas are not reinforced properly, allowing the silicone to pull away from your phone around the buttons. Unlike Google’s Clear Case, this one covers the top of the phone and leaves the bottom out in the cold. Since the case is so slippery, there is greater risk for damage if you should drop it. If dropping is not a concern for you, the fact that the buttons are almost impossible to find may be.
The buttons on this case are practically ghosts. If you go to push the power or volume buttons, you may wonder whether they are there or not. When you do manage to find them there is a good tactile response. It is a combination of the smooth texture and nearly flush edges that make them hard to locate. If Google were to make one change to the buttons, I would suggest giving them some kind of raised texture. If you are as anal as I am, the cutouts on Google’s Silicone case may be a nuisance to you.
Given all the precise engineering that went into making this case, you would think the cutouts would have received the same treatment. The fingerprint cutout is perfectly fine, but the cutout for the camera is extremely large. It does not appear like it was measured to perfectly fit the Pixel camera. This extra open space allows more dirt to get on the lens, which is easily scratched. Since the purpose of a case is to protect your phone from damage, this seems like a major oversight. I have resorted to buying a vinyl skin that covers the glass to protect it while in such cases.
If having a fashionable case with basic scratch protection is enough for you, then you will enjoy this case. If you do buy it, don’t drop it or have it on the counter while baking cookies. You’ll either end up with a broken phone or cleaning flour from your camera lens.
SupCase Unicorn Beetle
Despite what its name suggests, this case is not made of a casual greeting, a mythical creature, and an insect. The Supcase Unicorn Beetle is an example of a good case gone in the wrong direction. Imagine if General Mills took the marshmallows out of Lucky Charms...it’s that kind of direction.
The Good Design The clear back is properly designed to eliminate rainbow streaking. Ports The charging and headphone cutouts are able to fit most cables without issue.
The Not So Good Design The boxy design leaves a lot to be desired. Buttons The buttons are very hard to press the first time, even though they are easier to find than some other flush buttons.
This case once had a lot of desirable features which have either disappeared or been altered completely. Previous case generations made holding it comfortable as the case mimicked the phone’s contours. In terms of shape, it is now very boxy. While the Otterbox is bigger, the Unicorn Beetle (UB) has a more cumbersome feel in your hand. The UB’s edges are very sharp, making it even more uncomfortable to hold. The look has also changed; the Nexus 6P generation UB had a frosted back, which has vanished from the new one. The only good thing about the clear back is that it doesn’t cause rainbow streaking, as it is lifted slightly off the phone. The major downside is that this allows dust to get onto your phone, defeating one of the points of using a case.
The former frosted back was made from acrylic, but the new one appears to be made of polycarbonate. This gives it a more slippery feel, adding to the reasons why it is more difficult to hold. The almost good news about the buttons is that the power key is textured, so you actually know what you are pressing. On the other hand, when pushing the buttons, you need to push them toward the front of the phone; you can’t just push them straight in. The buttons are also flush, making it hard to tell where the volume rocker is. At least you’ll be able to distinguish it from the power button.
Now, let’s talk about the cutouts. They are oversized, which again makes it easier for dirt to get on your phone. However, the large size of them keeps with the bulky, square theme of the case. While I am not a fan at them, I will say that they are consistent with the rest of the design. If uniformity is important to you, you’re in luck.
Much like Lucky Charms without the Charms, this case has left me disappointed. The UB has removed all of the features that made it such a good case back in previous generations. What were once smooth contours that blended the back panel with the outer TPU bumper are now sharp edges. Additionally, poor design led to the use of buttons that are nearly impossible to find let alone press the first time. In my opinion, there are too many better competing cases on the market to justify using this one.
Google Live Maps Case
Live Cases, particularly the maps ones, have been popular since Google first released them last year. Google gave anyone the ability to create a one-of-a-kind case with limitless possibilities for customization. At $40 customization doesn’t come cheap, so putting a picture of your new girlfriend on it might be a bad idea.
The Good Design Infinite customizability allows you to have a truely unique case. Software The accompanying app ensures your phone's wallpaper can be as unique as its exterior.
The Not So Good Buttons Despite the good intentions behind Google's NFC button, it falls short in real word use. Color Colors when you order may not match your actual case as I found out.
There are many color and ‘texture’ options offered by Google for their maps case that are not entirely accurate when you physically get your case. I ordered this maps one in what I thought was a deep indigo, yet when I received the case it was a very light periwinkle. This was disappointing for me given the blatant color differences, especially the indigo. I checked the color on a few different screens (not the oversaturated AMOLED on my Pixel) to be sure. Aside from the colors looking like a faded pair of jeans, not the dark wash expected, the case was as I ordered.
While Google’s two other cases have a larger cutout for the camera module, and sensor array, this one has precise holes for each. If I were to speculate, Google did this to maximize the area for printing the image onto the case. Since the entire case is crafted from polycarbonate, the volume/power buttons received cutouts, otherwise they would be unusable.
On the inside you will find an NFC antenna linked to the large indent at the case's center. Google refers to this as a programmable shortcut button, although that terminology is a little misleading. The NFC antenna isn’t contacting the Pixel’s rear glass until you apply a lot of pressure to that spot on the case. Once contact has been made, the Pixel will read the NFC antenna, and do whatever task you assigned to it. A nifty, simple companion app was created to control, program, and otherwise play with the Live Case. One neat feature all Live Cases have is a unique wallpaper that matches your case. Maps cases will allow you to see the local map around you in any color array offered for the case. These wallpapers also scroll nicely with the Pixel Launcher, and can be alternatively used as a fixed image.
Style, scratch protection, and the cool factor are about all you can expect from any Live Case. There is a very slight lip for face down protection, and both the top/bottom are exposed. I personally don’t mind those drawbacks given how Google doesn’t intend for their Live Cases to offer real protection.
Personal expression in the form of cases is expensive no matter what Live Case you choose. I can’t say whether or not $40 is worthwhile for most people, but for me it’s certainly not. Between the inaccurate colors and almost useless NFC button, Google has a lot to work on for future live cases.
Diztronic Pixlee
If you ever find yourself missing those old pixelated video games from the late eighties and early nineties, you may like the Diztronic Pixlee. At $10 and in a variety of colors what's not to like about this case? While it has its flaws in terms of protection and design, it is overall a whimsical case that will make you want to break out your old Nintendo.
The Good Design It has an attractive design and easy-to-find buttons. Colors Diztronic offers a multitude of colors for your retro inspired needs!
The Not So Good Materials It is not very sturdy and has a large camera cutout. Durability As with previous Diztronic cases the sides will loosen up over time making the case unusable.
Why does this case make me so nostalgic for a simpler time? The answer is in the look. The Pixlee has a design that quite literally looks like little pixels you may have seen on an old computer. This design also gives it a rougher texture, allowing you to keep a firm grip on it. While I am describing the black one, it comes in a variety of colors for you to choose from including orange, and pink.
In terms of functionality, the Diztronic Pixlee has its pros and cons. Allow me to start with the positive and work my way down. The buttons are very nice and easy to push. Unlike buttons on some of the other cases I will be discussing, they are simple to find without having to visually search for them. In terms of the negative, the case is very flimsy. It will likely not shield your phone from much damage in the event of a drop. However, this may be moot, considering the rough texture should help prevent it from slipping out of your hand. Something else that may be considered a negative quality is the single, large cutout for the camera. It takes away from the otherwise preciseness of the case and could allow dirt to get around the camera glass. Lastly, Diztronic cases have been known to lose their shape over time thus becoming almost useless. I encountered this with 2 of their Nexus 6P cases, and my Nexus 6 one prior to that.
To put it simply, this case is very pretty. It has a design that I believe most people would enjoy, and you can pick from an assortment of color options. Despite a few minor flaws, the Pixlee is a case worth trying out.
Spigen Slim Armor
At first glance, the Spigen Slim Armor looks something like an android from Star Wars (this is good news if you’re into that kind of thing). This is a great looking case that is more than thick enough to give your phone the proper armor before doing battle with your floor. Like every case, however, there are good and bad things about the Slim Armor even for the $30 you'll pay to get one.
The Good Design The Slim Armor has an appealing design and has buttons that are easy to find and press. Features Spigen's small kickstand holds the Slim Armor up better than its bigger brother.
The Not So Good Features The bottom is quite slippery and the kickstand pops out easier than it should. Color There are only a handful of color options, none of which are particularity great.
In terms of the way this case looks and feels, there is a major textural difference between the black top and the silver (gunmetal) or black bottom. If you are like most people, your hold your phone more toward the bottom end. This is where there is slight problem with this case. The silvery bottom (the magical element that gives it that robot look) is very slippery, while the top is not. The kickstand also easily comes off, though it is not clear if this has something to do with the weak plastic retainer. All of my previous Slim Armor cases made popping out the kickstand a nightmare, thus maybe Spigen addressed the issue. This smoothness may make it more likely that your phone will slide from your hand. Although, I suppose they call it “Armor” for a reason, as this thing could really take a pounding.
If it is not yet clear, design and functionality are really intertwined with this case. The buttons are raised appropriately, so you won’t find yourself feeling around for your volume buttons like you are trying to read Braille. It has smaller cutouts for the camera and flash, which adds to the sleekness and will help minimize the amount of dust and dirt that can damage the glass.
Ultimately, this case is like the little black dress of cases according to my wife. It is versatile and can take your phone from a professional to a casual setting. While it's slippery due to the contrast in textures, damage should still be minimized in the event you drop your phone down a few flights of stairs. The Spigen Slim Armor really is armor for your phone.
Spigen Tough Armor
Well, not all Armor is created equal. Some phone accessories really should not have been made to begin with, and the Spigen Tough armor would be at the top of that list for me. Despite a few redeeming qualities, you may want to save your money on this one. If you really want to buy the case it can be found on Amazon for ~$18.
The Good Design Texture is easy to grip (black one), and it looks better than its clear counterpart. Ports Ample room was provided on both the top/bottom cutouts for your audiophile and charging needs.
The Not So Good Material Oil from your fingers will dirty the case, and good luck finding the buttons. Cutouts For some reason Spigen opted for a bizzare speaker cutout on the non-clear version only.
Let me begin by discussing some production flaws and a couple of positive qualities. You all know my thing with buttons by now...these ones are extremely elusive. Not only do they not want to be found, but they do not want you to know which one is which. If the case itself could think, it probably would not even know they were there. The buttons on the clear one are even harder to find because of the smoother texture. They attempted to put a little dividing line between the power and the volume buttons, but it is a barely noticeable afterthought. What really bothers me is why Spigen still insists on making the Tough Armor when their Slim Armor is always better.
Unlike the Slim Armor, the design on the Tough is somewhat boring. However, I will say it has a very grippy texture in addition to being sturdy. You should have no problem with your phone being damaged.
Some more good-ish news is that the camera cutouts are the same shape as the Slim Armor (only a tiny bit smaller). It gives the phone a slightly more sleek look, and little to no dust should scratch your camera lens. The kickstand also seems to remain in place when you open and close it. The texture has a somewhat leathery feel, and is very absorbent. Don’t commit a crime while using this case, as your prints could easily be lifted off. If your only concern is with the fingerprints, then I would recommend the clear one; while it is clear around the very top and bottom, it has a smooth, silver back that does not dirty easily. Just be careful holding this one, as it would be easier to drop.
Spigen decided to make different speaker cutouts for the clear version in a good way. There are tiny slits above the speaker cutout normally which distort/muffle sound slightly, but this was fixed with the clear one. Design continuity should remain in place across a clear version of the same case, yet Spigen doesn’t seem to agree.
While the Tough Armor was a fair attempt, I feel it is an example of why sometimes it is best to leave well enough alone. All it will take is a one-time use for you to realize that the Slim Armor is superior.
Spigen NeoHybrid
I am sure all of you know that looks can be deceiving, and the looks of the (~$15) Spigen NeoHybrid are just that. It will lure you in with a false sense of security until you actually touch it and put it on your phone. While appearing to be of high quality, it is actually quite cheap.
The Good Style There is some color variety to choose from and it looks nice. Design Spigen's accent pattern follows Google's design language, and frankly is cool.
The Not So Good Design It is flimsy and there is always a gap around the bumper when on your phone. Buttons The buttons sit flush with the bumper due to a design flaw.
Apparently, some phone cases need bumpers...perhaps in case they fall down or bump into things. While the bumper offers a pleasing visual contrast to the body of the case, it presents a problem when you place it on your phone. No matter what you do, there will always be some sort of gap between the bumper and the actual case. This makes it so your case always looks cheap, and you will find yourself constantly fiddling with it in frustration. I wish that were the only issue. I haven’t seen a NeoHybrid fit perfectly since the days of my Note 3.
While the buttons are properly raised to my liking, the case itself is very thin and poorly designed. Ideally, cases should be stiff so they can do their job. The NeoHybrid acts like it is made of rubber, and if you remove the bumper you can bend it in half without damaging it. Except unlike rubber, this case is not as durable (...and won’t bounce when you drop it)). I don’t feel comfortable allowing the thin plastic bumper to take any impact without suffering a lot of damage.
One thing Spigen did right with this case has nothing to do with making it function better, but it is still worth noting. There is a textural difference between the top and bottom; the top has a raised design while the middle/bottom has a smoother texture. This adds to what is very “pretty” about this case. Putting the raised design on the bottom may have been more useful, as it would make the case less slippery while holding your phone.
Do not judge a book by its cover. The NeoHybrid seems very nice and appealing, but it falls short everywhere else.
LifeProof FRE
LifeProof has finally given Nexus...umm, Pixel owners... a true water resistant IP68 case. (I say resistance because the IP rating is not a ‘waterproof’ standard). Google opted out of true water resistance on their flagship Pixel, leaving many users unhappy. This is where this LifeProof FRE case stepped in. Gone are the days of putting your phone in those awful pouches that render your phone useless. The case is sold through LifeProof's website for a rather pricey $89.99.
The Good Design Excellent protection from dust and water thanks to its IP68 rating. Materials The durable exterior and reasonable screen protector make this a great case.
The Not So Good Buttons These are by far the worst I’ve encountered on a case. Cutouts The speaker membrane hinders audio quality on an already quiet phone.
When I heard LifeProof decided to take the plunge and make a Pixel/Pixel XL case, I was more excited than I care to explain. I need a good water/dust resistant case in my line of work, neither of which really existed for phones other than your usual Samsung/Apple flagships. There were a few select phones to receive the LifeProof treatment besides those, yet none were from Google’s former Nexus line... until now.
My experience with LifeProof doesn’t go back as far due to the phones I’ve owned. The first one I bought was for my work-issued iPhone 6. Since earlier this year I’ve used the FRE on that phone without any big issues, other than some wear/tear from various drops its encountered. The case has held up well despite my less than gentle treatment of it.
Moving on to this particular case, you will only find one color option so far (I hope that changes in the future). Even with the normal run of the mill black/grey styling, I’m happy this case exists at all. In the box, LifeProof includes some stickers, a small tool that aides in removal of the back, and a water resistant AUX extender. To maintain water resistance, there is a threaded portion inside the case and on the adapter alongside a small o-ring. I wasn’t able to fit a normal AUX cable into my phone without that adapter, not that I even use corded headphones these days. In the world we live in, dongles no matter their use have become a common site. Personally, I would rather not carry around extra gear if I don’t need.
If you crave a larger phone, and miss the size of your Nexus 6, then you will be happy to know how large this case is. My Pixel is now thicker, and just as tall/wide as my LG V20 in a Speck Presidio Grip. The size of my V20 doesn’t bother me (hence why I own one), yet it can make your Pixel seem like a small brick. Size isn’t the only area of concern on this case. The buttons and speakers also have their own set of ‘problems’.
Let’s face it, the Pixel has a quiet speaker if you even call it that. I rarely hear my alarm on it, let alone my ringtone. LifeProof used a membrane of sorts to protect the speaker, while still allowing sound to pass through (though muffled). I couldn’t watch a video or listen to music on my phone before with the low volume, now it’s a muffled mess. Don’t worry about trying to change the volume or shut off the phone inside this case; the buttons are basically glued in place. These might be the toughest buttons I’ve ever experienced. Oddly enough, my iPhone version works fine, even with the added resistance when pushing buttons.
I appreciate the attention to detail LifeProof put into different aspects of the case. A grey trip wraps itself around the display, giving the case a nice transition into the black frame. Along the sides you will find a subtle grey trim accenting the case while also showing you where it splits apart. Other cases can make it difficult to find, wherein you need to remove a certain piece to get your phone. Thankfully, there are no issues with that here.
Using the phone in the LifeProof case isn't difficult. In fact, I think it has a fairly decent built-in screen protector. Don’t expect to keep your beloved glass screen protector on in this case because it simply won’t fit. Fingerprint recognition has worked flawlessly for me even in this case, but gestures are another story. I can sometimes get the swipe gestures to work, but other times it’s a frustration-filled mess. That's a big deal to me, since I use gestures frequently.
Given the Pixel’s excellent camera abilities, you should know how this case poses issues in that department. I found focusing to be inconsistent, and the plastic ‘lense’ on the case appeared to affect image quality. I ensured both my phone and case were clean beforehand; even then, results were mixed.
With the many flaws I outlined, you might ask yourself why I still like this case. Nothing is perfect, or even close-- not even my Speck Presidio. The case might have its flaws, but I love it nonetheless. I can learn to work around some of the smaller more nitpicky things I mentioned because of the advantages LifeProof offers. Water/dust resistance are required when you live here in West Texas, and LifeProof provides them.
Toast Wood (Walnut) ‘Case’
Toast has made a name for itself by offering laser cut real wood ‘cases’ for a multitude of phones, tablets, and PCs. Their cases are not conventional because they use adhesives to stay in place instead of friction. Currently, there are 3 woods offered (Walnut, Ash and Ebony) for more variety. The case I'm reviewing sells for $44 on Toast' website if you include the front panel, $34 without.
The Good Design Nothing beats the elegant simplicity of wood. Customization Toast offers 3 different woods (Walnut, Ash, Ebony) along with custom laser engraving if you want to go that route.
The Not So Good Design The fitment of certain areas could use a great deal of improvement. Materials Simple sanding, or rounding of the sharp edges would give this case a significantly better feel.
Real material cases (wood, carbon fiber, leather etc.) are highly sought after as a luxury accessory by most people. I always enjoy a quality leather or wood case, mainly for the smell (leather), or feel (wood) because it offers something ‘fake’ materials cannot. I’ve tried real leather cases, skins, alongside a random wood one from other companies, I was generally pleased with the outcome, yet I could never use any of them for a prolonged period. While real wood/leather have their own appeal, they come with many drawbacks, too. Toast shares these drawbacks by using an adhesive instead of framing the wood into a case.
Installation is no harder than doing a vinyl wrap or screen protector. I followed the instructions, and was able to have my phone covered in wood within 10 minutes. Aesthetically Toast nailed it, but the feel/durability is another story. Wood feels great most of the time, except with this case. I was constantly concerned about getting a splinter due to the rough texture and very sharp edges. Given all of the laser cut wood cases I’ve tried before where this wasn’t an issue, I started to question their intent. I understand how people enjoy a more rugged, natural feel, but there’s a difference between that and razor sharp edges.
Some issues were encountered on the corner segments, as they did not fully adhere. I reached out to the Toast rep seeking advice on how to address this after installing my case. I will post an update about their response when representatives come back from the holiday break. Make no mistake when I say my Toast was installed perfectly, so I had an issue when my buttons became hard to press. Toast uses little pieces of wood that go over your buttons. I installed them with tweezers to ensure there was no misalignment whatsoever. I tried to hit my power button and was met with a very spongy response. Buttons should be tactile no matter what, and these lost their touch.
Another area Toast really could have improved on was their button texture. If Toast mimicked the texture on Google’s Pixel I would be much happier with the case. Finding buttons, let alone these slippery wood ones, was hard enough without any clear way of identifying one from another.
Toast also included a front panel in their review sample I was sent. I chose not to install this because I’m using a glass screen protector, and the front wood piece is not compatible with it. Aside from my grips, the Toast still looked great as long as I didn’t use my phone. I cannot recommend their case in this state without some improvements, especially for what they’re charging.
Incipio Octane
One of my favorite S7 Edge cases made a return this time for the Pixel/Pixel XL. This simple frosted clear case with a selection of colored borders offers great drop protection without compromising style. Incipio offers 4 colors, (black, lavender, grey, pearl blue) all featuring the same frosted back panel. Amazon is the easiest place to purchase the case for around $25 right now in all of the color combinations.
The Good Cutouts Adding a black border to the camera cutout eliminates flash issues. Design Frosted cases always have a nice cohesive look without the worry of smudges.
The Not So Good Buttons Atrocious, horrible and other words would be a suitable description of |
as February 23 and 24, well after it had stopped allowing withdrawals from its accounts, and only four days before the exchange filed for bankruptcy.
A leaked conversation between a Mizuho Bank representative and Karpeles that the Wall Street Journal published last week also made its way into the plaintiffs' allegations. In the conversation, the bank representative urged Karpeles to close his account with Mizuho, but Karpeles resisted.
”Mizuho knew of irregularities and serial complaints regarding Mt. Gox and eventually, long after it had profited from its illicit partnership, asked Mr. Karpeles to close his accounts with Mizuho voluntarily at some unspecified point in the future,” the plaintiffs allege.
Finally, the complaint said that there had been some proof that small amounts of Bitcoin reported to belong to MtGox were being transferred either to new accounts or to accounts held by MtGox executives.
On March 7, 2014, reports began surfacing that 180,000 bitcoins believed to be associated with Mt. Gox (worth approximately $113 million dollars) were being moved through the “Block Chain” (the public ledger that records all Bitcoin transactions) and broken down into different accounts in preparation for mixing or tumbling them to avoid detection. Upon information and belief, some of these bitcoins have been transferred into active accounts associated with Mt. Gox Defendants.
... Further upon information and belief, Mt. Gox Defendants have already hidden and/or transferred funds associated with Mt. Gox, and continue to do so, during the pendency of its bankruptcy proceedings.
The suit will proceed in a Chicago federal court.New 2:28 p.m. Friday:
The Champaign County Coroner said foul play is not suspected in the death of a University of Illinois student this week.
Coroner Duane Northrup said an autopsy performed Friday on Brett Vogt of Barrington revealed that the 21 year-old died of a traumatic head injury. Vogt was found on the ground near the Goodwin and University intersection in Urbana in the early morning hours on Tuesday. Northrup said authorities believe that Vogt was impaired due to alcohol and fell and hit his head. He was pronounced dead at the hospital on Wednesday.
Vogt was an engineering major and president of the Illini bass fishing club.
**
Original story Thursday:
URBANA — The Urbana Police Department is investigating the death of a 21-year-old University of Illinois student.
Bret Vogt, of Barrington, was pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon after being found lying unconscious at the corner of Goodwin and University avenues early Tuesday morning, Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup said.
Vogt was transported to Presence Covenant Hospital in Urbana, where he was diagnosed with a traumatic head injury, according to Northrup.
Vogt was transferred to Carle Foundation Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:01 p.m. Wednesday. Northrup said toxicology reports revealed alcohol in Vogt’s system at the time he was discovered.
Vogt was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity and president of the Illini Bass Fishing Club.Medical bills are pushing more Americans into severe “financial distress” even if they have insurance, according to a top medical journal. These bills force hundreds of thousands into bankruptcy each year.
What’s so galling is that while Americans struggle to pay their bills, freeloaders from other countries get the same care at no cost by gaming our generous open-door hospital policies. They take a flight to the United States, go straight to an emergency room and get pacemakers, chemotherapy and other expensive care, leaving American taxpayers to foot their bills.
Evan Levine, cardiologist at a Bronx teaching hospital, recently treated a Trinidad resident who had learned his pacemaker battery was about to give out. He came to New York to avoid paying for cardiac care back home. Cost to him? Zero, aside from airfare.
It’s a common practice, according to a medical-device salesman who services hospitals in the New York area. He gets calls for pacemakers destined for patients from South America or Central America who fly in and take a bus directly to the hospital.
The bill for one pacemaker patient can reach $96,000. John Q. Public gets stuck with it.
Taxpayers cough up an estimated $2 billion a year for a program called Emergency Medicaid, according to Kaiser Health News. It covers everyone unable to pay for emergency medical care, including illegal immigrants and residents of other countries here for medical freebies.
No one should be left to die on the street. But forcing taxpayers to pay for foreigners here to rip us off goes too far.
Federal law requires that hospitals help all patients who come to the emergency room in labor or with a life-threatening condition. Lenient regulations are turning this into a gravy train.
Hospitals cannot ask about immigration status at any time, and they’re barred from asking patients if they can pay or have insurance until after the patient has been helped. Every ER posts signs telling patients they have a right to be treated, no matter what.
Noah Schreibman, pulmonologist and critical care physician in Delray, Fla., explains that “if someone is short of breath, has chest pains, coughs up blood or recently lost 20 pounds, they’ll get admitted.”
“We are here to help. We treat everybody,” Schreibman insists, even as he acknowledges seeing foreign patients flocking to Florida hospitals for the free care. He doesn’t begrudge them, but taxpayers have every right to be outraged.
So do Americans facing bankruptcy from their medical bills. Soaring deductibles are increasing the financial pressure, according to the JAMA Internal Medicine report, which shows deductibles up a whopping 86 percent since 2009.
If you have cancer, you’ll pay thousands out of your own pocket before your insurance kicks in. But in New York, which has just about the most liberal emergency Medicaid policies of any state, a medical tourist claiming poverty can get up to 15 months of inpatient chemotherapy — worth $150,000 — sticking taxpayers with the bill.
Same holds true for inpatient dialysis, which sometimes costs even more. Patients who don’t require hospitalization — like dialysis patients — are sometimes admitted to the hospital anyway because emergency Medicaid only pays for inpatient care.
Uncle Sam turns a blind eye while at the same time hassling older Americans who come to the emergency room. Under a sneaky Obama administration policy, seniors seeking emergency care are put in “observation care” and then, when it’s time to leave, they’re slapped with huge bills and told they were never formally admitted to the hospital, so Medicare won’t pay.
And what about vets? As a thank-you for their service, they’re clobbered with a hefty bill if they dare go to a non-VA emergency room. It’s so outrageous, a federal court just ruled against this practice.
Our priorities need to be fixed. Stop scrimping on care for vets and seniors while spending freely on people from other nations.
Dr. Levine has a sensible fix: Bill countries when their citizens come here to freeload, or deduct the cost from their foreign-aid packages.
Betsy McCaughey is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research.It was really only a matter of time.
Amazon briefly put up and then removed a page on its website for an unlimited e-book and audiobook subscription service called Kindle Unlimited, as first reported by Gigaom.
A signup page for the service was spotted by multiple users on Twitter on Wednesday. According to a cache of that page (see below), Amazon plans to offer users unlimited access to 600,000 digital books for $9.99 a month.
Reps for Amazon did not immediately respond to our request for comment.
Kindle Unlimited. $9.99 subscription for over 600K books. When will this go live? http://t.co/3sHUyrSjzc pic.twitter.com/dDZMC84g4o — DearAuthor (@dearauthor) July 16, 2014
The e-book subscription space took off in late 2013 when startups Oyster and Scribd launched unlimited Netflix-style subscription services for e-books. Both Oyster and Scribd reached partnerships with a number of publishers, including two of the big five publishing houses.
Trip Adler, CEO and cofounder of Scribd, framed Amazon's possible entry into e-book subscriptions as being a "validation" of its own efforts in a statement provided to Mashable. Likewise, Oyster CEO Eric Stromberg suggested it would be a positive for the e-book space as a whole.
"We’re not surprised. They have pivoted from transactional to subscription-based in other media, and have had limited success," Stromberg said in a statement. "They really paved the way in ebooks, and it’s exciting to see them embrace the market we created as the future of books.”
Amazon's pricing is comparable to Oyster and Scribd, which charge $9.95 a month and $8.99 a month, respectively. Of course, Amazon has the advantage of a much larger existing customer base.
A list of available titles for the Kindle Unlimited subscription was still online as of publication. The list includes titles like The Hunger Games, 1984, Flash Boys and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.Image caption The militant killed overnight was buried on Saturday morning
Two Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, medics say, while an Israeli has been hurt by a rocket fired from there.
A militant was targeted as he launched rockets from northern Gaza overnight. Another man later died near Jabaliya.
An explosion also killed a six-year-old boy in Khan Younis on Saturday. Medics blamed an Israeli air strike, but the Israeli military denied responsibility.
Meanwhile, more than 20 rockets have been fired into southern Israel.
An Israeli man was moderately wounded on Saturday morning when a Qassam rocket hit the roof a factory in the Sderot industrial zone.
The Israeli military's chief of staff, Lt Gen Benny Gantz, has convened "an urgent meeting" to discuss ways of dealing with the rocket- and mortar-fire, which has continued despite efforts this week to agree a ceasefire.
Escalation fears
Overnight, the Israel Air Force struck two targets in the Gaza Strip, including the militant preparing to launch rockets. About 20 people, some of them civilians, were wounded.
A man was later killed east of Jabaliya, also in the north, medics said.
Officials from the Hamas militant group, which governs Gaza, said another Israeli air strike killed a six-year-old boy at a football pitch near the southern town of Khan Younis, and wounded two other people.
They also said a baby was wounded in a separate attack in Rafah.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said an initial examination showed that it was not involved in the death of the boy. She suggested the cause could have been a misfired Palestinian rocket.
She had no immediate comment on the report about the baby.
The BBC's Jon Donnison in Ramallah reports that the ceasefire announced on Wednesday never really took root.
Hamas seems to have refrained from firing rockets itself for the last three days but smaller militant groups have continued to do so, he says.
Although neither Hamas nor Israel's leaders say they want an escalation, there is always a fear the fighting could get out of control, our correspondent adds.
It is more than three years since Israel's last major offensive in Gaza, in which some 1,400 Palestinians were killed, as well 13 Israelis.Golden Boy Promotions founder Oscar Del La Hoya believes Saul "Canelo" Alvarez would have taken far less time in finishing Conor McGregor than Floyd Mayweather did.
Mayweather took on McGregor on Saturday night (26 August) as he defeated the Irishman via a 10th-round stoppage in a big-money fight that has been overshadowing Canelo's own upcoming middleweight title fight with Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin on 16 September.
Del La Hoya was never a fan of The Money Fight and made no secret of what he thought about it just a couple of days before it took place.
Despite him previously claiming that the contest could ruin boxing, it turned out to be fairly entertaining and competitive with the "Notorious" receiving credit for going 10 rounds with Mayweather.
However, DeL La Hoya believes the only reason McGregor lasted that long was because "Money", who notably bet on himself finishing McGregor in under 9.5 rounds, let him.
"Because Mayweather let him," De La Hoya said on The MMA Hour. "The first four of five rounds, he let him do that. The punches are coming from different angles. It was a bit awkward to watch, actually."
The former boxer added that Canelo, who he promotes, would have knocked McGregor out early on and that combat sports fans will see what a true boxing match is next month.
"After seeing Saturday's fight, Canelo probably would have knocked [McGregor] out in one round or two rounds," he added. "Canelo is a knockout guy, he's a guy who's not gonna trick people into making a fight last longer than it should last."
"I'm glad all these people spent their hundred dollars on watching this event. Now on Sept. 16, they will know what two pure boxers will be demonstrating and showing.... You'll find out what a boxing match is."
Despite not being a fan of the Mayweather vs McGregor match-up, Del La Hoya maintains that he respects anyone willing to step up and fight. However, he wants to see cross-code fights end from now on.
"I respect any fighter that gets into the ring, that's the bottomline," De La Hoya explained. "The fact that McGregor even tried, there's huge respect from my part to him."
"I respect the UFC, I respect any UFC fighter that's in the Octagon, I respect fighters that put their life on the line. What I'm trying to say is they're two different sports and I don't want to see anything like it again.
"I probably will even go to his fight or buy his next fight when he steps into the Octagon again, because he's an amazing guy."As it turns out, the one person who helped position Von Miller for a mammoth new contract was... Von Miller.
And it happened not just from his superb play, but for the bold stand he took at a time when no other player entering the NFL was willing to take it.
Super Bowl MVP Von Miller was the only rookie to join the nine players who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL when it threatened a lockout in 2011. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
As a named plaintiff in the 2011 “Brady Case” against the NFL’s lockout of its players when the CBA expired, Miller became the only rookie to step up and attach his name and stature to the case. The case needed to have named plaintiffs representing all three classes of players: veterans under contracts, veterans who were about to be free agents, and incoming rookies.
The issue with all incoming rookies was the new CBA was going to move money from top 10 rookie contracts into veteran contracts, and very few young players were willing to help. Thinking selflessly and in a way that drew some criticism at the time, Miller agreed to become a part of the case. At the time, he knew the system did not initially benefit him personally the way it did the vast majority of players because he was such a high pick, but it will benefit him now. And what once was a controversial decision now will be rewarded.
Miller either will receive the Broncos’ franchise tag or a massive long-term extension, expected to surpass the six-year, $101 million contract that included $52.5 million in guaranteed money that Kansas City gave linebacker Justin Houston last offseason.
The Broncos already have said they would like to get Miller that fat, new long-term deal, and it is likely to get done at some point this offseason. But whenever it does get done, it’s fair to say that no player in the league will deserve it more, not only for what he did this postseason but for what he did back in 2011.Social Security is facing a legislative reckoning, regardless of whether lawmakers want it.
The trust fund for the disability program will run out in late 2016, Social Security’s Board of Trustees warned in late July.
Without congressional action, disabled workers would immediately face a 25 percent cut in their benefits.
That is a prospect lawmakers cannot easily ignore. Social Security Disability Insurance, while not as politically sensitive as the retirement program, is massive.
There were roughly 11 million disability recipients in 2013, drawing an average of more than $1,100 in monthly benefits, according *to the Congressional Budget Office. The Social Security Administration expects that it will spend nearly $150 billion in fiscal 2015 on SSDI — a large sum even by federal spending standards.
The program's rolls have grown faster than anticipated, expanding sixfold, in the past three decades, leading to an imminent shortfall in the program's finances.
“Legislation will be needed to avoid disruptive reductions in benefit payments to this vulnerable population,” Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in July.
Lew and key congressional Democrats have advocated reallocating some payroll taxes from the Social Security retirement trust fund — which is due to run out after 2030 — to the disability program.
Such a shift would be “routine and non-controversial,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a July hearing. Congress authorized such a shift most recently in 1994.
But the looming financing problems with disability insurance are nearer now than they were in 1994, and Republicans may be resistant to diverting funds from the retirement fund to the disability fund. “It is premature to agree on some payroll tax reallocation as a patch of convenience and to kick the can down the road yet again,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Wyden’s counterpart on the committee, at the hearing.
And some Democrats view any reform of the disability program as a threat to cut all of Social Security.
In a speech in his home state of Ohio in July, Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of the more progressive members of the Democratic caucus, went on the offensive against future attempts to revamp the programs, warning, "We need to recognize these attacks for what they are: backdoor attempts to dismantle and privatize Social Security by discrediting disability insurance,” according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The disability program's financial woes are big enough to mean significant payroll tax hikes — more than $28 billion annually, according to the CBO — as well as cuts to stabilize its funding without touching other areas of the budget.
And that’s in a favorable scenario. But the reality might be even more daunting.
Social Security's actuary contends that the rapid increase in the size of the disability program was a predictable consequence of the population aging and women entering the workforce, and it is now finished.
Outside economists, however, have argued that the run-up in the rolls is instead the result of an easing of eligibility.
In 1984, Congress passed a law expanding the ways workers could qualify for benefits. The following years saw an increase in the number of recipients claiming “more subjective vocational or functional criteria” of disability, rather than easily verifiable injuries, according to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
For example, a worker might gain disability benefits for back pain that he says prevents him from working as a forklift operator, whereas in the past he would have been denied benefits unless a doctor could verify his back was broken.
Furthermore, the researchers concluded, the Social Security Administration has “mostly underestimated" the growth in the number of recipients.
In other words, there's a possibility that Social Security has misunderstood the cause of the problem, namely the easing of eligibility, and has consequently underestimated the size of the issue.
In either case, Congress will have to address the program’s finances. But the possibility that the rolls are oversubscribed means that the policy and political stakes are high.Devices that harvest wasted mechanical energy could make many new advances possible—including clothing that recharges personal electronics with body movements, or implants that tap the motion of blood or organs. But making energy-harvesting devices that are compact, flexible, and, above all, efficient remains a big challenge. Now researchers at Georgia Tech have made the first nanowire-based generators that can harvest sufficient mechanical energy to power small devices, including light-emitting diodes and a liquid-crystal display.
Power flex: This material contains piezoelectric nanowires. When flexed, it produces enough power to drive a liquid-crystal display.
The generators take advantage of materials that exhibit a property called piezoelectricity. When a piezoelectric material is stressed, it can drive an electrical current (applying a current has the reverse effect, making the material flex). Piezoelectrics are already used in microphones, sensors, clocks, and other devices, but efforts to harvest biomechanical energy using them have been stymied by the fact that they are typically rigid. Piezoelectric polymers do exist, but they aren’t very efficient.
Zhong Lin Wang, who directs the Center for Nanostructure Characterization at Georgia Tech, has been working on another approach: embedding tiny piezoelectric nanowires in flexible materials. Wang was the first to demonstrate the piezoelectric effect at the nanoscale in 2005; since then he has developed increasingly sophisticated nanowire generators and used them to harvest all sorts of biomechanical energy, including the movement of a running hamster. But until recently, Wang hadn’t developed anything capable of harvesting enough power to actually run a device.
In a paper published online last week in the journal Nano Letters, Wang’s group describes using a nanogenerator containing more nanowires, over a larger area, to drive a small liquid crystal display.
To make the generator, Wang’s team dripped a solution containing zinc-oxide nanowires onto a thin metal electrode sitting on a sheet of plastic, creating several layers of the wires. They then covered the material with a polymer and topped it with an electrode. The resulting device is about 1.5 by two centimeters and, when compressed 4 percent every second, it produces about two volts, enough to drive a liquid-crystal display taken from a calculator. “We were generating 50 millivolts in the past, so this is an enhancement of about 20 times,” says Wang.
In a paper published in Nano Letters this summer, Wang demonstrated a nanogenerator capable producing 11 milliwatts per cubic centimeter—enough to light up an LED. Wang notes that a pacemaker requires 5 milliwatts to run, an iPod 80 milliwatts. “We’re almost there,” he says.
The devices made by the Georgia Tech group are “getting into the realm where the power output is reasonable,” says Michael McAlpine, professor of mechanical engineering at Princeton University and a 2010 TR35 awardee. “Getting impressive power outputs is a matter of scaling up,” he adds.
Both Wang and McAlpine are looking to more efficient materials for making nanogenerators. Both have recently demonstrated making nanowires from PZT, a crystalline material that is standard in commercial piezoelectric devices. PZT, a compound that contains lead, zirconium, and titanium, is the most efficient piezoelectric material known, but making it into nanowires has been tricky because there are no good catalysts for growing PZT nanowires.
Wang and McAlpine have found different solutions to this problem. Wang treats his starting solution at high temperature and pressure, which does away with the need for an efficient catalyst. McAlpine grows a flat film of PZT, and then uses a mask to pattern nanowires through chemical etching. Energy harvesters made from PZT nanowires aren’t as efficient as the zinc-oxide ones yet, but McAlpine says this is because he and Wang have only just begun to work with them.How hard is it to erase a 21-point, third-quarter deficit in the NBA?
The Miami Heat made it look easy Sunday night.
Behind 25 points and 15 rebounds from center Hassan Whiteside, a huge lift from Justise Winslow, Mario Chalmers and the bench, and a fiery halftime speech from co-captain Udonis Haslem, the Heat roared back to beat James Harden and the Houston Rockets, 109-89, in one of the wildest, most memorable comebacks in franchise history.
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SHARE COPY LINK Haslem didn't play, but gave a fiery halftime speech that inspired the Heat to rally from 21 points down in the third quarter and beat Houston 109-89. Nov. 1, 2015. Video by Manny Navarro
How wild was it? Only two other times has the Heat (2-1) overcome bigger deficits: 27 points at Cleveland on March 20, 2013 and 25 points vs. Boston on March 16, 2006.
“Usually coach gives us a few minutes before he comes in at halftime,” Haslem said. “There were a few moments of silence. I just had so much built in inside of me it just kind of erupted. And it just comes out the way it comes out.
“You might not like what I'm going to say but you’re going to respect it and you’re going to listen because I’m always going to keep it real.”
Haslem, who said he slammed bottles on the ground and estimated that his speech was ‘about 75 percent’ profanity-laced, never got into the game for the Heat. But his words carried weight.
Whiteside, like Haslem had so many times before him, carried it out on the defensive end. With a cut over his left eye that stung him all game and required four stitches after the game, Miami’s young 7-foot center said he told his teammates to press up on Houston’s shooters and “let them beat us in the paint.”
SHARE COPY LINK Whiteside had 25 points, 15 rebounds, three steals and two blocks in a game-high 33 minutes for the Heat in Sunday's 109-89 win over the Rockets. He also had four stitches placed above his left eye after game. Nov. 1, 2015. Video by Manny Navarro.
The Rockets — minus center Dwight Howard and power forward Terrance Jones — couldn’t do it.
After making nine of their first 20 three-point attempts in building a 63-44 halftime lead, Houston made just 1 of 16 from long-distance the rest of the way and was outscored in the paint 62-40. Harden, the player’s choice last season for MVP, finished 2 of 15 from the field with only 16 points.
Miami, meanwhile, found its offense in the second half. After shooting only 40 percent from the field and missing its first 10 three-point attempts, the Heat buried nine of 12 from beyond the arc in the second half and outscored Houston 65-26.
Whiteside did his damage with a series of dunks on lobs from Dwyane Wade, who added 20 points and eight assists of his own in nearly 33 minutes of action. Whiteside played a team-high 33 1/2, blocked two shots and collected three of Miami’s 11 steals.
“Every day we come out we think we can beat anybody,” said Whiteside, who sustained the cut over his left eye on an elbow from Harden during a drive to basket in the second quarter. “So us being down 21 or however much it was, we were just going to keep competing.
“Just never count us out. That’s the kind of mindset we’ve got every game.”
SHARE COPY LINK Dragic scored eight points and dished out six assists in 24 minutes and cheered on his teammates as Miami rallied from 21-down to beat Houston. Nov. 1, 2015. Video by Manny Navarro
For the first half, though, Miami’s defense was lost.
Houston was getting to the free throw line, swishing three-pointers and imposing its will — something Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was hoping his team would do. Miami was slow to defend, turnover prone — and outside of Whiteside — not much was going right.
In the third quarter, Spoelstra turned to his bench: rookie Winslow — Chalmers and second-year pro Tyler Johnson — and gave them 30, 22 and 21 minutes, respectively, while the veterans watched. The Heat then turned the game around. Since Houston went small, Spoelstra went small, too. And it worked.
“The quicker we embrace that all 15 will be needed [the better],” Spoelstra said. “Different guys maybe will be counted on different nights, different contributions from one half to another. That’s the point of having depth to utilize that as your strength game to game.
“[Chris Bosh], Luol [Deng], Goran [Dragic], [Josh] McRoberts, Amar’e [Stoudemire] they couldn’t have been happier enjoying their teammates success and that’s a quality of good teams.”
Bosh, Miami’s second-leading scorer coming in, didn’t score until he hit a three-pointer with 10:06 to play. He finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
“It's a great sign for this team,” Wade said of how the Heat fought back. “I’ve been on plenty of teams that once you get down like that against a team that’s on fire, high-powered, you kind of let it go. But we kept fighting. And early in the season, to see some fight like that, for this unit, for this team, it’s a great sign. And we still didn’t play amazing. We just fought.”Luminato, 2016 edition, installed itself in the derelict Hearn Generating Station, a hulking industrial husk left for dead decades before. Reanimated for the festival’s 10 days, it presented a tantalizing challenge to the city and Luminato both: What are the blue-sky limits of urban revitalization and what would the festival do for an encore?
The Famous Spiegeltent will host music, theatre, cabaret and spoken word performances nightly at David Pecaut Square. ( LUMINATO ) Vertical Influences puts audience members in the middle of a sheet of ice as members of Montreal collective Le Patin Libre (The Free Skate) wing by at breakneck speed. ( ALICE CLARK ) Bearing, by Plains Cree choreographer Michael Greyeyes and Algonquin playwright Yvette Nolan, takes on the history of the abusive Canadian residential school system. ( LIZ BEDDALL )
Luminato revealed its answer Thursday, as it released the top line of its programming for its 2017 edition, which opens June 14. The Hearn is back in mothballs and the festival resituates on David Pecaut Square, named for its late co-founder, who died in 2009. Anthony Sargent, the festival’s CEO, sees it less as retrenchment than a homecoming and a pivot point. If the Hearn offered a spectacle befitting the festival’s 10th anniversary — the apex, perhaps, of former artistic director Jorn Weisbrodt’s lofty ambitions — the return downtown is a symbolic gesture of what’s to come. “This is a for-instance, rather than a finished thing,” Sargent said this week. “I’m very proud of what we’re doing this year; I think the audiences will love it and the artists will find it very rewarding. But I’m also terribly conscious that it’s a journey. I think this year is a good statement of intent — that’s how I’m seeing it.”
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Sargent, a seasoned arts executive recruited from the U.K. to replace longtime CEO Janice Price in 2015, was met shortly after his arrival with the resignation of Weisbrodt, the festival’s emblematic artistic director. After stewarding the festival to the Hearn, Weisbrodt left, handing the task of what the next 10 years of the festival might look like to Sargent. His first order of business was to bring in Josephine Ridge as artistic director, who was then tasked with assembling this year’s edition in a little more than a year. With the change also came the opportunity to reconsider what Luminato should be. Under Weisbrodt, Luminato had become a platform of international spectacles and marquee names: David Byrne’s stadium-filling Contemporary Color, a multi-pronged presentation of the work of iconic performance artist Marina Abramovic. At the same time, it began to feel a little distant from its place and time. When Weisbrodt left, Sargent and Ridge began to devise a very different Luminato. “Josephine always talks about how this should be a festival of Toronto, not a festival in Toronto, and I think that’s a very neat characterization of what we’re trying to do,” Sargent says. “That’s one of the things I’m most proud of: finding ways to do things in collaboration with other people involved in the arts in Canada; perhaps that hasn’t been as much of a focus of the past two or three years.” To that point, this year’s festival focuses on collaborations, with the Theatre Centre and Directors Lab North, to name a couple, and a deeper commitment to the city, and the country, itself.
“I think where you once had a festival characterized with very ambitious things with a lot of resources put behind them — and I don’t think it unkind to say, perhaps at the expense of other programming — you’ll have a festival with a lot of different entry points for other parts of the community,” Sargent said. At the same time, the festival is hard at work on a new business plan that Sargent hopes will resonate with city, provincial and federal governments equally. Born of a $15-million grant in 2007 from the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Luminato was weaned down to a $2.5-million annual commitment from the province that expired last year.
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That means some creative thinking going forward for a festival whose operating cost has landed between $10 and $11 million the past two years, Sargent says, though Luminato’s reputation precedes it. “Coming from abroad, I’ve seen the reputation of this festival globally, and Luminato and TIFF are the two brightest lights for this city around the world that this city has. “Because we’re an international festival, we get a lot of international curators coming here and we can show them great Canadian work. That’s the dialogue I’ve been having with the feds: the thought that we have global promotional capital for some of the most exciting things happening in the arts in Canada today. That’s exactly how a festival like this should be used.” Some highlights of Luminato 2017: Opening Night: It will feature Tributaries, a loose, expansive performance of contemporary indigenous music and dance in David Pecaut Square. Produced by Denise Bolduc and Erika Iserhoff of Native Women in the Arts, the event pays tribute to the land’s original residents. The Famous Spiegeltent: A return, or at least a reprise, of the festival’s inaugural year, the Spiegeltent, pitched at Harbourfront in 2007, moves to David Pecaut Square with a nightly program of performances to include music, theatre, cabaret and spoken word. King Arthur’s Night: A festival commission, this musical theatre piece makes its world premiere here, featuring a cast “living with and without” Down’s syndrome. Its score was composed by Canadian singer-songwriter Veda Hille. (June 15 to 18) Bearing: A world premiere dance opera, by Plains Cree choreographer Michael Greyeyes and Algonquin playwright Yvette Nolan, Bearing takes on the catastrophic history of the abusive Canadian residential school system, when indigenous children were taken from their families to be stripped of their language and culture at faraway schools. With librettist Spy Denommé-Welch. (June 22 to 24) En avant, marche! With 40 performers, this work from Belgian choreographer Alain Platel presents a crowded stage and a “tragicomedy” about the power — and no doubt, the tribulations — of collaboration. (June 21 to 24) Vertical Influences: Stretching the boundaries of bona fide culture, Vertical Influences, the product of Montreal collective Le Patin Libre (The Free Skate) puts audience members in the middle of a sheet of ice as the group’s hybrid speed-skaters/breakdancers wing by at breakneck speed. Helmet recommended? (June 22 to 23 at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre and June 24 to 25 at Don Montgomery Arena in Scarborough)Do you want to know the dirty secret behind all those gorgeous styled wedding decorations you see on Pinterest and Instagram? It is really, really hard to replicate them in the real world. While it is surprisingly easy to decorate a stunning table that seats eight people on a $1,000 budget, it is nearly impossible to duplicate your efforts for twenty tables of eight people on the same budget. Shocker, I know. And sadly most of us are not planning weddings inside one of those money wind machines.
When I was planning my own wedding, I felt like my budget really limited how cool I could make my venue look. Which is why at APW, one of our core goals is figuring out how take all the inspiration you see floating around the Internet, and then reimagining things for a whole lot less money (see: our paper flower wall tutorial). Because we want you to be able to take our ideas and apply them to your fifty-person wedding or your five hundred–person wedding. And part of that process is having a treasure trove of destinations where we source creative and affordable materials.
It occurred to me recently, as I was helping a friend find wholesale crystals for her wedding, that it might be helpful if we shared that information. (I mean, it’s no good to you just sitting inside my head.) So today I’ve pulled together a handful of our favorite destinations for finding affordable, creative, unexpected wedding decorations and DIY materials that you can use in your wedding.
Teacher supply stores: One of the challenges of making your own escort cards or place settings is having to make so damn many of them when most stores aren’t set up for wholesale. But at teacher supply stores, just about everything comes in a set, and is affordably priced. Our favorite items from Learning Resources include geometric shapes (how cool are these wooden ones?) and animal counter sets (tiny animals perfect for spray painting!).
Online Party Shops: If you hear party shop and you think giant warehouse filled with Spongebob balloons, well you’re not wrong (most of the time). But when we need cute paper goods, we hit up online shops like Oh Happy Day, Paper Mart, or Harlow and Grey. The prices are more or less on par with your average party store, but the options are way better. (I’m talking statement balloons, honeycomb decor, fringe garlands, crepe paper rolls, the works.)
Hardware Stores: |
candidate didn’t apply to him. As a result, the public didn’t really get to know the guy at the podium.
Fast forward to today. The public doesn’t see Obama as they did the candidate in 2008. Hope and Change is over. Obama disappoints his constituent again and again. And as hard as the media tries to keep positive stories in the press about the Obama administration, the man continues to flummox.
Rick Ungar of Forbes is the latest member of the mainstream media to be left puzzled by the actions of Barrack Obama.
As readers of this column know, I tend to favor the political and policy positions put forth by President Barack Obama and his administration. That is not to say that, in the effort to provide an honest accounting of my opinions on the issues of the day, there have not been moments where I have found it necessary to criticize the White House when I disagree with their policies and strategies. But that’s my job and I try to do the very best I can in doing that job. However, never before have I felt the need to criticize our President for something that goes well beyond politics and policy—until today. What I should be discussing this day are the President’s comments delivered yesterday regarding the heinous execution of American photojournalist James Foley; comments I found to be completely appropriate in that they conveyed strength, intelligence and a hint that we may have only just begun to deal with the scourge that is ISIL. What I should also be writing about this day is the remarkable strength and grace we witnessed while watching the parents of James Foley who were nothing short of stunning and inspirational in their televised conversation with the press. Instead, I find myself compelled to write about the President’s decision to keep his scheduled golf date with a couple of friends immediately following his televised comments—a decision that revealed a complete lack of class on Mr. Obama’s part.
In the same way the public was sold a bill of goods on Obama, the media began to believe their own reporting on the guy. They believed he was different. They were so disgusted with Bush that the promises put forth by Obama seemed like the liberal nirvana had finally arrived. Then, the Hope and Change candidate faded into the cold individual we see governing today.
However, one would like to think that every president, when attempting to take some time away from what is likely one of the busiest and most pressure packed work schedules on the planet, would always ask himself whether playing a round of golf is the best possible use of his time at the moment he prepares to tee off on the first hole. Yesterday, playing golf was certainly not the best use of the President’s time. I don’t say that because I believe that there was anything more to be accomplished at that moment by Mr. Obama removing himself to the situation room. I say that because, had it been me, I would have recognized that there was somewhere else I should be that would be a far better use of my time…at the side of Diane and John Foley, the parents of the tragically deceased James Foley.
When a reporter says “had it been me” in a paragraph in which he is contrasting his own character against the character of the guy he voted for, the guy he loves and wants to support, you know we’ve turned a corner. More and more, the mainstream media is sending a message to the Obama administration. They don’t like what they see, and they are having a hard time defending him.
I’m sorry, Mr. President, but your behavior yesterday was not about thumbing your nose at or simply ignoring those who refuse to acknowledge that you have a right to a vacation and to some time playing a game that relaxes you. It was also not about those who refuse to appreciate that you can do your job anywhere on the planet with the same effectiveness as sitting behind your desk at the White House. It was, instead, about revealing a side of yourself that Americans, of all political stripes, cannot help but be troubled by—a coldness that revealed a complete lack of understanding of the classy thing to do at a difficult moment.
And there it is. I think Ungar is expressing an opinion shared by an increasing number of reporters, not just outside the beltway, but within. Obama is in the middle of creating a legacy where he’ll be known to future Americans as a cold, thoughtless individual with a complete lack of understanding of what it means to have any semblance of class. The history books will reflect this about the man.
What frustrates his supporters most is there is little precious time to turn things around. With each week comes another example of the how different the real President Obama is from the Hope and Change candidate sold to the public.Microsoft provided Apple CEO Tim Cook with a toaster and a refrigerator recently, neatly packaged into a Surface tablet. The software giant supplied 300 Surface Pro 4 devices for the latest China Development Forum, and Tim Cook was in attendance. Microsoft appears to have placed its tablets on the desk areas for attendees, providing the ability to ask questions electronically and use Office apps from the machines.
Most attendees appear to have moved, or thrown, the Surface Pro 4 once the conference started, at least according to many photos published online. While we don’t know what Tim Cook did to the toaster and refrigerator combination, a picture of his name card next to a Surface Pro 4 is making the rounds on Twitter. It's certainly not the first time that Cook has been pictured near a Windows machine. Cook tweeted an image of a Mac Pro production line with Macs running Windows nearly three years ago.
As a tablet-laptop hybrid probably isn’t “pleasing” to Cook, I’d assume he simply used the Surface Pro 4 as an iPad stand. We’ve seen CNN commentators prop their iPads up on Surface Pro devices before, so it's entirely feasible. Apple insists the iPad Pro is a real computer, so why would Cook need the Surface Pro for more than an elaborate iPad stand anyway?
Microsoft Surface Pro 4 reviewBERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s cabinet approved a plan on Wednesday to fine social networks up to 50 million euros ($53 million) if they fail to remove hateful postings quickly, prompting concerns the law could limit free expression.
FILE PHOTO: An illustration picture shows the Twitter logo reflected in the eye of a woman in Berlin, November 7, 2013. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/Illustration/File Photo
Germany has some of the world’s toughest laws covering defamation, public incitement to commit crimes and threats of violence, with prison sentences for Holocaust denial or inciting hatred against minorities. But few online cases are prosecuted.
“There should be just as little tolerance for criminal rabble rousing on social networks as on the street,” Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement, adding that he would seek to push for similar rules at a European level.
The issue has taken on more urgency as German politicians worry that a proliferation of fake news and racist content, particularly about 1 million migrants who have arrived in the last two years, could sway public opinion in the run-up to national elections in September.
However, organizations representing digital companies, consumers and journalists, accused the government of rushing a law to parliament that could damage free speech.
“It is the wrong approach to make social networks into a content police,” said Volker Tripp, head of the Digital Society Association consumer group.
‘COMPANIES AS JUDGES’
A spokesman for Facebook, which has 29 million active users in Germany - more than a third of the total population - said the company was working hard to remove illegal content, but expressed concern at the draft law.
“This legislation would force private companies rather than the courts to become the judges of what is illegal in Germany,” he said, adding that Facebook’s partner Arvato would employ up to 700 staff in Berlin for “content moderation” by year’s end.
A spokesman for Twitter declined to comment on the legislation, but said the company had made a number of changes in recent weeks, including adding new filtering options, putting limits on accounts it had identified as engaging in abusive behavior and stopping those users from creating new accounts.
The draft law would give social networks 24 hours to delete or block obviously criminal content and seven days to deal with less clear-cut cases, with an obligation to report back to the person who filed the complaint about how they handled the case.
Failure to comply could see a company fined up to 50 million euros, and the company’s chief representative in Germany fined up to 5 million euros.
Bitkom, an association which represents digital companies, said the government should build up specialist teams to monitor online content for potential infringements, rather than expect social networks to do it themselves.
“Given the short deadlines and the severe penalties, providers will be forced to delete doubtful statements as a precaution. That would have a serious impact on free speech on the internet,” said Bitkom manager Bernhard Rohleder.
Since it was unveiled last month, the draft law has been amended to include new categories of content, such as child pornography. It also now allows courts to order social networks to reveal the identity of the user behind criminal posts.
To address free speech concerns, the legislation was tweaked to make clear that a fine would not necessarily be imposed after just one breach of the law. “It is clear that freedom of expression is of huge importance in our vibrant democracy... however, freedom of expression ends where criminal law begins,” Maas said. Maas said a government survey showed Facebook deleted just 39 percent of content deemed criminal and Twitter only 1 percent, even though they signed a code of conduct in late 2015 including a pledge to delete hate speech within 24 hours.I have posted before about the research project Elizabeth Cruzado Carranza and I have launched near the village of Casma, Peru. We are pleased to announce that a 2017 field school opportunity from late May through July. The project involves archaeological field excavations and survey, mapping, artifact analysis, museum practices and engagement with the local community. The project sites are located around the small town of Nivín and date from 500 BC – AD 1400.
There will be two sessions for the 2017 Season:
Session 1 – May 26 – June 24
Session 2 – June 26 – July 24
For more information, see:
We anticipate offering only four student slots for each of the two sessions. The small size of the field crew will assure plenty of individual instruction and experience, but also that the spots will fill quickly!You may have already heard about this story, as it has been published in quite a few different places. You see, Iceland — or at least one district within Iceland, West Fjords — has had a law since the 1600s allowing for Basques to be killed on sight. It was only on April 22 of this year that the law was revoked, finally freeing Basques to visit without fear.
In the 1500 and 1600s, the Basques had a thriving whaling industry in Terra Nova, Labrador, and Iceland was a frequent stop on the way. In 1615, a group of Basques was stranded in Iceland after their ships were dashed against some rocks. Maybe because of some of these Basques taking some dried fish from a house, the Icelanders attacked them, first killing a group of 14 Basques and then later another group of 18. The local sheriff decreed that all Basques were criminals and that any Basques that stepped foot in the West Fjords should be killed on sight. What came to be called Spánverjavígin, or the “Spanish Killings”, was the last documented massacre on Iceland soil.
In April, there was a conference commemorating the event and, as part of that conference, the law was officially repealed. Finally.
Of course, many Basques have visited Iceland since then and not been in any harm what-so-ever. Repealing of the law is more a formality and a nice exchange between the Icelanders and Basques.
That said, my PhD advisor is an Icelander. I’m glad that, if I ever visit him in his home country, I won’t have to fear for my life.
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Emailby Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, March 16, 2017
Google wants to teach algorithms to flag "offensive" content in search results and videos posted to YouTube after earlier this week a member of Britain's Parliament scolded Peter Barron, VP of Google public affairs in EMEA, for the company's negligence in banning content such as the video by a former Ku Klux Klan leader called "Jewish People Admit Organizing White Genocide" to serve up in results.
About 10,000 independent contractors worldwide, which Google calls Quality Raters, will flag upsetting or offensive content to ensure that these types of search terms do not appear. The company wants to teach its algorithms to more effectively spot the offensive and factually incorrect information in an effort to uphold an agreement the search company made earlier this year.
The raters rate pages based on guidelines that appear in the top results as to the quality of the answers. The searches come from a list of real searches that Google identifies. The data from the raters is used to improve Google search algorithms, and in time the hope is that data will have an impact on low quality pages.
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The guidelines have a new section that explains what Google calls an Upsetting-Offensive Flag and how to assign the flag to that type of content. The guidelines define the content that promotes hate or violence against a group of people based on criteria such as race or ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality or citizenship, disability, age, sexual orientation, or veteran status.
Content that will be flagged includes any type of content with racial slurs or extremely offensive terminology, or graphic violence, including animal cruelty or child abuse. It also bans content about explicit how-to information about harmful activities such as murder or human trafficking.
Quality raters do not have the ability to change how search results are ranked. The feedback will be used by Google's engineering team and machine learning technology to improve search results.In an abrupt about-face, the Alberta NDP government says it will not ban any media outlets from news conferences while a review of its policies is underway.
"We've heard a lot of feedback from Albertans and media over the course of the last two days and it's clear we made a mistake," Cheryl Oates, communications director for Premier Rachel Notley, said Wednesday in a written statement.
"The government has appointed former Western Canadian bureau chief for Canadian Press, Heather Boyd, to consult and give us recommendations on what the government's media policies should be. In the meantime, no one will be excluded from government media events."
The government banned correspondents from The Rebel conservative news site last week, saying "they are not journalists."
The site, owned by right-wing pundit Ezra Levant, has been highly critical of Notley and her government.
The ban was criticized by journalists and free speech advocates across the country, and was the subject of a scathing editorial in the Globe and Mail that called it "beyond deplorable."Ad:
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The GIS community is experiencing profound sadness today as it learns of the death of Roger Tomlinson. Roger Tomlinson was a central figure in the development of GIS. Tomlinson passed away in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico on February 9, 2014.
Tomlinson was a pioneer in the field of geographic information systems. He was widely credited with having developed the first GIS with the creation of the Canada Land Inventory (CLI) in 1962.
Born in England in 1933, Roger Tomlinson made his name in the field of GIS in Canada having moved there in 1953. His early work in GIS paved the way for the increasingly widespread use of mapping and geospatial technologies in government agencies. Tomlison stated in an interview about those beginnings:
“The early days of GIS were very lonely. No-one knew what it meant. My work has certainly been missionary work of the hardest kind.”
Tomlinson was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for his contributions to the GIS field. He was awarded the American Associations of Geographer’s James R. Anderson Medal of Honor for Applied Geography in 1995 and the Robert T. Aangeenbrug Distinguished Career Award in 2005. In 1997, he was awarded Esri’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, Tomlinson and Jack Dangermond were the joint recipients of the National Geographic Bell Medal. Tomlinson was the author of such works as Thinking About GIS: Geographic Information System Planning for Managers.
Not much information is available about Roger Tomlinson’s passing at the moment. His wiki page has already been updated to reflect his death. The Twitterverse is only now starting to become aware of his passing, triggered by a tweet from Michael Gould, who was notified of his death by Esri founder, Jack Dangermond. Gould tweeted: “Yes, it’s true. It’s a very sad day for the GI community, that Roger Tomlinson, father of GIS, has died. (over the weekend).”The country’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the Health Ministry can continue with mandatory vaccination for children for chosen illnesses. In doing so, the court failed to side with parents who wanted the use of the hexa vaccine to be their decision alone. The group had argued that the vaccine, which targets serious diseases including Hepatitis B, “overburdens” children’s immune systems. But the court ruled that the purpose of vaccination is above all to protect public health, in this case overriding the needs of the individual. Judge Ludvík Daněk said that the autonomy of parents in deciding health matters for their child was “not absolute”. Health Minister Svatopluk Němeček welcomed the decision, saying he knew of no more important a defence than mandatory vaccination. Under Czech law, anyone failing to vaccinate their child in such cases risks a fine of up to 10,000 crowns.Looking for a free sex change operation? Enroll at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Come August, the school will offer coverage in its student health care plan for the procedure, according to The Daily Caller.
“We identified this as an important benefit for students to have access to,” said Director of Insurance and Purchasing Services Jeanne Hebert, in The Daily Caller report. The new health care provision, she reportedly said, is part of an overall effort “to support all students” at the university.
The insurance offering is substantial; according to industry estimates, sex change operations can cost as much as $50,000, The Daily Caller reported.
At Brown, the covered procedures are “very comprehensive,” said Kelly Garrett, the school’s LGBTQ coordinator, in The Daily Caller report. The plan will cover more than a dozen different procedures, The Daily Caller says.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.Yesterday brought confirmation that the government had come up with a clever way of boosting its flagship “Northern Powerhouse” policy: move over 200 government jobs to London.
From the Mirror:
The Tories sneaked out a plan to move 228 jobs in the Northern Powerhouse department from Sheffield to London today, on the last day before Parliament breaks for recess.
And the department today suggested staff who want to keep their jobs could commute the two-hour each way journey from the North to the capital.
(...)
The plan, described as “madness” by Nick Clegg, will see the Department for Business Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) Sheffield office shuttered in 2018.
This is not the first time large chunks of public investment has quietly been shifted from the north to London, even as ministers repeat the words “Northern Powerhouse” in a convincing tone of voice. Remember the decision to move the National Photography Collection from Bradford to London?
It’s easy to sneer. But actually, there are some very clever and compelling arguments for gradually moving every job in Britain into the area enclosed by the M25. Larger cities, after all, are more productive. It stands to reason, then, that a country in which all economic activity took place in a single, high-rise postcode would be far richer, happier, and, well, better than the one we’ve got at the moment.
That probably isn’t realistic. What might be, however, is gradually shifting all the north’s myriad attractions to new locations in the Home Counties. For that reason, CityMetric understands that ministers are considering relocating a number of other key economic assets to the south of England.
The Yorkshire Dales – As things stand, England’s “landscape capital” has been disproportionately concentrated in the north. To rectify this, Her Majesty’s Government will explore plans to redistribute the Dales to southern Essex.
Alnwick Castle – Following the very successful experiment in which we moved Leeds Castle to Kent, we’ve found a very promising site for Alnwick just outside Hove.
Betty’s of Harrogate – We believe this charming tea room would do far better business somewhere in the vicinity of Park Lane.
The Angel of the North – The iconic Antony Gormley statue is currently going to waste on a slight incline next to the A1, on the outskirts of an obscure place called Gateshead. It would attract far more visitors if we placed it instead on, say, Primrose Hill. The best thing about this plan is that we wouldn’t even have to rename it.
The Cavern – To improve Liverpool’s tourism figures, we will be consolidating its main attractions into the new “Abbey Road Experience”.
The rest of Harrogate – Bit confused they didn’t put it in Oxfordshire in the first place, actually.
Salford Quays – Moving chunks of BBC Production to Greater Manchester has been very successful. Her Majesty’s Government is keen to build on this success: we believe the best way of doing so would be to consolidate operations and seek efficiencies by re-locating the whole of Salford Quays to London. An ideal site has been located in the White City area.
Tate Liverpool – The present site is far too inconvenient. A new site, closer to the Tate Britain, would be ideal.
The University of Durham – It’s in a picturesque medieval town, it’s broken into colleges, it has a boat race... The perm sec was a bit surprised to find it wasn’t in the Home Counties already, if we’re honest.
While we’re at it:
The University of York – See above.
Coronation Street – The problem with this show is that it’s set in Manchester. It’s just so bloody dreary, isn’t it? All that rain; all those cobbles. They should set it in London. Make something more cheerful, like Eastenders.
Hadrian's Wall, in its original location. Image: Hulton Archive/Getty.
Hadrian’s Wall – The wall was constructed during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian to protect proper Britain from the savage Scots. Today, though, there are no fewer than 54 Scottish Nationalists in the House of Commons. This suggests that, if we’re going to bother with such defensive measures, we’re going to need them a damn sight closer to the capital than they are at the moment.
The Settle to Carlisle line – I mean, it’s a lovely route, but it doesn’t really go anywhere. It’d almost certainly get more passengers if it ran from, say, Euston to Milton Keynes.
Pies – Treasury cost/benefit analysis suggests that large quantities of carbs and gravy would be used more efficiently in the south.
Northerners – We considered moving the jobs to the people, but decided this way round would work better. Great for house prices, too!
Please note that Her Majesty’s Government has abandoned plans to incentivise Manchester United to move south. But we are hoping to tempt Leicester City to a new home in Surrey.
Jonn Elledge is the editor of CityMetric. He is on Twitter, far too much, as @jonnelledge.
Want more of this stuff? Follow CityMetric on Twitter or Facebook.Yoga for menopause: many girls have observed that yoga, which includes restorative and supportive poses, can ameliorate the undesirable side effects of menopause, including hot flashes and more.
When alison, 48, commenced experiencing severe hot flashes, they regularly arrived at night and interrupted her sleep. However at the entire, her perimenopausal signs were extra worrying than insufferable. Then her menstrual cycle spun out of manage. “, my menstrual waft became in reality heavy and lasted twice so long as before,” says alison, who lives in chicago and asked that her closing call no longer be used. “my durations went on for all time.” her gynecologist advised that alsion strive hormone alternative therapy (hrt) prescribed drugs used to control menopausal signs. “she informed me not to rule it out if my signs have been virtually bad, however my feeling became that i’d as an alternative try and just get through them,” alison says.
She had proper reason for trying to keep away from hrt. The treatment regimen, which artificially elevates a lady’s estrogen and progesterone stages, has come beneath severe scrutiny in recent years. Most important research have connected it to an elevated danger of breast most cancers, coronary heart disorder, strokes, and other life-threatening situations.
Quickly after alison’s menstrual cycles have become so abnormal, she went to magnificence at yoga circle, her regular studio, and learned an iyengar asana sequence designed to help girls address the physical discomforts associated with their cycles. The various poses were restorative; they protected supta virasana (reclining hero pose), supta baddha konasana (reclining sure attitude pose), and janu sirsasana (head-to-knee pose) with the pinnacle supported. Whilst alison’s next menstrual period began, she practiced the collection each day and noticed that her float returned to regular. Advocated through the outcomes, she began to think that she could manipulate her signs and symptoms without hrt. Maybe, she notion, yoga could provide the relief she changed into looking for. And her intuition proved correct. Many girls have determined that yoga can ameliorate the undesirable facet outcomes of menopause.(Feverpitched/Dreamstime)
Almost six years to the day after the Affordable Care Act was enacted, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken steps to kill health savings accounts (HSAs) in the state health-insurance exchanges. It was bound to happen at some point, although some may be surprised that it took this long. In case you missed it, final regulations published on March 8 will make it impossible to offer HSA-qualified plans in the future. Whether this is by accident or design, the outcome is clear.
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Over the past several years, HHS has fended off industry concerns about the availability of HSA-qualified plans in the state exchanges while (a) doing nothing to help consumers identify HSA-qualified plans on the exchanges or (b) provide information to individuals that choose HSA-qualified plans about where to get more information about opening and contributing to an HSA. In the March 8 rule regarding the requirements for health plans that will be offered on the state insurance exchanges for 2017, HHS stated that HSA eligibility was not a meaningful distinction for health plans because consumers can determine whether a plan is HSA-qualified by examining a plan’s cost-sharing amounts. So, it will not require HSA-qualified plans to be designated as such.
In order to figure out exactly how HSAs will be eliminated, one has to sift through a massive, more than 500-page-long rule. This will be accomplished through the new standardized benefit designs for plans offered within the lower three “metal” tiers: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Yet the proposed rule published last fall gave no hint at just how lethal these standardized plan designs in the final rule would be.
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RELATED: The Obamacare Bait-and-Switch No One Noticed
Buried in the details of the final rule are the two main reasons why HSA-qualified plans will not survive:
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1) Plans must apply specific deductibles and out-of-pocket limits that are outside the requirements for HSA-qualified plans.
2) Plans must cover services below the deductible that are not considered “preventive care.”
Regarding the deductibles and out-of-pocket limits, no Bronze, Silver, or Gold plans adhering to the standardized benefit designs will likely be HSA-qualified for 2017. We say “likely” because the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has not yet determined the 2017 inflation-adjusted minimum deductibles and out-of-pocket limits for HSA-qualified plans. The IRS will not officially publish the 2017 limits for HSA-qualified plans until April at the earliest. But we closely track the data needed to make these projections every month and we are projecting that the HSA limits for 2017 will not change from their current levels of $6,550 for self-only coverage and $13,100 for family coverage.
RELATED: How Is Obamacare Doing?
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Every year, HHS publishes the annual limits on out-of-pocket cost-sharing for plans offered in the exchanges. Up until now, plans have been permitted to use lower limits on out-of-pocket expenses as long as they do not exceed the maximums. For plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, all health plans must have annual out-of-pocket limits that do not exceed $7,150 for self-only coverage or $14,300 for family coverage.
#share#Because of a different inflation-adjustment factor applied to these limits than for HSA-qualified plans, the gap between the annual limits has and will continue to grow. Based on our projections, we’re extremely confident that our analysis below will hold true.
‐ Bronze standardized plans will be required to have a deductible of $6,650. This amount is $100 above the projected maximum deductible of $6,550 for HSA-qualified plans for 2017.
‐ Gold standardized plans will be required to have a deductible of $1,250. This amount is $50 below the projected minimum deductible for HSA-qualified plans for 2017.
‐ Bronze and Silver standardized plans will be required to have out-of-pocket limits of $7,150, well above the projected out-of-pocket limit of $6,550 for HSA-qualified plans for 2017.
The deductible, out-of-pocket limits and other features of these standardized designs can be found in the table below. Note that the amounts shown are for self-only coverage. Amounts for family coverage will be twice the amounts for self-only coverage.
It is not immediately clear why HHS is requiring plans to use such high out-of-pocket limits (i.e., the maximum allowed under the law). We suspect it is because they have added so much in the way of new first-dollar coverage that it was the only way to keep the actuarial values within the +/- 2 percent range for each metal tier.
#related#Regarding the second reason, HHS is requiring plans to cover a variety of services below the deductible in an attempt to make them more appealing to consumers. These services include a limited number of primary-care visits, specialty-care visits, mental-health and substance-use-disorder outpatient services, urgent-care visits, and drug benefits. But for those who are unfamiliar with HSAs, HSA-qualified plans are not permitted to cover any services below the deductible except for preventive services. Since HHS did not provide any exceptions for HSA-qualified plans, covering these services will also prevent plans covering these services from being HSA-qualified.
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Now that HHS has finalized its proposed standardized benefit designs for the Bronze, Silver, and Gold metal tiers, it is only a matter of time before the HSA-qualified plans completely disappear. That could happen as early as 2017 even though the standard benefit designs are optional. By 2018, when the designs likely become mandatory, HSAs will cease to exist in the marketplace.George W. Bush is launching a free-market think tank. The Washington Times reports:
With the Obama administration establishing far-reaching controls in the auto, real estate and financial sectors, Mr. Bush said that “the role of government is not to create wealth, but to create the conditions that allow entrepreneurs and innovators to thrive.”
So the guy who began the auto bailouts, whose federal “Ownership Society” was key in creating the biggest speculative bubble in memory, who had bragged in 2004 for having “passed the strongest corporate reforms since Franklin Roosevelt,” who trashed the Bill of Rights, inflated the welfare state and expanded government faster and in more directions than any president since Vietnam, if not since World War II—this guy is now promoting free markets and criticizing big government? This would be obscene if it weren’t so laughable.
Tags: Bailouts, Economics, Housing, Politics, Presidential Power, Regulation, SocialismAs we covered earlier today, the Chargers brought in receivers Brian Hartline and James Jones to be worked out and take physicals at Chargers Park today. Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that former Saint, Lion, and Steeler Lance Moore is also working out for the Chargers today.
The vast majority of Moore's career was spent with the New Orleans Saints. From 2007 through 2013, Moore never had a DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) below 13.3%. Granted, he played his home games in a dome with Sean Payton calling the plays and Drew Brees throwing him the ball, but that's pretty good. In his best season, 2012, he caught 65 passes for 1041 yards and 6 touchdowns for a DVOA of 31.2% (which was the fifth-best mark in the NFL).
Moore played for Pittsburgh in 2014 and was below average, but last season he played for Detroit and was again at a 10.1% DVOA, so there's reason to believe he has something left in the tank. He may not be the best option to replace Stevie Johnson, but there's at least a chance he could do so successfully.Feeling as if it were airlifted right out of the 1970s and plopped onto Avenue A, Lucy’s evokes a nostalgia for the edgy East Village of yore. On a typical weekend night, the charmingly cluttered red-lit space is packed with groups of thirty- and fortysomethings in worn Pavement T-shirts and flannels, ordering bottles of Miller High Life while Lucy herself (full name Ludwika Mickevicius), a tiny, ageless Polish woman with close-cropped blond hair and a tight smile, holds court behind the wide dark-wood bar. “Lucy hides a bottle of Polish vodka under the bar, which she only brings out for regulars,” whispers Barry Misenheimer, a retired lawyer whom the bartender’s served for more than 25 years. (The 73-year-old eponymous owner has been slinging drinks in the ’hood since the late ’70s, and the joint, originally called Blanche’s, was named after her 18 years back.) Need more old-school cred? There’s no lock on the men’s room door—that’s where junkies, or as Lucy calls them, “the skinny people,” used to shoot up.A decade and a half ago, Hawaii became one of the first states to legalize medical marijuana.
Fifteen years later, the state has still not established a legal procedure for about 13,000 eligible people to obtain cannabis, other than growing their own if they are physically and financially able.
While other states have established dispensary systems, legislators here have dithered — thanks in part to law enforcement officials who opposed the law when it was passed in 2000 and have done what they could to prevent it from taking full effect.
When it comes to medical marijuana, Hawaii has devolved from a compassionate pioneer into a do-nothing observer.
PF Bentley/Civil Beat
It’s a case of legislative malpractice that victimizes people who suffer from cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures and persistent muscle spasms — maladies legally treatable with marijuana in Hawaii, if the medicine were only available.
They shouldn’t be forced to commit a crime if they can’t grow their own.
Long overdue action may finally be taken during the legislative session that begins Wednesday. The Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task Force is recommending that laws be passed to allow dispensaries to actually start operating — in July 2017.
That’s better than the nothingness of the last 15 years, but at this point Hawaii is far behind the times. Legislators could and should do more.
Namely, legalize the recreational use of marijuana by adults, or send a ballot measure to voters and let them decide if it’s time for Hawaii to join the growing number of states that are putting an end to America’s modern-day prohibition.
In Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia, voters have accepted the reality that a significant number of otherwise law-abiding citizens already ingest the stuff and will continue to do so.
They’ve chosen to establish safe distribution methods and strike a blow against organized crime.
They’ve also chosen to increase tax revenues rather than expend precious public money enforcing dubious laws.
In a 2012 study, David Nixon, an associate professor of public policy at UH Manoa, estimated that legalizing marijuana could save Hawaii $3 million a year in law enforcement and judicial costs and generate $11.3 million a year in new taxes.
This isn’t a call for increased use of marijuana. Indeed, a portion of the revenue from taxing its distribution and sale should be dedicated to research and education, including campaigns to discourage its use by minors and driving under its influence.
Frankly, prohibition creates an unnecessary expense that the majority of the state’s voters apparently don’t support.
The Washington Post reported last month that teen usage hasn’t gone up in the states that have legalized medical marijuana.
“In 2014, a year when marijuana was all over the news and national attitudes toward the drug are relaxing, teen use actually trended downward,” the Post reported.
There should be reasonable limits on the amount of marijuana one can possess, and restrictions on the packaging of edible cannibis so that it won’t be mistaken for candy.
Adults who like the effects of marijuana already use it, legal or not. Some do so in moderation, some to excess. Kind of like alcohol, but with generally milder ramifications. Teenagers who want to try it already have easy access to it.
Frankly, prohibition creates an unnecessary expense that the majority of the state’s voters apparently don’t support.
In a poll of 400 people commissioned a year ago by the Drug Policy Action Group, 66 percent of Hawaii voters favored outright legalization for adult use. Unfortunately, voters can’t petition for statewide ballot measures in Hawaii.
Lawmakers can place amendments on the ballot either via a two-thirds vote in both houses during one legislative session or by a simple majority vote in both chambers, held in two successive sessions.
Hawaii legislators are a cautious bunch. While they may finally take action this session on medical marijuana dispensaries, they’re likely to justify inaction on legalization by saying they want to see how it works |
way Brian May approached the guitar was absolutely unique. You can compare me to other guitar players, you can compare Page to other players but you can’t compare Brian May to anybody because his touch on the instrument had a life of its own and the way that he heard the songs and was able to apply this unbelievable touch to serve the song – as opposed to just saying ‘here’s a guitar solo’ –meant he was the sound of Queen. In fact everyone in that band was the sound of Queen. When ¬Queen II came out it was the most musical, aggressive rock record of that period, for me.The Spain midfielder has at times been overlooked by Louis van Gaal at the start of the 2014-15 campaign but his talents warrant a more important role at Old Trafford
On the ball | Mata is second behind only Di Maria in Man Utd's list of top passers
By Richard Jolly Juan Mata did not score on Sunday. In itself, that should almost count as breaking news. The Spaniard had delivered eight goals in his previous 10 Premier League starts. It was a return most strikers would be delighted to call their own. It would have made this particular attacking midfielder the first name on the teamsheet at many a club.At Manchester United, it rendered his the first name written among the substitutes. Or it did when Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao were all available together. Rooney’s red card against West Ham allowed him a reprieve and a return against Everton. Mata marked it with an assist for Angel di Maria’s opener.That is Mata; most things he touches turns to goal. And yet, somehow, it does not seem to be enough. In the last 14 months, he has been dropped by Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal. David Moyes lacked the boldness of the superstar managers. Instead, he shunted Mata out to the flanks and placed him in his tactical straitjacket whenever Rooney and Van Persie were both fit. That was his version of a vote of no confidence.Once again, Mata looks the odd man out this season. This curiously underappreciated, wonderfully prolific player seems the easiest man to omit. He is not the captain – a status which, Van Gaal has admitted, grants Rooney "privileges", even if licence to boot Stewart Downing up in the air may not be among them. Nor did he skipper the manager’s Netherlands team, unlike Van Persie, and have two years of training in Van Gaal’s much-vaunted philosophy. He was the marquee signing as recently as January. Now that mantle rests with Falcao and the magnificent Di Maria. He is yesterday’s news in an era of short-termism.Mata is not one of the United untouchables. He was demoted, though Falcao is neither fully fit nor razor sharp, Van Persie is not in the form he displayed during his golden run between 2011 and 2013 and Van Gaal suggested he was not happy with Rooney’s efforts. So instead he moved the Englishman into a deeper role. Mata’s role. He seems one step away from being branded a misfit, yet he has done little wrong.Indeed, he has done much right. He is dogged by the perception that he is a luxury player but his last full season of first-team football, in 2012-13 at Chelsea, he was one of the best four players in England. Two of the others, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez, are now among the most expensive footballers of all the time. The fourth is Van Persie. He was the Premier League’s top scorer then but Mata’s efforts in all competitions brought 20 goals and a further 25 assists. Someone that productive is no indulgence. His are telling touches, not superfluous flicks and tricks.The theory is that he is too nice, the Red Devil without the devilish streak that many of United’s greats, whether Eric Cantona, Roy Keane or Paul Scholes, have possessed. Mata is indeed absurdly nice. So much so that, having been displaced by Di Maria as the club’s record signing, he was so happy to take second billing to the Argentine that he served as his interpreter for one post-match interview. Mata being Mata, he did so uncomplainingly. Far from being a George Best-style hell-raiser, this is a man who wrote a blog about a pleasant trip to Chester Cathedral.But perhaps ruthlessness is camouflaged by amiable nature and the sense he rambles, rather than runs, around the pitch. Indeed, maybe that is precisely how he finds room. He doesn’t sprint into space as much as wander there with the air of one who might stop for a coffee if the opportunity arises.The accusation is that Mata slows United down too much, that he lacks the urgency many of their finest teams have exhibited and which Di Maria demonstrates with every appearance. Yet he is not alone in lacking pace. Nor, too, is he the only player whose defensive contribution can be criticised.Certainly that did not endear him to Mourinho. But Chelsea might be champions now if they had kept Mata; he was sold so Oscar could be the No.10 but the Brazilian promptly lost form and only scored two league goals in the final four months of the campaign.At United, he played terrifically in the 4-0 win over QPR and found himself on the bench the following week. No wonder many expect him to be the fall guy, firstly when Rooney returns from suspension in November and then perhaps in the January transfer window. Yet it seems unjust. A misunderstood maestro deserves better.Finance & Development,
Laurence Ball, Daniel Leigh, and Prakash Loungani
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Listen to our podcast: Managing the Pain of Fiscal Consolidation
Although advanced economies need medium-run fiscal consolidation, slamming on the brakes too quickly will hurt incomes and job prospects
WHEN British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his government’s deficit reduction plans earlier this year he said, “Those who argue that dealing with our deficit and promoting growth are somehow alternatives are wrong. You cannot put off the first in order to promote the second” (Cameron, 2011).
The challenge facing the United Kingdom and many advanced economies is how to bring debt down to safer levels in the face of a weak recovery. Will deficit reduction lead to stronger growth and job creation in the short run?
Recent IMF research provides an answer to this question. Evidence from data over the past 30 years shows that consolidation lowers incomes in the short term, with wage-earners taking more of a hit than others; it also raises unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment.
For the advanced economies, there is an unmistakable need to restore fiscal sustainability through credible consolidation plans. At the same time, we know that slamming on the brakes too quickly will hurt the recovery and worsen job prospects. Hence the potential longer-run benefits of fiscal consolidation must be balanced against the short- and medium-run adverse impacts on growth and jobs.
The twin challenges
The Great Recession of 2007–09 has led to the most pronounced increase in unemployment the advanced countries have seen in the post–World War II period. Unemployment averaged 5 percent in 2007 but shot up to 8 percent by 2009 and has remained high since then (see Chart 1, left panel). In many countries, such as Ireland and Spain, unemployment is at double-digit levels; in the United States, two year after the recession was officially declared to have ended, unemployment remains above 9 percent and net job creation is at a virtual standstill.
The Great Recession has also been a factor in increasing public debt, in large part because of the collapse in tax revenues as incomes fell. Other contributors to the debt buildup were the costs of financial bailouts of banks and companies and the fiscal stimulus provided by many countries to stave off a depression. In advanced economies public debt has increased from 70 percent of GDP in 2007 to about 100 percent of GDP—its highest level in 50 years (see Chart 1, right panel). Looking ahead, population aging could create even more serious problems for public finances (see F&D, June 2011).
Will it hurt?
Many governments are already undertaking or planning policies to reduce government debt and deficits (fiscal consolidations), through a combination of spending cuts and tax hikes. What are the likely short-term effects of these plans?
Because such plans have been quite common, history offers a good guide. Over the past 30 years, there have been 173 episodes during which 17 advanced economies undertook budgetary measures aimed at fiscal consolidation. (The countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States.) The average size of fiscal consolidation was about 1 percent of GDP a year.
To obtain estimates of the effects of fiscal consolidation, the IMF research draws on historical accounts and records of policy actions—tax hikes and spending cuts—motivated by a desire to bring about deficit reduction. This is a more accurate measure of policy actions than those used in previous studies, which often rely on the observed change in the budget deficit adjusted for the economic cycle (see box).
Measuring fiscal consolidation The measure of fiscal consolidation used in this article focuses on policy actions—tax hikes or spending cuts—taken by governments with the intent of reducing the budget deficit. This may seem to be the natural thing to do but it is not the way fiscal consolidation has been measured in previous studies (e.g., Giavazzi and Pagano, 1990; and Alesina and Ardagna, 2010). In previous studies, fiscal consolidation is measured by successful budget outcomes. Specifically, the cyclically adjusted primary balance (CAPB)—the primary balance adjusted for the estimated effects of business cycle fluctuations—is used as a measure of fiscal consolidation. The cyclical adjustment is needed because tax revenue and government spending move automatically with the business cycle. The hope is that, after this cyclical adjustment, changes in fiscal variables reflect policymakers’ decisions to change tax rates and spending levels. An increase in the CAPB would therefore, in principle, reflect a deliberate policy decision to cut the deficit. In practice, however, budget outcomes turn out to be an imperfect measure of policy intent. One problem is that the cyclical adjustment suffers from measurement errors. In particular, it fails to remove swings in government tax revenue associated with asset price or commodity price movements from the fiscal data, resulting in changes in the CAPB that are not necessarily linked to actual policy changes. For example, in the case of Ireland in 2009, the collapse in stock and housing prices induced a sharp reduction in the CAPB despite the implementation of tax hikes and spending cuts exceeding 4.5 percent of GDP. Another problem is that the standard approach ignores the motivation behind fiscal actions. Thus, it includes years in which governments deliberately tightened policy to restrain excessive domestic demand. For example, in Finland in 2000, there was an asset price boom and rapid growth, and the government decided to cut spending to reduce the risk of economic overheating. If a fiscal tightening is a response to domestic demand pressures, it is not valid for estimating the short-term effects of fiscal policy on economic activity, even if it is associated with a sharp rise in the CAPB. It turns out that these problems with the CAPB bias the analysis toward downplaying contractionary effects and overstating expansionary ones. It tends to select periods associated with favorable growth outcomes but during which no austerity measures were actually taken. It also tends to omit cases of fiscal austerity associated with unfavorable growth outcomes. Using the preferable measure based on policy actions gives the clear result that fiscal consolidation is contractionary, as shown in Chart 2.
Using this better measure, the evidence from the past is clear: fiscal consolidations typically have the short-run effect of reducing incomes and raising unemployment. A fiscal consolidation of 1 percent of GDP reduces inflation-adjusted incomes by about 0.6 percent and raises the unemployment rate by almost 0.5 percentage point (see Chart 2) within two years, with some recovery thereafter. Spending by households and firms also declines, with little evidence of a handover from public to private sector demand.
In economists’ jargon, fiscal consolidations are contractionary, not expansionary. This conclusion reverses earlier suggestions in the literature that cutting the budget deficit can spur growth in the short term.
No pain relievers?
The reduction in incomes from fiscal consolidations is even larger if central banks do not or cannot blunt some of the pain through a monetary policy stimulus. The fall in interest rates associated with monetary stimulus supports investment and consumption, and the concomitant depreciation of the currency boosts net exports. Ireland in 1987 and Finland and Italy in 1992 are examples of countries that undertook fiscal consolidations, but where large depreciations of the currency helped provide a boost to net exports.
Unfortunately, these pain relievers are not easy to come by in today’s environment. In many economies, central banks can provide only a limited monetary stimulus because policy interest rates are already near zero (see “Unconventional Behavior” in this issue of F&D). Moreover, if many countries carry out fiscal austerity at the same time, the reduction in incomes in each country is likely to be greater, since not all countries can reduce the value of their currency and increase net exports at the same time.
Simulations of the IMF’s large-scale models suggest that the reduction in incomes may be more than twice as large as that shown in Chart 2 when central banks cannot cut interest rates and when many countries are carrying out consolidations at the same time. These simulations thus suggest that fiscal consolidation is now likely to be more contractionary (that is, to reduce short-run income more) than was the case in past episodes.
The historical evidence also shows that fiscal consolidations based on spending cuts are less painful than those based on tax hikes. This is largely because central banks have cut interest rates more after spending cuts. Again, this avenue is not one that many countries can rely on today.
Fiscal consolidation may also seem less painful when markets are more concerned about the risk of a government defaulting on its debt. This could reflect so-called confidence effects: the fact that the country is tackling the fiscal situation can impart confidence to financial markets and to consumers and firms, leading them to spend more. But the IMF research found that even in such cases, on average, the effects are contractionary, with no evidence of any surge of consumption and investment.
Long-term pain
Fiscal contractions raise both short-term and long-term unemployment, as shown in Chart 3, but the impact is much greater on the latter. Long-term unemployment refers to spells of unemployment lasting more than six months. Moreover, within three years the rise in short-term unemployment due to fiscal consolidation comes to an end, but long-term unemployment remains higher even after five years.
Fiscal consolidations thus add to the pain of those who are likely to be already suffering the most—the long-term unemployed. This is a particular worry today since the share of long-term unemployed increased in most Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries during the Great Recession. And even in countries where it did not increase—such as France, Germany, Italy, and Japan—the share had already been very high even before the recession.
Job loss is associated with persistent earnings loss, adverse impacts on health, and declines in the academic performance and earnings potential of the children of displaced workers (see “The Tragedy of Unemployment,” in F&D, December 2010). These adverse effects are exacerbated the longer a person is unemployed.
Moreover, long spells of unemployment reduce the odds of being rehired. For instance, in the United States today, a person unemployed for more than six months has only a 1 in 10 chance of being rehired in the next month, compared with 1 in 3 odds for a person unemployed less than a month. The increase in long-term unemployment thus carries the risk of entrenching unemployment as a structural problem because workers lose skills and become detached from the labor force—a phenomenon referred to as “hysteresis” (Blanchard and Summers, 1986).
Long-term unemployment also threatens social cohesion. An opinion survey conducted in 69 countries around the world found that an experience with unemployment leads to more negative opinions about the effectiveness of democracy and increases the desire for a rogue leader. The effects were found to be more pronounced for the long-term unemployed.
Inequity?
A traditional way of splitting the economic pie is into wages, profits, and rents. This harks back to times when the roles of workers, capitalists, and landlords were fairly distinct. Although these distinctions have eroded somewhat over time, the split between wages and other forms of income represents a starting point for describing how income is divided between Main Street and Wall Street.
How does fiscal consolidation affect the distribution of income between wage-earners and others? The research shows the pain is not borne equally. Fiscal consolidation reduces the slice of the pie going to wage-earners. For every 1 percent of GDP of fiscal consolidation, inflation-adjusted wage income typically shrinks by 0.9 percent, while inflation-adjusted profit and rents fall by only 0.3 percent. Also, while the decline in wage income persists over time, the decline in profits and rents is short-lived (see Chart 4).
The reasons wage income declines more than profits and rents have not yet been studied much by economists. Some fiscal austerity plans call for public sector wage cuts, thus providing a direct channel for this effect. But there could be indirect channels as well, for instance because consolidations increase unemployment, and particularly the share of long-term unemployed in the total. (See “Unemployed in Europe” in this issue of F&D for evidence that unemployment raises income inequality.)
The bottom line
The research described here shows that it is important to have realistic expectations about the short-term consequences of fiscal consolidation: it is likely to lower incomes—hitting wage-earners more than others—and raise unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment. These costs must be balanced against the potential longer-term benefits that consolidation can confer—such as reducing interest rates and lightening the burden of interest payments, permitting cuts to distortionary taxes (those that discourage desirable behavior).
Accordingly, fiscal measures that are approved now but kick in to reduce deficits only in the future—when the recovery is more robust—would be particularly helpful. Examples include linking statutory retirement ages to life expectancy and improving the efficiency of entitlement programs. In contrast, fiscal consolidations that are unduly hasty risk prolonging the jobless recovery in many advanced economies. So countries with the scope to do so should opt for a slower pace of consolidation combined with policies to support growth (Lagarde, 2011). In countries such as the United States, where unemployment remains at historical highs and long-term unemployment is at alarming levels, more active policies are needed to spur job creation and increase consumer confidence, including measures such as mortgage relief for distressed homeowners.
Fiscal consolidation plans should also spell out how policies would respond to shocks, such as slower growth than envisaged in the plan. For instance, plans could specify that unemployment benefits would be shielded from cuts in the event of slower growth than assumed in the plan. History shows that fiscal plans succeed when they permit “some flexibility while credibly preserving the medium-term consolidation objectives” (IMF, 2011; see also Mauro, 2011). ■
Laurence Ball is Professor of Economics at Johns Hopkins University. Daniel Leigh is an Economist and Prakash Loungani is an Advisor, both in the IMF’s Research Department. This article draws on research one of the authors conducted jointly with Jaime Guajardo and Andrea Pescatori.Bill Clinton's Democratic National Convention speech might have had both fans and foes cheering, but that still wasn't enough to beat "Honey Boo Boo."
The ratings for the Wednesday episode of "Honey Boo Boo" matched that of CNN's coverage of the DNC in the key 18-49 demographic, on the night where Clinton was the shining star, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show took in 2.4 million viewers, a 20 percent drop from the previous week, but still boasted a big pull. THR reports:
Honey Boo Boo tied CNN's coverage of the Democratic National Convention -- including a speech from President Bill Clinton -- and syndicated Big Bang Theory encores among 18-49-ers on cable... (Aggregate coverage of the DNC clearly eclipsed Honey Boo Boo by all measurements, and DNC ratings reflect the entire 10 p.m. hour, with Honey Boo Boo only airing from 10 to 10: 30 p.m.)
Clinton's speech ratings not only tied with "Honey Boo Boo," but also with the National Football League season-opener game on NBC, Entertainment Weekly reported. In terms of millions of individuals viewers, Clinton scored 20.6 million while the Giants versus the Cowboys took in 20.5 million viewers.
EW noted that the ratings for Day 2 of the 2012 DNC were lower compared to Day 2 of the 2008 DNC. A whopping 22.2 million viewers watched Hillary Clinton endorse former rival Barack Obama in his first bid for president.
Michelle Obama reigned supreme over this year's DNC. The First Lady nabbed top ratings with 26.2 million viewers on Tuesday night, according to Nielsen Co. via a HitFix report. Ann Romney, who spoke on the first night of the RNC, took in 22.3 million, matching Michelle's numbers when she first spoke in support of her husband at the 2008 DNC.
From Hilary to "Honey Boo Boo" star Alana Thompson, Michelle to Ann, the ladies sure know how to attract an audience.
Last week, TLC's newest reality series saw its biggest ratings, scoring almost 3 million viewers. "Honey Boo Boo" bested the Republican National Convention among adults 18-49, garnering a 1.3 rating, THR previously reported.
Clarification: The headline has been amended to reflect that the ratings comparison is limited to that of the speech on CNN, not across all networks that broadcast it.Andrew James Miller was indicted after he allegedly tried to sell access to undercover FBI
A grand jury indictment unsealed on Thursday against a 23-year-old American man highlights the extent to which U.S. government computer networks are under siege.
Andrew James Miller, of Devon, Pennsylvania, was arrested on Thursday morning on charges that he tried to sell secret access to two U.S. government supercomputers for US$50,000 to an undercover FBI agent.
The supercomputers belong to the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), which provides high-performance computing for research projects approved by the Department of Energy.
Its computers are some of the most powerful in the world, such as the "Hopper," a Cray XE6 that ranked #5 in a list of the top 500 supercomputers in the world in 2010, and Carver, described as an IBM iDataPlex Linux cluster with 3,200 compute cores.
By its own admission, NERSC is a ripe target for hackers. "Both because of our unique computing resources, and simply because we are a government institution, attackers target NERSC systems. In particular, smart attackers who have time and resources have been known to target our systems," according to the organization's website.
NERSC supports some 4,000 user-accounts within the U.S. and internationally. But users are not supposed to store classified or national security related information, including any nuclear weapons-related data.
The indictment said that Miller and an as-of-yet unindicted co-conspirator nicknamed "Intel" chatted online with an undercover FBI agent on April 16, 2011. The two were part of a hacking group known as the "Underground Intelligence Agency."
Miller allegedly "stated that he accessed, earlier in the morning, two government super computers associated with the 'nersc.gov' domain," the indictment reads. He also allegedly stated that he installed a backdoor that allowed him to consistently access several government networks.
"Miller then pasted a network notification banner and file system information into the chat to demonstrate his access to nersc.gov," according to the indictment.
Less than a week later, Miller is alleged to have said that he and his partner had access to half of the top 500 supercomputers, possessing some "root" access and other access credentials, mostly on ".gov" and ".edu" domains. In July, Miller "offered to sell" to the undercover FBI agent login credentials to nersc.gov for US$50,000, the indictment said.
NERSC warns on its website that theft of user credentials is its "single greatest threat." The institution uses an intrusion detection system called "Bro" which collects data from a modified version of (SSH) Secure Shell, an encrypted network protocol used for logging into a remote network. SSH is used to log into NERSC's computational systems.
Miller is accused of also installing backdoors, or programs that maintain persistent access, and obtaining login credentials for other organizations including RNKTel.com, a service provider in Massachusetts; the University of Massachusetts-Amherst; and Crispin Porter and Bogusky (CPB Group), an advertising agency in Denver.
In the case of CPB Group, Miller is accused of gaining access to two databases and a mail server. The company's network contains databases for "many large, national databases," the indictment said. The FBI wired $1,000 to Miller via Western Union for the data.
Miller is charged with conspiracy, two counts of computer fraud and access device fraud in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to 30 years in prison, the Department of Justice said.
Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.comA look back at the past 40 years of ITV/Global Edmonton history would not be complete without paying tribute to weather specialist Bill Matheson.
Bill is fondly remembered for entertaining Edmontonians with his creative flair and poetic language while delivering the weather forecast.
“Gather ye rosebuds, while ye may,” and, “That most dreaded of all meteorological phenomenons, the Siberian high!” are just two of his most memorable phrases.
Bill’s broadcast career started as a reporter at a Lethbridge radio station, before eventually being lured to television.
He worked in the U.S. in the early 1970s, before returning to Alberta to take a job at the newly-opened ITV in 1976.
Matheson quickly became a household name in Edmonton. He was also a longtime fixture on local radio.
While TV technology rapidly changed throughout the years, Bill snubbed the high tech gadgets and fancy graphics. He stuck to what he knew best : a whiteboard weather map and a felt pen.
In 1995, he was named the “Best Weathercaster In The World” by a group of peers in Paris.
Bill retired in 1999, following 45 years in broadcasting.
He passed away in 2006 at the age of 80, after a lengthy struggle with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
WATCH BELOW: Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2019 was National Weatherperson’s Day so Phil Darlington decided to chat with Lesley MacDonald to find out what it was like to work with Bill Matheson.Jermichael Finley originally suffered a spinal contusion in Green Bay's win over Cleveland Browns on Oct. 20 of last season. Credit: Mark Hoffman
Packers Blog The Journal Sentinel's team of Packers beat writers provide the latest news, notes and analysis SHARE
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Green Bay — Tight end Jermichael Finley will undergo testing on his neck with the Green Bay Packers' medical staff Wednesday, according to a source.
Finley originally suffered the spinal contusion in Green Bay’s 31-13 win over the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 20 of last season, and then had his vertebrae fused. Yet almost immediately, Finley made it clear he wanted to continue his NFL career.
To this point, Finley hadn't been cleared. Possibly this is a sign that the bone has healed, the key to Finley's recovery. Or possibly, this is a final check-up of sorts in Green Bay.
Either way, the Packers appear to be taking a step toward a decision on the six-year veteran this week.
The Packers’ medical staff is conservative by NFL standards and did not clear safety Nick Collins after his C3/C4 neck fusion --- Finley is believed to have also undergone a C3/C4 fusion himself. Further, Green Bay did add reinforcements at the position. In addition to re-signing Andrew Quarless, Green Bay drafted California's Richard Rodgers in the third round of the NFL draft, and the team was also willing to gamble on talented but troubled ex-Oregon tight end Colt Lyerla.
Green Bay currently has seven tight ends on the roster.
Suffice to say, this can still go in several different directions. Finley meeting with the Packers again is a first step.
Coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson have maintained optimism. On SiriusXM NFL Radio two weeks ago, McCarthy said Finley is "doing everything and beyond to get himself ready" and that “In my mind he is a Green Bay Packer."
Yet Green Bay did take its time with a decision on safety Sean Richardson, who had a fusion of the C5 and C6 on Jan. 15, 2013 and didn't return until mid-November. And if Finley is cleared by team physician Patrick McKenzie, the two sides would still need to iron out a contract. He's a free agent. There could be more money elsewhere for the tight end.
Back in March, the Journal Sentinel reported that Finley was at least two months away from being in a position to sign with a team.
The Packers' offense has always been more dynamic with the 6-foot-5, 247-pound tight end on the field. Finley had 25 receptions for 300 yards and three touchdowns in five full games last year and has 223 receptions for 2,785 yards with 20 touchdowns through his career.
On Twitter late Tuesday night, Finley tweeted "Miss This Guy. 88+12=? #IWillRiseAgain" with a picture of himself celebrating with Aaron Rodgers.
This week, the Packers will get a better idea of where Finley is at with his recovery.
“I just want them to be healthy,” McCarthy said of Finley and Johnny Jolly (neck) after the NFL draft. “And then with that, they’re obviously our players and we have strong interest in. We’ll see what happens after that. But I’m just being in communication with Dr. McKenzie and we’re watching their health situation.”I have to say, I love this kid.
At the age of 12, Jackson Ripley of Colorado is more tuned into current events than most children his age. Hell, he's more knowledgeable about the world around him than many adults.
Maybe it has something to do with his little sister Kennedy, who developed a hemangioma on her face shortly after she was born. That led to congestive heart failure. From the Huffington Post:
"She was very ill and in and out of the hospital for the first two years of her life. During which she had several procedures, surgeries, MRI's, CT's and hospitalized many, many times, making her our million dollar baby when she was around a year old," Lindsay Ripley [Jackson's mother] told The Huffington Post. In 2009, the flailing economy left Lindsay's husband John Ripley briefly without a job, and the family no longer had health insurance. John Ripley was employed again just three months later, but the smaller size of the company translated into a burgeoning reality that the family would have to shop for insurance elsewhere. And everywhere they shopped they were accepted, except for Kennedy. "Next to my daughter's name in big black bold letters was the word DENIED. The reason: Dollar amount previously spent, number of hospitalizations within five years and the pre-existing condition, congestive heart failure. I knew they were going to deny Kennedy, but I wasn’t prepared for how angry and sick it would make me feel," Lindsay Ripley said. "Like the insurance companies were saying my daughter was trash, she didn’t matter, wasn’t worth the same the health care and coverage the rest of us enjoy. Our only option was to purchase Kennedy an expensive policy through an insurance company exclusively for people with pre-existing conditions. Although they accepted Kennedy and took our money each month, they refused to cover her pre-existing condition, or anything caused by it, which was almost everything."
I think partly due to his sister's illness, at an early age Jackson began to notice injustices in the world that many children never see. Writing has always been a great outlet for Jackson, so three years ago when he was upset about the war in Iraq, we said, "write a letter to the president." And Jackson did. A year later when Jackson saw a homeless man in Cherry Creek and became very upset, we said "write a letter." After buying the man a Cinnabon, Jackson wrote to then-Mayor John Hickenlooper and thanked him for his efforts to end homelessness in Denver. When Jackson came home from school last week, I had the news on and they were discussing the fate of health care and preexisting condition coverage if Governor Romney were to become president. Jackson watched the segment with me. When it was over, Jackson stood up and said, "Excuse me mom, I have to go write a very strongly-worded letter!" So John and I no longer say "write a letter" because he does it on his own.
Watching his family struggle with Kennedy's illness and a broken health insurance system, Jackson became much more conscious of injustice than many other children his age. And so, having seen the benefits of Obamacare within his own family, Jackson paid close attention when Romney pledged to repeal it. Which led to the letter you're about to read. Says his mother:Emphasis mine. HA, I love that line!
Jackson explains the inspiration behind his letter like this:
My inspiration for the letter was basically my frustration. It was painful (and sometimes a little funny) to see all the people that blindly (sic) supporting Mitt Romney, and I felt like I should bring that to people's attention. I already knew that his plans for America would tear us apart, and would bring more harm than good to families like mine, so I had to make a stand. What he would do was unfair, and I wanted to say something about that.
Dear Governor Romney, I’d like to say congratulations on winning the republican nomination. But, I wish you stayed in Massachusetts.
And say something he did. Jackson's letter to Romney opens quite frankly:Have I mentioned that I love this kid? Follow me below the fold to read the entire letter.The International Data Corporation (IDC) just released its quarterly report on tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2013. The data show that tablet shipments have exploded, up 142% year over year.
The report comes a few weeks after IDC released devastating news for the PC industry, saying shipments were down 14% year over year as people chose to buy tablets instead.
IDC also reports that Google's Android powered more tablets shipped last quarter than Apple's iOS operating system on iPads. An IDC spokesperson said Android actually overtook iOS on tablets in the third quarter of 2012.
It's a similar trend to the one we see in smartphones. Apple is consistently one of the top vendors, but Android powers more devices as whole since so many manufacturers have access to the open source OS. IDC counts the Kindle Fire as an Android tablet even though Amazon heavily modifies the software and removes Google's app store and other services.
According to IDC, Apple was the number one tablet vendor last quarter and took nearly 40% of the market, largely thanks to the smaller and cheaper iPad Mini. Samsung was number two with almost 18% of the market, followed by Asus and Amazon.
It's also worth noting that Microsoft shipped about 900,000 Surface tablets last quarter. That number includes the Surface Pro, which launched in February.
Here's the breakdown of top tablet vendors:
IDC
Here's the breakdown of tablet operating system market share:A guest post by Daniel Donahoo
It was all Alan Becker’s fault. And I don’t even know who he is.
All I know about him is he has a site at deviant art and created a fantastic animation titled “Animation vs Animator” (which of course prompted the subsequent action-animation sequel - “Animation vs
Animator 2 – The Chosen One”)
I showed it to my two boys and they were amazed. They watched it three times in a row and it got me thinking about some animation freeware I’d downloaded a while back. So, I squeezed between them and opened up
Pivot Stick Figure Animator.
I’d found Pivot sometime ago. It is a simple stick figure animation tool that appeals to those of us who “let ourselves go” in the design software department once we had kids. You know, back in the late 1990s when you were the only person in your family to have a website and then this thing called pregnancy appeared and before we knew it Macromedia had re-developed Dreamweaver and Flash so much that we’d lost our capacity to use them (and our desire to re-learn them). My idea was simply to show my boys how the animation was created through a demonstration, give them an idea about the amount of work it required to create what Alan Becker had created.
Pivot makes creating individual frames really easy, and moving animations is based on a simple click and drag process. Each figure has different points (red dots) that can be manipulated and a single point (yellow dot) to move the whole figure. A simple left-hand-side toolbar has about 5 or 6 options which are simple to grasp and not overwhelming for young users.
So I began to create a stick figure waving at us from the computer screen and within a couple of minutes I had about 5-10 seconds of animation. Within 5 minutes, my four year old and six year old were asking for a turn. They mastered the basic concept very quickly. Together we worked out you could insert any jpg background from the hard-drive and they were away.
Despite my own beliefs in the capacity of children and their ability to do things that we never acknowledge (so never see them do), I was amazed at the speed at which they picked up the basic concepts using Pivot. After a few days they had realized they could create their own stick figures to animate and had begun to use the simple drawing tool to save their own stick figure props like beds, cannons and barbells.
So, the benefits of Pivot for kids are:
Simple Click and Drag animation: The click and drag style of animation that leaves a “shadow” of the previous position of the arm, leg, whatever until you click.
Speed: The nature of the one click frame creation combined with the click and drag animation style means results can be achieved quickly. This is important, especially for kids in the early primary years.
A range of simple functions: Single click functions that allow a change of size and color which add to the animation pleasure. My eldest worked out by increasing the size of an animation over many frames makes it look like it grows.
Extending aspects: There is an extension area that allows you to design your own “stick figures” and import them into |
can get your assignments, works, etc. done in time. With practice, you’ll be able to directly go to REM sleep which is the most important part of the 5 cycles of sleeping. So, basically you won’t be wasting 3-5 hours to go to REM sleep. Now, I’ve not experienced it yet because I just started this too but it is said that polyphasic sleepers will see more lucid dreams than other people. For those of you who don’t know what a Lucid Dream is (just wiki it or) where a person becomes conscious in his/her dream and with practice will be able to control their dreams. And since, you dream in the REM cycle of your sleep, you’ll get 6 chances at REM in a day (considering you adopted the Uberman cycle) to lucid dream. People become fascinated by you, cause, why not.
What are the risks?
You’ll feel terribly weak for the first two weeks as your body adapts to a new sleeping cycle. The world will be sleeping while you’ll be awake. So, you’ll probably feel lonely and scared. There aren’t many researches conducted on sleep cycles. So, if you’re really skeptical, you probably should go with it.
What are the things I’ll need?
Willpower : The idea of sleeping less and doing more is so impressive that many people try moving to polyphasic sleep cycle right away. But, you need to have strong willpower to totally switch to another lifestyle (yes, this thing changes your lifestyle). Believe me, in my first attempt I failed miserably. So, you need to stay motivated and believe in yourself that you can do this. Speak to your doctor first. You may skip this part if you’re healthy and rarely get sick. And for those of you who often get sick, consult to your doctor first and understand the risks that come along with reduced sleep time. Pick what time that best suits your schedule. If you’re a 9-5 kind of guy, you need to set up time to sleep at your work (yea, good luck with that), or if you’re a student you need to take your naps during the recess or something. The point is, you need to pick a schedule and stick to it. Even if you oversleep or miss a single nap, you’ll blow all things. Get an alarm clock. If you’re a really deep sleeper like you, you’ll need an alarm clock that should be able to wake (even your) neighbors up. However, you’re fine if you ain’t Since it’ll be really hard to keep track of time when you’re doing it for the first time, you might even need to set different alarms in different devices/multiple alarms as it can be really hard to stick to during the initials. Take it slow. If you’re planning to switch directly to Uberman sleep schedule it’ll be hard and by hard I mean really hard. So, take your time and start with biphasic for a month then slowly reduce the time and then ultimately to Uberman or Everyman sleep schedule. Learn to nap. This is the main idea behind the whole polyphasic thing. Avoid bright screens before and after 10 minutes of the nap. If you’re having difficulty to nap drink some water. Don’t make excuses. After you’ve started the cycle, STICK TO IT> Believe me when I say this cause if you don’t, you’ll feel really weak for the next 24 hours. So, never skip a nap or oversleep. Find something to do with your time. This is the most important part, You’ll need to find new hobbies and skills that you can do with the extra time that you’ll gain. Since nighttime, most of the people will be asleep you’ll need to find something interesting to do so that you don’t get carried away and get asleep. Meditation helps too. Need I say more? -_-
27.717245 85.323960The five faults and eight antidotes are factors of samatha meditation identified in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The five faults identify obstacles to meditation practice, and the eight antidotes are applied to overcome the five faults. This system originates with Maitreyanātha's Madhyānta-vibhāga and is elaborated upon in further texts, such as Kamalaśīla's Stages of Meditation (Bhāvanākrama).[a] This formulation has been commented upon by generations of Tibetan commentators. This formulation derives originally from the Yogācāra tradition.
The five faults [ edit ]
The five faults (Sanskrit: ādīnava; Tibetan: nyes-dmigs) of shamatha meditation according to the textual tradition[b] of Tibetan Buddhism are:
Laziness (kausīdya, le-lo) Forgetting the instruction (avavādasammosa, gdams-ngag brjed-pa) Agitation (auddhatya, rgod-pa) and dullness (laya, bying-ba) Non-application (anabhisamskāra, ’du mi-byed-pa) Over-application (abhisamskāra, ’du byed-pa)
Laziness [ edit ]
Laziness (kausīdya) "prevents the application of meditation because one doesn't even begin after receiving instructions in meditation."
Sakyong Mipham explains:
One of the most challenging obstacles for a beginning meditator is Laziness. Laziness can be an obstacle even before we reach our seat, because it can keep us from ever getting there. [...] Laziness has a draining quality, as if we are low in life-force. Sometimes it's hard to see it because it feels like who we are. It encroaches on our most intimate ground. It manifests as an allegiance to comfort. We may get plenty of sleep, but we are completely uninspired. We'd rather lie around on a couch watching television, or read a magazine and pass out on the floor. [...] We have to understand that from the meditative view, laziness is a particular way of holding the mind. The mind has withdrawn into itself. In its more extreme versions — when we are really lazy — the whole world seems very distant. It seems impossible to do anything.
There are three types of laziness:
Laziness of not wanting to do anything Laziness of discouragement (or feeling ourselves unworthy) Laziness of being busy with worldly things.
Forgetting the instructions [ edit ]
Forgetting the instructions (avavādasammosa) means a lack of mindfulness on how to do meditation properly.
Sakyong Mipham explains:
When we forget the instructions, what we're holding our mind to is discursiveness. We're on the cushion, so wrapped up in thought that we can't remember what we are supposed to be doing. The instruction to stay present seems weak compared to the power of our distractions. Forgetting the instructions can happen suddenly or it can happen gradually as if we are losing our grip on a heavy object. No matter how hard we try, we can't stay focused on the breath. The technique becomes blurry. Nothing inspirational comes to mind. We can only remember a couple of words: "sit," "breath," "thought," "mind." Apart from that, we can't remember anything. Not only have we forgotten the simple instructions. We might also have forgotten the view – the reason we are meditating.
Agitation and dullness (too tight and too loose) [ edit ]
These two factors, agitation (auddhatya) and dullness (laya), are classified as a single fault. Sakyong Mipham describes these factors as "too tight" and "too loose."
Agitation [ edit ]
The Sanskrit term auddhatya is translated as:
Agitation (Traleg Kyabon, Kenchen Thrangu)
Elation (Sakyong Mipham)
Ebullience (Herbert Guenther)
Excitation (B. Allan Wallace)
Excitement (Erik Pema Kunsang)
Flightiness of mind (Alexander Berzin)
Mental flightiness (Alexander Berzin)
Too tight (Sakyong Mipham)
Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche states: "There are [...] two kinds of agitation. There is an obvious kind in which one keeps thinking about what one has done or what fun one has had, so one is unable to rest the mind upon anything. In its subtle form one has apparent stability of mind, but there are still subtle thoughts that keep coming up."
Dullness [ edit ]
The Sanskrit term laya is translated as:
Dullness (Kenchen Thrangu)
Drowsiness (Traleg Kyabgon)
Laxity (Sakyong Mipham)
Mental dullness (Alexander Berzin)
Sinking (Alexander Berzin)
Stupor (Kenchen Thrangu)
Too loose (Sakyong Mipham)
Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche states: "In stupor the mind is cloudy and dull. In its obvious form there is a loss of clarity of mind. In its subtle form there is some clarity, but it is very weak."
Laxity may be coarse (audārika, rags-pa) or subtle (sūksma, phra-mo). Lethargy (styāna, rmugs-pa) is often also present, but is said to be less common.
Non-application (anabhisamskāra) means not applying the antidotes.[web 1] Kenchen Thrangu states that non-application "occurs when dullness or agitation appear in one's meditation and one recognizes these thoughts, but doesn't apply a remedy. If one does not apply the remedy, meditation will not develop."
Over-application (abhisamskāra) means that meditator does not stop applying the antidotes even when they are no longer necessary.[web 1] Kenchen Thrangu explains:
For example, dullness or agitation may appear in one's meditation, the remedy is applied, and the dullness or agitation is eliminated. Yet one continues to apply the remedy even though it is no longer useful. This is the fault of overapplication. The remedies should be used only when agitation and dullness appear; when they are eliminated, one should just rest in equanimity.
The eight antidotes [ edit ]
The eight antidotes (Sanskrit: pratipakṣa; Tibetan: gnyen-po) or applications (Sanskrit: abhisamskāra; Tibetan: ’du-byed pa) to the five faults of meditation are:
Antidotes to laziness:
1. belief, trust, faith (śraddhā, dad-pa) 2. aspiration (chanda, ’dun-pa) 3. effort (vyayama, rtsol-ba) 4. suppleness, pliancy (praśrabdhi, shin-sbyangs)
Antidote to forgetting the instructions:
Antidote to agitation and dullness
6. awareness (samprajaña, shes-bzhin)
Antidote to non-application
7. application (abhisaṃskāra, ’du byed-pa)
Antidote to overapplication
8. non-application (anabhisaṃskāra, ’du mi-byed-pa)
Antidotes to laziness [ edit ]
The four antidotes to laziness are belief (śraddhā), aspiration (chanda), effort (vyayama), and suppleness (praśrabdhi). These four antidotes are not always presented in the same order. For example, the antidotes are presented by the following commentators in the order shown (and using the translations of the commentator):
Alexander Berzin: belief in a fact; intention; joyful perseverance; a sense of fitness
Kenchen Thrangu: aspiration; zeal; faith; well trained.
Sakyong Mipham: suppleness; trust; aspiration; effort.
Traleg Kyabgon: conviction; inclination; vigor; pliancy of body and mind.
Belief [ edit ]
Belief (śraddhā) is one of four antidotes to laziness.
The Sanskrit term śraddhā is translated as:
Belief in a fact (Alexander Berzin)
Conviction (Traleg Kyabgon)
Faith (Kenchen Thrangu)
Trust (Sakyong Mipham)
Sakyong Mipham states:
When we've heard the teachings and also experienced their true meaning -- that to practice shamatha is to abide peacefully -- a certain faith develops. This isn't blind faith. It's based on our own relationship with meditation. We have faith in a practice that we have experienced ourselves.
Kenchen Thrangu states that although śraddhā is similar to the antidote of aspiration, aspiration means that one has something to aspire to, while faith means a belief in something very valuable.
Traleg Kyabgon states: "Conviction can develop only if we are convinced of the benefits of meditation and the harm that conflicting emotions cause in a distracted confused mind."
Traditionally, it is said that belief can be developed by contemplating the faults of distraction (vikṣepa, rnam-par gyen-ba).
Aspiration [ edit ]
Aspiration (chanda) is one of four antidotes to laziness.
The Sanskrit term chanda is translated as:
Aspiration (Jeffery Hopkins, Sakyong Mipham, Kenchen Thrangu)
Inclination (Traleg Kyabgon)
Intention (Erik Pema Kunsang, Alexander Berzin)
Interest (Herbert Guenther, Kenchen Thrangu)
Sakyong Mipham states:
Aspiration is trust with a sense of determination. We are determined to discover our own awakeness. We aspire to be like the Buddha, like someone who has mastered their whole being, someone who realizes the profound truth of things as they are. We have seen the volatility of external conditions. We have become dissatisfied with hope and fear as a way of life. Now we aspire to depend upon our own stability, clarity, and strength.
Kenchen Thrangu explains:
[Aspiration means] that one likes to meditate and is happy meditating. One could say that one is attached to meditation, but this attachment is positive, so we use the word aspiration because the attachment is to something that is not negative and harmful.
Effort [ edit ]
Effort (vyayama) is one of four antidotes to laziness.
The Sanskrit term vyayama is translated as follows:
Effort (Sakyong Mipham)
Exertion
Joyful perseverance (Alexander Berzin)
Vigor (Traleg Kyabgon)
Zeal (Kenchen Thrangu)
Kenchen Thrangu states: "If one has interest and motivation to practice, then one doesn't have to force oneself to practice meditation; there will be a natural zeal to practice."
Suppleness [ edit ]
Suppleness (praśrabdhi) is one of four antidotes to laziness.
The Sanskrit term praśrabdhi is translated as:
Flexible (Kenchen Thrangu)
Pliancy of body and mind (Traleg Kyabgon)
Sense of fitness (Alexander Berzin)
Supple (Kenchen Thrangu)
Suppleness (Sakyong Mipham)
Well trained (Kenchen Thrangu)
Kenchen Thrangu states:
This means that one's mind is ready at any moment to meditate. One doesn't have to think, "Oh, now I'm going to have to meditate-how difficult, what a strain meditation is."
Antidote to forgetting the instructions [ edit ]
Mindfulness [ edit ]
The antidote to forgetting the instructions is mindfulness (smṛti).
Sakyong Mipham states:
The antidote to forgetting the instructions is mindfulness -- in particular, remembering. We need to remind ourselves continuously of the details. If you have forgotten what you are doing with your mind, almost inevitably, you've also forgotten what you are doing with your body. Start by remembering your posture. Is your spine still upright? Are you relaxed, or are you holding tension in your shoulders and arms? What are you doing with your gaze? Simply checking your posture and starting your meditation over -- "Now I'm placing my mind on my breath" -- can be the most direct way to invoke the instructions when you've forgotten in the middle of a session.
Kenchen Thrangu states:
Mindfulness has three characteristics. First, one has a sharpness and clearness of mind in which the instructions are not forgotten. Second, although the mind is very sharp and focused, there are not many thoughts arising because meditation is nonconceptual, so there are not many thoughts arising and the mind is naturally focused one-pointedly on an object. Third, because one has trust and faith and has the suppleness or flexibility of having become well trained, meditation becomes pleasant with a sense of comfort and pleasure. These three qualities in one's meditation cause the meditation instructions not to be forgotten.
Antidote to agitation and dullness [ edit ]
Awareness [ edit ]
The antidote to agitation and dullness is awareness (samprajaña, shes-bzhin).
Sakyong Mipham states:
The antidote to both elation and laxity is awareness. We have to look at what's going on in our mind. Once awareness has told us that we are too loose or too tight, we have to learn how to adjust. If the obstacle is elation, we might try relaxing the technique, giving it a bit more room. We could give our outbreath more focus than our inbreath so that the mind has more freedom. [...] If the obstacle is laxity, we need to tighten up our practice. We can bring more of our mind to the breathing overall. We could focus on the inbreath. We can stabilize our posture. We might try to perk up by removing a layer of clothing, opening a window, or raising our gaze.
Antidote to non-application [ edit ]
The antidote to non-application is identified as either of the following mental factors:
application ( abhisaṃskāra, ’du byed-pa ), [web 1] or
), or attention (cetanā, sems pa)
Kenchen Thrangu states:
The fourth fault is inactivity in which one experiences dullness or agitation in one's meditation but does nothing about it. When this happens, one will fall under its power and obviously not be able to work toward enlightenment. When one recognizes that there is dullness or agitation during meditation, one should remember and apply the remedies with diligence. So performing the proper remedy will eliminate the defect of inactivity.
Antidote to over-application [ edit ]
The antidote to over-application is identified as either:
Kenchen Thrangu states:
The fifth fault is the defect of overactivity, which means that when one is meditating with none of the five faults, one shouldn't do anything but rest in that meditative state. Doing this will eliminate the defect of overactivity.
Relation to the nine mental abidings [ edit ]
According to Geshe Gedun Lodro, whoever cultivates the nine mental abidings overcomes the five faults through the eight antidotes, and, conversely, whoever overcomes the five faults through the eight antidotes likewise cultivates the nine mental abidings.
The Dalai Lama states: "Through applying the eight antidotes the five faults are gradually eliminated, and one passes through nine stages of concentration."
Relation to the five hindrances [ edit ]
The five hindrances to concentration is another list of obstacles to meditation that is presented in both the Pali texts and the Mahayana texts. The system of the five faults and eight antidotes is presented only in certain Mahayana texts. Thubten Chodron states:[web 2]
[...] the five hindrances to concentration [...] are presented both in the Pali texts and the Mahayana texts. However, Maitreya and Asanga, in their Mahayana texts, presented a list of five faults to concentration and eight antidotes. There’s some overlap between these two sets of the five hindrances and the five faults. But there are also some differences so it’s good to go through both sets. This then gives us a rounded, complete picture of how to generate concentration.
Notes [ edit ]
^ Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche states: "There are five faults that have to be eliminated through eight kinds of actions or antidotes. These five faults or defects prevent the development of meditation and are described by Asanga in the teachings of Maitreya in the Differentiation of the Middle Way from the Extremes." ^ Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche states: "In the Treasury of Knowledge the practice of meditation is described in terms of the textual tradition and also in terms of the oral instructions of the great meditators. The texts are important because they describe and explain the meaning of the teachings of the Buddha, and the instructions are important because they come from the actual experience of meditating. [...] the textual tradition [...] describes meditation in terms of the five things that can cause meditation to go wrong and the eight ways to eliminate these faults."
References [ edit ]
Web references [ edit ]
Sources [ edit ]
Dalai Lama (1975), The Buddhism Of Tibet and the Key to the Middle Way, Harper & Row
Dalai Lama (2002), The Buddhism Of Tibet, Snow Lion
Denma Locho Rinpoche; Lati Rinpoche (1996), Meditative States in Tibetan Buddhism, Wisdom, ISBN 0-86171-119-X
Geshe Gedun Lodro (1998), Calm Abiding And Special Insight: Achieving Spiritual Transformation Through Meditation, Snow Lion
Goleman, Daniel (2008), Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama, Bantam, Kindle Edition
Guenther, Herbert V.; Kawamura, Leslie S. (1975), Mind in Buddhist Psychology: A Translation of Ye-shes rgyal-mtshan's "The Necklace of Clear Understanding, Dharma Publishing, Kindle Edition
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche (1993), The Practice of Tranquility & Insight: A Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Meditation, Snow Lion, Kindle Edition
Kunsang, Erik Pema (2004), Gateway to Knowledge, Vol. 1, North Atlantic Books
Sakyong Mimpham (2003), Turning the Mind into an Ally, Riverhead Books
Traleg Kyabgon (2001), The Essence of Buddhism, Shambhala
Zahler, Leah (2009), Study and Practice of Meditation: Tibetan Interpretations of the Concentrations and Formless Absorptions, Snow Lion
Further reading [ edit ]Pattern recognition is one of the few areas where humans regularly outperform even the most powerful computers. Our extraordinary ability is a result of the way our bodies process visual information. But surprisingly, our brains only do part of the work.
The most basic pattern recognition — edge detection, line detection and the detection of certain shapes — is performed by the complex circuitry of neurons in the retina. Long before an image reaches our brain, the eye has already sorted out many of the significant details.
Physicists and computer scientists would dearly love to have this capability to analyse patterns in experiments. One of the most demanding pattern recognition jobs occurs in particle physics. When subatomic particles are smashed together inside particle accelerators, they create a shower of daughter particles that stream away from the collision. Physicists identify electrically-charged particles by the shape of the tracks they make through detectors that can sense their position, essentially a process of pattern recognition.
The problem is that at the world’s biggest and most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, the number of collisions is mind blowingly huge. This experiment produces around 40 million collisions per second and each one of them generates huge showers of particles, most of which are entirely uninteresting for physicists.
Every now and again, however, these collisions produce something fascinating, like a Higgs boson. These interesting collisions are a tiny fraction of the total, perhaps as few as one in 10,000. The tricky task that particle physicists face is separating the interesting collisions from the dull ones and doing it in real-time because there is no room to store the data from all of the collisions for later analysis.
For this process, physicists use a triggering mechanism that saves data when it is interesting but discards it when it is not. This process is currently done by superfast electronic systems that measure simple characteristics of the particles involved, such as their energy, and then trigger the data storage mechanism when the energy meets some predefined criteria. This is a crude approach that still ends up collecting much unwanted data.
A far better approach would be to study the shape of the particle tracks in much more detail and trigger data storage only when these tracks are unusual.
That is more or less exactly what the retina does in mammalian vision. It ignores huge volumes of data in the visual field but alerts the brain when interesting patterns appear, such as faces, food and so on.
So an interesting question is whether the same technique could be used to identify interesting particles. Today, a team led by Giovanni Punzi at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy and a few pals at CERN, Milan and Fermilab, say they have developed the first artificial retina capable of monitoring the firehose of data from the LHC and spotting interesting tracks within it. ”We design a massively parallel pattern-recognition algorithm, inspired by studies of the processing of visual images by the brain as it happens in nature,” they say.
Of course, their artificial retina is a somewhat different to a human eye. The data this retina receives comes from the detectors that surround the collisions. This is like the “eyeball” of the experiment. And the retina itself is a type of microprocessor known as a field programmable gate array, which is designed to mimic the pattern recognition properties of the human retina.
Punzi and co have tested their artificial retina using data that is designed to simulate the data rates that the LHC will produce from 2020 onwards (it is currently being upgraded). And the performance of the artificial retina is remarkable. Punzi and co say it is capable of reconstructing particle tracks at the required rate of hundreds of millions of collisions per second. “This is 400 times faster than any existing or foreseen device used in high-energy physics,” they say.
That is an impressive result. It raises the prospect of a new generation of artificial retinas that will spend their lives peering at the debris created in some of the most powerful collisions in the universe that recreate conditions that existed in the instants after the Big Bang.
However, significantly more work will need to be done before these devices can be used in real experiments. The design of the upgraded LHC was settled long ago so there is no chance of an artificial retina working there in the near future.
However, it may be that artificial retinas are key part of the toolbox that particle physicists use to design the high-energy particle accelerators of the future.
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1409.1565 : The Artificial Retina Processor For Track Reconstruction At The LHC Crossing RateA little over two months after FindIt first launched for iPhone, the email- and file-search app has now quietly rolled out on Android too.
It’s a beautifully designed app, one that currently connects with Gmail, Google Drive and Dropbox, though there is scope for opening this up to additional cloud-based services in the future.
There are, of course, other apps designed to help you surface content in your cloud accounts – indeed, the Gmail app itself has a decent search function. But with FindIt, you can opt to search for things by person, time or file-type and, crucially, you can search universally across all compatible services in one fell swoop.
So, for example, you could begin with a generic search such as ‘Annual Report’, and then throw in additional search parameters if required, such as ‘Last 30 days’, or ‘Image’, ‘Spreadsheet’ or ‘Presentation’.
It’s worth noting here that a more granular time-search feature would be great – as things stand, you’re restricted to ‘All Time’, ‘Last 7 Days’ or ‘Last 30 days’, and given you could have emails or files dating back months, it would be good to have the ability to stipulate an exact time-frame for the search.
As noted already, FindIt is a lovely app, and it’s nice to see the Android incarnation not suffer aesthetically. But it would be great to see additional cloud services thrown into the mix too, as well as a tablet-optimized version.
Thought the app’s free to download, you’ll only receive thirty email or file previews each month initially, after which you’ll be asked to share the app with 5 friends, which will unlock unlimited searching for a whole year.
➤ FindIt | Google Play
Feature Image Credit – Thinkstock
Read next: Here are the second batch of startups vying to win the TNW Mobile Startup RallyIn 1938, the world's most famous movie star began to prepare a film about the monster of the 20th century. Charlie Chaplin looked a little like Adolf Hitler, in part because Hitler had chosen the same toothbrush moustache as the Little Tramp. Exploiting that resemblance, Chaplin devised a satire in which the dictator and a Jewish barber from the ghetto would be mistaken for each other. The result, released in 1940, was "The Great Dictator," Chaplin's first talking picture and the highest-grossing of his career, although it would cause him great difficulties and indirectly lead to his long exile from the United States.
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In 1938, Hitler was not yet recognized in all quarters as the embodiment of evil. Powerful isolationist forces in America preached a policy of nonintervention in the troubles of Europe, and rumors of Hitler's policy to exterminate the Jews were welcomed by anti-Semitic groups. Some of Hitler's earliest opponents, including anti-Franco American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, were later seen as "premature antifascists"; by fighting against fascism when Hitler was still considered an ally, they raised suspicion that they might be communists. "The Great Dictator" ended with a long speech denouncing dictatorships, and extolling democracy and individual freedoms. This sounded to the left like bedrock American values, but to some on the right, it sounded pinko.
If Chaplin had not been "premature," however, it is unlikely he would have made the film at all. Once the horrors of the Holocaust began to be known, Hitler was no longer funny, not at all. The Marx Brothers, ahead of the curve, made "Duck Soup" in 1933, with Groucho playing the dictator Rufus T. Firefly in a comedy that had ominous undertones about what was already under way in Europe. And as late as 1942, the German exile Ernst Lubitsch made "To Be or Not to Be," with Jack Benny as an actor who becomes embroiled in the Nazi occupation of Poland.
Chaplin's film, aimed obviously and scornfully at Hitler himself, could only have been funny, he says in his autobiography, if he had not yet known the full extent of the Nazi evil. As it was, the film's mockery of Hitler got it banned in Spain, Italy and neutral Ireland. But in America and elsewhere, it played with an impact that, today, may be hard to imagine. There had never been any fictional character as universally beloved as the Little Tramp, and although Chaplin was technically not playing the Tramp in "The Great Dictator," he looked just like him, this time not in a comic fable but a political satire.
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The plot is one of those concoctions that makes the action barely possible. The hero, a barber-soldier in World War I, saves the life of a German pilot named Schultz and flies him to safety, all the time not even knowing he was the enemy. Their crash-landing gives the barber amnesia, and for 20 years he doesn't know who he is. Then he recovers and returns to his barber shop in the country of Tomania (say it aloud), only to discover that the dictator Hynkel has come to power, not under the swastika, but under the Double Cross. His storm troopers are moving through the ghetto, smashing windows and rounding up Jews (the term "concentration camp" is used early, matter-of-factly). But the barber's shop is spared by the intervention of Schultz, now an assistant minister, who recognizes him.
The barber (never named, just like the Tramp) is in love with the maid Hannah (Paulette Goddard, Chaplin's estranged wife at the time). And he is befriended by his former neighbors. But he and the disloyal Schultz are eventually put in a concentration camp, and then Hynkel has a boating mishap, is mistaken for the barber, and locked into the camp just as the barber and Schultz escape -- with Hynkel's uniform. Now the barber is assumed by everyone to be the dictator.
In the classic Chaplin tradition, the movie has a richness of gags and comic pantomime, including Hynkel's famous ballet with an inflated balloon that makes the globe his plaything. There is a sequence where five men bite into puddings after being told the one who finds a coin must give his life to assassinate Hynkel. None of them want to find the coin and there is cheating, but eventually -- see for yourself. And there is a long, funny episode when the dictator of neighboring Bacteria, Benzini Napaloni (Jack Oakie), pays a state visit. Napaloni, obviously modeled on Mussolini, eludes an attempt to make him sit in a low chair so the short Hynkel can loom over him. And when the two of them sit in adjacent barber chairs, they take turns pumping their chairs higher than the other. There is also a lot of confusion about saluting, and Chaplin intercuts shots of the two dictators with newsreels of enormous, cheering crowds.
In 1940, this would have played as very highly charged, because Chaplin was launching his comic persona against Hitler in an attempt, largely successful, to ridicule him as a clown. Audiences reacted strongly to the film's humor; it won five Oscar nominations, for picture, actor, supporting actor (Oakie), screenplay and music (Meredith Willson). But audiences at the time, and ever since, have felt that the film comes to a dead end when the barber, impersonating Hynkel, delivers a monologue of more than three minutes which represents Chaplin's own views.
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Incredibly, no one tries to stop the fake "Hynkel." Chaplin talks straight into the camera, in his own voice, with no comic touches and only three cutaways, as the barber is presumably heard on radio all over the world. What he says is true enough, but it deflates the comedy and ends the picture as a lecture, followed by a shot of Goddard outlined against the sky, joyously facing the Hynkel-free future, as the music swells. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now. It is fatal when Chaplin drops his comic persona, abruptly changes the tone of the film, and leaves us wondering how long he is going to talk (a question that should never arise during a comedy). The movie plays like a comedy followed by an editorial.
Chaplin (1889-1977) nevertheless was determined to keep the speech; it might have been his reason for making the film. He put the Little Tramp and $1.5 million of his own money on the line to ridicule Hitler (and was instrumental in directing more millions to Jewish refugee centers). He made his statement, it found a large audience, and in the stretches leading up to the final speech, he shows his innate comic genius. It is a funny film, which we expect from Chaplin, and a brave one. He never played a little man with a mustache again.
And now a memory. In 1972, the Venice Film Festival staged a retrospective of Chaplin's complete work, with prints from his own collection. On the closing night, his masterpiece, "City Lights" (1932), was shown outdoors in Piazza San Marco. The lights were off, the orchestras were silenced for the first time in more than a century, and the film played on a giant screen to standing room only.
When it was over, and the blind flower girl could see again, and she realized the Little Tramp was her savior, there was much snuffling and blowing of noses. Then a single spotlight sprung from the darkness and illuminated a balcony overlooking the square. A little man stepped out and waved. And we cheered and cheered.
A newly restored 35mm print of "The Great Dictator" will play Friday through Oct. 4 at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Showtimes: Friday and Monday-Thursday at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.; Saturday at 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 3 pm and 5:30 p.m. Reviews of "City Lights" and "Duck Soup" are also in the Great Movies Collection.
Also see: "Look, there's Charlie Chaplin!."Collecting and distributing milkweed seeds responsibly insures a healthy milkweed habitat population. There are also the additional benefits of opportunity for education and developing relationships with private landowners and communities.
Collect only your native or regional seedpods. Leave some pods in the area you are collecting to insure the plants continue to propagate and thrive in that area. A good rule of thumb is to take 1/3 and leave 2/3.
Positively identify the plant before collecting the pods. Milkweed seeds look alike in most species and are very difficult to identify by the seed alone. Mark the collecting container with your name, the date, species common name, species botanical name, and the location of the collection. For instance: “Cathy Downs, 5/24/14, Antelope Horn (Asclepias asperula), Kendall County, Texas.”
Collecting is usually done on private lands, public right of ways and roadsides. When collecting milkweed seeds on public right of ways and roadsides remember safety first! Park in an area where there is no chance of disrupting traffic or putting yourself in harms way. Do not collect in areas near or around development or private gate entrances without permission. Curious onlookers and officials may stop to discuss or inquire about this roadside activity. Take the opportunity and the time to explain politely what you are doing and why. You may even be joined by these curious folks in your efforts or directed to additional areas where they have spotted some of these treasures.
Private property collection always requires permission. As milkweed ambassadors we can not afford to alienate the private stewards of these habitats with any property infringement or trespassing issues on our part.
All milkweeds |
Giuliani’s advice. The “evidence” you’ll come across is heavily edited videos that take brief clips (including Clinton’s admittedly goofy reaction to the balloon drop during the Democratic National Convention) and stitch them together in order to create the impression of some kind of neurological dysfunction.
Suffice it to say, nothing in any of the videos I saw came close to sound evidence of any neurological condition. While I have had parents bring in videos of their children displaying seizure-like or other unusual behaviors, which have at times been helpful in figuring out what (if any) medical condition might be worth investigating, they are useful insofar as they add information to what I’ve already obtained from a detailed history and thorough examination.
The blatantly biased videos you’ll find about Hillary Clinton are diagnostically meritless.
Unfortunately, there is precedent within Giuliani’s own party for misusing edited videos for ideologically-based medical diagnoses.
In 2005, then-Sen. Bill Frist, a cardiothoracic surgeon, proclaimed from the Senate floor that Terri Schiavo, the woman at the center of a controversial end-of-life case, was not in a persistent vegetative state as doctors who had examined her had said. He based this on videos he had seen, not on any kind of examination he performed himself.
It was grossly inappropriate for him to have done so.
Admittedly, there are mental health professionals who are all too eager to diagnose Donald Trump from afar without actually having examined him themselves. The New York Times quoted several who justify their decisions because they consider Trump’s candidacy a serious threat to the nation’s future. However well intentioned they may believe themselves, I strenuously object to this practice, not only because it deviates from medical ethics, but because it contributes to the stigma of mental illness by using it as a convenient means of explaining behavior we deem unacceptable.
Giuliani’s conduct is another level of disgracefulness, however. He is among Trump’s most high-profile surrogates, and is presumably promulgating misinformation about Clinton’s health with the campaign’s approval, tacit or otherwise. Given Trump’s previous statements erroneously linking vaccines and autism, he seems to have no trouble trafficking in medical conspiracies if it suits his ends. I greet the prospect of a medical conspiracist in the Oval Office with abject dismay.
Doctors for both Clinton and Trump have released statements attesting to the health of the candidates. Trump’s was written in a highly idiosyncratic manner, and Clinton’s have been followed by “leaked” forgeries that added yet more fuel to the unfounded rumors about her wellbeing. But there is no valid reason to dispute either campaign’s assertions that the candidates are basically healthy.
Giuliani is no medical professional, and touting plainly slanted videos as evidence of Clinton’s neurological deterioration is egregious. Given the surprising lapses in his own memory, he should devote his attention to his own mental health, and refrain from commenting publicly on anyone else’s.NORTH VANCOUVER — You might want to go check on your bicycle. North Vancouver RCMP say they're disappearing in record numbers.
There have been 182 reported bike thefts in North Vancouver so far this year compared to a total of 132 in all of 2014 — a 38 per cent increase.
"It's been an excellent summer for bike thieves," said Sgt. Warren Wilson. "From 2014 to 2015, the stats have skyrocketed."
The hardest hit neighbourhood has been Lower Lonsdale, where the SeaBus is used as a de facto getaway vehicle. Other hot spots have been Capilano Mall and Lynn Valley, especially for mountain bikes.
Most of the stolen bikes wind up on the Downtown Eastside, where they are sold for about 10 to 15 per cent of their real value.
"People are stealing everything that's locked, and not. They're using them for transportation of other stolen property, to get around, or to sell for drugs," said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman.
Really high-end bikes are worth more sold for parts and so they disappear into chop shops, De Jong said.
Neighbouring jurisdictions Vancouver and West Vancouver are also noticing a growing trend in bike thefts. Vancouver had 2,387 cases in 2014 compared to just 1,528 in 2011 — and 2015 isn't looking much better.
"Unless things change drastically, it appears, unfortunately, that we are on track to have an increase yet again this year," said Const. Brian Montague, Vancouver police spokesman.
Oddly enough, many bike thefts never go reported, which makes returning found or seized bicycles to their owners impossible, De Jong said.
"This is nothing," De Jong says, opening up the cage full of unclaimed bicycles in the bowels of the North Vancouver RCMP detachment. There are also plastic bins full of handlebars, cranks, wheels and seats.
Bikes picked up by the police, either because they're found abandoned or seized from suspects arrested for possession of stolen property, have their serial numbers logged and stay in the RCMP system for about 90 days. After that, they're likely to go to the auction block. There were 151 turned over to the City and District of North Vancouver for last year's annual auction last year.
Sometimes, savvy theft victims will go online and sleuth out their own bikes being resold. Asked if residents should attempt to retrieve them on their own, Wilson is clear.
"No, no, no, no, no," he said. "We never suggest that. If they do locate it on eBay or Craigslist, call us up. We'll certainly try our best to assist them in getting it back."
People who buy a bike that's been stolen, whether they know it or not, could be charged with possession of stolen property, he added.
Preventing bike theft is a lot harder than buying a good lock, De Jong said. Cable locks are easily snipped and U-locks have their own vulnerabilities.
"You can get into any lock with a little can of Freon. You can smash any lock — even case-hardened ones," he said. "You can go from a $10 lock to a $120 lock. It's going to take the bad guys a little more time and effort to get in."
To combat the growing problem, De Jong recommends "being a recording star" — logging your bike's serial number and taking photos so it will be easier for police to return should it turn up.
Tony Valente, spokesman for cycling advocacy group HUB, knows all too well the agony of losing a bike, having recently had one stolen. Valente said he hopes to see the private sector offer more secure bicycle parking options, including bicycle valet parking.
"The bike valet means you don't have to bring your lock with you. It really encourages cycling to your business," he said.
Click here to read more stories from The North Shore News.
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Is there more to this story? We'd like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. CLICK HERE or go to vancouversun.com/moretothestoryNot to be confused with Northeastern Pennsylvania
Borough in Pennsylvania, United States
North East is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States, 14 miles (23 km) northeast of Erie in the northernmost part of the state; so named because it was in the county's northeastern corner. Fruit growing was an early economic endeavor, and is still to this day, as this is a popular area especially for cherries and grapes. There is an annual Cherry Festival in the summer and an annual Wine Country Harvest Festival in the fall. It contains one junior college, Mercyhurst North East. The population was 4,294 at the 2010 census,[4] down from 4,601 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the northernmost town in Pennsylvania. The name "North East" is not a misnomer, even though the borough is located in extreme northwestern Pennsylvania, it received it name for its northeastern-most location within Erie County.
History [ edit ]
Before 1650, the area was settled by the Eriez, a relatively peaceful tribe; however, they were destroyed by the Seneca.[5]
As part of the Erie Triangle, it was only in 1792 that the locale was legally established as part of Pennsylvania. However, North East did not receive its first settler until 1794, still several years before the county (Erie) and township (North East) were organized. Originally the North East Township was called "Lower Greenfield" being downstream from Greenfield Township. The first road was built in 1797 from present day Freeport at the mouth of Sixteenmile Creek to present day Colt Station now in Greenfield Township. That road was extended in 1798 to where French Creek forks (present day Wattsburg).[6] In 1798 the first school was formed.[5][7] In 1800 a road from the village of North East to Wattsburg was opened, it paralleled, but ran east of, the first one from Freeport.[8] In 1801 the first church was organized, it was Presbyterian.[7]
In 1884 a fire destroyed two-thirds of the town's business district.[9]
In 1983 Short's Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1990 the entire old central business district was added to the register.[10]
Geography [ edit ]
North East is located in northeastern Erie County at (42.213385, -79.833711).[11] It is surrounded by North East Township.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km2), all of it land.[4]
National Register of Historic Places Short's Hotel (1899)National Register of Historic Places
Demographics [ edit ]
Historical population Census Pop. %± 1850 387 — 1860 566 46.3% 1870 900 59.0% 1880 1,396 55.1% 1890 1,538 10.2% 1900 2,068 34.5% 1910 2,672 29.2% 1920 3,481 30.3% 1930 3,670 5.4% 1940 3,704 0.9% 1950 4,247 14.7% 1960 4,217 −0.7% 1970 3,846 −8.8% 1980 4,568 18.8% 1990 4,617 1.1% 2000 4,601 −0.3% 2010 4,294 −6.7% Est. 2016 4,135 [3] −3.7% Sources:[12][13][14]
As of the census[13] of 2000, there were 4,601 people, 1,730 households, and 1,162 families residing in the borough. The population density was 3,515.4 people per square mile (1,356.1/km²). There were 1,795 housing units at an average density of 1,371.5 per square mile (529.0/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 97.65% White, 0.80% African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.09% Asian, 0.59% from other races, and 0.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.87% of the population.
There were 1,730 households, out of which 35.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.9% were married couples living together, 14.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.8% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.12.
In the borough the population was spread out, with 27.5% under the age of 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.9 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $36,431, and the median income for a family was $43,250. Males had a median income of $33,939 versus $21,921 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $16,132. About 10.0% of families and 13.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.3% of those under age 18 and 11.9% of those age 65 or over.
Lake Shore Railway Museum (1899)
Economy [ edit ]
North East's economy is primarily based on grapes. Vineyards carpet the township, and there are at least five large wineries in the area. One of the borough's largest employers is Welch's.
References [ edit ]
Lake and Main streets
Further reading [ edit ]Levin: You ‘really have to be blind’ to ignore this Obama scandal
US President Barack Obama (L) speaks with Samantha Powers United States Ambassador to the United Nations at a Leaders Summit for Refugees at the UN, September 20, 2016. Peter Foley | AP Photo
Thursday evening, Conservative Review Editor-in-Chief Mark Levin weighed in on Samantha Power’s role in “unmasking” individuals during the final days of the Obama administration.
“This grave scandal is […] the Obama administration’s abuse of power like we’ve never seen in modern American history,” said Levin.
Fox News reported Wednesday that Power, as U.S. ambassador to the U.N., made more than 260 requests to identify Americans whose names surfaced in foreign intelligence reporting last year. In her role as ambassador, Power had no apparent intelligence-related function, making her unmasking requests highly suspect.
“You really have to be blind if you don’t see the extent to which the prior administration violated our trust, violated our rules, violated the law in using the power of the federal government to wiretap, to conduct other forms of espionage, to abuse the FISA courts, to abuse the warrants that they received to target people they disagreed with, including with the IRS … to target people they disagreed with including with the FBI and the Justice Department,” Levin said.
And what is most appalling is the behavior of the media, Levin said, who are in “full cover-up mode.”
Listen:
“This isn’t a joke,” Levin said. “This is issue number one.”
Don’t miss an episode of LevinTV. Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial now!Share Tweet Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:
What IS it with celebrities who think they know so much siding with socialist dictators whose economic philosophies let their own people starve?
According to this, Jamie Foxx visited Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and even posed for pictures with the guy –
Foxx, who won the Oscar Award for “Ray” in 2004, visited Maduro in the presidential palace in Caracas. State media said Foxx was there to support the country’s socialist revolution and attend the signing of an agreement between Venezuela and its allies for the construction of houses for the poor. Foxx posed for photos with the deeply-unpopular president of the economically embattled South American country. In a national address Tuesday, Maduro praised Foxx’s work. Foxx hasn’t commented publicly on what motivated his visit. Several U.S. celebrities have visited Venezuela to support the country’s socialist revolution over the years, including actors Sean Penn and Danny Glover.
I’m certain that whatever the reason Foxx’s visit was, it wasn’t to highlight the plight of ordinary Venezuelans who – among other things – have to kill cats and dogs for food, pay $150 for eggs, and routinely murder their kids out of an odd sense of compassion. I mean, you don’t show up to the presidential palace in Caracas and throw up peace signs with the president of a socialist country and say “Oh, by the way – the way your people are starving and dying totally sucks and you suck for making it happen.”
Rich elitists rubbing shoulder with other rich elitists and laughing about how ordinary people are suffering. And Hollywood wonders why we don’t take them seriously.The future of stroke treatment
For too long has the treatment of stroke only consisted in the rehabilitation and prevention. The event in its acute damaging phase was not treatable. After the successful introduction of clot-busting therapies, where thrombus-dissolving agents are administered intravenously, we have now a mechanical option called thrombectomy available, an intra-arterial clot removing approach.
How does thrombectomy work?
Just like a coronary intervention, cerebral thrombectomy uses intra-arterial catheters to access the area where the blockage occurs. And just like a coronary angiography, the procedure is performed by an interventional cardiologist – perhaps in the future renamed to neuro-cardiologist.
The aim is to quickly Identify the area where the obstruction occurs. This is done with an urgent CT-scan on arrival to the emergency department. In order to be eligible for thrombectomy, the blocked vessel in question must fulfil specific criteria relating to its size and location. Only large vessel occlusion and currently just arteries of the anterior cerebral circulation are amenable to thrombectomy. The time frame in which the clot is to be removed is 6 hours, keeping in mind that faster action delivers better results – time is brain.
The catheter is then inserted via the femoral artery and
What are the dangers?
Complications of endovascular procedures can be related to vessel injury caused by the device like perforation, dissection bleeding, vascular access or radiological contrast media.
What is the future holding?
Rapid, safe and effective arterial recanalisation to restore blood flow to minimise brain damage remains the primary goal when managing acute stroke management. Recent positive randomised clinical trials show that endovascular thrombectomy for large vessel ischaemic stroke substantially improved the outcome and reduced disability. To become available for every future stroke patient, this new technology will demand interdisciplinary co-operation, and no doubt require organisational changes within the care provider as well as public awareness and infrastructure.
A clear and simple demonstration of this procedure can be seen at:
VideoanimationShow full PR text
Nissan revs up for all-new Murano crossover production at Mississippi plant with 500 new jobs
CANTON, Miss. – Production of the all-new 2015 Nissan Murano crossover later this fall means 500 new jobs for Nissan's Vehicle Assembly Plant in Canton, Mississippi.
The all-new 2015 Nissan Murano, which resets the standard in the midsize crossover segment with breakthrough design, premium interior and purposeful technology, will be the first Murano produced in the United States and the eighth model assembled at Nissan's Canton plant. The plant will be the global source for Murano production, creating export opportunities to more than 100 markets. Murano will be assembled on the same line as Xterra, Frontier, Titan and Armada and is the most technically advanced vehicle ever built in Canton.
"Recruiting efforts and preparations for the start of Murano production this fall are underway and current employees are excited to add this vehicle to the list of outstanding cars and trucks built in Mississippi," said John Martin, senior vice president, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management and Purchasing for Nissan North America. "The addition of Murano to our portfolio, coupled with the continued growth and success of the Canton plant, will move us even closer to our goal to build more than 85 percent of the vehicles we sell in the U.S. right here in North America."
Over the course of the last decade, the Nissan Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant has transformed from a domestic manufacturer to a global one as Nissan has invested more than $2.6 billion in the plant. With the addition of these 500 new jobs, the plant will grow to support more than 6,000 manufacturing jobs for the first time in its nearly 11-year history. Additionally, the construction of a new on-site supplier park is expected to be completed later this fall in conjunction with the start of Murano production.
"Nissan is an engine for economic growth and development in Mississippi and continues to prove to the world that Mississippi Works. With the addition of more than 2,000 jobs and six new products at the Canton plant in just the last three years, the company is helping demonstrate the power of Mississippi's strong workforce and competitive business climate," said Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. "Nissan serves as a model for other innovative companies we are attracting to Mississippi."
Since the first U.S.-assembled vehicle, a white pickup truck, rolled off the assembly line in June 1983, Nissan's U.S. manufacturing footprint has steadily grown. The combination of vehicle assembly plants in Canton and Smyrna, Tenn., and a powertrain plant in Decherd, Tenn., have produced nearly 13 million vehicles, 8 million engines and created more than 15,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States.
For more information about a career at Nissan's Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant, interested applicants may visit www.Nissan.Jobs, www.kellyservices.us/cantonms, call (601) 885-3767, or send a resume to NissanCantonMS@gmail.com.
About Nissan North America In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program and has been recognized as an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com and www.InfinitiUSA.com, or visit the Americas media sites NissanNews.com and InfinitiNews.com.
About Nissan Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Japan's second-largest automotive company, is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, and is part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Operating with more than 236,000 employees globally, Nissan sold more than 4.9 million vehicles and generated revenue of 9.6 trillion yen (USD 116.16 billion) in fiscal 2012. Nissan delivers a comprehensive range of over 60 models under the Nissan and Infiniti brands. In 2010, Nissan introduced the Nissan LEAF, and continues to lead in zero-emission mobility. The LEAF, the first mass-market, pure-electric vehicle launched globally, is now the best-selling EV in history.
For more information on our products, services and commitment to sustainable mobility, visit our website at http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/.With Pixar’s official announcement of a release date for Finding Dory, the Finding Nemo sequel that was first mentioned last year, and with the release of Monsters University just a few months away, I suppose it’s time again to ask whether the once-revered Pixar is out of ideas. After all, the studio produced the mildly enjoyable but very kid-oriented Cars 2, and — get this — not every single person who saw Brave unequivocally loved it. And can you believe they’ve got Planes, a Cars-world spinoff that might well be called Insult to Injury, coming to theaters this August? And then this Finding Nemo stuff? Call it! Pixar as we know it is dead! Another victim of the Disney steamroller!
Oh, except one thing: that makes very little sense. Let’s go through the Pixar pipeline as we know it:
Monsters University comes out in June. It’s a prequel, which isn’t very promising, but at least won’t untie the lovely bow at the end of Monsters, Inc. Also, animated movies take a long time to make. This means Monsters University was given the go-ahead at least three years ago, around the time Pixar was basking in the magnificent success of Toy Story 3. It doesn’t really speak to what the company is doing right now.
Then in August there’s Planes, except there’s not, because Pixar is not producing Planes. John Lasseter is, because (a) Cars merchandise makes a ton of money and (b) Lasseter is really, really into the Cars universe. It’s weird, I know. Having this animation genius love the world of the weakest Pixar movies is sort of like if you found out Spielberg’s favorite movie from his filmography was Hook (which is to say: it would be kind of endearing, and not as bad as if his favorite was Always, but also seems objectively incorrect).
Then there’s Finding Dory, right? Actually, no: then there’s The Good Dinosaur, due out in May 2014. It’s about a world where dinosaurs never went extinct and coexist with humans. It’s directed by Bob Peterson, a longtime Pixar team member (he had a hand in both Up and Finding Nemo), and it’s not based on anything except the idea that dinosaurs are awesome, which they are, so… there’s that to look forward to.
After that, in summer 2015, there’s Inside Out, the new movie from Pete Docter, who directed Up and Monsters, Inc. It reportedly features Pixar’s second female protagonist, as the movie takes place within the mind of a little girl. It sounds audacious and a little bizarre on paper, like Wall-E or Ratatouille, and anything that makes me think of those movies is something I’m excited to see.
Finding Dory then arrives for Thanksgiving 2015 — or at least that’s the current plan. Pixar has never been shy about reshuffling release dates if certain movies need more time to get sorted out. It’s entirely possible Dory and Inside Out could switch places in 2015, or one could head out to 2016, which is currently earmarked for an untitled Day of the Dead-themed movie directed by Lee Unkrich. If the current schedule holds, though, Finding Dory (which, to be clear, I am less excited about than any upcoming movie mentioned in this article outside of the non-Pixar Planes) isn’t even taking the place of an original Pixar movie. Since Cars in 2006, Pixar has released one animated feature per year (they averaged slightly less than that beforehand). 2015 may see the release of two. Even if Finding Dory turns out to be the Cars 2 of cartoon fish, it doesn’t seem like it’s crowding out some other, more original idea. Per the current schedule, it will be preceded by two Pixar originals and followed up by a third.
Don’t get me wrong: the sequelizing does disappoint me. When John Lasseter officially boarded Disney, he put the kibosh on their embarrassing series of direct-to-DVD sequels (though the likes of The Hunchback of Notre Dame II inexplicably survive, packaged in several recent Blu-ray releases). I had hoped that this wasn’t in favor of higher-quality but still largely brand-diminishing theatrically released sequels. This goes for movies from Disney Feature Animation, too. I loved Wreck-It Ralph. I’m not particularly psyched about the idea of a follow-up. The Toy Story sequels blew everyone away because of how good they are. This perhaps hints at the usual difficulties in producing sequels in general, never mind to widely loved animated movies. I far prefer the short-film approach: sure, stick a new Monsters or Wall-E (or Wreck-It Ralph!) short in front of a new Disney movie, get the kids excited, and keep making fresh Pixar movies for us to love.
But the idea that the company is “out of ideas,” to use a stock phrase, is just plain dumb. Let’s run some numbers that actually favor the sequels: count Pixar movies scheduled for this decade, starting with Toy Story 3. There are eight in total; this includes all of their sequels except Toy Story 2, and no potential originals that might come out in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Four of them are sequels. I’d love if the percentage of sequels was lower than 50, definitely. But until that percentage is up to 100, the “out of ideas” thing is weird speculation that trades on willful ignorance of how the movie industry works (that is: the movie a company announces is not the only thing they are working on at any given time).
I think the newfound obsession with chinking Pixar’s armor (Brave was merely really good! It wasn’t as big a knockout as Up! The horror!) comes more from a weird obsession with perfect records. I mean, I’m as stunned by Pixar’s 1995-2010 run as anyone else. But 50 years from now, it’s not going to matter much that Pixar made a subpar movie in 2011. What matters is the number of great movies they’ve produced — which right now is enough to secure the company’s legacy, just as the pantheon of classic Disney movies makes misses like Home on the Range sting a lot less. And hell, even if Pixar makes ten bad movies, that doesn’t actually mean they’re out of ideas; it could also mean they’re not executing their ideas well, or that they’re rushing their process, or any number of things that cause a movie to go wrong.
But moreover: Call me when that’s happened more than once.A Call for Lustiness Just say no to the sex police By Camille Paglia (TIME, March 23) -- Liberal Democrats, who supported Anita Hill against Clarence Thomas in 1991, are waking up to the police state that their rigid rules have created. Now, as allegations fly about presidential sex, we can finally distinguish between genuine sexual coercion and free expression of sexual thought. As a college teacher, I've long held that no person in power should demand sexual favors in return for a high grade or promotion. Nor should subordinates sexually involved with teachers or managers enjoy an unfair advantage over their peers. Those principles are a genuine contribution to feminist history. But the secondary "hostile environment" policy, which allows employees to file lawsuits on nebulous grounds of psychological distress, is grotesquely totalitarian. It offends free-speech rights and is predicated on a reactionary female archetype: the prudish Victorian lady who faints at a sexual innuendo. This isn't feminism; it's Puritanism. The Anita Hill case, far from expanding women's rights, was a disaster for civil liberties. That Hill, an articulate graduate of the Yale Law School, could find no job-preserving way to communicate to her employer her discomfort with mild off-color banter strained credulity. That Thomas could be publicly grilled about trivial lunchtime conversations that occurred 10 years earlier was an outrage worthy of Stalinist Russia. An antiseptically sex-free workplace is impossible and unnatural. We want a sophisticated art of seduction. Feminist excesses have paralyzed and neutered white, upper-middle-class young men, as should be obvious to any visitor to the campuses of the elite schools. I want a society of lusty men and lusty women whose physical and mental energies are in exuberant free flow. While men must behave honorably (Governors and Presidents should not be dropping their pants in front of female employees or secretly preying on buxom young interns), women must also watch how they dress and behave. For every gross male harasser, there are 10 female sycophants who shamelessly use their sexual attractions to get ahead. We don't want a society of surveillance by old maids and snitches. The proper mission of feminism is to encourage women to take personal responsibility without running to parental authority figures for help. The fanatic overprotection of women is fast making us an infantile nation. We need to treat sex with greater realism and imagination. Women should be taught not that they are passive wards of the state but that sex is a great human comedy where the joke is always on us. Camille Paglia is professor of humanities at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the author of three books.Editors Note: This article was updated to remove references to deprecated components specifically polymer-ajax which has since been replaced by core-ajax. Thanks to Rob Dodson, developer advocate at Google, for the feedback.
Building modern web applications requires a lot of tooling. This includes preprocessors, JavaScript frameworks, testing tools and a whole lot more. And as the complexities of these apps increases, so does the breadth of tooling and services needed to manage them. Wouldn't it be great if some things were simplified?
Web Components aim to solve some of these complexities by providing a unified way to create new elements that encompass rich functionality without the need for all the extra libraries. Web components are comprised of four different specifications (Custom Elements, Templates, Shadow DOM and HTML imports) which are being fleshed out in the W3C.
To bridge the gap and give developers access to this rich functionality now, Google has created the Polymer library which serves as a set of polyfills to bring the promise of Web Components to you today. Let's dive a little deeper into.
What Is Polymer
As I mentioned, the Polymer library is a set of polyfills that help you create Web Components on all major modern browsers. It provides the framework for defining, creating and rendering complex custom elements in a simplistic fashion similar to the tags you've grown up with. What I mean by this, is that it helps to simplify the way we use complex components by:
Encapsulating much of the complex code and structure
Allowing developers to use a simple-to-use tag style naming convention
Providing a suite of predefined UI elements to leverage and extend
But the important thing to remember, is that the framework itself is developed based on the direction of the individual specifications being vetted by the W3C, thus providing a foundation that should evolve with the direction of the main standards body.
What this library can do, is allow us to create reusable components that work as true DOM elements while helping to minimize our reliance on JavaScript to do complex DOM manipulation to render rich UI results.
Here's a quick example from the Polymer site. Say I wanted to render a working clock on my page. That would typically entail some heavy duty JavaScript code to do but by using Polymer, I can simply use the following syntax:
This looks like the HTML tag syntax we've all grown up with and is far easier to implement, read and maintain than some complex JavaScript code. And the end result looks like this:
And since it's a normal element in the DOM, you can style it as well using CSS like this:
It's certainly not the prettiest clock, but that's not the point. The fact is that you can customize the component to your liking and then reuse it via an easier and more maintainable syntax.
Installing Polymer
There are three ways to install and use Polymer:
Use the Bower package manager (preferred)
Use the libraries hosted on CloudFare's cdnjs
Install from Git
Of the three, the easiest and recommended way is to use Bower because not only is it incredibly easy to do but Bower also manages any dependencies that Polymer might have. This means that if you choose to install a specific UI element which has a dependency on another one, Bower can handle that for you.
Bower is installed as a Node Packaged Module, so you'll need to have Node.js installed. From the command line, type in the following:
This should pull Bower from the npm registry and install it so it's globally available to you. From there, subsequent Bower-based installs take the following form:
At a bare minimum, you're going to want to install Polymer's platform and core components since they provide the foundation for you to create and run your customer elements.
You can shortcut this by typing in:
Polymer also comes with a rich, predefined set of elements that you can begin taking advantage of immediately. They consist of UI and non-UI based elements that provide functionality such as:
Animation
Accordions
Grid layout
Ajax capabilities
Menus
Tabs
And that's only scraping the surface. There's a lot already in there with full source code available to serve as a learning tool, as well as allow you to customize the capabilities to your needs.
You have a choice in how to install these components. You can install everything or only those you want to use. To install everything, you type in:
This is the kitchen sink approach and when you're starting out learning Polymer, it's probably easiest just to do that, to help you get a feel for what's available.
Once you're more familiar with the framework, you can cherry-pick the individual components you'd like to use and install them like this:
This is the beauty of using Bower. Every component comes with a bower.json configuration file that outlines its dependencies. So if you were installing the accordion component, looking at the config, we can see that it has dependencies on the main polymer component as well as the selector and collapsible components.
The key thing is that you don't have to worry about that because Bower manages that for you. This is why it's the preferred tool for installing Polymer.
Installing via Bower will create a folder called bower_components in your project folder housing all of the stuff Polymer needs.
Making a New Polymer Element
The Polymer site pretty much nails the description of custom elements:
“Custom Elements are the core building blocks of Polymer-based applications. You create applications by assembling custom elements together, either ones provided by Polymer, ones you create yourself, or third-party elements.”
Polymer gives us the ability to create our own custom elements from scratch and even reuse other elements to extend our custom ones. This is done by first creating a template of the custom element. For all intents, this template is a combination of HTML, CSS and JavaScript and includes the functionality that will be available when you use the element. It's based off the WhatWG HTML Templates specification which is meant to provide native support for client-side templating.
Let's look at this simple example of a Polymer template:
This Element allows you to easily add Lorem Ipsum text into your code by simply using the following tag:
The first thing that needs to be included is Polymer core, which is the main API that allows you to define the Custom Elements:
The next step is defining the name of the new element using Polymer's polymer-element directive:
In this case, I've named my new element lorem-element. The name is a required attribute and it must contain a dash (“-”).
From there we use the template directive to wrap the main body tags and code that will make |
looked after. Sometimes it's yelling at a referee or yelling at an opposition player because he's not doing right by a particular player on your team."
Sens fans might remember Murray's outburst against Jim Fox in the bowels of the Corel Centre in 2005. In many ways, it was classic Bryan, standing up for his players. It was also a reminder for those with longer memories of the temper of a younger Murray.
"'MURRAY YOU ALWAYS WERE A CHICKENSHIT' 'YOU GOT THE WRONG MURRAY,' hissed Bryan, his hands still wrapped around the other coach."
As a young coach with Regina, Murray was known for his bench banter and temper. "In one pre-season game, Murray, feeling his players were being taken advantage of, challenged an opposition coach. 'Murray, you always were a chickenshit,' said the other coach before being pinned up against the wall behind the bench by Murray. 'You got the wrong Murray,' hissed Bryan, his hands still wrapped around the other coach." That's right, in a pre-season game.
Murray argued with opposition players and coaches and the occasional official during the nearly ten years he spent in a different nation's capital. Early in his coaching career, he was fined $1000 for post-game shouting matches with officials. He got into an altercation one night with Duane Sutter. He was bumped by the player but Murray was assessed a penalty for subsequently bumping an official while arguing the lack of a call on Sutter. At a home game two years later, Murray had an epic battle with referee Bill McCreary. Arguing a call too vehemently, Murray received a bench minor. During the intermission, Murray went after the official, and ended up in a shouting and shoving match with linesman Ron Asseltine. Both Murray and Asseltine were suspended for 3 games.
***
There have been two passions for Murray: family and hockey.
Family and hockey have always been intertwined for Murray. While the hotel business didn't work out, a second family investment, Murray's Sporting Goods, is still open for business in Shawville. In his first season behind the Capitals bench, Bryan coached younger brother Terry, a defenseman, in the final season of his career. Eight years older, this was not the first time Bryan mentored his younger brother. He had been Terry's high school basketball coach as well. After Terry retired, they became the NHL's first brother coaching combination, when he became Bryan's assistant. When Bryan was fired part way through the 1989-90 season, Terry (who was head coach of the Caps AHL affiliate at the time) replaced him.
What to the wider hockey world looked like stressful situation between the brothers was nothing of the sort in reality. As GM of the Florida Panthers, Bryan hired Terry as head coach. Towards the end of their time in Florida, it was customary to hear chants of "Fire Murray! Fire Murray" at the National Car Rental Center. The Panthers had won just 2 games at home in the first 3 months of the season. Defiant in defeat, Bryan defended himself and his brother: "‘When I hired my brother as a coach, nobody would let that go....It seemed to me from that point on, the shots we took -- and we took lots of them -- even in a couple of good years, it was always 'the Murrays.'"
It's still always the Murrays.
Current Senators assistant General Manager Tim Murray joined Uncle Bryan in Detroit as an amateur scout in 1993 and followed him to Florida a season later. Under his uncle's mentorship, Tim's career progressed and he left Florida in 2002 as director of amateur scouting. When Bryan became GM of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Tim again joined his uncle, this time working as director of player personnel. Tim joined the Senators as assistant GM in July, 2007, hired by Bryan a few weeks after taking over John Muckler's position.
Increasingly, Tim Murray is the visible face of the Senators management team. Over the past few years he has taken centre stage at the NHL draft and the elder Murray has allowed his nephew to take on some of his responsibilities. Here too, in his years as Senators GM, Bryan remains a coach; grooming his nephew to become another hometown boss. With Bryan in the last year of his contract, there is a belief amongst many who follow the Senators that Bryan - who will be 71-years-old at season's end - will retire, officially turning the reigns over to his Tim.
***
Murray's NHL legacy is almost complete.
He has won awards for his coaching as well as his work as an executive. He has led several franchises to regular season success. While early in his career post-season success was elusive, he has been the head coach or GM of three different teams to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. But he hasn't won the big prize. An old-school hockey mind at home during the wild NHL of the 1980s, he has also mastered the dead puck era and successfully transitioned to the post-lockout world of the past decade. His name is rarely mentioned as a potential Hall-of-Fame candidate despite there being just one gap in his resumé. But that gap looms large.
That gap looms large in Ottawa as well. His first spell as coach brought the team closest to the Cup, his second stint was part of the disastrous sequence of coaching hires of which Murray was ultimately responsible.
Murray is a Melnyk man. They've been with the team for roughly the same amount of time. Melnyk has twice given Murray a vote of confidence many felt he didn't deserve. Melnyk promoted Murray to GM and fired the architect of the only Sens team to make it to the Cup Final, John Muckler. After the horrendous 2010-2011 campaign, a terrible year which followed a few seasons of decline under Murray, Melnyk extended Murray's contract.
But it won't be the playoff success in the early years that define his time in Ottawa. Nor will it be the calamity which followed; the desperate attempts to stay afloat and contend when the team's window had closed. It will be the success of the rebuild. His time with the Senators shows the adaptability he's displayed throughout his long career. In the salary cap world, he's even become the business man he thought he wanted to be all those years ago. From new captain Jason Spezza to enforcer Matt Kassian, this team, its identity, and its confidence are the result of Murray's management.
Murray has created a contender again - perhaps the final one of his career - and if that Stanley Cup void can be filled, his legacy will be set in stone.
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In recent months, as politicians, pundits, and military officials have debated the causes of the precipitous decline in violence in Iraq, some prominent terrorism experts (including Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank in the March/April 2007 issue of Mother Jones) have begun warning that the relative calm may be giving way to a new threat—a fresh generation of Al Qaeda, battle-hardened in Iraq and bent on exporting what they’ve learned to new fronts.
Such a diaspora has precedent. In the mid-1980s, thousands of jihadis from North Africa and the Middle East flooded into Afghanistan to fight the Soviets—Osama bin Laden and his original corps of lieutenants among them. These so-called “Afghan Arabs” made up a relatively small portion of the anti-Soviet mujahideen, but their influence would ultimately eclipse their number. Experts disagree over their impact on the outcome of the fighting (the conventional wisdom holds that it was marginal at best), but their very participation in the Afghan jihad, regardless of their effect on the battlefield, forged a mythology around which Al Qaeda would coalesce: not only had it defeated the Soviet Union, but it delivered the lethal blow that caused the Soviet bloc to collapse. Emboldened by their perceived success in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghan Arabs returned to their home countries after the Soviet withdrawal, intent on continuing the jihad.
In Iraq, foreign fighters are also few in number, accounting for just 10 percent of Al Qaeda in Iraq’s (AQI’s) personnel, according to Bruce Hoffman, a counterterrorism expert at Georgetown University. “We’re also talking about much smaller numbers than the Afghan Arabs,” he says. “Those were in the thousands or maybe in the tens of thousands. Here we’re talking about survivors, probably in the hundreds.” But this cadre of survivors, says Hoffman, could make their presence felt on distant battlefields, as did the Afghan Arabs before them in places like Bosnia and Algeria. “No matter how relatively small the number of foreign jihadis who may be fighting/have fought in Iraq,” he observes, “having been bloodied in battle there, they will possess the experience, cachet, and credibility useful for both jihadi recruitment and operational purposes elsewhere.”
This already seems to be the case in Afghanistan. According to the Washington Post, infiltration of foreign fighters into Iraq has declined from 110 per month in mid-2007 to as few as 20 per month in July 2008. Meanwhile, Islamic extremist websites have begun urging new recruits to head for Afghanistan rather than Iraq. In July, the Post reported that as many as 15 senior AQI leaders had transited through Iran on their way to Afghanistan. While it’s difficult to draw a direct connection, the corresponding increase in violence in Afghanistan over the same period seems to indicate that insurgents, recognizing defeat in Iraq, have shifted their focus. For the first time since March 2003, Afghanistan is claiming more lives: 121 coalition forces since July, versus 71 in Iraq during that same period.
Analysts are divided over what the increased violence in Afghanistan signifies. Regarding the transfer of AQI fighters from one theater of operations to another, Marc Sageman, terrorism scholar in residence at the New York City Police Department, is skeptical. “I don’t take it very seriously,” he says. “That’s not the nature of Al Qaeda. This is not an army with a general staff; it’s basically guys who go somewhere to fight. If they’re killed, they’re killed. If they escape, they escape. There’s really no real strategy.” He also notes that while the tactics used by AQI may be migrating to Afghanistan, there’s “not that much back and forth because these guys are vulnerable when they travel.” Brian Fishman, director of research at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, acknowledges that analysts “don’t have a really good sense of how big a problem this is.” Nevertheless, “everybody’s been worried about this from the beginning because of the legacy of the Afghan Arabs.” Foreign fighters who can no longer get into Iraq are “winding up in Lebanon,” says Fishman. “Some of them are probably hanging around in Syria, and others are getting redirected to other areas like Somalia and Afghanistan and Pakistan.” A July 2008 report released by the Combating Terrorism Center notes that suicide bombers trained in Iraq hit US targets in Jordan in 2005, while others have been apprehended while plotting attacks in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.
Despite debate over the extent to which AQI fighters are dispersing to new battlefields, there’s little question that the organization’s methods are increasingly being employed outside of Iraq. The number of suicide attacks, for example, rare in Afghanistan and Pakistan before 9/11, has grown exponentially; according to Pakistan’s intelligence service, in the first eight months of this year, there were 28 suicide attacks in Pakistan and 36 in Afghanistan, together claiming over 900 lives. (During that same period, for the first time, suicide bombers killed more people in Pakistan than in Iraq: 471 versus 463.) “Whether or not the actual people migrate, the tactics and techniques are [migrating], and they’re going to change the nature of warfare,” says Hoffman. “The people coming from Iraq have expertise almost across the board in insurgency, from suicide tactics to force-on-force attacks to sophisticated standoff attacks with remote-controlled missiles or rockets to IED types of technologies. It just means that the learning curve for insurgents is now short, and they’re able to learn from previous experience and adapt almost immediately, almost in real time.”
Fishman agrees, adding that veteran AQI fighters are, as a rule, probably more skilled than their Afghan Arab predecessors. “If you’ve been fighting in Iraq, you probably had a much more intense experience,” he says, acquiring skills that are more easily transferable to urban environments than those learned by the Afghan Arabs fighting the Soviets in the mountains. “Being able to operate and run a covert network in an urban environment, understanding how to avoid intelligence detection…If you survived this long being in Iraq, you probably picked some of that up. And those are the kinds of intense skills that are not only useful in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but they’re useful if you want to operate in Amman or Cairo or Paris.”
Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Army.mil.Wife cried rape to keep her SIX-YEAR affair secret just a MONTH after her wedding
Jessica Gore, 32, had only been married to partner Darren for four weeks
She arrived home later than expected last September
The newly-wed mother-of-two claimed she had been attacked by a stranger
Her husband told her to contact police and report the crime
Bogus claim came as police were investigating a number of rapes in Kent
Detectives discovered she had sneaked off to meet lover Matthew Richards
Gore admitted perverting the course of justice and was given a suspended prison sentence
Unfaithful: Jessica Gore and her partner Darren
A cheating wife who cried rape in a bid to keep a six-year affair secret from her husband just a month after their wedding has avoided jail.
Unfaithful Jessica Gore, 32, had only been married to partner Darren, 41, for four weeks when she arrived home later than expected last September.
The newly-wed mother-of-two claimed she had been attacked by a stranger as she walked home from babysitting for a friend.
Her worried husband immediately told her to contact police and report the crime.
Her bogus claim came as police investigated a number of other reported rapes in her local area.
But detectives quickly exposed her lies and found she had sneaked off to meet lover Matthew Richards - just a short walk from her marital home.
Police then uncovered a series of texts on her phone and Gore admitted she had been cheating on her partner for six years.
Gore admitted perverting the course of justice and was given a suspended prison sentence of eight months, suspended for a year.
Judge Heather Norton told her: 'This wasn’t just a vague allegation. You gave an incredible amount of detail.
'This was all at a time when there was an ongoing investigation into rapes in the Ashford area.'
On letting her walk free from Canterbury Crown Court Judge Norton added: 'This is an extremely exceptional case.
'I do so with some reluctance and it is really by the skin of your teeth.'
Richard Scott, prosecuting, said she left her marital home in Ashford, Kent on the evening of September 24, telling her husband she was visiting a friend called Amanda.
Unfaithful Jessica Gore, 32, had only been married to partner Darren, 41, for four weeks
She left the house at 8.15pm and texted her husband saying she had arrived at the property.
But in fact she was in the arms of her lover who the court heard she had had an 'on-off relationship' for more than six years.
Mr Scott said: 'Jessica Gore was lying to her husband at that stage. In fact she had arrived at the home of a Matthew Richards.
'Mr Gore, washed and shaved, put the children to bed and settled down to watch a film. By this time Mrs Gore was having sex with her lover.'
At 10.10pm Gore left her lover and arrived home 10 minutes later in floods of tears claiming she had been raped.
Bogus: Jessica Gore pictured with her husband Darren who told her to contact the police
On the advice of police her husband bagged her clothes before detectives arrived to question her.
Mr Scott added: 'She gave the police an allegation of stranger rape after being confronted by a man who she had struck.
'She had then been shoved to the ground and her trousers and underwear were pulled down and she had then been raped.'
But the court heard that her story began unravelling when her friend revealed that she had not been at her house.
Officers then examined Gore’s mobile phone and discovered sexual texts between her and her lover.
Gore told the court she was upset at herself and said 'things had spiralled out of control.'
She also claimed she had gone to her lover’s house 'under threat' as he was going to tell her husband about the affair.
'This is an extremely exceptional case' Judge Norton
James Ross, defending, said: 'It was Mrs Gore’s belief that, unless she consented to this blackmail to have sex with him on that particular day, he would tell her husband.
'In effect, that her lover would pull the plug on her entire life.'
Mr Ross added that Gore was suffering from mental health issues and blamed problems as a child for her difficulties with men.
After her initial appearance in court she was sent to a hospital to be treated for mental health problems.
Judge Norton said: 'Sadly, in this case, the allegation of rape proved to be untrue but was not admitted until after extensive inquiries had been carried out by detectives, at a time when there was understandable public concern about a number of earlier assaults being carried out in the Ashford area.Marion Barraud for HBR
Empathy—the ability to read and understand other’s emotions, needs, and thoughts—is one of the core competencies of emotional intelligence and a critical leadership skill. It is what allows us to influence, inspire, and help people achieve their dreams and goals. Empathy enables us to connect with others in a real and meaningful way, which in turn makes us happier—and more effective—at work.
Many people mistakenly believe that empathy—like other emotional intelligence competencies—is something you’re born with or not. But it’s not that simple.
In fact, we all have the capacity for empathy. Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran’s studies have helped us understand that we have physical structures in our brains—called mirror neurons—that help us understand others’ experiences and feelings. When you walk into a meeting late where a heated discussion has been taking place and the hairs on your arms stand up, it’s not just that you’ve been able to read the body language in the room and recognized that a fight’s happening. Your mirror neurons are actually reflecting the feelings of the people present. You start feeling as they do—even though you just joined them and haven’t been involved in the fight.
We all know, though, that some people pick up clues well and others are clueless. They misread situations and tread on others’ feelings without awareness—or apology. Are they hopeless? Or, as people often ask me, is it possible to develop empathy? My answer is a resounding yes. Consider a leader of a large media company, who I’ll call Miguel.
He called me up—out of the blue—and said he needed my help developing his emotional intelligence. He had been a top-notch management consultant who joined a client organization. He was known as super-smart and able to figure out how to find profit and weed out waste, so he was put in a senior position in a struggling division for his first role at the company. He quickly became the “golden boy” as financial results soared. Leadership loved it and within a year he was moved to another division where he worked the same magic. After his fourth move, about seven years into his tenure, a senior manager started nosing around. Something just wasn’t right in the divisions Miguel had turned around.
To start with, this smart leader discovered, Miguel’s financial wizardry was short lived. All of the great results that he’d had achieved in each division fell apart within a year or so of his leaving the post. Looking deeper, many of the divisions he had led were actually worse off than before he worked there. Good people had quit. Teams didn’t function. The cultures were toxic. Why? Miguel had put results before relationships over and over again. People felt disrespected and angry. They’d become actively disengaged and were furious at the company for allowing Miguel to treat them as he had.
Before this all came to light, Miguel had been identified as a potential successor to the CEO. Now he was told, “Fix this or you’re gone.” This was when he called me.
Miguel realized what he’d done and that he had put results before relationships every time. In fact, when I asked him, “Do you care about people?” He responded genuinely, “No, I really don’t. I care about results.” It was clear to me—and to Miguel—that he lacked empathy, among other emotional intelligence skills. He’d been told to get better, and he said he wanted to try.
So, we created a practical, skills-building plan. I coached him on reading people. I watched him at meetings and gave him feedback. I pointed out when he was trampling people and when he made them feel valued. Over several months, he made marginal progress. But it wasn’t that hard to see that he was doing what leadership had told him he must—and very little more. Frankly, I felt that I should resign as his coach. At this rate, and with this level of interest and effort, he wasn’t going to truly improve his capacity for empathy. Then, something happened that changed everything.
One particularly hectic Saturday Miguel was working, again, rather than spending time with his kids (as he had promised he would). Before long all hell broke out— the kids were sick of being put on the back burner and they were old enough to tell him so. It was unpleasant, to say the least, and Miguel did what he always did: he promised a fun afternoon in town and then locked himself in his office to finish his work. Things calmed down, they had fun later that day, and Miguel put the incident out of his mind.
But it wasn’t over. After the kids went to sleep, Miguel’s wife tried to explain what he was doing to the family. She tried to get him to see how fed up with being last on his list, how tired she was of dealing with the kids’ feelings of abandonment. Late that night, after hours of Miguel saying things like “How do you think this family survives? I have to work!” his wife turned to him, with sadness, and said, “I’m done. You don’t care about me. You don’t care about the kids. You’re blowing up this family.”
Miguel was shocked. Lose his family? How could that be? No!
Then it hit him like a bolt of lightning: Recently, that senior manager who had found him out had said the exact same thing his wife had, “You’re blowing up your teams.” Talk about a wake-up call.
He heard it. He realized that he had lost sight of what was most important to him—his dream of a future full of warmth and love, financial security and happiness. He knew then that to hold on to his dream he had to develop empathy for his loved ones and his colleagues. He knew he had a long road ahead of him. But, finally, he was ready to learn and change.
First, Miguel fixed things with his family. He also had to re-learn how to stay present with his wife and kids—psychologically—by constantly reminding himself that they were, are, and will always be, his first priority. Realizing that he had a lot of catching up to do, he spent several weeks just watching what was going on at home: What did his kids laugh about? What sparked arguments? What did his wife like to watch on television and which of her friends from work did she talk with socially in the evenings? Observing others is critical component of empathy. He schooled himself on asking more questions and making fewer assumptions, too. Miguel started truly empathizing his wife and kids—seeing them–for the first time in years.
Miguel realized that what he was doing at home was exactly what he needed to do at work: check in with people to see if he truly understood what they were saying; express appreciation to his team; and slow down in meetings and be sure that people were with him. He learned to understand what was going on in people’s minds and hearts and to interpret their body language better, too. He got in touch with the fact that actually, he did like and care about his colleagues. Soon, he was more in tune with what people needed, and eventually, those around him experienced him as warmer, more approachable, and even more fun.
Getting Better at Empathy
Developing empathy requires self-awareness, self-management, patience, endurance, and lots and lots of practice but you can learn it with time and dedication. It starts with having a dream—a vision of the future that means enough for you to put in the hard work needed to change old habits. And, you need to accept how important empathy is at work–and perhaps, as in Miguel’s case, the realization of the damage done by not having it.
Here are a few simple things you can begin to do:
Observe, listen, and ask questions. Pay attention to people’s body language rather than obsessing about what you’re going to say next. This can be harder than it sounds, because you have to let go of the notion that you know what’s best or have the right answer. You also need to stop assuming that you know what people were thinking and feeling—you probably don’t. And even if you are right, or partly right, there’s always more to learn if you’re quiet and curious. Avoid distractions and try to be more fully present when you are with people. This too is difficult for the simple reason that our organizations are insanely distracting. There’s always a deadline looming, a crisis to deal with, or an annoyance to put to rest. All of this takes us out of the moment and puts us into a “sky is falling” mentality. When we are in this state of mind, our bodies are poised for fight-flight—just the opposite of what we need in order to build good relationships. It is very, very tough to get out state. The only way I know to do it is through mindfulness practices like deep breathing and meditation. Stop multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is really doing more than one thing with less than your whole brain. That might be fine when you are walking and chewing gum, but it’s not ok when it comes to complex cognitive tasks or dealing with people. If you are writing an email to one person while talking with another, neither one is getting the best of you. And at least one of them knows it.
By doing these things, you set yourself up to learn and practice the deeper behaviors required for empathy—to ask people for feedback about how they perceive you rather than assuming you know; to talk about how people feel rather than dismissing people’s emotions as irrelevant or unimportant; to make them believe you see them and that you care. People want to feel loved and appreciated at work – and if you’re not giving them that, you’re not succeeding as a leader.(U.S. Coast Guard photo)We finally know the main two dispersants that BP and the U.S. government are using to treat the ongoing Gulf spill. Both, by their maker’s own admission, have the “potential to bioconcentrate,” and both have “moderate toxicity to early life stages of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks,” according to a study by Exxon, the company that originally developed them. Their use may be the least-bad course, given the importance of minimizing oil’s effect on coastal wetlands. But a little digging into the chemical makeup of these two substances, which are being dumped in vast quantities into the Gulf, reveals that they could potentially do far more harm than good, both to the Gulf and to humans who later eat from it.
As ProPublica reported Monday, information about dispersants is “kept secret under competitive trade laws.” I’ve spent the last several days trying to confirm what many in the ocean-ecology and public health worlds seemed to know, but no one would say officially: that two different dispersants sold under the banner of Corexit were being used in vast quantities. The Corexit brand is owned by an Illinois-based company called Nalco, which entered the dispersant business back in 1994, when it merged with Exxon’s chemical unit. (By 2004, Exxon had divested and Nalco was a standalone company, according to Nalco’s company history.)
Last night I finally got my confirmation. A spokesperson for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration finally pointed me to the website of Deepwater Horizon Response, the U.S. government’s “ongoing administration-wide response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill.” (Update: Now here.) The link took me to a “fact sheets” page, where I was able to download Nalco’s Material Safety Data Sheets for “Dispersant Type 1,” Corexit 9500 (PDF); and “Dispersant Type 2,” Corexit 9527A (PDF). These product numbers matched the ones that had been identified unofficially by my sources.
Bioconcentration game
OSHA requires companies to make Material Safety Data Sheets, or MSDSs, available for any hazardous substances used in a workplace, and the ones for these dispersants both contain versions of a disturbing statement. 9500’s states that “Component substances have a potential to bioconcentrate,” while the one for 9527A has the slightly more comforting, “Component substances have a low potential to bioconcentrate.”
This is not what you want to hear about toxins being dumped in the sea by the hundreds of thousands of gallons. The EPA defines bioconcentration as the “accumulation of a chemical in tissues of a fish or other organism to levels greater than in the surrounding medium.” In other words, substances that bioconcentrate tend to move from water into fish, where they can do damage to the fish itself, as well as be passed on to predator fish — and on up the food chain, to human eaters.
And just how toxic is this stuff? The data sheets for both products contain this shocker: “No toxicity studies have been conducted on this product” — meaning testing their safety for humans.
This is jaw-dropping. According to Ronald Tjeerdema, chair of the Department of Environmental Toxicology at UC Davis’ College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, who has been studying dispersants since the ’90s, “The industry typically only stockpiles one or two of these things,” and while Corexit 9527 has been the dispersant of choice for a long time, in recent years, Corexit 9500 has gained prominence. Yet Nalco has done no toxicity studies on these industry-dominating products now in heavy use in the Gulf?
They do appear to have toxic properties. Both data sheets include the warning “human health hazards: acute.” The MSDS for Corexit 9527A states that “excessive exposure may cause central nervous system effects, nausea, vomiting, anesthetic or narcotic effects,” and “repeated or excessive exposure to butoxyethanol [an active ingredient] may cause injury to red blood cells (hemolysis), kidney or the liver.”
It adds: “Prolonged and/or repeated exposure through inhalation or extensive skin contact with EGBE [butoxyethanol] may result in damage to the blood and kidneys.”
Just the surfactants, please
So, what’s in the stuff? According to their data sheets, both 9500 and 9527 are composed of three potentially hazardous substances. They share two in common, organic sulfonic acid salt and propylene glycol. In addition to those two, Corexit 9500 contains something called “Distillates, petroleum, hydrotreated light,” while Corexit 9527 contains 2-Butoxyethanol. Frustratingly, the sheets don’t give exact information about how much of the substances are in the dispersants; instead they give ranges as a percentage of weight. For example, Corexit 9500 can be composed of anywhere from 10 to 30 percent petroleum distillates, while 2-Butoxyethanol makes up anywhere from 30 to 60 percent of 9527.
Petroleum distillates and 2-Butoxyethanol are both solvents; neither are substances you’d excitedly dump into a vibrant ecosytem. According to its International Chemical Scorecard, 2-Butoxyethanol “may be absorbed” by the skin; causes “cough, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, nausea, and weakness” when inhaled; and “abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting” when ingested. For petroleum distillates, the International Chemical Scorecard has similar indications about exposure for humans, and adds this unsettling line: “The substance is harmful to aquatic organisms.”
As for the two ingredients common to Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527A, propylene glycol doesn’t seem horrendously toxic, according to its International Chemical Scorecard; while organic sulfonic acid salt is a bit of a black box. For the other substances, the data sheets listed what’s called a CAS number, which allows researchers to look up specific information. For organic sulfonic acid salt, the word “proprietary” appears in place of a CAS number.
Those things are surfactants, the detergents that bind to both oil and water and break oil down. It’s the solvents — 2-Butoxyethanol and petroleum distillate — that appear to be the most dangerous. Tjeerdema of UC Davis told me that the surfactants now in use are detergents “very much like you use to wash your dishes” and “don’t have significant ability to bioconcentrate.” The solvents are a different story. He said their role in a dispersant is to help the surfactants mix with water. “It could be an issue that the solvents are able to bioaccumulate,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Coast Guard dropped 150,000 gallons of this stuff on the spill surface, AP reports. I talked to a BP spokesman Thursday morning. He told me the company planned to continue using dispersants at the surface. The tactic of applying near the spill at the ocean floor has been temporarily suspended, the BP spokesperson said. He wouldn’t divulge why.
Tjeerdema explained that the tactic of applying dispersant underwater at the base of leak is a “unique situation” because dispersants are normally applied at the surface. “The hope is that the dispersants and oil mix as they rise and lessen the amount of oil that reaches the surface,” he said. Mixing is key to achieving that goal, he continued, and mixing occurs best at warm temperatures. “At 5,000 feet below the surface, the temperature is a lot colder and there’s a lot more pressure, and both the dispersant and the oil are thicker and more viscous,” he said. “My guess is that the mixing down low isn’t happening very readily … I would be concerned that they’re not very mixable because of the temperature.”
If they don’t mix well, of course, BP was until recently dumping toxic chemicals into the Gulf without gaining any advantage in limiting damage from the spill. According to a report on Wednesday, a “brown slime” appeared on the shore of a barrier island off Louisiana. “The slime, which is not as thick as oil, is thought to be the chemical dispersant that had been pumped down to the site of the leak to break up the oil before it reached the surface,” ABC reported.
As Tjeerdema told me, there are no good options for containing the spill until the leak is closed. Unfortunately, that won’t happen for months. And until then, we are likely further damaging to a fragile ecosystem in the name of saving it, and imperiling the health of seafood eaters for years to come.Although Jordan Peele made history when he released Get Out, he’s not an anomaly: Black writers have been making waves in the horror genre for a long time. In honor of this tradition, this list celebrates books that will keep you up at night.
1. Fledgling by Octavia Butler
{ Seven Stories Press }
Release Date: January 4, 2011
Price: $24.95
Buy It Now
Octavia Butler is the queen of Afrofuturism and sci-fi. From Kindred to Parable of the Sower to Fledgling, Butler knew how to tap into our deepest fears. In Fledgling, 53-year-old Shori believes she’s an amnesiac. She feels starved when she awakes, but can’t remember who she is, where she’s from, or how she ended up with insatiable hunger pangs. Eventually, Shori discovers she’s a half-human member of the Ina, a vampire sect that’s existed on Earth for thousands of years. From there, she embarks on a quest to find others like her, and in the process, uncovers a brewing war.
2. My Soul To Keep by Tananarive Due
{ Harper Collins }
Release Date: April 4, 1998
Price: $6.95
Buy It Now
Imagine meeting the perfect partner: They’re brilliant, possess a vast understanding of history, are unconditionally loving, and are aging like fine wine. Jessica thinks she’s lucked out when she meets and marries David, who has all of these qualities and then some—until their close friends and relatives begin dying unexpectedly and gruesomely. David then reveals to Jessica that he’s immortal, part of an ancient Ethiopian faction that can never die, and has been beckoned back to his homeland. Instead of leaving them behind, David decides to use a ritual that’s been forbidden to keep his family together—and then all hell breaks loose. My Soul to Keep will definitely keep you up at night.
3. Beloved by Toni Morrison
{ Penguin Putnam }
Release Date: June 1, 1994
Price: $5.95
Buy It Now
Beloved lays bare the trauma of slavery, and the horrific decisions enslaved people were forced to make to survive. When Sethe escapes her Kentucky plantation and settles in Ohio, she plans to embark on a new life with her children. Sethe’s dream is shattered 28 days later, when slavecatchers come to return her family to the Sweet Home plantation. She decides that her children are better off dead than in slavery, and proceeds to kill her 2-year-old daughter. However, she is stopped before killing the others when Beloved, the ghost of her dead child, comes back to haunt her. Beloved is one of the best books ever written—and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
4. White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
{ Riverhead Books }
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Price: $16.00
Buy It Now
Few authors write supernatural novels as beautifully as Helen |
under the same contract, were let go because they were no longer needed for the current phase of the campaign. (link)
Notice CAREFULLY these three have quit the “campaign finance”, but still work on the “Super-PAC finance” angle.
It is always important to remember, in 2015/2016 there are two types of funds for each candidate now: traditional campaign finance (which has rules, laws and limits – albeit changed this year), and Super-PAC funding (no limits).
With declining poll numbers the construct of a voter based RNC/GOPe victory is becoming visibly impossible. The traditional donors, those who align based on voter support for a candidate, are now in full retreat.
Back in 2014, when the RNC/GOPe road map was constructed to elect Jeb Bush, the RNC/GOPe anticipated a shallow campaign donor base for Bush. They knew the actual campaign donors would possibly be a small group – so they intentionally changed the rules for those donors so that they could contribute more money to the party apparatus. In essence, Team Jeb knew the money river would be shallow, so they widened it.
Under the old rules (McCain-Feingold), parties were limited to $32,400 per individual, per year. Under the new rules:
[…] the negotiators agreed to allow parties to raise money up to $97,200 for each of 3 different additional accounts. One account would be for party conventions (only for RNC and DNC), a second account would be used to defray building expenses, and a third for legal fees related to vote recounts and other legal counsel. All told, a donor who wants to maximize contributions to the national committees could conceivably give $777,600 to party committees each year. That means more than $1.5 million during a 2-year election cycle. (link)
Anticipating the lack of broad base support, and anticipating the lack of grass roots contributions to the Bush Campaign, the RNC/GOPe needed to find a mechanism to fund Jeb legally. Hence the campaign finance changes noted above.
However, Jeb’s campaign expenditure burn rate is exceeding the ability of additional donors to be pulled in – hence, Team Jeb telling everyone to watch their spending.
The only people left to finance Jeb Bush are the Wall Street financiers behind the Super-PAC’s. But candidates, and their campaigns, are not allowed to subvert campaign finance laws by coordinating with their supportive Super-PACs.
Donald Trump masterfully placed a warning shot across the bow in New Hampshire earlier this month – telling the RNC/GOPe team that he was aware Bush’s only hope to continue financing his campaign was through Wall Street. In essence he put them on notice that his team would be watching for the illegal coordination.
Within a week of this warning from Donald Trump, Team Jeb announced cutbacks on traditional campaign expenditures.
The last thing Jeb Bush wants is a savvy reporter looking through his campaign communication. My political instincts tell me these three released campaign fundraisers have compromised the required legal firewall between the Super-PACs and the Bush campaign.
How can three professional political fundraisers raise money for both the Super-PAC and the campaign simultaneously? Think about this closely. Where’s the legal firewall….. in their mind?
Within the Politico Article this is also present:
[…] The Bush campaign wasted no time seeking a replacement for the three fundraising consultants and has reached out to Meredith O’Rourke – one of Florida’s top Republican fundraisers who briefly worked for Chris Christie’s campaign in May but left it in July. O’Rourke, who wouldn’t comment, helped Gov. Rick Scott raise about $100 million for his 2014 reelection campaign and also works for Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who’s likely to run for governor in 2018. (link)
The bottom line is there’s almost no voter support for Jeb Bush; and what little support there once was is shrinking as he showcases his insufferable GOPe credentials.
I haven't met a single Jeb supporter here in Colorado. Now I know why the state GOP pulled its trick of changing caucus/delegate rules. — Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) August 29, 2015
As a consequence, without a base of support, Bush also doesn’t have a financial base beyond the super-rich people on Wall Street who are funding him.
Just a Reminder, this is an insurgency. – The modern enemy of Wall Street is Main Street vulgarians. The enemy of the RNC/GOPe is not Democrats, it’s Grassroots Conservatives, more vulgarians.
The Republican Party, and the Republican media apparatus, view us as their enemy. We are the enemy they need to protect themselves from:
In 2014, the RNC approved selection rules that govern how each state’s delegates are portioned out from the primaries. Under one of the changes, states holding their primaries between March 1 and March 14 will have their delegates doled out proportionately with election results, a change that will likely stymie a movement candidate.
States that have primaries on or after March 15 will be winner-take-all states. That’s important because another RNC rule change requires that a candidate must win a majority of delegates in eight or more states before his or her name may be presented for nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
AdvertisementsRyerson University is bringing Science Rendezvous to Toronto at Yonge-Dundas Square on Saturday, May 7th for an all-day free celebration of science.
Science Rendezvous provides a great opportunity, for adults and kids alike, to experience science through fun, hands-on activities. The event, which historically attracts tens of thousands of people, is bringing together researchers, students, community groups and the public, of all ages.
Science seeks to understand the world around us. Through research, discoveries and innovation, scientists come up with solutions for the problems facing the world today. Therefore, sharing and communicating science with the community is critical for both scientists and the public.
Here are three reasons you should attend Science Rendezvous this Saturday.
1. Increase your science literacy
Science literacy is critical to sound decision making on a day-to-day basis. From the food we eat to the products we consume to our environmental footprint, many of our decisions are science-based. Hence, increasing your science literacy will ensure more informed decision making. And what better way to learn about science than experiencing it live while having fun?
2. Enjoy science with the whole family
Science Rendezvous is a great way to learn about science but also a great opportunity to enjoy a family outing. This is an event that all family members, young and old, can attend!
Nurturing your kids’ inner scientist will help them develop into scientifically literate adults, writes Ryerson’s Dean of Science Dr. Imogen Coe in the Huffington Post. Science Rendezvous allows children to experience science through engaging experiments, such as designing and launching their own water rockets or designing and building catapults.
3. Help us break a world record
A group of science students at Ryerson is looking to simplify genetic sciences for the public while attempting to break a world record for the longest DNA model. Their project, entitled “There’s no place like GenHome,” will be on display at Science Rendezvous.
DNA is made up of four bases, represented by the letters A, C, G and T. The students are calling on the community to help create the base pairs by sending a picture with anything that signifies any of the four letters. Pictures contributed will be attached to the DNA model on display at the festival. Submit your picture by May 4th and help us make history!
Dr. Emily Agard is Director of Science Communication, Outreach and Public Engagement at Ryerson University. She is focused on making science accessible, engaging and inclusive of all groups and is mentor to many youth in the community. Follow her on Twitter @ProfAgard."Today, if you ask a car dealer to let you see something for 10 grand, he'll show you the door!"
"Medical insurance is what allows people to be ill at ease!"
"Prison inmates are treated to cable TV, hot meals and a college education, while on the outside some people can only afford these things through a life of crime!"
"Thank's to the new welfare bill, the question "Paper or plastic?" now refers to many American's sleeping arrangements!"
"In retrospect it becomes clear that hindsight is definitely overrated!"
"Most people are so lazy, they don't even exercise good judgement!"
"If opera is entertainment, then falling off a roof is transportation!"
"A college jock is someone who minds his build instead of vice versa!"
"The only advantage to living in the past is that the rents are much cheaper!"
"Getting old is when a narrow waist and a broad mind change places!"
"How come stealing from one book is plagiarism, but stealing from many is research?"
"It takes one to know one -- and vice versa!"
"Nowadays, a balanced diet is when every McNugget weighs the same!"
"Teenagers are people who act like babies if they're not treated like adults!"
"A teacher is someone who talks in our sleep!"
"How come we choose from just two people for President, and fifty for Miss America?"
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!"
"You can be on the right track and still get hit by a train!"
"Blood is thicker than water... but it makes lousy lemonade!"
"The U.N. is a place where governments opposed to free speech demand to be heard!"
"A plastic surgeon's office the only place where no one gets offended when you pick your nose!"The source of information for this news post came from Roger Hedgecock’s 1/17/13 radio show. Here’s the link. Fast forward to 21:13 for Roger’s comments.
The five worst mass killings, where a firearm was used, have a common thread. Hint #1: They didn’t belong to the NRA. They don’t fit the stereotype of the “red-neck” gun owner.
Check it out …
Ft Hood: Registered Democrat/Muslim.
Columbine: Too young to vote; both families were registered Democrats and progressive liberals.
Virginia Tech: Wrote hate mail to President Bush and to his staff.
Colorado Theater: Registered Democrat; staff worker on the Obama campaign; Occupy Wall Street participant; progressive liberal.
Connecticut School Shooter: Registered Democrat; hated Christians.
Trending: WTF? The Weedkiller ROUNDUP Has Been Detected In These BEER & WINE Brands
Common thread is that all of these shooters were progressive liberal Democrats.
Also, of the worst killings in the last several decades, only one was a female, all the rest were boys, barely men. Their role models were rappers, action movies, comics and violent video games.
Our problem isn’t weapons, it’s boys without boundaries. Who live in ‘progressive’ households.
– via Macho Slavich [facebook] h/t S. A. Lachut(CNN) The Justice Department announced charges Monday against a federal contractor with Top Secret security clearance, after she allegedly leaked classified information to an online media outlet.
Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation in Georgia, is accused of "removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet," according to a federal complaint.
CNN is told by sources that the document Winner allegedly leaked is the same one used as the basis for the article published Monday by The Intercept, detailing a classified National Security Agency memo. The NSA report, dated May 5, provides details of a 2016 Russian military intelligence cyberattack on a US voting software supplier, though there is no evidence that any votes were affected by the hack.
A US official confirmed to CNN that The Intercept's document is a genuine, classified NSA document.
US intelligence officials tell CNN that the information has not changed the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, which found: "Russian intelligence obtained and maintained access to elements of multiple US state or local electoral boards. DHS assesses that the types of systems Russian actors targeted or compromised were not involved in vote tallying."
Prosecutors say when confronted with the allegations, Winner admitted to intentionally leaking the classified document -- and she was arrested June 3 in Augusta, Georgia.
An internal audit revealed Winner was one of six people who printed the document, but the only one who had email contact with the news outlet, according to the complaint. It further states that the intelligence agency was subsequently contacted by the news outlet on May 30 regarding an upcoming story, saying it was in possession of what appeared to be a classified document.
The Intercept's director of communications Vivian Siu told CNN the document was provided anonymously.
"As we reported in the story, the NSA document was provided to us anonymously. The Intercept has no knowledge of the identity of the source," Siu said.
"Releasing classified material without authorization threatens our nation's security and undermines public faith in government. People who are trusted with classified information and pledge to protect it must be held accountable when they violate that obligation," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement Monday.
Winner faces up to 10 years in prison for leaking classified information. Winner's court-appointed attorney, Titus Nichols, said a detention hearing will take place on Thursday in Augusta, where the judge will determine whether to release her on bond. Winner did not enter a plea in her initial appearance Monday.
Last month Attorney General Jeff Sessions slammed leaks in the wake of the Manchester attacks, saying: "We have already initiated appropriate steps to address these rampant leaks that undermine our national security."
Winner's mother said that her daughter is "touch and go" in an interview with CNN on Monday.
"I think she's trying to be brave for me," Billie Winner said. "I don't think she's seeing a light at the end of the tunnel."
She also said her daughter wasn't especially political and had not ever praised past leakers like Edward Snowden, to her knowledge. "She's never ever given me any kind of indication that she was in favor of that at all," her mother said. "I don't know how to explain it."
Nichols told CNN that Winner spent six years in the military, speaks Farsi and Pashtun, and has been with her current company since 2017. He added that he has not received any evidence from the government about the arrest warrant and case files, and hasn't seen evidence of a relationship between his client and the reporter.
"She's just been caught in the middle of something bigger than her," Nichols said.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the former Democratic vice presidential candidate, said on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" that people who leak classified information should face the full force of the law, but added that Americans need to know much more about alleged Russian attempts to influence the election.
"Somebody who leaks documents against laws has got to suffer the consequences" Kaine said. "But the American public is also entitled to know the degree to which Russia invaded the election to take the election away from American voters."
Kaine noted he knew of no evidence that showed Russia affected machine voting totals and said he was referring to intelligence assessments that Russia had acted to influence the election.
In October 2016, CNN reported that federal investigators believe Russian hackers were behind cyberattacks on a contractor for Florida's election system that may have exposed the personal data of Florida voters, according to US officials briefed on the probe. The hack of the Florida contractor came on the heels of hacks in Illinois, in which personal data of tens of thousands of voters may have been stolen, and one in Arizona, in which investigators believe the data of voters was likely exposed.
The October information appears to be part of what is contained in the new NSA document, but the document contains additional details.
Most significantly, as CNN reported at the time, and The Intercept also reports Monday based on the this document, that there is still no evidence any votes were affected by Russian hacking.Verizon Wireless said Thursday that it was preparing to charge a $2 “convenience fee” for customers who pay individual cellphone bills over the phone or on the Internet.
The new policy will go into effect Jan. 15, according to a Verizon statement. Customers who pay with an electronic check or enroll in an automatic payment option will be exempt from the fee. The company said it was encouraging people to use the free options.
“The fee will help allow us to continue to support these single bill payment options in these channels,” Verizon said.
Verizon Wireless follows a trend of Internet service providers, including Comcast, that are opting to charge fees to customers for phone payments. AT&T, its biggest rival, has not announced plans to impose charges for electronic payments.
Gerry Purdy, a principal analyst with MobileTrax, a market research firm, said it made sense that Verizon was charging for over-the-phone payments, because typically carriers must pay a third-party service to handle those transactions. But Internet payments are automatic and don’t require a third party, he said, so the fee is unusual.
“That’s the one that surprises me, because most people won’t charge you for paying on the Internet,” Mr. Purdy said. “When you book a plane ticket online, you don’t get charged a fee.”
Verizon may be imposing a $2 fee on one-time online payments in an effort to pressure customers to enroll in an automatic payment option, because it creates a higher probability that the payments will come in on time, Mr. Purdy said.Evidently, his first tweet about Michael Flynn‘s new cooperation with Robert Mueller‘s special counsel was not enough. Donald Trump is back on the presidential Twitter machine to complain about a legal “double standard” that has left Flynn’s life in ruins while allowing Hillary Clinton to get away with her private email scandal.
So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday “interrogation” with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times…and nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2017
Many people in our Country are asking what the “Justice” Department is going to do about the fact that totally Crooked Hillary, AFTER receiving a subpoena from the United States Congress, deleted and “acid washed” 33,000 Emails? No justice! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2017
So, lets break this down shall we? In these two tweets, the president defends Flynn, acknowledges his lies to federal investigators, trashes the “Justice” Department, and demands the Attorney General to investigate his vanquished political nemesis. The ramifications of these tweets may prove relevant for any possible obstruction of justice case against the White House.
Oh, and Trump also took a moment to cheer for the news that ABC has suspended Brian Ross for the major contextual mistake he made yesterday while covering the Flynn news.
Congratulations to @ABC News for suspending Brian Ross for his horrendously inaccurate and dishonest report on the Russia, Russia, Russia Witch Hunt. More Networks and “papers” should do the same with their Fake News! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2017
So the Russia investigation is still a “witch hunt,” even though Trump’s former National Security adviser has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about it.
[Image via screengrab]
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Do you want an iPad Mini without the iPad Mini price? Then Xiaomi thinks they can win you over with the Xiaomi Mi Pad 2.
This little 8-inch, $280 tablet is essentially an iPad Mini clone. On the outside, the two are nearly indistinguishable, and on the inside, Xiaomi has tweaked Android Android Skins Explained: How Do Hardware Makers Change Stock Android? Android Skins Explained: How Do Hardware Makers Change Stock Android? Hardware makers like to take Android and morph it into something that is entirely their own, but is this a good or a bad thing? Take a look and compare these different Android skins. Read More so much that it basically looks like iOS.
Chinese knock-offs don’t have the best reputation, but can Xiaomi buck that trend? Let’s take a closer look.
Specifications
Price: $280 from Xiaomi Device ($200 for the 16GB model)
$280 from Xiaomi Device ($200 for the 16GB model) Dimensions: 200mm x 133mm x 7mm (7.87in x 5.24 x 0.28 in)
200mm x 133mm x 7mm (7.87in x 5.24 x 0.28 in) Weight: 322g (0.71lb)
322g (0.71lb) Screen: 7.9″ IPS (2048px x 1536px) LCD display
7.9″ IPS (2048px x 1536px) LCD display Processor: 64-bit Quad-core 2.2Ghz Intel Atom x5-Z8500
64-bit Quad-core 2.2Ghz Intel Atom x5-Z8500 RAM: 2GB
2GB Storage: 64GB
64GB Battery: 6,190mAh
6,190mAh Camera: 8MP rear-facing, 5MP front-facing
8MP rear-facing, 5MP front-facing Operating System: Android 5.1 Lollipop with MIUI 7 overlay (Alternate version ships with Windows 10 instead)
Android 5.1 Lollipop with MIUI 7 overlay (Alternate version ships with Windows 10 instead) Extras: USB Type-C and fast-charging
Hardware
The Mi Pad 2 really looks and feels every bit like an iPad Mini — and that includes the premium aspect. It’s made from aluminum and is nice and light. Physically, it feels like a lot more high-end than it’s price would lead you to believe.
The power button and volume rocker are located along the upper right side, while you’ll find the headphone jack to the left side of the top. The left side is then completely bare, with the USB-Type C port occupying the bottom side of the device.
Three capacitive keys take up the lower bezel — Recents, Home, and Back — and the bezels along the side are quite thin, which, while visually appealing, does make the tablet a little difficult to hold with one hand.
Up top there’s a Mi logo above the screen to the left, the 5MP front-facing camera in the center, and an LED notification light to the right.
The back side just has a little Mi logo in the lower center, the 8MP rear-facing camera in the upper left, and two speakers along the very bottom.
Screen
Don’t worry about seeing pixels here. The better-than-HD resolution (2048px by 1536px) looks great on the 7.9″ display, and the IPS means that you get solid viewing angles. Brightness is pretty good, but by no means extraordinary. I’m impressed by the clarity given how cheap of a device this is.
Camera
Xiaomi managed to pack an 8MP camera onto the back of this tablet with a relatively low f/2.0 aperture, which makes for decent low-light shooting. The camera certainly won’t be winning any awards, but it’s average for a tablet — though there is no flash.
The front has a 5MP camera that can lead to some solid video calling and decent selfies. The camera’s interface is generally is pretty tweaked from stock Android but it has a very nice, clean look to it.
Speakers
Two tiny speakers flank the lower back of the Mi Pad 2, but they are shockingly loud. I was impressed by the sheer volume and the quality that it retained at full-blast. Obviously, audiophiles might be a bit disappointed, but for the average person, these speakers will deliver a great experience.
Software
This is Android, but… barely. Think Android modified as much as possible to resemble iOS, and then you’ll get a feel for what MIUI 7 is. Whether that’s a positive or a negative thing is up to you.
All your apps are right out and in the open — no app drawer in sight (though you could always download an alternative launcher). Swiping all the way to the left gives you a panel to keep widgets, if that’s your thing.
Unlike some other Chinese-made tablets, Xiaomi’s Mi Pad 2 doesn’t seem to have any built-in Chinese apps that you’ll need to hide away if you don’t speak Chinese. With the tablet set to English, you really only encounter English.
Plus, the Play Store is here! This means you have access to all the awesome apps How to Download and Update Apps on Android Phones and Tablets How to Download and Update Apps on Android Phones and Tablets Wondering how to download apps on Android? Need to install an update for an Android app? Here are the basics of installing and updating Android apps. Read More you would on any other Android device.
Pulling down the notification panel will blur out your screen a bit and present you with your list of notifications. One major difference is that your notifications won’t all appear on your lockscreen as they do in either Android or iOS. Swiping to the side reveals the Quick Settings panel (Xiaomi seems to have avoided doing anything Notification Center-like Stop Siri & Notification Center Giving Away Your iPhone Secrets Stop Siri & Notification Center Giving Away Your iPhone Secrets Leaving your iPhone on the table while you go to the bar is okay if it's locked, right? After all, your mates can't access information or post slanderous messages on Facebook... right? Read More ).
These buttons aren’t customizable but there is a music player widget, a brightness slider, a button to jump into the Settings app, and several tools like screenshot, WiFi, Bluetooth, rotation, etc. Two notable ones are the Read mode, which seems to turn the screen more red What Is a Blue Light Filter and Which App Works Best? What Is a Blue Light Filter and Which App Works Best? These blue light filter apps for Android will help you get a better night's sleep, even when using your device at night. Read More, and Buttons, which disables the capacitive keys so you can hold the tablet there (most likely for playing games).
Multitasking, which is done by tapping the Recents button to the left of the Home button, has also been redesigned to look more like it would on an iPad. Swipe horizontally through apps to switch between them, swipe up to clear them from memory, and swipe down to lock them into memory.
Even basic apps like the Clock have been completely redone, but they actually do like quite gorgeous. Some might even prefer this to the stock Android clock app or other alternatives 5 Social Alarm Apps to Help You Get out of Bed 5 Social Alarm Apps to Help You Get out of Bed If you really have a hard time waking up in the morning, tapping into your friend groups for extra alarm and reminder options might be just what you need. Read More.
Diving into the settings app, you can see that Xiaomi has opted for a two-panel approach, that works well on the 8″ screen. There’s not a whole lot of customization to be done here, but you can change the long-press actions for the capacitive keys, toggle the notification LED, access Child mode, control what apps start on bootup, activate double-tap to wake, and more.
One software feature that is noticeably missing, however, is device encryption. Google started automatically encrypting devices when they released 5.0 Lollipop, and on most devices it’s at least an option given that it’s a major privacy concern 8 Ways Upgrading to Android Lollipop Makes Your Phone More Secure 8 Ways Upgrading to Android Lollipop Makes Your Phone More Secure Our smartphones are full of sensitive information, so how can we keep ourselves safe? With Android Lollipop, which packs a big punch in the security arena, bringing in features that improve security across the board. Read More — but unfortunately, MIUI 7 just has no form of device encryption.
Basically, you’re getting the aesthetic of iOS with the functionality of Android, which honestly isn’t too bad of a deal.
Performance
Having been disappointed by cheap tablets like this in the past, I didn’t have high hopes for the Mi Pad 2, but I was pleasantly surprised. Animations were quick, touches were responsive, and multitasking was a breeze. In fact, if someone had handed me this tablet without a price tag, I never would’ve guess from the performance that it was a budget device.
That being said, it is hindered by some incompatibilities with apps. Major apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat all worked fine, but certain games couldn’t even be downloaded — I would just be met with the dreaded “This app is not compatible with your device” message.
I really can’t recommend this as a gaming tablet. Basic games like Stack played well, but even the higher performance games that I could download (like Asphalt 8) lagged consistently. Performance within the interface was solid, but within games was very weak.
Battery Life
The Mi Pad 2 is not battery life champion, but it’s not terrible. With the screen off, it consumes an extremely tiny amount of battery, which is useful for a tablet you leave around for extended periods of time. But when using it heavily, I got only 4 hours of screen time.
Your mileage may vary of course, but I found that using it moderately for messaging, watching YouTube, and browsing the web allowed me to get through the day just fine — but certainly no more than a day.
One upside is that the Mi Pad 2 supports the new USB Type-C What Is USB Type-C? What Is USB Type-C? Ah, the USB plug. It is as ubiquitous now as it is notorious for never being able to be plugged in right the first time. Read More, which is reversible and supports fast charging (which did in fact charge the device in well under 2 hours). Sure, it won’t work with your old micro-USB plugs, but it is future proof.
Should You Buy It?
The Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 does a lot right for its price. The $280 version that we reviewed offers solid performance, a good screen, great speakers, and a whopping 64GB of storage. On the other hand, Apple’s 64GB iPad mini goes for about $500.
You’re obviously making some concessions here. You won’t be able to use iMessage Does Apple Use Green Bubbles to Make You Hate Android Users? Does Apple Use Green Bubbles to Make You Hate Android Users? Blue bubbles and green bubbles might seem like a small distinction, but to thousands of Twitter users they aren't. Let's look at this phenomenon. Read More or unlock the device with your fingerprint — and gaming performance is a lot more limited — but if you can get by without those things, you could save a good chunk of change by going with the Mi Pad 2.
Our verdict of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 :
If you just want a nice, small tablet for browsing the web, watching videos, and using social apps — and you’re okay with an Apple-inspired design, go for it. However, if you’re looking for a gaming tablet or something with that more resembles an actual Android experience, look elsewhere. 7 10To most people the Orient Express is more an idea than a tangible entity. We are most familiar with its life in fiction and cinema: Hercule Poirot solved his most famous case on it, Alfred Hitchock's lady vanished from it and James Bond rode it from Istanbul to London.
Now, the latest iteration of the legendary train is chugging back to the big screen as director Kenneth Branagh tries his hand at remaking Agatha Christie's classic murder-mystery tale.
But what was the real Orient Express like, how did it first attain its aura of mystery and intrigue and what was the famous train's ultimate fate?
A Continental Vision
In 1865, a prominent Belgian banker's son named Georges Nagelmackers first envisioned "a train that would span a continent, running on a continuous ribbon of metal for more than 1,500 miles," as E. H. Cookridge writes in Orient Express: The Life and Times of the World's Most Famous Train. During a trip to America, Nagelmackers witnessed the many innovations in railway travel there—chief among them George Pullman's unprecedented, luxurious "sleeper cars"—and he returned determined to realize his vision.
In 1883, after a number of false starts, financial troubles and difficulties negotiating with various national railway companies, Nagelmackers's Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (wagons-lits being French for "sleeper cars") established a route from Paris to Istanbul, then called Constantinople. The newspapers dubbed it the "Orient Express"—though Istanbul was as far toward the "Orient" as this train would ever travel—and Nagelmackers embraced the name.
On October 4, the Orient Express set out on its first formal journey, with many journalists aboard to publicly marvel at the train's luxury and beauty. (Nagelmackers, a clever showman, even arranged to have shoddy, decaying old Pullman cars stand in contrast on the tracks adjacent to the Express as it left Paris's Gare de Strasbourg.) Aboard the train, the delighted passengers felt as though they'd entered one of Europe's finest hotels; they marveled at the intricate wooden paneling, deluxe leather armchairs, silk sheets and wool blankets for the beds. The journey from Paris to Istanbul lasted a little over 80 hours.
The King of Trains
Some kings traveling onboard the train infamously exhibited very odd behavior. Ferdinand of Bulgaria, scared to death of assassins, was observed locking himself in the bathroom. Belgium's King Leopold II rode the train to Istanbul after making elaborate arrangements to infiltrate a Turkish man's harem. The king of Bulgaria, an amateur engineer, insisted that he be allowed to drive the train through his country, which he did at perilous speeds. Czar Nicholas II demanded that special cars be built for his visit to France, and some decades later the French President Paul Deschanel clumsily tumbled from one of these cars in the dead of night, an event that prompted such ridicule that he eventually resigned.
In its heyday, the train duly earned another nickname: "Spies' Express." Continent-hopping secret agents loved the train, writes Cookridge, since it simply "made their jobs so much easier and their travels much more comfortable." One of the most remarkable of these agents was an Englishman named Robert Baden-Powell, who posed as a lepidopterist collecting samples in the Balkans. His intricate sketches of the forms and colors of butterfly wings were actually coded representations of the fortifications he spotted along the Dalmatian Coast, which served as great aids to the British and Italian navies during World War I.
Though the two World Wars severely limited Orient Express service, a single car played a fascinating symbolic role in both. On November 11, 1918, German officers signed a surrender document in an Allied commander's Wagons-Lits car, which he used as a mobile conference room. The French proudly exhibited the car in Paris until June 1940, when Hitler ordered that it be hauled to the precise spot where the Germans had been forced to surrender 22 years before; there he dictated the terms of French surrender. Four years later, when Hitler's loss seemed imminent, he ordered that the car be blown up, lest it "become a trophy of the Allies once more."
A True Original
What remains of the Orient Express? The pedigree of the train became rather complicated in later years, as Nagelmackers's original line spawned similar ones following slightly different routes, and as other providers began to use the phrase "Orient Express" for promotional purposes. The Direct Orient Express, the Simplon Orient Express (the train Poirot rode), the Nostalgic Orient Express and many others have existed over the years. One descendant of the original Orient Express became rather shabby, crowded and cheap—a disillusioned journalist called it a "roving tenement." Today's Venice-Simplon Orient Express aims for the opulence of the original, and for the right price, a person can still go for a ride in its restored original Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits cars.
But attempts to maintain the old glamour of the Orient Express have largely fallen into self-parody—promoters of the line have encouraged patrons to dress in 1920s garb, and even once staged a murder mystery game during a journey. Writing in 1976 for the Los Angeles Times, one reporter meets a tired and cranky contessa who says, on the trip's last leg, "If there are going to be any murders on this train, it will be the Turk that wakes me up at 5 a.m."
Modern versions of the Orient Express are a far cry from the original that Cookridge lovingly and nostalgically portrays: "Kings and crooks, millionaires and refugees, big-game hunters and smugglers, prima donnas and courtesans traveled on it; tycoons and financiers clinched their deals across its sumptuous dining tables; diplomats, spies, and revolutionaries on board the train moved secretively to their moments of history." The era of such intrigue and excitement aboard the Orient Express is over. But in a world that becomes more connected every day—and one in which there is no shortage of luxury travel—much of Nagelmackers's vision lives on.
The Orient Express became the train of choice for Europe's wealthy and high-born, a rolling symbol of the economic disparities of its age. "Peasants in half-a-dozen countries would pause in their work in the fields and gape at the glittering cars and the supercilious faces behind the windows," writes Cookridge. It came to be called "the King of Trains and the Train of Kings."Advice prepared by department officials for the next minister of foreign affairs says Canada has a "strong national interest in sustaining" the United Nations as a "means of achieving our foreign policy priorities."
The document obtained by CBC News, marked "secret" and dated this month, offers an assessment of the challenges facing the UN, including whether the multilateral organization can cope with the demands placed upon it.
And it warns a "diminished UN would constrain Canada's ability to advance its priorities."
The Conservative government has at times expressed disdain for the UN, although it remains one of the organization's top 10 financial contributors.
As prime minister, Stephen Harper has chosen at times to skip the annual opening session even while he was in New York, although he addressed it last year as well as in 2010 and 2006. (This is not far out of line with previous prime ministers; Brian Mulroney addressed the General Assembly three out of eight years, Jean Chrétien five out of 10.)
In 2012, then foreign affairs minister John Baird criticized the UN at the General Assembly for spending too much time on itself.
At that time, the Conservatives also decided not to bid again on a Security Council seat after losing in 2010.
The foreign affairs document suggests Canada declare its candidacy for a potential seat on the council as soon as possible, which it notes is realistically not until 2023-24. The document says this would signal a " |
riverbanks and another four further afield, each with a flush toilet and separate shower and braai facilities. Hot water is available, but you need to bring fresh drinking water with you. The Bruintjieskraal Campsite is an excellent base for exploring your surroundings from on scenic walks, or swimming, fishing and game viewing.
Bruintjieskraal Campsite is best suited to families and couples.
Bruintjieskraal Campsite Bookings: Call 084 515 0993 or email info@bruintjieskraal.co.za
Find it: Bruintjieskraal on Google Maps
Motswedi Luxury Campsite, Mokala National Park
Heaven for nature lovers and hikers, Mokala National Park offers “glamping” in a beautiful landscape in close proximity to wildlife. The luxurious Motswedi Campsite is home to just six camping spots, all of them are naturally fenced by camel thorn trees. Each campsite features its own ablution facilities complete with a solar-powered geyser, kitchen area equipped with a two-plate gas burner, a gas fridge/freezer, outdoor braai and washing up area. There’s even a breakfast nook overlooking a waterhole where animals come to drink, which is just perfect for game viewing. Even with the comfort of the camp, there is no fuel, electricity point or shop here, so come prepared. And if all else fails, the lodge has its own restaurant if you’re in desperate need of a bite to eat. A knee-high electric game fence keeps large animals at a safe distance.
Motswedi Luxury Campsite is best suited to higher budget campers.
Motswedi Luxury Campsite Bookings: Call central reservations on 012 428 9111 or 082 233 9111 or email reservations@sanparks.org
Find it: Mokala National Park on Google Maps
Beaverlac Camping, Cederberg
This comfortable, pet-friendly campsite is a great choice for a fun weekend getaway from Cape Town. Cosy up in the foothills of the Olifants River Mountains just 2 hours from the Mother City – Beaverlac offers excellent hiking opportunities and a chance to breathe some fresh air in a picturesque natural setting. It’s a great place to enjoy mountain biking, hiking and exploring the wilds. There are two scenic mountain bike trails, one 14km long and another shorter, 10km trail for beginners. The famous 1-day leopard hiking trail is well worth a try, with stops at spectacular rock pools and waterfalls en-route. There are also numerous caves to explore, offering great rock art sightings.
You don’t have to walk far to enjoy the area’s stunning rock pools – the closest is a five-minute walk from the camp and the rest are just another 20 minutes from your tent. The campsite itself is rustic and peaceful with ablution facilities, some offering hot water, braai areas and a well-stocked shop.
Beaverlac Camping is best suited to friends.
Beaverlac Bookings: Call 022 931 2945 or email info@beaverlac.co.za
Find it: Beaverlac on Google Maps
Buccaneers, Cintsa
A favourite amongst nomadic backpackers and outdoorsmen, Buccaneers is located on the spectacular Wild Coast on the eastern shores of South Africa. The campsite is hemmed in behind the giant sand dunes of Cintsa Beach, bordered by giant guava trees overlooking the lagoon from the west. The campsite at Buccaneers is equipped with one of the most awesome communal kitchen areas I’ve ever seen! Buccaneers also offer chalets, a restaurant and lively bar, swimming pool, canoes and booze cruises. Of course, the beach, renowned for its breathtaking setting, is a big drawcard and it’s a stone’s throw away from where you camp. Guests here enjoy a variety of daily activities, most of which are free. In addition, you can learn to surf, take a horse trail, go mountain biking or visit a traditional Xhosa village. Buccaneers, Cintsa is ideal for a fun-filled camping holiday with friends, especially over the New Year period.
Buccaneers is best suited to friends.
Buccaneers Bookings: Call 043 734 3012 or email buccaneers@cintsa.com
Find it: Buccaneers on Google Maps
Tsendze Rustic Campsites, Northern Kruger National Park
Located just 7km from Mopani Rest Camp in the famous Kruger National Park, this rustic camp boasts 30 campsites set out in two circles, each surrounding excellent kitchen and ablution facilities. The facilities are basic; hot water, electricity and lights are provided via solar power and gas. This Tsendze Camp, one of the newest in the Park, has quickly become very popular for its superb setting and excellent bird and game life, including elephant, buffalo, zebra and various antelope. Lions and leopard have also been spotted here. Campsites offer privacy – another plus – and the feeling of being in the midst of the wilds is what makes Tzendze so special.
Tsendze Rustic Campsites is suitable for anyone looking for camping accommodation in the Kruger Park.
Tsendze Camp Kruger Park Bookings: Call 013 735 6535 / 6
Find it: Tsendze Campsites on Google Maps
Stoney Ridge Campsite, Colenso
If you’re heading for the scenic Natal Midlands, this is the ideal campsite. Stoney Ridge is located amongst 6,000 acres of unspoiled natural beauty on a private game farm offering superb game viewing and bird life, as well as 4X4 trails. The campsite is located in shady environs on the banks of the Bloukrans River and offers excellent ablution facilities. It’s popular with 4X4 enthusiasts, both for off-road training and for the excellent trails in the area. Campers can enjoy the facilities of the restaurant if they wish.
Stoney Ridge Campsite is best suited to families.
Stoney Ridge Bookings: Call 036 354 7012 / 073 697 5108 or email info@stoneyridge.co.za
Find it: Stoney Ridge on Google Maps
Albert Falls, Pietermaritzburg
This family-oriented campsite is located just 24km from Pietermaritzburg in the 3000-hectare Albert Falls Dam and Game Reserve. Excellent bass fishing, and watersports on the dam are all part of the magic in this idyllic setting. The campsite offers camping for at least 20 tents and caravans, well-maintained ablution facilities with hot and cold water, electric lights and power points.
Albert Falls Campsite is best suited to families and friends.
Albert Falls Bookings: Call 033 569 1202 or email albert.falls@msinsi.co.za
Find it: Albert Falls Dam on Google Maps
Storms River Mouth Rest Camp, Tsitsikamma National Park
If you’re planning to visit one of the most breathtaking regions in South Africa, the Tsitsikamma National Park on the spectacular Garden Route is an ideal choice. Storms River Mouth Rest Camp offers an unbeatable setting stretching 5km towards the seashore in the eastern section of the Park, where dolphins frolic in the waves and the Southern Right Whale makes it presence known. Guests here have access to 80km of dramatic rugged coastline and every facility for a pleasant camping experience. There’s a communal ablution block, Laundromat, kitchen facilities, restaurant and store. But that’s not the reason you’re here. The birdlife is unbeatable and Otter’s and animals native to the region are waiting to be discovered on the shore and in the forest.
Storms River Mouth Rest Camp is best suited to couples, families and friends.
Storms River Mouth Rest Camp Bookings: Call 042 281 1607 or email grace.valela@sanparks.org
Find it: Storms River Mouth Camp on Google Maps
Also read: 30 Amazing Ways to Explore the Garden Route
Glen Reenen Rest Camp, Golden Gate Highlands National Park
The magnificent Golden Gate National Park is named after the exquisite shades of gold reflected by the sun on its famous sandstone cliffs. Nestled here is the popular Glen Reenen Rest Camp, offering the ideal base from which to explore the Park’s 11 600 hectares where a variety of wild animals roam free and exquisite birds have made their home. The campsite has a coveted spot in the Park, which is located in the breathtaking Maluti Mountains in the Northern Free State just 22km from Clarens. Its landmark is the famous Brandwag Overhang, a golden rock that stands sentry at the entrance.
Found in the trees on the banks of a stream, the campsite offers full ablution and braai facilities as well as power points at some of the sites. Hiking and mountain biking are common activities, but the exquisite setting is reason enough to come here and relax.
Glen Reenen Rest Camp is best suited to families and couples.
Glen Reenen Campsite Bookings: Call 058 255 0909 / 058 255 1000 or email goldengate@sanparks.org
Find it: Glen Reenen Camp on Google Maps
Mac Nicol’s Caravan Park, Bazley Beach
From the moment you arrive at Mac Nicol’s on the South Coast of KZN everything is taken care of for you – surely this is how most camping trips should start? The staff helps you erect your tent while you enjoy a cup of tea and the sea air – relaxation is a natural progression of events. Located less than 100km from Durban on the magnificent KwaZulu-Natal coastline just 90m from beautiful Bazley Beach and the Ifafa Lagoon, the campsite offers every facility for the perfect holiday… spotless ablutions, laundry stations, entertainment, communal braais and lots of facilities for the kids. The chalets have a four-star rating, but you can enjoy all the benefits even if you’re camping here.
Mac Nicol’s Caravan Park is best suited to families.
Mac Nicol’s Caravan Park Bookings: Call 039 977 8863 or email macnicol@scottburgh.co.za
Find it: Mac Nicol’s Caravan Park on Google Maps
Soetwater Resort & Medusa Caravan Park, Kommetjie
This stunning little coastal resort between Kommetjie and Scarborough in the Cape is a very popular weekend retreat. With a rocky coastline offering a few sandy bays and two artificial tide pools, swimming is popular here and watching fishermen and crayfish divers return with their catch is another regular pastime. You can also take a walk to the top of Slangkop to see an abandoned radar station from the Second World War, visit the quaint fishing towns of Kalk Bay and Simonstown, or explore famous Cape Point. The resort itself is located in the southern part of the Cape Peninsula on Lighthouse Road, an undeveloped coastal terrace that is preserved for its biodiversity. There are a choice of campsites here including those with, and those without electricity.
Soetwater Resort & Medusa Caravan Park is best suited to families.
Medusa Caravan Park Bookings: Call 021 783 4146 or email resort.bookings@capetown.gov.za
Find it: Medusa Caravan Park on Google Maps
Secret Falls, Tulbagh
Nestling in the foothills of the Groot Winterhoek Mountains amongst 150 hectares of spectacular countryside, this little campsite is only accessible via four by four vehicles. Located just 100km from Cape Town, Secret Falls offers room for just seven tents, but the site also offers a private swimming pool. This spectacular area is home to some excellent hiking trails and mountain biking is also popular here. This is camping in unmatched scenery for those who love the great outdoors and are happy to rough it.
Secret Falls Campsite is best suited to couples.
Secret Falls Tulbagh Bookings: Call 082 393 4704 or email marcnadia@mweb.co.za
Find it: Secret Falls Tulbagh on Google Maps
Cobham Campsite, Southern Drakensberg
Camping in the Southern Drakensberg doesn’t get much better than this! Cobham Campsite is located 11km from Himeville Village in the southern part of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park, about 150km from Pietermaritzburg. The campsite is rustic and sites aren’t designated, so you can pick your own spot. There are various braai areas and the ablution blocks do offer hot water. The location is quite beautiful and offers great hiking, bird watching, fly fishing and swimming.
Cobham Campsite is best suited to families and couples.
Cobham Campsite Bookings: Call 033 702 0831
Find it: Cobham Campsite on Google Maps (approximate location)
Waterval en Laatson, Porterville
Set at the foot of the Olifants River Mountains 4km from Porterville in the Cederberg, the Waterval en Laatson Campsite offers an opportunity to get up close to game and birdlife. Named after the famous hiking trail which covers 22 Waterfalls along the way, the campsite here offers a rustic bush setting and a choice of sites with or without electricity. Campers can go game viewing in the nearby Cederberg Leopard Conservation area; enjoy superb bass fishing and mountain bike trails. There’s even an animal farm for the kids. The area is famous for its rock paintings in various caves and there’s a beautiful pool and waterfall close by.
22 Waterfalls Campsite is best suited to families.
22 Waterfalls Bookings: Call 022 931 2339 / 082 878 1358
Find it: 22 Waterfalls on Google Maps
Cape Vidal, KZN
Camping in the exceptional wetland beauty of the Isimangaliso Wetland Park is a unique experience, and this little campsite, which offers just 8 sites, is the ideal location from which to experience the magic and beauty of the surroundings. Go snorkelling, swimming, fishing or bird watching, laze on the beach or enjoy whale and bird watching. This exquisite coastal retreat is located in a sheltered bay offering pristine beaches and your choice of adventure along hiking trails exploring the fascinating wetland area. View hippo, crocodile, elephants and buffalo, loggerhead and leatherback turtles, playful dolphins and elusive whales. The Cape Vidal campsite offers shady spots, ablution facilities and electricity plug points. It is located 37km from St Lucia.
Cape Vidal is best suited to families and friends.
Cape Vidal Bookings: Call 033 845 1000 / 1071/75 / 1001
Find it: Cape Vidal on Google Maps
Gariep Dam
The perfect stopover point halfway between Cape Town and Johannesburg is Gariep, just off the main highway 200km from Bloemfontein. Camping here is at Gariep Dam, the largest dam in the country. The dam borders a huge nature reserve of the same name where many buck species and zebra roam free. Whether you’re using this location as a stopover, or are planning to spend some time here, there’s plenty to do, including various water sports, fishing, sunset cruises and excellent game viewing by boat. The campsite offers 122 sites in all, 16 of which have their own ablution blocks. Other facilities include braai areas or you can enjoy the restaurant located here, as the resort also offers chalet and caravan accommodation.
Gariep Dam Campsite is best suited to families and friends.
Gariep Dam Camping Bookings: Call 012 423 5600
Find your Mango flight to Bloemfontein with Africa’s leading online Travel Agency, Travelstart!
Find it: Gariep Dam on Google Maps
Vic Bay Campsite, Garden Route
Victoria Bay is an immaculate alcove located between George and Wilderness on the spectacular Garden Route. The tiny inlet, squeezed between high cliffs, offers beautiful sea views from the elevated grassy Vic Bay Campsite. Surfers love it here as do fishermen. The beach offers safe swimming and an excellent restaurant. There are 36 campsites, many of which have individual ablutions and all with tap water. The campsite also offers electricity.
Vic Bay Campsite is best suited to families, friends and couples.
Vic Bay Campsite Bookings: Call 044 889 0081 / 073 800 7096
Find it: Vic Bay Campsite on Google Maps
Check out: Fun Things to do Along the Garden Route
Warm Baths Camping, Gauteng
A total of 300 camping sites (15 luxury + 285 caravan sites) means Forever Warm Baths is well-equipped to handle the crowds that flock to this very popular location in the peak season. Guests are guaranteed a comfortable camping experience with every facility available to camp at ease. Warm Baths is a major tourist attraction, because of the mineral baths, and this luxury campsite makes visiting this region of Limpopo a pleasure. With excellent ablution facilities, the resort, which is very popular with families, is located close to Johannesburg and offers an exciting bush atmosphere. Over weekends and school holidays,you have to stay for a minimum of two nights.
Warm Baths Campsite is best suited to families and friends.
Warm Baths Camping Bookings: Call 012 423 5600
Find it: Warm Baths Camping on Google Maps
Augrabies Falls Rest Camp
If you want to camp inside the remote Augrabies Falls National Park, this is the only place available. No matter – it’s an excellent campsite that has found its rightful place amongst the regions iconic Quiver trees. It’s spacious and well-organised, and the ideal base from which to explore the Augrabies Falls National Park at leisure. There’s a restaurant here, a choice of three swimming pools, a central area with a fully stocked shop and a petrol station. A highlight of a visit here is the breathtaking views offered from viewpoints along wooden walkways in front of the camp. The 56-metre Augrabies Falls is quite impressive too, especially when the Orange River is in flood. The walking trails in the area are another big draw card.
Augrabies Falls Rest Camp is best suited to families and couples.
Augrabies Fall Rest Camp Bookings: Call 054 452 9205 / 9200 or email reservations@sanparks.org
Find it: Augrabies Fall Camp on Google Maps
Spekboom Tented Rest Camp, Addo Elephant National Park
Located in one of South Africa’s most famous national parks, Addo Elephant National Park near Port Elizabeth, Spekboom Camp offers some glam camping in the bush. Tents are already set up so there’s no need to bring your own. In fact, they are more like cabins than tents; you’ll enjoy real beds on wooden floors, towels and cookware to make your stay more comfortable. In addition, the camp has its own watering hole, so you will see elephants, buffalo and warthogs up close when they come to drink. The camp is located in a fenced area inside the Spekboom Hide in the main game area of the park, around 27km from Matyholweni Gate and Camp, and 12km from Addo Rest Camp.
This tiny camp comprises just five fixed tents on decks with two beds, two chairs, a table, braai unit and solar-powered light per tent. Ablution facilities including communal showers, and toilets are within walking distance of the tents. Although there is a curfew at the camp and you cannot go on night game drives, you will still see various nocturnal animals come to drink at the camp’s waterhole and the stars are so clear in the sky they look as if you can reach out and touch them.
You can bring your own linen and cooking equipment with you, or hire cutlery, crockery, cooking utensils and bedding. Guests are provided with dishwashing liquid and a cloth but must bring their own firewood and torches.
Spekboom Campsite is best suited to couples.
Spekboom Tented Rest Camp Bookings: Call 042 233 8600 or email addoenquiries@sanparks.org
Find it: Spekboom Tented Camp on Google Maps (approximate location)
Berg River Resort, Paarl
Camping in the famous Winelands is not only scenic, but it’s also loads of fun for the whole family. Berg River Resort is located in the midst of this spectacular area in the Paarl Valley, just 60km from Cape Town, between Paarl, Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. The resort offers a variety of accommodation options, including a campsite, and various facilities include an Olympic-sized swimming pool, children’s pool and waterslide as well as the river itself, where guests can enjoy swimming and canoeing.
The campsite offers 150 stands with grass for tents or caravans, most of which also have electrical outlets. There’s a café for daily essentials, a play area where kids can enjoy ball games, an animal farmyard with goats and donkeys and free trampoline and tractor rides for the kids. The area is a joy to explore, with a number of museums, art galleries, restaurants and wine farms nearby as well as the Drakenstein Lion Park, Bien Donne Herb Farm and the Paarl Bird Sanctuary nearby.
Berg River Resort is best suited to families.
Berg River Resort Bookings: Call 021 863 1650 / 52 or email info@bergriverresort.co.za
Find it: Berg River Resort on Google Maps
Pitjane Fishing Camp, Borakalalo National Park
Located on the northern shores of the Klipvoor Dam in the Borakalalo National Park, this excellent campsite is shaded with Acacia trees and offers traditional reed-walled ablutions with flush toilets, showers and hot and cold water. Although it’s mainly used by avid fishermen, the rustic campsite is an ideal spot from which to explore the spectacular eco game and nature reserve. There are 20 campsites scattered throughout the grounds, each with its own braai area and running water. Visitors enjoy relaxing in the spectacular surrounds, fishing, birding, going on picnics and guided walks.
Pitjane Fishing Camp Bookings: Call 012 729 4101 / 2 or email borakalalo@mtnloaded.co.za
Find it: Pitjane Fishing Camp on Google Maps
There you have it – 25 of the best South African campsites. Where are you planning to go camping this summer? Let us know in the comments below and remember to post your camping pics on our Facebook page!
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All information on this blog page was correct at the time of publishing and may change at any time without prior notice. Travelstart will not be held liable for loss or inconvenience resulting from the use of out-dated or incorrectly noted information.by
I have come to the conclusion that capitalism is successful primarily because it can impose the majority of the costs associated with its economic activities on outside parties and on the environment. In other words, capitalists make profits because their costs are externalized and born by others. In the US, society and the environment have to pick up the tab produced by capitalist activity.
In the past when critics raised the question about external costs, that is, costs that are external to the company although produced by the company’s activities, economists answered that it was not really a problem, because those harmed by the activity could be compensated for the damages that they suffered. This statement was intended to reinforce the claim that capitalism served the general welfare. However, the extremely primitive nature of American property rights meant that rarely would those suffering harm be compensated. The apologists for capitalism saved the system in the abstract, but not in reality.
My recent article, “The Destruction of Inlet Beach,” made it clear to me that very little, if any, of the real estate development underway would be profitable if the external costs imposed on existing property holders had to be compensated.
Consider just a few examples. When a taller house is constructed in front of one of less height, the Gulf view of the latter is preempted. The damage to the property value of the house whose view has been blocked is immense. Would the developer build such a tall structure if the disadvantaged existing property had to be compensated for the decline in its value?
When a house is built that can sleep 20 or 30 people next to a family’s vacation home or residence, the noise and congestion destroys the family’s ability to enjoy their own property. If they had to be compensated for their loss, would the hotel, disquised as a “single family dwelling” have been built?
Walton County, Florida, is so unconcerned about these vital issues that it has permitted construction of structures that can accommodate 30 people, but provide only three parking spaces. Where do the rental guests park? How many residents will find themselves blocked in their own driveways or with cars parked on their lawns?
As real estate developers build up congestion, travel times are extended. What formerly was a 5 minute drive from Inlet Beach to Seaside along 30-A can now take 45 minutes during summer and holidays, possibly longer. Residents and visitors pay the price of the developers’ profits in lost time. The road is a two-lane road that cannot be widened. Yet Walton County’s planning department took no account of the gridlock that would emerge.
As the state and federal highways serving the area were two lanes, over-development made hurricane evacuation impossible. Florida and US taxpayers had to pay for turning two lane highways into four lane highways in order to provide some semblance of hurricane evacuation. After a decade, the widening of highway 79, which runs North-South is still not completed to its connection to Interstate 10. Luckily, there have been no hurricanes.
If developers had to pay these costs instead of passing them on to taxpayers, would their projects still be profitable?
Now consider the external costs of offshoring the production of goods and services that US corporations, such as Apple and Nike, market to Americans. When production facilities in the US are closed and the jobs are moved to China, for example, the American workers lose their jobs, medical coverage, careers, pension provision, and often their self-respect when they are unable to find comparable employment or any employment. Some fall behind in their mortgage and car payments and lose their homes and cars. The cities, states, and federal governments lose the tax base as personal income and sales taxes decline and as depressed housing and commercial real estate prices in the abandoned communities depress property taxes. Social security and Medicare funding is harmed as payroll tax deposits fall. State and local infrastructure declines. Possibly crime rises. Safety net needs rise, but expenditures are cut as tax revenues decline. Municipal and state workers find their pensions at risk. Education suffers. All of these costs greatly exceed Apple’s and Nike’s profits from substituting cheaper foreign labor for American labor. Contradicting the neoliberal claims, Apple’s and Nike’s prices do not drop despite the collapse in labor costs that the corporations experience.
A country that was intelligently governed would not permit this. As the US is so poorly governed, the executives and shareholders of global corporations are greatly enriched because they can impose the costs associated with their profits on external third parties.
The unambigious fact is that US capitalism is a mechanism for looting the many for the benefit of the few. Neoliberal economics was constructed in order to support this looting. In other words, neoliberal economists are whores just like the Western print and TV media.
Yet, Americans are so insouciant that you will hear those who are being looted praise the merits of “free market capitalism.”
So far we have barely scratched the surface of the external costs that capitalism imposes. Now consider the polution of the air, soil, waterways, and oceans that result from profit-making activities. Consider the radioactive wastes pouring out of Fukushima since March 2011 into the Pacific Ocean. Consider the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico from agricultural chemical fertilizer run-off. Consider the destruction of the Apalachicola, Florida, oyster beds from the restricted river water that feeds the bay due to overdevelopment upstream. Examples such as these are endless. The corporations responsible for this destruction bear none of the costs.
If it turns out that global warming and ocean acidification are consequences of capitalism’s carbon-based energy system, the entire world could end up dead from the external costs of capitalism.
Free market advocates love to ridicule economic planning, and Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers actually said that “markets are self-regulating.” There is no sign anywhere of this self-regulation. Instead, there are external costs piled upon external costs. The absence of planning is why over-development has made 30-A dysfunctional, and it is why over-development has made metropolitan areas, such as Atlanta, Georgia, dysfunctional. Planning does not mean the replacement of markets. It means the provision of rules that produce rational results instead of shifting costs of development onto third parties.
If capitalism had to cover the cost of its activities, how many of the activities would pay?
As capitalists do not have to cover their external costs, what limits the costs?
Once the external costs exceed the biosphere’s ability to process the waste products associated with external costs, life ends.
We cannot survive an unregulated capitalism with a system of primitive property rights. Ecological economists such as Herman Daly understand this, but neoliberal economists are apologists for capitalist looting. In days gone by when mankind’s footprint on the planet was light, what Daly calls an “empty world,” productive activities did not produce more wastes than the planet could cleanse. But the heavy foot of our time, what Daly calls a “full world,” requires extensive regulation. The Trump administration’s program of rolling back environmental protection, for example, will multiply external costs. To claim that this will increase economic growth is idiotic. As Daly (and Michael Hudson) emphasize, the measure known as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is so flawed that we do not know whether the increased output costs more to produce than it is worth. GDP is really a measure of what has been looted without reference to the cost of the looting. Environmental deregulation means that capitalists can treat the environment as a garbage dump. The planet can become so toxic that it cannot recover.
In the United States and generally across the Western world, property rights exist only in a narrow, truncated form. A developer can steal your view forever and your solitude for the period his construction requires. If the Japanese can have property rights in views, in quiet which requires noise abatement, and in sun fall on their property, why can’t Americans? After all, we are alleged to be the “exceptional people.”
But in actual fact, Americans are the least exceptional people in human history. Americans have no rights at all. We hapless insignificant beings have to accept whatever capitalists and their puppet government impose on us. And we are so stupid we call it “Freedom and Democracy America.”I have no idea what Ben Harper's music is technically "labeled" but it feels like funk, acoustic, chill to me. The lyrics are always an intriguing ride, and I love the longer songs that add a little jam time because the band that backs Harper up is crazy fun to listen to.
As for Ben Harper's voice it soothes all the aches of the day.
Ben Harper never dissappoints. And some goon recently said that Harperr was just there, well I popped into my car and the passenger was nodding and visibly enjoying the tunage, they turned and said "What is this, it feels good." Yeah.
I like Ground on Down, Gold to Me (time to jam) Burn One Day (herbal intentions), Really like the message and the beat to People Lead and of course I Firmly stand behind that you must Fight For Your Mind.
This album is for the little rebel in you.I am a: * Choose Option Male Female Looking for: * Choose Option Male Female Either Country: * Choose One United States Canada United Kingdom Australia Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ashmore and Cartier Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Baker Island Bangladesh Barbados Bassas da India Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegowina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Coral Sea Islands Costa Rica Cote D'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Europa Island Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France France, Metropolitan French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Gaza Strip Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Glorioso Islands Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard and Mc Donald Islands Honduras Hong Kong Howland Island Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran (Islamic Republic of) Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Jan Mayen Japan Jarvis Island Jersey Johnston Atoll Jordan Juan de Nova Island Kazakhstan Kenya Kingman Reef Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Man Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Midway Islands Miscellaneous (French) Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Navassa Island Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island North Korea Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory Palmyra Atoll Panama Papua New Guinea Paracel Islands Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda S. Korea Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain Spratly Islands Sri Lanka St. Helena St. Pierre and Miquelon Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tromelin Island Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State (Holy See) Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Wake Island Wallis and Futuna Islands West Bank Western Sahara Western Samoa World Yemen Yugoslavia Zaire Zambia Zimbabwe Born on: * Year 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Array ( [0] => Month [01] => Jan [02] => Feb [03] => Mar [04] => Apr [05] => May [06] => Jun [07] => Jul [08] => Aug [09] => Sep [10] => Oct [11] => Nov [12] => Dec ) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Select Username: * Create Password: * Re-enter Password: * E-mail: * Re-enter E-mail: * NoLongerLonely.com Newsletter I agree to the Terms & ConditionsSilent Hill is one of the most memorable survival horror games ever made. They get weirder with every iteration but they still stay scary. The franchise has tried to break into movies, with mixed results. Silent Hill: Requiem is the latest attempt and the crowdfunded film is taking the game to movie franchise in a whole new direction.
The Walking Dead Takes on Hollywood in New Spinoff Cobalt
Viewers may notice something a little off about the film. In that the two minute trailer, it doesn't actually look like a film at all. It very heavily resembles a game's cut scene. This was done purposely by Gareth Morgan, the writer/director of this eerie take on the popular game. It almost has a Sin City feel to it.
According to Dread Central, the premise of the new film is that the Otherworld has broken free of its constraints and is bleeding into our world. People who have faced the madness of Silent Hill before (and survived) are brought back to try and fight its return. It is set in present times.
Deadlands to Tell New Tales In New Graphic Novel
The first Silent Hill movie adaptation came out in 2006 and was followed by a not so great sequel. It did have Pyramid Head and Jon Snow though, so there was that. The first game however, came out in 1999 and the first movie roughly follows it.
Silent Hill: Requiem was crowdfunded and is being produced by Zenithfilms. It appears to be their first full length feature. There's no word on when the film will come out but it is currently in post-production. Check out the trailer below.Long exposure shot at night. That's the moon light from the left, and camp fire that lid the left portion of the photo. It reminds me of the way Dragonstone was described in the books.
In reality, it was a dark night with only the moon light and tungsten lighting from the beach front establishments. The "mist" were actually the ebb and flow of the tides washing over the rocks and lit only by the moon under a long exposure. Even at the camera's maximum time setting, (I didn't bring my |
are helping our membership maintain those standards of conduct that are expected of everyone."
NASCAR will handle situations of misdemeanor and/or felonies on a case-by-case basis, and the sanctioning body will look at the outcome of the civilian courts as well.
NASCAR members include drivers, team owners, crew members, officials and NASCAR employees.Share Share
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Are you aware that HTML5 is captivating the web by leaps and bounds? This new language is used for displaying the content on net. One can also add in audios, videos, various fonts, web graphics, drag and drop, animations to make your pages more colorful and informative. It is simply a renewed and much better version of the XHML1 or HTML4 and is also compatible to those versions.
The online sprite tool box compresses your image and puts your image in a sprite. This compression will definitely increase the speed of your images and the time of loading. The 3D sketch tool makes use of HTML Canvas for creating a 3D drawing. This is done by holding down the SPACE bar and then dragging it horizontally with the cursor. Drawing dashed lines and making the drawing to vibrate can be easily done with this. The velocity sketch tool is an exceptional online drawing tool from HTML5. One can make strange web things with this tool. Designers are sure to make some new and creative innovations out of this. The font testing tool is really good when you want to see web pages with a new font keeping. You can do this by taking font.ttf files to the top of the toolbar to appear in the list.
The pattern generator tool is good for web designers to make header backgrounds and pages. There are numerous options for you to choose from and is also easy to use. The X-Ray tool lets you see the particulars of pages of any webpage. This can be done by dragging the bookmark let on their site to your bookmarks. You can investigate by visiting the webpage, then click X-ray book mark and then your desired element. Automation plays well on various mobile or smart phones because it is based totally on HTML5 with no flash used.
The online HTML5 Tools audio maker tool brings in new features of the audio. With this the use of audio power will increase in websites. A similar online HTML5 video maker tool has been launched to increase the use of video for different websites. There are also various powerful animation tools for working online as well as offline. Some of the latest versions of online tools are not well-known to web designers.
Online HTML5 Tools
Sketch in 3D With Animating Lines on HTML5 canvas
Spritebox – Create CSS from Sprite Images
font dragr – Drag and drop font testing
Patternizer – Stripe Pattern Generator Tool
Impress your audience with animated websites and web presentations. With Slides, we don’t make you start from an empty slate. All you have to do is to pick the elements you like best and combine them. Each slide has been carefully crafted to satisfy three key criteria: aesthetic, function and usability. That way you know every element works together seamlessly while enhancing the impact of your content. Learn MoreOther Products
XRAY: look beneath the skin
HTML5 Audio element maker
SVG to HTML5 Canvas Converter
CanvasLoader Creator
HTML5 File Upload with Progress
Making a Beautiful HTML5 Portfolio
Create a Stylish Contact Form with HTML5 & CSS3
Interactive Typography Effects with HTML5
DHTMLX Touch – JavaScript Mobile Framework for HTML5 Web Apps
HTML 5 Outliner
Initializr – HTML5 templates generator
HTML 5 Demos and Examples
HTML5 Tracker
HTML 5 Visual Cheat Sheet
The HTML5 test
LimeJS – HTML5 game frameworkWeek in Keyboards #22
Vim Caps
Fairly self explanatory, these keycaps are vim themed with the vim logo as capslock replacement and a set of vim cursor keys (HJKL). These have been in IC for a fairly long time and have been privately funded. Similar caps have been available in the past but have not been too easy to get a hold of.
They are now available from vimcaps.com. They are available in SA and DSA profile. You can buy the cursor keys and the vim capslock replacement. They are available in packs so you get both the capslock and cursor keys separately or you can buy them together in a pack for a little less.
Hot Keys Project Keycaps Restocked on mk.com
This is yet another way HKP keycaps are more accessible. There is a nice selection but only MX.
Ultimate Hacking Keyboard Add-on Modules
This is an interesting addition to the campaign. With 27 days left the project is 76% funded. This is the 60% keyboard that has the ability to split.
The add-ons come in the form of additional switches.
You can get:
An additional cluster which gives you 3 additional switches accessible from the thumb.
Trackball
Trackpoint
Touchpad
They have also included the palm rest’s.
Ortholinear Keyboards is Expanding
Whilst this is not major news I think it is nice to acknowledge the success of ortholinear keyboards. It is nice to see the whole operation going so well. Ortholinear keyboards now has a whole other room to it’s name.
It is also worth mentioning the new board makers episode.
TGR-Jane GB
This is a very popular TKL GB that sold out very quickly. I believe in around 10 minutes all 25 spaces were taken. It is a very impressive keyboard all round and quite deserving of the price ($420 ish). It is a highly polished aluminium TKL with one of my favourite fancy features, the brass weight insert.
The HacKeyboard
Created by masaleiro in DT. This is a very nice custom build all round. On the surface it is just an alps TKL but it does have some additional features that make it stand out.
Internal Keylogger
Up-to 10 Macros
Internal USB 2.0 Hub
Internal 8GB Flash Drive
Customisable LED
This is a very nice feature set for a TKL but it is even more impressive as this is all original work.It’s no surprise that many computer crimes have stupid criminals behind them. But it’s not every day that you have cops getting caught at their workplace.
A New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer has been arrested and accused of paying more than $4,000 via Paypal for “e-mail hacking services.” The officer used this service to gain access to “at least 43 personal e-mail accounts and one cellular phone belonging to at least 30 different individuals, including 21 who are affiliated with the NYPD; of those 21, 19 are current NYPD officers, one is a retired NYPD officer, and one is on the NYPD’s administrative staff.”
NYPD Detective Edwin Vargas was charged last week with one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking and one count of computer hacking—each count carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. He has since been suspended with pay by the NYPD as per normal department policy.
The complaint was sent to Ars by the United States Attorney’s Office. It alleges the Bronx-based detective hired an “e-mail hacking service” to reach those 43 accounts between March 2011 and October 2012. He is believed to have accessed “at least one personal e-mail account belonging to a current NYPD officer after receiving the account’s log-in credentials from the hacking service. Vargas also accessed the [National Crime Information Center], a federal database, to obtain information about at least two of those NYPD officers without authorization to do so.”
The document reveals that FBI Special Agent Samad Shahrani, who obtained and searched Vargas’ work computer, found some seemingly damning evidence in Vargas' Gmail account. The discoveries include:
- A list of at least 20 e-mail addresses along with what appear to be telephone numbers, home addresses, and vehicle information corresponding to those e-mail addresses. There also appears to be passwords for those e-mail addresses. - The list includes information for at least one e-mail address with the name and address of Victim 1. According to the NYPD, Victim 1, as well as a number of individuals whose e-mail passwords and other information are listed, is an NYPD officer. - At least two e-mail addresses for E-mail Hacking Services.
Vargas’ attorney, James Moschella, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Here's The Trump Inauguration Coin Furious Liberals Thought They'd Never See!
Celebrate YOUR win. Limited Edition Trump Inauguration Coins. Minted in USA. Available Now For A Limited Time.
President Donald Trump “Inauguration Commemorative Coin” has been released for people to buy.
The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States was held on Friday, January 20, 2017, on the West Front of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C
The inauguration was met with a large amount of protesters by the liberal left but amid the protests, since taking office President Trump has shown he means business, as he meets his election promises and reshapes Washington.
To celebrate this important date in American history the coin was designed by Gilroy Roberts & Frank Gasparro and was minted to be sold in limited-edition celebratory coins, all the coins are made in the USA.
“This limited edition collector’s item was made to commemorate the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States of America,”
One side features Trump’s profile portrait and the reverse side is the official presidential seal.
Each coin comes with a certificate of authenticity and is handsomely showcased in an acrylic coin capsule.
The limited edition coin is available for a very limited time, since only a limited quantity was minted and may sell out soon!
Where can I buy one?
You can buy it directly from the official website by clicking here.
Update: We were just informed that today, there is a special offer that let's you buy the limited-edition coin for only $19.95 instead of $29.95. Offer still available as of, but may expire soon. We were just informed that today, there is a special offer that let's you buy the limited-edition coin for onlyinstead of. Offer still available as of, but may expire soon.
Pictures of Proud Fellow PatriotsHave you checked out YouTube's swanky new interface yet? If you have, perhaps you went through the somewhat cumbersome method of enabling it by manually editing cookies with this Chrome extension. That's a bit much for a visual tweak that's hidden in fullscreen anyway, but after people around the web showed an impressive amount of interest in the revised player, it looks like Google went and put in a user-accessible switch instead.
To enable the newer view, go to youtube.com/testtube while logged into your primary Google account. Sign up for Test Tube (a series of beta options for YouTube, not unlike Chrome experiments) if you haven't already, then click "get the player" at the bottom of the screen. That's it, you're done. If for some reason you don't like the new version of the web player (maybe it messes with some of your existing Chrome apps or extensions?) you can return to this page and click "restore original player."
With apologies for Rick Astley.There are many reasons to eat ice cream in summer. To start with the most obvious one – it is absolutely delicious and refreshing. Not to mention comforting. Who could resist a serving of this frozen delight after a long day?
But why should you go to the trouble of making it at home instead of simply buying it from the store? We can think of several reasons:
DISCOVER GREAT RECIPES, TIPS & IDEAS!
Making ice cream at home is easy. Not all ice cream recipes require an ice cream maker and this post will prove it!
. Not all ice cream recipes require an ice cream maker and this post will prove it! Ice cream can turn a group of plain fruits into a delectable dessert. On the other hand, ice cream can be used to take standard desserts like pies and cupcakes to a whole new level. We don’t simply refer to placing a dollop of ice cream on top of the dessert. The fantastic recipes offered below support this claim!
. We don’t simply refer to placing a dollop of ice cream on top of the dessert. The fantastic recipes offered below support this claim! Ice cream can be healthy. Store-bought ice cream is typically sweetened with sugar or sugar substitutes. It also contains artificial coloring, flavors and stabilizers added. When you make it at home, you get to control the ingredients. So, instead of constantly denying your kids’ ice cream treats because it is unhealthy and will spoil their teeth, you can let them enjoy completely guilt-free! Homemade ice cream is perfect for vegans, people who are lactose intolerant, or allergic to dairy products.
. Store-bought ice cream is typically sweetened with sugar or sugar substitutes. It also contains artificial coloring, flavors and stabilizers added. When you make it at home, you get to control the ingredients. So, instead of constantly denying your kids’ ice cream treats because it is unhealthy and will spoil their teeth, you can let them enjoy completely guilt-free! Homemade ice cream is perfect for vegans, people who are lactose intolerant, or allergic to dairy products. And finally, kids can help you make ice cream to learn where it comes from and have fun. Need a storyline to go with the process? Let’s make ice cream making interesting and educational!
How Did It Get in Your Fridge? The History of Ice Cream
500 BC – Ancient Greeks enjoyed snow mixed with fruit and honey. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, recommended this mixture to his patients to improve their well-being.
400 BC – Persians invented the predecessor of ice cream, a food called Faloodeh. This chilled treat was made of vermicelli and rose water, then complemented with fruits or spices like saffron. It was considered a luxurious treat and was served only to Royals during hot days.
300 BC – Alexander the Great enjoyed ice and snow flavored with nectar and honey.
200 BC – The Chinese went a step forward, creating an even richer treat with rice and milk. To make this wonder, they used a mixture of snow and potassium nitrate on the outer side of the containers to freeze the contents inside.
1 century AD – Nero Claudius Caesar, a Roman emperor, had people bring him snow from the mountains, then flavored it with juices and fruits.
16th century – Catherine de’ Medici introduced flavored ice and sorbets on the French court when she married the Duke of Orléans
17th century – Charles I of England liked ‘frozen snow’ so much that he offered the chef responsible for making it a lifetime financial support to keep the recipe secret so that, like in ancient Persia, only aristocrats could enjoy it.
In the same century, the first written recipes for flavored sorbets and ices appeared in France and Italy, whereas in England they appeared a century later.
In the USA, the first written accounts of ice cream are a letter and an advertisement from the 1700’s. It is a well-known fact that three early American presidents – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin were big ice cream fans.
Ice cream remained a prerogative of the rich until the beginning of the 19th century when the first refrigerators appeared. The ice cream production suddenly increased and rose in popularity among common people. At the same time, new flavors and varieties like ice cream soda and sundae popped up.
Ice cream was served to soldiers to increase the morale during the World War II and was one of the most consumed goods immediately after the war when the dairy product restrictions were lifted.
Today, over 1.5 billion gallons of ice cream are sold every year!
Tips and Tricks for Making Classic Ice Cream at Home
When we say ‘classic ice cream’, we refer to ice cream that uses custard as a base, i.e. contains eggs and is mixed using an ice cream maker. Whether you are making ice cream at home, or you just want to master the art of preparing this summer dessert, the following tips and tricks will facilitate the process.
Basic mixture tips
Recipe
The first step to a great ice cream is the recipe. If you are a first-time ice cream maker, make an experimental batch using only 1/2 a cup whole milk and a tablespoon of sugar. Place in a ziplock bag, shake, and freeze, checking and re-shaking every 15 minutes.
If this goes well, pick a simple recipe with fewer ingredients and follow it to the point. Once you perfect the simple version, you can start experimenting with the recipe to adjust it to your taste and add anything you like (write the changes you have made so that you don’t forget next time you make the recipe).
Eggs
Bear in mind that the more eggs your ice cream contains, the creamier it will be but, on the other hand, going overboard with eggs can make your frozen treat taste too eggy.
Be careful when heating the eggs with the sugar and milk to form the ice cream base. To avoid the formation of curdles, start by warming the milk up alone, then scoop some of it into the beaten eggs and sugar. This will warm up the eggs. Heat the whole base slowly and at a low temperature, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pot. You are done when the mixture thickens.
If your eggs curdled despite all precautions taken, just strain the mixture before churning it.
Sugar
Bear in mind that the more sugar (or another sweetener) you add, the more slowly the mixture will freeze. So, this is another reason to go easy on it.
Smooth operators
To keep the mixture from getting too hard in the freezer, add a little booze! Alcohol doesn’t freeze, so it will it will keep the mixture smooth and soft, but be careful; a couple of tablespoons is just enough.
Another trick for obtaining a smoother texture is to mix the ice cream ingredients one day before freezing.
Add-in tips
Start small
When you decide to go with add-ins, start simple, by first adding spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to the milk. Other options include extracts like vanilla and almond, fresh herbs like mint, cocoa nibs, or coffee beans.
Then go big
Include larger add-ins in the mixture a minute before churning in the ice cream maker finishes. Adding them too early will make them break up. Here is what you can take into consideration:
Fruit slices (strawberries, cherries, plums, peaches…)
Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bar
Chopped candy bar
Butterscotch chips
Coconut flakes
Chopped nuts
Peanut or nut butter
Improve it
Additions like evaporated milk, whipped cream, beaten eggs, gelatin, cream of tartar, or melted marshmallows are used to prevent the formation of large ice crystals, improve the flavor, and increase the mixture’s volume.
Ice Cream Maker Tips
Read the manual
If you have just acquired an ice cream maker, make sure to follow the instruction manual that goes with it. Many ice cream makers have a bowl that has to be frozen in advance overnight before making the ice cream. Make sure the bowl is really ice-cold otherwise your ice cream will end up stone hard.
Don’t overfill
Be careful not to fill the ice cream maker more than 2/3 because the air bubbles incorporated during the freezing process will make the mixture expand.
A quickie on salt and ice
Three quick tips for using the ice cream freezer when it comes to salt and ice: Turn it on before you start placing the ice and salt around the canister; use seven parts of ice to one part of salt; and keep a pitcher of hot water on hand to pour over the ice and salt if case they get clumped together.
Freezing tips
The ice cream mixture must be cold before you put it into the ice cream freezer. This will not only speed up the freezing process, but it will also smoothen the texture. Let it cool in the fridge for at least one hour (even better, overnight) before transferring to the freezer.
Alternative freezing options
Plastic containers
It’s OK if you don’t have an ice cream freezer. Just pour the mixture into a deep plastic container and cover with a lid. Open the container every 40 minutes or so to stir the mixture well. If you don’t do this, the ice cream will freeze too hard. This method will take you about 5 hours, so plan ahead. For best results, leave the ice cream in the freezer overnight, after you have finished stirring.
Ziplock bags
Pour the ice cream mixture into a one-quart ziplock bag. Fill another, larger bag about halfway with ice and coarse salt. Place the smaller bag containing the ice cream mixture into the larger bag, making sure both bags are sealed tightly so that the contents don’t mix. Shake the bags carefully for about 20 minutes (don’t apply to much force because the bags might burst!).
Storage tips
Cover the ice cream with plastic wrap and keep it in an air-tight container. This will prevent the ice cream from absorbing smells from other foods in the freezer, stop the formation of ice crystals, and ensure your frozen delight keeps its consistency. Store at a temperature from between -5 to 0 degrees F.
Do not refreeze melted ice cream. It will not be tasty at all!
Mind-blowing Ice Cream Recipes to Try
Now that you have learned all the secrets to a perfect ice cream, it is time to get down to business. We have the most amazing ice cream recipes for you to try this summer.
DISCOVER GREAT RECIPES, TIPS & IDEAS!
Butterscotch Ice Cream
The secret ingredient that makes this ice cream recipe so fluffy and mousse-like is gelatin but your ice cream will be just as delicious without it!
Ice Cream Cupcakes
The very look of these triple chocolate cupcakes will make your mouth water! To add a dash of freshness, use mint chocolate chip ice cream instead of regular chocolate. In case you can’t eat them all at once (which is close to impossible), these cuties will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Apricot Ice Cream Crunch
If you don’t have apricots at hand, peeled peaches will do the trick as well. During winter, opt for dried apricots. Soak them in some water to soften, then chop. Your ice cream crunch will be full of apricot flavor!
Fried Ice Cream
This recipe is a prefect combination of how and cold! Use a slotted spoon or a wire frying spoon to lower the ice cream into the hot oil during frying.
Enjoy!
I believe that food should not only taste good, but make you feel good as well and that is why I am so interested in exploring ingredients, preparing meals, and finding ways to make the whole cooking experience fun and exciting! Being a blogger for MyGreatRecipes unites my two passions – food and writing, and I am enjoying every second of it!Every Labor Day, more than two million people pack into Central Brooklyn for the West Indian American Day Parade with flags flying, food grilling and music blasting from massive speakers on 18-wheel trucks. "Mas bands" — groups of costumed revelers — follow the trucks down the Parkway on foot, with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dancers dressed in colorful bikinis, feathers, glitter and body paint.
"Just for a few hours, nothing matters,” says Aisha Carr, director of Sesame Flyers, a prominent mas band in Brooklyn, New York. “When you hear that music, and you’re in your costume, you don't care how it fits — you’re carefree.”
But long before the dazzling, carefree festivities begin, planners and participants spend many months preparing. It can be taxing, both monetarily and emotionally.
Steel pan groups, for example, are struggling more than ever to find rehearsal space to accommodate their mas bands of 50 to 100 players. For months, steel pan groups rehearse every night in preparation for their big Carnival moment: Panorama, the annual steel-band competition that takes place the Saturday before Labor Day.
“Back in the day it was easy to just grab a piece of open property, and set your band up and nobody bothered you," says Tameeka Garcia-Harris, manager of Steel-X-Plosion, a Brooklyn-based steel band. “Things are changing, gentrification is going on in Brooklyn, and it's becoming more and more difficult to find property and places to practice. And the pricing... $7,000 a month for a piece of land. So it’s just been a difficult year.”
Steel pan groups also struggle with police increasingly enforcing noise ordinances that limit their rehearsal times in residential areas, plus laws that prevent groups from selling food or alcohol without a license. In the past, their sales helped cover expenses.
“It averages about $15,000 to bring out a Panorama [group],” says Garcia-Harris. “And the prize money, if you win, is only 20 grand, so you’re not really coming out in the positive, right?”
But the love of steel pan keeps Garcia-Harris and the entire New York steel pan community going, despite the challenges.
“Every year I say I’m not going to do it, and it becomes like this bittersweet relationship, but I end up doing it. They call it the ‘pan-jumbie’ or the ‘pan bug.'... As the summer starts to come in, and the spring flowers start to rise, you go... 'I think the band’s coming out again next year.’ You know, but... You have to love it.”
At 5 a.m. on Labor Day, as the sun is just coming up, the streets of Central Brooklyn are full of hundreds of thousands of revelers who have been partying all night long. It is a wild, magical moment, unlike any other morning in New York City: groups of youth who are in costumes called "jab jab" roam the streets dressed as devils with chains and whips, while older people shimmy in frilly masquerade costumes of the colonial era.
The revelers, covered in paint, tar and powder, drink rum and dance to the music of raucous acoustic bands: Haitian "rara" groups and brass bands on foot, and hot rhythm bands and steel pan pulled by small trucks.
This is J’Ouvert, the unruly, predawn bacchanal that marks the unofficial opening of Carnival in Brooklyn, with a history that goes back to the origins of Caribbean Carnival itself. The word J’Ouvert comes from two French words, "Jour Ouvert," meaning daybreak in Creole, but this celebration actually begins around midnight of the Sunday before Labor Day and continues well into the morning. It has roots in a harvest festival called Canboulay (from the French Cannes Brulées) in 18th-century Trinidad, which commemorated the backbreaking harvests slaves went through when a cane field caught fire. After emancipation in 1838, former slaves and indentured servants merged Canboulay with the European masquerade traditions of the Pre-Lenten Carnival. Their alternative Carnival was a defiant celebration of freedom with crowds of Afro-Creole people drumming, singing "kaiso" — which evolved into calypso — and dancing in the streets.
When the British tried to ban Canboulay in the 1880s, Port of Spain erupted in riots, forcing the police to retreat. However, the government did manage to ban drumming at Canboulay. The result? The invention of steel pan drums from oil barrels.
“I love J’Ouvert! J’Ouvert is crazy!” says Garcia-Harris, “You got the rhythm, you got the iron, it’s not as stringent, you don't have to worry about all these rigid rules, it’s just anything goes. And that’s the closest to Trinidad pan you’re going to get, right now, is J’Ouvert morning. The powder, the mud, just everything.... You have to experience it.”
However, J’Ouvert has been under intense political pressure in recent years, stemming from violence that occurred along the parade route. In 2015, a man named Carey Gabay, a lawyer who had worked for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, was caught in the crossfire of a gang-related shooting on Bedford Avenue, and he later died. Another man was also stabbed to death that night. So, the police department doubled their numbers at J’Ouvert in 2016, put up 200 light towers along the route and mounted posters around the neighborhood in the preceding days, with the blunt message: “Don’t shoot anyone, don’t stab anyone.” Despite the overwhelming police presence, Tiarah Poyau, 22, and Tyreke Borel, 17, were shot to death along the parade route.
Since then, much of the press has been overwhelmingly negative, painting the entire J’Ouvert experience as violent, and some local politicians have called for J’Ouvert to be canceled. “Really the concept of canceling it or continuing it is really a complex matter,” says Laurie Cumbo, a city council member. “Because you have an event that has gone unsanctioned for over two decades without permission. How do you cancel an unsanctioned event where over 250,000 people are attendance?”
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio recently ruled out canceling J’Ouvert, saying, “We have to find out a way to make it safer.” In Cumbo's view, the violence around J’Ouvert is part of a larger problem, and the Caribbean community should not be faulted.
“The media gives the impression that Brooklyn is a violence-free, gun-free borough that enjoys a utopia of sorts in the summer. Then all of a sudden, the Caribbean community gets together, and there is a violent incident that happens every year. When in reality, there's an incident of gun violence happens every weekend, whether there is a pre-Labor Day activity or there is not a pre-Labor Day activity. We have a gun epidemic in the city of New York. This is a very serious situation with gun violence in our community," councilwoman Cumbo says.
For her, the significance of Carnival goes far beyond simply having a good time: “For our communities, which are people of African descent, we have gone through over five centuries of colonization, a transatlantic slave trade, and a decimation of our entire culture. There are so many social ills that still ravage our community, that has to be also be thought of and taken into account when we are thinking about opportunities for celebration.”
Despite the many challenges facing the Caribbean community in New York, have no doubt that Carnival in Brooklyn will continue and grow in years to come as outsiders join in the parade and J’Ouvert and steel pan groups lobby the city for status as cultural institutions.
“We’re meeting with a lot of politicians, so we can try to brighten this back up to how it used to be,” says Garcia-Harris, the manager of Steel-X-Plosion. “We’re hoping we can work on these space issues. Maybe they can put us in Prospect Park somewhere, have the bands rehearsing in different areas of the park. As a pan community, we’re working on where we can move this, to get it somewhere where we can all have a good time.”
This story is based on an episode of Afropop Closeups, a new podcast from Afropop Worldwide, a PRI-distributed radio program that has shared stories and music from Africa and across the African diaspora for the past 27 years. In Afropop Closeups, producers are giving voice to musicians, scholars and people across the world who are responding to extreme situations including violence, war and cultural oppression. Listen on Soundcloud, or on the Afropop Worldwide podcast feed.Seth Green is coming home.
The former East Ridge quarterback standout announced Sunday he is committing to the Gophers, a decision that came 14 months after he originally committed to Oregon.
Green transferred from East Ridge to Allen High School in Texas for his senior year. His team had a 57-game winning streak before losing in Friday's state semifinals. He’s also on track to graduate this month, so he can enroll at Minnesota and participate in spring practice.
Green’s father, Bryan, was on the Gophers 1991 roster as a running back. Seth Green narrowed his list of finalists to Minnesota, Michigan State and Oregon before originally picking the Ducks last fall.
Oregon has since received two other quarterback commitments for the Class of 2016 – Terry Wilson, of Del City, Okla., and Justin Herbert, of Eugene, Ore. When Herbert committed in October, he told the (Portland) Oregonian, “I’ve been told [Green] decommitted.”
Green announced his latest decision on Twitter, referencing Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost's departure to become the head coach at Central Florida:
With the departure of Coach Frost I am blessed to announce the flip of my commitment from Oregon to Minnesota ���� pic.twitter.com/ZpxcOmRSS9 — ❄️Seth Green❄️ (@seth_mgreen) December 14, 2015
Now, the 6-4, 225-pound Green is pledged to be a Gopher when national signing day comes Feb. 3. The recruiting site 247Sports.com has the Green ranked as the nation’s 11th best dual threat quarterback in the Class of 2016.
He has been platooning at quarterback this season for Allen, which had a big hole to fill at quarterback this year after Kyler Murray graduated. Murray was ranked as the No. 1 dual threat quarterback in the Class of 2015 by 247Sports.com, and went 43-0 as a four-year starter before heading to Texas A&M.
Green transferred to Allen in time for spring practice this year but found himself behind junior Mitchell Jonke on the depth chart. Jonke has yet to receive a Division I scholarship offer, but he came through the Allen system, winning every game he started for the freshman and JV team.Reebok don’t need much of an introduction — they’ve made trainers for runners to run in, they’ve made trainers for American housewives to lose weight in and they’ve even made trainers for your dodgy uncle to go to the pub in.
The man behind these trainers is founding father Joe Foster. I would go on to give you his full life story and everything, but this interview does a fairly concise job of that so I won’t bother.
To set the scene, we’re sat in the living room of an apartment on the outskirts of Bolton, we’re joined by his wife Julie and a small, white dog called Pepe is sat on Joe’s lap.
After discussing everything from Joe’s recent knee operation (which went well), to how the surrounding area has changed over the last 50 years, I hamfistedly steer the conversation onto Reebok...
Sam: Alright, I suppose we better talk about Reebok.
Joe: What is it you want to know?
Sam: Everything really.
Joe: That could take forever. It’s taken me 60 years
Sam: Well, we’ll try. Your grandfather started an athletic shoe company called J.W. Foster & Sons. How did that come about?
Joe: My grandfather was born in 1881 and died in 1933. I was born on his birthday in 1935, so that’s why I’m also given his name Joe W. Foster. The whole family were J.W. My grandfather was Joseph William, his eldest son was John William, or Billy, and my father was James William. I had an older brother called Jeffrey William and a younger brother called John William.
Sam: It all sounds a bit confusing.
Julie: It does get very confusing. There’s too many J.W.s.
Joe: We always found it difficult. This is my second wife, Julie, and my first wife was Jean. And then my older brother Jeff, also married a Jean. We all lived on the premises where we first started Reebok, and when a letter came we didn’t know whose it was.
Anyway, my grandfather was accredited with inventing the spiked running shoe. But most of these things evolve rather than being invented. 1895 is the year my grandfather made his first pair of spikes. This gave him an advantage ‘cos no one else had them, so in order to avoid a thumping from his mates, he had to make them all a pair of shoes as well.
Making shoes for his buddies became a business, as he started making shoes for all the local clubs. I’m not saying it’s easy to become an international brand, but Joe’s reputation grew quickly — even back in 1904 there were world records being run in Fosters shoes.
Sam: How was it for him being based up here in Bolton? Was that a disadvantage?
Joe: Back then athletics was mainly a gentleman’s sport. You needed money in order to compete. Football was okay, but athletics was a bit snobby and a bit snooty. He was at a disadvantage so he had to advertise — he used to advertise all over the place, in race programmes and newspapers.
Some were quite risky adverts, saying things like, “Fosters are the best shoes ever. If you can prove otherwise, we’ll give you £100”. Can you imagine £100 at the turn of the century? That’s like giving someone £10,000 now. That helped Fosters become a name.
When my grandfather died, my father and my uncle took on the business. They were both involved in athletics, but by then there were two sides to the business. My father had started to make machine sewn shoes, whereas Bill concentrated on the original hand-sewn shoes. The business was separating, but what kept them together was Grandma — she was a bit of a firebrand. When the war came there was no demand for running shoes so Fosters turned to repairing army boots.
Jeff joined the Fosters business in 1948, but it was 1952 before I went into the business, when I was 17. I was only there for 12 months, before being called to do national service. My brother did his national service in Germany, which is where he saw people like adidas and Puma. When we came back to Fosters, the business was still in the 1930’s — still doing the same thing. And then when Grandma died, my father and uncle just stopped speaking to each other, it was like adidas with Adi and Rudolf Dassler — they were fighting. But instead of one getting out and doing his own thing, we got out instead.
It’s one of those things you look back on and think, “My god, how did we do that?” But when you’re young you’re totally indestructible.
Sam: What year was this?
Joe: This was 1958. I was 23 and Jeff was 25. In late ’58 we set up as Mercury Sports Footwear.
Julie: In Bury.
Joe: We started out making cycling shoes, because we didn’t want to compete with Fosters on running shoes. It was a |
, however different they may be than ours, when we mock them at every turn, and treat them with contempt, we do no one any good.”
Bourdain also criticized HBO political talk show host Bill Maher as "the worst of the smug, self-congratulatory left," hitting the show as a perfect example for why many Trump supporters were frustrated with liberals.
“It doesn’t change anyone’s opinions. It only solidifies them, and makes things worse for all of us,” Bourdain said.
“We should be breaking bread with each other, and finding common ground whenever possible. I fear that is not at all what we’ve done.”Great Blue Hole
Nestled in the Lighthouse Reef Atoll of Belize is the Great Blue Hole, a large submarine vertical cave that measures 984 feet in diameter and 407 feet deep. With its beautiful, clear water and the variety of wild marine life residing in its depths, the enormous blue hole is a popular scuba diving destination.
Today's blue holes, which are found all across the world, were formed from erosion during previous ice ages when the Earth's sea level was significantly lower than it is now.
Although the Great Blue Hole is most definitely great, it is not the deepest. That title is held by Dean's Blue Hole, located in the Bahamas, with a depth of 663 feet. For a demonstration on the magnitude of its size, check out Guillaume Nery, world champion freediver, as he does a freefall dive inside the hole in this video clip shot by fellow freediving champion, Julie Gautier.We must remind ourselves all the time to resist the deceit of official propaganda. Seriously.
I’ll tell you how chavismo lies:
The twins are activists of opposition party Primero Justicia and were captured by State security forces. They weren’t committing a crime and the guys in uniform didn’t have an arrest warrant. So it was an arbitrary detention. Does the term ring a bell? It’s a Human Rights violation, it’s serious and quite common in the chavista era.
After that, they were kept in isolation, without access to their lawyers or their relatives for hours. Nobody knew where they were and the authorities responsible for the arrest were silent.
That’s a forceful disappearance, remember? Another severe Human Rights violation. Something that shouldn’t be allowed but that Maduro, however, has applied countless times. Sometimes these disappearances take longer, like Alcedo Mora, whose whereabouts remain unknown after he denounced corruption in PDVSA.
Once the twins were arrested, something even more serious happened: they finally managed to communicate with their people and told them they had been tortured to falsely confess whatever chavismo wanted. You know the drill: they’re paid mercenaries, they’re involved with other people, everything is someone’s plan. Back in 2014, they followed the same procedure with Marco Coello and other five detainees, to try and accuse Leopoldo López for violent events on February 12th. On that occasion, torture included beatings with bats and fire extinguishers, drowning, electricity, sleep deprivation, psychological terror, threats, you name it.
Something must be very wrong with chavismo for them to have to fabricate evidence instead of getting it through their snitches and inside men.
You know what torture is? It’s one of the worst Human Rights violations. It doesn’t expire for the rest of the lives of those involved, should their names and responsibilities be established.
But that wasn’t enough, no: Nicolás Maduro dared broadcast a recording with the statements of one of the allegedly tortured brothers (that “allegedly” could help me in court) (that’s a lie.) Maduro said that they had permission from the Prosecutor’s Office to show “evidence” of the case in public.
He sentenced the brothers on live TV based on that fabricated evidence. Vice-president El Aissami also demanded “maximum penalty” for them and dozens of other detainees. The chorus of official voices accused them of “terrorism” in unison. Their outlets paid with our taxpayer money, have been using “terrorism” to refer to protesters for days now.
Do you know what due process and presumption of innocence are? They’re crucial for justice. When they’re violated, everything is lost. That’s why chavistas are mere executioners. Remember that one of the issues in Venezuela is branch autonomy, but in this case, we witness the Executive Branch ordering the Judiciary, sentencing without trial and imposing penalties.
…
The twins’ court hearing took place yesterday, April 17th.
Guess how it went down.
There’s no accusation of terrorism. They don’t use it. It’s not on the file.
The Prosecutor’s Office points out that they didn’t know about the video and therefore couldn’t have authorized the President to use it. They demanded the judge to clarify if it had been her.
And investigation on torture and other violations was demanded.
And judge Josephine Flores’ reaction?
[Remember, Maduro controls the judicial branch and has issues with General Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Díaz after she denounced the Supreme Tribunal of Justices’ rulings violated the constitutional order.]
She threw the ball back at the Prosecutor’s Office, telling to find out who “authorized” the video by themselves.
She indicted students Francisco José and Francisco Alejandro Sánchez with “public instigation and criminal association,” but not with terrorism, and ordered them to be taken to Tocorón prison.
That accusation sounds weird, but it actually means: guilty of “inducing non-compliance with the laws,” something most Venezuelans do every day, and guilty of “agreeing,” something that all twins in the world naturally do.
That’s how two students are going to one of the worst prisons in the world, in violation of dozens of laws and with a trail of abuses behind them. But what I really want you to understand with all I’ve written is that chavismo celebrates this situation like this: “we locked up two terrorists and many more will come.” In order to accomplish that, they’re willing to support torture, disappearances, arbitrary arrests and mock trials. They don’t give a damn. After establishing a dictatorship to remain in power, what could be worse?
Caracas Chronicles is 100% reader-supported. Support independent Venezuelan journalism by making a donation.TEHRAN — Iran’s lame-duck Parliament approved a bill on Wednesday canceling cash subsidies to 24 million Iranians, angering the government of President Hassan Rouhani, local news outlets reported.
Analysts said the action was a stick in the eye for Mr. Rouhani from the conservative-dominated Parliament, forcing him to figure out how to put the unpopular measure into effect.
However, with sagging oil prices cutting Iran’s national income, the International Monetary Fund and other groups have warned that Tehran will have to cut back the system of giving monthly cash payments to nearly all of its 80 million citizens or risk running huge deficits.
As such, the Parliament’s action places Mr. Rouhani in a difficult position, economists say. Canceling the subsidies is a critical part of any economic overhaul, something that Mr. Rouhani has promised to undertake. But the measure is likely to add to growing complaints over his handling of the economy.You may recall that in this parable, the rich man lived sumptuously, while Lazarus begged, and that in the afterlife, Lazarus was taken into "Abraham's Bosom," while the rich man descended to hell. The rich man then had an exchange with Abraham that ended as follows:"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send [Lazarus] to my father’s house:For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.: 27-31.Indeed, it seems that the logical implication of this parable is that even if we had the Golden Plates themselves to examine (taking that as the physical evidence that would be the most likely to "prove" the validity of Mormonism), it would not change anything at all.I realize that sounds absurd--how could someone not believe if you could actually examine the evidence? But I don't see another interpretation of what Jesus is saying. Indeed, you can see similar behavior in the Bible--the children of Israel watched the plagues of Egypt happening all around them and then miraculously walked through the sea to escape the armies of Pharaoh. Yet, despite all this "proof" they turned to worshiping a golden calf almost as soon as Moses was out of their sight, and everyone (except Joshua) who had been freed from Egypt died in the wilderness, unable to enter the promised land because of their lack of faith. In a different context today, to pick a group of people I hope we can all agree have lost any sense of rationality, the birther movement does not believe in the validity of the President's birthplace, even after being shown the birth certificate itself (I am not equating believing in the birther movement with engaging in critique of the LDS Church--I'm only pointing out that evidence is not the panacea that we tend to think it is.)I admit the possibility of hypocrisy here: "You have so much evidence Stankiewicz! Why won't you disbelieve?" To that, I say that I believe in the evidence of the Spirit, the pervasive evidence of which in my life outweighs any other questions raised. (Separately, I also not persuaded by Packham's questions.). I think they're perfectly valid to ask. Indeed, I've heard most, but not all, of them asked before. Offhand, I believe I know the answer to many, but not all. But I'll go ahead and stipulate that I probably wouldn't be able to answer some, even after research. Where does that get you? Does that mean Mormonism is "wrong?"Well, that's up to you. But I submit that even if I was able to answer all of these questions, even to the satisfaction of say, Packham himself, those who do not believe would not begin to believe. Indeed, I submit that those who have already decided not to believe would only raise more questions. Whereas for those who already believe--or are considering whether to do so--they are satisfied with trying to understand whatever they can, and have faith they will understand everything some day.As for this specific list of questions, making no assumptions about the intent of the OP, I don't think it's really feasible to address this very long list in this space--if a person is serious about understanding the LDS response to each and every one of these questions, then each one is deserving of a detailed response. The incredulous tone in which Packham puts them, however, does not make me believe he is interested in an open-minded exploration of the topic."[F]aith and reason are like the two wings of an aircraft. Both are essential to maintain flight. If, from your perspective, reason seems to contradict faith, pause and remember that our perspective is extremely limited compared with the Lord’s. Do not discard faith any more than you would detach a wing from an aircraft in flight. Instead, nurture a particle of faith and permit the hope it produces to be an anchor to your soul—and to your reason."(Talk by Elder Marcus B. Nash, of the Quorum of the Seventy in the LDS Church).I was talking the other day to a wise executive friend and he recalled for me something his favorite boss liked to say: When people rise to the top of an organization and get power, they usually do one of two things: “They either swell or they grow.”
Donald Trump has swollen.
Every character flaw he had before taking office — from his serial lying to his intellectual laziness to his loyalty just to himself and his needs — has grown only larger and more toxic as he has been president. He seems not to have grown a whit in the job. He has surprised only on the downside — never once challenging his own base with new thinking or appearing to be remotely interested in being president of all the people, not just his base.
What strikes me most about Trump, though, is how easily he still could become more popular — fast — if he just behaved like a normal leader for a month: if he reached out to Democrats on health care, taxes or infrastructure; stopped insulting every newsperson who writes critically about him; stopped lying; stopped tweeting inanities; and actually apologized for some of his most egregious actions and asked for forgiveness. Americans are a forgiving people.
With the Dow at 22,000 and unemployment at 4.3 percent, oh my God, this guy could actually become more popular outside his base without much effort. That’s scary. But, as I said, it would require Trump doing something he has shown no ability or willingness to do — to grow in office, not just swell.Brown fat generates heat via the mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP1, defending against hypothermia and obesity. Recent data suggest that there are two distinct types of brown fat: classical brown fat derived from a myf-5 cellular lineage and UCP1-positive cells that emerge in white fat from a non-myf-5 lineage. Here, we report the isolation of “beige” cells from murine white fat depots. Beige cells resemble white fat cells in having extremely low basal expression of UCP1, but, like classical brown fat, they respond to cyclic AMP stimulation with high UCP1 expression and respiration rates. Beige cells have a gene expression pattern distinct from either white or brown fat and are preferentially sensitive to the polypeptide hormone irisin. Finally, we provide evidence that previously identified brown fat deposits in adult humans are composed of beige adipocytes. These data provide a foundation for studying this mammalian cell type with therapeutic potential.
PaperClipLONDON/ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek savers may be gripped by a “great fear that could develop into panic” in the words of President Karolos Papoulias, but many Greeks shifted their money to safer havens in Britain, Switzerland, Germany and Nordic countries long ago.
Worries about a run on Greek banks has rattled Athens this week, after savers withdrew at least 700 million euros on Monday alone, according to minutes of Papoulias’s comments to political leaders posted on the presidency’s website.
It is not only Greeks who are worried about their savings. Data shows depositors have also taken flight from banks in Belgium, France and Italy. And on Thursday, Spain’s Bankia (BKIA.MC) was reported to have seen more than 1 billion euros drained by its customers in the past week.
Greeks are afraid they could be hit by rapid devaluation if the country leaves the European single currency, while customers at Bankia have been rattled by the government’s takeover of the recently floated bank on May 9 and growing uncertainty about the final cost of Spain’s banking reforms.
In Greece, sources at two banks told Reuters that withdrawals on Tuesday had taken place at about the same rate as on Monday.
“The entire Greek banking system is in danger: the banks are now facing the worst of all outcomes, deposit flight,” said Arnaud Poutier, deputy CEO of IG Markets France.
That flight started at least two years ago, as the debt crisis grew more serious.
Greece’s banks have lost 72 billion euros in deposits since the start of 2010, or about 30 percent, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters. Five of Greece’s top banks saw 37 billion euros taken out last year, including 12 billion from EFG Eurobank EFGr.AT and 8-9 billion apiece at National Bank of Greece (NBGr.AT), Piraeus (BOPr.AT) and Alpha Bank (ACBr.AT).
In February, Evangelos Venizelos, finance minister at the time, said only 16 billion euros had gone abroad, with a third of that going to Britain.
Savers have shifted to property, gold and other banks, or stashed it privately.
In Greece, this slow-speed run on deposits has not caused panic. But that could quickly change if there is a sudden loss of confidence in the banks.
Savers lost faith in Britain’s Northern Rock overnight in September 2008, queuing for hours in the days that followed to take out their cash, despite a guarantee safeguarding most deposits. The British government ended up nationalizing the bank.
“It (Greek withdrawals) is not a huge number in percentage terms, but it is still a very worrying story. But deposit flight has been going on for two years. What we are seeing in the euro zone is a slow-motion bank run,” said Michael Riddell, fund manager at M&G International Sovereign Bond Fund.
SHIFTING DEPOSITS
Deposits shifted around Europe dramatically last year, analysis of data from more than 120 listed European banks show.
More than 120 billion euros was taken from two banks in Belgium alone, including an exodus of customer deposits from Dexia (DEXI.BR) which had to be bailed out and restructured. KBC (KBC.BR) also saw a big outflow.
Some 90 billion euros was taken from France’s banks, including around 30 billion each from Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA). French banks were hit last year by their heavy exposure to Greece and concerns about their liquidity that forced them to accelerate plans to shrink.
Worries the euro zone crisis would spread also saw about 30 billion euros in deposits leave Italian banks, although inflows to BBVA (BBVA.MC) helped limit the net outflow from Spain.
Cash flooded into Britain; more than 140 billion euros was deposited in four big banks alone. The UK benefits from its position outside the euro zone and its Asia-focused banks HSBC (HSBA.L) and Standard Chartered (STAN.L) are seen as particular safe-havens.
Other banks to see big inflows included Barclays (BARC.L), Germany’s Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), Switzerland’s Credit Suisse CSGN.VX and UBS UBSN.VX and Russia’s Sberbank (SBER.MM) and VTB (VTBR.MM).DC in the 80s is a Webzine for the DC Comics Fans with an affinity for 80s comics. It’s fun, upbeat and engaging. Justin Francoeur and Mark Belkin keep the fan fires burning with wit and a great degree of nostalgic professionalism. I’m fascinated by the their endeavor, so I reached out to discuss it with them.
Ed Catto: Can you tell me a little bit about the site and how it came about?
Justin Francoeur: My formative years of comic book reading were during the early 80s to the early-to-mid 90s. Roughly six years ago, there wasn’t much on the Internet about DC Comics from the 80s (or it was scattered all over the place and not easy to find) so I decided to make a tumblr blog specifically spotlighting the house ads of that era. There were a lot of ‘buried gems’ in that time period and my goal was to identify them and discuss the interesting history behind them. It just started as a review site, really.
You can thank our executive editor, Mark Belkin, for the evolution of this site. It was his suggestion that DC in the 80s could be something more. With his help, it went from a tumblr blog to a website with reviews, articles and interviews. We chose a ‘zine interface to emulate the DIY aesthetic of the 1980s ‘zine culture – where anyone with a typewriter, a passion for something, and access to a Xerox machine could distribute an 8-page booklet to anyone willing to read it. Despite our commitment to journalistic integrity, this is still just a fun project for us – and we hope the DIY aesthetic of our site reminds people of that.
Mark Belkin: Justin invented it and ran it for a long time before I came along. I joined in about 2014, and Justin asked if I would post a few things. I did for a bit, but I did not get involved until later – 2015. Justin started to kick around the idea of me interviewing people and being more involved, and I felt inspired to do more. Now I feel I am a great #2 to Justin, and am really happy being a “full time” contributor. We click when it comes to making the site grow, and seem to do well working off each other.
EC: Why do you think there is so much interest in DC Comics from the 80s?
JF: To be candid with you, I think it had a lot to do with the New 52 DC relaunch of 2011. I think the radical reboot of a lot of DC characters had readers – mainly millennials – who still wanted to read about their favorite DC characters, re-visit their favorite comics they read growing up and it brought back a renewed interest in the 80s (and by extension, the early 90s) material. DC fans don’t disappear, if they’re not happy with what’s currently being published, they just re-read their favorite comics from their back-issue bin.
Additionally, there’s a bit of a retro 80s craze run-off that has drawn people to our site. Prime examples include VH1‘s I Love The ’80s, National Geographic‘s The 80s: The Decade That Made Us, as well as numerous radio stations and websites that are fixated on 80s nostalgia. Enough time has elapsed that it’s cool to look back and celebrate the 80s in an un-ironic way. Part of the original goal of this ‘zine is to tie-in what was happening in then-current 80s culture with what was happening in DC Comics of the 80s and create some links between the two. I always like it when a reader leaves the site learning something new. I also like it when a reader leaves a comment along the lines of “I totally remember that comic series! I’m going to go out and hunt it down again! Thanks!”
MB: DC Comics in the 1980s was a revolution in creativity. Because of the late 70s implosion and the almost sale of DC to Marvel in the early 80s, I believe that they were willing to take more chances. Paul Levitz, Karen Berger, Jenette Kahn, Dick Giordano, they took so many risks creatively and brought in amazing creators. They gave people chances to experiment, to kill off tested characters, to change everything around. I would have killed to be in those Len Wein/Marv Wolfman editorial meetings when they were planning Crisis and Who’s Who. From everything I read, it evolved organically and grew from them just doing it… and later bringing in British talent like Brian Bolland, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Grant Morrison. These are the most creative comic books creators of all time. What they did was change the world.
They also gave other talent a chance to take some pretty incredible changes. Sure, putting Frank Miller on a Dark Knight series makes sense – he had such buzz coming off his Daredevil and Ronin work – but it’s still ballsey. Robin being dead? Old man Batman? Letting Frank turn their number one property, Superman, into a tool for the Government, and openly mocking him? These stories are still some of the best of all time, and editorial deserves respect for letting it happen.
They let Keith Giffen go nuts on Legion of Super Heroes art and nuts on the comedy with Ambush Bug, and then let Keith and JM Dematteis experiment with Justice League. They brought in John Byrne to do what he wanted with Superman, pushed George Pérez onto Teen Titans, Mike Grell on Green Arrow, Timothy Truman on Hawkman. These are some of the best comics ever made, and these stories stand until this day.
My dream has always been to be an editor for DC Comics, and everything about what happened in the 1980s is what I would be absolutely honored and privileged to be a part of. Sorry, that turned into a thesis and/or cover letter. But long story short, the comics were dope, and they remain dope today.
EC: Back in the 70s, I remember the nostalgia craze for the 50s. Is something similar going on here?
JF: I honestly believe it’s a ‘generational’ thing. Growing up in the 80s I was still in elementary school and thus didn’t have much money to my name – thankfully, I had a huge long-box of then-current comic books my dad had been collecting for me, so I had a pretty healthy knowledge of what was going on. I always swore that someday I’d go back and revisit all of those issues I wanted to read. I’m thirty years older and now I have disposable income to spend, so this is a great time to catch up. We’d like to think that we’re here to help you find the hidden gems of that era.
MB: I feel that everything goes in 20-year cycles. The 70s had the 50s craze, which ran into the early 80s. The 80s had a 60’s thing that ran into the early 90s. The 70s into the 90s. Especially in music, fashion, and in art. If you think about the Silver Age, it was the Golden Age but updated. 60s updating the 40s. The 80’s Bronze Age updated the 60’s Silver Age. In the 2000’s, you saw the emergence of Identity, Infinite, and Final Crisis. Its 20 year cycles. Right now we are into the 90s, which I can’t speak to because I didn’t collect comics in the 90s. But even though we are nostalgic for the 80s, DC in the 1980s transcended the decade. Everything they did affected the 90s. Crisis, bwa haha Era Justice League, Watchmen, Dark Knight. All those affected the 90s and are still affecting comic books today.
Also, I think, we live in an age where the Library of Alexandria is at our fingertips, and people know which stories to scout out and buy. This makes it where people are always discovering the work, and people have such fond memories of it.
EC: How does the DC fan of the 80s differ from the DC fans of today? Or are they the same?
JF: The DC fan of today is multi-faceted; there’s lots of different ways to become a DC Comics fan. Of course there’s still the “physical” comic book, but now there’s also console/computer games [i.e. DC Universe Online, Batman: Arkham Knight], the films [i.e. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad], the live-action TV shows [i.e. Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Gotham] and the cartoons [i.e. Batman: Brave and the Bold, Vixen, Young Justice]. It’s actually a really great time to be into DC Comics – there are lots of options available.
However, someone cosplaying as Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow will swear to you that they’re a major Green Arrow fan – and they’ll be absolutely correct – but will have never heard of Mike Grell’s The Longbow Hunters. This is one demographic of fans we’re trying to reach. They may never actually end up touching a comic book (being satisfied with the CW universe of the character), but if we can convert a few of them over to DC comic book fandom, that’s great.
On the other side, I’m finding that fans of the 80s material are generally not too keen on adapting to the more current media. They are less likely to be standing in line on opening night for Suicide Squad because “it’s not the Suicide Squad they grew up reading, but they’ll watch it when it inevitably comes to Netflix”. Coincidentally, these are also the really interesting fans to talk to – you can tell that DC Comics from that era really had a profound effect on them and they will happily tell you all about what it was like collecting the comics, playing the RPGs, watching the Superman films for the first time and their initial reactions to major DC comic moments like Crisis On Infinite Earths, John Byrne’s Superman relaunch, or Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One.
MB: I remember going to comic book shops from ‘85 until the summer of ‘89, when I stopped collected. I think the Marvel movie success has brought back the kids to shops and conventions. For a while, you never saw kids going into comic book stories. When I was a kid, I saw a lot of adults, but they were considered “childish” or immature for liking comic books. I could feel their stigma. Nowadays there is still a stigma, but it’s different.
Another difference is there are a lot more ‘in the know’ fans then back then. I remember there was the guy who would read Amazing Heroes and/or The Comics Journal and knew so much more than we did. In fact, knowing too much is what killed comic book collecting for me in 1989. Someone told me about an interview with Rick Veitch, and how he was not allowed to do the Swamp Thing #88 the way he wanted, and was off the book. It killed everything for me. If I had never known that, and all I simply knew was that he was no longer doing the book for whatever reason, I may have stayed collecting. And maybe that’s something today? Too many people know too much about how the sausage is made and it translates into people dropping the hobby. Could be the price too. Comics seem to be doing ok now, so maybe people are coming back.
We review a lot of new material, because we want the fans of the 80s to know there’s a lot of great new stuff that DC is doing. I love the Rebirth stuff, and I’m excited for the new Doom Patrol. We try to break through the stereotype of “everything new sucks,” because I don’t believe that. There is always good new music, art, movies, and there are definitely good new comics. I just read All Star Batman #1, and was really excited to see where Snyder and Romita Jr would be taking the story. In my opinion, Tom King, Gail Simone, Jeff Lemire recently, and some others, have done some of my favorite comics books in decades.
EC: It seems like there’s a lot of 80s cosplayers and customizers out there. Why do you think that is?
JF: Mark is typically on the front lines at the comic conventions interviewing creators and taking photos of cosplayers. I tend to be more of the ‘Oracle’ to his ‘Batman’ (filling out the paperwork, researching for interviews, managing the e-mails and social media accounts), so I don’t get much opportunity to talk to cosplayers. The ones I have chatted with are doing it for the pure love of the character. I feel that anybody who’s willing to parade around wearing silver body-paint for the afternoon to look like Captain Atom is worthy of being called a DC fan.
I think the customizers (I’m assuming you’re referring to ‘action figure customizers’) are really just trying to fill a void – a lot of cult-favorite 80s DC characters were never immortalized as action figures [i.e. Infinity Inc., All-Star Squadron, L.E.G.I.O.N.] and this is their chance to rectify that. The Kenner Super Powers Collection were some of my favorite 80s toys growing up (I suspect that’s the case with a lot of our readers) and I could only imagine what would’ve opened up for me had the toy line lasted more than 3 waves.
MB: People like dressing up and making things their own. Not in a bad way, but we live in a very “Look at me” generation, where people are constantly one-upping themselves on social media. Not a bad thing at all. I also think it goes back to people knowing about more characters, and being able to get resources (‘How-to’ videos on YouTube, any materials you may need on Amazon) to make great costumes and action figures. I actually really enjoy collecting DC action figures, and would like to customize a few I’ve never found.
EC: Have you had any surprises from your fans? I’m curious how predictable or unpredictable 80’s DC fans are.
MB: Justin is much better to speak on this. He answers the emails and tweets. I’m too busy caring about myself.
JF: The fans I’ve encountered have always been polite, knowledgeable and eager to share memories with us. Something that always seems to catch me off guard, however, and I’m not sure if this is just limited to fans of comics from the 80s or all comic book fandom in general, is how much venom and vitriol is directed towards the whole “Marvel comics films vs. DC Comics films” debate. It’s not like you need to choose sides; this isn’t the Spanish Civil War. You can appreciate both companies for what they are. Calling ourselves “DC in the 80s” is a bit of a misnomer, since we’re not “DC or nothing” fanboys. A lot of great work came out of Marvel, DC, Eclipse, First, Pacific, Renegade Press, Fantagraphics, Kitchen Sink Press and Dark Horse during the 80s and we recognize and acknowledge that.
MB: I loved DC, but I also loved Grendel and Elementals in the 80s. Almost as much as anything. But DC is my favorite. I might be categorized under the “Make Mine DC” crowd, even if I own 200 issues of X-Men.
EC: What’s your favorite series from the 80s? What are your favorite series now?
JF: At the risk of sounding cliché, I’m still discovering new 80s favorites on a monthly basis as I’m re-reading older DC material for what seems like the first time. If I had to narrow it down to just one, I’d go with Grant Morrison’s run on 1988’s Animal Man ongoing series. Those 26 issues really changed the way I looked at comics. I actually discovered it a bit later in life – during my early college years. I remember reading the TPB off the rack at my local Chapters and I was so impressed by it that I returned the next day to purchase it (and the following two volumes). It’s been sitting on my bookshelf ever since.
Currently, the DC material I am most excited for is Gerard Way’s Young Animal imprint. I’ve flipped through the ashcan and am thoroughly impressed. I’m really hoping that a new batch of talent can re-spark that ol’ Vertigo magic that really made DC stand out over everything else on the market in the late 80s/early 90s. The first few issues have been released yesterday and as of this writing I’m actively trying to avoid comic book review sites (and spoilers) until I can pick up the issues myself and read them with a blank slate.
MB: Other than everything Alan Moore did, I have three special series:
The Rick Veitch run on Swamp Thing. So criminally underrated and I want nothing more than convince Dan Didio and Jim Lee to publish #88. It was so twisted, so dark yet funny, so smart. I loved Veitch, and I will have an interview with him that I got in Baltimore, probably in the next few weeks. Doom Patrol with Grant Morrison, Richard Case, with lettering by John Workman. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Case and Mr. Workman recently, and am working on a story based on that run. I think there is such an amazing artistic spiritual undertone to that run. Especially the Painting That Ate Paris with the Brotherhood of Dada. I feel I could teach a course on that run, and still not be able to convey how groundbreaking it was. As Justin said, that Animal Man run is up there, but Morrison’s Doom Patrol run was magical for me. The Question by Dennis O Neil and Denys Cowan. Everything about this made Question my favorite all time character. It was surreal, intelligent, real and violent. It spoke to me as someone growing up in Brooklyn and discovering philosophy, and violence in the streets.
JF: Thank you so much for having us on ComicMix!
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PocketThe Artificials (sometimes known as tHE/\RTificials) are a pretty killer progressive metal band founded in 2007 by ex-ERRA guitarist Alan Rigdon and Aaron Surratt. These guys just put out a record in March 2017 on Tragic Hero Records called Heart, and the story behind it is a sweet one.
Guitarist Alan Rigdon and vocalist Sarah Rigdon joined forces in music and in love to bring this album to fruition. Yeah that’s right, they’re married and wrote a record together. That might just be the most romantic thing we’ve ever heard. On the writing process of the album, Alan explains that “Heart was written over a two year period when we thought all hope was lost. Plenty of sleepless nights were spent trying to make sure not one part of this album was dull. It’s been a blessing and a pleasure to work with my wife, Sarah, on this record. I honestly think it saved our marriage a few times. If you can’t hear it, you’ll definitely be able to feel it.” That’s true love, folks.
The album also features Travis Wilburn on guitar, Brent Stanley on bass, and Shelton Summersgill behind the kit. In this exclusive playthrough, Alan and Travis shred through the track “Stormwolf” which showcases their super diverse and energetic style. The sound is super clean and polished, but with the aggression of modern progressive metalcore. Throw in some insanely catchy melodies and hooks and you’ve got a recipe for a really, really tight sound. If you’re into bands like ERRA, Misery Signals, or August Burns Red, you’re definitely gonna wanna give these guys a solid listen.
Everything about these guys just screams “feels”, which can be a pretty scarce thing in the world of metal. If you’re feeling the love, you can purchase Heart now on MerchNOW and Merchbucket. Good luck holding back those tears of joy.Former Sen. Bob Graham and others urge the Obama administration to declassify redacted pages of a report that holds 9/11 secrets
Former Sen. Bob Graham and others urge the Obama administration to declassify redacted pages of a report that holds 9/11 secrets
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Sunday said she wants 28 redacted pages declassified from a 2003 congressional report on the intelligence community's prepaparedness for and response to the 9/11 attacks.
"As the former Ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and top the House Democrat on the Joint Congressional investigation looking into the |
Earth for mounds
Again, we lay down the gifts
We seek you once again
We call to you, we sing to you, we praise you
Grandfathers!
Grandmothers!
Asking you to come home
Asking you to show us the way before
Asking you to walk with us once more
AdvertisementsThousands of Muslims fled for their lives from the capital of Central African Republic on Friday.
Christian crowds cheered as truckloads of families made their way out of town. One man who fell from a truck was killed and his body mutilated, highlighting the savagery faced by those Muslims who stayed behind.
The convoy of some 500 cars, trucks and motorcycles was guarded by heavily armed soldiers from neighbouring Chad, a predominantly Muslim country.
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.
The exodus comes after two months of sectarian violence in Central African Republic’s capital that has targeted Muslims accused of collaborating with the now-sidelined rebel government. In recent weeks, angry mobs have set fire to mosques and killed and mutilated Muslims.
Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch’s emergencies director, who has been helping Muslims to safety under the guard of peacekeepers, said: “It really is a horrific situation. All over Bangui, entire Muslim neighbourhoods are being destroyed and emptied.”
Osmani Benui, a Muslim woman leaving Bangui, said: “The Christians say the Muslims must go back where they came from. That’s why we are going home. We had no possibility to stay on because we had no protection.”
Reuters
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
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Dr. Steve Phinney —
I can ride continuously for three hours and go 60 miles without any hunger or food cravings or drop off in performance. And I ride as well in the last 20 miles coming home as I do going out.
Steve Phinney, can you tell us who you are?
I’m a medical doctor and have my training in internal medicine. Early in my career developed an interest in nutrition and got a PhD in nutritional biochemistry. That was 30 odd years ago, and since then my primary interests have been in weight management, ie, obesity, exercise and the human economy of the various fats we either put in our mouths or make in our bodies.
You’re a star in a Canadian documentary called My Big Fat Diet, because you helped a whole group change their eating habits to reduce insulin resistance and lose a lot of weight. you’re the co-author of a book about the Atkins Diet that’s been updated by you and two other clinician scientists.
Partially correct. I had a bit part in My Big Fat Diet. The star is Dr. James Wortman, a Canadian physician. And yes, I’m a coauthor of the updated, new Atkins book which came out last March.
You’re also in the process of creating a new book that’s more technical about high fat diets.
That’s correct. Dr. Volek, who’s one of the coauthors on the Atkins book felt, like me, that we needed to offer more information for people who are interested in the medical side of low-carb diets, with a more detailed explanation of the workings of the human body when carbohydrates are restricted. It’s readable by both a health care professional and an interested, educated lay person.
Are you an athlete?
I’m physically active. Though after high school, I’ve not been involved in competition athletics.
Do you eat a low-carb, high fat diet?
Yes, guilty as charged.
How low carb and how high fat?
I stay between 25 and 50 grams of carbohydrate a day. I eat a moderate amount of protein. It’s not a high-protein diet. I eat 2800 calories a day, and so if moderate protein is 500 to 600 calories a day and carbohydrate is around 100 calories a day, I’m eating over 2,000 calories of fat to maintain my body weight. I run in the 70 – 80% of energy intake as fat.
From what most experts say about physical exercise, your muscles must be in shreds. You’re not eating food that puts big stores of glycogen in your muscles. Are you constantly sore and fatigued.
No, and one of the most fascinating things about switching from a high carbohydrate diet, which I used to follow, to a low carb diet, which I did six years ago... My primary form of purposeful exercise is bicycling, and my distances range from 20 to 60 miles, and I”ll do two or three rides a week.
I used to classify my rides as one banana rides, or two banana rides or three. If I rode 60 miles, I had to take three bananas with me and had to eat one every hour. Otherwise, I would be running out of power and dragging my tail home, or ordering a taxi.
That’s because my body would run out of carbohydrate fuel, and even though I had tens of thousands of calories of body fat, I couldn’t use it efficiently for exercise. That’s where the concept of needing carbohydrates for exercise came from.
If a person goes through a few weeks of giving the body time to adapt to carbohydrate restriction–you do have to go through this gauntlet of forcing the body to adapt to a low carbohydrate diet, meaning let the cells alter their enzyme levels to efficiently burn fat for fuel, then, when I set out for a ride, I have 40,000 calories of body fat, and that’s accessible to me.
I carry no food now on my bicycle rides. I carry water, but nothing that can raise my insulin levels, and now, I can ride continuously for three hours and go 60 miles without any hunger or food cravings or drop off in performance. And I ride as well in the last 20 miles coming home as I do going out.
Maybe you’re riding more slowly than when you were doing the three banana rides.
No. I ride as fast now, and I’m six years older now than I was when eating carbs. And I’m at that point in life where my performance theoretically should be dropping off because of age, and I can ride 18 to 20 miles an hour still, and if some young person tries to speed up and go by me on a ride I can jump on their wheel and stay with them, just as well as I did ten years ago.
So you don’t need to have carbs to keep you going? You don’t hit a wall the way you did when you were eating carbs?
That’s correct. My gas tank got a lot bigger when I gave up carbs. Because we can only store maybe 1500 calories as carbs. If I burn 600 – 700 calories per hour, and I depend only on glycogen, that’s about two hours of fuel. But if I have 30,000 to 40,000 calories of fuel in my fat, I can ride for days.
If you have that much fat on your body, does that mean you’re fat?
Body fat is in cells and there are cell membranes and cell nucleus and so on, and if you take that into account, then one kilogram, which is 2.2 pounds, contains about 7,000 calories of fat. So if I have 40,000 calories of fat on my body, then I have about 6 kilograms of fat, meaning 12 to 14 pounds of fat on a body that weighs about 165 pounds. I probably have more than that. But my percentage of body fat... So around 15%. Pretty lean for a guy my age. A highly trained male marathon runner might be 8% fat, and if he weighs about 150 pounds, that’s about 12 pounds body fat, or about 40,000 calories of fat.
Are you the only person who uses a low carb diet and succeeds as an athlete?
Many people do, and they anecdotally note that their performance is as good or better than it was on high carbs. Dr. James Wortman, for instance, the star of My Big Fat Diet, discovered in his 50s that he was a Type II diabetic, a disease that runs in his family. He switched to low carb eating and his diabetes is completely controlled. He’s an avid skier, and I have personally seen him do a non-stop in a 5,000 foot descentof Whistler Mountain in British Columbia. Obviously he’s not impaired by the way he eats.
But many sports physiologists warn that it’s not possible to be an athlete on a low carb diet. They say that glycogen gets impaired on a low carb diet. Glycogen is a starchy substance that’s made from sugar and stored in our cells.
Glycogen does go into the muscle and liver. The muscle glycogen gets burned only in that muscle. The liver glycogen can be released into the bloodstream which is necessary to keep the brain happy. The body’s energy economy includes not only fueling the muscle but fueling the brain. If the brain fuel supply drops, you don’t feel well. That’s called hitting the wall by runners and among bicyclers, it’s called bonking.
But the studies looking at carb dependency were all done for less than two weeks. No study that went longer than two weeks has demonstrated the benefits of a high carb diet. I personally put highly trained bicyclists on an Inuit diet for four weeks. That’s the people who lived in the Arctic who ate a very low carb, very high fat diet. For the first two weeks, the bicycle racers reported that their training was impaired and they didn’t feel well. They were struggling with keeping up their training schedule. But after two weeks, they reported feeling well and their performance, on tests, came back. and I knew this was true because I had to ride with them to keep them from stopping and eating something they shouldn’t. We measured their peak aerobic power and their endurance time to exhaustion. We did before and after performance, Same power curves on the indoor stationary bicycle at a set wattage over a period of time. There was no reduction in performance after they had adapted for more than two weeks to a ketogenic diet.
As I did that project I became curious about people who had lived on that kind of Inuit Diet. I read the journals of Arctic explorers. One of them was a US army surgeon named Frederick Schwatka. In 1881, he set out from the west coast of Hudson’s Bay. He traveled the Arctic, overland with Inuit families, in search of a lost Royal Navy expedition that meant he traveled 15 months, over 3,000 miles on foot, in excellent health.
In his journal, he wrote, When first thrown wholly upon the diet of the native, one is ill-disposed to travel. There is a weakness of the legs. But this passes away after a few weeks and then long sledge travel are possible.
So it’s not just me. It wasn’t just my bike racers. It’s many people who find that when the body is given time to adapt, it’s remarkable in its ability to switch from dependency on carbohydrate, which is a very small fuel tank to the ability to access fat reserves without impairment of aerobic power and performance.
Steve Phinney, when you say adaptation takes two to three weeks, could someone be adapting by eating a low fat diet one day and a high fat diet another and gradually ease into this?
We have not studied that. But informally, when people try that, they just feel lousy. It’s a roller coaster ride, where you have a huge surge of insulin. Then you deprive your body of the carbohydrate fuel. The process of adaptation requires a consistent period of time for the body to make its peace with not having carbohydrates. Most of the adaptation occurs in the first two weeks, but some of the fine tuning is going on four to six weeks after that.
What if someone’s afraid of fat, but they understand they need to cut back on carbs. So they eat a 14 ounce steak at night to get energy from the protein in the steak. Are they doing what you recommend.
The Inuit were not a literate culture, meaning they didn’t write down what they ate. But people who lived among the Inuit and, I think, accurately recorded it, pointed out that the Inuit avoided actually eating lots of lean meat. They had a name for an illness that happened if they ate too much protein and not enough fat. The English translated the name of that sickness as “rabbit illness,” because, if the Inuit had run short of their winter supply of food, the spring rabbits they could hunt were extremely lean, and eating too many made the Inuit feel sick. If the Inuit killed a caribou that was not yet fattened up in the Spring yet, they would preferentially eat the tongue and the bone marrow and the liver, which are the fattiest parts of the animal. They would save the roasts and steaks, which we consider the delicacies, those were saved for the dogs, because that was more lean, and a dog’s metabolism is more suited to handling a high protein meal. The Inuit instinctively understood that. They saved the fat for themselves, and they gave the lean to the dogs. That way they saved themselves from gastrointestinal upset, swelling, malaise and in the most severe cases, kidney disease.
Well, how about if, instead of eating just the leanest part of the meat, what if they eat a 14 ounce rib-eye steak. Or chicken with the skin. Will they avoid a rabbit fever problem, or is that still too much protein?
A lightly marbled steak, in terms of energy, is about 50-50 protein and fat. A heavily marbled steak is 75 percent of calories from fat and 25 percent from protein. Chicken, with the skin, dark meat’s going to be 50-50 protein and fat, but the white meat is going to be more protein, even with the skin on. So as an energy source, it’s too much protein... UNLESS the person is trying to lose weight, and getting fat from their body’s own fat stores. In other words, being on a higher fat diet because they’re getting fat from their body’s stores.
After all, many people, choose a low carb diet for weight loss. For them, a diet that’s moderate in protein may be high in fat because they’re burning their own fat for energy. When you go on a weight loss, ketogentic diet, you can eat less fat on your plate because you’re burning the fat that comes from your inside. It comes from your love handles and hips and so on.
When burning your own body fat, it looks like it’s a high protein diet. But the scales go down because the body’s burning it’s own fat stores. But if that persons loses weight and decides to stay on low-carb as a maintenance diet, in order to become weight stable, they need to eat a considerable amount of fat now, in other words, they need to increase their fat intake, which should work fine, because by now, their body should be very efficient at burning fat.
Well, if an athlete is eating a 14 ounce steak, is that too much protein?
It depends on the person’s height and weight. Also, the amount of protein you eat depends on how much muscle you need to maintain. So a tall, muscular man would need more protein to maintain lean body mass than a small less athletic woman.
Let’s describe an athlete about 6 feet tall and pretty muscular.
So his reference weight would be 80 kilograms, plus or minus a few. We recommend that on a low carbohydrate diet, people get 1.5 of protein per kilogram of body weight. So that would be 120 grams of protein. That’s the low end. And it can go to 2 grams per kilo, or 160 grams of protein per day. Now, a 14-ounce steak–each ounce of prepared steak has around 7 grams of protein, so it is just a bit shy of 100 grams of protein. If a person’s intake should be between 120 and 150, that steak represents more than half of their daily protein needs. So if the person had two eggs and 2 strips of bacon for breakfast, which would be about 25 grams of protein, and some tuna with celery and lettuce for lunch and then the steak for dinner, that might be about right for total protein. So that would be tolerable, as long as the person didn’t feel deprived by waiting for the high amount of protein in their evening meal.
That would be too much protein for me. I’m about 5 foot 7. And because I have a weak pancreas, I don’t have a lot of room for extra protein calories that might be converted to sugar. It would push my blood sugars up. That’s what happens to protein if someone eats too much.
So I try to eat less protein. Mary Gannon, another expert on protein metabolism would point out that people can have far less protein than you’re suggesting, because so much of the body’s protein can be recycled and used again. While you, talking about athletes, are talking about more protein than that.
When we fed the bicycle racers in my study 30 years ago, we didn’t try different protein levels. Instead, I picked the grams of protein per kilogram, referenced to body weight, based on a 1930s paper about an Arctic explorer who had lived among the Inuit and then consented to be locked up in a research hospital in New York City for the better part of a year, to allow people to study his adaptation to one similar in composition to the Inuit diet. He ate 1.7 grams of protein per kilo. So that’s what we fed my bicycle racers. Of course, they were not diabetic. They were highly trained athletes. For my bicycle racers, it seems this amount of protein allowed their bodies to adapt to a state called nutritional ketosis. That allows fuel for the brain and many other tissues happens when carbohydrate intake is limited. It did not cause any kidney problems. They appeared to be very well adapted to that level of protein. Note that athletes, even on a low carbohydrate diet, your body accumulates some glycogen from protein molecules, and they use it when they exercise and then rebuilt it the next day or two.
So you’re saying it’s okay to eat a fair amount of protein, as long as it’s not too much and you also eat a lot of fat. You can get by with a moderate amount.
That’s explained in a chapter in the new Atkins book, and it’s explained in detail in a new book we have coming out. Because it’s a question we get from many people. There’s a misunderstanding about the Masai, the the native plains indians who lived on the buffalo and nothing but the buffalo, or the Inuit had no opportunites to farm. The Plains Indians and the Masai could have farmed, but they chose not to. They were able to eat that diet, eat a variety of foods that didn’t include agricultural carbohydrates. They grew very strong, very tall and were not impaired by that level of fat intake.
You’re convinced that many of these people chose to eat a low carb, high fat diet on purpose, even when carbohydrate calories were available. And on this diet, these were great athletes of other times. But we’re in this modern science era, and we’ve talked a little about glycogen stores. The concern of many sports physiologists today is that a high fat, low carb diet will damage muscle. The glycogen level will not be high enough to give their muscles a fuel for sprinting. I’ve heard sports physiologist say that if you don’t have enough glycogen, you will injure your muscles because they won’t have enough fuel to repair themselves.
That has no basis in physiology. If the muscle’s exhausted, you stop. There are occasionally conditions that occur with excessive physical performance called rhabdomyolisis which means death of muscle cells. It can be life-threatening. Sometimes soldiers get this when they’re trained excessively and pushed beyond their limits. Sometimes someone who’s not an athlete trying to do a marathon can have this muscle breakdown. Sometimes someone on statin drugs can suffer from this condition as well.
But it’s not caused by a lack of glycogen. There is now a group of athletes who do endurance events such as trail runs ranging from 50 to 100 miles, and a major problem with people on trail runs eating a high carb diet is that they have to eat every hour, and if it takes 17 hours, start to finish. Without sleep. It’s 100 miles, with 20,000 total feet climbing and total descent... some of the people doing these races are now training low carb for these races. These people tend to start fairly slow in the race and be in the middle of the pack halfway through the race. But then in the second half, they tend to eat up the field from the back. Because they have a sustained fuel supply–their body fat–and they can continue running. A couple of women are extremely good at this, and in fact, running on low carbohydrate diets, these women not only have won the women’s races, but they have placed high in the men’s fields. People are wondering what the heck they’re up to, and they’re not saying much because their diet is a sort of secret weapon.
Are they sprinting sometimes or going at a nice steady pace?
This is a race where you can’t sprint. It’s more of a steady pace, because they have to stay at it for the next 20 hours.
Perhaps a low carbohydrate diet is more suited to a cruising speed and not for sprinting. Isn’t the fuel for sprinting glycogen? After all, fat is more of a cruising fuel than a high octane fuel.
Right. But what if your rate of glycogen use can be cut by a factor of four? And while you’re starting out with half as much glycogen as the person next you eating a high carbohydrate diet, but you’ll use up your glycogen four times more slowly than the person on a high carbohydrate diet. Whose glycogen will be more likely to last? The person whose rate of glycogen is a quarter as much, and their tank is half empty? Or the person whose glycogen level is twice as high but uses it up four times faster?
And those are actual numbers. We took bits of muscle out of their thigh muscles and measured muscle and measured glycogen before and after. On the same duration of riding and the same intensity, their rate of glycogen use was one-fourth as much.
They started with a lower amount of glycogen than someone eating a lot of carbohydrates, but they used the glycogen so efficiently, by the end of time that they were exercising, their stores were as good or better than someone who was eating carbohydrates?
Right. And the other thing that happens as a body gets more adapted to low-carb over two or three or more weeks, and thus it improves the body’s ability to manage its fuel supply, then the body becomes an extremely effective scavenger of the various breakdown products that can be used to make more glycogen. A lot of athletes and trainers fear a chemical compound called lactate. Lactate is what your muscles make out of glycogen when you’re sprinting. Lactate collects in the muscles. It accumulates in the bloodstream. It’s said to be a factor causing fatigue and muscle pain. It changes the pH in the blood to breathe hard. That makes you pant. That’s the pH lactate effect.
That used to happen to me, when I was eating a higher carbohydrate diet. But now that I’m adapted to a ketogentic diet, when I’m sprinting on my bicycle, for instance, when I’m chasing some younger person I don’t want to let go by, I breathe hard but I never huff and puff. That’s because I don’t make as much lactate, so I don’t have that lactate surge. But even more important, my muscles have become extremely efficient at taking lactate back up and using it to make glycogen. That was discovered by some Scandinavian scientists fifteen years ago. They found that the muscles that you’re not using doing exercise actually become a sponge for taking up lactate to make more glycogen. Your liver can take up lactate and make it into glycogen. You can use the skeletons from the amino acids in the breakdown of protein to make glycogen. In these ways, a keto-adapted athlete is probably much more efficient at recovering and rebuilding the glycogen stores they need.
An example of that is a study done in Arctic sled dogs by a scientist from Oklahoma State University, named Dr. Mike Davis. He’s a doctor of veterinary medicine, and he took a couple of racing sled dogs up in the Yukon and raced them 100 miles a day for five days in a row. They did a half Iditarod distance, going around the same 100 mile loop every day for five days in a row. He fed the dogs a high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet.
He measured muscle glycogen in the dogs before they started. At the end of five days, he did muscle biopsies on the dogs again. That’s after racing 100 miles a day, pulling a sled, being fed adequate calories in a low carb, moderate protein, high fat diet. At the end of five days, they had more glycogen in their muscles than they did when they started. Their muscle cells were sucking up every little bit of what they could find and putting it right back in the muscle as glycogen. And doing it much more efficiently than when they were fed a high carb diet.
It the trainers had said, these poor dogs are working so hard, let’s give them a few starchy biscuits, would that have been okay or would it have messed up their adaptation?
We don’t know. Because that experiment has not been done. But based on our human experience, the human body loves consistency. If you’re eating carbs, you have to keep eating carbs to maintain that sense of well-being that comes from that sugar surge. Not running out of energy and not being put in a position of bonking. If you flip the coin over and go to the low carb high fat side and do a few weeks of adaptation, that’s what your body wants to get. Our experience is that even a transient break in a low carb diet is an uncomfortable experience.
For instance, on a low carb diet, the kidneys are very efficient at getting rid of salt and water. That’s why, when someone’s kind of bloated and goes on a low-carb diet, they might lose 8-10 pounds in the first week. Now they don’t lose 10 pounds of body fat right away. They lose 2 or three pounds of body fat, and they lose 6 or 8 pounds of water because of salt excretion. But if you break the keto-adapted state. Say you ran a 10K, and to reward yourself,you eat a big plate of pasta. Well, the next morning you’re going to feel like the Michelin Man because every drop of salt and water will be suddenly trapped in your body, because your kidneys aren’t excreting salt when you’re eating carbs, and the scale will go up six pounds.
For example, take the bike racers in my study. We didn’t try to convince them that they might want to be on low carb long term. We just encouraged them to stay on the on the diet while we were studying them. When they came off, we wanted them to transition back to a high carb diet. These guys had been locked up in a metabolic research ward, and so I would take them out to any restaurant they wanted and treat them to a meal. I saw one guy eat a 16-inch diameter deep dish pizza. The whole thing. It’s about 2,000 calories.
The next morning the guy weighed six pounds more than he did the day before. He didn’t gain six pounds of body fat. His kidneys shut off salt excretion. Every bit of salt and water he had in him that night just stayed with him. It takes two or three days for the body to settle down and get rid of that overt retention of water.
The adaptation to a high carb diet is much quicker than it is adapting to a low carb diet. And these athletes.... They were so fit and capable, they could chose which they wanted to do. Be a carb eating body or a not carb eating body. But what about someone who’s a diabetic — or your word — carbohydrate intolerant? You caution there are ways you can be miserable even if you are eating low carb and you’re diligently avoiding carbs, but you have enough salt or magnesium. Which do you want to talk about first?
Let’s start by talking about salt. After all, salt is controversial. Sodium. As I mentioned, when the human body adapts to low carb, the body becomes very efficient at excreting salt. That’s good if you have high blood pressure, or if you’re bloated and fluid overloaded. It’s fine to reduce that. But there is a certain amount of salt our body needs. If you ever bit your lip and tasted your blood, it’s salty. The blood in the body contains salt. That’s the mineral in fluid outside to cells. Inside the cells, the body contains potassium. The body basically has two separate zones–the sodium zone in the bloodstream, and the potassium zone inside muscle and liver and kidney and heart cells.
If you don’t have enough sodium, particularly if you start to exercise and you’re warming up. Warming up means you’re getting blood circulation into your muscles plus to your skin to help you cool off. When you’re trying to cool off and work your muscles at the same time, your blood’s trying to serve two masters, which it can do if there’s enough blood. But if your fluid level is too low in the bloodstream, meaning too little volume altogether, then you’ve got too little to do both these tasks. Your blood level falls short. People who experience this lack of blood circulation, well, that can make people feel light-headed, dizzy and intensely fatigued.
I’ve had people tell me, I tried that low-carb diet of yours and the scales went down. But I was so light-headed. If I took a hot shower I’d feel like I was going to pass out, because I was completely washed out. That diet’s worthless!
I’d say to them, would you try drinking a cup of bullion.
Too much salt is bad for you, but the right amount is necessary?
I had a neighbor who was president of the local road riding club, and he tried a low carb diet, and felt really tired. I explained to him about salt and encouraged him to add some. He tried it. The next time he saw me, he hugged me and said, ‘You’ve given me my power back!’
Let me see if I’m understanding this. You said add two grams. That’s like a quarter teaspoon of salt. Maybe in total an additional half a teaspoon of salt in the day. And not only that. It has to be timed within, preferably, one hour before you try to do a lot of physical activity, or at maximum, around four hours before you do exercise. Don’t do it right before you exercise. And... It’s not like, do this before you go to sleep at night. Drink the bit of salt an hour or an hour and a half before you exercise.
That’s right. The sodium you ate yesterday is gone by today. If you want to take bullion before you go to bed, it depends on what kind of exercise your’e going to do in bed. It’s not going to help you tomorrow.
So if you get up in the morning and you go for an hour run between 6 and 7 in the morning. Then drink a cup of broth around 6 in the morning. The broth is not going to fill you up but it will give you some sodium. Drink it and then go for your run and you’ll feel infinitely better.
Maybe I’ll try this playing tennis, so that at the very beginning of the tennis match I’ll have more energy. After all, right now, the first set is usually my worst one. And I’ve always assumed it’s because I’ve got a weak pancreas. And since my pancreas is small, I know that the sprinting in tennis can push my blood sugar up 100 points, but maybe my fuzzy feeling is not because my blood sugars are going up. Maybe I’m a bit fuzzy in that first set. because my blood pressure’s low and I don’t have enough salt to push up the pressure and get all the tasks done that blood needs to do at that moment. Maybe if I drink something salty an hour or so before I play tennis, I won’t be as fuzzy.
Maybe so.
But of course, the sodium won’t affect my blood sugars. After all, I’m in a body that’s releasing sugars without having insulin to push the sugar into my cells. So my blood sugars go up.
That’s lactate coming out of your cells, being picked up by the liver and being made back into glucose and getting sent back to the cells. That’s called the Cori Cycle.
Since I don’t have a lot of insulin, my body goes, what the heck are we going to do with the sugar stuff. So my blood sugars go up.
Actually, some of that happens to anyone who’s got insulin sensitive cells and is exercising. Now if someone’s cells are insulin resistant, exercise does, indeed, lower blood sugars, because it makes their cells more insulin sensitive. But for someone who’s already insulin sensitive, even someone with a normally functioning pancreas, their blood sugars will go up at least some as a response to the Cori cycle’s extra production of sugar from the lactate that’s being released in the blood.
For instance, with my bike racers, we did blood tests before they started exercising, 15 minutes into the exercise, an hour and half into the exercise, then just before they finished... ie, when they said, I’m exhausted, and we said, “wait wait, let me get one more exercise blood sample... you see, we had IV’s inserted into them, so we could do it fairly quickly. Anyway, we did it in those times when they exercised, and then one final time, five minutes after they stopped peddling.. when we did that with the athletes, the highest blood sugar we recorded was generally 15 minutes into the exercise, and that higher blood sugar was in response to the initiation of exercise. This even happened to these highly trained athletes.
So every athlete, IF they’re insulin sensitive, their body responds by raising blood sugars in the first hour.
Yes, and it’s worth noting that the rise and fall of blood sugars in my bike racers was more extreme when they were on a high-carb diet than when they were on a high-fat, low-carb diet. In both cases, their blood sugars went up in the first fifteen minutes, and then down low afterward. But on the low-carb, high-fat diet, the highs weren’t as high and the lows weren’t as low. It’s a much more even flow of fuel.
I notice that in a singles tennis match, my sugars will go up to 170 to 180 but as time goes on, I can stay with sprinting. I have more endurance than someone who’s eating carbs. I haven’t thought I needed salt for starting fast in exercise.
For a better amount of minerals, there’s a recipe in the Atkins book from last March for meat broth. To make a meat broth, I say buy a whole chicken and put it in one quart of water for every pound of chicken, and simmer it for around six hours. Then throw away the solids, or give it to your cat or dog. And save the broth. Because the really good stuff is in the broth. Now I can buy chicken for a dollar a pound at my local bargain grocery store, and I get a quart of broth per pound of chick, and I use two cups per day. So I get two cups of broth for fifty cents a day. Now, to me, that’s a deal. After all, I would not bat an eyelash to go down to my local custom coffee place and buy a coffee beverage for three dollars. And be happy for the pick-me-up from the coffee. So the pick-me-up from the broth is not a waste, and it’s not expensive.
Now to best use the broth, I recommend that you skim off the fat, because I doubt that factory chicken fat is all that good for us.
Even you don’t like factory chicken fat.
I don’t like factory chicken fat. Try saying that fast three times. But in addition, it’s been exposed to heat and oxygen for a long period of time, and any polyunsaturates are going to go rancid as a result of that cooking process, so I skim the fat off and throw it away. But what’s left, the broth, in the refrigerator, it turns into a jello consistency. That’s because it’s got as much protein per cup as a whole egg.
So real broth counts as a protein source.
Yes it does. And you also get potassium and magnesium out of the muscle meat and phosphorus and calcium from the bones. It’s an extremely rich mixture. And I have people put one teaspoon of salt per quart into the pot when they make it. That gives you one-quarter teaspoon per cup. You get the right amount of salt, some extra potassium, some magnesium, and it’s extremely good for your muscles and for me, it also feels good for my gastrointestinal tract. Even viscerally, it appeals to me.
For someone who’s depleted of magnesium, as evidenced by leg cramps, you suggest magnesium supplements. I’ve had muscle cramps, so I tried to find the slow-release magnesium you suggested. At Whole Foods, they suggested a product known as Calm. You put it into hot water, it fizzes and you drink it. And it comes in a sugar-free version.
Magnesium is a fascinating mineral. I class it as my least favorite nutrient, because like Rodney Dangerfield, it never gets any respect.
Ninety-eight percent of the free magnesium in our bodies is inside our muscles. There’s a fair amount of magnesium tied up in our bones as well. One tenth of the positive charged particles in our bones is magnesium. The other nine out of ten is calcium. But the magnesium in bones doesn’t get released very fast. So your body can’t borrow from the bone magnesium in order to help out muscles that are depleted in magnesium. If you need to get some in your muscles quickly, the bone isn’t any help at all.
Now there are some clues of magnesium deficiency. For instance, the little twitching of the muscles is a sign– |
a couple decades. Like, when I graduated college, relational database was a big specialization, mid-range computers that utilized the DB-2, and then the DB-2 package for mainframes was still gaining traction. It wasn’t widespread. Most file systems were header detail, footer type systems, HFS type thing, you know, just a…I forgot. Not HFS, excuse me. That’s wrong, sorry.
Anyway, I can’t remember it. But anyway, it was basically you spooled the tape, and it read the header, which told you what to expect and all the detail records, identified by a character at the beginning of the row, an H for a “header,” a D for “detail,” and an F for “footer” was one way to do it. I’m sure there were others. I don’t recall. So that was a specialization. EDI, which was Electronic Data Interchange, was a pretty valuable specialization to have, and now I don’t know: SOAP, XML at some point now. You know, there are some industries that rely heavily on SOAP, but no, I couldn’t tell.
The key to all this stuff, I think, if you’re a junior engineer or a non-seasoned engineer, let’s say, where you’re still at the beginning of your career, is to learn how to learn. Learn what you like. That’s really important. I like managing people. I like the people thing. There are certain parts of management I don’t like and I have to get better at. For example, getting a really inexperienced engineer from zero to one, you know, and if they’re not particularly aware that they’re not even at one yet. You look at their code, and you look at the decisions they make and think, “Ooh, that’s gonna break the system.” How do you communicate and bring them up, and coach them up, as opposed to someone who’s got some experience who wants to learn a bit more.
Learn how to learn. Learn what you like. That’s really important. Click To Tweet
Max: So learning independently is kind of a…not such a selfish exercise, but when you’re employed by someone, that employer or that manager has a really maybe also selfish interest in you learning things, too. So…
Jason: Yeah, it’s smart, for sure, because the more you learn and the more able you are to do your job, the better it is for the company. It’s like, “Hey, how would you like to go solve vehicle routing problem? Guess what? The company is pivoting into a fleet of cars that are gonna go and pick up your water or drop off, you know, bottles of water for you.” I can’t, I turn that around, so I’m not promising that this company’s gonna do that for you.
The more you learn and the more able you are to do your job, the better it is for the company Click To Tweet
Max: Sure, sure.
Jason: But all of a sudden like the business pivots, in other words, and now the overworked engineering director and over-worked engineering staff now has to do something that they’ve never experienced before. I mean, unless you have done a VRP or… I think most people are gonna be generally aware of Dijkstra’s algorithm, right? But that doesn’t…you can’t just drop that in if you got a fleet of cars, you have to…there’s a more advanced thing. So if you learn how to do something completely new that’s going to benefit your career, in this case, it’s also gonna benefit the company.
The flip side is if you were interested in doing something that had no benefit to the company, you might have to say, “Well, learn it at home, and if we have an idea that we can prototype without risk to our business, then maybe we can talk about it.” And so you do have to negotiate what you learn and its value to the company. And as a manager, if you’re smart, you will encourage people to develop their professions. And I think, as a manager, it’s part of my responsibility to help people develop their careers and develop their technical expertise in whatever directions they wanna go, at the same time, making sure that the company’s needs and requirements are met, and, you know, making sure that these two overlap and mesh.
You do have to negotiate what you learn and its value to the company Click To Tweet
And that company understands…my bosses understand that personal and professional development and growth is super important, not just to the individual, but to them. And to the engineer to say, “Hey, look, you know, I understand you wanna rewrite everything in Elixir. I get it. But there’s value to the company that isn’t provide by that. On the other hand, getting into this other, you know, process, maybe we need a Pub/Sub setup that you might wanna use Elixir for or something, we can prototype that.” And then communicating to the engineer that they have to have the business interests in mind as well as their personal growth for making those intersections and communicating, is a big deal.
But learning, I mean, over…you know, I switched to… I left the IBM world programming in RPG III and RPG IV, which is this ridiculously arcane and antique language, and it was horrible.
Max: I haven’t heard of those.
Jason: Yeah, good. You’re lucky. COBOL and FORTRAN is crap. It’s still around, so that tells you something. And then I had learned Python, which is relatively easy to learn, and previous to that, I had learned other languages. Hey, Python. And…sorry?
Max: Oh, I was just cueing the audience that Python’s a great language to learn.
Jason: Oh, yes, yes, yes, love it. There are quite a few great languages out there, and then I happen to be partial to that one because I learned it. And it’s an amazing tool. I use it for almost everything I can imagine. There are some things that…like, I’ll use Golang for, you know, something that needs to be super fa… Instead of C, I’ll use Golang, for example, because it’s a nice C replacement, that sort of thing. Anyway.
Max: On the front of helping junior engineers or even senior engineers under your management learn empathy and soft skills aside, what’s kinda the toolkit, hard toolkit available to management? Who are the vendors trying to sell you products and services as a manager to help you level up your engineering team and whatnot?
Jason: I delete those emails. I don’t know. I rely on my network of people, you know, for whom I’ve worked before, my previous managers. And I will say, “Hey, you know, I could use your advice on these things I’m doing that I could do better and these things that I think I’m doing wrong.” Feedback I get from my reports. I ask my reports for feedback…
[Crosstalk]
Max: Are there tools that they use? Like, do you find people who are reporting to you as a manager are coming to you with tools and whatnot that they think make themselves more productive?
Jason: Very rarely. The kind of tools…managing people, there’s techniques and things you do, having regular one-on-ones and how you structure those one-on-ones, asking questions that start with what and how, instead of why, learning the psychology of interactions when there’s a power imbalance. Whenever there’s a manager and a report, there’s a natural power imbalance, and honesty sometimes takes a back seat. Because you don’t wanna tell your boss they suck at something, right, even though that’s sometimes the most valuable feedback you can get. So then one of the tools is, “How am I doing? What could I have done better, when we had this meeting?” And it’s easy to get off track, and I think my personal record on one-on-ones is probably 50%, where they go is… Where they go where I think we’d want them to go, sometimes this just turns into a bull session, which is also important. It’s important that, you know, you can just sort of hang sometimes and go, “Phew! Boy, what a week, man!” And you don’t get anything done besides just sort of, you know, shooting the breeze for a little bit. That has value as well, but…
Whenever there’s a manager and a report, there’s a natural power imbalance, and honesty… Click To Tweet
So no, they generally don’t. I have to ask them. And I have to ask them, “What makes you happy? Where do you see yourself professionally in one or two years?” And it’s okay if they say, “I don’t know yet.” “Great. What interests you? What makes you happy? How would you like to be recognized for your work? How would you like your constructive criticism?”
Different generations handle it very differently. I’m a Gen X, and we’re…I don’t know, we’re just different, and the millennial generation does not take to the way we talk to each other. We could be pretty brutal, and we’re very DIY, you know, the do-it-yourself thing, the old Peter Gabriel song. I keep going back to that. You know, and my Gen X friends and I we’re like, “Yeah, I just built this cool thing.” And the millennials do that, too, but we’re brutal with each other about it. “Yeah, you know, that guitar you built, it’s, you know…”
Max: Garbage.
Jason: Not only garbage, but, I think…you know, I’ve discovered I can’t do that. So I’ve asked the, you know, the folks who are maybe just out of school one or two years or they’re only two or three or four years in their career, “Okay, how do I give you constructive feedback?” And then, that’s a whole other set of challenges in there, that’s probably a whole different discussion.
But the key is growth, and I say, “Look, it’s really important that you continue to grow and learn how to learn because the tools change. You can’t stay a Java programmer…” bad example. You could stay a Java programmer forever, probably. But you can’t stay on Ruby on Rails forever, you can’t stay in Django forever, because eventually those frameworks are gonna go away 10, 20, 30 years down the line.
You want to, you know, invent a quieter truck horn maybe. You wanna get into machine learning, which is nascent. You know, it’s not enough to just go download OpenML or whatever, or what’s…whatever Apple’s…
Max: Scikit-Learn, ARKit. I don’t know if they’re machine learning.
Jason: Yeah, ARKit, yeah. MLKit, I think. It’s not enough just to learn the front-end API. You should get in and understand, “Oh, my gosh. I need to go back and relearn linear algebra,” or, you know, multivariate statistics and multivariate calculus, because that’s all parts of ML. I had a recent discussion with an engineer who really wanted to get into machine learning. And I said, “Oh, great. Man, you want some advice?” And they said, “Sure.” And I said, “Go hit your multivariate calculus again.” And he said, “I’ve never heard of that.” He just had no clue what I was talking about. I said, “Oh, okay.”
Max: It’s a subject in colleges and…
Jason: You can go learn it…there’s stuff on the web…but, you know, learn the fundamentals of what makes machine learning work. You don’t have to become an expert tomorrow, but if you wanna do it, you have to start learning, you know, what’s a Markov chain, and how do you program one? And that’s just one element. That’s one tool and one piece of this. So I’m not a machine learning expert. I’ve been doing that. I’ve just been trying to learn the stuff and get a catalog of, “If I’m going to be interested in learning this nascent technological field, what do I need to get my first principles,” right? Have you’ve ever taken a martial art, karate, or whatever…?
Max: A little bit.
Jason: They say that most of almost everything that you do has its foundations in the stuff you learn in the first month. You know, all the white belts you go through, it’s just learning the basics. The real learning, the real education doesn’t come until you’re a black belt, but even then, you know, a good sensei will just continually tell you, “This is the basic move you learned in the first week. You need to refine it. You need to really get it under your skin.” Same with programming, you know, 80% of your problems can be solved with 20% of the toolkit.
Max: When you were talking earlier about one-on-ones and how large a portion, maybe time-wise, of management one-on-one meetings are.
Jason: Yes.
Max: What percentage of that time is kind of coddling people’s expectations about compensation. Like, I think, something especially true of people in their first five years of their software engineering career is they see these very lucrative base salary compensation packages, and they feel this was the right choice career-wise. But maybe they’re only in their first year of their career and they’re just not reasonably or likely to receive maybe the same salary offer that somebody shockingly gets when they’re fourth year, maybe.
Jason: Right. Or 10th or 20th year, yeah.
Max: Is this a contentious topic when doing one-on-ones with people in their first year of programming?
Jason: It depends, and it depends on the individual’s background, what sort of level of entitlement they have or don’t have that they’ve acquired, what their personal level of maturity is. You know, I’ve been lucky that I’ve worked with some first and second-year engineers who had previous careers in the public sector or in nonprofits or something like this, where they’ve worked in organizations and they’ve had to work in the types of organizations that heavily required soft skills and understandings of this stuff. So they’ve been a bit easier to work with.
It can get very contentious for a bunch of reasons. One is we’re not very good negotiators. We don’t like…we’re engineers, we’re very concrete, we’re very deterministic. “I want this much money, and I really don’t wanna negotiate.” And it rubs us the wrong way when we sit with a professional negotiator, a salesperson, a CEO. I mean, the CEO is a hell of a professional negotiator, [inaudible 00:22:09] one. That’s all they do is negotiate with boards and with businesses, you know? And who do we interview with? Essentially, professional negotiators, right, for our salary.
So usually, they come in, you know, underpaid, anyway, especially in a A round or B round startup. So that’s already a difficult position because they look at the salaries and somewhere else, and they feel like they’re getting ripped off sometimes.
Max: Yeah.
Jason: Or if they do their research, then they feel like they’re ripped off. They may not have before, but as soon as they open a website… Or some friend working for Facebook says, “Oh, man, I’m making like 50 grand more than you are.” Oh, boy.
The other problem is if you take an engineer who’s been working for a company for two or three years, four years, and they learn that idiosyncrasies or that company extremely well. They know the API of that company without really understanding all the underlying infrastructure. They don’t really know how to handle, for example, a big join query that’s got six or seven tables that are all joined together and left out of joins, and how to analyze that in Postgres and take a look at what’s the differ… You know, like, they don’t understand the implications of a sequential…
Max: They maybe have breadth, but not depth.
Jason: They have breadth, but not depth. Yeah, thank you. But they then equate that to value as a senior engineer, but I’m the guy that everyone goes to, to figure out how to fix this problem. Or when we have an on-call event, I’m the one who gets up at 10 p.m. and fixes it. And then you have to communicate, well, what a great engineer’s gonna do to is solve that problem and write the code, so that that event doesn’t happen again or is more easily mitigable.
They’ll understand that the query shouldn’t run two and a half seconds. You can’t just say, “Well, it’s because that has, you know, 4 million rows in it.” “Well, wait a minute, you know, there’s gotta be a way to mitigate this,” right? So lots of local, really localized experience, but not a lot of general experience about the profession, about, you know, the craftsmanship of…and the artisanship of being an engineer. And they conflate that experience with the value, you know, across the industry.
Max: So I guess…
Jason: It’s challenging, and that gets contentious, because he says, “Well, I want the same money that, you know, someone who’s been at it for 15 years gets because they can’t answer the question about our invoicing system and I can.” It’s like, “Well…”
Max: Okay.
Jason: That doesn’t mean that, you know, I can drop you into Google tomorrow and you’re gonna be a level four, so.
Max: Yeah. Well, I think one of the other problems that exists besides engineers not being good negotiators or having good understanding of their context in the business when it comes to negotiating their compensation is that unlike sales, for example, compensation is not very performance-based, in a lot of cases, for people, especially in their first few years of their career. So in your career, so far, you’ve been with many different employers and businesses and organizations. What have been different experiments you’ve seen? I mean, equity as a portion of compensation has always been a tool to help incentivize engineers, but what are some variations or trends you’ve seen in engineers’ compensation over the decades?
Jason: It depends on where they are in their lives. Things like working remotely can have a lot of value to someone who, say, for example, doesn’t have kids.
Max: True. Or does have kids.
Jason: Doesn’t have kids. I mean, more like taking three weeks and going to Mexico and working from a beach somewhere.
Max: Got it.
Jason: Sometimes that can have a lot of value in lieu of salary, especially if you’re an A round or a B round company or a pre-A round company and you don’t have a lot of money, right? And as long as the work gets done, you know, then it’s the job… Of course, then you don’t really have a manager in that point, but then I think the CEO’s gotta recognize it. Sometimes getting the work done is more important than butts in seats. And that’s a whole different negotiation.
Sometimes getting the work done is more important than butts in seats. Click To Tweet
But let’s say it’s a slightly more advanced developed company, and they do have people like directors and VPs of engineering, whatever, offering compensation that has value but is not cash or stock options. So we experimented with that, making sure that they are clear that they have responsibility, that they have to still be accountable for the work, even if they’re working from a beach in Thailand, right? They’re accountable for communications. That’s usually the one that’s the trickiest. They disappear and don’t send you an email for four days. You know, you still need to tell us, right?
Max: Yeah.
Jason: Teaching them how to communicate up, how to manage up. Everyone needs to know how to manage up. Always push information up the ladder, don’t have them come to you, so that helps. You know, telling them that, “Yes, we can compensate you in this sort of experimental way, but here’s what you need to do to make that work.” In other cases, if it is a family, you say, “Yeah, you can shift your hours around. You can work from home,” things like that.
Max: I think the phrase “manage up,” while it’s probably pretty, popular lexicon at this point, it might be very helpful for you to explain for the audience what “managing up” means, because…
Jason: Oh, boy. Specifically as a software engineer.
Max: Sure.
Jason: Okay. We speak a completely different language than anyone else in the business, right? Our language is about engineering, whereas your Biz Dev people and your CEO and your sales folks and your other folks who are nontechnical have a general sense of the same language. And their language is money and income and profit and loss and all the things around a business. We don’t talk about that. Our language is in, you know, pre-optimization of algorithms or optimizations of queries, or…we’re into the real geeky stuff.
We throw around words like technical debt, which are really loaded terms for us. It could mean a variety of things. It could mean “determine technical debt,” where, “Gosh, we don’t have enough time. I’m going to hack something in to buy myself time.” So you’re basically buying time on credit. It has to be paid back later. There’s accidental technical debt, where, “I wrote some operations, or I wrote some control code that I didn’t really understand the general abstraction of what I was trying to fix, or I didn’t understand the business” and, “Oops! I made some incorrect assumptions.” That’s accidental technical debt.
In other words, the technical word has, like, lots of meaning, even within engineering. When you say that to someone who doesn’t speak our language, completely, then you’re really screwing yourself over. So “managing up” for engineers means learning how to speak in the language of the people for whom you’re a service provider because we are providing a service to the rest of the company. If you’re managing up to a technical manager, right, then you can negotiate terms like technical debt and everything else.
So the most important thing, if you’re gonna manage up as an engineer to non-engineers, is learn their language. Don’t speak in terms of, “Well, if we don’t change this algorithm…we’re gonna…” Because all they’re hearing is the Charlie Brown, “Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah,” right? That’s all they’re hearing. If you tell them, “Hey, if we don’t fix this thing, you know, your churn level of customers is going to continually increase because we’re pissing people off.”
That’s a very real conversation. I’ve had it, I don’t know with how many customers and how many places, where I’ve said, “Look. You know, a system is a snapshot of your business. Your business keeps changing and moving every time. Your system takes, boop, it’s gonna do this, and eventually, you’re far enough…” like, your customer base a year from now doesn’t look like it does now if you’re a young business and you’re trying to figure out produce market fit. So I’ll have to communicate in their language, “Hey, you know, we have a 67% churn rate. If we make these fixes, it’s gonna drop that by I don’t know how much, but we have to do some…” you know, putting it in terms of their…you know, “Hey, every time our system blows up, we lose $100,000 in income.” That’s a language that I guarantee that they understand. They’re gonna say, “Don’t talk to me about this. Go fix it. This is your job. Don’t ask me permission to, like, do your job,” right? Now, if you’re managing up to someone who’s technical, what it means is providing them with information, regular updates.
Like provide them with the bad news. If you work for someone who can’t handle bad news, find someone else to work for. You gotta communicate the bad news. “Hey, I got into this thing, and I thought it was a 2. It’s really an 8. And it’s gonna take me an extra week to, you know, remove all the uncertainty from the story, so I can actually execute it properly. This story has…I’m speaking in Tracker but it applies to JIRA. This ticket has too much uncertainty. I don’t know what’s going on. I need to do some research and find out, you know, more about the business request or the product request or some technical requirements. I need another three days.” Or, “Hey, this one was easier than I thought. I’m gonna have it done tomorrow.”
If you work for someone who can’t handle bad news, find someone else to work for. Click To Tweet
Those are examples of pushing information up. Don’t wait for your manager to come to you. That’s not managing up, right? You also build trust. Managing up is about continuing to build trust with your manager. For example, if you consistently provide information about what’s going on, I mean, one or two sentences, the less you need to get in technical detail, in which case book some time together, so that you don’t impede on someone else’s work they’re trying to do. One or two sentences is enough. “Here’s where I’m at. Here’s whatever.” Think about answering questions as, “Yes,” “No,” or “I don’t know. I’ll find out.” Those are three awesome answers, right? “Yes,” “No,” “I don’t know,” things like that.
Max: With the different companies you’ve worked with over the years, are there certain ones that kind of stand out in how aligned their engineering teams were with revenue and cost. I guess, there are many startups that aren’t making much in the way of money right now and are chasing kind of proxy metrics for money, that might be users, that might be engagement or whatever. Where you can’t say, “Okay, this engineer created this feature which translates to this revenue or these cost savings.” So are there any employers that…or companies you’ve worked with, that have had a better focus on that sort of thing, on the engineering team? And was that a better work environment or a worse work environment?
Jason: Yeah, I have. I think it’s a better work environment when the engineers are very passionate about the company. They want the company to succeed, and they’re very tied into the metrics. I worked with a company recently where the engineers, every time there was an all hands, would raise their hands and ask about business data, KPIs. One said, “What’s the KPI for this quarter?” And couldn’t get an answer, which made some of the folks realize, “Oops! This was coming from engineering.”
So it was really good because I happen to like cross-disciplinary groups, cross-functional cross-disciplinary groups, where Engineering and Biz Dev and Operations and, you know, Sales and everybody, we’re all working together for the common and with a lot of communication. That old T-shaped individual comes in handy if you look up the IDO. Tim Brown talked about T-shaped.
Max: I am familiar.
Jason: That’s in a whole other conversation, and I encourage you to go look it up on the web. It’s interesting. It talks about having empathy for other teams. Like, “Well, what would help sales? How do I get that information?” So, “Hey, Product, you know, Sales is talking about their OKRs for this or KPIs for this quarter. What can we do to improve that?” If that comes from Engineering, it fosters a cooperative relationship with the product folks as opposed to a confrontational one.
It is good. It’s good when an engineer raises a, you know, a yellow flag and says, “Hey, this thing that you’ve asked me to work on, I don’t think it’s gonna move the needle for the company.”
Max: Yeah. I guess, are there processes that a manager in Engineering can introduce to… For example, one practice, I remember, in a previous role I’ve held is to have engineer team members on a weekly basis go and either sit in on a client call or sit in on a sales call, which there’s not so much a measurable effect that I recall being concluded from that experiment. But are there things that you, as a manager, or you observed other managers do to try and get engineering teams better aligned with the rest of the business?
Jason: I have, yeah. I’ve seen some great managers do this for every department, you know, in the company. Have sales people go, you know…
Max: Sit with…
Jason: Sit with…
Max: …engineers?
Jason: Whoever.
[Crosstalk]
Jason: Well, we’ll do that as well. But for example, let’s take…I haven’t worked there, but let’s take a company we’ve all heard of, you know, that picks you up and drops you off, right?
Max: Oh, sure.
Jason: Like a ride-sharing company.
Max: Oh, that could be one of many.
Jason: One of many. And I haven’t worked there, but I’m just using them as an example because it’s a nice abstraction. Like, this senior-level manager would say, “Hey, Salespeople, go ride with a driver all day and see what they deal with.” “Hey, Engineers, go do the same.” “Hey, Engineers, go on a sales call.” They would mix…they would have people go on each other’s jobs. “Hey, Finance Folks, you know, go sit in the engineering planning meeting for a little bit and see how they approach these problems and see if you can start to create dialogues.”
Institute hack days where everybody in the whole company gets together and comes up with sort of off-the-book solutions that really aren’t on the road map and may or may not solve a primary KPI, but could have an effect on the secondary KPI. For example, “Hey, you know, ARKit just came out. Maybe we can create an app that would allow a driver in this mythical company to pick up their thing and figure out, you know, how many meters or how many yards a landmark is in front of them.”
Max: Sure, sure.
Jason: That sort of thing.
Max: Okay.
Jason: Which…
Max: So hackathons, embedded team members…
Jason: Embedded team members, cross-functional meetings, things like that. So just mix and match the folks in all departments. Keep them from getting isolated. One of the bigger problems is that engineers are usually two or three steps removed from the actual money making at a company, and a lot of engineers who have experience just don’t care. I’ve had people say, “It’s not my problem. Money’s not my problem. I’m gonna go and, like, rewrite everything in Ruby because this stupid language sucks.” So you go, “No, no, no. You can’t do that because it puts a tremendous amount of technical risk and there’s money involved,” you know? And you have to get into this litigation with this well-meaning, but misdirected engineer who… And that’s, you know…
Max: So for these misdirected, youthful, or at least…
Jason: Not always youthful, but yeah.
Max: Not always youthful, but maybe inexperienced engineers. Maybe you can share some perspective from the other side of the table when somebody comes to their manager in Engineering and says, “I wanna do a rewrite and a different approach”?
Jason: Right. Well, that was me, once upon a time, you know, when I was…
Max: What changed?
Jason: You do it wrong. What changed is you get great managers who…you just get lucky with great managers. Or I seek out…you know, or you have a few failures and go, “Where did I go wrong, what did I do? Good Lord, I screwed that up.” And you go searching for answers as to where I screwed up. No, once I was contracting for a contracting firm, and it was on an IBM system and the code was ancient and ugly. It had been hacked on and with some weird combination of…a lot of go-to’s, a lot of spaghetti code, semi-functional, some sub routines, not a lot. It was a mess, and I couldn’t understand it. And I felt stymied every time I opened it. Like, you fixed one thing, and you broke three others. So I fought really hard to…and argued very strongly to rewrite everything, just rewrite the whole system because I can’t understand it, and I fought with my manager for weeks. And finally, the Director of IT, the Director of MIS, Management Information Systems is what we called it back in the Stone Age, when we were programming on rocks and chisels.
Max: Pre-2000?
Jason: Yeah. Pre-2000, yeah. And explained to me why we couldn’t do it, the time, what situation the company was in, and how we needed to just make it work and keep generating income. And then, maybe someday, someday, someday, we could, you know, fix this stuff. And he said, “In the meanwhile, you just have to suck it up.” And then what I did is I found a new company where the technology wasn’t so bad because I really hated my life and I couldn’t stand it. And in that sense, I was like, “Well, you know, what can I tell you? I’m not the right guy for this job.”
But from that side of the table, what I took away from my personal experience was a lot of personal frustration brought on by a lack of experience in having to maintain other people’s code. The misunderstanding that, most of our careers, we’re managing someone else’s code, right?
Max: This is a topic that you and I have talked about previously, and something you’ve said has made a very big impression on me, which was how you suspect that possibly zero lines of code you’ve written are in production anymore.
Jason: Right.
Max: Whether that’s due to other people making changes or replacing systems or acquisitions and…
Jason: Acquisitions or shutdowns and, yeah.
Max: Yeah.
Jason: I was thinking about it after we talked about this. I think I’ve got some code for a credit card manufacturing company, actually it’s a card manufacturing company, because I wrote code to create an interface between the internet and their credit card printing machines, which dated back to 1974. And I doubt if that code’s changed at all since I wrote it. Ain’t no one wants to touch it, but it works and it’s ancient technology. I did this in, like, 2002, so it was just a very unusual job. So that code might still be there because it’s really idiosyncratic and specific and the domain is like so narrow it doesn’t make any sense.
But in general, no, that’s true, mostly through acquisitions and companies just disappearing into the cracks of the Earth. Some codes are products that were shut down. I worked on a thing at Google that, you know, two weeks after launch, was completely sunsetted just because that’s, you know, they have to make decisions about what goes to market.
Max: Do you have any… I guess, is it an admirable goal to try and write code that will be around forever? Like, is that something to be admired or aspired to?
Jason: Yes, yes, It is, because you don’t know. I mean, my luck could just be bad. I’ve heard rumors that there is PayPal code that is still in the PayPal repo that dates back to, you know, seven guys in a room in Palo Alto, right? I don’t know if it’s true, but I wouldn’t doubt it. It is, because when we write code, especially in languages…well, in any language, really, other than assembly…when we write code, we’re not writing it specifically to tell the computer what to do. We’re writing it so that other human beings know what we’re telling the computer to do. You wanna tell the computer what to do, write in assembly language, and even then, you’re gonna put comments in. Why? To tell other human beings what I’m telling the computer to do. It’s super critical, and you don’t wanna… You know, most university programs… A friend of mine, one of the people that I go to for advice, and we’re talking about recruiting and things, and anyway, what came out of that conversation was so many of us who went through a classical computer science routine and degree learn how to write code once, that’s read once by a professor who, half the time, is too busy or just doesn’t care, because for whatever reason. Lots of professors care very deeply, but they’re overworked.
Max: It’s academia.
Jason: It’s academia. Some of them just, you know…whatever. You’re not always guaranteed to get the best attention because it’s just not the way it works. That comes later. Anyway, it’s written once, it’s read once, and that’s it. It’s not ever used again, and you fall into some terrifically bad habits, right? Writing readable code, which means using idioms that are simple…John Carmack has a great quote, l want to paraphrase it, but it’s basically, “Sometimes all you need is a function.” Not a framework, not a class, right? A function, super simple, super easy. Things like every function’s signature should be similar and should be clear. Naming things should be very specific and coherent, right? And what the name of the thing is should represent what the thing does or what the thing is. Any hidden magic gotchas and you’ve miscommunicated to another human being. Computer still works, but it won’t after they…
A good example is a function that says, “Clear water bottle,” and what the function actually does is empties the water bottle and refills it. That didn’t clear it. Actually, “refill water bottle.” “Empty and refill water bottle” would be an even better name for that particular function. But no, it’s called, “clear water bottle.” You know, my response, “Is the water bottle filled with water?” Which is not what I expected, and now I’m gonna run…now my initial assumptions about the stack have been shattered. Now I don’t |
roof, raised floors and windows that open to let the cool air in at night. McDonough has been designing green buildings for decades. When McDonough gives talks, he often asks, “What if we could create a building like a tree?” This building has some of those living, breathing tree-like qualities.
The Sustainability Lab also has an airy, open feel thanks to all the windows. But it also feels and looks a bit unfinished. The pipe work in the ceiling is purposely not completely covered over –so that adjustments can be made without making holes in the plaster.
No detail has been missed. The landscaping incorporated native plants and contoured surfaces called bioswales that help the ground absorb more rainwater to minimize runoff to the San Francisco Bay. Plants are watered with “repurposed” water from the rest of the campus. Water for the toilets in the building is purified water that’s been used in sinks and showers-- using the same NASA technology that purifies water on the space station. Showers in the building will use water warmed by solar hot water heaters on the roof.
Careful thought was given to materials. The floor is recycled white oak from a wind tunnel building on the Ames campus that was taken down. The steel and concrete used were recycled. The carpeting is recyclable, as is the glass in the windows. Because it was designed to maximize use of natural light, Zornetzer figures the lights will have to be on for the equivalent of 40 days a year.
McDonough has high hopes for the building. “I think this will set the benchmark” for sustainable, green buildings, he says. Imitation? Bring it on, says McDonough. “I want people to copy us.”
Follow me on Twitter at @KerryDolanIran has condemned US Republican presidential candidate John McCain for joking about killing Iranians with cigarettes and said it showed his "warmongering" foreign policy attitude, media said on Sunday.
'Amber Light' Given Report: US backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran Ynet Pentagon official says Bush told Israel to 'get on with preparations, stand by for immediate attack' on Iran's main nuclear sites if diplomatic efforts fail. 'This administration will not attack Iran. This has already been decided,' official tells Sunday Times Report: US backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran
McCain, who once sang in jest about bombing Iran, on Tuesday reacted to a report of rising US cigarette exports to the Islamic Republic by saying it may be "a way of killing 'em."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said: "McCain's crude remark on the indiscriminate killing of the Iranian nation not only testifies to his disturbed state of mind, but also to his warmongering approach to foreign policy."
In a statement quoted by the website of Iran's state Press TV satellite station, Hosseini added: "We condemn such jokes and believe them to be inappropriate for a US Presidential candidate. It is most evident that jokes about genocide will not be tolerated by Iranians or Americans."
'I meant that as a joke'
McCain, known for acerbic comments and for sometimes firing verbally from the hip, was responding to a report that US exports to Iran rose tenfold during President George W. Bush's term in office despite hostility between the two countries.
A rise in cigarette sales was a big part of that, according to an Associated Press analysis.
"Maybe that's a way of killing 'em," McCain said to reporters during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh. "I meant that as a joke, as a person who hasn't had a cigarette in 28 years, 29 years," he added, laughing.
His comments coincided with rising tension between Iran and its arch-foes, the United States and Israel, over the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear program.
US leaders have not ruled out military options if diplomacy fails to assuage fears about Iran's nuclear work, which they suspect is aimed at making bombs but which Tehran says is only to produce electricity.by
The California Health Care Agency says that more than 30 people from “multiple unrelated groups” have been sickened after eating Rosca de Reyes Bread distributed by Cholula’s Bakery in Santa Ana. Symptoms include dizziness, palpitations, stomach aches, and numbness. Several people went to the hospital. Since symptoms happened within 20 minutes of eating the bread, it’s probably not an infectious agent that is causing the illnesses.
The bread was distributed on January 5 and 6, 2015 to retail outlets in Orange County and Long Beach. It was sold at Cholula’s Bakery in Santa Ana, El Nopal Mercado in San Juan Capistrano, La Bodega Ranch in Orange, La Bodega Ranch in Fullerton, Santa Ana Marquet in Santa Ana, and Tony’s Liquor in San Juan Capistrano. It was also sold at Gonzalez Marquet in Placentia, Taqueria Mocorito Restaurant in Anaheim, Taco Boy in Anaheim, Brianna’s Ice Cream in Anaheim, and La Bodega Ranch Market in Long Beach. You can see addresses of the retail outlets at the CHCA web site.
The bakery was investigated and closed after officials discovered a cockroach infestation, according to ABC7. Officials aren’t sure if that is the problem with the bread. The product is usually eaten on Three Kings Day, also called Epiphany Day.
On edit: Initial testing has found the presence of a synthetic drug in the bread. The bakery is going to stay closed until all opened food is thrown out, all ingredients used to make the bread is discarded, and food safety training has been implemented for all staff.
If you purchased any Rosca de Reyes bread from Cholula’s Bakery, do not eat it. Throw it out or return to the place of purchase for a refund. If you did eat this bread, contact the Santa Ana Police Department at 714-245-8390.Raymond Lee Harvey was an Ohio-born unemployed American drifter. He was arrested by the Secret Service after being found carrying a starter pistol with blank rounds, ten minutes before President Jimmy Carter was to give a speech at the Civic Center Mall in Los Angeles on May 5, 1979.
Although he had a history of mental illness,[1] police investigated his claims that he was part of a four-man operation to assassinate the president. He claimed that he had been approached by three Latino men staying at the Alan Hotel who gave him the starter pistol, and asked him to shoot it into the ground to create a diversion, so they could then shoot the president from their hotel room during the distraction.[2] According to Harvey, he fired seven blank rounds from the starter pistol on the hotel roof on the night of May 4, to test how much noise it would make. He then spent the night in a room taken by one of the men, whom he knew as "Julio", but who was later identified as a 21-year-old illegal Mexican alien who gave the name Osvaldo Espinoza Ortiz.[1] At the time of his arrest, Harvey had eight spent rounds in his pocket, as well as 70 unspent blank rounds for the gun.[3]
The names "Lee Harvey" and "Osvaldo" (Osvaldo is the Spanish equivalent to "Oswald") drew comparisons to Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President John F. Kennedy. This led conspiracy theorists to claim that the incident was set up to scare Carter into submission.[4][5] Although originally dismissed as "a tale spun by an intoxicated man,"[6] police investigating the claims found a room in the Alan Hotel rented under the name "Umberto Camacho," the name of an alleged conspirator given by Ortiz, containing a shotgun case and three unspent rounds of ammunition. The occupant had checked out of the hotel room the day of the alleged assassination attempt.[1]
Harvey was jailed on a $50,000 bond, given his transient status, and Ortiz was alternately reported as being held on a $100,000 bond as a material witness[1] or held on a $50,000 bond being charged with burglary from a car.[3] Charges against the pair were ultimately dismissed for a lack of evidence.[7]
His age at the time of the event has been alternately given as 34[8] or 35.[1]The biggest corporate supporter of cyclist Lance Armstrong left his side Wednesday, and others quickly followed suit.
Nike, the world's largest shoe and apparel company, announced it has terminated its endorsement deal with Armstrong.
"Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him," the company said in a statement. "Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs in any manner. Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer."
Nike's announcement came on the same day Armstrong stepped down as chairman of his cancer-fighting foundation, Livestrong, so that the organization can focus on its mission instead of doping allegations against its founder.
Over the years, Nike paid Armstrong about $40 million for his endorsement, a source said.
Nike wasn't the only company to part ways with Armstrong on Wednesday.
The company that supplied the bikes that he rode to seven Tour de France victories, Trek, severed ties as well.
"Trek is disappointed by the findings and conclusions in the USADA report regarding Lance Armstrong," the Waterloo, Wis., company said in a statement. "Given the determinations of the report, Trek today is terminating our longterm relationship with Lance Armstrong. Trek will continue to support the Livestrong Foundation and its efforts to combat cancer."
Anheuser Busch, whose Michelob Ultra brand was promoted by Armstrong, also left the cyclist.
"We have decided not to renew our relationship with Lance Armstrong when our current contract expires at the end of 2012," said Paul Chibe,
vice president of U.S. marketing for Anheuser-Busch, in a statement. "We will continue to support the Livestrong Foundation and its cycling and running events."
Energy drink company FRS said Wednesday that Armstrong will no longer be featured in advertising or marketing for their products. He is also an investor in the company but resigned from the board of directors, effective immediately.
Some other Armstrong sponsors, including Oakley and Honey Stinger, thus far have not cut ties with the cyclist.As clashes continue between NATO ally Turkey and Kurdish militant group the People's Protection Unit, U.S. forces are patrolling the border region in an operation reminiscent of the "reassure and deter mission" launched in Syria in March.
In that case, U.S. Army Rangers were sent to the Syrian city of Manbij to deter Turkish aggression against the United States' Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS.
"We have forces in the entirety of northern Syria, the border is among the area where they operate," said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
Officials at the Pentagon would not confirm whether forces had been dispatched to the border region specifically to deter fighting between Turkish and People's Protection Unit, or YPG, forces. However, pictures online appear to show U.S. armored vehicles displaying the American flag — a tactic used by the Rangers in Manbij to highlight American forces' visible presence in the region.
Video circulating that apparently shows the deployment of U.S. forces into northern #Syria to protect the #PKK/#YPG from #Turkey. pic.twitter.com/jAsXl6umDf — Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) April 28, 2017
Moreover, a Syrian YPG commander on Friday told Reutersthat U.S. forces would soon be monitoring the situation along the Syria-Turkey border.
Clashes between Turkish and YPG forces have intensifiedover the last several days, after Turkey launched deadly airstrikes against Kurdish militant positions in northern Syria and Sinjar, Iraq. The strikes killed a number of YPG and peshmerga forces — forces that are assisting the U.S. in its fight against ISIS.
This Tuesday, March 7, 2017 frame grab from video provided by Arab 24 network, shows U.S. forces take up positions on the outskirts of the Syrian town, Manbij, a flashpoint between Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters and U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, in al-Asaliyah village, Aleppo province, Syria. Syrian government forces backed by Russia also operate in the area. The U.S. military's new mission, "reassure and deter," is designed to prevent the Syria conflict from escalating through confrontation between the Turkish troops and the rival Syrian Kurdish forces. (Arab 24 network, via AP)
U.S. forces take up positions on the outskirts of the Syrian town, Manbij, a flashpoint between Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters and U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, in al-Asaliyah village, Aleppo province, Syria, on March 7. Syrian government forces backed by Russia also operate in the area.
Photo Credit: Arab 24 network via AP
Ankara views the YPG as the Syrian branch of the PKK, a group designated as a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Turkey. However, U.S. military officials have come to rely on the potent and capable Kurdish faction in its war against ISIS.
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The escalation of force between Ankara and the YPG could complicate the operation to liberate Raqqa, the ISIS capital in Syria.
On Wednesday, YPG spokeswoman Nesrin Abdullah lashed out at the lack of a U.S. response to Turkey’s aggression.
"Our people are expecting a response from us on why the coalition is not showing Turkey a concrete reaction. If the coalition does not show a concrete reaction, then we will withdraw our forces from Raqqa," she told a local Kurdish news outlet.
The operation to liberate Raqqa is still ongoing, according to Davis. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), alongside the Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC), are continuing to isolate Raqqa for its impending liberation from ISIS.
The city of Tabqa, the last remaining obstacle to completely surrounding Raqqa, is almost completely encircled, Davis said.London has more billionaires - in pounds sterling - than any other city around the globe, The Sunday Times has reported.
According to the newspaper's annual rich list, the British capital is home to 72 people with family wealth of more than £1bn ($1.68bn).
The majority of billionaires in London were born abroad, reflecting the appeal of the city to elite international investors, Reuters news agency said.
The second most billionaire-rich city is Moscow, which has 48, followed by New York and San Francisco with 43 and 42 billionaires respectively.
The newspaper put the combined wealth of the 104 billionaires on its list at £301bn pounds, up more than £50bn pounds since 2013.
The UK has more billionaires per head of population than any other country, followed by the US and Russia.In a recent interview with the New Republic, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is often considered the most powerful and influential liberal legal theorist in American politics today, was asked which recent Supreme Court decision she'd choose to overturn if she could overturn only one. Her answer was unequivocal: "If there was one decision I would overrule, it would be Citizens United. I think the notion that we have all the democracy that money can buy strays so far from what our democracy is supposed to be."
As anyone who's been paying attention to the liberal activist class over the past few years knows well, Ginsburg's concern over how the 2010 decision has changed — and will continue to change — U.S. politics is not hers alone. But while the belief that the wealthy have too much influence over American politics is widespread, and even agreed to by a majority of Republicans, many of the historical and intellectual roots of the Citizens United decision are less understood. Yes, we know Mitt Romney stepped in it when he told a "friend" that corporations are people; but where does that idea, which sounds so absurd and is yet so influential, even come from?
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That's the subject of former Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clements' recently released book, "Corporations Are Not People: Reclaiming Democracy from Big Money and Global Corporations," which is a revised and updated version of his 2010 effort. Salon recently spoke with Clements over the phone to discuss the history of corporate personhood, the infamous Powell Memo and the future of campaign finance reform. Our conversation is below and has been edited for clarity and length.
So to start from the beginning, where does the idea of corporate personhood come from?
It’s an interesting and long and can be complicated story... In the 1886 somewhat famous case of Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad when big corporations, such as the railroad and others, were challenging state and federal regulations... that was when the court sort of first took what I think is rightly viewed as a disastrous error that wasn’t really overturned until a new court, after the Great Depression.
And then it kind of went away for a long time, until what is really the story of my book: the story of Lewis Powell and the Chamber of Commerce’s revival of corporate constitutional rights, beginning in the late 1970s.
Can you tell me a bit more about the Santa Clara case, for those who don't know? It's a pretty amazing story.
Yeah, it really is. It was Santa Clara county, California, and in the early 1880s the railroads were increasingly powerful, increasingly getting both influence and benefits from the government, in part for good reason (to build a national railway) and in part for good old-fashioned greed. And so they’re pushing track all over the country, and counties and states were beginning to do things like tax those or make rules about safety — and other things with railroads, which were a new technology at the time.
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So the Southern Pacific Railroad, one of the big powerful ones, challenged Santa Clara county’s right to tax the railroad, claiming that because it was taxing the railroad corporation, but not other people the same way, it was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause... But the railroad sort of hijacked that with a creative argument that should have been laughed out of court, but wasn’t.
Now there’s sort of a back story: In the Santa Clara case itself, the Supreme Court actually didn’t reach that constitutional question. There’s various stories on why the court reporter wrote in a headnote that claimed to be a summary of the case that the court believes that corporations are persons under the Due Process Clause... but for one reason or another, it ended up being put into a summary of the case that that’s what the court had decided, and the court kind of ran with that and corporations ran with that, and it became sort of a rubber stamp for corporate rights claims...
Yeah, and it's the part about that court reporter that really blows my mind — that someone with so little official power had such great influence.
And footnote: The reporter had been a railroad corporation president at one time.
What a coincidence! Anyway, is corporate personhood — or at least the idea that corporations have specific rights — something that has roots going back to the founding era? Because conservatives who defend Citizens United and other decisions like it often argue (sometimes via implication) that they've got American history on their side.
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It absolutely does not have roots from that era; there’s no such thing as corporate rights in the Constitution. The founders and the framers of the Constitution, the founding generation of Americans that set up this great experiment in self-government by free and equal people, would be appalled by the idea that corporate entities could claim constitutional rights. That is reflected in the founders’ writings, including those of James Madison — and Thomas Jefferson, who said he hoped to crush in its birth the growing aristocracy of moneyed corporations.
But it’s also reflected in the basic American principle; the Constitution opens “We the people,” and there’s a reason for that. The whole notion of what we’re about is that we have rights because we’re human beings. It goes back to the Declaration of Independence that we take it as self-evident that all people are created equal; these are human rights that the Constitution is built on. It’s a terrible, dangerous mistake to look at this as somehow conservative or traditional, that corporations have rights.
To fast-forward to the modern era, then, can you tell me a bit about the infamous Powell Memo and why you think it's so important?
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It’s significant mainly because it ended up being not only a blueprint for where we ended up with Citizens United and the creation of an activist-minded Supreme Court, as Lewis Powell described in the memo, but also because it actually was executed and we’re living with [the consequences].
Lewis Powell was a corporate lawyer in Richmond, Virginia, who privately outlined a game plan for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in which he looked around, and in his view — this is 1971 — sees threats (citing people like Ralph Nader) to what he called the "free-enterprise system." Remember: In 1971 we had Earth Day and the creation in the Nixon administration of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act; we had worker safety, we had democracy working pretty well. We even had a constitutional amendment lowering the voting age to 18.
This all was a great worry to Lewis Powell, and he outlined for the Chamber of Commerce a call for the Chamber and other large corporate allies to fund — with massive amounts — a long-term effort [on behalf of corporate power].... Strikingly, Powell looked at the judiciary and said in this memo, in his words, that “especially with an activist-minded Supreme Court the judiciary might be the most important instrument for social, economic and political change.
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Ultimately, Lewis Powell is nominated to the Supreme Court, goes on to the Supreme Court, and the memo’s not disclosed. We have a Judiciary Committee hearing where in all the background materials nobody knew that Powell had called for an activist-minded court, had advised the Chamber of Commerce and corporations to execute this game plan.
And then Lewis Powell, once on the court, writes four decisions in the space of about eight or nine years that create a powerful corporate speech rights theory.
So to play devil's advocate, what would you say to those who think this all sounds a touch too conspiratorial?
I don't want to sound like I'm spinning conspiracy theories, so that's why I'm careful to quote the memo itself and to show how it played out. In some sense, it doesn't matter that much, because obviously Powell couldn't do this alone — and I'm sure he would argue, and he does in the memo, that this was necessary and good [for the country] — but it was flat-out an argument for organized corporate political power, and using the courts.... This thing didn't happen in secret. We've all been able to witness this, if we were reading the cases, and as a lawyer I've seen it.
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Looking to the future — because your book is about campaign finance reform as well as corporate personhood — I'd like to hear your thoughts about how reformers should approach their goal. There's been some criticism lately of the more traditional form of campaign finance regulation in the U.S., which is restrictionist, meaning it's focused on keeping money out of the system rather than increasing the number of people who put money into it. Are you someone who thinks the restrictionist approach is mistaken?
I don't agree at all. I don't think there's one silver bullet, but I think clearly some limitations on the money that comes into the system is important, not because the money is a lot, but because the amount of money comes from so few people — corporations or, in some cases, unions.... Money isn't speech in this context, it's power — and concentrated power is always a threat to a republic like ours. I don't see why we need to take [restrictions] off the table. This is a big, complicated problem.... It won't be the only thing, but I think it's part of a package solution.
Does that package solution absolutely require a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United? It's a mighty big task, amending the Constitution; is there no other way to solve the problem without it?
The 28th Amendment, which this would be, is necessary because when the Supreme Court misinterprets the Constitution and gets it wrong, it can do significant damage to the country. The only way to correct it is either the Supreme Court reversing itself, or a constitutional amendment to overturn the court and reverse the decision. Congress can't do it. Congress can't decide Citizens United got it wrong because the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution to prohibit Congress from doing that.
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So the court decision got it wrong. They had a chance to fix it when Montana brought a case to the Supreme Court saying Citizens United did not limit Montana's ability to keep corporate money out of elections and valid initiatives as it had for 100 years. But the Supreme Court decided again and again to decline to reconsider the case. So the only remedy left is a constitutional amendment at this stage.
OK, so what would be your overarching strategy for the campaign finance reform movement? An amendment and then...?
To make American democracy work again, we need to come together as a country to do three things:
First, restore the First Amendment and the Constitution for we the people by reversing Citizens United, and reclaiming our fundamental rights to an equal voice and participation in self-government. We need to push both the amendment and work in the courts to do this, and there’s a lot of progress and a lot to do in both areas.
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Second, clean the swamp of systemically corrupted elections and government with reformed campaign finance, clean election and lobbying laws. We need disclosure and transparency, small-donor/citizen-funded elections, separation of lobbying from fundraising, and revolving door and ethics reform, among others. Some of this will require that we succeed in the constitutional work, but there’s a lot that we can demand and push for at the same time as we reclaim our constitutional rights to participate in elections and government on an equal basis.
Finally, we need corporate law reform, and new corporate models for a new economy. The corporate entity is a creation of the state. Corporations exist only because of state incorporation laws that offer privileges such as limited liability, perpetual life and the like. With these privileges comes responsibilities, but we’re still using an outmoded, profit-above-all, model of corporate law... We need to accelerate reformed corporate laws for ideas such as benefit corporations or “B-corps,” for example. This kind of corporation law can hard-wire conduct into the corporate entity that is far more effective, responsible and beneficial to all than the current corporate entity.How To Mulligan
by [DKMR]Varranis - 5 years ago
Team DKMR: Twitter | Website | Forums
Sponsored by: Hearthstats.net
Howdy Blizzpro! [DKMR]Varranis here from team Don’t Kick My Robot to change things up a bit! This week we’ll be talking about mulligans and how to improve how you mulligan.
So what is a mulligan? The term originates from golf, where it refers to a free shot sometimes given to a golfer in informal play when the previous shot was poorly played. More generally, a mulligan refers to a “redo” or a “second chance.” The term was popularized in competitive card games by Magic: The Gathering. In Magic: The Gathering, a player may declare a mulligan after drawing his or her initial hand, shuffle his or her entire hand into their deck, and draw a new hand with one less card. A player may do this any number of times, drawing one less card each time.
Hearthstone has less strict mulligan rules, allowing you to mulligan (or “replace”) individual cards to receive a new random card from your deck. While in Magic you’re often looking to mulligan for a hand with a cohesive game plan, mulligans in Hearthstone allow you to sculpt your hand to a specific match-up.
Deciding your mulligan is the first thing you do each game, and one of the most important parts of the game. Knowing how to mulligan is crucial to performing well in Hearthstone. First we’re going to discuss general tips when performing a mulligan and then look at specific examples using popular decks.
GENERAL TIPS
Most decks want to mulligan for a hand with a strong early game. Having a powerful start allows you to dictate the course of the game. This ability to steer the course of a game is what is often referred to as “tempo.” Most commonly, tempo is maintained by using minions or spells to remove your opponent’s minions and keep their board clear. Making a play every turn (often referred to as staying on “curve”) is crucial to keeping your own minions on the board and removing your opponent’s. An example of a generic powerful opening would be turn 1 Argent Squire, turn 2 Loot Hoarder, turn 3 Harvest Golem. This hand will typically allow you to set the pace of the game by using your early minions to trade for your opponent’s (often on a 2-for-1 basis). This is the sort of hand most decks want to mulligan for.
When deciding on a mulligan, we always look at our initial hand and consider each turn we plan to play a card. For most decks, we will generally mulligan for at least a turn 2 and turn 3 play. If we’re playing a more aggressive deck such as Warlock Aggro or Hunter Aggro, we will mulligan more aggressively for a turn 1 play. It’s important to remember that you can use your Hero Power as a turn 2 play in a pinch. This is more or less important depending on your deck and class. For example, Warlock Aggro is off to a bad start if it has to Life Tap on turn 2. Warlock Giants, however, frequently prefers to Life Tap on turn 2. You can also frequently combine cards of lower cost to stay on curve. Two one drops on turn 2 is often as strong as or stronger than playing a single two drop on turn 2. In the same way, your turn 3 can often be utilized most effectively by casting a one drop and using your Hero Power.
Staying on curve is more important for linear aggressive decks than it is for more reactive control decks. Warlock Giants and Warrior Control are on the opposite end of the spectrum from a deck like Warlock Aggro. When playing a control deck, it’s often more important to mulligan for answers or powerful cards geared toward winning the specific match-up you’re in than it is to mulligan for a strong early curve. For example, Warlock Giants usually wants Mountain Giant in its opening hand. Mountain Giant is not “on curve” per se, but is one of the strongest turn 4 plays in the game. Warrior Control frequently wants removal such as Slam or card draw like Acolyte of Pain in its opening hand. While you may end up playing Slam on turn 2 and Acolyte on turn 3 and simulate staying on curve, the purpose those cards actually serve is to control the game and draw you cards that propel you into the late game. In fact, you may not play Slam until turn 8 depending on other removal in your hand and what your opponent plays. Yet Slam is still a card you frequently want in your opening hand since it allows you to respond to your opponent’s early plays.
While we almost always consider Harvest Golem a “three drop,” we don’t consider a spell like Lightning Bolt a one drop. Instead we consider it in terms of “will I need this.” Stated more broadly, when performing a mulligan we think of minions in terms of how they fit my curve and we consider removal on an as-needed basis. While Swipe is a fantastic removal spell, we may want to mulligan it against my Warrior Control opponent because we may not need it. This is especially true if your deck cares about staying on curve and you do not currently have a strong curve. Remember, the more cards you replace, the more likely it is you’ll get the cards you need.
What better way to explore the art of mulligans than to look at some example hands from popular decks? Let’s dive in!
MULLIGAN EXAMPLES
Let’s consider some examples from traditional aggressive strategies first.
EXAMPLE 1 – WARLOCK ZOO
In this example we’re on the play and we’ve decided to mulligan all three cards. We are a very aggressive deck, so we’d ideally like to play a strong minion each turn starting with the first. This hand provides us no minions to play until turn 3. While we could pass our first turn, Life Tap on turn 2, and play Scarlet Crusader turn 3, that is not likely a winning strategy with this deck. Doomguard is incredibly powerful, but we can’t afford to keep a five mana minion in our hand with this deck, especially considering our lack of other minions on curve. We could keep either the Scarlet Crusader or the Shattered Sun Cleric to retain a turn 3 play, but we then reduce our chances of obtaining a turn 1 play. Finding a one drop is especially important since we’re on the play and do not have access to the coin. Let’s see how this turned out.
We got our one drop! Unfortunately, the rest of our hand is a little disappointing. Argent Commander is similar to Doomguard in that, while powerful, he costs too much mana for this early in the game. Mortal Coil is better suited against other aggressive decks where it can snipe a Young Priestess or combo with an Argent Squire to remove a Knife Juggler. Fortunately, our worst case scenario against Shaman will likely be to use the Mortal Coil to remove a totem and draw a card. While the hand we received is not especially powerful, it will likely give us a better shot at winning than our initial hand. We may not have gotten a one drop if we hadn’t replaced all three cards in our initial hand. It’s important to note that we only have our first turn to find a turn 1 play while we will have another turn or more to find a turn 2 or 3 play. Thus it’s most important to mulligan for a turn 1 play if your deck highly values playing a card on the first turn.
EXAMPLE 2 – DRUID TOKENS
It is crucial that we stay on curve against the Hunter as we will need to simultaneously pressure his life total and trade for his minions. We have an incredibly powerful opening with either a turn 1 Harvest Golem or a turn 2 Keeper of the Grove. In this example, we’ve chosen to mulligan the Keeper of the Grove. We don’t necessarily believe it’s a mistake to keep the Keeper of the Grove, but replacing him will improve our chances of staying on curve. A turn 1 Harvest Golem is already a very strong play and saving the Innervate for turn 2 will sacrifice our ability to make a play on turn 1. Saving the Innervate to play turn 2 Keeper of the Grove and turn 3 Harvest Golem is also risky as the Keeper of the Grove loses significant value if the Hunter does not play a creature for the Keeper to remove with his Battlecry. Let’s see what we got.
While we already have a turn 1 play, Argent Squire is by no means bad. We have the option of playing the Squire turn 1, but unless our draw step offers us a Druid of the Claw or Violet Teacher, playing the Harvest Golem on turn 1 will likely be our best use of the Innervate. Ideally we would have liked to see a Loot Hoarder or Nat Pagle to stay on curve and maximize our mana, but Argent Squire or Hero Power should be a fine turn 2 play against Hunter.
EXAMPLE 3 – HUNTER AGGRO
While often lumped together with Warlock Aggro in the basket of linear aggressive strategies, Hunter Aggro is more akin to a combo deck. Cards such as Unleash the Hounds and Starving Buzzard are significantly better against certain decks or with specific cards. Unleash the Hounds is one of the more powerful cards in the deck and enables and empowers many of your other cards, so we will generally always keep it unless we feel it is specifically weak in a certain match-up. Starving Buzzard on the other hand is fairly weak on its lonesome and we will frequently replace it unless we have Unleash the Hounds. In the above example, we have both Starving Buzzard and Unleash the Hounds. Their combination is so powerful that we feel we’d be amiss to mulligan either against nearly any deck. While we’d prefer to have a minion we can play on turn 1 or 2, we are content to use Steady Shot until the Warlock presents a particularly good turn for us to use our combo. Our combo should provide enough cards to fuel our next several turns. Kill Command is either an expensive removal spell or an efficient damage spell. Unleash the Hounds and Arcane Shot already provide us with needed removal, and direct damage should not be valued very highly as it provides neither tempo or card advantage. There are many cards we’d prefer in our starting hand over Kill Command.
It’s important to consider what deck you believe your opponent is playing when deciding a mulligan. we find Warlock Aggro to be more common than Warlock Giants, so we have made my mulligan accordingly. Arcane Shot is specifically weak against Warlock Giants as it will generally serve as no more than a Steady Shot that costs a card. Arcane Shot is very powerful against Warlock Aggro as it is a simple, one card answer to troublesome minions such as Knife Juggler. While having both Buzzard and Unleash the Hounds makes me reluctant to mulligan either, it’s worth noting that neither is particularly powerful against Warlock Giants. Hunter’s best strategy against Warlock Giants is generally to play a more generic, linear aggro game with Leper Gnomes and Wolfriders to whittle down the Warlock player’s health. Near the end of the game you want to be in a position where you can Steady Shot and Kill Command for lethal even if your opponent manages to produce a Taunted Molten Giant. If you think your opponent is playing Warlock Giants, it’s worth considering replacing this entire hand.
Animal Companion or Leper Gnome would have been preferable to Arcane Golem, but Arcane Golem does provide us a strong minion to play on turn 3 or 4. We would hesitate to Coin it out on turn 2 unless you feel it’s absolutely necessary. Arcane Golem is generally easy to remove and providing |
and a "thank you" to all Neverhood fans and adventure gamers.
Armikrog is being developed by Pencil Test Studios, an independent game development company located in Lake Forest, CA. Along with Doug TenNapel, the team includes core members from The Neverhood, as well as puppet fabricators, sculptors, and animators that will help to create the stop-motion that makes this project so unique.
Armikrog will also feature the voice talents of:
The Neverhood was conceived and created from the ground up over a 12 month period. Armikrog will be developed using the Unity engine for PC, MAC and LINUX in order to secure the goal of completing the project within one year. We'll also be using many of the same animation, modelling, sculpting, set building and clay & puppet fabrication methods we've used before—keeping the overall game design scalable so that we can create a fun and exciting experience within our targeted funding goal, but still have the flexibility to expand, should the opportunity present itself.
Of course, none of this happens without your support, which is why we are reaching out to you through Kickstarter. Why Kickstarter? Funny you should ask...
Kickstarter is our most direct link to you, the fans. This is your opportunity to express whether or not you'd like to see another clay and puppet, stop-motion adventure game. Armikrog is a unique and creative project that we would love to make for those of you who have, over the years, dreamed of the chance to immerse yourself in another world made of clay. We're here to offer you the opportunity to make this project a reality.
While our funding goal is considerably less than The Neverhood cost to produce in 1997, it is still our biggest hurdle. But in light of what it will cost to create, the real question is this: Would you support and play this game for $25?
If enough of you support it, you will get this game.
The Armikrog game will be comparable in size and scope to The Neverhood. It's been noted that our initial funding goal is significantly less than the cost of the original Neverhood game--this is possible since we are now utilizing technology that was not available to us 15 years ago (Unity engine, post-production and editing software, etc) which will allow us to create this game more efficiently with a overall higher level of quality.
In addition to our more conventional game production pipeline, we are also utilizing many of the same stop motion techniques used in such feature films as Paranorman and Nightmare Before Christmas. A significant portion of our budget is allocated toward puppet fabrication and sculpting, set building, lights, cameras, and lots and lots of clay!
Stop motion animation is an art all of its own. Each puppet, set and prop is individually hand-crafted by artists, while each and every frame is painstakingly animated. This specialized process is what makes this game unique--and we feel the time and talent that it takes to bring a project like this to this to life is worth every penny.
100% of the funds that are raised will go directly into the production of the game. To date, we’ve invested over $100,000 into the preproduction, design, and development, and we can see how fun and amazing this project will be. We want to deliver an incredible experience to all of you who support us, and applying 100% of your contributions toward development is the only way this will happen.
Illustration by Earthworm Jim poster artist, Mike Koelsch
Rewards fall into two basic categories: Digital Rewards that are distributed though Steam and/or comparable download venues, and Physical Rewards that will be distributed through the mail. Note that all physical rewards under $1000 have an additional shipping cost for supporters with addresses outside of the United States.
Rewards that are not dependent on the production of the actual game will be fulfilled before the date specified in the reward tiers. Since we can't predict the amount of rewards that will need to be fulfilled, all rewards have been given the same fulfillment date as the game's ship date (July 2014). Once the campaign has ended, we will notify you of the fulfillment dates for those rewards that will ship sooner.
Boxed Edition in the big, old-school size (mockup - design not finalized)
Kickstarter Exclusive Armikrog T-Shirt ($200 tier and above)
Tommynaut stop-motion production puppet
Digital Rewards
Physical Rewards
Armikrog is already getting a lot of great press. Here are a few examples:
MTV
Joystiq
Game Informer
Eurogamer
Cartoon Brew
End Credits (podcast)
PC Gamer
Wired
Game Focus
iGR
VG 24/7
IDG (Swedish) (English Translation)
Gamezebo
Nerdluster
Gamerspack
Ynet
Aus Gamers
Game Planet
NZ Gamer
3D Juegos
Gameland.ru(UPDATED) President Rodrigo Duterte approves the measure despite opposition to it previously expressed by his economic managers
Published 10:12 AM, August 04, 2017
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, a law providing free tuition for students of 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs).
"I am pleased to announce that last night, August 3, 2017, the President signed into law the enrolled bill," said Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday, August 4, during a press conference.
Duterte signed the bill around 9 pm on Thursday, following a meeting between lawmakers and economic managers in Malacañang.
Despite opposition from his economic advisers, the President was convinced that the benefits of the bill outweigh its hefty cost, said Guevarra.
"Free tertiary education in state universities and colleges is a pillar or cornerstone of the President's social development policy so he weighed everything and came to the conclusion that the long-term benefits that will be derived from a well-developed tertiary education will definitely outweigh any possible short-term budgetary challenges," said Guevarra.
"So as we say, 'If there's a will, there's a way,'" he added.
Duterte's approval was unexpected given how his economic managers have openly opposed the bill, saying the government does not have enough funds to sustain it.
Guevarra said it is now up to Congress to decide how best to fund the bill. There would likely be a need to reallocate budgets from other programs. Funding could also be sourced from official development assistance. (READ: Higher budget, free tuition in state colleges: Easier said than done)
"Official development assistance is one possible source and we're also hoping that donations both from the local and international sectors will come in to help tide us over especially for the first few years," said Guevarra.
Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno had claimed that the policy would require funding of P100 billion, which the government cannot afford at the moment. While education continues to receive the biggest chunk in the national budget, an ambitious infrastructure program is also among the Duterte administration's major priorities. (READ: Education, infra to get bulk of proposed 2018 nat'l budget)
However, some lawmakers argued that figures shown by the economic managers were misleading and that only around P14 billion would be needed to fund the law.
Guevarra said the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) pegged the cost of mandatory provisions of the law at P16 billion.
"The P100-billion estimate of the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) seems to be on the very high side because that is on the basis, on the assumption that all aspects of the free tuition bill will be implemented all at the same time," said Guevarra.
Budget Secretary Diokno, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia earlier said the law, if passed, would benefit mostly middle-class to high-income students who make up the majority of college students.
Such a policy could kickstart an exodus of students from private colleges and universities to state-run ones, which could ultimately affect the overall quality of tertiary education. (READ: Free tuition in state colleges: When CHED officials clash)
Duterte's economic managers had preferred to provide more funding for the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) which strengthens, expands, and harmonizes existing financial assistance programs for students.
Malacañang said Duterte also considered his administration's other big expenses when deciding whether or not to approve the free tuition bill.
He had to weigh the cost of the bill with the cost of the rehabilitation of Marawi City and programs for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), said Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Marie Banaag. – Rappler.comAn 18-year-old woman claims two Brooklyn detectives forced her to perform sex acts in an unmarked police van in exchange for letting her walk free, according to police sources and the alleged victim’s lawyer.
The Brooklyn teenager told cops one of the narcotics officers raped her and both forced her to give them oral sex in a Chipotle parking lot on Sept. 15, after threatening to take her to the police station.
The officers targeted the woman after finding prescription drugs in a car during a traffic stop in Calvert Vaux Park in Coney Island, according to her lawyer, Michael David.
The cops allegedly let two young men who were with her drive off, but forced the teen to remain with them. Claiming they were searching for drugs, they ordered her to undress, the lawyer said. They didn’t find any narcotics on her, he said, but they cuffed her anyway.
They then pressured her into sex, her lawyer said.
“You’ll spend three hours in the precinct,” they allegedly told her, according to the lawyer, who said they added: “This is what you’re going to do for us, and we’ll let you go.”
“There was zero consent,” David said. “The cops were over 6 feet tall. She’s very petite, like 5-2 and maybe 100 pounds. There’s nothing she could do.”
The detectives from the NYPD’s Brooklyn South narcotics squad claim the acts were consensual, police sources said.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is investigating the teenager’s claims, law enforcement sources said. The Internal Affairs Bureau is also investigating and has called in multiple police officers for questioning.
The head of the detectives union said he couldn’t comment on the allegations.
“It would be inappropriate for me to comment because there is an active investigation going on,” Detectives Endowment Association president Michael Palladino said.
Her lawyer, meanwhile, has filed a notice of claim, the precursor to a lawsuit, against the city.Courting controversy, ABVP state secretary Subir Haldar today threatened to “cut off” the legs of “anti-national” Left-aligned students of Jadavpur University (JU) if they stepped out of the campus.
“The Jadavpur University is becoming a hub of anti-national elements. If these anti-national Leftist students of JU try to step out of the campus we will cut off their legs,” Haldar told a protest rally outside JU campus.
When asked, Haldar later told PTI, “What I meant to say is those students who raise slogans to divide our motherland, who raise slogans in favour of separatists cut up our country into separate parts. Then why can’t we say that we will take steps to stop such activities.”
Protesting against alleged anti-national activities inside JU campus, ABVP today took out a protest march from Goalpark area to Jadavpur police station demanding action against it.
“We had earlier decided to take out a protest rally from Goalpark area to Jadavpur university campus. But since we will not be allowed to enter the campus, we decided to sit in front of Jadavpur police station. We raised slogans and protested in a peaceful way,” Haldar said.
In a bid to avoid any untoward incident, police had put up three barricades outside the JU campus. JU students came out of the campus and shouted slogans against ABVP but any untoward incident was averted by police.
“If ABVP tries to attack JU campus, then they will face stiff resistance,” a student of the university said.
ABVP and the Left wing student groups clashed on Friday in the university campus over the screening of Vivek Agnihotri-directed film ‘Buddha in a Traffic Jam’, triggering chaos during which some girls were allegedly molested.The Arizona State Sun Devils continue to try to fill their two biggest holes on defense. The SPUR linebacker and the field safety position remain the only two question marks on a defense that showed flashes of dominance last year.
Today it was Chris Young taking his turn at the SPUR linebacker spot. The position had been manned by senior Anthony Jones for most of fall camp, however Jones has worn a no-contact jersey for the past two days of practice.
Young posted 82 tackles last season and is one of the leaders on defense for the Sun Devils.
"We're moving them all around," said Todd Graham about his linebackers. "Chris (Young) will get reps at WILL, but we are trying to get our best guys around the football, doing things they are best at."
Carlos Mendoza, Salamo Fiso, A.J. Latu and Grandville Taylor have all gotten reps at SPUR linebacker this preseason along with Young and Jones.
Nelson Playing Well at Field Safety
With freshman safety Marcus Ball out three to five weeks with a separated shoulder, the Sun Devil secondary continues to shuffle around. Ball had been getting most of the first team reps at field safety this fall and it looked likely he would start against Sacramento State.
In his place the last two days has been converted cornerback Robert Nelson. The redshirt senior appeared in all 13 games last season.
"He's picked it (field safety) up really fast," said cornerback Osahon Irabor about Nelson. "Coach Graham was happy with his performance yesterday, so things are looking good back there."
Kyle Middlebrooks Dumps Non-Contact Jersey
Throughout camp, senior Kyle Middlebrooks has donned a green, non-contact jersey. When the team returned from Camp Tontozona on Monday, Middlebrooks traded his non-contact jersey for a shiny new offensive jersey.
The Fountain Valley, California, native provides depth at wide receiver and running back.
"I think he's full speed, you can tell he had fresh legs yesterday," said Graham. "He's a guy that's going to factor in for us on offense and going to help us."
Observations
Freshman punter Matt Haack had arguably his worst practice of fall camp today. Haack was spewing punts all over the field Tuesday morning. The freshman has had his moments this fall, impressing Todd Graham in the Camp Tontozona scrimmage, however it looks like junior Dom Vizzare could become the No. 1 punter.
Today Marlon Pollard and Rashad Wodood were the second team cornerbacks and James Johnson and Viliami Moeakiola ran together as the second team safeties.
Jaelen Strong continues to run with the first team offense. Today, it was Strong, Kevin Ozier and Rick Smith as the wide receivers in the first team offense.
Up Next
The Sun Devils will have their second two-a-day practice tomorrow. The morning practice runs from 8:30-11 a.m. and the evening practice from 6:40-9 p.m.Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has his own ideas about the Trump administration taking down important climate data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website.
This weekend, Emanuel posted the scrubbed data on the City of Chicago's official website to preserve the "decades of research [the agency] has done to advance the fight against climate change." Emanuel said he plans to develop the site further in the coming weeks.
"While this information may not be readily available on the agency's webpage right now, here in Chicago we know climate change is real and we will continue to take action to fight it," Mayor Emanuel said.
The new page highlights NOAA records on global warming, basic information on what climate change is, the impact that it will have on things like farming and human health, and what citizens can do to reduce their emissions. It even has a section linking to the president's Climate Action Plan, which as of right now, doesn't lead anywhere but a blank page that says "stay tuned."
The Trump Administration has shown it is not making climate action a priority and is leaning toward withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.
"The Trump administration can attempt to erase decades of work from scientists and federal employees on the reality of climate change, but burying your head in the sand doesn't erase the problem," Emanuel said.Hi everyone! This is Kai from Finnish game developer Frozenbyte. We’re the studio behind the Shadowgrounds and Trine franchises. Last week rumours started circling that we would be working on a port of Trine 2 for the PlayStation 4. Well, we’re happy to tell you that the rumours are indeed true! Trine 2: Complete Story is headed for the PlayStation 4!
Trine 2: Complete Story is a sidescrolling game of action, puzzles and platforming. You play as the Thief, the Wizard and the Knight, known as the Three Heroes, who make their way through dangers untold in a fantastical fairytale world. The game features an exciting adventure full of action, including physics-based puzzles using fire, water, gravity and magic; wicked goblins as the heroes adversaries; and a magical environment full of wonder.
We are self-publishing Trine 2: Complete Story on PlayStation 4 and it’s the very latest version of the game, including a total of 20 exciting levels full of adventure (that’s the main campaign plus the expansion Goblin Menace and the secret level Dwarven Caverns).
PlayStation 4 has allowed us to go all-out on the technical side, so you’ll get to enjoy the beautiful graphics in 1080p resolution at 60 fps! What’s more, the game also supports stereoscopic 3D! With 3D displays becoming more common every day, we’ve made sure Trine 2: Complete Story is a treat to play in 3D as well.
We will have more information soon, but in the meantime let us know your feedback in the comments below. We are very excited about the PlayStation 4 and can’t wait for the launch. :)MOSCOW (Reuters Life!) - Before blasting the first human into space in 1961, the Soviet Union fired off one last test flight of the tiny capsule that would carry Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on his historic mission.
The test capsule, Vostok 3KA-2, still scorched from re-entry, will be sold at Sotheby’s in New York on April 12, the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight.
Sotheby’s, which is displaying the capsule at its New York headquarters ahead of the sale, estimates it will fetch between $2 million to $10 million. The owner, who wished to remain anonymous, bought it privately from Russia several years ago.
“Not only are there no other examples outside of Russia of the world’s first spacecraft, this capsule was pivotal in space history as providing the green light for Gagarin’s spectacular achievement,” David Redden, the head of Sotheby’s special projects department, said in a statement.
The Vostok space program, conceived by the architect of the Soviet space program Sergei Korolev, first made history by blasting two dogs, Belka and Strelka, into space — the first animals to survive the voyage in 1960.
The capsule’s spherical cabin, no more than 2.5 meters (8 feet) in diameter and made of aluminum alloy, was then adapted to carry humans.
Just weeks before Gagarin’s mission, in a final test flight the capsule carried a life-size cosmonaut mannequin and a dog named Zvezdochka.
The capsule completed one orbit, re-entered the earth’s atmosphere and landed in a snow-filled gully near the Soviet town of Izhvesk, paving the way for Gagarin historic mission in an exact copy of the capsule.
The Vostok 1 model that carried Gagarin is on permanent display in Russian rocket maker Rkk Energia’s Museum near Moscow.UFC strawweight Bec Rawlings is not impressed with RIZIN FF heavyweight fighter Gabi Garcia. This past weekend Gabi Garcia got the round one TKO victory over Yumiko Hotta, who is a 49 year old retired pro-wrestler. Garcia now improves her record to 4-0-0 and is currently the number one ranked heavyweight fighter in the world.
Bec Rawlings is not impressed by the Brazilian heavyweight and the opponents she is fighting, she took to social media to say “F*cking ridiculous. She should go to WWE instead of fighting grandmas & midgets & still looking like sh*t.”
The video of the fight between Garcia and her 49 year old opponent has been going viral. Many fans have commented on the fight being uncomfortable to watch, with some claiming it should be “illegal” to allow this type of mismatch.
Meanwhile, a beautiful 6’5ft kickboxing world champion named Katya Kavaleva from Belarus has also spoken out. She claims Gabi Garcia has been avoiding a fight with her for six months. She says on Gabi Garcia “none of her fights have been good and I’ll just crush her“. She recently got into a heated exchange with the Brazilian on Instagram, telling her exactly how she feels – in return Gabi Garcia decided to block her. Kavaleva is a very accomplished stand-up fighter and would no doubt be Garcia’s toughest fight to date if the two squared off.
Do you agree with Bec Rawlings’ comments on Garcia? Is Garcia avoiding Katya Kavaleva? Let us know in the comments below.
Take a look at Gabi Garcia’s fight with Yumiko Hotta from this past weekend.Share. Phil Harrison offers up some thoughts on this week's announcements by Valve. Phil Harrison offers up some thoughts on this week's announcements by Valve.
With Valve finally beginning to detail the way it plans to physically bring Steam to the living room, Microsoft has said it is watching the situation with "great interest."
In an interview with Eurogamer, Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Harrison was asked about this week's announcements by Valve, which have so far revealed a Linux-based operating system called SteamOS and prototype hardware designed for that OS. With the news still being so fresh -- and one announcement still to come -- Harrison wouldn't talk much about it, though he did say, "The announcement was only made last night so I'm still studying all the facts Valve has released. But Valve is a very impressive company, and obviously we're going to be watching what they do with great interest."
Earlier in the interview, Harrison discussed the perception that video game consoles are doomed. Obviously, working for a company that is weeks away from launching a new console, he doesn't share this opinion, and he pointed to figures about how each subsequent console generation has been bigger than the one before it. With Valve now talking about what, in a way, amounts to a video game console, Harrison sees even more reason to believe consoles have a strong future.
"I think the death of the video game console was prematurely announced," he said. "Clearly there is a lot of excitement around gaming in the living room on the biggest screen in the house, often times connected to a great sound system and creating that real intensely high quality game experience with a very powerful CPU and a very powerful GPU. Our point of view, clearly, is that Xbox One is the best incarnation of that, but competition is good!"
Exit Theatre Mode
Harrison also addressed the similarities between these newly announced Steam Machines and the original vision Microsoft outlined for Xbox One -- which is to say, a game-playing box that connects to your television and has a decidedly digital-oriented focus. When asked if the reaction to Xbox One would have been different if it had been presented without a disc drive, Harrison echoed what Microsoft has been saying in recent months, which is that it's good to present gamers with a choice.
"We've given players a choice, and we think that choice is really important," he said. "We've given players a choice to purchase and enjoy games on the format that is most convenient to them. If you purchase games on disc there are certain advantages and benefits that gamers are used to and comfortable with, based on previous generations, and we will continue that on Xbox One. If you purchase games digitally, there are a bunch of additional benefits that come with that, particularly around your content showing up wherever you are, rather than being linked to that particular console or that particular disc. We think that choice is great.
"I'm glad we made those changes because it allows the most people possible to enjoy our console wherever they live and whatever the access they have to whatever kind of connectivity they have. That is the right approach."
Steam Machines will be arriving for sale in 2014, with a limited beta set to launch later this year. Xbox One launches on November 22 in North America and parts of Europe.
Chris Pereira is a freelance writer who spends his spare time agonizing over the final seasons of The X-Files. Check out what he's saying on Twitter and follow him on IGN.We are drawn to service work for many reasons. We want to help others, we find human beings fascinating, and we are called to make ourselves available to the suffering of others. The work can be engaging, demanding, and draining. For those of us who are introverts, the energy expending and restoring aspects of the work can be critical.
The introverted brain is more active and stimulated relative to the extroverted brain. Because of this, extroverts will feed off the energy of social interactions while introverts will get drained. The type of interaction matters such that superficial banter is more exhausting than a deeper conversation. However, social energy expenditures need to be followed by periods of restoration in order to prevent burnout. The quality of our attention also matters to how energy is spent and during work time. We can bring mindful attention to our practice and, through that presence, engage in higher quality care and self-care simultaneously.
The default mode of the brain is self-talk. Neuroscientists have confirmed this self-referential thinking as the default mode network of the brain (DMN) and have mapped its pattern of activation. This is how we spend much of our time—engaged in storytelling, projecting ourselves into the future, dragging along the past, and generating opinions about the present. As introverts, we may be more prone to this internalized self-talk.
In clinician groups that I train in mindfulness that often include social workers, I survey the participants and ask them how often their DMN is active during sessions with clients. The range spans approximately 30 to 70 percent of attention on the task at hand and the rest rattling around loose in imagination. The average tends to be 50 percent. We are all well-meaning and care for the people we serve, but these informal surveys reveal that we can do a lot to improve our attention. Closing this gap and shifting from the DMN to the experience of the encounter-at-hand will, no doubt, make us more empathetic.
A regular practice of mindfulness meditation can help us to be more present. Studies by Yale’s Judson Brewer and others have shown that experienced mindfulness practitioners can more readily withdraw attention from the DMN and redirect to the embodied experience of the present moment. In addition to a regular meditation practice, you can bring mindful attention into your work hours.
Mindfulness works by focusing attention on something happening in the present moment such as the physical sensations of breathing. Each time attention moves away from the breath to the DMN, you refocus your attention on the breath. This process is repeated as needed, which is usually quite a lot!
I teach a technique that I simply call “divided attention.” If, as the survey suggested, a large chunk of our attention is not with our client, then we can take let’s say 10 percent of that attention and ground it on the breath. That is, we aim to be mindful during the service time such that we speak and listen with an awareness of our breathing body. Now, close to 90 percent of our attention is with our person because we have steered our attention away from the DMN.
This kind of attention takes practice. It’s easy to get caught up in the stories of the moment—our own and those of the people we treat. Having a regular daily silent meditation practice can help us to develop the skills necessary to be mindful while communicating. When we bring our full presence to the work, it tends to be less exhausting because we are getting the benefits of mindfulness practice through the service hour. Mindfulness helps us to bring a sacred attention to the work. It conveys that we care deeply enough to be present and becomes the vehicle of that presence. Compassion, empathy, and equanimity will follow.
We can also take the moments between sessions to have mindful breaks. Instead of peering into your smart phone, take three minutes to be with your body and mind. These little mindfulness hits can help to keep your energy tuned during the workday.
Mindfulness practice is a form of quiet solitude that is especially important for those of us who are introverts. It can be beneficial for everyone, but we need it for restoration of energy. Being mindful during sessions, as suggested above, can help to offset the energy drain that inevitably occurs in social work. Getting yourself on the cushion on a daily basis will also help to build a foundation of energy that can be drawn upon in all the challenging situations of your life.Former Nixon Counsel John Dean: Right-Wing Media Impeachment Calls, Watergate Comparisons "Absolutely Silliness" August 19, 2014 10:26 AM EDT ››› Blog ›››››› JOE STRUPP
John Dean, former aide and counsel to President Richard Nixon, denounced right-wing media for "rewriting" the history of Watergate in order to attack President Obama, calling comparisons of current events to the historic scandal "nonsense" and "absolutely silliness." August marks the 40th anniversary of Nixon's resignation in the wake of Watergate, a vast scandal that The New York Times explained included, "wiretapping, money laundering, destruction of documents, payment of hush money, character assassination, disinformation and deception -- all perpetrated by people at the highest levels of Government." Dean served as Nixon's White House counsel during Watergate and is promoting a new book on the subject. In an interview with Media Matters, he slammed Republican officials and right-wing commentators who have compared Watergate's historic criminality to various supposed Obama administration scandals, with some going so far as to call for the president's removal from office. "It's absolutely silliness," Dean said. "The conservative media just doesn't seem to understand the impeachment clause. It is not designed to... besmirch a president with, and that's all they're doing with it." "They don't understand it, they don't have a clue what happened during Watergate, do not have a clue," he added. "They want to distort that history, rewriting it, ignore it and then use it. That's the conservative media." Dean's book, The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It (Viking 2014), is based on hours of tapes from Nixon's years at the White House, many of which were never catalogued, he said. It attempts to set the record straight on the scandal and Nixon's involvement, arguing the president's actions had broader implications than previously understood. Today, however, Dean noted that conservative media "know" an Obama impeachment "can't prevail in a trial," and that "even talking about it is nonsense and there's no high crime. For them it's a high crime to be a Democrat and serve as president." Citing conservative media's attempts to compare Watergate to a never-ending litany of supposed "scandals," including the Obama administration's handling of the Benghazi terrorist attacks and the IRS targeting investigation, Dean said, "I told my publisher that they should send a copy of my new book to every Republican in the House so they can understand what impeachable behavior looks like." Dean later declared: "It does not work at all, in fact they don't even raise to the level of scandal... both Benghazi and IRS."
Dean also said he saw signs of similar attempts by the GOP to rewrite this history when he was a media contributor during the 1999 impeachment of Bill Clinton.
"When I worked for MSNBC on the Clinton impeachment, I was there many times... and talked to about everybody who was involved in the Clinton impeachment in the green room sooner or later and I can't tell you how many Republicans told me that this was to get even with what the Democrats had done to Nixon." According to Dean, "when I reminded them that 80 percent of the people in the United States, including most Republicans, thought Nixon should leave when he left, they didn't want to face that fact. So I think this is more of the same."
Asked what makes Watergate different from any perceived Obama scandal, Dean said: "They don't seem to recognize the difference between an apple and a lemon, it is just that fundamental. Today's scandals are mediated events, and for something to rise to the level of a true scandal it has to be not just the conservative media's take on it, it has to be widespread and all media's take on it... they will label anything that is contrary to their politics scandal, but it doesn't work that way."
Dean offered up his own Watergate comparison in a previous book, Worse Than Watergate, which targeted the George W. Bush administration. Although he finds no Nixon comparison in Obama, Dean said the Bush comparison is valid.
"I see a distinction between White House directed and administration directed, as well as active and passive," Dean said. "The Nixon and Bush White Houses were actively driving policies to push the envelope -- undertaking affirmative actions." Dean cited the Bush administration's use of torture as an interrogation technique as an example of such policies.
Dean stressed that Obama's presidency is no Watergate despite what some on the right want to contend.
"These people live in an alternative universe," Dean said of many in the conservative media. "I read their press and it's like reading the funnies, they really do not seem to want to live in the same universe of reality."
Dean also slammed author Roger Stone, whose book, Nixon's Secrets: The Rise, Fall, and Untold Truth about the President, Watergate, and the Pardon, questions Dean's account of the scandal, seeks to defend Nixon, and claims Deep Throat, the secret informant for The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, wasn't FBI Associate Director Mark Felt -- despite the fact that Woodward and Bernstein confirmed his identity in 2005.
Stone is one of several former Nixon aides who have been defending the disgraced president in recent media appearances. A "professional dirty trickster" with a history of virulent misogyny, Stone believes Nixon should not have been impeached for Watergate. He wrote three op-eds for FoxNews.com in the last few months in which he attacked Dean and other Nixon critics, plugged his book, and claimed that "Nixon was bad but Obama is worse."
"This is typical of the alternative universe out there. That is pure bullshit, why would Woodward say it if it is someone else?" Dean said about Stone's Deep Throat claim. "I don't care to know anything about Stone. From everything I've been told about him I'm not sure you want to put in print."Management Team ×
Felix Y. Chen serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Chen also currently serves as a director on the executive board of the SMU Cox School of Business and as a member of the board of John Goodwin Tower Center at Southern Methodist University. He is the past president of the National Chinese American Jewelry Association.
Mr. Chen was born in Shanghai and moved to Taiwan. He came to the U.S. in 1970 to complete his Master Degree in pure mathematics at the University of Miami in Florida. A man of many interests, he started a jewelry business in 1978. Mr. Chen currently serves as chairman and CEO of PAJ, Inc., the leading jewelry manufacturer and wholesaler servicing all major department stores and mass merchants in the U.S. and Canada. He is also a partner of Prime Real Estate Management, Inc., a real estate holding company
Dr. Wong brings to Syndiant more than 30 years of well-rounded business management experience in the semiconductor industry. Since 2010, Dr. Wong has been the Executive Director and General Manager of Gerad Technologies (Suzhou), a semiconductor assembly and test foundry. Prior to joining Gerad Technologies, Dr. Wong served as the Regional President of Asia Pacific of Qimonda from 2006 to 2010. He has experience managing a business with a revenue exceeding €1.5 billion (USD $1.85 billion), a work force of more than 4,000, spanning sales and marketing, product development, manufacturing, strategy planning and public relations.
Dr. Wong co-founded Ardent Technologies in 1998, where he served as President and CEO before Infineon acquired the company in 2000. From 2000 to 2006, Dr. Wong held several executive positions at Infineon: Vice President and General Manager of LAN Business Unit, the Vice President and General Manager of Broadband CPE Business Unit and the Managing Director of Infineon Taiwan. He spearheaded business and product development for Ethernet LAN switches, IP-Phone, and Broadband CPE. Under his management, revenue in Taiwan increased from €600 million to €930 million (USD $740.5 million to $1.1 billion). Additionally, Dr. Wong managed the post-merger integration of ADMtek and established strong relationships with ODM customers to support OEM sales.
In 1990, Dr. Wong co-founded Pericom. In 1993, he transformed I-Cube into a fabless company delivering networking solutions. He served as Vice President of Operations and Engineering at both companies. Previously, Dr. Wong spent eight years at IDT and IBM, and is a named inventor on 14 U.S. issued patents. Dr. Wong earned his Ph.D. and MS in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University in California, MS in Physics at Rutgers University in New Jersey and his BS in Physics at National Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
Timothy Rost brings over 16 years of startup experience in semiconductors and consumer electronics. Heading U.S. operations and responsible for research and development of microdisplay products, he has led software engineering at Syndiant since 2006. Mr. Rost is also an expert on colorimetry and display calibration, and previously handled all IC physical verification for TestChip Technologies. Rost earned his MS in Informatics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and BS in Electrical Engineering and BA in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin.
As GM of Syndiant Taiwan Branch and head of Finance & Controller of Syndiant, Frank Huang brings more than 25 years of experience in finance management to the company. Formerly a |
16-core AMD Abu Dhabi processors and the 676 GPU nodes using one 16-core AMD Interlagos and one NVIDIA Kepler K20.
Big Red II replaces Big Red (which debuted in 2006). That supercomputer only reached speeds of 28 teraflops, so the sequel is a significant jump. In his speech, Messina said that this new system should help the university tremendously, attracting both big research dollars and top notch faculty talent.Chrissy Teigen is already tweeting about the gross parts of new motherhood
There are so many gross, unexpected things that happen to you after you birth a child. No one dwells on these experiences because a) they’re gross, b) they’re private and c) everyone is too busy gushing over a baby to make a mental note to warn their girlfriends about all the gushing that goes on elsewhere on your postpartum body.
We really should prepare our girlfriends who haven’t gone through it yet a little better for this shit. Enter Chrissy Teigen, everyone’s favorite cyber-BFF. She’s not sugar-coating anything. She just had a baby and she’s here to let us all know there’s some gross stuff going on.
no one told me i would be coming home in diapers too — christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 20, 2016
I guess it’s common sense that all that blood isn’t going to magically vanish, but seriously Mother Nature? I mean, come on. Couldn’t it have been a light only-need-a-pantyliner trickle for a few days instead of an OMG BLOOD IS GUSHING EVERYWHERE GET ME THE LARGEST PAD THEY’VE EVER MADE IN THE HISTORY OF EVER I NEED TO JAM THAT IN MY MESH UNDERWEAR, NOW! The postpartum pad situation is ridiculous. No one told me. I bought Always regular-size pads after my first child was born. Useless. It was like using a cotton ball to wipe up a spilled gallon of milk.
What else? Oh, yes. This:
buying myself a push present pic.twitter.com/LmONcG9GHD — christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 20, 2016
If you haven’t had a child, you have no idea what this is. No, you don’t drink out of it. Yes, it looks like a sports bottle – but it’s not. It’s basically a spa for your postpartum vagina. Don’t really know how else to describe it. It’s called a perineal irrigation bottle. If you are unfamiliar with the perineum, you may know it by it’s more common nickname, the “taint.” Oh my god, never realized how much I hated that word until I just typed it.
have you EVER heard of a grosser name for a product, EVER??? — christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 20, 2016
Well, they could’ve called it a “taint washer” which would have been worse. This thing helps clean the dried blood armageddon that goes on down there after a human emerges from your body. No, you don’t skip this part if you have a c-section, because Mother Nature has a sick sense of humor. You still bleed as if something has actually emerged from your vagina, even if it hasn’t.I’ve always been a list maker. And because I’m a dyed-in-the-wool cineaste I’ve got movie lists up the wazoo. I’ve seen over 3,800 films and have them all listed in alphabetical order with the year they were released and a rating from 1 to 5 stars. Another of my lists is what films and performances should have been nominated for Oscars, from 1927 to the present. This list started after Saving Private Ryan lost the Best Picture Oscar to Shakespeare in Love. To me the Oscars get it wrong much more than not and I wanted to be able to check year-by-year to see who I thought was award-worthy in a particular year. As time went on I realized that there was frequently more than one performance worthy of winning—why limit it to just one? Of course when conducting a vote of over 5,000 people there’ll only be one winner. But isn’t there something wrong with artists competing? It’s all subjective.
That said, one can’t help but think that certain people deserve recognition in a particular category in a particular year more than others. So there are years when I’ve selected one person as a winner and some years with two, three, or more winners. They’re my awards—sue me. Anyway, the whole topic of film awards has become fodder for everyone to have an opinion and voice it loudly. But this is a subject I’ve been studying for decades and I have my own strong opinions in this regard. So when Stargayzing asked me to write something about performances that were undeservedly ignored by Oscar I had lots of material from which to draw. And so, the following are 11 classic performances that either lost or weren’t even nominated. The envelope please…
1. Bert Lahr, The Wizard of Oz (1939)
There are many reasons this film resonates in our collective unconscious. Bruno Bettelheim would have a field day with “the darkness of abandonment, death, witches…” that fill the story. It’s easy to forget that the film didn’t do well when it opened and although well thought of at the time and nominated for Best Picture, it didn’t acquire its current larger-than-life mystique until its annual repeated airings on television. But it thoroughly deserves that status. Most of us could recite much of the dialogue while asleep. Judy Garland as Dorothy and Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion: these are two of the most iconic film performances in the history of the medium. Miss Garland won a special Oscar for best juvenile performance and was amazing as Dorothy. The whole cast is excellent, but she carries this film on her 17-year-old shoulders. She’s a natural, intuitive film actress. But Lahr was overlooked. Unfortunately, comic performances are almost always forgotten at award time. But he is that character. He gets laughs with every line. It is impossible to imagine anyone else playing that role. Listen to these lines (you can hear them in your head):
“Put ‘em up, put ‘em up…”
“I’m afraid there’s no denyin’, I’m just a dande-lion…”
“Unusual weather we’re having, ain’t it?”
“I do believe in spooks. I do believe in spooks!”
“There’s only one thing I want you fellows to do.” “What’s that?” “Talk me of it.”
“Read what my medal says. Courage! Ain’t it the truth, ain’t it the truth!”
The Supporting Actor Oscar for 1939 went to Thomas Mitchell in Stagecoach, and it was well deserved. He’s one of my favorite actors and Stagecoach is one of my very favorite films. But Lahr as the Lion is quintessential.
2. Cary Grant, His Girl Friday (1940)
Another sublime comic performance that was completely ignored by awards. Grant makes it look so easy that he’s often overlooked (he got only 2 nominations, both for dramas). But his many classic comedic performances were unsurpassed: in The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, and especially His Girl Friday he’s incredibly good. The amalgam of his extraordinary handsomeness, his lightning-fast delivery and physical comedy skills is terrific. And of course he’s matched beautifully by Rosalind Russell in one of her best performances. They make a perfect pair of skilled actor/comedians. (Howard Hawks’ direction obviously helped.) The winner that year was James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story and, of course he’s wonderful in it, but he won more retroactively than deservedly. I think it was a case of “he should have won for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, so let’s give it to him this year,” a familiar story at the Oscars. I love Jimmy, but Grant is phenomenal in His Girl Friday.
3. Bette Davis, Now, Voyager (1942)
Ms. Davis was an excellent actress with a larger than life personality. Having won two Oscars by the age of 31, she still always tried to challenge herself. It is often bemoaned that she lost the Oscar for her role in All About Eve, but as fantastic as she is as Margo Channing, to me her performance as Charlotte Vale in Now, Voyager is the pinnacle of her career. It’s a master class in the art of acting on film. You can’t help but to root for her, partially because it’s well written but mostly due to her restraint. As broad as her persona has become over time, she’s extremely subtle here, to great effect.
4. James Stewart, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Stewart was a fantastic actor. You Can’t Take It with You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Destry Rides Again, The Shop Around the Corner: remarkable performances. But as George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life he creates a living, breathing human, simultaneously specific and universal. There’s not a false note; just devastating. It’s the kind of performance that awards were created to honor. He’s brutally honest emotionally; think of the spectrum of emotions he covers here. Hollywood actors didn’t usually attain this level of achievement no matter how good they were, but Stewart completely nails it.
5. Jean Hagen, Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Much like Bert Lahr in Oz, Hagen as Lina Lamont is a performance for the ages; she so fully fills out her role that you cannot imagine anyone else playing it. And also like Lahr, she gets a laugh with practically every line. For example:
“This wig weighs a ton. Who’d wear a thing like this?” “Everybody wore them.” “Then everybody was a dope.”
“Ta te ti to too”
“And I can’t stan’ ‘im.”
“Well I’ can’t make love to a bush!”
The wonderful script is by Comden and Green, but what Hagen does with the dialogue is sheer heaven. Not only is she hysterically funny as a larger than life narcissistic film star, but the foundation of her performance is rock-solid believability. She didn’t have the career her talent should have demanded; this is one of the all-time great film performances.
6. Judy Garland, A Star is Born (1954)
“The biggest robbery since Brinks” said Groucho Marx about the fact that Grace Kelly won the Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Country Girl over Ms. Garland in A Star is Born. The only reason one can come up with for this slight is that poor Ms. Garland turned off Oscar voters with her personal (but hardly private) travails at the time. This is one time in Oscar history that an obviously deserving performance was spurned. Even if you’re not a fan I think you’d have to agree that she’s transcendent in this film. Not to mention that, to be kind, Ms. Kelly was simply not a very good actress. Sixty years later it’s still hard to believe.
7. Eileen Heckart, The Bad Seed (1956)
It’s as if she wandered in from another, better film. Even after having experienced Brando, Clift, and Magnani, actors who dragged film acting into the modern day, Heckart’s performance in The Bad Seed is astounding. Her level of emotional truth and technique are formidable. She utterly breaks your heart with masterful understatement and utter realism. The film itself is now enjoyable as camp, but Ms. Heckart redeems it with the sheer strength of her talent. She lost to Dorothy Malone in Written on the Wind, who is good, but COME ON.
8. Dustin Hoffman, Midnight Cowboy (1969)
And here’s another example of “where did that come from?” Mr. Hoffman was excellent in The Graduate, but that performance would never have led you to believe that he was also capable of fully embodying this pathetic, dissipated character so remarkably. This performance was almost immediately recognized as being iconic: the scene where he bangs on the cab and shouts “I’m walkin’ here” is just fraught with an obscene amount of film acting ability. It’s simply one of the best performances ever. His votes were probably split with Jon Voight, leaving an opening for John Wayne in True Grit. Voight is very good in Midnight Cowboy, as is Wayne in True Grit, but Hoffman could wipe the floor with both of them.
9. Gene Hackman, The Conversation (1974)
Another genius actor at the top of his form, Hackman was so remarkably good so frequently that his versatility was often taken for granted (much like Cary Grant). He wasn’t even nominated for this film. In retrospect this film is eerily prescient, introducing us to a world of constant surveillance and electronic eavesdropping. Hackman is scary brilliant as Harry Caul, a man who slowly, irreversibly loses his grip as he sinks lower into the depths of despair. He won twice, for The French Connection and Unforgiven, but here he’s firing on all burners.
10. Geraldine Page, Interiors (1978)
It’s not hyperbole to say that Ms. Page was one of the great actresses of all-time. She is Olympian in her greatness here. She is boldly naked emotionally without a trace of vanity. She pulls off a staggeringly complicated role with deceptive ease. When she tries to end her life by walking into the ocean, you completely believe it. I think that because she’s part of an excellent ensemble, the greatness of her performance was neglected. An uncanny performance by one of the greatest actors ever at the height of her power. As good as it gets.
11. Sally Field, Lincoln (2012)
In my estimation one of the best films ever. There’s much to say about the enormity of the film’s power, but Ms. Field’s performance is key. In the scene when she’s having an intense late-night argument with Mr. Day-Lewis as Lincoln about several topics, primarily their son Robert—an irrisitible forece meeting an immovable object—it’s simply a feast of acting artistry. It is well documented that she worked hard to convince Mr. Spielberg to cast her, and we can all be very glad at our good fortune that he did. And not to be mean, but she lost to Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables, whose bathetic performance kept me at a distance from her—she cried for herself so much, she didn’t need any tears from me. If Ms. Field had to lose to anyone, I would have much preferred Helen Hunt in The Sessions.
About the Artist:
Alvaro is a world-renowned artist celebrated for his portraits and illustrations of the icons of film, music, and pop culture, as well as his “girls”—the super models. A true New Yorker, born in Brooklyn and raised in the South Bronx, Alvaro’s work is distinctive for projecting a contemporary streetwise sensibility while simultaneously evoking the timeless glamour of classic Hollywood.
More John Richkus in Stargayzing:
You may also enjoy:9-11 Cover-Up, Treason and The Bomb
MEDIA/TREASON: 9-11 Cover-Up, Treason and The Bomb by Dave Lindorff There is enough in just this one London Times story to keep an army of investigative reporters busy for years. So why, one has to ask, is this story appearing in a highly respected British newspaper, but not anywhere in the corporate US media? I f a new article just published Saturday in the Times of London based upon information provided by US government whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, a 37-year-old former Turkish language translator for the FBI, we have not only solid evidence of prior knowledge of 9-11 by high up US government officials, but evidence of treasonous activity by many of those same officials involving efforts to provide US nuclear secrets to America’s enemies, even including Al Qaeda. The story also casts a chilling light on the so-called “accidental” flight of six nuclear-armed cruise missiles aboard an errant B-52 that flew last Aug. 30 from Minot AFB in North Dakota to Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Sunday Times reports that Edmonds, whose whistleblowing efforts have been studiously ignored by what passes for the news media in American news media, approached the Rupert Murdoch-owned British paper a month ago after reading a report there that an Al-Qaeda leader had been training some of the 9-11 hijackers at a base in Turkey, a US NATO alley, under the noses of the Turkish military. Edmonds, who was recruited by the FBI after 9-11 because of her Turkish and Farsi language skills, has long been claiming that in her FBI job of covertly monitoring conversations between Turkish, Israeli, Persian and other foreign agents and US contacts, including a backlog of untranslated tapes dating back to 1997, she had heard evidence of “money laundering, drug imports and attempts to acquire nuclear and conventional weapons technology.” But the Turkish training for 9-11 rang more alarm bells and made her decide that talking behind closed doors to Congress or the FBI was not enough. She had to go public. Edmonds claims in the Times that even as she was providing evidence of moles within the US State Department, the Pentagon, and the nuclear weapons establishment, who were providing nuclear secrets for cash, through Turkey, to Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, agencies within the Bush administration were actively working to block investigation and to shield those who were committing the acts of treason. Pakistan’s ISI is known to have had, and to still maintain close contacts with Al-Qaeda. Indeed, the Times notes that Pakistan’s nuclear god-father, General Mahmoud Ahmad, was accused of sanctioning a $100,000 wire payment to Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, immediately before the attacks. Edmonds claims, in the Times article, that following the 9-11 attacks, FBI investigators took a number of Turkish and Pakistani operatives into custody for questioning about foreknowledge of the attacks, but that a high-ranking US State Department official repeatedly acted to spirit them out of the country. Edmonds was fired from her FBI translating job in 2002 after she accused a colleague of having illicit contact with Turkish officials. She has claimed that she was fired for being outspoken, and in 2005 her position was reportedly vindicated by the Office of Inspector General of the FBI, which concluded that she had been sacked for making valid complaints. One of those whom Edmonds claims in the Times report was being investigated in connection with the nuclear information transfers was Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin. Franklin was convicted and jailed in 2006 for passing US defense information to American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbyists and sharing classified information with an Israeli diplomat. Franklin, in 2001, was part of the Pentagon Office of Special Plans, a kind of shadow intelligence unit set up by the Bush administration inside the Pentagon whose job it was to gin up “evidence” to justify a war against Iraq. In that capacity, he (along with several other OSP members and arch neocon schemer Michael Ledeen) was also identified by Italian investigative journalists working for the newspaper La Republican, as having been at a crucial meeting in December 2001 in Rome with the Italian defense and intelligence service ministers. La Republicca reports that at that meeting a plan was hatched to fob off forged Niger embassy documents as evidence that Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium ore from Niger. If Edmonds’ story is correct, and Al-Qaeda, with the aid of Turkish government agents and Pakistani intelligence, with the help of US government officials, has been attempting to obtain nuclear materials and nuclear information from the U.S., it casts an even darker shadow over the mysterious and still unexplained incident last August 30, when a B-52 Stratofortress, based at the Minot strategic air base in Minot, ND, against all rules and regulations of 40 years’ standing, loaded and flew off with six unrecorded and unaccounted for nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. That incident only came to public attention because three as yet unidentified Air Force whistleblowers contacted a reporter at the Military Times newspaper, which ran a series of stories about it, some of which were picked up by other US news organizations. An Air Force investigation into that incident, ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, claimed improbably that the whole thing had been an “accident,” but many veterans of the US Air Force and Navy with experience in handling nuclear weapons say that such an explanation is impossible, and argue that there had to have been a chain or orders from above the level of the base commander for such a flight to have occurred. Incredibly, almost five months after that bizarre incident (which included several as yet unexplained deaths of B-52 pilots and base personnel occurring in the weeks shortly before and after the flight), in which six 150-kiloton warheads went missing for 36 hours, there has been no Congressional investigation and no FBI investigation into what happened. Yet in view of Edmonds’ story to the London Times, alleging that there has been an ongoing, active effort for some years by both Al Qaeda and by agents of two US allies, Turkey and Pakistan, to get US nuclear weapons secrets and even weapons, and that there are treasonous moles at work within the American government and nuclear bureaucracy aiding and abetting those efforts, surely at a minimum, a major public inquiry is called for. Meanwhile, there is enough in just this one London Times story to keep an army of investigative reporters busy for years. So why, one has to ask, is this story appearing in a highly respected British newspaper, but not anywhere in the corporate US media? New York Times contributor, a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, a two-time Journalism Fulbright Scholar, and the co-author, with. His work is available at About the author: Philadelphia journalist Dave Lindorff is a 34-year veteran, an award-winning journalist, a formercontributor, a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, a two-time Journalism Fulbright Scholar, and the co-author, with Barbara Olshansky, of a well-regarded book on impeachment, The Case for Impeachment. His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net
Copyright © 2008 The Baltimore News Network. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. Baltimore News Network, Inc., sponsor of this web site, is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed in stories posted on this web site are the authors' own. This story was published on January 7, 2008.Former NBA first-round pick Jimmer Fredette scored 73 points Sunday night as his Shanghai Sharks lost in double-overtime on the road to the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions in the Chinese Basketball Association.
Fredette's 73 points are the fourth-most in a single game in the CBA, behind Errick McCollum (82), Quincy Douby (75) and Bobby Brown (74). It's also a high for the team and for him.
Jimmer Fredette played with the Shanghai Sharks against the Rockets in an exhibition game in Houston this past October. AP Photo/George Bridges
In his first season in the league, Fredette has led the Sharks, who have struggled recently, to the playoffs, which begin Feb. 24. No. 3 seed Shanghai will face Shenzhen. He is among the league leaders in scoring at 36 points per game and won the 3-point contest at the league's All-Star festivities.
After being named the college player of the year for BYU in 2011, Fredette was the 10th overall pick of the Milwaukee Bucks that year, but he never matched his college success in the NBA. The 27-year-old has played for the Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans and New York Knicks. He spent most of last season in the NBA Development League, and he was the All-Star Game MVP in that league.That the National were going to spend six hours repeatedly performing the same song in an art gallery was one thing. A collaboration with Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, A Lot of Sorrow wasn’t intended as a physical endurance test, but a study in the evolving emotional tenor of a work stretched to its limits: National frontman Matt Berninger described its aim as “reaching a different sort of euphoric, mantra-like state.” Releasing the entire performance in a box set composed of nine clear LPs, however, strips away the sad communion of the original Sunday afternoon show, leaving just the listener and approximately 105 iterations of “Sorrow”, spanning six hours, five minutes.
“Sorrow” is the second track on the National’s fifth album, 2010’s High Violet, and one of the few moments of joy on that fraught, scared record. “[It’s] about a person’s love affair with his own sadness,” Berninger has said. “Sadness is not always the worst feeling. Sometimes it’s a really pleasurable thing to be overwhelmed with sadness.” It works beautifully: High Violet marked the point when Berninger started reaching for livelier vocal harmonies, but his helpless, heavy monotone on “Sorrow” is the perfect forlorn center, caught between resisting sanctuary while craving its embrace. The band anchor him there: Bryan Devendorf’s drums are a subtle hiss with a ‘60s girl group dimple, while guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and bassist Scott Devendorf modulate between three richly thrumming chords.
The luxurious purgatory that Berninger sings about in “Sorrow” is a crucial part of the National’s appeal, which A Lot of Sorrow tests. Every fan wants to believe that they have a special relationship with their favorite band—that they can access something within their work that others could never see—so choosing to engage fully with this kind of project is predicated on the hope that it would induce some kind of transcendent state. (Or, masochism.) But it is a lot—even for a card-carrying National devotee who’s seen them play 25 times in six years, who can’t make it through Alligator without listening to “Baby, We’ll Be Fine” a dozen times straight, or High Violet without lingering on “Lemonworld” for half an hour. I enjoyed an hour of it through headphones on the way home to the suburbs, half-drunk after a Sharon Van Etten show (a very National way to listen to the National), and did the remaining five hours in one go, partially while laying prone on the floor, and soon felt in need of a cold shower.
But A Lot of Sorrow clearly isn’t intended as a consumer item to be placed on your turntable in solemn, linear fashion, which justifies asking what it is for, divorced from its live, physical origins. This release exemplifies pretty much everything that the National’s detractors hate about them, which is rarely just their indulgently sad music. The Ohio-born five-piece are the best dressed straw men in the business, making people bristle at the idea of identifying with the ascendant, middle-class Brooklynite angst of their records. At any rate, it’s a social strata you’d probably have to occupy to afford a copy: sets cost $198 + a hefty postage charge (with all profits benefitting Partners In Health). A week prior to release, the 1500-edition run hadn't sold out yet.
There’s nothing quite as serious as a dead-weight of clear vinyl, yet the existence of A Lot Of Sorrow feels like a cosmic joke, both at the expense of the band’s self-seriousness (an image they’ve been trying to shed with their recent videos and the Mistaken For Strangers documentary), and of those who would accuse them of having made an entire career out of playing the same song over and over. If it weren’t for A Lot Of Sorrow's artistic origins, you could almost interpret it as elegantly weaponized monotony, like Mark Kozelek’s prolific prosaicness, and Aphex Twin apparently dumping his entire hard drive on Soundcloud after releasing his first album in 13 years. You want blood? We got it.
But much as it’s exhausting and unrealistic to absorb in one go, as much a millstone as a symbolic objet d’art, A Lot of Sorrow rewards patience in the most literal fashion. (Another inadvertent joke at the perception that everything the National make is “a grower”…) “I don’t wanna get over you”, Berninger sings in a faint plea every time, an Old Testament pop trope that works as an act of self-preservation and insurance against the responsibility of being the one who has to change. It’s a voluntary slow-death sentence, which he bears stoically throughout the six hours: joking, singing with a mouth full of sandwich halfway through Side O (Kjartansson brought them food and drinks throughout), and saying they’ll have to start over after he coughs during a chorus.
It’s only at the end of Side Q, around the 95th take, that Berninger breaks down. He gasps halfway through “sorrow’s a girl inside my cake” before missing a line and crying, having lost his nerve because he couldn’t see his wife and daughter in the crowd. His live performances are frequently marked by a frightening volatility, and he often openly declares that he needs someone in song, but he’s rarely vulnerable like this. Guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner and the band's backing musicians take the lead on vocals (and the crowd joins in), and Bryan Devendorf intuits that he should sit this one out.
Throughout, the unspoken conversation between the band is mesmeric: early on they play more muted versions, like steady long-distance runners. They never break between songs—there’s always that hissing drumbeat or a steady guitar line to guide the transition—and the Dessners constantly experiment with different textures. Sometimes the guitar parts swing like slack machinery; later they tremble with the seismic presence of a Richard Serra sculpture, shriek like birds, and swell drunkenly. I didn’t see the original performance, and had wondered if it might mirror William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops, fading as energy and morale grew dim, but the ceaseless invention here keeps the song alive.
We’re often curious about how a band—and particularly the singer—can remain engaged with the circumstances that originally informed their music night after night. Not that it’s the most apt reference, but perhaps it’s worth remembering the part of Katy Perry’s Part of Me documentary where she emerges beaming on stage seconds after crying over the breakdown of her marriage. After over 100 renditions of “Sorrow”, the National still sound close to its emotional heart, rather than inured to it. No naysayer will be converted by this completely absurd artifact, but it’s a moving manifestation of the relationship that fans have with any band that means anything to them, playing their songs over and over to tempt the point where the magic fades away. A Lot of Sorrow is a strange achievement and vindication. Stay down, champions, stay down.Larry Pratt, the executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America, joined South Carolina radio host Rocky Disabato on his podcast on Monday, where he claimed that whether the shooter responsible for the deadly attack in Las Vegas last weekend turns out to have been connected to the Islamic State is irrelevant because he “thought the same as most Muslims.”
After speculating on the weaponry that the shooter could have used in the massacre, Pratt said, “When a guy is evil, it doesn’t mean he’s stupid, it just means he doesn’t care about anybody else. And in a case like this guy, whether he was Muslim or not, he thought the same as most Muslims. He wants to kill unbelievers. He wants to kill people that he doesn’t like. Maybe he just didn’t like Las Vegas—I don’t know, and it probably doesn’t matter.”In a Google+ Hangout centered around gun control, Vice President Joe Biden went off on a strange tangent on shotguns, assault rifles, and protecting yourself during an earthquake against other people (or, zombies?).
"A shotgun would keep you a lot safer - a double barrel shotgun - than the assault weapon in somebody's hand who doesn't know how to use it, even one who does know how to use it.
You know. *Points to the camera*
It's harder to use an assault weapon to hit something than it is a shotgun. So, if you want to keep people away in an earthquake, buy some shotgun shells."
Interesting.
Watch Biden's strange recommendation for shotguns below:
// OO.ready(function() { OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer', 'BqcDFwODq32GMZbgyhjwA6WbSLSqzq7A'); }); // <div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div>In Montgomery County, Texas, residents and elected officials are debating a proposal to “issue $350 million in bonds to maintain and expand roads.” I’m sure there are good people on both sides of the issue, but volunteer prayer-leader Mary Hammer Menzel made it clear last week during a meeting of the Montgomery County Commissioners Court that God would totally vote in favor of the bonds.
Everyone else? They’re “tools of Satan”:
Menzel said she stood by the prayer. “That’s their problem, not mine,” she said of those offended. “I like to exercise my rights as a Christian.” … Laura Fillault, who spoke during public comment, took exception to the prayer. “I am not a ‘tool of Satan,’” she said. “I do not appreciate that part of the prayer. I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior as well and I am not speaking for or against him because I believe he is worried about other things besides a road bond. “It’s a road bond, not a satanic ritual.”
Apparently, Menzel also appeared in a video for the “Keep Montgomery County Moving PAC” (since removed) in which she said, “I am for the road bond, and the Lord is too.”
Which is sort of like a politician’s campaign ad ending in, “I’m Jesus, and I approved this message.”
Gotta say, it’s entertaining to watch Christians in Texas get offended by a prayer at a public meeting for once.
Welcome to our world.
(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Cynthia for the link)Hansel and Gretel is a television special that was made in 1983 for The Disney Channel, directed by Tim Burton. It only aired once on October 31, 1983 at 10:30pm.[1] The only other times it was shown was as part of the Tim Burton retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Tim Burton L'Exposition at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris as part of a traveling exhibit.[2]
Plot [ edit ]
The story features an all-Asian cast as the eponymous characters: a poor toymaker (played by Jim Ishida), his son, Hansel, and daughter, Gretel (played by Andy Lee and Allison Hong), and his wicked new wife (played by Michael Yama), who overtly despises her stepchildren. One evening at dinner, Hansel and Gretel decide to tease their stepmother. She becomes so fed up of their games that she attempts to beat them up, but their father stops her, having her send them into their attic bedroom instead. Their father waits until his cruel wife is asleep and goes into the attic with a small clown puppet he'd made and a few cookies he'd sneaked for them to cheer the children up. He then puts the children to bed and sets down a small swan toy before turning into bed himself.
The next morning, the stepmother decides to take Hansel and Gretel for a walk in the labyrinthine forest. Certain that the children would be unable to find their way out on their own, she abandons them by tossing a small firework toy in the children's path to distract them. Unbeknownst to their wicked stepmother, Gretel had told Hansel to pick up a pile of small stones near the house and drop them so they may find their way home, knowing their stepmother's plot. The children manage to find their way back home that same evening using the stones Hansel had dropped.
While their father is in town selling his toys the next morning, the children's stepmother, unhappy with their return, decides to take the children on another walk in the woods. Before leaving the house, she gives the children a toy duck, telling them it is one of their father's toys. The children, not trusting their stepmother, once again leave a trail of stones behind them on their path. As they walked, the toy duck they were dragging had, unbeknownst to them, been eating the stone trail they left along the way. Once again they find themselves deserted in the woods, but this time with no direction home. Hansel and Gretel have no choice but to sleep in the woods that night. As they slept, the toy duck slowly transforms into a small toy robot which leads them to a house made of gingerbread and candy.
As the children eat the house's façade, the candy cane-nosed witch who lives within the gingerbread house lures them inside with the promise of sweets. The witch brings the children to her dining table where an enormous cake sits, adorned with small cutouts of Hansel and Gretel. When the children try to eat the cake, they find that it is only a decoration. The witch then tells them the furniture and even the walls of the house are real candy, which the children happily and greedily enjoy. The witch, seemingly upset with herself for not thinking how tired the children must be, bring Hansel and Gretel upstairs to a large bedroom with two giant marshmallow beds for them to sleep in. They lie in the two beds the witch prepared and are immediately captured by the now living beds. Hansel escapes for a moment before the witch catches him once more and drops him back on the bed. The bed then reveals a mouth-like doorway in the wall which drops Hansel into a cavernous room with a strange mobile hanging down from the ceiling.
The mobile drops what appears at first to be a large lump of dough which emerges from behind the boy as a creepy clown-like gingerbread man named Dan Dan. Dan Dan insists that Hansel eat him and begins driving Hansel crazy with his incessant screaming on the matter. Finally, Hansel takes Dan Dan's head, the one part he refused to eat, and throws him into the wall, shattering Dan Dan to pieces. The witch, by this point, had taken Gretel down to the kitchen to begin heating the oven to cook Hansel. The witch pulls a chain hanging from her ceiling which causes two long arms to drop from the mobile above Hansel and bring him back up to the kitchen so she could begin baking him. Before the witch can shove Hansel into her oven, however, Gretel grabs the fire iron beside the oven and hits the witch in the |
! You're right on top of him! Walker stops the jeep. Hicks stands up, plays the beam of a flashlight around the area. Presses the mute button on his headset. HICKS (bellows) Tully! Tully! Yo! ECHO. DRIP of water. Hicks clips the flashlight beneath the barrel of his gun and jumps down. Reflections ripple as he moves forward. Swings the beam along the surface -- something there... The logo-patches down a sleeve of Tully's ruptured, blood-soaked leather jacket. Drifting shred of human tissue... JACKSON (V.O.) Can you see him? HICKS Yeah. And the thing that was Tully launches itself from the top of one of the stacks of construction material. Lands on top of the jeep, going for Walker, through the roll bars. CLOSEUP ON JAWS CLOSEUP as the thing's tail lashes past Walker's face, taking a nick out of a steel bar. on the controls, a pair of levers: he yanks one back, shoves the other forward, thumbs both drive buttons simultaneously. ANGLE The jeep (separate drive-trains for each wheel) pulls two three-sixties on a dime, hurling the thing toward Hicks. It smashes into the desk, splash of water, leaps for Hicks instantly. The charge from his pulse-rifle takes it in mid-air, hideous bile-yellow spurt of acid... And it hits the water again with a terrific EXPLOSION of steam. The jeep lurches out through the steam, engines SCREAMING, wheels losing traction through the puddle, throwing up fantails of water, nearly overturning. Hicks jumps, snags a roll bar, empties the pulse-rifle's clip into the steam on full-auto as Walker hauls ass back down the corridor... JACKSON (V.O.) Hicks! What's happening? INT. OPS ROOM JACKSON Hicks? Hicks! CLOSE ON SCREEN as the jeep-cursor speeds away from Tully's blinking locator-dot. Spence's eyes fixed on the screen as she makes a serious stab at swallowing her own fist. DISSOLVE TO: INT. RODINA -- BIOLAB VERY SLOW PAN past monitors -- one flickering like a defective strobe, the other displaying a readout in Russian -- past an overturned mug on a keyboard, past assorted equipment, past the shattered ruin of the big stasis tube, to Suslov and Braun cocooned in a glittering biomech structure of alien resin. Braun is dead, his rib cage gaping. SCEAMS and the HAMMER of automatic weapons. Station crew fleeing in panic enter through one door, crash into tables, scattering trays of food, claw at one another to escape through another door. The Vietnamese commando and her partner are last into the room; they spin in unison and FIRE back through the door. SOUND of rending metal and loud inhuman RAGE. The commandos scramble for the far door as the alien crashes into the mess: a new form, the result of Suslov's genetic tinkering. Bigger. Meaner. Faster. Able to reproduce more quickly. The frantic crew are climbing a ladder. The commandos start up the ladder. They climb through a circular hatch. Like the deck they stand on, the hatch is made of heavy steel expansion-grid. The alien swarms up the ladder, slams into the hatch just as the commandos close and lock it. The alien keeps on slamming. The steel begins to bulge and tear... INT. ANCHORPOINT -- OPS ROOM Hicks, Bishop, Rosetti, Shuman, and Jackson. JACKSON Cant's raise 'em, boss. SHUMAN Try the diplomatic codes... JACKSON Diplomatic codes? They aren't responding to Mayday International. Maybe they've got a transponder down, but -- hey, check this, outgoing traffic... (she bobs her head, taps her lapboard) It's a squirt transmission... Military decryption standard. ROSETTI What do they have in the area? JACKSON (taps up a fresh screen of data) Not much. Automated mining system working NC-313... Test module for a terraforming operation enroute MV-45... And, here we go, the battle cruiser Nikolai Stoiko. Nine hours from Rodina if they push it. HICKS What I wanna know is, what do we have in the area? JACKSON (another screen of data) Not much. How about the Kansas City, Colonel Admin transport? We hit her with a mayday, she'll get here inside twenty hours. HICKS Then what? ROSETTI We abandon the station. HICKS Destroy the station, man! We got nukes? ROSETTI Outlawed under the Strategic Arms Reduction treaty. JACKSON We can fiddle the overrides on the fusion package. Baby nova. BISHOP We're dealing with a new form, Colonel. We know nothing of this new mode of reproduction. Others may have already become hosts... ROSETTI What are you suggesting? BISHOP In order to be entirely certain, Colonel, it would be necessary to override the fusion package now. Jackson looks up at Bishop; he's suggesting mass suicide. HICKS I thought you were programmed to protect human life? BISHOP (with android blandness) I'm taking the long view. Jackson's console CHIMES, begins to display new data, ID shots of three crew members. JACKSON Missing persons. (she taps her way through windows of data) Two were members of the clean-up crew who did the lab after the blowout. Third doesn't check... No, wait. Lives with one of the first two.. But that makes a total of fifteen... Something's happening... HICKS Goddamn, Rosetti, it's catching! ROSETTI (ignores him) Mayday Kansas City, Jackson. HICKS What about Sulaco? SHUMAN It would take two days to raise her. HICKS (bitterly) With that shit on board. ROSETTI Gateway will have our warning before Sulaco arrives. SHUMAN Fine, Colonel. And who do you suppose will be willing to take it seriously? Weapons Division? JACKSON Hey, I'm getting something! The socialist space brothers speak at last... Her main screen flickers and jumps; the speakers hill with a roar of STATIC -- JACKSON (continuing) Their transmission standards get worse all the -- She falls silent as the screen clear, revealing a young Slavic madwoman -- one of Suslov's lab assistants -- in blood-drenched coveralls. Jerky handheld video, grainy transmission, indistinct background. She clutches a sheet of paper, reads aloud from it in a foreign language. SHUMAN Get a translation program on line, Jackson! Jackson's already punching. An instantaneous computer translation cuts in as V.O.; the girl's lips move, out of sync, like a cheap dub; the transmission is rendered in flat synthi-voice. CLOSE UP ON SCREEN SPOKESWOMAN... of Progressive Peoples. Technician First Class, Tatjana Malik. Please, we wish to inform you: we have undertaken an experiment with genetic material obtained from the military transport vessel... We attempted to clone the xenomorph in stasis. Failure of the stasis system occurred in the fifteenth hour... Attempted modification of the genetic structure has resulted in a variant which replicates rapidly, more rapidly... (and here, horribly, she smiles) It has... taken... most of us. Those of us who remain... We wish to warn you: you must terminate any experiment with the material now. It is impossible. It cannot be contained. There is no -- The image flickers, vanishes. ANGLE JACKSON Lost 'em. That's it... Goddamnit, she was just a tech. Their brass didn't bother... HICKS No brass left... JACKSON And you better check this, Hicks. Her other screens display assorted images of nearly identical tunnels and passageways, but three of them are black; she gestures to the dark screens. JACKSON (continuing) This is down by the main air-scrubber. System says those cameras are still operational, but there's something in the way. Something big... EXT. ANCHORPOINT -- ECO-MODULE Huge louvers pivot smoothly, like Venetian blinds, revealing lush vegetation through thick plastic... INT. ECO-MODULE Spence sits cross-legged in Newt's meadow, tearfully hugging a small tame primate. Light crosses the meadow as the louvers open overhead, beyond the geodesics. Artificial dawn. BIRDS begins to sing. Quiet before the storm... EXT. RODINA No sign of movement. Dimly lit. Clutter of spacesuits, machinery. The Vietnamese commando seated on the floor, back to the wall, cradling her gun. The corpse of her partner is sprawled on the deck beside her, face hideously burned, his armor fretworked with acid. Her face is blank, eyes straight ahead. DISSOLVE TO: EXT. ANCHORPOINT The station. INT. ANCHORPOINT -- MEDLAB -- CORRIDOR Hicks, still in his fighting gear, walking purposefully. MedLab staff in hospital whites dubiously note his passage. INT. MED LAB -- RIPLEY'S ROOM Ripley comatose, still hooked up to assorted biomonitors, the only movement in the room the restless flicker of a bank of colored diodes. Hicks enters, crosses to the bed, seems about to speak, makes a helpless little gesture with his hands -- then yanks the biomonitor leads from the bedside console. The diodes go out; a buzzer begins to SOUND. The bed is mounted on casters. He starts to pull it out of the room. Stops. Looks up at Newt's map on the wall. He rips the map from the wall and stuffs it into her hospital gown. INT. MEDLAB -- CORRIDOR Hicks hustles Ripley through MedLab, not about to stop for anyone; startled staff jump out of the way. INT. ANCHORPOINT -- ANOTHER CORRIDOR -- ENTRANCE TO A LIFEBOAT Signs and notices detailing lifeboat launch procedures. Hicks lifts Ripley from the bed, carries her through hatch into lifeboat. Places her in a hypersleep capsule, presses a button. The lid comes down. Silent moment as he looks down at her through the lid, his palm on the smooth plastic in a gesture of farewell, resignation. Then back through the hatch, where he activates controls that seal the boat, setting the launch-procedure in motion. ANGLE on the blunt prows of the lifeboat receding around the curve of the station's hull. INT. LIFEBOAT BAY Hicks watching digital countdown. Muted WHUMP of explosive bolts -- EXT. LIFEBOAT Flash of the bolts as Ripley's boat is launched into the sweep of night. INT. LIFEBOAT BAY Bishop enters behind Hicks. BISHOP But can you be certain she hasn't been infected? HICKS I'll take the chance. BISHOP Why? HICKS I owe her one. INT. OPS ROOM Jackson at her screens; display as before, the tunnels near the air- scrubber -- with three screens dark. CLOSEUP on one tunnel-view as an open, six-wheeled personnel carrier rolls past the video camera, Hick looking up. Five Marines in full battle dress ride with him: ALSOP, GREENFIELD, BRICE, COSTELLO, WALLACE. JACKSON Next junction, hang a right... INT. TUNNEL Dim; light spaced far apart along tunnel. The carrier takes a right. JACKSON (V.O.) Left at the fork and you wanna take it slow. Fifty meters to whatever's in front of that camera... Hicks gestures to Wallace, the driver. The carrier halts. SOUND of the air- scrubbers from down the tunnel. The Marines shift their weapons, uneasily eye the tunnel ahead. These are young recruits, not the hard-case vets of "ALIENS." HICKS Now listen up. We don't do this by the book, we don't pair off. Stay together, tight. Greenfield up front with me; anything moves, you torch it. The rest of you, if it moves, kill it. You gotta get the fuckers before they get close. You know about the acid; you know they don't show on infrared. And you know you don't let them take you alive. You might have to do a friend a favor... Ready? Move out. He climbs down from the carrier, heavily burdened with gear. The others follow. Greenfield has a flamethrower. They move forward. Toward the next light; beyond it, the tunnel curves out of sight. JACKSON (V.O.) You're right up on it, Hicks. Right around the corner... HICKS Affirmative... They round the turn, weapons ready. And stop, stunned. GREENFIELD Wha' 'th...? The tunnel, which widens here as it approaches the massive air-scrubber, has been transformed; its lights are dimly visible through shrouds of resin. Vast ribs of the stuff sweep up from a dim and monstrous shape that covers the deck at the base of the scrubber; we're looking into an Alien grotto, black and pearlescent, and obscene fairyland. The shape's symmetry suggest function. Patient DRUMMING of the air-scrubber's giant fans. HICKS Scan it. Motion? COSTELLO (consulting tracker, adjusting knob) Negative. HICKS Alsop, gimme the flood... Alsop passes Hicks a portable halogen-flood. Hicks thumbs it on... WALLACE Holy Christ. The central shape is revealed as an enormous mutant queen. The thing is splayed on its back, mortared into the mass of resin, its vestigial head toward Hicks and the Marines. Its abdomen is arched like an inverted scorpion-tail, tipped with a swollen, semi-translucent sac that ripples and pulses in the glare of Hick's lamp. A biomechanical birth-factory. HICKS (passing the flood to Brice) Hold it... steady. He kneels, unslings one of his gear cases, open it, revealing a squat tube. HICKS Moving. Something's moving... Hicks is working on the tube-thing, snapping components into place. Brice suddenly swings the beam away from the queen, revealing half a dozen new-model Aliens twisting out of recesses in the grotto walls... INT. OPS ROOM Jackson and Bishop hear SCREAMS and FIRING over the comm-link. HICK (V.O.) The light! The goddamn light! (garble) The Aliens tear into the Marines like living chainsaws. Wallace and Costello go down immediately; the Aliens begin to drag them away. Hicks has gotten hold of the light, struggles to keep it on the queen as he props the tube against his thigh. SCREAMS. Blue stutter of pulse-rifles. A tongue of fire from Greenfield's flamethrower, but an Alien jumps him; the napalm-stream arcs wildly, splashing the resin structure -- and the Queen wakes. The huge tail extends, lifts in the floodlight beam... Hicks is still trying to assemble his mortar. As the swollen, podlike tail-tip splits open with a sickly, tearing SOUND, releasing a puffball cloud of dark mist -- we've seen it before, in miniature, with Tully in the lab -- which begins to rise, drawn up toward the giant fans above the air-scrubber... INT. OPS ROOM HICKS (V.O.) Stop the fans! Bishop is instantly on the case, leaning over Jackson's shoulder to punch the right button, but... INT. SCRUBBER-TUNNEL Too late. The cloud of spores is sucked into the fans -- as Hicks drop a shell into the mortar. It bucks against his thigh and the queen is blown to shred in an EXPLOSION that rips out the side of the scrubber. HICKS The vents! Seal the vents! INT. OPS ROOM Bishop's fingers fly as he punches another sequence. INT. VENT Straight down the pipe, a long way, to the whirling fans. Huge hermetic barriers SLAM across the vent in sequence -- one, two, three. INT. SCRUBBER-TUNNEL Hicks scramble to his feet. HICKS Out! Out of here! Now! The Marine beside him begins to spasm and quake as the Change comes. Hicks SHOOTS him in the chest at close range and sprints for the carrier. DISSOLVE TO: INT. RODINA -- HUB The Vietnamese commando nears the station's hub. The walls, in one large chamber, are decorated with official U.P.P. art, like a blend of Mexican Socialists agitprop murals and Syd Mead techo-fantasy. She passes evidence of brief violent struggle: a wall splashed with dried blood, a single shoe, smashed equipment, ragged acid-scars in the deck. She looks like a child now, moving through all this, small and alone. But not helpless: she still moves with a cat's wariness, her gun ready. Three face-huggers scuttle across at an intersection of corridors, tails thrashing... She comes to a door that opens onto Rodina's central hub, a large cylindrical space surrounding a core of equipment. The door is ajar; she edges through... Virtually the station's entire crew, perhaps a hundreds people, have been cocooned along the multi-storey column, a bas-relief of human bodies and glittering resin. She stares from a railing, appalled, then slips through the door. INT. ACHORPOINT -- OPS ROOM Rosetti, Jackson, Bishop JACKSON I don't know what they did down there, but it's screwed up internal comm-link for the whole area; I can't raise 'em... One of Jackson's consoles CHIMES; her central screen suddenly glows with a hi-rez simulation of Rodina. JACKSON (continuing) Rodina's got company... EXT. SPACE Silent approach of the U.P.P. cruiser Nikolai Stoiko, a vicious-looking mile- long slab of armament. Stoiko slows, comes to an ominous halt. INT. RODINA The commando bolts down a corridor. Total desperation. She's lost her gun. A CRASH behind her. The beast's shrill RAGE. She throws herself through the first available door -- and sees the interceptor waiting. She scrambles up a ladder, through the hatch, and frantically begins to activate systems. Sirens begin to SOUND in the launch bay. The interceptor's hatch closes as the twin gates of the bay begin to swing open -- and the beast is on her, striking at the view-port in the hatch, inches from her face. She flips open a safety- override on the interceptor's joystick and thumbs a red button. EXT. RODINA Total overdrive: the interceptor BLASTS out through the half open gates in a fireball of exhaust gases, the beast and the service ladder tumbling after it... EXT. SPACE -- STOIKO Something streak from the bow of the cruiser... INT. ANCHORPOINT -- OPS ROOM Jackson huddled over her screen. JACKSON Missile! EXT. SPACE -- RODINA -- INTERCEPTOR IN F.G. The U.P.P. missile takes out the station. Whiteout of nuclear EXPLOSION; the interceptor is a black blot tumbling toward us like a singed leaf in a whirlwind... INT. OPS ROOM The simulation of Rodina on Jackson's screen is surrounded by an expanding blue sphere. The sphere stops expanding. The simulation blurs into digital static, fades as the sphere begins to contract... JACKSON Nuked 'em! Twenty megs! That coded transmission... ROSETTI Send Mayday. JACKSON I don't believe it! They send for help, their own people nuked 'em! HICKS (quietly) Maybe they asked for it... ROSETTI That's an order, Jackson! Bishop looks at Rosetti as though he's about to offer an opinion, but doesn't. JACKSON Maybe they'll nuke us too... BISHOP No. They're leaving... EXT. SPACE -- STOIKO The cruiser begins to move, accelerates, is gone. INT. OPS ROOM ROSETTI Bastards! JACKSON Yeah. And they violated the fucking arms treaty, too, didn't they? Well, Colonel Rosetti, how about a situation update? We got, lessee, fifty- six missing crew members as of fifteen hundred hours... DISSOLVE TO: INT. THE MALL Deserted. The only SOUNDS are Muzak and the trickles of an artificial waterfall. Some signs of trouble: an overturned trash canister, someone's red nylon baseball cap on the polished concrete. Walker strolls around a corner beside the bar with a pulse-rifle, grenades, and assorted gadgetry slung across his chest. Goes to the bar entrance, nudges the door open with the barrel of the rifle. Nobody there. Same soccer game on the big screen, but the sound is off. Silent cheering crowd rising to its feet, the flicker of the holo-game consoles. He glances around the mall, enters. Crosses to the bar, checks behind it, then fishes up a big plastic jug of liquor. Opens it, drink from the jug. Behind him, a mug topples, CLATTERS on the floor. He slowly lowers the liquor to the counter; just as slowly, he turns. A beast is there, waiting, beyond the Glimmer of the holo-games. Walker and the beast move simultaneously. But he doesn't go for his gun -- he grabs the control unit hanging on his chest. An unmanned power-loader walks straight through the glass facade, plowing tables and chairs out of its way, big vise-grip claws extended. The Alien SCREAMS, leaps for it, but the steel claws close and grip. Walker twiddles the controls; the power-loader responds, pinning the Alien against the wall. The Alien writhes and HISSES, striking furiously at the hydraulic arm. Walker tightens the grip, locks the loader in place. Picks up the jug of liquor and has another swallow. WALLACE Fuck you. Beat. As his satisfied grin is replaced by something else. The Change... INT. ECO-MODULE Artificial dusk. Spence is crossing the mirco-meadow with a wire basket of food the module's population of small primates. Moths flutter through narrowing beams of sunlight as the louvers gradually close overhead. CRICKETS in the long grass. She enters the scaled-down forest, ducking branches, and Spanish moss. Begins to make Tk-tk-tk sound, calling the lemur, the monkeys... And stops. Suddenly aware of a stillness, an absolute silence. Even the crickets... She turns -- gasps. The primates have been cocooned in the branches of a tree. And screams as something pounces on her from above, the transformed lemur: a very small Alien. She bats the thing away with the strength of desperation. It hits the ground HISSING; she hurls the basket of food at it and bolts from the forest, sobbing. DISSOLVE TO: INT. A TUNNEL WHINE of an approaching engine. The six-wheeled carrier come INTO VIEW, Hicks driving, alone. His face is fixed, white. The carrier slews against the tunnel wall, strikes sparks, bounces off. He hardly seems to notice. He plows into a row of big plastic crates, tumbling them like a child's blocks, bringing the vehicle to a halt. Beat. He look up from the controls: the doors of a freight elevator. INT. A CORRIDOR OFF THE MALL Automatic CHIME as elevator doors open, revealing Hicks and his gun. INT. THE MALL Hicks warily crosses the Mall. SOUND of perpetual Muzak. He eyes the wreckage of the bar, but keeps moving. Into stuttering neon light from one of the shops. HISS and CRACKLE of bad wiring. He move toward the shop, gun ready. INT. SHOP Hicks enters, surveys the wreckage of display cases, scattered 21st century consumer toys. He finds five cocoons at the read of the shop. INT. THE MALL LONG on the shop. Beat. SOUND of five rounds from the pulse-rifle. With the last shot, the neon flicker dies. Muzak stops. Hicks emerges, continues across the Mall. Arrives at the elevator-like entrance to the mini-subway, punches in his destination ("OPS" lights up in red). Muffled SOUND of the breaking car; the door HISSES open -- on Spence, both hands white-knuckled on the loop of a hanger-strap, the car an abattoir, red with the blood of Transformation. Shredded clothing and rags of flesh. HICKS Spence... She screams. INT. OPS ROOM Rosetti and Jackson are hunched over the screens as Hicks enters with Spence over his shoulder, brushing past two nervous Marines at the door. Bishop is making calculations on a console in the b.g. Hicks eases Spence down into a chair. JACKSON Revised ETA fro the Kansas City's another thirteen hours... HICKS (yanking Rosetti around in his chair) Things don't look so shit hot out there right now, Rosetti. What about rigging the fusion package? ROSETTI (to Jackson; ignoring Hicks) Sound the general alert, routine lifeboat drill... HICKS A general fucking alert? Lifeboat drill? Who the hell you think's gonna be left to pick up? I say we do the fusion package now! JACKSON (wearily; without looking up from her screen) Hicks, you took out the scrubber, the main air- scrubber. Pretty soon there isn't going to be anything to breathe in here. We'd by okay for about five days, except you also started an electrical fire and we got no way to put it out. The crew's down to one-twenty-eight. HICKS (stunned) More than half...? JACKSON That's what I said. HICKS And you haven't rigged the place to blow? JACKSON (glances at Rosetti) No. ROSETTI (as if noticing him for the first time) You'll lead the group from this sector, Hicks. At the alert, they'll gather at blue assembly points. Proceed to the nearest lifeboat bay... BISHOP (approaching Rosetti with a single sheet of printout) Colonel, my analysis indicates that a minimum of one fifth of the one hundred and twenty- eight remaining crew are already incubating the -- ROSETTI (on the edge of hysteria) Listen to me, you motherless zombie! Those are people! Can't you understand that? And we're going to get them out! BISHOP Yes, Colonel, I... ROSETTI (to Hicks) You have your orders! HICKS I don't leave here until Jackson sets it to blow, Rosetti. Got that? Kansas City shows up, maybe there's nobody left for them to pick up. Then what? They'll send a boarding party in here! JACKSON I can't. The fusion package is under the scrubber, Hicks. You trashed the wiring, man. That's where the fire is. Those lines. I can't link through. I can't set it. BISHOP I'll go; I'll get it manually. HICKS I'll go with you. BISHOP No. Assist with the... (glances down at the figures on the sheet of printout) The evacuation. JACKSON (to Rosetti) You just want to get your own ass out of here, don't you? They couldn't have done this without you approval, could they? SPENCE Hick! As one of the Marine guards stumbles forward, dropping his weapon, hands upraised in claws of agony -- MARINE Please, I... He trips, fall across Jackson's console and the barrel of Hick's gun -- as half a dozen New Model Chest-bursters erupt simultaneously from his torso in a spray of blood. Hicks bellow, jumps back, grabbing Spence. The chest bursters tumble from the body of the dead Marine, scuttle into the shadows; one leaves a trail of small bloody prints across Jackson's keyboard. HICKS Out! Out of here! INT. CORRIDOR Hicks, Spence, Bishop, Rosetti, Jackson, and the remaining Marine guard hustle along, Hicks and Bishop bringing up the rear. Rosetti carries the dead Marine's pulse-rifle. Bishop touches Hick's shoulder as they reach the intersection. BISHOP I'll try to give you an hour. Overload at twenty-two hundred. HICKS (quietly; doesn't want the others to hear) Blow it. That's what matters. EXTREME CLOSEUP on Hick's watch as her set the alarm for 2200 hours. BISHOP Yes. Bishop splits off, down another corridor, running. INT. LIFEBOAT ASSEMBLY POINT Another intersection of corridors. A pathetic remnant of Anchorpoint's crew cluster beneath a flashing blue light. A dozen people, including HALLIDAY, a woman Spence's age; TATSUMI (male Japanese); a LAB TECH (male). ROSETTI Where are the others? There should be thirty people here... HALLIDAY (dazed and confused) I can't find Tom. What is it? What's going on? He was just here. I mean there. But then... JACKSON Forget it, he's probably already on the boat. You know him, right? C'mon, we're getting out of here ourselves... Hicks pulls a service automatic from his vest and slips it to Jackson. HICKS (under his breath) Keep an eye on everybody, okay, Ops? JACKSON (to the others) Okay! You all know the Goddamn drill! Done it often enough, right? We're taking A-52 to Blue Concourse. We stick together. We'll meet up with two others groups at Bay Five and proceed to board... TATSUMI What is happening, please? JACKSON What's happening is we're getting on the boats! Move! INT. THE MALL Dense haze of smoke from burning insulation; half the lights are out. A body floats face down in the pool at the foot of the waterfall; the pool is overflowing, splashing on polished concrete. Bishop emerges from a doorway and hurries along toward the freight elevator. He freezes. Hears something else. Moves quietly in the direction of the SOUND. The bar. He peers into the wreckage. Four Aliens are at work, cocooning their prey. Cocooned bodies -- CLOSE on the face of Shuman -- have been glued to the big screen, where silent images of the soccer game repeat endlessly. Bishop stares, then turns -- looks up. A Queen. The thing towers above him in the Mall, utterly still. Beat. He takes a step backward. Another. The Queen's head sways. Another step. He bolts for the elevator. The Queen screams her rage, scrambles after him like a famished mantis. He's reached the elevator -- stabs desperately at the controls -- as the doors open and he's through, punching more buttons -- as the Queen strikes, her first blow buckling the steel doors. INT. FREIGHT ELEVATOR Her huge stinger lashes in through the gap, whipping and slicing, Bishop braced up straight in a corner, hand still on the controls. The elevator GROANS, SHUDDERS, begins to descend, then jams in the shaft. The stinger whips back out. SOUND of rending metal as the Queen continues her attack. INT. A CORRIDOR AT BULKHEAD HATCH Jackson ducks through first, still wearing her Ops cap. Rosetti next, then Spence, helping Halliday; the others follow, Hicks bringing up the rear. Hicks pauses, looks back through the hatch. Hears a distant CRASH, an inhuman cry. Takes a small bat of plastic explosive from his vest and squashes it against the edge of the bulkhead. Pulls a grenade from his harness, twists its neck in the delay-detonate combination, sticks in into the plastique, closes the hatch, and runs. The smoke is getting worse. INT. BLUE CONSOURSE Another of the white-tiled traffic-tunnels, this one identified by a wide band of blue along either side. A small vehicle has overturned, amid blood and torn clothing. Jackson and her party are skirting the wreck as Hicks catches up with them. Jackson whirls at the SOUND of running feet, bringing up the pistol. HICKS Easy, Jackson! JACKSON Where y'been? A distant EXPLOSION shakes the tunnel, jarring loose several tiles. HICKS (low, so the others won't hear) They're following us. Left 'em something to slow 'em down. JACKSON Might as well. Just try not to put a hole in the hull, okay? (coughs) Remember the air-scrubber... HICKS Let's move. INT. FREIGHT ELEVATOR Bishop on his knees, running his hands delicately over the ribbed plastic flooring. The Queen HISSES, BASHES the door. He finds a seam, levers up with his nails, gets a grip. Pulls. Sense of his android strength as the flooring comes up on pale streamers of super-glue. The elevator shakes with the Queen's fury. He finds a section of the floor that can be removed. Forces the glue-caked catches. Slams down with the heel of his hand -- the panel falls away, tumbling through smoke toward a point of fire-glow at the shaft's distant foot. INT. SHAFT Bishop lowers himself through the opening, dangles. An emergency service- ladder is recessed in one wall. He tries to reach one of the rungs with his foot, but the toe of his boot slips. Too far. He begins to swing back and forth like a gymnast, building momentum -- and lets go. Falls six feet before he manages to get a grip. He begins to descend the ladder. It's a long way down. INT. BLUE CONSOURSE The lifeboat party emerges, coughing, from a wall of acrid smoke. REACTION SHOT dismay and amazement. The tunnel has been sealed with a plug of Alien resin. Human bones, weapons, and Marine helmets protrude from the biomech convolutions of the resin-wall. Another of the six-wheeled military vehicles carriers is skewed across the tunnel in a pool of blood. ROSETTI It doesn't want us to get out... HICKS Bugs. Just fucking bugs... C'mon. (he climbs into the driver's seat of the carrier) We're taking the bus. Which way, Ops? JACKSON (getting in beside him) Way we came, unless you think of something better. HALLIDAY What's he mean, "bugs"? What is that thing? (pointing at the resin-plug) Where's Tom? Where's Tom? SPENCE (taking her arm; leading her to the carrier) It'll be okay. Here, get up... There was an experiment. It got out of control. We have to go... TATSUMI What kind of experiment? HICKS (throwing the carrier into gear; cutting off their questions) Come on! INT. BLUE CONCOURSE TRACKING on carrier, CLOSE on Hicks and Jackson. She takes a flat gadget from her jacket and flips it open; a miniature computer-map on anchorpoint, like a pocket video game. As she wiggles a tiny joystick, EXTREME CLOSEUP on miniature color screen; she's looking for an alternate route to the lifeboats. JACKSON (still studying the map) Left at B-83. We'll cut through Aquaculture, up to level to Aeroponics. We can get into Residential from there, then it's up a service tunnel behind the central mainframe... HICKS Sounds complicated. JACKSON Quickest way. Flips the map shut. Spence is trying to comfort Halliday. INT. AQUACULTURE FARM An automated fish farm; factory space ranged with dozens of waist-high round white vats of dark green water. Low ceiling, dim light. Sweeps rotate slowly across the water in some vats; others are still, with floating green vegetation. Hicks leads the party along a narrow aisle between the vats. Jackson pauses to check her map and watch; Hicks light a cigarette, leans his elbow against the nearest vat. JACKSON We're doing okay... The surface of the water behind Hicks' elbow erupts as the fish go into a feed frenzy. He yelps and jumps back, dropping his cigarette. SPENCE Bass. They're just hungry... Ready to be harvested. HICKS Sure. Let's get out of here, okay? The others follow, keeping their distance from the vats. INT. ELEVATOR SHAFT Bishop jumps down, dodges a dangling power cable, squints through the smoke. Finds a manual emergency level that opens the shaft's door. INT. TUNNEL A blast of air fans the flames behind him as he steps out. The carrier is there, among the scattered crates, where Hicks left it. Bishop climbs in, tries the power. A feeble whine. Touches another button. The dash flashes "BATTERY RECHARGE." He climbs down an sets off along the tunnel at a jog. INT. AEROPONICS FARM State of the art. Epcot-style soilless cultivation. Tall A-frame structures of white styrofoam are studded with hundreds of precisely spaced plants, their roots watered by periodic bursts of high-pressure mist. Vegetables sprout from the sides of tapering styrofoam columns. All of the wreathed in mist under brilliant halogen lamps. Hicks scans the chamber, gun ready, as the party emerges from a hatch in the white deck behind him. Spence has to help Halliday, whose cheeks are streaked with tears. Rosetti's up last, clutching his pulse-rifle a bit too tightly, eyes darting around the chamber. HICKS Keep the safety on, Colonel. You could hurt somebody. He kneels beside the hatch, takes plastique and a grenade from his harness, and slaps together another bomb. ROSETTI What are you doing? HICKS They may be following us. He closes the hatch over the charge and locks it. Halliday starts to weep hysterically in Spence's arms; goes to her knees, the tries to curl into a fetal position on the white deck, shuddering, crying like a child. Rosetti rushes over as Spence is trying to get her to her feet. ROSETTI They'll hear you! Rosetti slaps Halliday's face, hard; eliciting a piercing scream. Spence -- no hesitation -- punches him solid |
WAR, regardless of whether you want to evaluate him by FIP or runs allowed.
In some ways, Jackson is the anti-Mark Buehrle, in that he has good stuff and a reputation for being inconsistent and losing his command of the strike zone. In other ways, though, Jackson is basically the same as Buehrle, as he gives you a reliable innings eater who can keep you in games but has enough deficiencies to fail the front-of-the-rotation starter test. Last year, at age 32, Buehrle signed a four year, $60 million contract. This is basically the market price for an above average innings sponge, and that’s exactly what Jackson is.
So, why would a rebuilding team like the Cubs want an above average innings sponge? Jeff Sullivan tackled that exact topic last week, when it was reported that they were on the verge of signing Anibal Sanchez. I’m just going to go ahead and quote him.
All right, we can still try to explain the Cubs’ interest. There are explanations for why this wouldn’t be so weird of a fit after all. We’ll begin just with the 2013 on-field product. There’s value in improving the team, even if the team doesn’t seem like a contender, because not only can contenders emerge by surprise, but fans simply respond better to a team that doesn’t suck so much. And with Sanchez, the 2013 Cubs might not suck so much. He’d join Matt Garza, Jeff Samardzija, Travis Wood, Scott Feldman, and Scott Baker as rotation candidates, and a pretty good rotation could be formed out of that group. The Cubs added Kyuji Fujikawa to the bullpen, and their run production could get a little better. With Sanchez, the 2013 Cubs could be a reasonable, respectable baseball team, and I’ll cite once more the 2012 Orioles and the 2012 Athletics. You never know.
The idea that bad-to-mediocre teams shouldn’t try to improve their clubs is just flat out wrong. We simply don’t know how to predict the future with enough accuracy to suggest that teams that don’t look like contenders should just lose on purpose. The marginal value of a win is higher for teams that are closer to contention, but it’s not zero for teams that are still working on stockpiling talent. And, when you have a chance to add a valuable player, that is stockpiling talent. Jackson wasn’t signed to a one year deal, and he’s not likely to turn into a useless waste of cash after this season. The Cubs just signed a quality starter for multiple years, and the truth about not being able to predict the future goes even more for years beyond the next one. We have no idea what the 2014 Cubs are going to look like, but it’s quite possible that their aggressive moves to improve this winter will have laid the foundation for them to make a run up the NL Central standings within the next couple of years.
After all, just last year, Jackson signed with a team that wasn’t necessarily expected to contend. When the Nationals signed Jackson, our lovable own poet Carson Cistulli wrote:
It’s possible that the Jackson signing represents an attempt on the part of Washington simply to not be mediocre. Or to be less mediocre. That’s a possible, if entirely uninspiring, explanation for the deal — because there’s value in being “just fine.” Furthermore, it’s possible that the Nationals see value in Jackson as a player either to flip for a decent prospect at the deadline, or from whom to gain a compensation pick in the 2013 draft after Jackson becomes a Type B free agent when the season is over. For the Nationals to become actual contenders, though, at least one of the following three names will have to appear in fewer of manager Davey Johnson‘s lineups than is projected: Roger Bernadina, Ian Desmond, and Adam LaRoche. It’s unlikely that any of those is an average major leaguer.
This is not to pick on Carson, but to point out that a year ago, it looked like the Nationals had big holes at first base and shortstop. LaRoche led all NL first baseman in WAR. Ditto Desmond and shortstops. Bernadina put up a 114 wRC+ in a super-sub role, and accumulated +1.9 WAR in less than a half season of playing time. Between the three of them, they racked up +11.1 WAR, and were a huge part of why the Nationals finished the season with the best record in baseball.
The point is, and remains, that we just don’t know what’s going to happen next year, much less in the years that come after that. We can handicap the races a bit, and talk about likelihoods and projections, but we’re really just saying that a team looks like they could win between 70 and 90 games, or 80 and 100, depending on what kind of unpredictable things break their way. The Cubs are probably more in the 70 to 90 range. We shouldn’t expect them to contend simply because they signed Edwin Jackson.
But we should note that Edwin Jackson makes them better, and this price for Edwin Jackson is still completely reasonable based on his established performance level. That the Cubs aren’t yet obvious contenders shouldn’t cause us to tell them to stop trying to improve. By bringing in Jackson and Carlos Villanueva today, while already adding Scott Baker and Scott Feldman, the Cubs have now acquired four interesting starting pitchers this winter. They’ve rebuilt their entire rotation, essentially, and have set themselves up to be able to trade Matt Garza — after he proves he’s healthy, anyway — without it creating a huge problem for their Major League team. They did the same drastic overhaul of their rotation that the Twins and Royals went after this winter, just they did it without giving up useful Major League outfielders or top outfield prospects in the process.
The Cubs are a big market team. They needed to add talent to make any kind of serious playoff run in the future. They might not be ready to make that run in 2013, but they’ve given themselves a better chance to be a surprise team next year, and now they’ve solidified their rotation beyond next year with a quality pitcher at a decent price.
For Jackson, after years of getting traded and changing teams every year, he now has some security. And he has that security with a team that has made some big strides this winter, improving both their present and their future at the same time.The decision to build a $57 million cruise ship terminal at White Bay in Balmain instead of at Barangaroo was a "serious error", a parliamentary inquiry has said.
Since it opened in 2013, the White Bay facility has been plagued by hundreds of complaints from residents, who argue emissions, vibrations and noise from ships moored at the terminal are making them sick.
Tied up: White Bay Cruise Terminal has attracted hundreds of complaints since its 2013 opening. Credit:Wolter Peeters
Cruise liners must keep their engines running while berthed at the White Bay Cruise Terminal because it lacks an on-shore power source. But Balmain residents, who live within metres of the White Bay terminal, say the consequent air pollution is damaging their health.
The operation of the terminal was one of several case studies considered by a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the performance of the Environmental Protection Authority. The report, release on Friday, recommended changes to how the terminal operates, to mitigate the environmental impact of the facility.Birth control pills can reduce women’s ovaries upward 50 per cent in size. However, it’s not dangerous, says lead scientist.
If you take birth control pills you could be risking that your ovaries will shrink.
A study from Copenhagen University Hospital and Rigshospitalet shows that the ovaries are about 47 per cent smaller in women on the pill compared to women who don’t take the contraceptive.
"That the size of the ovaries is reduced so much is quite convincing," says lead author Kathrine Birch Petersen, fertility doctor and researcher at Rigshospitalet and Copenhagen University Hospital. "If we look at young women, between 19 and 29.9 years, their ovaries are reduced by 52 per cent compared with women who are not on the pill."
She stresses that the phenomenon is not dangerous and that the ovaries appear to return to normal size in the months after the woman stops taking the pill.
Young ovaries 'look old'
The new study included 833 women who visited a fertility advisory clinic at Rigshospitalet. The scientists' inspiration for the study arose because they were surprised that a number of young women visiting the clinic 'looked old' as far as fertility was concerned.
"Young women typically have well-developed and well-functioning ovaries, while women approaching their menopause have smaller ovaries with reduced egg production," says Petersen.
"We noticed that a number of young women who took birth control pills had ovaries that looked like they were approaching the menopause," she says.
The pill distorts fertility tests
Petersen points out that the new research also shows that birth control pills can make it difficult for doctors to determine how fertile a woman is.
The results of two known tests for women's fertility can be distorted if the woman tested is on the pill, she says. "It is not dangerous for women to take the pills, but if their fertility is being tested it is important to know that the pills can affect the results.”
"The test results tend to indicate that the women is older and has fewer eggs than she may have in reality,” says Petersen.
How women's fertility is tested
While men can produce sperm throughout their life, women are born with a certain number of eggs that is gradually reduced as the woman ages.
A woman's remaining number of eggs is often called her 'ovarian reserve', which can be looked at as an expression of how fertile she is.
However, doctors cannot measure the precise number of eggs that a woman has directly. Instead, they use two special markers to indicate how her ovaries are ageing, says Petersen.
The two markers are:
AMH test: The level of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) in a woman's blood can be measured in a blood sample. Small cells surrounding the eggs in the ovaries form AMH. Generally, the more eggs a woman has, the higher the AMH level in her blood.
AFC test: Through ultrasound scanning of the woman's abdomen her antral (early stage) follicles can be counted. These follicles contain immature eggs that are released each month during menstruation. The measurement indicates how many eggs from the ovaries are recruited for ovulation -- and is thus an indication of how fertile the woman is.
Birth control pills give less reliable fertility test results
According to Petersen, a combination of these two marker tests is the best way of determining how large a woman's ovarian reserve is -- and thus how fertile she is.
But the new study shows that it is not certain that the results of the tests are correct if the woman is on the pill.
Facts The new study shows that women who use birth control pills or vaginal rings have ovaries that are 47 per cent smaller than women who do not use these contraceptive methods. The results do not apply to women who use contraceptive mini-pills, hormone spirals, and contraceptive implants. The study covered 833 women, aged 19-46, and almost 30 per cent of them took contraceptive pills. The fertility advisory clinic is an open clinic at the hospital, where both men and women can have their fertility assessed. In Denmark, the concept is found only at Rigshospitalet, but the doctors' vision is that it should spread to the whole country to raise awareness about the fall in ability of women to have children as they grow older -- with the ultimate aim of reducing the number of fertility treatments over time.
The study indicates that the result of the AMH test is 19 per cent lower on average for women who take birth control pills, while the result of the AFC test is reduced by 16 per cent on average compared with women who do not take birth control pills.
"This has most significance in connection with advising women who take birth control pills," says Petersen. "It means we must be aware that their ovarian reserve appears to be smaller if they are on the pill. That's because these pills work and suppress the normal hormonal system."
She emphasises that the new study does take into account factors such as age, obesity, smoking and so on that can affect women's ovarian reserve. In fact, the results were much more significant when the researchers focused exclusively on the youngest women in the study, adds Petersen.
Study generates foreign attention
It is uncertain precisely how long the size of a woman's ovaries and these test results are affected by her birth control pills, but Petersen says that the effects appear to be temporary and will presumably disappear in the course of three to six months after the woman stops taking the pill.
"If a woman has a lower ovarian reserve than expected for her age we would recommend that she stops taking the pill and gets retested after three months," says Petersen.
The new Danish research results have not yet been published in a scientific journal, but Petersen presented them at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology fertility conference (ESHRE conference) held in Munich at the start of July.
Here the results attracted attention and a number of foreign media have reported on the Danish study.
Scientist: no cause for panic
Dr Lubna Pal, who heads the menopause and polycystic ovarian syndrome research programmes at Yale University in Connecticut, USA, told the news site LiveScience.com that "Women should not be freaking out that they are losing their eggs" if they're taking birth control.
"These [AMH and AFC] tests are yardsticks that should be applied only in the context of fertility assessments," Pal told LiveScience.
Pal emphasises that the results of the Danish research make sense from a biological perspective, as the aim of birth control pills is precisely "to suppress the ovarian function".
Like Petersen, Pal says that the new study should not cause women to fear that they’ll have poorer egg quality or lose the ability to become pregnant because they take birth control pills.
Older women become less fertile -- also when they take the pill
Women should, however, be aware that they lose the ability to get pregnant, as they grow older, says Petersen.
"Today, women are older and older before they start to think of having children, and getting pregnant can be problematic for them," says Petersen. "Many women believe that they'save' their eggs when they take the pill, because they don't have ovulation. But that's not true. Eggs perish every month even when you're on the pill."
As well as birth control pills, the new research results also apply to vaginal rings, but not to contraceptive mini-pills, hormone spirals and contraceptive implants.
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Read the original article in Danish on Videnskab.dkI want to apologize for the gap in my articles. I am currently a graduate student in a clinical psychology program and summer is our transition period. I help run a clinic and we have been working on getting the new therapists trained. Things are settling down and I should be back on track now!
Last time we met I gave you guys my Part 1 of my Comic-Con Experience. This week I’d like to pick up where we left off. I had spent my day getting art done by @inkwell_looter and @postrk. I’d finally traded for a foil Voidmage Husher for my Nicol Bolas EDH deck. Things were going good. But then I was put to the test with a tough decision: Play in the 2HG event (which my friend and I won last year) or go to the Magic Panel (which I had missed the year before).
In order to clear my mind and decide I headed over to the open gaming room to play some EDH. Right as I sit down in walks Aaron Forsythe (who I had the pleasure of playing against the year before at con). He sits down at a table up front and starts gunslinging (you play him one v one, if you win you get a pack. If you lose I think he taunts you and does a little dance). With my pride on the line, I queued up to play him and then proceeded to feel like a total jerk when I dropped Turn 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Turn 4 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. Aaron had an awesome Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder deck which abused the hell out of Blasting Station. I was able to get Jace up to ultimate though and won a pack of M13 with Quirion Dryad on it (which Aaron was awesome enough to sign).
We decided to go to the Magic Panel (we had played Scott Larabee the night before at EDH and I was interested to see him in action up on the panel). Now for those of you who have not been to Comic-Con or have not been in the last couple of years, the lines have gotten insane. Last year over 200 people showed up for the Magic Panel who were not even able to get in. They moved to a bigger room this year, but we were apprehensive so headed over to the room 2 hours early… and saw a line already! We got in quickly and snagged seats up near the front but had to sit through two other panels in order to save this spot. I spent most of these early panels sitting along a wall with my phone plugged into a charger so that I could make sure I could take photos and upload any spoilers. While waiting for my phone to charge I saw that I had a Direct Message on Twitter from @wizards_magic. My heart skipped a beat because I had no clue why I would be getting a message from the and right before the panel was set to start.
“Hey! We are having a free invite-only M13 sealed event at the Marriott at 8pm tonight, and I’m inviting some of our Twitter followers. Members of R&D will be there as well as other Wizards employees and other players from the community. Let me know if you’d like to come! You are free to invite a few friends as well.”
WHAT??? I mean really? HOLY CRAP! (We’ll come back to this later)
Finally the Magic Panel started! Awesome people from Wizards walked around giving us all Nicol Bolas Head Pieces and a pack of M13 (which had just been released that day). The energy in the room was so high, everyone was smiling, I felt like a kid again. I was yelling out at the panel (at one point when they showed art for Return to Ravnica I remember yelling out “I saw SLIVERS!”). The people in front of me kept turning around and laughing with me… at least I hope it was with me and not at me since it turned out to be @natasha_lh. The panel was hard to focus on since I was trying to take a photo of any potential spoiler and upload it to Twitter immediately along with commentary by Mark Rosewater, Aaron Forsythe, Scott Larabee, Mat Cavotta (so awesome to have an artist on the panel), and Mark Purvis. It’s actually very funny to me that Mark Rosewater wrote his article on fame after Comic-Con because anytime I saw him I could see people becoming nervous and wanting to approach him but being scared (I had been this way the night before). In case you didn’t get to see the panel you can go watch it here (I think I can be seen around the 13:10 minute mark trying to get in line to ask a question. I’m the short dude in a dark blue shirt…)
After the Panel, we rushed over the open gaming area in order to find out more about this Free event with Magic celebs. It felt so awesome to be invited to this and when I showed up I saw tons of other people I had either already met or had been wanting to meet from Twitter and from their blogs. Artists were there (both ones who had done magic cards and the awesome @inkwell_looter who I’ve mentioned over and over), writers were there from Channel Fireball,twitter people like @metaknightmare (who is one awesome dude, had a chance to hang out with him a lot) and @sunie_fdc (who had done the community cup before), Rosewater, Forsythe, Purvis, Cavotta and then me and my friends.
Mike Gills was in charge of running this event and was a great host! He walked around, handing us all 6 packs of M13 (this was awesome since it was Release Day and I was missing my normal event at my LGS) to build a sealed deck with. Basically you built your deck, then you played anyone else who was invited to the event. If this all sounds like some kind of #humblebrag I’m just going to warn you that it gets even better…
This event was easily my highlight of the Con. It’s actually easily the highlight of any Con I have ever been to. Here I was playing Magic along with the creators, the promoters, the runners of the game. Here I was side by side with other fans, other Twitter/blogger personalities and getting to actually play magic instead of just talk about it all day every day. I built a pretty mediocre white/black deck with Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Odric, Master Tactician as my bombs. I think I went like.500 with the deck but the matches were all amazing and fun. We sat there playing for hours (halfway through Mike brought us 6 more packs and we were able to change our deck, which I did). Mat Cavotta had to leave and handed me his cards (later I would find a Sublime Archangel in there!). I also got to play Aaron Forsythe again (and win)!
So the final thing I want to talk about here is honestly the top moment of my whole Con Experience. Toward the end of the night, I finally got the chance to play @inkwell_looter which I had wanted to do since round 1. He’d made my tokens during the day, I interact with him fairly regularly on Twitter, and he had such a great personality. Right as we sit down Mike Gills comes over and says, “Ok this match is going to be for a Foil Uncut Sheet of M13 Uncommons”. I sat there mouth agape as I saw Rancor, and Rewind, and Tormod’s Crypt… and I had to win. Unfortunately things did not look good for me as I mull to 5 game 1 and get resoundly stomped. Game 2 was the opposite with Inkwell having to mull but he almost stabilized the board with some great early plays. I finally was able to get to Odric and swing for exactsies! Game three was fairly anticlimactic as I landed some early fliers and went on to win this!
This brought me to the end of my one day that I was guaranteed to be at the Con. Final stats: 19 hours at the Convention Center, close to 50 games of magic played, 22 packs of M13, a foil uncut uncommon sheet, artwork and tokens by some amazing people, and wow…
I want to thank all the readers who have been coming to check this out. I can be reached on the comments here and @HobbesQ on twitter! I appreciate any and all feedback.
P.S. I was able to come on Sunday and traded my Uncut sheet for a Judge Promo Command Tower and Judge Promo Dark Confidant. The sheet is amazing, but sadly I had nowhere to hang/display it at this point!Maybe the rich aren’t so different from you and me
For decades, social scientists, policy wonks, and politicians have studied and debated what’s come to be known as the “culture of poverty.” The consensus: A group of Americans is set apart from the mainstream by geography, class, and income. Its members adhere to norms that don’t apply to the rest of society and engage in self-destructive behavior that imposes significant costs on the nation at large. The culture of poverty has made for potent politics (remember Ronald Reagan’s fictitious welfare queen?) and spawned best-selling polemics from the right (Charles Murray) to the left (Jonathan Kozol).
We don’t hear as much about the culture of poverty these days. Perhaps it’s because the market turmoil is making us all feel a little poorer. Or perhaps it’s because a highly visible group is now exhibiting all the outward appearances of the underclass: the overclass. Forget welfare queens and the culture of poverty. Think Wall Street kings and the culture of affluence.
Wall Street types don’t live in ghettos, barrios, or the hollows of Appalachia, but they do inhabit environments that are sealed off socially from the rest of the world—the Hamptons on Long Island; Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue; Greenwich, Conn. Because they rarely interact with people of middle-class means (save the odd doctor, lawyer, or interior designer), they have become woefully out of touch with the solid bourgeois values that made America great.
In the underclass, unmarried, young fathers don’t take responsibility for their children. In the overclass, twice-married, middle-aged Wall Street daddies don’t own up to the consequences of their insane financial miscues. Wall Street titans are almost incapable of seeing the problem with taking nine-figure payouts in years in which their stocks plummet. “There’s just a total disconnect between the compensation and the responsibility for their actions,” says William Cohan, a former Lazard banker turned author.
In his book The Age of Abundance, libertarian author Brink Lindsey boils down the difference between the desperately poor and the blissfully rich to an ability to focus on the long term. “Members of the underclass operate within such narrow time horizons and circles of trust that their lives are plagued by chronic chaos and dysfunction,” he says. By contrast, elites are well-organized long-term thinkers. Riiiiight. “Modern Wall Street is a system,” says Charles Morris—a former Chase banker and author of The Trillion Dollar Meltdown—”that rewards crazy risk-taking in the short term without regard for the long-term consequences.”
Critics point to a pervasive sense of victimhood in the underclass. But listen to what Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz told the troops after his firm succumbed to wounds that were almost entirely self-inflicted. “We here are a collective victim of violence,” he said. Yep, just another case of the Man keeping the Man down.
Conservative critics constantly carp that the culture of poverty has encouraged a sense of dependency on Washington. Of course, in recent months, the bureaucracy—the Federal Reserve, the Federal Housing Authority, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac—has generally ignored the struggles of poor homeowners. Yet it vaulted into action to save the bankers from their own disastrous bets. When Bear Stearns, the nation’s fifth-largest investment bank, approached insolvency, the Feds orchestrated JPMorgan’s acquisition of it.
In 1993, the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan coined the term “defining deviancy down.” The prevalence of bad behavior in the underclass, he argued, caused institutions to lower standards and expectations, which effectively socialized the costs of dysfunction. Today, the Federal Reserve is “defining solvency down.” In recent weeks, the Fed has responded to Wall Street’s crisis by systematically lowering the standards of what it would accept as collateral for loans. (Historically, only government bonds or bonds backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were good enough.) But as part of the Bear Stearns deal, it agreed to lend $30 billion against assets of dubious provenance. And guess who bears the risk if that $30 billion can’t be paid back? You and me. If write-downs continue, rumor has it, the Fed might start accepting sports memorabilia, Beanie Babies, and Pokémon card collections as collateral.
There are important differences between the underclass and the overclass, notes Susan Mayer, dean of the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy Studies. The overclass is better connected, and it can cause more damage. “Poor inner-city kids selling drugs to suburban kids can harm people,” Mayer says. “But financial markets can bring thousands and thousands of people to ruin.”
The pernicious culture of affluence merits further study. When self-proclaimed rogue sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh sought to learn about the culture of poverty, he hung out in Chicago’s notorious Robert Taylor Homes and befriended drug dealers. The tale is chronicled in his fascinating book Gang Leader for a Day. If he really wants to understand the workings of a dysfunctional class that’s threatening American values and taxing national resources, Venkatesh, who teaches at Columbia, should move into a co-op on the Upper East Side and get a job on Morgan Stanley’s trading desk. He can call his next book Hedge-Fund Manager for a Day.The story of Lena Dunham’s former rescue pet, Lamby, just took a puzzling turn when a Brooklyn shelter disputed the actress’ story about the dog’s past.
Dunham adopted the dog back in 2013 from the no-kill Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (BARC), and Lamby quickly began living the life of celebrity.
Two months after the adoption, an essay by Dunham about her new shaggy, cream-colored mutt appeared in The New Yorker, recounting a lifelong ambition to own a dog (“Everyone tells me how lucky I am”). Lamby also appeared in a Vogue shoot, further cementing his place in her life as the “Girls” creator continued to pepper his image throughout her Instagram feed. Her boyfriend Jack Antonoff’s dog allergy even seemed to tolerate the rescue.
Then, earlier this year, those pictures of Lamby ceased.
The actress noted problems with him soon after the adoption, once posting on Instagram a photo of bloodied underwear after the dog bit her rear. She’d also revealed that Lamby had “three other homes, three other names, but now he’s mine mine mine” in The New Yorker essay that stated the dog had also bit Antonoff.
A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Mar 14, 2016 at 10:58pm PDT
On June 21, Dunham explained over Instagram that she had checked the pup into doggy rehab at the Zen Dog in Los Angeles, where Lamby eventually found a new home, after trying to manage his “challenging behavior and aggression” through training and medication. Dunham noted that Lamby “suffered terrible abuse as a pup,” which made his transition into her home difficult.
But BARC, the shelter where Dunham found her former pet, disputes her story.
A representative for the shelter, Robert Vazquez, told Yahoo Celebrity that he checked Lamby’s records and found no previous abuse.
“He was ‘owner surrendered, not enough time,’ so we do not know where she got ‘multiple owners that abused the dog,’” Vazquez told Yahoo, noting that Dunham visited Lamby four times before adopting him.
The rep continued, “When she adopted the dog from us, it wasn’t crazy.”
If Lamby had been abused, he would not be making easy appearances in national magazines, according to Vazquez, who stressed how BARC “would have told her if the dog had issues.”
“We don’t lie about the dogs’ histories because that gets them returned — and mentally it’s not good for dogs,” he told Yahoo. Vazquez also noted that Dunham had violated a provision in BARC’s adoption contract stating that, should any problems arise, the animal be returned to the shelter for evaluation.
On Thursday, Dunham replied to the shelter’s accusations over Instagram.
“While I’m sorry to have disappointed them, I can’t apologize,” she said.
“I did what I thought the best mother would do, which was to give him a life that provided for his specific needs,” the actress continued, adding that she still provides financial support for the dog, and “he’s notably happier in his new surroundings.”
“We have different accounts of Lamby’s behavior,” Dunham said of the shelter, “and they were not present in my home nor did they live with him for an extended period. They did not witness the consistent and responsible care I provided.”
A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Jul 6, 2017 at 5:36pm PDT
Yahoo also reported that a representative for the Humane Society of the United States commended on the actress’ commitment to responsible dog ownership, saying ”[we] hope she will continue to use her platform to spotlight the homeless animal crisis and urge her legions of fans to consider rescuing.”
Even without Lamby, Dunham is still living her dream of becoming a dog mom.
Her two new adoptees, named Susan and Karen, appeared with Dunham on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in February, just before she relinquished Lamby. They occasionally make appearances on her ’gram feed, too.
In his new Los Angeles home, Lamby at least appears to be comfortable. The dog’s new owner, actor Dani Shay, posted a few photos the day after Dunham announced she had given him up.
“I’m sure you know how much he loves and appreciates you,” Shay wrote. “And yes, it’s true, he does still drink from ‘the golden tap’ now and then, but that’s our weird little boy! He’s working on it.”The Project Gutenberg EBook of Legends, Tales and Poems by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer Edited with Introduction, Notes and Vocabulary, by Everett Ward Olmsted This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Legends, Tales and Poems Author: Gustavo Adolfo Becquer Edited with Introduction, Notes and Vocabulary, by Everett Ward Olmsted Release Date: January 24, 2004 [EBook #10814] [Last updated: January 12, 2016] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS, TALES AND POEMS *** Produced by Keren Vergon, Arno Peters and PG Distributed Proofreaders
LEGENDS, TALES AND POEMS
BY
GUSTAVO ADOLFO BECQUER
EDITED
WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND VOCABULARY
BY
EVERETT WARD OLMSTED, PH.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES IN
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
TO
MY MOTHER
PREFACE
In preparing this collection of Becquer's legends, tales, and short poems, which is the only annotated edition of this author's works that has been published as yet for English-speaking students, the editor has aimed to give to our schools and colleges a book that may serve, not only as a reader for first or second year classes, but also as an introduction to Spanish literature, through the works of one of the most original and charming authors of the Spanish Romantic school.
Fondness for good literature should be stimulated from the very first, and the quaint tales and legends of old Spain contained in this edition, told, as they are, in a most fascinating style, are well adapted to captivate the student's interest and to lead him to investigate further the rich mine of Spanish literature. Becquer's poetry is no less pleasing than his prose, and not much more difficult to read. With the aid of the ample treatise on Spanish versification contained in the introduction, the student will be enabled to appreciate the harmony and rhythm of Becquer's verse, and in all subsequent reading of Spanish poetry he will find this treatise a convenient and valuable work of reference.
The Life of Becquer, though concise, is perhaps the most complete that has yet been published, for it embodies all the data given by previous biographers and a certain number of facts gathered by the writer at the time of his last visit to Spain (in 1905–1906), from friends of Becquer who were then living.
The vocabulary has been made sufficiently complete to free the notes from that too frequent translation of words or phrases which often encumbers them.
The notes have been printed in the only convenient place for them, at the bottom of each page, and will be found to be as complete and definite as possible on geographical, biographical, historical, or other points that may not be familiar to the student or the teacher. All grammatical or syntactical matter, unless of a difficult or peculiar character, has been omitted, while the literary citations that abound will, it is hoped, stimulate the student to do further reading and to make literary comparisons of his own.
It remains for the editor to express his profound gratitude to the following gentlemen for their aid in collecting facts regarding Becquer and for their encouragement of this work: the Excmo Sr. Conde de las Navas, the Excmo Sr. Licenciado D. Jose Gestoso y Perez, and the Excmo Sr. D. Francisco de Laiglesia. It is his pleasure also to convey his thanks to Professor George L. Burr of Cornell University for aid in certain of the historical notes, and most especially to gratefully acknowledge his indebtedness to the aid, or rather collaboration, of Mr. Arthur Gordon of Cornell University, and Mr. W. R. Price of the High School of Commerce, New York City.
EVERETT WARD OLMSTED
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Ithaca, N.Y.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
LIFE OF BECQUER
UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF BECQUER
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
SPANISH PROSODY
DESDE MI CELDA—CARTA SEXTA
LOS OJOS VERDES
LA CORZA BLANCA
LA AJORCA DEL ORO
EL CRISTO DE LA CALAVERA
EL BESO
MAESE PÉREZ EL ORGANISTA
LA CRUZ DEL DIABLO
CREED EN DIOS
LAS HOJAS SECAS
RIMAS
VOCABULARY
"In Seville, along the Guadalquivir, and close to the bank that leads to the convent of San Jerónimo, may be found a kind of lagoon, which fertilizes a miniature valley formed by the natural slope of the bank, at that point very high and steep. Two or three leafy white poplars, intertwining their branches, protect the spot from the rays of the sun, which rarely succeeds in slipping through them. Their leaves produce a soft and pleasing murmur as the wind stirs them and causes them to appear now silver, now green, according to the point from which it blows. A willow bathes its roots in the current of the stream, toward which it leans as though bowed by an invisible weight, and all about are multitudes of reeds and yellow lilies, such as grow spontaneously at the edges of springs and streams.
"When I was a boy of fourteen or fifteen, |
you receive. I’ve organized everything into topics, which don’t necessarily need to be read in order.
RESTful API Design Definitions
Here’s a few of the important terms I will use throughout the course of this document:
Resource : A single instance of an object. For example, an animal.
: A single instance of an object. For example, an animal. Collection : A collection of homogeneous objects. For example, animals.
: A collection of homogeneous objects. For example, animals. HTTP : A protocol for communicating over a network.
: A protocol for communicating over a network. Consumer : A client computer application capable of making HTTP requests.
: A client computer application capable of making HTTP requests. Third Party Developer : A developer not a part of your project but who wishes to consume your data.
: A developer not a part of your project but who wishes to consume your data. Server : An HTTP server/application accessible from a Consumer over a network.
Endpoint : An API URL on a Server which represents either a Resource or an entire Collection.
: An API URL on a Server which represents either a Resource or an entire Collection. Idempotent : Side-effect free, can happen multiple times without penalty.
: Side-effect free, can happen multiple times without penalty. URL Segment: A slash-separated piece of information in the URL.
Data Design and Abstraction
Planning how your API will look begins earlier than you’d think; first you need to decide how your data will be designed and how your core service / application will work. If you’re doing API First Development this should be easy. If you’re attaching an API to an existing project, you may need to provide more abstraction.
Occasionally, a Collection can represent a database table, and a Resource can represent a row within that table. However, this is not the usual case. In fact, your API should abstract away as much of your data and business logic as possible. It is very important that you don’t overwhelm Third-Party Developers with any complex application data, if you do they won’t want to use your API.
There are also many parts of your service which you SHOULD NOT expose via API at all. A common example is that many APIs will not allow third parties to create users.
Verbs
Surely you know about GET and POST requests. These are the two most commonly requests used when your browser visits different webpages. The term POST is so popular that it has even invaded common language, where people who know nothing about how the Internet works do know they can “post” something on a friends Facebook wall.
There are four and a half very important HTTP verbs that you need to know about. I say “and a half”, because the PATCH verb is very similar to the PUT verb, and two two are often combined by many an API developer. Here are the verbs, and next to them are their associated database call (I’m assuming most people reading this know more about writing to a database than designing an API).
GET (SELECT): Retrieve a specific Resource from the Server, or a listing of Resources.
(SELECT): Retrieve a specific Resource from the Server, or a listing of Resources. POST (CREATE): Create a new Resource on the Server.
(CREATE): Create a new Resource on the Server. PUT (UPDATE): Update a Resource on the Server, providing the entire Resource.
(UPDATE): Update a Resource on the Server, providing the entire Resource. PATCH (UPDATE): Update a Resource on the Server, providing only changed attributes.
(UPDATE): Update a Resource on the Server, providing only changed attributes. DELETE (DELETE): Remove a Resource from the Server.
Here are two lesser known HTTP verbs:
HEAD – Retrieve meta data about a Resource, such as a hash of the data or when it was last updated.
– Retrieve meta data about a Resource, such as a hash of the data or when it was last updated. OPTIONS – Retrieve information about what the Consumer is allowed to do with the Resource.
A good RESTful API will make use of the four and a half HTTP verbs for allowing third parties to interact with its data, and will never include actions / verbs as URL segments.
Typically, GET requests can be cached (and often are!) Browsers, for example, will cache GET requests (depending on cache headers), and will go as far as prompt the user if they attempt to POST for a second time. A HEAD request is basically a GET without the response body, and can be cached as well.
Versioning
No matter what you are building, no matter how much planning you do beforehand, your core application is going to change, your data relationships will change, attributes will invariably be added and removed from your Resources. This is just how software development works, and is especially true if your project is alive and used by many people (which is likely the case if you’re building an API).
Remember than an API is a published contract between a Server and a Consumer. If you make changes to the Servers API and these changes break backwards compatibility, you will break things for your Consumer and they will resent you for it. Do it enough, and they will leave. To ensure your application evolves AND you keep your Consumers happy, you need to occasionally introduce new versions of the API while still allowing old versions to be accessible.
As a side note, if you are simply ADDING new features to your API, such as new attributes on a Resource (which are not required and the Resource will function without), or if you are ADDING new Endpoints, you do not need to increment your API version number since these changes do not break backwards compatibility. You will want to update your API Documentation (your Contract), of course.
Over time you can deprecate old versions of the API. To deprecate a feature doesn’t mean to shut if off or diminish the quality of it, but to tell Consumers of your API that the older version will be removed on a specific date and that they should upgrade to a newer version.
A good RESTful API design will keep track of the version in the URL. The other most common solution is to put a version number in a request header, but after working with many different Third Party Developers, I can tell you that adding headers is no where near as easy as adding a URL Segment.
Analytics
Keep track of the version/endpoints of your API being used by Consumers. This can be as simple as incrementing an integer in a database each time a request is made. There are many reasons that keeping track of API Analytics is a good idea, for example, the most commonly used API calls should be made efficient.
For the purposes of building an API which Third Party Developers will love, the most important thing is that when you do deprecate a version of your API, you can actually contact developers using deprecated API features. This is the perfect way to remind them to upgrade before you kill the old API version.
The process of Third Party Developer notification can be automated, e.g. mail the developer every time 10,000 requests to a deprecated feature are made.
API Root URL
The root location of your API is important, believe it or not. When a developer (read as code archaeologist) inherits an old project using your API and needs to build new features, they may not know about your service at all. Perhaps all they know is a list of URLs which the Consumer calls out to. It’s important that the root entry point into your API is as simple as possible, as a long complex URL will appear daunting and can turn developers away.
Here are two common URL Roots:
If your application is huge, or you anticipate it becoming huge, putting the API on its own subdomain (e.g. api.) is a good choice. This can allow for some more flexible scalability down the road.
If you anticipate your API will never grow to be that large, or you want a much simpler application setup (e.g. you want to host the website AND API from the same framework), placing your API beneath a URL segment at the root of the domain (e.g. /api/) works as well.
It’s a good idea to have content at the root of your API. Hitting the root of GitHub’s API returns a listing of endpoints, for example. Personally, I’m a fan of having the root URL give information which a lost developer would find useful, e.g., how to get to the developer documentation for the API.
Also, notice the HTTPS prefix. As a good RESTful API, you must host your API behind HTTPS.
Endpoints
An Endpoint is a URL within your API which points to a specific Resource or a Collection of Resources.
If you were building a fictional API to represent several different Zoo’s, each containing many Animals (with an animal belonging to exactly one Zoo), employees (who can work at multiple zoos) and keeping track of the species of each animal, you might have the following endpoints:
When referring to what each endpoint can do, you’ll want to list valid HTTP Verb and Endpoint combinations. For example, here’s a semi-comprehensive list of actions one can perform with our fictional API. Notice that I’ve preceded each endpoint with the HTTP Verb, as this is the same notation used within an HTTP Request header.
GET /zoos: List all Zoos (ID and Name, not too much detail)
POST /zoos: Create a new Zoo
GET /zoos/ZID: Retrieve an entire Zoo object
PUT /zoos/ZID: Update a Zoo (entire object)
PATCH /zoos/ZID: Update a Zoo (partial object)
DELETE /zoos/ZID: Delete a Zoo
GET /zoos/ZID/animals: Retrieve a listing of Animals (ID and Name).
GET /animals: List all Animals (ID and Name).
POST /animals: Create a new Animal
GET /animals/AID: Retrieve an Animal object
PUT /animals/AID: Update an Animal (entire object)
PATCH /animals/AID: Update an Animal (partial object)
GET /animal_types: Retrieve a listing (ID and Name) of all Animal Types
GET /animal_types/ATID: Retrieve an entire Animal Type object
GET /employees: Retrieve an entire list of Employees
GET /employees/EID: Retreive a specific Employee
GET /zoos/ZID/employees: Retrieve a listing of Employees (ID and Name) who work at this Zoo
POST /employees: Create a new Employee
POST /zoos/ZID/employees: Hire an Employee at a specific Zoo
DELETE /zoos/ZID/employees/EID: Fire an Employee from a specific Zoo
In the above list, ZID means Zoo ID, AID means Animal ID, EID means Employee ID, and ATID means Animal Type ID. Having a key in your documentation for whatever convention you choose is a good idea.
I’ve left out the common API URL prefix in the above examples for brevity. While this can be fine during communications, in your actual API documentation, you should always display the full URL to each endpoint (e.g. GET http://api.example.com/v1/animal_type/ATID).
Notice how the relationships between data is displayed, specifically the many to many relationships between employees and zoos. By adding an additional URL segment, one can perform more specific interactions. Of course there is no HTTP verb for “FIRE”-ing an employee, but by performing a DELETE on an Employee located within a Zoo, we’re able to achieve the same effect.
Filtering
When a Consumer makes a request for a listing of objects, it is important that you give them a list of every single object matching the requested criteria. This list could be massive. But, it is important that you don’t perform any arbitrary limitations of the data. It is these arbitrary limits which make it hard for a third party developer to know what is going on. If they request a certain Collection, and iterate over the results, and they never see more than 100 items, it is now their job to figure out where this limit is coming from. Is their ORM buggy and limiting items to 100? Is the network chopping up large packets?
Minimize the arbitrary limits imposed on Third Party Developers.
It is important, however, that you do offer the ability for a Consumer to specify some sort of filtering/limitation of the results. The most important reason for this is that the network activity is minimal and the Consumer gets their results back as soon as possible. The second most important reason for this is the Consumer may be lazy, and if the Server can do filtering and pagination for them, all the better. The not-so-important reason (from the Consumers perspective), yet a great benefit for the Server, is that the request will be less resource heavy.
Filtering is mostly useful for performing GETs on Collections of resources. Since these are GET requests, filtering information should be passed via the URL. Here are some examples of the types of filtering you could conceivably add to your API:
?limit=10: Reduce the number of results returned to the Consumer (for Pagination)
?offset=10: Send sets of information to the Consumer (for Pagination)
?animal_type_id=1: Filter records which match the following condition (WHERE animal_type_id = 1)
?sortby=name&order=asc: Sort the results based on the specified attribute (ORDER BY `name` ASC)
Some of these filterings can be redundant with endpoint URLS. For example I previously mentioned GET /zoo/ZID/animals. This would be the same thing as GET /animals?zoo_id=ZID. Dedicated endpoints being made available to the Consumer will make their lives easier, this is especially true with requests you anticipate they will make a lot. In the documentation, mention this redundancy so that Third Party Developers aren’t left wondering if differences exist.
Also, this goes without saying, but whenever you perform filtering or sorting of data, make sure you white-list the columns for which the Consumer can filter and sort by. We don’t want any database errors being sent to Consumers!
Status Codes
It is very important that as a RESTful API, you make use of the proper HTTP Status Codes; they are a standard after all! Various network equipment is able to read these status codes, e.g. load balancers can be configured to avoid sending requests to a web server sending out lots of 50x errors. There are a plethora of HTTP Status Codes to choose from, however this list should be a good starting point:
200 OK – [GET] The Consumer requested data from the Server, and the Server found it for them (Idempotent)
OK – [GET] 201 CREATED – [POST/PUT/PATCH] The Consumer gave the Server data, and the Server created a resource
CREATED – [POST/PUT/PATCH] 204 NO CONTENT – [DELETE] The Consumer asked the Server to delete a Resource, and the Server deleted it
NO CONTENT – [DELETE] 400 INVALID REQUEST – [POST/PUT/PATCH] The Consumer gave bad data to the Server, and the Server did nothing with it (Idempotent)
INVALID REQUEST – [POST/PUT/PATCH] 404 NOT FOUND – [*] The Consumer referenced an inexistant Resource or Collection, and the Server did nothing (Idempotent)
NOT FOUND – [*] 500 INTERNAL SERVER ERROR – [*] The Server encountered an error, and the Consumer has no knowledge if the request was successful
INTERNAL SERVER ERROR – [*]
Status Code Ranges
The 1xx range is reserved for low-level HTTP stuff, and you’ll very likely go your entire career without manually sending one of these status codes.
The 2xx range is reserved for successful messages where all goes as planned. Do your best to ensure your Server sends as many of these to the Consumer as possible.
The 3xx range is reserved for traffic redirection. Most APIs do not use these requests much (not nearly as often as the SEO folks use them ;), however, the newer Hypermedia style APIs will make more use of these.
The 4xx range is reserved for responding to errors made by the Consumer, e.g. they’re providing bad data or asking for things which don’t exist. These requests should be be idempotent, and not change the state of the server.
The 5xx range is reserved as a response when the Server makes a mistake. Often times, these errors are thrown by low-level functions even outside of the developers hands, to ensure a Consumer gets some sort of response. The Consumer can’t possibly know the state of the server when a 5xx response is received, and so these should be avoidable.
Expected Return Documents
When performing actions using the different HTTP verbs to Server endpoints, a Consumer needs to get some sort of information in return. This list is pretty typical of RESTful APIs:
GET /collection: Return a listing (array) of Resource objects
GET /collection/resource: Return an individual Resource object
POST /collection: Return the newly created Resource object
PUT /collection/resource: Return the complete Resource object
PATCH /collection/resource: Return the complete Resource object
DELETE /collection/resource: Return an empty document
Note that when a Consumer creates a Resource, they usually do not know the ID of the Resource being created (nor other attributes such as created and modified timestamps, if applicable). These additional attributes are returned with subsequent request, and of course as a response to the initial POST.
Authentication
Most of the time a Server will want to know exactly who is making which Requests. Sure, some APIs provide endpoints to be consumed by the general (anonymous) public, but most of the time work is being perform on behalf of someone.
OAuth 2.0 provides a great way of doing this. With each Request, you can be sure you know which Consumer is making requests, which User they are making requests on behalf of, and provides a (mostly) standardized way of expiring access or allowing Users to revoke access from a Consumer, all without the need for a third-party consumer to know the Users login credentials.
There are also OAuth 1.0 and xAuth, which fill the same space. Whichever method you choose, make sure it is something common and well documented with many different libraries written for the languages/platforms which your Consumers will likely be using.
I can honestly tell you that OAuth 1.0a, while it is the most secure of the options, is a huge pain in the ass to implement. I was surprised by the number of Third Party Developers who had to implement their own library since one didn’t exist for their language already. I’ve spent enough hours debugging cryptic “invalid signature” errors to recommend you choose an alternative.
Content Type
Currently, the most “exciting” of APIs provide JSON data from RESTful interfaces. This includes Facebook, Twitter, GitHub, you name it. XML appears to have lost the war a while ago (except in large corporate environments). SOAP, thankfully, is all but dead, and we really don’t see much APIs providing HTML to be consumed (unless, that is, you’re building a scraper!)
Developers using popular languages and frameworks can very likely parse any valid data format you return to them. You can even provide data in any of the aforementioned data formats (not including SOAP) quite easily, if you’re building a common response object and using a different serializer. What does matter though, is that you make use of the Accept header when responding with data.
Some API creators recommend adding a.json,.xml, or.html file extension to the URL (after the endpoint) for specifying the content type to be returned, although I’m personally not a fan of this. I really like the Accept header (which is built into the HTTP spec) and feel that is the appropriate thing to use.
Hypermedia APIs
Hypermedia APIs are very likely the future of RESTful API design. They’re actually a pretty amazing concept, going “back to the roots” of how HTTP and HTML was intended to work.
When working with non-Hypermedia RESTful APIs, the URL Endpoints are part of the contract between the Server and the Consumer. These Endpoints MUST be known by the Consumer ahead of time, and changing them means the Consumer is no longer able to communicate with the Server as intended. This, as you can assume, is quite a limitation.
Now, API Consumers are of course not the only user agent making HTTP requests on the Internet. Far from it. Humans, with their web browsers, are the most common user agent making HTTP requests. Humans, however, are NOT locked into this predefined Endpoint URL contract that RESTful APIs are. What makes humans so special? Well, they’re able to read content, click links for headings which look interesting, and in general explore a website and interpret content to get to where they want to go. If a URL changes, a human is not affected (unless, that is, they bookmarked a page, in which case they go to the homepage and find a new route to their beloved data).
The Hypermedia API concept works the same way a human would. Requesting the Root of the API returns a listing of URLs which point perhaps to each collection of information, and describing each collection in a way which the Consumer can understand. Providing IDs for each resource isn’t important (or necessarily required), as long as a URL is provided.
With the Consumer of a Hypermedia API crawling links and gathering information, URLs are always up-to-date within responses, and do not need to be known beforehand as part of a contract. If a URL is ever cached, and a subsequent request returns a 404, the Consumer can simply go back to the root and discover the content again.
When retrieving a list of Resources within a Collection, an attribute containing a complete URL for the individual Resources are returned. When performing a POST/PATCH/PUT, the response can be a 3xx redirect to the complete Resource.
JSON doesn’t quite give us the semantics we need for specifying which attributes are URLs, nor how URLs relate to the current document. HTML, as you can probably guess, does provide this information. We may very well see our APIs coming full circle and returning back to consuming HTML. Considering how far we’ve come with CSS, one day we may even see it be common practice for APIs and Websites to use the exact same URLs and content.
Documentation
Honestly, if you don’t conform 100% to the criteria in this guide, your API will not necessarily be horrible. However, if you don’t properly document your API, nobody is going to know how to use it, and it WILL be a horrible API.
Make your Documentation available to unauthenticated developers.
Do not use automatic documentation generators, or if you do, at least make sure you’re doctoring it up and making it presentable.
Do not truncate example request and response bodies; show the whole thing. Use a syntax highlighter in your documentation.
Document expected response codes and possible error messages for each endpoint, and what could have gone wrong to cause those error messages.
If you’ve got the spare time, build a developer API console so that developers can immediately experiment with your API. It’s not as hard as you might think and developers (both internal and third party) will love you for it!
Make sure your documentation can be printed; CSS is a powerful thing; don’t be afraid to hide that sidebar when the docs are printed. Even if nobody ever prints a physical copy, you’d be surprised at how many developers like to print to PDF for offline reading.
Errata: Raw HTTP Packet
Since everything we do is over HTTP, I’m going to show you a dissection of an HTTP packet. I’m often surprised at how many people don’t know what these things look like! When the Consumer sends a Request to the Server, they provide a set of Key/Value pairs, called a Header, along with two newline characters, and finally the request body. This is all sent in the same packet.
The server then responds in the say Key/Value pair format, with two newlines and then the response body. HTTP is very much a request/response protocol; there is no “Push” support (the Server sending data to the Consumer unprovoked), unless you use a different protocol such as Websockets.
When designing your API, you should be able to work with tools which allow you to look at raw HTTP packets. Consider using Wireshark, for example. Also, make sure you are using a framework / web server which allows you to read and change as many of these fields as possible.
Example HTTP Request
POST /v1/animal HTTP/1.1 Host: api.example.org Accept: application/json Content-Type: application/json Content-Length: 24 { "name": "Gir", "animal_type": 12 }
Example HTTP Response
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2013 06:08:22 GMT Content-Type: application/json Access-Control-Max-Age: 1728000 Cache-Control: no-cache { "id": 12, "created": 1386363036, "modified": 1386363036, "name": "Gir", "animal_type": 12 }US President Barack Obama believes he must speak out about his differences of opinion with Israel's leadership out of deep concern for the state and the Jewish people, he told the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg in a far-reaching interview published Thursday.
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"I care so deeply about the State of Israel, precisely because I care so much about the Jewish people, I feel obliged to speak honestly and truthfully about what I think will be most likely to lead to long-term security, and will best position us to continue to combat anti-Semitism," he said "I make no apologies for that precisely because I am secure and confident about how deeply I care about Israel and the Jewish people."
The president also accepted that he was ultimately responsible for imminent agreement on Iran's nuclear program, which seeks to stymie any Islamic Republic desire to develop atomic bombs.
“Look, 20 years from now, I’m still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, it’s my name on this,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say that in addition to our profound national-security interests, I have a personal interest in locking this down.”
US President Barack Obama (Photo: Reuters)
Obama conceded that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is "anti-Semitic", but warned that this did make the regime's behavior entirely irrational.
"The fact that you are anti-Semitic, or racist, doesn’t preclude you from being interested in survival… and so the fact that the supreme leader is anti-Semitic doesn’t mean that this overrides all of his other considerations."
On his fractious relationship with Netanyahu, Obama told Goldberg that when Netanyahu said in the final days of his bid for reelection
The US president said that, "when something like that happens, that has foreign-policy consequences, and precisely because we’re so close to Israel, for us to simply stand there and say nothing would have meant that this office, the Oval Office, lost credibility when it came to speaking out on these issues.”
He also rebuffed critics of this policy. "I think that some of those folks may sincerely believe that the Jewish state is consistently embattled, that it is in a very bad neighborhood and either you’re with them or against them, and end of story. And they may sincerely believe it."
Obama dismissed the claims that criticism of certain Israeli policies should be kept behind closed doors.
An “argument that I very much have been concerned about, and it has gotten stronger over the last 10 years... it’s less overt than the arguments that a (US Jewish Republican donor) Sheldon Adelson makes, but in some ways can be just as pernicious, is this argument that there should not be disagreements (between the US and Israel) in public,” he said.
Obama and Netanyahu (Photo: Reuters)
In fact, the president added, the true Israeli ethos was far removed from a policy of isolation and indifference, and in line with his own values:
"(T)o me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics. There’s a direct line between supporting the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland and to feel safe and free of discrimination and persecution, and the right of African Americans to vote and have equal protection under the law. These things are indivisible in my mind.
"But what is also true, by extension, is that I have to show that same kind of regard to other peoples. And I think it is true to Israel’s traditions and its values—its founding principles—that it has to care about those Palestinian kids. And when I was in Jerusalem and I spoke, the biggest applause that I got was when I spoke about those kids I had visited in Ramallah, and I said to a Israeli audience that it is profoundly Jewish, it is profoundly consistent with Israel’s traditions to care about them. And they agreed. So if that’s not translated into policy—if we’re not willing to take risks on behalf of those values—then those principles become empty words, and in fact, in my mind, it makes it more difficult for us to continue to promote those values when it comes to protecting Israel internationally."We didn’t review two of this year’s music games, as both projects have moved from classic game experiences to something more akin to music education software. Nonetheless, both BandFuse: Rock Legends and Rocksmith 2014 are fascinating projects, especially if you’ve been excited about an opportunity to learn guitar through an interactive method. I spent several days playing both games, and found both excelled at different elements. There are things to like in both titles, but they're surprisingly different in their approach to play and teaching. Here’s a rundown of what I discovered, and what I liked or didn’t like in each guitar game.
Summary
BandFuse: Rock Legends feels most similar to existing music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, as the game encourages you to progress through a music tour, acquire fans and money, and select static difficulties before each song. As the subtitle implies, there’s a big focus on input from established rock musicians like Slash, Zakk Wylde, and Bootsy Collins. The game’s use of classic guitar tablature (TAB) in its presentation is its biggest plus, but a lack of guidance on how to progress holds the game back.
Rocksmith 2014 reinvents itself from its previous installment with a better front end, and an incredibly sophisticated dynamic learning system that responds to your growth in real time. This new version of Rocksmith has great production values, and a broad variety of ways to engage with the game to help maintain interest. It excels at step-by-step teaching, but stumbles through the use of a non-TAB notation system that takes a good while to grasp, and which won’t transfer well into subsequent growth as a guitarist.
Setup, Tuning, and Calibration
Winner: BandFuse: Rock Legends
Both games come with all the necessary cords and equipment needed to get going – you just need to bring a guitar with a 1/4 inch jack. And both games provide good documentation of how to set up with your audio system to best reduce lag. But the in-game system for tuning and calibration in BandFuse is better and more useable, with a simple system that got me in tune faster than in Rocksmith. Rocksmith’s tuner is okay, but it sometimes switches over to tuning the next string before you’re ready to move on, resulting in a previous string that is just slightly off. BandFuse also wisely defaults to a quick tune check-up before each song (which can be disabled in the Options), but keeping new players focused on the importance of staying properly tuned is smart.
Song Selection/Music Library
Winner: Tie
Both games feature an abundance of awesome rock music, and no one should have any compunction about engaging with the song list of either title. That said, BandFuse might have a slight edge in delivering some of the most iconic mainstream rock hits from across the ages, from Blue Öyster Cult and Foreigner to Maroon 5 and The Strokes. Many of these songs have shown up in previous music games, but here is a chance to learn them on a real guitar. Meanwhile, Rocksmith 2014 also offers some classics from the likes of KISS and Aerosmith, but delves into some deeper cuts with interesting song selections from artists like Deftones and Screaming Females. At the end of the day, both developers deserve credit for pulling together a great selection of songs.
BandFuse uses a variation on classic TAB notation to communicate what notes to play
Ease of Play and Interface
Winner: BandFuse: Rock Legends
BandFuse wins this category hands down through its implementation and use of classic guitar tablature (TAB) for its in-play interface. Anyone who has ever played even a little guitar has some experience reading TAB, and the real-time implementation of the system in BandFuse is spot-on. Moreover, when players move past the game into real life guitar playing, use of TAB ensures an easy transition. Meanwhile, Rocksmith creates an innovative but difficult-to-learn system that took me several practice sessions to understand and read – a strange amalgam of Guitar Hero-esque vertical scrolling notes with a color coding for the different strings. I was especially confounded by Rocksmith’s choice to put the bottom, bass E string at the top of the display interface, which is completely counter-intuitive to anyone who has ever read any form of musical notation. Thankfully, this strange choice can be inverted in the Options menu, but players should still expect to spend a chunk of time wrapping their brain around the way notes are displayed.
Rocksmith's in-song display is clean and pretty, but the notation system takes a while to learn
Production Values
Winner: Rocksmith 2014
From its menus and option systems to the ease of moving around between various pieces of content, Rocksmith looks and feels like a more polished and modern game. Once you get into a song, the text on screen is easy to read, and the visuals are inviting without being distracting. That’s not to say BandFuse is a slacker in its presentation, but the in-song music videos are sometimes surprisingly low-resolution, and some of the tutorial videos seem amateurish. It’s clear that Ubisoft’s long experience with game presentation pays off in this category.
Fun To Play
Winner: BandFuse: Rock Legends
I have to admit to being a little surprised by this, but as a player who came into these games with a little bit of guitar ability already under my belt, the somewhat ephemeral fun-factor goes to BandFuse. BandFuse takes cues from established music games like Rock Band by presenting the ongoing game as a tour where you acquire fans and money for good performances, and it’s fun to play a full concert of songs and hear the crowd getting excited. And perhaps it’s because of my aforementioned preference for TAB notation, but I found the song layouts in BandFuse on various difficulties to just be more engaging, and easier to connect with the music. With that said, Rocksmith is also great fun to play, and offers more ways to make progress beyond replaying the same song sections over and over.
[Next up: Which guitar game is a better learning tool?]
Rocksmith includes interactive learning minigames
Better Learning Tool
Winner: Rocksmith 2014
I struggled with exactly how to call this one, but it really comes down to the specifics of what you’re looking for. There’s no definitive answer, but Rocksmith has a slight edge. Bandfuse is less innovative in its teaching methods, but also falls back on some time-tested techniques that would serve a new guitarist well to practice, focusing on repetition, observing teachers who show you the basics, and presenting the long-standing TAB format that should transition well into song-learning outside of the game. However, Rocksmith offers a far more dynamic and customized experience for learning and growth. The “Rocksmith Recommends” system guides you to content across the game that matches the areas you’re failing at in-game. Plus, the in-song difficulty dynamically alters as you play well or poorly, so you’re constantly challenged.
BandFuse includes a four-player multiplayer mode
Multiplayer
Winner: BandFuse: Rock Legends
BandFuse allows up to four players to hop in together, presuming you have that many guitars, basses, and singers available. The karaoke options are fun for parties. Rocksmith only allows for two-player multiplayer, and isn’t really built for party play. Frankly, if you’re looking for a robust multiplayer experience that will be easy for players to jump into at a party, your best bet is to fall back on old standbys like Rock Band 3.
Styles of Play
Winner: Rocksmith 2014
Both BandFuse and Rocksmith allow players to learn both guitar and bass, but Rocksmith adds a little more subtlety by letting players choose between developing their lead guitar or rhythm guitar talents – two distinct skill sets that are based on different abilities and expertise. BandFuse addresses this in its own way, by integrating lead play with rhythm play, but I like being able to make that choice myself.
Rocksmith guides you to the content you need as you learn
Extras
Winner: Rocksmith
Between its guitarcade collection of minigames and its interactive lesson tools, Rocksmith pulls ahead to offer a more robust experience beyond the core song play. BandFuse presents a number of interesting short videos starring its titular rock legends, but these non-interactive features aren’t enough to balance the equation in an interactive medium. As you juggle what you’re looking for, I think it’s worth asking if you’re the kind of player who would want to engage with a lot of extras, or simply keep the focus on the the music – if you’re the latter, I wouldn’t factor this category into your final consideration.
Freeplay
Winner: Tie
Both games offer options to hop in and just jam, and they’re both fun in their own way. Before release, Rocksmith spent a lot of time touting the technological marvel of session mode, which lets you set various options for your band and musical scale, and then hop in and play with an artificially intelligent group of musicians who adapt to your playstyle. In practice, this system is interesting, but doesn’t always work as well as advertised. Even so, I like the ability you have to set your own options for the jam before you start. Bandfuse offers a jam option as well, but set to static audio backing tracks. In this case, that’s not always a bad thing – clear descriptions before you start each track tell you what the style of play is, and many of the subsequent jam tracks are engaging and enjoyable to play along with.
Conclusion
I was happily surprised by both Rocksmith 2014 and BandFuse: Rock Legends. While each has its own vision of providing entertainment and education, I’d be hard pressed to definitively call one or the other out as the best choice for every player. I plan to continue playing both in the coming months. Here’s hoping the best features from each game can find their way into a future guitar game installment.Buy Photo Volunteers guard the U.S. Army and Army Reserve Recruiting building Thursday, July 23, 2015, near River Valley Mall. (Photo: Jess Grimm/Eagle-Gazette)Buy Photo
LANCASTER – No one was injured in an accidental shooting near a U.S. Armed Forces Recruiting Center on Thursday.
An armed volunteer guarding the U.S. Army Recruiting Center accidentally fired a shot just after noon, according to Lancaster police.
Christopher Reed, 28, of Lancaster, is one of the volunteers who have been guarding the Lancaster recruiting |
impact and brilliance. But then I learned that the Golden Hall is so revered that it has been protected from the elements ever since 1288, when the very Kamakura shogunate that had overthrown the Fujiwara family erected the hall’s first shelter.
Made of red sandalwood and covered almost entirely in gold leaf, the Golden Hall enshrines Amida, the principal Buddha of the Pure Land, flanked by statues of attendants and with reliefs of peacocks and flowers representing paradise. Silver, ivory, metalwork, mother-of-pearl inlay and Japanese lacquer sprinkled with powdered gold cover the altar and four columns in intricate detail, making the Golden Hall both an artistic and architectural marvel of its era.
My next stop was Motsu-ji Temple, established by Fujiwara's son and completed by his grandson. It was once even grander than Chuson-ji, with quarters for 500 monks; records from the time declared it unparalleled throughout the land. Alas, only stone foundations remain today, but a huge illustrated map depicts how it might have looked all those years ago.
Here, too, was my favourite place in Hiraizumi, the Pure Land Garden. Remarkably well preserved, and considered one of the finest garden examples from the12th Century, the garden centres on a large pond designed to represent an ocean, with simple landscaping techniques like craggy cliffs, mountains, a curved beach and islands providing visual interest. Starkly unadorned compared to Japan’s traditional landscaped gardens, it was just what I imagined a soothing Buddhist paradise might look like.
Like with most historic places in Japan, I wish I could have seen Hiraizumi at its zenith. Haiku poet Basho, who visited Hiraizumi 500 years after its fall, must have felt the same when he wrote:
The summer grass
‘Tis all that’s left
of ancient warrior’s dreams
But it was a great dream, and astoundingly, in the base of the Golden Hall, rest the mummified bodies of Fujiwara, his son and grandson, as well as the decapitated head of his great-grandson, which was sent to Kamakura by Minamoto sympathisers as proof of the Fujiwara demise.
And so their remains and legend are preserved in the only structure from the Buddhist Pure Land to have survived all those centuries. If that’s not karma, I don’t know what is.
If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, Travel and Autos, delivered to your inbox every Friday.Los Angeles County has received a C+ on its first-ever environmental report card, issued by the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IOES).
The report card, released on Tuesday, is the result of a two-year study that looked at several areas related to the region’s environmental health: air, water, waste, ecosystem health, energy (and greenhouse gases) and quality of life.
Researchers applauded the gains made in recent decades but said that much more lies ahead before the county is a safe environment for all residents.
“The county has made great progress on the environment so far, but there’s still really significant challenges and a long way to go to the A grade,” said Felicia Federico, a researcher at UCLA IOES who worked on the study.
One of the overarching issues identified by the study is a lack of available knowledge on several environmental issues. The report provides suggestions for ways to improve the county's performance.
Federico said that the study will be redone every one to two years and that this initial report provides a good starting point against which future progress can be judged.
"It allows us to provide a picture to residents, to elected officials and environmental agencies of where we stand right now," Federico said. "It also provides a baseline against which to measure progress going forward.”
Environmental Report Card 2015
All images provided courtesy of UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.Windows 8 tablets will be tightly controlled by Microsoft, according to insiders speaking to Bloomberg. The company is pressuring chip manufacturers to partner with just a single system builder for their tablet machines, and an optional second system builder for clamshell type machines. Each chip/builder pair will only be able to produce one system with each design.
Other sources also claim that systems will have to meet strict requirements covering performance, wake-from-sleep, and other criteria. In return for complying with these rules, the chip companies will receive certain incentives, such as richer features or lower software prices.
Bloomberg's sources suggested that Microsoft will produce two famillies of the Windows 8 operating system: the regular desktop family, with its range of versions, and a special mobile-oriented family; the restrictions will only apply to the latter group. The chip manufacturers in question would hence be the system-on-chip manufacturers—Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, NVIDIA, and perhaps a mystery fourth company producing ARM chips; Intel and perhaps AMD would produce x86 ones. With four, five, or possibly six different chip families, there's still ample scope for a diverse range of tablets.
However, some system builders are apparently unhappy with this policy. Speaking at the Computex trade show in Taipei, Acer CEO J. T. Wang described the restrictions as "troublesome," and complained that Microsoft is "controlling the whole thing, the whole process."
Wang is also chairman of the Taipei Computer Association (TCA), and the TCA is reported to be pressuring the Taiwan government to intervene.
The restrictions are, however, understandable. Though x86 Windows has long supported an enormous variety of configurations, ARM Windows is brand new, and a conservative approach may be the safer bet. The only tablet that has been truly successful is Apple's iPad, and Apple's tight control over software, hardware, and marketing, has been instrumental in bringing a well-built, well-designed, usable product to market.
Though less successful, tablets running Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb release are also subject to many constraints, with only a single SoC (the Tegra 250) supported, and minimal variations in screen resolution and other specifications. A carefully-controlled, restricted specification makes it much easier to ensure the kind of appliance-like robustness and ease of use that Microsoft wants for its tablet operating system.
Limiting the number of different systems might also preclude the kind of problems that Redmond has seen strike its fledgling smartphone platform, Windows Phone. Bugs introduced by OEMs that broke the software's update system have caused tremendous headaches for the company, and reduced diversity with greater testing may be instrumental in avoiding a repeat of those issues.
However, there are risks to the strategy. If Microsoft sets the specification too low—either as a deliberate ploy to protect full-featured laptops, or as a failure to keep up with technological advances—then Windows tablets will be undesirable and uncompetitive out of the gate. As seen from the Acer CEO's comments, there is also resistance to this strategy from OEMs.TBogg is Tom Boggioni, a writer based in San Diego, Ca. More specifically in Pacific Beach. Okay, in Crown Point, if you must know. Happy now? He was once known as a "somewhat popular blogger" back when blogs were a 'thing'. He is writing the Great American Novel, minus the 'great' part.
As you may have heard last week, Martin Bashir, who is a teevee guy on the ObaMSNBCa network, said that someone should poop and pee in shit-talkin’ word-manglin’ half-term governorin’ Sarah Palin’s mouth which is NOT A NICE THING TO SAY unless you are talking about David Vitter (R-Pampers) who will actually pay you to do that to him because he is a job creator and also he thinks it’s kind of hawt. Needless to say Bashir’s comment pissed off (but not in the mouth) Sarah Palin something fierce and you will not like a pissed-off Sarah Palin who, every night before bed, soaks herself in bathtub filled with bile and grievance and hate in order to keep her edge but also because it keeps her skin glowing and supple just like any other woman who has a decent shot at becoming a great-grandmother before the age of 54.
And even though Bashir has apologized by pointing out that it was “shameful” thing to say about a person who has special needs issues when it comes to how words are strung together in order to form coherent sentences, Sarah Palin, or actually “her people” have declared 1st Amendment Jihad on MSNBC and now Matt Lauer along with his tragic hairline is considered persona non grata (which is Latin, but not the Mexican kind, and means GTFO) in Wasilla. Alaska USA.
According to the inexplicably employed (but Fox has no standards so what the hell) Howard Kurtz, Palin has denied Lauer bienvenue to her Wasilla Ice Meth Castle to talk about the story of the birth of the Baby Jesus and how the Three Wise Men palled around with him and brought birthday gifts of Naughty Monkey slingbacks, American flag pins, and oil dividend checks;
According to Howie:
It’s no secret that Sarah Palin is mighty steamed at MSNBC and Martin Bashir over his despicable remarks about the abusive treatment he imagines for her. And now she’s doing something about it.
The former Alaska governor and Fox News contributor was scheduled to sit down with Matt Lauer for a Christmas season interview. That’s now toast. Palin has now canceled Lauer’s scheduled trip to Wasilla, a source close to her tells me. It’s not because Palin is upset with Lauer or the “Today” show, but as a protest against NBC for not taking action against Bashir. In fact, Palin once sat in as a “Today”co-host. Tim Crawford, treasurer of Palin’s political action committee, had told NBC News President Deborah Turness and MSNBC President Phil Griffin that “Americans deserve to know that your network doesn’t condone violent and hateful rhetoric.”
And because of Martin Bashir’s “violent and hateful” words which is totally a blood libel against Sarah Palin, she will not go on Matt Lauer’s Morning Housewife Gossip Show and flog The Book That Saved Christmas that was written, once removed, by Sarah Palin and now people will never learn about The Joy of Christmas As Practiced by Sarah Palin’s Family:
From the first chapter, it is clear that, whatever her concerns about “a Christ-less Christmas,” Palin has found a convenient frame on which to hang her rage at pretty much everything: Obamacare, Obamaphones, Nancy Pelosi, the national debt, gay marriage, sexual sin, crony capitalism, the preferential treatment of Muslims (whoo-wee! does she get rolling on that one), the lamestream media, Chick-fil-A haters, abortion, Mitt Romney’s hair, and on and on. No liberal stereotype, from Birkenstocks to the French, vegans, and NPR, is too tired to sneer at. She goes so far as to close her first chapter helpfully with a rant against those who claim the entire war on Christmas “conversation” is “the result of hypersensitivity, intolerance, or—their favorite criticism for us ‘bitter clingers’—ignorance and fear of change. (See how I did that? I just summarized 90 percent of the book reviews for my critics, so they don’t even have to read the rest. You betcha, I helped you out!)”
This is totally like the Bible but less fiction-y because it really happened to the Palin family and now Today Show viewers (who, by the time that Sarah came on, would probably be on their third Bloody Mary since they got the kids on the bus) will never know about the Joy and Miracle of Christmas because Martin Bashir finally killed Christmas – so thanks a lot, Martin Bashir, you dick. Now all we have left to choose from is Kwanza, however the Muslims celebrate Christmas, or we all will all have to go over to Bristol Palin’s house for Festivus and listen to her once again drunkenly bitch about people who still compare her dancing to that of a “rhythm-challenged Clydesdale” … and then nobody wins.
Particularly not the Baby Jesus.Spam has been a persistent problem with internet-based email, and still remains one. It consumes resources, wastes time, fills up inboxes, and annoys users. Even more than that, it can lower the trust that an organization is taking due care to protect its users. To counter this, many companies have implemented anti-spam solutions to reduce the emails that get to their servers.
Yet this is no longer enough. More than just advertisements, email has become a major gateway for fraud. The Nigerian Prince scams still persist, with their blatant spelling errors, or silly stipulations, but this is not the threat. Phishing and malware attachments comprise one of the greatest threats to any organization that utilizes email.
Phishing now is sophisticated using real email addresses that have been spoofed, with fake sites that may look nicer than the real one, and perfect wording to imitate a real email. These are very hard to detect and can lead to people entering in PII or credit card information into a scammer’s website, then forwards to the real one seamlessly (known as a man-in-the-middle attack). These are not easy to notice even by experienced users who don’t hover over the URL.
Phishing attacks may download programs to the device, which can turn a PC or phone into a bot. Botnets can be quite large, and I personally have investigated a machine that was part of a network of 700,000 bots. While not all were from phishing alone, even 1% of just this single instance is quite a lot of people who fell victim to such a good rouse.
Another common, yet extremely devastating, attack is malware attachments with Trojans. A Trojan is a program that looks like something, let’s say a quarterly financial review presentation, but instead, it is something malicious – like a blank presentation with a virus downloader. These can be a number of things, from advanced malware, to spyware stealing data, to ransomware to hijack the files, or a program to make the machine a bot. These are hard to detect and slip by the best users, who can unknowingly infect their machines. The worst instances are ones where the user doesn’t notice something is wrong until months later.
These can costs businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. This is why every organization needs to ensure their email is protected. More than just spam, email should be filtered for malware and phishing links. These are harder to detect, and so they require more advanced (and therefore costly) measures, but they are worth it. I have seen single emails do more in damages then a decade’s subscription to a good anti-malware email solution.
Email is one of the largest vulnerabilities a company can have, so it is important to implement the best protective measures. Also, don’t forget that every security measure should always have two additional components: employee training, and incident response measures. Both of these can reduce the overall damage an attack may have if it slips through the protection.Five models of Subarus have a defect that can lead to engine failure while the vehicles are being driven, a class action suit filed in federal court in Camden charges.
The suit, Yaeger v. Subaru of America, 14-cv-4490, asserts piston rings in the cars wear out quickly and that the vehicles burn an excessive amount of oil.
The story was first reported by New Jersey Law Journal.
Subaru headquarters are in Cherry Hill.
The company sent out technical service bulletins that suggest replacing the piston rings but the recommendations led to costly repairs and haven't corrected the problem, car owners have said.
"We are aware of the filing and while we believe the oil consumption of our vehicles to be within acceptable levels, we continually work to reduce the amount of consumable goods, such as oil, that our vehicles require to operate," Subaru spokesman Michael McHale said in a statement emailed to The Star-Ledger.
The suit claims the New Jersey Consumer Fraud act was violated and that Subaru breached the warranty it offers on its vehicles, the Law Journal reported
The affected vehicles, according to the suit are the 2011-2014 Forester 2.5L, 2013 Legacy 2.5L, 2013 Outback 2.5L, 2012-2013 Impreza 2.0L and 2013 XV Crosstrek 2.0L.
Earlier this month Subaru announced it has recalled more than 660,000 cars and SUVs, including models bought in New Jersey, because the brake lines can rust and leak fluid, and that can mean it will take longer to stop the vehicles.An ecologist in search of models to explain broad ecological phenomena may wish to model just a few fundamental processes, ones that are likely to be found in many systems. This seems to be the original (strategic) interpretation of the ‘simple means general’ argument, and what May [] had in mind ( Figure 1 ). Of course, such simplicity comes at a cost. Very general models with only one or two causal factors will not have an especially good fit to any particular system []. Thus, the generality of strategic models is of a particular sort: they potentially inform about phenomena that exist in many systems, but may not necessarily make good predictions about any individual system. For example, consider a standard model that demonstrates density-dependent growth: the logistic equation. This is a single difference map that represents the negative feedback between population growth rate and population size. Investigation of this model reveals the existence of a range of attractors in phase space, which could correspond to the resilience of the modelled population to disturbances. Such attractors could perhaps be found in many ecological systems. However, subsequent analysis may reveal that, although this insight holds for many systems, the extent to which it describes real populations depends on the standards of fidelity for the model. Environmental change and variability, spatial heterogeneities, and demographic differences between individuals will lead to quantitatively or qualitatively different dynamics from those suggested by the simple model []. Simple, strategic, or demonstration models illustrate how phenomena could be produced; they may inform biologists about many systems, but will not apply to any particular system with a high degree of fidelity. They will not be useful at predicting the behaviour of specific systems and, thus, cannot be empirically tested against data from a particular system.
The other consideration in any discussion of whether simplicity begets generality concerns the assumptions that are made to create a model. All models are only as good as their underlying assumptions, and both simple and complex models can be based on unrealistic assumptions. However, in many cases, simple models require higher levels of idealisation than do complex models and, thus, are more likely to be biologically unrealistic []. As a result, simple models may lead to theory that cannot apply to any real biological system.
Simple–general trade-off
1+a represents a large family of models, the members of which correspond to the constant parameters α and β being set to particular values (whereas a can take any value). If β is set to zero, we obtain a simpler linear equation, dN/dt=αN. Obviously, the nonlinear equation includes the linear one as a special case. Thus, the more complex equation represents a larger family of models than the linear ones and, therefore, is more general. It can pick out all the real systems that are described by the linear equation plus a range of others. This is an illustration of the observation that, when dealing with related equations lacking numerically quantified parameters (called ‘uninstantiated’ models by [ 14 Orzack S.H.
Sober E. A critical look at Richard Levins’ ‘The strategy of model building in population biology’. If it were always true that simple models were more general than were complex models, a preference for simple models might be justified. However, we argue that there is usually a trade-off between simplicity and generality, such that simpler models are, all other things being equal, less general than are complex models. For example, a nonlinear population growth equation such as dN/dt=αN+βNrepresents a large family of models, the members of which correspond to the constant parameters α and β being set to particular values (whereas a can take any value). If β is set to zero, we obtain a simpler linear equation, dN/dt=αN. Obviously, the nonlinear equation includes the linear one as a special case. Thus, the more complex equation represents a larger family of models than the linear ones and, therefore, is more general. It can pick out all the real systems that are described by the linear equation plus a range of others. This is an illustration of the observation that, when dealing with related equations lacking numerically quantified parameters (called ‘uninstantiated’ models by []), simplicity decreases generality.
1 Holling C.S. The strategy of building models of complex ecological systems. We suggest that ecologists should be concerned about the simplicity versus generality trade-off that results in simple models being less general than complex models. However, despite its existence, many ecologists believe that simple models really are more general. One reason why this adage is believed to be true is because, in ecology, simple models are often assumed to be strategic (sensu Holling [], Figure 1 ) without their purpose being critically examined. As soon as models move away from the examination of general principles towards making predictions for specific systems, then increasing complexity will usually increase generality.
In summary, our discussion so far shows that the widespread acceptance of the maxim that simple models are always more general is at best misleading and may often be untrue, especially when attempts are made to relate models to systems to make predictions, including those involved in model validation. Unlike in physics, where general models have to make testable predictions, ecology has embraced an approach where models claiming generality are untestable in any real system. It made sense during the 1960s for Holling and others to foster the development of simple models to achieve more generality, because complex models were then not very tractable due to their structural, conceptual, and computational limitations. However, these limitations no longer apply after half a century of scientific and technological development, and there is a danger that progress in ecology is being impaired by the rejection of more complex forms of models that can be related to real systems. We now turn to some of these newer developments.MIA > Archive > Pashukanis
Evgeny Pashukanis
The General Theory of Law and Marxism
(1924)
Obshchaia teoriia prava i marksizm: Opyt kritiki osnovnykh iuridicheskikh poniatii (1924), sotsiahsticheskoi akademii, Moscow, 1st edition. [1*]
From Evgeny Pashukanis, Selected Writings on Marxism and Law (eds. P. Beirne & R. Sharlet), London & New York 1980, pp.32-131.
Translated by Peter B. Maggs.
Copyright © Peter B. Maggs. Published here by kind permission of the translator.
Downloaded from home.law.uiuc.edu/~pmaggs/pashukanis.htm
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
Introductory Note
INTRODUCTION
The Tasks of the General Theory of Law
CHAPTER I
Methods of Constructing the Concrete in the Abstract Sciences
CHAPTER II
Ideology and Law
CHAPTER III
Relationship and the Norm
CHAPTER IV
Commodity and the Subject
CHAPTER V
Law and the State
CHAPTER VI
Law and Morality
CHAPTER VII
Law and Violation of Law
Abbreviations
Footnote 1*. The complete footnotes to the General Theory have been translated in J. Hazard (ed.), Soviet Legal Philosophy (1951), Harvard University Press, Cambridge, translated by H. Babb, pp.111-225. [ed.].
Last updated on 13.5.2004Challenge leagues (like Torment/Bloodlines) are a great place to test out new game mechanics while receiving plenty of feedback and data about how players interact with them. When challenge leagues end, we have to choose what parts of these new features to roll into the core game. Some systems like Rogue Exiles (Anarchy) and Shrines (Domination) came from challenge leagues in this way.
The updates described in this document will not all happen as soon as the leagues end. Most of these changes will be rolled into the upcoming expansion.
Torment League
Tormented Spirits are an interesting game element to add to areas. While there’s more we can improve with their AI, the additional challenge and item drops have been popular. We’ll be rolling them into the core game, though at a lower spawn rate than they currently have.
Torment will also still be available as a Zana Map Device option. We will increase the occurrence of spirits for the Zana mod. We are looking at adding Tormented Spirits as a mod for Ambush chests, but we don't think we will add it as a mod for maps.
Bloodlines League
Bloodlines heavily followed the model of the Nemesis league. Like Nemesis mods for rare monsters, Bloodlines has proven to be a solid addition for magic packs.
Magic packs will have a chance to spawn as Bloodlines packs in the next expansion.
Bloodlines also introduced tools for us to add game elements that interact with monster packs specifically. You will see more interesting things with pack mods and behaviours in the future.
Bloodlines will still be available as a Zana Map Device option. For general map mods, we are looking at using specific bloodlines mods, rather than a general Bloodlines mod (all packs have Phylacteral Link?)
Additional content
With the all the various additional content options that have been added from leagues, the number of random special occurrences that can occur in the game has become very high. We will be rebalancing the introduction and chance of additional content like side areas, ambush chests and tormented spirits in the upcoming expansion.
Leo and PvP
The 1.3.0 patch was a continuation of Forsaken Masters. It added one new master and more PvP options.
Leo has proven popular, both for PvP players and players who want to use his tileset and decorations for their hideouts. As Leo is levelled by participation in PvP rather than in general game content, his progression curve and rewards are treated differently than other masters. The higher levels of Leo have proven too difficult for most players, especially for those playing in the temporary leagues. We will rebalance the rewards and thresholds for levelling Leo as a master.
The additional attention on PvP has successfully increased participation levels, but it hasn't had the level of popularity we were hoping for. Based on participation and feedback, we will continue to support PvP, but not at the expense of PvE content. We will look at more ways to make PvP more accessible for players in the future.
Unique Items
None of the Torment/Bloodlines-specific unique items will drop as part of normal play once these challenge leagues end. Zana's Map Device will offer some ways to obtain them. We may also use them for alternate art race/PvP rewards or in other forms in the future.Kosovo’s foreign minister calls on countries to urge Serbia to commit to good relations after ‘numerous acts of provocation’
Kosovo asks EU and US for help after 'acts of aggression' from Serbia
Kosovo’s foreign minister has written to his counterparts in the European Union, the US and other countries denouncing what he said were “numerous acts of provocation and aggression” from Serbia.
Enver Hoxhaj called on the EU, which facilitates Pristina-Belgrade talks aimed at normalising ties, to urge Serbia to remain committed to good relations an official said.
Serbian president warns Kosovo after reports of planned attack Read more
“The Republic of Kosovo encourages the European Union … to urge Serbia to remain committed to good neighbourly relations and regional cooperation and not interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries or take provocative actions which aim for the destabilisation of the region,” the minister wrote in a three-page letter.
The official did not explain how and which countries were chosen as recipients, only mentioning “the EU, US and other countries”.
Kosovo-Serbia relations reached a crisis point last weekend when a Serbian train bearing signs reading “Kosovo is Serbia”, and decorated in the colours of the Serbian flag and Christian Orthodox symbols, was turned back from the border with Kosovo.
The EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she had invited the two parties to a high-level meeting of the Dialogue of Normalisation of Relations between Belgrade and Pristina next week.
She tweeted: “Convening the Dialogue next Tuesday in Brussels: tensions show need for increased commitment by #Serbia and #Kosovo.”
Hoxhaj wrote that the train incident was “the last event in the chain of aggressive and provocative acts that Serbia has undertaken against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Kosovo”.
The minister said that earlier this month Ramush Haradinaj, a former Kosovan prime minister and a guerrilla commander in Kosovo’s 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia, was detained in France as Serbia demanded his extradition to face war crimes charges. Pristina says Haradinaj has twice been cleared of such charges by a UN tribunal.
In December the Serb ethnic minority in Mitrovica put a concrete wall on the northern part of the bridge over the Ibar river, calling it a technical support barrier against a landslide. Kosovo protested, and its parliament voted to demolish the wall.
Hoxhaj said Pristina had “acted with political maturity and in full accordance with domestic and international rules when countering Serbia’s hybrid threats, through peaceful dialogue and diplomatic methods.”
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but it has not been recognised by Belgrade.
Serbia, backed by Russia, has sought to maintain influence in Kosovo, especially in the north where most of the country’s Serb minority lives. Nato-led troops have controlled Kosovo’s territory since a three-month air war in 1999 to stop a Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.Oakland police say Craigslist car buyers robbed Oakland
Oakland police want to remind you that it is a bad idea to bring large amounts of cash when you meet strangers in secluded or residential areas.
That may sound like a no-brainer, but that's what many people do when they buy cars they find on Craigslist.
And many are getting robbed in Oakland, police said.
Victims often find deals that are almost too good to be true on the popular website and drive from as far away as Sacramento to buy their car, cash in hand, said Officer Holly Joshi.
But once they arrive, they are usually robbed at gunpoint or beaten, Joshi said.
Police say they are investigating a series of crimes and ask anyone with information to call them at (510) 238-3426. They offer a reward of $10,000.
In the meantime, police advise the curious car buyers to agree to meet sellers only in well-traveled areas of the city, don't carry large amounts of cash and leave the second they feel something is wrong, especially if no car is visible.
Most importantly, Joshi said, if a buyer is robbed, they should give the thieves exactly what they want.
"Your life if more valuable than your property," she said in a statement.You�ve probably heard of Matcha; it�s the latest super-food trend and the drink of choice for celebrities and health nuts alike. But, while Matcha may be new to supermarkets, caf�s, and coffee shops, it�s actually not new at all.
Matcha has been around for a long time, and we mean a long time! This bright green miracle powder has been at the heart of the Japanese tea ceremony for over 900 years. You�ll find stories of Japanese Samari drinking Matcha for extra strength before battles and Buddhists monks have honored Matcha for its ability to heighten concentration and enhance metabolism for centuries. Now, if that�s not a test of time, we don�t know what is?
Unicity’s Matcha fields in Japan.
So what is it that makes Matcha such a powerful super-food?
Antioxidants:
Matcha is filled with antioxidants and powerful EGCg�s. Antioxidants are the body�s defensive agents. They are chemical compounds that help your body prevent infection and disease. Matcha contains a unique type of antioxidant known as catechins or EGCg. These catechins counteract the degenerative effect that pollution, UV-rays, radiation, and chemicals can have on our body.
Boosts Metabolism and Burns Calories:
Matcha can boost thermogenesis; increasing metabolism and helping the body burn fat more effectively.
Detoxifies:
During the last few weeks before harvest, Matcha plants are shaded to block them from sunlight. This shading causes the plant to increase its production of chlorophyll resulting in higher levels of chlorophyll when the plant is harvested. The increased chlorophyll levels help detoxify the blood and flush toxins out of your body.
Enhances Mood and Concentration:
Certain amino acids can encourage relaxation and mental alertness. L-Theanine, the amino acid found in Matcha works with the body to reduce stress and promote the production of dopamine, serotonin, and alpha ways in the brain, all which stimulate a more alert and simultaneously relaxed state of mind.
Energy:
Matcha contains a healthy form of caffeine known as theophylline. This caffeine is different from the caffeine found in most coffee and energy drinks. The caffeine in Matcha releases slowly, giving you the boost you need without the crash.
Long story short, if you aren�t already drinking matcha, you should start!
Shop Unicity Matcha for Energy HERE or our Focus formula HERE.Lady Gaga arrives at the premiere screening of FX's "American Horror Story: Hotel" at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live on Oct. 3, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation has signed a three-year pact with Mattel's Monster High to work toward inspiring empowerment and acceptance among young people.
Born This Way Foundation, founded by the music star and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, in 2012, is dedicated to promoting mental, emotional and physical well-being for youth. The organization has worked with local and national allies -- including GLSEN, YMCA, National Council of Behavioral Health, Mentoring USA and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln -- to reach hundreds of thousands of young people directly.
The Billboard Cover Story: Philanthrophy 2015 -- Lady Gaga's Plan to Save Troubled Teens
"Supporting the empowerment and well-being of our young people will take individuals and organizations of all kinds working together. That’s why Born This Way Foundation is excited to partner with Monster High," said Cynthia Germanotta, president of Born This Way Foundation. "This collaboration is a wonderful and unique opportunity to meet young people where they are, a crucial first step toward building a kinder and braver world."
The companies will work together for the next three years to use events, content, product and social media to support the well-being of young people.
Lady Gaga Opens Up About Struggles
Monster High is a line of dolls based on the sons and daughters of famous monsters. The $1 billion franchise includes merchandise, a web series, video games, TV specials and an upcoming movie at Universal.
The premise of the Mattel line has been focused on acceptance, individuality and celebrating people for their differences.
Adds Lisa McKnight, senior vp and general manager of Monster High: "Together using our global reach and platform we can find ways to positively affect the next generation of kids by creating a kinder and braver community for young people."
This article originally appeared in THR.com.Q: Clairmont Road gains an “e” heading south toward Decatur, or Clairemont loses an “e” when heading north away from Decatur. What’s the story behind that?
—Andy Ackermann, Knoxville, Tenn.
A: You’ve stumbled across one of the biggest puzzles in DeKalb County.
Does anyone have Sherlock Holmes’ cell number? Let’s see if we can help figure out the “Case of the Missing E” – which sounds like a “Sesame Street” skit — by analyzing the evidence.
The story starts with a doctor named Robert B. Ridley, who built a home in the area in the 1880s – the road was called Shallowford Indian Trail in those days (according to a 1992 Decatur Historic Preservation manual sponsored by the city and the Decatur Historic Trust Preservation Commission) — which he named Clairemont after his daughter Claire. So it would seem the road should always have an “e” in its name. But when Ridley’s farm – which near what is now Scott Boulevard in the area around Garden Lane and Lamont Drive — was sold and subdivided, a resulting development was named “Clairmont Estates,” losing the “e” somewhere in the process.
The author of the manual interviewed John Ridley, a grandson of Robert B. Ridley, and he said that the name “has always been disputed and probably always will be.” He had an article snipped from a 1908 newspaper that spelled Clairmont without the “e.”
Did someone mistakenly leave out the “e,” or was it purposely dropped?
A more in-depth investigation shows that two changes happen around the Decatur city limits, which bisect Clairmont/Clairemont just north of Maediris Drive, at the Decatur Family YMCA. Heading north away from the city, it becomes Clairmont Road. Going back toward Decatur, it’s Clairemont Avenue (with the “e”). So the YMCA is at 1100 Clairemont Ave., but if you walk north what online maps show is a total of 312 feet, you’ll come to Public Storage at 1210 Clairmont Road.
While that might not solve the “Case of the Missing E,” it should help answer some of the questions surrounding it. If you have any more information about Clairmont/Clairemont, send me an email.The president of the United States can, in theory, launch nuclear war by personal decision—without any checks or balances. Whether we really think any of the candidates for president in 2016 would cavalierly start a nuclear war, the bombastic and bizarre character of much of this year’s electoral debate should make us take this question seriously. Someday, the United States really could have a mentally ill president who chose to do the unthinkable. The odds are low, but we should seek to make them even lower, given the stakes at hand. Because it looks like humankind will be stuck with the nuclear bomb for many decades (if not centuries) to come, moreover, the solution to this problem cannot be simply to get rid of all existing nuclear arsenals. We need a more immediate answer.
To be sure, a president is required by the War Powers Act of 1973 to seek congressional approval for any military action within 60 days of its inception. |
it appears so far that they intend to), promise to become the most important and most revolutionary leaders since Deng Xiaoping. What they are attempting to do is no less difficult than the task Deng was faced with in 1978. The problems are just different in character.
No country in the history of the world that I'm aware of has been able to allow a massively leveraged bubble to pop without creating economic turmoil. But then I can't remember when a country with resources as vast as China's has tried to proactively manage a bubble. Can a centrally controlled economy (which has never really worked in the long run) pull this off? Can China switch to a consumer-demand-driven, decentralized system without major disruptions?
The Chinese do have some considerable advantages that should not be readily dismissed. For one they have a highly educated population. The government of the country consumes a smaller proportion of GDP (if you factor out SOEs), relatively speaking, than the governments of any of the developed-world countries do; taxes are relatively low; and the Chinese people are significant savers, far more so than their Western counterparts, which gives them a large capital base for expansion. They also hold a few trillion dollars in foreign capital (which I expect them to use). And rather than spending their income trying to drive consumption, they are spending on infrastructure that is there to be used by their established businesses and entrepreneurs (in contrast to the Keynesian-fueled US deficits, for which we have little to show!).
Further, their consumer market is nowhere close to being optimized. There is massive room for growth in the consumption of all types of products and services, which of course makes China ripe for a burst of entrepreneurial growth to counterbalance the significant deleveraging that will be forced upon them as they try to slowly let the air out of their debt bubble.
Xi and Li seem determined to deal with the corruption that is endemic to much political and business activity in China and to redirect the focus of economic activity from land sales and real estate construction to the production of goods and services. If the absolute rule of law cannot be established, the difficulty of attaining these goals will be significantly increased. Further, they have to allow nonviable businesses and banks to go bankrupt in an orderly fashion without threatening the overall system. That is not an easy task. But the Chinese leadership appears to be taking on the tasks, including labor reforms, that will be required if they are to navigate the treacherous waters in which they find themselves.
And the Chinese must do this as all the major central banks of the world are creating a significant imbalance by holding interest rates far below the Wicksellian "natural rate" and creating all sorts of potential bubbles and malinvestments, while driving currencies to unnatural valuations. China's biggest problem may be outside its borders as a world devolves into a major currency war and the protectionism that typically follows. As if they don't have enough to worry about with their own internal bubbles.
To be sure, I can't see a path that will result in 7.5% annual growth for the next 10 years. That train has left the station. But is there the possibility of more "normal" growth, with the occasional business-cycle recession? If they can continue to unleash the power and drive of their private sector and not continue to prop up failing state-owned enterprises, pumping money into investments that have no final positive economic result, those measures will go a long way to solving the quandary they are in.
As Worth pointed out above, 3% growth for China would require significant realignment of expectations in markets around the world. That outcome would be frustrating for those directly involved but not a disaster for the world as a whole.As I said at the conference, the world needs the Chinese to succeed. The world needs a functioning, growing China that is a responsible member of the global community and a force for stability.
If the Chinese get this wrong, we will face one of the most significant macroeconomic upheavals of our lifetimes. If they get it right, they could continue to be a key factor for global GDP growth.
Every night when we go to bed and say our prayers, we investors should mutter something along these lines: "Now I lay me down to sleep [insert personal requests], and please, God, bless the leaders of China and give them the wisdom to not screw it up."
This letter is already longish, so there is no time to do more than acknowledge the very real and important geopolitical dance that is taking place in the South China Sea. Many of my friends, when they come back from China or Japan or both, express deep concern that things could spiral out of control. Both countries seem intent on proving something that quite frankly many of us in the rest of the world simply cannot get our heads around. Not to mention the involvement of Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Korea, all of which feel they have rights in those waters. And there doesn't seem to be anyone who can make them all play nice in the sandbox.
There was a time in the history of this letter when we paid a lot of attention to the US subprime crisis or to the problems in Europe or those of Japan. There are still significant negative forces in those regions and elsewhere around the world. But now we must begin to pay close attention to China. How the Chinese navigate their problems will have significant impact on our economies, our businesses, and our investments. For the macroeconomic world at large, there are a LOT of balls in the air. Unlike in 2006, when everything was just fine, there are now plenty of topics available for future letters. Shoot me a note with your suggestions. I do pay attention.
A Final Special Note
If you are a qualified purchaser or a licensed investment advisor qualified to make private placement recommendations, please join me and my partners at Altegris for an exclusive webinar featuring a couple of investment industry heavyweights, Richard Perry and Jack Rivkin. Richard founded Perry Capital in 1988 and is one of the originators of event-driven investing - a strategy where hedge fund managers expect big opportunities this year. My friend Jack, as many of you know, brings over 45 years of direct investing, research, general management, and investment management experience at leading financial institutions to his new role as Altegris CIO.
The webinar takes place on Tuesday, June 24, at 1:00 p.m. EDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT. Be sure to register here for this event, as it is sure to be one of the more interesting discussions of the year.
Upon qualification by my partners at Altegris, you will receive an email invitation. I apologize for this discussion being limited to qualified purchasers and investment advisors, but we must follow the rules and regulations. I look forward to having you at this exclusive event. (In this regard, I am president and a registered representative of Millennium Wave Securities, LLC, member FINRA.)
Trequanda, Rome, Nantucket, New York, and Maine
For the last seven days I have been pleasantly surrounded by the Tuscan countryside. The weather's been perfect, and the conversations in the evening have been both enthusiastic and enlightening. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed spending the last six days with George Gilder. Not only is he a fount of intellectual insights, he is a never-ending source of great stories. I have to rank him right up there with the all-time great raconteurs I have met over the years.
George has been working on his latest book, on a new economic theory of money with a healthy dose of bitcoin thrown in. And I don't want to give away too much, but let's just say that there was an interview with the mystical, if possibly mythical, demiurge Satoshi Nakamoto held late at night in the grotto here in the villa in Trequanda. The world will just have to wait for George's book to arrive to learn the details.
It's getting close to time to hit the send button, as we leave in an hour to go to Florence (Firenze) to see the sights and in particular for me to once again see Michelangelo's statue of David. I'll again be spending the coming week close to "home" here in Trequanda, thinking about, outlining, and writing portions of my next book.
Then next Saturday I will leave for Rome, where I will spend four days with my good friend Christian Menegatti of Roubini Global Economics, meeting with bankers and policymakers to try to get a handle on Italy in particular and Europe in general. And maybe we'll take a few side trips to see some of the marvelous historical sites.
Then it's back to Dallas, where I will more or less stay for a month before heading out to Nantucket and New York City for a week, and then of course it will be time for our annual fishing trip out in the Maine boondocks, sometimes called the annual meeting of the Shadow Fed, organized by David Kotok of Cumberland Advisors.
One of the great benefits of being here in Tuscany is the local food. In addition to some fabulous restaurants, we have been able to find local chefs who will come in and make meals from scratch. Every night is a feast, but a healthy one.
One of the great revelations is that the gardener for the villa here, Ivo, a 70-something spry little elf, is a fabulous cook. Yesterday he came in the early afternoon to begin his preparations, bringing with him only fresh ingredients straight out of his garden. I have always said that one of the great joys of life is a perfect tomato, and Ivo may be the ultimate source of that joy. He literally spent hours hand rolling the spaghetti pasta, and I'm not quite certain what he did to the chicken, but it had the table in awe. It is such a delight to watch him singing old Italian songs (he does a mean Dean Martin) and literally dancing around the kitchen. This is a man who knows how to enjoy life. I really don't think he is worried about whether there is a bubble in Chinese debt - if he is worried about anything at all. We should all try to figure out how to be more like Ivo.
They are telling me the cars are ready to roll, so that means it's time to take my leave. Have a great week. Next week Ivo promises lasagna. I hope you can have a few great meals of your own.
Your thinking I need to visit China analyst,
John Mauldin, Editor subscribers@mauldineconomics.com
This article originally appeared at Thoughts From The Frontline. Copyright 2014.Hi everyone!
One of the most common questions I read on various forums is “How loud is an R710 compared to [insert server model here]?” The R710 is falling in price and is, what I would consider, one of the best values for a homelab or test environment right now because of the CPU and RAM capacity that it can provide. When an R710 can hold 24 vCPU and 288GB of RAM compared to a Dell 2950 III with 8 vCPU and 64GB of RAM it’s a no-brainer that the R710 is a clear choice if you want capacity. You won’t be buying a 24 vCPU and 288GB model for the same price as your average 2950 III, but the point is that the entry point of an R710 and 2950III are not too far off now. Cruising eBay shows a bunch of R710’s (with modest specifications) for $320 – $380 “Buy It Now” with more deals on auctions.
With that said, anyone who has a 2950 or 1950 will attest that they’re pretty noisy and most certainly cannot be kept in a hall closet some place. Dell made a significant attempt to quiet down the R710 (and use less power/make less heat) when it was introduced. But, is it that much better? Check out this video to see:
Sorry for the long video – I am chatty! The cliffnotes are that the R710 is definitely quieter than the 2950 and might even be quiet enough to put in an office or closet with one major caveat – the temperature of the room, or more appropriately, the ambient system board temperature must remain in the 70 – 73 degF region or the fans will come up to speed and make a lot of noise. I think a system board temp of 75 -76 degF (24-25 degC) is about the maximum I’d want to run in order to consider the fans quiet and the system not offensive. I know there’s know decibel meter here, and I apologize for that, but I doubt many people can relate to decibels directly anyway. Hand down, though, the R710 has more capacity and produces way less noise than the 2950 but do be warned that if you get the ambient temperature of the system board up to 86-87 degF (30-31 degC) the fans will ramp up to about 8,000 RPM and it’s about as loud as a Dell 2950.
Thanks for reading/watching! Hope you guys find this useful!Patricia Ann Millett became the newest judge on the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals after the Senate confirmed her Tuesday by a vote of 56-38.
Millett made history for another reason: she was the first judge to be confirmed after the Democratic majority triggered the nuclear option to eliminate the filibuster for non-Supreme Court nominees late November. She faced a sustained filibuster by Republicans, who didn’t contest her qualifications but argued that the court didn’t need any new judges.
Millett, 50, is an accomplished Supreme Court and appellate court litigator who has worked as a lawyer in the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. She has argued 32 cases before the Supreme Court — more than all but one other woman. Most recently she worked as a partner at the law firm Akin Gump.
The newly minted circuit judge was born in Dexter, Maine, raised in southern Illinois, graduated summa cum laude in 1985 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and magna cum laude in 1988 from Harvard Law School.
“I’m pleased that in a bipartisan vote, the Senate has confirmed Patricia Millett to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, filling a vacancy that has been open since 2005,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “She has served in the Department of Justice for both Democratic and Republican Presidents. I’m confident she will serve with distinction on the federal bench.”
Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) voted with Democrats to confirm Millett. The final vote was delayed from Monday due to inclement weather.
“The president and the majority leader were for the protection of minority rights in the Senate until they were no longer in the minority,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said before the vote. “As I indicated last month, this was a pure power grab, plain and simple. … This was a grave mistake and it was a grave betrayal of trust.”
Outside Congress, Millett had broad support across the political spectrum, including from liberal legal luminaries like Walter Dellinger and Seth Waxman, and conservative stars Paul Clement, Kenneth Starr and Ted Olson. Progressive legal advocates were the most thrilled with her confirmation, hoping to tilt the balance on the conservative-leaning court which is critical to Obama’s second term agenda as it hears cases involving executive power.
“We heartily congratulate Pattie Millett on her long-awaited and well-deserved confirmation today,” said Judith E. Schaeffer, the vice president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a liberal legal advocacy group. “After months of needless delay by Senate Republicans, this overwhelmingly qualified and totally uncontroversial nominee is headed for service on the D.C. Circuit. Her sterling credentials should help provide much-needed balance to a bench that has produced some truly radical decisions in recent years.”
McConnell called the D.C. Circuit “one of the last remaining obstacles standing between the president and enactment of his agenda through executive fiat.”
Democrats cut off debate on the Millett nomination by a vote of 55-43 before the Thanksgiving recess, bypassing the traditional 60 vote threshold required for “cloture” moments after scrapping the filibuster.
Following Millett to the D.C. Circuit are Cornelia Pillard and Robert Wilkins, Obama’s nominees to fill the other two vacant seats. Like Millett, they have the support of a majority of senators but haven’t cleared the now-unnecessary 60 vote marker. It’s unclear when they’ll be confirmed given the tight Senate calendar for the rest of 2013.
“Today’s up-or-down vote is a welcome step forward toward ensuring our country’s second-most powerful court has a full bench,” said Caroline Fredrickson, the president of the left-leaning American Constitution Society. “Ninety-three current vacancies remain, including 38 judicial emergencies. The Senate must continue to fulfill its constitutional duty by recommending and holding up-or-down votes on qualified individuals to serve on our federal judiciary.”
This article has been updated.I'm really proud of my home town. When I say, "I'm just a girl from Homer" on my blog, radio or television show, I like to think it's not so much self-deprecation as it is a friendly warning. When Palin signed off on her Facebook blog bashing Obama on Friday with "Sarah Palin in Homer, Alaska", I laughed. Lady, if you think I give you a hard time, hang on.
Palin posted:
And here I am, thousands of miles away from DC out on a commercial fishing boat, working my butt off for my own business, merely asking the Democrat politicos and their liberal friends in the media: "What's the plan, man?", and they seem to feel threatened by my question. So, I'll go back to setting my hooks and watching the halibut take the bait, and when I come back into the boat's cabin in a few hours...
Strange. The Palin's fishing business doesn't include IFQ's (Individual Fishing Quotas) necessary for commercially harvesting halibut. Her baiting hooks and keeping a manicure is laughable. Halibut are on the bottom of the ocean, hard to watch them "take the bait". I hope she's got a crew license. (Shrug).
Sarah Palin & company spent several days in Homer filming her "Sarah Palin's Uh-laska" show. (Eyes rolled).
On the public dock, private security patted down private citizens. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure from their government. Private security searching private citizens in a public place, doesn't fall under that category. It's a bit more hinky.
Whether it was TLC or the Palins who contracted security, under what authority did they operate in a public location? Were they looking for weapons? Well, now there's a Second Amendment issue.
This is Alaska, we carry guns. You can open-carry or acquire a concealed weapons permit from the state. If you are a law abiding citizen, you don't even need a permit. Sarah Palin recently endorsed Alaska Tea Party Candidate Joe Miller for US Senate. His supporters carried assault rifles in last month's Golden Days Parade in Fairbanks. If weapons are good enough for a public parade, weapons should be fine at a public dock.
Maybe it wasn't about guns. Maybe it was about cameras. In that case, it's a First Amendment issue. Whether Palin had a problem with the First Amendment, the Second Amendment or the Fourth Amendment, she contradicted her entourage's actions at the Homer dock.
Risking accusations of being all "Wee-Wee'd Up", one Homer woman made a sign in her shed. She then took the 30-foot-by-3-foot banner out to the boat harbor. It said "WORST GOVERNOR EVER". Kathleen Gustafson is a teacher married to a local commercial fisherman. She felt like Sarah Palin had let the state down by becoming a dollar-chasing celebrity and ignoring the oath of office she'd sworn on a Bible.
Kathleen was motivated by the fact Palin was using the very place where her family makes a living to fortify the Palin personality cult -- pretending to do the very thing they worked so hard to sustain. Initially, Kathleen just wanted to waste a little of the camera crew's time, since Palin wasted so much of her time purporting to represent Alaska's interests.
She didn't imagine Palin would be so easy to draw out.
Saturday morning, Billy Sullivan helped Kathleen tape the banner up on his place of business at the top of the boat ramp. Then here she came. Sarah.
She couldn't just walk by. Only a few fishermen and tourists would have seen the banner, but Sarah had to stop and protest. I spoke with Kathleen. She said she wanted Palin to know how she felt, but never dreamed she'd get the chance to say to her face, "You're not a leader, you're a climber!" Early in the conversation, Sarah actually winked at Kathleen in what seemed to be a case of eyelid Tourette's Syndrome.
At one point, a Palin daughter chanted, "You're just jealous". Kathleen told Sarah she was disappointed that she dropped her responsibility to the state to became a celebrity. Palin said incredulously, "I'm honored. No, she thinks I'm a celebrity!" Really? So the camera crew wasn't an indicator? How many times do you have to be on magazine covers to gain celebrity status? Something about camping with Kate Plus Eight in rain slickers seems, well, a little celebrity.
Billy Sullivan caught much of the interchange on his cell phone camera. The back of her security guard's head and Todd Palin attempted to block Billy's view, continually rotating like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. What were they afraid of? I guess that's what happens when you're filming a "celebrity". He was even told by one of the Palin daughters, "You're an A-hole". Charming family values.
I asked both Billy and Kathleen which Palin daughter said what. Neither knew. They don't have televisions and aren't interested in Palin's personal life and dramas.
In what has become typical tragic irony, Sarah initially claimed to support Kathleen's First Amendment Rights. But as soon as Billy Sullivan walked toward the dock, one of Palin's entourage tore down the sign to great applause from her group.
Todd Palin approached Billy (who owns a business called Dockside Fish and buys halibut on that dock) and asked him to get out of the Discovery crew's shot. "You just can't get enough of her, can you?" he asked. An Alaska State Trooper told Billy he should call the Homer Police Department and report the trespassing and destruction of property.
What the Palin folks don't seem to understand is simple; if Fred Phelps gets to hold his hateful signs up at military funerals, Billy should be able to put Kathleen's "WORST GOVERNOR EVER" banner on his building and not have a Palin goon tear it down.
The First Amendment only matters when you say or write something someone else doesn't like.
For someone who doesn't hold elected office and denies being a celebrity, Sarah Palin may want to get a "Constitutional Handler".
Transcript of the video can be found here.Guy Bentley
The former attorney general has launched a scathing attack on those who want Britain out of the EU.
Dominic Grieve warned that with the international situation so precarious there were significant dangers to leaving a supranational organisation such as the EU.
He added that the free movement of people within was clearly non-negotiable.
"The requirements of any free trade agreement would make British removal from the clauses dealing with freedom of movement impossible", Grieve said.
"With the curious consequence that the single biggest cause of domestic irritation with the EU, immigration, would remain unaltered. But without its maintenance some two million UK citizens working in EU countries would find themselves becoming illegal immigrants overnight".
Grieve has long been an opponent of the most hardline elements of Euroscepticism within the Conservative Party.
He has supported Britain's membership of the European Convention on Human Rights, which many of his Tory colleagues would like to see replaced with a British Bill of Rights.
Grieve argued today:
The success of the convention, despite all its shortcomings, in raising standards of behaviour and promoting human rights globally, and with it the overall security of the Europe, is to be disregarded for the sake of addressing irritations about some of its current domestic impacts which at best will be of utterly marginal benefit.
His remarks, reported by the Guardian, shed light on the feelings of the handful of pro-EU Tories. Grieve was, to say the least, sceptical of his party's plans for a renegotiation of membership terms followed by an in-out referendum.
Today he added:
There is... a total lack of clarity as to how a government would proceed to unravel a relationship that has developed in complexity over more than 40 years.
Grieve went on to say that he was still none the wiser about which parts of the "several thousand pieces of EU legislation" would be incorporated into UK law following Brexit.A new committee in the Annapolis Valley is urging the provincial government to take internet service providers to task for stranding many rural Nova Scotians without access to high speed.
EastLink, Seaside Communications and OmniGlobe Networks were awarded contracts in 2007. The federal and provincial governments invested $35 million, while Seaside and EastLink put up another $40 million.
The government's Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative aimed to have everyone in the province online by the end of 2009.
Betty Lutz said she's never had a reliable connection to the internet. She's not alone — an estimated 800 Nova Scotians are still offline.
"All I want is for it to work. If you can't make it work I just want you to tell me," said Lutz.
Kings County MLA Leo Glavine said he doesn't have a connection at his home in North Kingston.
"It is time now for this committee to meet with the minister, the deputy minister, bring EastLink and Seaside, bring these providers together and hear definitely, 'what is your plan?'" said the MLA.
'Flawed bid'
Michael Innis, head of the newly formed Public Committee for High-speed Internet Access, said the group is collecting impact statements from anyone without a high-speed connection and plans to present them to the minister early in the new year.
"There are hills and mountains and a specific topography to deal with and if that was not addressed in the original proposal then that was a flawed bid," he said.
Percy Paris, the minister of economic and rural development, said when the then-governing Progressive Conservative party began the program, they underestimated the job.
"I think in everybody's eagerness… they didn't realize and recognize how expensive and how time-consuming this build was really going to be," he said Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank MLA.
EastLink said they have provided 7,500 rural Nova Scotians with broadband and are still looking for solutions for the others.
"EastLink engaged in this project in good faith," said Jill Laing, spokeswoman for EastLink in an email.
"This is the first time any jurisdiction in Canada has attempted to provide this kind of coverage using this technology, and it has been more challenging and more costly than anyone could have imagined. Other jurisdictions use a combination of technologies.
She said the company has invested $30 million of its own money in the project — four times what was originally estimated.0 A look at Seattle cold cases: Can you help solve them?
Every year, Seattle and other major cities have homicides that go unsolved by detectives.
In some cases they have a good idea of who the suspect is, but evidence for prosecutors to bring charges. In other cases, they need tips from witnesses who refuse to cooperate. Some investigations don't have even a person of interest.
Below are six unsolved Seattle homicide cases. Anyone with information is asked to call police at (206) 233-5000. If you have information on other local cases outside of Seattle, call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). You are not required to give your name.
From top left: Nicole Westbrook, Tyrone Love, Danny Vega. Bottom left: Kaari Higgins, Gregette Guy. All are Seattle cold cases. Anyone with information is asked to call (206) 233-5000.
April 25, 2012, Nicole Westbrook: Westbrook, 21, was walking with her boyfriend near Second Avenue and Yesler Way after a night at a comedy club. She was shot in the neck shortly after 2 p.m. and police saw a light-colored vehicle speed away. After her death, then-Chief John Diaz met with Westbook’s family and Diaz pleaded in a press conference for tips from the public. Investigators said they think at least two people were in the car that sped away. But no arrests were made. There is a Facebook page, Justice for Nicole Westbrook. On that page, friends posted a baby photo of Westbrook with her father, who was killed in Iraq in 2005.
Feb. 16, 2009, Tyrone Love: Love was walking in the 2600 block of East Cherry Street about 2 a.m. when he was shot multiple times. He wasn’t robbed and police couldn’t figure out any obvious reason for Love’s shooting. Police said he was not tied to gang activity. Shortly before his death, Love left the Crimson C nightclub where he had hosted a President’s Day event. Witnesses saw two possible suspects in a vehicle, described as a red Dodge Charger or Chrysler 300, driving west on East Cherry Street from 26th Avenue. The driver was described as a man wearing a puffy jacket with a fur-lined hood, police said. Investigators said even though Love was not tied to gang activity, people who may know details about his killing may be reluctant to talk because of the “no-snitch” credo -- the idea that helping the police is not helpful, even if information may solve a homicide. In the years since his death, the Tyrone Love Unsung Hero Award has been given in the Madrona neighborhood.
March 11, 2012, Gregette Guy: Guy was a wife, mother and longtime Girl Scout supporter who worked as a credit analyst at Kent-based Pacific Aero Tech, LLC, which repairs and services aircraft windows and parts. Investigators think she parked her red sedan and planned to walk along Alki beach. The 51-year-old was found floating about 30 feet off shore of the 3800 block of Beach Drive Southwest. No suspects have ever been publicly identified.
Nov. 27, 2011, Danny Vega: Vega was attacked about 7:45 p.m. Nov. 15 as he walked along the 4200 block of South Othello Street in Seattle. His cell phone was stolen, along with his house keys and black jacket. Vaga was able to walk home and tell his roommates he’d been beaten. But he later died at Harborview Medical Center, and investigators said a pre-existing medical condition that may have played a role in the homicide. Three persons of interest, including a young felon with a history of robbery, were identified by police in 2011. But they were not arrested or named as suspects, and police have not received tips good enough to lead to charges from prosecutors.
Jan. 21, 2009, Chris Thompson: The 55-year-old was found stabbed to death in the basement of his home in the 1100 block of East Roanoke Street. Thompson's home was on a dead end of a steep, narrow stretch of Roanoke beneath homes with views of Portage Bay. Neighbors said Thompson lived there for more than a decade and that he lived alone after his longtime partner, Gerald Duval, 72, died of natural causes in 2007. The King County Medical Examiner's Office said Thompson had blunt force injuries to his head. No one has been named as a suspect or person of interest.
Jan. 7, 2010, Kaari Higgins: Higgins’ case isn’t officially ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, but investigators said there’s no way she could have sustained the injuries she had. Medics were called to Higgins’ West Seattle home and presumed from the caller’s information that she’d fallen after drinking. She later died at Harborview Medical Center. Homicide detectives were not notified until a second pathologist determined her body had five different points of impact. Police believe she was badly beaten that New Year’s Eve – her 47th birthday.
© 2019 Cox Media Group.Denver police are warning citizens to watch their backs.
A serial buttocks-groper is on the loose, and Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to $2,000 to catch him.
Police think the same man who fondled a woman’s backside at East Fifth Avenue and High Street on Aug. 21 grabbed another woman’s buttocks a few minutes later a block away on East Fourth Avenue.
Tuesday night, another woman was grabbed on the buttocks at an alley entrance between Newton and Osceola streets along West 37th Avenue.
The groper is described as Hispanic, in his late 20s to early 30s, about 6 feet tall. He also is described as bald and heavy-set.
He was seen driving away in a black four-door Nissan Altima or Maxima with tinted windows and shiny rims.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.Last week, the Obama Administration released a report and documents cataloging progress toward signals intelligence (SIGINT) reform goals set a year ago by the President in a document known as PPD-28. PPD-28 promises foreigners some of the same privacy protections given to US citizens and residents. But it turns out that those protections, even for citizens, are fairly meager, in ways that have not yet fully entered the public conversation about surveillance. US citizens and residents have been — and remain — exposed to suspicionless electronic surveillance. Implementation of PPD-28 will do little to change that.
To my mind, the surveillance I’m about to describe, which proceeds under Executive Order 12333, rather than FISA, is far more worrisome than the programs under Section 215 of the Patriot Act and Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act that have received so much recent attention. (For example, here and here for Section 215, here and here for Section 702, and here and here for more general info.) This is content surveillance that applies to both wholly and partially domestic communications of US citizens and residents. The access and analysis rules are very, very loose. There is no judicial supervision of any kind, and Congress does almost no 12333 oversight. (See here for more on how FISA and 12333 differ).
Let’s start with what we know, and then dive into how we know it.
What do we know?
Non-selective “vacuum cleaner” SIGINT collection — mass collection of communications unlimited by particular communicants or subjects — is outside FISA’s ambit, so long as the collection is either done abroad (for wire communications like those carried on landlines or cables) or involves at least one foreign communicant (for wireless communications). This kind of collection can and does include wholly and partially domestic communications of US citizens and residents.
Once collected, analysis of these communications is also outside FISA’s ambit. Instead, the use of SIGINT that was collected vacuum-cleaner-style is limited by PPD-28 to six topics: detecting and countering espionage, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, cybersecurity threats, threats to the armed services, and transnational crime.
This kind of entirely unlimited SIGINT collection is not favored, however: According to its new policies implementing PPD-28, when “practicable,” the NSA searches for communications containing specific terms that narrow its collection to topics like “nuclear proliferation, oil sales, [and] economics.” Economics!
Again, so long as the collection is either done abroad (for wire communications) or involves at least one foreign communicant (for wireless communications), FISA does not regulate term searching based on subject matter, rather than the identity of a communicant. And because this approach uses a “discriminant,” it is not deemed “bulk” collection for purposes of PPD-28. It may thereafter be searched by the NSA for any and all foreign intelligence purposes, not just the six topics identified above.
When the NSA uses subject matter searching — whether to acquire data or to search raw SIGINT acquired in bulk or otherwise — there is a mild tailoring requirement. Specifically, policy requires use of only selection terms that are reasonably likely to flag communications that include foreign intelligence topics (like oil sales). Policy also requires the NSA to try to develop selection techniques that “defeat, to the greatest extent practicable under the circumstances” interception of non-foreign intelligence communications. While we don’t know what “practicable” means in this context, term searching is very familiar; just think of using Google or Westlaw. It seems inevitable that this approach exposes an extraordinary amount of innocent Americans’ communications to the eyes of intelligence analysts.
So, when the President says that foreigners will get the same protections against surveillance as US citizens and residents, keep in mind that those protections leave a lot out.
How do we know it?
FISA has a complicated, four-part definition of “electronic surveillance,” and in 2008, placed on top of that definition rules governing the Section 702, 703, and 704 programs, which address various kinds of targeted surveillance. Notably, “targeting,” in the FISA context, means only the selection of objects of surveillance based on the identity of one or more communicant. So once you work through the statutory language, FISA does not at all regulate: (a) non-targeted collection of wire communications, including communications between Americans within the US, as long as the actual wire being tapped is located overseas, or (b) non-targeted collection of wireless communications if at least one party to the communication is located abroad. Thus, if its other constraints (wire or radio, domestic or overseas collection, etc.) are followed, FISA doesn’t address strategies that select what to collect based not on the identities of communication participants, but using other techniques — say, the words used in the communication, or whether the messages are enciphered. And, again, if the other constraints are followed, FISA also does not address collect-everything “vacuum cleaner” content surveillance. In either situation, there is no “target” in FISA parlance.
The point is, so far as U.S. surveillance law is concerned, the NSA can, if it chooses, “collect [nearly] everything” — including your domestic phone calls and emails — so long as it does not select which communications to collect using the identity of a “particular, known” communicant. To be precise, it can collect communications where at least one party is abroad if it can find a non-wired way in. And it can collect even entirely domestic communications if it can find a wire to tap abroad — like the Transatlantic cable — that is carrying those conversations. Some have pointed out that methods exist to push domestic Internet traffic abroad to take advantage of these FISA omissions.
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4:22 Roach x8 Stream Roaches and Ravagers to the enemy base
Analysis
So to be fair, Snute actually ends up losing this game, though I think it was a valiant effort. There are a few interesting risks with this build.Staying anonymous on Wire
Wire Blocked Unblock Follow Following Apr 26, 2017
Most people want an easy way to find and connect with others on Wire to start chatting, talking and sharing. When signing up we try to connect them with friends that are already using the app.
Some, however, prefer a bit more privacy.
They want to protect their identity and only connect to very few trusted people. The typical use case is parents setting up accounts for their kids, journalists wanting to protect their sources, or activists under surveillance — LGBT communities in some countries, for example.
Wire does not require a phone number to register, and secondly people don’t have to share their phone contacts with the Wire app.
Here’s how to get set up for maximum privacy:
Create a new email address. Protonmail is great for this. Use this email to register a Wire account at app.wire.com (on a computer) OR on a tablet where no phone number is required to sign up. Download Wire on your phone and sign in with the account you just created. Don’t give Wire access to the contacts on your device(s). Choose a display name that won’t give away your identity. Choose a random @username — this handle is what you share with others so they can connect with you.
Follow these steps and none of your phone contacts will receive notifications that you’re using Wire. The only way to connect with you is if you share your @username.
For more info on how Wire protects your privacy read our Privacy Policy and we’ve also published a very detailed privacy whitepaper.Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation has picked up an amazing number of trophies this year, and she has taken the opportunity to thank fans for the amazing feat.
The singer said, “I have taken 32 (op note: by 32 as in her 11 plus snsd's 22) number one trophies on music programs this year, and I feel really happy and honored. I was able to sing happily, because of everyone’s love and support. This year is definitely an unforgettable one for me. I promoted with Girls’ Generation and as a solo singer from February to December, and am currently promoting ‘Dear Santa’ with TaeTiSeo. I will continue to work hard and show an even better image of myself moving forward. I want to thank everyone for liking TaeTiSeo’s first Christmas album.”
Taeyeon has certainly been one of the busiest singer this year. From Girls’ Generation to her solo promotions and now TaeTiSeo, Taeyeon has had barely enough time for any rest. Taeyeon has picked up an amazing 32 trophies through promoting with Girls’ Generation and her solo activities, and is the highest record for an artist this year.
Be it Girls’ Generation’s pre-release single ‘Party’ in July, Girls’ Generation’s 5th official album ‘Lion Heart,’ her solo single ‘I,’ to ‘Dear Santa’ by TaeTiSeo, all of the new songs have all swept and dominated music charts upon release.The owner of the National Enquirer admitted Friday that supermarket tabloid paid $150,000 to a former Playboy playmate who claimed to have had an affair with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2006 but never published a story based on her claims.
In a statement, the tabloid said that it did not make the payment to 1998 "playmate of the year" Karen McDougal to keep her quiet but instead to purchase fitness columns from her. It conceded that the contract included the exclusive rights to any personal stories regarding any relationships she has had with married men.
The Enquirer is owned by American Media, Inc., which publishes other tabloids such as Star. David Pecker, chairman and chief executive officer of the company, is a longtime friend of Trump who is backing his campaign. The Enquirer has run numerous stories disparaging the Clintons. The current top story on its website is "Hillary Clinton Hooked On Narcotics."
"AMI has not paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump," the company said.
The Trump campaign has denied any knowledge of the arrangement between McDougal and the tabloid. It said the candidate never had an affair with her.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people close to McDougal, said she told the tabloid about a consensual affair she had with Trump while he was married to his current wife, Melania.
McDougal was reportedly in talks to with ABC to tell the story in July but pulled out after AMI made her an offer for exclusive rights to it.Police: First Hill masturbator not new to flashing Seattle man charged with attempted robbery, indecent exposure after confrontation with dog walker
A twice-convicted flasher has again been accused of indecent exposure following an incident on Seattle’s First Hill.
King County prosecutors claim Jason Carl Reville exposed himself to a 63-year-old woman walking her dogs on Jan. 27. Reville, 44, fled and was not identified as a suspect until Seattle police publicized a surveillance video.
Writing the court, a Seattle Police Department detective said the woman was passing a building near the intersection of Seneca Street and Boren Avenue when she spotted Reville “lying sprawled out, with his legs up and his back against a concrete wall.” Reville, the detective said, was masturbating openly in the alcove.
The woman made eye contact with Reville and told him she was calling 911, the detective continued. Reville is alleged to have then tried to take the woman’s phone, pulling her 20 feet before she broke free.
Reville ran into the ambulance bay of Virginia Mason Hospital and into the medical center, where he was caught on camera, according to charging papers. Police circulated images from the video in mid-February.
A Clallam County Sheriff’s Office sergeant saw media coverage of the incident and contacted Seattle investigators on Feb. 18. The sergeant reported that the supect – Reville – was locked up in the county jail on a warrant.
Reville was twice convicted of indecent exposure in Clallam County. Due to those prior convictions, he has been charged with felony indecent exposure in the Seattle matter.
Prosecutors have also charged Reville with attempted second-degree robbery, a more serious crime that could see him jailed for more than a year.
Reville is currently being held at Clallam County Jail.
Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.These are weirdest, most ill-conceived toys from around the globe. If you're about to say that they're "weird" only because of our own xenophobic ignorance of other cultures, well, we have two words for you: Poop toys.
You'll see.
Surprisingly, not all of these are from Japan.
#25.
This one is, though. We're used to Japan's superior electronics companies ensuring they get new televisions, video games and cell phones before the rest of us, but who knew they'd get the second coming of our Savior a full three years before the rest of the world. You have to love the fact that they've decided to use the box to point out ways your Jesus Robot can help you get chicks. As if you needed them to tell you.
#24.
These dolls from Russia quite clearly have both male genitalia and the long flowing hair typically associated with females. We're stumped and aroused. Is it possible they're doll versions of David Lee Roth?
Not that it really makes it any better.
#23.
Playmobil makes little figurines in the shape of hundreds of different professions, but only the Hazmat disposal crew provides children with the stark reminder that mankind's excesses will eventually doom us all.
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#22.
"You see, girls, your father was in the air force. He was an F-15."
#21.
Why you'd ever feel the need to conceal a USB stick in a doll wearing a bondage mask is beyond us, although it's probably a small blessing that it's not withdrawn via the gimp's ass.
#20.
Teaching a 3 year old how to clean and prepare a fish used to be a difficult and messy task. No longer!
#19.
The thing flying out of the toilet appears to be a plastic piece of poop, molded in the traditionally popular swirl-cone shape. Projectile excrement is a popular prank in Japan, and the workplace injuries that result are a major drain on the economy.
#18.
Shimajiro is the toilet training tiger that swept all over the Web in a video a little while back. When either of the two buttons are pressed, he exclaims a short burst of pro-toilet-training rhetoric. "Crap! Crap like a champion!" and "RRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHH!" seem the likeliest options.
#17.
What on earth is going on with the right side of this toy? Is that a horse coming out from behind the shield? Is this toy some kind of centaur, or is that shield concealing an unnatural sexual act? There are a lot of questions here, and none of the potential answers is very savory.
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#16.
On the left is a mysterious toy. On the right, a graphical representation of a virus. And, on the bottom is a picture of what can only be a child catching herpes.
#15.
We're told this is some sort of child's sled, and that thing sticking out of it is a handle, upon which the child can hang on while enjoying an exciting winter adventure.
Why? What did you think it was?
#14.
The closest we can figure is that they're selling a life-sized plush camel, but to make more money they're selling it one body part at a time. This is the head.
#13.
What better way to market your putter with a golden penis on the tip than with three cute cartoon animals? Just imagine Jack Nicholson coming at you, swinging one of these. Hell, now that we've written it, we're having a hard time thinking about anything else.
#12.
The Japanese have a weird relationship with poop. On the one hand they love it. On the other hand... there is no other hand. That's why it's weird.
#11.
This man does not know why he must wear the poop hat. He can only grimly accept his fate.
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#10.
"Hey, what's the deal with that blonde girl talking on the phone over there? I've never noticed her before."
"Her?" (looks) "Oh. We don't have to worry about her."
"Why not?"
"Just because."
#9.
Stories about dolls that have to go undercover as cats to bust up feline organized-crime syndicates is one of those quirky Japanese things that Western culture hasn't appropriated yet. Yet.
#8.
And, just as we sometimes adopt and misunderstand certain features of Japanese culture, so, too, do the Japanese sometimes misunderstand ours.
#7.
Making toilet training fun and approachable is an admirable goal, but this seems like a good way for your child to develop an unnatural affection toward their own waste products. At a bare minimum, the sympathetic "Why me?" faces on the waste products will make flushing the toilet a psychologically jarring event.
#6.
When designing finger puppets, it's critical to only portray them from the waist up, because as soon as you put legs on them it looks like you're giving your diminutive new friend one hell of a ride. The dazed expression on this particular example only adds to the effect.
#5.
The Japanese version of the Scooby Doo team is made up of Sadslab, Baby Sauron, Raging Emo, Yellowturd and Soulglutton.
#4.
We don't care what he says it's for, when a clown comes at you with a syringe, head the other way, quickly.
#3.
This is a practice stripper poll, that was yanked from toy store shelves in the U.K. last year when some fussy killjoys questioned whether it was a good idea to market stripper poles toward children.
#2.
Yes, that's a gun that fires teddy bears. Although crime is rare in Japan, when it happens, it is absolutely hilarious.
#1.
Aside from the ubiquitous LEGO, there's dozens of different building block systems marketed throughout the world. However, none of them are as sexually frustrating as Cock Bloc Super.
You may also enjoy Chris Bucholz's The Best (Worst) Fantasy & Sci-Fi Book Covers.
More ArticlesA North Dakota Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday has made drug-induced abortion effectively illegal in the state. The decision reversed a lower court ruling and upheld a 2011 state law banning the off-label use of a drug to terminate pregnancies.
In a decision that was reversed with the latest state Supreme Court ruling, the Cass County District Court held in April 2013 that the ban was unconstitutional. In that case, Judge Wickham Corwin found that the ban placed an undue burden on women, violating women’s rights for abortions under the federal constitution. The state appealed.
The five North Dakota Supreme Court justices were divided on whether the law was legal under federal and state constitutions.
RELATED: North Dakota ‘fetal heartbeat’ abortion ban ruled unconstitutional
“Today’s decision directly conflicts with courts across the U.S. that have rejected the idea that politicians have any place in the practice of medicine or in women’s deeply personal decisions about their pregnancies, their health, their families, and their future,” said Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has represented the state’s sole abortion provider in court.
North Dakota’s only abortion clinic is located in Fargo, and approximately 20% of the procedures there involve the use of drugs.
“This decision is good news for the safety of North Dakota women,” said Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, a pro-life group, in a statement. “And we hope on Nov. 4 that North Dakota voters will decide to affirm life and give clarity to the intentions of the people of the state in protecting the unborn.”
Northup countered that the decision would negatively impact women’s health and safety in the state. “The politicians pushing for these unconstitutional and downright dangerous restrictions have had only one goal in mind: prevent North Dakota women — whom already face incredible obstacles to the severely limited reproductive health care services in their state — from exercising their legal right to abortion,” she said in a statement.In his book Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich provides an outstanding guide to many of the factors that prevent the possibility of a truly free market. He writes:
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Few ideas have more profoundly poisoned the minds of more people than the notion of a “free market” existing somewhere in the universe, into which the government “intrudes.” In this view, whatever inequality or insecurity the market generates is assumed to be natural and the inevitable consequences of impersonal “market forces.” … If you aren’t paid enough to live on, so be it. If others rake in billions, they must be worth it. If millions of people are unemployed or their paychecks are shrinking or they’ll have to work two or three jobs and have no idea what they’ll be earning next month or even next week, that’s unfortunate but it’s the outcome of “market forces.” Reich’s point is that market forces aren’t the result of a free market, which doesn’t exist, never has existed, and probably never will exist. What we do have is a highly engineered marketplace with hundreds of thousands of rules–rules most often created behind closed doors by people who will benefit from every word and comma they put into place. These rules take endless form–the tax code, appropriations bills, new laws, court rulings, executive orders, and administrative guidance to name just a few. Democrats and Republicans alike–at all levels of government and in all three branches–design these market forces. They grant favors to local businesses, friends, and favored industries, as well as emerging and dying technologies. While these rules are more likely to limit the liability from the disastrous effects of mountain top coal removal than they are to provide tax benefits to solar energy, most industries have figured out how to play the game. They hire lobbyists, donate to politicians–and they find the benefits exponentially greater than the cost. Journalist Nicholas Kristof noted that the chemical and pharmaceutical industries alone spent $121,000 per member of Congress on lobbying last year. Research from Harvard’s Safra Center for Ethics shows that corporations in general get up to $220 return for every dollar they “invest” in lobbying Congress. The governing classes and elected officials have always created the rules of the economic game. These legal frameworks and the systems they support affect our nation’s economy and daily life more than the most visible government programs, including social security, food stamps, or health care. Reich goes on to say: The rules are the economy. … As the economic historian Karl Polanyi recognized [in his 1944 book, The Great Transformation, those who argue for “less government” are really arguing for different government—often one that favors them or their patrons. “Deregulation” of the financial sector in the 1980s and 1990s, for example, could more appropriately be described as “reregulation.” It did not mean less government. It meant a different set of rules. In the book 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, the University of Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang writes: The free market doesn’t exist. Every market has some rules and boundaries that restrict freedom of choice. A market looks free only because we so unconditionally accept its underlying restrictions that we fail to see them. How “free” a market is cannot be objectively defined. It is a political definition. The usual claim by free-market economists that they are trying to defend the market from politically motivated interference by the government is false. Government is always involved and those free-marketeers are as politically motivated as anyone. Overcoming the myth that there is such a thing as an objectively defined “free market” is the first step towards understanding capitalism. Our “Unfree Market” Many opposed environmental regulations, which first appeared a few decades ago on things like cars and factory emissions, as serious infringements on our freedom to choose. Opponents asked: If people want to drive in more-polluting cars, or if factories find that more-polluting production methods are more profitable, why should government stop them? Today, most people accept these regulations, but they’re a sign of an unfree market. So some limitations on freedom (i.e., protective legislation) can be helpful. But most “unfreedoms” can be devastating. In essence, we have to choose which unfreedoms we want to live with.
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Most would consider monopolies a sign of an unfree, and even an immoral market. Monsanto, through the licensing of technology with its GMO seeds, controls 90% of the soybeans and 80% of the corn planted and grown in America. According to the Center for Food Safety, this drove up the average cost of planting a single acre of soybeans 325%. For corn, the cost has risen 2,659% between 1994 and 2011. So through its monopolized control of seeds, it is driving the price of food through the roof, ensuring the starvation of millions of people around the world. Powdered cocaine is a drug generally preferred by rich, white Americans, while the poor tend to use crack cocaine. While both are illegal, crack carries a legal penalty 100 times longer than the same substance in powdered form. It seems that there’s also no free market when it comes to jail terms. Not surprisingly, with wealth, power, and influence come lighter criminal penalties. Higher education has also never been part of the free market. Admissions spots at universities are “sold” more often that we we’d like to believe, whether through the influence of legal donations, or powerful friends or family. The free market is an illusion. If some markets look free, it is only because we so totally accept the regulations that are propping them up that they become invisible. Social Inequity By Design “We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.”—Louis Brandeis An undeniable result of this unfree market is the continued consolidation of wealth and influence. On average, CEO pay has increased 937% between 1978 and 2013. The average worker’s pay increased just 10.2% over the same period. This increase has little to do with the increasing value of these CEOs, and everything to do with the power and influence they have over the rules of the system that allow them to enrich themselves.
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The real earnings of the median male have declined 19% since 1970, and the median male with only a high school diploma saw his real earnings fall 41% from 1970 to 2010. Among those classified as poor, 20.4 million people live in what is considered “deep poverty,” meaning their incomes are 50% below the official poverty line. One quarter of the nation’s Hispanics and 27% of African Americans live in poverty. Reich writes: “There is no longer any significant countervailing force (like powerful labor unions), no force to constrain or balance the growing political strength of large corporations, Wall Street, and the very wealthy.” He also describes research conducted by Princeton professors Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, which analyzed 1,799 policy issues to determine the influence of economic elites and business groups on public policy issues compared to average citizens. It found that, “The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact on public policy.” The notion that we live in a democracy turns out to be just another illusion. The deteriorated state of our democracy more easily enables the wealthy and powerful to write the rules and give themselves the greatest benefits. Activists Martin Kirk and Alnoor Ladha argue that the current set of rules that articulate the values of our economic operating system can be best characterized as extractive, exploitative, greedy, selfish, elitist, hierarchical, patriarchal, life-denying, and indeed, psychotic. They invoke the Cree Indian term, wetiko, which is a cannibalistic spirit with an insatiable desire for consumption, that eventually even subsumes its host. They are essentially saying that the animating force of late-stage capitalism is the mind-virus of wetiko. In sum, we have a system that has already chosen winners and losers. A system that elaborately ensures who gets into Ivy League colleges, gets the best jobs, makes the most money, and enjoys the most privileged lives. This is the same system that decides which businesses receive the most corporate welfare, benefit most from regulations, receive the best protection from foreign competitors, and are most likely to get the best returns on their lobbying dollars. We have, at the end of the day, the freest marketplace that money can buy. A system created by wetikos to perpetuate wetiko. Thirteen Ways To Start Fixing The Problem The solution lies not in a freer marketplace with less government intervention, but in a marketplace that expresses the wishes and best interests of the majority, in one that fairly protects the rights of minorities with what we might call a “democratic marketplace,” driven by a commitment to justice, equity, interdependence, ecological regeneration, and the well-being of all life. How do we move toward this goal? Here are 13 ways to start fixing the deep psychosis of our system.
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1. Get money out of politics. We must overturn Citizens United v. FEC, support organizations like Free Speech For People (which has led an attack on the ruling), and ultimately transition to 100% publicly financed elections. 2. Require disclosure on the source of funding for any and all documents published academically or in the public domain. 3. Create new anti-trust laws that prevent and eliminate monopolies. 4. End all corporate financial subsidies. 5. End insider trading. 6. Initiate an immediate living wage and transition to a basic minimum income for all citizens.
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7. Expand the definition of unionized labor to increase the number of workers that unions represent. 8. Set a corporate minimum tax rate of 25%. 9. Eliminate the second home mortgage deduction. 10. Increase funding available to fund Employee Stock Ownership Plans and build greater tax incentives for co-operatives and other forms of employee ownership. 11. Stop transferring the cost of product externalities from business to society. The American Sustainable Business Council (which I cofounded) has a working group developing policy recommendations that would begin to move us toward full-cost accounting. 12. Permanently eliminate payroll taxes.
advertisementThe restoration of Article 1 powers, which treat all branches of government equally, has been a central goal of Republicans in Congress for the duration of President Barack Obama’s presidency.
For President-elect Donald Trump, whose agenda involves many sweeping changes to government, his executive power will be severely diminished if Congress gets their way.
One way Congress is attempting to roll back executive power is the Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act.
The REINS Act aims to curb expensive regulations put forth by the executive. Major regulations with an economic impact in excess of $100 million would require an up-or-down vote in both chambers of Congress, complete with a signature from the president.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told reporters in his Washington office Tuesday that President Trump will not have the same broad authority Obama has been privy to during his time in the White House:
“You’re gonna watch in the House, we will start out changing that structure. The Article 1 — from the REINS Act, the midnight laws and others that you bring through — that yes, that we’ll have common ground and common sense.”
McCarthy said that the purpose of the REINS Act is to propel the United States’ economic stagnation by limiting the flow of regulations that have been a pillar of the Obama presidency.
“The first six years of this administration they had 500 new regulations,” McCarthy said. “I mean the idea of how to put this country back to work, allow [the middle class] to grow and actually have more money. Today, they’re worth less than they were eight years ago, that’s the frustration.”
McCarthy said that early in the election cycle, Trump was a supporter of the REINS Act and similar policy plans because of his opposition to government regulations on business.
“Donald Trump understands that the country works better when it has three co-equal branches and that this last administration has extended the executive in so many different areas, we’ve watched time and time again where the courts had to stop it and overrule.”
Another piece of legislation aimed at restricting executive powers is the Midnight Rules Relief Act, which prevents the president from pushing through last minute regulations in the final 60 days of a presidential term by amending the Congressional Review Act.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who sponsored the bill, said after it had passed the House earlier this month that “Presidents of both parties have made habit of enacting scores of last-minute regulations, with little oversight, to sneak in as much of their agenda as possible before the clock runs out on their time in office,” adding:
“The bill helps ensure this President and any future president will be held in check and that their policies have the proper level of scrutiny by both Congress and the American people.”
From a regulatory standpoint, Trump is slated to have considerably less power than his predecessors, assuming Republicans can push through their plans to level the three branches of government.
“So one of the roles of the House will be is bringing that back into order,” McCarthy said. “That’s the way the Constitution was written, that’s the way the country works best and I think it’ll be very productive.”Jermaine Jones expects to be back in action when the LA Galaxy welcome the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, after missing the past two games with a toe injury, according to Adam Serrano's report on the club website.
“I still have two stitches inside, and they wanted to take them off on Saturday before the game," Jones told Serrano. "The doctors gave me the green light, and I’m ready to go."
Whether he starts in LA's attempt to snap a 10-match winless run will be up to coach Sigi Schmid.
"I always say that I want to play and I want to try to help the team," Jones said. "The coach makes the decision, but I think it’s important especially now against Colorado at home that we get the win.”
The Galaxy have gone 0-9-1 in their last time, and have earned just one victory in 13 previous league matches at StubHub Center. They currently sit 13 points below the playoff line.
“Every game is a final. That’s how you have to see it," Jones said. "I don’t want to talk about playoffs, the light is still there, but it’s so small."Tim founded GeeklyInc with Michael DiMauro way back in 2013 when they realized they had two podcasts and needed a place to stick them. Since then, Geekly has grown and taken off in ways Tim could have never imagined.
Well, crap. This whole trip has been one thing after another but this whole Balder being murdered bit takes the cake! Honestly, what are we going to do? We are trapped underground with thousands of angry dwarves with the only exits heavily guarded. Plus, they think Jaela did it! We brought Jaela into their city so even if she didn’t do it…they won’t care! I think the best course of action is to solve this mystery in order to prove Jaela’s innocence. Also, Jett is so cool and this will give all of us extra time to really figure him out. What is he even saying?
Join us in June in Portland for GeeklyCon 2016!!!
The adventure continues with Titus Harper (Tim Lanning), Jett Razor (Mike Bachmann), Nyx/ Aludra (Jennifer Cheek), Jaela (Nika Howard) and your Dungeon Master (Michael DiMauro). Don’t forget to follow our editor Steph Kingston (@stephokingston)!
Our sponsor this week is Noisy Person Cards. Check them out on Kickstarter.Reviewing the Source
A. Author
What are the author's credentials--institutional affiliation (where he or she works), educational background, past writings, or experience? Is the book or article written on a topic in the author's area of expertise? You can use the various Who's Who publications for the U.S. and other countries and for specific subjects and the biographical information located in the publication itself to help determine the author's affiliation and credentials. Has your instructor mentioned this author? Have you seen the author's name cited in other sources or bibliographies? Respected authors are cited frequently by other scholars. For this reason, always note those names that appear in many different sources. Is the author associated with a reputable institution or organization? What are the basic values or goals of the organization or institution?
B. Date of Publication
When was the source published? This date is often located on the face of the title page below the name of the publisher. If it is not there, look for the copyright date on the reverse of the title page. On Web pages, the date of the last revision is usually at the bottom of the home page, sometimes every page. Is the source current or out-of-date for your topic? Topic areas of continuing and rapid development, such as the sciences, demand more current information. On the other hand, topics in the humanities often require material that was written many years ago. At the other extreme, some news sources on the Web now note the hour and minute that articles are posted on their site.
C. Edition or Revision
Is this a first edition of this publication or not? Further editions indicate a source has been revised and updated to reflect changes in knowledge, include omissions, and harmonize with its intended reader's needs. Also, many printings or editions may indicate that the work has become a standard source in the area and is reliable. If you are using a Web source, do the pages indicate revision dates?
D. Publisher
Note the publisher. If the source is published by a university press, it is likely to be scholarly. Although the fact that the publisher is reputable does not necessarily guarantee quality, it does show that the publisher may have high regard for the source being published.
E. Title of Journal
Is this a scholarly or a popular journal? This distinction is important because it indicates different levels of complexity in conveying ideas. If you need help in determining the type of journal, see Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals. Or you may wish to check your journal title in the latest edition of Katz's Magazines for Libraries (Olin Ref Z 6941.K21, shelved at the reference desk) for a brief evaluative description.New York Table Tennis Club
http://www.nyttc.com
35-26 Prince St
Flushing, NY 11354
(718) 359-3272
Facility:
6 Tables and wood floors
Coaches:
Hui Yuan Liu, Yu Shao, Liu Juan, Yang (Andy) Liu
Overview:
With a vast background as a former professional player and coach to some of the top players in the world, Coach Hui Yuan Liu brought his talent to U.S. and founded the New York Table Tennis Club in 1995. Since then, the club has produced and trained some of the best players in the nation. Among them are 2010 Men’s Singles National Champion Michael Landers, 2010 US Men’s National Team member Yu Shao, former U.S. National Girls Cadet & Junior Team members, Isabella Chen and Stephanie Shih. In 2006, he was awarded the best coach of the United States by USA Table Tennis.
The club is open 7 days a week with a dedicated group of 50-60 members. The club is easily accessible within a 15 minute walk of the Flushing Main Street subway stop. If you decide to drive, there is free parking after 7pm everyday and all day Sunday.
NYTTC is definitely on the “must play at” list for clubs in NYC. However, there might be one club that you will want to add to that list very soon. Yang (Andy) Liu, who is coach Liu’s son, will be opening up a new club nearby in College Point, known as New York Indoor Sports Center. We got a sneak peek of the club and were very impressed. The club is spacious with very high ceilings. It will also include indoor soccer on one side of the club. We look forward to the grand opening, and we’ll report on it soon!
–
JOOLA – For The Champion In You!
Official Apparel of the US National Team.
Official Table Sponsor of the US Open and US Nationals.
Official Table Tennis Equipment Supplier of the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympics.
Follow JOOLA USA on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/joolausa
Follow JOOLA USA on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/joolausa
Follow JOOLA USA on Vimeo:
http://www.vimeo.com/joolausa
Follow JOOLA USA on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/joolausaThe Freedonia Group says that the high rate of growth will be due to regulatory changes in the US, China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) to improve water and air quality in the nation, and expanding production of edible oils, beverages, and sweeteners in much of the rest of the world.
The activated carbon market in China will be driven by more than regulation, and will advance at a slightly lower rate than sales in the US. While implementation of the newest Five-Year Plan will bolster activated carbon use, gains will also come from increasing consumption by industry, as demand for activated carbon rises faster than the world average. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan will also lead to greater use of activated carbon in water treatment and in air purification. Consumption of activated carbon at the household level in point-of-use tap water filtration systems will also boost demand.- Now we need to drill some 6 mm holes in the wooden frame and the steel base.
- If it is everything ok after inserting the screws the final thing is to sand the whole frame a bit and mount the led strip panel to our frame with a few screws.
- At the back also attach a step down converter with two small screws in the middle and connect it with main cable with another two 20 cm in length wires.
- After that, drill a 5 cm hole in the middle of the steel base so we could later attach it to the tripod.
- To prevent iron from oxidizing I quickly coat it with anti corrosion paint and we are almost done.
- While waiting for paint to dry I modeled a simple wing nut frame for a nut and bold so we can easily adjust the angle of our panel.
- For the power source I used an old laptop's power adapter which is just right for this project. Strip the ends and connect it to the step down converter. I also put some velcro tape on the back of the panel so it can hold the adapter in place.
- Last but not least, we need to mount the whole panel to the tripod with a M5 screw and a bold. Secure it tightly and our panel is finished.Taking note of the fact that the long-held conventional wisdom about cholesterol has been overturned, the proprietor of the wonderfully named Barrel Strength blog over in the UK offers up the “Eight Stages of Scam” as applied to climate change. This one is worth marking down:
The cholesterol scam bears a strong relationship to the anthropogenic global warming scam.
1) it is propagated by scientists on a non-scientific mission.
2) it is believed because it plausibly explains an observation (increasing global temperature [for a time], increasing heart attacks from smoking in the 1950s and 60s). It taps into large anxieties about too much wealth, too much happiness, in western societies. There must be sin somewhere, and the public is ready to flog itself in the cause of a secularized idea of God, uh, I mean Good.
3) the causal relationship is weaker than first supposed; the research is found to be sloppy, the facts have been fudged, subsequent studies do not fully support the original claims, nevertheless the orthodoxy is promulgated all the more harshly for being doubted.
4) by now, powerful economic and ideological interests have taken hold. They supply an ongoing source of funds and opinion to ensure the perpetuation of the alarm: in the case of cholesterol, the margarine industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the medical establishment, and in |
and configure a can by cloning baseCanNode. You’ll find out what can positions are in the next step. Here you create a random bool that decides which texture and rotation the can will have. The positioning of each can will be defined by the level data stored in canPositions.
With that in place, you are almost ready to see some cans in the level. Before you can see them though, you’ll need to create some levels first.
In GameHelper.swift, you’ll find is a GameLevel struct that contains a single property representing an array of 3D coordinates for each of the cans in that level. There is also an array of levels where you’ll store the levels you create.
To populate the levels array add the following back in GameViewController below setupNextLevel() :
func createLevelsFrom(baseNode: SCNNode) { // Level 1 let levelOneCanOne = SCNVector3( x: baseNode.position.x - 0.5, y: baseNode.position.y + 0.62, z: baseNode.position.z ) let levelOneCanTwo = SCNVector3( x: baseNode.position.x + 0.5, y: baseNode.position.y + 0.62, z: baseNode.position.z ) let levelOneCanThree = SCNVector3( x: baseNode.position.x, y: baseNode.position.y + 1.75, z: baseNode.position.z ) let levelOne = GameLevel( canPositions: [ levelOneCanOne, levelOneCanTwo, levelOneCanThree ] ) // Level 2 let levelTwoCanOne = SCNVector3( x: baseNode.position.x - 0.65, y: baseNode.position.y + 0.62, z: baseNode.position.z ) let levelTwoCanTwo = SCNVector3( x: baseNode.position.x - 0.65, y: baseNode.position.y + 1.75, z: baseNode.position.z ) let levelTwoCanThree = SCNVector3( x: baseNode.position.x + 0.65, y: baseNode.position.y + 0.62, z: baseNode.position.z ) let levelTwoCanFour = SCNVector3( x: baseNode.position.x + 0.65, y: baseNode.position.y + 1.75, z: baseNode.position.z ) let levelTwo = GameLevel( canPositions: [ levelTwoCanOne, levelTwoCanTwo, levelTwoCanThree, levelTwoCanFour ] ) helper.levels = [levelOne, levelTwo] }
That function simply creates positions for various numbers of cans and stores it in the helper class’ levels array.
To see your progress, add the following to the bottom of createScene() :
createLevelsFrom(baseNode: shelfNode)
Finally add this to the top of presentLevel() :
setupNextLevel()
Build and run, then tap the menu to see the cans stacked up like this:
Great job! :] You now have an efficient and reusable way of loading levels of varying layouts in the game. It’s now time to add in the ball and start bashing away.
Adding the Ball
At the moment you aren’t able to interact with your game; you’re just left to stare at those pesky cans until they rust. Time to do something about that!
Add the following to the top of the file along with the other node properties just below baseCanNode :
var currentBallNode: SCNNode?
This will keep track of the current ball the player is interacting with.
Next add the following new function right after createLevelsFrom(baseNode:) :
func dispenseNewBall() { // 1 let ballScene = SCNScene(named: "resources.scnassets/Ball.scn")! let ballNode = ballScene.rootNode.childNode(withName: "sphere", recursively: true)! ballNode.name = "ball" let ballPhysicsBody = SCNPhysicsBody( type:.dynamic, shape: SCNPhysicsShape(geometry: SCNSphere(radius: 0.35)) ) ballPhysicsBody.mass = 3 ballPhysicsBody.friction = 2 ballPhysicsBody.contactTestBitMask = 1 ballNode.physicsBody = ballPhysicsBody ballNode.position = SCNVector3(x: -1.75, y: 1.75, z: 8.0) ballNode.physicsBody?.applyForce(SCNVector3(x: 0.825, y: 0, z: 0), asImpulse: true) // 2 currentBallNode = ballNode levelScene.rootNode.addChildNode(ballNode) }
In this function:
You create a ball from Ball.scn and configure it with a physics body that simulates a baseball. After the ball is positioned, you apply an initial force to launch the ball into view from the left.
To use this new function, add the following to the end of setupNextLevel() :
// Delay the ball creation on level change let waitAction = SCNAction.wait(duration: 1.0) let blockAction = SCNAction.run { _ in self.dispenseNewBall() } let sequenceAction = SCNAction.sequence([waitAction, blockAction]) levelScene.rootNode.runAction(sequenceAction)
This will dispense the first ball after a short delay while the level sets itself up.
There’s a tiny problem with the physics in the level. Build and run to see it in action:
Tap the menu; you’ll see the the ball fall into view, then fall off the screen. Whoops!
The floor doesn’t have a physics body yet, so the ball doesn’t know that it should bounce off the floor and instead falls into oblivion.
Instead of adding the physics for the floor through code, you can add it in the SceneKit editor. This way with only a few clicks, you’ll get the ball bouncing as it should.
Adding Physics Using the SceneKit Editor
Head over to resources.scnassets/Level.scn and click on the floor node. Select the Physics Inspector and change Type to Static, then change the Category mask to 5.
That’s it for adding a physics body in the SceneKit Editor! The other settings can be tweaked to offer different behaviors, but the defaults are perfect for your game.
Build and run to see the ball bounce and roll right to the center, ready to be thrown:
Repeat the same steps to add a physics body to the wall as well, since you don’t want the ball disappearing through the back wall and off into the sunset.
Throwing the Ball
It’s now time to start bashing those cans around. Start off by adding the following properties to GameViewController :
// Ball throwing mechanics var startTouchTime: TimeInterval! var endTouchTime: TimeInterval! var startTouch: UITouch? var endTouch: UITouch?
The start and end touch times will help determine how quickly the player moved their finger across the screen. This lets you figure out how hard to thrust the ball towards those poor cans. The location of the touches are important as well so the the ball flies off in the right direction.
Next add the following function right after dispenseNewBall() :
func throwBall() { guard let ballNode = currentBallNode else { return } guard let endingTouch = endTouch else { return } // 1 let firstTouchResult = scnView.hitTest( endingTouch.location(in: view), options: nil ).filter({ $0.node == touchCatchingPlaneNode }).first guard let touchResult = firstTouchResult else { return } // 2 levelScene.rootNode.runAction( SCNAction.playAudio( helper.whooshAudioSource, waitForCompletion: false ) ) // 3 let timeDifference = endTouchTime - startTouchTime let velocityComponent = Float(min(max(1 - timeDifference, 0.1), 1.0)) // 4 let impulseVector = SCNVector3( x: touchResult.localCoordinates.x, y: touchResult.localCoordinates.y * velocityComponent * 3, z: shelfNode.position.z * velocityComponent * 15 ) ballNode.physicsBody?.applyForce(impulseVector, asImpulse: true) helper.ballNodes.append(ballNode) // 5 currentBallNode = nil startTouchTime = nil endTouchTime = nil startTouch = nil endTouch = nil }
In this function:
First, you apply a hit test to get the touch result located on the touch catching node you created earlier. Next, you play a whooshing sound effect to provide some audible feedback. You calculate the velocity from the time difference from the start and end of the player’s touch. Then you create a vector from the local coordinate of the touch result to the shelf’s location. You use the velocity to elongate the vector. Finally you clear out the throw’s properties for the next throw.
In order for that function to work, you need to modify the touch handling in the game.
Replace the entire touchesBegan(_:with:) with:
override func touchesBegan(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) { super.touchesBegan(touches, with: event) if helper.state ==.tapToPlay { presentLevel() } else { guard let firstTouch = touches.first else { return } let point = firstTouch.location(in: scnView) let hitResults = scnView.hitTest(point, options: [:]) if hitResults.first?.node == currentBallNode { startTouch = touches.first startTouchTime = Date().timeIntervalSince1970 } } }
At the beginning of a touch, if the game is in the playing state and the touch is on the current ball, then you record the beginning of a touch.
Next, replace touchesEnded(_: with:) to:
override func touchesEnded(_ touches: Set<UITouch>, with event: UIEvent?) { super.touchesEnded(touches, with: event) guard startTouch!= nil else { return } endTouch = touches.first endTouchTime = Date().timeIntervalSince1970 throwBall() }
When the player lifts their finger off the screen, you’ll need to hold on to the end touch as well as the time since those are critical to throwing the ball in the right direction.
Build and run and try to bully those cans to the ground:
Collision Detection
You can throw the ball at the cans, and if your aim is any good, they’ll tumble to the ground. That’s great, but you can’t tell if all cans hit the ground so that you can advance to the next level.
SceneKit makes it really easy to handle this type of collision detection. The SCNPhysicsContactDelegate protocol defines a few useful collision handling functions:
physicsWorld(_:didBegin:) : This gets called when two physics bodies come into contact with each other.
: This gets called when two physics bodies come into contact with each other. physicsWorld(_:didUpdate:) : This gets triggered after contact has begun and provides additional information about an ongoing collision between two bodies.
: This gets triggered after contact has begun and provides additional information about an ongoing collision between two bodies. physicsWorld(_:didEnd:) : This gets called when the contact between bodies comes to an end.
While all are useful, physicsWorld(_:didBeginContact:) is really the only function you’ll have to worry about in your game.
Adding Collision Detection
When the ball collides with other nodes in the level, you typically want to play sounds based on types of nodes participating in the collision. Also, when a can hits the floor you need to increase the score.
First, add the following property to GameViewController :
var bashedCanNames: [String] = []
You will use this to keep track of cans that have been hit.
To get started on handling collisions, add the following extension to the bottom of GameViewController.swift:
extension GameViewController: SCNPhysicsContactDelegate { // MARK: SCNPhysicsContactDelegate func physicsWorld(_ world: SCNPhysicsWorld, didBegin contact: SCNPhysicsContact) { guard let nodeNameA = contact.nodeA.name else { return } guard let nodeNameB = contact.nodeB.name else { return } // 1 var ballFloorContactNode: SCNNode? if nodeNameA == "ball" && nodeNameB == "floor" { ballFloorContactNode = contact.nodeA } else if nodeNameB == "ball" && nodeNameA == "floor" { ballFloorContactNode = contact.nodeB } if let ballNode = ballFloorContactNode { // 2 guard ballNode.action(forKey: GameHelper.ballFloorCollisionAudioKey) == nil else { return } ballNode.runAction( SCNAction.playAudio( helper.ballFloorAudioSource, waitForCompletion: true ), forKey: GameHelper.ballFloorCollisionAudioKey ) return } // 3 var ballCanContactNode: SCNNode? if nodeNameA.contains("Can") && nodeNameB == "ball" { ballCanContactNode = contact.nodeA } else if nodeNameB.contains("Can") && nodeNameA == "ball" { ballCanContactNode = contact.nodeB } if let canNode = ballCanContactNode { guard canNode.action(forKey: GameHelper.ballCanCollisionAudioKey) == nil else { return } canNode.runAction( SCNAction.playAudio( helper.ballCanAudioSource, waitForCompletion: true ), forKey: GameHelper.ballCanCollisionAudioKey ) return } // 4 if bashedCanNames.contains(nodeNameA) || bashedCanNames.contains(nodeNameB) { return } // 5 var canNodeWithContact: SCNNode? if nodeNameA.contains("Can") && nodeNameB == "floor" { canNodeWithContact = contact.nodeA } else if nodeNameB.contains("Can") && nodeNameA == "floor" { canNodeWithContact = contact.nodeB } // 6 if let bashedCan = canNodeWithContact { bashedCan.runAction( SCNAction.playAudio( helper.canFloorAudioSource, waitForCompletion: false ) ) bashedCanNames.append(bashedCan.name!) helper.score += 1 } } }
There’s a lot going on above, so let's unpack what’s happening:
First you check to see if the contact was between the ball and the floor. You play a sound effect if the ball hits the floor. If the ball didn’t make contact with the floor, then you check to see if the ball contacted a can. If so, you also play an appropriate sound effect. If the can has already collided with the floor, simply bail because you’ve already resolved this collison. You now check if a can hit the floor. If the can contacted the floor, you keep track of the can’s name so you only handle this collision once. You also increment the score when a new can hits the floor.
There are a lot of collisions going on — and a lot to handle! But now that you now know when collisions occur, you can add in one of the best parts of a game — winning! :]
Add the following to the bottom of physicsWorld(_:didBegin:) :
// 1 if bashedCanNames.count == helper.canNodes.count { // 2 if levelScene.rootNode.action(forKey: GameHelper.gameEndActionKey)!= nil { levelScene.rootNode.removeAction(forKey: GameHelper.gameEndActionKey) } let maxLevelIndex = helper.levels.count - 1 // 3 if helper.currentLevel == maxLevelIndex { helper.currentLevel = 0 } else { helper.currentLevel += 1 } // 4 let waitAction = SCNAction.wait(duration: 1.0) let blockAction = SCNAction.run { _ in self.setupNextLevel() } let sequenceAction = SCNAction.sequence([waitAction, blockAction]) levelScene.rootNode.runAction(sequenceAction) }
Here’s what’s going on above:
If the number of bashed cans is the same as the number of cans in the level, we advance to the next level. This removes the old game end action Once the last level is complete, loop through the levels again since the game is based on getting the highest score. Load the next level after a short delay.
To get the contact delegate working for your level scene, add the following at the top of createScene() :
levelScene.physicsWorld.contactDelegate = self
Finally add the following right after presentLevel() :
func resetLevel() { // 1 currentBallNode?.removeFromParentNode() // 2 bashedCanNames.removeAll() // 3 for canNode in helper.canNodes { canNode.removeFromParentNode() } helper.canNodes.removeAll() // 4 for ballNode in helper.ballNodes { ballNode.removeFromParentNode() } }
This helps to clear out the state being tracked while the player is in the middle of playing through a level. Here’s what’s going on:
If there is a current ball, remove it. Remove all of the bashed can names used in the contact delegate. Loop through the can nodes and remove each can from its parent, then clear out the array. Remove each ball node from the scene.
You’ll need to call this function in a couple places. Add the following code at the top of presentLevel() :
resetLevel()
Replace the blockAction used to move on to the next level inside physicsWorld(_:didBegin:) with the following:
let blockAction = SCNAction.run { _ in self.resetLevel() self.setupNextLevel() }
Build and run your game; you can finally play through the game! Well, that is, if you can beat each level in just one throw:
You can’t really expect every player to have the skill to finish a level with one ball. Your next job is to implement a HUD so the player will be able to see their score and remaining balls.
Improving the Gameplay
Add the following at the end of createScene() :
levelScene.rootNode.addChildNode(helper.hudNode)
Now the player can see their score and track the remaining balls. You still need a way of checking whether you should dispense another ball, or end the game.
Add the following at the end of throwBall() :
if helper.ballNodes.count == GameHelper.maxBallNodes { let waitAction = SCNAction.wait(duration: 3) let blockAction = SCNAction.run { _ in self.resetLevel() self.helper.ballNodes.removeAll() self.helper.currentLevel = 0 self.helper.score = 0 self.presentMenu() } let sequenceAction = SCNAction.sequence([waitAction, blockAction]) levelScene.rootNode.runAction(sequenceAction, forKey: GameHelper.gameEndActionKey) } else { let waitAction = SCNAction.wait(duration: 0.5) let blockAction = SCNAction.run { _ in self.dispenseNewBall() } let sequenceAction = SCNAction.sequence([waitAction, blockAction]) levelScene.rootNode.runAction(sequenceAction) }
This if statement handles the case of the player throwing their last ball. It gives them a grace period of three seconds so the final can or two can stubbornly roll off the shelf. Otherwise, once the player has thrown the ball, you dispense a new ball after a short delay to give them another chance at bashing some more cans! :]
One final improvement is to also show the player their highest score so they can brag about it to their friends!
Add the following to presentMenu(), right after helper.state =.tapToPlay :
helper.menuLabelNode.text = "Highscore: \(helper.highScore)"
That piece of code refreshes the menu’s HUD so that the player can view their highest score!
You're all done! Build and run and see if you can beat your own high-score? :]
Where to Go From Here?
The final project for this tutorial can be found here.
You can take the SceneKit knowledge from this tutorial and add some rather clever and realistic throwing mechanics into your own game.
To further your knowledge of SceneKit, check out Apple’s developer videos covering SceneKit and its advances over time.
If you’d like to learn more about making 3D games with SceneKit and Swift, check out our book 3D iOS Games by Tutorials. The book teaches you everything you need to know to make 3D iOS games, by making a series of mini-games like this one, including games like Breakout, Marble Madness, and even Crossy Road. Check out the epic trailer below:
As an extra challenge, we encourage you to try and build some of your own levels. Try adding more than four cans and creating more challenging layouts. You simply need to add or edit the levels declared in createLevelsFrom(baseNode:).
We'd love you see what you can come up with — join the discussion below to comment, ask questions or share your ideas for improving this game. Feel free to post some bragging screenshots of those high-scores on Twitter too!The Bank of England is "moving closer" to raising interest rates, according to its Governor, as another policymaker said the case for tightening policy was now stronger than at any point over the past six years.
The pound jumped by more than a cent against the dollar and euro after Mark Carney said households should start to manage their finances with higher interest rates in mind.
"The economy has been performing well, it has been growing faster than its historical trend now for a few years," he told the Treasury Select Committee (TSC).
"There's been a big increase in employment, wages are beginning to grow and interest rates are at exceptionally and historically low levels, and so households should begin to manage their finances with the expectation that there will be some upward adjustment in those interest rates."
Mr Carney's comments were echoed by David Miles, another member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), who said it would be "a bad mistake" if the Bank waited too long to raise rates.
Mr Miles, who leaves the MPC in August, revealed on Tuesday that he was on the brink of voting to raise rates from a record low of 0.5pc. He said in a speech: "The case for beginning a gradual normalisation in the stance of monetary policy is stronger than at any time since I joined the committee over six years ago."
Mr Miles has been viewed as one of the most dovish members of the MPC because of his call for more monetary stimulus between the end of 2012 to beginning of 2013.
However, he dismissed the idea as "pish-posh", and said a "gentle amble" towards higher rates was unlikely to derail Britain's recovery.
"I think a first move up in Bank Rate soon is likely to be right. I do not attach great weight to the idea that starting this process will create great risks of dropping back into very weak growth, falling into negative inflation and engendering a splurge in risk avoiding behaviour. I attach more weight to the risks of waiting too long and then not being able to take a gradual path to a more normal stance for monetary policy," he said.
Mr Carney cautioned that strong UK growth was "counter-balanced" by the fact that inflation rates across the world remained subdued, as well as the strength of the pound, which he said would have a "persistent impact on inflation" over some time.
Official data on Tuesday showed inflation fell to zero in June, from 0.1pc in May. However, the Bank of England expects inflation, as measured by the consumer prices index, to rise above 1pc by the end of this year as the impact of a dramatic fall in oil prices begins to fade.
Mr Carney also said the Bank would monitor the response of families to higher interest rates closely. "We will learn about sensitivity as rates begin to adjust," he said. "We will watch those very closely.
"The news is not just in the adjustment but likely path of interest rates. [For a] variety of reasons, increases will be to a much more gradual and limited extent.
"We have to think about the impact of [rate rises] on the economy... given the heavy indebtedness of UK households."
Sterling climbed as high as $1.5633 against the dollar and €1.4157 against the euro following Mr Carney's comments. Ian McCafferty and Martin Weale, who also sit on the MPC, have also suggested that they could start voting for higher rates in the coming months.
Mr Carney said that the Chancellor's decision in the Budget to slow down the pace of fiscal consolidation would not "materially shift the implications" for monetary policy.
"The Budget has smoothed the pace of fiscal consolidation, it hasn't changed the overall quantum of it," he told MPs.In light of the legend's recent Hall of Fame induction, I thought I'd put together a collection of my 5 favorite moments from Phil Ivey's amazing career.
Super-Human Reading Skills
If you’re Jackson, how do you even continue the match after this hand?
The River That Changed Everything
Not Ivey’s happiest moment for sure, but this is likely one of the most influential river cards in poker history. Is there any chance Ivey doesn’t win this event if he holds here? How different would the poker world look if an established pro had won the 2003 Main Event instead of the ‘regular guy’ Moneymaker?
The Greatest Of All Time
Hellmuth loves to call himself the GOAT, but Ivey has always let his play do the talking. He’s been the perfect antithesis of Hellmuth’s arrogant persona, quietly out-playing him throughout their careers and causing more than a couple blow-ups like the one below.
Almost A Hero
I know it’s odd to include a hand where Ivey fails to make the perfect decision, but the very fact that he even considers calling this river is one of the most amazing moments in his career.
Full Value
Despite being the scariest guy at the table, Ivey always seemed to manage to get paid.
Watching poker is great, but wouldn’t you rather be playing? Play free poker.Conservative provocateur James O'Keefe crossed the line and became a full-on creep, today. His latest prank: Luring and attempting to trap a "hot blonde" CNN reporter on a "pleasure palace" boat filled with dildos and sex toys.
Thankfully, CNN intervened mere moments before the sexual ambush was to take place, otherwise James O'Keefe would have escalated from illegal phone taps to cornering and sexually humiliating ("seducing"? "pulling pranks on"?) women:
A conservative activist known for making undercover videos plotted to embarrass a CNN correspondent by recording a meeting on hidden cameras aboard a floating "palace of pleasure" and making sexually suggestive comments, e-mails and a planning document show. James O'Keefe, best known for hitting the community organizing group ACORN with an undercover video sting, hoped to get CNN Investigative Correspondent Abbie Boudreau onto a boat filled with sexually explicit props and then record the session, those documents show. The plan apparently was thwarted after Boudreau was warned minutes before it was supposed to happen.
Basically, "the right's Bob Woodward" is the journalistic equivalent of a guy who shows his penis to you on the subway, then stands there chuckling under his breath. Abbie Boudreau was working on a story about conservative activists, and met O'Keefe during that. Then, the conserva-creep struck:
O'Keefe called Boudreau on August 10. During the conversation, he said he preferred that Boudreau meet him in person in Maryland and asked that she come alone. "I just want to talk," O'Keefe told Boudreau on the phone. "I just want to have a, you know, meeting with you, and talk to you face to face about this. Because, I don't, I feel sort of, let's just say reserved about, about letting people into my sort of inner sanctum, about letting, letting people sort of take a glimpse into, into..."
The quote goes on, but I'll spare you. (Read it here if you must.) An excerpt from O'Keefe's preparations for the ambush, which CNN obtained and put on its website:
"Avoid Marvin Gaye as too cliche." What is wrong with this kid? Also: "condom jar"? This is simultaneously hilarious, terrifying, and deeply tragic. Poor James O'Keefe. He's going to die a virgin, isn't he?
Now where is that flying dildo when you need it… [CNN via Slate]
Previously:
Has James O'Keefe Lost His Attention-Seeking Touch?
James O'Keefe: Profile of a Right-Wing Nut in Facebook Pictures
James O'Keefe Guilty in Phone Tape 'Caper'
What We Know About the Young Republican Gang That Couldn't Shoot StraightA new shot of the Pillars. (NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team)
If you've seen pictures of space, you've seen the Pillars of Creation --a set of photogenic columns of cold gas bathed in the light of brand new star formation. Now, 20 years after the iconic 1995 shot was taken, The Hubble has gone back to take a more high definition look.
The new image, taken with a camera installed in 2009, is wider and sharper than before:
Side by side with the 1995 shot (right). (NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team)
These pillars, which stand about 7,000 light years away in the Eagle Nebula, aren't uncommon formations. They're made of cold hydrogen and dust, and they're actually on their way out.
"I'm impressed by how transitory these structures are. They are actively being ablated away before our very eyes. The ghostly bluish haze around the dense edges of the pillars is material getting heated up and evaporating away into space. We have caught these pillars at a very unique and short-lived moment in their evolution," Paul Scowen of Arizona State University said in a statement. Scowen co-led the original Hubble exploration of the Eagle Nebula.
In addition to the sharp new view, the Hubble caught the Pillars in infrared:
Infrared cuts through gas and dust, revealing a new perspective. (NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team)
Without gas and dust in the way, we see what the Pillars of Creation are hiding: A hotbed of star birth. From HubbleSite:
The infrared image shows that the reason the pillars exist is because the very ends of them are dense, and they shadow the gas below them, creating the long, pillar-like structures. The gas in between the pillars has long since been blown away by the ionizing winds from the central star cluster located above the pillars. At the top edge of the left-hand pillar, a gaseous fragment has been heated up and is flying away from the structure, underscoring the violent nature of star-forming regions. "These pillars represent a very dynamic, active process," Scowen said. "The gas is not being passively heated up and gently wafting away into space. The gaseous pillars are actually getting ionized (a process by which electrons are stripped off of atoms) and heated up by radiation from the massive stars. And then they are being eroded by the stars' strong winds (barrage of charged particles), which are sandblasting away the tops of these pillars."
Between 1995 and now, the astronomers report, they've seen the lengthening of an object that looks like a jet of light being shot out of the Pillars. They believe this jet -- which has traveled at a speed of around 450,000 miles per hour -- was ejected from a new star.
Read more:
Zooming in on the Pillars of Creation
Rosetta's historic comet lander is still missing
New Gemini image shows a gang of galaxies
Why science doesn't support a (New Year's) detoxA senior adviser to Republican Senate candidate George Allen blamed the national party and Mitt Romney's presidential campaign Thursday for allowing Virginia to go blue this election.
Boyd Marcus, a longtime Republican consultant in Virginia, said he knew early in the race that if Allen didn't make any mistakes, Romney could pull him across the finish line. Allen did his part, but Marcus said Romney's team and the Republican National Committee had an underwhelming get-out-the-vote effort that doomed them on Election Day.
"It was a lot of activity going on," Marcus said. "Most of it was pretty worthless."
Marcus participated in a panel discussion Thursday in Arlington along with Mo Elleithee, a senior adviser to Democrat Tim Kaine, Allen's opponent and the victor in Virginia's open U.S. Senate race. The two seasoned strategists were frank as they provided a behind-the-scenes look at the dueling campaigns.
Marcus, who is also advising Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling's gubernatorial bid, extended his criticism to the GOP in the Virginia General Assembly for taking on divisive social issues that became fodder for the Kaine campaign. Elleithee said a state debate on women's reproductive rights helped cast Allen and the Republican Party as out of touch with suburban women, an assertion Marcus agreed with.
"Your side was not helped at all by the Republicans in the General Assembly this year," Elleithee said.
Marcus replied: "Obviously."
From the winner's circle, Elleithee had very little criticism of his own campaign but admitted there were moments when his confidence wavered. After President Obama's lackluster first presidential debate, Elleithee saw a surge in the polls for Allen, thanks to Romney's superior performance.
"We felt the ground shift under us," Elleithee said.
There was resounding agreement that spending from outside political groups was out of control and it did not help Allen, even though the lion's share came from Republican organizations. More outside money was pumped into the Virginia Senate race than any other in the country, and it mostly came in the form of negative ads.
"Well over half [the interest group ads] weren't on our message, weren't on our points we tried to convey and they weren't well-done," Marcus said.
There was one saving grace for Marcus, who went into the election confident that both Romney and Allen were ahead in Virginia.
"Thank God," he said, "I wasn't on Fox News on election night."
scontorno@washingtonexaminer.comA Sikh man’s innocent selfie was twisted to cause worldwide panic.
Veerender Jubbal, a Sikh man living in the Greater Toronto area in Canada, found himself being wrongly portrayed as one of the terrorists that carried out dastardly attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015.
Jubbal's original image had him holding up an iPad, which he used to click a selfie of him in the bathroom mirror. This was photoshopped to make it look like the Quran, and a suicide vest was digitally added to complete the effect. The altered image made its way to the front page of La Razón, a leading Spanish daily, and two other Italian newspapers. Sky TG24, an Italian news channel, also posted the image on Twitter, where it has close to 2 million followers. Interestingly, a pro-ISIS channel shared the doctored image on Telegram, the same platform the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria used to claim responsibility for the attacks that claimed nearly 130 lives and injured more than 350. Around of a hundred of them are still critical.
Gamergate controversy started last year when a former boyfriend of game developer Zoë Quinn accused her in his blog post of having started a relationship with a journalist so that she could receive positive coverage about her game. Those who took the side of the boyfriend grouped under the Twitter handle The reason for targeting Jubbal may have nothing to do with terrorism or religion. It is widely believed, and by Jubbal himself, that he was victimized for his criticism of Gamergate. Thelast year when a former boyfriend of game developer Zoë Quinn accused her in his blog post of having started a relationship with a journalist so that she could receive positive coverage about her game. Those who took the side of the boyfriend grouped under the Twitter handle #GamerGate, where they define it as an idea and not an organization. The Twitter account has been critical of journalists, and Veerender Jubbal is himself a freelance journalist and a games critic.
exposed him to harm. The actions of the media organizations who projected him as a terrorist amounted to libel, he said. He released an official statement to the Jubbal remained cool all through it – he likened gamers to garbage, and tweeted that people wouldn't stop harassing him. He maintained that he was valuable, rad and 'cute as gosh'. He added that the mischief has. The actions of the media organizations who projected him as a terrorist amounted to libel, he said. He released an official statement to the Sikh Coalition
I hope everyone has caught up with what is going on with me. I went viral due to a photoshopped image claiming I am a terrorist. — Veerender Jubbal (@Veeren_Jubbal) November 15, 2015
This whole thing puts me in a bad position in the sense, where I could be harmed and/or hurt due to this. This is libel from news, and TV. — Veerender Jubbal (@Veeren_Jubbal) November 15, 2015
This image has been used, and placed on the front page of a major Spain newspaper–putting me as one of the people behind terrorist attacks. — Veerender Jubbal (@Veeren_Jubbal) November 15, 2015
Gamers are absolute garbage like I have been saying for a full year. People will not stop harassing, and bothering me. I am cute as gosh. — Veerender Jubbal (@Veeren_Jubbal) November 14, 2015
Those familiar with Sikh practices point out that it was a poor job, because Veerender Jubbal still wears a patka in the manipulated image and not the commonly seen dastaar turban, which could be confused with the Afghan pagri turban.
#GamerGate has not commented on the photoshopped image so far.
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Gamergate frames one of their critics as a participant in the ISIS attacks in Paris: https://t.co/0FiuiAQWwJ — David Wong (@JohnDiesattheEn) November 17, 2015
ResourcesAnti-bikie laws: Library worker Sally Kuether is first woman charged under Queensland legislation
Updated
A library assistant has become the first woman charged under Queensland's anti-bikie laws.
Forty-year-old Sally Kuether is accused of meeting Ronald Germain, 54, and Phillip Parmer, 60, wearing club colours at the Dayboro Hotel north-west of Brisbane last month.
The trio are alleged associates of the Life And Death motorcycle club.
They have been remanded in custody and will apply for bail in the Brisbane Magistrates Court next week.
Police say subsequent raids of two properties at Manly West and Samford Village turned up a number of illicit items, including a snake.
"A number of items were located at one of the addresses, including some dangerous drugs, drug paraphernalia and criminal gang paraphernalia," Detective Inspector Brendan Smith said.
One of the accused has also been charged with possessing a flick knife.
LNP looks to hire PR consultants to promote laws
The State Government, meanwhile, says it makes no apology for looking to appoint public relations consultants to promote its controversial laws.
It says the move is needed to clear up confusion and misinformation about the legislation.
The cost of the campaign has not been finalised, but it has been reported that |
we cannot be sure, and Dorroile being or having a god is a risk your superiors cannot afford to gamble. If he is a god-- oh, forbid the notion-- then we exist only on his whim, and if we can no longer amuse him we will disappear, like floorbound motes of gristle tongued up by a giant skydog. And more horripilating still if he has a god! All his grifts and scandals, all his cons and ruses and jolly-me-fools, all co-conspired by the divine?
This jokelaw's god or godship is intolerable and hereby officially untolerated, immediately nowfore and hencewhile. But since he, with his divinity could undo our laws with a whim, or have his god do it, our action must meet his metaphysical threat on the loftiest plane: we must, after centuries of stogged secularity in our beloved District of reason, elect or invent a god of our own. Therefore, we have entreated some of our elected officials for proposals.
Weyre Asb, Superior for Discipline
Goodmartin Asb deals in the breaking and tethering of lawdoffs. He has been elected to punish those who carry out offendations against our custom; he is responsible for tethering them to the pole, though he often gleefully overexerts his station with violence and terrible claws.
Tremble, cocklaw; my god is coming for you. Long have those who joked the law been subject to my brisk regimen of terror and retribution, and long has Dorroile escaped the grisly fingernails I file and buff into gleaming claws each morning. But no longer. My god will put an end to Dorroile's life as a lawjostle and a hedon. My god will use the principles of good to make Dorroile good.
My god is called Swimp and he is a cookie bear, which is just what it sounds like. He lives in the moon and he is bunny soft. Dorroile will be confronted by the good of Swimp and he will decide to be a more positive influence on children. Dorroile's god will probably be very moved by him too, and will become Microswimp, who follows Swimp and collects his leavings, which are cherries for hungry babies.
If Swimp does not convince Dorroile to be good, he is beyond saving and I will dismantle him with my terrible claws after all.
Hairbank, Superior for Education
The people elected Hairbank out of fear, for he promised to overrun the town with wild animals if he were not elected to teach their children. Since his election, he has eaten many children. He is from the North, and he seethes with contempt for our culture even as he sucks the meat from the ribs of our youth.
My god is Big Hairbank. He is me but huger. I am the hugest man, and Big Hairbank is the hugest god. I ride around inside Big Hairbank and we pluck men from the land like ticks from a whore and we pop them in our mouths and eat them like ticks from a whore. Big Hairbank and Hairbank team up to eat more children, you trust me on this. We are from the North and we hate your people. Wait until Big Hairbank get into god office, you will all see how bitter our hate. We will drink the life's soup from your veins with babylike milk greed, like a suckling wobbly deer fawn.
But Big Hairbank is a good god idea, and he will give you lots of money. Please vote for Big Hairbank. He will also eat Dorrolloille or whatever this is about? Thank you.
James Feiche, Superior for Protection & Warding
Grandmartin Feiche is tasked with warding or destroying Croisquessein, the invisible man who annoys us by misplacing our keys and television remotes, leaving our wallets in beerstations after hours so we cannot pick them up until the next day, incontinating our beds as we sleep after a night of drinking and many other embarrassments.
I devote my many days to the warding or destruction of Croisquessein, our second worst enemy after Dorroile, but actually everyone hates Croisquessein and I admit that some people like Dorroile so maybe Croisquessein is our worst enemy. [Correctative notation from Bulletin Authors & Your Head Better Superior: nobody likes Dorroile.] Even such, science has taught us one thing: Croisquessein is either invisible or nonexistent, or both. This has made it so my job is very hard, because these qualities are not things that make him easy to ward off or destroy. I have met with no success at this job and I'm sorry, but nobody ever has. It is also because Croisquessein is always coming in and making me lose my pen and my science thing.
So, I think that we should make Croisquessein our god. Maybe he will be appeased by it and direct his attention toward thwarting Dorroile and his god, and he will maybe stop coming into our places of work and misplacing our supplies. Or, if he is nonexistent, maybe he will just be flattered by it.
Claude Fantsy, Head Better Superior
Goodmartin Fantsy is responsible for the runnings and circumstance of our district in general. He does the most things of anyone.
I have the best god for us. He is a fire god, tall as a tree, made of concrete and orange tar. He has antlers and Dorroile is very afraid of him. He is called Eaticus and he exists to eat Dorroile, to eat his misdeeds and maldoings, to eat his memory from the minds of children or ladies and to devour the scandal of his horrible, slapping dance. He is smarter than Dorroile and will eat Dorroile and make him feel bad.
He will destroy Dorroile, slavering his slobberchops upon the blood of him even as the cocklaw still shrieks and moans, begging to atone for all the wrongs he perpetrated upon innocents like your Claude Fantsy. Dorroile will apologize for all the scandals he printed on ladies, like a dirty chocolate thumbprint upon the windscreen of a car, which he also did to me.
But who will stop Eaticus when his deed is done? Will his demon tongue be slaked with the blood of Dorroile, or will he hunger yet for fresh nourishment, the nourishment that can only come from the nutritious pulp of innocents? Eaticus will destroy us, for that is his nature, but we will die in happy reverie, plus the agony of being pulped, as we will know that Dorroile met his justice and our Head Better Superior is vindicated. Vote for Eaticus and vote for best evil justice. Thank you.
This bulletin is now over but for a regrettable formality: by principle of fairdom, Dorroile must be allowed in this bulletin to speak his mind regarding his own god. Please, your superiors beg it: do not be moved by Dorroile's words, because he is the worst man and he will try to trick you; he is smarter than you and always wins. Please. Legally we cannot tell you to skip his bit, but please.
Dorroile, Wanted Offender
Dorroile is the worst man. He is a one-man scandal that sootiesthe entire district with his pranks and ugly games and nasty dancing. He eats spoiled food to amuse drunks. He never opens his eyes. He is a little taller than everyone and a lot smarter. He is loathed universally. He teaches ribald songs to tramps and they sing them outside of our homes at night, so loud.
I do not have a god and I am not a god, and I find it very funny that somebody thinks I am a god or have a god. I think I probably was saying that I stole a hod, which is a thing we use to carry bricks and loam and things around town-- I recently stole a hod and filled it with squealing women and then took them around town to show. Then I ate a chocolate and put a melty chocolate thumbprint on Claude Fantsy's windscreen, right at the exact apex of his vision, where it will taunt him always because he will never remember to clean it.
But now we are electing a god and it sounds good. I think we should all vote for Swimp. I am casting my support for Swimp, the cookie bear, who lives on the moon. Swimp will be our new god, because I know you will all vote for him because you will do anything I say. Thank you, I hate you all, I am going to steal something from your house tonight. Praise Swimp.
Consider this your ballot, youngmartin, and compel yourself in one week's time to visit the Weep of Desperation, by the former site of the panther statue (now defaced by Dorroile himself) to vote.
The Weep of Desperation
– Dr. David Thorpe (@Arr)New Mexico’s Legislature has been looking mighty hungrily at the state’s medical marijuana program as a source of tax revenue. But according the state’s Tax and Revenue Department, such a tax could cause patients to turn to the black market.
A 25 percent excise tax on medical marijuana could potentially raise about $1.2 million for the state, according to the Legislative Finance Committee’s fiscal impact report on Sen. John Sapien’s bill, SB 56, reports Marjorie Childress at
The analysis estimated a typical patient spends $6,256 annually on medical marijuana, and would pay about $1,564 in excise tax per year.
There are 1,048 licensed patients in New Mexico. Of those, 321 are also licensed to grow their own marijuana at home. The rest depend on the state’s licensed dispensary system, which last year ran out of pot and left patients not-high and dry.
While the tax is on the production rather than on the purchase of medical cannabis, the Tax and Revenue Department rightly pointed out in the report that the analysis assumes patients won’t purchase alternatives to licensed dispensary medical marijuana if the price is raised.
If the tax is passed on to the patients, it could instead push more patients to grow at home, or to purchase from the black market, the report says:
… while there might not be a substitute for medical marijuana, there are substitute sources for medical marijuana where this new tax would not be applied. Most patients with the physical ability or resources available to grow their own medical marijuana may already do so; however, a price increase of 25 percent could push more of the non-growing patients to grow their own or to turn to the black market.
Sen. Sapien told The Independent last week that it’s not a given that non-profit producers would pass the tax on to consumers, but many patient advocates, including Paul Culkin, who recently organized the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Patients Group, assume that it would be.
Sapien said he had not heard of any other proposals to tax medicine or drugs recommended as treatments by physicians.
“Most patients don’t have the money to purchase equipment for a grow room, many aren’t physically able to grow their own, and many are on Social Security and fixed incomes,” Culkin said.Automatically Generated Transcript (may not be 100% accurate)
Good morning good morning hey yeah. What the heck do you guys talking about that the bill would now I am not ever beat the patriots have a. I didn't hear about been about the buffalo like come from Bob did become -- began to come watch the pats beat the -- got the bill. And you're sitting here telling me that you think the bill to get a beat the patriots the -- now our beat the patriots tell me how they're gonna beat the patriots. Scoring more points out not gonna have. Happen you guys beat. You guys beat black. Detroit why because -- you step with the idiot because they don't know how to how to manage big game but you -- -- all -- or you've got to beat the paper over the top terrific Brady never gonna happen you tell me how Tom readied to allude to that. Buffalo deep right that's. Sorry upload -- at how well they didn't go to one. Chris and you try to get me into live character for the -- the best is out that having. I'll know how to do out here you try to do it applicable local radio down here are some guy makes -- competent what do they stand talking about the movies about -- -- the -- out of talking about the facts straight fifteen years. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- And of these in a vast and Brady's got. We might know it but why did what I saw what's going all its us -- I got to know it's one of the sea hawks gonna do. But -- the -- you guys don't get out of -- -- team I know people want some -- single -- baseball team probably called adult that probably already in arable -- meet. If a bit of patriots go out there out and the -- they'll pay -- a lemon at depth here -- Ridley -- what else you want to beat the garrote and don't don't Venus. -- you guys do. Robert White. What -- -- -- -- like that's going to be an issue we won't we won't get caught my apartment a -- court it's never gonna. Happened but bill. Sorry you and your new although. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- The only time all of failed buffalo had a really good game. To happen at three locate but also Obama and and then what happened at the end of yet what happened but it whatnot that all -- they don't like that what happened okay. Paperback you took liable law like it took him out there yet -- all the old guys have been out and and -- -- that we came back that we speak up. We killed you guys might get -- do now. You watch the game on Sunday that's. Which that I do I want you get the buffalo wings compete -- -- what you're trying to make it a lot of possible look at that the only way. Oh and maybe get a blanket directed to another state that the only way the buffalo bill -- got to beat the patriots. -- that's all right you feel me right. No wait a MI -- lost here are my real. OK be -- be real because you guys you'd -- up with the -- around trying to find rapidly driving isn't happening he -- up. Two robot I robot bumped it up band and building. You dropped stadium does not that -- -- -- This -- we broke -- count but what would have a -- the plate what they have all the -- -- no -- Tim Kelly at a restaurant there. Yet arrest brought did I what -- you know the go back and how ballot how would you have played out. And I that the big outbreak Powell what -- I don't want to meet and it looked quite built a great time that's a great story. A great story. You know what I think you should approach thirty for thirty NC if they'll put that on TV on ESPN that that would have like told you. Well -- output and how it got gotten a fox frozen hired a house vote. It would -- the big about how widely -- him that nickname and all. These big. Big guide nice guy you would like a cop and stop like Herbert talked -- every like. Off duty like are -- the police opt -- you know but he never pulled anybody -- because he was just too nice. All right thanks a great guy. Thanks man good luck at the end in joy and Joyce on the. I mean you know I felt like Popeye like I vibe I was tempted to just get into the -- a vast. Thank you want system by. The first time you -- -- -- that the -- the best back you know well directed bees about a show. Which on an -- on. That happened because I was traveling with Niagara once and -- they were playing -- -- -- teams up in the Connecticut Massachusetts area whether it's Bentley or whenever I was driving around and listening to the radio. As listen and low Boston talk radio and it was. Way in Vancouver and the Bruins were big big rivals. And the calls on the station were like just like that it was I I was listening I thought I was listening to like of a skit on some television. It was just like the bees are gonna crush. Belong -- face into the tabloids. And it's going to be Murdoch it's going to be merit out there. And I drove rap rap like listen in these guys in Boston like -- got notes gates. Shot am and -- each. You're gonna destroy it is sold right out I'll tell you what guys big to have environments is -- bullets is good credit they're going to be debts. The deeper real call so let's run was what what is -- -- is happening. Just give Apple's first responders ready for. You know this dean. Six dollars. And cents. The beat the patriots. Beat the patriots then. I don't know. What I think going to be the patriots. And you know it's gonna be great it's the movie reference what's the what's the movie reference for when Tom Brady retires. It's like when them the curtain gets pulled back in the -- like the wizard get me back there cranking the machine like attention and what. Brady is gone and don't know. That was fun thank you Christian right thanks a lot on that is used to hold Christian are you still there. Are you still there. How hot it is not exactly all the army outfit you know let the big game out there. What it's like I don't know what it was odd what are you talking about. Talking about to be. Members are you about that you're probably going to be like what. Do you have. You'd think that bill are going to be debated because like that doesn't happen what Bill Belichick you don't don't beat the patriot that Babbitt. But don't know how to beat the patriots. It's super couple years ago. But yeah I'll probably never go away what we are how when and where 2000 -- -- -- and 2012. It was I don't know let it happen out it didn't happen. What happened and active. Projects and ran it down the one yard line the bills -- -- -- it to the upright in. Have you got prepared -- all up play you've got a look at now how weird you don't think we don't we don't we think that that that's a true win we know you've got a paper cup practice that we are all about it. That's what happened you'll get used that bat the count rejected likes to break humidity -- not even a real person. At least you got something right. Bet he would he would like -- ago. I think I'd like back. -- guide to what happened and I like that Jimmy walking guy and Christian what a great year you're here are your officially are patriots beat reporter. What happened in the in the opener and the dolphins game. Well -- it was really hot. Down mayor OK we had a guy. Who should not apply and OK -- -- and Debbie you want to play god. He -- -- pleaded not that would not what he should have been doing and we started -- good went down there are we we've put points on the board the second half but what -- Because we weren't it -- On Anna bell not a crazy -- don't let the -- practice they don't know what the public can't get in shape. That would happen now what happened to the dolphins now hot they're gonna like it -- that -- caught -- back. Yeah so imagine how embarrassing -- -- -- -- and saw how bad was it as as our patriots beat reporters Christian and box or ever want as. As this. Dolphins team falls apart does that make you really McDowell the pats -- -- they lost to the dolphins to go up. Okay did what happened to -- about -- let me get put -- -- -- get. School yup broke quickly give you some straighten out a couple nuggets also can you guys use the throughout the day they could do what you want to do with that okay. Here's the deal. Buffalo Bills right they have all the right play as they got a player but here's what galactic and -- -- always good. Black player -- -- -- you you don't have a -- off home what did you what did you say when do you want to just say with an annual. You. Personal -- put on hold the correct answer what you're supposed to say. Is this team is like one thing. Hot. They got no hot that's you're supposed to say OK but -- -- -- -- Now now now did they elected a -- -- -- -- you know -- You know you -- the cornerback you've. What then what you want -- you want nothing to do. With Kyle -- stash suit or not I don't. That uncle Rico he looked well yeah Ricoh -- not what that movie -- That movie I don't move up talking about little item uncle Rico and a group we did it big -- the weird -- uncle what you don't. And -- put all those mountains at opal well. All the -- and then I'm too. -- -- Is that is not the prodigal sign he did some guy -- the bridge he didn't want to play football. OK he was -- -- -- anybody at all all along we don't know people. Google did some -- -- got my pal Houghton boy that would sound like. What -- -- do you contribute. That's what -- down like. Gimme a lot people are like that guy that guy is got somebody special you got -- out what that guy. -- you like what is he doing real. Heaven and -- game. What's your explanation. -- -- -- -- It was late at night OK they put some within a lot nobody knew what everybody it was grown up at at halftime Billick stick and then that we. Apple we feel we got it out anyway it could live okay would have accurate we gotta keep going we're gonna play it impacted him because that it -- -- -- By the way I would pick to be more grown up in the back -- it was terrible that's what happened. My guess what we came back. It's dowdy ruled then undefeated. Never lost that BA you know all Andy Dalton red rival yeah I got rented out rooms Smart that. That's what I do know not even Nikkei two right okay but the backbone -- let me get the ball. I am I hope you all right that's what they did. Okay and then what happened they won that game they're back on track. Take a look you'll look trip up the buffalo upbeat your guys' heads -- and that what I'm. I'd like them apples right at you rapidly moving black. I look like they like what kind of apple Y like you what you want -- -- right now they can take personal pilot of an apples like -- -- How do you like that I. I like my eye well what I have a bigger what might -- -- -- -- -- -- up and out of the car and -- I won't do so what about what I got up boarded up and I want you moved -- didn't. Go out. Christine do me a favor call pregame on on Sunday a month from eight to ten called pre game show wanna have some fun. Joy in the north side where -- Clean it off my championship rings. That's I mean that's really what the wireline voice came for was. You know. Thanks Christian you make a show about right I agree that in London and in the best possible way. He made to show better and you inspired meted you know harnessed. The v.s. They played last night right the -- Think so -- -- to the good that's an area that he -- of course they've put into the staff because now. -- he's still talking still talking you always talk and what kind of -- -- don't -- look. Who's talking all time he's put a model again the Tiki still talking hasn't taken number along it should require. I had I'm -- and right now so demanding why are you guys. I wouldn't count him Boston and I know. And it. -- are driving around -- are right. Thank you Christian. 8030550. Do you think the bill's gonna be the patriots. I do. And hopefully Christian -- afterwards. We'll get this gap we'll get some phone calls maybe all men. Quickly Peter buffalo Peter go ahead. Every. Player libraries and after a year contest hold on this is -- -- all right well I'll run. You deal with these dope says say on the radio no -- -- again. They don't know nothing about the sports. That's our our featured you guys are idiots Peter is the person ever to play it live with a -- once tells why were idiots that Peter. Well they're idiots -- coordinate it's not Oprah brought out -- radio and buck well. Eric although football buddies. Are reading club that he would do anything. No please thanks Peter. I've bought them and medical. Bruins lost to Detroit last night. There obviously. The -- are open to open. The wings. I'm just I'm just walking through and a thousand different collections. I've got staff to get to -- takes more calls. On the bills and the patriots you know if you want to. A put Christian on just in case -- I know it's fun. Oh it's FX. Opening week coverage of the Buffalo Sabres he's presented by value home -- once you experience and a winning team shops that shop Smart shot value home senators don't you GR Sports Radio 550. Jeremy White here for quick clean. If you gut. Vents in the clean out your house call quickly haven't won 147 before you got in -- old. -- maybe there's lot of stuff to compile open their words are all adults mold mildew dusty rags. -- oil era who knows what could be in -- if your house as a strange smell it because. There's things lurking in those talks were caught quickly when I bought my house couple years back the first things that it was quickly in and get those -- Vacuum doubt any sort of debris that was in there any sort of and discord between them who knows -- here dead animals gross stuff stuff you don't we wouldn't -- for your mouth and region. So quickly comes they vacuuming out they scrub it Oxley sanitize it as well that you carpet and upholstery cleaning and time cleaning as well. On so chemicals have a 311474. But 7311474. For quick clean. And mention the WGR duct cleaning special it's a hundred dollars off the first under callers that call 7311474. It's not clean until it's quickly.The European Union has lodged an appeal against a court decision declaring its farm trade accord with Morocco partially invalid and not applicable to the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The Polisario Front, which wants independence for the Morocco-controlled territory, brought a complaint in 2012 against the farm deal and secured a ruling from the General Court, the EU's second highest court, in December.
The European Council, the grouping of the EU's 28 members, lodged the appeal at the European Court of Justice last week, a spokesman said on Tuesday. The appeals process typically takes 18 months.
The December court decision prompted Morocco to suspend contacts with the EU delegation in Rabat.
The European Union and Morocco have concluded farming and fisheries agreements, allowing duty-free quotas for agricultural products, such as tomatoes, and granting access for European vessels to fish in Moroccan waters in return for financial assistance.
The two parties also launched negotiations to form a deeper and broader free trade agreement in 2013.Ultra-Orthodox protesters attacked a woman who passed by a large anti-draft protest in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
A video of the incident shows the woman walking through the crowd of ultra-Orthodox men and boys, who yell at her to “Get out of here” and “We won,” while also repeatedly calling her a “shiksa,” a pejorative Yiddish term for a non-Jewish woman that derives from the Hebrew for “vermin.”
After being kicked by a young boy, the woman can be seen turning around to grab him but drops her cellphone. As she reaches down to pick it up, additional protesters kick at her and her phone.
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Border Police officers nearby then swoop in and pull her out of the scrum.
The protest was the largest yet in a series of recent demonstrations by ultra-Orthodox protesters over the arrest of members of the community for failing to show up to the Israel Defense Forces draft offices.
Community leaders called for the mass gathering. They set up a stage for rabbis to speak and closed a main street in the ultra-Orthodox Geula neighborhood, near Jerusalem’s central bus station.
Police said that although the protest was unauthorized and illegal, they decided to contain the event and monitor it rather than risking violence by trying to break it up.
The event marked a change in tone following weeks of often violent — albeit much smaller — protests by young men, which included blocking traffic, burning garbage and throwing rocks and objects at police. Tuesday’s protest was much larger and largely peaceful.
The event was organized by the supporters of Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, the leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem, who have been protesting the draft for the past few weeks. Unusually the Orthodox Council of Jerusalem — an anti-Zionist extreme faction opposed to any cooperation with the state — joined the protest. Rabbis from both groups spoke from the podium, preaching against the IDF.
The ultra-Orthodox protesters, dressed in their traditional black garb, held signs such as “The State of Israel persecutes Jews” and “The draft edicts — a holocaust for the Torah world.”
Ultra-Orthodox Jews represent about 10 percent of the Israeli population and live in compliance with a strict interpretation of Jewish laws.
Some of them view military service as a source of temptation to young adults to leave the closed world of prayer and religious study.
The ultra-Orthodox are exempt if studying in yeshiva religious schools. However, the issue is controversial with secular Israelis, and attempts have been made to do away with the exemption.
Regardless, they must register at the recruitment office, but some — inspired by rabbis hostile to any cooperation with the Israeli authorities — refuse to even go to the office and are considered deserters.
AFP contributed to this report.If you want to use the literate programming features in emacs org-mode, you can try this minimal example to get started: Activate org-babel-tangle, then put this into the file noweb-test.org :
Minimal example for noweb in org-mode * Assign First we assign abc: #+begin_src python :noweb-ref assign_abc abc = "abc" #+end_src * Use Then we use it in a function: #+begin_src python :noweb tangle :tangle noweb-test.py def x(): <<assign_abc>> return abc print(x()) #+end_src
noweb-test.org
Hit C-c C-c to evaluate the source block. Hit C-c C-v C-t to put the expanded code into the file noweb-test.py.
The exported code looks like this:
def x (): abc = "abc" return abc
print (x())
(html generated with org-export-as-html-to-buffer and slightly reniced to escape the additional parsing I have on my site)
And with org-export-as-pdf we get this:
Add :results output to the #+begin_src line of the second block to see the print results under that block when you hit C-c C-c in the block.
You can also use properties of headlines for giving the noweb-ref. Org-mode can then even concatenate several source blocks into one noweb reference. Just hit C-c C-x p to set a property (or use M-x org-set-property), then set noweb-ref to the name you want to use to embed all blocks under this heading together.
Note: org-babel prefixes each line of an included code-block with the prefix used for the reference (here <<assign_abc>> ). This way you can easily include blocks inside python functions.
Note: To keep noweb-references literally in the output or similar, have a look at the different options to :noweb.
Note: To do this with shell-code, it’s useful to change the noweb markers to {{{ and }}}, because << and >> are valid shell-syntax, so they disturb the highlighting in sh-mode. Also confirming the evaluation every time makes plain exporting problematic. To fix this, just add the following somewhere in the file (to keep this simple, just add it to the end):
# Local Variables: # org-babel-noweb-wrap-start: "{{{" # org-babel-noweb-wrap-end: "}}}" # org-confirm-babel-evaluate: nil # org-export-allow-bind-keywords: t # End:
Have fun with Emacs and org-mode!Senate To Hold Bipartisan Hearings To Stabilize Insurance Markets
Enlarge this image toggle caption Tasos Katopodis /AFP/Getty Images Tasos Katopodis /AFP/Getty Images
Updated 4:21 p.m. ET Aug. 1
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced today that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee will hold bipartisan hearings on ways to stabilize the Affordable Care Act marketplaces for 2018.
The hearings will start the week of Sept. 4. Their aim is to act by Sept. 27, when insurers must sign contracts to sell individual insurance plans on HealthCare.gov for 2018.
Alexander says the committee will hear from insurance commissioners, consumers, governors, insurance companies and health care experts. If Congress doesn't act, he says, some people could find that they have no exchange options, and millions of people would find insurance unaffordable.
Alexander also urged President Trump to continue what's known as "cost-sharing reduction" payments to insurance companies through September. These payments help to lower copays and deductibles for low-income Americans who earn 100 to 250 percent of the federal poverty level. The Trump administration has been doling out the payments on a month-to-month basis and threatening to end them altogether, which is spooking insurers into raising rates.
Alexander stressed that stabilizing the marketplace for 2018 is only step one, and that after that, lawmakers will continue to work towards a more robust individual insurance market for the long term.
The announcement came after President Trump took to Twitter to threaten insurance companies that he may withhold payments to insurers in an effort to undermine the Affordable Care Act.
It's not the first time the president has threatened to cut off these payments, which he refers to as "BAILOUTS."
But these payments aren't designed to compensate insurers for business failures. Rather, they reimburse insurance companies for discounts the law requires them to give to low-income people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The federal money offsets the money insurers lose by lowering the deductibles and co-payments they require of these policyholders.
Trump, who is angry that the Congress failed to pass a law to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, has been wielding his threat to withhold these CSRs — which could cause chaos in the insurance markets – in hopes of forcing lawmakers back to the table to try again to get rid of the health care law.
The next cost-sharing payments are due to be paid in a few weeks and the president has said he'll announce this week whether he'll pay the money or keep it in the Treasury.
"In the absence of the CSR, the rate increases could be astonishing," says Dr. Marc Harrison, CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, which operates nonprofit hospitals and clinics and insures more than 800,000 people across Utah.
"We'll see [the number of] people who are uninsured, or functionally uninsured, go way, way up," he adds.
Harrison says he and his company filed two sets of proposed rates for policies sold on the insurance exchange next year. If the president cuts off the cost-sharing payments, he says, the rates will be much higher.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the payments, if they're all made, will total $7 billion this year. Margaret Murray is CEO of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, which represents these "safety net health plans" aimed at people with lower incomes. She says she has been in touch with the Department of Health and Human Services to urge them to fund the payments.
"Should the payments cease, insurers will be required to fund cost-sharing reductions on their own," Murray says. If that happens, "they will either raise their rates – our plans indicate that it could be by up to 23 percent – to compensate for these losses, or they will withdraw from the markets altogether."
If Trump does decide to stop making the payments, it may end up costing the U.S. Treasury more, while insurance companies who remain in the markets could do just fine.
That's because insurance companies will charge more in premiums to make up for the lost payments. And that will lead the Treasury to spend more on subsidies to policyholders who qualify, according to an analysis by the consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
If those subsidies go up enough, more people could be lured into the exchange markets.
Here's the wonky reason why:
The Obamacare exchanges require insurance policies to conform to one of four "metal" levels -- bronze, silver, gold or platinum — which coincide with how much an individual is expected to pay in premiums, deductibles and other out-of-pocket expenses. A bronze plan covers about 60 percent of a customer's health care costs, with relatively low monthly premiums, while a platinum plan will cost more each month but pay 90 percent of total health costs.
The law provides income-based tax credits to people to buy insurance, and those credits are calculated based on the price of silver plans. Last year about 85 percent of people who bought Obamacare insurance got a credit, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
People with the lowest incomes also get those discounted deductibles and co-payments if they buy a silver plan; and then the government reimburses insurers through CSR payments.
If Trump decides not to make those payments, insurance companies are likely to raise rates about 19 percent, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
That means subsidies will have to rise for many people to meet those higher premiums. Some people may take that bigger subsidy to buy a cheaper policy — and many could even get insurance for free, according to Oliver Wyman, because premiums on bronze plans probably would not rise as much as those on silver plans.
The higher subsidies could cost the government as much as $2.3 billion in 2018, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's Larry Levitt. Levitt notes |
decision. During the election campaign, Green party leader Andrew Weaver supported a food hunt.
Heyman, asked if anyone hiking in grizzly territory should be more nervous now, said the same good advice that applied before, such as making yourself heard to avoid surprising a bear, still applies. Pepper spray is also recommended.
He noted grizzly attacks are rare in B.C. “If you go out into the wild, there are wild things there, but by removing trophy or food hunting of grizzly bears I don’t believe we’ll be creating any more difficulty for human life.”
Heyman encouraged property owners living in bear country to eliminate attractants that might lure in a bear and ultimately result in its destruction as a threat to people or property.
In 2016, hunters in B.C. killed 235 grizzlies — 30 per cent of them females — out of a population estimated by the province at 15,000.
A report in October on grizzly bear management by the office of B.C. Auditor General Carol Bellringer found that habitat loss, not hunting, is the grizzly bear’s worst enemy. There are 600,000 kilometres of resource roads and another 10,000 kilometres are added each year, allowing more human access to wilderness areas and the potential for increased illegal killing of grizzly bears.
Heyman said the province plans to implement recommendations in the auditor general report.
The province said it will offer transition assistance to guide-outfitters, but made no formal promises of cash compensation for lost revenue. A guided grizzly hunt had fetched up to about $20,000 US.
Waddell is opposed to compensation for outfitters, suggesting the government “buy them a camera.”
Donaldson emphasized the government remains committed to upholding B.C.’s hunting tradition despite taking the grizzly bear off the list of species one can hunt.
Raincoast Conservation Foundation, which holds three guiding territories and is seeking to purchase a fourth, also supports a ban on trophy hunting of all large predators in the Great Bear Rainforest, including black bears, cougars, and wolves.
Responding to Monday’s announcement, Raincoast executive director Chris Genovali hailed the ban as an “enormous conservation victory” and the culmination of 20 years of conservation work. “It is incredibly gratifying to see it finally come to fruition.”
Ian McAllister of Pacific Wild added: “The government made the right decision by closing the ill-conceived, pack-out-the-meat loophole. This is a historic announcement that hopefully marks the beginning of a new relationship with wildlife in our province.”
lpynn@postmedia.comDear @AskFM, I've enjoyed using your platform for many years, but your absolutely piss-poor approach to handling spam, harassment, and threats is somehow even worse than Twitter. At least Twitter *pretends* to care about it. You clearly do not.
http://i.imgur.com/3gAPFBp.jpg
The image above is only one example of the shit I deal with from bizarre and creepy individuals who dedicated sizable fractions of their day trying to annoy, upset, or intimidate me using your service. In fact, this is one of the more benign versions - and let me assure you it represents only a sliver of the posts they left me this morning.
At least they used words today. Usually they just hammer the keyboard randomly and hit "send."
Other "questions" I get regarding your service involve threats, my personal details sent to me in an attempt to give those threats credibility, and lengthy essays by genuinely alarming weirdos who try their hardest to cross personal lines, insult members of my family, and otherwise desperately try to provoke a reaction from me. The saddest part is that these all seem to be coming from maybe three or four individuals at best, all of whom maintain multiple anonymous accounts so they can continue their behavior the moment they're banned or reported.
As the above image shows, they know full well there's absolutely no consequence for their behavior. They seem to have infinite time on their otherwise totally empty hands and no dignity to go with it. You *might* ban an account or two, but you won't go beyond that, and your justification for doing so is really flimsy.
http://support.ask.fm/link/portal/30134/30188/Article/61/Why-can-t-ASKfm-block-a-user-from-making-new-accounts
The harder something is to do, the less inclined they are to do it. I know this because when I revoked the ability to send me questions without making an account, I reduced a TON of abuse. Making an account is more effort than it's worth for most of them, but it's still pretty easy to do so a handful of total fuckups will continue to fling shit. You have the power to make it even harder to do and thin the herd more, whittle down their options, but you won't. You let me put up one easy hurdle to jump over, and won't put up any higher ones.
And really, "use a friend's computer"? How many friends do you these kind of fuckwits have?
What's hilarious is that last note - "Abusive users tend to get bored and stop at some point as long as nobody is feeding into their negativity."
I've got some news for you - they don't. They have no concept of boredom.
I know this because there's one particular troll, the one who tries harder than anyone to provoke a reaction, and they've been at it for months, if not close to a year now. Blocking them hasn't worked. Ignoring them only makes them try even harder. Ignoring them for long enough causes them to lose their minds and just start posting gibberish spam to get ANY sort of reaction.
This one person always writes in the same creepy style, asking "how it feels inside" when they insult my wife, threaten my family, or send me examples of homophobic behavior online. They've reserved dozens of Ask accounts already, cycling through them even when I ignore them just *in case* they've been blocked. When I managed to ignore this person for several months, they created accounts named after *existing users* who regularly send me questions, in an attempt to trick me into interacting with them. They moment they get a single response, they start their same old shit again. In all my years of working online, I've never met someone this obsessed. And you won't do fuck-all, even when they demonstrate just how easy it is to impersonate others.
I reported, I blocked, I went on to email you a long description of their behavior, with evidence. Your response? A canned and patronizing boilerplate email telling me how to report and block people.
Thanks to Twitter's inability to deal with harassment, I had to limit the way I use it so that I never see general @ replies and can only see responses to my own specific tweets for a few minutes. It sucked because I could no longer fully interact with my fans and answer their questions. Now, it seems, I have to say goodbye to another outlet for that. Ask was pretty good for me - I enjoyed talking to people, I liked discussing my job and personal issues with them. It was actually a pretty therapeutic outlet at first.
In the time it took me to write this out, they left another page's worth of bullshit for me. Just FYI.
Now I'm going to deactivate my account because it's unusable. I'm tired wading through poison to get to the worthwhile content, and I'm certainly not about to waste my day deleting hundreds of gibberish spam posts (you don't even have an ability to mass delete shit, for fuck's sake).
I'm sorry to my audience and community members who reach out to me on the service, who've asked questions about the games industry, who ask for advice/encouragement, and otherwise enjoy interacting with me on there. I'll try and find a new way of opening up communication, perhaps on my own site, but for now this is just another avenue to talk to my audience that I can no longer utilize because the amount of spam, vitriol, and venom on it has begun to outweigh the positive stuff.
As for the sad little pricks who spent hours at a time trying to get a reaction... I guess... you... won? Is that the word? I guess you did. I mean, I'm going to go and continue making a living doing the shit I love and you can languish in your miserable mediocrity, but... yay for you, I suppose.
Hope you find a life worth living.
Reply · Report PostFrancisco Marroquín University (Spanish: Universidad Francisco Marroquín), also known by the abbreviation UFM, is a private, secular university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It describes its mission as "to teach and disseminate the ethical, legal, and overall economic principles of a society of free and responsible persons." According to Milton Friedman, it is "one of the leading universities in Latin America."[1] Contents
History Edit
It was founded in 1971 by Manuel F. Ayau, known as Muso.[2] Its namesake is Francisco Marroquín, an early bishop of Guatemala and translator of Central American languages, but the university does not follow any of his teachings or philosophies. Started by members of Center for Economic and Social Studies with $40,000 and 125 students, UFM counts 2700 undergraduate students and 1500 graduate students as of 2009. The philosophy statement says that "universities need to place themselves beyond the conflicts of their time so that science and academic freedom – which humankind will need at all times – may be preserved."[3]
Degrees Edit
In Guatemala, as in most of the rest of Latin America, the educational system concentrates students in their academic or professional discipline from the time of admission. Following secondary school, students are admitted to a particular school or department and, beginning the first year, they follow a prescribed program leading to a degree. Undergraduate Edit Licenciatura degree (Licentiate): in most of Latin America, the degree most commonly awarded to undergraduate students is the licenciatura. Traditionally, it includes several more academic credits than does a B.A. or a B.S. Disciplines: architecture, business administration, clinical nutrition, economics, education, international relations, law, political studies, public accounting and auditing, psychology (clinical and industrial). [4]
M.D./D.D.S.: Students are admitted directly into medical and dental schools as high-school graduates. Then follows a three-year program of basic science studies after which students receive a B.S. degree. It is followed by four years of medical or three of dental studies and one year of internship for medical students (none for dental students). Then, graduates receive an M.D. or D.D.S. degree.
Associate degree: disciplines include art history and personnel administration. [4]
Profesorado degree: the profesorado is a specialized degree for secondary school teachers. In many cases, it is required for employment: disciplines include art history, computer studies, social sciences and language. Graduate Edit Master's degree disciplines: business administration (MBA); virtual business administration (online MBA); real estate project management (MAPI)[5]; entrepreneurial economics; international political economy; international relations, finance and taxation (MFIN); management of human resources; social sciences.[4] Master's degree in the following medical specialties: internal medicine, ophthalmology, pediatrics, radiology.[4] Doctoral degree Edit Doctoral degree disciplines: economics, law, social sciences.[4]
Areas of instruction Edit
Departments and projects Edit
Traditions and landmarks Edit
Journals Edit
Apuntes de Economía y Política (Public Choice Newsletter)
(Public Choice Newsletter) Areté (Journal of the Department of Education)
(Journal of the Department of Education) Arquitemas (Journal of the School of Architecture)
(Journal of the School of Architecture) Eleutheria (Philosophy Department)
(Philosophy Department) Laissez-Faire (Economics Journal)
(Economics Journal) Revista de la Facultad de Derecho (Law Review)
Recipients of honorary degrees Edit
See also EditWe’re one day away from Super Tuesday, and the polls show Trump as the clear favorite.
Tomorrow, Republican voters from 13 states will go out and decide who they want as their Presidential nominee. The states taking part in Super Tuesday are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming.
A new national poll conducted by CNN/ORC, released today, 29th February, shows Trump holding an overwhelming 33 point lead, holding 49% of the vote, with his closest competitor being Rubio at 16%.
In Virginia, a poll conducted by Roanoke College has Trump at 38%, a 23 point lead over second place Ted Cruz, who is trailing at 15%.
In Texas, Cruz’s home state, a new poll by the Emerson College Polling Society has Trump and Cruz fighting head to head, with Cruz coming out with a 1 point lead.
A poll conducted by Trafalgar Group in Georgia has Trump at 38.6%, with Rubio at 23.5% fighting with Cruz at 20.7% for second place.
A Massachusetts poll conducted by Suffolk University has Donald Trump in first at 42.6%, with Cruz and Rubio fighting for 2nd at 17% and 19.8% each.
In Alabama and Oklahoma, a poll by the Monmouth University Polling Institute shows Trump in first place, at 42% in Alabama and 35% in Oklahoma, with Cruz and Rubio trailing behind in second and third.
The Castleton Polling Institute held a poll in Vermont, which puts Trump in the lead with 32.4%, and Marco Rubio in second at 16.9%.
All in all, the poll results seem to put Trump in a comfortable first place, with an expected victory on Super Tuesday.
If you are a citizen of one of these states, do not forget to go out and vote tomorrow.
Make America Great Again!Bay Area broadcast legend Wendy Tokuda retiring after final segment
In this 1990 photo, Tokuda is seen at her KPIX newsroom desk. According to the Chronicle caption from the time, she's returning calls, and the teddy bear is from a young fan. In this 1990 photo, Tokuda is seen at her KPIX newsroom desk. According to the Chronicle caption from the time, she's returning calls, and the teddy bear is from a young fan. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 54 Caption Close Bay Area broadcast legend Wendy Tokuda retiring after final segment 1 / 54 Back to Gallery
"I have these moments where I'm like 'wow, what will this feel like,'" Wendy Tokuda said on the eve of the final television broadcast of her decades-long career in California.
"I started anchoring in the 70s. There were only four (stations). That was it. Look at what you can do now. We were shooting on film when I started."
Friday night won't mark the first time Tokuda has stepped out of the Bay Area spotlight. The veteran journalist established herself as the female face of KPIX for more than a decade before leaving for a coveted job in Los Angeles, the second largest market in the United States, in the early 1990s.
Television was king and local anchors were as visible as anyone in the region.
The Seattle native would later return to our living rooms as an anchor for both the local NBC and CBS affiliates, but ultimately gave up the anchor chair in 2010. Now, after six years working primarily as a feature reporter, Tokuda is retiring from local television for good.
Tokuda still remembers the day the newsroom put the old typewriters up on the shelves to make room for computers. They had to pull them back down at least once when computer networks failed. In that age before internet, television was king and local anchors were as visible as anyone in the region.
"Television had the ability at that time of making the Bay Area more of a community," Tokuda recalls. "I just happened to be there at this magical time. It was extraordinary and it isn't going to happen again."
Dan Rosenheim helped convince Tokuda to sign on at KRON after her detour in Los Angeles and he later convinced her to retake her seat at the KPIX anchor desk. He says Tokuda was a big part of that conjuring that special connection between the anchor desk and the audience.
"She anchors the news with intelligence and polish and warmth. It's kind of a magical combination, and it helps explain why she has been so popular with the audience," says Rosenheim, now vice president and news director at KPIX. "She is very knowledgeable, very well read."
But Tokuda recalls an era when her reputation wasn't so well established. During that first week as a permanent KPIX anchor she remembers returning to a ringing phone at her desk and a man demanding to know who "that woman" was in the anchor chair. After listening and politely informing the man that SHE was that woman, the viewer agreed to give her a chance.
"I was such a pit bull with it. Reporting was something I really wanted to do," recalled Tokuda, who says she really only sees the challenges of being a woman and a minority in hindsight.
But there was one topic that got her more hate mail than any other.
"Nobody even knew about the internment. It was not in the history books or anything and our parents never talked about it," said Tokuda, whose parents met at a camp for Japanese-Americans from Seattle.
Tokuda said she related stories of what happened in the Bay Area and chronicled the movement to make sure that internment couldn't happen again.
"That's when I felt it. I couldn't help but think that my parents were affected by that," she said.
From the anchor desk, Tokuda and longtime anchor partner Dave McElhatton brought us the signature local stories of a generation.
"I'll tell you what, I worked with (McElhatton) for 14 plus years. He was the sweetest, most supportive partner - I used to call him my "cell mate" - that I could ever have asked for."
Tokuda was a steadying voice following the Loma Prieta earthquake and a gifted storyteller during the scramble to rescue Humphrey the whale. She turned the latter into one of three reality-inspired children's books.
That passion for connecting with children slowly surpassed her desire to command the anchor desk, and she said her most recent endeavor, a regular feature known as Students Rising Above, is her most important work.
The segment highlights a nonprofit that helps at-risk students who excel in the classroom despite harrowing personal challenges.
"Thanks to Wendy's initiative, it raises hundreds of thousands of dollars to send kids to college each year," said Rosenheim. "They have an annual banquet, and it's stunning when they introduce someone, who maybe lost both parents and single-handedly raised two siblings and had a job on weekends all while getting A's in high school, and now they've gone to college and graduate school and are about to join a big law firm!"
Tokuda says that franchise will be turned over to a trusted journalist, Sherry Hu, allowing her to step away for good.
She plans now to spend more time with her husband and the five daughters they share while continuing to pursue her continuing passions of storytelling, environmental restoration and finding ways to help at-risk children.
"I've got these periods where I can hardly wait. But then I have these flashes where I know I need to take a leap," she says.
That leap comes Friday evening after her final segment on KPIX at 6 p.m.
Bill Disbrow is a content manager for SFGATE. Follow him on Twitter here, because he needs somebody to.Cutting and weaving - 54%
Speeding - 29%
Hostile displays - 25%
The authors say that identifying what causes drivers to get irritated, and finding strategies to prevent driver aggression is a top priority for road safety. Apparently, exposure to gasoline vapors can make us more aggressive Dr. Christine Wickens and team gathered and examined data from thousands of comments posted on RoadRagers.com, a website that asks drivers to register their complaints about improper and unsafe driving.Dr. Wickens had previously carried out a study which examined the complaints drivers had submitted to the Ontario Provincial Police. This time she used data from some new websites to ask drivers to describe examples of bad or unsafe driving they had observed.Dr. Wickens said "These websites can tell us more about what people are doing out there in the real world."The team evaluated over 5,000 entries which had been posted between 1999 and 2007. Most of the reports were about driving incidents that occurred in Canada or the USA. They sorted the complaints into various categories, including blocking, erratic braking, improper braking, speeding, and racing.The most common complaints were:They also looked into how drivers who felt offended or irritated might feel compelled to "teach the other driver a lesson" or "respond in kind".They found that in some cases,The team now plan to determine how a slighted driver perceives the offensive action of another driver. Is the other driver being deliberately aggressive, negligent, or simply in a hurry? What impact do these different interpretations have on how people respond or retaliate?Dr. Wickens emphasizes that drivers need to work hard at keeping calm, and not responding aggressively to the behaviors and actions of other people.Dr. Wickens said "Remind yourself to take a deep breath, stay calm, and do whatever it takes to bring your anger down."Perhaps drivers should be educated on the impact of their own responses to bad driving when they are learning to drive. Driving lessons might include ways of avoiding these types of retaliatory behaviors. The authors wrote that "The training could also teach drivers to be aware of their own responses associated with behaviours they are likely to encounter on the road."Written by Christian NordqvistJanuary, 24th: Full Moon in Leo – Be Original, Be Creative!
Traditionally, the Full Moon for January was called the Old Moon, the Full Wolf Moon or the Snow Moon.
On January 24th, 2016, the Full Moon in Leo (Sun in Aquarius opposite Moon in Leo) announces time for self-expression, creativity and originality. Establishing and maintaining a connection with yourself represents the main message of this Full Moon.
We fully understand the meaning of Herman Melville’s affirmation: „It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation“. Or – especially if you are a rock fan – you can listen to Bob Seger: „Be original. That’s my best advice. You’re going to find that there’s something that you do well, and try to do it with as much originality as you can, and don’t skimp on the words. Work on the words“.
After succeeding to express yourself, you will also acquire the other qualities of the Leo: optimism, leadership, ambition, generosity. Or otherwise the Full Moon will activate only the defects of Leo: cruelty, aggressiveness, arrogance and immaturity.
The Full Moon in Leo for each zodiac sign
Aries – Be creative in love and find creative ways to show people that you love them! There is no need to wait for Valentine’s to declare your love – do it now!
Taurus – Decorating home is a good idea, for today. Surround yourself with things you love. Personalize your kitchen, your bedroom, your office and every place where you spend much time.
Gemini – Find a way to say more with fewer words. Most Gemini are gifted speakers, but there is always place for improvement. Express yourself!
Cancer – Unleash your creativity at work. A first step is to understand that every product or service can be done better.
Leo – Put yourself first! Otherwise, you won’t help anyone else and you’ll just accumulate frustration.
Virgo – Whatever you do, do on your own! You have to learn to trust your own decisions. Forget society’s expectations!
Libra – Today, it is a good idea to knowingly break a rule. The feeling will be great – a real sensation of freedom.
Scorpio – Today, you’re in the spotlight, whether you like it or not. Take advantage with the situation and prove your skills.
Sagittarius – Your adventurous side takes control. Celebrate it and do something wild!
Capricorn – There is a high level of financial stress. Probably you created some bad spending habits and it is a good time to change them.
Aquarius – Surprise your partner; come with some creative romantic ideas! Aquarius’s originality and authentic style will help you make the best choice.
Pisces – old habits are hard to break, but this is what you have to do, today – especially the habits that affect your health. Listening to your own body and its signals will make the difference.It just got easier being a fan of Cleveland sports. The drought is over, and a new light replaces the gloomy clouds that had been previously cast over the Cleveland sports scene. The championship that the Cavs brought back to Cleveland has given the city hope and motivation. Shortly after Game 7, Joe Haden put this article out that should get the blood pumping of any Browns fan.
Fans have to love Haden’s positive attitude. Speaking of attitude, I think it is important that Browns fans have the right attitude/expectations going into this season. Haden closed the article by saying, “I am just so ready to go win a championship right now.” You can’t fault a guy for aiming high, but lets slow down on the championship talk.
The Attitude/Expectations Checklist for a Cleveland Browns Fan in 2016
Forget about wins and losses: But wait….
Sorry Herm, I know this goes against everything you stand for, but I think Browns fans need to approach the 2016 season differently. Instead of sweating over if they finish up at 4-12 or 6-10, shift the focus to finding consistency and improvement. Keep an eye out for who the new team leaders are going to be. With it being such a young team, they will need to find the players who are going to be the keystone pieces that will propel this team to bigger and better things in the coming years.
Find a quarterback: If I could point at one statistic that sums up the Browns struggles, it would be that they have started 24 different quarterbacks since 1999. Robert Griffin III was brought in this offseason, and while some thought he would be handed the keys to the offense, coach Hue Jackson has remained amendment that the quarterback position will be an open competition in training camp. My biggest issue with RGIII as a franchise quarterback is his durability. I know that isn’t an earth shattering outlook but it is a major hurdle for him. Take a look at some of the top quarterbacks in the league, they all have one thing in common.
Tom Brady: 16 games played in 13/14 seasons
Aaron Rodgers: 15 or 16 games played in 7/8 seasons
Drew Brees: Three games missed over the last 12 seasons
Philip Rivers: 16 games played for 10 consecutive seasons
Eli Manning: 16 games played for 11 consecutive seasons
The easy solution to achieve the consistency and longevity that the above have sustained is to keep RGIII in the pocket. The problem is with those limitations in place he is no longer “RGIII;” as in the RGIII who was an explosive play-maker in the early part of his career. RGIII has a knack for drawing media attention, and camp quarterback competitions are always a popular story to run with. With that said, I am sure the public will have a front-row seat for how this will play out.
Be patient with Hue Jackson:
It is a good sign when nine-time Pro Bowler Joe Thomas says “I don’t think the Browns can be any better off,” in regards to the hiring of Hue Jackson. When a team leader comes out and takes the coaches back like that, it is a good sign that the team will buy in. Players have had nothing but great things to say about Jackson, and the general feel is that Jackson has brought hope to the Browns organization. He has pushed all the right buttons thus far. However, it is easy to be popular in June-August. When the losses start to pile up, it will be interesting to see how both the players and the public respond.
Develop young talent:
The Browns had the most picks in the 2016 draft with 14. Three of those selections made “The Best 16 Picks in the 2016 NFL Draft” article featured on PFF. If all 14 selections end up making the 53-man roster that means 26% of the team will be first year players. Factor in free agents brought in during the offseason and there is a ton of new blood in the Browns organization.
While it will be important for all of these selections to make contributions, the two that need to hit the ground running are Cody Kessler and Corey Coleman. Whether people want to believe it or not, Kessler will push RGIII for the starting job. Kessler demonstrated pinpoint accuracy at USC, throwing 88 touchdowns to just 19 interceptions. Kessler doesn’t have the strongest arm, but being smart with the ball goes a long way at this level.
You never know how receivers that produce gaudy numbers coming from uptempo spread systems will translate to the NFL. However, there are two things that I know will translate:
Speed: 4.37
Vertical: 40.5
The offense needed a play-maker, and they got one in Coleman. At Baylor he did most of his work outside of the numbers on vertical plays. He will need to fine-tune his route running to develop into a complete receiver, but with his blazing speed he will make plays for this offense from day one.
Expect the secondary to improve: It begins and ends with Haden. 2015 was a disaster for Haden who suffered a myriad of injuries including a second concussion that ended his season for good in Week 8. Haden had offseason ankle surgery but said he will be ready to play Week 1. When he is healthy he is one of the best corners in the league and will elevate the entire secondary.
When you feel like throwing your remote through the television after a 1-4 start just keep this checklist in mind. I think this team will show flashes in 2016. Stay patient.
Schedule
Patience will be key, because the beginning of the year is tough. The Browns will play five of their first seven games on the road. The two home games in that stretch are against the Ravens in Week 2 and the Patriots in Week 5 which will be Tom Brady’s first game back from his suspension. The good news is that from Week 8 to Week 14 they only go on the road once. Having their bye in Week 13 isn’t exactly ideal.
Fantasy
Undervalued: Gary Barnidge (ADP 82)
Barnidge came out of nowhere in 2015. Since entering the league in 2009, he had yet to have a season in which he recorded more than 13 receptions. He finished his breakout year with a line of 79/1043/9. Despite the new faces in the Browns offensive huddle, Barnidge will remain one of the first options in the passing game. Sign me up for being able to get a tight end in round 7 who had eight or more targets in nine games last year. Playing in a potentially explosive Hue Jackson led offense could help those numbers. One thing to monitor will be how quickly he recovers from sports hernia surgery. He is expected to be back for camp, but it is certainly worth keeping an eye on to make sure he doesn’t have any setbacks.
Overvalued: Duke Johnson (ADP 100) – STANDARD SCORING
The scoring format can make all the difference in determining a player’s value. If it was a PPR league and I was getting Duke at 100, I would strut to the board a la Rick Flair feeling like I came away with the steal of the draft. However, in standard scoring this is a completely different situation. Simply put, he doesn’t touch the ball enough to be a reliable standard play.
Last season, Johnson had more than 10 touches in only half of his games. He posted double digit fantasy points just once using standard scoring. Jackson has spoke glowingly of both Crowell and Johnson. He envisions Crowell as the bell-cow back, while Johnson will be a versatile back who can do a number of things for the offense. He will be a valuable player for the Browns, but in the fantasy world he should only be considered a low-end flex option in standard formats.
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Major League Fantasy Baseball Weekly: Join Lou Landers and Kyle Amore live on Thursday June 23rd, 2016 from 8-10pm EST for episode #19 of Major League Fantasy Baseball Weekly. This will run every Thursday as a live broadcast that will take live callers at 323-870-4395. Press 1 to speak with the host. This week we will be the first of 2 episodes covering the MLB Draft. This week we will cover the American League side of the draft.
Our guest this week is Bryan Luhrs. Bryan is the owner of Real Deal Dynasty Sports, and a writer with majorleaguefantasysports.com.
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Major League Fantasy Football Weekly: Join Lou Landers, Zak Sauer, and Coach Jeff Nelson live Saturday June 25th, 2016 from 1-2:30pm EST for episode #24 of Major League Fantasy Football Weekly. We will run our show on Saturday until August 27th, and then move back to Tuesday nights from 8-10pm EST on September 13th. This is a live broadcast and we do take callers at 323-870-4395. We will discuss the AFC West from a NFL and fantasy football perspective.
You can find our shows on I-Tunes. Just search for Major League Fantasy Sports in the podcasts section. For Android users go to “Podcast Republic,” then download that app, and search for “Major League Fantasy Sports Show”
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WhatsAppThe bloody legacy of the Baader Meinhof Gang which caused mayhem across West Germany with its politically-motivated assassinations, bombings and kidnappings is to be portrayed on cinema screens this week in a new film which claims to debunk the myth of 1970s terrorist chic.
Just how raw the darkest chapter in Germany's postwar history remains has been demonstrated by the angry reaction that the Baader Meinhof Komplex has prompted from victims' families, the children of gang members and historians.
Some have accused the film - which boasts a cast of top German actors - of being too violent, or of reinforcing the image of gang members as Bonnie and Clyde-style heroes.
Bettina Roehl, the journalist daughter of the gang's co-leader, Ulrike Meinhof, wrote in a blog: "The Baader Meinhof Komplex is the worst-case scenario - it would not be possible to top its hero worship."
The Berliner Zeitung critic said the film had given Andreas Baader, the other gang leader and son of a history professor, the stuntman status he had always craved. "Finally [he] has got what he always wanted. Posthumously he has become the hero of a real action film," the critic said.
It was Baader's escape from prison for the fire bombing of two Frankfurt department stores that marked the birth of the Baader Meinhof Gang, otherwise known as the Red Army Faction (RAF). Its members' campaigning zeal was triggered by their anger at their parents' perceived failure to confront Germany's Nazi past.
The Porsche-driving Baader modelled himself on the Hollywood actor Marlon Brando, and he and Meinhof, a successful journalist, epitomised the glamour that gave the gang its appeal - a status it enjoys in popular culture even today.
The film, due for release in Britain and France in November, has been nominated as Germany's entry for the Oscar race. It is the latest attempt to re-examine a period of the country's 20th century history on the screen, following on from recent hits such as Good Bye Lenin, an account of communist East Germany, The Lives of Others and the 2004 film about Hitler's last days, Downfall, produced by Bernd Eichinger, who is also behind the Baader Meinhof Komplex.
Based on a book by the former editor of Spiegel magazine Stefan Aust, who got to know many of the terrorists, the filmmakers say they have tried to make it as "authentic as possible", from the dialogue between gang members - which is partly based on correspondence between them - to the number of bullets fired in each attack. To counter criticism that the film lionises the charismatic gang members while ignoring their victims, the director, Udi Edel, said he positioned the cameras so they would tell the story from the eye level of the victims. "I deliberately put the cameras next to the victims, so that we can see what they see... to destroy the myth that has grown up around the RAF."
But Michael Buback, the son of Germany's chief federal prosecutor Siegfried who was gunned down by the RAF in 1977, complained that victims' families were not told what events were to be depicted in the film. Buback had to go to see the film to find out that one of the scenes involved the murder of his father. It shows a terrorist posing as a nanny pulling a machine gun from a pram on a Cologne street before shooting the prosecutor and his bodyguards.
"It is cruel that little consideration has been shown towards the family members. We feel we're playing the victim all over again," Buback's son said. Eichinger was also criticised for failing to reveal new information he claimed to have been given about which of the terrorists was responsible for killing Buback.
Jorg Schleyer, the son of the murdered industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer, said it was "painful" to watch the re-enactment of his assassination, but praised the film's frankness in portraying the RAF as a "wantonly brutal band of murderers... without damaging the memory of the victims".
Frank Schirrmacher, editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, said the film was "heartbreaking" in its authenticity. "[It] has the potential to make people see the RAF in an entirely new light."
But one critic, Jan Schulz-Ojala of Der Tagesspiegel, accused the film's Munich-based production firm of playing the role of a "history waste management machine". "They're taking the radiation waste of the nation and burying it in the dumping ground of moving pictures," he wrote. In a similar vein, the company's next film, Anonymous, tells of the mass rape of German women by Russian soldiers after the capture of Berlin in 1945.
Backstory
The Red Army Faction |
checked the game after see my commentary.
I tried it with other Youtubers (even non-English speakers) and it worked very well too! people seems to like when the dev appears to thanks then :P
I tweeted a bit and I got some good stats from it too... always using #gamedev and #indiedev.
Ok, today is 10/Sept/2016 and with all this exposure, I got some numbers from it:
420+ followers on Game Jolt;
100+ subs on the Beta Test mail list;
150+ subs on my youtube channel in PT-BR oO';
???+ videos on youtube about the game (it's a lot D:)
2200+ real facebook likes (I have a little trick for this, if you want to know, ask me... I don't want to create problems here :P)
I still have my twitter account with 6500+ followers using a tool wich helps me :)
and the ratings are pretty good I think :D
My journey:
I always wanted to work on the game, but I didn't have money to do it, so I started to work at 2 jobs, to pay my living costs and save some money to do it.
Now (August/2016), one year after the release on Game Jolt, I have enough money saved and I started to work on the full version of the game which will be a plot driven 2D platformer in a semi-open world.
\o/
My basic tips on Marketing for you:
These are some things which I try beeing a solo dev, it may work for someone D:
1- Marketing since the beginning
You've started your project? Cool! now, start showing it to the world! create something! an image, a gif, spread your cool idea and get people interested!
If you will wait until the launch to do it you will be flooded with all the games which are being created and launched at the same time. If you start before, your exposure over time will help you!
2- Trending subjects and Special dates
Halloween? Christmas? Pride? Games Done Quick? Olympics? get this and create something mixed with your game, doesn't need to be inside the game... create an image and post it, it will get attention and people will click on the link to see what's that :)
3- Set everything up before it's too late
Have your website, social profiles, forum accounts, etc. set before you even start! If someone finds your game and want more information? where will they find it? if they want to help you on the beta test? do you have a subscription box already?
Be prepared!
4- Be active!
Always post in your social media, post on forums, create a dev blog and I use a tool which can be called as "bot" :) to follow and dm people on twitter. Really, if your game or idea is cool, you don't have to be afraid! from countless DM or follows on my Twitter I didn't receive a single person cursing me or anything like that... but please, have something interesting at least!
* I know this "isn't cool" but it worked for me D:... so, sorry? :/
5- Stream and Videos
Stream your development if possible! even if you're shy, try it, the game dev community is awesome! and you can start to build your audience from there!
You don't want to stream? Ok, please, document your development! Record videos from it, it can be useful in the future.
5- Hashtags
If you don't know yet, here are some famous # which can help you:
#gamedev, #indiedev, #pixelart, #ScreenshotSaturday (twitter and facebook)
and on the Reddit /r/gamedev you can receive a lot of feedback from fellow developers.
I really don't know if this post will be useful for someone, it's more a "my journey" post then something really helpful D: sorry!
All the links:
~
if you read this far, you're awesome! really thanks <3 I hope you had a good time!
and sorry for any inconvenience.Remember a few years ago when all the talk around emerging NoSQL databases was how they’d make history of relational databases any time that scale was an issue? Well, that hasn’t exactly happened yet, and Hummer Winblad Managing Director Mitchell Kertzman has a theory as to why: In most cases, NoSQL just isn’t that disruptive.
A database veteran of decades, Kertzman shared his thoughts on the space during this week’s Structure Show podcast. Here are the highlights of an entertaining and insightful interview, but you’ll definitely want to listen to the whole thing.
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Really, everyone wants SQL
“If there were cloud-oriented SQL databases that could do the kind of elastic scalability that was needed, handle then volumes of data that were required, then there never would have been a requirement for NoSQL,” Kertzman said.
A big disclaimer is probably in order — Hummer Winblad is an investor in NewSQL startup NuoDB — but Kertzman said that doesn’t cloud his thinking about the next-generation database space. The firm actually passed up a lot of NoSQL companies over the years for a number of reasons, and one of them is a belief that companies — especially those running mission-critical or otherwise important applications — really just wanted a better relational database.
“I think of NoSQL as a new market opportunity,” he said, “and its size is as yet unproven.”
Relational databases, on the other hand, are a $35 billion market, and that’s less because people like the query language and more because they like things like ACID compliance. “If you’re Facebook … and you drop a status update or a like or something like that and it doesn’t show up — no big deal,” Kertzman said. “If you are a bank and you lose a deposit, even a small one — really big deal.”
That thing you do … that we can do, too
“There have been radical disruptive innovations — relational database was that to the old network databases. … And there was client-sever to host computing and now there is cloud/SaaS to client-server,” Kertzman explained. “… And then, because we all love disruptions because that’s what creates opportunity, there are what people think will be disruptive but turn out not to be.”
He puts a number of technological trends into this latter category, including the object database movement during the 1980s. “It turns out it wasn’t disruptive because the existing guys — Sybase and Oracle and everything — could kind of add that functionality or the amount that people people really needed,” Kertzman said. “People don’t want a religion; they want tools they can use. The object database guys were following the object religion, and the legacy guys were just adding object capability.”
He looks at MongoDB as a NoSQL database that can maybe win a lot of deals in companies that don’t need ACID compliance and don’t want to pay the Oracle premium. However, he cautioned after I noted the encroachment of companies such as Teradata, MemSQL and Heroku into its realm, “We like to invest in companies that are solving really hard problems with really new technology, defensible technology. Not defensible just in the IP ownership sense, but in that it’s really hard to do. … MongoDB, for all the success it’s had to date, is not particularly technologically sophisticated in solving hard technological problems.”
Timing disruption is a tough task
Sometimes, though, even when Kertzman thinks he’s spotted a seemingly golden opportunity, getting the timing right can be difficult. He noted the opportunity to get up higher in the stack in areas such as big data, where things like Hadoop are certainly for real but sometimes confusing for people to work with unless they have more intuitive analytics tools.
He thought Karmasphere, in which Hummer Winblad has made three investments in since 2010, was such an opportunity when it came to bringing a familiar business intelligence experience to Hadoop. Perhaps it still will be but, as I noted, the SQL-on-Hadoop movement has somewhat dampened the enthusiasm for tools like Karmasphere because companies can now use Hadoop with legacy BI tools and get faster performance by bypassing MapReduce.
“To some extent, I think what happened in that space was real Hadoop adoption happened slowly,” Kertzman said. “In other words, if Hadoop had really taken off … then the bet [on Karmapshere] would have gotten to market faster. Since Hadoop wasn’t being adopted as fast, then tools for Hadoop weren’t being required as fast.”
SQL on Hadoop, he added, was a reaction by Hadoop vendors to that slow adoption.
Feature image courtesy of Flickr user Michael Mandiberg.A 12-year-old murder suspect from Elkhart reportedly said a fictional clown from a website told her to kill her stepmother, according to brand new court documents made public Wednesday.
Court documents also revealed the girl begged her father for help months before she allegedly stabbed her stepmother to death in July. The girl's public defender says the challenge now is finding help for her.
"This little girl has been failed by everyone," Holly Curtis, the girl's public defender, said.
Court documents show that three doctors have determined the 12-year-old is not fit to stand trial. They all diagnosed her with Dissociate Identity Disorder, or multiple personality disorder. Two of the doctors also determined the girl has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
So far, 16 psychiatric facilities have refused to take her, court documents said. The state won't either, even after a court order signed by both a magistrate and a judge, according to Curtis.
The order, signed Tuesday, said state hospital placement through the Indiana Division of Mental Health is the "only option available."
"We've had our hands tied because at this point in time, there's no other facility that can or will take her," Curtis added, saying her client's story needs to be told. "We are running out of options - this is our last option."
Prosecutors say the girl set the family's Prairie Street apartment on fire then stabbed her stepmother in July. The stepmother, Maria Torres, died at the scene.A court order filed this week says the 12-year-old did it, "[]at the direction of a fictional character found on the Creepypasta website known as 'Laughing Jack,'" and the girl, "[]heard voices and had an 'alter ego' months before the stabbing and begged her father for help."
Court documents also say the girl is a risk to herself and others as long as she's at the Juvenile Detention Center in Goshen. She isn't allowed to have sharp objects near her or in her reach and because of her, the detention center had to add staff. Also, other children at the center are only allowed to use paper spoons to eat.In the 117 days the girl has been at the center, court documents say she, "continues to beg detention staff for help."
"This case presents extraordinary facts and circumstances requiring extraordinary care," Magistrate Debra Domine wrote in the most recent court order. "There is an emergency here."
"The risk level for her is beyond anything I think anybody can imagine," Curtis said. "For her not to be able to get the help she's crying out for is probably one of the biggest travesties I've seen so far with the systems and with a state agency not willing to step up and do their job."
The 12-year-old is currently seeing a counselor and taking medication prescribed by a doctor, court documents said.Her public defender said it's important for anyone with Dissociate Identity Disorder to begin a specific treatment program as soon as possible. Ending treatment before it's supposed to be complete could be dangerous, Curtis added.
Marni Lemons, a spokeswoman for the Family and Social Service Administration, told WSBT 22 work is being done to try and find appropriate placement for the girl. Lemons added she could not comment further because of medical privacy laws and because it's an ongoing legal matter.Lemons also called it, "a particularly complicated case."Stefan Struve will make his long-awaited return to action when he faces fellow Dutchman, Alistair Overeem, at UFC on FOX 13 on Dec. 13, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona.
It's a fight that could prove to be "The Reem's" last, after dropping three of his last four bouts, with his most recent loss coming at the hands of Ben Rothwell, who knocked out the former K-1 champion in the very first round at UFC Fight Night 50 just a few weeks back (video).
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Though Overeem hasn't quite lived up to everyone's expectations since making his UFC debut back at UFC 141, not everyone is surprised by his lack of success inside the eight-walled cage. That includes Struve, who says most people -- including his friends -- thought Alistair was going to walk right into UFC and annihilate everyone.
But just because he was doing that to everyone outside of the promotion, Struve knew Overeem would have a hard time dealing with the increased level of competition that UFC has to offer.
That's why "Skyscraper" declared (via MMA Hour) that when you really break down his list of accomplishments before stepping into the Octagon, it's not all that impressive.
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"Surprised? The competition, and the level of competition in UFC, is just really high. I said that to my friends and to people that asked me before he got into the UFC. They said he would dominate, be champion of UFC and annihilate everybody. But I told them to just wait and see. The competition in UFC, you can't really underestimate that. He was beating everybody outside of the UFC. But if you go to his record and also on K-1, if you really take a look at what he won and who he won against, then I'm actually not that impressed. Who did he really win against in a period where people were saying that he might be the No. 1 heavyweight in the world? Yeah, he beat Fabricio Werdum, but was it impressive? I didn't think so. He won K-1, but in the first round he won against a mediocre fighter. Then he beat Gokhan Saki when he had a broken arm. Then he beat Peter Aerts, who was pissing blood after fighting Semmy Schilt. So, if you really take a good look at it, it's not all that impressive. He was winning in impressive fashion, but not against the best guys in the world. Not in the UFC where the best talent is and has been."
But just to be clear, Struve doesn't think "The Reem" is overrated and admits that he does have skills when you let him fight his fight. But that's something the towering Swede won't let happen, as he plans on inflicting his own pressure in attempts to make his foe quit.
Struve, who has been dealing with heart issues over the last year (details), was set to make his comeback at UFC 175 this past July against Matt Mitrione. However, prior to walking out to the cage, "Skyscraper" fainted in his locker room and the fight was subsequently scratched.
Admitting he was "ashamed" at what happened, Struve also revealed that his fainting spell had nothing to do with his heart, but rather, increased tension and anxiety of stepping back into the cage.
Having said that, Stefan doesn't expect any setbacks as he gears up to make his long-awaited return.
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Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Image 2 of 13 The theater opens May 31. Outside, the concession stands will feature traditional Latin items, such as aguas frescas, in addition to traditional American movie snacks. The theater opens May 31. Outside, the concession stands will feature traditional Latin items, such as aguas frescas, in addition to traditional American movie snacks. Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 3 of 13 A sports-bar-themed cantina under construction adjacent to Viva Cinema. A sports-bar-themed cantina under construction adjacent to Viva Cinema. Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 4 of 13 Art Seago, COO, of Viva Cinema, stands in the sports bar and restaurant area. Art Seago, COO, of Viva Cinema, stands in the sports bar and restaurant area. Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 5 of 13 Image 6 of 13 Rose Martin works on a flower bouquet in her shop, Rose Flowers and Gift Shop, in the El Mercado area at PlazAmericas. Rose Martin works on a flower bouquet in her shop, Rose Flowers and Gift Shop, in the El Mercado area at PlazAmericas. Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 7 of 13 Vivian Gaytan shows a group of dresses at Velia Dasigns dress shop at PlazAmericas. Vivian Gaytan shows a group of dresses at Velia Dasigns dress shop at PlazAmericas. Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 8 of 13 Shoppers walk through the mall's El Mercado area. Shoppers walk through the mall's El Mercado area. Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 9 of 13 Long-time shopper Yohalma Magaña, right, shares a laugh with store owner Maria Garcia at Maria's Gifts. Long-time shopper Yohalma Magaña, right, shares a laugh with store owner Maria Garcia at Maria's Gifts. Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 10 of 13 Image 11 of 13 Vivian Gaytan walks through a group of dresses at Velia Dasigns dress shop. Vivian Gaytan walks through a group of dresses at Velia Dasigns dress shop. Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 12 of 13 William Alexander Garcia shops at Maria's Gifts. William Alexander Garcia shops at Maria's Gifts. Photo: Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle Image 13 of 13 New theater hopes to help revitalize PlazAmericas Shopping Center 1 / 13 Back to Gallery
The Viva Cinema will occupy a shuttered, hurricane-damaged space that has remained vacant for the last five years, as the latest addition to PlazAmericas, formerly Sharpstown Mall.
The theater — sandwiched by a sports-bar-themed cantina and party space — opens May 31. It will show newly released movies in English with Spanish subtitles and movies from Spanish-speaking countries with English subtitles. The set up is like an Alamo Draft House, where patrons can eat and drink while enjoying a movie. The concept is different, however, because the food and drinks are purchased at either the cantina or concession stand, which has Latin-based snacks as well as traditional items.
The developers hope the new theater will be part of the revitalization of PlazAmericas. Read more about the updates on PlazAmericas in the last three years, the local vendors that have been successful in the center and the new cinema opening this month in either Sunday’s Business section or here on HoustonChronicle.com.Over the past decade, Sgt. Shane Ortega has served three combat tours: Two in Iraq, one in Afghanistan. Two as a Marine and one in the Army. Two as a woman and one as a man.
Ortega is a helicopter crew chief in the Army’s 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. He was born female and would like to serve the rest of his career as a man. That would require a significant change in Pentagon rules, which require that transgender troops be discharged from military service, usually on medical grounds.
Last summer, medical tests showed Ortega had elevated testosterone levels due to the hormones he was taking to support his transition to being a man. As a result, he was barred from flight duties. He still faces the risk of being separated from the Army, but the intervention of an outside legal advocacy group has held that off, at least temporarily. He remains a woman in the eyes of the military, a status with emotional and practical costs.
He holds a man’s military travel passport, based on the new Social Security card he received when he changed his name. But he is still identified as female in the military’s official computer system. He must wear a woman’s “dress blues” for official occasions.
Looking for clarity, his commanders have formally asked the Army a simple question: Can Ortega serve openly as a man?
Ortega works out at a park in Mililani, Hawaii. He will start competing for a professional bodybuilding title in the fall. (Kent Nishimura/For The Washington Post)
“Administratively I shouldn’t exist,” said Ortega, 28. “But I do exist, so that’s still the problem.”
An estimated 15,500 transgender people serve in the military, according to the Williams Institute, a legal think tank that studies sexual-orientation and gender-identity issues. The Pentagon will not disclose how many have been discharged. Palm Center Executive Director Aaron Belkin, whose group studies the issue, said that at least a dozen people have been discharged in the past six months because of their transgender identity.
Clarifying the military’s policy — and the contradictions in how it’s executed — poses a particular challenge for a president who has made the rights of transgender Americans a key component of his domestic social policy.
President Obama has expanded legal protections on the basis of gender identity, advocated for the rights of transgender prisoners, and just this week condemned conversion therapy for young people, a practice that purports to change the sexual identity of transgender and gay people.
On Thursday, Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, Tina Tchen, posted a blog recounting how she met with transgender women of color last month “during the White House’s first-ever discussion solely focused on the challenges this community faces.”
[White House condemns therapy to ‘cure’ gay youth]
In contrast to his vocal advocacy for gays to serve openly in the military, Obama has remained silent on the status of transgender service members. Transgender rights advocates view their acceptance as the next step in creating a more inclusive military.
Ortega laces up his boots. He identifies as a man, but he is still a female in the military’s eyes. He must still wear a woman’s “dress blues” for official occasions. (Kent Nishimura/For The Washington Post)
Transgender troops have always been treated differently from their gay counterparts. Openly gay soldiers were blocked from service — or dismissed from the ranks — on the grounds they would undermine unit cohesion. Being transgender is classified as a mental disorder that makes someone unfit to serve.
Privately, some military officials argue that transgender soldiers could not serve in hardship posts, because they rely on hormone treatments. Transgender advocates point out that troops with other medication requirements, such as diabetics, are not automatically disqualified from service.
Rather than calling for a policy reversal, the White House — which declined to comment for this article — has turned to the services.
In August, the Pentagon asked each service to reassess its rules regarding transgender service members. All still have regulations labeling transgender troops unfit for service, even though some have signaled an openness to reviewing the policy.
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said last year that she supports the idea of allowing Americans to serve regardless of their gender identity.
[VIDEO: Serving in silence: The plight of transgender troops]
The Army recently placed decision-making authority over the future of transgender soldiers in the hands of a senior civilian appointee, Debra S. Wada, the assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and Reserve affairs.
That move was made after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition in September on behalf of Ortega and other transgender soldiers who faced separation proceedings.
“Although the Army appears to have temporarily halted the process of kicking trans people out, the policy still declares that they are unfit,” said Joshua Block, the ACLU staff attorney representing Ortega. “That puts service members and their commanders in an untenable situation. It’s the policy itself that’s interfering with the military’s ability to do the job, not service members like Shane.”
Senior civilian Pentagon officials have begun speaking publicly — if cautiously — about resolving the questions surrounding transgender service members.
But promoting another such change after the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the advent of women in combat roles presents a number of political and public relations challenges for the administration.
During a February question-and-answer session with troops in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter suggested that being transgender alone should not disqualify someone from the military.
“I don’t think anything but their suitability for service should preclude them,” he said.
That same month, the Pentagon began what its spokesman Nate Christensen called “a routine, periodic review” of the Defense Department’s medical requirements, including the provision that being transgender makes one medically unfit for duty.
Miles away from the political debate, Ortega has spent months doing administrative tasks for his unit since his flight certification was suspended last summer.
But having been cleared by his brigade’s senior behavioral-health officer of gender dysphoria — a condition in which patients suffer distress from having a sharply different view of their gender than what others see and perceive — Ortega expects to be allowed to resume flying in mid-April following another physical. He will then be permitted to perform the full range of duties as a helicopter crew chief, though technically still designated as female.
Ortega’s transition — which included taking testosterone for four years under the supervision of military and civilian personnel — has not interfered with his ability to serve, he and his attorneys say. Ortega meets all the standards for a male soldier in his age category in terms of performing push-ups, sit-ups and a two-mile run.
Serving in eastern Afghanistan three years ago, Ortega operated easily as an assistant squad leader repairing aircraft for a Special Forces unit in a remote forward operating base. He regularly lifted weights with his team at the gym and socialized, as well.
“I don’t think there was any animosity,” he said.
Even early on in Ortega’s military career, gender identity was not a major factor in assignments. During an initial deployment as a member of a Marine military police unit in Fallujah, Iraq, he recalled, there were just three women out of 387 troops. Once the units split up, “I never even saw another female Marine,” he said.
“You really learn it really plays no role. Nobody’s going to carry my gear,” he added. “It’s pretty hard-core equal treatment in a combat zone.”
[Gay rights groups urge lifting ban on transgender military personnel]
Both of Ortega’s parents were career military — his father served in the Navy, his mother served in the Navy and Army, and two of his uncles went to Vietnam. Ortega never considered any other career. He signed up for Marine boot camp while still in high school and said his family’s military tradition and a desire for adventure inspired the move.
“One thing my father always said was, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ ” said Ortega, who buzzes with energy and spills out declarations at a rapid clip. “I definitely wanted to be that change.”
A diminutive 5-foot-6, Ortega weighs roughly 160 pounds and has a sculpted physique. Tattoos cover more than a third of his body and speak to a range of experiences, from the Hindu deities Ganesha and Shiva to a tank and woman sporting a gas mask.
He was born in Patuxent River, Md., when his mother was serving at the naval air station there. Ortega said he did not want to dwell on his past as a female and declined to provide the name he was given at birth. But he offered that, from early on, being female didn’t feel comfortable. “I’ve known since I was a child,” he said.
He left for Marine Corps boot camp in 2005, two days after graduating from Monacan High School outside Richmond.
For several years, Ortega has campaigned quietly to push for greater acceptance of transgender service members. He has spoken with elected officials, civilian groups and health professionals and has upcoming speaking engagements in cities including Philadelphia and Atlanta.
“It definitely clears up abstract concepts and preconceived stereotypes,” Ortega said of his talks, adding that while he has “really high walls to climb over when I get there,” many audience members are more understanding once they see and talk to him.
Ortega, who has gradually become more comfortable being in the public eye, has recently launched a Twitter account and was accepted into the Gay Men’s Chorus of Honolulu. He will start competing for a professional bodybuilding title in the fall.
But the Pentagon does not appear poised to clarify its policy soon. In an e-mail, Christensen wrote that the “current periodic review” of the Pentagon’s medical rules “is expected to take between 12-18 months; it is not a specific review of the Department’s transgender policy.”
For the past several years, Ortega has served between two genders.
He has lived in communal accommodations, thereby avoiding the problem of having to bunk with women rather than men. While he is usually addressed as male, occasionally others refer to him by his original gender identity when he has to wear a woman’s uniform.
“I have not asked for any special accommodations from my chain of command,” Ortega said, adding that it has led to some “socially awkward” situations. “You have to exercise patience with people, but people are not going to understand the subject overnight.”TEMPE, Ariz. -- David Johnson has more important things to worry about as he rehabs from wrist surgery than all the fantasy football teams whose seasons he ruined this year by getting hurt.
"No, no, that's the last thing," the Cardinals' star running back said Wednesday in his first public comments since suffering a dislocated wrist in a Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions. "Fantasy is the last thing on my mind right now."
Johnson said that he doesn't have a timeline to return from wrist surgery.
"Really just see how it goes," Johnson said as he faced a gaggle of cameras and reporters in front of his locker. "Just rehab obviously after the cast and everything. We'll see what happens."
Johnson didn't know how long he will have a cast on his left wrist, which was injured while he made a 24-yard catch in the third quarter on Sept. 10. He was put on injured reserve on Sept. 12 so the earliest he can play in a game is Week 10 against Seattle on a Thursday night.
"I'm really just trying to make sure my wrist is 100 percent," he said.
David Johnson isn't sure when he'll be able to return from his dislocated wrist, saying Wednesday he's just trying to make sure it's 100 percent. AP Photo/Jose Juarez
Johnson didn't realize the severity of his injury right when it happened, he said. He was more concerned about getting his wind back after that play and didn't feel that his wrist was hurt. Later in the game he sensed something was wrong with it but thought it was more of a sprain than anything else and that he would be able tape it up more and play.
When Johnson fumbled on his next carry, he couldn't feel the football in his hands.
"The guy had hit it out and I actually didn't feel the football as much," he said. "It didn't feel like I was holding the football as strong as I normally do. I think that's when I realized that something is not right."
Johnson's fears were confirmed the next morning when he talked with Cardinals trainer Tom Reed and team doctors, who explained the extent of the injury.
That's when the emotions set it.
"I was ticked off at first, especially the day of the injury just because it was a big moment of the game," Johnson said. "It was a close game. I had fumbled and it was the first game. I was really upset. I was really frustrated with myself, really down on myself and then after I talked to Tom, after I talked to family members, the players communicating with me, I just faced the facts. Just stayed positive and get through it."
Johnson, 25, said a bevy of players from around the league reached out to him in the days after the injury including Seattle's Tyler Lockett, Detroit's Ameer Abdullah, the Los Angeles Rams' Todd Gurley, Miami's Jay Ajayi.
They all shared the same message with him: Keep your head up and keep pushing through the adversity.
Johnson hasn't started rebuilding his cardio and working out his lower body yet. He's been instructed to rest as much as he can so his wrist can heal properly. But that's been tough.
"I'm a guy who does not like sitting around," he said. "I always want to do stuff. I think it's more tough on my wife. She's kind of getting a little annoyed by me because I don't want to sit there and hang out."
Johnson said he's been getting frustrated lately by trying to do small tasks that he always took for granted, like tying his shoes or taking a shower. He estimated it takes him about 1 minute, 30 seconds to tie his shoes.
"Those little things, the tedious things you do every day, become difficult," he said.
But the toughest part of having his wrist in a cast is not being able to play with his 8-month-old son as much as he used to.
"I can't really carry him," he said. "I get nervous. He's starting to get a little more squirmy, so it's hard to carry him; and my wife, she doesn't really trust me carrying him. That's probably the toughest thing."Opal Divine’s 14th Annual Whisky Festival, 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1. Sample the finest whiskies from Scotland and beyond while enjoying food and holiday merriment. $40 in advance, $45 at the door.
Six Pack Stories, 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1. The final installment of this speaker series about beer focuses on why we love it so much – the taste. Prepare for beer pairings with food, coffee and spirits. $35.
Rolling Stones Listening Party at Irene’s, 11 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1. Sip on Rolling Stones-inspired drinks as one of the first to hear the Stones’ first new record in a decade.
The Brass Tap Domain’s Grand Opening, 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 2 to 2 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 4. It’s a full weekend of festivities, with live music, rare beer releases (including Goose Island Bourbon County Rare) and more.
First Friday Firkin at Uncle Billy’s, 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2. This month’s firkin is festive: Uncle Billy’s Green Room IPA with spruce tips and cinnamon added. $3.
St. Elmo Brewing’s Grand Opening Party, 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. Celebrate the opening of the new South Austin brewery with more than six beers on draft, live music and Southeast Asian bites from on-site food truck Soursop.
Thirsty Planet’s Silverback Pale Ale Release, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. Silverback season has returned. Stop into the tasting room for a pint and sign up for the Austin Gorilla Run while you’re at it.
Leap into the Holidays Party at Armadillo’s Leap Winery, 12 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. Both locations of the winery are offering a celebration with wine tastings and reindeer mix to snack on.
Texas Keeper Cider’s Cider Noir Release Party, 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. Try this special winter cider alongside smoked meats and sides from pitmaster Evan LeRoy, formerly of Freedmen’s.
Hot Drinks Menu Party at Craftsman, 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. A new menu of hot cocktails is debuting, with s’mores also available for $5. Part of the proceeds benefit the American-Statesman’s Season for Caring campaign.
Little Woodrow’s at Tech Ridge One-Year Anniversary Party, 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. Taste samples of Independence Brewing’s new Brown Sabbath beer, as well as other Indy beers at this tap takeover.
Champagne Class at Backbeat, 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4. This primer on champagne will get you all prepared for New Year’s Eve festivities – you’ll embark on a guided tasting to learn how the bubbly wine is made, why it’s so special and more. $50.
Christmas Flight Nights at Easy Tiger, 4:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5 and Tuesday, Dec. 6. Get into the holiday spirit by sipping four winter brews, including the Ballast Point Peppermint Victory at Sea. $10.
Jacoby’s Festivus, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6. Enjoy hot chocolate and holiday cookies while gathering on Jacoby’s bluff overlooking the Colorado River. Then, Sip & Shop in Jacoby’s Mercantile.
Russian Tea Drinking & Traditions at Russian House, 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7. Sip an unlimited supply of Russian tea while learning the importance of tea in Russian culture. $12.
2nd Annual Odell Brewing Ugly Sweater Party, 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8. Come decked out appropriately for this party at Pinthouse Pizza, which will have rare and seasonal Odell beers on tap. Odell is donating $10 to the Central Texas Food Bank for every ugly sweater present.
Holiday Wine Dinner at Duchman Family Winery, 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9. Gift yourself this four-course feast featuring Duchman’s Italian-focused wines. $65.
Holiday Spirits Mingle at the Spirit of Texas Distillery, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10. Party at the Pflugerville distillery, which will have food, drink and music for the festive afternoon.
12 Bars of Charity, 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10. Sign up for this bar crawl that will help raise money for specific local charities. Just donate $10 and you’ll be able to enjoy half-priced drink specials at participating |
just allow anybody to score with ease.
Norm Nixon would be in passing heaven, as he could facilitate easily since he was a great passer in his day. Dwight Howard was a dominant center at one point in his career, and having him would be a great addition to the team. The Hawks would be a solid team, probably middle of the pack, but could anybody on this team really bring home consistent wins? Overall the Hawks would fall well below several other teams on this list.
22 Boston Celtics
William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports
Starting lineup: Michael Carter-Williams, Dana Barros, Vinny Del Negro, Nerlens Noel, Bill Laimbeer
What's crazy about this is that Boston has had some of the richest history in all of basketball, but if players played for their hometown, this would not be the case. This Celtics team is full of great defenders, and would have a solid defensive front court in Noel and Laimbeer. Michael Carter-Williams is a big point guard at 6-foot-6, tall and lanky with an impressive nine steals against LeBron James and the Miami Heat during MCW's first game of his career. That had to be one of the greatest performances ever, especially for a rookie.
Dana Barros and Vinny Del Negro would be a great pair that would work well together. However, I believe this team would be one of the weakest teams in this new look league. Although great players, they do not have any real NBA legends to lead the team.
Sorry Boston, but you're not NBA elite in this alternate universe.
21 Brooklyn Nets
via mylanmurphy.com
Starting lineup: Mark Jackson, Michael Jordan, Stephon Marbury, Bernard King, Billy Cunningham
Michael Jordan. That's really all I have to say about this Brooklyn Nets team. With Jordan, this instantly becomes one of the better teams in the league. Jordan would propel this team to the top, one way or another. Not to mention Michael would be paired up with one of the greatest scorers in NBA history in fellow Brooklyn native Bernard King. This duo would make this team absolutely dangerous. Key elements of this squad would also consist of Mark Jackson, Stephon Marbury, and Billy Cunningham as they would all add significant value to the already great team.
A true center is the only thing this team is really missing, so they would have a difficult time competing against the likes of Shaquille O'Neal and the other all time greats included in this list. That being said, I don't think this team would have much trouble winning games.
20 Charlotte Hornets
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Starting lineup: Chris Paul, Stephen Curry, John Wall, Bob McAdoo, Walt Bellamy
Even though this team is comprised of mostly current players, Chris Paul, Steph Curry, and John Wall are all NBA superstars in their own right. Few other guards in the league would be able to contain these three as they would all execute their roles superbly. Steph Curry is possibly the greatest shooter of all time, even leading his Warriors team to the best regular season record in NBA history this year. This says something about Curry's leadership as he was able to make a huge impact on one of the best teams ever.
Bob McAdoo and Walt Bellamy were great big men, and pairing them up with the incredible backcourt the Hornets possess would create a great team. Paul's passing, Curry's shooting, and Wall's speed, would prove to be one of the hardest defensive jobs for any other team in the league.
19 Chicago Bulls
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Starting lineup: Isiah Thomas, Tim Hardaway, Dwyane Wade, Anthony Davis, George Mikan
Chock-full of talent, the all-time hometown Chicago Bulls would be an incredible basketball team. Isiah Thomas was one of the best leaders and point guards in NBA history, and he would have a great supporting cast with this new Bulls team. Tim Hardaway and Dwyane Wade are two of the most talented guards to ever play the game, making the Bulls back court very deadly.
Anthony Davis is a budding superstar in the NBA right now, and pairing him up with a lesser known NBA legend like George Mikan would create a very well-rounded team. This lineup as it appears now in our fantasy league would be very tough for any team to beat, even with all the great talent that they would be competing with in the other hometown team starting lineups. I could possibly see this team making a run for the title and maybe even building a dynasty.
18 Cleveland Cavaliers
Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Starting lineup: LeBron James, John Havlicek, Neil Johnston, Clark Kellogg, Nate Thurmond
Headlined by LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a respectable hometown team. Having LeBron at the point guard position comes with some disadvantages considering he isn't a pure point guard, but it also comes with a multitude of advantages because he can do anything he sets his mind to in the world of competitive basketball. Scorers such as John Havlicek could work off LeBron nicely, as the Cavs would be a smooth team to watch.
Still, even with NBA legends such as LeBron James and John Havlicek, this team most likely wouldn't be a championship contender in a head to head battle against the outstanding teams on this list. The front court of the Cavaliers would be solid, as Nate Thurmond would be holding it down low for Cleveland. LeBron James is one of the lucky players that actually doesn't have to fantasize about playing for his hometown team. He really gets to do it and if anyone deserves it, he sure does.
17 Dallas Mavericks
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Starting lineup: Mookie Blaylock, Grant Hill, Larry Johnson, Chris Bosh, LaMarcus Aldridge
Even though weaker at the point guard position than other great teams in this alternate reality league, the rest of the Mavericks team makes up for the deficit ten-fold. Grant Hill, Larry Johnson, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Chris Bosh are incredible scorers, which would make Mookie's job at the facilitators position much easier. Grant Hill was one of the most dominate scorers in his prime. Unfortunately, his heyday was sadly cut short due to injuries.
The good news for this article is we are only looking at the players in their prime, so adding Grant Hill would provide superstar scoring for the Dallas Maverick team. Larry Johnson was an explosive scorer for the Hornets back in the day as his offensive presence could only be matched by a few select players. An all around great team, it would be awesome to see this team match up against some of the other incredibly talented teams in this league.
16 Detroit Pistons
via giantbomb.com
Starting lineup: Magic Johnson, Jason Richardson, George Gervin, Dave DeBusschere, Chris Webber
The Detroit Pistons franchise has been pretty successful over the years, but with this new hometown team, new life would be felt all through the city. Magic Johnson is undoubtedly one of the best players ever, so having him running the point guard position would be a dream come true. Magic is considered one of the most dynamic and charismatic basketball players of all time as he was also an inspiration on and off the court.
Jason Richardson in his prime was a beast, and George Gervin was one of the most respected and talented players in NBA history. Dave DeBusschere was an outstanding post player, while Chris Webber would provide some swag and a serious presence down low, rounding out this great Pistons team.
Detroit fans love their basketball team and this starting lineup is surely guaranteed to entertain the crowd. They may not be the bad boys, but they'd still be beloved in Detroit.
15 Golden State Warriors
via bullsforever.com
Starting lineup: Jason Kidd, Damian Lillard, Gary Payton, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce
Now this team would be interesting to watch. Consisting of some of the finest guards in all of NBA history, the Golden State Warriors team would be likely to lose a majority of games because they would be dominated by the other big men in this league. With pretty much no real front court, the Warriors would need to take "small ball" play-style to a whole new level. While probably very exciting to watch, the missing piece of a center would be devastating to the success of the new look Warriors team.
Jason Kidd was a true leader on the court during his playing days as he competed with a lot of heart. This helped him earn respect as one of the most hardworking NBA players of all time. Damian Lillard is a significant threat as he is high capacity scorer, and I believe he would be able to hold his own against some of the best guards in the history. Paul Pierce has had one of the most successful careers of all time, but could he stand a chance against a player like Wilt Chamberlain? I think we all know the answer to that.
14 Houston Rockets
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
Starting lineup: Jimmy Butler, Stephen Jackson, Gerald Green, Emeka Okafor, DeAndre Jordan
One of the weaker teams in this league, the Rockets would most likely finish at the bottom of the standings. Even with current NBA stars Jimmy Butler and DeAndre Jordan, the hometown Rockets don't have the legendary status that some of the other teams have to really compete in this alternative universe. It would be interesting to see Butler and Jordan go at it against some of the best players in NBA history though. Stephen Jackson could really score during his career, meaning the Rockets would have another scoring option as they look to win as many games as possible. Gerald Green is an incredible athlete, although he still struggles to make a consistent impact in the current NBA. Perhaps with this alternate lineup, the stars will align and things will fall into place for the new look Houston Rockets.
13 Indiana Pacers
via pinterest.com
Starting lineup: Scott Skiles, Glenn Robinson, Larry Bird, Shawn Kemp, George McGinnis
The Indiana Pacers all-time hometown team is one of the more balanced on this list. The first name that may pop out to you is Larry Bird. "The Hick from French Lick (Indiana)" would lead this Indiana team with much pride, as he and his fellow Hoosiers try to bring home a championship. Shawn Kemp was undoubtedly one of the most explosive players in the league as it seemed as though he could just jump out of the gym.
Knowing Larry Bird could do it all, Kemp and McGinnis would be getting their touches regularly as Bird could not only score but could always find the open man. The two-time All-Star Glenn Robinson knows a little something about winning as he won the NBA Championship in 2005 with the San Antonia Spurs. It would be great to see this team play, as they have some of the most respected players in NBA history.
12 Los Angeles Lakers/Clippers
via kpopstarz.com
Starting lineup: Russell Westbrook, Reggie Miller, Gilbert Arenas, Kevin Love, Bill Walton
Considering the Lakers and the Clippers share the same pool of players, the entire Los Angeles area would be brought together for this mega team. A great group of athletes, each player on the team would complement the other teammate nicely. Close games would most likely swing in L.A.'s favor, as Reggie Miller is one of the most clutch players in basketball history. Bill Walton is a legendary center, and Gilbert Arenas was a pure scorer at the height of his career. Russell Westbrook can get down the floor in a hurry as he is an absolute blur on the court. Whether he is grabbing a rebound or intercepting a pass, Russell Westbrook makes it look easy as he totally dominates every game he plays.
With amazing talent at every position, Los Angeles's sights would be set on the championship.
11 Memphis Grizzlies
via nba.com
Starting lineup: Penny Hardaway, J.J. Redick, Oscar Robinson, Campy Russell, Bailey Howell
I was expecting the Memphis team to be pretty bad to be honest, but to my surprise, the Grizzlies hometown team is solid. Oscar Robinson is probably one of the most underrated players in NBA history, as he impressively averaged a triple-double in his sophomore season in the league. Penny Hardaway is a great leader and having him at the point guard position would be a luxury for Memphis. While J.J. Redick is a deadeye shooter, he would most likely be eaten up by the other shooting guards in this new look league. You may not be aware of who Campy Russell and Bailey Howell are, but their stats speak for themselves, as they could handle whatever front court duo would oppose them.
While Memphis usually has more of a low-key entertainment factor these last few seasons, this new team would totally flip the script on that as they would become a very entertaining team to watch.
10 Miami Heat
via nba.com
Starting lineup: Brandon Knight, Mitch Richmond, Eddie Jones, Anthony Mason, David Robinson
While Brandon Knight is definitely a talented player, he has yet to prove he would be able to compete against the legends in this hypothetical league we created. Mitch Richmond, Eddie Jones, and Anthony Mason were all great talents, but the real star of the hometown Heat would be David Robinson. One of the few players to achieve the seemingly impossible quadruple double, Robinson is one of the most talented all-around big men ever. While Robinson would definitely have to will this team to its wins, Robinson is one of the only guys who could handle it. He is one of the most humble players in the league, and he would make all of the players around him better as he would lead by example. On a side note, I wonder would this team be able to beat the big three Miami had in the early 2010s, as that would be a great game to watch.
9 Milwaukee Bucks
via usatoday.com
Starting lineup: Nick Van Exel, Fred Brown, Latrell Sprewell, Caron Butler, Jim Chones
Considering Milwaukee isn't a big city such as New York or Chicago, it's no surprise that the pool of talent for a small market like this might have trouble competing. Led by the scoring of Latrell Sprewell, the Bucks would have a serious problem winning many games, as they would most likely be one of the weakest teams in the league. Caron Butler could play some nice ball during his prime of his playing days, but his contributions probably wouldn't do much, as the Bucks all-time hometown starting lineup would be in danger of being dismantled every single game. Nick Van Exel would most likely be pressured very heavily by the great back courts in this league, and it would be a battle every night as he would be dogged constantly.
This is probably the only team on this list whose current roster is better than their new look lineup. Now that's saying something.
8 Minnesota Timberwolves
via mattwalks.com
Starting lineup: Tyus Jones, Dick Garmaker, Dan Anderson, Kevin McHale, Mark Olberding
I stand corrected. This new Timberwolves team is just awful, as they would probably take the cake for the worst team in the entire league. Like the Bucks, Minnesota is a market that is just too small to really generate a healthy amount of talent. The only real name to mention here is Kevin McHale, who is actually one of the more talented and respected players ever. However, considering the way McHale played and who he played with, I doubt he would be able to lead this team on his own to a significant number of wins.
Mark Olberding would most likely be destroyed by the dominant centers he would be facing, as he just wouldn't have the athleticism nor the height to compete. Also, when you have a young player like Tyus Jones starting at the point guard position against all-time greats like Magic Johnson, you know this won't turn out well for Minnesota.
7 New Orleans Pelicans
via mattwalks.com
Starting lineup: Avery Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Joe Dumars, Karl Malone, Bill Russell
New Orleans would be one of the premier teams in the league, as their list of scorers would be just too much to handle for most of the other teams in this article. With Avery Johnson being a player that could pass first instead of wanting to score, he would just add more opportunities to the Pelicans' scorers. Where do I start with the core of this Pelicans team? Clyde "The Glide," Joe Dumars, and Karl Malone were all impeccable NBA players, who impacted their team in a very positive way. While Bill Russell could score, his defensive presence down low would just be overwhelming for most of the centers in this new league.
The New Orleans hometown team would only be happy with being the best, as their team is too good to settle for anything less.
6 New York Knicks
via nba.com
Starting lineup: Bob Cousy, Chris Mullin, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Shaquille O'Neal
Pulling some of the best players from many different NBA eras, the Knicks' hometown team would be very successful. Starting with the consistent play of Bob Cousy, the Knicks would have a great point guard to help get everyone involved. Chris Mullin does whatever it takes to win games, whether it be locking down the opposing team's best player, or just knocking down the open three, which would differ nicely from Julius Erving's flashy play-style.
However, the Knicks' real power would be coming from their front court, as they would be absolutely unstoppable pairing up Shaquille O'Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Shaq was one of the most dominant players of all time, as he broke a few NBA rims to prove it. Kareem's statistics show how good Kareem was for just so long in the league. I really don't think any team in this league has the defensive power down low to stop these guys.
5 Orlando Magic
via ballislife.com
Starting lineup: Eddie Johnson, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Amar'e Stoudemire, Artis Gilmore
When comparing the Magic to the Heat, Orlando has definitely secured themselves as the best team in Florida. The high flying duo, which we got to witness in Toronto, of Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter wouldn't just be entertaining, but would be very integral to the Magic's success. Amar'e Stoudemire was an absolute beast in his prime, as he would be able to compete against the best of the best. Eddie Johnson and the Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore would look as though they would be taking a back seat to the three athletic players I have named before, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't be getting their jobs done, even if it would go unnoticed.
Still, while the Magic would be very explosive, just because they would be the better team in Florida, it doesn't mean they would be tough enough to really compete with some of the best teams in the league.
4 Philadelphia 76ers
Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Starting lineup: Kyle Lowry, Pete Maravich, Kobe Bryant, Maurice Stokes, Wilt Chamberlain
The Philadelphia 76ers could turn out to be one of the best teams in the league, as four of the five players are Hall of Famers. Imagine if Kobe played his career in Philadelphia instead of L.A.? As a Sixers fan, I know I would have loved to see Kobe play in the red, white, and blue, instead of the purple and gold. Kyle Lowry is still proving his worth in the NBA, but he is already considered one of the best players in the league.
The scoring tandem of Maravich and Kobe would be absolutely deadly, as both are considered some of the best scorers of all-time. Maurice Stokes was a beast on the boards, as he averaged over 17 rebounds a game over his career. In my opinion, Wilt Chamberlain is the best player of all time, but many people have speculated he was only that effective because of his freakish height during the era in which he played. It would be very interesting to see him match up with some of the best centers to ever play, as he could really go up against some guys his own size.
3 Portland Trail Blazers
via alchetron.com
Starting lineup: Terrell Brandon, Damon Stoudamire, Mike Newlin, Terrence Jones, A.C. Green
You wouldn't expect much talent coming out of the thinly populated state of Oregon, hence the lineup you see here. I know I have speculated about which team would be the worst in this alternate reality league, but with no real names to mention, is any other team weaker than the Portland Trail Blazers' hometown team? I guess A.C. Green could get a shout-out, as he was a pretty good rebounder for the Showtime Lakers teams in the 80s.
They wouldn't just be a weak team in this hypothetical league either; there is no doubt this team wouldn't have the talent to compete in the current NBA as well. Terrence Jones does seem to have the athleticism to compete, but he would have to improve his overall skill to make any kind of an impact. Portland fans should be happy that this article could never come true because if it did, the prospects of winning with just hometown talent would be very slim.
2 Toronto Raptors
via sportingnews.com
Starting lineup: Steve Nash, Rick Fox, Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Olynyk, Tristan Thompson
Canada has recently produced some great NBA players, but it hasn't always been that way. Consisting of three current players, the Raptors would be led by NBA legend Steve Nash at the point guard position. Nash is one of the only NBA players to win multiple MVP awards, as his name is now included with some of the greatest players of all-time. Considering Nash can make anyone look good with his passing, Andrew Wiggins has the potential to be an elite scorer, and he would get a lot of good looks with Nash running the show.
While the play of Nash and Wiggins would be fun to watch, considering the rest of their team just isn't up to par with the other great talent they would be facing, I just don't see the Raptors' hometown team being very successful. They'd struggle to even make the playoffs in a fantasy season.
1 Washington Wizards
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Starting lineup: John Stockton, Adrian Dantley, Elgin Baylor, Kevin Durant, Ralph Sampson
How do I even begin to comment on this incredibly stacked team? Baylor, Durant, Stockton? The Wizards team is absolutely packed with guys who can do it all, as Washington is one of the more athletic teams in the league. John Stockton would be racking up the assists, as the scorers on his team are incredible. Kevin Durant, Adrian Dantley, Elgin Baylor, and Ralph Sampson were incredible scorers, and make up the impressive core of the team. The length of the Wizards would be a nightmare for any other teams, as all of the players are productive on both ends of the court.
Possibly the best offensive team on this list, the Wizards would be a hard team to stop. The team would be a championship contender for sure. Fans in Washington would be treated to a very successful basketball team.The person who may be responsible for more food-related illness and death than anyone in history has just been made the US food safety czar. This is no joke.
Here's the back story.
When FDA scientists were asked to weigh in on what was to become the most radical and potentially dangerous change in our food supply -- the introduction of genetically modified (GM) foods -- secret documents now reveal that the experts were very concerned. Memo after memo described toxins, new diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and hard-to-detect allergens. They were adamant that the technology carried "serious health hazards," and required careful, long-term research, including human studies, before any genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could be safely released into the food supply.
But the biotech industry had rigged the game so that neither science nor scientists would stand in their way. They had placed their own man in charge of FDA policy and he wasn't going to be swayed by feeble arguments related to food safety. No, he was going to do what corporations had done for decades to get past these types of pesky concerns. He was going to lie.
Dangerous Food Safety Lies
When the FDA was constructing their GMO policy in 1991-2, their scientists were clear that gene-sliced foods were significantly different and could lead to "different risks" than conventional foods. But official policy declared the opposite, claiming that the FDA knew nothing of significant differences, and declared GMOs substantially equivalent.
This fiction became the rationale for allowing GM foods on the market without any required safety studies whatsoever! The determination of whether GM foods were safe to eat was placed entirely in the hands of the companies that made them -- companies like Monsanto, which told us that the PCBs, DDT, and Agent Orange were safe.
GMOs were rushed onto our plates in 1996. Over the next nine years, multiple chronic illnesses in the US nearly doubled -- from 7% to 13%. Allergy-related emergency room visits doubled between 1997 and 2002 while food allergies, especially among children, skyrocketed. We also witnessed a dramatic rise in asthma, autism, obesity, diabetes, digestive disorders, and certain cancers.
In January of this year, Dr. P. M. Bhargava, one of the world's top biologists, told me that after reviewing 600 scientific journals, he concluded that the GM foods in the US are largely responsible for the increase in many serious diseases.
In May, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine concluded that animal studies have demonstrated a causal relationship between GM foods and infertility, accelerated aging, dysfunctional insulin regulation, changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system, and immune problems such as asthma, allergies, and inflammation
In July, a report by eight international experts determined that the flimsy and superficial evaluations of GMOs by both regulators and GM companies "systematically overlook the side effects" and significantly underestimate "the initial signs of diseases like cancer and diseases of the hormonal, immune, nervous and reproductive systems, among others."
The Fox Guarding the Chickens
If GMOs are indeed responsible for massive sickness and death, then the individual who oversaw the FDA policy that facilitated their introduction holds a uniquely infamous role in human history. That person is Michael Taylor. He had been Monsanto's attorney before becoming policy chief at the FDA. Soon after, he became Monsanto's vice president and chief lobbyist.
This month Michael Taylor became the senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. He is now America's food safety czar. What have we done?
The Milk Man Cometh
While Taylor was at the FDA in the early 90's, he also oversaw the policy regarding Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH/rbST) -- injected into cows to increase milk supply.
The milk from injected cows has more pus, more antibiotics, more bovine growth hormone, and most importantly, more insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). IGF-1 is a huge risk factor for common cancers and its high levels in this drugged milk is why so many medical organizations and hospitals have taken stands against rbGH. A former Monsanto scientist told me that when three of his Monsanto colleagues evaluated rbGH safety and discovered the elevated IGF-1 levels, even they refused to drink any more milk -- unless it was organic and therefore untreated.
Government scientists from Canada evaluated the FDA's approval of rbGH and concluded that it was a dangerous facade. The drug was banned in Canada, as well as Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. But it was approved in the US while Michael Taylor was in charge. His drugged milk might have caused a significant rise in US cancer rates. Additional published evidence also implicates rbGH in the high rate of fraternal twins in the US.
Taylor also determined that milk from injected cows did not require any special labeling. And as a gift to his future employer Monsanto, he wrote a white paper suggesting that if companies ever had the audacity to label their products as not using rbGH, they should also include a disclaimer stating that according to the FDA, there is no difference between milk from treated and untreated cows.
Taylor's disclaimer was also a lie. Monsanto's own studies and FDA scientists officially acknowledged differences in the drugged milk. No matter. Monsanto used Taylor's white paper as the basis to successfully sue dairies that labeled their products as rbGH-free.
Will Monsanto's Wolff Also Guard the Chickens?
As consumers learned that rbGH was dangerous, they refused to buy the milk. To keep their customers, a tidal wave of companies has publicly committed to not use the drug and to label their products as such. Monsanto tried unsuccessfully to convince the FDA and FTC to make it illegal for dairies to make rbGH-free claims, so they went to their special friend in Pennsylvania -- Dennis Wolff. As state secretary of agriculture, Wolff unilaterally declared that labeling products rbGH-free was illegal, and that all such labels must be removed from shelves statewide. This would, of course, eliminate the label from all national brands, as they couldn't afford to create separate packaging for just one state.
Fortunately, consumer demand forced Pennsylvania's Governor Ed Rendell to step in and stop Wolff's madness. But Rendell allowed Wolff to take a compromised position that now requires rbGH-free claims to also be accompanied by Taylor's FDA disclaimer on the package.
President Obama is considering Dennis Wolff for the top food safety post at the USDA. Yikes!
Rumor has it that the reason why Pennsylvania's governor is supporting Wolff's appointment is to get him out of the state -- after he "screwed up so badly" with the rbGH decision. Oh great, governor. Thanks.
Ohio Governor Gets Taylor-itus
Ohio not only followed Pennsylvania's lead by requiring Taylor's FDA disclaimer on packaging, they went a step further. They declared that dairies must place that disclaimer on the same panel where rbGH-free claims are made, and even dictated the font size. This would force national brands to re-design their labels and may ultimately dissuade them from making rbGH-free claims at all. The Organic Trade Association and the International Dairy Foods Association filed a lawsuit against Ohio. Although they lost the first court battle, upon appeal, the judge ordered a mediation session that takes place today. Thousands of Ohio citizens have flooded Governor Strickland's office with urgent requests to withdraw the states anti-consumer labeling requirements.
Perhaps the governor has an ulterior motive for pushing his new rules. If he goes ahead with his labeling plans, he might end up with a top appointment in the Obama administration.Before his death last year, Prince was famously protective of his work, and had pulled his music from most streaming services two years ago. Today, a number of his albums have returned to sites such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora.
In 2015, Prince pulled body of work from all of the major streaming services, with the exception of Tidal. Now, 27 of Prince’s albums and compilation albums from Warner Bros., have returned to those sites, which include For You, Prince, Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain, and others.
Warner Bros. Records, CEO and chairman Cameron Strang noted in a statement that the company is “deeply aware of our responsibility to safeguard and nurture his incredible legacy,” and that the label was planning to release a remastered edition of Purple Rain, two albums of unreleased music and a pair of concert films, which are slated to be released on June 9th. According to Financial Times, Prince had granted Warner Music the rights to license his music recorded prior to 1996.
Earlier this week, Universal Music Group acquired the rights to his collection of independent and unreleased music, which includes 25 records and the opportunity to work with the musician’s estate to work on his unreleased music.For other uses, see Reconciliation
Reconciliation is a legislative process of the United States Congress that allows expedited passage of certain budgetary legislation on spending, revenues, and the federal debt limit with a simple majority vote in both the House (218 votes) and Senate (51 votes). Senate rules prohibit filibustering and impose a 20-hour cap on the total time for debate, motions and amendments related to reconciliation bills. The procedure also exists in the House of Representatives, but the House regularly passes rules that constrain debate and amendments, so reconciliation has had a less significant impact on that body.[1]
The process was created by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and was first used in 1980. Reconciliation rules allow budget related adjustments, but larger policy changes that are extraneous to the budget are limited by the "Byrd Rule," an amendment named after Democratic Senator Robert Byrd that was passed in 1990.[2][3]
Reconciliation bills can be passed on spending, revenues, and the federal debt limit[4] once a year per topic unless Congress passes a revised budget resolution for that fiscal year (under section 304 of the Congressional Budget Act).[5] As an example, if a budget resolution's reconciliation instructions affect both spending and revenues, no further reconciliation legislation can occur on these topics in the same fiscal year without a revised budget resolution.[5]
Process [ edit ]
Reconciliation bills [ edit ]
To trigger the reconciliation process, Congress passes a concurrent resolution on the budget instructing one or more committees to report changes in law affecting the budget by a certain date. If the budget instructs more than one committee, then those committees send their recommendations to the Budget Committee of their House, and the Budget Committee packages the recommendations into a single omnibus bill. In the Senate, the reconciliation bill then gets only 20 hours of debate and amendments are limited. Only one reconciliation bill can be passed in any given year.[4]
A reconciliation bill is a bill containing changes in law recommended pursuant to reconciliation instructions in a budget resolution. If the instructions pertain to only one committee in a chamber, that committee reports the reconciliation bill. If the instructions pertain to more than one committee, the House Budget Committee reports an omnibus reconciliation bill, but it may not make substantive changes in the recommendations of the other committees.[6]
Former Senator Judd Gregg explained the complex sequence of steps involved in reconciliation. He emphasizes the complexity of the process, especially if there is a deep partisan divide:[7]
Congress passes a budget resolution, with a deadline of April 15. No presidential signature is needed; sometimes the resolution is delayed or never passed.
The budget goes to both houses.
It goes to the Senate with a special rule: it can pass with a majority and cannot be filibustered. Other legislation can be filibustered and requires 60 votes to end the filibuster.
The budget cannot affect entitlements such as Medicare unless the budget includes "reconciliation instructions." In that case, the Byrd rule applies and the primary result must be to reduce entitlement spending. Gregg notes, "If the budget calls for more revenue to reduce the deficit, then reconciliation can be used to produce that revenue via fees or taxes." A reconciliation instruction is a provision in a budget resolution directing one or more committees to submit legislation changing existing law in order to bring spending, tax revenues, or the debt ceiling into conformity with the budget resolution. The instructions specify the committees to which they apply, indicate the appropriate dollar changes to be achieved, and usually provide a deadline by which the legislation is to be reported or submitted. [8]
After the changes are made, the Budget Committees consolidate them into one bill that is voted on by both houses; it needs a majority in the Senate.
The final reconciliation covers government spending and goes to the president who can sign it or veto it; the veto can be overturned by a two-thirds majority in both houses.
Byrd Rule [ edit ]
The Byrd Rule defines any reconciliation changes to Social Security as "extraneous"—and therefore ineligible for reconciliation.
The Byrd Rule is a United States Senate rule that amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to allow Senators during the Reconciliation Process to block legislation if it possibly would increase significantly the federal deficit beyond a ten-year term or is otherwise an "extraneous matter" as set forth in the Budget Act.[9] It is named after West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd.
Reconciliation generally involves legislation that changes the budget deficit (or conceivably, the surplus). The "Byrd Rule" (2 U.S.C. § 644) was adopted in 1985 and amended in 1990 to outline for which provisions reconciliation can and cannot be used. The Byrd Rule defines a provision to be "extraneous"—and therefore ineligible for reconciliation—in six cases:
If it does not produce a change in outlays or revenues; If it produces an outlay increase or revenue decrease when the instructed committee is not in compliance with its instructions; If it is outside the jurisdiction of the committee that submitted the title or provision for inclusion in the reconciliation measure; If it produces a change in outlays or revenues which is merely incidental to the non-budgetary components of the provision; If it would increase the deficit for a fiscal year beyond those covered by the reconciliation measure; or If it recommends changes in Social Security.
Any senator may raise a procedural objection to a provision believed to be extraneous, which will then be ruled on by the Presiding Officer, customarily on the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian. A vote of 60 senators is required to overturn the ruling. The Presiding Officer need not necessarily follow the advice of the Parliamentarian, and the Parliamentarian can be replaced by the Senate Majority Leader.[10] The Vice President as President of the Senate can overrule the parliamentarian, but this has not been done since 1975.[11] In 2001, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott fired Parliamentarian Robert Dove after dissatisfaction with his rulings, replacing him with Alan Frumin.[12]
Historical use [ edit ]
Origins [ edit ]
The reconciliation process arose from the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Over time, it has developed into a procedure for implementing some policy decisions and assumptions embraced in a budget resolution in a way that was unforeseen when the Budget Act was enacted. Under the original design of the Budget Act, reconciliation had a fairly narrow purpose: it was expected to be used together with the second budget resolution adopted in the fall, was to apply to a single fiscal year, and be directed primarily at spending and revenue legislation acted on between the adoption of the first and second budget resolutions.[13] Although reconciliation was originally understood to be for the purpose of either reducing deficits or increasing surpluses, the language of the 1974 act refers only to "changes" in revenue and spending amounts, not specifically to increases or decreases. Per former Parliamentarian of the Senate Robert Dove:
[Reconciliation] was never used for that purpose. But in 1975, just a year after it had passed, a very canny Senate committee chairman, Russell Long of Louisiana, came into the Parliamentarian's Office, and he kept having trouble with his tax bills because of the Senate rules. People were offering amendments to them that he didn't like. They were debating them at length, and he didn't like that. And he saw in the Budget Act a way of getting around those pesky little problems. And he convinced the Parliamentarian at the time—I was the assistant—that the very first use of reconciliation should be to protect his tax cut bill.[14]
Usage in the 1980s and 1990s [ edit ]
Congress began using the procedure to enact omnibus budget bills |
the world of the undead eagerly–such as Faust, the Nazi who chose eternal dark life over being slayed by the enemy; or quite unwillingly, such as Justin, the priest whose vows were snatched from him in one swift movement of Dracula’s fangs. Any one of them could have a reason for killing the rest off, and even when they are murdered, there is some doubt that they were actually destroyed. Could any one of them have come back to kill the rest?
One by one, the vampires are picked off, and they are unable to escape. All ways are closed to them, because the killer knows them all. And it is full day, another factor that is used to its fullest against those trapped inside the chateau.
Who is responsible? And why? No one, including the reader, will know until the bitter end.
***
Fantastic story! Another great offering from William Massa, this tale is very reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”. The major difference is that the methods of murder have to be such as to wipe out the denizens of the dark. And quite ingenious they are, too.
Mr. Massa throws in surprising twists and turns, and just when the reader is sure who is behind the killings, something else crops up to send that guess straight down the drain.
This was a book I was loathe to put down, because it was so tightly written that I didn’t want to lose the momentum. This is writing at its best, right down to the last written word.
Highly recommended!Many claims are made that Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with select trading partners will benefit Australian agriculture. OECD statistics say otherwise.
The balance of trade positions of Australian agriculture and food manufacturing have deteriorated since FTAs with New Zealand, the United States and Thailand have come into play.
The long-standing 1983 New Zealand arrangement shows growing imports of processed food products, especially since 2000. Australian food exports to New Zealand have levelled off since 2011 with a US$600 million Australian deficit on food products in 2014. Agricultural goods have been close to balance with just over US$270 million of raw or minimally processed product flowing each way.
The net result (shown in black) has been a persistent and generally worsening deficit for Australia in its agriculture and food trade with New Zealand for the whole period.
Author developed using OECD STAN bilateral trade in goods database
The agreement with the United States came into effect in 2005. Again agricultural products are close with Australian imports of US$210 million slightly exceeding exports since 2007. Australian food exports have always exceeded imports but the surplus halved between 2004 and 2013. The basis for the almost doubling of food exports in 2014 is unclear, but meat products driven by beef herd rundown in drought affected Queensland would be part of what may be a one-off spike.
The net result (again shown in black) has been a persistent but generally narrowing surplus for Australia in its agriculture and food trade with the US since the FTA came into play. The Australian 2014 surplus of around US$2 billion appears likely to settle back to around US$700 million or less in the years to come.
Author developed using OECD STAN bilateral trade in goods database
Thailand also signed a bilateral agreement in 2005 and the result has been a generally worsening agriculture and food trade deficit.
Author developed using OECD STAN bilateral trade in goods database
The rise in Australian food product imports from over US$200 million to more than US$800 million in the decade to 2011 is pronounced, as is the subsequent levelling off. Australian agricultural and food exports to Thailand generally travelled together until 2008 but after this, agricultural exports rose markedly for three years before falling back. The rise and then fall of commodity prices explain much of this hump.
Clearly, these three FTAs have failed to deliver. There has been no improvement evident in the agriculture and food trade position under any of the three agreements. Rather, deterioration has been evident in each case.
Turning now to the world, Australia’s agriculture and food balance has been a persistent and generally growing surplus. This is the opposite effect. Australian trade performance has been better with non-agreement partners. Again commodity price effects are evident in recent years for agriculture exports.
Author developed using OECD STAN bilateral trade in goods database, Author provided
New Zealand, USA and Thailand account for about 30% of the rising food imports but only around 15% of rising food exports to the world. They also account for only around 5% of agricultural exports but 35% of imports.
Further analysis can be undertaken, but on these figures, FTA partners have clearly been able to outperform Australian enterprises. On the other hand, where no Agreements have been struck, Australian enterprises have outperformed partners to record a generally improving agriculture and food trade surplus.
How might things change with three new North Asian trade, regulation and investment agreements (Japan, Korea and China), and perhaps a Trans-Pacific Partnership? History suggests no necessary gains and trending losses on merchandise trade for both food manufacturing and agricultural industries.
It seems we should be more closely monitoring the realities of trade, not fixating on rhetoric and so far empty promises.
There is nothing “free” about these trade agreements.Bill Scher is the senior writer at the Campaign for America’s Future, and co-host of the Bloggingheads.tv show “The DMZ” along with the Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis.
Everyone assumes Senator Tim Kaine is Hillary Clinton’s “safe” pick for vice president. He’s geographically safe: hailing from the swing state of Virginia, where a Democratic governor can name his replacement. He’s demographically safe: a white male Catholic who speaks fluent Spanish. His résumé is safe, checking the senator, governor and mayor boxes. Even his personality is safe. “I am boring,” Kaine assured America on NBC’s Meet the Press last Sunday.
But ask anyone from the Bernie Sanders wing of the party about TKaine, and suddenly he doesn’t feel very safe at all.
Story Continued Below
“An establishment Wall Street Democrat like Tim Kaine … will do nothing but confirm to progressives she's learned nothing from this primary,” Jordan Chariton told Politico Magazine, who reports for the Bernie-friendly online talk show The Young Turks.
As many as 22 million potential voters in November are thought to be Sanders-leaning Democrats, and they’re looking for evidence that Clinton is paying some heed to the surprisingly strong insurgency of the socialist from Vermont. Bernie’s success was a clear anti-establishment uprising, strong enough that his supporters expect their agenda will now help shape the future of the party. But choosing Kaine may send them the opposite message: This is her party now, and you aren’t the ones calling the shots.
“Tim Kaine would be a perfect addition to the ticket,” said People for Bernie co-founder Charles Lenchner when asked by Politico Magazine how he would interpret such a pick “in that he would add no progressive backbone that might inconvenience Team Hillary when it's time to govern.”
If you’ve only been loosely following Kaine’s career, this reaction from the left might seem a surprise. In the Senate, Kaine tallied a respectable 90 percent score in the liberal Americans for Democratic Action rating of 2014 Senate votes. He once was thought to be too liberal to win a statewide race in Virginia. So why is he being treated like the second coming of Joe Lieberman, long despised in progressive circles as a conservative “Democrat In Name Only.”
Partly it’s the way he navigates tricky subjects. On abortion, he carries a perfect score from Planned Parenthood regarding his Senate votes—but Kaine is also a devout Catholic who says, as he did on Meet the Press last Sunday, “I don't like it personally. I'm opposed to abortion.” On the budget, Kaine rejected the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission recommendation to reduce Social Security benefits as a Senate candidate in 2012, but he embraced the underlying anti-Keynesian principle of the commission proposal: “two or three dollars of cuts for every dollar of revenue.”
Kaine also appears partial to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, loathed by Sanders and his backers. He voted for the “fast track” bill protecting trade agreements from Senate filibusters, a necessary step for TPP ratification (though he said at the time that his vote was “not a blind endorsement of any pending trade negotiation.") And he welcomed the release of the TPP text by pushing back on a main criticism from the left about the process: “Contrary to claims that this is a ‘secret deal,’ the text is being made available—significantly earlier than required... ” (Last week’s rejection of an anti-TPP plank in the initial Democratic platform by the drafting committee is roiling the left and may make the trade issue a major flash point at the convention.)
Kaine’s maneuvering is typical of a mainstream Democrat. For Sanders supporters, that’s exactly the problem.
Kaine’s maneuvering is typical of a politician in the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Which is exactly the problem: Sanders supporters don’t want a politician in the mainstream of the Democratic Party.
“Picking Kaine, a centrist, DLC [the now-defunct Democratic Leadership Council] Democrat, who happens to have some scary positions on abortion and the deficit, would just confirm that Clinton is the triangulating, centrist, DLC Democrat who many Sanders supporters have claimed her to be,” scoffed Bernie-backer Katie Halper, host of her eponymous radio show on New York’s WBAI, to Politico Magazine, “It would send a message that she's not even pretending to pander to us, which is both refreshingly honest and alarming.”
The Republican National Committee is fully aware that Kaine could potentially widen the rift between populists and the Democratic establishment, dropping an unusual oppo dump this week which captured every right-leaning position Kaine has ever taken—includingp support for offshore oil drilling off the Virginia coast—and declaring, “Tapping The Virginia Senator Would Be A Slap in The Face To Bernie Backers.” (This may have been the first time in history the RNC publicly expressed concern for the feelings of democratic socialists.)
***
It’s clear that a Kaine pick would be beyond disappointing for Bernie loyalists, especially after a season of electrifying rallies and primary wins that demonstrated the genuine populist energy in the party’s young base. But would Kaine really damage Clinton’s bottom line in the main thing she cares about, the popular vote total in November?
Even in Sanders circles, opinions diverge. Shaun King, the New York Daily News' senior Justice writer and Black Lives Matter activist, a Bernie booster, warned that Kaine could be a huge bust: “Her choice of VP, if not someone truly progressive, will seal the deal for many of us to vote elsewhere.” But Halper argues Clinton need not worry: “Neither I, nor any single Sanders supporter I know, is on the fence about who they want to win the general. And nobody is saying, ‘If Clinton names Elizabeth Warren, she has my vote. If she names Kaine, I'm voting for Trump’ … The role of vice president is largely symbolic.”
But turnout is important, especially in the Rust Belt states where economic populism packs a punch and state polls look tighter than in national trial heats. And many circle back to the “inspiration” factor, or lack thereof. “If the goal is to excite Sanders supporters, it's fair to say a Kaine pick would miss the mark,” warned George Goehl, co-director of People’s Action. “He is not someone who will inspire progressives or rouse interest among the young,” sighed Robert Borosage of Campaign for America’s Future (full disclosure: where I work).
And beyond Bernie’s economic populists, Kaine could also dampen enthusiasm within Hillary’s base of reproductive freedom advocates. When The Hill newspaper tried to get Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America and EMILY's List— abortion rights groups that endorsed Clinton—to comment on Kaine’s VP prospects, all clammed up. But Ally Boguhn, political and campaigns editor at the reproductive health news site Rewire, conveyed to Politico Magazine the hesitation found in abortion rights circles: “other Clinton VP options are more roundly pro-choice and seem to align better with a campaign platform hoping to appeal to reproductive rights advocates and supporters.”
Does Kaine have anything to offer the left that could mitigate any backlash? Absolutely. Progressive columnist Michael Tracey, who has been supportive of Sanders, tells Politico Magazine he sees “upside” in that Kaine could “act as a check on Hillary’s vehemently hawkish tendencies … having called on Obama to do quaint things like obtain congressional authorization for the Libya intervention in 2011 and the war against ISIS in 2014. [That] could come in handy should he assume the vice presidency and Hillary sets her sights on toppling some uncooperative foreign government.”
Does Kaine have anything to offer the left that could mitigate any backlash? Absolutely.
And King, while stating his preference for someone “genuinely progressive [and] from an underrepresented group in our government,” stressed his “respect” for Kaine’s record of public service: “I am an ordained pastor and always loved that Tim Kaine spent a year in Jesuit service where he learned not only to speak Spanish fluently, but to appreciate the world we live in. [And] Senator Kaine spent many of his years as an attorney fighting against discrimination and other causes that matter deeply to me. I believe he's a good man.”
But if Kaine just can’t be sold to the pro-Bernie/anti-Clinton camp, is that faction big enough to matter? Potentially. Thirteen million people voted for Sanders in the Democratic primaries and caucuses, but the pool of general election voters goes beyond who participated in the nomination process. The most recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found 43 percent of voters classifying themselves as Democrat or leaning Democrat, and 40 percent of that group supported Sanders (in line with the primary popular vote totals). Assuming November's turnout will be 130 million, similar to the past two presidential elections, that puts the Bernie army at 22.4 million strong.
But how much of that 22.4 million is allergic to Hillary? The latest polls from the weekend paint a murky picture. The ABC/Washington Post poll gives Clinton a landslide 12-point lead in a two-way race, with only 8 percent of Sanders’ supporters—1.8 million—voting for Donald Trump. In a four-way race, the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson grabs 7 percent and the Green Party’s Jill Stein picks up only 3. Clinton’s vote share drops 4 points—shedding another 5.2 million people. Assuming those are all Sanders backers—a slightly generous assumption—we get a total of 7 million people Hillary is at risk of losing off her left flank. Sounds big, yet, in this scenario, Clinton still maintains a robust 10-point margin.
But the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll tells a completely different story; a 5-point lead for Clinton nearly vanishes when Johnson (10 percent) and Stein (6 percent) are in the mix (Trump’s four-way number is similar in the two polls, but the higher third-party numbers in the NBC/WSJ poll bite Clinton harder). In the two-way matchup, Trump gets 10 percent of Sanders backers, about 2.2 million people. But in the broader field, Clinton’s percentage tumbles 7 points, meaning another 9.1 million jump ship for a total of 11.3 million. Since NBC reported that Clinton holds on to 63 percent of the 22.4 million Sanders supporters, we can more precisely estimate that 8.3 million of Hillary’s 11.3 million lost votes comes from those still feeling the Bern. Clinton is then left with a mere 1-point lead. That’s a risky position.
Which picture is correct? Clinton can’t be sure, especially with the degree of harmony at next month’s convention still an unknown. Adding to the uncertainty is the smattering of state polls that have been released this month. Pre-convention state polling is erratic and sketchy, but there are signs that the electoral map is being scrambled. Public Policy Polling found Trump only 2 to 4 points behind in bluish states Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa and New Hampshire, but Clinton only 4 points behind in Republican stronghold Arizona. (An Arizona pollster has Clinton up 4 points in the state.) A CBS round of state polls found Clinton up only 3 in Florida, clinging to a 1-point lead in Colorado, but holding a 2-point lead in previously red North Carolina. Last week, Quinnipiac found Ohio tied and Clinton with a single point edge in Pennsylvania.
In nearly all of these cases, Clinton’s number is stuck in the low 40s. But both the national ABC/Washington Post and NBC/Wall Street Journal polls show higher percentages of Sanders supporters getting on the Clinton bandwagon than the previous month. If you assume that trend naturally continues, Clinton’s number will be buoyed soon enough, no matter what happens with the VP. If you don’t, then the VP pick could potentially affect the outcome.
***
Of course, that’s only true if you believe VP picks ever affect the outcome. There is plenty of evidence that they don’t: rank-and-file Democrats in 2004 beat the drum for Democratic nominee John Kerry to select the charismatic North Carolina Senator John Edwards, but his Southern drawl could not lock down one Southern state. In 2008, Republican nominee John McCain thought he could entice disappointed Clinton supporters to ditch Barack Obama by choosing Governor Sarah Palin—that fateful decision became a tragi-comic HBO movie.
But while Palin proved politically toxic to swing voters and Democrats, she did arguably help soothe conservative Republicans who were hesitant about the relatively moderate McCain. Four years later, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan—while failing to carry his home state of Wisconsin—at least helped to unify conservatives around the ideologically suspect Mitt Romney. The question for Clinton this year is: Does she really need the ideological help?
The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza ranks Kaine at the top of the VP list because “the defining trait of Clinton’s political career is caution” and Kaine offers the greatest “sense of safety.” It’s true that the other rumored possibilities carry various risks, be they ideological, demographic or geographic. But without clear polling data and without firm support among the unsettled left, Kaine is not a sure bet either. The cautious Clinton will have to come to grips with this fact: She has no singularly safe VP choice.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article said People’s Action endorsed Bernie Sanders. Though some of the affiliate chapters did, the national organization did not.Mogadishu, Somalia - It's Friday afternoon on Lido beach in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. It is the start of the weekend and families in their Friday best outfits have flocked to the beach and the eateries that hug the pristine blue waters of the Indian Ocean.
"Come together, closer, smile. This one is going up on Snapchat," Zakariye Abdirahman instructed out loud as he took photos on his smartphone.
Abdirahman and his five other friends have come to the city's most popular beach to show the "other side of Somalia", the side they say the media ignores.
They are volunteer social media activists and go around the city and nearby towns and villages when they are not at work or at school, taking photographs of the changing faces of their country.
Thousands of people follow the activists on their social media accounts to get a glimpse of the everyday life in the horn of the African country.
"I post the photos on my social media accounts to show people the reality in our city. I take photos of the latest developments in Mogadishu. Many people have contacted me saying they never knew Mogadishu is like this. Others have visited the city after seeing some of my pictures." Abdirahman told Al Jazeera.
The Somali capital, which was reduced to rubble by warring clan militias after more than two decades of civil war, has been undergoing a revival.
Al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda-linked armed group which is fighting to overthrow the country's western-backed government, was pushed out of the city in 2011. The group has also lost control of most towns and cities in the country but still carries out attacks and targeted assassinations.
With a sense of normality returning, thousands of people have returned to Mogadishu as security has improved. Investors poured millions into the country's fragile economy. The old part-blown buildings of city have been given a facelift.
READ MORE: Facebook sells ‘paradise on earth’ to young Somalis
But Mogadishu is still struggling to shed its image of recent years. The activists blame the media for what they claim is inaccurate portrayal.
"The reason why I take pictures is because when people Google Mogadishu on the internet pictures of people killed in explosions, people who are bleeding or starving people appear. And that is not the whole picture," Ayan Mohamed told Al Jazeera, as beachgoers watched from a few metres away.
"I take pictures to counter that image. The media creates and perpetuates these images," he said.
The Somali government, which has its hands full fighting al-Shabab, has welcomed the moves of these activists.
"We encourage people to show the world the changes the country is undergoing. It is not just the job of the government," Abdisalam Aato, the government spokesman told Al Jazeera, sitting in his office with a picture of a smiling child at the beach hanging from the wall.
"We welcome those who are doing their part in sharing these positive sides of our country. We encourage the Somali people to counter the media, which is often interested only in news of explosions," Aato said.
But the activists have their work cut out for them.
Somalia may be turning a corner but some of the old issues remain. The country was back in the media headlines at the end of last month as the UN said some 1.7 million people in the northern part of the country - 40 percent of people in northern Somalia - may die due to lack of emergency food aid as a result of El Nino-related drought.
READ MORE: Somalia's post-conflict banana harvest revival
Yet the activists say that they don't want the world to focus solely on the suffering of the Somali people.
"We don't want the media to just show the negative, the suffering. We want them to show our full lives. There is so much happening in Mogadishu and other towns and cities. It seems like they are not interested in anything other than the suffering of our people," Abdirahman said.
As the sun disappeared behind the waves of the warm sea, the group dashed to Daljirka Dahsoon - a monument erected in the heart of the city in honour of the men and women killed defending the country - another popular hangout spot for the city's residents, to capture the last rays of the day.
"These are the images the world also needs to see. This is also Somalia, and the happy people you see here are Somalis," Mohamed said while taking photos with her phone.
The activists said they will continue taking and sharing photos of everyday life in Mogadishu until the world accepts there is more to the city than violence.
"Nothing will stop us. We will tell our story fully. And we will make sure the beautiful side of Somalia will also be online," Abdirahman said.
Follow Hamza Mohamed on Twitter: @Hamza_AfricaMir 0.28.1
We are pleased to announce that Mir 0.28.1 has been released and is available in the mir-team/release ppa and in Ubuntu 18.04 “Bionic”. There are builds for the supported Ubuntu releases (16.04 LTS “Xenial”, 17.04 “Zesty” or 17.10 “Artful”) To use the PPA:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mir-team/release $ sudo apt-get update
As the 0.28.1 numbering reflects this release is a collection of improvements and bugfixes to Mir release 0.28. There are no API or ABI changes.
Significantly, we’ve addressed a number of issues that impacted on building Mir on other distributions. Obviously, we’ve not tried them all, so if you encounter a problem please reach out (either here, on freenode #ubuntu-mir or file a bug on launchpad.
What is in Mir 0.28.1?
Enhancements
Fix build (and add instructions) for Fedora
Don’t build components that use Mir EGL when it isn’t available.
Fix GMock detection (across the platforms we’ve tried).
Add Wayland support for keymaps.
[miral-app, miral-desktop] Default to using SDL’s Wayland support.
Bugs fixed:A remarkable number of the Tudors had ‘red-gold’ hair. Though the largest proportion of red hair in the world comes from Scotland, Ireland, and Teutonic countries, it can show up anywhere, so one has to assume the most probable source. We are dependent on descriptions of the day for the appearance of the Tudors (um, there were no cameras), and this leaves open the possibility for human error and bias.
The medieval standard for beauty was red-gold hair. Beauty in the Middle Ages was often equated with Northern European coloring. For example, Medieval depictions of the Queen of Sheba who is ‘black but comely’ portray her as black-skinned but golden haired in an attempt to reconcile both possibilities.
The Tudors were decendants of a rag tag group of upwardly mobile gentlemen who landed some high-born widows, or, in the case of the Beauforts, a hot lowly born widow of a knight. We don’t know what hair color, or even appearance, most of these jackpot-hitting upstarts had, but they must have been good looking according to the standards of the day.
It is pointless to go too far back in generations, since the further back you go, the less statisical significance an ancestor has on any given genes. For the sake of brevity, I will start with Elizabeth Woodville
ELIZABETH WOODVILLE
All Tudors after Henry VII are decendents of Elizabeth Woodville’s through her daughter Elizabeth of York. Elizabeth Woodville is “beautiful,” but not described otherwise, so we can assume she had very fair skin.
I have only seen reproductions of the Elizabeth Woodville portrait. Some of them show her with obviously red hair, others with more blonde.
Elizabeth Woodville and the Tudors had a similar origin: a widowed highly born Princess marries a lowly born gentleman in their service. Jacquetta of Luxembourg, half Italian and half French, married Sir Richard Woodville following the death of her first husband, the Duke of Bedford. That Sir Richard Woodville must have been dreamy can be surmised: he not only captured the hand of the Duchess, he also fathered at least 16 of her children, of which Elizabeth was the oldest and most famous.
ELIZABETH OF YORK
Elizabeth of York was a red head according to the only known portrait of her. She was the daughter of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV, granddaughter of Jacquetta of Luxemborg on her mother’s side and Cecilly Neville (who’s mother was a Beaufort) on the other. Where the red head gene came from on her father’s side is anyone’s guess. He, himself was brown haired. He was English, with some Spanish and French blood, but primarily English. He and his wife were 2nd cousins.
Very, very little about Elizabeth of York is recorded: nothing about her education, opinions, political leanings or appearance. What can be ascertained by the later behavior of her children, she was regarded by her family and gave to them a family identity.
HENRY VIII GENERATION
Henry VIII’s generation was a mixed bag. Both Henry and Arthur had red hair. Margaret probably had genes for it, as Mary Stuart had auburn hair. Mary Tudor, however, was dark-haired later in life, though she may have been lighter earlier on. By the time she returned from France, she had dark hair as her marriage portrait to Charles Brandon testifies. I’ve often imagined that Henry VIII was attracted to Anne Boleyn because she reminded him of his headstrong, dark-haired, beautiful sister, Mary, of whom Henry was very fond. Anne, too, had a blonde sister, and though contemporaries are critical of her complexion and coloring, she probably wasn’t as dark as they supposed (some also claim she was covered in moles or witches spots and had 6 fingers).
Henry VII’s coloring is not described (correct me if I’m wrong on this, my books are currently all packed away in the attic), likely because it was unextraordinary, and because he was really a misery sort of person who was fond of dressing plainly in darker colors and wearing hats. He didn’t play up for pageantry or the cult of the icon. He was 1/4 Welsh, and his mother was a Beaufort, so both he and his spouse were decendants of Katherine Swynford. One could arguably make the claim that Katherine Swynford, or some Beaufort had red hair, since both the Stuarts and the Tudors have their genetic material. It can be guessed that Katherine de Valois probably did not have the possibility for red or blonde hair since none of her close relatives were redheads. Owain ap Meredudd ap Tewdwr is only known for being rash and without much sense, which proves nothing about his coloring.
My guess would lay with the Beauforts (who’s ancestors were John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford), and possibly with Owain ap Meredudd ap Tewdwr. A Lancastrian guess is a sound one, since the Tudors, the Stuarts, and Catherine of Aragon were all Lancastrians or Lancastrian Beauforts.
CATHERINE OF ARAGON
Catherine of Aragon was a remarkably beautiful princess by the standards of the day, despite her shortness. She had golden hair and fair skin, and was not at all dark such as movies like to show. Her appearance made her all the more pleasing to her father-in-law Henry VII. She was a legitimate decendant of John of Gaunt, the famous son of Edward III, whereas Henry VII was a product of John of Gaunt’s roll in the sack with Katherine Swynford. Catherine of Aragon was seen by the English people as being English in blood.
THE ELIZABETH GENERATION
Mary had red hair, which would stand to reason as she was the son of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. She, like her mother, was considered a beauty as a child. As she grew older it turned more ashy, as did both of her parents. Unlike movie depictions, Mary was never ugly. She was a beautiful child. When she reached her thirties, some considered her ‘plain,’ but never ugly.
Edward VI hair was more blonde. Elizabeth was blond-red. What it would have become later, we will never know since it fell out by the age of 28 (see previous post). Frances and Eleanor Brandon, children of Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister, where probably brown haired.
By the time of the Elizabeth generation, the Tudor hair color became more than just a sign of beauty or appearance. It was viewed as proof of legitimate Tudor decent. Commentary by visitors to court would be on the coloring of all of Henry VIII’s children. That Mary was born with red-gold hair is not such a surprise. But it must have been a great relief to black-haired Anne Boleyn that her only child – though a daughter – had the Tudor red-gold hair. And it was indeed noted. When Elizabeth’s paternity was questioned, her appearance cast aside any doubts.
Same applies to the Scottish monarchs. James V, son of Henry VIII’s sister Margaret, was born with red hair. When Henry excluded Margaret’s line from his will he did so under the supposition that Margaret’s children were not those of her husbands (though they were obviously Margarets!), but this was very probably false. Margaret’s first husband, James IV was not really of Scottish decent. His father was German and Danish, with some Beaufort ancestry (again).
BEYOND THE ELIZABETH GENERATION
Jane Grey is mentioned as having auburn hair. Both of her parents would claim Elizabeth Woodville as an ancestor. Her father was a Grey, who were the product of Elizabeth Woodville’s first marriage, and her mother’s mother a Tudor. Her sister Catherine, I seem to remember, is described as a beauty. The only description of her youngest sister, Mary, is of her body: she may have been a dwarf, a hunchback, or possibly both.
Mary Stuart’s hair color is suspicious. Early accounts in France mention that her hair color was brown ‘almost grey.’ Some mention her has having auburn hair. Some even go so far as to claim she had golden hair. My guess is she dyed it at some point, and here is why. First, the variability. No one can make up their mind what color she was. Second, hair dying was very common in France. Queen Margot (Marguerite de Valois) would have been in the same generation and was famous for her hair dying. Third, she may have gone grey early, as there is at least one description of her in her late teens as having ‘almost grey’ hair. Fourth, her hair, like Elizabeth’s became redder as she became older. Fifth, she suffered from hair loss. And sixth, she went to the execution as wearing a very red wig – the one her decapitated royal head fell out of – so apparently she saw nothing wrong with it.
RED HAIR AND ENGLAND
That red hair was popular in Elizabethan England is undeniable. But was it popular on the continent? Not so much. Perhaps that was because the English were attempting to emulate their monarchs. Perhaps it was because it was viewed as an English/Scottish phenomenan. The Hapsburgs had a large proportion of blondes, inherited, possibly from the same root that gave Catherine of Aragon her red-gold hair (which ironically may have been the same genes that gave the Tudors their red-gold hair as well, the Lancastrians. But that is speculation, and statistically hard to prove). The french didn’t have a blonde or red-head in the lot, and neither did they really care.
The Tudors, though their origins were Welsh, were not very Welsh at all. Henry VIII was 1/8 Welsh. That’s all. He was primarily English. That four of Henry VIII’s six wives were English and that his two foreign brides were either of partially English royal blood or blonde must mean something. The other candidate for Henry VIII’s hand after the death of Jane Seymour was Christina of Denmark (who famously said if she had two heads she would gladly give one to England.) who was very blonde, and also of Lancastrian decent. Henry VIII gave a lot of power to appearance, and probably so did his subjects.
Astonishingly enough, given that only 1 to 2% of the human population has red hair (statistics may have been different in the 16th century), by the time Elizabeth died, England had had a red-headed monarch (either king or queen) for 138 years!!!* Tudor era men were conditioned to find high status women as attractive, so it would stand to reason that red hair would be viewed as beautiful in England.
SO WHERE DID IT COME FROM
What all of the red and blonde-haired Tudors or Tudor brides have in common is decent from John of Gaunt. Very many of them were also Beaufort decendents via Katherine Swynford. So they were all distant cousins. But statistically, fair hair, or a low amount of eumelanin, would have slowly disappeared if not more introductions of phemelanin and low eumelanin capable genes. These introductions could have likely come from, say, Owain ap Maredudd ap Tewdwr, Elizabeth Woodville (via possibly her father?), and Anne Boleyn. So, it came from lots of places.
THE “GENE” FOR RED HAIR
Hair color is not a Mendelian gene. It is the result of numerous genes, some which impact others, effecting which are expressed and which are not. There is no such thing a ‘a red haired gene’ since red hair is the absense of eumelanin combined with the presence phemelanin, both of which are governed in turn by more than one gene. Therefore, a person from Spain or Africa or India or Polynesia can have the potential for red hair, but the expression of such would depend very highly on choice of mate and probability. The mutation that allowed for the production of the red color in hair is something like 40-50,000 years old (blue eyes, youngsters that they are, are only about 10,000 years old), so it is probably pretty widespread. Therefore, to have ‘red hair’ is commentary on appearance, not on genetics or ethnic decent.
*I didn’t count the reign of Richard III since we don’t know what hair color Anne Neville had (though some depictions DO show her with red hair).
AdvertisementsVolunteering is one of those quirky little things that we all know we should probably do more often, but rarely actually take the effort to do it. However, it's not nearly as hard as you think, and if you take the time to find the right place, it's an experience that can teach you plenty of valuable skills.
Volunteering has quite a few intangible benefits, including research that suggests it makes you feel like you have more time, and live longer. But it's also a dead simple way to learn a new skill, or hone the skills you already have. The trick is to find a place you actually like.
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Decide What You Want to Learn or Teach
Volunteering is great in an altruistic sense, but that doesn't mean you can't get something out of it. To that end, it's good to start by thinking about what you'd like to learn or teach. For instance, we've talked before about how volunteering is a good way to boost DIY knowledge, especially with household repair for a place like Habitat for Humanity. Hackerspaces are also great if you're interested in electronics. Of course, if you already have those skills, you can teach as well. Chances are, if you're trying to learn a skill, or if you're really good at something, a volunteer option exists (we'll get into finding those options in the next section).
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I've volunteered for a few different places myself, but it wasn't until a short stint of teaching basic journal writing skills at a low income community center that it really settled in that this was something I enjoyed. The volunteering itself was dead simple. Once a month on a Saturday, I'd get together with a group of people, they'd go over their month |
Marshall, of Basegreen Avenue said: "I find it incredible they don't have the decency to pick up after themselves. They might not think it matters to us but it does.
"I should've done this 10 years ago because it happens all the time. If it rains then it makes a real mess.
Basegreen Avenue residents have complained about the mess left by council contractor AMEY after they cut the grass verges. Pictured are Harry Marshall, Ann Hartley, and Gaynor Elliott.
"It gets in the drains and clogs them up. In this year, the 10th anniversary of the Sheffield floods, have we learned no lessons regarding blocking up the drains, or do we want some more floods?
"It is absolutely disgraceful, its all over the place."
Mr Marshall said a recently holiday to Spain prompted his complaint to Sheffield Council. He said he witnesses workmen in Almeria in the south of the country filling up dozens of green waste bags.
"We've recently got back from Spain and they keep their grass verges really tidy. You see the workmen picking up after themselves.
"I got back to Sheffield and I couldn't believe the difference. If the workmen in Spain can keep it tidy then why can't they do it here? I know there's been cut backs but that's no excuse."
A Streets Ahead spokesperson said: “Verges on Basegreen Avenue were mowed last week and unfortunately some of the grass that was mowed was left on the pavement and road.
"This is not standard practice and Streets Ahead operatives will return in the next 24 hours to ensure the grass is cleared up.”
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{http://www.thestar.co.uk/sheffield-united-fixtures-results|Sheffield United: Get all the Blades stats|click hereNEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The number of shootings and murders is up in the city, but Mayor Bill de Blasio says gang-on-gang crime is to blame for the recent upswing.
Although the number of murders is on the rise, de Blasio said the situation is better than it has been in recent years, 1010 WINS’ Juliet Papa reports.
Mayor de Blasio Blames Gang On Gang Violence For Recent Crime Spike
“We are down compared to last year to date, we’re down from the year before that,” de Blasio said. “Where we’re at this year compared to last year, and previous years, we are still at one of the lowest murder rates we have ever had in the history of the city.”
However, there were eight murders last week alone, and at least one expert is fearful because he says the crime is pushing from the outer boroughs to Manhattan tourist sports, CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported.
“The fact that there is a significant spike in violent crime, specifically shootings and murders, gives us pause to believe there is something that is just not right in the city’s policing system right now,” said former FBI agent and NYPD sergeant Manny Gomez.
Gomez said the dramatic spike in murders and shootings, especially in Manhattan, is something the city has to take very, very seriously.
In the Midtown North Precinct, home to Broadway, Radio City Music Hall and the like, murders are up 28.6 percent and shooting incidents 48.1 percent this year, Kramer reported.
In Midtown South, which includes hotels, Grand Central and the Garment District, murders are up 75 percent and shooting incidents 150 percent, Kramer reported.
In addition, Central Park has seen the number of robberies rise 125 percent and incidents of grand larceny jump 62.5 percent.
“The concern is that Midtown North, Midtown South and Central Park are basically our tourist hubs,” Gomez said. “They leave a lot of money behind to help our city’s economy. If these folks get a hint that it’s not safe, that’s a problem, a huge problem.”
De Blasio said the city is taking steps to fix the problem.
“We have had some sore spots that we have to look at. There are no two ways about it, there are certain precincts we have to do more in and there are certain gang issues we have to address and some additional tools,” the mayor said.
When asked by Kramer is he’s worried about the spike in violence, de Blasio said, “I worry all the time about keeping people safe in the city. It’s part of the job.”
Some New Yorkers are worried, too.
“I think they need to hire more cops and do a better training,” said Susan Martis of the Bronx.
“I think it was really getting better for a while and I think now, yeah, its a little disconcerting, troubling,” added Kevin McGuire of Midtown.
“There’s too much illegal guns,” Lisa Brown of Clinton said. “The wrong people get their hands on the gun. Aall you have to do is go a few states away and buy guns off the back of someone’s truck, bring them to New York and they get in the hands of the wrong people.”
The mayor said the NYPD will soon be announcing new strategies to fight gang-on-gang crime.
“We’re applying a whole host of strategies,” de Blasio said. “Everything from gang intervention strategies, which have worked around the country, to take-downs, which we’ve done a very big scale in some parts of the city and will continue to do so.”By: Tanya Lewis, LiveScience Staff Writer
Published: 05/20/2013 03:14 PM EDT on LiveScience
Salamanders can regrow entire limbs and regenerate parts of major organs, an ability that relies on their immune systems, research now shows.
A study of the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), an aquatic salamander, reveals that immune cells called macrophages are critical in the early stages of regenerating lost limbs. Wiping out these cells permanently prevented regeneration and led to tissue scarring. The findings hint at possible strategies for tissue repair in humans.
"We can look to salamanders as a template of what perfect regeneration looks like," lead study author James Godwin said in a statement. "We need to know exactly what salamanders do and how they do it well, so we can reverse-engineer that into human therapies," added Goodwin, of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) at Monash University in Melbourne. [Ready for Med School? Test Your Body Smarts]
In mammals, macrophage cells play an important role in the immune system response to injury, arriving at a wound within two to four days. There, they engulf and digest pathogens, or infectious particles, and generate both inflammatory and anti-inflammatory signals for healing.
Now, Godwin and his colleagues have shown that macrophages are essential for salamanders' superherolike ability to sprout new limbs. The researchers studied the biochemical processes that occurred in salamanders at the site of a limb amputation. They then wiped out some or all of the macrophage cells to determine whether these cells were essential for regrowing the limbs.
Signals of inflammation were detected at the wound sites within one day of the amputations. Unexpectedly, anti-inflammatory signals, which normally arrive later in mammals recovering from injury, were also present at that time. Along with these signals, the researchers detected macrophages at the wound, peaking in number around four to six days after the injury.
To investigate the role of macrophages in salamander limb regeneration, the researchers injected the animals with a chemical substance that destroys or "depletes" these cells. The macrophage levels were either partially or fully depleted.
Salamanders that had all their macrophages removed failed to generate new limbs and showed substantial scar-tissue buildup. Salamanders that had only some of their macrophages could still regenerate their limbs, but more slowly than normal.
Once the salamanders replenished their macrophage levels, the researchers re-amputated the animals' limb stumps, which then fully regenerated at the normal rate. Collectively, these findings suggest macrophages are essential to the salamanders' remarkable wound-healing abilities.
Studying the regenerative abilities of salamanders could offer insight into treating spinal cord and brain injuries in humans, the researchers say. Furthermore, the knowledge might lead to new treatments for heart and liver diseases or recovery from surgery, by preventing harmful scarring.
Macrophages are already known to play a vital role in organ and tissue development in mouse embryos. They produce small signaling molecules that activate other types of cells that promote the growth of new limbs and the healing of wounds.
Many animals may have a capability for tissue regeneration that has been turned off as the result of evolution, but it might be possible to reactivate the process, Godwin said.
The findings were detailed today (May 20) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ]]>November 21, 2012
Lee Sustar looks at Egypt's role in trying to halt the Israeli onslaught against Gaza.
EGYPT SENT a message to Gaza and the world when its foreign minister, Mohamed Kamel Amr, visited the besieged Palestinian territory amid Israel's brutal air war. The Egyptian government appears to have played a central role in the push for a cease-fire that was floated on November 20--even as Israel stepped up its attacks on unarmed civilians.
The imagery of Egyptian officials in Gaza suggested that post-revolutionary Egypt will be more assertive when dealing with Israel over Palestine, marking its distance from the Egypt-Israel peace deal of 1978, which Egyptian dictators Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak used to keep a lid on the Palestinian struggle ever since.
But there may be less to Egypt's boldness than meets the eye. While Egypt is attempting to stake out a more independent foreign policy role in the Middle East, there are definite limits to its willingness to stray from Washington's line.
Israel is constrained, too. Despite its aerial blitzkrieg and the bloodthirsty and even genocidal rhetoric of Israeli politicians, the country's military brass are loath to risk the defeat they suffered in the Lebanon war of 2006 or face the kind of international backlash that followed Israel's 2008-09 onslaught against Gaza. Israel's horrific but still limited attack can be seen not just as a probe of Hamas' military capabilities, but also a test of Egypt and other Arab governments in the wake of the Arab Spring.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi
For these reasons, the conventional wisdom is that a cease-fire will take shape in the coming days. Certainly an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza is still possible given the inherent unpredictability of military conflict. Nevertheless, it appears likely that a deal will be reached, with Egypt playing the role as mediator.
Both sides have an incentive to settle. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wary of a spike in casualties from a ground war in advance of Israeli elections in January. He can claim "victory" on the basis of the slaughter so far. As of November 20, 128 Palestinians, including at least 54 civilians, had been killed in Israel's 1,500 air strikes, with 840 wounded, including 225 children.
For Netanyahu, attacking Gaza is a calculated risk--one with domestic benefits, but also dangers if wider war ensues. It's also a surrogate for a war with Iran, which Israel claims is the source of Hamas' rockets. Since the U.S. won't okay a preemptive attack on Iran, murdering defenseless people in Gaza will have to suffice for Netanyahu.
For its part, the U.S. wants to contain the conflict. President Barack Obama is sincere in his ceaseless statements of support for Israel. Still, he would prefer to stabilize Morsi's Egypt under renewed U.S. tutelage rather than see an Israeli onslaught provoke a wider military and diplomatic crisis today. Moreover, with Syria embroiled in a civil war; mass resistance taking shape in Jordan, another U.S. ally; and a continued U.S. confrontation with Iran; Obama needs to play for time.
As for Palestine, Khaled Meshal, leader of the Islamist Hamas party that runs Gaza, can claim to have taken resistance to a new level with rocket attacks that hit near Jerusalem and Tel Aviv--even though the weapons were relatively ineffective, at least when compared with the Israeli military machine.
Certainly Hamas' military capabilities upstage the efforts by the rival Fatah faction that runs the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Fatah, which presides over a notoriously corrupt government, seeks recognition of Palestinian statehood by appealing to the United Nations General Assembly.
While perhaps symbolically important, the move at the UN, if successful, would have little material impact on the lives of Palestinians, and it wouldn't establish an independent Palestinian state. Hamas, by contrast, has dramatically strengthened its claim to lead the Palestinian national movement.
THE INCENTIVES for Israel and Hamas to avoid an all-out war has given Egypt room to resume its traditional role as a mediator between the two sides. Yet while Morsi can voice support for Hamas--which shares a common political heritage with the Muslim Brotherhood Morsi leads--the dynamics are familiar.
First, the Egyptian brokers in the crisis include the country's intelligence chief, Mohammed Shehata, a product of the Mubarak era. Figures like Shehata have connections with Israel and continue to play a role in limiting Gaza's access to the world. The revolution has compelled the Egyptian military to tone down its dealings with Israel, but the connections continue.
Indeed, the military in recent months seemed to be leading Morsi into a rapprochement with Israel. While it was in the opposition to the Mubarak regime and facing repression, Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood was critical of Mubarak's close ties to Israel. But in the months prior to the Israeli onslaught, Morsi himself restated Egypt's commitment to the Camp David accords that led to peace between Egypt and Israel. He even sent a message to Israeli President Simon Peres that left-wing critics denounced as a "love letter." The tunnels used to allow in food and medicine into Gaza have been destroyed by Egypt, but Rafah, the main entry point from Egypt, has only partially been reopened.
The U.S. is pushing Morsi toward continued engagement with Israel. Egypt remains the second-biggest recipient of U.S. military aid after Israel--about $1.7 billion per year--and Washington is determined to keep Cairo anchored to U.S. foreign policy in the region. That, of course, means support for Israel. And it's the U.S. that greenlighted a pending $48 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to Egypt.
Israel's attack on Gaza, however, destabilized this arrangement. Morsi is under pressure, not only from the left and a renewed strike movement, but also from remnants of the old regime, who are trying to repackage themselves as secular nationalists. These elements accuse the government of giving free reign to militant jihadist fighters that have attacked Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula.
As Mostafa Ali, a Cairo journalist and activist, said:
They claim the turmoil in Sinai and the Islamist attacks on the Egyptian army and security forces as part of a grand scheme to sever Sinai from Egypt in order to establish an independent "Islamic state."
On the other hand, the pressure on Morsi to cut all diplomatic relations with Israel is not massive--despite widespread indignation at the massacres. The Brotherhood has a mass base which is trying to balance denunciation of Israel with warnings not to be "prematurely" dragged into a war we are not ready for. The head of the Brotherhood's political party--the former speaker of the dismantled People's Assembly--visited Gaza and denounced the "Zionist enemy," using strong words.
If leading Brotherhood figures and government officials are in Gaza, it's because public pressure has forced them there. As Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif wrote:
Large groups of young Egyptians have been heading for Gaza; my youngest niece is one of them. Like the efforts of the world's civil society to send ships to Gaza, young Egyptian civilians with a passion for freedom are going to support their friends. And on a more "official" level, medics and pharmacists have already arrived there.
In fact, an aid convey of 500 people, most of them Egyptian, moved into Gaza on November 19.
With that kind of activism--which taps popular opinion in Egypt--Morsi has little choice but to show some measure of support for Palestinians in Gaza, even as he carries out diplomatic maneuvers. In fact, the ambiguity in Morsi's policy towards Gaza is a reflection of the contradictions within the Muslim Brotherhood. As Sameh Naguib of Egypt's Revolutionary Socialists wrote recently:
The Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamists are conservative populists who opposed and appeased the old regime. There are deep contradictions within and between the various Islamist currents--between their bourgeois leadership, their petty bourgeois rank and file, and their large constituencies in the working class and the poor neighborhoods. These contradictions were always contained by ambiguous religious slogans.
But the economy and class struggle in Egypt--and now, the Israeli war on Gaza--are making it difficult for Morsi to continue rely on slogans to paper over those contradictions.
MORSI'S BALANCING act was on display to the world as Israel escalated its attacks on Gaza. Solidarity statements notwithstanding, the Brotherhood has not questioned the Camp David accords. And there's no talk of Egypt cutting off its natural gas sales to Israel in response to the attack on Gaza.
Instead, Morsi is following the example of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, while remaining a U.S. ally, has pursued a more independent foreign policy. According to Ali:
The Egyptian government made a strategic decision to maintain a strategic relationship with the U.S., but with a major difference from Mubarak. They aim to create a space to become more independent in foreign policy, a la Turkey--and specifically in partnership with Turkey. The Turkish prime minister was here two days ago, and said that Egypt and Turkey could contain Israel without the need to rely on the U.S. as a foreign broker."
To be sure, Turkey is pursuing its own interests in the Middle East, which don't always square with Washington's goals. But following the debacle in Iraq, the U.S. has nevertheless been forced to rely on Turkey, a NATO member, to secure Western interests.
Further, the post-revolutionary Arab governments, along with regimes worried about popular democratic movements, are also visibly showing their support. A $400 million investment in Gaza by the Gulf monarchy of Qatar--another U.S. ally--shows that the political playing field in the Middle East is now considerably more complicated for both the U.S. and Israel.
The widespread diplomatic and political support for Gaza is the product of nearly two years of revolutionary upheaval in the region and an expression of the popular mood. Of course, many of the political leaders involved are engaging in cynical maneuvers, and hope to contain the Palestinian struggle today as the old regimes did in decades past.
Even so, the public pledges of government support for Gaza open the way for a revived and expanded solidarity movement, including the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement aimed at breaking economic ties to Israel to protest its apartheid policies.
For the first time in decades, politicians in Egypt and elsewhere feel pressured to give voice to the widespread sympathy for Palestinians. They will limit their action to rhetorical support and some financial aid, biding their time until the normal course of diplomacy resumes.
However, millions of people in Egypt may well draw different conclusions--that it's time to match the promises of solidarity with action, starting with ending Egypt's ties to Israel. Because for all the war's horrific consequences, the reaction to Israel's attack has shown the world that Gaza is not alone.
The change may not come quickly. But it has begun.An Aha! moment, delivered to your inbox every week. Check out the JS Tips & Tricks Newsletter
Motivation
For a long time, Javascript was missing any kind of processing threads. While the single-threaded model added to developer comfort, it also made the platform unable to do serious and time consuming calculations, and the only way to circumvent it was to do it on a remote server.
Luckily, with the introduction and widespread adoption of Web Workers, we can now do resource-intensive calculations on background threads. On the down side, the specification had to fit into the current ecosystem, and it feels quite awkward at times. If you came from languages where threading is supported from the beginning, you might find the amount of restrictions surprising. It’s far from just instantiating a new Thread and everything you write into that will be processed in parallel.
This post is an introduction to Web Workers, how and when you can use them, and their peculiarities. I’ll also cover how to use them in WebPack, and the possible pitfalls.
Web Workers
Code (html, js) and demo are available.
Web Workers are probably the only way to achieve true multi-processing in Javascript. To create a worker, you need to instantiate it with the code it will run.
const worker = new Worker ( "worker.js" );
This will create a Worker instance with the desired code. You can then communicate with the worker using postMessage, same as you would with IFrames. Since there are no cross-origin problems in play, there is no need to verify origins.
worker. postMessage ( num );
And in the worker’s code, you can listen to these events.
onmessage = ( e ) => { // e.data will contain the value passed };
This works both ways, so you can postMessage some data back from the worker’s code into your main program.
// In the worker's code postMessage ( result );
// In the main thread worker. onmessage = ( e ) => { // e.data will contain the value passed };
These are the basics to get started with workers.
Error handling
You have multiple methods to handle errors in the worker’s code. You can catch and pass them via the postMessage channel. That would require some extra coding, but this is the most versatile and safest way.
The other way is to use the onerror handler. This catches all exceptions that are not handled inside the worker itself and lets the caller code decide how to proceed. To set up error handling, all you need is to attach a handler.
worker. onerror = ( e ) => { // e is the exception };
To ease debugging, there are some extra fields in the exception object. There are filename, lineno, and colno properties that indicate where things went wrong.
Cleanup
Cleaning up workers after they are not needed is crucial. They spawn real OS-level threads, and they can easily kill the browser process if you spawn too many of them simultaneously.
You have two ways to kill a worker process: inside the worker, or from outside. I think it’s best to handle the lifecycle from the main page, but there might be certain situations you might think otherwise.
To kill a worker, simply call its terminate() method. This will abruptly kill it, freeing all resources it is using. If it was processing something, that would halt too.
If you want the worker to manage its lifecycle, just call the stop() method from the worker code.
Either way, the worker is stopped, and should not leave anything behind.
If you are using one-shot workers, that are doing some computations and then get discarded, make sure you are terminating them in the onerror handler too. Failing to do so will introduce hard-to-find leaks in your code.
worker. onerror = ( e ) => { worker. terminate (); reject ( e ); }; worker. onmessage = ( e ) => { worker. terminate (); resolve ( e. data ); }
Inline Workers
Code and demo are available.
Moving the worker code out to a separate file is making some simple cases more difficult than they should be. Luckily, the workers can be instantiated using a Blob, and you can make them however you’d like.
To make an inline worker, just create a Blob with the desired code, make an Object URL from it, and you can give it the worker constructor.
<!-- http://stackoverflow.com/a/6454685/2032154 --> <script id= "worker" type= "javascript/worker" > // Put your worker code here </script>
const code = URL. createObjectURL ( new Blob ([ document. getElementById ( "worker" ). textContent ])); const worker = new Worker ( code );
Since you are creating a global ObjectURL, don’t forget to get rid of it when it’s not needed. Generally, you’d revoke it when you terminate the worker instance.
worker. terminate (); URL. revokeObjectURL ( code );
Workers in Workers
In theory, you can spawn subworkers inside a worker, and it should work the same as you create one from the main thread. There is even an example in the spec on how to do it. But unfortunately there is a long-standing Chrome bug, that prevents this use case. It might get fixed at some point, but this ticket was opened back in 2010, and there has been little progress since. You should not rely on this feature.
Passing data
Code and demo are available.
There are a few edge cases that you should be aware of when passing data to and from the worker. Passing simple values like numbers, strings, and arrays work as you’d expect. You can pass simple structures and they get serialized/deserialized properly. In effect, you should not resort to serializing objects into JSON just to keep the structure; in fact, postMessage uses a structured clone algorithm, which can process a few more types, like RegExps and Blobs, and circular references.
That said, you should still limit what you pass to the simplest types as possible. There is no way you could pass functions, and even the supported types have some limitations; those would easily manifest themselves as hard-to-debug bugs. If you could define your API to handle only strings, numbers, arrays, and objects, you are less likely to face these kinds of problems.
Circular references
If you have a complex object, there can be circular references in it. If you try to serialize it into JSON, you’ll get a TypeError: Converting circular structure to JSON.
let a = {}; let b = { a }; a. b = b ; JSON. stringify ({ a, b }); // Error
But you can safely pass the same object to the postMessage, and you can use it inside the worker.
Transferable objects
To prevent concurrent modification, everything you pass to postMessage is copied to the other side. This makes sure that you can not modify the same object from two places in parallel.
But if you want to pass large amounts of data around, you’ll quickly experience how slow these copy operations are. For example, if you are doing image-related calculations, you’re likely to pass whole images; making the copies might easily be the bottleneck.
Fortunately, there are transferable object, and you can, well, transfer them instead of copy them. One such transferable object is an ArrayBuffer, which can contain just about any raw data.
If you transfer an object, the thread that originally owned it loses access. It makes sure that while the data is not copied, no concurrent modifications can happen.
The postMessage syntax is quite awkward regarding transferables. You need to pass the data as previous as the first argument, but you need to pass an array of transferables as the second one.
const ab = new ArrayBuffer ( 100 ); console. log ( ab. byteLength ); // 100 worker. postMessage ( ab, [ ab ]); console. log ( ab. byteLength ); // 0
Make sure you pass the transferable in the second argument; if you forget, the data will be copied over.
const ab = new ArrayBuffer ( 100 ); console. log ( ab. byteLength ); // 100 worker. postMessage ( ab ); console. log ( ab. byteLength ); // 100
Webpack
Code and demo are available.
To use Web Workers with Webpack, you can use the worker-loader. Just add it to the devDependencies section at your package.json, run npm install, and it’s all set up.
To use a worker, simply require it.
const workerCode = require ( "worker!./worker.js" );... const worker = new workerCode ();
This will instantiate the worker, and you can use it the same way as without Webpack.
To instantiate an inline worker, all you need to do is add the inline query parameter to the loader.
Code and demo are available.
const workerCode = require ( "worker?inline!./worker.js" );... const worker = new workerCode ();
You can even import and use any modules inside the workers.
import fibonacci from "./fibonacci.js" ;... const result = fibonacci ( num );
The worse parts
Getting the workers up and running in Webpack is quite easy. But there are a few obstacles you need to be aware of when you use this approach.
First, there seems to be no way to move out the common parts of the code. If you have a worker that depends on a piece of code, then it will be included no matter whether other parts of your codebase also use it. And if you have multiple workers using the same library, then it will be included in all of them.
You might think that if you dump worker-loader and specify a new entry point then use the CommonsChunkPlugin, it will take care of this. But unfortunately workers are not like a browser window, and some features are not available that the resulting code would require.
Also, using inline workers do no better in this regard. The shared code is still present in multiple places inside the bundle.
And second, inline workers leak ObjectURLs. They are created, but never freed. This might not seem a big problem, but if you use a lot of one-shot workers, it may affect performance.
Based on the above observations, my advice is to use normal workers, and look out what you import into them. And also make sure you send appropriate cache headers, so that the browser does not need to download the code more than once.
IFrames
Web Workers are very similar to IFrames, and they might give the impression that using them would also result in parallel processing. But since IFrames have access to non-threadsafe APIs, like the DOM, the browser cannot spawn new threads for them. Click here for a demonstration.
Cross-origin IFrames are quite different. They do not have access to most of the APIs, and they can communicate only via postMessage, same as Web Workers. This, in theory, allows browsers to run these IFrames on different threads and that would result in parallel processing.
But in practice, they are still single-threaded, and the browser doesn’t give them any special handling. To see it in action, click here.
Closing remarks
Web Workers solve the long-standing issue in Javascript on parallel processing. Albeit its syntax is a bit awkward and it poses quite a few limitations, the support is solid and does its job well. On the other hand, while there are basic tooling, they are not mature enough to be reliable. Seems like this technology is far from being mainstream, as there is only niche use-case.
That said, if you need parallel processing, you don’t need to wait for something else. Learn its rough edges, use the tools you need, and you can drastically improve the user experience.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
MEMPHIS (WITI/CNN) -- It's a violent attack that was caught on camera -- and now, police in Memphis say they have arrested and charged four juveniles.
The attack happened in the parking lot of a Kroger grocery store on Saturday, September 6th.
FOX6's sister station, WREG in Memphis reports a 15-year-old has been charged with aggravated riot and acting in concert: to wit aggravated assault.
WREG reports the teen was out on gun-related charges at the time of the attack. WREG says the teen wasn't enrolled in school, and his mother was previously charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
That teen is seen in the video wearing a lime green shirt.
WREG reports a 16-year-old is also charged with aggravated riot, and acting in concert: to wit aggravated assault. A 15-year-old and a 17-year-old are charged with aggravated riot.
This, on the same day we're hearing from a man who claims he was victimized in the attack.
The man says he recenlty moved to Memphis, and pulled out his cell phone on Saturday when he was on his way to Kroger, thinking he was recording the start of a flash mob.
"Being new to the city, I don't know where I can and where I can't go. As I was starting to get my camera open, a guy popped around a car and said 'hey bro' and just started swinging at me. And I tried to put my hands up, another guy started rushing at me. I took off running backwards through the parking lot," the man said.
Video captured on a Kroger employee's cell phone shows the man.
"If you watch the video they say 'oh they're jacking, they're getting that white guy.' I'm that white guy," the man said.
The man is seen in the video wearing shorts and a blue shirt -- pushing several teens out of the way and running into the store.
"I had run clear in through the door. I was at the fruit aisle. And I turned back to see if they were still following me. So immediately I pulled out my phone and called 911," the man said.
The man wasn't injured, but when he watched the video of the incident on Facebook, he says he was extremely frustrated.
"It was nonsense violence. I can say that for sure. It seemed very unprovoked. They weren't about anything, that it was fun for them. They were out having a good time. They were all smiling they were laughing," the man said.
Laughing, as they knocked out a 17-year-old Kroger employee -- kicking him in the head and throwing large pumpkins on him as he laid on the ground.
The man new to town says several Kroger employees were recording video of the incident -- but one man seen at the end of the video knocked out, actually stepped in to defend him and the 17-year-old Kroger employee knocked unconscious.
The man says he's grateful no one was seriously injured, but he says someone has to be held accountable for what happened.
"I felt like my life was threatened and I was lucky to get away," the man said.
CLICK HERE for more on this story via WREG.
Related stories:Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters wave their flag in northeastern Syrian town of Qamishli in June (AFP Photo/Delil Souleiman)
Beirut (AFP) - Kurdish militia have expanded their control over portions of a major Syrian city in their fightback against the Islamic State group, to the detriment of government forces there, a monitor said Saturday.
"The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) are advancing in Hasakeh city against IS and at the expense of the regime," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The YPG and government forces have both been defending the city from an IS assault, which began last month.
The Britain-based Observatory said the YPG now controls a majority of the metropolis, despite Kurds making up just under a third of its population.
"The YPG control 70 percent of Hasakeh city, IS controls 10 percent and the regime controls 20 percent," Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Before the IS began its offensive by seizing territory in southern neighbourhoods from regime forces, the Kurdish militia controlled less than half of Hasakeh.
When the YPG pushed the jihadists out of some of these areas, they maintained control of them.
The YPG also directly expanded into areas held by loyalists in the city centre, although it did not engage in clashes with them.
The militia now hold territory in Hasakeh north, west, centre and south, said Abdel Rahman, with IS left "surrounded" in four small neighbourhoods in the south.
More than 230,000 people have been killed in Syria since anti-government protests erupted in March 2011 before degenerating into civil war.Yesterday Star Wars fandom lost one of the original three. Carrie Fisher quietly passed away after fighting complications from a heart attack earlier in the week. To say we’re saddened by the news would be an understatement. Fisher represented the heart of Star Wars. Her wonderful sense of humor, passionate opinions and unbridled love for all Star Wars fans will be greatly missed.
As Princess Leia, Fisher broke the mould. Here was a princess who could hold her own whether she was trading barbs with Darth Vader or exchanging blaster fire with a group of stormtroopers. Leia was the original strong heroine, and Fisher’s portrayal helped pave the way for countless other female-driven media properties.
Fisher went on to enjoy a very successful career as a novelist and screenwriter. Her life was always an open book — she shared deeply personal stories about her life growing up, her struggle with substance abuse over the years, and of course, dealing with her Star Wars fame.
Through her ups and downs, Fisher was always candid and genuine. One of the things I personally loved about her was the endless curiosity and creativity she brought to social media. Never a dull moment, always a good time — Fisher was a force to be reckoned with.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends.
May the Force be with you, Carrie. Always.
Please follow and like Faking Star Wars:The year was 1884, and Oscar Wilde was already something of a London celebrity. Though he had not yet published the plays that would earn him his spot among the Victorian literati, he had made a name for himself as aesthete, man-about-town, and lecturer—with public views on everything aesthetic, including clothes.
At the beginning of the year, he announced his engagement to Constance Lloyd, who he had met in Ireland some years earlier. Newspapers frothed about the news, and appeared relieved that Wilde, and his new wife, would not be moving to Dublin: “there was some fear lest London should lose its lion and society its favorite source of admiration and ridicule. … Happily this danger is averted. We keep Oscar.”
Oscar and Constance Wilde, with their son Cyril, pictured in 1892. Public Domain
But Wilde also appeared in the papers that year for another reason. In a series of letters published in the Pall Mall Gazette, he wrote about how women ought to dress. The following year, in the New |
last taste of defeat. When Cologne lost a home game on a Saturday, which was often, my weekend was ruined. I couldn’t concentrate on learning Russian vocabulary or grammar, and not even the music of Black Sabbath or Agnostic Front could alleviate my despair. I started drifting away from Cologne, not only because of the club’s downslide but also because my new passions: writing, journalism, and reading about the history of Eastern Europe. Yet I never would have thought that one day I would leave Cologne. What you have to understand is that among German fans, abandonment is seen as betrayal. An unhappy marriage may end in divorce, but dissolving the bonds with your soccer club is taboo. A club stays with you till death. This fidelity is rooted, I reckon, in the tribal formation of ancient communities, when your tribe was your family, your home, your identity, defining the physical and existential boundaries of your existence. But I hadn’t inherited a link to Cologne, so I never had felt the mystical bond of belonging. Perhaps this made me open to something new, like Union.
●
Union was founded in 1966, but its origins date to the beginning of the twentieth century when industrialization rocked Berlin and the German Reich. Oberschöneweide, framed by the green woods of the Wuhlheide and the gray waters of the Spree, started to hum with factories, steel plants and metal workshops. In 1906, workers and their children founded a soccer club called FC Olympia Oberschöneweide. After some turmoil and several renamings, the club, then called SC Union Oberschöneweide 06, won a few regional titles and in 1923 managed to reach the final of the German Championship. Legend has it that around this time a baker coined Union’s most famous chant: Eisern Union! (Iron Union!). Whether shouted by two or ten thousand people, the chant invokes the spirit of history and can awaken the dead.
After World War II, Union weathered some chaotic years until it was reborn under its current name, thanks to the chairman of the FDGB, the main body for all unions in East Germany, which thought that East Berlin should have a soccer club for the working class. Union notoriously lacked funding, because most of the money in the GDR soccer system was funneled to BFC Dynamo, the beloved team of Erich Mielke, the head of the Stasi. The other big club in the capital, ASK Vorwärts Berlin, was thought to represent the soldiers of the National People’s Army.President Trump first asked reporters to define the "alt-right," before saying members of the "alt-left" were also to blame for violence in Charlottesville, while taking questions from reporters on Aug. 15 at Trump Tower in New York. (The Washington Post)
It was inevitable that President Trump’s brief news conference on Tuesday concerning national infrastructure would, instead, be redirected to a discussion of the violent protest in Charlottesville this past weekend and his delayed criticism of the racist and pro-Nazi groups that were central to it.
It did not seem inevitable, though, that Trump’s responses to questions about those protests would cement as correct the general interpretation of his first comments on the matter: He’s sympathetic to the goals of the men who marched Saturday night carrying Confederate and Nazi flags — and even to the “peaceful” torchlight protest on Friday in which marchers chanted anti-Semitic and Nazi slogans.
After those protests spiraled into violence on Saturday and after a counterdemonstrator was killed by a car allegedly driven by a white supremacist from Ohio, Trump offered a wan response to what had happened.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” he said. “It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama, this has been going on for a long, long time.”
The latter part of that statement is an attempt to distance himself from any blame for the recent increase in visible white nationalist activity. The former? An apparent attempt to equate those vocally defending Nazism and the goals of the Confederacy in Charlottesville with those who showed up in opposition. His critique was not just about the violence that day, but about “hatred” and “bigotry,” which, he suggested, was not just the province of the Nazis and racists.
On Monday, he read another statement, in which he finally and directly condemned the neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
Two days after a woman was killed in Charlottesville amid clashes between white nationalists and counterprotesters, President Trump on Aug. 14 condemned racist groups such as the KKK, saying racism "has no place in America." (The Washington Post)
“We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry and violence,” he said. “We must discover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans. Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”
It was clearly an attempt to stitch up some of the damage done by his initial response. But in the infrastructure news conference on Tuesday, he ripped the stitches open and salted the wound.
First, he tried to argue that he initially hesitated to condemn the explicitly racist elements at Charlottesville only because he didn’t have enough information to do so.
“I want the facts. This event just happened. In fact, a lot of the event didn’t even happen yet as we were speaking. This event just happened,” he said about the timing of his comments on Saturday. “Before I make a statement, I need the facts, so I don’t want to rush into a statement.” In other words, he didn’t know enough at that point to pin blame for the violence (or hatred or bigotry) on the Klan and the Nazis alone.
“I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct, not make a quick statement,” he said.
President Trump spoke about his initial statement following the violence in Charlottesville, Va., at a news conference in New York on Aug. 15. (The Washington Post)
That’s nonsense. Trump rushes to comment on nearly everything on Twitter, if he wants to. He regularly makes statements about terrorist attacks that appear to be linked to Islamist extremism shortly after they conclude — or even before they have ended. He has also tweeted about and commented on attacks that he suspects may have been terrorist incidents before all the facts are known, like when he said that an attack in the Philippines attributed by authorities there to a robbery attempt was an example of terrorism.
Below, he tweeted about an attack in London, before British police determined that it was linked to terrorism:
We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 3, 2017
That point didn’t matter, though, because of where Trump’s arguments went next. Right after he tried to argue that the Saturday statement had accused both sides of being at fault solely because he didn’t at the time know enough to pin the blame on the Klan and the Nazis, he then explicitly defended the aims of the original protest — and suggested that the counterprotesters were equally at fault!
“You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent,” Trump said. “And nobody wants to say that, but I’ll say it right now. You had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit, and they were very, very violent.”
That’s a contested claim.
Later, Trump repeated the same argument.
“You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and it was horrible,” he said. “And it was a horrible thing to watch. But there is another side. There was a group on this side, you can call them the left. You’ve just called them the left — that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that’s the way it is.”
This glosses over the question that his first statement raised, though, which was how he felt about the far-right and racist groups that spurred the demonstration in the first place. Those who engaged in violence on Saturday were certainly culpable, but the looming question was whether Trump felt that Nazis and people protesting those Nazis were otherwise equivalent. Such equivalence would suggest that racism and an embrace of Adolf Hitler have a place in America’s political conversation.
Trump gave every indication that he thought that equivalence existed.
“I’ve condemned neo-Nazis,” he said. “I’ve condemned many different groups. But not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists, by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue, Robert E. Lee.”
He made it clear that he supported that goal.
“So this week it’s Robert E. Lee,” he said. “I noticed that Stonewall Jackson’s coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after?” It should go without saying that there is a big difference between Washington’s ownership of slaves and Lee’s leading an army to defend the Confederacy’s insistence on maintaining the practice, but apparently it doesn’t. (In his statement on Saturday, Trump appeared to nod at this same point, saying Americans must “cherish our history and our future together.”)
The President did everything he could today to defend and deflect criticism from the Alt-right white supremacist movement. It's a disgrace. — Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) August 15, 2017
That torchlight rally on Friday night, when protesters gave the Nazi salute, chanted “blood and soil” — a Nazi slogan — and “Jews will not replace us”?
“I looked the night before,” Trump said. “If you look, they were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I’m sure in that group there were some bad ones. … But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest and very legally protest, because you know — I don’t know if you know, they had a permit. The other group didn’t have a permit.”
Both sides, he said, had some “very fine people” participating Saturday.
After Trump’s initial statement on Saturday, white nationalist groups celebrated his positioning them on the same moral level as their opponents. For racists, that alone is a victory. After Tuesday’s news conference, he got another strong review in that vein.
Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa https://t.co/tTESdV4LP0 — David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) August 15, 2017
It was indeed clear Tuesday that Trump’s honest opinion of what happened in Charlottesville was that David Duke and his allies were met by an equivalently immoral and un-American opponent.Microsoft is silently patching security bugs in Windows 10, and not immediately rolling out the same updates to Windows 7 and 8, potentially leaving hundreds of millions of computers at risk of attack.
Flaws and other programming blunders that are exploitable by hackers and malware are being quietly cleaned up and fixed in the big Windows 10 releases – such as the Anniversary Update and the Creator's Update. But this vital repair work is only slowly, if at all, filtering back down to Windows 7 and Windows 8 in the form of monthly software updates.
This is all according to researchers on Google's crack Project Zero team. The fear is that miscreants comparing the various public builds of Windows will notice these vulnerabilities are being silently fixed in Windows 10, realize the same holes are present in earlier versions of Windows – which are still used in homes and businesses worldwide – and thus exploit the bugs to infect systems and spy on people. And if hackers haven't realized this, they will now: Google staffers have publicly blogged about it.
Redmond engineers are quietly addressing these Windows security flaws as part of their efforts to improve components within the Windows 10 operating system. For instance, a team may be tasked with improving memory management in the kernel, and as a result, will rewrite chunks of the source code, boosting the software's performance while squashing any pesky exploitable bugs along the way. For the marketing department, this is great news: now they can boast about faster loading times. Malware developers, meanwhile, can celebrate when they discover the programming blunders are still present in Windows 8 and 7.
"Microsoft is known for introducing a number of structural security improvements and sometimes even ordinary bug fixes only to the most recent Windows platform," Google Project Zero researcher Mateusz Jurczyk said on Thursday.
Azure fell over for 7 hours in Europe because someone accidentally set off the fire extinguishers READ MORE
"This creates a false sense of security for users of the older systems, and leaves them vulnerable to software flaws which can be detected merely by spotting subtle changes in the corresponding code in different versions of Windows."
As an example of the problem, Jurczyk highlighted the wobbly use of memset() within the kernel. This is a function that is supposed to overwrite bytes in a specific area of memory to a specific value, such as zero, thus scrubbing away whatever was previously stored in that portion of memory.
When the kernel is told by an application, via the NtGdiGetGlyphOutline system call, to fill an area of memory with information, and copy it into the app's memory space, the OS doesn't fully overwrite the area using memset() prior to the copy operation. This means the kernel ends up copying into the application's memory space left over private kernel data, thus leaking information it really shouldn't. This can be useful to snoop on the OS and other programs, or gain enough knowhow of the system's internal operations to pull off more damaging exploits.
This information-disclosure bug was fixed in Windows 10, but remained present in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 – until it was reported by Project Zero to Microsoft at the end of May this year and fixed in patches for Windows 7 and 8.1 systems in September. Google typically gives vendors, including Microsoft, 90 days to address any reported security shortcomings before going public, forcing developers and manufacturers to play their hand.
This months-long lag in deploying patches to previous flavors of Windows is leaving systems vulnerable to attack. By broadly upgrading the security defenses in Windows 10, Microsoft is making it easier for hackers to see where they could exploit weak spots in older versions.
"Not only does it leave some customers exposed to attacks, but it also visibly reveals what the attack vectors are, which works directly against user security," Jurczyk explained.
"This is especially true for bug classes with obvious fixes, such as kernel memory disclosure and the added memset calls."
While it's not realistic to expect a vendor to maintain major updates and produce patches indefinitely for older software versions, as many as half of all Windows users are still running Windows 7 and 8 – meaning millions of people are being put at risk by Windows 10's security improvements, ironically.
Windows 8.1 is supposed to receive monthly security fixes until January 10, 2023, and for Windows 7, January 14, 2020.
"Windows has a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues, and proactively update impacted devices as soon as possible," a Microsoft spokesperson told The Register.
"Additionally, we continually invest in defense-in-depth security, and recommend customers use Windows 10 and the Microsoft Edge browser for the best protection."
Translation: please, please stop using Windows 7 and 8. ®CNN’s S.E. Cupp has never been shy about her atheism, even if it does make her stand out in the conservative media world. But in a new online video for Crossfire the pundit makes the claim that conservative atheists are actually “better” than liberal ones, and she uses Bill Maher as her prime example.
“I don’t believe in God, but I’m not mad at him,” Cupp says at the top of the video, immediately contradicting herself. She explains that she became an atheist because she’s not a “joiner” and didn’t want to be part of a “club or group.” She says she believes that atheists are perpetuating the idea that they are “somehow disenfranchised or left out of the political process,” but that has not been her experience as a conservative.
Cupp says she does not believe the “myth” that conservatism is “hostile” to atheism. “I’m a conservative atheist and I’ve felt very welcome by this party,” she says of Republicans. “In fact, I’d go so far as to say conservatism is far more intellectually honest and respectful of atheism than liberalism has been.”
While conservatives “tolerate” and “respect” both atheists and religious people, Cupp says liberals embrace a “militant hostility” towards religion. Which brings her to Bill Maher.
“Bill Maher thinks 95% of the world has a neurological disorder,” she says. “I don’t think you’d find that on the right. For that reason — I’ll say it — I think our atheists are better than yours.”
It’s only a matter of time before Maher responds to those fighting words.
Watch video below, via CNN:
[Photo via screengrab]
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Nov. 7, 2014, 6:32 PM GMT / Updated Nov. 7, 2014, 6:31 PM GMT / Source: Live Science
Just like Navy engineers who jam the sonar of enemy ships, bats can jam the signals of other bats to ward off competition for food, a new study finds.
Bats hunt by echolocation, which means they emit high-pitched sounds and listen to the echoes that bounce off their prey. But competition for food can be fierce, and Mexican free-tailed bats emit a special call that can interfere with the sonar of other bats that are pursuing a meal.
"They get into amazing aerial dogfights," said William Conner, a biologist at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "One will jam the other, and the other will jam back." [See video of bats emitting jamming signals]
Conner and his colleague Aaron Corcoran studied Mexican free-tailed bats using high-speed cameras and microphone arrays. Corcoran was examining the interaction between the bats and their prey, moths, when he noticed that the bats produced a strange sound — which they made only when another bat was homing in on the moth.
"It sweeps through the frequency range that bats use, and that’s the standard method used to jam sonar and radar," Conner told LiveScience.
Conner and Corcoran set up audio and video systems to watch as wild bats hunted tiger moths. The researchers played recordings of the jamming signals or other sounds, such as pure tones or white noise.
When a bat is about to nab its prey, it emits a "terminal buzz" that is thought to help it lock on to its meal's location. The scientists played the jamming signals both during the buzz and also at other times during the hunt. Bats that heard the jamming signal just as they were about to attack a moth were 86 percent more likely to miss. This finding supports the idea that the sounds the bats made were indeed jamming signals.
The next step is to figure out the mechanism by which the jamming signal interferes with the networks of neurons involved with echolocation. To find out, scientists would have to record the signals from the bats' brains while they're listening to the jamming sound.
— Tanya Lewis, LiveScience
This is a condensed version of a report from LiveScience. Read the full report. Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+. Follow LiveScience on Twitter, Facebook & Google+.Bitcoin is not illegal in India was the note that set the pace for the Ahmadabad conference held in India early this year. Curious ears were abuzz as Mr Nishith Desai, one of India’s foremost legal mind, repeated that ‘Bitcoin is not illegal in India’, several times in front of media and the industry along with people interested to learn more. This was stated after a detailed research on Bitcoin and existing laws in India.
Disruptive technologies are always difficult to bucket or regulate, the Internet and Email have taught us that over the past years. Countries have invested tremendous amount of time, money and effort to suppress these technologies and to rewrite the fundamentals of free speech, without much success. Bitcoin comes at a time, when the world has still not grasped the decentralized breakthrough nature of the Internet or follow up technology to thwart suppression.
Coinsecure has always been engaged with providing an ecosystem along with clarification on Bitcoin. Our various efforts have helped us converge on coinsecure.org. An initiative to cover the length and breath of India, focussing on schools, colleges and other industries, we saw our first event at La Martinière Girl Model United Nations conference in Lucknow. A gathering of students and faculty from schools were present and eagerly engaged in a quick discussion around Bitcoin.
Picture above of the lmgmun organizing team.
Approximately 30 hands went up as I did a quick check from the audience of over 300, in terms of who had heard about Bitcoin before. This was encouraging and as students, none of them had the burdens of a generic Bitcoin discussion surrounding Legality or Misconceptions. As a Model United Nations event, most of the students were aware of international politics and mass injustices presently touring our system of life and development.
Apart from clarifying Bitcoins stance and Introducing the audience to Bitcoin, we had a great opportunity to address all faculty present in a separate session in a simple guest house at the schools facility.
This proved to be an excellent workshop as we explained the current legal status of Bitcoin and the fact that they will encounter it with academics and their students over the coming days and years. We advised them to learn more and assured them of our support, as and when they needed it.
With growing volumes on our trading platform and several other initiatives lined up for Bitcoin in India, we can look forward to a bright future dotted with learning and advancement as we move into the era of a global financial behemoth, that just does not stop.
Coinsecure has fast become the best Bitcoin & Blockchain focused company in India and we move forward with growing energy, dedication and passion that helps us stay on top.What we think: Scott squandered chance to avert insurance hikes
This year the GOP-led Legislature turned down $51 billion in federal funds under Obamacare to extend health coverage to more than 1 million uninsured Floridians. Even Gov. Rick Scott, who launched his political career fighting health care reform, had urged lawmakers to take the money.
The war isn't just pointless. It hurts Floridians who could benefit from the law.
Republicans in the state Capitol are still waging war on Obamacare, more than three years after the Affordable Care Act became law and almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it constitutional.
But Scott went back to his anti-Obamacare roots Friday. He signed a bill the Legislature passed, over objections from Democrats, that uses health reform as the excuse to remove protection for Floridians against excessive premium increases on many health-insurance policies.
Former Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson, now Florida's senior U.S. senator, had urged Scott to veto the bill. With good reason.
Senate Bill 1842 will suspend the authority of state insurance regulators to approve, modify or reject proposed rate hikes on individual and small-group insurance plans in 2014 and 2015. State regulators will keep control in those categories only if the plans were already in effect in 2010, the year Obamacare passed.
Backers of the bill said it makes sense for Tallahassee to hand over control over rates to Washington for a couple of years as a slew of federal regulations dictated by the Affordable Care Act take effect.
That's their story, and they're sticking to it.
But Obamacare doesn't give federal regulators the same authority that their Florida counterparts have to block proposed health-insurance rate increases. Nelson warned Scott that SB 1842 could allow rates on some individual and small-group policies to shoot up as much as 70 percent over the next couple of years.
With state regulators on the sidelines, Obamacare and federal regulators will get blamed if those rates do spike.
Historically, states have taken the lead on regulating insurance. Contrary to what critics allege, Obamacare didn't change that.
The law did provide federal funding to help states prepare for any additional regulatory responsibilities they would take on as reform took hold, and gave them three years to get ready. Florida, however, turned down millions of dollars for that purpose.
Again, politicians in Tallahassee were more interested in washing their hands of Obamacare than making the best of it for Floridians.
Scott often speaks of his commitment to keep the cost of living affordable for Florida families. Too bad he wasn't wedded enough to that principle to veto SB 1842 to protect Floridians from getting gouged on health insurance.Version 1.0.0c
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on Grinding Gear Games onAccording to Billy King, the general manager of the Brooklyn Nets, it was he (and not head coach Jason Kidd) who made the decision to remove assistant coach Lawrence Frank from the team’s bench. Frank was inked to a four-year, $5.3 million contract, and continues to file daily reports “from afar”. Per the Star-Ledger:
“In order for [Jason] to be successful, I had to make a decision, so I said, ‘Let’s reassign him,’ ” King said during an interview with NBA TV. “He does his report — I got it this morning — and he’s helping from afar. But I believe in Jason and so to give him the ability to be successful, we had to make that decision.”
“[Kidd] believed in himself,” King said. “And that was the biggest thing. When he walked into a room, there was confidence. When he talked to the players, there was confidence,” King said. “He went at KG [Kevin Garnett]. KG went back at him. He went at Paul [Pierce]. So he wasn’t afraid to challenge guys, and that, to me, showed that he was going to be a good coach.
“You’ve got a Hall of Famer in KG and Paul — 19 years and 16 years in the league — and you challenge them in front of the rest of the team, they all believe, ‘Okay, this guy’s real.’ “
King also discussed his initial decision to hire Kidd, who was just weeks removed from his retirement as a player.
“One thing I knew, I wanted a leader,” King said. “Most people look for guys [who can draw] X’s and O’s. That’s great, but if you can’t lead, then X’s and O’s don’t work.
“And ownership said, ‘What about Jason Kidd?’ And I said, ‘Nah, he just finished playing. We can’t hire him.’ They said, ‘Will you meet with him?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll meet with him.’ So I’d known Jason. I liked him. I did know he was a leader and he’d won everywhere. So we had our first meeting and I walked away from our first meeting and called [ownership] and said, ‘He might be the one. We’re going to meet again.’ I just walked away uplifted.”BARAGHAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian motocross rider Behnaz Shafiei's passion for hurdling over dirt hills has led her to leap cultural and legal barriers in Iran, where women are banned from riding motorcycles in public.
"When two days pass and I do not ride my motorcycle, I get really ill. Even the thought of not having a motorcycle someday gives me an awful feeling," Shafiei said on the outskirts of Iran's capital, Tehran. "Sometimes, I think to myself, 'How did people in the past live without a motorbike?' Is life without a motorcycle possible?"
It almost became a reality for 26-year-old. In Iran it remains illegal for women to ride motorcycles in public. Conservative clerics also denounce the idea of women attending men's sporting events.
But Shafiei and five other women worked hard to get official identifications from Iran's Motorcycle and Automobile Federation to allow them to race on amateur tracks. They still don't have access to Iran's only standard motocross track at the Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran, so they often race on the capital's outskirts.
On a recent weekend, Shafiei drew a crowd when she took off her helmet, part of gear received from international sponsors. Women crowded around to take snapshots with her.
"I did not know that it was a woman riding until I noticed her hair," housewife Mahnaz Rahimi said. "It took me by surprise that a woman can be so courageous. I don't have the guts to do such a thing."
Shafiei fell in love with motorcycles 11 years ago when she saw a woman in the country running errands on a small bike.
"My goal is to be a pioneer to inspire other women," she said. "Together, we can convince authorities to recognize women's motorcycle racing."
Here are a series of images by Associated Press photographer Vahid Salemi of female Iranian motocross racer Behnaz Shafiei.
___
Associated Press photographers and photo editors on Twitter: http://apne.ws/15Oo6joPeople going to the Rolling Stones’ concert at Carter-Finley Stadium on Wednesday evening might be in for an epic pre-show commute.
The show happens on a weeknight, so concertgoers will have to traverse evening rush-hour traffic. And the “Fortify I-40/I-440” work zone of Interstate 40 might be an issue for those coming from points east of the Triangle.
“It’s also the first unofficial night of the holiday-travel season for Fourth of July,” said Steve Abbott, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Transportation. “We’re expecting a lot of out-of-towners who aren’t used to the area coming in.”
That turned out to be a major problem the last time Carter-Finley hosted a concert – U2 on Oct. 3, 2009. Even though it was a Saturday with no rush hour, a huge traffic snarl jammed roads around the stadium when too many vehicles using computerized navigational systems converged on Wade Avenue and Edwards Mill Road simultaneously.
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To avoid a repeat, N.C. State officials have been meeting with the Department of Transportation and State Highway Patrol to make plans since the Stones show was announced in March. Ray Brincefield, assistant athletic director of facilities at N.C. State, said they even looked into ways of altering where GPS guidance systems sent drivers.
That wasn’t possible. So roadside message boards have been up since Friday warning drivers about the concert and possible traffic issues. Come Wednesday, the Highway Patrol will also have lots of boots on the ground to direct traffic in coordination with other agencies.
“This will be the first event in N.C. State history where we’ll have a fully manned DOT switchboard controlling every traffic camera and roadside message board within 10 miles of the stadium,” Brincefield said. “Based on what we see from cameras, we’ll change recommended routes on boards. The Highway Patrol will also have a large motorcycle team to cut off logjams and force people to go where less traffic is.”
At a bare minimum, concert-goers should allow extra time to get there. It would also be wise to avoid the eight-and-a-half-mile work-zone stretch of I-40 south of downtown even if it means going the long way.
“If you’re coming up I-40 from the east, we’re advising people to take 440 West all the way around to Wade Avenue and Blue Ridge,” said Abbott. “That will get away from the construction zone, although it will still be rush hour. And once you get to the stadium, troopers will be waving you into the parking lot of their choice, not yours.”
Concert logistics Parking lots around Carter-Finley Stadium will open at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Lining up on roads before that time is not permitted. Taxi drop off and pick up is at the Fairgrounds Reserved Parking Lot, corner of Trinity Road and Youth Center Drive. Parking fee is $20 per car, $50 per bus or RV. Cash and credit cards accepted. Parking-lot tailgating is allowed. Persons of legal age may consume malt beverages and unfortified wine. No alcohol permitted inside the stadium. Violations can result in ejection, arrest or ticket revocation. Stadium gates open at 6 p.m. Avett Brothers perform at 8 p.m. The following are not allowed: animals, artificial noisemakers, backpacks, bags larger than 14-by-14 inches, bicycles, cameras with detachable lenses over 3 inches, coolers, food or drink, illegal substances, iPads, laser pointers, poles or sticks, signs or banners larger than 3 feet by 2 feet, umbrellas, video cameras or weapons.Minnesota United will be without two of its top three goaltenders for Saturday’s game against the Colorado Rapids, the latest in an already long list of defensive issues for the Loons.
Two games into its inaugural Major League Soccer season, United (0-2-0) is minus-9 in goal differential.
Starting goalkeeper John Alvbage is out after suffering a gash on his left knee in a 6-1 loss to Atlanta United on Sunday, while third-string goalkeeper Patrick McLain is in the concussion protocol.
United will turn to backup Bobby Shuttleworth to start against the Rapids in Commerce City, Colo. He relieved Alvbage in Sunday’s snowy game at TCF Bank Stadium and gave up Atlanta’s sixth goal.
Behind Shuttleworth, United had no other signed, healthy goalies. MLS allows “extreme hardship call-ups” for clubs with fewer than two healthy keepers, according to league rules. In United’s case, they could sign a player to a series of four, four-day contracts to fill the void.
Acquired in a January trade, Shuttleworth has made 127 starts across eight seasons with the New England Revolution.
“It’s no problem for Bobby,” United coach Adrian Heath said after Tuesday’s training session. “He’s an experienced keeper. That is one of the reasons we brought him in, for occasions like that.”
A year ago in New England, Shuttleworth, 29, allowed 38 goals in 21 games and went 4-9-8 with the Revolution. Shuttleworth has overcome a knee injury in preseason and said he’s ready to organize the defense in front of him and limit opposing scoring chances.
“I haven’t had a ton of time to play with these guys,” he said. “I just got here, and was dealing with an injury, but, like I said, it doesn’t really change. Just try to help them out as much as possible.”
KEEPING THE FAITH
After two blowout losses, Heath has shown a willingness to make a roster move or two.
“I have a lot of faith in this group,” he said. “Maybe some people might think it’s blind faith after two games, but it isn’t. I saw enough in preseason. I spoke to enough people within the game that watched our games. Yeah, we’ve conceded far too many goals; that would be easiest enough to say. But at times, I’ve seen some promising moments from us.”
However, Heath said he was “hopeful” the club would be open to a roster addition.
“At this moment in time, we are looking for one or two,” he said. “Whether that becomes available, I don’t know. If it was to happen, and there was an opportunity for the right guy at the right price, et cetera, then we would do it.”
BRIEFLY
Center back defender Joe Greenspan, acquired in an offseason trade from Colorado, has been in the concussion protocol since last week.IN AN AVERAGE year, more than 250 million pounds of nitrogen and nearly 20 million pounds of phosphorous enter the Chesapeake Bay. In a year with a lot of rain, such as 2011, the totals increase. These nutrients, which flow with other sediment from farms, storm drains, water treatment plants and other sources, encourage algae growth, sap the bay’s oxygen and suffocate its sea life, including its famous crabs. This is the state of affairs after decades of one official after another promising better.
Now, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supervising the cleanup, four of the states in the bay’s watershed, including Maryland and Virginia, are trying something with promise: pollution trading. But, in advance of a review this fall, the move is splitting environmentalists.
Pollution trading takes advantage of the fact that it is easier to cut pollution in some places than in others. A farmer who can cheaply cut his runoff beyond what regulators require could be awarded credits and sell those to a nearby water treatment plant that would have to install very expensive equipment to meet its required cuts in pollution. The farmer makes money, the plant saves money and the EPA’s pollution cap is met efficiently. A May study from the Chesapeake Bay Commission, which represents the general assemblies of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, estimated that such a program applied across the bay’s watershed could reduce cleanup costs by as much as 36 percent — if properly executed.
Skeptics say that’s a big “if.” It will be difficult to trust that pollution reductions recorded on paper reflect real-world cuts. The amount of pollution a facility actually reduces can vary depending on things such as rainfall and the consistency with which anti-pollution measures are applied, but the awarding of credits might not. If state monitors haven’t been able to adequately police pollution levels before now, will they be able to do so in a trading system? Opponents also argue that, even if trading reduces total pollution across the watershed, it might |
he would have to come home, get a degree in something else, and live under his roof. Rodriguez continued to pursue his dreams, living in New York for a dozen years including dancing and acting roles in musical theater and on TV. He auditioned, took classes, and struggled with unemployment during this time. His role on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend brings him back to California. As for his father, Rodriguez III said he didn’t want to become an actor to spite him. He wanted to prove to himself that he could succeed as an actor.
West Covina, California is the setting for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It’s the Los Angeles suburb that Rebecca Bunch moves to when her high-power attorney job fuels her anxiety. It is also the place where her summer camp ex-boyfriend, Josh Chan (played by Rodriguez) lives. In the episodes so far, we see Chan’s Filipino American family and we see people drinking bubble tea (a regularly featured food item on the show). Rodriguez seemed right at home in West Covina considering he’s from Daly City, another city with big Filipino population; he calls it the Daly City of LA.
We had the chance to talk to Rodriguez III more about the show, his father’s wish, and how minorities are changing the landscape of television and entertainment.
—Dino-Ray Ramos
What was your initial reaction when you read the script to the pilot of My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend?
My initial reaction was that it was really funny and that it is to say it has grown exponentially since that first script. We knew that it was something very special, very unique and something that we had not seen before. When I learned about Rachel Bloom’s background I was just blown away. It made so much sense to me for this to happen and for her to be in her position in relation to the show.
It really seems like the show has grown and has a very loyal cult following. Why do you think that is?
The fact that this show exists is a true testament to people really pursuing what they really want to do and being honest about the story we’re trying to tell. I saw the seed of that in the pilot. I felt like this is going to be great. This is going to be something that we haven’t seen before and I get to be a part of it, but I did not anticipate how far we would get into these characters. If you look at how diverse it is and the kind of stories we’re telling. We’re normalizing what America looks like.
Definitely. It’s looking like real life — and we’re seeing that with a lot of shows like yours, Fresh Off The Boat, Dr. Ken, Blackish and anything that Shonda Rhimes does. Speaking of, there is a huge Filipino component in the show and we saw it during the Thanksgiving episode!
Rene Gube is one of the staff writers on Crazy ExGirlfriend. He was also a writer on How I Met Your Mother. He’s Filipino and he wrote that episode — but he’s not just a writer. In episode 4, you see him as Father Brah, Josh’s Catholic priest mentor.
There has been a lot of progress for minorities in television this year, but what is your take on the the landscape for minorities in Hollywood?
I think we’re in a great place and I think if the content keeps coming out the way it is, with revolutionary TV and movies that are introducing these kinds of stories, I think we’re on the right track. I think this is the most exciting time to be alive right now. We have a Black president. There are transgender movies and media out there now. Gay characters are playing non-stereotypical versions of themselves. I feel like as a society, or in television at least, we’re rising up. Even in society we’re rising up.
How do you think Crazy Ex-Girlfriend fits into all of that?
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is an example of that because we’re looking at characters and looking at a city that people wouldn’t think two shits to look at. We’re representing them authentically and we’re doing it without showing stereotypes of these people. I don’t play a stereotype. I play Josh Chan, the object of Rachel Bunch’s affection, and I happen to be a Filipino guy.
You mentioned that you and your father were at odds with your career choices and that he didn’t emotionally support you in the beginning. Do you think he would approve of your choices now?
Unfortunately, [my father] passed away a few years ago so he didn’t get to see me at the peak of my career. My intentions changed. It became about trying to inspire others and live joyfully and express what I want to express as an actor. To tell my stories.
Within the Asian culture, there the same old rhetoric about first generation parents wanting their children to be doctors or engineers. Being Filipino American and on a successful TV show, how do you think that’s changing?
I think we’re evolving within the culture — it’s supposedly common in the Filipino culture to be very strict to your culture even though you’re [in America]. I always found that to be an enigma. It didn’t make sense to me that you brought me here and now I have, for lack of a better term, an American dream. Now you don’t want me to have it? You’re not even going to let me pursue it? Now I think thinks are changing. There’s a transformation happening where Filipinos are also evolving and they’re seeing more possibilities, more hope in America.
+ + +
Dino-Ray Ramos is a Los Angeles-based entertainment journalist and host of the Off White podcast. He currently writes for Bustle.com and has contributed to Entertainment Tonight Online, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune.
This is an edited version of the interview.
This interview was made possible by XFinity.flintschoolbus.JPG
Flint school bus
(MLive.com File Photo)
FLINT, MI – Two Doyle-Ryder Elementary School students were arrested Wednesday after a “toy gun” was found at the school.
The two male students were arrested on disorderly conduct charges about 8:45 a.m., Feb. 5, at the school at 1040 N. Saginaw St., according to a Flint police report. The boys were released to their parents.
“Something will go out (to parents), but we need to get more information,” said Interim Superintendent Larry Watkins. “Once we have more details – the intent of the letter is to dispel any rumors.”
Watkins said a student at the school told an adult about the gun and a liaison officer arrested the two boys.
While police called it a “toy gun,” Watkins said he believed in was a BB gun. He did not know why it was brought to school.
“If it is a BB gun, that is an expellable offense,” Watkins said, adding that he didn’t know if the gun was loaded. “I have no knowledge of anyone being in danger.”
Watkins said it was good that someone who knew about the gun told an adult.
“That’s one of the things we’re consciously talking to our students about, is personal safety and becoming part of the team,” he said. “Students have to be confident going to an adult.”
Watkins said the letter to parents would probably go out on Monday because school was cancelled on Friday, Feb. 7, because of weather.
Dominic Adams is a reporter for The Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.This article was originally written by Patrick Engel and appeared in The Daily Campus on December 7, 2015. It has been republished with the author’s permission.
Nathan Vaji takes a minute to relax in his office after completing one of his three or four game day Ford Stadium concourse walkthroughs. He sips on a Styrofoam cup of coffee, already his fifth of the day, and it’s only 1:30 p.m.
“I used to hate coffee,” SMU’s director of operations says. “Until I started working in college athletics. I even hated the smell of it.”
Since today’s game against Temple is a 7 p.m. start, Vaji hadn’t gotten to Ford until around 8:30 a.m. He’s thrilled, because he had a late night the previous night working a men’s soccer game at Wescott Field. For day games, he gets to Ford around 4 a.m. He doesn’t even try to count the amount of coffee he drinks on those days.
Vaji and the other approximately 300 operations staffers don’t concern themselves with the news about the recent NCAA controversy around SMU’s men’s basketball and men’s golf teams or the football team’s 2-10 record. They just want to put on a good game. From equipment preparation to a visiting team that didn’t listen to directions, The Daily Campus went behind the scenes for the Nov. 6 game against Temple.
Vaji stays dressed casually in jeans and an SMU football sweatshirt until about three hours before kickoff, when he changes into khakis, an SMU golf shirt and puts in his earpiece. Around 10:30 a.m., he and his intern, Tyler Kremzar, list the miscellaneous tasks they need to do before the game.
“We try to do as much the day before as we can, because game day always brings something new,” Vaji says.
First up: order a pregame meal for the referees. Vaji grabs his phone and calls Jason’s Deli to place an order for the referees’ lunch: 24 catered sandwiches – eight ham, eight turkey and eight roast beef – to be delivered around 4 p.m., just before the referees will arrive. He says it’s one of about 50 phone calls he takes or makes on game day.
While Vaji continues to cross off the items on his to-do list, the football equipment staff is about to start setting up the locker room and getting the uniforms ready. SMU will wear all red, topped off with red chrome helmets with an American flag Mustang logo. Equipment manager Albert Veytia says that SMU has three different helmets, three different jerseys and three different pairs of pants, which add up to about 30 possible combinations.
Veytia, his three full-time assistants and six student managers do all the work. Some of them spent Thursday pulling jerseys over the shoulder pads and putting the players’ game cleats and pants in their lockers. Others pulled the silver Peruna decal off the chrome helmets and replace it with the American flag one, which Veytia said took a couple hours. On game day, the student managers will pull the rest of the jerseys over the pads and polish the helmets.
“With these chrome helmets, you have to really polish them because you can see fingerprints and smudges all over them,” Veytia, who has worked for three NFL teams, says.
Unlike some NFL teams, the jerseys are all cut the same way, so it takes less than a minute to fit them on the pads. The managers don’t have to worry about fitting a certain player’s jersey tighter or looser to the pads.
“It’s nice to not have to deal with that,” says sophomore student manager John Fraser.
Each of the student managers takes a different part of the locker room to fit the jerseys. They banter back and forth about roommate assignments on the upcoming road trip to Navy while jokingly tossing around Veytia’s catch phrases, “Now we’re working” and “don’t think, just work.”
After the pads, they start polishing the helmets. They spray acetone on the helmet, rub it in with a towel, then spray some floor wax on a towel and rub that on the helmet.
“What kind of alcohol is this?” jokes manager Will Nollmann. “ What happens if it gets in a wound? I don’t know if I should be doing this, I have a cut.”
The managers finish their uniform prep around 4 p.m. and enjoy some Jimmy Johns sandwiches and some leftover Halloween candy. Then, they start bringing practice balls, tees and other miscellaneous warm-up items out to the field. Temple’s equipment team arrived the previous day and has set up the visitors’ locker room already.
Around 4:20, Vaji is barely into his final concourse walk when he gets a phone call. Temple decided to leave their hotel 15 minutes earlier than planned.
“Temple’s going to be here in like five minutes,” Vaji says with a slight hint of frustration, as he’s unable to finish inspecting the concourse.
He stops on a dime and heads back to Loyd All-Sports Center, where the Owls’ buses will arrive. He asked them to pull up along the side of Ford next to Wescott Field and enter the stadium through a side door, because SMU is arriving into Loyd from the Mustang Walk down the boulevard and is hosting a recruiting event in Heritage Hall.
Two state troopers that led Temple’s police escort drive up the curb by Loyd and pull up along the proper side of Ford, but the buses don’t follow. Temple randomly decided to unload its players in front of Loyd and walk around. Vaji crunches his empty Styrofoam coffee cup – his sixth of the day – in frustration. He greets Temple Director of Football Operations Scott Wallace and head coach Matt Rhule, explains the mishap.
Because Temple’s buses stopped in front of Loyd, SMU’s players, who started the Mustang Walk down Bishop Boulevard 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, had to stand and wait after the walk while Temple unloaded. After waiting, SMU enters Loyd and heads down to its locker room as “Jumpman” by Drake blares through speakers. Vaji explains the situation to SMU head coach Chad Morris and director of football operations Randy Ross, then heads back to his office for a quick break. Kremzar, director of event operations Jason Nelson and interns Thomas Kromis and Steve Jameson join him and listen to Vaji explain the mistake. He admits that if he’d known Temple was going to do that, he would have made them wait inside the buses until SMU entered.
Break time is over and the gates are opening to fans soon. After the unloading fiasco, Vaji doesn’t even have time to finish his final concourse walk.
“Alright boys, we gotta go,” he says.
One hundred and five minutes before kickoff, Vaji meets with two of the referees, two ESPN officials, Ross, Wallace and a few others to discuss some of the game essentials. Vaji starts with weather, which is expected to be a non-issue. If bad weather hits, the teams will go to their locker rooms. Cheerleaders and anyone else on the field will go to the football weight room. Fans will go to the concourse.
Vaji tells the refs to tell Casey Cox, the turf manager, if there are any on-field issues. He has direct contact with Vaji.
The final item is TV timeouts. When ESPN wants to go to timeout, someone will come out to the hash marks at the 25-yard line with his arms in an “X” position. That lets the announcers and referees know a full TV timeout is coming. The producer for the game, Bryan Jaroch, explains one wrinkle in televising a Temple game: he may have to take two full commercial breaks after a touchdown, one after the score and one after the ensuing kickoff.
“Temple is a slow, methodical team,” Jaroch says. “They snap it at the end of the clock. If they go on a long drive, I hate to double up, but we may have to.”
The game kicks off at 7:01 p.m., right on time. Temple wins a shootout, 60-40. The 40 points are the most the Owls had allowed on the season. The previous high was 26.
SMU trailed by only a touchdown entering the fourth quarter, but a 75-yard touchdown pass from P.J. Walker to Ventell Bryant with 12:04 left gave Temple a temporary 14-point cushion. Bryant did a short celebration in which he pretended he was riding a pony. Rhule didn’t like it and made him do push-ups on the sideline right after the touchdown. The video soon went viral.
It’s 11:45 p.m. Vaji is back in his office and has taken care of all of his post-game chores: take down the shuttle and bag policy signs, cover up the concourse TVs and rearrange Heritage Hall for a team lunch the next day. Temple packed up quickly and left about 45 minutes after the game ended, without any issues. Vaji has to stick around until ESPN finishes packing up and leaves. He will get to sleep in, since he doesn’t have to get back on campus until the afternoon for a men’s soccer game. On Sunday, he will start the exhausting process all over again.
“I can’t control what happens on the field or how many touchdowns [SMU] scores, but I can control their experience, their customer service and their overall atmosphere,” Vaji says. “If a fan leaves here, whether SMU gets blown out 45-0 or SMU wins a close game, I want them to leave and look forward to coming back for the next game.”Deciding to strike is one of the most difficult decisions a person can make. With it comes one of the strongest messages you can send to an employer, but it also bears major consequences for union members and their families. It’s a very personal decision and one not to be taken lightly.
But for the 271 Machinists at Wyman-Gordon in Houston, the decision was easier than most. This time, it wasn’t just for them. This fight was for the next generation and the generation after that one.
“One of the gentleman on the strike line is Gregg Wiechkoske. He has more than 40 years at Wyman. He’s the second generation in his family to work here,” said Byron Williams, IAM District 37 Directing Business Representative. “For lack of better words, he just feels sorry that this contract is the best the company has to offer. Takeaways of benefits, unlivable wages, even trying to decrease overtime break, he calls it an outrage.”
“It is an outrage. Why Wyman-Gordon isn’t taking care of those workers who have spent the majority of their lives helping to build this company into a successful entity is unfathomable,” said IAM Southern Territory General Vice President Mark Blondin. “We’ve always been proud of the generational tie to this facility, and yet, in this last contract, that hope for the future has been wiped away with just a few pen strokes. Let’s look at what they are proposing for wages. According to their last, best and final, it would take a new hire starting at $12.75, close to 50 or 60 years to top out on wages. No one will be able to raise a family on that, much less save for retirement. It’s just unacceptable.”
And that’s the rallying cry for these members-that Wyman’s final offer was unacceptable. Unfortunately, many in this group of brothers and sisters have been in this spot before and have shared this fight for decades. To them, this fight is personal. Southern Territory Grand Lodge Representative James Parker noticed right away the solidarity among this group.
“These Machinists are very strong because they take these issues to heart. Cuts to short, and long-term disability insurance really struck a nerve because it touches all generations from retirees to new hires. They know each other and their families, so they know who would be adversely affected by cuts like this. It’s not some faceless person, it’s your brother and your sister that you see every day,” said Parker. “That strengthens their drive for a fair and equitable contract.”
The same can be said for Wyman’s desire to cut overtime breaks to 15 minutes as a way to increase operating hours. This creates major safety issues, especially in Texas. In August, the facility can reach 120 degrees. Those breaks can mean the difference between life and death in extreme circumstances.
For Byron Williams, it’s these issues that have made this strike very bittersweet for him. Not only did he come out of this shop, but so does his father, who is now walking the picket line.
“It’s gut-wrenching to see what the company has put across the table because that’s what they think of my Dad and all the other men and women who have led me down the correct path throughout my years. I’ve followed in those footsteps and tried to bring great contracts to workers everywhere because of the lessons I have learned here. But I will say, to watch my brothers and sisters in Houston, my mentors, stand up for the betterment of others, as those before them did, that leaves me speechless,” said Williams. “Their fight is, and will always be, my fight.”
#ThisIsWhyIAMUnion
#LetsUnionCONFEDERATE FLAG
A huge Confederate flag is raised over the southbound side of Interstate 65 in Verbena, Ala., north of Montgomery Sunday afternoon, June 26, 2005. (AP Photo/The Birmingham News, Jerry Ayres)
(JERRY AYRES)
By Courtney Daniels, a Birmingham native, former U.S. Marine and veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom
In 2001, the Taliban shamelessly dynamited the Bamiyan Buddhas, two of the largest such carvings of the ancient world. Built in the 6th century by monks who made their homes along the Silk Road, the Buddahs stood for millenia until fundamentalists removed them from the face of the Earth. Such ignorance still abounds. Over the past few months, the onslaught of the Islamic State has wrought the systematic destruction of cultural artifacts from Palmyra to Nineva, all because they were deemed "offensive" by a minority that if it had its way, would ensure the entire world would adhere to a dark and revisionist existence.
A couple of days ago, in the wake of a childish debate over a memorial flag flown near a Confederate statue, a Southern monument was ignorantly desecrated with an attempt at the "Black Lives Matter" slogan. The spray-painted phrase was misspelled. The inanimate statue, a solemn reminder of the South's fallen sons, didn't take away any citizen's pursuit of happiness, it didn't interfere with the social and racial disparities that some claim as a detriment to advancement -- it simply stood there, silent and bold, marking the bravery and errors of yesterday's determinations.
From the gun debate to the flag debate (which are both somehow tied to this most recent, senseless shooting tragedy) it seems that liberal thought continues to show its fear of inanimate objects. Such a way of thinking never holds PEOPLE accountable. Instead it points fingers in every other direction.
The removal of a historical banner won't stop racists from exercising bigotry. As a matter of fact, racists will be racists despite regulations and constant "feel good" legislation, no flag needed. The ignorance of the disgruntled protestors is evident in their refusal to acknowledge that the flag widely recognized as the "Confederate Flag" was never actually adopted as the flag of the Confederacy. They'll also never admit or realize that not only was slavery not the motivating factor for the ensuing civil war, but that slavery was an American institution, not a Confederate one.
The Confederacy, in its prime, never mounted the atrocities of the Trail of Tears or the Black Hills conspiracy. But it seems that all because a few cowards in bedsheets once hijacked the gorgeous colors of a banner so rich in history to terrorize and intimidate other Americans, we condemn the Southern cloth to oblivion as a misnamed symbol of hate. It doesn't matter that slaves outside of the declared boundaries remained enslaved in the North. Neither does it matter that many Southerners gave up plots of their property to house and provide compensable labor for black workers. It doesn't matter that Lincoln, who is often regarded as the liberator of enslaved blacks cared less for the welfare of slaves than for the sovereignty of an entire country.
Courtney Daniels (contributed photo)
Where I come from, deep in the Heart of Dixie, I see that flag every single day with its bold red field and star-studded cross of St. Andrews in royal blue. I hold a certain respect for it that others fueled by emotion and misinformation wouldn't understand. I revere it as a son of the South in a way that would confuse those on the outside looking in, who by the way are not entitled to commentary on which flag waves in our humid Southern breeze. I spot it on not so subtle scavenger hunts gracing a random shirt at the gas station, the hat of the guy behind the counter at my local bait and tackle shop, and the bed of a passing pickup with the accompanying decal "Southern Pride." I smile because I know that if in need, that guy would give me that same shirt off his back. I smile because I live in a region that has a certain defiance that only a select few inherit.
As a black man who grew up in the South, I'll admit I didn't always see the issue with this same clarity. I blindly followed the sentimentalism of my parents and educators who passed judgement from a seat of victimization, failing to challenge evidence to the contrary. My opinion on the Battle Flag was swayed as a 13-year-old reading a contributor's opinion in the Birmingham News, circa 2001. A white man with Confederate heritage, he acknowledged that he had never considered the flag flying on his front lawn to have held such a negative connotation in the minds of so many blacks. I remember from reading the column, he had a certain politeness that urged him to take his flag down and hang it indoors out of respect for those who didn't like it. I respected his consideration and it prompted me to do my own homework on what role the Civil War and the flag in question played in my ancestor's past and my own future. I realized then that I had foolishly labeled every white person sporting the flag as a racist, with no facts to back my claim and without placing myself in their shoes or knowing them personally.
In short, I've come to terms with it being a wrongfully vilified piece of Southern culture, as important to our collective heritage as RC Cola and Moon Pies.
In so many ways, the South is the conscience of the entire nation. In the 21st century with Americans abandoning all decency and forgetting to walk tall, the South still manages to maintain a certain air of moral obligation that has been all but lost in northern enclaves like Philadelphia where Americans scowl at one another, heavily divided by racial suspicion and bigotry, or cities like New York where neighborhoods a century after the Great Migration of blacks are still heavily defined by skin tone and distrust. In the South, we mingle. We play. We do like Willie Mays and "say hey" no matter the color of the person sitting on the porch. I walk into my local grocery with my daughter and like the tick of the clock, I know I can count on an endearing "Hey baby doll, you need some help?" from the attendant whose skin heavily contrasts mine. Her "y'all come on back now" is the most welcoming invitation I could ever hear.
It's clear that as a nation, we are embarking on a new, revised, politically correct avenue of apology. The future is a dim one, void of backbone and fistfights. No more, "each according to the dictates of his own conscience."
"If it offends my neighbor, make it illegal, dynamite it, wipe it from the face of the Earth" rages the contentious fascist. It's becoming clear that what those progressives want is a new, bleak, unrecognizable South, its accomplishments and errors equally stricken from the annals of history. They wish its monuments to be no more, the names of its generals removed from every institution, it's antebellum flair retold as a horror story as if Sherman's destruction wasn't enough of a disgrace.
I am from the great state of Alabama and live between the rivers of Tennessee. I am a proud American and maybe in ways, an even louder Southerner. Can't help it. I relate because I'm a rebel in so many ways and I'm very proud of where I'm from. I can read an accent from either Carolina and know that I'm in good company. I can present my pistol permit to a Texas Ranger and trust that it will be honored four hundred miles in the other direction. I know that I can stop for small talk in any Waffle House in Georgia, and strike up a meaningful conversation with the Walmart shopper behind me in line in Mississippi. I don't need to know those people, they already know me. I am related to them and they are related to me.
If you don't know us but have an opinion about how we should live our lives or if you can't dissect the FACTS of a situation without making it a divisive issue, as Southerners, we only have one thing to say to your folly: "Bless your heart."Interviewer: Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Numbering: Issue 7.A, Idea: Outliers & Outsiders (Part Three)
Place of Publication: Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Title: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Web Domain: http://www.in-sightjournal.com
Individual Publication Date: January 15, 2015
Issue Publication Date: May 1, 2015
Name of Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Frequency: Three Times Per Year
Words: 2,453
ISSN 2369-6885
ABSTRACT
Part two of two, interview with Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa and director of graduate training in experimental psychology, Dr. Cristina Atance. In it, she discusses: Episodic Future Thinking (2001), ‘semantic memory’ and ‘episodic memory’, Tulving (2001), and five subsidisciplines; The emergence of episodic future thinking in humans (2005), future episodic thinking, and emergence of episodic future thinking in children between the ages of 3 to 4; numerous five-figure grants since 2011 provided under the titles of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Early Career Research Award, and responsibilities; three issues – Women in Academia and thoughts on being a female academic; emotional struggles and advice for young female academics; and take-home message of the research.
Keywords: Dr. Cristina Atance, episodic future thinking, psychology, semantic memory, University of Ottawa.
American Psychological Association (APA, 6th Edition, 2010): Atance, C. & Jacobsen, S.D. (2015, January 15). Dr. Christina Atance: Associate Professor, Psychology; Director, Graduate Training in Experimental Psychology, University of Ottawa (Part Two). In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 7.A. Retrieved from https://in-sightjournal.com/2015/01/15/dr-cristina-atance-associate-professor-psychology-director-graduate-training-in-experimental-psychology-university-of-ottawa-part-two/.
Chicago/Turabian (16th Edition): Atance, Christina & Jacobsen, Scott “Dr. Christina Atance: Associate Professor, Psychology; Director, Graduate Training in Experimental Psychology, University of Ottawa (Part Two).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal. 7.A (2015). https://in-sightjournal.com/2015/01/15/dr-cristina-atance-associate-professor-psychology-director-graduate-training-in-experimental-psychology-university-of-ottawa-part-two/.
Harvard: Atance, C. & Jacobsen, S 2015, ‘Dr. Christina Atance: Associate Professor, Psychology; Director, Graduate Training in Experimental Psychology, University of Ottawa (Part Two)’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 7.A. Available from: <https://in-sightjournal.com/2015/01/15/dr-cristina-atance-associate-professor-psychology-director-graduate-training-in-experimental-psychology-university-of-ottawa-part-two/>.
Modern Language Association (MLA, 7th Edition, 2009): Atance, Christina, and Scott D. Jacobsen. “Dr. Christina Atance: Associate Professor, Psychology; Director, Graduate Training in Experimental Psychology, University of Ottawa (Part Two).” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 7.A (2015): Jan. 2015. Web. <https://in-sightjournal.com/2015/01/15/dr-cristina-atance-associate-professor-psychology-director-graduate-training-in-experimental-psychology-university-of-ottawa-part-two/>.
10. In Episodic Future Thinking (2001), you build on the idea of episodic memory with the introduction of a new construct called “episodic future thinking.” The paper distinguishes between ‘semantic memory’ and ‘episodic memory’. As you examine in further depth than here, Tulving (2001) described episodic memory as the ability to “travel backwards in time” to experience one or a set of memories once more; he described semantic memory as the “knowledge of the world.” Of note for the operational definition of episodic future thinking, imagination and projection into the future do have constraints. In the paper, you outline five subdisciplines of psychology of import for the construct in addition to the emergence of this capability in children. What five subdisciplines? How does the construct connect to each? What developments have been made in the last 13+ years?
The 5 sub-disciplines we covered (though very cursorily) were “cognition,” “social and personality psychology,” “clinical psychology,” “neuropsychology,” and “development.” Our aim was mostly to point out how the ability to mentally pre-experience our own personal futures might have implications for such abilities as prospective memory (e.g., remembering to mail a letter), for example. We also highlighted some research in neuropsychology that we found quite intriguing – namely, people who, due to brain injury, seemed to lose the ability to think about their own personal futures (i.e., episodic future thinking), while retaining fairly intact semantic future thinking – so thinking about the future in a more knowledge-based and non self-related way (e.g., predicting what medical breakthroughs might happen in the next 10 years). There have been quite a few new developments in the area of episodic future thinking in the past decade – one of the most significant being that – perhaps not surprisingly – the capacity to think about our future relies on many of the same neural and cognitive processes as remembering our past/memory. Most notably, people have argued that our memories provide us with a database from which we draw to construct our futures. What needs to be worked out is the extent to which different forms of memory (e.g., episodic, semantic, etc.) play a role in this process.
11. In The emergence of episodic future thinking in humans (2005), four years after Episodic Future Thinking, your paper coauthored with Professor Daniela O’Neill providing additions to the research on future episodic thinking. At the time, most research for the construct at the time dealt within the context of memory; not much to do with future thinking. You broke ground there. Discussion in the article states the fact of children at two years old will talk of past events. You provide estimations for the emergence of episodic future thinking in children between the ages of 3 to 4. Some argued up to the time of publication about the high end of the estimated range of 4 years for the eventual emergence. How did you test for incorporation of notions regarding self and future in children? What did you find in the research?
In this article, we really focused more on this capacity from a developmental perspective and tried to highlight that episodic future thinking can be thought of as different than related concepts such as “planning” or “imagination.” For example, we often just envision ourselves in the future (e.g., thinking about lying on the beach during our next vacation) without necessarily planning for that event/scenario that we’re envisioning. Though, of course, fundamental to most of the planning that we do is the ability to actually envision ourselves in the future or, episodic future thinking. As for imagination, it seems quite intuitive that we need some imaginative capacity to mentally project into the future but the concept of “imagination” itself is a much broader one that episodic future thinking. That is, we can imagine just about anything (e.g., traveling to the moon) but this is different from episodic future thinking which O’Neill and I argued is “constrained” by our current self/situation (in my case, I will likely never make it to the moon but I can certainly imagine it!). We tried to incorporate “self” and “future” by asking children to think about going on a trip and choosing items to bring with them. We purposely gave them items (like Band-Aids) that would be useful if they got hurt, say. Even the 3-year-olds in our study were starting to explain their choices my making reference to the future, and this ability continues to improve during the preschool years.
12. In My future self: Young children’s ability to anticipate and explain future states (2005), you coauthored with Professor Andrew Meltzoff. In two experiments with 108 three, four, and five years olds, for the first experiment, you attempted to have these children think about the future through stories and pictorial scenes. Asking the children to think of themselves in these scenarios, you observed developmental differences for correct item choices and spoken explanations. For the second experiment, 3 and 4 year old children had worse performance based on the introduction of items with semantic association to the scenarios without addressing the future state – not so for the 5 year olds. How does this relate to the current research of future thinking in children? What about the other areas of research for you, namely: cognitive development and theory of mind?
What we tried to argue in this paper – that also reflects some of my current thinking – is that even 3-year-olds were pretty good at selecting an item that they may need in the future (e.g., sunglasses if they’re walking on a sandy beach). However, when one of the options we presented alongside the correct item was “semantically” or “thematically” related to the future scenario – so a seashell presented alongside the sunglasses – younger children (but not 5-year-olds) were prone to select this item even if wouldn’t really be useful in the future. This may be because young children’s primary tendency is to select “what goes with what” rather than think ahead about what might actually be needed in the future.
13. You have earned numerous five-figure grants since 2011 provided under the titles of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Early Career Research Award. If any, what responsibilities do academics have towards society? In light of the grant, award, and other funding, what further responsibilities and duties weigh into your conscience?
I, for one, would like to do a better job disseminating my findings |
but for the safety of your company.
Service: Subscription DDoS Attacks
Insiders have access to a product called a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. DDoS attacks are automated and spontaneous traffic sent to your website with the end goal of overwhelming your server. Some organized criminal groups offer a targeted DDoS attack to anyone willing to pay for as little as $5. Others sell on a subscription model for consistent attacks on a target throughout the month. Imagine if an insider made a deal with a DDoS attack service provider, you would have to manage constant server overloads and provide customers another place to visit your website. It would be best to prepare yourself for DDoS attacks, as they are the cheapest and most accessible product on the market.
Product: Botnets
Botnets are a particular type of malware that is commonly associated with the internet-of-things (IoT). Botnets control a network of vulnerable devices from either a central server or can autonomously control each other. This is mainly the result of smart product manufacturers not designing for security and not patching products regularly. Your insiders are able to purchase botnets which can turn everything connected to your network like that fancy smart fridge to your smart toaster into a vector of malicious data transfer. These are often sold as products and how-to guides, but a darknet customer can even hire a hacker to attack for them. Often any potential profits from the attack are shared between the hacker and the insider.
Product: Exploit Codes
Have you kept your systems up-to-date? If not an insider could easily purchase the exploit codes to extracting data or setup for a larger attack on your network. Privileged insiders are most dangerous here. The last two major cyber attacks NotPetya and WannaCry were both leveraging the exploit called EternalBlue. The best line of defense here is to keep all software, operating systems, and browsers up to date.
Service: Ransomware
The infamous word everyone is becoming more familiar with as the scale and magnitude of cyber attacks have increased. Ransomware in the past would simply encrypt your documents and then demand you pay a ransom for the decryption key. However, NotPeyta set a new paradigm for ransomware; one of of sabotage now. In should terrify you that this is an available product for purchase on darknet markets. Often these are a service, where the seller relies on a successful attack, and may actually help. With a successful ransomware attack the insider and seller will share the profits from the attack. An insider with minimal ability or even just their credentials can bring your operations to a grinding halt.
Insiders have many motivations for wanting to steal from or sabotage a company. Some of the best ways to deter malicious insiders are through behavioral analytics. However, this is not always enough which is why system updates and insider threat mitigation strategies should always be practiced. The darknet can turn each and every insider in your organization into a hacker. Best to protect from this in any and all ways possible.(Photographerlondon/Dreamstime)
When denying science is a progressive moral imperative
Why do liberals hate science?
The Left has long claimed that it has something of a monopoly on scientific expertise. For instance, long before Al Gore started making millions by claiming that anyone who disagreed with his apocalyptic prophecies was “anti-science,” there were the “scientific socialists.” “Social engineer” is now rightly seen as a term of scorn and derision, but it was once a label that progressive eggheads eagerly accepted.
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Masking opinions in a white smock is a brilliant, albeit infuriating and shabby, rhetorical tactic. As the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” Science is the language of facts, and when people pretend to be speaking it, they’re not only claiming that their preferences are more than mere opinions, they’re also insinuating that anyone who disagrees is a fool or a zealot for objecting to “settled science.”
Put aside the fact that there is no such thing as settled science. Scientists are constantly questioning their understanding of things; that is what science does. All the great scientists of history are justly famous for overturning the assumptions of their fields. The real problem is that in politics, invocations of science are very often marketing techniques masquerading as appeals to irrefutable authority. In an increasingly secular society, having science on your side is better than having God on your side – at least in an argument.
RELATED: The Assault on Science
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I’m not saying that you can’t have science in your corner, or that lawmakers shouldn’t look to science when making policy. (Legislation that rejects the existence of gravity makes for very silly laws indeed.) But the real intent behind so many claims to “settled science” is to avoid having to make your case. It’s an undemocratic technique for delegitimizing opposing views and saying “shut up” to dissenters.
For example, even if the existence of global warming is “settled,” the policies for how to best respond to it are not. But in the political debates about climate change, activists say that their climatological claims are irrefutable and so are their preferred remedies.
Why are liberalism’s pet issues the lodestars of what constitutes scientific fact?
If climate change is the threat they claim, I’d rather spend billions on geoengineering to fix it than trillions on impoverishing economic policies that at best slightly delay it. It doesn’t matter; I’m the Luddite buffoon for thinking ethanol subsidies and windmills are boondoggles.
Even more outrageous: If you dispute, say, the necessity of spending billions on windmills or on killing the coal industry, you are not merely wrong on climate change, you are “anti-science.”
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Intellectually, this is a monument of asininity so wide and tall, even the mind’s eye cannot glimpse its horizon or peak.
RELATED: On Climate, Science and Politics Are Diverging
For starters, why are liberalism’s pet issues the lodestars of what constitutes scientific fact? Medical science informs us fetuses are human beings. The liberal response? “Who cares?” Genetically modified foods are safe, sayeth the scientists. “Shut up,” reply the liberal activists. IQ is partly heritable, the neuroscientists tell us. “Shut up, bigot,” the liberals shriek.
#share#Which brings me to the raging hysteria over the plight of transgendered people who need to use the bathroom.
The New York Times recently reported about A. J. Jackson’s travails in a Vermont high school. “There were practical issues,” Anemona Hartocollis writes. “When he had his period, he wondered if he should revert to the girls’ bathroom, because there was no place to throw away his used tampons.”
RELATED: Making Sense of Transgenderism
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Now, one can have sympathy for the transgendered – I certainly do – while simultaneously holding to the scientific fact that boys do not menstruate. This is a fact far more settled than the very best climate science. Perhaps it’s rude to say so, but facts do not cease to be facts simply because they offend.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing to fine businesses that do not address customers by their “preferred name, pronoun and title (e.g., Ms./Mrs.) regardless of the individual’s sex assigned at birth, anatomy, gender, medical history, appearance, or the sex indicated on the individual’s identification.” The NYC Commission on Human Rights can penalize offenders up to $250,000.
Many liberals believe that “denying” climate science should be a criminal offense while also believing that denying biological science is a moral obligation.
In the law, truth is a defense against the charge of slander, but for liberals, inconvenient truth is no defense against the charge of bigotry.The price of politics: the death of compassion
Updated
Rare in politics. Politicians Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott have admitted they were insensitive and wrong to make a fuss about the funeral arrangements for the Christmas island boat tragedy victims.
Morrison: "I have to show a little more compassion than I showed yesterday.
"There is a time and place... if you step over the mark you have got to say so, and I'm prepared to do so."
Abbott: "Scott showed a lot of guts in accepting that he may have gone a little too far.
"We will never depart from being humane... we did go a little too far."
Yes they did and they were called on it by the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey. The issue, if not dealt with, had the potential to drive yet another wedge through the party.
Now maybe the Government can reciprocate by admitting they too have been insensitive and more, far more, by immediately after the funeral sending a deeply traumatised 10-year-old orphan on a 5,000 kilometre journey back to Christmas Island.
Probably too much though to expect Immigration Minister Chris Bowen to, in effect, admit that he and the Government have been needlessly bureaucratic, pig headed and heartless. But then again, if Scott Morrison...?
No it won't happen. Not when the Minister can advance arguments like this with Jon Faine on ABC 774:
Faine: "To the politics second, and the compassion first. Ten-year-old Seena is orphaned. His family is offering to look after him in Sydney. Are there compassionate grounds or other grounds upon which you can agree to their requests?"
Bowen: "What we do is we prioritise people who have been through torture and trauma... but there's a process, you'd understand Jon, to go through. I can't just hand them over to people."
Faine: "It's a no-brainer, that this boy's better off with his family than back in the care of the department."
Bowen: "He'll definitely be released into the community, there's no question about that."
Faine: "But right now, today, tomorrow."
Bowen: "Well Jon the initial psychological advice to me was that it's best to keep these people together as a group on Christmas Island... you don't just open the gates and say, 'Off you go'."
Faine: "Minister, you can, you've got the power."
Bowen: "And I do..."
Faine: "His cousin has spoken to us this morning and they wanted to take him from the funeral, if possible."
Bowen: "Jon, it's a very sensitive and difficult case, as they all are."
Faine: "No it's not, it's a really easy one..."
Bowen: "No Jon..."
Faine: "It's the easiest of cases you'll ever get."
Bowen: "Jon, I read cases like this every day, people who have been through trauma and torture..."
Faine: "A 10-year-old boy?"
Bowen: "Yes. Absolutely. Every child in our detention system has been through trauma and I've..."
Faine: "His parents have both died."
Bowen: "And I'm moving them into the community, but there's a process in place to make sure they get the appropriate care as they do so."
Faine: "It doesn't pass the commonsense test, quite frankly Minister."
Bowen: "I understand your view, that you would like me to do it today..."
Faine: "And you can, you have the power."
Bowen: "And as I say, I have released children into the community very regularly in the time I've been Minister, and I've been doing it without fuss and without fanfare. We do it because it is appropriate, and that is what will happen with this case as well."
But not now. Not even when it was blindingly obviously appropriate to do so. Instead the child, inconsolable at his father's graveside, was immediately ushered to a bus and sent back to Christmas Island, no doubt to return to the mainland when the bureaucrats, and the Minister, are good and ready. Processes will have been followed. Rule one - tick, rule two - tick, rule three - tick. No exceptions, no flexibility, another day's work completed.
Faine concluded: "Minister I could read you out any one of 20 text messages along the lines of this one: 'Stupid bureaucratic ministerial response' and so on they go, but my time is up and I have to move on."
Bowen: "Well, Jon..."
Faine: "I gave it my best shot and I got nowhere."
Bowen: "Being Immigration Minister does not mean you can please people, but it means you make judgment calls on issues every day and that's what we're doing."
Faine: "And I personally think you got the wrong one here, but there you go. I've had a go and I've probably broken all the ABC rules in doing so."
Probably. Pity the Government wouldn't occasionally bend a couple of their own. And by the way, a lot of talk back on commercial radio went the same way. Some of them were critical of both the Opposition and Chris Bowen.
And finally, Barnaby Joyce.
Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott have had a rethink, but has the Senator? He intends to keep the issue running in Senate Estimates by demanding to know how much it cost to fly family members to the funerals.
He told AM: "Well it is always appropriate to ask whether the spending of money is appropriate... and I suppose in Senate Estimates we'll find out whether it was a reasonable cost or not."
Just before Christmas, Barnaby Joyce wrote off his taxpayer-funded $80,000 four wheel drive when he drove it into floodwaters.
The vehicle was insured and it will be replaced. But did he act responsibly? Did he take due care with a taxpayer-funded benefit?
Maybe a question for Senate Estimates when they get through calculating the cost of the funeral arrangements.
And just to save them the trouble. The cost, in round figures, was $300,000. That's two cents per taxpayer. You be the judge as to whether you got your two cents worth.
Barrie Cassidy hosts Insiders and Offsiders on ABC1.
Topics: refugees, community-and-society, death, immigration, government-and-politics, federal-government, australia
First postedBy 2025, India will have over 17 million obese children and stand second among 184 countries where the number of obese children are concerned, says a study published in Paediatric Obesity, an international journal.
On the backdrop of World Obesity day on October 11, experts warned that early prevention was the need of the hour to avoid an entire generation from falling prey to heart ailments, hypertension and diabetic complications.
The study — Planning for the worst: estimates of obesity and comorbidities in school-age children in 2025 — authored by T. Lobstein and R. Jackson-Leach, aimed to assess the scale of the problem with health planners and service providers. Childhood obesity occurs when a child or adolescent is above the average weight for his or her age and height.
The researchers, using data prepared by the Global Burden of Disease collaborative for 2000 and 2013, estimated that by 2025, some 268 million children, aged between five and 17 years, may be overweight, assuming that no policy interventions have proven effective at changing the current trend. China has the largest number of children who are obese. “We have also estimated the likely numbers of children in 2025 with obesity-related comorbidities: impaired glucose tolerance (12 million), type 2 diabetes (4 million), hypertension (27 million) and hepatic steatosis (38 million). A supplement table provides estimates for each of 184 nations,” said the researchers, discussing the findings.
Commenting on the study, Dr Ramen Goel, director, Centre for Bariatric and Metabolic surgery at Wockhardt Hospital, said that the two polarised conditions faced by children in India are malnourishment and obesity and this shows the economic and health divide. “Even obese children have malnutrition but that is of a different kind and parents or peers don’t understand it. While the government is focusing on malnourishment, this here, is an equally important problem because it will lead to an entire generation suffering from multiple complications in their early twenties,” he said.
Sighting the increase in the number of patients coming to him for survival interventions, he blamed a combination of multiple factors, leading to obesity and overweight issues. “95% of the patients we see have minimal field activity, unmonitored calorie intake, sleep deprivation and they fall prey to the brands, promising low fat food. Ironically, most of the low fat brands sell enough calories as compared to their normal variants,” said Goel.
While the research paper has listed global overweight prevalence for children aged 5–17 years rising from 13.9% in 2010 to 15.8% in 2025. On the assumptions of continued population growth given by the World Bank, this translates to a rise from some 219 million children in this age group in 2010 to 268 million children in 2025. “ Obesity alone rises from 76 million children (4.8%) in 2010 to 91 million (5.4%) by 2025,” the report reads.
Dr. Muffazal Lakdawala, chairman of Institute of Minimal Invasive Surgical Sciences and Research Center at Saifee Hospital said that increasing number of paediatric patients are seeking surgical intervention in recent times to overtake obesity or overweight issues. “We absolutely avoid operating on such patients and only do it as a last resort if the child is about 120-159kg and is about 15 years of age,” said Lakdawala.
He added that schools can play a vital role as a major prevention tool to control an epidemic which will strike in next five to ten years to the most productive generation of the country. “Most schools sell pizzas and cold drinks in their canteens and nobody is talking about the health implications. While the government is focusing on the mid-day meal programs for malnourished children, to save the generation, the officials need to also look at these malnutritioned children from upper classes,” said Lakdawala. He added that similar to the Clean India movement, only a healthy India movement can stress on prevention rather than cure.
Doctors across the city said that they see a substantial increase in the number of patients in the out patient ward, which had increased over seven times in past two to three years. “Earlier, we used to see one patient a week complaining about obesity or overweight issues, now we see at least two patients every day. Majority of them belong to the upper middle class and middle class,” said Dr. Fazal Nabi, consultant paediatrician and intensivist at Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre. He advised mothers to stress on breastfeeding till the age of two years so that the child gets the complete nutritional base for a healthy upbringing. “Mothers need to follow the global standards of breastfeeding, at the same time, the stress on nutritional solid intake is equally important from the age of six months as a strong preventive measure,” he said.
First Published: Oct 10, 2016 23:54 ISTA professor of music theory at Elon University is walking away from the job she loves and moving back to Canada with no immediate other employment prospects. Why? Racism in the U.S. is taking a toll on her family.
At a certain point, said Robin Attas, a white Canadian who is married to a Nicaraguan man, “it was clear for me that I could choose between my job and my husband’s life. I chose my husband.”
Attas and her husband, Nicolás Narváez Soza, have been married for 10 years. They met in Nicaragua after Attas finished her master’s degree and lived together in Vancouver as she earned her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. She worked for several years as an adjunct on campus there after that, as Narváez Soza managed an after-school program at a community center.
The couple moved to North Carolina in 2013, when Attas started on the tenure track at Elon. During their first year in the U.S., the couple lived close to campus in Elon, a predominately white town of 10,000 between Greensboro and Durham. While locals were friendly to Attas, she said, her husband often encountered inexplicably “grumpy” behavior that they now link to his skin color and accented English.
Attas and Narváez Soza bought a house in Burlington, N.C., the next year. The indignities only escalated there, Attas said, including one incident in which a passing motorist yelled, “Fucking Mexican go home!” as Narváez Soza was standing on the front lawn with their two small children. Something similar happened soon after at a playground. And Narváez Soza, a sculptor and carpenter, has said he was once told by a clerk at a major home improvement store to “learn English.” A Canadian citizen, he speaks English but forgot the term for something he needed. The comment was nevertheless embarrassing.
Then, in September, Narváez Soza was pulled over by a police officer near Greensboro, Attas said. “The officer told him he wasn’t wearing his seat belt, when my husband was indeed wearing his seat belt. The officer asked to see documentation, and my husband said that he had his ID in his backpack in the backseat.”
Narváez Soza asked to step out of the car and get the document, and the officer gave permission but put his hand on his gun anyway, he's said. Given recent incidents of law enforcement using unnecessary -- sometimes lethal -- force against people of color, the gesture was frightening.
“This was when we decided to leave,” Attas said.
Reports of race-based harassment have increased within the last election cycle and since President Trump took office; some have blamed his anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions. But Attas said that in her specific experience, it’s “not about Trump.” It’s not even about her state, which has a particularly marred racial history.
“This is a nationwide problem that has been going on for years,” Attas said.
So it’s back to Winnipeg, Canada, for Attas, Narváez Soza and their children, who, happily, never faced such discrimination in their school programs. Attas is actively seeking an academic position but considering other options.
“I have a great network of contacts in Winnipeg and am confident that I’ll land on my feet,” she said. “My family is more important to me than getting to stay in academia.”
Although Attas doesn’t blame Elon’s setting for what happened, questions about community diversity or lack thereof pose particular retention and recruitment concerns for institutions in rural areas. Often, faculty members of color or those or who are otherwise underrepresented (such as LGBT status) worry they’ll be isolated on campus and off. So it makes sense that such worries would extend to their family members, who may feel even more isolated.
Attas said she spoke with colleagues about what was going on but never reached out to Elon’s administration about it. Elon’s always been welcoming and no incident ever occurred on campus, but “I don’t feel the institution could have done anything besides sympathize, in our specific case,” she said.
In general, though, she added, all colleges and universities “can do a lot to educate students around issues of race and privilege, and I’ve been so fortunate to have been involved in that through Elon's Core Curriculum.” Attas taught a seminar called Global Experience, for example, that looks at personal and social responsibility in domestic and global contexts.
Daniel J. Anderson, university spokesperson, described Attas as an “active scholar” whose departure “is a loss to the university.” Noting that Elon was unaware of Attas’s concerns prior to her decision to leave, he said that the institution “pays special attention to faculty and staff needs during the interview and hiring process” and offers information about neighborhoods, day cares and schools, and other special needs as requested by candidates.
In many cases, he said, “we will pair a new faculty or staff member with a current Elon employee who has a similar interest or need to help them make the transition to our community.”
President Leo M. Lambert said in a statement that Elon “is deeply committed to inclusion and creating a welcoming environment for all. And further, we are engaged in many efforts in the broader community to extend educational opportunities for young people and to involve community members in respectful civic dialogue.”
Ultimately, he said, “discrimination and acts of bias are rooted in ignorance. It’s our responsibility as a university community to reach beyond the borders of our campus in order to ensure our broader community will be renowned for its openness and acceptance.”Caroline Giuliani has said she will vote for Hillary Clinton despite her father's outspoken support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
The daughter of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani confirmed her support of Clinton to CNN on Thursday.
Caroline Giuliani, 27, took to her Facebook page to express her support for Clinton, changing her profile picture to a photo of herself with the Clinton filter as well as changing her cover photo to an image of Hillary’s #ImWithHer slogan, CNN noted.
She first confirmed that the Facebook profile was hers when she spoke with Politico.
“I love Hillary. I think she’s by far the most qualified candidate that we’ve had in a long while,” she told Politico. “My dad knows. I was for Barack in 2012. He knows and is fully comfortable with it and thinks I have a right to my opinion.”
Caroline Giuliani isn’t the only family member of a prominent Republican with a different political leaning.
According to People, she's following in the footsteps of former President George W. Bush’s daughter, Barbara, who attended a Hillary Clinton fundraiser in Paris recently.
Rudy Giuliani has been advocating for Trump for months, even influencing the Clinton illness rumors that haunted the candidate, People noted.
The 72-year-old might be in support of his daughter’s decision to go against the grain, but he elected not to respond to CNN requests for a comment on the matter, CNN noted.When dating a football fan, there is one inalienable truth you must accept from the very beginning. As the renowned Liverpool manager Bill Shankly put it: ‘Football is not a matter of life and death – it’s much more important than that.’ Any attempt to improvise in the jungle of trivia, invective and emotion that characterises modern football will get you in trouble. How so? Take Tony Blair as an example: when asked in an interview about his ‘lifelong’ support of Newcastle United, Blair claimed to have fond teenage memories of watching Jackie Milburn. Unfortunately, the legendary player retired when Blair was four.
Common Misunderstandings
His friends – who’s who: The superstitious one: Exhibits irrationality rarely seen outside the realm of the fanatical football fan. He will have a set ritual that he must perform, like always tapping the same lamp post on his way to the ground, or insisting on continuing to wear (and never wash) an item of clothing he was wearing on the occasion of a momentous victory for his team. The one in charge of the beer pool: So inspired do football supporters become that whenever early May comes around (the culmination of the Premier League season), those who normally struggle to check that their change is right in the supermarket become experts at mental arithmetic – a result of their constant attempts to work out what position their team occupies in the league table. The one painted blue: Clearly no one has told him that being painted all over can cause death by suffocation – a technique honed by the late Auric Goldfinger.
‘Nutmeg’
Next time you decide to ask your loved one for nutmeg when preparing a dish, don’t be surprised at the look of pure jubilation on his face, followed by his returning at full speed towards you, exhibiting his best dribbling technique. In the beautiful game, to play the ball between an opponent’s legs is to ‘nutmeg’ them. This makes the nutmegger inordinately pleased, and the nutmeggee extraordinarily humiliated.
‘Feint’
If, on recalling the match, he informs you that he ‘feinted’, don’t rush him to A&E. To ‘feint’ is to trick a defender by pretending to kick the ball one way, then quickly kicking it another. Astonishingly, highly paid professional footballers still fall for this old ruse, week in week out.
‘Silverware’
Next time he suggests getting out the silverware, don’t think he’s getting all Downton Abbey on you. This is the frequently used nickname for trophies awarded in football competitions. Players and fans alike love using the term, and are prone to making such profound observations as: ‘No matter how much silverware you win, it’s never enough.’ This is designed to give the impression that there’s already a handsome collection of silverware in a bulging trophy cabinet.
‘We’
As he fondly recalls the great weekend ‘we’ had, unfortunately he hasn’t started referring to the two of you as one. He is referring to himself and the club he supports. Under no circumstance must you question or make fun of this fundamental bond of love and loyalty. It goes deeper than his relationship with his mother.
Klose Encounters
Footballers aren’t exactly known for their way with words, nor do most pros seem to have to work very hard when it comes to the art of seduction. You can hope that your partner might be a little more tactical when it comes to romance. Some things to prepare for however are:
Holidays
If he aspires to be like his footballing idols, chances are that he won’t understand why you would want to go abroad, unless it’s to get a suntan. This attitude was best illustrated by the West Bromwich Albion player John Trewick who, on a tour of China, was offered the chance to see the Great Wall. He declined, saying that ‘Once you’ve seen one wall, you’ve seen them all.’
During a televised match in a bar or restaurant
You should start learning to enjoy your own company. You can expect to have your dinner venue decided according to which restaurant has the biggest screen, followed by a lot of seat rearranging for the optimal view, not of you (when will you learn?), not of the nicest scenery, but instead, yes, now you’ve got it, the screen. You can also expect the following conversation to ensue:
‘Isn’t this great?’
‘Mmhmm.’
‘Everything on the menu looks delicious. Shall we order some wine?’
‘Sure.’
‘This would be a great place to get engaged.’
‘Mmhmm.’
Match Day
What to Wear
Excessive smartness is the only thing to avoid. Jeans and casual clothing are perfectly acceptable. Oh, we almost forgot the most important rule. You must not, under any circumstance, wear the colours of the opposite team. So, thou shall not wear red if he supports Chelsea or blue if he supports Liverpool, etc.
What He’ll Wear
Many fans wear replica shirts, either in the team’s current home strip or in their away strip. It is common to have your favourite player’s name printed on the back of your shirt, but as modern footballers change clubs more often than they change their underwear, this could prove an unwise investment. Warning: this dress code does not just apply to match day. For him, a football shirt is perfectly acceptable attire at dinner, the theatre, your best friend’s wedding, or your granny’s funeral.
Before The Match
The general rule seems to be to never get to the match too early (warning: this time-keeping does not just apply to match day. For him, by-the-skin-of-his-teeth arrival three minutes before kick-off is perfectly acceptable; in fact, it’s practically obligatory). You may think this strange, in that soaking up the atmosphere is presumably a crucial part of any match day experience. But ingesting large quantities of ale or lager is a far more crucial part of the match day experience for regular fans. Never hurry your date before the game. He will know to the last second exactly how long it takes from his last gulp to arriving at his seat, so whatever you do, don’t say that you need a final precautionary visit to the ladies.
Watching it at the pub
Though nothing beats a day at the ground, watching the game on a big screen in a pub does have its benefits. It’s warmer, cheaper, and you don’t have to sit in a motorway hold-up at nine o’clock on a Saturday night while your partner punches the dashboard in frustration at the missed penalty/appalling refereeing/blatant cheating that lost his team the match.
But when watching at your local, you should be aware of the following: seasoned fans will have developed the ability to talk out of the corner of their mouth. This is because their eyes must never leave the match. Football fans in pubs thus take on the appearance of undercover cops in a crowded square – communicating, but not actually acknowledging each other’s presence. This is a plus for you, because it means he won’t notice you reading your book under the table.
Maximum Bluffing Value
A useful piece of information for the bluffer to slip into conversation is that both Pope John Paul II and Luciano Pavarotti were quite handy goalkeepers in their younger days. One of them had to move around considerably more than the other to stop the ball getting past him.
DO SAY ‘(enter his team name here) have always had a reputation for playing the beautiful game in the right way, and it’s only a matter of time before they get the silverware they so richly deserve.’
DON’T SAY ‘Relegation, that’s a good thing, right?’
Happy Bluffing!
Ellen Tewkesbury, Mark Mason
(Looking for the best football books? If you want to go one step further and learn how to bluff your way absolutely convincingly in what football is, how it is played, who plays it and why, then be sure to get your hands on the new Bluffer’s Guide to Football, out now.)Part of the Truthout Series Walking the Walk
Walmart employees and their supporters strike outside of a Walmart store in Pico Rivera, California on Tuesday November 20. (Photo: Aurelio Jose Barbera / UFCW International Union)
United Food and Commercial Workers’ Pat O’Neill talks about the difficulty of organizing retail and the new tactics that have been developed, shoppers’ support and Walmart workers’ extraordinary courage in the rolling actions leading up to Black Friday.
This fall has witnessed a wave of rolling strikes and other employee actions at America’s largest private-sector employer: Walmart. The actions, spread across more than a dozen cities, have been the first in the retailer’s 50-year history. This week, things are set to get bigger: Walmart associates across the country are now promising pickets, leafleting, and creative flash mobs on and around Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.
One of the main groups involved in planning the actions has been OUR Walmart, a labor-community organization for Walmart employees, backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Rather than going through the arduous process of forming a traditional union by signing up majorities in each store, they have developed a more flexible process for employees to get involved early on. Smaller groups can use OUR Walmart to take collective action to advocate for rights and for better conditions. Such advocacy harkens back to the early days of the US labor movement, before the labor laws of the New Deal institutionalized processes for collective bargaining. It may also be a bellwether for future employee action, reflecting an age in which labor law has again failed to catch up with the reality of the American economy.
To get inside insight on the new activism taking place at Walmart, I talked with UFCW Organizing Director Pat O’Neill. We discussed the rolling strikes, the revived use of “minority unions,” and why OUR Walmart is not calling for a boycott.
I started by asking how many employees are part of OUR Walmart.
“It’s in the thousands of workers who are paying the $5.00 a month in membership dues for OUR Walmart,” O’Neill replied. “There are a lot of others that are not paying, but they’re active. On Black Friday, our goal is to have in excess of 1000 Walmart workers striking, and there will be many more that take some other form of action.”
I asked what sort of message the public will be getting on Black Friday.
“The public’s going to be asked to support Walmart associates as they fight for better hours and better working conditions and as they call on the company not to continue with reprisals against workers for their organizing activity,” O’Neill said. “It’s two-fold: we want people to support the workers in pushing for better conditions, but also in standing up for their organizing rights.”
I next asked about his hopes in terms of the outcomes from the rolling actions.
“We want to put pressure on the company and let them know that the workers are upset, ” O’Neill responded. “We want the company to know that they’re not going to squash them in their endeavors to organize by taking retaliatory action. The workers are not just crawling under the table and hiding. They’re actually taking stronger action; they’re upping the ante, if you will. When Walmart changes somebody’s schedule, suspends someone, or terminates them even for their organizing activity, the rest of the workers are upset over it and know about it.”
Pointing to a long history of unsuccessful organizing at Walmart, I asked what he thought today’s employees have learned from some of these past efforts that haven’t been successful.
“I think the past efforts weren’t successful because it’s always difficult in retail, period,” O’Neill said. “It’s not like one plant. The workforce doesn’t have that much camaraderie with each other. There are so many people at the store; there are part-time hours. A lot of workers don’t even know each other. Then you lay on hundreds or thousands of different locations, it makes organizing under the [National Labor Relations Act] very difficult. Even if you get in at one store, then you got to worry about whether you can get a contract.”
“The old way of organizing that we did didn’t work,” he said. “Now we really studied the history, not just what we’ve had with Walmart, but the civil rights movement and the beginning of the labor movement, what the United Auto Workers (UAW) and others did back in the ’30s. That’s where we came up with the concept of minority unionism and trying to hook people up with each other, even if there’s only one activist in one store.”
“Traditionally, it was all about signing cards, then holding an election and hoping you win. You don’t charge dues or anything until after you get a contract. With OUR Walmart, workers put some skin in the game up front with a five-dollar-per-month contribution. They buy into it and want to do it. I think those two pieces are really major differences from the past.”
I pressed further, asking what he thought Walmart associates themselves have learned from the past efforts to organize.
“It’s really encouraging |
simply do what must be done. The Commander knows this. She would send you to your death against impossible odds without a second thought, and she has done it before. She is your friend…but she is a warrior first. You should emulate her in this regard. If you do not, none of your people will live to see the end of this war.”
The Prothean stepped forward and embraced her. It was brief and rough, but Tali forgave that. It was a gesture 50,000 years out of practice.
He drew back. “Now stop crying, and come. I would rather you not blubber if you’re going to walk beside me. I have a reputation to uphold.”
“I…can’t believe you just hugged me.”
“Hmph. Me either. Hugs were punishable by death in my cycle.”
Tali stopped and stared at him. Javik cast a jaded look back at her over his shoulder.
“That was a joke.”Today on “The 700 Club,” televangelist Pat Robertson gave out more of his patented advice on how parents should treat their gay children, this time telling a parent of a 17-year-old girl who identifies as gay to love her but to make sure she knows that they “don’t accept the lifestyle.”
“It’s a difficult thing,” Robertson said. “Many young people, they think they’re transsexual and they think they’ve got to have a sex-change operation, they’ve got to do this, that, and the other and they don’t really know what they’re talking about because they’re too young to know. I have a feeling the same thing — there’s nothing that says somebody can’t be attracted to the opposite sex.”
He added: “Young girls have crushes and they have crushes on their teachers and they have crushes on other girls as well as boys, that’s one of those things that happens but that’ll get differentiated as she gets older, but if she gets wrapped up in that lifestyle, she may never get out of it.”Photo
It was hardly a big news item at the time — a brief, tucked 16 pages into The New York Times on Oct. 20, 1952 beside a Buick ad. “GIRLS DEBATE BOYS ON ELECTION ISSUES,” the headline of the story read.
Photo
But it was the first time, of what would eventually be thousands, that Antonin Scalia, the future Supreme Court justice, was mentioned in The New York Times.
He was just 16 at the time, a student at Xavier High School in Manhattan who was one of six high-schoolers selected to a debate panel hosted by The Times. The discussion, entitled “Will a Democratic Victory Secure Our Future?,” came in the weeks before a presidential election between the Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Democrat Adlai E. Stevenson. W. Averell Harriman, a former secretary of commerce who would later become governor of New York, was a guest at the event, which was broadcast on television and radio.
As The Times described it, the debate pitted the young women against the young men. “The girls tried to keep talk on the domestic scene,” the article reads, “but the boys persisted in their attacks on Democratic foreign policy, which they said had lost much of the world to communism in spite of the expenditure of a great deal of money.”
The article said that the boys had argued that the economic prosperity at the time was the product of “a war economy.” “But the girls did not accept that argument, declaring that the average man had benefitted greatly under the Democrats.”
Mr. Harriman, who was once called “the last tall timber of the New Deal,” sided with the women and said that the Democratic administration should be continued.
Among Mr. Scalia’s teammates in the event was a 17-year-old named Richard Wasserstrom from Scarsdale High School. Now 80, Mr. Wasserstrom spoke by phone from his home in Santa Cruz, Calif. “I am sure you’re talking to the participant but I don’t remember anything about the event,” he said.
Mr. Wasserstrom said he did not know he had shared a stage with the future Supreme Court justice. He too, had gone on to a career in law, mostly in the academic world, as a professor of law and philosophy at Stanford and U.C.L.A. and also worked for a year as a lawyer with the Justice Department’s civil rights division in 1963. He said he and Mr. Scalia probably fell on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum.
“I would never have identified myself as a Republican,” he said. “I think the boys were assigned defending this position.”
Justice Scalia was already developing some ideas of his own.
“Scalia would later recall that watching Harriman in that session made him realize for the first time that a person of national stature and good reputation could be, at least in his particular young eyes, a dolt,” wrote Joan Biskupic in “American Original,” her biography of Justice Scalia.
Justice Scalia’s next mention in the paper was 1972, when the Senate confirmed him as chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States.Stephanie Courtney (born February 8, 1970)[1] is an American actress and comedian, best known for playing the advertising character Flo in television and radio commercials for Progressive Corporation beginning in 2008,[2] and noted for her recurring roles on several television series, including the voices of Renee the Receptionist and Joy Peters on the Adult Swim comedy Tom Goes to the Mayor (2004–06), Marge on the AMC drama Mad Men (2007); and Diane on the ABC comedy Cavemen (2007). She also appeared in the season 2 premiere of Men of a Certain Age. She also played in The Goldbergs. Courtney was a member of The Groundlings, an improvisational and sketch comedy theater in Los Angeles, California.
Early life and education [ edit ]
Courtney was born in Stony Point, Rockland County, New York the youngest of three children[3] of a high school history teacher father and a singer mother.[1] In 1992 she graduated from Binghamton University with a degree in English, where she had played Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible. By then, she said, "I was never tortured over whether I wanted to become an actress. There was never another option in my mind."[4] After graduation, she moved to New York City, where her roommate was future author and columnist Meghan Daum.[1] While working as evening secretary for Smith Barney chairman Robert S. Greenhill, Courtney studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse.[1]
She moved to Los Angeles, where she roomed with her sister, actress Jennifer Courtney.[5] The two wrote and performed the sketch "Those Courtney Girls" in Los Angeles and at the Aspen Comedy Festival.[1] She joined the training program of the improvisational and sketch comedy group The Groundlings, and in 2004 became a member of its 30-person main company.[3] There she met the theater's lighting director, Scott Kolanach,[6] whom she married in 2008.[1]
During her early time in Los Angeles she worked odd jobs, including catering, to support herself.[3]
She has appeared in such films as The Brothers Solomon, Blades of Glory, The Heartbreak Kid, Melvin Goes to Dinner, and Fred: The Movie.
Filmography [ edit ]
Web Year Title Role Notes 2007 Derek and Simon: The Show Glenda Episode: "Troubled Times: Part 2 – Murder & Deception" 2008 Face to Bush Mary McQueegle 2008–09 Back on Topps Debbie Topps
Video games Year Title Role Notes 2003 Celebrity Deathmatch Mischa Barton VoiceDutch Death Metal legends Pestilence have announced a full European headline tour for January/February called “Fight The Plague”! Pestilence will play a special old school set with songs from the first 4 classic albums “Malleus Maleficarum”, “Consuming Impulse”, “Testimony Of The Ancients” and “Spheres”. Support is provided by Brazilian Death Metal outfit Rebaelliun! A list of the first announced tour dates is available below.
26.01 Patronaat – Haarlem – NL
27.01 T.B.C. – Rijssen – NL
28.01 Baroeg – Rotterdam – NL
29.01 Underworld – London – UK
30.01 Audio – Glasgow – UK
31.01 Bannermans – Edinburgh – UK
01.02 The Ruby Lounge – Manchester – UK
02.02 Oefenbunker – Landgraaf NL
03.02 MS Connection Complex – Mannhein – DE
04.02 Rockfabrik – Ludwigsburg – DE
05.02 Backstage Club – Munchen – DE
08.02 Traffic Club – Rome – IT
09.02 Alchemica Live – Bologna – IT
10.02 Elyon Club – Rozzano (Milan) – IT
23.02 Voodoo – Belfast – UK*
24.02 Voodoo Lounge – Dublin – IR*
03.03 RCA club – Lissabon – PT*
More dates soon!
* Pestilence onlyTODAY'S Wall Street Journal offers a useful update to the annual "Americans are rushing to teach their kids Mandarin" story. The reporters have found several families that have gone to unusual lengths. One Californian lawyer took a year's leave of absence from work and moved the clan to Chengdu, for the sole purpose of immersion in the language. Another family moved to Singapore in 2007, again only so the kids could grow up speaking Mandarin. Other parents are not quite so committed, but nonetheless,
families are enrolling their children in Mandarin-immersion programs that are springing up from California to Maine. They are hiring tutors, Skyping with teachers in Beijing and recruiting Chinese-speaking nannies. Some are stocking their playrooms with Disney videos in Mandarin—not to mention the iPhone apps aimed at making kids into Mandarin speakers.
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The article goes on that
Mandarin is notoriously difficult to learn. The language is tonal, and fluency requires mastering thousands of characters. Mandarin competence takes 2,200 class hours, with half of that time spent in a country where it's spoken, according to the U.S. State Department's Foreign Service Institute, whereas Spanish can be learned in 600 to 750 class hours.
My upstairs neighbours' children have attended a Chinese-English bilingual school in New York for several years. It's the only public school of its kind in the city. Curious one day, I plied the younger one (eight years old) with a little quiz as we walked to the park with my son.
Me: "How do you say 'house'?"
Boy: "Uh, I forget."
Me: "How about 'car'?"
Boy: "Uh... hm..."
Me: "How about 'I am American?'"
Boy: "Wo shi Zhongguo ren."
Me: "Hm, I'm pretty sure that means 'I am Chinese.' Isn't American Meiguo ren?"
Boy: "Oh, that's right!"
Me: "How about 'he is my friend?'"
Boy: "Oh! Ta shi wode pengyou."
Finally a perfect answer on the first go.
This kid has been in this program since kindergarten. The Mandarin program is strictly speaking an after-school, voluntary one, but all kids go after school and study the language for 2.5 hours per day, I believe. At 180 school days a year, for just two years, he would have had roughly 900 hours of instruction and exposure, starting when he was quite small. (He may have had three years; I'm not sure.) Of course he's still quite small, and unlike State Department diplomats, doesn't have adult intellectual equipment to bring to bear. He does have a child's still-plastic brain, one of the reasons his accent was excellent. He's a bright kid. I can only take it that the State Department is right: learning Mandarin is very hard for a native English-speaker, and true immersion is pretty important.
I'm interested in the experience of those who have studied Chinese for a while. The Journal mentions both the tones and characters as difficulties, but I have a hunch one problem is rather bigger than the other. Which is a tougher challenge: mastering and using the four tones (several each second) for accurate and fluent speech? Or learning the thousands of characters needed to read and write?
I also know—because I've seen calligraphy homework around their apartment—that the kids spend significant time reading and writing. Is this a good idea? Or would you focus on speech and use pinyin first with young children? The answers are important, as more and more Americans are going to be studying Mandarin in coming years, and getting the pedagogy right will be crucial.Visualizers
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#Orlando #Tampa #Florida #Interior #design #remodel #showroom #SlabyardDefense Secretary James Mattis on Sunday issued a stark warning to North Korea, saying the country would be met with a "massive military response" if it threatened the U.S. or its allies.
"Any threat to the United States or its territories including Guam or our allies will be met with a massive military response," Mattis said in a statement outside of the White House after meeting with President Trump.
"Kim Jong Un should take heed the United Nations Security Council's unified voice. All members unanimously agreed on the threat North Korea poses. And they remain unanimous in their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Because we are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely, North Korea," he continued.
Mattis said the U.S. had "many military options" regarding the Korean peninsula, and that the president wanted to be briefed on all of them.
Mattis's aggressive, holiday-weekend statement comes hours after North Korean state media announced the country had successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb capable of fitting on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
The move is a show of defiance against Washington and the international community.
The White House in a statement released Sunday evening said Trump spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about North Korea's test and that the two "pledged to continue close cooperation."
"President Trump reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to defending our homeland, territories, and allies using the full range of diplomatic, conventional, and nuclear capabilities at our disposal," the White House said.
The UN Security Council unanimously voted last month to impose sanctions on Pyongyang after the country launched a series of ICBMs.
The council announced it would be having an emergency meeting to discuss the developments.
The Defense secretary's statement matches President Trump's recent hawkish statements regarding North Korea.
Trump strongly condemned Pyongyang's actions, saying the U.S. was considering imposing sanctions on North Korea's trade partners.
When asked whether the U.S. would attack North Korea, Trump responded "We'll see."
The president said last month North Korea would be met with "fire and fury" if it continued to threaten the U.S. and its allies.
Last week, President Trump said that talking with North Korea was no longer the answer, after the country launched an ICBM over Japanese airspace.I serve as the chair of the Secular Student Alliance, an umbrella organization that creates and supports atheist (and the like) college groups across the country.
This is how fast we’re growing:
In 2007, we had 81 active affiliates.
Today, we have 149.
During the 2007-2008 school year, we set up 22 speaking events on campuses.
This year, we’ve already set up 49.
During the 2007-2008 school year, we gave out $1,978 in direct support to student projects.
This year, we’ve already given out $5,801.
Our 2006 conference was attended by 30 students.
Our 2008 conference (a joint event with the American Humanist Association) was attended by 80 students. This was made possible by more than $11,000 in student travel grants that we have offered over the last two years.
We’ve done all this with only two full-time staff members at the helm — a smaller staff than at many local chapters of Campus Crusade for Christ or Hillel. Imagine how much more we could do if we had greater resources.
There has been no better time to be an active atheist on campus — and no time more important for a group like the Secular Student Alliance to be there for those students.
We want students to feel confident when questioning religious beliefs and thinking critically about their own faith.
We want secular students to realize that they are not alone, and we want their friends and neighbors to realize that someone they know is nonreligious. The only way to do this is to make the secular student movement more visible.
We just moved our headquarters to Columbus, OH and have a fantastic student conference in the work for August!
We need your help so we can keep up this valuable work.
Can you give just $5 to make this happen?
We are a grassroots organization, and our supporters are from all walks of life. We’re dependent on several small donations rather than a handful of large ones.
If enough people pitch in, it would make a huge difference in the types of services we can provide to our affiliates.
If you can give more, we would put it to good use.
You can also give here if you don’t prefer PayPal.
Need an incentive?
If you donate at least $5, you will be entered in a drawing to win your choice of the atheist necklace below (courtesy of Surly-Ramics), a signed copy of I Sold My Soul on eBay (with inscription of your choice), a copy of Kevin Roose‘s The Unlikely Disciple (one of my favorite books from the past year), or t-shirts from Atheist Nexus.
Please spread this today, link to the ChipIn widget on your site, and encourage others to give!
Isn’t it worth the price of a cup of coffee to help other atheists find their voice?CLOSE Eric and Ivanka Trump Failed to register as Republicans in time. They will not be able to vote for their father in the upcoming primary. The GOP front runner joked the pair's allowance has been cut off due to the error. Wochit
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during his rally in Fountain Hills on Saturday, March 19, 2016. (Photo: David Wallace/The Republic)
Trump admitted to losing a few voters in the New York primary this morning: his own children.
"They were, you know, unaware of the rules and they didn't register in time," he said Monday morning on “Fox and Friends" about his kids Eric, 32, and Ivanka, 34.
"They feel very, very guilty. They feel very guilty but it's fine, I mean, I understand that. I think they have to register a year in advance and they didn't. So Eric and Ivanka, I guess, won't be voting."
The New York primary is April 19. The deadline to register as a new voter in New York was March 25, but the deadline for a registered voter to change parties was Oct. 9, 2015, according to the New York State Board of Elections.
New York's deadline to change parties is the earliest in the country. But the rules aren't unfair, Trump said.
Records show that Eric and Ivanka are registered voters who are “not enrolled in a party," but Donald and his wife, Melania, are registered Republicans, according to ABC News.
"Are you cutting off their allowance?" asked Fox’s Steve Doocy.
"Yes, no more allowance," Trump said.
Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/1S5opyRU.S. Maritime Commission "Ships for Victory" emblem
The Emergency Shipbuilding Program (late 1940 – September 1945) was a United States government effort to quickly build simple cargo ships to carry troops and material to allies and foreign theatres during World War II. Run by the U.S. Maritime Commission, the program built almost 6,000 ships.
Origins [ edit ]
By the fall of 1940, the British Merchant Navy (equivalent to the United States Merchant Marine) was being sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic by Germany's U-Boats faster than the United Kingdom could replace them. Led by Sir Arthur Salter, a group of men called the British Merchant Shipping Mission came to North America from the UK to enlist U.S. and Canadian shipbuilders to construct merchant ships. As all existing U.S. shipyards capable to constructing ocean-going merchant ships were already occupied by either work of building ships for the U.S. Navy or for the U.S. Maritime Commission's Long Range Shipbuilding Program which had begun three years previously to fulfill the goals set forth in the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, the Mission negotiated with a consortium of companies made up of the existing U.S. ship repairer Todd Shipyards which had its headquarters in New York City in league with the shipbuilder Bath Iron Works located in Bath, Maine.
The new yard, called the Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corporation was to be an entirely new facility located on a piece of mostly vacant land located adjacent to Cummings Point in South Portland, Maine for the purpose of building thirty cargo ships. The Mission likewise, negotiating with a different consortium made up of Todd along with a group of heavy construction companies in the Western U.S. for the building of a new shipyard in the San Francisco Bay area for construction of thirty ships identical to those to be built in Maine.
That yard was to be called the Todd-California Shipbuilding Corp. It was slated to be built on the tide flats of Richmond on the east side of the Bay. The construction companies that made up the second half of that corporation had no experience building ships but did have an extensive resume with the construction of highways, bridges and major public works projects such as the Hoover Dam, the Bonneville Dam and the massive Grand Coulee Dam. Known as the Six Companies, the members included two companies which were to become driving powers in wartime merchant shipbuilding during the ensuing years, and the men behind those companies were Henry J. Kaiser, who headed the Kaiser Companies, and John A. McCone,[1] who led the Bechtel/McCone Company.
Contracts for both yards and the ships was signed on December 20, 1940. All the ships to be built were collectively called the Ocean class and to be of an existing British design for 5-hatch cargo ships of about 10,000 tons' load displacement and 11 knots' service speed using obsolete, but readily available, triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine and coal-fired Scotch-type fire tube boilers. The first of these vessels, the SS Ocean Vanguard was launched at the Todd-California yard on October 15, 1941.
The early years [ edit ]
With the defense of both the U.S. and its overseas possessions along with a very strong national interest in assisting Britain in its struggle to keep its supply lines open to both North America and its overseas Colonies, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced what was to become known as the Emergency Shipbuilding Program on January 3, 1941 for the construction of 200 ships very much similar to those being built for the British. He designated that the Program be implemented and administered by the Maritime Commission which since 1937 had been the Federal government department tasked with Merchant Marine development and which had worked very closely with the British Mission in placing its 60 ship order. Immediately the Commission authorized that the two yards building for the British build ships for the U.S. upon completion of their current contracts.
The Maritime Commission also funded the yards to add building ways and realizing that more than two yards would be needed for the program they were expecting to enter into contracts to build new shipyards on the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts of the U.S. In this first wave of expansion seven additional yards were added to those in Maine and California and like those yards were to be for the sole purpose of building only the Emergency type of ships. While all the yards were to be built by private contractors and operated by commercial shipbuilding companies, the new yards were financed by the Maritime Commission with funds authorized by Congress and thus owned by Federal Government. One of the new yards planned for construction was to be in Baltimore, Maryland and would be run by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. That facility became known as the Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyard for the Fairfield section of Baltimore, where it was located. Bethlehem Shipbuilding was one of the nation's largest shipbuilding companies having construction yards on the East Coast in Quincy, Massachusetts, on Staten Island, New York and at Sparrows Point, also in Baltimore.
On the West Coast it had yards in San Pedro and San Francisco. Another was to be in Wilmington, North Carolina and managed by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Newport News, Virginia, which had one of the largest commercial yards in the U.S. and by 1941 was exclusively building large combatant ships for the Navy. That yard was to be called the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company.
Additionally, yards were authorized to be built on the Gulf of Mexico coast at Mobile, Alabama which was to be operated by the Mobile-based Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company, in New Orleans on the Industrial Canal to be known as the Delta Shipbuilding Company and operated by the American Shipbuilding Company of Toledo, Ohio, one at Houston, Texas on the Houston Ship Channel to be operated by Todd Shipyards and called the Todd-Houston Shipbuilding Corp. On the West Coast, one yard was contracted to be built in Los Angeles at Terminal Island and managed by the Bechtel/McCone Company. That yard would be called the California Shipbuilding Corporation or CalShip for short. The Kaiser Corporation itself received a contract to build a new yard on the Columbia River at Portland, Oregon which would be known as the Oregon Shipbuilding Corp.
The emergency ships [ edit ]
Joseph M. Terrel at Brunswick, GA c. 1944 Liberty shipat Brunswick, GA c. 1944
The ships which all the yards were contracted to build were first designated by the Maritime Commission as EC2-S-C1 but because they were designed for capacity and rapid construction as opposed to speed and gracefulness lacked streamlined appearance of the more modern ship designs of the Maritime Commission such as the standard freighters type C2 ships or type C3 ships, the President had declared them to be "dreadful looking objects" and from that the term "Ugly Duckling" became the unofficial name for the emergency vessels. It was not until April 1941 that the vessels collectively were being officially referred to as the "Liberty Fleet" ships and not long after the term "Liberty Ship" became the standard name applied to all vessels of the class.
Like their British counterparts, the Ocean class, the Liberty ships were of a 5 hatch design of approximately 10000 tons loaded displacement powered by the same size triple expansion reciprocating steam engines but using more modern oil fired water-tube boilers. Overall they were somewhat antiquated for the era and there was some quiet objection on the part of some of the members of the Maritime Commission to devoting so many valuable resources to their construction. Some believed that fewer although faster ships would be able to move as much cargo since with their added speed they could make more voyages in any given year, but faster and more complex ships required more time to build and more importantly, required steam turbines in order to gain the additional speed.
In 1941, the manufacturers of steam turbines in the U.S., companies such as General Electric, Westinghouse and Allis-Chalmers, did not have adequate production capacity to build all the turbines demanded by the Navy or for the Maritime Commissions standard dry cargo ships or tankers it was intending to still build. In the end, it was decided that what the looming war was going to require were ships which could be built quickly using prefabrication by workers relatively unskilled in shipbuilding and in greatest numbers with the available resources. With that, the Liberty ship was adopted as the only emergency type to be built and thus shared by all of the new emergency shipyards. While all the new yards were able to get their first keels laid in a very short period of time, the first of the Liberty ships to be launched was the SS Patrick Henry which rolled down the ways at the Bethlehem-Fairfield yard on September 27, 1941.
The program grows as war nears [ edit ]
As 1941 progressed, the construction of the emergency yards accelerated rapidly and keels laid upon the new building ways. Well before the first wave of expansion was underway or the original sixty British ships were delivered, shortly after the Lend-Lease Bill was passed by Congress in March, a second wave of 306 additional ships were ordered. The ships ordered this second wave included 112 emergency type, the remainder were standard type vessels and tankers. This additional number of ships required additional building ways, so the Maritime Commission authorized new ways to be added to the yards in both the Long Range and Emergency Programs and also contracted for a second yard to be built for the Kaiser managed yards in Richmond, California. After this time the original Kaiser yard became known as Richmond #1 and the new yard as Richmond #2.
After the May 27[2] Declaration of Unlimited National Emergency by the President, the Emergency Program was further expanded in a third wave. To accommodate the addition of more ships to be built, additional ways were added to the yards in the program and the schedule of construction accelerated to build more ships per shipway per year. In total this increase raised the planned output of all merchant shipbuilders to approximately 500 ships (5 million total deadweight tons) for 1942 and 700 ships (7 million tons) in 1943.
Further expansion after the U.S. entry into World War II [ edit ]
The December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent entry of the U.S. into the war caused all previously established production schedules to be further revised dramatically upward. With the need to assist Britain replace its lost tonnage and to provide adequate ships to the Army to transport troops and supplies to foreign theaters, in January 1942 President Roosevelt asked that 8 million tons of shipping be built in 1942 and 10 million in 1943. This Fourth Wave of Expansion involved further shortening the time for building the ships as well as the further addition of building ways at the existing yards and to add new yards to the emergency program. In early 1942, yards for building Liberty Ships were contracted to be built in Vancouver, Washington to be managed by the Kaiser Corporation and a yard in Savannah, Georgia which was to be operated by a new company named Savannah Shipyards although they had no previous experience with building ships. New yards also contracted to be built at this time, but not for the emergency type ships, were a third yard in Richmond, also to be managed by the Kaiser Corporation, a yard in Alameda, California to be managed by Bethlehem. This Fourth Wave brought to total number of building ways available to the Commission to 221.
Incredibly, the 18 million tons of cargo ships (roughly equal to 1800 10,000 ton Liberty ships) was determined by early February 1942 by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to not be adequate for anticipated needs and thus the President directed the Maritime Commission to increase the orders to the equivalent of 24 million tons. With no certainty that astonishing quantity of ships could be built before the end of 1943, the Commission increased their contracts with the existing yards for more building ways and to contract for more shipyards to build Liberty ships as well as to build other types of vessels such as tankers, troop transports and military type vessels. For the construction of Liberty type ships, a new yard was ordered to be built at Providence, Rhode Island to be managed by the Rheem Corporation, a new yard in Brunswick, Georgia which would be managed by the J.A. Jones Construction Company, another in Jacksonville, Florida which would be operated by the Merrill-Stevens Boatbuilding Company of Miami, a yard in Panama City, Florida which would also be managed by J.A. Jones, and a yard at Sausalito, California to be managed by the Bechtel/McCone Group. For non Liberty ship construction the Commission ordered another addition yard in Richmond to be managed as the others there, by Kaiser, to be known as Richmond #4 and a yard at Swan Island on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon for the construction of tankers.
Impacts of the program on war production and to society [ edit ]
Material shortages [ edit ]
While this rapid expansion was taking place, all other defense industries were also in a maximum production mode to accommodate the orders being placed by the Federal Government for all other manner of military equipment which included the massive wartime Naval Expansion program begun in 1940 with the passage of the Two Ocean Navy Act. So much growth in demand happening simultaneously in industries sharing common materials inevitably led to shortages in steel, propulsion machinery and most all other manner of ship equipment. In many cases the shortages affected the Emergency Program more than it did the Navy's since its programs were deemed of higher priority in the eyes of the many wartime boards set up for deciding on where scarce resources would be allocated. All along the way, the Navy made claim to as much of the raw materials, steel, machinery, manufacturing plant allocations, and labor that it could get.
For the most part, this imbalance occurred because the Maritime Commission lacked the clout that the Military Branches possessed and that clout ultimately swayed entities such as the Supply Priorities and Allocation Board (SPAB) to decide in favor of the Navy's demands. This disproportionate allocation regime often left the Maritime Commission without the resources needed to accomplish the goals established for it by President Roosevelt and it was only through direct appeal to FDR by Admiral Land that enough of the critical resources made it to the Emergency Program. These shortages were their most severe during all of 1941 and through much of 1942, but additional steel rolling and plate mills as well as expanded propulsion machinery manufacturing capability reduced many of those shortages in the course of 1943, however they were never fully eliminated up until the end of the war. Materials such as oil, gasoline, rubber and grease were rationed for the fighting units and so the Pennsylvania Shipyard had to improvise, but bananas were very cheap, South American markets having been hampered by the war. Combat needs were top priority so alternative substances had to be found for materials such as the grease used to lubricate the ramp down which a boat slid into the water when launching. The boatbuilders found that ships could be launched handily by covering the ramp in a layer of ripe unpeeled bananas. It worked very well until a supervisor decided to cut costs by buying even cheaper green bananas. Of course, they were also very gummy and did not "mush" like ripe ones. The only time this was used, the boat went about one-third down the ramp and stuck. It took nearly two days to dig out the keel and lever the boat to the water where it floated quite well. Thereafter, the shipyard did not use any but well-ripened bananas. This happened to one of the boats being worked on by a young Texas A&M engineer named Keith Sandefer.
Manpower shortages in early days of the program and recruitment of new sources of labor [ edit ]
Another effect of the breakneck growth in production in the early years of the War, was a labor shortage in the towns and cities that the emergency shipyards were being built. Since there had been a de facto drought in shipbuilding work in the U.S. for nearly two decades, the number of experienced shipbuilders was quite small at the war's start. Additionally, many of those towns and cities which new yards were to be built had not been major shipbuilding centers before 1941, it was in these yards where the shortage of men skilled in the shipbuilding trades was most felt. In order to overcome this shortage, an aggressive recruiting program was undertaken by both the Commission and the companies operating the shipyards. Since many of the Emergency yards were being managed by established ship building or repair companies, they could send some of their more skilled men to get "the new facilities on their feet and running".
What was needed however was a labor force with abilities to accomplish heavy industrial and mechanical work. To find this labor, recruiting was directed towards areas of the nation's hinterland which had only a few years before found themselves in the depths of the Great Depression in the not mistaken belief that men used to keeping farm machinery operating could built ships as well. To get these former farmers to decide to take up shipbuilding was not too difficult an undertaking because the wages offered to these previously poor men were much higher had ever been offered to such working class Americans before. This opportunity to earn a good working man's wage showed the way to a possible future where life might provide better security than in the poverty years of the 1930s and that was all that was needed to get people on the move. It was not uncommon for entire families to make the pilgrimage from places such as the Dust Bowl regions of Texas and Oklahoma to the shipbuilding centers on the West Coast or the Gulf of Mexico. With such a rapid influx of new workers to these communities however there were acute shortages in housing, schools and other needed services. Along with building new shipyards and ships, there was a need to build all the necessities for many workers to live in most of the largest shipbuilding centers such as Richmond, California and Portland, Oregon. Needless to say that just about any skilled trade had steady employment in those communities throughout the course of the war. Some skilled workers |
spent 4 months along this “corridor of resistance” and found a lot of inspiration.
by Paola Rosà and Antonio Senter
www.rosasenter.weebly.com
Download SD (40mb) * HD (500 mb)Convicting traffickers operating across state and national borders is the biggest challenge law enforcement agencies face today, an Indian police officer said after winning the US government's 2017 Trafficking in Persons Hero award.
The US State Department named Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagwat one of eight winners this year, citing his leadership in combating modern slavery in India, his role in elevating human trafficking as a government priority and his innovative approach to investigating cases.
Bhagwat, 48, was presented the award in absentia in Washington on Tuesday.
"This award is a recognition for the cause that I have been fighting against for more than a decade," said Bhagwat, now police chief in Rachakonda district of southern Telangana state.
"It has been a long journey from the first trafficking case I stumbled upon sometime in 2004.
"I was shocked that school buses were being used to ferry trafficked girls to resorts on the outskirts of the city for prostitution," he said of his first case. "It rattled me."
Bhagwat, who worked as a civil engineer before joining the police, has been credited with closing 25 brothels in less than a year and participating in one of the country's largest crackdowns on labour trafficking, rescuing more than 350 children forced to work in brick kilns.
He called for better cooperation and protocols to combat trafficking effectively.
"Dealing with traffickers who operate across state and national borders requires a standard protocol that agencies across these boundaries can effectively use," Bhagwat told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
India has an estimated 40 percent of almost 46 million people enslaved worldwide, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index.
The 2017 Trafficking In Persons report released on Tuesday recognised India's efforts to identify victims, complete investigations and increase spending on rehabilitation of survivors.
It also calls for the Indian government to increase prosecutions and convictions for all forms of trafficking and fully resource anti-human trafficking units in all districts.The majority of Nova Scotia's provincial information technology workers will not follow their outsourced jobs to IBM Canada when the company takes over the administration of the computer information system on March 4.
According to figures released by the province on Thursday, 28 out of 72 employees — roughly 39 per cent — are opting to join IBM Canada when it takes over management of the Nova Scotia government's computer system that contains provincial budget, procurement and payroll information.
Of the workers who accepted IBM Canada's offer, 14 are unionized and 14 are with the Health Administrative Services Program.
The remaining 44 employees have been told they can try to find placement within the government, take a layoff or resign with severance.
"The government is pleased that everyone affected received a job offer from IBM. They are also eligible to pursue other options with government," said Michelle Lucas, a spokeswoman for the Department of Finance.
In November, Nova Scotia's NDP government announced a 10-year data outsourcing deal with IBM Canada that will see the information technology giant open a global data centre in Halifax. In return, IBM Canada will be paid $8.4 million a year to take over the provincial government's SAP computer system.
In addition to the 72 civil servants offered permanent positions with IBM Canada, Nova Scotia is keeping 21 people in the government to help oversee the outsourced work.
Lucas said of those 21 people being retained by the government, 11 are unionized and 10 are not.
Sources have told CBC News the province's contract with IBM Canada includes a provision that for every worker who stays in government, the province will pay IBM Canada $27,000 to train other people who take the jobs.
With 44 workers staying with the provincial government, IBM Canada stands to be paid $1.18 million.
IBM Canada would not comment on the matter. The Nova Scotia government said it's making transition payments to the company to avoid disruption as the company takes over of the internal computer system.Originally Posted by LoveH2O Originally Posted by Perhaps - but if you look at the actual rollout detail on the forum - there is a difference between first gen moto g and 4g/lte and an explanation as to why.
David Schuster is the Senior Director of Software Development for Moto. I would go with his Google+ feed over comments from a forum.If you do Android development, you know that 5.1 has some significant bug fixes including a battery drain issue that was fixed by the Cyanogenmod team. So it makes more sense for a company to ditch 5.x update work and work on a Kitkat to 5.1.x. Why waste precious development efforts on a software update based base code with a known battery drain issue? You wouldn't. More likely you would just EOL the phone with Kitkat as it is stable and secure in its current version.Chance the Rapper isn't the only MC who appreciates Drake as a person. In a new interview with Montreality, Logic took time out to praise the 6 God for serving as an inspiration in his career.
“I wanna thank you for paving the way for me man, because now I’m paving the way for youngins under me," Logic begins. "Your music has taught me so much, when I thought I needed to be this rapper just rapping all the time. You said, 'Nah, you can rap, you can spit those bars, AND you can sing, AND you can be yourself.' I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the chance to say this, if you see this Drake, thank you for paving the way for me to be the best me that I can be.”
Last week, Chance the Rapper gushed at the thought of befriending Drake during an interview with Jimmy Fallon. "I think we live in a time where people are ashamed to say how much they love Drake or enjoy what he does, and I'm totally trying to rebel against that."
Elsewhere in his interview with Montreality, Logic spoke on his bromance with Joey Bada$$ and how he manages to remain undefeated in Mario Kart. Check out his interview below.By Jonathan Rowe
What is called “economics” is really psychology on steroids. It starts with a model of human nature and extrapolates an entire scenario for how the world works from that. The model is homo economicus,the myopic protoganist of the economics texts. This hypothetical person has no social affinities, no lapses of judgment or hang-ups, no capacity even for thinking about anyone besides him or herself. He goes through life with an unfailing and relentless calculus of personal loss and gain.
As I explained in The Tragedy of Economics this portrayal of our basic nature did not arise from actual inquiry. Homo economicus was from the beginning a polemical construct, devised to serve political ends. At first this was to help undermine the secular authority of the Roman Church, and then the divine right of kings. More recently it has served to justify a fundamentalism of what is called “the market.” Along the way, it has provided economists with the semblance of a predictable atom of economic activity. This has enabled them to declaim under the banner of “science,” and has given them a hook on which to hang their arcane math.
Today, psychologists can only roll their eyes at this naïve portrayal. People who have to deal with actual humans in market settings – such as advertisers and corporate managers – find it borderline irrelevant. A new field called “behavioral economics” (which ought to be redundant but revealingly is not) is picking apart homo economicus within the temple of the profession itself.
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The only people who still take the model seriously are economists themselves. There is an element of projection in this; studies have shown that economists tend to resemble homo economicus more than the rest of us do. Nevertheless the model remains the ghost in the machinery of economic analysis, and defines in large measure our sense of the possible. When ideologues argue that our only choice is between a corporate market and a bureaucratic state, it is the assumption of homo economicus that makes this so.
Yet before our eyes, another reality is emerging – or rather re-emerging, because it once served humanity for centuries. That reality is the commons, which derives from a different side of human nature, and therefore operates on different principles than the market supposedly does. That other side is not the sappy, self-sacrificing altruist that marketophiles posit as the only alternative to their model of human behavior. Nor is it the grim utilitarian socialist. Rather, it is whatever resides in us that wants to be engaged with and around other people – whether to accomplish a task or just because it is fun.
This convivial side of economic life is beyond the bandwidth of most economic thought. The corporate market tends to repress it, and partly for that very reason it has been fighting its way back through the concrete. Cyberspace and the World Wide Web gave it a vast and unenclosed new realm, much as the New World once did for the surging energies of Old Europe. [David Bollier tells the story in his book, Viral Spiral.]
Yet the Web has been just the most visible and suggestive venue for something that has been happening throughout the culture. Spontaneously, and in a multitude of ways, people are trying to resurrect the social dimension of economic life that the corporate market version increasingly has displaced.
An example is the revival of the urban commons – settings that encourage in physical space the kind of social dynamic that occurs virtually on the Web. City and civic leaders have begun to grasp that the best way to bring back life to downtown is to create spaces where life wants to be. Portland’s Pioneer Square has become a reference point for the movement, along with older spaces such as New York’s Central Park and Boston’s Common and Copley Square.
A more recent shining example comes from an unlikely city, Detroit. Back in the 1970s, in the wake of devastating riots, Detroit tried to revive its downtown through a corporate megalith called Renaissance Center. The Ren Cen became a walled fortress and metaphorically enough, home to General Motors. Then, in the late 1990s, someone in Detroit proposed the opposite approach: a large inviting public space. The result was Campus Martius, in the middle of the old downtown. The Motor City even displaced cars to make room for people. Life is returning to that part of the city. People actually are coming in from the suburbs to experience what the city offers that suburbs can’t. Investment is coming too – over half a billion dollars worth and growing.
Something similar is happening at the neighborhood level. Instead of retreating to their own patches of urban turf, neighbors are tearing down their back fences to create larger shared spaces. This happened at Montgomery Park, an inner city oasis in Boston’s South End. The Baltimore city council recently passed an ordinance to make it easier for neighbors to close off back alleys to make secure commons. The mayor has embraced the idea; and over the past year more than fifty neighborhood groups have begun the process. (There are some 466 miles of alleys in the city so the potential is large.)
Traditional main streets serve much the same function. The growing antipathy to Wal-Mart and other big box stories comes from more than a concern about sub-living wages. “They don’t sell small-town quality of life on any Wal-Mart shelf,” said an opponent, “and once they take it from you, you can’t buy it back from them at any price.” Another put it more simply. “This is our town, not Wal-Mart’s
The social productivity of traditional main streets has a multiplier effect. Studies have shown that localities with large numbers of home grown businesses, along with community institutions and family farms, have higher median incomes and lower unemployment. States in which a large share of the retail business is locally owned, rank higher on a wide range of social, economic and civic measures.
One scholar who has studied this phenomenon, Charles Tolbert of Baylor University, cites a gas station owner in one town who switched from self-service to full service during a recession, and hired ten additional people. He had to charge more, but most of his customers kept coming anyway, because they understood that the extra pennies per gallon were providing jobs for their neighbors. Homo economicus wouldn’t get it. Most of us actual people do.
Nowhere is the reclamation of the commons more in evidence than in regard to food. Food is where the human economy began. It once served as a locus of community — in the growing, selling, cooking and eating — but today that dimension is largely gone. Most of us have no idea where our food even comes from, beyond the supermarket. We scarf down Egg McMuffins in the enclosure of our cars. One result has been the social equivalent of empty calories — a hunger that no amount of eating seems to fill.
Farmers’ markets have been one answer to both improve our diets and enrich our experience of community. The growth in markets has been remarkable — from 1,755 in the U.S. in 1994 to 4,385 last year. (By comparison, Whole Foods now has about 270 outlets in the U.S. and England.) Farmers Markets are not just – or even mainly — about organic food. They are about local food, and the opportunity to deal face to face with the people who produce it. They also are about the festive sociability of the market itself.
People go to partake of the bustle and good spirits, something that doesn’t much happen at Safeway or even Whole Foods. “See you at the farmers’ market on Saturday” is a common leave-taking in my town.
Community gardens have grown in a similar manner, and for some of the same reasons. There now are some 18,000 of them in the U.S. alone, according to the American Community Gardening Association. These gardens replicate in urban settings some of the social dynamics of the traditional rural commons; neighbors share tools and help one another when the need arises.
Perhaps no institution better embodies more the revival spontaneous sociability associated with the commons than the local coffee shop. Not that long ago, coffeehouses in the U.S. were associated with college towns, bohemia, and dark angry poetry. Today they are everywhere — from some 585 in the U.S. in 1989, the number grew to more than 20,000 today. It might seem that most of them are Starbucks. But according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, independent shops still outnumber that ubiquitous chain.
For all its corporate prefab quality, moreover, even Starbucks provides a space in which to meet people, or simply sit in the anonymous company of others. In suburban malls, it is the closest thing to a commons to be found. Starbucks knows that it is selling not just caffeine but also a sociable “third place” between the private spheres of home and work. Even when people look busy working on computers they are open to serendipitous encounters, and are partaking of the flow of life.
You could write the history of human inquiry and freedom from the standpoint of coffee shops. Stock markets and scientific societies began in them, as did Lloyds of London, the insurance exchange. Richard Steele ran the Tatler, the first modern newspaper, out of London’s Grecian coffee house, and used it as his postal address. The American and French Revolutions were fomented by men who, as one writer put it, saw the prospect of change “in the depths of their black drink.”
Jurgen Habermas and others have argued that coffee shops are where civil society itself began. Whether one goes that far or not, they clearly played a role; and the revival of coffee house culture today—and the larger urge for a commons-based society of which it is part – suggests opportunities for social change. Sociability and action are connected. You are more likely to join with others in a cause if you are familiar with them first. The farmer-populists started out at Grange picnics, the civil rights movement in Southern churches.
Ralph Nader’s father, a Lebanese immigrant who ran a restaurant in Connecticut, once observed that television “has replaced the dictator’s ban on three on more people gathering in one place without a permit.” But now that people are reclaiming the urban commons and going out in public again, who knows what will happen.
Originally published here.
2016 January 16On Wednesday July 2nd, 2014, the Firestorm team hosted a special question and answers session to discuss the future of Second Life. The event was held to try to disperse some of the concerns and misinformation circulating about SL’s future in the light of the news that Linden Lab is developing an additional virtual worlds platform which is being planned to run alongside Second Life.
Attending the session from Linden Lab were Oz Linden, in his capacity as Technical Director for Second Life and Pete Linden, the Lab’s Director of Global Communications.
The session took the form of an initial discussion between host Jessica Lyon and Oz and Pete Linden, which sought to address some of the core concerns which have been raised and address some of the broader misconceptions which have resulted (such as Second Life no longer being developed and / or no longer having the staff needed to support it). This was then followed by a Q&A session led by Lette Ponnier, who posed questions which had been left on the Firestorm blog post announcing the meeting or directly to her via IM during the session or relayed to her from the live stream audience.
As always, Chakat Northspring recorded the entire event, and her video is embedded here – my thanks as always to North.
In addition, the audio from the meeting has been broken down into a number of individual topic areas, and placed throughout this transcript to allow people to listen to the audio whilst reading, if preferred, and to save on scrolling up and down between text and video.
When reading / listening, please remember:
This is not a word-for-word transcript of the entire meeting. While all quotes given are as they are spoken in the recording and the audio files, to assist in readability and maintain the flow of conversation, not all asides, jokes, interruptions, etc., have been included in the text presented here
If there are any sizeable gaps in comments from a speaker which resulted from asides, repetition, or where a speaker started to make a comment and then re-phrased what they were saying, etc, these are indicated by the use of “…”
The audio files have been slightly edited to remove lengthy pauses in order to assist the flow of the conversations when also reading the text.
The following links can be used to quickly jump to individual sections of the transcript:
Introduction and on Second life Not Being Shut Down
[0:0 /0:0] Jessica Lyon: Welcome everybody to a very special Q&A, somewhat unprecedented in fact. We’re in company today with Oz Linden, who is Technical Director now, Oz is that right?
Oz Linden (OL): Yup, that’s my official new title.
JL And we’re accompanied by Pete Linden, who is Global Communications Director, is that right?
Pete Linden (PL): That’s right.
JL: wonderful. Thank you guys. Thank you both very much for agreeing to do this. So there has been … a lot of concern about the future of Second Life and there’s been a lot of negative reaction and fears among Second Life people. so I’m hoping that today we’ll be able to resolved and assure some folks that Second Life still has a bright future, as Linden Lab has continued to insist is true.
And we’re going to have a lot of questions today, so I’m going to get right started. Pete, I’m going to start with you, if that’s all right.
PL: Absolutely.
[01:11 / 01:09] JL: And I’m going to start out with a blunt question: does Linden Lab have plans, either near or far, to shut down Second Life? Has Linden Lab discussed, planned strategized on how they’re going to shut down Second Life or even if there is any intention of shutting down Second Life? Does Linden Lab intend to shut down Second Life?
PL: No. Absolutely not. And in fact, as I think we’ll get into discussing today, we have plans to continue to improve it. no plans to shut it down, it’s not going away, and we have quite big plans to continue to make Second Life better and better.
JL: Wonderful. So there you have it, folks! That’s it for today, thank you all for coming! [laughter] Linden Lab has no plans.
JL: OK, let me just say Pete, you’re [the] Communications Director, your credibility is your biggest asset. I mean, if you didn’t have credibility, it would be basically career suicide, is that right?
PL: That’s absolutely correct.
JL: So I think it fair to say that Pete is not lying. and so for all the people who have these huge fears that Second Life is going to die: you’re heard it from the horse’s mouth. Second Life is not being shut down, Linden Lab has no plans to do such a thing.
[02:40 / 02:31] JL: Peter … I’d like to give you the opportunity to provide a message to the community.
PL: Great! Well, I think the main message that I’d love to get across here is largely what I’ve just said, which is … Oz and I wanted to come this morning to reiterate what we’ve said in e-mails and in comments directly to questions, and Ebbe has been saying in the forums a number of times, and that is again: not only is Second Life not going to go away, but we’re going to continue to improve it, it has a long future ahead of it. After eleven years as the most successful virtual world created by everyone who’s here today and all of the creators in Second Life. We have no intention of abandoning them or of giving up on this wonderful platform. We have a lot coming. but again, the basic message I’d love to get across is just “it’s not going away. More improvements are coming.”
JL: So keep calm, carry on, more-or-less.
PL: Essentially, yes!
[03:54 / 03:46] JL: That really applies in this case. Something that’s interesting in the reaction we’ve had from the community – something i just want to point out … the Firestorm team … we’re sometimes criticised because we have a private development chat, whereas everything else we do is transparent. And the reason we do that, though, is because, from time-to-time we have disagreements and arguments … in the same way that families have arguments, and you don’t want your neighbours to hear you arguing and fighting … and we do have arguments and disputes. and in many ways, though, I think that’s an indicator that we’re on the right track. It means that if people are getting angry about something, it means that they care.
And so one of the things I want to point out is that the fact that there has been such an angry reaction from the community is actually indicative that Second Life has a very strong, dedicated customer user base. And so in that way, although there’s been a lot of conjecture and upset people, if you look at it from that direction, it means that there are a lot of people in Second Life who really care about Second Life. that should say something to Linden Lab and all of us here, that Second Life is still alive and strong. It is the residents who keep things firm and going.
[05:34 / 05:22] OL: Actually, I’d like to second that. you know, I take all of the indications of distress and even the criticism as something very, very positive. People wouldn’t bother to criticise us for what they see as our flaws, and we can all either agree or disagree with whether or not individual issues are a big deal, and that’s a conversation I’m looking forward to. But they wouldn’t be bothering to criticise us if they didn’t think Second Life was worth having and worth improving.
That’s a conversation we’d love to continue to have. We’ll try to improve the things we can improve, we will try to respond to the things we can respond to, and we appreciate the connection with the users that we’ve got here.
JL: I actually get worried when, in our development processes on the Firestorm project … we have periods when there’s no fighting, because that makes me think, uh-oh [laughs] … people aren’t caring now. In many ways, the fighting and the drama, like you say, is indicative of people caring. I think if nothing else, it proves that as far as the customer base is concerned, we’re all here to stay.
On the Size of the Team Working on SL and Available Resources for SL Development
[07:10 / 0:0] JL: I wanted to point out … and this almost crosses the line, but hear me through, Oz, and Pete. It hasn’t gone unnoticed in the past year or so that there’s been fewer Linden code commits to the code base [for the viewer], and Oz you can attest I’ve asked you a time or two in the past while … “where is everybody at?” What are you guys working on? Are you just going to suddenly drop us a whole big crap load of code that we have to try to merge, and you’ve not been able to give me any hints to that … My point being that it hasn’t gone unnoticed that there have been fewer resources put towards Second Life. Is that true, first of all?
[08:09 / 0:55] OL: Well, without getting into numbers, we have over the last months begun transitioning developers on to doing things for the new platform. We still very much have a very active set of developers doing things on Second Life, and I think some of the things we’re working on right now are some of the most important problems in Second Life.
[08:36 / 01:23] JL: This is where I wanted to bring up my point, because there’s been a lot of concern among the community that Linden lab has moved all the resources away from Second Life, and so Second Life is not going to get any kind-of real innovation and fixes and whatnot. and the point I’m trying to make, folks, is that if Linden Lab has already moved resources over to the new platform, they’ve still managed to bring us materials and fitted mesh and Project Sunshine and all huge innovations that have come out of Linden Lab recently. They’ve managed to do that despite having fewer dedicated resources on Second Life.
So for the people who are concerned about, “Ohmygosh! Linden Lab has moved all the resources away so nothing’s going to happen!” I say it’s already been proven to us in the past year, even the past six months, that is not the case, and in fact Linden Lab is still more than capable of continuing to improve and develop Second Life.
[09:40 / 02:27] OL: And I’d add a couple of things to that. One is that the fact that we have a somewhat smaller team engaged in doing things, we are in the process right now of going through an exercise that we do pretty regularly of looking at all the possible project ideas, all the things that we could fix, things that we could add, things that we could change in a variety of ways.
We kind-of keep a big list of those around, and we’re constantly adding to it and periodically, we go through the exercise of saying, “OK, what’s the most important stuff now?” We’re finishing-up something, we’re going to have to pick what the next thing to do is, so let’s sort the list by what we think the priorities are right now, so that we’re launching the right next thing.
The fact that we have a little bit smaller team now, has really helped to focus that discussion. We can no longer afford to say, “let’s just do a lot of different stuff”. We have to look at what are the things we can do that will have the biggest impact, that will affect the most users in the most positive ways. And I think that’s been kind-of helpful, to have that extra focus.
[11:13 / 03:58] And one other thing about having a smaller team. first of all, it’s not yet a lot smaller. We still have a significant number of people very actively engaged on working on Second Life. We’re not going to get into number, about what percentage that is or what the absolute number of people are.
For one thing, it’s just sort-of company policy not to do that, but more importantly, any number i could give you today would be wrong by next week, and would be different again a few months after that. We have people that are moving back and forth. We have a very firm commitment from the people who are managing the new platform effort, that when we have a good need for the expertise of the people who have shifted their primary attention to the new platform, in order to accomplish something important in Second Life, we can call on their expertise, we can call on their time and we can get them to do stuff.
And in fact that’s already happening, it’s already working. so, we’ll pull people back, there are people who are working on the new platform now that the plan is for them to finish the thing that they’re doing for the new platform, and then move back to being a Second Life core developer and focus primarily on Second Life.
And there are people who are working primarily on Second Life now, who the plan is that they will move to the new platform in the future. So it’s a set of numbers that’s going to be constantly in flux, and it will both go up and go down over time, as our needs dictate.
[13:10 / 05:58] JL: So basically, it’s a fluid situation, because a lot of people got the impression through Ebbe’s words that they’ve just taken a knife and cut the team into a fraction and moved everybody statically onto the new project. but in fact what you’re saying is it’s dynamic and always changing, so that if you needed somebody from, say the server team, to do something that needs to be done in order to continue to improve Second Life, they can still be reassigned to that temporarily, or even jut have that added to their “to do” list?
OL: Absolutely. And one other thing about that. I went through kind-of a process with Linden Lab management to try to get the new position I’m in now. This is something I wanted. I wanted this. This was not some kind of booby prize that was handed me. I got a couple of IMs from residents, I’m sure they were mostly kidding and mostly all in fun, but saying, “Oh, poor Oz. He got left behind.”
Poor Oz did not get left behind. Lucky Oz got exactly the job he was looking for.
[14:21 / 07:08] JL: So you are, beyond a shadow of a doubt, convinced by taking on the lead of this position, that you have a very bright future ahead of you?
OL: Absolutely! Absolutely!
JL: And with that, Second Life.
OL: This was exactly the job i was looking for, for quite some time, and I’m really delighted to have it. and more importantly than that, is that it’s also true that when I took on this job, and we were internally having the discussions about how many people we could move on to which project and so forth, i got asked by management, “how many people do you need to be effective continuing to build and improve Second Life?” And I came up with a number, and I’ve got that number.
[15:15 / 08:02] JL: Was it a generous number?
OL: It was the number I wanted. I kind-of like smaller teams, frankly, but it was the number I was after, it was the number i thought I would need to be effective at the new job, and I’m really happy with the set of individuals that I got. And that’s another thing we’re not really going to get into; those of you who interact a lot with Lindens will eventually be able to see who some of them are from commits on the viewer and so forth; of course, you don’t get to see the commits on the simulator side. But the number one criteria for me in choosing that team and in recruiting that team was i wanted people who were enthusiastic about remaining focused on Second Life. That was what they wanted to do, just as it’s what I want to do.
And that’s what I got. I had people come to me who said, “you know what? the new thing may be a great new thing, but Second Life is what i came here to work on, Second Life is what I’m into, and i want to stay on Second Life. I want to make Second Life better. Everybody on my team said that to me.
JL: That’s awesome. That says a lot right there.
[16:44 / 09:30] OL: I’ve had a pretty long and happy career in programming and I have in the course of that career built on a bunch of very successful things, successful companies producing successful products that had good user engagement and were making money. and I’ve also had some phases of my career where things I was working on turned out not to work out so well, and / or companies that were in one way or another in the process of failing.
Let me tell you, it is a whole lot more fun to work on things that are successful! It is just much better. and Second Life is just way up high on the list of very successful things I’ve worked on, and I’m really delighted with that.. and i want to keep that true, because it’s more fun to work on things that are working.
JL: We can certainly attest to that! And also with Firestorm, just to speak quickly to working on a smaller team … one of the advantages third-party viewers have, working on a smaller team is there’s less gears that need to be turned, whereas in a corporation, there’s a big long process; you know the phrase: “the corporate gears turn slowly”, and with a smaller team, there’s less [of] a load on that, and things tend to roll a bit quicker.
On SL and the Next Generation Platform being Separate Products Operated in Parallel
[My apologies for the music interrupt at the 02:08 mark in this segment of the recording. an error on my part, and not part of the Q&A session.]
[18:12 / 0:0] JL: Peter, I want to talk quickly to you … on Oz’s topic, in fact, about Second Life being very successful. One of the things I pointed out at the SL11B talk that I did with Saffia … I come from a business background, and from a business perspective, a company that has a profitable product does not get rid of that profitable product. Is that sound advice.
PL: I’d say that’s certainly true as far as we’re concerned … I don’t come from a business background, I come from a marketing and PR background, but that’s certainly my understanding. and with Second Life. As Oz was saying, it being successful, and as I mentioned, it being the most successful user-created virtual world ever, as you may have seen Ebbe speaking about to the press recently … Second Life’s success is certainly one of the reasons why everyone can be confident that, yes it will continue.
[19:31 / 01:08] JL: Is it safe to say, and I know some of this will have to be speculation, but let’s assume that the new platform is a great success. Is it safe to say that Linden Lab will still market both platforms?
PL: Yes. I think that question has been posed to Ebbe a number of times in the forums, and what he’s said both there and what he’s said to the press has been very clear. The intention is that even once the new platform starts opening to the real world, the idea is to have these two platforms running in parallel.
JL: So effectively two products.
PL: Right. and as I think most folks here are probably aware, Linden has actually been a multi-product company for some time. But I think the main difference would be that this new platform that Ebbe’s just started speaking about publicly now would be … obviously in the spirit of Second Life and a very close fit for our core competency as a company.
JL: So Second Life, better. But the main message is that Second Life will still be Second Life. It’s not going anywhere.
PL: That’s correct.
[20:44 / 02:30] JL: What would you say to people, as you know there have been a lot of people who are even leaving Second Life to start on a new grid, which I think is ridiculous, because they’re effectively doing what they’re afraid they’re going to have to do.
But there are a lot of people who are, “I’m not going to buy land any more, I’m not going to spend my money in Second Life, it’s just a waste.” Would you have any message to those people?
PL: I’ve seen a few comments to that effect, and I think there’s a few things I’d note in response. One is this new platform, this new project that’s underway, is quite far off … which is kind-of why it’s too early for us to talk about it much in detail, but it’s so far off in terms of getting people … starting to get the first alpha and beta users into it; that is unlikely to happen before next year.
So one is, it’s a very long ways off. Two, again, Second Life is not going away. So in terms of … getting the value that we all do from virtual worlds today … I’ll still get the value from Second life I get today, tomorrow, and next year and so on, because it’s going to be here. So as I’ve said, there isn’t a plan to shut it down, there isn’t a cliff that it’s suddenly going to drop off of.
…So Second Life is not going away, this new platform that we’re working on is quite a ways off before we start being ready for users. And because they’ll run in parallel, one of the points that Ebbe’s made, is that they’ll be running in parallel; there will be a lot of time for every Second Life user to go and check out this new platform and see if it fits what they’re interested in, what they need and what they want. And if it’s not, maybe they’ll stay in Second Life.
[02:58 / 04:44] JL: So in the end, though, for all intents and purposes, as far as Second Life is concerned and as far as the users in Second life, nothing has changed.
PL: I think that for all intents and purposes, that’s exactly true. I mean really, all that’s changed from this week versus a couple of weeks ago |
frustrated at wasting my time and money out of the budget for going there,” he explains.
He was spending time with the director of Findhorn’s art gallery, taking pictures that he describes as being ordinary and very conventional. They were sitting in a room that was used for life drawing, which had a skeleton there for the artists’ use. His subject had to leave the room to take a phone call but when he came back, he had to walk along the wall by the skeleton.
“It occurred to me that this was going to happen, so I picked up my camera and waited for him to come [in] like that. I just popped the shutter and that was the picture. And I knew then that if I packed up my gear in a hurry I could probably make the next train to Inverness and get out of there!” he laughs. “It was like trying to wring water out of a rock. It just wasn’t working.”
Passow believes that one of the factors that has ensured the survival of the Jewish people, is “this fundamental capacity for reinvention.” This is now happening inside the Scottish Jewish community, he says.
“We are constantly asking ourselves [as Jews]: Who are we? What are we? Where are we? What do we have to do to make sure that who we are and what we are is consistent with the times in which we live. This is fundamental to Judaism. [In Scotland] there’s a new generation asking these questions of themselves: What kind of Jews do we want to be?”
He spent a couple of days in the one Jewish day school — Calderwood Lodge in Glasgow — where, according to Passow, about 40% of the pupils are Muslim, due to dwindling Jewish enrollment. Muslim parents are fully aware that their children will receive a Jewish curriculum and are all for it, he says. His shot of two girls, one Pakistani and one Jewish, studying Torah together is particularly striking.
“Their grandparents would not have had anything to do with each other,” he adds.
For Passow, this photo signifies the future.
Passow was permitted to join a school trip to Amsterdam — part of the school’s Holocaust curriculum — with students aged 11-12, where he produced, he says, one of the more haunting — and one of his favorite — pictures to come out of the project. The photo was taken just after the children had visited the Anne Frank House and Museum and their facial expressions evince pure shock.
But the overall impression of this exhibition is of a Jewish community that is vibrant and happy. Passow agrees.
“It is at ease with itself,” he says. “It is very happy because it’s prosperous, educated and well established. It’s like the tartan. They are inextricably woven into the fabric of Scottish life. [But] it’s got a firm grip on the present and an eye on the future.”
“Scots Jews: Photographs by Judah Passow” runs at the Jewish Museum London until February 12, 2017. www.tartanarts.comDoug Brown has been an acoustic specialist in the Canadian military for 33 years. Normally, his gig involves sailing aboard navy frigates, but recently the brass sent him on a more unusual mission.
For nine days in late January, Brown visited the small northern hamlet of Igloolik in Nunavut. His assignment was to meet with the predominantly Inuit locals and gather first-hand reports of a mysterious "ping," allegedly emanating from the seafloor, which some believe may be to blame for a lack of wildlife in the area previously noticed by hunters. The ping was first reported by a sailboat that had recorded a sound with its onboard sonar.
The army initially planned to send two specialists, but the other couldn't make it due to conflicting duties, meaning Brown had to go alone. He'd never been to the Arctic before.
Read More: The Canadian Military Is Investigating a Mysterious Noise In the Arctic
Though he's an acoustic specialist, Brown wasn't in Igloolik to conduct any readings or record sounds. That had already been done, with no results. In November, the military sent a CP-140 aircraft over the Fury and Hecla Strait—the location of the strange sound—to conduct an acoustic analysis. They found nothing.
For nine days, Brown stayed at the local Igloolik Inn and met with hunters and politicians, taking notes. He went out on the land with the Canadian Rangers (a reserve force that patrols the sparsely populated North), and dined on Arctic char.
Now that Brown has returned to Halifax from Igloolik, his findings will be put into an internal report for the military. When I called Brown to find out more about his experience, and what he discovered about the ping in Igloolik, he said it was "case closed," as far as the Canadian Army's concerned.
Here's why.
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Motherboard: What were your impressions of Igloolik?
Doug Brown: I think I expected what we see on TV: a small community with not a lot of stuff. But they have quite a bit there. They have two hotels, grocery stores and department stores, and the RCMP detachment there. It's the same as being in any other small town, except it's a lot colder and gets darker earlier.
You roll into a town that you've never been to before, in a part of the world that you've never been to before. How did you start investigating?
So, the Rangers are based out of Igloolik. There were 12 members on our patrol, and they're from the town. They have contact with everyone in town—the mayor, the RCMP, the Hunters and Trappers Organization and all that—so I used them as a point of contact. They arranged everything we required.
Did you go to people's houses, or bars? Did you meet with organizations?
The first day we met with the Hunters and Trappers Organization, which is made up of all the hunters and fishermen there. They had a translator there because there were some older gentlemen who didn't speak English. I told them what I was there for, and listened to their issues and what they had heard.
I brought some examples of what sonar pings sound like and played it to them, and asked if they knew anyone who had heard the sound. They said no; nobody in their community or organization had heard any of the pinging sounds. Their biggest concern was the lack of migration of the narwhal and walrus up to the Fury and Hecla Strait.
I explained that it's possible that some of the environmental issues that have happened in the North in the past few years have led to the animals not migrating as far north as they used to. They're still in the area, just not where they used to be, historically.
At the end of it one of the older gentlemen said to the translator, "Thank you for coming and listening to us," and that's what I was there to do.
Read More: Are Whales the Source of the Mysterious Noise In Canada's Arctic?
What did you do next?
I went to the local radio station and asked one of the Rangers to broadcast a message in their local dialect. It said that I was in town to gather information on the events of the spring and fall, and if anyone in the community had heard the noise, to contact the ranger so that they could make an appointment with me to interview them. We did not receive any replies to that request whatsoever.
We met with the mayor and council the following day. During that meeting, the mayor mentioned that someone from one of the two sailboats that this all relates back to had come ashore and went with someone in his community to shower and use their facilities. The mayor thought they could figure out who that person was so I could talk to them, but they never got back to me.
So, after all this, what did you conclude?
One of the things I told the council is that if there's any indications of anything like this again, they should let the Rangers or the RCMP know. But as far as we're concerned right now, it's a closed case.
Really? Well, if it's a closed case, what's your opinion on the existence of the ping?
Based on my assessment in that area, the current is so strong there that there would be no reasons to put any active sonar in there. The ambient and background noise in that vicinity would not be able to facilitate gathering any information on acoustic noise.
You said that none of the locals you spoke to said they'd heard the ping or knew of anyone who had. Do they believe in it?
Their real concern is why the mammals aren't going there anymore. Based on all the boats going through and the reports of a ping, that's what they assessed it as: that there's something out there causing noise and making the mammals not go out there. But currents and ice melt could cause mammals to not migrate where they did 50 years ago.
Did you end up talking to a single person who said they really believed in the ping or had heard it themselves?
Nobody. None.
What about the initial reports?
I met with the [Member of the Legislative Assembly] there and said that it was reported in the papers that many in the community had heard the noise, and his words to me were that that was a misunderstanding in the media. Nobody in his community had actually heard the ping.
What's next?
As far as we're concerned, there's no other thing that we can do right now. There's no other information we can go on.
Any closing thoughts?
I'd like to thank the people of Igloolik for their hospitality while I was out there. My appreciation for the North has grown, and my understanding of how the North and the Rangers there work.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Get six of our favorite Motherboard stories every day by signing up for our newsletter.A view shows the logo of BMW on a car in Moscow, Russia, July 6, 2016. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev
BERLIN (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump has warned the United States will impose a border tax of 35 percent on cars that German carmaker BMW plans to build at a new plant in Mexico and export to the U.S. market.
Trump was speaking in an interview with German newspaper Bild, which on Sunday released excerpts of his comments translated into German.
A BMW spokeswoman said a BMW Group plant in San Luis Potosi would build the BMW 3 Series starting from 2019, with the output intended for the world market. The plant in Mexico would be an addition to existing 3 Series production facilities in Germany and China.
Trump said BMW should build its new car factory in the United States because this would be “much better” for the company.
He went on to say Germany was a great car producer, borne out by Mercedes Benz cars being a frequent sight in New York, but there was no reciprocity.
Germans were not buying Chevrolets at the same rate, he said, making the business relationship an unfair one-way street. He said he was an advocate of free trade, but not at any cost.
The BMW spokeswoman said the company was “very much at home in the U.S.,” employing directly and indirectly nearly 70,000 people in the country.It’s time to upgrade your favorite IDE! In this post I will list some of my favorite “off-the-beaten-path” extensions for Visual Studio that make my daily tasks much easier. I will not list the obvious ones, such as ReSharper and OzCode (or even Web Essentials), but rather few relatively unknown ones that do some very cool things.
Are you ready? Let’s begin!
BuildVision
BuildVision (source) is an extension that visualizes your build process:
This little extension shows you the status of your build process, how long it took, and most importantly, errors (if any), that occurred during the build. What’s nice about this, is the errors are grouped under each project, so it’s much easier to navigate than going through a flat list in the Errors output:
Git Diff Margin
GitDiffMargin (source) adds a margin on the left column (or the scroll bar, if you prefer) of the Visual Studio editor, and shows you the diffs between your changed/deleted lines, allowing you to navigate and revert quickly to the previous change!
It’s a perfect companion to git projects (so, all of them!), and it works very nicely with the Visual Studio Git Provider, if you use it.
Which brings me to:
NoGit
NoGit (source) does one thing and one thing only – it disables the built-in Visual Studio Git source-control provider, which has a habit of re-enabling itself whenever you open a solution that uses git. NoGit will turn off this provider always, whenever a solution is opened.
Reopen Start Page
Another time saver is Reopen Start Page (source), which does exactly what it says – reopens the Visual Studio Start page when you close a solution. Personally, I make use of the recent solutions list on the Start page, which makes it really convenient to open recent solutions!
SaveAllTheTime
SaveAllTheTime (source) is another gem that makes Visual Studio to save changed files and projects ALL THE TIME. Visual Studio sometimes doesn’t save project files when you rename or move files around. SaveAllTheTime makes sure everything is saved before you commit your changes!
In addition, SaveAllTheTime contains a small widget, reminding you to commit often. If you’re a git power user, or don’t use git(ಠ_ಠ), you can disable this widget.
TabSanity
I discovered TabSanity (source) fairly recently, and it was one of those where has this been all my life!!1 moments. This extension makes tabs-as-spaces behaves like actual tabs! The backspace and delete keys, arrow key navigation will not allow the caret to land within the spaces that form a tab, and it will skip to the next tab, saving you keystrokes!
EmojiVS
Finally, let’s add some fun to our code with EmojiVS (source) – an extension that adds github emojis to your code (more specifically, code comments). Because, why not?
And it even gives you IntelliSense:
Note: if you’re a ReSharper user, you need to install the ReMoji extension in addition to EmojiVS to get code completion.The breadth and magnitude of the cool things that Bell Labs did is absolutely remarkable. First of all, they invented technologies to connect an entire expansive country by telephone, within itself and with the rest of the world. They laid the groundwork for cell phone communication, satellite communication, and optical communication, and even tried to make the picture phone happen 40 years before Skype became ubiquitous. On the basic/applied science side, Bell Labs is best known for the invention of the transistor (Bardeen, Shockley, Brattain), but Bell Labs researchers also laid the foundation for information theory (Shannon), were among the creators of the first laser (using microwave radiation; Townes, Schawlow), and even discovered the cosmic microwave background (Penzias, Wilson). In short, there is hardly an aspect of modern science and technology which does not have roots going back to Bell Labs.
The monopoly enjoyed by the parent company, AT&T/Western Electric (which was necessary given the national infrastructure/utility nature of their work) is often cited as the reason for Bell Labs' spectacular success, but the situation was a bit more nuanced than that. After all, there are many monopolistic or state-owned companies around the world which don't do basic research. Some factors in the special sauce included:
It wasn't just a monopoly. At one point, AT&T was literally the largest corporation in the world.
The components of AT&T's communications system were intended to last 30 years in the field. As such, the goal of the research effort was to invent the telecommunication system for 30 years in the future. This is very different from modern corporate research, and also roughly matches the time scales that academic innovations in semi-applied fields of basic science make it to market today. Bell Labs (not just AT&T) executives worked hard to cultivate good rapport with the highest levels of government to ensure that these long-term plans would be supported.
. This is very different from modern corporate research, and also roughly matches the time scales that academic innovations in semi-applied fields of basic science make it to market today. Bell Labs (not just AT&T) executives worked hard to cultivate good rapport with the highest levels of government to ensure that these long-term plans would be supported. AT&T's niche, telecommunications, happens to be an application that touches on many fields of basic science, from information theory to mathematics to solid state physics/chemistry to optics.
Bell Labs had a corporate structure/culture which ensured that smart people could do their best work. Scientists of different disciplines were put in close proximity to tempt serendipity, and the people doing the manufacturing/implementation were nearby as well, providing a virtuous cycle of basic and industrial knowledge enriching one another. Most people left their office doors open, and refusing meetings with colleagues was frowned upon. Many researchers enjoyed remarkable academic freedom with no tenure or performance review and no grant writing (after his groundbreaking work in information theory, Claude Shannon mainly spent his time juggling and building funky mechanical machines).
Are there any companies like this now? In short, no. Basic research in corporations has essentially disappeared, especially in hardware which is more capital intensive. Some might cite Google [x] or rumored'moonshot' endeavors within Microsoft and other companies. Regarding the former, Google does enjoy a quasi-monopoly of sorts (although far less secure than the one AT&T had) which funds the projects inside Google [x] but these projects 1) do not have a 30 year time horizon (except maybe the self driving car, though they won't admit this) 2) do not require fundamental breakthroughs in basic science to accomplish.
Modern implementations of Bell Labs magic are likely to happen outside of private industry. For example, Jon Gertner's Book (The Idea Factory) argues that Janelia Farm, a biomedical research center funded by the Howard Hughes Foundation, is a modern institution following the Bell Labs model, albeit on a much much smaller scale. The research center involves people from many disciplines working on big problems, and the billion dollar endowment ensures long-term solvency.
Finally, there are contemporary problems similar to the problem of ubiquitous real-time private communication which Bell Labs solved in the last century. One example (and Jon Gertner touches on this in his book as well) is a national smart grid based on renewables. This is a large-scale infrastructure/utilities problem that requires innovations from many areas of science. Another examples is updating every aspect of our transportation infrastructure for the modern era. Ignoring political realities prohibiting these endeavors in the near future, I think such an initiative could spur Bell Labs style innovation.
References:How does levodopa work?
Dopamine is a chemical messenger made in the brain. The symptoms of Parkinson's appear when dopamine levels become too low. This is because many of the cells in your brain that produce dopamine have died or are dying. Unfortunately, taking dopamine as a drug doesn’t help as it can’t cross into your brain where it’s needed. Doctors can get around this by using levodopa. Levodopa is a chemical building block that your body converts into dopamine. Levodopa already occurs naturally in your body and taking it as a drug treatment boosts the supply, meaning the nerve cells can make more dopamine.
When is levodopa used?
Levodopa can be used at all stages of Parkinson’s. However, it can have side effects (see below) that build up as symptoms progress. This includes the drugs wearing off so you have times when you're stiff and slow, and involuntary movements (dyskinesia).
When should you start taking levodopa?
There is no particular time to start taking levodopa that is right for everyone. You and your specialist or Parkinson’s nurse will agree what is the best choice for you. Treatment will usually start with a low dose. This is gradually increased until your symptoms are under control.
What types of levodopa are there?
Levodopa is always combined with benserazide or carbidopa to help more levodopa to get into the brain and make it work better. Co-beneldopa Unbranded (capsules)
Madopar (capsules, dispersible tablets)
Madopar CR (controlled release capsules) Co-careldopa Unbranded (tablets)
Caramet CR (controlled released tablets)
Duodopa (intestinal gel)
Sinemet (tablets)
Sinemet Plus (tablets)
Sinemet CR (controlled release tablets)
Half Sinemet CR (controlled release tablets)
Lecado (prolonged release tablets)
Apodespan PR (tablets) Co-careldopa plus entacapone Stalevo (tablets)
Sastravi (tablets)
Stanek (tablets)
What are controlled release drugs?
Controlled or prolonged release drugs let the levodopa enter your body slowly instead of all at once. They are particularly helpful if they are taken before going to bed to reduce stiffness during the night. Controlled release can also help to reduce one of the side effects of levodopa - involuntary movements.
What are dispersible tablets?
Dispersible tablets can be mixed with water to make a drink. It takes effect more quickly than capsules because it doesn’t need to be broken down in your stomach to release the active ingredient. It can also be used if you have trouble swallowing tablets or capsules. If you are prescribed non-dispersible tablets or capsules, these should not be crushed or put into water.
What is intestinal gel (Duodopa)?
A type of levodopa called Duodopa is pumped as a gel through a tube that is surgically inserted into the intestine. The gel can help reduce two side effects - involuntary movements and your drugs wearing off. It may also help to control your symptoms at night. This option is only suitable for a very small number of people whose symptoms can’t be controlled with the more common forms of treatment.
Levodopa and protein
For some people with Parkinson’s, protein (which is found mainly in meat, fish, eggs, cheese, beans and pulses) seems to interfere with how well levodopa is absorbed by the body. Because of this, you may benefit from taking your medication 30 - 60 minutes before you eat a meal. However, levodopa can sometimes make people feel sick. Eating a low protein snack (such as crackers) when you take your dose may help to reduce this side effect. You may also benefit from a protein redistribution diet, where you take most of your daily protein in the evening. This can help the levodopa treatment to be more effective in the daytime, when you are likely to need it more. Find out more about diet and medication. Parkinson’s is unique to each individual, so if you have any questions about your medication, your specialist will always be best placed to provide tailored advice. Protein is essential for a healthy diet so you should also talk to your specialist before you make any changes to what you eat.
Benefits of levodopa
Levodopa is an effective treatment for Parkinson’s symptoms. You may experience a big improvement in your symptoms when taking it, especially with stiffness and slowness of movement.
Risks and side effects of levodopaThe main question in the movie “Brown Sugar” that magazine editor Sidney Shaw asked is “When did you first fall in love with Hip-Hop?” Here are eleven Hip-Hop books that will make you remember. This list will support all Hip-Hop lovers, whether you’re a newbie or have been a fan from its inception.
Intro to Hip-Hop: This is a list for kids or newcomers who need an introduction to Hip-Hop
1. ‘Hip-Hop Family Tree ‘Book 3: 1983-1984 by Ed Piskor
Comic book artist, Ed Piskor, released the third installment of his series “Hip Hop Family Tree” illustrating the hip-hop movement from the early 80s. Piskor gives the reader a nostalgic feeling as they experience the stories of Hip-Hop legends.
Free Preview and Purchase here
2. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang
Journalist Jeff Chang tells the story of the creation of Hip-Hop from Kingston, Jamaica and the Bronx in the early 70s. Chang uses the original interviews from activist, graffiti artists, gangs, b-boys and rappers to carry the story of the Hip-Hop’s influence on American history and culture.
Purchase here
3. Hip Hop Files: Photographs, 1979-1984 by Martha Cooper
Martha Cooper, a photojournalist from Baltimore, shows the visual side of hip-hop through photographs taken in the late 70s to early 80s in New York. The photographs of b-boys, writers, DJs and graffiti artists allows the world to become immersed in the hip-hop culture. This is the tenth anniversary of the Hip Hop Files and the book has been translated into three different languages.
Purchase here
Medium Hip-Hop: This is the breakdown of the core of Hip-Hop describing the inner workings from politics to business styles.
4. The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop
Journalist Dan Charnas tackles the gritty business side of Hip-Hop over a span of 40 years. Charnas tells the story of how Hip-Hop became a multi billion dollar industry using successful marketing strategies to sell albums.
Purchase here
5. Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler by Ethan Brown
The book tells the origin of the gangster culture infiltrating Hip-Hop music through police wiretaps and drug pin interviews. Brown highlights the pivotal moments in Hip-Hop from the southeast Queens prospective in a 25 year span.
Purchase here
6. The Wu-Tang Manual by The RZA
The RZA give readers an inside look at the creation of the infamous 1990s group, Wu-Tang. All members have intricate biographies that describe their names, philosophies and passions. The book includes pictures of RZA visiting China with Sifu Shi Yan-Ming and discusses the groups fascination with martial arts and eastern philosophy.
Purchase here
7. The Gospel of Hip Hop By KRS One
KRS One, known as “The Teacha,” breaks down the meaning of Hip-Hop and the culture in this 800 paged manual. The book describes Hip-Hop beyond music and takes on a philosophical perspective. This book is a spiritual guidance reference that discusses the true meaning of Hip-Hop and why it was created.
Purchase Here
Advanced Hip-Hop: This is for the Hip-Hop heads who understand the history and the impact but are in search of more knowledge through critiques and analysis from a global perspective.
8. Born to Use Mics by Michael Eric Dyson, Sohail Daulatzai
Academic scholars critique the lyrics of rapper Nas’ 1994 album Illmatic. Editors Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai examine Illmatic track by track with commentary from Marc Lamont Hill and Mark Anthony Neal.
Purchase here
9. Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement by Samuel Craig Watkins
Samuel Craig Watkins depicts a great discussion on the importance and the value that Hip-Hop has on American culture. Watkins also discusses the politics of Hip-Hop and shines light on the issues within Hip-Hop culture.
Purchase here
10. Decoded by Jay-Z
Jay-Z dives into his lyrics and gives readers an analysis of the lyrics to some of his tops songs. This may not be a biography, but the book takes you into the mentality of Shawn Carter from his own perspective.
Purchase here
11. Hip-Hop Cultural Odyssey by Jordan Sommers
This book is great to add to your coffee table collection and describes the culture of Hip-Hop from the past four decades. The book includes the biographies of 40 game changers in Hip-Hop along with 30 essays and interviews from people who have witnessed the culture first hand.
Purchase hereI have often ruminated on this blog about how trying, and sometimes failing, at all these new things has helped me shake off some of my Type A tendencies. I admit I used to be pretty tightly wound, but I am certainly making strides. But last week I took a step back; a step back into panic.
It’s not easy for me to admit, but I have had four panic attacks in my life. Well, I think they were panic attacks, I felt pretty darn panicy. But for the sake of full disclosure I was never clinically diagnosed with any sort of anxiety disorder, been under a doctor’s care or taken medication. But for me, these were panic attacks. The circumstances surrounding my three previous panic attacks sum me up to a tee: I had two after making mistakes at work and having those mistake show up on TV (one was a misspelling, the other was getting a New York city council person’s first name wrong, disappointing my absolute favorite anchor and friend). The third took hold of me when I was running late for an appointment with a councilor whom I started seeing because I wanted to stop having panic attacks. While the irony of that last statement is not lost on me, it turned out to be helpful for this counselor to see me in the throes of my anxiety.
What do these instances say about me? Basically, I don’t like to be wrong and I don’t like to be late.
Yep, that’s me.
I learned some techniques for calming myself down and leaving the insanely fast pace TV news industry certainly means less acute instances of extreme pressure (although stress was certainly not the reason I left the news business). The world of advertising and PR can be stressful, but it’s not the same as working on the lead story of the 5:00 broadcast, but because the signal from the satellite truck is weak, its 4:58 and you are still waiting for Minton to feed (sorry Tim, I had to say it). As we joke in PR, “We’re not curing cancer here.” And we’re not. We’re also not breaking news.
Last week I left work to head to one of the many Flywheel classes I am attending each week, hopped on the MBTA’s Green Line (yes, I know, that was my first mistake) intending to stay on for just four stops and make it to Flywheel with plenty of time to change, get on my bike and ease into a stress-releasing after work ride. Had I walked, maybe even crawled there from work I probably could have made it faster than that darn subway, but the T stopped between each stop for what seemed like an eternity. As the seconds ticked by, I could feel my blood pressure rising, the muscles in my back tensing and my shoulders inched closer to ears. I started fidgeting trying to release some of the tension that was building up inside me. I felt hot, but also had goose bumps. When the conductor announced he would be letting everyone off the trian one stop before mine, I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter.
I ran off the T, down Dartmouth Street IN HEELS, completely freaking out. I really must have looked as if I were escaping from an insane asylum. By the time I reached Flywheel I was sweating, hyperventilating and nearly crying. The kind and patient staff said they cut off entry to the class five minutes after it starts, so I had to change quickly. In the bathroom I started peeling clothes off my sweaty body as I tried to control my breath, I was cursing myself and my eyes welled with tears to the point I could not see clearly. When I tried to put my belonging in a locker, I froze. I literally could not comprehend the directions printed clearly on the front of the locker. Put in my four digit code? Not once but twice? I use the same bloody code for everything in my life and in that moment I had no idea what it was.
With tears now streaming down my cheeks, I begged a staff member to help me, while admitting, “I can’t work the locker. I think I’m having a panic attack.” Really, ya think? They were so nice, grabbing my stuff to hold behind the front desk and making sure I had water before I headed into the studio. When I got on my bike, the lights had already been dimmed, so luckily no one could tell that I was already sweating, breathing heavy and had tears rolling down my face.
After a few minutes, my erratic, panic-induced breathing pattern was replaced by a hard, yet steady flywheel-induced breathing pattern. I was calming down. After class, I apologized to the Flywheel staff “for acting like a freak.” As I walked home I went over the evening’s events and got upset (and embarrassed) again. I was upset with myself for letting the possibility of being late for a gym class–one that I didn’t even pay for–reduce me to an anxious, sweaty mess. But that’s the thing about panic attacks; you have no control.
Typically, I wouldn’t share this, or any of my other shortcomings with anyone…let along the world wide web. In fact, I would likely not admit that I have any shortcomings period. But over the last week, I have been thinking about this a lot, and I came to the conclusion that if I didn’t share, it would be acknowledgment that a anxiety is a shortcoming, or something to be ashamed of. It’s not. It’s just who I am. The NIH estimates that 4 million Americas have had at least one episode of acute anxiety in their lives. I’ve had four in 30-something years, and that’s ok. I’m ok.
Have others had panic attacks (diagnosed or undiagnosed) and felt embarrassed or ashamed about it? I have to say, I feel much better, and even a little more clam, now that I have shared this with you and the entire interwebs. I’d love to hear from others if you feel comfortable sharing.Classical computers operate with classical information, e.g. bits encoded in the voltage of a capacitor. \(5 = 00000101\). Their working should be deterministic.
Additional reading if you wish: recent books such as "The Physics of Quantum Information" by Bouwmeester, Ekert, Zeilinger
Richard Feynman was the first one to propose that there could also be computers that follow the laws of quantum mechanics instead of classical physics. A practical construction of a useful quantum computer remains a dream for the future, nevertheless a lot has been learned about the theory and the algorithms and some preliminary steps to overcome the technical difficulties and realize the idea have been made.
Bit and qubit
One bit can either be "zero" or "one". Your computer's memory chips contain a lot of bits like that, and their state should evolve deterministically: the present state is strictly determined by the state in the "previous moment". If your computer is not deterministic, you may want to buy a new one.
Quantum computers would be based on quantum bits, or qubits. While the bits must be either "zero" or "one", quantum bits, also called "qubits", may be found in a quantum state that is an arbitrary linear superposition of two states:
$$\ket\psi = \alpha \ket 0 + \beta \ket 1$$ The states \(\ket 0\) and \(\ket 1\) may be represented by spin-up and spin-down or any other two-level system that we have discussed or we have not discussed.
Instead of one bit, we seem to have two complex numbers. They can't be directly measured; these numbers only determine the probabilities. If you consider \(N\) qubits, there are \(2^N\) different states, and each of them is associated with a complex number. For example, for \(N=2\) we have a state $$\ket\psi = \alpha_{00} \ket{00} +\alpha_{01}\ket{01}
+\alpha_{10}\ket{10} + \alpha_{11}\ket{11} $$ where \(\ket{10}\) is the same thing as \(\ket 1 \ket 0\) and so on. The classical computer only allows the states where all the constants \(\alpha\) in the standard basis are essentially equal to zero except for one that is equal to one, and this property must be preserved by all the operations. What are these operations in the case of the classical computer? For example, the \(n\)-th bit can change to the logical sum of the \(p\)-th bit and the \(q\)-th bit.
Quantum computers are not constrained by these classical constraints, and all coefficients \(\alpha\) may be nonzero. This allows much more general operations. Consider the operations that only act on one bit. In classical physics, you can either do nothing; or change the bit to 0 regardless of its value; or change it to one; or negate it.
In quantum physics, there are many more operations that you can do with a single bit. Any unitary \(2\times 2\) transformation will do the job. It is very useful to consider a very special transformation, the so-called Hadamard transformation:
$$\begin{align}U_H &=
\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(
\begin{array}{rr} 1&1\\ 1&-1
\end{array}
\right) \quad \Rightarrow\\
\Rightarrow U_H\ket 0 &= \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}
\left[
\ket 0 + \ket 1
\right],\\
U_H\ket 1 &= \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}
\left[
\ket 0 - \ket 1
\right].\end{align}
$$ In some algorithms we will sketch later, this operation is particularly useful if it acts (in the same way) on many bits simultaneously. For example,
$$\begin{align} U_H \ket{00} &= \frac 12 \left[
(\ket 0 + \ket 1)
(\ket 0 + \ket 1)
\right] =\\ &=\frac 12 \left(
\ket{00} + \ket{01} + \ket{10} + \ket{11}
\right)=\\
&=\frac12\left(
\ket 0 + \ket 1 + \ket 2 + \ket 3
\right)\end{align}
$$ More generally, for an \(n\)-qubit register, we obtain
$$U_H \ket{0}_n = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2^n}}\sum_{i=0}^{2^n-1} \ket i$$ which is a "maximally non-classical state" that is often envisioned to be the initial condition of the quantum computer for many calculations.
As we mentioned, classical computers can change the value \(i=0\dots 255\) of a register to an arbitrary function \(f(i)\). In quantum computing, all the |
and very biased. You said it yourself. Servers cost money to run. You haven't convinced e me that a decentralized ledger is anymore trustworthy than a distributed one is. NXT does not have miners like Bitcoin does, and requires a large portion of users to run open clients. No one knows if enough people will do this, especially since there's little financial incentive to do so.
It's a big unknown when it comes to POS and whether it will as well as BTC's mining system.
As far as I or anyone knows, NXT's "decentralized" ledger may represent weaker security than Ripple's distributed ledger. Maybe a lot of people will run open clients at first and then lose interest in doing do. Maybe the network will be weak, maybe not. Who knows. We won't know for many many years.
Quote I know NXT works. Transactions in NXT are fast and irreversible with one minute block generation times.
There's a double-spending risk with NXT unless you wait for 10 confirmations. The promised 1000 TPS is very much in doubt.
As far as I know Ripple is 3-15 seconds per transaction and can't be double spent. Advantage Ripple.
Quote
NXT has already successfully fought off DDOS attacks months ago. That fear is misplaced. You should be more concerned about the implications of this article http://bitcoinmagazine.com/10958/geostrategic-implications-bitcoin/ than whether or not NXT can fight off a DDOS attack. It can.
The DDOS attacks I'm talking about will be against people who run open clients when Transparent Forging is implemented. Everyone has to broadcast their IP to the entire network meaning any script kiddie can attack you as soon as it's announced you are next in line to generate a block. Running a node means opening yourself up to attack. This only further disincentives people to run nodes. It's a severe weak-point and a huge question mark.
Quote Does Ripple allow Issuers to issue their own currencies or their own shares in companies?
Yes, anyone can issue an asset in Ripple. Then you have to obtain trust for any sane person to buy it. Just like in NXT.
Messaging: does the world need this that badly? Don't we already have email and a million other ways to send messages for free? Not that impressed.
Voting: yeah that's kind of cool but if no one uses NXT then who cares. This is also possible with Bitcoin or any other blockchain based network.
Quote "Bitstamp and Peercover would be likely candidates to do so if anything every happenedd to Ripple Labs, which is pretty much the same argument I hear regarding the type of people who will run servers for NXT."
This sentence is so vague it cannot be reasonably responded to. What is your question? Bitstamp and Peercover would be candidates to "do so"? What?
I'm referring how whenever someone asks who will run NXT's servers it's implied that people who have a lot invested in NXT and are running assets will run them. To me that's not much more decentralized than what Ripple does. It's slightly less centralized.
Since anyone can run rippled (server), I'm not worried about something happening to Ripple Labs servers, because just as in NXT, entities with a vested interest in Ripple, like Peercover and Bitstamp would be motivated to run rippled servers. My point there is that the lines that separate why NXT is so much less centralized than Ripple is get blurrier all the time.
The world does not need a billion different digital currencies. It needs one. It's going to be Bitcoin unless a Next Generation currency
replaces it. If Bitcoin remains king then Mastercoin probably wins all the other territory (Decentralized Exchanges, etc) that NXT is trying to corner because it's built on top of BTC.
Ripple poses a threat to Bitcoin because it's greener, way faster and would work great a point of sale. It's far easier to use as well.
NXT right now is pretty much as slow as Bitcoin. Has a questionable and unproven method "forging" to secure the network and will require well heeled people to run high end servers.
I just don't see how it's much superior that's all. This is coming from an investor in NXT. I'm also heavy on XRP because at the end of the day the ledger type is irrelevant to regular human beings. They will go with what works best.
You're reply was condescending and very biased. You said it yourself. Servers cost money to run. You haven't convinced e me that a decentralized ledger is anymore trustworthy than a distributed one is. NXT does not have miners like Bitcoin does, and requires a large portion of users to run open clients. No one knows if enough people will do this, especially since there's little financial incentive to do so.It's a big unknown when it comes to POS and whether it will as well as BTC's mining system.As far as I or anyone knows, NXT's "decentralized" ledger may represent weaker security than Ripple's distributed ledger. Maybe a lot of people will run open clients at first and then lose interest in doing do. Maybe the network will be weak, maybe not. Who knows. We won't know for many many years.There's a double-spending risk with NXT unless you wait for 10 confirmations. The promised 1000 TPS is very much in doubt.As far as I know Ripple is 3-15 seconds per transaction and can't be double spent. Advantage Ripple.The DDOS attacks I'm talking about will be against people who run open clients when Transparent Forging is implemented. Everyone has to broadcast their IP to the entire network meaning any script kiddie can attack you as soon as it's announced you are next in line to generate a block. Running a node means opening yourself up to attack. This only further disincentives people to run nodes. It's a severe weak-point and a huge question mark.Yes, anyone can issue an asset in Ripple. Then you have to obtain trust for any sane person to buy it. Just like in NXT.does the world need this that badly? Don't we already have email and a million other ways to send messages for free? Not that impressed.yeah that's kind of cool but if no one uses NXT then who cares. This is also possible with Bitcoin or any other blockchain based network.I'm referring how whenever someone asks who will run NXT's servers it's implied that people who have a lot invested in NXT and are running assets will run them. To me that's not much more decentralized than what Ripple does. It's slightly less centralized.Since anyone can run rippled (server), I'm not worried about something happening to Ripple Labs servers, because just as in NXT, entities with a vested interest in Ripple, like Peercover and Bitstamp would be motivated to run rippled servers. My point there is that the lines that separate why NXT is so much less centralized than Ripple is get blurrier all the time.The world does not need a billion different digital currencies. It needs one. It's going to be Bitcoin unless a Next Generation currencyreplaces it. If Bitcoin remains king then Mastercoin probably wins all the other territory (Decentralized Exchanges, etc) that NXT is trying to corner because it's built on top of BTC.Ripple poses a threat to Bitcoin because it's greener, way faster and would work great a point of sale. It's far easier to use as well.NXT right now is pretty much as slow as Bitcoin. Has a questionable and unproven method "forging" to secure the network and will require well heeled people to run high end servers.I just don't see how it's much superior that's all. This is coming from an investor in NXT. I'm also heavy on XRP because at the end of the day the ledger type is irrelevant to regular human beings. They will go with what works best. NXT: 4957831430947123625
BrianNowhere
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MemberActivity: 70Merit: 10 Re: NXT :: descendant of Bitcoin - Updated Information March 14, 2014, 06:35:29 AM #44237 Quote from: jl777 on March 14, 2014, 05:44:34 AM Quote from: BrianNowhere on March 14, 2014, 03:50:53 AM I'm glad to hear you have some experience with Ripple. I've been more and more thinking that NXT is shaping up to be nothing more than a Ripple copy-cat and one that is not as good at that and I'd love to hear why you think this is not so.
Ripple already is way faster, Has Decentralized Exchange w/ cross currency trading (Can buy NXT from Peercover with Bitstamp BTC or even Bitstamp USD), the XRP fees for trading are infinitesimal and only for spam protection. You can covert USD to XRP directly via SnapSwap (albeit w/ too high fees). You can even "mine"/acquire them with a far greater return through the BOINC WCG, which is a very noble cause.
NXT is slower, all the assets can only be purchased in NXT, there are NXT fees for doing anything, there is a NXT fee for PLACING a buy or sell order (which no other exchange does), no one knows if enough people will run nodes, and it's been sounding like the system may end up needing centralized high performing servers to be able to boost the transaction speed to anywhere near what Ripple already has.
I'm really interested in hearing your thoughts on why you think NXT is better than Riipple and why the liquidity will be better or the spreads closer, why more companies and assets will be attracted to it, why REAL businesses and banks will buy into it & why it will be any more successful.
Ripple community is a small circle of about a dozen guys who are mostly composed of naysayers who dont do much other than rip other people's ideas to shreds. A few fanboys, but at any given point in time only a few people are even on the forum. I defected over to NXT when I was reprimanded for trying to get a NXT market jump started over new years holidays. It seems the ripple forum is moderated by people who view anything close to ripple as a threat that needs to be squelched. NXT certainly fit the bill.
From a trader's perspective, USD!= USD due to no cross redemption agreements between the various USD gateways. This leads to situations where you can pay a 50% premium to purchase BTC. Especially due to the large spreads going from anything to XRP and from XRP to anything else. There are basically 5 "active" markets in ripple BTC/XRP, USD/XRP (2) and CNY/XRP (2) The total trading volume in all five is less than NXT volumes are now and this is when NXT is "sleeping"
Oh, the giant elephant. 48 billion more XRP to be "distributed", which at any moment can disrupt the entire XRP ecosystem. Already, Jed McLeb donated many millions of XRP, which immediately diluted all XRP holdings. Basically any XRP based business that was holding XRP inventory lost 10% of value before they could do anything about it. Not that you can do much about it due to such low volumes in the market. Currently the bitcoin bridge is not working and hasnt been for 2 weeks. An inconvenience if you have a bitstamp acct, if not your XRPs and BTC inside ripple are trapped with no way out.
ripple has an AE like mechanism, but takes the position that they wont have anything to do with what happens. It is buyer beware. Also no restrictions on who can issue any specific IOU (ripple asset). Some scamster can (and has) issued "gold backed" IOU except the gold was not really accounted for and at best was something like one third backed. Another guy issued an asset that was backed fully by BTC (or so he said), but it started out at a price of 1.05 BTC. he said he would have an automatic bot that gradually raised the ASK price to 2 BTC, and because of this it was a good investment. sockpuppet show ensued.
He doesnt get reprimanded for that, but I do for trying to create a NXT market in ripple that had potential to get good volumes.
Ripple is slow to react. Everything has to go through proper channels, corporate management, PR and legal review, etc. In the time ripple decides to do one thing, NXT can (and has) done dozens of things.
NXT has a community that can protect its users from harm. NXT community has already tracked down crooks, got them to cough up ill gotten gains and made returns to victims. We have made continual improvements as fast as we can to protect users from newbie errors and I imagine we will continue to do so until we get it 100% foolproof.
Ripple is not really extensible. After they get all the bugs out,they will have a nice cross currency payment system that is totally transparent to all govt authorities. This is a concern as USA is in the process of implementing regulations that will force people to somehow prove the provenance of all their crypto. If they cant prove where it came from, it will be deemed to be illegal and probably confiscated. Even if they dont confiscate your ripple holdings, they will be able to identify by name, address and social security number each and every account and be able to backtrace all transactions. The trend is to assume people are guilty until proven innocent. Not exactly the home of freedom and individual rights the american PR machine leads the world to believe.
Is there anyway to add anonymity to ripple? There might be technically, but it is sure to be killed by the powers that be. Ripple has its place. It will be a perfect fiat gateway for all of crypto. Somebody has to fill that role and ripple does nicely at that.
The liquidity here will be better because that is one of the things I have set out to do. non-profit automated multisig gateways will allow this to be possible. It will charge enough fees to pay for its expenses and it wont be a monopoly, but it will be there for NXT community to be able to trade with low spreads. Where there are low spreads, there will be liquidity.
Ripple community did not want to listen to me and took measures to squelch me. At least here, we might disagree and tempers might flare, but at the end of the day there are many people who actively support what I am trying to do, both in public and in private, with encouragement and actual money. NXT community has its share of people who would fit right in with the ripple crowd, but there are a large number of people who are here not just to make a quick fortune, but really want to help change the world for the better.
For those of you who have not noticed, the war on bitcoin is escalating and with actual cash on its way to becoming less and less accepted, we MUST create anonymous crypto or there wont be any financial privacy left in the world anymore. NXT can achieve this, ripple cant.
In summary, anything ripple can do NXT can do it better. This would be the reason why businesses are better off building on top of NXT instead of on top of ripple. If we all just focused on helping businesses quickly get up to speed using NXT, it will be no contest at all. We need to think like we are an ethernet cable. We want packets going back and forth. The more activity, the better. At some point one of the NXT businesses will crack the joe-sixpack market (or teenage girl market) and go mainstream with their service. Most people wont know or care it is built on NXT, but 1% will probably find out. If it is a 10 million person market, 1% will add 100,000 active NXT users.
James
Ripple community is a small circle of about a dozen guys who are mostly composed of naysayers who dont do much other than rip other people's ideas to shreds. A few fanboys, but at any given point in time only a few people are even on the forum. I defected over to NXT when I was reprimanded for trying to get a NXT market jump started over new years holidays. It seems the ripple forum is moderated by people who view anything close to ripple as a threat that needs to be squelched. NXT certainly fit the bill.From a trader's perspective, USD!= USD due to no cross redemption agreements between the various USD gateways. This leads to situations where you can pay a 50% premium to purchase BTC. Especially due to the large spreads going from anything to XRP and from XRP to anything else. There are basically 5 "active" markets in ripple BTC/XRP, USD/XRP (2) and CNY/XRP (2) The total trading volume in all five is less than NXT volumes are now and this is when NXT is "sleeping"Oh, the giant elephant. 48 billion more XRP to be "distributed", which at any moment can disrupt the entire XRP ecosystem. Already, Jed McLeb donated many millions of XRP, which immediately diluted all XRP holdings. Basically any XRP based business that was holding XRP inventory lost 10% of value before they could do anything about it. Not that you can do much about it due to such low volumes in the market. Currently the bitcoin bridge is not working and hasnt been for 2 weeks. An inconvenience if you have a bitstamp acct, if not your XRPs and BTC inside ripple are trapped with no way out.ripple has an AE like mechanism, but takes the position that they wont have anything to do with what happens. It is buyer beware. Also no restrictions on who can issue any specific IOU (ripple asset). Some scamster can (and has) issued "gold backed" IOU except the gold was not really accounted for and at best was something like one third backed. Another guy issued an asset that was backed fully by BTC (or so he said), but it started out at a price of 1.05 BTC. he said he would have an automatic bot that gradually raised the ASK price to 2 BTC, and because of this it was a good investment. sockpuppet show ensued.He doesnt get reprimanded for that, but I do for trying to create a NXT market in ripple that had potential to get good volumes.Ripple is slow to react. Everything has to go through proper channels, corporate management, PR and legal review, etc. In the time ripple decides to do one thing, NXT can (and has) done dozens of things.NXT has a community that can protect its users from harm. NXT community has already tracked down crooks, got them to cough up ill gotten gains and made returns to victims. We have made continual improvements as fast as we can to protect users from newbie errors and I imagine we will continue to do so until we get it 100% foolproof.Ripple is not really extensible. After they get all the bugs out,they will have a nice cross currency payment system that is totally transparent to all govt authorities. This is a concern as USA is in the process of implementing regulations that will force people to somehow prove the provenance of all their crypto. If they cant prove where it came from, it will be deemed to be illegal and probably confiscated. Even if they dont confiscate your ripple holdings, they will be able to identify by name, address and social security number each and every account and be able to backtrace all transactions. The trend is to assume people are guilty until proven innocent. Not exactly the home of freedom and individual rights the american PR machine leads the world to believe.Is there anyway to add anonymity to ripple? There might be technically, but it is sure to be killed by the powers that be. Ripple has its place. It will be a perfect fiat gateway for all of crypto. Somebody has to fill that role and ripple does nicely at that.The liquidity here will be better because that is one of the things I have set out to do. non-profit automated multisig gateways will allow this to be possible. It will charge enough fees to pay for its expenses and it wont be a monopoly, but it will be there for NXT community to be able to trade with low spreads. Where there are low spreads, there will be liquidity.Ripple community did not want to listen to me and took measures to squelch me. At least here, we might disagree and tempers might flare, but at the end of the day there are many people who actively support what I am trying to do, both in public and in private, with encouragement and actual money. NXT community has its share of people who would fit right in with the ripple crowd, but there are a large number of people who are here not just to make a quick fortune, but really want to help change the world for the better.For those of you who have not noticed, the war on bitcoin is escalating and with actual cash on its way to becoming less and less accepted, we MUST create anonymous crypto or there wont be any financial privacy left in the world anymore. NXT can achieve this, ripple cant.In summary, anything ripple can do NXT can do it better. This would be the reason why businesses are better off building on top of NXT instead of on top of ripple. If we all just focused on helping businesses quickly get up to speed using NXT, it will be no contest at all. We need to think like we are an ethernet cable. We want packets going back and forth. The more activity, the better. At some point one of the NXT businesses will crack the joe-sixpack market (or teenage girl market) and go mainstream with their service. Most people wont know or care it is built on NXT, but 1% will probably find out. If it is a 10 million person market, 1% will add 100,000 active NXT users.James
Thanks for your well balanced and even handed answer. A lot to chew on and I will. I respect what you are doing James and am in awe of your work ethic. I'm not sure how the nodecoin idea will work out but at least you are creating possible solutions. I'm a mere fly on the wall, hoping smart guys like you figure out the potential problems.
Thanks for your well balanced and even handed answer. A lot to chew on and I will. I respect what you are doing James and am in awe of your work ethic. I'm not sure how the nodecoin idea will work out but at least you are creating possible solutions. I'm a mere fly on the wall, hoping smart guys like you figure out the potential problems. NXT: 4957831430947123625
martismartis
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LegendaryActivity: 1162Merit: 1005 Re: NXT :: descendant of Bitcoin - Updated Information March 14, 2014, 06:55:21 AM #44238 Can somebody explain to me, how asset "nodecoin" will harm NXT? If it would have name "nodeasset", so maybe problem is gone? If follow this logic, then every asset in AE (boobs, pens, etc.) will harm NXT. So we need to shutdown AE? Maybe I'm dumb and don't understand that nodecoin is not one of the 1000 assets in AE?A new story trailer has been released for Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite, which is noticeably short on the X-Men characters.
A recent rumor did state the X-Men characters will be featured in the game, but as of now, the X-Men are nowhere in sight.
The release date for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite has also been announced, which is September 19, 2017 for PS4, XBox One and PC.
Find the trailer, official info and screenshots below.
Marvel vs. Capcom®: Infinite Smashes Back With Incredible New Details and Official Release Date
Marvel and Capcom Introduce Cinematic Story Mode, Reveal Eight Additional Characters, Announce Pre-Order Details and Release Date
SAN FRANCISCO – April 25, 2017 – Capcom, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, today announced a Hulk-sized helping of new information for MARVEL VS. CAPCOM®: INFINITE, the highly-anticipated return of the revered action-fighting game series. Imagined and created through a shared vision between the two companies, the game will feature free-form 2v2 team battles integrated into a wide variety of exciting and accessible single player modes and rich multiplayer content for new players and longtime fans alike. MARVEL VS. CAPCOM: INFINITE will simultaneously release on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One®, and Windows PC across North America on September 19, 2017.
For the first time in franchise history, the Marvel and Capcom universes collide in a visually stunning and immersive cinematic Story Mode, as heroes and villains battle together to save their merged worlds from a sinister new threat, Ultron Sigma. A combination of the robotic foes known as Ultron from the Marvel Universe and Sigma from the Capcom Universe, this psychotic villain is obsessed with infecting all organic life with a cybernetic virus. History’s greatest gathering of warriors must now unite to fight back against Ultron Sigma and save their newly formed world.
Announced today, more new characters have joined the battle for survival against the forces of evil in MARVEL VS. CAPCOM: INFINITE including:
• Ultron
• Hulk
• Thor
• Hawkeye
• Rocket Raccoon
• Chun-Li
• Strider Hiryu
• Chris Redfield
Each newly-added character will feature unique abilities, iconic special moves and will join other previously-announced characters, including Captain Marvel, Iron Man and Captain America from the Marvel side, and Ryu, Mega Man X and Morrigan from Capcom. The use of powerful, game-changing Infinity Stones further deepens the customized gameplay and allows players to equip and unleash elemental in-game powers, such as Time, Power and Space.
In addition to the compelling cinematic story experience, single player Arcade, Training and Mission modes and vast multiplayer offerings will provide memorable experiences and infinite gameplay possibilities for players of all skill levels. More characters, stages, game features and story mode details will be revealed in the coming months.
Pre-orders for MARVEL VS. CAPCOM: INFINITE are available beginning today on all platforms for the $59.99 MSRP Standard Edition and $89.99 MSRP Deluxe Edition. The Deluxe Edition includes the main game on PS4 or Xbox One and a 2017 Character Pass, which contains access to six all-new additional post-launch characters including Sigma, the main antagonist from the Mega Man® X series. Pre-order bonuses for all versions in North America include Warrior Thor and Evil Ryu costumes. Check with individual retailers for details in Europe and Australia as some offers may vary. The pre-order bonus for the Deluxe Edition is the same as the Standard Edition, but also includes two additional costumes: Gladiator Hulk and Mega Man Command Mission X. For specific details, please check with individual retailers.
Capcom also confirmed today that a limited MARVEL VS. CAPCOM: INFINITE Collector’s Edition, brought to you by TriForce, is available now for pre-order on PS4 and Xbox One. It will include four premium character dioramas of Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Mega Man X and Chun-Li, a case filled with six Infinity Stone replicas, as well as SteelBook packaging that contains the Deluxe Edition of the game, all for only $199.99 MSRP. Contents may vary depending on region and for European pricing please check with retailers. All editions and versions of MARVEL VS. CAPCOM: INFINITE will simultaneously release on September 19, 2017.A sharp verbal spat attracted the group's attention. A small breed Arachne girl was having a heated argument with a man.
"Sir, I can't let this slide. Not only you insulted me by calling me loli but also my whole species. We're petite or Small Breed Arachne." The girl was quite furious.
"Whatever, all you eight legged freaks are nothing but bundles of issues. Why you can't be more like docile Bunnies or you know Kobolds?" the Man was smirking shamelessly.
Pretty soon a small crowd gathered around the two and people started passing random comments to excite the du instead of resolving the issue.
Rebeka and Robert couldn't ignore it anymore, Rebeka grabbed the man's collar and gave him a death glare, the man was frightened beyond doubt and almost shat his pants.
The man was thrown away by her, then she and Robert went in to console the sobbing Arachne.
"Ah, it's ok. It's alright, now, he won't be bothering you, anymore." Rebeka patted the head of the little arachne. Suddenly a high itch cry from one of her students attracted her attention. The Man pulled out a Box-cutter knife and has taken Alaina hostage.
"You dumb jerks, You thought You could beat me up with no consequences, huh now get naked you damn sexy bitch I wanna see your panties." The man threatened Rebeka and signed her to strip.
Robert was feeling like pulling out his personal gun and empty the whole magazine into this jerk, but then it would be a stupid move and it'll both blow his cover and endanger Alaina.
But Rebeka was in no mood to relent, she inched towards the man. The Man started hurling abuses to her but she kept on moving. Robert could only see Rebeka's back but he was sure that she's saying something to that man. Suddenly the complexion of the Man changed, it looked as if the blood from his face is drained. He looked utterly terrified, suddenly an Orange Blur went past the Hellhound, with a swift move Chief Hannah, took away Alaina from the culprit's arm and kicked the man in his groin. The man buckled down in pain and soon was arrested and handcuffed by Maria.
Hannah directly looked Rebeka in the eye, "Thank you, Ms. Rebeka. If it wasn't your distraction then I wouldn't have saved the poor girl so easily."
Rebeka replied calmly, "She's my student. How can I let anyone play with her life? Look due to this ordeal the poor girl even lost her consciousness."
Hannah strode towards Robert and handed him, Alaina.
"You know Ms. Rebeka, had I kept him under my one-eye, the thing would never have occurred in the first place." To any bystander it might seem that Hannah was lamenting but Robert knew it was something more than that, the emphasis on the word one seemed anything but normal.
"You know, I can go to great lengths to protect the ones I love. Your one-eye doesn't make any difference to that." Rebeka replied.
"True enough, I know that. But what are those magical words that you have used? The Culprit looked utterly terrified of you, maybe it was good that the girl wasn't awake at that time." Hannah replied.
"Still, why did you wait till I made the first move? You could have acted earlier or at least give me a sign before rushing in? What if the man had cut Alaina?" Rebeka retorted.
Robert didn't feel like interfering, infact this verbal battle was an eye opener for him, "Both of them are equally caustic.It's like that I won't be able to zero in on anyone."
Ultimately the culprit was taken away to the nearest Police station, Hannah also left the premises. She didn't even bother to acknowledge the presence of Robert.
Another anomaly Robert did spot in Rebeka's behaviour, when Hannah was getting out Rebeka was glaring at her while clutching something which was in her jeans' pocket.
The whole episode left him awestruck, he almost forgot about the unconscious bunny girl in his lap. Rebeka almost snatched the girl from him and tried various methods to wake him up. Ultimately the girl woke, the face revealed that she was very scared. The reassuring hug from the Hellhound calmed the girl. Robert saw a little teardrop forming on the right eye of Rebeka.
"What the hell did she say to that man? He was as scared as a leaf. I'm pretty sure that by now the Chief Hannah is already interrogating that man about the conversation." Robert felt bemused.
(In the Local P.S)
"Ma'm, you just can't barge in like that. It's a police station." The male policeman tried to stop the intruding Jinko with all his might.
Hannah simply flashed her badge and moved him out of her way. She directly went towards the desk of the Officer in charge.
"Oh, Chief Hannah from the Investigation Bureau, How can I help you?" the Officer in charge asked her.
"The miscreant whom You have apprehended in the Science Museum, I want to ask him something. Is that ok?" Hannah asked the man.
"No issues, that's ok with me. Just don't rough him up." The man obliged to her request.
The miscreant was brought in, he looked quite devastated. After seeing Hannah he started trembling in fear.
"I won't hurt you if you answer my questions truthfully." The Jinko asked him authoritatively.
"Ok….." he somehow blurted.
Hannah looked towards the Officer in charge, he got her point. "It's ok, you can interrogate him as much as you like. I will be in the outer chamber then." The Officer left after replying.
The man was sweating profusely and Hannah could almost hear the gritting of his teeth.
"So, what did the Hellhound say to you?" Hannah asked him.
"She… was like a d….demon. She…w.. was urging me to s…stab the kid, then she even said that she would do…do it herself if I had to…..told her to do so." The man was again trembling in fear.
"Officer, I'm done" Hannah called the Officer who promptly came in afterwards. Hannah thanked him for the cooperation and went out of the police station.
"Using Reverse psychology in that sort of a delicate situation, it's so like her." She muttered to herself.
(Robert's tale)
It was noon and the group soon felt that it was the time to have lunch. The two adults along with six kids went into the nearest fast-food joint. The group ordered low fat lunch meals.
Robert couldn't enjoy the delicate chicken Kebab because his mind was still processing the events of the morning.
"Looks like, Ms. Hannah and Rebeka know each other very well. Still why they were at each other's throats? It doesn't add up. Why the hell chief Hannah was so emphasising on One-Eye and Rebeka was painting her as an irresponsible person. Truth to be told it was their combined effort which averted the danger. But they behaved like two little school-girls who were quarrelling over their seating arrangements. They are so matured persons yet behaving childishly. Maybe the resentment is so caustic that they don't bother about themselves behaving like kids. Another point, what did Rebeka say to the man that caused him to shake like a leaf? Why the chief was here in the first place?"
"Rob? Rob are you listening?" Rebeka's call dragged him out of his thought.
"Oh..I'm sorry. I just zoned out." Robert replied apologetically.
"No issues. I guess enough has happened on this trip and the kids are tired too. Maybe we can wrap it up with the visit to the Planetarium." The teacher suggested.
"Yes, that would be good for the little ones, hey guys what do say?" Robert asked the kids.
They replied in unison, "Yes, if you treat us with Ice-creams."
Both,Robert and Rebeka bursted into laughter.
(The Same Evening)
Robert's mobile beeped again. It was again a message from Doppel, "Urgent, need to meet U, Tmrw Oxford 46/17;100/03, spread angle."
Robert knew that Doppel is texting while she's on her job, that's why the codes are used. He knew he just needed to look up Oxford English to English dictionary the numbers are just pagenumbers and serial number of the word in and spread angle is just 6 p.m. in the evening.
After consulting Oxford dictionary, Robert figured out it was Amity Bay Bar. Robert looked through the cupboard to get some clothing and make-up for the disguise. He'll have to take them with him to the office and then after getting out he would need to use a public toilet to apply disguise himself and then meet Dopel. That would be best for their mutual interest.
Robert went towards the Kitchen to make something for the dinner.
"Shoot, I've forgotten to buy Oil. Damn...now I've to eat out again. Shit that Mantis would be there, but compared to Miss. Hannah and Rebeka she seems very tame." Robert grumbled in frustration, "But it's okay if I crash to the usual place. That's the only restaurant where the kitchen can be directly seen from the lobby. So I'm very safe if I eat out from there." Robert assured himself.
(With Karen)
Karen was deeply immersed in thought, she didn't even notice that a customer had entered and taken a seat.
"Hey, Miss Waitress, can you take my order?" the woman asked her.
The woman was a beautiful elf wearing a business suit and spectacles. Karen thought that she(the Elf) was a beauty.
"Ma'm what would you like to order?" Karen asked the Elf.
"Anything good. Do you have any suggestion for me?" the Elf asked for Karen's opinion.
"Ma'm, our Grilled Bassa with Coriander sauce and Fried rice is often treated as the best." she replied.
"Ok, I'll take one." the Elf replied. Suddenly a flash of Lightening was seen and within a moment a deafening thunder strike was heard. "Damn, I should have taken Umbrella." the Elf muttered.
Robert rushed in with his umbrella and hurriedly took his seat. (from where he can see the whole kitchen)
"Such a nasty weather, it's really deplorable. Hey, Karen please take my order." Robert signalled Karen to take his order.
Karen came at once and took his order, by this time Three Men rushed into the cafe. They all looked to be Professionals, everyone had his laptop bag on him.
"Oh, that wretched Mr. Mattias, just keeps pushing work on us. Even when we're eating we've to work on the code." one man groaned.
"You're right, Jonas. I'll order up. You just start my damn laptop." the more matured man gestured Karen with his hand.
Karen took the order and promptly went into the kitchen. After coming out she handed the man a surge protector. The man named Jonas promptly plugged in the Laptop and switched on the surge protector. Instantly a a wizzing sound was heard and the whole cafe plunged into darkness.
"It must have tripped, don't worry I'll get my cell, it has in-built torch. " Karen announced to tone down the panic of the customers and lightened up her torch and strode towards the mains. Suddenly a male voice cried "O |
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The ‘White’ album wasn’t a simple collage exercise from past experience though. To take the band forward once more, Rivers had to break himself out of his comfort zone. The record was inspired by “just getting out of the house, hanging out at the beach and meeting people. I guess you probably heard about Tinder?” he asks. The vocalist, with his wife’s blessing, used the app to talk with guys and girls outside of the band/fan dynamic in an attempt to find new points of contact. “I just noticed I was set in my ways. I was sitting at home a lot and by chance I might have to go out for something, maybe a friend’s birthday party. At first I’m reluctant and I don’t want to go. I might not necessarily even have a good time, I might feel alienated at the party but the next morning when I get up to write a song, I realised I have something to write about. There’s some memories and some visual images in my mind and everything flows and that’s when I realised, maybe I should get out of the house more often.” That sense of rediscovery is threaded throughout the ‘White’ album. “I think pretty much everything I’m singing about is some sort of reaction to a social experience I’ve had.”
“I realised, maybe I should get out of the house more often.”
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“I like creating stuff that’s intriguing and puzzling and inspiring and makes you want to listen to it again and keep studying it to try to figure out what the hell is going on,” admits Rivers. “Ultimately I want to create something that I don’t understand. That means writing from an unconscious place as much as I can. I’ll do a lot of stream of consciousness writing or wake up in the morning and ramble for three pages into a journal and then there’s a lot of cut and paste work where you go back and find cool lines in journals, in books, poems and snippets of overheard conversations. Then you reassemble it into this story that seems to be about this thing that happened but it’s so weird that it seems like maybe it couldn’t have happened. Then when you go to record it, you try and go to a place where you’re not thinking, you’re just reacting.”
For the ‘White’ album, Weezer - Rivers, guitarist Brian Bell, bassist Scott Shriner and drummer Patrick Wilson - allowed themselves space to explore and react to their own parts before anything else. “This time we worked independently more than we ever have before,” starts Rivers. “Each guy would have time in the studio on his own, without the other guys and specifically without me. Everyone had time to really craft his parts before getting any input from me and I like that. I like having it taken out of my control. It turns it into something more complicated and multi-layered.” Despite the friction, the self-discovery and the puzzle, “it seems like all the pieces settle and sit together like they’re supposed to sit together and I don’t know that we really understand it, which is the goal. As I said, it should be something complex and beyond our understanding but it does seem like everything is where it’s supposed to be.”
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The band didn’t just rely on their own input though as they asked the fans to “figure into the process. Like I said, I’m the guy who wants to throw out the rulebook and do something different each time but we make sure to check in with fans as we’re working. We have fans all around the country so when we happen to be in Chicago or something, we bring fans backstage after the show and say ‘here’s some new demos, check them out. What do you think?’. We like trying out different ideas and at the end of the day, we’ve got to make the decisions on what we want to do but it’s good to get input and ideas from all over the place. I always learn something from working with another artist and I just look around my studio at home and think about my writing process, it’s all just little bits, pieces and techniques that I’ve picked up from other people.”
Weezer may have looked outside their bubble, but the ‘White’ album is an assured record. The band sound like they know exactly what they’re doing throughout and the concept, while nuanced and suggestive, gives their tenth album a steely focus. A few weeks before release Rivers is “still feeling pretty good” about the record. There are no nerves, instead he’s “super confident, positive and can’t wait for everyone to hear it,” however that’ll only last “until it comes out and then we get all the criticism,” he explains with a laugh. “Then I move on to the next record and do it all over again.”
“I’m the guy who wants to throw out the rulebook and do something different each time.”
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The band are very aware of their history but they’re not trying to outrun any shadows cast by previous chapters. “I completely forget the previous albums. If anything, if my attention gets pulled anywhere else it’s to the next album. I’m already well into thinking about the ‘Black’ album which’ll be coming out in a year.”
Sorry, what?
“I’ve just got to go with what feels exciting in the moment and right now, I’m excited to do a black album but y’know, that could change. The next album is going to feel like an urban environment, night-time and gritty and hopefully a lot more modern sounds, synthesised sounds, samples maybe. I like to break away from the ‘distorted power chord’ thing but its hard ‘cause it works so well.”
With the ‘White’ album out in the world and a short European run complete, the rest of Weezer’s year will see the band working on the ‘Black’ album around a summer run with Panic! At The Disco. “I’ve been hearing great things about Panic’s fanbase, that they’re really open minded and just huge fans of music. Some of the bands that Panic! have toured with in the past have gone on to be very successful so hopefully that happens to us too,” Rivers adds with a chuckle. Touring beyond that depends on how the ‘White’ album does. Weezer are constantly reacting to what’s around them. “If the record grows and starts to get a new fanbase, we’ll stay on the road and we’ll postpone the ‘Black’ album, otherwise we’ll jump into the studio in the fall.”
It’s an ambitious plan underpinned with a sense of optimism which is reflected in the ‘White’ album and, despite the band’s constant forward momentum, is something they’ve always channelled. “I think all Weezer records have a hopeful quality to them. I’m always feeling hopeful. It’s just who I am,” explains Rivers. “I’ve been that way since I was a little kid, I always had a big dream.” [icon type="fa-stop" size="icon-smallsize" ]
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=".vc_custom_1445370422462{padding-bottom: 25px!important;}" column_padding="" max_width="" equal_height="" full_height="" vertical_center="" enable_parallax="" parallax_speed="0.5" mouse_scroll=""][vc_column width="5/6" offset="vc_col-lg-offset-1 vc_col-lg-10 vc_col-md-offset-1 vc_col-md-10" skrollr="" skrollr_speed="100" full_height="" enable_parallax="" parallax_speed="0.5"][vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1460375270223{margin-top: 15px!important;border-top-width: 10px!important;padding-top: 15px!important;border-top-color: #0a0a0a!important;border-top-style: solid!important;}"][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]August 2, 2017 – Charlotte Hornets General Manager Rich Cho announced today that the team has signed forward/center Mangok Mathiang (MANG-go MATH-ee-ang) and guard Marcus Paige to two-way contracts. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Mathiang (6-10, 230, Louisville) was a member of the Hornets entry at the 2017 Orlando Pro Summer League, where he saw action in five games, averaging 4.4 points on 53.3 percent from the field, 5.0 rebounds and 2.8 offensive rebounds in 17.1 minutes per game.
Born in Sudan, Africa, Mathiang lived in Melbourne, Australia for several years before moving to the United States where he spent four years at Louisville (2013-17), appearing in 114 career games (44 starts), owning averages of 4.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 18.0 minutes per contest, serving as team captain as a redshirt senior in 2016-17. In his final collegiate season, Mathiang averaged 7.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 20.8 minutes per contest, helping the Cardinals to a 25-9 record.
Paige (6-1, 164, North Carolina), was originally drafted with the 55th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets, with his draft rights being traded to Utah the following day. The 23-year-old appeared in 46 games (40 starts) with the Salt Lake City Stars of the NBA G League last season, averaging 12.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 32.7 minutes per contest.
The Marion, Iowa native played four collegiate seasons at North Carolina (2012-16), owning career averages of 13.1 points on 40.7 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, 4.3 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 141 games, helping the Tar Heels to a 2016 NCAA Championship Game appearance as a senior.
Paige was named to the 2014-15 All-ACC Third Team and 2013-14 All-ACC First Team, also earning the 2013-14 ACC Most Improved Player of the Year award. Additionally, he was recognized as an Academic All-American in three seasons, including First Team honors following his senior year.
Mathiang and Paige become the first Hornets players to ever sign a two-way contract. The 2017-18 season is the first year NBA teams can utilize two-way contracts, in which teams will be permitted to carry two such players on their roster in addition to their 15-man regular season roster. Charlotte’s two-way players will spend time with the team’s NBA G League squad, The Greensboro Swarm, as well as the main club, but are allowed no more than 45 days in the NBA, not including any time prior to the start of the Swarm’s training camp and at the conclusion of the season.
Swarm365 Memberships are currently available for the 2017-18 Hornets season. Swarm365 Memberships are about more than just attending basketball games, they are the attachment between the Hornets and the team’s fans. Member benefits include: access to member events, discounts on concessions and merchandise, invitations to exclusive player events and presale ability for other Spectrum Center events and concerts. Swarm365 Memberships start at only $12 per seat per game. Fans can experience the game, the passion and the atmosphere of Hornets basketball by calling 704-HORNETS (704-467-6387) or visiting hornets.com.For the release of its latest typeface at Velvetyne Type Foundry, Jérémy Landes asked 11 different graphic designers to seize it and show their point of view on this typeface with a poster. The resulting collection of posters tells different stories with the same starting pont but leading to opposite places.
Millimetre is a series of fonts constructed on a grid based on the metric system. It follows the decimal logic of the latter. In this typeface, each em-square is vertically and horizontally divided in 10 units (decimal). Printed at a 1 cm size, the strokes of the regular weight will be 1 mm thick. Both white spaces and black stems fit on this grid. Half of the lines and columns of this 10×10 grid receive the stems and the strokes of this font whereas the other half is there to receive the white spaces inside the letters and between them, making Millimetre rhythm quite unique, totally settled, like a barcode.
From a stylistic point of view, Millimetre is a geometric, constructed sans serif, with quite wide proportions even if the width of several glyphs could contradict this statement. With its rectangular look and closed terminals, Millimetre reminds us of 60’s sans such as Aldo Novarese’s Eurostile. Far from running away from this graphic universe, Millimetre embraces the retro-futuristic, architectural, technological and science-fictional connotations that come with it.
Millimetre is a free font distributed by the french open-source type foundry Velvetyne. Acting on the typographic scene since 2010 when it was created by Frank Adebiaye, Velvetyne works on making the graphic design scene know the open-source tools and questions. After asking the public which new version of Millimetre they wanted more, Jérémy is now currently designing the light one and began the black which will be released in a second time.
To see all the posters + download Millimetre : Velvetyne website.The ongoing saga of the University of California Berkeley's various attempts to suppress the appearance of Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro continues, with the provost on Thursday rolling out the stunningly extreme measures the university is imposing to try to protect students from social justice and Antifa protester violence. While the university was busy gearing up to go on lockdown this week, it finally released the tickets — and they sold out in about 45 minutes.
For those who were unable to purchase the sold out event, the event's sponsor, Young America's Foundation, will be livestreaming it. Here's all the information for YAF and Ben Shapiro's "Say No To Campus Thuggery" event:
WHEN: September 14 at 7 p.m. PT
WHERE: Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
TICKETS: SOLD OUT
LIVESTREAM: www.yaf.org/LIVE/
After trying a few different strategies for backing out of the event and/or minimizing its accessibility, the university finally agreed to host it in the name of the institution's supposed "commitment to free speech." However, as the university's provost made clear in his campus-wide memo on Thursday, fear of violence and vandalism from social justice protesters has inspired Berkeley to put in place drastic security measures.
Here is the full text of the truly remarkable memo sent by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Alivisatos on Thursday to the entire UC Berkeley community explaining all of the measures the university is imposing — just to host a two-hour talk by a mainstream conservative speaker:
Dear UC Berkeley community,
This is an important time for all of us as we work together to uphold our commitment to free speech and to our Principles of Community, including respect for the dignity of all members of our UC Berkeley community. I recommend that you consider viewing Chancellor Christ’s recent Berkeley Forum speech and the Q&A that followed.
Today I write about specific commitments we are making to support our community, as well as to share logistics and security arrangements for September 14. That evening, from 7-9 p.m., political commentator and radio talk show host Ben Shapiro will speak at Zellerbach Hall at the invitation of one of our registered student groups. Our commitment to free speech, as well as to the law, mandates that the students who invited Shapiro be able to host their event for those who wish to hear him speak. Our commitment to the principles of community mandates that all students, faculty, and staff be able to be present on campus, engaging in their regular academic activities without fear. Achieving this poses unusual challenges for us; this memo lays out the arrangements that we are putting in place.
Building closures and parking restrictions
At 4 p.m. on September 14, UCPD will establish a closed perimeter around Zellerbach Hall and surrounding buildings. Buildings near Zellerbach Hall will be closed at 4 p.m., with no access permitted. The perimeter will be assembled over the course of the day starting in the morning. Affected buildings include: César E. Chávez Student Center, Alumni House, Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, Sproul Hall, and Eshleman Hall. There will be a limited number of access points along the perimeter; beginning at 5:30 p.m., a ticket to the event will be required to gain entry into the perimeter.
Parking will be closed ALL DAY on September 14 at Barrow Lane Parking Spaces, Peppertree Lane Parking Spaces, North Sproul Lot, and the ASUC Garage.
Alternative options for those who work in closed buildings
We will offer as many options as possible so that students, faculty, and staff who work in buildings being closed can access alternative spaces and services. Campus colleges and schools have made spaces available to help meet these needs and to welcome those affected. A system is being set up to match those needing alternative spaces with the available spaces. Please check with your manager or faculty leader about any changes to your work or class activities on September 14. I encourage managers and supervisors of staff, as well as faculty, to exercise discretion and flexibility as they explore alternative arrangements.
Logistics and security at Zellerbach Hall
Tickets to the Shapiro event will be available shortly, pending final decisions on logistics and ticket distribution.
Based on UCPD’s security recommendations, attendees must present a photo ID when picking up their tickets. No blocks of tickets will be made available to individuals or groups.
As is standard practice, prior to the event UCPD will provide a list of prohibited items. Our police will seek to deter and confront unlawful behavior, while strictly enforcing laws and policies regarding individuals wearing masks or carrying weapons of any sort.
Members of the campus community are encouraged to subscribe to Nixle to receive security updates.
An increased and highly visible police presence will be on campus on September 14.
Engage with respect and keep safe
Some may wish to attend the event and hear the speaker to form their own views. Others may wish to stay away. Some may wish to protest. All activities can be done peacefully and with respect. If you choose to protest, please seek ways to protest peacefully and safely while observing rules related to the student code of conduct and our Principles of Community. If events escalate around you, please strongly consider leaving.
Support and counseling services for students, staff and faculty
We are deeply concerned about the impact some speakers may have on individuals’ sense of safety and belonging. No one should be made to feel threatened or harassed simply because of who they are or for what they believe. For that reason, the following support services are being offered and encouraged:
Logistics for future events
We will learn from what transpires next week and write to you again afterward with an assessment of whether these arrangements for September 14 have met our commitments. We will also explore what will be needed for future events, such as those proposed by another registered student group that involve Milo Yiannopoulos and other possible guest speakers.
Commitment to building community, fostering greater understanding of free speech issues
Much investment – human resources, financial resources, and more – is being made to enable student groups to hold events at Berkeley, even those that may include speech that is antithetical to our values. As a consequence, many on campus are calling for deep, incisive examination of our community values and what it means to uphold them.
To enable this discussion, the division of Equity and Inclusion (E&I) will revive the Campus Climate Speaker Series, which introduces powerful national voices, diverse scholars, cultural critics and activists to our collective discussion of campus climate. E&I will also launch a series of Community Affirmation and Empowerment workshops that will focus on helping our students, staff and faculty to thrive and affirm their varied, rich identities in our community, as well as our campus values.
Many activities are also being planned by academic and administrative units to affirm Berkeley’s commitment to a deep understanding of how these challenging times impact our campus’s diverse communities and climate.
Berkeley will uphold its campus values and principles of community by encouraging more speech. There is a Faculty Panel on Free Speech this Friday, September 9, and a series of Point-Counterpoint events will take place throughout the academic year. I hope you will make time to attend.
We will continue to add information and provide updates here.
Sincerely,
Paul Alivisatos, Executive Vice Chancellor and ProvostYou have to give this 2012 Broncos team credit - or blame, if you want - for one thing. They’ve become very predictable in certain particulars. And in this case, that’s not a bad thing.
It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a team so completely balanced and well-forged that it averaged over 30 points per game (30.1) yet gave up less than 20 points per game (18.1) in a season. A tight match was a seven-point victory.
Was it reminiscent of the 1998 Super Bowl run? Without question. Most of the time you have teams that have some strengths on both sides of the ball but one predominates, often heavily on one side of the line or the other. This team really doesn’t have any overpowering weaknesses, and none at all that can’t be accounted for with simple adjustments. That’s true for two reasons:
The first is that their players are walking embodiments of ‘next man up’, with a lot of skill, passion, and depth throughout the spectrum of the roster. Every successful team has to - but Denver can. No opponent sees Tony Carter or Mitch Unrein come on the field and thinks, “Oh, good.”
Manny Ramirez has stepped up in a big way, as he's been with the line long enough to learn their kind of communication.
Virgil Green began to earn receptions with his hard-nosed quality of play. Rahim Moore, Chris Harris Jr., the list goes on. Denver has some pieces that aren’t easily replaceable, but they have the kind of depth that was an illusion just a year ago.
The second reason is that they’re extremely well coached. The penalties they still commit should be symptomatic of a lack of firm coaching, but to be truthful, I haven’t seen any sign of that in most other areas. It’s strange to realize that part of it is most likely that they really haven’t been together as a group for even a full year, and to be still working out some issues is a normal part of that. There hasn’t been much normal about this year, so it just didn’t come up for me at first.
For me, this year was a long, slow upswing in comfort while watching games as my trust in them grew by the week, and things that would have had me walking out of the room in disgust barely ruffled my sense of interest. Somehow, they were always still in it at first, and then they were dictating the course of the game and the repetition of the early mistakes has lessened - at this point my concern about them tends to be fairly small.
They’re just that good. It’s not that the mistakes don’t concern me. It’s what they’ve done to people in the third quarter that has me fascinated by the outcome of the first half and eager to see how they adjust. I don’t recall watching any better adjustments, and the head coaching and coordinators (obviously including Peyton Manning) deserve a lot of praise on that.
They’re also still getting better as a team, regardless of how impressively they’re playing. That fact alone has to give pause to the remaining opposing coordinators, especially those offensive. I suspect that the increasing likelihood of Jack Del Rio's return will have the players even more pumped up. JDR is a man that the players want back as much as the fans do. Finally, hopefully, a DC who lasts more than one year - and what a DC he’s been.
“The hotter the fire, the stronger the steel” is an aphorism I like from Japanese swordmaking - it’s true in so much of life. A silk scarf could be dropped over the edge of one of their better blades and it would part in two from its own weight, which is not unlike what happened to San Diego in Week 6. The first half was definitely separated from the second and the Bolts were carved up with incredible precision.
This team has been through some burning flames on the way to the playoffs, but this is not the time to list them. If you’re a Broncos fan, they’re already seared onto your heart anyway. What’s come out on the other side of the tunnel is the kind of experience that a child will tell his friends at a 40th birthday party: about this sea change in the Broncos and how he got into sports with his father that year.
The bond that’s there between father and son when they are watching history being made in the world of sports has long brought them together, serving as a common ground that brings them closer. There’s a resonance, a clarity of excitement in the air that’s reminiscent of the time weeks before a million people were dancing in the streets after Super Bowl 32. It hasn’t risen that high, any more than the team is feeling like they’ve accomplished their goal. But it’s there, and it’s getting stronger.
To see them playing like this and coached like this, week after jaw-dropping week after week has been exhilarating. It was a reminder for me of the glow of the northern lights touching the peaks over Gore Range when I lived up there, of lying on the second meadow on the Mesa Cortina trail around the base of Buffalo Mountain, and watching meteor storms as they painted swaths of golden light that burst forth wildly, painting luminous streaks across the skies; of seeing the top ridges of the Western slope of the Continental lit bright and hotly aglow just before sunset, burning in the fading light with that singular orange-gold color that’s borne of the iron oxides in the soil and the lack of atmosphere that would slow the sun’s power up at 10,000 feet.
It was just Bronco orange, set on fire.
It was an awakening, watching the Denver skyline mature after I moved to Colorado from Chicago and began realizing the extent of community that was there, as a city and as a region. I was struck by how it was exemplified by the Broncos fans. I moved there during the first year of the Elway Super Bowls. It didn’t take long to join the dance. I’d already fallen in love with the beauty of the mountains, the clean scent of the snow, the jewel-like glitter of the bright sunlight off of the new fall, and the winds whispering through the pines. Broncos fandom was like the cherry on the sundae, the rug that really holds the room together.
I couldn’t help but notice the predictability in games that I started off watching yesterday and today. There has evolved an almost inevitable, methodical sameness to the games during the 11-game winning streak. It started in fits and starts early in the season but it was in the first San Diego game that it clawed its way out from hibernation, shook itself awake, threw back its head, and cried havoc. Soon there was a pattern to the victories, one after the other.
At some point, generally during the first half of a game, Peyton Manning, through his analysis of the defense and aided by circus catches and the separation gained by the receivers or via the crashing plunges of his running backs, gets the lead. That’s part one.
From there, the defensive line shuts down what’s left of the opponent's run game - which was rarely much - and goes to work on the hammering bull rushes and spinning, rip, swim, and stunt sacks that they made 52 of through the endless creativity of Jack Del Rio’s pass rushing attack. That’s part two.
That goes on for a while as the Broncos start to just run out the clock. A parting sack or two is performed around then and the game’s pretty much over. In one sense, it usually has been over for a while, too. Strike three and they’re out of here.
It’s been about that simple. Now on to the next season the real season, one at a time.
You can’t do it with gadgets and trickeration in the playoffs. I enjoy a nice surprise variation myself at times, but day in and out, on the road and at home, week in and out, Denver had to bring it by showing more skill, more determination, and more focus than the other guys. It’s what the Special Forces guys, those same guys who taught the Denver locker room to debrief without personal ego, sometimes say: “The man who trains more, wins.”
That’s exactly how it’s looked, too, in watching replays of the entire year. Despite fumbles and the occasional interception or big plays permitted (and there have been remarkably few of those as the year wore on) they’re simply better trained, due to their own efforts as individual players and some clear communication by the staff as to what they expect.
It started with the hiring of a legendary quarterback who some folks questioned with regard to his football business acumen and his choice of head coach in John Fox. The franchise was in tatters, and he vowed to change that. That’s in progress. It hasn’t ended yet, a fact that still has the power to shock me.
There’s something incredibly satisfying in seeing an ability to maintain the level of play that this entire group of men, playing together with a greater goal than their own as individuals, can achieve. The best teams often talk about the locker room chemistry and their love for each other. Schmaltzy? Sure. It’s a hard story to tell without superlatives, and I didn’t create it: I’m just a chronicler.
Denver’s put together a roster that has seen undrafted players like Chris Harris taking their roles by storm, and they’ve seen former first-rounders like Knowshon Moreno and Robert Ayers - who had looked like they were on their way out - suddenly turn their own futures and their games completely around. There are stars like Von Miller and Champ Bailey.
Sometimes the perfect guy for a job is already on your roster - he just usually needs to believe in himself, behave like it, and for the coach to see it and take a chance on him. Ask Wesley Woodyard about that. Congratulations to him on the Darrent Williams “Good Guy’ award.
One, two, three. It’s been as simple as that. Soon, the tests are bigger and the stakes even higher, but it’s still all football. Denver’s playing some of the best that I’ve ever seen in over five decades of watching. I’ve had the good fortune of watching a lot of very talented coaches and teams - Bill Walsh’s 49ers, the 1985 Bears defense (the offense was pretty good: the defense was unnatural), Elway’s back-to-back titles, the 2001 and 2009 Pats. Brilliant players, innovative coaches, new schemes and formations, head-shaking plays. These guys in Dove Valley?
They’re up there with the best of them. It feels a lot like 1998.10 Qs: Jinkx Monsoon Says the End of His Reign Is "Bittersweet"
Has there been a more successful winner of RuPaul's Drag Race? After getting crowned America's Next Drag Superstar, Jinkx Monsoon quickly parlayed his win into the successful cabaret act, The Vaudevillians, in addition to starring in Seattle productions of Hairspray and Hedwig and the Angry Inch while proving himself to be an entertainer both on and off the small screen. Now, as Monsoon's reign draws to a close, the performer is already plotting his next move. On Tuesday, Monsoon's his first full-length record, The Inevitable Album, debuts on iTunes giving fans new music to chew on.
Ahead of the album release, Monsoon answered Out's ten most burning questions and opened up about the new album, "The Bacon Shake"—which premiered exclusively on Out.com—and the queens of season 7.
Out: What inspired your new song "The Bacon Shake"?
Jinkx Monsoon: We met Fred Schneider after a performance of The Vaudevillians, and Major Scales [aka Richard Andriessen] and I just couldn't help but gush to him about how big of fans we were. Well, he must have taken a liking to us, because only a few days later, he contacted us about writing a song for our album.
We told him the vibe of the album and what we could use more of: upbeat, lively tracks. Well, Fred definitely delivered just that. He wrote the song based on the idea of Jinkx having once been prim and proper; but after her first wild party, she quickly turned into a "lady hurricane" who's ready to shake her goods for every boy at the bar. This worked very nicely for us.
LISTEN | The Premiere of Jinkx Monsoon's New Song, "The Bacon Shake," Featuring Fred Schneider
What was it like to work with Fred Schneider of The B-52's?
It was one of the most enjoyable experiences ever. Fred is one of the funniest people I've ever met. The B-52's is one of the bands that Major Scales and I bonded over when we first started working together. Fred came to the studio with lyrics, then on the spot worked out a melody and song structure with Major. It was awesome to watch Major compose a song with one of his heroes. They worked together like old friends and the song turned out brilliant.
Do you have a favorite The B-52's song?
I have so many! But one that I can always say is in my top three is "Your Own Private Idaho." There's nothing not to like about that song.
Should fans of The Vaudevillians expect more of that esthetic on the new album?
There are definitely elements of our vaudeville flair in the tracks on the album, but it also has much more of a contemporary sound than what you'd hear from The Vaudevillians. I think it bridges some genres together. Each song has a unique feel and inspiration. Some sound like dirty jazz, some sound more doo-wop, there's a true Broadway diva track, and even a dark and sultry tango track. But they all work together to tell the story of the album.
Will your Vaudevillians partner Richard Andriessen appear on the album?
Richard Andriessen not only wrote half of the songs on the album, but he was also the head music director. He also sings back up on a couple of tracks, and he joins me for a duet on the classic standard "Witchcraft." He's got a lovely, lounge-y bari-tenor singing voice.
What do you hope fans get out of The Inevitable Album?
What so many people tell me after seeing one of my live shows is that they had no idea what they were in for. Fans are always telling me that, even though they got a glimpse of my passion for singing on RuPaul's Drag Race, they couldn't have guessed just how much I put into my live singing performances. So what we wanted to do is try to capture the feeling of a live performance throughout the album. We tried to achieve this by using real instruments, and recording countless takes until we got the perfect one, so we could avoid relying on auto-tune or "Frankenstein" editing. I wanted this album to resemble the albums of my favorite singers from yesteryear, where you can hear the passion and the performance in their vocals because they haven't been over-processed to hell!
Are you sad that your reign as America's Next Drag Superstar is coming to a close?
It's bittersweet. So many opportunities opened up for me this year, and I've been able to accomplish so |
beef in Ohio, has tried and failed three times to win a board appointment as a farmer. “I don’t have anything against her,” Mr. Marchese says, referring to Ms. Beck. “She’s probably very smart. But how do you select someone who’s not an organic farmer to represent organic farmers?”
Driscoll’s nominated Ms. Beck for one of the handler seats — but Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, appointed her to one of the seats reserved for farmers.
Similarly, the three consumer seats have never been filled by anyone from a traditional consumer advocacy group like the Organic Consumers Association or the Consumers Union. Instead, those seats have largely gone to academics with agricultural expertise and to corporate executives.
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“If you fill the slots earmarked by Congress for independent voices with corporate voices, you greatly mitigate the safeguards built into the supermajority requirement of the law,” Mr. Kastel says.
MILES V. McEVOY, deputy administrator of the National Organic Program, says that all appointments are cleared with the Agriculture Department’s general counsel. “The board is designed to have interests and for the members to have biases and represent their particular interest groups,” he said. “We are trying to make sure the board represents the diversity of the American public and of organic agriculture.”
Alexis Baden-Mayer, political director at the Organic Consumers Association, says her group has no quibbles with that goal: “I understand that there are very few 100 percent organic businesses left. But to add someone from a company like General Mills that has such a big interest in promoting genetic engineering, promoting nanotechnology, promoting a variety of things that are so antithetical to organic principles, is that really necessary to achieve diversity?”
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She was referring to Katrina Heinze, a General Mills executive who was appointed to serve as a consumer representative on the board in December 2005 by Mike Johanns, the agriculture secretary at the time. The outcry over her appointment by advocates and independent organic consumers was so intense that she resigned in February 2006 — but rejoined the board late that year after Mr. Johanns appointed her to the seat designated by law for an expert in toxicology, ecology or biochemistry. During her second stint on the board, which ended last December, critics said they were shocked when she did not recuse herself from the vote to add DHA to the list, since its manufacturer sometimes uses technology licensed from General Mills in making it.
Ms. Heinze is responsible for food safety and regulatory matters at General Mills and has degrees in chemistry. She referred calls to General Mills, which in turn referred questions to the National Organic Program.
Driscoll’s was the only company that allowed an employee serving on the board to talk to The New York Times. The rest — even Cropp, the 1,400-farmer cooperative that sells more than $700 million in products, many under the Organic Valley brand — had more senior executives do the talking.
Organic purists would consider Cropp’s board representative, Wendy Fulwider, as one of the corporate executives on the board. During her tenure, Ms. Fulwider, Organic Valley’s animal-husbandry specialist, has voted almost in lock step with its corporate members, even though her vote may be supporting something Organic Valley does not allow its own members to do.
“Wendy’s a public citizen on that group and is supposed to vote what her own integrity is and not what our company’s view is,” said George Siemon, Cropp’s top executive and a former member of the organic standards board.
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Ms. Fulwider surprised many observers at a board meeting in May by voting in favor of keeping carrageenan on the organic list. Before that meeting, Organic Valley was saying that it planned to find an alternative to the additive, and there is a long and active list of consumer complaints on its Web site about the cooperative’s use of it in things like heavy cream and chocolate milk.
Ms. Fuldwider has also voted to let organic egg producers give their chickens just two square feet of living space, when Cropp requires its own farmers to provide five.
Most controversially, she voted to add DHA and ARA to the list for use in baby formulas. Milk fortified with DHA commands premium prices, and Mr. Siemon said Organic Valley had to have a version of its milk with the additive “because that’s what the consumer wants.”
He said, however, that Organic Valley uses DHA derived from fish, not the variety Ms. Fulwider approved for the list. “For us, algae didn’t seem like the real deal. It’s almost like a wannabe,” Mr. Siemon says. “But hey, what do I know? I’m told all the studies showing the benefits of DHA are based on the type from fish oil, so we use the type from fish oil.”
Mr. Siemon says Organic Valley’s goal is to eliminate all additives from its products. The cooperative, for instance, is working to find a substitute for carrageenan, which it uses to prevent separation in products like cream and chocolate milk.
AMID such issues, Mr. Potter has tasked his daughter, Yvonne Sturt, to find a way to preserve Eden’s independence after he’s gone. Four of his children are now involved in the business and, he says, they must earn any control of the family company.
“People keep telling me that all the work we’re doing with organic farming and agriculture and processing, some of that could be deemed charitable work,” he says. “Maybe we should start a church.”Romanian transporters plan large protest against Uber in Bucharest
The Confederation of Licensed Transport Operators in Romania (COTAR) plans a large protest in Bucharest on November 2, with 6,000 vehicles expected to participate.
In addition to asking law changes, the transporters also criticize the activity of Uber, which has become a serious competitor for taxis in Bucharest. They claim that the ride-sharing platform is dangerous for users.
The transporters oppose a new law initiative submitted to the Parliament, which aims to regulate alternative transport services such as Uber and other similar apps, which have been eating into the market of traditional taxi services.
“The protest has five main themes of which the Romanian Government is directly responsible. It’s important to know that we’re not asking for subsidies, we’re not asking for pay rises, we’re not affecting Romania’s budget with our demands, on the contrary, we ask the regulation of some laws, by Emergency Ordinance, to stop the abuses of some groups of interest from the Romanian Parliament that have changed laws to allow transport activity to be pirated,” reads a COTAR statement, cited by local News.ro.
The central theme of the protest is the “piracy” in road transport. The transporters accuse the authorities of not getting involved in combating this phenomenon, which has kept developing in the last years.
“Such firms carrying out illegal activities started promoting their services through ads and commercials: <<Over 40,000 customers and more than 2 million km done safely recommend us as the best and reliable transport company>>. Two key words are missing from this presentation, which the Romanian authorities should deal with: illegal and tax dodger,” according to COTAR.
The Confederation, which also represents some taxi companies’ interests, also criticizes the expansion of car-sharing Uber, which started operating in a second city in Romania this year – Cluj-Napoca. According to the transporters, the activities like the one carried out by Uber “are dangerous for the population,” because they allegedly involve more risks, and offer “improper” services. Moreover, consumer protection authorities are not checking them.
“All the players on the passenger transport market must be authorized under the applicable law, otherwise they are pirates,” reads the statement.
COTAR also proposes free transport for students, and a 5% VAT rate for companies with activates in passenger transport that perform regular trips.
Several transporters' associations in Romania have recently managed to convince the authorities to freeze the mandatory car insurance (RCA) premiums after massive protests in Bucharest and throughout Romania.
Taxi drivers in Bucharest have found a way to fight their Uber competitors
Uber goes low cost in Bucharest to draw more users and drivers
Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com“Haven’t you said in the past that all Rothkos look alike?,” an attorney asked art historian Stephen Polcari about the work of painter Mark Rothko, to muffled chuckles from the audience in the courtroom Tuesday afternoon. “Well yes,” Polcari replied. “He’s famous for having a signature style.”
Polcari was testifying in the United States District Court in Manhattan in the fraud trial involving Knoedler & Co. The attorney was for the plaintiffs in the case, Domenico De Sole and his wife Eleanore, who have sued Knoedler & Company and its former director and president Ann Freedman for selling them a fake work of art purportedly by Mark Rothko.
“So, as for that signature style,” the attorney continued, “from one to another, you can’t tell?” Polcari nodded his head.
Polcari, an Abstract Expressionist scholar who claimed during his testimony to be “strong on Rothko,” looked a bit sheepish. And beyond admitting that in many cases he can’t tell two Rothko paintings apart, or which way to hang them, he maintained that this is part of Rothko’s appeal.
Polcari was on the stand because he was paid $3,000 by Knoedler & Co. to produce ten research essays exploring the provenance and historical significance of the works acquired by the gallery from the Spanish dealer Glafira Rosales and later proven to be fake. He holds a PhD in art history from the University of California, has taught at several major universities, and published the acclaimed 1991 book Abstract Expressionism and the Modern Experience.
“Welcome to the world of art history,” Polcari quipped when the attorney for the plaintiffs pointed out that the fee he was paid by Knoedler for his work was ultimately a sum of just $300 per essay. Polcari claims he was not paid any additional money when the works sold, but did reveal that Freedman is footing the bill for his legal counsel. Polcari, who was affiliated with the gallery from the late 1990s through 2008, wasn’t specifically told what would ultimately come of the reports he produced for them.
Polcari’s reports, which were later used to help prove the legitimacy of the works to the De Soles and other buyers, not only assumed that the works he was writing about were authentic (based, essentially, on their presence at the well-regarded blue-chip gallery), but also praised their beauty, and suggested that they may have originally been purchased directly from the artists by the late Ab Ex artist Alfonso Ossorio, who assembled a collection of work by his contemporaries. This was later proven inaccurate in a report by the International Foundation of Art Research (IFAR), and also through Polcari’s own subsequent research.
Polcari admitted during his testimony Tuesday that he initially got the idea regarding their history with Ossorio from something Freedman said to him.
Strangely, even following his own conclusions regarding Ossorio, Polcari was still quick to call the IFAR report “amateurish” and “irrelevant” based on their use of information from Ossorio’s partner, Ted Dragon, who rightfully claimed to never have seen the works in their collection or elsewhere. He maintains that his reports were correct based on the fact that he was not asked to opine on the works’ authenticity, per se, but rather their importance in the context of the artists’ bodies of work.
“They were right,” Polcari concedes. “But you can be right for the wrong reasons.”
“You do understand that all of the works were fake?,” the plaintiffs’ attorney asked, to which Polcari responded that yes, he did acknowledge their illegitimacy.
“So you were wrong—every single time?”
“Well they were very good works,” Polcari responded, clearly a bit incensed. “They just happened to be done by other artists.”
Polcari, of course, hasn’t been the only art expert to take the stand. Art historian David Anfam, who authored the only Rothko catalogue raisonné in existence, finished his testimony from yesterday. He displayed the same outrage that he did yesterday over the suggestion by Freedman that he was going to include a Rothko work on paper owned by Knoedler in a catalog of Rothko’s works on paper. No such catalog, he said, was ever in the works.
Anfam maintained that while he never told Freedman he believed the works were “inauthentic,” he also never explicitly told her they were authentic. “I was never asked,” he repeated several times throughout his testimony.
Testimony continues on Wednesday.
Follow artnet News on Facebook:A VPN (virtual private network) is a great tool to protect your privacy and security while you use the internet, as well as a nifty means of working around geo-blocking. Whether you're at home or using public Wi-Fi while travelling, the best combine great pricing with security features and privacy guarantees that make them worth your trust. This week, we're looking at five of the best VPN providers, based on your nominations.
Photo by Maksim Kabakou
The best VPN services don't keep logs, protect your anonymity, don't discriminate against traffic or protocol types, offer exit servers to help you get around location-restricted content blocks, and deliver the best bang for your buck. It takes a lot to make a VPN service worth your trust, but there are some good choices out there. Here are some of the optionsyou thought were the best, in no specific order:
Private Internet Access is one of our favourite VPN service providers. As well as protecting your privacy and security by encrypting all of the traffic between your home computer and the service, but also anonymizes it and helps you get around regional content restrictions by giving you a choice of exit servers (close to 1000, in 10 different countries.) PIA doesn't log data about your session or connection details, it doesn't discriminate against protocols or IP addresses, and it doesn't host any data about its users activities at all.
It supports a number of different authentication and encryption methods, and is available virtually every mobile and desktop operating system. The pricing isn't bad either ($US7/month or $US40/year for up to five devices connected simultaneously.) PIA has made the list every time Torrentfreak has looked into privacy protecting VPN providers, and picked up an Editors Choice award from PCMag.
TorGuard's claim to fame is that it offers specific types of servers for different activities. That gives you the ability to connect to torrent-friendly services if you need to download something, or encryption and anonymity-friendly servers if you just need a little privacy and security. It's also one of the few VPN service providers to take DNS leaking seriously, and it even offers a test to make sure that your VPN isn't leaking DNS data.
Depending on your usage habits and patterns, TorGuard has different pricing plans. Its full VPN service will set you back $US10/month or $US60/year, while there are less expensive plans if you just want an anonymous proxy or a torrent proxy. Their full VPN service features over 200 exit servers in 18 countries, no logging or data retention of any kind, and the network is set up in a way that they actually have no information to collect on their user activities — TorGuard doesn't know what you're doing or when you're connected. The service delivered a really great response to Torrentfreak's questions that's well worth a read for more info. It handles multiple connectivity protocols, supports most desktop and mobile OSes, and even offers encrypted, offshore email service if you want to take advantage of it.
IPVanish takes an interesting approach to privacy and security. It uses shared IP addresses, so your activity can't be singled out from others using the service. They claim over 14,0000 IPs to share on over 100 exit servers in 47 different countries. You can choose where you'd prefer to connect, which again is perfect for getting around location restrictions, and encryption makes sure your traffic is safe from prying eyes. The service supports Windows, Mac and Ubuntu (although it wouldn't be too hard to stretch that to other distributions), along with iOS and Android, and offers configuration utilities so you can set your home router to connect to them as well. IPVanish doesn't discriminate against traffic types or port usage, and doesn't log anything. Accounts with IPVanish are $US10/month or $US78/year, and you can connect two devices at once (as long as they're using different protocols.)
CyberGhost has been around for a long time, offering to encrypt all of the data that passes through your connection and anonymise your location. It offers free and paid subscription plans, so if you just need a little security on the go, you may be able to get away with a free account. The service went through a massive overhaul about a year ago, removing traffic and bandwidth restrictions for free accounts, and improving security. CyberGhost doesn't log any traffic or user data. It offers choice of exit servers in 23 different countries (free users can pick from one of 14), and you can see server status at any time. The clients are easy to use, support virtually every mobile and desktop platform, and don't discriminate against traffic types, protocols or IP addresses (in fact, CyberGhost just donated 10,000 licences to users in Turkey to get around recent location blocks in that country.)
The only major difference between free and pro CyberGhost accounts is that free accounts disconnect after 3 hours, and are limited to the official client, while pro accounts can use other connection protocols and have far more servers in more countries to choose from. You'll pay $US7/month or $US40/year for a premium account, but if you need more than one device connected at any given time, you'll need to step up to Premium Plus, at $US11/month and $US70/year.
Do-It-Yourself
Naturally, the DIY approach is popular at Lifehacker. If you don't need exit servers in different countries, and your primary requirement is to encrypt and secure your data when you're away from home, you can roll yout own VPN with OpenVPN or a number of other free, open-source tools. Many of the best routers on the market support OpenVPN. Alternatively, DD-WRT or Tomato firmware both offer VPN, so if you can install either of those on your router, you'll be set. The beauty of a home-rolled VPN is that you get to set the level of encryption, and you have complete control over who connects, who has access to what parts of your home network, and where your data goes from there.
This setup is particularly appealing for people travelling who want to encrypt their data while they're on the road, but if you work with a couple of friends, it's easy to set up a mesh network that would get you around content restrictions and port blocks. Similarly, advanced users can fire up a VPN on their preferred host or VPS provider and keep their VPN running there while they connect to it when necessary. You won't receive quite as much as a professional VPN service provides, but you might get everything that you need at no cost.
We'll also give the nod to AirVPN, a popular pick around Lifehacker HQ. You can forward remote ports, pick and choose exit services in multiple countries, and even generate an OpenVPN config through its wizard to connect your home network to their service all the time.
VyprVPN was a popular nomination, in part because it works hand-in-hand with Giganews, the Usenet service provider. Ultimately, we left it out because the company has a history of logging user data, and doesn't seem overly willing to discuss how long it retains its logs for.
A final note on a point we mentioned when we talked about how to tell if your VPN provider is trustworthy. Don't fall into the "geography trap" of assuming that an overseas VPN or one outside your country is somehow safer or more committed to privacy than ones based in your own or subject to your own laws. A local VPN that doesn't keep logs and has none to turn over is more trustworthy than an overseas VPN that logs everything and is happy to turn your data over to anyone who asks — and there are definitely VPN providers that fall in both categories.
As always, the Hive Five list is based on nominations from the Lifehacker US site. If there are particular services you've found work better (or worse) in Australia, we'd love to hear about them in the comments.We just got back from the Spokane Arena, where we were dazzled by a glam-rock press conference to fullfil the arena's promise of a "ginormous" concert announcement.
With stacks of the speakers and guitars lined up on a small stage, arena management got on the mic and announced that....drum roll....VAN HALEN is coming to Spokane on August 21.
One of our Facebook fans actually predicted this.
Tickets go on sale Saturday, May 19 at ticketswest.com and the Arena's box office. Tickets start at $49.50 and go all the way up to $125.
Purist Van Halen fans will be pleased to know that this is Van Halen, not Van Hagar. By which we mean that David Lee Roth, the band's original flamboyant front man, will be in tow. It's the first time they've been in Spokane since 2002.
Van Halen released a new album, A Different Kind of Truth earlier this year, which is the band's first record with Roth since the iconic 1984. Released, duh, in 1984.
Here's a video from the new album.LAHORE: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Tuesday said Army will extend full support for holding Pakistan Super League (PSL) final in Lahore, ARY News reported.
Chairing a security meeting at Corps Headquarters in Lahore, the COAS said that such incidents could neither lower our national resolve nor affect ongoing efforts against terrorism.
“Sacrifice of your son and those of our nation shall not go waste”, #COAS. pic.twitter.com/0aobRQWAMY — Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 14, 2017
The COAS said that terrorists of all hue and colour, their masters, financiers, planners and abettors including from outside will be hunted across the country, held accountable and responded to. Our gains over the years cannot be reversed, he added.
He appreciated efforts of intelligence agencies in tracing culprits of last night blast which have resulted in to important apprehensions overnight including few Afghans. He directed to expedite efforts to unearth complete network.
“We have to defeat this inhuman brutal mindset and as a nation we shall”,#COAS. pic.twitter.com/HmWqgGJar9 — Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 14, 2017
“Army will extend full support to all concerned for holding the event as scheduled,” he said while talking about its linkage to sabotage forthcoming PSL final match in Lahore.
Commander Lahore Corps and Intelligence Agencies Lieutenant General Sadiq Ali, briefed him on the last night suicide blast on Mall Road.
Later, COAS visited bereaved family of Shaheed DIG Ahmed Mubeen and offered Fatiha.
Talking to mother of the Shaheed, COAS said that sacrifice of his brave son and those by the nation shall not go waste. “We have to defeat this inhuman brutal mindset and as a nation we shall.”
#COAS visited Lhr. Ts of all hue/colour, their masters, financiers, planners & abetters incl from outside will be hunted across the country. pic.twitter.com/9uF8OnlWTb — Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) February 14, 2017
He also expressed his grief and condolences with other bereaved families of the last night blast. COAS also visited injured at Services Hospital.
It is pertinent to note here that on Monday, a terrorist attack near Punjab Assembly claimed at least 13 lives including two top police officials of the province.
The suicide attack killed 13 people including DIG Traffic Lahore Capt. Mubeen and SSP Zahid Gondal who were holding talks with pharmacists staging a sit in on Mall Road.
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Jonah Goldberg today:
The establishment-press position is that Mitt Romney outrageously jumped the gun in his condemnation of the Obama administration’s response to the attacks on our embassies….I understand and can respect the opposing point of view, by the way. I don’t think it’s ridiculous to argue that Romney jumped the gun. I do think, however, the obsession with the issue is beyond ridiculous.
I’m not surprised that conservatives are trying so hard to change the subject here, but we shouldn’t let them. For the record, then: the unseemly haste of Romney’s comment following the 9/11 attacks on the embassy in Cairo was, at best, a distant third of three reasons that most of us were so disgusted with him. Remember, this is what Romney said:
It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.
There are two big problems with this:
It’s a lie. The embassy statement Romney is referring to was issued several hours before the attack. It was not a response to the attacks. It’s scurrilous to suggest that Obama “sympathized” with the attackers. There was nothing in the embassy statement that suggested any kind of sympathy, and the actual first response from the Obama administration very clearly condemned the attacks.
Later, of course, Romney denounced the anti-Islam video at the heart of the current riots, thus taking exactly the same stand as both the embassy and the Obama administration. So when he issued his statement late on the evening of 9/11, he knew perfectly well that the embassy statement hadn’t been issued in response to the attacks and he knew perfectly well that he agreed with the sentiments in the statement anyway. That’s what made his response so odious. The fact that he was so eager to score cheap political points was just a small added fillip.A deputy Ohio inspector general violated ethics laws by seeking and accepting a job with the Department of Natural Resources while involved in investigations involving the agency.
A deputy Ohio inspector general violated ethics laws by seeking and accepting a job with the Department of Natural Resources while involved in investigations involving the agency.
The Columbus city prosecutor�s office on Thursday entered an agreement with the deputy inspector general, Ron Nichols, settling the case against him without pursuing a first-degree misdemeanor charge.
Nichols admitted that while actively investigating cases involving the natural resources department, he applied for and accepted a job as a law-enforcement program administrator in 2013, but did not go to work for the agency once he learned it constituted an ethics violation.
The Ohio Ethics Commission conducted the investigation and forwarded its findings to the city prosecutor�s office, stating that Nichols potentially violated a law prohibiting public employees from seeking employment with agencies they regulate or investigate.
The prosecutor�s office found that Nichols� involvement in ODNR investigations while seeking a job did not compromise the cases.
There was no evidence suggesting Nichols used his investigative position to secure an interview or offer of employment from ODNR, the settlement agreement said.
Nichols agreed to not seek a job from the natural resources department for two years and to receive additional ethics laws training.
The inspector general�s office referred the matter to the Ohio Ethics Commission for investigation. Nichols, a retired state trooper, remains with the inspector general�s office and was not disciplined, said Carl Enslen, spokesman for the office. Nichols voluntarily reported the potential violation, Enslen said. ODNR spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle said, "We would have never knowingly granted an interview if we thought it might be an ethics violation."
An investigation involving Nichols accused 18 wildlife officers of hunting for deer while on duty and pocketing state pay. DNR then interviewed the officers, checked records and concluded the inspector general�s charges could not be verified and largely were attributable to shoddy record keeping.
The inspector general�s office was upset with DNR, even accusing the agency of withholding records.
That investigation was caught up in appeals when Nichols sought a job with ODNR, officials said, but he still was involved in other cases involving the agency.
rludlow@dispatch.com
@RandyLudlowThis post courtesy of ECS Sr. Software Dev Engineer Anirudh Aithal.
Today, AWS announced task networking for Amazon ECS. This feature brings Amazon EC2 networking capabilities to tasks using elastic network interfaces.
An elastic network interface is a virtual network interface that you can attach to an instance in a VPC. When you launch an EC2 virtual machine, an elastic network interface is automatically provisioned to provide networking capabilities for the instance.
A task is a logical group of running containers. Previously, tasks running on Amazon ECS shared the elastic network interface of their EC2 host. Now, the new awsvpc networking mode lets you attach an elastic network interface directly to a task.
This simplifies network configuration, allowing you to treat each container just like an EC2 instance with full networking features, segmentation, and security controls in the VPC.
In this post, I cover how awsvpc mode works and show you how you can start using elastic network interfaces with your tasks running on ECS.
Background: Elastic network interfaces in EC2
When you launch EC2 instances within a VPC, you don’t have to configure an additional overlay network for those instances to communicate with each other. By default, routing tables in the VPC enable seamless communication between instances and other endpoints. This is made possible by virtual network interfaces in VPCs called elastic network interfaces. Every EC2 instance that launches is automatically assigned an elastic network interface (the primary network interface). All networking parameters—such as subnets, security groups, and so on—are handled as properties of this primary network interface.
Furthermore, an IPv4 address is allocated to every elastic network interface by the VPC at creation (the primary IPv4 address). This primary address is unique and routable within the VPC. This effectively makes your VPC a flat network, resulting in a simple networking topology.
Elastic network interfaces can be treated as fundamental building blocks for connecting various endpoints in a VPC, upon which you can build higher-level abstractions. This allows elastic network interfaces to be leveraged for:
VPC-native IPv4 addressing and routing (between instances and other endpoints in the VPC)
Network traffic isolation
Network policy enforcement using ACLs and firewall rules (security groups)
IPv4 address range enforcement (via subnet CIDRs)
Why use awsvpc?
Previously, ECS relied on the networking capability provided by Docker’s default networking behavior to set up the network stack for containers. With the default bridge network mode, containers on an instance are connected to each other using the docker0 bridge. Containers use this bridge to communicate with endpoints outside of the instance, using the primary elastic network interface of the instance on which they are running. Containers share and rely on the networking properties of the primary elastic network interface, including the firewall rules (security group subscription) and IP addressing.
This means you cannot address these containers with the IP address allocated by Docker (it’s allocated from a pool of locally scoped addresses), nor can you enforce finely grained network ACLs and firewall rules. Instead, containers are addressable in your VPC by the combination of the IP address of the primary elastic network interface of the instance, and the host port to which they are mapped (either via static or dynamic port mapping). Also, because a single elastic network interface is shared by multiple containers, it can be difficult to create easily understandable network policies for each container.
The awsvpc networking mode addresses these issues by provisioning elastic network interfaces on a per-task basis. Hence, containers no longer share or contend use these resources. This enables you to:
Run multiple copies of the container on the same instance using the same container port without needing to do any port mapping or translation, simplifying the application architecture.
Extract higher network performance from your applications as they no longer contend for bandwidth on a shared bridge.
Enforce finer-grained access controls for your containerized applications by associating security group rules for each Amazon ECS task, thus improving the security for your applications.
Associating security group rules with a container or containers in a task allows you to restrict the ports and IP addresses from which your application accepts network traffic. For example, you can enforce a policy allowing SSH access to your instance, but blocking the same for containers. Alternatively, you could also enforce a policy where you allow HTTP traffic on port 80 for your containers, but block the same for your instances. Enforcing such security group rules greatly reduces the surface area of attack for your instances and containers.
ECS manages the lifecycle and provisioning of elastic network interfaces for your tasks, creating them on-demand and cleaning them up after your tasks stop. You can specify the same properties for the task as you would when launching an EC2 instance. This means that containers in such tasks are:
Addressable by IP addresses and the DNS name of the elastic network interface
Attachable as ‘IP’ targets to Application Load Balancers and Network Load Balancers
Observable from VPC flow logs
Access controlled by security groups
This also enables you to run multiple copies of the same task definition on the same instance, without needing to worry about port conflicts. You benefit from higher performance because you don’t need to perform any port translations or contend for bandwidth on the shared docker0 bridge, as you do with the bridge networking mode.
Getting started
If you don’t already have an ECS cluster, you can create one using the create cluster wizard. In this post, I use “ awsvpc-demo ” as the cluster name. Also, if you are following along with the command line instructions, make sure that you have the latest version of the AWS CLI or SDK.
Registering the task definition
The only change to make in your task definition for task networking is to set the networkMode parameter to awsvpc. In the ECS console, enter this value for Network Mode.
If you plan on registering a container in this task definition with an ECS service, also specify a container port in the task definition. This example specifies an NGINX container exposing port 80:
This creates a task definition named “ nginx-awsvpc" with networking mode set to awsvpc. The following commands illustrate registering the task definition from the command line:
$ cat nginx-awsvpc.json { "family": "nginx-awsvpc", "networkMode": "awsvpc", "containerDefinitions": [ { "name": "nginx", "image": "nginx:latest", "cpu": 100, "memory": 512, "essential": true, "portMappings": [ { "containerPort": 80, "protocol": "tcp" } ] } ] }
$ aws ecs register-task-definition --cli-input-json file://./nginx-awsvpc.json
Running the task
To run a task with this task definition, navigate to the cluster in the Amazon ECS console and choose Run new task. Specify the task definition as “ nginx-awsvpc “. Next, specify the set of subnets in which to run this task. You must have instances registered with ECS in at least one of these subnets. Otherwise, ECS can’t find a candidate instance to attach the elastic network interface.
You can use the console to narrow down the subnets by selecting a value for Cluster VPC:
Next, select a security group for the task. For the purposes of this example, create a new security group that allows ingress only on port 80. Alternatively, you can also select security groups that you’ve already created.
Next, run the task by choosing Run Task.
You should have a running task now. If you look at the details of the task, you see that it has an elastic network interface allocated to it, along with the IP address of the elastic network interface:
You can also use the command line to do this:
$ aws ecs run-task --cluster awsvpc-ecs-demo --network-configuration "awsvpcConfiguration={subnets=["subnet-c070009b"],securityGroups=["sg-9effe8e4"]}" nginx-awsvpc $ aws ecs describe-tasks --cluster awsvpc-ecs-demo --task $ECS_TASK_ARN --query tasks[0] { "taskArn": "arn:aws:ecs:us-west-2:xx..x:task/f5xx-...", "group": "family:nginx-awsvpc", "attachments": [ { "status": "ATTACHED", "type": "ElasticNetworkInterface", "id": "xx..", "details": [ { "name": "subnetId", "value": "subnet-c070009b" }, { "name": "networkInterfaceId", "value": "eni-b0aaa4b2" }, { "name": "macAddress", "value": "0a:47:e4:7a:2b:02" }, { "name": "privateIPv4Address", "value": "10.0.0.35" } ] } ],... "desiredStatus": "RUNNING", "taskDefinitionArn": "arn:aws:ecs:us-west-2:xx..x:task-definition/nginx-awsvpc:2", "containers": [ { "containerArn": "arn:aws:ecs:us-west-2:xx..x:container/62xx-...", "taskArn": "arn:aws:ecs:us-west-2:xx..x:task/f5x-...", "name": "nginx", "networkBindings": [], "lastStatus": "RUNNING", "networkInterfaces": [ { "privateIpv4Address": "10.0.0.35", "attachmentId": "xx.." } ] } ] }
When you describe an “awsvpc” task, details of the elastic network interface are returned via the “attachments” object. You can also get this information from the “containers” object. For example:
$ aws ecs describe-tasks --cluster awsvpc-ecs-demo --task $ECS_TASK_ARN --query tasks[0].containers[0].networkInterfaces[0].privateIpv4Address "10.0.0.35"
Conclusion
The nginx container is now addressable in your VPC via the 10.0.0.35 IPv4 address. You did not have to modify the security group on the instance to allow requests on port 80, thus improving instance security. Also, you ensured that all ports apart from port 80 were blocked for this application without modifying the application itself, which makes it easier to manage your task on the network. You did not have to interact with any of the elastic network interface API operations, as ECS handled all of that for you |
don’t have that much sympathy when it’s about money.”
Wolf, who got her first wolf dog 40 years ago, cites the strength of the ranching lobby as the reason why Cochise County continues to participate in the litigation so strongly.
“I don’t really see the wolves as being any kind of huge threat to ranching around here,” Wolf said. “But I’m not a rancher, and I’m a vegetarian.”
The conflicting interests of the area — its economic value in the livestock industry and its historic role as the wolf’s native range — will remain at odds until all sides can understand each other, said Searles, the conservation center director.
“It always comes down to human-wildlife conflict,” Searles said. “You don’t want the ranchers to go out of business, but you want the wolves to be there so we can all live together, because the wolves were here long before us.”
Both advocates, opponents against the feds
The Mexican wolf is the smallest and rarest subspecies of gray wolf. Over a century ago, the heart of its territory was the Sierra Madre mountain range in Mexico, spanning upward into the southwestern United States.
In 1915, to protect livestock and ranchland, the United States government began to contribute to what ranchers were already using to eliminate the wolf, from trapping to shooting to poisoning.
The species was listed as endangered in 1976, and in 1982, Fish and Wildlife passed an interim recovery plan. That plan was left incomplete because the wolf was so critically endangered — only seven wolves remained from which to recover the population.
Since then, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made multiple efforts to develop a full recovery plan, composing recovery teams whose meetings have been canceled and drafting plans that never got finalized, Robinson said. Fish and Wildlife expects to have a plan completed by the end of 2017, Barrett said.
Lawsuits against the service from the Center for Biological Diversity as well as the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Attorney General’s Office both focus on Fish and Wildlife’s failure to develop a full recovery plan with the most recent science.
The lack of a recovery plan also crops up in the lawsuit Cochise County is taking part in, which states that the January 2015 rule is proceeding “without any regard to recovery and without regard to any informed population objective … and without regard for the lives and property of those who will suffer as a result of its hasty actions.”
No matter the argument, on all sides of the debate, emotions run high. And they have throughout history.
“Actions taken against a predator that causes loss of dollars and food and that competes with man for wild prey inevitably take on the emotional overtones of a crusade,” the 1982 recovery plan states. “Any recovery effort must still deal with the residues of that emotion.”
Ensuring the wolf’s survival
While Cochise County continues to spend money on litigation against the rule expanding the Mexican wolf’s experimental population area, no wolves are in the area now, and they’re not likely to move that way soon, Robinson from the Center for Biological Diversity said.
If the wolf population does expand, U.S. Fish and Wildlife expects it to head westward across the Mogollon Rim, where there are more elk, Barrett said.
Some think the population should be focused outside the United States entirely. Searle, along with Gov. Doug Ducey, believes most of the recovery efforts should take place in Mexico, where the majority of the wolf population originally lived.
But Mexico and the United States partner in their handling of the wolf reintroduction. Barrett and other Fish and Wildlife employees were in Mexico City earlier this month to discuss habitat mapping for the wolf.
Like the United States, Mexico has its own rules to deal with endangered species such as the Mexican wolf. The “constant collaboration between both nations” is necessary to ensure the species’ survival, according to researchers with Mexico City’s director of zoos and wildlife.
“That is to say, Mexico and the United States possess the same responsibilities,” they wrote in an emailed statement. Southern Arizona is good habitat for the wolf, they added. According to the statement, only three wolves have been confirmed living in the wild in Mexico.
Opponents in the U.S. still fear wolves will eventually make their way into Cochise County.
“Ultimately, if this is done, they will be here sooner or later,” said Searle, the county chair.
Given the recent drop in the counted population of Mexican wolves in the United States — from 110 to 97 — it’s unlikely they’ll be venturing outside of where they already live, Robinson said.
“What happens when instead of going from five wolves to eight wolves, you go from five wolves to three wolves?” Robinson said. “You obviously have less of a density-dependent impetus to disperse. And that’s what we saw last year.”
One speculated reason for the population decline is a lack of genetic diversity. The current wild population’s genetic diversity is low because the group’s genes come from just one segment of the already small group used to restore the population decades ago.
In order to survive, then, the wild population needs the introduction of new wolves from the captive population to increase its diversity, Robinson said.
Allowing Mexican wolves to roam in places like Cochise County is part of the strategy for their conservation, Robinson said. Today, it isn’t a serious expectation for the future.In fiction writing, one way of creating an interesting plot is to put a character into a trap and let him figure his way out. The harder, more dangerous or awkward the situation, the more interesting the story. We love watching a protagonist struggle and learn, adapt and grow.
The reason structured game ultimately fails long term is because life isn’t structured. It’s a chaotic fucking mess of invariables, pain and suffering with brief interludes of peace and joy.
The path to success with women is not a straight line with pretty little road signs pointing you in the proper direction. It doesn’t look like:
Approach girl. Talk to girl. Touch girl. Kiss girl. Get married.
If only life were so peachy. That list didn’t mention she has a secret Ketamine habit, racist tendencies and a $120,000 student loan (art school.)
We’re taught to go to college, get good grades, find a job and listen to the boss, buy a house, pump out a few kids, go to Disney Land a few times, Mexico a few times, get a promotion or two, and save for retirement.
Unless you have Robin Williams from “Dead Poets Society” for English class, we’re not taught creativity or independence. We’re not taught to question authority, to consider that our society’s values are twisted and sick or that there could be an alternative lifestyle that doesn’t involve a house in the suburbs, a mortgage you can’t afford and a family you never see, (or maybe even like.)
“Tell me about your day son!?”
“Well Dad. I masturbated to Internet porn, chatted on Facebook, then Twitter, stuffed my face with microwaved perogies and played Call of Duty before passing out in front of Netflicks. Can I have twenty dollars?”
There are those of us who will never challenge the status quo, never read a self-help book, never take a meditation class, never start a business, never approach a hot girl, never try a hallucinogenic drug, never try polygamy, never travel, never perform on stage, never stand out.
And that’s ok. It’s up to you to create the sort of life you want. If you want a nice, normal life…follow the guidelines set out for you. Wait until you are introduced to your fiancé through Jimmy at the office during the staff Christmas party. Stay at your job you fucking hate because it’s “safe.”
Or you could put yourself into those awkward, scary, weird situations that cause you to question reality, your values and everything you thought to be true.
***Follow me on Twitter and Facebook, down there on the right.***
***Having trouble approaching and attracting women? I’ve been travelling and teaching in field pickup for six years, full time. Take action today.**** DOE approval is for exports to all major LNG importers
* Cheniere can export 803 bcf of gas per year
* Cheniere plans to bring export project online in 2015
* LNG.A shares rise more than 30 percent (Recasts, adds details throughout, analyst and CEO quotes)
By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) - Cheniere Energy ( LNG.A
Assuming Cheniere is granted a subsequent license from U.S. power regulators to build an export plant in Louisiana, it may become the first company to ship LNG abroad since the production of vast shale reserves flooded the U.S. market in recent years.
Cheniere has the authorization to export up to 803 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year to major LNG importers across the globe, from Brazil to Japan, in the form of liquefied natural gas, Cheniere said. That amounts to more than 3 percent of U.S. gas consumption.
“With the unprecedented growth in unconventional reserves, supply of natural gas (in the United States) continues to outpace demand dramatically,” said Cheniere chief executive Charif Souki.
“The U.S. has an opportunity to become a significant supplier in the global energy markets,” he added.
Cheniere’s shares rose more than 30 percent to $10.20 per share on the news.
The Houston-based company already had approval to export natural gas to countries with which the United States has a free-trade agreement, a group that excludes all major importers. Friday’s move opens up the export to all importing nations.
Cheniere expects the export plant will come online in 2015 on the site of its existing LNG import terminal in Louisiana. The plant will cool the natural gas to liquid for shipping overseas in specially designed tankers.
The approval is subject to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission giving authorization to build the export plant. FERC is conducting an environmental assessment of the project.
“The FERC approval is procedural and we do not expect any problems with that,” Souki told Reuters in a phone interview.
He said the company expects to break ground on the project by the first quarter of 2012, and to begin signing firm supply agreements within 60 to 90 days.
EXPORT WAVE
The first and only U.S. LNG export plant was built in Alaska 40 years ago, but is now in the process of shutting down because it is no longer competitive with newer suppliers in Asia. In its place, a wave of new export proposals have emerged to ship low-cost U.S. gas to high-paying markets overseas.
Cheniere is the most advanced of three U.S. export projects in various stages of regulatory review, including Southern Union’s Lake Charles project in Louisiana and the Freeport LNG project in Texas. Two other projects are under review for export from Canada to Asian markets.
“Three or four years ago, the knee-jerk response would have been that we’re running out of gas, but I think political support for this has been building,” said Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank in Washington D.C.
“Given the reserve additions in shale gas, it’s certainly not an issue from a supply and demand standpoint,” he added.
For a factbox showing North American export projects under consideration, click here: [ID:nN10179854]
LOW US PRICES
The bet is that low U.S. gas prices, pressured by large domestic production increases since 2007, will remain far enough below Asian and European prices for profitable export over a long time period.
With U.S. gas prices around $4 per million British thermal units, Cheniere believes it can sell LNG ready for shipping in Louisiana for less than $7, arriving in Europe for about $8 per mmBtu, Souki told Reuters.
Gas futures in major importer Britain were about $9.30 per mmBtu on Friday. Asian spot LNG prices rose above $13.
“With most analysts forecasting (U.S.) gas prices to remain below $6 per mmBtu over the next few years, the incentive to move quickly on LNG exports is high, and we expect effort to speed-up export proposals,” Sieminski said in a note earlier on Friday.
(Additional reporting by Joe Silha in New York and Tom Doggett in Washington, editing by Jonathan Leff and Sofina Mirza-Reid)On Friday night, the United States men's national team turned in an awful performance, losing 2-0 away to Guatemala. It was their first loss to the Guatemalans in any match since 1988 and their first loss to the Blue and Whites in World Cup qualifying ever. Naturally, fans are looking for answers.
There's a theory going around that the USMNT's struggles are more down to a player pool that is thin and lacking in quality than the decisions of head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. Here's a simple counter-argument.
Presented below is an incomplete, curated list of some interesting players who received 10 or more national team caps during the Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley eras.
Kenny Cooper
Edson Buddle
Robbie Findley
Jeff Cunningham
Richard Mulrooney
Santino Quaranta
Freddy Adu
Conor Casey
Kerry Zavagnin
Chris Klein
Chris Albright
David Regis
Ante Razov
Pat Noonan
While he's outside of the parameters I've set for this discussion, we should mention 15-cap winner Zak Ibsen, who got caps in 1996 while playing indoor soccer.
Here are some guys who got 30 or more caps.
Jonathan Bornstein
Heath Pearce
Ricardo Clark
40-plus.
Clarence Goodson
Benny Feilhaber
Sacha Kljestan
50-plus.
Josh Wolff!
All of the above-listed players had very good professional careers and at least one great game for the USMNT. This post isn't meant to be disrespectful to any of them. But of the above-listed players, which ones would crack the current USMNT at their best? Any of them? Feilhaber, Kljestan, Bornstein and Clark are arguably playing better for their clubs now than they did when they were regulars under Bradley.
The United States men's national team does not have a player pool problem. It has a player selection and utilization problem.What would it look like if the President of the United States punished American businesses he didn’t like, or news organizations that reported things he didn’t like?
It would look like this: Trump’s Department of Justice is threatening to scuttle AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner unless the merged companies dump CNN and Turner, the cable unit that houses CNN, according to a source familiar with the DOJ’s review.
The Financial Times first reported the news today, as did the New York Times.
We got a hint of this this morning, when AT&T’s CFO said he wasn’t sure when the deal would close — though he still thought it would close.
We could spend time discussing why this makes no sense under conventional antitrust law, since AT&T/Time Warner is a “vertical” merger, where the two companies are in different lines of business.
But don’t ask us. Ask antitrust expert Makan Delrahim, who announced last year that the proposed deal shouldn’t be a problem.
Except now Delrahim has apparently changed his mind. Or, more precisely, Delrahim now works for Donald Trump as the head of antitrust at the DOJ.
Since then, Delrahim has been signaling that he may have problems with AT&T/Time Warner after all.
Sober industry observers — including ones that had problems with the deal — figured that Delrahim wanted to slow down approval of the deal, perhaps because he didn’t want to rubber stamp it.
And if he did have problems with it, a logical place to look would be AT&T’s ownership of HBO, which rival pay TV networks had argued would give HBO unfair footing.
Nope. Per the FT, “It’s all about CNN,” which makes sense if you are a leader of a banana republic who believes that news outlets that report stories critical of your leadership are “fake news.”
Or, if you don’t really think that but know that saying that sort of thing riles up the people who voted for you. Just like complaining about NFL players who engage in silent protest before the start of games whips them up.
If the deal ends up in court, odds are very good that AT&T and Time Warner could win (again, ask 2016-era Delrahim).
But just the threat of a long legal battle could be enough to break up the deal. It’s one thing for AT&T to say it wants to spend $86 billion to buy Time Warner. It’s another to say it wants to spend years in court to get the deal done.
Ever since Trump’s election a year ago, we’ve seen business leaders attempt to play up to Trump’s tinpot tendencies by agreeing to show up to public events with him and telling him they are taking his concerns Very Seriously.
Some have gone a step further, telling him they are changing the way they do business now that he’s there: Intel, SoftBank and IBM, for instance, have sought to attribute their hiring or investment pledges to Trump, even though their expansion plans were well under way before Trump took office.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has played along as well. Stephenson visited Trump Tower before Trump officially took office, and months later pledged to invest $1 billion in the United States if the U.S. government secured tax reforms.
Now it looks like that’s not enough to satisfy Trump. And that’s chilling: Not just for people who think press outlets should be free to report critically on the government without fear of repercussion. But for business leaders who thought that they could please Trump with a bit of bowing and scraping.We have no plans to celebrate any conviction, since all possible “legal” outcomes point squarely toward a re-imagined Jim Crow justice
A verdict is coming in the trial of George Zimmerman, for the cold-blooded murder of Trayvon Martin. We don’t know what the mostly white jury will decide, but this much we do know: there will be NO justice for Trayvon or the thousands of others like him.
Zimmerman may be acquitted, and while this would be a slap in the face, the entire trial has been a slap in the face, the media campaign to demonize this young man is a slap in the face, and the entire system of racial profiling, mass incarceration, capitalist exploitation, and police terror is a slap in the face and a punch in the gut.
Trayvon Martin stood his ground, and we applaud him, although it didn’t save his life and has been used to justify his death.
Zimmerman is certainly worthy of a murder conviction, but even this unlikely outcome doesn’t bring Trayvon back certainly does not mean an end to similar vigilante executions or the more official executions carried out daily by police. A conviction would serve as false “proof” that we are truly post-racial, that justice has been served, something we know is a brutal lie.
A manslaughter verdict would be even worse than an acquittal: the “justice” system could crow about how it had delivered the goods while Zimmerman is locked up for a couple of measly years. We have no plans to celebrate any conviction, since all possible “legal” outcomes point squarely toward a re-imagined Jim Crow justice, where only those interested in upholding a white supremacist and classist status quo will find freedom.
Thus we ask you to stand up on your block, in your community, in your city and join us in the streets at 6pm on the day of the verdict, regardless of what it is. Come to express your sorrow, your rage, and your continuing demand for justice for Trayvon and beyond.
The legal system won’t save us, as the California Hunger Strikers remind us.
The clergy won’t save us, and some are already teaming up with the police to prevent the righteous anger of the people from being expressed.
The politicians damn sure won’t save us.
Only we can save us.
A list of events on the day of the verdict can be found at: http://TrayvonOC.wordpress.com
To connect with the Organizing Committee and plan a local event, please email: TrayvonOC@gmail.com
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The procedure is still in an experimental phase with just a handful of surgeries that have borne positive results.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has given permission to a Bengaluru-based hospital to carry out the much-debated uterus transplant procedure. This is the first time that the technology is being brought to India.
Uterus or womb transplant is carried out on women who are born without a uterus (a congenital abnormality called MRKH Syndrome), or on those who have lost their uterus to a disease.
A promising development, the surgery enables women to get pregnant and bear children.
However, the procedure is still in an experimental phase with just a handful of surgeries that have borne positive results.
Milann, a fertility clinic in Bengaluru, has collaborated with Dr Mats Brannstron, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, to perform uterus transplants in India.
Dr Brannstrom and his team were the first in the world to perform the procedure with a living donor successfully in 2012. Since then, they have conducted the surgery on nine women, of which five have successfully given birth.
"The proposal came to ICMR and we approved it as an experimental procedure. This is a clinical study and we have to check the feasibility of the procedure," Dr RS Sharma, Scientist & Head, ICMR, said.
Dr Gautham TP, Senior Vice President Operation, Milann, said every woman has the right to experience pregnancy and this procedure will enable them to do just that.
"Over 6 lakh women in India are born without a uterus. Surrogacy has also been a subject of debate of late. This procedure, if established, can serve as an alternative to surrogacy for persons who want to give birth," he says.
Milann had first collaborated with Dr Brannstrom in the year 2011. The organization later asked him if he'd be interested in performing the procedure in India to which the doctor agreed.
"This is considered an experimental procedure because the experience is limited to just one group in the world right now. People don't know much about the repercussions," he states.
Dr Gautham says while they sought permission to conduct the procedure on nine women, they have been allowed to perform it on two women. These will be conducted under strict regulations and depending on the results, the ICMR will decide on the next course of action.
Currently, the team is looking for two candidates from among 40 who will be eligible for a uterus transplant and the surgery is expected to be carried out in June.
Another hospital in Pune will reportedly be performing the same procedure some time in May. The Times of India reported that the Galaxy Care Laparoscopy Institute (GCLI) has been granted a licence by the state's health directorate for carrying out the procedure.
GCLI medical director and oncosurgeon Shailesh Puntambekar told ToI that after conducting the procedure on human cadavers in Germany and the US, they too had met the Swedish team to learn the actual procedure.
It is however not clear if the licence has been given for a clinical procedure or a regular one, and whether or not they are collaborating with another organisation.
"Any scientist who wants to have an international collaboration has to submit an application to ICMR for evaluation and for approval," Dr RS Sharma of ICRM said, adding that they had no clue of the permissions granted to the Pune hospital.
Ethical concerns
While advancement in the field of medicine is necessary, many experts from across the world have expressed concerns about a procedure that is still in its nascent stage.
One of the concerns often raised is that a uterus transplant, unlike a more established liver or kidney transplant, is not a life-saving measure. Also, whether or not such a procedure should be promoted even when other viable options such as adoption and surrogacy are available to people. Some say it reinforces the idea that a "real" woman must be able to give birth.
Then there are questions about ethics, science, strict regulations, protocol violations, health risk and safety of patients after the surgery as well as that of the baby following pregnancy.
"This is a novel concept and no one should shy away from doing something new because how else will we invent and discover things. But this procedure is also extremely risky and needs to be pushed with caution. It has a significant failure rate. It has to be done as an experimental procedure under the supervision of ethical agencies and other bodies," said Dr Anand, an e-regulatory and ethical expert.
"These bodies should have a say in every step so that they can prevent greater damage if something were to go wrong, both at an individual level and also at a society and community level so that people aren't exploited or are given false hopes unnecessarily," he added.
Dr Anand also points out the "uniqueness" of the procedure. Unlike in regular transplants where the organs are left in the recipient's body unless the body rejects it, in this procedure, the transplanted uterus of the woman is removed after she bears children.
It has taken decades before common transplants today, such as liver, kidney, cardiac became regular and these too don't guarantee cent percent success rate.
"Cardiac transplants started some 60-70 years ago. Then it took nearly three decades for it to become a routine procedure and guidelines were made to regulate it. If someone calls uterus transplant a routine procedure now, I would just put it as reckless," Dr Anand cautions.
(GCLI refused to comment stating they will not be taking any questions before the surgery is performed in May. The Deputy Director of Health Services in Pune could also not be reached for a comment on the nature of license that has been granted to GCLI.)BERLIN
A mosque in Germany’s southwestern city of Freiburg has been targeted by vandals on Tuesday night, who spray painted Nazi symbols on the walls of the mosque.
Ziya Celik, the head of the "Islamic Centrum Freiburg” mosque association told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that they were worried over growing number of hate crimes targeting mosques and Muslims in recent years.
“We condemn this xenophobic act,” he said, adding that they suspect far-right groups were behind this attack.
Germany has witnessed growing Islamophobia and anti-migrant hate in recent years, triggered by the propaganda of far-right and populist parties, which have exploited fears of the refugee crisis.
In 2016, 91 mosques were attacked across Germany, which showed a significant increase in anti-Muslim violence. In 2015, 75 such attacks were reported, and in 2014 there were nearly 60 attacks that targeted mosques.
Germany, a country of 81.8 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the four million Muslims in Germany, three million are of Turkish origin.If you knew then what you know now, would you have changed your definition of what success is and what makes you happy?
Since the first issue of the The New Yorker hit the newsstands on February 21, 1925, the magazine’s cartoonists have tackled (and ridiculed) the meaning of life and happiness from mountaintop gurus literally hundreds of times.
The gurus and cartoonists are no closer to an answer today than they were in 1999 when Bruce Eric Kaplan wrote this guru-delivered one-liner: “You do the hokey pokey and your turn yourself around — that’s what it’s all about.”
Defining happiness and success has been just as elusive for graduates from Harvard Business School's Class of 1963. The list of candidates includes good health, doing what you love, being in a happy marriage, raising successful children, and being totally honest.
What didn’t make their lists is, perhaps, even more significant. Not one saw wealth as the mark of a happy and fulfilled life. In fact, one grad took issue with anyone who would put too high a value on financial success, saying, “Those who persist in believing wealth brings happiness are to be pitied.”Benoir, who wasn't wearing a seatbelt, was badly injured in the crash
His widow Heidi said: 'How do I raise these girls without his silly influence and rock-steady support?
A funding page set up for the family has already raised $46,000
He was driving to Costco to get his daughter Sophia, nine, a Minions cake for her birthday - the same day as his own birthday
A woman who reportedly drove into oncoming traffic in a failed suicide attempt and killed a 30-year-old man is facing a murder charge.
Karri Benoir, 23, wanted to kill herself when she veered into the other lane of traffic in the town of Richmond, Vermont, on July 30, police say.
Benoir, who is from Vermont, drove across the grass divide between the two lanes and hit Brendon Cousino, a married father of three young daughters: Sophia, nine, Liliana, six, and Amelia, four.
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'Suicide attempt': Karri Benoir, 23 (seen in a Faceboom photo), wanted to kill herself when she veered into the other lane of traffic in the town of Richmond, Vermont, according to authorities
Killed: Brendon Cousino, a married father of three daughters, died when Benoir ploughed into his car nose-first
Family man: Brendon with his wife Heidi and daughters Amelia, four, Sophia, nine and Liliana, six
Scene: Cousino was found dead behind the wheel, while Benoir, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected from her vehicle and discovered near the wreckage (pictured) with serious injuries
He was found dead behind the wheel, while Benoir, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected and discovered near the wreckage with serious injuries, reported the Daily News.
Cousino, who was an EMT, had been driving to Costco to buy his eldest daughter Sophia a birthday cake for her party on Saturday. She turned nine on Sunday - the same day her father would have turned 31, according to the Burlington Free Press.
His widow Heidi said her husband had told her: 'I promised her a Minion cake, and a Minion cake there shall be.'
Benoir could be arraigned in court from her hospital bed at the University of Vermont Medical Center, where she is recovering from her injuries.
The crash happened on Interstate 89. A third car hit Cousino's 1999 Honda Civic after Benoir reportedly slammed head-on into him, although the driver of the other car was uninjured.
Cousino's death has sent shockwaves through his home town of Richmond, which has rallied behind the family and set up a funding page to offer them some financial support.
Donations have already topped $46,000 (£30,000).
Cousino in a family photo and in his emergency medical technician uniform. His widow said of his death: 'How do you face life without your best friend in the whole world?
On a post in the GoFundMe page, his widow Heidi said: 'How do you face life without your best friend in the whole world?
'How do I raise these girls without his silly influence and rock steady support? I will miss him with every breath and every heartbeat.'
On Friday night she was seen wearing a T-shirt that bore the message: 'Some people have to wait their entire lives to meet their hero. I married mine.'
Benoir had a long history of mental health problems, which she laid out during a commencement speech in at the Community College of Vermont, where she was the student speaker in 2013.
Benoir in a Facebook picture. She was badly injured in the crash and may be arraigned from her hospital bed
After growing up in the care system, she described her life as 'a train wreck' before she started studying at community college.
She told graduates: 'Just two years ago, I faced poverty and homelessness. I struggled with mental illness and a lot of instability in my life.'
A witness claimed that Benoir was speeding down the interstate at 75 or 80mph before she slammed nose-first into Cousino's Civic.JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Corrine Brown's attorney wants the former congresswoman's sentencing hearing delayed but prosecutors are having none of it.
Brown's attorney, James Smith, said her Jacksonville home was badly damaged in Hurricane Irma, setting back his efforts to prepare for the hearing, scheduled for Nov. 16.
He said there were items and papers they planned to use during the sentencing, such as awards and letters Brown had received, that were destroyed by flooding from the storm.
His motion asks for at least a four-month delay.
Prosecutors responded Wednesday saying they aren't aware of any other criminal case pending in Jacksonville’s federal court where a hearing scheduled nine weeks after Irma has been delayed -- “much less for four months” -- because of the storm.
They point to the fact that six weeks after Irma is when she’s asking to postpone sentencing, in a “bare bones” motion filed two days before she’s required to submit objections to the initial pre-sentence report (PSR).
Part of the PSR process involved Brown and Smith meeting with the probation officer who compiles the report to provide detailed background information. That happened after Irma, which “suggests that Brown is capable of preparing for her sentencing hearing as scheduled,” prosecutors argued.
They want the motion to be denied and sentencing to move forward as scheduled.
The 12-term congresswoman from Jacksonville was convicted on 18 federal mail, wire and tax fraud charges in May for taking money raised for the One Door for Education Foundation, and lying on her taxes and congressional financial disclosure forms. Prosecutors convinced a jury that Brown used the unregistered charity as a personal slush fund.
Copyright 2017 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved.Everyone is talking about vast open world hacker game Watch Dogs since its release earlier this week, and that means one inevitable thing: it was only going to be so long before the parodies started rolling in.
This Machinima.com parody of the game imagines a scenario in which Watch Dogs‘ main protagonist is forced to ditch his smartphone — which allows him to hack into various electronic devices tied to the city’s central operating system — for an iPhone. For most people, switching to iPhone is a definite upgrade. For Watch Dogs’ Aiden Pearce, however, it’s a less clear-cut decision.
Cue hilarious scenes taking place in an Apple Store.
This is the first new Machinima.com video after a brief lull, and it’s well worth checking out — if you’re a Watch Dogs fan, an iPhone owner, or both.
Source: YouTubeOhio State's top-ranked 2018 recruiting class got even better Saturday when two-way lineman Matthew Jones, the No. 20-ranked overall prospect in the class, committed to the Buckeyes.
Jones chose Ohio State over Penn State and several other schools. At 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, he is the No. 3-ranked offensive tackle in the Class of 2018 but was recruited on both sides of the football by many programs and could also line up at defensive tackle.
Jones, a 2018 Under Armour All-America Game selection, is the latest top prospect from Erasmus Hall in Brooklyn, New York, to head to Columbus, following in the footsteps of Curtis Samuel and Jahsen Wint.
Matthew Jones is the No. 3-ranked offensive tackle in the 2018 class but could also line up at defensive tackle. Gregory Payan via AP
Jones' verbal commitment continues the red-hot streak for Ohio State, which now has 13 ESPN 300 commitments out of 14 total commits. Jones becomes the fourth prospect ranked in the top 25 in the country to commit to Meyer and staff, joining No. 1-ranked defensive tackle Taron Vincent, defensive end Brenton Cox and Peach State signal-caller Emory Jones. Nine of the 13 ESPN 300 commitments have come since April 1 as the class continues to build momentum.
Ohio State's top-ranked class features commitments from eight states. Five of the prospects are ranked in the top three at their positions nationally: Vincent, Emory Jones, Matthew Jones, No. 2 safety Jaiden Woodbey and No. 2 inside linebacker Teradja Mitchell.
The Buckeyes aren't likely to relinquish their grip on the top-ranked class in this cycle with a number of top targets remaining on the board, including cornerbacks Patrick Surtain Jr and Tyson Campbell, defensive end and one-time Penn State commit Micah Parsons, five-star offensive tackle Jackson Carman and No. 1-ranked running back Zamir White, who is scheduled to announce June 27.The city regions in America beset with the worst racial inequality are all in the Midwest — and four of them are in Illinois, according to Wall St. 24/7, which reviewed a range of economic and social data to identify the places where blacks have the greatest chance of faring the worst.
"Education, unemployment, wages, income, all of that affects your ability to build wealth," Valerie Wilson, director of the program on race, ethnicity and the economy at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a progressive think tank, told Wall St. 24/7. "If one of those things isn't working, it just sort of ripples into each of those other areas."
Throughout the 20th century, African-Americans migrated to the Midwest from the South in great numbers to work in factories. Those jobs have dwindled, however, and inequities in income, wealth, education, mobility and other factors have widened between blacks and whites, making these places the worst 10 cities/regions in the United States on racial inequality, according to a review of 2014 census, CDC and incarceration data.
10. Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa
7 percent of the population is black, while the black unemployment rate is 24 percent and median black household income is 54 percent of white household income
9. Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa
5 percent of the population is black, while the black unemployment rate is 10.6 percent and median black household income is 57 percent of white household income
8. Kankakee, IL
14.9 percent of the population is black, while the black unemployment rate is 20.6 percent and median black household income is 48.7 percent of white household income
More than one in five black workers in Kankakee is unemployed. The black unemployment rate exceeds 20% in only 16 other U.S. cities, three of them among the worst cities for African Americans. Lack of job opportunities likely contribute to a higher poverty rate among black residents. At nearly 40%, the poverty rate among black residents is not only far higher than the comparable rate for white residents of 7.3%, but also one of the highest in the nation.
7. Lima, OH
12.2 percent of the population is black, while the black unemployment rate is 22.9 percent and median black household income is 36. |
he said.
"We are confident that another BAT member has also been killed but his body was taken back by the other members of the BAT," he said.
In the third such attack this year, a team of Pakistani special forces on Thursday sneaked 600 metres across the Line of Control (LoC) into the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Border Action Team (BAT), which generally comprises special forces personnel of the Pakistan Army and some terrorists, carried out the attack at around 2 pm on Thursday under heavy cover fire by Pakistani troops from their posts, he said.
"A Border Action Team of five to seven heavily-armed men, under the cover of Pakistani firing, entered 600 meters inside the LoC in Gulpur forward area in Poonch sector around 2 PM yesterday and launched a fierce attack on Indian Army patrol party with several types of weapons," the official said.
The Pakistani attackers came up to 200 meters near the Indian posts.
During the attack, the Pakistani troops resorted to firing in Gulpur-Karmara-Chakan-Da-Bagh area along the LoC.
The armed intruders targeted an area domination patrol of the Indian Army, triggering a gunfight, the official said.
The Indian troops killed one of the attackers and injured another whose extrication was facilitated by the cover fire by the Pakistani troops from their posts.
In the firefight, two Indian soldiers were killed. They were 34-year-old Naik Jadhav Sandip of Aurangabad, Maharashtra and 24-year-old Sepoy Mane Savan Balku of Kolhapur, Maharashtra.
The Pakistani firing continued till 3.30 pm on Thursday even as the Indian posts retaliated strongly.
In a similar BAT attack on May 1, two Indian soldiers were beheaded in Krishna Ghati sector in Poonch district. That attack too was carried out under the cover of shelling by the Pakistani troops.
Prior to that, a BAT attack was carried out in February but there were no casualties.
Earlier, there have been several BAT attacks in which Indian jawans have been beheaded or their bodies mutilated.
On October 28 last year, militants attacked a post and killed an Indian Army soldier and mutilated his body close to the Line of Control (LoC) in the Machil sector.
In January 2013, Lance Naik Hemraj was killed and his body mutilated by a BAT. It had also beheaded Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh.The slow-motion coup in Saudi Arabia is changing nothing – and everything – in the desert kingdom. An unprecedented series of arrests this weekend has put princes, former ministers and tycoons behind the gilded bars of a five star hotel. By precipitating the resignation of the Lebanese prime minister, a new front against long-time rival Iran was opened up just as an old one became inflamed by rocket fire. Yet the ruler of the repressive desert state remains the aged and ailing King Salman. His legitimacy derives from his lineage: he is a son of the nation’s founder, and traditionally the post of king passes from brother to brother in order of age. In an absolute monarchy, the king’s word is final. Yet it is by deed that power is known. By that measure, there’s only one person running Saudi Arabia: crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. If he ascends to the throne, the 33-year-old will have broken the grip of the older Sauds over the state the family’s patriarch founded.
The crown prince, known as MbS, is a young, inexperienced, and belligerent man. His misguided foreign policy, which has backfired spectacularly in Yemen, Syria and Qatar, is testament to hasty and rash decision-making. He now seeks to disturb the delicate balance of forces in Lebanon. MbS’s enemies, as with Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed Bin Zayed, are the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. His best friend internationally appears to be US president Donald Trump, who took time out of his tour of Asia to tweet approvingly of MbS’s actions and, in passing, lobby to secure a US listing of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company. But MbS has proved cunning and ruthless – moving to silence those who disagree with him in the clergy and in the sliver of space afforded to Saudi civil society. At the same time as depriving citizens of civil rights, MbS afforded female drivers the right to drive. The crown prince gives a little, but takes a lot.
Profile Who is Prince Mohammed bin Salman? Show Hide Background Prince Mohammed, 32, is the Saudi crown prince and defence minister. He was named as heir to the throne in a June reshuffle by his father, King Salman, that sidelined his older cousin, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. Ascent Prince Mohammed’s profile and powers have soared in recent years under the tutelage of his father, who has given him an almost free hand across most aspects of society. He has consolidated more influence than anyone else in the kingdom, spearheading plans for the privatisation of the state oil company, Aramco, taking charge of the war in Yemen, and leading the way in the move to blockade and isolate Qatar. Reforms and purge Since his appointment as crown prince, Prince Mohammed has launched a dizzying series of reforms dubbed Vision 2030, designed to transform the kingdom’s moribund economy and put the relationship between the state and its citizens on a new footing, underpinned by a pledge to “return Saudi Arabia to moderate Islam". On 4 November he led an astonishing corruption purge in which 11 senior princes, one of the country’s richest men and scores of former ministers were arrested. Critics say the purge and his headlong rush to revolutionise is driven by a push for unprecedented power.
The latest arrests appear transparently political. The crown prince has been put in charge of a new anti-corruption committee with powers to arrest and confiscate corruptly obtained property. The purge at the weekend implicated three of the country’s richest people. This looks like an attempt to defuse public disquiet over growing corruption after years when ordinary Saudis, under King Salman’s rule, had seen state handouts curbed. While benefits and bonuses were reinstated this year, the feeling that graft was so rampant that it threatened to overwhelm the nation has not gone away. Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, is ranked last in the world for budget transparency. No one knows exactly how much money is spent by the state.
The inner circle of the royal family is accused of embezzling huge sums of public funds. The Salman branch of the house of Saud lives lavishly. While overseeing deep budget cuts, the king spent $100m on a holiday in Morocco and his son bought a $500m yacht. There are legitimate questions about whether you can sweep out the Augean stables if you don’t have clean hands. What the crown prince displays is a taste for autocratic means, free from the traditional collective decision-making of the Saudi elite. It would be better for the country to have a more responsive politics and a dynamic economy freed from its dependence on oil. But the crown prince has yet to show he is serious about acquiring these things rather than consolidating his rise to the top.The ambitious multi-media production aims to update Pink Floyd’s 'The Wall Tour'
Muse have revealed ambitious plans for their 2016 Drones World Tour.
Last week, frontman Matt Bellamy announced the new tour and told fans the band were hoping to build upon Pink Floyd’s famous The Wall Tour. “It’s our version of The Wall, basically,” the frontman told BBC Radio 2.
In an exclusive interview with NME, the creative team behind the new stadium show have revealed further plans. Production designer Oli Metcalfe and tour director Glen Rowe expanded on Bellamy’s claims that there would be drones, promising “a whole swarm of drones” and a stage “like a double headed arrow”.
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“We’ve been able to work with a company in the Netherlands that have written a piece of software that can control a whole swarm of drones,” Metcalfe revealed. “So we’re programming them in a different way. They’re not manned, they’re not manned vehicles as in somebody with a controller. They’re controlled by a computer system and tracking system.”
The pair also explained that the “double headed arrow” shaped stage would allow the band to get closer to fans.
“It spans the length of the arena,” said Metcalfe of the design. “It’s quite narrow but more importantly for the audience it’s low, so the band will be playing in an intimate space, and have a good relationship in terms of distance from their audience.”
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Glen Rowe went on to explain that the design had been inspired by boxing rings.
“When a boxing match is staged in an arena you think it’s tiny – a little postage stamp in the middle of this huge arena arena. So we thought, let’s make a tiny stage in the middle of the arena so it’s a small circle with two runways with what you call a hammerhead at each end, where things can pop up and we can make technology work. The whole circle moves one revolution per hour. The idea is Matt starts there and an hour later he comes back, so in the show everyone sees him [up close] twice.”
The Drones World Tour includes UK gigs in Manchester, Glasgow and two nights in London. Dates in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Czech Republic have also been announced with more to follow.
Muse will play:
Manchester, Arena (April 8)
London, O2 Arena (April 11, 12)
Glasgow, SSE Hydro (April 17)
Priority Tickets for Muse’s tour are available now. Search ‘O2 Priority’. General tickets go on sale on Friday (September 18).
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More Than One Kind of Intelligence
You may have heard people mention "IQ" when talking about intellect and how smart someone is. (For example, "My brother doesn't need to study as much as I do because he has a really high IQ.") IQ stands for "intellectual quotient." It can help predict how well someone may do academically.
IQ is just one measure of our abilities, though. There are many other kinds of intelligence in addition to intellect. For example, spatial intelligence is the ability to think in 3D. Musical intelligence is the ability to recognize rhythm, cadence, and tone. Athletic, artistic, and mechanical abilities are other types of intelligence.
One important type of intelligence is emotional intelligence.
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand, use, and manage our emotions. Emotional intelligence is sometimes called EQ (or EI) for short. Just as a high IQ can predict top test scores, a high EQ can predict success in social and emotional situations. EQ helps us build strong relationships, make good decisions, and deal with difficult situations.
One way to think about EQ is that it's part of being people-smart. Understanding and getting along with people helps us be successful in almost any area of life. In fact, some studies show that EQ is more important than IQ when it comes to doing well in school or being successful at work.
Some people have naturally good EQ skills. Others need to work on them. The good news is that everyone can get better. Unlike IQ, people can actually improve their emotional intelligence — if they know what to do.
Improving Your EQ
Emotional intelligence is a combination of several different skills:
Being Aware of Your Emotions
Most people feel many different emotions throughout the day. Some feelings (like surprise) last just a few seconds. Others may stay longer, creating a mood like happiness or sadness. Being able to notice and accurately label these everyday feelings is the most basic of all the EQ skills.
Being aware of emotions — simply noticing them as we feel them — helps us manage our own emotions. It also helps us understand how other people feel. But some people might go through the entire day without really noticing their emotions. Practice recognizing emotions as you feel them. Label them in your mind (for example, by saying to yourself "I feel grateful," "I feel frustrated," etc.). Make it a daily habit to be aware of your emotions.
Understanding How Others Feel and Why
People are naturally designed to try to understand others. Part of EQ is being able to imagine how other people might feel in certain situations. It is also about understanding why they feel the way they do.
Being able to imagine what emotions a person is likely to be feeling (even when you don't actually know) is called empathy. Empathy helps us care about others and build good friendships and relationships. It guides us on what to say and how to behave around someone who is feeling strong emotions.
Managing Emotional Reactions
We all get angry. We all have disappointments. Often it's important to express how you feel. But managing your reaction means knowing when, where, and how to express yourself.
When you understand your emotions and know how to manage them, you can use self-control to hold a reaction if now is not the right time or place to express it. Someone who has good EQ knows it can damage relationships to react to emotions in a way that's disrespectful, too intense, too impulsive, or harmful.
Choosing Your Mood
Part of managing emotions is choosing our moods. Moods are emotional states that last a bit. We have the power to decide what mood is right for a situation, and then to get into that mood. Choosing the right mood can help someone get motivated, concentrate on a task, or try again instead of giving up.
People with good EQ know that moods aren't just things that happen to us. We can control them by knowing which mood is best for a particular situation and how to get into that mood.
EQ: Under Construction
Emotional intelligence is something that develops as we get older. If it didn't, all adults would act like little kids, expressing their emotions physically through stomping, crying, hitting, yelling, and losing control!
Some of the skills that make up emotional intelligence develop earlier. They may seem easier: For example, recognizing emotions seems easy once we know what to pay attention to. But the EQ skill of managing emotional reactions and choosing a mood might seem harder to master. That's because the part of the brain that's responsible for self-management continues to mature beyond our teen years. But practice helps those brain pathways develop.
We can all work to build even stronger emotional intelligence skills just by recognizing what we feel, understanding how we got there, understanding how others feel and why, and putting our emotions into heartfelt words when we need to.The Musqueam Indian Band and the Vancouver Airport Authority signed a 30-year “sustainability and friendship” agreement Wednesday that could see the band collect up to $300 million over the life of the deal.
The airport authority, which is a private non-profit that manages the airport, agreed to commit one per cent of annual revenue to the band. Based on 2016 revenues, the amount this year is equal to approximately $5 million. None of the funds will come from the airport improvement fee charged to airline passengers.
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Over time, with revenues projected to increase, the total financial gain for the Musqueam could reach $300 million, according to Musqueam councillor Wendy Grant-John, who was one of the band’s negotiators in reaching an agreement with the airport authority. She based the figure on an anticipated five per cent increase in revenues per year at the airport.
Musqueam band councillor Wendy Grant-John was one of the band’s negotiators who helped secure the 30-year deal between the Vancouver Airport Authority and the band. Photo Dan Toulgoet
“I don’t think there’s been a revenue-sharing agreement between an airport and a First Nations community,” Grant-John told reporters after a news conference inside a hangar at the airport, which is on the Musqueam’s traditional homelands. “It’s an amazing, amazing agreement for our community.”
While the revenue-sharing component of the deal is huge, Grant-John pointed out that Musqueam members said at a meeting Tuesday night that employment and protecting the environment were more top of mind.
The airport authority has agreed to provide apprenticeships and jobs at the airport for Musqueam people, look to contract Musqueam businesses and fund up to 10 scholarships per year worth $10,000 each. The agreement calls for the airport authority to hire a “relationship manager” from Musqueam, whose job will include exploring joint business ventures.
The agreement also spells out the importance of protecting the land and waters around Sea Island, which is directly across the river from the band’s main reserve in south Vancouver. Some of that work will include restoring and enhancing areas on the land, reducing or mitigating airplane noise and identifying and protecting historical sites of the band.
In her remarks to the audience gathered at the hangar, Grant-John shared what former Musqueam Chief Johnny told the Royal Commission on Indian Affairs in 1913. She read some of his words, which related to the way of life for Musqueam being disrupted and destroyed by “the white man.”
“One person is on my right, one person is on my left saying, ‘I have a share of your lands,”’ Grant-John said as she read Johnny’s words. “And I want those persons to let my hands go, and give me the control of my own land. I don’t want anyone to bother me.”
Grant-John, who is a former chief of the band, said the new agreement “brings life” to Johnny’s words. Her speech moved Craig Richmond, president and CEO of the airport authority, who said later the agreement will “change their lives, in terms of economic effect.”
“Where it’s going to change us is we bring in their young people and give them a path all the way from education to employment,” Richmond said. “And who knows — as I said in my speech — where it leads in the decades to come, but it’s going to lead somewhere good.”
Members of the Musqueam Indian Band performed at a ceremony Wednesday at the Vancouver International Airport that saw the Vancouver Airport Authority and the band sign a historic agreement. Photo Dan Toulgoet
Asked why a deal wasn’t reached sooner with the band, whose people have been on the lands for thousands of years, Richmond said: “It’s hard for me to go through so much history. I’ve only been the CEO here for four years coming up in July. But everybody on all sides recognized that it’s time.”
The signing of the agreement occurred on National Aboriginal Day.
“It’s one of the most emotional days I’ve had,” Grant said. “I look at our council, I look at our elders and say this is only the beginning. We are going to accomplish what all of our ancestors wanted.”
mhowell@vancourier.com
@HowellingsFor Immediate Release
The Libertarian Party urges lawmakers to stop bombing in Iraq and to disengage operations in both Iraq and Syria.
“The U.S. government has been intervening in the Middle East for more than half a century under the pretext of achieving peace,” said Nicholas Sarwark, chair of the Libertarian National Committee. “But things just keep getting worse. We must stop stoking conflicts that tear countries apart, stop dropping bombs, and stay out of the region.”
Any attempt by the United States and other foreigners to intervene in the area undermines the ability of natives who oppose the Islamic State (IS) to mount sustainable opposition. It also helps the IS recruit supporters and puts the world at greater risk of terrorist attacks.
More than 30 Libertarian candidates for federal office nationwide who will be on the ballot on Nov. 4 have pledged to downsize the U.S. military. Each has promised:
“If elected, I will sponsor legislation to cut military spending by 60 percent or more and cut total federal spending accordingly; close all foreign U.S. military bases; withdraw completely from the Middle East; and bring our troops home.”
Downsizing the military to 40 percent of today’s spending would leave more than enough to fund decisive military action against any enemy who attacks the United States while fully funding benefits for the veterans of our previous wars.
The United States spent $20 billion to train and equip the Iraqi Army. President Barack Obama is now dropping bombs to destroy the equipment the U.S. military left behind, some of which remains in the hands of the Islamic State.
“The absurdity of spending more U.S. taxpayer dollars to destroy U.S. weapons is one more piece of evidence that we must draw down our military,” said Sarwark. “A non-interventionist foreign policy is the best way to achieve peace and reduce the risk of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. It will also go a long way toward balancing the federal budget, cutting taxes, and halting inflation.”
The Islamic State joins a long line of U.S. enemies whom the U.S. government helped in their rise to power: Muammar Gaddafi, Ayatollah Khomeini, Manuel Noriega, Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden.
Both Democrats, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Republicans like Sen. John McCain are calling for more war in Iraq.
“Democratic and Republican politicians have meddled so extensively in the Middle East that they’re now in the ludicrous position of siding with very recent U.S. enemies: Iran, Assad, and al-Qaeda, all of whom oppose the Islamic State,” Sarwark said.
Lawmakers cite the highly publicized and brutal beheading of two U.S. journalists in the region as justification for more intervention against IS. But they ignore the fact that, according to a Reuters report, U.S. ally Saudi Arabia beheaded several of its citizens in the last month who were convicted of non-violent crimes such as smuggling hashish and sorcery.
President Obama cites the need to protect U.S. military personnel in Erbil as a reason for going back to war in Iraq. But he’s the one who stationed troops there in violation of the U.S. Constitution, which requires a vote of Congress to declare war.. Military Variants - Technical Data, main page Individual aircraft armament specifications The Douglas A-26B Invader shined when it came to its armament, with the battery of 6 x 12.7mm (.50 caliber) heavy machine guns (early block A-26B models ) all allocated in the nose housing and the l ater block B-26Bs featured a total of 8 x 12.7mm nose-mounted machine guns, this allowed the Invader to make devastating strafing sweeps on enemy ground targets with destructive results, combining the concentrated power of six to eight heavy caliber machine guns into one focal burst of hot lead. In addition to the nose armament, two 12.7mm machine guns were held in a dorsal barbette while another two were featured in a ventral barbette, which although originally designed as an aerial defensive system was found to be a substantial bonus when operated in a ground attack roll. Invaders could also sport 8 x underwing gun pods and 6 x 12.7mm machine guns mounted in each wing leading edge (three guns to a side) along with blister mounts on the fuselage sides - all concentrated in a forward-firing position. With all this concentrated fire power it was surprising that the Invader was never selected to the roll of night fighter, which went to the P-61 Black Widow. In total, a given A-26 could sport as many as 22 x 12.7mm machine guns with up to 6,000 rounds of ammunition. A common practice in squadrons, was to disengage two of the eight nose mounted.50-cal's. Firstly when all eight guns were fired, the cockpit soon became consumed with smoke and using just six would vastly reduce this. Secondly, in order to make ramp turn arounds quicker during sorties, if any of the guns jammed or became U/S then it was easier to re engage the spare.50-cal's for ease of operations as opposed to replacing them.
The Douglas Invader's lethality was furthermore accented by the option of carrying 4,000 internally and 8,000lbs on external pylons, in the form of drop bombs or 8 to 14 x 5" rockets (the latter held externally on eight or fourteen underwing pylons - the full 16 rocket deployment was achievable in lieu of the drop tanks and wing mounted bombs). In fact, Invaders were known to be able to carry greater bombloads than that as found on the larger Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. In detail: As well as an offensive load of 4000 Ibs of bombs, the eight mounted nose guns and three guns in each wing with a total of 4000 rounds and four turret guns with 500 rpg, the A/B-26 Invader was a formidable adversary, but development of the new and much modified B-26K gave the Invader a further edge in aerial combat and allowed this old and tired aircraft to continue to operate through the Second and Korean wars to continue through Vietnam. Eight mounted nose guns
Three guns in each wing
Four turret guns ( Two remote turrets )
4000 Ibs of bombs
The A-26A (B-26K) could carry a maximum of 800 pounds underneath the wings plus 4000 pounds internally. However, the actual load carried on combat missions was usually somewhat less in order to gain maneuverability and to reduce stress loads.
A typical underwing load consisted of a pair of SUU-025 flare dispensers Two LAU-3A rocket pods, and four CBU-14 cluster bomb units.
Later, the rockets and flares were often replaced by 500 lb BLU-23 or 750 lb BLU-37 finned napalm bombs.
The M31 and M32 incendiary clusters could also be carried, as well as M34 and M35 incendiary bombs
M1A4 fragmentation clusters, M47 white phosphorus bombs, and CBU-24, -25, -29, and -49 cluster bomb units.
General-purpose bombs such as the 250-lb MK-81, the 500-lb MK-82, and 750-lb M117 could also be carried.
During the Korean war alone, Invaders flew some 60,000 sorties Invaders were credited with the destruction of 38,500 enemy vehicles, 3700 railway cars, 406 locomotives, and seven aircraft. Note: 5" HVAR “Holy Moses” Length: 72 inches Weight: 140 lbs
Maximum Velocity: 1,375 fps relative to aircraft launch velocity. It u sed a 5" diameter rocket motor with 24 lbs of propellant. First combat use July 1944; but supplies were not adequate until the Spring of 1945. h Research and development configurations for nose armament. One 75mm Cannon stbd, Two.50 MG port
One 37mm Cannon stbd and port
One 37mm Cannon stbd, Two.50 MG port
One 75mm Cannon stbd, 37mm Cannon port
One 37mm Cannon port, Four.50 MG Stbd
Four.50 MG stbd, 37mm Cannon port
Four.50 MG stbd, Two.50 MG port
Six.50 MG, four stbd / Two port Another config studied was for two new design quick-firing 37mm Cannons in a ventral pack with magazines extending into the bomb-bay.
The.50Mg wing guns were introduced at the A-26B-50-DL (solid nose) and A-26C-30-DT (glass nose) production blocks.
Guns - Late model A-26B
8 - 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in the nose
6-8 - 0.50 in M2 machine guns in/under the wings (internally mount or gun pods)
2 - 0.50 in M2 machine guns in remote-controlled dorsal turret
2 - 0.50 in M2 machine guns in remote-controlled ventral turret (or fuel cell)
Bombs: 6,000 lb (2,700 kg)-4,000 lb in the bomb bay and 2,000 lb external on the wings (post A-26C-45-DT block introduction). Note: The C-Model, was typically was built with 2 forward firing.50's, plus 2-twin barbettes and additional guns were added to the wings once delivered for operations in the field. C-models performed as pathfinders and observation aircraft often, and were fewer in production numbers.
Original A-26B from Original Pilot’s Training Manual was listed as having 6 configurations for the "All Purpose Nose" (The B model) – not counting the original two "4-pack" gun pods option that could be mounted under the wings (before the 6 internal.50's - 3 per wing - were done with/after 45-block).
6 -.50s (later upped to 8) – most commonly ordered configuration
1 - 37mm and 4 -.50's
1 - 37mm and 2 -.50's
2 - 37mm’s (gah!)
1 - 75mm and 1 - 37 mm (Racks held 20 rounds for manually loaded 75mm)
1 - 75mm and 2 -.50's (30 actually ordered and deployed)
Ordnance
Up to 6,000 lb, consisting of 2 × 2,000 lb max in 2 internal bays, plus 4 underwing hardpoints rated at 500 lb each. Total of 20 hard points, but maximum of 16 could be used at any one time points.
Loadout was generally:
4 - 1,000 lb, or
8 - 500 lb, or
8 - 250 lb, or
12 - 100 lb internal
4 - 500 lb or 4 - 250 lb under the wings additional typical, 4 - 100 lbs possible
Torpedoes/rockets: 14 - 5 inch rockets under the wings instead of bombs.
Original Training Guide also lists 2 torpedoes carried internally (doors open), but I don't think it was ever used this way in WWII, since by that time, Axis fleets were mostly done, and an A-26 low and slow for torps is not a good use of that plane.)
Ammunition for C-model:
500 rpg for each twin -.50 barbette
400 rpg for 2 forward nose.50's and 6 wing-mounted.50's
Ammunition for B-model:
500 rpg for each twin.50 barbette
400 rpg for 6 wing-mounted.50 cal MG
options for nose
6 - nose mounted.50's w 400 rpg
8 - nose mounted.50's w 400 rpg
1 - 75mm cannon w 20 rds, 3-5 second load time (manual) plus 2 -.50's with 400 rpg
(no 37mm options ever ordered from factory I am aware of, and may have been intended for Lend-Lease....so I left them out).
In brief: A-26 Invader Forward Firing Armament Options Notes: Green Text indicates that nose was put into actual production; red text indicates it remained only on paper. References:
Douglas A-26 and B-26 Invader by Scott Thompson Nose Type Armament XA-26C
37mm 4 x M4 or X-9 37mm Cannon (32 rpg) Bombardier Nose 2 x M2.50 Cal MGs (400 rpg)
(Mounted on Right Side) All Purpose Nose
Six Gun Nose
( Photo ) 2 x M2.50 cal MGs (Left) (400 rpg)
4 x M2.50 cal MGs (Right) (400 rpg) All Purpose Nose
Eight Gun Nose 4 x M2.50 cal MGs (Left) (360 rpg)
4 x M2.50 cal MGs (Right) (360 rpg) All Purpose Nose
37mm /.50 #1
( Photo ) 1 x M9 37mm Cannon (Left) (75 rpg)
4 x M2.50 cal MGs (Right) (400 rpg) All Purpose Nose
37mm /.50 #2 2 x M2.50 cal MGs (Left) (400 rpg)
1 x M9 37mm Cannon (Right) (75 rpg) All Purpose Nose
37mm
( Photo ) 1 x M9 37mm Cannon (Left) (75 rpg)
1 x M9 37mm Cannon (Right) (75 rpg) All Purpose Nose
75mm /.50 2 x M2.50 cal MGs (Left) (400 rpg)
1 x T13E1 75mm Cannon (Right) (20 rpg) All Purpose Nose
75mm / 37mm 1 x M9 37mm Cannon (Left) (75 rpg)
1 x T13E1 75mm Cannon (Right) (20 rpg) Clarification I had a mail recently from a C. O. Smith who worked with the A-26 during the Korean war. He wrote, In your description of the armament on the B-26 you indicated that the bomb load was 4000 Ib's. During the Korean war, when we carried only 500 Ib bombs, the load was 10 -500 Ib's, six in the bomb bay plus two 500 Ib bombs under each wing. In addition we often carred two flares - one on each wing. When we carred 260 Ib frags, we double and tripple hung them in the bomb bay (three double hung on one side and three tripple hung on the other side) so that we carred 15- 260 frags plus the four 500 # wing bombs. For a total load of 5900 Ib's. "We flew them off the runway at a max gross of 40K Ib's." Other load options were Bomb Racks 3 - each side internal
4 - 2 per wing external
2 - 1 per wing photoflash
All A/C were eventually equipped with rocket launch stations. In Brief: A-26 Invader Approved Uniform Bomb loads References:
Douglas A-26 and B-26 Invader by Scott Thompson Loading
Mix # Bomb Bay Total
Payload 1 4 x 1,000 lb 4,000 lbs 2 6 x 500 lb 3,000 lbs 3 8 x 250 lb 2,000 lbs 4 16 x 100 lb 1,600 lbs 5 2 x Mk 13 Torpedoes 4,432 lbs 6 4 x Mk 26 1,000 lb
Naval Mines 4,000 lbs Notes: On the underside of each wing were two hardpoints designed to accept bomb racks, chemical tanks, or machine gun pods. Each rack could carry a single 100, 300 or 500 lb bomb; thus with a full wing rack loadout; four 500 lb bombs could be carried in addition to the bomb bay payload. When used with machine gun pods, each hardpoint could carry a single pod containing a pair of M2.50 caliber MGs, each provided with 300 rpg. Thus, when fitted with four gun pods, an A-26 had eight machine guns and 2,400 rounds in addition to whatever was fitted in the nose. ( Photo of Gun Pods ) Later A-26s could carry seven 5” HVAR rockets per wing, for a total of 14. Gun round ejections Ron Lapp from Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, sent in the above three drawings along with the narrative attached, thanks Ron. Hi Martin, I finally received some definitive information concerning how the expended cases and links in the solid nose 8 gun A-26B Invader were handled. I posted my question on the Yahoo A-26 forum, which you had listed on your web site, and Rick Elwood from the Pacific Coast Air Museum in Santa Rosa, CA responded that "The 8-gun nose collected spent shells and links in a canvas bag in the lower rear part of the nose. They were removed after each flight through a large access door in the bottom aft of the nose." I asked him if he could send me the pages which covered this in the technical document that he referred to (Maintenance and Erection Manual AN 01-40AJ-2) and I recently received this excellent information. I scanned the three pages and thought I would send them to you and you could post them in the "Drawings/Illustrations" section of your web site if you wished. I checked with Rick to ensure it was okay with him, and he gave me the green light. I am therefore enclosing the three pages from the Maintenance Manual for your information. In the e-mail that you sent me on April 14 2008, which contained Don Vogler's comments from a B-26K armament crewmembers, it sounded like the cases and links were not collected in a bag, but rather just piled up in the nose of the aircraft under the guns. I sent Don a subsequent e-mail to try and get some further clarification, but as of yet, I have not heard from him. If I do, I will let you now. B-26K Gun management Most pilots considered the gun set-up on the K as first rate. They were newly manufactured and dependable and eight guns with a couple of thousand rounds of.50 caliber gave a lot of fire-power. The fire control panel for the.50s was on the center overhead console, just in front of the emergency jettison handle of the clamshell canopy. The.50 cal. trigger was on the right horn of the pilot's yoke.
Guns were fired electrically, charged pneumatically. On a gun run the nav. usually charged the guns as the pilot rolled in. Coming off the target the nav. held the "gun hold-back switch" open to keep the breeches open and let the guns cool down.
Most pilots experience on the B-Model and those guns were anything but reliable. At Bien Hoa most Bs had six-gun noses. A couple had eight gun set-ups and a couple had 14 guns in the wings and nose. They were all bad when it came to fouling, jamming, cooking-off and burning out.
Every aircraft had its own history and there was no telling how old most of those guns were. Barrels were burned-out and scrapped regularly. On strafing runs, guns would start and stop firing randomly and it was the navigators job to do a quick re-charge when itgot down to 2 or 3 guns firing. Navigators always tried to hold the breeches open for a couple of extra seconds to get fresh air blowing into the barrels. When coming off of strafing runs it was common to have rounds cook-off long after the pilot released the trigger.
On the six-gun nose the number five and six gun was not in the nose but in |
point in the story. Again, that's a form of information control. And a fairly subtle one.Of course, information control can also mean deliberatelyconveying information at a particular point in the story. Strategically withholding information from the reader is one of the oldest techniques in the book for generating tension—after all, that's essentially the basis of the cliffhanger. And Martin's Ice and Fire books certainly make use of that technique from time to time.But even that isn't quite as straightforward as it sounds. I think a successful cliffhanger works because it hits us just when we're dying to know what happens next. When we're deeply invested in the adventures of a particular character, or emotionally invested in a character's own wants and needs, or their wellbeing. (Or, in the case of a hated character, their comeuppance!) And then a sudden reversal or revelation kicks the story spinning in a new direction—but into uncharted territory, because we can't see (yet) where it goes next. For me, a particularly effective cliffhanger in Martin's series (and here I'm tap-dancing to avoid spoilers) pertained to Arya Stark in, for all the reasons I just listed. She suffers a rather surprising reversal just at the very end of the last scene in her point of view in that book. (It certainly took me by surprise.)But if it's not done well, the withholding of information tends to generate confusion rather than tension. The former is sometimes confused with the latter, especially in the works of beginning writers. I, for one, frequently made that mistake in my early writing. A deliberately vague context rarely makes a good "hook" (though beginning writers often try to use it that way, as I certainly did). It doesn't cause the reader to ask, "Why is this happening?" Rather, it stimulates the reader to wonder, "is happening, and why should I care?" The cliffhanger is used at the opposite end of a piece of story—it makes the reader desperate to know, "But what happens?"The cliffhanger is only one effective technique for withholding information, though, and it's certainly not the only one that Martin uses in his series. He's also very good at dangling an enticing piece of worldbuilding before the reader, and then doling out intriguing hints about it in agonizingly slow fashion. And again, that's terrific information control. I, for one, would love to know as much about the Wall as possible, especially the logistics of its construction. Granted, that's all beside the point of the story, and Martin is writing epic fantasy rather than an engineering-heavy hard SF tale. So it's not surprising that the story doesn't veer into such a discussion. Still, though, there's a part of me that perks up every time some previously unknown detail about the Wall, or its history, pops up in the narrative.Intriguing questions like these pervade the series. Some are directly relevant to the characters we're following, while some are of a more general nature. Who was Jon Snow's mother? What exactly was the Doom of Valyria? When I'm reading A Song of Ice and Fire, I occasionally find myself wishing the author weren'tso parsimonious with certain pieces of information...The key bit comes runs from around 7:00 to 7:50. We can’t possibly be so lucky as to have Bloomy drop a few million to defeat red-state Dems like Pryor and Landrieu in the primaries, can we?
Can we?
The Senate’s upcoming vote on the assault weapons ban is going to put vulnerable Democrats in a difficult spot. Democrats facing tough reelection races will either attract the ire of the National Rifle Association or prominent gun control activists such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I). A vote against the ban could spark primary challenges that could weaken Democrats in the general election… “People are not going to say, ‘That’s a tough vote for them, let’s not do anything,’ ” said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “There is a feeling that to win this thing we need all the Democrats. That means people who are in tough races in 2014 don’t get passes. I would expect issue ads and advocacy for all senators.” Even Democrats who reliably vote with their leadership, such as Sens. Mark Warner (Va.), Tim Kaine (Va.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), on Wednesday said they were not certain they would support the assault weapons ban. Warner faces reelection in 2014. Kaine, who formerly headed the Democratic National Committee, was on Obama’s short list to be his running mate in 2008.
It makes me happy to think of this unlikable micro-managing plutocrat becoming the face of gun-control discipline in Congress. For all the crowing the left does about Wayne LaPierre’s “messaging problems” (not without reason sometimes), having the country’s most famously meddlesome nanny-stater throwing millions in pocket change to buy Senate seats because he’s unhappy that there’s still a bit too much liberty in the Second Amendment for his liking is a case of “optics” I can live with. I wonder if he’ll proceed strategically, by leaving the most vulnerable Dems alone and focusing on beating Republicans in purplish states like Michigan and West Virginia, or if he’ll attack people like Pryor too just to show that he means business. His buddy Joe won’t like that but maybe Bloomberg doesn’t care at this point. He’s going to need something to do once his final term as mayor ends. Denying you the right to buy the semiautomatic of your choice for wholly arbitrary reasons seems like a fun hobby. He’s our very own Guy Grand.
I wonder why he doesn’t expand his agenda and start primarying people who oppose soda bans too. Soda kills a million billion trillion people worldwide each year; arguably that makes it an even more pressing social problem than gun violence. Not until the 16-ounce limit comes to convenience stories in even the most obese states will America be truly free.Lakewood, Washington (CNN) -- Whoever fatally shot four police officers Sunday in a coffee shop outside Tacoma, Washington, may have been wounded by one of the victims, police said.
Authorities are trying to determine who killed four Lakewood police officers in the shop in neighboring Parkland on Sunday morning. Investigators are checking with area hospitals to determine whether the gunman sought treatment after the shooting, Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.
"There's... evidence that a Lakewood officer fired some shots, and we hope he hit him," Troyer said.
Troyer said authorities are seeking Maurice Clemmons, 37, of Pierce County as a "person of interest." He did not identify Clemens as a suspect.
Authorities identified the victims as Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Officer Ronald Owens, 37; Officer Tina Griswold, 40; and Officer Greg Richards, 42.
The officers were sitting in the coffee shop before the start of their shifts when a gunman shot them at about 8 a.m. PT, Troyer said. The shop is a place where area law enforcement officers regularly gather to share information, he said.
The attacker walked to the counter as if to order coffee before he pulled a gun out of his coat and fired, Troyer said. Two of the officers were "executed" as they sat at a table, another was shot when he stood up, and the fourth was shot after struggling with the gunman all the way out the door, Troyer said.
"After, we believe, some of the officers were shot, one of them managed to fight his way with the suspect... all the way out the the doorway until he was shot and died of a gunshot wound," Troyer said.
Sunday's incident was the first time the Lakewood police department lost any officer to a shooting.
Two employees of the coffee shop and other customers inside Forza Coffee Company were unharmed, Troyer said. One employee fled through the back door when she saw the shooter pull out his gun, he said.
"As you can imagine, they are traumatized," he said of those inside the coffee shop. "Some are in shock."
Investigators have not come up with possible motives, police said.
Families of the officers have been notified, Troyer said. All of the officers were in uniform, wearing vests and had marked patrol cars parked outside, he said.
Police are looking for one man in connection with the attack, though authorities are not ruling out the possibility that a second person was involved, Troyer said. A $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest, he said. Surveillance tapes from multiple location are being reviewed.
Authorities were conducting searches in numerous locations, and dogs had been brought in to attempt to track the shooter, Troyer said.
Investigators believe Clemmons, the person of interest, "is intentionally avoiding us," Troyer said.
Clemmons has "extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas, including aggravated robbery and theft," the sheriff's department said in a statement.
He also was recently charged in Pierce County in connection with the assault of a police officer and the rape of a child, according to the statement.
According to a local prosecutor in Arkansas and past articles published by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, a repeat offender named Maurice Clemmons had his 95-year prison sentence commuted in 2001 by then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee cited Clemmons' young age -- 17 at the time of his sentencing -- when he announced his decision, according to newspaper articles.
"It was not something I was pleased with at the time," Larry Jegley, who prosecuted Clemmons for aggravated robbery and other charges in Pulaski County, Arkansas, told CNN Sunday. "I would be most distressed if this is the same guy."
Jegley said he was told Sunday by "media and police agencies" that the former Arkansas inmate was the same man being sought in Washington state.
Some tips have come in, and investigators were following leads, one of which turned out to be "an unfortunate hoax," Troyer said. A Tacoma man called "multiple people" claiming to be the gunman, though authorities determined the man was lying.
The man was arrested and now faces obstruction charges, Troyer said.
A couple of blocks surrounding the coffee shop were cordoned off. Several other police agencies were on scene to assist.
Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, in a statement, said she was "shocked and horrified" at the shootings.
"I offer whatever support is needed to the Pierce County Sheriff in their search for the perpetrator," Gregoire said.
Lakewood is about 40 miles south of Seattle and 10 miles southwest of Tacoma.
See a map of where the shootings took place
Bystanders gathered outside the Forza Coffee Company, some of them in tears as they spoke to CNN affiliate KING.
The coffee shop is on the edge of McChord Air Force Base. Spokesman Bud McKay said the base was not shut down, but security was ramped up around the perimeter as a precaution.
The military has offered assistance to police, he said, but it has not been requested.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann, Samira Simone, Dave Alsup and Dina Majoli contributed to this report.12. Blue Book 2017
This section provides the background to Tables 1a to 1d, providing details of individual changes introduced as part of Blue Book 2017 and the effect these changes have on public sector net borrowing.
Transfer costs
Transfer costs are the fees and taxes incurred as a result of the ownership of an asset being transferred from one owner to another. In both national accounts and public sector finances an estimate of the cost of transferring assets is added to the underlying cost of the asset. These transfer costs include, for example, stamp duties and legal fees.
A programme of work took place to improve transfer costs estimates to take advantage of the best available data as well as ensuring that they are conceptually correct. As a result of this work, for Blue Book 2017 an improved method is being used, which uses the House Price Index (HPI) as part of the calculation of current price transfer costs data. A new HPI (with associated back series) was introduced in 2016 and data based on this new methodology is being used in the compilation of GFCF for Blue Book 2017.
In addition to the above, annual Blue Books published since 2000 have included negative transfer costs data for non-produced non-financial assets in 4 institutional sectors, including the Public Corporations’ sector. This is conceptually incorrect as transfer costs should only be capitalised by the buyer, including both the costs of the buyer and seller, and as a result may only be positive. We had previously been aware that these negative transfer costs had been impacting public sector net borrowing and so had removed these in the public sector finances from April 2014 onwards while awaiting the outcome of the national accounts improvement work. Now that this work has been complete we are able to implement the revised transfer costs in the public sector finances for the period 1997 onwards. This has led to some large upward revisions to public corporations’ net borrowing and so public sector net borrowing pre-April 2014, in particular in the period 1997 to 2009.
There still remains a small difference between public corporation transfer costs in public sector finances and those that will be reported in Blue Book 2017. This is as we have verified that our source data for many public corporations’ capital formation already include transfer costs calculated on a different basis, in accordance with the International Accounting Standard 16 – Property, Plant and Equipment. As such, in the August 2017 PSF bulletin, we applied an additional adjustment to prevent double-counting of transfer costs. The adjustment has not been applied to the National Accounts dataset for Blue Book 2017 and will be incorporated at a future date.
Pensions
Improvements to pension estimates in the national accounts have resulted in better data for recording the effect of both funded and unfunded public sector pension schemes in the public sector finances. Data improvements related to unfunded pension schemes have been introduced in Blue Book 2017; however, improvements in data of funded pension schemes will be introduced in a future Blue Book.
Unfunded public sector pension schemes
Improvements have been made to the way imputed pension contributions are modelled, where we had previously judged that zero is a reasonable approximation to the true value of imputed contributions, into schemes which regularly adjust the contribution rates.
We have also concluded that pension transfers in and out of unfunded schemes should be separated from social contributions and social benefits, and should instead be recorded as (other) capital transfers.
These changes have been introduced with effect from the financial year ending March 1997 and will both increase and decrease estimates of central government net borrowing and subsequently public sector net borrowing over the time series, with the larger changes visible in earlier years.
Funded public sector pension schemes
Methods for estimating Local Government Pension Scheme (net) liability and associated imputed flow have been reviewed and improved estimates produced. We have also reviewed several other large funded public sector pension schemes to identify cases whereby government should be considered the pension manager. As a result, new methods and data sources have been used to quantify government’s net pension liability and associated flows for these schemes.
This change has been introduced with effect from the financial year ending March 1997 and will both increase and decrease estimates of local and central government net borrowing and subsequently public sector net borrowing over the time series. There are no effects on public sector net debt as pension liabilities are not included in the measure. However, public sector net financial liabilities (PSNFL) is significantly effected by the revisions to the government’s net pension liability which have reduced PSNFL at the end of March 2017 by £49.2 billion.
Housing associations
Although implemented in public sector finances in January 2016, the reclassification of English private registered providers of social housing (referred to here as housing associations) was implemented in the UK National Accounts, in Blue Book 2017, for the first time.
The reclassification work for national accounts identified minor inconsistencies in our original data sources, which have now been resolved. These improvements have been applied to the public sector finances this month, and in doing so affect our estimates of public sector net debt (PSND), public sector net borrowing (PSNB) and public sector net cash requirement (PSNCR) from July 2008 to date.
A methods article describing the implementation of the reclassification of English housing associations into the UK National Accounts was published on 5 June 2017. This article includes the effect of the change on PSNB and PSND for financial years ending March 2009 to March 2012. Table 1d in this bulletin shows the impact on PSNB of these improvements for the full period July 2008 onwards.
In both national accounts and public sector finances, English housing association data beyond the financial year ending March 2016 are based on Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts and so estimates for this period have not been affected by these changes.
General government aggregates are not affected by these improvements in any periods.
British Broadcasting Corporation subsidiaries
We have improved our data covering the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) commercial subsidiaries. These subsidiaries are considered to be market bodies and have therefore been classified to the public corporation sector, whereas the remainder of the BBC is classified to central government.
Improved data are now sourced from audited and published financial statements of the BBC's commercial subsidiaries.
This change has been introduced with effect from the financial year ending March 2009 and has reduced central government net borrowing and subsequently public sector net borrowing but has had no effect on public sector net debt.
Current transfers to government
Previously we announced a programme of quality assurance work undertaken by Office for National Statistics (ONS) and HM Treasury that had identified some additional departmental income that was not incorporated in the public sector finances. As a result of this work, we have improved the data sources used to measure a small number of fees and fines and introduced, for the first time, the proceeds of the Victims Surcharge and a small number other miscellaneous fines not previously recorded.
Any additional departmental income has the effect of reducing central government net borrowing and subsequently public sector net borrowing.
Parking fines
Income from parking fines received by local authorities is no longer being recorded in the category payments for non-market output – a negative component of current expenditure – and is instead being recorded in the category other current transfers, a component of current receipts.
This change has been introduced with effect from the financial year ending March 1998 and is neutral for local government net borrowing and public sector net borrowing, because both local government current expenditure and local government current receipts increase by equal amounts.
Vehicle Excise Duty
Historically, Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) was split by fixed proportions between a tax on production for private producers and a tax on income from household consumers. This method has been improved, with estimates from the Annual Business Survey for all producing sectors being used to more accurately estimate these proportions.
This improvement in changes to the proportion of VED attributable to taxes on production and taxes on income (see Table PSA6D). Taxes on production from private producers will increase from April 1997 onwards, with those recorded as taxes on income from household consumers decreasing by an equal and opposite offsetting amount over the same period.
This change has no net effect on central government receipts and so is neutral for central government net borrowing and public sector net borrowing.
Other changes introduced in this release that will be implemented in national accounts in due course, but have not been implemented in Blue Book 2017
Rail for London
This month, we have implemented the reclassification of Rail for London (RfL) from the local government sector to the public corporations sector. This reclassification is effective from April 2011.
The reclassifications reduce public sector net borrowing by around £100 million per financial year, because the subsidy received by Rail for London from Transport for London will now be recognised when calculating the gross operating surplus of public corporations.
In addition it has been identified that subsidy payments reported in the Rail for London accounts were already being captured in Department for Communities and Local Government (DGLG) expenditure source data. As a result, public sector net borrowing was overstated by around £100 million per financial year. This has been corrected as part of the implementation of the reclassification.
Tube Lines Ltd
The revenue received by Tube Lines Ltd, which is classified to the local government sector, is now included in the category payments for non-market output. During a review of Transport for London data it was identified that this revenue was not previously included. This revenue is around £500 million per financial year, therefore reducing public sector net borrowing by this amount, from April 2011.While there are no laws on the books in Connecticut that make filming a police officer illegal, Quinnipiac senior Kenneth Hartford found out on Saturday night that it isn’t quite so simple.
According to multiple witnesses, within minutes of Hartford beginning to film a Quinnipiac student being arrested outside of Toad’s Place in New Haven, an officer tackled and handcuffed him. Hartford was charged with Disorderly Conduct and Interfering with a Police Investigation. He went on to spend the night in jail at 24 Union Avenue.
Quinnipiac student arrested after filming another student’s arrest from The Quinnipiac Chronicle on Vimeo.
(Full transcript of video below)
In a short video that he took on his cell phone before his arrest (viewable above) officers can be heard swearing at Hartford. The officer who ultimately arrested Hartford said, “Put that in your fucking pocket and get the fuck out of here.”
When Hartford then tried to capture the officer’s name and badge number on video, the officer shoved him away. According to Quinnipiac senior Dominic Grenga, when Hartford attempted to return to the area to resume filming on his cell phone, he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed.
New Haven police spokesperson Officer Joe Avery said that Hartford “kept interfering with officers and was asked to back off.”
Hartford was screaming at the police officers, Avery said.
“All I wanted to do was record the arrest, so if there were any inconsistencies later, it could be used to help [the student] out,” Hartford said.
Quinnipiac University has declined comment on this specific incident, but told the Chronicle in a statement that safety “is of paramount importance.”
“To that end, we implemented a shuttle service to New Haven several years ago and its popularity has increased over the years,” Lynn Bushnell, vice president for public affairs, said. “We are aware that the Mayor has expressed concern about all students who frequent certain parts of the downtown area. If there are steps we can take to further ensure the safety of our students as they travel in and out of New Haven, we would surely discuss that with the appropriate parties.”
The statement comes in the wake of words from New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. that shuttle systems like Quinnipiac’s have become a license for students to get “fall-down drunk,” the Yale Daily News reports.
Quinnipiac law student Mario Cerame is building his law review on police using intimidation to stop citizens from filming police encounters. According to Cerame, Hartford’s civil rights may have been violated.
“There may be an equal protection argument here,” Cerame said. “What’s even more interesting to me, is that on the video, the police take a suspect into custody because the suspect knows Kenneth—because the suspect knows the cameraman. That suggests invidiousness and animus by the police towards people who film police.”
If the police acted with animus (a legal term meaning arbitrary dislike of, or hate), Cerame believes that Hartford and the other student may have a case using the equal protection argument of the Fourteenth Amendment. The equal protection clause essentially establishes that the state may not treat people differently when they are in similar situations unless there is a rational reason, such as the safety of the officers.
“It’s hard to imagine how treating a suspect differently because he knows a cameraman could be rationally related to safety,” Cerame said. “But it’s easy to see how such an act would be inspired by animus towards people to film police. If the police acted with animus against the suspect, then that could suggest other actions police took that night against Kenneth were inspired by animus, and not legitimate concerns.”
Cerame said that since it is completely legal to film police officers, vague statutes are often used to charge those who try. Many videos like Hartford’s have been in the news lately, a fact which Hartford was aware of going into the incident.
“As soon as I took out the camera they were uncomfortable because they knew what they were doing was wrong,” Hartford said. Quinnipiac senior Kevin Hillier saw the whole incident, and thought that the officers’ response was unwarranted.
“They claimed [Hartford] taking the video of the arrest was interfering with their interrogation when they arrested him, but the only reason him filming was an issue was because they made a big deal out of it,” Hillier said. “If the police didn’t start dancing in front of the camera and yelling at him, there would be no interference.”
The video taken by Hartford appears to show that the officers only arrested the original student because Hartford began filming. One officer, who began dancing when the camera was turned on, looked into the camera and said, “Watch this.” He then asked the student who they were questioning whether he was with Hartford. When the student replied yes, the officer turned to another officer and said, “Cuff him up.”
A Quinnipiac senior who wished to keep his identity hidden from police and university officials said it was obvious that both arrests were made because of the presence of the camera.
“The officer then attempted to make it very clear that the original student in question was being cuffed and brought in as a direct result of Ken’s filming,” he said. “From my point of view and from everything I was a witness to, it seemed clear that Ken was being arrested for filming the police and had done nothing else that could have provoked his arrest.”
After Hartford was arrested, Grenga and others asked some of the officers for their name and badge number. They were told to leave immediately or the officers would “involve [the students] in the issue.”
Hartford and the student whose arrest he was filming spent the night in a holding cell. Hartford was woken at 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. to answer a series of questions. “They asked the same questions,” Hartford said. “I sat in the same room; it was just a different person at a different computer.”
According to Hartford, the holding cells were very barren. The bunk beds were made entirely of metal, with no mattress or sheets. “I spent all night in jail, and all I did was film them,” Hartford said. “You just feel so helpless.”
Transcript:
Officer 1- (to camera) Watch this!
Officer 1-Is this who you’re with?
QU student- Yes.
Officer 1- (to officer 2) Cuff him up. Cuff him up.
Officer 1- You can watch this.
Hartford- Excuse me.
Hartford- Excuse me, what is he being arrested for sir?
Officer 1- Back away. Or you’re gonnna go to jail.
Hartford- What is he being arrested for, sir?
Officer 2- None of your business. (inaudible)
Officer 1- He said he hit him. He said he hit him, he’s going to jail. That’s why.
Hartford- Oh, ok.
Hartford- I’m sorry, am I on public property right now? (inaudible)
Officer 1- Stop making it worse.
Officer 1- That’s what he said, he said… his face.
Hartford- I’m not saying anything.
Officer 1- Then that’s what’s gonna happen. Are you his lawyer?
Hartford- I’m not his lawyer, sir.
Officer 2- What do you want me to do?
Officer 1- You guys can leave now. Thank you.
Officer 1- He’s going down to (inaudible).
Officer 1- I just told you, he’s going down to (inaudible).
Officer 1- I don’t want to lie to you.
Officer 1- I don’t want to give you (inaudible), alright?
Bouncer- Turn the camera off!
Hartford- I don’t have a camera.
Bouncer- Bullshit, I’m watching you record, now step back. I said go away! I said go away!
Hartford- I’m not doing anything.
Officer 2- Put that in your fucking pocket and get the fuck out of here, because you’ve been (inaudible) all night long.
Officer 2- No you fucking listen! I don’t have to listen to shit! You understand? Take my name and my badge number and get the fuck out of here.
Officer 2- Now get the fuck out of here and take your phone.
CommentsMars-bound astronauts could develop dementia and an uncontrollable sense of dread – dubbed “space brain” – during the journey, scientists have warned.
Researchers studied the effects of cosmic rays that would bombard astronauts and their results pose a significant problem for those wishing to establish a colony on the distant planet.
Nasa is actively studying how to send humans to Mars, which is nearly 34 million miles away, and the Netherlands-based Mars One group plans to send people there by 2027. US entrepreneur Elon Musk has also talked about sending people by 2022.
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.
However Professor Charles Limoli, an expert in radiation oncology at University of California, Irvine, and colleagues found highly charge particles in cosmic rays caused significant long-term brain damage in test rodents, resulting in cognitive impairments and dementia.
And it also interfered with the “fear extinction” process, which helps people get over scary or stressful incidents so they can, for example, go swimming again after nearly drowning, he reported in the journal Scientific Reports.
“This is not positive news for astronauts deployed on a two- to three-year round trip to Mars,” Professor Limoli said.
“The space environment poses unique hazards to astronauts. Exposure to these particles can lead to a range of potential central nervous system complications that can occur during and persist long after actual space travel – such as various performance decrements, memory deficits, anxiety, depression and impaired decision-making.
“Many of these adverse consequences to cognition may continue and progress throughout life.”
Alarmingly, the first Martian explorers could also become paranoid during the flight because of the effects on the brain’s normal process of dealing with stressful events. “Deficits in fear extinction could make you prone to anxiety, which could become problematic over the course of a three-year trip to and from Mars,” Professor Limoli said.
While astronauts have lived on the International Space Station for more than a year, they have not faced the same level of cosmic rays because it orbits the Earth inside the planet’s protective magnetosphere.
Shape Created with Sketch. Nasa finds flowing water on Mars - in pictures Show all 7 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Nasa finds flowing water on Mars - in pictures 1/7 The MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars EPA 2/7 3/7 4/7 5/7 6/7 7/7 1/7 The MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars EPA 2/7 3/7 4/7 5/7 6/7 7/7
Areas of the spacecraft could be fitted with extra shielding but it is currently not possible to fully protect the astronauts in this way. There is “really no escaping” the cosmic rays, Professor Limoli said.
Instead he and his team are working on drugs that could protect people from the worst effects of the radiation.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe nowMajor League Baseball has included a new anti-hazing and anti-bullying policy in the new collective bargaining agreement that will be ratified Tuesday. That policy will put an end to certain forms of rookie hazing, The Associated Press reports.
Specifically, the policy prohibits “requiring, coercing or encouraging” players from “dressing up as women or wearing costumes that may be offensive to individuals based on their race, sex, nationality, age, sexual orientation, gender identify or other characteristic.”
MLB Vice President Paul Mifsud admitted that social media played a part in the creation of the policy, telling the AP that, “There's lots of pictures of baseball players dressed up as Disney princesses.”
Article continues below...
Among the recent examples of what now would be violations (and it’s worth noting that this had been a common practice among most/all major-league teams):
Don't fear, however, because other costumes (superheroes, for example) still are allowed, as are practices such as having rookies buy coffee for the veteran players while dressed in full uniform.
Still, the reviews were mixed, with a handful of former major leaguers chiming in to give a thumbs-down to the new policy:
Really nice of the rookies to get up early this morning and get coffee for the vets. #StillBetterThanAAA #Mets pic.twitter.com/iODfwCC16K — New York Mets (@Mets) October 1, 2016
Seriously?! Had to wear a Hooters outfit going through customs in Toronto and wore it proudly bc I was in the Show. https://t.co/xswNVAOaKQ — Kevin Youkilis (@KYouk_2036) December 13, 2016
I was dressed up 3 times. I brought sexy back each & every one of them. https://t.co/LdFIfzKUU2 — Jeremy Guthrie (@TheRealJGuts) December 13, 2016
Hahaha this is ridiculous but I'm retired I don't have to abide by they're rules anymore. I'm the rookie in my new JOB!!!! https://t.co/HrPBI7dumB — LaTroy Hawkins (@LaTroyHawkins32) December 13, 2016When Hamburger Menus first made their debut, their reception within the design community was mixed at best. Fast forward a few years, and these simple stack of lines now dot the internet landscape.
During this time, hamburger icon menus have evolved to reach a new level of refinement, especially in the area of animation. In addition to CSS3, SVG and canvas are also being enlisted heavily to create intricate, fluid transitions that heighten the entire user experience. Audio is also more commonplace and acceptable, providing an additional cue for when the user interacts with the menu.
The layout of hamburger menus have also greatly expanded in terms of complexity, increasingly being used to house more than just a site’s menu, but additional content arranged in complex layouts.
In this post I’ll show you 5 amazing hamburger icon menu trends we can expect more of in 2018 and beyond.
1. More than just Menu Links
I’m seeing an increasing number of hamburger menus being used to display additional information such as contact info, social media icons, etc besides the primary menu. This makes sense, as not only does it better utilize any unused menu space, it makes things like the site’s email and address easily accessible above the fold:
2. Tabs And Content Rows within Menu
Hamburger Menus when revealed typically display a full page menu. With so much real estate to work with, especially on the desktop, it makes sense to display more than just a single column of links. To that end a lot of hamburger menus now show multiple rows of content, or content arranged by tabs:
3. Audio Cues Inside Menu
The inclusion of audio as a navigation aid will always be controversial, but when done tastefully, it can help set your site apart from the pack. It’s perhaps with that mentality that I see more hamburger menus adding sound to the mix. Here is one such hamburger menu:
4. Fluid, Elastic Menu Animations using SVG
Animations in web design provide more than just mere eye candy, but contribute to the entire user experience of the site, whether positively or negatively. The trend when it comes to hamburger menu animations these days is fluid and elastic animation using SVG or the canvas element, which creates a more seamless, captivating experience:
5. Animating Background Menu
And finally, with a full screen menu, you’re often confronted with a lot of empty background area to style. More sites are choosing to utilize an eye catching animated background or even video to do the job. Here’s an animated background that will make you feel like you’re in the clouds when the menu is open:
Conclusion
The modern day hamburger menu is unpredictable- some fill up the whole page, others a portion of it when opened. Some contain just the primary site menu, while others surprise us with a wealth of secondary information. When it comes to the hanburger icon itself, the same unpredictable path is seen, with many an icon deviating from the standard 3 evenly stacked lines.
I predict the above 5 delightful trends for Hamburger Icon Menus to stay with us for some time. They represent the next iteration of hamburger menus that are sleeker, more versatile, and user friendly.
You Might Also Be Interested InGOMAYA KUKI is now located in Harajuku (previous store was in Omotesando). Ever since their opening in 2017, they have been attracting countless individuals with their "the world's richest sesame ice cream!"! They are now tremendously popular among all ages, let's find out why!
GOMAYA KUKI
Ever since GOMAYA KUKI opened in Omotesando, it has been covered on media, like TV and magazine. People, regardless of their nationalities, are falling in love with their rich sesame ice cream. They only use sesame produced by Kuki Sangyo Corporation, which is a very reputable company in Japan. Their sesame products are known to be of great quality.
The Sesame Ice Cream Craze! So many posts on Instagram too!
It is kind of obvious that Japanese people would love sesame ice cream as sesame is a very popular ingredient in Japan, but what are thoughts of people from outside Japan? Believe it or not, there are many Instagram posts that show how popular their sesame ice cream is!
People describe the sesame ice cream as "unworldly", "can legitimately taste the 9000 sesame seeds after one bite", "perfect balance of sweetness and sesame flavor", etc!
A lot of people are looking forward to coming back again and trying some other flavors! You can try so many different combinations that repeated visits are very worth it.
9,000 sesame seeds in a scoop? Isn't that surreal? Give it a try!
Kuro (Super rich)
GOMAYA KUKI aims to provide the world |
have not yet found a mechanism around the disagreement on the moratorium, and we may not before the Arab League meeting.”
Barring a last-minute deal, the talks seemed to be in deep trouble.
Mr. Abbas was due to see King Abdullah II of Jordan on Sunday and then Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt.
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Israel halted most settlement construction for 10 months last November, saying it viewed the politically difficult step as a gesture to lure the Palestinians into direct peace talks. Mr. Abbas consented to the talks nine months later but threatened to abandon them if the freeze was lifted.
Mr. Netanyahu argues that the future of the settlements should be part of a mix of issues to be discussed in the coming year of talks, not a precondition for talks. The Palestinians say the Israelis agreed to end settlement expansion in a 2003 road map for peace and have failed to live up to that commitment. They add that settlements violate international law and are eating up the land on which they plan to build their state.
Mr. Netanyahu told his close aides on Friday that he would not freeze settlements further but would limit the building, according to an official briefed on that meeting.
“Everyone knows that restrained and moderate building in Judea and Samaria in the coming year will not affect the peace map at all,” Mr. Netanyahu said, according to the official, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “Therefore the international community must call on the Palestinians to stay in the peace talks. It is in the interest of the Palestinians, just as it is in ours.”
The Obama administration has offered Israel security guarantees and military hardware in exchange for a one-time 60-day extension of the building freeze. But so far Mr. Netanyahu has turned that down, saying that sticking to his word on a one-time freeze was more important.
The Palestinians too are concerned about credibility. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a close aide to Mr. Abbas, said Saturday that Mr. Abbas had staked his credibility on ending negotiations if settlements began again.15 years on, 46 key roads on China front still not ready Concerned over inordinate delays in the construction of strategic roads along the India-China border, the defence ministry has delegated more administrative and financial powers to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for the speedy completion of the projects.
War won’t give China any clear gain, only cause casualties, assesses govt Escalation of the Doklam stand off into a shooting war is unlikely to deliver significant gains for China, and a wider conflict carries the risk of heavy casualties tilting the odds in favour of diplomacy prevailing despite a barrage of angry words from Beijing.
NEW DELHI: Confronted with the abysmal progress in building infrastructure for swifter mobility of troops and weapons along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the government has now approved greater delegation of administrative and financial powers to Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for faster execution of construction projects.But first, the grim reality check: Only 27 "strategic roads" (963-km) of the 73 (totalling (4,643-km) identified for construction along the LAC over 15 years ago have been completed till now.Moreover, the long-proposed construction of 14 "strategic railway lines" for the western and eastern fronts remains a mere pipedream as of now, even though good progress has been made in re-activating advanced landing grounds for IAF in both Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.China, in sharp contrast, has built an extensive network of railway lines, highways, metal-top roads, air bases, radars, logistics hubs and otherinfrastructure in the Tibet Autonomous Region to sustain over 30 divisions (each with over 15,000 soldiers), including five to six "rapid reaction forces" there.The People's Liberation Army, however, would require a combat ratio of at least 9:1 (nine attackers for every one defender) if it really wants to take on Indian forces along the 4,057-km long LAC stretching from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh. Incidentally, the Indian Army has over a dozen divisions dedicated for the LAC, apart from several IAF airbases in the region.But the lack of infrastructure along the LAC remains a big worry. The defence ministry on Sunday said it "expected" the pace of road construction in border areas to now "improve" due to the delegation of powers to the level of chief engineers and task force commanders in the BRO."The BRO would be able to complete ongoing/new projects in compressed timelines," said an official. A chief engineer can now accord administrative approval of up to Rs 50 crore, additional director-general (ADGBR) up to Rs 75 crore and the DGBR up to Rs 100 crore for "both departmental and contractual mode of execution" of works.Similarly, a chief engineer can now accept bids for contracts up to Rs 100 crore, while it will be Rs 300 crore for the ADGBR. "This will ensure the entire tendering process for a majority of the contracts will be completed at the chief engineer/ADGBR level itself," he added.A chief engineer will now also have powers up to Rs 2 crore to outsource consultancy services, while it will be Rs 5 crore for ADGBR, with DGBR having full powers beyond that. Moreover, the DGBR will now be able to procure indigenous or imported construction equipment of up to Rs 100 crore."The MoD has also approved policy guidelines for BRO to adopt the EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) mode of execution, under which it may engage big construction companies to take up road projects on a turnkey basis," said the official.All the 73 all-weather roads for the China front, with more east-west lateral links as well as better access routes to strategic peaks and valleys, were to be completed by 2012.The government says the road construction pace will now pick up with the BRO undergoing a revamp under the defence ministry (it was earlier part of the road transport ministry), and being progressively equipped with more manpower, equipment and specialised machinery. "There are also faster clearances for land acquisition and environmental clearances now. Tunneling is also being considered for better road connectivity," said an official.By RICHARD SHEARS
Last updated at 21:22 17 December 2007
When the large furry creature first scuttled into their jungle camp looking for its supper, the scientists assumed it was a cat.
But after several further visits, when it tamely allowed itself to be picked up, they realised they were actually holding a giant rat.
The monster rodent was the most spectacular discovery in a remote area of Indonesia which experts are describing as a "lost world" of hitherto-unknown animals and plants.
At the other end of the size scale was a pygmy possum thought to be one of the world's smallest marsupials - creatures which carry their young in a pouch.
"These are two animals which were totally unknown to science and we're absolutely thrilled to have discovered them," said one of the explorers who ventured into the thick jungles of Indonesia's Papua province.
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It was in 2005 that the team first visited the Foja Mountains where, it is believed, no modern human had ever stepped.
On that first visit, scientists discovered dozens of new plants, birds, butterflies and frogs. On their second they were excited to find more, along with the giant rat and the pygmy possums.
"It's comforting to know that there's a place on Earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature," said Bruce Beehler, vice-president of the U.S.-based wildlife group Conservation International.
The giant rat is the biggest known in the world by far and weighs 3lb; about five times as much as a typical city rat. It is 2ft long, plus tail, and shows no fear of humans.
As they travelled through the forest, the scientists heard the calls of birds they could not identify and were convinced there were many more creatures yet to be discovered. They are planning a third expedition next year.
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Foja has been described as wildlife's last frontier, where exotic creatures live without any threat from mankind, mainly because there are no roads or tracks and the nearest native villages are scores of miles away.
Papua has 104 million acres of tropical rainforest and some of the richest biodiversity in the world. But it is under threat from illegal logging and clearing for palm oil plantations.WMD – THE STORY OF THE YELLOW SUBMARINE HAS BEEN FULL OF CHARACTER AND CHARACTERS RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING.
It started with our friend ‘Demolition Dave’ helping Duncan McGillivray and his gang to demolish the old Inverleven distillery – buying up all the old equipment for scrap and loading it onto barges on the Clyde. All so Duncan had some spares to keep Bruichladdich running in the days of No Money.
As this odd flotilla was being towed round the Mull of Kintyre and up to Islay, Laddie MD Mark Reynier received an email from the Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in the USA who had been monitoring distillery webcams on the grounds that our processes could have been ‘tweaked’ to produce the dreaded WMD. ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’.
Never one to allow the opportunity for a good story to pass him by, or to get his beloved distillery in the news, Reynier embellished the tale, which soon grew to involve spies and the CIA and visits by weapons inspectors. All of which made great headline-grabbing copy in the febrile media atmosphere then prevailing around WMD.
One of the stills from Inverleven was dutifully set up outside the old Victorian buildings, and became an iconic sight, with a pair of Duncan’s old wellie boots sticking out of the top to represent those weapons inspectors searching for dangerous chemicals deep in its copper bottomed interior.
A special bottling was commissioned (of course) and dubbed the ‘Whisky of Mass Distinction’ (geddit?) and much hilarity ensued. At least among the Laddies, the rest of the whisky industry having long since given up on the noisily irreverent rebels.
WMDII: A YELLOW SUBMARINE
Things were about to get even more eccentric because, shortly afterwards, Islay fisherman John Baker was heading home to Port Ellen when he spotted something awash in the sea off the bow of his boat. Being a resourceful man, he attached a rope to said object and towed it into the pier where Gordon Currie lifted it out of the water. It proved to be a very beautiful yellow submarine.
Very conveniently, the yellow vessel had ‘Ministry of Defence’ and a telephone number stencilled on it, which was of course immediately called. What happened next was to become the stuff of legend. He was connected to the Royal Navy. “I have found your yellow submarine” said John. “We haven’t lost a yellow submarine” said the Navy. Which was an odd response as the evidence to the contrary was overwhelming.
John and Gordon then loaded the submarine onto a lorry and took it to a secret location in Port Ellen (actually fellow fisherman Harold Hastie’s back garden). The local newspaper was called, then the nationals, and the following day the red-tops were full of pictures of the two friends astride the lethal-looking machine, carrying fishing rods, and asking: “Has anybody lost a yellow submarine?”
Hilarious… unless you were the Royal Navy – who did eventually admit to it being theirs. HMS Blyth, the minesweeper that lost it, eventually came to pick it up, slipping into the pier at dawn to winch it aboard. By that time, Bruichladdich had (of course) commissioned another bottling, WMD2: The Yellow Submarine, and a box of lovely liquid was graciously offered, and accepted by the captain as a goodwill gesture.In a film-making career spanning almost 40 years, Oliver Stone has turned political controversy in America into an art form. He has upset financiers with his caustic portrayal of Wall Street; conservatives with his depiction of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez and George Bush; and Democrats with his conspiracy theories about the assassination of John F Kennedy.
All of which may come to look like a tea party – of the social as opposed to right-wing protest variety – when his next big venture hits the screens.
Stone announced yesterday that a 10-hour crash course in the history of the 20th century he is putting together for American TV is designed as an antidote to the inaccuracies and biases he believes exist in the conventional historical narrative dished out in American schools and mainstream media. The title alone gives an inkling of what lies ahead: Oliver Stone's Secret History of America.
The thrice-Oscar winning director gave a further glimpse into his thinking at a gathering of TV critics in Pasadena on Saturday, when he didn't so much open up a can of worms as unleash an entire supermarket shelf-load. He began by startling the panel by bringing up the H word.
"Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it's been used cheaply," he said. Then he mentioned the S word. "Stalin has a complete other story. Not to paint him as a hero, but to tell a more factual representation. He fought the German war machine more than any person."
Then he went on to mention two M words – Chairman Mao and Joseph McCarthy, architect of the 1950s anti-communist purges in Washington, and the T word – Harry Truman's dropping of the atom bomb in 1945.
Of the many potential storms that could be brewing over his Secret History, which will be broadcast by the cable channel Showtime later this year, Hitler promises to be the most incendiary. Stone told the Television Critics Association that "we can't judge people as only 'bad' or 'good'. [Hitler] is the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect. People in America don't know the connection between WWI and WWII."
The implication that Stone is seeking to put forward a good side of the German dictator hitherto not seen by Americans is, even by Stone's own accomplished record of stirring up stinks, pretty radical.
The comment inspired Stone's collaborator on his Secret History, Peter Kuznick, a history professor at the Washington-based American University, to tell the audience of television critics and, in an apparent damage-limitation exercise: "He's not saying we're going to come out with a more positive view of Hitler. But we're going to describe him as a historical phenomenon."
Even so, such a relativist approach to Hitler as a product of his time as much as an individual embodiment of evil is likely to prove hot material. Stone said he would similarly put Stalin "in context". "I've been able to walk in Stalin's shoes and Hitler's shoes, to understand their point of view. You cannot approach history unless you have empathy for the person you may hate."
Within hours of the comments being made, they had begun, in the predictable pattern of such things, to effervesce on the internet like yeast in dough.
A blogger by the pen name Orphia Nay summed up the billowing emotion: "Ohhhhhh, this is not going to end well," she wrote. Others were less temperate. "Again, another 'blame America first' person. If he/they hate it, just leave it. We'll all have a party and help you pack. You won't even have a full body scan."
Say what you will about Stone, he can't be accused of opting for the easy life. His 2006 film on 9/11, World Trade Center, was both critically acclaimed and a box office hit, with an appeal to all political persuasions. Next he bounced back with a sharp portrait of George Bush in W. Then he made South of the Border, his glowing portrayal of Chávez as champion of the poor which premiered at the Venice film festival in September where Stone appeared with Chávez on his arm. His Wall Street 2, with Michael Douglas reprising Gordon Gekko, is in post-production; it's a fair bet that the money men will come off no better this time than they did the last.
Now his Secret History. "Obviously, Rush Limbaugh is not going to like this history," Stone told the TV critics, which may go down as one of the great understatements of all time.
Courting controversy
• JFK (1990) Caused a furore by asserting that JF Kennedy's vice-president and successor, Lyndon B Johnson, was involved in the president's assassination in Dallas in 1963 along with CIA agents and anti-Castro exiles. One critic called it "a monstrous charade''
• Natural Born Killers (1994) A savage portrayal of a young couple's killing spree. Intended as a satire on the media's obsession with violence, the film was subsequently linked with a series of copycat murders
• Comandante (2003) A US network postponed Stone's documentary on Fidel Castro, following a crackdown on dissidents by the Cuban leader. Stone spent three days with him n 2002 to make the film but was accused of being too sympathetic
• W (2008) Even before release, Stone's portrayal of former president George W Bush had rightwing columnists and bloggers condemning it as a vicious smear although the New York Times was among those who thought "he (Stone) goes easier on Mr. Bush on screen than some of his off-screen remarks suggest
Holly BentleyCLOSE azcentral sports' Paul Coro discusses how each player needs to develop in Las Vegas.
Suns center Alex Len is out for the NBA Summer League after suffering a broken finger in his debut. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/azcentral sports)
LAS VEGAS – The NBA Summer League started with another bad break for Suns center Alex Len.
Photos: Suns in NBA Summer League
What was hoped to be an important summer league for Len's development ended with him suffering a right pinkie fracture in the opening game. Len could be sidelined for as much as two months once the fracture is examined today in Phoenix.
Rankings: Suns' 1st-round draft picks - Where is Alex Len?
"It is bad timing right now," Len said. "It would have been the perfect time for me to get some playing time and get confidence back."
Len was going for the ball in the third quarter of the Suns summer team's loss to Golden State on Saturday night when his right pinkie got stuck in a Warriors' jersey.
Suns draft history: 1st round picks | 2nd round picks
"So I pulled it," Len said. "I thought it was just dislocated. It was looking awkward. So I put it back in place."
Len finished the game, logging 25 minutes and accumulating six points, six rebounds and two blocks. A postgame X-ray showed a fracture, and the finger was put in a splint.
Len had started at power forward alongside center Miles Plumlee and had good moments, getting a help-side block and follow block in sequence, being decisive with perimeter shots, feeding Plumlee on the interior and getting a slam follow.
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"I felt good (Saturday), no question," Len said. "Just unfortunate."
The Suns and Len had hoped this would be an important summer for Len after two ankle surgeries kept him from participating in last year's summer league. He had limited basketball activity until training camp and then was limited to 42 appearances in his rookie year (8.6 minutes per game) because of early-season ankle setbacks and the team's playoff chase.
Len has bulked up 27 pounds since the Suns drafted him to 260 pounds and cut his body fat percentage in half. He now will have to focus on lower-body work and left-hand basketball moves. The Suns drafted Len fifth overall last year and he could be counted for a greater role in the coming season in light of the departure of Channing Frye, who often played at center.
Alex Len thought he'd dislocated his right pinky %26 popped it back to keep playing. Postgame X-ray showed a fracture. pic.twitter.com/Z8ETB5QW5j — Paul Coro (@paulcoro) July 14, 2014
Summer Suns win
Suns second-round draft pick Alec Brownshowed off his calling card — shooting — in the Suns' 93-82 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night.
NBA draft: Grades for each team
It took a while for 7-foot-1 power forward's skill to show up in Las Vegas as he went 0 for 11 from the field (0 for 5 on 3-pointers) in the Suns' first seven quarters. But with the Suns trailing 79-73 with 4:40 to go on Sunday, Brown made his first 3 of the summer off a Tyler Ennis assist and followed it with a blocked shot (his other forte) as part of a 15-0 run that won the game.
Who are these guys?: Meet the Suns' 2014 draft class
"He's a 7-footer who can shoot a 3," Suns assistant coach Mike Longabardi said. "It is a high release, a tougher one. You see, when we're out there and Miles rolls to the rim, it's almost, I don't want to say like Channing but there are some similarities there."
The Suns went 0 for 11 on 3s in Saturday's game and were 4 for 17 through three quarters Sunday before making seven in the fourth quarter. Curry, a free-agent signee, led the Suns with 26 points, making five of seven 3s. Plumlee grabbed 12 rebounds and had a monster block on No. 2 pick Jabari Parker's dunk try. Guard Archie Goodwin added 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting while reserve guard Dionte Christmas tallied 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Photos: Suns in NBA Summer League
Free throws
Suns first-round draft pick T.J. Warren, who scored 22 points in 24 minutes in a Saturday debut, was limited to seven minutes in Sunday night's game because he needed four stitches above his right eye and had swelling. The Suns primarily used eight players Sunday night.
• P.J. Tucker, who is expected to sign this week, attended the Suns' game Sunday night.Croatian Football Federation president Davor Suker says the Socceroos are the perfect final opponent for his nation before they open the World Cup against tournament hosts and favourites Brazil.
The Socceroos and Croatia will round out their World Cup preparations with a friendly match in Salvador next Friday June 6 (kick off 9am June 7 AEST live on Fox Sports).
While the Socceroos have a tricky opening to their campaign a week later against Chile, the Croatians have an even bigger task with the likes of Neymar, Paulinho, Dani Alves and co awaiting them in Sao Paulo.
"We wanted a strong opponent for our final tune-up before we open the World Cup against Brazil and Australia is an excellent choice," Suker, the former national team great, said.
"I am sure that football fans in Salvador will see an entertaining, intense and dynamic match with several world-class players like (Luka) Modrić, (Ivan) Rakitic, (Mario) Mandžukić and (Tim) Cahill."
The clash is just as important for the new-look Socceroos, who need every warm-up game they can to work on their combinations before taking on Chile, Netherlands and Spain.
Injured skipper Mile Jedinak (groin) is hopeful of getting some game time in the match to ensure he's ready for the opening match of the tournament.
Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou will also want to get some game time into the likes of Mark Bresciano, Matthew Spiranovic and Tom Rogic.
"We are looking forward to our match with Croatia in Salvador," Postecoglou said.
"This will be our final match before the start of the World Cup and Croatia will offer us a tough test and help us with our preparations."
The Socceroos and Croatia of course have history at the World Cup, with the two nations famously meeting in the group stage in Germany in 2006.
It turned out to be a memorable night for the Socceroos, with Harry Kewell's late goal salvaging a 2-2 draw to send the Aussies to the round of 16 - at the expense of Croatia.
The two nations also have many links, with a host of former and current Socceroos having Croatian heritage, including Ivan Franjic, Dario Vidosic and Spiranovic in the current squad.
"We are looking forward to play again with Socceroos, our good football friends - there are many Croatians who played and coached in Australia, and there are several Australian-born Croatians who were a part of our national team," Suker said.
"Even though both teams have difficult groups at the World Cup, I hope we can meet again in the second round."
The Socceroos play Croatia in a friendly next Friday night (kick off 9am AEST time Saturday morning live on Fox Sports ) ahead of their tournament opener against Chile on June 13.
And don't forget to follow the Socceroos on social media
http://www.fb.com/Socceroos
http://www.twitter.com/Socceroos
http://instagram.com/SocceroosOne of the biggest steals in the 2017 NFL draft, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin landed in one of the NFL’s most promising young offenses.
The Bucs snatched up Godwin with the 84th overall pick in the third round, adding him to an already dangerous unit that includes Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson, along with quarterback Jameis Winston and 2017 first-round pick, O.J. Howard.
Before making the jump to the pros, Godwin put together three solid seasons at Penn State, accumulating nearly 2,500 receiving yards.
In this exclusive interview, Godwin dishes on the game-day atmosphere at Beaver Stadium, what to expect from Nittany Lions running back Saquon Barkley in 2017, what he took from his Rose Bowl opponent and USC QB Sam Darnold, Christian Hackenberg’s situation with the New York Jets and more.
JM: Let’s start with your draft experience. What was it like, waiting to hear your name called?
CG: It was definitely stressful. The whole concept of not knowing where you’re going is the most stressful part. It was a fun experience and stuff, it’s something I’ve always dreamed about but it’s definitely pretty stressful.
JM: Did you have a huge draft party?
CG: No, it wasn’t huge. I just had about 20-30 people. It was mainly my closest family and friends. My girlfriend was there with me. We just got together, enjoyed some food and each other’s company while it all happened.
JM: You put up some big numbers at the combine. I imagine you looked forward to that for a long time. Was it what you expected?
CG: In a way, it was what I expected. In another way, it wasn’t. The on-field stuff was definitely what I expected it to be. Growing up, I’ve watched the combine every year, that’s something I’ve always enjoyed doing. What you don’t really see on your television is all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. The interview process, all the psychological testing. I wasn’t necessarily surprised by it, but it was definitely different than I was expecting.
JM: Speaking of all the psychological testing, what’s the weirdest question you were asked?
CG: It’s funny you ask that because to be honest, I didn’t really get asked anything that weird. For the most part, I think a lot of the teams were just trying to figure out who I was as a person being that I declared early. I really didn’t get asked any weird questions.
JM: Were you surprised when the Bucs drafted you? Did they show a lot of interest in you leading up to the draft?
CG: I wasn’t too surprised. After they had drafted me, I kind of reflected on that a little bit. A lot of guys told me that they didn’t have much communication with the teams that picked them, but I had a formal interview with the Bucs at the combine, I had a private workout with them and they also brought me down to Tampa for one of their 30 private visits. I guess looking back on it, I probably should have expected it [laughs].
A look into WR Chris Godwin's time with the #Buccaneers since being drafted in April! WATCH Progress Report >> https://t.co/RQvlpqOxBB pic.twitter.com/FQgbcGDzxL — Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@TBBuccaneers) June 19, 2017
JM: They really did their due diligence on you. NFL.com’s Matt Harmon charted you as the best contested pass-catcher in the 2017 NFL draft. Is that something that you practice frequently?
CG: I wouldn’t necessarily say that I practice that. I just think that’s a result of all the work that I put in with my other receivers at Penn State, as well as our receivers coach, Josh Gattis. We all took a lot of pride in being able to catch the balls that are thrown our way. That’s something that we kind of worked on during ball drills even before practice. We really focus on making the catches that we should be making. That’s a testament to all of us, and all the work that we put in together.
JM: When you’re looking at the opposition and let’s say that you know he’s hitting you with man coverage in a one-on-one situation, do you have a go to move? Something that gives you more confidence than anything else?
CG: I don’t know that I have a go to move, to be honest. A lot of times, what we do as receivers is based upon the coverage that we’re getting, or just the way that the defensive back is playing us. One of my favorite routes to run are digs, just because I feel like you can run them a lot of different ways. You don’t necessarily have to run them the same way to get the same result.
The quarterback has a couple of different options with how he can throw the ball in order for you to make the catch. There’s a little bit of a toughness aspect to it, as well, because typically with a dig, you’re probably gonna be getting hit soon after you catch the ball. You have to catch it knowing that you’re gonna take a hit.
JM: You mentioned toughness. Do you you think physicality is just as important for a receiver as having good hands? How much does being physical mean to you?
CG: It’s extremely important. In the NFL especially, these guys are the best players in the world at what they do. Everybody’s strong, everybody’s physical and everybody’s fast. If you’re a bigger guy like myself, you have to be able to use your physicality to your advantage. Some smaller guys who are quicker and faster, they can get away with not being as physical because they make up for it in other areas. When you’re bigger, you have to be a physical guy.
JM: What’s it like playing at Beaver Stadium?
CG: Oh, man [laughs]. Playing at Beaver Stadium is so awesome. It’s definitely one of the top three things I’ve ever done. The atmosphere there is unreal. The fans are so supportive of not only Penn State football, but just Penn State in general. When it’s game day and we all get together at the stadium, we’re all there for one cause and that’s to represent Penn State. The fans really get it rocking. I think Beaver Stadium is probably the best game-day atmosphere that I’ve ever been a part of.
JM: A lot of your big performances came in bowl games. Why do you think that is? Do you get a little extra motivation from playing in those games?
CG: Honestly, I never really approached a bowl game any differently than I do any other game. I think that the extra time you get in-between a bowl game can be very beneficial. It allows you more time to study your opponent. It gives you the time necessary to make sure that you have your game plan completely down.
By the time the game gets there, you know your game plan like the back of your hand. I guess when the bright lights came on, I was able to perform. It’s a special level of focus that you have to have when playing in a big game. You have to step up for your team, and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and thankfully I’ve been able to perform when it mattered most to my team.
Related 6 NFL rookies making an instant impact at OTAs
JM: It really shows. I know that we’re early in the process here, but how’s your chemistry with Jameis Winston coming along?
CG: It’s definitely growing every week. Chemistry is not something that you can rush. It’s also not something that happens overnight. It takes a lot of good moves and a lot of well-ran routes before you can get there, and it also takes some mistakes. It takes mistakes to learn from to realize okay, we can’t do that again or that I can’t run that route like that again. It’s definitely growing by each week. Not just with myself, but with the rest of the receiver core. We have so many weapons that I think it’s gonna be really tough on defenses.
JM: How did OTA’s and minicamp go? It’s obviously a transition for you, being a rookie.
CG: It’s been going great so far. We have a lot of great guys in our receiver room. I’ve said it before, but they’ve welcomed me with open arms. I thought that was pretty cool. Even this early in the process, I feel very comfortable asking anybody anything. I don’t hesitate to ask any of the older guys any questions that I may have about the offense or advice on how I should do something.
I really feel comfortable asking the older guys how I should do something that’s new to me. I know that they’re going to give me their honest answer and their honest opinion. I think that’s really cool. It’s allowed me to be more comfortable. It’s allowed me to grow every day and even on the days that aren’t my best, all the guys are right there to pick me up and tell me what I can do better, or when I do something good, they tell me specifically why that was good. It’s a great environment for me to be in.
Get used to it. More cannonfire for @CGtwelve_! pic.twitter.com/NG7w5Kq2Dp — Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@TBBuccaneers) June 8, 2017
JM: Speaking of some of those older guys in the room, has Mike Evans or DeSean Jackson had any advice for you?
CG: Not necessarily specific advice, but those are two are the major guys that are helping me make the transition. Mike has been great every day. DeSean is an open book. He’s obviously been doing this for about ten years now, and he’s seen a lot. A young star like Mike, to be able to just pick his brain, it’s definitely gonna help me a lot.
JM: Is there anything specific that receivers coach Todd Monken has you working on every single day?
CG: There’s not one thing in particular. We’re just trying to continue to grow my game and allow me to have more tools in my toolbox to implement when the time is needed. We’re all working on our individual things. For me, I wanna be the best route runner that I can be. That’s something that Coach Monken is always pushing me to be. If I do something wrong, he’s right there telling me why I did it wrong or how I need to go about doing it better. That’s what you look for in a coach; a guy that’s gonna push you to be your best.
JM: Going back to your time at Penn State, who’s the best cornerback that you ever faced?
CG: Outside of my teammates, I probably had the best match-ups with Jourdan Lewis of Michigan. By the time I started going against him, he was a veteran guy. He’s obviously a little bit of a shorter corner, but he has long arms and he’s very patient. I could tell that he had a lot of experience. Some of the things that a younger, more inexperienced guy might fall for, Jourdan wouldn’t. He’s smart about his physicality; he knew how much he could get away with [laughs]. He used that to his advantage. I always looked forward to going against him because I knew that every single play was going to be a battle.
JM: The NFL draft community is really looking forward to watching Saquon Barkley in 2017. Is he going to do big things this season?
CG: Oh yeah [laughs]. I fully expect Saquon to take another step forward this year. That’s saying something, because he’s obviously put together two really good seasons already. I expect him to have another year just like the first two. Honestly though, I think the best thing about Saquon Barkley is that he’s one of the more humble people that you’ll ever meet. With all the talent that he has, you’ll never hear him talk about himself. He likes to shift the attention to his team. I think that’s great for a guy with as much talent as he has.
JM: Is the Penn State receiver room in good hands, even without Chris Godwin?
CG: Without a doubt. There’s not a doubt in my mind that it’s in good hands. Over the past couple of years, we’ve arguably had one of the best receiver cores from top to bottom in the country. Just because I’m not there anymore just means that there’s now room for somebody else to step up and make that role their own. I think there’s legitimately four or five guys that can take over that No. |
terran is imba. Its just the REALLY good players right now are terran.
Anyway, lets not get this discussion going again. Thats not how the GSL works...On top of that, its not as much the fact that terran is imba. Its just the REALLY good players right now are terran.Anyway, lets not get this discussion going again.
No one said terran is imba. I simply said it is an obvious trend. And yeah, that was how the GSL worked... No one said terran is imba. I simply said it is an obvious trend. And yeah, that was how the GSL worked... "If you want this forum to be full of half-baked philosophy discussions between pompous faggots like yourself forever, stay the course captain vanilla" - FakeSteve[TPR], 2006
Holgerius Profile Blog Joined January 2009 Sweden 16946 Posts #12 Sjow raped so hard in this tournament. :O Only two games dropped overall. I believe in the almighty Grötslev! -- I am never serious and you should never believe a thing I say. Including the previous sentence.
lololol Profile Joined February 2006 5197 Posts #13 On January 29 2011 17:26 jdseemoreglass wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 29 2011 17:23 GeneralissimoNero wrote:
On January 29 2011 17:20 jdseemoreglass wrote:
On January 29 2011 17:17 bks wrote:
On January 29 2011 17:12 jdseemoreglass wrote:
7/8 Terran in GSL, with T winner.
6/8 Terran in IEM, with T winner.
Let's see how long this trend continues.
Wat? There were 4 terrans in GSL Ro8. Wat? There were 4 terrans in GSL Ro8.
GSL January
Code S
IMNesTea = Z
MVP = T
MarineKing = T
Jinro = T
Code A
TOP = T
sC = T
Bleach = T
Lyn = T GSL JanuaryIMNesTea = ZMVP = TMarineKing = TJinro = TTOP = TsC = TBleach = TLyn = T
Thats not how the GSL works...
On top of that, its not as much the fact that terran is imba. Its just the REALLY good players right now are terran.
Anyway, lets not get this discussion going again. Thats not how the GSL works...On top of that, its not as much the fact that terran is imba. Its just the REALLY good players right now are terran.Anyway, lets not get this discussion going again.
No one said terran is imba. I simply said it is an obvious trend. And yeah, that was how the GSL worked... No one said terran is imba. I simply said it is an obvious trend. And yeah, that was how the GSL worked...
Code A are players seeded 33-64th. 33-36 is not part of top 8.
Code A grand prize is the same as placing last in Code S.
Code A are players seeded 33-64th. 33-36 is not part of top 8.Code A grand prize is the same as placing last in Code S. I'll call Nada.
Seronei Profile Joined January 2011 Sweden 991 Posts #14 Don't make assumptions on race balance from this tournament, the qualification was played shortly after IEM cologne and therefor before all the terran nerfs.
ReachTheSky Profile Joined April 2010 United States 3110 Posts #15 SjoW is a baller! Zerg is hands down the easiest race to play.
eltese Profile Joined November 2010 Sweden 369 Posts #16 Yeah Europe is really terran (and protoss) heavy. It's not often that I'm on ladder and run into a zerg. I play Protoss myself but I really wished alot of people started playing Zerg.
Ah well... Time will make this right. The game still is fairly new.
GL SjoW. Hope you can do well at the international championship. At least there we will see on Zerg (MorroW)
Armada Vega Profile Joined January 2011 Canada 120 Posts #17 On January 29 2011 17:17 Silverymoon wrote:
There wasn't even a single zerg player TT
- Rawr There wasn't even a single zerg player TT- Rawr
Yeah, but if Idra was there I think he could have had a really big chance of winning.
I'm not sure how EU pros think of the zerg race or think its easy to beat. I'm also not sure how many zerg pros there are in EU. There is a possibility that the players in this tournament are just not facing top zerg on a regular basis, a chance for a korean zerg to take advantage?
Don't be depressed, I think its just a faze. Soon more zergs will show up Yeah, but if Idra was there I think he could have had a really big chance of winning.I'm not sure how EU pros think of the zerg race or think its easy to beat. I'm also not sure how many zerg pros there are in EU. There is a possibility that the players in this tournament are just not facing top zerg on a regular basis, a chance for a korean zerg to take advantage?Don't be depressed, I think its just a faze. Soon more zergs will show up twitter: @ArmadaVega
Liquid`Nazgul Profile Blog Joined September 2002 22099 Posts #18 Sjow so good! Administrator
DisaFear Profile Blog Joined September 2010 Australia 4032 Posts #19
On the other hand, wow replays available for dl? Yay Poor White-RaOn the other hand, wow replays available for dl? Yay How devious | http://anartisticanswer.blogspot.com.au/
Golden Ghost Profile Joined February 2003 Netherlands 1027 Posts #20 Was a good tournament to watch.
One question about the IEM World Championship.
Why is the top 4 of Kiev going there (and the top 5 from Asia) but only the top 2 from America? Life is to give and take. You take a vacation and you give to the poor.
1 2 3 Next All{snip}
Sometimes it seems Latin America is on the brink of Mad Max apocalypse. Mexico is nearing state collapse. Oil-rich Venezuela is out of gas, its people reduced to cooking with firewood.
{snip}
Why does our elite think a United States demographically similar to Latin America will be spared the dysfunctions of Mexico and Venezuela? Many, conservatives and liberals alike, believe in the power of the Constitution to transform anyone into an American.
{snip}
In the United States, third and fourth generation Mexican immigrants today exhibit less desire or ability to assimilate than first generation immigrants, not more. The Hispanic community, as Heather MacDonald has long documented, exhibits abnormally high school dropout rates, illegitimacy, and criminality. The Hispanic “social conservative” is a fantasy of establishment Republican strategists.
{snip}
Ben Sasse and others like Oklahoma Senator Lankford believe racial division is only worsening in America because of sinister Russian conspiracies. The truth is that racial hatred is an old and unfortunate part of human nature. Neither constitutions nor Christianity have ever been enough to do anything about it.
Haiti has the second-oldest republican constitution in the Western hemisphere. It was established in 1802 and followed up by several other versions, each constructed according to Enlightenment principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. In the 1960’s Haiti was ruled by Papa Doc Duvalier who preserved his power through racial demagoguery. He mobilized the country’s majority African population against the tiny mulatto elite that, despite everything, still dominated politically and economically. During his terror against, presumably, mulatto privilege, they were subjected to persecution and massacre, as they have been throughout the history of that nation. It is interesting that in Haiti, Obama wouldn’t be considered a black man, but a hated and racially alien oppressor.
Duvalier is otherwise well known for colorful personality quirks, like ordering the killing of every black dog on the island because he believed a political opponent had shapeshifted into one to escape him.
{snip}
The obscurantism of people like Papa Doc Duvalier is easy to see and mock. We feel very safe and far from such men. But are the beliefs of men like Ben Sasse or Hillary Clinton any less cultish? They believe, as the Soviets or Jacobins did, that the state can transcend nature and history and forge an entirely new kind of man.
Original Article
Share ThisHillary Clinton’s State Department has been revealed to be indefensibly unethical. From the Clinton Foundation’s pay-to-play to the highly questionable defenses Clinton used during her FBI investigation, the extent to which similar dirty politics were used to help her win the Democratic primaries merits further attention. After the releases by Wikileaks and Guccifer 2.0, the role in which Nevada—a crucial early voting state—played in stopping Bernie Sanders’ surge against Clinton is brought into light. The undemocratic nature by which Clinton won the Democratic primaries sets a dangerous precedent.
On September 15, former Congressional candidate in Nevada’s fourth district, Dan Rolle, took to Twitter to explain how, starting in 2012, the Nevada Democratic Party began changing the state’s voter registration system as a means to rig the caucuses for Clinton. Most state Democratic parties—including Nevada—moved to NGPVAN database systems, which Rolle says facilitated the monopolization of voter data in favor of Clinton.
“So now, if you are @HillaryClinton and you have @NGPVAN, you know everything about every democrat. Including who WON’T vote for you,” Rolle tweeted. “So how do you fix that? Simple. Vote Builder. A piece of software that can change the state voter file. And you do that with: @NGPVAN”
Rolle attended a fundraising call before the Nevada caucuses, between Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook and Nevada Democratic Party donors who were worried she would lose the state, as 70 percent of newly registered voters were expected to support Sanders. According to Rolle, there was a meeting with donors in New York leading up to the Nevada caucus, where donors threatened to pull out.
“I met with Nevada Democratic Party executive board members who told me they were aware of caucus members being bussed in from California,” Rolle told the Observer, noting there were significant discrepancies with the Nevada Democratic Party’s voter file. “When I pressed on the accuracy in the voter file, I was told ‘it’s garbage’ by an executive board member.”
Over the course of Rolle’s campaign for Congress in Nevada this year, his team found anywhere between five to 10 percent discrepancies and higher in the voter file. “You reach a point, statistically, where if you say, ‘Hey, we are running for congress and 20 percent of this voter file is garbage.’ On the voter file, names were incorrect, phone numbers didn’t work. So you call someone on the file and they say, ‘That’s not me’ or ‘I moved three years ago.’ One or two of those you expect—but 15 in 100 calls? That’s election swinging right there.” Clinton defeated Sanders in the Nevada caucuses 52.6 percent to 47.3 percent, a margin lower than the accuracy of the voter file.
The process for recording results at the Nevada caucus was unreliable and easily subject to manipulation. The Young Turks’ host Jimmy Dore posted a video on Youtube shortly after the Nevada caucuses, pointing out an inept chairman of a caucus site in Las Vegas. Dore narrated as the chairman forgot to nominate delegates to go to the state convention after tallying the vote, and let people caucus who weren’t registered. A separate video posted on Youtube revealed unregistered Clinton supporters entering a caucus site in Nevada.
“The process of recording results from the Nevada Caucus just involved a person (usually sent out there by the Nevada Democratic Party) entering the results into a website on a phone. No cross-referencing. No validation. You have people entering, voting, and leaving before business concludes, with no verification.”
Rolle confronted the Nevada Democratic Party about the disorganization and lack of communication at several Nevada caucus sites. “I was told, ‘We are working on it, we are learning.’ Not ‘there isn’t fraud.’ ” Rolle noted that the Nevada caucuses could have easily swung one or two delegates at several different sites, swaying the state in Hillary Clinton’s favor.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid played a major role in tipping the Nevada caucuses in favor of Hillary Clinton. Reid, who maintained neutrality until shortly after the caucuses—at which point he endorsed Clinton—called in favors to casino owners, asking for workers to be sent to caucus sites in Las Vegas. “If Harry Reid is going to push the needle with union workers going to the polls (on paid time), Nevada is the state to do it,” Rolle added. The Culinary Workers Union, for example, did not intend to participate in the Nevada caucuses—until a call from Reid to the union’s leader changed their mind.
Following the caucuses, 64 of Sanders delegates were rejected at the Nevada State Democratic Party Convention by a board chosen by Clinton. The delegates would have given Sanders an edge. Roberta Lange, the state party’s chair, denied a recount of delegates and ended the convention at her own discretion, therefore breaking the party’s own rules to ensure Clinton received more delegates from Nevada than Sanders.
While Sanders supporters were understandably outraged, biased mainstream media coverage portrayed them as violent. Some went so far as to falsely claim Sanders supporters threw chairs in protest—a narrative Wikileaks proved the DNC staff intentionally pushed to discredit the Sanders campaign. The allegations were eventually debunked, yet The New York Times, among other publications, failed to publish retractions or make edits to correct the story.
What happened at the Nevada State Convention is essentially a microcosm of the entire Democratic primaries. The Democratic Party leadership breaks, bends and circumvent the rules to help Hillary Clinton—and when Sanders supporters protest, mainstream media outlets attack.
The victory Nevada Democrat officials were able to squeeze out for Clinton enabled the media to continue portraying Bernie Sanders as the “unrealistic” underdog in a Democratic primary that belonged to Clinton before a single vote was cast.Sidney Crosby and LeBron James are seen as the best players in the world at their respective sports. Sure, you may hear the odd person that tries to claim Durant is better than LeBron, or that Steven Stamkos or Jonathan Toews may be the best. But to the informed fan, they know that there is only one true king in either sport.
On Tuesday, it was announced that LeBron James was opting out of the final two years of his contract with the Miami Heat. James could re-sign with the Heat, maybe for less money in order to give the team more cap space to give him a better supporting cast. If he does, he can earn a max contract of $127.7 million over 5 years. If he signs elsewhere, his maximum is $94.8 million over 4 years. If James goes elsewhere, it is a lock that he will receive the max contract of $94.8 million.
While the NHL does not have the same contract structure that allows players to opt out of contracts, it would be interesting to consider what Crosby could fetch on the open market if he opted out of his contract with the Penguins or refused to sign an extension and entered free agency.
Currently, he is signed for 11 more years at a cap hit of $8.7 million, which is not even the highest cap hit in the NHL. Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin both have higher cap hits. Theoretically, considering Crosby is the best player in the world, he would be the most likely player to receive a maximum contract. Yes, I am aware this is completely hypothetical and could not happen, unless the Penguins bought out Crosby (which won’t happen).
Would Your Team Give Sidney Crosby a Max Contract?
Theoretically, this scenario would play out this offseason, before the 2014-15 season. Gary Bettman has stated that the salary cap for next season will be around $71 million. According to the recently signed CBA, the maximum allowable contract for a single player is 20% of the upper limit of the salary cap. Using a cap of $71 million, that is a cap hit of $14.2 million. Since Crosby would be signing with a new team, he could sign for a maximum of seven years. That comes out to a contract of 7 years, $99.4 million.
According to Capgeek, eight teams already do not have that much cap space to sign the max contract, let alone re-sign some of their own RFAs/UFAs. If a player like Crosby comes on the open market, you obviously do everything you can to clear cap space. But, compliance buyouts, regular buyouts, and salary dump trades can only go so far.
At a bare minimum, your team would have to carry 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goalies. In reality, every team carries a few extra players. With a max contract, you would have $56.8 million to fill the other 19 spots on your roster, and they would have to be paid a maximum average of a shade under 3 million. That’s not very much at all.
One way to see whether he would be worth a max contract would be how many cap dollars it cost per point he scored. With a max contract, and his 104 point performance last season, Sidney Crosby would be paid $136,538 per point. For a comparison, Malkin was paid $120,833 per point last season, Ovechkin paid $120,740, Getzlaf paid $94,827, and Giroux paid $96,220. So, Crosby would be paid more, but not by an absurd amount. His offensive dominance very well may be worth it.
The Difference Between Basketball and Hockey
When making the decision, one must realize the stylistic differences between basketball in hockey. In basketball, a few superstars can win a championship by themselves, no matter what the supporting cast looks like (see: Miami Heat). But in hockey, a few superstars does not make you a champion. You need depth at forward, a solid defensive corps, and at the very least an above average goalie. Signing Sidney Crosby to a max contract would make it markedly more difficult to fill out the rest of your roster.
Despite that, I believe you give Sidney Crosby a max contract every day of the week if he hits free agency. You are getting the best player in the world without giving up any assets, other than cap space. The salary cap is expected to go up over the next few years, making the cap hit less crippling. Finally, you could trade some of the more expensive players on your roster (who are likely some of your best) for a treasure trove of elite young players, prospects, and picks to fill the needs in the rest of your roster. One superstar does not make an NHL franchise, but getting him for free would.
Do You Give Crosby a Max Contract?
Comment below or send me a tweet as to whether you would, or wouldn’t give Crosby a max contract.In honor of the late Prince Rogers Nelson, better known simply as Prince, Assistant Editor Kevin Gunn pays tribute to the musician and his eleventh studio album, The Batman Soundtrack.
The year was 1989. I turned 19 in February. My mother bought me my first CD player for my birthday. It was a boombox. Compact Discs were expensive then. My first two discs were BeBe & CeCe Winans’ Heaven and an (at the time) up and coming R&B artist named Ann G. (later changed to “Anne G.”) with an album called On A Mission. Again, disc were expensive.
In addition to being a music fan, I also loved comic books. After the Christopher Reeve Superman film franchise had ended 2 years earlier, Batman starring Michael Keaton premiered on June 23, 1989. While I was excited (a little) about a new Batman movie, I was more excited to learn that none other than PRINCE (yes, that Prince) was doing the soundtrack for the movie!
So I saved up a few coins from my part time jobs I worked while going to college, and I bought my third CD!
I loved that CD! It was your typical Prince music. Thumping, bass pounding, uptempo rhythms and sensual, melodic, baby-making harmonies. But the only difference was music was the soundtrack for the Dark Knight himself!
Batdance was the first track to be released from the CD. It was crazy, but in a great way! In the music video, Prince pulled double duty, embodying the personas of Bruce Wayne and Jack Napier/The Joker. And female backup dancers dressed in capes and cowls! In my opinion, the video still holds up today! Warning: The link below starts automatically, and may be loud, the way it was meant to be!
Batdance was one of only 4 songs released from the soundtrack. Another was the pantydropper called Scandalous! Another track was what you could call the Joker’s theme, it was simply titled Partyman. And once again, Prince donned the makeup and costume of the Clown Prince of Crime for the video.
The last track released from the album was a sweet and tender ballad called The Arms of Orion, a duet Prince performed with Scottish Pop Icon Sheena Easton. It was such a beautiful song. It still is. And all of the songs from the Batman soundtrack remind me of how multifaceted the artist Prince was is. He recorded the album in only six weeks. If you don’t have this masterpiece in your music library or playlist, what’s wrong with you?
Rest in peace, Prince. And thank you.Walgreens customers may pay 55% more for products depending on where they shop. National Consumers League It's no secret that stores charge more for their wares in some regions than others.
But a new report found that people in the same neighborhood may pay significantly different prices for the same goods at stores within the same drugstore chain - especially if they're shopping at Walgreens.
The Huffington Post's Kim Bhasin reports:
"Consumers in Manhattan shelled out $15.99 for Claritin at a Walgreens on 5th Ave., paying $4.50 more than those who bought the allergy medicine at another Midtown location on 3rd Ave. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a Walgreens store on Cockrell Hill Rd. charged $10.49 for CoverGirl lipstick, while another nearby Walgreens sold the same product for just $8.29. And in Anaheim, Calif., Walgreens shoppers found that Neutrogena Face Scrub cost $9.49 on La Palma Ave., though it ran for only $7.99 on Brookhurst St., three miles away."
What's with the discrepancy?
Walgreens chalks it up to the price of real estate and labor, which can differ in dense urban areas.
"Costs can vary from one location to another, even when they are a few blocks apart in dense urban areas, based on the store's cost of real estate, its hours of operation including whether it is open 24 hours, labor costs and the number of customers it serves each day, among other factors," said spokesman Jim Graham.
The National Consumer League surveyed 485 stores from three major drugstore chains (Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS). Researchers compared prices on a basket of 25 items that included over-the-counter medicines, groceries, beauty products, and nutritional supplements.
Walgreens, they found, was twice as likely as the others to have products with a price gap of $1 or more. And Walgreens had more than eight times the number of products with a 20 percent or greater price range than CVS.
This study is something of a bummer. The main perk of drugstores is their convenience factor - people don't usually choose their drugstore based on prices but on how close it is to their home or office.
If you want to save, you'll have to rethink the way you approach drugstores.
Ask about price matching. None of the chains will match their online prices at brick-and-mortar locations, but managers often have the ability to match prices from other stores within their chain, the NCL advises.
Avoid Walgreens "flagship" stores. Walgreens acknowledges that its flagship stores are more expensive, and the NCL study basically proves it. A basket of items cost nearly 20 percent more —an extra $38—at a flagship store in New York than it typically did at other Walgreens in the city.Hotels Play Chaperone, Rooms Only For Married Couples
Can a woman stay in the same hotel room with a man she is not married to or vice versa? Seems an outdated question in this day and age? Not exactly, says the hospitality industry.
When six students from Pune, four boys and two girls, decided to set out to see Kerala in October last year, they hadn’t bargained on being told there are no hotel rooms available for unmarried couples.
"We hadn’t done any advanced hotel booking as this trip was planned on an impulse. We directly approached three hotels, but they denied us rooms saying they did not rent rooms to unmarried couples," one of the students told The News Minute.
Do hotels have the legal authority to deny rooms to unmarried couples? No, say lawyers and an official of the Hotel Association of India.
"There is no law that prohibits unmarried couples from staying together in hotels. Choosing to stay together is a personal choice and falls under freedom of movement, which cannot be restricted," says senior advocate Sudha Ramalingam.
The Hotel Association of India (HAI), the umbrella organisation that oversees over 280 hotels and resorts across the country says there is no such stipulation. "We are not aware of any such rules," says a HAI’s spokesperson, Bharat Bhushan.
The Hotel Association’s official stance seems to be in denial of the accepted practice.
Why do we call it an accepted practice? Check this fine print of booking conditions set out by a leading online travel portal Cleartrip.
"The hotel reserves the right of admission. Accommodation can be denied to guests posing as a 'couple’ if suitable proof of identification is not presented at check-in. Cleartrip will not be responsible for any check-in denied by the hotel due to the aforesaid reason."
Cleartrip, in an email to The News Minute, confirmed their policy saying, "These are standard hotel policies passed on to us directly from the Hotel, that we publish for the knowledge of customers making hotel-reservations via our website".
MakeMyTrip also has the same policy.
The denial by hotels prompted us to check out if it was necessary for couples to be married, before they ventured to travel together.
"Hello. Hotel ABC."
"Hi. I want to book a room for two adults."
"Sure Ma’am. Please let me check for the availability."
"Yes please."
"Hello, we do have a room available. You want a room for two people, right?"
"That’s right. We are two people, my male friend and I. We are not married though. I hope that won’t be a problem?"
"Sorry, what?"
"My male friend and I will be staying together. Will that be an issue?"
The News Minute contacted various hotels across India to know whether they had an issue with an unmarried couple sharing a hotel room. And it was not just hotels in Kerala that had a problem with a "Mr and Miss" check-in.
The answers to our attempts to book rooms ranged from absolute refusal to obfuscation.
"Sorry, but we do not allow unmarried couples to share rooms in the hotel."
"Errr… Mmm… I will have to check with my senior."
"Male friend as in? Family member? Or cousin?"
"So you’ll are two people with individual id cards but are unmarried and want to stay in a room together? Please leave me an email me at hotelxyz@notokay.com"
"Yes, that won’t be a problem as long as both of you carry id proofs."
The obvious assumption emerging out of the refusal by hotels to allow unmarried couples to share rooms despite no official guidelines appear to be a case of moral policing. While live-in relations were considered taboo for several decades, in 2013, India’s apex court had sought to de-stigmatise relations outside matrimony by ruling "Live-in or marriage-like relationship is neither a crime nor a sin though socially unacceptable in this country".
At times though hotels rent rooms to unmarried couples, some ask for couples to sign in as 'Mr. and Mrs.' in the hotel register. Hoteliers say it is a case of playing safe than sorry.
"There are no specific rules laid down by the government about renting a room in a hotel 'to a male and a female who are unmarried'. Hotels that have such rules, mostly are unsure about renting rooms to a man and a woman who are unmarried. If the couple is caught engaging in illegal activities, the hotel will also fall into some major trouble. It is to avoid such a situation, that hotels may include such a policy," explains K Ramamurthy, Secretary, of the Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association.
When asked whether married couples were incapable of carrying out "illegal" activities, Ramamurthy said "this is a topic where several arguments are possible. A man and a woman, who are unmarried, staying together in a hotel room are also not considered a part of our custom. For what purpose does a man and a woman, both unmarried, want to live in a hotel room?," adds Ramamurthy.
While there are legal ways of tackling written rules, the unwritten reasons for refusal, citing administrative discretionary powers, are far more challenging. For now, the only guaranteed solution to avoid being left room-less while on a holiday is to check in advance if your hotel is likely to chaperone you and your partner.
This is an updated version of the original piece which was published on The News Minute on November 24, 2014.JERUSALEM (CNN) -- In his first address to Israel's parliament Thursday, President Bush reiterated the United States' "unbreakable" alliance with the Jewish state and denounced calls to negotiate with "terrorists and radicals."
In a speech before the Knesset, Bush compared calls to talk with unnamed terrorist groups as a "foolish delusion" that was suggested before World War II.
"As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared, 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided,' " Bush said. "We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."
Former President Jimmy Carter recently wrapped up a trip to the Middle East, which included talks with leaders of Hamas -- an Islamic militant group that controls the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Carter hoped to persuade Hamas to negotiate with Israel in an attempt to reach a broader Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Hamas has not been included in peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, under President Mahmoud Abbas, who control the West Bank. Israel and the United States refuse to negotiate with Hamas until it renounces terrorism and recognizes Israel's right to exist.
Bush also chided the United Nations for regularly criticizing Israel's record of human rights. The president called it a "a source of shame that the United Nations passes more human rights resolutions against the freest democracy in the Middle East than any other nation in the world.
"We believe that religious liberty is fundamental to civilized society. So we condemn anti-Semitism in all forms -- whether by those who openly question Israel's right to exist, or by others who quietly excuse them," Bush said.
The Mideast peace talks, which Bush lauds as the path to an independent Palestinian state, are "largely secret," National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters Wednesday en route to the Middle East, but negotiations are moving forward.
"There is less known about them publicly than is going on," Hadley said. "The issues are hard.
"One of the things he [Bush] needs to do is rally the support of the Arab world behind both Israeli and the Palestinian leadership so that they will support whatever is negotiated between the two sides," he added. Key players »
In an interview with al-Arabiya television before he left for the Mideast, Bush said a peace deal by year's end was still possible, and that observers should not be discouraged that he was meeting separately with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. It was more about logistics than discord, he said.
"It's a very complicated process, and I don't think necessarily not having a trilateral meeting should be read as anything other than that it just didn't work out," he told the TV station Monday. "It's not a sign that the talks aren't going forward." Watch how the trip combines business, pleasure »
During his Mideast tour, Bush also is scheduled to visit oil-rich Saudi Arabia, where he will meet King Abdullah amid increasing American frustration at gas prices.
Congress on Monday directed Bush to stop filling the government's emergency oil supply for six months to try to bring prices down, a move Bush has argued would have little effect.
"His visit to Saudi Arabia will also commemorate the 75th anniversary of the formal establishment of U.S.-Saudi relations," the White House said.
Bush will then head to Egypt, where he will meet with another U.S. ally, President Hosni Mubarak. He will also meet with Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II. advertisement
Egypt is trying to broker an agreement between Israeli and Hamas leaders to end attacks on each other because the tit-for-tat violence threatens the broader attempt to reach a peace deal. See Bush's full itinerary »
Bush is scheduled to deliver remarks at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday, the final day of his trip.
All About George W. Bush • Israel • Egypt • Saudi Arabia • Palestinian PoliticsThis month’s American Bar Association Journal has a fairly good article about the District of Columbia gun ban case currently under consideration by the Supreme Court, and the surprising role that the National Rifle Association took in trying to derail the lawsuit in its infancy:
Though the NRA champions individual ownership under the Second Amendment, its critics say the association shares one concern with gun-control advocates: Both fear that a definitive Supreme Court statement against them on the Second Amendment would cripple, if not kill, their causes. “The NRA wants to be the one to define the meaning of the Second Amendment,” says Josh Sugarman, executive director for the anti-gun Violence Policy Center in Washington. Sugarman’s 1992 book, National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower & Fear, is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative histories of the organization. “They don’t want the Supreme Court to do it, because the [NRA view] is good for [the fundraising] business.” Discouraging freelance plaintiffs is important to the NRA, whose lawyers worry they tend to file complaints that throw multiple theories against the wall to see what sticks. Such cases can hurt the larger cause, the lawyers say, because they increase the risk of setting unfavorable precedents that may be difficult to undo over time. In California, they call such plaintiffs “orange robers,” says NRA lawyer Michel—a reference to the brightly clad Buddhist monks who torched themselves on Saigon streets during the 1960s in futile demonstrations against the Vietnam War.
And so, when the D.C. case was just beginning, the NRA did everything they could to discourage the Plaintiffs from going forward and, even to this day, it lobbies Congress to repeal the D.C. Gun Ban itself — which would make the case, and any Supreme Court consideration of the Second Amendment implications of the law, entirely moot.
Now that the case is on the verge of being accepted for appeal, though, the NRA is jumping on the bandwagon:
The U.S. Supreme Court had not even decided whether to take the case when National Rifle Association lobbyist Wayne LaPierre fired off the distress flare: “The biggest Second Amendment court battle in history is about to begin—one that will have a huge impact on you, your children and every other American gun owner for generations to come,” LaPierre wrote in an August fundraising letter to the NRA’s 4.3 million members. “And I’m not exaggerating a bit.” He’s probably right there. The NRA wants money—lots of it—to make sure the District of Columbia’s handgun ban stays buried good and deep. That’s where an appeals court left it after an unprecedented decision early this year that killed it as a violation of the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms. (…) If the tone of LaPierre’s letter didn’t sound urgent enough, he used plenty of underlined boldface type and capital letters to drive home his point. He told the faithful a top-notch brief may cost as much as $1.2 million. “For gun owners and NRA members, this is the biggest legal battle that we have ever fought, or will ever fight—and its outcome will probably impact every law-abiding American gun owner,” LaPierre wrote in the five-page letter. “It is a battle we simply cannot afford to lose.” Here’s where LaPierre heads into a wrong turn: It’s not an NRA case. In fact, the gun rights supporters who filed it complain that lawyers working for the NRA, concerned the case could backfire, spent considerable time and money trying to scuttle it. The association finally was dragged kicking and screaming before the Supreme Court after the prospect of review appeared more likely than it has in years. “They recognized this was a good case and D.C. was the perfect place,” says plaintiffs lawyer Robert A. Levy, a senior fellow at Washington’s libertarian Cato Institute. “That’s what concerned them.”
The Supreme Court will decide on Friday whether to accept the appeal, and we’ll probably know the answer to that question a week or so later, and then the stage for the biggest Second Amendment case in more than 50 years will be set. But don’t thank the NRA for getting it there.
H/T: Tom PalmerHigh-level executives at Google and Oracle were ordered to hold one last round of settlement talks, with the trial over Google's alleged use of Java technology in Android set to begin April 16.
The suit began in August 2010 when Oracle sued Google for patent and copyright infringement over use of the Java programming language in development of Android. Settlement talks have been ordered multiple times, but so far no deal has been made. On Friday, Judge Paul Grewal of US District Court in Northern California ordered Android chief Andy Rubin and Oracle Chief Financial Officer Safra Catz to hold "a further settlement |
networks as identified by the traffic in the network. Some solutions allow traffic identification based on a priority policy of applications or port numbers, but ultimately the decisions are enacted through prefix manipulation within BGP.
Each provider requires a small bit of policy-based routing based on GRE tunnels or unique source IP addresses to push probe traffic onto the intended provider. An algorithm is then used to determine the best-performing path for each destination network while considering the cost and utilization of each provider.
For each destination network being optimized, a BGP update message is sent with the next hop of the provider that should be used to send that traffic across.
Because route optimization is a single point solution manipulating BGP route tables, all optimizations are in an outbound direction. However, solutions utilizing multiple route optimizers in different locations can provide bi-directional optimizations.
Route optimization solutions are not inline, so in cases of device failure, BGP routing falls back to natural BGP with little impact on traffic.
Use cases that are primarily focused on heavy outbound utilization, such as gaming and video streaming, benefit the most from route optimization. However, any public-facing data center service or application, such as those focused on financial transactions, can also benefit from this approach.
Comparisons
While both technologies appear to achieve the same benefits — network path selection based on performance to destinations on the network, and mitigating cost of utilization — the environmental conditions and use cases vary considerably.
SD-WAN is inline, enacting changes on the data plane. While this enables much faster changes in the path of any particular flow or connection, it does expose the network to potential single points of failure.
Route optimization solutions are not inline, enacting changes through the BGP route table. While this approach is slower in the detection of performance-degrading issues and initiating path changes, it is still considerably faster than a team of network engineers troubleshooting performance issues and making manual changes to the routing table.
SD-WAN solutions are point-to-point, allowing for bi-directional optimizations to occur, but each point must be managed within a single AS or within a cloud environment with a specific IP destination managed by the same organization.
Route optimization targets external destinations of the local AS, providing optimizations to a wide range of dynamic destinations. However, these optimizations are only in an outbound direction and can do little to optimize inbound traffic performance.HOUSTON - It's safe to say the Houston Dynamo are ready to turn the calendar page.
A winless (0-3-1) April saw Houston drop to last place in Major League Soccer, the only team to average less than one point per game played (0.63).
Despite the fact that the Dynamo have the worst defense (2.00 goals allowed per game in MLS), head coach Owen Coyle and his charges feel their 1-5-2 record is hardly indicative of their overall performance so far.
“We’ve shot ourselves in the foot with some individual errors,” Coyle said after Wednesday’s practice. “With the exception of the LA Galaxy game, which was a poor performance, we have performed very well. We’ve scored goals, but what we have to do is cut out those individual errors.”
Houston have scored goals, averaging 1.75 per game to tie for third in the league with first-place Real Salt Lake. They even set an MLS record for most goals scored (11) in their first three games. Yet three times in their eight games, Houston have relinquished the lead after the 80th minute, twice allowing goals in stoppage time at home (March 6 vs. New England, April 10 vs. Seattle).
“The points were in the bag, and we gave them up in the last seconds of the game,” Coyle said.
Houston have taken the lead in six of their eight games, yet they have just five points to show for it. So heading into Saturday’s matchup against Sporting Kansas City (8:30pm ET, MLS LIVE), the start of a three-game week, the Dynamo intend to focus on that old standby: playing a complete game.
“These three games coming up in a week, that could be nine points right there, and everyone can forget about this past month,” forward Will Bruin said. “But it starts on Saturday with a good Sporting KC team, and we’re gonna have to be focus and prepare for 90 minutes to get three points.”
After the Dynamo’s 4-1 loss to the LA Galaxy on April 15, Coyle promised changes to the team’s starting lineup, and Bruin — one of three eventual changes — was a casualty, despite netting three goals and two assists to date.
“When things are tough and results aren’t going our way, I don’t think anybody can be safe in the starting 11,” said Bruin. “I think Owen and the staff are trying to find the right mix of guys that can start getting wins, because you know it’s for the team, it’s not for any individual. If we get three points as a team, then the individual performances become better and easier.”
Coyle said the Dynamo are capable of “doing the difficult thing, which is to get in front of games,” but now need to play a complete game, “and now that becomes our concentration, our focus and our mentality.”by R. Gil Student
[A condensed version of this introduction appeared in some newspapers this week.]
I. The Importance of Masorah
The concept of tradition evokes powerful emotions in religious debates. While less orthodox religious streams give tradition a vote, but not a veto, the more conservative segments give it a veto in many circumstances.1 In the latest debates over the left boundary of Orthodoxy, the term “Masorah,” roughly translated as tradition, has been invoked to oppose religious innovations.2 What does it mean and why is it so important to us today? Last August, TorahMusings.com hosted a symposium critically examining Open Orthodoxy. In a new online symposium over the next two weeks, traditional scholars will analyze Masorah from multiple viewpoints.
Masorah contends with two tensions that vex contemporary Orthodox Jews—autonomy vs. authority and continuity vs. change. Can an individual decide for himself what lies within the Masorah and what does not? If the Masorah was strictly defined by clear texts, the value of a textual expert’s opinion would be self-evident. But since, at least to the general public, Masorah seems to be more of a Fiddler-on-the-Roof feeling of traditionalism, why should rabbis retain a monopoly on remembering the past? Additionally, if we are bound to follow tradition, is there any room at all for religious innovation to fit the times? By definition, anything new is non-traditional. Masorah seems to be a code word for ultra-traditionalism, not a guide for modern Jews.
Which brings us to the real question underlying this discussion: How binding is Masorah? To many, Masorah seems to be a new term, cynically rolled out by rabbis to counter innovations that do not meet their approval. Actually, it is an old and respected term.
II. What Does Masorah Include?
Different elements of Masorah reflect specific Jewish values. Laws, customs, practices, and common attitudes emerge from distinct ideas about God, community and individuals
While the oral tradition of laws is a primary part of the Masorah, other elements of Judaism are included as well. The Mishnah tractate Avos begins with an overview of the transmission of the Masorah: “Moshe received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Yehoshua; and Yehoshua to the elders, etc.” Commentators ask why this transmission is placed at the beginning of Avos—more than halfway through the Mishnah—rather than at the very beginning of Berakhos, the first tractate. Rav Menachem Meiriexplains that since the tractate discusses proper and improper ethical behavior, rather than explicit mitzvah and sin, one might have thought that the subject is not part of the Masorah. Therefore, the chain of tradition is placed at the beginning of this tractate, thereby emphasizing that these behaviors are also part of the Masorah.
In a different context, Rav Elazar Rokeach describes the chain of tradition from which he received the prayer text. He begins with the names of his teachers, continuing to their teachers and so on for a number of generations, concluding: “We have received the secret of the prayers from rabbi to rabbi, transmitted through the prophets, elders and pious ones and the Men of the Great Assembly, who instituted the prayers.”4 Not just laws but the explanations and texts of prayers also come to us via tradition, Masorah.
However, this raises another question: If there are different versions of prayer texts, how can any or all of them be called a true Masorah? Presumably, the nature of a tradition is that there is only one. The multiple strands of Masorah can be explained by a difficult statement of the Rambam. In a slightly different context, the Rambam says that no law transmitted by tradition is debated.5 Somewhat ironically, commentators hotly debate the meaning of this statement because it is easily refuted. Personally, I find convincing the approach of Rav Tzvi Hirsch Chajes that there might be agreement about the general content of the tradition, but not the details.6 Similarly, we find widespread agreement about the general text of the prayers despite the notable differences.7 The Masorah in general is widely acknowledged within the Orthodox Jewish community even though scholars and communities may differ on the details of this Masorah.
III. A Previous Symposium
Orthodox Union’s Jewish Action magazine, on whose editorial board I sit, published a symposium in its Winter 2010 issue on the subject of Masorah. The symposium includes articles by Rav Hershel Schachter, rosh yeshiva and rosh kollel at Yeshiva University; Rav Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive director emeritus of the Orthodox Union; Rav Emanuel Feldman, rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth Jacob in Atlanta; and Rav Immanuel Bernstein, an Israeli educator.8
Masorah contends with two tensions that vex contemporary Orthodox Jews—autonomy vs. authority and continuity vs. change
Rav Hershel Schachter writes that Masorah is not a body of knowledge, but a process of transmission, of learning and teaching. The Torah teaches that when you are uncertain about a matter of halakhah, you must ask the Beis Din Ha-Gadol, the central rabbinic court.The court’s role here includes not only serving as a central authority, but also as the great scholars of the generation. Similarly, whenever someone has a question about Judaism, he should ask his mentor or a great scholar of the generation. This process of consultation and learning is called Masorah. Commitment to Masorah consists in accepting the teachings taught by your teachers and the great scholars of the generation.Even though scholars disagree, you are still following the Masorah if you follow the teachings you receive from one of these great scholars.
However, Rav Schachter explains, innovation is a positive force in Judaism. God wants innovation. The tension between the passive role of accepting a transmission and the active role of innovation can be resolved only by the great scholars of the generation. Only they have the scholarship and sensitivity to distinguish between innovations that cohere with received teachings and those that contradict them.
Rav Emanuel Feldman attempts to describe Masorah rather than define it, because its multi-dimensional nature requires lengthy analysis. Aside from various explicit teachings, Masorah includes a spirit of Judaism based on the wide-ranging intent of the Torah and its commandments. It connects the dots between the commandments, offering a comprehensive guide to life. It is the spirit of the Torah and determines what lies within the bounds of acceptability, even beyond the technical limits of the law.
Rav Feldman states that while innovations are not inherently bad, each proposal must be weighed by an expert in the Masorah. History offers numerous examples of innovations, such as pruzbul and various special edicts. These innovations arose due to historical changes that the leading sages determined warranted the innovations. However, despite title inflation, not everyone is a genius or a wide-ranging expert of Torah. Only a few in each generation have earned widespread trust due to their impeccable integrity and deep Torah knowledge.
Rav Tzvi Hersh Weinreb writes that Masorah is the Jewish lifestyle, including laws, customs, music, folklore and more. While there are core and peripheral parts of the Masorah, distinguishing between them is difficult and fraught with controversy. Rav Weinreb offers two observations to guide us when conflict arises between Masorah and modernity. First, continuity is inherently valuable. Masorah in its broadest sense—”the complex combination of adhering to practical habits, maintaining attitudes of hope, clinging to a community, gaining inspiration from worship, and finding meaning in a consistent daily regimen”—has enabled Judaism to continue through centuries of hardship. Secondly, the different elements of Masorah reflect specific Jewish values. Laws, customs, practices, and common attitudes emerge from distinct ideas about God, community and individuals.
Yet even after those essays, there is still more to discuss. In this symposium, we have gathered scholars to examine Masorah from different viewpoints. Alex Ozar explores the notion of Masorah within the framework of Analytic Philosophy; Zev Eleff and Menachem Butler examine a historical example that highlights aspects of the complex notion of Masorah; David Brofsky discusses the laws of customs; and Jeffrey Woolf analyzes Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s theological concept of Masorah. Together, these essays explore, in different ways, the necessity for and parameters of Masorah in an attempt to answer the question: what is Masorah?
IV. How Do You Spell Masorah?
I add here one brief editorial note on the spelling of Masorah. Academics, who refer to Masorah in a very limited sense: as the recorded traditions about the biblical text and their related apparatus,11 spell the word as Masorah (with a kamatz/a) while popular literature spells it as Mesorah (with a sheva/e).12 Prof. Naftali Tur-Sinai (Torczyner), in the relevant Ben Yehuda Dictionary entry, vowelizes the word as Masorah, but explains the controversy. Historically, the word Masores was much more common. Modern grammarians disagree whether to vowelize our variant as Masorah (Bacher) or Mesorah (Ben-Zev). Buxtorf chose Masorah, which seems to have influenced the academic community.13 However, the Sefardic tradition accepts the pronunciation of Mesorah. While I do not feel bound to arbitrary academic standards,14 I had to choose one consistent way of spelling the word in this symposium. In the spirit of this symposium, I have chosen to use the Masorah spelling because that is how I remember my teachers pronouncing the word.
Over the next two weeks, we will be publishing essays in this symposium. The next entry is scheduled for Sunday night May 22. I thank Rabbi Moshe Schapiro for editing the contributions and Stephen Tolany for typesetting the PDF that will be available at the conclusion of the symposium.You know when a blue check breaks out a phrase like ‘carceral state’ the BS to follow said phrase will be exceptionally deep.
good morning, the carceral state exists to protect private property and is inseparable from white supremacy https://t.co/etynmh0rX5 — Sarah Jaffe (@sarahljaffe) September 11, 2017
This tweet from Sarah Jaffe came soon after the Miami P.D. released a photo of the looters in their cell who were arrested literally in the process of stealing shoes from a store during a hurricane.
Apparently arresting people for stealing is inseparable from white supremacy – who knew?
Thinking about looting? Ask these guys how that turned out. #stayindoors pic.twitter.com/7m42B0KFr4 — Miami PD (@MiamiPD) September 11, 2017
Twitchy covered this photo earlier today because we thought it was a GREAT PSA against looting during a hurricane.
So does this mean looter is a race now? *these people really believe this nonsense*
To sum up, looting is just fine as long as you are not a white guy. In that case private property matters https://t.co/jrRreyitlM — Patrick (@ArgentineTea) September 11, 2017
Duh, it’s always the white man’s fault.
Hey girl! My kids need shoes…what size are you? — Plutonium Blonde (@blndzhvmrfn) September 11, 2017
Stunned by the ignorance of this statement. You should give up all private property, so as not to be part of the problem. — Bonjour! (@cheapoldbstd) September 11, 2017
We stopped being stunned by ignorance from the Left in 2010 … ok, sometimes they still tweet something we find exceptionally stupid (this comes close) but stunned, eh.
Honestly we’d be more stunned if someone WASN’T playing the race card.
Well I just found the dumbest tweet of the day damn — ♏️ life (@ELNegroSantana) September 11, 2017
She should be proud.
Heh.
Related:
Say CHEESE! Miami P.D. posts photo of ‘thugs’ in a CELL after they were caught looting during #IrmaWhen the San Francisco Chronicle reported two weeks ago that a group of investors led by Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott was making a push to help build a new stadium to keep the Oakland Raiders in town, it provided hope that finally something could get done in the Bay Area.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf was less excited, though, saying that she would only talk to a development group brought to her directly by the Raiders. Then, the most powerful (even if he might also be the most hated) man in the NFL stepped in and changed things.
Sunday night, the Chronicle reported that league commissioner Roger Goodell is backing Lott's group and urging others to do the same. That includes Schaaf, whom Goodell spoke to and is now set to meet with Lott and the other investors this week, according to the Chronicle.
"I am encouraged by the team (Lott) has assembled," Schaaf said to the paper. "My recent conversations with Commissioner Goodell and others have given me confidence that it's time to continue our conversations."
Lott's team, as Schaaf put it, consists of mostly African American investors, and in return for potentially filling the reported $400 million funding gap, the group is looking to take part ownership from Mark Davis. Whether or not that matters to some, it apparently does to Goodell, as the NFL remains the only sports league of the big four in the United stats without black ownership.
Meanwhile, Davis continues to publicly put all of his eggs in the Las Vegas basket. With Lott and his group, which also includes former Raider Rodney Peete, presenting a possible solution -- or at least the means to reach a solution -- Davis was asked Friday if he would balk on his Vegas commitment if something arose in Oakland.
"No, I would not, and I've made that clear," Davis said to the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the Gridiron Greats Hall of Fame Induction dinner. "The opportunity came up in Las Vegas, and we're giving it full bore. This is not a pawn in a game. We are serious.
"Right now, I'm focused on Las Vegas. We think it could make a great marriage with Las Vegas and the Raiders."
As long as the financing plan that asks for $750 million in public money to build a $1.4 billion stadium is approved, Davis said the Raiders will remain committed to Las Vegas. It appears enough of the league's owners are willing to throw their support behind the move, too, making Las Vegas a real possibility.
But everyone saw how much power and pull Davis has when the Raiders finished a distant third in a three-team race for Los Angeles. The NFL's elite went off script and put together the plan that sent the Rams to L.A., gave the Chargers the option to join them and told Davis he would have his choice of moving to Southern California if the Bolts said no.
So while Davis might not be using Las Vegas to spur action in Oakland, Goodell might have forcibly got the ball rolling instead. According to the Chronicle, the Raiders are still skeptical of anything getting done in Oakland because of the presence of the A's and their pursuit of a new stadium of their own where the Coliseum currently stands.
However, the Lott group's pending meeting with Schaaf and then the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, along with reported discussions between the investors and stadium planner Larry MacNeil, indicates things are at least moving in a positive direction.Our cat Shoo Shoo was lying on the floor minding his own business. I took a tub of catnip and sprinkled some of it on his scratching post. He looked up at me and continued minding his own business. So I sprinkled some catnip on his forehead.
Eventually, he took his front paw and rubbed his head, then licked the catnip from his leg. Soon he was weaving his way in and out of the brush like hoop on his scratching post. He was finding his inner kitten.
My son William was not really impressed. He told me I was mean to make Shoo Shoo eat catnip when all he wanted to do was just hang out on the floor.
He was right of course.
“But catnip is just a harmless plant that makes cats feel good!” would be a logical argument…
Marijuana is a plant that many people consider harmless and makes you feel good too, but we caution our children to avoid it, and we most certainly would never force it on them.
How many of us tell our children to avoid peer pressure, and to stay away from drugs because they are harmful, but openly provide catnip to our feline family members?
Again, the argument comes back that catnip is an herb. It grows naturally. But bear in mind, cocaine comes from the leaves of the coca plant, and opium comes from poppies, as does heroin.
Clearly not all plants with mind altering capabilities are harmless, but still, we tell our children that catnip is OK, and that cats really enjoy it.
That is the same thing your child will hear when they are offered drugs for the first time too…
Think about it!Following Emotional Mugger, prolific garage rocker Ty Segall is back with another album this year. This time it's the self-titled debut album from GØGGS—a trio featuring Segall, his Fuzz bandmate Charles Moothart, and fronted by Ex-Cult's Chris Shaw. GØGGS is out July 1 via In the Red. The album features their first single "She Got Harder," which was released late last year. The band have also announced a tour, which begins with their appearances at In the Red's 25th anniversary celebration. See the album artwork and tracklist, and listen to their new track "Glendale Junkyard" below.
GØGGS:
o1 Falling In
02 Shotgun Shooter
03 She Got Harder
04 Smoke the Würm
05 Gøggs
06 Assassinate the Doctor
07 Needle Trade Off
08 Future Nothing
09 Final Notice
10 Glendale Junkyard
GØGGS:
07-15 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo/Echoplex
07-16 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo/Echoplex
07-17 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop
07-19 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
07-22 New York, NY - Rough Trade NYC
Watch Fuzz perform "Fuzz's Fourth Dream" on Pitchfork.tv:SEMI Radradra’s sister has directly contradicted reports in the Fiji Times that her brother was leaving the NRL for French rugby, telling The Daily Telegraph the Parramatta Eels star had yet to make a decision about his playing future.
The Daily Telegraph spoke to Radradra’s sister, Vaseva Waqavatu, this morning. She confirmed her brother arrived in Fiji on Saturday.
Waqavatu said he brother had not made a decision about his playing future and had not signed a contract with any French teams.
“No, he has not made a decision yet,” Waqavatu said.
“He will be on the island later this week and is coming to talk to Dad and the rest of the family about that.”
RIVALS CIRCLING: Agents in scramble for Semi signature
media_camera Semi Radradra has flown to Fiji to visit family. Picture: Gregg Porteous
The comments from Radradra’s sister are contrary to what she was reported to have said in the Fiji Times today.
The Times reported Radradra was leaving for a nine-month contract with a French rugby club after the conclusion of round 17 in the NRL.
Waqavatu said her brother was to travel to the family’s home island of Tavenui later this week to discuss with their father, Samisoni, and the rest of the family, the options for his playing future.
Radradra has been maintaining his fitness at local gym.
Parramatta are scheduled to play the table-topping Sharks on Saturday, July 2.In today competitive world lost of way to do marketing but email marketing is most popular way to reach with your target audience so today I’m come up with 50+ Responsive HTML Email Newsletter Templates for your next email campaign.
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Valentine’s Day Email TemplatePITTSBURGH -- Ben Hansbrough and Notre Dame made Pittsburgh feel the burn Monday night.
Hansbrough scored 19 points, Carleton Scott had 16 and the Fighting Irish (No. 14 ESPN/USA Today, No. 15 AP) beat No. 2 Pittsburgh 56-51, snapping the Panthers' 20-game home winning streak.
Employing a methodical, plodding game plan they call "burn," the Irish won their third consecutive game in the series against Pittsburgh and picked up their first victory at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers won 51 of their previous 52 home games.
"This was the first time we committed to an all-out 'burn,' and we beat Pitt doing it two times last year," said Hansbrough, who went 8 for 14 from the field. "This is probably the best win I've had... maybe ever."
Scott went 5 for 6 from 3-point range as Notre Dame (17-4, 6-3 Big East) earned its first road win of the season. Reserve Scott Martin made three 3s and finished with 10 points.
"We knew if we didn't concentrate at the end of the clock, we would lose here by 15 like everybody else does," Irish coach Mike Brey said. "They're really good. They're hard to guard. They're really hard to keep off the boards. This was the absolute road challenge for us."
Gilbert Brown had 13 points for the Panthers (19-2, 7-1), who shot 40 percent (18 of 45) from the field in their first conference loss of the season.
Pittsburgh's Brad Wanamaker, who finished with 12 points, said he knew what to expect from the winding shot clock on Notre Dame's opening possession.
"From the jump, I knew they were going to do it," Wanamaker said. "For them, it's worked the past three games."
Notre Dame trailed 28-23 at halftime but Hansbrough made a jumper with 9:22 left to tie it at 39, kicking off a 9-2 spurt for the Fighting Irish. Scott, returning from a four-game absence due to a balky hamstring, capped the run with a four-point play, making a 3 as he was fouled by Ashton Gibbs.
Wanamaker converted a layup to trim Notre Dame's lead to 54-51 with 1:26 remaining but Hansbrough scored with 17 seconds to go to help the Irish hang on.
Pitt missed four of its final five field-goal tries, including three 3-point attempts and a layup.
We didn't make the plays down at the end that we needed to make in a game like this," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.
Hansbrough also had seven assists and Scott added nine rebounds for Notre Dame, which shot 49 percent (19 for 39).
"He's a big part of our team," Brey said of the 6-foot-8 Scott's return.
Pittsburgh outrebounded the Irish 29-23 but went 9 for 16 from the free-throw line and finished with only nine assists. The loss came on the same day the Panthers reached as high as No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since March 9, 2009.
Gibbs, who entered averaging a team-best 15.9 points per game, made 4 of 13 shots to finish with nine points.
Notre Dame now has nine days before its next game, Feb. 3 at DePaul. It's the longest layoff of the season for the Irish.Think back. Way back. Before John Gibbons was a twinkle in his mother’s eye, before Babe Ruth took his first breath, back to 1853, when the only Blue Jays were in the beech trees, and Lake Ontario lapped the wharves just south of Front St. When the railway came to town that same decade, they needed land downtown, and so the harbour was filled in with coal ash and garbage and the city grew south, into the lake. In the 1980s, that new land was dug up to build Rogers Centre, and archeologists sifted through the spoils. Here’s what they found.
The muzzle of a cannon on display. The Rogers Centre keeps a display of artifacts found during the excavation of SkyDome. The display is at the north-east end of the 200 level. ( Chris So / Toronto Star )
What did they dig up? The archeology firm of Mayer, Pihl, Poulton and Associates (which no longer exists) monitored the excavation in 1986. Some of the more interesting artifacts went into a display that you can still find in a mostly shuttered wing on the second floor of the Rogers Centre. The more utilitarian bits — 50 boxes of glass bottles, and ceramics – wound up at the city’s museum storage facility.
Old leather bottle found by excavators. ( Richard Lautens )
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LEATHER BOTTLE — The Toronto Historical Board commissioned the monitoring work, along with CN Realty, as a model for development agreements and to “demonstrate that archeological mitigation can be performed during major urban construction projects with little or no inconvenience to the developers or the subcontractors.” Plus, you could find neat things, like this 19th-century leather bottle.
A vintage wooden barreled telescope and knife. ( Chris So )
TELESCOPE — Just south of Front St., between Spadina and John St., were Lake Ontario and a series of wharves. The archeologists found several nicer items, like this gilded pocket telescope, in the lake sediment on the southern edge of the navy wharf, suggesting a few things may have fallen into the lake. A government wharf that was sometimes called the King’s wharf, it seems to have fallen out of use by 1833.
Porcelain doll fragments amongst other pieces of china. ( Chris So )
DOLL FACE — In 1852, the Grand Trunk Railway submitted a plan for a rail corridor from Spadina to the Don River, but they needed to extend Toronto’s land into the lake by building a wooden cribwork and filling it with dirt and garbage, like this broken doll’s face. By 1857, tracks were laid where the old wharves used to be and landfill continued. Gentry left, and the “whole waterfront became industrial and commercial for 150 years,” says Scott James, then the director of the Toronto Historical Board.
( Richard Lautens )
SODA BOTTLE — The garbage thrown in the lake told its own story of Toronto’s manufacturing scene. This soda bottle from the James Matthews company would have been produced between 1878 and 1907. Matthews made soda water in west-end Toronto, notes Alex Avdichuk, supervisor of collections and conservation with the city.
Old Dundee Marmalade bottle found in the dig. ( Richard Lautens )
MARMALADE — Some of the excavation was done by hand, but during the heavy-machinery part of the dig, the archeologists would signal the operators when they saw something interestingthen wade in, in full hazard gear. “They were going a mile a minute because they had some really tight timelines here and basically they were letting us do this work, but there really wasn’t a legislated mandate that forced them to do that,” says archeologist Robert Pihl, originally with the firm who did the monitoring.There were “strict limits to what they’d allow us to do.”
The muzzle of a cannon on display. The Rogers Centre keeps a display of artifacts found during the excavation of SkyDome. The display is at the north-east end of the 200 level. ( Chris So )
CANNON — This 18th-century French cannon was one of the most exciting finds. It had been made unserviceable before it was dumped in Lake Ontario in the 19th century, the barrel filled with molten iron. Archeologists believed it was a condemned artillery piece used as a bollard for mooring ships. It now resides in the Rogers Centre, in a room filled with historical knick-knacks, from signed Ricky Martin posters to Jays memorabilia, like a Carlos Delgado nesting doll.
GINGER BEER — Another example of Toronto’s industry was found in the ample Victorian-era garbage. This ginger-beer bottle from the late 19th century comes from mineral-water manufacturers James and Peter Clark. The business was established in 1879, originally at 229 Queen St. W. “The artifacts show Toronto was largely self-reliant by the 1880s because most of the items uncovered were made or bottled here,” a city official said in 1988.
Old teacup foundby excavators. ( Richard Lautens )
TEA CUP — David Robertson, a senior archeologist at Archeological Services, says the landfill projects of the late 19th century used a combination of garbage and coal ash because everyone was heating their homes with coal in those days, and there was a lot of waste product. According to the report, a large collection of ceramics, along with glass containers, was found in the 1894-1899 landfill area south of the Esplanade cribwork.
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Anything else? In 1987, it came to light that some of the SkyDome bigwigs had given away artifacts to important visitors. “If an important person wants to take a piece of ceramic or something, we let them, it’s no big deal,” Chuck Magwood, the president of the Stadium Corp of Ontario, told the Star at the time. Historian and writer Pierre Berton was incredulous. “I don’t think it’s right for the SkyDome to hand out these things to any Tom, Dick, and Harry they choose,” he said. The next day, Magwood clarified that a “maximum of five” items had been given away, but they were basically “garbage” — dirt-encrusted bottles and the like. By 1988, any bad blood between the heritage community and the Dome was gone. The SkyDome was given an “Award of Merit” from the Toronto Historical Board for letting archeologists sift through the site before bulldozers were brought in.A slightly less embarassing example of grown men in costume hugging for sport. All photos courtesy Lucha Underground.
I've been a huge pro-wrestling fan since I was a kid. I started watching wrestling in the late 90s during the boom period of WWE and WCW, where what was happening in the squared circle was at the height of pop culture |
and correctly stated whenever it was used.... To establish that precise wording, the only official copy of the statutes was the Statute Roll, kept at the Exchequer." (31) Furthermore, while such legislation was intended to be public, it was largely inaccessible because it was written in Latin or law French. She specifically cites the Assize of Bread (ca. 1265), regulating the cost of bread throughout England for centuries. As such, the statute needed to be accessible, and was therefore not only translated into English, but adapted to suit local norms and the needs of individual usage. Often its information was summarized, provided in easy-to-use charts rather than written out, and frequently illustrated with pictorial representation of weights or loaves. While these cribs only represented instead of replacing the Statute Roll copy--against which they were supposedly checked--they gained functional authority as the (wholly fictional) "Statute of Winchester." Like modern code breakers, medieval translators had to have access to the original information and know how to use and interpret it. Their summarized and visual representations, often in easily consultable portable almanacs (which Kennedy cautiously likens to smartphones with visual legends), are the result.
Kennedy rationally states that her reason for selecting statute law as a basis of study in chapter 2 was because it was "as controlled as the Middle Ages could manage" (31), and the Assizes in their various manifestations were the most widespread example of dissemination of a controlled text. In chapter 3 she examines the closure of another information commons with the 1409 Arundel Constitutions, essentially establishing the Church's proprietary rights over biblical texts by forbidding translations made under "[one's] owne authoritie" (68), and furthermore prohibiting their reading. While it seems that this attempt to prevent translation was a direct reaction to the popularity of the Wycliffite Bible, such translations had been "at the heart of English literary culture" (57) for at least a century, including popular translations by the likes of Maidstone, Brampton, Lydgate, John Shirley and Richard Rolle.
Of particular interest is Rolle's translation of Psalms, which technically remained legal as it predated the Wycliffite Bible and any subsequent translations. While Rolle himself appears ambivalent about the reuse of translations, it seems that a new interest in "fixed texts" was coming into being at the turn of the fourteenth century, as the preface of one copy of his English Psalter bears witness. The prefacer clearly intends Rolle's translation to be a definitive English version of the psalms translated from Jerome's Vulgate, much as Jerome's translation from Greek and Hebrew became the definitive Latin version. The prefacer is particularly concerned that no expansions be made, though there is no mention of abbreviation, and there is a desire for very careful copying.
Perhaps of more significance is the General Prologue to the banned Wycliffite Bible, which Kennedy identifies as "the earliest recorded statement of hacker values." (72) Responding to the furor surrounding the translation, the prologue's author explains that the Bible had traditionally been part of the information commons, that it should remain open and free, and that the ecclesiastical authorities' attempt to limit access was counter to tradition. Kennedy notes that these are common hacker assertions, and like theirs, came about only when an open information commons is threatened with closure. Interestingly, the prologue's author also gives a resume of the methodology employed in compiling this Bible; although popularly attributed to Wyclif, it was actually compiled by a disparate group of his followers--arguably ecumenical in outlook--intent on realizing his aims of making a vernacular translation for the use of all. It seems that there were initial early versions (EV), before culminating in a final Late Version (LV), which was intended to be widely circulated as a final product. Kennedy likens this to an open source project, with many participants working out kinks in "beta versions" before achieving a final version intended to "go viral," which, essentially, the Wycliffite Bible did. She also points out that, in a typical hacker custom, the protesting author, a project participant, identifies himself by a pseudonym, "Simple Creature," to maintain safe anonymity. While some of the individual comparisons seem anecdotal, taken together they build a powerful argument.
Chapter 5 examines subsequent biblical translations, notably those of Tyndale and George Joye. Kennedy distills a complicated history into a fascinating story that reads easily. Contrary to the collaborative "open-source" projects typical of the age, Tyndale was peculiar not only in working alone, and despite initial (apparently disingenuous) appeals for corrections in his translation of the New Testament, Tyndale was infuriated when Joye later "corrupted" it in his revision for a Dutch publisher, claiming that he alone should have the right to revised it. Kennedy notes this as the first claim of intellectual property for a textual translation, though it took a few centuries before the idea became fixed in law. Luther seems to have been of the same mind, requesting correction of his translations, but condemning printers of his unrevised incomplete works of "piracy," especially when they attribute to him what he had not intended to release. Kennedy notes, however, that while Luther directed his ire towards greedy printers, Tyndale actually castigates fellow translators, an odd stance if his intentions truly were free and open access to the Bible as information commons. In subsequent prologues and publications, Joye and Tyndale squabbled in what Kennedy convincingly asserts was a hacker "flame war," each one accusing the other of misfeasance in a number of particulars that still amount to breaches of hacker etiquette. Regardless of his wishes, Tyndale's initially banned Bible became the basis of the Coverdale Bible; both together were then used to produce the Matthew Bible--the first government authorized English version--which was subsequently the basis of the official Great Bible, produced under the direction of Coverdale. While such practice was well within the established tradition of scriptural treatment in the information commons, Kennedy argues that with the cooperation of hackers and government in the production of this final official version "the period of treating the text of the Bible as common, open and free came to an end." (115)
Chapter 5, "Selling the Statutes," turns again to law, where Kennedy notes that the same hacker rhetoric found in prefaces to biblical translations was included in prefaces to English translations of law codes, popular reading in the sixteenth century. She notes that the King's Printer was established in 1504 in order to have a ready publisher of official information, but that the function of this office would change. It initially permitted others translations to be printed, such as Rastell's Great Abridgement, a legal digest notable for its simple language and innovative use of alphabetization and indexing. His preface, like Joye's epilogue, states that he is speaking to learned and lewd alike, and also expounds a need for the information he publishes to be common, free and open. Decidedly unscrupulous practices, however, led to the gate being shut when certain printers began infringing on the King's Printer by rapidly publishing inferior copies of official texts, even emulating the official printer's mark and place of printing. The 1553 Law Patent gave an exclusive monopoly over legal printing to a single individual, ending the legal information commons, and the subsequent establishment of the Stationers' Company would further curtail at-will printing, eventually demanding that every printed publication be licensed. Kennedy then notes that with the stringent controls over scripture and law codes, the medieval information commons was effectively being enclosed 1540-1560. She then concludes with a thought-provoking epilogue, which not only restates her primary argument--that modern hackers and medieval hacks have the same motivation and ideals--but also that the perceived rise in intellectual piracy today may be due more the more stringent laws, some overprotective, than they are by an increase in actual or intentional infringement.
As with any scholarly endeavor, it is possible to find lacunae or oversimplifications. Kennedy never overtly notes, for example, that there was little pecuniary incentive for medieval writers of original texts; they were inspired by enthusiasm or and a desire for peer recognition as much as their copyist and translators. Presumably, had textual creation had as much financial reward as it does today, it would also have been protected like any other recognized source of revenue. Having said that, it is noteworthy that Kennedy is no hypocrite. As an obvious proponent of common, open and free access, her own work, published by punctum books, is protected only by a Creative Commons Attribution (etc.) license, which essentially makes it open access for fair use (which she does note is reasonably limited).
Furthermore, claiming that the Bible as common open and free actually came to an end with the Great Bible is debatable. Today it is one of the most openly accessible and freely translatable texts, perhaps ironically having changed its position with literary works in this respect since the period of focus of Kennedy's study. Kennedy does obliquely admit this, but if she does not dwell long on the subject it is not in order to avoid the issue, but because it is outwith her narrowly defined scope. A full explication would require a significant tangent, though it presents a point of departure for further study that could be enlightened by her work. Indeed, while medieval thinkers undoubtedly never conceived of "hackers," nor did they think of gender studies, Marxist analysis or queer theory, all of which have proven rich and productive foci of examination in medieval studies as elsewhere. Her hypothesis, therefore, should not be dismissed as unfounded or untenable, but rather praised for its enlightening originality.
So while there are places where it would be easy to poke holes, overall Kennedy makes a compelling argument that hackers are inheritors of a medieval tradition, and she does so elegantly. Each chapter is logically structure and clearly prefaced with an outline of material to be treated. The links between previous chapters and subsequent chapters are clearly explained. While the tome is extremely readable, presenting complex and problematic arguments in a simple and straightforward way, the material it covers is dense enough to merit careful re-reading with attention to the plethora of footnotes and references on which her arguments are convincingly built. It is indeed to her credit that Kennedy puts forward so concisely such controversial propositions, and it presents a sound basis for further study.Tour Lab/Rice University
Rice University researchers are bending graphene to meet their needs with a technique that promises progress on the road to nano-scale electronic circuits.
In a paper published yesterday in Nature Communications, researchers describe a way to alter graphene into "hybrid superlattices," a material potentially suitable for electronics and optical devices.
Graphene, which is a one-atom thick layer of carbon atoms interconnected in a honeycomb structure, is touted as a wonder material for a variety of uses, including faster and smaller electronics. As a material, it has excellent electrical conductivity but because it is a semimetal, researchers are still seeking ways to stop the flow of electrons, which would make it usable as a semiconductor.
Rice researchers in James Tour's labs have developed a technique to alter the surface of graphene by attaching hydrogen atoms. Making that hydrogenate graphene material, which is called graphane, paves the way for engineers to control graphene as a semiconductor for specific purposes, such as electronics and optics.
Over time, researchers hope to precisely manipulate the chemistry of graphene lattices so that special-purpose nano-scale circuits can be designed onto a surface.
"We want to make functional changes to materials where we can control the position, the bond types, the functional groups and the concentrations," said project lead Zhengzong Sun in a statement. "In the future--and it might be years--you should be able to make a device with one kind of functional growth in one area and another functional growth in another area. They will work differently but still be part of one compact, cheap device."
Controlling the molecular structure attached to graphene also has applications in chemical sensors, according to Rice. Specifically patterned materials could lead to graphene-based devices for recognizing specific organic molecules.It’s Celebrate the Boy Month at Made and Made by Rae. Dana and Rae are serving up tons of boy tutorials, ideas and inspiration over on their respective blogs. Plus they are offering giveaways and other good stuff. So be sure to check it out. They asked me to make a special project for boys, so here it is! Yes, I have two girls, but we still love monsters. This little monster pillow will gobble up your child’s baby teeth and spit out money — what could be better?
Measuring about 6″ x 6″, this little pillow is a cinch to make and I’ve given you the full tutorial with templates; just click on the image below.
Be sure to check out all of the great ideas on Made and Made by Rae during Celebrate the Boy Month.VICE Gaming became Waypoint in a week of huge gaming news, with Rockstar dropping the first trailer for their long-anticipated Red Dead Redemption sequel, Nintendo providing details on their next piece of hardware, and voice actors officially going on strike. What a week!
To break it all down, we invited other members of the Waypoint crew into the podcast bunker, including publisher Joel Fowler and social editor Danika Harrod. Besides the news, we explain why it's so hard to build a website. Fonts? Logos? Bad ideas for names? Bazinga?
You can listen to the podcast through the embedded player below...
... or you can subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.
If you're using something else, this RSS link should let you add the podcast to whatever platform you'd like. Please take a moment and review the podcast, especially on iTunes. It really helps us out.
Interaction with you is a big part of this new podcast, so make sure to send any questions you have for us to with the header "Questions." (Without the quotes!) We can't guarantee we'll answer all of your questions, but rest assured, we'll be taking a look at them.
Make sure to swing back to VICE Gaming on Monday for the next episode of VICE Gaming's New Podcast!
Follow Waypoint on Twitter, Facebook, and Twitch, and tune in to our 72 hour launch live stream marathon, starting at 12PM ET on October 28th!
Follow Patrick Klepek on Twitter.But in 2016, with 47 days and a few hours until the election, we take another step into the unknown.
— Even in 1972, the beleaguered former Democratic president Lyndon Johnson technically endorsed the controversial Democratic nominee George McGovern, who had built his campaign on opposition to Johnson’s own Vietnam war.
Ill will between the Bush and Trump empires is no surprise. Just think back to the days of Trump mocking “Low-Energy Jeb,” or of Barbara Bush saying early this year that she was “ sick of Trump.” But to the best of my knowledge, this is the first-ever case of a former president from one party saying that he would vote for a nominee from the other party.*
The president who is taking this step is of course the senior George Bush, who this week reportedly told a crowd of 40 people that he plans to vote for Hillary Clinton. Set aside the ensuing flap over whether Bush “intended” something he said in front of several dozen people to become “public.” (If you want to keep something confidential, you don’t say it in a crowd. You especially understand this point if you are yourself a former U.S. president and vice president plus CIA director, with two sons who ran for the White House and one who made it. And once the news got out, Bush’s spokesmen didn’t even deny it. He just said that Bush’s vote would be “private,” which is code for “the report is true.”)
1. George H.W. Bush. For the first time in modern history, a former president of one party has said he will vote for a nominee from the other party.
Without elaboration, here is a for-the-record note of some publicized news of the past few days:
(*The Bull Moose / Republican tussle between Teddy Roosevelt and W.H. Taft in 1912 was a special case that doesn’t apply. The counterpart to today’s Bush-Trump news would be if Teddy Roosevelt, as a former Republican president, had endorsed Woodrow Wilson, the Democrat, rather than endorsing himself for another run at the White House.)
***
2. Fahrenthold and the Trump Foundation. This campaign has revealed a lot about our country, much of it unsettling. It is also revealing things both good and bad about our news media, in ways that are changing and unfolding every day, and that I’ll try to say more about sometime soon.
For now I’ll say: it’s impressive to see the NYT’s recent embrace of the “let’s call a lie a ‘lie’” philosophy; it is alarming that CNN has kept right on with Corey Lewandowski as a paid “analyst” while he is still on Donald Trump’s payroll, and it is encouraging for journalism in general and the Washington Post in particular that David Fahrenthold continues his extraordinary work on the Trump Foundation.
The story posted last night, about the foundation’s role in paying off legal claims against Trump’s for-profit businesses, is roughly ten times more dramatic—in evidentiary support, and in clarity of offense—than even the worst allegations about the Clinton Foundation. You can read the details yourself, but here’s a sample from the story:
“I represent 700 nonprofits a year, and I’ve never encountered anything so brazen,” said Jeffrey Tenenbaum, who advises charities at the Venable law firm in Washington. After The Washington Post described the details of these Trump Foundation gifts, Tenenbaum described them as “really shocking.” “If he’s using other people’s money — run through his foundation — to satisfy his personal obligations, then that’s about as blatant an example of self-dealing [as] I’ve seen in awhile,” Tenenbaum said.
For Time Capsule purposes: through the centuries of U.S. history, various nominees have of course had their swirls of financial controversy. Lyndon Johnson’s rise to wealth was complex enough to occupy hundreds of pages of Robert Caro’s oeuvre. George W. Bush, of course born to a rich and prominent family, benefited greatly from a favorable deal involving the Texas Rangers. Spiro Agnew had to resign as vice president for taking cash bribes while in office. Suspicions that “something” must be awry with the Clinton family’s Whitewater dealings occupied the press and special investigators through much of the 1990s. And so on.
But to the best of my knowledge, nothing ever known or suspected about any previous national-level nominee comes close to what is now on the record about Donald Trump and his foundation.
And still he remains the only modern candidate to refuse to release his tax returns. And still the solons of his party say, He’s fine.
***
3. Kagan. Something must have happened yesterday to bring a four-month-old article to broader attention. I received several notes from readers wanting to be sure I’d seen an old WaPo essay by Robert Kagan.
I disagree with Robert Kagan on just about everything. But in the months since he originally published his essay, called “This Is How Fascism Comes to America,” I think his arguments have come to seem more rather than less relevant. Especially this, with emphasis added:
We’re supposed to believe that Trump’s support stems from economic stagnation or dislocation. Maybe some of it does. But what Trump offers his followers are not economic remedies — his proposals change daily. What he offers is an attitude, an aura of crude strength and machismo, a boasting disrespect for the niceties of the democratic culture that he claims, and his followers believe, has produced national weakness and incompetence. His incoherent and contradictory utterances have one thing in common: They provoke and play on feelings of resentment and disdain, intermingled with bits of fear, hatred and anger. His public discourse consists of attacking or ridiculing a wide range of “others” — Muslims, Hispanics, women, Chinese, Mexicans, Europeans, Arabs, immigrants, refugees — whom he depicts either as threats or as objects of derision. His program, such as it is, consists chiefly of promises to get tough with foreigners and people of nonwhite complexion. He will deport them, bar them, get them to knuckle under, make them pay up or make them shut up.
Please also read Garrett Epps’s essay yesterday, to parallel sobering effect.
All this is part of what the country knows about this candidate, as it considers whether to make him president; and what the likes of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell know as well, as they stand beside him.Gayby, Keep the Lights On and I Killed My Mother are three films leaving Netflix in March 2016.
Here are the LGBT movies leaving Netflix this month, March 2016. Watch them while you still can.
“Geography Club” (2013) – Leaving Mar. 11
Based on a young adult novel of the same name by Brent Hartinger, “Geography Club” is a comedy-drama about a group of high school students who form a secret gay support group.
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It is a sweet coming out, coming of age movie, which won the L.A. Outfest Audience Award for best film.
“I Killed My Mother” (2009) – Leaving Mar. 15
“I Killed My Mother” is a Quebec semi-autobiographical drama film by Xavier Dolan, who stars as lead character Hubert Minel. It examines his strained relationship with his mother, which revolves around many issues including his homosexuality. Dolan was a mere 16 years old when he wrote the script and 19 when he made the movie.
It has received positive reviews from critics and won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival.
“Out in the Dark” (2012) – Leaving Mar. 18
Israeli drama-thriller film “Out in the Dark” explores the relationship between two men, Roy, an Israeli lawyer and Nimr, a Palestinian psychology student, who meet and fall in love in Tel Aviv. Being gay causes problems for both of them, but it is only the beginning. Political and social realities come down on them, destroying the peaceful sanctuary they once found in each other.
The film is Michael Mayer’s directorial debut. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012 and in Israel in the Haifa International Film Festival in October 2012.
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“Keep the Lights On” (2012) – Leaving Mar. 23
“Keep the Lights On” is a drama film that tells the story of a turbulent relationship between a Danish filmmaker living in New York and a drug addicted lawyer in the publishing industry. The film was written (along with Mauricio Zacharias) and directed by Ira Sachs, and is semi-autobiographical, centered around his relationship with literary agent Bill Clegg, who wrote a memoir about this time in his life called “Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man.”
The film won the 2012 Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival for best feature with LGBT topics.
“Gayby” (2012) – Leaving Mar. 28
Longtime best friends Jenn and Matt are single and in their thirties, and life isn’t going exactly as planned for either. Jenn feels stagnant and wants a baby, but isn’t meeting the right guy. Matt is recovering from a bad breakup while navigating the dating scene for the first time in six years, when he isn’t avoiding his ex. They agree to make good on a childhood promise to have a child together someday, and decide to try it “the old fashioned way.”
The awkwardness isn’t helped when Jenn hooks up with someone else, complicating paternity. “Gayby” got mixed to positive review from critics, with the consensus being that while it doesn’t break new ground, the script’s earnestness plus the game cast make it an enjoyable watch.
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Posted by Jeff Taylor / Social Media Editor Jeff Taylor is a journalist and artist. In addition to QNotes, his work has appeared in publications such The Charlotte Observer, Creative Loafing Charlotte, Inside Lacrosse, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. He graduated from the State University of New York at Brockport and has lived in Charlotte since 2006.@jefftaylorhuman.Image copyright AP Image caption Police surrounded the factory soon after the shooting started
A gunman who engaged police in an hours-long standoff at a Sydney factory has shot himself dead, say authorities.
His death came shortly after three people were seen leaving the building and entering a police vehicle. It has not been confirmed they were hostages.
The gunman had opened fire at the industrial unit on Monday morning, killing a man and injuring two others.
Police quickly surrounded the factory, located in the industrial suburb of Ingleburn in the city's southwest.
Image copyright 7News Image caption A 7News screenshot of the siege at an industrial area in Ingleburn, Sydney
Authorities have named the gunman as Wayne Williams.
His motives and relationship to those in the factory remain unclear, but the Sydney Morning Herald said Williams was a member of a motorcycle gang and that the man who was shot dead was connected to another motorcycle club.
Image copyright AP Image caption Authorities say the gunman killed one man before shooting himself dead
The two injured men were transported to Liverpool Hospital and were in a stable condition, staff told the BBC.
One of the men underwent emergency surgery, while the second suffered superficial wounds to his lower body.
Reports from media at the scene said the man was believed to be using an automatic rifle.
Photographs show heavily armed police surrounding the Inline National Signage factory, and what appears to be a body underneath a white sheet on the sidewalk.
A man was arrested at the scene, but police said he was detained for "hindering" the investigation.Clare 0-19
Limerick 0-17
Eoin Brennan reports from Cusack Park
CLARE WILL CONTEST, the Munster Minor and Senior Hurling finals for the first time in 20 years in Thurles on Sunday week after finally shaking off the stubborn challenge of neighbours Limerick after extra-time in the U18 version in Cusack Park this evening.
It was a tense, thrilling derby encounter throughout as what the game lacked in quality, it more than made up for in sheer commitment and doggedness.
Indeed, the sides would be locked on level terms on 10 occasions, including the three major junctures of the match (half-time, full-time and again at the midway mark of extra-time) before Gary Cooney fired the last two points to get the home side over the line in front of a crowd of 3,697.
Clare deserved their victory thanks in the main to an outstanding half-back unit of Aidan McCarthy, Cian Minogue and Diarmuid Ryan but certainly made hard work of it as they struck 22 wides over the 80 minutes to Limerick’s 10, with that profligacy preventing them from making the game safe in normal time.
All that after a more efficient Limerick shot out of the blocks with four Paul O’Brien points by the 12th minute, only for the hosts to finally settle after five wides, with Tiernan Agnew answering with four of his own over the next eight minutes to level up the tie.
That blow-for-blow pattern would continue until the break as the sides were level on three more occasions, albeit there were also glorious goal opportunities at both ends.
In the 24th minute, Breffni Horner’s driving run attracted Limerick’s last line before offloading to Paul Corry, who could only find the side-netting,
The last action of the half saw a teasing O’Brien delivery expertly controlled by Dylan O’Shea, only for Lee Brack to produce a timely hook on his first effort, while goalkeeper Eamonn Foudy repelled the second to ensure a 0-7 to 0-7 half-time stalemate.
Clare had two more goal chances on the restart as the sides traded points twice more, with Eoin Fitzgerald pulling just wide while Tiernan Agnew solo and shot was tipped away by goalkeeper Daithi Heffernan.
The neighbours were still deadlocked entering the final 10 minutes, when Clare made their push for glory as successive points from Agnew (2) and Keith White edged them three clear.
However, they simply couldn’t find an insurance point and it allowed a never-say-die Limerick to gather momentum and force extra-time after unanswered points from Paul O’Brien (2) and Mikey O’Brien at 0-14 to 0-14.
While fatigue understandably set in, it didn’t halt the exuberance and determination of both sides, who gave every ounce, as they traded points on three more occasions.
However, with Limerick now beginning to misfire, the home side snatched the initiative once more, with Cooney arrowing over two excellent strikes to seal a first Munster Minor Final place since 2012.
Scorers for Clare: Tiernan Agnew 0-10 (7f, 1’65); Gary Cooney 0-4; Breffni Horner, Diarmuid Ryan, Keith White, Gearoid Cahill, Aidan McCarthy 0-1 each
Scorers for Limerick: Paul O’Brien 0-9 (4f, 1’65); David Woulfe 0-4; Ronan Connolly, Dan Minehan, Dylan O’Shea, Mikey O’Brien 0-1 each
Clare
1. Eamonn Foudy (Inagh-Kilnamona)
2. Sean Crowley (Kilmihil)
3. Ross Hayes (Crusheen)
4. Bradley Higgins (Kilmaley)
6. Cian Minogue (Bodyke)
5. Diarmuid Ryan (Cratloe)
7. Aidan McCarthy (Inagh-Kilnamona)
8. Keith White (Inagh-Kilnamona)
9. Lee Brack (Clarecastle)
11. Rian Considine (Cratloe)
10. Tiernan Agnew (Sixmilebridge)
12. Eoin Fitzgerald (Inagh-Kilnamona)
14. Gary Cooney (O’Callaghan’s Mills)
13. Paul Corry (Sixmilebridge)
15. Breffni Horner (Crusheen)
Subs
22. Conor Tierney (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield) for Corry (HT)
20. Colin Haugh (Ruan) for Considine (43)
23. Gearoid Cahill (Corofin) for Fitzgerald (48)
17. Cian McInerney (Inagh-Kilnamona) for Crowley (53, inj)
19. Eoghan Wallace (Clarecastle) for Ryan (58, inj)
21. Tom O’Rourke (Kilmaley) for Brack (60)
24. Killian McDermott (Clarecastle) for White (75, inj)
Limerick
1. Daithi Heffernan (Mallow)
2. Conor Flahive (Mungret St Pauls)
3. Conor Nicholas (Monaleen)
4. Ciaran Barry (Ahane)
7. Kevin Bonar (Bruff)
6. Jerome Boylan (Na Piarsaigh)
5. Mikey O’Brien (Doon)
8. Dan Minehan (Ahane)
9. Michael O’Grady (Knockainey)
10. Paul O’Riordan (Bruff)
11. Paul O’Brien (Mungret St Pauls)
12. David Woulfe (Kilmallock)
13. Dylan O’Shea (Garryspillane)
17. Gearoid Barry (Kilmallock)
14. Ronan Connolly (Adare)
Subs
23. Brian O’Grady (Kilteely/Dromkeen) for O’Riordan (HT)
24. Ryan Tobin (Garryspillane) for Barry (38)
21. Rory Duff (Mungret St Pauls) for O’Grady (49)
9. O’Grady for M. O’Brien (71)
19. Ken Byrnes (Old Christians) for P. O’Brien (77)
10. O’Riordan for Duff (77, inj)
18. Damien Burke (Dromcollogher/Broadford) for O’Shea (82, inj)
Referee: Philip Kelly (Tipperary)
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!Imagine walking up to your opponent. Now imagine walking up to your opponent and pulling a fish out of your pocket. Now imagine walking up to your opponent, taking a fish out of your pocket and slapping them with it. Now imagine walking up to your opponent, pulling a fish out of your pocket and it’s the one of the biggest fishes in the sea and you slap them with it. Look at me, now look at the fish, now back at me. We can make this happen…
Allow me to introduce you to Krak Attack, a deck designed to cheat massive fish eyed freaks into play and destroy your opposition. This deck is Modern legal and will run you about $30. It’s easy to play and fun to see your opponent’s reactions to cards they would normally not see anywhere else. If played properly, I would rank it as a strong kitchen table contender.
Enchantments
4x Quest for Ula’s Temple
…is your ticket to the all you can eat sushi bar. Every creature revealed from the top of your deck gives this enchantment a counter. Three counters and your fish’s tickets to ride are punched for free. If you do not have this enchantment in your opening hand you MUST consider a mulligan. I have mulliganed down to four just to get Quest into my hand and still managed to come out the victor. If you do not have this in your hand on game start you had better have multiple ways to Scry it out of your deck or you will guaranteed lose. This deck is very much a one trick pony and you have to have this enchantment to win. This deck is not built to legit cast the creatures it contains.
2x Spreading Seas
If Quest for Ula’s Temple is the ticket on the train, this enchantment is the tracks. This deck has multiple creatures with islandwalk. Not only does it create an unblockable highway for your whopper fish, it also draws you a card and disrupts your opponent’s mana base.
Creatures
4x Augry Owl
Augry Owl kicks off the game with it’s strong Scry ability. Later in the game he becomes a chump blocker as well as additional damage once…
4x Stormtide Leviathan
…comes into play. This leviathan creates an Island Sanctuary effect where only flyers and islandwalkers are able to attack on either side of the board. Depending on your opponent’s deck, this effect can win games by itself, making your opponent unable to attack. This leads into another seafood behemoth…
3x Inkwell Leviathan
This is a monster fish. A 7/11 leviathan. He rides the islandwalking wave with Stormtide Leviathan and can splash damage into the opponent with his trample ability. For good measure he also has shroud which makes him untargetable. This fish hurts.
4x Scourge of Fleets
I have nicknamed this guy “Cannonball”. Every time I play him I envision this kraken doing a whopping cannonball into a pool and splashing all the smaller creatures out of it. He is your control kraken. Drop him into play when you need to reset your opponent’s board. During my playtesting and games, typically Scourge of Fleets returns around 3-4 toughness creatures which isn’t too shabby. Granted, with Stormtide Leviathan in play, this guy just sits there and can do nothing but he makes a heck of a splash just by joining the party.
Artifacts
4x Crystal Ball
Ahh, Crystal Ball. This is a cheap and continuous way to Scry, setting up your draws turn after turn to help put counters on the Quest as soon as possible. It also looks like a mutated Everlasting Gobstopper which unsettles opponents of all caliber.
Instants
4x Clockspinning
Use this instant to increase the counters on Quest for Ula’s Temple. It is a huge boost to assist your horde of fish into battle. I try play it at the end of my opponent’s turn with a buyback when possible, leaving mana open for the occasional…
3x Dissolve
A counterspell with a cantrip. This counter gives you an additional Scry attempt to help stack your deck. I would use it only when a massive threat to your Quest is being cast.
Sorcery
4x Mystic Speculation
This is a Scrying powerhouse and was an all-star in my games. The buyback really makes this spell work and digs ferociously. My only gripe is that it comes at sorcery speed.
2x Whelming Wave
This spell reminds me of flushing a toilet for the obvious reasons. Not only does it return creatures to your opponent’s hand it will also bring back Augry Owl into yours for a re-cast and Scry, an amazing trick I’ve used with great results.
Lands
4x Halimar Depths
This land isn’t as good as a Scry spell since it won’t remove unwanted cards from the top of the deck but it is a free way to do almost the same thing, which is good enough for me.
18x Island
Choose your best Islands for your underwater carnage. I like this one. That ship has no clue that being hung up on those rocks is the worst place for a boat to be when the nastiest seafood in the ocean is about to run wild.
Thanks goes out to bloodwyrm for inspiring my version of this deck. I just made it Modern legal. The original deck can be found here. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/12-06-14-release-the-kraken/
Aiokii has never actually slapped an opponent with a fish but doing so seems wonderfully fantastic. Tweet him at https://twitter.com/TheAiokii or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thepaperchampionblog or message or post in the comments below. Check out http://www.reddit.com/r/budgetdecks/, your spot for even more Magic: The Gathering on a budget discussion.
AdvertisementsA Catholic religious order in the United States has agreed to pay more than $160m to hundreds of victims of sexual abuse between the 1940 and 1990s.
The payout by the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province - part of an agreement to resolve its two-year-old bankruptcy case - marks one of the biggest settlements to date in the Church |
the most famous DePaul player ever though he probably could beat George Mikan one–on-one in their respective primes, carries the legacy of the great Ray Meyer with him everywhere. You talk to Aguirre and you hear Ray Meyer axioms like you hear about John Wooden from Bill Walton. Aguirre has been interested in returning to DePaul to coach. DePaul last told Aguirre he needed to complete his degree, which is why he began taking online courses to finish a degree in sports management. OK, I can accept needing a degree to work in college. But I never get why colleges trying to gain credibility for their programs keep hiring these retread college coaches that yell a lot and no kid has ever heard of. Instead of a guy like Aguirre, who has been where all these kids want to be and knows that life and, by the way, really knows basketball. If you want to learn post moves and footwork, there may be nobody better in the world. Now that Oliver Purnell has resigned, the way should be clear for Aguirre, who helped out the basketball program last season as a student assistant. And how better to raise the profile and interest in your program than bringing in a guy who has succeeded at the highest level in the sport. And is a Chicago native from the toughest neighborhoods. Who relates better? They always say these former NBA guys don’t want to recruit, which is the way all these college guys protect their phony baloney jobs, as Mel Brooks would say. Another local guy who’ll be a great choice is Darrell Walker, the Corliss grad and longtime NBA player and pro coach who now wants to go the college route and has had some interviews. Are you more likely to want to play for guys who have played at the highest level for the best coaches in NBA history? Or some guy who lost to Mike Krzyzewski twice a year? DePaul’s had an amazing run of basically bad coaches since 1997, though Dave Leitao seemed OK. Still, they’re all the same guy, overachievers who bounced around the college world instead of men who have been there and know that.
The future of free agnecy?
It’s labor/union/bargaining/management stuff. So that talk last week about not “smoothing” in the upcoming TV financial bonanza for the league was mostly a shrug from fans. It’s not until 2016 anyway. You know, a pox on both their houses. And it is. The players voted for the money to come in with a lump sum in 2016, likely pushing the salary cap from around $65 million to about $90 million. The NBA wanted gradual increases so teams could plan. The money would be the same. The practical effect of the lump sum addition is 2016 becomes spectator sport with basically now every team having free agent money. Although the effects can only be speculated upon, it’s going to be a wild summer with free agents that could include LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Mike Conley, Brook Lopez, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, DeMar DeRozan and who knows how many others who may take short term deals. But with Paul and James the leaders of the union, it sure sounds like a power play for the top stars of the game. Of course, many say why not as they should make the most. The way the salary cap works, a top free agent can get a maximum deal with more seniority up to 35 percent of the cap. Thus the larger the cap, the larger the salary for the top players. Though the salary cap is rising dramatically, it seems likely a big part of the increase will be skimmed off by the top players. Of course, the definition of a “max” player has been liberalized since there are so few players deserving that title but so many teams needing one. So you pay your best guy the same as the best guy on the other team, who is James or Durant. The rich will get richer, and you certainly can make the case for James. As in society, the income gap is only likely to increases between rich and “poor.” But, hey, there’s at least one more full season before we have to listen to all that really boring stuff.
Boston
Apparently it wasn’t such a happy place in Boston for and with Jeff Green, who walked away from local media without speaking after the Grizzlies lost in Boston last week and Boston players talked about such a better atmosphere since the Rajon Rondo and Green deals. The Celtics started 12-23. They went 16-13 since trading Green and surprisingly have remained in position to compete for that final East playoff spot.
Brooklyn
The Nets with their veteran group, somewhat surprisingly, are the ones sinking, though with Deron Williams you never are that surprised.
Detroit
After losing in Portland Friday, the Pistons were 1-9 since starting Reggie Jackson, who forced his way out of Oklahoma City because he wants to start and get a maximum salary contract. It’s early and an adjustment, of course, so it takes time. Jackson is averaging 14.7 points on 37 percent shooting—24 percent on threes—and he does shoot a lot. Jackson then got yanked out of Saturday’s 10th straight Pistons loss for not hustling. Josh Smith must feel better as the Pistons are again losing as much as when he was there.
Indiana
Difficult to say it means much as who knows who’ll still be out injured for the Bulls. But the Bulls Wednesday host the Indiana Pacers, who have been one of the league’s best teams the last six weeks. Their margin of victory is second best the last month and they are 2-1 this season over the Bulls with the Bulls only win by two points and when the Pacers were still without most of their regulars. And there’s still a chance for a first round playoff meeting as the hot Pacers could get to sixth and face the Bulls if the Bulls get to third. Though Paul George now seems to be having second thoughts about a return.
Atlanta
There’s been talk about Kyle Korver’s slump, but his magical season continues as he’s still in position for the first ever 50-50-90 season in field goals, threes and free throws. After failing to shoot 50 percent on threes for seven straight games (everyone else’s mark is 40 percent), Korver was given a game off. And in the next three games, Korver, likely the top name on every Hawks opponent scouting report, was 14 of 19 on threes. Korver, who turns 34 this week, has missed two games this season. You wish the young stars wanted to play as much.
Dallas
Don’t mess with Texas, eh? The Dallas Morning News writer about the Mavericks after the 33- point loss to the Cavs wrote: “The word gutless comes to mind.” The Mavs have played.500 ball pretty much a few weeks since acquiring Rajon Rondo.
New Orleans
Look who’s not horrible anymore. Eric Gordon is shooting 46 percent on threes this season, second to Korver. And to be fair it’s about finally being healthy, though he’s still missed about 20 games. He’s just 26, but he is still owed $15 million next season with an opt out it seems unlikely he’d exercise.
Utah
The Jazz have defeated the Rockets, Grizzlies, Spurs and Trail Blazers since All-Star break, winning 12 of their last 15 and yielding about 85 points per game, one of the best defensive stretches in franchise history with big man Rudy Gobert averaging 11 points and 17 rebounds in March.
Oklahoma City
The Thunder before playing the Bulls Sunday was 13-10 in games when Russell Westbrook played without Kevin Durant. Last season when Durant played without the injured Westbrook, the Thunder was 24-11. Thunder general manager Sam Presti, generally pretty invisible, had to come out to condemn media speculation they might trade Durant. It was merely based on reasonable speculation the Thunder could lose Durant as a free agent after next season. But if they had to decide it’s fairly obvious they’d want to retain Durant over Westbrook, though they might not have the choice as Durant can be an unrestricted free agents in 2016 and Westbrook in 2017.
Portland
Pretty nice seeing a picture of Wesley Matthews in his Trail Blazers jersey in the hospital after his Achilles surgery when the team played its next game. It seems clear fellow international players are pressuring one another to play for their countries as Nicolas Batum, who admitted to fatigue this summer after playing in last summer’s World Cup of Basketball, reversed course and said he’d play again for France this summer. The federation reportedly also has been pressuring Joakim Noah to do the same. For the first time since 1999, the championship rounds of the tournament this summer will take place in France. Next season is Noah’s last on his Bulls contract.
Cleveland
Maybe the most impressive thing about Kyrie Irving’s 57 points in last Thursday’s Cavs overtime win over the Spurs was Irving scored 57 points with LeBron James on the court. Irving had 55 earlier this season with LeBron out. Irving had 15 points all on threes and three-point plays from the last 52 seconds of regulation to 2:34 left, 15 points in just over three minutes. Also from that terrific game, you wonder if Kawhi Leonard will develop Nick Andersonitis. The Magic guard was never the same after missing four free throws in the opening Finals game in 1995 when one would have clinched a win. The Magic was then swept. Leonard missed a vital free throw that could have clinched the 2013 Game 6 that would have won the title. And he missed both free throws Thursday when one would have probably ended the game and not allowed Irving’s epic finish. Kevin Love, by the way, again sat out the fourth quarter and didn’t attempt a shot in the overtime. And he’s in Cleveland. As Tony Parker noted, however, if that’s what it takes to beat the Spurs they’re in pretty good shape. So, yes, don’t count them out quite yet. Or at all. With the Cavs close to getting a hold on the No. 2 spot in the East, James said he’s considering another significant rest period. Watch out ABC with the Bulls in Cleveland Easter Sunday, April 5.Writer Peter David, known for his Star Trek novels and his comic work on such projects as Marvel’s X-Factor, suffered a stroke earlier this week, according to a notice posted on his website.
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“We were on vacation in Florida when I lost control of the right side of my body. I cannot see properly and I cannot move my right arm or leg. We are currently getting the extent of the damage sorted out and will report as further details become clarified.”
David is the co-creator and author of the bestselling Star Trek: The New Frontier series, has written episodes of Babylon 5 and the prequel series, Crusade, and also has a long-running column, “But I Digress….” in the The Comic Buyer’s Guide.
My own favorites of David’s work are the Young Justice series featuring the new generation of DC’s heroes, which provided the name and some of the inspiration for the Young Justice television show, and the Hulk story, The Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect, in which a younger Bruce Banner battles his older self, who has become the world’s dictator. The art is by comic great George Perez. If you haven’t read any of David’s work, those titles are a great start or you can check out his full line of books and pick one. They are all worth a read.
Best wishes to David and all of GeekDad’s hopes for a full recovery.WASHINGTON — The Republican health care overhaul might never become law, but it has already changed the life of one American: Reince Priebus, who knew it was his best and perhaps last hope of becoming an empowered White House chief of staff.
President Trump placed much of the blame for his first, failed push to repeal the Affordable Care Act in March on Mr. Priebus, the harried and ambitious former Republican National Committee chairman. He told aides that he believed the damaging loss had resulted in no small part from Mr. Priebus’s too-rosy vote-count predictions and his too-cozy relationship with Speaker Paul D. Ryan, a fellow Wisconsinite.
After that defeat, Mr. Trump’s staff noticed that the president had adopted a practice of merging the two men’s names into one long “Ryan-ce,” according to several West Wing aides.
It is unlikely that Mr. Priebus — roundly regarded as a steady party leader but one of the least powerful White House chiefs of staff ever — would have been fired had the second repeal-and-replace plan not passed the House on Thursday. But he viewed it as a personal make-or-break moment, and interviews with two dozen West Wing aides and Republican officials confirmed that another big loss on health care would probably have been an unrecoverable blow to an already weakened Mr. Priebus.This image shows Blair and the Dodge Charger near where his body was found. (WCIV)
Authorities confirm that Donald Blair Sr., a mechatronics teacher at Goose Creek High School, was found dead in Cypress Gardens Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Berkeley County Coroner's Office, Blair died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
His body was found in the woods off Bushy Park Road by K-9 officers near a blue Dodge Charger parked at the boat landing.
Deputies went to the boat landing after receiving a call from the security team of the Berkeley County School District. Officials with the sheriff's office say Blair missed a scheduled appointment, and there was concern.
Deputies began searching areas Blair was known to frequent, and that is where they say his body and Dodge Charger were found.
On Monday, Blair was arrested and charged with third degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and sexual battery of a student. He was released on $10,000 bail.
Detectives with the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office said they got a complaint from a student in reference to a consensual sexual relationship between Blair and the student.
In a release issued Monday, officials with the sheriff's office said there was reason to believe a sexual relationship happened between Blair and a student who was 15 at the time, during the 2014-2015 school year.
Officials said the relationship "took place in the grounds of Goose Creek High School."
Goose Creek High School was placed on a lockdown at around 10:15 Wednesday morning. It is not known if the two incidents are related. The school and surrounding schools in the district were on lockdown for about an hour due to what district officials described as a "potential threat in the area."
After learning of Blair's death, officials with Berkeley County School District announced the will be grief counselors available to faculty members and students at Goose Creek High School.
"We will continue to offer support to them as they process this news," district officials stated in a press release.
Check back with ABC News 4 as we continue to follow this story.U.S. school cafeterias are starved for funds, lack facilities, and are staffed by workers who often know more about wielding “box cutters and can crushers” than chefs’ knives, according to Ann Cooper, a onetime celebrity chef turned Colorado lunch lady and school food reformer.
Cooper, speaking at a Harvard conference on food in public schools, said schools should work to serve nutritious, wholesome foods, with plenty of fruits and vegetables, rather than the packaged and processed foods that are prevalent in many institutions. Part of the challenge, she said, is money. When more than half of a school district’s cafeteria budget goes toward personnel, it’s tempting to opt for prepackaged food that requires little preparation.
But epidemics of diabetes and obesity prove that the choice is a false one, Cooper said. Both conditions, which cost some $250 billion annually to treat, have their roots in an unhealthy diet. To address the school food portion of the problem and how it affects young lives, she said, will require significantly more money for facilities — many schools today don’t even have kitchens — staff training, and fresh, whole foods.
Cooper called on every school to start a garden to help students understand where their food comes from, and for nutrition and food literacy to be a core part of the curriculum, not an add-on to an occasional health class.
Despite tight federal budgets, Cooper said that America should invest in school food programs because diet is so important to child health. The federal government, she said, spends less on school meals per pupil than most people spend on coffee each day.
“It’s not that we don’t have the money; we are choosing not to prioritize our kids’ health,” said Cooper, who is director of food services for the Boulder Valley School District and founder of the Chef Ann Foundation, which works on national school food reform.
Cooper was the keynote speaker Wednesday at an all-day conference on the foods served in the nation’s public schools. The conference was sponsored by Harvard University Dining Services, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Project Bread, the Greater Boston Food Bank, and the Let’s Talk About Food program.
After a brief welcome by David Davidson, managing director of Harvard University Dining Services, Let’s Talk About Food founder Louisa Kasdon said the organizing groups’ interest in improving the quality of school food grew out of a broader interest in diet and the U.S. food supply. School nutrition, she and other event organizers thought, was a topic that should be readily addressed.
“How hard could that be?” Kasdon said, sparking laughter among the almost 200 people gathered in Harvard’s Sever Hall.
Instead of the easy task they expected, she and others found it a difficult fight to change school food offerings, which the critics rapidly learned is the most regulated aspect of the nation’s food system.
“Kids who don’t eat well when they’re young, from the get-go, never really catch up,” Kasdon said.
The speakers addressed a variety of issues, including federal policy, the business of school food, what kids now eat at school, links between diet and cognition, and models of change.
Emily Broad Leib, director of Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic, said that Congress is now considering reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which expires in September. Among other things, the act provides nutritional guidelines for school lunches, and must be reauthorized every five years. The last reauthorization, in 2010, took significant steps toward improving the nutritional quality of school lunches, Leib said. Possible changes this time include increasing the amount of federal reimbursement for meals, taking steps to increase student participation in the program, and providing grants for kitchen equipment and staff training.
The school nutrition program is so large — 30 million children eat school lunches daily — that the stakes extend beyond America’s schoolyards, Leib said. Changes to the food program can influence the broader U.S. food system, which is facing a host of its own related challenges.
The heavy lifting doesn’t have to occur just at the national level. While the federal government provides a broad framework, state and local governments have wide latitude in determining the final form of school food programs, according to Bettina Neuefeind, a research fellow at Harvard Law School who collaborates with the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic.
Neuefeind said the clinic has worked with Project Bread to create a “school food interventions toolkit” that includes an array of suggestions on how to improve school foods. She discussed just a few of them, including proven ways to “nudge” students into making good food choices, emphasizing food literacy, and paying attention to what are called “competitive foods,” those sold to students outside the national food program, in cafeterias, or at school-related events.
Efforts to improve school food have generated backlash, with some critics complaining that kids throw away the food they don’t like. That, Cooper said, is a problem that’s up to adults to solve by setting rules and guidelines for what kids eat. It hasn’t been that long, she said, since the days when there was no such thing as “kid food,” just food that kids ate with the rest of the family or they went hungry.
“No child has ever died for lack of chocolate milk and chicken nuggets,” Cooper said.Managing existing family and friend relationships 3: Neutral/Don't Know
Managing existing family and friend relationships 3: Neutral/Don't Know
Managing existing family and friend relationships 2: Somewhat Prepared
Managing existing family and friend relationships 2: Somewhat Prepared
Managing existing family and friend relationships 1: Not Prepared
Managing existing family and friend relationships 1: Not Prepared
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community)
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 5: Prepared
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 5: Prepared
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community)
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 4: Fairly Prepared
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 4: Fairly Prepared
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community)
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 3: Neutral/Don't Know
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 3: Neutral/Don't Know
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community)
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 2: Somewhat Prepared
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 2: Somewhat Prepared
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community)
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 1: Not Prepared
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community) 1: Not Prepared
Moving to a new city/location (finding services, discovering neighbourhood amenities, developing your community)
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks)
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 5: Prepared
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 5: Prepared
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks)
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 4: Fairly Prepared
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 4: Fairly Prepared
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks)
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 3: Neutral/Don't Know
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 3: Neutral/Don't Know
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks)
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 2: Somewhat Prepared
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 2: Somewhat Prepared
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks)
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 1: Not Prepared
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks) 1: Not Prepared
Working out self identity (building/realizing identity, finding support networks)
Social development (meeting new people, building your community, self responsibility)
Social development (meeting new people, building your community, self responsibility) 1: Not Prepared
Social development (meeting new people, building your community, self responsibility) 2: Somewhat Prepared
Social development (meeting new people, building your community, self responsibility) 3: Neutral/Don't Know
Social development (meeting new people, building your community, self responsibility) 4: Fairly PreparedHi All,
Sorry for the delay, but we’re back with the start of Part 4! Since I don’t have a new comic this week, I thought I’d run through my process in making comics. Specifically, my process in making the cover for issue 4.
First off, I started brainstorming the cover by doodling on photoshop using my wacom tablet.
I still feel like I do my best “pencils” actually using pencils on paper, so next I penciled the cover with an 0.5mm Draft Line mechanical pencil on Bristol board.
I sometimes do my inking digitally (like I did with the cover of part three). But for this one I inked old school. I typically use Staedtler pigment liners (01-07), a Micron 005, Prismacolor brush pen and chisel tip marker as well as a good old Sharpie.
Next, I scan things back into photoshop as line art and clean things up a little.
Aaand then I start the coloring process. This part is the newest thing I’ve learned with my pea-sized brain, so I’m still learning more every time I do it. This I also do on Photoshop.
Then I add in the text and title (with some further tweaking of colors) and boom- we got a completed comic! The best part about all of this is my mobile set up- so I can work all over the house… or even take this to work and color comics between seeing patients (ahem… not like that’s anything I’ve ever done…cough-cough-cough-yesterday.)
So there ya go! Stay tuned for the rest of Part 4!
Alexwallets
MobiKwik
OYO Rooms
Zomato
In the age of the abundance of mobile paymentstands out having constantly expanding its network and connecting 25 million users with 50,000 retailers.In its bid to reach even deeper into the payments sector, MobiKwik has tied up with two players who have revolutionized the hotel and food ordering industry.By tying up withand, MobiKwik now brings convenience of instant and easy mobile payments to frequent travelers and diners.Increased smartphone penetration and usage in Tier II and III Indian cities is paving the way for increased growth of the on-demand delivery, dining and the sharing economy.Talking about the tie-up, Bipin Preet Singh, CEO, MobiKwik, “Cumulative research indicates that online platforms will occupy 15-20% of the total spend of the Indian economy by 2020. Our tie ups with category leaders such as OYO Rooms and Zomato positions us well to leverage that wave.”Other popular brands currently using MobiKwik’s services include Uber, Meru Cabs, Big Bazaar, WHSmith India, Café Coffee Day, PVR, BookMyShow, Grofers, Big Basket, Domino's, Pizza Hut, eBay, ShopClues, Myntra, Jabong, Pepperfry, Star Sports, GoDaddy, MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, and Yatra.“Do you think Bashar al-Assad decided to hold presidential elections in Syria so he can exit from the crisis and cede power in a legitimate manner?"
This is what an optimist, or what we call a dreamer, asked me amidst all this chaos!
Those who know Bashar al-Assad’s history are not surprised of his past actions and will not be convinced by any future promises. The man plans to stay Syria's president against everyone's will and regardless of the means he will have to adopt from killing people using explosive barrels to playing the electoral ballots game.
So why is he bothering to hold the elections and make people choose a president after he refused their wish for him stand down from his position? Why is he punishing them by destroying the country over their heads while making them vote?
It's because he thinks holding the elections buys him more time, distracts the West and sends a clear message that he's staying in power for many more years. He could have postponed the elections for a year or two under the excuse of war and thus continued to be president.
He's aware that people mock the elections as a charade and that it will provoke the Western countries amid their efforts to broker peace.
A Twitter user posted this image on the social networking site with the caption: "The new presidential candidates in Syria"
A history of brutality, fake democracy
Assad is an expert at engineering elections. He's previously forged them for parliament and his party - just like his dad did. It's certain the elections will be "honest" - meaning all votes will go to him because voters will not dare vote for anyone other than him.
Assad is holding elections because he thinks holding the elections buys him more time, distracts the West and sends a clear message that he's staying in power for many more years. Abdulrahman al-Rashed
Assad is a man who killed tens of thousands without distinguishing among them or knowing their identities because they dared reject him. It's easy for such a man to kill those who don’t vote for him when he has their name and address!
Two years ago, this time, he resorted to using tricks for the parliamentary elections.In May 2012, 12,000 polling stations opened at the same time he sent his forces to launch fierce battles in north -west Syria.
He also ordered the use of invisible ink to further guarantee integrity. What's the value of integrity and secrecy when elections are imposed? It was said that 5 million out of 10 million eligible voters participated in the elections. This is impossible!
And of course, Assad's party won the same number of parliamentarian seats it previously had - minus one seat! This is the maximum level of integrity and democracy he allows.
People attend a rally to support Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. (Reuters)
Truth is, true democracy is not a problem just in Syria and Assad is not the only president preventing democracy as the entire region is a barren desert when it comes to it. The Syrians have faced this issue ever since Hafez al-Assad was president, with his brutality even worse than the practices of eastern Europe regimes.
Syria, during Hafez and Bashar's eras, has been a country of detentions and repugnant governance with a terrifying security regime. It's normal for people to revolt regardless of whether the regime claims democracy or not.
Libya, and under Muammar Qaddafi's rule, lived in a state of terror and suppression to an extent where people took up arms to confront him and took the risk of heading towards an unknown future.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on April 24, 2014.
_______________________
Abdulrahman al-Rashed is the General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel. A veteran and internationally acclaimed journalist, he is a former editor-in-chief of the London-based leading Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, where he still regularly writes a political column. He has also served as the editor of Asharq al-Awsat’s sister publication, al-Majalla. Throughout his career, Rashed has interviewed several world leaders, with his articles garnering worldwide recognition, and he has successfully led Al Arabiya to the highly regarded, thriving and influential position it is in today.
Last Update: Thursday, 24 April 2014 KSA 12:09 - GMT 09:09Vampires aren’t myth or fable; as long as they register with appropriate government agencies, they’re treated, in most ways, like anyone else. They are covered under the human rights clauses of any number of international treaties, and the US Senate is currently debating giving them full voting rights. For those vampires that can’t seem to give up the habit of killing humans…well, the “three strikes” rule has a slightly different connotation, here. Zombies, ghosts, and poltergeists exist as well. Many government and private agencies are capable of laying these lost souls to rest or raising them in the first place, if necessary. They may be called upon to clarify a will, to find out where the silver is buried, or to take a statement for use in criminal investigations.
Werewolves and other lycanthropes are still stories with which to scare the kids, but in this world, lycanthropes are the victims of a long-misunderstood disease, like AIDS in the early 80’s or leprosy in the Middle Ages. Weres try to keep to themselves; you don’t want to somehow catch lycanthropy from one and fall under their social (and sometimes legal) onus, and you certainly wouldn’t want one teaching your children. Nevertheless, werewolves (and -rats, and -leopards) are people, too, and they’re out there.
Vodoun priests, raisers of the dead (animators), necromancers, psychics and other magi are not faerie tales only fit for the credulous: you can get a degree in Preternatural Biology from many accredited universities in the US, and some schools offer theoretical and applied magical studies, as well.
Welcome to the world of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, sometimes known as the Executioner, professional animator and licensed vampire hunter. As a setting, the series lends itself well to most of the White Wolf product line, a modified Shadowrun game, a modern-day D20 campaign (especially considering the Third Edition vampire and lycanthrope templates), and any number of GURPS titles.
So, it’s not quite a world of darkness. More of a world that has quite a few dangerous nooks and crannies. The shadows are still there, dark as ever, but the average Jane knows enough about the Things That Go Bump In The Night to take a few healthy (and useful) precautions.
The Anita Blake,
Vampire Hunter series
Guilty Pleasures (1993)
The Laughing Corpse (1994)
Circus of the Damned (1995)
The Lunatic Café (1996)
Bloody Bones (1996)
The Killing Dance (1997)
Burnt Offerings (1998)
Blue Moon (1998)
Obsidian Butterfly (2000)
Narcissus in Chains (2001)
Sources
Each of the ten books in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series is a good mix of hard-boiled mystery, modern fantasy and lightly kinked sex: think Mike Hammer or Kinsey Milhone as the main character of a Charles de Lint/Anne Rice bodice-ripper; Mickey Spillane’s V is for Vampire. A word of warning to potential readers: the bulk of Hamilton’s characters are intensely sexual creatures, and this aspect of the series may put some readers off. The fact remains that Hamilton has created a world that is ripe with serious gaming possibilities.
The Marks
When a vampire wants a loyal bodyguard and day watcher, a competent servitor, and someone with which to pass the aeons, in some myths he or she would create a ghoul or similar beastie. Not here. An old vampire can actually share some of his or her essence with a human, making what is known as a human servant (as opposed to an animal servant, which we’ll look at in a bit). This transfer of essence is called a vampiric mark, and there are four stages to the process. Each of the marks adds another link between vampire and human. The human ages much more slowly, may tap into the superhuman vitality of their master, and gains increased immunity to vampiric mental powers.
The vampire does well by the exchange, of course. The first mark establishes the relationship. The second allows the vampire to perceive the sensoria of the human, and to enter the human’s dreams for communication purposes. The third allows the vampire to use the life energies of the human at a distance, as it were. The fourth and last mark is the most intimate of bonds, and with its placement a true master-and-servant pair is created.
An old vampire would also be wise to find a lycanthrope with which to share energies, and could do so by placing the four marks on a potential animal servant. However, the master/animal bond is similar to, but not the same, as the marks placed on a human: it’s not nearly so intimate. The partners will be aware of one another, but not capable of say, tasting each other’s meals, or visiting during the other’s dreams. A vampire with both human and animal servants is called a triumvirate, and is a powerful force in preternatural society.
A second vampire may cancel the first’s marks by placing marks of his or her own on the subject. The death of a vampire cancels all active marks that he’s placed.
Beautiful People and Other Dangerous Things
Anita Blake, the main character of the series, is a fascinating study in the way a character can grow and change from book to book. Guilty Pleasures, the first in the series, shows us a wisecracking, Dr. Seuss-quoting animator who is occasionally called on to knock off the odd vampire. Animators, Inc. pays the bills, but monster work comes with the territory. Anita is tough, feminine, and a lot of fun. She changes quite a bit over the course of the ten books, and not always for the better. The character is engaging, however, and it’s easy to see why the series remains popular. If one wanted to apply her in a White Wolf campaign setting, such as Vampire the Masquerade, Anita-as-NPC might have the advantages of True Faith and Iron Will. In any game, she’s small, fast, and a crack shot.
Guilty Pleasures is also the first appearance of Jean-Claude, a vampire in the St. Louis area. JC (as Hamilton fans affectionately know him) becomes quite entangled with the inimitable Ms. B in The Laughing Corpse. Jean-Claude is of the vampiric lineage known as La Belle Morte (The Beautiful Death): he’s exquisitely handsome, immeasurably seductive, and quite dangerous in his own right. Jean-Claude has the distinction of being the only other character to appear in every one of the Anita Blake books. Anita has quite a time with this undead Adonis, who has a reputation that makes Casanova look like a Jesuit priest. As an NPC, Jean-Claude is the vampire’s vampire. If he makes an appearance, he’s smarter, wittier, and sexier than anyone else in the room.
Conversely, Edward, AKA Ted Forester, is definitely not a lot of fun. A distant associate of Ms. Blake, Edward is a bounty hunter (specializing in monsters that walk on two legs) and a sociopath of the first water. Killing vampires and other preternatural monsters isn |
an Academy Award nominated writer, he made his first foray into television and built a riveting and critically acclaimed series, establishing his place in TV history. The producers, cast and crew join us in wishing Beau the best in his next creative adventure.”
There is no replacement for Willimon yet.
House Of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, has been a game changer for Netflix, putting the streaming service on the map as an original scripted series player and establishing it as an instant awards contender.
A playwright and screenwriter, Willimon made his foray into television with HOC, which he adapted from the BBC mini of the same name. Television is a grind, and a number of acclaimed creators have left their shows after four seasons, including Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) and Armando Iannucci (Veep). Both these shows continued with new showrunners. I hear the circumstances surrounding Willimon’s exit are not as clear-cut, and he is likely not leaving of his own volition. There had been rumors about issues with the series’ production that would be traced to the showrunner. Willimon, who served as an executive producer on HOC alongside David Fincher, Joshua Donen, Eric Roth, Dana Brunetti, Andrew Davies and Michael Dobbs, is expected to continue to be compensated for his work on the show.
“I’m grateful to Netflix and MRC, my fellow executive producers, our two incandescent stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, our talented writers, as well as the incredible cast and crew with whom I’ve had the privilege to work,” Willimon said in a statement. “After five years and four seasons, it’s time for me to move on to new endeavors, but I’m supremely proud of what we’ve built together, wish the show much continued success, and leave it in the hands of a very capable team.”A long-planned overhaul of Georgia's juvenile justice code got its first official nod of approval Wednesday, but backers still haven't figured out how to pay for it.
An estimated $15 million price tag is attached to the proposed Child Protection and Public Safety Act, sponsored by state Senate Judiciary Chairman Bill Hamrick (R-Carrollton), whose committee gave the bill a "do-pass" without dissent. Gov. Nathan Deal did not include that cost in the coming year's budget so, Hamrick said, supporters pushed the effective date of the bill back a year -- to July 2013 -- to buy the time to find funding for it.
"We have got to work on that with the House and the governor," Hamrick said. Some government agencies were objecting to taking on new programs that they couldn't pay for, he said, "so now it really seems to be how are we going to fund it."
The bill would modernize and reorganize state laws addressing delinquent and neglected children, giving the state new resources to deal with both groups and with a third -- unruly children, including so-called "status offenders" -- who often fall in between the two. Some status offenders -- whose only offense may be truancy, drinking alcohol or other behavior that is not criminal for an adult -- wind up in state juvenile detention facilities with violent, older offenders despite a federal prohibition.
Hamrick's bill would establish a new classification for juveniles -- Children in Need of Services, or CHINS -- to provide those unruly children with a wide range of services. CHINS kids and their parents would have access to tutoring, counseling, anger management and other mental health services.
The state Department of Human Services has agreed to coordinate those programs, which are estimated to cost $7 million a year, once the money is placed in the state budget.
A second significant cost -- funding for local district attorneys to prosecute offenses in juvenile courts -- could run up to $8 million, Hamrick said. But that's a conservative estimate, he said, and "it may be possibly a lot less than that."
The bill would also establish a mediation procedure for many conflicts now heard in juvenile courts, which could save the state money, he noted.
Hamrick is attempting to defuse money issues for a third agency, the Public Defenders Standards Council, by removing language requiring that it represent teenagers in juvenile courts across Georgia. One estimate said that duty would cost the agency $370,000 a year.
Juvenile defendants will still be entitled to a lawyer but, under the Senate bill, the cost would be borne by local jurisdictions. The House version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs), retains that mandate for the public defender council.
Hamrick's bill also drops a provision that would have required "sight and sound separation" in juvenile detention facilities between youth who have only been accused of a crime and those who have been adjudicated and committed to DJJ custody. That requirement would have required costly construction at many youth jails and prisons and, in the words of a senior DJJ official, was considered a "deal-breaker."
Wednesday's vote represented a landmark for many proponents of the bill. Kirsten Widner, lobbyist for the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University, choked up a little as she reflected on the committee's support.
"I've been working on this thing for five years," Widner said. "This is the first time it's gotten a vote.""anyone lived in a pretty how town" is a poem written by E. E. Cummings. First published in 1940, the poem details the lives of residents in a nameless town.[1] Like much of Cummings's work, the poem is actually untitled, so critics use the first line to refer to the poem. Cummings often wrote in a manner that did not follow standard English syntax and punctuation. This style is evident in the poem's first line, which is written in all lowercase letters and contains the unlikely phrase "pretty how town".
The poem was adapted into a short film of the same name by George Lucas.
Style [ edit ]
In the poem, Cummings states the lines, "spring summer autumn winter", (3) and "sun moon stars rain", (8) multiple times. In reiterating these lines he changes the order of the seasons, "autumn winter spring summer", (11) and "stars rain sun moon", (21).Washington Scrambles to Save Syria Cease-Fire Amid Escalating Violence
The United States fought on Monday to salvage a troubled Syria cease-fire pact it brokered just a week ago with Russia, as Syria’s warring parties accused one another of violating key provisions of the accord and broached the possibility of a return to the battlefield.
The U.S. effort came against a backdrop of increased violence in Syria, with Damascus, for its part, declaring the cease-fire virtually dead. The Syrian military said it planned to end the truce, citing what it claimed were 300 cease-fire violations by armed “terrorist groups,” Reuters reported. The Syrian army, according to the report, vowed to “continue fulfilling its national duties in fighting terrorism in order to bring back security and stability.”
Syrian government jets allegedly launched dozens of airstrikes in and around the city of Aleppo on Monday, including a deadly attack on a convoy of Red Crescent aid trucks, according to a Syrian monitoring group.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dismissed Syria’s rejection of the cease-fire, saying Russia had an obligation to bring its client into compliance with the deal it struck with the United States. In New York, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the United States was not prepared to give up on the cease-fire agreement and said Washington is seeking clarification from Moscow on the position of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“We are prepared to extend the cessation of hostilities while working to strengthen it and expand deliveries of assistance,” Kirby said in a statement. “We will be consulting with our Russian counterparts to continue to urge them to use their influence on Assad to these ends.”
However, a senior U.S. official conceded that the increased violence in the country, in particular, the attack on the aid trucks, “raises very serious questions” about whether the Russians can be a reliable partner for a ceasefire in the war-torn country.
“The burden is on the Russians to demonstrate quickly … they are committed to this process,” said the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
Bassma Kodmani, a senior member of the Syrian opposition’s negotiating team, said the cease-fire had “no value.”
“Assad never complied with it,” she told Foreign Policy in a telephone interview. “The humanitarian aid never reached any of the areas. This week was supposed to bring some humanitarian aid, but what happened instead was the displacement of populations.”
The breakdown in the cease-fire is the latest in a long trail of American diplomatic initiatives that have failed to stem the killing in a civil war that has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and drawn criticism that Washington has ceded a key pillar of its Middle East policy to Moscow. It also threatens to undercut what is likely to be President Barack Obama’s last-ditch effort to do some good in Syria before his term ends.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault urged the United States and Russia to salvage the cease-fire deal, calling the shaky diplomatic settlement the only hope of easing the violence around Aleppo and beyond.
“In the interest of peace, we must seize on what Kerry has built with the Russians, even though it is very fragile,” Ayrault told reporters at a breakfast at the French mission to the United Nations. Otherwise, he warned, the war will restart, and “we will enter an even worse spiral of violence.”
The latest American diplomatic push comes just days after what Washington called a tragic accident caused a major headache for its Syria policy. The U.S.-backed coalition killed 62 Syrian soldiers in an airstrike Saturday in an attack south of Deir Ezzor, blasting apart months of painstaking U.S. and Russian talks aimed at easing the humanitarian plight of besieged civilians in eastern Aleppo and coordinating the fight against Syria-based terrorist groups.
The mishap drew a sharp rebuke from Russia, which suggested the U.S. Defense Department had intentionally targeted Syrian troops in an effort to undermine a commitment by the White House and State Department to share battlefield intelligence on terrorist groups and moderate opposition forces. American officials fired back, accusing Moscow of cynically and hypocritically voicing outrage to deflect attention from Syria’s own violations of the cease-fire.
Syria’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Hussam Eddin Ala, took a different approach Monday, calling the U.S. strike “deliberate and preplanned.” Ala said the strike “aimed to pave the way for the ISIS terrorists to attack and take control” over the site, from which the Syrian troops had been fighting Islamic State attackers.
The details of the U.S.-Russian cease-fire deal have not been made public at the request of the United States. But the terms would require the warring parties, including Syria, to silence their guns for seven days and permit unimpeded access to U.N. convoys delivering badly need food and supplies to needy Syrians in eastern Aleppo. If the cease-fire were to hold for a full week, the United States and Russia would begin to coordinate military strikes against Syrian terrorist groups, including the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, which has renamed itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and is still considered affiliated with al Qaeda.
In the end, bombs have kept falling, and the humanitarian corridors have stayed largely shut.
The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that some 45 trucks from the Red Cross, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and the U.N. delivered aid to the besieged town of Talbiseh in central Homs — the first time the town has been reached by an aid convoy since July. But U.N. efforts to deliver life-saving flour and other food supplies into eastern Aleppo for the first time since July 7, when government forces stepped up attacks on opposition targets, remain stalled.
The U.N. chief emergency relief coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, issued a statement Monday expressing disappointment that a 20-truck U.N. convoy with enough food to feed 185,000 desperate people for a month has yet to even cross the Syrian border, let alone make it to Aleppo, “where up to 275,000 people remain trapped without food, water, proper shelter or medical care.”
Kodmani, the Syrian opposition negotiator, disliked the secrecy of the U.S.-Russia pact but had remained hopeful it could finally bring some relief to those who need it most.
“The Syrian opposition, both political and military, were hoping that the deal would alleviate the sieges and provide safety for civilians, hospitals, and schools. None of that happened,” she said.
After meeting with a top Saudi official, Kerry put the onus on the Russians to rein in Assad’s army. “The Russians need to control Assad,” he said, “who evidently is indiscriminately bombing, including of humanitarian convoys.”
Photo credit: Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesDuring his General Audience with pilgrims in St Peter's Square yesterday, Pope Francis reflected on his visit to Krakow for World Youth Day - where he said the young continued to be "a prophetic sign of hope for the future."
While in Poland, Pope Francis went to Auschwitz, where more than a million Jewish people were murdered during World War Two.
The Holy Father said: "The great silence of the visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau was more eloquent than any word spoken could have been. In that silence I listened: I felt the presence of all the souls who passed through that place; I felt the compassion, the mercy of God, which a few holy souls were been able to bring even into that abyss. In that great silence, I prayed for all the victims of violence and war: and there, in that place, I realised more than ever how precious is memory; not only as a record of past events, but as a warning, and a responsibility for today and tomorrow, that the seed of hatred and violence not be allowed to take root in the furrows of history."
Departing from his prepared text, Pope Francis went on to recall the countless people - men and women, young and old - who still today suffer as a result of war. "Looking upon that cruelty, in that concentration camp," he said, "I thought immediately of the cruelties of today, which are similar: not as concentrated as in that place, but everywhere in the world; this world that is sick with cruelty, pain, war, hatred, sadness; and this is why I always ask you for the prayer: that the Lord give us peace."
Pope Francis' visit to Poland also coincided with the 25th anniversary of the historic visit of Pope Saint John Paul II following the fall of the Iron Curtain.
"Poland, Europe and the world have changed greatly since then, but the young continue to be a prophetic sign of hope for the future." Describing the scene of hundreds of thousands of young people from every corner of the globe waving the flags of their respective countries, Pope Francis said that the young people formed a mosaic of fraternity and a joyful response to the challenge of the Gospel. "Poland, with its rich cultural and spiritual heritage," he continued, "today reminds us that Europe has no future apart from its founding values, centred on the Christian vision of man and including the message of mercy expressed so eloquently in the last century by Saints John Paul and Faustina Kowalska."
During the Audience Pope Francis met with a group of 65 child refugees from Syria and Eritrea. The children are staying in the small town of Castelnuovo di Porto, located 25 kilometres north of Rome. They were wearing shirts saying "Grazie Papa Francesco" [Thank you, Pope Francis], and gave the Holy Father a large teddy bear. They also held up a sign saying "Our house is where peace resides."
During his final blessing Pope Francis invoked St John Vianney - the 'Curé d'Ars whose feast day is today, 4 August. "A special greeting to the young people; the sick and infirm; and newlyweds," Pope Francis said. "Tomorrow we celebrate the memorial of St John Vianney, patron of priests, and especially parish priests."
He then asked for the saint's intercession for their special intentions. "May his great humility be an example to you, dear young people, to live life as a gift of God; may his trusting abandonment to Christ the Saviour sustain you, dear people suffering illness, in the hour of suffering; and may his Christian witness give courage to you, dear newlyweds, to profess your faith without shame."
Visit ICN's Youth page for earlier reports on WYD in Krakow: www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?NewsSectionId=17
Tags: Poland, Auschwitz, Pope Francis, World Youth Day, WYDAt the turn of the 20th century, Kerala had 69% Hindus in the state, which was divided into three separate regions. The Malabar in the north, was in the hands of the British, the small Cochin state in the centre, was under a prince and the Kingdom of Travancore bestrode the southern half like a colossus. Kerala’s population has always shown some very specific patterns.
Malabar, in the north, was originally under the influence of the Arab traders and always had a slightly higher Muslim population. At the turn of the 20th century, except for the region of Malappuram, the Muslim population in the remaining Malabar was between 10% and 30% for the most part. Malappuram was remarkable for being the only district with a Muslim population majority, mainly due to Muslim predominance in the Ernad area. This area is also the region that initiated the Moplah revolt, during Gandhi’s support to the Khilafat movement, leading to the murder, persecution and flight of thousands of Hindus. Nor was the Moplah revolt the first Jihad – it was actually the 52nd major ‘civil disturbance,’ since 1830s, as recorded by the British.
In the centre, the small state of Cochin, covering parts of Thrissur and Ernakulam, always had a high Christian population – from 1901 itself, at least. And in the south, the Kingdom of Travancore saw major changes in the rise of Christian population in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. In short, by 1901, all three regions had Hindus between 45 and 75% in total. Between 1901 and 1951, the Muslims rose by 0.25% (from 17.28% of Kerala to 17.53%), the Christians rose by 7% (from 13.8% to 20.9%) and the Hindus fell from 69% to 61%. In Malappuram district, the Muslims were the absolute majority in Kerala. In Ernakulam, no religion formed the majority. But in the remaining districts, Hindus formed >60% of the total population in 1951.
In this article, we shall focus on the changes that have occurred in the religious demography of Kerala between 1951 and 2011 and predict the future trends in population for the next 50 years. Owing to geographical proximity, we include Kanyakumari of Southern Tamil Nadu in this study, but consider its religious demography separate from the rest of Kerala. For the sake of convenience, we have amalgamated Cochin-Travancore into one region (called Travancore from now on) and have considered Malabar the other, in this article.
From 1961 onwards, when the Christian population peaked, there has been a gradual (at first) and then a sharper rise of the Muslim population in Kerala, and a gradual retreat of both the Hindus and the Christians. The region most affected by the change in population is the Malabar, where the low fertility of Hindus, combined with higher fertility and an already existing higher Muslim population has seen many districts rapidly change their demographic character. The changes in the far south, in Kanyakumari district, have been equally pronounced, due to rapid conversions to Christianity. Kanyakumari, one of the holiest places of Hinduism, is already a Hindu minority and is set to be the Christian majority soon.
In the first part of the article, we present our conclusions about the various districts (and regions) of Kerala. We predict, which districts (and regions) will become a Hindu minority by 2061. We also show that the overall population of many districts is set to change rapidly. A low Hindu fertility, conversions to Christianity (in some areas) and a higher Muslim fertility have changed the demographic character of the state. The region under consideration (=Kerala and Kanyakumari) comprises of about 35 million people, or roughly the entire population of Assam. And unlike Assam, where roughly 2 regions (of about 9 million people in total) were set to remain a clear Hindu majority, we show that none of the regions in Kerala will have any significant Hindu majority.
We employ three separate techniques (constant growth model, polynomial model and logistic model) to forecast the populations of the Hindus and present our conclusions based on all the three models. In the constant growth model, we assume that the growth rates currently found for the different communities will continue to hold over the next five decades and predict the population from those models. In the polynomial model, we try to fit quadratic polynomials, which show the least square error to the data and predict the populations and percentages of the various communities for the coming decades. In the logistic model, we try to fit a logistic curve that assumes that all populations head towards stability and attempts to fit the curve to the data points, minimising the square error.
Note that one may observe a discrepancy in the percentages predicted by the logistic models and the other two (constant growth and polynomial) models. The discrepancy arises because the logistic model assumes that the population of each group stabilises to a certain value (see figure below) and cannot account for negative population growth that has already begun in some areas of Kerala and will accentuate in the coming years. Consequently, the Hindu and Christian populations predicted by the logistic model are likely to be overestimates.
Kerala has historically comprised of four districts in the Malabar, and five districts in Travancore-Cochin. The four districts of Malabar are Kannur, which comprises of Kannur and Kasaragod; Kozhikode, which comprises of Wayanad and Kozhikode; Malappuram; and Palakkad. Together, these four districts comprise of nearly 15 million people. The five districts of Travancore-Cochin consist of Thrissur; Ernakulam, which comprises of Ernakulam, Kottayam and Idukki;
Alappuzha, which consists of Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Kollam; Thiruvananthapuram; and Kanyakumari. These five districts, together consist of a population of 20 million people.
In all our calculations, we have considered Hindus to comprise of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Animists. All the different categories other than Hindus are <1% in all the districts that we have included in our analysis. Consequently, we have included them in the Hindu category. Christians and Muslims have both been modelled separately.
Take Home Message 1
Districts Actual Hindu Populations Projected Hindu Percentages 1951 2011 Constant Growth Polynomial Logistic Kannur 71.8 58.7 48.5 45.21 54.62 Kozhikode 67.9 54.9 48.0 47.25 53.77 Malappuram 44.03 27.67 21.62 24.94 29.05 Palakkad 75.53 66.94 56.82 53.31 58.24 Thrissur 62.96 58.57 56.02 55.55 57.52 Ernakulam 47.06 47.32 43.85 47.21 47.91 Alappuzha 65.65 63.7 61.03 61.27 63.9 Thiruvananthapuram 69.88 66.97 59.06 53.49 64.31 Kanyakumari 61.13 47.92 34.46 29.66 39.07
Table 1: Percentage of Hindus in the various districts. Shown are the actual percentages in 1951, 2011 and the projected percentage in 2061 by the three different techniques
From the above table, it is clear that out of the nine districts in Kerala-South Tamil Nadu, five of them (Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Ernakulam, and Kanyakumari) will be Hindu minority and three more (Palakkad, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram) will be hovering between 50 and 60% in 2061, according to two of the three models (constant growth and polynomial). These models are more realistic than the logistic model as explained above. From a time (1951), when seven of the 9 districts were more than 60% Hindu, the Hindu population will have fallen into a state where eight of the nine districts will have a Hindu population less than 60% (in 2061).
Of the two regions, Malabar was 65.34% Hindu in 1951. The Muslim population of the region was 31.42% and the Christian population was 3.24% in 1951. In 2011, the Hindu population was 50.53%, the Muslim population was 43.64%, and the Christian population was 5.83%. The Hindu population of Malabar is set to fall to somewhere between 40% and 45% in the constant growth and the polynomial models by 2061. Malabar will, in fact, become a Hindu minority starting 2021 itself.
The actual curves that we present for each model below will show that across all the districts, the population share (1) of the Hindus will monotonically decrease in the next fifty years, and (2) of the Muslims will monotonically increase till 2061. The population shares of the Christians will decrease, except for Kanyakumari, where it will increase. Further, Malabar will gain population much faster, while the Cochin-Travancore are likely to lose population. This will contribute to a rising share of Muslim population and the fall in share of both Hindu and Christian populations in Kerala.
Take Home Message 2:
Across all the districts and in every model, the population of the Hindus will start decreasing in absolute numbers by 2061, and the population of the Muslims will keep increasing till 2061. The population of the Christians will increase in absolute numbers in some places and decrease in other places.
In the table below are given the dates from which the Hindus are expected to start decreasing in absolute numbers (not merely population share) in the various districts.
District Decade Decrease Starts Kannur 2031-2041 Kozhikode 2051-2061 Malappuram 2051-2061* Palakkad 2051-2061* Thrissur 2041-2051 Ernakulam 2031-2041 Alappuzha 2021-2031 Thiruvananathapuram 2021-2031 Kanyakumari 2031-2041
Table 2: Shows the decade in which the Hindu population will begin to decrease in absolute numbers in the districts of Kerala and South Tamil Nadu, according to the polynomial model. *Malappuram and Palakkad show their population nearly constant in the 2051-2061 decade.
Both the overall Hindu and the Christian population are set to fall in the coming years, due to extremely low fertility (Christian population in Kanyakumari is growing due to conversions, rather than any higher fertility). The Muslim fertility is not high (indeed, it is lower than the Hindu fertility rate in states like Rajasthan and UP). But the relative difference is contributing to the fall of the Hindu population share in the coming years as reported in the previous take home message. The Christians may be able to reverse the demographic trend by converting the poor and other vulnerable classes. Since, the Hindus do not proselytize in any significant measure, the Hindu population is set to decline continually and relentlessly over the coming decades.
In the maps below, `none’ represents that no group will have a majority (>50%) of the population–
Take Home Message 3:
Table 3 reveals that by 2051, the Hindu population of Kerala will have fallen below the 50% mark in both the constant growth and the polynomial models, which happen to be more accurate than the logistic model in this case.
State Actual Hindu Population Projected Hindu Percentages Kerala 1951 2011 Constant Growth Polynomial Logistic Kerala 61.61 54.93 48.02 46.71 52.94
Table 3: The table presents the population of Hindus in 1951 and 2011 and predicts the population of Hindus in 2061 by various techniques.
The Hindu and Christian populations have nearly stopped growing, as the crude death rate overtakes the crude birth rate and the ageing population is not being replaced fast enough. The Hindu and Christian fertility rates are around 1.5, well below the 2.1 fertility rates needed for a stable population. Only the Muslim fertility rate is above the replacement levels, in the 2011 census.
The major issue with both the Hindu and Christian communities of Kerala is that they both have extremely low fertility rates. This will lead to both of them losing population share, while the Muslims gain population share. In 2011 census, the 0-4 population was 46.75% Hindu, while the Muslim population was 37.32% and the Christian population was 15.93%. This trend is set to accelerate.
2021 2031 2041 2051 2061 Hindu Pop. 19114 19387 19294 18866 18102 Muslim Pop. 10291 11613 12977 14383 15830 Christian pop. 6217 6098 5826 5400 4820
Table 4: The predicted populations of Hindus, Muslims and Christians in the Polynomial models in the coming decades. The population is given in 1000s and is rounded to the nearest 1000.
From the above table, it should be clear that the Christian population will peak in 2021 and the Hindu population in 2031. From then, both will start decreasing, while only the Muslim population will be increasing.
Statistical predictions for religious demography – details:
Districts
Constant Growth Model:
In the constant growth model, we have assumed that the average growth of the different communities over the last 2 decades will hold in future and predicted future populations based on this hypothesis.
It is clear that in the constant growth model, the Hindus are going to be a minority in five of the nine districts, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Ernakulam and Kanyakumari. They will constitute a majority only in four districts, namely, Palakkad, Thrissur, Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram. Muslims will be the majority in Malappuram. Christians will be the majority in Kanyakumari. Three districts, Kannur, Kozhikode and Ernakulam will have no one in the majority, but Hindus will constitute the plurality (largest share, but less than 50%).
Polynomial Growth model:
In the polynomial model, we fit a second degree polynomial to the population data points and predict the future populations based on this curve.
In the polynomial model, it is clear that the Hindus and Christians will start declining not only in the percentages, but also in absolute numbers in almost all the districts. Hindus will be a majority in only four of the nine districts, namely, Palakkad, Thrissur, Alappuzha, and Thiruvananthapuram. In three of these four districts (Palakkad, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram), Hindus will be barely above the 50% mark.
It is only in Alappuzha that Hindus will have a clear majority of greater than 60%. Muslims will be the majority in two districts, Kannur and Malappuram, and Christians will have a majority in Kanyakumari. Ernakulam and Kozhikode will have no one in the majority, but Kozhikode will also have a Muslim plurality. The decimation of Hindus in Malabar is clear in this model. Hindus will have declined from 65% in 1951, to ~40% in 2061.
Logistic model:
The logistic model assumes that all populations will stabilise in the long run and predicts future populations based on this assumption.
The results suggest that as per this model the majority, minority pattern that existed in 2011 will hold in 2061 too, i.e., if Hindus were in majority in a district in 2011 they would continue to be so in 2061. The model assumes that the Hindu and Christian populations will become stable and not decline unlike what the fertility rates show. Thus, this model may be seen as the lower bound on the populations of the various communities. It is the most optimistic case for the Hindu and the Christian populations and the most pessimistic case for the Muslim population.
The entire state of Kerala:
We have modelled the populations of the entire state using the three different models separately. As may be seen, the Hindu population will be between 45% and 53%, the Muslim population will be between 30% and 41% and the Christian population will be between 12% and 17%. Every model shows the Hindu and Christian population shares declining and the Muslim population increasing.
Remark:
In the case of Kanyakumari, it is quite possible that the proportion of the Christians will hit a ceiling as the total number of possible converts hits a maximum. The bulk of the converts are the Dalits, the fisher folk and the Nadars – all of them are socially and economically backward. Together, the Dalits, Nadars, and the fishermen number about 12-13 lakh (65-70% of the total population) and it is this population that has been vulnerable to conversions. Many, if not most, of these have been converted. The upper castes and the economically strong, and socially forward Nairs, and Velallars, and the OBC Ezhavas and Vishwakarmas (other prominent castes of the region), who together number about 6-7 lakhs, are mostly invulnerable to conversions. Assuming that about 80-90% of the vulnerable convert and that the fertility rates of the different castes are similar, the levels predicted by the various prediction techniques may be an overestimate in this case and the total number of conversions may peak around 55% as opposed to the 61% and 66% predicted by the constant growth and the polynomial models, respectively.
In Kerala, the conversions peaked by 1950, and after that, there have been far fewer conversions. Further, the various socio-political organisations that have evolved in Kerala to espouse the interests of the economically and socially backward, have prevented further mass conversions to Christianity, as happened in Kanyakumari. In Kanyakumari, however, a combination of local politics and an economically and socially backward population, have contributed to the growth of a large Christian population. Further, it is important to remark here that Kanyakumari is the only district in this region, where conversions are still causing major demographic shifts. Between 1991 and 2001, Hindus lost nearly 4% of the population to Christianity and almost all of these were due to conversions.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we can say that Kerala and South Tamil Nadu are set to become Hindu minority in the next 50 years. The various models vary on the extent to which the change will occur, but all concur that Hindus are set to become the minority. The lower fertility rate of the Hindus and Christians will see their percentage shares and absolute numbers decline.
Acknowledgement:
The authors are deeply grateful to Indian2019, for his detailed caste-wise breakup of the Kanyakumari district.
References:
All the statistics are taken from the respective census and [1].
[1] – AP Joshi, MD Srinivas and JK Bajaj, “Religious Demography of India”, Centre for Policy Studies, Chennai.
Disclaimer: The facts and opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. IndiaFacts does not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article.A year and half after the horrific Dadri incident, Hindu vigilantes continue to "cry beef" and hunt for Mohammad Akhlaqs.
The manager of a Jaipur hotel faced a similar hungry mob on Sunday night (March 19) that stormed the place over rumours of serving beef.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the owner of Hotel Hayat Rabbani, Naeem Rabbani, has alleged that after taking his manager into custody, police brought him back among the cow vigilantes “to calm them down”. He was also slapped around and manhandled in police presence.
Rabbani, who held a press conference with his staff a day later, said: “A repeat of Dadri had been averted."
Much to the chagrin of the mob, the meat "appeared to be chicken legs". Nevertheless, the seized meat was sent to the forensic laboratory for "testing to placate tempers", according to police.
At the press conference, Rabbani vehemently denied of ever serving beef. The hotel, he said, had prepared special chicken for their nine staff members, and it was this that the crowd had mistaken for beef.
It's a sad testimony to the times we are in that our law enforcing agencies ran after the piece of meat, instead of identifying the culprits who incited the communal mob, to authenticate its variety.
In Rajasthan, like many other states in India, killing of cows, bulls and bullocks as well as possession and transportation of their flesh is banned. The BJP government in the state has also set up a cow department for the welfare of the animal.
Picture for representational purpose only.
After what happened in Bishahra village in Dadri on September 28, 2015 — when Mohammad Akhlaq was beaten to death by a hungry mob over suspicion of storing beef at his house — many saner voices questioned the absurdity of sending a piece of meat for forensic testing. What kind of a country do we live in where the chunk of meat became the actual "cause" of Akhlaq's death and not the ones who mercilessly killed him?
Those questions were never answered by the "authorities concerned" because they didn't have any answer. The actual motive behind Akhlaq's killing was always out in the open. It was never about whether the meat |
k thats relle kool i sent this on april 28th 2005 ur goin out wit sebastian sanchez rite now nd you love him alot!!!lol ur bffs are alli flinn and jillian brumley nd im 13 now im sendn this on ur b-day happy b-day to myself becuz i didnt kno wen else to send it i hope ur all big nd stuff nd kool i think ur 19 now god i hope ur engadge nd lyk famous nd stuff lmao this is kool this is lil me tlkn 2 big me me nd sebastian have been goin out 4 7 months now...i hope nuttin bad happened to u or ne thing cuz ya nd i hope ya got lots nd lots of clothes i still lyk britney spears nd i g2 lyons creek middle nd mr kawesch is so0o0o gay i hope ur famous so u say on tv that u hate him nd carlos too for doin all that meen stuff to ui dun think all repeat...ur feelin grrreat now nd u will probly freak wen u read this a billion years from now.. kk well love ya ur so beutiful hope ur healthy xoxoxoxo love;
urself
Sent 6 years to the future, from April 28th, 2005 to over 7 years agoOne stereotype of gay men is that they are all fit, well dressed, good looking, and rich. Of course this isn’t true of all gay men, but the stereotype does emerge from the many gay men that seem to put inordinate effort into making themselves perfect in every achievable way—spending a lot of time at the gym, at work, or striving for the best grades in school. I have often wondered what drives these ambitions and what are the psychological costs of striving for perfection? Two of my colleagues recently published a paper exploring these questions and I asked them to write a guest blog explaining their study. What follows is a guest blog by Dr. John Pachankis of Yeshiva University and Dr. Mark Hatzenbuehler of Columbia University.
Recent research reveals why the phrase "the best little boy in the world" aptly describes so many young gay and bisexual men. The phrase derives from the eponymous novel published in 1973 by Andrew Tobias, a classic coming out narrative, in which the author recounts his efforts to overcompensate for and evade detection of his nascent by excelling at seemingly everything. Since the publication of Tobias' memoir, numerous gay authors, therapists, and public figures have harnessed the "best little boy in the world" theme to describe their own formative experiences of presenting an infallible facade to guard the personal secret of their sexual orientation.
For example, former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevy in his memoir, The Confession, writes about how the hostilities of his forced him to conceal his sexual orientation and avidly seek status and achievement instead of same- love. He writes, "I think I decided that my ambition would give me more pleasure...than true love." Author Paul Monette in his autobiographic account, Becoming a Man, describes submerging his gay through excelling at school work. Journalist Andrew Sullivan in his cultural commentary, Love Undetectable, similarly describes "appeasing my by perfecting every nook and cranny of my academic requirements." All describe their personal striving to be "the best" in order to cope with their perception of the identity-tarnishing stigma of being gay. The evidence for this phenomenon extends to clinical accounts of gay male development as well. Psychiatrist Richard Isay writes in Becoming Gay that young gay men are forced to become reliant on their own internal resources because approval from others is not guaranteed. Clinical psychologist Alan Downs poignantly discusses the phenomenon of gay men going to great lengths to present an infallible facade to mask their secrets in his clinical account, The Velvet. For example, he notes, "We survived by to to the expectations of others… How would we love ourselves when everything around us told us that we were unlovable? Instead, we chased the affection, approval, and doled out by others." Finally, in the Best Little Boy in the World, Andrew Tobias notes his early tendency to stave off rejection of his sexual orientation through his academic accomplishments, "Another important line of defense, the most important on a practical day-to-day basis, was my prodigious list of activities…No one could expect me to be out …when I had a list of 17 urgent projects to complete."
As clinical psychologists and public researchers, we too noticed that "the best little boy in the world" phenomenon seemed to elegantly explain the strategies used by so many young gay men whom we encounter in our personal and professional lives. Given all the theorizing, story-telling, and personal observations documenting this phenomenon, we were surprised that no one had ever empirically studied the supposed tendency of young gay men to cope with the early, isolating awareness of their sexual orientation by striving to be "the best" and the potential psychological costs of this striving. We therefore set out to empirically document "the best little boy in the world" phenomenon.
We wondered whether, consistent with "the best little boy in the world" narrative, young gay men would be particularly likely to invest their self-worth in those life domains in which they are particularly likely to succeed despite being stigmatized. For example, since young gay men cannot be assured of family support, peer approval, or God's love as long as they hide their sexual orientation from everyone, it may be for them not to invest their self-worth in those life domains. Success in these domains cannot be controlled and guaranteed when one is gay, unlike success in academics, good looks, and being the best at competitive tasks, which are relatively more controllable and guaranteed, with at least some effort. In fact, being good in academics, looking dapper, and attaining status may be one way to stave off detection of one's sexual orientation or to compensate for any rejection if a young gay man's sexual orientation gets discovered.
Rather than suggesting that gay men possess some innate tendency to be the best dressed and most accomplished, we proposed that these tendencies would be products of the social environment in which gay men are raised. Even today, some early environments are so unwelcoming for gays and lesbians that adolescents who recognize that they have romantic or sexual feelings toward members of the same sex and who live in homophobic places may conceal their sexual orientation from everyone--, teachers, --for many years. Growing up in unwelcoming places and hiding an essential part of oneself for an extended period of time is bound to come at a cost. We proposed that this cost is having to invest one's self-worth in life domains that can be controlled and guaranteed, at least more so than family support, peer approval, or God's love. We also proposed a further cost, namely that the greater the degree to which young gay men invest in these achievement-related domains, the greater the lengths they would go to assure success in them, even if in unhealthy ways, such as isolating oneself, eating too much or too little, or and getting into arguments with others.
To test "the best little boy in the world" theory, we asked 136 gay and 56 straight college students to indicate the degree to which they invested their self-worth in seven different life domains. We asked the gay participants to indicate the age at which they first became aware that they were gay and the age at which they first told another person that they were gay, so that we could determine the length of time that each gay participant was completely closeted. We also asked gay participants to indicate the state in which they attended high school so that we could calculate the degree of non-acceptance of lesbian and gay people in those states at the time that participants were initially forming a gay identity. We then followed participants every day for nine consecutive days by asking them to indicate the degree to which they engaged in unhealthy habits each day, such as being socially isolated, eating too much or too little, lying to others, and getting into arguments.
Our research showed that young gay men strategically invest their self-worth in those areas in which they can succeed, namely academics, appearance, and, more so than straight men. Essentially, it seems as if young gay men go to great lengths to prove their worth to others in those domains. This is particularly likely for those who concealed their sexual orientation for long periods of time when growing up and for those who grew up in more stigmatizing states. Our results also showed that being "the best little boy in the world" comes at a cost, as young gay men who invested in these status-related domains were more likely to spend more time alone, to report more daily eating problems, getting into arguments and lying to others, and to feel more stress each day.
Our research may help solve the puzzle of why several large studies have shown that, on average, gay men's is not any lower than straight men's self-esteem, despite facing greater adversity. Our findings uncover the strategies that young gay men might use to protect their self-esteem against threat. Similar to African American college students who are particularly likely, for example, to base their self-esteem in God's love and thereby protect their self-esteem, the young gay men in our study were particularly likely to base their self-esteem in status-related domains. Importantly, like the authors of "best little boy in the world" narratives, the participants in our study were mostly white, middle class, college-educated men. The extent to which possessing multiple stigmatized identities might shape self-worth remains to be seen, as does the extent to which this or a similar phenomenon applies to women.
Our research also reveals some important lessons for young gay men's health and well-being. The results of our research suggest that gay men take careful stock of the extent to which their self-worth derives from seeking status from domains like being the best, looking the best, or earning high grades or lots of money. If gay men do recognize that their self-worth comes from those domains, they might consider the health costs of doing so. Do they experience trouble in with others, such as frequent arguing or spending lots of time alone? Will they compromise personal values to attain status? Are they chronically or engaging in unhealthy habits, like going to the gym to an unhealthy degree or restricting their food intake? If gay men answer "yes" to any of these questions, it will first be important to recognize that these difficulties are not personal failings and may have their source in stigma and the early lessons learned from growing up in a stigmatizing world. with a compassionate, gay-affirmative therapist can help gay men understand the legacy of experiencing early stressors like hiding one's sexual orientation during or growing up in homophobic environments. For many gay men, the negative effects of these early experiences may not be obvious at first, but can nonetheless be successfully addressed with supportive help from friends or professionals.
In conclusion, our recent research reveals the ways in which many young gay men display impressive in the face of challenges inherent to managing a stigmatizing, personal secret in isolation from an early age. Rather than being passive victims of stigma, young gay men show ingenious ways to preserve their self-esteem despite threats to it. Seeking self-esteem through being "the best" represents a creative adaptation to stigma, albeit one that may eventually come at a personal cost, especially if the strategy has outlived its original usefulness.
Reference:
Pachankis, J. E., & Hatzenbuehler, M. L. (2013). The social development of contingent self-worth among sexual minority young men: An empirical test of the "Best Little Boy in the World" hypothesis. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 35, 176-190.
About the Contributing Bloggers.
is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Yeshiva University. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2008 and completed his clinical psychology internship at Harvard Medical School / McLean Hospital. His research seeks to identify the ways in which stigma leads to poor mental health outcomes within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and (LGBT) populations and to develop and disseminate effective health interventions to improve the health of the LGBT community. His research is currently funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse and has received several awards from the American Psychological Association. In addition to his academic training and research experience, throughout his John has been actively involved in the development and delivery of health initiatives within LGBT community-based settings. In summer 2013, John will join the faculty of the Social and Behavioral Sciences division of the Yale School of Public Health where he will continue his research on LGBT health interventions.
is Assistant Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University. He completed his doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Yale University and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at Columbia. Dr. Hatzenbuehler's research examines how structural forms of stigma increase risk for adverse health outcomes among members of socially disadvantaged populations, with a particular focus on lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. His research has been published in several leading journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, Psychological Bulletin, and Pediatrics. Dr. Hatzenbuehler's research has received multiple awards from the American Public Health Association and the American Psychological Association, has been widely covered in the, including television, radio, and print interviews, and has been cited in court cases on sexual orientation-related. Dr. Hatzenbuehler is currently being funded on a K01 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study social determinants of substance use and other health outcomes among sexual minority youth.
About the Sexual Continuum Blog
Dr. Mustanski is the Director of the IMPACT LGBT Health and Development Program at Northwestern University. You can follow the Sexual Continuum blog by becoming a fan on Facebook. He periodically live tweets from research conferences on sexuality and you can follow him @sexualcontinuum.
Photo Credit
Title: Boy! I sure did a good day's work today!
Creator: Office for Emergency. War Production Board. (01/1942 - 11/03/1945)
Source: U.S. National Archives and Records AdministrationNewcastle United are close to completing the £5m transfer of Davide Santon from Internazionale. The attacking left-back seems poised to replace José Enrique, who joined Liverpool earlier this month.
Santon also interests Roma but his agent indicated they were the 20-year-old Italy international's second choice. "At this time there is no possibility Santon can join Roma because the aim is Newcastle," Claudio Vigorelli said.
Alan Pardew, Newcastle's manager, had believed the club were on the point of signing Erik Pieters from PSV Eindhoven last week but the £7m deal for the Holland international hit a snag as did another move for Lyon's Aly Cissokho. Newcastle officials spent some time in France at the weekend, negotiating to sign Cissokho before leaving empty-handed.
Although Pardew would like to recruit a midfielder to replace Joey Barton, who has joined QPR, his priorities are securing a left-back and an extra striker.
"It's very important we get at least two players in this week," said Pardew, who has seen his board's determination to play hardball in transfer talks scupper certain deals.
The Sochaux striker Modibo Maiga remains among Pardew's attacking targets with a £7m deal still a possibility but other options are being explored. These include trying to lure Nicklas Bendtner, who also interests Sunderland, from Arsenal but the Danish forward's wages could prove a stumbling block.
Petr Bolek, a Czech goalkeeper, has arrived at St James' Park on trial with a view to a season-long loan from Slovakia's FK Senica as cover for Tim Krul and Steve Harper.Slowdive have posted a mysterious new video on their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The 22-second clip features a white line on a black screen that slowly forms a box; there is no audio. Watch it below. Pitchfork has reached out to Slowdive’s representatives for more information.
Slowdive’s last album, Pygmalion, arrived in 1995. In 2014, they reunited for a world tour (that included an appearance at Pitchfork Music Festival). A year later, they put out a new recording of “Avalyn,” performed on the 2014 tour. Upon releasing the track, the band said they were working on a live album. Recently, they wrote on Facebook, “Happy New Year from all of us.. It’s going to be busy,” and shared an article that named a Slowdive record as one to anticipate in 2017.
See where Slowdive placed on Pitchfork’s “The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time.”
Watch Slowdive perform “When the Sun Hits” at Pitchfork Music Festival 2014:Members of the Black Lives Matter Toronto group briefly halted the Pride parade today, holding up the marching for about 30 minutes.
Members of Black Lives Matter Toronto, who were part of the parade as honoured guests, held up the marching for about 30 minutes. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)
The parade didn't re-start until after Pride Toronto executive director Mathieu Chantelois signed a document agreeing to the group's demands.
The organization was given the status of Honoured Group for the parade, which is the grand finale of Pride Month. It did not give Pride Toronto advance notice of their planned sit-in.
I know that we just won. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blackpride?src=hash">#blackpride</a> <a href="https://t.co/gMpY40xJJw">pic.twitter.com/gMpY40xJJw</a> —@BLM_TO
Alexandra Williams, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, told CBC's Natasha Fatah that they held the sit-in because they wanted to hold Pride Toronto accountable for what she called "anti-blackness."
Williams defended the group's actions.
Mathieu Chantelois, Pride Toronto's executive director, signed a list of demands from the Black Lives Matter Toronto movement as they staged a sit-in at the parade. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)
"It's always the appropriate time to make sure folks know about the marginalization of black people, of black queer youth, black trans youth, of black trans people," she said.
One of the demands that Pride Toronto agreed to was that there will not be any police floats at next year's parade. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)
"We are not taking any space away from any folks. When we talk about homophobia, transphobia, we go through that too... It should be a cohesive unit, not one against the other. Anti-blackness needs to be addressed and they can be addressed at the same time, in the same spaces," she said.
"We didn't bully our way into Pride... we made space for ourselves in a place where we have been erased," Williams added.
In a news release, the group said Pride Toronto "has shown little honour to black queer/trans communities, and other marginalized communities. Over the years, Pride has threatened the existence of black spaces at Pride that have existed for years."
The group released a list of demands, including a commitment to increase representation among Pride Toronto staff, and to prioritize the hiring of black transgender women and indigenous people.
Shut it down. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/blackpride?src=hash">#blackpride</a> <a href="https://t.co/YNbHcsOSTm">pic.twitter.com/YNbHcsOSTm</a> —@BLM_TO
Some of the other demands Chantelois agreed to are that the parade will no longer have police floats, and the organization will hold a public town hall with groups such as Black Lives Matter Toronto within six months.
Pride Toronto, in response to the sit-in, said it welcomes the opportunity to "continue the conversation" with Black Lives Matter Toronto.
"During the parade, BLM-TO started a conversation with us to explore how we can create an even more inclusive and safe festival. We, like BLM-TO have a commitment to ensure our most marginalized communities feel safe and welcome at the festival."
Moment of silence for Orlando
The parade began at 2 p.m. at Bloor and Church streets. There was a pause at 3 p.m. in memory of the 49 Orlando victims.
Watch as crowd/marchers honk and cheer just before the moment of silence at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TorontoPride?src=hash">#TorontoPride</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OrlandoShooting?src=hash">#OrlandoShooting</a> <a href="https://t.co/Gmi5qWj6XY">pic.twitter.com/Gmi5qWj6XY</a> —@chrisgloverCBC
One of the parade's marshals, Salah Bachir, said today's parade has a political aspect to it in the wake of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shootings.
Spectators watch a float honouring 49 victims of a shooting last month at Pulse nightclub in Orlando at the annual Pride parade in Toronto on Sunday. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)
The people walking alongside his float held signs for the victims.
Rob Roxy poses for photos before the parade. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)
"I'm Arab. I'm gay," he told CBC News. "You know, I think it is just a celebration. There's so much [that's] non-stereotypical happening in the world. Sometimes people look at Islam as jihadist and paint all Arab people with it, and I wanted to show something a little different."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waves a flag as he takes part in the parade, marking the first time that a sitting prime minister has participated in the event. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
He said his float is dedicated to Arab rights in the Middle East.
Many of the participants in the parade are honouring the victims of the Orlando shooting. (Isabelle Gobeil/CBC)
Revellers pose for a photos with police officers at the annual parade. (Mark Blinch/Canadian Press)NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s tech geeks stood a little taller this weekend when Google chief Eric Schmidt promised that technology would transform their country.
The emerging market of 240 million has the world’s second largest Facebook community, its third largest Twitter base and around 40 million internet users, thanks to the rise of internet-enabled mobile phones.
“This is going to be an Asian future,” Schmidt told hundreds of Indonesian entrepreneurs and Google groupies at a summit here in Bali.
Indonesia's large number of youths (30 percent of the population is between 15 and 24), and its growing middle class, with per capita income having risen to $3,000 a year, make it a fertile ground for entrepreneurship.
Couple that with the internet age, says Schmidt, and you have the makings of a very powerful regional player. “You’re going to have an internet explosion, and that explosion will change the country,” he said.
This internet explosion won't come without its challenges — infrastructure at the top of the list — but most argue the benefits outweigh the negatives.
Indonesia’s incredible sprawl — it spans the distance of the United States — its cumbersome bureaucracy and wide income disparity pose some of the greatest obstacles.
Most Indonesians access the internet through their phones or cafes because they can't afford PCs at home. This means that, despite rapidly rising connectivity Indonesia still has the lowest internet penetration rate in Southeast Asia at 18 percent.
(GlobalPost in Jakarta: Is Indonesia the next Silicon Valley?)
Forty million people having access to the internet is no small number, but it is so large mainly because Indonesia has a big population and not because levels of connectivity are high.
Growing that access creates an incredible business opportunity, notes Schmidt.
Last year Google generated $64 billion for U.S. businesses, he said. “That’s an ad for Google, but it gives you an example of the scale that can be achieved by building your businesses on top of the internet.”
The economic returns provided by the web are certainly a positive. But some analysts say increased internet access can also lead to abuse.
Many activists use new media to express their opinions and distribute news reports, but radical groups are also using it to translate propaganda and spread their extremist messages online.
“The internet can be used for a lot of things, good or bad. It can be used by peaceful activists or radical Islamists,” said Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian researcher with Human Rights Watch.
At the same time, people in Japan used the web to find lost relatives and organize aid after the earthquake and tsunami in March.
In Indonesia activists have used Facebook to rally against corruption and draw support to various causes. Last year thousands of people joined an online movement to pay the $33,000 fine slapped on Pritya Mulyasari, a housewife charged with defamation for sending an email to friends criticizing her treatment at a local hospital.
Groups such as these demonstrate the internet’s ability to mobilize people scattered across Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, say human rights activists.
(GlobalPost in Bali: Resort island's riches expose wealth gap)
In early July hundreds of workers went on strike at Freeport McMoRan’s Grasberg mine in Papua, one of the world’s largest gold and copper reserves. Many said they had learned through the internet how low their wages were compared to those at Freeport’s other operations and they were appalled.
“Without the internet they cannot learn about the imbalance,” said Harsono, who frequently receives news of abuses through his online community. On July 22, for instance, he learned that two activists in southern Papua had been arrested when one of his contacts posted an update on Facebook.
Some say better access to information could deter foreign investors who aren't looking to deal with strikes and higher wage demands, particularly since Indonesia’s low wages are one of the reasons it has become an attractive manufacturing base relative to China.
Gita Wirjawan, chairman of Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board, says the government understands those challenges and has the ability to deal with them. “Take a look at the macro-picture, take a look at the numbers. It’s sexy,” he said.
Indeed, Southeast Asia’s largest economy is drawing the eyes of investors eager to get at its large consumer base and natural resource wealth — particularly with rising prices for coal, rubber and palm oil promising high returns.
(GlobalPost in Banda Aceh: Indonesian punks fight the law)
Rapid growth coupled with a flourishing civil society and free media also create a conducive environment for online startups.
Rama Mamuaya, the founder of Indonesian tech-blog DailySocial.net, estimates that there are more than 700 tech startups and a new one launches every week.
But with explosive growth come new worries. Mamuaya fears a tech bubble will arise from the large number of domestic investors willing to throw money at startups.
Google Chief Eric Schmidt speaks at the Regional Entrepreneurship Summit in Nusa Dua on Bali island on July 22, 2011. (Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP/Getty Images)
“It only takes maybe $100,000 to build a company, and these people are offering from $1 million to $10 million for a company that’s less than a year old,” he says. “It’s too much money too early.”
Investments of millions when companies haven't started generating any revenue are driving people to start even more start ups, which Rama fears could create a bubble like the one in Silicon Valley. Rather than wait to make sure the market can absorb them, more and more youths are trying to get into the tech startup scene while it’s hot.
But many Indonesians say it’s about time the international community paid them some attention. And Schmidt’s visit gave them room for more optimism.
Vice President Boediono's spokesman Yopie Hidayat told Dow Jones that the company plans to open an office in Indonesia before 2012 as part of a strategic step to support its advertising business.
On Friday, Schmidt said Indonesia’s 50 million small businesses should have some ability to sell and market their products online. “When that happens their product goes from a very small market to competing in the world, all because of the internet.”
The web also gives entrepreneurs tools they can use to grow their businesses. Motorcycle taxi company Go-Jek, a new startup, and the winner of an entrepreneurship competition held in the run-up to the regional entrepreneurship summit, relies on mapping software to track its drivers and calculate travel costs based on distance.
Schmidt called the company a “classic example” of one that uses the internet to build a service on what has been an informal transportation system.
“Once upon a time technology tended to spread from elite to elite, and huge generations of able people were discriminated against,” said Schmidt. “In this age of the internet, technology is accessible, it’s inclusive, and it’s available to you.”
Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect the fact that Eric Schmidt is the chief executive at Google, and not the web giant's founder."The Old Man Down the Road" is a song by American rock artist John Fogerty. It was released in December 1984 as the lead single from Fogerty's comeback album, Centerfield. It became a top 10 hit single, peaking at number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and spending three weeks at the number-one spot on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart.[2]
Music video [ edit ]
The video for the song features what appears to be, through a little trickery, an extended single camera sequence that follows an electric guitar cord through various scenes. Fogerty appears briefly throughout the video, both as himself and at least one other character (i.e. the character at the very beginning of the video).
Charts [ edit ]
Lawsuit [ edit ]
Saul Zaentz, owner of Fantasy Records claimed that "The Old Man Down The Road" shared the same chorus as "Run Through the Jungle", a song from Fogerty's days with Creedence Clearwater Revival years before. (Fogerty had relinquished copyrights and publishing rights of his Creedence songs to Zaentz and Fantasy, in exchange for release from his contractual obligations to them.) Zaentz sued (Fantasy, Inc. v. Fogerty) but the defendant Fogerty ultimately prevailed when he showed that the two songs were whole, separate and distinct compositions. Bringing his guitar to the witness stand, he played excerpts from both songs, demonstrating that many songwriters (himself included) have distinctive styles that can make different compositions sound similar to less discerning ears.[10]
After prevailing as defendant, Fogerty sued Zaentz for the cost of defending himself against the copyright infringement. In such (copyright) cases, prevailing defendants seeking recompense were bound to show that original suit was frivolous or made in bad faith. This case, Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc., became precedent when the U.S. Supreme Court (1993) overturned lower court rulings and awarded attorneys' fees to Fogerty, without Fogerty having to show that Zaentz's original suit was frivolous.
See also [ edit ]PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT Mahmoud Abbas has said he is ready to resume peace talks with Israel as soon as all settlement activity is frozen.
Mr Abbas was speaking after meeting Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to discuss a US plan for a Palestinian state by 2012.
According to the Cairo daily Al-Ahram, the US proposes negotiations restart as soon as possible. The should begin with the border between Israel and Palestine, with the aim of reaching agreement before the end of Israel’s restri- ctions on settlement construction in the West Bank.
The status of occupied East Jerusalem, demanded by Palestinians as the capital of their future state, and the fate of five million Palestinian refugees would be discussed in subsequent negotiations.
Washington would guarantee the two-year deadline for the creation of a Palestinian state would be met. Moreover, Israel would retain significant settlement blocs in exchange for the transfer of territory to Palestine.
Washington has, apparently, pledged to back Egypt’s call on Israel to halt all settlement activity in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The US has also backed the call for the release of high-profile Palestinian prisoners and trans- fer of West Bank land to Palestinian control as confidence-building measures.
The Abbas-Mubarak meeting follows a summit between the Egyptian leader and Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu during which Mr Netanyahu agreed to discuss all issues in final status talks and accepted the two-year time frame. He had previously said he would not speak about refugees or East Jerusalem.
On Sunday, Mr Abbas met Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. Mr Suleiman is the official in charge of reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah.
This encounter coincided with a meeting in Riyadh between Saudi foreign minister Saud al Faisal, and Khalid Mish’al, head of Hamas’s politburo, after which he announced that a deal was in “final stages”.
This would place Gaza under a commission headed by Mr Abbas until presidential and parliamentary elections are held in June.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been trying to end the Hamas-Fatah rift since Hamas won the 2006 legislative election. Palestinian unity is seen as essential for progress in talks with Israel.
Fatah signed the Egyptian reconciliation plan but Hamas, which accepted the deal before Fatah, has not signed.
Mr Abbas urged Hamas to send a delegation to Cairo and sign.Phil0s0pher Profile Joined October 2012 Australia 317 Posts #1
Not sure if this is the exact place to put this. Hopefully an admin would be so kind as to move it to its correct place if its not.
I recently did a radio interview for Melbourne radio station TripleR on E-sports, mostly talking about Starcraft but some other things. I want you guys to hear it. Its not a particularly in-depth discussion due to the audience and the presenters of the show, but I thought it was cool anyway that this show had taken an interest in e-sports.
You can listen to it
The actual interview begins at 34mins and goes to around the 50min mark.
Hope you guys enjoy!
Hey Guys!Not sure if this is the exact place to put this. Hopefully an admin would be so kind as to move it to its correct place if its not.I recently did a radio interview for Melbourne radio station TripleR on E-sports, mostly talking about Starcraft but some other things. I want you guys to hear it. Its not a particularly in-depth discussion due to the audience and the presenters of the show, but I thought it was cool anyway that this show had taken an interest in e-sports.You can listen to it here The actual interview begins at 34mins and goes to around the 50min mark.Hope you guys enjoy! Sometimes I remember that there will be a day where herO and Maru retire. And I get sad
Kevin_Sorbo Profile Joined November 2011 Canada 3175 Posts #2 Cool interview.
Funny to hear about Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys on Australian radio!!
gg bro! The mind is like a parachute, it doesnt work unless its open. - Zappa
MCXD Profile Blog Joined February 2012 Australia 2732 Posts Last Edited: 2013-01-18 02:29:02 #3 On January 18 2013 11:24 Kevin_Sorbo wrote:
Cool interview.
Funny to hear about Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys on Australian radio!!
gg bro!
I haven't listened to the interview yet so I might have the context wrong, but if 'the cowboys' are mentioned in Australia, it's generally the I haven't listened to the interview yet so I might have the context wrong, but if 'the cowboys' are mentioned in Australia, it's generally the North Queensland Cowboys
Kevin_Sorbo Profile Joined November 2011 Canada 3175 Posts #4 On January 18 2013 11:27 MCXD wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 18 2013 11:24 Kevin_Sorbo wrote:
Cool interview.
Funny to hear about Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys on Australian radio!!
gg bro!
I haven't listened to the interview yet so I might have the context wrong, but if 'the cowboys' are mentioned in Australia, it's generally the I haven't listened to the interview yet so I might have the context wrong, but if 'the cowboys' are mentioned in Australia, it's generally the North Queensland Cowboys
Is the owner also named Jerry Jones? Is the owner also named Jerry Jones? The mind is like a parachute, it doesnt work unless its open. - Zappa
MCXD Profile Blog Joined February 2012 Australia 2732 Posts #5 On January 18 2013 11:29 Kevin_Sorbo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 18 2013 11:27 MCXD wrote:
On January 18 2013 11:24 Kevin_Sorbo wrote:
Cool interview.
Funny to hear about Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys on Australian radio!!
gg bro!
I haven't listened to the interview yet so I might have the context wrong, but if 'the cowboys' are mentioned in Australia, it's generally the I haven't listened to the interview yet so I might have the context wrong, but if 'the cowboys' are mentioned in Australia, it's generally the North Queensland Cowboys
Is the owner also named Jerry Jones? Is the owner also named Jerry Jones?
Nope, so I guess not. That is quite amusing then. Nope, so I guess not. That is quite amusing then.
Kevin_Sorbo Profile Joined November 2011 Canada 3175 Posts #6 indeed lol The mind is like a parachute, it doesnt work unless its open. - Zappa
deth Profile Blog Joined August 2009 Australia 1754 Posts #7 nice, we need all the esports publicity we can get in australia right now.
Gj
Nerski Profile Blog Joined November 2010 United States 1093 Posts #8 Cool deal, it's one of the few places I hadn't really seen much of anything posted in regards to anything esports.
For whatever reason the post reminded me of eve-radio for anyone who played that game....sorry tad off topic >< Twitter: @GoForNerski /// Youtube: Youtube.com/nerskisc
a9arnn Profile Blog Joined July 2009 United States 1532 Posts #9 Cool interview! Really nice to hear about others taking interest in eSports :D! VOD finder guy for sc2ratings.com/! aka: ogndrahcir, a9azn2 | Go ZerO, Stork, Sea, and KawaiiRice :D | nesc2league.com/forum/index.php | youtube.com/watch?v=oaGtjWL5mZo
LittLeD Profile Joined May 2010 Sweden 7694 Posts #10 I was confused on the grass-root movement comment about how 3v3/4v4 tournaments are starting to appear because...I haven't seen any of those.
In any case, that was a |
I have already described–that surface-to-air missiles had been fired from this very area to bring down a Ukrainian transport plane days before, that a BUK missile had been sighted in the area by an Associated Press correspondent, and that the supreme rebel commander boasted on social media that his forces had brought down the plane which proved to be MH17.
But once this piece is posted, Putin’s trolls will go over every word of the often-garbled conversations to triumphantly declare they are falsifications or prove the innocence of the rebels and their Russian handlers.
Forget not that separatist field officers and their Russian superiors must communicate with one another in order to be briefed and issue orders. In the case of the BUK systems, there are instances where they use code words, like “beauty,” but in most cases they speak clearly about BUKs. Apparently, their communications are routinely intercepted by the Ukrainian side, just as I imagine similar Ukrainian field communications are by the pro-Russian side.
The transcripts of the intercepted calls show that rebels on the ground were receiving instructions from superiors in Russian military intelligence (GRU), that they discussed receipt, disposition (including hiding), and use of BUKs to bring down Ukrainian planes, that at least one BUK had come into Ukraine across the Russian border, that there was a crew that knew how to operate it, that there was likely more than one BUK, that the rebels considered the BUKs a game changer, and that they were expecting some sort of Russian hostile action launched from across the border.
Here are the English transcripts and the voice recordings of intercepted phone calls in Russian:
Talks between terrorists, July 14, 2014
“Oleh” – Oleh Bugrov Valeriovych, army chief of staff of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, deputy minister of defense of “LNR”
“Oreon” – a citizen of the Russian Federation, officer of Main Intelligence Directorate (to be identified).
Oleh: – Worked out a plane near Stanitsa. Missed.
Oreon: – Great. This way they are taking revenge on planes, but only several days remain. Now we have BUK, will shall bring them (planes) down.
Talks between terrorists, July 17, 2014
Khmuryi: Sergei Nikolaevich Petrovskiy, officer of Main Intelligence Directorate of Russian Federation, Deputy Chief of Igor Girkin on Intelligence; at the time of the interception he was in Donetsk.
“Buryat” – militant of rebel group “DNR,” or Donetsk People's Republic (to be identified).
Buryat: – Where should we load this beauty, Nikolaievich?
Khmuryi: Which one? This one?
B: Yes, the one I've brought. I'm already in Donetsk.
K: Is it the one I'm thinking about? “B...,”M” one?
B: Yes, yes, yes. “BUK”,”BUK”.
K: Is it on a tractor?
B: Yes, it's on it. We need to unload it somewhere, in order to hide.
K: Is it with a crew?
B: Yes, with the crew.
K: Don't hide it anywhere. She'll go there now.
July 17, 2014
Khmuryi: – Tell me, have you brought me one or two?
Buryat: One, one. Because they had a misunderstanding there. They didn't give us a tug. We loaded it and went at their own pace.
K: Did it go on her own or on a tug?
B: It crossed the line (border).
H: And now have you brought it on a tug? Don't put in anywhere... I'll tell now where it should go, it will go together with “Vostok” tanks.
July 17, 2014
Khmuryi and “Sanych” – militant of terrorist organization “DNR”. Deputy of Khmuryi.
K: Sanych, the point is that my “BUK–M” will go with yours, it is on a tug. Where should I drive it to put in a column?
Sanych: There, behind “Motel”, not reaching Hornostaevka.
K: Just after the Motel, right?
July 17, 2014
Khmuryi: Listen to me carefully, behind the circle near “Motel” there will be you know what. Call to “Bibliotekar” (Librarian).
Bring inside only those, who just came back, only as much as you need for the convoy. Leave everyone else here. Not far away there is Pervomaiskoe, look at the map.
DNR militant: I got it.
Khmuryi: Settle somewhere in that area, bring there those who are left. Your task is reserve, plus protection of this piece, which you will drive now. “Giyrza” will come there too. If anything, I'm on line.
DNR militant: – Ok.
July 17, 2014
Khmuryi and “Botsman” – officer of Main Intelligence Directorate of Russian Federation (to be identified).
K: Yes, Botsman, I'm listening.
B: Hello, big brother. How are you?
K: Not so well. We are in Mariinovka. That's why not well. Carrying on.
B: What's wrong?
K: What do you think? (The Ukrainian army is) attacking with “Grad” (multiple-rocket launchers) all the time, finally now we're having a little break. We've just hit a plane, Su–type. Because we've got BUK–M. They (Ukrainian soldiers) are now in Zelenopillja, trying to break free, but their way out is only through me. Yesterday we hit 2 Su jets, today – another two. Thank God “BUK–M” arrived today in the morning. It became easier. But in general, of course, it's tough.
B: What can I say, if you need anything, call me – and I'll arrive immediately.
H: Thanks, brother. I'm going in two hours...Seems like it's a lull. In two hours I'm heading to Donetsk. Because I was sent three more “Gvozdika” (self–propelled artillery). Will carry 'Gvozdikas' here because it's really tough now.
B: Maybe we should cover them with (our own) Grad (multiple-rocket launchers)?
H: The thing is that we have Grad, but no spotter. And secondly, we are waiting for Russia to f*** them from their side.
Independent Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer, advises Putin as follows:
“It would be better if the separatists and Russian authorities stopped lying and fantasizing and “placing the responsibility on Ukraine” (to use Putin’s words) but admit as soon as possible their own guilt, such as it exists, not prolonging their unpremeditated crime with a premeditated concealing of facts and the destruction or distortion of evidence.”
Felgenhauer, I am sure, gave this advice knowing that Putin cannot comply. If Putin were to admit the truth, it would confirm that Russia has supplied fanatical and in some cases possibly insane rebel leaders with advanced military equipment contrary to his assertions that Russia has nothing to do with the Ukraine conflict, other than wanting peace. Such an admission expands the Ukrainian conflict to the world stage. It is the first case of rebels, supplied by a major power with surface-to-air missiles, bringing down a passenger plane. A nightmare shared by the whole world has come true. Which rebel group in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, or the Gaza strip will be next? In this context, Putin is just as dangerous as al Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, and the rest of this crowd.While several companies have been busy posting new transparency reports, based on recent changes in US law, not everyone has been content with what has transpired. Last week, Twitter stood up and called the reform, essentially, too little and far too late. That sentiment likely echos the feelings of many US citizens.
However, the social service isn't the only one taking this stand. Today it is joined by cloud storage darling Dropbox. "We believe everyone has a right to know how much information the government is seeking from online services. This lets users fight back against improper requests, helps prevent abuses of power, and allows for a more informed public debate", states the company's Bart Volkmer.
Dropbox points out that the US government forbids companies from disclosing figures regarding the number of requests flowing in -- perhaps because it's rather more than they wish to acknowledge. That recently changed, but not enough. Services can now post "estimates" rounded to the nearest 250. Yes, it's a start, no it's not good enough.
Dropbox agrees, stating "this is a step in the right direction. But it doesn’t go far enough, especially for services that receive only a handful of requests or none at all. We believe the public has a right to know the actual number of requests received and accounts affected, and we'll continue to push to be able to provide this information".
Dropbox proceeds to post its own transparency report, following the law of what is allowed, which results in the service only telling us that it received somewhere between 0 and 249 National Security Requests. That's helpful, huh? The company was able to post some exact numbers, including 118 search warrants and that 172 accounts were involved in those.
It's fairly clear that reform is arriving, but it's far from what we had all hoped would transpire. All of us wish to live in a terror-free world, but is the cost of that freedom greater than we are willing to pay?
Image Credit: carol.anne / ShutterstockBENGALURU: India remains the No. 1 location for MNCs to establish product engineering and R&D centres outside their home countries, and the growth of these centres in India is outpacing the average global growth.India accounted for $12.3 billion, or 40%, of the total of $31 billion of globalized engineering and R&D in 2015, according to a study by consulting firm Zinnov. Compared to 2014, the revenues of the captives in India grew by 8.3%, as against the growth of 7.6% for all captives. China follows India with revenues of $9.7 billion.Zinnov, which has been focused on this space since it was founded over a decade ago, finds that 69% of all new offshore technology centres this year were set up in India. The past two years have seen a spate of new centres being set up and the older ones expanding, including those of Exxon Mobil, Lowe’s, Visa, Victoria’s Secret, JC Penny, CME Group, Wells Fargo, and British Telecom.Software & internet accounts for 35% of the work being done in the captives, telecom & networking follows with 14% and semiconductors 12%. Consumer electronics, automotive, computer peripherals, medical devices, industrial, and aerospace & defence are other areas of work.Zinnov finds another interesting trend: Engineering and R&D outsourcing to third parties is beginning to outpace growth of captives in India. India is the second biggest outsourcing destination, after Western Europe, where companies like Altran, Alten, Akka Technologies, Assystem and Harman Connected Services are strong.India accounted for $7.8 billion, or 21.6%, of the total outsourced engineering and R&D services of $36 billion in 2015. Compared to 2014, it grew at 12.7%, as against the global growth of 8.7%.“Five years ago, the growth was coming primarily from captives. Now, the captives have matured, and it is the third-party service providers who are growing faster,” Sidhant Rastogi, partner in Zinnov, said. While captives do more of the work they consider proprietary and those that involve new technologies, they outsource a lot of the rest of the work.Independent software vendors and telecom outsourcers dominated the outsourced pie. But the fastest growth came in the automotive, software and medical segments, the first thanks to the trend towards connected cars and change in labour laws in Germany.TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies have traditionally been the leading players in this space. “However, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, L&T and Aricent are giving good competition to the top 3. Even European players like Altran and Alten are setting up centres in India,” Rastogi said.School Prayer
The most enduring and controversial issue related to school-sponsored religious activities is classroom prayer. In Engel v.Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court held that the Establishment Clause prohibited the recitation of a school-sponsored prayer in public schools. Engel involved a simple and seemingly nonsectarian prayer composed especially for use in New York’s public schools. In banning the prayer exercise entirely, the court did not rest its opinion on the grounds that unwilling students were coerced to pray; that would come much later. Rather, the court emphasized what it saw as the wrongs of having the government create and sponsor a religious activity.
The following year, the high court extended the principle outlined in Engel to a program of daily Bible reading. In Abington School District v. Schempp, the court ruled broadly that school sponsorship of religious exercises violates the Constitution. Schempp became the source of the enduring constitutional doctrine that all government action must have a predominantly secular purpose – a requirement that, according to the court, the Bible-reading exercise clearly could not satisfy. By insisting that religious expression be excluded from the formal curriculum, the Supreme Court was assuring parents that public schools would be officially secular and would not compete with parents in their children’s religious upbringing.
With Engel and Schempp, the court outlined the constitutional standard for prohibiting school sponsored religious expression, a doctrine the court has firmly maintained. In Stone v. Graham (1980), for instance, it found unconstitutional a Kentucky law requiring all public schools to post a copy of the Ten Commandments. And in Wallace v. Jaffree (1985), it overturned an Alabama law requiring public schools to set aside a moment each day for silent prayer or meditation.
School sponsorship of student-led prayer has fared no better. In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe that schools may not sponsor student-recited prayer at high school football games.
Lee v. Weisman (1992) Majority: Minority: Kennedy Rehnquist Souter White O’Connor Scalia Stevens Thomas Blackmun
More sweeping in its consequences is Lee v. Weisman (1992), which invalidated a school-sponsored prayer led by an invited clergyman at a public school commencement in Providence, R.I.The court’s 5-4 decision rested explicitly on the argument that graduating students were being forced to participate in a religious ceremony.The case effectively outlawed a practice that was customary in many communities across the country, thus fueling the conservative critique that the Supreme Court was inhospitable to public expressions of faith.
So far, lower appellate courts have not extended the principles of the school prayer decisions to university commencements (Chaudhuri v.Tennessee, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 1997; Tanford v. Brand, 7th Circuit, 1997).The 4th Circuit, however, found unconstitutional the practice of daily prayer at supper at the Virginia Military Institute. In that case, Mellen v. Bunting (2003), the appellate court reasoned that VMI’s military-like environment tended to coerce participation by cadets.The decision was similar to an earlier ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which found unconstitutional a policy of the U.S. service academies that all cadets and midshipmen attend Protestant, Catholic or Jewish chapel services on Sunday (Anderson v. Laird, 1972). For the court, the key element was the service academies’ coercion of students to attend the religious activity.
The Pledge of Allegiance
In 1954, Congress revised the Pledge of Allegiance to refer to the nation as “under God,” a phrase that has since been recited by generations of schoolchildren. In 2000, Michael Newdow filed suit challenging the phrase on behalf of his daughter, a public school student in California. Newdow argued that the words “under God” violated the Establishment Clause because they transformed the pledge into a religious exercise.
The case, Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, reached the Supreme Court in 2004, but the justices did not ultimately decide whether the phrase was acceptable. Instead, the court ruled that Newdow lacked standing to bring the suit because he did not have legal custody of his daughter. In concurring opinions, however, four justices expressed the view that the Constitution permitted recitation of the pledge – with the phrase “under God” – in public schools.
Since then, the issue has not again reached the Supreme Court but is still being litigated in the lower courts. In Myers v. Loudoun County Public Schools (2005), the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the reciting of the pledge in Virginia, but a U.S. district court in California ruled the other way in a new suit involving Michael Newdow and other parents.The court ruling in California, Newdow v. Congress of the United States (2005), is on appeal in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Photo credit: CorbisMonday, 29 June 2009, 05:53
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 001337
SIPDIS
NSC ANISH GOEL
EO 12958 DECL: 06/26/2019
TAGS PREL, PGOV, PTER, PK, AG, IN
SUBJECT: NSA JONES DISCUSSES U.S.-INDIA SECURITY
RELATIONSHIP AND PAKISTAN WITH DEFENSE MINISTER ANTONY
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Peter Burleigh for Reasons 1.4 (B, D)
1. (C) Summary. Meeting National Security Advisor James Jones on June 26, Defense Minister A.K. Antony stressed his support for moving beyond minor irritants and to a broad and expanded security relationship between India and the United States. Both Jones and Antony affirmed their commitment to building the U.S.-India mil-mil partnership as envisioned by President Obama and Prime Minister Singh. Antony stressed the importance India places on success in Afghanistan. Chief of Army Staff Deepak Kapoor told Jones about the continuing problem of infiltration from Pakistan and the need for India to be able to have confidence and trust in its western neighbor for effective dialogue to take place. End Summary.
2. (SBU) Participants:
NSA General (retired) James Jones CDA Peter Burleigh Senior Director Don Camp Senior Director John Tien Senior Advisor Sarah Farnsworth DATT Colonel Richard White Political Officer Sameer Sheth (notetaker)
Minister A.K. Antony Chief of Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor Other Ministry of Defense Officials
Need to Move Beyond Minor Irritants
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3. (C) After warmly welcoming Jones, Antony began by emphasizing the importance of expanding the quality and depth of the U.S.-India relationship. He stressed his desire to expand the bilateral military relationship despite minor irritants, and expressed his hope that Jones' visit to India would further the relationship. Antony mentioned joint development and production, and technology transfers as meriting focus, adding that the Indians find U.S. technology transfer conditions too restrictive. Jones and Burleigh urged completion of the End-Use Monitoring agreement. Antony said it needed to be defensible to Parliament, musing that he himself is accountable to parliament and to India's vibrant and multi-party democracy.
4. (C) Jones declared to Antony that he is very encouraged by the overall direction of the bilateral relationship, especially after having met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had expressed his optimism for U.S.-India relations. Jones told Antony the U.S. is in complete agreement with the Prime Minister's vision, emphasizing that President Obama is also equally committed to strong ties between the two nations. "There is real intent to follow the vision of our national leaders," Jones noted. He assured Antony that the U.S. will be as flexible as possible within the confines of U.S. laws, Indian laws, and both our publics. We must do whatever we can to resolve the challenges that can potentially slow the relationship down, since these are sensitive times that require both nations to find ways to more closely cooperate.
Success in Afghanistan Critical
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5. (C) Antony told Jones India has a stake in Afghanistan, reminding him that India's borders before partition extended to Afghanistan. The Indian military is concerned by the situation in Afghanistan, Antony admitted, and stressed that the international community's operations there must succeed because the India cannot imagine for a moment a Taliban takeover of its "extended neighbor."
Pakistan: Infiltration Continues/Trust Deficit Remains
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6. (S) After the conversation moved to Pakistan, General Deepak Kapoor, Chief of Army Staff, interjected and told Jones the Pakistani military's statements regarding the Indian threat on its eastern border are wholly without merit. Even after the 11/26 terrorist strikes on Mumbai, he emphasized, India did not make any move of a threatening nature toward Pakistan. Kapoor alleged that there are 43 terrorist camps in Pakistan, 22 of which are located in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Although the Pakistanis raided some camps in the wake of 11/26, Kapoor averred, some camps have reinitiated operations. Kapoor further asserted infiltration across the Line of Control cannot occur unless there is some kind of assistance and/or degree of support that is institutional in nature. He described several incidents of infiltration that occurred this year, including that of 40 terrorists in March who were found possessing significant ammunition and other equipment. India is worried, Kapoor said, that some part of the huge U.S. military package to Pakistan will find its way to the hands of terrorists targeting India. Furthermore, if "we can catch them (the infiltrators), why can't the Pakistani military?" Kapoor asked. "There's a trust deficit between the U.S. and Pakistan but there's also one between India and Pakistan," he stressed.
7. (S) Jones asked Kapoor how the Pakistanis react when the Indians confront them with these incidents. Kapoor replied the Pakistanis remain in denial mode, but fortunately today India's counter-infiltration posture is stronger than in the past. Asked about the percentage of infiltrators that get through, Kapoor estimated between 15 to 20 percent but cited the challenge posed by India's open border with Nepal. He asserted that at least 16 terrorists this year entered India through Nepal and then traveled to Kashmir. Throughout his remarks, Kapoor stressed that infiltration bids were "acts of aggression."
8. (S) Jones queried Kapoor on prospects of upgrading Indo-Pak military talks to discuss these issues. Kapoor rhetorically asked whether there should not be a degree of confidence in Pakistan before such a dialogue can even begin. Antony interjected that unless there is some tangible follow-up action by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the 11/26 attacks, discussions with Pakistan will be difficult. Regarding terrorist camps in Pakistan, Jones told Antony and Kapoor that the U.S. will take up the issue with Pakistan.
Regional Problems Require Regional Solutions
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9. (C) Jones suggested regional problems require regional solutions, underscoring the need for all of us to move forward on a broader strategy by building confidence and trust. The U.S.-India partnership is very important in this context. The worst thing for the region would be another 11/26-type attack, Jones stressed, and that we cannot let the terrorists play us off against each other. He concluded by underscoring President Obama's desire to stimulate the bilateral relationship and the U.S. commitment to working as honestly as possible to share information with India on security matters.
10. (U) NSA Jones cleared this message. BURLEIGHIran said on Wednesday that it has a serious determination to expand ties with Germany and that it is ready to take the appropriate measures to facilitate the investments by German enterprises in its economy.
“The Iranian people have a favorable attitude toward Germany from the viewpoint of cultural values,” Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, told Germany’s Ambassador to Tehran Michael Freiherr von Ungern.
“We welcome the expansion of trade ties with Germany,” Rezaei said adding that Berlin needs to show “more courage” in taking due political and economic decisions toward Iran.
He further emphasized that Iran can become a perfect investment hub for German companies to target other nearby markets including Central Asia.
The official emphasized that the next four to five years will be the best opportunity for Europe to establish economic ties with Iran.
“Iran is determined to expand economic ties with Germany,” he said.
“The Expediency Council – which is the center of policymaking in Iran – is ready to take measures to facilitate the expansion of trade relations between the two countries”.
Germany was one of the first European countries to send a major trade delegation to Tehran to look for the avenues to expand economic ties in after the July nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1.
Germany’s Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel arrived in Tehran for a two-day visit on July 19 at the head of a large economic and political team.
The 60-strong delegation included representatives of big German industrial companies such as Linde, Siemens, Mercedes, BASF, Volkswagen Group, and GIZ.
Later, Germany’s Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Matthias Machnig told reporters that Gabriel’s visit had opened a new chapter in relations between Iran and Germany.
Machnig – who is due in Tehran in October for key trade talks – emphasized that German industries can make “a substantial contribution” to Iran's modernization after the removal of the sanctions against the country.“Bury me in Hiram Clarke next to the Come & Go…”
2016 has found a way to be beautiful at times (read: rare occasions) and absolutely agonizing everywhere else. Election 2016 aside, it has literally ravaged music with death. Beyond the usual suspects, it snatched Lil Will of “Wanna Be a Baller” fame in a car accident. It sucked because memorializing Lil Will mostly zeroes in on remembering “Wanna Be a Baller” and how much of a low key presence he was. That’s never the greatest way to remember somebody, especially if they contributed to a generational local rap song.
Last Thursday night, a shooting occurred in Southwest Houston; one of the men involved was shot in the back of the head and died at the scene. It didn’t take long before the name of the man who died was released. It was Christopher Barriere, the man who found far more notoriety as Mr. 3-2, influencer and a hell of a rapper of the 1990s and parts of the 2000s. He was 44.
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It may not feel like it now, but Rap-A-Lot Records was one of the more progressive labels around some 25 years ago. The Geto Boys ushered in a glimpse of mental-health awareness and paranoia in rap with We Can’t Be Stopped. The label promoted a foul-mouthed female rapper in Choice, a prelude to the mid-'90s run of Lil’ Kim & Foxy Brown. Big Mike and 3-2, then part of The Convicts released a concept debut album about, you guessed it - what two convicts would do should they break out of prison. Plenty of the album rolled around Big Mike’s rubbery rap voice but 3-2 was an equal, a baritone that was unmistakable and carried more weight as time went on. On “1-900-Dial-A-Crook,” later refocused as “1-900-Hustler” by Jay Z in 2000, 3-2 broke down cooking up crack cocaine as if it were a 10-point plan for instant riches.
3-2 was great at that. It may have never translated into a full-blown solo career for him but when he was on, he was on. One of the best off-the-dome rappers available, “The Governor” had plenty of wit to him, someone who famously carried himself as an every man despite being a whirlwind of a rapper. During his stint as a member of The Convicts, he headed out West with Big Mike to Los Angeles. Enticed by Suge Knight and the execs from Death Row Records, a deal was nearly in place before Mike found himself loyal to J. Prince and Rap-A-Lot. The Geto Boys needed someone to replace Willie D and Big Mike took the job. What did 3-2 do? Record with Warren G and Snoop Dogg in LA, imparting more game to Snoop than anyone.
“He was the one who told me, 'We don’t love these hoes,' Snoop said in a memorial post on Instagram. We could argue that 3-2’s personality, however in demand it could be on the microphone, helped Snoop push his out further after “Deep Cover” and more. 3-2 was like a comet in this regard: when he was on, he was on and when he wasn’t there, you could most certainly feel it.
Once Rap-A-Lot fell into gooey, damn-near-perfect rap label status in the mid-90s, 3-2 found himself on the outskirts. A year before he gave his most memorable verse, he was part of Blac Monks, who may not have been the greatest of Houston rap groups, but as a precursor to weed-heads worldwide they stuck. Given 3-2’s later eccentrics and need for wet cigarettes, it was perfect for him. He took on the moniker of Buddah Baby, a guy who rapped atop those springy, West Coast-stylized productions that mimicked whatever Das Dillinger dropped on Dogg Food. 3-2’s solo album, The Wicked Buddah Baby, was supposed to hit large but ultimately didn’t. In a way, it was a blessing in disguise.
The original “One Day” wasn’t meant for UGK’s Ridin’ Dirty. According to Julia Beverly, 3-2’s version was originally produced by DJ Boss & Original E. A Wicked Buddah Baby track everyone knew would be a hit. Yet he was reluctant to do anything with it. His Rap-A-Lot deal was almost up. He could have done whatever he wanted. Instead, he spent most of 1996 working on tapes, freestyling with Bun B and pressing his own inimitable flows. Even if Bun didn’t want to rap over 3-2’s version of “One Day,” Pimp C did. The Isley Brothers sample of "Ain't I Been Good to You” would remain intact. Same for Ronnie Spencer on the hook. The new beat with its molasses-thick bass line and 808 drums, would be all Pimp. Together, the three of them would lead Ridin’ Dirty.
3-2’s verse is somber. There’s a slow tick to it as it feels more like a eulogy and admittance of sins than anything moving towards progress. As if he’s resigned to the same ideology he preached some five years prior. Death and the penitentiary are the only things he’ll admit are an end game for him. Everything else, whether it be forms of protection, identifiers of man child tendencies (“Mama put me out at only 14…”) or positions of being vulnerable? Human. Pimp himself could admit that UGK didn’t do much in regards of showing emotions before Ridin’ Dirty. The same group who gave up coke tales on “Cocaine In The Back Of The Ride”? There had been flashes of it. It took what could have been a throwaway 3-2 track to get it out of them.
“One Day” immortalized 3-2. The Governor, a 2000 rap album that made him adopt yet another moniker let him toy around even more in the pools made by Big Pokey and other Screwed Up Click guys. It gave us "G.O.V." as a fun, shit talking rap record. “Ball N Parlay,” from Pokey’s Hardest Pit In the Litter, is another smooth 3-2 moment where calling your haters “funny bunny busters” was both effective and hilarious. He didn’t outright disappear from rapping, but you saw him around. He was gracious, he was kind and there were even times he let people film some rather erratic behavior of his for YouTube laughs.
There’s no way around it. Mr. 3-2 was a Screwed Up Click and Rap-A-Lot legend. A guy who probably wielded more influence on one of the more game changing rap careers than one would think. He was always around, even if he wasn’t. Even if he told us 20 years ago on his most famous verse that tomorrow wasn’t promised — he didn’t deserve to go out the way he did.
Yet in 2016, we’ve learned that reality doesn’t care how we go. Or what happens to us. Because 2016 is a cruel, fickle beast that even Buddah Babies deserve better than.Zac Efron is friggin everywhere. When he’s not partying and making out with Michelle Rodriguez and Italian businessman Gianluca Vacchi, he’s shirtless and roughing it with renknowned survivalist Bear Grylls.
The two ridiculously fit guys pop up on the July 28 premiere of the celebrity-adventure series Running Wild with Bear Grylls, rappelling down a cliffside in the Catskills.
Which of course you must be shirtless for.
“We reached out to him and he kindly said he was a fan of the show and that he was in 120 percent,” Grylls tolld People. “He asked for the biggest, baddest adventure and it was an honor to oblige.”
Grylls, 40, picked a spot in the Catskills Mountains where special forces used to train back in the 1800s. To give Efron an extra incentive to jump off a cliff with him, he tossed their backpacks into the water below. “I can’t believe how high this is,” said Efron, 26,, before making the leap of faith.
“I like to think he got to use his muscles to their max through the adventure,” Grylls told People.
Running Wild with Bear Grylls airs Mondays at 8pm on NBC.PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Gov. Lincoln Chafee (CHAY'-fee) says he's "inclined" to sign legislation that would decriminalize the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana.
Chafee told WPRO-AM Wednesday that decriminalization hasn't caused significant issues in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Nevertheless, Chafee says he will speak with state police superintendent Col. Steven O'Donnell, who opposes relaxed penalties for pot possession.
Under legislation endorsed by the General Assembly on Tuesday, adults caught with an ounce or less of marijuana would face a $150 civil fine. Minors caught with pot would also have to complete a drug awareness program and community service.
Current law makes possession of small amounts of marijuana a misdemeanor. Violators face possible jail time and fines up to $500.
Fourteen states have decriminalized possession of limited amounts of marijuana.
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© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.The Triffid's popular beer garden. Credit:Chris Hyde "It's a bit of protection. We've put a large investment in at the Triffid in terms of capital and love and I'd like it to be here in 20 years," he said. "That's my dream." The Valley Special Entertainment Precincts were established in 2006 and were driven by former deputy mayor and local councillor David Hinchliffe. They were designed to protect Brisbane's live music scene after residents moved into the Valley and complained about the noise.
The proposed extension to the Fortitude Valley Entertainment Precinct, which would take in the Triffid. Credit:Brisbane City Council Venues within the entertainment precinct could operate with higher noise levels than were allowed elsewhere and all new residential development in the area was required to include a high level of noise insulation. "When you look back at the Sun building, that's when it all started," Collins said of a unit development that led to noise complaints against established venues. "To me, if you move next door to a runway, you don't get to complain about aircraft noise. "Why should that happen when you move next to an entertainment venue?
"Nobody wants to be shut down by people complaining." Collins admitted to being a little nervous about the number of new unit developments going up in the neighbourhood. "They'll now be fully aware we're an entertainment precinct, that's the main thing," he said. Although it seemed like a logical move in 2017, Collins said it would have been impossible to convince the council to extend the precinct when the Triffid first opened. "I think we needed to have some runs on the board, quite honestly, before we could even talk to the council about having a look at the proposal," he said.
"Knowing that we've acted in accordance with everything we said we were going to do, it's a great decision by the council." "I'm stoked." Along with the main entertainment precinct, which took in the main centre of the Valley, another two satellite precincts were included, surrounding the Tivoli and Jubilee Hotel to the west and the Waterloo Hotel and Emporium to the north. It was that Waterloo zone that would be extended to include the Triffid. "We've been responsible since we've opened and I think it's a really good decision to include us in the precinct, so that anyone moving in around here knows that we're here," Collins said.
Local councillor Vicki Howard said the council's decision would give the Triffid protection under the Amplified Music Venues Local Law. "Brisbane is unique in having an officially designated entertainment precinct and the Fortitude Valley area has become a nationally and internationally recognised destination for live music," she said. "(It has) the highest concentration of live music venues in Australia and with many, including the Triffid, giving a stage to some of our city's best original talent." Speaking of local talent, Collins said while he had watched the excitement surrounding the Midnight Oil reunion with interest, it had not given him and his old Powerfinger band-mates any ideas. "No, no plans for a 'finger reunion, but how good is it?" he said, chuckling at the question.A squirrel comes down the tree near the entrance to shooting suspect Jon Marc Barbour's home in Gunbarrel on Friday afternoon. The area around the base of the tree |
agreements.”
In other words, the true owner of the Trump Palace unit is untraceable. He may be a perfectly respectable businessman, but the arrangement was a typically murky Miami affair.
Money Laundering, a Miami Tradition
Miami is a relatively new city, having been incorporated in 1896, and its entire history is inextricably intertwined with the real estate industry and its regular cycle of booms and busts. Miamians chatter incessantly about real estate, in the same way that a certain subset of New Yorkers talks about the stock market, Washingtonians politics and Los Angelenos the movie industry.
One afternoon at a restaurant called Boteco, I sat next to a table of four Brazilians who were cooking up a property deal. When drinking a cup of coffee in front of a strip mall café, I overheard a woman on the phone saying, “I know, I know, but the question is, are you willing to go higher?” At Tatiana—a restaurant and nightclub just north of Sunny Isles that is a favorite of Russians and that, on the weekends, features a show with cabaret dancers, circus performers and an occasional tiger—I overheard half of another phone conversation in which a middle-aged American man talking excitedly about one deal said, “I’m not normally a pyramid-scheme type of guy, but this one I like.”
Tens of thousands of people moved to Miami during the city’s original property rush of the 1920s. Many never intended to settle there but instead hoped to get rich speculating, and the enormous real estate bubble that ensued exploded in 1926. That was the same year as the Great Miami Hurricane, the most destructive ever to hit the United States at that time. It killed nearly 400 people and caused billions in property damage (in today’s dollars), blowing away thousands of unfinished houses that had been abandoned when the real estate market crashed. Next came a post–World War II rush fueled by people who came to stay. “That boom was more legitimate than the first one, and in a sense it has never ended,” says Paul George, a professor of history at Miami Dade College, adding that Dade County’s population has grown from 250,000 in 1940 to about 2.6 million today. “But ever since, we’ve had spikes of excessive speculation that ended badly.”
The wildest ride began in the 1970s, when Latin American drug lords turned Miami into a key hub of their operations and poured billions of dollars into the local economy, with much of it laundered into real estate. It also led to a crime wave—memorialized in Miami Vice and Brian De Palma’s Scarface—that gave Miami the nation’s highest murder rate. Drug money tainted everything from law enforcement to real estate to banking. “Miami’s Federal Reserve branch has a currency surplus of $5 billion, mostly in drug-generated $50 and $100 bills, or more than the nation’s twelve Federal Reserve banks combined,” Time magazine reported.
The city’s last real estate boom resulted from reckless lending by banks during the early 2000s. During the run-up, Miami’s once sleepy downtown and city center were completely transformed by the frantic construction of high-rise residential buildings and office towers. Residents poured in, turning downtown into one of the fastest-growing areas in the entire state. Moscow-based Mirax Group, headed by Sergei Polonsky—who once ate part of his tie on live TV to settle a bet, and whom Forbes has rated one of Russia’s nine most bizarre oligarchs—announced a development project on a private island that the company marketed to Russian buyers, saying it would change “the expectations of elegant and sophisticated living on Miami Beach.” Pérez, the Condo King, announced plans for the Icon Brickell, a $1 billion project that included three towers with 1,640 units, a swimming pool the size of a football field and five restaurants. Marc Anthony told People magazine that he and Jennifer Lopez had bought a unit at the Icon Brickell, “and when we are through decorating the condo, it will be the sexiest place in town!”
Then, inevitably, came the crash. Miami real estate prices fell by 35.8 percent between late 2005 and the same period in 2009. Tens of thousands of downtown condos were unoccupied that year and, as a Property Week story recounted, at night dogs roamed deserted streets in once hot central neighborhoods. Mirax went bust and Polonsky has fled Russia, where he is wanted for real estate fraud. He is reportedly in Cambodia, where he spent jail time earlier this year for allegedly attacking six boatmen with a knife. In May 2010, HSBC Bank seized control of 1,276 condos at the Icon Brickell, and it turned out that Anthony and J. Lo had never purchased a unit there. Instead, they had, in a PR move engineered by developers, leased a condo cheaply.
Things were even grimmer elsewhere in the state. Trash piled up at vacant lots in abandoned ghost subdivisions. Construction came to a screeching halt on giant shopping malls and office buildings that went into foreclosure. In 2010, a real estate expert told NPR that there were enough housing lots in Charlotte County, in the southwestern part of the state, to last for more than a century.
Rampant Corruption, Lax Regulation
Through boom and bust, one constant in Miami has been the political and business establishment’s embrace of offshore cash. Predictably, this has led to an assortment of foreign rogues regularly washing up in the city.
In 2003, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) set up what became known as the Foreign Corruption Investigations Group in Miami to track down assets held by foreign officials and business executives in the United States. Within months, the group—which was based in Miami due to the large number of requests for assistance that the local office received from foreign governments—seized a $3.5 million Key Biscayne condo owned by Byron Jerez, former head of Nicaragua’s tax office. The following year, the United States returned to Nicaragua $2.7 million worth of assets that had been stolen by former President Arnoldo Alemán, who was sentenced in his home country to twenty years under house detention for embezzling $100 million from the state treasury. The assets included various Miami bank accounts, a cabana at the Key Biscayne Ocean Club, and a $150,000 deposit for the purchase of another Key Biscayne condominium.
In 2008, after Uruguayan authorities alerted ICE, the feds agreed to extradite Juan Peirano Basso, an international fugitive wanted for embezzling more than $800 million from financial institutions in Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, and who had been living comfortably in Miami. Basso’s actions “are believed to have caused the collapse of the Uruguayan economy and to have caused the South American financial crisis of 2002,” said an ICE press release announcing his extradition. Since its inception, the Foreign Corruption Investigations Group has made eighty criminal arrests, secured 148 indictments and seized more than $131 million in assets, according to ICE.
Drug lords and other criminals and swindlers have no doubt been drawn to Miami for some of the same reasons that tourists and retirees flock there—the ocean, sun and natural beauty—but Florida’s reputation for corruption and sleaze has surely been a lure as well. This is, after all, a city that is notorious for bizarre political and business scandals. Earlier this year, Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Ari Pregen was fired after he flashed his work badge to gain free admission to a strip club and pulled out his credentials again when the bill came, to avoid paying a 15 percent credit card surcharge.
Overall, Florida led the United States in federal convictions of public officials—781—between 2000 and 2010. Just this summer, three suburban Miami mayors were arrested on corruption charges within a month. “This is a place where it’s easy to lose your moral compass,” says Zalewski, the real estate consultant. “Everyone who moves to Miami wants to live in South Beach, which is fun, but the rule should always be to not renew your lease after the first year. If you do, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll end up in rehab.”
Adding to the area’s decadent appeal is that banks and real estate developers have frequently played fast and loose with the rules as well. Allen Stanford, now serving a 110-year prison sentence for running a massive Ponzi scheme, set up his bank in Florida in 1998 after the state’s banking director authorized it to move huge amounts of money offshore without informing regulators.
Florida’s rate of mortgage fraud was higher than anywhere else in the country between 2000 and 2008. In the latter year, Don Saxon, Florida’s top mortgage industry regulator, was forced to resign after a Miami Herald investigation found that 10,000 criminals—including burglars, cocaine traffickers and identity thieves—had been approved to broker home loans in Florida and had committed at least $85 million in mortgage fraud.
Some flagrant abuses have been addressed, partly due to tighter rules imposed under the Patriot Act following the 9/11 attacks, but Florida banks still have a lot of room for improvement. In 2011, Miami-based Ocean Bank forfeited $11 million to the federal government for willfully failing to establish an anti–money laundering program for seven years. During that time, Ocean Bank took in large sums of cash from Colombia’s Bernal-Palacios drug trafficking organization. Among the group’s leaders was Ricardo Mauricio Bernal Palacios, whom the DEA once described as “one of the most wanted money laundering fugitives in the world.”
The real estate industry is more lightly regulated than financial institutions. Banks are required to file a Suspicious Activities Report (SAR) with the Treasury Department if they suspect a client is depositing or transferring corrupt money. Real estate agents and title insurers are exempt from that requirement—as are businesses that primarily sell luxury goods such as jewelry, yachts and private planes—which makes property an especially attractive vehicle to money launderers. Furthermore, bank tellers don’t receive a commission on the deposits they accept, so they are more likely to ask questions of a dubious customer than a real estate agent, who stands to make a huge commission on a multimillion-dollar luxury condo deal. “SARs are hugely important and often lead to exposure of major cases,” Stefan Cassella, an assistant US attorney based in Baltimore and the former deputy chief of the Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, told me. “Requiring a broader range of players to file them would be a big help to law enforcement in terms of keeping corrupt money out of the United States.”
A Law to “Smoke Out” Owners
In 2007, Bradley Birkenfeld, an American director of UBS’s wealth management division in Geneva, approached the Justice Department and revealed disturbing information about his employer’s business practices. In addition to disclosing that he had smuggled diamonds (in a toothpaste tube) across borders for a client, he told US authorities that UBS was helping thousands of rich Americans hide their assets offshore to avoid paying taxes.
The US government went after UBS, and in 2009 the bank settled the case and avoided criminal prosecution by paying a $780 million fine. More important, UBS turned over to the US government the names of more than 4,500 American account holders, and the case “put the first big cracks in Switzerland’s vaunted bank secrecy,” in the words of The Economist. At home, the IRS introduced amnesty programs that allowed Americans to pay a small penalty to repatriate undeclared offshore accounts, a move that has brought the Treasury an estimated $5 billion in back taxes and penalties.
Another result of the UBS affair was that in 2010 Congress enacted the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which requires foreign banks to notify the IRS about accounts held by US taxpayers or face stiff penalties.
One section of FATCA that has elicited particularly intense hostility is its provisions for reciprocity, meaning that American banks would have to provide foreign governments with the same information about their nationals who hold US accounts. FATCA was opposed by investment banks like JPMorgan and Bank of America and foreign financial institutions like the Zurich Insurance Group and the Hong Kong Securities Association. But no one fought harder against the rule than Florida bankers, real estate developers, politicians and regulators, who feared it would slow the flow of foreign money into the state’s economy, especially in Miami.
The Florida Bankers Association sued to block the measure for allegedly failing to comply with federal rule-making procedures. The lawsuit said that the measure would impose too high a regulatory burden on banks and that the federal tax code already had sufficient provisions in place to prevent tax evasion. Leading FATCA opponents also included the Florida International Bankers Association, a trade group representing foreign banks from eighteen countries, and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which said it would require the “blanket collection” of information on foreign account holders and that the IRS should instead negotiate with foreign governments for “the reciprocal exchange of information” as required in individual cases.
Florida Republican Congressman Bill Posey, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, wrote a letter to President Obama saying that FATCA would “result in the flight of hundreds of billions of dollars from US financial institutions” and the leaking of personal information that might lead to “kidnappings or other terrorist actions” against foreign account holders in their home countries. In reply, Treasury Department official Michael Mundaca said that the IRS does not share information with foreign governments “unless and until several conditions are met, including a review of the protections against the misuse of information.” He also denied the new rules would cause massive capital flight from American banks, and noted that US banks had made similar arguments in the mid-1990s when new regulations required the reporting of bank-deposit interest paid to Canadian account holders. In fact, the amount of money held by Canadians in American banks rose from $1.9 billion in March 1996, just before the final regulations were issued, to $4 billion one year later.
The anti-FATCA lobby was able to delay enactment of the rule and water down some of its provisions, but as of midyear the United States had signed reciprocal agreements under FATCA with nine countries and was negotiating with eighteen more. Charles Intriago, president of the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists in Miami, predicted that FATCA would “smoke out” the true owners of a lot of front companies for criminals, including politicians. “The IRS is going to get the names of their girlfriends and aunts and uncles who are serving as directors of companies set up offshore,” he said.
That remains to be seen, as opponents are already campaigning to repeal the rule and the IRS recently announced that it is giving foreign financial institutions an additional six months, until July of next year, to comply. Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, has introduced a bill to repeal FATCA, saying it is a “violation of sovereign nations’ laws and privacy matters.” Congressman Posey is leading the repeal effort in the House. On July 1, he wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew saying that FATCA measures “themselves would not bring one penny into the US treasury, they would discourage investment in the United States.”
A number of conservative activists are also involved in the FATCA repeal campaign, including Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform and Andrew Quinlan of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity (CF&P). A Washington Post story in April said that the latter group’s “fundraising pleas have been circulated to offshore entities that make millions by providing anonymity for wealthy clients,” and that the director of a Hong Kong company that creates offshore trusts had sent a CF&P solicitation “to contacts in the Cook Islands, pointing out that CF&P was trying to raise $250,000 for a lobbying campaign to ‘stop the bleeding, build allies and go on the offensive’ against efforts in Washington to regulate the industry.”
No matter what happens with FATCA, cleaning up Florida financial institutions will not be easy, says Brian Kindle, who works for Intriago’s association. “I read a lot of court records about financial crimes, and whether it’s a Midwestern Ponzi scheme or a Caribbean bank fraud, at some point I always come across the phrase, ‘The money moved through a bank in South Florida.’ We have a big banking community, but New York and California are even bigger, and the money doesn’t always move through their banks. Our banking and real estate industries grew up during the cocaine era, and the attitude here has always been to make a quick deal and don’t ask any questions. That’s the whole culture, and it’s pretty antithetical to a rules-and-regulation-based compliance system. Changing that is going to be hard.”
During my last few days in Miami, I visited a few more properties for sale in Sunny Isles and waded through real estate listings. There were dozens of oceanfront properties with all the trimmings: marble floors, custom white Italian doors, built-in bars, multimedia systems, ceiling windows with electric shades, his-and-hers baths and walk-in closets, Jacuzzis, swimming pools and beachfront cabanas. At Ocean Three, a condominium toward the northern end of Sunny Isles, an in-house restaurant, Bistro, delivers to the units, the pool and the beach and offers a seven-course tasting menu that includes options such as foie gras, oysters Rockefeller, lobster, black winter truffles and baby rack of lamb.
And so it goes in Miami, where the welcome mat for the globe’s most pampered people is always out. Today, even as much of Florida has yet to pull out of the last real estate quagmire, at least 170 new condo towers are planned for Miami, many by the same developers behind projects that went bust during the last bubble. The Real Deal, a South Florida real estate publication, recently reported that a new influx of money from the Far East was further buoying the market and that the Ritz-Carlton Residences Palm Beach had already completed several deals with Chinese buyers.
Earlier this year, Flagstone Development announced it would build a mega-yacht resort called Island Garden that will feature high-rise towers, a hotel, shopping and a marina. The project was originally planned five years ago but fell apart when the real estate bubble brought down the global economy. Flagstone promises it will be open for business in 2019.
Jack Blum, the money-laundering investigator, recounted to me a work trip to Miami two years ago, when he was stunned to see condominiums going up in the poor Liberty City neighborhood. “I was in a cab and asked the driver what was going on,” he said. “He didn’t miss a beat—he said, ‘That’s from money laundering.’ When it’s that obvious to cabdrivers, you know the situation is bad. But that’s what the city’s economy is built on, and it is a monumental challenge to fix it.”Hey Clashers!Artifacts are coming your way in the next update! This is a special feature available only to evolved Heroes!There are many different artifacts that provide different boosts to your evolved Heroes. Artifacts can also provide boosts to a different number of Heroes. For example, some artifacts can bless up to four different Heroes at the same time while others may only bless one Hero. A Hero can only be blessed by one artifact at a time. You can freely change the artifact that is providing boosts to your Heroes.There are different requirements for unlocking each artifact. These could be anything from clearing a certain stage on Heroes Trial or Here Be Monsters, earning a certain Title, clearing an Insane Dungeon stage with 3-Flames, and so on.Each artifact provides different attribute boosts. Some of them boost existing attributes, such as increasing ATK, MOV SPD, or DMG. There are also some boosts to new attributes like Critical Damage (CRIT DMG), Dodge, and Accuracy (ACC). Let’s take a moment to go over two of these new attributes: Critical Damage and Dodge.CRIT DMG: Critical attacks deal greater damage (DMG) than basic attacks. Critical Damage is 1.5x that of normal damage. Critical hits can happen on both skills and basic attacks. The amount of HP healed is not affected by critical hits however and damage from basic attacks can stack with critical damage such as with Deadly Strike.Dodge: Dodge allows Heroes to avoid getting hit by basic attacks, skills, and even some conditions.1.Dodge is effective against basic attacks, Hero skills, Stun, Fear, decreases in MOV SPD and ATK SPD, disabling skills, reduced Energy, increased DMG, removing boosts, and Guild Boss instant kills.2.Dodge will not work against deflected damage like Flame Guard, Blade Shell, and other Hero skills that deflect damage, conditions inflicted by Corrode, Heaven’s Wrath, and Condemnation, damage and conditions inflicted by Traps and Defensive buildings, reduced Energy from Scatter, or damage and conditions caused by Spells.Only some of artifacts and artifact levels will be released in this update. Keep your eye open for more in the future!A man believed to have shot and killed two people inside an upscale Riverside neighborhood was the ex-boyfriend of one of the victims, a neighbor said Wednesday.
The alleged shooter had dated the woman, whose new boyfriend was in the process of moving in when he also was shot, said Melissa Kawile, 18.
Kawile said the alleged shooter, who was later killed by a police officer, lived across the street from his ex-girlfriend.
“Her new boyfriend was moving in,” Kawile said. “Right now, there’s still a moving truck there with all his stuff in it.”
The shooting occurred about 6 p.m. Tuesday in the 11500 block of Trailway Drive. The suspected gunman was shot dead as the first officer arrived on the scene.
The bodies of another man and a woman were found in the front yard and by the curb of a home inside the gated community. Authorities said they believed the three knew each other.When I go a day without drinking, it is hard to get to sleep.
Three beers used to do it, but now it takes a six pack.
My doctor has told me I need to quit or cut down drinking.
I find that I don't get over morning-afters like I used to.
I don't drink often enough for it to affect my health.
I have driven after drinking before, but I was not really drunk.
I have had a couple of drinks at lunch before and returned to work.
I have skipped a few trips to the gym to drink with friends.
I prefer to hang out with people who drink as much as I do.
Sometimes I call in sick when I'm really recovering from a night out.
I have gone in late before because I was hungover.
If I skip a day drinking, I'll have an urge to drink the next day.
Sometimes if I have gone a few days without a drink, I'll get a desire to drink.
No, I can take it or leave it.
I drink almost daily, as soon as I get off work.
I only drink on special occasions or only have one before dinner.
I have tried to control my drinking, but it hasn't worked for very long.
I've thought about quitting, but I just haven't gotten around to it.
Sometimes a 'few with the boys/girls' turns into an entire evening.
If I drink at all, I'll have only one or two before dinner.
Could You Have an Alcohol Abuse Problem?
You got: No Problem With Alcohol
Responsible Drinkers Do Not Drive Impaired. © Getty Images
According to the answers that you provided, it appears that you do not have a drinking problem at all, not even a mild one! If you drink at all, you are probably a low-risk, moderate drinker or what some call a social drinker.
But, you took this quiz for a reason. Was it because you think that you may have a problem with alcohol? Has your drinking pattern changed lately and you are concerned about the change? If you do have some concern about your drinking, you may want to mention it to your healthcare provider and perhaps get a professional assessment.
Or, you just might what to cut back on your drinking for awhile.
THIS TOOL DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. It is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical consultation, diagnosis or treatment.
Share Your ResultsIn the short time between speeches during Monday’s primetime schedule of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), CNN and MSNBC went out of their way to absolutely swoon over Senator Cory Booker’s speech that they deemed “brilliant,” “a home run,” and “powerful” that the assembled pundits claim they hadn’t seen since then-Illinois State Senator Barack Obama at the 2004 DNC.
“Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, Jake, that was a powerful, powerful speech, an introduction to the American people from,” CNN’s DNC coverage co-host Wolf Blitzer exclaimed.
Tapper added that, in his book, it “was a crowd pleaser like no speech I've seen at a convention since a young State Senator Barack Obama in 2004.”
Over on the MSNBC, co-host Rachel Maddow gushed that Booker gave “a hell of a speech...delivered with a ton of energy” before adding that he didn’t give a speech “like a home run hitter” but like one taking “batting practice, over the fence, over the fence.”
“You know, it’s reminiscent of Barack Obama speech in 2004. I mean, this is the first one out of the gate that is a really, really powerful speech. Very tough act to follow. Elizabeth Warren has to follow that act tonight,” Last Word host Lawrence O’Donnell hyped in his first comments of the evening.
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Somehow, the most over-the-top praise for Booker came from the GOP pundit on MSNBC in failed former McCain/Palin campaign manager Steve Schmidt, who hailed the “brilliant speech” by a man whose “star has launched tonight, for sure.”
Just as he’s done repeatedly over the years in trashing conservatives (ex. Mark Levin), Schmidt threw his own party under the bus for having no one who could have been a speech like Booker did:
I was thinking, there's not one elective leader in the Republican Party who can give that speech that combines the element of optimism and criticism directed at Trump. The last speech at a Republican convention that had that level of optimism and energy was the one that Arnold Schwarzenegger gave at the 2004 Republican convention. It’s been a long time.
Taking a quick look back at the NewsBusters archives from last week’s Republican National Convention (RNC), a similarly fiery speech by Rudy Giuliani was lambasted as “divisive,” “nutty” and “unhinged.” At the end of the day, it sure helps to be a liberal when it comes to offering a passionate speech because if you’re a conservative, you might be accused of having lost your mind.
The relevant portions of the transcript from the 9:00 p.m. Eastern hour of CNN’s Democratic National Convention coverage on July 25 can be found below.
CNN’s America’s Choice 2016: Democratic National Convention
July 25, 2016
9:56 p.m. Eastern WOLF BLITZER: Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, Jake, that was a powerful, powerful speech, an introduction to the American people from. JAKE TAPPER: He was on Hillary Clinton’s shortlist to be VP and I think though he's not the keynote speaker of this convention, Elizabeth Warren is, that might as well have been the keynote address. That was a crowd pleaser like no speech I've seen at a convention since a young State Senator Barack Obama in 2004.
The relevant portions of the transcript from the 9:00 p.m. Eastern hour of MSNBC’s Democratic National Convention coverage on July 25 can be found below.The United States was struck Tuesday by what appeared to be a coordinate series of terrorist attacks on Washington, D.C., and New York City that have destroyed the World Trade Center and are feared to have left many thousands dead.
Both the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed after being hit by planes. An aircraft also hit the Pentagon in the Washington, D.C., area, causing serious damage. There are reports of a fourth airliner had been brought down near Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, by U.S. military fighters. A fifth plane has crashed in Western Pennsylvania. A car bomb exploded outside the State Department, according to State Department sources.
CBS News reported that as many as eight planes have been hijacked and only four have been accounted for.
President Bush described as the incidents as an "apparent terrorist attack" and "a national tragedy." He said that the U.S. "would hunt down and find" the perpetrators.
The White House has been evacuated and New York City is on full terror alert. The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all outgoing flights in the country. All international flights to U.S. destinations have been diverted to Canada. Military jets flew above New York and Washington following the attacks.
The first incident happened at about 9 a.m. when an American Airlines passenger jet -- that had been reportedly hijacked on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles -- hit the northern tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan's financial district. Shortly afterward, the southern tower was struck by an unmarked plane.
An hour later, the tower collapsed, following what eyewitnesses describe as a series of 15 explosions inside the building. Half an hour after that, the second tower fell, leaving southern Manhattan covered in a pall of smoke and dust.
About 50,000 people work in the World Trade Center. Many were arriving to their jobs when the first plane struck. Workers in buildings across Manhattan were evacuated. The New York stock exchange was closed for the day.
"We looked outside and there was a second plane, it looked like it came from the east side, there were no markings," according to Forbes.com CFO Bob Tomlinson, who was facing the buildings from his Flatiron district office. "[The plane] was big, and dark --brown or black -- it was large, and it had a military look."
The second impact, which happened about 15 minutes after the first, caused an enormous ball of fire and scattered huge chunks of debris on the sidewalks and streets below. The fire could be seen for miles on the clear, cool September day
The attacks come 23 years after the signing of the Camp David Accords on Sept. 17, 1978. That agreement, brokered by President Jimmy Carter between Egyptian President Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin, the then Prime Minister of Israel was supposed to provide a framework for peace in the Middle East.
It also comes eight years after the World Trade Center was bombed in a terrorist attack, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000.
The twin towers of the World Trade Center, one of the most recognizable landmarks in the United States, each have 110 stories, rising up 1,300 feet and are the tallest buildings in New York City and the third tallest buildings on the planet. The towers are home to financial firms like long bond traders Cantor Fitzgerald and mutual fund firm Fred Alger Management, as well as the famous tourist restaurant Windows on the World.Today Google unveiled Google Video Quality Report, "a simple tool to see the level of video quality your Internet service provider can play YouTube." U.S. and Canada-based YouTube watchers can run it on their machines starting now.
According to Google, the report measures the speed at which video bytes are transferred from the host server to your screen and delivers a rating: either YouTube HD verified, Standard Definition, or Lower Definition. The rating report is based on anonymized data from billions of users collected over a 30-day period.
The above video explains Google's reasoning behind launching the report, which basically sums up as: It sucks when a YouTube video takes forever to load. But the real reason for the report is to convince you that it is rarely Google's fault when a video buffers slowly. Who's fault is it? Yours, and your providers.
"We pick the shortest, most direct route," Google's explanatory introduction to the Video Quality Report reads.
When you click play, YouTube carries the video data through its system to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) via the most efficient path possible. Sometimes, exceptional circumstances mean we may need to use a less-direct path.
However, it continues in a more pointed fashion:
When your ISP receives your video from YouTube, they begin the important job of carrying it across their network to your home. They must ensure there’s enough capacity where they receive the data from YouTube. Otherwise, your video streaming quality will suffer.
The report will also let you know if you are the problem, indicating if "your Wi-Fi setup, and other in-home factors such as the number of connected devices" are slowing streaming down. If you are the bottle neck, the report offers some helpful tips for how to get your act together, such as, "make sure your roommates aren't hogging all the bandwidth." One piece of advice, if you're going to march into your roommate's bedroom to ask them to stop streaming so much video, knock first.
Here's how Comcast in San Francisco fared in Google's initial results. Google
The reporting tool will be rolling out to more countries in the coming months.Nathan Fillion is returning to ABC.
The Castle alum has booked a multiple-episode role on the network's Modern Family, co-creator Steve Levitan told reporters Thursday at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour.
Levitan, speaking after an ABC comedy showrunner panel, noted that Fillion will join the Emmy-winning family comedy and play a weatherman who goes by the best TV name yet: Rainer Shine. He will appear in at least three episodes.
Fillion will join Martin Short on the upcoming eighth season of Modern Family, with Levitan also revealing that the Maya and Marty star who next has a role on NBC's Hairspray Live will appear in episode two as Merv Schechter, a promotional maven.
For Fillion, the role marks his return to ABC after the network's surprising decision to cancel Monday night veteran procedural Castle following its eight-season run. The move was the biggest head-scratcher of the upfronts given that the series was produced in-house by ABC Studios, had publicly fired female lead and fan favorite Stana Katic and went through the trouble of negotiating new contracts with its cast — including Fillion — only to ax the sturdy performer in favor of a new roster of procedurals.
For Fillion, the Modern Family role also marks his largest comedy part to date on the small screen. He most recently was among the ensemble cast of web series Con Man and co-starred in Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, among other comedic voice roles. He is repped by CAA and Jackoway Tyerman.
Modern Family is set to return Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.Mexican cartels who have murdered thousands are infiltrating Australia to peddle drugs for maximum profit.
Australian Crime Commission (ACC) chief executive Chris Dawson says the cartels can get higher prices for their drugs in Australia than in Mexico or the US.
"Organised crime is motivated principally by profit and criminals look to exploit markets which offer high returns for low or calculated risk," he said in a statement on Monday.
"Recently, we've seen the emergence of Mexican cartel activity within Australia.
"You only need to look to the violence on the streets in Mexico and the thousands of people who have died at the hands of Mexican drug cartels to realise how dangerous these groups are, and they are now looking at Australia as a destination to facilitate their crime."
A kilogram of cocaine is worth about $A13,500 in Mexico and about $A35,000 in the US.
But if it reaches Australian shores it could fetch about $A250,000.
"While there are additional costs involved in importing cocaine to Australia, this represents a significant mark-up," Mr Dawson said.
"It's a fact the profits of Mexican drug cartels alone rival the GDP of some of the world's smaller nations."
Mr Dawson said the cartels had links to Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs and organised crime groups.
Two Mexican men allegedly linked to a cartel were arrested in Sydney in July.
The ACC and Australian Federal Police (AFP) said at the time they seized about 30kg of suspected crystal methamphetamine with a street value of up to $30 million, guns and about $2 million.
Mr Dawson said the commission and other law enforcement agencies were sharing intelligence with the US and other overseas authorities in a bid to choke the syndicates.
AFP liaison officers based in the US are also engaging with Mexican authorities.
"The AFP also works closely with North American law enforcement liaison officers based Australia," an AFP spokesperson said.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay said the insidious reach of global drug crime was part of the changing face of policing, combining the efforts of state, national and international authorities.
"No longer are crimes being committed in geographical areas," he told reporters on Monday.
"These are very, very violent people, with a history of murder and assault and robbery and peddling poison to our communities.
"This is a challenge that we're going to have to stand up and face."CTF 2006 Overview
Physical Layout
Each team has a color-coded table. The tables are set up in a "U" shape, with the open end facing the wall. The organizers, Kenshoto, are at the center of the room at their circular black table, and had run cables to each of the teams' tables.
Two cables are RJ45 (same as last year), and one cable is RJ11 (uh-oh). One of the RJ45s is an uplink to a switch, and the "team LAN". The network was 192.168.TEAM.0/24. For example, team 3 is on 192.168.3.0/24, with a default route of 192.168.3.1.
Each team is given access to a "team server" (on the "team LAN" as 192.168.TEAM.2) with an "admin" account as well as the "root" password. Many vulnerable services are running here, and it is the center of the contest.
The second RJ45 is a mirror port, showing all network traffic into and out of the server. This is to allow network sniffing so that what is happening on the server can be watched at the network level. Unfortunately, this cable wasn't live until late Saturday. Traffic is all source NAT'd, so it isn't possible to distinguish traffic sources to tell a rival team's attack apart from a Kenshoto service poll.
The RJ11 is a regular phone line that gives each team access to the Kenshoto phone system. You can call other teams by their team number, press "0" for "The Hotline", or press "9" for voicemail. All contest points that require interaction with Kenshoto is over "The Hotline" this year. A big change from last year, which used network clients for scoring the non-overwrite points.
Services
On each server are a large number of |
ba is a willing shot-blocker, and has excellent hockey IQ. He makes a good first pass in his own zone, and is very calm and poised with the puck on his stick. He’s a polished defender who rarely makes a mistake. Offensively Trouba has a great point shot and should grow into a Powerplay role for Michigan. He is the prize recruit in the conference.
Mac Bennett, Defence, Michigan Wolverines: Don’t let his size fool you, Mac Bennett is one of the top defencemen in the CCHA. He is a strong skater, and moves the puck very quickly for the Wolverines. He possesses a good first pass as well as the ability to stickhandle and skate the puck up the ice. On the powerplay Bennett’s good vision and passing skills make him dangerous from the point. Bennett is also a solid defender, as his strong skating and excellent positioning allow him to keep most dangerous forwards at bay. Last season Bennett teamed with Greg Pateryn on the number one shutdown unit for the Wolverines. This season Pateryn is graduated and playing for the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL. Watch to see if a Bennett – Moffie, or Bennett – Trouba pairing is deployed for the Wolverines in key situations this season.
Phil DiGiuseppe, Left Wing, Michigan Wolverines: DiGiuseppe is more a playmaker than a goal scorer at this point in his career. He has extremely good hockey sense, excellent vision, and the ability to make difficult passes, threading the needle through opponents sticks and skates to give a teammate a great scoring chance. He is very good in board battles and in working the cycle in the offensive zone. DiGiuseppe is gritty as he is not afraid to go to the dirty areas of the ice and makes key plays in traffic. He is a tireless worker who is always forechecking hard, battling for loose pucks, and trying to create scoring chances out of nothing. While he is more a playmaker than scorer, Di Giuseppe does possess a good wrist shot and release. Di Giuseppe could use some work on his top end speed and his acceleration as they are merely average. He will also need to work on his defensive game. Still expect the Carolina Hurricanes 2nd round pick to be a key cog in the Wolverine offence.
Dan DeKeyser, Defence, Western Michigan Broncos: DeKeyser was the most sought after defenceman among undrafted college free agents last season. He drew multiple NHL scouts and GMs to Western Michigan to watch him play and there were rumors of a number of Entry Level Contracts on the table following the end of last season. DeKeyser ultimately decided to return for at least one more year with the Broncos but he should again be highly sought after next season. He is an extremely good skater with good stickhandling skills and the ability to lead the rush offensively. On the powerplay he has a powerful slaps shot and one timer. It is extremely accurate and he keeps his shots low leading to rebounds and deflections for his teammates. DeKeyser is also a top defencemen in his own end where he uses strong positioning and a long, active stick to break up plays. He is also strong enough to win board battles, and to keep the front of the net clear. DeKeyser is will be asked to play big minutes for the Broncos and will be used in all situations by the team.
Anders Lee, Centre, Nortre Dame Fighting Irish: Lee is the thunder in his thunder and lightning combination with T.J. Tynan. A big and strong forward, Lee plays the prototypical power forward game, protecting the puck well, having great balance on his skates, and using his speed and acceleration to drive the net hard. He is an excellent forechecker who opposing defenders always have to be aware of, or they can find themselves on the wrong end of a thunderous body check. Lee is a natural goal scorer who has soft hands in tight and a powerful shot with an excellent release. Now entering his junior season, the new Irish captain, and Islanders prospect might be playing his last year in the NCAA before going pro. He could be in the running for both the CCHA MVP award and the Hobey Baker trophy this season.
T.J. Tynan, Right Wing, Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Tynan is a very different player from Lee, but as the lightning end of the combination they compliment each other perfectly. At just 5’9″ tall, Tynan is undersized, but he makes up for it with his great speed and playmaking ability. He is one of the rare forwards with the ability to control the puck at top speed and this makes him very dangerous off the rush. He has great hockey sense, fantastic vision, and is one of the best passers in college hockey. He can thread the puck through the eye of a needle at times, and can be deadly accurate with a saucer pass. Tynan should be the setup man for Lee this season, and if he can bulk up a little the Columbus Prospect could see himself playing pro hockey at this time next year.
Austin Czarnik, Centre, Miami (Ohio) RedHawks: An undersized playmaker, Czarnik proved his value by leading all CCHA rookies in points last season. Czarnik is an excellent stickhandler who controls the puck and the play, while maintaining great poise. He uses his vision and pin point passing skills to set up scoring chances for teammates and is especially lethal with extra time and space on the powerplay. He’ll be a key returning player for the RedHawks and will need to play an even bigger role than he did last season. Defensively responsible, don’t be surprised if the RedHawks match Czarnik’s line against the best players in the CCHA.
Matthew Kirzinger, Centre, Ferris State Bulldogs: The Saskatchewan Native is another undersized forward at just 5’10” tall. He is an absolute speedster though, and may be one of the fastest players in the conference. He combines that speed with excelletn stickhandling ability which makes him a big time threat off the rush. He plays a much grittier game that you would think he’d be capable of at his size, as Kerzinger is not afraid to mix it up in the corners or in front of the net. Kerzinger put up 34 points in 42 games for the National Runner-Up Bulldogs last season, and he will be asked to lead the Bulldogs offence this season as they attempt to avenge the loss to Boston College. A senior, Kerzinger will also be looking to impress scouts as he looks for a pro contract after this season.
Willie Yankeff, Goalie, Michigan State Spartans: Yankeff lead the conference with a 0.927 save percentage as a freshman and followed it up with a solid 0.922 save percentage last season. The junior goalie keeps the young Spartans in games, even when they are outmatched talent wise. Yankeff is another tall butterfly goalie who uses his big frame, and quick legs to take away the shooters options, especially down low. He also has an excellent glove hand which covers the top of the net. If Yankeff can work on his rebound control he will surely find himself with pro contract offers.
Chris Crane, Right Wing, Ohio State Buckeyes: Crane was the Buckeyes top scorer last season tallying 14 goals for the club. The San Jose Sahrks prospect is a force in board battles and loves to hang out in front of the net where he bangs in rebounds and looks for deflections. He is extremely strong on his skates and very difficult to knock off the puck when he plays the cycle game. He will need to work on his speed and acceleration before he thinks about making the jump to the next level.
Kyle Follmer, Defence, Northern Michigan Wildcats: Follmer is an extremely physical defenceman who has developed on offensive game for the Wildcats. Always a threat to throw a big hit in his own end, and very good at clearing the front of the net, Follmer has recently developed more poise at the offensive end. He is now comfortable with the puck on his stick and has become the Wildcats primary quarterback on the powerplay. With some work on his acceleration, Follmer could find a pro contract waiting for him at the end of his senior year.
Andrew Hammond, Goalie, Bowling Green Falcons: Amazingly Hammond started all 44 games for Bowling Green last season. The young goalie showed no ill effects, as he was at his best in the CCHA playoffs where he stood on his head leading the Falcons to an upset win over Ferris State in the first round, and forcing Michigan to a double overtime thriller in the Conference Semis. Hammond is a solid butterfly goalie who has the ability to steal games for the young Falcons team. He returns for his senior season after attending a Chicago Blackhawks development camp this summer. Another great season could net him pro offers next year.
Feel free to leave your own comments below and to follow me on twitter @LastwordBKerr
Check out our new hockey radio show “Puckheads” every Wednesday at 10pm, available here. Feel free to call in and ask our hockey experts the questions you want to know. Podcasts of previous episodes are in the sidebar, and on blogtalkradio.UNION CITY — A San Jose State basketball player was kicked off the team after he was one of five people arrested last weekend on suspicion of robbing a man and using his credit card to buy food at an In-N-Out fast-food restaurant, according to police.
Terrell Brown, 19, who just finished his freshman season at the university, and the other suspects were taken into custody by Union City police on suspicion of robbery, criminal threats, possession of stolen property, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Early Friday afternoon, SJSU men’s head basketball coach Dave Wojcik announced Brown was dismissed from the team for violating team rules.
Brown, from Hayward, started nine games for San Jose State during the 2016-17 season, averaging 7.2 points, 1.7 assists and 1.6 rebounds in 25 games, according to the team’s website. He graduated from Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward.
On May 27 at 1:10 a.m., a man told Union City police he had been robbed by a group of people who punched him multiple times and took his wallet, phone and belt. The robbery occurred in the vicinity of Mariner Park off Union City Boulevard.
While he was being interviewed by police, the man checked his bank account and saw that one of the stolen credit cards had just been used at an In-N-Out at Union Landing, about two miles away. Related Articles Men charged in Contra Costa home fire-bombings
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Officers went to the fast-food restaurant and located two vehicles that matched the descriptions of the suspect vehicles. Officers detained the people inside the vehicles and located the victim’s personal belongings, according to Union City police Lt. Jeff Snell.
“It came to our attention he was on the team,” Snell said of Brown.
Police also arrested Vanessa Sanchez, 18, of Citrus Heights; Justin Bell, 19, and Kris Garrido, 19, both from Oakland and Dvan Molden, 19, of Antioch. All five were booked into Alameda County jail on suspicion of robbery, criminal threats, possession of stolen property, and conspiracy to commit a crime, according to police.Canadians who are missing or stranded in Nepal or who have loved ones there say they have had to become their own detectives as they search for information about how to get help after the weekend's devastating earthquake.
The Canadian government, they say, has left them with little information and relying on Americans or well-connected strangers.
Lisa Glowacki of Vancouver said as soon as she heard news of the quake, she began to reach out to authorities to find out whether her sister was dead or alive. Her sister, Barbara Rose-Lovett, a nurse practitioner working in Nepal, was due to leave the country just hours before the earthquake hit. She has been in the village of Lapa since February, training villagers in basic health care for the organization Himalayan HealthCare.
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Glowacki quickly learned that Lapa – located in the Dhading District, Northwest of Kathmandu, according to the organization's web site – was among the hardest hit. On Monday night, Glowacki finally received an email response from the Canadian consul's office telling her she could expect a response to her query within three business days.
"If it wasn't so serious it would be laughable."
So far, all of the information that Glowacki has is third-hand.
She said Anil, Himalayan Healthcare's man on the ground in Kathmandu has been her only point of contact. From him, Glowacki learned that there had been a flight that took three evacuees out of the village.
"Someone on that flight passed onto Anil that Barb is OK," she said. "Her house has collapsed. They don't have any shelter. They are living outside and eating food that's still in the community… in the gardens."
In Nepal, Canadians Mark McDermott and Roel Teunissen were hoping to get on a military transport plane on Wednesday to return to home from the earthquake-ravaged country. But McDermott said Tuesday they've now been told the plane will only take evacuees to New Delhi, where they'll have to find commercial flights home on their own.
That would leave them in a worse situation than they currently have in the U.S. embassy in Kathmandu, where his group and many others have gathered while they await their scheduled flight on May 17, he said. In New Delhi, however, they'd likely have to camp out at the airport.
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The Canadian Forces said Tuesday that a C-17 transport plane carrying some personnel and supplies is scheduled to land in Kathmandu on Wednesday local time. It would also be able to fly up to 100 passengers to New Delhi once it is ready to leave. A second C-17 has left Canada carrying more equipment and people and is expected to be in Nepal on Thursday.
McDermott said neither he nor Teunissen will go to New Delhi, and they haven't heard of any other evacuation efforts. He added there's been a dearth of information from Canadian officials.
Teunissen said once they were able to contact the Canadian consulate after the quake, the honorary Canadian consul told them it was a very big emergency and they weren't equipped to handle it at the consulate. He said the honorary consul, a Nepalese man, told them to seek help elsewhere.
However, the honorary consul's assistant in Kathmandu told The Canadian Press by telephone early Tuesday that he "doubted the consul would have said that."
On Monday, when Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson was asked about stories of Canadians being turned away from the consulate when they sought information, he responded that he has instructed the honorary consul there "to work with these individuals on a 24-hour basis to get them the help that they need."
The department did not respond Tuesday to questions about the number of Canadians stranded or missing in Nepal.
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Canadian officials have now arrived in Kathmandu and are helping with emergency travel documents and other assistance, Foreign Affairs said Tuesday. They have established a service point at the Phora Durbar American Club in central Kathmandu.
Other Canadian diplomats are standing by in New Delhi to help evacuated Canadians.
In the meantime, an email from Foreign Affairs to Canadians in Nepal said they should "consider leaving using available commercial means." It said Canadian officials "are working on plans to assist Canadians who are unable to leave via commercial means and require evacuation using DND flights."
After leaving the Canadian consulate, McDermott said they called the U.S. Embassy, which arranged a drive over, a place to sleep, food and the ability to communicate with family and friends. They've been told they can stay until their flight mid-May.
Kandy Barker said her nephew, Fraser, was also initially turned away by Canadian officials in Kathmandu as he sought news of his parents, who haven't been heard from since the earthquake struck. But he is scheduled to meet with officials today, she said.
Bruce and Kathy Macmillan, of St. Albert, Alta., were trekking in the Langdang region and were supposed to meet up with their two adult sons in Kathmandu on Monday, she said.
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Talking to officials in Ottawa hasn't proven any more helpful, Barker said. Her sister called a government hotline for people whose relatives are still unaccounted for and got a "standardized, formatted" message, she said.
"The government told her, 'Go to social media and put the name out on Facebook and Twitter,"' Barker said. "OK, we've done that, but we need more from the government."
- With files from The Canadian PressYes...there are many things in my life that cause pain, but they do not define me. This is not to say that we should not be sad, grieve, or reflect on that which pains us. Rather, we should use these 'things' as a point of growth. It is important to make honest self-assessments of who we are and where we are emotionally, spiritual, and physically. I don't think it is OK to let the negative define us. Pema Chödrön calls this a stuck pattern. Darkness will only lead to more darkness. On the worse of day...all I need to do is put a smile on my face and in an instant my disposition changes. It may only be for a moment...but sometimes that is all I really need. It is kind of like a defibrillation for the soul. I know first hand just how embarrassing it is to acknowledge that which brings pain in my life. I would suggest it took me 7+ years to accept there was something wrong with me. (PTSD) It was painful to seek help. Pema Chödrön suggests that there is much healing in recognizing what is causing pain. I agree. It is very therapeutic to just talk about "it!"
“…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”
― Pema Chödrön
Perhaps, instead of labeling and criticizing everything, you can just..."think" about it. Basically, changing your perspective. Much like a smile, it will change your current disposition.
The graphic above perfectly illustrates a common misunderstanding. YOU are already the best you can be. You're perfect. You are always "Full," no matter what. What determines your happiness...is...YOU and what you chose to focus on. No matter how bad things are for you right now...somewhere there is someone who wishes they were you...because that would be easier. You can make things easier. You have all the tools you need. Change your perspective. Be grateful for that which you have. There is an old sage advice that suggests that if you want everything you have...then you will have everything you need. Use that which pains you as a point of growth and healing.
For the record...this isn't easy! It takes work. Lots of it! I struggle with this all the time. It is very easy to allow myself to sit in the corner of my couch and avoid everything. It is also just as easy to get up...and take action. For me, that is yoga and meditation. Without these practices...I have no idea where I would be today...or worse...who I would be.It can be purchased from http://shop.gluglug.org.uk.
The FSF has had a call out for a laptop sold with a free OS and free boot system since 2005. Today it announced that the call has been met.
"Finally there is a free software laptop that respects your freedom as it comes from the store," stated Richard M. Stallman, founder and president of the FSF.
The boot programs (such as a BIOS) run when a computer is turned on and their primary purpose is to initialize the hardware before loading the operating system. Computer makers not only install nonfree boot programs, but they also have made it notoriously difficult for free software developers to have access to the necessary hardware specifications and information needed to produce free software replacements.
When a user purchases a product that bears the Respects Your Freedom certification mark, they can be confident they are receiving a product that comes with a free boot program and OS, as well as documentation under free licenses, multimedia unencumbered by proprietary formats, and the assurance it is not known to contain any backdoors and is not designed to share users' information without their knowledge (e.g. spyware).
"This announcement comes at a time when people have a heightened concern over controlling their data and securing their communication. Proprietary software is by nature fundamentally insecure, because it uses both force of law and technological measures to prohibit a user from controlling and securing her own computer. This new complete system runs on free software and is backed by the FSF's commitment to do our best at ensuring respect for your freedom and privacy," said FSF executive director John Sullivan.
The Gluglug X60 laptops are refurbished models of Lenovo's ThinkPad®† X60. Gluglug has updated the computer by adding a modern wifi chipset, replacing the proprietary BIOS with a free software boot system made by modifying Coreboot to remove all proprietary microcode and proprietary blobs, and replacing the proprietary Microsoft Windows OS with the FSF-endorsed, Trisquel GNU/Linux OS.
"The Gluglug X60 laptop is a major victory for computer users and supporters of the Free BIOS campaign. Not only has Gluglug produced a 100% free version of Coreboot that carries freedom to each user, but it has made it easy and fun to install updates, which in my experience, make real and noticeable improvements to the operation of the laptop. I also found that despite the hardware being a few years old, the Gluglug X60 remains a durable machine that is more than capable of running modern GNU/Linux distro," added Joshua Gay, the licensing & compliance manager who heads-up the FSF's RYF certification program.
Leah Rowe of Gluglug issued the following statement:
Gluglug is very proud to have achieved RYF certification and we will always try to exceed the requirements. The mission of Gluglug is to promote free software in a practical way by making it easy to find a system built for total freedom. With the X60 laptops sold through the site you get everything: free boot program, free operating system, free drivers, free applications. The machines also come pre-fitted with a new 802.11n wireless card that is fully compatible with free software. The machines come fully loaded with Trisquel GNU/Linux, and they can also have gNewSense or Parabola GNU/Linux installed on request. With the Gluglug X60, you get full source code for all of the tools used to create the boot program, plus documentation. If you want to hack your machine, you can. That's really the whole concept. You also get updates, so when the Gluglug makes a substantial change to the firmware it ships, you will receive a copy of it along with documentation for how to flash it and tweak it to your needs. A project like this is especially important in this day and age when more and more devices are becoming locked down with things like Restricted Boot, and containing hardware-based backdoors. The Gluglug provides an opt-out for that kind of mistreatment.
To learn more about the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification, including details on the certification of the Gluglug X60 laptops, as well as information on source code for the device, visit http://www.fsf.org/ryf. Hardware sellers interested in applying for certification can consult criteria at http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/criteria.
For those needing to purchase other hardware, the FSF recommends http://h-node.org database, as well as direct users toward hardware sellers that offer laptops with GNU/Linux preinstalled. The FSF is also asking supporters to write to Intel asking for the company to ship laptops with a free boot system to begin with, so that users can buy brand new freedom-respecting hardware in the future.
About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
About Gluglug
The Gluglug is a Canvey Island, Essex, UK based company dedicated to Free Software. We sell computers that are made to respect the freedom of users to study and hack their machine. Visit http://shop.gluglug.org.uk.
Media Contacts
Joshua Gay
Licensing & Compliance Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
licensing@fsf.org
Leah Rowe
Founder & CEO
Gluglug
info@gluglug.org.uk
†ThinkPad is a registered trademark of Lenovo.A 25-year-old Italian cyclist was allegedly car-doored on a notorious road in Melbourne's inner north before being hit by a truck and killed.
Victoria Police said the man, an Italian national, was cycling south on Sydney Road just after 4:00pm when a person in a parked car opened their door, knocking him onto the road.
He was then struck by a passing truck and died at the scene, police said.
He was believed to have been cycling with his partner at the time of the incident.
Both the truck driver and the occupant of the parked car were assisting police with enquiries.
Sydney Rd has one of the highest accident rates for cyclists in the state, prompting police and VicRoads to conduct an "enforcement and awareness" campaign over the summer.
In December last year, Adam Maguire from VicRoads said 85 cyclists had been involved in crashes on the road in the past five years.
"It's a very high rate, it's very alarming," Mr Maguire said.
He said many of those crashes involved car doors being opened into the path of cyclists, and cyclists colliding with oncoming traffic while attempting to turn right.
"We really want cyclists to be safe, we want people to respect each other and understand that they are sharing the road space together," he said at the time.
Police appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident to contact Crime Stoppers.D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare bike-sharing program has been a great success (despite its rather small size). Paris’ Velib bike-sharing program rocked the world with its tremendous, unprecedented success. Barcelona’s Bicing program was much more successful than originally anticipated. And so on and so on. Now, it’s being reported that Boston’s new bike-sharing program is a great success, even much more successful than originally anticipated.
But, seriously, no one should be surprised. Biking is a ton of fun, extremely convenient in dense cities (and most cities, to be honest), and is quite cheap. Making bicycling that much easier with easy-to-access, easy-to-use bike-sharing programs like these is a recipe for success.
Here’s more on the Boston bike-sharing program:
In its first month, Boston’s European-style bicycle sharing-system pedaled past expectations, attracting riders more than twice as fast as similar programs in Denver and Minneapolis. As of Aug. 28, the one-month mark, the program known as Hubway had attracted 2,319 annual subscribers and witnessed 36,612 station-to-station trips. At its current clip, the system is on track to surpass 100,000 rides before Halloween. … In addition to annual members, more than 10,000 tourists and casual riders have signed up for one-day ($5) or three-day ($12) memberships to ride the nearly 600 bikes scattered among 53 stations. An annual membership costs $85, but has been discounted to $60 until Oct. 1.
Congrats to Boston. Hope it continues to grow at a rapid pace.
I know I’ve been using & loving Wrocław’s new bike-sharing program more and more. Happy to see more and more of these popping up around the world.
Image Credit: Some rights reserved by notladj2015 Ally Skills Tutorial at ICFP
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About the Ally Skills Tutorial
Please save the date for the 2015 Ally Skills Tutorial, brought to you by the Association for Computing Machinery and SIGPLAN (a Special Interest Group of ACM that focuses on Programming Languages) in partnership with the Ada Initiative. Admission to the tutorial is free for all attendees of ICFP or affiliated workshops or symposia, thanks to generous financial support from ACM/SIGPLAN.
The Ada Initiative (TAI) is a non-profit organization that helps women get and stay involved in open source, open data, open education, and other areas of free and open technology and culture. TAI welcomes women of all kinds, and specifically welcomes trans women and genderqueer women; they strive to be an intersectional social justice organization. The 2015 Ally Skills Tutorial will be taught by TAI co-founder Valerie Aurora (former Executive Director, current Director of Training).
The Ally Skills Tutorial teaches men simple, everyday ways to support women in their workplaces and communities. Participants learn techniques that work at the office, in classrooms, at conferences, and online. The skills we teach are relevant everywhere, including skills particularly relevant to open technology and culture communities. At the end of the tutorial, participants will feel more confident in speaking up to support women, be more aware of the challenges facing women in their workplaces and communities, and have closer relationships with the other participants. This tutorial will be tailored to the ICFP community and intended to be useful for those working in academia, in industry, and as open-source volunteers. Allies are people who are not themselves part of a particular group, but support people in that group. Men can be allies to women and non-binary-identified people in technology, if they choose to be. This tutorial is designed for male allies, but people of all genders are welcome to attend, and many of the skills transfer to supporting people in racial, sexuality-based, ability-based, and other marginalized minorities in computer science.
We especially encourage faculty members and people in a leadership role in industry or open source to attend; the tutorial is open to people at all levels: independent volunteers and researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, faculty members, engineers working in industry, and managers working in industry (not an exhaustive list).
When and Where
About the Organizers
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can attend this tutorial?
Why do we need to have a tutorial like this at ICFP?
The Ally Skills Tutorial is happening for at least four reasons:
We may feel that our community is civil and welcoming, but the numbers show otherwise. All you need to do is to look around at the audience during any ICFP keynote to notice who's missing. If women, as well as people in many other marginalized groups, are absent, that is because the community is doing something to make them feel unwelcome. This process is usually unintentional, but it can be countered through intentional action, like with tactics that attendees of this tutorial will learn. We may feel that our community is civil and welcoming, but it will not stay that way without intentional effort. By attending the tutorial, you will learn how to maintain the legacy of acceptance and humility that many of the leaders of the functional programming community have created, and how to inspire the new generation of functional programmers to pursue their enthusiasm for beauty and elegance while leaving their sexism and misogyny at the door. Throughout the field of technology, a reactionary wave of misogyny has been gaining strength in recent years -- for background, read Kathy Sierra's essay "Trouble at the Kool-Aid Point" and Zachary Jason's Boston magazine article on GamerGate, Game of Fear. (Content note: both articles vividly describe harassment and stalking of women, as well as domestic violence.) The initial targets of this reactionary movement were women in the video game industry, but it is spreading to target all women in technology. Even though functional programming is a field with strongly academic roots, as we achieve success in industry we become more vulnerable to the problems with gender-based, race-based, and sexuality-based hostility that beset the technology industry. For further reading, the comments on a Reddit thread about this tutorial should provide all the evidence needed as to why this tutorial is sorely needed. Some of the commenters may be trolls with no real connection to the functional programming community, but others may be your students, your colleagues, and your open-source collaborators. What happens on the Internet also happens in real life, both because the Internet is real life and because people who are actively sexist and misogynist find ways to enact their views even in contexts that aren't as disinhibiting as an Internet comment thread. Relatedly, the men's rights movement (MRM) (recognized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group based in the US) has had a longstanding influence on a subset of the same group of bright, alienated young men who often find a place to apply their talents in fields based on mathematics and logic. The MRM promotes hate for women and for any men who do not fit into a rigid set of behavior-based stereotypes. The MRM must be taken very seriously: for example, it influenced Elliot Rodger to commit the 2014 Isla Vista murders (content note: gendered violence against women, up to homicide). As functional programming picks up more interest, especially from people who are already in technology, faculty members and managers need to strengthen their abilities to build professional communities that welcome all people while declining to tolerate behaviors that drive marginalized people out.
Are there a limited amount of spaces available for this tutorial?
Why does the tutorial description emphasize men as the audience (e.g. "The Ally Skills Tutorial teaches men simple, everyday ways to support women in their workplaces and communities")?
Men (more specifically: people who both self-identify as men and are consistently accorded male privilege by other people) are the primary, though not the only, beneficiaries of structural sexism, and men have the power both to perpetuate sexism and to undo it. We are promoting this tutorial primarily to men in the FP community because we believe that's the most fair and most effective way to spread knowledge about how to resist and unmake structural sexism. Anybody who wants to attend the tutorial, regardless of their gender, is welcome and encouraged to apply.
How do I apply for this tutorial?
When will I know whether I have been accepted to participate in the tutorial?
July 15, 2015
How do I register for this tutorial?
If more than 50 people apply, how will you choose who attends the tutorial?
If fewer than 50 people apply, is every applicant guaranteed admission to the tutorial?
Will the tutorial be subject to a code of conduct?
Will the tutorial be videotaped?
How can I contact the organizer with any questions?
Last updated 2015-05-22How a rainy Sunday evening package delivery mixed with Sons of Anarchy binge watching convinced me I was about to be murdered.
Around 5:45 P.M. yesterday my phone rang from an unknown number. It was a 424 area code — that’s L.A.’s n00b area code, and gets the respect of, say, a “.info” or “.name” website — and I didn’t answer. I never answer unknown numbers. I figure there’s nothing good that can come of taking the calls; if it’s really important, the person will leave a message. And it’s never important. At least 90 percent of the mysterious calls I’ve received in the past five years have been from a Nissan dealership trying to get me to buy another Nissan.
But something different happened this time. After the call went to voicemail, my phone immediately started ringing again. Same 424 number.
I still didn’t answer. This time he left a voicemail.
“Hi, this call’s for Samuel Greenspan. This is the Amazon driver, there’s a package on the other side of your gate. Um… thank you.”
From that voicemail, I could only draw one conclusion.
There’s a guy here to murder me.
My reasoning behind that theory was rock solid.
1 | I hadn’t ordered anything from Amazon in a few weeks
And this isn’t a scenario where I ordered something but forgot. (“An Amazon package? But I didn’t order– oh right, Cool Runnings on DVD and longer iPhone charging cord!”) I definitively had not placed an order on Amazon in several weeks.
2 | What the hell is an “Amazon driver”?
I know Amazon has weird deals with the Post Office now for Sunday deliveries, but would the postal worker call himself an “Amazon driver”? Nope.
3 | I’ve received — no exaggeration — 45 billion packages from Amazon, and very single one was just left on my steps or at the gate or in a bush or with a homeless person outside
No driver has ever tried to actually make the handoff directly to me, not even with big ticket items.
4 | It was raining outside
Sure, maybe he wanted to hand the package to me to keep it from getting wet — but wouldn’t it make more sense to just drop the package as quickly as possible then get back into the dry car?
5 | “There’s a package on the other side of your gate”
I snuck around to take a peak in front of the gate. There was NOT a package on the other side of my gate.
6 | If I were trying to lure someone outside for a murder, I’d probably use this same “um… you got a package” technique
7 | I’ve been binge watching Sons of Anarchy and every time anything even 2 percent unusual happens, someone’s about to get murdered
An “Amazon driver” calling was more than 2 percent unusual. Thus, murder.
I decided to get my guard dog, Reggie, on the case. Unfortunately, my guard dog is a 10-pound chihuahua. Still, he barks like crazy whenever any intruder is within a 20-foot radius of the house, so |
will owe the generals who are supporting him, because although the bulk of the mass-murdering generals are affiliated in one way or another with the coup movement, there’s another fraction who are backing Jokowi and helping him to fend off the coup movement, and are getting—exacting a de facto guarantee. “Hey, we’re keeping you alive here. No prosecution, right? No public exposure of our crimes. No humiliation for the atrocities that we have committed.” So, whichever way it turns out, in their mind—and there’s certainly reason to think that it’s a not unreasonable expectation— justice and accountability lose—loses, and the army wins.
AMY GOODMAN: Is Jokowi aware of the Trump connections to the supporters of the coup movement?
ALLAN NAIRN: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I don’t know when this will air, but as we are speaking, as this is being recorded, next week, on Wednesday, the Jakarta gubernatorial election is due to happen. That’s when it will be decided whether the governor, who is the kind of pretext for this street movement, will be voted in or voted out as—
AMY GOODMAN: This is April 19th.
ALLAN NAIRN: —as governor. Yes. And the day after the scheduled gubernatorial election, Vice President Mike Pence is due to arrive in Indonesia for two days and to meet with President Jokowi. Now, one interesting aspect of this is: Where does the U.S. stand on all of this? Because, on the one hand, the U.S. has a longtime policy, in countries around the world, of backing the repressive armies and security forces, but, on the other hand, also backing elected presidents—as long as those elected presidents do not have a program that threatens U.S. corporate interests or the interests of the local rich or the fact that the U.S. is allowed to back the local army and security forces. Barring that, the U.S. is all for local elected presidents. So, in accord with that historic worldwide policy, the U.S. has, up to this moment—as far as I know, up until at least recently, been backing Jokowi against the coup movement.
But it’s Trump’s local people who have been helping to push the coup movement. Now, I don’t know whether this question has come to the attention of President Trump himself. It could come to his attention through his business partner, Hary Tanoe, through his main Indonesian political partner, Fadli Zon, through his other business partner, Setya Novanto, who is a famously corrupt politician, or it could come to his attention through Carl Icahn, who is close to Trump, is his deregulation adviser from the White House and who is the controlling shareholder of Freeport-McMoRan, the oil and—the mining giant of copper and gold which has been ravaging West Papua, taking their gold and copper, but which—and this is quite significant—recently has been under challenge from the Jokowi government. For years, Freeport-McMoRan has had a free ride in Indonesia. As long as they paid off General Suharto and his cronies, as long as they paid off the army, various bureaucrats, they were able to do whatever they want. They were able to just strip the mountains of West Papua, turn the rivers indescribable primary colors from their pollution, knock off their dissident workers when necessary. They were able to do anything. But now, just in the past year and a half or so, they have been under challenge from the Jokowi government, which is demanding a renegotiation of the contract between the Indonesian government and Freeport-McMoRan, and which has been restricting Freeport’s copper exports. So this is creating a problem for Icahn, a serious economic problem for Carl Icahn. As this conflict between the Jokowi government and Icahn’s Freeport has been going on, the local lawyer for Icahn’s Freeport has been helping to lead the coup movement to oust—to oust Jokowi.
Now, I don’t know how much Trump knows about this, but I know there’s some question among some officials in Indonesia as to, in the end, which side will the U.S. come down—come down on. Will it continue the traditional U.S. policy of wanting to keep an elected president in for kind of stability purposes and front purposes, or might it align with Trump’s personal and business connections on the other side, who are backing the coup?
AMY GOODMAN: Investigative journalist Allan Nairn. We’ll link to his piece at The Intercept.
Tune in tomorrow for our coverage of the march on—of the March for Science in Washington. And on Sunday, I’ll be speaking at Princeton University. Special thanks to Sam Alcoff and Mike Burke.If you’re a parent, how many times have you been bummed out when shopping for your daughter, and you’re staring down a sea of pink, ponies and sparkles?
Girls like dinosaurs, space and other science-related topics, too, but there just aren’t as many options for them when it comes to expressing their favorite interests with their clothes.
That’s where a new Kickstarter campaign comes in: The campaign aims to fund buddingSTEM, a science-minded clothing startup that will make rad clothes with astronauts, spaceships — and, yes, dinosaurs — for young girls. The idea of local women Malorie Catchpole and Jennifer Muhm, buddingSTEM will make T-shirts, leggings, dresses and onesies that feature these cool things that girls love.
Just launched, with 28 days to go, they’ve already got 70 backers with more than $6,000 raised toward their $45,000 goal.
GeekWire got a chance to talk with Muhm about the project. Continue reading for excerpts from the conversation.
Tell us more about the idea for the company.
Muhm: Malorie’s daughter is really into trains, and my daughter is into astronauts and space. We have had the conversation about children’s products, and the “princess” problem in general.
Then in 2013, when my daughter was almost 4, she wanted to be an astronaut for Halloween. We started getting these kids’ costume catalogs in the mail, and all the costumes marketed to girls were princess or cat themes. Boys got to be astronauts and firefighters, and my daughter looked at the catalog and said, “I can’t be an astronaut because that costume is for boys.”
At that very moment, my heart stopped, and I thought, if I don’t handle this in the right way, this is going to shape what she thinks she can be as a girl moving forward. And it happens so early, ages 2 to 4.
The great story we tell in the Kickstarter video is when Malorie’s daughter asked for train underwear, and it was only sold in the boys’ section, but Malorie and Dan [Catchpole, Malorie’s husband] decided to buy it anyway for Christmas. It was a week after, in the Chipotle parking lot, when we ran into them and started talking, “We really need to think about this, to make underwear for girls with dinosaurs and trains and all these things that girls really like that doesn’t exist for them.”
The more we talked about it, it was like, “Why just do underwear?” There really are no leggings or dresses, and really only a smattering of T-shirts out there for girls in traditional “boy” things.
What were the next steps?
Malorie is an attorney, and I work in public affairs, so neither of us have a background in fashion. Once we had the idea, we started doing a lot of research and talking with family, friends and contacts. We met with at least a couple dozen people about this time last year, and we got our business license established and started looking at manufacturers.
Last June, we went to LA to attend a kids’ clothing trade show, and that confirmed for us that there really are no products like this available. We met with manufacturers there to learn about the whole process. We’ve also done an extensive search for fabrics as well and really couldn’t even find a fabric selection. So it was like, “OK, we’re going to have to design the fabric ourselves.” Through different contacts, we found a textile designer to take our sketches into a print. Then once we had designs made, we had them screen-printed in LA.
Once you achieve your Kickstarter goal, what’s next?
When we’re fully funded, we can go into production with our first two prints with T-shirt dresses, leggings and T-shirts, and then we also will be able to start working on additional prints. At least through Facebook and personal conversations, we’ve had moms request T-shirts, pajama pants or yoga pants, so who knows? Maybe we’ll do adult products at some point.
How soon will the clothes be on the market?
We’re anticipating to be on sale in July. We plan to sell through our website, but we’ve also done a lot of research on where a lot of local children’s boutiques do their buying, and we’ve met with a couple people who do the wholesaling in LA. That’s a possibility for us, too, to work through LA Fashion Market or another rep to work with buyers to get them into stores.
Do you have other expansion ideas?
Not to give away our great ideas, but I think there’s such a need for products like this for girls — that these aren’t just boys’ things — these are for all kids. All kids love dinosaurs. All kids love trains. All kids love space. It feels unlimited at this point where we could go with it.
Backpacks, bedding, when you go into a store, or catalog, or go online, there are very gender-specific items. Girls get ponies and ballet slippers, boys get the dinosaurs, trucks and trains. Seeing it as a parent, with my own child saying, “I can’t do this.” We can say, “Not only are there a lot of great female astronauts through this project, but hey, if you don’t like the way something is, or think it needs to change, you can do that yourself. You can be a leader and you can help create that change.”What should you learn together with Ruby on Rails??
This article is here to clarify some of the “other” skills that you should know besides Ruby on Rails, if you want to build a web app. It will also give you a direction to where to learn these.
When I was learning programing for the very first time, I though that I will read a few books and then I will know how to do it and I will just… do it. Well, I was wrong. Learning the basics is just a start. Especially today with new technologies coming up every now and then, you need to stay current. Also, with just the raw knowledge of the language and the framework, you would be on your own for everything. There are plenty of ways how to make your programming tasks easier, just because someone already figured the problem out. You need to be able to gain from these past experience so that you can focus on your goals. Programming is not a solo job and you shouldn’t try do do everything on your own either! Here is the list:
1) Ruby
Of course, it is Ruby itself which you can not avoid. It is the most important part of all of these, because everything depends on the language. You may think that learning Rails will get you the fundamentals in Ruby, but sooner or later you will come across a real programming issue where you will have to prove that you understand the language. Learning Rails is easy, but learning Ruby may be the real challenge - especially if it is your first programming language. You should take it seriously and really spend some time with it. I could recommend plenty of books, tutorials or courses but I will rather give you and URL for a interesting site full of links - check out I want to learn Ruby. (Well, for me personally, the best guide is the to Learn Program
2) Object oriented programming
Knowing the language does not guarantee that you will use it corectly. There is something called object oriented programming. I am sure you have heard of it, but do you know what it means? Do you know the common design patterns? Do you know why it is important not to make a classes with more than one responsibility? You will catch most of this stuff as you go, but you definitely should take a look at it.
I would only rarely recommend a book, because I know how frustrating it can be to put a bunch of books in front of someone who just wants to start coding. This time I will make an exception and I will recommend a book, but I am not saying to read it. I am saying to go through it, to look at it and just get a taste of OOP. Read only what interests you. The book is Practical object oriented design in Ruby. This stuff is what matters, if you understand the design of how things should be dealt. When you will be on an interview in a future, they will not ask you about names of methods or something that you can forgot (and what you can easily google). They will ask you how would you make your classes and relationships between them in the best possible way, they would want to know your design decisions. They will be asking about object oriented programming.
3) Database
Every application needs a place to store its data. You have probably met only the basic one which come right along with your new Rails appliaction. This default is the SQlite database. Rails is so cool that you do not need to know the language used for data manipulation (called SQL). I will not tell you to learn that language either, but I encourage you to discover at least little bit about your database. For example, how you do open its console? How you switch to another database? When you start working as a developer it is very likely you will have to deal with these questions.
It is also very likely that you will deal with other databases. These days it is cool to use so called NoSQL databases like MongoDB, CouchDB or Reddis. Of course you don’t need to know them all. It is natural to learn how it works during a project. But it would be a shame to not even know that the database can be switched for a different one, or that some databases don’t even need migrations. Nice and brief tutorial is for eample on Tutsplus or on geekgirl’s.
What I think is the best, because it will give you everything and much more in a very pleasent form (video lectures with an super nice guy) is the Lynda.com course. I always watched the Lynda courses before going to sleep or while doing something else and I learned much more than if I would just read a tutorial. This guy is expert on explanation.
4) Git
Collaboration is essential. You will never work on a project purely on your own. And when you will work in team, I guarantee you they will use some kind of version control. I decided to describe Git, because is the most popular and in my opinion it is the absolute best. There are lots of sources for learning it, for example the Try Git by CodeSchool, which will get your everything you need in a neat course, the LearnGitBranching or the paid, but very deep Lynda.com course. There are several nice graphical tutorials which will walk you throught the basics. I recommend these: Scott Chacon book and blog, Git immersion, Git Tower book or the Atlassion tutorials.
5) GitHub
This is optional, but it will become very handy if you get used to GitHub soon. GitHub is a place where people, teams and companies can store they code using Git and where they can collaborate online - review each others work, comment, report issues, etc. You can get an account for free. A great tip, if you a student, is to apply to get a paid plan for free (otherways it costs $5 a mont). You can do it on Github Education. A good tutorial is this on readwrite or this on lifehacker.
Other
I also think that it may come handy to know some particular solutions for concrete tasks in building a web application. These problems may not concern you now, but I still consider them as a good-to-know, just in case :) Here is the list of additional skills, resources and services:
1) Twitter Bootstrap for your design
It is the frontend framework which offers a CSS styles and JavaScript so that you website will look consistent and modern. It handles the grid system, typography, visual effects, tables, image formatting and much much more. Check out its cool documentation.
P.S. if you would loke to take a look to another framework with another cool designs, try Zurb Foundation, which works pretty much the same as Bootstrap.
2) C3 for making a cool charts!
Have you ever needed to include some kind of a graph on your website? Maybe a bar chart displaying some statistics? Or something else? There are plenty of ways how to do therse with JavaScript and many of these technologies are really advanced (as the amazing D3, but I recommend here just a simple tool for making a simple charts - with just a few lines and no special knowledge needed at all! It is called C3, check it out.
4) RSpec for your testing
You may be familiar with test unit, the base testing tools for ruby, but RSpec is much much better. It allows you to write stuff like user.count.should eql(2) or article.title.should_not be_nil which is very self-explanatory. You will soon get the feel for it and you will want to write your tests before every piece of code!
5) Disqus for your comments
If you are writing a blog or something similar, you may enjoy the possibility to post comments on your content without any work from your side. Disqus provides very neat commenting funcionality for your application while providing comfort for your users. A big plus is also their well documented API.
6) Trackets for catching every error
Trackets is a tool for catching JavaScript and Ruby errors in your application. If anything goes wrong, Trackets will send you an email and/or show each error in your dashboard so that you can fix them easily. There are plenty of sites providing the same service, but Trackets is the best. There are grouping of the relevant errors together, source maps, event logs, organizations for multiple users and more.
7) CSS Tricks or Smashing Magazine for inspiration
Even though you are making Rails app and you are focusing on the programming part, I bet you also care about the overal look of your app. You need to master HTML and CSS so that you can make pretty templates and style them according to your taste. These two pages, CSS tricks and Smashing Magazine, can help you a lot with CSS issues or they can give you tons of inspiration.
8) Slim for saving you some typing
Sure, HTML rules the world. Almost everyone starts with learning HTML, because it is so easy and so good and you can make an actual webpage with it! But why to bother typing <div> and </div> over and over again when there are some really modern technologies out there, which replace the old and ugly HTML with a much slimmer syntax? Slim is one of those (another one is for example Haml). Learning it takes a bit of practice but you will be very grateful afterwards!
9) SASS for you CSS variables and nesting
SASS allows you to use variables, imports or nesting in your CSS styles. It is actually pretty useful, especially the variables. Imagine you have the same color used all over the web, without SASS you would have to hard coded these colers and change them on every place whenever you would need to. With variable, you just define them on the top of your file and then you may experiment as you like!
10) Heroku alternatives for deploying
I am almost sure you all know Heroku, because is the single most favourite hosting provider for you Rails app. But did you ever wonder if there are some other way how to deploy your app? Heroku is maybe cool because it will take care of everything for you, but for a bit more independent individuals :), there is for example digital ocean with nice prices for their servers or linode. Both are definitely worth exploring. Also, if you need a hand in how to setup a server and how to deploy in general, Jakub Arnold is currently writing a book about deploying without heroku, you can check its progress on his amazing blog.
CommentsChickens are coming home to roost in U.S. cities, near pens for goats and hives for bees. In urban yards and on once-vacant lots, planting beds brim with herb plants, pea vines, and the ubiquitous kale.
A new wave of urban agriculture is flourishing because it benefits consumers concerned about sustainably grown food as well as cities with land to spare. It started in 2008, fueled both by economic stress and concerns about nutrition, childhood obesity, and diabetes highlighted by First Lady Michelle Obama.
"There's been tremendous growth in the number of urban farms in cities dealing with an excess of land and not enough people living [there]," said Anne Palmer of the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, and in "any city where land is somewhat undervalued."
That's one reason Baltimore and Detroit are hot spots. But beekeepers and community gardens are also proliferating in upscale neighborhoods, where there are long waiting lists of foodies and locavores for garden plots.
Madison, Wisconsin, which last year issued 197 poultry permits, has already issued 178 for this year (with the year half over).
Urban farming by definition keeps food production local. That reduces energy use and other costs of food transport, and brings more healthy, fresh foods to neighborhoods where they historically have been scarce—the so-called food deserts.
"Equal Access"
In Milwaukee, Will Allen founded the nonprofit Growing Power to provide "equal access to high-quality safe and affordable food to people in all communities." Allen, a former professional basketball player and farmer whose parents were sharecroppers, was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 2008 for his farming endeavors.
Growing Power grows produce and raises livestock at locations in and near Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago. Its products are sold to local restaurants, at area farmers markets, and at the nonprofit's own café in one of Milwaukee's food deserts. The collective's other ventures include composting—to create the soil it uses—and aquaponics, which uses waste produced by farmed fish to produce nutrients for plants and then reuses the filtered water.
"We grow food," said Growing Power's Tami Hughes, "and we grow farmers."
Healthy Foods for Urbanites
In the nation's capital, the University of the District of Columbia has worked closely with the city government to encourage availability of healthy foods and sustainable food production—growing plants, composting plant waste, and growing more plants with that compost.
Sabine O'Hara, the dean of UDC's College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Science, says the school is now integrating its land-grant and academic programs more closely. (UDC is a land-grant university, a federally established category of colleges and universities created in the 1800s to teach "agriculture and the mechanic arts.")
UDC has a farm in Beltsville, Maryland, near the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Center, with 25 acres under cultivation and plots where, says O'Hara, "we show what can be grown and different growing methods."
Some food is donated to nonprofits for the city's hungry, but the university also has a contract with the Hay-Adams Hotel near the White House.
"We grow food that is high in quality and high in nutrient density," said O'Hara, who has a doctorate in environmental economics and a master's in agricultural economics.
UDC is also trying to bring healthy, fresh food to consumers who may not have had access to it. Two chefs on staff can provide recipes and samples of how to prepare the fresh offerings at the city's farmers markets. And UDC has received a grant from the District's Sustainable D.C. initiative to help finance a food truck, which O'Hara says would be another way to fertilize food deserts.
Another goal is creating jobs, perhaps in growing specialty crops for Washington's many ethnic communities—one of the concepts UDC is demonstrating at its Beltsville farm.
Cash Crops
While urban agriculture is often an individual, family, community, or nonprofit venture, Big City Farms in Baltimore is a business—and it hopes, eventually, to be a profitable one. Chief Executive Dave Bisson said the for-profit venture aims not just to educate the public about food issues, "but also to make a substantial dent in the supply, replacing supplies coming from other parts of the country or other countries."
It also hopes to eventually be 100 percent employee-owned, and to provide year-round, full-time employment for more than its current nine full-time workers.
Big City Farms is farming on a handful of lots as small as half an acre and is using a 40-foot shipping container fitted with sinks and refrigeration to clean and store produce. Its West Baltimore site is a "network farm" with the nonprofit Strength to Love II, which employs an additional three workers.
"Big City Farms supplies the expertise and pledges to purchase everything grown there and prepare it for market," said Bisson.
Hurdles to Clear
Impediments to urban agriculture include contaminated or compacted soil. Sometimes the answer is to import soil from elsewhere. Growers should research a site's history and test the soil, said Johns Hopkins's Palmer. Also, empty lots where growers have spent years building up the soil may suddenly be attractive for other uses. Goodbye, farm.
And those chickens? Although many cities—including Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Dallas—allow them, ordinances vary on how far away from neighboring buildings they must be kept, or how often manure has to be cleaned.
But no roosters need intrude on urban sleep: They're necessary only for fertilizing eggs, not for laying them.Cleared for publication: Two Palestinians from Halhul were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion they murdered Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan near Kiryat Arba last month. The two were arrested following an investigation involving the police, the Shin Bet and the IDF.
A gag order has been placed in the identities of the detainees and the details of the investigation.
Related stories:
During their interrogation, the suspects admitted to throwing the stone which caused the deaths of Asher and Yonatan. The stone was hurled from a driving car. Police are also looking into the possibility that the two are behind 17 other cases involving stones being hurled at Israeli vehicles.
Funeral of Asher and Yonatan Palmer (Photo: Noam Moskowitz)
Three other Palestinians were also arrested and confessed to taking Palmer's gun after the attack. Police have found and are in possession of the weapon.
Mixed feelings
The Palmer family received the news of the arrest with mixed feelings. Asher Palmer's brother Moshe Palmer said: "It helps a little to give a sense of closure, but my dealing with it has less to do with the question of whether the murderers were caught or not.
"I'm still trying to digest everything that happened. The penny hasn't really dropped for us, it's difficult to comprehend."
"I have never felt the need for revenge but I'm glad they were arrested," he added. "Why they did what they did – is no great secret. It doesn't make the pain any easier, but it's good that a relatively short time after the incident, they managed to apprehend the people. I believe that those responsible for catching these people have done their job properly."
Meanwhile, Knesset Member Michael Ben Ari (National Union) chose to attack the police and IDF and claimed that there are certain factors within the institutions that consider Jewish blood cheap. "All they want is to end their shifts and go home," he said.
"I call on the Internal Security Minister to demand the immediate dismissal of the Shai District spokeswoman and the Judea and Samaria Division spokesman for choosing to hide the truth from the nation and the world," Ben Ari added.
Eretz Yisrael Shelanu Chairman Baruch Marzel has called for the death penalty to be carried out against the murderers of Asher and Yonatan Palmer and said: "Only in Israel do the murderers of babies go home after a few years in prison."
Asher Palmer, 25, and his 1-year-old son Yonatan were killed last month after their car overturned as a result of stones hurled at them. Police initially denied that stones had caused the accident but later concluded the incident was in fact a terror attack.
Yoav Zitun contributed to this report
Follow Ynetnews on FacebookThe UK has pledged a further £100m to help support Syrian refugees who have been forced from their country by almost four years of fighting.
The package – intended to assist refugees and the communities hosting them in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq - was announced by the international development secretary, Justine Greening, as she visited Jordan with the Prince of Wales on Sunday.
Prince Charles asks why radicalised UK Muslims have failed to integrate Read more
It brings the total committed by the UK to the Syrian crisis to £800m – Britain’s largest ever response to a humanitarian emergency.
As well as aiming to ease the burdens shouldered by Syria’s neighbours, the extra money will be used to provide food, medical care and relief items to some of the 3.8 million Syrians who have fled their homeland.
Greening, who visited a Unicef youth centre, a World Food Programme supermarket and a school in Za’atari village, said the money was proof of the UK’s commitment to helping Syrian refugees and those looking after them.
“The £100m will go towards directly supporting refugees but also to continuing our support for the so-called host communities that have been really badly affected by the crisis,” she said. “Some towns and villages have literally doubled in population so we’ve done a lot of work with governments both in Jordan and Lebanon to help the host communities cope with this influx of refugees that they’ve had to deal with.”
Greening said her visit was also intended to underline Britain’s solidarity with Jordan following the “appalling” murder of Lieut Muadh al-Kasasbeh, the Jordanian pilot who was burned alive by his Islamic State captors.
While in Jordan, she also announced a £4.7m programme with Care International to help more than 35,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan.
The international community has been criticised for leaving Syria’s neighbours to take responsibility for the refugees. Last year, Amnesty International described the world’s response as “pitiful” and earlier this week, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants called on the EU to deliver a proper resettlement programme.
François Crépeau said the union could not expect the refuges to live in Lebanon and Turkey indefinitely, adding: “If nothing else is available to them, they will take their chances with smugglers in order to provide a future for themselves and their children, as many of us would do in similar circumstances.”
The UK has so far taken in 90 Syrian refugees under its vulnerable persons relocation scheme
Greening defended the government’s record on the crisis, arguing that the immediate humanitarian response had to be the prime focus.
“If you look at the numbers of asylum cases that we’ve accepted and also the numbers of refugees we have allowed into the UK, we are playing our role,” she said.
“But there’s no denying that what we need to do overwhelmingly is help people where they are. Many of the refugees want, in time, to be able to go back to Syria and it’s right that the overwhelming focus of our support has been on providing help to people in the camps.”
Syria’s civil war has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 6.5 million within the country.This weekend’s Italian Grand Prix marks the 40th anniversary since the death of Jochen Rindt, who was killed at Monza in practice for the 1970 race. Having been that season’s dominant driver for Lotus – first in the 49B, then in the 72 – he came to Monza with 45 points and a 20-point lead over nearest rival Jack Brabham. It would be enough to confirm him as champion two races later when Ferrari’s Jacky Ickx, by then the only man who could overhaul Rindt, finished fourth at Watkins Glen. The three points he scored meant Rindt would remain out of reach and become Formula 1’s first posthumous World Champion.
He was also Austria’s first World Champion, and in his home country he remains feted to this day.
A hugely charismatic figure, Rindt was not, however, universally popular and some of his rivals, in particular, considered him aloof, even arrogant.
Fifteen of the 26 drivers entered for the 1970 Italian GP are still alive and to commemorate a majestic driver, cut down in his prime, we’ve spoken to all but one of them. Here are some of their recollections, with more to follow in the run-up to this weekend’s race at Monza.
Jackie Stewart
GB, Tyrrell
“By the time the race came around a lot of the immediate emotion had somewhat reduced. The day before had been very traumatic. Helen went to the hospital with Nina and that’s never a nice thing for a wife to do, to look after another wife.
“I think I finished second. I can’t remember where I was on the grid [he was fourth]. I went out and did quite a good qualifying after Jochen died. It’s in Winning is not Enough. Tried the March, went back to the Tyrrell, and then the March. As a racing driver, when the visor goes down and the lights go out, you have to get on with it. Driving a car, you are so totally consumed by what you are doing, you’re never allowed to be distracted. In that respect it was maybe it was one of the advantages I had: being able to block things out. I always tried to remove emotion and I was able to do that. I had won the championship the year before. From about halfway through ’68 I suddenly matured mentally and was able to manage everything better in my own head.
“That was a bad year, 1970. Bruce McLaren and Piers Courage were killed, and of course Jochen. It was quite difficult to deal with these things, because it’s not just at the track, and seeing the things I saw. It’s brought back to you the next week because of the funeral, and two months later there’s a memorial service. Monza was one of those circuits where we didn’t have a problem with safety. We’d refused to go to the Nürburgring and that was a big deal. Jochen was part of that with me.
“There’s always emotion involved at the start of the race. I was lucky enough to be able to remove most of it. I can’t remember much about it. To finish second in the March was a good result.”
And the Coke bottle-smashing incident after qualifying?
“I make no excuses for that. I’d been to Jochen. I’d been to him and come back to Nina, who had disappeared with Helen. Then Ken…
“Going back out was the right thing to do. The barrier had been fixed, but I suppose because of what I had seen when I went out I was in tears. But when I had the visor down that was when I did my qualifying time, which was the best lap I had ever done at Monza. I didn’t have a death wish. But as I came back in, my best friend John Lindsay handed me a Coca Cola. I took a drink and I will never forget I had it in my hand and I was so angry, I took the bottle and smashed it against the concrete wall that separated the pits from the track. That was my emotion. But not in the race. That’s what I remember.”
Jackie Oliver
GB, BRM
“I remember that most of us were staying the Hotel de Ville on the edge of the park. I had breakfast with Jochen’s wife and we went to the circuit together. We certainly all knew each other.
“Jochen had certain people he wanted to associate with and others he didn’t. He tended to be very self-centred, which isn’t unusual in a successful racing driver. I wouldn’t count him as a friend. He associated with people, I believe, who were as good as him and then he’d make a judgement on the others and didn’t give them space in his life.
“We raced together in Formula 2 the year before and then again in F1. Colin Chapman, Jochen’s boss at Lotus, saw Jochen as a replacement for Jim Clark, and he was probably right about that.
“It was a very dangerous period for motor racing. Lots of us were getting nailed. The cars were not as safe as they are now. They tended to catch light in a crash. No fuel bags. In that situation, it was a bit like being in the military, I imagine. There was no point in dwelling on it. If you were dwelling on it for too long, you weren’t doing a good job. You were better off doing something else.
“I didn’t dwell on it. I knew there were people dealing with the situation so I shut myself down. A few drivers were able to engage with the death of another driver, perhaps because they needed to immerse themselves. Certainly Jackie Stewart felt he had to be involved because he was pushing to get improved safety standards. But I just went my own way and thought ‘there’s another one of us gone and it will never happen to me.’
“No remorse. No sadness. No tears. As far as I was concerned Jochen was just gone. Looking back it was probably an inappropriate way to behave, but I suppose a number of others were exactly the same.”
Jacky Ickx
BE, Ferrari
“Not winning at Watkins Glen was such a release. How could you beat someone not able to defend his own chances? The fact that Jochen won the World Championship was the most perfect solution. As for me not having won, it doesn’t create any kind of sorrow at all. Now, when I think back, I feel so sad for all those around me – probably more talented than I was, and certainly more dedicated, who didn't have that extra piece of luck that made you a survivor. That was the great thing about that era – survival.”
Anthony Rowlinson
Anthony Rowlinson is executive editor of The Red BulletinIn the years before the Civil War, Edmund McIlhenny was a New Orleans banker and bon vivant whose pleasures included boats, horses and spicy food. But after the war, with much of the South in ruins, McIlhenny was unable to find work. After pounding the pavement in New Orleans for months, he retreated to his wife’s family’s sugar plantation on Petite Anse (now called Avery) Island, a 2,200-acre salt dome rising from the marshes of southern Louisiana. There, in the late 1860s, he tended his garden |
.) You OK?
Bland: I'm waiting on you. This is your job. I'm waiting on you. When're you going to let me go?
Encinia: I don't know, you seem very really irritated.
Bland: I am. I really am. I feel like it's crap what I'm getting a ticket for. I was getting out of your way. You were speeding up, tailing me, so I move over and you stop me. So yeah, I am a little irritated, but that doesn’t stop you from giving me a ticket, so [inaudible] ticket.
Encinia: Are you done?
Bland: You asked me what was wrong, now I told you.
Encinia: OK.
Bland: So now I'm done, yeah.
Encinia: You mind putting out your cigarette, please? If you don't mind?
Bland: I'm in my car, why do I have to put out my cigarette?
Encinia: Well you can step on out now.
Bland: I don’t have to step out of my car.
Encinia: Step out of the car.
Bland: Why am I...
Encinia: Step out of the car!
Bland: No, you don’t have the right. No, you don't have the right.
Encinia: Step out of the car.
Bland: You do not have the right. You do not have the right to do this.
Encinia: I do have the right, now step out or I will remove you.
Bland: I refuse to talk to you other than to identify myself. [crosstalk] I am getting removed for a failure to signal?
Encinia: Step out or I will remove you. I’m giving you a lawful order.
Get out of the car now or I’m going to remove you.
Bland: And I’m calling my lawyer.
Encinia: I’m going to yank you out of here. (Reaches inside the car.)
Bland: OK, you’re going to yank me out of my car? OK, alright.
Encinia (calling in backup): 2547.
Bland: Let’s do this.
Encinia: Yeah, we’re going to. (Grabs for Bland.)
Bland: Don’t touch me!
Encinia: Get out of the car!
Bland: Don’t touch me. Don't touch me! I’m not under arrest -- you don't have the right to take me out of the car.
Encinia: You are under arrest!
Bland: I’m under arrest? For what? For what? For what?
Encinia (to dispatch): 2547 county fm 1098 (inaudible) send me another unit. (To Bland) Get out of the car! Get out of the car now!
Bland: Why am I being apprehended? You're trying to give me a ticket for failure...
Encinia: I said get out of the car!
Bland: Why am I being apprehended? You just opened my --
Encinia: I‘m giving you a lawful order. I’m going to drag you out of here.
Bland: So you’re threatening to drag me out of my own car?
Encinia: Get out of the car!
Bland: And then you’re going to [crosstalk] me?
Encinia: I will light you up! Get out! Now! (Draws stun gun and points it at Bland.)
Bland: Wow. Wow. (Bland exits car.)
Encinia: Get out. Now. Get out of the car!
Bland: For a failure to signal? You’re doing all of this for a failure to signal?
Encinia: Get over there.
Bland: Right. yeah, lets take this to court, let's do this.
Encinia: Go ahead.
Bland: For a failure to signal? Yup, for a failure to signal!
Encinia: Get off the phone!
Bland: (crosstalk)
Encinia: Get off the phone! Put your phone down!
Bland: I’m not on the phone. I have a right to record. This is my property. Sir?
Encinia: Put your phone down right now. Put your phone down!
(Bland slams phone down on her trunk.)
Bland: For a fucking failure to signal. My goodness. Y'all are interesting. Very interesting.
Encinia: Come over here. Come over here now.
Bland: You feelin' good about yourself?
Encinia: Stand right here. Stand right there.
Bland: You feelin' good about yourself? For a failure to signal? You feel real good about yourself don’t you? You feel good about yourself don’t you?
Encinia: Turn around. Turn around. Turn around now. Put your hands behind your back.
Bland: Why am I being arrested?
Encinia: Turn around...
Bland: Why can't you...
Encinia: I’m giving you a lawful order. I will tell you.
Bland: Why am I being arrested?
Encinia: Turn around!
Bland: Why won’t you tell me that part?
Encinia: I’m giving you a lawful order. Turn around...
Bland: Why will you not tell me what's going on?
Encinia: You are not complying.
Bland: I’m not complying 'cause you just pulled me out of my car.
Encinia: Turn around.
Bland: Are you fucking kidding me? This is some bull...
Encinia: Put your hands behind your back.
Bland: 'Cause you know this straight bullshit. And you're full of shit. Full of straight shit. That's all y’all are is some straight scared cops. South Carolina got y’all bitch asses scared. That’s all it is. Fucking scared of a female.
Encinia: If you would’ve just listened.
Bland: I was trying to sign the fucking ticket -- whatever.
Encinia: Stop moving!
Bland: Are you fucking serious?
Encinia: Stop moving!
Bland: Oh I can’t wait 'til we go to court. Ooh I can’t wait. I cannot wait 'til we go to court. I can’t wait. Oh I can’t wait! You want me to sit down now?
Encinia: No.
Bland: Or are you going to throw me to the floor? That would make you feel better about yourself?
Encinia: Knock it off!
Bland: Nah that would make you feel better about yourself. That would make you feel real good wouldn't it? Pussy ass. Fucking pussy. For a failure to signal you’re doing all of this. In little ass Praire View, Texas. My God they must have...
Encinia: You were getting a warning, until now you’re going to jail.
Bland: I’m getting a -- for what? For what?
Encinia: You can come read.
Bland: I’m getting a warning for what? For what!?
Encinia: Stay right here.
Bland: Well you just pointed me over there! Get your mind right.
Encinia: I said stay over here. Stay over here.
Bland: Ooh I swear on my life, y'all are some pussies. A pussy-ass cop, for a fucking signal you’re gonna take me to jail.
Encinia (to dispatch, or an officer arriving on scene): I got her in control she’s in some handcuffs.
Bland: For a fucking ticket. What a pussy. What a pussy. You’re about to break my fucking wrist!
Encinia: Stop moving.
Bland: I’m standing still! You keep moving me, goddammit.
Encinia: Stay right here. Stand right there.
Bland: Don't touch me. Fucking pussy -- for a traffic ticket (inaudible).
(door slams)
Encinia: Come read right over here. This right here says 'a warning.' You started creating the problems.
Bland: You asked me what was wrong!
Encinia: Do you have anything on your person that's illegal?
Bland: Do I feel like I have anything on me? This a fucking maxi dress.
Encinia: I’m going to remove your glasses.
Bland: This a maxi dress. (Inaudible) Fucking assholes.
Encinia: Come over here.
Bland: You about to break my wrist. Can you stop? You’re about to fucking break my wrist! Stop!!!
Encinia: Stop now! Stop it! If you would stop resisting.
Female officer: Stop resisting ma’am.
Bland: (cries) For a fucking traffic ticket, you are such a pussy. You are such a pussy.
Female officer: No, you are. You should not be fighting.
Encinia: Get on the ground!
Bland: For a traffic signal!
Encinia: You are yanking around, when you pull away from me, you’re resisting arrest.
Bland: Don’t it make you feel real good don’t it? A female for a traffic ticket. Don’t it make you feel good Officer Encinia? You're a real man now. You just slammed me, knocked my head into the ground. I got epilepsy, you motherfucker.
Encinia: Good. Good.
Bland: Good? Good?
Female officer: You should have thought about it before you started resisting.
Bland: Make you feel real good for a female. Y'all strong, y'all real strong.
Encinia: I want you to wait right here.
Bland: I can’t go anywhere with your fucking knee in my back, duh!
Encinia: (to bystander): You need to leave! You need to leave!
(Bland continues screaming, but much of it is inaudible)
Encinia: For a warning you’re going to jail.
Bland: Whatever, whatever.
Encinia: You're going to jail for resisting arrest. Stand up.
Bland: If I could, I can't.
Encinia: OK, roll over.
Bland: I can't even fucking feel my arms.
Encinia: Tuck your knee in, tuck your knee in.
Bland: (Crying): Goddamn. I can't [muffled].
Encinia: Listen, listen. You're going to sit up on your butt.
Bland: You just slammed my head into the ground and you do not even care...
Encinia: Sit up on your butt.
Female officer: Listen to how he is telling you to get up.
Bland: I can't even hear.
Female officer: Yes you can.
Encinia: Sit up on your butt.
Bland: He slammed my fucking head into the ground.
Encinia: Sit up on your butt.
Bland: What the hell.
Encinia: Now stand up.
Bland: All of this for a traffic signal. I swear to God. All of this for a traffic signal. (To bystander.) Thank you for recording! Thank you! For a traffic signal -- slam me into the ground and everything! Everything! I hope y'all feel good.
Encinia: This officer saw everything.
Female officer: I saw everything.
Bland: And (muffled) No you didn't. You didn't see everything leading up to it...
Female officer: I'm not talking to you.
Bland: You don't have to.
Encinia: 2547 county. Send me a first-available, for arrest.
Female officer: You okay? You should have Tess check your hand.
Encinia: Yeah, I'm good.
Encinia: She started yanking away and then she kicked me, so I took her straight to the ground.
Female officer: And there you got it right there... I'll search it for you if you want.
Female officer: Yeah.
Second male: I know one thing for sure, it's on video.
Female officer: Yeah.
Second male: You hurt?
Encinia: No.
Encinia (to female officer): Did you see her when we were right here?
Female officer: Yeah, I saw her cause that's where I (inaudible).
Encinia: This is when she pulled with the cuffs.
Paramedic: Your ring got you there?
Encinia: I had the chain, well, not the chain, but
Paramedic: You got the two loops?
Encinia: She didn't kick me too hard but she still kicked me though.
Paramedic: Not through the skin, but you got a nice scratch. I'm a paramedic, that's why I know.
Encinia: I know that, that's why I made you look.
Paramedic: Did she do that?
Encinia: Yeah that's her.
Paramedic: Yeah that's cut through the skin.
Encinia: I wrapped it around her head and got her down.
Encinia (on radio): This is a traffic stop, had a little bit of a incident.
(Silence for several minutes.)
Encinia (apparently to a supervisor): I tried to de-escalate her. It wasn't getting anywhere, at all. I mean I tried to put the Taser away. I tried talking to her and calming her down, and that was not working.
Well, I know, that was when she was in custody, and now I tried to get her detained and get her to just calm down and just calm down. Stop throwing her arms. You know what? She never swung at me, just flailing and stomping around. I said alright that's enough, and that's when I detained her.
There was something going on and she started kicking and kicking.
Yeah, and once I got her in the back of the car, that's why I'm calling you now, because...
No, we were in the middle of a traffic stop and the traffic stop was not completed. I was just trying to get her out, over to the side and just explain to her what was going on because I couldn't even get her to do what I was telling her. She just started going this is an mf, and you give mf for a ticket and lane change, she just started going.
I just stepped back from the car and was like are you done ma'am? I need to tell you why and what I'm giving you and she just kept on going.
I mean, I don't have serious bodily injury (laughing) but I was kicked.
Assault is if a person commits an offense of intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causing bodily injury to another or you intentionally threaten another with bodily injury.
She's in the back of the car right now. She requested EMS. She said, she said I threw her down intentionally, for nothing. No, I put you down because you kicked me. You were fighting back. I kept telling her to calm down, calm down.
Evading arrest or detention. (Inaudible). Resisting arrest... She was detained. That's the key and that's why I am calling and asking because she was detained. That's when I was walking her over to the car, just to calm her down and just to (say) stop.
That's when she started kicking. I don't know if it would be resist or if it would be assault. I kinda lean toward assault versus resist because I mean technically, she's under arrest when a traffic stop is initiated, as a lawful stop. You're not free to go. I didn't say you're under arrest, I never said, you know, stop, hands up.
Correct, that did not occur. There was just the assault part.
Like I said, after I got her all her situated and buttoned up as far as getting her in a safe vehicle, under arrest, that's why I'm calling you.
She just moved here, according to her, yesterday, she's from Illinois.
She gave me her driver's license. I came back to the car and started running her stuff. Print it out. Coming to get back to the car to complete and tell her what's she receiving and what to do and so forth.
At that time, she's still very much irritated and so forth. I'm pulling her over for she didn't turn on her signal and so forth and so forth.
She wouldn't even look at me. She's looking straight ahead, just mad.
I'm at the driver's side, I need to get her out of the car and over to the side of the car, you know, on the sidewalk, because I don't want to be in the middle of the road while we're arguing -- or whatever, not arguing, I'm trying to tell her what she's doing but she's arguing with me.
That's the only thing, I mean it too. When I had her down on the ground and the other officer came, I told her stop resisting and that's when I told her you're under arrest. At least I don't think I did.
Yes, she kicked me, she started yanking away and trying to get away. And that's when I grabbed her arm, she's in front of me still. I controlled, I grabbed her by the shoulders and I brought her down into the grass away from the pavement.
Like I said, with something like this, I just call you immediately, after I get to a safe stopping point.
No weapons, she's in handcuffs. You know, I took the lesser of the uhh … I only took enough force as I -- seemed necessary. I even de-escalated once we were on the pavement, you know on the sidewalk. So I allowed time, I'm not saying I just threw her to the ground. I allowed time to de-escalate and so forth. It just kept getting. (laughing) Right, I'm just making that clear.
I got some cuts on my hand, I guess that is an injury, but I don't need medical attention. I got three little circles from I guess the handcuffs when she was twisting away from me.
Over a simple traffic stop. Yeah, I don't get it. I really don't.
Why act like that, I don't know.
Another officer to Bland: Okay ma'am, you're under arrest. You're going to be transported to the Waller County Jail, OK? Alright.
Officer to officer: Alright brother, appreciate it.
Minor revisions and additions have been made to the initially published version of the transcript for accuracy and thoroughness.
Help support Huffington Post journalism by signing up to get an email when Ryan Grim publishes a new story. Enter your email address:Zero confidence.
There isn’t the slightest chance that the Vikings’ ship gets righted any time soon. That’s the take-away from the firing of Leslie Frazier and its immediate aftermath. We’ve had a steady stream of finger-pointing, excuse-making and passing the buck.
The only possible happy ending here involves an awful lot of luck. Perhaps the Vikings will stumble upon a coach who can 1) guide Rick Spielman through his general manager’s job; 2) find a way to work around the meddling Wilfs, and 3) actually be able to coach football.
That’s a tall order. If you’re the religious type you might want to offer a prayer, light a candle or sacrifice a chicken.
“It’s an emotional day,” Zygi Wilf said robotically.
No, an emotional day for him is when someone questions the plan for sky-high personal seat licenses. An emotional day is being ordered to pay close to $100 million as a result of racketeering charges. Firing Leslie Frazier? That decision was made weeks ago, probably over cigars and brandy. Reports of Spielman contacting potential replacements have been popping up for nearly a month.
Somebody had to go, and Leslie Frazier was the patsy. It happens. But where do they go from here? Spielman said he will get the quarterback situation fixed, although he offered no details. I’d rather take a guy who is living under a bridge and let him work on the quarterback situation. History says that when it comes time to choose a quarterback, Spielman should be absent from the room. Maybe even the country.
And just how much authority does he have, anyway? On Monday, he pretty much deferred to the Wilfs at every opportunity. I don’t know if that was standard apple-polishing or, more likely, genuine fear.
He also announced he was getting straight to work on finding Frazier’s successor. But even as he spoke we could see the strings moving. The owners will make the call on the next coach, just as they both hired and fired Frazier. Spielman will run a few background checks and weed out the phony resumes so the Wilfs don’t have to spend too much time away from the counting house.
Yet ownership never takes responsibility for anything. Zygi Wilf hired Leslie Frazier. At the announcement of the firing, he quickly turned over the microphone to Spielman and stepped away from the podium. He would take no questions.
Meanwhile, according to Spielman, everybody wanted to sign Josh Freeman. And everybody was on board with all the various quarterback switches. Although, he added, the final say on which one to play was Frazier’s. The day before, Frazier said he wouldn’t even think about making a quarterback change without the blessing of Spielman and the Wilfs.
Whom do you believe? I can tell you that Frazier is incapable of lying. It’s not part of his makeup.
A byproduct of all this may be the Vikings’ relationship with Adrian Peterson. A staunch supporter of Frazier, Peterson said Sunday that he would personally speak to ownership about the coach’s situation. Apparently, A.P. overestimated his clout within the organization. He said his piece, but Frazier still was gone before breakfast.
I’ve said for the better part of a year that they should trade Peterson while they can. The guy deserves a chance to win a title. He’s also starting to break down under such heavy usage here. Perhaps if he becomes disgruntled enough by this incident he will suggest that he might be better off elsewhere. But my guess is that they want to keep him as the main draw for the new stadium — the biggest elephant in what could turn out to be a tired circus.
There are changes coming. Should you trust Spielman to make them? He drafted Cordarrelle Patterson, Matt Kalil and signed Greg Jennings. He also drafted Christian Ponder, Chris Cook and signed Josh Freeman. Somebody signed Josh Freeman, anyway. It’s all rather murky.
Zero confidence.
Spielman said it’s his responsibility to provide the proper players, but that this team should have been better, implying that it was Frazier’s fault. Translation: I did my job. Don’t blame me. Meanwhile, the owners slip out the back door.
Pressed on the quarterback situation, Spielman noted that he hadn’t gotten that right just yet, but — and this killed me — he’s already started talking about the new coach’s input into making a decision about that position.
The Vikings are beginning to resemble a large, dysfunctional family. The owners, with their impressive football backgrounds as long-time New York Giants fans, are growing increasingly bold in their day-to-day dealings with the club — even if they do conduct their business via long distance.
The next coach could get trampled. He better be secure enough to handle a steady stream of orders from on high delivered by a jittery general manager.
Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.Former Texas Rep. Ron Paul says a yearlong economic boom under President Trump is “a bit of an illusion” and that debt, inflation, and inequality could cause turmoil that benefits a “hardcore nucleus” of libertarians.
The libertarian Republican leader told the Washington Examiner that Trump could face a strong challenger in the 2020 GOP primary, especially if “things are really much worse."
“The big opening for us is the fact that this system is coming apart. We’re on the verge of something like what happened in ‘89 when the Soviet system just collapsed,” he said. “I’m just hoping our system comes apart as gracefully as the Soviet system.”
Paul doesn’t believe the U.S. will break into separate countries, but instead expects a rethink of monetary policy and an end to what he considers a U.S. “empire” overseas.
“We have ownership of these countries, but it’s not quite like the Soviets did,” he said. “I think our stature in the world and our empire will end, and that’s when, hopefully, the doors will be open and [people will] say, ‘Hey, maybe these libertarians have some answers to this.’”
Paul said “the country’s feeling a lot better, but it’s all on borrowed money” and that “the whole system’s an illusion” built on corporate, personal, and governmental debt. “It’s a bubble economy in many many different ways and it’s going to come unglued,” he said.
The former congressman for years has presented issues in stark terms, refreshingly so for supporters and with an alarmist edge in the eyes of detractors.
Also read: Republicans hopeful Trump has finally learned to legislate
Paul rose to prominence with 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential bids, running on an anti-war, pro-civil liberties message. When his son, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., appeared well positioned for a 2016 presidential run, news outlets declared the country was experiencing a “libertarian moment.”
“The appearance of the libertarian movement has been set back partially because of Trump, but intellectually we’ve been doing well,” Paul said, describing a large "hardcore nucleus" of conference-attending enthusiasts.
Although broadly critical of Trump, Paul likes the president's talk about removing government regulations and implementing tax cuts.
“Trump’s being a good cheerleader. He’s a cheerleader for Wall Street, and I keep my fingers crossed, maybe lowering some of the taxes will help, certainly lowering the regulations. But I think the problems are so deep and structural,” he said.
Paul said he's disappointed with Trump's foreign policy, especially his approach toward North Korea and his support for Saudi Arabia's military role in Yemen.
“I think the foreign policy is a total disaster. Trump’s approach sounds good one day but the next day he’s antagonizing everyone in the world and thinks we should start a war here and there," he said.
Opinion: Trump's foreign policy: 'America First' and not value-neutral
Domestically, Paul views Attorney General Jeff Sessions as a threat to civil liberties and said he would be “delighted” if Trump fired him, though he’s not hopeful the replacement would be better.
The former congressman said he continues to view the U.S. as being on a path to fascism — on a long historical arch featuring authoritarian policies of Presidents Lincoln and Wilson.
“This time when we have a permanent war on terrorism there’s no backing off — and with the war on immigrants, and the borders,” he said. “Anybody who thinks we’re not doing too badly has not been flying on an airplane lately. That’s about as authoritarian-fascism as you can get.”
Paul said government policies that steer money to the wealthy create understandable anger among poorer Americans — pointing to the success of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist, in his 2016 campaign for the Democratic nomination. Paul said a libertarian answer, halting inflation and "crony capitalism," would result in more freedom.
“We as libertarians have some work to do before [voters] are going to accept a true-blue libertarian,” he said, “but I think moving in that direction and having a popular candidate [in 2020] is very possible.”
"If they only hear our message, I know they would choose liberty and sound money and freedom and peace over the mess we have today," Paul said.
Also read: Congress heads into 2018 struggling with ObamacareKawasaki Z900 vs. Yamaha FZ-09: Sport Motorcycles Comparo Review
There are so many super-sexy liter-bikes out there it’s easy to overlook the machines tucked just under the 1000cc displacement threshold. Even though they’re not the best equipped, and don’t have shockingly fast liter-engine horsepower, they still have way more get-up-and-go than most people can realistically use, and because they are more user friendly, they don’t need the sophisticated electronics and exotic suspension of their brethren.
I have lived with both the all-new 2017 Kawasaki Z900 and the upgraded 2017 Yamaha FZ-09 for an extended period of time and I was impressed. To begin with, at less than $9000 each, they are exceedingly good value. I discovered that, budget they may be, cheap-feeling they are not. On the contrary, they both have exceptional build quality and nicely detailed finishes that you would expect to find on a premium-level machine.
Kawasaki’s all-new Z900 is a 948cc inline-4 “screamer” motor, with an even firing order and a traditional powerband. It produces power in a relatively linear fashion all the way to the rev-limit. The Kawasaki pulls very strongly everywhere, and is a sterling example of the typical Japanese i-4 motor—and that’s a real compliment.
The Yamaha FZ-09 on the other hand, is an 847cc triple, designed around Yamaha’s uneven firing order Crossplane Concept. Less traditional than the Kawasaki’s UJM powerplant, the Yamaha’s strength is its prodigious torque that appears lower down the rev-range where it is most useful. Despite its 101cc deficit to the Kawasaki, it only starts to feel less powerful closer to the rev ceiling.
Both motors are smooth and pleasant feeling, around town or on tight canyon roads. However, they have strikingly different characters.
As we know, pleasurable motorcycling isn’t just about outright horsepower; both torque output and (lack of) weight are big factors, too. With 126 horsepower and 73 ft/lbs of torque, the Kawasaki is quite a bit more powerful than the Yamaha’s 115/60 power output; however, the Z900 is also quite a bit heavier.
The Yamaha only weighs 414 pounds, compared to the Kawasaki’s 443 pounds, and that extra weight makes a difference. Not only that, the Yamaha’s motor feels as though it has minimal flywheel weight, as it revs quicker than the Kawasaki’s slightly silkier engine.
All that adds up to the Yamaha feeling quite a bit snappier than the Kawasaki low down in the powerband. Now, don’t take that to mean the Kawasaki is a sloth, because it is not—and more on that later—but the Yamaha motor is more aggressive, and this is especially noticeable in the lower gears where the low-down power jumps in at small throttle openings.
The FZ-09’s motor and fueling is not jerky, but an intermediate-level rider who took both bikes for a spin told me that he preferred the Kawasaki, as it was easier to ride. The Kawasaki has a smooth powerband, and the power just keeps flooding in until you reach the rev limit.
Around town or on tight canyons, I preferred the Yamaha’s instant jump-to-it character, and its amazing, useful power. On faster roads with more rhythmic riding, I favored the Kawasaki’s smooth-screaming motor that always seemed in a predictable but strongly building powerband, no matter which gear I was in.
Both machines have beautifully smooth fuel mapping and a good throttle connection. However, the Yamaha does have a slight flat spot that can make itself apparent when pulling away in first gear. Unlike the Kawasaki, the Yamaha comes with three power modes that deliver the motor’s power in increasing levels of aggression. I preferred the STD (middle) mode, which was nice and smooth at small throttle openings.
The Z900’s fueling is flawless and it has no such off-idle hesitation. Even when exiting relatively slow corners in a tall gear, the motor pulled smoothly with zero hesitation anywhere. Although there are no selectable power modes, the Kawasaki is so user-friendly at all points in the rev range that it really doesn’t need them.
Both bikes have enough beans to power-wheelie in first gear, but the Yamaha will do it in second gear as well. The FZ-09 is so absurdly agile it feels like it actively enjoys wheelies, as they feel so natural and controllable.
Braking is very similar on both of these machines; I can’t fault, nor do I prefer, either one. Both brake systems have an unintimidating mild initial bite and good linear feel. If you want to stop harder, you apply more pressure—there are no surprises.
The FZ-09 has a radial master-pump and calipers, and ultimately those brakes are a tad more powerful—but it’s close. While the Z900 does not have radially mounted calipers, it does however, have wave rotors. Some people prefer the wave look, and I’ve always suspected they give a little more bite and improved feel at the lever.
Where the rubber meets the road, both motorcycles are equipped with ever so slightly budget-conscious tires that are a notch down from each manufacturer’s very best. However, grip is excellent with each, and the handling of course, is exemplary. The Z900 is fitted with Dunlop Sportmax D214 rubber, while the FZ-09 gets the Bridgestone Battlax Hypersport S20. Those who feel the need can easily upgrade, as the tire sizes are standard.
The bikes I tested were equipped with ABS and, although I never had to use it on either machine, it’s great insurance—I wouldn’t buy a street motorcycle without it. ABS ups the price of the standard Kawasaki Z900 by $400. With both bikes ABS-equipped, the $8999 Yamaha FZ-09 is just 200 bucks more expensive than the Kawasaki. The Yamaha does however also come with two-level traction control and three power modes, where the Kawi offers neither feature.
Although they’re both the same upright-sportbike class, again, these machines couldn’t be more different. Although the Z900’s looks are modern, it has a somewhat traditional riding position and familiar style, albeit with that ass-in-the-air MotoGP styling that is contemporary cool.
The FZ-09, in contrast, has that taller, skinny-looking, Supermoto styling ethic. It’s a modern streetfighter and, if you’re not careful, it may well pick a fight with you. The Yamaha screams aggression—this is the bike you’ll want to be riding when you have to escape the zombie apocalypse. It’s tall, it’s fast, and it’s flickable, so you’ll get away, believe me.
In terms of ergonomics, the Kawasaki has a wide and flat seat that, for me, feels normal and pretty comfortable. It’s not the best I’ve ever used, but it certainly isn’t bad. The Yamaha is more dirt-bike style, so it’s skinny, fairly hard, and has enough forward slope that it caused the wedgie phenomenon when I wore jeans. I’d rather not elaborate any further, but we’re all adults here and you know what I’m saying.
I felt perched on top of the slim-feeling FZ-09, and those wide handlebars and relatively low-and-forward footpegs have the riding position tailor-made for strafing city streets, though for long freeway drones it’s not the best. The Z900 is lovely around town, too, as it is so easy to ride and the seated-in position helps me feel connected to it. However, the riding stance is definitely leaned forward quite aggressively so, again, it’s a little better suited to sweeping curves and higher speeds.
The Yamaha sits the rider higher and pretty much bolt upright, and so there’s significantly more windblast than on the Kawasaki. Yet, the Yamaha will make you feel confident and a little aggressive, so if you’re in town battling Suburban-driving soccer moms more distracted by their cellphone than Carlos Danger at a high school graduation, the FZ-09 gets the nod over the Z900.
Even though the rubber footpegs (a welcome touch) on the Kawasaki are higher and farther back than the Yamaha’s, that’s not to say the Z900 is less comfortable—it’s just different. In the end, both machines feel natural, light, nimble, and perfectly at home around town.
The Yamaha’s taller stance and crazy-torquey motor give it the edge if most of your mileage is around the city and flicking through traffic. If you do more canyon carving or distance riding, the Kawasaki takes the laurels. The Z900 is simply more comfortable, and long-legged feeling. Despite being a naked, I would happily take it on a multi-day long distance trip, and gloriously rev the nuts off it for every grin-inducing inch of the way.
The suspension on these motorcycles falls within the same pattern, with a 41mm fork up front and single shock at the back; all four units are adjustable for spring-preload and rebound damping.
Both motorcycles handle impeccably, with light, neutral, intuitive handling that make them both supremely easy to ride. Forget manhandling or wrestling either bike into a corner. These two motorcycles are agile, yet so refined that any rider will quickly feel at home on either one.
Yet, as with both the engine characters and riding positions, there is a marked difference between the way they handle. The Kawasaki is a sporting revelation. It turns out the taut suspension is ideal for my 185-pound frame. The chassis works perfectly with my old-school riding style, where I take precise, sweeping lines through corners, focusing on maintaining my momentum. I never adjusted the suspension at all—it’s that good. The springing is firm, and the damping exceptional. The Z900 feels planted and secure at all times, and soaks up bumps well without throwing the bike off line in a corner.
Accelerating hard on exit the Kawasaki stays on line and secure feeling. It really is an exceptional and intuitive handling motorcycle. I felt totally connected to it, and the absolute reliability and precision of the handling filled me with huge confidence, especially in the solid front-end. It was good enough I tended to carry fast corner entrance speeds even on unfamiliar roads.
The Yamaha, with its wide bars and Supermoto tenet, is more suited to flicking into a corner and back again with alacrity. It encourages point-and-squirt riding, where you almost back it into a corner with a flourish, flick it upright, and then jet from the exit leaving a presumably appreciative audience in your wake. On the FZ-09, I’m almost tempted to stick my foot out flat-track style when coming up to a corner. That’s not my style of riding, but the Yamaha is light-feeling enough that I was constantly tempted to try.
The suspension is softer than the Kawasaki’s and, coupled with that amazing agility, the FZ-09 has a slightly nervous demeanor. When you’re riding even reasonably hard the handlebars are never still. At modest speeds the handling is friendly and confidence-inspiring, however, the soft springing and mild damping settings mean the FZ-09 is less precise and moves around a lot more than the Z900.
Aggressive corner exits will squat the FZ-09’s rear end and set the handlebars waggling; it’s not dangerous, but it makes for vague cornering especially at higher speed. However, if you’re buzzing around town and weaving your way through a pothole infested minefield, then the Yamaha will soak up all those imperfections |
, let me tell you something right now in case I forget to do it later. If defending your jobs, and demanding that you be spared from redundancy and if saying that giving jobs back to your colleagues who have been sacked makes me a dangerous man, well then I'm proud to be dangerous. And yes, I'm proud too to have a friend like Mark.
Because let's be clear why HMRC described my work as dangerous last week in their official - and therefore no doubt minister approved - report to parliament on the tax gap. David Gauke - whose Tory hands have the feeling of having been all over this report - no doubt wanted to achieve three things.
The first was to say the tax gap was no big deal. And let's be honest, he's got to say that. How else can he justify sacking 10,000 more PCS members over the next three years unless he can argue the work you're doing is unimportant? The fact that the HMRC Board admit the tax gap is £35 billion - with it being bound to rise again as the increased VAT rates kick in in the future - shows just how stupid - and friends I use the word advisedly – this claim Gauke is making really is. But if he's going to sack you he's really got no choice but say the tax gap’s no big deal.
Second, the David Gauke and the Tories had to reassure their friends in big business that they’re not going to come along any time soon for the money they really owe to HMRC. You know, I know, the recent Panorama on tax avoidance and even the Tax Journal, which is aimed at tax professionals, knows that the lame excuses that HMRC make that my work on the corporate tax gap might simply be put down to business claiming capital allowances is ludicrous. We all know that’s not possible. And that it’s not what I measured.
There’s no doubt that the biggest part of what I measured was profit that should have been taxed in the UK and wasn’t. That tax gap is down to Vodafone, and Google, and Amazon, and GSK and PricewaterhouseCoopers and all those other names we all know and love who've been darned sure they shift their profits out of the UK. Even the Daily Mail gets that now. But oddly – and as the Tax Journal noted this week – none of that tax avoidance even comes near featuring in HMRC's estimate of the tax gap, but all of it is in mine.
And that’s what really upsets the Tories. Sure as heck it would be dangerous for Gauke to upset his friends by agreeing that HMRC have to include their tax shifting shenanigans in the tax gap. Then he might have to ask HMRC to do something about it, and he's not stupid enough to do that when right now a cosy little deal will sweep everything under the carpet. No wonder I’m dangerous for drawing attention to that fact.
But third, and much more sinister is the fact that what's really dangerous about what I've said - and what you as a union are saying - is that we could actually collect a big chunk of the tax gap. Now I'm being realistic; I'm not going to pretend we could ever get it all. Tax cheats will, I'm afraid, always be with us. But what I've proposed are real reforms - and easily deliverable reforms - that could radically increase the amount of tax we could collect in this country.
I hate it when I see ARC members, working at Gauke's bidding, having to explain why more tax staff, country-by-country reporting, reform of the law which would let us know which small companies were really trading so we could concentrate resources on those who are cheating and more – all of which are explained in today’s new report - would not help us collect tax when to ask them to do so is the equivalent of asking them to say black is white. They are being made to look stupid by Gauke, and there's a reason for that.
You see, the Tories don't want to collect the tax we know could be collected. They don't want that tax because they know that if that tax was collected it would destroy the case austerity.
But that would mean they couldn't shrink the size of government. And it would mean they couldn't threaten a workforce sick of unemployment into accepting poverty wages and a loss of pension rights in jobs the Tories want their friends who've bought newly privatised companies to offer.
And collecting the tax that we all know is out there and is owing would also mean they'd have to deliver a fair deal to the old, give all young people the chance of a free education to the limits of their ability and it would mean we could have the best NHS we've ever had instead of a privatised apology for something that was once great. And let’s be clear; the Tories don’t want those things.
Never forget the Tories aren’t like us. We believe in equality. We believe in fairness. We respect each other. We want the best for others as well as ourselves.
The Tories don’t do that. They want inequality. Just read this week’s flat tax report from their favourite think tank – the Taxpayers’ Alliance – and you’ll see exactly what I mean. They praise inequality. They think it’s just fine that education for some is better than that available for all. They want an unequal society.
And to deliver that the Tories need to destroy the state. Their austerity programme is their way of doing that. They want to destroy hope. They want to deny people affordable housing. They want people to be frightened of their old age, unemployment, sickness, child care costs, and so much more. And that’s because they want people to be so frightened that they’ll do whatever the market demands at the lowest possible price. And they can only be sure that will happen if they can destroy the welfare state. And there are plenty of Tories in parliament who want to do just that, just as the Taxpayers’ Alliance demand.
That’s why I’m dangerous. And that’s why you’re dangerous. What we’re saying, together, is that we know that this government’s austerity programme is not needed. We know that we can deliver an alternative. We know that by working to close the tax gap we can turn this economy around.
And we know that is we could close that tax gap people would not need to live in fear of losing their job – because we know that the state could afford to put people to work if only the tax due in this country was collected by an invigorated H M Revenue & Customs that really believed it was its job to get each and every one to pay the tax they owe – and no more.
But that totally realistic demand – that you be allowed to get on with your jobs – and that you have the right number of colleagues beside you doing their jobs – destroys the Tory myth – Gauke’s myth, Osborne’s myth, Cameron’s myth – that there is no alternative. We’re dangerous because we know that’s wrong.
It was more than two hundred years ago that the French philosopher Voltaire said “It’s dangerous to be right when those in power are wrong”. Well I’ll tell you why I’m dangerous then. I’m right and you’re right. And this government is wrong.
Friends, we know austerity is failing.
And we know the tax gap is growing.
We know that HMRC’s management – dominated as it is by big business people who think they’re running a company and not a public service – have called this one wrong.
And we know we have friends in the union movement, the labour movement, civil society and the press who know we’re right and the government is wrong.
It’s our job to make sure we come together. To protect PCS member’s jobs. To demand reform in HMRC. To demand more tax officials. To demand the laws and reforms we need to close the tax gap. To challenge the government. And to show that it is them, and not us, who are a danger to the people of this country. Because never doubt it: we’re right, and they’re wrong – and the very future of our jobs, our services, and even our democracy is at stake here – and that’s why we’re winning this argument already, and why we have to get the changes we demand for the sake of all the honest people of this country.8 Awesomely Nerdy Things To Do This Weekend in Arizona
This weekend, Phoenix parties with monsters, jedis, zombies, and browncoats.
And you should too.
Friday, Oct 4th
[Phoenix]
Awww yeah… The Browncoats Ball is in Phoenix this year! Let your Serenity flag fly all weekend long with other Firefly fans who’ve come from all over. I wish I could go, and hope those of you who can have a great time. At the Phoenix Airport Plaza Hotel all weekend long.
[Tucson]
If you want to spend the weekend rolling some d20s, there’s a solid gaming convention going on down in Tucson. Slay some beholders for me, you crazy adventurers.
[Phoenix]
I don’t know too much about it, but there seems to be a lot of zombie going on here. Put on your undead best for some classic street shambling, then leave it on for…
[Phoenix]
Ah, high school prom. The awkward dancing, the giant punch bowl, the photo booth, the rotting and moaning corpses of your fellow students wandering aimlessly. Relive that magical and unholy moment at The Duce downtown as this year’s Zombie Walk king and queen are crowned. Bring a canned food item if you’re awesome.
Saturday, Oct 5th
[Tempe]
Way into horror? Perfect. Go to Rapture Horror Expo and enjoy buckets of the stuff. Guests and films, costume and screaming contests. They’ll even have some gaming going on.
[All Over]
Take Star Wars and add reading. Now make a whole day of it. Bam. Lots of places are participating in Star Wars Reads Day, for example: Apache Junction Public Library, Bookmans, Burton Barr Central Library, and even a few Barnes & Nobles, I believe. Expect costumes, light sabers, books, and good times.
Sunday, Oct 6th
[Phoenix]
A while ago I shared that I’d stumbled across a call for Navajo speakers in Arizona willing to add their voices to a Star Wars dubbing. Sounds like they’re all done! You can catch the final A New Hope product at a special screening at the Heard Museum at 3pm.
[Phoenix]
While I think it could have used more Gene Wilder (what couldn’t?), the classic Boris Karlov film is quite an experience. Part of the Film Bar’s Frightmare Series, catch that classic movie monster action on the big screen at 7:30pm.
Go forth, my friends, and nerd it up.Donald Trump after his acceptance speech in the early morning hours of Nov. 9, 2016. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
As I heard it, my great-grandmother was the one who wanted to stay. After all, they had lived there their entire lives. Why leave now? Everything they knew and loved was there.
It was Poland, 1933. They were secular Jews living a pleasant modern life. They knew about Hitler, of course, and Hindenburg’s pathetic enabling of his rise to power. They read the news. They knew about the Jewish business boycott, then the Nuremberg Race Laws, then the Night of Broken Glass—78 years ago today, as it happens. When Germany invaded, my great-grandmother insisted, we stay. Her Jewish friends panicked, fled, but she said, no, it won’t happen here. Then the soldiers moved them to the ghetto. A wealthy friend offered my family safe passage out, but my great-grandmother said: No. We stay.
Then they moved them to the camps. You can guess the rest of the story. My grandfather survived, just barely. My great-grandmother did not. I never met her, because she was murdered by the people who, she said, would simply never do such a thing. It won’t happen here.
As a Jew in America, I was raised to believe two rather contradictory things: The United States is safe for us, and our world can descend into bigoted violence at any moment. I held these two beliefs in my head at once as Donald Trump was declared president-elect in the early hours of Wednesday morning. On the one hand, America remains, for now, a liberal democracy with civil liberties and checks and balances. On the other hand, those liberties and checks appear to be fading fast. Trump and his enablers have seized control of every branch of government. Congress is toothless, a rubber stamp for Trump. The judiciary is about to be stacked with Trump appointees. What kind of judge is willing to stand by a man who said Indiana-born Judge Gonzalo Curiel couldn’t rule impartially because he is “Mexican”? A judge with no interest in independence or fundamental principles of equality. A judge with no interest in anything but raw power.
I am a gay Jewish journalist who loathes Trump with a very public passion. Every week, I receive the emails, the tweets, the private messages: Kike. Faggot. Fucking Jew. Their leader deploys anti-Semitism as a dog whistle, but they hear it as loud as can be. I get death threats. They want to kill me, they explain; they have a plan. And not just me, but people like me. The Jews who want to ruin this country. The gays who defiled it. The journalists who committed treason. All of us will soon get what we deserve, they tell me. They have guns. They have a plan.
The United States is safe for us. Checks and balances. The Bill of Rights. But what’s a Bill of Rights without an impartial judiciary to enforce it? What are due process and equal protection without a court order that people actually comply with? Nothing. Abstract principles, nice on paper, meaningless in reality. Hundreds of judges will soon be appointed by a man who said Judge Curiel couldn’t rule on his case because he’s “Mexican.” What kind of judges does that man appoint? Judges who support his agenda, not the rule of law. Judges with no particular interest in protecting people like me.
Every week, the threats roll in. They know where I live, they say. Trump wants people like me gone. Dead. They tell me how they’ll do it. It’s always with a gun. Liberal gay Jews don’t have a place in the new order, they explain. Sometimes it’s almost nonchalant. People like me, they say, just don’t have a place in Trump’s America. Faggot, kike—I’d never heard those words directed at me before this election. Now I see them all the time. They have a place in Trump’s America.
I am scared. I have never been scared like this before. What do we do? This is not like anything we’ve lived through before. We are being pulled farther and farther out to sea by the riptide of history. The shore is receding. Do we fight the current? Or do we let it draw us out into the ocean, recognizing that there’s no use in fighting something beyond our control?
My great-grandmother on the other side of the family fled. Her family was comfortable, secular; they owned a popular photography studio, and sometimes I look at the portraits they took of themselves shortly before they packed their bags and left forever. There is no panic in their eyes. They knew what they had to do, and they did it. They weren’t especially happy when they came to America, but they were alive. They left their old lives behind, understanding that there would soon be little left of them to salvage. I am thinking of their eyes this morning. And I am thinking of my other great-grandmother, the one I never got to meet.
No, she told her family, over and over and over again. We stay. It won’t happen here.McMaster University
A deadly cholera outbreak gripped Philadelphia and other metropolises along the Eastern seaboard in early 1849, the second in 20 years. About 1,000 of the city's residents died as result of infection with the water-borne pathogen that year, a figure that might have been considerably higher were it not for a programme to wash the city's filthy streets with clean reservoir water. Now DNA isolated from the preserved 165-year-old intestine of a victim has yielded a complete genome sequence of the bacterium responsible — the first from a nineteeth-century strain of Vibrio cholerae.
The genome shows that most cholera strains in circulation today, known as El Tor, are genetically distinct from the 'classical' cholera that plagued European and North American cities in the nineteenth century, and was responsible for the 1849 outbreak in Philadelphia. (It would be five more years before the British physician John Snow showed that London's cholera was caused by water contaminated with faecal matter.)
“One of the big questions is, ‘where did classical go?’” says Hendrik Poinar, a biological anthropologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who led the study, published this week in New England Journal of Medicine1. Classical cholera strains still crop up, but El Tor strains have caused most epidemics since the 1960s — including an outbreak that has infected hundreds of thousands and killed more than 8,000 in Haiti since it began in 2010.
Indian ancestor
Poinar’s team estimates that these two lineages shared a common ancestor that circulated hundreds or even thousands of years ago, probably around India’s Bay of Bengal. Neither why the classical strains emerged first nor why these were later replaced by El Tor is clear, says Poinar.
Genetic changes to the bacteria offer one explanation, Poinar adds. His team found that the Philadelphia isolate seems to contain an extra copy of an integrated viral genome that encodes a toxin compared with more recent classical strains. Losing this extra set of genes could have made the classical strains less transmissible, allowing El Tor to dominate. That hypothesis needs to be tested with laboratory experiments, says Poinar, whose team plans to sequence the genomes of historical cholera strains from continental Europe and England.
Tom Gilbert, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Copenhagen, says new methods for retrieving the DNA of ancient pathogens make sequencing them straightforward: the hard part is finding good samples. The section of intestine Poinar and colleagues used was collected — probably from a male African American patient — by a doctor named John Neill as part of a study on cholera’s effects on the lining of the intestine. It was stored in alcohol in a wax-sealed jar at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia and later its Mütter Museum. “Such materials, when found, are real gems,” Gilbert says. “And that Hendrik is starting to find them and do such good work is fantastic.”0
The Minecraft movie has a new director, and it’s an unlikely pick. Mojang officially announced on its site that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator/writer/director/star Rob McElhenney has been tapped to take the helm of the video game adaptation, which is set up at Warner Bros. In the game, the player builds whatever they want using pixelated cubes, and can choose between a survival mode where they protect it from nocturnal monsters, or the player can go with a passive mode where they can build to their heart’s content without any risk of destruction. It’s a completely open foundation off of which to craft a feature film, and McElhenney is apparently the guy to do it.
The It’s Always Sunny alum made headlines last winter when it was announced that Legendary acquired his pitch to write and direct a family action film called Figment, which he presented with a passionate four-minute test reel. Clearly the guy is game to make the jump to features, and adding Minecraft to the pile gives him a pretty formidable slate from which to work.
It’s unclear if McElhenney will first focus on Figment or if Minecraft will now become his priority. Warner Bros. no doubt wants to get this thing moving after years of development (Shawn Levy was attached to direct last year), and officially hiring McElhenney is a major step towards production. In addition to movies, though, McElhenney continues his duties on FXX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which recently completed its tenth season and has already been renewed for an eleventh and twelfth.Origin Edit
Sokushinbutsu (mummy) of Huineng, in Shaoguan Guangdong, China There is the existence of at least one "self-mummified" 550-year-old corpse: that of a Buddhist monk named Sangha Tenzin in a northern Himalayan region of India, visible in a temple in Gue village, Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.[3] This mummy was discovered in 1975 when the old stupa preserving it collapsed and it is estimated to be from about the 14th century, well after Islamic rule had arrived in India and Buddhism had practically vanished there. The monk was likely a Tibetan dzogpa-chenpo practitioner and similar mummies have been found in Tibet and East Asia.[4] The preservation of the mummy for at least 5 centuries was possible due to the aridity of the area and cold weather.[3] According to Paul Williams, the Sokushinbutsu ascetic practices of Shugendō were likely inspired by Kūkai – the founder of Shingon Buddhism,[5] who ended his life by reducing and then stopping intake of food and water, while continuing to meditate and chant Buddhist mantras. Ascetic self-mummification practices are also recorded in China, but are associated with the Ch'an (Zen Buddhism) tradition there.[5] Alternate ascetic practices similar to Sokushinbutsu are also known, such as public self-immolation (auto cremation) practice in China, such as that of Fayu Temple in 396 CE and many more in the centuries that followed.[6] This was considered as evidence of a renunciant bodhisattva.[7]
Japan Edit
A mountain-dwelling version of Buddhism called Shugendō emerged in Japan as a syncretism between Vajrayana, Shinto and Taoism in the 7th century, which stressed ascetic practices.[8] This tradition continued through the Edo period. One of its ascetic practice was Sokushinbutsu (or Sokushin jobutsu), connoting mountain austerities in order to attain Buddha-nature in one's body. This practice was perfected over a period of time, particularly in the Three Mountains of Dewa region of Japan, that is the Haguro, Gassan and Yudono mountains.[8] These mountains remain sacred in the Shugendō tradition to this day, and ascetic austerities continue to be performed in the valleys and mountain range in this area.[8][9] In medieval Japan, this tradition developed a process for Sokushinbutsu, which a monk completed over about 3,000 days to ten years.[8] It involved a strict diet called mokujikigyo (literally, "eating a tree").[10][9] The diet abstained from any cereals, and relied on pine needles, resins and seeds found in the mountains, which would eliminate all fat in the body.[10][3] Increasing rates of fasting and meditation would lead to starvation. The monks would slowly reduce then stop liquid intake, thus dehydrating the body and shrinking all organs.[10] The monks would die in a state of jhana (meditation) while chanting the nenbutsu (a mantra about Buddha), and their body would become naturally preserved as a mummy with skin and teeth intact without decay and without the need of any artificial preservatives.[10][3] Many Buddhist Sokushinbutsu mummies have been found in northern Japan and estimated to be centuries old, while texts suggest that hundreds of these cases are buried in the stupas and mountains of Japan.[9] These mummies have been revered and venerated by the laypeople of Buddhism.[9] One of the altars in the Honmyō-ji temple of Yamagata prefecture continues to preserve one of the oldest mummies - that of the sokushinbutsu ascetic named Honmyōkai.[11] This process of self-mummification was mainly practiced in Yamagata in Northern Japan between the 11th and 19th century, by members of the Japanese Vajrayana school of Buddhism called Shingon ("True Word"). The practitioners of sokushinbutsu did not view this practice as an act of suicide, but rather as a form of further enlightenment.[12]
In popular culture Edit
The practice was satirized in the story "The Destiny That Spanned Two Lifetimes" by Ueda Akinari, in which such a monk was found centuries later and resuscitated. The story appears in the collection Harusame Monogatari.[13]
See also Edit
References EditPepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst. He writes for RT, Sputnik and TomDispatch, and is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the former roving correspondent for Asia Times Online. Born in Brazil, he's been a foreign correspondent since 1985, and has lived in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Washington, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Even before 9/11 he specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central and East Asia, with an emphasis on Big Power geopolitics and energy wars. He is the author of "Globalistan" (2007), "Red Zone Blues" (2007), "Obama does Globalistan" (2009) and "Empire of Chaos" (2014), all published by Nimble Books. His latest book is "2030", also by Nimble Books, out in December 2015.
Turkey’s “incursion” into Iraq is a cold, calculated move. And once again, the name of the game is – what else? – Divide and Rule.
Turkey sent to Iraqi Kurdistan – which is part of the state of Iraq - no less than a 400-strong battalion supported by 25 M-60A3 tanks. Now the Turkish boots on the ground at Bashiqa camp, northeast of Mosul, have reportedly reached a total of around 600.
The short breakdown: this is not a “training camp”- as Ankara is spinning. It’s a full-blown, perhaps permanent, military base.
The dodgy deal was struck between the ultra-corrupt Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and then-Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu in Erbil last month.
Torrents of Turkish spin swear this is only about “training” Peshmergas to fight ISIS/ISIL/Daesh.
Absolute nonsense. The crucial fact is that Ankara is terrified of the “4+1” alliance fighting Islamic State, which unites Iran, Iraqi Shiites and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), as well as Hezbollah, with Russia.
In Syria, Ankara is virtually paralyzed, after the “stab in the back” downing of the Su-24; the Russian revelations of complicity between Turkey’s first family and stolen Syrian oil (Bilal Erdogan, a.k.a. Erdogan ‘Mini Me’, denies everything); and the Russian Air Force relentless pounding of Turkey’s fifth column Turkmen. Not to mention the deployment of S-400s and even a third-generation submarine complete with Kalibr cruise missiles.
So Ankara now switches the attention to Iraq with a “counter-alliance”, made up of Turkey; the KRG (which – illegally – sells oil to Turkey); and Sunnis in northern Iraq under the supposed leadership of the sprawling Nuceyfi tribe in Mosul.
This is textbook neo-Ottomanism in action. We should never forget that for the AKP in power in Ankara, northern Syria and northern Iraq are nothing but former Ottoman Empire provinces, an eastward extension of Turkey’s Hatay province. ‘Sultan’ Erdogan’s (unstated) wet dream is to annex the whole lot.
Meanwhile, Daesh still controls Mosul. But Iraqi Sunnis – as well as the Iraqi Army - are slowly setting up an offensive.
So what Ankara wants with this military base close to Mosul is to be part of the game, coupled with two “invisible” agendas; protect their fifth-column Turkmen, wherever they are, and having more boots on the ground to fight – what else – PKK Kurds taking refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan.
‘Sultan’ Erdogan’s whole rationale is that Baghdad does not rule northern Iraq anymore (he’s got a point). But the problem, for Ankara, is that the real powers in the region may turn out to be Shiites and the PKK (that’s far-fetched; but that’s Erdogan thinking.)
‘Sultan’ Erdogan has extremely close business deals with the KRG’s ‘Mobster-in-Chief’, Massoud Barzani – as in the oil exporting deal which, illegally, bypasses Baghdad. Barzani, predictably, has no problems with Turkish military designs; after all “his” oil is paid for by the Turks.
As for the clincher, follow geopolitical ace Mick Jagger: it’s a gas, gas, gas.
Ankara’s move plays straight into the ultimate ‘Pipelineistan’ war; the clash between two competing gas pipelines, Qatar-Saudi Arabia-Jordan-Syria-Turkey, or Iran-Iraq-Syria, at the heart of the Syrian tragedy.
Erdogan’s paranoia that Russia may cut off gas supplies to Turkey after the downing of the Su-24 – something that Gazprom simply won’t do – has led Ankara, in desperation, to force Baghdad, mob-style, to “accept” a Qatar gas pipeline crossing Iraqi, not Syrian territory.
Needless to add this far-fetched scheme is an absolute no-go for Baghdad, which is part of the “4+1” alliance. Moreover, expect Iran – and Russia – to go no holds barred exploiting divisions among the notoriously divisive Kurds to bomb Erdogan’s elaborate plans.
Erdogan’s bottom line is quite something; he is aiming for no less than an Iraqi ‘Sunnistan’ – jointly managed by the ultra-corrupt KRG and assorted Sunnis, but under Turkish security arrangements. As if Washington and Tel-Aviv would let him get away with that.
The fact is that at least for the moment, while his game in Syria may be going down the drain, Erdogan has decided to change the subject and turbo-charge his strategy for breaking up Iraq.
The gift
And that brings up the question, once again, of how Daesh was able last year to conquer Mosul – the second city in Iraq - without a fight. And this after their notorious convoy of gleaming white Toyotas crossing the desert from Syria to Iraq managed to evade detection by the most sophisticated satellite surveillance system in the history of the Universe.
Regarding the mystery, persistent intel rumblings across the Middle East and among the “4+1” coalition are bound to turn into a volcano.
According to the rumblings, the official - Pentagon - narrative that the Iraqi Army supposed to fight Islamic State in Mosul last year got scared and simply ran away is a myth.
As we know, the Iraqi Army, trained by the Pentagon, left behind a wealth of tanks and heavy weapons duly captured by IS. And IS couldn’t be luckier in collecting this almighty ‘gift’.
The new narrative rules that the Pentagon deliberately “instructed” the Iraqi Army to run away, as a sort of tactical retreat, leaving behind all that fabulous hardware.
So what we have here is the Pentagon fully protected by plausible deniability.
And Islamic State duly weaponized as a proxy/regime change army in Syria. A perfect chaos-provoking tool aligned with the strategic objective of the ‘Empire of Chaos’ in Syria. Which, by the way, does include, in the absence of full regime change, the formation of a ‘Sunnistan’ in Syria as well.
Oh, but the Pentagon would never engage in such practices, would they?Creating an object of value or virtue to you in edible form and consuming it to form a meaningful connection has been practised as long as humans have possessed the ability to attribute mystical powers to people or objects.
Along with the arts of magical picturing and effigy we can use food as an all-purpose magical stuff for forming alliances, sealing friendships, feuds, and affiliations.
If you can’t get over to the traditional Summer Solstice ceremony at Salisbury Plain this year, this may be an option to explore for a taste of Stonehenge.
I Googled “easy brownie recipe” and used that for this, with the same coconut grass I used in The Golden Lamb AKA The Sweetest Sacrifice
‘Stonehenge’ by T.S. Salmon
1823
WRAPT in the veil of time’s unbroken gloom,
Obscure as death and silent as the tomb,
Where cold oblivion holds her dusky reign,
Frowns the dark pile on Sarum’s lonely plain.
Yet think not here with classic eye to trace
Corinthian beauty or Ionian grace;
No pillared lines with sculptured foliage crowned,
No fluted remnants deck the hallowed ground;
Firm, as implanted by some Titan’s might,
Each rugged stone uprears its giant height,
Whence the poised fragment tottering seems to throw
A trembling shadow on the plain below,
Here oft, when evening sheds her twilight ray,
And gilds with fainter beam departing day,
With breathless gaze, and cheek with terror pale,
The lingering shepherd startles at the tale,
How at deep midnight by the moon’s chill glance,
Unearthly forms prolong the viewless dance;
While on each whispering breeze that murmurs by,
His busied fancy hears the hollow sigh.
Rise from thy haunt, dread genius of the clime,
Rise, magic spirit of forgotten time!
’T is thine to burst the mantling clouds of age,
And fling new radiance on tradition’s page:
See! at thy call from fable’s varied store,
In shadowy train the mingled visions pour;
Here the wild Briton, mid his wilder reign,
Spurns the proud yoke and scorns the oppressor’s chain;
Here wizard Merlin, where the mighty fell,
Waves the dark wand and chants the thrilling spell.
Hark! ’t is the bardic lyre whose harrowing strain
Wakes the rude echoes of the slumbering plain;
Lo! ’t is the Druid pomp, whose lengthening line
In lowliest homage bends before the shrine.
He comes—the priest—amid the sullen blaze
His snow-white robe in spectral lustre plays;
Dim gleam the torches through the circling night,
Dark curl the vapors round the altar’s light;
O’er the black scene of death each conscious star,
In lurid glory rolls its silent car.
’T is gone! e’en now the mystic horrors fade
From Sarum’s loneliness and Mona’s glade;
Hushed is each note of Taliesin’s lyre,
Sheathed the fell blade and quenched the fatal fire.
On wings of light hope’s angel form appears,
Smiles on the past and points to happier years;
Points with uplifted hand and raptured eye
To yon pure dawn that floods the opening sky,
And views at length the Sun of Judah pour
One cloudless noon o’er Albion’s rescued shore.Mobile County Sheriff's Office Dandre Moore is seen in a booking photo.
A man who was pulled over in an Alabama tunnel told sheriff’s deputies that he was texting with both hands and driving the car with his knees — with a 3-year-old in the car’s back seat, authorities said.
Deputies said they also found $4,500 and prescription drugs in the car after they stopped Dandre Moore in a tunnel in Mobile, Ala., on Tuesday, the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies said Moore, 19, told them he had been “double texting” since he was 15 years old.
Two women and the 3-year-old were in the back seat. Dartavious Moore, in the front passenger seat, had an ounce of marijuana in his underwear, sheriff’s spokeswoman Lori Myles told the Press-Register newspaper.
When authorities searched the car, they also found several Xanax and a bottle of the prescription painkiller oxycodone, the newspaper reported. The prescription had been filled a week earlier with 720 pills, and there were 386 left, Myles said.
Dandre Moore was charged with illegal possession of the Xanax and possession of a controlled substance. Dartavious Moore was charged with possessing marijuana. Both men live in Philadelphia, Miss., the newspaper said.
The two women were also arrested.
The car was stopped for moving in and out of traffic, Myles told NBC News.
This story was originally published onPre-loaders are a common sight in modern web design. As users we expect the web to be fast and fluid - we don’t like waiting for things. Pre-loaders offer visual feedback in the event of content being loaded, thereby managing expectations and reducing the chance of a user abandoning your website.
CSS3 Essentials for Creating Pre-loaders
Before we dive into building our collection of CSS3 pre-loaders, first I’ll be discussing some of the attributes of CSS3 which are essential for creating these type of pre-loaders.
Pseudo Elements :before :after
Pseudo elements are really useful in helping creating CSS3 pre-loaders. Pseudo elements essentially create a fake element before or after the HTML element in question.
“Pseudo is derived from the Greek word pseudēs which means false.”
This is similar to creating an extra element that doesn't really exist however pseudo elements can be styled using CSS. These pseudo elements aren't a necessity for creating CSS3 pre-loaders but they do come in handy and allow us to use minimal markup.
Pseudo elements can be styled exactly the same way as you would any other HTML element the only difference being that you must specify a content property. Without specifying this the pseudo element will not render. The content property can contain any text which may be useful if your pre-loader needs to contain words such as “Loading...” however if you don’t need any text content then you can just leave the content property blank.
CSS3 Animation
CSS pseudo elements are useful but not essential for creating CSS3 pre-loaders, but the animation property is. Without this the pre-loader would fail to animate and would just be a static visual - not very useful to indicate that the content is loading.
“The main component of CSS animations is @keyframes, the CSS rule where animation is created. Think of @keyframes as being stages along a timeline. Inside@keyframes, you can define these stages, each having a different style declaration.” - A beginners introduction to CSS animation
Note: before we jump into the demo's it might be worth noting that vendor prefixes are not included in the code snippets below. If you need the vendor prefixes then please see the codepen examples.
1. |
's a bad sign that these UN resolutions, which routinely begin by listing the relevant previous resolutions, have now achieved a degree of layering that resembles portions of such monstrosities as the Affordable Care Act. The UN has not yet posted the full text of this latest resolution, #2375. But a reasonable proxy can be found in the prior resolution, passed on August 5. Just add one more layer:
"Recalling its previous relevant resolutions, including resolution 825 (1993), resolution 1540 (2004), resolution 1695 (2006), resolution 1718 (2006), resolution 1874 (2009), resolution 1887 (2009), resolution 2087 (2013), resolution 2094 (2013), resolution 2270 (2016), resolution 2321 (2016), and resolution 2356 (2017), as well as the statements of its President of 6 October 2006 (S/PRST/2006/41), 13 April 2009 (S/PRST/2009/7) and 16 April 2012 (S/PRST/2012/13),"
There are two basic problems here.
The first problem is that sanctions are not an airtight proposition. They are more like a sieve than an impermeable barrier. They leak. They erode. For sanctions violators, part of the game is to set up new fronts and devise new deceptions; part is to wait until the immediate crisis passes, and enforcement starts to flag. North Korea has long experience at evading and adapting to sanctions. So do its chief patrons, Russia and China. So does its partner-in-proliferation, Iran, and Iran's mascot, Syria.The Ohio Department of Transportation announced that I-270 was reopened at about 4:00 p.m. with some ramps remaining closed.
Ramps from I-270 north and south to 161 east, I-270 north to 161 east and west, Easton Way to I-270 north and 161 east and west will remain closed.
The crash closed numerous ramps and caused problems for thousands of drivers, 10TV News reported.
According to the Ohio Department of Transportation, the westbound lanes of state Route 161 are closed at Hamilton Road; S.R. 161 east is closed at Westerville Road; and S.R. 161 east or west cannot access I-270.
Ramps that are closed are Cleveland Avenue to I-270 east, S.R. 3 to I-270 east and Sunbury Road to S.R. 161 west and I-270 south.
Drivers are allowed to access I-270 west from Cleveland Avenue and S.R. 3, according to ODOT.
Motorists are asked to use S.R. 3 to Morse Road; Cleveland Avenue to Morse Road; S.R. 315; I-71 to I-71; and U.S. Route 62 as alternatives, according to ODOT.
A tractor-trailer that was carrying fuel crashed on Monday at about 10:20 p.m. on the ramp from I-270 north to state Route 161 east, killing the driver.
According to the Ohio Department of Transportation, 141,530 vehicles travel the stretch between I-270 and S.R. 161.
The morning commute was slow for thousands of drivers.
Westerville City Schools was heavily impacted by the road closure. The school district canceled afternoon kindergarten and preschool for Alcott, Cherrington, Hawthorne, Point View, McVay and Robert Frost elementary schools.
Hazardous materials crews sprayed foam over the spill to suppress the highly-flammable fuel vapors, Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Christopher Blair said.
Police identified the driver as Jack Birman, 63, of Columbus.
Stay with 10TV News and 10TV.com for continuing coverage."Happy Endings" is more than just a funny, flailing show on ABC. Its wobbly situation provides an object lesson in what ails broadcast network comedies more generally.
The show is adored by its fans, saddled with a checkered ratings history that earned it an iffy Friday night slot and it may be on its way to a new cable home, and thus it's something of a poster child for the state of half-hour comedies on the Big Four networks. As television transitions to whatever's next with all the grace of the show's resident klutz, Penny (Casey Wilson), it's worth looking at what the ABC program may tell us about where the half-hour show is going -- and whether, as happened with one-hour dramas over the last decade, comedy's center of gravity is shifting to cable.
I recently spoke to the "Happy Endings" team and to other writer/producers about the state of not only this show but of comedies on the broadcast networks more generally. Many hour-long dramas on network TV are clearly struggling, but the state of half-hours is no less troubling.
As Liz Meriwether, creator of "New Girl," told me, "Network [comedy] has to find a reason for being. What does it bring to the table that people won't get from watching a funny cat video or a racy cable comedy?"
If it had debuted a few years ago, "Happy Endings" may well have evolved into a breakout hit or at least a steady performer, given some time, patience and consistent scheduling. Even a year or so ago, an upward trajectory didn't seem unrealistic. "Happy Endings," which also stars Eliza Coupe, Elisha Cuthbert, Adam Pally, Zachary Knighton and Damon Wayans Jr., was gaining traction in the media and was doing reasonably well in the ratings. From a creative, commercial and social media perspective, it had done everything right.
How quickly things change: A month ago, ABC unveiled a "save this show" campaign -- for its own program.
"I think our first reaction was... ABC is asking people to do the thing that it can do, which is to save the show," executive producer Jonathan Groff said in an interview. But he and executive producer/creator David Caspe weren't necessarily sorry the #SaveHappyEndings push came from the same network that held the show's fate in its hands.
"It's kind of genius, in that I've never seen that much press generated from a promo before," Caspe noted.
Will "Happy Endings" make the leap to the USA Network, as recent news reports have suggested? Caspe and Groff didn't talk about specific outlets for a potential fourth season, and it's worth remembering that the show hasn't been canceled. But both said in several different interviews over the past few weeks that they've been happy with ABC as a creative partner. As Groff noted, "They could have canceled us two months ago and they didn't."
Having said that, both said they want the show to continue and they'd stick with it, even if it ends up airing somewhere else next fall. "Jonathan and I, our only goal is just to keep making the show," Caspe said. "Even if we don't live on on ABC, I think we'll live somewhere -- I hope."
What's odd about "Happy Endings'" current situation is that it's never been a cult-ish, niche object of adoration. It's a bright, cheery show aimed squarely at the mainstream, and at first glance, it would seem to fit ABC's brand, which is all about inclusive, upbeat worlds and the middle-class people who inhabit them. Sure, "Happy Endings" can be a dense, pop-culture-heavy experience, but that's the speed at which many people live their social media-saturated lives these days.
Had it debuted only a few years ago, and had it enjoyed consistent network support over time, perhaps it could have blossomed into the next "How I Met Your Mother," which has grown into a steady success for CBS. But is that kind of trajectory even possible any more? "HIMYM" debuted in 2005, well before online viewing and time-shifting became so prevalent.
But the deck may now be stacked against shows that cater to the very audiences that consume television in alternative ways. Also disturbing: The people most likely to give interesting comedies a chance appear to be the viewers who are least likely to be counted. If that's the case, what hope is there for smart, non-family-oriented half-hour comedies on the broadcast networks?
Does the future lie in cable, where expectations (and budgets) are lower? If those under 35 are watching TV online or via DVR binges, should broadcast networks aim at the older end of the 18-to-49 spectrum? Will next fall's crop of comedies feature even more monkeys?
Those are a few of the questions that emerged from my discussions with Caspe, Groff and other comedy insiders. Here are the seven big unsettled issues:
1. Is it time for the broadcast networks to retire, or at least rethink, the "Friends" model?
"Seinfeld" and "Friends" were two of the biggest hits of all time, so it's unsurprising that the television industry has put a lot of effort into replicating the massive success of those shows. Every year, networks assemble groups of sharp comedy writers and have them think up stories about packs of urban friends who spend their copious amounts of free time together. But as younger viewers flee live viewing in favor of other delivery methods, comedies that cater to that age range are struggling.
As Caspe noted, "It's tricky to come up with a younger-skewing show that is about the lower half of the 18-to-49 demo and have them show up on the night they're supposed to watch your show."
Groff still thinks young/urban/hangout comedies can work on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox; but for that to happen, a network has to have patience. "It's going to be hard for a show like that to take off, and it's not going to happen right away, and it's sometimes hard for networks to balance all of that and wait for that audience to show up, or account for those who aren't watching it Tuesday at 8 p.m., or whatever," Groff said.
But the broadcast networks may doom themselves to irrelevance if they don't at least try to appeal to the next generation of viewers.
"That audience is desperate to have shows that they feel are authentic, and they're particularly aware of what's written from a perspective that really is like theirs," Meriwether said.
2. Shouldn't broadcast networks at least try to be consistent in when they schedule their shows?
"Happy Endings" did well when it aired after "Modern Family" last season, but once it was shipped off to Tuesdays last fall, it began to struggle. It also started its third season late -- it didn't arrive until October -- and soon the show ran into a host of election- and disaster-related preemptions. Then it took an abrupt two-month break, and returned on Fridays. That kind of inconsistency ends up training viewers to wait for new episodes to turn up on their DVRs or online, given that it's hard to predict when the show is even on.
"The case we've been making to [ABC is that]... we haven't had any real consistency, and when we get some consistency, we tend to grow," Groff said.
Groff worked on "HIMYM" in its early seasons, and recalls the long, slow slog to sure-thing renewals. "It took a while, and CBS was committed to protecting that show," Groff said. Eventually, "you could feel the tide turn a bit, but that took until the end of the third season," after the show had aired five dozen episodes on Mondays (where "Big Bang Theory" spent several years growing into a big hit).
3. For a show to succeed on a broadcast network right now, does it have to appeal to a wider range of people?
The characters on "Modern Family" -- one of the few solid comedy hits in recent years -- represent many age ranges and ethnicities, and the comedy appeals to a similarly wide range of viewers. Groff says that the history of "Happy Endings" has served as something of a "reality check" for him -- and perhaps for networks buying younger-skewing shows.
"I do go, 'We did a pretty good version [of a show about people under 30]: a funny, appealing, accessible show with a great cast, and it's struggling,'" Groff said. The answer might be to make sure that future shows "definitely appeal to enough" 35- to 49-year-old viewers, and find ways to "monetize or count in the ratings the ones who watch other ways," he said.
4. Given how many viewers are turning away from appointment viewing, when will networks and advertisers begin to count alternative modes of viewing in ways that make sense?
Imagine if The New York Times' weekly list of bestselling books didn't count ebooks -- we'd laugh at that list, because it would be hopelessly wrong. Yet Nielsen still isn't counting online views in the ratings it provides to networks (it will begin to do so in the fall by adding 160 households to its 23,000-home sample). "Currently a 'television set' is the flat-screen kind, but in the future a tablet computer like an iPad could also be considered a TV set," a Nielsen executive said when the changes were announced. In the future?
The future arrived some time ago for huge numbers of television viewers, some of whom consider themselves fans of well-regarded broadcast network comedies like "New Girl," "Parks and Recreation" and "Go On" but could not tell you when or where they air.
The Nielsen system "always was kind of nuts, but it was less nuts 20 years ago," said Michael A. Ross, who's written for "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," "Rules of Engagement" and "Better Off Ted." "Now it doesn't make a lot of sense, given people's viewing habits." Especially since the number of homes with no television at all has gone from 2 million to 5 million in the last six years, according to Nielsen's own numbers.
But those overnight numbers -- which for "New Girl" are down compared to the show's first season, despite increasing buzz for the show -- are still widely reported, despite the fact that they're incomplete because DVR data isn't included.
"That's the perception of the show -- 'This show dropped,' 'That show falls' -- in the stories that are around the next day," said Meriwether. "Then, when you get the [Nielsen data tracking DVR use over seven days], the show is exactly where it was before."
Of course, TV networks can track legal online views, as well as Amazon and iTunes numbers; and when it comes to DVR use, advertisers will generally pay for viewership within three days of an initial broadcast. But what about binge viewing? What about catching up with your favorite show five days later? Some advertising is pegged to specific events -- sales and movie openings, for example -- but there have got to be better ways to monetize online views, later catch-ups and other kinds of engagement. (As it stands now, Meriwether said, Hulu and other online views don't come up in conversations with Fox executives.)
"It'll help shows like ours when networks and advertisers can come to some kind of understanding" on alternative viewing, Groff said. The Nielsen moves are "a step in the right direction... but I don't know how [helpful] it's going to be in the short-term, for us or for anybody."
5. Are broadcast networks' ongoing problems skewing their comedy development in potentially problematic ways?
Ross says that "disposable hook" is a phrase he's heard in recent years among those who write and develop comedies. A studio or agent may encourage writers to come up with a loud, colorful premise that they can minimize once a network has picked up a show. But when pitching to the broadcast networks, writers are encouraged to start out with, as he puts it, "a hooky premise."
"Cougar Town" had a disposable hook -- and its co-creators couldn't wait to scrap its "older woman dating younger guys" scenario early in the show's first season. (That show, by the way, may have cleared the way for "Happy Endings" by migrating from ABC to cable.) Among other big, loud concepts the broadcast networks have commissioned in recent years: The first family's wacky hijinks! The insanity of men raising children! Hijinks at an animal hospital with a scene-stealing monkey! Aliens invade suburbia! And then there are the 43 iterations of "Up All Night" that NBC tried or contemplated.
Just as violence, blood and all kinds of conflict have invaded one-hour dramas, as the networks endeavor to get and keep viewers' attention, cartoonish premises have invaded network comedies. Of course, blood-soaked dramas can be worthy fare, just as shows that start out with silly core concepts can evolve into enjoyable programs. Perhaps the turn toward the broad isn't such a surprise, given the flop-sweat television networks feel as the competition for eyeballs just keeps on coming -- not just from other networks, games and movies, but from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and the like. "Go big or go home" seems to be the networks' somewhat understandable, fear-driven response to the threats that surround them.
But it's worth noting how much more desperate the Big Four networks have become, and it's certainly worth thinking about how that desperation affects what ends up on our screens.
6. Is TV comedy's center of gravity shifting to cable?
HBO and Showtime have nurtured a string of successful half-hour shows for more than a decade, but the last five or six years have seen everyone from FX to TBS to TV Land aggressively ramp up their half-hour slates. On Tuesday, IFC announced it's developing a whopping 11 new comedies.
It's history repeating itself: A decade or so ago, basic cable networks began churning out the kind of hour-long shows the networks had more or less given up on or had stopped doing well. Now basic cable networks are moving into the comedy turf the networks have owned for decades. (As I noted recently, "Duck Dynasty," one of the current monster hits, is essentially a family comedy set on the bayou.)
Recently, Ross and Victor Fresco (the creator of "Better Off Ted") pitched USA Network a half-hour comedy about four twenty-somethings whose unpromising career prospects force them to move back home. USA bought the pitch, but that's far from the only comedy the network is developing. It began working on a comedy slate a couple of years ago, in part to have something to air alongside repeats of "Modern Family" when they arrive on the network in the fall. And Ross reports that executives there didn't waver from USA's "characters welcome" motto.
"They really do welcome characters, and they want the show to revolve around that, whereas [network executives] want the big, bold idea," Ross said.
"Networks tend to have brands" and it's more important than ever to be mindful of that, according to Ken Levine, a writer/director who has written for "M*A*S*H," "Cheers," "Frasier" and many other shows. But the big networks still also have very large media footprints. "I still think you have a better shot at attracting a large audience on a major broadcast network, but that could change any week," Levine added.
Groff says brand identity may have been an issue for his show. "It's different than [ABC's] other shows, which are more family-oriented," he said. "This is a group friends in their 20s, and that just hasn't really been what they do. I think they felt, 'Where do we put it, exactly?'"
But for comedy to survive, big hooks and strict brand cohesion aren't necessarily going to save the day. There has to be room for the audience to bond with a show's characters or concept, especially since most comedies are not heavily serialized or plotted for suspense.
"It's hard to make the case, 'Tune in tonight!'" Meriwether said. "I think there are amazing, inventive [comedies] that are specifically geared toward younger people, and there's no way for them to compete with 'You need to watch it right now!' stuff and reality shows. But that doesn't mean the comedies aren't being watched."
Cable -- where ratings expectations are lower -- already has the flexibility to nurture a wider variety of half-hour shows. "Louie" and "Hot in Cleveland" could not be more different, but in the cable realm, a half-hour show that changes its format almost every week and a throwback comedy about women of a certain age are successful enough to be well-established franchises for their respective networks.
7. Given all the change and chaos at the broadcast networks, maybe the thing to do is just make a show that's fun to make?
"Happy Endings" is an energetic, rapid-fire show. As cast member Zachary Knighton said in an interview, "We're trying to pack as much as we can into 22 minutes."
Perhaps it's all just too much for ABC's audience. Then again, the show's most vociferous fans probably wouldn't love it so much if it weren't a layer cake of dirty humor, cultural references and sarcastic banter topped by the sweet, sweet frosting of real friendship. That's the show that this cast and these writers found themselves good at making, and tinkering with that DNA is probably not a great idea (as a case in point, watch the new version of "Community," which seems off in many ways that matter).
"Our show is dense, and that could be hurting us," Groff said. "But we don't know how to make it any other way."There was a time in the not too distant past when Buffalo's Anders Lindback was a relatively hot commodity. He was 6-foot-6. He could move like he was 6-foot-1. He was positionally sound, confident, ready to take a starting job.
And after Predators general manager David Poile got two 2012 second round picks as part of a package for Lindback from Tampa in the summer of 2012, it appeared the big Swede would be the Lightning’s goaltender of the future.
Only he swooned, horribly.
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His first year in Tampa he had a 2.90 goals against average and.902 save percentage. His second year, again at 2.90 for goals against and.891 save percentage. He was not the goaltender the Lightning was looking for.
And it didn’t get much better with Dallas this season where he had a 3.71 goals against average and.875 save percentage in 10 games. At that point the future of Lindback’s NHL career looked grim.
When Buffalo acquired him for Jhonas Enroth in mid-February, it seemed like the Sabres were just taking a guy with two good legs who could stop a few pucks. Lindback’s shot confidence could only enhance Buffalo’s tanking, right? Wrong.
In seven games with the Sabres, Lindback has picked up points in three contests. THE HORROR! He has a 2.41 goals against average and.934 save percentage. Has he cemented himself as a starter of the future? Hardly.
But he looks way, way better and NHL-caliber once again, at age 26. On Tuesday night he stopped 43 Boston shots on goal in a 2-1 shootout win.
What has been the difference? Latvia’s favorite goaltender still believed in Lindback:
Story continues
But Lindback stopped 35 of 38 shots and went 2 for 3 in the shootout in Monday’s 4-3 loss to Washington in First Niagara Center. (Coach Ted) Nolan and goaltending coach Arturs Irbe decided they wanted to test him in a back-to-back situation, and Lindback came through in fine fashion.
“He’s the one who saw something with this kid,” Nolan said of Irbe. “He worked with him, worked with him. We were thinking about going with Hackett, and he said, ‘Hey let’s put him back in.’ He has a real good feel for goaltenders, and he’s doing a great job.”
And if anything, this has to make you wonder about the Dallas Stars’ defensive system. If Buffalo’s is somehow better, maybe Kari Lehtonen’s 2.91 goals against average and.905 save percentage aren’t so horrible.
From Lindback:
“All season I’ve been feeling good but haven’t got it done,” Lindback said. “I don’t know. Sometimes it’s just small things. You need that first save. It puts you in a good spot and right now I’m feeling good.
Not very long ago, Lindback was considered a Swedish clone of Nashville’s Pekka Rinne. Lindback made the NHL as a regular at a younger age than Rinne, and was further along in his development when Lindback backed up Rinne for two seasons in Nashville. The two were commonly seen together around town, and filmed goofy in-game videos:
If anything, Lindback is living up to where his Buffalo predecessor Michal Neuvirth left off – of totally preventing the tank job. Who would have thought that Lindback would outplay Enroth who had a 3.27 GAA and.903 save percentage with Buffalo?
Now, the Sabres are just three points clear of Arizona and Edmonton for the worst record – and highest probability of drafting No. 1 – in the NHL. And the Sabres play the Coyotes twice next week. Oh that will be epic. There’s a “Stripes” EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle and tank joke in there somewhere.
But even if the Lindback trade isn’t working out quite so well for Buffalo’s tanking purposes, it has at least helped resurrect the goaltender’s career. And if all continues to go well, and Buffalo gets Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel with one of the top two picks, there would be worse options than re-signing Lindback, provided he continues this pace.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
MORE FROM YAHOO HOCKEYCommuters battle the snow at the Astoria Boulevard station on Feb. 9, 2017. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly
NEW YORK CITY — Above-ground subways and Metro-North service will be restored by 6 p.m. Tuesday after being shut for hours due to the major storm across the region.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the subway service will return along with a partial restoration of Metro-North service, which will operate hourly trains until 11 p.m. on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines.
“As the severity of weather conditions decrease, we are restoring MTA above-ground subway and limited Metro North service so New Yorkers can resume their routines,” the governor said in a statement.
He and Mayor Bill de Blasio issued states of emergency ahead of the morning commute as high winds and whiteout conditions were expected. Commuters should still avoid driving at all costs, the mayor said.
► Snowstorm Timeline: Here's What To Expect Tuesday
The heavy, wet snow turned to sleet by 7 a.m. and was expected to taper off come nightfall, forecasters said.
Here's how transit is getting hit by the blizzard:
► SUBWAYS — All subway service will be restored by 6 p.m., including above-ground lines and the Staten Island rail, after suspensions that began at 4 a.m. Residual delays are expected throughout the evening. Check the MTA's website for details.
► BUSES — Although the MTA had warned of the possibility of a full suspension, buses were still running — but with delays and detours. "All Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island Limited buses will make local stops," @NYCTBus tweeted. New Jersey Transit buses were also shut down for the day.
► RAILS — Metro-North service will be restored at 6 p.m. on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines after being shut down at noon. They will still operate on an hourly schedule until 11 p.m. The LIRR is offering service on a normal weekday schedule but with delays, officials said. NJ Transit trains are operating on a weekend schedule. Amtrak is operating on a modified schedule and is suspended between New York City and Boston.
► FERRIES — The Staten Island Ferry is operating on a modified schedule. The East River Ferry and Seastreak have canceled all service for the day. "NY Waterway ferries will accept NJ TRANSIT tix on all routes Tues, 3/14, except Hav-Oss & Bcn-New, which will not operate," NY Waterway tweeted. Just before noon, NY Waterway posted its modified schedule for the evening commute.
► ROADS — The PlowNYC map displays a GPS-enabled view of which streets have been recently plowed. About 1,600 plows and 689 salt spreaders that have 283,000 tons of salt at its disposal will be out clearing the streets. Some 2,400 workers will take 12-hour shifts that started at 7 a.m. Monday. Alternate side parking has also been suspended for Tuesday and Wednesday. Citi Bike is closed as well.
► AIRPORTS — Fights returned to John F. Kennedy and Newark airports after 5 p.m. Service to LaGuardia Airport was still suspended as of 5:40 p.m. Tuesday
Hundreds of flights were canceled during Tuesday's storm, according to Flight Aware's tracker:
JFK - 784 cancellations
LGA - 869
EWR - 1,028
New Yorkers are encouraged to call 311 if they lose heat or hot water Tuesday and to look out for their sick or elderly neighbors.South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier is never at a loss for words.
The Head Ball Coach took jabs at Tennessee when he was the head coach of Florida, saying that you "can't spell 'citrus' without 'UT'," and has directed his barbs recently at the Georgia Bulldogs and their affinity for early-season suspensions over the last few years.
The USC Trojans and ESPN were in Spurrier's cross hairs after Wednesday's pro timing day in Columbia, and the result was solid gold.
Apparently upset that ESPN chose to televise the pro day at USC instead of his, Spurrier went "full-Spurrier," according to Josh Kendall of The State.
Steve Spurrier: “I noticed both USCs had their pro timing day today. One of them finished No. 7 in the country, the other was not in the Top 25, yet ESPN decided to go out to the one in California which did not finish in the Top 25 and televise their day live.
It’s interesting that (ESPN) doesn’t come around here on signing day, they don’t come around here on pro timing day, and yet they want us to play all these Thursday night games. Maybe we need to consider playing on that new network, FoxSports 1."
Solid. Gold.
South Carolina isn't as high-profile of a program as USC. Nobody's arguing that. But Spurrier has a point. As far as recent successes go, back-to-back 11-win seasons at South Carolina certainly trump anything that Lane Kiffin has been able to do over the last two seasons.
South Carolina isn't as high profile as USC due to lack of exposure, exposure that it has earned.
Seeing running back Marcus Lattimore wow scouts at the Gamecock pro day five short months after a gruesome knee injury would have been intriguing television. Seeing if wide receiver Ace Sanders can build some pre-draft momentum for himself on his home turf would have been exciting.
Skill players sell during pro days. With Lattimore, Sanders and several others taking part, South Carolina was certainly a draw.
Do the Gamecocks have Matt Barkley working out in front of scouts? No. But Spurrier certainly has a point in regard to recent overall success.
I do wonder though how ESPN will take Spurrier's shot and semi-threat to play on Fox Sports 1. SEC commissioner Mike Slive has been working on re-negotiating the conference's media rights deal with CBS and ESPN for quite some time, and one of his highest-profile coaches taking shots at the mother ship probably won't go over well.
That's not for us to decide, though.
Spurrier is a throwback. He's a coach who doesn't fall in line with the same coach-speak cliches that dominate press conferences across the country.
For that, we should thank him...and hope he never changes.
Follow @BarrettSalleeExclusive: Josefina Vidal, who has led the island’s negotiating team since 2013, says Cuba will not be cowed by the incoming president’s bluster and threats
Senior Cuban negotiators say the island will not be cowed by intimidation and bluster from Donald Trump, despite the incoming US president’s threat to rekindle cold war animosities.
“Aggression, pressure, conditions, impositions do not work with Cuba. This is not the way to attempt to have even a minimally civilised relationship with Cuba,”Josefina Vidal, a foreign ministry department head, told the Guardian.
Cuba’s wait-and-see approach is guided by Trump’s unpredictability – and the knowledge that all previous 11 US administrations held talks with representatives from Havana despite the often hawkish public rhetoric coming from Washington.
Spies, artificial insemination and the pope: how Cuba came in from the cold Read more
Vidal has led the island’s negotiating team with the US since 2013, including 18 months of secret discussions, facilitated by Canada and the Vatican, that led to the joint announcement by Cuban president Raúl Castro and Barack Obama on 17 December 2014 of a normalisation of diplomatic relations.
Trump has warned that he is prepared to undo that progress. During the US election campaign, he told an audience of rightwing Cuban exiles in Miami: “All of the concessions that Obama has granted the Castro regime were done through executive order, which means the next president can reverse them and that is exactly what I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands.”
But Cuban officials say that they plan to wait for action rather than words because Trump has repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue of rapprochement – and also put his business interests above his country’s laws.
During the campaign, it emerged that Trump sent his corporate representatives to Cuba in 1998, and again in the 2000s to probe for openings, in violation of the US trade embargo. Three months after launching his campaign to become the Republican party candidate, Trump was the only GOP contender to express a positive opinion of the reopening of bilateral relations, saying “the concept of opening with Cuba is fine”.
Trump’s transition team includes several figures linked to Cuban American groups which take a hard line on Cuba, advocating the continuation of the US blockade and an end to rapprochement.
For years we have been talking to a sophisticated president. Now we have a gentleman who is capable of saying anything Ricardo Alarcón, Cuban politician
Dr Yleem Poblete has been named to Trump’s national security council “landing team”, lawyer John Barsa to the Department of Homeland Security, and lawyer Mauricio Claver-Carone an adviser to the treasury department. Claver-Carone is executive director of the US-Cuba Democracy Pac and among the fiercest opponents of Obama’s Cuba policy.
But Vidal says it is “‘too early” to predict which path the new administration will follow. “There are also other functionaries, businessmen, that Trump has named, including in government roles, who are in favour of business with Cuba, people who think that the US will benefit from cooperation with Cuba, on issues linked to the national security of the US,” she points out.
Her analysis of Trump’s unpredictability – particularly in contrast to Obama – is echoed by Ricardo Alarcón, until recently considered the third-most influential man in Cuban politics.
“For two years we have been talking to a sophisticated president with an intelligent, skillful discourse. Now we have a gentleman who is capable of saying anything and nobody is sure what he is going to do,” said Alarcón, who spent 30 years representing Cuba at the United Nations and another 20 years as president of the country’s national assembly before retiring in 2013.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Barack Obama and Raúl Castro at a baseball game in Havana, Cuba, in March - the first visit by a US president in 88 years. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
From the 1970s to the 2000s, Alarcón led secret talks with US officials through a backdoor channel that was first opened by Che Guevara in 1961, just eight months after diplomatic relations had officially been broken off.
Whether this historical willingness to engage in discussion is continued under Trump will depend on whether the new president takes a pragmatic economic approach or a confrontational political line.
Donald Trump threatens to freeze US-Cuba thaw days after Castro's death Read more
Rafael Hernandez, the director of Temas, an influential journal of political and social debate published in Havana, believes Trump’s business instincts will prevail over the threats.
“This is all bluff. And we are accustomed to the bluff from the governments of the United States,” Hernandez says. “I don’t underestimate Trump’s capacity for aggression, I am simply saying that this is a state that is motivated by interests and the interests are in favour of business, and in the case of Cuba lifting the blockade is nothing more than responding to the interests of business.”
There is little appetite in the US Congress for lifting the embargo, but over the past two years the Obama White House has passed a number of measures to improve ties between the two neighbours.
Listing the fruits of engagement at a conference last month, Vidal noted that in addition to Obama’s visit to Cuba in March 2015 – the first by a US president for 88 years – there have also been 23 high-level visits, 51 technical meetings and 12 agreements signed in areas ranging from cooperation on the environment and air travel to health and the fight against drug trafficking. Twelve more were in the pipeline.
There has also been a dramatic spike in the movement of people between the two nations. Last week it was revealed that nearly 285,000 US citizens visited Cuba in 2016, a growth of 74% on the previous year. Add a similar number of Cuban American visitors and over half a million people travelled to Cuba from the US.
Full migration in the opposite direction, however, was disincentivised last week, when the White House announced the end of the “wet foot, dry foot” migration policy, which privileged Cuban arrivals in the US over migrants from other countries, granting them automatic residency and citizenship within one year.
Obama’s Cuba visit is latest step towards ‘new alliance of the Americas’ Read more
Although commercial ties are minimal and financial restrictions remain in place, Obama |
wish to understand...
... These are the things that I would like you to understand about me before you judge me...
Please understand that being disabled/sick doesn't mean I'm not still a human being. I have to spend most of my day being very careful what I do, and if you visit I might not seem like much fun to be with, but I'm still me stuck inside this body. I still worry about school and work and my family and friends, and most of the time I'd still like to hear you talk about yours too.
Please understand the difference between "happy" and "healthy". When you've got the flu you probably feel miserable with it, but I've been sick for years. I can't be miserable all the time, in fact I work hard at not being miserable. So if you're talking to me and I sound happy, it means I'm happy. That's all. I may be tired. I may be in pain. I may be sicker that ever. Please, don't say, "Oh, you're sounding better!". I am not sounding better, I am sounding happy. If you want to comment on that, you're welcome.
Please understand that being able to stand up for five minutes, doesn't necessarily mean that I can stand up for ten minutes, or an hour. It's quite likely that doing that five minutes has exhausted my resources and I'll need to recover - imagine an athlete after a race. They couldn't repeat that feat right away either.
Please repeat the above paragraph substituting, "sitting up", "walking", "thinking", "being sociable" and so on... it applies to everything that I do.
Please understand that the effects of chronic illnesses and many disabilities are variable. It's quite possible (for me, it's common) that one day I am able to walk to the bathroom and back, while the next day I'll have trouble sitting up. Please don't attack me when I'm worse by saying, "But you did it before!". If you want me to do something, ask if I can and I'll tell you.
Similarly, my illness/disability may vary suddenly, meaning I may need to cancel an invitation at the last minute, if this happens please do not take it personally.
Please understand that "getting out and doing things" does not make me feel better, and can often make me worse. Chronic illnesses/disabilities may cause a secondary/reactive depression (wouldn't you get depressed if you were stuck in bed 23 hours a day for years on end?) but they are not caused by depression. Telling me that I need some fresh air and exercise is not not correct and probably not appreciated - if I could possibly do it that, I would.
Please understand that if I say I have to sit down/lie down/take these pills now, that I do have to do it right now - it can't be put off or forgotten just because I'm doing something else more exciting. Illnesses and disabilities do not forgive their victims easily.
Please understand that I can't spend all of my energy trying to get well from my incurable chronic illness/disability. With a short-term illness like the flu, you can afford to put life on hold for a week or two while you get well. But an important part of having a chronic illness or disability is coming to the realization that you have to spend energy on having a life while you're sick/disabled. This doesn't mean I'm not trying to get better. It doesn't mean I've given up. It's just how life is when you're dealing with a chronic illness/disability.
If you want to suggest a cure to me, please don't. It's not because I don't appreciate the thought; and it's not because I don't want to get well. It's because I have had almost every single one of my friends suggest one at one point or another. At first I tried them all, but then I realized that I was using up so much energy trying things that I was making myself sicker, not better. If there was something that cured, or even helped, all people with a certain illness or disability then we'd know about it. This is not a drug-company conspiracy, there is worldwide networking (both on and off the Internet) between people with similar and different chronic illnesses and disabilities, if something worked we would know about it.
If after reading that, you still want to suggest a cure, then do it if you must. Preferably in writing and accompanied by the scientific papers that prove it works. But don't expect me to rush out and try it. I might not even reply. If I haven't had it or something like it suggested before, and it sounds reasonable, I'll probably take what you said and discuss it with my doctor.
Please understand that getting better from an illness can be very slow. And getting better from an invisible disability might not happen at all. People with chronic illnesses have so many systems in their bodies out of equilibrium, and functioning wrongly, that it may take a long time to sort everything out, if it ever happens.
I depend on you - people who are able-bodied - for many things.
But most importantly, I need you to understand me.
If you liked this open letter, you might want to read one of the versions people have adapted for other illnesses, or other languages, take a look at the open letter options page.
You can also order a poster or print version of An Open Letter To Those Without Invisible Chronic Illness....
An Open Letter To Those Without Invisible Disability Or Chronic Illness... by Ricky Buchanan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
Based on a work at notdoneliving.net.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
California Highway Patrol officers in San Bernardino were searching Wednesday for the hit-and-run driver who struck a 2-year-old boy and left him for dead in the street in front of his home.
The boy, identified by family members as Jonathan Montes, was playing with his older brother in the driveway of their home on Perris Hill Road near Baseline Street around 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
The boy's uncle, Nicholas Ortega, was talking to a friend across the street when his nephew spotted him and ran out into the road to come and see him, Ortega told KTLA.
As he darted into the street, Jonathan was hit by an older model, silver Subaru that was traveling 40 mph in a 25 mph zone, according to a statement from the CHP.
The front of the sedan struck the boy. The impact sent Jonathan flying 100 feet before he landed on the pavement, Ortega said.
"All I just saw was his shoes fly off of him... and the little toy gun that he had fly down the street," he said.
Ortega picked the boy up and raced back to the house where a family member called 911.
Jonathan, known as J.R. to his family, was taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center in extremely critical condition, the CHP stated.
The toddler suffered severe brain swelling, bruised kidneys and a broken neck, according to a post on a GoFundMe page set up for the family.
The post also stated that Jonathan had been placed on life-support.
Witnesses said the driver never even slowed down.
"It's just hard to know that... someone could do that... especially to a little baby," Ortega said.
Investigators were reviewing surveillance video from cameras in the area, but had not released any findings.
Anyone with information about the crash was urged to contact the San Bernardino CHP office at 909-383-4247.
Please enable Javascript to watch this videoIt’s not uncommon for American presidents to foster relations with strongmen. Serving the national interest often means working with leaders who are undemocratic, corrupt, adversarial or all three, and for decades there was no alternative to dealing with whoever had the top job in the Kremlin. People still talk about how naïve President George W. Bush was when he looked into Mr. Putin’s eyes in 2001 and declared the Russian president “trustworthy.” President Barack Obama stuck with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the democratically elected president of Turkey, long after Mr. Erdogan evolved into a dictator. The Chinese and Saudi leaders were favorites of President George H. W. Bush. President Richard Nixon assiduously cultivated China’s Mao Zedong, the shah of Iran and the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
Still, whatever their strengths and weaknesses, these past presidents worked within a structure of longstanding alliances and, in varying degrees, espoused support for democratic values, including the rule of law and human rights, all the while trying to nudge the autocrats along a similar path. President George H. W. Bush and others encouraged democracy in Russia; President Bill Clinton did likewise in China and Peru; President George W. Bush did in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr. Trump chafes at sharing power with Congress and the courts and invokes the importance of human rights only against governments he despises, like North Korea, Iran and Cuba. Insecure, delusional and frustrated at his inability to act unilaterally, he sees himself as uniquely tough and the only person in his administration capable of achieving foreign policy goals.
So what is his scorecard? Russia and China supported his push for tougher sanctions on North Korea. (They did so as well under Mr. Obama.) But there is no sign that China, whose support is vital, has enforced them in a way that will halt North Korea’s nuclear program. China has not moved to open up its economy, as Mr. Trump has demanded. Russia has cooperated to some extent on Syria but not on Ukraine.
At home, Mr. Trump’s determination to arrogate power unto himself has seriously weakened the State Department and the cadre of professional diplomats that is central to successful international problem-solving. It has effectively sidelined people like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It has left to other nations the important tasks of pursuing goals like climate change and the Iran nuclear deal. In major ways, he is dealing America out of the game.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani: "They are asking the Taliban to cease attacks"
The first formal meeting between Pakistan's government and a Taliban-nominated team has been held in Islamabad, officials say.
The talks are aimed at charting a "roadmap" for negotiations that will try to end a decade-long insurgency.
The government set out five conditions, including ending hostilities, saying a "journey for peace" had started.
The Taliban team agreed to travel to the north-west to discuss the conditions with the leadership.
Militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been waging an insurgency inside Pakistan since 2007.
Analysis What the joint statement sought to portray as an agreement between the two mediating teams is in fact the government's proposed framework for talks. It doesn't yet have Taliban approval and two of the conditions run counter to Taliban demands. Firstly, the militants have repeatedly rejected the Pakistani constitution. Secondly, they have said they are fighting for a strict Sharia law across Pakistan, not just in tribal areas worst affected by Taliban violence. If the militants accept the government's proposed framework, it would be a major breakthrough and would offer hope for peace talks. But if they reject it outright, this latest initiative could prove to be a non-starter.
The talks initiative was announced last week by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, following a spate of attacks.
More than 100 people, including soldiers, died in Taliban attacks across the country in January. Thousands have been killed since the TTP came to the fore in 2007.
Doubts over success
The first session lasted about three hours at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad.
The head of the Taliban team, Maulana Sami ul-Haq, read out a joint statement afterwards.
It listed five basic conditions that had been set out by the government side:
All talks be held within the framework of the constitution
The scope of the talks should remain confined to areas affected by violence, not the whole country
All hostilities should cease during talks
The Taliban should clarify the role of a separate nine-member committee that they have established
The talks should not be protracted
The Taliban team agreed to travel to Miranshah in the north-west to take the conditions to the leadership and pledged to report back to the government committee as soon as possible.
Both committees agreed that neither side should initiate an act that might damage the talks process.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Chief government negotiator Irfan Siddiqui (L) said the talks with the Taliban team, led by Maulana Sami ul-Haq, were cordial
Image copyright AFP Image caption The first session lasted about three hours at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad
The statement also said that the Taliban side had sought clarification on the power and mandate of the government committee involved in the talks, and whether it could accept and act on demands made by the Taliban.
Both sides condemned recent violence.
Who are the Pakistani Taliban? With its roots in the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Tehreek-e-Taliban movement came to the fore in 2007 by unleashing a wave of violence
Its leaders have traditionally been based in Pakistan's tribal areas but it is really a loose affiliation of militant groups, some based in areas like Punjab and even Karachi
The various Taliban groups have different attitudes to talks with the government - some analysts say this has led to divisions in the movement
Collectively they are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Pakistanis and have also co-ordinated assaults on numerous security targets
Two former TTP leaders, Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud, as well as many senior commanders have been killed in US drone strikes
It is unclear if current leader Maulana Fazlullah, who comes from outside the tribal belt, is even in Pakistan, but he has a reputation for ruthlessness Viewpoint: Taliban ascendant? Press sceptical about talks Who's who in Pakistan-Taliban peace talks
The chief negotiator for the government side, Irfan Siddiqui, said: "Today, we started the journey for peace, and both sides have agreed to complete it as soon as possible."
The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Pakistan says that while some have hopes for the process, others are deeply sceptical and see it as a sign of weakness on the part of the government.
Joining Mr Siddiqui on the government team was veteran journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, former ambassador Rustam Shah Mohmand and a retired major from the ISI intelligence service, Amir Shah.
The Taliban refrained from naming representatives from within their own ranks and instead nominated pro-Taliban religious figures to represent their views.
The three-man TTP team comprised Mr ul-Haq, known as the "Father of the Taliban"; the chief cleric of Islamabad's Red Mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz; and the leader of Jamaat-e-Islami party, Ibrahim Khan.
The Taliban want to see Sharia (Islamic law) imposed throughout Pakistan and US troops to withdraw from the region.
Since taking office last May, Mr Sharif has come under mounting pressure to bring the violence under control, with many accusing his government of lacking a strategy to deal with the militants, correspondents say.
He recently said he wanted to end the insurgency by peaceful means, but has indicated that stronger military action will be used if talks fail.
Correspondents say some in Pakistan are worried the talks will only allow the militants time to gain strength and regroup. Previous attempts to engage the Pakistani Taliban in dialogue have all failed.SALT LAKE CITY—News outlets have recently announced that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now the largest land owner in the state of Florida, owning 2% of the state’s total land area. While many speculated the church would use the land for farming, Enoch Pratt, a church representative, confirmed that, in fact, they plan to build the largest amusement park in America.
Pratt said that “no unhallowed hand, especially that of a struggling economy, can stop missionary work from going forth. We thought an amusement park would show the world that we are no different from them. We do, in fact, use electricity and we also like to have fun occasionally. We hope this project will increase interest in the church for generations to come.”
The new amusement park will include the fastest roller coaster on earth, Hie to Kolob, which will take riders from 0 to 100 miles per hour in “the twinkling of an eye.” The park will also include an amphitheater with a capacity of 21,000 spectators that will feature presentations by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as well as Broadway musicals such as Wicked and The Book of Mormon Musical, an LDS favorite.
“I am so happy to see the church is advancing in unbelievable ways,” said Mia Maid, a Mormon girl, “I never thought I could spread the Gospel and have fun!” Maid is most excited about the mini golf course that will feature temples from all over the world. “They even have a life-size replica of Jerusalem in the ride Escape from Laban. I can’t wait to bring all my friends!”
Pratt also indicated that the park will offer discounts to families of twelve or more, in addition to those who have completed 100% of their home-teaching for a year. He says, “This project will help the work in so many ways. If a testimony of The Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith can’t get them to believe in the Church, then we hope this two billion dollar amusement park will.”Enlarge By Verna Sadock, AP Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, center, his Chief of Staff John Harris, left, and federal prosecutor Reid Schar, right, stand in court Tuesday after Blagojevich and Harris were arrested on corruption charges. THE BLAGOJEVICH FILE THE BLAGOJEVICH FILE Blagojevich Age: 52. Born Dec. 10, 1956. Home: Chicago. Family: Wife, Patricia; two daughters Education: Northwestern University, graduated in 1979; Pepperdine University, law degree, 1983. Experience: Elected Illinois governor in 2002, re-elected in 2006; served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois' 5th District from 1997-2002; served in the Illinois House from a North Side Chicago district from 1992-1996; assistant Cook County state's attorney. Quote: "I don't care whether you tape me privately or publicly. I can tell you that whatever I say is always lawful." Enlarge By Mark Carlson, AP Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, center, leaves his home through a back alley Wednesday a day after he was arrested on federal corruption charges. CHICAGO Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Thursday she was ready to take action to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office following his arrest on corruption charges. She said her options included asking the Illinois Supreme Court to declare Blagojevich unable to serve and put in Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn as acting governor. "I am prepared to take action," Madigan said in an interview on CNN. CHICAGO: Blot on pride POLITICS BLOG: Latest developments in corruption case FUTURE: What scandal might mean for Obama Senate seat "The easiest way for us to move on in the state of Illinois is for Governor Blagojevich to do the right thing for the people and to resign," she said. "Now, it doesn't appear that he has any inclination to do that. Maybe things will change today or tomorrow." Madigan said she "won't wait terribly long." The attorney general was among a growing number of Illinois politicians trying to force the governor to step down and to strip him of the power to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Legislative leaders have called a special session for Monday to authorize a special election. Blagojevich was charged Tuesday with trying to sell the Senate seat, soliciting money from people with state business and pressing the Chicago Tribune to fire editorial writers who had criticized him. Sheldon Sorosky, Blagojevich's lawyer, said Tuesday that the governor did nothing wrong. Quinn, the lieutenant governor, said he believes that the embattled governor will step down. "If the governor doesn't act he will be impeached," Quinn told NBC's "Today" program. Quinn also said that if he is installed in the office, he may pick someone to fill the vacated seat rather than wait for a special election. On Tuesday, a spokesman for Obama said the president-elect believes that Blagojevich should step down Also on Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. denied involvement in the governor's alleged attempt to sell the open Senate seat. Jackson, son of the civil rights leader and one of several Illinois Democrats vying for the job, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday he did not offer to raise money for the governor in exchange for the Senate appointment. James Montgomery Sr., Jackson's lawyer, confirmed Jackson is "Senate Candidate 5." The criminal complaint cites a conversation between Blagojevich and aides in which the governor says "Candidate 5" sent an intermediary to make the offer. "I reject and denounce pay-to-play politics and have no involvement whatsoever in any wrongdoing," Jackson said. He said federal prosecutors told him he is not a target of the investigation. CORRUPT STATES: North Dakota leads in conviction rate Fallout from the case: • Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., also called on the governor to resign and refrain from naming anyone to the vacant seat. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a letter, warned the Senate might refuse to seat a Blagojevich appointee. Durbin wants the state Legislature to call a special election, even though it gives the GOP a chance at the seat. • Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said Obama "should immediately disclose" communications between his transition team and the governor's office. "Obama's promise of transparency … is now being tested," he said. "This Blagojevich scandal opens up a bonanza of opportunities for Republicans in Illinois," said retiring Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill. Obama has said he had no contact with Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. His adviser, David Axelrod, said last month that Obama did speak to Blagojevich about the vacancy but on Tuesday stated he was mistaken and that Obama never spoke "directly" to the governor. • Blagojevich, released on his own recognizance at a court appearance Tuesday, went to work at his downtown office. • Bob Greenlee resigned as a deputy governor. The complaint against Blagojevich identifies "Deputy Governor A" as someone who was deeply involved in a scheme to strong-arm the Tribune. Greenlee's attorney, when asked whether his client was the deputy governor, did not dispute it. David Stetler told the Associated Press the reason behind Greenlee's resignation "should be obvious." Contributing: Mimi Hall in Chicago; Kathy Kiely in Washington; the Associated Press. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read moreIn the winter there is Santa Claus, but this summer Bavaria will be visited by a new jolly old lad, Santalotti. Now Santalotti isn’t bringing presents in his sack, but instead lots and lots of transfers for all the good Bayern Munich boys and girls, and coincidentally none for those BVB and Schalke assho- …. boys and girls.
Top 5 players that Santalotti will most likely bring to Bayern this summer:
Mats Hummels – I wrote about this last week, and it seems increasingly likely that this deal will become a reality. Say what you will neutrals. Kenny Tete – Now I don’t really know a lot about this lad, but the Bayern scouts seem to really like what they see, and they have hit a couple homers lately with Coman and Costa. I will trust their judgement, and Bayern need to get a young RB into our system as soon as possible to start learning from Lahm. Miralem Pjanić – Pjanic is obviously very good, he reminds me of a less frilly Thiago. Brilliant at free kicks, great passing and vision. However with Nainggolan also supposedly heading out this summer I would be surprised to see Roma basically gut their midfield, which is why he isn’t higher on this list. Ousmane Dembélé – It is apparent that after this season Bayern can no longer count on Ribery & Robben being fit for more than half a season. This youngster has been lighting up Ligue 1 and drawing comparisons to some excellent players the likes of CR7. Hopefully Bayern snatch him up before BVB. If he dyes his hair he can join the Alaba and Coman club. Ricardo Rodriguez – Now this move is interesting, Ricardo has a relatively low release clause compared to his skill, and with the possibility of Alaba moving into the midfield, the need for a new LB would be imminent. This move would definitely be a forecast to the future.
Top 5 outrageous-yet-possible transfers:
Now let’s have a little fun. Bayern fans have been very good all year and maybe Santalotti brought a little something special!
James Rodríguez – It seems likely that Zinedine Zidane will remain the Real Madrid manager for some time. For whatever reason he and James just don’t have a good rapport. As a result, Santalotti may be able to get a good discount for the Colombian. Eden Hazard
– A recurring theme is about to emerge, and that is the replacement of Robbery (Ribery and Robben). Bayern could potentially get a deal on Hazard as well, considering the less-than-stellar season he’s had. Alexis Sánchez – For similar reasons to Hazard, Alexis is also an excellent target to replace Robbery. Bayern need someone to immediately step into some big shoes and Alexis is definitely at that world class level. Injuries are a concern. Serge Aurier – Another potential Lahm replacement. Serge had a bit of a go at Laurent Blanc this season (to say the least). It speaks to his quality however that he was only barred from the first team for a short period. The past can’t be erased though, and PSG may potentially be looking to sell him off. Romelu Lukaku – I’m not even sure if there have been rumors for this, but Lukaku has proven himself to be too good to not be playing European football. Pair this with our need for a second natural striker and yeah this wouldn’t be a terrible transfer. He would probably cost way too much money though.
The Naughty List – AKA who Krampus is going to take away this summer
So if you aren’t familiar with the tale of Krampus, in Germany he is basically the anti-Santa, and is charged with punishing the naughty kids. He supposedly puts kids into his sack and takes them away to eat them. The parallel is there, I promise!
Medhi Benatia – Plagued by injury at Bayern it seems very likely that Benatia will exit this summer, and who can really blame him. I wish him only the best in his future. Mario Götze – What could have been… A largely uninspiring campaign at Bayern will likely lead Mario to signing with a different club this offseason. He’s good, but he only really cracks the starting XI for more chances to prove himself. Serdar Tasci – Yeah he’s gone. I feel bad for him because when he did play, he did so valiantly. That being said he was an emergency signing and that’s all he was ever supposed to be. My god he is handsome though. Sebastian Rode – Rode plays so hard for Bayern but ultimately he just isn’t good enough to start regularly. In the same sense he is also too good to sit the bench. He will likely find his way to a mid-table club. Bernat/Rafinha – Bernat has been rather horrid as of late, and Rafinha is only getting older. I expect at least one of them to depart, but hey what’s stopping both of them?
Anyways that’s the post! I’m not sure whether to call it banter as it is mostly reliable information. Maybe just banter-themed? See you all again soon!
Cheers,
Keaton Goar
AdvertisementsOn Wednesday, we looked at the most efficient scoring players in the league. Today, we flip it around and report the bad news. Like Wednesday’s list, I limited this list to players with at least 300 field goal attempts, which gets Ricky Rubio and some others off the hook this time, but the season is young and this group will evolve over time.
Anyway, this is always a depressing exercise, because every year this list is full of great young talent who, for whatever reason, can’t make shots. This year is no exception. Everyone on this list is under 30 — there are two rookies — and every player here has the potential to be a really good NBA player. And of course, Josh Smith is back.
So, in no particular order:
Tyreke Evans, ShotScore per 100 shots: -24
Tyreke Evans is one of the most enigmatic players in the league. Anyone with eyeballs can see how gifted he is, but he just can’t shoot … or can he? Here are two stats about Evans from this season:
• Has made 82 percent of his free throws.
• Has made only 24 percent of his field goal attempts beyond eight feet.
I have trouble reconciling these two facts; how can a player so smooth at the line look so awful from the field? To his credit, Evans seems to be self-aware enough to not be an active jump shooter, but it is still frustrating. His ability to knock down free throws demonstrates that he has great touch, but something mechanical breaks down when he is shooting off the dribble. It seems like the right shooting coach could make it click, and if he could just convert those jumpers at league-average rates, his overall game would soar. He has all-world attacking skill, but without the threat of the jumper his defenders can sag and overprotect those driving lanes.
Tony Wroten, ShotScore per 100 shots: -21
Speaking of Evans, a player who has been described as the “poor man’s Tyreke Evans” is, unsurprisingly, having a bad year from the field. In some ways, Tony Wroten’s shot chart looks like he should play for the Rockets; he absolutely refuses to shoot in the midrange. But unlike those guys in Houston, Wroten doesn’t make his 3s very often. He’s been pretty active beyond the arc, and he’s been terrible out there. Out of 85 players with at least 100 3-point attempts, Wroten is 84th in efficiency. Spoiler alert: Josh Smith ranks 85th.
Victor Oladipo, ShotScore per 100 shots: -18
Oladipo is one of the best rookies in the league. He looks like the kind of player that will get better and savvier each year, and I bet he’ll have a long career in the league. Still, like many young players, he struggles to score. So far this year, Oladipo is a below-average producer everywhere on the court, with one exception: He’s pretty decent near the right elbow, which is encouraging. If he can develop that pull-up move, a lot of other things will fall into place. He has often been compared to Dwyane Wade, but as a scorer, he’s going to have to vastly improve his finishing skills to earn that comparison going forward.
Michael Carter-Williams, ShotScore per 100 shots: -17
Like Oladipo, the Sixers’ Michael Carter-Williams is another very strong rookie performer who is having trouble scoring. In fact, though he is currently the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award, Carter-Williams is having a very tough debut season as a shooter overall.
After a promising start, his efficiency numbers have plummeted. He has made less than a third of his shots outside of eight feet, and has been particularly bad from the top of the arc, where other point guards like Damian Lillard and Jose Calderon excel. More than any other team in the league, the Sixers should go out and find the best shooting coach in the world. Carter-Williams, Wroten, and Nerlens Noel are each potential stars, but their inability to shoot stands in their way.
Does Chip Engelland like cheesesteaks? Sam Hinkie should find out; Brett Brown should already know.
Josh Smith, ShotScore per 100 shots: -16
If you haven’t seen this, I guess we should start here:
Sometimes I feel like every column I write about bad shooting is a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert and the part where I rant about Josh Smith is “Free Bird.” Everyone knows it’s coming, but I have to do it anyway.
Last summer, I was very excited when Smith entered free agency; I felt that in the proper offense, under the right coach, and alongside the right teammates, something might click and his All-Star potential could finally be unlocked. I have always claimed that if Smith would only focus on offensive rebounding, attacking the basket, and operating on the blocks, he’d be a really great player.
I still feel that way, but Detroit is just not the place, at least right now. It’s an unstable situation, the offensive tactics are unclear at best, and with young bigs like Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond clogging up the paint there’s no room in the Pistons frontcourt. As a result, Smith plays the 3 too much, and in turn he’s taking even more jumpers than he did in Atlanta.
This is like sending Cookie Monster to a rehab run by the Keebler Elves.
What if Smith had landed in a place like Dallas? Something tells me his chart would look different this year. But he’s in Detroit, and I may as well have copied and pasted this chart from his Atlanta days because it feels like a rerun, and this bird has not changed.
According to ShotScore, these are the five least-efficient volume shooters in the NBA so far this season. However, they are not alone, and some of these guys may very well shoot their way out of the cellar. If you’re looking for other bricklayers around the league, here are some other guys to watch: Rubio, Ramon Sessions, Cody Zeller, Jeff Teague, Brandon Jennings, and Jeff Taylor, who may actually be the worst shooter in the NBA right now. Although shooting is only one component of offense, it’s a really important one, and although these players all have lots of potential, their inability to convert shots is what’s preventing them from turning potential into reality.Yet again, the government wants to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. According to the Obama administration and the FCC, it is necessary to regulate internet service providers so that they don’t interfere with people’s access to the web. The claim immediately prompts one to ask: Who is being denied access to the web?
In the past twenty years, access to the internet has only become more widespread and service today is far faster for many people — including “ordinary” people — than it was twenty years ago, or even ten years ago. Today, broadband in Europe, where the internet is more tightly regulated, has less reach than it has in the United States.
The administration’s plan is rather innocuously called “net neutrality,” but in fact it has nothing at all to do with neutrality and is just a scheme to vastly increase the federal government’s control over the internet.
What is Net Neutrality?
We don’t know the details of the plan because the FCC refuses to let the taxpayers see the 300-page proposal before the FCC votes on it today. But, we do know a few things.
Currently, ISPs are regulated by the FCC, but as an “information service” under the less restrictive rules of so-called Title I. But now, the FCC wants to regulate ISPs as utilities under the far more restrictive Title II restrictions. For a clue as to how cutting edge this idea is, remember this switch to Title II regulation would put ISPs into the same regulatory regime as Ma Bell under the Communications Act of 1934.
So what does this mean for the FCC in practice? According to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, “It gives the FCC the power to micromanage virtually every aspect of how the Internet works.” More specifically, Gordon Crovitz at the Wall Street Journal writes:
[With Net Netruality,] bureaucrats can review the fairness of Google’s search results, Facebook’s news feeds and news sites’ links to one another and to advertisers. BlackBerry is already lobbying the FCC to force Apple and Netflix to offer apps for BlackBerry’s unpopular phones. Bureaucrats will oversee peering, content-delivery networks and other parts of the interconnected network that enables everything from Netflix and YouTube to security drones and online surgery.
The administration insists these measures are necessary because — even though there is no evidence that this has actually happened — it is possible that at some point in the future, internet service providers could restrict some content and apps on the internet. Thus, we are told, control of content should be handed over to the federal government to ensure that internet service providers are “neutral” when it comes to deciding what is on the internet and what is not.
Can Goods Be Allocated in a “Neutral” Way?
The problem is that there is no such thing as “neutral” allocation of resources, whether done by government or the marketplace.
In the marketplace, goods and services tend to be allocated according to those who demand the goods the most. Where demand is highest, prices are highest, so goods and services tend to go to where they are most demanded. This makes perfect sense, of course, and also reflects the inherent democracy of the markets. Where larger numbers of people put more resources is where more goods and services will head.
It is this mechanism that drives the marketplaces for food, clothing, and a host of other products. Consequently, both food and clothing have become so plentiful that obesity is a major health problem and second-hand clothing stores, selling barely-worn discarded clothing, are a boom industry, even in affluent neighborhoods. Similarly, cell phones have only become more affordable and more widespread in recent decades.
For industries where new firms may freely enter, and customers are not compelled to buy, companies or individuals that wish to make money must use their resources in ways that are freely demanded by others. Unless they have been granted monopoly power by government, no firm can simply ignore its customers. If they do, competing firms will enter the marketplace with other goods and services.
Although goods allocated in this fashion are — according to the administration — not being allocated “neutrally,” the fact is that more people now have more service at higher speeds than was the case in the past. Furthermore, even if firms (or the government |
?) – but I hope the above will suffice to make it clear that this is not science.
The thing is; I know well why this has gone big. It’s punchy. It’s unique. It’s entertaining. It’s quick. What he ultimately produces is great shareable content, designed specifically to go huge on the internet, and resonating with an audience who have seen LOTR and the Hunger Games and Arrow. Good for him. I don’t know what he is looking to ultimately do with this thing, but I do want to know why has he surrounded it with a load of pseudo-historical bullshit – and I’d like to see his skills tested in a slightly more skeptical environment.
This is what I don’t get: Why doesn’t he celebrate what he does – a showy modern distillation of not-remotely-forgotten mounted archery skills – for what it is? Why try and back it up with a lot of historical flimflam? He could easily have been a bit more careful and accurate with the sources and a touch less arse-y and arrogant with the commentary and it would STILL have been a great video. Why go to all that trouble, and then veneer it so thinly? Unfortunately, I suspect it’s all, ultimately, to do with making dollar. Am sure he’s shooting down offers left, right and centre at the moment, and good luck to him.
It’s an entertaining six minutes of trick-shots. But I love archery. You know why? Because it’s deeply, passionately, frustratingly real. And this… this isn’t real.
There’s a lengthy discussion of the historical aspects of the video here.
This post was edited on 27/01/15 in response to extensive discussions on Reddit and elsewhere. All comments and feedback are very welcome.Christoph Niemann incorporates everyday items into clever sketches that offer a dizzying sense of depth and whimsical perspective. The New York native can take an avocado and make it look like a catcher’s mitt; he can transform a comb into a fancy Rolls Royce; he can even turn a poppy-seed bagel into unshaved whiskers. Based on where he places the objects within the pictures, Niemann can create an impressive sense of motion or depth. The artist’s illusions are fun because he helps us look at objects we take for granted from a fresh angle.
Niemann is renowned for his simple, quirky style that includes surprising details. His paintings, cartoons and sketches have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker Magazine, Time and Wired, among others. Follow him on Instagram to catch more of his delightful cartoons.
Christoph Niemann’s website
via [Twisted Sifter]In 1985 New Zealand was basking in its position as leader of the anti-nuclear movement. As a country it had clearly punched above its weight. Then, just before midnight on the evening of 10 July, two explosions ripped through the hull of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, which was moored at Marsden Wharf in Auckland.
A Portuguese crew member, Fernando Pereira, was killed in the explosions. The Rainbow Warrior had been involved in protests over French nuclear testing in the Pacific. French Secret Service (DGSE) agents were sent to prevent it leaving for another protest campaign at Mururoa Atoll.
Two DGSE officers, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, were arrested on 24 July. Both were charged with murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. The case was a source of considerable embarrassment to the French government. While the attack was on an international organisation rather than New Zealand itself, most New Zealanders did not make such a distinction. The fact that it was committed on New Zealand territory by a supposed friend produced a sense of outrage and a serious deterioration in relations between New Zealand and France.
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an international environmental organisation founded in Canada in 1971. It is well known for its campaigns to stop nuclear testing and whaling, as well as its stand on other environmental issues such as bottom trawling, global warming, the destruction of forests and genetic engineering. The organisation's official mission statement says that: 'Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force solutions for a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace's goal is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity.’
France used its influence to threaten New Zealand's access to the important European Economic Community market, and New Zealand exports to France were boycotted. New Zealanders reacted in a similar manner to French imports. Eventually, both countries agreed to allow the United Nations to mediate a settlement.
Almost a year after the bombing, on 8 July 1986, United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced, in a binding decision, that New Zealand would receive an apology and compensation of $13 million from France, which was also ordered not to interfere with New Zealand’s trade negotiations. Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart were to serve their sentences in full on Hao Atoll in French Polynesia.
In what was seen as the final insult, both prisoners were released early. Alain Marfart returned to France because of ‘illness’ in 1987, while Dominique Prieur was repatriated in May 1988 because she was pregnant. Both were decorated and promoted upon their return home.
This incident did much to promote what has been described as New Zealand's'silent war of independence' and was central to an upsurge in New Zealand nationalism. There was a sense of having to 'go it alone' because traditional allies such as the United States and Britain sat on their hands while France worked to block New Zealand exports. The failure of Britain and the United States to condemn this act of terrorism hardened support for a more independent foreign policy line.
In September 2006 the agent who placed the bomb was named as Gerard Royal by his brother, Antoine. Their sister, Ségolène Royal, was the Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential elections.Version 1.030 is out, and is a relatively smallish update that is nonetheless the start of a lot more goodness to come. This one fixes some issues surrounding massive numbers of births and clonings that could cause issues in certain savegames. Also a fix for selling resources if you have fewer than 800.
By the way, want to see a hilarious pair of animated videos with TotalBiscuit talking about his successful TLF playthrough? Check out The Biscuit Federation.
What’s Was With The Shift In Schedule Lately?
If you just follow TLF and not our other games, then you may notice my conspicuous absence lately. I had planned on getting the upcoming expansion for that out a lot sooner than is actually happening, among other things, but that hasn’t been the way events actually unfolded. TLF is in a really good state, so for the most part I’ve been letting it be for the time being.
In the meantime, I spent the bulk of my time porting our entire back catalog of games to Linux, because I’ve been meaning to do that for years and finally felt like I had the time. That process took me surprisingly longer than I expected, but now AI War, Tidalis, Valley 1 and 2, and Skyward Collapse are all Linux games in addition to the Windows and OSX support that they already had. Bionic Dues and TLF already supported Linux, so I was surprised by how long it took to get the other games straightened out, but such is life I suppose.
I also took that opportunity to do some other housekeeping with general business stuff, some tweaks and bugs in older tiles, and so forth.
And then lastly, I’ve also been trying to keep ahead of Keith and the artists (Blue and Cath), who are working on Spectral Empire, our upcoming hex-based 4X. That’s not launching until April 2015, so there’s quite a way to go on it, but that’s what the rest of the staff is primarily focusing on now, and so I’ve been needing to hold up my end.
They all already finished their work on the new TLF expansion for the most part, so all that remains is for me to carve out time in my own schedule to resume working on that and the other planned free enhancements to the base game. Now that all the porting work and other business housekeeping work is done, all the portion of my time that was devoted to that can now be redirected back to TLF. Mostly that is going to kick off next week, but from here on out I’m going to be dividing my attention between TLF and SE. Thanks for your patience in the meantime!
Ongoing Updates
The support of the community, and the growth of it, remain amazing to me. It’s been a dry spell for the last couple of months in terms of the speed of updates on the game, but we’re going to be continuing to expand the improve the game via bugfixes, balance updates, and new content, and plan to do so for the foreseeable future.
As you’ve already seen, it won’t always be on a consistent schedule, but if you’re familiar with our post-release support for AI War: Fleet Command over the past 5 years, that’s basically the arc that we are currently expecting here unless something unexpectedly changes. There are only two of us programmers, so when we have to divert our attention to something, there’s not a lot of granularity available to us, heh.
At present we are also working on an expansion TLF (TLF: Betrayed Hope). The expansion for TLF is expected to be available for preorder through our site in two or three weeks, with access to the current beta of the expansion. The actual full release of the expansion is expected to be in late September at this point, on all the existing distributors that carry the base game. This is obviously really different from the last schedule I’d laid out for the expansion, but I think we spent the time well. And hey, the new expansion for AI War is coming out on the 18th (Monday)!
More to come soon. Enjoy!
This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater, or if you have Steam it will automatically update it for you. To force Steam to download it faster, just restart Steam and it will do so.
The official forum post discussing this release: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,16117.0.htmlReady to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week.
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While speaking on a panel earlier this year, I watched an expert in artificial intelligence reassure a group of anxious professionals with an analogy: Many people can’t explain how a car runs, but they don’t hesitate to get into one. In other words, consumers will embrace the benefits of technology without asking too many questions. The audience nodded sagely; no one seemed to pick up the metaphor’s disturbing implications. Ad Policy
Drawing a correlation between an inability to describe the internal-combustion engine and our poor grasp of the potential impacts of artificial intelligence brings a false sense of security. One doesn’t need be a gearhead to form opinions on congestion pricing, seat belts, or a gas tax. Likewise, you don’t need to be a coder to grapple with AI. By not asking questions about artificial intelligence and its related fields, we relinquish a massive amount of control to giant profit-seeking firms.
A healthy modern democracy requires ordinary citizens to participate in public discussions about rapidly advancing technologies. We desperately need new policies, regulations, and safety nets for those displaced by machines. With computing power accelerating exponentially, the scale of AI’s significance is still not being fully internalized. The 2017 McKinsey Global Initiative report “A Future that Works” predicts that AI and advanced robotics could automate roughly half of all work globally by 2055, but, McKinsey notes, “this could happen up to 20 years earlier or later depending on the various factors, in addition to other wider economic conditions.”
Granted, the media are producing more articles focused on artificial intelligence, but too often these pieces veer into hysterics. Wired magazine labeled this year’s coverage “The Great Tech Panic of 2017.” We need less fear-mongering and more rational conversation. Dystopian narratives, while entertaining, can also be disorienting. Skynet from the Terminator movies is not imminent. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t hazards ahead. Related Article Programmers in India Have Created the Country’s First Tech-Sector Union Michelle Chen
Yoshua Bengio, a Canadian computer scientist and one of the world’s eminent deep-learning experts, argues that we should focus on the ways technology is set to compound existing problems, especially inequality. Bengio wrote in an e-mail, “AI will probably exacerbate inequalities, first with job disruptions—a few people will benefit greatly from the wealth created, [while] a large number will suffer because of job loss—and second because wealth created by AI is likely to be concentrated in a few companies and a few countries.”
Another risk of AI is its propensity to reinforce racial and gender bias. Earlier this year, a report published in Science showed “that applying machine learning to ordinary human language results in human-like semantic biases.” The researchers input a “corpus of text from the World Wide Web,” and the machine-learning program associated women’s names more with words like “wedding” and “parents” and men’s names with “professional” and “salary.”
With this in mind, it’s easy to imagine a woman being passed over for a traditionally male job because of an algorithm. This is the same type of technology that can determine university admission or a bank-loan application. The decisions will be fair only if the data is unbiased, and we don’t have to look too far to be reminded that our world, and therefore our data, is far from even-handed. Current Issue View our current issue
Artificial intelligence is a heterogeneous field—it includes computer science, neuroscience, even philosophy. Ordinary citizens have many ways to approach or understand artificial intelligence, but the easiest way is to realize the role of AI in topics they already care about.
When I interviewed Ben Scott, a senior adviser to the Open Technology Institute at New America, it was the day after Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, announced the company’s intention to tighten controls on its targeting of ads. ProPublica had revealed that Facebook’s tools could be used to direct advertisements to “Jew haters.” Facebook’s advertising-targeting platform is a sophisticated AI system. Unfortunately, as Scott told me, “people don’t necessarily think of this as an AI problem—it absolutely is.” The way Russia has exploited social media to sow confusion and discontent across the world—that’s also an AI problem. Artificial intelligence is becoming tightly woven into nearly every aspect of society.
Increasingly, to thoughtfully discuss ethics, politics, or business, the general population needs to pay attention to AI. In 1989, Ursula Franklin, the distinguished German-Canadian experimental physicist, delivered a series of lectures titled “The Real World of Technology.” Franklin opened her lectures with an important observation: “The viability of technology, like democracy, depends in the end on the practice of justice and on the enforcements of limits to power.”
For Franklin, technology is not a neutral set of tools; it can’t be divorced from society or values. Franklin further warned that “prescriptive technologies”—ones that isolate tasks, such as factory-style work—find their way into our social infrastructures and create modes of compliance and orthodoxy. These technologies facilitate top-down control.
She proposes that to better understand issues about the “real world of technology” one must think not only in terms of economics but of justice too. In doing so, we can transcend the “barriers that technology puts up against reciprocity and human contact.” Although she was speaking nearly 30 years ago, Franklin’s concerns relating to technology prophetically map onto current apprehensions about AI. “You see, if somebody robs a store, it’s a crime, and the state is all set and ready to nab the criminal. But if somebody steals from the commons and from the future, it’s seen as entrepreneurial activity and the state gives them tax concessions…. We badly need an expanded concept of justice and fairness that takes mortgaging the future into account.” Shifting thinking about AI from profits to principles, as Franklin recommends, would allow for the possibility of change from the bottom up.
To think about AI in terms of justice, academics from all disciplines ought to nurture the public’s interest in the ethics of AI. Interdisciplinary groups of thinkers such as Data & Society and AI Now should be model organizations. They produce fascinating, valuable guides to ethics and inclusion in this field. In AI Now’s 2017 report, the organization explores such crucial questions as, “What happens to workers after their jobs have been automated?,” “What effects will these systems have on vulnerable individuals and minorities?,” and “How will AI systems be used by law enforcement or national security agencies?”
Explanations of the likely costs and benefits of AI should also be made accessible and relevant to community issues. Informed citizens, for instance, should be aware of the connections between AI advancements and changes in the farming industry. Hands Free Hectare in the UK completed a fully automated harvest this year. When that technology becomes widely adopted, it could increase productivity but eliminate a staggering number of jobs. Personalized medicine and developments in diagnostics can improve treatments for diabetes and cancer, but datasets are also being sold, often unknowingly, by powerful health-data brokers in a billion-dollar industry. Advancements in AI can help combat forest fires and climate change, but society cannot take full advantage if the information is kept proprietary.
With all of this in mind, we must make AI a prominent issue on the campaign trail and demand more from our policy-makers. Prior to the Trump administration, advancements in AI and machine learning were beginning to be taken seriously in Washington. But at present, no one appears to be incorporating the ethics of AI into government strategy. It is much easier to blame overseas workers than to confront the inevitable restructuring of our society.
“The data shows that you are more likely to lose your job to mechanization than to a Mexican,” said Alec Ross, who was the senior adviser for innovation under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In a recent conversation with Ross, now running for governor of Maryland, about generating public interest in AI, he pointed out that “the most important stakeholders of artificial intelligence are the ones least likely to understand it.”
One tenet of Ross’s campaign is the idea that “talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not.” He is an advocate of tech literacy beginning at a young age and of integrating it into public-school systems. “The lower the level of education you have, the more likely your job will be impacted by AI,” he said.
The Ross campaign is a harbinger of the role technology will play in politics. Earlier this year, Tom Perriello, who had endorsed the idea that robots should be taxed, lost the Democratic nomination for governor of Virginia. Following his defeat, Perriello told The New Yorker: “The single biggest thing that I took away from this campaign is that whichever party ends up figuring out how to speak about two economic issues—automation and monopoly—will not only be doing right by the country but will have a massive electoral advantage.”
Educating the public on the impacts of AI is an important challenge. Steps can be taken to bring the necessary questions out of the margins and to diverse elements of society. The objective must be to create wide-ranging interest and at least a basic orientation of the societal, ethical, and economic effects of artificial intelligence. To restrict this discussion to exclusive silos is to squander the opportunity to build a better, more inclusive world.Here again, Costa Rica wins the day, for achieving contentment and longevity in an environmentally sustainable way. The Dominican Republic ranks second, the United States 114th (because of its huge ecological footprint) and Zimbabwe is last.
Maybe Costa Rican contentment has something to do with the chance to explore dazzling beaches on both sides of the country, when one isn’t admiring the sloths in the jungle (sloths truly are slothful, I discovered; they are the tortoises of the trees). Costa Rica has done an unusually good job preserving nature, and it’s surely easier to be happy while basking in sunshine and greenery than while shivering up north and suffering “nature deficit disorder.”
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After dragging my 12-year-old daughter through Honduran slums and Nicaraguan villages on this trip, she was delighted to see a Costa Rican beach and stroll through a national park. Among her favorite animals now: iguanas and sloths.
(Note to boss: Maybe we should have a columnist based in Costa Rica?)
What sets Costa Rica apart is its remarkable decision in 1949 to dissolve its armed forces and invest instead in education. Increased schooling created a more stable society, less prone to the conflicts that have raged elsewhere in Central America. Education also boosted the economy, enabling the country to become a major exporter of computer chips and improving English-language skills so as to attract American eco-tourists.
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I’m not antimilitary. But the evidence is strong that education is often a far better investment than artillery.
In Costa Rica, rising education levels also fostered impressive gender equality so that it ranks higher than the United States in the World Economic Forum gender gap index. This allows Costa Rica to use its female population more productively than is true in most of the region. Likewise, education nurtured improvements in health care, with life expectancy now about the same as in the United States — a bit longer in some data sets, a bit shorter in others.
Rising education levels also led the country to preserve its lush environment as an economic asset. Costa Rica is an ecological pioneer, introducing a carbon tax in 1997. The Environmental Performance Index, a collaboration of Yale and Columbia Universities, ranks Costa Rica at No. 5 in the world, the best outside Europe.
This emphasis on the environment hasn’t sabotaged Costa Rica’s economy but has bolstered it. Indeed, Costa Rica is one of the few countries that is seeing migration from the United States: Yankees are moving here to enjoy a low-cost retirement. My hunch is that in 25 years, we’ll see large numbers of English-speaking retirement communities along the Costa Rican coast.
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Latin countries generally do well in happiness surveys. Mexico and Colombia rank higher than the United States in self-reported contentment. Perhaps one reason is a cultural emphasis on family and friends, on social capital over financial capital — but then again, Mexicans sometimes slip into the United States, presumably in pursuit of both happiness and assets.
Cross-country comparisons of happiness are controversial and uncertain. But what does seem quite clear is that Costa Rica’s national decision to invest in education rather than arms has paid rich dividends. Maybe the lesson for the United States is that we should devote fewer resources to shoring up foreign armies and more to bolstering schools both at home and abroad.
In the meantime, I encourage you to conduct your own research in Costa Rica, exploring those magnificent beaches or admiring those slothful sloths. It’ll surely make you happy.A woman who was accused in an emotional YouTube video of sexually abusing a young student beginning in the late 1990s has been charged with 16 felony counts, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Andrea Michelle Cardosa, 40, was charged in connection with alleged illegal sexual contact with two underage students when she was a teacher and administrator in Riverside County.
After a $5 million warrant had been issued for her arrest, Cardosa was taken into custody at 5:45 p.m. Monday in Perris by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department warrant team.
She was expected to be arraigned in the Riverside Hall of Justice on Thursday, according to the DA’s office.
Cardosa resigned from her job as an administrator at Alhambra High School on Jan. 17, the same day that a woman named Jamie Carrillo posted a YouTube video in which she said Cardosa did not deny their past sexual relationship.
Carrillo, now 28, titled the video “A call to my childhood rapist teacher.”
“I was only 12 years old when I met you. Do you realize that you brainwashed me and you manipulated me and that what you did was wrong?” Carrillo said in the video.
“Yes. And I regret it. I only — I just wanted to help you,” Cardosa responded.
“How is having a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old student helping?” Carrillo said.
“That wasn’t anything that I intended. And I didn’t know what happened,” Cardosa said.
“You should be so ashamed and so disgusted with yourself,” said Carrillo.
“I am. I am,” said Cardosa.
The video has since been removed from YouTube. The DA’s office confirmed Monday that Cardosa was the call’s recipient, as Carrillo had stated.
On the day it was posted, the video was sent to administrators at Alhambra High School, where Cardosa was an assistant principal. School district officials alerted Alhambra police and announced publicly that Cardosa had resigned. Investigators turned the case over to authorities in Riverside County, where the alleged crimes occurred.
Several days later, another woman came out and accused Cardosa of abusing her, holding a news conference with her attorney, who filed a claims against two school districts that employed Cardosa. Her attorney asked that his 18-year-old client only be identified as “Brianna.”
On Monday, 17 days after the YouTube video was posted, Cardosa was charged with five counts of aggravated sexual assault on a child under the age of 14, five counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14, and six counts of lewd acts on a child 14 or 15 years of age while the defendant was at least 10 years older than the victim, according to the DA’s office.
Cardosa faces life in prison if convicted of the aggravated sexual assault counts.
The crimes involving Carrillo, who was described by the DA’s office as Jane Doe 1, allegedly took place between 1997 and 2001, when the victim was in middle school and high school.
The second victim, identified as Jane Doe 2, was allegedly abused while she was in high school in Perris in 2009 or 2010, the DA’s office stated.
Carrillo said she had been advised by her attorney not to comment on the charges, but pointed to a brief statement on her personal Facebook profile.
The post stated Carrillo had just learned of the arrest warrant and the charges, which she listed.
“She is not in custody yet,” Carrillo wrote. “But I am pleased to hear that justice will be served.”
After the YouTube video surfaced, Carrillo spoke exclusively to KTLA, explaining why she made the call to Cardosa and posted the video.
“I want her to be in jail and pay for what she’s done,” Carrillo told KTLA. “She shouldn’t be around children. That’s what made me do this.”June 13, 2016
Nicole Colson reports on the outpouring of solidarity for the victims of a horrific mass shooting--and the need to challenge the tide of racist scapegoating of Muslims.
HORROR.
The word alone isn't enough to describe the feeling as the country woke up to news of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. For three hours in the early morning of Sunday, June 12, 29-year-old gunman Omar Mateen kept killing at Pulse, a popular Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub. By the time he was killed himself, 50 people were dead and at least 53 wounded--one out of every three people who had been at the club.
The response was immediate and overwhelming. Amid the shock and grief, thousands in Orlando and elsewhere turned out to donate blood (despite federal guidelines that bar gay and bisexual men from being allowed to donate blood) or offer any help they could.
In cities across the U.S., vigils took place the night of the terrible crime--drawing dozens in some places, hundreds in others, but all with a sober determination to stand up against hate.
Often, the Muslim community took a lead to push back against the right-wing narrative already taking shape--and with a plea: Don't turn a horrific tragedy into an excuse for scapegoating and Islamophobia.
NATURALLY, THE first question on most people's minds was how anyone could commit such a terrible crime. But individuals and organizations with an agenda of war and racism were ready with an answer.
They fed the assumption, eagerly taken up by the media, that Mateen--a resident of Port St. Lucie, Florida, and native of New York City, whose parents emigrated from Afghanistan--was connected to "Islamic terrorism."
Police said that Mateen was well prepared for the attack, equipped with an AR-15-type assault rifle. He had reportedly been employed as a guard in a juvenile detention facility by G4S Secure Solutions, one of the largest global mercenary firms and security contractors. He was licensed to carry firearms and had legally purchased a handgun and another weapon in the past week, though it isn't clear yet whether these were the same weapons used in the attack. Photos of Mateen from social media showed him posturing in shirts emblazoned with NYPD logos.
As this article was being written, it remained unclear to what extent Mateen was connected to reactionary organizations such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Law enforcement officials say that just before he carried out the attack in Orlando, Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and also referenced the Tsarnaev brothers, who carried out the 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon.
But as of now, there is no evidence that Mateen was directed by ISIS. The theory being pushed is a new favorite of "terrorism experts"--that Mateen was "self-radicalized," an isolated individual who gravitated to aspects of fundamentalist ideology and violence, and acted on that basis.
But the theory has some holes in it. According to Mateen's ex-wife, during the time they lived together, he was abusive and violent toward her. She said Mateen wasn't particularly religious and showed no indication of subscribing to radical Islamism.
A friend told the Washington Post that Mateen became more devout after his divorce and a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, but that he never expressed any sympathy for ISIS or other terrorist groups.
At the mosque he attended, Imam Shafiq Rahman told reporters that Mateen "was the most quiet guy; he never talked to anyone," and never asked for any spiritual guidance. Rahman stressed repeatedly that violent ideology had no place at the mosque.
Federal authorities revealed that Mateen had been investigated by the FBI twice before, in 2013 and 2014, but their inquiries didn't turn up any evidence to back up charges against him.
Following the killings, Mateen's father, Mir Seddique, told NBC News that the rampage had "nothing to do with religion," but was sparked by his son's bigoted response to seeing two men kissing.
This corroborates the statement of a former co-worker, Daniel Gilroy, who, according to the New York Times, said Mateen often talked about killing people and frequently used racist and bigoted slurs.
Mateen's massacre is described commonly as an act of "madness"--ignoring that those who are mentally ill are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators of it--yet it is obvious that Mateen's actions have their roots in a society dripping with bigotry and hate. Regardless of his connection, if any, to terror groups, Mateen's rage--whatever its precise sources--coalesced into a toxic mass of violence that ended in a bloodbath.
But unlike other mass shootings in U.S., the Orlando attack is already being used to assign guilt to Islam--and, by extension, all Muslims.
ANTICIPATING THE tide of Islamophobia to come, leading Muslim figures and organizations responded with unequivocal denunciation.
"We condemn this monstrous attack and offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all those killed or injured," Rasha Mubarak, Orlando regional coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. "The Muslim community joins our fellow Americans in repudiating anyone or any group that would claim to justify or excuse such an appalling act of violence."
It shouldn't need to be said that the action of one individual--whether a religious adherent or not--doesn't reflect the entirety of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims or the 3.3. million Muslims living in America. Yet the political climate in the U.S. ensures that some public figures will try to ascribe collective guilt.
Most predictable was the Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has made bigotry, Islamophobia and shameless opportunism defining features of his campaign. In the hours after the massacre in Orlando, Trump's social media postings included: "Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!" and "Is President Obama going to finally mention the words radical Islamic terrorism? If he doesn't he should immediately resign in disgrace!"
In a longer statement from his campaign, Trump doubled down on his call late last year for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S.--ignoring the fact that Mateen was born in the city Trump claims as his home.
Trump also claimed, "Since 9/11, hundreds of migrants and their children have been implicated in terrorism in the United States." That's a flat-out lie, but one that will undoubtedly incite violence and vigilantism against Muslims, including "their children."
By comparison, Hillary Clinton sounded more human in her response to the killings. But she couldn't help using the massacre as a political opportunity, not only implying a link to terrorism without any evidence, but promoting her personal bona fides in fighting the so-called "war on terror" and promising to stop "attempts to recruit people here and everywhere, and hardening our defenses at home."
Even Bernie Sanders, the left-wing candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination who many hoped would bring a different view into the conversation about Orlando focused on gun control and "destroying ISIS"--without saying anything about the need to challenge anti-gay bigotry or push back against the demonization of Muslims.
AT THE heart of the Orlando massacre is an uncomfortable reality that most media and political figures won't examine: The way that toxic bigotry can metastasize into violence, especially in a society with easy access to the most deadly of weapons.
Consider Marco Rubio, the Florida senator and failed contender for the Republican presidential nomination. Rubio grabbed headlines by lamenting that LGBT people were targeted in Orlando "because of the views that exist in the radical Islamic community about the gay community," as he said on CNN.
Anyone listening to those words might imagine that Rubio cares about the rights of the LGBT community. But he doesn't. Rubio and any number of other Florida politicians want to restrict LGBT rights--often on the basis of their own fundamentalist religious beliefs, though of the Christian variety.
Not only is Rubio an opponent of same-sex marriage, but he supports a "right" for business to discriminate against LGBT people on the basis of "religious freedom." He's called allowing LGBT parents to adopt children "a social experiment." And Rubio has helped raise funds for the Florida Family Policy Council, a right-wing organization that promotes abusive "reparative therapy" that classifies gay sexuality as a "mental disorder."
At a time when Republicans in particular have whipped up hysteria about the supposed threat that transgender people pose by using bathroom facilities corresponding to their self-identified genders, any who now claim to be outraged by bigotry against the LGBT community are the rankest kind of hypocrite.
For his part, Barack Obama, said in a press conference following the shooting that it was "an act of hate. And as Americans, we are united in our resolve to defend our people."
In fact, Omar Mateen was "our people"--an American whose views of LGBT people was irreparably warped by bigotry, whatever inspired it.
At his press conference, Obama warned, "This massacre is...a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school or in a house of worship or a movie theater or in a nightclub."
But Obama won't question the relentless violence, both extra-judicial and state-sanctioned, directed by American institutions of power against the oppressed at home and around the globe--from dropping bombs abroad to the unrestrained brutality of police and, yes, prison guards like Omar Mateen. That violence is woven into the fabric of U.S. society.
Even if Mateen did commit mass murder in the name of his twisted understanding of Muslim religious doctrine, that is no excuse for accepting the dominant ideology generated by academic and political elites about a "clash of civilizations" between Western societies and those of the Middle East.
Reactionary organizations like ISIS have everything to gain from perpetuating this conflict. In fact, their attacks in Paris last year and Brussels this year did not generally target those who wield power or commit state-sanctioned violence. The attacks engineered by ISIS--and again, there is, as of yet, no evidence of any connection between Mateen and ISIS--are meant to provoke Islamophobia, and ultimately discourage Muslims from hoping for any form of peaceful existence in the West.
There is an alternative to hate and bigotry. In cities across the |
school, but then I graduated and went to Englishtown. Barton Hall, New Haven, Buffalo, Boston from this week still and always will be special shows. Happy 35th Barton Hall! - May 12, 201205-1977
Reviewer: bstrohl - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - March 20, 2012
Subject: Best Loser Ever Listen carefully and you can hear me call it. - March 20, 2012Best Loser Ever
Reviewer: Wally Gator - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - February 19, 2012
Subject: Serious Licks Right On, Joygasm. Those are some serious licks!!!
Wg - February 19, 2012Serious Licks
Reviewer: lp357 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 27, 2012
Subject: Joygasm No matter how many times Ive listened to this jack straw, I always get a chill when he hits those harmonics strumming at the end of the first guitar solo. His guitar playing always seem to speak to some plesure center in my brain. Nice version - January 27, 2012Joygasm
Reviewer: Keystoned - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 21, 2012
Subject: Wow I was born well after this show was preformed, but I love it more and more every time I listen to it. - January 21, 2012Wow
Reviewer: kent manthie - favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 3, 2012
Subject: One of the best bootlegs... I remember having this on a 90 min cassette tape (Barton Hall '77) - but, of course, it only had SOME of this incredibly awesome show. But the stuff that was on the tape version I had (back when I was in high school in the mid-late 80s)included an incredibly awesome version of "Scarlet Begonias", "Fire on the Mountain", one of the very first, if not the first "Estimated Prophet"'s, St Stephen and more. I used to be entranced listening to the Scarlet/Fire jam that lasted about 15-20 min. Now that I've got the whole show here I am even more "grateful" for the audio technology of it all...Great show, great show! I can think of about two or three better shows (the one with one of the two or three live "Blues for Allah"'s on it and this one from Seattle that features a 45 minute "Playing in the Band", but Barton Hall is a legendary show that many, many deadheads are familiar with and love. - January 3, 2012One of the best bootlegs...
Reviewer: theunseen - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - December 9, 2011
Subject: one of the classics... maybe "the" classic Many great remasters on here of this legendary show, easily one of the best of '77 and probably one of the top five Dead shows ever. The first set doesn't mess around (Loser is particularly killer from this night), but II is nothing less than a lysergic masterpiece. Scarlet > Fire reaches huge heights but it's the Stephen > NFA > Stephen > Dew that never leaves your soul. The Morning Dew that closes this set is something that should be given your full attention every time it's played, easily my favorite performance of the tune, ever. Jerry completely touches the divine at the end. Magic, remastered lovingly by some dedicated heads for all of us to relive for the ages. - December 9, 2011one of the classics... maybe "the" classic
Reviewer: drkstr832 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - November 14, 2011
Subject: THANK YOU!!!! A cassette of the second set of this show was my first bootleg, and was responsible in large part for me falling in love with the Dead... So great to get such a kick ass version, specially when I think back to that scratchy tape (which was awesome at the time!) Thank you very very much!! - November 14, 2011THANK YOU!!!!
Reviewer: wuz at 77-78 and more - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - August 12, 2011
Subject: my buddy and I hitchhiked here from Boston Garden show Crazy weather. Cars flying off the road. It snowed in May. Hitchhiked from SUNY Bing to Boston Garden show the week before freshman finals. Dosed for the first Terrapin I ever saw. Got up and hitchhiked to Cornell the next AM. Barely made it for the show. What an ass-kicking Row Jimmy, Scarlet/Fire, etc. I thought all dead shows were like these two! Kudos to Mike L'Ecuyer for being the inspiration behind this greatest road trip of all time. - August 12, 2011my buddy and I hitchhiked here from Boston Garden show
Reviewer: daddyfrank - favorite favorite favorite favorite - May 9, 2011
Subject: great show Excellent quality of recording allows us to hear the creativity and musicianship we could only get in concerts. - May 9, 2011great show
Reviewer: mellowmymind5453 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 25, 2011
Subject: man say'fire' and calls it All I can say is this recording ROCKs. And recording is so-o-o FAT. But I keep coming back to listening to Scarlet/Fire almost every day, because not only is it so well played, but because of the smile it always brings to my face. - April 25, 2011man say'fire' and calls it
Reviewer: silver hawk - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 15, 2011
Subject: Barton Hall.... BEST TAPE I have ever heard hands down.I have know idea just why it is so amazing,but it is a fat trip as jerry would say.the sound is so full and just different than most other 77 shows.My first choice when sharing with new listeners of the dead. - April 15, 2011Barton Hall....
Reviewer: soulstice - favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 9, 2011
Subject: yesssss possibly, the finest fingerplayin by the fatman, fo'sho? great way to welcome the spring, after a draaaaawn out winter. peace, y'all %) - April 9, 2011yesssss
Reviewer: magickmoon - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - March 26, 2011
Subject: first set An old deadhead sold/traded his entire collection of dead albums/cds and this was the first set I ever listened to and have been hooked ever since. This is definitely my favorite. - March 26, 2011first set
Reviewer: supasteel88 - favorite favorite favorite favorite - March 11, 2011
Subject: really good show from a casual listner. I never saw the dead live. I followed Phish for a long time then started getting into the dead. I'm no expert or nothing but really liked this show esp. scarlet/fire on the mountain. - March 11, 2011really good show from a casual listner.
Reviewer: Loser_Boy - favorite favorite favorite favorite - March 10, 2011
Subject: Heavenly This show has always been a favorite - March 10, 2011Heavenly
Reviewer: Rave0820 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - March 4, 2011
Subject: The Rave's Review My first Grateful dead concert was at the Fillmore East in 1968. After seeing them in '69 at Harpur State in Binghamton, NY I was hooked. I get rushes when I hear this concert. From '68 to '92 (inc. Europe '72), i stopped counting after 300 concerts in 1979. I think they peaked in '77 & '79. I saw them from coast to coast in 1979 and their were too many great shows to recall. It's one big "purple haze". My favorite concert (not Dead show) was in 1973 in Watkins Glen. The Band opened, then the Dead and the Allmans rocked the night away. The Dead were better the day before the concert; just jammin' for us Deadheads. Enjoy! Great freakin' show!! Check out DSO too. - March 4, 2011The Rave's Review
Reviewer: deadydave - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - March 1, 2011
Subject: sweet susie lastttt fair deal in the country! sending chills down my spine 5th row center tripping face thank you... - March 1, 2011sweet susie
Reviewer: SUPERWOW - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - February 13, 2011
Subject: Like it ALOT Thumbs up to Jeff for recording this GEM!
I feel like I'm right there on 10th row... - February 13, 2011Like it ALOT
Reviewer: Zaorish - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - February 3, 2011
Subject: GOD DAMN I take back my earlier review...
I am listening to this by candlelight as the fourth foot of snow falls outside, and I write down more of my crazy psychedelic novel. And...
This show is SSSOOO FUCKING GOOD. SO GOOD! The scarlet > fire is not the greatest ever, nor is the St. steve, or even the NFA, but everything just FLOWS TOGTHER, WINDS and WEAVES and DRIPS. The sound quality is f**king amazing. Every player is on. SO GOOD!! - February 3, 2011GOD DAMN
Reviewer: Isaiah Rienas - favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 25, 2011
Subject: if only I had been there... Love this show. Had it on my ipod for months and listened to to like a truckload of times, ha. the audience always gets me. "turn up the vocals!" I think they heard you too, by the way - January 25, 2011if only I had been there...
Reviewer: Magichord - favorite favorite favorite - December 1, 2010
Subject: A good AUD in it's time, but......although I'm as appreciative as anyone of the grand efforts of Tapers back in the era when I experienced most of my shows, prior to the existence of any special "section" for them, dear readers: Prior to setting up a new folder for dnldg. this version, take note that what you have here is, yes, a good audience recording with most of the fine qualities described below...but very, very little of Phil's axe. I'm amazed at all the praise for this upload w/o any mention of this fact by anyone. Bass presence begins to increase a little bit gradually from Estimated onward in set 2...by 2 smidgens of extension, and remains basically anemic. Hey, musical euphoria is so damn subjective, I'm the first to admit--plus, I swear I place performance quality first, in spite of being an audiophile (I Swear! :)...I adore 11-22-68 in Columbus, for example...what barely, blessedly exists of it. But I've just never understood the high enthusiasm for recordings, AS recordings per se, with no bass, or no vocals, or no drums...when there's a full-range technicolor Betty sandwich to sink our hungry jowls into, close by! Electric Dead without Phil, for some of us, is pizza with no crust, a glider with no tail, like trying to kiss a thirsty lover in the driest desert wind. Whatever. Maybe I'm biased cuz I'm kinduv a Phil Phreak, I dunno. I'm no microphone aficionado, and I don't doubt what the fans below are saying as to how well this guy captured other aspects of the band. But, I'm afraid I more or less have to agree Deadman72355 (way below), having enjoyed the board that was avail. for everyone prior to the '06 GDP fan-slap for the last five years. Anyway, I've always enjoyed this show, but certainly no more than like 20 or so others from '77. And ah, for those of you who're raving fans of Scarlet> Fire, do yourselves a big lovin' favor and go listen to 4-24-78 in Normal, Ill. in case you've never...and go
to
heaven. - December 1, 2010A good AUD in it's time, but...
Reviewer: Excess - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - November 23, 2010
Subject: One of the Best Jerry recordings anywhere Taper must have sold his soul to the devil for mic placement on this one. Even the boards couldn't capture the essence of Jerry's sound like this recording does. You can argue all you want about the "bestness" of this show.......Bottom line - you'll be hard pressed to find a clearer, cleaner, more "up front" representation of Jer's guitar anywhere. Period.
.........and one of the best "Dancin's ever - November 23, 2010One of the Best Jerry recordings anywhere
Reviewer: deadheadNate - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - November 18, 2010
Subject: Perfection, divinity, Purest AUD imaginable I can't do this show very much justice by writing about it. Just download and enjoy.
A note about downloading this: I had some trouble getting the files into a music library, until I discovered that unlike some shows, you have to extract these. Everyone having a hard time should make sure the files are extracted first, that should make everything easier. I've tried both sources and personally prefer the MP3 Zip more than the VBR.
A world of thanks to Jeff Stevenson - November 18, 2010Perfection, divinity, Purest AUD imaginable
Reviewer: DrewIndy420 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - October 24, 2010
Subject: re: Real Player no longer records
To the show: A classic. One of my favorites outside of 1974, my absolute favorite year, period. The input to your RP recording was mp3 quality, anyhow. The stream is VBR MP3, not lossless, so you were getting recorded copies of MP3 files playing= lossy. You can youtube some stuff about BitTorrent, then look on bt.etree.org for the stuff you want...To the show: A classic. One of my favorites outside of 1974, my absolute favorite year, period. - October 24, 2010re: Real Player no longer records
Reviewer: barblough - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - October 12, 2010
Subject: OMG! Jeff, will u marry me? This is AWESOME. I hit my first Dead show in '80 at 14. This show is why we're all still fans. Takes me back in the day b4 Jerry died, when the only way our parents found us was when we called home from the dorm payphone! Pre-economic crises; pre-texting; pre-9/11. Kids, believe it or not we had to take our SAT's w/o benefit of graphing calculators (or handhelds for that matter) when we actually had to remember math equations from memory and showed up w/2 #2 pencils. Wow, what I wouldn't give for maybe a little of that time back. But I guess it doesn't really matter...anyway. - October 12, 2010OMG!
Reviewer: tatittle - favorite - August 22, 2010
Subject:! HELP RealPlayer wont record anymore! Hey folks, I had learned how to record some tracks by playing them on my RealPlayer and recording, then saving them to my library. Now when I try to do this it appears to record okay, but when I save it to my library it shows up there aas a blank track. In the checkerboard view it sometimes has a RED "X" on the icon instead of the title etc. Anyione know whats going on here? Have I fouled up some setting, or is it no longer possible to record this way from Archive.org? It seemed to start intermittently, some saving okay, some drawing blanks--but now it is blank file every time! PLEASE HELP...I need my soundboards to JAM guitar with, and develop my melodic sense for songwriting!!! Peace and Joy. TM - August 22, 2010! HELP RealPlayer wont record anymore!
Reviewer: subsct - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - August 7, 2010
Subject: Holy....Grail? Close your eyes,turned wayyy up, my imagination unfolds. I am in Ithaca 10th row....Wow! Putting all the pieces together,this might be the perfect mic for capturing monitors at such close range. It's mostly used for snares,hence the top end.This guy hit a sweet spot for sure. I've had the boards for many years,but another perspective never hurt on such an awesome show. "Thought I heard a baby cry this morning, thought I heard a baby cry today" Jerry's apex IMHO. - August 7, 2010Holy....Grail?
Reviewer: jweat - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - July 27, 2010
Subject: excellent great all the way through. I will have to dig my shure beta 57's out of the attic - July 27, 2010excellent
Reviewer: jennica - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - May 27, 2010
Subject: well it's damn good I keep coming back to this show, because it's played so well. It's almost perfect. - May 27, 2010well it's damn good
Reviewer: 710 ashbury - favorite favorite favorite favorite - May 8, 2010
Subject: Tour of 77 amazing sound,,, and off of two sure 57's',
Cornell 77 a good year to be on the bus and
a great show. - May 8, 2010Tour of 77
Reviewer: sara8smiles - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - May 7, 2010
Subject: Great Nug What clarity...i'm there....or am i not? GREAT NUG. - May 7, 2010Great Nug
Reviewer: splumer - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 28, 2010
Subject: If only... If only I wasn't 10 years old in '77. What a great year for music! All the awesome tours! GD Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Elvis Costello, Genesis, Zeppelin...
And don't dis SM57's. I've been taping with them for years and never had a complaint. They're not Schoeps but there's a reason so many bands use them for intrument mics! - April 28, 2010If only...
Reviewer: Roscoe74 - favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 23, 2010
Subject: Tight! I know some people like lose shows more but this one is the exeption. That super funky Dancin' is worth the price of admission on its own. Row Jimmy is fantastic, my favorite version of the song. Fire & Morning Dew, what else can you say. Resplendent! - April 23, 2010Tight!
Reviewer: vegasdano - favorite favorite favorite favorite - February 13, 2010
Subject: 1st Dead show This was the first of many shows for me. I can still remember being so locked in with Jerry during Fire on the Mountain. I swear we were on the same trip! - February 13, 20101st Dead show
Reviewer: Hashjihad - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - February 12, 2010
Subject: AUD? I have listened to this show a hundred times from soundboard sources. I swear this cannot even be an aud it just sounds too good. But right as I am thinking that I hear clapping and cheering from right next to me. This is an unbelievable aud. Hashjihad -- February 12, 2010AUD?
Reviewer: Juana Bee - favorite favorite favorite favorite - December 31, 2009
Subject: Don't 'diss' Shure 57's!!!
But the main reason for posting this review is to comment to reviewer Folkhippy below, who compares the Shure 57 microphone to a beat-up old car. I do not work for Shure, just as an indie musician & recording engineer who uses their mics. Hey Folkhippy, just F.Y.I., many of the world's greatest vocalists & musicians have relied, still do rely, religiously, on the clear, defined tone of Shure 57 mics, for STUDIO RECORDING (and of course for live work)!!! There are engineers who prefer the 57's even to the eternally successful Shure 58's for certain applications. The basic difference between the mics you compare is that the Shures are "dynamic" mics, which are generally more rugged and can take higher input gain before distorting, whereas the ECM's etc. are "condenser" mics, much more delicate and yes, more defined in the treble end and 'transparent'-sounding... HOWEVER, had our taper at Cornell '77, who was positioned 10 ft. from the stage, used a pair of fine condensers to record the show, it is quite likely that he would have ended up much worse off---the Dead were not known for being a 'quiet' band, and condensers crap out badly at high volumes! (Also,knowing what kind of hijinks went on at Dead shows, a pair of condensers may not even have survived the show intact!) There is a certain warmth, a certain high-midrange accent, that keeps people coming back to those Shure 57's & 58's year after year. Peace & Good Vibes. This was a super show, in a year that can only be called a super year for the Dead... This writer began going to the shows in '73, also not at all a bad year; my 1st show was with the "Wall of Sound" and without Donna, at the Boston Music Hall 11-30-73, released decades later as Dick's Picks Vol.14...But the main reason for posting this review is to comment to reviewer Folkhippy below, who compares the Shure 57 microphone to a beat-up old car. I do not work for Shure, just as an indie musician & recording engineer who uses their mics. Hey Folkhippy, just F.Y.I., many of the world's greatest vocalists & musicians have relied, still do rely, religiously, on the clear, defined tone of Shure 57 mics, for STUDIO RECORDING (and of course for live work)!!! There are engineers who prefer the 57's even to the eternally successful Shure 58's for certain applications. The basic difference between the mics you compare is that the Shures are "dynamic" mics, which are generally more rugged and can take higher input gain before distorting, whereas the ECM's etc. are "condenser" mics, much more delicate and yes, more defined in the treble end and 'transparent'-sounding... HOWEVER, had our taper at Cornell '77, who was positioned 10 ft. from the stage, used a pair of fine condensers to record the show, it is quite likely that he would have ended up much worse off---the Dead were not known for being a 'quiet' band, and condensers crap out badly at high volumes! (Also,knowing what kind of hijinks went on at Dead shows, a pair of condensers may not even have survived the show intact!) There is a certain warmth, a certain high-midrange accent, that keeps people coming back to those Shure 57's & 58's year after year. Peace & Good Vibes. - December 31, 2009Don't 'diss' Shure 57's!!!
Reviewer: DustTizzle - favorite - December 18, 2009
Subject: moephish I said I have been downloading shows from here since I first got into the scene when I first saw Phil and Friends in the summer of 2002. And, before you act like the "headier than thou" brah, and start talking down to people on a message board. I recommend learning how to spell your insults before you write them. - December 18, 2009moephish
Reviewer: Folkhippy - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - December 17, 2009
Subject: Best AUD of this show... I can't believe that this is the best AUD of this show! Even the esteemed Jerry Moore loses out to this one and he was using ECM 33P mics! This guy was using Shure 57's hahahahha! For those of you who don't know about mics, a Shure 57 microphone is like a broken down 1992 Buick compared to the 2009 Cadillac of the ECM 33P's. The rich bass and instrument separation this guy got is amazing! It almost sounds like a soundboard recording! I wish this AUD was used for the Betty Board splices! I guess any mic would sound good 10ft from the stage. Back in those days, bands actually used their stage amps as a part of their live sound. Nowadays it's surprising to see a half-stack onstage, everybody just uses ear monitors and the big sound system does all the amplification. This guy must have been picking up the amps and monitors onstage.
As for the music, this is for sure my favorite Dead show of all time. The band was hot, funky, and extra stoned. The Brown Eyed Women is the best there is and the Dancin' is my favorite Garcia solo. Every time I listen to this show it puts me in a good mood! I really enjoy this great quality AUD! - December 17, 2009Best AUD of this show...
Reviewer: moe.DeadStringPhishplease - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - November 11, 2009
Subject: Best Show Ever? Jus listen and you'll understand.
And to Dusty who wrote below. You wish crowds these days had the freakin energy to clap and give it up for every song they hear. You can't stand the clapping? Thats what SBDs are for deuch, or have you not figured that out since you came here in 2002 for some Phil & Friends shows... - November 11, 2009Best Show Ever?
Reviewer: john.page10 - favorite favorite favorite favorite - October 15, 2009
Subject: This is a good show One of my favorites, one of the first GD shows i downloaded here on Archive some years back, and i recommend it to any and all.
peace and love - October 15, 2009This is a good show
Reviewer: Ody - favorite favorite favorite favorite - October 1, 2009
Subject: Great Show Somebody mentioned soundboards...I used to have a SB copy of this and I've always thought this "Loser" was one of the band's finest.
Take a Step Back is appropriately included as well. Those of us who weren't old enough to appreciate the Dead until the last, and somewhat tragic, years appreciate the banter. There was sadly little life left in Jerry (and the band as a whole) when I was finally old enough to enjoy their music--and get permission to go see them.
Nice Mama Tried, GREAT NFA. - October 1, 2009Great Show
Reviewer: salviahead - favorite favorite favorite favorite - September 30, 2009
Subject: shure 57 (as in sm57?) Maybe its a vintage model of the shure 57,LOL I own a couple of these but never crossed my mind to take them into the field. - September 30, 2009shure 57 (as in sm57?)
Reviewer: reesey - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - August 20, 2009
Subject: shure 57 (as in sm57?) if this is a recording done with dynamic mics, im utterly impressed.... as a taper. - August 20, 2009shure 57 (as in sm57?)
Reviewer: majordomo - favorite favorite favorite - July 7, 2009
Subject: over rated? only heard the second set but... the fire on the mt. and the morning dew are excellent. elsewhere, it seems Garcia is carrying the band and he noodles. not fade away is too many noodles and not enough Bo Diddley. also, estimated prophet is not nearly a fully formed song yet. the not fade-st stephen-not fades of 76 (see Beacon 6/15/76) are much better. i am not as thrilled about this show as everyone else is. - July 7, 2009over rated?
Reviewer: msjaynes - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - June 27, 2009
Subject: second set ectasy What can you say? This is the next best thing to being there, put the headphones on man and tears will flow during the DEW, it's too much, it's over the top. - June 27, 2009second set ectasy
Reviewer: JustAnotherDH - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - June 8, 2009
Subject: Just the best It's the Not Fade Away. Oh my gawwwd!! This recording is the best thing I've yet heard on archive. I've listened to some of the SBDs for this date, which have been d/l much more than this one, but this is the version to get, listen to, and keep. I commented to somebody while listening that this puts you in the 4th row....then read the notes and found out it was recorded 10 feet from the stage. You are RIGHT THERE when you listen to this one.
I like everything but it's the NFA that is the pure unstoppable candy here. - June 8, 2009Just the best
Reviewer: wisefool26 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - May 12, 2009
Subject: Oh my! Right out of the gate, they are kicking some serious ass. Is there a CD of this show available? Anyone? Tortured guitar in Loser. Never heard him like that before. Whoa! - May 12, 2009Oh my!
Reviewer: meatpile - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 24, 2009
Subject: Wow This recording destroys. What a pull. Thank you Jeff Stevenson. - January 24, 2009Wow
Reviewer: atomicon3 - favorite favorite favorite favorite - October 21, 2008
Subject: this and that...went to many '77 shows...my favorites are Rochester, Binghampton, and Colgate but I wouldn't feel too bad if I was able to see em ALL again - October 21, 2008this and that
Reviewer: Old&OuttadaWay - favorite favorite favorite favorite - September 17, 2008
Subject: wish i was older than 10 in 1977... this mix is not the best, but i've never heard el paso quite this way. jerry's channel is super dominant and his playing on that track is a revelation. Old&OuttadaWay -- September 17, 2008wish i was older than 10 in 1977...
Reviewer: boscomorgan - favorite favorite favorite favorite - September 14, 2008
Subject: GREAT MUSIC BUT NOT BEST OF THE YEAR I HAVE TO SAY THAT THE FOX THEATRE,LAKELAND,BINGHAMTON,COLGATE AS WELL AS THE WINTERLAND SHOW'S IN DECEMBER SURPASS THIS SHOW.OH AND PEMBROKE,TUSCALOOSA ALSO.THOUGH I WAS AT THIS SHOW AND IT WAS SMOKIN' THE OTHER SHOW'S I MENTIONED JUST SEEMED LOOSER AND I AM GLAD I WAS AT THOSE AS WEL L.1977 WAS VERY,VERY,VERY CRISP. - September 14, 2008GREAT MUSIC BUT NOT BEST OF THE YEAR
Reviewer: SanSouci - favorite favorite favorite - September 13, 2008
Subject: Don't get carried away is right... IMO the night before at the Garden was a better show despite the equipment troubles. SanSouci -- September 13, 2008Don't get carried away is right...
Reviewer: gumby69 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - July 10, 2008
Subject: To download. If you guys uninstall quicktime on your PCs' you can download soundboards. Just right click on the song you want and pick download. - July 10, 2008To download.
Reviewer: gphishmon - favorite favorite favorite - June 29, 2008
Subject: not great sound I was hoping to find a crispy audience copy. Unfortunately, this isn't it. There's too much high-end noise. The other audience version here is a bit speedy. Fortunately I have the Betty Board on cassette, and I'll stick with it until they either release this show commercially or until the soundboards are once again available for download (don't hold your breath for that!) - June 29, 2008not great sound
Reviewer: gimme some tunes - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - June 16, 2008
Subject: better recording available for free
the quality is much better..
this is a great show, as i do love the scarlet> fire as well as the dancin', and NFA you can download this show in the Free Stash on www.nugs.net, FOR FREE!the quality is much better..this is a great show, as i do love the scarlet> fire as well as the dancin', and NFA - June 16, 2008better recording available for free
Reviewer: garp6600 - favorite favorite favorite favorite - May 22, 2008
Subject: One of the best One of the best and one of the first Grateful Dead shows I've ever had. I love hearing it 23 years later! Thanks, for those who haven't heard it yet, check out Dancin' and Scarlet>Fire. - May 22, 2008One of the best
Reviewer: pcr3 - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - May 8, 2008
Subject: Wow Yes, this show is really good. REALLY GOOD. But, for old time sake, I decided to put it on today. I hadn't listened to this Morning Dew in years. Words fail me as I sit at my desk and try to figure out what just happened to my mind.
Keep in mind that I have probably listened to this show a few hundred times over the last 15 or so years, but usually just for the Scarlet/Fire. Listen to the stream of the Dew and tell me you're not moved. Wow. - May 8, 2008Wow
Reviewer: touchofgrayson - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 30, 2008
Subject: sick, sick, SICK!!!! This show is FN SICK!!! its the kind of show that makes me want to puke my soul out and fly away. AAHAHAAH! - April 30, 2008sick, sick, SICK!!!!
Reviewer: DaltonWildwood - favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 29, 2008
Subject: I like the college shows. I notice that The boys have more electricity when they play the college venues. They tend to be a little crazier like the test days. - April 29, 2008I like the college shows.
Reviewer: NoyoWharfRat - favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 17, 2008
Subject: Acclaimed Greatest??? Says who? We all have our all time favorite(s). It's like comparing Orange Sunshine to Daffy Duck #3 or whatever. This is cool but it doesn't peg my "of-all-time-o-meter". It is remarkable, however, that it's as good as it is with hand held Shure 57's straight into a deck. Heck, Donna even sings on key for a couple of bars. I've always dug the "jazz meltdown" on Dancin' like this one too, even if Bob jumped the gun on the vocal lead in. "Everybody take a step back..." Ya' gotta' love it.
"Who are The Grateful Dead and why do they keep following me around?"
-NWR - April 17, 2008Acclaimed Greatest???
Reviewer: EagleDancer - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 14, 2008
Subject: Music I just found this site. I am prevleged to say the least.I am 62 years old. Saw the beatles and the Dead live.This is great stuff. I do play guitar and have since 1966. - April 14, 2008Music
Reviewer: Deadman72355 - favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 13, 2008
Subject: Better than the SBD????? This is a good AUD of this phenominal show, but, better than the SBD. You must not have heard the SBD that I have. I downloaded this show 3 years ago, when you still able to download the SBDs' and the Board is 100 times better than this version.
But everyone is entitled to their own opinion. This show was acclaimed the greatest Dead show ever, and without a doubt it is. But then again the entire 1977 show collection is by far the best year they ever had. I was lucky to get board copies of every show before they were locked out for streaming only.
A GREAT show from a GREAT year - April 13, 2008Better than the SBD?????
Reviewer: NJFunkNetwork - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - April 9, 2008
Subject: Best. Tape. Ever. This is fantastic. Get it right away. I had a cassette of this from WAY back and it's the one I cut my Dead teeth on.
"America's favorite song, TRUCKIN!!!!"
Also, listen for the baked dude during Dew saying "Hey, he's got microphones in here. Why can't I have microphones?!?" It's real low in the mix, but it's funny as hell, and since I've heard this at least a million times, I know all of the drug induced banter. - April 9, 2008Best. Tape. Ever |
added leverage where they already have a monopoly.
Kimble thinks it's possible that the court will now overturn that ruling. His lawsuit argues that it's now out of line with modern competition law, which doesn't view the patent as being quite as powerful as it once was. However, the Justice Department argued against this thinking in a filing with the court, recommending that it not take up the case at all. There are also some outstanding issues that could prevent Kimble from overturning the court's earlier ruling: for one, this is an agreement based on a patent sale, not licensing, and on top of that, his agreement with Marvel doesn't differentiate between royalty payments and payments simply because of the sale. That means there are some other potentially tricky issues at play, but the fate of the Brulotte ruling is definitely in question.By a railworker, RMT union rep and Labour activist
Strike figures for last year were amongst the lowest since records began. That context rendered the hue and cry in the press about the small spike in industrial disputes, involving rail workers, postal workers, and others, that took place around Christmas – comparing them to the huge struggles of the 1970s and 80s, or describing them as “rampant” – faintly ridiculous. It is, however, an indication of how much the Tories, and the right-wing press, loathe and fear the prospect of working-class people organising to assert ourselves. Even this small upsurge has sent them into paroxysms of rage, complete with demands for further bans on strikes.
The response of the Trade Union Congress to those demands was as depressing as it was predictable. There’s no need for a ban, the TUC said: strikes are at their lowest ever level! The workers involved in the Christmas 2016 strikes might have wondered why the official leadership of the industrial labour movement was not using its public platform to loudly and enthusiastically promote and support their action, but rather to assuage the fears of the Tory press, and remind the right how exceptional and rare strikes still are (the implication being, if strikes were at a higher level, then a ban might be justified).
That attitude is likely to ensure that strikes remain rare. And as long as strikes remain rare, workers will continue to suffer pay cuts, job losses, and worse conditions. The TUC can re-run its insipid “Heart Unions” campaign as many times as it likes, but unions that do not take action, including strikes, the most fundamental form of action any worker can take, will not win anything.
We have to shift our narrative away from talking about strikes as something we’re only ever forced in to; that we only use as a last resort; that are to be profusely apologised for. Any industrial action, especially by workers who provide a public service, is going to inconvenience or negatively impact the public in some way. On the railway, where I work, none of us relish the inconvenience our strikes cause the travelling public. I understand why our union spokespeople often “apologise” to our passengers for this impact. We can understand, and sympathise with, the situation our passengers find themselves in, but we should not apologise for attempting to defend or extend our rights using the only really effective means available to us – the withdrawal of labour.
Invariably, defeat in our disputes – against job cuts, for example – will mean a worse, less safe, less accessible service for passengers. Rather than apologising, the emphasis should be on encouraging passengers to see the victory of our strikes as something that’s in their own interests. RMT has done this relatively effectively in the Southern Rail dispute (spectacularly aided by the almost farcical incompetence and shambolic public relations strategy of Southern bosses), and previously via the Hands Off London Transport coalition which formed around Tube workers’ battles against job cuts in 2014. More of that is needed.
Our unions, and the TUC, should celebrate our strikes, and encourage other working-class people, including and perhaps especially those negatively impacted by them, to see the act of resisting your employer’s attempts to make your working life worse (or, better still, positively pursuing an “offensive” struggle to make it better) as something to be inspired by and to emulate.
The idea of “celebrating” strikes might seem counterintuitive; after all, doesn’t the very fact of a strike being necessary mean something bad has happened? And who wants to “celebrate” losing pay? Those aren’t unreasonable points, but they’re also, in part, the product of diminished expectations and a lack of confidence. Almost all strikes now are defensive, reactive responses to some attack by the employer (and, all too frequently, launched when it’s already too late, so the strike functions as a token protest rather than a meaningful attempt to stop the attack itself). But strikes could also be part of a positive, offensive effort by workers to improve their conditions at work, rather than waiting for the employer to worsen them.
As for losing pay, while almost every industrial dispute will involve some sacrifice, some groups of workers, such as the Picturehouse cinema strikers, are now rediscovering the once-fundamental trade union strategy of strike funds, a crucial means of ensuring workers are able to take the action necessary to win. The point of a strike is not to make some worthy sacrifice which appeals the bosses’ better nature, but to disrupt the functioning of the employer’s business and profits via the withdrawal of labour in order to force concessions from the bosses. Better-paid workers might be more able to lose pay; others are less so. If that means raising funds so workers who would otherwise be starved back to work can afford to take prolonged action, so be it. The most essential function of a union, before any individual representation or service it provides, is to enable its members to take collective action. Donations to strike funds are certainly something to be celebrated. We can hardly enthuse about the message of the film Pride, the story of LGBT activists raising money for the miners’ strike, if we are squeamish about doing the same thing today.
Ultimately, though, what we should celebrate about our strikes is obviously not the bosses’ attack to which they may be a response, or the loss of pay they are likely to involve, but rather the decision that a strike represents to stand up for ourselves, rather than take an attack lying down.
Moreover, seeing strikes as something to apologise for and to regret is not merely a matter of messaging, but stems from a particular political perspective. If strikes are an exceptional, regrettable last resort, to be considered only when “normal” industrial relations have “broken down”, that suggests that normal industrial relations are a matter of partnership and accommodation between parties with shared interests.
But trade unions exist precisely because workers and bosses do not have shared interests. “Industrial relations” is ultimately little more than a euphemism for class conflict. Strikes are our side’s means of advancing our cause in that conflict. That’s not to say we should strike over every issue at work – “pick your battles” is sound advice in any ongoing war – but it does mean that we have to understand that the “normal” state of affairs is not neutral, but based on struggle between opposing forces.
A sign of how far we have to go is how difficult it seems to be for many people to make the connection between un-unionised workplaces and bad conditions. “My conditions at work are shit and you don’t see me striking” is perhaps the most common negative comment I’ve had hurled at me while on a picket line. As I always respond, and as many have pointed out on social media in the discussions around the Christmas strikes, those two facts might have something to do with each other. Our unions need to be loudly and relentlessly promoting that message: it’s not just union membership, conceived of a passive relationship with an external service provider, by union struggle, where union members are part of a democratic collective via which they can assert themselves, that wins better rights at work.
There’s no easy fix for any of this. Union membership has nearly halve since its peak in 1979, and there are far fewer elected workplace representatives. With the movement in defensive retreat for an entire generation, it’s not as simple as telling un-unionised workers that they should form a union at work, go on strike, and win things. Even in industries like mine, where union density is relatively high and our unions relatively militant, our strikes are often defensive actions which result in blunting the sharpest edges of the bosses’ attacks, rather than decisive victories for us as workers. For working-class confidence and self-assertion to meaningfully revive, a radical transformation of the whole movement is required, in the first place to address the democratic deficit that exists in every large union between its grassroots membership and its structures. But equally necessary for that revival is for the unions to turn outwards, organise in unorganised industries, and in doing so break down the nonsensical dichotomy between “unions/strikers” and “the general public/ordinary people” on which the narrative of the Tories and the press relies.
The seeds of that outwards turn can be seen in the strikes of low-paid Picturehouse Cinema workers in Brixton, Hackney (and potentially elsewhere); in the Bakers’ unions campaigns to organise fast food and pub chains, consciously modelled on the struggles of fast food workers in New Zealand and America; and the campaigns of independent unions like United Voices of the World, the Independent Workers’ union of Great Britain, and others amongst outsourced cleaning workers and “gig economy” workers for companies like Deliveroo and UberEATS. Those workers might not have the same industrial leverage that workers on the railway, in the post office, or in aviation have, but there is no group of workers that has no leverage at all. If you are employed (even under the bogus “self-employed” terms now favoured in some sectors and industries), your employer relies on your labour to make their product or provide a service. If you have a job, you have power.
A new element in the contemporary political situation that could make a huge difference to labour-movement renewal and a real, lasting upsurge in industrial struggle is a Labour Party in the process of potential transformation and recomposition. Its two leading figures, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, have spent their political life supporting strikes. They must use their platforms now to do more to actively support workers’ struggles.
John McDonnell ends almost every speech to a trade union audience with the neat phrase “whether in Parliament or on the picket line, we are with you: solidarity”. That must be made a reality. The Labour Party should be the party of strikes, unashamedly promoting to its 630,000 members the idea that organising at work, including taking industrial action, is an essential part of Labour’s vision for reshaping society. Momentum, now nearly 20,000 strong, could also do much more: mass emails and texts exhorting members to participate in a controversial survey about Momentum’s internal structures (for more on which, see here) currently outnumber any communication promoting strikes; encouraging donations to strike funds; or urging members to visit picket lines to support strikes by 3-0.
The statistics are undeniable: working-class people do better when both union membership and union militancy is higher. The wage share of GDP has fallen by over 5% since its high point in the 1970s. The foundational purpose of the Labour Party is to represent in politics the interests of the industrial labour movement, in order to win more power for working-class people and, in doing so, improve our material conditions. That cannot happen while the industrial labour movement is weak and in permanent defensive retreat, and while some of its leaders are cringingly apologetic for the rare instances in which workers buck those trends.
Many of the 79,000 people who’ve joined Labour since Corbyn’s re-election as leader will have done so because they are enthused by left-wing politics, and the prospect of fighting for and winning them. Organising where they work to rebuild trade union membership; to grow working-class confidence; to build solidarity with ongoing disputes on Southern, London Underground (where station staff will strike in early January), at Picturehouse Cinemas, and elsewhere; and make the resistance represented by the Christmas 2016 strikes the rule, rather than the exception, is an essential place to start.
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A new year can mean some new literary classics. It’s easy to get side-tracked and distracted by a game or just that series you’ve been meaning to binge on Netflix. Instead of sticking to the bestseller list and what’s in fashion, there’s a whole lot of untapped potential out there.
Rather than just focusing on prize winners or Don Delilio releasing his new novel, we thought we’d bring you an alternative. Have no fear, because here are 5 writers who are going to achieve great things in 2016. Check them out and then make that to-be-read shelf even bigger.
1. Scott McClanahan
Scott McClanahan has been garnering attention for a long time. His previous books Stories I, Stories II and Stories V proved that he knew how to write short stories. His short stories were funny, engaging and downright heartbreaking. Following on from that came Crapalachia and Hill William, both of which gave McClanahan acclaim and showed that he was one of the best writers out there and wrote with his heart on his sleeve, no detail too personal.
In 2016, McClanahan is collaborating with Ricardo Cavolo for the graphic novel Daniel Johnston (Two Dollar Radio) as well as releasing his long awaited novel, The Sarah Book (Tyrant Books).
2. Damien Angelica Walters
Walter’s novel, Paper Tigers, is already generating a buzz about it. Whether it takes your interest for its captivating writing or haunting story, it’ll be worth your attention. Here’s the synopsis:
“In this haunting and hypnotizing novel, a young woman loses everything—half of her body, her fiancé, and possibly her unborn child—to a terrible apartment fire. While recovering from the trauma, she discovers a photo album inhabited by a predatory ghost who promises to make her whole again, all while slowly consuming her from the inside out.”
The novel is coming out through Dark House Press, who have been doing lots of wonderful things and publishing some great authors. Walters looks to be no exception to this list, and Paper Tigers looks like it will be full of greatness and we don’t want to be proved wrong.
3. Amber Sparks
Amber Sparks is a notable voice in the literary community. Recently, she just released The Unfinished World, a collection of stories, which has been acclaimed by publications such as The Washington Post and The New York Times. So, it’s safe to say that they may be a couple of publications that know what they’re talking about.
It’s not her first book, but it may be Sparks’ entry into the bigger world of publishing, after May We Shed These Human Bodies was released by the great little independent press, Curbside Splendor Publishing, in 2013.
4. Helen Oyeyemi
After having five novels already published, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is Helen Oyeyemi’s first short story collection and will prove that she isn’t just talented in novels. It will be a perfect jumping point for people who are unfamiliar with her work, and a great extension of people who know what it’s like.
Short story collections can be difficult for some writers, as they find novels to be easier for the freedom to expand. Yet Oyeyemi shows no signs of being restricted by the form, and instead will bend it around whatever story she wants to tell, and undoubtedly to success.
5. Jeff Garvin
Garvin’s book, Symptoms Of Being Human, is going to discuss what lots of pieces of literature avoid discussing directly, the idea of gender:
“The first thing you’re going to want to know about me is: Am I a boy, or am I a girl?
Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. The thing is... Riley isn’t exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in uber-conservative Orange County, the pressure—media and otherwise—is building up in Riley’s so-called “normal” life.”
It is looking to be an important book, one that deserves the attention of many readers across 2016. Let’s hope it tackles gender fluidity well, as it needs addressing.
There’s the list of authors we think are worth watching in 2016. Though, it was hard to narrow it down just to five, so some of your favourites may have missed the list. Think we did miss anybody? Let us know in the comments.The Seattle Times has a piece out today detailing incoming Clippers owner Steve Ballmer's foray into the shady world of high school prep sports and the wealthy parents living vicariously through their kids. Ballmer's son's basketball team at Lakeside School in Seattle sucked, and he wanted to make it un-suck. So he created a non-profit as a way to pump money and talent into the school, got friendly faces coaching positions, and pushed for an administration-wide commitment to athletics at the expense of academics. He was basically the owner of Lakeside basketball.
Much of this news is combed from a legal proceeding involving Ballmer and one-time friend and former Seattle Sonics advisor Steve Gordon. Ballmer and Gordon are being sued because of a business deal gone awry, but they have since had a falling out. So there is some sniping going on through depositions and other filed documents. Like this testimony from Gordon that sets the stage for Ballmer's Lakeside takeover:
In the car after one of his son's particularly bad games, Ballmer fumed about how Lakeside's coach was managing the team, according to Gordon's March deposition. During his rant, Ballmer began plotting a way to bring in new personnel. "I'm going to open up a foundation, and we're going to get black people in here," Ballmer declared, according to Gordon's testimony from March.
That sounds pretty bad, but without anymore context (there is none provided) he could be talking about diversifying the team and coaching staff. The foundation he eventually started, called A PLUS, has since become a strong presence in the community, not just for Lakeside. This is according to Tavio Hobson, a friend Ballmer made assistant coach and paid under the table, and who later became head coach at Lakeside. Once A PLUS was formed, Hobson generated a second income through the foundation.
Hobson said A PLUS "is far from a vehicle to attract kids to Lakeside." It has evolved to an organization that serves 180 participants, most of them students of color, at 50 schools in 14 districts, with a program GPA of 3.14. A PLUS "is as much about learning and character as it is about athletic achievement," he said in an email.
The basketball team also seemed to get a break on academics, with some players getting special treatment, essentially full-time tutors, and more leniency when it came to poor marks than other sports. According to the football coach, who coached at Lakeside for 40 years and was on the admissions committee for 20, some basketball players were admitted to the school without the committee's consideration.
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Ballmer's friends also pitched in where they could. Rich Padden, an attorney and big time supporter of A Plus, let a highly talented basketball player stay in his home, gave him money for things like food and gas, and also loaned him a car to put the gas in.
It all adds up to this: prep sports, the playground of the wealthy and possibly deranged parents, are so, so dirty. Ballmer had the money and the desire to put a plan in action to recreate his son's basketball team as a winner, and it worked.
The tactics may have violated Washington state's prep-sports rules, according to a Seattle Times investigation. But it all paid off: In just five years, Lakeside went from winless in its district to district champs for the first time in a quarter century.
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Now with the Clippers, he can throw money at whatever he wants to improve the team.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
With Ballmer's aid, elite school pushed limits of prep-sports rules [Seattle Times]Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, on Tuesday evening said there are a lot of "hurt feelings" in the Bush family after former President George H.W. Bush indicated he'll vote for Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE in November.
Conway noted the high expectations surrounding former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's White House candidacy and his failed Republican presidential bid.
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"I know there are a lot of hurt feelings there," Conway told Erin Burnett on CNN's "OutFront."
The Trump aide was pressed about news that George H.W. Bush, Jeb's father, would vote for Clinton over Trump, the GOP nominee.
"That is his right," Conway said. "I think that Americans are very grateful to the Bush family for their public service.'
Still, Conway said it was "ironic" that George H.W. Bush was voting for Hillary Clinton, given her husband Bill Clinton William (Bill) Jefferson ClintonInviting Kim Jong Un to Washington Howard Schultz must run as a Democrat for chance in 2020 Trump says he never told McCabe his wife was 'a loser' MORE defeated Bush in 1992.
Robert F. Kennedy's daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, posted a picture on Facebook of herself with Bush Monday, saying the 92-year-old told her he's voting for Clinton.
The comment came in a receiving line for board members of the bipartisan Points of Light Foundation, CNN reported Tuesday.
"I think what's most disturbing about this report to me, Erin, is that someone divulged a private conversation," Conway said. "It doesn't seem that it was meant for public consumption and that's always very bothersome to me."
Bush indicating his intention to vote for Clinton represents a stunning development in an election year where a number of former GOP administration officials have said they'll vote for Clinton over Trump.
Jeb Bush has also withheld his endorsement of Trump despite vowing during the GOP primary to back the eventual nominee. Former President George W. Bush has shied away from discussing Trump.Next week, masks of all kinds will likely cross your doorstep—creepy clowns, ghoulish goblins, probably even a Donald Trump or two. But none of them will be as strange or disturbing as the lead masks found on the bodies of two Brazilian electrical engineers in 1966.
On August 20, 1966, an 18-year-old man named Jorge da Costa Alves was enjoying an idyllic afternoon flying a kite on Vintém Hill in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. His meandering eventually led him to a patch of tall weeds, where he stumbled upon a grisly scene: a pair of bodies lying side-by-side on the ground. What the two dead men were wearing took the discovery from tragic to truly bizarre.
Both of them were dressed in suits topped with waterproof coats. In their possession were two towels and an empty water bottle—and both men had placed lead masks over their eyes. A note was found in a notebook one of the men was carrying, but it only added to the mystery. The English translation: “16:30 be at agreed place, 18:30 swallow capsules, after effect protect metals wait for mask signal.”
As word got out about the perplexing find, people started to come forward with more details about the men. Their names were Manoel Pereira da Cruz and Miguel José Viana, and three days prior, they told their relatives that they needed to buy work supplies and would be gone for the afternoon. Instead, they boarded a bus and headed to Niterói. They stopped at a bar, where they purchased the water. The waitress there noted that Viana seemed especially nervous and kept checking his watch.
Nearly 50 years later, that’s still all we know about the mysterious men and their lead masks. (No toxicology tests were ever done to determine if they had, as the note indicated, taken any capsules, or what those capsules might have been filled with.) Were they a doomsday cult? Did they believe in time-travel? Was this an elaborate murder staged as a suicide? Or perhaps they had a plot to do something sinister with a nuclear reactor? There’s no shortage of theories, some more out there than others. The most popular one is that the men believed they had a meeting with a UFO—they allegedly believed in extraterrestrials, and Vintém Hill was the location of several supposed sightings.
There's been no evidence to support any of the theories, however, and the "Lead Masks Case," as it's called, continues to confound to this day.The city of Guelph and Urbacon Buildings Group Corp. have reached an agreement out of court that will see the city pay the developer $6.635 million.
According to a news release, the city agreed to settle to avoid further legal costs.
Guelph had originally signed a two-year, $42-million agreement for Urbacon to build a new city hall and convert the old city hall to a provincial court. Instead, the city fired Urbacon in 2008.
Earlier this summer, an Ontario Superior court ruled the city had wrongly dismissed the contractor.
The city's legal costs came to $2,233,982 and in total, the city's deficit for the project is $8,346,261. According to Ann Pappert, the city's chief administrative officer, the city has already paid about $800,000 in fees that are currently being held back by the court and that she expects will be released.
City residents shouldn't expect to see any special tax levies to help pay for the settlement.
"We recognize that all of the money that we have is our taxpayers's money, and we have to live within our means,"said Pappert. "We have sufficient funds in our city reserves to fund the settlement."Authorities in Russia-annexed Crimea have released a journalist affiliated with the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty on bail, but with travel restrictions, according to a report quoting his lawyer.
Prosecutor General of Crimea Natalya Poklonskaya says a criminal case has been launched against the journalist, named as Nikolai Semena, for alleged “extremism” and supporting “violations of Russia’s territorial integrity.”
Russia’s parliament made questioning the country's territorial integrity a criminal offense shortly after it approved the March 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. If found guilty, Semena could get up to five years in prison.
Poklonskaya claims Semena has published reports on the Radio Liberty program Crimea Realities in support of Ukrainian activists’ trade blockade of the Black Sea peninsula.
"In this article, and in a number of other publications prepared by this media representative, there are justifications for subversive activities,” Poklonskaya told Russian state media, “which have been conducted against all Crimeans, justification for terrorist intent... as well as calls for extremist activities.”
Crimea Realities quoted Semena’s lawyer, Emil Kurbedinov, saying the journalist denied the charges and had not worked for the program since 2014. Semena also previously worked for a Ukrainian newspaper and a Russian newspaper.
Semena was detained Tuesday during a series of raids on homes in Crimea that also targeted other journalists. Crimean authorities say they seized computers and documents to be used as evidence.
RFE/RL's web site quoted the broadcaster's editor in chief, Nenad Pejic, as saying "Police conducted forced searches at the homes of seven people across Crimea, including some RFE/RL correspondents." While RFE's report did not give Semena's name, Pejic said one of the journalists now faced criminal charges based on his work.
Pejic described the broadcaster's Crimea web site as one of the "last remaining sources of independent news" on Crimea.
The the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversees VOA, RFE/RL and three other U.S. broadcasting entities, condemned "the targeting of independent journalists in Russia-annexed Crimea."
“The charges being considered against Semena are baseless and are aimed only at silencing independent voices and dissent,” BBG CEO and Director John Lansing said. “Threats to the free practice of journalism must neither be made nor tolerated by any government.”
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović expressed concern about what she called the intimidation against Semena and other journalists.
“This recent detention only shows the urgent need to stop the arbitrary practice of silencing journalists in Crimea,” Mijatović said.
The raids come just a day after Russia’s top investigator called for the criminal prosecution of anyone denying the results of the internationally dismissed referendum in Crimea that Moscow used to justify annexing the peninsula. Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, said in an opinion piece published in a Russian magazine that denial of the referendum’s legitimacy should be equated with extremist activity.
The rushed vote in Crimea was held after Russian special forces seized Ukrainian military bases there. The referendum included only two options - independence or joining Russia. Moscow claimed nearly 97 percent of Crimeans supported becoming part of Russia.
Bastrykin says his proposal to criminalize questioning the referendum's results was part of a series of tough measures is a response to what he called a “hybrid war unleashed by the U.S. and its allies.” The restrictions included Internet and media censorship using China as a model.
Poklonskaya, the Crimean prosecutor, declared her approval of Bastrykin’s proposal. On Tuesday, Russia’s Justice Ministry suspended the Crimean Tatars’ highest ruling body, the Mejlis, for “extremist activities.”
Tatars make up about 12 percent of Crimea's population and openly opposed Russia’s annexation. The ministry said the ban was based on an order by Poklonskaya.
Bastrykin’s statement was not purely personal opinion, but part of a shift to more authoritarian stance taken by the Russian government to head off any challenges, New York University Professor of Global Affairs Mark Galeotti told VOA in an interview via Skype.
“And, this means everything from, let’s say, the rising tide of labor unrest across the country to Tatar militants within the Crimea. So, I think it’s a sense of a fear that things might spin out of control, especially as we move toward election season,” he said. “So, I think it does definitely speak to a new, rather more paranoid and certainly worried mood within the Kremlin."
RFE/RL receives funding from the United States government. Like Voice of America, it is overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors.A stretch of the Superior Hiking Trail will close Friday because a property owner, frustrated by hikers’ behavior, is booting them off his land.
Randy Bowe said that a few hikers have “accosted” and “cussed at” his family and friends on his 380 acres along the North Shore of Lake Superior. For years, he’s allowed 1.6 miles of the hiking trail to pass through his property, part of a popular route between Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse state parks. But no more, he said by phone Tuesday.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” said Bowe, 55, who owns a taxidermy shop in Duluth. “We’ve had plenty of sleepless nights. But it came down to a few people spoiling it for everyone.”
Along its 300-mile span from Jay Cooke State Park to Canada, the hiking trail traverses mostly public land. But it also depends on permanent easements and simple permits from about 50 private landowners, said Gayle Coyer, executive director of the Superior Hiking Trail Association, a nonprofit that maintains and manages the trail.
Starting Friday, hikers will be alerted to alternate routes, which are longer and rely on the Gitchi-Gami State Trail. In the long term, the association will work to reroute the trail onto public lands west of Bowe’s.
In recent years, the trail group posted more signs throughout Bowe’s property. “Please respect the private property you are crossing,” one red sign says. No off-trail hiking, no camping, no fires and no hunting, it warns.
Graphic: Superior hiking trail detour Graphic: Superior hiking trail detour
It was “very, very obvious” to hikers that they were passing through private property, Coyer said.
But despite the signs, “somehow it isn’t getting through to some people that it’s really a privilege to go through these private lands.”
Bowe bought the property in the late 1980s, when the trail was in its infancy, he said. At first, he’d encounter one or two problems a year. A hiker would trespass, leaving behind litter or a smoldering fire.
But recently, as Bowe and his daughter rode ATVs, hikers yelled at him.
During Halloween weekend last year, a friend of Bowe’s — “a disabled Vietnam veteran,” he noted — was bow hunting on the property when three men harassed him, howling like wolves near his deer stand for an hour.
The friend didn’t have his cellphone, Bowe said, and police were never called. “It was too late,” he said. “They were gone.”
Such issues are rare, Coyer said. This is the first time since the trail was built in the 1980s that it has gotten the ouster from a property owner.
Expanding the trail through Duluth from 2004 to 2006, the nonprofit picked a route that used as much public land as possible, she said. Those 29 miles cross only two private properties.
“We work really hard” to avoid private land now, Coyer said, “because in some cases, it is a lot to ask a private landowner to have a public trail go across their property.”10. Eva (Shank)
A while back a comic book starring Green Lantern Kyle Rainer featured a plot where in order to strike back at our hero, his girlfriend was killed off-screen (or in this case, off panel) and stuffed into a fridge.
Not exactly what you want to find instead of your leftover pizza.
A bit later, some folks got pissed about it, and pointed out that yeah, women are so commonly treated terribly and/or killed in comics, that the "Women in the Refrigerator Syndrome" might be a bit of a problem for the industry. The jury's still out if that industry fixed the problem (it hasn't) but let me be the first to say...it sure as sugar isn't limited to comics!
Enter Eva, a nice sweet and still super hot teacher, who is killed only in flashback, isn't terribly developed as a character, and turns out to be the prime motivator for the hero, Shank (duh) to go on his grindhouse based roaring rampage of revenge!
This is just one example of "fridging" in games, and it's SOOOOOO common. In fact for most games that feature this, especially older ones, we would rarely see the women getting killed actually in the game. They die in the background, to be revealed during the introduction cinematic, or possibly only in the game's manual. Being killed in the damn manual might as well as being the equivalent of getting cut out of Star Wars Episode 2 because you were a terrible actor- you probably wish you didn't exist rather than have to deal with that insult.
There are tons of examples, but it's especially prevalent in fighting games and brawlers like Shank. Look at Terry Bogard's girl in Fatal Fury, or how about the intro of Double Dragon 2, where the girl you worked so hard to save from the first, Marian, even going so far as to beat up your own brother, is just murdered right at the beginning?
Though... maybe Marian kind of had it coming. The fact that she made Jimmy and Billy beat the tar out of each other at the end of Double Dragon 1 because, what, she couldn't decide who to pick, was pretty much the definition of "bogus".
Or maybe this guy was the definition, I can't remember.
Anyway, you may be asking, "So if this is so common, why does Eva make the damn list?"
Well smart guy, its' because of two reasons.
First, though we don't really get to know her as a character or actually see her death, I don't think we really want to. If you watch that attached intro video, there's a flashback in the middle, where "The Butcher" leaves Shank for dead, and carries Eva off with the implication that he raped her to death. That's just... nasty.
Then, there's this.
That makes it wayyyyyy worse. Eva "wins" this because her death is just so damn brutal.
Oh and speaking of Brutal...After every terror attack the call rings out for the Muslim world to become modern. But as Christopher de Bellaigue writes, Muslims have strenuously engaged with all that is new for hundreds of years
A party of school-age swimmers takes to the waters of a municipal pool in north London. Among her peers, one Muslim girl stands out – nine or 10 years of age, brown face and eyes under a yellow cap, sliding gingerly into the water in a cotton salwar kameez that prevents the male attendants, the boys in her class, and other random males in the pool, like me, from seeing her prepubescent body.
So far as I know, there is nothing in Islam that bars girls below the age of menstruation from showing their legs and tummy in public, but in more conservative households there is a strong distaste for the idea of even partial undress in mixed company at any age. In less understanding circumstances, this distaste could have led to the girl’s withdrawal from her school’s weekly swimming outing – denying her a part of our holistic modern curriculum. But in this case consultations have evidently taken place between parents, school and pool management (has the salwar kameez been washed?), leading to this civilised modus vivendi.
Back home, in Pakistan, or Bangladesh, the question would not have arisen because such outings to the pool would almost certainly be single-sex affairs. Silly me: this is home, where she was born, where she is part of, |
. If the primary election for United States Senate were held today, would you vote for [Rotate] Jeff Flake or Kelli Ward? 28.2% Jeff Flake 42.5% Kelli Ward 5.1% Some other candidate 24.2% Don’t know, Refused Q. If the General Election for United States Senate were held today, would you vote for [Rotate] Jeff Flake or Kyrsten Sinema? 32.5% Jeff Flake 40.5% Kyrsten Sinema 27.0% Don’t know, Refused The Republican Primary Election sample was of 273 high efficacy Republican and PND/Independent voters and has a margin of error of ±5.93%. The General Election sample of 400 high efficacy general election voters has a margin of error of ±4.88%. While Election Day may still be more than a year away, Senator Jeff Flake’s campaign has a lot of work to do to persuade Republican primary voters that his form of principled Republican conservatism can trump the nativist populism that is fueling Republican voters’ antipathy towards Washington insiders.These same Republicans still give the President a 74% approval rating in Arizona,” said Chuck Coughlin, President & CEO of HighGround Public Affairs, which conducted the poll. […] The data clearly shows that a contentious primary fight would certainly strengthen the chances of the Democrats to pick up the seat in November of next year. There is an opportunity for Congresswoman Sinema to take advantage of the uncertainty on the Republican side by jumping into the Senate race,” Coughlin remarked. “The question for the General Election comes down to if Congresswoman Sinema will be able to define herself first to an electorate that is largely unfamiliar with her, or if Republican third-party groups can define her in ways unacceptable to Arizona’s General Electorate.” The survey showed that Sinema enjoys a 51% approval rating among voters in her Congressional district which is largely within the cities of Phoenix and Tempe, which are more progressive, urban areas of the State. Although a 14-point margin is a sizeable gap for Senator Flake, Arizona is known for its volatility when it comes to statewide races. Politicos such as Governors Fife Symington and Jan Brewer have been able to successfully rally from greater margins in shorter periods of time.
I know, look at the sample size. It’s only 273 for the GOP primary. Usually 350 is needed for an accurate gauge of a congressional race, 600 for statewide, and at least 1,000 for a nationwide poll. Yet, National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar noted the methodology is sound. We do have a long way to go—and it seems Mr. Flake is deep in the well right now. He’s not isolated, however. The Senate Leadership Fund is already hitting Ward for her remarks about chemtrails a year ago.
Looks like the methodology is sound even if subsample a little small. Live caller, likely voters. Co-sponsorship w AZ TV networks — Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) August 22, 2017SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks after unveiling the Dragon V2 spacecraft in Hawthorne, California May 29, 2014 Mario Anzuoni/Reuters SpaceX has postponed their resupply services mission to Tuesday, Jauary 6 saying that this will give their engineers more time to investigate some of the problems that arose with the Falcon 9 rocket during testing earlier this week.
"The new launch date also will allow the teams to enjoy the holidays," SpaceX stated in a press release.
After the holidays, it's back to work. The most monumental part of the SpaceX launch will not be what goes up, but what comes down.
In a game-changing move, SpaceX is going to try and land a used rocket atop a floating platform in the ocean.
Doing this will be like "trying to balance a rubber broomstick on your hand in the middle of a wind storm," SpaceX described in a statement released earlier this week.
If successful, the company will set a new standard in space exploration — one that could eventually cut the cost of space travel by a factor of 100, according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Building a rocket that can be used more than once is an extremely important step in ultimately sending a manned space mission to and from Mars that could use the rocket to land and, more importantly, leave Mars to return to Earth.
The launch will be the fifth cargo mission to the International Space Station for SpaceX. On Tuesday, January 6, the Falcon 9 boosters will fire, launching the rocket and its 3700-pound cargo out of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and into the skies.
After the Falcon 9 rocket has emptied most of its fuel, it will detach from the Dragon spacecraft, which will carry the payload of food, science experiments, and other supplies to the ISS.
The Falcon 9 rocket will fall back to Earth, and this is when things will get exciting for SpaceX — the rocket will, for the first time, try to land itself upright on a giant ocean platform. But it won't be easy.
"During previous attempts, we could only expect a landing accuracy of within 10km. For this attempt, we're targeting a landing accuracy of within 10 meters," SpaceX said in their recently issued press release.
Reusable Rockets
Following the successful launch of six ORBCOMM satellites, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage reentered Earth’s atmosphere and soft landed in the Atlantic Ocean this past August. SpaceX One of the main goals of SpaceX is to develop reusable rocket technology where rockets can be recovered and relaunched unlike every space rocket that has ever taken off in history that never flew again. To do that, they need to return the rocket to Earth in good shape.
In September 2013, SpaceX successfully fired boosters as the rocket fell to Earth, slowing it down so it could land softly. That test landed in the ocean, seemingly at least semi-upright, but the rocket was eventually spun out of control, crashing in the ocean.
SpaceX finally achieved soft landings in the ocean for two missions earlier this year, but the 14-story tall rocket was irreversibly damaged when it toppled sideways into the high seas. But SpaceX is determined. Since landing in the water won't work, they've turned to something else.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket equipped with X-wings protruding out of the rocket's sides. Elon Musk
A drone ship for a remote rocket
SpaceX ocean landing pad. Elon Musk The new plan? Create a self-stabilizing floating platform to sit in the ocean and wait for the rocket's return.
"I think we've got a chance of landing on a floating landing platform," Elon Musk said last October at the MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium. "And if we land on that, then I think we'll be able to re-fly that booster."
Just last month, Musk tweeted images of the football-field long platform. They plan to use GPS tracking, the rockets newly attached "X-wings," and other technology to help safely guide the multi-million-dollar Falcon 9 onto the platform.
These hypersonic X-wings will deploy upon reentry and help the rocket steer itself onto the platform. The legspan of the rocket is about 70 feet wide, and the platform has a width about 3 times that length, so precision is key in this game-changing attempt.
"It's probably not more than a 50% chance or less of landing it on the platform," Musk said, still optimistic at the MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium. "But there's at least a dozen launches that will occur over the next 12 months, and I think it's quite likely, probably 80 to 90% likely, that one of those flights will be able to land and re-fly. So I think we're quite close."Fernando Alonso thinks McLaren should copy the example set by Red Bull in how to maximise results with an uncompetitive package at the Italian Grand Prix.
Alonso and McLaren face the prospect of another start at the rear end of the grid for engine changes, with Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat serving similar demotions. Red Bull has seen a marked improvement in its results of late despite Renault's uncompetitive power unit and Alonso says that should be a motivator for McLaren at Monza.
Asked if McLaren can fight with McLaren for the entire race on Sunday," Alonso said: "I don't know, they are fighting for points and were fighting for a podium [at Spa] with Ricciardo, so definitely they are more competitive. We will see what we can do. I think we have a good example there, they don't have the best package but they are still fighting for the top place so we will try to do the same."
McLaren is likely to repeat its double engine change from the Belgian Grand Prix, which earned them an accumulative grid penalty of 105 places at Spa, in order to effectively have a fresh power unit for Sunday. Alonso admits that imminent change is likely to see McLaren's running severely limited in FP3 and qualifying on Saturday.
"For us nothing will change [if it rains] because we will change engine again so we will start from last as we did in Spa, so we will try to do minimum laps tomorrow. We will start from last in the race and hopefully recover some places."
"It's not easy, as we knew. The circuit is quite tough for us so not very competitive. But we can try to make some changes in the car, try to learn some things and we will see tomorrow how we are."Annabelle was the focus of a case that famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren took part in during the early 1970s, and is highlighted in the book The Demonologist. It has been stated that this is one of the most unusual cases of a possessed object on record.
In 1970, a mother purchased an antique Raggedy Ann Doll from a hobby store. The doll was a present for her daughter Donna on her birthday. Donna, at the time, was a student in college, preparing to graduate with her nursing degree and resided in a tiny apartment with her roommate Angie (a nurse as well).
Pleased with the doll, Donna placed it on her bed as a decoration and didn't give it a second thought until a few days later. Within that time, both Donna and Angie noticed that there appeared to be something very strange and creepy about the doll. The doll apparently moved on its own, relatively unnoticeable movements at first, like a change in position, but with the passage of time, the movement became more noticeable.
Donna and Angie would come home to find the doll in a completely different room from which they had left it. Sometimes the doll would be found crossed legged on the couch with its arms folded, other times it was found upright, standing on its feet, leaning against a chair in the dining room. Several times Donna, placing the doll on the couch before leaving for work, would return home to find the doll back in her room on the bed with the door closed.
The Medium
One night Donna came home to find the doll had moved again, this time it was on her bed. Donna had come to find that this was typical of the doll but somehow she knew this time it was different, something wasn't right. A sense of fear came over her when she inspected the doll and saw what looked like blood drops on the back of its hands and its chest. Seemingly, from nowhere, a red liquid had appeared on the doll. Scared and desperate, Donna and Angie decide it was time to seek expert advice.
Not knowing where to turn, they contacted a medium and a séance was held. Donna was then introduced to the spirit of Annabelle Higgins. The medium related the story of Annabelle to both Donna and Angie. Annabelle was a young girl that resided on the property before the apartments were built. She was a young girl of only seven years old when her lifeless body was found in the field upon which the apartment complex now stands. The spirit related to the medium that she felt comfort with Donna and Angie and wanted to stay with them by moving into the doll.
Feeling compassion for Annabelle and her story Donna gave her permission to inhibit the doll and stay. They were to soon find out however, that Annabelle was not what she seemed. Later that week Donna saw that the doll or "Annabelle" was ripped and had jagged cuts along her mouth. One night Donna awoke to some singing like a little girl, she walked into her bathroom to see Angie dead with the words "wanna play?" written in the blood of her friend. The doll was never found.
Lou
Lou was friends with Donna and Angie and had been with them since the day the doll arrived. He had never been fond of the doll and on several occasions warned Donna that it was evil, saying that she should get rid of it. However, Donna had developed a personal tie to the doll and decided to keep it, despite Lou's feelings. Her decision was a terrible mistake.
One night Lou awoke with a jolt of terror, a jolt that didn't seem like it was from his usual nightmares. Somehow, something felt different. What would appear to be a common case of sleep paralysis became all too real; he looked around the room but couldn't discern anything out of the ordinary. At first anyway. Looking down toward his feet he saw the doll, Annabelle. It began to slowly glide up his leg, moving over his chest and stopping at his neck. Helpless against it, the doll began to strangle him. After a moment Lou, at the point of asphyxiation, blacked out. He awoke the next morning, certain it wasn't an ordinary night terror, and was determined to rid himself of that doll and the spirit that possessed it.
Preparing for a road trip the next day, Lou and Donna were reading over maps alone in her apartment. The apartment was eerily quiet. The silence was broken when rustling sounds coming from Donna’s room aroused fear that someone had broken into the apartment. Lou, determined to figure out what was causing the noise, quietly made his way to the bedroom door. He waited for the noises to stop before entering and turning on the light. The room was empty except for Annabelle, whom was tossed in a corner on the floor.
Lou searched the room for signs of forced entry but nothing was out of place. As he got closer to the doll he got the distinct impression that somebody was behind him. Spinning around Lou found that despite his unease nobody besides himself and the doll were in the room. Then in a flurry of motion he found himself doubled over in pain, with blood dripping from a cut on his chest. Upon opening his shirt, there on his chest were what appeared to be 7 distinct claw marks.
Today
I hope you enjoyed this article and should you ever want to visit the infamous Annabelle, she can be found at the Warren Occult Museum in Moodus, Connecticut. The museum is run by Lorraine Warren, the famous paranormal investigator, and now frequent guest on the television show "Paranormal State". Housed in a glass case at the museum you will find Annabelle. Mrs. Warren relates that Annabelle still moves about occasionally and is still known to make growling noises at unsuspecting visitors....Palestinian rights group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid is shutting itself down after seven years of activism and controversy. Tim McCaskell, one of the group’s organizers, announced in a news release Thursday that QuAIA will “officially retire” at the end of this month.
Queers against Israeli Apartheid march in the Toronto Gay Pride Parade which attracts a million people who line the route in Toronto in 2013. ( Steve Russell / Toronto Star )
The group educated Canadians about the Israeli “occupation”, popularized the terms “Israeli apartheid” and “pinkwashing” and inspired QuAIA groups in queer communities around the world,” he said. But deteriorating Middle East conditions and Canada’s attempts to “suppress” boycott, divestment and sanction efforts “pulled activist energies in many directions,” and QuAIA members to other groups and cities. “It wasn’t an easy decision to make,” McCaskell said. “But we decided that retiring QuAIA allows us all to develop new strategies for supporting the Palestine solidarity movement and to make new links across oppressions in our communities.”
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Avi Benlolo, chief executive of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, and a past critic of what he called a “fringe group”, welcomed QuAIA’s decision but doubted the stated reason. “It’s quite obvious that they would lose momentum,” Benlolo said.” With extremist massacres in Syria, ISIS going around cutting people’s heads off, Iran executing gays... why would anybody be going after Israel with its pride parades in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem?” QuAIA formed in 2008 during Israeli Apartheid Week at the U of T amid concerns Israel was using “gay rights to divert international attention away from the state’s violation of Palestinian human rights,” McCaskell said. “The small activist group was propelled into international celebrity after the pro-Israel lobby attempted to have Pride Toronto’s funding revoked in order to silence Palestine solidarity voices at the 2010 festival.” Pro-Israel groups and Toronto council members called “apartheid” dishonest, hurtful and hate speech, and tried to force Pride to eject QuAIA from the parade or risk loss of grants totalling more than $150,000.
But city manager Joe Pennachetti concluded in 2011 that “there is no legal precedent” to suggest the phrase “Israeli apartheid” constitutes a hate crime or a violation of the provincial human rights code. City solicitor Anna Kinastowski told council in 2013 the phrase appears to be legally “protected speech” and does not violate the city's human rights policy.
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Last September, then-mayoral candidate John Tory seemed to rekindle the debate by saying Pride should be denied funding if QuAIA marched. With files from Daniel DalePlant and animal species that are the foundation of our food supplies are as endangered as wildlife but get almost no attention, a new report reveals
The sixth mass extinction of global wildlife already under way is seriously threatening the world’s food supplies, according to experts.
“Huge proportions of the plant and animal species that form the foundation of our food supply are just as endangered [as wildlife] and are getting almost no attention,” said Ann Tutwiler, director general of Bioversity International, a research group that published a new report on Tuesday.
“If there is one thing we cannot allow to become extinct, it is the species that provide the food that sustains each and every one of the seven billion people on our planet,” she said in an article for the Guardian. “This ‘agrobiodiversity’ is a precious resource that we are losing, and yet it can also help solve or mitigate many challenges the world is facing. It has a critical yet overlooked role in helping us improve global nutrition, reduce our impact on the environment and adapt to climate change.”
Chips, chocolate and coffee – our food crops face mass extinction too Read more
Three-quarters of the world’s food today comes from just 12 crops and five animal species and this leaves supplies very vulnerable to disease and pests that can sweep through large areas of monocultures, as happened in the Irish potato famine when a million people starved to death. Reliance on only a few strains also means the world’s fast changing climate will cut yields just as the demand from a growing global population is rising.
There are tens of thousands of wild or rarely cultivated species that could provide a richly varied range of nutritious foods, resistant to disease and tolerant of the changing environment. But the destruction of wild areas, pollution and overhunting has started a mass extinction of species on Earth. The focus to date has been on wild animals – half of which have been lost in the last 40 years – but the new report reveals that the same pressures are endangering humanity’s food supply, with at least 1,000 cultivated species already endangered.
Tutwiler said saving the world’s agrobiodiversity is also vital in tackling the number one cause of human death and disability in the world – poor diet, which includes both too much and too little food. “We are not winning the battle against obesity and undernutrition,” she said. “Poor diets are in large part because we have very unified diets based on a narrow set of commodities and we are not consuming enough diversity.”
Earth's sixth mass extinction event under way, scientists warn Read more
The new report sets out how both governments and companies can protect, enhance and use the huge variety of little-known food crops. It highlights examples including the gac, a fiery red fruit from Vietnam, and the orange-fleshed Asupina banana. Both have extremely high levels of beta-carotene that the body converts to vitamin A and could help the many millions of people suffering deficiency of that vitamin.
Quinoa has become popular in some rich nations but only a few of the thousands of varieties native to South America are cultivated. The report shows how support has enabled farmers in Peru to grow a tough, nutritious variety that will protect them from future diseases or extreme weather.
Mainstream crops can also benefit from diversity and earlier in 2017 in Ethiopia researchers found two varieties of durum wheat that produce excellent yields even in dry areas. Fish diversity is also very valuable, with a local Bangladeshi species now shown to be extremely nutritious.
“Food biodiversity is full of superfoods but perhaps even more important is the fact these foods are also readily available and adapted to local farming conditions,” said Tutwiler.
Bioversity International is working with both companies and governments to ramp up investment in agrobiodiversity. The supermarket Sainsbury’s is one, and its head of agriculture, Beth Hart, said: “The world is changing – global warming, extreme weather and volatile prices are making it harder for farmers and growers to produce the foods our customers love. Which is why we are committed to working with our suppliers, farmers and growers around the world to optimise the health benefits, address the impact and biodiversity of these products and secure a sustainable supply.”
Global warming brews big trouble in coffee birthplace Ethiopia Read more
Pierfrancesco Sacco, Italy’s permanent representative to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, said: “The latest OECD report rates Italy third lowest in the world for levels of obesity after Japan and Korea. Is it a coincidence that all three countries have long traditions of healthy diets based on local food biodiversity, short food supply chains and celebration of local varieties and dishes?”
He said finding and cultivating a wider range of food is the key: “Unlike conserving pandas or rhinos, the more you use agrobiodiversity and the more you eat it, the better you conserve it.”Gov. Chris Christie’s poll numbers are stuck at historic lows and New Jerseyans are worried about the state’s direction as his tenure draws to close, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released Thursday.
Christie is viewed favorably by 16 percent of state voters, while 73 percent have a negative opinion, the poll found. The Rutgers-Eagleton survey showed that he continues to be the most unpopular governor since pollsters began to ply their trade. Christie’s favorable rating among all groups is low, including Republicans, at 35 percent.
Meanwhile, 73 percent of voters say the Garden State is off track.
“Dissatisfaction with state affairs is now at its highest point since 1992, as voters increasingly seem to feel Christie will be leaving New Jersey worse off than when he first took office,” said Ashley Koning, assistant research professor and director of Rutgers’s Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling.
Opinions on Sen. Bob Menendez are mixed and mostly unchanged from the last two years as he goes on trial for corruption. Menendez has a 28 percent favorable rating, while 25 percent of voters have a negative view.
Sen. Cory Booker is by far the most popular statewide public official, with 54 percent of voters having a favorable opinion of him and 23 percent having a negative view.
Rutgers-Eagleton polled 660 registered voters from Aug. 24 to 28, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.As usual, Katie Price didn’t hold back with her comments (Picture: Getty)
Katie Price has again caused controversy on talk show Loose Women by suggesting boys and men shouldn’t cry.
The former glamour model and current TV panelist revealed she would be ‘put off’ a man who cries and may no longer find them attractive as a result.
Price even admitted to being tough on her 11-year-old son Junior, who has learning difficulties, if he cries too easily for her liking.
‘If a young kid drops a teddy at age two, it’s acceptable for them to cry,’ said the 38-year-old mother-of-five.
Katie Price with her daughter, Princess, and son, Harvey (Picture: Getty)
‘But if they’re eight or 10 and they cry, it’s pathetic. I can’t imagine Princess or Junior doing that.
‘Junior, when he watches films might cry and that’s sweet. But if he’s too scared to go up to the toilet in the dark, I say to him, “don’t be such a baby”. He has to take Princess with him. It’s pathetic.’
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Fellow host Janet Street-Porter held an even stronger view, suggesting ‘men have gone all soppy.’
No, we’re not quite sure what that means either.
Janet Street-Porter also caused offence with her remarks (Picture: Getty)
But it seems Price may be the one with the problem, as she herself finds it difficult to cry.
‘If I want to cry, instead of crying I’ll be like, “here we go, sob story,”’ she revealed.
‘I’d be embarrassed. If I cried in front of my family everyone would be like, “Oh look at you crying”. I try to comedy it off”.’
Oh dear. Perhaps we should leave the final word to The Cure.
MORE: Sex tips, insults and awkwardness: The 10 most cringe Loose Women moments ever(Read Part I: Gulf seafood poses long-term health risks.)
Experts urge caution for pregnant women and young childrenRaw Story examined the “Mussel Watch” page on NOAA’s website and found no clear additional protocol in place for protecting the public from these contaminants in their seafood due to the BP oil spill.
This is particularly troubling to scientists and public health experts.
Gina Solomon, a doctor and public health expert in the department of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, told Raw Story, “What we would expect is the heavy metal levels in Gulf seafood will be starting to creep up as a result of the spill.”
Solomon, a co-author on last month’s peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study on Gulf seafood safety and also a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), cautioned, “And so right now, we might not be seeing elevated levels, but right now is the time to collect baseline information and to develop a sampling plan for monitoring into the future to make sure that levels don’t continue to rise and cause trouble months or years from now.”
She said it’s important to remember that fish and shellfish in the Gulf of Mexico already contained certain levels of heavy metals prior to the BP oil spill, which, at its height, gushed oil at an estimated rate equivalent to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster – previously the largest in US history – every four days.
Solomon also noted that there is a precedent for these contaminants to linger for a decade or so in the food chain, as was the case during the aftermath to Exxon Valdez. Her JAMA report cites a 2002 study in the peer-reviewed journal Marine Environmental Research, which showed elevated levels of contaminants ten years after the spill.
Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, a staff scientist at the NRDC who contributed to the JAMA study, noted that testing for heavy metals in these areas is also critical in the near-term in case elevated levels make it necessary to revise warnings now, particularly for pregnant women and young children, who are the most vulnerable to the impact of contaminants like mercury, lead and cadmium.
If the levels change, she said, then a woman can reduce the amount of seafood she’s eating or eliminate it entirely and reduce her likelihood of any adverse impact.
“We know that heavy metals are linked to the development of cancer over the course of time,” said Edward Trapido, the Wendell Gauthier Chair of Cancer Epidemiology at the Louisiana State University School of Public Health. “So if there is no testing, then that’s a problem for sure.”
Trapido testified in June at a House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment hearing on the spill and is heading a research group at LSU that will look at a range of health effects, including psychiatric and behavioral effects, chronic diseases and cancers.
He pointed out that heavy metals also have associations with Alzheimer’s disease and birth defects.
David Plunkett, senior staff attorney with the food safety program of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, confirmed another reason why baseline tests for heavy metals are critical: holding BP accountable if levels are shown to increase substantially over time.
“That’s probably your best example of what it means if we don’t have these baseline tests,” said Plunkett. “We don’t have something to hold them responsible for the problems they caused.”
Brad Jacobson is a contributing investigative reporter for Raw Story.Three officers were injured over the weekend during a disturbance at Turney Center Industrial Complex in Hickman County.
Authorities with the Tennessee Department of Correction said the incident involved 16 inmates in one housing unit. It began around 4 p.m. Sunday, and three corrections officers were assaulted.
Two of the officers were immediately removed from the scene. The third was held hostage for a period of time.
The three victims were flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where two of the victims were listed in critical condition and one was stable. As of Monday morning, they remained hospitalized.
The housing unit involved was placed on lockdown. Authorities confirmed a few hours after the disturbance began that the housing unit was under control.
A road near the complex was blocked while emergency crews worked at the scene.
Officials said appropriate security procedures were taken and an emergency operations team responded to the scene.
The incident lasted approximately three hours, officially ending around 7 p.m.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with these officers," said Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Tony Parker. "Any threat to the security of our institution or threat to our staff will be investigated and charged appropriately.”
As stated by the commissioner, the inmates will be charged appropriately upon investigation, according to officials. They were also immediately moved to a maximum security facility.
Mary Powers, a nearby resident, said she's lived near the Turney Center Industrial Complex for more than 40 years, but when she saw all of the police activity, she knew something was wrong.
"Well, you know something's going on, and you're always worried that somebody's got hurt. It's really been all afternoon that this has been going on," Powers said.
Reports stated the complex remained on lockdown while the Office of Investigation and Compliance investigates the incident.
The complex is a state prison in Only operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. It has currently been housing around 1,500 inmates with the majority of the beds being medium security.
On Monday, Democratic lawmakers call on state lawmakers to reinstate a prison oversight committee, citing a series of reported ongoing issues at Turney Center and other state facilities.
"We have a problem, we know there's a problem and no action has been taken," Representative Bo Mitchell said.
At a press briefing on Monday Democrats called the situation "unacceptable," showing reporters dozens of "tips" they've received from correction facility employees.
"It is unacceptable for a corrections officer to be held hostage in our of our facility. There is no quesiton that legislative oversight in the past was extremely effect... officers have been concerned for many months," Representative Jeff Yarbro said.Cops: Drowning ends holding-breath contest
LUFKIN - Investigators say a homeless man has been accused of drowning a woman while allegedly taking turns to see who could hold their breath longer under water.
Lufkin police say Winfred Kilgore has been charged with murder and evidence tampering. The body of Joy Bybee, who'd been living in Lufkin, was discovered Aug. 11 under a bridge near a creek.
Kilgore was arraigned Tuesday, with bond set at $260,000. His court-appointed lawyer didn't immediately return a message Wednesday from The Associated Press.
An arrest affidavit says Kilgore told investigators he believes he accidentally held the woman's head under water too long. He then allegedly dragged her body to a nearby mattress, drank some beer and fell asleep next to her. Kilgore left the next morning.
He was arrested Friday in Jacksonville.With new changes to the official Play Store app policy and tighter control over Chromecast, Google's era of openness may be coming to an end. That may seem like a bummer for developers, but it could be a new way of doing business that's ultimately good for everyone.
It's a favorite gripe among Android fans: Apple's walled garden approach to iOS is unnecessarily restrictive. They may have less to wag their fingers at in the future. When it comes to its new streaming hardware and Android operating system, the search company is exerting more control than developers expect. The unlimited sandbox of early Android is gone, replaced with... a better user experience.
The television world is changing rapidly, and Google, with its new low-cost streamer, wants to be part of the change. The Chromecast stole the show at the July event that was supposed to be all about the new Nexus 7. The $35 dongle streams YouTube and Netflix. But most importantly it streams online content from the Chrome browser from your computer, or an Android or iOS device. It went on sale and quickly sold out.
While not as full-featured as a Roku or Apple TV, the $35 price tag (along with three months of free Netflix streaming for those lucky enough to purchase the Chromecast within hours of its announcement) made it the no-brainer technology purchase of the summer. It also excited developers hoping the Chromecast would be as open as Android. But in the nearly five weeks since it was launched, the Chromecast has been locked down tighter and tighter as Google updates the software and plays coy with its future third-party plans.
Over the weekend, developer Koushik Dutta posted on Google+ and Reddit that his AllCast app had been disabled by an update to the Chromescast. The update shutdown the 'video_playback' API that had allowed third parties to stream videos stored on their Android devices to the Chromecast. Dutta posted the following on Google+ about his app being disabled by the update:
Given that this is the second time they've purposefully removed/disabled[1] the ability to play media from external sources, it confirms some of my suspicions that I have had about the Chromecast developer program: The policy seems to be a heavy-handed approach, where only approved content will be played through the device. The Chromecast will probably not be indie developer friendly. The Google TV team will likely only whitelist media companies.
He might be right. But, it's worth noting that Dutta reverse engineered a protocol to get his app working, which is something most companies frown on to begin with. Concerning its future plans with Chromecast, a Google spokesperson told WIRED via email,
We’re excited to bring more content to Chromecast and would like to support all types of apps, including those for local content. It's still early days for the Google Cast SDK, which we just released in developer preview for early development and testing only. We expect that the SDK will continue to change before we launch out of developer preview, and want to provide a great experience for users and developers before making the SDK and additional apps more broadly available.
So something is coming, but just don't expect it to be as open as the first days of Android. In fact, Android is becoming less of the wild west of operating systems. It's maturing and removing some of the "openness" that's made it the darling of developers but also filled the Google Play Store with spammy apps that made Android look more like a 1990s malware-infected PC than a modern mobile operating system.
The recently updated Google Play Developer Program Policies kills a lot of irritating ways ads are being served. Ads being pushed via notifications are no longer allowed and they can no longer impersonate the notifications of the UI or other apps. Plus, all in-app purchases must be made via Google Plus. These are all meant to create a better experience for anyone with an Android phone.
The Chromecast is Google's chance to do right by its users before they are served ads on their TVs by apps. And while Google could be commended for taking it's time to figure out its strategy, this is something that should have been hashed out before the device launched. A well defined SDK out of the gate would have given Google a jump start on anything Apple or others may announce before the all important pre-holiday announcement cycle. The price point may have sold the Chromecast, but the features are what keeps it attached to TVs in the future, and the longer Google waits to release an SDK, the more likely it is to lose any momentum it had during the initial launch.
Google should encourage third-party developers both large and small to create quality apps for its streaming dongle. If anything, the Chromecast should be more like Roku and less like Apple TV with big-name media partners next to smaller apps built by developers pushing the envelope of what a streamer can do. It just needs to move more quickly – before the Chromecast becomes another Google TV."CEO is very excited to partner with the largest Smash website in the world. Ever since the incredible resurgence of the Smash Community all over the world, I have wanted to reach out to the national community again and work with people willing to help CEO grow. There is no better way to reach Smashers than partnering with Smashboards, the home of the Smash community. With my experience and their love of the game CEO 2014 is looking to be one of the best Smash tournaments in Florida's history and we're excited to have the support of SmashBoards." Said Alex Jebailey, director of CEO Gaming Inc.
Ultra Street Fighter 4 on XBOX 360 which is slated for an early June release. If there are any delays then it would be AE2012
Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 on XBOX 360
Killer Instinct on XBOX ONE
Injustice Ultimate on XBOX 360
King Of Fighters XIII on XBOX 360
BlazBlue ChronoPhantasma on Playstation 3 US Version
DiveKick on Playstation 3
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on Playstation 3
Super Smash Bros. Melee on Gamecube/Wii Hosted by Gaming Knights
Project M on Wii hosted by Gaming Knights
Capcom Vs Snk 2 Legacy Tournament on Playstation 2 Featuring BAS from Japan
Bellevue, WA - Smashboards, the worlds largest site dedicated to Super Smash Brothers and home of the competitive Smash community with over 130,000 members, has partnered with the premier fighting game tournament CEO |
script.
Words like "meltdown" and "radiation leak" have a mythical potency – and TV reported the mythology, not the facts. Fukushima came to represent man's hubris and his folly in "defying nature". The Daily Mail, for example, helpfully made this quite clear: "Nature's Deadly Rage, it fumed. You could hear echoes all over the media. BBC TV News described "nature’s fury".
It's an interesting metaphor.
A Voice Tells me You Should Stop What You're DoingThis article is from the archive of our partner.
In a direct challenge to Microsoft's Office Suite, Google announced on Wednesday that it would introduce offline versions of its Gmail, Calendar and Google Docs services that had previously been available only online. The ability to work offline is a "a key feature for making the company's cloud-computing vision more practical," wrote CNET's Stephen Shankland. Mashable's Ben Parr has details on what you'll be able to do with the offline apps:
The HTML5 [Gmail] app looks and feels a lot like the Gmail app for tablets. That’s because Gmail Offline is based off the tablet version, which was designed to function with or without Internet access. It focuses on the key features users need to access while offline, including organizing, starring, labeling, archiving and responding to email. It won’t give you access to Gmail Labs features, but it will get the job done. In addition to the Gmail Offline app, Google is rolling out the ability to access Calendar and Docs offline. The feature, available by clicking the gear icon at the top of the page, lets you view events and RSVP to appointments in Calendar and view documents in Docs. Offline document editing isn’t available yet, but Google promises to find a way to make it work. Part of the problem is finding a way to make sure document edits made offline don’t override edits made by online collaborators.
The move offline poses a significant challenge to Microsoft, whose several-hundred dollar Office Suite offers word processing, spreadsheets, email organizing, and other programs Google had so far offered online. Office still dominates the market for that kind of software, but as Google gains more and more of Office's features, and offers them for free, it will certainly pose a bigger challenge to the software giant. Google had previously offered some offline access to Gmail through Google Gears, but dropped that software as it worked on the HTML5 version released on Wednesday.
Note: This story has been updated from the original to include the name Google Gears
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.Besides the weather, it is Canadians' favourite thing to complain about at this time of year. During Super Bowl commercial breaks, Americans see adorable baby animals, slightly less adorable computer-animated babies and a long line of celebrities cashing cheques. But in Canada, viewers are stuck with the usual ads and promos for The Big Bang Theory.
The reason is "simultaneous substitution," a rule that allows domestic networks such as CTV and CITY-TV to ask cable and satellite TV distributors to swap out an American station's signal (and commercials) for their own, if the Canadian station is airing the same program at the same time. The process means that Canadian viewers miss out on some of North America's best new television advertising during football's annual championship – and the country's federal broadcast regulator is tired of taking the blame.
On Friday, chairman Jean-Pierre Blais wrote a letter to Rogers Communications Inc. asking that it stop pointing the finger at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission when viewers complain about being forced to watch Canadian signals on U.S. channels.
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Mr. Blais wrote that "the time has come for broadcasters and distributors to start speaking up on simultaneous substitution rather than simply passing blame onto the CRTC."
This time of year is a PR headache for the commission as complaints about the system skyrocket, largely because of the NFL playoffs. With reports that advertisers spend roughly $4-million (U.S.) for 30 seconds of advertising time during the Super Bowl broadcast, for some the commercials are part of the fun of watching the big game. But Canadians have to take to the internet or a TV antenna to see them.
Mr. Blais's letter was the result of an exchange on Twitter this week. On Jan. 19, during the broadcast of the NFL playoff game that sent the Seattle Seahawks to the final, a Rogers cable customer tweeted a message to the company's customer service complaining about seeing CTV's commercials on the Fox television feed.
"It's due to the CRTC rules so no way to watch the Fox feed sorry," a Rogers representative replied.
The rules, however, are more complex: TV networks are the ones who ask for substitution. They have the right to do so because of CRTC regulations, but the regulator says it does not force cable and satellite companies to swap the signals.
Networks ask for it because it protects their ability to sell ads, which is crucial to their business model: If the U.S. networks' feeds were left in place, Canadian networks – who pay good money for the rights to broadcast The Big Bang Theory or a big sports match here – could not promise advertisers as large an audience for their programs.
A Rogers spokesperson said the company is "reviewing its processes" to make sure that it gives accurate information to customers about why simultaneous substitution occurs.
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"Simsubs allow for the carriage of U.S. signals in Canada which are popular with our customers while at the same time preserving the Canadian rights market and the health of the Canadian broadcasting system," Rogers spokesperson Patricia Trott said in an e-mailed statement.
Mr. Blais had asked Rogers to explain how its customer service representatives are trained, and what information they have on the rules. His letter also said that "it would be appreciated if you could remind your customer service representatives that broadcasters choose whether to substitute signals and that both the broadcaster and the distributor are responsible for the quality of the substitution."
Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated advertisers spend $4-billion (U.S.) for 30 seconds of advertising time.Jordan Belfort, the disgraced stock trader whose book inspired Martin Scorsese’s blockbuster ‘Wolf of Wall Street’, has labeled Bitcoin a “huge danger”.
The crypto currency has been rising in value over the past decade, and unexpectedly soared to over £12,000 in the last few weeks.
As a truly decentralised currency, Bitcoin is liable to surges in value – as well as quick downturns.
And in an interview with the Financial Times, Belfort said the 'initial coin offerings' are a 'huge gigantic scam that's going to blow up in so many people's faces'.
Jordan Belfort, the real @wolfofwallst, knows a thing or two about financial risks. He says Bitcoin is now a "huge danger" https://t.co/Rzt0OeJ1qu — Quest Means Business (@questCNN) December 11, 2017
He labels it “far worse than anything I was ever doing", and believes that, “probably 85 per cent of people out there don't have bad intentions, but the problem is, if five per cent or 10 per cent are trying to scam you, it's a fucking disaster."
Increased interest around Bitcoin means that many people will look to invest, but the lack of security around the buying and holding of the currency could prove risky to newcomers.
He added: "Everyone and their grandmother wants to jump in right now. I'm not saying there's something with the idea of cryptocurrencies, or even tulip bulbs. It's the people who will then get involved and bastardise the idea."
Belfort knows a thing or two about scams – it might just be worth listening to him on this one.Since 2007, Senate Democrats have ground and gritted their teeth as Sen. Mitch McConnell's Republican minority has routinized the filibuster-threat to block just about any nomination or proposal. What have the Dems learned from the process? Unfortunately, when they're back in the minority, they're likely to use the weapon that has been used against them with unprecedented frequency. This will be better for them, worse for the country as a whole.
How will it look when they do so? We got a taste last week, with the "defeat" of the Keystone pipeline proposal. Consider this (representative) headline from The Hill:
By now it's hardly sporting even to ask how many votes were on the "reject" side. It's not 56, as an innocent reader of the headline might assume, but 42, all from the Democratic caucus. This article was one of countless reports of the Keystone issue that off-handedly asserted it takes 60 votes to "pass" a measure in the Senate. For instance, the New York Times*, with emphasis added:
The votes on the measures - which were attached to a large transportation bill and required 60 votes for passage - came after President Obama personally lobbied several Democrats to vote against one of the measures, White House officials said.
Why do I belabor the point that, instead of writing "and required 60 votes for passage," such stories should instead say "and required 60 votes to break a filibuster" or "required 60 votes to bring the measure to the floor"? Because the over-use of the filibuster threat these past five years amounts to a de facto Constitutional amendment, which the mainstream media are ratifying through matter-of-fact mention that the Senate "requires" or "was designed for" 60-vote "supermajorities" to get anything done.At least three Palestinians reportedly have been killed by gunfire, and more than a hundred injured, in clashes with Israeli forces on Friday, during large-scale protests against enhanced security measures at the Al-Aqsa mosque, according to reports from the Ma’an News Agency and Al-Jazeera.
"An Israeli settler killed an 18-year-old Palestinian man in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood," Al-Jazeera reports. Hospital officials confirmed a second Palestinian was killed by live fire during the demonstrations after Friday prayer, and a third man died during clashes in the West Bank.
Thousands of Palestinian Muslims marched toward the mosque in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, denouncing security devices Israeli officials installed at the mosque after an attack near the Lions' Gate entrance to the Old City left two Israeli police officers dead last week. In response to Friday's protests, at least 3,000 members of Israeli forces were deployed, and Israeli officials banned men under age 50 from entering the Old City.
The Palestinian Muslims gathered for Friday midday prayer at the Lions' Gate—where Israeli police installed metal barricades to block access—and AFP reports that police "fired stun grenades and tear gas towards protesters outside the Old City, while Palestinians threw stones and other objects at security forces in some areas."
For the past week, Palestinians have come to pray at the Lions' Gate entrance and, because of the newly-installed devices, have refused to enter the mosque, which is part of the holy site known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount.
Following the violence on Friday, Jewish Voice for Peace released a statement outlining the ongoing battle for control of and access to the sacred site:
The imposition of metal detectors there is seen as an imposition of Israel’s power over the holy site. Israel has occupied the area since 1967 (though the Jordanian Waqf retains nominal "administrative" control of the holy site), and there is a growing movement by right-wing Israeli activists and officials to take over the site more fully…The Al-Aqsa Mosque is a central holy site for Muslims around the world, and the issue of freedom of religion and access to the site is of deep concern to many.
As the Ma'an News Agengy explained:
Palestinians have seen the measures at Al-Aqsa as the latest example of Israeli authorities using Israeli-Palestinian violence and tensions as a means of furthering control over important sites in the occupied Palestinian territory and normalizing heightened measures by Israeli forces targeting Palestinians.
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Israeli security agencies have expressed concerns about leaving the devices in place at the mosque, but authories have not heeded their warnings, resulting in the mass demontrations on Friday. As the Ma’an News Agency reported:
The Waqf, the Islamic endowment administering Al-Aqsa, called earlier this week on all mosques in Jerusalem to be closed on Friday and for all Muslim worshipers in the city to head towards Al-Aqsa to denounce the installation of metal detectors, turnstiles, and additional security cameras in the compound... Israel's intelligence service, the Shin Bet, and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) have expressed reservations to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the use of metal detectors, arguing that the anger sparked by the measures might outweigh the security benefits of keeping them, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.
As AFP reported, "Friday prayers draw the largest number of worshippers—typically thousands—and speculation had been mounting that Netanyahu might order the removal of the detectors. But after consultations with security chiefs and members of his security cabinet, he decided not to."
Palestinians also demonstrated in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Friday, in solidarity with the protesters near the Old City. "Israeli forces have violently suppressed the protest in East Jerusalem, as well as other solidarity marches in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip," the Ma’an News Agency reported.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has reportedly spoken to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan—who has called for the security apparatus at the mosque to be removed—as well as his U.S. counterpart Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser.
The Jewish Voice for Peace statement also expressed concern over escalations of violence against Palestinian protesters and worshippers beyond Friday's clashes:GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers' biggest problem might be not what's happening on the field but rather, what's happening before the players get there.
That's at least part of what quarterback Aaron Rodgers believes has slowed the Packers' struggling offense. He spent a good portion of his Sunday session with reporters talking about how the team's preparation needs to be better than it has been during a stretch of four losses in the past five games.
"It goes back to what you're doing in your spare time and what you're doing with your time in the facility," Rodgers said. "Being a pro is all about making sure you're as ready as possible by the time the game hits. I think that's the important thing for guys to remember here, especially young guys.
"We're 15 games into the season, counting preseason. That's a long grind for those guys, especially the rookies. This is the time where they really got to get through that wall, and the vets -- the vets have had some [missed assignments] as well. So we've got to buckle down our preparation and make sure we're ready to play."
Aaron Rodgers went into some specifics about the Packers' recent poor preparation for games but denied in a Sunday session with reporters that a players-only meeting took place in recent weeks. AP Photo/Morry Gash
However, Rodgers said it has not reached the point at which the team would call a players-only meeting, despite a mention of one during NBC's telecast of the Packers' 17-13 loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday.
During the third quarter, NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth said, "They had a little players-only meeting this past couple weeks ago before that Minnesota game. I don't think Aaron Rodgers was too happy with the preparation schedule of some of the young players on this team. A few too many video games being played and not enough homework."
Coach Mike McCarthy said Sunday that he was unaware of any such meeting, and Rodgers said there was no meeting.
"First of all, it's false," Rodgers said. "It didn't happen in the way that he explained it. I saw something about guys were worried about people playing video games. Sometimes, in those production meetings, obviously, the message doesn't get conveyed the right away or whoever [NBC sideline reporter] Michele [Tafoya] talked to or Cris, I don't know what he was referring to there, but I heard the comments, and it's just not true.
"There wasn't any players-only meeting, no. There's meetings with the offense all the time. We break up offense and defense, we break up into position groups, but there wasn't anything resembling what he talked about, from what I heard. I didn't see the broadcast."
Still, preparation has been brought up several times in the past month, and it remains a fresh topic in advance of Thursday's game at the Detroit Lions.
"We have been talking a lot more about preparation," McCarthy said. "I think anytime you go through an NFL season, there's key points in every season. Coming into the holidays, it's always a big reminder that I give to the younger guys. Their demands are going to go higher, and they need to do a better job when they're here at work. Those kind of preparation conversations go on all the time. Now, there's been more to talk about on offense because of the lack of production."
After the Thanksgiving loss to the Bears, a game in which Rodgers and his receivers looked out of sync, the reigning NFL MVP said he was going to take it upon himself to make sure his preparation is at an all-time high in order to fix a passing game that has slipped to 23rd in the league.
"You know, you've got to be able to look in the mirror and feel good about the preparation every single day," Rodgers said Sunday. "You need to think about if you accomplished everything you want to accomplish. If you didn't, you take your stuff home, and you look at it. You probably should take your stuff home and look at it anyway. This time of year, I always feel, helps with the preparation because it's so cold outside. There's not much going on, so you've got no excuses not to get in the iPad, get in your book and get ready to play."ENG: A flag intended to represent the present nine countries with Portuguese as their main or one of their main official languages.
At the center are the five wounds of Christ, present in the Portuguese shield of the Portuguese flag throughout time, and thus represent Portugal in this flag. These wounds of Christ are at the center of a wind rose, which shines across a blue background representing the ocean. The eight stars across the ocean are the eight different countries that speak Portuguese: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Equatorial, Mozambique, São Tomé e Príncipe, and East Timor. Stars were chosen to represent the countries since all of them have five pointed stars in their present flags (with the exception of Guinea Equatorial, which has six pointed stars). The yellow color is also the color that is present in all of the countries, including Portugal.
PT: Uma bandeira que pretende representar os nove países nos quais a língua portuguesa é a língua oficial ou uma das línguas oficiais.
Ao centro encontram-se as cinco chagas de Cristo, presentes no escudo Português da bandeira Portuguesa ao longo da história, e representando assim Portugal nesta bandeira. As chagas de Cristo estão ao centro de uma Rosa dos Ventos, que brilha ao longo de um fundo azul, que representa o oceano. As oito estrelas ao longo do oceano são os oito países diferentes que falam Português: Angola, Brasil, Cabo Verde, Guiné Bissau, Guiné Equatorial, Moçambique, São Tomé e Príncipe, e Timor-Leste. As estrelas foram escolhidas para representar os países dado que todos eles têm estrelas de cinco pontas nas suas bandeiras actuais (com a excepção da Guiné Equatorial, que possui estrelas de seis pontas). A cor amarela é também a cor comum em todos estes países, incluindo Portugal.The 41-year-old shot Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, at close range while conducting an on-air interview for WDBJ, a CBS television affiliate in Roanoke, about 240 miles south-west of Washington.
President Barack Obama, reacting to the news which has shocked the world, said such incidents break his heart. “What we know is that the number of people who die from gun-related incidents around this country dwarfs any deaths that happen through terrorism.
Latest
09.10
Quick summary
The third surviving victim of Flanagan's attack will need three months to get better after losing a kidney and part of her colon The gunman did comply with a request from WDBJ directors to seek medical help The father of one of the victims is urging tougher gun control legislation Friends and family praised the kindness and happiness that those killed - Adam Ward and Alison Parker - brought to their lives
Thank you for following the Telegraph's live coverage of the aftermath. For the latest story, please read
07.50
Flanagan did seek'medical help'
Jeff Marks, president and general manager of WDBJ7, confirmed yesterday that Flanagan did comply with the recommendation to seek medical help.
“We made it mandatory that he seek help from our employee assistance programme. Many companies have them, they provide counseling and other services.”
The Guardian reports that a press conference when asked if Flanagan followed up with medical help, he said: "Yes, he complied."
07.12
Vicki Gardner, the surviving victim, has lost a kidney and part of her colon, her husband Tim Gardner says. He added she would need three months to recover, AP reported.
But of course, Mr Gardner told the news agency how happy he was that his wife of 40 years is alive.
"I would hate to have lost my partner of 40 years to a madman."
Mrs Gardner was shot on the right side of her lower back and her husband said she dropped to the ground to avoid bullets.
Despite his sorrow, Tim Gardner says he's overjoyed that his wife of 40 years is alive. He says she was shot on the right side of her lower back while dropping to the ground in an attempt to avoid the bullets.
05.17
The local community has held a candlit vigil for the two victims of the shooting
04.23
More details are emerging of Flanagan's erratic behaviour. Michelle Kibodeaux, who worked with him at an insurance company call centre, said she was so frightened after one confrontation with him that she reported it to her managers. She told Associated Press that an exchange ended with Flanagan trying to grab her buy the shoulder. Another former colleague, who worked with him at a station in Tallahassee, Florida reduced female colleagues to tears. Dave Leval, who is now a sports reporter, says the woman's husband threatened to "beat the stuffing" out of Flanagan if he spoke to her in the same way again.
03.35
Richard Martinez, whose 20-year-old son Chris was killed in a shooting spree in Isla Vista in May last year, has offered his support to Alison Parker's father, Andy. Mr Martinez was the public face of a campaign for curbs on gun ownership in the aftermath of the California killings.
If we won't talk about our children and if we don't put a human face onto the tragedy, then it becomes about the shooter. The victim gets lost in the conversation.
02.25
Jean Jadhon, one of WDBJ's news anchors has described the atmosphere in the station in the aftermath of the killings. One precaution entailed having two anchors on hand in case one of the on-screen presenters could not cope. She also described the moment when they realised a former colleague was responsible for the shooting.
01.30
An interesting observation from CBS evening news onTwitter as the debate on guns is rekindled by Alison Parker's father, Andy.
01.02
A few more details are emerging about the scholarships which have been established to honour Alison Parker. One will go to a student who enters the media design and production programme at Patrick Henry Community College, where she studied.
Christopher Parker, the executive director of the college foundation, paid tribute to a distinguished graduate.
Alison was a great example of what dedication and motivation can do in someone’s life, She made us all proud of her achievements and the way she carried herself through that success in life.
23.00
A memorial service has been scheduled for slain television cameraman Adam Ward.
Ward's obituary says a ceremony will be held Tuesday at First Baptist Church in Roanoke. On Monday, Ward's family will receive friends at Salem High School.
Ward was an avid Virginia Tech and Salem High School fan. The family is encouraging those who attend to wear the schools' colors.
Ward was engaged to WDBJ-TV producer Melissa Ott. They planned to marry in July.
20.45
Kelly Zuber, the news director of WCBJ said of her staff: "They cry they hug and then they get on air and do their job," she said. "I love each and every one of them."
She said it was the "little things" that have been making their job so emotional to perform. Today one news anchor was on air when they spotted the wrapper of a sweet that Adam Ward had eaten, Ruth Sherlock reports.
20.20
As he was escorted out of the WCBJ offices by the police on the day he was fired, Flanagan passed a wooden cross to the then general manager, and said "you are going to need this", according to Jeff Marks, the organisation's current boss.
The murderer also warned his bosses as they dismissed him that he was going to "make a stink", Ruth Sherlock reports.
19.57
Police who searched Flanagan's car said he appeared to have planned his escape, Rob Crilly in Roanoke reports.
They found multiple magazines of ammunition, a to-do list, and a briefcase containing sunglasses, a wig, a shawl and a black hat.
19.35
The Telegraph's Rob Crilly has this image from Roanoke.
"Alison and Adam - they made our mornings happy," said one viewer leaving flowers. All on first name terms #roanoke pic.twitter.com/cfg0hrGj4L — Rob Crilly (@robcrilly) August 27, 2015
18.50
What has happened today? A quick summary
Yesterday Vester Lee Flanagan, aka Bryce Williams, shot dead two of his colleagues on live television. Despite yesterday's shocking events, their colleagues vowed to return to work because that's what the journalists would have wanted they said. Alison Parker's father, Adam Parker, called for tougher but "sensible laws so that crazy people cannot get guns" Flanagan legally purchased the gun, the US Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives confirmed and said that a background check on him was completed Vicki Garner, the surviving victim, is in a good condition in the hospital, a spokesman said Flanagan had been ordered to seek help for mental health problems after a series on run-ins with colleagues at WDBJ7-TV before leaving the station two years ago
18.24
The surviving victim is doing better in hospital, Associated Press reports.
Hannah Cline, a spokesman at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, said Vicki Gardner was in a good condition. Ms Gardner was being interviewed by Alison Parker when Vester Flanagan began shooting.
17.44
Significant US shootings since Obama
November 2009
Fort Hood: 13 dead, 42 wounded
US army psychologist, Major Nidal Hasan, opens fire at the Texas military base.
July 2012
Century 16 cinema shooting: 12 dead, 58 wounded
James Holmes, 24, is arrested after entering an Aurora, Colorado cinema during the late-night premiere of The Dark Knight Rises and opening fire. He had booby-trapped his apartment with explosives and was recently jailed for 12 years.
December 2012
Sandy Hook Massacre: 27 dead, 1 wounded
Adam Lanza, 20, forces his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. He kills 20 first-graders and six adults. Before arriving at the school, he had killed his mother at their home. At the White House, President Barack Obama wipes away tears, saying “our hearts are broken today".
May 2014
UC Santa Barbara: 7 dead, 7 wounded
Elliot Rodger opens fire in the campus town of Isla Vista, California from inside a black BMW. Rodgers acted alone and written and video evidence suggest the attack is premeditated.
June 2015
Charleston, South Carolina: 9 dead
White supremacist, Dylann Roof, begins shooting in a historic black church in an attempt to start a race-war.
17.20
A friend and university advisor has spoken to the Telegraph about Adam Ward's time at Virginia Tech university, saying he was an "amazing kid", writes Ruth Sherlock in Roanoke.
He always had a smile on his face and a positive approach to the world," said Kimberly Higgs, the advising coordinator at the department where Mr Ward studied for his bachelor in communications.
"He used to visit me for advice about twice a month: we would talk through jobs, careers, life, hopes and dreams."
Adam Ward spent four years at Virginia Tech university. He began the course in August 2007, just four months after the university had become the scene deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in US history.
Vester Lee Flanagan, the two journalists' murderer, said in a note that he had "admired" Cho.
You can find a complete timeline by David Hodari of yesterday's events here.
Photo: Tim Stewart
17.13
An interesting detail from Mr Faison of the ATF: Flanagan's gun was the same make and model as one of the two used by the gunman of the Virginia Tech massacre.
Seung-Hui Cho, a student, shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others in two separate attacks (another six people were injured escaping from classroom windows), approximately two hours apart, before killing himself.
17.02
More details on Adam Parker, Ms Parker's father’s decision to pursue better gun control in the United States, writes Ruth Sherlock in Roanoke.
There needs to be “sensible laws so that crazy people cannot get guns,” he told CNN. He challenged the country’s National Rifle Association, and other pro-gun groups’ argument that people should carry guns to defend themselves, saying that “if Alison or Adam had been carrying an AK 47 it wouldn’t have made any difference. They couldn’t have seen this thing coming.”
He vowed that he will now take this issue on: “If I have to be a crusader on this I am not going to rest until I see this something happen. We have to have our legislators and congressman step up to the plate and stop being cowards about this.
16.53
Flanagan legally purchased a Glock 9mm pistol almost two months before he used it, a spokesman for the US Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said.
A background check on the gunman had been conducted before the gun purchase was completed, Tom Faison said, Roanoke Times reported.
“I have no indication that anything was done illegally or improperly, or any shortcuts were made,” Mr Faison said.
16.48
The television offices have become the setting of an impromptu memorial site. Friends, viewers and other journalists have leaving flowers, goodbye cards and balloons at the gate in honour of the reporter and cameraman shot at point blank range this morning by a former employee.
Shawn Scales, 27, had come to pay tribute to Ms Parker, with whom he went to high school. They were in the same jazz band. "The smile she had on television is the same smile she had at college," he told the Telegraph.
Pamela Cook, 53, who had met the two reporters, reverently lay down a bouquet of sunflowers: "I chose these because that is what I would see when I looked at them. They brought sunshine to life," she said, her cheeks stained by tears.
"I can't imagine them standing there this morning and then this happening. I dont understand it's just too senseless."
Photo: HEATHER ROUSSEAU/THE ROANOKE TIMES
16.06
TMZ Sports reports that Flanagan is the son of an NFL player - a former lineman - who was drafted by Vince Lombardi, former head coach of Green Bay Packers during the 1960s.
In 1975, Vester Flanagan Sr was inducted into the Humboldt State University Hall of Fame, MailOnline reports.
As head coach widely praised for his managing of the team, he led the Packers to five championships in nine seasons, ESPN said.
15.51
In the US, journalists in US newsrooms showed their solidarity and support for WDBJ after the deaths of two journalists at the hands of gunman Flanagan.
On Twitter, the hashtag #WeStandWithWDBJ was trending with journalists sharing images of themselves holding papers with the hashtag.
#WeStandWithWDBJ Our thoughts and prayers are with you. pic.twitter.com/quLymOAsIC — WBZ NewsRadio (@wbznewsradio) August 27, 2015
The 41 Action News Today crew wants to let the whole @WDBJ7 team in VA know that #WeStandWithWDBJ now and forever. pic.twitter.com/ojtKvHJZxw — 41 Action News (@41ActionNews) August 27, 2015
Thankful to be w/my friends from other stations today. The Portland crews are thinking of you @WDBJ7 #WeStandWithWDBJ pic.twitter.com/BZQFBzlCo1 — Ashley Korslien (@AshleyKorslien) August 27, 2015
15.43
Andy Parker, Ms Parker's father, has urged politicians to enact tougher gun laws. "We've got to do something about crazy people getting guns," he told Fox News.
15.03
Flanagan's family offer condolences
Flanagan's family offered their prayers for a full recovery for the reporter's surviving victim. Here is a full statement:
It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we express our deepest condolences to the families of Alison Parker and Adam Ward. We are also praying for the recovery of Vicki Gardner.
"Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with the victims' families and the WBDJ7 NEWS family. Words cannot express the hurt that we feel for the victims. Our family is asking that the media respect our privacy."
Photo: The Telegraph
14.43
Kimberly McBroom, the anchor who was on air as two of her colleagues at WDBJ7 were shot dead yesterday, has described the thoughts that raced through her head as she heard gunshots and screams from the live feed, writes Rob Crilly in Roanoke.
I thought maybe something had gone wrong with the live shot. Maybe the light on his camera had blown. Maybe someone was setting off fireworks. There were gunshots in the distance and she was screaming because she heard them. People scream when they hear something loud – all those thoughts were going through my mind.
“Shooting was not the first thing I thought of because of the place where they were. They were at the lake, it was a feature, it was just a run-of-the-mill ordinary live shot.
“The longer we went without hearing from them, the more it became clear something bad had happened, that something was very, very wrong.”
14.11
WDBJ-TV observed a moment of silence on air for its two journalists 24 hours after the attack yesterday at 6.45am today, Associated Press writes.
Just before the moment of silence, anchor Kim McBroom joined hands with weatherman Leo Hirsbrunner and Steve Grant.
She said: "Joining hands here on the desk. It's the only way to do it."
13.30
Gun control wouldn't have stopped the shooting
This whole case with Flanagan tells us so much about the state of the modern American psyche. One thing it doesn’t tell us very much about is gun control, writes The Telegraph's Tim Stanley.
In the aftermath of shootings like these there’s always a push for gun control. That’s understandable, I’m not unsympathetic. But – and this seems rather important – the Democrat proposals likely would not have denied Flanagan access to a gun.
America does have two big problems that have coalesced to bring tragedy. The first is related to mental health. Having mental health problems does not mean someone is prone to violence. On the contrary, studies show that it’s a poor predictor for violent behaviour. But extreme cases can combine with other factors to trigger psychotic episodes.
One is the over-prescription of dangerous drugs. Another is laws that make it very hard to commit anyone. A third is universities and businesses that are reluctant to intervene despite obvious warning signs.
Read his full piece here.
12.42
Documents obtained by The Guardian show a litany of workplace complaints about Flanagan’s aggressive behaviour, writes David Hodari who has had a closer look at the memos I mentioned earlier.
A chain of emails from former-WDBJ7 news director Dan Dennison reveal that Flanagan had been reprimanded for “harsh language”, “aggressive body language”, and for “lashing out” at a colleague while working as a reporter for the station.
The 2012 memo from Dennison shows that Flanagan was ordered to contact the company health advocate regarding the incidents. “Failure to comply”, the memo said, “will result in termination of employment."
Later that year, on Christmas Eve, Mr Dennison emailed other WDBJ7 employees, saying that Flanagan had one more chance to stay with the station before he was ultimately fired the following March. “I’m not entirely sure where his head is at,” Mr Dennison wrote.
Further emails upon Flanagan’s firing in February 2013, after less than a year at the station, reference the “three separate occasions in the past month and a half you have behaved in a manner that has resulted in on or more of your co-workers feeling threatened or uncomfortable”.
One of these incidents included an argument inside a news-truck during which Flanagan “used verbal and body language that left co-workers feeling both threatened and extremely uncomfortable”.
When he was eventually fired, memos detail his termination, during which Flanagan called his severance package “bull****”.
Further memos filed to a court in Roanoke, Virginia, disclose how Flanagan shouted: “I’m not leaving, you’re going to have to call the f***ing police. I’m going to make a stink and it’s going to be in the headlines." The memos formed part of the station’s defence when Flanagan tried to sue them.
When the police arrived and escorted him out, Flanagan threw a hat and wooden cross at Mr Dennison telling him: “you need this”. According to the memo, Flanagan told an officer |
Richard Hamilton in Britain. Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns in the US formed a bridge between abstract expressionism and Pop art. Minimalism was exemplified by artists such as Donald Judd, Robert Mangold and Agnes Martin.
However, many painters, such as Jules Olitski, Joan Mitchell and Antoni Tàpies continued to work in the abstract expressionist style for many years, extending and expanding its visual and philosophical implications, as many abstract artists continue to do today, in styles described as Lyrical Abstraction, Neo-expressionist and others.
In the years after World War II, a group of New York artists started one of the first true schools of artists in America, bringing about a new era in American artwork: abstract expressionism. This led to the American art boom that brought about styles such as Pop Art. This also helped to make New York into a cultural and artistic hub.[59]
Abstract expressionist value expression over perfection, vitality over finish, fluctuation over repose, the unknown over the known, the veiled over the clear, the individual over society and the inner over the outer. — William C. Seitz, American artist and Art historian
Major sculpture [ edit ]
List of abstract expressionists [ edit ]
Abstract expressionist artists [ edit ]
Significant artists whose mature work defined American abstract expressionism:
Other artists [ edit ]
Significant artists whose mature work relates to the American abstract expressionist movement:
See also [ edit ]
Related styles, trends, schools, and movements [ edit ]
Other related topics [ edit ]
Bluebeard, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a fictional autobiography written by fictional abstract expressionist Rabo Karabekian.
, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a fictional autobiography written by fictional abstract expressionist Rabo Karabekian. Ismail Gulgee (artist whose work reflects abstract expressionist influence in South Asia during the Cold War, especially 'action painting')
Michel Tapié (critic and exhibition organizer important to the dissemination of abstract expressionism in Europe, Japan, and Latin America)
References [ edit ]
Books [ edit ]Hillary and Wall Street sittin' in a tree...
When Hillary “OMG Please Think I’m Anti–Wall Street Like Bernie” Clinton was questioned about Goldman Sachs’s paying her $675,000 for three speeches, her defense was that she accepted it only because she had no idea she’d be running for president someday.
First of all: That’s obviously a lie. Second of all: Even if it weren’t, all she’d really be saying there is that she accepted it only because she didn’t know it would become a political inconvenience — and not because she has any kind of problem with Wall Street itself.
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Third of all (to steal a line from another one of her finest moments): What difference does it make?
Think about it. People give money to people they like, and people like the people who pay them. Hillary may have thought she was making herself look better by brushing off that huge check as being simply “what they offered” her... but in fact, that makes it all so, so much worse.
What people are willing to give you in exchange for your time is a direct measure of how much they appreciate you. No doubt, $675,000 is a lot of money… so, if that’s what they offered her, then that can mean only one thing: They like her a lot. After all, would any firm pay someone $675,000 to come hang out and tell them that they’re garbage? Based on simple logic, I’m thinking probably not.
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Oh, and if logic isn’t enough for you: According to Politico, attendees of one of these speeches reported that it consisted of Hillary going on and about how stupid it was for people to be bashing big banks.
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#share#But maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps all of these attendees were just lying. After all, we clearly have no reason not to trust Hillary. She said on Twitter that she’s been fighting big banks! Are we all just doubting her because she’s a woman?
Perhaps we are. Thankfully, I found a solution: Why doesn’t Hillary just post transcripts of her Wall Street–firm speeches and prove all of the evil people involved in this vast right-wing conspiracy wrong?
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Oddly enough, a reporter asked her if she would do just that. And you know what she did? She laughed.
#related#Now, maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t understand what’s so funny. To me, lies and hypocrisy are far from hilarious — especially when they’re coming from someone who might be the next leader of the free world.
Hillary, you received millions upon millions of dollars in speaking fees from major Wall Street firms. Both insider reports and the kind of basic logic even a third-grader could understand dictate that this was because your speeches were big-bank love fests. If that’s not true, release the transcripts. Otherwise, I’m going to assume the obvious: You are — yet again — completely and totally full of it.Eradicate DRM within a decade!
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Apollo 1201 will target it with code, law, norms and markets.
I have gone back to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to work on a project called Apollo 1201, which will use a combination of code, law, norms and markets to eradicate DRM within a decade: we choose to do this not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
The details of the project are still under wraps, but in broad strokes, we will use the incredible skills of EFF's lawyers, technologists, and policy specialists to challenge the law that protects DRM, section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and, in so doing, set in motion a chain of events that will discredit the whole idea of designing computers to control their owners, for any purpose.
We're the resistance in the War on General Purpose Computing, and we'll be asking for your help, stay tuned.
In the meantime, as of January, and until further notice, I'm half-time on Boing Boing, and mostly focusing on larger investigative pieces. Please make sure that you don't send suggestions or queries about Boing Boing to me (use this form for suggestions; and see this list for other queries).
For many years, EFF has fought the use of DRM technologies, explaining that such technologies—as well as the laws that support them—impede innovation, security, and basic user rights and expectations, while failing to inhibit copyright infringement. One example of this lose-lose proposition is Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which generally prohibits unlocking "access controls" like DRM. That ban was meant to deter illegal copying of software, but many companies have misused the law to chill competition, free speech, and fair use. Software is in all kinds of devices, from cars to coffee-makers to alarm clocks. If that software is locked down by DRM, tinkering, repairing, and re-using those devices can lead to legal risk. Section 1201 has also put a dangerous chill on security researchers, who face potential legal penalties for finding and disclosing critical flaws in systems—from smartphones to home automation. As a result, the public gets to find out about compromising vulnerabilities too late, or not at all. "We've seen DRM misused again and again, whether it's to thwart competition in printer-ink cartridges, to prevent videogame fans from modifying their consoles, or to block consumers from reading the parts' specifications on their own cars," said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. "Cory has an unparalleled ability to show the public how bad copyright policy tramples on everyone's rights." Doctorow worked for EFF for four years as its European Affairs Coordinator, and in 2007, he won EFF's Pioneer Award for his body of work on digital civil liberties. He's the originator of "Doctorow's Law," which has helped many around the world understand the dangers of DRM: "Anytime someone puts a lock on something you own, against your wishes, and doesn't give you the key, they're not doing it for your benefit."
Cory Doctorow Rejoins EFF to Eradicate DRM EverywhereGRAND RAPIDS –
, a Maryland-based craft beermaker, is suing the state Liquor Control Commission, alleging the agency is censoring its free speech by rejecting labels for the bottler's “Raging Bitch” 20th Anniversary India Pale Ale. In a complaint filed Friday, the brewery asks a federal judge to issue an injunction overriding the board's decision and allow it to advertise and sell the beer here. The commission, which regulates alcohol sales and advertising, deemed language on the bottle to be “detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the general public,” according to the lawsuit, which also names five commissioners as defendants. Flying Dog says in court records it has refrained from retailing in the state out of fear of criminal penalty – up to four years and a fine of up to $5,000 - for selling without a license. The company markets approved labels, including “Doggie Style” Classic Pale Ale, “In Heat Wheat” Hefeweizen Ale and “Old Scratch” Amber Lager, at many chain and specialty stores in West Michigan. “Flying Dog's inability to legally sell (the anniversary ale) in Michigan has damaged Flying Dog by costing it significant sales,” of the beer and branded products, the lawsuit claims. “(It also is) generally damaging Flying Dog's goodwill in Michigan and thus hurting the sales of Flying Dog's other beers and products that may be legally sold.” A spokeswoman for the Liquor Control Commission could not be reached and it's not clear if the state Attorney General, which would handle the case, had been served with the lawsuit. The brewing company, which has its roots in Colorado and has ties to Gonzo-journalist Hunter S. Thompson, asserts that the state violated its First Amendment rights by refusing to endorse the artwork and inscription from renowned illustrator and writer Ralph Steadman. Steadman partnered with Thompson for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” and has written for The New York Times and Rolling Stone. Flying Dog says it applied to sell its new beer, now its most popular and voted as one of the top 10 new beers of 2010 by a trade publication, in Sept. 2009. Commissioners turned down the request a month later, leading to an administrative appeal. The commission affirmed its decision with commissioner Patrick Gagliardi offering that the board is not adverse to edgy writing but that “we do have a responsibility here to place product in a public place with the names that are on it, and that's what we take very seriously,” according to the suit. Gagliardi was referring to Steadman's partial label inscription of “Remember, enjoying a Raging Bitch, unleashed, untamed, unbridled – and in heat- is pure GONZO.” The profanity used by Flying Dog has never been approved by the state commission, but the state has allowed sales of alcoholic beverages with a vulgar term on the label. Among those are a Grand Rapids brew “Dirty Bastard,” crafted by Founders. Laws governing the liquor board allow them to reject the registration of anything that is “deemed to promote violence, racism, sexism, intemperance or intoxication or to be detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the general public.” Flying Dog's proposed label, outside of the profanity, has a drawing of a female dog and reads, in part: “Two inflammatory words...one wild drink. Nectar imprisoned in a bottle. Let it out...It has taken 20 years to get from there to here. Enjoy.” The beer debuted 20 years after George Stranahan and Richard McIntyre opened the Flying Dog brewpub in Aspen, Colo. At another bar, they befriended Thompson, who introduced them to Steadman. That led to the collaboration of Steadman's irreverent illustrations and words being on the bottler's beer. Brewery operations later moved to Maryland and the company now sells about 900,000 cases per year.
E-mail Nate Reens: nreens@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/natereensThe luxury Dhigu Resort, Maldives
Anantara Dhigu Resort & Spa is encircled by mystic lagoons and unspoilt crystal shores, the resort is a heavenly sanctuary on a secluded paradise island, offering barefoot elegance in one of the world’s most celebrated tropical havens. Here the sparkling turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean offer an endless horizon of aquatic allure and the evocative location is matched by a tranquil island design style.
Anantara Dhigu is a luxurious five-star resort hidden on tropical terrain on Dhigufinolhu Island in the Maldives’ South Male Atoll, a mere 35 minute speedboat journey from the island nation’s international airport, or a scenic five minutes by private chartered seaplane.
Male-based architect Mohamed Shafeeq from Group X Design Associates and Thailand-based interior design company, Abacus, headed by John Lightbody, have styled the resort’s distinctive environment as a creative complement to the natural beauty of the island.
Using age old techniques such as thatched palm roofs the 110 deluxe villas and suites are either poised over the water with sweeping ocean views or nestled along a pristine stretch of beach. Comprising 103 one-bedroom villas and suites, some with private plunge pools, two inter leading two-bedroom family villas, and five outer leading two-bedroom pool villas, each building is a simple, natural sanctuary, belying the more intricate and significant design within.
Over water suites at the luxury Maldives hotel are suspended above the crystal clear waters of the Indian Ocean. A king size bed faces the magnificent ocean view beyond an expansive private sundeck complete with sun loungers, outdoor shower and steps that make direct ocean access for snorkelling a breeze.
The resort’s over water dining experiences promise spectacular ocean and sunset views from the Fuddan Fusion Grill, Terrazzo and Baan Huraa restaurants.
Adelto loves the Fuddan Fusion Grill. Featuring an alfresco wooden deck that is suspended over the turquoise ocean, Fuddan Fusion Grill offers a crossroad of cuisines and cooking styles.
The luxury Maldives resort is ideal for a holiday of a lifetime in the Maldives islands. If you are looking for a luxury travel destination then Maldives has to be on your bucket list.
Anantara Dhigu, P.O. Box 2014, Dhigufinolhu, South Male Atoll, Male, Maldives, dhigu-maldives.anantara.com
Thanks to Charles Warren for the heads up about this luxury Maldives resort.
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September 14, 2010 | Indian Ocean Maldives Travel | View commentsThe House Oversight and Government Reform Committee session today with the Republican’s favorite punching bag, Elizabeth Warren, managed to notch abuse up to a level that is politely described as unseemly or more accurately called Republican Derangement Syndrome.
The fact that Republicans’ last effort to use screechy and mean against Warren failed to deter her has not led them to improve their game. Two months ago, a nasty two hour Congressional hearing with Warren was the culmination of weeks of right wing media attacks, with the Wall Street Journal leading the pack. We noted:
The last time I can recall the Journal becoming quite so unhinged about an individual was over Eliot Spitzer. And since Warren seems pretty unlikely to be found to have similar personal failings, the specter of the right throwing what look to be ineffective punches at her makes for a peculiar spectacle. What is the real aim behind this drama? The reactions to Warren, both on the right and left, are becoming divorced from reality. She has assumed iconic status as a lone mediagenic figure in the officialdom who reliably speaks out for the average person, a Joan of Arc for the little guy. And she drives the right crazy because she is rock solid competent and plays their game better than they do. She sticks to simple, compelling soundbites and images without the benefit of Roger Ailes and Madison Avenue packaging, and she speaks to an even broader constituency, Americans done wrong by the banks, than they target. No wonder they want to burn her at the stake.
Today’s spectacle had the Republicans looking like idiots who resorted bullying when their initial salvos failed to hit their target. Chairman Patrick McHenry came off like a an angry amateur, trying ineptly to play prosecutor by demanding yes and no answers to questions that were clearly setups or couldn’t be answered that simply. The problem is that this tactic works only if you have legitimate questions and keep your cool.
Another Republican, Trey Gowdy, tried this trick and when Warren patiently explained why a yes or no answer couldn’t be accurate, he simply got more and more pissy. Earth to base: you won’t find “pissy” on any map of moral high ground.
And do these Republicans have the foggiest understanding of Dodd Frank or banking regulators? It appears not, which means they also must have incompetent staffers, since any good subordinate’s job is to keep his boss from looking stupid. For instance, Representative Ann Marie Buerkle had a long windup question (meaning she was largely speechifying) criticizing Warren for having job postings where the pay levels were considerably higher than those for similar-skill-level Federal jobs. Warren explained that the compensation levels were set not by her but by Dodd Frank, using the salary grades in place for other Federal banking regulators. Buerkle simply refused to listen to Warren’s response and simply rephrased her question as a more pointed accusation that Warren was being irresponsible and wasting government money. One of her constituents wrote me:
I really want to punch my rep. She was second in line, pretty damn good for a freshman who forgets to pay her property taxes. All loaded questions/statements.
The Republicans also demonstrated ignorance of the process by which legislation is interpreted and implemented (they seem to see Warren as some sort of “decider”) and accused the CFPB of having unprecedented power when in fact it is the only banking regulator that is hobbled by the need to get approval from the FSOC and a budget ceiling. The most peculiar bit was her being hectored for things that were not her doing, such as the five year term for the CFPB director and the fact that it is self funded (both part of Dodd Frank and the norm for banking regulators), the afore-mentioned pay scales, or for CFPB directives drafted by Congress. Adam Levitin provided a useful summary which the Oversight Subcommittee members might familiarize themselves with (click to enlarge):
Warren appears to have riled them further with her deliberately-paced, detailed answers. At points it did look like an effort to run the clock out a bit (not unreasonable given the puerile questions and open hostility), but it was at least as much Warren’s native communications style, which is to speak in a way that mainstream Americans new to this topic could understand. Warren simply outclassed her opponents, which was further fuel for the fire.
The Democrats were trying hard, perhaps a bit too hard, to back her up in the face of gratuitous nastiness. They for the most part got good substantive points in but sometimes came off as fawning.
So even though the exchange that garnered media attention occurred when McHenry accused Warren of being dishonest, the entire Republican performance was only a hair’s breadth above this level:
It’s instructive to see the context (they spar a bit a starting at 56;00 and really gear up at 1:02 till 1:09). Gawker has made the Warren reaction an official “How to Respond When a Congressman Calls You a Liar” And it was McHenry that was way off base; I found out shortly after Warren was pilloried that the schedule had been changed four times by the Committee, including one move made via a staffer late last night.
I’m not sure what the Republicans are trying to accomplish. This move backfired on them. It’s given Warren more media time. But the New York Times is so loath to look like it was supporting Warren that its story comes awfully close to damning her with faint praise (doubters should contrast it with the more evenhanded account in the Wall Street Journal). It starts with two paragraphs of McHenry’s charges and does not give the Warren rebuttal its due (they say she “denied…saying that she clearly stated in March” when she read from a letter she had sent in March). It also, in too many cases, quotes McHenry directly (which makes him sound more forceful) and summarizes Warren’s replies. It also dignifies this rant by reproducing it:
Mr. McHenry did not back down. After the meeting broke, he said in a statement: “I was shocked by Ms. Warren’s blatant sense of entitlement. She was apparently under the assumption that she could dictate a one-hour time limit for her testimony to Congress, and that we were there at her behest instead of the other way around. This is just further example of her disregard for Congressional oversight.”
A full nine paragraphs later, at the very end of the article, we finally see a defense:
Those exchanges led a Democrat on the subcommittee to apologize “for the rude and disrespectful behavior of the chair.” Representative John Yarmuth, a Kentucky Democrat, said to Ms. Warren that Mr. McHenry’s accusation “indicates to me that this hearing is all about you, because people are afraid of you and your ability to communicate in very clear terms the threats to our consumers.”
So why is the Times so generous to this Republican nonsense? The article makes it clear that it is simply echoing orthodox Democratic thinking, which to move Warren into another role. By implication, she is obtusely refusing to play ball:
Faced with strong opposition to Ms. Warren, a Harvard professor, President Obama has not nominated her to lead the new bureau. In fact, officials in the Democratic Party are trying to pressure her to return to Massachusetts to run for the United States Senate in 2012/
The “not nominated her” remark is true but disingenuous. Team Obama hasn’t found anyone credible who will take the job, particular now that the Republicans have made it clear they will torture anyone who dares take the post seriously. And given that the agency head is required to be in place by July 21, an impossible timetable for a normal confirmation process, any chief will have to be a recess appointment. (And the continued descent of Congress into bipartisan rancor makes the idea of becoming a Senator far less appetizing than it would otherwise be).
The whole point of turning Warren into an advisor to the Administration was to get her inside the tent pissing out. That was important because she is so well liked by journalists and so effective on TV that the Administration wanted her out of the limelight. But these Congress-administered beatings are the polar opposite of that strategy, and serve to increase her profile and credibility.
I don’t see how Warren wins this game near term. Obama has cast his lot in so firmly with the banks that he seems very unlikely to appoint her, particularly with him all too willing to use Republican brinksmanship and threats of further hamstringing the CFPB as an excuse to do what he wants to do anyhow, which is move to the right. But that strategy is looking less sound, particularly in light of an upset Democratic House victory in a normally secure Republican district, the hot button issue apparently being proposed Medicare cuts. Nevertheless, Warren at a minimum will make Obama’s and Geithner’s refusal to have her lead the CFPB visible proof of their cravenness.
To have her success be leaving the Administration with a Pyrrhic victory may seem a foolish and unworthy goal. But she has already put important processes in place even in the start-up phase, which will influence how the agency operates in its early days and could prove to be durable. Even more important, consider what our reader Richard Kline has said about the nature of political change:
The nut of the matter is this: you lose, you lose, you lose, you lose, they give up. As someone who has protested, and studied the process, it’s plain that one spends most of one’s time begin defeated. That’s painful, humiliating, and intimidating. One can’t expect typically, as in a battle, to get a clean shot at a clear win. What you do with protest is…you change the context, and that change moves the goalposts on your opponent, grounds out the current in their machine.
Warren’s opponents both inside and outside the Administration see power only in institutional terms: that if she ultimately does not head the CFPB, she cannot have much impact. But they miss the fact that the more they fight with her, the more they enhance her status as spokesman for ordinary Americans. No matter what she does next, her most potent weapon is her ability to continue reframing the debate.Former Auburn running back Peyton Barber surprised many when he declared for the NFL Draft last month. We know it was surprising because the articles detailing his declaration told us so. The first page of “Peyton Barber going pro” Google search yield results from AL.com, Yahoo and, cough, CollegeFootballTalk linking the words “Barber” and “surprisingly” in the headline.
And, in the typical song-and-dance of the NFL Draft process, it was surprising. He was a redshirt sophomore. Though he churned out 1,016 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2015, he did not garner any All-SEC nods from the league’s coaches. And he joined, at the time, a class of 13 other underclassmen running backs.
But on Wednesday Barber revealed the true reason he went pro.
Auburn RB Peyton Barber reveals "my mother is homeless right now" in answering why he came out for draft. — Chase Goodbread (@ChaseGoodbread) February 24, 2016
Oh.
Whether or not we should really be surprised when a player attempts to make money at a job he almost certainly can’t perform past the age 29 notwithstanding, Barber’s statement reminds us that football players are real people with real-life issues that most of us are not privy to. And it also makes Barber one of the biggest rooting interests of this spring’s draft.Looking for news you can trust?
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George Orwell once remarked that “whether the British ruling class are wicked or merely stupid is one of the most difficult questions of our time, and at certain moments a very important question.” One might have to amend that by a few degrees of emphasis in 1981. It is no longer, in this post-imperial epoch, quite such an urgent matter. For all that, Britain does present certain points of interest, and there are lessons to be learned from the British crisis by other developed countries. The core of it can be stated fairly simply. Britain, the first mature capitalist system and the one on which Marx and Engels cut their teeth, is gradually ceasing to become a producing country. It has become the world’s first moribund industrial society. This means that it faces problems that have no historical precedent. And it faces them with an astonishingly antiquated and incompetent set of institutions—exemplified by the pomp and toadying of the royal wedding earlier this year. Unemployment stands at nearly three million: there is war in Ireland; the cities are on fire; the pound sterling has become a joke: productivity is at prewar levels, and all eyes turn to the throne for salvation. In a country like this it is not surprising, and may even be necessary, that the new leader of the Left is a member of the aristocracy.
Parliament member Tony Benn and the new left-wing movement within the Labour party that has become associated with his name are the products of three separate but related things. The first is the rise of an enormous mass of unemployed, a result of Britain’s collapse as a manufacturing nation. The second is the experience, in the same period, of two very cautious and disappointing Labour administrations. The third is the decision by the Conservative party to recognize the deep nature of the crisis, to seize the initiative from the compromised Labour party and to instigate a regime of unashamed Toryism behind a façade of military and national fervor.
He is portrayed
as a megalomaniacal individual;
the chieftain of a
radical horde that
is bent on taking
over the Labour
party and turning
Britain into a
gray, Orwellian
tyranny.
Some background is, I’m afraid, necessary. The briefest way in which it can he supplied is this. For many years protected by imperial trade advantages and cushioned by having been first in the Industrial Revolution field, Britain’s economy is now very run-down and based on outmoded plants and machinery. The protection, meanwhile, has been stripped away. Powerful competitors, such as Germany, Japan and the United States, are now in the field. Only considerable reinvestment can salvage the system, and that has not been forthcoming. British capital has been either invested in overseas markets or used on quick-return speculative ventures at home. The only sure way to make money in Britain now is to lend it; the profit margin on investment is too low to tempt our lazy bourgeoisie.
There is another solution, and Margaret Thatcher has decided to try it. It consists quite simply of forcing the working class and Labour to give up the gains they have made in the past 30 or 40 years. This explains the tremendous surge in unemployment and in bankruptcy. It is designed to discipline the labor force and restore a competitive edge to British industry. It shows not the least sign of doing that: business would not respond to tax cuts when Labour was in power, and it shows no willingness to do so today (memo to Reagan). But it has meant the reemergence of ideological politics in Britain and the breakup of the old center-left consensus, which was based on an all-party commitment to welfare and full employment.
Not unlike the Democratic party since the New Deal, the British Labour party has been a coalition of the unions, the more liberal-minded professional classes, and sections of the intelligentsia. In the past few years a fourth similarity has emerged, because the Asian and West Indian immigrants who settled in Britain since the war have identified their fortunes almost exclusively with Labour, as did Jewish and Irish immigrants before them. These kinds of coalitions work fairly well in good times, when there is something left over for Welfarism. But they are subject to intense strain during lean periods, most especially when Labour is in power. One of the most shocking facts about the Thatcher victory was that it was made possible by large working-class defection. To many people, Labour had ceased to be the party of the working man and woman. Why not, in that case, vote for a tax break? (American readers may find much of this familiar.)
This means that Labour rank-and-file activists, who are normally the soul of loyalty, have begun to revolt. They now wish to secure for themselves a say in how the leadership and the program of the party is decided. In doing so, they have driven out a group of “Social Democrats,” representing the old-guard right-wingers of the party, who address themselves mainly to the middle-class voters repelled by Thatcherism and its dire consequences for small enterprises. There are quite a number of these disenchanted voters, and since the newly formed Social Democratic party has established an electoral pact with the Liberal party, there may be a large centrist bloc available to ward off the Left when Thatcherism fails.
I don’t want to sound like a deterministic Marxist, reducing every political battle or ideological contest to a matter of economics. But something of the desperation of the British economy must be understood if an analysis is to make any sense. The dominant term in the British equation is class. The Victorian Conservative reformer Disraeli once said that the country contained two nations—the rich and the poor. Today, this disparity is just as apparent. The ranks of the poor have been reinforced by a new underclass of the permanently unemployed, mainly young and disproportionately black, who have been consigned to the bottom of the heap and who can expect little help even from those with union cards. At the top is the no-less-permanent elite, who, despite all the upheavals of this century in the rest of Europe, continue to govern the United Kingdom whichever party is in power. It is from within this latter group that Tony Benn has emerged to make his challenge.
Benn’s father was Lord Stansgate, a viscount who had served with mild distinction in Liberal and Labour governments between the wars. Lord Stansgate, who was at one point secretary for India, was sufficiently well connected to ensure his son a good start in political life and to help him find a parliamentary seat with a reliable Labour electorate. The name by which the son became known in public life, and by which he was known until recently, was Anthony Wedgwood Benn.
The event that first drew him to public attention was his father’s death, because it automatically made him Lord Stansgate. Which, in turn, automatically meant that he had to leave the House of Commons and abandon any hope of a political career. (In Britain, members of the nobility are not even allowed to vote.) Outraged by this, Benn proposed a law allowing heirs to disown and renounce their father’s titles. After a long legal and constitutional battle, the law was passed and young Wedgwood Benn stood again for his old seat—and won it back. This may seem nothing more than another quaint British anecdote, but it did give Benn his first taste of the encrusted and backward nature of the class system and the way in which it operates against the democratic process. He is, today, the only senior Labour politician who calls openly for the abolition of the House of Lords—Britain’s scarcely believable, hereditary second chamber—which can exercise veto power over legislation and which is one of the chief instruments of political patronage in the country. It is a stand that has won him considerable respect in a country where upper-class radicals are famous for having their privileges and criticizing them.
It has also brought him considerable hatred and scorn. Benn is regarded as a traitor by the rest of the Establishment and is loathed far more than the usual Labour leader. The Bible of our “upper crust” (once fittingly described as “a load of crumbs held together by dough”) is the annual Who’s Who. Benn first deleted from his entry all mention of his birth and parentage and his education at the exclusive Westminster School in central London and at New College, Oxford; then dropped out of the book entirely. He also stopped using Wedgwood day to day and changed Anthony to the more plebeian Tony. This may seem rather affected, but in a country as thickly coated with snobbery as Britain the importance of such symbolic gestures is considerable.
The United Kingdom is relatively small. Its full-time governing class is quite closely knit, with a strong sense of its own solidarity and history and with very few factional rivalries. It has an unusual capacity to reproduce itself, to make sure that its children are educated apart from the rest of the population and to make sure that these children inherit the jobs and positions they are thought to deserve. Of the Conservative members of Parliament, for instance, almost one-fifth attended the very same school—Eton—which the British call “public” because it is so very private and exclusive. Armed with the power of patronage—the ability to distribute honors endorsed by the queen and jobs in key positions—a British government can manipulate and bribe on a huge scale.
This has been especially true of Labour party administrations, which are often more easily impressed by the trappings of office and splendor because they are less familiar with them. And in Britain, Parliament has almost no role in checking the executive branch. Judges, heads of the diplomatic service, or Foreign Office and senior bureaucrats of all kinds are appointed by the prime minister without any confirmation. The names of many of them, such as the head of the Secret Services, cannot even be legally divulged. An Official Secrets Act covers all manner of disclosure and punishes any discussion of the workings of state institutions. As a result, the executive branch has become almost impervious to the legislature and very few large decisions are made in Parliament anymore.
It is this that has fueled the Labour activists’ drive to democratize the political system and to have more direct control over their elected representatives. And it is that that has given Benn his chance to lead. As a man who has been a member of several Labour cabinets, holding important portfolios, he can testify from the inside—and has—on the way that decisions are arrived at in Britain. Indeed it is this, he says, that has moved him to the left in the past few years.
In private, Benn is fond of saying that his enemies do not fear him for being a Socialist. They fear him for being a democrat, for being an exponent of “open government” and a champion of the rights of Parliament.
When he was minister for energy in 1976, a waste silo at Britain’s largest nuclear reactor developed cracks and leaked radioactivity into the environs. Benn was battling at the time to discontinue the country’s nuclear program, which a knife-edge majority of the cabinet continued to support. His civil servants kept from him, until well after a crucial cabinet meeting, the news they had received from inspectors at the Windscale reactor. He learned about it only from the newspapers, when it was too late. Such experiences can be deeply educational.
In Britain the national press is very highly conglomerated and very widely distributed. Fleet Street dominates the reading habits of Londoners and non-Londoners alike. And Fleet Street, with its nine morning papers (and one evening), is owned by three or four conservative families and businesses. Never friendly to Labour, they have become hysterical about Tony Benn.
He is portrayed routinely as a mentally unstable and megalomaniacal individual, the chieftain of a horde of Trotskyists who are bent on seizing control of the Labour party and turning Britain into a gray, Orwellian tyranny. This propaganda, which is echoed by much of radio and television, has had a considerable effect on Labour voters as well. Many Labour leaders and organizers fear that if Benn became leader, the party would never win another election. His reply to this is twofold.
First, Benn points out, the previous Labour governments were a disappointment to their own supporters. They were voted out not because of Tory and media hostility, but because they could not generate enthusiasm and because they surrendered, once in office, to the International Monetary Fund and the civil service. Benn accuses those forces of having consciously sabotaged plans for industrial democracy and economic planning when he was a minister and of “destabilizing” reformist programs by cutting off investment and squeezing the pound on the international market. Therefore—and this is his second point—the root problem with Labour’s strategy is not too much advocacy of socialism and decentralization, but too little.
This last point is most important. Conventionally, Britain and its fairly conservative electorate have only turned to the Labour party in times of crisis, such as the immediate postwar period. In times of crisis, Labour prime ministers tend to move very cautiously. |
or layered with balm for subtle color. Plus they have a yummy vanilla scent.
A beautiful full-coverage lipstick option. These are more long-lasting than the Beautycounter lip sheers, with a thicker formula that stays put quite well. I have the Raspberry color and love it!
A really budget-friendly natural lipstick option, but don’t let that fool you! These lipsticks provide great pigment and moisture. I’m actually wearing this in the shade “Mauve” in the photo at the very top of this post. I also have “Pomegranate,” “Sheer Rose,” and “Tea Rose” and they’re just as gorgeous!
The Best Natural Lip Stains
These are really just the coolest ever — their “all-natural formula reacts and adjusts to your own chemistry for an irresistible shade that flatters your skin tone.” They look so light but then magically transform to a much deeper, more vibrant color once on the lips. They give a long-lasting stain with a glossy finish, and have a slight strawberry scent that’s really lovely. I have the Pink and Red colors and love them both.
THIS! I’m so in love. It on like a gloss but provides all-day color. It’s a vibrant deep pink color that I think would suit most skin tones. More so than the Jane Iredale lip stains, I am able to really define my lip shape with this stain. I apply one coat, let it sit for a few minutes, then wash what remains and either repeat the process for deeper color or apply a balm or sheer color on top for lighter coverage.
Gotta love a multi-purpose product! If you’re looking for a great option for lips and cheeks, this is it. Comes in a variety of beautiful shades (I have “Scandal”). It’s definitely more subtle and doesn’t last as long as the other two options, but a very different type of product.
The Best Natural Lip Glosses
I was never really into lip glosses very much (I tend to prefer a more matte finish) but this was like a gateway drug for me. A gateway lip gloss, if you will. A great option if you want a sheer, subtle pop of color with that high-gloss shine. I have the color “Fig” and adore it — it’s an especially great color for fall and winter.
If you’re looking for a lip gloss that packs a huge pop of color, this is it. In fact, I’m not really totally sure if it’s a highly pigmented gloss or a glossy lipstick… either way, it’s the perfect marriage between the two! Also, it smells and tastes delicious — yes, like caramel!
The Best Natural Lip Tints
These are not full-coverage lipsticks, but vibrant tinted balms. The Cherry ColorBalm is one of my must-haves for everyday wear. It’s a beautiful color perfect for work and play.
Another everyday favorite of mine. Don’t let the word “tint” fool you — these are very pigmented! I layer them with balm for subtle color, but applied alone they give a bold color and stain-like effect. The Cranberry color is a super vibrant red while Sugar Plum is a more natural mauvey red.
Do you have a favorite non-toxic lip pick that isn’t on my list?
Please share with us in the comments!Proposed California budget to deepen attacks on public education and social programs
By Dan Conway
26 June 2013
The California state legislature last week passed a budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The proposed budget which is expected to be signed by Democratic Governor Brown this week, continues a statewide assault against social programs. This, in spite of a projected budgetary surplus rather than a deficit for the first time since the onset of the financial crisis of 2008.
Of the $96 billion in proposed spending, $56.5 billion is owed to K-12 education under the state’s constitutionally-mandated education funding guarantee (known as the Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, or Proposition 98). More than $1 billion of that sum will be deferred, however, and used instead to implement provisions championed by private education reform organizations.
These include the implementation of the so-called Common Core Standards Initiative and the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The stated aim of the Common Core Standards Program is the replacement of literature and “fictional” texts with purely technical and informational learning materials, along with the outright removal of liberal arts subjects in general in favor of so-called STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math classes. (See: “What is the Common Core US education initiative?”)
Furthermore, the program would channel children as young as six years of age into tailored career educational tracks, removing diverse educational opportunities for critical thinking and enlightenment. The program has been championed by Obama administration Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and is of a piece with an orchestrated media campaign to denigrate the societal need for college-educated youth and even for critical thinking skills in general.
The initative has received the fulsome praise of teachers unions including the American Federation of Teachers. Union president Randi Weingarten said that the new standards contained in Common Core are the “essential building blocks for a better education system—not a new educational fad.”
The LCFF, championed by Governor Brown, is a blatant attempt to pump additional taxpayer funds into school districts prior to their takeover by private charter operators.
The formula operates by removing most categorical funding for public education and thereby increasing what is known as the base grant amount. Categorical funds must be spent in certain designated areas such as school libraries, lunch programs and special education. By removing the categorical funds, Brown is allowing local districts to spend those monies in whatever way they see fit. These base grants are projected to total more than $1.9 billion in the first fiscal year alone.
The base grant amount, however, would be additionally increased in low income districts and in those with a high percentage of English Language Learners. This increased amount would equal 35 percent of the initial base grant per student.
The state of California has witnessed an explosion of charter schools and the imposition of the LCFF is meant to accelerate that growth. The state has the largest number of charter schools in the country. There were 245 charter schools operating in California in the year 2000. By 2012, that number grew to 984. Today over 1,083 charter schools are operating in the state.
This growth has been fueled by measures such as the Parent Trigger Law, which allows public schools to convert to charters if more than 50 percent of children’s parents attending the school agree to the conversion. Poor and disadvantaged schools are consistent targets of the Parent Trigger with organizations such as Parent Revolution descending on such locations in well-coordinated attempts to cajole parents into signing away their schools.
Parents at these schools, unhappy with poor educational outcomes and prospects for their children, are believed to be easy prey for such turnaround efforts. Nonetheless, parents have often complained that they were made to sign in favor of Parent Trigger turnarounds under false pretenses, with nearly every school turnaround effort ending in a court challenge.
The removal of categorical funding, along with the implementation of Common Core, increasingly punitive testing requirements and the recent state legislature decision to remove due process rights for teacher dismissal (See “California State Assembly passes bill to enable teacher firings”), only lead to the conclusion that such school districts are receiving increased base grant money not to improve student performance, but to increase the profits of private charter school investors once these schools “fail” and are converted under the state’s Parent Trigger and other pro-charter laws.
The budget proposal also realigns health and human service programs from the state to the local level. Under provisions of the Obama Administration’s Affordable Care Act, in exchange for diverting funds back to the state for medical services for the poor to accommodate the expansion of Medi-Cal—the state’s version of the Medicaid program—municipalities would receive increased state funding to manage the CalWORKS Welfare to Work Program, CalWorks child care and CalFresh Food Assistance Programs.
The current budget also maintains a 10 percent provider rate cut in Medi-Cal, which helped contribute to the state becoming the second lowest in the nation among doctors accepting new Medicaid patients in 2011.
The maximum total CalWORKS grant is exceedingly low and will remain unchanged in the current budget at a maximum of only $638 per month for a family of three. Such a family would then have income equivalent to 39 percent of the federal poverty level, 11 percent lower than what the federal government considers as “deep poverty.”
The proposed budget also includes the deposit of $1.1 billion into the state’s rainy day fund which is used as a mechanism to sequester funds for social programs desperately needed by the working class.
The budget itself is based on revenue projections that are several billion dollars less than those of the State Legislative Analyst Office, which normally provides the fiscal reports which inform state budgets. Nonetheless, when asked if he would revisit the issue of increased spending at midyear if revenues outpace his expectations, the governor said, “I think prudence rather than exuberance should be the order of the day.”
While not part of the official budget, the governor is also expected to approve changes to the state’s Economic Enterprise Zones which have provided billions of dollars in tax windfalls to large businesses operating within the state. In this case, “prudence” does not apply.
The zones program aims not only to provide such massive tax windfalls but also seeks to fundamentally transform the state into a platform for cheap labour.
Hiring credits will be provided to companies which hire workers making between 1.5 and 3.5 times the minimum wage. The tax credit so received will be 35 percent of the worker’s salary. In other words, companies will get steep discounts for hiring workers at some of the lowest wages possible. In fact, through such hiring credits, a worker hired at $12 per hour, one and a half times the minimum wage, will only end up costing companies $7.80 per hour, after tax credits are received—less than the actual minimum wage.
Furthermore, under the program’s current implementation, hiring credits are distributed to companies which hire any new workers regardless of whether it represents a net increase in jobs. In other words, the creation of new positions is not necessary to receive the credits and can be obtained as a result of regular workforce turnaround.
Also, under the current implementation of the zones, companies which had been exempt from sales tax for the first $20 million per year of equipment purchased, are now exempt from sales tax for the first $200 million per year of equipment purchased.
The proposal for the Economic Enterprise Zone program can be found on the governor’s web site and indicates the support of IBM, Advanced Micro Devices, Northrup Grumman and Clorox. Also included are the state trade unions. AFSCME, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, United Food and Commercial Workers, the Teamsters and the SEIU have all approved the current implementation of the Enterprise Economic Zone program along with its proposed changes.
The Democratic governor, who has enjoyed the unequivocal support of the trade union bureaucrats and the ex-left groups since his 2010 campaign, has proven to be a consistent and staunch defender of social reaction.
While preparing to sign the latest budget, the governor has refused for the third time a federal court order requiring the reduction of the state’s prison population. In recent years, state prisons have been plagued by a rash of inmate suicides, untreated medical conditions, and a widespread epidemic of yellow fever.Pharmacists could receive public funding to dress wounds, deliver vaccinations and give weight loss advice under a $19 billion deal between the Abbott government and the powerful Pharmacy Guild.
Under the five-year agreement, announced by Health Minister Sussan Ley on Monday, patients could pay $1 less per script from July under a change the government hopes will promote greater competition among pharmacists.
"There is an opportunity for pharmacists to step into the primary care space, but we are doing this carefully and in an evidence-based way": Health Minister Sussan Ley. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
It will be up to pharmacists to decide whether to offer the $1 discount, and pharmacists that do offer the discount would have to absorb its cost.
The government expects the optional discount, which is opposed by the Pharmacy Guild, to save taxpayers about $360 million over the life of the agreement, due to fewer patients qualifying for free medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme safety net.by
With the (likely) reelection of Barack Obama only a week off, do any Obama supporters have anything but lesser evil arguments to offer in his behalf?
The ever loyal Melissa Harris-Perry does. She wrote in The Nation (Nov. 5) that Obama’s reelection will be good for race relations, even if, as she more or less concedes, his “race neutral” policies are, at best, only indirectly helpful to victims of institutional racism. But apart from sophistries like hers, the answer is: no. Obama will likely win for one reason only: because Romney and the Republicans are (or seem) worse to more voters than vice versa.
If you don’t believe me, witness the pro-Obama screeds in The Nation (Oct. 22) or the comments on the upcoming election by New York Review of Books luminaries in the Nov. 8 edition. Or, if you are of a masochistic bent, tune in any weeknight to the Democratic Party cheerleaders on MSNBC. Even Rachel Maddow is at a loss to find anything more cheery to do than riff on the lesser evil argument a thousand different ways.
Romney supporters are lesser evilists too. The difference is that they are more impassioned – because the very thought of a person of color in the White House unnerves them. And if that weren’t bad enough, the interloper has an Ivy League education and his middle name is Hussein. Add a Kenyan father, and an evil demon could not concoct a better recipe for rattling a Tea Partier’s cage.
No doubt, there are a few Obama supporters who can still work up a little enthusiasm for the man; anything is possible. And Romney does have the enthusiastic support of the hyper-rich who want one of their own in the White House, and of lesser rich folk who resent Obama’s rare “populist” lapses, and who complain that they are down to their last millions.
The feelings of these miscreants are easily hurt and they fret that, under “socialist” Obama, they many not be able to go on living in the style to which they have become accustomed. Greedy bastards that they are, they like Romney, and Republicans generally, for their views on marginal tax rates.
In addition, there are scattered pockets of Romney-boosters out on or beyond the fringe. I am especially peeved at the ones who overflow my junk mail box with semi-literate, racist harangues. It serves me right for going to my High School reunion only to find that some of the kids I used to know have turned into geriatric, islamophobic Zionists who like the fact that Romney and Benjamin Netanyahu, “king “of the ethnocrats, formed a close relationship years ago in Boston, while the two of them were learning the dark arts of vulture capitalism.
Those demented souls should be careful of what they wish for. If Romney really does believe the snake oil he professes, they and he will never quite see eye to eye on who the Chosen People are or, for that matter, on where the Promised Land is. But, as long as Romney tows the Likud line, they evidently don’t care.
After all, these are people who make common cause even with evangelicals who look forward to the end time – it should be here any day now! — when the Loving God will rededicate the Holy Land to the people of Israel, the better to smite those among them who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
But voters who identify with the Romneys or whose moral and intellectual capacities resemble Sheldon Adelson’s or my former schoolmates’ are few in number. The vast majority of Romney supporters hate Romney. They hate him for his Mormonism and for his supercilious ways. They hate him for the obvious contempt he has for them. But they support him because – for all the wrong reasons — they hate Obama more.
* * *
Has there ever been a presidential election where there was so much animosity, and so little enthusiasm?
Let Romney voters ponder the answer on their own; this late in the game, there is no point trying to talk sense to them.
For anyone of sound mind and decent instincts, Romney is simply not an option. The sorry fact that he is an option for some fifty percent of the voting public is an issue better addressed after the election is over, whether or not Romney voters get the chance to experience voter remorse.
For everyone else, everyone for whom voting Republican is unthinkable, the question is what to do on November 6. There are three options: vote for Obama, vote for Jill Stein or some other third party candidate, or don’t vote at all. For different reasons, they are all bad choices. But a choice must be made.
By now, everything there is to say for and against these choices has been said – ad nauseum.
Lesser evilist Obama supporters have made their case in every imaginable way, exercising all the ingenuity they can muster. Those of us who are unmoved by their arguments have also said just about everything there is to say.
That would include the idea that it is not clear that Obama really is the lesser evil all things considered – because a Romney victory would likely put some backbone back into the Democratic Party and because it would reanimate the Occupy movements – their spirit, if not their form — if the U.S. government and the one percent (or its most noxious sector, the one percent of the one percent) were not just of one mind but of one body as well.
It has also been argued that while lesser evilism may be a sound policy, and while Obama may be the lesser evil, there are thresholds that must be respected, degrees of awfulness that even lesser evilists must not exceed. Inventories of President Drone’s doings amply support the conclusion that he doesn’t meet the standard. I need hardly go back over the evidence; readers of CounterPunch know the litany well. Most pro-Obama lesser evilists do too.
Finally there is the argument that even if Obama is the lesser evil, and even if he hasn’t been that bad or, more plausibly, if it doesn’t matter how bad he has been so long as Romney is worse, lesser evilism must be resisted because it contributes to the vicious cycle that is running American politics into the ground.
Because there is merit to all of these contentions – those that support voting for Obama for lesser evil reasons and those that resist that conclusion — and because there is a consensus on the relevant matters of fact, the debate is probably unresolvable.
To be sure, Republicans seem hell bent on doing their utmost to make the lesser evil pro-Obama case the strongest of the lot. To assuage traditional Republican voters who still have some of the sense they were born with and to win over those vaunted “undecided” moderates, every once in a while – for example, during the third “debate” — Romney does try just a little to etch-a sketch his way out of the Tea Party corner into which he has painted himself. He will likely lose the election because, thanks partly to his own shameless pandering, that has become a hopeless task.
Tea Partiers may come straight out of Morons R’Us, but they are not as easily “neutralized” as the base Obama and his advisors love to diss. They hate Romney already, and it wouldn’t take much to make them turn against him by staying home on Election Day.
Does that make the lesser evil case for Obama stronger than the others? I don’t think so. I think the anti-Obama case is stronger.
I also think that voting Green is a no-brainer for “progressives” who live in states where the electoral votes are already effectively assigned – that is, for everyone not in the ten or so “battleground states.” But I would readily concede that voting for Stein is a futile gesture. I personally will make that gesture; it seems the least bad thing to do in the circumstances. But it is far from a happy choice.
In my view, even not voting is a more plausible option than taking the lesser evil route. The problem, though, is that it isn’t clear what message that would convey; not in a country where so few eligible voters turn out anyway.
That’s one reason to take the third party route. Another is that most voters will have some reason to vote for, not just against, something on the ballot — some local or statewide referendum or maybe even some candidates for local or statewide offices. Since you’re there anyway, and since voting for somebody other than Obama conveys a clearer message than not voting for President at all, my suggestion is just to vote Green.
But I can appreciate how others would conclude differently, and even how the lesser evil option might seem the most compelling.
* * *
The one sure thing is that November 6 will bring bad news. The good news is that is that it will be over soon – and real politics, the kind the broke out in 2011 in Wisconsin and other states where Republican governors took aim at public unions and later with Occupy Wall Street and its many counterparts, can finally resume.
When it does, it should be clearer than is was a year ago, to lesser evilists as well as to their critics, that Barack Obama is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
We should all be able to agree too that the old blather about Obama wanting to do the right thing, but being unable (because “we” haven’t done our part to enable him) is nonsense.
We should all realize that while he may not have any principled objection to public sector unions, he’ll do nothing to help them; and that while he may not favor increasing inequality, he’ll do nothing to reverse it.
After this electoral circus, the evidence is overwhelming. Obama will do anything to help himself and he will do his best to help his corporate paymasters, both real and “aspirational.” But that’s all.
We should all be able to agree, therefore, that Obama wants what Romney wants. The one may be more noxious than the other, but they are of one mind.
And so, the task for “progressives” is not, as Obama boosters say, to “guard his back” so that he can finally take up the cause of “hope” and “change.” It’s to do instead just what it would be if Romney were somehow to win – to make it impossible for Obama to pursue the retrograde policies he favors.
This would involve, first of all, giving the Peace Laureate no peace until he actually moves to restrain, not enhance, the juggernaut; and to end, not repackage, the Bush-Obama wars. It would involve struggling to restore the rule of law and the protections afforded by the Constitution of the United States. In those regards, as even lesser evilists know, Obama has been worse even than Bush.
But this is just the beginning. On every “issue” that would have been discussed by our presidential candidates were our democracy not a sham — from climate change and other environmental catastrophes in the making to bankster racketeering and corporate predations – Obama is on the wrong side. Maybe Romney would be even worse; maybe not. Maybe that’s a reason to vote for Obama; maybe not. What is certain is that, in a week’s time, worries like that will become moot. And real politics will become timely again.
That is a point on which pro-Obama lesser evilists and their critics should agree, just as we should all be able to agree on how to think about Obama, and what to do to block or reverse the pro-one percent policies he, like Romney, will promote.
Of course, some of them will remain recalcitrant, taken in by their own sophistries and apologetics. I wouldn’t count on MSNBC pundits getting better any time soon, and the same goes for most of The New York Review grandees. But everyone else, everyone not too invested in the Democratic Party – the pro-Obama Nation writers, for example – should be able to take full measure of the enemy, and to react accordingly.
And so should almost everyone else who will vote for the putative lesser evil next week. The sooner they are all back on board, the better. Romney voters are right about one thing, after all: the last thing we need is four more years of the same.
ANDREW LEVINE is a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, the author most recently of THE AMERICAN IDEOLOGY (Routledge) and POLITICAL KEY WORDS (Blackwell) as well as of many other books and articles in political philosophy. His most recent book is In Bad Faith: What’s Wrong With the Opium of the People. He was a Professor (philosophy) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Research Professor (philosophy) at the University of Maryland-College Park. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press).If I’m Drew Brees, I’m a bit peeved this morning at a couple of things.
First off, I am still sitting at home on my couch instead of signed, sealed and ready to go with his team the Saints for the 2012 season, and it appears that isn’t getting close to done.
Then comes the news from filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, you remember, the guy who blew the lid off the biggest bounty scandal in NFL history that got the coach of the Saints suspended for a season.
Seems that Pamphilon is coming out and speaking about Brees, calling him – get this – the team’s sacred cow about the scandal.
Pamphilon spoke to XEPRS-AM in San Diego, and said that he spoke with Brees and former Saints linebacker (now with Cleveland) Scott Fujita before releasing the now famous Gregg Williams tapes.
“You don’t know if they’re standing by (the audio release), because they’re ignoring it,” Pamphilon told XEPRS-AM. “Scott briefly addressed it after it came out, but Drew hasn’t owned it at all, and no one’s called him on it. The guy is as Teflon as you can get.”
Later on in the chat with the station, Pamphilon said that Brees is disingenuous about evidence or lack thereof as the players insist, against the Saints.
“Drew Brees knew that this stuff existed and he’s continually said that there’s no evidence that the bounty existed,” Pamphilon told XEPRS-AM. “Then why is he on the phone with me two hours before I released the audio, and he’s saying to me, ‘I want to see your essay before this hits the wire’?
“He was part of it, but he pretends like he’s not. And it’s amazing to me that this sacred cow is allowed to walk around and acting as if he’s not even involved, saying that there’s no evidence. He’s referencing weapons of mass destruction. Well, if there’s nothing to hide and there’s no evidence, then Drew, why are you calling me two hours before it’s released, trying to, quote-unquote, shape it?”
Wow, it just keeps getting worse for the Saints. You have to wonder what type of season this club is going to have with all of this flying over their heads.0 Flares Filament.io 0 Flares ×
Remember this when Rick Perry announces his 2016 Presidential campaign of errors — he vetoed a bill to support American workers and create American jobs that passed the Texas House and Senate with broad, bipartisan margins.
Perry vetoed the “Buy American” bill, HB 535, which would have established a preference for the purchase of Texas and American manufactured goods by the State of Texas when they are of equal cost and quality to foreign-produced products. It's common sense, and it's a great way to keep our tax revenue in Texas and in America.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, passed the Senate 23-7 and the House, 145-0. That's some pretty broad support.
Despite his nationwide tour trying to lure businesses to Texas, Perry vetoed this bill because it turns out he doesn't actually care about American workers or American jobs.
From the Texas AFL-CIO, emphasis mine:
“Gov. Perry by his veto has undercut the creation and preservation of manufacturing jobs in Texas and the U.S.” [Texas AFL-CIO President Becky] Moeller said. “These jobs are critical to our economic success. Despite the governor's grandstanding in California and Illinois and his rhetoric about jobs, the veto of HB 535 reveals a painful truth: this Governor won't stand up for American jobs or Texas workers.” “We again thank the Legislature for its hard work and the outstanding advances on 'Buy America' issues in this session.”
It's unconscionable. The damn bill — which would have supported American workers and created jobs — passes the house one hundred forty fricking five to zero, and Perry vetoes it!
Clearly Rick Perry cares more about multinational corporations that outsource jobs to developing countries with shoddy labor standards than he does about Texan and American workers. This is craven and petty, even for Rick Perry.Azerbaijani police officers detain opposition activists. Photo by SAMIR ALIYEV/AFP/Getty Images
On May 22, the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan will play host to the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition between singers from countries in Europe and parts of the former Soviet Union. Though little known in the United States, Eurovision is the most popular non-sporting event in the world and will be watched by hundreds of millions—many of whom will be seeing Azerbaijan, a small Muslim petrostate bordering Iran and Russia, for the first time. Azerbaijan’s government has spent more than $700 million on promotion and infrastructure in order to put its best image forward. But as the world discovers Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani government is doing its best to keep its citizens from connecting with the world.
Over the past few years, the Azerbaijani government has waged an aggressive media campaign against the Internet. Social media has become synonymous with deviance, criminality, and treason. Television programs show ‘‘family tragedies’’ and ‘‘criminal incidents’’ after young people join Facebook and Twitter. In March 2011, the country’s chief psychiatrist proclaimed that social media users suffer mental disorders and cannot maintain relationships. In April 2012, the Interior Ministry linked Facebook use with trafficking of woman and sexual abuse of children. Since May 2011, the Azerbaijani parliament has been debating laws to curtail social media, citing the deleterious effect on society. Social media has become a vital political issue despite the fact that 78 percent of Azerbaijanis have never used the Internet, only 7 percent go online daily, and just 7 percent—almost all male, highly educated, and wealthy—use Facebook.
Azerbaijan has a long history of media censorship. During the Soviet era, media were state-controlled, and dissidents faced harsh penalties for publishing political works. Little changed when Azerbaijan became independent in 1991. Almost all media outlets are owned or controlled by the state. The few opposition journalists face harassment, physical violence, imprisonment, and even death.
Most authoritarian states treat the Internet the same way they do print media: They censor it. Azerbaijan has taken a more insidious route. They do not heavily filter or block the Internet but instead leave it open, allowing the government to better monitor and punish rebellious activities. In 2010, two online activists were arrested for posting a video satirizing government waste on YouTube. Their case was never mentioned in Azerbaijan’s print media—but was relentlessly showcased online, where it frightened the bloggers’ peers. As a result, Azerbaijan’s frequent Internet users became less supportive of activism, and online dissent has quieted.
This strategy worked quite well with elites. But after the events in Tunisia and Egypt in early 2011, the Azerbaijani government decided to adopt a more aggressive strategy to shield regular citizens from discussions of dissent or collective action. Azerbaijan has moved from intimidating users who are already online to keeping the rest of the nation offline by making social media use seem like a form of bad citizenship.
To see how successful Azerbaijan’s anti-social media campaign has been, one need only to compare Azerbaijan to its poorer, yet more democratic, neighboring post-Soviet states Georgia and Armenia. Azerbaijan trails far behind in Internet use despite the fact that the cost of an Internet connection and a computer is roughly the same in all three countries. In Armenia and Georgia, 20 percent use the Internet daily, but in Azerbaijan, it is only 7 percent. In Armenia and Georgia, 40 percent and 33 percent of households have computers, but in Azerbaijan, only 15 percent have them. In Armenia and Georgia, 35 percent and 29 percent of households have Internet at home, while only 11 percent of Azerbaijani households do.
The framing of the Internet as a dangerous place has made men hesitant to allow their wives and daughters access. As a result, only 14 percent of Azerbaijani women have ever used the Internet. More than 70 percent of Internet users, as well as Facebook users, are men. The women who are online are often constrained: It is not uncommon for young brides to give their Facebook passwords to their husbands for monitoring. Women worry about maintaining their and their families’ honor online and offline and tend to prefer to not engage in discussion forums.
Azerbaijanis are proud that their country is hosting Eurovision. The competition symbolizes that Azerbaijan is not a second class country but a player on the world stage. But as the world spotlight shines on Azerbaijan, citizens find themselves increasingly in the dark—and not only in terms of the internet. On May 1 of this year, the government banned foreign television broadcasting, as “foreign television series often contradict our mentality” and may expose Azerbaijanis to new ideas. Decades of exposure to foreign television and film is now ending. The potential of the Internet as a place to learn, explore, create, and communicate is unfulfilled—instead, it is yet another thing citizens are told to fear.James Williams looks at the front lawn of the home he once owned. The bank repossed it and he trashed it before he left.
The bank told James Williams last week that he had to leave his Milpitas home, one that had been in his family for more than 40 years. He left the house –– but he left it a mess.
And just in case anyone needed an explanation for his actions, Williams also allegedly left the bank a big note –– using spray paint. The words painted on a wall near the front door are hard to make out but it appears to declare: "Brought to you by Deutsche Bank... Eat it."
Williams claims the damage was just a by-product of moving out. However, he's not coy about his disgust for big banks and the nation's financial crisis.
"I watched legislation be passed, constantly, too late to save me. I watched big banks get billions. I got nothing. I got no help," he said. "I've been fighting this, trying to stop the foreclosure. I got nowhere."
Williams said his financial troubles began when he got behind on his mortgage payments then signed a deal that promised to help him stay in his home. The deal failed.
Just last week, Williams said he found out that his home had been sold without his knowledge to a bank and he had to get out.
The front yard of Williams' home is strewn with boxes, furniture and trash cans. There's even some of the home's air conditioning duct work lying on the lawn. That's not the only part of the property left in shambles. The inside of the house is just as messy.
The trashed house doesn't make neighbor Yvette Keller very happy.
"I'm just saddened to see a home [like that] and the people who owned it at one time thought that this is the only resource that they could do to fight back... by trashing a home. That's not fair. It isn't fair to people who live around them. It's not fair to the banks and certainly not fair to them," Keller said.
An appraiser who was taking photos of the house on Thursday said it's not uncommon to see foreclosed homes trashed. But usually, he said, the homeowner limits the damage to the inside.VANCOUVER -- Another overhaul of traffic infrastructure has been proposed for the city's west side, this one a $6-million plan to reduce car traffic headed onto Cornwall Avenue from the Burrard Street Bridge by up to 30 per cent.
The proposal, slated to go to the standing committee on planning, transportation and environment on July 24th, calls for several changes to the intersection at the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge including:
- Eliminating one of three lanes allowing for through traffic onto Burrard Street.
- Creating two designated right-turn only lanes for travel onto Cornwall, which will be governed by a traffic signal.
- Changes to the crossing at Cypress Street and Cornwall to provide more visibility and safety for students at Henry Hudson school.
- The conversion of Chestnut Street from a bike-only path to a one-way northbound street for vehicles and a two-way cycling route to provide access to Kitsilano Point and Vanier Park.
- Speed reductions on the Burrard Street Bridge from 60 km/h to 50 km/h.
The proposed changes are a bid to mitigate safety concerns for pedestrians and cyclists at the awkward intersection, where people on foot now must wait at multiple lights to cross Burrard Street. It will be considered independently of controversial plans to drastically alter bike and car traffic further west along Point Grey Road, according to a city official.
"The current configuration of the intersection at the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge is complex, it is circuitous for pedestrians, often requiring crossing up to five legs of the intersection, and the section of Cornwall Avenue between Burrard Street and Cypress Street is a collision hot spot for cyclists," says a city staff report dated July 16.
The suggested changes are intended to discourage drivers from using Cornwall, which the report says is overtaxed by vehicle traffic, and instead move further up Burrard Street and disperse on other east-west arterial routes such as West 4th Avenue, Broadway, 12th Avenue and 16th Avenue. But the reduction of one throughlane of traffic will also ensure Burrard Street isn't overburdened by traffic, said Jerry Dobrovolny, the city's director of transportation. He added car traffic on the Burrard Bridge has been declining in recent years. About 57,000 vehicles travel over the bridge each day, according to the report.
As much as 50 per cent of southbound car traffic coming off the Burrard Bridge is destined for Cornwall Avenue, while as much as 60 per cent of northbound car traffic originates on Cornwall.
The proposed changes will reduce the capacity at the intersection, which excedes the capacity Cornwall Avenue and Burr |
current students. — ✈️ Epicvoyager (@epicvoyager) May 9, 2016
So we give free tuition to half of NB students but then cancel the tuition tax rebate for everyone? That makes a lot of sense #not#nbpoli — David Thibodeau (@DavidSThibodeau) April 16, 2016
Fredericton MLA and Green Party leader David Coon will present their petition in the legislature on May 17.
“What the New Brunswick Graduates’ Organization is asking is for the province to recognize the investment we’ve made by choosing to study, work and live here. We’re not asking for handouts, just the promised return on the investment we’ve made,” Chase said. “We hope that this will lead to our voices being heard so we can continue to make positive change for New Brunswickers.”
Though the group is only a few days old, Chase said the response and support has been overwhelming.
“People have been saying ‘Finally, someone to speak for us!’ Grads have been wanting this for a while.”Arcane Ancestry 3
More Bloodline Feats for Sorcerers
Note: This article was originally submitted to Dragon Magazine as an outline. Not soon after, the magazine's print run ended, leaving this unable to be published.
Sorcerers derive their powers not from years of studious training, but simply from arcane power lingering within their lineage. While they are generally assumed to have draconic ancestors, other magical creatures have been known to breed with humanoids, and even magical experimentation done in ages past has been known to alter bloodlines.
While some sorcerers revel in their unique heritages, others keep theirs hidden, whether because of some shameful secret, or for some other, inscrutable purpose. While these bloodlines may not be immediately realized, they can become awakened in time, either by accident or design. As they come to realize their origins, new magic awakens within the sorcerer, further reinforcing their ancestral ties.
Bloodline Feats
The feats presented in this article are in a category called bloodline feats. Bloodline feats were first introduced in "Arcane Ancestry" in Dragon #311 and then revisited in "Arcane Ancestry 2" in Dragon #325, both written by Scott Carter. Many of these feats are also compiled in Dragon Compendium. This article is stand-alone, and does not require any additional information, although it can be supplemented with material from these other sources.
Bloodline feats are designed for sorcerers to use, although any character who meets the prerequisites can take them. Each base feat in this category, the ones with the word "bloodline" in the title, grants a character access to a specific bloodline, along with a corresponding set of spells. If more than one of the character's classes allow them to cast spells without preparation, the character must decide to which class's spell list the bonus spells are added to. Choosing one of these feats not only represents a character's ancestry but also signifies that the character is sufficiently aware of it to take advantage of the powers it offers. A character can only have one base bloodline feat.
The description of each base bloodline feat gives some examples of how it might affect a character's appearance, personality and even some ideas on spells the character may focus on. These are by no means binding and the character is free to use them or not. While the bloodline is an influence in the character's life, it is by no means a major one.
Each base bloodline feat opens up a tree of others, which require them as a prerequisite. These other feats represent a further mastery of the character's bloodline. In addition, there are other bloodline feats that any character who takes a base bloodline may take.
Base bloodlines are best taken with a character's first level of sorcerer, but they are beneficial to characters at any level.
Bloodline feats can be used to further define a character's personality and future goals. A character with the Construct Bloodline for example usually is cool and detached, while one with the Radiant Bloodline tends to be bubbly and vivacious. Bloodlines can also give a character some ideas for multiclassing. A character with the Doppelganger Bloodline would find the role of a rogue to be exceptionally appealing while a sorcerer of the Lycanthropic Bloodline might find the solitary life of a ranger to be more to their tastes.
In addition, some of the bloodlines presented in this article may be useful for a character in the Eberron campaign setting. A warforged sorcerer would find the Construct Bloodline quite appropriate, shifters would naturally gravitate towards the Lycanthropic Bloodline and changelings find a great deal of use in the Doppelganger Bloodline.
Feat Summary Feat Name Prerequisites Benefits Beholderkin Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Beholder's Eye Beholderkin Bloodline, ability to cast 5th-level arcane spells Cast dispel magic once per day Construct Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Mechanical Resistance Construct Bloodline, ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells +2 save vs. death effect Doppelganger Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Racial Impression Doppelganger Bloodline, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells +5 to Use Magic Device to emulate race/alignment Genie Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Whispers of the Sand Genie Bloodline, ability to cast 5th-level arcane spells Cast gaseous form once per day Icy Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Sure Step Icy Bloodline, ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells +4 to Balance checks Lycanthropic Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Feral Vision Lycanthropic Bloodline, ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells Gain darkvision Radiant Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Bright Soul Radiant Bloodline, ability to cast 5th-level arcane spells Cast searing light once per day Sphinx Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Riddle of Insight Sphinx Bloodline, ability to cast 5th-level arcane spells Cast discern lies once per day Spirit Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Voice of Beyond Spirit Bloodline, ability to cast 5th-level arcane spells Cast speak with dead once per day Storm Bloodline Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar Sorcerous bloodline grants extra spells Grounded Storm Bloodline, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells Gain electricity res. 5 Kin Destruction Any Bloodline feat, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells Smite ancestors once per day Kin Manipulation Any Bloodline feat, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells +4 to Bluff and Sense Motive against ancestors
Beholderkin Bloodline [Bloodline]
One of your ancestors was a beholder, or perhaps one of the many creatures bred or engineered from beholders. While normal beholders don't reproduce by ordinary means, they can use magical abilities and foul techniques to integrate their children with members of another race. In rare instances, the offspring of these experiments may survive past their first few years, integrate with normal society and live normally, eventually having children and passing their bloodline on to the next generation.
Beholder-blooded creatures tend to have darker than normal skin, poor complexions, pronounced eyes or sharp-looking teeth. Most are portly, but physically strong. Many beholder-blooded creatures are foul tempered and lash out at others. If they cannot assume leadership of a group, they may prefer solitude rather than take on a subservient role.
Sorcerers who possess a beholder ancestor favor spells that control other people as well as those that mimic the natural abilities of beholders.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.
Benefit: Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list.
One of your ancestors was a beholder, or perhaps one of the many creatures bred or engineered from beholders. While normal beholders don't reproduce by ordinary means, they can use magical abilities and foul techniques to integrate their children with members of another race. In rare instances, the offspring of these experiments may survive past their first few years, integrate with normal society and live normally, eventually having children and passing their bloodline on to the next generation.Beholder-blooded creatures tend to have darker than normal skin, poor complexions, pronounced eyes or sharp-looking teeth. Most are portly, but physically strong. Many beholder-blooded creatures are foul tempered and lash out at others. If they cannot assume leadership of a group, they may prefer solitude rather than take on a subservient role.Sorcerers who possess a beholder ancestor favor spells that control other people as well as those that mimic the natural abilities of beholders.Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. 1st - Charm Person
2nd - Inflict Moderate Wounds
3rd - Slow
4th - Charm Monster
5th - Telekinesis
6th - Flesh to Stone
7th - Finger of Death
8th - Charm Monster, Mass
9th - Dominate Monster Special: If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.
Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the good descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the good descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes.
Beholder's Eye [Bloodline]
Your beholder ancestry grants you the ability to nullify magic.
Prerequisites: Beholderkin Bloodline, ability to cast 5th-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You can cast dispel magic once per day as a spell-like ability (caster level equals your level in the arcane spellcasting class that granted you access to this feat). This ability does not affect your number of spells known or spells per day.
Bright Soul [Bloodline]
Your radiant ancestry gives you the ability to attack with burning light.
Prerequisites: Radiant Bloodline, ability to cast 5th-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You can cast searing light once per day as a spell-like ability (caster level equals your level in the arcane spellcasting class that granted you access to this feat). This ability does not affect your number of spells known or spells per day.
Construct Bloodline [Bloodline]
One of your ancestors was a construct or a partial construct. Although these creatures can't reproduce by natural means, pieces of them can be grafted onto a humanoid. A shred of the magical energy used in those objects may be carried over through the generations, leading to special abilities in descendants of these creatures.
Construct-blooded creatures tend to have less body hair than normal, a slight metallic sheen to their skin or eyes, or even a mechanical graft or enhancement built into their bodies. They are often described by others as "detached" or "unemotional" but they work very well in within groups. Many construct-blooded creatures live in large cities, often as part of a large group of spellcasters working towards a common goal.
Sorcerers who possess a construct ancestor favor magic that manipulates inanimate objects.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.
Benefit: Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list.
One of your ancestors was a construct or a partial construct. Although these creatures can't reproduce by natural means, pieces of them can be grafted onto a humanoid. A shred of the magical energy used in those objects may be carried over through the generations, leading to special abilities in descendants of these creatures.Construct-blooded creatures tend to have less body hair than normal, a slight metallic sheen to their skin or eyes, or even a mechanical graft or enhancement built into their bodies. They are often described by others as "detached" or "unemotional" but they work very well in within groups. Many construct-blooded creatures live in large cities, often as part of a large group of spellcasters working towards a common goal.Sorcerers who possess a construct ancestor favor magic that manipulates inanimate objects.Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. 1st - Animate Rope
2nd - Shatter
3rd - Shrink Item
4th - Stoneskin
5th - Fabricate
6th - Flesh to Stone
7th - Statue
8th - Iron Body
9th - Mordenkainen's Disjunction Special: If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.
Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the mind-affecting descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the mind-affecting descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes.
Doppelganger Bloodline [Bloodline]
One of your ancestors was a doppelganger and pretended to be a member of your race for some inscrutable purpose. The gift of shape shifting may have escaped you but you retain some special abilities that have manifested themselves magically.
Doppelganger-blooded creatures tend to be quite forgettable in appearance and have reduced features such as a small nose, mouth and eyes. They tend to fit in everywhere and naturally blend into a crowd. They are more likely to follow than to lead, but they are prolific schemers. They usually work on several of these plans at a time.
Sorcerers who possess a doppelganger ancestor favor spells that alter their appearance.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.
Benefit: Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. One of your ancestors was a doppelganger and pretended to be a member of your race for some inscrutable purpose. The gift of shape shifting may have escaped you but you retain some special abilities that have manifested themselves magically.Doppelganger-blooded creatures tend to be quite forgettable in appearance and have reduced features such as a small nose, mouth and eyes. They tend to fit in everywhere and naturally blend into a crowd. They are more likely to follow than to lead, but they are prolific schemers. They usually work on several of these plans at a time.Sorcerers who possess a doppelganger ancestor favor spells that alter their appearance.Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. 1st - Disguise Self
2nd - Detect Thoughts
3rd - Gaseous Form
4th - Polymorph
5th - Baleful Polymorph
6th - True Seeing
7th - Simulacrum
8th - Polymorph any Object
9th - Shapechange Special: If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.
Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the scrying descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the scrying descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes.
Feral Vision [Bloodline]
The lycanthrope blood that courses through your veins has granted you the ability to see in the dark.
Prerequisites: Lycanthopic Bloodline, ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You gain darkvision with a range of 60 feet. If you already possess darkvision, it improves to a range of 120 feet.
Genie Bloodline [Bloodline]
One of your ancestors was a member of genie-kind, who have been known to have relationships with mortals from time to time. Offspring of such couplings often possess innate magical abilities, but these fade slowly through the generations.
Genie-blooded creatures usually have strong, noble features and ruddy skin. They speak with clear, confident voices and often have a "take no prisoners" attitude. Those who are descended from efreeti have eyes that seem to smolder under their brows or appear to be surrounded by a soft breeze at all times.
Sorcerers who possess a genie ancestor favor spells that are commonly associated with genies, such as wish and invisibility.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.
Benefit: Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. One of your ancestors was a member of genie-kind, who have been known to have relationships with mortals from time to time. Offspring of such couplings often possess innate magical abilities, but these fade slowly through the generations.Genie-blooded creatures usually have strong, noble features and ruddy skin. They speak with clear, confident voices and often have a "take no prisoners" attitude. Those who are descended from efreeti have eyes that seem to smolder under their brows or appear to be surrounded by a soft breeze at all times.Sorcerers who possess a genie ancestor favor spells that are commonly associated with genies, such as wish and invisibility.Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. 1st - Produce Flame
2nd - Pyrotechnics
3rd - Create Food and Water
4th - Minor Creation
5th - Overland Flight
6th - Wind Walk
7th - Plane Shift
8th - Protection from Spells
9th - Wish Special: If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.
Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast any planar binding or any magic circle spells (such as magic circle against good or lesser planar binding), and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast anyor anyspells (such asor), and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes.
Grounded [Bloodline]
Your elemental ancestry makes you particularly resistant against electrical attacks.
Prerequisites: Storm Bloodline, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You gain electricity resistance 5.
Icy Bloodline [Bloodline]
One of your ancestors was a creature from the Paraelemental Plane of Ice. Many different creatures reside within the inhospitable climate of that plane, and no two creatures descended from there have exactly the same traits.
Ice-blooded creatures are, not surprisingly, often cold towards others. They tend to remain distant and aloof, but remain fiercely loyal to their allies. They may possess blue-tinged skin, white hair or they may be unusually cold to the touch.
Sorcerers who possess a ice-elemental ancestor favor spells that deal cold damage or manipulate ice and snow.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.
Benefit: Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. One of your ancestors was a creature from the Paraelemental Plane of Ice. Many different creatures reside within the inhospitable climate of that plane, and no two creatures descended from there have exactly the same traits.Ice-blooded creatures are, not surprisingly, often cold towards others. They tend to remain distant and aloof, but remain fiercely loyal to their allies. They may possess blue-tinged skin, white hair or they may be unusually cold to the touch.Sorcerers who possess a ice-elemental ancestor favor spells that deal cold damage or manipulate ice and snow.Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. 1st - Chill Touch
2nd - Glitterdust
3rd - Sleet Storm
4th - Wall of Ice
5th - Cone of Cold
6th - Otiluke's Freezing Sphere
7th - Control Weather
8th - Polar Ray
9th - Hold Monster, Mass Special: If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.
Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the fire descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the fire descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes.
Kin Destruction [Bloodline]
You can level strong attacks against creatures that share your heritage.
Prerequisites: Any bloodline feat, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You gain a smite attack, usable only against creatures of your bloodline, once per day. This provides you with a +4 bonus to attack rolls and a bonus to damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum +1). You must declare the smite before making the attack and if you target a creature that does not share your heritage, the attempt is wasted.
For example, a 5th level sorcerer with the Lycanthropic Bloodline feat could make a smite attack against a werewolf, but could not use it against an ordinary dire wolf.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time you take it after the first, you gain an extra use per day of your smite attack.
Kin Manipulation [Bloodline]
You have become adept at dealing with creatures of your ancestor's type.
Prerequisites: Any bloodline feat, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You gain a +4 racial bonus to Bluff and Sense Motive checks with intelligent creatures that share your heritage.
Lycanthropic Bloodline [Bloodline]
One of your ancestors was inflicted with the curse (or blessing) of lycanthropy. Lycanthropy normally carries some of its traces through the generations, but after time can become watered down. Lycanthropes can pass this curse down to their children, even if the more common abilities associated with the condition may be latent.
Lycanthrope-blooded creatures tend to have more hair than normal, feral-looking eyes, sharp teeth or fingernails that resemble claws. They often appear bestial or unkempt, although some are able to groom this into a noble appearance. Many lycanthrope-blooded creatures live in the countryside either in small communities or alone as hermits. They tend to have keep several pets or livestock and may have mercurial emotions during the time of the full moon.
Sorcerers who possess a lycanthrope ancestor favor nature-based spells, primarily focused on animals as well as spells that allow them to hunt difficult prey.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.
Benefit: Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. One of your ancestors was inflicted with the curse (or blessing) of lycanthropy. Lycanthropy normally carries some of its traces through the generations, but after time can become watered down. Lycanthropes can pass this curse down to their children, even if the more common abilities associated with the condition may be latent.Lycanthrope-blooded creatures tend to have more hair than normal, feral-looking eyes, sharp teeth or fingernails that resemble claws. They often appear bestial or unkempt, although some are able to groom this into a noble appearance. Many lycanthrope-blooded creatures live in the countryside either in small communities or alone as hermits. They tend to have keep several pets or livestock and may have mercurial emotions during the time of the full moon.Sorcerers who possess a lycanthrope ancestor favor nature-based spells, primarily focused on animals as well as spells that allow them to hunt difficult prey.Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. 1st - Magic Fang
2nd - Animal Trance
3rd - Rage
4th - Freedom of Movement
5th - Animal Growth
6th - Find the Path
7th - Summon Nature's Ally VIII
8th - Animal Shapes
9th - Shapechange Special: If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.
Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast polymorph spells, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. Characters with this fear can still use animal shapes and shapechange normally. If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.Characters with this feat cannot learn or castspells, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. Characters with this fear can still useandnormally.
Mechanical Resistance [Bloodline]
Your construct bloodline provides you with defense against maladies.
Prerequisites: Construct Bloodline, ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all saving throws made to resist death effects.
Racial Impression [Bloodline]
You have the ability to convincingly pretend that you belong to another race.
Prerequisites: Doppelganger Bloodline, ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You gain a +5 bonus to Use Magic Device checks used to emulate a race or an alignment.
Radiant Bloodline [Bloodline]
One of your ancestors hailed from the Plane of Radiance. Although creatures on this plane rarely mate with those from the Material Plane, it is not unheard of. The descendants of these unions often practice magic, many becoming powerful evokers and illusionists.
Radiant-blooded creatures tend to be paler than normal and are often thin, but never gaunt. They are usually optimistic and often extremely energetic. Their pleasant, outgoing personalities make them natural leaders and diplomats. Radiant-blooded creatures are often good-aligned, although the rare evil one has been known to exist.
Sorcerers who possess a radiant ancestor favor spells that deal with light and color.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.
Benefit: Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. One of your ancestors hailed from the Plane of Radiance. Although creatures on this plane rarely mate with those from the Material Plane, it is not unheard of. The descendants of these unions often practice magic, many becoming powerful evokers and illusionists.Radiant-blooded creatures tend to be paler than normal and are often thin, but never gaunt. They are usually optimistic and often extremely energetic. Their pleasant, outgoing personalities make them natural leaders and diplomats. Radiant-blooded creatures are often good-aligned, although the rare evil one has been known to exist.Sorcerers who possess a radiant ancestor favor spells that deal with light and color.Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. 1st - Color Spray
2nd - Continual Flame
3rd - Daylight
4th - Rainbow Pattern
5th - Flame Strike
6th - True Seeing
7th - Prismatic Spray
8th - Sunburst
9th - Prismatic Sphere Special: If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.
Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the darkness descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells with the darkness descriptor, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes.
Riddle of Insight [Bloodline]
Your descent from sphinxes has provided you with a measure of power concerning truth and falsehoods.
Prerequisites: Sphinx Bloodline, ability to cast 5th-level arcane spells.
Benefit: You can cast discern lies once per day as a spell-like ability (caster level equals your level in the arcane spellcasting class that granted you access to this feat). This ability does not affect your number of spells known or spells per day.
Sphinx Bloodline [Bloodline]
You are descended from a sphinx. These curious creatures often reside on their own, but occasionally have been known to integrate with humanoid societies, using magic to disguise their true forms. Some even take mates, and although the children of these unions are not true sphinxes, they often carry a small measure of power that can stay within the family for generations.
Sphinx-blooded creatures are often curious, studious and observant. Many act more like wizards than sorcerers, and more than a few have taken the arcane preparation feat (Complete Arcane). Beyond their peculiarities, they are often handsome, and sometimes possess a feline trait, such as deep green eyes, slightly pointed ears or sharp canine teeth.
Sorcerers who possess a sphinx ancestor favor spells that manipulate language.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.
Benefit: Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. You are descended from a sphinx. These curious creatures often reside on their own, but occasionally have been known to integrate with humanoid societies, using magic to disguise their true forms. Some even take mates, and although the children of these unions are not true sphinxes, they often carry a small measure of power that can stay within the family for generations.Sphinx-blooded creatures are often curious, studious and observant. Many act more like wizards than sorcerers, and more than a few have taken the arcane preparation feat (). Beyond their peculiarities, they are often handsome, and sometimes possess a feline trait, such as deep green eyes, slightly pointed ears or sharp canine teeth.Sorcerers who possess a sphinx ancestor favor spells that manipulate language.Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. 1st - Comprehend Languages
2nd - See Invisibility
3rd - Dispel Magic
4th - Remove Curse
5th - Symbol of Sleep
6th - Symbol of Persuasion
7th - Symbol of Stunning
8th - Symbol of Death
9th - Prismatic Sphere Special: If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.
Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells that appear in the Trickery cleric domain, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells that appear in the Trickery cleric domain, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes.
Spirit Bloodline [Bloodline]
You are descended from a spirit of nature who briefly took the form of a mortal. Sorcerers with spirit bloodlines are more common in Asian campaigns as those kinds of creatures are extremely prevalent in those settings.
Spirit-blooded creatures take on the traits of whatever nature spirit she is descended from. A whispery voice, woody skin, and a constantly blowing breeze around the creature are all common traits. They tend to be aloof and don't generally enjoy large areas, preferring to live in small communities or all alone.
Sorcerers who possess a spirit ancestor favor spells that deal with the abstract forces of nature or with the spirit world.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.
Benefit: Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. You are descended from a spirit of nature who briefly took the form of a mortal. Sorcerers with spirit bloodlines are more common in Asian campaigns as those kinds of creatures are extremely prevalent in those settings.Spirit-blooded creatures take on the traits of whatever nature spirit she is descended from. A whispery voice, woody skin, and a constantly blowing breeze around the creature are all common traits. They tend to be aloof and don't generally enjoy large areas, preferring to live in small communities or all alone.Sorcerers who possess a spirit ancestor favor spells that deal with the abstract forces of nature or with the spirit world.Ability to cast arcane spells without preparation, ability to summon a familiar.Your ancestry gives you a bonus spell known at each level, starting at 1st, from the following list. 1st - Speak with Animals
2nd - Fog Cloud
3rd - Water Breathing
4th - Freedom of Movement
5th - Righteous Might
6th - Shadow Walk
7th - Ethereal Jaunt
8th - Moment of Prescience
9th - Etherealness Special: If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does not apply if she learned any of these spells as a member of another spellcasting class.
Characters with this feat cannot learn or cast spells that appear in the Destruction cleric domain, and all such spells are removed from the spell lists of all their spellcasting classes. If a character takes this feat any time after 1st level and has already learned any of the spells on this list in the class to which she applies this feat, she gains no additional spells known at those spell levels. This restriction does |
) and FC Dallas (1-1) in full-fledged exhibition matches. Marcina said he wasn’t concerned with his team’s inability to convert superior possessions into more goals.
“Not at all,” he said. “We have some excellent attacking players. We’re confident they’re going to bang in a bunch of goals (during the season).”
The Scorpions will play Tulsa and Houston Dynamo in the next two weekends as their NASL season opener against Minnesota looms on April 13. As of Saturday, the contract roster is as follows, with projected starters noted by asterisks —
Keepers: *David Bingham (loan), Jeremy Vuolo
Defenders: *Adrian Cann, *Greg Janicki, *Julius James, *Stephen DeRoux, Jeff Jennings
Midfielders: *Danny Barrera, *Shaun Saiko, *Walter Restrepo, *Richard Menjivar, Julio Garcia, Javier Saavedra
Forwards: *Tomasz Zahorski, *Sam Garza, Jonathan Fana, Sainey Touray
Team president Howard Cornfield said on Saturday that the Scorpions are deep in negotiations with what he terms as a pair of “impact” veteran signings, one striker and one defender.
Marcina said the Scorpions could also have room to sign several trialists, of which midfielder Josue Soto and defender Jonathan Borrajo have been the most impressive.Get the biggest Manchester City FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Gabriel Jesus is among the front-runners for the prestigious Golden Boy award, annually given to the most impressive young footballer on the planet.
The Manchester City striker faces stiff competition, not least from Manchester United star Marcus Rashford, with Bayern Munich's Renato Sanches and Monaco striker Kylian Mbappe among the candidates.
Jesus has to be among the front-runners for the award, which is voted on by top newspapers throughout Europe.
Based on exploits for the calendar year, the award has previously been won by Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli and Raheem Sterling, not to mention Lionel Messi and Mario Gotze.
And even before his £27million move to City and spectacular start to his career at the Etihad Stadium, Jesus had an eventful 2016.
He top-scored for Palmeiras as they won the Brazilian title, then won an Olympic gold medal with his country's under-23 team, before getting a call into the full international team – and scoring five times in his first six games for them.
After replacing Aguero in the City team, he scored three goals in five games before breaking his metatarsal at Bournemouth – and is due back in action before the end of the season.
The Golden Boy award was established in 2003, with Ajax midfielder Rafael van de Vaart winning the first trophy, while last year it went to Bayern's Portuguese star Sanches.
Aguero won it in 2007 when he was a rising star at Atletico Madrid, while Balotelli took it in 2010 when he moved from Inter to City, and Sterling in 2014, while he was with Liverpool.
The list of candidates also includes City youngsters Tosin Adarabioyo, Enes Unal and Pablo Maffeo.There is this new trend that I recently became familiar with called “sologamy.” (Not too familiar with, though.) It is also commonly known as “marrying yourself.” Many (okay, just some) want to know, “Is it legal to marry yourself?”, so I thought I would give a legal perspective on the matter. In this article I will explore what, if any, consequences there might be for having a marriage ceremony with only one set of vows involved.
Understanding Sologamy
In order to best understand the legal implications of self-marriage, the social phenomenon must first be understood.
Sologamy is described as a self-commitment to value oneself to a higher level. Practitioners try to love themselves more and have more compassion for themselves so that they can live better individual lives. Practicing this type of self-love is intended to reduce the overall suffering of the world one person at a time.
Those that practice sologamy emphasize how much daily practice is actually required to do it right. Every day, individuals who marry themselves acknowledge that they are in a relationship with him- or herself first.
Self-marriages are performed by private companies or just performed individually. There are no strict rules on how a self-marriage should be performed. For example, you do not need to give yourself a ring or recite vows to yourself, however, these are some common practices among sologamists. (And let’s be honest, if you really love yourself, you aren’t going to skimp.)
State and Government Recognition
Self-marriages do not require a marriage certificate. This is because self-marriages are not recognized by any states in the United States. Currently, US states will only recognize marriages between two people. That means that if you are already married to another person, you can still self marry without implicating anti-bigamy or polygamy laws. (Whether your spouse will consider you unfaithful will largely depend on the nature and extent of your self commitment.)
Additionally, there are not any tax advantages for practicing sologamists as there would be for married couples. Benefits that would be available to traditional married couples like estate tax benefits, government benefits, and employment benefits are also not available to self-married individuals.
However, if your goal in getting self-married is focused on self-actualization, the fact that your State or the Federal Government does not recognize sologamy is not likely a deterrent.
The Bottom Line
Yes, sologamy is legal in the strictest sense of the word. There are no laws against the practice in any of the fifty states in the US. You cannot be arrested or fined for marrying yourself.
Individuals are free to make commitments to themselves at any time they choose. In fact, personal goals and resolutions are made and broken by individuals daily without legal implication. (No, you can’t sue yourself for breach of contract.)
If you are interested in reading more about someone who self-married and her experiences in doing so (you know you are) go ahead and click on the article below.
Is self-marriage for you?
Matt Pfau is an attorney and founding partner at the law firm Parry & Pfau. Matt has a background in business consulting, estate planning, business start-ups and bankruptcy and is licensed to practice in both Nevada and California. A partner in the firm Parry & Pfau, he can be reached at 702-912-4451 or matt@p2lawyers.com.EXCLUSIVE: Europa Report writer Philip Gelatt will adapt and direct a feature based on Laird Barron’s short story 30, the tale of two wildlife biologists, isolated on land once occupied by a Manson-style thrill-kill cult, struggling to find the cause of bizarre animal activity in the region. As their relationship deteriorates, and discoveries mount, they’re besieged by strange forces that seem to come from the very land itself.
Reno Productions’ Will Battersby and Peter Askin will produce and production is slated for spring 2015. Gotham-based Reno Productions is funding production with private investors. The company’s credits include the docu Trumbo and they just wrapped the environmental docu The Canal.
Barron spent his early years in Alaska, where he raced the Iditarod during the early 1990s and worked as a fisherman on the Bering Sea. He retired from racing in 1995 and began to write. He is the author of several books, including The Imago Sequence, Occultation, and The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. Barron is repped by publishing agent Janet Reid of Fineprint Literary Management, Pouya Shahbazian of New Leaf Literary & Media, and attorney Bradley Garrett of Cohen Gardner. Besides Europa Report, Gelatt scripted and directed the Tribeca Film Festival pic The Bleeding House. He’s represented by Paradigm and Madhouse Entertainment.As news of President Trump's mounting scandals broke this week, many right-leaning media outlets chose to focus instead on the apparent revelation that murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was allegedly in touch with WikiLeaks before "mysteriously" being killed. There is no concrete evidence to indicate anything fishy about Rich's murder — Washington, D.C., police say it was likely a botched attempted robbery. Still, Fox News published a "scoop" citing a "federal investigator who reviewed an FBI forensic report … detailing the contents of Rich's computer" who claimed Rich had "made contact with WikiLeaks."
Almost immediately, Rich's family denied the story, blasting internet sleuths for unfounded conspiracy theories about Rich's death. Then Fox News' source, private investigator Rod Wheeler, told CNN that he actually had no evidence linking Rich to WikiLeaks:
Wheeler instead said he only learned about the possible existence of such evidence through the reporter he spoke to for the FoxNews.com story. He explained that the comments he made to WTTG-TV were intended to simply preview Fox News' Tuesday story. The WTTG-TV news director did not respond to multiple requests for comment. "I only got that [information] from the reporter at Fox News," Wheeler told CNN. Asked about a quote attributed to him in the Fox News story in which he said his "investigation up to this point shows there was some degree of email exchange between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks," Wheeler said he was referring to information that had already been reported in the media. [CNN]
NBC News additionally reports that "local police in Washington, D.C., never even gave the FBI Rich's laptop to analyze after his murder," poking further holes in the Fox News report.
A spokesperson for Rich's family blamed outlets for publishing the unfounded rumor. Right-wing media has "shown over and over again that they are willing to lie and manipulate the facts" to further "their own political end," the spokesperson said. Jeva LangeTwo weeks ago, IP holding company Lodsys made waves by targeting small, independent iOS developers in a campaign to claim patent licensing fees for the use of in-app purchasing. That same company is now going after Android developers, citing the same dubious patent claims as the basis for requiring individual developers to pay for licensing of its patent.
Lodsys sent letters to at least a dozen iOS developers informing them that their use of Apple's in-app purchase APIs constituted infringement of its US Patent #7,222,078, "Methods and systems for gathering information from units of a commodity across a network." Lodsys claims this patent covers anything that might constitute an in-app upgrade button, and that Apple already licenses these patents, but the license does not extend to individual developers that implement in-app purchasing in their apps.
At least one Android developer has reported receiving a similar letter from Lodsys after adding support for in-app purchasing several weeks ago. The developer, going by the name "markusn82," posted the information to the "Android Discuss" Google Group.
Some developers believe the '078 patent is overly broad and could possibly be ruled invalid if any of the threatened developers took the case to trial. Further analysis suggests that even if the patent is valid, it does not apply to independent developers as Lodsys claims. However, none of the independent developers have the bankroll necessary to mount a lengthy and costly legal process to have the patent challenged in court.
Developers began campaigning for Apple to step in. The company's legal team sent a stern letter to Lodsys saying it should "cease its false assertions that the App Makers’ use of licensed Apple products and services in any way constitute infringement of any Lodsys patent." Apple said that its license to the patents—acquired in a deal with the previous patent owner Intellectual Ventures—extends to all its customers and business partners. In Apple's view, that expressly includes developers.
To cover all the bases, some iOS developers are attempting to pool resources to fight Lodsys if lawsuits do materialize.
Lodsys has claimed that both Microsoft and Google already have similar licenses to its portfolio of four patents, also acquired through deals with Intellectual Ventures. If Apple's analysis is correct, Android developers should be similarly covered by Google's license. However, even if Google were to send a similar letter to Lodsys warning it to stop threatening Android developers, that may not prevent Lodsys from following through on its threat to file patent infringement lawsuits.
Google did not respond to our request for comment on the matter before publication time.Dr Cliff Arnall has used a mathematical formula to calculate that things which make us happy
And an England football win tonight would just be the icing on top.
Dr Cliff Arnall has used a mathematical formula to calculate that things which make us feel good such as sunny evenings, blooming flowers, holiday anticipation and fond memories of childhood summers are at their peak today.
The former Cardiff University lecturer, 45, attached numbers to the factors and created a happiness formula: O + (N x S) + Cpm/T + He.
When a value for being outdoors (O) is added to nature (N) multiplied by social interaction (S), added to childhood summer memories (Cpm) divided by temperature (T), and added to holiday excitement (He) then the third Friday in June comes out as the optimal day for peak happiness.
Dr Arnall, who runs happiness coaching clinics for health professionals and businesses from Brecon, Powys, said: “Around 20 million people will watch England v Algeria on TV, and a win would mean millions being on a high even higher than is seen among most people at this time of year.Share this
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Email You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. University University of York
The extinction of cone snails—and their venom—could mean the loss a yet-undiscovered reservoir of pharmaceuticals.
Cone snails live in warm tropical seas and manufacture powerful venom to immobilize their prey of fish, worms, and other snails. Scientists are increasingly using these neurotoxins for research into the development of life-saving drugs.
Across the world, however, tropical marine habitats are being lost due to coastal development, pollution, destructive fishing, and climate change, resulting in rapid species loss.
A new global assessment of all 632 species of cone snails for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List by researchers from the Environment Department at the University of York—the first for any group of marine snails—finds that some species are at imminent risk of extinction.
[related]
Research, published this week in PLOS ONE, disproves the notion that the vastness of the oceans assures the survival of marine species. It reveals clusters of species occupying small areas that could quickly disappear as threats escalate.
Due to their beautiful and coveted shells, people have been collecting cone snails for hundreds, possibly thousands of years—cone shells have been found in ancient Neolithic sites and there is a Rembrandt etching of a cone shell from 1650.
Rare specimens change hands for thousands of dollars, a popularity which brings welcome income to thousands of poor people who hunt for shells for sale to dealers and tourists.
More importantly, during their evolution, cone snails have developed complex venoms, some powerful enough to kill people. Scientists are now using these for research into novel drugs for the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of pernicious medical conditions including intense chronic pain, epilepsy, asthma, and multiple sclerosis.
“Cone snails are seeing rapid shrinkage of their habitats as human impacts multiply,” says lead author Howard Peters of the environment department at the University York.
“We found that 67 species are currently threatened or near-threatened with extinction worldwide, but this rises to nearly half of all species (42) in the Eastern Atlantic, where there is an extraordinary concentration of range-restricted species. “In Cape Verde, 53 species are found nowhere else in the world, of which 43 live only around single islands. Here, pollution and shoreline construction for the expanding tourist industry threaten their existence.
“Sand is being dredged from the shallows where cone snails live to make concrete for resorts, harbors, and cruise liner terminals. Collection of shells by divers and snorkelers could hasten their demise.”
Protecting cone snails
The study found an almost complete lack of protection for cone snails anywhere in the world.
Howard Peters says: “Despite their extraordinary beauty and value, cone snails have fallen completely underneath the conservation radar. These snails need swift action to protect their habitats and publicize the dire consequences of irresponsible shell collecting of the most threatened species. Holidaymakers need to think twice before taking a seashell home as a souvenir.”
Co-author Callum Roberts adds: “This study provides an important yardstick from which to measure our growing impact on mollusks, one of the richest groups in the sea, and the long-term consequences of ocean acidification.
“Ocean acidity is increasing due to fossil fuel burning as carbon dioxide dissolves in the sea. Without action to reduce emissions, rising acidity could cause shelled marine creatures to literally dissolve away by the end of this century.”
Source: University of YorkDragon Ball and Saint Seiya are the most famous fighting manga series created in the 1980s.
Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac are the most famous manga and anime series created in the 1980s. Their characters become quickly iconic. Who has never played to be a "Super Saiyan" or a Knight of the Zodiac as a child?
Dragon Ball is a manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It narrates the lives and adventures of Son Goku (a monkey-tailed boy who practices martial-arts) and his friends. Dragon Ball was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995. Dragon Ball became popular worldwide thanks to its anime series (Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT). Dragon Ball has inspired many video games, collectible card games, films and merchandise.
Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac, is a series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada and also serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1986 to 1990 and adapted into an anime TV series. The series also inspired many video games and toys. Saint Seiya has a more dramatic style than Dragon Ball and tells the quests of Pegasus Seiya and his Zodiac Knights companions in a world that fuses elements from several different mythologies (Greek, Roman, Nordic, Chinese).
Dragon Ball vs Saint Seiya
These series have many similarities such as the fighting theme, fantasy settings, wide range of characters and charismatic enemies. Despite the criticisms received due to their violent content, inappropriate for the younger audiences, Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya have still a legion of fans, the majority of which love both series. But which one would you choose?
Dragon Ball vs Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac: which anime do you prefer? Which of the two left you with better memories? Vote here and tell us which were your favorite characters and adventures.It’s the middle of the third quarter of a late December game between the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings, and Draymond Green lofts a pass over the head of two defenders to Shaun Livingston on the left baseline for an easy floater. Livingston records two points, Green gets credited with the assist, and two plus two still equals four. The earth keeps spinning.
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors is so prolific with a basketball, so good at knocking down shots with tiny slivers of space to squeak through, that opposing teams must duct tape a defender to him at all times the second he enters the frontcourt. What’s more, the other four opponents must constantly remain hyper-vigilant of his whereabouts in case their teammate loses him.
Set aside for a moment the ankle-breaking, trifecta-raining, finger roll-making sweetness that makes Curry so lethal with the rock in his hands. Silly things like Vine, shooting percentages, and Stephen A. Smith can tell us how valuable he is in that realm. Curry’s game runs much, much deeper. It’s what he does without the ball that makes Golden State’s offense so productive.
He’s guided by an invisible hand, a hand that channels his personal aims and movements toward socially desirable ends: Warriors buckets. The only difference between the invisible hand that guides Curry and the one that Adam Smith set forth in his Wealth of Nations (1776) to describe the machinations behind capitalist economic production is that Curry is being led by a hand that isn’t invisible at all. It’s there. It’s glaring.
It’s Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
The single most important thing Kerr did upon earning the job in Golden State was to take the ball from Stephen Curry’s mitts. He realized that running Curry through a symphony of down screens, having him set flares, back picks, and, sometimes, just fucking stand there on the wing, would not only help Curry get more open looks but elevate his teammates’ productivity to boot.
The system works from top to bottom. General Manager Bob Myers and the front office have supplied Kerr with ample ball handling ammunition at all five positions. Green, Livingston, Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson, Leandro Barbosa, Harrison Barnes, and Ian Clark are all capable. If you, like me, define “point guard” as the player who brings the ball up the court and initiates offense, then each of these guys, to varying degrees, is a part-time point guard.
That small ball death lineup that everyone talks about? It’s so effective because all five players can rebound misses and push the ball up the court themselves, eliminating the time-consuming step of seeking out the point guard and handing him the ball. A Golden State defensive rebound is one of the most exciting events in basketball because you know a thunderous transition attack is coming.
This season, Curry has the 9th-lowest time of possession of all point guards who regularly start for their teams. The average number of ticks he holds the ball for when he does get a touch, 3.81 seconds, is laughably lower than any mark set by one of his peers, a testament to the hot-potato brand of ball Golden State plays.
So what’s he doing for the 25 minutes a night he doesn’t have the ball? Spotting up in the corner with his dick in hand? Hardly. He’s doing stuff that the box score doesn’t take into consideration. Like setting up Shaun Livingston for those easy baseline floaters:
I have a theory that defenders are so frenzied chasing Curry around down screens that they’re often tardy alerting teammates of picks set by Curry. The results are deadly. Here’s another example:
OK, yes, that looks like clumsy defense from Omri Casspi, but he also seems to be completely blindsided by the action. Is that his fault, Collison’s, or both of theirs?
Having Curry and Thompson set screens for one another is one of Golden State’s favorite actions. Against particularly ditzy opponents, the Warriors will get four to eight free points per game on layups where both defenders stick to whichever Splash Brother runs to the 3-point line.
Even when Curry is thumbing his nuts in no-man’s-land, like he is here, it has an effect:
Darren Collison, per Sacramento’s game plan, tethers himself to Curry. Just by floating on the weak side, Curry erases any thoughts of helpside, and only an errant pass prevents an uncontested dunk for Green.
Stick him on the strong side of a pick-and-roll toward the middle, and watch as the screen-setter rolls to the basket unchecked:
There’s so much going on here for what looks like such a simple play. Thompson comes off the screen knowing that, if he can lure DeMarcus Cousins toward him, he’ll have an easy lob to Ezeli rumbling toward the hoop. The help can come from one of two places: Curry’s man can conceivably drop down and bump Ezeli off his path, but that’s not happening because no one in his right mind is leaving the best 3-point shooter in history with a wide open look. On the weak side, Green and Iguodala run some convincing down screen decoy action, which makes Rudy Gay commit just enough to clear the paint. Only focused defense from Cousins––it’s efforts like these that inform Boogie’s 3.12 defensive RPM––drowns the action.
Let’s not forget: MVPs aren’t selected for setting killer back screens and spacing the floor. Curry is a magician running the pick-and-roll, and the threat of his pull-up jumper bends the defense in extraordinary, ways.
By now, we all know that he consistently draws both his defender and the roll man’s defender toward him to create four-on-three opportunities for Green and others:
And another:
But there are subtler effects too. Check out how far Rudy Gay, the weak side help defender, has to step over to bump Ezeli on this high pick-and-roll:
Gay has to bite this hard because Cousins, the guy in charge of corralling the screen, must take an extra step or five closer to Curry than he would for, say, anyone else in the NBA. For reference, here’s where a weak side defender positions himself on a normal pick-and-roll against normal NBA players:
The difference is easily identifiable. Roy Hibbert drops back because, simply, he’ll concede that midrange jumper to Brandon Knight. Since Hibbert is deep enough to scurry (“crawl” would be a more apt word) back over to Alex Len, D’Angelo Russell, standing rather inattentively on the weak side, can stick closer to the Suns’ T.J. Warren in the corner. It’s easier to neuter the same basic motion when the ball handler isn’t Stephen Curry.
Ironically, Kerr’s once quite-perceptible guiding hand has become, for all intents and purposes, invisible to the public. Golden State’s head man has been making a slow recovery from back surgery to fix the mistakes of, well, a previous back surgery.
But, according to USA Today’s Sam Amick, he’s been far from AWOL. Throughout the season, Kerr has been hanging around the Warriors’ home practice facility and attending games in Oakland. He’s speaking with interim head coach Luke Walton before games, at morning shootaround, and even outside the locker room during halftime.
Walton’s the man with the clipboard, the curlicued commander drawing up new action in the huddle during timeouts and, ultimately, the one stirring up five-ingredient potions in the Warriors’ lineup cauldron. Kerr is in the stands. But Curry, Thompson, and the rest of the Warriors embraced Kerr’s offensive system last season, and they’ve carried it with them into 2015-16. You can see it on the court.
Kerr is omnipresent, even if he’s not there.
Advertisements( ok i shoulden't have to say this but im serious and i need you to bare with me) ok? well it all started like 3 months ago when my wife kept feeling something touch her every time she sits on the toilet and she kept trying to tell me but i thought she was crazy and then on day i felt something too and when i...
( ok i shoulden't have to say this but im serious and i need you to bare with me)
ok?
well it all started like 3 months ago when my wife kept feeling something touch her every time she sits on the toilet and she kept trying to tell me but i thought she was crazy and then on day i felt something too and when i looked to see what it was there were lots of bubbles and the toilet made a noise like something was moving in it.
so i called a plumber and he said he didn't find anything and we should get a new toilet or pour some poison down it or something and we put alot of mr.clean in it and flushed and all of that and for a while
we did not see anything but then one day my wife was on the toilet and ( dont bug me ok we take showers whatever ) we were both in the bathroom and she was about to "go" and this worm came out of the toilet and slithered up her "woo-hoo" and caused her a great deal of pain. we wanted to go to a hospital but we live very far away from a town and she said it didn't hurt her THAT much and that maybe it would leave or something and she said it did not hurt after so a month went by and she said she could feel it slithering around inside her v***** and her stomach got bigger like she is pregnant or something and its giving her painfull org***s more and more often what the **** is this?Log in to Rackspace here. If you haven't signed up yet, do that here and make sure to put in billing information.
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What is a VPN?
Read our letter to our friends at Sochi and what pushed us to create this. That was some time ago, but the same concerns still apply today when travelling or on public networks: it's always worth protecting yourself.
We've created a super simple way to install and run a Virtual Private Network (also called a VPN). VPNs are a technique to allow you to securely access the Internet even if you don't trust the connection you're using, whether you're using wireless at a coffee shop, or reading your email from a country which monitors them. VPNs are widely used by security-conscious corporations and government, but they're too painful to set up for everyone else.
We wanted to make it easy, so we created a way to get up and running with a leading open source VPN. It's the ease of use expected by the iPhone generation combined with security which would pass muster at your bank.
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We’re an established company with established customers. Know that we’re doing our best to gain your trust, but you’re more than welcome to do all this on your own, and we’ll even help you through it. We’re running this script, which you are more than welcome to run on your own, on any box you’d like. Read it, modify it, pull request to it; it’s Apache2 licensed. Go nuts. We don’t persist your keys, and only store them for just long enough to provision your VPN server. Wherever we can, we remove our access as soon as possible; we remove our SSH keys from your DigitalOcean account, for example. We’re trying to make things easier for you to make sure you’re secure. If you do want to build everything on your own, feel free to check out our blog post, where we’ll take you through each command individually. :)
For more information, please see our FAQ.The 2015 NHL Entry Draft is set to feature the biggest and brightest prospects since Sidney Crosby was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2005.
Names such as Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, and Noah Hanifin should top the class, which is set to take place from June 26-27 at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla.
Today, however, the topic at hand is goalies.
Related: Ranking the top goaltenders at the NHL Draft (10-6)
Here are the top-five netminders available in the upcoming draft:
5. Felix Sandstrom, Brynas Jr., Sweden
Sweden has produced the likes of current NHLers Henrik Lundqvist, Eddie Lack, Jonas Gustavsson, and Jhonas Enroth and the 18-year-old Sandstrom could be the next stud goaltender to come out of the country.
The Swede spent the majority of the 2014-15 season with Brynas of the Super Elite league, entering 14 games and recording a goals-against average of 2.63.
He also appeared as part of Sweden's Under-18 team at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial, splitting time between the pipes with Adam Werner, while posting a GAA of 3.35.
His twin brother, Simon, a defenseman, also plays in the Super Elite league.
4. Samuel Montembeault, Blainville-Boisbriand, QMJHL
The 18-year-old netminder was ranked as the second-best goaltender available from the Q after Callum Booth by NHL Central Scouting and ranked as one of the top-three overall from North America.
"Montembeault is one of the best goalies in this draft, might be the best when it's all said and done," one scout told Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News. "He's big, athletic and calm... he's got it all."
He may not be the first goalie taken at the 2015 draft, but Samuel Montembeault may end up being the best: http://t.co/XfMoYxt9Y7 — Ryan Kennedy (@THNRyanKennedy) June 10, 2015
The Quebec native is tall and lanky – at 6-foot-3, 166 pounds – and sported a fantastic 33-11-7 record for the Armada in 2014-15.
His GAA increased from 2.35 to 2.59, which could be a concern, but he did play 38 more games than the season before, logging close to 3,500 minutes in total for his squad.
3. Callum Booth, Quebec, QMJHL
The netminder, who will be 18 by the time the draft hits, was the top goaltender for the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL.
NHL Central Scouting has him listed as the No. 2 netminder available from North America and that should be where he ends up on draft day, thanks to a number of outstanding traits.
"Callum is very composed and confident. He has excellent positional play and net coverage and is strong in all areas. He has great instincts and reads and reacts to plays very well," according to Al Jensen of NHL Central Scouting.
The Montreal native played over 2,400 minutes for the Remparts split between the regular season and playoffs and posted a record of 23-13-2 in 41 regular-season games to go along with two shutouts.
2. Mackenzie Blackwood, Barrie, OHL
The Barrie Colts netminder should be the first North American goaltender drafted in June.
The 18-year-old beast posted an impressive record of 33-14-2 for the Colts in the regular season.
The youngster impressed Kennedy at the Draft Combine.
Blackwood finished third overall and these combines aren't necessarily geared towards netminders. But if you think about it, Blackwood's explosiveness would serve him well when pushing off from side-to-side in the crease. And with his 6-foot-4, 205-pound frame, he's already covering a lot of net.
(Courtesy: NHL.com)
Don't expect him to go in the first round like Andrei Vasilevskiy or Malcolm Subban did in 2012, but expect someone to gobble him up shortly thereafter.
1. Ilya Samsonov, Magnitogorsk Metallurg, Russia
The top-ranked goaltender outside of North America comes in the form of Samsonov, who is slated by TSN's Bob McKenzie to be the first netminder drafted in June and saves like the one below show why.
The 18-year-old Russian stud has gone from a 5.71 GAA and a.887 save percentage at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in 2013-14 to a 2.67 GAA at the IIHF U-17 World Championship and he's growing in size – and potential – by the second.
Craig Button, TSN's Director of Scouting had the following to say about the youngster.
Combines essential elements of size and athletic ability to be imposing in the net and make scoring difficult. He is very aware and reads the play well and is quick to close down the net. An ultra competitor who never gives up on a play. With normal technical refinement, he can become a star.
He currently stands 6-foot-3 and weighs in at 201 pounds and could become a franchise-changing goaltender that any team would love to have in its system.The slow, shivering descent into winter means one thing: time for the woollens. But it’s not just wearing them that can give you a warm glow, making them can too…
Even if you've never thought of knitting your own clothes, now's the time to start - as it can actually be good for you.
[Read more: 5 useful things you can make with leftover wool]
Here are 5 reasons knitting is the best hobby to take up...
Helps to fight dementia
It’s been scientifically proven that using your hands in a productive way triggers activity in 60% of your brain, and a 2011 study from the Journal of Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences revealed that crafts like patch-working or knitting during middle age decreased the odds of later cognitive impairment and memory loss by 30 to 50%.
A post shared by Mathilde & Stéphanie 🙈🙊 (@letricotcesttabou) on Jan 23, 2018 at 2:52am PST
Helps you to stay calm
However exciting the thought of creating your scarf may be, the repetitive actions of knitting will stop your adrenalin overheating, by activating the parasympathetic nervous system and dampening down the body’s "fight or flight" response.
Gets you fit
Ok, maybe not ‘fit’ fit, but certainly fitter than you would be if you didn’t knit; an hour of needle clanking burns around 55 calories.
[Read more: Gardening and 5 other hobbies that can be used as mindfulness techniques]
Makes you happy
In a study of 3,500 knitters, by The British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 81% of respondents with depression said they felt happy after knitting - more than half took it even further and said they felt "very happy".
Psychiatrists believe this is thanks both to the fact you’re instantly (hopefully) creating something useful, and the fact knitting’s been shown to release dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter normally associated with pleasurable activities like sex and eating.
A post shared by Вяжу 💙 Шапки,Снуды,Кардиганы💙 (@st.kristina.knits) on Jan 23, 2018 at 2:43am PST
It's trendy
Cara Delevingne, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ryan Gosling, Cameron |
broadly as “sour beer” that, until fairly recently, has mostly been the province of serious beer aficionados. The style has been catching on around the United States over the several years, earning increasingly frequent write-ups in popular periodicals and appearing at more and more local breweries — including, now, both Good People and Avondale Brewing.
Sour beer is the result of a brewer intentionally going against the grain of pasteurization and exposing the beer, over a long period of time, to various bacteria that many generations of brewers had painstakingly sought to eradicate from their product. The custom, as with many unusual and unique varieties of beer brewing, is a Belgian one, perfected over many generations. In contrast to the sterile environments maintained in other forms of brewing, sours are fermented over very long periods of time (sometimes up to four years) in wood barrels and made to mingle with bacteria in an almost alchemical process that is distinctly old-world. Sometimes, for instance, the barrels are Burgundy wine barrels, to give the beer an unexpected flavor; in fact, some sours taste more like wine than beer, and they are similarly acidic.
The beers at Avondale’s “Sour Room” and Good People’s “Funk Farm” will also include a kind of subset of this genre, known as “wild ales,” a style that has been cultivated particularly enthusiastically in the United States. It tends to have a sort of musty, yet also wine-like flavor; as with most of the beers in this category, its flavor is very difficult to describe.
The main secret behind wild ales, the common denominator, is often a genus of yeast called Brettanomyces — generally called “Brett” for short. As described by The New York Times, Brett is “a cousin of the domesticated yeasts that humans have brewed with for thousands of years. Often called wild yeast — a reference to its natural habitat (fruit skins) and to its volatile temperament — [it] can lead to unpredictable fermentations and gushing beer bottles, aromas politely described as funky, and fear. Most brewers work hard to keep it out of their tanks by sterilizing every piece of equipment.” Those who brew sours, however, welcome it into their tanks and barrels.
Avondale’s “Sour Room” will occupy a separate building from the rest of the brewery (though this is partly out of necessity, as a brewer wants to avoid the exotic bacteria and yeast strains from sours mixing with the more conventional beers). They were inspired to carry out the project by Wicked Weed, a brewery in Asheville, North Carolina, that has a separate tasting room called the “Funkatorium” where all their wild and sour oddities are served.
The brewery is rolling this project out at a large scale. According to Darnell, they will be “trying to open with 10 to 12. We have 12 taps [in the new, separate tasting room]; not all of them are going to be wild and sours — we’re going to have a couple of clean beers for the people that might not enjoy that but they want to come over here — so we’ll have like a regular saison and tripel, and the others are going to be a mixture between Brettanomyces beers, some kettle sours and some barrel-aged sours as well. So yeah, we’re hoping to at least open with 10 to 12, and then try to keep a good, hopefully eight to 10 at all times — if our production can keep up and handle it, that is.”
The Sour Room is located in the other half of a building that houses the restaurant Wasabi Juan’s, just across the parking lot from Avondale’s sprawling backyard and large brewery and tasting room. Darnell says that they expect to have it open by Friday, August 26, though it may be open sooner if they can put the finishing touches on it in time. Anyhow, according to Darnell, it has been in the making for a long time: “We first started talking about the sour room probably about a year and a half ago, and it probably took us about six months to get planned and in place and we’ve been working on it ever since.”
Meanwhile, across town, the folks at Good People are hard at work on their own offering in this genre, a project that has been dubbed the “Funk Farm” (after that funky scent and the flavors that accompany it). As Good People describes their new offerings, they are “mixed-fermentation sour ales,” fermented with “non-traditional microbes and wild yeast,” and they will be available on a somewhat-regular basis — another of the many idiosyncrasies of sour beers is that they are unpredictable, as to some degree they are at the mercy of the yeasts and microorganisms that make them what they are.
Good People’s sour beers have been waiting a long time to surface as well, as co-founder Jason Malone explained: “We really started curing our first barrels and filling them up in the fall of last year, so October 2015. That’s when we started doing our full-on production; prior to that, we did [research and development], test batches and the like, for about a year or so.”
The Funk Farm’s first offering will be “a sour blonde ale,” said Malone. “The best way to really describe it is that it is a mixed-fermentation sour blonde ale. We aged that for about eight months in oak wine barrels and blended it with raspberries and blackberries.”
The next offering — Good People are rolling theirs out more slowly than Avondale, essentially one at a time — will be a farmhouse ale fermented with Brett yeast. “It was also aged in oak barrels for roughly the same amount of time,” Malone explained. “And this is slightly technical, but during the aging process in the barrel, that’s when the tartness and the sourness and flavor development happens for both beers. That’s why it takes so long: because of the microbiological activity going on in the oak barrels.”
Avondale’s offerings will only be available on tap at the tasting room at first, but they hope to have bottled offerings within about four to six weeks. Good People will be selling their sours in bottles that will also only be available at the brewery itself — at least at first. Both companies intend to scale up their sour beer operations, though, assuming the products are well-received by the buying public.Casting is a Polymorphism Fail
Have you ever seen code that looked like the snippet here?
public class Menagerie { private List _animals = new List(); public void AddAnimal(Animal animal) { _animals.Add(animal); } public void MakeNoise() { foreach (var animal in _animals) { if (animal is Cat) ((Cat)animal).Meow(); else if (animal is Dog) ((Dog)animal).Bark(); } } } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 public class Menagerie { private List _animals = new List ( ) ; public void AddAnimal ( Animal animal ) { _animals. Add ( animal ) ; } public void MakeNoise ( ) { foreach ( var animal in _animals ) { if ( animal is Cat ) ( ( Cat ) animal ). Meow ( ) ; else if ( animal is Dog ) ( ( Dog ) animal ). Bark ( ) ; } } }
You probably have seen code like this, and I hope that it makes you sad. I know it makes me sad. It makes me sad because it’s clearly the result of a fundamental failure to understand (or at least implement) polymorphism. Code written like this follows an inheritance structure, but it completely misses the point of that structure, which is the ability to do this instead:
public class Menagerie { private List _animals = new List(); public void AddAnimal(Animal animal) { _animals.Add(animal); } public void MakeNoise() { foreach (var animal in _animals) animal.MakeNoise(); } } 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 public class Menagerie { private List _animals = new List ( ) ; public void AddAnimal ( Animal animal ) { _animals. Add ( animal ) ; } public void MakeNoise ( ) { foreach ( var animal in _animals ) animal. MakeNoise ( ) ; } }
What’s so great about this? Well, consider what happens if I want to add “Bird” or “Bear” to the mix. In the first example with casting, I have to add a class for my new animal, and then I have to crack open the menagerie class and add code to the MakeNoise() method that figures out how to tell my new animal to make noise. In the second example, I simply have to add the class and override the base class’s MakeNoise() method and Menagerie will ‘magically’ work without any source code changes. This is a powerful step toward the open/closed principle and the real spirit of polymorphism — the ability to add functionality to a system with a minimum amount of upheaval.
But what about more subtle instances of casting? Take the iconic:
public void HandleButtonClicked(object sender, EventArgs e) { var button = (Button)sender; button.Content = "I was clicked!"; } 1 2 3 4 5 public void HandleButtonClicked ( object sender, EventArgs e ) { var button = ( Button ) sender ; button. Content = "I was clicked!" ; }
Is this a polymorphism failure? It can’t be, can it? I mean, this is the pattern for event subscription/handling laid out by Microsoft in the C# programming guide. Surely those guys know what they’re doing.
As a matter of fact, I firmly believe that they do know what they’re doing, but I also believe that this pattern was conceived of and created many moons ago, before the language had some of the constructs that it currently does (like generics and various frameworks) and followed some of the patterns that it currently does. I can’t claim with any authority that the designers of this pattern would ask for a mulligan knowing what they do now, but I can say that patterns like this, especially ones that become near-universal conventions, tend to build up quite a head of steam. That is to say, if we suddenly started writing even handlers with strongly typed senders, a lot of event producing code simply wouldn’t work with what we were doing.
So I contend that it is a polymorphism failure and that casting, in general, should be avoided as much as possible. However, I feel odd going against a Microsoft standard in a language designed by Microsoft. Let’s bring in an expert on the matter. Eric Lippert, principal developer on the C# compiler team, had this to say in a stack overflow post:
Both kinds of casts are red flags. The first kind of cast raises the question “why exactly is it that the developer knows something that the compiler doesn’t?” If you are in that situation then the better thing to do is usually to change the program so that the compiler does have a handle on reality. Then you don’t need the cast; the analysis is done at compile time.
The “first kind” of cast he’s referring to is one he defines earlier in his post as one where the developer “[knows] the runtime type of this expression but the compiler does not know it.” That is the kind that I’m discussing here, which is why I chose that specific portion of his post. In our case, the developer knows that “sender” is a button but the compiler does not know that. Eric’s point, and one with which I wholeheartedly agree, is “why doesn’t the compiler know it and why don’t we do our best to make that happen?” It just seems like a bad idea to run a reality deficit between yourself and the compiler as you go. I mean, I know that the sender is a button. You know the sender is a button. The method knows the sender is a button (if we take its name, containing “ButtonClicked” at face value). Maintainers know the sender is a button. Why does everyone know sender is a button except for the compiler, who has to be explicitly and awkwardly informed in spite of being the most knowledgeable and important party in this whole situation?
But I roll all of this into a broader point about a polymorphic approach in general. If we think of types as hierarchical (inheritance) or composed (interface implementation), then there’s some exact type that suits my needs. There may be more than one, but there will be a best one. When writing a method and accepting parameters, I should accept as general a type as possible without needing to cast so that I can be of the most service. When returning something, I should be as specific as possible to give clients the most options. But when I talk about “possible” I’m talking about not casting.
If I start casting, I introduce error possibilities, but I also necessarily introduce a situation where I’m treating an object as two different things in the same scope. This isn’t just jarring from a readability perspective — it’s a maintenance problem. Polymorphism allows me to care only about some public interface specification and not implementation details — as long as the thing I get has the public API I need, I don’t really care about any details. But as soon as I have to understand enough about an object to understand that it’s actually a different object masquerading as the one I want, polymorphism is right out the window and I suddenly depend on knowing the intricate relationship details of the class in question. Now I break not only if my direct collaborators change, but also if some inheritance hierarchy or interface hierarchy I’m not even aware of changes.
The reason I’m posting all of this isn’t to suggest that casting should never happen. Clearly sometimes it’s necessary, particularly if it’s forced on you by some API or framework. My hope though is that you’ll look at it with more suspicion — as a “red flag”, in the words of Eric Lippert. Are you casting because it’s forced on you by external factors, or are you casting to communicate with the compiler? Because if it’s the latter, there are other, better ways to achieve the desired effect that will leave your code more elegant, understandable, and maintainable.What is a Planetary Annihilation PTE?
PTE is probably a term you’ve heard thrown about if you’ve been anywhere in the Planetary Annihilation community. It stands for Public Test Environment and refers to an environment where Uber Entertainment release upcoming changes to the community to allow them to try them out ahead of being released to stable. Feedback from the community about these change are then incorporated into further PTE builds in a cycle of continual improvement. Finally, when the bugs have been quashed and Uber are happy with the state of the changes it’s turned into a patch for stable.
Think of PTE as a beta of the next patch.
What changes are in the PTE?
A Planetary Annihilation PTE can contain bugfixes, new features and enhancements, even new units.
You can find a full list of changes, both current and upcoming, on the Wiki.
How do I access the PTE?
This will depend on whether you’re using the Uber Launcher or Steam.
Steam
Steam users will opt-in to PTE as they would any other beta.
Open your Steam library Right-click Planetary Annihilation Click on Properties Select the Betas tab In the drop down list select the pte entry Click close The game will now download some additional files Navigate to /steamapps/common/Planetary Annihilation Titans/ Open the text file version.txt Replace the contents with “110552” (no quotes). This will allow you to play with stable version players. Launch the game
For more information on Steam product betas I recommend this excellent guide.
Uber Launcher
Log into the Uber Launcher Click on your username Select Build Options… from the drop down Check PTE Save Change Stream from stable to PTE Click Verify Once the download has completed navigate to the launcher’s PTE directory Open the text file version.txt Replace the contents with “105067” (no quotes). This will allow you to play with stable version players. Click Play
Conclusion
Using the PTE will allow you to be part of shaping the future of Planetary Annihilation. You should be prepared for bugs, weird balance issues, and a smaller online crowd (though Community Chat can help with that). Still, it’s where you want to be if you’re the type who likes the bleeding edge.
Hopefully this makes all those mysterious PTE references clearer. If you have any questions then leave them in the comments section below.Members of a panel advising the British Columbia government on climate change say they're concerned that the province has not moved forward on recommendations for meeting climate goals.
Seven people on the climate change leadership team have signed an open letter to Premier Christy Clark, saying the province is in "no position to delay or scale back efforts."
The letter, signed by Matt Horne from the Pembina Institute and Merran Smith from Clean Energy Canada, says carbon pollution in B.C. is increasing, and instead of being a leader on climate change, the province is adding to the problem.
The team was appointed by the provincial government last year to help shape B.C.'s climate plan, and released a report in November making 32 recommendations, including lowering the provincial sales tax to six per cent from seven per cent.
The report said the lower PST rates could be offset by increased carbon taxes, and concluded the province will fail to meet its legislated greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2020.
The open letter says the group is concerned because the province originally committed to providing a draft climate plan by the end of last year, but the draft has since been scrapped and the deadline for the final plan has been pushed back to June.
Members say the province must commit to a plan for climate change soon in order to give residents and businesses time to get organized.
"We want to see the province reach its climate targets. Delay only increases those costs and makes it harder to succeed," the letter says.
Recommendations from the November report would not only help get the province back on track in terms of its climate targets, the letter says, but also create jobs, stimulate innovation and protect B.C. businesses.
"The actions we take to increasingly shift to clean energy in the province will also help position B.C. to provide the solutions the world needs."
In addition to Horne and Smith, team members who signed the open letter are: Chief Ian Campbell from the Squamish Nation; Chief Michelle Edwards from the Cayoose Creek Band; Tom Pedersen, an oceanography professor at the University of Victoria; Tzeporah Berman, an adjunct professor in York University's faculty of environmental studies; and Nancy Olewiler, a professor in Simon Fraser University's school of public policy.TRENTON a Gov. Chris Christie has signed into law a bill that will allow virtually anyone who ever wore a badge to carry a firearm in New Jersey after they retire.
The new bill, signed Thursday, substantially adds to the list of those who can carry firearms in New Jersey to virtually all former uniformed law enforcement officers.
Previously, only interstate, state and local police officers, county sheriff's deputies or corrections officers and state or or county park police officers were allowed to continue to carry their firearms into retirement.
"We've had many instances where retired law enforcement officers have stepped in to save lives in emergencies" said state Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-Monmouth), one of the bill's sponsors. "With this law, we're expanding that pool of qualified people."
Not all lawmakers went along with the expansion willingly.
Where every candidate for governor stands on guns
"There's no solid reason for this," said former state Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex), who voted against the bill in the upper house, where it passed in May by a vote of 28-6.
Codey, a former governor, questioned whether low-risk professions like park rangers and revenue agents ought to be toting firearms after handing in their badges.
"When, during their performances of duty, did they have to use a gun?" Codey asked. "Rarely, if ever.... It just expands the number of people who are out there with guns, and that never ends up to anything good."
On Thursday, O'Scanlon blasted Codey's opposition to the law.
"I can't think of a more ignorant statement," O'Scanlon said. "What the hell is there to argue with here? It's a slap into he face of these well-trained retired officers that he belittles their skill, training and dedication."
Under a federal law enacted in 2004, the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA) qualified retired law enforcement officers are permitted to carry a concealed firearm in most jurisdictions in the United States.
But in 2005, the New Jersey attorney general determined that it "not alter the obligation of retired New Jersey law enforcement officers to comply" with state laws proscribing who can carry a firearm.
The new law now also applies to retired police officers of the state park police, special agents of the Division of Taxation, Department of Human Services, NJ Transit, campus police officers employed by higher education institutions, state conservation officers, Palisades Interstate park police officers, housing authority police officers, juvenile corrections officers, parole officers and even full time Burlington County Bridge police officers.
They can all to continue to carry a gun in retirement, until age 75. However, all such officers must qualify semiannually on firearms proficiency exam.
Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.PHOENIX (May 12, 2017) – Phoenix Rising FC (2-3-0) finishes its four-match home stand this Saturday, May 13, against OKC Energy FC (1-3-1) at the Phoenix Rising Soccer Complex. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and gates open at 6 p.m.
Tickets for the match are still available and can be purchased at www.PHXRisingFC.com. Fans can also watch the match live locally on YurView Arizona Cox Channels 7 & 1007 (HD) or online at www.PHXRisingFC.com.
Phoenix Rising FC comes off a tough loss in front of its home crowd. The club fell to Reno 1868 FC, 4-0, on Saturday, May 6. Reno’s Dane Kelly notched a hat trick in the match, scoring his first two goals within the first 10 minutes of the match. Despite great chances from
forward Chris Cortez and midfielder Alessandro Riggi, Phoenix Rising FC couldn’t get on the scoresheet.
OKC Energy FC had a similarly rough time in its last match, a 3-0 loss to Rio Grande Valley Toros FC. Goals have come few and far between for Energy FC: they have scored just three times in their first five matches. Midfielder José
Barril is the player to watch for. He leads the club in chances created with seven.
Phoenix Rising FC comes into the matches 2-3-2 against Energy FC all time. The two clubs met just once last season, a 0-0 draw at Peoria on May 7.
Game 6 – Phoenix Rising FC vs. OKC Energy FC
Date: Saturday, May 13, 2017
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m., Arizona
Stadium: Phoenix Rising Soccer Complex (Scottsdale, AZ)
All-time Series: Phoenix Rising FC is 2-3-2 in the series.
Watch:
PHXRisingFC.com
USL Match Center
Social Media Information:
Twitter: @PHXRisingFC
Snapchat: PHXRisingFC
Facebook: Phoenix Rising FC
Instagram: @PHXRisingFC
Hashtags: #RisingAsOne, #PHXvOKCThe Russians did it with 'fake news' planted in hundreds of alternative media sites!
'Neo-McCarthey hysteria
Mainstream press trying to deflect from Clinton's pathetic second presidential loss
(NaturalNews) You have to believe that the managing editors at the Washington Post saved the tin foil from their Thanksgiving meal office party so they could issue it out as headgear for their reporting staff.Because only tin foil hat-wearing conspiracy nuts posing as journalists would churn out the kind kooky theory the paper published over the holiday as a legitimate "news" story.It seems like any independent media outlet that actually reports that truth – that would include ours, by the way – is really just a Russian intelligence asset working for Moscow.You can't make this stuff up.As noted by Zero Hedge, the Post is continuing the crumbling establishment media post-presidential election narrative that its chosen nominee, Hillary Clinton, only lost the election to Donald J. Trump because of "fake news" and "the Russians stole the election."The Post cited "two teams of independent researchers" to claim that "Russia's increasingly sophisticated propaganda machinery...echoed and amplified right-wing sites across the Internet as they portrayed Clinton as a criminal..." The paper further names Drudge, Zero Hedge, the Ron Paul Institute and Natural News, among many others.Consider us a part of the throng of "useful idiots" that real American patriots should be leery of.Citing a report from some group called PropOrNot listing more than 200 web sites that supposedly pushed Russian propaganda routinely to more than 15 million Americans, the Post – without irony – declared that somehow constituted "scientific evidence" of Russian election-tampering:But then the Post story includedpassage:So, which is it, boys and girls at the Post – Russiatilt the election in Trump's favor or itThat can be addressed easily, as it has already been answered. Not mentioned in the Post article is the fact that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose site released a trove of emails hacked from the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, has said the documents did not come from Moscow "The Clinton camp has been able to project a neo-McCarthyist hysteria that Russia is responsible for everything," he said in denouncing the Clinton campaign's accusations. ""Hillary Clinton has stated multiple times, falsely, that 17 U.S. intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That's false—we can say that the Russian government is not the source."But to the Post and the sycophants in the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign,. The absurdity of that allegation is only surpassed by its comical nature.Several things.First, you'll note from the Post report that there is no evidence of Russian tampering using "fake news " planted in sites like ours, mind you – just goofy conspiratorialunder the facade of "scientific research." That's what we like to call the "Harry Reid Factor" - just throw out unsubstantiated charges no one can prove or disprove and hope they stick You'll also note that the Post got to decide the'research' it cited came from groups it also decided on its own were 'independent.' We don't know that; for all we know, these groups could be filled with some of the most Left-wing activists in the country.For another thing, Russian propaganda did not start with this election – and it won't end with it, either. Even the Post acknowledged that. The Russians – then the Soviets – have attempted to "undermine" American democracy for decades during the Cold War. That didn't stop with the collapse of the former Soviet Union. So the assertion that all of a sudden Russia is attempting to subvert U.S. democracy is just stupid, and it makes you wonder if this would even be a "story" if Clinton had, in fact, won.And why does Russian President Vladimir Putin have so much animus against Hillary Clinton? By all accounts their meetings when she was Obama's secretary of state went alright; in fact, only meetings between Putin and Obama go badly. The Post never bothered to explain this, either, claiming generically that there was some Russian "goal of punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton" while "helping Republican Donald Trump."Furthermore, why does Putin want to 'help'? It only makes sense that no matter who is in the Oval Office, an American president will pursue policies that are in our country's best interests (Obama was the exception), and those generally do not align with Russian interests. Trump has given every indication he is willing to work to repair U.S.-Russian relations, but Clinton did not. Could that be the reason? Trump's approach is the right one because what sense does it make to have raucous relationships with a major nuclear power if you don't have to?The Post's wild conspiracy theory about "fake news planted by the Russians" is nothing more than a childish attempt to deflect from Clinton's pathetic second loss in her bid for the White House – and the establishment media's inability to push her over the finish line.But we'll have great sport poking fun at the Post and others for making such a claim with a straight face. And don't forget, you can always access truth sites via GoodGopher.comFORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – In the most recent LNG setback, Christy Clark and the Liberals have been dealt another blow in efforts to get LNG moving in British Columbia.
Earlier this year, in May, Fortis announced it signed an agreement to provide LNG gas from BC to the Hawaiian islands. In order to complete the deal, it would have required a major expansion at the Delta facility.
But on Tuesday of this week, Hawaiian Electric announced that they were pulling out of the deal. The company decided to withdraw applications for LNG with Fortis Hawaii Energy Inc., which is a Fortis subsidiary and they also scrapped what was a plan to upgrade one of their plants to use natural gas.
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Christy Clark and the Liberals were hopeful that this deal would be of great potential.
In an article posted by The Province, they say that Hawaii had set a goal of supplying all of its electricity from renewable sources by 2045. Allegedly, one of the reasons the Hawaiian company rejected the deal was concern that the new company would not be able to meet clean-energy requirements.Reports in Congressional Quarterly and the New York Times indicate that a National Security Agency (NSA) wiretap authorized by the FISA Court recorded Rep. Jane Harman trading political favors with a suspected Israeli agent. When the FBI attempted to open a criminal investigation into the matter, Attorney General Gonzales allegedly intervened because he "'needed Jane' to help support the administration's warrantless wiretapping program."
Here was EFF's initial reaction to the scandal, as reported by ABC News:
The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has been fighting legal battles against the Bush administration and now the Obama administration related to NSA wiretapping, called the story "a textbook case of political abuse of surveillance powers, but in reverse." Instead of the Bush administration spying on its enemies for political ends, "this is an instance of them directing surveillance away from their allies for political ends," observed EFF's Kevin Bankston. "What other insider deals it may have struck to gather support for its policies? What other political allies has it protected against criminal or intelligence investigations for political reasons?" he asked. "This raises serious questions about how the Bush administration conducted itself."
Now, in the wake of the scandal, Rep. Harman has pulled an abrupt about-face in her position on NSA wiretapping. Speaking to MSNBC this morning she said:
I'm just very disappointed that my country — I'm an American citizen just like you are — could have permitted what I think is a gross abuse of power in recent years. I'm one member of Congress who may be caught up in it, but I have a bully pulpit, and I can fight back. I'm thinking about others who have no bully pulpit, and may not be aware — as I was not — that right now, somewhere, someone's listening in on their conversations, and they're innocent Americans.
This is a real change of tune for Rep. Harman. Over the past few years, she has been one of the warrantless wiretapping program's most relentless cheerleaders. Yesterday, Glenn Greenwald aptly summarized her efforts:
So, when countless ordinary Americans are being wiretapped without warrants, Harman declares the program "both necessary and legal." But when Harman herself is victim to a court-approved wiretap, she decides it's "a gross abuse of power"? You can draw your own conclusions, but to us this seems the height of hypocrisy.
These latest revelations shed new light on the underhanded tactics that the Bush Administration was willing to employ to conceal its illegal spying operation and protect it from oversight. It raises serious questions about what other efforts the Bush Administration undertook to shore up Congressional support for its illegal warrantless wiretapping program. This is yet another demonstration of why Congress must strengthen its oversight of the NSA’s spying operations and reconsider the broad expansions to the government’s surveillance authority that it passed last summer as part of the FISA Amendments Act.KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Let’s all gather, one last time, and say this together: The Royals have no chance to win the World Series.
There. It’s done. Now they can go ahead and win it.
It’s only fair to doubt them one last time. The Royals were not supposed to play in the 2014 World Series, but they did. They were not supposed to win the 2015 American League Central, and they clinched in, like, May. They were not supposed to come back in Game 4 of the Division Series against the Astros, but they did that, too, and they were not supposed to have the bats to match Joey Bats and the Blue Jays, but of course they eliminated Toronto.
And now the Mets are finding out what the AL saw all season: The Royals are the most complete team in baseball—a relentless, disciplined, well-managed (really!) team that wears out even the best of opponents.
The Royals don’t just beat opposing pitchers; they convince them to swallow their tongues. Kansas City’s 7–1 Game 2 win illustrated how maddening the Royals can be for opponents: They scored four runs in the fifth inning without an extra-base hit.
It was one pin-prick after another: Walk, single, single, single, single. It almost seemed lucky, except that the Royals do this all the time. They are the best contact-hitting team in the major leagues. As reserve outfielder Jonny Gomes said Wednesday night, they have a rare combination of skills: They swing early in the count, but they don’t swing at bad pitches. The result is that the ball is so often in play.
That is bad news for a Mets team with lousy infield defense and young, worn-out starters. In Game 2, staff ace Jacob deGrom was not quite as sharp as he normally is. As Game 1 wore on, Matt Harvey looked tired. This is what you would expect from young starters who have never pitched this deep into a season, and it’s why the season is more likely to end in New York in the next three games than with a Mets championship.
If the Mets had drawn the Blue Jays in the Series, they might be in better shape. Toronto is a more potent hitting team than the Royals, but the Mets showed against the Cubs that they can beat a team like that.
The Royals? Their pitching coach, Dave Eiland, summed up their lineup pretty well Wednesday: “Those guys,” he said, “are pains in the butt.”
How balanced are the Royals? They had a.321 on-base percentage against righties and.323 against lefties. They slugged.406 against lefties and.416 against righties. Their designated hitter, Kendrys Morales, is a switch-hitter. Their No. 3 hitter, Lorenzo Cain, led the team in stolen bases. How often do you see that? They had one real weakness, second base, and they turned it into a strength by acquiring Ben Zobrist.
Then there is the manager, Ned Yost, who makes some nutty decisions and gives you the impression he is just along for the ride. It seems pretty clear at this point that people won’t appreciate Yost until he is gone. He excels in two areas: knowing his players and trusting them when the time is right.
Royals fans can pick apart Yost’s in-game decisions, but he may have won Game 2, and effectively this series, simply by the way he set his rotation. Johnny Cueto has not been the Royals’ second-best starter, but Yost started him in Game 2 for a really smart reason: He did not want the mercurial Cueto pitching before a raucous, heckling crowd in New York. He knew if Cueto had a Kansas City crowd behind him, he might look like an ace again. Cueto was magnificent in Game 2. His next start will be Game 6, in Kansas City—or, you know, next year.
“This is one of the closest-knit groups I’ve ever been around,” said Eiland.
Eric Hosmer said that, after his fielding error in Game 1, he went back to the bench and his teammates picked up his spirits immediately. Players can say all the right things in that situation, but it takes strong relationships for the words to sink in. That’s not all Yost’s doing. But some of it sure is.
This World Series is only two games old, but it is starting to feel like the 2008, ’07 and ’06 Series. In each of those years, a surprising young team surged into the World Series, lost early and seemed to accept its fate before the final pitch. The 2008 Rays were the ultimate feel-good story until losing in five to the Phillies. The 2007 Rockies swept two playoff series before getting swept by the veteran Red Sox. The 2006 Tigers emerged from the wilderness of losing and made it all the way to the World Series, only to lose to the Cardinals in five games.
The Mets can still avoid that kind of ending. But it’s hard to see how, unless their starting pitchers regain their form. A year after stunning the baseball world with their run to the World Series, and six months after many experts predicted them to finish with a losing record, the Royals are the surest, steadiest team in the game.
These Royals are reminiscent of the 1996–2001 Yankees, a team that had no holes, incredible plate discipline, exceptional relief pitching and a belief that they would find some way to win in the postseason.
“[Our hitters] grind you down,” said pitcher Chris Young, who pitched in long relief in Game 1 and is scheduled to start Game 4 in New York. “It’s one tough at-bat after the next, and you have to be on your game with every pitch. It’s such a well-balanced lineup, and there’s a lot of different threats from a lot of different angles. That’s why we’re here.”
It’s why they’re going to New York with a 2–0 lead, and why Kansas City |
and for how long it was pre-installed on machines - and what data was collected.
The company told the BBC in a statement: "Lenovo removed Superfish from the preloads of new consumer systems in January 2015. At the same time Superfish disabled existing Lenovo machines in the market from activating Superfish.
Complaining
"Superfish was preloaded on to a select number of consumer models only. Lenovo is thoroughly investigating all and any new concerns raised regarding Superfish."
Users began complaining about Superfish in Lenovo's forums in the autumn, and the firm told the BBC that it was shipped "in a short window from October to December to help customers potentially discover interesting products while shopping".
User feedback, it acknowledged, "was not positive".
Last month, forum administrator Mark Hopkins told users that "due to some issues (browser pop up behaviour, for example)", the company had "temporarily removed Superfish from our consumer systems until such time as Superfish is able to provide a software build that addresses these issues".
He added it had requested that Superfish issue an auto-update for "units already in market".
Image copyright Other Image caption Was Superfish given permission to issue its own certificates?
Superfish was designed to help users find products by visually analysing images on the web to find the cheapest ones.
Such adware is widely regarded in the industry as a form of malware because of the way it interacts with a person's laptop or PC.
Security expert from Surrey University Prof Alan Woodward said: "It is annoying. It is not acceptable. It pops up adverts that you never asked for. It is like Google on steroids.
"This bit of software is particularly naughty. People have shown that it can basically intercept everything and it could be really misused."
According to security experts, it appears that Lenovo had given Superfish permission to issue its own certificates, allowing it to collect data over secure web connections, known in malware parlance as a man-in-the-middle attack.
"If someone went to, say, the Bank of America then Superfish would issue its own certificate pretending to be the Bank of America and intercept whatever you are sending back and forth," said Prof Woodward.
Ken Westin, senior analyst at security company Tripwire, agreed: "If the findings are true and Lenovo is installing their own self-signed certificates, they have not only betrayed their customers' trust, but also put them at increased risk."
Clean install
Although Lenovo has said that it has removed Superfish from new machines and disabled it from others, it was unclear what the situation would be for machines where it had already been activated.
Prof Woodward said: "Lenovo is being very coy about this but it needs to explain how long it has been doing this, what the scale is and where all the data it has collected is being stored.
"There will be remnants of it left on machines and Lenovo does not ship the disks that allow people to do a clean install."
It raises wider questions about the deals that computer manufacturers do with third parties and the amount of software that comes pre-installed on machines.
Mr Westin said: "With increasingly security and privacy-conscious buyers, laptop and mobile phone manufacturers may well be doing themselves a disservice by seeking outdated advertising based monetisation strategies."
Users were particularly angry that they had not been told about the adware.
One Lenovo forum user said: "It's not like they stuck it on the flier saying... we install adware on our computers so we can profit from our customers by using hidden software.
"However, I now know this. I now will not buy any Lenovo laptop again."
The problem also caused a storm on Twitter, where both Lenovo and Superfish were among the most popular discussion topics.By Riot Aeon
When we first sat down to plan out our priorities for updating the Rift, we knew performance would necessarily be one of our primary challenges. After all, what good is a spiffy update if your toaster explodes during loading? With that in mind, we set a goal of ensuring that the update to Summoner’s Rift performs at least as well as current SR on every player’s machine. We’ve continued to work on optimization since announcing the update, and want to take some time now to discuss the latest details with you.
Engineering Art
Usually, when players think about how a game performs on their rig, they mostly look at the game’s tech. In reality, performance involves tight collaboration between artists and engineers, aimed at finding ways to implement art in an efficient fashion. When it comes to the update to Summoner’s Rift, our engineers have worked to provide the artists with the tools and information they need to create a landscape that can be both visually appealing and high-performing.
The art team’s goal of increasing visual fidelity while maintaining performance parity with pre-update SR meant they needed a minimal set of highly-optimized features that would then allow them to create a hand-painted map. Essentially, this meant the engineering team needed to build a new, high performance renderer from scratch.
Broadly, a renderer is responsible for placing game geometry onto your screen, and the new renderer for SR simplifies the process in ways that lead to higher performance, especially on older video cards. Additionally, it allows us to more finely tune the specifics of how a particular machine’s video card renders the environment, and tuning = speed = performance. Finally, the renderer gives us greater control over the map’s texture formats, allowing us to reduce video memory usage.
Less is More
Beyond engineering optimization, our artists also sought creative ways to save on performance. One of the early things we looked at was “polygon count,” especially that of of jungle creatures. We know most of you know this, but as a reminder, a polygon is a series of points in space that join together to create a surface.
In particular, we look at triangles, the simplest polygons. Multiple triangles are often used to create complex surfaces in games, and the number of them on screen is a good indicator of how much work your video card has to do. In particular, lower-spec machines are heavily impacted as triangle counts rise. We’ve made a conscious effort to cut down on triangles (and polygons in general) while designing the update, which has provided substantial savings on performance.
We also looked at “bone count.” Think of “bones” like joints in a skeleton, in that they influence things around them when they move or rotate. In the case of computer graphics, a bone allows for articulation (or animation) of geometry around it, so a jungle monster might have bones placed at various points in order to help animate its movement or attacks. As you’d expect, fewer bones = better performance, so we built the update with an eye towards minimizing bones in the environment’s moving elements.
These two improvements actually contributed to yet another opportunity for performance optimization. We noticed that map elements like towers and minions were pretty inefficient when “deforming” (i.e. moving their polygons in response to bone movement), with far more bone-polygon connections than would be necessary using the update’s new architecture. The bone and polygon trimming we mentioned earlier led naturally into slashing the number of bones connected to individual polygons, allowing for significant performance savings on what tends to be a performance-intensive process.
Smaller than the Sum of its Parts
Another major step we took to address performance involved implementing a process called “Atlassing.” This process combines “texturing” (painting a model’s skin) with “UV mapping” (projecting the texture on to the 3D model) in a way that optimizes a bit better for performance.
A model’s UV space determines how it reads the texture and what parts of the texture will show up on what surface. Normally there’s excess space between the UVs, and a model and its texture will look something like this:
Atlassing combines multiple textures into one larger texture that we can then compress or expand depending on the level of detail we want, which is invaluable when it comes to conserving precious memory usage on textures. For instance, instead of loading five 1024x1024 textures, we can use just one 2048x2048 texture and save a bit on performance.
All the Little Things Too
Hopefully we’ve been able to provide some insight into some of the stuff that’ll be going on under the hood once the Rift’s new look hits live. What we’ve covered above definitely isn’t an exhaustive list of our performance-related efforts - from character inking changes, fog of war improvements, nav-mesh streamlining to general bug fixing - we’ve been vigilant for any opportunity to optimize. From the outset, toaster compatibility has been one of our top goals with the update, and it’s something we’ll continue to keep an eye on and fine tune as we move towards open beta and beyond.Teresa Giudice has not missed a beat since being released from Danbury Federal Correctional Institution after just over eleven months behind bars.
On Wednesday she spent the day catching up with husband Joe and their four daughters - Gia, Gabriella, Milania and Audrina - after arriving back at her Montville, New Jersey mansion.
And on Thursday, it was back to work, as the reality star and cookbook author got in full hair and makeup before posing for some Christmas Eve family photos and then heading off to brother Joe Gorga's house so she could start filming for the upcoming season of Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Teresa looked radiant in the photos, putting on a brave face despite knowing this would be the last time the entire family would be together at home for the holidays with Joe set to start a 41-month prison sentence next year.
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Reunited: Teresa Giudice took family photos with her four daughters Gia, Gabriella, Milania and Audrina
True love: She also posed for some snaps with her husband Joe on Christmas Eve
Press clippings: Teresa and her daughter Milania look over some magazines in her walk-in closet
Putting on the ritz: Teresa was also reunited with her longtime makeup artist makeup artist Priscilla DiStasio on Thursday
Lady in red: Teresa has not missed a beat getting back into her professional and family duties since being released
Queen Tre: Teresa also managed to get some shots of herself alone in her outfit for the night
Radar Online was the first to report earlier this week that Joe and his wife Melissa would be hoisting a Christmas Eve party where cameras would be rolling for the Bravo reality show.
A source said that the 43-year-old reality star and her husband 'will bring their kids, and spend no more than two hours at her brother’s house, before going home for a much quieter holiday gathering.
'Teresa’s parents are expected to be at that one and it won’t be filmed.'
The source also said that Melissa 'is excited to see Teresa for the first time in almost a year because she didn’t visit her sister-in-law while she was in prison.'
Sad: It will be the last time Joe spends the holidays with the family at their home as he is set to start a 41-month prison sentence next year
Fashion police: The always opinionated Milania assists her mother in picking out a dress
Options: Teresa eventually decided on a distressed red coat to wear that she had previously worn on the program
Priorities: After getting herself ready, Teresa helped her daughter Milania into her leopard shrug
Girls aloud: The four Giudice sisters pose for a solo shot before heading out for the evening
Full face: Teresa's makeup for the evening also seemed to suggest she would be filming
Teresa has had a bit of a tumultuous relationship with her brother and sister-in-law in the past, but everyone seems to have banded together and stopped fighting after Teresa was sentenced to 15 months in prison last October on charges of fraud and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
That may no longer be the case however following an odd incident that played out last night over social media and caught fans of the show a bit by surprise.
During the Christmas Eve party Melissa posted a photo of the entire Giudice family together for the first time since Teresa's release, including Joe and Teresa's mother and father and all seven of their grandchildren.
That photo was suddenly removed from Melissa's Instagram very soon after, but not before some were able to take grabs of the image.
Oh Christmas tree: The Giudices over-the-top Christmas decorations, and Teresa's dislike of Sprinkle cookies, were a major part of New Jersey's holiday episodes
Persuasion: Teresa shows off her amazing figure in this photo that seems to be an attempt to recreate the cover art of a Jane Austen book
Pussycat doll: Giudice goes classic in these solo shots, posing with her feet crossed and an one hand on her hip
New phone, who dis?: Milania plays with a phone while her mother gets the finishing touches on her makeup
Stand by your man: It would seem that the earlier Joe could go to prison would be in April after his wife is off of home detention
Bonding: Teresa and Gabriella have a conversation about cell phones that Milania seems largely disinterested in hearing
Teresa had filmed some scenes with her family prior to Christmas Eve, with the Bravo crews documenting her release and the moment she was reunited with her children and husband.
She arrived home just after 7am in full makeup and with her hair perfectly straightened in jeans, black boots and what appeared to be a peplum leather jacket.
She was greeted by the girls and Joe, who appeared to be coming from a workout session in the gym he constructed inside a garage on the property.
Filming will be a bit of a problem for Teresa during her parole period, which is why filming at the Christmas Eve party was such a good idea for the Housewives star.
For the remaining months of her 15 month sentence she will be on home detention and only allowed to leave for things like pre-approved trips to see the doctor nor dentist or attend church services.
She can also go to see family whenever she wants, meaning that her house and the Gorga house are the two places she can go and get filmed without running the risk of getting in trouble.
Kids: Oldest daughter Gia and Youngest daughter Audriana with their mother
Special time: Family is always important in the Giudice household
Somebody said you got a new friend: Teresa stands in a corner in this photo, maybe dancing on her own
Hotline bling: Milania seems to be a huge fan of this gold phone which she takes with her everywhere
Pretty party: Gia puts on earrings, Teresa gets some more makeup and Milania is on her phone
Get in on this: Milania looks at her phone, then stops briefly to get her mom to look at her phone
Spray and go: Teresa gets the final touches while Milania continues to battle her phone in a staring contest
If the list of acceptable family members extends to her cousins she could also film at the homes of Kathy Wakile and Rosie Pierri.
Kathy and Rosie only appeared as friends of the Housewives in the most recent season so it is not clear what role they will play in the upcoming season.
Starting February 5, Teresa will be free to roam as she pleases and to wherever she pleases due to time served for good behavior, though it is likely that it will be around that time that Joe is sent to start his prison sentence.
There is also a chance that Joe, who was born in Italy, could be deported after he is released.
Teresa will also remain on supervised release for two years starting on February 5 of next year.
Let's hit the road: Audriana is ready to get going at this point in the evening
Tough choice: Milania looks up from her phone for long enough to veto this rd dress
Still got it: Teresa gives her complete looks a once over in the mirror
Show night: Almost every Real Housewives cast member hires a professional artist to do their makeup when they film
Curl here: Touch ups to teresa's hair, which did not lose its shine in prison
She wears the pants: Teresa used to almost always were skirts and dresses, but has been wearing pants more often these days
Call me: Milania is on her cell phone
That February release from home detention also allows her to travel which is why she will be releasing her highly anticipated memoir Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate to Back Again that same month.
This is all assuming she stays out of trouble and on the right side of the law, something that became an issue as soon as she pulled into her driveway on Wednesday.
A brand new 2016 Lexus LX570 was waiting for her, worth an estimated $90,000 and with a red ribbon on top.
It is reported to be a gift from Joe, despite the fact that they still owe the state of New Jersey $414,588 in court-ordered restitution on charges of conspiracy and fraud.THANE: A 15-year-old boy was sent to a juvenile home for stalking his classmate. According to the police, the accused and victim studied together and the boy was infatuated with the girl since a few months and used to stalk her.The accused has followed the victim several times too. Fed up with this, the girl lodged a complaint with the police on Saturday. The boy was arrested an hour later from his house. ''The boy was stalking the girl since June last year. He used to follow her where ever she went. He also used to stare at her,'' said a police official.The accused has been sent to a juvenile home in Bhiwandi where he is being counseled.Meanwhile, the police feel that parents, too, need to keep an eye on their kid's movements. ''Parents must check their children's mobile phone and should know their friend's circle. If they are in wrong company or doing something that is not right, the kids should be counseled,'' a senior police official said.According to Section 354 (d), the police have the right to book anyone for stalking a girl/woman.The official said that such behaviour now has an hawk eye of law book and section 354 (d) which has been amended gives the police a right to book any one for stalking any girl/woman. If the girl's woman notice any boy of following any one his intention can been clarified with that he is intended to molest/tease the girl/woman and now with the new amended they can been booked irrespective of the age. "Parents need to check their children's mobile bag and text messages and about their company and correct them if they are going wrong," said a senior police official.Vijay Doiphode, a social worker with Tata Institute of Social Science's programme of resource cell for Juvenile justice said, "We deal with the counselling of the juveniles sent to juvenile home. In 99 per cent of such cases, the boy and girl are in a relationship. However, once they are caught, the girl claims that the boy was stalking her. The boy then lands in trouble for no fault of his. Parents play a very important role in the life of a teenager. If the child is given proper counseling and advice at the right time then many incidents can be averted."To follow a woman and contact, or attempt to contact such woman to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such woman; or monitor the use by a woman of the internet, email or any other form of electronic communication. There are exceptions to this section which include such act being in course of preventing or detecting a crime authorised by State or in compliance of certain law or was reasonable and justified.Israeli buses regularly make international headlines, be it for suicide bombings, fights over gender segregation, or clashes concerning Shabbat schedules. One particular ill-fated megastructure, however, has been at the nexus of various lesser-publicized conflicts: a building in Tel Aviv designed to be the largest bus station in the world.
At 2.5 million square feet, the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station was the product of a grand vision to build an indoor micro-metropolis. Its expansive plans featured a shopping mall with thousands of stores, services and entertainment offerings. The structure even came to house a (now deserted) subterranean theater, originally meant to entertain people waiting for their bus.
This vision gave way to a darker reality, resulting in what reporter Yochai Maital describes as “a derelict eight-story behemoth and modern day Tower of Babel, which mirrors much of modern Israeli history, with its grand vision and messy implementation.”
Though construction began in the 1960s, the building would not be inaugurated until decades later. The station was initially designed by Ram Karmi in 1967 but eventually completed in 1993 by architects Yael Rothshild and Moti Bodek. The project became something of a white elephant, a nickname recognized rather overtly during the opening ceremony when a white elephant balloon dropped in on the festivities.
The layout is intentionally confusing, a “multi-central” maze of misleading corridors, dark spaces and many now-abandoned places. The perplexing floor plans were inspired by Jerusalem’s historic Old City. The architect wanted the building to look and feel like a system of small alleyways, disorienting but cozy and familiar. In some sense, it has been successful; the building feels to many quite like a labyrinth, and even people who work there get lost sometimes within its walls.
Today, entire sections of the structure are uninhabited or used only for illicit purposes; old shops and winding halls conceal sex workers, drug sellers, rave throwers and others who appreciate the winding darkness.
The station was made to accommodate an order of magnitude more passengers than it actually has, oversized for its city. The failure of this building can be traced (at least in part) to overly ambitious developers, as well as oversold investors who bought into the dream.
Its architects envisioned the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station as a climate-controlled “city under a roof” and, in a way, that is what it has become: it has a lot of things that work, but it also contains those sad, scary and derelict places found in any urban environment.
This episode was originally produced for Israel Story, the English-language version of the popular Israeli radio program Sipur Israeli, which is distributed by PRX and produced in partnership with Tablet.(CNN) When Yuriko Nishi's three grown-up sons left home, she asked her husband of 36 years an unusual question: Was there any dream married life had prevented him from fulfilling?
"We started wondering what path should we be walking on," says Nishi, 66. "We told our children it was a good chance to evolve our family."
Like many others in Japan, the couple decided to graduate from marriage -- or "sotsukon."
This was not divorce.
Sotsukon is for couples still in love, who decide to "live apart together" in their sunset years to achieve their separate dreams.
In a nation with an aging population, the idea has taken root.
Living apart together
Yoshihide Ito, 63, after working for decades as a cameraman in Tokyo, told his wife he wanted to escape city life and return to his home prefecture of Mie, in southern Japan, to become a rice farmer.
Yuriko Nishi and her husband Yoshihide Ito with their children before sotsukon.
Nishi wished to continue her career as a fashion stylist in the capital.
"He visits me once a month. I visit him for a week at a time, too," Nishi says.
Distance, she explains, helps the couple to miss and appreciate each other; they now plan date nights for the time they spend together.
"Our marriage is in good shape. We share two totally different lifestyles."
Graduating from marriage
The term "sotsukon" was coined in 2004 by Japanese author Yumiko Sugiyama in her book "Sotsukon no Susume" -- "Recommending the Graduation from Marriage."
The word is a commingle of "sotsugo" (graduation) and "kekkon" (marriage).
Author Yumiko Sugiyama
"In Japan, traditionally the man is the head of the household, and the wife lives under his financial support as a domestic worker," says Sugiyama.
"I wondered what if each member of the married couple could obtain more freedom to do what they want without getting divorced?"
The imagination of the Japanese public was captured -- particularly that of the housewife -- at a point when changing demographics in the nation were reshaping society.
Just one million babies were born in Japan in 2014, according to government figures. That tally is the lowest figure on record in the Asian nation.
Furthermore, Japanese women in the same year had the longest life expectancy in the world -- 86.83 years -- according to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
"That means the longest period in a woman's life is after her kids have gone," says Masako Ishii-Kuntz, a professor of sociology at Ochanomizu University, in Tokyo. "Many empty-nesters have nothing left to do but care for their husband.
"They realized they should pursue their own hobbies and happiness."
Dream catchers
On a rainy April evening, Kazumi Yamamoto is delivering her fortnightly sotsukon seminar to a group of women aged between 30 and 60 years old.
She advises the wives on how to persuade their husbands to agree to sotsukon.
Yamamoto, who graduated from marriage one year ago, moving from Hiroshima to open a beauty clinic in Tokyo -- a life-long ambition -- says it is women who usually suggest sotsukon.
Husbands, Ito says, can be intimidated by the concept.
Men ask me, 'What have you eaten [since sotsukon]' and say, 'It must be so hard doing domestic jobs by yourself' Yoshihide Ito
"Men ask me, 'What have you eaten [since sotsukon]? It must be so hard doing domestic jobs by yourself.'
"I think men who deny their wives sotsukon have been living a self-centered existence."
At her seminars Yamamoto hears various reasons for women seeking sotsukon.
"Me and my husband don't have much to say to each other, and he thinks I'm his maid," says one woman, aged 56. "But I don't want to divorce or I might feel lonely when my health becomes weaker."
"My husband wants to return to his hometown to take care of his parents, but I don't want to go," says another woman. "I would like to travel and spend more time with my friends."
Celebrity endorsement
In recent years, celebrity endorsement has pushed sotsukon deeper into the mainstream.
Most famously, in 2013, Japanese comedian Akira Shimizu and his wife announced they would graduate from marriage, and published a book "Sotsukon -- A New Form of Love."
While there are no official figures on how many couples in Japan have followed this path, a 2014 survey commissioned by Interstation architecture agency in Tokyo found a widespread desire to do so.
Of the 200 married women polled, aged between 30 and 65 years old, 56.8% said they eventually wanted to graduate from marriage.
Retirement was the period of life most women identified as the ideal point to undertake sotsukon.
Be nice to your wife
Husbands in Japan, generally speaking, have had something of a wake-up call over the past decade.
A groundbreaking law passed in 2007 allowed a divorcing wife for the first time to claim as much as half of her husband's pension.
It prompted widespread predictions of a spike in divorce rates in Japan. In Tokyo, The National Chauvinistic Husbands Association -- formerly an unrepentant group of boisterous salary men -- began devising strategies to avoid divorce: listening to and respecting their wives was one tactic. Helping with the housework was another.
Wives' worries
More recently, Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe has made women entering -- and remaining in -- the workforce a pillar of his economic policy. "Abenomics is womeneconmics," he declared at the World Assembly for Women in Tokyo last August.
In 2014, 64% of women aged 15 to 64 in Japan were working, compared to 46% in 1969.
"More Japanese women are now at work and therefore receiving pensions," says Ishii-Kuntz. "The wife knows she can make her own living."
To Ito, this is important.
"I don't know if we can really call it sotsukon if the wife's lifestyle is being paid for by the husband," he says. "Wives need to be financially independent to truly graduate from marriage."
Individualization of the family
The Japanese family as a whole is changing, says Ishii-Kuntz.
"Family members have become more individualized. Each family member is allowed to seek whatever he or she wants, rather than spending all their lives taking care of family members," she says.
Yoshihide Ito, 63, growing vegetables
Multiple generations of adults living in one household is becoming increasingly rare in Japan, she adds. Furthermore, it is not unusual for husband and wife to sleep in separate beds in the same room.
Perhaps sotsukon is the ultimate climax of that individualization.
Graduating from the traditional strictures of marriage, however, does not have to translate into an end of intimacy or loss of love.
Nishi smiles: "After having lived apart, I cherish him more. If I marry again, I want to marry him."PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- After two games of "annoying" missed chances, Tyler Seguin finally got on the scoresheet. The slick winger picked up his first point at the world hockey championship with what turned out to be the game-winning goal Monday as Canada downed the Czech Republic 6-3.
Seguin had a number of chances through Canada's first two victories -- a 6-1 thrashing of Latvia and a 10-0 demolition of Germany -- but they had yet to pay off.
With his team leading 3-2 early in the third on Monday, Seguin wheeled off the sideboards on the power play and ripped a shot past Ondrej Pavelec to finally register his first of the tournament.
"It was getting a little annoying with all the chances and nothing to show for it, but I feel like I took some of my own pressure off myself with getting that goal," said Seguin. "I'm happy about it, it was a big win and now we move on."
Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall and Tyler Toffoli each added a goal and an assist for Canada (3-0-0), while Sean Couturier and Sidney Crosby also scored.
Mike Smith made 22 saves to get the win in his second start for the Canadians, who sit atop Group A with nine points.
"It was nice to play in a good hockey game," said Seguin. "The first two games weren't too testing, but tonight with that crowd that they had going on it was a lot of fun and it was great walking away with three points."
Martin Erat, Martin Zatovic and Vladimir Sobotka replied for the host Czechs (1-1-1), while Pavelec made 32 stops in taking the loss.
Canada led 2-1 after the first, but the Czechs came on strong in the second and finally got an equalizer with 4:15 left in the period when Zatovic tipped a shot up and over Smith's glove.
But with the partisan crowd at the O2 Arena still buzzing, Canada retook the lead just 1:55 later. Toffoli intercepted a puck at the Czech blue-line and fired a shot that Couturier -- the only other Canadian player without a point prior to Monday -- deflected past Pavelec.
"They definitely gave us a test," said Seguin. "They used their home crowd to their advantage. It was a lot of fun."
After Seguin scored his goal 2:02 into the third, Crosby made it 5-2 with another on the power play at 10:07.
Sobotka scored with 2:25 left to give the Czechs some hope, but Toffoli fired a shot into the empty net to seal it with 90 seconds remaining.
"Obviously we've proven we can score, but Smitty made some huge saves tonight and that's why they only had three goals," said Seguin. "I think we have a lot of stuff we can work on and it was nice getting a good test tonight."
Canada grabbed a 1-0 lead 4:18 into the first period when Eberle jumped on a loose puck behind the Czech goal and stuffed home a wraparound past a surprised Pavelec.
Hall, who had a hat trick against Germany on Sunday, then scored his fourth of the tournament with 58 seconds left in the period to make it 2-0, beating Pavelec from a tight angle after collecting a nice pass through traffic from Jake Muzzin.
The Czechs got that one back just 21 seconds later when Erat tipped home a point shot past Smith.
Canada's next game is Wednesday against Sweden, which beat Latvia 8-1 in Monday's other Group A matchup.
"Sweden's a great team," said Seguin. "They've proven then can score goals. We've got to be ready for them and we're looking forward to another great game."The site moderator of waffles.fm, the invite-only replacement to OiNK, on Friday tells THREAT LEVEL that the illicit music-sharing site already has some 1,700 exclusive members in less than 24 hours of sporadic operation.
Thousands of invitees are waiting in the wings, as registration is tentatively closed because of server capacity, says site moderator Dead1, who in an exclusive interview with THREAT LEVEL spoke on condition that his real name not be published. "We’ve closed invites due to the extreme amount of traffic," Dead1 says.
Many of those invited were former members of OiNK, he says, and thousands of torrents are being uploaded and seeded.
"We were getting upwards of 100 torrents a minute uploaded," Dead1 says.
The site, running on servers in Amsterdam’s Ripe Network Data Center, was the subject of a denial of service attack following its initial launch Thursday, says Dead1. The DoS attack was at 90MB/s per second, he says.
"That’s pretty big. Whoever did it was pretty pissed off, to put it politely," Dead1 says. "They said they were upset they weren’t sent an invite."
The response to waffles from the BitTorrent community has been overwhelming, he says. When the site went live Thursday, it crashed after its servers were clogged by a barrage of 300 registration requests a minute. "It’s unbelievable," Dead1 says.
The music-sharing-only site, launched nearly two weeks after British authorities raided and shuttered its predecessor OiNK, is a non-profit operation run by a network of 10 people in their twenties or younger, Dead1 says. "It’s purely a hobby," he says. "It’s for fun."
"Most of the staff is in Europe. A couple are in America. A few are in Canada," he adds. "They’re scattered everywhere."
Dead1 says waffles will attempt to follow in OiNK’s footsteps and is not affiliated with any other torrent-tracking site.
"When the link went down, everybody was pretty pissed," he says.
The site is looking to upgrade its servers again, Dead1 says. For now, the site runs off two server boxes, each with 3 gigahertz, dual core Pentium processors, and 4 GBs of RAM, he says.
"We’re not doing this for the pirated material. You can get that anywhere," Dead1 says. "We’re doing it to increase the popularity of artists everywhere no matter who they are."
See Also:A lot of HTTP requests is normal
Rate limiting
These rules have been mostly guessed through trial-and-error and some search around the Web, tweak to fit your needs. A rate limit of x connections per y seconds means that if x connections has been initiated in the last y seconds by this profile, it will be dropped. Dropping is actually a nice protection against flooding because the sender won't know that you dropped it. He might think the packet was lost, that the port is closed or even better, the server is overloaded. Imagine how nice, your attacker thinks he succeeded, but in fact you are up and running, him being blocked.
A connection is an open channel. A typical browser will open around 5 connections per page load and they should last under 5 seconds each. Firefox, for example, has a default max of 15 connections per server and 256 total.
I decided to go for 20 connections / 10 seconds / IP.
Same a above, but this time we apply the rule to the whole Class C of the IP because it is quite common for someone to have a bunch of available IPs. This means for example all IPs looking like 11.12.13.*
I decided to go for 50 simultaneous connections.
This is the challenging part. Due to a limitation that is not easy to circumvent, it is only possible to keep track of the last 20 packets. At the same time, it might add a considerable overhead to track 100 packets for each IPs. While big website may eventually need more than this, like I said, you should take a look in a proper CDN.
I decided to go for 20 packets / second / IP
Configuring UFW
/etc/ufw/before.rules
ufw reload.
Testing the results
Make sure everything runs smoothly by refreshing your browser like a mad-man. You should start getting timeout after ~15 refreshes and it should come back in less than 30 seconds. This is good.
But if you want to get serious on your tests, some tools may help you putting your server to its knees. It is highly discouraged to use this on a production server, but it is still better if you do it yourself than if you wait for someone to try.
Try those with UFW enabled and disabled to see the difference but be careful, some machines may downright crash on you or fill all available space with logs.
http://ha.ckers.org/slowloris/
Written in Perl, features a lot of common attacks, including HTTPS
Written in Perl, features a lot of common attacks, including HTTPS http://www.sectorix.com/2012/05/17/hulk-web-server-dos-tool/
Written in Python, basic multi-threaded attack, very easy to use.
Written in Python, basic multi-threaded attack, very easy to use. http://www.joedog.org/siege-home/
Compiled, available in Ubuntu repositories, very good to benchmark
Compiled, available in Ubuntu repositories, very good to benchmark http://blitz.io/
Online service when you can test freely with up to 250 concurrent users
To confirm that everything works perfectly, SSH into your machine and start a tail -f /var/log/ufw.log to see the packets being dropped and htop to watch the CPU have fun.
SSH into another machine and start a script. You should see the CPU sky-rocket for a few seconds and then go back to normal. Logs will start to appear and your stress-tool will have some problems. While all this is going on, you should be able to browse normally |
Marcus Reed, just wants his friend to get healthy.
“You can have a great life without football,” Reed said. “Football isn’t everything if you’re not healthy. I hope he returns to great health and continues his dream, but if not, I hope he makes it through his condition.”
In the meantime, Rooks won’t be going through his journey alone when compared to the first two nights in the hospital.
He has his girlfriend and daughter at his side, and Viger is happy to have the family unit intact to face the challenge together.
“We just want him alive,” Viger said. “He doesn’t need to be a football player. He doesn’t need to be in the NFL. He just needs to be a dad right now.”
That scenario perfectly suits the former offensive lineman.
“Right now, I want to take care of my family,” Rooks said. “Make sure my daughter is fine and I’m healthy, so I can see my daughter grow up, go to her first prom and scare her boyfriend or something like that. That’s the only thing I’m worried about right now.”
———-
Herbie Teope is the lead Chiefs beat writer for ChiefsDigest.com and The Topeka Capital-Journal. Use thecontact pageto reach him or find him on Twitter:@HerbieTeope.
———-LOS ANGELES — While President Donald Trump continues to dismantle Obama-era climate policies, an unlikely surge of Republican lawmakers has begun taking steps to distance themselves from the GOP’s hard line on climate change.
The House Climate Solutions Caucus, a bipartisan backwater when it formed early last year, has more than tripled in size since January, driven in part by Trump’s decision in June to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord.
Story Continued Below
And last month, 46 Republicans joined Democrats to defeat an amendment to the annual defense authorization bill that would have deleted a requirement that the Defense Department prepare for the effects of climate change.
The willingness of some Republicans to buck their party on climate change could help burnish their moderate credentials ahead of the 2018 elections. Of the 26 Republican caucus members, all but five represent districts targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee next year.
But it has also buoyed activists who view the House members’ positioning as a rare sign of GOP movement on climate change.
“Strangely, President Trump helped us,” said Bob Inglis, a former Republican congressman whose views on climate change contributed to his defeat in a South Carolina primary in 2010. “His withdrawal from Paris dramatically increased the number of [internet] searches about climate change and increased interest … People are getting more and more uncomfortable with the nuttiness of these positions.”
In a Republican-held Congress, Inglis said, voting to reject a Republican-backed amendment to the defense authorization bill was “a big step for these members … Members of Congress who are attuned to their districts apparently are picking up on the reality that Americans on both left and right are concerned about climate change.”
If the Republican Party is undergoing a shift on climate, it is at its earliest, most incremental stage. Rejection of mainstream climate science remains widespread within the GOP. Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” and he infuriated environmentalists again this week when he repealed a flood standard for federally funded infrastructure projects.
The Climate Solutions Caucus itself represents only a minority of the Republican conference. And its members have been criticized by environmental activists for their records on issues ranging from oil drilling to climate research, some posting lifetime scores in single digits on the League of Conservation Voters’ environmental scorecard.
Rep. Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat who founded the climate caucus with fellow Floridian Carlos Curbelo, a Republican, said Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement was so jarring that “some of my colleagues were looking for ways to show that they actually do want to respond.” But at least two Republican members of the caucus — Reps. Tom Reed and Claudia Tenney of New York — supported Trump’s withdrawal from the accord.
“I tend to call it the ‘Climate Peacocks Caucus’ … people who express great concern and then vote the wrong way,” said R.L. Miller, founder of the super-PAC Climate Hawks Vote. “Obviously, the caucus is growing in popularity. But my overall sense is that it is being used as political cover. It is no coincidence that the Republicans who joined are on that red-to-blue flip-able list.”
Alex Taurel, deputy legislative director at the League of Conservation Voters, said “there is a wide variety of support for action on climate change, and not just sort of rhetorically accepting the science.”
Still, in their vote on the defense authorization bill, Republicans fought to keep language declaring “climate change is a direct threat to the national security of the United States and is impacting stability in areas of the world.”
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Taurel said it is “still too early to know what that vote kind of signifies. But if it represents a harbinger that the caucus is going to start to support things together to reduce carbon pollution, then that’s a real development.”
Curbelo, one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the House, said this week that the Climate Solutions Caucus has grown faster than he expected and that “two years ago, I don’t think you could find more than two or three Republicans in the House who were willing to go on record in a significant way” on climate change. He said the group is now focused on “blocking and tackling … opposing anti-climate legislation.”
“I think the next phase, and hopefully we can get to that this Congress, is to turn the caucus into an ideas factory, get behind proactive legislation,” Curbelo said. “I think the vast majority of House Republicans are shifting toward accepting the science and openness toward at least modest policy prescriptions.”
For Republicans, the most politically palatable opening on climate change appears to be on spending, not regulation. Rep. John Faso, a top target of Democrats in New York, said Republicans should push in their infrastructure talks for money to help local and state governments “harden their infrastructure” to gird against climate change. He also suggested including incentives for agriculture-friendly carbon sequestration programs in the farm bill.
“Yes, we can show that the climate is changing, yes we can attribute at least some of that change to human activity. The question, ultimately, is if you adopt certain measures, does this appreciably slow the climate change and at what cost are those measures to be implemented,” Faso said. “I do think that if we concentrate on things that are economically viable and scientifically sustainable and approvable and achievable, then we can address this issue.”
Rep. Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat who founded the climate caucus with fellow Floridian Carlos Curbelo, a Republican, said President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement was so jarring that “some of my colleagues were looking for ways to show that they actually do want to respond.” | Joe Raedle/Getty
Deutch said he is “confident that we will come up with an agenda that the caucus as a whole can support.”
Few politicians or strategists of either major political party expect climate change to factor more significantly in 2018 than the economy, health care or myriad other issues. But public polling suggests increasing public concern about the changing climate, and Democrats are already hitting Republicans on the issue in competitive districts.
Doug Applegate, who nearly toppled Rep. Darrell Issa in 2016 and is among the Democrats challenging him again in his Southern California district, said that “on certain days of the week … [Issa] pops up and tries to sound like a moderate Republican.” And Andy Thorburn, one of several Democrats vying to unseat Rep. Ed Royce in California’s Orange County, called Royce’s membership in the climate caucus “sheep’s clothing for the wolf … because his record there is abysmal.”
Dave Gilliard, a strategist for four of California’s seven targeted Republicans, including Issa and Royce, said of Issa’s membership in the climate caucus, “We haven’t talked about it from the political side … We have had no discussions on the campaign side about climate change being something we need to jump on from a political issue next year.”
“I would say that it matters to a very narrow constituency, probably,” Gilliard said.
Issa, who was once given a “Climate Change Denier” award by the League of Conservation Voters, said this week that he stands by his controversial, 2009 statement about the “wide range of scientific opinion” on climate change. Issa, who called Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement “ill-advised,” said “long-term trends for warming are settled,” as is “the fact that we are producing human CO2 emissions that are going into the atmosphere.” But he said calculations about dangerous tipping points are not resolved, and he criticized Obama for disregarding Republicans on the issue.
“There wasn’t that opportunity to say, ‘What are the things we can do … how can we increase sustainability?” Issa said, adding that Republicans now have an opportunity to address “what is our glidepath to a sustainable ecology.”
Jill Sigal, a former energy official in George W. Bush’s administration and executive vice president of the Climate Leadership Council, a conservative group pushing for a carbon tax, said growth in the Climate Solutions Caucus has given her “increasing hope” in the ability of Congress to work on climate change.
Inglis, who once dismissed climate change as “a bunch of hooey” but now advocates on the subject, called it “very exciting.”
“I don’t want to say that all the folks in the caucus are ready to, you know, charge the barricades on climate change,” he said. “They’re not all signed up for that. But they are enlisting for inquiry into action on climate change … And that we will take and celebrate.”WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says oil companies are profiting from rising pump prices and he wants Congress to end $4 billion in annual tax breaks for the oil and gas industry.
“These tax giveaways aren’t right,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday. “They aren’t smart. And we need to end them.”
Drivers in 22 states are paying more than the national average of $3.91 per gallon. In Alaska, California and Connecticut, it’s $4.20 or more.
The price jump has slowed economic growth and hurt Obama’s public approval ratings.
Exxon Mobil Corp. this week reported nearly $11 billion in profits for the first quarter of this year. Competitors also had huge gains.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says he plans to consider Obama’s proposal as early as this coming week.
The president said money recouped from ending the oil and gas tax subsidies should go to new energy resources and research. He said he refuses to cut spending on clean energy initiatives.
“An investment in clean energy today is an investment in a better tomorrow,” he said. “And I think that’s an investment worth making.”
Obama’s critics say ending the subsidies would mean tax increases that would end up costing jobs.
“The president may think he’s punishing CEOs of big companies, but his plan will hurt the everyday consumer of energy and imperil the jobs of millions of hardworking people in American-based companies,” Rep. James Lankford, a first-term congressman from Oklahoma, said in the Republicans’ weekly address.
In his address, Obama said the economy was growing again and took note of nearly 2 million new private sector jobs in the last 13 months. But the president did not mention that the pace of the recovery slowed significantly in the first three months of this year. The nation’s economy grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate during that quarter, compared with 3.1 percent in the previous three months.
High gasoline prices, bad winter weather and steep government spending cuts were responsible for the slowdown.
Eager to show action on gas costs, Obama has pushed to stop the subsidies while also conceding that would not have an immediate effect on prices. He has also called for the Justice Department to investigate possible price fixing and said this week that he was also prodding oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia to increase production.
Lankford also said that Republicans would not vote to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, now at $14.3 trillion, in the coming weeks unless the measure also includes steps to cut government spending.
Presidents have agreed to such deals in the past, and Obama told The Associated Press in a recent interview that some spending restrictions might be necessary to win an increase in the debt ceiling. Without raising that limit, the government would default on its debts.Ahh, le masturbation.
I am a 31-year old female who, as the years pass by, feels as though she is constantly in her sexual prime. I am in a committed relationship with a wonderful guy with whom I frequently and happily engage in varying degrees of sexual activity—and yet, if there’s something I’ll never grow tired of doing, it’s touching myself.
Ladies of the Internet, allow me to jump right into it and give you 5 solid reasons as to why there are times I’ll choose playing with my little pink button over having sex with another person.
1. There’s nothing to stress over
How’s your stomach feeling? How’s your hair? Does your breath smell okay? How much longer should I let this dude jackhammer me before letting him know what's up? When was the last time you got your period again? What should you have for breakfast tomorrow?
None. Of. This. Matters.
Why?
Because there’s only you, bb. You’re in full control of the situation, and while your hands are busy making sure your clitoris is happy, trust me when I say there is nothing else you’ll be thinking about.
2. You don’t have to worry about someone else’s feelings
Girl, when you’re fingering yourself, there’s only one person whose well-being you need to be concerned with: you. And the only feeling that should be on your radar is: good.
The fewer people to consider, the easier it is to focus on you and the task at...hand.
3. You can tap into your sexual fantasies guilt-free
Men aren’t the only ones on this planet who like to watch porn while they masturbate. I’ve been scouring the World Wide Web for 15-20 minute videos of lesbians eating each other out, girls fingering themselves, couples fucking in the back seats of cars, group orgies, and so many other goodies since I got dial-up modem when I was 14.
Point is, I’m a visual person. There are videos out there that cater to all sorts of fetishes and fantasies. And when I’m in the mood for a dash of aural (not to be mistaken with oral), then I’ll go for the dirty talk.
Like many people, I can be a bit shy about what turns me on. It has only been with my most recent partner, who I trust and with whom I share a level of mutual respect, that I’ve felt comfortable enough to open up about these things and be more vocal about what I fantasize about and the sorts of role-playing or scenarios that get me going...and I must say, it’s really nice to know that he doesn’t think I’m strange for any of it.
But until you feel comfortable with that other person, I say go all the way with your fantasizing.
4. There’s no mess to clean up
Cum, especially of the male variety, is generally quite unpredictable by nature. If you’re giving him oral sex, or if you’re practicing withdrawal and he pulls out before he ejaculates, you’re probs going to end up with a load of hot, sticky, whitish fluid somewhere.
And whether it’s on your back, on your chest, on your face, or worse—in your hair, you’d better make a mad dash for the bathroom (while being extra careful not to spill anything along the way) because that stuff dries quickly, and then you’ve got dry cum to worry about.
Forget about your sheets, those are going in the laundry.
When you’re masturbating, it’s (usually) a simple climax and then your vagina is (usually) kind of just wetter than it was when you started off. Nothing a quick wipe won’t clean off.
5. No strings attached
“So...should I call you, or…?”
Ahh. Bask in the post-cum, tingly-clitty silence.
Be proud, woman! You just made yourself cum. And now you can sleep in peace.
That, or take over the world...Gainesville city commissioners took the first steps Thursday to address growing complaints from residents about roam towing.
It has been a controversial subject for years in Gainesville and the commission has explored what it can legally do to address the issue. Although the city's ordinance has been updated in recent years, commissioners say roam towing companies occasionally find loopholes in the rule, causing new concerns.
The city’s general policy committee, made up of city commissioners, voiced their frustration with roam towing Thursday, some saying they would like to ban roam towing altogether or ban the use of “spotters” — hired hands who monitor parking lots watching for parking violators.
“I have a problem with roam towing,” Commissioner Harvey Budd said. “I don’t have a problem with call-in towing... Roam towing in this community has become toxic, a very bad word. It’s offensive to the people who come into this town. It has become negative to this community.”
Budd said commissioners have a moral obligation to address the issue, which he said gives Gainesville “a black eye.”
Gainesville Police Department’s towing administrator, Mike Barnes, gave the board statistics on local towing activity.
He said the city receives complaints for just 1 percent of the hundreds of tows each month by the roam tow companies — Superior Towing and Ultimate Towing.
From March 2016 through February 2017, Barnes said the city received 78 complaints. Of those complaints, four tows were deemed illegal. Barnes said three different drivers and one company were given warnings for those infractions and vehicle owners received refunds.
Barnes also noted that no vehicles have been towed from the Sun Center — one of the most-towed lots in the city — since March.
Before that, he said, an average of eight cars were towed from the Sun Center each day, with 16 the most towed in a single day.
The cost to retrieve a towed vehicle is also an issue.
Tow company fees are $100 for the first 24 hours, according to city ordinance, but fees are unregulated after that.
After a day, Barnes said Ultimate Towing tacks on nearly $160 in fees, plus another $50 per day for a “storage fee.” Barnes recommended commissioners look to place a cap on the amount of fees the companies can tack on.
Commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos said he would support outlawing “spotters.”
Hayes-Santos said he would also like to ban towing from establishments that serve alcohol from 9 p.m. until noon the next day. The change could prevent people from driving drunk, he said, and would allow people to return the next day for their vehicle.
“Right now, all you’re worried about is your car being towed, I’d rather them go take an Uber, leave their car there and come back the next morning when they’re not drunk,” he said.
Mayor Lauren Poe said it's a difficult issue to resolve, which is why the topic resurfaces every few years.
Also Thursday, the committee briefly discussed the possibility of amending the city's open-container ordinance.
Hayes-Santos said he would like to allow alcoholic beverages in open containers in the downtown area and also lift the open-container ban on Gator football game days in some locations.
Police Chief Tony Jones said he will come back to the group with a draft of a new policy after gathering input on the pros and cons from business owners, University of Florida and Santa Fe College officials.
Contact reporter Andrew Caplan at andrew.caplan@gvillesun.com or on Twitter @AACaplan.Last year Epic Games broke down the barriers of game development and stunned the industry at the 2015 Games Developer Conference by releasing Unreal Engine 4 to the public for free, making the world’s most powerful engine even more accessible for developers building content for PC, console, mobile and virtual reality platforms. Today Epic Games has confirmed that since going free, the Unreal community has seen massive growth, with more than 2 million developers using the studio’s real-time 3D engine. The news comes on the heels of Epic confirming 1.5 million developers in the UE4 community in March at GDC, speaking directly to the rapid growth the engine has seen in recent months.
The engine’s momentum was on full display last month as more than 80 Unreal Engine games were present at this year’s E3. The week kicked off with Xbox and PlayStation’s press conferences, highlighting a variety of Unreal-powered titles, including Gears of War 4, Batman: Arkham VR, TEKKEN 7, Sea of Thieves, Day’s Gone, We Happy Few, Scalebound, EVE: Valkyrie and more! On the showfloor, Unreal games ran the gamut from triple-A to up-and-coming indie projects; included were Absolver, ABZU, Injustice 2, LawBreakers, Ghostbusters, ARK: Primal Survival, Killing Floor 2 and Vampyr – collectively they represent a stellar cross-section of the industry, with many racking up numerous Game Critic Award nominations.
In addition, the engine had a strong presence at the E3 College Game Competition, with four out of the five finalist teams developing on UE4. Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) took home the win for their Unreal-powered VR game, Brobot Beat Down. Following the show, the Epic team released more than a dozen interviews with developers, as well as the results of its Unreal E3 Awards, which can be found on Epic’s E3 2016 YouTube playlist.
Official Press ReleaseCall for pitches: Geez 28 Worship and Anarchy
In Geez 28 we explore the anarchist impulse in Christianity. We find it in the examples of Jesus, who defied the Roman officials to their faces; Paul, who said we bow to no human authority; the Anabaptists, who were hunted for sedition while also being pacifist; and in the Reformation phrase coined by Luther and championed by the anabaptists, “the priesthood of all believers.” And we find it among the Jesus Radicals, the Catholic Workers, the Christian Peacemaker Teams and other co-ops, collectives and communities. Here are some ideas for your pitches:
Spirituality and anarchism:
Should we worship a heavenly king when the metaphor stinks of feudalism and tyranny?
How do you connect with a higher power or a larger purpose without sacrificing your autonomy?
What’s a feminist theological take on John Howard Yoder’s “revolutionary subordination” (is it even possible?)?
Can I be a Christian and an anarchist?
Stereotypes throwback:
Tell us what it is about anarchists that rubs you the wrong way.
Pitch a myth-busting article that helps readers get over their hang-ups or a profile of a real-life Christian anarchist.
Social change, regime change: If contemporary democracy has been co-opted by corporate interests, what’s an alternative vision for citizenship and governance of information-age societies?
Make us laugh: Geez loves smart, fun writing – or comics, sketches, a few pages from your zine…
We’ll accept worship and anarchy pitches related to theology, pop culture and cultural politics, activism and social change, plus snapshots (short, personal stories related to the theme).
Special requests:
We have no honorarium but much gratitude for these contributions:
Name a small step, action or habit you use to disrupt unjust social norms in your daily life. Send a letter to the editor related to the theme: with as much grace and humour as you can muster, share your struggles with submitting to hierarchies (at home, work, church, nation). Send your confession to the Sinner’s Corner, where we offer cheeky absolution for your social-justice sins. Tell us what you’d like to see in this issue.
New to Geez? Try pitching for our sections: Culturosities, Civil Disobedience, Experiments and Reviews.
Additional info
Before pitching, please read our guidelines for writers here.
The most up-to-date information on upcoming issues is available here.
Ideally we would like to respond personally to every piece of correspondence we receive. But given the number of submissions we receive – and having tried to respond to all – we realize it is just not possible. If you do not hear back from us within six weeks assume that we were unable to use your submission.
Deadline for pitches: August 6, 2012
Deadline for articles (if assigned): September 21, 2012
Send pitches, manuscripts and images to
Geez Editor, Aiden Enns
email: stories [at] geezmagazine [dot] org
mail: Geez Magazine
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CANADAThe Big One
As no less than Richard Spencer has documented, the defining feature of the post World War II conservative movement has been the purge of “anti-semites,” an “anti-semite” being anyone not openly and slavishly philo-semitic. The movement defined by CIA agent William F. Buckley had at its very core an agenda of protecting Jews and the Zionist entity in Palestine from anything even remotely resembling criticism.
In the Current Year, not much has changed:
On the morning of September 21st Phil Giraldi was fired over the phone by The American Conservative, where he had been a regular contributor for fourteen years. He was told that “America’s Jews Are Driving America’s Wars” was unacceptable.
Philip Giraldi, “a former counter-terrorism specialist and military intelligence officer of the United States Central Intelligence Agency,” broke the ultimate taboo in American political life by discussing Jewish power and its harmful effect on American society. Compounding his thought crime, he spoke of Jews not as “liberals” who may suffer from too much rosy concern for humanity, but as a ruthless cabal of warmongers dragging America into wars in the interest of their apartheid state half way around the world:
I spoke recently at a conference on America’s war party where afterwards an elderly gentleman came up to me and asked, “Why doesn’t anyone ever speak honestly about the six-hundred-pound gorilla in the room? Nobody has mentioned Israel in this conference and we all know it’s American Jews with all their money and power who are supporting every war in the Middle East for Netanyahu? Shouldn’t we start calling them out and not letting them get away with it?”
After going through a long list of neo-conservative Jews who have been attempting to drag the USA into a war against Iran since the 1990s, Giraldi had the chutzpuh to resurrect a label often used by liberals against “conservative” and “Republican” warmongers during the Bush administration, essentially calling them “chickenhawks” by pointing out how few of these lovers of war have actually served in the US military:
And yep, they’re all Jewish, plus most of them would self-describe as neo-conservatives. And I might add that only one of the named individuals has ever served in any branch of the American military – David Wurmser was once in the Navy reserve. These individuals largely constitute a cabal of sanctimonious chairborne warriors who prefer to do the heavy thinking while they let others do the fighting and dying.
Tell us how you really feel, Phil!
Giraldi’s article would have likely been ignored and received no interest outside of fringe internet publications, but another former CIA agent linked the article on Twitter, a woman at the heart of one of the Bush administration’s biggest scandals, Valerie Plame. Plame quickly realized her mistake and attempted to back-peddle, citing her own partially kosher credentials, but it was too late. The CIA’s house organ, Jeff Bezo’s blog, started the “anti-semite” and “Nazi” chants immediately, and even suggests that the intelligence community may have a problem with “bigotry.”
In a vacuum, this would be a troubling headline: “Former CIA operative tweets anti-Semitic article.” Bigotry in the ranks of the U.S. intelligence community is bad. Obviously. … Among the many anti-Semitic passages in the piece is this Nazi-esque recommendation …”
The “Nazi-esque” recommendation?
For those American Jews who lack any shred of integrity, the media should be required to label them at the bottom of the television screen whenever they pop up, e.g. Bill Kristol is “Jewish and an outspoken supporter of the state of Israel.” That would be kind-of-like a warning label on a bottle of rat poison — translating roughly as “ingest even the tiniest little dosage of the nonsense spewed by Bill Kristol at your own peril.”
The Washington Post has a delicate and somewhat difficult job. They have to explain to their young Democratic voting readers exactly who Valerie Plame is and what role she played during the Bush administration’s drive for a war against Iraq without triggering the goyim to start asking question and noticing the unconfortable truths that Giraldi is reminding people of.
Yes, all Jewish and all conduits for the false information that led to a war that has spread and effectively destroyed much of the Middle East. Except for Israel, of course. Philip Zelikow, also Jewish, in a moment of candor, admitted that the Iraq War, in his opinion, was fought for Israel.
Philip Zelikow? Oh yes, that Philip Zelikow, the author of the 9/11 Commission report.
What may be setting off the alarm bells in the halls of power is a right wing, Ron Paul advising conservative former CIA officer like Philip Giraldi is effectively being endorsed by a one-time darling of the liberal left Democratic establishment. Both are attempting to stop a war with Iran, and both are pointing out Israeli pressure on Washington to start that war. But neither Giraldi nor Plame are staying in their lanes. It’s somewhat, kind of sort of acceptable to discuss an “Israel lobby” and it’s typically ok to talk about “neo-conservatives.” But it’s not ok, never ok, to talk about Jews.
Ten years ago two paragons of the foreign policy establishment, Stephen M. Walt and John Mearsheimer broke a taboo by publishing the Israel Lobby. With all the precision they could muster they avoided expressing anything but the most philo-semitic attitudes and even a full throated support for the Zionist entity in Occupied Palestine, simply expressing the idea that maybe, just maybe, the pressure the Lobby is putting on America isn’t completely kosher.
This was at a time when Jewish neo-cons were writing articles suggesting that the American goyim were too squeamish about their sons – and daughters – dying in Iraq and needed to toughen up and accept more casualties for the greater good. Don’t worry, they said, those working class Southern whites in the US military have a fatalistic attitude towards death.
The American Conservative, the publication that fired Giraldi, was started by Pat Buchanan as a specifically anti-neo-con publication, specifically to distance the right and conservatives from the war machine. Liberal Democratic opposition to the Iraq war was very muted, because liberals were not allowed to point out who the war was really for. Only a handful of Democrats, like Jim Moran, D-Virginia, and Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, had the temerity to point out the Israel lobby’s role in the war and received the expected backlash.
If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this,” said Moran, whose remarks were first reported by the Reston Connection newspaper. “The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should.” … “The Jewish community is deeply offended,” said Ronald Halber, executive director of the JCC, explaining that no one group has that much influence over U.S. foreign policy. “Besides being patently untrue and foolish, your poisonous remarks are reminiscent of age-old vicious canards that have been hurled against Jews for generations,” the JCC said in a letter to Moran.
You see, it’s a “canard” because people say it all the time. People say it all the time because it’s true and they notice it. By some sort of Talmudic reasoning, therefore, you’re not supposed to say it.
So 17 years after the 9/11 event that started the new wars, the old taboos remain – battered, increasingly broken, but remain they do. The more things change.
The political story of the last few years has been the somewhat surprising election of Donald Trump over the seeming establishment favorite Hillary Clinton. What has been so amazing about the media is how Donald Trump, a life long shabbos goy with more Jewish family than any American President in history, has been turned into Literally Hitler and some sort of crypto-anti-semite. Trump, the man who referred to Pat Buchanan as a “Nazi” and spent the entire Obama administration spreading conspiracy theories about Obama’s supposed “anti-Israel” bias and reading directly from a script written by the Prime Minister of Israel, is being labeled in the media as some sort of Jew hater and supported by the Literal Nazis of the “Alt Right.”
Even as Donald Trump, at the behest of the foreign state of Israel, is destroying the nuclear deal with Iran, one of Russia’s most important strategic allies, we’ve been constantly told by the media that Trump is some sort of agent of Vladimir Putin. Even as Donald Trump’s Israeli son-in-law is given a privileged position of power inside the White House, we’re supposed to believe that it’s Russia, not Israel, that has the goods on Trump.
This is no academic concern. Another taboo-breaking conservative, Paul Craig Roberts, recently spelled out just how dangerous the conflict with Russia is becoming:
Last March, General Viktor Poznikhir, the deputy commander of the Russian military’s Operation Command expressed concern that Washington could be preparing a surprise nuclear attack on Russia. Had any such statement from the Russian high command been issued anytime during the 20th century Cold War era, the President of the United States would have immediately contacted the Soviet leader and given every assurance that no such plan or intentions toward Russia existed. As far as I can tell, the Trump White House let this ominous announcement pass unremarked. If this is the case, it must have provided confirmation to the Russians’ conclusion. … Perhaps the most clear of all was Putin’s public statement that “Russia will never again fight a war on its own territory.” If Washington’s EU vassals did not hear this clear warning that they are courting their nuclear destruction—especially the Poles and Romanians who have mindlessly hosted US missile bases—they are as deaf as they are stupid. One Russian official told the idiot British government to its face that if the British threat to first use nuclear weapons is directed at Russia, if such an attempt is made, Great Britain will disappear from the face of the earth.
Yet few in the American establishment are drawing the obvious connections between the Israeli pressure to start a war with Iran and the deteriorating relationship with Russia. No one on the American left or the American right seemed to comment too much on how the Syrian conflict of the last few years was drawn to a stalemate by Russian military might. Since we are not allowed to speak – even think – clearly on this subject, many in America actually seem to believe that the Syrian conflict has the USA and Russia on the same side, against some shadowy groups of Muslim extremists called “ISIS.” Even as Russia starts peppering their public pronouncements with the word “nuclear” American political commentary revolves around whether we should be “tough on Muslim extremists” or to “stop marginalizing the Muslim communities in the US and Europe.” Even as Trump surrounds himself with Israeli firsters, one literally colonizing the womb of his daughter, the media is telling us that Trump is somehow being “soft on Russia” or that “Russian spies hacked the elections” to get their man in power.
Oh, and that Donald Trump is Literally Hitler and is supported by a bunch of “anti-semites.”
To even breathe a word about the Jews at the heart of the American establishment pushing the USA into a conflict with Russia that has us closer to a nuclear war than at any time since the JFK administration is to simply set yourself up to be dismissed as an “anti-semite” or a “Nazi.”
Something has to give. The Jews pressuring the USA into a war against Iran are risking a nuclear confrontation with Russia. Americans really don’t want a war but there is always a way to get them on board.
Ask Philip Zelikow about that.
Be the first one on your block to have your goy come home in a box!Eco friendly bars are a slowly growing trend all across the United States and the world. There are many factors to being considered eco friendly, from waste to construction to the actual food and beverage products themselves.
1) Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, Oregon
Hopworks is the absolute epitome of being environmentally friendly. Everything they do in some shape or form is in an effort to contribute to remaining green. From the basics of organic home brewed beer to energy efficient lighting and piping, their entire building is green. In fact, their tasting bar is made completely out of recycled materials. They have even installed a system to use runoff from their gutters to provide irrigation for their gardens and plants.
2) Standing Stone Brewing Company in Ashland, Oregon
This brewery/restaurant goes the extra mile in every aspect of their company philosophy. From plant based to-go forks and knifes to recycling 100% of their paper used to recycling and composting about 20% of all garbage they encounter. They have their own farming operation for organic goods used on the premises, and this even includes a rooftop garden of herbs, fruits, and vegetables. The company even went as far as to purchase some hybrid bikes to assist their staff on remaining green on their daily commute to work.
3) Raven’s Restaurant at the Stanford Inn in Mendocino, California
Situated at an eco resort, this restaurant boasts a purely vegetarian and vegan dinner menu, complemented by completely organic wines. The bar even boasts vodkas infused with completely organic fruits and vegetables and of course, organic beer. You won’t find any well alcohol here, only top shelf brands. All materials are recycled when possible, and the eco-footprint is kept to a minimum.
4) Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, New York
The first ever environmentally friendly bowling alley/bar/concert venue, this extravaganza for the senses does it’s best to use recycled materials. This place boasts the first ever LEED (Leadership in Energy and Efficiency Design) approved alley and it’s concert stage is made purely out of recycled tires. The electricity is 100% wind generated, and they have a posted no bottles or cans policy. Even the sodas |
McGrath were made available for interviews.
And requested public documents — The Denver Post asked for Gold King-related records on Aug. 20, 2015, under the Freedom of Information Act — still are being reviewed by agency lawyers who said they are limiting the requested documents to about 75 that the EPA deems “responsive” and then redacting portions of those documents.
CDPHE water qualify officials have not received any new funding to deal with mines draining into streams, the agency’s senior hydrologist Andrew Ross said. However, the Gold King Mine incident has led to “a more coordinated effort between local, state and federal agencies that will, over time, be more successful at addressing water quality impairments from abandoned mines,” Ross said.
This month, EPA officials announced they’d work at the Gold King portal and 30 feet inside, the stabilization initiated after the EPA-run crew triggered the disaster. “EPA initiated these stabilization efforts immediately following the August 5, 2015 release and continued efforts through November 2015, when winter weather inhibited further action,” according to an agency statement attributed to spokeswoman Nancy Grantham.
EPA crews have been sampling water and sediment and the agency gave funds for locals to test water. The EPA also is working on plans for “stabilizing a waste pile on site and installing steel bracing and concrete to continue stabilizing the portal,” the statement said. “This work is designed to prevent collapses and ensure safe access for future work.”
EPA officials said the portal should be safe by October.
At other toxic mines, EPA-run cleanups typically take more than 20 years.
Gov. John Hickenlooper and local leaders repeatedly have urged EPA officials to commit to keep running a temporary water treatment plant below the Gold King, reducing contamination of Animas headwaters until a final cleanup is done.
EPA officials say they’ll run the treatment system until November, but that they haven’t decided what to do after that.
“The EPA’s water treatment plant at the Gold King Mine is operating now to protect Colorado’s waterways and communities. We are assisting EPA on mine sites in the area and on the national priority listing, and we trust that cooperation will continue,” Hickenlooper said.
“We’re working with the EPA and others to ensure that an appropriate long-term plan is in place that ensures the health and safety of our waters and communities. The temporary water treatment facility is one part of that process.”
In Washington D.C., environment groups steadily pressed for a more aggressive approach to the mines that pollute western waterways.
“The main thing that has changed” is that the problem has received attention, said Alan Septoff of the advocacy group Earthworks. “In Congress, both the left and the right have focused attention on the issue of abandoned and inoperative mines in a way that hasn’t occurred since the early 1990s,” Septoff said.
“What hasn’t changed? Those in control of Congress are dead set against making the mining industry pay a penny to clean up the messes it has made.”For most of the history of television, the barrier to syndication—and to profitability—has been 100 episodes. The shows that have made it to that mark are an unusual group. Many were big hits. Some found small cult audiences. Still others just hung on as best they could and never posted numbers quite low enough to be canceled. In 100 Episodes, we examine the shows that made it to that number, considering both how they advanced and reflected the medium and what contributed to their popularity. In this edition, we look at The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, which ran for six seasons and 148 episodes on NBC from 1990 to 1996.
Here is a sentence that is inarguably bizarre without context: Every Fresh Prince fan should feel indebted to the Internal Revenue Service.
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Here is a sentence that may sound even more far-fetched: The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air was one of the most subversive network sitcoms of its time.
Regarding that first improbable sentence: When Will Smith met music producer Benny Medina, Smith had already won the first Grammy awarded in the rap category as part of the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. He had already made a fortune. But Smith was particularly receptive to Medina’s pitch—that he star in a television show based on the producer’s childhood move from Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood to Beverly Hills—for one simple reason: He had already spent a fortune, too, and he neglected to send the government its share of his earnings. Smith was nearly bankrupt after the IRS assessed his unpaid taxes at $2.8 million. The show was a shot at solvency, and Smith’s wages were garnished 70 percent during the first three seasons to pay his back taxes.
Medina and his partner Jeff Pollack capitalized on Smith’s eagerness for a steady paycheck and brought him to see Quincy Jones, who wanted to produce a sitcom starring the charismatic MC. “He told everyone from NBC, ‘Listen, I got your next star. I need you to come to my house after the Soul Train Music Awards.’ So everyone went to his house,” Smith told James Lipton in an episode of Inside The Actor’s Studio. The details of Medina’s childhood were fuzzed to match the star’s biography. The main character would also be named Will Smith, and like Smith, he would be “born and raised” in West Philadelphia. According to Smith, nobody asked him if he could act before the deal was signed. He did not know how; in his first scenes on the series he is clearly mouthing along with other actors’ lines.
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Smith treated Fresh Prince like an acting bootcamp, and his lack of experience didn’t hamper the show. NBC put the fledgling actor front-and-center from the beginning and let his charisma compensate until his acting caught up.
NBC didn’t have the threat of tax evasion charges to deal with, but the network was as desperate as Smith to make Fresh Prince a (profitable) sensation. Cheers and The Cosby Show were still on the air, but winding down. Seinfeld had only aired five little-watched episodes. NBC wanted a new hit with a hook for younger viewers, and the network pinned high expectations on the sitcom. The network heavily hyped Fresh Prince, banking on the Banks family becoming a younger, hipper, richer Californian iteration of those golden Huxtables.
Though it initially floundered in the ratings, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air developed an audience with the help of the network hungry for a hit. Out of all the shows NBC introduced that fall, only Law & Order and Fresh Prince got sophomore seasons. After the first season, the network continued to promote the show with younger viewers, courting the Blossom audience by having Will Smith befriend Mayim Bialik’s spunky hat-wearing teen. This was a confusing move by NBC because Smith appeared as himself on Blossom, but later on Blossom showed older brother Anthony dating Hilary Banks in a crossover episode, implying that in the Blossom universe both Will Smith the adult rapper and Will Smith the fictional teen student existed.
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While the Blossom promo appearances were confounding in their universe-building, NBC’s overall advertising blitz and continued support of the show worked. It ran 148 episodes over six seasons, from 1990 to 1996. During that time, Smith’s starpower skyrocketed. By the end of the series he had starred with Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys and filmed what would become his biggest role to that date as a wisecracking alien-puncher in Independence Day.
With a rising star at its center, Fresh Prince did well in the ratings, but the show has maintained a place in pop culture that is disproportionate to the size of its initial audience because of an especially wide and successful syndication schedule that began in 1994 and continues today. The show’s success wasn’t limited to the United States; it benefited from heavy rotation internationally as well. In Hungarian, it was called Kaliforniába Jöttem (translation: I Come To California). In Brazil, it became Um Maluco No Pedaço (A Crazy In The Area). In Italy, it was Willy, Il Principe Di Bel Air.
Along with other family-values sitcoms like Full House and Family Matters, Fresh Prince aired in afternoons on network television across the world during and after its initial run. It was the perfect after-school show, with a cast of young actors and slapstick humor. It remained cool even after it aired because Smith was a popular actor and rapper, but it was as clean as the squeaky sneakers Will favored on the show.
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The Hollywood Reporter acknowledged NBC’s grand plans for Fresh Prince shortly after it aired, admitting it was “the network’s great primetime hope.” The same review could only muster faint praise, calling it “tolerable television, far from a revelatory experience.” That assessment isn’t inaccurate. Fresh Prince is formulaic to a fault, a boilerplate comedy on which most episodes wrap up neatly with a moral lesson bestowed upon one of the characters after a misadventure. Fresh Prince is also intensely, unabashedly corny—the kind of thing Carlton would’ve watched, not Will. The setup is a contrived fish-out-of-water scenario. Though based on Medina’s experiences, the network selected a 32-year-old white Harvard grad from suburban Ohio named Andy Borowitz as showrunner, along with his then-wife Susan. (Borowitz dropped out of the show in 1995, and is now a humorist whose parodic articles in the New Yorker inspire chuckles from affluent dads across America.)
On paper, the lead character the Borowitz team and their writers conjured is little more than an amalgamation of tropes about poor black kids: a slang-speaking fan of rap, flashy clothes, and basketball with no father figure and issues with authority, equal parts a subject of pity and a buffoon. Fresh Prince succeeds because it imbues this tough-talking charity case with humanity and positions him as an audience surrogate instead of a figure to be laughed at.
Which is where that second improbable sentence comes in: Despite the hacky premise, Fresh Prince snuck in a firm, persistent commitment to addressing experiences specific to black people in America—including institutionalized racism and identity politics—to a degree that isn’t present in contemporary sitcoms.
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The show, for all its rounded edges and pat wrap-ups, directly addresses race and (to a lesser extent) class issues. The willingness of Fresh Prince’s writers to explore how its characters understand their blackness is one of the show’s strengths, and it was able to do this within the network system because Smith was such an affable figure, something the producers were aware of from the beginning. Smith’s crossover likeability and the show’s inherent hokiness served as a kind of Trojan horse to broadcast material that explicitly deals with charged issues like racial profiling and tokenism.
“Will is not threatening,’’ Benny Medina told The New York Times in 1990. “As the show develops, we will start to deal with some of the same things as N.W.A., Public Enemy, Ice Cube and artists with a much more radical way of communicating their life style. But we’ll do it Will’s way, rather than in their language.’’ Will’s way was one of reconciliation rather than confrontation.
By placing the Banks family in an upper-class social milieu, The Fresh Prince portrays a black American experience that hadn’t been represented on television yet; the closest thing were the upper-middle-class Huxtables of The Cosby Show, but the Banks’ situation was one of over-the-top wealth. The Banks were cufflink Republicans with hired help, and the show milked the tension between Will’s “hood” sensibility and the Banks’ luxurious lifestyle. It was quietly progressive in the way it used Will as the audience surrogate struggling to comprehend the wealth of the Banks’ splashy world, since it assumed the audience identifies more with Will and therefore also assumes the audience is primed to relate to a rapper over a stuffed suit.
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Will’s introduction to the family interrupts the dynamic in a way that exposes Carlton, Hilary, and Ashley to a different experience. He is a brash interloper, but his demeanor isn’t what gets mocked; it’s the stuffy, pretentious attitudes of Carlton, Uncle Phil, and Hilary that are more often the butt of jokes.
Here’s the A-plot of one of the first season’s episodes: Will complains that his history class doesn’t cover what happened to black people in the United States. Aunt Vivian and Uncle Phil agree, and Aunt Viv agrees to teach some black history to the predominantly white class. While Will and Carlton dislike her rigorous assignments, she tells them that she was hardest on them because they are the only two black students and she wanted them to get the most out of the history. She gives Will The Autobiography Of Malcolm X at the end of the episode, and a Malcolm X quote bookends the episode.
Granted, some Fresh Prince plots read like they could have been lifted straight from The Nanny, what with the brash lower-class outsider making himself at home with a fancy family and their butler. But there is no fucking way The Nanny would end an episode with a Malcolm X quote or feature a character reading an Amiri Baraka poem.
Fresh Prince repeatedly circles back on how its characters experience crises of authenticity in regards to their blackness. In one episode, Will bets Carlton he can’t last a weekend in Compton, prompting Carlton to move in with Jazz and his friends (and into one of the least realistic “ghetto” sets of all time; Fresh Prince is on point when it showcases identity crises but it is laughably, almost unbelievably bad at sets showing supposedly sketchy places). These plotlines worked because the show and its star were engaged in a different sort of respectability politics, a kind that allowed for Will to wear his pants low and listen to rap, but nevertheless espoused family values as vehemently as any other white-bread, after-school-special-style family sitcom.
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Academic William Maxwell summarized Fresh Prince’s achievements in this area as such, noting that the show transforms the figure of the rapper from a disrespectful antagonist to a conciliatory figure, “a kind of streetwise instructor of African-American history who hopes to remedy contemporary black liberalism’s bourgeois blues with remembrance of a less comfortable but more heroic past.”
Maxwell’s assessment of Fresh Prince is astute, acknowledging that the show avoids and accommodates as Will “works to restore black consensus, mediating a generational difference that is thought of in class and regional as well as Oedipal terms.” Fresh Prince was attempting to capture a range of black experiences and turned a rapper into a three-dimensional protagonist capable of pathos in between his groaners. It was a rarity when it aired and remains a rarity now. This, along with the cast’s chemistry, is the core of its enduring appeal. But it was still a network television show and never veered into aggression. This is especially so in later seasons when the plots relied on Smith’s easy charm more than anything else.
Success for Fresh Prince did not herald an uptick in black sitcoms. Executive producers Winifred Hervey, David Salzman, and Quincy Jones re-tried the “comedy + rapper = big ratings” formula with LL Cool J and In The House—they even cast Alfonso Ribeiro as Carlton in a season-two crossover episode. (Ribeiro joined the cast as a regular after Fresh Prince wound down, creating another Blossom-like paradox in which Ribeiro exists in the In The House reality as two separate people.) The arrangement had diminishing returns: At its most-watched, In The House was the 44th most popular show in the country, far less than Fresh Prince, which reached 14th on the Nielsen ratings in its most popular season. In 1996, the year Fresh Prince went off the air, an Ebony magazine article lamented the demise of the black-oriented show.
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Fresh Prince did not start a revolution, and its examinations of race and class were always sanitized and cosseted. It’s a good family sitcom, but not a great television series. Though it’s important to underline its modest impact and its limitations as a work of art, it’s equally important to recognize that the show isn’t just special because it has a killer theme song that conjures medical-grade ’90s nostalgia. It’s important because it offered multiple narratives of what it means to be black in the U.S., and because it gave audiences a protagonist who vacillated between different iterations of race and class identities without ever losing his humanity.
Next time: “Hello… w-why yes, there’s a 100 Episodes column about The Bob Newhart Show all lined up.” “The, uh, author? Looks like a Phil Dyess-Nugent.” “Yes. ‘Nugent.’” “No, we don’t know if he’s any relation to Ted. Okay. All right. We’ll, uh, we’ll talk to you again in January.”NOTE: These Cash Shop sales will be available following the game maintenance on June 21. Due to Daylight Saving Time in North America, the sale times may be shifted forward by one hour, ending at 12:59 AM PDT on the day after the listed sale end date.
Golden Apple
June 21 to July 18 in the Special Promotions > New Arrivals category in non-Reboot worlds only.
Behold the Golden Apple, a special item that will give you one random in-game item when you open it! It also gives you 10 Apple Pies, which restore 10,000 HP when consumed.
Purchase a bundle of Golden Apples, and open them up to see what treasures you can find!
We have removed Boost Scrolls 100%/50% from the Golden Apple, and have added the following items!
Damien Souls : Magnificent, Beefy, Swift, Clever, Fortuitous, Flashy, Potent, Radiant, Hearty
Lucid Souls : Magnificent, Beefy, Swift, Clever, Fortuitous, Flashy, Potent, Radiant, Hearty
Ursus Soul : Magnificent
Von Leon Soul : Magnificent
Arkarium Soul: Magnificent
Unique Circulator
Nodestone x10 Coupon
Here are some of the other possible rewards:
Bling Bling Heart Mount and Vroom Vroom Pink Bean Mount: 90-day and permanent durations available
White Clamshell Chair
Android Hearts : Titanium, Lidium, Crystal, Gold
Android Coupons: Girl/Boy, Princessoid, Summeroid (M/F), Schooldroid (M/F)
20 Slot Bags : Mineral, Herb, Title, Chair, Soul, Production, Recipe
Star Force 12 Star 100% Enhancement : Lv. 150 and Lv. 160 available
Lv. 130 Wings weapons
Face Accessories: Ice Crystal Face Paint, Maple Leaf, Tree Branch Nose, Red Meister Symbol (all jobs), Shiny Red Meister Symbol (all jobs), Blood Mask
Potential Scrolls : Special Potential Scroll, Advanced Potential Scroll, Epic Potential Scroll 50%
Chaos Scrolls: Miraculous Chaos Scroll 70%/60%/50%/40%/30%, Chaos Scroll of Goodness 50%/30%/20%, Chaos Scroll 70%/60%
Click here to read more about the Golden Apple!
Golden Apple Price (5): 2,700 NX Price (15): 7,800 NX Price (50): 25,000 NX Price (100): 48,000 NX Duration: 90 days
Royal Style Coupons
[Update June 21] The male hairstyle 'Ice Pop Hair' was incorrectly marked as 'New'. This has been fixed in the post below.
June 21 to July 4 in the Appearance category in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds.
Take your Royal Hair Coupon to NPC Big Headward in Henesys Hair Salon, or your Royal Face Coupon to NPC Nurse Pretty in Henesys Plastic Surgery to get your new style! Royal Style Coupons are regularly found in the Appearance > Beauty Parlor category in the Cash Shop. You can preview the Royal Styles by double-clicking on the Royal Hair Coupon or the Royal Face Coupon in the Cash Shop.
Check out the Male Hairstyles available now: Ice Pop Hair, Sarim Hair Mod (NEW!), Retro Romance Hair, Glossy Flyaway Hair, Aqua Hair, and Chic Tail Hair.
Check out the Female Hairstyles available now: Anastasia Hair Mod (NEW!), Roxxy Hair Mod (NEW!), Danika Hair, Innocent Ponytail Hair, Glossy Flyaway Hair, and Goth Idol Hair.
Check out the Male Face Styles available now: Meow Face (NEW!), Sarim Ocular Mod (NEW!), Doll Face, Dreamy Face, Sparkling Face, and Spring Fairy Face.
Check out the Female Face Styles available now: Anastasia Ocular Mod (NEW!), Roxxy Ocular Mod (NEW!), Doll Face, Dreamy Face, Sparkling Face, and Spring Fairy Face.
Royal Face Price: 3,300 NX Duration: 90 days
Royal Hair Price: 3,300 NX Duration: 90 days
Pre-Leveled Character Cards
June 21 to June 27 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in non-Reboot worlds only.
Are you ready to try out a different job, but you don’t want to have to spend a long time leveling up your character? Pre-Leveled Character Cards are the answer! You can purchase a card as long as you already have a character on your account at the same level as the card you are buying.
Choose from Lv. 50, Lv. 100, or Lv. 150 character cards. When used, the character card will also provide your new character with some mesos and items to match its level! The Lv. 100 and Lv. 150 character cards also include a 30-day Pendant of the Spirit.
Please note that the following jobs are not available: Hayato, Kanna, Cygnus Knights, Xenon, Shade, Zero, Beast Tamer, Kinesis, and Blaster.
Click here to learn more about Character Cards.
Character Card (Lv.50) Price: 8,000 NX
Character Card (Lv.100) Price: 15,000 NX
Character Card (Lv.150) Price: 25,000 NX
Discounted 1-Day 2x Coupons
[Updated June 23]
PDT: Saturday, June 24, 2017 1:00 AM – Monday, June 26, 2017 12:59 AM
EDT: Saturday, June 24, 2017 4:00 AM – Monday, June 26, 2017 3:59 AM
CEST: Saturday, June 24, 2017 10:00 AM – Monday, June 26, 2017 9:59 AM
AEST: Saturday, June 24, 2017 6:00 PM – Monday, June 26, 2017 5:59 PM
Available in the Special Promotions > Discounted category in non-Reboot worlds only.
On June 24 and 25, we will be having a special deal on 1-Day 2x Coupons! Get twice the amount of EXP and drops for one whole day!
You have until 12:59 AM PDT / 3:59 AM EDT / 9:59 AM CEST / 5:59 PM AEST on June 26 to purchase these items at a discount! The coupons activate immediately after purchase, so be sure to move them to your item inventory to use them as soon as you buy!
1-Day 2x EXP Special Coupon Price: 3,600 NX 2,150 NX Duration: 1 day
1-Day 2x Drop Special Coupon Price: 4,000 NX 2,400 NX Duration: 1 day
Roo-bot 90-Day Pet Packages
June 21 to July 4 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in non-Reboot worlds only.
Take home the Roo-bot pets, who have escaped from Gelimer’s lab! Choose from cheerful Roo-A, frightened Roo-B, or spunky Roo-C, or take home all three. Summon the Roo-bots to obtain the Roo-bot Shuffle skill, which will increase your Weapon Attack and Magic Attack. The skill will grow stronger as you equip more Roo-bot pets. The Roo-bots will become bigger as you fight monsters around your level. Eventually, they will reach giant status and cast a particularly awesome buff on your every 5 minutes! The individual pet packages come with an equip to wear, yummy pet food to eat, a paint coupon, a Pet Name Tag, and some useful pet skills and scrolls. You can change the color of your Roo-bot pet using the paint coupon included in the package.
Triple Roo-bot Pet Package Price: 14,840 NX Includes: Roo-A (90-day duration) Roo-B (90-day duration) Roo-C (90-day duration) Premium Pet Food (6) (90-day duration) Roo-bot Paint Coupon (3) (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto HP Potion Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto All Cure Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Pet Snack (90-day duration)
Roo-A Package Price: 10,640 NX Includes: Roo-A (90-day duration) Roo-A Baby Bonnet (90-day duration) Premium Pet Food (6) (90-day duration) Roo-bot Paint Coupon (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto HP Potion Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto All Cure Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Pet Name Tag (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for ATT 60% (90-day duration) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for M. ATT 60% (90-day duration)
Roo-B Package Price: 10,640 NX Includes: Roo-B (90-day duration) Roo-B Baby Bonnet (90-day duration) Premium Pet Food (6) (90-day duration) Roo-bot Paint Coupon (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto HP Potion Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto All Cure Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Pet Name Tag (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for ATT 60% (90-day duration) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for M. ATT 60% (90-day duration)
Roo-C Package Price: 10,640 NX Includes: Roo-C (90-day duration) Roo-C Baby Bonnet (90-day duration) Premium Pet Food (6) (90-day duration) Roo-bot Paint Coupon (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto HP Potion Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Auto All Cure Skill (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) Pet Name Tag (90-day duration. Permanent when applied.) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for ATT 60% (90-day duration) 2 Scrolls for Pet Equip. for M. ATT 60% (90-day duration)
Forest Guardian Permanent Outfit Package
June 21 to June 27 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds.
Celebrate Beast Tamer’s return! Dress up like a guardian of the forest with these permanent items.
Forest Guardian Package Price: 9,000 NX Includes: Guardian Scepter Guardian Head Band Guardian Clothing Guardian Pants Guardian Gloves Guardian Shoes
Roo-bot 90-Day Pets
June 21 to July 4 in the Special Promotions > Limited Time category in Reboot world only.
Take home the Roo-bot pets: cheerful Roo-A, frightened Roo-B, or spunky Roo-C! Let these little buddies join you on your adventures in Reboot world!
Roo-A Price: 4,900 NX Duration: 90 days
Roo-A Baby Bonnet Price: 2,500 NX Duration: 90 days
Roo-B Price: 4,900 NX Duration: 90 days
Roo-B Baby Bonnet Price: 2,500 NX Duration: 90 days
Roo-C Price: 4,900 NX Duration: 90 days
Roo-C Baby Bonnet Price: 2,500 NX Duration: 90 days
Premium Surprise Style Box Stamp Exchange
Updated June 21 in both Reboot and non-Reboot worlds.
If you receive items from the Premium Surprise Style Box that you no longer want, you can exchange them with NPC Ari, located near the Free Market entrance, and receive an Avatar Box Stamp. You can receive one stamp per item. This stamp is permanent and untradeable. When you collect enough stamps, you can talk to NPC Shiro, also located near the Free Market entrance, to exchange the stamps for a permanent equip item of your choice!
This system gives players in Reboot worlds an option to get rid of PSSB items they no longer want while still gaining value. Players in non-Reboot worlds can use this system as an alternative to trading the items.
Click here to learn more about the Premium Surprise Style Box Stamp Exchange.
The items available through the stamp exchange have been updated! Here are the items currently available:Tech 128: 2013 was the year of the dark web, Elon Musk and H from Steps
Mapping out the highs and lows of the technology world in the past 12 months, we reach the dark web...
Dark web
For such a sinister name, the actual definition of the "dark web" is surprisingly innocuous: it refers to any part of the web which isn't indexed by search engines like Google. As such, it includes everything from password-protected forums and pages with no inward-bound links to more deliberately obfuscated content like that accessed through anonymising software such as Tor and I2P.
In April the dark web hit headlines due to a security researcher who collated 500m connected devices, like servers, webcams, printers and routers, which were online but not properly secured. But it wasn't until October that the term hit the mainstream. In the same month David Cameron announced an intention to enlist GCHQ and the NSA to fight paedophiles operating on the dark web, and the dark web marketplace Silk Road was shut down.
• How I bought drugs from the dark net
Death of Google Reader
The demise of Google Reader, which lead journalists and hardcore news enthusiasts kicking and screaming into the night, showed that any free service could be disappeared once Google deemed it outside its core mission.
• Google's attempt to push Google Reader users to Google+ is a mistake
Doge
Doge is the best meme of 2013. A Shiba Inu stares out with Buddha like calm and other-worldly contentedness and speaks, in multicoloured comic sans and a stilted, broken grammar.
Wow
Such meme
Many words
Dogecoin
The bitcoin clone themed around the Doge meme has shot up in value since it was published as a joke in early December. It is currently worth $3.5m in its own right. 2013, take a bow.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk photographed at Space X HQ, California. Photograph: Jamie-James Medina/*NB Pictures for the Observer
Arguably the greatest innovator of his generation, the serial entrepreneur Elon Musk is always one step ahead of the rest.
As a 10 year old, Elon Musk developed a computer game which he sold for $500. When he was studying at the University of Pennsylvania, he paid for his tuition by organising house parties which included club-inspired art installations. And as an undergraduate, Musk even wrote a business plan for an electronic book-scanning service remarkably similar to Google’s Book Service – except that he wrote it ten years before Google announced it and more than three years before the company existed.
2013 has proved to be a particularly memorable year for Elon Musk. The American business magnate, investor and PayPal founder advanced his plans for space exploration while his electric car company, Tesla Motors, became profitable and accelerated rollout of a network of supercharger stations in the US.
But it was Musk's most outlandish technology proposition to date, the Hyperloop project proposed in August, that won him the most headlines. A $6bn (£4bn) proposal for a form of transportation linking LA and San Francisco, Hyperloop would provide subsonic air travel where pods travel in a partial vacuum within a 350 mile-long tube allowing commuters to travel between the American cities in just 30 minutes - faster than even a commercial aeroplane journey.
With a group of Tesla and SpaceX engineers, Musk released an alpha-level design that went at least part of the way to working out how it would operate. The independent Ansys Corporation ran simulations using the design, and although there were modifications required, indicated that the challenges facing Hyperloop were capable of being overcome. Musk has expressed his intent to develop a prototype Hyperloop. Judging by his work with SpaceX and Tesla Motors, if anyone can make it work - Musk can.
• Elon Musk buys James Bond's Lotus Espirit submarine car
Encryption
In the wake of revelations about surveillance, encrypted email, messaging and document sharing was suddenly thrust into the mainstream, with Google, Twitter and Microsoft all increasing security of their consumer products and renewed determination among developers to keep private secure services, such as Silent Circle, private and impossible to crack.
• New Darkmail encryption aims to keep government spies out
Ephemerality
From Snapchat to the music-streaming digital natives and even a whole generation renting rather than buying, 2013 has cemented the rise of ephemeral content and transient technology.
• Ten things you need to know about Snapchat
Facebook IPO anniversary
Facebook's 2012 IPO was chaotic, with software buckling under demand, allegations that large investors were warned of problems and - as recently as this month - a judge declaring that the company should be sued over risk warnings. The share price dropped from $38 at launch to $17 - but 18 months on and the price has tipped $57.
• Mark Zuckerberg to sell $2.3bn worth of shares
Fingerprint technology
Fingerprint security had been attempted before but it wasn't until the launch of TouchID on Apple's iPhone 5S that the technology hit the high street.
• TouchID could lead to identity theft, say researchers
Furby Boom
It was the must-have Christmas gift 15 years ago. And still is.
• NSA undermined its own security by allowing Furbys at work
GDS
Initiated by Martha Lane Fox's 'Digital by Default' strategy, the rest of Whitehall started to sit up and take notice of Government Digital Service and its clarity, design thinking and a far cheaper alternative to expensive IT tenders.
• How geeks opened up government
Gone Home
This uncompetitive, inconclusive game offered a delightful alternative to conventional, decision-heavy gaming.
• A mysterious journey where action plays second fiddle to emotion
Google Glass
Google's smart glasses became the centre of discussion about the future of wearables, the best form factor and how to balance the benefits of immersion with a community's right to privacy.
• Google Glass inventor says future generations will find it ridiculous that humans drove cars
Google Maps (Stand alone)
Google keeps ramping up the features of its own mapping apps in an intense battle with Apple, which had to reassert itself after failing monstrously with its own maps app. Google is still winning hands down.
• An end to the agony of Apple's own maps app
GTA v
Arguably the game event of the year, Grand Theft Auto V generated almost as much coverage speculating about its violent content than it did genuine reviews.
• A dazzling, monstrous parody of modern life
H from Steps
In one of the worst Twitter debacles of the year, lazy Tweeters incorrectly blasted Ian 'H' Watkins for Steps after a namesake was on trial, and later found guilty, in a horrific child abuse case. Worse, several media outlets used pictures of H on their stories.
• Lawyers contacted Google after wrong picture was used on child abuse story
Next instalment tomorrowUpdate: U.S. Central Command issued a statement saying the plane was downed "in collective self-defense of Coalition-partnered forces," identified as fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces near Tabqah. It is unclear if these particular "forces" were getting their funding from Saudi Arabia or Qatar.
And a quick situational take from Worldview:
A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian government Su-22 fighter jet on June 18 that had dropped bombs on Syrian rebel forces fighting the Islamic State in Syria, ABC News reported. The U.S.-led coalition said in a statement that its focus is on fighting the militant group, and not fighting the Syrian government or Russian forces, but it will defend coalition forces coming under attack. The incident occurred in a town south of Tabqa, Syria, which had been retaken from the Islamic State by the Syrian Democratic Forces, an umbrella group of Syrian Kurdish and Arab rebel forces, in preparation for the offensive on the stronghold of Raqqa. The downing is the latest escalation between the U.S.-led coalition and pro-government forces in Syria. The United States has also recently conducted airstrikes at pro-Syrian government forces that have moved into a deconfliction zone around the town of at al-Tanf in southwest Syria, which is the location of a coalition training base for local forces fighting the Islamic State.
Meanwhile, the Syrians are not happy with the US strike:
You American bastards just shot down my cousin's aircraft (Ali) while taking out the scumbags of ISIS in the area.
Ali hope you are OK bro???? pic.twitter.com/z6IKFgbtqJ — Majd Fahd???????? (@Syria_Protector) June 18, 2017
* * *
The US-led, so-called anti-terrorist, coalition has reportedly shot down a Syrian government forces aircraft. Reuters reports the Syrian Arab Army announced that the aircraft was brought down in the southern Raqqa countryside, while it was engaging a fleeing ISIS convoy. The pilot remains missing.
SyAAF Su-22 was lost in #Rasafa area while striking #ISIS positions — Within Syria (@WithinSyriaBlog) June 18, 2017
Statement issued by the Syrian General Command of the Army and Armed Forces
The International Alliance (IAAF) this afternoon called for the targeting of one of our fighter jets in the Rusafa area in the southern Rifqa district while carrying out a combat mission against an organization calling on the terrorist in the area, which led to the plane crash and the loss of the pilot. This blatant attack confirms beyond doubt the reality of the US position supporting terrorism, which aims to try to influence the ability of the Syrian Arab army the only effective force with its allies that exercise their legitimate right to fight terrorism throughout the territory of the homeland, especially as this attack comes at a time that achieves In which the Syrian Arab Army and its allies made clear progress in fighting the organization calling on the terrorist who is being defeated in the Syrian desert on more than one direction. It also affirms the existing coordination between the United States of America and the organization of the terrorist advocate, and exposes the malicious intentions of the United States of America in the management and investment of terrorism to achieve its objectives in passing the American Zionist project in the region. The General Command of the Army and the Armed Forces, warning of the serious consequences of this blatant attack on counterterrorism efforts, affirms that such attacks |
oskrnl.exe: Implement some functions. ntoskrnl.exe: Fix trace typo. Alexander Nicolaysen Sørnes (3): regedit: Fix char escaping for registry export. regedit: Fix some fprintf arguments. netapi32: Improve NetUserGetLocalGroups stub. Alexandre Julliard (22): configure: Always use -fno-builtin if supported, since it's needed for scanf too. ntdll/tests: Fix a few test failures on NT4. user32/tests: Fix some more message test failures. comctl32/tests: Fix a couple of message test failures. winex11: Fix SetLayeredWindowAttributes when called on a thread that doesn't have any window. regedit: Fix file exports in ASCII format. configure: Make sure opengl is not built with --without-opengl is specified. user32/tests: Fix more message test failures on NT4 and XP. user32/tests: Fix the winstation tests on NT4. user32/tests: Fix some input test failures. user32/tests: Fix the listbox tests on Win9x and NT4. gdiplus: Fix a string buffer overflow. advapi32: Always pass a valid argv pointer to a service even if there are no arguments. oleaut32: Fix a couple of interface registrations to match Windows. inetcomm: Add missing license header. ntdll: Preserve the 2K block size returned for CDROMs. msvcrt: Pass the command interpreter as exe name from _wpopen. server: Follow symlink even with OBJ_OPENLINK unless it is the last element of the path. ws2_32: Allow arbitrary-sized iovecs again in WSASendTo and WSARecvFrom. msi/tests: Clean up the binary.dat file. widl: Add support for attributes on enum, struct and union definitions. stdole2: Add some missing attributes and fix some typos. Alistair Leslie-Hughes (9): mshtml: Implement IDispatch for IHTMLDOMNode2. mshtml: Implement IDispatch for IHTMLDOMNode. mshtml: Implement IDispatch for IHTMLElementCollection. mshtml: Implement IDispatch for IHTMLDOMChildrenCollection. mshtml: Implement IHTMLBodyElement put_background. msxml3: Correct cast. gdiplus: Stub GdipRecordMetafileFileName and GdipRecordMetafileFileNameI. msxml3: Add IXMLHTTPRequest support. mshtml: Implement IHTMLStyle put/get borderWidth. Andrew Nguyen (1): wine.inf: Add entry for fake wintab32.dll. Andrew Talbot (12): comdlg32: Sign-compare warnings fix. comctl32: Sign-compare warnings fix. credui: Sign-compare warnings fix. crypt32: Sign-compare warnings fix. crypt32: Sign-compare warnings fix. dbghelp: Sign-compare warnings fix. dbghelp: Sign-compare warnings fix. ddraw: Sign-compare warnings fix. dinput: Sign-compare warnings fix. ddraw: Sign-compare warning fix. dsound: Sign-compare warnings fix. gdi32: Sign-compare warnings fix. Andrey Turkin (7): ntdll: Add stubbed implementations for NtQueryEaFile and NtSetEaFile. regedit: Ignore spaces in regedit files. dwmapi: Add a few stub implementations. kernel32: Add ExitProcess wrapper to please Shrinker. wordpad: Fix some unicode bugs. wordpad: Convert some ANSI calls to Unicode. wordpad: Fix some compile-time warnings. Aric Stewart (19): imm32: ImmConfigureIME should return 0 when the type is IME_CONFIG_REGISTERWORD and the data is NULL. mlang/tests: IMultiLanguage2_GetRfc1766FromLcid can return S_FALSE on partial name matching so deal with this properly. mlang/tests: Some versions of native mlang return E_FAIL when source string is NULL and a source length is supplied. mlang/tests: GetLastError may not be set if Japanese conversions fail with S_FAIL so do not require that to skip the Japanese tests. mlang/tests: Skip testing a codepage returning the buggy, legacy unicodeFEFF charset (only appears to exist on windows 2008). mlang/tests: windows 2008's version of mlang E_FAILs when you pass in a rgelt in IEnumCodePage::Next. mlang: Correct use of uninitialized rfcstr value (Coverity 796). user32/tests: GetMenuItemCount returns an INT which can be -1 (Coverity 543). user32/tests: GetMenuItemCount returns INT so check for -1 (Coverity 542). ole32: Handle GetMenuItemCount returning -1 by changing UINT to INT (Coverity 228). version: Check for out of memory in VerInstallFileA/W conversion (Coverity 635). x11drv: ime: In the update functions if we get a null string with a len report this and fix len to be 0 (Coverity 656 and 655). winealsa: Don't dereference a potentially NULL value in the WARN statement (Coverity 93). quartz: Check hr so we are not incrementing a NULL (Coverity 106). wineoss: Don't dereference a potentially NULL value in the WARN statement (Coverity 93). d3d8: Initialize IDirect3DDevice8 *device to NULL in case of immediate cleanup (Coverity 795). oleaut32: In variants check bOverflow to make sure not to accidently overun static buffers in an overflow case (Coverity 313). browseui: Update AutoComplete Multi to have a stub implemntation of CLSID_ACListISF and IID_IACList2. mlang/tests: Make sure a given codepage has 'abc' before depending on that conversion to detect if a codepage is convertable. Austin English (3): mscms: Undefine HIWORD to avoid a conflict. mshtml/tests: Fix gcc warnings. ntdll: Quiet a noisy fixme. Christian Costa (8): d3dxof: Rewrite check_TOKEN and parse_TOKEN_* to work properly and be more logical. d3dxof: Implement IDirectXFileDataImpl_GetNextObject. d3dxof: Do not print an error for interfaces that can be queried to retrieve the type of the object. d3dxof: Implement IDirectXFileDataReference. d3dxof: Allow omission of comma which separates array elements. d3dxof: Enumerate only 2 levels of objects obtained from a reference. d3dxof: Store number of subojects for all top level objects. d3dxof: Enable referencing of named subobjects too. Damjan Jovanovic (1): oleaut32: Fix double negative sign regression in VarFormat. Detlef Riekenberg (6): jscript/tests: Fix a typo in ok(). oleaut32: Remove redundant NULL check before SysFreeString. msxml3: Remove redundant NULL check before SysFreeString. msi: Remove redundant NULL check before SysFreeString. shdocvw: Remove redundant NULL check before SysFreeString. shdocvw: Set the default homepage. Dimitrie O. Paun (1): user32: Fix a noisy FIXME. Dmitry Timoshkov (13): gdi32: Add a test for PS_NULL pen being equal to NULL_PEN stock object. gdi32: Make the PS_NULL test pass under Wine. wine.inf: Correct the Pacific SA Standard Time entry. gdi32: Do not skip the font metrics update after the DC transform change. winex11.drv: Add support for _NET_WORKAREA. user32: Print the expected and received rectangles. gdi32: Make test_font_metrics require the font being selected into the DC. gdi32: Add a test for a font being selected into 2 DCs with different transformations. gdi32: Allow a rounding error in the text justification test. winex11.drv: Use the monitor work area to decide whether a window should be made managed. gdi32: Remove the code which bypasses the DC transformation checks. gdi32: Revert incorrect fix introduced in a5d288f08c08dc19d217093fdf8622605c92a4e0. winmm: The buffer provided by an application is valid only in the mmioOpen(FOURCC_MEM) case. Dylan Smith (21): richedit: Removed space in front of function signature. richedit: Fixed test failure that happend on older builds of riched20.dll. richedit: Fixed test failing on windows version with larger font sizes. richedit: Make sure border properties are saved for undo/redo. richedit: Prevent font or colour buffer overflow on stream out. richedit: Prevent assertion failure when streaming out nested tables. richedit: Added code to stream out table border properties. richedit: Fixed a bug preventing streaming out nested table properties. richedit: Made sure table row gap/offset is copied on append row. richedit: Print hex string for strcmp test failing on Windows 95, 98 & NT4. richedit: Swapped the expected and destination buffers in a test. richedit: Avoided testing for undocumented behaviour causing test to fail. richedit: Removed invalid assertion. richedit: Unsigned cast char to avoid EOF equality. richedit: Use RTF reader for text starting with {\urtf. richedit: ES_AUTOHSCROLL window style disables word wrapping. user32: Converted rcScrollBar to screen coordinates. richedit: Show arrow cursor over scrollbar. runtest: More helpful error when top of wine directory isn't found. runtest: Modified the default program so that it might find the test program. runtest: Let the test program handle the lack of a test name. Eric Pouech (21): dbghelp: Added stubs for add symbol functions. dbghelp: Added the latest stubs. dbghelp: Added stub for SymSetScopeFromAddr. dbghelp,winedump: Added support for symbol 0x113a. dbghelp,winedump: Added support for symbol 0x1012. winedump: Added support for dumping long long constants. winedump: Dump a bit more of information from procedures. winedump: Add preliminary dumping of 0x1136 and 0x1137 symbols. dbghelp: Silence symbol 0x1139. dbghelp,winedump: Added support for 0x113d symbol. dbghelp,winedump: Added support for symbol 0x113c. dbghelp,winedump: Added support for symbol symbol. winedump: Improved a bit the MS Tool V3 description. dbghelp: Now fully reading the leafs as variant for constants. dbghelp: Added support for real80 (aka long double) in inner codeview types. winedump: Now dumping codeview source line information. winedump: First stab at dumping the "new" line information out of pdb files. dbghelp: Rewrote the linetab access so that we don't need to allocate intermediate information. dbghelp: Add support for the newest line number information in pdb files. msvcrt: Implemented wcsncpy_s. msvcrt: Implemented splitpath_s. Erik Inge Bolsø (1): kernel32: Fix PROFILE_Load to handle mac line endings. Francois Gouget (10): kernel32/tests: Fix compilation on systems that don't support nameless unions. jscript: Remove spaces before '
' in Wine traces. jscript: Add a trailing '
' to a Wine trace. secur32: Fix compilation with GNU TLS 1.0.16. make_opengl: Avoid the deprecated '$#' construct. comctl32/tests: FreeMRUList(NULL) crashes on Win98 OSR0. comctl32/tests: Don't crash if adding the tooltip failed. mshtml/tests: Add a trailing '
' to an ok() call. cryptdlg: Fix compilation on systems that don't support nameless unions. Assorted spelling fixes. Gerald Pfeifer (1): cryptnet: Include stdarg.h. Hans Leidekker (13): rpcrt4: Add stub implementations for RpcMgmtInqStats and RpcMgmtStatsVectorFree. winhttp: Implement WinHttpCreateUrl. winhttp: Add tests for WinHttpCreateUrl. wininet: Support setting username and password through options. shlwapi: Fix PathIsValidChar tests that fail on some versions of Windows. winhttp: Skip notifications that may arrive out of order. include: Define IRangeList, IIMAPCallback and IIMAPTransport. inetcomm: Add a stub implementation of IIMAPTransport. wldap32: Return an error when ldap_parse_sort_control or ldap_parse_vlv_control is called with NULL control array. wldap32: Add tests for ldap_parse_sort_control and make them pass. wininet: Option INTERNET_OPTION_CALLBACK is not settable. wininet: Avoid a crash on certain buffer size queries in HTTP_HttpQueryInfoW. usp10: Store glyph mappings and widths in the script cache. Henri Verbeet (44): wined3d: Make sure update_minfilter and update_magfilter are initialized. wined3d: Destroy FBO entries in the context. wined3d: Fix a memory leak. wined3d: Don't try to draw with unsupported attribute data types. wined3d: Get rid of the wantsDepthStencilBuffer in IWineD3DSwapChainImpl. wined3d: Add/update the D3DPRESENTFLAG constants. wined3d: Skip copying the depth stencil if it's discarded. wined3d: Merge pshader_hw_map2gl() and vshader_hw_map2gl(). wined3d: Use shader_glsl_log() in some more places. secur32: Skip schannel tests if schannel is unavailable. secur32: Require gnutls for schannel. secur32: Basic implementation of schannel AcquireCredentialsHandle/FreeCredentialsHandle. secur32: Allocate schannel client credentials. secur32: Allow gnutls debug output to be shown. wined3d: Move part of the shader instruction table to the backend. wined3d: atifs_shader_backend doesn't exist anymore. wined3d: Make some more ARB program functions private to the backend. wined3d: Make some more GLSL functions private to the backend. wined3d: Remove the "Wine 1.0 safety path". wined3d: Split SetGlTextureDesc() up. wined3d: Set the texture name at surface creation. wined3d: Properly handle the offset for compressed surfaces in IWineD3DDeviceImpl_UpdateSurface(). wined3d: If a stage isn't mapped to a texture unit, we can't set default coordinates either. wined3d: Handle texture coordinates the same way we handle other vertex attributes. wined3d: Enable lights on the correct swapchain. secur32: Use ~0UL instead of -1 for invalid schannel handles. secur32: Improve error handling for gnutls_certificate_allocate_credentials(). secur32: Forward schannel InitializeSecurityContextA to InitializeSecurityContextW. d3d9: Use more reasonable texture dimensions. gdi32: Call AbortProc from StartDoc instead of EndPage. comdlg32: Add a test for AbortProc handling. wined3d: Print an error when drawStridedSlow() is called with 0 idxSize and non-NULL idxData (CID 509). wined3d: Remove a redundant initialization of cfgs in WineD3D_ChoosePixelFormat. wined3d: Cleanup CreateAdditionalSwapChain error handling a bit (LLVM/Clang). wined3d: Assign the correct "levels" variable (LLVM/Clang). wined3d: Remove a redundant initialization of cfgs in CheckDepthStencilCapability (LLVM/Clang). wined3d: Get rid of some redundant assignments (LLVM/Clang). wined3d: Set the correct pow2Matrix for cube textures when NPOT textures are supported. wined3d: Don't do GL calls without a context. wined3d: Correct some swizzles and write masks in arb_program_shader. wined3d: Make sure some variables are always initialized. wined3d: Declare diffuseColor and specularColor inside their respective blocks (LLVM/Clang). wined3d: Pass the correct RECT to LoadLocation() in LockRect(). ddraw: Remove a few more redundant inits (LLVM/Clang). Huw Davies (9): inetcomm: Start of IMimeMessage_SetOption. inetcomm: Start of IMimeBody_SetOption. inetcomm: Charset name comparison should be case insensitive. inetcomm: Content-Disposition can have parameters. inetcomm: Implement IMimeBody_IsType(IBT_EMPTY). inetcomm: Add wrapper functions MimeOleFindCharset and MimeOleGetDefaultCharset. include: Add a missing WINAPI. rpcrt4: Actually set an unmarshalled object ptr to NULL when a NULL pointer id is received. ole32: Remove an unneeded WINAPI and remove some useless comments. Jacek Caban (151): mshtml: Fixed dynamic properties allocation. jscript: Added string to number conversion implementation. jscript: Added Array.push implementation. jscript: Added Array.join implementation. jscript: Added Array.toString implementation. jscript: Added Number constructor implementation. jscript: Added Number.toString implementation. jscript: Added Number function implementation. jscript: Added Array.sort implementation. jscript: Fixed array literal length calculation. jscript: Added Array.concat implementation. jscript: Added Object default value implementation. jscript: for..in is not error if in expression is not an object. jscript: Added Array default value implementation. jscript: Fixed typo in to_integer. jscript: Added String.substring implementation. jscript: Added String.toString implementation. jscript: Added String.valueOf implementation. jscript: Added String.slice implementation. jscript: Added String.charCodeAt implementation. jscript: Added parseInt implementation. jscript: Remove no longer used jsdisp_set_prototype. jscript: Added String constructor implementation. jscript: Added String default value implementation. jscript: Added String.concat implementation. jscript: Added String function implementation. jscript: Added Math.min implementation. jscript: Added Math.round implementation. jscript: Added Math.abs implementation. jscript: Added Math.max implementation. jscript: Added Math.pow implementation. jscript: Added Math.ceil implementation. jscript: Don't call IDispatch as constructor. jscript: Added Function.toString implementation. jscript: Added Function default value implementation. jscript: Added RegExp contruction implementation. jscript: Fixed a typo. jscript: Added VT_R8 to string conversion implementation. jscript: Added Number default value implementation. jscript: Added object to number conversion implementation. jscript: Split regexp_match function. jscript: Added String.replace implementation. jscript: Added String.match implementation for non-regexp arguments. jscript: Added String.split implementation. mshtml: Use ActiveScript for JavaScript in file protocol documents. mshtml: Fixed tests timeout. shdocvw: Fixed tests on IE5. urlmon: Fixed file protocol tests on win9x. mshtml: Fixed tests on IE7. urlmon: Fixed potential null dereference. mshtml.idl: Added IHTMLTableRow declaration. mshtml.idl: Added DispHTMLTable declaration. mshtml.idl: Added DispHTMLTableRow declaration. mshtml: Added IHTMLTableRow stub implementation. mshtml: Added IDispatchEx support to HTMLTableRow. mshtml: Added IDispatchEx support to IHTMLTable. mshtml: Don't use IHTMLControlElement in IDispatchEx implementations. mshtml: Move IHTMLElementCollection to separated file. mshtml: Use create_collection_from_nodelist in IHTMLElement::get_children implementation. mshtml: Use create_all_collection in IHTMLElement::get_all implementation. mshtml: Store nsIDOMHTMLTableElement in HTMLTable. mshtml: Added IHTMLTable::get_rows implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLTableRow::get_cells implementation. mshtml: Ignore IDispatchJS in QueryInterface. jscript: Optimize GetDispID usage. jscript: Allocate variables when entering execution context. jscript: Don't clear uninitialized variable. jscript: Added Date constructor object implementation. jscript: Added IDispatchEx::GeleteMemberByDispID implementation. jscript: Added delete expression for EXPRVAL_IDREF implementation. mshtml.idl: Added IHTMLStyle2 interface declaration. mshtml: Added IHTMStyle2 stub implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle2 to IDispatchEx support. mshtml: Added IHTMLElement2::get_currentStyle implementation. jscript: Don't initialize variables without initialiser to undefined in variable_list_eval. jscript: Fixed conflict in Block statement that caused problems with empty blocks. jscript: Fixed backslash handling in regular expressions. jscript: Added possibility to run test scripts from file. mshtml.idl: Added DispHTMLCurrentStyle dispinterface declaration. mshtml: Added IDispatchEx support to HTMLCurrentStyle. mshtml: Moved HTMLStyle to separated header file. mshtml: Use IDs instead of strings in HTMLStyle implementation. mshtml: Store nsIDOMCSSStyleDeclaration in HTMLCurrentStyle. mshtml: Added IHTMLCurrentStyle::get_display implementation. mshtml: Release nsstyle when destroying HTMLStyle. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle::[get|put]_border implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle::[get|put]_left implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle::[get|put]_cursor implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle::[put|get]_top implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle::[get|put]_verticalAlign implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle::[get|put]_height implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle2::[get|put]_position. mshtml: Added INVOKE_FUNC support to InvokeEx. mshtml: Fixed handing non-element nodes in IHTMLElementCollection. mshtml: Added DispHTMLIFrame dispinterface declaration. msi: Added MsiInstallMissingComponentW stub implementation. jscript: Added String.indexOf implementation. jscript: Added a few missing allocation checks (Coverity). jscript: Fixed compare function check in Array.sort (Coverity). jscript: Fixed copy&paste bug in disp_propget. jscript: Fixed list literal length calculation. jscript: Added Array.pop implementation. jscript: Fixed numeric escapes unescaping. jscript: Added encodeURI implementation. jscript: Added String.split implementation for non-regexp arguments. mshtml: Added IHTMLElement::get_offsetWidth implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLElement3 stub implementation. mshtml: Added HTMLIFrame stub implementation. mshtml: Added IDispatchEx support for HTMLIFrame. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle::[get|put]_zIndex implementation. mshtml: Added support for accessing style attributes by CSS syntax. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle::[get|put]_textAlign implementation. mshtml: Added IHTMLStyle::[get|put]_filter implementation. mshtml: Store nsIDOMHTMLDocument in HTMLDocument. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in handle_load. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in get_compatMode. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in createRange. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in get_doc_string. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in set_font_size. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in exec_hyperlink. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in createTextRange. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in HTMLCurrentStyle_Create. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMDocument2::get_all. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLDocument2::get_body. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLDocument2::put_title. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLDocument2::get_title. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLDocument2::write. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLDocument2::createElement. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLDocument2::get_styleSheets. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in createTextNode. mshtml: Use stored nselem in get_documentElement. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLDocument3::getElementById. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in prev_node. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLTxtRange::put_text. jscript: Added '%' expression implementation. jscript: Added '%=' expression implementation. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLTxtRange::expand. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in exec_indent. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLElement::insertAdjacentHTML. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLElement::insertAdjacentText. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMOptionElement::put_text. mshtml: Use stored nsdoc in IHTMLOptionElementFactory::create. mshtml: Get rid of setup_nswindow. mshtml: Forward IHTMLelement3::[get|put]_disabled to child object if possible. mshtml: Added IHTMLElement3::[get|put]_implementation. mshtml: Use IHTMLElement3 in IDispatchEx. mshtml: Added IHTMLSelectElement::[get|put]_disabled implementation. mshtml: Don't use IDispatchEx for timer callbacks. mshtml.idl: Added DispCEventObj declaration. mshtml: Added IDispatchEx support to HTMLEventObj. mshtml: Moved events declaration to separated file. James Hawkins (31): comctl32: Fix several failing tests in win95. comctl32: Fix a failing test in win95. comctl32: Add a missing newline. crypt32: Fix several test failures in win98. ntdll: Fix a couple failing tests in NT4. oleaut32: Fix a failing test in win95. secur32: Fix a failing test in win95. comctl32: Fix a failing test in win9x. msi: Fix several test failures in win9x. crypt32: Fix several failing tests in win9x. comctl32: Fix a test on locales where default first day of week is not the max value. msi: Add a stub implementation of MsiDatabaseMerge. msi: Forward MsiDatabaseMergeA to MsiDatabaseMergeW. msi: Fix a test that fails in win95. comctl32: Only log system messages. comctl32: Fix several test failures in win2k. comctl32: Only log system messages. msi: Implement the DROP TABLE sql command. msi: Resolve file source paths dynamically, as the source directory can be changed. msi: Remove a break that kept other columns from getting the table name. msi: Remove the columns in reverse order. msi: Add tests for dropping tables with multiple columns. msi: Don't update the table columns if there are no more columns. msi: Remove a part of a debugging statement that was accidentally left in. msi: Add tests for converting record fields between strings and ints. msi: Add initial implementation of MsiDatabaseMerge, with tests. msi: Replace lengthy calls to MSI_DatabaseOpenView with MSI_OpenQuery. msi: Add a stub implementation of MsiDetermineApplicablePatches. msi: Add extra constraints on the formatting string of edit path text. msi: Initialize the count variable to zero. comctl32: Fix MCM_SETFIRSTDAYOFWEEK when the first day set is greater than max allowed. Jan-Peter Nilsson (1): wininet: Fix HTTP_ProcessCookies only processing one cookie. Jeff Zaroyko (2): hhctrl.ocx: Always set WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW. msvcrt: Avoid a NULL pointer deref in ctime. John Klehm (3): wintab32: Improve tracing of LOGCONTEXT struct. wintab32: Handle negative output context range for y-axe. wintab32: Send notification when z-order changes. Joris Huizer (1): version/tests: Corrected memset placement. Juan Lang (40): cryptui: Implement CryptUIDlgViewCertificateA on top of CryptUIDlgViewCertificateW. cryptui: Build import lib. wintrust: Search all additional stores when building a chain, not just the first one. wintrust: Store the error status and confidence for each element in the chain. wintrust: Always initialize CERT_CHAIN_PARA's RequestedUsage. wintrust: Use helper function to allocate CRYPT_PROVIDER_DATA. wintrust: Use helper function to add the trust steps to execute. wintrust: Only do policy check if pointer is set. wintrust: Check that the end certificate in the chain isn't disallowed to match native behavior. wintrust: Support the CERT_CERTIFICATE_ACTION_VERIFY action. cryptdlg: Implement CertViewPropertiesA on top of CertViewPropertiesW. cryptdlg: Implement CertViewPropertiesW on top of CryptUIDlgViewCertificateW. cryptdlg: Implement CertTrustInit. cryptdlg: Implement CertTrustFinalPolicy. include: Add definition of CRYPTUI_DISABLE_ISSUERSTATEMENT. wintrust: Map cert trust error status to a windows error. wintrust: Use helper function for setting confidence in SoftpubCheckCert. wintrust: Only set the error on the root element of the chain. secur32: Fix test failure with neither gnutls nor ntlm_auth available. inetmib1: Skip tests if a portion of inetmib1 isn't implemented. wintrust: Add stub for WTHelperGetKnownUsages. wintrust: Add tests for WTHelperGetKnownUsages. wintrust: Implement WTHelperGetKnownUsages. wintrust: Implement OpenPersonalTrustDBDialog. wininet: Trace the cache file entry's local file name rather than the passed-in cache entry info's local file name, as the caller may have passed a NULL pointer. wininet: Don't call URL_LocalFileNameToPathA when asked for a unicode string and URL_LocalFileNameToPathW fails. wininet: Fix trace typo. cryptnet: Don't access URL cache entry before it's been read. cryptnet: Set cache expiration time of objects that have an expiration time to the object's expiration time, rather than relying on the HTTP Expires header. wintrust: Implement CryptSIPGetSignedDataMsg for.cat files. crypt32: Implement CryptSIPRetrieveSubjectGuid for.cat files. wintrust: Don't hardcode supported OIDs, let CryptDecodeObject handle it directly. crypt32: Fix test failures on NT4. crypt32: Fix some chain failures on Win9x/NT4. crypt32: Remove an error that no longer fails. crypt32: Fix error handling for cyclic chains. wintrust: Fix test failures on Win9x. inetmib1: Fix some test failures on Win9x/NT4. inetmib1: Fix remaining failure on Win9x/NT4. crypt32: Fix some test failures on Win9x. Kai Blin (2): secur32: Make GetComputerObjectName(A|W) tests work on win2k3 domains. dplayx: Set tests to "interactive" to avoid timing out on all machines. Kirill K. Smirnov (1): oleaut32: Add tests for metafiles, make them pass under Wine. Kjell Rune Skaaraas (1): wined3d: Implement IWineD3DResourceImpl_GetPriority and IWineD3DResourceImpl_SetPriority for resource management. Konstantin Kondratyuk (2): fonts: Add afii61352 into tahoma.sfd. fonts: Add afii61352 into tahomabd.sfd. Lei Zhang (11): winspool: Check the return results from schedule_* functions. gdiplus: Allocate enough space for BITMAPINFO in GdipCreateTextureIA. gdiplus: Free memory on a failure. gdiplus: Allocate enough space for BITMAPINFO in GdipBitmapLockBits. gdiplus: Allocate enough space for BITMAPINFO in GdipBitmapUnlockBits. gdiplus: Allocate enough space for BITMAPINFO in GdipLoadImageFromStream. comctl32: Avoid a divide by zero in listview. regedit: Use W version of TreeView_GetItem. regedit: Check return values, don't request unneeded value which always fails. regedit: Make branch export behavior work more like native regedit. regedit: Pass VK_DELETE messages to Listview/Treeview child windows. Louis Lenders (2): shdocvw: Create default App Paths key for iexplore.exe. msi: Add stub for MsiSetExternalUIRecord. Maarten Lankhorst (7): quartz: Implement IMediaPosition::put_CurrentPosition. quartz: Add missing calls to EndFlush. quartz: Don't abort starting for unconnected pin in avi splitter. quartz: Return VFW_E_WRONG_STATE in file source if flushing. quartz: Requeue in pullpin if request for data timed out. dsound: Fix volume and panning for primary buffer. winealsa.drv: Don't hang on last few bytes not played. Marcus Meissner (6): jscript: Fixed crash in run test. jscript: Fix number conversion in non-English locales. msi/tests: Fix explicit C:\\Program Files\\ references. msi: Fix potential uninitialized use of substg. gdiplus: Also handle 32bpp bitmaps. advapi32: Check for NULL ptr. Michael Karcher (12): msxml3/tests: Clean up test_removeChild. msxml3: removeChild can only delete direct children. msxml3: Fail a bit earlier on removeChild(...,NULL,...). msxml3: Simplify IXMLDOMNode::removeChild. msxml3: Parameter validation for IXMLDOMNode::replaceChild and tests. msxml3/tests: Valgrind fix. msxml3: Basic implementation of IXMLDOMNode::replaceChild. msxml3: replaceNode accepts IXMLDOMElement instead of IXMLDOMNode. msxml3: Handle all variant types in IXMLDOMDocument::createNode. msxml3: Revert "Simplify IXMLDOMNode::removeChild". msxml3: _domtext->element is in fact a IXMLDOMNode. msxml3: Text node should not aggregate element. Michael Stefaniuc (28): oleaut32/tests: Remove redundant NULL check before SysFreeString (Smatch). jscript: Remove redundant NULL check before SysFreeString (Smatch). msxml3/tests: Remove redundant NULL check before SysFreeString (Smatch). oleaut32: Remove redundant NULL check before SysFreeString (Smatch). shlwapi/tests: Remove redundant NULL check before SysFreeString (Smatch). oleaut32/tests: Fix printf format warning. shell32: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. ole32: Use the right FAILED/SUCCEEDED macro instead of negating the opposite. qmgr: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. quartz: Use the right FAILED/SUCCEEDED macro instead of negating the opposite. ddraw/tests: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. urlmon/tests: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. mshtml/tests: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. d3d9/tests: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. shlwapi: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. dplayx: Use SUCCEEDED instead of!FAILED. qcap: Use the right FAILED/SUCCEEDED macro instead of negating the opposite. shdocvw: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. comctl32: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. dxdiagn: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. d3dxof: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. winefile: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. msxml3/tests: Use SUCCEEDED instead of!FAILED. itss/tests: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. winecfg: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. msi: Use the right FAILED/SUCCEEDED macro instead of negating the opposite. oleaut32: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. shell32/tests: Use FAILED instead of!SUCCEEDED. Muneyuki Noguchi (22): regedit: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. wineboot: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. winefile: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. taskmgr: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. winecfg: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. wordpad: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. winhlp32: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. notepad: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. avifil32: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. setupapi: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. shell32: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. user32: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. wineps.drv: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. wininet: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. comctl32: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. msacm32: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. oledlg: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. serialui: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. shlwapi: Use "MS Shell Dlg" 9 in Japanese resources. write: Add Japanese resources. reg: Add Japanese resources. mshtml: Add Japanese resources. Nikolay Sivov (7): gdiplus: Stub for GdipSetPathGradientBlend. gdiplus: Implement GdipGetTextureTransform with test. gdiplus: Implemented GdipSetTextureTransform with tests. gdiplus: Implemented GdipResetTextureTransform. gdiplus: Implemented GdipSetClipRect/GdipSetClipRectI. gdiplus: Implemented GdipSetClipPath. gdiplus: Stubs for GdipIsVisiblePoint/GdipIsVisiblePointI. Paul Vriens (39): kernel32/tests: Use skip instead of trace. kernel32/tests: Skip some tests on win9x. kernel32/tests: Fix tests on NT4. kernel32/tests: Make sure we can remove a test directory. kernel32/tests: Add extra tests for SetCurrent |
Finally, the proliferation of resistance factions prove that any group of carefully selected leaders (including some leaders in Hamas) who do not express the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians will be incapable of containing and channeling the overwhelming social forces whose opposition can only grow with the increasingly racist and aggressive actions of the Zionist state.
At the end of the day, given that the muscularity and military barbarity of the past sixty-plus years have been unable to banish Palestinian aspirations to have and to return to their own homeland, it is improbable that the powers-that-be can co-opt the population. What they offer through aid and designated leaders is not what the people want. Very simply, what is being offered is the transformation of Palestinian identity into something quiescent, submissive, and grateful for the crumbs that those with power deign to throw their way.
However, the latest war might prove to be the inflection point at which Israel and its Arab and Western backers realize that the balances have shifted. That crumbs will no longer do. That quiescence is not Palestinian, but resistance is.
Dina Jadallah is an Arab-American writer and artist. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona. Her work was published in Arab Studies Quarterly, Jadaliyya, Palestine Chronicle, Counterpunch, Ramallah Online, and Global Research, among others. She can be reached at [email protected]Look up and down the Celtics roster and you’ll quickly realize it’s not exactly a who’s who of three-point marksmen. Sure, there’s Avery Bradley (40.9%) and Jae Crowder (42.6%). But beyond that pair, Kelly Olynyk (38.1%) and Isaiah Thomas (38.4%) are the only others knocking down at least 38% of their 3s so far this season.
Still, Boston has quietly become one of the league’s most efficient outfits from beyond the arc. Shooting 36.8%, the Celtics currently rank seventh in the league in three-point accuracy while jacking up more treys than all but three other teams.
It’s easy to look over the numbers and jump to the conclusion that Boston is simply experiencing a fluke season from distance. They’ve never finished any better than 27th in three-point percentage in the Brad Stevens era, nor have they placed in the top half in both makes and attempts.
But they’ve also never had this version of Thomas before.
The Celtics point guard is having a career year and not just from long range. He’s second in the league in scoring (29.0 points per game) and is putting an immense amount of pressure on opposing defenses with his ability to get to the rim almost at will.
Oftentimes, you’ll see the words “gravitational pull” used to describe how effective a three-point shooter is at drawing defensive attention out to the perimeter. It’s not an official metric, but the better the shooter, the greater the gravitational pull. In that regard, despite his size, Thomas is Jupiter. However, rather than attracting defenders out to the perimeter, he forces defenders to collapse into the paint in order to deter his drives, where he leads the league in points via drives per game with 9.7. In turn, this leaves his teammates wide open spotting up from beyond the arc.
Take this play against the Brooklyn Nets for example.
Thomas receives the ball from Jonas Jerebko and quickly beats his man off the dribble to make his way into the teeth of the defense, where four Nets players immediately shift their attention from their own men to Thomas. Instead of positioning himself between the ball and his man, Luis Scola swipes at the ball while Brook Lopez rotates over from Amir Johnson to provide help. Sean Kilpatrick, who has Terry Rozier, does the right thing and slides in front of Johnson to prevent Thomas from dumping it off to him for an easy layup, but that leaves Rozier wide open in the corner, where Thomas finds him for the three.
A similar sequence occurs here against the Charlotte Hornets.
Thomas comes off an Al Horford screen and heads straight for the basket. As he turns the corner, all five Hornets direct their attention to him, leaving Bradley completely alone above the break for three.
The Celtics score 1.184 points per possession when Thomas passes to the spot-up man as the pick-and-roll ball handler, per Synergy. It’s plays like these that help explain why so many Celtics are shooting much better from beyond the arc when assisted by Thomas.
Of course, it goes without saying that this wouldn’t be possible if the guys on the receiving end of these passes weren’t holding up their end of the bargain. Crowder, himself, is shooting a ridiculous nine percentage points better than his career average. And essentially swapping out Jared Sullinger’s 28.2% mark from last year with Al Horford’s (33.3%) has given the rest of Boston’s shooters more space to work with.
As has been the case over the last few years, the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts with the Celtics’ long range shooting in 2016-17. It’s just hard to imagine the Celtics would be experiencing this kind of quantum leap with a version of Thomas more on par with his career numbers.Another week, and another Silicon Valley-sized maelstrom. Ellen Pao, chief executive of Reddit, the social news forum that bills itself as the front page of the internet (but is increasingly known for misogyny and porn), is under fire again. This time it follows the sudden departure of a popular employee at the site, which prompted volunteer moderators to shut down hundreds of communities – sorry, subreddits – in protest. Reddit has been thrown into chaos and, although Pao has apologised for “letting down” users, a petition calling for her removal – set up earlier this year by members unhappy at the company’s attempts to ban communities for harassing behaviour – has gained more than 100,000 signatures over the weekend.
Why is the world so angry with Pao? Could it be because she is a woman in a position of power or is it infinitely more complicated? It goes back to the sex discrimination lawsuit that Pao brought against venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, Caufield and Byers in March. The landmark trial that captivated Silicon Valley for a month included details about all-male ski trips and Valentine’s gifts, and prompted former employees at Twitter and Facebook to file similar suits. In the process, Pao’s personal life, work habits, and emails were raked through the court. She was accused of being aggressive, timid, greedy, manipulative, and so on. You could say that the courtroom isn’t so different to the boardroom. Even though she lost – the jury sided with Kleiner Perkins’s case that Pao was “divisive and not a team player” – the case shone a light on the lack of diversity in Silicon Valley.
Since the trial, Pao has become either the reckless CEO intent on destroying the freedom of the internet, or the tech generation’s figurehead for speaking out against gender discrimination in the workplace, depending on who you talk to. “If I’ve helped level the playing field for women and minorities in venture capital, then the battle was worth it,” she told reporters outside the courtroom back in March. Her move to Reddit, at first glance, seemed incongruous. Maybe that was the point. After taking on Silicon Valley, where only 4% of senior investing partners at venture capital firms are women, could it be that Pao wanted to clean up what some regard as the biggest online mess of them all? Reddit, as well as being a breeding ground for memes and gifs, has a reputation, sometimes hard to square with site users used to its different face, for being a toxic, misogynistic community. A Chinese-American feminist in charge? That’s really interesting.
It’s worth noting one complication: the employee fired by Reddit is a woman. But Pao was already in the limelight, and has a reputation for taking on sexual discrimination. In the six months since she has been in post, Pao has removed negotiating – over cash salaries and equity – from Reddit’s recruitment process because she felt men benefited more than women. “It’s an opportunity for me to try to put in things that I think are going to create this equal opportunity environment for everyone,” she said. She has banned “involuntary pornography” by ensuring people whose photos have been posted on Reddit without their consent can have them removed. And the company has introduced an anti-harassment policy: “We’re banning behaviour, not ideas.”
It’s not exactly shocking yet Pao is accused of waging a war on freedom. The response to introducing some basic principles of respect and tolerance to a site used by more than 150 million people every month has been tellingly disproportionate. In fact, the language of the petition to oust Pao says it all. “A vast majority of the Reddit community believes that Pao, ‘a manipulative individual who will sue her way to the top’, has overstepped the boundaries and fears that she will run Reddit into the ground.” Some might say the boundaries should have been overstepped long ago.CLOSE The leaders of the Group of Seven nations signed a declaration to fight terrorism and extremism. Italy's Prime Minister Gentiloni says it's strong message of friendship and solidarity with Britain after the deadly Manchester attack. (May 26) AP
From left, Guinea's President Alpha Conde, U.S. President Donald Trump, President of the African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn pose for a group photo on the second day of the G7 Summit at the San Domenico in Taormina, Sicily, Italy, on May 27, 2017. (Photo11: Angelo Carconi, epa)
TAORMINA, Italy — Wrapping up his first foreign trip as commander-in-chief, President Trump left the G-7 summit Saturday amid ongoing international deadlocks over trade, climate change and the fate of a global treaty on restricting heat-trapping carbon emissions.
While the American president and G-7 allies agreed to increase efforts to fight terrorism, Trump, his aides and other world leaders acknowledged ongoing disputes over trade rules and whether the United States should remain part of the Paris climate change agreement.
Climate talks in particular were "very unsatisfactory," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters.
Trump, who received conflicting advice on climate change from aides, tweeted after the G-7 meetings that "I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!" The precise date is uncertain, and he has delayed previous plans to make that announcement.
I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017
Speaking later to U.S. military personnel before heading back to Washington, Trump said many countries have "a large number of disagreements" with the U.S., but he believes he hit "a home run" during his trip.
"We made a lot of good friends this week," Trump said.
His voyage began in the Middle East, continued to the Vatican for a meeting with Pope Francis, led to NATO headquarters in Brussels and wound up on the Sicilian coast for the Group of Seven industrial nations summit.
Trump took to Twitter to say that "lots of very important matters" were discussed at the G-7, but "first on the list, of course, is terrorism."
He also cited pledges by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to "step up payments considerably, as they should," on their defense budgets. While some analysts criticized Trump for not endorsing the alliance's mutual defense pledge, the president tweeted that "money is beginning to pour in - NATO will be much stronger."
Big G7 meetings today. Lots of very important matters under discussion. First on the list, of course, is terrorism. #G7Taormina — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017
Many NATO countries have agreed to step up payments considerably, as they should. Money is beginning to pour in- NATO will be much stronger. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017
In addition to protesting Trump's views on climate change, Germany and other G-7 members pushed back on Trump's claims that other countries engage in unfair trade practices against the United States. The back-and-forth ended what European Union President Donald Tusk called "the most challenging G-7 summit in years."
Hanging over the president's entire trip: Ongoing investigations back home of any links between Trump's campaign last year and Russians who sought to influence the presidential election by hacking Democrats. Trump and his aides have denied collusion and described the investigations as "witch hunts."
Read more:
While other leaders held traditional post-G-7 news conferences Saturday, Trump did not. Instead, he spoke to U.S. military personnel at the nearby Naval Air Station Sigonella, from which Air Force One departed.
The president and first lady arrived at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Saturday night and returned to the White House aboard Marine One, landing on the South Lawn at 9:22 p.m. The president waved as he entered the residence but made no comment.
Trump focused on terrorism, NATO
Recounting his trip, Trump stressed the need to win the fight against terrorism. Citing this week's attacks in the United Kingdom and Egypt, Trump said the U.S. is resolved to defeat terrorism, which he called "a bad threat to all humanity."
In the Middle East, a more conciliatory Trump praised prospects for new peace talks and urged Muslim leaders to help defeat terrorism; during a more combative visit to Brussels, Trump demanded changes to the U.S. financial relationship with NATO. Both visits drew some criticisms.
During the president's sojourn through Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, analyst Aaron David Miller — a Middle East negotiator in both Republican and Democratic administrations — said his head "was spinning" over Trump's hopes for a peace deal.
"Never has a US President expressed so much confidence in a conflict-ending peace agreement w/so little prospect of success," tweeted Miller, vice president with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Head spinning: Never has a US President expressed so much confidence in a conflict-ending peace agreement w/so little prospect of success — Aaron David Miller (@aarondmiller2) May 23, 2017
In Brussels, Trump surprised NATO leaders by avoiding an explicit endorsement of "Article 5," the mutual defense provision of the NATO charter that requires members to regard an attack on one member as an attack on all.
"The President chose instead to alienate our European and Canadian allies by publicly berating them over their defense spending," said Kori Schake, a former National Security Council official and now a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. "He's just made it an awful lot easier for allies to refuse anything he ever needs from them."
Read more:
Aides said Trump fully supports NATO, noting that he spoke at a memorial dedicated to invocation of Article 5 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. "It's clear that the president is committed to Article 5 and the alliance," National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said. "That's why he was there for the leaders' meeting."
During his speech in Brussels, Trump also demanded NATO members increase defense spending, arguing that the United States is carrying too much of the financial burden. He echoed those comments to the troops at Naval Air Station Sigonella, saying "other nations must pay more" for common defense. "We're behind NATO all the way," the president said, "but we want to be treated fairly."
Despite Trump's suggestions to the contrary, NATO countries do not owe money to the United States; alliance members have agreed to increase their own defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product, and say they are making progress toward that goal.
Trip ends without final decision on Paris Accord
At the G-7, held at a hilly seaside village, the issues of terrorism, trade and climate change dominated meetings mostly closed to the press.
European officials have long sought to pressure Trump to stay in the Paris agreement. During their meeting at the Vatican, Pope Francis gave Trump a book he wrote on climate change.
In backing the pact reached in Paris in 2015, supporters say countries should be required to reduce carbon emissions as to way to mitigate the threats of global warming.
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While some Trump aides want the U.S. to stay in the Paris framework, other officials say new regulations will hurt the American energy industry, thereby reducing economic growth.
The G-7 was unable to come to a consensus on the topic. The annual G-7 communique — shorter than usual at only six pages — said that nearly all the members agree on climate change, with one exception: "The United States of America is in the process of reviewing its policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics."
Gary Cohn, director of Trump's National Economic Council, said Trump's views on climate change are "evolving" and that he came to the G-7 "to learn and get smarter" ahead of his decision on the Paris deal. "His basis for decision ultimately will be what's best for the United States," he said.
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In terms of trade, Trump reportedly criticized the Germans as "very bad" on the process, and made other complaints about the global trading system during G-7 meetings. Other countries said they are following mutually agreed upon rules. Merkel pointed out that her country couldn't re-negotiate rules with the United States if it wanted to, as Germany is a member of the European Union.
"We have a currency union," Merkel told reporters. "We are practically a common market. To pick out one country is, I think, not so appropriate."
Awkward moments along the way
Aides said Trump advanced his agenda and made new connections with world leaders during the trip, though it also had its share of awkward moments.
There was a long and seemingly competitive handshake between Trump and new French President Emmanuel Macron. There was Trump pushing aside the prime minister of Montenegro to get to the front of a NATO family photo. British Prime Minister Theresa May got on Trump over U.S. intelligence leaks, while Merkel pushed back against Trump complaints about car trading policy.
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At times, the body language in group settings seemed to reflect the divisions between Trump's "America First" approach and the views of other nations. At one point, as G-7 leaders strolled the ancient mountain streets of Taormina, Trump followed behind on a golf cart.
During the G-7, observers accused Trump of not using headphones to hear the translations of comments by speakers from other countries. Spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump used a different method, tweeting: "As usual @POTUS wears a single ear piece for translation in his right ear."
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2r91hu3On this day in Duluth in 1923, former Duluth mayor Trevanion Hugo died of the flu. He was 75 years old. Hugo was born at Bodinnoc, Cornwall, England, and grew up in Kingston, Ontario, where he studied to be an engineer. He became a marine engineer on the great lakes, work that brought him to Duluth by 1878. He moved his family to the Zenith City in 1881 to take a job as the chief engineer of Grain Elevator B (also called elevator Q). He served as Duluth mayor from 1900 to 1905 and again in 1921 to finish out the term of Clarence Magney, who had resigned to become a district court judge. Despite Hugo’s work as an engineer, politician, and civic leader (including school board and library board president) the Duluth Herald’s story on his death focused on his involvement with fraternal organizations. By the time of his death Hugo had “attained one of the highest seats in Masonry in the world” and ranked “fourth in the Southern jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite [and] was in line for sovereign grand commander, the highest position in the rite.” Hugo was credited for organizing the Mason’s Scottish Rite in Duluth in 1887 and the Aad Temple, Mystic Shrine, Duluth (aka Duluth Shriners) in 1896. He would serve as vice president for the Shrine Hospital for crippled children in St. Paul. As if that wasn’t enough, he also found time to belong to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and had served as the group’s grand master of the grand lodge of Minnesota. He also belonged to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Duluth Engineers Club, the Duluth Chamber of Commerce, the Duluth Boat Club, and the Kitchi Gammi Club. When the community of Centerville Station—which began as a refueling stop along the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad—incorporated in 1906. it renamed itself Hugo, Minnesota, in honor of Trevanion Hugo.Russell Wilson and the Seahawks played the Packers in the NFC Championship. This game featured an epic comeback by the Seahawks down by 19 points to beat the Green Bay Packers. The game didn’t start well for the Seahawks as Wilson threw multiple interceptions and the offensive line allowed way too much pressure. However, two last minute drives and a lucky onside kick advanced them to the Superbowl to play the New England Patriots. Let’s take a look at some of Wilson’s plays to figure out what happened in this week’s breakdown.
Stats
Wilson – 14/29, 209 yards, 7.2 ypa, 1 TD, 4 INTs, 1 Fumble, 5 sacks for 25 yards, 7 carries for 25 yards, 1 rushing TD
First let’s take a look at Wilson’s interceptions in Plays 2, 6, 10, and 29. What you’ll notice is that the Packers used the same Cover 1 Robber shell for all of these interceptions and almost had a fifth interception in Play 27.
Play 2
Situation: 3rd and 7 at SEA 23
Description: Q1 – (10:37) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass short middle intended for J.Kearse INTERCEPTED by H.Clinton-Dix at SEA 30. H.Clinton-Dix pushed ob at SEA 4 for 26 yards (J.Sweezy). PENALTY on GB-M.Daniels, Taunting, 15 yards, enforced at SEA 4.
Offensive Formation: Empty-Set Shotgun Trips Left
Offense Personnel: 11 (Lynch is lining up as a WR on the left outside)
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 Robber, man-to-man coverage across the board
http://i.imgur.com/BmahhsV.jpg
Wilson in shotgun pre-snap reads a defender directly over WR15 Kearse and a defender at the line of scrimmage over his slot right wide receiver. This same lineup is mirrored on the opposite side of the field, but the main difference is that there are three wide receivers as opposed to only two. This means that either the Packers at double-covering the slot receiver, the Packers could drop the defender in off-man coverage into zone, or they could blitz the cornerback at the line of scrimmage. The Packers choose the latter, which means that the slot receiver is against off-man coverage.
Kearse runs an in-route and it’s well covered. Maybe Wilson thought that the blitz was coming but the Packers were playing zone coverage on the right outside, but regardless he takes the snap and delivers an accurate pass to Kearse. Unfortunately due to the slipper conditions and the excellent coverage, the ball bounces off of his hands and falls right into FS21 Clinton-Dix’s hands for an interception who was playing robber over the middle of the field. Not a good start.
I don’t blame Wilson for this throw. Typically the worst case scenario for this throw is a quick incompletion and on 3rd and 7 the Seahawks were hoping this designed interference play with the slot right receiver would open up the field underneath. Good defensive call by the Packers.
Play 6
Situation: 1st and 10 at SEA 20
Description: Q2 – (9:37) R.Wilson pass deep middle intended for J.Kearse INTERCEPTED by H.Clinton-Dix at GB 32. H.Clinton-Dix to SEA 41 for 27 yards (J.Kearse). PENALTY on GB-C.Matthews, Illegal Blindside Block, 15 yards, enforced at SEA 41.
Note: The game tape was having technical difficulties for this play and for a few others, so I could only get part of the play. It should be enough to display something we noticed last week versus the Carolina Panthers.
In this play, Wilson attempts to throw the deep post route to WR15 Kearse on 1st down, but the ball is intercepted beautifully by FS21 Clinton-Dix.
http://i.imgur.com/UYwmMzj.png
Wilson attempts to look off Clinton-Dix, but he isn’t fooled, so he returns to deep safety help on Kearse. Before Wilson releases the ball, what you’ll notice is that Kearse does not have any separation on this play. CB38 Williams does an excellent job staying with Kearse the entire play, but Kearse has inside leverage over Williams. This means that if Wilson can lead Kearse and place it past Clinton-Dix it has a chance of becoming a deep play.
Unfortunately, Wilson underthrows the ball and Clinton-Dix makes an excellent one-armed interception on the ball. If you are going to miss this throw, you HAVE to throw it deep seeing as Clinton-Dix was in-front of Kearse’s path. Just like last week against the Carolina Panthers, Wilson continues to struggle with underthrowing his deep long balls.
Play 10
Situation: 3rd and 8 at GB 18
Description: Q2 – (2:00) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass deep left intended for J.Kearse INTERCEPTED by S.Shields at GB 0. Touchback.
Offensive Formation: Empty-set Shotgun Double Wing
Offense Personnel: 11 (Lynch lines up as the left outside WR)
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 Robber, man-to-man coverage across the board
http://i.imgur.com/RKyhBH8.png
It’s 3rd and 8 with 2:00 minutes left in the first half. Wilson has WR15 Kearse in the left slot running a corner route to the endzone. The two wide receivers are running what’s a called a “Smash Concept”. Where the outside WR runs a short hitch and the slot receiver runs a corner route. This is meant to attack zone coverage, by flooding the left outside zones or to attack bump-and-run coverage on the slot receiver if the defense is in man-to-man coverage like they are in this play.
http://i.imgur.com/MXJAR7p.png
Wilson takes the snap and immediately looks for the corner route. He lobs the ball into the air trying to give Kearse a chance at the ball, but Wilson plaecs the ball too far to the inside of Kearse allowing CB37 Shields a chance at the ball. After Kearse cuts outside, you’ll notice that Shields turns his head and watches Wilson the entire play looking for the ball. This is amazing awareness and coverage.
The other option in this play would have been to go to the quick-in route on the right side of the field, but it might not have gotten the Seahawks a first down based on the underneath coverage of the safety playing robber. If Wilson wants to make this throw, he has to place it further outside to give his wide receiver a chance at the ball and make sure the defender can’t play it.
Play 27
Situation: 2nd and 15 at 50
Description: Q4 – (7:11) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass incomplete short middle to K.Norwood (H.Clinton-Dix).
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Trips Right Near
Offense Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 Robber, Man-to-man across the board
http://i.imgur.com/PSbeE6U.jpg
This is Wilson’s worst throw of the game. He completley doesn’t see the FS21 Clinton-Dix playing robber over the middle and forces the ball to WR81 Norwood running a dig route. Awful throw. Wilson stares down the receiver and then throws it inaccurately. This should have been Clinton-Dix’s third pick on the day.
Play 29
Situation: 1st and 10 at SEA 46
Description: Q4 – (5:13) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass short middle intended for J.Kearse INTERCEPTED by M.Burnett at GB 39. M.Burnett to GB 43 for 4 yards. Went down on his own.
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Trips Right Near
Offense Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 Robber, Man-to-man across the board
http://i.imgur.com/zRQTZXF.png
This play is almost identical to Play 27, but this time it results in an interception. In this play, Wilson targets Kearse who is in the middle of the trips right running a deep-in route over the middle of the field. Wilson takes the snap and throws a bullet right into the diving arms of Kearse who lays out for the ball. CB33 Hyde is right on the tail of Kearse. The ball was well-placed, but it again bounces off of Kearse’s hands straight into the air for SS42 Burnett to intercept it.
Breaking down Wilson’s mechanics on this play, his footwork isn’t the best as he drifts backwards as he is releasing the ball. He gets good velocity on the throw, but he needs to release this ball with more anticipation. The ball should have been released a full second earlier right as Kearse was about to start making the cut down the field, which would have given Kearse more separation on the play. Like Play 2, this is another play where you typically don’t see the ball pop straight up for the defense that usually results in an incompletion and nothing more.
Play 28
Situation: 3rd and 15 at 50
Description: Q4 – (7:07) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass incomplete deep middle to D.Baldwin (C.Hayward) [D.Jones].
Here is one final play showing Wilson’s struggles with the Cover 1 Robber. In this play, Wilson attempts to throw deep to Baldwin when he should have thrown it to the tight end running the deep crossing route, since the safety that was sitting back there in a Cover 2 look moves up to the middle, which opens the deep left half of the field. If I were the Patriots, I’d be looking at using McCourty and Chung in Cover 1 Robber looks for the Superbowl.
Please continue reading on the next page.The Catholic church, already reeling from a string of clerical sex abuse scandals, is facing new embarrassment after an Italian magazine published an investigation into what it termed the double life of gay priests in Rome.
Using hidden cameras, the weekly Panorama, owned by Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, captured priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex. The Vatican does not condemn homosexuals, but it teaches that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered". In one of his earliest moves, pope Benedict barred actively gay men from studying for the priesthood.
The diocese of Rome lashed out at the prime minister's magazine, saying its aim was "to create scandal [and] defame all priests". But it also urged gay clerics to leave both the closet and the priesthood.
It said, "Consistency would require that they come into the open", but that they "ought not to have become priests".
The semi-official papal daily, L'Osservatore Romano, made no reference to the affair. Vatican Radio reported it briefly.
One priest, a Frenchman in his 30s identified as Father Paul, attended a party at which there were two male prostitutes then said Mass the following morning before driving them to the airport, Panorama reported. A photo on its website claimed to show the priest in his dog collar but without his trousers with a gay man who acted as decoy for the magazine. In other shots, priests were shown apparently kissing Panorama's collaborator.
A member of the clergy quoted by the magazine put the proportion of gay priests in the Italian capital at "98%". The Rome diocese insisted the vast majority of priests in the city were "models of morality for all", while adding that the number of gay clergyman was "small, but not to be written off as isolated cases". A review eight years ago of research on the American church concluded that between a quarter and a half of seminarians and priests there were homosexual.
A former Italian MP and gay activist, Franco Grillini, said: "If all the gays in the Catholic church were to leave it at once – something we would very much like – they would cause it serious operational problems."
Another well-known spokesman for the gay community, Aurelio Mancuso, condemned Panorama's investigation as a "horrible political and cultural operation", but agreed that if priests in Rome were to follow the advice given to them in yesterday's statement, it would "paralyse" the diocese.
In March, the pope's own household was rocked by scandal when court documents revealed a Vatican chorister had procured male prostitutes for a papal gentleman-in-waiting.By
Make no mistake, what happened in Marikana last week was tragic. There is no better way of describing the brutal killing of 44 people, 34 of whom were shot dead by the police. What irks Wonkie however is the stupidity around the entire situation. This stupidity includes the behaviour of inept Unions, the mindset of the illegal strikers, the unscrupulous, opportunistic behaviour of politicians, and moronic media comparisons to apartheid-era massacres.
Leaving aside the already established low value of life in South Africa, a summary of the situation is as follows. Despite having a two-year, union-negotiated wage agreement in place, some frustrated Lonmin mine workers decided to strike illegally in a bid to increase their wages outside the formal negotiation structures. Perfectly in line with South Africa’s acute fondness for peace and love, the protestors were armed to the nostrils with machetes and other traditional weapons. Regardless of how peaceful the protest was intended to be, only an idiot would have predicted a different outcome given the ingredients of that equation.
To aggravate matters, there are 2 conflicting unions involved: the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM); and Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). AMCU is the more militant of the two unions and has largely bolstered its growth by gaining the support of workers frustrated by the lack of progress made by NUM. The bottom-line is that besides the clear evidence demonstrated by many South African Unions around not having the faintest clue about basic economics, the Unions also appear to be completely inept at their main job: organising and representing the workers. Not only that, the Unions have been consistently pathetic at controlling their members when it comes to violence. One need only to look at the COSATU violence against the DA earlier this year for more evidence of Union incompetence.
So thus far, we have conflicting, incompetent unions + frustrated workers on an illegal strike + weapons. Even the idiot above would be leaning towards an unpleasant outcome of some sort. Now, add to that equation a heavily armed police force with very limited training in crowd control and the AMCU president, Joseph Mathunjwa insisting that his members were prepared to “die here” if necessary. Probably said with his passionate heart in the right place and his brain swimming in the toilet.
As if the fire needed any more fuel, enter the crude oil component of South African politics: ANCYL reject, Mr Julius Malema. He lustily grabbed the opportunity to squirm himself back into the limelight, much like how a skanky transvestite would an opportunity to appear on Jerry Springer. Needless to say, Julius selflessly took the opportunity to convince the frustrated, armed workers it was well worth their while to die for a measly R12,000.
In an encore act of selflessness, Malema went on to make some well-received, but incredibly stupid remarks about why Jacob Zuma should step down as president as a result of the Lonmin mine violence. Since ANC NEC member, Cyril Ramaphosa was involved in Malema’s suspension from ANC, he of course also got poetically roped into the fray. And nicely so at that, given that Mr Ramaphosa is a board member of Lonmin.
The government scrambled in response, with Jacob Zuma assigning Collins Chabane to take a holiday from his efforts in measuring the performance of the Education department to head up an inquiry on the Marikana massacre. Mr Zuma also declared a week of national mourning in South Africa. Mining Minister, Susan Shabangu blubbered some useless rhetoric about engaging all stakeholders and setting up something important that will probably cost a lot and achieve nothing. No mention by the accountability-free Minister about the Bench Marks Foundation and making efforts to see how Lonmin and other mining companies are violating their commitments to workers in the mining charter. If stupidity doesn’t, then laziness certainly forbids anything that might add real value by government.
Local media of course, is too concerned about drawing parallels between this incident and Sharpville to report on anything of real consequence. Apartheid and anything to do with Julius Malema sells. Exposing the drudge and exploitation of the South African mining industry, the increasing incompetence of the Unions and the like would hardly raise an eyebrow in the numb masses. Now isn’t that sad?
This, Wonkie readers, is how a tragic equation of stupidity plays out. Whilst the workers that sadly lost their lives deserve respect and much sympathy, the responsible stakeholders and self-serving contributors involved deserve nothing less than a solid kick up the backside.
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Acts of violence in South Africa seem to be increasing in both frequency and intensity. If you’re tired of reading about incompetent Unions making demands, or are a frustrated worker sick of not being heard, now might be a good time to fork out a few bucks and hope you have some good fortune when you. If you’re based outside South Africa and are faced with similar challenges you can buy your lottery tickets online here instead. If lotto odds are way too low for you, try out Silversands Casino African Palace Casino or a selection of the bestnow. If you’d prefer check out some of the best Indian casinos here to get a more Asian flavour to your entertainment. Alternatively, for other non-related options, visit Wonkie’s best of the web for more.
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on the, Unions and more:Elizabeth Warren is right.
That doesn’t happen very often, so it’s worth taking note of before discussion of the Cromn |
a girl at end-of-summer parties
Football players bragged of what they did to a 16-year-old girl, a prosecutor says
Two Steubenville, Ohio, football stars sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl, treating her "like a toy," a state prosecutor said Wednesday in the opening statement of the teens' rape trial.
Trent Mays, 17, and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, are accused of sexually assaulting the girl at a series of end-of-summer parties in August, according to prosecutors.
The case received widespread attention nationally after other Steubenville teens posted images of the alleged victim seemingly unconscious to social media sites.
Defense attorneys say the boys are innocent of rape. Mays is also charged with illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material.
Although they are minors, they have been identified in court by the judge and attorneys, and in newspapers and other media reports. CNN is not naming the 16-year-old girl in line with its policy of not identifying the alleged victims of sexual assault.
Prosecutor Marianne Hemmeter detailed a string of degrading abuse she said the girl suffered at the hands of the boys, including having her clothes stripped off, while other teens joked about urinating on her.
She said they had "treated her like a toy."
Some of the abuse was captured in cellphone images retrieved from either the Internet or their phones. One, Hemmeter said, showed the girl lying naked on her side, apparently asleep, with what appeared to be semen on her stomach.
Hemmeter said witnesses will testify that the girl was highly intoxicated -- stumbling, slurring her speech, at times unable to walk.
Such impairment, Hemmeter said, would be the state's focus in proving the allegations against Mays and Richmond, not whether the girl consented.
The girl, Hemmeter said, was "too impaired to say no, too impaired to say stop."
In a brief opening statement, one of Mays' defense attorneys, Brian Duncan, told the judge that his client did not rape the girl.
"Trent Mays did not rape the alleged victim, and the prosecution cannot and will not be able to establish and substantiate their claim," Duncan said.
Richmond's attorney, Walter Madison, did not make an opening statement.
Six witnesses for the prosecution testified Wednesday, including a 17-year-old girl who went to a party with the alleged victim. The witness said she and the girl shared a half a bottle of vodka, which they each poured into a flavored crushed ice drink. The alleged victim also had one beer, the witness said.
The alleged victim seemed to get drunk very quickly, the witness said.
About 12:30 a.m., the party broke up and the girl left with Mays and Richmond, according to the witness who said she pleaded with her not go. The witness said she didn't see her again until the next day when she picked the alleged victim up at another home.
She described the girl as a "mess" with her shirt inside out.
Other witnesses said the girl appeared drunk on the night in question while she was at the second house.
Two police officer also testified, describing how they collected evidence.
During cross examinations, the teen's lawyers' tried to poke holes in the witnesses' stories.
While being quizzed by defense attorneys, at least one witness said he did not see the alleged victim drinking and he did not see Mays involved in any sexual contact with the alleged victim.
Another witness said, during cross examination, that she saw the alleged victim bring a bottle of vodka with her to one of the end-of-summer parties in August.
The case, which is being tried before Judge Thomas Lipps without a jury, has cast an unwelcome spotlight on Steubenville, a small, down-on-its-luck town along the banks of the Ohio River.
Social media
Photos, video and social media messages -- some of which the prosecutor displayed Wednesday in court -- are at the heart of criminal charges against Mays and Richmond.
Crime blogger Alexandria Goddard, a former Steubenville resident, discovered and preserved many of the online messages about the case, at least some of which are now in the hands of authorities. The girl's mother also gathered some of the material from social media and brought it to authorities.
One image circulated online and posted on a website maintained by Anonymous, a loosely organized cooperative of activist hackers, showed the girl, dressed in a T-shirt and blue shorts, her body limp, being held hand and foot by two males who appear to be teenagers.
Text messages posted to social networking sites that night seemed to brag about the incident, calling the girl "sloppy," making references to rape and suggesting that she had been urinated on, Goddard has said. CNN has not been able to establish whether this is true.
In one 12-minute video, a teenager who is not charged in the case jokes about the girl's condition, saying she must have died because she didn't move during one assault.
Police got involved on August 14, when the girl's mother reported the alleged assaults, according to Steubenville Police Chief William McCafferty. The family provided a zip drive showing a Twitter page, possibly with a photo, McCafferty said.
Unwanted spotlight
The allegations -- and the shadow it has cast over the town -- have gripped the area for months.
The case has attracted the attention of bloggers and even Anonymous, who have questioned everything from the behavior of the football team to the veracity of the investigation.
Steubenville was once a thriving steel mill town. With the mills closed, the town is a shadow of its former self as some of its residents moved away to find work elsewhere and some businesses closed.
Today, its population is primarily blue collar with a median income between $33,000 and $34,000, well below the national average.
The Steubenville High School football games have long been a gathering point for residents, who point to the team's against-all-odds play that helped elevate its reputation in the state.
Critics have accused community leaders of trying to paper over rampant misconduct by players of the Steubenville High School team and have suggested that other students took part in the assaults or failed to do enough stop them.
While many residents express concern about the allegations against Mays and Richmond, they are also frustrated with how the town has been portrayed.
"We all want to see justice prevail for the victim and the defendants in this case. All of you are here today because you are doing your job and writing your story," Susan Hershey, the president of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce.
"There (are), however, always multiple sides to every story. There is the other side of our community, a side that has been overshadowed by this incident. Unfortunately, our community has been painted with one very unflattering, broad brush."Trump Derangement Syndrome has risen to new heights as a leftist group is shelling out $15,000 a month to individuals that sign up to oppose the president.
The Washington Examiner reported:
A group known for its successes fighting digital wars, notably net neutrality, is offering $15,000 to activists who quit their jobs and form “A-Teams” to jump into a war on President Trump’s agenda. Fight for the Future, started in 2011 as a digital activist group, on Monday issued the offer with this eye-catching opening: “Terrified about Trump? Quit your job, start an A-Team. We’ll fund it” […] Greer compared the groups to tactical special operations forces. He said the A-Teams, presumably styled like the famed TV team, are “an attempt to help incubate other ‘special ops activist teams to tackle major issues, against the backdrop of unprecedented threats in the Trump era.” The online application and sales job includes a photo from the classic anti-Barry Goldwater ad from 1964 in which the world is nuked if he’s elected. It urges potential activists to quit and get working against Trump. A few of the initial A-Teams will receive a $15,000 check for their first month.
“We’re currently taking applications for an initial launch of the project, and will be providing a few select teams with funding, guidance, and support,” Fight for the Future campaign director Evan Greer announced.
“Our goal is to spawn a movement of small, dedicated, groups of people using the tactics that we’ve used effectively to defend Internet freedom to win major victories in other issue areas affecting our basic rights and freedoms, such as immigration, freedom of press, police brutality, drug reform, and government corruption,” he continued.
“We’re still working out the details, but if you’ve got a strong 2-3 person A-Team and a target we’d give you $15,000 right now for the first month, just to see what you can do,” the promo noted. “If you make a big splash or measurable impact on your target in that time, we’re pretty sure we can find you more.”
In a funny way, this is yet another example of the Trump effect — he’s a job creating machine! Whether it’s through negotiation and policy or because of the hysterical melting of the snowflakes due to Trump Derangement Syndrome, jobs are being created.
Also, jobs are being opened up as leftists vacate their positions (if they were in fact employed at all) and leave open a spot for someone who would likely do a far better job than your average leftist whiner.
Here’s a list of the issues these “A-Teams” are set to target:
Healthcare / ACA Climate Immigration The Wall Corruption Racism / Fascism Police Prisons Ending the drug war Foreign policy Internet Telecom Competition Impeachment Economic populism Renewable energy
Facebook has greatly reduced the distribution of our stories in our readers' newsfeeds and is instead promoting mainstream media sources. When you share to your friends, however, you greatly help distribute our content. Please take a moment and consider sharing this article with your friends and family. Thank you.Located in the area of Terra Meridiani, researchers have spotted three massive ‘Towers’ on the Martian Surface that are so perfectly aligned, that just as the Pyramids of Giza on Earth, these Martian towers seem to mimic the constellation of Orion.
Ufo hunters have come across yet another bizarre discovery on the surface of the red planet. This time, UFOlogists have spotted three odd, perfectly aligned ‘towers’ on the Martian surface. Some have even noticed that they eerily resemble the position of the Pyramid of Giza and how they too mimic the three main stars of the constellation of Orion.
Yes, the red planet is full of surprises that most of us cannot understand. While there are countless things found on the surface of Mars that resemble objects, structures, and even monuments, in the end, they are nothing more than pareidolia kicking in.
However, there are quite a few peculiar findings that cannot be explained as pareidolia.
Such discovery may be the three recently found towers on the surface of Mars.
Featured in a YouTube video uploaded by mundodesconocido, the footage details three perfectly aligned towers on the surface of the red planet. The video footage explains where the towers were found and what they could possibly be.
Speaking in the video, channel curator Jose Luis said: “Investigating on some Mars images, we have recently found a row of huge towers located in the Martian area of Terra Meridiani.
“Due to their peculiar features, we believe that they have an artificial origin.
“In the following video, we will show you all the amazing information and evidence, as well as animated 3D models that will allow you to evaluate correctly the information we propose.”
Interestingly, the specific image which clearly shows three ‘objects’ protruding from the Martian surface was captured in 1999, and since then these alleged structures could have been heavily modified by Mars hostile weather conditions.
The so-called towers are located in the Terra Meridiani region on Mars, coincidentally, the same region chosen as the landing spot for NASA’s famous Curiosity Rover.
Scot C. Warring from ufo sightings daily spoke out about the discovery:
“There are a whole planet full of buildings and artifacts to be discovered on Mars. Here is a fantastic example of that posted by YouTube user Mundodesconocido. He found three towers that look to be almost a mile in height or more. They all look like they were made well because none of them are destroyed. They would be perfect for setting up a human Mars base at…if they are empty of course.”
Recently a great number of individuals have spoken out about Mars and how the red planet may have harbored an advanced alien civilization thousands if not millions of years ago.
Dr. John Brandenburg, who has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Plasma Physics from the University of California and is currently working as a plasma physicist at Orbital Technologies in Madison Wisconsin believes advanced alien civilizations existed on Mars in the past, and were wiped out by nuclear attacks in the past.
According to Dr. John Brandenburg, there is enough evidence to prove that at least two major nuclear blasts went off on the surface of the red planet in the distant past. The theory proposed by Dr. Brandenburg is based on the traces of uranium and thorium that have been registered on the surface of Mars. This Martian civilization was wiped out by another hostile alien race from elsewhere in the universe. Dr. Brandenburg warns that our civilization could face the same faith.
Check out the RAW image of the structures here.
Source: http://www.mundodesconocido.es/A Python Riddle: The Craziest Dict Expression in the West Let’s pry apart this slightly unintuitive Python dictionary expression to find out what’s going on in the uncharted depths of the Python interpreter.
Sometimes you strike upon a tiny code example that has real depth to it—a single line of code that can teach you a lot about a programming language if you ponder it enough. Such a code snippet feels like a Zen kōan: a question or statement used in Zen practice to provoke doubt and test the student’s progress. The tiny little code snippet we’ll discuss in this tutorial is one such example. Upon first glance, it might seem like a straightforward dictionary expression, but when considered at close range, it takes you on a mind-expanding journey through the CPython interpreter. I get such a kick out of this little one-liner that at one point I had it printed on my Python conference badges as a conversation starter. It also led to some rewarding conversations with members of my Python newsletter. So without further ado, here is the code snippet. Take a moment to reflect on the following dictionary expression and what it will evaluate to: >>> { True : 'yes', 1 : 'no', 1.0 :'maybe' } I’ll wait here… Ok, ready? This is the result we get when evaluating the above dict expression in a CPython interpreter session: >>> { True : 'yes', 1 : 'no', 1.0 :'maybe' } { True :'maybe' } I’ll admit I was pretty surprised about this result the first time I saw it. But it all makes sense when you investigate what happens, step by step. So, let’s think about why we get this—I want to say slightly unintuitive—result.
Where Baby Dictionaries Come From When Python processes our dictionary expression, it first constructs a new empty dictionary object; and then it assigns the keys and values to it in the order given in the dict expression. Therefore, when we break it down, our dict expression is equivalent to this sequence of statements that are executed in order: >>> xs = dict () >>> xs [ True ] = 'yes' >>> xs [ 1 ] = 'no' >>> xs [ 1.0 ] ='maybe' Oddly enough, Python considers all dictionary keys used in this example to be equal: >>> True == 1 == 1.0 True Okay, but wait a minute here. I’m sure you can intuitively accept that 1.0 == 1, but why would True be considered equal to 1 as well? The first time I saw this dictionary expression it really stumped me. After doing some digging in the Python documentation, I learned that Python treats bool as a subclass of int. This is the case in Python 2 and Python 3: “The Boolean type is a subtype of the integer type, and Boolean values behave like the values 0 and 1, respectively, in almost all contexts, the exception being that when converted to a string, the strings ‘False’ or ‘True’ are returned, respectively.” (Source) And yes, this means you can technically use bools as indexes into a list or tuple in Python: >>> [ 'no', 'yes' ][ True ] 'yes' But you probably should not use boolean variables like that for the sake of clarity (and the sanity of your colleagues.) Anyway, let’s come back to our dictionary expression. As far as Python is concerned, True, 1, and 1.0 all represent the same dictionary key. As the interpreter evaluates the dictionary expression, it repeatedly overwrites the value for the key True. This explains why, in the end, the resulting dictionary only contains a single key. Before we move on, let’s have another look at the original dictionary expression: >>> { True : 'yes', 1 : 'no', 1.0 :'maybe' } { True :'maybe' } Why do we still get True as the key here? Shouldn’t the key also change to 1.0 at the end, due to the repeated assignments? After some mode research in the CPython interpreter source code, I learned that Python’s dictionaries don’t update the key object itself when a new value is associated with it: >>> ys = { 1.0 : 'no' } >>> ys [ True ] = 'yes' >>> ys { 1.0 : 'yes' } Of course this makes sense as a performance optimization—if the keys are considered identical, then why spend time updating the original? In the last example you saw that the initial True object is never replaced as the key. Therefore, the dictionary’s string representation still prints the key as True (instead of 1 or 1.0.) With what we know now, it looks like the values in the resulting dict are getting overwritten only because they compare as equal. However, it turns out that this effect isn’t caused by the __eq__ equality check alone, either.
Wait, What About the Hash Code? Python dictionaries are backed by a hash table data structure. When I first saw this surprising dictionary expression, my hunch was that this behavior had something to do with hash collisions. You see, a hash table internally stores the keys it contains in different “buckets” according to each key’s hash value. The hash value is derived from the key as a numeric value of a fixed length that uniquely identifies the key. This allows for fast lookups. It’s much quicker to search for a key’s numeric hash value in a lookup table instead of comparing the full key object against all other keys and checking for equality. However, the way hash values are typically calculated isn’t perfect. And eventually, two or more keys that are actually different will have the same derived hash value, and they will end up in the same lookup table bucket. If two keys have the same hash value, that’s called a hash collision, and it’s a special case that the hash table’s algorithms for inserting and finding elements need to handle. Based on that assessment, it’s fairly likely that hashing has something to do with the surprising result we got from our dictionary expression. So let’s find out if the keys’ hash values also play a role here. I’m defining the following class as our little detective tool: class AlwaysEquals : def __eq__ ( self, other ): return True def __hash__ ( self ): return id ( self ) This class is special in two ways. First, because its __eq__ dunder method always returns True, all instances of this class will pretend they’re equal to any other object: >>> AlwaysEquals () == AlwaysEquals () True >>> AlwaysEquals () == 42 True >>> AlwaysEquals () == 'waaat?' True And second, each AlwaysEquals instance will also return a unique hash value generated by the built-in id() function: >>> objects = [ AlwaysEquals (), AlwaysEquals (), AlwaysEquals ()] >>> [ hash ( obj ) for obj in objects ] [ 4574298968, 4574287912, 4574287072 ] In CPython, id() returns the address of the object in memory, which is guaranteed to be unique. With this class we can now create objects that pretend to be equal to any other object but have a unique hash value associated with them. That’ll allow us to test if dictionary keys are overwritten based on their equality comparison result alone. And, as you can see, the keys in the next example are not getting overwritten, even though they always compare as equal: >>> { AlwaysEquals (): 'yes', AlwaysEquals (): 'no' } { < AlwaysEquals object at 0x110a3c588 > : 'yes', < AlwaysEquals object at 0x110a3cf98 > : 'no' } We can also flip this idea around and check to see if returning the same hash value is enough to cause keys to get overwritten: class SameHash : def __hash__ ( self ): return 1 Instances of this SameHash class will compare as non-equal with each other but they will all share the same hash value of 1 : >>> a = SameHash () >>> b = SameHash () >>> a == b False >>> hash ( a ), hash ( b ) ( 1, 1 ) Let’s look at how Python’s dictionaries react when we attempt to use instances of the SameHash class as dictionary keys: >>> { a : 'a', b : 'b' } { < SameHash instance at 0x7f7159020cb0 > : 'a', < SameHash instance at 0x7f7159020cf8 > : 'b' } As this example shows, the “keys get overwritten” effect isn’t caused by hash value collisions alone either.
Umm Okay, What’s the Executive Summary Here? Python dictionaries check for equality and compare the hash value to determine if two keys are the same. Let’s try and summarize the findings of our investigation: The {True: 'yes', 1: 'no', 1.0:'maybe'} dictionary expression evaluates to {True:'maybe'} because the keys True, 1, and 1.0 all compare as equal, and they all have the same hash value: >>> True == 1 == 1.0 True >>> ( hash ( True ), hash ( 1 ), hash ( 1.0 )) ( 1, 1, 1 ) Perhaps not-so-surprising anymore, that’s how we ended up with this result as the dictionary’s final state: >>> { True : 'yes', 1 : 'no', 1.0 :'maybe' } { True :'maybe' } We touched on a lot of subjects here, and this particular Python Trick can be be a bit mind-boggling at first—that’s why I compared it to a Zen kōan in the beginning. If it’s difficult to understand what’s going on in this tutorial, try playing through the code examples one by one in a Python interpreter session. You’ll be rewarded with an expanded knowledge of Python’s internals.Cyber-, from "cybernetic", from the Greek for "skilled in steering or governing", may refer to:
Computing and the Internet [ edit ]
Crime and security [ edit ]
Cyber crime, crime that involves computers and networks Convention on Cybercrime, the first international treaty seeking to address Internet and computer crime, signed in 2001 Cybercrime countermeasures
Cyber-attack, an offensive manoeuvre that targets computing devices, information systems, infrastructures, or networks
Cybersecurity, computer security
Cyberwarfare, the targeting of computers and networks in warfare
Other uses in computing and the Internet [ edit ]
CDC Cyber, a range of mainframe computers
Cyber Party, a political party created by John McAfee for the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election
Cybercafé or Internet café, a business which provides internet access
Cyberculture, emergent cultures based on the use of computer networks Cybergoth sub-culture Cybersex (colloquially)
Cyberspace, the global technology environment
Arts, entertainment, and media [ edit ]
Cyber (Marvel Comics), a Marvel comics supervillain
Cyber (Russian: Кибер), a Soviet sci-fi character (see Strugatsky's works)
Doctor Cyber, a DC comics supervillainSTOCKTON (CBS13) — Stockton homeowners may end up paying more for water because they saved so much during the drought.
North Stockton homeowner Michael Casale thought Tuesday would be a good day to try to bring his yard back to life.
“I tried to let the rain do it’s job. Hopefully it comes back,” he said.
He thinks he did a good job conserving water last summer.
“I let my lawn die,” he said.
Stockton city officials say homeowners like Casale did such a good job conserving water, that the water treatment plant has lost millions of dollars in revenue. The city manager and water department director say water rates may rise.
“Now we’re going to have to ask for that money back that we would have got anyways, had you used the water in the first place,” said Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva. “I don’t’ think it will sit well with residents and it’s something I can’t support personally.”
The city is proposing increasing water rates in July by 26 percent. Next year it will increase an additional 5.5 percent and then 3 percent more over the following three years.
Casale says he understands the city’s predicament.
“They need the money to operate. They need the money to keep the water clean,” he said. “I understand it, but I don’t like it. Nobody is going to like it.”
The alternative is for Stockton to take out a loan, but for a city just getting out of bankruptcy, that’s not a popular plan with city officials or homeowners trying to rebound from what they’ve already lost.Demons and the forces of darkness are horror movie staples for a reason: they are horrifically terrifying. Whether you believe in demons or not, there are enough supposedly true stories of demonic encounters out there to make an endless string of movies. From adults to kids, from believers to non-believers, from those who went out looking for trouble to those who just made the mistake of moving into the wrong house, people have had truly chilling encounters with vengeful demons they've offended.
While it is generally ill-advised to pursue any demons at all, these demons you don't want to mess with are truly the stuff of nightmares. Some take terrifying forms, some inflict horrible pain, and others lend those they possess strange powers. They have even committed and inspired murders. While some demons (such as the Bell Witch) are parts of tales that have been passed down for hundreds of years, others have occurred only recently. In 2008, a board-certified psychiatrist even documented a real-life case of what he considered clear-cut demonic possession.
What's out there is dark, it's terrifying, and here are the reasons why you don't want to piss any of it off.FORT LUPTON, Colo. (CBS4) — A CBS4 reporter got under the skin of presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney after asking him about gay marriage and medical marijuana.
CBS4’s Shaun Boyd spoke with Romney Wednesday during his campaign stop at Fort Lupton to talk about what he called Obama’s failed energy policies.
When Boyd started asking Romney questions about gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana, Romney turned testy.
“Aren’t there issues of significance you would like to talk about?” Romney said. “The economy? The growth of jobs? The need to put people back to work? The challenges of Iran. We’ve got enormous issues we face, but you want to talk about medical marijuana.”
Romney ended up answering the question, saying that marijuana is a gateway drug and he would oppose the legalization of it.
Romney laughed it off at the end, though, telling Boyd that she “finally” got around to asking him about jobs.
“I’m not running on marriage and marijuana,” Romney said after the interview was over. “Those are state issues, right?”Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
May 18, 2017, 4:33 PM GMT / Updated May 19, 2017, 4:44 AM GMT By Tom Winter, Jonathan Dienst and Erik Ortiz
NEW YORK — A wrong-way driver plowed into pedestrians in the heart of Manhattan's bustling Times Square district minutes before noon Thursday, killing at least one person and injuring nearly two dozen others, city officials said.
The high-speed 11:55 a.m. crash — which authorities initially said appeared accidental, and which is not believed related to international terrorism — left an 18-year-old woman dead at the scene and another 22 people injured, officials said.
The driver of the 2009 Honda Accord, identified as 26-year-old Richard Rojas, was in custody and was charged late Thursday with second-degree murder, 20 counts of attempted murder and five counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, police said.
The Bronx native has a history of arrests for driving while intoxicated, as well as other infractions. Rojas was arrested for DWI twice before, police said.
Officials did not immediately release the cause of the crash. Two law enforcement sources say Rojas claims he heard voices and investigators are looking into the possibility it was a deliberate act.
Richard Rojas, the suspect charged in the fatal driving incident in Times Square Thursday, is seen in a 2012 booking photo in Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville Sheriff's Office
"I was in shock, I was screaming," witness Kristen Boyce told NBC New York. "No one even saw it coming."
"All of a sudden I heard this boom and a car is barreling down Seventh Avenue hitting people, just, 'Boom! Boom!' And everyone just starts running," she said. "We start running, we don't know if another one is going to come, we don’t know what's happening, everyone is panicking."
Police said an officer tackled Rojas at the scene after he climbed out of the car, which could be seen partially lifted off the ground. The suspect was being tested for possible drug or alcohol intoxication.
Fire and emergency crews surrounded the chaotic crash site in Times Square, which is typically swamped by tourists and office workers. The car was traveling in the wrong direction on the sidewalk for about three blocks before the crash occurred, police and witnesses said.
The Honda first mounted the sidewalk at 7th Avenue and W. 42nd Street, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said. It stopped when it struck a metal stanchion.
A man identified as alleged driver Richard Rojas is seen after a car drove on the sidewalk in New York's Times Square, killing one person and injuring 22 others on May 18, 2017. Charles Guerin / Bestimage / BACKGRID
"The vehicle, occupied by a male driver, proceeded to drive at a high rate of speed along the sidewalk, from 42nd Street to 45th Street, striking a number of pedestrians along the way," O’Neill said.
The person who was killed was identified by police as 18-year-old Alyssa Elsman of Portage, Michigan. The deceased victim's 13-year-old sister was among the injured and was taken to the hospital, police said.
The driver "accelerated across at an angle, went up on the curb and hit that whole group of people waiting," witness Julie Fallo, 47, of New Jersey, told NBC News.
Of the 22 injured, 17 were taken to area hospitals, with four of those suffering what were described as serious injuries, the Fire Department said. Five people who were hurt declined medical attention at the scene.
A Homeland Security official in Washington also told NBC News that based on the preliminary information from authorities in New York this "appears to be an accident."
"It's a tough day for New York City, but as usual, the people in New York City will stand firm and be resilient," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was briefed at the scene. "Today’s events at Times Square were nothing short of horrific," he said in a statement.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted that President Donald Trump was "made aware of the situation."
Alyssa Elsman, 18, of Portage, Michigan, is seen in this Instagram photo. She was killed when a driver struck several pedestrians in Times Square on May 18, 2017. Instagram
Rojas was in the Navy, the military confirmed. He enlisted in 2011, and was his service ended in 2014. A law enforcement source said he was arrested in Florida on a driving under the influence charges, and was dishonorably discharged from the Navy.
Reports of the confusion and pandemonium initially raised fears of terrorism.
Federal officials have been warning truck owners and truck rental agencies in the U.S. to be "vigilant" about an increasing frequency of terrorist-related "ramming attacks," NBC News reported earlier this month.
The frequency of such incidents appears to coincide with an ISIS leader telling followers in 2014 to use whatever weapons or tools, including vehicles, they have at their disposal for an attack.
The federal report found that at least 173 people have been killed and more than 700 wounded in 17 ramming attacks around the world. Those include incidents in Nice, France, where dozens were killed last July, and in Berlin, where a dozen people were killed in December.0:00 – Intro: Drive-In Shoot Stories / Sports
25:20 – Headlines: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer #3
41:15 – Review: Crimson Peak
1:01:35 – Retro Review: Nightbreed
1:18:00 – Feature: Reed’s Scary Halloween Questions
1:45:10 – Other Stuff We Watched: Cooties, Phantom of the Paradise, Frankenweenie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Jeepers Creepers, Dracula, Rosemary’s Baby, Monsters, [REC], Henkel gwa Geuretel, The Crow, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Scream and Scream Again, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
3:01:10 – Junk Mail: Back to the Future II Fails to Acknowledge Halloween (WARNING: Extended Psychoanalysis)
3:41:41 – Junk Mail (cont’d): Star Wars Pre-Sales Only in 3D, What Qualifies as Over-Acting, Money Shots in Documentaries
3:54:58 – This Week on DVD and Blu-ray / Outro
Film Junk Podcast Episode #537: Crimson Peak and Nightbreed by Filmjunk on Mixcloud
» Download the MP3 (110 MB)
» View the show notes
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Subscribe to the podcast feed:2016 has been a breakthrough year for mental health reporting around the country. Yet a draft report leaked to Jess McAllen – herself a mental health reporter – shows that Mental Health Services are anything but welcoming of the scrutiny.
An editor once told me mental health stories were “unsexy”. Silky, lacy numbers like car crashes and cancer go to Victoria’s Secret, suicidality and negligent care are chucked over a shoulder into the daggy $5 g-string bin at Cotton On.
But things are changing. In the past, the news cycle was often in the hands of balding middle-aged men who couldn’t name two types of psychiatric drugs but would offer a cup of concrete at the hint of emotion. Despite pockets of excellent reporting, recent years have seen a wider range of journalists working on the mental health beat with vigour, sending District Health Boards scrambling.
I was recently leaked a document from a nationwide meeting of the DAMHS (Directors of Area Mental Health Service) who are worried negative media coverage is – in a convoluted roundabout way – causing staff to become more draconian. Turns out there are “increasing concerns” from higher-ups about the journalism being practised within the sector over “recent months”.
Mental health reporting – with the exception of a few journalists – has traditionally been tied to murder cases or high profile tragedies like Charlotte Dawson or Robin Williams. It’s not that this past year has seen a rise in suicides, missing persons, coercive practices or other questionable behaviour. Rather, the media has been reporting on the above, constantly and with vigour.
It’s been a banner year for mental health coverage in the mainstream media. Ashleigh Stewart consistently ran stories for The Press on post-earthquake Christchurch’s mental health (breaking embarrassing stories about funding woes). Kirsty Johnston raised public concern regarding Ashley Peacock, the 37-year-old who has been in seclusion for five years. Nikki Macdonald reported on a patient who committed suicide at a Wellington mental health facility and whose family then had their privacy breached thanks to a staff-wide email. It’s possibly worth awkwardly mentioning that I’ve done my fair share of mental health reporting in the last year too.
There’s also been educational accounts of mental illness, such as Tess McClure on anxiety, Rebecca Kamm on Selective Mutism and ADHD, Holly Walker on Post-Natal Anxiety, Ruth on Borderline Personality Disorder, an interview – by, er, me – with someone who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
It’s been a welcome break from the over-familar “no one talks about suicide – We Must Talk” 300 word article that runs every time a public speaker specialising in mental health comes to town. Watching the past year’s analytical mental health journalism expand beyond faux-concern has been reassuring, not as a journalist but as a mental health consumer who is so used to having her narrative pushed aside.
This era of increased depth and sophistication of reporting on mental health issues is the backdrop to the leaked report, which indicates that the sector, far from welcoming a more thorough analysis, is instead shrinking from the moment.
Here’s some of the main points from the report, a draft briefing paper intended for the Ministry of Health “The Current Health of the Mental Health and Addiction Sector (MHAS)”:
There has (apparently) been “a growing level of inaccurate and biased media coverage of issues” and a lack of effective “counter discourse” to the coverage due to lack of funding and pressures within the Ministry of Health.
DHB leaders are worried about interest groups who repeatedly call for inspections and inquiries and allegedly run “personalised social media campaigns targeting individual clinicians, service leaders and staff”.
Growing public criticism of the mental health sector (and subsequent pressure from politicians and DHB boards) is resulting in “increasing levels of stigma and discrimination”, “perverse changes in care with increased levels of coercion”, decreased staff morale and “major recruitment and retention problems”.
Mental health leaders are seeking an appointment with Minister of Health Jonathan Coleman to discuss their concerns and pitch a “political sponsorship of a major quality improvement initiative” that would “reass |
that unfairly criminalized Indigenous people.
Indigenous Communities Are Leading the Environmental Justice Movement
Bioneers
Today, we are facing a global crisis—climate change. Indigenous People are not only threatened by colonial policies to eradicate our rights, our cultures and identities that are intrinsically linked to our places of origin. We are now threatened by manmade climate change. Coastlines are rising, weather patterns are changing, and we’re experiencing floods, droughts, out-of-control forest fires, and species disappearing. It’s Indigenous Peoples and land-based peoples that feel it first and most adversely.
Our enlightened conception of knowledge has brought us to the brink of extinction (Article available from JSTOR)
Nirmalangshu Mukherji, Economic & Political Weekly
A real solution to the issue of survival requires that humans learn to progressively forget knowledge systems currently advanced in the most dominating centres of learning. If indigenous knowledge systems are our primary route for survival, every bit of knowledge beyond indigenous knowledge must be subjected to serious critique for their relevance.
‘For us, the land is sacred’: on the road with the defenders of the world’s forests
The Guardian
Of the many thousands of participants at the Bonn climate conference which begins on 6 November, there will arguably be none who come with as much hope, courage and anger as the busload of indigenous leaders who have been criss-crossing Europe over the past two weeks, on their way to the former German capital. The 20 activists on the tour represent forest communities that have been marginalised over centuries but are now increasingly recognised as important actors against climate change through their protection of carbon sinks. One of them, Rivas, a quiet young man from Nicaragua, said, “All the death and destruction that came to our country came from Europe,” he said. “I sense people still have a superficial understanding of our message. What we want is to be able to continue our spiritual connection with the forest.”
How modern schooling is aiding the destruction of the biosphere
Suprabha Seshan
Modern education serves a version of Gulag, by forcing our young to suffer unspeakable conditions in their most vulnerable years. It ultimately breaks them, in order to refashion them into a pliable workforce. This psychic predicament goes hand in hand with the destruction of life, with the catastrophic end of the biosphere.
(Visited 60,626 times, 2 visits today)Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Clear Channel Communications (now iHeartMedia), the largest owner of radio stations in the United States, circulated an internal memo containing a list of songs that program directors felt were "lyrically questionable" to play in the aftermath of the attack.[1]
During the time immediately after the attacks, many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events, and the rumor spread that Clear Channel and its subsidiaries had established a list of songs with lyrics Clear Channel deemed "questionable." The list was not a demand not to play the songs listed, but rather a suggestion that they "might not want to play these songs." The list was made public by the independent newsletter Hits Daily Double, which is not affiliated with iHeartMedia.[2] Snopes.com did research on the subject and concluded that the list did exist as a suggestion for radio stations but noted that it was not an outright ban on the songs in question.[3] The compiled list was the subject of media attention around the time of its release.[3]
The list contains 165 suggestions, including a single suggestion for all songs by Rage Against the Machine as well as certain songs recorded by multiple artists (for example "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" by Guns N' Roses and the original version by Bob Dylan).[4] In some cases, only certain versions of songs were included on the list. For example, the cover of "Smooth Criminal" by Alien Ant Farm is on the list while the original Michael Jackson recording is not. Similarly, J. Frank Wilson's version of "Last Kiss" is included, but Pearl Jam's cover is not. Also, Martha and the Vandellas's original version of "Dancing in the Street" and Van Halen's version are included; David Bowie and Mick Jagger's recording was excluded from the list. Also, the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul, and Mary is included, but the version by the song's composer John Denver is not. AC/DC has the most individual songs listed, with seven.I had all but forgotten about Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game until this past weekend when I was attempting to find something appropriate for my four year-old sister-in-law to play. Not the selection we went with, but seeing it in my list of games gave me the itch to give the title another run through. Now I have a little more motivation, as the Xbox Live Arcade release of the comic brawler will receive DLC for the first time in nearly two years on August 19.
The "Online Multiplayer+Wallace Pack" will run you 400 Microsoft Points and adds... well, it adds online multiplayer, for starters. Finally, you'll be able to play cooperatively with people in completely separate rooms over the internet, considered to be one of the most egregious shortcomings of the original release. The DLC also, as its title suggests, adds Wallace Wells (Scott Pilgrim's responsible roommate and mentor) as a playable character. The pack will be releasing on PSN as well and Ubisoft has stated that more details will be coming soon.
It's so strange that the game is getting updated after all this time, particularly with a feature it probably should have had in 2010. The world is a funny place.
XBLA Scott Pilgrim DLC adds online multiplayer August 19... 2012 [Joystiq]
You are logged out. Login | Sign upNEW DELHI: India is looking to introduce a new category of visas with a liberal framework for entrepreneurs and researchers A senior government official told ET that the proposal, mooted by Niti Aayog, was being discussed at the highest level and the country could in future issue this new category of visas to a select few based on a set criteria.“Human capital is one of the key pillars contributing to the innovation quotient of a country. Encouraging high-skilled immigration will foster healthy competition and go a long way in improving the quality of domestic skills,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.According to the official, the idea was to establish a centralised system for granting entrepreneur visas based on criteria including novelty in technology, sector, job creation potential and ease of dissemination of products or service, among other things. India could also set up international centres to facilitate document verification and offer some initial hand-holding. “The idea is to complete the feasibility analysis of this project by next year and set up the required mechanisms by 2020,” the official added.Entrepreneurs coming to India are either issued business or employment visas, both of which put conditions on the visitors, such as annual registration with the police and requirement of leaving the country periodically. They need to return to their home country for renewal of the visas and there is no provision of permanent residency.While India issues research visas most people choose to apply for tourist permits if they are visiting the country to conduct research informally and won’t stay here for more than six months. This is because the process to get research visas is complex and takes time.An expert panel on innovation and entrepreneurship led by Tarun Khanna had recommended also harnessing the NRI talent pool for mentorship, skill development and expertise. The Aayog has pushed the idea even through its Three-Year Action Agenda.While much work has been done by the previous governments to boost innovation, the Narendra Modi government has taken an all-round approach towards developing a conducive environment for entrepreneurs.These include the Start-up India initiative, launched in 2016, specifying 19 guidelines and funding of Rs 10,000 crore to boost the startup ecosystem. This was supplemented with Atal Innovation Mission to set up 500 Atal Tinkering Labs at schools as well as 100 Atal Incubation Centres along with some grand challenges to encourage innovation and attract talents globally.A Niti Aayog estimate suggests that tech startups in India will more than double to around 10,500 by 2020 from over 4,750 in 2016. Although recent developments have been encouraging, India still has a long way to go towards building a strong ecosystem where innovation can thrive and in turn enable new enterprises and significantly boost economic growth.The sound of the bagpipes will again fill the air at Royal Athletic Park.
The Victoria Highlanders are returning to play soccer this summer, this time in a league with what the team hopes is a more efficient economic model.
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David Dew and Marvin Diercks have bought the Highlanders from former owner Alex Campbell Jr., who this year folded operations in the United Soccer League Premier Development League. The reborn Highlanders will play in the Pacific Coast Soccer League, but Dew and Diercks say they are leaving their options open for future years and a potential higher level.
On such a short timeline this year, they say the PCSL was the best option to keep a representative summer soccer team alive in the capital. The PCSL — with teams in Vancouver, Abbotsford and Kamloops — is the main summer league for soccer in B.C. The PDL was considered the top developmental soccer league in North America, and each season produced numerous players for the MLS draft. But the PDL was primarily a Under-23 league, while there are no age restrictions for the PCSL.
The latter brings up the calibre of play, said Dew and Diercks, because the use of veteran players is unlimited.
“The level is similar, maybe a touch higher [in the PCSL],” said Dew.
Dew and Diercks said less than 10 per cent of the more than 300 people who had purchased Highlanders PDL season tickets for 2015 have asked for their money back.
On the pitch, expect to see mostly familiar faces. Dew said “80 to 85 per cent” of last year’s Highlanders PDL team is expected back in the black and gold team kit. He said Highlanders players expressing interest to return include former Plymouth Argyle and Swindon Town pro Blair Sturrock. Dew added Riley O’Neill, a 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup player from Campbell River who starred in the NCAA with the Kentucky Wildcats before playing pro in the Finnish Premier League and German Second Division, is also interested in returning. Dew said top players from the UVic Vikes and Island Soccer League Division 1 will also be part of the mix.
Dew and Diercks promise the same game-night presentation provided during the past six PDL seasons.
“We will bring the PDL standard and put it in the PCSL, and that will raise the standard of the PCSL, as well, in terms of presentation,” said Dew.
But everything else in team operations will change and get drastically leaner.
Dew said salaries accounted for $350,000 a season in expenses for the Highlanders in the PDL.
“I put my hand up as one of those who was being paid [in the Highlanders organization as coach of the women’s team],” he said.
The new PCSL Highlanders will be volunteer-run.
“Staff wages doomed [the PDL Highlanders] from the start,” said Dew. “We have taken this on as volunteers.”
Perks for the players will also be gone.
“Some players had meal cards, gas cards and subsidized housing and have been notified there will no longer be any of that,” said Dew.
Diercks described it as a “different model.”
“There will also no longer be a massive [Highlanders] youth academy program,” he added.
Also being chopped is the women’s team, which previously played in the PCSL as the Peninsula Co-op Highlanders.
“The women’s team received only minimal [fan] support,” said Dew, a champion of women’s soccer and assistant coach for Canada at the 1995 FIFA World Cup in Sweden.
Dew and Diercks said the Highlanders name still has brand value in Island soccer and that’s why they wanted to purchase it and not just go into the PCSL with a new entity. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The [past] debts remain with the old [Highlanders] company,” explained Diercks.
The 2015 PCSL schedule, which will run from early May to late July, has not been released. There will be 16 Highlanders games, eight home and eight away.
cdheensaw@timescolonist.comEd Miliband at an election event in Warrington, April 4, 2015. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls Ed Miliband is back — and he wants a vote on Brexit.
The former Labour party leader has been fairly quiet since he lost the 2015 general election and stepped down as Labour chief.
But now, according to the Guardian, he's trying to put together a cross-party coalition of MPs to force a vote on the terms of Brexit. Miliband has the SNP, the Green party, the Liberal Democrats and some pro-Remain Tories supporting his effort.
Today, Conservative MP Stephen Phillips — who voted Leave — said he wanted parliament to debate whether Brexit should involve leaving the single market: "I and many others did not exercise our vote in the referendum so as to restore the sovereignty of this parliament only to see what we regarded as the tyranny of the European Union replaced by that of a government that apparently wishes to ignore the views of the house on the most important issue facing the nation," he said.
He probably has the support of MP Anna Soubry, who has emerged as the voice of Tory MPs who think that "hard Brexit" is economic suicide.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 man has claimed that his maid had become possessed by evil spirits after she started starring wide eyed and acting bizarrely around the house.
But when homeowner Nurul Baker looked back at CCTV footage inside his family home he was shocked to see the woman creeping around in a white dress and walking in a zombie-like state.
In the footage she can be seen with her long hair dangling around her face with her head bowed and and times she seems to point at non-existent things in the distance.
The footage shot at Nurul’s apartment in Singapore went viral - with some viewers terrified and others believing the maid was faking so she could leave the job.
(Image: Viral Press)
Nurul said: "My maid got possessed by ghost in my flat after she came out of the shower.
"It’s lucky mum and kids were not home."
(Image: Viral Press)
But viewers believed the black-haired maid had staged the haunting footage to try and return to her home country.
Justin Chen said: "Did you notice she does this at where the camera is facing?
"She's not doing it near the balcony or partially hidden. She knows where the camera is facing, and she wants you to see this.
(Image: Viral Press)
"Still, it is unsettling to know your maid does this.
"It seems, she doesn't want to work for you anymore. Better let her go, you do not want her to escalate her antics in order to leave your employment. I'm sure you do not want her to spike your drinks or food."
(Image: Viral Press)
Enzo Lumpkins added: "This kind of fake possession's very common.
"Don’t fall for it. My maid did it previously and she confessed that this was what all the other maids told each other to do if they wanted an exit strategy."Just when it looked like the final month of the NWSL season might be quiet in terms of which teams will be in and out of the playoffs, the race got tighter than an outgrown sneaker. The teams that entered last weekend in the second, third, and fourth positions all lost (the first place team, the Reign, did not play). That meant wins for the teams sitting fifth, eighth, and ninth. And the other winner, FC Kansas City, jumped from sixth to fourth thanks to a lopsided win over the Flash that changed the goal difference tiebreaker against the Thorns.
Here’s how they stand heading into Wednesday’s full slate of games:
Seattle Reign FC (9-3-3, 30 pts.)
It hardly could have been a better week in Seattle, and the Reign didn’t even play. The city was announced as the host of a victory tour match for the United States, who will host Brazil on Oct. 21 at CenturyLink Field. And the Red Stars lost, 2-1 to the Thorns, squandering their game in hand to the Reign and remaining three points off the pace in the Shield race. The Reign—8-1-3 since a 1-2-0 start—are also in range of a playoff berth. A home win against the Dash on Wednesday will make it official. They will also clinch with a draw if FC Kansas City beat the Thorns. It is time to start thinking about a different script for the playoffs than the one that ended in heartbreak a year ago.
Chicago Red Stars (7-2-6, 27 pts.)
It was only their second loss of the season, on the road against a desperate team, but there were a few troubling aspects to it nonetheless. The first goal was the result of a horrid gaffe in which Karina LeBlanc and Abby Erceg both went for a loose ball, the result of which turned a dead attack into a free chance for Allie Long after it popped away from both of them. It also remains to be seen whether Christen Press and Sofia Huerta will combine their individual excellence into a dynamic duo. Still, there were late chances to equalize and next up is a home match against Sky Blue, who the Red Stars have never lost to.
Washington Spirit (7-5-3, 24 pts.)
You can say the Spirit outplayed the Breakers and were stonewalled by Player of the Week Alyssa Naeher. And you can say that periods of off play have cost the Spirit points this season. Either one would be true. They are the swing team right now, though, because by the end of the week they could be in position to make a run at the Shield, or they could be on the verge of falling out of the playoffs altogether. It should not be overlooked that Christine Nairn and Whitney Church were rested at the start of the match in Boston and that the team played much better with the pair on the field after halftime.
FC Kansas City (6-6-4, 22 pts.)
A few weeks ago it looked like the Blues were laying in the weeds ready to ambush the teams above them once the World Cup players got back in the team. And after they shellacked the Flash without Lauren Holiday it is tempting to get caught up in that same thought process. But it might be time to concede that this will be a season of inconsistency for last year’s champions. Can they make the playoffs? Clearly they can. Can they win it all? For sure. Can they also finish poorly and miss the playoffs? For the first time, I would say yes. The Thorns are in town Wednesday night for a matchup that almost always produces something newsworthy. At least one team will leave the match quite disappointed.
Portland Thorns FC (6-6-4, 22 pts.)
After a tumultuous first half of the season, the Thorns have gotten things on track. It began with a tough away win at Western New York on short rest, and Sunday they secured their third win in a row, rallying from a goal down early to beat the Red Stars, 2-1. The difference in the team with the World Cup players in tow is palpable. Not only are they more dangerous now, but they are playing at a much calmer pace. No one has been more instrumental in that than Tobin Heath who has worked both flanks with contributions both offensively and defensively. Huge match in Kansas City looms.
Houston Dash (5-6-5, 20 pts.)
The Dash have now dropped two straight matches since storming into the top-four with a dramatic win over FC Kansas City. Last season, the Dash finished up with two draws and then six losses for an 0-6-2 mark from July 17 onward. The last thing they want is to develop a habit of finishing seasons on the back foot. This is a much different team than last year’s but they will see Seattle in their next two matches. In 2014, the Dash lost all three times to the Reign scoring two goals and conceding ten. The first one is Wednesday in the Emerald City.
Western New York Flash (5-8-3, 18 pts.)
After a period of improvement, the Flash appear to have leveled off and begun heading the wrong way as the season enters its home stretch. Samantha Mewis’ effectiveness in midfield has tailed off and the team has not done nearly well enough exploiting the speed of its front line. There is certainly enough time for the Flash to climb over three teams and into the playoffs but it will take an upward form trend to obtain the needed results.
Sky Blue FC (4-7-5, 17 pts.)
The win in Houston on Friday may have been the team’s most complete performance of the season. The talent is clearly there to compete against the elite but they may have run out of time. A 3-1-0 mark the rest of the way will take them to 26 points. From there it would take some very specific results across the league to make that number enough to get in.
Boston Breakers (4-10-3, 15 pts.)
Despite beating the Spirit on the weekend, the Breakers’ playoff chances are essentially gone. They will not play again until Saturday, August 22, but they will be eliminated before that if the Thorns-FC Kansas City match does not end in a draw or if the Dash win both of their matches between now and then.
Week 17 takeaways
Betos has arrived: Michelle Betos made a couple of huge saves in the late moments of the Thorns’ win over the Red Stars on Sunday, and at the moment it appears she has made the No. 1 keeper job in Portland her own. That is a far cry from 2013, when she was usually over-matched while subbing for an injured Hope Solo in Seattle. Betos’ rise through the ranks of NWSL goalkeepers is what the league is all about.
Becky is the best: Back when the finalists for the Golden Ball at the World Cup were announced, factions developed as to whether or not Becky Sauerbrunn should have been on the list instead of Julie Johnston. No matter now, but there is little doubt in my mind that Sauerbrunn is the best defender in NWSL. Her combination of tactical and technical savvy make her nearly impossible to break down. In other words, Sauerbrunn is pretty much always in the right place and almost always makes the correct play once she’s there.
Breakers finish home schedule with win: The Breakers gave their fans some thrills early in the season but then dropped five straight at Soldiers Field before closing out the home schedule with a 2-1 win over the Spirit. The Breakers were badly outshot on the match especially down the stretch held on through tenacious defending, a superb effort from Alyssa Naeher, and a little luck. The team is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the third year in a row. The Breakers will have to analyze all elements of their club going forward. Boston has the potential to be an elite market for NWSL, but there has not been much to cheer about since the league launched.
Attendance
Here are last week’s NWSL attendance figures:
-Portland Thorns FC — 15,624 (Wednesday)
-Houston Dash — 6,216 (Friday)
-Boston Breakers — 4,137 (Saturday)
-FC Kansas City — 3,086 (Saturday)
-Portland Thorns FC — 15,858 (Sunday)
NWSL Average Attendance (average since World Cup)
1. Portland Thorns FC — 15,027 (17,542)
2. Houston Dash — 5,959 (8,555)
3. Chicago Red Stars — 4,827 (3,519)-a
4. Washington Spirit — 3,882 (5,310)
5. Seattle Reign FC — 3,621 (6,041)
6. FC Kansas City — 3,302 (3,322)-b
7. Boston Breakers — 2,863 (3,598)
8. Western New York Flash — 2,616 (3,417)
9. Sky Blue FC — 1,840 (2,744)
NWSL Average — 5,011 (6,114)
a-includes one doubleheader with the Chicago Fire (16,017) at Toyota Park; Benedictine average is 2,589
b-includes one match at Sporting Park; Swope average is 2,308
bold denotes home season has been completed
Free Kicks
Direct
— MLS side Orlando City SC has officially thrown their hat in the ring to operate a future NWSL side. Club president Phil Rawlins stopped short of calling it a definite, but was clear that joining NWSL is “in our intentions and plans.” It has been nearly 30 days since NWSL Commissioner Jeff Plush said the league was hopeful to make a statement about an expansion timetable within that window.
— Ashlyn Harris was a late scratch for the Spirit on Saturday due to illness. Kelsey Wys started in her place. Harris was the backup.
Indirect
— Looking for a goal, the Red Stars went to a front line of Christen Press-Jen Hoy-Sofia Huerta. They got chances but no goal. It would be both fun and interesting to see Rory Dames deploy that trio from the start of a match. It would place Melissa Tancredi in the role of scoring option off the bench. Considering that not all of the teams have legitimate scoring depth that would not be a bad option at all.
— Random thought: There needs to be a crackdown on players colliding with goalkeepers. Already this season Sabrina D’Angelo was injured in a dustup with Liz Bogus. So far other keepers have been spared serious injury. I’m all for everyone playing hard but field players must use prudence when coming to the same space with goalkeepers.By Chris Welch, CNN
Bergholz, Ohio (CNN) – Aden Troyer hasn't figured out precisely how he'll tell his daughters – now 4 and 5 years old – why they're growing up without a mother.
"I've kind of held back a little bit because they are so young, and I do not want to depress them," he said from his home in north-central Pennsylvania.
Troyer, his ex-wife, Wilma, and their two children are part of the Amish faith, which includes living a simple life free of the conveniences of the modern world, like electricity and motorized vehicles.
But what happened to the Troyer family is anything but simple.
Troyer believes that he and his wife were lured into a cult made up of breakaway members of the larger Amish community near Bergholz in rural eastern Ohio. He said it was – and still is – ruled with an iron fist by his former father-in-law, Sam Mullet, a man who Troyer and others say is anything but a typical Amish leader.
They say Mullet has created rules and punishments for breaking those rules that Amish folks had never heard of before.
The Amish typically resolve disputes within their community without the interference of law enforcement. But they say Mullet takes this to a whole new level.
"The way he's been treating and talking to people, he is not an Amish guy," Troyer said. "He is not your typical peaceful, loving Amish person."
Troyer said he eventually realized what he was getting caught up in and moved away from Mullet's compound, along with his two daughters.
There's a problem: Wilma did not. Three years after their marriage in 2004, the couple divorced, and Troyer received full custody of the girls.
Mullet's name emerged recently after several Amish-on-Amish beard-cutting attacks, in which most of the perpetrators are believed to be followers of Mullet's breakaway group.
Last week, the FBI announced that it was investigating the incidents to determine whether any federal laws had been broken. No further details were given.
Local law enforcement officials and members of the Amish community believe Mullet has created a cult and is singlehandedly responsible for orchestrating the beard-cutting incidents and other crimes in recent years. Mullet has not been charged with any crimes.
To get Mullet's side of the story, I would travel to his rural Ohio compound, an hour's drive from the nearest city of Steubenville. But before getting to Mullet, I heard accusations, first hand, from the people who were once close to him.
An Amish 'cult'
Just before 11 in the evening on October 4 at a farmhouse outside the rural Ohio community of Carrollton, Myron and Arlene Miller heard their doorbell ring.
Myron Miller crawled out of bed, unsure of what he'd find.
A group of men armed with scissors and battery-powered clippers attacked Miller, holding him down and cutting out a chunk of his beard, according to the Millers and law enforcement.
Arlene said that when it was over, her husband's beard was "about 4 or 5 inches" shorter.
The attackers targeted Miller's beard because, as a member of the Amish community, it is a significant symbol of his faith.
Arlene says the men attacked her husband because he had helped one of Sam Mullet's children leave his Amish sect.
"(These men) knew he was suspicious," Arlene recalled, "and just like that, just so fast, (one of them) grabs for his beard and starts pulling on him to pull him out the door."
Five men were arrested in the attack, as well as another incident earlier in the day, according to Jefferson County Sheriff Fred J. Abdalla. Four of the five suspects are related to Mullet, including three of his sons.
Additional arrests aren't likely because only two of the four victims of the attacks since early September - including Myron Miller - are pressing charges, Abdalla said.
Going against the Amish tradition of solving conflict through their church, Arlene Miller says, she and her husband decided to report the crime to police because they hope to prevent other people from being hurt, including Mullet's followers, who "need help."
"There's a lot of lives being messed up down there. There's a lot of people being abused and brainwashed," she said.
Mullet's sect is made up primarily of his relatives living on and around an 800-acre compound in a remote valley outside Bergholz, Ohio, according to the sheriff.
"They (have) titled themselves the 'Bergholz Clan,' " Abdalla said. "It's a cult."
Sam Mullet is the undisputed leader of this group, according to the sheriff.
"When I tell you nothing moves out there unless he says it moves, that is the case," Abdalla said. "Everyone takes their marching orders from him."
Abdalla says he fears that this "cult" could come to a dramatic demise, as others have.
"If I were to get a call right now telling me, 'Sheriff, they're all dead in the community out there,' it wouldn't surprise me," he said.
"That's the power and control that he has over those people, because if he were to tell them right now to drink this poison Kool-Aid, they would do it."
'We're locking our doors'
Abdalla has seen a lot in his 27 years as sheriff, but he says the stories he's heard firsthand from inside Sam Mullet's compound are the among the most bizarre.
One came from a man who said Mullet put him in a chicken coop for 15 days in the dead of winter over a religious disagreement. The victim would not press charges.
"He was convinced that (Mullet) was doing him a favor," Abdalla said. "That's like me hitting you in the head with a two-by-four and telling you I'm doing you a favor … and you agree and say, 'Yes, you have done me a favor.' That's how domineering (he is)."
Because of Abdalla's involvement in these incidents and Mullet's distrust of law enforcement, the two have been at odds since Mullet moved to Jefferson County in the mid-1990s.
Abdalla said he even received death threats from one of Mullet's sons, which he believes was orchestrated by Sam Mullet.
"It was two in the morning, (and he's) telling me I'm a dead SOB," Abdalla said. "He was charged with threatening, harassing, what have you. He went to court (and pleaded guilty)."
These stories and the terrible memory of the attack on her husband keep Arlene Miller awake at night, fearing the worst.
She's concerned that talking to the media – and the fact that her husband is only one of two beard-cutting victims who has pressed charges - could put them at risk once again.
"They didn't get all of Myron's beard that night, so (Mullet) is probably not done," she said.
That fear has driven the Millers, like a lot of other Amish families in the community, to take unprecedented precautions to protect themselves.
"We're locking doors, and we've got pepper spray and stuff like that," she said.
They never kept locks on their doors in the past, a trait shared by many Amish.
The "Bergholz clan" has also created a climate of fear in Amish communities well outside Bergholz and its surrounding towns. A man from Berlin, a couple hours away, who refused to give his name said he is fearful of the power Mullet wields.
"If we say something and they find out, we're going to be the target," the man said. "They would come after me. It's kind of scary here. I just don't want to get involved in it."
Inside Mullet's compound
Seven miles down a stretch of winding two-lane highway, deep in a valley outside Bergholz, you have to travel along township road over a mound of mud to get to the compound of Sam Mullet.
On the other side of that mound, barns and stables well past their prime come into view. A few white houses are mixed in with the farm buildings.
The only sound is the occasional neighing of the horses.
Next to a barn stands a boy, not much older than 9 or 10, in the plain Amish clothing: blue shirt, suspenders and trousers.
He stares at me, clearly an outsider, as I drive up in a car. Another boy watches as he sits just under the barn door near what is perhaps some horse-powered farm equipment.
Farther down the road, a group of younger children in the same type of clothing sit in what appears to be a sandbox.
Not one word can be heard, not even a laugh.
As I get out of the car, notebook in hand, the two boys disappear into the barn.
Little faces, some cradled by bonnets, peer out of windows of one in the houses as I approach.
A single knock at the door of a big white house at the dead end of the township road is answered by Sam Mullet, known as Bishop Mullet to the folks around here.
His tall frame fills the entryway; a long, wispy beard moves in the occasional light breeze. He seemed to be a charming, easygoing man.
When asked whether he'll respond to some of the charges folks are making about him, he chuckles and politely declines, saying he doesn't want to seem like he's just out to argue with people in the media.
"Can you perhaps respond to these allegations that you're running a cult?" I ask.
"People say a lot of things," Mullet says, a small, confident grin on his face.
"Are you running a cult?"
"No. It's not a cult."
"What about the allegations that you're behind the beard-cutting crimes?"
"Beard-cutting is a crime, is it?"
Another minute or so goes by as I attempt to glean more information. He repeats his claims from earlier that people "say a lot of things" before he politely dismisses me and heads back inside.
In an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Mullet said he did not order the beard attacks but didn't stop his sons and the other men from carrying it out.
In that same interview, he said he should be free to punish people who break the laws of the church.
Accusations of marriage-splitting
Looking back on his time under what he calls Sam Mullet's rule, Aden Troyer says he was brainwashed "80% of the way."
He wishes he could say the same of his wife, Wilma, Mullet's daughter. It was the beginning of the end of their marriage, and Troyer said that what happened over the course of a couple years wrecked him emotionally.
According to Troyer, the trouble began when Mullet heard that Troyer was planning to move his daughter and his granddaughters out of the group over the way Mullet was "ruling" his followers.
Not long after, Troyer said, Mullet began interfering with their marriage. Troyer said Mullet would ask women, including his wife, "about their sexual relationships with their husbands."
"That's very atypical behavior for Amish to do that," Troyer said. "It's unheard of."
He said Wilma spent more and more time with her father at his house. The two would sometimes talk all day and all night. He believes this was a tactic to get the women to a position in which they weren't thinking clearly on their own.
"One day I was at work, and I got home and … he came and took her, and that was the end of it."
Troyer said Mullet would allow them to be together only if Troyer gave in to Mullet's demands. Troyer refused, won custody of their two girls and moved to Pennsylvania.
Since Wilma has visitation rights but chooses not to exercise them, according to Troyer, this past spring he brought the girls back from Pennsylvania to see her. Once there, he said Wilma refused to let the children leave, citing an order from Sam Mullet.
The sheriff called in a SWAT team and the kids were returned to their father.
"In the Amish community, no one has jurisdiction over what goes on between a husband and wife," Troyer said. "He's the only guy and only leader that I know of that ever has gotten into an Amish couple's married life."
Troyer says his one regret is not being able to see the situation coming with enough time to warn his wife. To this day, he says, he holds his wife in the most positive light |
use CGI, and can simply disable mod_cgi. Most major distros have issued a patched version of Bash — use apt-get, yum, etc. to obtain it.
As far as normal people are concerned, the most pressing issue is that your DSL/cable router may also be vulnerable (most consumer routers run an embedded version of Linux, and a CGI-capable web server) — and if a hacker can access your router, it can then probably gain access to other resources on your local network (shared folders and the like).
If you’re one of the 18 people in the world who uses Linux as a desktop OS, and you also run the Apache web server, you are probably vulnerable.
Rather amusingly, this is one of the few cases where Windows isn’t vulnerable (unless you have Bash installed via Cygwin, but very few people do). Of course, you might still be in trouble if you have Windows machines sharing a network with some vulnerable Linux boxes.
Next page: What can you do to protect yourself against Shellshock?By C1 Staff
SAN FRANCISCO — The Federal Bureau of Prisons, Sacramento Intelligence Unit and the FBI’s National Gang Intelligence Center have issued a bulletin to law enforcement, warning of a threat of attacks against officers on the street and in prisons.
“Black August” began in the 1970s as a month to honor fallen members of the prison gang Black Guerilla Family (BGF), according to ABC7.
One of the most infamous members is Hugo Pinell, who served 46 years in solitary confinement after a rape conviction, killing a corrections officer, and slashing the throats of two other COs during an escape attempt.
Last summer, 12 days after Pinell was released from solitary confinement, he was stabbed to death in a prison riot.
The BGF believes the prison system worked with the Aryan Brotherhood to have Pinell killed, according to the group’s bulletin.
ABC7 reports an inmate source says BGF has a “2-for-1 kill policy.” BGF is “going to kill correctional officers and Aryan Brotherhood gang members to send a firm message. And the attacks will occur across the country, not just in California.”
The FBI’s Baltimore office reports “BGF members reportedly discussed how they could ambush law enforcement officers who were parked in alleys or side streets.”Let’s start with the basics: so what is encryption? Encryption is used to ensure that certain information doesn’t get into the wrong hands. It does this by making information impossible to read without the correct keys (in other words, the password).
Encryption is a process where you scramble information to make it impossible to read, turning it into “ciphertext”. Decryption is when you unscramble the information to make it readable again, turning it into “plaintext”. Any information can be encrypted: text, emails, files, and even entire hard drives.
There are lots of different methods of encryption, each using different algorithms with their own advantages and disadvantages (such as AES, RSA, Twofish, Elgamal), but we don’t need to actually understand them to use them. However, we will learn about the two main types of encryption: symmetric encryption and asymmetric encryption. In the case of symmetric encryption, it simply means that the same key (or password) is used to encrypt and decrypt. Let’s take a look at how Alice and Bob use symmetric encryption.
[tweet_box design=”box_02″]Are you more of a symmetric encryption or asymmetric encryption kind of person?[/tweet_box]
Symmetric encryption
Alice and Bob are working together on a new project. They send each other lots of stuff over email, but they know that their competitor, Eve, could be monitoring their emails. They want to make sure Eve doesn’t hear about their work before it’s published. So they meet at a coffee shop and decide to use a password for encrypting all their emails, and the password is “wateristhesourceoflife”. Next time Alice needs to send Bob an email on the project, she encrypts it using the password:
Symmetric encryption is pretty simple: you encrypt plaintext into ciphertext and decrypt the ciphertext back into plaintext using the same password. However, this has a limitation: Alice and Bob needed to meet in person, to make sure that Eve couldn’t hear the password.
Sometimes, you want to use encryption with people that you can’t meet (like people you meet over the internet). This is where asymmetric encryption comes into the picture.
Asymmetric encryption and PGP
Asymmetric encryption means that there are two different keys for encryption and decryption, and this is done using keypairs. Each person has a public key and a private key: the public key is shared with everyone and the private key is stored safely and not shared. The public key is used to encrypt, and the private key is used to decrypt. This way, Alice can share her public key with everyone, including both Bob and Eve, while keeping her private key safe. Bob (and Eve) can encrypt a message with her public key, but only the private key (which Alice has) can decrypt the message. When Alice wants to send a message to Bob, she uses Bob’s public key to encrypt, while Bob will use his own private key to decrypt.
The advantage of using asymmetric encryption is that everyone has their own encryption channel: I can share my public key with everyone and be ready to receive encrypted messages from anyone. Another advantage of asymmetric encryption is that it allows for people with private keys to sign information and people can verify the signature with the public keys. But we’ll get back to this later.
PGP is actually the name of a program that was first written back in 1991, and is basically what initially took asymmetric encryption from an academic concept to something usable, thanks to computers. You may have also heard of GPG, GnuPG, OpenPGP and have gotten confused… Let’s just say that everything we’ll do here is based on the OpenPGP standard.
How does one use PGP?
PGP is generally used for communication, meaning the encryption of text that is meant for someone else to read. If you’ve been asked to encrypt your communications with someone using PGP, or if you’d like to just see what this is all about, we’ll try a very simple example.
Let’s try using PGP with a simple program for Windows called Portable PGP. On Linux I use GPA, but there is a variety of programs to choose from. Just make sure that you use a trustworthy and open source option!
Unlike in symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption means that sending and receiving messages is a different process requiring different keys. Let’s say we want to let people send us encrypted messages. For this we’ll need to generate a keypair and share our public key while keeping our private key safe.
Generating and sharing Keys
When we run the program for the first time, it will ask us if we would like to generate a new keypair – let’s do it!
We don’t need to fill anything out, it’s all optional. However, you should probably add a passphrase: this protects your private key in case anyone hacks your computer.
New keypairs can always be generated in the section named “Keyring” by clicking on the keyring icon next to Private Keys.
Now that we have a keypair, let’s go ahead and export our public key by clicking the public key we want to export (the one we just made) and then clicking the floppy disc icon next to Public Keys. Save the file (which is your public key) wherever is comfortable.
This file that we saved is what we share with people who want to send us encrypted messages. We can upload it to the cloud, send it as an email attachment and generally make it public. Our private key is saved on our computer, and we can export it if needed (make sure it’s got a passphrase).
Encrypting messages
So now that we have our keys, people can send us encrypted messages. What does this look like? Let’s pretend we’re someone who wants to send you an encrypted message. This person would have to get your public key and import it (simply using the import button next to Public Keys). After they import it, we can go to the Encrypt section and begin to write our message. We can also encrypt a file. We just have to make sure that we choose the correct target (the recipient), to encrypt the message/file with their public key. Once we’re ready, all that’s left is to click the “Encrypt” button.
If we encrypted a file it will ask us where to save the encrypted file (so that we can then send to the recipient). If we encrypted a message, it will show us the ciphertext and we can then copy it or save it as a file, so that we can then send it.
Decrypting messages
Now let’s say that someone sent us this message by email. It’s quite obvious that anyone snooping on our emails won’t be able to understand anything. But since it was encrypted with our public key, we can read it with our private key. Let’s try that. We’ll go to the Decrypt section and paste the ciphertext, and then click the “Decrypt” button.
If our private key is protected by a passphrase, we’ll need to enter it now. We will then get our plaintext message.
And that’s it! That’s what it looks like to send and receive messages with PGP.
Signing and verifying messages
As we said earlier, another advantage of asymmetric encryption is that it allows us to sign and verify messages. This is similar to encryption, except the other way around: we sign messages with private keys and people can verify this using public keys.
People generally use this to prove they are who they claim to be over the internet It works very much like signatures used on paper, except with encryption it’s actually useful because it’s practically impossible to counterfeit. The process is pretty much exactly the same, except done through the “Sign” and “Verify” sections.
Some disclaimers
I know that hardcore security experts always have nitpicking to do and will probably have a problem with this article, which is why I’ll recommend for everyone who wants to use PGP and encryption in general for sensitive information to do their research.
Encryption is one of those fields that are constantly evolving. With enough time, these methods will be obsolete and newer methods will be needed. Cryptography is a fascinating field, and if you search around you won’t be lacking reading material. Keep safe and have fun!For other uses, see William Bass
William Marvin Bass III (born August 30, 1928) is an American forensic anthropologist, best known for his research on human osteology and human decomposition. He has also assisted federal, local, and non-U.S. authorities in the identification of human remains. He taught at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and though currently retired from teaching, still plays an active research role at the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility, which he founded. The Facility is more popularly known as "The Body Farm", a name used by crime author Patricia Cornwell in a novel of the same name,[2] which drew inspiration from Bass and his work. Bass has also described the body farm as "Death's Acre" – the title of the book on his life and career, co-written with journalist Jon Jefferson. Jefferson and Bass, under the pen name "Jefferson Bass", have also written several fictional works: Carved In Bone, Flesh and Bone, The Devil's Bones, Bones of Betrayal, The Bone Thief, The Bone Yard, The Inquisitor's Key, Cut To the Bone, and The Breaking Point. Bass is the third generation in his family to have an educational building named after him. The Dr. William M. Bass III Forensic Anthropology Building dedication ceremony was September 27, 2011, near the Body Farm.
Biography [ edit ]
Bass attended the University of Virginia for his undergraduate degree, and received his master's from the University of Kentucky. He completed his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. His research career began as an archaeologist, excavating Native American grave sites in the Midwest United States during the 1950s. He mentions in Death's Acre that this activity earned him the informal title "Indian grave-robber number one" from an Indian activist, though no clashes with Native Americans ever occurred.[3]:31 Bass is an atheist.[3]:214
References [ edit ]release50
DragonFly BSD 5.0
Version 5.0.0 released 16 October 2017
Version 5.0.1 released 06 November 2017
Version 5.0.2 released 04 December 2017
DragonFly version 5.0 brings the first bootable release of HAMMER2, DragonFly's next generation file system.
The details of all commits between the 4.8 and 5.0 branches are available in the associated commit messages for 5.0.0rc1, 5.0.0rc2, 5.0.0, 5.0.1, and 5.0.2.
Big-ticket items
HAMMER2
Preliminary HAMMER2 support has been released into the wild as-of the 5.0 release. This support is considered EXPERIMENTAL and should generally not yet be used for production machines and important data. The boot loader will support both UFS and HAMMER2 /boot. The installer will still use a UFS /boot even for a HAMMER2 installation because the /boot partition is typically very small and HAMMER2, like HAMMER1, does not instantly free space when files are deleted or replaced.
DragonFly 5.0 has single-image HAMMER2 support, with live dedup (for cp's), compression, fast recovery, snapshot, and boot support. HAMMER2 does not yet support multi-volume or clustering, though commands for it exist. Please use non-clustered single images for now.
ipfw Updates
IPFW has gone through a number of updates in DragonFly and now offers better performance. pf and ipfw3 are also still supported.
Improved graphics support
The i915 driver has been brought up to match what's in the Linux 4.7.10 kernel. Intel GPUs are supported up to the Kabylake generation.
vga_switcheroo(4) module added, allowing the use of Intel GPUs on hybrid-graphics systems.
The new apple_gmux driver enables switching to the Intel video chipset on dual Intel/NVIDIA and Intel/Radeon Macbook computers.
Other user-affecting changes
efisetup(8) added.
DragonFly can now support over 900,000 processes on a single machine.
Client-side SSH by default does not try password authentication, which is the default behavior in newer versions of OpenSSH. Pass an explicit '-o PasswordAuthentication=yes' or change /etc/ssh/ssh_config if you need the old behavior. Public key users are unaffected.
Details
Checksums
MD5 (dfly-x86_64-5.0.0_REL.img) = 0b37697389e4dc7380ad4dee1cadf9b0 MD5 (dfly-x86_64-5.0.0_REL.iso) = 599d5e151c0315c1112f7585a8265faf MD5 (dfly-x86_64-5.0.0_REL.img.bz2) = b40b76dbdd88cafb8db85bc74a7e438f MD5 (dfly-x86_64-5.0.0_REL.iso.bz2) = 22ecc945e0aacd1bb2ea2318b428a9b0
Upgrading
If you have an existing 4.8.x system and are running a generic kernel, the normal upgrade process, described below, will work.
Note that DSA OpenSSH keys were deprecated in the 4.6 to 4.8 release. If you are upgrading from a release older than 4.8 and use DSA OpenSSH keys, please update your private/public key pair or risk locking yourself out.
Change your local /usr/src to 5.0:
cd /usr/src git fetch origin git branch DragonFly_RELEASE_5_0 origin/DragonFly_RELEASE_5_0 git checkout DragonFly_RELEASE_5_0 git pull
And then rebuild: (in /usr/src )
make buildworld make buildkernel make installkernel make installworld make upgrade
Don't forget to upgrade your existing packages. 5.0 packages have already been built and are immediately available.
pkg upgrade
All changes since DragonFly 4.8
Kernel
if_sl, if_ppp, and if_faith are now built as modules and can be removed from kernel configs.
NX (no-execute) pmap support has been added.
Use 64-bit serials for poll/select's kevent.udata. This fixes an issue where serial cycling could cause spurious events to be reported.
Fix several issues for encrypted installations.
Fix a blocked-lock issue in procfs
Fix a serious permissions bug for sticky directories
Fix event preset bug
Fix an ACPI initialization ordering issue
Fix a CAM shutdown ordering issue
NX support added to kernel, but does not work with some interpreted or JIT languages so disabled by default.
Fix a crypto subsystem stall.
Ryzen CPUs can lockup when the instruction pre-fetcher (which can be speculative) transitions from a canonical to a non-canonical address. This can happen if the top of the user stack is mapped. Unmap the top of the user stack, and the top of the user stack is no longer considered to be part of userspace.
Longer stir in arc4random(), make arc4random per-cpu to reduce contention.
Fix a zget() panic which can occur during heavy paging
Fix clustering inefficiencies
tmpfs and vn can't handle certain swapoff situations. Be sure to fail a swapoff attempt under such conditions so not corruption occurs.
Fix a gcc code reordering problem related to td_critcount operations. This fixes a lockmgr() race.
Significantly reduce tsleep()/wakeup() queue collisions.
Do many more NUMA-localized allocations for per-cpu structures.
Add better AMD topology detection.
Restrict kill(-1,...) to the current reaper group. This fixes issues during bulk builds via synth where third-party programs erroneously signal process -1 after a fork() failure.
Fix broken cpu rotator in lwkt_alloc_thread().
Fix a rare allproc scan vs p_ucred race
Fix unnecessary ucred duplication which led to potentially as many ucred allocations as vnodes.
Fix a memory ordering race in the shared lock mutex code.
Fix an ordering issue with coincident systimer interrupts. This improves user/sys/idle percentage reporting.
Change our MBR partition type from 0xA5 (which we shared with FreeBSD) to 0x6C
Fix a callout_stop()/callout_reset() rearming race
Improve flushing during low-memory situations
Add an emergency pager. The normal pager can pageout vnode-backed pages, but the complexity of the filesystem VFS can cause low-memory deadlocks during such flushes. The emergency pager only pages out anonymous memory and can recover these situations.
Fix the panic() code for AMD cpus that assumed mwait hinting support when there might not be any.
Improve TSC handling.
Fix a SMP tsleep_interlock() vs wakeup() race.
Validate the kernel up to 1 million processes (since PIDs are restricted to 6 digits, this is the max). Fix numerous issues that crop up under high-process-count conditions. Yes, it actually does work.
Increase the default posix-lock limit.
Remove a performance bottleneck related to large numbers of pipe() close() operations.
Scale tsleep() performance to hundreds of thousands of processes.
Refactor the maxproc calculation, allowing maxproc to be higher without improperly scaling maxvnodes and other resources to insane levels.
Refactor the load calculation code to not stall cpu 0 when a large number of processes are present (aka a million procsses).
Fix excessive call stack depth for stuck interrupts.
Refactor IPI vector assignments and reformulate INVLTLB IPIs
Networking
Direct input support for polling, on by default for ix(4).
Allow up to 64 TX and RX rings for X550 chipsets
Do not pad if_re chips which do not require explicit padding. This fixes UDP checksum generation on these chipsets.
Limit the number of accepted sockets that kevent() reports. Defaults to 32. Does not effect accept() calls. This deconfuses some third party applications.
Bring in vmx (VMWare virtual network driver, aka vmxnet3).
Add Kabylake support (add Kabylake PCI IDs)
Improve syncache performance.
Add an interface network filter to IPFW.
Add an ipfrag filter to IPFW.
Rework IPFW's states and tracks.
Reduce unnecessary IPIs by using sendmsg_oncpu() when possible.
Improve ipflow code.
Improve polling code.
Fix issue with accelerated IPv4/IPv6 fragment draining.
Randomize the local port.
MSI enabled by default for if_em devices which support it.
Other drivers
virtio_scsi(4) added
ig4(4) devices are now recognized.
internal updates to the isp(4) SCSI adapter driver.
ADMA2 mode is now supported for SD card data transfer.
UHS1 SD card disk format is now supported.
Properly delete /dev/dsp and /dev/mixer on sound module unload.
NVMe now handles devices without MSI-X support (aka virtualized NVMe).
vtnet and virtio_blk improvements.
Userland
HAMMER1 now is at an internal version of 7, reflecting a new, faster checksum operation.
kcollect(8) has been added for automatic data gathering on a running DragonFly system.
sshlockout(8) will now lock out based on number of attempts.
Fix a static buffer overflow in mfiutil
Fix a graphics compatibility enable test in 'window'
Fix several sscanf bugs in userland
usched now allows a process to change its own cpu affinity
Fix a bug in ceill()
Fix a seg-fault on crypt failure.
Many namespace cleanups to improve dports compatibility.
OpenSSH updated to 7.6p1
Various tools have been upgraded in the base system:
Hammer Changes
Improve concurrent dedup stability under heavy concurrent loads.
HAMMER to version 7. This version changes the CRC mechanic from an older slower CRC API to the ISCSI CRC code, which is 6x faster. Improves HAMMER performance. HAMMER supports both old and new CRC methods and is backwards compatible, but only files created after this change will use the new mechanism.
Clang status
A starting framework has been added for using clang as the alternate base compiler in DragonFly, to replace gcc 4.7. It's not yet complete. Clang can of course be added as a package.
Package updates
Many package updates but I think most notably we need to point to chrome60 finally getting into dports with accelerated video and graphics support.
64-bit statusToronto FC supporters group Inebriatti has taken a vow of silence in protest against the MLS club's front office.
The feud between the Toronto FC and their supporters group began at the end of August when two Inebriatti members raised a sexually explicit banner at a Montreal Impact game.
Inebriatti recently posted a Facebook statement explaining their reasoning behind their silent protest:
Toronto FC's front office is asking members of Inebriatti to sign a document stating that they will abide by their code of conduct. The supporters group says it is hesitant to sign because it doesn't want to be held unilaterally responsible for any incidents in its seating area.
They say "sometimes silence speaks louder than words" but with Toronto FC making the playoffs for the second time, maybe both parties need to make amends.
TFC should send the <a href="https://twitter.com/inebriatti">@inebriatti</a> members gift baskets every day, in my opinion, not complaining about them! They've hurt nobody. —@Neugsie
Having a boisterous supporters group and atmosphere with it is a privilege for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tfc?src=hash">#tfc</a> and players lets not forget that. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TFCLive?src=hash">#TFCLive</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/inebriatti?src=hash">#inebriatti</a> —@Le_Jdot
Inebriatti holds a strong presence at BMO Field and fans, players and other supporters groups recognize it:
Clearly, <a href="https://twitter.com/inebriatti">@inebriatti</a> are the difference... <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TFCLive?src=hash">#TFCLive</a> —@KurtLarSUN
I'm glad other groups are standing behind <a href="https://twitter.com/inebriatti">@inebriatti</a> simple as that! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tfc?src=hash">#tfc</a> —@swissrules69
I don't know whether other groups will join <a href="https://twitter.com/inebriatti">@inebriatti</a> in silent protest moving forward. It would not surprise me if they did though. —@24thminute
With the post-season looming, captain Michael Bradley is hoping the clubs and fans can work out their difference, saying the team welcomes and needs their support.
"My message to the fans is we need them, more than maybe they even realize," he told reporters when asked about the conflict.
"A club is everybody. It's not just the players, it's not just the front office, it's not just the fans. It's everybody all together...as we go into the most important games of the season, we need our best and most supportive fans behind us in the biggest way."Image copyright Getty Images
David Cameron has made Michael Gove the justice secretary and Mark Harper chief whip as he continues to put together his new Conservative government.
Mr Gove succeeds Chris Grayling, who moves to become leader of the Commons.
Nicky Morgan will remain as education secretary and minister for equalities.
The PM, who secured the first Conservative majority since 1992, has already said his chancellor, home secretary, foreign secretary and defence secretary will stay the same.
The Conservatives won a total of 331 seats at the general election, giving them a majority of 12 in Parliament and allowing Mr Cameron a much freer hand in deciding his top ministerial team than was the case during the past five years of coalition.
The new appointments join Chancellor George Osborne, Home Secretary Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon in Mr Cameron's government.
Mr Harper has been given the crucial role of chief whip, responsible for liaising with backbenchers and maintaining party discipline.
He resigned from his post as immigration minister in February 2014 after he discovered that his cleaner was no longer entitled to work in the UK, but rejoined the government five months later as minister for disabled people.
Analysis
Image copyright PA Image caption Michael Gove will be in charge of replacing the Human Rights Act
By BBC political correspondent Eleanor Garnier
Michael Gove's appointment as justice secretary places him firmly at the top table of British politics.
It is a marked promotion from the job of chief whip, where he had been in charge of Conservative party discipline.
Mr Gove was removed as education secretary last year after repeated run-ins with the teaching unions and a reported spat with Home Secretary Theresa May - someone he will now have to work closely with once again.
As justice secretary, his responsibilities will include implementing the Conservative Party's pledge to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.
The aim is to give the UK courts and Parliament - rather than European institutions - the final say in contentious cases.
On Twitter, Ms Morgan said she was "delighted" with her re-appointment, which Downing Street said was a "huge vote of confidence".
Mr Gove, a former chief whip and education secretary, will be in charge of implementing the Conservatives' pledge to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.
He will also take on the role of Lord Chancellor.
BBC political correspondent Eleanor Garnier said the announcements were "a reward for loyalty" from Mr Cameron.
Making Mr Grayling, the former justice secretary, the Commons leader was a "gesture to the right wing of the party", she added.
Image caption Chris Grayling will be the leader of the House of Commons
Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Nicky Morgan remains as education secretary and women's minister
A wider reshuffle is expected on Monday, with posts held by Liberal Democrats under the coalition yet to be filled.
Among MPs tipped for promotion include Jo Johnson, Boris Johnson's brother, while there is also speculation that the mayor of London, who is returning to the Commons after a seven-year absence, could also get some kind of role.
Mr Cameron is expected to promote a number of women having failed in his stated aim, set out before the 2010 election, of having women account for a third of ministerial positions by the end of the last Parliament.
Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers, one of four women currently in the cabinet, said she would be "delighted" to remain in the post she has held since 2012 but would "happily" serve elsewhere.
Conservative backbencher Stuart Jackson said the prime minister was "the king of all he surveys" after guiding his party to its first majority since 1992 and he did not expect there to be the unrest on the backbenches that there was during the coalition.
"He has enormous political capital and with that he can choose his Cabinet and make his priorities as he sees fit," Mr Jackson told the Sunday Politics.
While the government's focus would be on the economy, Mr Jackson said he would also would also like to see political and constitutional reform, with the redrawing of parliamentary boundaries and a fresh look at the make-up of the House of Lords.
'New approach'
As Mr Cameron finalises his new government, Labour is beginning the search for a new leader.
Meanwhile, former Labour Treasury secretary Liam Byrne has acknowledged that a note he left for his successor before the 2010 election - saying "there is no money" - damaged Labour's re-election chances.
David Cameron repeatedly brandished a copy of the letter on the campaign trail, arguing that it showed Labour could not be trusted with the economy.
Mr Byrne told the Observer that the focus on it during the campaign had been "excruciating" for him.
"Party members ask me: what on earth were you thinking? But members of the public ask: how could you do something so crass? And so bloody offensive?
"I've asked myself that question every day for five years and, believe me, every day I have burnt with the shame of it, nowhere more than when standing on doorsteps with good comrades, listening to voters demanding to know what I thought I was playing at."
"People's anger - and my party's anger - at me will never ever match my anger with myself or my remorse at such a crass mistake. I made it easy for our opponents to bash our economic record by bashing me."Basic income is all the rage these days. The idea — which calls for the government to give everyone in a given city/state/country/whatever enough money to live in, no strings attached — is being tested in Finland, in Ontario, in the Netherlands, and in Kenya. Switzerland's set to vote on whether to adopt it as a national policy in June.
But discussions of the proposal rarely mention that many rich countries — including France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden — already implement a version of it. Most Western European countries have what's called a "universal child benefit," or a basic income going only to families with children.
It's a much simpler way to support families than the complicated system the US uses, and an American version could vastly reduce child poverty, perhaps eliminating it altogether.
At least 10 rich countries have universal child benefit policies
For a widely employed policy, universal child benefits (also known as "child allowances") keep a pretty low profile. That's partly because many countries with them also have a variety of other child-related programs, such as child care subsidies or child tax breaks limited to people who work or means-tested welfare. Universal child benefit plans, however, stand out for being truly accessible to all: Children and families get them no matter if they work or not, and no matter if they plan to spend the money on child care or food or rent or what.
As of 2012, at least 11 rich countries had policies like that, according to the University of Antwerp's Minimum Income Protection Indicators (MIPI) database: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK. Here's how much families get in each of them, illustrated in a lovely graphic by Vox's Javier Zarracina:
France's program is designed largely to encourage childbearing, and so only kicks in for families with two or more children.
The laws have changed a bit since the database was last updated. The UK no longer has a universal benefit; the current Conservative government started means-testing the child benefit for middle-class and upper-income households, beginning in 2013. As the University of York's Jonathan Bradshaw, an expert on child benefits, noted upon the policy introduction, it makes the UK "one of the very few countries in Europe that do not have a universal child benefit."
On the other hand, Canada recently boosted its child benefits. The new Liberal government under Justin Trudeau is scrapping the current byzantine array of child support programs — which include, no joke, benefits for hockey lessons — in favor of a new benefit of CA$6,400 (US$4,935) per child under six and CA$5,400 (US$4,164) per child aged 6 to 17. The amounts are gradually reduced, but families making up to CA$180,000 (US$140,000) will at least get something. It's not a true universal system, but it's nearly universal.
Cash assistance can dramatically cut child poverty
The best rationale for universal child benefits is that they substantially reduce child poverty.
Consider what happened when Tony Blair and the Labour Party introduced a universal benefit in the UK in 1999. The measure was part of a broader set of proposals meant to tackle child poverty, including tax credits, means-tested programs, a national minimum wage, a workers' tax credit, universal pre-K, expanded child care, and much longer parental leave. The result was that absolute poverty fell by more than half from 1999 to 2009, while relative poverty (the share of children under 60 percent of the median income) fell by 15 percent; things got dramatically better for the poor, but because the middle class gained too the relative poverty fall was smaller.
While child poverty in the US declined slightly over the same period, a comparison of the two trend lines is still startling:
The researchers Tom Sefton, John Hills, and Holly Sutherland concluded that the benefit and tax credit increases from 1997 to 2005 caused incomes for the bottom 10 percent of households to grow 20 percent. "It was one of the largest [increases] in any of the rich countries for which reliable data are available," the University of Arizona's Lane Kenworthy notes.
There's every reason to think a universal child benefit could pull off a similar reduction in child poverty, and improvement in living standards for the poor, in the US. A recent report for the Century Foundation by Columbia researchers Irwin Garfinkel, David Harris, Jane Waldfogel, and Christopher Wimer ran simulations of a variety of different child allowance plans to see how they'd affect child poverty in the US:
A $2,500 per child benefit in the US would cut the number of children in poverty from 12.2 million to 8.4 million, a drop of nearly a third. A $4,000 benefit would cut the number to 5.8 million, getting the child poverty rate below 10 percent for the first time in American history. It wouldn't be cheap — the pricier option would cost $202.9 billion a year on top of the existing cost of the child tax credit — but the benefits would be enormous. Child poverty costs the US an estimated $500 billion a year through reduced adult earnings, increased crime, poorer health, and so on. Fighting it is not just the right thing to do; it's the financially prudent thing as well.
The benefits aren't misspent, either. Sam Houston State University's Christian Raschke has found that Kindergeld, the delightfully named German child benefit program, leads families to increase spending on food, but not on drinking of alcohol. One study of EITC, the US cash transfer program, found that receiving cash actually leads parents to get prenatal care which in turn reduces the amount they smoke and drink.
And cash benefits help kids in other ways, too
The benefits of cash transfers last for affected children's whole lifetimes. There are reams of evidence, both in the US and abroad, suggesting that programs that put more cash in the hands of families with children can dramatically help those children later on in life, by boosting their test scores, making them healthier, and promoting higher earnings once they start working.
Consider, for example, the effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit in the US. The EITC is not a real child allowance, but it is a cash transfer program targeted almost exclusively at families with children. And as this review of the evidence by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities indicates, its benefits for children, across their lifespans, are considerable:
UC Berkeley's Hilary Hoynes, UConn's David Simon, and UC Davis's Douglas Miller have found that the EITC substantially improves infant health, reducing the rate of low-weight births by 6.7 to 10.8 percent. The effect was even bigger for African-American children. Their paper suggests that the credit improves prenatal care. Economist Kevin Baker found similar effects on birth weight, as did did the University of Albany's Kate Strully, Stanford's David Rehkopf, and Boston University's Ziming Xuan.
Two studies, one by Michigan State's Michelle Maxfield and the other by Stanford's Raj Chetty, Brown's John N. Friedman, and Columbia's Jonah Rockoff, have found that EITC boosts test scores, odds of graduating from high school, and odds of attending college. Chetty and his co-authors also link it, through its effect on test scores, to a decline in teen birth rates and an increase in adult earnings of about 0.5 percent. For an average 25- to 34-year-old adult making $31,219 a year, that's an extra $156 a year, because of a tax credit their parents got.
UCSD's Gordon Dahl and |
adopted by the initiative method. As well, it could endanger election provisions in state constitutions adopted by conventions and ratified by voters at the ballot box, without involvement or approval by 'the Legislature.'"
Would-be challengers to the representatives of Arizona's three competitive congressional districts -- Democratic Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema and GOP Rep. Martha McSally -- had held off on jumping into those races for 2016 until the Supreme Court issued its decision.SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) – Supporters of the movement for California to secede from the union and form its own country have taken their first formal steps to seek a statewide vote on the idea.
On Monday, the Yes California independence campaign submitted their ballot proposal (.pdf) to the state Attorney General’s office.
Secession supporters hope to place a measure on the 2018 ballot that would repeal language in the State Constitution saying that California is an “inseparable part” of the United States and to call for a special election on independence in 2019.
In a statement posted on their website, Yes California said it hopes to begin collecting signatures for the ballot measure early next year.
Yes California has been around since 2014, but the idea of secession in California has gained steam since the recent election of Donald Trump. Following the election, many people on social media using the hashtag #Calexit to express their frustration with the results. People in other states have made similar calls to secede from the United States after Trump won the presidency.
According to KPIX 5 political analyst Melissa Caen, an amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be the only way for a state to leave the union. Amending the Constitution is a long process that includes a two-thirds vote of both the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, along with the ratification of 38 state legislatures.
Residents in neighboring Oregon have already submitted their own ballot proposal on secession. The Oregon measure has language that would be open to forming a new nation with other states and Canadian provinces, including California.wikiHow's This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Together, they cited information from 11 references wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article meets our high quality standards. Learn more...
In this Article:Heading to the ClubChatting with WomenGetting Her NumberCommunity Q&A11 References
Despite how they're portrayed in TV, movies, and music, clubs are not magical paradises where everyone effortlessly finds a date. It still takes a little effort to meet someone, even in this environment! However, you don't need cheesy pick-up lines or any other special "tricks" to pick up a girl in a club. Try to follow the same basic rules you'd follow anywhere else: be kind, be yourself, and have fun. Read her cues and, if she seems interested, take things to the next level.James Randi, magician, escape artist and the world’s most tireless investigator and demystifier of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims, visits Youngstown State University 7 p.m. Monday, March 30, in Room B112 of Cushwa Hall.
“An Honest Liar,” a documentary of Randi’s life, will be screened, followed by a question-and-answer session.
The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the YSU departments of Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Physics and Astronomy, as well as the YSU College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics College
According to his website, Randi has pursued “psychic” spoonbenders, exposed the dirty tricks of faith healers, investigated homeopathic water “with a memory,” and generally been a thorn in the sides of those who try to pull the wool over the public’s eyes in the name of the supernatural.
He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including a fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 1986 for his work in investigating claims of the supernatural, occult, and paranormal powers — in particular his exposures of TV evangelist/healers and of “psychics” such as Uri Geller. He hosted The Randi Show on WOR-Radio in New York and has appeared on numerous TV series and specials throughout the world. He has taught at New York University and at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey, was 1984 Regents Lecturer at the University of California at Los Angeles, and has conducted several seminars at other colleges.
Randi is in Northeast Ohio as the Cleveland International Film Festival screens the documentary. The link to his film festival appearances is
http://www.clevelandfilm.org/films/2015/an-honest-liar.A young Muslim today told how he was assaulted by a crowbar-wielding man shouting racist abuse in an attack he fears was linked to Brexit.
Trainee accountant Adil, 23, was attacked in his BMW in Leyton by a stranger just after midnight on Wednesday as he drove his friend back from a Clapton mosque.
The white man, aged in his 40s, attacked him with a metal pole, smashing his windscreen.
He drove off before the man then allegedly tried to attack a Somalian taxi driver whilst shouting racist abuse about Muslims.
An off-duty security guard, who had been in a car behind Adil, tackled the man, handcuffing him and pinning him face down on the floor until police arrived.
Adil told the Standard the man seemed in a “relaxed manner” before he peered into his car.
He said: “He looked at my face and for a split second I saw his eyes light up. He started to run straight at me.
“He was coming towards me brandishing this metal pole in the air in front of him, I knew I was in trouble.
“I didn’t have time to think. I turned to my friend said “He’s got a weapon”, I didn’t know what to do.”
A motorbike coming from behind managed to swerve into the other lane and avoid the on-rushing man.
Adil swerved his black BMW into the other lane to follow the motorcyclist but the attacker swung the weapon smashing the front windscreen, showering them with broken glass.
Adil drove off before returning to the scene to learn he had been hurling racist abuse and trying to attack other drivers before he was arrested.
He said: “I was terrified. The whole thing replays in my mind over and over.
“I’m glad nobody was hurt this is the time where everyone comes out of the nearby mosques, there were loads of people around.
“Since Brexit there seems to be a rise in these attacks and people need to look out for each other no matter who it is.”
He added: "There is always a chance incidents like this can rise after the Brexit vote because of the way the people tried to portray certain parts of the community.
"I think it's always a risk but there's a higher risk of attacks now because a lot of the people who hold racist views believe 52 per cent of the country is with them. Of course that's wrong."
David Cameron has said extra cash for security measures will be available as part of a fresh push to “drive appalling hate crimes” out of Britain.
Reports of hate crime have soared by 57 per cent in the wake of the Brexit vote, according to the National Police Chiefs Council.
While Monitoring group Tell Mama published a report yesterday recording 437 anti-Muslim crimes in 2015 compared to 146 in 2014.
Shahid Malik, chairman of monitoring group Tell Mama, said: “With the backdrop of the Brexit vote and the spike in racist incidents that seems to be emerging, the Government should be under no illusions: things could quickly become extremely unpleasant for Britain’s minorities.”
A Met spokesman said: “We were called to Church Road at 12.45am on Wednesday morning to reports of a man almost smashing a car window.
“A man in his mid-40s was arrested for possibly possessing an offensive weapon.”
* Adil's surname has been removed on request.Parents wondering why their kids don’t go out and get a job like they did growing up may want to ease up on the laziness-of-a-generation argument.
A new report published Wednesday adds to evidence that today’s young workers are suffering a record drought in work across their traditional sectors of employment, namely fast-food joints and retail jobs at the mall.
A new CIBC World Markets report puts the jobless rate among the 15-18 cohort at 20 per cent – a record high and nearly triple the national average.
It seems cashiers and other lower-wage earners are getting a little greyer, or increasingly hail from another country, not the neighbour’s house.
“It’s no longer the pimply-faced kid asking you whether you want fries with that,” Avery Shenfeld, CIBC’s chief economist said in the study.
Even out of work 20-somethings are taking up more jobs in areas traditionally occupied by high-schoolers looking to make an extra buck.
“Young adults, displaced older workers or immigrants whose education and skills are not always fully rewarded in the job market have been pushed into low-wage work during what has been a fairly lacklustre economic recovery,” the economist said.
Read more: In Toronto, a window into tougher prospects facing young job seekers
“Manufacturing has been steadily shrinking its share of the workforce, and of late, governments are also paring back,” he said.
“The lack of higher paying work has forced … parents into taking the kind of employment previously reserved for teenage students.”
Experts generally agree, early employment greatly helps younger workers transition smoothly into the workforce. And the longer that process takes, the dimmer a person’s prospects become.
The CIBC report also suggests the lack of jobs among some in lower-income homes can have farther-reaching consequences.
“Student jobs are not just about being able to splurge for designer jeans. For lower income, single parent households, those extra dollars can be material, and are a source of savings for higher education,” the report said.
Many of the higher-paying jobs wiped out during the recession aren’t likely coming back, economists say, but a faster rebound in the global economy would help generate better-paying positions in areas related to exports, a side of the domestic economy being looked to to support growth over the next few years.
Exports unexpectedly slipped in July.
0.000000 0.000000-- @NevadaWolfPack --
RENO, Nev. - While travelling with the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA Development League, former Nevada men's basketball standout Deonte Burton, the program's second leading scorer, stopped by Lawlor Events Center on Tuesday to visit the Wolf Pack's practice and head coach Eric Musselman.The Jam is in Reno where it will take on the Bighorn on Wednesday, Dec. 30, at 7 p.m. at the Reno Events Center. To celebrate his return to "The Biggest Little City", Burton will be honored before the game as one of the best and most dynamic players to ever wear the Silver and Blue.Burton started all 130 games in his four seasons and is just the second player in school history to score over 2,000 points. As a senior, Burton was named first team All-MW, first-team NABC District 17, first-team USBWA District VIII, Nov. 17, Jan. 13 and Mar. 10 MW Player of the Week, Preseason All-MW media selection and was named to the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitation All-Tournament team. Burton was also the WAC Freshman of the Year in 2010-11, WAC Player of the Year and an Honorbale Mention AP All-American and third team All-MW as a junior. The Los Angeles native was one of 29 players collegiate basketball players that received an invitation from USA Basketball this past summer to compete for a spot on the roster for the 2013 USA Basketball Men's World University Games. Burton wrapped up his career ranked in the top five in nine categories at Nevada.Nevada opens Mountain West play tomorrow at 6 p.m. at New Mexico in a game that will be broadcast on ROOT Sports.For Cass Sunstein, a challenge that social media poses to democracy was clarified by a social-science experiment that he conducted in two different communities in Colorado: left-leaning Boulder and right-leaning Colorado Springs. Residents in each place were gathered into small groups to discuss their views on controversial topics, like climate change and same-sex marriage. Afterward, they were asked to report on the opinions of their groups as well as their own views on the subjects.
The results were the same in both communities.
The effect of gathering into groups composed of mostly like-minded people to discuss controversial subjects was to make participants more set and extreme in their views:
(1) Liberals, in Boulder, became distinctly more liberal on all three issues. Conservatives, in Colorado Springs, become distinctly more conservative on all three issues. The result of deliberation was to produce extremism -- even though deliberation consisted of a brief (15 minute) exchange of facts and opinions! (2) The division between liberals and conservatives became much more pronounced. Before deliberation, the median view, among Boulder groups, was not always so far apart from the median view among Colorado City groups. After deliberation, the division increased significantly. (3) Deliberation much decreased diversity among liberals; it also much decreased diversity among conservatives. After deliberation, members of nearly all groups showed, in their post-deliberation statements, far more uniformity than they did before deliberation.
Sunstein, a Harvard faculty member, and Reid Hastie, a professor at the University of Chicago, wrote about their findings in “Wiser: Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter.” And Sunstein returned to them Monday in a talk on social media and democracy at the Aspen Ideas Festival, which is co-hosted by The Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, where he ran through some of the explanations for group polarization.
Why does group polarization occur? There are three principal reasons, according to his research, which he once laid out at greater length in a Harvard Business Review article:
The first and most important involves informational signals—but with a few twists. Group members pay attention to the arguments made by other group members. Arguments in any group with an initial predisposition will inevitably be skewed in the direction of that predisposition. As a statistical matter, the arguments favoring the initial position will be more numerous than those pointing in another direction. Individuals will have thought or heard of some but not all the arguments that emerge from group deliberation. Thus deliberation will naturally lead people toward a more extreme point in line with what they initially believed. The second reason involves reputation again. As we have seen, people want to be perceived favorably by other group members. Sometimes their publicly stated views are a function of how they want to present themselves. Once they hear what others believe, they will adjust their positions at least slightly in the direction of the dominant position in order to preserve their self-presentation. The third reason stresses the close links among three factors: confidence, extremism, and corroboration by others. When people lack confidence, they tend to be moderate. The great American judge Learned Hand once said, “The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.” As people gain confidence, they usually become more extreme in their beliefs, because a significant moderating factor—their own uncertainty about whether they are right—has been eliminated. The agreement of others tends to increase confidence and thus extremism.
There are Americans who wonder why this big, diverse country should try to stay together. Wouldn’t it be better, they argue, for cosmopolitan cities and coastal Blue States to go one way, while Red America goes another way, with both jurisdictions moving closer to the culture a majority of their members prefer?
Make your inbox more interesting. Each weekday evening, get an overview of the day’s biggest news, along with fascinating ideas, images, and people. Email Address (required) Sign Up Thanks for signing up! {{#user.created}}Please check your email to confirm your subscription.{{/user.created}} {{^user.created}}Your newsletter subscription preferences have been updated.{{/user.created}} An unknown error occurred.
On college campuses, too, there are those who wish that there was less diversity of viewpoint and belief, and seek to “train” everyone in the views that they regard to be settled and enlightened. And almost all of us belong to at least one social network where our feeds are disproportionately composed of content produced by people who are a lot like us.
But for all the benefits of agreement, solidarity, and spending time with like-minded people, there is compelling evidence of a big cost: the likeminded make us more confident that we know everything and more set and extreme in our views. And that makes groups of like-minded people more prone to groupthink, more vulnerable to fallacies, and less circumspect and moderate in irreversible decisions they make.
Conversely, if we can harness the strengths of viewpoint diversity, our collectives can reach better decisions. We can, in fact, be better off together than we would be apart.
Related VideoLaw enforcement are searching for a former Camden County Sheriff’s Office deputy who stands charged on four counts related to underage sexual misconduct.
Law enforcement are searching for a former Camden County Sheriff’s Office deputy who stands charged on four counts related to underage sexual misconduct.
A warrant for the arrest of Leonard Jerome “Lenny” Wilson was issued on October 25, 2017, the same day three additional charges were added to the case. Wilson is accused of possession of child pornography, a Class D felony; fourth degree child molestation, a Class E felony; and one count each of furnishing pornographic material and second degree stalking, both Class A misdemeanors.
According to the probable cause statement, computer experts were able to forensically extract 18 images of what the Missouri State Technical Assistance investigator called child pornography, images depicting toddlers and pre-pubescent females in sexually-explicit poses and conduct, and 49 images of what is described as “child erotica.” Located on the same card, investigators found 26 images that included Wilson.
After local judges recused themselves from the case, the warrant for Wilson’s arrest awaited a judge’s signature until late in the business day Wednesday, Oct. 25. It was signed just prior to press time with a $75,000 surety bond assigned. It should be noted that Wilson has not yet been arrested and is not in police custody.
Wilson’s Facebook page had been taken down as of Tuesday evening, Oct. 24.Prior to moving to Camdenton, Wilson lived in the Waynesville area.
Wilson was employed by the sheriff’s office from Jan. 24, 2017 through July 15, 2017. He was terminated due to disciplinary reasons unrelated to these charges, according to the sheriff’s office.
The investigation is ongoing.The Jehovah's Witness movement has been on a year-long drive to recruit commuters at UK train stations, shopping centres and parks. It's a change of tactics, writes Sophie Robehmed.
Everybody is familiar with the Jehovah's Witnesses' standard modus operandi. Two polite people knock at the door and try and engage a householder in conversation.
The visit is often less than welcome and there are plenty of examples of comic sketches mocking the phenomenon.
But for the last year, the Christian-based religious movement has been trying a different method in the UK.
Volunteers are targeting train stations, as well as shopping centres and other busy places, in 14 cities across Britain and Ireland - Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield.
In London alone, the movement says it has 1,000 people giving away literature - and they get through about 6,000 brochures, 20,000 books, and 100,000 magazines every month.
The tactic was pioneered in New York three years ago and is set to expand further. At weekly congregation meetings, volunteers are encouraged to let passers-by approach rather than trying to stop them. The tactics seem the polar opposite of the doorstep approach - most of the day the volunteers stand there smiling but saying little.
At Oxford Circus, in the centre of London and the fourth busiest underground/metro station in the UK, the Jehovah's Witnesses are passed by hundreds of thousands of people every week.
Deep Singh, a coordinator for this latest street drive, who converted from Sikhism 23 years ago, stands with his arms outstretched, holding books with the title, What does the Bible really teach?, in capital letters. His wife, Ruth, meanwhile, hovers by a stand, stocked with copies of Awake!, the Jehovah's Witnesses' flagship magazine. The couple are joined by another volunteer. And the station's other entrances and exits are manned by other groups.
Even standing by the volunteers for an hour, it seems that few passers-by stop to talk.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Recruitment drive in London in 1966
The movement doesn't have figures for how many converts this part of its mission has produced. And it's emphasised that it's an addition rather than a departure from the door-to-door evangelism, but adherents are optimistic that the new tactic is making an impact.
The UK Jehovah's Witnesses say that the May issue of Awake!, with its cover line Stress - Keys to Managing It, was the most popular of the current drive.
"People were queuing up for a copy in the City [of London]," says Deep. "One woman asked if it was possible to take copies for her colleagues because she said her whole office was stressed."
The Singhs are both cutting back on their paid work away from the movement in order to be, as Deep states on his WhatsApp mobile messaging profile, "On the Lord's Work!!" from 7am-7pm. "I feel for people. Life is a mess, and we help to improve people morally, spiritually and emotionally," says Deep.
"This ministry is definitely better for secular people who like to be in control," he adds. "They can ignore us, ask questions or just pick up a book to get the answers they're looking for." Ruth, who grew up with a Jehovah's Witness mother and atheist father, agrees. "It makes sense," she says. "People are so busy and this ministry conveniently fits in with their hectic schedules."
Jehovah's Witnesses at a glance
Image copyright Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society
Founded in the US towards the end of the 19th Century, under the leadership of Charles Taze Russell. Headquarters of the movement in New York
Although Christian-based, the group believes that the traditional Christian Churches have deviated from the true teachings of the Bible, and do not work in full harmony with God
The traditional Christian Church does not regard the movement as a mainstream Christian denomination because it rejects the Christian doctrine of the Trinity
Jehovah's witnesses believe that humanity is now in the 'last days' and that the final battle between good and evil will happen soon
Find out more from BBC Religion
But Scott Terry, a former Jehovah's Witness for 14 years and author of Cowboys, Armageddon, and The Truth: How a Gay Child Was Saved from Religion, believes that a widespread apathy towards door-to-door ministry is behind this latest approach.
"Many of the Jehovah's Witnesses I know detest door-to-door work," says Terry. "Yet they are required to turn in their time cards each month to prove that they have spent the required hours preaching. I know Jehovah's Witnesses who go to great lengths to stretch those hours by including time spent in the car, travelling to the designated neighbourhoods.
"Setting up at a train station is the easy way out. It is less confrontational than knocking on people's doors, and it is an easier way to acquire the hours needed to remain in good standing in the congregation."
The movement regards the street drive as just another way of proselytising, says Mark O'Malley, a spokesperson at the Office of Public Information for Jehovah's Witnesses. And there have been many different tactics. "'Photo-Drama of Creation' was released in 1914. It combined moving pictures, sound recordings, and coloured glass slides to re-enact Biblical scenes. In the 1920s, we started to use the radio to spread the message from the Bible.
"Today, jw.org, which can be navigated in more than 300 languages, receives about one million individual hits each day."
Famous witnesses
Image copyright Getty Images
Prince (pictured) - the singer/songwriter was brought up as a Seventh Day Adventist, but became a Jehovah's Witness in 2001, shortly after the death of his parents
Venus and Serena Williams were brought up as Jehovah's Witnesses - "God and tennis are my priorities in life," said Serena in 2012
Hank Marvin is a devout Jehovah's Witness, but told one newspaper that he no longer took part in door-to-door missionary work: "Whenever I knocked on anyone's door, they thought it was Candid Camera playing a practical joke on them.
And in some senses, the current street drive is a return to previous tactics.
"There are many recorded instances of preaching in public places in the 1930s and 1940s that I am aware of but, in my opinion, the Witnesses began favouring door-to-door preaching in the 1960s," adds Terry.
"The Jehovah's Witnesses is a proselytising religion and its members believe that aggressive ministry is essential for the inauguration of Armageddon and the subsequent New Kingdom," says Dr Andrew Holden, author of Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement. "At one time, it was common for the Jehovah's Witnesses to minister and to distribute their literature in busy city centres until their evangelistic activities were curtailed, both by law and by local council policy."
The Jehovah's Witnesses, with a global membership of almost eight million people, believes that we are now living in the "end times", says Holden, but that this will only be fulfilled when the "true" word of God has been ministered to the ends of the earth.
"The street drive is, in the Jehovah's Witnesses' terms, the final push for converts before the millenarian age begins," he adds.
Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listens at left as President Barack Obama speaks during a meeting with Congressional leadership to discuss the debt, Thursday, July 7, 2011, in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. AP Photo
The White House and Republican leaders had been negotiating recently over a comprehensive deal that would have produced $4 trillion in savings, hoping to avoid any possibility of defaulting on the nation's debt ahead of an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling.
On Saturday night, House Speaker John Boehner abandoned the deal, saying a mid-size package of reforms that do not include any kind of increase in taxes on anyone is the only politically viable solution, The Washington Post reports.
The White House responded by releasing a statement decrying the move, saying that "congressional leaders...must reject the politics of least resistance and take on this critical challenge."
In a statement, Boehner said: "Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes. I believe the best approach may be to focus on producing a smaller measure, based on the cuts identified in the Biden-led negotiations, that still meets our call for spending reforms and cuts greater than the amount of any debt limit increase."
In response, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said: "We cannot ask the middle-class and seniors to bear all the burden of higher costs and budget cuts. We need a balanced approach that asks the very wealthiest and special interests to pay their fair share as well. Both parties have made real progress thus far, and to back off now will not only fail to solve our fiscal challenge, it will confirm the cynicism people have about politics in Washington."
The move by Boehner means the negotiations will likely fall back on the smaller reform package that Vice President Joe Biden and GOP leaders had been negotiating, which would amount to as much as $2.4 trillion in savings, the Post reports. That package includes only cuts to federal agency budgets and modest reforms to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicaid.
If approved by all parties, the smaller savings plan would allow for Congress to approve an extension of the federal debt ceiling into the spring of 2013, the Post reports.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had indicated the GOP would not give in on any tax adjustments on Friday, saying: "It just does not make sense for Americans to suffer under higher taxes in an economy like this. There is no way the House of Representatives will support a tax increase."
Democrats had been pushing for alternative forms of tax hikes that would close loopholes creating tax breaks for certain kinds of industries like corporate jets, as well as raising taxes on only the highest-earning Americans.
President Obama will be hosting an important meeting with political leaders on debt negotiations on Sunday.I believe in recognizing and realizing the equality of women and men. According to some, that would make me a feminist. And yet, it is important to differentiate theory from reality. In theory, feminism is about equal rights. In reality, however, a decidedly different picture emerges – a picture wherein the notion of equal rights for men is often ignored or even mocked by the modern feminist movement.
I never understood the feminist rejection of men’s rights activists. The fundamental goal of the men’s rights movement is to ameliorate discrimination against men in society, a goal surely in line with the theoretical definition of feminism. And men’s rights is not an arbitrary movement: while women are surely worse off than men in many facets of society, there are definite areas in which men are disadvantaged compared to their female counterparts.
Prominent examples abound. Take the criminal justice system, for instance: for the same crime, controlling for criminal history and other background factors, men receive sentences that are 63 percent longer than women’s, according to a 2012 University of Michigan Law School study. And while females are often portrayed as harmed by America’s education system, the data tell a different story. According to a 2008 multinational study, American girls outperform boys in reading more than boys outperform girls in math. And in some Nordic countries, girls outperform boys in reading and math. This gender gap is present in the university setting, too. While the absence of females in certain college majors is well publicized, women earn 57 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in the US overall.
Either females are intrinsically more intelligent than males, or males are being discriminated against in the education systems of these developed countries. Decades ago, the opposite was the case, and feminists placed blame on the system and cried foul on any suggestion of innate differences in intelligence. Is it so wrong for men’s rights activists to call attention to the inequalities emerging today?
And I have yet to mention a significant area of concern for many in the men’s rights movement: family policy and law. One such issue is child custody laws, which men’s rights activists accuse of favoring mothers. Another is alimony: only in 1979 did the Supreme Court declare it unconstitutional for a state to have a law that required husbands, but not wives, to pay alimony upon divorce.
Flash forward to now, and although women increasingly bear the burden of financial support in divorce cases, the vast majority of divorce cases still involve the male having to give alimony to the female. This disparity becomes a problem when we consider the fact that current divorce law is derived from centuries-old notions and customs and that, until recently, little attention has been focused on reform.
Given these and other inequalities, some bloggers have adopted use of the term “female privilege.” This term is a clear reference to the widely-acknowledged concept of “male privilege,” or the unearned advantages given to men on the basis of their sex. While I believe in male privilege, including female privilege in our discourse surrounding gender issues is necessary to complete the picture. Indeed, the two concepts are highly interrelated; one oft-cited example of male privilege is that a male can shirk his fatherly duties without being derided by society, yet the sexism behind this privilege also accounts for males being discriminated against in child custody cases.
Some feminist bloggers criticize the notion of female privilege because the female “privileges” are rooted in sexism – the fact that females are excluded from the military draft, for instance, is on account of women being deemed incapable of the demands of war. Yet if we apply the same logic to the male privilege checklist, we see that many of the “privileges” listed are rooted in sexist assumptions of men being less nurturing and warm than women.
Other feminists criticize the notion of female privilege because, as one blogger put it, the “status quo for men is one which grants them status and power in both the public and private spheres, whereas the status quo for women is one which limits their power to the much smaller, and more specific, domestic sphere.” Yet this argument takes a decidedly middle to upper class perspective. While competitiveness – one status quo trait for males – may be of benefit to an educated male climbing the career ladder, it is harmful in a context where people must compete, say, to sell drugs.
Even if we focus on the middle-class male, it is useful to examine just how much power the status quo grants him. Take the example of a married couple that has their first child. The status quo drives the female towards the domestic sphere to raise the child. Since she now works less, if at all, the husband must work more to maintain their previous financial standing. Throw in the additional financial burden of the child, and the male must work even more. The status quo thus forces him into working longer hours at a job that he may not enjoy but remains in due to its high pay. Is that power? On paper, perhaps it is. But in reality, the status quo forces males (and females, I should add) to forfeit control over their lives in order to fulfill their traditional gender roles.
What I hope to convey with this piece is that we must draw more attention to how males are harmed by the system if we are to realize a society where men and women have equal status, rights and privileges. We must critically reflect on how sexist assumptions regarding the traits and “proper roles” of males and females serve to negatively affect both sexes, albeit in different ways. We must realize the fact that the same traits that lead to a high status male in one context can lead to jail or death in another. There are many nuanced discussions to be had, and the feminists who ignore or reject interests of men are doing a disservice to their proposed cause.
What pertinent issue do you want to see Adam tackle next? Email him at adamj11@stanford.edu.Apple is rumored to be releasing three new iPhones this year, the premium 10-year anniversary iPhone 8, and the more modestly upgraded iPhone 7S and 7S Plus. One big difference between the 8 and 7S models may be the phone's body. Industry sources say that the iPhone 8 may get the new glass and steel chassis that have been rumored, while the iPhone 7S may stick to an aluminum alloy chassis, reports DigiTimes.
Imran Taylor
The iPhone 8 has been said to see big changes like curved OLED screens and an iris scanner and other "wow" features that will set the device apart. But it's also been reported that Apple will be following the usual "S" upgrade that comes every other year by releasing minor upgrades to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models.
By releasing three phones, Apple could flood the market with their iPhone devices and also upsell longtime fans to buy the iPhone 8, which is rumored to cost over $1,000 in the US (converting roughly £800 in the UK or AU$1,300 in Australia) partially thanks to its expensive OLED screen. That would put it in a position to battle Samsung's rumored (and hopefully nonexploding) Note 8, which is often comes in mid-to-late August.
Apple could release the iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus as cheaper flagship models. The chassis' build materials would be one way to differentiate the models.
The three iPhone devices are said to come in 4.7-inch, 5.5-inch, and 5.8-inch sizes, according to the report. The 5.8-inch iPhone 8 is believed to get an all-new glass and steel body design, as DigiTimes reported earlier. The 4.7-inch 7S is reported to have an aluminum alloy body, similar to what was used for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 6S. The 5.5-inch iPhone 7S Plus has yet to be confirmed by DigiTimes' sources.
Although a glass and steel body iPhone isn't as revolutionary as curved OLED screens -- the iPhone 4 was made out of glass and steel, too, remember -- it does pave the way for some more interesting features like wireless charging.
We're still far away from the usual iPhone announcement season (September), though rumors are furiously flying. Stay tuned to CNET for all the upcoming iPhone 8 rumors here.
Apple did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.
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After all, one of NATO’s major collective defense components, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), was in large parts initiated by Germany, both conceptually and practically. Under Chancellor Angela Merkel and defense minister Ursula von der Leyen (both CDU), Germany decided to provide up to eight brigades for NATO’s Response Forces, including the VJTF. In addition, the German armed forces are serving as one of four lead nations of a multinational battalion-sized battlegroup in Lithuania since January 2017.
Beyond these very concrete steps, strategically more far-reaching goals should be pursued by another Conservative-led administration in support of the transatlantic alliance. This includes gradually pursuing NATO’s goal of spending 2% of one’s GDP on defense. Additional funds are urgently needed to invest in critical capabilities such as reconnaissance, aerial refueling and helicopters – most of these capabilities, among others, are currently provided by the United States in a NATO context.
In addition, the next German administration would be well-advised to put more energy into shaping NATO’s agenda beyond the current reassurance and deterrence measures. Thus, Berlin should promote formulating a new Strategic |
. As the young lovers sink into the fiery depths, Uncle Alice stands on the shore, re-attaching his severed head as he laments cheekily, “Why do they never listen?”
“HOLO THERE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN”
The awful widow of a famed rock star conjures her dead husband’s angry ghost into a Tupac-like hologram for a 20th anniversary of his death concert – and the hologram goes about exacting revenge on those who conspired to kill him.
“THIS SPUD’S FOR YOU”
A famous animation voice actor, lamenting the legitimate acting career he gave up for easy money and cheap fame, finds himself losing his mind, and seeing visions of Spudbud, the character that made him rich. As the actor questions his sanity, Spudbud urges him, a la Son of Sam, to KILL KILL KILL!!!
“PAINT BY NUMBERS”
A superfan of rock group Detention pays to have his face replace the deceased drummer's in a portrait of the band playing poker. He soon finds himself haunted by the offended drummer's ghost and is given an ultimatum: die or kill the other three band members.
“LIGHTS, CAMERAS, BRAINS!”
A big time talent agent finds himself out of business when he accidentally impales Hollywood's biggest star on an ice sculpture. His only way back into the game is to reanimate the dead celeb. But why stop there? Soon he's representing a slew of dead clients... but what happens when the live actors who are out of work want to slay him?
“MERMAID-MAKER”
All the hot so-cal beach girls start going missing, one by one, as a mad scientist at SCRIPPS has started capturing them and bringing them back to the lab in an attempt to scientifically create mermaids by crossbreeding humans and fish.
“A LARK ”
A pretentious author on a book tour decides to stay in a known haunted hotel on a lark, perhaps to get more material for his next book. However, the many ghosts at the hotel proceed to drive him into insanity over the course of the night, culminating in him throwing himself off the 5th story bell-tower in an effort to escape the maddening ghosts.
THE CONTEST:
Every backer who pledges $10 or more will have the opportunity to submit one idea for the chance to have it turned into an issue of UNCLE ALICE. The story must be tellable in a 24-page comic book, be fun, and fit with the theme of the series. Once a pledge has been made, the concept can be submitted to submissions@unclealicepresents.com. Please make sure your submissions are in accordance with the rules.
All ideas must be submitted by the end of the campaign, at which point the creative team will pick ten finalists. From May 15th to 25th, each backer will be able to cast a single vote for their favorite of the top ten stories. The winning concept will be turned into an issue of the comic, written by Tom Sheppard, and the winner will receive a co-story credit on that issue.
ALICE COOPER:
Alice Cooper is a staple of American music, performing shock rock shows that have spawned artistically from his love of horror films and vaudeville. Since 1963 he’s been filling our ears with terror, releasing a total of 26 albums in 50 years, but we’re bringing him to you through a new media. Like fake blood spattered across a concert hall wall, Alice is ready to make his imprint on comics… and you can call him Uncle.
THE CREATOR:
Tom Sheppard is the co-creator, executive producer, director and show runner of Cartoon Network’s The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange, which he co-created with Dane Boedigheimer (aka Daneboe). Based on the YouTube phenomenon (1 BILLION VIEWS TO DATE, and 10 MILLION FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS), the show debuted #1 in its time slot and with all kids, delivering over 2.6 million viewers to Cartoon Network, and continues to deliver similar numbers each week. Tom is also working with legendary producer/director George Lucas and the creators of Robot Chicken on the upcoming Lucasfilm TV series, Star Wars: Detours.
Following his graduation from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, Tom began his career as an assistant to director Mike Nichols. He gained notoriety as a writer on Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky and the Brain, penning numerous scripts over the run of the show, and winning two Emmy Awards. He wrote the screenplay for New Line’s live-action feature, The New Adventures of Pinocchio, starring Martin Landau. He directed and starred in the multiple award-winning 35mm short, Scott’s Play, and wrote and directed the independent feature, Would I Lie to You. He’s been the show runner and/or head writer on numerous TV series, including Warner Bros’ Mucha Lucha, and Cartoon Network’s My Gym Partner’s a Monkey, for which Tom received two ANNIE Award nominations. Other recent projects include Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken, Green Lantern and Back at the Barnyard, for which Tom received a WGA nomination, and won another Emmy.
Tom was instrumental in the re-launch of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes, writing a series of 3-D theatrical shorts featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner that were released in 2010 to worldwide acclaim on over 3,000 screens a piece.
THE TEAM:
We've already got some great writers and artists lined up, all we need is your support!
Writers: Brendan Hay (Robot Chicken, The Simpsons), Tom Sheppard (The High Fructose Adventures of the Annoying Orange, Robot Chicken, Pinky and the Brain), Zeb Wells (Robot Chicken, The Amazing Spider-Man), Andrea Portes (Hick).
Artists: Dave Beauchene (The Adventures of a Comic Con Girl, Bad Kids Go to Hell), Dennis Calero (X Factor, X-Men Noir), Nate Watson (Toy Story, Grimm Fairy Tales)
THE REWARDS:
In addition to individual issues and a hardcover anthology of UNCLE ALICE, we have a variety of other notable rewards. Our goal is to bring our fans the best rewards we can for their pledges. In addition to the higher level rewards, we will also include copies of the hardcover graphic novel signed by Tom Sheppard and Alice Cooper, and advanced digital access to the comics.
Exclusive Kickstarter T-Shirt, by Greg Dubuque
A limited edition forest green Kickstarter t-shirt featuring the portrait of Uncle Alice by Greg Dubuque. This is the only time we will ever print the t-shirt in forest green for absolute Kickstarter exclusivity!
Limited Edition Uncle Alice Lithograph, Signed by Alice Cooper and Artist Greg Dubuque
One of 100 numbered lithographs of the UNCLE ALICE portrait signed by Alice Cooper and artist Greg Dubuque.
Limited Edition Uncle Alice Maquette, by the Chiodo Brothers
One of 250 limited edition cast urethane maquettes created by the legendary Chiodo Bros. (Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Team America), finished with faux bronze acrylic paint, measuring 6 1/2" high, 4" wide, and 3" across. Each maquette comes with an artist signed and numbered authenticity card.
Get Drawn into One of the Comics
You will be drawn into the background of a panel in a single issue of UNCLE ALICE! Which issue you are featured in is determined by the order your pledge is received (first backer is in issue #1, second in issue #2, all the way up to issue #12). You'll receive ten copies of whichever issues you're featured in... trust us, mom and dad will want to see!
Personalized Voicemail Answering Message from Alice Cooper
Let's face it, your voicemail answering message leaves an impression. So, why not leave one that's horribly awesome? Better yet, let Alice Cooper do it for you. Two lucky backers will receive a personalized voicemail answering message from Alice himself! This message will be no longer than 20 seconds, delivered in MP3 format.
Creative Writing Consultation
Discuss your film or television script during a 45-minute coffee break and creative consultation with The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange co-creator Tom Sheppard and Dark Matter CEO/feature film producer Todd Moyer. You will also receive written notes. Travel not included.
Original Uncle Alice Oil Painting by Greg Dubuque
The ultimate reward, you will receive the original 24" x 36" UNCLE ALICE oil painting by artist Greg Dubuque, framed and signed by the artist. Alice Cooper will sign it on the back. This iconic image will be used throughout the life of UNCLE ALICE, and the original could be yours!
Round of Golf with Alice Cooper
If you're a fan of Alice Cooper and golf, you should know he's a fan of golf, too! One very generous backer will get to play a round of golf with Alice Cooper in Phoenix, so get your clubs ready, 'cause Uncle Alice is putting it in all 18 holes!
*This reward is reserved for experienced players with a handicap of 18 or less. Beginners need not apply, unless they are willing to risk angering Uncle Alice. Travel not included.
USE OF FUNDS:
All funds will go to the creation, printing, and distribution of the twelve comic books and graphic novel, as well as reward fulfillment. That simple.
All additional funds will go towards the creation of the television show, whether than means for the trailer, the pilot, or even more episodes (depending on how much we can raise)!
STRETCH GOALS:
In addition to bringing you twelve wacky, otherworldly comic books and a graphic novel, we're ready to bring you the same stories in a live action television series. That's where our stretch goals come in! When we reach $200K we will have met our goal, and we'll be able to produce all twelve issues of the comic book series and the hardcover graphic novel! But there's more...
$250K - UNLOCK REWARD - We'll do a meet and greet with Alice Cooper at San Diego Comic Con! Tickets will become available as rewards in 10 sets of 2 tickets when we reach this goal. (If complications arise, we'll still do the meet and greet, just at a different venue.)
$300K will bring you the teaser trailer for the television series, and every backer will receive a digital download of it! It'll be based on our "I Am Not Worthy" story board animatic written by Tom Sheppard, drawn by Chris Otsuki, with voices by Tom and Daneboe. The trailer will be written and directed by Tom Sheppard, staring Alice Cooper.Smoking is back in pubs, Neil Hamilton is deputy PM and there are raids for illegal immigrants in curry houses – there is not much sophistication in this political satire
The rapid rise of Ukip is a topic rife for discussion, but the danger of the party’s relative popularity is that it changes the discourse of the other parties, not that it might actually form a government. Film-maker Chris Atkins, writer/director of the excellent Starsuckers, fuses fairytale with real news footage in Ukip: The First 100 Days (Channel 4), which imagines a near future in which Prime Minister Nigel Farage gains a slender majority at the general election. Atkins’ story is pegged on the fledgling career of the newly elected fictional MP for Romford, Deepa Kaur, played with impressive commitment by Priyanga Burford, who does her best to make Kaur a three-dimensional human, striving to do good as her party seeks to exploit those good intentions. It is a great performance – but the fictional Britain that votes for a Ukip government doesn’t convince nearly as much.
Deepa begins as an idealist who thinks her chosen party offers a better future. “We are taking everyone to a better place,” she says in a bid to convince her doubting brother of her integrity. In a convenient bit of plotting, he loses his job at the local factory when the new government pulls Britain out of the European Union and practically leads a hashtag campaign to #savesabir, a young man injured in one of the government’s heavy-handed illegal immigrant raids.
Channel 4's Ukip docudrama prompts nearly 1,000 complaints Read more
Kaur is a Sikh, born in Britain, complete with stereotypically proud parents who show off her university certificates to anyone who’ll listen. She quickly becomes Ukip’s reassuringly “brown face” as she puts it, fronting a new immigration clamp-down. Smoking is back in pubs, Neil Hamilton is deputy PM, and funding is increased for border control task forces, with ex-squaddies raiding curry house kitchens looking for stowaways. Meanwhile, the anti-Ukip factions mobilise and march on London, clashing with right-wing groups. The government papers over the cracks by announcing a new bank holiday and a revived Festival of Britain, but, as the country tips towards bedlam, the bunting droops and the scones start to look stale.
For a show about political maneuvering it’s not exactly House of Cards or The Thick of It, but Ukip: The First 100 Days nevertheless tries to depict a Machiavellian spin doctor (played by Jamie Glassman) who literally lurks in the shadows as he grooms Deepa for political stardom. Those used to more sophistication in their political satire (and it does attempt a satirical tone) might be disappointed by the rather binary nature of this tale. It just stops short of depicting a grinning Farage holding up the smoking doorknob of No 10, grinning apologetically among its ruins like a wretched Frank Spencer while chaos descends around him. Atkins points out that Farage hasn’t thought things through and that his knee-jerk, fear-based policies will result in a climate of hate and economic chaos. It’s a good point, but not exactly an original one.
Deepa’s eventual redemption comes in the form of all-out rebellion: in the final scene she performs a u-turn, ruining her chances of promotion. While her political future was left unclear, she does earn a hug from her left-wing brother, telling us she is at least, morally speaking, a high achiever. What could have been a nuanced look at a British political phenomenon, ends up not just pat, but feeling like a giant pat on the head. It won’t aid Ukip’s cause in the run up to the election, but it probably won’t make much of a dent in it either.
In another vision of Britain, Robson Green returns for a second series of his Tales from Northumberland (ITV) in which the endlessly enthusiastic actor asks us to join him in celebration of Victorians, dolphins and naked swimmers while swooping over north east England in a quite unnecessary helicopter.
This is the ITV template for popular factual series now: familiar person goes to a place, sees things through an affable layman’s filter, generally looks happy to be there, even though it’s not clear why they are. “I truly believe these creatures are put on the planet just to make your heart sing,” Green froths as a dolphin frolics off the starboard bow. Or perhaps even just to guest star in documentaries presented by well-loved actors discussing subjects far outside their area of expertise.
And in case any viewers were feeling short-changed at the endless scenes of Green yomping from beach to ancient pile in durable waterproofs, he obligingly strips off for a dip in the sea with some wild swimming enthusiasts in Druridge Bay. There goes his naked bottom, bobbing along the sand before disappearing beneath the waves like that cheeky dolphin. “This is Northumberland,” he squeaks as his undercarriage recoils, his hardy northern credentials intact.Continue Reading
Trulock contends his slice of this mushrooming subculture is merely a family hangout where First Amendment rights are exercised in the form of saucy games such as "Naked Twister."
"We don't push it on anybody. We don't recruit. We teach people who want to learn," Trulock says. "We're an honest, loving, extended family."
The City of Duncanville, however, is not feeling the love. It sees The Cherry Pit as an illegal and immoral business gobbling up unreported income and sullying the neighborhood. City fathers couldn't have been pleased that The Cherry Pit maintains a Web site that encourages others to come to Duncanville to join the fun: "We are a group of like-minded friends who enjoy living the swinging lifestyle. We party on weekends and enjoy meeting new friends."
In September 2007, acting on a traffic-related complaint from a neighbor, the Duncanville police visited the house but did not arrest Trulock. Instead the city posted "No Parking'' signs in front of his home. On November 6, 2007, the Duncanville City Council enacted an ordinance making it illegal to operate a "sex club" in a residential area. A month later, Trulock received the first of five citations, each alleging three distinct charges: operating an illegal sex club, operating a sexually oriented business without a license and operating a business in a residentially zoned area. All 15 offenses were low-grade Class C misdemeanors, punishable only by fines.
Trulock's lawyers, Ed Klein and Garry Cantrell, wasted no time in attacking the constitutionality of Duncanville's new sex club ordinance, filing a civil rights case in state court alleging that the new law infringed on the free association rights of their client. "These are people who get together because they want to be with each other," Klein says. "It's not a business, there is no president or stockholders—it doesn't even have registered members."
In May 2008, the city of Duncanville again voiced its disgust with The Cherry Pit. It amended its sex club ordinance, says Klein, in what appeared to be an attempt to cure its constitutional shortcomings.
And things were just beginning to heat up.
Two Duncanville police raids, on July 19 and July 22, led to one arrest as well as the at-gunpoint confiscation of a variety of items inside the house. Based on an informant's tip, police executed search warrants, seizing thousands of dollars in "Fun Money'' (vouchers used like arcade tokens), $815 in real money, volumes of porn and "Cherry Pit business cards.'' (If it has business cards, isn't it a business?) Authorities also seized partygoers' cell phones, one man's Viagra pills and a bag of donation forms. (If the forms say "donation," isn't that what's being solicited?)
During the July 19 search, the Duncanville police allegedly found an assortment of tools of the sex trade: A stripper pole. A bondage room. Unclean mattresses on the floor. Porn. A dance floor. Panties hanging from the ceiling. A hot tub with an unsavory broth.
Police returned the second time to seize alcohol they had found the first time but failed to specify in their earlier warrant—582 bottles of liquor. In the first raid, Norris claims, she received a bruise to her forehead when she attempted to answer the door as the police broke it down with a battering ram.
"We tried to play nice,'' says Duncanville City Manager Kent Cagle, noting that over the last few years, Trulock was visited by the police chief, the fire chief and a city building official. "They spoke to him, [but] he came back with a new, even more defiant attitude.''
Cagle is leading the charge against The Cherry Pit and rattles off his city's well-publicized list of potential allegations against Trulock: Organized criminal activity, prostitution, narcotics trafficking, money laundering. He mentions that a home with a septic system is not equipped to handle a houseful of 100 people and that guests "walk around drunk'' in the front yard.
"It's 95 percent a legal issue,'' he maintains. "If your neighbor was raising pigs in a slaughterhouse next door, or running an auto-repair shop with junkers in the yard next door, they would be in violation. That's what's happening here, and when they claim they are not a business, they are not being honest.''
Each side accuses the other of engaging in pretense: the City of Duncanville in claiming this is not about sex but about zoning; The Cherry Pit in claiming theirs is not a business but a private dwelling where invited guests congregate.
Says Trulock, "This is no different from people getting together to watch the Super Bowl. Or people parking on a street in a neighborhood so they can attend a concert at a school.''
In a more candid moment, Cagle cuts through the legalese and gets to the heart of Duncanville's problem with The Cherry Pit: "It's just gross.''
Both sides agree that this tug-of-war might have been avoided if the issue hadn't become a public one. In September 2007, two local TV stations began reporting on the conflict, but the story entered a higher media orbit when Fox's Bill O'Reilly aired his January 16, 2008, "exposé" of The Cherry Pit. To some, the tale seemed a revelation. In her July 25 Dallas Morning News column, Jacquielynn Floyd wrote that she was surprised to learn that a "swing club'' can be something more than a venue to listen to big-band music.
Truth is, the lifestyle has roots much deeper than Duncanville, reaching back to the hedonism of ancient Rome. More modern times saw World War II pilots who, while stateside, cared for and bedded the wives of those flyboys who were in combat. While many of those outside the lifestyle view it as immoral, harmful or downright bizarre (the 1997 film The Ice Storm certainly painted it that way), 1969's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice gave swinging a funny and satirical twist.
Adds Trulock, "It's going on everywhere. In every big city and every little town. People from all walks of life. People come here on Saturday night and then go to church on Sunday."
The Dallas Observer interviewed a dozen locals who agreed to speak frankly but anonymously about "swinging'' in the metroplex. Many of them view The Cherry Pit as being on the low end of a subculture in Dallas that includes thousands of people who embrace the lifestyle and its unique rules, values and mores.
They describe their avocation as something akin to what's portrayed on the freshly minted CBS show Swingtown. The hit drama reflects on a stylish 1970s America in which cul-de-sac couples dropped their keys in a fishbowl before dropping their bellbottoms. Locals make the case that Dallas, a reputed bastion of conservatism and the shiny buckle on the Bible Belt, has its own Swingtown.
"The schoolteachers are by far the freakiest,'' says Jerold Morgan (not his real name). "Teachers, lawyers, business owners—one guy is a district attorney. Another's a judge. A minister—oh, and cops. Lots of cops. We used to know a mother and daughter who came out together. Very attractive women. And, honey, remember Doc and his son? Doc was a Dallas doctor with a bad toupee. And his son was an Air Force pilot. They were like tag-team partners.''
Responds his wife Janet, "Yeah, that was a little over the top.''
The Dallas couple counts themselves as part of a lifestyle whose numbers are difficult to gauge. The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, renowned for its research in human sexuality, maintains 4 million Americans participate in the lifestyle, but if Web traffic is any indication, that number seems understated. AdultFriendFinder.com, the largest sex-and-swinger site (meaning it's not just swinger-specific), boasts a membership of 22,914,156, making it the 42nd most popular Web site in the world, according to Alexa.com, an Internet traffic watcher. Of its registered members, 1,076,158 are Texans. In Dallas, Jerold and Janet are "VIP members" at IniQuity, which bills itself as a "couples club," whose rules for its more than 23,000 members state, "Playful behavior is welcome.''
While the exact number of swingers may be difficult to discern, its definition is not:"Couples engaged in non-monogamous, consensual, sexually related activities," says marriage and family therapist Kim Hatley, the co-founder of the Coppell Counseling Center and past president of the Texas Mental Health Counselors Association. "It is abnormal in the social sense, maybe, but it has never been abnormal in the clinical sense. There is reason, in my position, to be an advocate of whatever helps a couple be happy and stay together.''
The Morgans live in Lewisville, have a 17-year-old daughter, and operate a successful construction business. Jerold is 41, muscular and fit, with stylishly spiked blond hair. Janet is 39, slim, pretty and a bit shy. The Morgans look 10 years younger than their ages. They've been together for 21 years, married for 19, and they say they are very much in love but deeply involved in the lifestyle.
They are close friends with Thomas and Tammy of Plano. Thomas works in PR, is a long-distance runner and wears a tiny earring. Tammy is a busty brunette with a successful career in the catering business.
Both couples stress that the bulk of their lives is as interesting, mundane and challenging as anyone else's. It's the other sliver of their time, when they participate in swinging that makes them something of a curiosity.
Or an abomination.
"It's not about sex,'' says Jerold, drawing a perplexed stare from his wife.
"I don't know what you're even talking about!'' she says.
He explains that for him, the lifestyle is an opportunity to avoid monogamy without cheating, to meet friends who are not judgmental and to see the satisfaction in his wife's eyes when she is pleased. "If she meets Brad Pitt and wants to sleep with him, great. My love for her, and my security in us, means that everything—even every sex act—doesn't have to be about me.''
Meanwhile, his encounters ultimately lead him once again to a realization:
"Nobody fucks me as good as my wife.''
To which Janet says, wryly: "Right. And that means it's about sex.''
The Morgans "go out'' once a week, to a club or private house party. But they agree that 95 percent of the time, their activity is limited to socializing, flirting and possibly what is called "soft-swapping'' (kissing, touching, possibly some oral contact). As committed to swinging as they are, they say that they have had sexual intercourse with someone else just once in the last year.
Both couples say they discovered the lifestyle by accident. Thomas and Tammy were on vacation in Mexico on a pub crawl when an attractive young woman complimented Tammy on her breasts and goofily asked her to lift up her top. Thomas playfully encouraged her to do so, and moments later, to the couple's surprise, the young woman plunged her face into Tammy's cleavage.
Tammy recalls thinking, "That was weird but fun. We should do something like that again."
The Morgans tell a similar story. Driving around lost in Dallas eight years ago, they pulled into the parking lot of a bar and asked the doorman about his establishment.
"Well,'' he said, "it's very different.''
The bar was a swingers club, Sans Souci (French for "without a care''). The Morgans recognized that the large number of women dancing with one another, the absence of men hitting on Janet, and the occasional female patron strolling around wearing nothing but panties was indicative of something....different.
"What we found,'' Jerold says, "were people—nice people, attractive people, normal people—who didn't care what sort of car I drove or what sort of watch I wore or what brand of shoes she wore. Normally in Dallas, it's all about status...meat-market stuff," he says. "We discovered a place where you cut through all that bullshit and get straight to the fun part.''
These couples say that one of the "fun parts'' is the death of infidelity. Thomas, 43, says he cheated on "every girlfriend I ever had'' before he and his new wife eased into swinging three years ago. "And if not for this, I'm sure I'd be cheating on Tammy now too.''
Tammy says her previous marriage was "weighed down by jealousy, distrust and, eventually, divorce. There's no cheating here [in the lifestyle], because it's not cheating if we both know about it, if we do it together, if we do it in control and as a choice. And you know, that's the biggest reason it's OK: Because it's our choice. Freedom of choice. That's in the Constitution, right?''
Among the swingers interviewed, there is concern about the stigma attached to their lifestyle decisions. But they are not at all ashamed of the decision itself or by their motivations. Also, there is a good deal of skepticism about monogamy, perhaps as a defense to the familiar barrage of questions they field from those who are not part of the lifestyle: Is it just about sex? What if your husband falls in love with somebody else's wife? Aren't you worried about diseases? About going to hell? And perhaps most troubling for swingers, "What, if anything, do you tell your children?''
Says Janet: "I would not want to have to tell my daughter, so I am very protective of it. Now, a couple of years ago, I was in the 'Women of IniQuity' calendar, and one of our employees happened to see the calendar. That created some gossip. So now, no more photos.''
Thomas says, "People drink too much. Do they tell their kids? Dad goes on a hunting vacation and shoots Bambi. Does he show his daughter Bambi's bloody head? When it comes to sensitive stuff, personal stuff, I take the same caution with my kid that you do with yours.''
Therapist Hatley says, "Children are not equipped to handle the intimate details of their parents' lives, no matter the nature of those details... Children want to see their parents be affectionate to each other. Anything more than that could be damaging.''
Such solid reasoning, however, provides little comfort to neighborhood parents who would prefer not having to explain to their innocents the tangled relationships between the people who party next door.
Swinging is also not without its risks for some adults. Mimi, who is 45 and lives in Coppell, says she understands the potential damage. The divorced mother of two had a boyfriend of five years who claimed that his busy work schedule had him based part-time in St. Louis and part-time in Dallas. Mimi recently discovered, however, that what her boyfriend had in St. Louis was a wife and two kids. When she confronted him, he attempted to calm her with what he said was the "appeal'' of having multiple relationships and even multiple families.
"He told me he is a swinger, as if suddenly that gave him a license to do what swinging really is, which is cheating on the original promise a couple makes to each other,'' she says. "When I'm ready to settle down with one man, I do that and I'm monogamous. These people want to do both. All that means is that something very critical was missing in our relationship or in his makeup. Everything he said is a lie, a self-indulgent lie, and eventually, I think for swingers, someone is going to get hurt. In this case, it was me.''
The Morgans say they are aware of these risks, which is one reason why they shun a weekly house party that is staged at a 7,500-square-foot mansion near Lake Lewisville. In fact, they know about dozens of homes all over the metroplex that regularly schedule private weekend swingers parties. For the couple, some of these house parties are too "intense.'' Jerold says attendees often stress a "hardcore focus'' on sexual encounters. He much prefers the atmosphere of the extensive couples-only club circuit in Dallas where he and Janet are allowed to participate as much or as little as they choose.
Customers quickly glean that IniQuity offers them something out of the ordinary when they walk inside the front door, where they are greeted by two comely women. One is dressed in business attire. The other is not dressed at all, except for the body paint that's been used to decorate her frame with Eden-like leaves and flowers.
IniQuity, located just east of Interstate 35 and sandwiched between Old San Francisco Steakhouse and the Cabaret Royale topless bar, is a "couples club"—which is essentially code for "swingers club.'' IniQuity promotes itself as a "members-only lifestyle club for couples and single women. Membership is not available to single men."
Of the 19 or so nightclubs in the metroplex that cater to the couples crowd, at least six are considered upscale, and of these, IniQuity is arguably the crown jewel. The interior is heavy on faux-Roman décor, features dark and rich colors, and is immersed in black lighting. Adorning the walls are silver and gold mannequin torsos, some with vaginas that are cartoonishly oversized.
Regulars at IniQuity follow the dress code rules posted on the club's Web site. Men are instructed to "be dashing,'' which they will not have the opportunity to do unless accompanied by a female. Women, who come to IniQuity with dates or in groups of other females, are encouraged to "dress as wildly sexy or as tastefully elegant as you wish.''
"We are years ahead of our time,'' says Rick Reid, 45, one of the owners of IniQuity. On this Saturday night IniQuity is overflowing with pretty, polished, early 30s couples who might just as well be hanging poolside at Hotel ZaZa or courtside at a Dallas Mavericks game.
Says Reid, "I don't want to embarrass Dallas. I don't want to be a black eye on Dallas. I want to protect Dallas. And I want to clean up the reputation of the lifestyle.''
Dallas, in turn, has been good to IniQuity where couples pay as much as $7,500 in annual membership dues, and the club's four partners, according to Reid, split a net of $20,000 to $30,000 a month. The owners have expanded their concept with new IniQuitys in Houston and Oklahoma City, and have plans to expand to Las Vegas, Chicago and Fort Lauderdale.
Civility is on display at IniQuity. There are no drunken bar brawls (IniQuity is bring your own bottle); no wolf packs of drooling males. There are far more women than men, and the only competition among them is for the honor of wearing the least fabric. The setting is provocative and private, though there was a sighting of Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez that was publicized in the Dallas Observer's blog, Unfair Park, in May 2007.
Kelly is a steel-blue-eyed blonde who met her fiancé Scott at IniQuity but remains a weekly visitor. "When we meet a couple, we both meet them, and we get to know them, all four of us,'' she says. "We become friends. It's not, 'OK, nice to meet you, let's go fuck.' We go to dinner, we go to the movies. Sex is part of it, but for us, and I think for most people, one of the rules is that it's supposed to be for fun and friendship.''
Owner Reid insists that IniQuity is "mostly just a regular nightclub for people to meet.'' While it might be a social club, where a hundred people laugh, dance and flirt in the main downstairs bar, Reid also concedes "the place reeks of sex.''
And indeed upstairs in the VIP rooms, decadence rules. But "actual sexual activity while at IniQuity" is unwelcome, and "no illegal activity will be tolerated," at least according to the official "rules" detailed on its Web site, which recommends "...a nice hotel right next door."
And yet on this Saturday night, an all-nude girl-on-girl sexual encounter unfolds. Reid says that recently, a police complaint was registered when a male VIP was caught receiving oral sex upstairs. The publicity was embarrassing for the gentleman, Reid says, largely because the customer is a government official with NASA clearance.
More private: The upstairs $250-a-night sleepover rooms, which are full of gadgets, mirrors, drinking glasses and Kleenex. (No condoms—that would be promoting intercourse, cautions Reid.) The "Swing Room'' features a $500 mechanical swing that dangles from the ceiling. The "Pole Room'' features, well, a pole.
"It actually needs to be there,'' Reid says. "In addition to whatever else, it's a building support.''
Couples such as the Morgans prefer the privacy and exclusivity of IniQuity to places such as The Cherry Pit, which they feel has damaged the reputation of the lifestyle and brought scorn on those who swing.
Says Thomas, "Those sorts of places, at least by reputation, cause [non-swinging] people to get scared, to put labels on things. And when people are ignorant about something, it helps them to be able to dismiss it. It makes them feel better about themselves and better about their conventional relationships, which, the last time I checked, wasn't exactly the be-all, end-all answer to happiness.''
While sitting at an oversized kitchen island in his Duncanville home, Jim Trulock is something less than telegenic. His appearance makes it easy to be drawn away from his conviction about The Cherry Pit ("Sounds strange, but he is a very principled human being,'' says attorney Klein) and toward the fact that he is a mess. His gray crew-cut is splotchy, as if he barbered it himself. The large bandage covering the gash on his forehead looks as if he doctored it himself. His grin reveals that he has more fun than teeth.
Trulock has never before granted a full interview and has never before permitted media into The Cherry Pit, where a room-by-room tour reveals that it is weathered and without frills—overall more dilapidated than disturbing.
He proudly announces that his home "has five levels''—true, if you count the sunken living room and the upstairs loft. He admits to being a "pack rat''—"You can't even walk through my garage,'' he says, "because both my parents died a few years ago, and all their stuff is out there, and I still haven't gone through it.'' The house, built in 1979, seems to have gone 29 years without an upgrade of paint, fixtures or flooring.
There is a bedroom (nondescript but for a series of adjoining |
to the shooter's shoulder. Gas-operated semi-automatic actions reduce apparent recoil by spreading it over a longer period of time. These sorts of things cannot be accounted for in a recoil table. Also, please understand that there are dozens of loads for any given bullet weight in any cartridge that will produce the same velocity, but a different amount of recoil. So the figures in any recoil table should be taken as approximate. Never-the-less, the table below should give a reasonably accurate comparison of the recoil of most popular rifle cartridges. It is worth remembering that the majority of authorities agree that recoil of over twenty foot pounds will cause most shooters to develop a serous flinch, which is ruinous to bullet placement (the prime component of killing power). Fifteen foot pounds is probably about the maximum recoil energy most shooters feel reasonably comfortable with, particularly at the shooting range, where most serious marksmanship practice occurs. While recoil energy determines how hard the blow to the shoulder feels, recoil velocity determines how abrupt the blow to the shoulder feels. My subjective impression is that, with a well designed stock, recoil velocity above about 10 fps begins to feel like a sharp rap on the shoulder rather than an abrupt push. In 1909, the British Textbook of Small Arms stated that 15 ft. lbs. of free recoil energy was the maximum allowable for a military service rifle. (The standard British.303 Lee-Enfield infantry rifle was below that figure, as are most service rifles to this day. This should tell you something.) The 1929 edition of the same textbook stated, in addition, that recoil velocity should not exceed 15 fps; above that velocity a gun-headache was very likely to occur. These figures remain practical maximums for the modern hunter. Above this level recoil becomes increasingly intrusive. In addition, the effects of recoil are cumulative. The longer you shoot, and the harder the rifle kicks, the more likely you are to flinch. These are good things to remember when comparing rifle cartridges. In the table below rifle weight is given in pounds, free recoil energy is given in foot pounds, and free recoil velocity is given in feet-per-second. All recoil values have been rounded off to one decimal place. The recoil energy and recoil velocity figures are taken from various sources including the recoil nomograph in the Handloader's Digest 8th Edition, various online recoil calculators, the Remington Shoot! program or calculated from the formula given in the Lyman Reloading Handbook, 43rd Edition. Note:For an expanded version of this table showing more calibers and many more loads, including British, European, wildcat, obsolescent American and proprietary calibers, see the Expanded Rifle Recoil Table.Good dogs!
Therapy dogs that comforted the suffering in Newtown were on their way to do the same in Boston Tuesday night.
A handful of golden retrievers and their handlers dispatched by Lutheran Church Charities near Chicago are scheduled to visit hospitals, schools and anywhere else the four-legged pals can help, Pastor Ingo Dutzmann of Boston's First Lutheran Church told The Huffington Post on Tuesday.
First Lutheran Church, located just four blocks from the marathon finish where two bombs killed at least three and injured scores on Monday, is hosting the animals and will shuttle them to the sites.
"Animals have an uncanny ability … to discern that you and I have sadness and distress," Dutzmann said. "Rather than shying away from it, they're attracted to it. They will literally go in a classroom of children and literally find the child most afraid of something."
The dogs from the Lutheran Church Charities' K-9 Comfort Ministry will also participate in services at the church, the pastor added.
Two of the pooches, Addy and Maggie, were arriving directly from Newtown, Conn., site of the Sandy Hook shooting in December. Luther, Ruthie and Isiah were accompanied from Chicago by Tim Hetzner, the president of Lutheran Church Charities.
All five dogs had worked in Newtown to aid the grieving and frightened, Hetzner confirmed. They even had attended President Barack Obama’s speech at an interfaith memorial.NZ's One Stop Online Vape Shop
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*NZ Rural delivery is free for orders over $75, or charged at a flat rate of $5.90 for smaller orders.Tennyson is lucky. While most.NET developers are limited to the.NET Framework (and the thousands of available third-party libraries) to solve their software development problems, Tennyson's toolbox touts the Global Services Enterprise Systems Framework. Well, technically, the GSESF is the only library allowed, but then again, it's the only library one should ever need.
"Third-party libraries introduce unnecessary risk into projects," the Global Services Enterprise Systems Lead Architect – or, The Architect, as he preferred to be called – would often say. "If the library is closed sourced, then we will be unable to fix bugs. If it is open-sourced, then we will not only have another codebase to maintain, but it will introduce certain legal risks."
The logic didn't make a whole lot of sense to Tennyson, or any of the other developers, but if there was one thing that management liked, it was doing things that didn't introduce risk. And thus, The Architect's GSESF-only policy became the rule of the land.
One of the nice things about having a proprietary enterprise framework is that there's generally a team that maintains the framework. In Tennyson's case, that team consisted entirely of The Architect, and to his credit, he would always promptly address any bugs or features in the Global Services Enterprise Systems Framework.
"We've been noticing some inconsistent behavior with the Money class," Tennyson explained in a bug report, "the class's Equals() method is overridden, but the == operator is not."
Within a few seconds, The Architect promptly addressed the bug report. He closed it and added a two word comment: "by design."
Tennyson had gotten used to the game, and he reopened the bug report and resubmitted is as a "design change request."
Moments later, the design change request was denied, this time with a longer comment. "The Money class may be used by other applications, which may be relying on the different behavior of == and Equals(). Changing it now would introduce unnecessary risk."
Normally, Tennyson would walk away from any fight once The Architect pulled out the "unnecessary risk" card, but he was sure that no other application was using the Money class, since he was the one who requested it in the first place. Instead of battling over the issue tracking system, he fired off an email.
I didn't want to keep going back-and-forth over issue tracking, but the Money class is brand-new in GSESF v10.8, so no other group is using it. The problem that we're having is that the Money class is effectively used as a value type, so developers will naturally want to use the == operator to compare it. I'm concerned that bugs will slip in here and there overtime. According to Microsoft's own standards and practices, because Money objects are immutable and represent the same data, they should overload the == operator. In the off chance that someone really wanted to test for reference equality, they could always use object.ReferenceEquals.
The Architect promptly responded with a single paragraph.
"Standards and Practices" are simply conglomerations of tribal knowledge found to be useful in the majority of cases. Like school, they are a good base to use as a jumping-off point but they often don't live up to the requirements outside of their least common denominator domains.
Tennyson decided not to fight it. The Architect did have a point: he was smarter than the industry experts and what they're saying doesn't apply to him. And that's why Tennyson is so lucky: it's not too often you get to work with someone like that.On the heels of Art Basel Hong Kong, comes a large-scale show of street art titled “Work In Progress“.
The three-week exhibition will take place in mid-June and will feature international artists including Beastman, Cyrcle (David Emanuel Torres and David Morgen Leavitt,) Meggs, RONE, VHILS, Victor Ash, Martin Mazorra and Mike Houston.
The show, which is being staged by Swire Properties, and curated by Hong Kong’s Above Second Gallery, will also include workshops and other events.
The exhibition is located in TaiKoo Place and will integrate building exteriors and interiors, in addition to canvases.
For a quick rundown of the artists, Beastman paints characters made up of elaborate plumes of colors. RONE integrates women’s portraits into his work. Victor Ash and VHILS both create large-scale, building-sized portraits. The most recent show by CYRCLE featured interactive, remixable art. MEGGS, has action and stylized movement in his work, and has been in H.K. before for shows at Above Second Gallery. The two artists from Brooklyn’s Cannonball Press (Mike Houston and Martin Mazorra,) are well established print-making specialists.
The artists come from around the world including the U.S., Australia, Portugal, France, England, and Denmark. The show will also incorporate Hong Kong-based street artists such as Xeme, Mark Goss, 4Get, Pantone C, and Parent’s Parents.
Recommended!
Work In Progress – Street Art Exhibition
June 17th, to July 7th, 2013
13th Floor, Somerset House
TaiKoo Place, Island East, Hong Kong
10 am to 7 pm, Daily (no admission after 6:30 pm)
Free admissionA few weeks ago, the New York Times engaged in a Maoist struggle session with its own retrograde elements over its use of the adjective “burly” to describe various burly black men. Now it’s “angry black woman.”
An Article on Shonda Rhimes Rightly Causes a Furor By MARGARET SULLIVAN SEPTEMBER 22, 2014 10:10 AM
The article on the television producer Shonda Rhimes hadn’t yet appeared in Sunday’s paper, but the virtual world was ablaze in protest over it on Friday after it was published online.
Written by the longtime TV critic Alessandra Stanley, its first paragraph – with a reference to Ms. Rhimes as an “Angry Black Woman” – struck many readers as completely off-base. Many called it offensive. Some went further, saying it was racist.
Another reference to the actress Viola Davis as “less classically beautiful” than lighter-skinned African American actresses immediately inspired a mocking hashtag. (Ms. Stanley’s article was pegged to a show, starring Ms. Davis, that will debut this week on ABC, “How to Get Away with Murder.”)
One email from Patricia Washington, a longtime Times subscriber, addressed Dean Baquet, the executive editor, with a copy sent to me. She wrote:
I am deeply offended by the story written by Alessandra Stanley about Shonda Rhimes being an angry black woman. At first, I tried to give Ms. Stanley the benefit of the doubt and thought that she was attempting to be irreverent. Then I realized that she was being racist, ignorant, and arrogant. It is interesting that I have never seen any of Ms. Stanley’s stories refer to any white producers of TV or film programs in racist, stereotypical terms. As awful as the story is, she got her facts wrong because Shonda Rhimes is not the executive producer of the new show, “How To Get Away With Murder.”
I am a black woman and a lawyer. I have worked very hard to achieve in my profession and earn respect. I live in a very nice suburban community in Maryland. And yet, none of that makes one bit of difference because a New York Times writer can make whatever offhanded, racist opinions about a successful TV producer who is a black woman she cares to make, and because she has the protection of The New York Times behind her, can publish it. Because Ms. Stanley is a New York Times writer, her story has reached a national audience. Why is Ms. Stanley allowed to characterize Ms. Rhimes as she did and get away it? Why is she allowed to characterize Viola Davis as she did in her story and get away with it?
Ms. Stanley’s story was a backhand to me and it hurts. For the first time, I am considering cancelling my New York Times subscription because this story is much more than disagreeing with the writer’s opinion. This story denigrated every black woman in America, beginning with Shonda Rhimes, that dares to strive to make a respectable life for herself. No matter what we do, as far as Ms. Stanley is concerned, we will always be angry and have potent libidos as we have been perceived from slavery, to Jim Crow, and sadly in September 2014, the 21st century.
Please remove Ms. Stanley from the New York Times. None of us who read your paper should ever be subjected to this.ANKARA – In an unexpected development, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has directly accused United States of bolstering militant groups including ISIS. Speaking at a gathering on Tuesday, Erdogan not only accused the US of backing the violent groups but went
ANKARA – In an unexpected development, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has directly accused United States of bolstering militant groups including ISIS.
Speaking at a gathering on Tuesday, Erdogan not only accused the US of backing the violent groups but went on to claim that he had got pictorial evidence of its support to armed groups disrupting world peace.
“They were accusing us of supporting Daesh (ISIS). Now they give support to terrorist groups including Daesh, YPG, PYD. It’s very clear،” he said.
“We have confirmed evidence, with pictures, photos and videos,” Erdogan added.
Mr Erdogan also said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia and Qatar should join its meeting with Russia and Iran to discuss Syrian peace efforts.
The Obama administration has responded to the allegations hurled by Erdogan.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Erdogan’s claims were “ludicrous” adding that there was “no basis for truth” in Erdogan’s statement.
“Washington is 100 percent behind the defeat and destruction of Daesh, even beyond Syria and Iraq,” Toner said.
The State Department also lauded Ankara’s efforts in northern Syria, saying that they have been “very efficient and successful.”
“The US is in constant contact with Turkey,” Toner added.
Although the security and political observers have been raising voice regarding US support to ISIS and militant groups but Erdogan’s categorical statement has raised the eyebrows of the international community that dubbed US as a saviour of world peace.Iran Frees Political Prisoners
Enlarge this image toggle caption Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images
Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was among several political prisoners released by Tehran on Wednesday, just days ahead of a visit by Iran's newly elected moderate president to the United Nations in New York.
Sotoudeh, who had been held since 2010, was one of eight women and three men released, according to the BBC. Reformist politician Mohsen Aminzadeh was also among the prisoners freed.
"I am free from prison today, and I am glad, but I am worried for my friends in prison," Sotoudeh told CNN by telephone from Tehran, adding that she was "free forever," not on temporary release, and planned to resume her legal career.
In January, Sotoudeh, 50, was temporarily released, but apparently detained again later. She first ran into trouble with Iranian authorities for defending political activists and journalists, and "highlighting the execution of juveniles in her country," The Guardian reports.
Sotoudeh had gone on hunger strikes in 2010 and 2012 to protest the conditions of her detention.
Aminzadeh served under President Mohammad Khatami as deputy foreign minister from 1997-2005. Later, he headed the opposition coalition and was arrested amid protests in 2009 over alleged vote rigging by then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In July, Aminzadeh, who suffers from heart disease, was hospitalized.
Reuters says that former Deputy Minister of Commerce Feizollah Arabsorkhi was also released.
The news agency said the number of prisoners released on Wednesday was not immediately clear, but the BBC put the number at 11.I haven't read George F. Will in a long time, but I perused his December 13 column after Paul Mirengoff singled it out on the Powerline blog in a piece headlined “Worst Column of the Year?”
What got Mirengoff going was Will's pronouncement that Donald Trump is the worst president in the history of the Republic. Why? Because Trump endorsed a “credibly accused child molester,” Roy Moore, for Senate. As Mirengoff quite rightly pointed out, whatever you may think of the admittedly execrable Roy Moore, the idea of judging a presidency by a single senatorial endorsement is absurd. (Also, as Mirengoff further noted, if endorsing a “credibly accused child molester” makes you the worst president ever, where does that leave Bill Clinton, cigar aficionado, or John F. Kennedy, who sneaked innumerable starlets, prostitutes, and at least one Mafia mistress into the White House?)
As it turned out, what got to me about Will's column was not his silliness about the Moore endorsement. No, what I found myself focusing in on was Will's reference to President Trump's re-tweeting, on November 29, of “a video of a Muslim immigrant in the Netherlands beating a young man holding crutches.” Why did Will object to the re-tweet? Because, as he observed triumphantly, it turned out that the person doing the beating wasn't an immigrant but “was born and raised in the Netherlands.” You see, after President Trump re-tweeted the video, Dutch authorities, purporting to correct him, were quick to identify the perpetrator as “a Dutch national.”
Fine. So, as it happens, was Mohammed Bouyeri, the savage who butchered Theo van Gogh on an Amsterdam street in 2004. The note Bouyeri stuck to van Gogh's body with a knife quoted extensively from the Koran and also read in part: “Islam will conquer by the blood of the martyrs. It will spread its light to every corner of this Earth and it will, if necessary, drive evil to its dark hole by the sword.” At his trial, Bouyeri made a point of telling van Gogh's mother that he had no sympathy for her, as she was nothing but an infidel.
Whether Bouyeri was born in the Netherlands or brought to the country by his Moroccan parents made no difference. What made the difference was his religion: Islam. Will is smart enough to know this. But he's also a leading member of the polite-conservative brigade, the tea-cozy crowd, which finds anything remotely approaching a forthright discussion of the Islamization of the West downright vulgar.
(I've searched all of Will's columns for the last year -- which saw, among many other terrorist events, the May bombing outside the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, the London Bridge episode in June, the August van attack in Barcelona, and the Halloween truck incident in New York City -- but none of those columns is chiefly or even largely devoted to Islam or jihad. Yes, in June of last year, he wrote a column, “In Britain, Anti-Semitism Endures,” in which he mentioned a couple of Jew-hating Muslim leaders, but he seemed exceedingly careful not to come off as pointing a finger at Islam.)WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump wants to build that wall, and then he wants to dig a pipeline right under it. Trump said in a speech at the Department of Energy that his administration has approved construction of a new oil pipeline to Mexico. The announcement Thursday came as part of a broader unveiling of White House plans to expand oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans to push for U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
During a speech at the Department of Energy in Washington on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved construction of a new oil pipeline to Mexico. ( Susan Walsh / The Associated Press )
“That’ll go right under the wall,” Trump said to laughter at one point, making a hand motion to mime the pipeline’s path under the barrier. “Have it go down a little deeper in that one section, you know. A little, like this,” he said. “Right under the wall.” The Department of the Interior is rewriting a five-year drilling plan established by the Obama administration, with an eye toward opening areas in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans that now are off limits to drilling. It’s one of six initiatives the president unveiled Thursday in hopes of generating more energy exports and jobs.
Article Continued Below
“The golden era of American energy is now underway,” Trump said in the speech. “And I’ll go a step further: The golden era of America is now underway, believe me. And you’re all going to be a part of it in creating this exciting new future.” U.S. oil production has boomed in recent years, and exports of oil and natural gas are surging, primarily because of improved drilling techniques such as fracking that have opened up production in previously out-of-reach areas. Trump has pledged to ramp up production further, withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement because of the limitations that it could have placed on the burning of fossil fuels. While Trump has promised that the initiative will create millions of jobs, the energy sector employs fewer workers than it did a decade ago despite the recent boom. The Department of Labor said there are 655,300 jobs in mining coal and extracting oil and natural gas, down from a peak of 1.18 million jobs in 1981. As the administration celebrated a self-proclaimed “energy week,” Trump said more steps are needed to “unleash” domestic reserves and remove government regulations that could prevent the U.S. from achieving global dominance in energy. Trump and other officials say they are confident the country can pave the path toward energy dominance by exporting oil, gas and coal to markets around the world, and promoting nuclear energy and even renewables such as wind and solar power.
The president also said Sempra Energy signed an agreement to negotiate the sale of natural gas to South Korea and that the Department of energy is approving two applications to export natural gas from a Louisiana terminal. His administration will also perform a complete review of nuclear energy policy and seek to address barriers to financing coal plants overseas, as well as expanding offshore drilling. Trump signed an executive order in April to expand oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, reversing restrictions imposed by president Barack Obama. Trump has also pushed to revive U.S. coal production after years of decline. Coal mining rose by 19 per cent in the first five months of the year as the price of natural gas edged up, according to Energy Department data. A report released in January by the Energy Information Administration said the country is on track to become a net energy exporter by 2026, although the White House said Tuesday that net exports could top imports as soon as 2020.
Read more about:Posted in: iOS, Mobile phones, Mobile software
This isn’t a joke! Apple has approved the Vizzywig 4K app for iPhone 5s, which enables 4K video recording with 24 fps on the 2013 smartphone. It costs $999.99 (€899.99) and works only on iPhone 5s with 32GB or 64GB storage.
The app captures 24 burst images per second in 4K resolution and then stitches them together in just 1s footage. This means you’ll lose about 72MB for each second of your video. This explains the requirement for the 32GB+ iPhone model!
If the app is a little too rich for your blood, you should check out the app called MoviePro that costs $4.99 and allows up to 3K native video recording. You can choose the default bitrate, the frame rate, among other advanced options. It works great on the iPhone 5s and does pretty well with the image quality.
I can’t tell you anything about the video quality produced with the Vizzywig 4K. Judging by the way the Vizzywig 4K makes the video, it should offer a huge amount of detail and little artifacts, but then again 1 minute of video would cost you 4.3GB of storage. And $1000, of course. There’s also the catch that the iPhone 5s can’t really provide real 4K footage, given that its sensor is 3264 pixels wide and 4K video frames are usually 3860 pixels.
ViaClimbers rejoice! Brampton is set to get its first indoor rock climbing gym.
Toprock Climbing, a 6000 square foot facility is set to open this coming February at 284 Orenda Rd, Unit 8.
The new facility will be primarily a bouldering gym, and they’ll also have a wall equipped with auto-belays. Their bouldering walls — which allows climbers the freedom to climb without ropes — will be 14 ft tall. Their auto-belay walls will be 20 ft.
The new gym will have climbing for all levels, from beginners to hardcore climbers. They’ll offer intro lessons for beginners to learn the basics, membership packages and group events.
Kevin and Trevor, the owners, hope to make Toprock a community hub of activity, which fits right in with the relaxed social vibe of climbing.
Follow Toprock Climbing on Facebook and Instagram for updates on their opening.
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commentsA few weeks ago, I was approached by fellow project management blogger Geoff Crane. Long-time readers of my weekly round-ups will recognize the name immediately – Geoff is the man behind PaperCut PM, and one of the funniest guys in our business. He’s also a new college professor, and his first project management class just graduated. To commemorate their milestone (and his), Geoff wanted to give them a going-away present – good advice from practicing project managers on how to get into the field, and how to manage your career once you get in. He’d compile the advice into an e-book, give it to them, and share it with the world. Would I contribute? Of course – I sent him my 300 words the same day!
The class has now graduated, and Geoff has published the e-book. As a testament to his influence in the industry, fifty-two of us stepped up to provide content. Looking at the list, I see a lot of very accomplished, well-known names, as well as a few I haven’t heard from before. Never mind; I’ll be following them from now on. Reading their contributions makes me proud to be part of this project management community. I’m honored to be in their company, and grateful to Geoff for including me in this monumental, quick-turnaround effort.
I urge you to take a few minutes to read some of these short notes, and pass along the advice in them to project management students, practitioners, and managers – it’s that widely applicable. You might even find a few things for yourself in this treasure chest.
Once again: thanks, Professor Crane. You’re all right, in my book.
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PrintLenovo's Superfish bug just went from bad to worse, as researchers have turned up an easy way to take advantage of the security flaws opened up by the pre-installed software. Superfish is present on Lenovo laptops sold between September 2014 and January 2015, although Lenovo says no Thinkpads were shipped with the software. The bug has come under fire for breaking fundamental web security protocols, routing all encryption through a single password-protected certificate authority owned by a third-party adware company that makes Superfish. Anyone with the password that unlocks that certificate authority would be able to completely bypass the computer's web encryption.
This morning, researchers found and published that password, turning a security flaw into an active vector for attack. According to a post by Errata Security's Robert David Graham, the password was stored in the Superfish software's active memory and was trivial to extract.
The password was trivial to extract
The cracked certificate exposes Lenovo users to man-in-the-middle attacks, similar to those opened up by Heartbleed. Armed with this password and the right software, a coffee shop owner could potentially spy on any Lenovo user on her network, collecting any passwords that were entered during the session. The evil barista could also insert malware into the data stream at will, disguised as a software update or a trusted site.
Even worse, there's no clear fix for the issue. The software can be uninstalled (instructions are here), but that won't entirely solve the issue. Superfish sets all infected computers to run web encryption through Superfish's certificate authority, which is now easily unlocked by the published password — but simply uninstalling the software won't remove the certificate from your trusted settings. You can remove it manually once the software is out or, for the extra-careful, reinstall the operating system entirely. This test will show if your computer is affected, courtesy of researcher Filippo Valsorda.
In the meantime, anyone affected by the bug should avoid public Wi-Fi networks whenever possible, or connect through a protected VPN. In a statement earlier today, Lenovo said the company had "thoroughly investigated this technology and [does] not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns."
2/19 1:39pm: Updated to include more comprehensive instructions for removing the bug.Historical Essay
by Erick Lyle
Like most people, it was the sign that drew me to Hunt’s at first. Within minutes of sitting down with my cup of coffee, way past midnight one night back in 1993, I knew that the sign hadn’t lied: here was a place that could only be described as being “Open 25 hours.” The air was thick with cigarette smoke, the tables were packed with men who were either yelling, or sleeping, or drinking wine, and the guy behind the counter looked terrified.
An orange-fizz drink the very color of nausea circulated endlessly in a clear, plastic dispenser near the register, and in the corner, the grimy, nicotine-stained wall was inscrutably decorated with a print of the shroud of Turin.
In the swirling drink in Christ’s closed eyes, I saw a vision of eternity. “The 25th hour…” I thought. “This is all happening 25 hours a day…” In long nights at Hunt’s over the years I would, however, come to see the 25th hour not as a time, but as a place. It was a destination that could only be reached after too much fluorescent light and coffee and donuts.
Or heroin and meth and box wine. I made it to that lost continent that night for the first time, when “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra came on the old Hunt’s jukebox. Suddenly, all the sleeping men in the shop lifted their heads off the table to sing along, they drunkenly shouted, “If you can make it there…you’ll make it…anywhere!” The last note of the song was punctuated by one guy pitching forward back on to the table. In the silence that followed, all you could hear was the coffee he knocked over dribbling onto the floor. I felt like I’d been welcomed into a secret society.
There’s one other thing about that night that will stick with me forever. At one point, A cop came in and ordered a coffee. The counter guy took advantage of this moment As the cop took his first sip, the counter guy declared “I’m going to the bathroom. You watch the place for a minute!” and quickly bounded out the door. The cops eyes bulged wide and he almost spit out his coffee, but it was too late. He was stuck. He looked warily around him at the huge crowd of wasted men that was already slowly advancing towards the refill pot. One after another, the men refilled their Styrofoam cups without paying, silently, while the cop surveyed the scene like he was watching a horror movie, maybe “Dawn of the Dead.”
I was young and new to the Big City. It was the first time I’d seen genuine fear in a policeman’s eyes. I went and got my own refill.
Soon after, my roommate, Greta, told me that she’d seen a report on TV news that had called 20th and Mission — and by extension, Hunt’s Donuts — “The epicenter of crime” in all of San Francisco. My mind reeled at the thought of it. For years afterward, I’d sit at Hunt’s and imagine all of the city’s crime somehow radiating outward from that very spot, an incredible twenty-five hours a day!
While the Mission would change around it over the years, Hunt’s remained thoroughly and irreducibly criminal, a fluorescent-lit utopia for lowlifes, a north star guiding the way home for the regulars that answered the pull of the epicenter of crime and came there nightly to make up the 25th hour. Hunt’s was where prostitutes from Capp Street ate donuts and complained about their pimps, loudly, into cell phones, while passersby tapped on the floor-to-ceiling windows, trying to sell you crescent wrenches, jackets, fistfuls of stolen gold necklaces. Hunt’s was where you could see gang members and graffiti writers taking donut breaks, side by side. It was where guys just out of prison mumbled(?) with men who had fought and killed in the revolutions in El Salvador and Nicaragua.
I have years of memories from there, years of writing all night, sneaking in beers, making out under the tables. For five years in a row, a punk rock donut night met there every Monday at midnight. And there were those long years of the court order, when the cops were trying to shut Hunt’s down, and the sign on the wall earnestly pleaded, “Don’t sell it here,” as if the donut shop was an underground punk venue that could only stay open if we all did our part to keep the cops away.
I did buy stereo speakers there once, but the only thing I consistently bought was clean, new socks that, for some reasons, guys always sold there. Bucky told me that when Hunt’s closed, he was working on a story about a guy who gets his heart stolen. He has to go down to Hunt’s to try and buy it back.
My last time at Hunt’s wasn’t much different than the first, even if it had long since changed its name to “Magic Burgr”, just like that without the “E”. Jimmy and I went to get ice cream cones at 2:00 am. The counter guy was closing the gate that closed off the back part of the shop for the night. Just then, a kid ran in the front door, yelling, “Wait!” he ducked under the gate, shoved a fist into the soil at the base of a sick-looking plant in the back, and pulled out a bunch of baggies. He grinned, sheepishly, and said, “almost forgot my medicine!”
After that I went out of town for the summer and when I came back in August 2004, Hunt’s had closed. Hunt’s was such a permanent-seeming fixture of the Mission landscape that I used to joke that I wanted my ashes sprinkled there. No one had ever imagined it closing. The situation demanded answers. What follows is the results of my search, a sprawling memorial I wrote in November 2004, originally for publication in the Guardian. In the end, we couldn’t get it in the papers because it in no way really fits the description of “news”. It's true. At this late date, nothing about the gentrification of the Mission can really be considered news. The closing of Hunt’s could almost be seen as an afterward, a bookend to that long saga.
But the story of Hunt’s is both less than and more than news. It’s a rumor, an illicit history, the pull of the gravity of the epicenter of crime. At 20th and Mission, battles to control the identity of the Mission have been acted out again and again, between ever changing sets of police and thieves over the years. In this story we have the Irish cop who shut down the Mission’s Latino bars and his cop father who shut down the city’s gay bars. We have the young kid who couldn’t beat the Hunt’s sponsored team on the baseball diamond who grew up to try to shut down the shop as police captain. We have the Latino teenagers who hung out in front of Hunt’s framed for a cop’s murder in the famed trail of Los Siete de la Raza. At 20th and Mission, history doubles back and repeats itself in new guises, again and again, like a Borges story about two knives that fight each other for centuries, long after the individual knife fighters die.
When I used to sit at Hunt’s I’d imagine a cop in the basement of Mission Station, ordered to watch and log all the Hunt’s Donuts surveillance camera footage, to make a true record of Mission history. It would take a full day to watch each day’s footage. The cop would never catch up.
Because the Hunt’s day was 25 hours. This is my attempt to imagine what that film would look like, a limited edition half-issue, Scam 5 1/2. Thanks to Caroline, Syi, and Zee. This issue is dedicated to Peter, Matty, and all the donut night punks everywhere!
PART ONE
Hunt’s opened in 1952, a year after Bob’s Donuts on Polk Street and Silver Crest Donuts on Bayshore opened in their present locations. With their hand painted signs and egalitarian |
Souls
Design Experience: creature, world event, boss, or castle
Studio Tour, Launch Party, and Weekend of Gaming invite
You will be able to see the full details of the new packages when they drop on December 27th. Overall, it is a better deal to get the original packages. If you have an existing package and are looking to upgrade, doing so after December 27th will mean you will be upgrading to the new packages.
The exception to this is Layaway. If you put one of these original packages on Layaway, you will reserve the original rewards. It comes at the cost of not owning the tiers in-between. For example, if you are currently pledged at Founder (now $100) and you have aspirations to be a Baroness (now $250), you may put the Baron/Baroness package on Layaway before December 27th to get the full, original package. However, once you've paid $150 total, you will not have unlocked the Exposition Access from the old Bloodline package, nor the 225 total EP. You would not receive those rewards until the entire $250 is paid off. Please note that if you are laying away a package that includes selection of a settlement, there will be a cap on number of settlements on a server. It is first-come, first-served on locking in those slots. You lock in your slot by paying off the package entirely, not by laying it away.
Also, if you cancel your Layaway after December 27th, you will only be able to apply your Store Credit to the new packages. If you put King/Queen on Layaway to 'lock in' the original packages, but only ever intend to pay $2000 hoping to score the Celebrity package, you are in for a bad time. You'd have to cancel your layaway at some point and reapply it to a new package that won't be as good as Celebrity. In short, only lay away a package you are sure you will pay off before you want the rewards.
I don't say these things to frighten or coerce you, but to give you full disclosure on your options so there is no confusion. If you find these options to be acceptable, grab those gift cards and head to the store to snag an existing package before the new ones roll out on December 27th!
Pledged to Your Continued Adventures in Life, Both Actual and Fantasy,
VyeSolar Cells with High Efficiency & Significantly Reduced Production Cost within Grasp, Thanks to Newly Developed Solar Cell Production Processes
September 24th, 2012 by James Ayre
The researchers, from the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST in Braunschweig, will showcase some of these new processes at the EU PVSEC trade show in Frankfurt from September 25 to 28.
Commercial high-efficiency solar cells that can reach efficiencies of up to 23 percent have been the goal of the solar industry for awhile now, but until now the production has been somewhat wasteful of the expensive silane gas that it uses, with solar cells reaching above 40% efficiency but being quite costly.
The Fraunhofer news release states: “These ‘HIT’ cells (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) consist of a crystalline silicon absorber with additional thin layers of silicon. Until now, manufacturers used the plasma-CVD process (short for Chemical Vapor Deposition) to apply these layers to the substrate: the reaction chamber is filled with silane (the molecules of this gas are composed of one silicon and four hydrogen atoms) and with the crystalline silicon substrate. Plasma activates the gas, thus breaking apart the silicon-hydrogen bonds. The now free silicon atoms and the silicon-hydrogen residues settle on the surface of the substrate.” This is very wasteful — only 10 to 15 percent of the expensive silane gas is activated by the plasma; the other 85 to 90 percent is completely lost, an enormous cost.
So, to rectify this, researchers at IST have completely replaced this process: using hot wires to activate the gas rather than plasma.
“This way, we can use almost all of the silane gas, so we actually recover 85 to 90 percent of the costly gas. This reduces the overall manufacturing costs of the layers by over 50 percent. The price of the wire that we need for this process is negligible when compared to the price of the silane,” explains Dr. Lothar Schäfer, department head at IST. “In this respect, our system is the only one that coats the substrate continously during the movement — this is also referred to as an in-line process.”
This happens because the silicon film “grows up at the surface about five times faster than with plasma CVD,” but still with the same quality of layering. Another major advantage of this process is that the system technology is much easier than with plasma CVD, making the system considerably less expensive. As an example, the generator used to produce the electric current that heats the wires costs only about one-tenth of the cost of its counterpart used in the plasma CVD process.
The press release from Fraunhofer continues:
“In addition, this process is also suitable for thin film solar cells. With a degree of efficiency of slightly more than ten percent, these have previously shown only a moderate pay-off. However, by tripling the solar cells (i.e., by putting three cells on top of each other) the degree of efficiency spikes up considerably. But there is another problem: Because each of the three cells is tied to considerable material losses using the plasma CVD coatings, the triple photovoltaic cells are expensive. So the researchers see another potential use for their process: the new coating process would make the cells much more cost-effective. Triple cells could even succeed over the long term if the rather scarce but highly efficient germanium is used. However, germanium is also very expensive: in order for it to be a profitable choice, one must be able to apply the layers while losing as little of the germanium as possible — by using the hot-wire CVD process, for instance. “The power generated by photovoltaic cells has to be able to flow out, in order for it to be used. To do so, usually a contact grid of metal is evaporated onto the solar cells, which conducts the resulting holes and electrons. But for HIT cells, this grid is insufficient. Instead, transparent, conductive layers — similar to those in an LCD television — are needed on the entire surface. “This normally happens through the sputter process: ceramic tiles, made from aluminum-doped zinc or indium-zinc oxide, are atomized. The dissolved components attach to the surface, thereby producing a thin layer. Unfortunately, the ceramic tiles are also quite expensive. Therefore, the researchers at IST use metallic tiles: They are 80 percent cheaper than their ceramic counterparts. An electronic control ensures that the metal tiles do not oxidize. Because that would otherwise change the manner in which the metal sputters. “Even though the control outlay is greater, we can still lower the cost of this production process by 35 percent for 1.4 square meter coatings,” says Dr. Volker Sittinger, group manager at IST.”
The researchers are intending for both processes to be combined over the long term, ultimately making thin-coated solar cells more cost-effective and more profitable.
“You can produce all silicon layers using the hot-wire CVD, and all transparent conductive layers through sputtering with metal tiles. In principle, these processes should also be suitable for large formats,” states Sittinger.
The processes aren’t production-ready quite yet, though. The researchers estimate that it will take around three to five years for them to become usable in the production of solar cells.
Source: Fraunhofer
Image Credits: Fraunhofer IST; Thin Film Solar via Wikimedia CommonsBaltic Dry Index: Not a Latvian deodorant
The leading economic indicators—which serve as the foundation of massively important political and economic decisions—can frustrate even the wisest economists. They quibble over whether the payroll or establishment employment numbers make more sense and wonder whether consumer confidence figures measure anything more than sentiment. The figures of the gross national product are consistently revised.
As part of a new (extremely modest) effort to bring clarity to the bewildering maze that is the global economy, Moneybox is launching a search for obscure economic indicators. While less followed and hyped than their more famous brethren, OEIs may nonetheless provide insight into certain sectors of the U.S. and global economies. This column will be the first in an occasional series about these odd but helpful numbers.
Today’s OEI: the Baltic Dry Index.
Baltic Dry isn’t a Latvian deodorant or an Estonian cocktail. Rather, it’s a number issued daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange, which traces its roots to the Virginia and Baltick coffeehouse in London’s financial district in 1744.
Every working day, the Baltic canvasses brokers around the world and asks how much it would cost to book various cargoes of raw materials on various routes—150,000 tons of iron ore going from Australia to China or 150,000 tons of coal from South Africa to Taiwan. Brokers are also asked to consider variables such as the type and speed of the ship and the length of the voyage.
The answers are melded into the BDI, which appears in shipping publications such as Lloyd’s List and on the screens of information vendors such as Reuters and Bloomberg. Because it provides “an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials by sea,” as the Baltic puts it, it provides both a rare window into the highly opaque and diffuse shipping market and an accurate barometer of the volume of global trade.
The BDI is a good leading indicator for economic growth and production. After all, it doesn’t deal with container ships carrying finished goods. It deals with the precursors to production: bulk carriers carrying building materials, cement, grain, coal, and iron. Unlike stock and bond markets, the BDI “is totally devoid of speculative content,” says Howard Simons, an economist and columnist at TheStreet.com. People don’t book freighters unless they have cargo to move.
Because the supply of cargo ships is generally both tight and inelastic—it takes two years to build a new ship, and ships are too expensive to take out of circulation the way airlines park unneeded jets in the Arizona desert—marginal increases in demand can push the index higher quickly. And significant increases in demand can push the index sharply higher. That’s precisely what happened earlier this fall. As this chart shows, the Baltic Index doubled in September and October—an unprecedented jump.
Does this chart represent a Nasdaq-style bubble or a demand-led structural change? The summer did see a pick-up in coal and grain shipments to Europe, due to the heat wave, and China’s humming steel factories are consuming massive quantities of iron ore. Those could be blips. “But it’s not just iron ore and coal,” says Michael McClure, vice president of Navios, a ship broker. “The strength can be seen among all the major commodities that ocean freight is carrying.”
The real force behind the BDI’s rise may be China. “To put it in extremely simplistic terms, China is importing huge amounts of raw materials and exporting manufactured goods, and that’s drawing ships into the Pacific,” says Jim Buckley, chief executive of the Baltic Exchange. The Wall Street Journal led today’s “Money and Investing” section with an article on China’s insatiable demand for raw materials. The Baltic index divined this trend several weeks ago.
As they say on CNBC, what does this mean for you? In this article from late last year, Howard Simons charted the index against the Dow Jones World Equity Stock Market Index and U.S. Treasury 10-year notes. His conclusion: “It’s a very good leading indicator.” Movements in the Baltic Index tend to precede movements in global stock markets. But the index also tends to presage higher interest rates. When more stuff is being shipped around the world, it needs to be financed. And that creates a greater demand for credit.
So the shipping news—at least as measured by the BDI—is largely good. Even better, it may be a sign that China’s trade deficit may be declining. The downside: China isn’t sucking up raw materials in vast quantities from the United States. (We export grains and soybeans to China, but not coal or iron ore.)
Economists, investors, professionals, amateurs: Please send your suggestions for obscure economic indicators to moneybox@slate.com. If we use your idea, we’ll acknowledge you in print and send you a Slate goody.AT&T Wants $100 Million From California Taxpayers For Aging DSL AT&T is asking California taxpayers to give them $100 million so that AT&T can provide several parts of the state with unreliable, slow and expensive DSL service. As Steve Blum’s blog notes, under Assembly Bill 2130 (written by AT&T lobbyists), AT&T would receive $100 million from state taxpayers. In return, AT&T would only need to provide 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload and would have little to no oversight over whether the $100 million is even being used for the DSL service. According to Blum, AB 2130 would:
quote: 1. freeze the current California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband infrastructure subsidy program, 2. authorise the collection of $100 million more from taxpayers, 3. distribute it according to byzantine rules that all but guarantee that the money would go to AT&T to spend as it pleases, while 4. tightening its monopoly stranglehold on rural residents. Currently, the California Public Utilities Commission says that 1.5 Mbps upload is the minimum acceptable speed in order to receive state subsidies under the California Advanced Services Fund. Therefore, AT&T wants taxpayer money for a service that isn’t even deemed acceptable under current state rules. Currently, the California Public Utilities Commission says that 1.5 Mbps upload is the minimum acceptable speed in order to receive state subsidies under the California Advanced Services Fund. Therefore, AT&T wants taxpayer money for a service that isn’t even deemed acceptable under current state rules. This type of move shouldn’t surprise anyone with knowledge of AT&T’s past. For years, AT&T has taken billions from federal and state governments in order to provide a DSL service that AT&T has no interest in upgrading, instead wanting to fill in coverage gaps with the company's LTE network. In most areas, AT&T is making it abundantly clear that it's giving up on DSL and fixed-line broadband entirely, and were one to do an audit (which will never happen), it's guaranteed they'd find billions in past subsidies that never resulted in tangible improvements. Whether it is pushing the FCC to keep the National Broadband Map from listing prices, fighting Whether it is pushing the FCC to keep the National Broadband Map from listing prices, fighting competition wherever possible, or lobbying hard for little oversight over how AT&T uses federal taxpayer money, both AT&T and Verizon have quite the history of taking taxpayer money and providing little to nothing in return.
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Most recommended from 71 comments
tmcb82
Premium Member
join:2002-04-16
Hilliard, OH 23 recommendations tmcb82 Premium Member Really? [Sarcam] Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't $100 million less than the $48.5 billion that they just paid for DirecTV? [/Sarcam]
I'm fairly sure they can afford this on their own!
keithps
Premium Member
join:2002-06-26
Soddy Daisy, TN 22 recommendations keithps Premium Member Crazy First they sue all the municipal providers because it's not fair for the government to be using its money to compete, then they ask the same government for money to fix their stuff.
tigerpaw509
join:2011-01-19 18 recommendations tigerpaw509 Member Profits And dont forget the $18 Billion a year after year Profits the make. Ozykz
join:2013-03-30
Salford, ON 15 recommendations Ozykz Member "instead wanting to fill in coverage gaps with the company's LTE network" Yes, I get it, but I'd rather have them actually put money into DSL rather than their LTE network. It's interesting to hear ISPs hype up LTE so much over DSL but they can't even begin to provide anywhere near the same standard of service.
Talk to me when you can provide Unlimited data with no throttling, and a connection I can actually rely on for VoIP.
battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000 14 recommendations battleop Member So let me get this straight... They want $100M so that they can charge them to deliver 10/1 DSL? LOL...
TIGERON
join:2008-03-11
Boston, MA 14 recommendations TIGERON Member Karl you forgot to mention.... On top of that AT&T also has a 150 gigabyte usage cap per month on that legacy DSL on an already badly designed website where that "usage meter" is inaccessible 90% of the time.
THIS IS HIGHWAY ROBBERY.
cableties
Premium Member
join:2005-01-27 14 recommendations cableties Premium Member That's just for them to keep the pensions afloat. Ddin't they take a page from Verizon and look for a sucker to sell the copperplant off too?
SpottedCat
join:2004-06-27
Miami, FL 13 recommendations SpottedCat Member How about they DO something for the $100 million? How about...
They can have the $100 million, but only if they upgrade the affected users to fiber connectivity?
Giving them $100 million to do nothing seems.. just plain idiotic. kevin_pink
join:2006-10-15
Bronx, NY 1 edit 10 recommendations kevin_pink Member So wait... A company with ~$13B (9% on $146B) in profits needs $100,000,000 from taxpayers why again? Why not just use the 0.77% of their yearly profits to put these places into the 20th century?
bockbock
@hcs.net 10 recommendations bockbock Anon Plunder! How much more loot is T going to get this time?
cabana
Department of Adjustments
Mod
join:2000-07-07
New York, NY 9 recommendations cabana Mod Private... when ya wanna be
A company that loves to be public when it suits them... and private when it suits them.
So tired of "fees" and "tax credits" being levied with no say and used under the guise of... "but we can't help our customers if we don't get even more money from the community chest". Where do they think the taxes dollars come from... the revenue fairy?... noooo... ATT customer's pocket.
What about those peeps that don't use ATT in that area... do they get an exemption on their personal taxes? You are not proposing that you use from their tax chest are you?
And while I don't know it... I would guess... that ATT probably got a subsidy a break... "a something" when the original build out happened? And haven't these poor copper babies probably paid through the nose over the years for sub par service as their speed declined. (not to mention what a nice slap in the face for these early adopters)
The answer should be a big fat NO. You want these customers? Then do right by them... either fix your own damn system... or give them a new option... either option should be on the ATT profit dime. It's called... investing in your own infrastucture!!!!
(unless of course... you are taking it as a loan... and you plan on paying it back with obscene interest rate)... oh wait... that only works from corporation to customer...
I personally would like my tax dollars to go for more "dumb stuff"... like... oh I don't know... roads... bridges... maybe some water pipes that don't contain lead. Love it... congratulations ATT... just when your "you know what's" could not get any bigger... they do. They must be dragging the ground at this point.A company that loves to be public when it suits them... and private when it suits them.So tired of "fees" and "tax credits" being levied with no say and used under the guise of... "but we can't help our customers if we don't get even more money from the community chest". Where do they think the taxes dollars come from... the revenue fairy?... noooo... ATT customer's pocket.What about those peeps that don't use ATT in that area... do they get an exemption on their personal taxes? You are not proposing that you use from their tax chest are you?And while I don't know it... I would guess... that ATT probably got a subsidy a break... "a something" when the original build out happened? And haven't these poor copper babies probably paid through the nose over the years for sub par service as their speed declined. (not to mention what a nice slap in the face for these early adopters)The answer should be a big fat NO. You want these customers? Then do right by them... either fix your own damn system... or give them a new option... either option should be on the ATT profit dime. It's called... investing in your own infrastucture!!!!(unless of course... you are taking it as a loan... and you plan on paying it back with obscene interest rate)... oh wait... that only works from corporation to customer...I personally would like my tax dollars to go for more "dumb stuff"... like... oh I don't know... roads... bridges... maybe some water pipes that don't contain lead.
buzz_4_20
join:2003-09-20
Biddeford, ME 7 recommendations buzz_4_20 Member How about We stop spending money on DSL. It had it's day in the sun, now it's time to MOVE FORWARD. etaadmin
join:2002-01-17
united state 4 recommendations etaadmin Member Ask cable what they can do... Also ask the cable companies what they can do with 100 million and then decide who is going to get the 100 meeellion.
I would rather get DOCSIS3.x than old legacy adsl.
dbrower
@oracle.com 4 recommendations dbrower Anon Intercourse the copper AT&T could fully compete with Comcast if they put fiber on the poles they already own. Evidently not as profitable as pay-per-gig wireless, so unworthy of investment.
spewak
R.I.P Dadkins
Premium Member
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA 3 recommendations spewak Premium Member att or cpuc Take your pick: CPUC is corrupt as it is, so getting into bed with att is almost normal. chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
San Jose, CA ·Comcast XFINITY
3 recommendations chgo_man99 Member Silicon Valley - center of innovation but broadband not so innovative, although for ex, Comcast has faster speeds for all tier levels than in many other parts of the country (Blast 150/10). To my knowledge, Cupertino was supposed to get 1GB connection from ATT but when I try to plug in addresses of nearly all luxury/new apartments or house on att website, I usually end up with only slower VDSL or even no att landline at all. Google fiber has trouble installing and expanding in many towns due to poles owned by AT&T and Comcast.Apple on Tuesday was granted a U.S. patent for a portable device made almost exclusively from flexible components, allowing for force-based gesture input and perhaps larger displays that fold up like a trifold wallet.
Source: USPTO
Flexible circuit boards contain rigid areas to protect CPU (left) and other components from damage.
As awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's U.S. Patent No. 8,929,085 for "Flexible electronic devices" describes a portable device, like an iPhone, that can be flexed, bent, folded or otherwise deformed without negatively impacting the sensitive internal components contained within. Indeed, flexibility is a functional feature for Apple's invention that in various embodiments translates twists and bends into UI commands, folds for storage and absorbs impacts through localized flexing.Unlike other patents or products touting flexible electronics, Tuesday's filing incorporates malleable external parts, such as the chassis and cover glass, with pliable internal parts like batteries, circuit boards, displays and other electrical components. The company hinted at similar technology in prior documents covering bendable displays, housings, hidden buttons and more, but until today failed to fully integrate the pieces into a comprehensive model.As with the current "candybar" iPhone form factor, Apple's invention is covered on at least one side by flexible OLED display, capacitive touch sensor, substrate and cover glass layers. In some embodiments, the device may eschew a cover glass in favor of internal support structures disposed along the underside of the bendable display.A similarly flexible housing encapsulates functional electronics, including circuit boards, sensors, motors, speakers and other necessities. Instead of milled aluminum, Apple suggests the chassis be molded from plastic, thin glass, fiber composites or combination of materials capable of withstanding constant flexing.In some cases, the housing can consist of a soft plastic or silicone molded to fill available internal volume around batteries and circuits, thereby negating rigid welds or mechanical mounting points. Other chassis embodiments allow for a more traditional approach that augments conventional rigid fasteners with engagement features for flexible components.With a completely flexible device, Apple is able to implement exotic user interface schemes using existing sensor technology. For example, users may squeeze the device, thereby activating a force sensor that in turn invokes a system command, perhaps opening an app or toggling power on and off. Any number of sensors —magnetic, optical, proximity and more —can be laid out throughout the device chassis, including below the display surface.The patent makes mention of bi-stable flex regions, which would give the device two or more standard configurations. As seen in the drawing above, provided to illustrate the properties of bi-stable mechanics, two bulges have both external (convex) and internal (concave) stable positions that, when activated, allow the device to bend in that direction. The document notes a flexible device housing may be configured to substantially take on any shape using identical bi-stable or multi-stable regions.Apple first outlined the idea of employing bi-stable mechanics in electronics design in a documented invention for a watch-style device that shares its form with "slap bracelets" made popular in the 1990s.While Apple is unlikely to build a flexible iPhone in the near future, today's patent highlights the company's ambitions to innovate in the mobile phone space, taking the format far beyond the humble beginnings laid out with the original handset in 2007.Apple's flexible iPhone patent was first filed for in 2011 and credits Jeremy C. Franklin, Scott A. Myers, Benjamin M. Rappoport, Stephen Brian Lynch, John P. Ternus and Justin Wodrich as its inventors.For those who have always wondered why the Galactic Empire sounds as if it's filled with graduates from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, you're not alone. Gareth Edwards, director of the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, has noticed it as well.
"It feels like if the Empire ever have a job vacancy, they go to the Royal Shakespeare Company to headhunt people," Edwards told USA Today when talking about Rogue One's villainous Orson Krennic, played by Ben Mendelsohn, adding, "I like the idea that Ben’s character was much more working-class [and came to prominence] through sheer force of personality and ideas."
To this end, Edwards told Mendelsohn not to use the upper-class accent favored by Imperial officers in earlier Star Wars movies. (Mendelsohn apparently asked if Krennic should have "a very posh English accent," according to the director.)
But apparently ideas can only take a would-be genocidal maniac so far, even in the Empire. Edwards revealed that, by the time Rogue One opens, Krennic "hits a brick wall in the hierarchy where they won’t let him in the club and it’s going to turn into a them-or-us situation: either Krennic or Tarkin and the others."
Not only does this hint at an unfortunate fate for Krennic in Rogue One — after all, we know that Tarkin ends up in charge of the Death Star because of the original movie — it also gives the Empire even more reason to be hated: How could an evil intergalactic ruling body headed by a shriveled-up, despotic wizard not be a meritocracy?!
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be released Dec. 16.The round tower at Glendalough is considered by many to be one of the most finely constructed and beautiful towers in Ireland. Situated in a thickly forested valley, the 30.48 metre tall tower is built of mica schist with a granite doorway. The conical roof was rebuilt in 1876 using the original stones that were found inside the tower. The round tower is divided internally into 6 storeys by timber floors, connected by ladders. The four storeys above entrance level are each lit by a small window; while the top story has four windows facing the cardinal compass points.
In medieval Ireland, round towers had many uses. They served as beacons to guide pilgrims from afar, bell towers (their Irish name is Cloig-theach meaning bell-tower), storehouses, lookouts and places of refuge in times of attack. The door is about 3.5 meters from the ground, which is commonly believed to be a defensive practice with refuge seekers raising the ladder from within. The doorway was constructed with large stones similar to the cyclopean doorway at St Mary's Church. The arch above the door was carved from a single stone. It is still in near perfect condition even though it is almost 1,000 years old.I went to the docks in the very center of Amsterdam with, basically, one thought in my mind: This is going to be freaking awesome.
I mean, c'mon. It's bikes and fishing. For an Oregon boy, it doesn't get any better than that.
But then, it did.
I saw the claw.
It's like they plucked it straight from "Toy Story 3" and moved it to Amsterdam. It's a huge hydraulic claw, connected to a crane that sits on the front of the barge.
"That's our equipment for fishing the bikes out of the canal," says Diane Kleinhout, a spokesperson for Waternet, the agency tasked with keeping the canals clean.
Kleinhout says the company has been bike fishing since the 1960s. She says so many bikes were piling up in the canals; they were scraping the bottom of boats.
Along with her are the bike fishermen, Richard Matser and Jan de Jonge. They fish for bikes every day.
Why you ask?
"There are a lot of bikes in the water," says de Jonge.
That's why they tow an empty barge behind them. They need a place to put all those bikes.
We start trawling a block or so from City Hall. Matser pilots the boat while Jonge operates the claw, dropping it into the murky water.
"How do you know where the bikes are?" says de Jonge. "We don't know. We're just searching."
Fishing for bikes is like plunging your hand in a sink full of sudsy water, searching around for a spoon. You grab around blindly until you find something.
Pretty soon. We have our first bike.
These guys were good. We caught one on our third cast. This being Amsterdam, it was a black granny bike. It looked like the wheel was pretty shot. Someone probably tried to pedal it and was like, "Ehh, I'm good." So they hucked it into the drink rather than dealing with it.
This bike will eventually end up at a recycler. Just like all the other bikes the claw plucks out of the canals.
De Jonge says they catch 15,000 bikes a year. Yes. You read that right. To put it in perspective, the city of Amsterdam estimates there are 2 million bikes in the city. So while 15,000 is a huge number, it also means that only.07 percent of all the bikes end up in the canals each year.
Still, it's nuts.
The habit of throwing things into the canals goes way back.
Bikes and other trash scooped up by the bike fisherman's claw in Amsterdam. Credit: Pien Huang
"The canals used to be an open sewer," says Kleinhout. "There was no sewer system in Amsterdam so this was the open toilet for the people of Amsterdam."
In 1860 Amsterdam started to see — or rather smell — the error in that practice. They started to clean the canals up. And they encouraged people to stop using canals as a big 'ol trash can. But Amsterdam still hasn't totally kicked the habit of tossing things into the drink.
That's why there are bicycle fishermen. They keep the canals clear for boat traffic by hauling up one bike after another.
"Look, another bike!" says de Jonge.
It was a folding bike. But he says that still counts.
Now, we'd only fished for about a block. But we got quite a haul: six bikes, a shopping cart, that folding bike, and then, well, we pull up a walker. Even though it's all garbage. It attracts a crowd. Tourists and locals stop to look at what comes up.
"I joined them last week and we found a real professional camera, and a sign for traffic and a scooter," says Kleinhout. "It was a nice catch of the day."
Bikes are the main catch. In the next 30 minutes, the claw snatched 30 bicycles from the bottom.
And while the whole thing is cool, and endlessly fascinating — and the claw is worth worshiping — there's also this weird realization you get after seeing all the bikes. It's that in Amsterdam, bikes are litter.
It's not like the states, where some people (me) lust over bikes built by Vanilla, Icarus or Chapman.
I mean, in Amsterdam bikes are tools for transportation for sure. But here, they treat 'em more like keg cups at a tailgate. Easy to use. And easy to huck where you're done.
I ask de Jonge and Kleinhout why people toss bikes into the canal. They didn't know. De Jonge thought it was probably just drunk people doing drunk-people things.
There are other theories. Some say that bikes get thrown into the water by thieves, who just want dispose of their crime. Others blame cars for bumping bikes off the edge--there are no guardrails in the city. And still others believe that bikes really are like keg cups. The host of my airbnb rental says he picked one up for about $40 online. So if it costs more to repair, why keep 'em?
Waternet hasn't launched any public service campaign to stop the practice. They're relying on journalists like me to spread the word. But I think they might want to start, as the rate of bikes being thrown into the canals remains steady.
But until people stop throwing bikes into the canals, I do know there are two guys in Amsterdam with one of the best city jobs you'll ever get.
"I love my job," says de Jonge. "You're standing outside with a lot of freedom around you. So it's a nice job."
Of course it is. He's fishing for bikes.An 18-year-old man is recovering from second- and third-degree burns on his back after he was set on fire after falling asleep at a party in Kelowna, B.C., Friday night.
The man was lying on the kitchen floor in a motel when a liquid accelerant was poured on him and then lit on fire, police said. The incident was filmed.
Matthew Sweet-Grant, 20, and Joshua McWhirter, 18, have been charged with aggravated assault.
The victim is still in hospital with "very serious injuries," said Kelowna RCMP Const. Kris Clark.
Mathew Sweet-Grant has been charged with aggravated assault for allegedly setting a sleeping teen on fire at a party in Kelowna, B.C. (Facebook)
"It's certainly very disturbing that somebody might do this to somebody that's incapacitated by drugs or alcohol. They're defenceless," Clark said.
"But if you do a quick search on the internet you can certainly see this isn't the first time that it's happened and it probably won't be the last."
Clarke said investigators believe one of the suspects may have done something similar before, and RCMP are asking anyone with information about previous incidents to come forward.Motorists may get some relief from traffic-clogged Woodruff Road from some unusual sources — Piedmont Natural Gas and Verdae Development.
Piedmont Natural Gas, which has a facility behind Target, is in negotiations with Verdae Boulevard to build a road from Woodruff Industrial Lane to Verdae Boulevard to provide an alternate way for the utility to get trucks out of its facility without having to get on Woodruff Road, said Adam Spry, manager of land management and acquisition for Piedmont Natural Gas.
Potentially, the public could use the road, Spry said.
That byproduct excites city leaders as they have been searching for ways to address congestion and flow on traffic-choked Woodruff Road.
Dwayne Cooper, Greenville’s engineering services manager, said it could cost the city about $400,000 to connect the private road with Green Heron Road and Ketron Court, something that would give traffic going to and from the Magnolia Park development another option.
If the connector were made into a public road, the city would take over ownership and maintenance, Cooper said, and the city would seek C-funds from the Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study for the project.
“I don’t think you’ll find anybody who has traveled Woodruff Road who wouldn’t say this is a good thing,” Cooper said. “This has great potential to help in the short- and long-term.”The new connector would not take the place of a Woodruff Road connector that the city and state transportation officials have been talking about for years. That road could run from Miller Road to Verdae and perhaps extend to Salters Road, Cooper said. But its route hasn’t been determined and the project won’t get funding for easements until 2018, Cooper said. The Woodruff Road connector isn’t scheduled to get any |
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