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she made a frantic 911 call. During the call, she was apparently abducted and attacked by an assailant. She was found dead soon afterwards. The medical examiner determined that she had been beaten and shot to death. The killer tried to stage the scene to make it look like a suicide. Investigators found blood on the passenger door, which was left open, and the keys were outside the car.
Police suspected both the coworker and her husband, Mike. Mike claimed that the was at the movies with his daughter at the time of the murder. However, he refused to take a polygraph and would not let his daughter be interviewed by police. He also hired an attorney shortly after the murder. Investigators learned that Mike and Mary were having problems with their marriage. Shortly before the murder, Mike confronted Mary about an alleged affair that she was having with a friend. Investigators also discovered that there was a life insurance policy on Mary that totaled $700,000. Finally, investigators discovered that Mike had called her cell phone around the time that she was murdered. The call lasted for four minutes. They believe that he might have been calling the killer. He claimed that he called her, but she didn't answer. He also claimed that the four minutes was a mistake on the phone company's part.
Some suspect that due to the similarities in the two cases, a contract may have been put on Mary McGinnis Morris's life, but that the killer accidentally killed Mary Lou Morris and then later corrected his mistake. This theory was supported by a caller to a Houston newspaper who said that they had gotten the wrong Mary Morris the first time. Also, Mary Lou Morris's wedding ring was missing, which is a sign of a hit because the killer would take it back to the person that hired the hit to ensure that the person was dead. Further supporting this is that the two Marys lived in close proximity and were similar in appearance.
However, the investigators claim they have found no evidence to support the theory and believe that the murders may have been just a coincidence. The victims' families, however, are certain that the cases are not coincidental. The cases remain unsolved.
Suspects: The male worker was an obvious suspect in Mary McGinnis Morris's murder. Along with the apparent death threat, he had left on bad terms, quitting his job after several failed attempts to discredit Mary. Investigators say that they may have evidence to link the co-worker to the crime. Her husband, Mike Morris, is another prime suspect. They are suspicious of his lack of cooperation, multiple motives, and four minute phone call that happened at the time of the murder. Interestingly, Mary's wedding ring was missing from her body. A few months later, a friend noticed that the Morris's daughter was wearing the ring. However, they claimed that they had "found" it.
If the cases aren't related, which some investigators suggest, then there are no suspects in Mary Lou Morris's murder. However, six months after the killing, her husband Jay received $2,000 in bills for his wife's phone card, which detectives traced to a sixteen-year-old Galveston girl. She told detectives she found a purse with the card and other belongings the month earlier sitting in the parking lot of a Galveston convenience store. However, Mary Lou's family did not recognize the purse as belonging to her. Around the same time, Jay received three phone calls from someone asking for Mary. The caller remains unidentified and it is unknown if they are connected to the case.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the June 17, 2002 episode. It was also profiled on America’s Most Wanted.
Results: Unsolved
Links:One of the more controversial aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) health care reform legislation (commonly known as “Obamacare”) passed by the U.S. Congress in 2010 is its requirement mandating that all Americans obtain health insurance or pay a monthly fine. One rumor which has grown out of this aspect of the PPACA is the claim that some religious groups, particularly Muslims (but also including Scientologists, Amish, and Christian Scientists), are specifically exempted from health insurance requirements of the PPACA.
The fact is that the PPACA legislation does not specifically exclude any particular religious groups from its provisions. The bill contains a general “religious conscience” section which sets forth guidelines under which religious groups who have established conscientious objections to certain forms of insurance may seek exemption from its health insurance requirements:
RELIGIOUS CONSCIENCE EXEMPTION — Such term shall not include any individual for any month if such individual has in effect an exemption under section 1311(d)(4)(H) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which certifies that such individual is a member of a recognized religious sect or division thereof described in section 1402(g)(1) and an adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division as described in such section.
For members of religious groups to qualify for this exemption, they would have to be adherents of a religion or sect “described in section 1402(g)(1)” of the Internal Revenue Code, which governs exemptions from the payment of Social Security and Medicare taxes on self-employment income. In general, persons seeking a health insurance exemption must belong to a religion (or sect thereof) which has been in existence since 1951 and has an established history of spurning participation in insurance programs:
(g) Members of certain religious faiths
(1) Exemption
Any individual may file an application (in such form and manner, and with such official, as may be prescribed by regulations under this chapter) for an exemption from the tax imposed by this chapter if he is a member of a recognized religious sect or division thereof and is an adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division by reason of which he is conscientiously opposed to acceptance of the benefits of any private or public insurance which makes payments in the event of death, disability, old-age, or retirement or makes payments toward the cost of, or provides services for, medical care (including the benefits of any insurance system established by the Social Security Act). Such exemption may be granted only if the application contains or is accompanied by – (A) such evidence of such individual’s membership in, and adherence to the tenets or teachings of, the sect or division thereof as the Secretary may require for purposes of determining such individual’s compliance with the preceding sentence, and (B) his waiver of all benefits and other payments under titles II and XVIII of the Social Security Act on the basis of his wages and self-employment income as well as all such benefits and other payments to him on the basis of the wages and self-employment income of any other person, and only if the Commissioner of Social Security finds that – (C) such sect or division thereof has the established tenets or teachings referred to in the preceding sentence, (D) it is the practice, and has been for a period of time which he deems to be substantial, for members of such sect or division thereof to make provision for their dependent members which in his judgment is reasonable in view of their general level of living, and (E) such sect or division thereof has been in existence at all times since December 31, 1950. An exemption may not be granted to any individual if any benefit or other payment referred to in subparagraph (B) became payable (or, but for section 203 or 222(b) of the Social Security Act, would have become payable) at or before the time of the filing of such waiver.
How these provisions might be applied is somewhat subjective. Groups such as the Anabaptists (i.e., Amish, Mennonites, Hutterites) would likely qualify for an exemption from the health insurance requirement, as they have an established history of declining Social Security benefits and making their own provisions for dependent members (as described in the Amish FAQ):
Q: Do the Amish pay taxes? A: Self-employed Amish do not pay Social Security tax. Those employed by non-Amish employers do pay Social Security tax. The Amish do pay real estate, state and federal income taxes, county taxes, sales tax, etc. The Amish do not collect Social Security benefits, nor would they collect unemployment or welfare funds. Self sufficiency is the Amish community’s answer to government aid programs. Section 310 of the Medicare section of the Social Security act has a sub-section that permits individuals to apply for exemption from the self-employment tax if he is a member of a religious body that is conscientiously opposed to Social Security benefits but that makes reasonable provision of taking care of their own elderly or dependent members. The Amish have a long history of taking care of their own members. They do not have retirement communities or nursing homes; in most cases, each family takes care of their own, and the Amish community gives assistance as needed.
Whether Muslims could qualify for an exemption from the health insurance requirements is more difficult to define, as Islam is a much larger religion with practices that vary according to sect and region. Although Islam does have a tradition of barring conventional insurance products because they “involve an element of uncertainty, gambling and the charging of interest, which are prohibited by the Koran,” some Muslim groups make exceptions for insurance which is required by law (such as automobile insurance), and some Muslim groups do not have objections to medical insurance. Most likely, though, Muslims would not qualify for an exemption from U.S. health insurance requirements because U.S. Muslims do not have a tradition of spurning Social Security (which is viewed more as a form of caring for those who are unable to meet their own needs than as something which involves elements of uncertainty, gambling, and interest payments), and no Muslim group has ever qualified for an exemption under the guidelines which define which religious groups would be exempt from the health care law.
The PPACA does not specifically “deny special exemptions to Christians and Jews,” but it is unlikely that either of those groups would qualify for a blanket religious conscience exemption, as neither of those groups has a history of disdaining or prohibiting the use of insurance among their membership.
The bottom line is that the health insurance mandate provision of PPACA includes no specific exemptions for Muslims, and although it kicked in back in 2014, no Muslims or Muslim groups have since been exempted, or sought to be exempted, from its requirements.
Despite frequent mention of the term in Internet-circulated rumors, the word “Dhimmitude” does not appear anywhere in the PPACA, and it has no application to U.S. health care legislation. The term is a French neologism coined by adding the suffix -tude to dhimmi, an Arabic word which which literally means “protected” and has historically been used to refer to a person living in a region overrun by Muslim conquest who was accorded a protected status and allowed to retain his original faith in exchange for payment of taxes.In June, Skullkickers comes to an end with the wrap-up of our sixth and final story arc “Infinite icons of the Endless Epic”. We didn’t want this momentous occasion to go unnoticed, so we decided to do what the other comic publishers do when they want to celebrate a big story event – we bull$#@&ted a big number on the cover because we could.
Here’s the June ordering solicitation:
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SKULLKICKERS #100
story: JIM ZUB
art: EDWIN HUANG & MISTY COATS
cover: CHRIS STEVENS & ESPEN GRUNDETJERN
JUNE 24 / 40 PAGES / FC / T / $3.99
“INFINITE ICONS OF THE ENDLESS EPIC” Finale
ISSUE 100?! Hey, if other publishers can just slap any old number on a cover and call it an anniversary, then we want in on that action for our final issue.
Yup, this is the big finish. All skulls must be kicked.
Join us in sending off the series in style with a big 3-digit number and tweet with the hashtag #SK100 to let us know what happened in the 66 issues in between. The best entries get a place in Skullkickers history.
—
That’s right, we’re jumping straight to #100 to finish the series and are letting our fans fill in the 66 issue gap with the Twitter hashtag #SK100. Tell us in 140 characters a summary of what happened in an unpublished issue of Skullkickers (from #34-99) and the best ones will be listed in the back of our final issue. Anyone could be one tweet from their first Twitter comic writing credit.
So few creator-owned comics ever have an issue 100. We’re feeling quite honored to share this rarified air with Spawn, Savage Dragon, Walking Dead, and Invincible. It’s a milestone for creator-owned comics and we couldn’t do it without Image Comics and our dedicated fanbase.HERSHEY, PA – Washington Capital Tom Poti stands during warm-ups on January 13, 2013 before playing his first game in two years (Tim Stough – Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
January 12, 2011. That was the last time Tom Poti was on the ice playing in a hockey game. Poti has had a loitering groin problems and at one point, a fractured pelvis. “It was awesome,” Poti said after Hershey’s 5-0 win against the Connecticut Whale. “It’s good to have some fun again and play some hockey.”
During the injury, Poti and Capitals General Manager George McPhee thought the vet d-man would never play again, but Poti has made the comeback. “There was always an outside chance I would never play hockey again. It’s pretty special to get out there on the ice.”
And that comeback was a big one. Poti would score a goal on the power play for Hershey, his first AHL one ever and his first since November 26th, 2011. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been on the power play actually. It was nice to get out there on the man advantage. (Almeida) made a nice play down low and I was able to put it home.”
Mark French said there is no time table for Poti, but liked his efforts tonight. “I thought he was a consummate professional on how he managed his game. I thought he was very efficient; he avoided contact, you could see his over all skill level.”
“It felt a little bit weird,” said the 35-year-old defenseman. “It was exciting. I was happy driving up here to be able to play a game. It was fun to be out there playing hockey again.”Jess Hill: On the 19th of June last year, a desperate call for help was made from a small wooden fishing boat bound for Christmas Island.
Caller: Please, please help me.
Dan: Okay.
Caller: Please help me...200, 200 person with me. Ship is very heavy.
Dan: Okay. Did you say there's 200 on the boat?
Caller: Yeah, yeah, that's it.
Jess Hill: The boat was grossly overcrowded with more than 200 men and boys, mostly Pakistanis and Afghans fleeing the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Ahmed: [translated] For most of us, it was our very first time on a boat in an open sea with no sight of land. Obviously it was very scary, and calling Australian authorities and seeking their help was the only thing we thought could save our lives.
Jess Hill: Over two days, they made 16 calls for help to Australian authorities. The boat was in Indonesia's search and rescue zone, so Australia's maritime safety authority transferred responsibility to its Indonesian counterpart, BASARNAS. But 32 hours after the first call was made, the man who made it—and 101 others—were dead.
George Newhouse: How can a safety authority in good conscience hand over responsibility for people's lives - for saving people's lives - to an organisation that they know is not capable of fulfilling that role?
Jess Hill: This question has been at the heart of a recent coronial inquest into the sinking of this boat, the SIEV 358, also codenamed the Kaniva.
Marco Tedeschi: I mean, I think they knew that BASARNAS can't effectively respond once the boat is sort of 30, 40 nautical miles off the coast of Indonesia. That's the reality, and we know that.
Jess Hill: In fact, off the coast of Java, from where the majority of asylum boats leave, BASARNAS, Indonesia's search and rescue agency, has a search and rescue range much shorter than that.
Rochmali: [translated] We can't rescue people too far out to sea. We can only go one to five nautical miles from shore. After that we can't do anything.
Jess Hill: Since 2001, almost 1,400 asylum seekers have drowned between Indonesia and Australia. More than 300 have drowned in the past 12 months alone. Why have so many asylum seekers drowned on their way to Australia, and could we have done more to save them?
Hello, and welcome to Background Briefing, I'm Jess Hill.
In the past few years, hundreds of unseaworthy boats have made the treacherous journey from Indonesia to Christmas Island.
When these boats run into trouble at sea, it's now common practice for asylum seekers to call Australia for help. But while Christmas Island is Australian territory, the stretch of ocean between there and Indonesia is almost entirely within Indonesia's search and rescue zone.
According to former Australian ambassador Tony Kevin, Indonesia has neither the resources nor the inclination to rescue asylum seekers at sea.
Tony Kevin: There is a lack of resources, there is a lack of bureaucratic coordination, there is even a lack of will on the part of Indonesian agencies to do anything about these boats that have left Indonesia permanently, they're not coming back. Basically Indonesia washes its hands of these boats the minute they leave port.
Jess Hill: But he reserves his strongest criticism for Australia's maritime search and rescue authority, AMSA. Tony Kevin has been an outspoken critic of Australian search and rescue authorities since 2001, when 353 asylum seekers drowned on a boat known as SIEV X.
Tony Kevin: We don't seem to be able to engage in a sustained, morally based critique of why 1,000 people have died at sea, and Australia's approaches over the last four years. I mean, that is a shocking statistic. It's shocking in the sense that many of these deaths were avoidable.
Jess Hill: Were they avoidable? Background Briefing has looked at the circumstances around four sinkings over the past two years, in which more than 400 asylum seekers drowned. What emerges is a disturbing pattern of delays, cover-ups and communication breakdowns, and questions about the adequacy of Australia's response.
The people who drowned on the SIEV 358, which sank in June 2012, weren't the only deaths that Australia could have prevented. In December 2011, an asylum seeker boat called the Barokah left the coast of Java with 250 people on board. One of them was Esmat Adine.
Esmat Adine: I couldn't even find a place to sit, I just sit in the aisle in front of the window.
Jess Hill: Esmat Adine fled Afghanistan after his work for Australian and American aid agencies made him a target for the Taliban. After arriving in Indonesia, he went to the Australian embassy to request asylum, but officials said there was nothing they could do.
So in the dead of night on December 17, 2011, Esmat Adine got on a boat. Just a few hours out of port, when it was around 40 nautical miles off the cost of Java, the boat ran into trouble.
Esmat Adine: I was just lying, I was sick, and the water touched my feet. When I opened my eyes I saw that the boat was capsized. At first I couldn't believe that our boat has sank. But I saw a toy is coming from the inside of the boat; it is coming by water. When it comes close to me, I realise that no, that was not a toy, that was a kid. That was a kid named Daniel. Daniel was with his mother, they were sitting in front of me. And after that, when I saw Daniel's body, I realised that yeah, our boat has sank, and there is no hope for us to be alive.
Jess Hill: That afternoon, a passing fishing boat found around 100 people desperately clinging to debris.
Esmat Adine: They were alive, most of them were alive. About 100 people were alive.
Jess Hill: The small fishing boat was only able to rescue 34 people. Esmat Adine was one of them. He tried to reassure those still in the water.
Esmat Adine: I shouted on them that, 'Be patient, we go now, we will bring you more boats, and they will rescue you.'
Jess Hill: That evening, Australian agencies became aware the Barokah had sunk. They notified Indonesian authorities, because the boat was in their search and rescue zone. Months later, customs officials would tell a Senate Estimates hearing that Indonesia had initially declined Australia's offer to help with the search and rescue.
But documents subsequently obtained by The Sun-Herald under freedom of information laws show that just a few hours after they learned of the sinking, BASARNAS, Indonesia's search and rescue agency, asked AMSA to coordinate the rescue response. But AMSA refused, stating that the boat was in Indonesia's search and rescue zone.
For two days, while men, women and children struggled to survive in waves up to six metres high, Indonesia and Australia did nothing. Finally, BASARNAS asked again for help. This time, AMSA agreed.
Jason Clare, the Minister for Home Affairs, went on ABC News Breakfast to talk up the government's response.
Jason Clare [archival]: We made the offer yesterday of a P3 surveillance aircraft, as well as an Armidale-class patrol boat. The Indonesians have accepted that offer. And so this morning, that patrol boat and surveillance aircraft will head into the search and rescue region.
Channel 10 News [archival]: Wild weather is hampering the frantic rescue mission for an asylum boat which sunk overnight off the Indonesian coast. Around 250 people were on board, bound for Australia.
Jess Hill: A passing coal carrier picked up another 13 people, but by the time Australian authorities reached the scene, they found no more survivors. A total of 201 people were dead.
Survivor Esmat Adine says the response from both countries was inhumane.
Esmat Adine: People are being killed, and here, two governments they compete with each other. They don't even think that their peoples are dying in the water.
Jess Hill: Six months later, AMSA handed responsibility for another asylum boat in distress to the hopelessly ill-equipped BASARNAS. This was the SIEV 358, on which 102 people drowned. As we'll hear, their deaths have been the subject of an extensive coronial inquiry.
Following this tragic incident, the Australian government made commitments to improve search and rescue coordination between the two countries. Then in April this year, asylum seekers were again left to drown as AMSA and BASARNAS failed to collaborate efficiently.
The ABC's Indonesia correspondent George Roberts explained.
George Roberts [archival]: There are various reports coming through that about 60 people are missing and that there might have been as many as 72 people on board that boat, or perhaps more, and that 14 people were plucked from the sea by fishermen.
All we've been able to find out so far, unless things have changed since late last night, AMSA wasn't helping yet or Australian authorities weren't helping yet and Indonesian hadn't launched its own search.
So, it seems to be the same kind of stand-off we had last year where Australia knew there was a problem, Indonesia was incapable of being able to help and as a result people are left in the water for hours on end.
Jess Hill: Fifty-eight people are still missing.
Then in June this year, another boat sank, this time within easy reach of Australian patrol boats. A Customs plane sighted it 28 nautical miles from Christmas Island, just four miles outside its interception zone. Approximately 55 men, women and children were seen on deck, waving at the plane.
After the event, the government claimed the boat had shown no visual signs of distress. But official documents from AMSA's Rescue Coordination Centre, released to Fairfax under freedom of information laws, showed that Customs had reported the boat as being 'dead in the water', and they had been concerned about the boat from the moment they sighted it.
Without engine power, these rickety boats commonly capsize. The official incident timeline reveals that when the boat failed to arrive at Christmas Island, the admiral in charge of Defence and Border Protection Command asked the Rescue Coordination Centre to initiate a search.
Tony Kevin: He was asking AMSA to issue a distress alert, a Pan Pan, which is one stage below a mayday. AMSA declined to do so, they said we're continuing to assess the evidence.
Jess Hill: 'If debris is sighted,' AMSA said, 'the surveillance would then move to a search and rescue phase.'
Tony Kevin: That boat subsequently disappeared. We didn't send out an interception vessel for eight hours, by which time it was after dark. We found the capsized hull floating underwater, 60 miles to the west two days later.
Jess Hill: There were no survivors. Thirteen bodies were found in the water but, controversially, Customs and Border Protection didn't retrieve them, citing other operational priorities.
Tony Kevin: We never recovered any bodies, and therefore there may never be a legal basis for a coronial inquest. What concerns me greatly now is what you might call a systemic culture of scepticism of asylum seeker distress claims, a spirit of 'we'd better wait and see what happens to this, if they're really in distress, because we know very often they're not.'
Jess Hill: AMSA strongly rejects this. However, the question of when a call for help is deemed to be a genuine distress call was at the heart of a recent colonial inquest. The inquest was into the sinking of the boat known as SIEV 358.
On June 19 last year, the SIEV 358 left the coast of Java, bound for Christmas Island. On the boat that night was 31-year old Hazara man Ahmed, who'd travelled to Indonesia from the portside city of Karachi, in Pakistan. An electric welder by trade, Ahmed had also been a volunteer social worker and a security guard at his local mosque.
Background Briefing can't use Ahmed's real name because survivors from the SIEV 358 have had their names suppressed by the coroner.
Extremist Sunni groups have openly vowed to eliminate Hazaras in Afghanistan and Pakistan. When two of Ahmed's relatives were shot, he decided to seek asylum in Australia, because it was the only country he knew of that was accepting refugees. He knew how dangerous the boat journey could be.
Ahmed: [translated] Obviously I was afraid of the boat. I had heard that many people had drowned in the sea since 2000 and that they were never found. But I had no choice but to take the boat. I couldn't see any other option.
Jess Hill: On the night of June 18, he and hundreds of other asylum seekers were driven to a beach in Java. They were told that two small boats would take them out to a big boat, anchored several kilometres offshore, which would then take them to Christmas Island.
Ahmed: [translated] Two small boats were used to transport us to the big boat. By the time we got to the beach, one boat had already gone, so we were in the second boat. When we reached the big boat, there were people already on the boat screaming and yelling us, 'Don't board this boat! It's already full!'
Jess Hill: Did you have an option to go back to the shore? Did you want to go back to the shore?
Ahmed: [translated] It was a chaotic situation, because on one side we had people on the boat screaming at us not to board, and on the other side the Indonesians were pushing us to, 'Come on, get in, hurry up, the police are going to come, come on, we have to go!'
Jess Hill: There were only enough lifejackets for around half the people on board. Ahmed managed to get his hands on one, and squeezed into a tiny spot on the deck next to some other Hazaras. The deck was so crowded, Ahmed couldn't even get up to go to the toilet.
People sitting below deck said they had to be careful where they put their feet, for fear of falling through the floor. Several hours into the journey, the SIEV 358 ran aground on a sandbank. When some Indonesian fishing boats stopped to help dislodge it, one of the crewmembers said he said he didn't think it was going to make it to Christmas Island, and hitched a ride back to the mainland.
That night, the sea turned violent.
Ahmed: [translated] That night, when rough waves began hitting the boat, I started thinking that it was really going to be very hard for us to reach Australia. As the conditions got worse, I became more and more afraid.
Jess Hill: As the boat lurched over four-metre waves, passengers had to bang pieces of timber back into place. Ahmed hung on desperately, convinced the boat was about to capsize. That night, at 7.52 pm, AMSA's Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra received the first call from the boat.
Caller: Please, please help me.
Dan: Okay.
Caller: Please help me, 200, 200 person with me. Ship is very heavy.
Dan: Okay. Did you say there's 200 on the boat?
Caller: Yeah, yeah, that's it. The weather is very…please, please help me.
Dan: Okay. Yes, sir, I'm trying to help, but I need to know where you are.
Jess Hill: The noise from the wind and the engine made the caller's broken English virtually impossible to understand.
Dan: I can't understand. Do you speak Indonesian or Arabic? What language do you speak?
Caller: Okay. No problem. Arabic, yeah, I know Arabic.
Dan: Okay. Okay. You wait. You wait. I'll get, I'll get an Arabic speaker. Okay. I'm going to put…I'm going to put you on hold. Do not hang up.
Jess Hill: Dan, the officer on shift that night, needed the caller to give him a clear GPS reading, so he put him on hold and dialled a translation service.
Automated message: Thank you for calling the Translating and Interpreting Service, TIS National. An operator will be with you shortly.
All our operators are busy at the moment.
Dan: Oh no…
Automated message: You have been placed in a queue. Please stand by…
Dan: Are you able to pick him up from that end and just keep him on the line?
[Audio: Hold music]
Tania: TIS National, this is Tania. How can I help?
Dan: G'day. My name's Dan. I'm calling from Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra. One of my colleagues spoke to you earlier about arranging an Arabic speaker?
Tania: Yes.
Dan: Yeah, we've got, we've got the person on the line. Are you able to get him on?
Tania: Yep, no worries. Have you got your client code at all for the..?
Dan: Have you got the client code at all?
Jess Hill: Dan hurriedly read out the code, and an incident number.
Tania: Okay, no worries, hold the line now, I'll call through to an interpreter for you, Dan.
Dan: Thank you.
[Audio: Hold music]
Dan: Come on.
Jess Hill: By the time the interpreter answered, the call from the boat had dropped out. It took three-and-a-half hours of broken exchanges for Dan to get a GPS reading from the boat. The coordinates revealed that the SIEV 358 was 38 nautical miles south of Indonesia.
Caller: Hello?
Dan: Sir, your…your boat, if it's broken, you need to turn back to Indonesia. You are still inside Indonesian waters. If your boat is broken, Christmas Island is a long way away. You need to go back to Indonesia.
Caller: Okay, okay, okay.
Dan: Okay, if you…are you there? Well, I sorted that out. [laughs]
Jess Hill: That's where the recording ends. The RCC contacted BASARNAS, and asked them to coordinate the search and rescue response. The communication problem was obvious.
Adrian Johnson: Rescue Coordination Centre, Adrian Johnson.
Imam: Good evening, sir.
Adrian Johnson: Yes, good morning.
Imam: Can I speak with Mr [inaudible]? From Indonesia BASARNAS.
Adrian Johnson: Oh sorry, you've rung the Rescue Coordination Centre in Australia, sir.
Imam: Yah.
Adrian Johnson: You wanted BASARNAS, did you?
Imam: Oh, no, no, no, I mean, I am from BASARNAS. My name is Imam.
Adrian Johnson: Oh, Imam, yes, go ahead Imam.
Jess Hill: Under an agreement between Australian and Indonesia, whoever receives the first distress call is obliged to respond to it, no matter where the vessel is, until the relevant agency is able to take over. But after finding out where the boat was, all AMSA did for the next 7.5 hours was press BASARNAS to take responsibility for it.
At the coronial inquest into the sinking, AMSA's director Alan Lloyd said they didn't launch a rescue response because the calls from the boat were not thought to be genuine distress calls.
Background Briefing has dramatised the exchange between Alan Lloyd and the Counsel assisting the Coroner, Marco Tedeschi. It begins with Alan Lloyd.
Alan Lloyd: RCC Australia was seeking information about the position of the boat. During the several phone calls, received information including the following: the vessel was in international waters, there were 204 male persons on board, no life jackets on board, no EPIRB, no water. The boat was old and had a lot of water. Request help, 'please help me', and that the vessel was from Indonesia.
Marco Tedeschi: Now, can I stop you there? Would that amount to a distress call or an alert call?
Alan Lloyd: In the context of the phone calls, it's what I would call the normal refugee patter. It normally takes us a number of hours to establish basic information. In fact, it can take a long time to get that basic positional 'who are you' type of information, and, of course, we listen to the context or the tone of the call. If someone's screaming down the phone at us…you know, a mayday call is quite distinct, or a distress call...
Marco Tedeschi: Yes?
Alan Lloyd:...as opposed to the provision of information. So information wise, yes, it was looking for some form of assistance. I don't classify it as a distress call.
Jess Hill: Alan Lloyd's reference to'refugee patter' surprised many in the courtroom that day, including Tony Kevin.
Tony Kevin: The statement by the AMSA chief witness that distress calls were interpreted as the normal refugee patter, that certainly sent a shiver through the whole courtroom, and the insensitivity and callousness of that statement was breathtaking. Apparently if you're an asylum seeker you're supposed to be jabbering hysterically, otherwise your call of distress will not be taken seriously.
Jess Hill: Counsel assisting the Coroner, Marco Tedeschi, asked Alan Lloyd to read on. Again, this is a re-enactment.
Alan Lloyd: The RCC received more calls from the boat at about 11.06 pm, 11.26 and 11.28 pm. The caller advised that the boat was broken on one side.
Marco Tedeschi: Can I just stop you there for a moment? Would the information that the boat was broken on one side raise concern with the Rescue Coordination Centre people taking that call?
Alan Lloyd: It was information, yes, it would be considered.
Marco Tedeschi: But would…would that be something that you wouldn't categorise as refugee patter?
Alan Lloyd: Unfortunately I would classify it as that.
Marco Tedeschi: You would classify it as refugee patter?
Alan Lloyd: Yes.
Jess Hill: The West Australian coroner, Alastair Hope, interrupted.
Alastair Hope: Well, if true, it indicated there was a possible emergency?
Alan Lloyd: Yes, Your Honour, that there was a chance. I note from the transaction it was actually the word 'little broken', as opposed to 'broken', in the RCC's records.
Jess Hill: Alan Lloyd told the court asylum seekers routinely make 'hoax' calls to the Rescue Coordination Centre, and that they generally follow a script. When he was asked to explain what would constitute a genuine distress call, he refused to say, because that was 'classified information' that would 'give away how people smugglers can manipulate the system'.
Background Briefing wrote to AMSA requesting an interview several weeks ago. At the time that request was refused. They said that as the government was operating under caretaker conventions they would be unable to participate. But at the last minute, after they learned of specific allegations being made in this program, AMSA themselves requested an interview. Unfortunately we were unable to speak to anyone from the authority's emergency response division. Mal Larsen is AMSA's general manager of corporate relations.
Mal Larsen: A key issue is to try to identify the precise problem. For instance, is it taking on water, are the engines broken, and the location of the vessel. So that's the key work we go through in the early phases when you talk about assessing a distress situation. It's finding basic information about where the vessel is.
Jess Hill: That did happen in the SIEV 358, there was 16 distress calls, there was indications that the boat was broken on one side, the boat was taking on water, it was low in the water, and that people were afraid that it would imminently capsize. That call was still judged, according to Alan Lloyd, to be a hoax.
Mal Larsen: No, that's not true, I reject that. We never thought that was a hoax.
Jess Hill: He said it was not deemed to be a genuine distress call.
Mal Larsen: The vessel was 40 miles from Indonesia, we worked with BASARNAS and they accepted coordination…
Jess Hill: But Mal Larsen, okay, clear this up for me, because Alan Lloyd made a very significant point that that boat had been assessed as not being in distress. He made reference to hoax calls that the Rescue Coordination Centre receives from refugee vessels, and then said that the calls that they had received from |
did. Just sayin.''
The white-haired gentleman, of course, is familiar to the intended audience in Arizona. He is Lute Olson, founding father and beloved patriarch of the Wildcats' basketball program.
Whatever the little zinger of an ad has done to help business for Hughes Federal Credit Union pales in comparison to what it has done to show the relationship between Miller and Olson.
Rebuilding a team under the presence of the architect can be a messy and clumsy affair. The old coach might be meddlesome, the new coach too determined to erase the past and put his stamp on the present.
Neither has happened at Arizona. Instead there is a mutual respect and kindness between Miller and Olson. And while good recruiting has been the backbone of the Wildcats' resurgence, that relationship is every bit as critical to Arizona's return to the national conversation.
The task awaiting Sean Miller at Arizona was two-pronged: Build for the present and repair some damage with the past. Christian Petersen/Getty Images
"What I understand is that Coach Olson gave 25 years of his life to this program,'' Miller said. "He built this and he's always welcome here. I want him to be viewed as the father of this program. I'm just the current caretaker.''
Humble pie is an uncommon dish on the menu of athletics these days. Too many coaches, especially young ones, believe the only way they can succeed is by pretending nothing happened before they arrived on campus.
But when Miller came to Arizona, he immediately recognized the importance of what came before him and set about restoring it.
If the relationship between the past and the present of Arizona basketball wasn't fractured four years ago, it certainly had a deep bruise. Olson's protracted departure from the program was a bungled mess. He missed all of the 2007-08 season for health reasons and assistant coach Kevin O'Neill, whose prickly personality is the antithesis of Olson's community-embracing charm, took over.
When Olson returned to the team in April 2008, he announced that O'Neill was no longer part of his staff, but that Olson would coach through 2011. Instead, the university abruptly announced his retirement in October of that year.
The next day, the university named Russ Pennell, who only a year earlier had been a radio broadcaster at Arizona State, as the interim coach.
Pennell was not retained following his one season.
Into that mess walked Miller, a blue-collar Pittsburgh guy with strong East Coast recruiting ties thrust into the middle of the wealthy retirement enclave of Arizona.
And somehow it worked.
It worked mostly because Miller recruited his tail off, establishing connections on the West Coast and convincing guys to consider the Wildcats once again; landing former USC commits Derrick Williams and Solomon Hill after Tim Floyd was fired didn't hurt.
It worked because new athletic director Greg Byrne agreed that living off the past wasn't enough, and that to succeed the program needed some spit shining. The AD has fundraised the money to upgrade the facilities and give Arizona the preferred status treatment (chartered flights, etc.) that other high-level programs commonly receive but that the Wildcats had passed on.
And it worked because Miller can coach.
But to discount the impact of Miller and Olson coming together would be a disservice to both.
Despite the stumbles on the way out the door, Olson remains a beloved fixture in Tucson. The man who brought hoops glory and a national championship to the desert is a big-name draw for any civic event, and is as adored now as when he coached.
"Sean has navigated things as well as anyone has done in a similar situation,'' Byrne said. "When I hired Rick Rodriguez, he asked me if everyone here was pulling the rope in the same direction. I said yes and that's the case with basketball.
"Any time you have a program that has the history and stature that Arizona has, there will be some people involved in making that a reality. Sean has done an incredible job in embracing all of that. And Coach Olson deserves credit, too, for embracing Sean.''
Lute Olson once again feels the welcome embrace at Arizona, a program he built. Christian Petersen/Getty Images
The old coach still knows a thing or two about the game. Ask him about this version of the Wildcats and he can break down the roster as if he just looked at game tape. He'll tell you that the team is young but should be a force by January, and that Aaron Gordon is "special, a great athlete who can really see the floor."
But he's involved without being an interloper. Olson is a regular at home games, but he amiably takes his seat with little fuss. Miller has granted Olson an open door at practice but the old coach doesn't take advantage of the offer.
"He's been as gracious as you can possibly be towards me,'' Olson said. "I try to go to practice every now and again, but I don't want to intrude. But it's nice to know that the offer is there.''
Much has been made about the Herculean task Tom Crean undertook to restore Indiana, but Miller's job was only slightly less daunting. He did not have the NCAA sting or stigma, but he had a proud program that was close to shambles -- four coaches in four years and a serious dent in what once was a pretty impenetrable armor.
Miller's willingness to publicly recognize instead of ostracize Olson, coupled with the mayhem the Wildcats had been through, bought the new coach a little time and patience with the Arizona fan base.
In his first season, 2009-10, the Wildcats failed to make the NCAA tournament, ending the nation's longest tourney streak at 25. Where once there might have been apoplexy, there was understanding of what Miller was trying to do.
A year later, the Wildcats finished 30-8 and went to the Elite Eight. Just like that, order in program and fan base was thoroughly restored.
"Any good program understands you have to honor the past, focus on the present and look to the future,'' Byrne said. "Sean has that balance.''
He officially married the past and present in May when he named Damon Stoudamire to his staff. This wasn't just a PR move. Stoudamire spent the last year at the University of Memphis and, prior to that, worked with the Memphis Grizzlies. He's a beloved former player, but he's also a coach.
That's not to say the symbolism doesn't matter.
"That's a really nice hire,'' Olson said. "That makes the connection between a guy who played for me and the current team.''
Now with the past properly feted, the present and future are starting to turn heads once again.
The annual Red-Blue Scrimmage sold out a full month before the actual event. Certainly the presence of the 1994 Final Four team -- honored for its 20th anniversary -- helped, but the real excitement is reserved for the 2013-14 Wildcats.
The overwhelming favorite to win the Pac-12, Arizona -- hot off a Sweet 16 run -- should be ranked in virtually every preseason top-10 poll.
"When I came here, there was all of this tradition and these relationships with the community,'' Miller said. "For me to act as if none of that mattered would have been foolish. If that wasn't firmly in place, it would have been hard, if not impossible, to start the process of rebuilding things here. What Coach Olson did here allowed me to do what I'm doing.''
There's another commercial that features a busy Miller on the go, showing how he can take his banking with him on his phone. In one scene he walks by a wall at the McKale Center. It's dark blue, emblazoned with the words, "A Player's Program."
Beneath it, it reads simply:
"Past. Present. Future."
It ends in the locker room with Miller checking his cell phone.
Beside him sits Olson, doing the same.
They're both wearing Arizona shirts.Satellites on Wednesday recorded 145 fire-linked hotspots over Indonesia’s main western island of Sumatra, down from 245 on Sunday, according to the country’s disaster management agency.
It’s a far cry from last year’s crisis, when thousands of forest and peatland fires raged across the archipelagic country during the extended dry season brought on by El Nino, sending toxic haze pollution billowing across the region.
But the uptick in hotspots signaled this year’s burning season may already be getting underway.
The province with the most hotspots on Wednesday, with 64, was Riau, whose vast peat swamp zones have been widely drained for palm oil and pulpwood production. The dried peat is highly flammable, and fires set by planters to clear land cheaply often spread out of control.
A cluster of hotspots also showed up in North Sumatra province, according to Global Forest Watch.
“ Most of the hotspots are a result of intentional burning. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman, Disaster Management Agency
In Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island, 43 hotspots were detected on Monday, though the number has since dropped significantly.
“Most of the hotspots are a result of intentional burning,” disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
In Riau on Monday, authorities arrested a man for using illegal slash-and-burn practices on a small plot of land, part of a joint effort by military, police and environment ministry officials to crack down on firestarters.
In neighboring Jambi province, one of the most-burned last year, police said they had transferred four cases against company executives to the attorney general’s office. The suspects are Suwaiyah binti Abdullah, an employee of the Sinar Mas conglomerate; Darmawan Eka Setia Pulungan, estate manager of PT Agro Tumbuh Gemilang Abadi; Munadi, operations chief of PT Ricky Kurniawan Kertapersada; and Iwan Worang, director of PT Dyera Hutan Lestari.
The Jambi Police are processing cases against four other companies. At a press conference last week, a police spokesman would not disclose the firms’ names.
Mursi Nauli, head of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment’s (Walhi) branch in Jambi, said the authorities should pay more attention to larger operators. “The police are only handling the small companies, not the big companies,” he said.
By Walhi’s calculations, last year’s disaster cost Jambi more than 6 trillion rupiah ($454 million). The World Bank has put the total damage to Indonesia’s economy at $16 billion.
Nauli said 70 per cent of plantation firms in Jambi lack basic firefighting equipment and infrastructure, and urged the government to perform spot checks every six months.
Singaporean volunteer group the People’s Movement to Stop Haze (PM.Haze) hopes to raise funds for a canal-blocking project in a peatland in Malaysia’s Raja Musa Forest Reserve, which has also seen haze-causing fires.
“With this canal-blocking project, we hope to bring this experience to our volunteers, while demonstrating how people in Singapore can work with our neighbours to solve this regional disaster,” PM.Haze president Tan Yi Han said.
This story is published with permission from Mongabay.The Arsenal Collection is now just over a month old, and we already have over 1,000 followers on Social Media, and have had over 10,000 views on this website, an achievement we are immensely proud of.
By now, hopefully most of you will have at least an idea of what we are about, but we thought we would give you a better idea of exactly what we are trying to achieve with The Arsenal Collection.
The collection so far already includes over 200 match programmes, including all home match programmes from 1954-55, 1967-68, the double winning season of 1970-71, and George Graham's first season in charge - 1986-87.
The programmes currently on the site range from 1913-14 to 1997-98.
As well as this, we have a number of rare items of Arsenal memorabilia including the architects plans for Highbury from 1913, and an agreement to sign Harry Pearson in 1904!
The collection so far, however, is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what we want to achieve. When we first set out in creating the website, we anticipated that to get near where we wanted to be would be at least a two year job working on it full time, so when you consider what we have achieved so far while working on the site in our spare time, that should give you some idea of the size of the project we are undertaking.
Our ultimate aim is to produce a huge online museum of Arsenal history, including a large number of rare items that are not currently easy to access in the public domain.
This will mean that The Arsenal Collection will be one of the largest, if not the largest, and most accessible online archives for those that wish to learn more about the history of our great club, be it for a professional, educational or simply a leisurely interest.
We have a lot of exciting plans for moving the site forward, and are happy to listen to any ideas for the site that you may have as an Arsenal supporter, or someone who has an interest in the history of the game.
If you have any ideas, thoughts or feedback, then please feel free to add your comments on this page, or you can Contact Us here.
Andy, Mark and DarrenStraight from the paddock, we give you an all-encompassing account of all the action from the race weekend, plus compelling interviews with the sport’s star names and regular features we hope you’ll grow to love.
The Brazilian Grand Prix was a dramatic thriller, as rain threatened to turn the race on its head. Adam Cooper’s race analysis is a must read for the full story behind the crashes, chaos and Max Verstappen’s stellar charge.
In Issue #2 we also have exclusive interviews with Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean and his team boss Guenther Steiner.
GP Gazette is free for a trial period only, so make sure you check it out and let us know what you think by emailing us at mailbag@motorsport.com.
Check out the second issue of GP Gazette below, or click here.Janina Gavankar knows how to make an entrance: accompanied by a retinue of fully armoured Stormtroopers marching to the Imperial anthem.
Such was her introduction to gamers around the world at Electronic Arts' E3 news briefing earlier this year to announce the next blockbuster Star Wars video game.
"I am Janina Gavankar," she boomed, "and I play Commander Iden Versio in Star Wars Battlefront II." Her black dress was accented with the same military markings that denote her character's elite trooper status.
She remained as stern as her in-game character for a few segments then broke into a smile, thanking her mom in the audience and gushing at finally being able to talk publicly about the role of a lifetime.
The actor, whose previous credits include television's True Blood and Sleepy Hollow, has a charismatic, easygoing stage presence that instantly made her a favourite among gamers and the enthusiast press. "Please let her host everything [at E3] next year," wrote Polygon's Ben Kuchera.
'It has been a very loud week'
Fast-forward to the week before Battlefront II's release, and the wider narrative has gotten more complicated.
Fans erupted with discontent at its in-game economy, locking major characters like Darth Vader behind a tedious progression system, as well as its loot crates that randomize in-game rewards and, many argued, pushed players toward paying real money for rewards rather than earning them through gameplay.
As the lead character in the single-player story, Gavankar's involvement in the controversy was tangential. But that didn't stop any tweet about her promotional appearances from being buried in responses about loot crates instead.
"It has been a very loud week for my cellphone. Any time there has been a change... as we've gone through the process of this launch, it's like my phone just starts vibrating and it won't stop. So I know something big has happened," Gavankar told CBC News of the lead-up to release.
Gavankar's character Iden Versio is an elite commander in Star Wars Battlefront II's story mode. (DICE/Electronic Arts)
"This is what it's like to be a part of, ostensibly, the most anticipated game of the year. And it has been exciting to be a part of it, in every way."
Gavankar, who is of South Asian descent, joins an increasingly gender- and background-diverse cast of leads in the new era of Star Wars, including Daisy Ridley, Felicity Jones and John Boyega.
"It's crazy. I'm so thankful that Lucasfilm and EA – and Disney, quite frankly – would choose to put a person of colour in the protagonist's spot of a Star Wars story. You know, growing up I didn't dream of this, because I didn't think it was possible. And it just means everything to me."
It's an improbable culmination for an actor and self-professed mega-geek who, growing up, wasn't allowed to watch television or movies in the first place.
"Growing up, I had a strict upbringing.… I was playing piano and percussion and studying classical voice," said Gavankar. "And so I missed a lot of pop culture references."
Gamers voiced discontent about Star Wars Battlefront II when they learned that players could pay real money to gain a competitive advantage in the game. (DICE/Electronic Arts)
That all ended in high school when a friend introduced her to Star Wars, and she was immediately captivated by the opening crawl accompanied by John Williams' orchestral score.
"I was suddenly like, 'Oh, this was what I was missing.' And of course I was forever changed."
Gavankar to Hollywood: take games seriously
She likewise became a passionate fan of video games when she started playing in 2007 – a banner year for games releases that included all-time classics such as Bioshock, Assassin's Creed and Portal.
Since then Gavankar has loudly proselytized the games industry among her peers in Hollywood, many of whom wouldn't give the medium a second thought.
"Imagine making a movie, except a hundred times harder. That's what making a video game is," she said.
"Every interview I do, I get to talk about the games industry as a whole, and what it takes to make a video game. And how I'm actually quite a small part of what it took to make this game. I get to represent something that is so much bigger than me, and I'm very proud to be able to do it, and I'm very proud to be a part of bridging the gap between mainstream coverage of video games."
Gavankar appears with her Inferno Squad helmet at San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2017. (Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb)
Over the months-long promotion tour for the game, Gavankar proved herself equally comfortable chatting on the set of Good Morning America or talking about the minutiae of the games industry with hardcore gamer haunts like Kinda Funny Games.
It's a delicate needle to thread. Even in promotional segments like Conan O'Brien's Clueless Gamer, the realm of the nerdy is still the butt of jokes more often than not.
"I think that the perception of the demographic that makes up gamers is skewed," she said. "Gamers are savvy, gamers are passionate, and I think gamers in general are talked down to and misrepresented in mainstream media. I myself am one, so I can tell you we come in many forms."
Gavankar said she's able to turn heads when she brings up the undeniably huge numbers the triple-A sector of games can boast: budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars, hundreds-strong development teams and revenue in the tens of billions.
"They're just starting to take the games industry as seriously as they should," she said of many in the pop culture industry and mainstream press.
"But that's OK, because quite honestly, the games industry doesn't need the mainstream media to pay attention. They will exist with or without it, just like they have thus far."The Chargers might have another shot at building the downtown home they’ve always dreamed of.
The San Diego Convention Corp. backed out of a deal to expand the city’s famous bayside center this week, according to U-T San Diego. It could be the death knell for convention expansion and open the door wide open for the Chargers to build a downtown stadium.
Per reports, a six-acre plot of land behind the current center is causing all the issues.
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If the deal falls through, there’s a plan in place for a new Chargers home already waiting. JMI Realty, the same company which developed Petco Park, put forth this $1.4 million stadium plan last year. They proposed building east of the Padres’ stadium and adding convention area space too.
The city reportedly did not warm up to that plan. Chargers and city officials have centered their efforts around the Bolts’ current home in Mission Valley. This new revelation, though, could shift that focus again.
(h/t U-T San Diego)In The New York Times Book Review, Molly Ball reviews Al Franken’s “Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.” Ball writes:
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More interesting than Franken’s political points is his description of the value of humor as a force for bringing people together. He devotes a lot of space to his friendly relationships with Senate Republicans, from the cranky Kansan Pat Roberts to Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, “the funniest Republican in the Senate.” (Informed that Franken is taking a vacation in Puerto Rico, Graham deadpans, “Do two fund-raisers: one with the folks for statehood, one with the folks against statehood. They never talk to each other.”) He’s found common ground with such staunch conservatives as David Vitter of Louisiana, considers the present attorney general, Jeff Sessions, a personal friend and once wrote a country song with the Utah senator Orrin Hatch. He’s made McConnell laugh out loud: “Try to imagine what that looks and sounds like! You can’t!” After years of railing against George W. Bush while he was in office, Franken even manages to share a laugh with the former president when they run into each other. Maybe, he implies, we’d all be better off if we could dial back the partisan outrage and learn to take a joke.
On this week’s podcast, Franken discusses his new book; Thomas E. Ricks talks about “Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom”; Dav Pilkey on the movie adaptation of “Captain Underpants” and more; Alexandra Alter has news from the literary world; and Gregory Cowles, Parul Sehgal and John Williams on what people are reading. Pamela Paul is the host.
Here are the books mentioned in this week’s “What We’re Reading”:
“The Poetics of Space” by Gaston Bachelard
“Latecomers” by Anita Brookner
“World War I and America” edited by A. Scott Berg
“Great Expectations” by Robert Gottlieb
We would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.
How do I listen? Two ways
From a desktop or laptop, you can listen by pressing play on the button above.
Or if you’re on a mobile device, the instructions below will help you find and subscribe to the series.This is going to sound like an indictment of Carmelo Anthony, and that’s not the intention.
Anthony is a remarkable scorer and, yes, a winner.
But anyone who thinks the New York Knicks shouldn’t trade him has never heard of the Denver Nuggets.
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The Knicks have basically been a non-factor with Anthony. Even when Amar’e Stoudemire was healthy they didn’t really scare anybody.
During the Anthony era, the best thing the Knicks have done is entertain. There’s something to be said for that, but it’s not exactly why they made the deal with the Nuggets in 2011.
Instead, the Knicks wanted to compete for a championship. After a 41-point home loss to the Boston Celtics, about the only thing they’re in contention for today is NBA’s Biggest Disaster.
Now, the Knicks say they aren’t gonna trade Anthony. Well why not?
It sure worked for the Nuggets. They sent Anthony to the Knicks at the 2010-11 trading deadline. The very next year, the Nuggets finished second in the Northwest Division. They did the same last season — and cruised to a franchise-best record (57-25) to boot.
Since trading Anthony, the Nuggets have been better than the Knicks, and more fun to watch, without the drama.
The Knicks? They’ve played OK lately, but after getting blasted by the Celtics, does it even matter? Things are only getting worse.
So they should trade Carmelo while they can.
As you know, Anthony can opt of his contract and become a free agent at season’s end. He’s indicated that is precisely what he’ll do. The Knicks run the risk of losing him for nothing.
He’ll also be 30 years old in May. His days of being a No. 1 option are coming to a close. Maybe not now, but in two or three short years.
League executive seem to think the Knicks could receive a handsome return for Anthony. Plenty of teams would be happy to rent him for the season to put people in the seats. Others could try to steal him for a playoff push. A deal, including one involving a third or fourth team, can always be made.
The Knicks could clear space under the salary-cap, keep an eye on the future, and maybe even improve the here and now. In the process, they could free themselves from any summer free-agency fuss.
The Nuggets already proved this can work.
It could work for the Knicks, too — provided management acts wisely. If not, barring a turnaround, the front office is probably gonna get blown up anyway.
Carmelo Anthony is not the source of the Knicks’ problems. But he could, and probably should, be part of the solution.
Kings ransom
Say this much about new Sacramento Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro: He’s trying.
Less than two weeks after obtaining forward Derrick Williams from the Minnesota Timberwolves (for forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute), the Kings nabbed forward Rudy Gay from the Toronto Raptors.
The Kings are sending guard Grievis Vasquez, swingman John Salmons and forwards Chuck Hayes and Patrick Patterson to the Raptors. Along with Gay, they’ll receive center Aaron Gray and forward Quincy Acy.
But Gay is the center of this deal. He and the Raptors were said to be at odds. The Raptors sure weren’t exactly winning a bunch with him.
It will be interesting to see Gay with the Kings, though. With younger players such as standout center DeMarcus Cousins and Williams, Gay provides a veteran presence and a shot-maker at crunch time. It also means Isaiah Thomas will move into the starting point guard spot, with rookie Ben McLemore joining him in the backcourt.
Mike Malone is highly respected as the coach, and suddenly, the Kings have something cool on which to build.
Bottom line: D’Alessandro has turned a dismal atmosphere into one with promise. And he’s done it in a short amount of time while managing to keep Cousins on the roster.
Better days, it finally seems, are looming for the Kings. It ought to be fun getting there, too.
Double Dribbles
• Don’t look now, but here come the Dallas Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki is still Dirk Nowitzki, and Monta Ellis is doing everything the Mavs hoped to get from O.J. Mayo (now with the Milwaukee Bucks) last season. Ellis even hit a game-winner at the buzzer to beat the red-hot Portland Trail Blazers on the Blazers’ home floor. The Mavs are recent champions who understand what it takes and have some pieces. Don’t rule them out.
• The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the teams linked to Houston Rockets center Omer Asik, who reportedly is about to be moved. One league executive told FOX Sports Ohio not to rule out the Celtics or Milwaukee Bucks, either.
• The Rockets would certainly have to take back salary in any deal involving Asik (two years at more than $21 million), but it’s pretty obvious they’d like a draft pick or two as well.
• Multiple league sources have said the Oklahoma City Thunder are willing to deal second-year guard Jeremy Lamb if they can find a more experienced (and consistent) player to come off the bench. Lamb has already been traded once — from the Rockets as part of the James Harden deal before last season.
Twitter: @SamAmicoFSO(Image: Bullfrog Films)Shift Change brings you behind the scenes of some of the most exciting cooperative successes in Europe and the United States. This is a movement that’s creating jobs, strengthening communities and showing that another economy is possible. It’s a movement that’s taking off – and Shift Change is the way to understand what’s happening.
– Sarah Van Gelder, YES! Magazine
Shift Change is a timely documentary about the growing cooperative movement. In the last two years, Truthout has posted many articles on the efforts to achieve economic democracy through worker ownership. Shift Change offers an energizing look at the workings of the giant cooperative model, Mondragon, in Basque, Spain. The film also covers strong US-based worker-owned enterprises that prove the investor Wall Street model of business is not necessary to a successful company.
You can order Shift Change from Bullfrog Films by clicking here.
Mark Karlin: You and your documentary partner, Melissa Young, have completed more than 20 documentaries covering progressive issues, like the threat to unions, the dangers of biotechnology ill-applied, international grassroots environmental activism, and more. What, at this time, brought you to the topic of cooperatives as featured in Shift Change?
Mark Dworkin: In our documentary work together we look at political and social issues not only to rehash what is wrong, but also to offer realistic ideas about what might be done about it. In 2002 we were in Argentina at the height of their economic crisis, and in hundreds of workplaces which had closed, workers took over the company, went back to work, and made a go of it. These examples made quite an impression on us, and we featured their stories in two films – Argentina – Hope in Hard Times and Argentina Turning Around. In 2010 at the US Social Forum, a friend suggested it was time for a new film about Mondragon – and that we ought to make it, since our Argentina films show we understand the potential for worker co-ops, and we have a lot of experience filming in Spanish-speaking countries. He was able to help us find start-up money, and we went for it. We quickly realized we should include the stories of several co-ops in the US, so our audience would not get the mistaken idea that worker co-ops cannot succeed here.
Mark Karlin: A good chunk of Shift Change explores the mother of all cooperatives, Mondragon, in Basque Spain. Can you explain the history and current structure of Mondragon, as well as its size?
Mark Dworkin: The Mondragon cooperatives began in the difficult years following the Spanish Civil War. Spain had a dictator who had a grudge against Basque country, because the Basques had opposed his violent rise to power. Left to themselves to rebuild from the war and create a viable economic future, people in Basque country were willing to try something new. Inspired by a visionary priest, they started a technical school that emphasized Christian principles of cooperation. Five graduates of that school who went on to get engineering degrees, set up the first industrial cooperative, soon followed by others, always with an eye to the future development of their region. Now, more than a half-century later, there are 85,000 workers in 120 independent cooperatives, working together for the common good. They do $25 billion worth of business a year. They have their own bank and one of Spain’s largest supermarket chains. They make appliances, machine tools, computer equipment, and compete successfully in the global economy.
Mark Karlin: Spain is one of the southern European Community countries struggling with unemployment. How does Mondragon strategically deal with a global economic downturn in terms of unemployment at the cooperative?
Mark Dworkin: One of the challenges faced by all cooperative business is that they have to survive in the larger economic system, over which they have little control. Nonetheless, cooperatives in Mondragon and in the US are faring better in the current crisis than other, similar sized businesses. When sales and profits are down, they don’t just close the doors. People take a hard look and try to figure out what they can do to make things better. Generally some of the co-ops are doing better than others, depending on the industry in which they operate. So each year Mondragon co-ops that are profitable pay into a “rainy day fund,” and co-ops that are going through hard times are able to withdraw funds to help them out. In co-ops where business is slow, the members can often find temporary work in co-ops that are doing better. And since workers own and manage the company, they may agree to reduce their pay on a temporary basis until business picks up again. That way nobody has to lose their job.
Mark Karlin: Tell us a bit about the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland. How would Evergreen play out as a model for other cities?
Mark Dworkin: The Evergreen Cooperatives take much of their inspiration from Mondragon. They are a wonderful example of business, labor, local government and civic foundations working together to re-develop their region. Rather than offer large sums of government and foundation money to private companies to move to Cleveland – only to have them move somewhere else a few years later – they decided to use those funds to start new businesses, based in the inner city, which are owned and managed by their employees. And they made strategic partnerships with major local institutions, such as Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic to buy the products and services that these cooperative businesses would offer. Many other cities are sending delegations to Cleveland to study the Evergreen model with an eye to adopting the idea – though in each case the best products and services will depend on the needs of each city and the resources it can leverage. Local anchor institution partners would depend on local conditions, but the idea of business, labor, community, and government working together for the common good can take hold anywhere.
Mark Karlin: The United Steel Workers (USW) launched a relationship with Mondragon not too long ago. How is that working out? Has anything come of it at this point? Does the USW plan to challenge the traditional capitalist management and profit model?
Mark Dworkin: The USW/Mondragon collaboration has a number of pilot ventures just getting off the ground in Ohio and Pennsylvania. And other unions are interested too. It is a relatively new idea for organized labor to begin building businesses, and they have a lot of people watching, so they are taking care to make their first ventures a shining success. Unlike in the Mondragon Cooperatives, which are not unionized, the worker owners of these new union co-ops will be union members. And while the companies will be professionally managed, the managers will be under democratic supervision by the workers, where the union helps represent the needs and desires of the rank and file. Like Mondragon, these companies will emphasize not just short-term profit but also long-term job creation and sustainability.
Mark Karlin: Cynics argue that American workers have been conditioned to the managerial profit-making system and are resistant to the cooperative concept. How do your respond to that perception?
Mark Dworkin: I agree that we learn from an early age to navigate hierarchical social structures, and we have lots of practice competing, though little practice cooperating. So we have a lot to learn in order to make cooperatives a success. But I think many people are willing to make the effort. We have participatory instincts that are stifled in the dominant economy. I remember one friend who lit up when I told him that in worker cooperatives, people are encouraged to put forward their ideas about how to make the company better. That’s sure different, he said; everywhere I have ever worked you’re best off if you keep your head down and your mouth shut. So I wouldn’t say that workers are resistant to cooperation, but rather our cooperative instincts are suppressed and trained out of us. To help overcome this, all of the co-ops we visited place a high priority on initial training and ongoing leadership development of their members.
Mark Karlin: Truthout has been excerpting Gar Alperovitz’s book, America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty and Our Democracy. How are cooperatives representative of economic models of democracy?
Mark Dworkin: Gar Alperovitz and The Democracy Collaborative that he helped to found are key designers of the Evergreen Cooperatives, and I have enormous respect for Gar’s thinking and his work. One thing that the Democracy Collaborative talks about is how we are proud to live in a democracy, yet when we go to work, most people in the US have to check their democracy at the door. Cooperative companies are run democratically in terms of their day-to-day operations, and economic democracy in their home region is enhanced, because strategic decisions with long-term consequences for the region are made democratically by people who live and work there, and share a commitment to future sustainability.
Mark Karlin: Do you see evidence that the cooperative movement is gaining momentum in the United States?
Mark Dworkin: Cooperatives are taking off, especially in the last few years when economic conditions have been desperate and more people have been willing to think outside of the box. But it doesn’t mean they will all succeed. Such change doesn’t happen overnight. New cooperatives like other new businesses need a sound business strategy and plan, and they need the commitment and capital to keep going for the first few years as the business gets off the ground. But with the enthusiasm we have seen, we are optimistic. We’ve even heard reports that after viewing Shift Change people decided to try to form new co-ops or convert existing businesses to cooperatives.
Mark Karlin: How does democracy in the workplace, through worker ownership, have an impact on political democracy?
Mark Dworkin: Millions of people have become disenchanted with our political democracy, because they don’t see how to get involved constructively and it is so hard to get things done. But when given the experience of running a business democratically, people develop their ideas and abilities and feel energized. We’ve heard numerous stories of co-op worker/owners gaining confidence in their thinking and becoming more involved in social movements and civic affairs. Worker cooperatives are living laboratories of democracy, and democracy is contagious – it cannot help but spill over from the job to life outside of work.
Mark Karlin: In 2012, You and Melissa Young also completed a documentary, We Are Not Ghosts, on the community-based effort to |
Kyle Kirchmeier and other law-enforcement officials confronted protesters at their new camp Wednesday, requesting that the demonstrators remove their roadblock on Highway 1806 and their camp on private property.
The protesters refused.
“Protesters’ escalated unlawful behavior this weekend of trespassing onto private property and establishing an encampment has forced law enforcement to respond,” Kirchmeier said in a news release. “I can’t stress it enough, this is a public safety issue. We can not have protesters blocking county roads, blocking state highways, or trespassing on private property.”
Roy Murphy, 22, of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, has been at the Standing Rock encampment since Aug. 22 and says he is staying “until the pipeline is defeated.” His tent, shared with two others, is winterized.
Roy Murphy, of the Muckleshoot tribe, on why he is protesting with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. (Alan Berner / The Seattle Times)
Update, 6:15 a.m.:
For the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, the battle over the Dakota Access Pipeline recalls a bitter history the tribe does not want repeated.
“We want to protect our land, and we want to protect our water,” said Dave Archambault II, tribal chairman. “Our concerns and interests don’t matter and this is how we have been treated for over 150 years.”
Once roaming the Great Plains, living in teepees and hunting buffalo, the Sioux leaders such as Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse are household names. Their bloodiest battles are too: Wounded Knee. Custer’s Last Stand.
The history of the Sioux people and the United States is one of broken promises and seizing land for white settlement, gold mining and development. Those lands were reserved for the Indians’ sole use, in peace treaties that were supposed to be the highest law of the land.
Read more about how the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has lost ancestral lands in broken treaties and in theft.Although it make take some time yet to form a government in Iraq, Friday may have been a turning point. If so, it was a turning point in which Iran won decisively and managed to rebuild a Shiite fundamentalist coalition led by incumbent PM Nuri al-Maliki that, in partnership with the Kurds, could dominate Baghdad for the next four years.
This development would forestall Washington’s earlier plans to try to shoehorn into power the anti-Iranian ex-Baathist Iyad Allawi and his largely Sunni-supported Iraqiya party. In recent weeks, since the advent of a new US ambassador in Baghdad and a new commanding general, there have been rumors that the Obama administration had decided to support incumbent Nuri al-Maliki and to give up on any hope of installing Allawi or giving him control over Iraq’s security forces, which had been Washington’s first preference. Al-Maliki at the same time garnered the support of Iran and of Syria, though these may have each been independent decisions.
On Thursday, September 30, the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat [The Middle East] had reported that (h/t to USG Open Source Center for the translation):
‘ Another source has stressed that: “the Iranian pressure exerted on Muqtada al-Sadr has reached its peak.” He added: “This has caused the [Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq] under the leadership of Ammar al-Hakim to threaten to withdraw from the [National Iraqi Alliance] and turn to the Al-Iraqiyah List and the Kurdistan Alliance to form a new alliance.” He told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that [ISCI] and Al-Iraqiyah List leaders held a meeting to discuss this issue yesterday. He pointed out that the meeting was held at the same time when Al-Sadr was making telephone calls to the leader of the Al-Iraqiyah List and Mas’ud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). He said that, in his calls, Al-Sadr hinted at the possibility of supporting Al-Maliki. ‘
Al-Watan says that the Iraqiya list charged that a Da`wa envoy, Abd al-Halim al-Zuhairi, visited Qom in Iran recently and hammered out an agreement with Muqtada. Al-Maliki is said to have agreed to act less high-handedly this time. The Mahdi Army and the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haqq paramilitaries would be rehabilitated and given places in the government security forces. Sadrist leaders would be released from prison. The Sadrists would get significant cabinet seats. The Sadrists denied the charges by the Iraqiya.
The pan-Arab London daily Al-Hayat [Life] reports today in Arabic that a party congress of the (Shiite fundamentalist) National Iraqi Alliance was held Friday in yet another attempt to resolve the longest-running hung parliament in the history of Westminster-type parliaments. A preparatory meeting was held beforehand in which incumbent Nuri al-Maliki of the Islamic Mission Party (Da`wa) met with Hadi al-Ameri of the Badr Organization and Muhsin al-Hakim, brother of Ammar al-Hakim (leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq). They attempted to convince Ammar to attend the Friday congress, but failed.
So the National Iraqi Alliance meeting was held on Friday. All 159 party delegates did not attend, however, with those representing ISCI boycotting. So too did those belonging to the Fadila or Islamic Virtue Party. It is not clear if any other parties or individuals boycotted, but most Arabic press accounts say it was just those two. In parliamentary terms, the NAI has 70 seats, with ISCI holding 10 and Fadila 6.
The NAI delegates in attendance chose Nuri al-Maliki as their candidate for prime minister in a startling about-face, since the Sadrists had earlier been largely against al-Maliki. (PM al-Maliki launched a military attack in spring of 2008 on the Sadrist Mahdi Army paramilitary in Basra, Nasiriya and East Baghdad, over which there had until recently at least been hard feelings).
Al-Maliki needs 163 MPs to form a government. It appears to me that he picked up 40 Sadrists and 8 Badr Organization MPs, and it may also be that he got the 5 independents. That is, he may have gained as many as 53 seats.
Al-Maliki’s own State of Law coalition, led by Da`wa, has 89 seats. He may now have 142. Were the Kurdistan Alliance, with 43 seats, to join a State of Law/ NAI alliance, the resulting bloc would have 184, a comfortable majority. Although the president has to be elected by a two-thirds majority on the first ballot, that requirement falls to a majority on the second ballot. Al-Maliki plus the Kurds can therefore now choose the president. The president then will ask the bloc with the largest number of seats to form a government. The Iraqi supreme court has ruled that the largest bloc can be one formed after the election, so a State of Law/ NAI alliance would be eligible under this interpretation of the constitution.
Even if al-Maliki only picked up the Sadrists and the Badr Organization, he would have 180 if the Kurdistan Alliance went with him. And it should be noted that there are a few other small parties in parliament (including reformist Kurds and Muslim fundamentalist Kurds) that might support al-Maliki, strengthening his bloc.
Would the Kurdistan Alliance go with al-Maliki? Absolutely. They are seeking a formal agreement about the future division of powers between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan confederacy with its capital in Irbil. They also want a referendum held in Kirkuk Province about whether it will join the Kurdistan Regional Government (which absorbed and erased the lines between the three former provinces of Dohuk, Sulaymaniya and Irbil.
The Kurdistan government recently sent a delegation to all three of the more prominent candidates for prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, Iyad Allawi and Adil Abdul Mahdi.
In an interview with journalist Raghidah Dergham in al-Hayat on Sept. 29 (h/t USG Open Source Center for the translation), outgoing Iraqi president Jalal Talibani (also a Kurdish leader) said:
‘ (Dargham) Is it impossible to sidestep Al-Maliki? (Talabani) Sidestepping Al-Maliki is not easy at this moment. First, Al-Maliki has a large bloc of 89 seats, and his position is closer to the Kurdistan card than any other. This is in accordance with the report brought by the Kurdistan delegation to the Kurdistan parliament. Moreover, there is a strong rumor that the Sadrists will support Al-Maliki. If they support Al-Maliki, this means that he cannot be ignored. But nothing is certain to date.’
So Talibani was putting his money pretty explicitly on al-Maliki already before the NAI vote, and was signalling that al-Maliki was perfectly acceptable to the Kurds. Other KA officials have also spoken of their preference for al-Maliki. (Iyad Allawi of the Iraqiya is backed by the Sunni Arabs of Mosul and Kirkuk, who have a feud with the Kurds).
A Shiite-Kurdish alliance would replicate the outcomes of the January, 2005 and December, 2005 parliamentary elections that set the stage for a Sunni-Shiite civil war in 2006-2007. Iyad Allawi of the Iraqiya list, for which some 80 percent of Sunni Arabs voted, has vocally pledged not to join any government headed by al-Maliki. If the Sunni Arabs of Iraq feel that the Shiites and Kurds have cut them out of the deal yet again, those grievances could fuel terrorism. My impression from field work is that the Iraqi Sunnis are disheartened and don’t have the stomach for another civil war. But small cells are already engaging in significant terrorism, and that could increase unless Sunnis are brought into the government.
Ironies abound in Friday’s developments. Ammar al-Hakim and his Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq had earlier been the closest political grouping to Iran, but it is now the one bucking Tehran’s plans for Iraq (though I imagine it will fold if al-Maliki’s ascendancy seems assured). ISCI had put forward its own candidate for prime minister, Adil Abdul Mahdi, whom the Sadrists had some weeks ago said they would support, but whom they have now abandoned.
The Sadrist movement of Muqtada al-Sadr in contrast had tended to be Iraqi nativist and somewhat anti-Iranian, but its leader is now studying in the Iranian seminary city of Qom and has acquiesced in Iranian pressure to support al-Maliki. It was Gen. David Petraeus who put so much pressure on Sadr in 2007 that he fled to Iran, so the US inadvertently delivered Muqtada into Iranian hands and heavy influence.
The one element in the story that makes perfect sense is the way the Badr Organization peeled away from its parent, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. The latter is a political organization. The former began as its paramilitary, and from the late 1980s it carried out guerrilla operations against Baath targets, crossing from Iran where it was based. Badr began running for seats in parliament in 2005. During its years in exile in Iran it was more or less a wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, and it is rumored that some Badr officers are still on the Iranian payroll. So as a sort of extension of the IRGC (though of course it has become more Iraq-centric since 2003), Badr was the most likely Shiite Iraqi grouping to take orders from Tehran (presumably via IRGC Quds Brigade commander Qasim Sulaimani). A further irony is that the US considers the IRGC a deadly enemy but is quite cozy with the Badr Organization.
All in all, Friday’s developments seem highly likely to pave the way for a second term as prime minister for Nuri al-Maliki. He and his coalition partners will be more beholden to Iran than ever, and if I were the US Department of the Treasury I wouldn’t expect much Iraqi help with those sanctions on Iranian banks.
Game, set, match to Iran.Image copyright EPA Image caption Residents were evacuated as ash rained down on towns near the Calbuco volcano
Residents and emergency workers in southern Chile have been clearing ash that rained down on towns after an eruption of the Calbuco volcano.
The volcano, which had been dormant for four decades, erupted on Wednesday, sending a plume of smoke and ash 10km (6 miles) into the sky.
Authorities evacuated people living within a 21km (13 mile) radius.
Road workers used lorries to plough through the ash, which lay up to a metre (3ft) deep in some places.
As the massive ash cloud drifted south, emergency workers handed out protective masks in a wide area including parts of Chile and Argentina.
Image copyright EPA Image caption A child's bicycle sits in ash in a garden in Ensenada
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Flower petals covered in ash in the in the Patagonian Argentine area of San Martin de Los Andes.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Houses in Ensenada blanketed in ash
Image copyright AFP Image caption A resident in Ensenada takes a break from shovelling ash from the roof of this house
Image copyright Reuters Image caption A man cries at a shelter after his home collapsed under the weight of ash.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Volunteers dig out a fire truck which got stuck in the ash
Image copyright AP Image caption Leaves sit under a carpet of ash in Villa La Angostura, southern Argentina
The first eruption on Wednesday evening lasted about 90 minutes and send a huge mushroom cloud of ash into the sky.
Seven hours later the volcano erupted again, this time shooting lava into the air and generating volcanic lightning.
There have been no reports of deaths or injuries.The Nazi Origins of the Olympic Torch Relay & Five Rings
A few articles on the Nazi background & origins of the Olympic torch relay and the 5 ring logo. One note of interest is that the 1936 Berlin Olympic torches were made by the German industrial giant Krupp, a major arms manufacturer. For 2010, Bombardier, the second largest military contractor in Canada, will be producing the Olympic torches.
Rings, torch have ties to Hitler's Nazi propaganda
Cincinnati Enquirer | August 17 2004
ATHENS, Greece - The most beloved emblems of the modern Olympics have a decidedly dark past.
The torch relay that culminates in the ceremonial lighting of the flame at Olympic stadium was ordered by Adolf Hitler, who tried to turn the 1936 Berlin Games into a celebration of the Third Reich.
And it was Hitler's Nazi propaganda machine that popularized the five interlocking rings as the symbol of the Games.
Today, both are universally recognized icons of the Olympics. But historians say neither had much, if anything, to do with the Games born centuries ago in Ancient Olympia.
"The torch relay is so ingrained in the modern choreography that most people today assume it was a revival of a pagan tradition - unaware that it was actually concocted for Hitler's Games in Berlin," author Tony Perrottet writes in a new book, The Naked Olympics.
A sacred flame did burn 24 hours a day at Olympia. And relay racers passed a torch to light a sacrificial cauldron at some other ancient festivals. But the ancient Greeks opened their Olympics by word of mouth, sending heralds - not torchbearers - running through the streets.
The modern tradition of spiriting the Olympic torch to the main stadium didn't become a fixture of the Games until 1936, when a 12-day run opened the Games in Berlin.
The Olympic rings, another universally recognized symbol of the games since they made their debut in 1920 at Antwerp, Belgium, have their own Nazi connection.
Originally, they were designed in 1913 by Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the IOC and father of the modern Olympic movement, for a 1914 World Olympic Congress in Paris. They were supposed to symbolize the first five Olympics, but the congress disbanded when Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo, triggering World War I.
Leni Riefenstahl, the Olympia filmmaker who also chronicled Hitler's rise to power, had the rings carved into a stone altar at the ancient Greek city of Delphi, spawning the myth that they were a symbol dating more than two millennia.
With Hitler's influence, the rings became part of the Nazi pageantry at Berlin - and they've come to symbolize the Olympics ever since.
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Hitler's Contribution to Olympic Pageantry
By Tony Perrottet
Mr. Perrottet is the author of The Naked Olympics(Random House).
Just how theatrical were the ancient opening ceremonies on the morning of day one? It's hard not to let our imaginations run riot, blurring Hollywood movies and the pseudoclassical kitsch of our own lavish Olympics rituals. The torch relay, for example, is so ingrained in the modern choreography that most people today assume it was a revival of a pagan tradition—unaware that it was actually concocted for Hitler's Games in Berlin.
The Nazis knew a good propaganda symbol when they saw one. At noon on July 20, 1936, two weeks before the start of the Berlin Games, a Greek “high priestess” and fourteen girls wearing classical robes gathered in the ancient Stadium of Olympia, and used parabolic mirrors to focus the sun's rays on a wand until it burst into flame. As a torch was kindled, a chant went up— “Oh fire, lit in an ancient and sacred place, begin your race”— followed by a ceremony where one of Pindar's Pythian odes was sung to ancient instruments. The so-called Olympic flame was then carried by 3,075 relay runners from Greece, passed from magnesium torch to torch (each one bearing the logo of the German arms manufacturer Krupp), until it finally lit a colossal brazier in the Berlin stadium before the Führer's approving gaze.
In fact, this ceremony never occurred at the ancient Olympics. The modern conception is a mishmash of two quite different pagan traditions that Berlin's masterminds—in particular, Dr. Carl Diem, a leading German scholar who became head of the organizing committee—had brilliantly reworked. Olympia, like all ancient Greek and Roman sanctuaries, did have its own eternal flame, which was kept burning for Hestia, goddess of the hearth, in a building called the Prytaneion, or “Magistrate's House.” It was used to light all the sacrificial fires at altars throughout the sanctuary. And some other ancient Greek cities did have a lampadedromia, or torch race, as part of their local festivals. At Athens, for example, young men wearing nothing but a diadem hung over their foreheads would race in relay teams from the port of Piraeus south of the city to the Acropolis, trying to keep a baton made of flaming reeds from the narthex plant alight until they reached the altar of Prometheus. It must have made a hypnotic sight from the Parthenon, watching the flames weaving like fireflies through the dark streets below. But no torch lighting, relay races, or other pyrotechnic shows ever made their appearance at the ancient Olympic Games.
The “revived” 1936 torch race perfectly fit the Nazi design for the Olympics as a showcase for the New Germany. With its aura of ancient mysticism, the rite linked Nazism to the civilized glories of classical Greece, which the Reich's academics were arguing had been an Aryan wonderland. (They were particularly fond of the macho, warlike Spartans—Hitler was even inexplicably convinced that the peasant soup of Schleswig-Holstein was a descendant of Spartan black broth, a famously austere staple fed to the men in communal messes as they underwent their brutal training.) Hitler took considerable personal interest in the ritual, and pumped funds into its promotion: The Nazi propaganda machine covered the torch relay slavishly, broadcast radio reports from every step of the route, and filled the Games with the iconography of ancient Greek athletics. Afterward, the ceremony became permanently embedded in the popular imagination in part due to Leni Riefenstahl's documentary of the Nazi Games, Olympia, which evocatively showed a Greek runner treading the gentle beaches of the Aegean at dusk.
Ironically, considering its repellent origins, the torch race has come to symbolize international brotherhood today, and remains a centerpiece of our own pomp-filled Olympic opening ceremonies. (The most popular part of any Games, they are perennially sold out in advance.) Even more strangely, the mock-pagan ritual is still carried out in Greece. Every four years, local teenage girls gather at the temple of Hera at Olympia dressed in faux-pagan regalia—they even use parabolic mirrors to focus the sun's rays—while runners transmit the flame across the globe, sometimes by airplane, boat, scuba, or camel-back, to each new Olympic stadium. Every summer, the German archaeologists now working at Olympia are peeved to distraction by the hundreds of tourists asking them every day to point out the site of this “ancient” torch-lighting ceremony.
http://www.infowars.com/print/misc/rings_torch.htm
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The Olympic torch's shadowy past
By Chris Bowlby, BBC News
The Olympic torch is being welcomed this weekend in the UK as a symbol of the sporting spirit, uniting people around the world in peaceful competition.
But the idea of lighting the torch at the ancient Olympian site in Greece and then running it through different countries has much darker origins.
It was invented in its modern form by the organisers of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
And it was planned with immense care by the Nazi leadership to project the image of the Third Reich as a modern, economically dynamic state with growing international influence.
The organiser of the 1936 Olympics, Carl Diem, wanted an event linking the modern Olympics to the ancient.
The idea chimed perfectly with the Nazi belief that classical Greece was an Aryan forerunner of the modern German Reich.
And the event blended perfectly the perversion of history with publicity for contemporary German power.
The first torch was lit in Greece with the help of mirrors made by the German company Zeiss.
Steel-clad magnesium torches to carry the flame were specially produced by the Ruhr-based industrial giant Krupp.
Media coverage was masterminded by Nazi propaganda chief Josef Goebbels, using the latest techniques and technology.
Dramatic regular radio coverage of the torch's progress kept up the excitement, and Leni Riefenstahl filmed it to create powerful images.
Beijing relay
The route the torch takes has always been a matter of careful political planning too.
This year's route has already proved highly controversial.
Beijing wanted to take the torch through Taiwan's capital, Taipei, but this had to be changed by Olympic authorities due to political tensions between the Chinese and Taiwanese leaders.
And there is now great tension over plans to run the torch through Tibet after recent disturbances there.
In 1936 the torch made its way from Greece to Berlin through countries in south-eastern and central Europe where the Nazis were especially keen to enhance their influence.
Given what happened a few years later that route seems especially poignant now.
"Sporting chivalrous contest," Hitler declared just before the torch was lit, "helps knit the bonds of peace between nations. Therefore may the Olympic flame never expire."
Yet the flame's arrival in Vienna prompted major pro-Nazi demonstrations, helping pave the way for the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria, in 1938.
In Hungary gypsy musicians who serenaded the flame faced within a few years deportation to Nazi death camps.
Other countries on the relay route like Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia would soon be invaded by Germans equipped not with Krupp torches but with Krupp munitions.
And Carl Diem, the relay's inventor, ended the war as fanatical military commander at the Olympic stadium in Berlin, refusing to accept that the Third Reich was over.
Sparta
Reinhard Appel, a teenage member of the Hitler Youth based at the stadium, described to me a speech made by Diem in 1945 as the Red Army closed in.
"He kept referring to Sparta - the history of how the Spartans had not feared dying for their country. He demanded that we be heroes."
Hundreds of the youngsters were killed in a futile attempt to defend the stadium.
Diem however survived, and reinvented himself after the war as an academic specialising in the philosophy of sport.
Germans are still debating his reputation today.
In 1936 itself there was no doubt that the spectacle of his torch relay was judged a great international success.
As a suitably Aryan-looking German athlete carried the torch into the stadium in Berlin the BBC radio commentator was deeply impressed: "He's a fair young man in white shorts, he's beautifully made, a very fine sight as an athlete."
Another relay runner was Siegfried Eifrig, who had carried the torch as it arrived in the centre of Berlin.
Flanked by huge swastika flags, he then lit a fire on an altar - typical of the pseudo-religious symbolism Nazism relished.
Eifrig is still alive, aged 98, and still has his Krupp torch engraved with the route of the 1936 relay. But he told me this week that he was saddened by the controversy this year's relay has attracted, as it ought to be kept a "purely sporting" affair.
And he is critical of the way the politicians always seek to exploit it, seeing the plan to take the torch across the summit of Mount Everest as a "pointless gesture" that makes a nonsense of the relay as an athletic challenge.
Having survived the war as a soldier and then a British prisoner of war, he now sees the 1936 relay in a more sober light than when he was one of its stars.
No matter how great the emphasis on the torch as a bright sporting symbol, he knows better than most that, amid the political wrangling and media hype, less welcome historical ghosts are running alongside.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7330949.stmThe San Francisco 49ers will look to wrap up their general manager and head coach search processes this weekend when they meet with Kyle Shanahan, George Paton, and Terry McDonough in Atlanta. If the 49ers do not get things sorted out at the GM position, the team will need to re-open their search process. And one particular name has popped up a couple times now.
CBS Sports NFL reporter Jason La Canfora tweeted that there has been a, “[l]ot of scuttlebutt among personnel guys at the Senior Bowl that ex-Tampa GM Mark Dominik could end up with the 49ers.”
We take La Canfora with a grain of salt at times, as he sometimes throws some stuff against the wall. However, this is not the first time Dominik’s name has been mentioned in connection with the 49ers. Sometime last week, Pro Football Talk suggested him as a potential candidate if the 49ers open the process up (I can’t find the link). Additionally, it sounds like FOX Sports mentioned him as a potential candidate. I think in both instances it was primarily as an option if the need arose.
It is also worth noting that Dominik works for ESPN. This does not mean he is unqualified, but I imagine he knows how this game is played. Maybe there is legitimate discussion about Dominik, but I wonder if this is potentially Dominik trying to make sure the 49ers are aware he would be interested.
The 49ers have some experienced options available if things don’t work out with Paton or McDonough. Dominik has experience, and of course, Scott Pioli remains an option, particularly in light of the Falcons connection with Shanahan. At this point though, I’m just hoping the 49ers get this figured out rather than be sent running in circles trying to find a GM. Paton and McDonough seem to be eminently qualified candidates, so hopefully this gets handled this weekend.PATRIOTS are angry that more young Australians know the chorus of the Daft Punk song Get Lucky than the whole national anthem.
A survey of more than 1000 people aged 18 to 29 revealed 84 per cent could sing the chorus of the hit, featuring Pharrell Williams.
Only 71 per cent of young people surveyed could recite Advance Australia Fair’s second verse correctly.
Media personality Sam Kekovich said he was not surprised by the lack of patriotism shown by young Australians.
“Australia needs to come front and square. It’s imperative we sing the national anthem at schools,” Mr Kekovich said.
“We need to remind young people what the national anthem is about and remembering the sacrifices that Australians have made.”
Other findings from the online survey, commissioned by whiskey brand Jack Daniel’s, reveal more about what Aussies think about the stars and one-hit wonders of the music industry.
Overwhelmingly, 81 per cent of young Aussies believe that possessing musical talent is significant in being a musician.
Only 1 per cent of those surveyed thought wearing less clothing as a musician was more important.
In 2006, then-NSW Premier Morris Iemma announced that all the state’s government schools would be required to play the national anthem at assemblies to reinforce “Australian values” at school level.
Advance Australia Fair became our national anthem after a referendum in 1977.
The song, written by Scotsman Peter Dodds McCormick, won by 43 per cent of the vote.Image caption Glenn Mulcaire was jailed in 2007 after admitting intercepting voicemails
A man arrested as part of Scotland Yard's inquiry into phone hacking is Glenn Mulcaire, the BBC understands.
He was held on suspicion of conspiracy to hack voicemail messages and perverting the course of justice.
The private investigator was arrested on Wednesday morning and held at a London police station but later bailed.
The Met Police's Operation Weeting is investigating hacking of mobile phone voicemails of public figures by the now-defunct News of the World paper.
The phone-hacking investigation is working its way through about 300 million emails from News International.
Operation Weeting is looking into phone hacking, computer misuse is being investigated by Operation Tuleta and corruption falls under the remit of Operation Elveden.
Mr Mulcaire is the 20th person to be arrested as part of the police's investigations into phone hacking, computer misuse and corruption. He was released on bail to a date in late March pending further investigation, police said.
All but one of the 20 remain under investigation.
Mr Mulcaire was jailed for six months in January 2007 after admitting intercepting voicemails on phones belonging to aides of the Royal Family, including messages left by Prince William.
He was also convicted of intercepting messages of public figures including publicist Max Clifford, Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes and the model, Elle MacPherson.
In July this year, Mr Mulcaire issued a statement through his lawyers apologising to those "hurt and affected" by his actions.
The statement said that having been employed by the News of the World as a private investigator from 2002 he had "acted on the instructions of others".
Last month, in an another statement issued by his lawyer, Mr Mulcaire said he did not delete messages on a mobile phone belonging to the murdered schoolgirl, Milly Dowler and "had no reason to do so".
Earlier, Scotland Yard said a 41-year-old man had been arrested in London in connection with phone hacking and perverting the course of justice.
Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson are among those who have already been arrested as part of the inquiry.
The scandal has led Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Assistant Commissioner John Yates to resign, and the NoW to close down after 168 years.
Operation Weeting is now investigating claims of more widespread phone hacking.
Some 1,800 people have come forward to express fears that they may have been hacked.Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Researchers have found a gene in mice that regulates alcohol consumption, which when mutated could lead to excessive drinking.
A group of researchers from five UK universities studied how mice with a mutation to the Gabrb1 gene led to an overwhelming preference to alcohol over water.
Mice with the mutation consumed alcohol for nearly 85 percent of their daily liquid, while those without the mutation showed no particular preference between water and diluted alcohol.
"We are continuing our work to establish whether the gene has a similar influence in humans, though we know that in people alcoholism is much more complicated as environmental factors come into play," said joint lead author Dr. Quentin Anstee, Consultant Hepatologist at Newcastle University.
RELATED Synthetic alcohol pill lets you get drunk without the hangover
Despite those additional factors, Anstee says "there is the real potential for this to guide development of better treatments for alcoholism in the future." The group's findings are published in Nature Communications.
One of the teams, led by Professor Howard Thomas from Imperial College London, set out to introduce genetic mutations into mice and check for changes in alcohol preference. This led them to identify the Gabrb1 gene as the one responsible.
Mice with that mutated gene would consistently work to obtain alcohol over water and would within an hour be inebriated and have trouble coordinating their movements.
"Alcohol addiction places a huge burden on the individual, their family and wider society. There's still a great deal we don't understand about how and why consumption progresses into addiction, but the results of this long-running project suggest that, in some individuals, there may be a genetic component," said Hugh Perry, chair of the Medical Research Council's Neurosciences and Mental Health Board.
[Imperial College London] [Nature Communications]
RELATED Chest pain may not be a reliable indicator of heart attacks in womenNick Clegg has appeared to row back from a proposal for a tycoon tax built round a minimum tax rate.
Clegg had said he was attracted by Barack Obama's idea of a tycoon tax in which the rich are required to pay a proportion of their income in tax. President Obama has made the Buffett rule – mandating that millionaires pay at least 30% of their incomes in taxes – the centrepiece of his campaign for "fairness", including in his state of the union address last month.
But in a speech to the Liberal Democrat spring conference on Sunday, Clegg made no reference to a minimum tax for the rich, saying more broadly: "We will call time on the tycoon tax dodgers and make sure everyone pays a fair level of tax."
Lord Oakeshott, the wealthy Liberal Democrat peer and close ally of the business secretary, Vince Cable, had described Clegg's proposal as "a superficially attractive measure that falls apart under scrutiny and does nothing to do with the super rich non-doms and non-residents".
Clegg took a swipe at Oakeshott in his speech, claiming "the only person who argues against a tycoon tax is one of our very own tycoons". The infighting reflects tensions over the viability of the proposal and the way in which it was sprung on colleagues.
Cable and his ally Lord Newby have been pressing for a mansion tax, as well as measures to hit pension tax relief in the upcoming budget, regarding them as better ways of raising the cash needed to fund an increase in personal tax allowance. Newby, who led a party tax commission, was dubious that a tycoon tax would not just see millionaires redefining income as capital.
Clegg's aides had briefed that Oakeshott was isolated and predicted that Cable would issue a statement in support of the plan. Instead, he said: "I have not seen the details of the proposals so I cannot give you a very informed comment. The idea is an interesting one."
Danny Alexander, the treasury chief secretary, was more enthusiastic, saying a tycoon tax "is one of a number of ideas that we have as a party. I think it's a very interesting and good idea. It's one that could really help to ensure the thing that we all need to do as a country, which is to make sure that the wealthiest of this country pay their fair share of tax."
The row obliterated some of the broader tax messages in Clegg's speech. He promised: "We will call time on the tycoon tax dodgers and make sure everyone pays a fair level of tax. Too often, rather than paying their dues the wealthy pay their accountants to get them out of it. Avoiding tax, minimising the amount they have to contribute – that's the name of their game. Boasting about the latest wheeze for moving an asset here, a property there and a loophole everywhere. All to make the tax bill lower."
He added: "Few things make me angrier as the unemployed struggle to find work, as ordinary families struggle to make ends meet, as young people struggle to get on the housing ladder: the sight of the wealthiest scheming to keep their tax bill down to the bare minimum is frankly disgraceful. Multimillionaires avoiding tax by moving their money around."
He hinted that he was opposed to seeing the top 50p rate for those earning more than £150,000 abolished in the budget, saying: "The last big tax-cutting budget was in 1988. Nigel Lawson cut billions from the tax bills of the highest-paid workers: a budget for the few, not for the many.
"But this year's coalition budget must be a budget for fairness – not an 80s Lawson budget but a modern liberal budget."
He also directed his fire at the chancellor, George Osborne, for suggesting in his conference speech that there was a choice between being green and backing growth. Clegg said: "What a load of rubbish. Going for growth means going green. The race is on to lead the world in clean energy. The new economic powerhouses – China, India, Brazil – are competing.
"So the choice for the UK is simple: wake up, or end up playing catch up. Going green is not a luxury for the good times. It is the best road out of the bad times.
"Our party is the green party of government. We have always been a green party. And let me tell you this: we always will be a green party because we need an economy fit for the future to pull us out of this economic downturn."DALLAS -- Even though Americans like watching football far more than any other sport, they don't necessarily want a longer NFL season.
An Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll released Thursday shows only lukewarm backing at best for a switch from 16 to 18 regular-season games, one of the NFL's key -- and easiest-to-understand -- proposals in its labor negotiations with the players' union.
Of everyone |
counsel — and in violation of the rules and regulations. There’s no crime. Special counsel rules and regs require that a special counsel be named and his charge include a specific crime to investigate. There isn’t a crime here. This is a fishing expedition, and there are no limits on Mueller. There are no financial limits.
There’s no limit on the number of investigators he can hire, and there’s no time limit on the guy. And all of this courtesy of Rod Rosenstein, Donald Trump’s deputy attorney general, running the place in place of Sessions who has recused himself. So it starts out as an investigation into Trump-Russia collusion because everybody needed to find a political reason why Hillary lost. Remember, she was gonna win in a landslide. Everybody thought so, even at 8 o’clock on election night.
And then that didn’t happen, so they had to come up with a way to explain all that. And the collusion between Trump and Russia was… You know, that was hatched in Hillary’s camp. That book about the Hillary campaign made it clear, and so once Trump wins, and now Trump has the DOJ. Trump runs the Department of Justice. This uranium thing… I really do think that the real collusion out there happened long before Trump came along.
And it has to do with this whole uranium deal brokered with the Clinton Foundation in the middle. Bill Clinton getting some money out of the deal, the Russians pending with 20% of Americans’ uranium supply, and a lot of people involved the investigation have fingerprints on it. So let’s go some of these other headlines. “Hopes Dim for Congressional Russia Inquiries as Parties Clash.” Now, the collusion investigation hasn’t slowed down.
The Trump collusion investigation is not showing any fruit, and so the New York Times here is saying that, well, the parties are clashing, they’re not cooperating. Hopes are dimming for any results. Are you telling me that Pencil Neck Schiff, Adam Schiff, is gonna not get to the bottom of this just because the Republicans aren’t going along with it? What a crock. The reason why hopes are dimming is because there isn’t any evidence.
Headline number two: “Senate Probe…” i.e., Senate investigation. When you say “probe,” people think of a, you know, long pointy thing that you might check the prostate with or some such thing, or a probe into deep space to analyze moon dust, something like that. But this is an investigation. The word “probe” can confuse depending on who you are. You hear the word “probe,” and some people it might actually scare.
So “Senate [Investigation] Asks Whether Robert Mueller Alerted Obama Administration to Russian Bribery Scheme.” This is in Breitbart. “The Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into the 2010 sale of U.S. uranium to Russia under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and whether then-FBI Director Robert Mueller alerted the Obama administration about its investigation into Russians involved in the deal, according to Newsweek.” This is in Newsweek! A left-wing rag if there ever was one.
“The FBI in 2009 had begun an investigation into corruption and extortion by senior officials of Tenex, a subsidiary of Russian nuclear company Rosatom, The Hill revealed last week. … Court filings showed that Rosatom was aware of the bribery scheme by Tenex head Vadim Mikerin, who pled guilty in 2014 to orchestrating more than $2 million in bribe payments, through accounts in Cyprus, Latvia, and Switzerland.
“Despite the existence of the FBI investigation into Tenex, a Rosatom subsidiary, the Obama administration [nevertheless] allowed the sale of Uranium One, a Canadian-based company with U.S. uranium assets, to Rosatom. [Hillary] Clinton and then-Attorney General Eric Holder presided over the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) that approved the deal,” and we are supposed to believe that neither the attorney general who was in charge of the probe nor Hillary, who was in charge of the State Department green lighting it would have been told about it?
They had to know about it This is collusion. Twenty percent of U.S. uranium. Now, what this opening paragraph that I read doesn’t mention is that the Clinton Foundation and Bill Clinton are involved in this, reaping financial rewards as a result of the movement of this uranium. Here is another headline: “FBI Watched, Then Acted as Russian Spy Moved Closer to Hillary Clinton.” This is John Solomon at TheHill.com, and this story is from yesterday.
“As Hillary Clinton was beginning her job as [secretary of state], federal agents observed as multiple arms of Vladimir Putin’s machine unleashed an influence campaign designed to win access to the [Hillary], her husband Bill Clinton and members of their inner circle, according to interviews and once-sealed FBI records. A female Russian spy posing as an American accountant, for instance, used a false identity to burrow her way into the employ of a major Democratic donor in hopes of gaining intelligence on Hillary Clinton’s [State] department, records show.
“The spy was arrested and deported as she moved closer to getting inside State, agents said. Other activities were perfectly legal and sitting in plain view, such as when a subsidiary of Russia’s state-controlled nuclear energy company hired a Washington firm to lobby the Obama administration.” Now, look, this story is long, and Solomon is a very detailed reporter, and I’m not gonna go through the whole thing because it’d be in the weeds.
But it involved news aspects to Russia and the Clintons. What’s happening is there are people who are uncovering things on the Clintons and Obama and Putin every day. While everybody’s waiting with bated breath for the smoking gun that Trump and Putin and the Russians colluded, what’s happening is that news is being uncovered on the Clintons and Obama and this transfer of uranium and other acts of collusion.
When I read this, I had a question. I don’t know why Russia went to all this trouble to infiltrate the Hillary State Department because she made all of her emails easy to access on her server. So why bother with the spies unless they thought they couldn’t trust what they were seeing in her emails. Andy McCarthy had the definitive piece on this that ran Saturday. “The Obama Administration’s Uranium One Scandal.” I’m telling you, as I go through all of this, I can’t help but ask — and I don’t really know.
I can’t help but ask — because Podesta and Weisman (who’s one of Mueller’s investigators) and Rosenstein have all got fingerprints on this to one degree or another — if one of the things, if part of this Mueller information isn’t to try and cover up some of this stuff. They were never worried about any of this. If Hillary had been elected nobody would have ever known. Nobody would have been the wiser. It would never have been a big deal even if it had surfaced. But she wasn’t elected, and now the DOJ is Donald Trump’s.
You might say it boiled down to Jeff Sessions. This is not… He didn’t recuse himself from this, if he wants to look into this.
And this has some, perhaps, bombshells in it.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: All right, folks. We’ve got an audio sound bite for you here. This happened yesterday. Fox News, America News Headquarters, Leland Vittert speaking to Ron DeSantis, Republican Congressman of Florida, about the investigation into the sale of the American uranium company to the Russians. Here’s the question: “So many Republicans on the committee. There’s a lot of frustration on the committee. They don’t have a lot of faith in the chairman. Things aren’t getting done. A lot of times folks cannot initiate the statements the way you have and not much happens. What’s the promise of the fol…?”
It’s kind of a convoluted question, but the answer will explain the point here.
DESANTIS: I’ve spoken with Chairman Gowdy. He believes this is an important issue, and he’s indicated to me that he’s supportive of what we’re doing. So I think that you are gonna see action. You’re right, though. Last Congress we in the Oversight Committee wanted to investigate the foundation and all the other payments involving the Clintons, and we were not allowed to do that by the leadership of the House for whatever reason. Well, now I think that this information is so explosive that there’s no way you can justify not getting all the information on this. Remember, we have three Russia investigations about Trump and Russia. There’s not been any evidence of collusion. Here’s there’s a lot of evidence, and this stuff needs to be vetted thoroughly.
RUSH: Now, the point here: This is DeSantis saying that the leadership, Republican leadership shut down the Oversight Committee looking into Hillary, Obama, Mueller and uranium and all that, and he said “for whatever reason.” I’ll tell you why. They then thought Hillary was gonna win, and they don’t want typical Clinton payback after she won if they had begun an investigation into her. That’s why! That’s why they didn’t permit this investigation to go forward, because they were convinced she was gonna win and there would be blowback, payback, testicle lockboxes and everything.WA:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pet/2910292762.html
"Very impressive purebred pembroke welsh corgi male. His father was a champion and this beautiful corgi has a very nice pedigree. He is a little shy of 30 lbs. and is a tri color with no miss-marks. He has gone through 2 obedience classes graduating both his puppy and intermediate classes. He was flown in from a wonderful breeder in Missouri and has been with us ever since.
He has one problem and one problem only. He does not like other dogs. Not at all. We know that given his breeding and training, he has all the potential to get over this but we have 3 small children and not a lot of time to work with him on this. He is up to date on all of his vaccines and is neutered.
If you are interested, please email with any questions and some information about yourself as well.
MAKE AN OFFER FOR THE RE-HOMING FEE. WILL CONSIDER REASONABLE OFFERS."
TX:
http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/pet/2921264938.html
"Two sweet 7 month old corgi girls. Fullblooded but no papers. Tails r done. Weigh around 15 pounds each. Not fixed. Sable and white. $100 each if u take both or the are $150 each. 254-205-156"
AZ:
http://tucson.craigslist.org/pet/2920899553.html
"I'm in the military and I'm set to deploy in May. I have a beautiful 8 month old, male welsh corgi named Benji. I need to find this little guy a perminent place to call home, and with a good family. He is up to date on all his shots/vaccinations, but still needs to be nuetred if desired. I'd like for him to go to a family with kids, he has a lot of energy and loves to play. He does however needs to take some training classes. Since I'm in the military I hardly have any time to spend with him, hence why he needs extra attention in the obedience department. He sleeps in his crate at night. He still has accidents in the house, thats my fault though since I live a busy life I havent had enough time to dedicate to him. He has a lot of potential to be a great dog, he just needs a family that is willing to spend the time to do so. Before I decide on a home for Benji, I would like to know a few things about you and your family. I will NOT give him to just anyone, I love him very much and want to make sure he will be well taken care of for the rest of his life. Please email me if you are interested in Benji."Gerald Caplan is an Africa scholar, a former New Democratic Party national director and a regular panelist on CBC's Power & Politics.
Only in America would Bernie Sanders be regarded as an extremist – more precisely, as the extreme left-wing equivalent of Trump and Cruz. So Bernie ( as he's universally known) is not likely to be the Democratic candidate, let alone the next president. Anyway, if he somehow fluked a win he'd be driven out in a month. Maybe less. A crying shame, but an American reality. As New York Times columnist Tom Friedman put it, Bernie is "the far left," while Trump and Cruz are "the far right."
Mr. Friedman goes further and describes Sanders as a socialist whose ideas "died in 1989." Hello? Wasn't 1989 the dissolution of the USSR and the death of Soviet-style communism? Not only does Mr. Friedman malign Sanders by comparing him with "borderline fascists" like Trump and Cruz (Friedman's words), he seems not to understand the difference between socialism and communism.
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Mr. Friedman's characterization is par for the course – three so-called radicals or extremists at both ends of the spectrum. On Politico.com, a psychologist narrows it to two: "The most startling thing about the 2016 presidential race has been the rise of two strident populists, Donald Trump on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left." Both of them, it suggests, are pretty well equally nuts. Trump himself calls Sanders a "communist."
There is a word for this analysis, and the word is ignorant. It's true all three men are on the outskirts of the American political spectrum, but that says far more about the fringiness of American political culture today than Bernie's ideology. After all, the remaining GOP candidates, most of them crackpots, are now considered mainstream, even moderates.
But Bernie really is. At least he would be in Canada, where he'd be just a mainstream member of the NDP. If he calls himself a democratic socialist rather than a social democrat, it's probably because not a dozen Americans have a clue what social democracy might mean. In the U.K., he'd likely be in the moderate anti-Jeremy Corbyn wing of the Labour party. In Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Spain, all the Nordic countries, he'd be a middle-of-the-road member of existing social democratic parties. He'd be enthusiastically embraced by tens of millions of people.
Across the rich world, only in the United States is Bernie Sanders seen as some kind of extremist of the left. It shows just how dangerously far to the radical right America's political culture has moved.
Sanders situates himself four-square within the tradition of American reformers like Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In the view of many historians, FDR, president through most of the Great Depression of the 1930s, saved American capitalism from its capitalists.
Nor does Sanders embrace such once-classic, now-abandoned left-wing nostrums such as the nationalization of industries. "I don't believe government should take over the grocery store down the street or own the means of production," he told students at Georgetown University. "But I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a decent standard of living and that their incomes should go up, not down." Throw in a couple of "hard-workings" here and there, and Comrade Bernie could jump right into the middle of Justin Trudeau's Liberal party.
Nowhere are the absurd limits of American politics better exposed than when Sanders is bitterly pummelled for supporting something really far-out, even near-Bolshevik – a Canadian-style public health system.
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Last October, a voter challenged Bernie. "I come from a generation where [socialism] is a pretty radical term – we think of socialism [with] communism. Can you explain to us exactly what that is?" Bernie: "If we go to some countries, what they will have is health care for all as a right. I believe in that. They will have paid family and medical leave. I believe in that. They will have a much stronger childcare system than we have, which is affordable for working families. I believe in that."
"What I mean by democratic socialism," Bernie explained, "is looking at countries in Scandinavia that have much lower rates of child poverty, that have a fairer tax system that guarantees basic necessities of life to working people. Essentially what I mean by that is creating a government that works for working families, rather than the kind of government we have today, which is largely owned and controlled by wealthy individuals and large corporations."
Whatever you call Bernie's vision, bring it on! It's what every civilized society should provide its citizens as a right. It's what the NDP has long stood for.
Last month in California I met several Americans who proudly displayed their Bernie badges. I envied them having Bernie. He feels his socialist convictions with a passion badly missing in Canada these days. Watching him and Hillary debate, Bernie's unabashed, egalitarian ardour and zeal had me jumping from my chair and cheering. I'd follow him anywhere. No wonder American millennials adore and trust him.
Yet the excitement he's been generating regularly across the U.S. was never once triggered by the NDP during all those election months last year. New Democrats await their Bernie still.Georgia Bill to Ban and Confiscate Guns
Georgia Democrats have introduced legislation that would make the possession and sale of “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines” a felony offense that would necessitate seizure by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Georgia HB-731, sponsored by Democrats Mary Margaret Oliver, Carolyn Hugley, Pat Gardiner, Stacey Abrams, Dar’shun Kendrick and Dee Dawkins-Haiglerwas, was unveiled Jan. 11. On Oliver’s website the bill is touted as a “debate [that] Georgia needs…about these weapons which are only used for rapidly killing people. Assault weapons are not necessary for deer hunting.”
In addition to banning magazines that hold more than ten rounds and a laundry list of rifles, handguns, and shotguns, the bill conspires to prohibit “armor-piercing bullets, and incendiary.50 caliber bullets,” and to “provide for enhanced penalties for the possession and use of machine guns.”
While legislator seeking to ban scary-looking firearms and magazines that hold more than ten rounds in the name of public safety is nothing new, calling for outright seizure of such weapons is a bold move. Their aim is not to cut down on crime—no one uses.50 caliber incendiary rounds for petty theft—it is to criminalize gun ownership.
See Also: Proposed California Gun Control Bill to Ban Bullet Button
Since this doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of passing—this is the state that approved of the “guns everywhere” bill two years ago—the least we can do is thank these Democrats for being partially honest: they don’t want you to have these firearms and they are willing to use the full force of government to take them from you. And, according to the bill, the punishment is severe.
“No person shall possess, distribute, transport, transfer, or sell any assault weapon,” the bill reads. “Any person who distributes, transports, or imports an assault weapon into this state shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than two nor more than ten years.”
“Any person who possesses a large capacity magazine on or after January 1, 2017, that was obtained by such person prior to July 1, 2016, shall be fined not more than $100 for a first offense and shall be guilty of a felony for any subsequent offense,” the bill reads. “Any person who possesses a large capacity magazine on or after January 1, 2017, that was obtained by such person on or after July 1, 2016, shall be guilty of a felony.”
The bill even has a provision to cover if your “assault weapon” is somehow legally owned: any person who fails to report a stolen legal assault weapon to the GBI within 72 hours “shall be fined not more than $90 for the first offense and shall be guilty of a felony for any subsequent offense.”
This is the first step toward the left openly stating that they would approve of gun seizure. Luckily, for now, Georgia has a governor and citizens that have demonstrated they will stand for gun rights.
(Editor’s note: This article was a submission from freelance writer Mike Doran)Virtually all types of ACH payments, including both credits and debits, will be eligible for same-day processing. Only international transactions (IATs) and high-value transactions above $25,000 will not be eligible. Eligible transactions account for approximately 99 percent of current ACH Network volume. All RDFIs will be required to receive same-day ACH payments, thereby giving ODFIs and Originators the certainty of being able to send same-day ACH payments to accounts at all RDFIs. RDFIs will be mandated to make funds available from same day ACH credits (such as payroll Direct Deposits) to their depositors by 5:00 PM at the RDFI’s local time. To allow financial institutions and businesses to acclimate to a faster processing environment, as well as to ease the implementation effort, these new capabilities will become effective over three phases beginning in September 2016.
Currently, most ACH payments are settled on the next business day. There are many uses of ACH payments, however, for which businesses and consumers could benefit from same-day processing. This NACHA rule change will enable ACH Originators that desire same-day processing the option to send same-day ACH transactions to accounts at any receiving financial institution (RDFI). The Rule includes a “Same Day Fee” on each Same Day ACH transaction so that RDFIs would recover, on average, their costs for enabling and supporting Same Day ACH. The Rule will enable the option for same-day ACH payments through new ACH Network functionality, without affecting existing ACH schedules and capabilities: Originating financial institutions (ODFIs) will be able to submit files of same-day ACH payments through two new clearing windows provided by the ACH Operators (Note: The actual ACH Operator schedules are not determined by the NACHA Operating Rules.):
The Rule is based on a solid foundation of economic research on the use cases for Same Day ACH. All consumers, businesses, government entities and financial institutions that use the ACH Network to move money between bank accounts will benefit from the option to move ACH payments faster.
NACHA projects that ACH Originators would generate approximately 1.4 billion same-day ACH payments annually as of ten years after full implementation and rollout, primarily for transactions that can be initiated before 2:45 PM ET on business days (not on weekends or holidays), and that do not require real-time functionality. Using an expert, third-party economist, NACHA assessed 10 primary use cases for Same Day ACH. Significant use cases for Same Day ACH include: Same-day payrolls, supporting business’ needs to pay hourly workers, and providing flexibility for late and emergency payrolls and missed deadlines; and enabling employees to have faster access to their pay in these cases; Business to-Business payments, enabling faster settlement of invoice payments between trading partners, and including remittance information with the payments; Expedited bill payments using both ACH credits and debits, enabling consumers to make on-time bill payments on due dates, and providing faster crediting for late payments; and, Account-to-account transfers, providing faster crediting for consumers who move money among various accounts they own.
The following changes to the NACHA Operating Rules became effective on September 23, 2016.
SECTION 8.99 “Same Day Entry”
An Entry, other than a debit Entry, in which the Effective Entry Date is the same Banking Day as the date on which the Entry is Transmitted by the ODFI to its ACH Operator, and that is Transmitted by the ACH Operator’s deadline for same-day processing and settlement. A Same Day Entry must be for an amount of $25,000 or less. An IAT or ENR Entry cannot be a Same Day Entry. For purposes of fulfilling its obligations under these Rules, an RDFI may rely on the Settlement Date of an Entry, regardless of the Effective Entry Date. An Entry with a stale or invalid Effective Entry Date will also be a Same Day Entry if it is Transmitted by the ODFI to its ACH Operator by the ACH Operator’s deadline for same-day processing and settlement, and is otherwise eligible for same-day processing and settlement.
SUBSECTION 2.5.7 General Rule for ENR Entries (Automated Enrollment Entry)
An ENR Entry is a Non-Monetary Entry that enrolls a Person with an agency of the United States Government that will enable Entries to such Person’s account at a Participating DFI. An ENR Entry may be originated by a Participating DFI at the request of an account holder at the Participating DFI to an agency of the United States Government that has agreed to receive the ENR Entry. An ENR Entry cannot be a Same Day Entry.
SUBSECTION 2.5.8.1 General Rule for IAT Entries
An IAT Entry is an Inbound or Outbound debit or credit Entry that is part of a payment transaction involving a Financial Agency’s office that is not located in the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. An IAT Entry cannot be a Same Day Entry.
SUBSECTION 3.1.9 RDFI May Rely on Settlement Date (new subsection)
For purposes of fulfilling its obligations under these Rules, an RDFI may rely on the Settlement Date of an Entry, regardless of the Effective Entry Date.
SUBSECTION 3.3.1.1 General Rule for Availability of Credits
For a credit Entry that is not a Same Day Entry, an RDFI must make the amount of the credit Entry received from its ACH Operator available to the Receiver for withdrawal no later than the end of the Settlement Date of the Entry, subject to its right to return the Entry under these Rules.
For a credit Same Day Entry, an RDFI must make the amount of the credit Entry available in the Receiver’s account no later than the completion of the RDFI’s processing for that Settlement Date, subject to its right to return the Entry under these Rules. An RDFI is not required to make such funds available for withdrawal on the Settlement Date.
An RDFI that reasonably suspects that a credit Entry is unauthorized is exempt from these requirements, subject to applicable Legal Requirements. An RDFI invoking such an exemption must promptly notify the ODFI.
SECTION 8.12 “Automated Enrollment Entry” or “ENR Entry” or “ENR”
A Non-Monetary Entry initiated by a Participating DFI to an agency of the Federal Government of the United States on behalf, and at the request, of an account holder at the Participating DFI to enroll in a service that will enable Entries to such Person’s account at the Participating DFI. An Automated Enrollment Entry cannot be a Same Day Entry.
SECTION 8.54 “International ACH Transaction” or “IAT Entry” or “IAT”
An Entry that is part of a payment transaction involving a Financial Agency’s office that is not located in the territorial jurisdiction of the United States. An office of a Financial Agency is involved in the payment transaction if it (a) holds an account that is credited or debited as part of the payment transaction, (b) receives payment directly from a Person or makes payment directly to a Person as part of the payment transaction, or (c) serves as an intermediary in the settlement of any part of the payment transaction. An International ACH Transaction cannot be a Same Day Entry.
SUBPART 3.2.2 Glossary of Data Elements
Company Descriptive Date: 6 Positions – Company/Batch Header Record – Optional
Same Day Entries: At its discretion, an ODFI may require an Originator to use this field to further demonstrate intent for same-day processing and settlement. ODFIs that choose to do so should use the convention “SDHHMM”, where the “SD” in positions 64-65 denotes the intent for same-day settlement, and the hours and minutes in positions 66-69 denote the desired settlement time using a 24-hour clock. When electing to use this convention, the ODFI would validate that the field contains either “SD1300” for settlement desired at 1:00 p.m. ET, or “SD1700” for settlement desired at 5:00 p.m. ET, in accordance with the settlement times offered by the ACH Operators. ACH Operators and RDFIs are not required to take any action with respect to the presence or absence of these optional same-day indicators.
Effective Entry Date: 6 Positions – Company/Batch Header Record – Required (all batches)
The Effective Entry Date is the Banking Day specified by the Originator on which it intends a batch of Entries to be settled.
For credit Entries, the Effective Entry Date must be either the same Banking Day as the Banking Day of processing by the Originating ACH Operator (the processing date) for Same Day Entries, or one or two Banking Days following the Originating ACH Operator’s processing date for other Entries.
For debit Entries, the Effective Entry Date must one Banking Day following the processing date.
A batch of Entries containing an Effective Entry Date beyond the designated number of days allowed is Rejected by the ACH Operator and returned to the ODFI.
A batch of Entries containing an Effective Entry Date that is stale (i.e., is a Banking Day that is in the past, or is the current Banking Day but is not submitted timely to an ACH Operator for same-day processing and settlement) is settled at the next available settlement opportunity.
A batch of Entries containing invalid Effective Entry Date information (for example, if the field is blank or zero, partially blank or partially non-numeric, contains an incomplete date, contains day numbers higher than 31, or contains month numbers higher than 12) is settled at the next available settlement opportunity. The Originating ACH Operator inserts the Banking Day of processing or the next Banking Day as the Effective Entry Date, whichever corresponds to the next available settlement opportunity.
ENR: For Automated Enrollment Entries, this field must be space filled. Automated Enrollment Entries cannot be Same Day Entries.
Return Entries and Notifications of Change: The ACH Operator does not edit this field.
The scheduled Settlement Date is inserted by the Receiving ACH Operator. See the definition of “Settlement Date” in this Appendix Three. Settlement Date: 3 Positions – Company/Batch Header Record – Inserted by Receiving ACH Operator (all batches)
The Settlement Date (a 3-digit Julian date) for a batch of Entries is inserted by the Receiving ACH Operator. This is the date on which the Participating DFI or its correspondent is scheduled to be debited or credited by the Federal Reserve. The Settlement Date inserted by the Receiving ACH Operator is the same as the Effective Entry Date, except as noted below. In the following situations, the Receiving ACH Operator will insert the Banking Day following the Banking Day of processing as the Settlement Date (i.e., the next Banking Day): The Effective Entry Date and the Originating ACH Operator’s processing date are the same, but the Entry is received by the Receiving ACH Operator after its deadline for same-day settlement. The Effective Entry Date and the Originating ACH Operator’s processing date are the same, but the Entry is for an amount greater than $25,000. The Effective Entry Date and the Originating ACH Operator’s processing date are the same, but the Entry bears the IAT Standard Entry Class Code. The Entry bears the ENR Standard Entry Class Code. A debit Entry contains an Effective Entry Date that is the Banking Day of processing. Entries with invalid or stale Effective Entry Dates will be settled at the next available settlement opportunity.
Return Entries, dishonored Return Entries, and contested dishonored Return Entries are settled by the ACH Operator no earlier than the Effective Entry Date contained within the original Entry, as it appears in the Return Entry Company/Batch Header Record. The return of an Entry that contains an invalid or stale Effective Entry Date will be settled by the ACH Operator at the next available settlement opportunity (i.e., the Banking Day of processing or the next Banking Day).
Notifications of Change will be settled at the next available settlement opportunity, (i.e., the Banking Day of processing or the next Banking Day).
Appendix Eight, Part 8.3 Audit Requirements for RDFIs and Third-Party Service Providers
d. Verify that, subject to the RDFI’s right of return, the amount of each credit Entry received from its ACH Operator is made available to the Receiver as required by Article Three, Subsection 3.3.1 (Availability of Credit Entries to Receivers). Verify that debit entries are not posted prior to the Settlement Date, even if the Effective Date of the Entry is different from the Settlement Date of the Entry. (Article Three, Subsections 3.3.1)
SUBPART 10.4.6.2 Responsibilities of Enforcement Panel
The ACH Rules Enforcement Panel, in accordance with these rules, is the final authority regarding each of these issues:
the imposition of any fines or penalties recommended by the National Association;
instances in which the National Association believes the time frames and Resolution Dates asserted by the respondent Participating DFI as necessary to resolve the problem causing a rules violation are excessive;
instances in which the National Association believes an ODFI, Originator or, Third-Party Sender has originated Entries without proper authorization in accordance with these Rules;
instances in which the National Association believes an ODFI, Originator, or Third-Party Sender has attempted to evade the limitations on Reinitiation;
instances in which the National Association recommends, after the inquiry process, that an ODFI be required to reduce an Originator’s or Third-Party Sender’s applicable return rate below the Administrative Return Rate Level and/or the Overall Return Rate Level;
instances in which the National Association believes an ODFI, Originator, or Third-Party Sender has attempted to evade the $25,000 per-Entry limitation on Same Day Entries. SECTION 1.12 Same Day Entry Fee (new section)
An ODFI agrees to pay a Same Day Entry fee to the respective RDFI for each Same Day Entry originated by or through the ODFI. The staff of the National Association will determine the amount of the Same Day Entry fee in accordance with the procedures set forth in Appendix Eleven (Determination and Review of Same Day Entry Fee). The National Association will arrange for a system for the collection and distribution of Same Day Entry fees.
APPENDIX ELEVEN – DETERMINATION AND REVIEW OF SAME DAY ENTRY FEE
(new section) (Note: If the effective dates of the Rule are delayed as discussed in the ballot material, all dates shown in this Appendix would be modified accordingly.)
PART 11.1 Determination of Same Day Entry Fee (new part) The staff of the National Association will determine in accordance with this Part 11.1, and revise in accordance with Part 11.2 (Revision of Same Day Entry Fee), the amount of the Same Day Entry fee. In determining the amount of the Same Day Entry fee, the staff of the National Association will apply the following principles: The Same Day Entry fee will be based on a cost study and financial analysis performed by a qualified economist. For the Same Day ACH Initial Period, the Same Day Entry fee will provide for the full recovery of the projected average RDFI investment costs and operational costs, plus a commercially reasonable rate of return, as determined by the first such cost study and financial analysis. For a Same Day ACH Renewal Period, the Same Day Entry fee will provide for the full recovery of the projected average RDFI operational costs, plus a commercially reasonable rate of return, as determined by the most recent such cost study and financial analysis. The Same Day Entry fee will take into consideration the projections of the aggregate volume of Same Day Entries over the Same Day ACH Initial Period or the Same Day ACH Renewal Period, as applicable, as determined by the cost study and financial analysis. PART 11.2 Revision of Same Day Entry Fee (new part)
Five Year Volume Review. The staff of the National Association will review the cumulative volume of Same Day Entries for the five-year period commencing on the Same Day ACH Phase Three Effective Date. If the actual cumulative volume exceeds the projected volume used to calculate the Same Day Entry fee by greater than twenty-five percent (25%), the staff of the National Association will publish a reduced Same Day Entry fee based on a table prepared by the qualified economist that will designate the appropriate Same Day Entry fee derived from the actual volume. The table will set forth reduced Same Day Entry fees at volume increments of 5% beginning at twenty-five percent (25%) in excess of the projected volume used to calculate the Same Day Entry Fee. If the cumulative volume of Same Day Entries for this period does not meet or exceed the 25% threshold, the Same Day Entry fee will remain unchanged. In no case will the Same Day Entry fee be increased as a result of this review. NACHA will publish notice of the reduced or unchanged Same Day Entry fee promptly following the completion of this review, and any such reduced Same Day Entry fee will become effective six months following publication. Eight Year Volume Review. The staff of the National Association will review the cumulative volume of Same Day Entries for the eight-year period commencing on the Same Day ACH Phase Three Effective Date. If the actual cumulative volume exceeds the projected volume used to calculate the Same Day Entry fee by greater than twenty-five percent (25%), the staff of the National Association will publish a reduced Same Day Entry fee based on a table prepared by the qualified economist that will designate the appropriate Same Day Entry fee derived from the actual volume. The table will set forth reduced Same Day Entry fees at volume increments of 5% beginning at twenty-five percent (25%) in excess of the projected volume used to calculate the Same Day Entry fee. If the cumulative volume of Same Day Entries for this period does not meet or exceed the 25% threshold, the Same Day Entry fee will remain unchanged from the amount in effect at that time. In no case will the Same Day Entry fee be increased as a result of this review. NACHA will publish notice of the reduced or unchanged Same Day Entry fee promptly following the completion of this review, and any such reduced Same Day Entry fee will become effective six months following publication. Ten Year Economic Review. Ten years after the Same Day ACH Phase Three Effective Date or a subsequent Same Day ACH Renewal Period, the staff of the National Association will engage a qualified economist to perform a cost study and financial analysis based on the principles set forth at Part 11.1 to determine: 1) actual average costs incurred by RDFIs during such period; 2) actual volumes of Same Day Entries; 3) the extent to which average RDFI costs, including a commercially reasonable rate of return, were satisfied through the Same Day Entry fee; 4) projected changes in the foregoing over a ten-year period, including each element of RDFI costs; |
Jean-Michel Fauvergue led the elite RAID unit's response to the jihadist attack on the Bataclan in Paris
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Former police commander Jean-Michel Fauvergue, tech entrepreneur Mounir Mahjoubi and mathematician Cédric Villani are among the best known LREM figures to enter the assembly
Tech entrepreneur Mounir Mahjoubi is one of the leading lights of the Macron team, and behind his impressive digital campaign
Economist Hervé Berville survived the Rwandan genocide
Paris barrister Laetitia Avia has been active in projects in sub-Saharan Africa
Other LREM deputies include éclair entrepreneur Brigitte Liso, organic farmer Sandrine Le Feur, head teacher Mireille Robert and entrepreneur Patrice Perrot.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Economist Hervé Berville, an orphan from the Rwandan genocide, eased to victory in Brittany
Who will fight Macron all the way?
FN leader Marine Le Pen was Mr Macron's main challenger for the presidency and before now has never held a parliamentary seat. While her close adviser Florian Philippot failed to get elected, she is joined by her partner, Louis Alliot, and another senior FN figure, Gilbert Collard.
The party has the youngest MP in Ludovic Pajot, 23. It is short of the 15 seats needed to form a parliamentary group, which has the power to set the political agenda.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Jean-Luc Mélenchon was re-elected as an MP five years after losing his seat
Many of the loudest voices from the left have gone but Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France Insoumise has vowed to challenge Mr Macron's plans to reform labour laws, arguing the president does not have the "legitimacy to enforce the social coup d'état he had planned".
While the unions may lead opposition outside the assembly, Mr Mélenchon says he will not cede an inch of ground without a fight.
The most powerful opposition will come from the Republicans although the rise of LREM has left their party divided. Gone are big-name leaders like Nicolas Sarkozy, François Fillon and Alain Juppé. Some in the party have offered to work with the new government but others, like Eric Ciotti, see them as traitors.
What does Macron want to do?
He has a sweeping list of reforms planned to revive France's economy, from simplifying labour laws to lowering unemployment and cutting corporation tax from 33% to 25%.
A large mandate will give him the confidence to take on France's powerful unions but a powerful challenge is likely.
The Macron government wants to make budget savings of €60bn (£51bn; $65bn), so that France sticks to the EU's government deficit limit of 3% of GDP (total output). Public servants would be cut in number by 120,000 - through natural wastage, possibly to soften opposition from France's powerful unions.
The new president would simultaneously reinvest €50bn and create a separate €10bn fund for renewing industry.
What are French President Macron's policies?
Can Macron's party keep its promises?
Image copyright AFP Image caption Emmanuel Macron is enjoying a honeymoon period as president - but will it last?
It is clear LREM has an absolute majority, quite a feat for a party that appeared for the first time in 2016.
But the low turnout in the parliamentary elections indicates a high level of disenchantment among French voters. And the absolute majority that President Macron achieved was smaller than expected.
French commentators believe he has been given the powers to push through the reforms he promises. But voters have not handed him a blank cheque as the weakened Republicans will soon find their voice in opposition.SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon made sure not to direct it solely at infielder Javier Baez but the message is clear: he's not a lock to come north when they break camp on April 4.
"Of course there's a chance he doesn't make the team because there's no lock in regards to that," Maddon said Thursday afternoon. "The entitlement program doesn't exist."
Maddon has used that last line often since being hired. Draft status simply does not matter once you get to the big leagues. And while a player like Jorge Soler has only played a handful of games in the majors, he looks more prepared. Of course, his swing didn't undergo an overhaul.
"To this point he's (Baez) had a lot of good at-bats," Maddon stated. "And then he'll show one with the out of control swing that bothers him a little bit. And I think it bothers the fans more than it bothers me. He's just a young guy trying to figure this all out. [He has] sterling bat speed."
As if on cue a few hours later, Baez had one of those games. He struck out looking bad in the second inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks but then worked a walk -- his first of the Cactus League -- two innings later. One inning after that, he struck out again. And two more times after that, including the final out of the game.
"Of course he needs to get better but I don't want to force or push things right now with a guy like that," Maddon said.
Baez is 3-for-30 (.100) this spring after those five at-bats with one home run and 11 strikeouts. It can't be a shock to anyone if he's sent to Triple-A Iowa -- though the Cubs have stated they only like to promote players once. There's always exceptions of course. Maddon made sure to heap praise after recognizing the obvious.
"The thing no one talks about is this guy is a really good baseball player," he said. "Defense is spectacular, base running is outstanding, his acumen on the field is well beyond his years. The thing that's lagging a bit is the adjustment at the plate."
There is an argument to be made that letting Baez figure it out in the majors might be better for him even if it's not the best thing for the team. No matter what anyone thinks this is not a peak year for the Cubs. They're still a work in progress. Would it better for Baez to see major league pitching, work with major league coaches and simply get the experience? Then we'll know for sure. People still rave about the bat speed.
"This other stuff at the plate he'll figure it out," Maddon said. "In the meantime, he hits homers, you know. Dan Uggla did that for a while and made a lot of money. And I'm not saying that's who he is."
Maddon is taking a sensible approach. If Baez is Uggla now, the manager is hopeful time will turn him into something better. But should that happen in the minors or majors? We'll find out soon enough.
"I like him as a baseball player," Maddon said. "He's a tough guy."It would be silly to pigeonhole Amber Sparks‘s fiction into some fixed genre. Like Kelly Link and Heather Fowler, she writes speculative stories grounded in everyday realism. The Unfinished World and Other Stories—her second collection of short stories after 2012’s May We Shed These Human Bodies—is equal parts fairy tale, steampunk, magical realism, myth, fantasy, and allegory, as well as grim realism, sly satire, and finely wrought character studies.
Sparks’s love of flash fiction—which only hints at the story being told, like the thick mortar between a longer story’s bricks—creates the sum effect of “a long cavernous, mazy sort of trail.” She begins with the primeval, the strange, and then applies it to modern life. “I feel like these stories do two things,” she says. “They say something about us now, and say something about us always, this weird young race that’s just hanging out all alone in this corner of the universe.” Which makes her fiction akin to the work of Amelia Gray (less dark, though no less challenging) or Blake Butler (less navel-gazing, though just as playful).
Of the nineteen stories in The Unfinished World, there isn’t one that leaves an astute reader unsatisfied. In the opening tale, “The Janitor in Space,” a cleaning lady in a space station “doesn’t know about metaphors but she knows that even the smallest human vessel has boundless storage for sorrow.” In one of the collection’s most celebrated stories, “The Cemetery for Lost Faces,” a decaying family’s sole heirs find bizarre solace in taxidermy.
Throughout, Sparks employs a dark humor and a deep melodrama that Nick Cave would approve of, yet she is hardly lachrymose. Sparks succeeds because she has already mastered the form of the radiantly condensed short story. “The Logic of the Loaded Heart,” about every white trash John in Wisconsin, is framed as a mockery of SAT questions that revels in our own classlessness:
If John is three, and John’s mother is six times his age, how old was John’s mother when John was conceived in the back of Al Neill’s pickup truck after a Styx concert in Milwaukee? If John’s parents spend 100 times zero days being actual parents to John, how many days’ total is that? Does your answer change if John’s mother sometimes bought him Mr Pibb and lottery tickets when she stopped at the gas station on her way home from work?
It’s a challenge opening to a story, but Sparks isn’t telling some tabloid narrative, she’s questioning our own pretenses. One of Sparks’ strengths is not just her ability to craft an allegory, but also to make “pleasurable” things unsettling. In “Take Your Daughter to the Slaughter,” the tradition of deerhunting is given a slight twist by having daughters, not sons, hunt with fathers. The prey also changes from whitetails to werewolves.
Some of us feel sorry for the werewolves. Some of us do not want to kill, the soft thunk of bullet in flesh a thing apart from the hard clean splintering of wood and paint. Our fathers remind us of what we already know: the werewolves are a pestilence, a plague upon our forests, and killing them makes a good sport and a kind deed. There are too many werewolves, our fathers tell us; if we do not cull the herd they will starve to death come winter. They will spread disease and decay.
But these are mere snippets. The best stories in the collection (“Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting,” “La Belle du Nuit, La Belle du Jour,” “The Men and Women Like Him,” “The Process of Human Decay,” and the eponymous novella-length story) don’t just demand your attention, they compel you to re-read. The Unfinished World and Other Stories entices readers through its fabulist premises, but the pleasure gleaned from the stories isn’t cursory: it’s meticulous, the kind of joy that crawls under your skin and lives for days, driving you mad for more.
FICTION – SHORT STORIES
The Unfinished World and Other Stories by Amber Sparks
Liveright Publishing
Published January 25th, 2016
ISBN 9781631490903next Image 1 of 3
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Comedy legend Sid Caesar has died at the age of 91 after a brief illness, family spokesman Eddy Friedfeld said.
His former colleague Carl Reiner's assistant told FOX411 that Caesar "passed away at his home this morning."
Caesar hosted 'Your Show of Shows' with partner Imogene Coca in the early 1950s, and did "Caesar's Hour" solo from 1954-57. The shows were huge hits, and became breeding grounds for young comedy writers, including Reiner, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Neil Simon.
"The one great star that television created and who created television was Sid Caesar," said critic Joel Siegel on the TV documentary "Hail Sid Caesar! The Golden Age Of Comedy," which first aired in 2001.
While best known for his TV shows, which have been revived on DVD in recent years, he also had success on Broadway and occasional film appearances, notably in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World."
If the typical funnyman was tubby or short and scrawny, Caesar was tall and powerful, with a clown's loose limbs and rubbery face, and a trademark mole on his left cheek.
But Caesar never went in for clowning or jokes. He wasn't interested. He insisted that the laughs come from the everyday.
"Real life is the true comedy," he said in a 2001 interview with The Associated Press. "Then everybody knows what you're talking about." Caesar brought observational comedy to TV before the term, or such latter-day practitioners as Jerry Seinfeld, were even born.
In one celebrated routine, Caesar impersonated a gumball machine; in another, a baby; in another, a ludicrously overemotional guest on a parody of "This Is Your Life."
He played an unsuspecting moviegoer getting caught between feuding lovers in a theater. He dined at a health food restaurant, where the first course was the bouquet in the vase on the table. He was interviewed as an avant-garde jazz musician who seemed happily high on something.
The son of Jewish immigrants, Caesar was a wizard at spouting melting-pot gibberish that parodied German, Russian, French and other languages. His Professor was the epitome of goofy Germanic scholarship.
Some compared him to Charlie Chaplin for his success at combining humor with touches of pathos.
"As wild an idea as you get, it won't go over unless it has a believable basis to start off with," he told The Associated Press in 1955. "The viewers have to see you basically as a person first, and after that you can go on into left field."
Caesar performed with such talents as Howard Morris and Nanette Fabray, but his most celebrated collaborator was the brilliant Coca, his "Your Show of Shows" co-star.
Coca and Caesar performed skits that satirized the everyday -- marital spats, inane advertising, strangers meeting and speaking in cliches, a parody of the Western "Shane" in which the hero was "Strange." They staged a water-logged spoof of the love scene in "From Here to Eternity." "The Hickenloopers" husband-and-wife skits became a staple.
"The chemistry was perfect, that's all," Coca, who died in 2001, once said. "We never went out together; we never see each other socially. But for years we worked together from 10 in the morning to 6 or 7 at night every day of the week. What made it work is that we found the same things funny."
Caesar worked closely with his writing staff as they found inspiration in silent movies, foreign films and the absurdities of `50s postwar prosperity.
Among those who wrote for Caesar: Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, Simon and his brother Danny Simon, and Allen, who was providing gags to Caesar and other entertainers while still in his teens.
Carl Reiner, who wrote in addition to performing on the show, based his "Dick Van Dyke Show" -- with its fictional TV writers and their temperamental star -- on his experiences there. Simon's 1993 "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" and the 1982 movie "My Favorite Year" also were based on the Caesar show.
A 1996 roundtable discussion among Caesar and his writers was turned into a public television special. Said Simon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright: "None of us who've gone on to do other things could have done them without going through this show."
"This was playing for the Yankees; this was playing in Duke Ellington's band," said Gelbart, the creator of TV's "M-A-S-H" and screenwriter of "Tootsie," who died in 2009.
Increasing ratings competition from Lawrence Welk's variety show put "Caesar's Hour" off the air in 1957.
In 1962, Caesar starred on Broadway in the musical "Little Me," written by Simon, and was nominated for a Tony. He played seven different roles, from a comically perfect young man to a tyrannical movie director to a prince of an impoverished European kingdom.
"The fact that, night after night, they are also excruciatingly funny is a tribute to the astonishing talents of their portrayer," Newsweek magazine wrote. "In comedy, Caesar is still the best there is."
His and Coca's classic TV work captured a new audience with the 1973 theatrical compilation film "Ten From Your Show of Shows."
He was one of the galaxy of stars who raced to find buried treasure in the 1963 comic epic "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World," and in 1976 he put his pantomime skills to work in Brooks' "Silent Movie."
But he later looked back on those years as painful ones. He said he beat a severe, decades-long barbiturate and alcohol habit in 1978, when he was so low he considered suicide. "I had to come to terms with myself. `Yes or no? Do you want to live or die?"' Deciding that he wanted to live, he recalled, was "the first step on a long journey."
Caesar was born in 1922 in Yonkers, N.Y., the third son of an Austrian-born restaurant owner and his Russian-born wife. His first dream was to become a musician, and he played saxophone in bands in his teens.
But as a youngster waiting tables at his father's luncheonette, he liked to observe as well as serve the diverse clientele, and recognize the humor happening before his eyes.
His talent for comedy was discovered when he was serving in the Coast Guard during World War II and got a part in a Coast Guard musical, "Tars and Spars." He also appeared in the movie version. Wrote famed columnist Hedda Hopper: "I hear the picture's good, with Sid Caesar a four-way threat. He writes, sings, dances and makes with the comedy."
That led to a few other film roles, nightclub engagements, and then his breakthrough hit, a 1948 Broadway revue called "Make Mine Manhattan."
His first TV comedy-variety show, "The Admiral Broadway Revue," premiered in February 1949. But it was off the air by June. Its fatal shortcoming: unimagined popularity. It was selling more Admiral television sets than the company could make, and Admiral, its exclusive sponsor, pulled out.
But everyone was ready for Caesar's subsequent efforts. "Your Show of Shows," which debuted in February 1950, and "Caesar's Hour" three years later reached as many as 60 million viewers weekly and earned its star $1 million annually at a time when $5, he later noted, bought a steak dinner for two.
When "Caesar's Hour" left the air in 1957, Caesar was only 34. But the unforgiving cycle of weekly television had taken a toll: His reliance on booze and pills for sleep every night so he could wake up and create more comedy.
It took decades for him to hit bottom. In 1977, he was onstage in Regina, Canada, doing Simon's "The Last of the Red Hot Lovers" when, suddenly, his mind went blank. He walked off stage, checked into a hospital and went cold turkey. Recovery had begun, with the help of wife Florence Caesar, who would be by his side for more than 60 years and helped him weather his demons.
Those demons included remorse about the flared-out superstardom of his youth -- and how the pressures nearly killed him. But over time he learned to view his life philosophically.
"You think just because something good happens, THEN something bad has got to happen? Not necessarily," he said with a smile in 2003, pleased to share his hard-won wisdom: "Two good things have happened in a row."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.A recently concluded case involving a female teacher in South Carolina having sexual relations with underage students has put the spotlight back on what one publication has labeled a "sexpidemic" occurring on America's school campuses.
After repeatedly having sex with two 17-year-old male students, a 36-year-old former high school honors English teacher and mother of two will receive no jail time. Despite pleading guilty before a judge in October to two counts of sexual battery against a 16- to 17-year-old student, former Dreher High School teacher Kinsley Wentzky was convicted of the crimes – but not for aggravated force or coercion, according to WIS News 10.
Instead of imprisonment, the seven-year English teacher from Forest Acres, South Carolina, was sentenced to a three-year probation period, which is slated to end on October 27, 2017. The ruling by the judge handed Wentzky a five-year suspended prison sentence – which interprets to no jail time.
Back in May 2012, Wentzky admitted that she had been involved in a sexually "intimate" relationship with one of the 17-year-old students.
Repeat offender
Before the convictions, the middle-aged mother was arrested twice in Columbia and Forest Acres, South Carolina, by police – who charged her with sexual battery on both occasions.
Numerous reports indicate that Wentzky engaged in sexual intercourse with two teenage students multiple times at local residences not far from the high school.
Shortly after the charges were brought to light, Wentzky was placed on paid administrative leave. Subsequently, in January 2013, the South Carolina State Board of Education suspended her teaching certificate. Not long thereafter, the Richland County School District terminated Wentzky from her teaching position at Dreher High School.
As a safeguard to minors in the community and outlying areas where Wentzky will be held on probation, she is being placed on the Central Registry of Child Abuse/Neglect. Another condition of her lenient sentence requires her to undergo mental health counseling as a deterrent to her repeated statutory rape tendencies.
More commonplace than one might think
Even though cases such as Wentzky's may come as a shock to many, female teachers having sex with students is much more commonplace than most parents realize.
Back in October, WND published an updated version of "The Big List: Female Teachers with Students," which provides a detailed listing of 268 female sexual predator teachers, complete with photos of the sex offenders and accounts of their alleged or proven sexual offenses with minor students.
WND calls the listing the Internet's most comprehensive account of women sexual predators on school campuses across America.
Calling the current situation taking place in America's schools a "sexpidemic," WND brought light to the dire situations children are exposed to on and off school campuses from coast to coast. Even though 269 – including Kinsley Wentzky – might seem like a relatively small number, it only represents the cases that have been detected and publicized.
With Wentzky representing just one of South Carolina's more than 10,700 public school teachers among some 680,000 students at state-run schools within the Palmetto State, many fear that such crimes are anything but isolated incidents, especially nationwide, where nearly 50 million public school students are under the care of well over half a million teachers.
Each of the featured 258 documented female teachers within America's schools on WND's list have either been charged or convicted of sexually assaulting students sometime during their tenures as on-campus instructors of schoolchildren.Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
I saw this over at Gawker, and thought that Rand Paul might come off better if I saw the whole video. I think the whole video made it worse. What's most troubling about this interview is not that Paul opposes a portion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it's that it's clear Paul hasn't thought much about his position. Lacking a rigorous intellectual framework for his opposition, Paul is wobbly on defense. So what you see, in the main, is Paul trying to change the subject--at one point, I think he actually asks (rhetorically), "Am I a bad person?"
But Paul never settles down and to make the argument. Rachel Maddow repeatedly raises lunch counters, and it would have really pleased me if Paul had just made the case for private sector discrimination. Frankly, I can see the outlines of the argument and am not totally unsympathetic to it. Indeed, I think there's a beautiful justice that's visited upon the random politician who, to this very day, is routinely exposed as belonging to a white country club. There's a kind of social sanction in that embarrassment that I don't think the law can bring. (That said, I trust the people who were actually there more than my own abstract theorizing.)
But what about red-lining? Does Paul know anything about blockbusting? Does he think banks should be able to have a policy of not lending to black businesses? Does he think real-estate agents should be able to discriminate? Does he think private homeowner groups should be able to band together and keep out blacks? Jews? Gays? Latinos?
I think there's this sense that it's OK to be ignorant about the Civil Rights Act because it's a "black issue." I'm not a lawyer, but my sense is that for a senator to be ignorant of the Civil Rights Act, is not simply to be ignorant of a "black issue," but to be ignorant of one of the most important pieces of legislation ever passed. This isn't like not knowing the days of Kwanzaa, this is like not knowing what caused the Civil War. It's just embarrassing--except Paul is too ignorant to be embarrassed.
I'm sure Paul's defenders will dismiss this interview as a lefty hit-job. But Maddow gave him every opportunity to correct the record, or defend it, and Paul answered with a series of feints and dodges. Not once did he stand up and throw a real punch. You're left wondering how he came to his position and what, precisely, is really at work here. I chose ignorance because it gives him as much credit as intelligently possible. Anything more, in 2010, in the United States Senate, is disgraceful.WASHINGTON—Saying their rosy attitude about the state of the election was not helping anything given what is currently transpiring, sources confirmed Tuesday night that the nation’s optimists need to seriously shut the fuck up as soon as humanly fucking possible. “Sure, things may look bad right now, but even if the worst happens, it’s only four years we’re talking about here,” said Santa Fe, NM resident Pete Mirenge, one of hundreds of thousands of positive thinkers across the nation who would do everyone a huge goddamn favor by closing their fucking traps right this fucking second and keeping them sealed for the foreseeable future. “This is exactly why we have a system of checks and balances—to ensure that whatever happens in the election, the executive branch never gets too much power. Think about it: Has any president been able to carry out their platform to the letter? No. Nothing’s ever as bad as it seems, believe me.” According to sources, a calm and composed Mirenge—who reportedly has about five seconds before his mouth is shut for him—then added that the country’s been through much worse and everything turned out okay.Pope Francis (L) listens to cardinal Peter Turkson (R) speaking during the World Meeting of the Popular Movements in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican on November 5, 2016. VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images
In what sounded like a thinly veiled dig at Donald Trump, Pope Francis condemned the use of fear for political ends and said people shouldn’t be dedicating their energies to building walls. The pontiff didn’t, of course, mention Trump by name but there seems to be little doubt about who he was referring to during a speech at the Vatican this weekend.
“No tyranny can be sustained without exploiting our fears. This is clear,” Francis said at the Third World Meeting of Popular Movements. “All tyranny is terrorist. And when that terror, ignited in the peripheries with massacres, looting, oppression and injustice, explodes in the centers in the form of violence, including with hateful and cowardly intent, the citizens who still have some rights are tempted by the false security of walls, physical or social—walls that close some in and banish others.”
Francis also said that politics is no place for “anyone who is too attached to material things or to the mirror, those who love money, lavish banquets, sumptuous houses, refined clothes, luxury cars.”
This is not the first time Francis has made it clear that he isn’t a big fan of Trump or his proposals. In February he said that “a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.” Trump immediately criticized the pope for his comments then, calling them “disgraceful.”‘stupor mundi’
A certain stability, or at least consistency, returned to Italy in the middle of the tenth century when Otto, the Saxon King of Germany, claimed the throne of Italy through his wife Adelaide (the daughter, widow and jilter of three previous kings of Italy) and made himself King of the Lombards. Following Charlemagne’s example, he travelled to Rome in 962 and had the pope crown him emperor, thus inaugurating three centuries of rule over Italy by three dynasties of German emperors – Saxon, Salian and Swabian (usually known as Hohenstaufen) – with brief interludes supplied by members of the Welf and Supplinburger families. The gallery consisted of one Lothair, two Fredericks, three Conrads, four Ottos and seven Henrys.
The rulers styled themselves rex romanorum et semper augustus (‘king of the Romans and ever emperor’), and the coronations that their realms required indicate both the complexity of their roles and the difficulty in fulfilling separate duties as kings of Germany, kings of Italy and Holy Roman emperors. After being elected by the German princes, they were crowned kings of Germany at Charlemagne’s beloved Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) and became then also known as kings of the Romans. Later they crossed the Alps to receive the iron crown of the Lombards at Pavia, Monza or Milan. The last stage of the process was the journey to Rome, where they were crowned emperors by the pope.
The German Empire stretched from the Baltic and the North Sea to the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian. Such a distance, with a lot of mountains in between, forced emperors to spend long periods on the road. An emperor might be in Italy, quarrelling with the pope over ecclesiastical appointments, when an outbreak of civil war in Germany made him hurry northwards; after settling that crisis, he might have to scuttle back across the Alps to confront the rebellious cities of Lombardy or go even further south to deal with a military threat from Byzantium or the Norman kingdom of Sicily. Even so, emperors managed to find time for outside interests such as campaigning in Poland and participating in four of the Crusades. A predictable consequence of such frenetic activity was the neglect of Italy.
The emperors had their judicial and fiscal institutions in Italy; they also had their supporters among the magnates and bishops, whom they relied on for the administration of the cities. Yet the absence of their overlord enfeebled the institutions and the bishops and encouraged magnates to do what they liked to do anyway: plot and switch allegiances. Such a structure was ill-equipped to administer the new Italy of the eleventh century, in which agricultural wealth, the expansion of trade and a rise in population were transforming societies and economies. The growth and prosperity of the cities gave their citizens the desire and self-confidence to run the affairs of their own communes.* Unwilling to accept that they should remain loyal to an absentee foreigner with doubtful rights of sovereignty, they were soon electing their own leaders, running their own courts and raising their own militias. The emperors, distracted by incessant wars in Germany, made concessions that left the communes virtually autonomous. By the late eleventh century their rule over the Lombard and Tuscan cities had become almost nominal.
Frederick Barbarossa (Redbeard), the Duke of Swabia who became emperor in 1155, was determined to reverse the drift. A relentless warrior, with grandiose notions of his rights and his dignity, he later became renowned as a symbol of Teutonic unity, a hero to German romantics and an inspiration for Adolf Hitler, who code-named his invasion of Russia ‘Operation Barbarossa’. He regarded the Ottos as successors to the Caesars and himself as successor to the Ottos. As he claimed his position to be equivalent to that of Augustus, he considered the kings of France and England to be inferior rulers. As for Italy, he was intent on reclaiming the so-called ‘regalian rights’ which lawyers in Bologna conveniently assured him he possessed. These included the rights to appoint officials in the cities, to receive taxes on fish and salt and to collect money from tolls and customs. He wanted the cash and was determined to get it; he also enjoyed the prestige acquired from the submission of others.
The defiance of Milan, the largest Italian city, inspired Barbarossa to invade Italy, which he did half a dozen times. His pretext – and perhaps it was a little more than a pretext – was that he was coming to the rescue of those pro-imperial towns, such as Como and Lodi, which earlier in the century had been devastated by the Milanese. He captured Milan in 1162 and destroyed it. He also obliterated the town of earlier in the century had been devastated by the Milanese. He captured Milan in 1162 and destroyed it. He also obliterated the town of Crema, one of its allies, after besieging it with exceptional brutality: hostages from Crema were tied to the front of his siege towers so that the defendants could not avoid hitting their relatives and fellow citizens with arrows.
Barbarossa’s actions led to the foundation of the Lombard League, formed by sixteen cities in 1167 to defend themselves against his imperial armies. An early confrontation was avoided, however, when more urgent matters forced the emperor to return to Germany, and he did not come back at the head of a new army for several years. Despite the defection of a couple of cities, the League won a great victory against him in 1176 at Legnano near Milan, its infantry forcing Barbarossa’s German cavalry from the field. It was a historic moment for the peninsula, perhaps the most united moment between the death of Theodoric and the creation of modern Italy. When patriots of the nineteenth century scoured their history for heroic events to depict, Legnano was a popular choice for literature and painting; it also inspired one of Verdi’s least memorable operas, La battaglia di Legnano, in which the chorus opens the evening with the words
Long live Italy! A holy pact
binds all her sons together.
At last it has made of so many
a single people of heroes!
Unfurl the banners in the field,
unconquered Lombard League!
And may a shiver freeze the bones
of fierce Barbarossa.
His humiliating defeat forced Barbarossa to negotiate, and at the Treaty of Constance in 1183 he conceded the rights of the communes to elect their own leaders, make their own laws and administer their own territories. Concessions made by his opponents were nominal or unimportant: among them were an oath of allegiance and a promise to give a sum of money to future emperors as they proceeded to Rome for their coronations. As the historian Giuliano Procacci noted, ‘the communes recognized the overall sovereignty of the emperor, but kept the sovereign rights they held’.15 Barbarossa died seven years later, drowned in an Anatolian river on his way to join the Third Crusade, but his Italian ambitions lived on in the person of his grandson, the Emperor Frederick II, who made equally futile attempts to cow the cities of northern Italy.
The wars between Barbarossa and the communes were part of a longer and wider struggle between the Holy Roman emperor and the papacy, which had supported the Lombard League. As with so many conflicts on Italian soil, this one thus became internationalized, several popes calling in German and French princes to assist their cause. Competing factions in the Italian communes soon acquired labels of bewildering foreign origin. Papal supporters were known as Guelphs, called after the Bavarian Welf family that produced Otto IV, briefly an emperor in the early thirteenth century, as well as, later and less relevantly, the Hanoverian kings of Great Britain. Their opponents, the pro-imperial Ghibellines, took their appellation from an even more obscure source, the Salian and later Hohenstaufen town of Waiblingen, a name sometimes used to denote members of the house of Swabia. In their endless medieval struggles, however, Italian Guelphs and Ghibellines were motivated far more by local factors than by remote loyalties to popes and German emperors.
When Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne, it was clear that the Franks, who had rescued the papacy from the Lombards, were the senior partners in the alliance. Yet Leo’s successors tried to reverse the roles by claiming the right to choose who would be emperor. By the eleventh century they were insisting that the emperors acknowledge they received their thrones from the pope, who, as Christ’s vicar on earth, was the highest authority in Christendom. Power was involved along with pride and prestige. Gregory VII, pope (1073–85) and later saint, insisted that only he had the right to invest the clergy with abbeys, bishoprics and other ecclesiastical offices: secular rulers who disobeyed him were excommunicated. The Emperor Henry IV, who planned to continue the policy of his father (Henry III) of appointing and dismissing popes as well as bishops, reacted by deposing Gregory and calling him ‘a false monk’. In retaliation the pope excommunicated the emperor and encouraged his subjects to rebel. Alarmed by threats to his rule in Germany, a contrite Henry then apologized to the pope, waiting for three days in the snow outside the castle of Canossa until Gregory finally absolved him from excommunication. Within three years, however, they were again at odds, and Henry was deposed and excommunicated once more. This time he responded by seizing Rome and setting up an anti-pope who crowned him emperor, but he was soon expelled by the real pope’s Norman allies, who burned much of the city. The feud between Henry and Gregory was not a unique one: these medieval centuries abound with examples of emperors d |
But in terms of the evolutionary family tree, humans and insects are really far apart."
But close enough to stimulate someone's imagination. In fact, Wall might want to put a bug in the entertainment industry's ear. He knows some bug stories involving mind control, behavior modification and strange exoskeleton designs — in other words, box office gold.Imagine trying to catch up to something moving close to the speed of light - the fastest anything can move - and sending ahead information in time to make mid-path flight corrections. Impossible? Not quite. Physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a particle accelerator at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, have achieved this tricky task - and the results may save the Lab money and time in their quest to understand the inner workings of the early universe.
The physicists have developed a way to measure subtle fluctuations in RHIC's particle beams as they speed around their 2.4-mile-circumference high-tech racetrack - and send that information ahead to specialized devices that smooth the fluctuations when the beam arrives.
"These corrections help to keep the beams focused and colliding, recreating thousands of times a second the conditions that existed just after the Big Bang," said Steven Vigdor, Brookhaven Lab's Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear and Particle Physics, who manages the RHIC program.
Already, RHIC scientists have learned that mere microseconds after the Big Bang, the universe was more interesting than imagined - a nearly "perfect" liquid with virtually no viscosity and strong interactions among its constituents. With the ability to race ahead of RHIC's beams and keep them focused, the scientists will be able to create many more "mini-Bangs" for study. The increase in data will help them investigate and measure the detailed properties of this "perfect" liquid, and test certain predictions stimulated by an unanticipated link between RHIC findings and "string theory," an appealing approach to incorporate gravity into a unified theory that describes all of Nature's forces.
The beam-correcting technique, called stochastic cooling, has been implemented at accelerators where the beams are made of a continuous stream of particles - but never before at a facility where the particles travel in discrete bunches, as is necessary for the beam-on-beam collisions that take place at RHIC. "Its successful demonstration at RHIC provides an alternative path to the goal of increased collision rates, which would be much more costly and take longer to achieve via other proposed means," Vigdor said.
How it works
RHIC circulates two beams of ions - electrically charged particles - moving in opposite directions in two separate rings at 99.995 percent the speed of light. Within each beam, the ions travel in discrete groups, or "bunches," each containing more than a billion ions.
In the highest-energy experiments, the ions are the nuclei of gold atoms, composed of protons and neutrons that slam together where the two beams cross to produce a tiny speck of extremely hot, dense matter that mimics the conditions of the early universe.
But like all charged particle beams, RHIC's ions tend to spread out (heat up) as they circulate. As the ions spread, the number of protons and neutrons colliding - and the amount of useful data - declines.
So RHIC physicists are taking advantage of RHIC's circular shape and the ability to send signals as fast as the near-light-speed beam to cool the ions down - that is, keep them tightly bunched.
The technique includes the term stochastic (derived from statistics, meaning random) because it relies on measuring the random fluctuations in the beam shape and size. The measurements are made at one point on the accelerator by devices that generate signals proportional to how far the particles are straying from their ideal positions. These devices then send the signals via fiberoptic or microwave links to a position ahead of the speeding beam, where electric fields are generated to "kick" the charged particles back toward their ideal positions. The result: more tightly squeezed, cooler ion bunches.
The signals stay ahead of the beam by taking one of two shortcuts - either traveling from one point to another across the circular accelerator, or by backtracking along the circle to meet the speeding beam about halfway around on its next pass.
So far the RHIC physicists have tested stochastic cooling in the longitudinal direction - along the direction of the beam - in one of RHIC's two rings. Longitudinal cooling compensates for the ion bunches' tendency to lengthen as they circulate. This improvement has already increased RHIC's heavy-ion collision rate by 20 percent. Next, the physicists will test the same cooling system in RHIC's other ring.
With $7 million in additional funding, the physicists will design and build a similar system for correcting the tendency of RHIC's ion bunches also to become "fatter" as they circulate. Computer simulations, which have accurately predicted the achievements of the longitudinal cooling system, predict that combining this new transverse cooling system with longitudinal cooling in both rings and some additional equipment could increase collision rates overall by 500 percent.
"This achievement would compare quite favorably with the goals of our original plan for upgrading collision rates based on a system known as electron cooling, which we estimate would have cost $95 million," said Vigdor. Plus, stochastic cooling can be implemented much more quickly than adding an electron-cooling accelerator because no new construction is required.
"Barring unforeseen budget or technical problems, we hope to implement the full stochastic cooling system by 2011," Vigdor said.
Research at RHIC is funded primarily by the Office of Nuclear Physics within the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science and by various national and international collaborating institutions.Florida handed out around 500 tickets last year to drivers who veered too close to cyclists when passing. But only eight drivers were actually found guilty.
Like 26 other states, Florida has a law requiring cars to give bikes at least a three-foot gap of space. The problem is that it’s fairly impossible for a cop to judge exactly how far away a driver is and issue a ticket (or win a case if they do). So a new gadget uses sonar to measure.
With the device attached to a handlebar, a bike cop gets a ping if a driver gets inside the three-foot zone. One of the inventors compares it to a radar gun that an officer would use to see if someone’s speeding. “I think it’s a fine enough line that you really do need some technological proof,” says Christopher Stanton, co-founder of Codaxus, the Austin-based engineering firm that created C3FT (the name spells out “see three feet”).
The engineers first started working on the project after realizing that officers in Austin were struggling to enforce the three-foot law in Texas. They also wanted to collect statistics on how many drivers were obeying the new law.
“If you have a thousand cars drive by you a yard away, and one car drive by at two feet, the only thing you go home and talk about is that one person who nudged you,” Stanton says. “So we wanted to have that actual statistic about the real driver behavior profile.”
They built a working prototype. Then, when an Austin police officer named happened to move to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to become chief of police, they had their first customer. The head of the local bike patrol, Robert Simmons, had been looking for something like this for years.
“Officer Simmons is just a guy with a bunch of drive and ambition,” says Mark Przybysz of Friends of Outdoor Chattanooga, a nonprofit that does bike advocacy work in the city. “He had a friend get hit back in ’09 and since then wondered what he could do. He called multiple police departments around the country and everyone said it was impossible, but he kept digging.” When he finally learned of the new gadget, the Chattanooga police department didn’t have the budget for a prototype, but Friends of Outdoor Chattanooga was able to sponsor it.This article is from the archive of our partner.
As a counter-argument to this much discussed post on why white males dominate the tech blogging world, white male tech blogger Jason Calacanis took to Twitter today in using his own successful experience — and pretty much only that — to prove that such racism doesn't exist. Ignoring all the financial and institutional barriers that non-white writers might encounter — like the benefits of an unpaid internship and networking — Calacanis invoked the great Silicon Valley meritocracy myth, suggesting that anyone, regardless of race or socioeconomic background, can make it as a tech writer if they work hard enough. Why? Because that's how he made it. As Calacanis explained in a series of tweets that erupted into a conversation with other tech personalities including the author of the original post (Storified below via Buzzfeed), it only took a "simple" formula for him to transform from a lowly newsletter writer to the successful founder of Weblogs, which he later sold to AOL for $25-$30 million. Calacanis, now a 42-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur, said you just need 3,000 hours or so of blogging and you'll be fine:
1. start a blog, 2. Write daily for 2-3 hours for 1,000 days 3. Do that for 1 topic & you break in. -- it is that "simple" #hardwork — jason (@Jason) February 5, 2013
Calacanis went on to explain how he broke into the tech world as an "outsider" and how black and latino writers can do the same. He put in "10K" hours and "worked as a waiter to keep myself fed and wrote on nights and weekends" in order to write his popular dot-com era newsletter Silicon Alley Reporter, which led to Weblogs, where the formerly influential Engadget was the mothership. Much like the libertarian individualism that Silicon Valley (claims) to live by, Calacanis suggested that the tech world rewards hard work. Which, of course, coming from a white man, doesn't mean much for the plight of minorities.
Using such a singular experience as a successful white man to prove a point about a trend with black and latino writers is problematic, to say the least. But it's also upsetting that Calacanis's thesis reflects the general attitude of Silicon Valley, which fancies itself a true meritocracy, as this tweet exemplifies:
. @jengallardo @jbouie I can tell you the tech industry & tech media space are both largely post-race. Pure meritocracy... Page views rule. — jason (@Jason) February 5, 2013
Update 5:51 p.m.: Calacanis reiterates this point in a full blog post here, which starts with Kanye West lyrics followed by "I'm a white guy so I’m not allowed to talk about race." Further down he then states "the tech and tech media world are meritocracies.Francis Wenban-Smith from the University of Southampton discovered two ancient flint hand tools used to cut meat at the M25/A2 road junction at Dartford, Kent, during an excavation funded by the Highways Agency.
Tests on sediment burying the flints showed they date from around 100,000 years ago - proving Neanderthals were living in Britain at this time.
The country was previously assumed to have been uninhabited during this period.
''I couldn't believe my eyes when I received the test results,'' said Dr Wenban-Smith.
''We know that Neanderthals inhabited Northern France at this time, but this new evidence suggests that as soon as sea levels dropped, and a 'land bridge' appeared across the English Channel, they made the journey by foot to Kent.''
Early pre-Neanderthals inhabited Britain before the last ice age, but were forced south by the severe cold about 200,000 years ago.
When the climate warmed up again between 130,000 and 110,000 years ago, they could not get back because, similar to today, the Channel sea-level was raised, blocking their path.
The new discovery, commissioned by Oxford Archaeology, showed they returned to Britain much earlier than 60,000 years ago, as previous evidence suggested.
David Score, Oxford Archaeology Project Manager, said: ''The fieldwork uncovered a significant amount of activity at the Dartford site in the Bronze Age and Roman periods, but it is deeper trenches excavated through much older sediments which have yielded the most interesting results - shedding light on a long period when there was assumed to have been an absence of early man from Britain.''
One theory is that Neanderthals were attracted back to Kent by the flint-rich chalk downs which were visible from France.
These supported herds of mammoth, rhino, horse and deer - an important source of food in sub-arctic conditions back then.
"These are people who had no real shelter - no houses, not even caves - so we can only speculate that by the time they returned, they had developed physiologically to cope with the cold, as well as developing behavioural strategies such as planning winter stores and making good use of fire,'' said Dr Wenban-Smith.
Dr Wenban-Smith explained more evidence was needed to date their presence more accurately, to show how many were living in Kent at this time, how far they roamed into Britain and how long they stayed for.
The English Channel was also a critical area for further research, with the buried landscape between Boulogne and Newhaven possibly containing the crucial evidence, he said.
Other results from the project include the discovery of a woolly rhino tooth in the floodplain gravels of the River Darent, dated at around 40,000 years old.Twelve employees of a voter mobilization group in Indiana with Democratic ties were charged Friday with submitting fake or fraudulent voter registration applications, The Associated Press reports.
The Indiana Voter Registration Project, a group focused on registering and mobilizing black voters, allegedly submitted an unknown number of false voter applications in order to meet quotas, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Marion County prosecutor Terry Curry said the police investigation found no evidence of voter fraud or suppression and that the charges came from the “very bad, ill-advised business practice” of setting a quota for workers.
The affidavit states that the workers were paid $10 per hour and worked five-hour shifts.
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Marion County prosecutors charged 11 canvassers in the group, as well as their supervisor, Holiday Burke, each with a count of procuring or submitting fraudulent applications. Burke also faces one charge of counterfeiting.
Indiana State Police began their investigation of the group in August when a county clerk in Hendricks County, outside of Indianapolis, noted a dozen registration forms with insufficient or suspicious information.
Each charge carries a sentence of two and a half years in prison.
The group asked the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to consider whether the investigation was an attempt to suppress the black vote.
Patriot Majority USA, the group overseeing the Registration Project, has ties to the Democratic Party, former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid Harry Mason ReidBottom Line Brennan fires back at'selfish' Trump over Harry Reid criticism Trump rips Harry Reid for 'failed career' after ex-Dem leader slams him in interview MORE (D-Nev.) and former President 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.
Patriot Majority spokesman Bill Buck has refused to comment. The group denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged.
President Trump has repeatedly claimed, without presenting any evidence, that millions of votes were cost illegally in the presidential election.Just in case you miss the other ask, the links for the vol. 5 art anthology seem to be down.
ah yeah if you mean the link to the downloadable folder containing all the images, that would be because I deleted them from the original cloud I had them saved on. I switched cloud services and didn’t wish to pay for both, so I didn’t have enough space to host all my files on both clouds.
if you mean the tumblr itself, that’s because I at least left the account, if not totally deleted it (which I guess depends if the other hosts left it as well). The page wasn’t getting much traffic anymore since the anthology ended a while ago, so the account went away in a bit of spring cleaning.
i can re upload a link to the images if there’s enough desire for it, otherwise it just didn’t feel like there was a need hahaLike some of you, I got to participate in the Star Wars: The Old Republic stress test during this past weekend. It was actually the second stress test I partook in, however I wasn’t able to commit much time to it during the first run so I decided to hold my tongue until I had a bit more experience with the game. I only got to level 11 on my Republic Trooper over this last weekend, but I feel I learned enough from the game to let you all know my opinion.
I’d like to preface this article with two points of interest. The first and most important is that while I try to remain unbiased towards new games I personally do not like MMOs. I quit WoW back when it was still in vanilla and I never found much in the others I tried such as City of Heroes and DCUO.
I have two main problems with the genre. The first is with the promise of reward through time commitment. I’ve heard friends say things such as “well of course it isn’t fun, you’re only level 10. The real game starts around level 40/50/60/70/80.” Personally, I would like for my game to be fun right now. I understand the reward that comes with raising yourself from the dregs of n00bdom to riding atop your proud war-mount whilst showering gold coins upon the less fortunate, but I’m both lazy IRL and in game. I’d rather have a constant quality game play experience instead of hoping that “it gets better”. Furthermore, I have an underlying fear that if I did spend all that time to get to level n, it would end up being the same game regardless. I’d rather not take the risk.
“After 6 months, I’m finally max level. What do we do now?” “What do you mean? Now we can play the game!”
Secondly, I have a problem with the genre’s level of obligation. It’s something I thought of when I noticed that most of these games don’t have a pause feature. You’re in there. It’s happening around you at all times. You have to play.
The concept transcends to the general state of mind that I call “one more thing”. You’re in an area, might as well finish that last quest. Well, now that it’s done you may as well turn it in. You’re only 2,000 xp from a new level. You may as well grind for a bit to ding (do they still say “ding”? It’s been a while). Better just fly to the nearest city and buy your new powers. Might as well check the auction house. Before you know it, you just spent an additional three hours playing a game you were hoping to spend another ten minutes on. Sure, you can consider that scenario a bit of hyperbole but it has probably happened to you. The genre is based around its vastness. You have the ability to stop whenever you like, yet you seldom do because everything seems so quick in relation to how many hours you have (and will) spend on the game.
My second preface point is a bit more on topic. I just want to point out and commend the people of EA and Bioware for the outstanding cinematics in this game (that can be seen here, here and here). While I was a little disappointed that they used the supposed trailers as in game content, I cannot deny that they are just gorgeous at 1080p. I also find it slightly disheartening that with three trailers totaling less than fifteen minutes these fine folks were able to create more interesting and likeable characters than Lucas was able to do over the course of the entire prequel trilogy. Half of them didn’t even talk. If Lucas is still planning on making episodes VII through IX, I beg him to just let these folks do all the work. They are able to make your product better than you. Deal with it.
As beautiful as this game is, nothing can wash clean the stink of Jar Jar Binks.
I suppose I should talk about the game now, huh?
It shouldn’t surprise anyone when I say that this game is strikingly similar to World of Warcraft. WoW quickly became the standard of what an MMO should be and TOR isn’t trying to innovate. You get your quests. You kill your enemies. You collect items. You see your trainer. You envy those who are higher level and have cooler things than you. They are definitely using Blizzard’s juggernaut as a strong foundation.
There are some differences though. Most notable are the in-game cut scenes for every single conversation. Each one is voiced over—rather well I should add—and allows the player to interact via the now-standard karma wheel. Choosing what to say allows you to alter the course of the game and gain force points, light or dark, which will gain you access to different items/quests. This gives the MMO a very Mass Effect feel, which I can’t say is a bad thing.
The cut scenes and character interaction allow for a much more enveloping story, which is something I felt vanilla WoW lacked. I found myself genuinely interested in some of the characters and I felt the need to turn in the next quest not to simply get it done, but to see what happens next. The daunting knowledge that each class has a separate storyline makes me fearful for all of those devotees who will roll multiple characters to obtain the full story.
There are things I don’t like about the game aside from my basic distaste for the genre. I think that the John Williams music is loud, over-played, and a bit too epic for what is happening. I know it’s a set part of the franchise to have Hollywood-style overtures and blaring wind instruments, but I never enjoyed it in the movies and it works even less during game play.
I also have a few problems with the group aspect of the game. Outside of my general hate for other people, my main issue is the initiation of group conversations. During the previously mentioned cut scene interactions, there is this awkward loading time where you need to wait for your fellow players to select their two cents. It’s not unbearable by any means but it does slow things down just enough for you to think, “well this is annoying”.
So having played through roughly 10 hours of the game over two weekends, will I still be purchasing The Old Republic on day one? I sure am. Despite my feelings for MMOs, this game has enough of a single player experience with a engaging story line to make me want more.
Are people who currently play World of Warcraft going to want this game? If they like Star Wars I can’t see why they wouldn’t. Even at my most cynical the best I can do is say that this game is exactly like World of Warcraft.
What’s not to like about that? If you’re itching for new content in WoW, there are literally 50 new levels of fresh quests to play through. I feel like that should draw quite a crowd on its own.
Are you new to MMOs but are interested because of the Star Wars logo? You’ll probably have a good time. The story and karma aspects are enough to allow for an experience very similar to a single player game, only with a bunch of a------s running about trying to kill the NPCs before you.A video demonstration of a handset thought to be the G1 Googlephone’s successor has been leaked online.
Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com
The seven-minute film opens with a shot of the phone’s front, which clearly shows the name “Dream”. The G1 was developed by HTC, and Dream is thought to have been the firm’s codename for it, so what we could be looking at here is the G2. Or it could be a G1 prototype.
The video shows the phone running Google’s Android OS and a Google logo printed onto the battery cover, a feature shared with the G1.
After these initial shots, you’re treated to a step-by-step guide through all of the phone’s features. These range from taking pictures and watching videos, to playing games and accessing the web.
Google’s green Android character has also been put to use as a comical phone charger. Although the phone seems real enough, it’s strange that a stylus has been added for data input when Google’s keen to get users hooked on fingertip data-entry.
Since the video carries no official recognition, it’s impossible to say if the phone will make it to the UK. ®Knocking back a few brews and taking the canoe out for a paddle is still a terrible idea, but it may no longer run you the risk of having your driver’s licence suspended and car impounded.
As the federal government moves to tighten impaired driving laws ahead of the legalization of marijuana, it’s also clearing up a grey area in the Criminal Code that has seen police hand out drunk driving charges to tipsy canoeists.
Police can still lay other charges for being intoxicated in public, but impaired driving charges trigger harsh provincial penalties such as automatic driver’s licence suspensions, steep fines, demerit points, ignition unlocking devices and vehicle impoundment.
There have been numerous such charges against canoeists in Ontario, where police vigorously patrol the waterways throughout the summer and the provincial government has stated that canoes, kayaks and even inflatable rafts all count under impaired driving laws.
Police can't charge you with impaired driving for careening down a road on your bike after a night of drinking, but they can if they catch you drunkenly drifting down a river on a raft or canoe.
In 2011, a Waterloo canoeist who’d allegedly been drinking and paddling on Belwood Lake had his driver’s licence suspended for 90 days, leaving him unable to drive his pregnant wife to the hospital for medical checkups (though he could have still paddled her there, as canoes don’t need a licence).
That same year, a 57-year-old man was charged with operating a pedal boat under the influence near Sault Ste. Marie, and also had his licence suspended.
The charges were dropped in both cases after prosecutors decided there was no reasonable chance of conviction.
Last spring, Ontario Provincial Police laid impaired driving charges against a 37-year-old man who was allegedly drunk and tipped a canoe on the Muskoka River near Bracebridge. An eight-year-old boy who was in the canoe was swept over a nearby waterfall and killed. A trial is scheduled for later this year.
Currently, the Criminal Code stipulates that road vehicles need to be motorized to qualify under impaired driving laws. But it also includes water-going “vessels,” whether they’re motorized or not. The term “vessels” is only vaguely defined, aside from an oddly specific instruction that hovercraft are included, leaving it open to police and prosecutors to decide what it means.
The end result is that police can’t charge you with impaired driving for careening down a road on your bike after a night of drinking, but they can if they catch you drunkenly drifting down a river on a raft or canoe.
The impaired driving legislation now before Parliament changes the definition of a vessel so that it “does not include a vessel that is propelled exclusively by means of muscular power.” The legislation could still be amended before it becomes law.
This isn’t sitting well with the Canadian Safe Boating Council, who testified before the House of Commons committee studying the bill on Monday.
Michael Volmer, the CSBC’s vice-chair, said this will complicate their public awareness campaigns about the danger of boating under the influence.
“Fundamentally we need the law to back up our position, and changing this definition is a very difficult concept I’m afraid from our point of view,” he told MPs.
John Gullick, chair of the CSBC, argued that the comparison with biking is wrong.
“The only person who gets hurt is the person riding the bicycle. Well, in the case of muscular or human-powered vessels, there can be far many more numbers of people in the vessel, and it also affects people around the vessel. First responders, people who are searching for people who get lost or get in trouble.”
The committee later heard from Greg Yost, a justice department counsel for criminal law matters. He said the intention of criminal impaired driving laws is to target those who are endangering the public, and that drunk canoeists who cause a death could still be charged under other criminal sections, such as negligence.
Asked by MPs whether he was aware of a drunk canoeing charge ever standing up in court, Yost said he hasn’t examined it deeply, but was unaware of any example where it did.
• Email: bplatt@postmedia.com | Twitter: btaplatt
Correction: This story originally misidentified the age of the man charged over the canoe-tipping on the Muskoka River. He was in fact 37 years old. The story has been updated.Wealthy group pushes to be taxed more Politics
Upper-income earners who actually want to pay higher taxes have launched a public campaign calling for an immediate rollback of the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush.
The group, which calls itself Wealth for the Common Good, believes that people who have taxable income of more than $235,000 a year should support restoring their top federal income tax rate to 39.6 percent from 35 percent - and now, not in 2011, when the higher rate is scheduled to return anyway.
From their Web site:
"Our country is facing the worst economic challenge since the Great Depression and an urgent need to make a long overdue investment in bringing jobs and stability back to our communities. This investment should be paid for, in part, by repealing the Bush-era tax cuts our country cannot afford.
"Those of us with taxable incomes over $235,000 benefited from the upside of the economy during the last decade and profited for eight years from a 2001 tax cut. Now is the time to give back.
"We would see a minimal tax increase - from 35 (percent) to 39.6 (percent), a rate still far lower than the one under President (Ronald) Reagan - but the increased revenue would raise an estimated $43 billion per year."
The group's founders include Chuck Collins, who inherited some of the Oscar Mayer meat fortune and who has long been involved in agitating on income-inequality issues.
He may be best known for co-writing the 2003 book "Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes" with Bill Gates Sr. The book made the case for retaining the federal estate tax.
This month, Wealth for the Common Good sent its request, including a petition with more than 1,000 signatures, to President Obama and to House and Senate leaders.Rubio thought it’d be a good idea to taste all the cookies & sweets that were added to the 5 Prairie Dawgs beers our bud Mike Trainer gave us for this. Which sounded great on paper, but then got us so dang sugar drunk, it all went to hell quickly. Enjoy.
F5 Key Tornado
Type 2
Nutt Stuff
Marple Rain
Bread Putin
The Beerists are: John Rubio, Anastacia Kelly, Grant Davis, and Mark Raup.
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The space was created when John Montalbano resigned his post as chair and member of the Board in November, following accusations that he infringed upon the academic freedom of Sauder Professor Jennifer Berdahl earlier this year.
Belkin’s term will end in December 2016.
“University board members step forward, without remuneration, to volunteer their time, expertise and commitment. Board appointments are based on merit," wrote Minister of Advanced Education Andrew Wilkinson in an email statement to The Ubyssey.
"Stuart Belkin was approached to serve because of his proven ability to manage large, complex projects with multiple stakeholders. Mr. Belkin brings leadership and senior corporate experience to the UBC board of governors,” read the statement.
Belkin has been chairman and CEO of the Belkorp Group for several decades — Belkorp Industries was originally a packaging company but has since has grown into an investment enterprise. The Belkin family’s collective worth is estimated to be some $900 million.
As with other government appointments to the Board, the Belkorp company — of which Belkin has been presiding over — has given significant amounts of money to the BC Liberal party for many years.
This article was updated on December 1 at 12:08pm with comment from the Minister of Advanced Education.LINCOLN, Neb. -- Enough with the nice-guy label.
Last week after signing day, Bob Diaco, the former UConn coach hired in January to restructure the defense at Nebraska, shared his first impressions of Mike Riley, the Cornhuskers’ coach set to enter his third season in 2017.
“A super nice guy, a fun guy,” Diaco said.
Mike Riley, "energized" by some new faces and new ideas on his coaching staff, is eager for 2017. John S. Peterson/Icon Sportswire
That is every person’s first impression of Riley -- recruits, their parents, fans, fellow coaches, the media, parking cops, student workers in the offices around him. Truth is, Riley doesn’t love the label. Of course, he probably won’t mention that. And if he did, he’d wear a smile to help rid the moment of tension.
Riley’s unassuming front sits at the heart of his persona as a nice guy. But it’s an image from which the 63-year-old coach has made strides this offseason to break free, possibly representing Nebraska’s best chance to snap a conference-title drought that spans 17 seasons.
After his four decades in coaching, the time is here to look beyond Riley’s exterior. Behind it, lurking, is a calculating and competitive nature. Two years into the closing chapter of his career, Riley has served notice that he’s prepared to step out of character, if required, to clear an imposing set of hurdles.
Can an edgier Riley, open to change, create a contender out of Nebraska?
Maybe. Maybe not. But he appears determined to find out.
He corralled Diaco to replace Mark Banker, alongside whom Riley coached for 20 seasons at four stops. With Diaco at large and coveted by others, Riley fired Banker by phone as the former coordinator traveled during the height of recruiting season.
Then Nebraska signed up to pay $1.7 million to Diaco over two years, by a large margin the most lucrative contract ever given to an assistant at the school.
Riley also deposed special-teams coordinator Bruce Read. They had spent 15 seasons together. Secondary coach Brian Stewart left on his own, and Riley has reportedly settled on former Notre Dame assistant Bob Elliott to coach the secondary with newcomer Donte Williams, formerly of Arizona.
“By no means were those easy decisions,” said another longtime Riley confidante, Dan Van De Riet, Nebraska’s associate AD for football operations. “To say that he didn’t struggle with those would render him almost lifeless.
“But for whatever reason, I’ve seen a growth in energy. I’ve seen him more motivated and more engaged than ever. He’s more aware of the direction that he wants to take this program.”
The Huskers improved from 6-7 in Riley’s first year to 9-4 in 2016. Still, a sour taste persists, because Nebraska limped to the finish after a 7-0 start. Ugly defeats at Ohio State and Iowa marred a season that otherwise featured reason for optimism.
“I’m always interested in change,” Riley said. “I don’t like to go through it necessarily. The process is hard, but you have to be fair to the whole university and the whole program. You’ve got to put yourself through that process -- and personally, be very blunt about it, what we need to do.
“I’m energized and excited by our team and want to push in any way to be better.”
In terms of personnel and scheme, Riley has effectively hit the reset button in 2017.
Diaco plans to install his 3-4 scheme this spring, perhaps an attempt by Riley to mirror the strategy that Big Ten West pacesetter Wisconsin has used to its advantage. We’ll soon see if the active and agile linebackers so essential to the Badgers’ success reside on the Nebraska roster.
Coordinator Danny Langsdorf loses a four-year starter in Tommy Armstrong Jr. but finally gets to tailor his offense around a quarterback well-suited to run the system he prefers. Transfer Tanner Lee enters this spring with a slight edge over redshirt freshman Patrick O’Brien and early enrollee Tristan Gebbia.
All of it amounts to a gamble. But that’s what Nebraska invited with Riley, an unconventional choice for this job despite his decades of experience and a personality that fit with the ideals of the Nebraska program.
Now, two years in, Riley’s vision for the Huskers has grown sharper. His focus has narrowed.
“Absolutely, Riley said, “I’ve got a better idea of what we need to do.”
Van De Riet insists that Riley “has not changed one bit.” This side of him that embraces change has long existed.
“Maybe he doesn’t trigger the same things you see from a lot of other coaches or leaders who are known as competitive types,” Van De Riet said. “But you can’t just assume that because he’s a nice guy and has a great culture in his locker room that he can’t be competitive.”
Indirectly, Riley is intent to change the narrative around himself and Nebraska. Winning big would do it.
“He’s a head coach who has been through it all,” Diaco said. “His way of doing things is just very fine-tuned by a master. It’s impressive, and that’s why I’m here, for sure. I had other options. I came because I believe in him.”Chris Stewart and Dana Heinze stood in the Cambria County War Memorial in Johnstown, Pa., on May 2, anxiously awaiting the announcement as to which city was going to win the title of Kraft Hockeyville, USA.
Johnstown was one of 10 finalists for the first Kraft Hockeyville USA title, and Heinze, the head equipment manager for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Stewart, the Penguins' head athletic trainer, had a strong feeling their hometown had won.
They were right.
"Coming together as a community was the big thing that you saw throughout the whole process," Stewart said. "Once they got it |
/C++ compilers, linkers and libraries for the AVR microcontroller. If you hold the Shift key when you compile your sketch, you will see that the commands - avr-g++, avr-g++, avr-ar and avr-objcopy are invoked. First, your Arduino sketch is converted to a suitable C++ file (with the.cpp extension), which then is compiled, linked and finally converted to the hex file that is uploaded to the Arduino board. You can see all these intermediate files in the /tmp/build*.tmp directory. Knowledge of this build process can enable you to bypass the IDE for your Arduino development by writing an appropriate Makefile. See the "Command-Line Arduino development" article listed in Resources for an example.
Conclusion
I've described a few simple but cool things that can be done with an Arduino, but this article barely scratches the surface. A number of excellent books are available that list a great number of Arduino projects you can build for fun and profit. These are, of course, in addition to all the excellent on-line resources available. During exploring Arduino purely from the various blog posts on the Web and a trial-and-error-based approach to learning, I discovered many great projects in the Arduino ecosystem. Be sure to see the Resources for this article for some of the most interesting Arduino books, articles and projects.
Also note that wires are good, but only when you want to limit yourself to the confines of your tabletop or even your room. If you want your Arduino to be out there, decoupled from your host machine, you need to explore ways of wireless communication. Say hello to XBee modules, which allow communication with the ZigBee communication standard.
And before I end, you might face issues with erratic serial communication. Especially during extended periods of experimenting with serial communication, I found that the serial ports would remain locked or just be plainly not accessible from the host computer. My advice is to be patient. Unplug and plug back in a few times, and try killing the lock file manually. Now, you should be good to go.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the awesome Arduino community members for their documentation and numerous other bloggers on the Web. The Arduino circuit diagrams were drawn with Fritzing (http://fritzing.org).
Resources
Author's Code for This Article: https://bitbucket.org/amitksaha/articles_code/src/6bed469945fd/arduino_article
Plumbing for the Arduino: http://www.concurrency.cc/book
PureData (Audio Processing and Visualization): http://puredata.info
Firefly Experiments (bridging the gap between Grasshopper, the Arduino microcontroller, the Internet and beyond): http://www.fireflyexperiments.com
Arduino: http://arduino.cc
Processing Language: http://processing.org
Arduino Hardware (I/O Boards): http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Hardware
Arduino Uno: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno
Sparkfun's Starter Kit for the Arduino: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10174
Installing Arduino on Linux (for different distributions): http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/Linux
Command-Line Arduino Development: http://shallowsky.com/software/arduino/arduino-cmdline.html
Getting Started with Arduino by Massimo Banzi, O'Reilly Media/Make: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596155520.do
Programming Interactivity: A Designer's Guide to Processing, Arduino, and openFrameworks by Joshua Noble, O'Reilly: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596154158.do
Arduino Cookbook by Michael Margolis, O'Reilly: http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920022244.do
Arduino Language Reference: http://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/HomePage
Tom Igoe's Physical Computing Page: http://www.tigoe.net/pcomp
Experimenter's Guide for Arduino: http://ardx.org/src/guide/2/ARDX-EG-ADAF-WEB.pdf
Arduino Tutorials (tronixstuff): http://tronixstuff.wordpress.com
Principia Labs, Arduino Serial Servo Control: http://principialabs.com/arduino-serial-servo-control
Make's Arduino Web Site: http://blog.makezine.com/arduino
Arduino Tutorial on Lady Ada: http://www.ladyada.net/learn/arduinoStory highlights President Donald Trump banned travel from Yemen, Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria and Sudan
Those six countries are majority Muslim but the administration denies its a 'Muslim ban'
Washington (CNN) The two Muslim members of Congress swiftly blasted President Donald Trump's new version of the travel ban as still targeting Muslim-majority countries -- raising the critical issue which stalled the first ban in court.
"Here we go again...Muslim Ban 2.0 #NoBanNoWall," tweeted Democratic Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana, the second Muslim elected to Congress and a member of the House Intelligence Committee.
And Rep. Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Muslim elected to Congress a decade ago, tweeted: "On Campaign, @realDonaldTrump called for 'total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.' Now, says 'what Muslim Ban?'"
On Campaign, @realDonaldTrump called for "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." Now, says "what Muslim Ban?" — Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) March 6, 2017
Ellison later reiterated his tweet to CNN, calling it a "lawyered up" version of his first executive order.
"It's a Muslim ban," he said in a phone interview. "It's a revised one. It's a lawyered up one. The man said he wanted a complete and total ban of Muslims. And then it gets struck down... and then he comes back a few days later with something else. He is trying to restrict access to the United States because of their religion. The people that it does ban are banned because it's Muslim."The end is drawing near for Kobe Bryant with next season potentially being his last in the NBA. Although there still seems to be a chance Kobe will extend his career beyond a 20th season, the Los Angeles Lakers are preparing as if next year will be his last wearing purple and gold.
— Think You Know Everything About Kobe Bryant? Take The Ultimate Kobe Quiz! —
In a recent interview with Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News, Jeanie Buss hinted at planning on making next season special for the face of the franchise:
With Bryant set to return for the 2015-16 season in what could mark his last year, Buss said the Lakers are “talking about a bunch of different things” to honor Bryant in his 20th season with the Lakers at home games. Buss promised “we will make it special.”
Back in 1989, the Lakers, and every team in the NBA for that matter, pulled out all the stops to honor arguably one of the greatest players of all-time in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The six-time NBA champion let it be known the 1988-89 NBA season would be his last and as a result, the league paid tribute with every team honoring him in one way or another when the Lakers came to visit.
Although Kobe has admitted not wanting the farewell treatment in what could be his last season with the Lakers, the storied franchise definitely seems intent on making next season special. Buss wasn’t specific on what the team will do for future Hall of Famer throughout the 2015-16 NBA season, but it’ll interesting to see what they have in-store for him in potentially his last run in a Lakers uniform.
[divide]
Lakers Jeremy Lin Explains His Personal Progression
Please enable Javascript to watch this videoYooka-Laylee Reaches Crowdfunding Goal In Less Than 40 Minutes
You could say Yooka-Laylee‘s Kickstarter campaign escalated quickly. Playtonic Games launched the Kickstarter campaign earlier today with an initial goal was to raise £175,000 ($265,000 USD) for their upcoming Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor, and have reached the goal in less than 40 minutes. At the time of writing the project has reached over $300,000 and climbing, not a bad days work for a project that has 46 days left to go. You can check out the Kickstarter campaign here.
UPDATE: The Yooka-Laylee Kickstarter campaign has surpassed the $1,000,000 mark in just over 7 hours of being launched. With over 19,000 backers already, many of the pledge rewards have already sold out, but you can still back the project to get the digital copy of the game.John McCain: Vladimir Putin Bigger Threat Than ISIS (VIDEO)
Senator John McCain made a great case for term limits when he said Monday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is a greater threat to the world than ISIS.
You read that correctly. ISIS is only chopping off heads, burning people alive and raping women and children, but Vladimir Putin is a greater threat according to McCain.
McCain sat down with Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s ‘7:30’ for an interview and when asked how much of a threat to the world Vladimir Putin is, he answered the following:
McCain: “I think he is a premiere and most important threat, more so than ISIS. I think ISIS can do terrible things and I worry a lot about what is happening with the Muslim faith and I worry about a whole lot of things about it, but it’s the Russians who are trying, who tried to destroy the very fundamental of democracy and that is to change the outcome of an American election. Now I’ve seen no evidence that they’ve succeeded, but they tried and they are still trying. They are still trying to change elections. I view the Russians as a far greatest challenges that we have.”
John McCain is completely unhinged. To say that Vladimir Putin is a bigger threat than a death cult that is marching across the world, killing everyone in its path shows that McCain is unfit to be in office. An ISIS suicide bomber just killed innocent children in Manchester and he has the nerve to say this? McCain and the psychotic liberals want war with Orthodox Christian Russia so badly that they are willing to push one conspiracy theory after another to set the stage for it.
VIDEO:The gap between Mecca and Misery grows ever wider. The latest stats reveal a steamy, demand-driven, low-supply real estate market in Toronto, and a dying-on-the-vine situation that’s developed in most other cities. ‘The last gasp” is how a Bloomberg article described the Kingdom of the GTA a few days ago. And it wasn’t fake news.
Logically, things should be changing. Everybody now expects mortgage rates to creep higher. And speaking of creeps, most moisters now view the federal finance minister as one. Ottawa’s far-reaching autumnal reg changes, including introduction of the hated borrower stress test, have started to bite.
Recall the survey results shared here last week. Brutal.
About half of first-time buyers in Ontario will delay a property purchase because of Bill Morneau. The stress test requires anyone putting down less than 20% to prove they have income sufficient to carry the place with a mortgage pegged at 4.64% – roughly twice the rate our accommodative banks are charging. That, say realtors and lenders, knocks out 45% of the kids, who must wait and save. And, oh Lord, saving is hard.
In total, 80% of all newbie buyers are impacted. Those not putting off a home purchase are looking for cheaper digs (34%) or moving out of Dodge (22%).
Meanwhile 52% of all condo purchases in Toronto are being made by specuvestors and amateur landlords, while over 130 new buildings will be coming on stream in 2017. At the same time, GTA prices increased 17.3% year/year in 2016 and the pace pf price acceleration by December had touched 20%. Inflation is 1.2% and wages are growing annually by 0.4%, so most real incomes have dropped. Household debt just cracked $2 trillion, of which 65% is in mortgages.
Does this sound healthy to you? Why, with the kids whacked, debt rampant and loans getting dearer, would real estate in Toronto escape unscathed?
For that answer, look to the eternal laws of supply and demand. The latter may be under pressure, but the former is in serious trouble. All you need to know is contained in this little box tucked at the bottom of the Toronto Real Estate Board monthly stats.
Wow. Sales last month up. New listings down. Total listings all but collapsed. That 48% decline in available homes over last year (which was low by historic standards) is solely responsible for a 17% rise in prices. Last month 5,338 properties changed hands, despite crap weather, and now there are fewer than 5,000 listings in a metropolitan area of six million people. That’s a 23-day supply even if sales languish at pre-Christmas levels.
But they’re not. Along with the entire squirrel population of the GTA, the locals woke up this past week to a waning winter, their loins suddenly, insatiably stirring with lust. House lust. And that takes us to 244 Bain, an ungainly skinny brick house on an ugly street on the wrong side of Toronto. The downstairs is one room with a tired kitchen stuck on the back, four bedrooms on two upper floors, a tiny garden and a laneway parking space. The property’s merely 20 feet across. The reno is dated. Two feet of clearance from the squat semi next door, with two agents standing at the dining room table watching the hordes pour in to their open house.
Dozens came Sunday. Wall-to-wall cars outside. A sea of shoes clogging the tiny vestibule. Scuffles on the staircase. The vague odour of competitive testosterone in the air. The asking is $1.4 million, but the expected sale price will be $1.6 million. With closing costs and the double land transfer tax, that’ll edge to $1.7 million. Offers accepted Monday at 7 pm. Be sure to include your certified cheque for at least $100,000.
“It’s a drought,” the experienced realtor throws out. “So little on the market that January is turning into a feeding frenzy. People bidding whatever they have to. Nobody knows how to price things anymore.”
Where from here?
No correction this spring in the last bubble market in Canada, not until the listings flow again. Ironically, the higher prices go, the fewer there are. Homeowners are either greedy for more windfall gains or (more likely) unable to move – priced out of the market, no matter what they pocket. It’s likely 90% of the people owning in Toronto these days (as in Vancouver) would be unable to afford their own houses.
Again, does this sound like a healthy market?
Things will continue to rise until they don’t. The final tulip bulb will be epic.Okay, maybe it’s Bill Gates’ appropriated smugness that ticks me off. Maybe it’s because there’s eleven rules when this could have been done in five. Maybe it’s the tacky School of Success crest. Maybe I’m just in a bad mood. So I wrote my own rules, based on these rules. Why? Because rules are made to be broken. Or at least, re-appropriated in a cliche attempt at “out-of-the-box thinking.”
So, the photo itself is BS (not real, but good advice nonetheless), but the young man that reposted his own lessons is doomed to a life where he believes his own mediocrity is someone else’s fault. He’ll be in the 47%, in case you’re looking for him. His notes are below.
Photo with 14 notes
age 45, taxpayer since 14, self employed 21 years! This is the equipment I use to produce, paid for by my production. I produce out of obligation to myself, my customers also benefit from that when I share with them the fruits of my labor. They in turn, validate their worthiness of said fruits by compensation.
Some say all they want is access to the same opportunity, brother, it has been yours to take at any point along the way! Nobody will hand it to you, you will have to work for it and trust me, it will taste much sweeter after you have worked for it! I get filthy black every day from my work but I would trade that for nothing…. I am the 53%
DaveThe infant's mother was charged with attempted second-degree murder. (WENY)
At first, Karen Seals thought the sounds coming from her neighbor’s garbage bag were from an animal trapped inside. Wary, she and her sister grabbed a stick and went to investigate.
“My sister came out off the porch and went to the side to the back yard of my neighbor’s house with a stick, thinking it was a dog,” Seals told WENY, an Elmira, N.Y., ABC and CBS affiliate. “We thought it was a dog, honey, and it wasn’t. It was a baby!”
“I ran up and I see the little legs are dangling out the bag, so I said, ‘You guys, it’s a baby,’ and they’re looking at me like ‘It’s a baby?’ I said, ‘Yeah it’s a baby.’ So I ran up, I picked her up, I tore the bag that she was in.”
She said the baby had been pushed headfirst into the bottom of the trash bag, which had been tied and placed near the house.
The baby girl wasn’t responsive. The sisters rushed her into their house.
“She wasn’t breathing, so I opened her mouth … and I drop some water in there and she started gasping for air after I did that,” Seals told the news station.
“I just spoke to her: ‘Come on baby, come on baby, come on sweetness.’ ”
[Teen father arrested after leaving his days-old son in a strip mall parking lot, police say]
Authorities summoned to the scene on Tuesday began to care for the baby and launched a search for whoever had placed her in the trash. Investigators told reporters the baby had likely been in the trash bag for hours.
@ElmiraPolice officials tell me the baby is ALIVE. Neighbors I spoke to say they found her in the back of the house in the brush. @WENYTV pic.twitter.com/4wJfM4zNST — Isabel Garcia (@WENYIsabelG) August 8, 2017
Shortly after the baby was found, Elmira Police announced they had charged the infant’s mother, 17-year-old Harriette M. Hoyt, of Sayre, Pa., with attempted second-degree murder. Sayre is about 20 miles from Elmira, just over the Pennsylvania-New York border.
An arraignment had been scheduled, and Hoyt was being held in the Chemung County jail, according to police. It was unclear if she had hired an attorney.
Her baby survived and was taken to a hospital to be treated.
She was listed in stable condition, although she had been transported to a second hospital for further evaluation. Child protective services and the Chemung County District Attorney’s Office are involved in the case. Police are asking anyone with information on the crime to come forward.
[Iowa police chief describes finding missing baby, abandoned in freezing weather]
No one keeps nationwide statistics for abandoned babies, although all states have some kind of safe-haven law for parents who don’t believe they can properly take care of a newborn.
According to The Washington Post’s Ben Guarino, in 1999, Texas governor George W. Bush signed the first safe-haven bill into law after 13 dead infants were found in trash bins in Houston.
In Texas, about 50 infants had been surrendered under the safe-haven law between 2004 and 2011, according to the Dallas Morning News. In that seven-year period, more than 1,600 children died of abuse or neglect, and more than 2,300 children of all ages were abandoned, the newspaper reported, citing state statistics.
New York’s safe-haven law allows a parent to leave an unharmed newborn “with an appropriate person, or in a suitable location” if the child is not more than 30 days old.
On Tuesday, Seals told the news station that the baby she found in the trash didn’t deserve what happened.
“All I wanted to do is cry for her,” she said. “I could just feel her heart, and what that little girl went through is wrong.”
On Monday night, she made a public post on Facebook: “Why would anyone do evil like that to a baby I hope she ok and just pray for her we all did right by her lil mama we love u”
Read more:
She suffocated a 10-year-old in a sweltering box. A jury says she should die, too.
Fallout from Charlie Gard case: protests, death threats and ‘disgraceful tide of hostilities’
Four years after 13-year-old Dylan Redwine disappeared, his father is charged with murder
Elizabeth Thomas’s abduction made her a different child. Her family isn’t sure how to help her.
A teenage girl was ‘brainwashed’ before she was abducted by her teacher, her father saysWe have watched, over the past couple of months, images and videos from the rallies being held by Jeremy Corbyn in various cities across the country - Liverpool, London, Manchester, the list goes on. From these photos and the gleeful support from the crowd and on social media, one would be led to believe that Corbyn is in prime position to win the Labour leadership contest, and indeed the next general election (if you listen to the cries of the crowd).
Yes, Corbyn is on track to win the leadership race - Owen Smith is trailing behind in support. However, when considering the general election, the situation is dire - Labour is trailing behind the Tories by 11 percent, with public satisfaction figures showing that 28 per cent are satisfied by Corbyn. Theresa May’s figures stand on 58 per cent satisfied, 19 per cent dissatisfied. There is also a fantastic table which breaks down these figures by social group and region. Shockingly, Jeremy’s support is stronger in the South and London than the North - the North typically being the Labour homelands.
I’m aware that we no longer trust the “experts”, but polling figures are a statistically viable way to understanding the lack of correlation between ground support and electoral support. We see individuals shouting “Jez we can!” in the streets. But consider the figures, and many of us wonder if he can actually do it.
It is important here to examine the electorate. As of 2015, there were 44,722,000 eligible members of the electorate. Of course, not all of these individuals turn out to vote - the EU referendum showed an all time high of 72.2 per cent turnout - but even that equates to approximately 32.2m voters. The Labour party membership has surged to 516,000, with the Conservatives sitting on 149,800 members. Yet, when it comes down to it, the party with the lower membership numbers succeeds at the general election. Allusions to Michael Foot are becoming very passe, but it is a prime example of when ground support does not convert into electoral victory.
Among various groups, bar young people and - marginally - Scotland, Corbyn doesn't fare well against May.
(YouGov) pic.twitter.com/thWHIl7Jjg — Britain Elects (@britainelects) August 16, 2016
So how do we understand this paradox - so many people dissatisfied by Corbyn and Labour, yet so many individuals are out on the streets? Well, I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of the electorate wants an easy ride. They wish to place their vote, and move on - they do not have the will, the time or the inclination to be out on a Monday night crying “down with Thatcher 2.0” alongside the Socialist Worker’s Party. Any slight nudge to the left of the spectrum puts off many voters. They do not want the drama of political movements - they wish to place their votes, and leave the running of the country up to someone else. I include myself in this group - I have not the expertise nor the will to start dictating public policy in the park.
And that is exactly where the Conservatives are winning. No rallies, no protests, no calls of mass social change. Instead, they offer consistency, and currently look like a very organised bunch, considering that they sorted their leadership crisis out in a mere two weeks whilst the Labour hustlings are still blighting us all with push news updates every day. In times of crisis, particularly post-Brexit, many will be looking for a safe pair of hands to lead the country, stay strong against the bureaucrats of Europe and keep us afloat. Does the Labour Party really offer this stability when they can’t even organise themselves, let alone the country?
These rallies held by Corbyn are also occurring in Labour heartlands. They drum up support from places where the Labour majority is a constant. But this does not reflect the mood of the country. These rallies, if they really are to be pulling strong support, need to be expanded to Tory strongholds. After all, if Labour genuinely intends on winning the next election, it needs to win votes from said Tory areas. So far, Theresa May’s approval ratings are soaring - it doesn’t seem as though the plan to convince swing voters is going well.
Does Corbynite Labour really want to win the next election? There has been a lot of chatter on social media that the movement is more important than victory at an election. But how can the party really implement mass social change when they’re stuck on the other side of the dispatch box with a limited amount, if any, power?
These rallies will continue to pop up, and it will continue to seem as though Corbynmania is sweeping the country. But when you see a rally of several thousand supporters, don't forget that figure of 44,722,000 voters. That's your benchmark.China (officially the People's Republic of China (PRC)) conducted a state sanctioned doping programme on athletes in the 1980s and 1990s. The majority of revelations of Chinese doping have focused on swimmers. The doping programme has been explained as a by-product of the "open door" policy which saw the rapid expansion within China of modern cultural and technological exchanges with foreign countries.[1]
Bioethicist Maxwell J. Mehlman in his 2009 book The Price of Perfection, states that "In effect China has replaced East Germany as the target of Western condemnation of state-sponsored doping".[2]:134 Mehlman quotes an anthropologist as saying that "When China became a 'world sports power', American journalists found it all too easy to slip China into the slot of the 'Big Red Machine' formally occupied by Eastern bloc teams".[2]:134
Chinese swimming performances in the 1990s [ edit ]
In 1992 the number of Chinese swimmers in the top 25 world rankings soared from a plateau of less than 30 to 98, with all but 4 of the 98 swimmers female. Their improvement rate was much better than could have been expected as a result of normal growth and development. China subsequently performed beyond expectations to win 12 gold medals at the 1994 World Aquatics Championships amid widespread suspicions of doping.[3] Chinese swimmers won 12 of 16 gold medals at the 1994 championships and set five world records.[4]
Between 1990 and 1998, 28 Chinese swimmers tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, almost half the world total of drug offenders in sport.[4] Seven swimmers tested positive for steroids at the Asian Games in Hiroshima in late 1994, these positive tests badly affected the squad to the extent that it won only one swimming gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.[3] Following the revelations of doping among Chinese swimmers at the Hiroshima games IOC Medical Commission chairman Alexandre de Mérode discounted the possibility of officially sanctioned Chinese doping stating that the results were "accidents that could happen anywhere".[5] Chinese leaders initially blamed racist sports officials in Japan for manufacturing test results.[5] A report by a joint International Swimming Federation and Olympic Council of Asia delegation to Beijing in 1995 concluded that "there is no evidence that the Chinese are systematically doping athletes".[5] The revelations led to Australian, American, Canadian and Japanese sports officials voting against Chinese participation at the 1995 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.[5] In 1995 the Chinese People's Daily newspaper published an anti-doping policy and proclaimed an official prohibition on performance-enhancing substances.[5]
China improved in swimming until 1998 when four more positive tests and the discovery of human growth hormone (HGH) in the swimmer Yuan Yuan's luggage at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Australia.[2]:126[3] In the routine customs check on the swimmer's bag, enough HGH was discovered to supply the entire women's swimming team for the duration of the championships.[3] Only Yuan Yuan was sanctioned for the incident, with speculation that this was connected to the nomination of Juan Antonio Samaranch by China for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.[2]:126 Tests in Perth found the presence of the banned diuretic masking agent triamterine in the urine of four swimmers, Wang Luna, Yi Zhang, Huijue Cai and Wei Wang.[4] The swimmers were suspended from competition for two years, with three coaches associated with the swimmers, Zhi Cheng, Hiuqin Xu and Zhi Cheng each suspended for three months.[4]
Zhao Jian, the deputy director-general of the China Anti-Doping Agency described the 1998 World Aquatic Championships as a "bad incident", and said that it had led to China adopting a tougher attitude towards drug testing, with drug testing removed from the main sports administration and placed in a separate agency.[3]
The Hiroshima games also saw a hurdler, a cyclist and two canoeists test positive for the steroid dihydrotestosterone.[6]
Chen Zhangho and Xue Yinxian revelations [ edit ]
In a July 2012 interview published by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, Chen Zhangho, the lead doctor for the Chinese Olympic team at the Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona Olympics told of how he had tested hormones, blood doping and steroids on about fifty elite athletes.[3] Chen also accused the United States, the Soviet Union and France of using performance-enhancing drugs at the same time as China.[3] Chen also blamed foreign experts for "lying" to the Chinese about the effectiveness of doping, saying he and others "blindly believed them like fools".[3] The Chinese officials eventually concluded that training was the key to performance and that taking drugs did not guarantee this.[3]
Chen said that half of the athletes found doping effective and half did not, adding that he had steered away from growth hormones to steroids because they were cheaper.[3] Chen said he was governed by three principles, that the athlete took the substances voluntarily, that no harm was caused and that they were effective.[3]
Xue Yinxian, former chief doctor for the Chinese gymnastics team, had previously told the newspaper that official use of steroids and growth hormone was "rampant" in the 1980s.[3] Xue claimed that steroids and human growth hormones were officially treated as part of "scientific training", and athletes often did not know what they were being injected with.[3] Xue did not allege that all Chinese athletes used drugs and has refrained from naming individual athletes.[3]
Individual Chinese doping cases [ edit ]Norwegian police investigating a pedophile ring have arrested 20 people and identified 31 others as suspects.
At least one suspect acknowledged abusing his own children.
Deputy Police Chief Gunnar Floystad said on Sunday that 20 men have been arrested so far in Western Norway, with three convictions. There are 31 suspects in different regions.
Floystad told reporters that many of the suspects were highly educated and include lawyers and politicians.
He said he could not reveal more details pending the conclusion of the investigation, known as "Dark Room," which began in 2015.
Listen to audio 07:40 Share The quiet curse of pedophilia Send Facebook Twitter Google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink http://dw.com/p/1HeMO The quiet curse of pedophilia
Police seized 150 terabytes of material depicting many forms of child abuse, local media reported.
Prosecutors said the perpetrators met on the dark web, using encryption and anonymity to hide their tracks.
Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang reported one of those arrested was a police officer.
The investigation began after information was shared from a 2015 FBI case, which involved hacking many dark web sites and discovering the identity of their users.
aw/jm (AP)I received a copy of this film by mail, An Inconsistent Truth and despite my misgivings about the name of the production company “Extry Good” and it’s talk-radio pedigree, I’ll have to say its better than many other efforts I’ve seen. It has a number of themes familiar to WUWT readers, such as the Climategate issue, the hypocrisy of Gore, and Mann’s hockey stick nonsense, but misses the mark on the “hide the decline” issue when it talks about scientists hiding declining global temperatures, versus the real issue of hiding the declining tree ring proxy record.
Still, compared to some of the blunders Al Gore has made, such as the Earth’s core temperature is “millions of degrees” or the outright lie where he faked a CO2 experiment in post production and refuses to correct it two years later, I’ll give them a pass on this confusing global temps versus the proxy record. After all, Mann himself thinks his hockey stick made from a few tree ring records represents the globe. Some people familiar to WUWT readers such as Dr. John Christy, Dr. Roy Spencer, Dr. Fred Singer, and Steve Milloy (among others) have interviews in it.
Watch the trailer:
This press release from today:
Valentine calls Gore out on ’24 Hours of Reality’
Al Gore is at it again. In a constant, frantic effort to stay relevant he’s conducting what he calls ‘24 Hours of Reality‘ on the Internet he claims to have created but his 24 hours is anything but reality.
Gore starts by saying, “We’re dumping 90 million tons of heat-trapping carbon pollution into the atmosphere every 24 hours.” First of all, the “carbon pollution” Gore refers to is carbon dioxide. It’s what we exhale with every breath. It’s what plants take in as food and it most certainly is not a pollutant. Using the word “dumping” evokes a visual of some huge carbon trash truck backing up to the atmosphere and carelessly dumping its load. What, in fact, is happening is humans and other animals are actually breathing, much to the chagrin of Gore. Automobiles, that used to actually pollute much more than they do today, now have catalytic converters that convert the nasty, real pollution into carbon dioxide which is actually beneficial to the planet. In fact, scientists tell me if you want a perfectly functioning internal combustion engine all you’ll get as a byproduct is carbon dioxide. In other words, it’s been the goal of an entire industry for decades.
Gore has also now coined a new term: dirty weather. From the guy who brought you “carbon pollution” comes a new phrase designed to scare you out of your money. Gore’s “dirty weather” refers to so-called extreme weather, which Gore claims is getting more extreme. The truth is extreme weather is getting less so. Gore’s claims of more hurricanes, more tornadoes, more floods and more droughts have all been proven wrong. In fact, most everything Gore has predicted around the hysteria of climate change has ended up being a lie.
Gore continues to stick to his claim that carbon dioxide emissions are warming the planet when every scientist in the world now acknowledges that global temperatures have not risen in more than a decade. Gore and others can try to explain it away but the stubborn fact remains. We have not warmed in 15 or so years and many scientists predict that we may actually be entering a cooling phase. All of the climate models that Gore and other climate alarmists have been pointing to all these years have been wrong.
Gore also continues to try to scare people about sea levels. He claims cataclysmic rises in sea levels when none of it is true. Everyone needs to watch this report on sea levels from Tom Harris of the International Climate Science Coalition. All of these claims of rising sea levels have been totally debunked yet Gore continues to fear-monger. Why?
I’m going to tell you something very few are willing to tell you. Al Gore is a con man. I know that’s not politically correct and it’s something more polite commentators try to avoid but we can avoid it no longer. When your principal residence is a 10,000-square-foot mansion that uses 10 times the power of the average American home even after you’ve supposedly “greened” it, you’re a hypocrite. When you own multiple other homes, a humongous house boat and fly around the world in private jets you are not green, no matter how much you pay in silly “carbon offsets.” Gore is not some miserly power-pincher who recycles dental floss and sacrifices his life for the cause. His carbon footprint is on par with the Queen of England yet he lectures us and scolds us about our own power consumption.
The fact of the matter is Al Gore is neck deep in so-called green investments that stand to make him hundreds of millions of dollars. Much of it is subsidized by the U.S. government and a sizable chunk has already gone down the drain. We chronicle this in our movie, An Inconsistent Truth. The only green Al Gore is concerned about is the green in his pocket and he’s making more of it at your expense. He admonishes anyone who dares challenge him as being in the hip pocket of Big Oil yet he just made $70 million by selling his TV network to one of the largest oil-producing countries on the planet, Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera.
The world is spending $1 billion a day on global warming according to the Climate Policy Initiative and that’s about half what they think we should be spending. It is a colossal waste of resources that could be spent on combatting real problems like smog and water pollution. Instead, Al Gore and others continue to spread the terror of climate change in an effort to line their own pockets. It’s disgraceful.
###
Phil Valentine is the producer of the Amazon.com best-selling documentary, An Inconsistent Truth, the definitive answer to Al Gore’s movie. Winner of three film festival awards including Best Documentary at the Nevada Film Festival.
==================================================================
You can buy the DVD here
At $20, a pretty good deal, and if you go to a reasonably priced restaurant and get take out, you can have dinner and a show for just $35 more.
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Foxcroft Way in Reston Tuesday morning. The neighborhood is near Soapstone Drive and Lawyers Road.
One of the photos was originally published on the Reston Association Facebook page today.
Here's more about foxes in Fairfax County, courtesy of the county:
Red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are 35 to 48 inches long (nose to tail), stand higher than a large cat or small dog, and weigh 7 to 17 lbs. Body color ranges from grayish-red to bright red in color and have a white tail tip.
Gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargentus) are smaller than a red fox, are 31 to 44 inches long (nose to tail) and weigh 7 to 10 lbs. Body color ranges from dark gray to reddish-gray and have no white on their tail tip.
Behavior
Foxes generally pose little threat to humans, their property or pets. Large red foxes have been known, in some cases, to prey on small cats. It is always advisable to feed pets indoors and to keep small pets inside or securely penned at night.
Foxes are primarily nocturnal. Foxes are highly adaptive and can become increasingly active during the day in urban areas.
Foxes establish bonded pairs to breed in January or February and raise young together. Gestation is 7 to 8 weeks. Red foxes establish maternity dens in previously used sites. Gray foxes establish maternity dens in hollow logs, rock piles, or small caves. Dens are only used to rear young. Young foxes become independent by 6 months of age.
Diet
Foxes are omnivores. A natural diet includes berries, plants, insects and small mammals. A modified diet can include pet food, garbage, and bird feeder seeds.
Foxes help control rodent populations by preying on rats and mice. Large red foxes have been known to prey on young fawns.
Habitat
Foxes inhabit wooded, suburban and urban areas of Fairfax County. The red fox is more common and highly adaptive in urban environments.Donald Trump has criticised Germany’s enormous current account surplus, which he considers the result of German currency manipulation. But the president is wrong. While Germany’s external surplus, at 8% of GDP, is big – too big – it is not the result of currency manipulation by Germany. The real culprits are an inflationary credit bubble in southern Europe, the expansionary policies of the European Central Bank, and the financial products US banks sold to the world. So, instead of blaming Germany, Trump would do well to focus on institutions in his own country.
Germany’s trade surplus is rooted in the fact that the country sells its goods too cheaply. Here, the Trump administration is basically right. The euro is too cheap relative to the US dollar, and Germany is selling too cheaply to its trading partners within the eurozone. This undervaluation boosts demand for German goods in other countries, while making Germany reluctant to import as much as it exports.
The euro is currently priced at $1.07, whereas OECD purchasing power parity stands at $1.29. This implies a 17% undervaluation of the euro. Moreover, Germany is 19% too cheap within the eurozone if one uses as a baseline a calculation by Goldman Sachs from 2013 and subtracts the appreciation in real terms since that time. On the whole, this implies that Germany’s currency is undervalued by about a third.
Trump’s trade adviser says Germany uses euro to 'exploit' US and EU Read more
So the fact that German products are undervalued is indisputable. The question is why the exchange rate has strayed so far from fundamentals.
The undervaluation within the eurozone has its roots in the inflationary credit bubble triggered by the announcement and implementation of the euro in southern Europe after the Madrid summit of 1995, which brought with it drastic interest-rate cuts in these economies. Interest rates in Italy, Spain and Portugal fell by about five percentage points, and in Greece by roughly 20 percentage points.
The cheap foreign credit brought about by the euro enabled these countries’ governments and construction sectors to raise wages faster than productivity increased, thereby pushing up prices and undermining the competitiveness of their manufacturing sectors. Germany, which was at that time in a deep crisis, kept inflation low, in line with the requirements of the Maastricht treaty, so it became cheaper and cheaper in relative terms.
The undervaluation of the euro, by contrast, has two root causes. One is the European Central Bank’s ultra-loose monetary policy, particularly its programme of quantitative easing (QE), under which €2.3tn of freshly printed money is being used to buy eurozone securities.
Part of that money is flowing abroad in search of higher returns, thus leading to euro depreciation. This is indeed a form of indirect currency manipulation. It should be noted, however, that the ECB’s governing council adopted QE and other expansionary measures, despite the fierce opposition of the German Bundesbank. So this is not a policy for which Germany can be held responsible.
The second root cause of the euro’s undervaluation lies within the country over which Trump presides. Thanks to the dollar’s status as the world’s main reserve currency, the US financial industry has managed in recent decades to offer international investors a potpourri of alluring products. This has driven up the dollar’s value and chronically undermined export competitiveness, much like the financial products offered by the City of London did in the UK by fuelling sterling appreciation in the years of undisputed EU membership.
Economists speak of “Dutch disease” in situations like this, because the emergence of the Netherlands’ gas industry in the 1960s placed upward pressure on the guilder, decimating the manufacturing sector. Whether a country sells gas or financial products to the rest of the world doesn’t matter all that much; the point is that the successful sector crowds out others by causing real exchange-rate appreciation. In lamenting the strong dollar’s effect on manufacturing employment in the US, Trump should look to Wall Street, not Germany.
He should also consider that those alluring US financial products, which have so afflicted America’s export sector, have sometimes been pie in the sky rather than legitimate investment opportunities. Both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton prompted brokers with their Community Reinvestment Act to help the US poor achieve home ownership by means of generous loans, even though it was clear from the outset that many of these borrowers would never be able to repay the money.
The brokers sold their claims to the banks, which in turn cunningly packaged them in opaque asset-backed securities that they then palmed off to the world with sham AAA ratings. “Stupid German money” was the term used on Wall Street for the funds that flowed in to finance America’s social policy.
That scam was exposed during the financial crisis. In 2010, Germany’s government had to support its banks with €280bn, by establishing two bad banks to take over these problematic financial products. Viewed from this perspective, a large number of the many Porsches, Mercedes, and BMWs delivered to America have never been paid for at all. The US president should take this into consideration before threatening a trade war – or even indulging in a Twitter spat – with Germany.
Hans-Werner Sinn is professor of economics and public finance at the University of Munich, was president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research and serves on the German economy ministry’s advisory council. He is the author, most recently, of The Euro Trap: On Bursting Bubbles, Budgets, and Beliefs
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Game of Thrones star Hafthor Bjornsson claims he was "robbed" after finishing second in the World's Strongest Man contest to Brit Eddie 'The Beast' Hall.
The Icelandic giants claims he was harshly judged by officials in the Viking press event, with his final lift not being counted.
Bjornsson, who plays the Gregor 'The Mountain' Clegane in the hit TV drama, said had he been given the point he was deducted he would have beaten Hall.
"This weekend I was robbed. The integrity of my beloved sport is in question," he said on Instagram alongside a stony-faced image of himself, which was later deleted.
In a subsequent post, he said: "Really proud of my effort in the Viking Press at The World's Strongest Man.
(Image: @WorldsStrongest/Twitter)
(Image: thorbjornsson /Instagram)
"I completed 15 reps but the referee took the last rep away from me.
"They say I double dipped. This would have been equal first place with Eddie Hall, which would have scored me one point higher.
"I know it's only one point, but sometimes one point can change the game completely."
Great Britain's Hall became the first Brit to win the title since Gary Taylor 24 years ago, with Bjornsson finishing second ahead of four-time champion Brian Shaw in third.
Hall won the Viking press, along with the squat lift and deadlift rounds.
Hall's manager Mo Chaudry, said that he is 'pleasantly shocked' and'very proud' with Eddie's historic win, reports Stoke's The Sentinel.
"Eddie has been dreaming about this for the last five or six years of his life. He had to be on the money, his training has been relentless and his dream has come true.
(Image: startingstrongman/Instagram)
(Image: @WorldsStrongest/Twitter)
"In one round he finished fifth so for him to come back from that, whilst competing against some of the legends in the World's Strongest Man tournament is amazing.
"These guys at the top aren't amateurs anymore- they are full-time pros and are national giants- people like four time winner Brian Shaw."
Mo described the magnitude of Eddie's achievement, stating that 'the whole of Britain should be proud.'
(Image: stokesentinel WS)
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He said: "It is the first time in 25 years that the winner has come from Great Britain. You can't really fathom what an achievement this is for Stoke-on-Trent- its history.
"Whatever plaudits he gets now and fame and fortune will be well deserved- I feel very proud to be involved with him.
"Two and a half years ago when our partnership started he had just finished tenth in the tournament, he then went full time and seeing that growth, and to be a part of that journey has been a dream come true."TRENTON — New Jersey voters may have set another record for low turnout Tuesday — this time for a gubernatorial election.
With 99 percent of the voting precincts counted, 2,073,642 voters cast ballots for governor, according to the Associated Press. That's a shade less than 38 percent of the state's registered voters.
The voter totals will go up because they don't include provisional ballots yet to be counted, as well as those who may have voted for other offices but not governor. The record low for a governor's race is 47 percent, set four years ago.
The special U.S. Senate election held three weeks ago set the record for lowest turnout of any Jersey state level-contest: 24.5 percent.
Other Election Day numbers:
• Though she lost to Gov. Chris Christie by about 22 percentage points, Barbara Buono actually got nearly 50,000 more votes than fellow Democrat Cory Booker totaled in his double-digit win for the U.S. Senate on Oct. 16.
• Christie's win extended even into Buono's hometown of Metuchen, where he outpolled the Democrat by 76 votes.
• While 373 of Christie's Mendham Township neighbors voted for Buono, he easily won the town with 82 percent of the vote.
RELATED COVERAGE
• Chris Christie cruises: Governor coasts to second term with big win over Barbara Buono
• Complete coverage of the 2013 New Jersey governor's racePlutus Raised Over $1m in 9 Days — The Journey to Launch 1st Contactless Blockchain Payments Continues
Plutus.it Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jul 7, 2016
Thank you to all participants for helping us reach over one million dollars in a flash crowdsale. The results are above expectations which will enable us to complete our platform and make Plutus Tap & Pay a reality.
Plutus app is a gateway that connects the blockchain technology with the pre-existing debit infrastructure to enable contactless payments using converted Bitcoins and Ether at millions of brick & mortar merchants all around the world.
Our vision is to make Plutus the most practical way to utilize your Bitcoin and Ethereum for spending— simply hold your phone above any merchant’s NFC reader to complete your purchase. It really couldn’t be any easier. Don’t wait years for shops and businesses to accept bitcoin, use Plutus Tap & Pay instead!
Earn Rewards for Shopping for a Zero Fee Payment Experience
The Plutus app also rewards you with tokens on the blockchain for any in‐store purchases. These tokens are called Plutons, and can be distantly compared to cash-back points or frequent flyer programs.
The purpose of the decentralised reward system is to enable practical day-to-day usage of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Plutons can be converted and used within our platform for payments just like Bitcoin and Ethereum, with the added advantage of ZERO fee transactions. No fees!
However, what makes Plutus truly unique and sets it apart from other platforms is that its liquidity is provided by a peer‐to‐peer trading network called the PlutusDEX — which runs as a autonomous gateway application (Dapp) on the Ethereum blockchain.
Did You Know? — Plutus Tap & Pay has been in the works since 2014.
We first developed the concept of combining NFC payments and Bitcoin in 2014, as mobile payments were blooming and the infrastructure to build a blockchain-based payment system first became readily available. In this timeframe, the number of NFC enabled phones in the world has almost doubled and is expected to reach over an incredible 1 billion in 2016. The next logical step was clear to us — to combine the best of both worlds and make contactless payments that unlock the value of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Payment process, deposit to checkout is under 2 minutes.
What is the problem with Bitcoin merchant adoption?
Even though the Bitcoin world is growing, Bitcoin merchant adoption has so far proved to be a challenging endeavour. Merchants are hesitant to accept it, and users are unable to spend it. And because there is no widespread Bitcoin PoS infrastructure in place, merchants often reconsider continued usage.
This is why Plutus is first and foremost intended to be a practical application for Bitcoin users. Plutus is tailored for the growing number of remote employees and freelancers around the world who are rapidly adopting digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum due to its convenience, speed, and low transfer fees.
Because of the ability to walk into any store, convert Bitcoin and spend it, we believe that Plutus is the most practical app for anyone who earns in digital currencies, and has the potential to drive adoption through referrals. And as a positive side effect, Plutus may contribute to the increasing brick & mortar usage; because when consumers have more opportunities to use NFC-powered services like the Plutus app in store, it follows that both usage and awareness will grow.
Now there is no reason to wait for merchants to wake up to Bitcoin.
Exploring an Inadvertent Use Case
Even though Plutus was designed for Bitcoin users, there are several other use cases with a sizeable impact, especially when one considers the growing numbers of remote freelancers and entrepreneurs around the world who receive cross border payments.
Plutus is useful for international tourists, expats and students. Contactless balances are available in several currencies and usage is universal. For example, if you are in the UK, you can send a small amount of Bitcoin or Pluton to your GBP balance and when you arrive in the States you can charge your USD balance the same way. This makes it possible to avoid often astronomical currency exchange fees, and use the same process to Tap & Pay anywhere in the world that is NFC-enabled.
And because the decentralised nature of the reward system (explained below), users have the ability to create their own use cases for Plutons (reward token). For example, the rebate amount earned can be sent to a friend or automatically forwarded to charity or a donation account so for every payment you make, the good deed is public and recorded on the blockchain.
Plutus chose the distributed Ethereum blockchain to secure and settle trades, avoiding the need for a centralised point of exchange.
Using a third-party exchange to convert Bitcoin to fiat is always the easier option to implement, however this convenience has many caveats like placing trust in the exchange operators, as well as their servers, and their code. This would expose the Plutus payment system to essentially the same risks as the exchange itself.
This is why we have decided that we needed to develop a competitive advantage — to build an automated peer-to-peer network instead. This means that almost all of the trading process will run transparently on the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains. As a result, the exchange will occur programmatically between users themselves.
Building the next generation payment system
Even though it is an approachable obstacle, overcoming red tape is a necessity for any financial tool that plugs directly into the fiat network. Our primary challenge is to build the next generation digital currency app that does not hold any user funds and pushes the limits of what can be done with peer-to-peer technology.
It is critical to invest time and effort primarily into first building a scalable, self-governing and secure exchange network. This significantly reduces operational costs, saves maintenance and development time in the long run.
A major advantage is that while centralised systems can be compromised and have a single point of failure, Plutus uses blockchain technology to secure all trades and balances. By storing everything on an uncensorable ledger, entire categories of attacks are rendered harmless. Benefits such as automated accounting and notarised trades are also a welcome result.
In the end, Plutus itself only acts as a gateway between these platforms with the traditional payments system. In doing so, we aim to reduce our own footprint and automate the process through distributed computing.
Pluton Rewards & The Rebate System
For every Bitcoin conversion you make on the app, you will receive a rebate in Plutons. This starts at 3% and will reduce as the network grows, to a minimum of 0.01%. Plutons are digital tokens issued on the Ethereum blockchain with the balance tied transparently to a rebate smart contract, independent from Plutus and other centralised entities. This is an advantageous feature, as it lets users access their digital assets directly from the Plutus app and convert only what they need to spend at the point of sale, whereas bitcoin has to be deposited in advance.
You can transfer your earned Plutons to other users on the app or convert them on the DEX network the same way as Bitcoin — but the transaction is designed to instantly confirm and then reflect onto a virtual debit card balance. As well as being easily accessible from the app, Pluton conversions are completed with zero fees.
Users on the DEX will also be able to buy Plutons as well as Bitcoin and Ether directly from users redeeming the tokens on the app. They have the option to hold, trade externally or convert their digital assets into contactless balance instantly and without a conversion fee, which highlights Plutons as a preferred choice over Bitcoin and Ether within the Plutus app itself. In turn, this creates an incentive for DEX users to fuel the payment network.
A singular vision.
The Plutus team has a singular vision — creating an effortless and effective contactless payments system using the blockchain. The philosophy of the application itself is open, inclusive and committed to the network health of the blockchin ecosystem.
A public trading API will be available, and creative third-party uses of the infrastructure will be highly encouraged.
If you have any questions then please join us and our growing community to ask us anything in slack, reddit or on twitter, facebook.Good morning! Today I’ll be talking about this cutie:
Ahhh the famous TonyMoly Cats Wink compact powder – it’s been talked about a lot over at /r/AsianBeauty, which is why I decided to give it a go.
TL;DR: No regrets!! New HG! *\(^.^)/*
This compact comes in two different shades: #1 Clear Skin, and #2 Clear Beige. I bought shade #1. The powder seems to be mostly translucent, but I think it does add a bit of color – just not much if you use the powder puff that comes with the compact. But that’s perfect for me as I just use it as a setting powder. It does seem to brighten my skin tone nicely.
The compact has a generously-sized mirror inside (perfect) and as mentioned, comes with a puff.
Check out that adorable paw print! I took this picture right when I got it in the mail, so since then it has become less visible with use. But it’s a nice touch!
I’ve been using this for a week now and the jury is already in – this is my new HG powder product! I was never a fan of powder, because since I have normal/dry skin, I prefer the glowy/dewy look and powders always diminished that. I’ve never had a problem with oiliness, but I like how powders help with the longevity of my foundation or BB cream, so I’m grateful to finally have found one that fits this purpose and doesn’t take away my glowy finish! I used to have to use the NYX Dewy Setting Spray to keep that kind of a finish, but now I don’t have to worry. This powder is light, easy to apply (I use patting motions with the puff), doesn’t look cakey at all, doesn’t crease in my fine lines around the eyes, and has a natural, glowing-from-within finish when used on top of my dewy BB cream. I used to use the BareMinerals Mineral Veil on top of my BB, but I stopped because it just looked so powdery. Not so with this stuff!
Below I finger-swiped for the camera to show that it does have some pigment to it (but really it doesn’t show up as any additional coverage):
Here’s a BEFORE (only BB cream) on the left and an AFTER (BB cream + Cats Wink) on the right:
You can really see around my eyes and forehead, and cheeks, where the powder made a huge difference but didn’t make it look powdery or matte. Yay!!
It’s also so convenient since it’s a compact – I can take it with me wherever I go and touch up if I need to. It’s so ADORABLE too, what more can I ask??? This is such an amazing find! If you’re looking for a quality setting powder for an affordable price, TRY THIS! You really can’t beat the price. Two big thumbs up from me!
Aaaaaand here’s my finished FOTD:
Products used:
TonyMoly Latte Art Milk Tea Morning Pack, Missha Super Aqua Cell Renew Snail BB Cream, Maybelline Fit Me Concealer, TonyMoly Cats Wink Clear Pact, Mineral Fusion Blush, Za Eyebrow Pencil, Clio Waterproof Eyeliners, Maybelline Rocket Volume Mascara
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Genuine competitive markets in health insurance and health care are sort of like Bigfoot: There's no real documented case of them appearing in the wild, but some people remain convinced they're out there.
ObamaCare itself is premised on the notion that competitive markets — albeit ones that occur in an environment heavily structured by regulations and subsidies — are possible. And ObamaCare's conservative critics insist that no, even that structuring is too much, and that we need to clear out even more regulation and spend even less and then we'll get to a competitive market. Yet every other advanced nation relies on some form of single-payer or all-payer rate-setting — including Switzerland, arguably ObamaCare's closest cousin.
So the quest for functional health care markets is kind of a big deal, because both sides assume this elusive beast can actually be found.
But markets are kind of abstract. The idea is to use the decentralized crowd wisdom of millions of people hunting through price signals for the best deals to drive down costs and drive up innovations. But in practice, that requires millions of people shopping through different options; having the time, knowledge, energy, and emotional discipline to shop meaningfully; being able to weigh trade-offs and future hypotheticals; etc.
That's a pretty tall order. The abstract ideal of the market maps onto messy human realities better for some goods and services than for others. And if you were to guess which goods or services it really doesn't map onto at all, you'd probably put "health care" near the top of the list.
A new two-year study says you might be right. In 2013, a firm shifted 52,000 employees and a number of their dependents onto a new health plan. The old plan was extremely generous, with lots of providers and covered services, and no deductibles. The new plan kept the providers and services, but added a $3,750 deductible. Since a deductible is a form of cost-sharing — you and your insurer share the cost of your care — fans of markets in health care are generally fans of high deductibles. The idea is that if your insurer covers all of your costs, you won't shop for care in any meaningful way, and then competitive market pressures can't do their thing. But if you share your costs, you'll be price sensitive, and you'll shop.
More importantly, the insurance plan also provided everyone with $3,750 in cash in a health savings account. So while the consumers were made more price sensitive, their own financial security wasn't threatened by the price sensitivity. They could spend the $3,750 on care, or they could save it for a rainy day, all without fear of encountering a price they couldn't shoulder.
The people on this plan were given a price-shopping tool "that allowed them to search for doctors providing particular services by price as well as other features (e.g. location)." That's also really important, because price transparency in the American health care system is wretched. Price tags for the same procedure vary all over the map, and it's next to impossible to get hospitals, doctors, and other providers to quote you a price upfront for major procedures.
The system is so sclerotic that the basic institutional and cultural infrastructure for just telling people the price of something was never put in place. And you can't really shop without that.
Finally, it's worth noting the employees on this plan were "relatively educated, high-income consumers" — i.e. white-collar folks with the know-how to sift through complex ideas and paperwork.
So this looks like a pretty good test of whether we can get markets in health care. Sophisticated consumers were made price-sensitive but not put at financial risk, and were given a tool to shop for providers and procedures. So did it work?
Not really.
Per-patient spending definitely fell — about 15 percent in one year — but not because anyone shopped. People just…didn't go to the doctor. They cut out "potentially valuable care (e.g. preventive services) and potentially wasteful care (e.g. imaging services)" alike. This is not the result we want. If you're sufficiently hell-bent on lowering costs in the health system, you can always just not spend money on people and leave them to fend for themselves. What we want to do is cut spending but maintain quality of care, and the theory is market competition is the means to do that. But in this case, at least, that theory didn't pan out.
"I am a little bit surprised at just how poorly patients were able to do when looking at very similar products, like MRI scans, and with a shopping tool," Jonathan Kolstad, a University of California Berkeley economist and one of the study's co-authors, told Vox. "Two years in, and there's still no evidence they're price shopping."
Nor is this the first time studies have come to this conclusion. "There's a lot of evidence that high deductibles deprive people of access to care and are on the whole not a good thing," Timothy Jost, a Washington and Lee University law professor and a widely recognized ObamaCare expert, told The Week. Which is significant, because the rising costs of health care have been driving a lot of employer-provided plans towards higher deductibles for a while now, and ObamaCare itself allows relatively high deductibles on its exchanges.
Political theorist Corey Robin had a pretty brutal take on ObamaCare and the whole market-oriented push in health care reform, which forces all of us "to spend an inordinate amount of time keeping track of each and every facet of our economic lives," Robin observed. "That, in fact, is the openly declared goal."
"In real (or at least our preferred) life, we do have other, better things to do. We have books to read, children to raise, friends to meet, loved ones to care for, amusements to enjoy."
Even with total price transparency, health insurance is an intrinsically complicated product. There are networks to juggle (maybe your hospital is covered, but not the doctor you had at the hospital), different forms of cost-sharing (if not deductibles, then co-pays), procedures that aren't covered by the plan, and more. And it's a product uniquely plagued by the stresses, fears, and emotional weight of sickness and mortality. A vision of the American health system that assumes people can navigate all that comes close to treating human beings like emotionless economic calculators.
Now, you can argue, and I have myself, that a genuine market could tackle these problems, forcing insurers to make the experience of health care shopping speedy and painless. Maybe we just haven't cracked the code yet, and this study wasn't an adequate test of our ability to do so. That's possible. But it also leaves us gesturing at some theoretical utopia of nimble health innovation and provision that lies just beyond the horizon.
Ironically, it's lefty fans of things like single-payer and all-payer rate-setting who are suggesting we stick with traditional, tried-and-true methods.Even though HP said that it was out of TouchPads, it looks like there's a few left for developers to purchase. HP's brought back its developer device program, which gives the opportunity to purchase up to two 32GB TouchPads for $149.99 each, as long as you send in a request for this discount coupon by November 18th. The purchase has to be completed by November 27th, assuming stocks last that long — ever since the TouchPad fire sales began back in late August, the device has been hard to find, so we wouldn't count on them being around by the end of the month. This program replaces the previous developer loaner program in which you could borrow a tablet for two months, free of charge. Unsurprisingly, HP doesn't want these TouchPads back — all sales are final.
Thanks to Steven for the tip!CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- A Corpus Christi Lawyer announced Thursday he will represent the family of one of the victims of the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
Bob Hilliard, of Hilliard Muñoz Gonzalez, LLP, said he intends to file a lawsuit against Sig Sauer, Inc. and Glock, Inc. in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in United States history.
According to a media release from the law firm, Hilliard is set to represent the family oF 30-year-old Miguel Honorato. Honorato was shot to death at Pulse Nightclub, while his friends were reportedly able to escape.
He leaves behind a wife and three young children. His family said he is remembered as a hard worker, and he also had seven siblings.
Hilliard said the gunmakers "aggressively market" the types of weapons used in the Orlando shooting.
“As we now mourn the senseless act of violence perpetrated against the LGBTQ and Latino communities, many of them killed by the Sig Sauer MCX and a Glock semiautomatic pistol, which fired off multiple shots in seconds and ultimately claimed 49 young lives and injured 51 others, our nation must act to ensure that the heartbreak and devastation will not ever occur again," Hilliard said in a statement.Royce DeGrie/Getty Images
Several species of frogs can quickly switch on genetic resistance to a group of commonly used pesticides. In one case, wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) were able to deploy such defences in just one generation after exposure to contaminated environments, scientists reported last week at a conference of the Ecological Society of America in Baltimore, Maryland.
This is the first-known example of a vertebrate species developing pesticide resistance through a process called phenotypic plasticity, in which the expression of some genes changes in response to environmental pressure1. It does not involve changes to the genes themselves, which often take many generations to evolve.
The frogs' speedy response raises hope for amphibian species, of which one-third are threatened or extinct, says Rick Relyea, an ecologist at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and the team's leader.
“Frogs can evolve much faster than we thought,” says Andrew Blaustein, an amphibian ecologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis. “It is possible these stunning findings could have some practical value for conservation but the situation is complex. There is a cocktail of problems.”
All about location
In 2013, Relyea and his team discovered2 that L. sylvaticus frogs living near agricultural land in northwest Pennsylvania were resistant to the pesticide carbaryl. Laboratory tests revealed that frog embryos and hatchlings living far from farmers' fields were not pesticide-resistant but could quickly become tolerant when exposed to low levels of the pesticide.
Subsequent research revealed that another species, the grey tree frog (Hyla versicolor), can also switch on resistance to carbaryl in the same speedy way as L.sylvaticus3. And frogs that develop resistance to carbaryl also show resistance to another pesticide, malathion4. Both pesticides work by inhibiting the enzyme Acetylcholine esterase (AChE), which acts on a neurotransmitter.
“If inducible tolerance occurs more widely in nature, it would alter our perspective on how pesticides affect organisms,” says Relyea.
Some of the team’s latest published research shows that L. sylvaticus individuals living close to contaminated farmland evolve to permanently express the resistance after natural selection favours the “switched-on” phenotype, in a process known as genetic assimilation. In contrast, populations inhabiting pesticide-free land show their tolerance only after exposure to low levels of the chemicals.
Scientists have observed only a few other species evolving as a result of phenotypic plasticity, such as plants shifting to live at higher altitudes in response to climate change.
Relyea suggests that agricultural pests such as mites and beetles — the intended targets of pesticides — could also develop resistance in the same way. Understanding how tolerance evolves could help farmers to prevent pests from developing resistance. Farmers might not apply an initial round of pesticide at low doses if they knew it could help pests to become resistant, he adds.Today is the "Internet Slowdown," a protest of the Federal Communications Commission's proposed net neutrality rules that would allow Internet service providers to charge Web services for priority access to consumers. Organized by advocacy groups such as Fight For the Future and supported by big tech companies, the SlowDown has websites altering their home pages to show users what the Web could look like if it was divided into "fast lanes" for companies who pay ISP fees and "slow lanes" for everyone else. Visitors are urged to visit the protest website and sign a letter to Congress, the FCC, and the White House.
Naturally, cable companies got in on the action, trying to convince Internet users that they're really the ones on the side of good. Let's take a look at how the Internet Slowdown has played out so far.
As mentioned in the above gallery, Vimeo took things one step further with this video:As more and more incidents of police brutality are captured on film, you might expect them to become less common. But, as one New York public defender attests, the problem has deep roots — and its victims are grimly predictable
The images are compelling, true, but they don’t compel due to any great variety. On the contrary, the experienced viewer will detect a certain dispiriting sameness almost from the outset. The only aspect that truly changes is the accompanying data, though this is mostly irrelevant detail.
A boy (relevant detail: 12 years old) stands in a park’s playground, until a police car pulls up and an officer immediately – within two seconds – shoots and kills him. A man slowly exits his car at a gas station. A state trooper asks to see his licence, and after the man turns and reaches into his car to retrieve it, the trooper shoots him multiple times at close range; the shooting victim wonders aloud, “What did I do, sir?” A burly undercover officer delivers a vicious right cross flush to the face of the thin, handcuffed woman who just extended her foot toward him. His follow-up kick misses.
An overweight man in a chokehold – whose face we’ve just seen forcefully being ground into the pavement despite his protestations that he can’t breathe – now lies limp on that sidewalk surrounded by officers who seem more concerned with bystander proximity than any fatal medical emergency. Filmed from a helicopter, a horse thief (of all things) is Tasered into prone immobility then beaten severely by eight officers; one of them starts things off with a kick to the man’s groin before another gets a running start, as if fearful of missing out, to contribute his own kick to the man’s midsection.
A woman surrounded by police at a precinct while being processed for a public-drunkenness arrest is suddenly thrown down face first after protesting her treatment. Now unconscious, her eviscerated face lies in a pool of her own blood. A man pitifully jogs away from a police officer who reacts by calmly taking aim then killing the man with multiple shots to the back.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I can’t breathe’: Eric Garner put in chokehold by NYPD officer – video
What these images, and many more like them, seem to share is a decidedly warlike timbre – but if so, this is a very one-sided civil war. And a disquietingly disproportionate number of the fallen on the losing side are African American or Latino. Being a New York City public defender, as I’ve been for many years, means dutifully watching the latest footage whenever it emerges. The force of such imagery is undeniable – but it ultimately only does what footage can do. Its viewings are visceral events and as such they disturb, startle and horrify |
opter...
Once the blueprints were approved, things moved on to the special effects, prop makers and construction crews. Here is what the prop shop looked like, along with one of its products (a Fremen static electricity collector, in case you were about to ask)...
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The model department was in charge of creating the spacecraft...
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While the construction crews built and decorated the sets...
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Bob Ringwood, the costume designer, had his own shop where he created everything from his own drawings. Here is Ringwood at work:
It was a lot of fun getting to try on some of the costumes. Sometimes this was in order to put on a show the film's financial backers, sometimes it was in order to test out a costume to see how it was working and sometimes it was just for fun. Here is Judith trying on a few things:
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And one of the administrative assistants...
The only time I ever got involved in any of the costume work was in creating the art for the background stilsuits. These were nothing more than union suits with a black pattern printed on them. Here I am creating the prototype artwork...(AP Photo/Allen G. Breed) Julie Banner, right, chats with Rebekah Lowe outside the state unemployment office in Cary, North Carolina, on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009.
This article and accompanying interactive chart were first published at the website of the Economic Policy Institute.
Unemployment insurance (UI) is a vital part of America’s social safety net, providing benefits to eligible workers who have lost a job through no fault of their own. The system is jointly funded by federal and state payroll taxes, but within broad guidelines from the Department of Labor, states have considerable flexibility in deciding benefit eligibility, how much and for how long beneficiaries are paid, as well as the tax structure for funding the state portion of the program. While most states offer a maximum of twenty-six weeks of UI benefits, the historic magnitude and duration of unemployment brought on by the Great Recession prompted Congress to implement federal extensions of unemployment benefits, totaling as much as ninety-nine weeks.
A full six months before Congress allowed these federal UI extensions to expire (in December 2013), the state of North Carolina disqualified its unemployed workers from receiving federal UI extensions by simultaneously cutting duration from twenty-six to nineteen weeks and cutting the amount of weekly benefits (without receiving a waiver from the federal government). The justification for this decision was that by making UI benefits less generous, unemployed workers would have more incentive to take available jobs, and employment levels in the state would rise. If North Carolina’s drastic cuts in UI benefits were an effective policy tool for increasing employment, we would expect to see a very different employment trajectory in North Carolina consistent with the timing of the policy change as compared with nearby states likely experiencing similar macroeconomic conditions.
The graph above shows the month-by-month prime-age employment-to-population ratio (EPOP), which is the percentage of the working age population that is employed, for North Carolina and five nearby southern states, from the start of 2012 through the end of 2013. The prime-age EPOP excludes people who are younger than 25 or older than 54, so it is less likely to be affected by people who voluntarily choose not to work because they are enrolled in school or retired.
As the graph shows, North Carolina’s prime-age EPOP began rising rapidly in the months prior to the duration cutback, began falling steadily just two months after the duration cutback, and differed very little in behavior after the cutback from prime-age EPOPs in surrounding states. This outcome provides little reason to believe that North Carolina’s cuts fundamentally improved the labor market in the state.Carson's comments have drawn fire. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Fresh off a surprise win in a Michigan straw poll, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized former neurosurgeon Ben Carson's argument that a Muslim could not be "in charge of this nation."
"Article VI of the Constitution says there won’t be a religious test," Paul said in an interview. "I think the answer is that simple."
Carson made the remarks first in an interview with Meet the Press. Asked by host Chuck Todd if Islam was "consistent with the Constitution," Carson said it wasn't. In a subsequent interview with The Hill's Jon Easley, Carson explained that he didn't think "Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country."
Paul had a better weekend -- or at least a more dramatic improvement in fortunes. The Mackinac policy conference began the bizarre story of key Michigan strategist John Yob getting punched by a Rubio strategist. It ended with 22 percent of the conference's straw poll vote going to Paul, his second consecutive victory in a poll that had a better-than-typical record of proving grassroots support. (Michigan-born Mitt Romney always did well in the poll, and won the state twice.)
"I'd attribute it to our organizational prowess, to our ground game, to our ability to excite the youth vote," Paul said. "Our victory there was primarily due to getting a youth crowd to show. We had probably 200 kids at a rally around the conference. I think the issues we’ve been talking about – criminal justice reform, that it’s crazy to put people in jail for marijuana, we need a new foreign policy -- have been resonating with young people."
Paul has triumphed in other straw polls, and in the lead-up to Mackinac his campaign proudly announced that more than 300 "Students for Rand" chapters had been chartered on campuses. He wondered aloud whether the showing in Michigan, coupled with the Reagan Presidential Library debate, represented the end of Donald Trump's moment.
"I think Trump got almost no votes," he said. "Every other campaign organized and tried to get supporters there. What we’re going to find is a reshuffling of the deck. To show how dramatically it’s reshuffled, you can look at polls that showed Walker at 22 percent a few months ago, and see that he's at 0 percent today. Fiorina has greatly increased her numbers. As far as Trump goes, I think we’ll probably be done in the very near future with his domination of the polls. We can begin to rise."
Michigan, which is voting a bit later in the 2016 cycle than it has in the past, offers unique opportunities to a candidate like Paul. Before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Republicans courted Michigan's Arab and Muslim voters, and made real inroads on behalf of George W. Bush. The war on terror, and the impression of many Muslims that they were being targeted, sent Muslim voters back into the Democratic camp. Still, when asked about Texas student Ahmed Mohamed's suspension over a home-made clock that administrators mistook for a bomb, Paul was circumspect.
"I didn’t really feel like there was a national story there," said Paul. "There’s common sense in sending a kid home for the day if something looks like a bomb. Now, kicking somebody out of school would be an inappropriate response. And we do that all the time, kicking out of school for an entire year because they have some marijuana or they've broken some rule. We've got to be concerned about overzealous responses like that."Several years ago, I wrote and drew some Transformers fan-comics (with a little help from various other people) that I posted up on the Allspark.com Transformers fan-website. They were very well received, and actually contributed to me gaining work on colouring the official Transformers comics a few years later.
Recently I found out that Sol Fire, one of the forum members who’s fan-character I used in the books, had taken his own life. Coupled with my own experience with mental health disorders, it seemed like a good way to help a charity and also show a mark of respect.
To this end, I’ve decided to collect together the four stories I created, and publish them in a trade paperback, which I will then sell online and at some UK conventions. Once the printing costs are all met, any further takings will all go to The Samaritans.
The book itself will be a 72 page, full colour A5 trade. It will contain four 16 page stories – “Courage Under Fire”, “Crisis Of Conscience”, “Out Of TIme” and “The Best Defence…”. It will also contain some new bonus material and other additional content from people who helped create the stories as well. As a sample of what to expect, the first story, “Courage Under Fire”, can be viewed in it’s entirety HERE.
I’ll be selling the book for £15 (postage within the UK will be an additional £3 – postage abroad will be £6). I’m looking to print the book in December, and start shipping out copies in the New Year.
I’ve decided to operate a pre-order system for this, in order to build up enough initial funds from the outset to cover the printing – every penny afterwards goes to charity. Please use the links below to pre-order your copy via Paypal.
Book + UK Postage
Book + International Postage
If you don’t have Paypal, please contact me and we’ll sort out something else.
Finally, I’d like to ask my fellow Transformers fans to please spread the word on this, link to this blog post, and get other people to take a punt on it. I’m initially hoping to print 50 books. If demand exceeds that, I’ll happily print more – hence why I’m going the pre-order route, to maximise the amount that goes to the Samaritans at the end of the day.
And finally finally, it goes without saying that Transformers and all associated trademarks are the property of Hasbro. This book is an unlicensed fan-produced publication which is strictly non-profit making, and no infringement of copyright or trademark is intended.
AdvertisementsTales from the olden days of Apple have always been popular among the geek crowd, especially when they come from people like Steve Wozniak. That's why a series of rare, vintage Woz videos uploaded to YouTube early Friday has sparked some interest. YouTube user Vince Patton told AppleInsider that the videos came from a VHS recording of Woz speaking at the Denver Apple Pi club on October 4, 1984, with Woz covering an entire range of topics. There's also a bonus appearance from Apple's sixth employee, Randy Wigginton.
Below are a handful of the videos uploaded by Patton (check out the rest on Patton's YouTube page):
Woz on being put on probation for "computer abuse":
Woz on quitting his job for Apple:
Woz on his favorite topic of all time: pranking:
Woz on yet even more pranks:
Woz on his allegiance to Steve Jobs:
Randy Wigginton on averting disaster:6 years ago
(CNN) - Police in Arlington County, Virginia said Thursday they will start a criminal investigation of "election offense allegations" involving the son of Democratic Rep. Jim Moran.
The congressman's son, Patrick, resigned from his position Wednesday as a paid staff member on his father's re-election campaign after secretly-recorded video showed him giving detailed advice on how to commit voter fraud.
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Moran, now in his 11th term, released a statement saying his son, Patrick, was "a well-respected member of the campaign team. This incident, however, was clearly an error in judgment. The campaign has accepted Patrick's resignation, effective immediately."
The video, which first emerged Wednesday, was released by Project Veritas, a 501(C)3 group created by conservative activist James O'Keefe. O'Keefe is known for using fake aliases and secretly record videos to try to expose fraud.
In the edited video, an undercover Project Veritas employee with a hidden camera approaches Patrick Moran, asking for advice on how to vote for 100 people.
Though remaining skeptical, Patrick Moran suggests forging utility bills or bank statements as forms of ID, as well as pretending to be a pollster in order to call voters and find out if they are inactive.
The Arlington County Commonwealth Attorney's Office and the Arlington County Police Department said in a statement that they are aware of the video that allegedly depicts Patrick Moran of "assisting another to vote illegally."
"The Arlington County Police Department has initiated a criminal investigation of this matter," the statement read.
After the video made headlines, Patrick Moran released a statement Wednesday, saying he does not endorse "any sort of illegal or unethical behavior."
"At no point did I take this person seriously. He struck me as being unstable and joking, and for only that reason did I humor him," he said. "In hindsight, I should have immediately walked away, making it clear that there is no place in the electoral process for even the suggestion of illegal behavior: joking or not."
Rep. Jim Moran represents Virginia's 8th Congressional District, which includes Washington, D.C. suburbs such as Arlington County and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church.CLOSE Carly Mallenbaum hosts BackStage about the second issue of 'Superman Wonder Woman,' out today. What happens when Superman meets Wonder Woman's parents?
DC Comics superheroes find relationship drama and epic action in comic-book series.
The 'Superman/Wonder Woman' series balances relationship drama with big superhero action. (Photo11: DC Comics) Story Highlights The Man of Steel meets Diana's family in 'Superman/Wonder Woman' No. 2
Creative team balances relationship drama with action-packed scenes
Not everybody is pleased that they're a supercouple
It's not a "meet cute" moment in a favorite romantic comedy but just as memorable a courtship exchange: Superman brings Wonder Woman an exotic flower from nearby his arctic Fortress of Solitude, and she wants to go teach him some fight moves.
Writer Charles Soule (Swamp Thing) and artist Tony Daniel (Action Comics) are exploring the mostly uncharted dating life of superheroes and balancing it with epic action sequences in their DC Comics series Superman/Wonder Woman.
And that aforementioned scene in the first issue showcases one of the main things that Soule wants out of his series: a deep-dive into superpowered relationships. (So far, fans are feeling the love, too. According to Diamond Comics Distributors, the debut issue was the No. 7 comic in all of October, out-selling even Neil Gaiman's much-ballyhooed return to The Sandman.)
"They're both coming at it from the place of 'I want to share something of myself with this other person,' which is a noble goal. But they're both very different," Soule says of his supercouple.
"Superman was raised in the apple-pie Kansas town of Smallville, and Diana was raised in a warrior society on an island in the sea that no one gets to go to. They bring very different things to the table, but they both have the same goal: to share something of themselves and try to build something together."
Out Wednesday, Superman/Wonder Woman No. 2 begins with an epic throwdown between Wonder Woman and the powerful Man of Steel foe Doomsday after a mysterious force knocked the heck out of Superman. More conflict arises with the likes of Kryptonian foes Zod and Faora and things ramp in upcoming issues — especially the last few buzzworthy pages, says Soule — as the power couple's relationship goes public.
Superman and Wonder Woman each have friends they can turn to who are rooting for a successful lovelife — Cat Grant may not know her journalist partner, Clark Kent, is actually Superman but she digs the idea of him having a hot date.
Not everybody is so happy about this coupling. Issue 2 features a meet-the-parents scenario where Superman and Wonder Woman go to visit Diana's family, the Olympian gods that Brian Azzarello has been writing in the main Wonder Woman series.
"The gods are very imperious, they're very cocky, they mess with people because they think they're superior to everyone on Earth, but then you have Superman, who is basically a god in his own right, and there's some really fun tension," Soule says.
Because it's a big superhero story featuring two of DC Comics' most famous characters, "it's tempting and almost habitual to write them as icons," the writer adds. "That's how they come across — if you were to see Superman or Wonder Woman, you wouldn't be able to process them as a person."
But it's writing them as people that is the key, according to Soule, who has been digging into what makes them tick and do the things they do for the relationship aspect.
"I feel like I'm more in the head of Superman and Wonder Woman than I've ever been before as a reader," he says, "which you would hope me being the person writing it."
As far as those courtship experiences and the intimate moments between the two, Soule's primary source is drawing from his own emotional experiences and letting them color a relationship between a man and woman who are more than just superfriends.
"I've never had one that's precisely like Superman and Wonder Woman — I don't think anyone has, which is why it's an interesting book to read," Soule says. "But at the same time I can extrapolate from situations I've been in and discussions I've had with friends I've known, and I try and make it feel as real as possible."
In both the action beats and the love story, Soule and Daniel strive to balance the ordinary and the extraordinary.
"It would be a terrible waste to have a comic book with Tony Daniel drawing them having milkshakes the whole time," Soule says.
A large splash page with Superman lifting a large Norwegian ship to save the day is something the artist is well known for doing, yet it's a different kind of thrill in the quieter moments where Daniel has to craft the right character detail for a scene, such as a Superman smirk or a glint in Wonder Woman's eye.
He works hard on those scenes "to convey their emotional responses and interactions with each other so they're not just cardboard cutouts I paste on the page," Daniel says.
"Superman is still Superman, but if I can catch that vulnerability in a certain moment he might be having with Wonder Woman, or vice versa for Wonder Woman with Superman, I'm happy with that."
Not retreading the same old kind of superhero story is refreshing for readers but also Soule and Daniel as creators.
It's times such as the one in an upcoming issue when Wonder Woman is discussing with a confidante how to handle something personal with Superman "that make these characters a little bit more identifiable," Daniel says.
"Then when we get to see them in harm's way and fighting these superpowered beings and monsters, it makes us care for the characters that much more when we can really relate to them."
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Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1hzTjjy“Coming from a four generations of Navy, it was never a choice for me. If I could’ve gone from crawling to flying, I would have. I knew it was what I wanted when I signed those enlistment papers. I knew it was what I wanted when I showed up to basic. I knew it was what I wanted when I graduated the academy. But I’ll be damned, as soon as I stepped up to the flight deck for my first mission, I was scared to all hell. I couldn’t admit back then, but I’ll say it now. Yeah, I was scared. It took everything to put one foot in front of the other. With each step as the ship loomed closer, I realized that the fear was really a sign. A sign that I was about to do something that mattered. That I was going to make a difference.”
- Lt. Victor “Pudding” Vanile
UEES Minotaur, 182nd Battle Group, 5th Fleet
Greeting Citizens,
We’re celebrating Star Citizen’s birthday with a huge ship sale! Each day for the next week, we’re bringing back a selection of fan favorite limited edition ships to the pledge store, so anyone interested can pick up what they might have missed. Today, the focus is on our heavily armed military ships, including the agile Gladius and the fearsome Super Hornet. For anyone who wants it all, an armada master pack is also available!
A variety of new ships will be available all week; they are listed below.
Remember: we are offering these pledge ships to help fund Star Citizen’s development. The funding generated by sales such as this go directly to the game’s ongoing production. Concept ships will be available for in-game credits in the final universe, and they are not required to start the game.
Military
Gladiator
The civilian model of the Gladiator appeals to those that want explore the ‘Verse with a bit of added security. Supporting a maximum of two the Gladiator is perfectly equipped to explore and fight with or without a wingman. The Civilian model allows pilots to choose between an extra cargo hold or a bomb bay.
Gladius
The Gladius is an older design which has been updated over the years to keep up with modern technology. In military circles, the Gladius is beloved for its performance and its simplicity. A fast, light fighter with a laser-focus on dogfighting, the Gladius is an ideal interceptor or escort ship.
Sabre
Part of Aegis Dynamics’ Phase Two of new ship models, the Sabre was designed as a space superiority fighter for those situations where you need to leave a lighter footprint. Designed to be a rapid responder, the Sabre is more than capable of establishing battlefield dominance for any number of combat scenarios.
Hornet
To the enemy, it is a weapon never to be underestimated. To allies, it’s a savior. The F7C Hornet is the same dependable and resilient multi-purpose fighter that has become the face of the UEE Navy. The F7C is the foundation to build on and meet whatever requirements you have in mind.
Hornet Ghost
Through a combination of low-emission drives, low-draw weapons, and Void Armor technology capable of diffusing scans, the F7C-S Ghost is built for the pilot who wants to keep a low profile. The Ghost is capable of slipping past the most ardent of observers to accomplish whatever goal you need to accomplish. Don’t worry, we won’t ask.
Hornet Tracker
If the Ghost is made to hide, the Tracker is made to seek. The F7C-R Tracker boasts an advanced radar suite making it ideal for deep-space explorers who require depth and accuracy in their scan packages. Local militia and larger merc units will also repurpose Trackers to act as mobile C&C ships for their squadrons.
Super Hornet
The closest to the Military load-out as is legally possible for a Civilian model, the F7C-M Super Hornet reattaches the ball turret and offers near milspec parts under the hood. Proving that two heads are better than one, a second seat has been added to split the logistic and combat duty, making the Super Hornet a truly terrifying mark to engage.
Retaliator and Modules
The Retaliator is the United Earth Empire’s premiere, if aging, jump-capable heavy bomber. Massive formations of these spacecraft running long-range strike missions is not an uncommon site around the fringes of the empire. With a distinctive elongated silhouette that is dotted with turrets and carrying a massive bomb load, the Retaliator is an effective symbol of Imperial might. As such, they are the frequent centerpiece of Space Force recruiting posters. Retaliators are ground-based, with all but the largest carriers unable to operate them effectively. Heavily modified Retaliators are becoming commonplace on the civilian market as the design ages and earlier production runs are sold off en mass. Outfitted to carry cargo instead of antimatter bombs and with the waist turret positions typically swapped for makeshift living quarters, they make a good medium freighter or a basic explorer. Some have even been converted into long-hop passenger spacecraft!
Starfarer Gemini
The United Empire of Earth military uses an adapted ‘rough and tumble’ variant of the Starfarer for their front line operations. The G2M Gemini, more commonly the Starfarer Gemini or ‘Star G,’ trades some cargo capacity and maneuverability in exchange for reinforced armor, increased shielding, more powerful engines and stronger versions of the three manned turrets. The Gemini also includes an optional missile pod, which can be swapped for the fuel intake unit on the ship’s nose (see below for details.) Missile pods can be mounted to either Starfarer variant.
Armada Pack
New Ships
Crucible
A so-called “flying toolbox,” the Crucible is Anvil Aerospace’s first dedicated repair ship. Featuring a rotating control bridge and a detachable pressurized workspace, the Crucible is a versatile mobile garage equipped with repair arms, a drone operation center and all the equipment needed to overhaul a damaged craft back into fighting shape.
The Crucible, our penultimate Wave Four concept ship, is now available! Designed by the legendary Ryan Church, this repair ship is just the thing for keeping your fleet up and running. When closed, the detachable workshop allows crews to repair single seat fighters internally. When open, the Crucible can use its remote arms to attach and repair larger craft! You can learn more about the Crucible here, and Star Citizen’s overall repair mechanic here.
Avenger Variants
Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 will see the addition of flyable variants for the Aegis Dynamics Avenger! The base Avenger available today is now the Stalker, designed with the needs of bounty hunters in mind. A basic Titan cargo ship and an advanced e-warfare Warlock are also available… and all three will be available for combat in Star Citizen’s next patch!
The Titan and Stalker are permanent additions to the pledge store, the Warlock will be on sale through the end of the anniversary sale (Sunday, November 29th.) Please note that these variants will be available as separate modules in the future. The initial release of Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 does not allow changing modules, so we are offering them as distinct, playable ships first. We would encourage you to CCU to the Avenger you’re most interested in trying rather than picking up all three!
Avenger Titan
Lacking the Prisoner Cells of the Stalker or the EMP Generator of the Warlock, the Titan’s hold is free to carry cargo. Couple that available space with the Avenger’s tried and true combat abilities and you’ve got a light cargo hauler that’s more than capable of handling itself in a fight.
Avenger Stalker
Initially designed as Aegis’ frontline carrier ship for the military, the Avenger Stalker took a different path, ultimately having a long and storied career as the standard patrol craft of the UEE Advocacy. Utilizing its cargo hold for prisoner transport, the Avenger features a sturdy, reliable hull and the capacity for larger-than-expected engine mounts.
Aegis Dynamics Avenger - Standalone Ship $60.00 USD In stock more info Add to Cart
Avenger Warlock
The Avenger Warlock was built towards a single design philosophy: stop ships, don’t destroy them. Probably the closest to a non-lethal fighter, the Warlock is outfitted with a Behring REP-8 EMP Generator, capable of emitting a powerful electromagnetic wave to disable any electronics unfortunate enough to be within the blast radius.
P-72 Archimedes
If you’re looking for something a little more agile, blaze among the stars with Kruger Intergalactic’s P-72 Archimedes. Whether for added security, exploring a system or simply the joy of flying, the Archimedes is the perfect companion snub craft. Featuring an extra intake and a lighter hull than its sister ship, the Archimedes delivers exceptional handling and boost capabilities in a sleek package you’ll want along for the ride.
The Archimedes is here! Concepted by Gurmukh Bhasin, the Archimedes is the speedy, luxury alternative to the P-52 Merlin. Initially included with the Constellation Phoenix, the P-72 is interchangeable with Kruger’s other snub fighter and can be attached to any snub-capable Constellation. The Archimedes is available this week as a concept sale.
Vanguard
The A3G Vanguard is the United Empire of Earth’s dedicated deep space fighter. Initially developed as a bomber-destroyer, the Vanguard is a hard-charging bulldog of a ship which features extensive forward-mounted weaponry designed to tear through the shields and armor of other spacecraft. Four high-caliber forward laser cannons and a massive central Gatling gun give the Vanguard an unprecedented amount of sheer striking power. So-named because their multiple-jump range allows them to form the forefront of any military expedition, Vanguard have seen extensive service against the Vanduul.
We’re proud to announce that the Aegis Vanguard will be available as hangar-ready in Star Citizen Alpha 2.0! Going forward, we intend to make ships hangar ready earlier in the process than previously allowed, starting during their advanced greybox phase. The Vanguard will be the first of these ships! In its honor, we’re making all three variants and their BUK options available again this week.
Bring a Friend!
We don’t just want existing players to enjoy the anniversary, we want to introduce Star Citizen to new players! As a result, we’re offering a limited number of discounted $30 packages each day, first come first serve (1,000 per day.) These packages offer the full Star Citizen experience, including an Aurora starter ship and a copy of the Squadron 42 single player adventure. You won’t find a better deal anywhere in the ‘Verse, so pick up a copy for a friend today!
Physical Merchandise
Star Citizen physical merchandise is also on sale! For the next week, Constellation models are now $80, Arena Commander t-shirts are on deep discount and all other in-stock merchandise is 20% off.
Anniversary Sale Schedule
We’re making a large number of our older ships available for those who missed out, want to upgrade an existing package or simply want to expand their fleets. We will be presenting these ships over the course of the next week in a series of role-based theme days, listed below. From armored explorers to lumbering transports to alien traders, there’s something for everyone! All existing ships will be offered with three year insurance in honor of our third birthday. Each day will also include a discounted ‘fleet pack’ in the style of the Armada Pack available during CitizenCon. Don’t want to wait around to switch to your favorite ship? All ships will be available at once during the end of the sale, from Friday, November 27th to Sunday, November 29th.
Monday, November 23rd: Racing
M50
Mustang Delta
350R
Tuesday, November 24th: Aliens
Khartu-al
Banu Merchantman
Reliant
Wednesday, November 25th: Working Starships
Reclaimer
Genesis Starliner
Orion
Aurora LX
Starfarer
Thursday, November 26th: Mercantile
Freelancer MIS
Hull Series
Constellation Phoenix
Friday, November 27th – Sunday, November 29th: All Previously Offered Ships!
From Friday through Sunday, all ships previously available during this sale will return. Pick up your favorite as soon as it appears, or wait until the finale to make your choice!Close
In this year's Paris Motor Show, the automobile industry's future seems to swerve along the trenches of electric cars, if the biennial auto show proves any legitimate consumer forecast. In Paris where the show was held, electric vehicles occupied a large foreground space, more than that of luxury cars and diesel-fueled vehicles.
Much of the hype surrounding this year's Paris Motor show accounted to car models latching onto the trend of green energy, which is a more efficient, non-pollutant solution for those who who wish to avail a car while trying their best to avoid straining the environment because of carbon emissions. That said, the auto show almost likened the diesel cars as bit players in the midst of news coverage of the event, which tightened its focus substantially on electric cars.
"Crossovers and vehicle electrification are again expected to be key reveals at the event," said Ian Fletcher, principal analyst of U.K. based financial services company IHS Markit. He noted that the trend is a conflation of consumer demand in proportion to the number of crossovers being unveiled, and zero-emission factors.
Despite notable no-shows this year, several carmakers are using the auto show as an opportunity to show off their new automotive electric cars.
Volkswagen yanked its lineup of luxury cars from the auto show as a cost-cutting attempt after its emissions scandal and is set to unveil a compact smart electric car as part of its ongoing shift to develop more electric models. It has vowed to release more than 30 all-electric models by 2025, and to sell 2 to 3 million of them annually. Its new electric car is touted as the company's breeding ground and base design for electric cars it plans to develop in the future.
Mercedes-Benz is also expected to showcase a new SUV that will directly compete with Tesla's Model X. Tesla, Elon Musk's electric car company, is not exactly disrupting the industry with record-breaking profits, but it has garnered enough notice and popularity among consumers and carmakers alike, noting that many customers opt for a Tesla. Mercedes-Benz will also show the AMG GT R, AMG GLC43 Coupe, GLC350e Coupe, AMG GT and GT C Roadster. Additionally, it's set to showcase an electric vehicle concept it calls "a concrete vision of a totally new generation of vehicles with battery-electric drive."
Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors Co. has the Ampera-e to show off, the European counterpart to Chevrolet Bolt that delivers an all-electric range of about 383 kilometers (238 miles).
BMW will also show its 3 Series Gran Turismo four-door and its new electric models, named i3 and i8 Protonic Dark Silver special edition model. It's also set to show an X2 concept SUV, expected to go into full production in late 2017.
Here is a comprehensive list of key debuts:
Production Cars
- Audi Q5
- Audi A5 coupe, A5 Sportback
- BMW i8 Spyder, i8 coupe
- Ferrari LaFerrari Aperta
- Ferrari GTC4Lusso variant
- Honda Civic hatchback, Civic Type R
- Hyundai i30
- Infiniti QX50
- Kia Rio
- Land Rover Discovery
- Mercedes-Benz E-class All Terrain
- Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster/GT C
Roadster
- Nissan Micra
- Opel Ampera-e
- Porsche Panamera, Panamera
Plug-in hybrid
- Smart ForTwo EV
- Smart ForFour EV
Concept Cars
- BMW X2
- Lexus UX
- Mercedes-Benz electric crossover
- Mitsubishi GT-PHEV Concept
- Volkswagen EV
With companies skipping the Paris Motor Show altogether, the prolific dominance of electric vehicles in this year's auto show harks back to the general significance of the auto show in this era where we have the internet as a primary tool for carmakers to disseminate information, building hype for a cost far less than that involved in the logistics of participating in a show. It's a question of the auto show going beyond a stereotypical luxury frenzy for rich consumers into an innovative showcasing platform, where even the uninitiated can participate and learn all about what's the next thing for cars.
ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.“The way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor.”
In their frequently cited book Metaphors we live by, Lakoff and Johnson demonstrate the important role of metaphors in our language, and also in our every day life. They claim that our conceptual system is largely metaphorical, which means that we use metaphors to reason and understand the world.
Conceptual metaphors link a familiar concept with one that is unfamiliar. They help us better understand something that might otherwise be too complex or too abstract for our mind to grasp. Conceptual metaphors make abstract concepts more concrete and therefore bring them within our reach.
Metaphors consist of two parts: a vehicle and a tenor. The vehicle is a concept that we are familiar with. The tenor is the concept to which the metaphor is applied. Because of visual, functional, or structural similarities, we can transfer our knowledge about the vehicle to the tenor and consequently make sense of this unfamiliar concept.
Visual similarities indicate that both the familiar and the unfamiliar concept look alike and can be compared based on external features. Functional similarities are based on common functions or features, unrelated to their appearance. Last but not least, structural similarities are related organizational structures of both the familiar and unfamiliar concept. In any case, existing mental schemata can be applied in order to understand something unfamiliar.
Metaphors on the Web
On the Web, we can make use of metaphors in different ways. In general, conceptual metaphors are a great tool to increase the user experience of your website. However, beware to use metaphors with caution and not overload your page with them. Metaphors that are used consciously can help your users understand abstract content, create a sense of familiarity, trigger emotions, draw attention, or motivate action.
Metaphors on the Web can represent a whole website, or single elements on your site. They can be either interaction or content metaphors and they can be both visual and verbal.
Make the abstract concrete
As described above, conceptual metaphors help us to understand abstract concepts. We refer to familiar schemata in order to make sense of something unfamiliar. Here are several examples of how metaphors are used on the Web to help users make sense of things.
One popular metaphor on websites is tabbed browsing. Different web pages are structured in a way that reminds us of traditional register cards. For example CNN and The Times make use of this metaphor.
The file sharing tool dropbox makes use of a metaphor to help us understand their services. In their name and logo they simply refer to a dropbox, a box that you can drop things into.
Everyone is familiar with a cardboard box to store things. Dropbox has adapted this concept and transferred it to an online tool that stores documents.
Icons are other frequently used examples of metaphors on the Web that help us understand unfamiliar concepts. There are icons for many things, like shopping baskets, home buttons, printers, and many more. For example amazon makes use of a shopping basket that even shows the number of collected items. The amazon wish list is also a metaphor, giving us an instant idea of what it is and what kind of features we can expect of it.
Make the unfamiliar familiar
Through metaphors you can awake a sense of familiarity within your users. Make sure you awake positive associations to increase your users’ willingness to get engaged. For example newspapers, like The Times make use of structural similarities people are used to from the paper version.
Another example for familiarity on the Web is the calculator of web2.0.calc. Not only do they offer a calculator with all |
department’s sex crimes unit and burglary and theft detectives.
A burglary at the mortuary was reported to police on the morning of Feb. 9. That started an investigation that quickly led to Smith’s arrest. He was taken into custody at noon the same day in the 500 block of 23rd Street.
Smith originally was charged with entering an unoccupied dwelling and pleaded guilty to the charge last Tuesday in Recorder’s Court. That charge stemmed from Smith being in the home where he was apprehended. He was sentenced to serve 30 days in jail on that charge.
Smith also faces burglary charges. He is accused of stealing a bicycle valued at $150 and was recovered at the abandoned house on 23rd Street where Smith was arrested, police said.
Smith was also in Recorder’s Court last Wednesday, where he faced the charges connected to the burglary of the funeral home. He was charged with one count each of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and theft by receiving stolen property. Smith pleaded guilty to all charges. Cielinski ordered Smith held on bonds totaling $20,000 and bound those charges over to Superior Court. Though Smith pleaded guilty, Recorder’s Court does not accept guilty pleas on felony offenses.
Det. Dalenta Odom was the lead investigator for Burglary and Theft.
Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan remembers the last case of necrophilia.
“It was 1974 and I was working in a Columbus funeral home,” Bryan said. “I walked into a room and caught a teenage boy on top of a body in the embalming room.”
Bryan said he chased the teen out of the home, caught him and held him until police arrived.
“That is the only other one other than this recent one that I know about,” Bryan said.Well, let's face facts: ANY show that doesn't get higher ratings than SpongeBob or at least get the same amount of ratings as it will get screwed over by Nick. It's one of the biggest flaws with Nick actually. It always expect a new show to be a hit like SpongeBob right away and if it doesn't, then it's done for. This is why shows like Harvey Beaks, Breadwinners and Pig Goat Banana Cricket were quickly sent off to Nicktoons, without given enough time to grow (averted with Sanjay and Craig because it managed to finish its entire run on the main network, which is pretty rare in Nick's case).
The Loud House only got really lucky because many people were excited for it before it started, thus why it's getting the Sponge treatment. I can't really say the same for the others, sadly.
Bunsen is a Beast! might as well air new episodes on Nicktoons since Nick recently pulled all the reruns of the show. It has gotten OK ratings, but in Nick's eyes, it's not good enough for them.The wind plays an important role in achieving the desired ghostly and dreamy effect – when it picks up and blows against the streams of water, the image shakesVisual Skin is a video projection company based out of Romania. For the 2014 Amsterdam Light Festival they created a “Ghost Ship.”
Ghost Ship is a tribute to 17th century Dutch sailing vessels. Visual Skin created the illusion through water, lights, and most of all, wind.
The results are ghostly, indeed
Unknown to the team at Visual Skin, the place where they constructed their installation is the exact spot where sculptor Albert P. Termote erected a fountain in 1956 to honor Royal Dutch Steamship Company.
When the Amsterdam Centre for Architecture was built in 2003, it obstructed the view of the beautiful fountain, which caused the transfer of the sculpture to KNSM Island.
Is it a coincidence that Ghost Ship is built upon the same spot, or are their otherworldly factors at work….
Is it too far-fetched to consider it a righteous revenge that the glowing green ship appears as a ghostly apparition in the same spot where the aquatic gods reigned previously? As a reminder of their exile, the ship must remain docked there forever.
For more info on the project, please visit VisualSkin.comAs we approach the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, it’s hard to believe what a great breadth of amazing music was created in the span of just one year. One of the most revolutionary releases of that year was Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention’s anarchic and brilliantly complex sophomore album, Absolutely Free, released on 26 May 1967. Even 50 years later, the album is more relevant than ever and now will be available as an expanded vinyl-exclusive edition on 29 September and available for pre-order now.
The reissue will include the original record mastered by Bernie Grundman cut directly from the original analogue master tapes and a second disc with 20 minutes of unreleased bonus material that includes ‘Why Don’tcha Do Me Right?’/’Big Leg Emma’ single as well as vintage remixes and radio ads from the famous Vault on Side One, while Side Two features a laser etching of Zappa’s face.
The real highlight of the reissue though is a reproduction of the extremely rare, impossible to find “Libretto” booklet that contained 18 pages worth of the album’s lyrics and a forward by Frank Zappa that was only offered by mail order when originally released.
For an artist whose catalogue as wildly diverse and prolific as Zappa’s, Absolutely Free is one of his most experimental and boundary-pushing endeavours. The follow-up to the Mothers of Invention’s landmark debut album, Freak Out!, the band expanded their sound and line-up with addition of vocalist Ray Collins, Jim Fielder on guitar, Roy Estrada on bass, Don Preston on keyboards, Bunk Gardner on woodwinds, and drummers Jim Black and Billy Mundi.
Zappa was always one to wear his influences on his sleeve and each album represented his voracious taste and intellectual leanings at the time. Absolutely Free is not only display of complex musical composition but also showed Zappa’s dry sense of humour and political satire on songs like ‘Brown Shoes Don’t Make It’. Never to be constrained to one genre, Always Free sonically skips around from psychedelic pop to prog rock, free jazz to garage rock and even some doo-wop in between.
As Zappa wrote in the “libretto”, “The music of the MOTHERS speaks of the feelings of what might be described as THE VAST MINORITY. The feelings of the people on the fringe of everything... the ones who don’t care if they’re IN or OUT … don’t care if they’re HIP, HEP, SWINGIN’ or ZORCH. This is the audience the MOTHERS want to reach … those few have the power within themselves to cause or motivate social change but have never used it for one reason or another. If you are reading this and understand it (even if you have short hair and watch TV 18 hours a day), it is time that you realized WHO and WHAT YOU ARE. It is time you realized what the words to our songs mean.”
Frank Zappa and The Mother’s Of Invention’s Absolutely Free is available on double 180-gram LP vinyl on 29 September 2017 and you can pre-order it here. Dive into his vast back catalogue on the Frank Zappa Artist Page and scroll down for tracklisting details.
Absolutely Free
LP1 – Side 1
1. Plastic People
2. The Duke Of Prunes
3. Amnesia Vivace
4. The Duke Regains His Chops
5. Call Any Vegetable
6. Invocation And Ritual Dance Of The Young Pumpkin
7. Soft-Sell Conclusion
LP1 – Side 2
1. America Drinks
2. Status Back Baby
3. Uncle Bernie’s Farm
4. Son Of Suzy Creamcheese
5. Brown Shoes Don’t Make It
6. America Drinks & Goes Home
LP2 – Side 1
1. Absolutely Free Radio Ad #1
2. Why Don’tcha Do Me Right
3. Big Leg Emma
4. Absolutely Free Radio Ad #2
5. “Glutton For Punishment…”
6. America Drinks – 1969 Re-Mix
7. Brown Shoes Don’t Make It – 1969 Re-Mix
8. America Drinks & Goes Home #2 – 1969 Re-Mix
LP2 – Side 2
Laser EtchingGoogle's Cloud Platform holds a certain amount of appeal for developers looking to quickly build robust web apps. Of course, getting started is a bit involved. You'll first need to download and install several tools and an SDK on your local machine. Cloud Playground offers the chance to dip your toes in the water and experiment with services like App Engine, Cloud Storage and Cloud SQL sans the lengthy installation process. The browser-based tool is designed for testing out sample code, evaluating APIs and even sharing code snippets without the hassle of building a complete development environment. This isn't a proper solution to web-based development, however. For now you're limited to Python 2.7 App Engine apps, and the code editor and mimic development server have a rather basic feature set. Still, for those who are tempted by Cloud Platform, but not quite ready to dive in head first, the Playground is a welcome treat.The transfer window officially opens Jan. 1, but the wheeling and dealing are already getting started! Check out all the latest deals.
Man United to deny Martial loan
As Anthony Martial grows frustrated with his limited opportunities under Jose Mourinho at Manchester United, Sevilla have made contact with the player's agent to sound out a potential loan deal, according to the Daily Mail.
The 21-year-old is reportedly seeking first-team football, which Sevilla would happily offer, but Mourinho would prefer to see the Frenchman remain at Old Trafford and better apply himself -- a sentiment echoed by France manager Didier Deschamps.
With West Ham also interested in Martial's services through season's end, Man United are prepared to rebuff any suitors for the attacker. The same is reported to be true for those inquiring about the availability of Marcus Rashford on loan.
Pepe closing in on Chinese Super League switch
With Pepe's contract expiring at the end of the season and he and Real Madrid continuing to be at odds over a new deal, the centre-back is edging closer to swapping the Spanish sunshine for the riches on offer in the Chinese Super League, Marca reported.
Pepe could more than double his wages with a switch to the Chinese Super League. Photo by Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The player is said to be demanding a two-year contract extension, while the club are willing to offer only a 12-month agreement, with an option for another year. Meanwhile, Manuel Pellegrini's Hebei China Fortune have offered to take Pepe's wages from €4.5 million annually to €10 million. The report suggests there is a second, unnamed club in Asia also bidding on the Portuguese's services.
Marca writes that Madrid's best hope of retaining the centre-back is for the 34-year-old to accept that a move to China might inhibit his chances of representing European champions Portugal at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Schneiderlin emerges as Juve target
While Morgan Schneiderlin continues to fall down the pecking order at Manchester United, a host of clubs have queued up to take the Frenchman away from his Old Trafford nightmare. The latest of which are Italian giant Juventus, Calciomercato cited various unnamed outlets in Italy as reporting.
The Frenchman has played just 147 minutes of competitive football this season, thus his search for an exit. Schneiderlin has been heavily linked with Everton in recent days, though Calciomercato reported that along with Juventus, Inter are interested in acquiring the player, though any deal would have to be on loan.
Juventus have been in the market for another central midfielder dating back to the summer, when reports emerged that the Bianconeri were interested in bringing in Belgium international Axel Witsel. However, with the player out of contract in the summer and Juve CEO Beppe Marotta saying his club are happy to wait on the Zenit Saint Petersburg star rather than overpay, the Old Lady could be in need of reinforcements come January, when Schneiderlin could be a viable option.
Tap-ins
- Inter Milan are in the market for a new central midfielder, and their first choice is Lucas Leiva, and parent club Liverpool won't stand in the Brazilian's way, the Guardian reported. Marseille's Lassana Diarra, Chelsea's John Obi Mikel, Wolfsburg's Luiz Gustavo and Fiorentina's Milan Badelj are reportedly the Nerazzurri's alternative targets.
- Ronald Koeman is out to persuade Saido Berahino to snub summer offers from Roma, Inter and Nice and instead join the Dutchman at Everton in January, according to the Sun.
- Valencia are confident of landing West Ham loan flop Simone Zaza on a loan deal of their own, the Mirror reported. Los Che would need to get approval from both the Hammers and Zaza's parent club Juventus, but the Italian has reportedly told his representatives that he expects to be allowed to move on from London Stadium.Jed McCaleb likes building things that make powerful people nervous.
In 2000, as Napster was starting to implode, he came up with a peer-to-peer filesharing network called eDonkey 2000 that soon became the world's most popular way of sharing music online. Six years later, following legal action from the Recording Industry Association of America, he got out of the game.
Act Two was Mt. Gox, which is now the world's largest exchange for Bitcoin, the popular digital currency. McCaleb started the site in 2010, using a leftover domain name he'd registered a few years earlier for a card-trading site. He wrote new code to handle Bitcoin-to-dollar trades, and the site was an instant hit. Within a few months, customers were wiring him large amounts of cash for their trading accounts, and McCaleb decided to bail, citing a hazy regulatory market. Sure enough, the feds are now starting to crack down.
So now it's time for Act Three: an alternative to Bitcoin known as Ripple. The project is, in some ways, an effort to hone and improve the digital currency, hoping to move us even further into a world that isn't so dependent on traditional money and the established organizations that control it. The only trouble is that McCaleb may once again raise the ire of the feds.
>Ripple is yet another effort to hone and improve Bitcoin, hoping to move us even further into a world that isn't so dependent on traditional money and the established organizations that control it
After selling Mt. Gox, McCaleb started thinking more deeply about Bitcoin. He was a huge fan, but he thought he could do some things better. First, he wanted to do away with Bitcoin mining – the process by which computers on the network verify transactions in exchange for Bitcoins. Because miners are rewarded in proportion to the processing power they add to the network, Bitcoin mining has become a bit of an arms race, with very specialized and powerful computers now doing the bulk of the work.
McCaleb, a 38-year-old surfer and Berkeley dropout from Little Rock, Arkansas, sees this as excessive. By his reckoning, there's $160 million spent annually on mining the Bitcoin network, "which is insane," he says. "And this isn't something that's going to go away. It just gets worse and worse."
So he hired some developers and started work on Ripple. Like Bitcoin, Ripple comes with its own digital currency – called the XRP – and its own peer-to-peer money-moving network. But there's a twist: Ripple makes it easy to move any type of money – you can trade dollars for Yen or Euros or even Bitcoins – and instead of exchanges, Ripple uses a set of independent operators, called gateways, who handle the business of taking and delivering the fiat cash. The company's ambitious plan is to build a network of open-source servers that can move money around the world at a tiny fraction of the cost of a bank or a company such as Western Union.
At the center of everything is the XRP. It acts as a kind of lingua franca for all trades on the network. Want to trade dollars for Bitcoins? Ripple takes your dollars and sells them for XRPs. Then it finds someone else who will trade those XRPs for Bitcoins.
That business model could make the XRP very valuable and McCaleb and his partners very rich. Although only about 4 percent of them are being actively traded, the theoretical total value of all 100 billion XRPs in existence is now about $1.4 billion. Compare that to Bitcoins, which are collectively worth just over $1.6 billion.
McCaleb and the company he created, Ripple Labs, have vowed to give away 55 percent of all XRPs, but they're sitting on the rest. In fact, that's the company's business model. Although they employ a staff of 20 to build and distribute the open-source Ripple software and work with government regulators, they don't sell anything.
Ripple Labs CEO Chris Chris Larsen compares his company to Linux maker Red Hat, which makes money selling services around open source software, but in reality, Ripple uses a different kind of open-source business model: You build a digital currency and get rich if it takes off.
The fact that one company controls so much of the XRP currency makes some Bitcoin backers nervous. But there's room for both Bitcoin and Ripple, says Faisal Islam, director of Compliance Advisory Services with Centra Payments Solutions, a financial services consultancy. "Bitcoin is to Android what Ripple is to Apple," he says. "I truly believe both of them are going to be successful."
>Ripple uses a different kind of open-source business model: You build a digital currency and get rich if it takes off
So far, Silicon Valley seems to think McCaleb's idea worth a shot. Ripple Labs has taken $3 million in investments from well-heeled VCs such as Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures.
But there's a very tricky part to the business: finding companies willing to act as money transmitters for a brand new digital currency. Regulators in the U.S. have had big problems with Bitcoin companies, and have effectively shut some early players out of the U.S. market, including Mt. Gox.
Ripple Labs is meeting with U.S. regulators and is working to address concerns and smooth things over, but if the feds get nervous, they could start squeezing Ripple's gateways.
If that happens, it probably won't be McCaleb's problem. He split from Ripple Labs back in July (he is, however, still on the Ripple Labs Board of Directors). But he and the other two company founders collectively own 20 billion XRPs, so he stands to benefit a lot if everything works out (how much, exactly, he won't say).
Meanwhile, McCaleb is spending his time looking into new things: man-made surf parks and artificial intelligence. That may seem like a departure. But like his past projects, it's all about freedom, about doing something just because you want to. "I do have a distrust of authority," he says. "Or maybe not a distrust of authority, but I really appreciate freedom. I think it's one of the fundamental things that people need."The 62-year-old said Brexit is the key driving force and will dictate the timing
Salmond: Former First Minister believes Scotland will be independent within four years. ITV News
Alex Salmond believes Scotland will be independent within four years and vowed to play "whatever part is necessary" in a second referendum campaign.
The former First Minister said Brexit is the key driving force and will dictate the timing of another independence vote.
Out of political office for the first time in decades, Mr Salmond is hosting a sold out run of chat shows at the Edinburgh Festival and speaking before his debut performance on Sunday, he said: "I think Scotland will become independent, I think that was rendered inevitable when the Scottish Parliament was established.
"The timing has always been the interesting thing and I think the timing and outcome of Brexit will dictate the timing of another referendum and therefore the timing of independence, in the medium term.
"If Brexit is a soaraway success, the best thing since sliced bread, then I think that will postpone another referendum but I don't know anyone who thinks that now.
"So therefore I think a (second independence) referendum will be at some point in the next three to four years, depending on the transitional period of Brexit, and I think the result will be a Yes."
The ex-SNP leader, who lost his seat as MP for Gordon in May's General Election, said he will play "whatever part is necessary" in a future referendum campaign.
Asked if he could return to elected office, he said: "I'm not ruling it out. The timing is not in my hands, I mean Theresa May didn't know when the last election was until she was up a Welsh mountain and she probably regrets climbing it."
In the meantime he is looking forward to hosting his festival show which will feature invited guests, music and comedy.
Mr Salmond said: "There are things you can't say in office that you can say out of office.
"And there are things you can do out of office that you can't do in office, not just as First Minister, but as an MP you can't just swan off to the Edinburgh Festival for a couple of weeks, that's not fair on your constituents but luckily my constituents relived me of that responsibility and I'm now able to do it."
He joked he could tour the world with the show if it is received well with audiences, saying: "The global decision comes after the run in Edinburgh."
The 62-year-old would not reveal any of the guests he has lined up for chats but said his ideal show would feature Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un as their political stand off continues.
Mr Salmond said: "Can you imagine it? I would need a third chair for a start but the entourage for each would have been fabulous and the fight over the camera angles for the hair lines - it would have taken years to be stage managed but it would be brilliant."Trivia
The 60 hours of film from the 1961 shoot was edited down to 4 hours, according to editor Gerald Feil. This was further edited down to a 100-minute feature that was shown at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival (May 9 to 22), but the cuts necessitated that new audio transitions and some dialog changes be dubbed into the film more than a year after shooting. The voice of James Aubrey, who played Ralph, had dropped three octaves and was electronically manipulated to better approximate his earlier voice, but it is still significantly different. Tom Chapin, who played Jack, had lost his English accent and another boy's voice was used to dub his parts. The U.S. distributor insisted the film be further edited to 90 minutes, so one fire scene and scenes developing the character Ralph were cut. See moreKvyat and teammate Carlos Sainz delivered Toro Rosso's best qualifying results since the Australian GP as they grabbed seventh and sixth respectively at the Marina Bay circuit.
And after some recent struggles for Kvyat, whose future at the team has been the subject of intense speculation, the Russian said that he finally felt things were heading in the right direction.
When asked if his qualifying form had left him the happiest he had been since returning to Toro Rosso at the Spanish GP, Kvyat said: "Yeah. We have a much more full understanding with what is going on with the car. Me, I am asking what it is capable of – not more or less.
"It was a very decent session so I think we should be happy. Until today, everything has been going well – but the race is still to come so we shouldn't be overwhelmed."
After recent tough times for Toro Rosso at Spa and Monza, Kvyat thinks the showing in Singapore has offered a better indication of where the team's form really is.
"They were a bit grey races, there was nothing really clear because of big compromises with the car," he said.
"It wasn't even relevant – but here we see a true picture of where we should be or what we should be capable of here. And we were under pressure the whole team, we knew this would be one of our best chances. So far we have delivered and now it is in our hands for the race."
Although Kvyat's form should ease the pressure on him to prove to his bosses that he deserves a new contract for next year, the Russian said he never doubted good performances would come, nor that his run of bad luck would end.
"Why would I worry about it, I don't have any influence on that," he said. "So, I just keep doing my job. There is nothing else I can do. I have been doing my job the whole weekend and so far it has brought me good things.
"We have put ourselves in a good position and it is up to us to take the most out of it. Let's see how we can do – certainly today we have a good car in our hands and we will try to make the most out of them."For the religious/mystical connotations of the word, see Merkabah
The Merkava (Hebrew: מרכבה, [mɛʁkaˈva] (), "chariot") is a main battle tank used by the Israel Defense Forces. The tank began development in 1970,[6] and entered official service in 1979. Four main variants of the tank have been deployed. It was first used extensively in the 1982 Lebanon War. The name "Merkava" was derived from the IDF's initial development program name.
Design criteria include rapid repair of battle damage, survivability, cost-effectiveness and off-road performance. Following the model of contemporary self-propelled howitzers, the turret assembly is located closer to the rear than in most main battle tanks. With the engine in front, this layout is intended to grant additional protection against a frontal attack, so as to absorb some of the force of incoming shells,[7] especially for the personnel in the main hull, such as the driver. It also creates more space in the rear of the tank that allows increased storage capacity and a rear entrance to the main crew compartment allowing easy access under enemy fire. This allows the tank to be used as a platform for medical disembarkation, a forward command and control station, and an infantry fighting vehicle. The rear entrance's clamshell-style doors provide overhead protection when off- and on-loading cargo and personnel.
It was reportedly decided shortly before the beginning of the 2006 Lebanon War that the Merkava line would be discontinued within four years.[8] However, on November 7, 2006, Haaretz reported that an Israeli General staff assessment had ruled of the Merkava Mark IV that "if properly deployed, the tank can provide its crew with better protection than in the past", and deferred the decision on discontinuing the line.[9] On August 16, 2013, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon announced the decision to resume production of the Merkava main battle tank for the IDF Armored Corps.[10][11]
Development [ edit ]
In 1965, Israel's military establishment began research and development on a domestically produced tank, the "Sabra"[12] (not to be confused with the later model of the same name now in service). Initially, Britain and Israel collaborated to adapt the United Kingdom's Chieftain tank that had entered British Army service in 1966.[13] However, in 1969, Britain decided not to sell the tank to Israel for political reasons.[14]
Israel Tal, who was serving as a brigade commander after the Suez Crisis, restarted plans to produce an Israeli-made tank, drawing on lessons from the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Israeli forces were outnumbered by those of the Middle East's Arab nations.[14]
By 1974, initial designs were completed and prototypes were built. After a brief set of trials, work began to retool the Tel HaShomer ordnance depot for full-time development and construction. After the new facilities were completed, the Merkava was announced to the public in the International Defense Review periodical. The first official images of the tank were then released to the American periodical Armed Forces Journal on May 4, 1977. The first Merkava Mk. 1 tanks were supplied to the IDF in April 1979, nearly nine years after the decision to produce the Merkava Mk. 1 tank was taken. The IDF officially adopted the tank in December 1979.
Primary contractors [ edit ]
The lead organization for system integration of the Merkava's main components is Israel Military Industries (IMI). The Israeli Ordnance Corps are responsible for final Merkava assembly. More than 90% of the Merkava 4 tank's components are produced locally in Israel by Israeli defense industries.[15] Contributors to the vehicle include:
General characteristics [ edit ]
Merkava Mk 4M, 2016
Firepower [ edit ]
The Merkava Mark I and II were armed with a 105 mm M68 gun. The Mark III, Mark III Dor Dalet BAZ kassag, and the Mark IV are armed with an IMI 120 mm smoothbore gun which can fire all versions of Western 120 mm smooth bore tank ammunition.
Each model of the Merkava has two roof mounted 7.62 mm machine guns for use by the commander and loader and another mounted co-axially with the main gun. A 60 mm mortar is also fitted for firing smoke rounds or suppressing dug-in infantry anti-tank teams.
All Merkava tanks are fitted with a remote-controlled M2 Browning.50 heavy machine gun, aligned with the main gun and controlled from within the turret. The.50 machine gun has proven to be useful and effective in asymmetric warfare.
Mobility [ edit ]
The tank's 1,500 horsepower turbocharged diesel engine was designed by MTU and is manufactured under license by L-3 Communication Combat Propulsion Systems (formerly General Dynamics). The Mark IV's top road speed is 64 km/h.[citation needed]
Variants [ edit ]
Merkava Mark I [ edit ]
The Mark I, operational since 1978, is the original design created as a result of Israel Tal's decision, and was fabricated and designed for mass production. The Mark I weighed 63 tonnes and had a 900 horsepower (670 kW) diesel engine, with a power-to-weight ratio of 14 hp/ton. It was armed with the 105 millimeter M68 main gun (a licensed copy of the British Royal Ordnance L7), two 7.62 mm machine guns for anti-infantry defense,[18] and a 60 mm mortar mounted externally, with the mortar operator not completely protected by the tank's hull.
The general design borrows the tracks and road wheels from the British Centurion tank, which had seen extensive use during the Yom Kippur war and performed well in the rocky terrain of the Golan.
The Merkava was first used in combat during the 1982 Lebanon War, where Israel deployed 180 units. Although they were a success, the M113 APCs that accompanied them were found to have several defects and were withdrawn. Merkavas were converted into makeshift APCs or armored ambulances by taking out the palleted ammunition racks in storage. Ten soldiers or walking wounded could enter and exit through the rear door.
After the war, many adjustments and additions were noted and designed, the most important being that the 60 mm mortar needed to be installed within the hull and engineered for remote firing—a valuable feature that the Israelis had initially encountered on their Centurion Mk3s with their 2" Mk.III mortar.[19] A shot trap was found beneath the rear of the turret bustle, where a well-placed shot could jam the turret completely. The installation of chain netting to disperse and destroy rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank rockets before impacting the primary armor increased survivability.
Merkava Mark II [ edit ]
Merkava Mark II at Yad La-Shiryon The Merkava Mark II. Chain netting is installed behind the turret. The Merkava Mark II
The Mark II was first introduced into general service in April 1983. While fundamentally the same as the Merkava Mark I, it incorporated numerous small adjustments as a result of the previous year's incursion into Lebanon. The new tank was optimized for urban warfare and low intensity conflicts, with a weight and engine no greater than the Mark I.[20]
The Mark II used the same 105 mm main gun and 7.62 mm machine guns as the Mark I, but the 60 mm mortar was redesigned during construction to be located within the hull and configured for remote firing to remove the need to expose the operator to enemy small-arms fire. An Israeli-designed automatic transmission and increased fuel storage for increased range was installed on all further Mark IIs. Anti-rocket netting was fitted for increased survivability against infantry equipped with anti-tank rockets. Many minor improvements were made to the fire-control system. Updated meteorological sensors, crosswind analyzers, and thermographic optics and image intensifiers gave greater visibility and battlefield awareness.
Newer versions of the original Mark II were designated:
Mark IIB, with thermal optics and unspecified updates to the fire control system.
, with thermal optics and unspecified updates to the fire control system. Mark IIC, with more armor on the top of the turret to improve protection against attack from the air.
, with more armor on the top of the turret to improve protection against attack from the air. Mark IID, with modular composite armor on the chassis and turret, allowing rapid replacement of damaged armor.
In 2015 the IDF had begun a plan to take the old models out of storage and repurpose them as heavy armored personnel carriers. Cannons, turrets, and spaces used to store tank shells inside the hull were removed to create a personnel carrier that outperforms the lighter M113 APC. Converting hundreds of Mark II chassis provides a low-cost way to upgrade support units' capabilities to perform medical, logistical, and rescue missions.[21] By late 2016, after 33 years of service, the last conscripted brigade to operate Merkava IIs was scheduled to transition to Merkava III and Merkava IV tanks for battlefield missions, relegating the vehicles to reserve forces for border patrols during conflicts and conversion to personnel carriers.[22]
Merkava Mark III [ edit ]
The Merkava Mark III The more advanced, Merkava Mark III Baz model, with weaponry highlighted Merkava Mark III Dor Dalet BAZ Kasag, the most advanced Merkava III variant Variants of the Merkava Mark III
Merkava IIID Baz fires – the Baz Fire-control system increases the Merkava's accuracy and lethality
Merkava III shooting a shell, FN MAG and smoke grenade. It then turns on the smoke screen system. The demonstration concludes with the throwing a green smoke hand grenade (1 m 16 s).
The Merkava Mark III was introduced in December 1989 and was in production until 2003. As of 2016, the Merkava III is by far the most numerous tank in frontline IDF service. Compared to the Merkava II, it has upgrades to the drivetrain, powertrain, armament, and electronic systems. The most prominent addition was the incorporation of the locally developed IMI 120 mm gun.[23] This gun and a larger 1,200 horsepower (890 kW) diesel engine increased the total weight of the tank to 65 tonnes (143,000 lb), but the larger engine increased the maximum cruising speed to 60 km/h (37 mph).[24]
The turret was re-engineered for movement independent of the tank chassis, allowing it to track a target regardless of the tank's movement. Many other changes were made, including:
External two-way telephone for secure communications between the tank crew and dismounted infantry,
Upgraded ammunition storage containers to minimize ammunition cook-off,
Addition of laser designators,
Incorporation of the Kasag modular armor system, designed for rapid replacement and repair in the battlefield and for quick upgrading as new designs and sophisticated materials become available,
BAZ System [ edit ]
The 1995 Mark III BAZ (Hebrew acronym for ברק זוהר, Barak Zoher, signifying Shining Lightning[25]) had a number of updates and additional systems including:
Upgraded fire-control system components, from Electro Optics Industries (EL-OP) and Elbit, provides the tank with the ability to engage moving targets while on the move (an automatic target tracker),
NBC protection systems,
Locally developed central air-conditioning system,
Added improvements in ballistic protection,
The Mark IIID has removable modular composite armor on the chassis and turret.
The last generation of the Mark III class was the Mark IIID Dor-Dalet (Hebrew: Fourth Generation), which included several components as prototypes to be introduced in the Mark IV.
Upgraded and strengthened tracks (built by Caterpillar, designed in Israel),
Installation of the R-OWS.
Merkava Mark IV [ edit ]
Merkava Mark IV
The Mark IV is the most recent variant of the Merkava tank that has been in development since 1999 and production since 2004. The upgrade's development was announced in an October 1999 edition of the Bamachaneh ("At the Camp") military publication. However, the Merkava Mark III remained in production until 2003. The first Merkava IVs were in production in limited numbers by the end of 2004.[26]
When ammunition is unloaded the tank can carry up to 8 dismounted soldiers or 3 stretchers. Troops enter and leave the vehicle through the rear hatch.[27]
Removable modular armor, from the Merkava Mark IIID, is used on all sides, including the top and a V-shaped belly armor pack for the underside. This modular system is designed to allow for damaged tanks to be rapidly repaired and returned to the field. Because rear armor is thinner, chains with iron balls are attached in order to detonate projectiles before they hit the main armored hull.[7]
It is the first contemporary tank with no loaders hatch in the turret roof, because any aperture in the turret roof increases risk of penetration by ATGMs.[28]
Tank rounds are stored in individual fire-proof canisters, which reduce the chance of cookoffs in a fire inside the tank. The turret is electrically-powered (hydraulic turrets use flammable liquid that ignites if the turret is penetrated)[29] and "dry": no active rounds are stored in it.
Some features, such as hull shaping, exterior non-reflective paints (radar cross-section reduction), and shielding for engine heat plumes mixing with air particles (reduced infrared signature) to confuse enemy thermal imagers, were carried over from the IAI Lavi program of the Israeli Air Force to make the tank harder to spot by heat sensors and radar.
The Mark IV includes the larger 120 mm main gun of the previous versions, but can fire a wider variety of ammunition, including HEAT and sabot rounds like the APFSDS kinetic energy penetrator, using an electrical semi-automatic revolving magazine for 10 rounds. It also includes |
Curious about Shroud of the Avatar but not curious enough to drop money on the title first? Now you can try it out and save your cash, as the game is holding another free trial event through September 27th. For the developers, it provides a valuable opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t work in the current new player experience and how the servers handle stress. For you, it’s… well, it’s a chance to try out the game without buying it.
Naturally, your options are fairly limited in the free trial; you have no ability to own land, you can’t buy or sell items by player vendors, you can’t PvP, you can’t trade items, you can’t use the letter “j” in your name, and so forth. (All right, that last one isn’t true.) But if you’d like a taste for what the game is like, well, it’s still the most free option to find out that you’re likely to get. Jump on in before September 27th if you’re curious; just make an account, download the game, and get going.
And stay tuned for later today when we deliver another episode of our SOTA-themed Choose My Adventure column!There comes a time when every homebrewer hits a ceiling. Maybe the first beer you ever brewed was great because it was your first and the Beer Gods were with you, but then you had a dud or two. One might have been contaminated. Maybe another was too thin. A third may have had unidentifiable floaties. Then, for some mysterious reason, your beers got a little better —a little cleaner flavor, a little maltier malt, a little fuller body, a little kickier hops. And then? The ceiling. Beer after beer, high hopes on brew day fell flat when the finished beer tasted good, but not great, and you didn't know how to improve.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a number of ways to get better at brewing beer. One great way to get better—and to feed your inner competitive beast—is to brew for competition. Here are a few tips to help you along your way.
The Perks
Brewing for competition carries three major benefits that will improve your brewing. First, if you are planning to enter your beer in a competition, and you have the slightest competitive impulse, you will up your game and put more effort into sanitation and other techniques. Second, because you need to fit your beer into a style guideline, you will put more thought and energy into recipe planning. Finally, the feedback you get from competition judges will give you the guidance you need to break through the ceiling and brew better beer.
Dip a Toe in the Water
Brewing for competition can be intimidating. One great way to break through your fear is to volunteer at a local competition without entering a beer for judgment. Start out as a steward, if you can. Competition stewards deliver beer entries from cold storage to the judges' tables, collect completed judging forms, and generally help out. It is an easy job to get to know the workings of a competition without the pressure of judging. Often, judges will offer you tastes of competition beers that either fit a style well or have an easily-identified off flavor, so this is also a good way to hone your sense of taste.
After a time or two as a steward, if you still don't feel up to entering the competition, you can volunteer as a judge. You will be paired with one or two officially certified beer judges who can help to guide you through tasting a beer and providing feedback to the brewer. I believe judging beer is one of the best ways to learn because you will taste a number of beers within the same style, but each will have a slightly different interpretation or flaw. You will taste everything from deeply flawed to mediocre to exemplary, all while becoming very familiar with one style. Judging is also a great way to prepare for entering competitions, because you will learn what the judges are looking for.
Keep in mind the volunteering with a competition is not a prerequisite to entering. It's merely helpful. If you want to compete (or just get unbiased feedback), even if it's your first beer, by all means—enter!
Taking the Plunge
When you are ready to brew for competition, there just a few important steps to follow.
1. Choose a style. Homebrew competitions divided beers into discrete styles and judge like against like. Pale ales only compete against pale ales, not porters or lagers. Choose a style you like to drink, then move on to Step 2.
2. Read the style guidelines for your chosen style. The style guideline is your brewing bible when you are brewing for competition. It is the rubric against which your beer will be judged. Read it, know it, love it, breathe it.
3. Expand your knowledge. The style guideline tells you what a beer should taste like and some of the important metrics like alcohol levels, but it doesn't tell you how to get your beer there. For insight into how to make your beer, look for some supplemental sources, like Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer.
4. Plan your recipe. Using the style guideline and additional information, design a recipe for your beer. Pay close attention to the target original gravity (O.G.) and final gravity (F.G.), as well as key flavors that should be prominent in your beer.
5. Brew, ferment, bottle, and age your beer. Take good notes on everything you do. Be sure to use a few bottles that are unmarked, unembossed, standard-shaped (not squat like Sierra Nevada bottles, or extra long-necked), brown, 12-ounce bottles and cap them with silver, black or gold caps (see step 6 below). If you have a particular competition in mind, be sure to time your brewing so that your beer's flavor will peak at competition time. The most common error in competition brews, next to poor sanitation, is entering beer that is too young. Plan ahead.
6. Read and reread the competition rules. The last thing you want is to prepare a beer for competition and have it be disqualified because you didn't follow every last rule. Register for the competition, if necessary. Submit the right amount of money in proper form (check or cash). Fill out the entry form completely, including special ingredients for particular styles (refer to competition rules). And, most importantly, package your beer properly. You should get entry labels to place on your bottles. Fill out one label for each unmarked, unembossed, standard-shaped, brown, 12-ounce bottle and attach it with a rubber band, so that it can be removed and filed by the competition organizers and stewards, who will replace it with an anonymous label for the judges. Be sure there are no markings on the bottle cap. When your beers are properly labeled, deliver them to the competition drop site with the entry form and money, or ship them to the competition. If you plan to ship your beers, consult the "How to Pack Your Beer" article on this site. Good luck!
7. Read your feedback—it's the best-informed, least biased feedback you will get on your homebrew. Look back on your recipe and notes and see if you can find areas for improvement, either in ingredients or processes. This is how you break through that ceiling. And one of these days, you might just win something.
Have you entered homebrewing competitions? Got any tips for beginners?
This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.A never-before-seen Steven Universe storyboard from 2013!!!
wait a minute… that’s not how “Serious Steven” goes! Full context under the cut:
VERY early in the production of Steven Universe, we had to do storyboard pitches to the higher-ups at Cartoon Network. Basically, these are very important meetings attended by the executives so they can check in on the tone of the show and storytelling and give us notes on how to proceed.
We were preparing the pitch of Serious Steven when i noticed the date: April 1, 2013! We couldn’t just let this opportunity slip through our fingers! I very quickly whipped together this board in the half-hour before the pitch. I showed it to Rebecca and she thought it was crazy but agreed to pitch it in the meeting right before we pitched Serious Steven.
Rebecca introduced this board in full seriousness and then did a full pitch, including all of the character voices. First it confused everyone, but then the whole room got into it. Uncle Grandpa and Clarence are kind of the “sister” shows to SU because they were developed and greenlit around the same time. Eddy got the biggest laugh. I included him because Ed Edd n Eddy was one of Rebecca’s biggest inspirations and we have a former EE&E storyboarder (Raven M. Molisee) on staff.
A good thing that came out of this board was that it pushed Pearl’s potential as a comedy straightman to the limit(At the time, anyway. We’ve definitely gone way further at this point). When Rebecca later pitched the idea of “Say Uncle”, we recalled this board when thinking of the chemistry Pearl might have with an interloper from another universe.The next Volkswagen Golf will be chock-full of standard and optional technology features, but its all-new Modular Infotainment System has the potential to set a new benchmark for both high-end and entry-level navigation, entertainment and connectivity.Three new systems will be available when the 2013 Golf goes on sale in Europe towards the end of this year, starting with a five-inch touchscreen and moving up to a 5.8-inch unit and finally a range-topping eight-inch system. Each unit will be equipped with a capacitive touchscreen, with the eight-inch version packing an 800x450 resolution screen, multitouch functionality and the same NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor set to debut in future Audi models, including the next A3. Making use of that high-powered chipset will be revamped 3D graphics for menus and mapping, with free nav updates available for three years and the ability to activate additional features after the initial vehicle purchase.Handwriting recognition will also be included in the system, much like the system already offered by Audi, which will allow users to skip the soft keyboard and write out destinations and point-of-interest searches. Additionally, VW is looking to include MirrorLink functionality (which essentially mirrors your phone's screen on the navigation display), as expected, Internet-connectivity through smartphone tethering will be an option, along with the ability to create a WLAN hotspot.Finally, VW tells Autoblog it plans to integrate proximity sensors into the head unit – similar to Cadillac's CUE system – switching over from "display mode" to "operating mode" when it detects the driver or passenger's hand moving towards the screen. The proximity sensors could also detect which side of the screen your hand is placed and then highlight specific features for easier selection.Naturally, pricing for each system won't be released until the Golf goes on sale in Europe this fall and hits the U.S. sometime in 2013, but VW representatives made it clear that these systems will be priced aggressively in order to compete with other feature-rich competitors.A feud has broken out between a founding member of the Village People and one of the group's old members over who has the right to be a Macho Man.
Millionaire playboy Ivan Wilzig, known for his electropop covers of '60s and '70s peace songs, invited Randy Jones, the original Village People cowboy, to perform at a party held at his Hamptons mansion.
The original Village People (L-R) Randy Jones (the cowboy); David Hodo (the construction worker); Felipe Rose (the American Indian); Victor Willis (the cop); Glenn Hughes (the leatherman) and Alexander Briley (the G.I.)
The party, scheduled for August 22, will be Studio 54-themed, with all guests invited to dress up as either the cowboy, the Indian, the construction worker, GI, leatherman or policeman.
Trouble erupted when Wilzig also invited Felipe Rose, founding member and Indian in the Village People. When Rose found out that Jones was performing, he "flipped out," according to a Page Six "source", "He wanted Randy disinvited."Hop on! Wild rabbits surf on sheep to flee New Zealand flood
CORRECTS SPELLING OF SOURCE AND NUMBER OF RABBITS SEEN IN PHOTO In this image made from July 22, 2017, video, three rabbits sit on the back of sheep as they avoid rising flood waters on a farm near Dunedin, New Zealand. Three wild rabbits managed to escape rising floodwaters in New Zealand by clambering aboard a flock of sheep and surfing to safety on their woolly backs. (Ferg Horne via AP)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — It was a woolly ride, but three wild rabbits managed to escape rising floodwaters in New Zealand by clambering aboard sheep and surfing to safety on their backs.
Ferg Horne, 64, says he’s been farming since he left school at age 15 and has never seen anything quite like it.
He was trudging through pelting rain to rescue a neighbor’s 40 sheep from the floodwaters on Saturday at their South Island farm near Dunedin when he spotted some dark shapes from a distance.
He was puzzled because he knew his neighbor, who was away in Russia attending a nephew’s wedding, didn’t have any black-faced sheep. As he got closer, he thought it might be debris from the storm, which had drenched the area and forced Horne to evacuate his home.
Then he saw the bedraggled rabbits hitching a ride — two on one sheep and a third on another sheep.
“I couldn’t believe it for a start,” he said.
Nobody else would believe him either without proof, he thought, so he got out his phone to take a photo, an image he figured his grandchildren would enjoy. In fact, he inadvertently shot a short video.
“It’s a Samsung or a smartphone or whatever you call it. I swear at it every day,” he said. “I’m absolutely useless with technology.”
Nevertheless, Horne managed to capture the moment. He said the sheep were huddled together on a high spot on the farm, standing in about 8 centimeters (3 inches) of water.
He said the rabbits looked like they’d gotten wet but seemed quite comfortable and relaxed atop their mounts.
Rabbits are considered a pest to farmers in New Zealand, and Horne said that typically when he sees one, he shoots it.
“But they’d showed so much initiative, I thought they deserved to live, those rabbits,” he said.
Horne herded the sheep to a patch of dry ground on the farm about 50 meters (164 feet) away. The sheep didn’t like it.
“As they jumped through the water, the rabbits had a jolly good try at staying on,” Horne said.
He said the rabbits appeared to cling onto the wool with their paws. As they approached the higher ground, the rabbits fell off but managed to climb a hedge to safety.
Horne returned later that afternoon. The floodwaters were receding, the sheep were all safe and the rabbits were long gone.
Horne said his home had also remained dry.
He then sent his video to his son, who sent images to the local newspaper and posted them on Facebook, as Horne doesn’t have his own page.
“From then on it’s just gone crazy,” he said.Daniel Miller watched a cricket for two hours in his bid to stay alive
A man has survived spending five hours trapped nose-deep in a muddy dam after his digger tipped into it.
Australian Daniel Miller had been on the machine near his home, about 180 miles north of Sydney.
The 45-year-old was eventually spotted by a neighbour who heard him shouting for help, and the emergency services were alerted.
The farmer later described his mental and physical struggle to keep his nose above the murky water as he was pinned down in the mud by a bar on the digger.
He told 9NEWS there was no way he was going to have his family find him "face down in the dam dead".
Image: Daniel Miller with his wife Saimaa
"That wasn't going to happen, not without a fight," he told the Australian broadcaster.
"Then I went into a very robotic state... just count to 60, don't think about six hours, think about 60 seconds, move my arms, readjust, count to 60 again, another 60 seconds, move my arms, readjust and just wait, try and be calm and logical.
"I watched a cricket climb up a piece of grass for two hours. I was stuck, there was nothing I could do.
"I laughed, I swore - 'This is ridiculous, I could die here.'"
Firefighters freed Mr Miller from the mud and he was taken to hospital for treatment, according to The Sydney Telegraph.
"He is a very lucky person... he was pretty stressed and had taken in a lot of water," Foster NSW Fire and Rescue Captain Paul Langley told the newspaper.
His wife Saimaa wrote on Facebook: "Dan is ok!
"It was literally sheer mental strength and determination to survive that got him through.
"As well as being fit, strong and healthy. Nothing to do with luck. Legendary effort from a legendary man."Jordan Lynch (for Six!) is back on the sidelines for Northern Illinois.
Northern Illinois officially hired Lynch as running backs coach on Wednesday afternoon, according to the athletic department’s Twitter account.
Four years ago, Lynch tore apart MAC defenses with the read option on a weekly basis as a quarterback. He will once again return to the gridiron in DeKalb, but this time he’ll be coaching the younger generation of Huskies.
Lynch spent the past two seasons as a run-first quarterback with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. He only attempted nine career passes in the CFL, one good for a touchdown. Lynch additionally ran 53 times for 228 yards and five scores. In his rookie season in the league, he scored the game-winning touchdown to win the Grey Cup with Edmonton. With the move to the NIU coaching staff, Lynch is likely retired from professional football.
Although listed as a quarterback in college and the CFL, Lynch is familiar with the running back position. As a member of the Chicago Bears preseason squad in 2014, Lynch registered 42 yards on 13 carries.
But the option quarterback will best be remembered for his contributions in Red and Black.
The former Huskie vaulted NIU to national prominence and the BCS standings in 2012, participating in the 2013 Orange Bowl after a 12-1 start and MAC title. Lynch reasserted his dominance in 2013 with another 12-2 finish, leading all quarterbacks in rushing yards (second of all FBS players) with 1,920.
The Huskies’ road to a second-straight BCS bowl was cut short in the MAC Championship by Bowing Green, but Lynch’s efforts did not go unnoticed.
Lynch earned a trip to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, finishing third behind quarterbacks Jameis Winston and A.J. McCarron, garnering 40 first-place votes and 558 points overall.
Lynch finished his collegiate career with 4,343 rushing yards — third among quarterbacks in college football history. Now, he faces the opportunity to expand upon his contributions to the university he once brought to the summit of the conference.The Fed Is Still Way Out to Lunch on Financial Bubbles
The Federal Reserve Board disastrously missed and/or ignored two huge bubbles in the last decades: the stock bubble in the 1990s and the housing bubble in the 2000s. The collapse of both bubbles led to recessions from which it was difficult to recover. Neil Irwin inadvertently tells us today that the Fed is still utterly clueless when it comes to dealing with bubbles.
The problem is that, at least according to Irwin's account, no one at the Fed seems to understand how bubbles hurt the economy. On the one hand, he presents the views of Fed governor Jeremy Stein, a bubble hawk, who he tells us:
"argued in a Feb. 7 speech that there are already signs of overheating in the markets for certain kinds of securities, including junk bonds and real estate investment trusts that invest in mortgages. And if those or other potential bubbles get so large that if they popped the whole U.S. economy could be in danger."
By contrast we have Fed chair Ben Bernanke and vice-chair Janet Yellen, the latter of whom he quotes as saying:
"At this stage there are some signs that investors are reaching for yield, but I do not now see pervasive evidence of trends such as rapid credit growth, a marked buildup in leverage, or significant asset bubbles that would clearly threaten financial stability."
Unfortunately, the concern about financial stability and discerning bubbles in a wide array of economic data completely misses the point. First, financial instability is not what caused our problems in either 2001 or in the current downturn. As much fun as it is to see the Fed chair, Treasury Secretary and other important people sweating over the collapse of huge financial institutions, this crisis was very much secondary to the country's economic problems. We know how to paper over a financial crisis, which the Fed eventually did (as did the European central bank), the hard part is replacing the demand that had been generated by a bubble once the bubble has burst.
This directly leads to the second point. The bubbles that we have to worry about are not hard to find. Suppose there is a huge speculative bubble in soy beans that pushes their price to 20 times their normal level. This could be bad news for people that like soy beans and derivative products. It may also be disastrous for producers in the industry if they get caught on the wrong side of things. However, the collapse of this bubble will have minimal impact on the economy. If for some reason our bubble watchers at the Fed failed to notice the rise in soy bean prices, the problems caused by its eventual bursting will not sink the economy.
On the other hand, the problems caused by the collapse of the stock and housing bubbles did sink the economy because the bubbles were actually driving the economy before they burst. The stock bubble led to a record share of GDP going to new equipment and software investment. This was due to the fact that investors were willing to pay billions of dollars for the stock of companies that did not even have a plan for ever making a profit. In addition, the $10 trillion in bubble generated stock wealth created a consumption boom, driving the savings rate to what was then a record low.
The same thing happened with the housing bubble. Record high house prices caused the construction share of GDP to rise by more than 50 percent at the peak of the bubble. The $8 trillion in ephemeral housing equity created by the bubble led to another consumption boom with the saving rate falling to near zero.
When these bubbles burst, there was no alternative source of demand to replace the demand that had been generated by the bubbles. However, because these bubbles were driving the economy, they were not hard to detect. It was only necessary to look at the GDP data and to recognize that equipment investment and consumption were out of line in the days of the stock bubble and housing construction and consumption were out of line in the days of the housing bubble.
There is no remotely comparable imbalance in any component of final demand that could currently be the result of a bubble in junk bonds, if one exists. (My vote is yes.) That means if this bubble bursts, then holders of junk bonds lose money. So what? That will not lead to plunging construction, consumption, or investment. People make and lose money every day in financial markets.
If the folks at the Fed, and the people who cover the Fed in the media, still cannot see the difference between the sorts of bubbles that pose real risks for the economy and the bubbles that only pose a risk for those speculating in narrow markets, then we have learned nothing from the economic crisis.By Kim Jae-won
High-income foreigners will face a higher tax rate here as the government considers increasing its 17-percent fixed rate levied on non-Korean workers, seeking to raise tax revenue amid low economic growth.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that it was considering changing its tax rule on foreign employees and executives which imposes a 17-percent rate on their income regardless of the amount for the first five years after they started working in the country.
The regulation has been regarded as a special treatment for high-income foreigners as their Korean counterparts pay up to 38 percent in income tax based on their salaries. Reflecting complaints from Korean workers for equal treatment, the country raised the rate to 17 percent from 15 percent in 2012.
"We are considering changing the income tax rules for foreign workers," said a director at the finance ministry, asking not to be named. "But, nothing has been decided yet."
The comments came as the government is aiming to increase tax revenue by cutting special benefits given to taxpayers. The finance ministry is also moving to lower its income tax deductions for payments using credit cards.
Foreign executives working in Seoul are complaining about the change. They said that the government needs to offer better conditions for foreign workers, rather than cutting them, if it wants to draw global talent.
"I think the Korean government should approach this matter from a long-term perspective," said a U.S. citizen working for a financial company in Seoul, asking not to be named.
"The country should extend its exemption period from five years to encourage foreign executives to stay here longer so that they can contribute more to the economy."
She said that with the regulation, many foreign workers will rush to leave the country when the benefits expire.
The ministry declined to elaborate how much the rate will be hiked. The country has given the special rate to foreign workers here to attract more talents to the country as its rival economies, such as Hong Kong and Singapore, have provided lower income tax rates of 15 to 20 percent.
According to data from the ministry, the aggregate amount of the tax exemptions for non-Korean employees and executives is estimated to be 121.5 billion won ($106.9 million) this year. In 2015, the amount was is estimated at 142.3 billion won.
But, experts said the government should be careful about raising the income tax rate for foreign workers because it can could cause a brain drain. They said that non-Korean high-income earners will be under pressure to move to Hong Kong and other countries with lower tax rates.Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
US Televangelist Pat Robertson spoke against equal marriage during his programme on Monday, joking that Facebook should install a “vomit” button to represent his reaction to pictures of gay people kissing.
He later said that being gay should be punishable in the same biblical way as incest and bestiality, by stoning.
Speaking in the video, posted by Right Wing Watch, Robertson said: “Do you like that?” Robertson asked, responding to a question from a viewer who asked if clicking “like” meant “condoning the behaviour.”
“Well that makes me want to throw up. To me, I would punch ‘Vomit’ not ‘Like’ but they don’t give you that option on Facebook,” he continued.
In a later segment, Robertson warned that the US would face retribution because of the US Supreme Court’s ruling to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act two weeks ago.
“For some reason now the Supreme Court has said homosexuality is now a constitutional right and this decision that was handed down recently by the majority glorifies this activity and talks about the civil rights and all this,” he said.
He then cited Leviticus 18:28, to say:“Well, the Bible didn’t talk about civil rights it talked about this was an offense against God and it was an offense against the land and the land would vomit you out.”
Continuing, he defined homosexuality as an “abomination”, comparing it with incest and bestiality, and said such crimes should be punished with stoning to death.
“Which is going to take precedence, the Supreme Court of the United States or the holy word of God?” he asked, rhetorically.
Robertson last month spoke to say that he thinks allowing gay members in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) will mean “tearing up” the organisation “to accommodate a few kids that want to do sex with each other”.
Back in May, the BSA’s final vote on the issue of gay members took place in Dallas-Fort Worth, Grapevine, where over 60% of the 1,400 strong national council of local leaders, voted to lift the national ban. The ban on adult members remains in place.Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has applied to renew his political asylum status in Russia.
The temporary political asylum Snowden received last July was good only through midnight Thursday.
A lawyer in Russia representing Snowden said he can stay in the country at least until there is a decision on his application, and perhaps longer.
Russian authorities declined to say anything about an application, declining even to confirm an application from Snowden.
The American fugitive fled to Hong Kong in May 2013 where he published details about U.S. surveillance programs before continuing on to Moscow.
Snowden’s application to remain in Russia comes as Moscow's relations with the West are near a low point after the Russian annexation of Crimea and the downing of Malaysia Flight 17 over Ukraine.Four corners of Iran, home to saffron
Northeastern provinces of Iran are known for being saffron producers in Iran while the most expensive spice of the world is planted in four corners of the country, wherever the climate agrees with its requirements. Saffron requires little water and saffron plant blossoms several times a year.
The product is used for both treatment and nutrition. Derived from the dried stigmas of the purple saffron crocus, it takes anything from 70.000 to 250.000 flowers to make one pound of saffron. Moreover, the flowers have to be individually hand-picked in the autumn when fully open. Fortunately, only a little needs to be added to a dish to lend it color and aroma.
Iran now accounts for approximately 90% of the world production of saffron followed by Spain, Egypt, Kashmir, Morocco and Turkey.
Sources:
ISNA
Mehr News Agency
Mehr News Agency PhotosA member loyal to ISIS waves an ISIS flag in Raqqa, Syria, June 29, 2014. Reuters The Islamic State's so-called "province" in the Caucasus region has claimed responsibility for its first official attack since it was established earlier this year.
In a statement released online — seen above — and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, the group says "the soldiers of the Caliphate were able to mount an attack on barracks of the Russian army in southern Dagestan, in Magharamakint village."
The raid allegedly "led to the killing and wounding of a number of them." Afterward, "the soldiers of the Caliphate returned to their positions safely and with spoils, and unto Allah is all praise and gratitude," SITE's translation reads.
The Islamic State announced its Caucasus branch in June, but the jihadists had not claimed responsibility for any attacks since then.
In an audio message released June 23, the Islamic State's spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, accepted the bayat— oath of allegiance — from jihadists who defected from the al-Qaida-linked Islamic Caucasus Emirate.
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the "Emir of the Faithful," has "accepted your bayat and has appointed the noble sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Qadarī as Wali [governor] over" the Caucasus, Adnani said at the time.
He continued by calling for all the mujahedeen in the Caucasus "to join" al-Qadari's "caravan and to hear and obey him in everything except sin."
It appears that Qadari is Rustam Asilderov, an ICE leader in Dagestan who defected to the Islamic State late last year. One of Asilderov's known aliases is similar to "Abu Muhammad al-Qadari," the same name used by Adnani.
Russian-Chechen fighters in Syria. YouTube
Al-Qaida and ICE have tried to stem the tide of defections to the Islamic State, but the loss of three leaders in just more than a year and a half has destabilized ICE's operations and likely contributed to the Islamic State's gains in the region.
Russian forces killed ICE's emir, Magomed Suleimanov, also known as Abu Usman Gimrinsky, in August. Suleimanov was publicly identified as ICE's new leader just weeks earlier. Also killed in the raid was the jihadist selected to lead ICE's Dagestan "province" after Asilderov's defection.
Suleimanov had succeeded Aliaskhab Kebekov, more commonly known as Ali Abu Muhammad al Dagestani, who was killed by Russian forces in April. Kebekov rose to ICE's top leadership position after his predecessor, Doku Umarov, perished sometime in either late 2013 or early 2014.
Today's claim of responsibility by the Islamic State's Caucasus arm is formatted in the same fashion as other statements by the "caliphate's" declared provinces. The consistent branding demonstrates that the Islamic State's propaganda machine is coordinating information across multiple countries where the jihadists are fighting.
Thomas Joscelyn is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the senior editor of The Long War Journal.Greetings Citizens and Civilians, you’re tuned to episode 143, of Guard Frequency — the best damn space sim podcast ever! This episode was recorded on Friday 28th October 2016 and released for streaming and download on Tuesday, November 1st 2016 at GuardFrequency.com
[Download this episode]
We have full (not partial) permission this week for Kinshadow, Ostron and Geoff to bring you another exciting installment of the Best Damn Space Sim Podcast Ever! Starting us out, in this week’s Squawk Box we have LAZORS! Next, we check out what news from your favourite space sims has hit the Flight Deck as we cover:
After that we’re debating game updates done via item acquisition before finally tuning into the Feedback Loop and letting you join in on the conversation.
This Week’s Community Question
Is a system where players purchase in-game updates and enhancements a good way to increase immersion and realism? Or will it mean that the game is only optimal for the hardcore gamers, and others who aren’t able to acquire items get left behind? Perhaps there’s an angle on this that we missed?
Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!
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Check out the callsigns we use personally in each gameLocal actor David Gigler died Saturday where countless Inland Northwest residents had come to know him: on stage.
Gigler, 47, collapsed from what appeared to be a heart attack during a rehearsal of the Interplayers Theatre’s “Ruthless! The Musical,” friends said. Paramedics arrived within three minutes but could not revive him.
The show was set to open on Thursday but has been canceled out of respect for Gigler, said Reed McColm, Interplayers art director and producer.
Gigler was a familiar sight on Spokane’s stages for two decades, playing roles at the Spokane Civic Theatre, the Spokane Theatrical Group and Valley Repertory Theatre. His roles ranged from Charlie Brown in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” to would-be killer John Hinckley in Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins” in 2007.
He was equally adept at serious drama (the Holocaust drama “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” in 2003), slapstick comedy (“Escanaba in Da Moonlight” in 2010) and musical theater (“Falsettos” in 1996). He won several statewide acting awards.
One of his most memorable roles was as the Cockney father Alfred Doolittle in the Civic’s 2005 version of “My Fair Lady.” The Spokesman-Review’s critic called him “the undisputed star” of the supporting cast.
“He’s been part of the theatrical scene for forever, it seems,” McColm said Saturday.
Gigler, a Spokane native who graduated from Lewis and Clark High School, was introduced to acting as a young adult by his partner Troy Nickerson, close friend Michelle Holland said.
Holland said Gigler had “a presence and a likability” on stage.
“The moment he went on stage, you were drawn to him,” she said.
Gigler also encouraged the best from fellow actors, said George Green, executive art director at the Lake City Playhouse.
“David was always genuine as a human being,” Green said. “He’d tell you if something didn’t look right and if something was stellar. He didn’t sugarcoat anything.”
In “Ruthless!,” which Nickerson was directing, Gigler was cast as Sylvia St. Croix, a gender-bending role for which Gigler had to learn to walk in high heels, McColm said.
McColm said Gigler undertook the role with relish.
“He died doing something he loved,” McColm said.
No services have been announced.
Correspondent Jim Kershner contributed to this report.WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans continue to see the Democratic and Republican parties unfavorably, as a year marred by high-profile policy failures for both parties comes to a close. The Republican Party's favorability has improved slightly to 32% from an all-time low of 28% in October during the government shutdown, while 61% now view the GOP unfavorably. The Democratic Party -- on the defensive recently for the flawed rollout of the healthcare website -- maintains a favorable rating of 42%. But a majority of Americans, 53%, now see the party unfavorably, up from 49% in October.
These results come from a Gallup poll conducted Dec. 5-8. Other polls have found Democrats losing a once-substantial advantage in the generic congressional ballot for the 2014 midterm elections; nevertheless, Gallup finds that, overall, Americans still view the Democratic Party more favorably than the Republican Party.
Still, both parties have lost ground with the public compared with earlier this year; in June, 39% of Americans had a favorable image of the Republican Party, while nearly half (46%) had a favorable image of the Democratic Party.
The two parties' favorability ratings are at the lower end of the range Gallup has measured for each, although the GOP has the lower absolute rating. The Democratic Party's current favorability rating of 42% is similar to what it was during most of 2010 -- a year in which the Democrats lost 63 House seats and majority control in that chamber.
Moderates More Likely to Prefer Democratic Party Over Republican Party
While the two parties rely on their ideological soul mates for support -- Republicans depend on conservatives, while Democrats lean on liberals -- both parties also need at least some support from the political center |
to do with oil leases). In fact, I think most would agree that the main activities of the agency—nuclear defense, scientific research and empowering innovation—are essential programs that we couldn’t do without.
Supporting Nuclear Defense
The biggest thing that the DOE does is nuclear defense, which makes up nearly two thirds of its total budget. This includes everything from managing our stockpile of nuclear weapons to providing the Navy with the reactors that power our submarines and aircraft carriers. It is also one of the key agencies involved with non-proliferation.
Clearly, these are important jobs and it’s hard to see how we could eliminate them. Nuclear security is certainly a crucial government function. Our Navy wouldn’t want to do without nuclear reactors powering its fleet and we need experts to help us monitor the nuclear activities of other nations (which is why Secretary Moniz played such a big part in the recent Iran talks).
Of course, some may argue that these functions could be done by other parts of the government. The Department of Defense could, in theory, manage our nuclear defense. Yet if so, it’s hard to see what’s being eliminated. Others many argue that the private sector is more efficient, but in the case of nuclear security, that’s just plain scary!
So at the very least, two thirds of the Department of Energy’s budget is off limits.
Big Science
The next big line item is science programs, which takes up nearly a quarter of the total DOE budget, or just over $5 billion. This encompasses legendary laboratories like Oak Ridge, Argonne, Fermilab and SLAC, just to name a few. These are crucial for maintaining our national scientific excellence.
Another DOE facility, Ames Laboratory, focuses on high speed computing and advanced materials. One of the projects it is working on is to find alternatives to the rare earth elements which we now depend on China for. And the DOE helped fund the Human Genome Project, which is now playing a central role in the fight against cancer.
Much like nuclear defense, it’s hard to see how we could eliminate these programs without doing immense harm to the country. Unless, of course, you want to eliminate science programs altogether, and I don’t hear anyone arguing for that. So we can consider roughly 80% of the DOE budget off limits.
Powering Innovation
Besides managing our nuclear arsenal and our major science labs, much of the DOE’s budget eventually shows up in innovations that benefit us everyday. For example, its research played a central role in initiating the shale gas boom that’s reducing our reliance on foreign oil. It also helps develop the lithium ion batteries that power our smartphones, computers and electric cars.
Even that hardly scratches the surface. From solid state lighting to modern refrigerator compressors and water heaters, DOE inventions can be found in every American home. Sure, it is private industry that brings those innovations to market, but it is research done at the DOE that makes them possible, which is why the agency consistently wins awards for innovation.
A more recent initiative is ARPA-E— based on DARPA, the agency that brought us the Internet. It provides grants to researchers to fund next generation energy projects that are still in the early stage. Although not every project is successful, even in its short history it has already been shown to spur private investment that far exceeds the initial grants.
Politicians like Ted Cruz mistakenly call these investments “picking winners,” but that’s a vast misconception. Certainly, no one would call the government’s development of the Internet “picking winners,” although clearly some firms benefitted more than others. The truth is that it has been our investment in science that has made us the exceptional nation.
To win the future, you have to invest in it. In the case of DOE science and research programs, that investment amounts to less that 0.2% of the federal budget.
Do We Really Want Government Out Of Our Lives?
Clearly, I can't list everything the DOE does here, some of which like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and managing electricity transmission lines is incredibly mundane, but it’s hard to see anything substantial that we would want to eliminate. For the most part, the calls to shutter the DOE seem to come out of a general desire to “get the government out of our lives.”
So let’s think about what that would look like. First, we would all have to get rid of our cellphones, which couldn’t function without the lithium-ion batteries I noted above. For that matter, we’d have to get rid of all computers, the development of which was funded by the government. And then there’s the Internet and GPS navigation.
Yet that doesn’t go nearly far enough. The NIH funds the bulk of early stage medical research, so most of our modern cures can be traced back to government funding. So do more prosaic conveniences, like the laser scanners that we see at grocery stores which wouldn’t be possible without research funded by the NSF.
It’s natural for people to want to go back to simpler times. The 1950’s, for example, seem like a romantic, golden age. But we should not forget that we were poorer, less educated and lived shorter lives than we do today.
Be careful what you wish for.When it comes to presidential elections, there are fewer competitive counties, and more counties in which Democrats or Republicans hold overwhelming vote advantages, than at any time in the past three decades or so – on-the-ground evidence of the heightened partisan polarization that characterizes U.S. politics today.
In the 2012 election, there were only 275 counties – less than 9% of all counties and county-equivalents in the nation – in which fewer than 5 percentage points separated Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of county-level voting data. That was the fewest closely contested counties since Ronald Reagan’s landslide re-election in 1984.
Closely contested counties aren’t, as you might expect, predominantly in the “swing states” that get the lion’s share of attention from presidential campaigns and the media covering them. While there were notable concentrations in 2012 in the upper Midwest and along the Pacific coast, closely contested counties were scattered across the country; they could be found in both strongly Democratic states (such as California and New York) and largely Republican ones (such as Texas and North Dakota).
Except for a small bump up in 2008, the number of closely contested counties has been declining since 1992. At the same time, the number of counties where one party or the other holds an overwhelming partisan advantage has risen dramatically.
For example, Romney won 70% or more of the 2012 presidential vote – our threshold for a “landslide county” – in 807 counties. That was more than any other Republican had won by such a margin since at least 1976, the first year of our analysis. Meanwhile, Obama took 70% or more of the vote in 105 counties that year, the most for a Democrat since Jimmy Carter’s narrow victory in 1976.
The disparity in landslide counties might seem to give Republicans an overwhelming advantage. But the two major parties find their strongest support levels in very different places: Democrats in large urban centers, Republicans in small, rural counties. In 2012, Obama won all but 16 of the 100 most populous counties; the counties where he won at least 70% of the vote have an average population of 354,357. The counties that supported Romney at that 70%-or-more level, by contrast, have an average population of just 30,552. (The largest GOP landslide county, with just over 575,000 people, is Utah County, Utah, home to Provo and Brigham Young University.)
The growing number of counties dominated by one or the other major party reflects the clustering of Democratic- and Republican-aligned people in different places that’s been evident for some time now: As a 2014 Pew Research Center report noted, there’s a clear ideological divide both in the types of places people would like to live and where they actually live, with liberals preferring cities and conservatives favoring small towns and rural areas. Notably, Obama beat Romney rather comfortably in 2012 – winning by more than 5 million votes nationwide – while carrying only 713 (22.6%) of the nation’s 3,100-plus counties.
The closely contested counties range widely in population, and Texas has both the largest – Harris County (which includes Houston), with a population exceeding 4.5 million – and the smallest, Kenedy County, with just 407 residents. The most closely divided county in the nation in 2012 was Pike County, Ohio, where Romney edged out Obama by a single vote (or less than 0.009 percentage points).
For this post, we relied on county-level vote totals from CQ Press’ Voting & Elections Collection for every presidential election from 1976 through 2012, and 2015 population estimates from the Census Bureau. In 2012, votes were reported from 3,161 counties and “county equivalents” – parishes in Louisiana, legislative districts in Alaska, and independent cities in Virginia and a few other states (that total was slightly smaller in prior years). The Alaskan legislative districts were excluded from the population analyses because the relevant population data weren’t available at that level.
Topics: Elections and Campaigns, Political Polarization, 2016 ElectionThe Canada Revenue Agency will no longer allow Canadians to benefit from financial relief when they disclose unreported income in cases that involve offshore dealings or sophisticated tax-avoidance schemes, federal officials said. Starting in March, the federal agency will restrict the incentives offered to late-filing taxpayers under the Voluntary Disclosures Program.
The changes to the VDP are part of a federal clampdown on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, especially in cases involving the use of tax havens. The Liberal government has been scaling back the financial benefits of owning private corporations, but there is growing pressure on Ottawa to maximize the revenue from wealthy individuals and corporations with access to sophisticated tax lawyers and accountants.
Under a new "limited" VDP that will apply to wealthy taxpayers involved in complex schemes as of next year, the CRA will offer immunity from criminal prosecution and waive "gross negligence" penalties to successful applicants. However, to qualify under the newly configured program, individuals and companies will have to pay all owed taxes, full interest and late-filing penalties – amounts that were frequently lowered or waived under the existing program.
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Related: Revenue Minister steps back from claim Ottawa is close to recovering $25-billion in unpaid taxes
"If somebody applied, they could pretty much count on being accepted. That was harmful to the fairness of the regime," CRA assistant commissioner Ted Gallivan said in an interview.
"Now, to the extent that you are a sophisticated, high-dollar taxpayer who knew exactly what you were doing when you did it, we will either deny you VDP or give you a very watered-down version," Mr. Gallivan said.
The CRA argues it is can impose new restrictions on the VDP because it has access to growing amounts of data on financial transfers over $10,000, worldwide banking information and a well-functioning paid-informant program.
"We are increasingly confident in finding these taxpayers on our own and not be as reliant on the Voluntary Disclosures Program to find them," Mr. Gallivan said. "In two to three years, we will be looking to close or further restrict the program because we are supremely confident that we are able to identify these taxpayers."
However, the CRA plans to allow voluntary cases that involve honest mistakes or small-scale misreporting of income.
Filing applications under the VDP has traditionally been a lucrative business for tax lawyers and accountants, and the changes to the program are expected to rock the industry. In the 2016-17 fiscal year, the VDP was used 18,500 times by taxpayers to disclose $1.6-billion in previously unreported income.
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One of the best-known past uses of the VDP involved former prime minister Brian Mulroney, who declared $225,000 in income to the CRA years after receiving envelopes of cash from German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber, as found by a public inquiry.
The changes to the VDP are being announced on Friday and will take effect on March 1, 2018.
Under the current system, taxpayers can benefit from financial relief on the penalties and the compound interest imposed by the CRA, a benefit that offers large savings on final tax bills, Mr. Gallivan said. About 80 per cent of applications are currently approved.
However, the CRA is arguing in a news release that the program is increasingly being used "by certain wealthy individuals and corporations as a way to avoid the consequences of their aggressive tax planning."
In particular, Mr. Gallivan said, the program was frequently used by taxpayers as soon as they found out that a particular tax-avoidance structure that they had used was under audit, or if the CRA started to crack down on their tax lawyer or accountant.
Last year, the CRA imposed $44-million in penalties against "third-parties" for their role in tax-avoidance schemes, an amount the agency hopes to increase in coming years.
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To qualify under the new limited program, taxpayers will have to disclose the third-party advisers with whom they had been preparing their taxes. In addition, lawyers will no longer be able to apply on behalf of anonymous clients whose identity is only revealed after a deal is approved.
The CRA said it will continue to deny access to the VDP to taxpayers named in leaks such as the Panama Papers.
"The Government of Canada is committed to cracking down on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance to ensure a system that is responsive and fair for all Canadians. The changes to the Voluntary Disclosures Program are part of these efforts, which will allow the Agency to crack down even further on those who are intentionally breaking the law," Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier said in a statement.The network of political appointees reports to an office led by Rick Dearborn, left, a White House deputy chief of staff, according to administration officials. At center is Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
The political appointee charged with keeping watch over Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and his aides has offered unsolicited advice so often that after just four weeks on the job, Pruitt has shut him out of many staff meetings, according to two senior administration officials.
At the Pentagon, they’re privately calling the former Marine officer and fighter pilot who’s supposed to keep his eye on Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “the commissar,” according to a high-ranking defense official with knowledge of the situation. It’s a reference to Soviet-era Communist Party officials who were assigned to military units to ensure their commanders remained loyal.
Most members of President Trump’s Cabinet do not yet have leadership teams in place or even nominees for top deputies. But they do have an influential coterie of senior aides installed by the White House who are charged — above all — with monitoring the secretaries’ loyalty, according to eight officials in and outside the administration.
This shadow government of political appointees with the title of senior White House adviser is embedded at every Cabinet agency, with offices in or just outside the secretary’s suite. The White House has installed at least 16 of the advisers at departments including Energy and Health and Human Services and at some smaller agencies such as NASA, according to records first obtained by ProPublica through a Freedom of Information Act request.
These aides report not to the secretary, but to the Office of Cabinet Affairs, which is overseen by Rick Dearborn, a White House deputy chief of staff, according to administration officials. A top Dearborn aide, John Mashburn, leads a weekly conference call with the advisers, who are in constant contact with the White House.
(Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post)
The aides act as a go-between on policy matters for the agencies and the White House. Behind the scenes, though, they’re on another mission: to monitor Cabinet leaders and their top staffs to make sure they carry out the president’s agenda and don’t stray too far from the White House’s talking points, said several officials with knowledge of the arrangement.
“Especially when you’re starting a government and you have a changeover of parties when policies are going to be dramatically different, I think it’s something that’s smart,” said Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser. “Somebody needs to be there as the White House’s man on the scene. Because there’s no senior staff yet, they’re functioning as the White House’s voice and ears in these departments.”
[Bannon vows daily fight for ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’]
The arrangement is unusual. It wasn’t used by presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. And it’s also different from the traditional liaisons who shepherd the White House’s political appointees to the various agencies. Critics say the competing chains of command eventually will breed mistrust, chaos and inefficiency — especially as new department heads build their staffs.
“It’s healthy when there is some daylight between the president’s Cabinet and the White House, with room for some disagreement,” said Kevin Knobloch, who was chief of staff under Obama to then-Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.
“That can only happen when agency secretaries have their own team, who report directly to them,” he said. “Otherwise it comes off as not a ringing vote of confidence in the Cabinet.”
The White House declined to comment about the appointees on the record, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters and internal operations. But a White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that instead of holding agencies accountable, the appointees technically report to each department’s chief of staff or to the secretaries themselves.
“The advisers were a main point of contact in the early transition process as the agencies were being set up,” the official said in an email. “Like every White House, this one is in frequent contact with agencies and departments.”
The advisers’ power may be heightened by the lack of complete leadership teams at many departments.
The long delay in getting Trump’s nominee for agriculture secretary, former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue (R), confirmed means that Sam Clovis, who was a Trump campaign adviser, and transition team leader Brian Klippenstein continue to serve as the agency’s top political appointees.
“He and Brian Klippenstein are just a handful of appointees on the ground and they’re doing a big part of the day-to-day work,” said Dale Moore, the American Farm Bureau Federation’s public policy executive director.
Every president tries to assert authority over the executive branch, with varying degrees of success.
The Obama White House kept tight control over agencies, telling senior officials what they could publicly disclose about their own department’s operations. Foreign policy became so centralized that State Department and Defense Department officials complained privately that they felt micromanaged on key decisions.
After then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. made some political gaffes, Obama aides wanted to install a political aide at the Justice Department to monitor him. But Holder was furious about the intrusion and blocked the plan. During his tenure as defense secretary, Robert M. Gates pushed back against a top official the White House wanted at the Pentagon to guide Asia policy, wary of having someone so close to the president in his orbit.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), a Trump adviser, said the president needs to dispatch political allies to the agencies to monitor a bureaucracy that’s being targeted for reduction.
“If you drain the swamp, you better have someone who watches over the alligators,” Gingrich said. “These people are actively trying to undermine the new government. And they think it’s their moral obligation to do so.”
At the Transportation Department, former Pennsylvania lobbyist Anthony Pugliese shuttles back and forth between the White House and DOT headquarters on New Jersey Avenue SE, according to an agency official. His office is just 20 paces from Secretary Elaine Chao’s, the official said.
Day to day, Pugliese and his counterparts inform Cabinet officials of priorities the White House wants them to keep on their radar. They oversee the arrival of new political appointees and coordinate with the West Wing on the agency’s direction.
The arrangement is collegial in some offices, including at Transportation and Interior, where aides to Chao and Secretary Ryan Zinke insisted that the White House advisers work as part of the team, attending meetings, helping form an infrastructure task force and designing policy on public lands.
Tensions between the White House and the Cabinet already have spilled into public view. Mattis, the defense secretary, and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly were caught unaware in January by the scope of the administration’s first travel ban. The president has been furious about leaks on national security matters.
Trump does not have long-standing relationships or close personal ties with most leaders in his Cabinet. That’s why gauging their loyalty is so important, said officials who described the structure.
“A lot of these [Cabinet heads] have come from roles where they’re the executive,” said a senior administration official not authorized to publicly discuss the White House advisers. “But when you become head of an agency, you’re no longer your own person. It’s a hard change for a lot of these people: They’re not completely autonomous anymore.”
Many of the senior advisers lack expertise in their agency’s mission and came from the business or political world. They include Trump campaign aides, former Republican National Committee staffers, conservative activists, lobbyists and entrepreneurs.
At Homeland Security, for example, is Frank Wuc o, a former security consultant whose blog Red Wire describes the terrorist threat as rooted in Islam. To explain the threat, he appears on YouTube as a fictional jihadist.
Matt Mowers, a former aide to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) who was Trump’s national field coordinator before landing at the State Department as senior adviser, said through a spokesman that he “leads interagency coordination” among the White House, agencies and the National Security Council and “coordinates on policy and personnel.”
Mowers sits at the edge of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s seventh-floor suite, dubbed Mahogany Row. But neither Tillerson nor his chief of staff are his direct boss.
Many of the advisers arrived from the White House with the small groups known as “beachhead teams” that started work on Jan. 20. One of the mandates at the top of their to-do list now, Bennett said, is making sure the agencies are identifying regulations the administration wants to roll back and vetting any new ones.
[Trump establishes task forces to eliminate ‘job killing regulations’]
At the Pentagon, Brett Byers acts as a go-between between Mattis’s team and the White House, largely on “bureaucratic” matters, said an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.
Career officials who work near the “E” ring offices occupied by senior Pentagon staff, suspicious that Byers is not directly on Mattis’s team, came up with the Soviet-era moniker “commissar” to describe him, someone familiar with their thinking said.
Elsewhere, resentment has built up. Pruitt is bristling at the presence of former Washington state senator Don Benton, who ran the president’s Washington state campaign and is now the EPA’s senior White House adviser, said two senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
These officials said Benton piped up so frequently during policy discussions that he had been disinvited from many of them. One of the officials described the situation as akin to an episode of the HBO comedy series “Veep.”
[How James Inhofe is upending the nation’s energy and environmental policies]
Trump’s approach may not be so different from Abraham Lincoln’s. Coming into the White House after more than a half-century of Democrats in power, Lincoln worked swiftly to oust hostile bureaucrats and appoint allies. But he still had to deal with an Army led by many senior officers who sympathized with the South, as well as a government beset by internal divisions.
Gettysburg College professor Allen C. Guelzo described Lincoln as “surrounded by smiling enemies,” which prompted him to embed his friends into army camps as well as some federal departments.
“I think that presidents actually do this more than it appears,” said Guelzo, adding that Lincoln dispatched Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army Montgomery Meigs to circulate among the Army of the Potomac to pick up any negative “doggerel” or insults officers made about him.
Ashley Halsey III and Missy Ryan contributed to this report.
Read more at PowerPostIn this July 16, 2013, file photo, Alexandria Police Officer Dennis Vafier uses a laptop in his squad car to scan vehicle license plates against a data base during his patrol of the area. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
Amid fear that new technology is handing police unprecedented power, an unlikely coalition of liberals and tea party conservatives in Virginia is trying to curtail the use of drones, license plate readers and wiretapping devices.
Lawmakers have passed several bills despite fierce law enforcement opposition — an unusual turn in a state where the General Assembly has historically embraced tough-on-crime measures, particularly in an election year such as this one.
Members in both parties say the curtailments of police power are necessary because technological advances have outpaced the law.
The Ben Franklin Liberty Caucus, a bipartisan group formed last year, pushed several of this year’s bills.
“We’ve got to get a handle on it, or we’re going to be living in a surveillance society,” said Del. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah).
“It’s a weird alliance,” acknowledged Del. Mark L. Cole (R-Spotsylvania), a conservative who sponsored legislation to limit civil asset forfeiture in the state. The American Civil Liberties Union and libertarian-minded tea party activists together lobbied lawmakers to support the bill.
“This could be a really important session for protecting people’s property and rights from government overreach,” said Claire Gastanaga of the Virginia ACLU. But, she added, “there’s plenty of room before the end of session for it all to come crashing down.”
Under the measure restricting the use of license plate readers, which has been approved by both bodies of the General Assembly, police would be allowed to keep plate data for only seven days unless it is relevant to an ongoing investigation. Some departments have been holding onto — and sharing — such data for years.
Both chambers have also voted to shore up a law, passed last year, that requires a warrant for electronic searches and bans tracking devices, such as “Stingrays,” that mimic cellphone towers and trick cellphones into transmitting their location and other identifying information.
And after years of attempts and despite police desire for free rein, lawmakers are negotiating a regulatory framework for the use of drones, versions of which have passed both chambers.
Although an attempt to pass a constitutional amendment strengthening Virginians’ protections against unreasonable searches and seizures failed, supporters are optimistic that they can come back in two years with a stronger version.
“I think this has been a session in which many people have begun to realize how often, and how far, government agents go in pushing the limits (and beyond) of the 4th Amendment,” former attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II said in an e-mail. A prominent backer of the constitutional amendment effort, the 2013 Republican gubernatorial candidate said he and others are in that fight “for the long haul.”
Election years are historically bad for civil liberties, advocates say, and every member of the General Assembly is facing voters in 2015. More typically, lawmakers have pushed bills designed to make them appear tough on crime, daring skeptics to speak out on behalf of murderers and pedophiles.
This year, increasing pressure from the left and the right has been able to counter lobbying from police and prosecutors.
But this session also has had its share of legislation that makes civil libertarians cringe. Among them is a bill, which has passed both chambers, that requires a DNA sample from anyone convicted of certain serious misdemeanors. Although inspired by the slaying of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, whose accused killer has been linked by DNA to an earlier assault, the bill has been so modified that it would no longer have applied in that case. The suspect, Jesse L. Matthew Jr., was convicted of trespassing, and lawmakers balked after realizing how many people would be ensnared by that misdemeanor.
“I am stunned that people... who talk about big government want to give them your private information,” Del. Gregory D. Habeeb (R-Salem) said during a House committee debate on the bill.
The state Senate has also passed a bill that would shield from public view most aspects of the execution process, including the source and components of lethal-injection drugs. It will be heard by a House committee this week.
Another is a bill, backed by Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D), that would bar wireless providers from telling customers in certain situations that their data has been subpoenaed. The measure has passed both chambers, but as recently as Wednesday, tea party libertarians were lobbying lawmakers to reconsider the bill, which they viewed as an unconstitutional encroachment.
“There are some things that have affected civil liberties that have eroded the Fourth Amendment that have gotten through,” said Sen. Richard H. Stuart (R-Stafford), citing the subpoena bill as an example. “Now we’re trying to catch them on the flip side.”
Herring’s office said that some concerned lawmakers became more comfortable with the bill once assured that it applied only to cases of child pornography and sex trafficking.
“This bill is limited to these extremely serious crimes that are increasingly being done with electronic communications,” said Michael Kelly, a spokesman for Herring. When a police officer has downloaded child pornography from a computer, Kelly said, only an Internet provider address identifies the pornographer. A public subpoena would give the suspect time to delete any incriminating information.
Separately, sex offenders face an expanded registry, which critics say is likely to contain outdated and incorrect information, as well as new publicity when attempting to gain clearance for school visits.
“Every election is a terrible session, and this one is terrible,” said Mary Davye Devoy, an advocate for reforming the state’s sex offender registry.
The ACLU sees good and bad in a package of bills designed to deal with a growing heroin and opioid epidemic, supporting legislation that protects addicts from prosecution when they report overdoses but opposing a bill that would define giving someone a fatal dose as murder.
After passing the House overwhelmingly, Cole’s asset-forfeiture bill, which would have blocked police from seizing assets in criminal cases except when someone has been convicted, stalled in the Senate Finance Committee after protests from prosecutors and police.
“We have to speak probably in a louder voice — more organization, more public statements, more publicity,” said Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico), who supported Cole’s effort. “It’s an evolutionary process.”London's Great Smog of 1952 resulted in thousands of premature deaths and even more people becoming ill. The five December days the smog lasted may have also resulted in thousands more cases of childhood and adult asthma. Researchers from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, the University of California, San Diego and University of Massachusetts studied how London's Great Smog affected early childhood health and the long-term health consequences. Findings are published online in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The results, based on health data from the 1940s and 50s, showed that the Great Smog event of 1952 likely still affects some people's health more than 60 years later.
In "Early Life Exposure to the Great Smog of 1952 and the Development of Asthma," Matthew Neidell, PhD, associate professor of Health Policy and Management at the Mailman School of Public Health, and colleagues noted that the Great Smog presents a "natural experiment" because the smog was intense, "exceeding current regulations and guidelines by a factor of 5 to 23"; localized to a major city; and unanticipated. "Because the smog was unexpected, residents likely didn't leave the city," said Prashant Bharadwaj, PhD, associate professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego and co-investigator.
The researchers analyzed 2,916 responses to a life history survey that is part of the English Longitudinal Study on Aging. Among other health questions, the survey asked participants if they had asthma as a child (up to age 15) or asthma as an adult.
Responses of those who were exposed to the Great Smog in utero or in early childhood were compared with those born between 1945 and 1955 who lived outside of London during the Great Smog or lived in London but were not exposed to the smog in utero or in their first years of life.
The results showed that exposure to the Great Smog in the first year of life was associated with a statistically significant 20 percent increased incident of childhood asthma. The researchers said they found a non-significant, but similar trend between exposure to the smog in the first year of life and adult asthma (a 9.5 percent increase) and in utero exposure and childhood asthma (8 percent increase).
The authors note that a number of studies examine the relationship between early childhood exposure to air pollutants and the development of asthma but can only determine an association, not a cause-and- effect relationship, because there may be confounding factors that are overlooked or not fully accounted for in the analysis.
Given that there is no evidence of another event simultaneous with the Great Smog that might affect asthma incidence, they add, their study overcomes the issue of confounding and "suggests a strong possibility of a causal link between early childhood exposure to air pollution and the later development of asthma."
The study has implications for other countries and cities today with high levels of air pollution. In recent years, the authors write, Beijing has experienced the highest levels of air pollution ever recorded.
"Our results suggest that the harm from this dreadful event over 60 years ago lives on today," noted Dr. Neidell. "It also suggest that very young children living in heavily polluted environments, such as Beijing, are likely to experience significant changes in health over their lifecourse."
The full report can be found at: http://www.thoracic.org/about/newsroom/press-releases/great-smog-and-asthma.pdf- An 18-year-old woman who disappeared on her way to church was found dead in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas.
The teen’s body was found next to a minivan that had crashed into a creek near the intersection of Lippitt Avenue and Easton Road.
Zoe Hastings' family told FOX 4 she left home around 4:45 p.m. Sunday and did not make it to a 5 p.m. classes at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Lake Highlands Drive.
Police said Hastings died from “obvious homicidal violence.”
Hastings’ family comforted each other at the crime scene as investigator looked for clues inside her 2007 white Honda Odyssey.
Hastings graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in May. According to her Facebook page, she was a swim instructor at the White Rock YMCA.
Joseph Noriega discovered Hastings’ body after he was flagged down by a young man who said there was a girl in a creek who needed help. As he walked down, the man disappeared, but he found the body of Hastings.
“She was not in the van,” Noriega said. “She was on the white rock bed and when I saw the pool of blood and the color of her skin I could just tell that she had died. I called out to her and I looked to see if she was breathing and I could not see any movement.”
Police have encouraged anyone with information about her death or who may have seen her or the minivan on Sunday evening to call the Dallas Police Department or Crime Stoppers.
FOX 4 is on YouTube -- http://bit.ly/fox4subscribeHarnessing the raw power of Lycan state these operators work together in groups to be effective. While technology/methodology helps control them their true strength comes from their pack and the bonds between each member.
Lycans: Huntsman. Huntsman teams represent the baseline Lycan presence in operations. Sturdy, strong, and reliable they serve no specific purpose, but are useful in many different roles and applications. Huntsman learn to work in pairs, one individual stays in human form while the other transforms. This is done to monitor the teammate in Lycan form as it's very easy for them to lose control of their senses and become a threat to their fellow team members. Should they lose control their human counterpart is equipped with a special serum that when administered helps them focus and be more receptive to commands.Huntsman are generally armored with thick ballistic vests and light armor plating. Their human partners are typically lightly armored and wield various weapons for different situations. Overtime Huntsman teams can begin to specialize in more specific roles with training and experience.-----------------------Robert Anthony Buell (September 10, 1940 – September 24, 2002) was a former Akron, Ohio Planning Department worker, convicted of the murder of 11-year-old Krista Lea Harrison on July 17, 1982.[1]
Buell died by lethal injection on September 24, 2002. His final meal was a single black unpitted olive.[2][3]
Murder cases [ edit ]
Police sketch of Buell at the time of Krista Harrison's abduction on July 17, 1982
On July 17, 1982, Buell was reportedly seen abducting Krista Harrison in a park in Marshallville, Ohio. Harrison's body was found six days after her kidnapping. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.[4] Two other young girls have been thought to have also been victims of Buell: Tina Marie Harmon, age 12, murdered in 1981 and Debora Kaye Smith, age 10, murdered in 1983. Although strong evidence is present linking Buell to all three cases, Buell was only charged with the murder of Krista Harrison.[5] He has since been linked by DNA evidence to Tina Harmon's murder.[6] Buell was also a serial rapist. In 1984, Buell raped a woman who was able to escape and notify police, an event that ultimately led to his arrest.[7]
References [ edit ]WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, LEED Exposed, a project of the Environmental Policy Alliance (EPA), released research showing that large privately-owned buildings in Washington D.C. certified under the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, actually use more energy than uncertified buildings.
Despite having the highest number of buildings in the country certified under LEED, Washington D.C. buildings are actually less energy efficient than the national average.
LEED Exposed determined energy consumption by comparing the weather-normalized, source energy use intensity, or EUI (a unit of measurement that represents the energy consumed by a building relative to its size), for both buildings certified by the USGBC as "green" and those that have not gone through the USGBC's expensive permitting process. For LEED-certified buildings, their EUI was 205, compared to 199 for non-cert |
I began. It is madly expensive as well. There are few young people in the town; only elderly and a few kids. The supermarket sells mainly low-priced liquor. A border town full of smugglers? But what could they be smuggling now that Spain is part of Europe? Still, why does the town seem so uptight? This is exactly how I remember it driving through from France in 1987 when we stopped for a coffee and drove on. There was no monument to Benjamin then. Just the town. The whole town was his monument as far as I was concerned—cold, nasty, and enigmatic. I remembered Lisa Fittko in Chicago when I first called her from a public phone in the mid-eighties having just found out from Barbara Sahlins, the wife of my anthropologist friend at the university, that the woman who took Benjamin across the border lived but a few blocks away. “Oh! You’re after the briefcase!” were Lisa’s first words on the phone. My heart sank. Didn’t she realize that one might have perfectly innocent reasons for wanting to talk with her and that lost treasure would only get in the way? The treasure I was after was even less tangible than a missing briefcase. I only felt it dimly at that moment but looking back I’m tempted to say, to wonder, rather, if the treasure I was seeking wasn’t in its inchoate way the first step of the pilgrimage that I had unconsciously begun at that very moment standing in a glass and metal phone booth on a street corner on a blustery day in south Chicago? It was the desire to absorb something of the dead man, the holy man, whatever it is that clings as living presence to the person of the woman who took him secretly over the mountain across the border so many years ago. All this flashed through my mind quicker than it takes to tell, a feeling of foreboding that no matter what I said to her I was lost. The briefcase—the idea of the briefcase, the image of the briefcase—had become a stupendous relic made all the more potent by its disappearance. When I got to her place a little later she told me how excited Rolf Tiedemann became when she told him of Benjamin lugging a heavy black briefcase across the Pyrenees, saying it contained his most important work. “I cannot risk losing it,” Benjamin had said. “It is the manuscript that must be saved. It is more important than I am.” Tiedemann was then in charge of publishing the collected works of Benjamin in German, and he set off immediately for Port Bou and the regional capital to find the briefcase. He got the local authorities to search high and low. If memory serves me, they even went down into some catacombs under the town, but perhaps that’s memory playing tricks with buried pasts. But they turned up nothing. No briefcase. No fabulous manuscript. Just like there was no body either. It is strange, for in the documents recorded by the judge at the time of Benjamin’s death that I have seen there is no mention of a manuscript, but there is noted the existence of a cartera grande, a large handbag, as his only baggage. Its contents were carefully itemized: a pocket watch and chain, with the watch’s many inscriptions duly noted; a five-hundred-franc bill, a fifty-dollar bill, a twenty-dollar bill, (all serial numbers duly noted); a passport (numbered 224) issued by the American Foreign Service to Walter Benjamin with a Spanish visa also issued in Marseille; a certificate from the Institute of Social Research, previously of Frankfurt, now in exile in New York and affiliated in some way to Columbia University; six photographs; an ID card issued in Paris; an X-ray; a pipe for smoking with a mouthpiece made of what looked like amber, and its case; a pair of glasses in nickel frames and its case; and several letters and newspapers. But no manuscript. Yet Lisa Fittko remembered how heavy that bag had been. How could a watch, a pipe, some spectacles, and a few papers weigh anything? “We would have to drag that monster across the mountains,” she said. Up the mountain they went, along the Route Lister, a smuggler’s path set back from the sea and named after the famous Republican general of the Spanish Civil War who led his troops along this same path. In her memoir she notes that Benjamin “breathed heavily, yet he made no complaint, not even a sigh. He only kept squinting in the direction of the black bag.” At one point he stooped to drink from a pool of stagnant water. It was green and slimy and it stank. She warned him not to drink. She told him he would get typhus. “True,” he replied. “I might. But don’t you see, the worst that can happen is that I die of typhus … after crossing the border. The Gestapo wont be able to get me, and the manuscript will be safe. I do apologize.” He was always so polite. But she also singled out his lack of “adaptability,” a euphemism with her for a variety of incompetence that, so it appears, was all too common among these refugee intellectuals, lacking what today we call “survival skills” or “street smarts.” This is hard to understand when one looks at academics nowadays, the majority of whom seem blessed with an abundance of such skills, if skills they be. There is even a trace of scorn in Fittko’s remarks about some of the people whom she took over the border on account of their selfishness, their infantilism, and in general their inability to face up to reality and be practical. People on the run, it seems, are not necessarily at their best. But Benjamin maintained his dignity and never once complained even though he struck her as particularly pathetic; the sort of guy who, as she put it, even needed instruction on how to hold a hot cup of tea. This seems more than what we call “impractical.” It encompasses a sort of helplessness and even hopelessness in being in the world for which a hot cup of tea is merely symbolic. “One should have been able to react spontaneously?” asks her interviewer, Richard Heinemann. “He couldn’t do that,” responded Fittko. “I think he could only take a hot cup in is hand when he had first developed an appropriate theory.” My guess is that many of the intellectuals she escorted came from homes with servants and / or had wives who took care of business while they painted, sculpted, wrote their novels, poems, plays, reviews, and so forth. Even when poverty-stricken, as Benjamin was from the early 1930s, they may have lived in cheap hotels and depended on cafés for food and drink, aloof from the exigencies of domestic labor if not from many of the practicalities of everyday life. Who did Benjamin’s typing, for instance? “Many of these men were incapable of coping with primitive conditions,” Lisa Fittko’s husband, Hans, had told her after his first imprisonment in a prison camp for enemy aliens, the Stade Colombe, on the outskirts of Paris in late 1939. “How do you protect yourself from the wind and the rain, how do you dry your clothes? How do you take hold of a tin bowl of hot without burning your fingers? Often someone would fall over a bench and break a bone or two.” Hans Fittko met Benjamin in another prison, Versuche, near Nevers, the winter before France surrendered. He told Benjamin to contact Lisa if he ever got south to Marseille. It struck him how incapable Benjamin was at coping with prison life. A chain smoker, Benjamin abruptly gave up smoking. “Not the right time,” said Hans. But Benjamin explained, “I can bear the conditions in this camp only if I’m compelled to concentrate my mental strength on one single effort. Giving up smoking costs me this effort, and thus will be my deliverance.” There were other diversions, such as the literary journal Benjamin formed with a small number of other prisoners—a camp journal for intellectuals that was to show the country exactly who they had locked up “as the enemies of France.” The editorial board would meet by crawling into Benjamin’s tent under the stairs where he slept, looked after by a young prisoner, “a holy man in his cave,” comments Hans Sahl, “watched over by an angel.” There they would drink contraband schnapps from thimbles the angel had acquired from the French soldiers. Other times Benjamin offered courses “for advanced students,” costing three Gauloises or a button. Despite these initiatives, it seems unlikely Benjamin would have lasted long without his angel. “Never have I been made so conscious of the tragic conflict between thought and action in a person,” wrote Sahl thirty years later. This conflict is all the more striking in Benjamin’s case when we consider how overwhelmingly attuned his theories were to what he himself called the object world and to mimetic behavior, such behavior being in some regard the quintessence of what has come to be called “embodied knowledge” and what I think Lisa Fittko meant by “adaptability.” “Faut se débrouiller,” she said, “one must know how to help oneself, to clear a way out of the debacle.” This translated into how to “buy counterfeit food stamps, scrounge milk for the children, obtain some—any kind—of permit—in short, manage to do or obtain what didn’t officially exist … But Benjamin had been no débrouillard.” She laughed when she thought back to him trying to disguise himself as a French sailor and unsuccessfully smuggle himself aboard a freighter, along with Doctor Fritz Frankel, notable on account of his fragile appearance and mane of gray hair. The mimetic faculty goes only so far. Benjamin’s love of modernism, and in particular of montage, allegory, and fragmentation, all would seem to strongly predispose one to “adaptability,” meaning coping with new and strange circumstances. And wasn’t he the theorist of “thick skin”—what Freud called the “stimulus shield”—thickened in response to the shocks of modern living? Moreover, his letters and essays on Ibiza in 1932-33 are glowing testimony to a love of material culture and keen eye for nature. But what does all of this add up to if you can’t even hold a cup of hot tea? But of course the practicalities of suicide were not beyond reach—as if the lack of “adaptability” had a certain ethical principle behind it which was, precisely, not to adapt. After Lisa Fittko took Benjamin over the border, she and her husband were recruited by a New York writer fluent in French and German, Varian Fry, whose mission on behalf of the U.S. “Emergency Rescue Committee” was to get intellectuals, artists, politicians, and labor leaders pursued by the Nazis out of France. About the same time Benjamin made his fatal crossing into Spain, Fry arrived in Marseille with 3,000 dollars in cash and a list of people to be rescued. On the strength of Lisa having taken Benjamin across the border, Fry recruited her and her husband into his scheme. At first they were reluctant. How competent was Fry? Didn’t they themselves have to get out to freedom as soon as possible? Fry had a name for them. The smugglers’ route she had used, the Lister Route, was now called the F-Route; F for Fittko. Fry lasted thirteen months before being deported and was, by his own detailed account, pretty successful. In the first weeks, whenever a refugee came whose name was on his list, he would ask for information about the others. The news was grim. Ernst Weiss, a Czech novelist, had taken poison in his room in Paris when the Germans entered the city; Irmgard Keun, a German novelist, had also committed suicide when the Germans entered Paris; the German playwright Walter Hasenclever had killed himself with an overdose of Veronal in the concentration camp as Les Milles, not far from Marseille; Karl Einstein, partner of Georges Bataille in the famous art journal Documents and a specialist on primitive art, had hanged himself on the Spanish-French border when he couldn’t get across; and the body of the labor leader Willi Muenzenberg, once a German communist deputy, had been found hanging from a tree in Grenoble. “One by one I crossed these men off my list.” Benjamin’s suicide was by no means unique, and drug overdose was a favored means. Refugees carried vials of poison in their vest pockets “just in case…,” according to Fry, and Arthur Koestler claims he was given large amounts of morphine by Benjamin in Marseille “just in case.” Most telling, I believe, are the numerous accounts of mental paralysis recorded by Fry concerning refugees who, even though they were given money and visas, were too frightened to move. “They were jittery with the idea of staying,” he says, “and paralyzed with fear at the idea of leaving. You would get them prepared with their passports and all their visas in order, and a month later they would still be sitting in the Marseille cafés, waiting for the police to come and get them.” You climb the hill beyond the town to the cemetery. All the bodies are buried there now. Before it was just for Catholics. The sea is on your left, several hundred feet below. The road curves as you climb. On a small plateau stands the arch through which you enter the cemetery. But about thirty feet in front of the entrance, jutting out of the ridge line like a bent elbow, on the side of the sea, there is a curious triangle of deep brown iron, at least ten feet high.
From the foot of the triangle, running all the way across the roadway, the same rusted iron formed a five-foot-wide slab. “That’s odd,” I thought, marveling at the color and the perfection of this iron slab set into the road. As I set my foot on it, walking to the cemetery, I heard Alberto, next to me, gasp. His head was turned towards the iron triangle jutting out on his left, and suddenly we saw that it formed the doorway to a chute running underground parallel to the slope of the hill. It was completely lined by the same brown iron, including the steps that led down almost as far as the eye could see to end in a perfect rectangle enclosing a view of the sea way below, breaking onto rocks. For a brief moment everything turned inside out. The mountain opened to create a brilliant doorway bringing the crashing sea, so it seemed, right to where we were standing. This was the monument to Benjamin that Tel Aviv artist Dani Karavan had built just outside the cemetery, completed in 1994. Some people think of Benjamin as a Marxist or as a Marxist with a surrealist spin. Other regard him as combining Marxism with the mysticism of the Kabbalah. There is truth to these interpretations, but I myself prefer to think of him as a Proustian Marxist, an eccentric overwhelmed by the avant-garde and the fast-moving political scene of the time. As indication of his eccentricity, take “One-Way Street” where he writes: “If the theory is correct that feeling is not located in the head, that we sentiently experience a window, a cloud, a tree not in our brains but, rather, in the place where we see it, then we are, in looking at our beloved, too, outside ourselves.” That pretty well sums up what it felt like at that moment looking into the mountain opened out to the sea surging below.Guest speaker: Dr. Maddy Corbin
PROGRAM NOTES:
[NOTE: All quotations are by Dr. Maddy Corbin.]
“I’ve been a nerd for a long time. That’s how you get a Ph.D.”
“At least in my experience of psychedelics, and people who take psychedelics and why they value psychedelics, is because it helps to critique you. It helps to break you down. It helps to challenge your assumptions. Isn’t that part of what we find, whether it’s in our meditation or in our psychedelic practices is it pushes you to your edge, and it teaches you about your assumptions that you are making without even realizing it. And you learn to challenge yourself.”
“How can we be as rigorous in our engagement with the outer world as we try to be with our engagement with our inner world?”
“Psychedelics don’t actually come from the counterculture. They come out of scientific laboratories.”
“And because it came through a chemical that allowed them to study it, they began to engage with spirituality in a way that was historically unprecedented. The doorway, I argue that [psychedelics] are a doorway through which spirituality entered the scientific laboratory in a way that it usually doesn’t.”
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Dr. Maddy Corbin “The Politics of Knowledge in the Psychedelic Sciences” – Burning Man 2012 from Palenque Norte on Vimeo.by
With the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on torture, it becomes clear that in the aftermath of the loathsome terrorist attack of 9/11, the United States entered into a new and barbarous stage in its history, one in which acts of violence and moral depravity were not only embraced but celebrated. Certainly, this is not to suggest that the United States had not engaged in criminal and lawless acts historically or committed acts of brutality that would rightly be labeled acts of torture. That much about our history is clear and includes not only the support and participation in acts of indiscriminate violence and torture practiced through and with the right-wing Latin American dictatorships in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil in the 1970s but also through the wilful murder and torture of civilians in Vietnam, Iraq, and later at Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, and Afghanistan. The United States is no stranger to torture nor is it a free of complicity in aiding other countries notorious for their abuses of human rights. Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman reminded us by taking us as far back as 1979 that of the “35 countries using torture on an administrative basis in the late 1970s, 26 were clients of the United States.”[1]
In fact, the United States has a long record of inflicting torture on others, both at home and abroad, although it has never admitted to such acts. Instead, the official response has been to deny this history or do everything to hide such monstrous acts from public view through government censorship, appealing to the state secrecy principle, or deploying a language that buried narratives of extraordinary cruelty in harmless sounding euphemisms. For example, the benign sounding CIA “Phoenix Program” in South Vietnam resulted in the deaths of over 21,000 Vietnamese. As Carl Boggs argues, the acts of U.S. barbarism in Vietnam appeared both unrestrained and never ending, with routinized brutality such as throwing people out of planes labeled as “flying lessons” or “half a helicopter ride,”[2] while tying a field telephone wire around a man’s testicles and ringing it up was a practice called “the Bell Telephone Hour.”[3] Officially sanctioned torture was never discussed as a legitimate concern; but, as indicated by a few well-documented accounts, it seems to be as American as apple pie.[4]
But torture for the United States is not merely a foreign export, it is also part of a long history of domestic terrorism as was evident in the attempts on the part of the FBI, working under a secret program called COINTELPRO, designed to assassinate those considered domestic and foreign enemies.[5] COINTELPRO was about more than spying, it was a legally sanctioned machinery of violence and assassination.[6] In one of the most notorious cases, the FBI worked with the Chicago Police to set up the conditions for the assassination of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, two members of the Black Panther Party. Noam Chomsky has called COINTELPRO, which went on from the 50s to the 70s, when it was stopped, “the worst systematic and extended violation of basic civil rights by the federal government,” and “compares with Wilson’s Red Scare.”[7] What characterized these programs of foreign and domestic terrorism was that they were all shrouded in secrecy and allegedly were conducted in the name of democratic rights.
Torture also has a longstanding presence domestically, particularly as part of the brutalized practices that have shaped American chattel slavery through to its most recent “peculiar institution,” the rapidly expanding prison-industrial complex.[8] The racial disparities in American prisons and criminal justice system register the profound injustice of racial discrimination as well as a sordid expression of racist violence. As the novelist Ishmael Reed contends, this is a prison system “that is rotten to the core … where torture and rape are regular occurrences and where in some states the conditions are worse than at Gitmo. California prison hospitals are so bad that they have been declared unconstitutional and a form of torture.”[9] One of the more recently publicized cases of prison torture involved the arrest of a former Chicago police commander, Jon Burge. He was charged with routinely torturing as many as 200 inmates, mostly African Americans, during police interrogations in the 1970s and 1980s, “in order to force them to falsely confess to crimes they did not commit.”[10] One report claims that many of these men were beaten with telephone books and that “cattle prods were used to administer electric shocks to victims’ genitals. They were suffocated, beaten and burned, and had guns forced into their mouths. They faced mock executions with shotguns. … One tactic used was known as ‘the Vietnam treatment,’ presumably started by Burge, a Vietnam veteran.”[11] The filmmaker Deborah Davis has documented a number of incidents in the 1990s that amount to the unequivocal torture of prisoners and has argued that many of the sadistic practices she witnessed taking place in the American prison system were simply exported to Abu Ghraib.
After 9/11, the United States slipped into a moral coma as President Bush and Vice President Cheney worked tirelessly to ensure that the United States would not be constrained by international prohibitions against cruel and inhumane treatment, and they furthered that project not only by making torture, as Mark Danner argues, “a marker of political commitment” but also by constructing a vast secret and illegal apparatus of violence in which, under the cover of national security, alleged “terrorists” could be kidnapped, made to disappear into secret CIA “black sites,” become ghost detainees removed from any vestige of legality, or be secretly abducted and sent to other countries to be tortured. As Jane Mayer puts it,
the lawyers also authorized other previously illegal practices, including the secret capture and indefinite detention of suspects without charges. Simply by designating the suspects “enemy combatants,” the President could suspend the ancient writ of habeas corpus that guarantees a person the right to challenge his imprisonment in front of a fair and independent authority. Once in U.S. custody, the President’s lawyers said, these suspects could be held incommunicado, hidden from their families and international monitors such as the Red Cross, and subjected to unending abuse, so long as it didn’t meet the lawyer’s own definition of torture. And they could be held for the duration of the war against terrorism, a struggle in which victory had never been clearly defined. [12]
The maiming and breaking of bodies and the forms of unimaginable pain inflicted by the Bush administration on so-called “enemy combatants” was no longer seen in violation of either international human rights or a constitutional commitment to democratic ideals. The war on terror had now reduced governance in the United States to a legalized apparatus of terror that mimicked the very violence it was meant to combat. In the aftermath of 9/11, under the leadership of Bush and his close neoconservative band of merry criminal advisors, justice took a leave of absence and the “gloves came off.” As Mark Danner states, “the United States transformed itself from a country that, officially at least, condemned torture to a country that practised it.”[13] But it did more. Under the Bush-Cheney reign of power, torture was embraced in unprecedented ways through a no holds-barred approach to the war on terror that suggested the administration’s need to exhibit a kind of ethical and psychic hardening-a hyper-masculine, emotional callousness that expressed itself in a warped militaristic mind-set fueled by a high testosterone quotient. State secrecy and war crimes now became the only tributes now paid to democracy.
As Frank Rich once argued and the Senate Intelligence report confirms, “[T]orture was a premeditated policy approved at our government’s highest levels … psychologists and physicians were enlisted as collaborators in inflicting pain; and … in the assessment of reliable sources like the FBI director Robert Mueller, it did not help disrupt any terrorist attacks.”[14] When the torture memos of 2002 and 2005 were eventually made public by the Obama administration, clearly implicating the Bush-Cheney regime in torture, they revealed that the United States had been turned into a globalized torture state.[15] Conservative columnist, Andrew Sullivan, went so far as to claim that “If you want to know how democracies die, read these memos.”[16] The memos, written by government lawyers John Yoo, Steven Bradbury, and Jay Bybee, allowed the CIA under the Bush administration to torture Al Qaeda detainees held at Guantánamo and other secret detention centers around the world. They also offered detailed instructions on how to implement ten techniques prohibited in the Army Field Manual, including facial slaps, “use of a plastic neck collar to slam suspects into a specially-built wall,”[17] sleep deprivation, cramped confinement in small boxes, use of insects in confined boxes, stress positions, and waterboarding. All of this and more are now documented in the Senate report. In fact, the report claims that current disclosures about the practice of torture used by the CIA were more brutal and less effective than previously reported.
Waterboarding, which has been condemned by democracies all over the world, consists of the individual being “bound securely to an inclined bench, which is approximately four feet by seven feet. The individual’s feet are generally elevated. A cloth is placed over the forehead and eyes. Water is then applied to the cloth in a controlled manner [and] produces the perception of ‘suffocation and incipient panic.’”[18] The highly detailed, amoral nature in which these abuses were first defined and endorsed by lawyers from the Office of Legal Council was not only chilling but also reminiscent of the harsh and ethically deprived instrumentalism used by those technicians of death in criminal states such as Nazi Germany. Andy Worthington suggests that there is more than a hint of brutalization and dehumanization in the language used by the OLC’s Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Steven G. Bradbury, who wrote a detailed memo recommending:
“nudity, dietary manipulation and sleep deprivation”—now revealed explicitly as not just keeping a prisoner awake, but hanging him, naked except for a diaper, by a chain attached to shackles around his wrists—[as,] essentially, techniques that produce insignificant and transient discomfort. We are, for example, breezily told that caloric intake “will always be set at or above 1,000 kcal/day,” and are encouraged to compare this enforced starvation with “several commercial weight-loss programs in the United States which involve similar or even greater reductions in calorific intake” … and when it comes to waterboarding, Bradbury clinically confirms that it can be used 12 times a day over five days in a period of a month—a total of 60 times for a technique that is so horrible that one application is supposed to have even the most hardened terrorist literally gagging to tell all.[19]
The New York Times claimed in an editorial “that to read the…four memos on prisoner interrogation written by George W. Bush’s Justice Department is to take a journey into depravity.”[20] The editorial was particularly incensed over a passage written by Jay Bybee, who was an Assistant Attorney General in the Bush administration at the time. As the Times then pointed out, Bybee “wrote admiringly about a contraption for waterboarding that would lurch a prisoner upright if he stopped breathing while water was poured over his face. He praised the Central Intelligence Agency for having doctors ready to perform an emergency tracheotomy if necessary.”[21] Bybee’s memo is particularly disturbing, even repugnant, in its disregard for human rights, human dignity, and democratic values, not only describing how the mechanics of waterboarding should be implemented but also providing detailed analysis for introducing insects into confined boxes that held suspected terrorist prisoners. In light of mounting criticism, Bybee both defended his support of such severe interrogation tactics and further argued that “the memorandums represented ‘a good faith analysis of the law’ that properly defined the thin line between harsh treatment and torture.”[22] Indeed, it seems that Bybee should have looked carefully at the following judgment pronounced by the American court in Nuremberg to the lawyers and jurists who rewrote the law for the Nazi regime: “You destroyed law and justice in Germany utilizing the empty forms of the legal process.”[23] As brutal as the revelations revealed in the memos proved to be, the Senate report on torture goes even further documenting the millions of dollars spent on black sites, the amateurish qualifications of people to even conduct interrogations, the complicity of unqualified psychologists who milked the government for $81 million to develop torture techniques, and the endless lies produced by both the CIA and the Bush-Cheney administration regarding everything from the use of secret prisons established all over the world to the false claims that the use of torture was responsible for providing information that led to the finding and killing of Osama Bin Laden by members of the NAVY SEALs.[24] The report also stated that far more people were waterboarded than was first disclosed and that the sessions amounted to extreme acts of cruelty. Some members of the CIA choked up over the cruel nature of the interrogations and send memos to Langley calling their legality into question, but were told by higher officials to continue with the practice. In fact, the interrogations were considered so inhumane and cruel by some CIA officers that they threatened to transfer to other departments if the brutal interrogations continued.
The United States was condemned all over the world for its support of torture and that condemnation, hopefully, will take place once again in light of the report. Fortunately, President Obama when he came to office outlawed the most egregious acts practiced by the professional torturers of the Bush-Cheney regime. Yet undercurrents of authoritarianism die hard in the circles of unaccountable power. The Senate report makes clear that the CIA engaged in lies, distortions, and horrendous violations of human rights, including waterboarding and other sordid practices. The report also reveals that the CIA used monstrous methods such as forced rectal feeding, dragging hooded detainees “up and down a long corridor while being slapped and punched” and threatening to kill or rape family members of the prisoners.
In spite of the appalling evidence presented by the report, members s of the old Bush crowd, including former Vice-President Cheney, former CIA directors, George J. Tenet and Michael V. Hayden, and an endless number of prominent Republican Party politicians are still defending their use of torture or, as they euphemistically contend, “enhanced interrogation techniques.” The psychopathic undercurrent and the authoritarian impulse of such reactions finds its most instructive expression in former Bush communications chief Nicolle Wallace who while appearing on the “Morning Joe” show screeched in response to the revelations of the Senate Intelligence report “I don’t care what we did.” As Elias Isquith, a writer for Salon, contends, as “grotesque as that was, though, the really scary part was [the implication that] waterboarding, sleep deprivation, stress positions and sexual assault is part of what makes ‘America ‘great.’”[25] Wallace’s comments are more than morally repugnant. Wallace embodies the stance of so many other war criminals who were either indifferent to the massive suffering and deaths they caused or actually took pride in their actions. They are the bureaucrats whose thoughtlessness and moral depravity Hannah Arendt identified as the rear guard of totalitarianism.
Illegal legalities, moral depravity, and mad violence are now wrapped in the vocabulary of Orwellian doublethink. For instance, the rhetorical gymnastics used by the torture squad are designed to make the American public believe that if you refer to torture by some seemingly innocuous name then the pain and suffering it causes will suddenly disappear. The latter represents not just the discourse of magical thinking but a refusal to recognize that “If cruelty is the worst thing that humans do to each other, torture [is] the most extreme expression of human cruelty.”[26] These apostles of torture are politicians who thrive in some sick zone of political and social abandonment, and who unapologetically further acts of barbarism, fear, willful lies, and moral depravity. They are the new totalitarians who hate democracy, embrace a punishing state, and believe that politics is mostly an extension of war. They are the thoughtless gangsters reminiscent of the monsters who made fascism possible at another time in history. For them, torture is an instrument of fear; one sordid strategy and element in a war on terror that attempts to expand governmental power and put into play a vast (il)legal and repressive apparatus that expands the field of violence and the technologies, knowledge, and institutions central to fighting the all-encompassing war on terror. Americans now live under a government in which the doctrine of permanent warfare is legitimated through a state of emergency deeply rooted in a mass psychology of violence and culture of cruelty that are essential to transforming a government of laws into a regime of lawlessness.
Once the authoritarian side of political governance takes hold, it is hard to eradicate. Power is addictive, especially when it is reckless and offers personal rewards from those who have capital, benefit from human misery, and are more than willing to reward politicians who follow the corporate script. Witness the support by a number of Republicans who still support the practice of torture and deny the legitimacy of the Senate report. Ignoring that torture is an element of power that is built on what can be rightly termed a willed amorality, they attack the Senate report not for its content but because they believe its release will anger the alleged enemies of the United States, as if that hasn’t already been done through a range of savage military practices or diplomatic acts. Or they argue that the Senate report is simply an attempt to embarrass the Bush-Cheney administration.
Civility has not been the strong point of a party that is overtly racist, hates immigrants, shuts down the government, and caters to every whim of the financial elite. Moreover, we don’t alienate our enemies, we create them by threatening to bomb them, encircle them with nuclear weapons, demonizing Muslims, torturing them, and killing them through indiscriminate drone strikes that mostly kill civilians. Principles are not being defended in these arguments only the kind of raw, naked power that has come to mark authoritarian regimes. It gets worse. The defenders of the globalized torture state are not simply confused or morally damaged; they are wedded to a finance state and the corporate machinery of social, cultural, and political violence that will provide them with lucrative jobs once they finish the bidding of defense contractors and other elements of the finance and warfare state.
To his credit, Arizona Senator John McCain, himself a victim of torture during the Vietnam War, broke with the moral dinosaurs in his party and in defending the release of the Senate report, insisted that the CIA’s use of torture during the Bush-Cheney years “stained our national honor, did much harm, and little practical good.” Most of his colleagues disagree and are now arguing that in spite of the evidence, torture produced actionable intelligence and helped to save lives, a claim the Senate report strongly negates. Once again, empirical utility trumps the levers of justice and the principles of human rights as moral considerations give way to a kind of ghastly death-embracing dance with a debased instrumental rationality.
Not only has the United States lost its moral compass, it has degenerated into a state of political darkness reminiscent of older dictatorships that maimed human bodies and inflicted unspeakable acts of violence on the innocent, while embracing a mad war-like utility and pragmatism in order to remove themselves from any sense of justice, compassion, and reason. This is the formative culture not simply of a society that is ethically lost, but one that produces a society that willingly becomes complicitous with the savage ethos and beliefs of an updated totalitarianism. The Senate report has brought one of the darkest sides of humanity to light and it has sparked a predictable outrage and public condemnation. Thus far, little has been said about either the conditions that made this journey into the dark side possible, or what moral, political, and educational absences had to occur in the collective psyche of both the American public and government that not only sanctioned torture but allowed it to happen? What made it so easy for the barbarians not only to implement acts of torture but to openly defend such practices as a sanctioned government policy?
With the release of the report, the supine American press finally has to acknowledge that the U.S. had joined with other totalitarian countries of the past in committing atrocities completely alien to any functioning democracy. America is no longer even a weak democracy. The lie is now more visible than ever. Nonetheless, the usual crowd of politicians, pundits, and mainstream media not only have little to say about the history of torture committed by the United States at home and abroad, but also about their own silence, if not complicity, in this dark side of American history. The possibility of a politically and morally charged critique has turned into a cowardly and evasive debate around questions such as: Does torture produce terrorist acts from taking place? Is waterboarding really an act of torture? Is torture justified in the face of extremist attacks on the United States? Is the CIA being scapegoated for actions promoted by the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld crowd? And so it goes. These are the wrong questions and reveal the toxic complicity the mainstream press has had all along with such anti-democratic practices. War crimes should not be debated; they should be condemned without qualification.
In an incredible act of bad faith, those responsible for state sanctioned acts of torture are now interviewed by the mainstream media and presented, if not portrayed, as reasonable men with honorable intentions. Rather than being condemned as agents of a totalitarian state and as war criminals who should be prosecuted, those who both gave the orders to torture and those who carried out such inhuman practices are treated as one side of a debate team, anxious to get the real story out in order to provide the other side of the narrative. There is more than a hint of moral depravity here; there is also what I have called elsewhere the violence of organized forgetting. Torture is not about the cowardly appeal to balance. The only reasonable approach any democracy can take towards torture is to condemn it.
For a society to treat torture as a reasonable practice worthy |
would have haven taken place, primarily focused on the nuclear issue or the developments on the Middle East. Therefore the supreme leader, I can tell you, has given permission for my government to freely negotiate on these issues."
Rouhani stands in stark contrast to his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who used his speeches at the U.N. to spew rhetoric; he was famous for his questioning of the Holocaust.
"I have said before that I am not a historian, and that when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the Holocaust it is the historians that should reflect on it," Rouhani told Amanpour. "But in general I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis committed towards the Jews, as well as non-Jewish people, was reprehensible and condemnable as far as we are concerned."Conservative MPs have seized an opportunity to push back on the robocalls controversy after a Liberal MP admitted his campaign made an automated call of its own that didn't identify who paid for it.
Frank Valeriote, who was re-elected in Guelph, Ont., May 2, 2011, confirmed that one of his campaign volunteers made a robocall before the election that told people to vote Liberal because the Conservative candidate was anti-abortion. Valeriote said he approved the call and admitted the volunteer who placed the call gave a fake name.
Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro said in question period Monday that the calls were dishonest.
"We now know that the member for Guelph, Mr. Speaker, in fact paid for illegal robocalls that concealed the fact that the calls came from his Liberal campaign. They used a bogus number, Mr. Speaker, a fictitious character, they broke the CRTC regulations, they broke Elections Canada laws," said Del Mastro, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, responding to a question by interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel, demanded Valeriote apologize.
Campaign advertising
According to the Elections Act, campaigns must identify who paid for advertising. The law doesn't specifically mention robocalls, but a spokesman for Elections Canada, asked whether the Valeriote campaign call was legal, pointed to the rules for campaign advertising.
The Liberals say Elections Canada has interpreted robocalls differently in the past. In a news release, the party said the agency last spring said on its website that live or automated messages sent to specific phone numbers and email addresses don't count as advertising.
Valeriote says the call doesn't qualify as advertising because it was clarifying his pro-choice position.
"This was a legal, issue-based called directed to a certain group of people who have been misinformed throughout Guelph about my position on abortion over a number of days, leading up to the call on Saturday," he said after question period.
He also said the call isn't advertising because it tells people to vote strategically, not to vote Liberal.
"Not at all, it was issue based, setting out where [Conservative candidate Marty Burke] stood on the issue and yes, common with the theme I carried throughout the campaign, vote strategically. I was encouraging people to vote, but that’s not advertising. It’s an issue," Valeriote said.
A recording of the call, made available by a Conservative supporter last Friday, features a woman saying Burke "believes that under absolutely no circumstance should a woman have the right to choose."
"The race in Guelph is very close. Vote strategically on Monday to protect our hard-earned rights from the Conservatives and Marty's extreme views," the voice said.
Guelph was also the target of illegal calls on May 2 claiming to be from Elections Canada. The calls redirected voters to the wrong polling station. An Elections Canada investigator has traced the calls to the campaign of Conservative candidate Marty Burke, according to documents filed in court.
Opposition demands inquiry, royal commission
Elections Canada also announced Monday that the majority of the 31,000 contacts they received from the public over election calls came from automated forms like those on the website of LeadNow, which is calling for a public inquiry.
The agency doesn't yet have hard numbers on how many of the contacts were complaints of illegal calls. A spokesman for Elections Canada said the contacts were variously from voters submitting complaints, messages expressing concern and questions about the issue, while others were following up previous complaints.
Meanwhile, the NDP kept up demands for a public inquiry and interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae called for a royal commission to look into allegations of voter suppression.
NDP MP David Christopherson said the number of specific complaints doesn't diminish the issue's importance.
"Is it any less shocking if the headline was 15,000 people may have had a phoney call?" he said. "Would that make it any less serious if it was only 15,000? I don’t think so. This is fraud. This is our electoral system."
Defending the calls made by Valeriote's campaign, Rae said a royal commission could look at how technology like robocalls, or automated dialing, are used in election campaigns.
"There is nothing inappropriate in giving a vigorous response or in having a robocall that gives a vigorous response with respect to a specific issue like abortion or like capital punishment," Rae said.
Draws distinction
He also drew a distinction between the Liberal call that didn't identify the caller or who paid for it, and the voter suppression calls.
"Let’s not try to establish some kind of moral equivalence between these two things because there is none. And let’s be clear about that," Rae said.
MPs voted 283-0 Monday night to approve a non-binding motion to support giving Elections Canada more power to investigate campaign spending. The motion calls on the government to bring in legislation in the next six months to let the election agency demand receipts from political parties for election spending. Right now, candidates have to provide receipts but parties don't.
The motion also calls for telecommunications centres that do voter identification to register with Elections Canada.
Now it's up to the government to follow up with legislation to implement the motion's objectives.Research and purchase requirements reduced for rank 3-5 ground vehicles
As we promised previously, we are reducing the RP requirements as well as the prices in SL for vehicles, modifications, repairs and ammo in ground vehicles of ranks 3-5!
As we introduced rank 6 armoured vehicles, we had to rework research progress for the earlier ranks. Initially War Thunder was originally planned to have only 5 ranks, so research progress and game economy was designed in such a way that players would not reach top tier machines too quickly, so that they would understand all the mechanics of battle and unlock rank 5 as an experienced commander. But additionally, the progress shouldn’t take too long either - otherwise the game would be boring.
After the introduction of rank 6 we had to rework the existing system. Firstly we made progress from rank 5 to 6 smoother in terms of RP and SL requirements than from rank 4 to 5. As for the earlier ranks - it took a lot of work to make the whole progress balanced and we are now happy to announce that the changes will be implemented in one of the nearest updates.
These changes actually mean that:
RP requirements for vehicle and modification research will be reduced
SL requirements for vehicle and modification purchase will be reduced
Repair costs will be reduced
Ammunition cost will be reduced
Crew training will be reduced
Expert and ace crew qualification will be reduced
Besides this we are bringing back the requirement to own the Sturer Emil in order to purchase the Jpz 4-5 and also the requirement to own the Jpz 4-5 to purchase RakJPz 2. These requirements were temporarily removed when the Jpz 4-5 was moved to the lightly armoured TDs branch.
The list of rank changes from 5 to 6 are available here
Research points requirements and prices changes
Preliminary research and purchase changes for ground vehicles rank 3-5
When the economy update is released the mentioned changes will affect the majority of rank 3-5 ground vehicles in all nations.
All of the above mentioned changes will come into effect in one of the following updates but the exact date may still change, follow the news!
The list of BR changes for aircraft are available here
Have fun and see you on the battlefield!SHARE THIS STORY:
If Mr. Parsley really believed he had the apostolic gift of healing, why wouldn’t he go on his own television show and, before a global audience, receive the miraculous healing power from God he claims to have?
“Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.” John 4:48 (KJV)
Faith healer and prosperity preacher Rod Parsley has for many years made his living by dramatically laying hands on people, “slaying them” in the spirit and pronouncing them to be “healed” as they fall backwards in comical obedience to his commands. Now, faith healer Parsley has been diagnosed with throat cancer, and he’s doing a strange thing. Instead of having someone in his church with the “anointing” to lay hands on him, or go to another high-profile “healer” like Benny Hinn or Peter Popoff, Rod Parsley is taking radiation treatments at his local hospital.
Look at this ridiculous video from one of his “healing services”, where people fall down like Keystone Cops. What’s not funny about this video is how false teachers with false doctrine deceive people, promise things they can in no way deliver, and end up ruining people’s lives. Why isn’t Rod up there “getting healed”? Hmm…excellent question.
Parsley says this about his treatment: “Whatever medication I take, I stand against any side effects. I say, “This medication will do exactly what God and my doctors purpose it to do, and will harm me in no way.” The Bible says, Mark 16—and I’ve stood on this, “If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not harm them,” meaning whatever comes in to my body to help bring healing will not harm me, for I’m a child of God.”
Now we here at NTEB certainly do wish a speedy and full recovery for Mr. Parsley in his cancer battle, make no mistake about that. But we also wish to point out the true powerlessness of self-proclaimed faith healers, and the damage their false doctrine does to the body of Christ. We do not live in the days of the apostles, and as such, the apostolic gifts of healing do not exist in our present Church Age. This is what the Bible teaches us. Rod Parsley is one of the highest-profile faith healers on television today, and yet he is completely unable to obtain the “miracle healing” he has purported to be able to freely dispense to others since he began in the ministry in 1977.
If Mr. Parsley really believed he had the apostolic gift of healing, why wouldn’t he go on his own television show and, before a global audience, receive the miraculous healing power from God he claims to have? Why doesn’t he invite TD Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn or any of the others to perform a healing on him while the cameras are rolling? He won’t do that because it would be the end of his ministry, and the end of the ministries of any of his faith healing buddies when they publically failed to heal him.
Rod Parsley — Sow your seed of $54.17 For Victory!
So the next time you are tempted to go to a “healing crusade” and have a millionaire televangelist lay hands on you and heal you, just remember what they do when they get sick. They go to the doctors and the hospitals just like everyone else does. Does God still heal? Absolutely He does. Just not through a phony healing crusade by a powerless faith healer.
Because Rod Parsley is getting medical treatment at a hospital for his cancer, we can conclude the following:
Rod Parsley does NOT have the gift of healing
Rod Parsley’s church members do NOT have the gift of healing
Rod Parsley’s friends in the ministry (Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, etc) do NOT have the gift of healing. If they do, then they are cruel in not healing their friend.
Which leads us to our conclusion:
Since neither Rod Parsley, his congregation, nor his ministry peers have the gift of healing, we must conclude that everything that has taken place in their “healing crusades” has been a lie. Let’s just say, as an example, 6 months from now Benny Hinn has another huge “healing crusade”, right? Well, what a tragic joke that would be for Rod Parsley who was denied a healing. Why are not all the modern-day faith healers stepping up to heal their friend Rod? This is what they have been claiming to have to power to do for decades now. So why can’t they do it for Rod?
Think about that. God gave you a brain for a reason.
Get well, Mr. Parsley, and when you do, go back to your church and start preaching the actual gospel. It’s time to get out of the “healing business”.North Carolina coach Roy Williams is unhappy with ESPN, to put it mildly. In fact, his displeasure with the network that calls itself “the worldwide leader” inspired quite the rant on Friday.
Here’s the background: For a while now ESPN has hyped the best of the best college basketball players and promoted their NBA potential. The network did it when Andrew Wiggins was at Kansas and Jahlil Okafor at Duke, and certainly it’s happening now with LSU’s Ben Simmons.
More recently, though, during college games, the network has been describing various’ players’ “green room” potential – as in the NBA draft green room. The network has even promoted games referencing the green room. In case you were unaware, the green room is where the top prospects gather on draft night to wait to hear their names called.
The mere mention of “green room” in the context of a college game was enough to set Williams over the edge, and it inspired something of a diatribe on Friday. Take it away, Roy:
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“I think ESPN is (an ACC) partner, and I’ve got to watch on TV where somebody’s college basketball game and they’re talking about the freaking green room? That’s the most ridiculous thing. And that’s one of my partners? That’s half the damn broadcast: ‘Well, so-and-so’s in the green room.’
“And this is a great time for me to be saying something about it. Because they ain’t mentioning any of my guys, OK. But God almighty, you’re sitting there, you’re trying to win championships, and here it is, January, and ESPN’s talking about some green room and some Chad Ford or who it is and his (draft projections) – that’s the most ridiculous thing we’re having to put up with in college basketball.
“TV drives everything and again, hey, to all those other guys – get ‘em, take ‘em, go. They’re not talking about any of my guys. But that’s the reason why I feel more comfortable in saying something about it. But I mean, seriously, we’re trying to win conference championships, we’re saying college basketball means something.
“And here ESPN, one of our partners, and the only channel that works on my television – I’m going to guarantee you, guys, I don’t know, y’all can tell me your favorite program. I don’t know one program you’re going to list. If it’s not on ESPN, I don’t watch it. And then I’m thinking – God almighty, I’m watching games last night.
“Green room? Damn, I was looking around, I saw Michigan State wearing some ugly green uniforms the other day and I thought, ‘I thought Tom (Izzo) had a great deal of power.’ He’s got a whole green room now and then I realized they were talking about college players in the pro draft. We haven’t even had the dadgum – ah, that’s enough.
“That’s the most ridiculous freaking thing I’ve ever seen. And put it in capital letters and send it to ESPN. And tell them if they want me to tell them privately what the crap I think of them, I’ll do that. How’d we get on that?”
Steve Kirschner, the team spokesman who was sitting next to Williams, answered that one.
“Somebody asked a question about schedule,” Kirschner said.
That would have been me. And that question inspired another rant from Williams – one that devolved into his long take on the green room.
Imagine, if you will, Williams sitting at home, stretched out in the recliner, casually watching a college basketball broadcast on ESPN, the only channel that works on his TV.
All is well. And then all of a sudden they start talking about the green room.
Williams springs from his relaxed state. He squints his eyes at the TV and shakes his head. Did he just hear what he thought he heard?
The green room? THE GREEN ROOM?
Williams’ “green room” rant on Friday sounded a bit similar to Jim Mora’s famous “Playoffs!?” rant from way back when. Sub out “playoffs” for “green room” and you’ll get the picture. Meanwhile, Williams just might be crafting a note written entirely in capital letters to send to ESPN.Louisville Company is Trying to Send Google Glass into Space
The Louisville-based company ‘Interapt’ is working on sending Google Glass into space on December 16th.
Interapt, a ‘Glass at Work’ certified partner, is currently working with Kentucky Space LLC to get Google Glass into space. They are hoping that they will be able to send Google Glass into space on Tuesday, Dec. 16th when a SpaceX launch vehicle will be travelling from the Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station.
The reason for sending Google Glass into space is because the two companies want to see if it can be a good flight tool. They also want to see how it can help with communication among astronauts.
“We’re interested in using Google Glass … as a tool to develop a more efficient interface between the lab and our experiments and the astronauts,” said Kris Kimel, KSTC president.
A SpaceX vehicle is traveling to the International Space Station on December 16th because of a research mission relating to exomedicine. Sadly, Google Glass will not be used during this mission. The International Space Station is reportedly going to start using Google Glass in June 2015.
This is definitely some pretty exciting news. I really can’t wait to hear more about this. What are your thoughts on this? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section down below!
Source: Louisville Business FirstA Calgary liquor store paid a ransom this week to regain access to its computers after hackers infected its database with a virus — and even got an unofficial receipt thanking it for its involuntary "purchase."
The Kensington Wine Market's database was attacked with ransomware — a type of malware.
"It doesn't take your data, it doesn't steal it, but it locks it so that you can't use it," said owner Andrew Ferguson.
Andrew Ferguson says he didn't report the incident to police because he didn't want to be told not to pay the hackers. (Danielle Nerman/CBC)
"Whoever has done this is going to hold it for ransom to try to get a quick buck out of you to get it back."
The hackers demanded $500 in bitcoin — a form of digital currency.
"Our I.T. guy had to go out for us and purchase bitcoins in order to pay what these guys are demanding," said Ferguson, who speculates they wanted the virtual money as it's more difficult to trace.
Hackers demanded $500 in bitcoin, a form of digital currency, to unlock the computer files of a Calgary business. (Andrew Ferguson)
He says he paid the ransom because his employees could no longer open email, lookup inventory or process sales — a big problem during the busy holiday season.
I know there's this concept that you don't negotiate with "terrorists" in situations like this.... - Owner Andrew Ferguson
"I know there's this concept that you don't negotiate with 'terrorists' in situations like this. But paying $500 [bitcoin] in this instance was a much smaller price than if we'd have the uncertainty of having months of not having all of our data."
The store's database is working again and the hackers even sent his I.T. guy an unofficial receipt.
"Once the payment was made, it basically said, 'Thank you for your purchase.'"
Ferguson says he didn't report the incident to the Calgary police because he didn't want to be told not to pay the hackers.
"To be quite honest, the prospect of trying to start from scratch again would have been incredibly daunting."
Ferguson estimates the incident will cost him $5,000 to $6,000 because he had to pay a software and I.T. company overtime to resolve the issue.NSERC USRA/UTEA Awards
The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) has an Undergraduate Student Research Award Program (USRA) that pays a student to do 16 weeks of research with a professor over the summer. This is a competitive process: the computer science department has approximately 16 awards to give this year. These will be decided on after we have all the applications and have matched students with supervisors; we expect to send the results by the end of February.
The University of Toronto has in the past offered University of Toronto Excellence Awards (UTEA). We do not yet know if the UofT is offering them this year (although we certainly hope so). We will update this section and post an announcement as soon as we hear either way. The duration and remuneration historically has been the same as for USRAs, although the eligibility requirements are different.
You need a supervisor — a research faculty member in computer science. There are two sets of instructions below: one set for students who already have found a supervisor to work with, and another set for students who would like help finding a supervisor.
Duration: 16 consecutive weeks (typically May 1st – August 31st)
Value of the award: Each award is $4500 NSERC (USRA) + a minimum of $1125 provided by the NSERC grant holder (supervisor).
If you are not a University of Toronto student, we encourage you to apply! We welcome USRA applications from strong applicants from other home universities.
NSERC-USRA
The USRA awards are open to second-year or higher full- and part-time students who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents and who have a cumulative average of at least B-. Check the NSERC website for full eligibility requirements.
Application instructions if you and a supervisor have already agreed to work together
Deadline: 1 February 2016
Application instructions if you would like the CS department to try to match you with a supervisor
This process is a competitive one and there is no guarantee that you will receive a match.
Deadline: 1 February 2016
Note for non-UofT students
Non-UofT students wishing to review and apply for projects detailed in the DCSUPP must email Leanne Dawkins. Please use the subject line “Guest UTORID for UGSRP”, and the email must include your legal first and last name, as well as the name of your home institution. Guest access will be created for you, after which you will have 5 days to apply for your selected projects.Get the biggest Newcastle United FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
It’s 18 years - yes 18 - since Bobby Robson strode out at St James’ Park as the new manager of Newcastle United.
In the event, he might well have arrived at Gallowgate two-and-a-half years earlier.
When Kevin Keegan shocked Tyneside by walking out on United in February 1997, over in Barcelona one man agonised over his own future.
After much soul-searching, Robson decided to honour his contract as manager at the Nou Camp, rather than replace Keegan and return to manage his boyhood club.
Two-and-a-half years and two managers later, he would eventually arrive at Gallowgate to sort out one almighty mess.
For those who care to recall September 1999, manager Ruud Gullit had chosen to fall on his sword after United picked up just one point from 18 in a sequence of games which culminated in a shambolic, rain-lashed 2-1 home defeat to Sunderland.
Robson inherited a demoralised team that was rock-bottom of the Premier League.
The rescue mission began almost immediately with a much improved performance and a narrow 1-0 defeat in a baptism of fire at Stamford Bridge.
The next game, and Robson’s ‘home debut’, against Sheffield Wednesday on September 19, 1999, provided a statement of intent for his next five and a half years at the helm.
A resurgent, inspired United swarmed forward from the off, with Aaron Hughes breaking the deadlock after just 11 minutes.
Then Alan Shearer - one of Gullit’s subs for the Sunderland debacle - fired in a 12-minute hat-trick as St James’ Park rediscovered its voice and its confidence.
Four-nil up at half-time, Keiron Dyer made it five within a minute of the re-start, before Gary Speed hit a sixth, and Alan Shearer notched another two in the last ten minutes.
8-0. It was a game when you got sick of cheering and almost lost track of the goals tally.
Historically, it was the Toon’s biggest winning margin since the famous 13-0 demolition of Newport at St James’ in 1946.
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More importantly, it provided a precious foothold for United to move up the league.
In a season where they’d looked relegation certainties, they would finish eleventh and - as we know - even better was to come under Sir Bobby Robson.Image caption Archaeologists described the find as "unique in Europe"
Archaeologists excavating an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Cambridgeshire say the discovery of a woman buried with a cow is a "genuinely bizarre" find.
The grave was uncovered in Oakington by students from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Central Lancashire.
At first it was thought the animal skeleton was a horse.
Student Jake Nuttall said: "Male warriors might be buried with horses, but a woman and a cow is new to us."
He added: "We were excited when we thought we had a horse, but realising it was a cow made it even more bizarre."
Co-director of the excavation, Dr Duncan Sayer, from the University of Central Lancashire, said: "Animal burials are extremely rare, anyway.
Image caption Grave goods including brooches indicated the woman was of high status
"There are only 31 horse burials in Britain and they are all with men.
"This is the first animal to be discovered with a woman from this period - the late 5th Century - and it's really interesting that it's a cow, a symbol of economic and domestic wealth and power.
"It's also incredibly early to find any grave of a woman buried with such obvious wealth."
'Unique' burial
The skeleton was found with grave goods including brooches and hundreds of amber and decorated glass beads.
"She also had a complete chatelaine [keychain] set, which is an iron girdle and a symbol of her high status," Dr Sayer said.
"It indicates she had access to the community's wealth.
"She is almost certainly a regional elite - a matriarchal figure buried with the objects that describe her identity to the people who attended her funeral."
Joint director Dr Faye Simpson, from Manchester Metropolitan, said: "A cow is a big thing to give up.
"It's a source of food and something that would have been very expensive to keep, so to sacrifice it would be a big decision.
"They would have wanted to give her something really important to show respect and they wouldn't have done that for just anybody.
"That's why we don't find cows with burials," she said.
Dr Sayer added: "The cow burial is unique in Europe which makes this an incredibly exciting and important find.
"I don't think I'll find anything as significant as this again in my lifetime."Oakland introduces new ‘reform-minded’ police chief
Oakland’s new police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, promised to create a culture of accountability and earn residents’ respect in her first public address at City Hall Wednesday.
Kirkpatrick is the first woman to head the embattled department, which for years cycled through chief after chief and has been without a leader for seven months. Schaaf deemed her “the reform-minded leader that Oakland has been searching for.”
“Over 34 years in law enforcement, she has tackled many of the issues facing Oakland today,” Schaaf said, introducing the bespectacled, beaming Kirkpatrick to a throng of reporters.
Kirkpatrick began her career in 1982 as a police officer in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, and went on to work in several cities in Washington. Between 1996 and 2012 she served as the police chief of Ellensburg, Federal Way, and Spokane.
Anne Kirkpatrick (at podium) during a news conference at Oakland City Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017 in Oakland, Calif. Kirkpatrick was introduced as Oakland's new police chief. Anne Kirkpatrick (at podium) during a news conference at Oakland City Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017 in Oakland, Calif. Kirkpatrick was introduced as Oakland's new police chief. Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Oakland introduces new ‘reform-minded’ police chief 1 / 8 Back to Gallery
She brimmed with exuberance addressing the crowd, and at one point paused and said: “Although I don’t hear the accent, I know y’all do,” to laughter.
Most recently she led the Bureau of Professional Standards in Chicago’s Police department, instituting a series of reforms in the wake of national protests over the death of Laquan McDonald, who was shot 16 times by a police officer in 2014.
Asked whether she will change the dysfunctional culture of Oakland’s police force — which Schaaf famously compared to a “frat house” during a news conference in June — Kirkpatrick parried.
“I don’t consider it a mess,” she said. “It’s an opportunity.”
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswanAnime creator Shoji Kawamori ( Macross, Escaflowne, Aquarion ) unveiled his latest title Jūshinki Pandora (Heavy Divine Unit Pandora) in a "New Project Briefing" event on Tuesday. The television anime series will premiere next spring.
The tagline in the character visual above reads, "To live, we formed a pact."
On the day the Xianglong (Shanron or Soaring Dragon) Crisis occurred in 2031, Leon Lau was right in the middle of the unfolding events. The Quantum Reactor, a next generation energy device developed to replace dwindling environmental resources, exploded and unleashed an unknown energy. As a result, the global environment changed overnight. Living things (besides humans) and machines each underwent their own unique evolution, and the B.R.A.I. (Biological Revolutionary of Accelerated Intelligence) entities in particular evolved and came into being. Because of them, humanity was driven to the brink of extinction. Humans fight the B.R.A.I with M.O.E.V. (Multi-purpose Organic Evolution Vehicle) variable units.
Seven years after the Xianglong Crisis, Leon is in the wilderness on the edge of the "absolute defense city" Neo Xianglong. Living with Chloe Lau under a "family pact," he conducts his own research to counter the B.R.A.I. The awkward Leon and the busybody Chloe. They live day-by-day as if to forget the past for the moment. However, threats unrelentingly draw near.
The cast stars:
Tomoaki Maeno as Leon Lau, a brilliant but banished scientist. He was a central figure in the Xianglong Crisis. He lives with Chloe in the wilderness outside Neo Xianglong after the incident.
Nao Tōyama as Chloe Lau, the "little sister" who supports Leon. She lives with Leon after his banishment from Neo Xianglong. Although they are not related by blood, she thinks of him like a big brother.
Hidekazu Sato ( Basquash!, Nobunaga The Fool, Aquarion Logos ) is directing the anime at the studio Satelight. Toshizo Nemoto ( Log Horizon, Macross Delta ) is in charge of the scripts, and Risa Ebata ( Macross Frontier, AKB0048 ) is drafting the original character designs. Kawamori himself is credited for the original work (with Satelight ), for the Jūshinki mechanical designs, and as chief director. Kawamori emphasized that this project will not feature songs, unlike his previous works like Macross and AKB0048.SYDNEY — Australian counterterrorism police arrested a man on Tuesday who officials say was planning to advise the Islamic State group on how to develop missiles.
Australian Federal Police arrested the 42-year-old electrician during a raid at his home in the rural New South Wales town of Young following an 18-month investigation, Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin told reporters in the nation’s capital, Canberra.
Haisem Zahab, an Australian-born citizen, is accused of researching and designing a laser warning device that could alert the Islamic State group to incoming guided weapons used by coalition forces in Syria and Iraq, Colvin said. He is also accused of researching, designing and modeling systems to assist the extremist group’s efforts to develop their own long-range guided missiles, Colvin said.
Zahab was not planning any attack in Australia, and is believed to have been working alone, Colvin said.
“We will be alleging that the material he was intending to provide to ISIL, the research that he was doing, was credible,” Colvin said, using an acronym for the Islamic State.
Zahab is facing several charges, including two that relate to supporting extremist groups overseas. Those charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
He appeared briefly in a local court in Young and did not apply for bail. His next court appearance is March 8.
Since Australia’s terrorist threat level was elevated in September 2014, the government says there have been 12 extremist plots foiled by police.UPDATE: The acquisition is now official, announced in a tweet from Periscope and retweeted by Twitter CEO Dick Costolo.
This morning we told you about Meerkat, the video streaming service that blew up last week. The app is a dead-simple way to broadcast from a mobile device that piggybacked on Twitter's social graph to help users find an audience. It seems like Twitter had a similar idea. Business Insider is reporting that last month, Twitter acquired Periscope, a yet-to-launch streaming video service with a nearly identical use case.
The idea that in the internet age anyone and everyone can be a star has been around since the 1990s. The dot-com millionaire Josh Harris founded Pseudo.com, which hoped to empower everyone to become a digital VJ. A decade later Justin.TV gave this idea new life. Neither project found mainstream success, although Twitch, which focused on gaming, grew out of Justin.TV and sold to Amazon for roughly a billion dollars.
The hype around Meerkat, the purchase of Periscope, and the sudden surge in growth for services like YouNow, all indicate that we may have reached a tipping point where live streaming video isn't just a fun idea, but a viable business with mainstream potential.
It's not clear how much Twitter paid for Periscope or if the service will remain independent. Twitter acquired Vine pre-launch, but kept the product as a standalone app. The ability to easily record and share video arrived on Twitter just over one month ago. This acquisition highlights how focused the company has become on adding moving images into its offerings.Image caption The Pope expressed hope justice would take its course in Belgium
Pope Benedict has joined mounting Vatican criticism of raids by Belgian police investigating alleged child sex abuse, calling them "deplorable".
In a message to Belgian bishops, the pope expressed solidarity "in this moment of sadness".
Several buildings were searched in raids targeting a retired archbishop and the graves of two prelates.
Belgium's justice minister has responded to the criticism robustly, saying normal procedures were followed.
Stefaan De Clerck defended the police action, in a series of TV interviews on Sunday, and said the investigation was legitimate.
"The bishops were treated completely normally during the raid on the archdiocese and it is false to say that they received no food or drink," he said.
I hope that justice will follow its course while guaranteeing the rights of individuals and institutions, respecting the rights of victims Pope Benedict
Mr De Clerck said the Vatican's reaction had been excessive as it was based on false information.
Prosecutors said the action concerned alleged "abuse of minors committed by a certain number of Church figures".
Police in Leuven, central Belgium, on Thursday seized nearly 500 files and a computer from the offices of a Church commission investigating allegations of sex abuse.
They also searched the Church's headquarters and the Brussels archdiocese in Mechelen, north of the Belgian capital.
Belgium's bishops, who were holding a meeting at the time of the raids, were kept incommunicado for nine hours while the searches were conducted.
'Unprecedented treatment'
Pope Benedict's criticism of the raids came in a message of support to Brussels Archbishop Andre Joseph Leonard, the head of the Belgian bishops' conference.
Image caption An inquiry into church sex abuse in Belgium has been running for years
"I want to express, dear brother in the Episcopate, as well as to all the Bishops of Belgium, my closeness and solidarity in this moment of sadness, in which, with certain surprising and deplorable methods, searches were carried out."
"I hope that justice will follow its course while guaranteeing the rights of individuals and institutions, respecting the rights of victims, (and) acknowledging those who undertake to collaborate with it," Pope Benedict said.
On Saturday Vatican officials compared the raids and investigation into allegations of child sex abuse with the treatment of the Church under communist rule.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, described the detention of priests "serious and unbelievable".
"There are no precedents, not even under the old communist regimes," he said.
The cardinal alleged that the Belgian bishops were left all day without food or drink, although this was later strongly denied by the Belgian justice minister.
The Vatican has summoned the Belgian ambassador to the Holy See to |
stimulation. Conclusions: These results provide evidence for a critical role of the mPFC in counteracting stereotypes activation. Furthermore, our results are consistent with previous findings showing that increasing cognitive control may overcome negative bias toward members of social out-groups.It’s the third of March 1943, the clock has just struck a quarter past eight in the evening and families are settling down for the night, when air-raid sirens are heard across East London. German planes have been spotted heading this way and its time to get to the shelters.
The planes went elsewhere and no bombs were dropped on East London that night – but within 20 minutes, 173 people would be dead and 60 seriously injured in the largest single civilian disaster of the war.
Today is the 70th anniversary of the Bethnal Green Disaster.
The popular story that is often repeated is that as the air raid warning had been sounded and people were filing into the Bethnal Green tube station for protection, a new gun in Victoria Park started firing into the sky, sparking a panic that bombers were close at hand. As people rushed into the tube station to under cover, 173 people were crushed on the steps of the station entrance.
The largest loss of life in a civilian action during the war – and even more tragic as there were no German planes over that part of London at the time. It was a false alarm.
You would also often be told that the story was covered up to prevent a loss of morale, and the true nature of the event wasn’t fully uncovered until much later.
As with most tales told down the pub, there are elements of truth, and myth in the story.
Certainly, there was a disaster, and that an air-raid siren sounded at 8:17pm which caused people to flow to the station.
According to the memorial trust that has more recently been set up, some 7,000 people could be accommodated in the station – which was part of the then-unfinished Central Line extension. As the air-raid siren sounded, both a local cinema closed and three buses all stopped outside the entrance and people started heading downstairs.
Now, here is the confusion – was there a panic caused by an anti-aircraft gun?
Some eye-witnesses say there was. But, none of the news reports at the time — and despite claims of a cover-up, it was reported in the news — say anything about a panic. It is possible that the news, being censored at the time may have been told to avoid reporting that fact, but subsequent court cases also said there wasn’t any panic.
But what is not questioned is that someone, thought to have been a mother with child tripped at the bottom of the stairwell. In the air-raid blackout, people behind tripped over her, and themselves fell, causing more carnage as people behind surged forwards unthinkingly. Unaware of what was happening below, more people pushed their way forward, adding to the mass of bodies being crushed under their own weight.
In total 27 men, 84 women and 62 children were crushed to death and a further 60 needed hospital treatment.
A government report into the disaster was prepared, but as with most government reports of the time, was not published immediately — which is probably what lead to the claims of a government cover up. It was more a case of conventional war-time policy not to publish such things.
But the disaster was not a secret. In fact, it was reported in the newspapers – such as the Illustrated London News the following Saturday.
So, we know that someone tripped and that triggered the crush, but was this a tragic accident, or can a finger of blame be pointed anywhere.
Quite fascinatingly, there was a court-case shortly afterwards by one of the survivors which was covered by The Times of July 18th, 1944, and that reveals quite a bit about some underlying problems with the entrance.
First, lets see two photos from the ILN just after the disaster – and you are looking at the entrance, which is a staircase covered over with a thin wall. Then inside is the wide staircase.
Note the lack of handrail in the middle, just a white line. This is important.
The stair case was made of unfinished concrete steps, and it appears that the upright wooden slats used to form the stairs were still in-situ. Two years after the concrete had well and truly set. In that time, the wooden slats had rotted a bit in the weather, were warping and in places pealing away from the steps.
Anyone looking at the condition of the stairs would have seen they were in an appalling state.
So, an uneven, wet staircase with bits of loose wood on them – in an air raid and with very dim blackout lights.
Now we come to the missing handrail. That is a wide staircase, and the people in the middle would have had nothing to hold on to when going down these dark uneven steps. There are very good reasons why staircases have handrails – and even then it was widely understood that they were a safety requirement.
During the subsequent court case (Baker v Bethnal Green Corp) the following year, it was claimed that the warden and assistant had been told about the problems with the stairs, but they denied this. The Judge, in politer language basically called them liars.
The case was found against the local council, and a subsequent appeal was also thrown out – especially as the council then tried to have the matter reviewed in camera, which the Judge rejected outright saying that an open justice system was essential.
Another aspect of how widely known this disaster was, at least at the time was that there was a public relief fund set up, and by February 1945, it had raised £7,415 – including £1,000 that came all the way from Canada following reports of the disaster in the Toronto Evening Telegram.
According to Hansard (17th May 1949), it was noted by the Public Accounts Committee that 265 claims for compensation were filed with the government, of which 151 were by relatives of the dead, and the remainder regarding injuries. At that point in time, all but four of the death claims were settled – to total of £42,000.
That all this was reported in newspapers, and quite openly does make me wonder how the myth that the whole thing was covered up as a war-time secret came from. There were even letters to the editor in The Times about it during the war.
In fact, sourcing the origins of the secrecy myth would be itself a fascinating bit of research (for someone else to do!).
But back to today – the 70th anniversary.
The staircase is still there, with a handrail running down the centre. A memorial service will be held in the church that sits directly opposite the fateful staircase this afternoon at 2pm, but the most significant addition to the area is a formal recognition of the disaster in the form of a huge — if still unfinished — memorial.
There is a small plaque on the staircase marking the disaster — sadly ironically positioned next to a flashing warning sign for people not to crowd down the stairs.
But this frankly overlooked slab of bronze has never satisfied people, and so funds were raised for something more fitting to the scale of the deaths caused.
The memorial is part complete, but they are still fund raising for the most dramatic part to be added – the “stairway to heaven”, an upside down set of stairs in bronze that will be cast from the stairs where so many died.
Hopefully, in the near future, these needless deaths will get their lasting recognition.
You can Donate Here.The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen has announced an end to its operation, a statement read out on Saudi-owned Arabiya TV said, adding that the campaign "successfully managed to thwart the threat on the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia".
According to the statement, the allied army has achieved its military goals in Yemen, and will now begin a new operation called “Restoring Hope.”
Focus will now be shifted towards security, counter-terrorism, aid and a political solution in Yemen, according to the Saudi-owned TV channel. But the Saudi-led coalition will “continue to prevent Houthi militias from moving inside Yemen," a Saudi military spokesman said.
See more: In pictures: Battle-torn Yemen
A statement issued by the Saudi defence ministry reads:
“Since the beginning of the ‘Determination Storm’ operation, in which the Saudi Armed Forces distinguished themselves in battle efficiently and capably, resulting in imposing air control to prevent any hostility against (the Kingdom) and countries of the region, the Ministry of Defense announces that the airstrikes, with participation of the Saudi brave hawks with brothers in the coalition countries, have successfully managed to thwart the threat on the security of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries through destruction of the heavy weapons and ballistic missiles seized by the Houthi militias and troops loyal to (Ali Abdullah Saleh), including bases and camps of the Yemeni army.”
Earlier today, the Iranian deputy foreign minister had hinted at a ceasefire, signaling that diplomatic efforts may have been underway to stop almost a month of Saudi-led bombing of Yemen's Houthi group.
"We are optimistic that in the coming hours, after many efforts, we will see a halt to military attacks in Yemen," Hossein Amir Abdollahian was quoted as saying by Iranian news agencies.
Read: Iran sees Yemen ceasefire in coming hours.
Almost a month ago, Saudi Arabia and four other Gulf states, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had announced their decision to “answer the call of President Hadi to protect Yemen and his people from the aggression of the Houthi militia."
The Kingdom and its allies then launched air strikes in Yemen against Houthi fighters, who had tightened their grip in the southern city of Aden, where the country's president had taken refuge.
Following initiation of the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen, Pakistan was formally contacted by top Saudi officials, requesting it to join the Yemen operation.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has since held several meetings with top civil and military officials and has on several occasions said that a "threat to Saudi Arabia's territorial integrity will evoke a strong response from Pakistan." But despite repeated statements in favour of Saudi Arabia's stance, Pakistan did not officially commit its troops to the offensive in Yemen.
To evolve consensus on the matter, a joint parliament session was summoned by the government to debate Pakistan's role in Yemen. After days of discussion, Pakistan's lawmakers opted for neutrality in the conflict.
Know more: Parliament calls for neutrality in Yemen conflict.
Although implying that Islamabad should refrain from assisting Riyadh militarily, the resolution added that Pakistan should stand shoulder to shoulder with Saudi Arabia to protect the latter's territorial integrity.
But the parliament's resolution did not go well with the Gulf Cooperation Council; UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash warned Pakistan of having to pay a “heavy price” for taking on what he called an “ambiguous stand”.
A couple of days after the UAE minister's remarks, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared on national TV along with some of his cabinet members and advisers to clarify Pakistan's stance.
The premier's brief speech, which was described by his office as a “policy statement on Yemen”, was interpreted as a formal clarification from the country’s highest political office after the parliament's resolution provoked a hostile response from a UAE minister, which was seen as reflective of the general mood in the Gulf.
Examine: PM makes damage control move.
A second delegation led by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, including senior civil and military officials, was also sent to Saudi Arabia on April 15, with the objective to express solidarity with the leadership and people of Saudi Arabia.
Shahbaz Sharif reiterated the Pakistani government’s unequivocal support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia, while reaffirming that the people of Pakistan stand ever-ready to protect Harmain Sharifain.
The premier's policy statement and a second delegation's visit to Saudi Arabia seemed to have eased tensions between Pakistan and the Gulf countries; but despite official statements of support for Saudi Arabia, Pakistan is yet to commit its troops in the war-torn region.Visiting ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Sunday lauded Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his Trump-like effort to infuse Japan with a spirit of nationalism while unleashing a volley of scathing criticism against what he called the “mainstream media,” likening them to “running dogs” with a globalist agenda.
Bannon, who was in Tokyo over the weekend to attend a gathering of conservatives, said Japan was on the right track under Abe, whom he called a “Trump before Trump.”
“He talked about a nation’s pride, a nation’s destiny, a nation taking control of its future,” Bannon said when talking about Abe in his speech at the Japanese Conservative Political Action Conference 2017, co-hosted by the Japanese Conservative Union and the American Conservative Union.
As such, Bannon, who is now head of the right-wing news website Breitbart News, credited Abe for trying to “re-instill the spirit of nationalism” and for not shying away from discussing “vital” issues including Japan’s “rearmament.”
“Japan has every opportunity to seize its destiny, to re-establish its national identity (and) in true partnership with the United States, reverse what the elites have allowed to happen,” he said. He added it is not a “full-blown conclusion” yet that Japan has to keep languishing under the shadow of a rising China.
Bannon’s attack on those who he referred to as “elites” and a “nullification project” that he claims is being led by the mainstream media, both overseas and in Japan, was another recurring theme in the blistering speech he delivered Sunday.
“The mainstream media, liberal media, remember, they are the running dogs of the globalist. They are a propaganda machine,” Bannon said, quoting a source in Japan as telling him that the Japanese news coverage of U.S. politics makes it sound as if Trump will be impeached “tomorrow morning.”
“The ‘hobbits,’ ‘deplorables,’ and the forgotten men and women that put him in office in November 2016 will never allow” him to be ousted, Bannon said, as core Trump supporters are often called by their political opponents.
“They will only be there for him to make sure he wins a glorious re-election,” he said, eliciting a burst of applause.
Noting conservatives are hungry for the truth, Bannon also expressed a willingness for Breitbart News to make forays into Asia, signaling the possibility offices headquartered in Tokyo or Seoul might be created.
“As long as we provide a platform to get alternatives to what the mainstream is saying, we’re gonna be fine,” he said.
On trade, Bannon backed Trump’s controversial decision to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, even though withdrawing from the multinational deal amounted to the U.S. essentially spoiling what would have been a perfect “China-containing project,” as freelance journalist Taro Kimura put it during his joint appearance with Bannon.
In response, Bannon called the TPP an “ill-defined, generalized” agreement that the U.S. cannot get into anymore, and clarified Trump’s “America First” slogan as meaning an “America in partnership.”
“If the Japanese intelligentsia is sitting around and waiting for us to re-hit the bid on TPP, it’s not going to happen.”
Referring to joint military exercise between the U.S. Navy and the Self-Defense Forces, Bannon said “there is not a finer group of people” than the SDF.
“If we come together as friends and partners, (sunlight) opens up ahead of us,” he said, referring to U.S. allies in Asia, including Japan, South Korea, India and Singapore.In the world of show business, you know you’ve made it to the big time when you’re offered the chance to star as yourself in a blockbuster movie or major network TV show. For non actors, cameo roles are not only a chance to experience a little bit of Hollywood, but are often a reward for a hard lifetime of work in their chosen sphere.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is no stranger to the big screen, having played himself in everything from Iron Man 2 to Machete Kills and more recently Transcendence. But as any Gen Xer will tell you, the real measure of your status in the world is when you get offered a cameo role on everyone’s favourite animated TV show The Simpsons.
What’s more, as announced this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, Tesla Motors’ larger-than-life CEO will play a pivotal role in an all-new episode due to air this season called The Musk Who Fell To Earth. Naturally, Musk will be providing his own vocal talents to the episode to complement his immortalisation in yellow.
Now in its twenty-fifth year and about to start Season 26, The Simpsons has made a tradition of involving famous actors, celebrities and even politicians in its madcap antics. While The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and his production team always offer the actual celebrity first refusal to voice themselves in the show, they can’t — or don’t — always provide their vocal talents to the show. On this occasion however, Al Jean, executive producer and showrunner of The Simpsons confirmed that Musk will be playing himself.
According to information gleaned from ComicCon, Elon Musk is due to arrive in Springfield some time during Season 26, and will lock horns with everyone’s favourite evil Nuclear Power Plant owner Charles Montgomery Plantagenet Schicklgruber Burns (Mr. Burns for short), something which will not only make a mark on the centenarian billionaire’s ego but also leave him completely stripped of his fortune.
The other details of the episode are a closely-guarded secret, but with the real-world Musk known for his preference of solar power over nuclear fission, we’re suspecting energy and electric cars play a part too.
After all, what else would Elon Musk use to arrive in Springfield other than his very own Tesla Model S?
While we’ll have to wait until the episode airs to find out, the prospect of a Tesla Model S appearing alongside Musk in The Simpsons did cause us to stop and ponder the many times electric cars have been seen in the long-running family show. We know, for example, that well-known actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr. made one of two cameos in The Simpsons driving an electric car powered by his own “sense of self-satisfaction.”
In season 11, Homer drives the Elec-Taurus — a GM EV-1 look-alike — just to get a free prize. While his family seem impressed by the car, Homer destroys it by driving it underwater.
Then, in season 14, Homer and Bart take a ride in an ‘electric car’ fairground-style ride sponsored by oil companies in which their anti-electric car attitudes are mocked.
But will Season 26 be the season in which we see a Tesla Model S? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and let us know if we’ve missed any other electric car appearances in The Simpsons‘ twenty-five year existence.
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You can also support us directly as a monthly supporting member by visiting Patreon.com.Two years into his 10-year probation sentence, Ethan Couch has disappeared. He famously avoided jail time for a fatal drunk driving incident, but video surfaced that appeared to show Couch drinking alcohol - which would violate the terms of his probation. (Reuters)
Two years ago, Ethan Couch seemed like the luckiest teen in the world.
On June 15, 2013, the then-16-year-old drunkenly climbed behind the wheel of his pickup truck and went for a nighttime drive near Fort Worth. Crammed inside his pickup were five friends; two more sat in the back. With his blood-alcohol level three times the adult driving limit and with traces of Valium and marijuana in his system, Couch couldn’t stay on the road. Going more than 70 mph, he swerved into a broken-down car.
The crash killed four people working on the disabled car. Two of Couch’s friends were critically injured. One was paralyzed. The collision could be heard from a half-mile away. Afterward, pieces of people and automobiles were scattered over an area the size of a football field.
The carnage “looked more like a plane crash than a car wreck,” a Tarrant County Sheriff’s deputy later recalled.
When it came time for Couch’s day in court, though, a psychologist argued that the fatal crash largely could be chalked up to the teenager’s condition: “affluenza.”
Couch was the product of “profoundly dysfunctional” millionaire parents who encouraged his bad behavior, according to G. Dick Miller, the psychologist.
“Instead of the golden rule, which was ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ [Couch] was taught we have the gold, we make the rules at the Couch household,” Miller testified in court, according to ABC News.
Couch pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault while intoxicated. Prosecutors pushed for a sentence as stiff as 20 years in prison.
Thanks largely to Miller’s diagnosis, though, Couch escaped prison altogether. Instead, a judge sentenced him to rehab and 10 years of drug-and-alcohol-free probation.
[Texas boy avoids jail in deaths of four after psychologist testifies wealth spoiled him]
The light sentence shocked America, particularly relatives of the four people killed because Couch’s drunk driving.
“You lived a life of privilege and entitlement, and my prayer is that it does not get you out of this,” said Shaunna Jennings, whose husband died in the accident. “My fear is that it will get you out of this.”
Earlier this month, that fear seemed to be confirmed when a video surfaced appearing to show Couch breaking his probation.
In a six-second clip posted to Twitter on Dec. 2, a blond teen strongly resembling the now-18-year-old Couch can be seen clapping and laughing during a raucous game of beer pong.
ya boy ethan couch violating probation. i got more if u want @CityofBurleson @TarrantCountyDA pic.twitter.com/otiGprQ1uD — h (@BlondeSpectre) December 2, 2015
“Ya boy ethan couch violating probation,” wrote @BlondeSpectre, tagging both the city of Burleson, Tex., and the Tarrant County district attorney’s office. “I got more if u want.”
Authorities launched an investigation into the infamous teen’s behavior.
A Tarrant County sheriff’s spokesman told the Dallas Morning News that a judge would decide whether Couch violated his probation.
“He’s allowed due process at every level,” Tarrant County Sheriff’s spokesman Terry Grisham said. Cases “are not prosecuted or revoked or modified based on hearsay or based on a grainy video that we can’t identify someone in.”
On Tuesday, though, Couch’s charmed life began to crumble once again when a judge issued a “directive to apprehend” him for missing a probation hearing, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Police are now searching for the troubled teen and his mom, with orders to detain the teen.
“We have recently learned for the last several days the juvenile probation officer has been unable to make contact with Ethan or his mother, with whom he’s been residing,” Couch’s attorneys, Regan Wynn and Scott Brown, said in a statement to NBC DFW. “It’s our understanding that the court has issued a directive to apprehend to have Ethan detained because he is out of contact with his probation officer.”
“We can confirm only that we are looking into the whereabouts of Ethan Couch and his mother,” the Tarrant County district attorney’s office told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Tuesday.
It’s unclear what repercussions Couch could face if he is caught. Adult probation violators are often sent to prison, although they sometimes simply receive a warning.
Couch, though, is in the juvenile system. Last month, prosecutors filed a motion to transfer Couch to adult probation on his 19th birthday in April, according to the Star-Telegram.The Primary Pariahs
For decades the two major parties have shut out outsiders and nontraditional candidates from running for president, especially those clamoring for campaign finance or other systemic reforms. Looking at past and present primary elections, a pattern of exclusionary party tactics and unfair media coverage reveals the powerful legitimizing force the parties and the press play in deciding who gets to participate in the primary — and who doesn’t.
Mike Soha Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 2, 2016
“I respectfully demand inclusion in this debate!” shouted Larry Agran from the back of the auditorium, his voice barely audible to viewers watching live on television. It was 1992, and Agran, a relatively unknown candidate and former mayor of Irvine, California, was running for president as the “longest of long shots” in the Democratic primary. Agran lacked the typical credentials of most serious candidates for president, however, as a well known urban specialist and vocal critic US military spending, he was not a typical local politician. As executive director of the Center for Innovative Diplomacy, he played a unique role as a “global mayor” pursuing issues of international trade, arms reductions, and human rights, earning recognition by the United Nations. With the Cold War over, Agran called for a major reduction in military spending, suggesting the money be reinvested into America’s cities — a policy that earned him support from the US Council of Mayors. Yet, as media critic Joshua Meyrowitz explained in his analysis of Agran’s candidacy, from the beginning, Agran’s candidacy was ignored by the press. When reported on, he was treated as a long-shot candidate, called a “dark horse” and “an obscure contender.” Agran was barred from most televised debates on the basis of, according to Meyrowitz, “criteria that seemed to shift as he tried to meet them.” When asked for their reasoning, media executives told Agran, with catch-22 logic, that he had not earned the right to media exposure because he had not received enough attention in the press.
Facing exclusion, Agran found that the only way to become visible was to be disruptive, protesting loudly along with supporters outside debates. During one debate he successfully forced his way onstage, with sympathetic audience members repeatedly chanting “let him debate!” Despite a media blackout, Agran began to rise in the polls, tying well-known candidates Governor Jerry Brown and Senator Tom Harkin. He later went on to pass Brown. Despite his surprise surge, Agran had already been left out of media coverage and the debates, creating a logic of continued exclusion through precedent. Instead of reporting on Agran’s rise, the press simply left him out of their polling reports — either by skipping over his name from Brown to Harkin or only reporting the top three candidates. The Associated Press even physically cropped Agran out of a post-forum photo in which he was standing next to and talking with candidates Tom Harkin, Paul Tsongas, and Bill Clinton, which was published in The New York Times, sans Agran.
Agran was standing to the right of Bill Clinton, cropped out
The same moment showing Agran, captured from live C-SPAN coverage (image courtesy of Joshua Meyrowitz)
To add insult to injury, Agran was arrested on the eve of the New York primary, protesting his exclusion from a debate on urban problems, his specialty. During the live debate, viewers could hear Agran’s loud protests off-camera, calling for inclusion while host Bill Beutel shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “You’ll hear a bit of disturbance in the background but we’ll go on in any case” he reassured viewers[1]. Agran was quickly escorted out by security and arrested. Shut out of the process, Agran’s shadow candidacy disappeared. The court date for his arrest fell on the first day of the Democratic National Convention. He ended up receiving three delegate votes.
Long forgotten, Agran’s exclusion foreshadowed a pattern of reformist and outsider candidates who have tried to run for president in both party primaries only to be ignored, minimized, and ultimately pushed out; candidates like Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, Buddy Roemer, and most recently Lawrence Lessig. Both major parties, along with the press, have an interest policing the boundary of acceptable and unacceptable candidates. Understandably, the parties and the press feel a responsibility to present only serious candidates to voters, rather than the dozens of unknown and habitual candidates who file for ballot access each cycle. But this gatekeeping power has also been used to specifically shut out otherwise serious candidates with real grassroots support who are deemed a threat to the party, or are too critical of the status quo. Specifically, outsider candidates who champion campaign finance reform or who regularly criticize party orthodoxy of the either party have faced exclusion.
Different Larry, Same Story
Fast forward to 2016 and the case of Harvard law professor and campaign finance reform activist Lawrence “Larry” Lessig, who fought for the right to run in the Democratic primary and failed. Having never held elected office, Lessig was an untraditional candidate and obvious longshot — so why was he running for president? For most of the past decade, Lessig has led the renewed movement for campaign finance reform. He’s given two TED Talks on the topic, each with well over 1 million views. He has 350,000 followers on Twitter, and a significant following among tech and policy activists. In 2014 he launched a crowd-funded political action committee, Mayday PAC, which raised $11 million to help elect candidates from either party who pledged to pass campaign finance laws. Prior to 2007, Lessig was known for his work and activism around Internet policy, including copyright law, open source software, and Net Neutrality. As a lawyer and professor at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Center for Ethics at Harvard University, Lessig is well suited for his role as reformer. He’s written nine books, the last four of which are focused on the influence of money in politics.
Like Agran, Lessig’s candidacy fell somewhere between fringe and legitimate. Aware of his lack of executive or legislative experience, Lessig decided to run for president with an unorthodox, radical plan: if elected, he pledged to immediately pass one sweeping law, the Citizens Equality Act, which would fundamentally transform how elections are funded and regulated, and then resign leaving his vice president in power. He aspired to be the first “referendum president,” using the momentum of his single-issue presidency to force Congress to pass the bill.
On August 11, 2015, Lessig announced his plan and pledged to run only if his campaign could raise $1 million by Labor Day. It was a Kickstarter-style plan designed to not only test possible support and raise funds to start a campaign, but to hopefully generate enough media attention to propel him into the realm of legitimate candidates, and most importantly, into the first debate. While Lessig claimed to be serious about his plan to be a “referendum president,” he acknowledged that he wanted to elevate the issue of money in politics and the need for serious reform — and who better to do so than a political outsider and expert who for years has been raising awareness of this singular issue?
DNC as Gatekeeper
Successful in raising $1 million from about 8,000 donors, Lessig announced his official campaign to run for president in the Democratic primary. Aside from a smattering of news coverage that deemed his bid “quixotic”, Lessig received little media coverage. More pressing for Lessig, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) refused to officially recognize his campaign, and did not include his name in their press release inviting candidates to the first debate. The decision to ignore Lessig appeared to come from the top of the DNC. “When I tried to talk about this with the chair of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, she scheduled a call, but then cancelled it. So far she hasn’t had the time to schedule another” Lessig wrote in a public plea for inclusion.
Many Democratic Party insiders were already concerned over Senator Bernie Sanders, a relative outsider and outspoken critic of the party, rising steadily in the polls. Some feared a perfect storm if Joe Biden entered the race, splitting the moderate vote with Hillary Clinton and leaving a vacuum for Sanders’ insurgent candidacy. Given the near unanimous level of support for Clinton within the DNC, it’s not surprising that party insiders were eager to minimize anything unpredictable or potentially threatening like adding Lessig to the mix — yet another outsider and reformist who would have no qualms criticizing Clinton’s ties to Wall Street.
The first round of televised debates marks clearly for the public which candidates to pay attention while cementing the slate of legitimate candidates running for president. For lower-tier candidates who often lack the financial resources or media attention of front-runners, debates are their best and sometimes only hope, where their message can be presented — for free — to millions of viewers, and tens of millions in the following day’s news cycle.
In a controversial move, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz initially scheduled only six debates. The Republicans scheduled twice as many. The DNC’s minimizing of the debate schedule appeared designed to favor Clinton, limiting the amount of time she could be exposed to criticism. Fueling suspicion was the fact that Wasserman Schultz served as Clinton’s campaign co-chair in 2008 and is a well-known Clinton supporter. Even the days scheduled for the debates sparked criticism, with only one of six debates scheduled for a weeknight in primetime, which draws the largest audience. One of the debates was scheduled on a Saturday six days before Christmas, and another on the Sunday of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend; time slots so absurd they appeared specifically chosen to receive poor viewership — a charge Wasserman Schultz denied. The Republicans scheduled most of their debates for prime-time Thursday evenings, the night that has historically generated highest ratings for debates.
The normally behind the scenes negotiating over the number and scheduling of debates in the DNC broke out into a “public rift” pitting Clinton and Wasserman Schultz against critical committee members and the other candidates who, along with Lessig, publicly called for more debates while criticizing the DNC for rigging the schedule in Clinton’s favor. The tension broke publicly when Tulsi Gabbard, vice chairwoman of the DNC, broke with Wasserman Schultz, calling the decision “undemocratic” and resigned. Facing public criticisms of her decision as “autocratic” from fellow Democratic officials, Wasserman Schultz responded bluntly, “we’re going to have six debates, period.”[2]
Facing criticisms of favoritism, Wasserman Shultz and the DNC publicly declared their desire for “maximum inclusion” in the debates, setting the threshold for inclusion at 1% in major national polls in September, a month before the first debate. Polling organizations generally look to party officials, as well as media coverage, for indications regarding which candidates to include in their polls. Like Agran in ’92, Lessig’s campaign was caught in a bind; he wasn’t included in national polls because he didn’t have enough measurable public polling and was unrecognized by the DNC. Lessig argued that this was an unfair catch-22 logic, and pleaded for inclusion in polls based on his demonstrated ability to raise money, his active supporters, and his efforts to launch a traditional campaign. Almost 4,000 people signed a petition to the DNC stating “Let Lawrence Lessig Debate!,” to no avail.
He wasn’t invited. In one of the few polls to include him, Lessig scored his first 1% showing in a YouGov/Economist national poll published the day before the debate, October 12. Meanwhile, the debate host CNN showed viewers an extra bubble-wrapped podium they had ready in case Joe Biden, who had not declared his candidacy, decided to show up. For days CNN excitedly showed viewers the emergency podium along with a count-down clock; a faux drama epically lampooned by late night TV host Stephen Colbert. Meanwhile, a small story appeared in The New York Times with the title “Hoping to be Invited to the Debate, Lawrence Lessig Waits by the Phone.”
Months later, the hacked emails of John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chair, were leaked by Wikileaks. The leaks emails provided the clear evidence that the DNC deliberately tipped the scales in favor of Clinton, and strategized to delegitimize Sanders’ campaign. Leaked emails right before the Democratic National Convention showed Debbie Wasserman Schultz made disparaging remarks about Sanders and his staff, which embarrassed the party and forced her to resign. Donna Brazile took her place, only to be exposed, one week before the election, for leaking debate questions to Clinton days before a Democratic primary debate for which she was moderator. Wikileaks showed the DNC and Clinton campaign coordinated and strategized together to minimize threats, while regularly ridiculing and mocking progressive activists and even major donors.
No Space for Ron Paul
One of the worst cases of being excluded from the debates happened to outsider and libertarian-leaning Republican Ron Paul in the 2008 presidential primary. In the run up to a major debate in New Hampshire, to be held on January 6, Paul was refused an invitation by host Fox News despite a polling average of 4% nationally and between 7–8% in the state where his libertarian inspired politics had the potential to resonate with the anti-tax, small government state. There were no fair criteria for excluding Paul. He had beaten the early media-anointed frontrunner Rudy Giuliani in the Iowa Caucus, with 10% of the vote, and was competitive for a third place finish in New Hampshire. Not to mention Paul had led every single Republican candidate in fundraising for the final quarter of 2007, raising a stunning $20 million online. In stark contrast, Fred Thompson, whose polling average was 2% in New Hampshire at the time of the debate, was allowed onstage (Thompson would go on to win 1% in NH, compared to Paul’s 8%). Despite protests Paul’s exclusion stuck, with Fox claiming they didn’t have enough space on stage for him.
Fox News was following the lead of Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele, who publicly stated that Ron Paul didn’t belong in the race. Paul’s longtime opposition to the Iraq war and his biting criticisms of US imperialism certainly made him no friends with GOP elite. In contrast, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party Furgus Cullen called the decision “outrageous”, stating “the first in the nation New Hampshire primary serves a national purpose by giving all candidates an equal opportunity on a level playing field… Only in New Hampshire do lesser known, lesser funded underdogs have a fighting chance to establish themselves as national figures.” In protest they withdrew their debate co-sponsorship, to no effect. While local activists and officials defended Paul, national Republican leaders were happy to let Fox News to cut him out.
Knowing they had to stage a media spectacle to inject Paul back into the news cycle, his online supporters came up with the idea of a viral “money bomb” fundraiser, planned for November 16, 2007. It was a huge success, bringing in over 4.3 million dollars in twenty-four hours on from over 35,000 donors; his supporters followed with a second money bomb on December 12th, which brought in 6.6 million from 58,407 donors setting a new record in single day campaign fundraising. Paul |
Facebook pages, Twitter, Pinterest, or email personal directory. With your help, we have a second chance. Public sentiment is on our side, in the United States, Europe, China and Japan. Help us bring Tommy, Meatball, Mario and the other wonderful Caboodle cats back home to their Papa.Photo: Zero Creatives
In 2012, Los Angeles County began requiring porn performers use condoms. But it turns out that might have only been the beginning of a porn crackdown. Now California’s division of OSHA has proposed a new serious of regulations for the porn industry that are... Odd. They’d definitely change your porn-viewing experience unless you’re really into sexy chemists. Here’s more via Washington Post:
New rules proposed last week by the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHA) would require adult film actors to wear eye gear for many scenes. The rules, which have yet to be finalized, would also impose strict hygiene standards and outlaw common porn practices.
If these rules go into effect, it means you’ll see your favorite porn star trying to hold goggles on his or her eyes while doing some energetic movements. It also means the potential end of certain acts that involve bodily fluids that often occur at the end of videos. For their part, porn actors and producers claim this is beyond overkill and that the testing process in place is secure enough to protect the health of performers. Here’s what a spokesperson for Kink.com told SF Weekly about the proposals:
"We’re absolutely opposed to the new regulations proposed by Cal/OSHA. They’re based in stigma and threaten to make working conditions less safe for adult performers. Because everything we do at Kink is based in consent, we can’t support regulations that remove performers’ control over their bodies or forces performers to disclose medical information, for instance. It’s important to note that these are regulations to which performers have been vocal in their opposition, including APAC, the main performer group....
That said, we’re not opposed to regulation itself. But they have to be workable by adult performers. They can not be hospital ward regulations grafted onto an adult film set. When we saw the proposed regulations, we came together with performers and performer groups, STI experts, civil rights organizations, and health advocacy groups like the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis to revise the proposed regulations in a way that increases performer safety, but also preserves their autonomy. Those revisions were presented at the Cal/OSHA board hearing last week, and we hope to be engaged in active conversation with them over the next few months."You may have noticed the website has been a bit quiet lately. Along with the usual "life commitments" spiel, the main reason for this lack of action has been a data holdup. An analyst working without data is bit like 44 blokes trying to play a game of footy without a ball. While they may be dreaming up speckies, they aren't gonna get much done.
Luckily, with the help of a reader, I've managed to sort out a new data source in 2017 that will allow me to get back into one of the most important bits of work I was doing last year, shot creation and goal-kicking analysis. You may have even caught me tweeting out some new stuff last night.
The score of a game is just one method by which we can get an idea of which team is creating the better chances up front. One other method used by most footy fans is considering the number of scoring shots. A team leading 3 goals straight to 1.11 is probably not dominating the game to the standard they'd like. The problem with this method is that goals/behinds doesn't tell us anything about the difficulty of the chances each team is creating. Maybe a return of 1.11 is about right if all a team is doing is pinging it from the centre square. To help account for shot difficulty, I previously introduced the xScore value based on my shot difficulty model.
If the numbers and squiggles in those articles put you off, fear not, xScore is actually a very straightforward concept. xScore is simply the average score an AFL average standard team would kick if they took the same shots. The AFL standard kicking ability expected for a particular shot is found by looking at the competition kicking record (from 2012-2016) from the same type shot (set shot, shot on the run, snap, ground kick, play on from a mark) from a similar spot on the ground. This is "smoothed" into a model using regression. For example, here are the AFL average conversion rates for a set shot at different points on the ground. The actual model doesn't "group" like this, but it makes for an easier visual.
So xScore gives us a value for the quality of shots each team has managed to create. Comparing this with the actual conversion rates means that we can break down score into two separate team skills, shot creation and conversion. This is often very handy for working out why a particular team is on top.
Over the course of a season it can be shown that most teams kick at about the AFL standard. Very good and very poor kicks are few and far between. As a rule of thumb you want your team winning games because they're creating great chances, not because they are kicking straight on any particular day.
Geelong
As an intro for those who haven't seen xScore before, I'm gonna have a quick look at Geelong's start to 2017. Here are the shots they have created followed by the shots they have conceded over the first three rounds.
There are a few mixed signs here that I'm going to do my best to quickly unpack. First the good signs.
Over their first three wins, the Cats have outscored their opponents by 72 points altogether leading them to a healthy 125.6 percentage on the ladder. They are also restricting their opponents to tougher shots than they themselves are creating. The average Cats shot this year had about a 58% chance if kicked at the AFL average, their opponents took shots with an average conversion rate of only 54%. They have defended their corridor relatively well and allowed very few shots from in and around the goal-square compared to those they have created themselves. If both teams created 25 shots a game at this level, that would be worth about 1 more goal a game on average.
That transitions us right into the more worrying signs. Both teams aren't creating 25 shots a game. Over the admittedly small sample of 3 games, the Cats had 74 scoring shots and their opposition had 78. Only once this year have they taken more shots in a match than their opponent, in round 1 against a Freo team more happy to kick the ball straight to them rather than try and hold onto it. If every shot was converted at its AFL rate, Geelong would have scored about 300 points and conceded about 296 over the three rounds. Through a combination of very straight kicking on their part and some waywardness from their opponents, they have managed to turn this into 3 wins.
xScore had them losing to Melbourne by 3 goals last week rather than winning by 29. Opposition kicking like the Dees of last week is not going to save you very often.
This article is by no means meant to infer the Cats have been poor, they are a clear top-8 contender so far. But rather I wanted to use xScore to point out that their 3-0 start has flattered them and a 0-3 Hawthorn may well give them a better run for their money on Monday than last place playing an unbeaten team would usually suggest. God knows Hawks fans need it.
Follow me on Twitter to read more ramblings about ShotPlots and xScore.Nov 14, 2015; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard Garrett Temple (17) shoots over Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic (9) during the second half at Verizon Center. The Washington Wizards won 108 - 99. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Before we get to the recap, I’d like to personally apologize for the curse we put on the Washington Wizards last week. We — along with poor defense, lack of rebounding and turnovers — were directly responsible for Washington’s three game losing streak. But, after tonight’s win against the Orlando Magic, the curse should be lifted.
Washington hasn’t looked great this season. After they beat the San Antonio Spurs at home, most thought they would have the necessary momentum to go on a winning streak. Of course, that’s not what happened.
Randy Wittman‘s club dropped three straight to the Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma City Thunder. Tonight’s game against the Magic, who were.500 coming into the nation’s capital, wasn’t easy. Scott Skiles has motivated his team and the young Magic will push for a spot in the NBA Playoffs.
To start the game, Washington struggled defensively once again.
Nikola Vucevic lit Marcin Gortat up on the offensive end of the floor and Evan Fournier got to the basket at will. Victor Oladipo and Bradley Beal both missed tonight’s game, but the reserves did a solid job of filling the void for each respective club.
Orlando made 10 of their first 12 shots and some were visibly irritated with the big men. The Wizards were a physical team with great rim protection prior to this season, but that physicality seems to have evaporated — or at least it did in the first half.
Washington found themselves down by six at halftime, but they were very much in the game. It’s really all a matter of applying themselves defensively. For the most part, John Wall, Beal and Otto Porter have done a solid job defensively. They’ve gotten beat off the dribble more than we’ve become accustomed to, but they’ve hustled and provided transition defense.
The guards turned it up defensively in the second half and it set the tone for the rest of the team.
Garrett Temple, in particular, was masterful on the defensive end of the floor. He forced Fournier into some tough shots and caused turnovers, creating easy baskets in transition.
Temple also gave the team a much needed spark in the scoring department with Beal out.
He got the start in his absence, and I was skeptical.
Clearly, Wittman knew something I didn’t.
He ended up scoring a career-high 18 points.
It’ll be interesting to see how Wittman balances the minutes between Temple and Gary Neal, who’s been up-and-down this season as well.
Once Washington got a few consecutive stops in the second half, it gave them an opportunity to open the game up. John Wall blistered Orlando off misses and Kris Humphries benefited from his passing.
Humphries, who’s looked uncomfortable in his new role as the team’s stretch four, was fantastic tonight. He knocked down five of his eight three point tries, including one to secure the victory for the Washington Wizards. Humphries scored a team-high 23 points and blocked a few shots too.
He needs to do a better job on the glass, but Porter has stepped up in that regard. Porter grabbed 10 and stole the ball three times as well. He’s doing all the little things, making up for what the Wizards are missing from Humphries.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Nene’s impact off the bench. He missed last game with a minor injury and seemed very well rested tonight.
The big Brazilian orchestrated the team’s offense off the bench, scoring 9 points and dishing out 3 assists. His impact is going to be felt on the court more than it will on the stat sheet. He did a great job forcing the Magic’s defense to work and distributed the ball to the guards extremely well.
Nene’s impact is often forgotten about, but when he’s healthy and engaged, he’s capable of making a legitimate difference. Tonight, that was the case.
Wall closed the game out for Washington. He made a few shots inside and iced it with free throws. The franchise point guard added 15 points and 11 assists. Wall was clearly tired throughout most of the game, but still pushed himself. With Beal out, Wall has been forced to carry much of the responsibility on offense.
So, there you have it. The curse is over. Again, we apologize.
Washington still has to do a better job defensively. They have to play with the same amount of intensity as they’ve played with in fourth quarters throughout 48 minutes. The Wizards gave up 99 points to an Oladipo-less Magic team. Regardless, they still got the “w”. On to the next one; Tuesday night against the Bucks.It’s the day after Christmas so of course sales have started and whatever you thought you bought for a good price is suddenly available for a lot less, especially electronics. But this isn’t your normal after-Christmas sale, it’s after-Christmas during one of the worst economic recessions in decades, so prices are lower still. Add to this, at least in the U.S. market, the pending shutdown of analog broadcast TV in February and there ought to be a feeding frenzy of digital set buying. And there will be I’m sure. But it could be a lot better except for a missing link, one small bit of technology the lack of which is costing TV manufacturers billions in lost sales.
The consumer electronics industry is built on the idea of every few years getting us to throw away everything we own and replace it with something entirely new. In home audio the transition was 78/33/8-track/cassette/CD. In home video it was Beta/VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray. Each time we not only had to buy new equipment, we generally had to purchase again our audio and video libraries. And we did, much to the joy of the music and movie industries, though the jury is still out on Blu-Ray (more on that in a couple days).
Unlike automobiles, where there is a robust second-hand market, the consumer electronics food chain is simple and clean: whatever we invested in before is suddenly worthless. But for these technology transitions to be truly successful we ALL have to switch, which doesn’t always happen. Many people never owned an 8-track player, for example, or even a cassette deck, jumping straight from vinyl to CD. But that jump to CD’s, since it was an all-in 100 percent market transformation, was enough to power the audio business to record profits for more than a decade even without a lot of new hit songs. That’s how the Beatles still make $100+ million per year even though the group disbanded in 1970.
The goal, then, is a vinyl-to-CD type transformation. It happened exactly like that for VHS-to-DVD, much to the joy of Warren Lieberfarb. And there’s hope right now that a similar market upheaval will happen as digital TV sets replace analog.
Already there is good news for manufacturers on this front. Something unanticipated happened that has driven LCD and plasma TV sales higher than expected. The fact that these new sets are skinny and can be hung on a wall has changed the way we buy televisions, not just in the U.S. but globally.
There has for almost a century now been a space carved out in most American living rooms for a piece of consumer electronic furniture. Originally it was a console radio complete with gleaming wooden cabinetry. Later the radio was replaced with a TV of comparable size or larger. We positioned our furniture to help us see or hear better, changing the social dynamics of our living spaces. Rooms came to be sized with televisions in mind. And the biggest analog TV screen in my era were 21-23 inches measured diagonally, a size dictated both by the economics of glass blowing and by the maximum cabinet depth the manufacturers thought they could get away with.
Bigger sets were rare because they were expensive but also because they required bigger rooms. Projection sets went into American homes as a result, rather than into homes in Europe or Asia with their generally smaller rooms. And because the size of the market was limited in this way, so too were limited the economies of scale that could be enjoyed by the projection TV makers. Big sets were not only more expensive — they were a LOT more expensive.
Then along came plasma and then LCD displays, which could be hung on a wall taking no floor space at all. Wonder of wonder, when these TVs started selling in Japan most of the buyers were replacing smaller sets with ones that were substantially larger. You could put a honking-big TV in a tiny room if you liked – especially if it was a tight-grained 1080p set. Japanese customers started buying bigger sets, economies of scale began to kick-in so those sets got cheaper so people bought sets that were bigger still. The size effect happened everywhere, too. People the world over are buying bigger sets than ever because they can hang them on a wall.
While this is generally good news all around there is still a disconnect in the marketplace, which is to say a lost opportunity to take even more of our money. When projection sets cost $10,000 most of them were sold to people building home theaters. Now only about 7.5 percent of flat panel televisions are sold for home theaters, which means the market for Dolby 5.1 and 7.1 Surround Sound equipment is severely constrained with prices higher than they ought to be.
We mount a big 120 Hz. 1080p TV up on the wall having bought it for $1100 after Christmas, maybe connect it to a Blu-Ray player or an HD cable or satellite box, then sit down to watch The Dark Knight, listening to the audio through tinny little speakers. What’s wrong with this picture? Everything.
It’s not the money that keeps people from completing their home theaters — it’s the complexity. Ideally we should space-out the front speakers, add rear speakers and then a sub woofer, but this takes extra equipment and, especially, extra wiring. Sure the Geek Squad will install it all for you but that costs extra and limits market penetration. Besides, what if we move and have to rip it all out?
What’s missing here is a de facto wireless audio standard for televisions. Look on the back of any of these new TVs and you’ll find a forest of connections but none of the audio is wireless. There are RCA jacks, minijacks and optical, but no wireless. How much could it cost to add one more audio option? Not much – generally less than $10 in manufacturers’ cost.
Adding less than $10 to the cost of a TV, then, would make it dirt simple to have a home theater. Just buy compatible speaker systems, plug them in and sync them with the TV. The TV will figure out how many speakers and what type are connected and configure the sound output accordingly. There’s no need for wiring and no need for the Geek Squad, either, unless you want them to put the TV on your wall.
Edit — Some readers have pointed out that this could be accomplished just as easily through power line networking. Maybe so. If the price is the same I say go for it. I don’t care. Though a look at the HomePlug market suggests that the price WON’T be the same — it will be higher. I don’t know why. Now back to your regular programming…
If this simple change were to take place the cost of 5.1 and 7.1 audio equipment would drop and consumers could more easily enjoy the true potential of their new TVs. The result for the consumer electronics industry would be even more profound, though – a 50 percent increase in net profit per TV sale. That’s HUGE.
So why doesn’t it happen? That’s because these bozos, as they have shown us time after time, can’t bring themselves to agree on a new technical standard without first enjoying a bloodbath in the market.
There are chipsets available right now to achieve everything I have described. The one I am most familiar with comes from Eleven Engineering in Canada, maker of high-end wireless audio technology for customers like Bose. But there are alternatives to Eleven. All the consumer electronics industry has to do is choose one – ANY ONE.
Boom. We all would suddenly have an incentive to buy more and better stuff. The positive effect this would have on Blu-Ray, for example, should be obvious. It would help video gaming. Heck, it would help the entire economy as we all pump an extra $200 into home electronics – in this case electronics we can take with us next time we move.Google on Thursday announced its largest philanthropic gift to date, pledging $1 billion over the next five years to nonprofits that provide skills and education for the modern workforce.
CEO Sundar Pichai announced the donation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a state that has been particularly buffeted by the U.S. workforce’s shedding of industrial jobs.
In a speech addressing the role of the Internet in the modern economy, Pichai said Google will donate the $1 billion to “front line organizations,” including $10 million to Goodwill for career development. He explained the money will focus on three areas:
Google.org will use its philanthropic expertise to fund organizations working in three areas: closing the world’s education gap, helping people prepare for the changing nature of work, and ensuring that no one is excluded from opportunity.
Pichai also announced a second program under which Google employees will be able to donate one million volunteer hours to nonprofits, and a third one called “Grow with Google” that will help Americans acquire job skills.
The Google CEO also used the speech to tout Google’s recent efforts to use machine learning to improve job postings, and the economic impact of the company’s search and advertising business. According to Pichai, this amounts to $222 billion a year, while Google’s app and entertainment businesses create more than one million developer jobs in the country.
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The company, however, also appears to be realistic about an economy that some argue excludes many Americans, especially young ones, from meaningful work.
“[W]e recognize that there are large gaps in opportunity across the U.S. These are tough gaps. For instance, the nature of work is fundamentally changing. And that is shifting the link between education, training and opportunity. Young people already feel this. An Economist survey found that less than half of 18- to 25-year-olds believe their education gives them the skills they need to enter today’s workforce.
The philanthropic announcements also come at a time when Google, and the tech industry as a whole, is facing unprecedented political headwinds from regulators and the White House. As such, the new Google initiatives may amount something of a peace offering intended to forestall higher taxes or antitrust action.Cyclocross Handbook was really looking forward to the National Cyclocross Championships this year. The course in Bradford always delivers a brilliant challenge, great racing and it’s city centre location at the heart of cross country makes for great crowds. The weekend delivered on all of these and was a fantastically organised event. It was a pleasure to work at, many thanks to all the staff and volunteers. Normally I go to Bradford expecting lots of sloppy mud and some kind of frozen precipitation, however this year (like everywhere it seems) it was relatively dry and bafflingly mild. There was enough moisture around to make the camber and turns slippery and exciting though. If you haven’t already go and check out the full event galleries, supported by Kinesis UK, over on their Facebook page. You can also head to the Cyclocross Handbook Facebook page and give it a like to stay up to date with everything going on there. For many riders, the Nationals wraps up their season, however CXHandbook will be following those that are chosen to the Worlds at the end of the month, so be sure to look out for that.
One of the outstanding races of this years Nationals was the fight for the Youths race between Ben Tulett and Charlie Craig. Tulett JUST holding on to his title.
Conditions under wheel and foot were unexpectedly dry this year, but soft enough to break up after a few races.
I'm not sure how many British National titles Nick Craig has, but it's a lot, and now he's got another one in the Vet 40's.
The sun goes down on day one.
Billy Harding on his way to the U23 win.
Champ Stripes in Bradford and in brilliant form.
Amira Mellor carried her form from Novacross last weekend.
Cyclocross Handbook will be at the Worlds in a few weeks to see if Evie can repeat her success last year.
Tom Pidcock was happy to sit in the wheel for a bit on the first lap.
As the crowds started to build.
But it wasn't long before he was ahead and away in a commanding lead.
Despite some impressive commitment from the chasers.
What made this performance particularly impressive is the Pidcock recorded the fastest laps of the weekend on his way to victory.
Grubby mitts.
Hannah Payton prepares for the Elite Women's race.
Nikki Brammeier took the initiative straight away, building a good lead and floating over the slippery Bradford mud.
Hannah Payton was looking strong and running second ahead of Beth Crumpton.
No one was able to catch Nikki, despite a fairly recent absence from racing due to injury. CXHandbook is looking forward to seeing how she goes in Bieles.
Jack Clarkson led the field away on the first lap.
Avoiding the landmine that someone had left on this turn.
Ian Field was in no mood to be beaten, and was pushing hard from the start to build a gap to Liam Killeen.
Bruce attempting to lick an apex.
This off camber section was a great place to spectate...
...and was as busy as any race I've been to in the UK by the end of the afternoon.
Field put it beyond any doubt with an exceptional performance.
He was smooth and controlled on the big descent, nailing his braking in a straight line to the rut every lap...
...Liam Killeen taking the spectacular but slower grassy outside line.
SPLASH!
Paul Oldham was in fine form, finishing on the podium.
National Champions jersey number five for Ian Field.
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Robert Fisk makes a few observations about Obama, Imperialism, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Posted December 10, 2009 | More Click on "comments" below to read or post comments Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. See our complete Comment Policy and use this link to notify us if you have concerns about a comment. We’ll promptly review and remove any inappropriate postings. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information ClearingHouse endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)Music
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To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Grateful Dead, the four original members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir will reunite at Chicago's Soldier Field, nearly 20 years to the day of the last Grateful Dead concert, which took place at the same venue. Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead" will occur over three nights on July 3, 4, and 5, 2015, marking the original members' last-ever performance together. The band will be joined by Trey Anastasio (guitar), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards), and Bruce Hornsby (piano). The group will perform two sets of music each night. This item is for one pair of Pit General Admission tickets, for July 3, 2015. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Check out additional tickets available for shows on July 4 and July 5.
http://www.dead.net/features/bill-kreutzmann/grateful-dead-original-members-perform-together-again-one-last-timeDr. Michael Gross of Hackensack University Medical Center said he gave Alex Rodriguez a second opinion on his Grade 1 left quadriceps strain and “didn’t see anything” on the MRI.
“To be perfectly honest, I don’t see any sort of injury there,” Gross told WFAN’s Mike Francesa on Wednesday.
Gross never examined Rodriguez, nor did A-Rod tell the Yankees he was looking for a second opinion, general manager Brian Cashman said Wednesday night.
Dr. Michael Gross
On Francesa’s show, Gross said: “I had the chance to talk to him today also. I asked him … ‘A-Rod, does anything hurt?’ And he said ‘No.’ If there’s no pain, to me as an orthopedist, that means there’s no injury.
“He asked me, ‘Well, do you think I’m fit to play?’ And I said, ‘Alex,’ very specifically, ‘without examining you, I couldn’t possibly make that call.’ But I asked him, ‘Do you think you’re fit to play?’ And he said ‘100 percent.’ So I’m guessing a guy who’s been playing ball his entire life knows his body. If he thinks he’s fit to play, that’s what he said.”
Francesa also reported that A-Rod has told the New York Yankees he wants to play Friday night in the Bronx.
“It’s my understanding now that he’s told the Yankees he feels great, he’s ready to go and that he wants to be in the lineup on Friday night against Tampa,” Francesa said.
However, amid all of the reports, Cashman issued the following statement on Wednesday evening, which said in part:
“I heard via a text message this afternoon from Alex Rodriguez that he had retained a doctor to review his medical situation. In media reports, we have since learned that the doctor in question has acknowledged that he did not examine Mr. Rodriguez and that he was not retained to do a comprehensive medical examination of Mr. Rodriguez. Contrary to the Basic Agreement, Mr. Rodriguez did not notify us at any time that he was seeking a second opinion from any doctor with regard to his quad strain.
“As you know, it is the Yankees’ desire to have Alex return to the lineup as soon as possible. And we have done everything to try and accomplish this,” Cashman added.
Rodriguez, rehabbing from offseason hip surgery and embroiled in Major League Baseball’s latest performance-enhancing drugs scandal, told WFAN last week that he planned to return this past Monday in Texas.
Rodriguez had an MRI after complaining of soreness in the quad over the weekend and was shut down by the team Sunday. He reported back to the Yankees’ complex in Tampa on Wednesday.
“As early as Friday, July 12, when I suggested to Alex that we move his rehab from Tampa to Triple-A Scranton (at Buffalo), Alex complained for the first time of “tightness” in his quad and therefore refused to consent to the transfer of his assignment. Again, last Sunday, Alex advised that he had stiffness in his quad and should not play on Sunday or Monday. We sent Alex to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital for an MRI which evidenced a Grade 1 strain,” Cashman said in the statement.
“As always, we will follow the rules and regulations set forth in the Basic Agreement, and will again re-evaluate Alex in Tampa tomorrow, as our goal is to return him to the lineup as soon as he is medically capable of doing so,” he added.Watch the video below:
#WATCH 2 youths who had come to meet their female FB friends beaten up allegedly by Bajrang Dal activists in Muzaffarnagar (STRONG LANGUAGE) pic.twitter.com/f0jPxWh47u
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 20, 2017
About Bajrang Dal
In a video from Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, which has gone viral, the youths are seen getting slapped, kicked and being hit by leather belts by the Bajrang Dal activists in public.Interestingly, a police complaint was filed against these two youths who were at the receiving end.The Bajrang Dal is an extremist Hindu organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).Founded on 1 October 1984 in Uttar Pradesh, the ideology of the organisation is based on Hindu fundamentalism.The Bajrang Dal, reportedly, runs about 2,500 akhadas and the name "Bajrang" is a reference to the Hindu deity Hanuman.I figured I’d give everybody (and by "everybody" I mean "stat lovers") a treat today and throw out some statistics The recently completed UFC 113 marked the 9th event this year for the most prominent organization in MMA today. After 93 fights across 6 PPV cards and 3 Spike/Versus cable TV cards, here’s a look at the end results for every bout. They’ve been separated into KO/TKO, submissions, decisions (split, majority and unanimous are all in one), plus the very rare draws/no contests/disqualifications.
Event KO/TKO Subs Decisions Draw/NC/DQ UFC 108 3 4 2 0 UFN 20 1 2 7 1 (Draw) UFC 109 2 2 7 0 UFC 110 5 1 3 0 UFC on Versus 1 6 2 3 0 UFC 111 2 3 4 1 (DQ) UFN 21 5 1 5 0 UFC 112 3 3 4 0 UFC 113 4 2 5 0 Total 31 20 40 2
Some other facts not included on this table are:
15 out of 46 preliminary card fights have been aired on the PPV or Spike/Versus broadcasts. An additional 6 were broadcast as part of Spike TV’s "Prelims Live" special.
Of the 8 "Fight of the Night" bonuses given by Dana White, 7 of those fights went to a decision.
Two TKOs were a result of injury. Duane Ludwig broke his ankle against Darren Elkins at UFC on Versus 1, while Jason MacDonald broke his leg against John Salter at UFC 113.
Hope you enjoyed this and at the end of the year we’ll have the final table along with full comparisons to 2009. We’ve gotten a nice mix of everything this year.
Note: Submission by strikes or punches is still categorized under "submissions".Bill Nye the “Science Guy” slammed President Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement, saying clean energy is “the future.”
In an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday, Nye warned that climate change would affect all people, especially those in future generations.
“Bill, is that the best use of our resources today?” MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle asked. “To think about generations 20, 30, 100 years in the future when there’s people who need jobs and education and safety today?”
“Are you kidding? Climate change affects us tomorrow. Climate change affects everyone in the world because we all share the air," Nye responded.
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“You can’t build a border wall against carbon dioxide emissions. The time to get to work on this is right now.”
Nye, a frequent critic of Trump’s environmental policies, joined a protest at the White House on Thursday in favor of the Paris deal.
“The demonstration began after today’s announcement,” he tweeted. “People are concerned about the lack of US leadership jeopardizing the whole planet.”
The demonstration began after today's announcement. People are concerned about the lack of US leadership jeopardizing the whole planet. pic.twitter.com/FScGD1qGzq — Bill Nye (@BillNye) June 1, 2017A blood-engorged nymphal tick of the genus Amblyomma surrounded by fossilized mammalian erythrocytes (red blood cells) has been discovered in a piece of 15-45-million-year-old amber. The discovery is reported March 20 in the online edition of the Journal of Medical Entomology.
Two small holes in the back of the Amblyomma tick, which allowed blood to ooze out just as the tick became stuck in tree sap that later fossilized into amber, provide a brief glimpse of life in a tropical jungle millions of years ago in what is now the Dominican Republic.
“These two tiny holes indicate that something picked a tick off the mammal it was feeding on, puncturing it in the process and dropping it immediately into tree sap,” said Oregon State University Professor George Poinar, Jr., author of the study.
“This would be consistent with the grooming behavior of monkeys that we know lived at that time in this region,” he added.
The amber specimen was obtained from mines located in the Cordillera Septentrional of the Dominican Republic.
“Estimated ages range from 15–23 million years, based on foraminifera counts, to 30-45 million years, based on coccoliths,” Prof. Poinar said.
The discovery also describes the only known fossils of a type of extant parasite, Babesia (Theileria) microti, which infects the blood cells of humans and other animals.
“The fossilized blood cells, infected with these parasites, are simply amazing in their detail. This discovery provides the only known fossils of Babesia-type pathogens,” Prof. Poinar said.
“This parasite was clearly around millions of years before humans, and appears to have evolved alongside primates, among other hosts.”
He added: “part of what makes these fossils unique is the clarity by which the parasites and blood cells are preserved, almost as if they had been stained and otherwise treated in a laboratory for inspection.”
“The parasites were different enough in texture and density to stand out clearly within the erythrocytes during the natural embalming process for which amber is famous.”
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George Poinar, Jr. Fossilized Mammalian Erythrocytes Associated With a Tick Reveal Ancient Piroplasms. J Med Entomol, published online March 20, 2017; doi: 10.1093/jme/tjw247Zynga announced today a partnership with bwin.party to bring online gaming, including online poker, to its UK customers in the first half of 2013.
The PartyGaming poker network consists of the primary PartyPoker brand, and smaller poker “skins” including WPTPoker and EmpirePoker.com.
Under the deal announced today, Zynga players in the UK will be offered real money gaming on the same network, sharing the same dot.com player pool. PartyPoker is currently the second largest pool of players internationally.
Zynga will also launch real money casino games and a slots game branded by FarmVille, its famous social network game.
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be proclaimed by a thunderous voice from the heavens, a bishop, or Charlton Heston in a Cecil B. DeMille film to be christened "morality," nor does something cease being so (or at least a conception thereof) because it has become the stuff of academia or wins a popular vote. A moral does not cease to be a moral because it becomes a meme.
This is precisely, however, why we reflexively accept the impositions of morality known as laws against murder, rape, and theft: These moral principles are seamlessly woven into civilization. But this wasn't always the case. At one time, pillaging other peoples, à la the Vikings, was status quo, and the murder, rape, and theft involved therein were simply part of doing business. I mean, sure, perhaps you didn't thus abuse a fellow tribesman, but foreigners were fair game.
The lesson here is that most of the morality we take for granted is part of the Judeo-Christian ethic, and for most of history, it would have been received like an injunction against masturbation is today. Yet this fact eludes most because man's default is to be a child of his age. In fact, were today's average good libertarian raised in a cultural milieu in which abortion was outlawed and universally equated with murder, he'd no doubt accept its criminalization as he accepts the illegality of murdering those occupying a place safer than the womb. And were he living in ancient Rome, he might very well say, "I don't spend a lot of time dwelling on whether people should have men fight to the death in the arena. My choice is not to attend the games. And if you want to, I won't criticize or judge you." And when the Christians tried to end the games -- which they were ultimately successful in doing -- who knows, he might have complained about how they were imposing their values on others.
Now, another argument I occasionally hear is, "Laws are not based on morality! They're based on property rights. You mustn't kill or steal from me because I own myself and my belongings." OK, but what if I said I didn't think it wrong to not respect your property rights? I'm sure you'd passionately retort, and if you were philosophically sound, you might even mention Truth, or Natural Law. Really, though, I don't care what your arguments would be, only that you'd reflexively tried to prove a certain thing: that such a trespass is wrong. Without a second thought, you would put forth a moral argument for laws prohibiting violation of property rights.
You see, the property-rights argument is, like so many other things, a dodge we use to avoid frank discussion about the real issue: What is good? G. K. Chesterton addressed this in his 1905 book Heretics, writing, "Every one of the popular modern phrases and ideals is a dodge in order to shirk the problem of what is good." He then offers as examples the buzzwords "progress," "education," and also -- well, read it in his own words:
We are fond of talking about "liberty"; that, as we talk of it, is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good... The modern man says, "Let us leave all these arbitrary standards and embrace liberty." This is, logically rendered, "Let us not decide what is good, but let it be considered good not to decide it.
I might add that the property-rights argument can be summed up thus: Let us not decide what is good, but, please, whatever you do, don't touch my goods!
The point is that libertarians tend to live in an unreal world, one without the understanding that political battles are merely the front lines in a values death match that, ultimately, has definite winners and losers. It's a world in which there is a disconnect between religious belief and morality and morality and law. As an example, End the Fed also wrote:
Articles like yours continue the 'insane idea' that at some point the two warring factions, the left or the right, will somehow- someday impose their will and cause the other side to capitulate. That has not and will not ever be the case. So go on ahead and believe what you want to believe- I'm ok with that. After all, I am a Libertarian.
Actually, as the communists proved in 1917, the Nazis proved in 1933, Europeans prove with hate-speech laws, and Islamists prove the world over -- and as history has consistently taught -- ideological conquest is, has been, and always will be the case. The story of man is one of spiritual, cultural, political, and physical warfare, and each chapter has victory and vanquishment. Zoroastrianism was extinguished by Islam, the Ainus have largely been subsumed by the Japanese, and the Maldives' native Giraavaru culture is now only a memory. Just like animals, countless languages, cultures, beliefs, and peoples have become extinct, often the victims of invasive entities that, through superior morality or might, won that inevitable battle.
And that is the battle for civilization. It may sound very noble to say, "... believe what you want to believe - I'm ok with that. After all, I am a Libertarian," but when enough people believe the wrong things, you will not be OK with it. You will be living under a regime that enshrines those things in law -- you'll be living in tyranny.
Like it or not, imposing values is what arranging civilization is all about. And like it or not, you're part of this process. The only difference among any of us is in what and how much we impose -- and in that some of us actually understand that this is precisely what we're doing.and build better lineups today with FTA+ projections and chat We give DFS players the tools they need to stay in the green! Sign up free Join our community of 15,000+ registered membersand build better lineups today with FTA+ projections and chat
CJ2K, All You Need To Know
Combine Hero
Productive Rookie Year
Sunday Sep 20, 2009, Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans
Chris Johnson left end for 57 yards, touchdown
Kerry Collins pass complete short left to Chris Johnson for 69 yards, touchdown
Chris Johnson up the middle for 91 yards, touchdown
Player Team Att Rush Yards Rush Tds Longest Rush Receptions Receiving Yards Receiving Tds Longest Catch Chris Johnson TEN 16 197 2 91 9 87 1 69
Player Team Att Rush Yards Rush Tds Longest Rush Receptions Receiving Yards Receiving Tds Longest Catch Chris Johnson TEN 358 2006 14 91 50 503 2 69
Remember CJ2K? Every now and then, we are treated to an amazing fantasy football performance. Most of these games are flash in the pan, fast burning embers that leave our view as soon as they arrive. However sometimes a player puts it all together for an entire year. Sometimes they follow up a great game with another great performance. And then another after that. If the planets align, we get a superb fantasy football stat line for the year, which as we all know will win or lose a season. And even rarer, that season etches a memory into our fabric that one single word reminds us. CJ2K in 2009 was one of those rare times when a player has a legendary performance.The story of Chris Johnson started at the combine, when he went from a late 2nd round pick to a 1st rounder based on pure speed. He ran a record tying 4.24 in the 40 yard dash, shocking the world. His track background(he got 2nd in the 100M in High School behind an Olympic Bronze Medalist) gave him the start and acceleration that made GMs drool. Since speed is the envy of all in football, this allowed Johnson to get drafted 24th overall.Johnson and his speed did not disappoint his rookie year. He rushed for over 1200 yards and 9 touchdowns, very respectful numbers for a rookie indeed. All eyes were on him going into the 2009 season and if he would continue his success. He did not just continue success, he established himself as one of the most dominant pass catching running backs in the NFL. He cemented his elite RB status in Week 2 against the Houston Texans. From that day forward, he was no longer just Chris Johnson. He was CJ2K.Johnson was a focal point of not just the running game, but the passing game as well.And follow that up with a catch for a touchdownIn the 3rd quarter, CJ2K put on a displayThe Titans lost, but all eyes were on CJ2K, who finished the game with the following stats.That is the definition of filling a box score. The 9 receptions would make any WR happy. A running back doing it is just silly. This performance was good enough forIf you were lucky to get CJ2K on your team, you were a happy camper and it was only going to get better for you. 2009 will be remembered as one of the greatest performances in the modern era for a running back. Just take a gander at his season stats.
Quite an amazing season, tallying 346 points in Standard Leagues with a VBD of 187 (if you are curious, Marion Barber was the 24th best running back that year). Phenomenal numbers for Johnson, who was now forever idolized as CJ2K.
With this season, CJ2K cemented himself in the pantheons of Fantasy Football greatness, carrying that weight for nearly 5 seasons as being mentioned as one of the best of the best. Alas he has slowed down of late, but at any moment he can break out the big play, like running for over 100 with 2TDs in 2015. Though he is no longer an elite player, he will always be CJ2K, because of the 2009 season. Week 2 was the coming out party, and a Great Moment in Fantasy Football History.Microsoft is set to invest around $100 million USD in Rio de Janeiro over the next four years while the opening of its first advanced technology center in Brazil, Agência Estado reports.
The new center will be based in Rio’s port zone, an area known as “Porto Maravilha” due to the vast revitalization process it is undergoing. It will receive support from the Brazilian federal government and from the city hall, although the investment will reportedly come entirely from Microsoft.
As the news agency notes, this represents a much larger investment than the $5 million USD Microsoft fueled into its Sao Paulo R&D hub earlier this year. As a matter of fact, Rio’s center is only the fourth of its kind, following the opening of similar bases in Germany, Israel and Egypt.
According to the news agency, this decision is the result of one year of negotiations with the Brazilian authorities, and is set to be officially announced tomorrow during a ceremony in Brasilia in presence of the Education Minister, Aloizio Mercadante, and the Innovation, Science and Technology Minister, Marco Antônio Raupp. An official event co-hosted by Rio’s mayor Eduardo Paes will also take place at Microsoft’s future site in Rio on Thursday.
As you may remember, Microsoft had already announced in September 2011 that it would start manufacturing Xbox 360 in Brazil to cater to local demand. While it was already a newsworthy move, it is even more interesting to see Microsoft take things one step further; its plans confirm that it is now seeing Brazil as more than a market where to sell its products.
Microsoft aside, the list of tech companies that have recently announced large investments in Brazil includes names such as Lenovo, Foxconn and Cisco – not to mention IBM and GE, which already have research centers in the country.
According to the Brazilian authorities, Microsoft’s decision will now boost this trend, and result in the opening of at least three advanced tech centers by multinational companies in Brazil by 2014, starting with a research hub from Intel.
Image credit: VANDERLEI ALMEIDA / AFP/ Getty Images
This post is part of our contributor series. The views expressed are the author's own and not necessarily shared by TNW.
Read next: Amazon unveils a "Send to Kindle" button for Firefox, and you can install it nowPresident Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE's team of lawyers are looking into potential conflicts of interest for special counsel Robert Mueller Robert Swan MuellerSasse: US should applaud choice of Mueller to lead Russia probe MORE and the investigators he has hired for his probe into Russian election meddling.
The Washington Post and The New York Times separately reported on Thursday that the president's attorneys are examining potential conflicts they could use to undercut or discredit the special counsel investigation.
Among the conflicts of interest they're looking at are investigators' past donations to Democratic political candidates and Mueller's relationship with former FBI Director James Comey James Brien ComeyLook over there! Something shiny!: Democrats seek to distract with Cohen hearing DC bars to open early, offer specials for Cohen testimony Expect little closure on collusion MORE, whom Trump fired in May and who was previously charged with leading the Russia probe, according to the Times.
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Such conflicts of interest, if valid, could be used by an attorney general to remove a special counsel from an investigation, the Post reported.
Trump and his allies have pointed to Mueller's hiring of investigators with histories of donating to Democratic candidates as evidence that the special counsel's investigation is unfair.
They have also said that Mueller's alleged friendship with Comey represents a conflict of its own. Mueller served as FBI director from 2001 until 2013, when Comey took charge of the bureau.
In an interview with the Times on Wednesday, Trump said Mueller has "many other conflicts," though he didn't specify any particular issues.
Trump also left open the possibility that he could eventually fire Mueller and said the special counsel would cross a line if his investigation delves into the Trump family's finances.Nalcor CEO Stan Marshall says the month of intense, eleventh-hour protests has not changed how Nalcor or the provincial government is going to manage the big picture of the Muskrat Falls project.
Marshall says at this point the best thing Nalcor can do is just get the project done.
He says if there’s any way for Nalcor to stop the project and get their money back, he’d seize that opportunity right now, but no one will get their money back. He says all groups need to work together to get the project done with the least cost at this point. He says for anyone with concerns, his door is open.
When it comes to methylmercury concerns, Marshall issued a challenge to anyone with concerns over methylmercury in Labrador.
He says the Churchill reservoir is the largest in Canada – 2300 square kilometres. He says that reservoir is 60 times larger than the Muskrat Falls reservoir and therefore released 60 times the methylmercury into the Churchill River. He asks anyone to point out a documented case of methylmercury health concerns as a result of the flooding of the Upper Churchill Reservoir.
Much Left to be Defined Following Agreement: Marshall
Stan Marshall says he welcomes the agreement reached between the provincial government and Indigenous groups last week, but there’s still plenty up in the air about what will happen regarding the Muskrat Falls project as a result.
Nalcor officials were not present at the meeting. Marshall says that’s because it was a matter between the province and Indigenous leaders and he was in contact with Ministers before and after the meeting. Marshall applauds the people who were at the table for coming to an agreement.
In terms of impact on timelines and costs of the project because of the agreement, Marshall says it’s too early to say.
He says there’s still much left to be defined about what work is required to be done as a result of the agreement.
When it comes to removal of topsoil from the Muskrat Falls reservoir, Marshall says for all they know, it could make the situation worse.
He says it would definitely be more expensive, definitely more delays. He says there’s no evidence to suggest that it would actually improve the methylmercury situation. He says the soil is not going to be removed from Labrador, it’ll have to be piled up somewhere else. He says with the soil then exposed to the elements, it could very well make the situation worse.A woman aged in her 20s has died following a car accident in Co Wexford earlier this afternoon.
A woman aged in her 20s has died following a car accident in Co Wexford earlier this afternoon.
Young woman killed and two others seriously injured in car accident
The accident happened on the N25 at Kilmacree, Wexford this afternoon at around 12.25pm.
The female driver was seriously injured when the car she was driving collided with another. She was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
She was taken by ambulance to Wexford General Hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later.
The male driver and female passenger in the other car, both in their 50s were seriously injured and taken to Wexford General Hospital.
The road was closed to facilitate a Garda Forensic Collision Examination but has since reopened.
Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to this collision to contact them at Wexford Garda Station on 053-916 5200, The Garda Confidential Line 1800 666111 or any Garda Station.
Online EditorsA first-of-its-kind study looking at more than 6,000 languages has found that people from around the world tend to use the same sounds to signify common objects and ideas.
The findings suggest that humans speak a kind of 'universal language', perhaps influenced by biology, and go against a long-standing principle of modern linguistics – essentially, that there is no link between the sounds and the meaning of words.
"These sound symbolic patterns show up again and again across the world, independent of the geographical dispersal of humans and independent of language lineage," says cognitive psychologist Morten H. Christiansen from Cornell University.
"There does seem to be something about the human condition that leads to these patterns. We don't know what it is, but we know it's there."
Christiansen's international team – including physicists, linguists, and computer scientists – conducted a massive analysis of almost two-thirds (62 percent) of the languages in use around the globe today.
Their investigation focused on basic vocabulary in each of these tongues, looking at the words used to describe up to 100 of the most common concepts people everywhere address every day: "dog", "ear", "water", "tooth", "you", and so on.
They found a strong statistical relationship (74 sound–meaning associations) between the common concepts and the vocal sounds people make when referring to them.
In other words, despite the fact that foreign languages can sound totally confusing if you don't understand them, there are actually a lot of similarities if you look closely – at least for the most common words, such as pronouns, body parts, properties ("small", "full") and verbs.
For example, the word for "nose" often involves "neh" or "oo" sounds; the terms for "red" and "round" usually include an "r" sound.
"It doesn't mean all words have these sounds, but the relationship is much stronger than we'd expect by chance," says Christiansen, noting that words for body parts in particular showed an unexpectedly high association between sounds and meaning.
And the associations can be negative too, with the words we use to describe things in different languages showing a common tendency to avoid particular vocal sounds – such as the word for "you", which is unlikely to include sounds involving the letters u, o, p, t, d, q, s, r, and l.
As you may have noticed from that example, English doesn't always obey the rules, and was noted as an outlier in many cases.
It's not the first time scientists have observed a relationship between the sounds of words and their meanings across different languages. But nobody's ever conducted such a huge analysis and shown just how far these commonalities – what's called sound symbolism – actually extend.
The findings – published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – could make some pretty big waves in the scientific community.
A century ago, Swiss researcher Ferdinand de Saussure suggested that there was no relationship between the sounds we make and the meanings we intend, and the idea remains as one of the defining principles of modern linguistic theory.
"Most models for how words come into our lexicon are predicated on this assumption that the sound doesn't tell you anything about what it represents," cognitive psychologist Jaime Reilly from Temple University, who wasn't involved in the study, told Sarah Kaplan at The Washington Post.
"So the really neat thing about this paper is it sort of questions whether that arbitrariness assumption actually holds across all words," he added. "It's going to end up being a very important study."
But why do so many human languages demonstrate these ties to this hidden, universal language of sounds that informs the way we speak?
The researchers aren't themselves sure. They considered it could be the remnant of some form of "prehistoric protolanguage" that was once spoken by the earliest humans before the evolution of modern languages – but their own analysis suggests it's more likely that biology is somehow at play here.
"Perhaps these signals help to nudge kids into acquiring language," says Christiansen. "Likely it has something to do with the human mind or brain, our ways of interacting, or signals we use when we learn or process language. That's a key question for future research."AN Irish family who were apart for a year while their little boy had medical treatment in the US were finally reunited just in time for Christmas.
Cork parents Yvonne Cahalane and John Forde made the decision that Yvonne would relocate to America with their two-year-old son Tristan who suffers from Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy, so he could be treated medically with cannabis oils.
The mum and her brave little boy left their home in Dunmanway for Colorado where Tristan was treated at the Children's Hospital Colorado and since the big move, they say Tristan's seizures have dramatically reduced and he is now three months seizure-free.
C103 4 Yvonne and John with their sons Oscar and Tristan
C103 4 The family in Cork Airport this week
Husband John stayed at home in Cork for work and Tristan's big brother Oscar joined his mum in the US in April.
But this week the entire family was reunited as Yvonne, Oscar and Tristan flew into Cork Airport to a rapturous welcome with all their friends and family - and John got to give his wife and kids a massive hug after months apart.
C103's Cork Today Show were on hand to capture the magic moment all four were back together at last.
Mum Yvonne, who says no family should have to make this decision and is campaigning for cannabis oils for medical use to be made legal in this country, told the Cork Today Show: "It was exhausting but every minute was worth it. I think I'm still in shellshock mode but I'm delighted to see so many friendly faces."
C103 4 Tears as family back together
And Tristan was honoured to turn on the Christmas lights in his native Dunmanway on his return home.
Yvonne paid tribute to their friends and neighbours in their hometown: "They were amazing, they had the fire truck ready to take us with the boys into town and they were all out on the street - it was lovely, it was such a lovely welcome home."
C103 4 Tristan gets a hug from family member
And the popular Cork station had another surprise in store for the family - Cork Today host Patricia Messinger surprised them with Christmas presents and a huge hamper to help make the festive season back at home extra special.
On their Facebook post today, Yvonne wrote: "Thank you everyone @C103fm you've all been wonderful to us. We are delighted & very proud to be home in Ireland. Thank you everyone for all your support. Happy Christmas everyone."On Saturday they announced the finalists for the Hugo Awards. As you are aware by now, Sad Puppies suggested candidates absolutely dominated. I tried to mostly avoid the internet this weekend because it was a holiday better spent with family than hate mail.
This blog post is directed at the newcomers, the fence sitters, the undecided, and the unlucky SMOFs who’ve been caught in the crossfire. There is no need to address my detractors, because they have already repeatedly demonstrated that they’ll just ignore what I actually say and do, and fabricate their own wild and crazy narrative about what I secretly meant to say.
This is going to be get long, but there are a lot of things being tossed around that I need to respond to.
For those of you just joining us, Sad Puppies 3 was a campaign to get talented, worthy, deserving authors who would normally never have a chance nominated for the supposedly prestigious Hugo awards.
I started this campaign a few years ago because I believed that the awards were politically biased, and dominated by a few insider cliques. Authors who didn’t belong to these groups or failed to appease them politically were shunned. When I said this in public, I was called a liar, and told that the Hugos represented all of fandom and that the awards were strictly about quality. I said that if authors with “unapproved” politics were to get nominations, the quality of the work would be irrelevant, and the insider cliques would do everything in their power to sabotage that person. Again, I was called a liar, so I set out to prove my point.
This blog post has details and links to most of the background, history, and fallout from last time: http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/04/24/an-explanation-about-the-hugo-awards-controversy/
Basically, I did what the other side had been doing for years, only in public and with the wrong kind of fans, and everything unfolded just like I predicted it would. Especially vehement was the contingent of fandom that I took to calling Social Justice Warriors. This may offend the No Labels crowd, but oh well, it is what it is. The name has stuck in our culture.
Having proven my point far better than I’d ever hoped, I was going to walk away, but Brad Torgersen is a very idealistic author and fan, and he was inspired to continue the program for another year. All of his explanations are available at this link: http://monsterhunternation.com/2015/01/21/sad-puppies-3-only-a-few-days-to-register-to-vote/
Sad Puppies 1 consisted of me and a handful of blog posts. Sad Puppies 2, more people joined in, we had some fun with it (check the link, we’ve got badly drawn cartoons, videos, and a spokesmanatee), and we made a dent. A handful of nominations damned near caused the apocalypse. Then Sad Puppies 3 was wildly successful beyond all of our expectations.
Now I want to address some of the many concerns I’ve seen voiced over the last few days. I will try to be as honest and direct as possible.
-SP says that they’re fighting back against biased politics by having biased politics.
Yes and no. SP1 was very politically biased because it was just me. SP2 did have a preponderance of nominees on the right side of the political spectrum, again, because that slate was basically my suggested list of stuff that I personally enjoyed. However, ultimately that didn’t matter because the liberals we got noms for were just as attacked and vilified as the rest of us.
SP3 is actually extremely politically diverse. That’s because this time our slate of suggestions was put together by a bigger group of authors and fans, and since Brad was running the show and trying to be all about getting recognition for quality, deserving authors, their personal beliefs were of no concern. Don’t take my word for it. Go through our list of nominees for yourself. You’ll find that we have liberals, conservatives, moderates, and question marks who’ve kept their politics to themselves.
What these authors have in common is that they are good, entertaining, and wouldn’t normally have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting a nomination because they aren’t inclined to kiss the right butts. If you look at our best novel nominees, none of them are conservatives. I was the only one on there who could possibly be described as right wing, and I refused my nomination.
For the record, Brad Torgersen is a moderate. By Utah standards he is a flaming liberal.
As you go through the other categories, you’ll find that we put up many authors and editors who are my polar political opposites, and I’d guess that a majority of them are actually moderate to left on the spectrum.
That’s because Sad Puppies suggestions was about the quality of the work. Not the author’s politics. Anybody who says the SP nominees are a bunch of right wingers is either misinformed, willfully ignorant, or a liar.
-Sad Puppies wants to destroy the Hugos
Not at all. The Hugos were already broken. My people are just the inevitable backlash that happens in any system when the pendulum swings too far in one direction.
For years people have paid lip service to bringing new people into the Hugos. Whenever people complained about the biased, cliquish state of the awards, they were dismissed and told that if they wanted to change things, they should get more people involved in the process.
Okay. Done. Next?
Note, a lot of the anger this week is about how my people are wrongfan having wrongfun, and thus are bad and should be dismissed, blocked somehow, or excluded. That kind of talk only proves my original point that started this all, and really, it is that sort of asinine, outlandish accusations that caused more of the previously apathetic fans to shell out their $40 to get involved too.
I fully admit, and am on record about starting this out of spite. However, it has grown far beyond just one man’s opinions. Brad is fighting to make the awards relevant to more of fandom.
–Okay, many of us agree the Hugos were broken, but Sad Puppies isn’t the way to fix it
That is a valid opinion, and I’ve seen it pop up a lot over the last few days. I really want to address this, because I can’t stress enough that if that’s what you believe, we’re not your enemy.
For years authors have complained about the biased state of the Hugos, the politicking, and the games you needed to play in order to be considered. Most of the grumbling was in private, behind closed doors, and there wasn’t a green room at any con in the country where you couldn’t find authors complaining about the sorry state of things.
But nobody did anything.
Then some cliques started manipulating this small, easily manipulated system. When 40 or 80 nominations was all it took to sway the most prestigious award in the industry, a few whisper campaigns and calling in favors was all it took to secure a spot. Again, many honest WorldCon fans were offended by this behavior.
But nobody did anything.
As time went on, it got increasingly absurd and political. Some once beloved and award winning authors were shunned for their politics, never to be seen at the Hugos again. Editors and companies related to those shunned authors discovered that they too were shunned by relation, regardless of their politics. Campaigns became more public, with “award pimpage” becoming the norm. And the long time SMOFs who took pride in this award were offended.
But nobody did anything.
To my half of fandom, we’d pretty much written the awards off. They’d become a joke. Award winning became a synonym for boring and preachy. The insider cliques just declared that my part of fandom was stupid and didn’t matter anyway, while those who honestly cherished the awards didn’t like seeing their Hugo lose its luster in the eyes of the masses.
But still nobody did anything, and it got worse and worse.
Then several years ago some upstart, minor jackass hack pulp writer (who’d owned a machinegun store and did gun rights lobbying for the Republican party so couldn’t exactly hide his politics) managed to squeak in a Campbell nomination. I got to see how the sausage was made up close and I was stunned by how asinine the process really was.
So I did something.
Now I’m the bad guy. I’m cool with that. Eventually somebody was going to have to do it.
Here’s the thing. This massive upheaval wouldn’t have ever happened if the moderates had done something years ago, but they didn’t. I can’t really say I blame them though. If they took a stand against the perpetually outraged crowd, they risked their career and their reputation. We’re talking about the same angry, entitled twitter mobs that ran off a famous comedian because he might tell a fat joke in the future. Those mobs are quick to outrage, slow to reason, and will turn on their allies, because attacking is what they are programmed to do. And the moderates—those who will admit it—are terrified of ending up on the wrong end of a witch hunt.
Now it is okay to rail against my people for doing what the other side has done in the past, because we’re not going to sabotage anyone’s career or slander you. We actually believe in the concept of free speech and free expression.
We’re getting condemned for bringing politics into the awards, but we all know politics have been in the awards for a long time. We just did it openly.
I never expected us to sweep the awards. Frankly, I was shocked by the results. I didn’t realize just how many regular fans had been turned off for so long.
Now the moderates are telling us we did it wrong, or telling us what we should have done better, but the thing is at least we did something. There’s not exactly an instruction manual for this sort of thing you know.
-All the Sad Puppies people are lying. It isn’t about getting good books recognized, it is about TOPIC X.
Now this is a really hard one to argue against, because X is whatever they want it to be, and it changes constantly. I’ve seen how we’re all angry white straight males (which is why we’ve got like a dozen women in there, the person taking it over is female, I don’t care about anybody’s race, and I have no idea who our nominees have sex with). Yesterday X was about how my fans are motivated by homophobia. The day before X was racism. I’m sure tomorrow we’ll hate the disabled. Who knows? I can’t keep up.
That is all nonsense, but they keep on making new crap up, and the gullible keep swallowing the narrative and regurgitating it all over the internet.
Here is an interesting one for you moderates, SMOFs, and fence sitters to ponder on. Why is it that our own words and actions aren’t to be believed, but anything the other side says about us, no matter how outlandish, is to be accepted?
Over the years I’ve done Sad Puppies, do you know how many fannish blogs, fanzines, and podcasts interviewed me, the guy who started the campaign, about the goals of Sad Puppies?
None.
I can’t think of single one. You’d think with the most controversial thing to happen to the Hugos in forever, somebody would actually want to sit down and interview us and get our side of the story, but nada, zip. Sure, lots of people wrote about it, but it was pretty obvious these fannish journalists didn’t read what I actually wrote, and instead they critiqued Straw Larry, or they quoted other bloggers quoting Straw Larry.
Finally, last month Brad and I were finally asked to do a podcast interview. They tried to be unbiased. They asked us hard questions.
It was fantastic. http://www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com/2015/03/aisfp-289-larry-correia-brad-r-torgersen-sad-puppies/
So I’ve been a little less than patient with some fannish journalists. It has been really interesting to see a few of them who originally hated my guts, watch the foot stompy outrage crowd doing exactly what I said they would, and having those journalists realize that maybe I was telling the truth after all.
On this note, I’d like to extend an olive branch to Mike Glyer at File 770. We’ve gone around a few times, but I’ve got to hand it to him. Recently he’s been fully quoting my side and letting our arguments stand without interpretation. Well done, sir.
-Sad Puppies is mean
We’ve been getting a lot of moderates and SMOF friends reaching out, concerned, because the straw versions of us are very hateful, and it is so very sad that there are sides in fandom, and they are fighting.
That’s nice. Now let me flip this back around. Where were you guys when my people were being libeled, slandered, attacked, and insulted? Did you reach out to the perpetually outraged crowd and urge them to be nice and tell them there shouldn’t be any fighting in fandom, or do you just do that to the side you know won’t sic an angry mob on you?
Do you know the biggest single reason SP3 got more fans involved than SP2? My guess is that it was after the other side moved the goal posts, and danced in the streets about our “humiliating defeat”, and called all those outsiders first time voters stupid homophobic racist sexists and other super gracious acts, and Hugo award winning former SFWA presidents take to Twitter to have all caps rants about how my people are motivated by hate and racism, you shouldn’t be shocked when my people are increasingly motivated.
Just think, if you guys urging peace, love, and harmony now would have reigned in the attack dogs years ago, Sad Puppies would never have existed.
–Sad Puppies BLOCK VOTING is different because it was designed to lock out all other contenders
Nope. And here is a very simple way to tell that simply isn’t true.
Based upon our past performance, how in the world could we know we’d get this much more turn out?
Also, if you look at the suggested slate posts, you’ll note that in some categories we had 5, because we had 5 works that we really liked, and there are 5 slots. In other categories we had less because we didn’t think of 5 in time. We ran with what we thought of. It wasn’t exactly a nefarious master plan.
The year before we’d only gotten half of our novels on. In SP2, I put up 2 works for best novel. Mine (which made it) and Sarah Hoyt’s A Few Good Men (which sadly |
of the bathroom firing his weapons at officers. A SWAT officer was struck in his ballistic helmet. Officers returned fire, killing the shooter.26
Lessons Learned
In San Bernardino and Orlando, law enforcement officers demonstrated professionalism, dedication, and bravery as they confronted terrorists who had committed horrific acts of mass violence and remained a threat to the community and the first responders. Law enforcement officers, immediately upon arrival, formed contact teams, entered the locations, and began an active search to locate, contain, apprehend, or neutralize the terrorist(s), placing themselves in harm’s way to save others. In doing so, they adhered to their training and to best practices in response to an active shooter situation, undoubtedly preventing further violence and saving the lives of critically injured victims. In fact, San Bernardino area law enforcement officers credited their response to the active shooter training they had received prior to the attack. One officer remarked, “Regional and realistic training was invaluable. Training came into play tenfold. We didn’t have to think about how we should do it—we just did it.”27
In the case of the Orlando attack, there was a certain amount of second guessing aired in the media about why police did not move to neutralize the shooter in the bathrooms sooner. It should be stressed, however, that the police responding to the attack followed protocols and best practice for hostage situations. While a debate can be had about whether such protocols should change in the case of standoffs with Islamist terrorists seeking to kill and be killed, it is worth emphasizing that current best practices are designed to avoid the death of hostages and putting police officers in unreasonable danger. Recognizing that the threat of such extremist terrorism represents a continuing, if not growing threat, it may be appropriate to develop specific protocols for hostage events during terrorist attacks.
Police vehicles surround the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016, following the worst terror attack in the United States since 9/11. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Law enforcement leaders in San Bernardino and Orlando acknowledged that they had studied, learned from, and implemented many of the lessons learned from after action reports that had been published following terrorist attacks and other mass public violence events. San Bernardino area command personnel acknowledged that they had rewritten policies, procedures, and practices in light of the response to the case of Christopher Dorner, an ex-Los Angeles Police Department officer responsible for a string of shootings who was killed in a 2013 standoff in the San Bernardino mountains, which was described in a critical incident review authored by the Police Foundation.28 Similarly, Orlando commanders, SWAT leaders, and some patrol officers had reviewed after action reports—particularly those from Columbine, Aurora, Sandy Hook, and San Bernardino—and developed and implemented training scenarios based on the lessons learned. For example, consistent with best practices developed after Columbine, officers are trained to immediately form contact teams, enter the location under attack, and prioritize apprehending, containing, and/or neutralizing the assailant(s).29 Following the actions taken in the Aurora theater shooting, officers were trained to quickly transport critically injured persons in police vehicles if the trauma center was nearby (in Orlando within a few blocks) and if rescue personnel were unavailable or unable to enter the “hot zone.”30 Additionally, officers were instructed to ensure ingress and egress were available for ambulances, fire apparatus, and other emergency vehicles.
Well-defined, well-developed, and practiced protocols have equipped law enforcement leaders and their personnel to perform at high levels in response to active shooter events to date. However, recent IED and active shooter incidents reveal that some traditional practices need to be realigned and enhanced to improve the survivability of victims and the safety of first responders in an increasingly complicated threat environment.31 For example, as demonstrated in San Bernardino and as threatened in Orlando, single or multiple IED events targeting civilians and/or first responders represent an ongoing and growing threat from domestic and foreign individuals and groups.32 In this regard, the Boston Police Department (BPD) is drawing on the U.S. military’s experience with IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan to train its tactical personnel. According to BPD spokesperson Lieutenant Michael McCarthy, “in terms of improvised explosive devices, it is imperative that we train for those types of threats. The [Boston] marathon bombing is a perfect example—the device was of a type widely used in Iraq and Afghanistan, which could very likely be used again in the U.S.”33
Patrol officers, as demonstrated in San Bernardino, Orlando, Paris, and most recently in London,34 are increasingly the first law enforcement personnel to arrive on scene. While significant emphasis has been placed on training SWAT and other tactical units to respond to terrorist attacks,35 recent incidents have demonstrated that the actions taken by patrol and other non-tactical unit officers greatly impacts the outcome of the event. For example, the first officer to reach the worst of the carnage at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris was armed with only a service sidearm. The officer stalled the killing by shooting one attacker, resulting in the detonation of the terrorist’s suicide vest.36 In San Bernardino and Orlando, the first officers to arrive on scene immediately formed contact teams and entered the IRC and Pulse nightclub, respectively to “stop the killing and stop the dying.”37
The presence of IEDs, suicide bombers, and/or hostages suggests that greater emphasis must be placed on providing training for patrol officers arriving on the scene of a terrorist attack. In addition to tactics, training should include decision-making and critical-thinking components in order to strengthen the patrol officer’s ability to conduct a situational assessment and develop and execute an appropriate course of action in highly complex and volatile situations. In this regard, law enforcement agencies should create a stand-alone policy and/or training curriculum that addresses the response to IEDs, suicide bombers, and hostage situations. The policy and training must be consistent with the agency’s use of force policies, procedures, and training as well as its active shooter protocols.38 In developing policies, procedures, and protocols, agencies must recognize that terrorists are specifically looking to target first responders with secondary devices and that the emphasis on taking immediate action to stop the killing and dying may lead to some or all of the initial contact teams being critically injured or killed. Making decisions in how to respond in an increasingly hostile operating environment is neither simple nor easy. Protocols, policies, procedures, and training must be developed before an event happens and with the recognition that terrorists are studying the police response to incidents of mass public violence.39
The terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Orlando, as well as other incidents in the West, have provided a number of additional lessons for police forces in the United States when it comes to command at the scene, communication, equipment, and medical capabilities.
Incident Command
A coordinated command and control strategy is critical as multiple units and/or agencies respond to acts of mass public violence and/or terrorist attacks. Incident command structures facilitate communication, situational awareness, operational coordination, resource allocation, and the delivery of services in chaotic environments. It is critically important to designate an incident commander as soon as practical to direct the initial phase of the response, make personnel assignments, and coordinate resources—many of which may be self-deployed—as they arrive on scene. A command post and staging areas should be established in secure areas that have been swept for IEDs and are protected from the threat. As senior personnel arrive on scene, the command structure should be expanded to include representatives from responding agencies and disciplines as well as specialists from intelligence, SWAT, EOD, Air Support, and so forth.
In addition to focusing on the immediate threat, it is also essential to maintain situational awareness regarding calls for services in other areas of the community. A senior command level officer should be designated to manage operations outside of the event and ensure that resources (either the agency’s or those available through mutual aid agreements) are available to respond to in-progress calls for service. Law enforcement officials must also be prepared to respond to secondary terrorist attacks as demonstrated in the Mumbai (2008) and Paris (2015) attacks. In both of these events, “small, well-armed bands of terrorists [struck] simultaneously and sequentially against multiple soft targets.”40 Regional capacity regarding incident command should be built and strengthened through interagency/multi-discipline protocols and training exercises.
Communication
Both internal and interagency communications during the San Bernardino terrorist attack proved challenging. The volume of police radio traffic limited the availability of radio bandwidth. Also, a number of officers reported difficulty identifying the appropriate radio channel to monitor. Some officers reported radio communication problems inside the IRC because of the buildings’ construction and lack of repeaters to boost signals. Others felt uncomfortable using unencrypted communications to notify co-responding officers of law enforcement sensitive information during the search for the suspects.41 Communications systems, including dispatch, should be load tested, and alternative protocols should be put in place should systems fail during a large-scale hostile incident. Radio discipline should be paramount during these incidents as well. Encrypted communications systems could prove extremely valuable in responding to terrorist incidents, enabling the safe sharing of sensitive information. In addition, the volume of calls from the cell phones of victims, witnesses, family and friends of victims, as well as the shooter himself in Orlando challenged the capabilities of the dispatch center. Orlando Police Communications Center staff was able to utilize their training to prioritize and delegate calls as necessary.
Equipment
Immediate access to, advanced training on, and use of appropriate equipment and technology is key to officer and community safety during mass public shootings and terrorist incidents. Some San Bernardino officers reported that they were ill-equipped to engage such heavily armed assailants. One of the first contact team members stated, “I felt so naked because we didn’t have cover and concealment approaching the building. You know you are outgunned. It is going to be hard to beat an AR [AR-15 semi-automatic rifle] with a handgun, so I knew we needed good shot placement.”42 Adequate personal protective gear, including ballistic helmets and ballistic vests with ceramic plates, should be issued to protect officers from the rounds fired from high-powered rifles, as well as to shield officers from bomb fragments, shrapnel, and shock waves.
Armored vehicles provided protection to officers in San Bernardino and Orlando from rounds fired by the terrorists. In Orlando, a ram affixed to an armored vehicle was used to breach exterior walls for the purpose of rescuing hostages and neutralizing the assailant. EOD resources rendered the secondary device (IED) safe in San Bernardino and were used to search the IRC and the assailant’s SUV. EOD resources were used in Orlando to search the assailant’s vehicle and the nightclub for IEDs as well as in an attempt to breach an exterior wall for the purpose of rescuing victims and neutralizing the assailant.
Tactical Emergency Medical Training and Equipment
Although national law enforcement organizationsl continue to recommend that police departments provide basic tactical medical training and equipment to their officers, many departments still have not made this available. Several of the first responding officers in San Bernardino commented that they were not adequately trained or equipped to provide lifesaving emergency medical care.
During interviews, one SBC Probation Officer stated, “I geared up and tried to give first aid, but our kits were insufficient to treat the wounds.” In contrast, during the Aurora theater shooting, a police paramedic was able to get inside the theater quickly, triage victims, and help extract those who were critically wounded to a “warm zone” where fire department emergency medical technicians (EMTs) were able to treat them.43 In Orlando, officers operating under the threat of IEDs and gunfire, removed severely injured victims and transported them to Orlando Regional Medical Center, which was within blocks of the nightclub, saving numerous lives.44
In 2013, a group of public safety personnel from fire, law enforcement, pre-hospital care, trauma care, and the military convened in Hartford, Connecticut, to develop consensus regarding strategies to increase survivability in mass public shootings.45 Applying lessons learned from military battlefield injuries, the group of experts developed the acronym THREAT to address casualty management during high-threat tactical and rescue operations:
Threat suppression
Hemorrhage control
Rapid Extrication to safety
Assessment by medical providers
Transport to definitive care
Recognizing that IED and active shooter incidents represent an increasing threat of devastating injuries to civilians and public safety personnel, all first responders should be trained and equipped to provide basic lifesaving measures in response to explosive injuries and gunshot wounds.
Conclusion
Islamist and other homegrown extremists develop their plots in secret. Their tactics are constantly evolving, asymmetrical, more violent, and more devastating. They do not fit into traditional law enforcement prevention and response paradigms. Shifting to a law enforcement culture with an acute awareness of the domestic terror threat and the ability to respond will require a tremendous commitment on the part of law enforcement leaders and elected officials at the federal, state, and local level. Terrorist attacks and other instances of mass public violence, including those in San Bernardino and Orlando as well as the Islamic State’s calls for attacks across all of the United States, demonstrate that no community is immune from the threat and that local law enforcement, in particular, must develop strategies that, in the words of former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, “anticipate the next attack—not the last one.”46
Local law enforcement officers, particularly those assigned to routine patrol work, are the most important resource for identifying, preventing, and responding to the threat. Routine patrol work places officers in neighborhoods where terrorists hide, plan, and attack, giving them the opportunity to gather critical intelligence as well as to identify potential threats. In addition to their role in preventing terrorist attacks, patrol and other officers working in non-tactical units must be properly trained and equipped to identify the threat, immediately engage the perpetrator(s), extricate and render aid to victims, assume incident command, and request appropriate public safety resources.
The local law enforcement response to the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and Orlando demonstrated that well-defined, well-developed, and practiced protocols equipped law enforcement leaders and their officers to perform at high levels during these tragic events. Their bravery, professionalism, and dedication saved lives and revealed the character of the nation’s first responders. However, it must be recognized that the threat continues to evolve and become more deadly. Faced with this reality, it is necessary to continuously evaluate the threat environment and ensure that U.S. law enforcement officers are prepared to prevent or respond to the next attack. CTC
Frank Straub is Director of Strategic Studies at the Police Foundation, a non-profit organization that studies ways to improve policing in the United States. Dr. Straub is a 30-year veteran of federal and local law enforcement, having served as the Police Chief in Spokane, Washington; the Public Safety Director in Indianapolis; the Public Safety Commissioner in White Plains, New York; and the New York City Police Department’s Deputy Commissioner of Training. He also served as a member of the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Jennifer Zeunik is Director of Programs at the Police Foundation. She has 20 years of experience working with public safety and non-profit organizations on law enforcement policy and practice. In her current role, Ms. Zeunik oversees the Police Foundation’s Critical Incident Review Technical Assistance projects as well as programs that provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies across the country.
Ben Gorban is Policy Analyst for the Police Foundation’s Critical Incident Review Technical Assistance projects, including the ongoing review of the Orlando Pulse nightclub attack.
Substantive Notes
[a] Aurora Century 16 Theater, Aurora, Colorado, July 20, 2012.
[b] Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newton, Connecticut, December 14, 2012.
[c] Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina, June 17, 2015.
[d] Inland Regional Center, San Bernardino, California, December 2, 2015.
[e] Pulse nightclub, Orlando, Florida, June 12, 2016.
[f] Boston Marathon Bombings, Boston, Massachusetts, April 15, 2013.
[g] Meadows apartment complex, Seelye Kia dealership, and Cracker Barrel restaurant, Kalamazoo, Michigan, February 20, 2016.
[h] The Police Foundation’s critical incident reviews of the San Bernardino and Orlando Pulse nightclub attacks were funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Department of Justice and/or the COPS Office.
[i] Fourteen individuals were killed and 22 wounded in the San Bernardino attack. Forty-nine were killed and 53 wounded in the Pulse nightclub shooting.
[j] According to the federal criminal complaint against Enrique Marquez, Farook arrived at the IRC at approximately 8:48 AM, left an item on the table at approximately 9:05 AM, and left the IRC at approximately 10:37 AM. When law enforcement entered the IRC after the shooting, they found the bag with what was later determined to be an IED.
[k] Although the Rancho Cucamonga Fire District had a fully developed Rescue Task Force (fire medics trained to integrate with a SWAT team to treat and remove injured individuals from a scene), it was not deployed.
[l] The International Association of Chiefs of Police and the President’s Police Physicians Section, the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, and the National Tactical Officers Association have all recommended some version of tactical medical training and equipment for local law enforcement agencies.
Citations
[1] William J. Krouse and Daniel J. Richardson, “Mass Murder with Firearms: Incidents and Victims, 1999-2013,” Congressional Research Service, July 2015, p. 15.
[2] Peter Bergen, United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2016), p. 19.
[3] “Age of the Wolf: A Study of the Rise of Lone Wolf and Leaderless Resistance Terrorism,” Southern Poverty Law Center, February 2015, p. 9.
[4] Rick Braziel, Frank Straub, George Watson, and Rod Hoops, “Bringing Calm to Chaos: A Critical Incident Review of the San Bernardino Public Safety Response to the December 2, 2015, Terrorist Shooting Incident at the Inland Regional Center,” Critical Response Initiative, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2016.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] “Police Under Attack: Southern California Law Enforcement Response to the Attacks by Christopher Dorner,” Police Foundation, 2014.
[8] “Aurora Century 16 Theater Shooting After Action Report for the City of Aurora, Colorado,” TriData Division, Systems Planning Corp., April 2014, available online at the Police Foundation’s Critical Incident Review Library.
[9] Rick Braziel, Devon Bell, and George Watson, “A Heist Gone Bad: A Police Foundation Critical Incident Review of the Stockton Police Response to the Bank of the West Robbery and Hostage Taking,” Police Foundation, 2015.
[10] “After Action Report: Washington Navy Yard September 16, 2013,” Metropolitan Police Department Washington, D.C., July 2014.
[11] “The Attacks on Paris: Lessons Learned—A Presentation of Findings,” Homeland Security Advisory Council and the City of Los Angeles Paris Public Safety Delegation, Prepared by Quinn Williams, LLC, June 2016.
[12] Braziel, Straub, Watson, and Hoops.
[13] “Choice and chance: A gunman enters the Pulse nightclub. Those in his path have only a heartbeat to react,” Tampa Bay Times, June 20, 2016; Gal Tziperman Lotan, Charles Minshew, Mike Lafferty, and Andrew Gibson, “Orlando nightclub shooting timeline: Three hours of terror unfold,” Orlando Sentinel, July 1, 2016.
[14] “Law enforcement source: 202 rounds fired during Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando,” WFTV-Orlando, June 13, 2016.
[15] “Pulse Response Presentation,” Orlando Police Department, 2016.
[16] Lotan, Minshew, Lafferty, and Gibson.
[17] Transcript of calls with suspect 6-12-16, 911 audio.pdf, City of Orlando Pulse Tragedy Public Records.
[18] Transcript of calls with suspect 6-12-16, NEGOTIATION1.pdf, City of Orlando Pulse Tragedy Public Records.
[19] “Pulse Response Presentation.”
[20] Transcript of calls with suspect 6-12-16, NEGOTIATION3.pdf, City of Orlando Pulse Tragedy Public Records.
[21] “Pulse Response Presentation.”
[22] “Pulse Response Presentation.”
[23] “Pulse Response Presentation.”
[24] Lotan, Minshew, Lafferty, and Gibson.
[25] “Pulse Response Presentation.”
[26] “Pulse Response Presentation.”
[27] Braziel, Straub, Watson, and Hoops.
[28] “Police Under Attack: Southern California Law Enforcement Response to the Attacks by Christopher Dorner.”
[29] “With Mass Shootings on the Rise, Law Enforcement Agencies are Updating their Active Shooter Training and Response Tactics Based on Lessons Learned,” Mission Manager, December 17, 2015.
[30] Keith Wesley and Karen Wesley, “Should Trauma Patients be Transported by Police Officers?” Journal of Emergency Medical Services, February 1, 2017.
[31] Department of Homeland Security, Office of Health Affairs, “First Responders Guide for Improving Survivability in Improvised Explosive Device and/or Active Shooter Incidents,” June 2015, p. 9.
[32] Ibid., p. 9.
[33] Dan Atkinson, “BPD to use Mideast conflicts as training to fight U.S. terror,” Boston Herald, March 30, 2017.
[34] Ishaan Tharoor, “A Terrorist Attack in London and the all-too-familiar response,” Washington Post, March 23, 2017.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Adam Nossiter, “Response to Paris Attacks Point to Weaknesses in French Police Structure,” New York Times, December 31, 2015; “The Attacks on Paris: Lessons Learned—A Presentation of Findings.” One of the recommendations in the report was “enhanced counter-terrorism training for patrol officers.” See p. 8.
[37] “How police respond in ‘Active Shooter’ situations,” CNN, November 13, 2015. is forthcoming.clusion and will appear in the Orlando review whichh s forthcomingnc. terrorists have studied the police response
[38] See, for example, Lisa L. Spahr, Joshua Ederheimer, and David Bilson, “Patrol-level Response to a Suicide Bomb Threat: Guidelines for Consideration,” Police Executive Research Forum, April 2007.
[39] Ophir Falk and Henry Morganstern eds., Suicide Terror: Understanding and Confronting the Threat (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009).
[40] Bruce Riedel, “Modeled on Mumbai? Why the 2008 India attack is the best way to understand Paris,” The Brookings Institute, November 14, 2015.
[41] Braziel, Straub, Watson, and Hoops.
[42] Ibid.
[43] “Aurora Century 16 Theater Shooting After Action Report for the City of Aurora, Colorado.”
[44] A.J. Heightman, “How EMS and Fire Processes Must Change During Dynamic and Active Threat Situations,” Journal of Emergency Medical Services, August 1, 2016.
[45] “The Hartford Consensus,” American College of Surgeons, 2013.
[46] Keosha Varela, “Jeh Johnson: ‘We Have to Anticipate the Next Attack, Not the Last One,’” Aspen Security Forum, July 2016.Keep on pedaling
Cadence is a term used to describe the rate at which a cyclist is pedaling. Different cyclists find their efficiency in pedaling at different rates. Looking at the professionals you can see that Chris Froome has an unusually high cadence whilst Nairo Quintana tends to cycle at a much lower cadence. They’re both effective riders despite this difference.
As each cyclist has a preference for the cadence that suits them most. When the gradient of the terrain on which they are cycling changes, they switch gears up or down so that they can maintain it. Getting the gearing wrong can be catastrophic as it causes lost ground and wasted energy.
If the gear is too low, then the cyclist pedals too fast – what is known as spinning – and a lot of energy is consumed for a negligible amount of overall movement. If the gear is too high then the cyclist can find themselves having to push extremely hard to move the pedals – known as mashing – and again, energy is wasted. When you mash going uphill it’s very hard to change gears because you can’t turn the pedals fast enough.
Cadence in software delivery
Similar to the way that cyclists need to discover which cadence is right for them, you as a leader need to define what your cadence of delivery should be for your team, division or department. What sort of projects are you expected to ship and at what frequency? What defines a good quarter or a bad quarter? A good year or bad year?
The right cadence for your department will depend on a multitude of factors, such as the industry that you’re in, the speed of the competition, the way that your software is delivered (e.g. SaaS versus on-premise), and the number of staff that you have. You may also find that the executives at the company have a predefined expectation of how many big launches are expected per year, for example, and how fast other features should iterate.
If you’re new to the company, it’s good to solicit opinions on what is expected. Is it one headline-maker per month, quarter, or year? Are your users expecting increments every week, month, or quarter? How do you plan with longer-term, risky, innovative initiatives that might fail?
Others expect steady cadence
Regardless of what the expectation is for the cadence of delivery coming from your department, I’ve found that there is one very important thing: those outside the department are very sensitive to your cadence changing. Life is more comfortable for everybody when there is a predictable flow of completed projects, rather than a packed quarter followed by a quiet one, followed by an average one.
Now, people aren’t silly: they understand that some features are small when compared to building a whole new product or revamping the entire back end infrastructure. However, having a steady and predictable cadence is important.
Marketing are allowed the time to plan and execute their webinars, advertisements and events. If your output is spaced predictably, they too can predictably plan their time. Too many launches in close vicinity isn’t desirable for market impact: it lessens the individual impression of each launch. A steady cadence makes their pipeline easier to manage and the results of their activities more measurable.
are allowed the time to plan and execute their webinars, advertisements and events. If your output is spaced predictably, they too can predictably plan their time. Too many launches in close vicinity isn’t desirable for market impact: it lessens the individual impression of each launch. A steady cadence makes their pipeline easier to manage and the results of their activities more measurable. Sales rely on the your cadence for their ammunition. Walking into a pitch knowing that the Engineering department is shipping predictably and often is a huge confidence boost. When working on important RFPs, knowing that Engineering will be popping out a steady stream of features during the process can be the deal breaker when you are compared to the competition.
rely on the your cadence for their ammunition. Walking into a pitch knowing that the Engineering department is shipping predictably and often is a huge confidence boost. When working on important RFPs, knowing that Engineering will be popping out a steady stream of features during the process can be the deal breaker when you are compared to the competition. Engineering themselves love a predictable cadence. Your teams know that there will be plenty of times to launch and celebrate throughout the year and to get their teeth stuck into different parts of the system.
You’ll need to ensure that your selection of ongoing and upcoming projects maintains a steady cadence. That means having smaller projects delivering while long-burners tick away, iterations of existing functionality while technical debt is fixed, and that your headline launches are timed well for the benefit of the company.
Maintaining cadence
Categorizing your projects
If you have an idea of what is expected for the cadence of your department, then the next step is to work out what an ideal flow of projects would look like at any given time. These categories of project can be balanced in such a way that you are always shipping something at regular intervals, regardless of whether it is big or small.
Have a look at the categories below. Next to each is an indicator of visibility and size.
Big ticket products and features : These are big, shiny additions to your overall offering. They could be a whole new product or an advanced differentiating feature. These can involve new and uncertain work, and will have a very visible impact if the deadline is missed (e.g. they are to be unveiled at an event, or there is an in-depth marketing announcement planned). These are of high visibility and of large size.
: These are big, shiny additions to your overall offering. They could be a whole new product or an advanced differentiating feature. These can involve new and uncertain work, and will have a very visible impact if the deadline is missed (e.g. they are to be unveiled at an event, or there is an in-depth marketing announcement planned). These are of high visibility and of large size. Iterations on existing functionality: These are incremental improvements to what you already have. This could include new visualizations of existing data, a slicker UX workflow for a part of the application, or a revamp of the login screen. Medium visibility, medium size.
These are incremental improvements to what you already have. This could include new visualizations of existing data, a slicker UX workflow for a part of the application, or a revamp of the login screen. Medium visibility, medium size. Bug fixes and small improvements: Fixing bugs that customers have reported and tweaking what you already have. For example, fixing the format of some data being returned in an API call, making the delete button not occasionally throw an error, fixing a situation where a pop-up can get stuck. Low visibility, small size.
Fixing bugs that customers have reported and tweaking what you already have. For example, fixing the format of some data being returned in an API call, making the delete button not occasionally throw an error, fixing a situation where a pop-up can get stuck. Low visibility, small size. Architectural work: Migrating or redesigning storage, horizontally scaling a previously monolithic process, rewriting an API. These are the long-running initiatives that ensure your future health, but may deliver nothing more than feature parity. Minimal visibility, large size.
Getting the balance right
The exact composition of your teams and the number of important projects will change over time. However, as a leader in Engineering you will need to make sure that the balance is right. There are dangerous situations that you will want to make sure that you don’t get into.
Neglecting work streams, where overall focus is continually biased on some areas resulting in other important streams of work becoming neglected. Not tackling technical debt proactively, which causes big problems down the line that are often much harder to explain to other parts of the company. Going long and thin, wherein a lack of bold decision making – typically being unable to say no – means that you have too many concurrent projects, resulting in them being understaffed and slow.
Let’s look at these in turn.
Neglecting work streams
This is a very easy trap to fall into. Running a SaaS software company requires continual improvement of your application estate. The industry and competition moves fast and, most importantly, your users are used to incremental improvements in other software they use.
Ensure that all areas of your application are revisited for refinement with time. Even better, have enough teams so that all areas have a clear owner, and that they work to KPIs that encourage continual improvement. Ignoring them leads to rot in the form of technical debt.
Technical debt
This must continually be tackled, in all forms: upgrading old infrastructure, redesigning and rearchitecting for scale, and ensuring that code is continually refactored as new code is added. Empower your engineers to be confident enough to estimate tasks so that they can always pragmatically follow the Boy Scout rule.
Also empower your engineers to tell you which parts of the application estate are due an overhaul and why. Make plans to do so while you ship other things. Not only will this work make your application more scalable and prevent future crises, but your staff will be motivated to make a difference if they are the ones suggesting it!
Always, if possible, have technical debt being tackled in some capacity all of the time. Your future depends on it: increasing amounts of technical debt will make new projects even harder to build.
This makes it akin to mashing in our cadence metaphor: the pedals get harder to turn as the hill gets steeper, and it becomes even harder to change gear.
Going long and thin
It’s also very easy to go long and thin. As a leader you will need to practice saying no to incoming demands so that you can keep your projects moving at an acceptable pace. Whilst it can be easy in the short-term to say yes to that extra favour from a client or the CEO, it further dilutes the amount of staff that you have to work on each work stream.
Although this creates the illusion that you are being more effective and working on even more projects, the reality is that you’re just getting them all done much more slowly, becoming more exposed to people being ill or going on holiday, and setting yourself up to apologize for being late down the line.
Too many concurrent projects is akin to spinning in our cadence metaphor: lots of work for not much reward.
A good mix
So consider what a good mix is for you. This will shift depending on the life stage of your company, but regardless, the advice is actually quite simple. At any given time, balance teams producing low visibility work with others producing high visibility work. For teams tackling very large projects, ensure that they are covered by other teams shipping small projects.
When you hit it right, it will feel like your projects are flying out the door all year round. That critical year-long rewrite of your backend is protected by tens of smaller features rolling out. When you hit it wrong, you may appear to ship nothing despite putting a lot of effort in, or you may produce a lot of low impact work whilst ignoring the bigger issues at hand.
In summary
We’ve looked at the idea of cadence of delivery, and how it is important it is to not only ship, but to ship predictably often. You need to balance ongoing priorities and projects, continually tackle technical debt and also be confident in saying no if it makes you oversubscribed.
Where do you stand with your current cadence? Do you feel that you are staying steady, regular and efficient, or are you spinning or mashing? If so, why do you think that is? Was it pressure from others, or was it just down to good or bad planning?Although Titan FC’s Mike “The Greek Assassin” Bronzoulis has competed in such visible promotions as Strikeforce, Legacy Fighting Championship (LFC) and Shark Fights (SF), the majority of mixed martial arts fans – this writer included – were first introduced to the hardnosed heavy hitter during his tenure on Bellator Fighting Championship’s Spike TV-aired reality MMA competition, Fight Master: Bellator MMA.
Bronzoulis entered the competition with a 15-5-1 record, won his qualifying match on the show and aligned himself with Fight Master coach Randy Couture, who worked with him on reconciling his heavy-handed striking style with a grappling approach suited to reinforce it. Their pairing proved fruitful, as Bronzoulis defied viewer presumptions, twice returning from the jaws of defeat to make it to the finale to face former UFC welterweight standout Joe “Diesel” Riggs.
“Everyone I’ve talked to – I get stopped all the time – is like, ‘Man, you had me on the edge of my seat! You showed amazing heart,’” he said during a 20-minute phone conversation we had last week. “I’ve heard a lot of that, you know, and it really means a lot to me. I’ve gotten some pretty good feedback. I was kind of surprised, because I was really hard on myself. I guess I didn’t see what other people saw.”
Leaving the show and going back to his hometown of Houston, Texas, Bronzoulis didn’t initially have the opportunity to dwell on the fact that, though The Louisiana Boxing and Wrestling Commission had previously stated that every fight occurring on the show would factor into the fighters’ pro records, none of those matches thus far have. Now that some time has elapsed, however, he’s grown more vocal about their absence.
“I go by 19-7-1,” he said. “For some reason, they’re not counting my Fight Master fights. I was told those counted, but they’re not showing up on my record.”
Mike Bronzoulis and Joe Riggs faced off at Bellator 106 on November 2, 2013. After three smothering rounds, Riggs had his hand raised and was declared the inaugural (and likely final) Fight Master: Bellator MMA tournament champion, winning $100,000 and a berth in the next Bellator welterweight tournament.
Although he’d forgo the tournament in favor of a juicy UFC contract (recently undone by some shoddy home firearm maintenance), at the time, Riggs was elated.
“It means everything to me,” he said in victory. “It will take care of my family; the one thing I did this for. I’m very thankful and grateful for the opportunity. Mike fought a great fight and he had a back injury coming into this, too.”
That’s odd… How did Riggs, who was in a completely different camp training for the fight and in a completely different team on the show itself, know about Bronzoulis’ back injury?
“I’ve held this in for way too long,” Bronzoulis told me over the phone. “Joe Riggs, we flew home together on the same plane and he was crying in front of my corner, which was Brian Melancon from the UFC, and his corner, the “Ginga Ninja” [Tim Welch] who was on the show. He basically told me that one of my coaches that wasn’t in my corner that night but was there had come to him – this was one of the coaches that was on Fight Master – and told him at the weigh-ins that my back was injured and the extent of those injuries. He told him to target my back and it would go out. Just a few weeks prior to the fight – everyone knows Tito [Ortiz] pulled out because of back and neck injuries – I have the same problem. I |
4. To Souls Distant and Dreaming – 5:39
5. In Deep and Wooded Forests of My Youth – 4:41
6. The Sound of Hunger Rises – 6:03
7. The Sound of a Glinting Blade – 4:52
8. The Sound Which Has No Name – 7:46
Partial running time: 42:57
Act II
1. Reveal Your Shape, O Formless One – 1:35
2. Of Aching, Empty Pain – 8:24
3. Of Gods Bereft of Grace – 6:53
4. Of Strength and the Lust for Power – 6:24
5. Walk with Me, O Winged Mother – 5:54
6. Through Caverns Old and Yawning – 2:19
7. Through Chains That Drag Us Downward – 6:58
8. Toward Truth and Reconciliation – 11:23
Partial running time: 49:48
Total running time: 92:45
Members:
Sam Meador – Vocals, Choir, Piano, Orchestra, Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Accordion, Irish Flute, Mandolin
Matthew Earl – Vocals, Choir, Drums, Orchestra, Flute, Irish Flute, Recorder, Mandolin, Percussion
Brent Vallefuoco – Choirs, Guitars
Ali Meador – Vocals, Choirs
Filetype listened to: MP3
Bitrate: 192 kb/s CBR
Sampling frequency: 44,100 Hz, 2 channelsNATO intelligence reports show that Russian online networks have been focusing their activities on Catalonia in order to make the most of the secessionist crisis there.
The Alliance’s Strategic Communication Center of Excellence (StratCom) has detected a spike in messages relating to Catalan independence by the thousands of automated social media accounts that typically focus on global conflicts where the Kremlin participates actively, such as Ukraine or Syria.
There are networks of 1,000 to 10,000 accounts that coordinate with each other
The center warns that countries like Spain are not protected from this threat.
According to center director Janis Sarts, the ultimate goal of this Russian online activity is not to encourage Catalan independence, but rather to underscore divisions that will weaken the European Union and NATO itself, two organizations that Spain is a part of.
“The basic reason for this activity, really, is to create confusion and aggravate existing problems, not to achieve a result that favors one side or the other,” said Sarts in an interview. “I think it increasingly consists of creating chaos. They are much better at that than at achieving a specific result.”
StratCom is an international military organization whose role is to provide information and produce detailed reports about disinformation coming out of Russia and other countries whose interests may clash with those of the United States and its European allies.
We need to remember that we are the secondary audience or target Janis Sarts, head of NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence
Funding states include Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Britain, Finland, Sweden and France. If Spain were to become a sponsor as well, said center officials, it could devote resources to analyzing and intercepting messages in Spanish, Catalan or any other official language of Spain.
One report dated August 31 showed that between March 1 and this date there were 32,000 messages from 11,600 users that mentioned NATO and Poland or one of the Baltic states. A newer report on “robotrolling” shows that “Russian-language bots create roughly 70% of all Russian messages about NATO in the Baltic States and Poland” and that “overall, 60% of active Russian-language accounts seem to be automated.”
Since September, these same networks have shared messages about Catalonia, a fact that will be reflected in the center’s upcoming reports.
Sarts said that the practice of disseminating and viralizing Russian-language content about foreign crises is aimed at creating the sense that everybody has problems, that the West is full of hypocrisy, and that all governments act in similar ways.
“We need to remember that we are the secondary audience or target here,” said Sarts. “The main audience is in Russia and the reason for that is to legitimize the current elite in the Kremlin and keep them in power.”
On October 27, a NATO representative told news agencies that “Spain is a committed ally who makes important contributions to our common security. The Catalan issue is internal and must be resolved within the Spanish constitutional order.”
Pro-Kremlin websites
Russian state media have used NATO to attack Spain over its management of the Catalan crisis. On October 4, the outlet RT published the following headline: “Why isn’t NATO bombing Madrid for 78 days? – former British diplomat.” The former diplomat in question is William Mallinson, who drew parallels between Catalonia and Kosovo: “the situation is similar in very many ways,” he was quoted as saying.
This is a clear-cut case of RT’s manipulative use of information: Mallinson is a regular source for RT and a scholar from the little-known online Romanian university of Guglielmo Marconi who served in diplomatic positions as under-secretary in posts such as Nairobi. Mallinson, who regularly opines on RT about everything from refugees in Germany, the Syrian conflict, the war in Ukraine or the Greek government, would be considered a questionable source by any serious news outlet.
These and other stories, such as the one claiming that 12 countries support the creation of a new Catalan state, represent the first step in the Russian interference process, according to the NATO communications center.
Once the stories are published on pro-Kremlin outlets such as RT and Sputnik, the process moves to the second phase, which involves amplifying the information using real and automated online accounts. Both the NATO center and the EU’s East Stratcom Task Force believe that between 70% and 80% of the viralization of this content is a result of interaction by these automated accounts.
Sarts explained that these networks can be rented out: “Behind them there are what we could describe as actors with ties to states that control some of these bot networks. They can be networks of 1,000 or 10,000 accounts that basically coordinate with each other or which are ordered to coordinate.”
The big problem in terms of fighting this disinformation, according to a NATO report from November, is that Facebook is the world’s largest social media network, and many of its interactions are private. This means that analysts can only view public pages and groups, which represent the tip of the iceberg, notes the report. Besides, the Russian online scene is dominated by other platforms such as VK, Odnoklassniki or MoiMir, which have a collective 180 million users.
English version by Susana Urra.Julia Davis Park is a municipal park in the downtown region of Boise, Idaho. Created in 1907 with a land donation from Thomas Jefferson Davis, it is the first park in the "String of Pearls", the group of parks operated by the Boise Parks and Recreation Department that are located along the Boise River. Being centrally located in Boise, the park contains several prominent sites, including museums such as the Boise Art Museum, the Idaho Historical Museum, and the Idaho Black History Museum, as well as other attractions like Zoo Boise, the Idaho Rose Society, and the Gene Harris Band Shell. The Boise River Greenbelt runs through the park, which is bordered by Broadway Avenue to the east, Capital Boulevard to the west, the Boise River to the south, and Myrtle Street to the north. Other amenities at Julia Davis Park include river access, statues, a rose garden, a playground and tennis court, a pond with paddle boat rentals, and a pedestrian bridge that connects the park with Boise State University.
History [ edit ]
Julia Davis Park has its roots in the 1862 journey of two orphans, Thomas and Frank Davis, who traveled to the Boise area from Cincinnati, Ohio, with hopes of joining in the widely publicized gold rush in the Idaho Territory. The brothers staked a claim and mined for a year, before building a cabin in 1863 on the Cottonwood Creek near the site of the present Julia Davis Park. On July 4, 1863, Fort Boise was established and shortly after, the Davis brothers along with seven friends met in the Davis' cabin and planned the formation of the City of Boise. According to one of the friends, William Lowery Ritchie, “in the summer of 1863 the soldiers came and established the garrison; that was sometime early in July. It was about that time we met in our cabin and formed a town co.” [2] Thomas Davis came to play a pivotal role in the development of Boise as a city and sought to help attract visitors and pioneers to the valley. With his mining claim being less than profitable, Davis turned to the promotion of agriculture by planting 7,000 apple trees on his land along the Boise River. Additionally, he started buying up land in the valley from the United States land office, receiving Cash Certificate No. 1 for 160 acres (0.65 km2) in 1868 when the first land office opened up.[3] Within several years, Davis went on to purchase the first water rights in the valley, as well as an additional 1,150 acres (4.7 km2) from the federal government along the foothills and where the town of Garden City was developed. In 1871, Davis married Julia McCrumb, who had travelled to Boise from Ontario, Canada, to visit family in 1869.
Near the end of the century, in 1899, the Davis couple offered a section of their orchard lands for use as a park, but the city was hesitant to act on this offer. They again offered a deed for a park in February 1907. Finally, after the death of Julia Davis in September, presumably from typhoid, the city paid one dollar to Thomas Davis as he deeded 40 acres (160,000 m2) acres of land to the city in memory of his wife in November 1907. He required that the land be utilized for public purposes and that the park would be “always and forever” known as Julia Davis Park. Davis enforced this by including in the deed a stipulation that the land would return to the Davis heirs if the property were ever used for any other purpose. The next year, in 1908, Davis died the morning after a much anticipated Damrosch concert. His death was a sad event to the many Boiseans who attended the funeral and respected the couple's philanthropy.
In the decade following Davis's death, the city worked to improve the park and upgrade the land by adding walls, planting vegetation, and creating a general development plan with the help of Arthur L. Peck in 1912. In 1916, the Boise Zoo, now known as Zoo Boise, was created when a monkey was found in the desert near Mountain Home.[4] During the next decade, the park expanded with a series of land donations from the Davis estate in 1922, 1929, 1931, and 1932. During this time, a bandshell was built in the park in 1928, and the Boise Zoo expanded in 1929. In 1931, the Morrison-Knudsen Company built the Capitol Boulevard Memorial Bridge next to Julia Davis Park. As the economy improved following the Great Depression, Julia Davis Park saw the dedication of a rose garden in 1939, and the expansion of the park to its current borders from Capitol Boulevard to Broadway Avenue in 1940 and 1941.
Meat rationing as a result of World War II occurred also in 1941, which put away meat-eating animals in Zoo Boise. In 1950, the Idaho Historical Museum was established on the park grounds, and Union Pacific donated Engine 2195, called "Big Mike", to Julia Davis Park in 1959. In 1966, the city began developing the Boise River Greenbelt, and in 1972, the Boise Gallery of Art underwent an expansion. The Bob Gibb Friendship Bridge was built to connect the greenbelt, as well as the park, with Boise State University across the river in 1980. The Idaho Historical Museum grew in 1982, and in 1986, the Gallery of Art was renamed the Boise Art Museum during a renovation. By 1997, the art museum expanded to 34,800 square feet (3,230 m2). A year later, the Idaho Black History Museum was established in the Old St. Baptist Church in 1998. In 2002, Jerry Snodgrass created a statue memorializing pioneers to the Boise area such as Julia Davis. A century after the park was established, a Centennial Celebration took place on June 23, 2007, and the city began a “Second Century” campaign to improve the park.[5]
Sign above Julia Davis Park entrance
Idaho Black History Museum [ edit ]
The Idaho Black History Museum
Nestled next to the historic Julia Davis Park lies the Idaho Black History Museum. Built in 1995, the museum is the oldest black history museum in the Pacific Northwest. Being so, the museum, as well as Julia Davis Park, proves Idaho's rich foundation of history, diversity, and “reinvention”. Contributing activities, events, and information, the Idaho Black History Museum is a vital contributor to Julia Davis Park and all of Boise.
Zoo Boise [ edit ]
In 1916, a circus traveled through Mountain Home. During the stop, a monkey escaped from captivity and was finally found in the Mountain Home Desert, long past the circus's departure. Boise being the home for the newfound monkey, a Boise Zoo was then founded. Zoo Boise draws many visitors to Julia Davis Park.[4] In 2008, Zoo Boise opened a $2.8 Million African Plains exhibit which includes a new African Village, three small exhibit areas (housing rock hyrax, weaver birds, and lemurs), and two large exhibit areas (housing African lions, striped hyenas, giraffes, zebras, amur leopard, snow leopard, penguins, red pandas, and tigers). A Primate Building as well as an aviary stands between these two exhibits.
Break-in at Zoo Boise [ edit ]
On November 17, 2012, two men wearing dark clothing broke into the zoo, killing a patas monkey. A security guard observed the men around 4:30 AM near the primate exhibit. Both men fled, while one went into the interior of the zoo. Police couldn't find the suspects, only finding a grey baseball cap. Zoo officials say that they have no security cameras in the entire zoo. The zoo remained closed until 2:30 PM, reopening normally the next day.
Michael J. Watkins, age 22, of Weiser, Idaho, was subsequently arrested for the crime. Officials allege that while Watkins was attempting to steal the monkey, he was bitten by it. In response, Watkins killed the monkey by bashing its head and neck with a tree branch.[6]
Rose Gardens [ edit ]
The addition of a rose garden to the park originated with H.C. Schuppel in 1935, a chairman of a rose garden club called the "Cut Worms." Work on the project began in earnest in 1939 with a total of 2800 roses planted (some from Villa Nurseries in Portland, Oregon). It was also in this year that the Rose Garden was officially dedicated. A key development came later in 1979 with the establishment of the Memorial Rose Fund. This fund was intended to help create memorials in the garden for friends and family members. National recognition was given to the Rose Garden in 1992 when it received its Public Rose Garden accreditation. As a result of this, 10 bushes of All American winners are given to the Garden yearly. The Garden is also often the site of wedding ceremonies.
Julia Davis Rose Garden
Idaho State Historical Museum [ edit ]
The Idaho State Historical Museum, founded in 1907, is operated by the Idaho State Historical Society. It contains exhibits on Native American, Basque, and Chinese culture.
Discovery Center of Idaho [ edit ]
Next to Julia Davis' pond lies the Discovery Center of Idaho, completed in 1988. Its stated mission is to inspire lifelong interest and learning in science, technology, engineering and math.[7]
Boise Art Museum [ edit ]
Founded in 1931 as Idaho's premier art association, the Boise Art Museum provides an epicenter for Boise's art scene. Along Julia Davis Park, the BAM organizes the appearance of fine art that would otherwise pass from the communities eyes. Each year, with assistance from Boise's local art scene, cooperative government, and Idaho Parks and Recreation Department, the Boise Art Museum hosts “Art In the Park” in Julia Davis Park. An event to bring about Boise's local art scene and locally owned businesses, assisting visitor numbers to Julia Davis Park.
Bandshell [ edit ]
Located inside of Julia Davis Park is the Gene Harris Bandshell. Playing multiple free concerts for the park visitors and bringing musical culture to the people, the Gene Harris bandshell was initially built in 1928 and dedicated to Gene Harris in 2001. Some infamous concerts at the bandshell include, The Velvet Underground, the Wailers, Pete Seeger (October 6, 1968), and the Boise City Band (August 15, 1948).
Gene Harris Bandshell
Future plans [ edit ]
Plan for a Julia Davis River Node
Projects underway in Julia Davis Park include a new “Grand Plaza” for large events and gatherings, a history walk amongst several new pavilions, the addition of four new river nodes, and a new “Golden Apple” interactive history tour. The Grand Plaza is planned to take the form of a broken circle centered on a bronze medallion inset into the pavement and is intended to provide social and operational space. Five new or refurbished pavilions will be built to provide a picnic area, concert center, and gathering space. Each of the five river nodes is intended to bring out the beauty and reflective nature of Boise's wildlife, brush, and river. The nodes will be centered on a pedestal made of stained steel and copper and will have information on the park's history. There will be a history walk linking the different sites with historical information, and a “Quest for the Golden Apple” which will have thirteen stops with information on Idaho history and nature.
Gallery [ edit ]
Julia Davis Pond
A family walking in Julia Davis Park
Fencing in Julia Davis Park
Carousel in Zoo Boise
Stream in Zoo Boise
The Friendship Bridge connecting Julia Davis Park with the Boise State University campus
The Idaho Historical Museum
Statue of Julia Davis
The Boise Art Museum
A plan for new pavilions in Julia Davis Park
Master plan for Second Generation Julia Davis Park
Second Generation plan for Julia Davis Park grandplaza
See also [ edit ]Torah scrolls and other Judaica plundered from an ancient Damascus synagogue are being held by an Islamist group inside Syria, which is demanding the release of prisoners captured by the Assad regime in return for the items, The Times of Israel has learned.
Reports on the destruction and looting of the millennia-old Jobar synagogue in Damascus emerged as early as March, but those responsible for the theft have never been clearly identified, as government and opposition forces traded accusations.
The Jobar synagogue — said to be 2,000-years-old — was built on the site where the prophet Elijah is said to have concealed himself from persecution and anointed his successor, Elisha, as a prophet. It was badly damaged in March by mortars reportedly fired by Syrian government forces; some reports say the building was destroyed.
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A source involved in negotiating for the release of the Judaica items and their extraction from Syria, speaking to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the objects were being held inside Syria by a group affiliated with the Al-Nusra Front, an Islamist organization associated with al-Qaeda and defined as a terrorist organization by the US. He said the stolen items include at least three or four Torah scrolls as well as ancient Jewish scrolls and silverware.
“They took everything they could get their hands on,” the source said. “They want prisoners held by Assad [in exchange for them].”
Only a handful of Jews remain in Syria as a remnant of an ancient community which numbered 4,000 as late as 1992.
Syrian rebels accused the government in March of looting the synagogue before burning it to the ground, allegations the regime vehemently denied.
An inscription in English at the synagogue reads, “Shrine and synagogue of prophet Eliahou Hanabi since 720 B.C.,” although the actual date of founding is disputed. One of the earliest mentions of the synagogue is in the Talmud, which states that Rabbi Rafram bar Pappa prayed there. The rabbi died in 375.
Another inscription, in Arabic, said it was the tomb of Al-Khidhr, held in some Islamic traditions to be a prophet who traveled with Moses.
JTA and Yoel Goldman contributed to this report.Pope Francis has said it is acceptable for parents to hit their children if they have misbehaved.
Pope Francis has said it is acceptable for parents to hit their children if they have misbehaved.
It's alright for parents to hit bold children, says Pope
He made the remarks in front of his weekly general audience of thousands in St Peter's Square in the Vatican on Wednesday.
The Pope recalled a conversation he had with a father, who told him that he sometimes strikes his children to punish bad behaviour.
Pope Francis recalled: "One time, I heard a father say, 'At times I have to hit my children a bit, but never in the face so as not to humiliate them.'
Dignity
"That's great. He had a sense of dignity. He should punish, do the right thing, and then move on."
The surprising comments are the latest in a series of controversial remarks.
Last month, Pope Francis suggested that those who insult another person's religion should expect a violent reaction.
He made the statement in relation to the Paris 'Charlie Hebdo' attacks, stating that if someone insulted his mother, he could expect a "punch" in the face.
Speaking on board the papal plane, he said freedom of expression had its limits.
Last night, a leading children's rights campaigner described the Pope's latest comments as "not appropriate" and "out of step".
Senator Jillian van Turnhout said: "I would ask him to talk to parents and re-look at what message he is giving out.
"Because for me, it is very out of step with the understanding that we now have.
"The message he's sending to parents is not appropriate.
"I think we should be helping parents, supporting parents, but we build that by giving them good ways that they can raise their children."
She added: "I'm Catholic, and for me it's about forgiveness, it's about tolerance.
Ms van Turnhout previously called for a ban against chastising children, which is still permitted here.
"In Ireland, we still allow reasonable chastisement either by parents or if you're minding up to three children. I certainly think it should be banned.
"One hundred years ago you were allowed to hit your wife, your child and your dog. You're still allowed to hit your child."
The chief executive of the Children's Rights Alliance, Tanya Ward, who supports such a ban, added: "Human rights law is very clear. Children are to be protected from all forms of harm."
Irish IndependentRebecca Reider was cleared of all charges at the Nelson District Court in March 2016 relating to the importation of a medicinal marijuana product.
A woman is claiming victory after bringing a bag of cannabis through customs at Auckland Airport - without so much as a raised eyebrow.
Rather than concealing the drug supply, Rebecca Reider said she happily showed off her haul of one ounce of medicinal marijuana, which has now been hailed by cannabis campaigners as an historic precedent.
Reider, a Californian-born Nelson resident, said she was excited to be the first person to legally bring raw cannabis flower into New Zealand.
"We've made history," she said. I'm the first person to possess marijuana in its natural form since the Misuse of Drugs Act was passed. It's huge."
READ MORE
* No plans to close medicinal cannabis loophole, says Peter Dunne
* Differing sentencing for medicinal cannabis 'an injustice'
* Sir Paul Holmes turned to cannabis for pain relief, widow reveals
* Takaka woman's use of cannabis to treat MS 'topical'
* Golden Bay woman wins legal victory for medicinal cannabis
"It's long overdue. It's one small step on the road to a compassionate medical system here. I'm going to keep fighting for everyone else to have access because I realise not everyone can hop on a plane overseas."
The cannabis flower and cannabis oil was prescribed to her by a doctor in Hawaii for her chronic pain, she said.
She had hatched the plan months earlier and described it as a "relief" to get back through customs on Friday without incident.
"It was all very straightforward," she said.
Legally people are allowed to bring medicinal marijuana into New Zealand.
The "loophole" law means anyone entering the country can lawfully carry with them a one-month supply of medicinal cannabis or cannabis-related product, as long as it was legally prescribed by a medical practitioner overseas.
Reider said her next step was working with others to set up a how-to guide for others going overseas to get prescription cannabis.
"We've got to keep fighting for a right to access it. Our ultimate goal is to make it legal and accessible right here on New Zealand soil for everyone who can benefit from it."
Activist and documentary maker Arik Reiss posted photos of Reider getting through customs in a wheelchair, smiling and holding a jar full of cannabis.
Reiss described it as "a huge victory for patients and progress as a whole for NZ".
The head of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml) Chris Fowlie said the situation could help pave the way for more Kiwis to bring legal cannabis into the country.
Fowlie said he was impressed that Reider took a stand on the issue.
"This is the first time that someone has done it in an open upfront way," he said.
"I'm sure others have brought the cannabis with them... I think it was very brave of Rebecca. Good on her. And good on Customs for not being d..ks over it."
Associate Health Minster Peter Dunne said in March this year that it was "potentially possible" to bring a medicinal cannabis product prescribed overseas for their own use for a maximum of one month, without repeat.
He said he had no intention to change that "loophole".
"That has been in the law for over 40 years, and applies to all medicinal products, not just cannabis related products," he said.
Dunne said any importation of a cannabis-related product would be subject to border control requirements but that it will not be possible to bring in raw cannabis as it is prohibited by law.
Reider, 37, appeared in Nelson District Court in March facing criminal charges including importing medicinal cannabis products and another five charges relating to possession. She was discharged without conviction.
Reider said at the time she was hugely relieved, and said it felt like a significant win for the right to medicinal cannabis.
Speaking on Monday, Reider's lawyer Sue Grey hoped her success bringing raw cannabis through customs would shine new light on many New Zealanders' poor access to medicinal cannabis.
"It's fantastic customs are now recognising the law and allowing people to bring medicine into the country but I remain really concerned for people who are too poor or too sick to go overseas for it.
"Peter Dunne says he's waiting for evidence... the fact that something is improving pain or removing nausea is evidence."Hello everyone!
Welcome to this week’s Community Round-Up. Every week, we highlight some of the most interesting discussions in the community as well as player-created events happening on certain servers in The Old Republic™. While most of these discussions occur on our forums, we also try to look at what people are saying about Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ on other sites whenever we can. This week we have added a new section to the Round-Up focusing on discussions taking place on the SWTOR subreddit on Reddit. Please feel free to nominate discussions found on the subreddit along with your favorite forum threads and server events!
If you have suggestions for next week’s Round-Up, please nominate them in this thread. Please remember the Community Round-Up blog is meant to highlight interesting, productive discussions and server events - not the most talked about forum threads.
Let’s get started!
Server Events
Get to know the community on your server by participating in player-created events. Below are some occurring this week! Be sure to check out the Server Forums to find other events happening on your server.
[Corellian Run] Open World PvP - Tatooine / 05 Aug / 8 PM Eastern : “Outlaw's Den, 05 Aug, 8 PM EST”
“Outlaw's Den, 05 Aug, 8 PM EST” [Prophecy of the Five] <The Fight Club> Hosting Sunday or Friday Fight Night. Feedback preferred! : “<The Fight Club> has decided to Host either a Friday Night or Sunday Night Bi-Weekly 3v3 tournament on Tatooine in the outlaws den. So what we are asking is, which day would best suit the community and during what hours. As of now we determined that Sunday Night at 7:30 pm CST would be for the best. Let us know what you think.”
“<The Fight Club> has decided to Host either a Friday Night or Sunday Night Bi-Weekly 3v3 tournament on Tatooine in the outlaws den. So what we are asking is, which day would best suit the community and during what hours. As of now we determined that Sunday Night at 7:30 pm CST would be for the best. Let us know what you think.” [Jung Ma] Alpha Company Party!: “Alpha Company will be hosting a grand party at the Slippery Slope Cantina to celebrate our success on the planet Ilum. The cantina is located on Nar Shaddaa, and it will remain strictly RP (PvP is impossible in there). Drinks and food are on the house! The party will start Wednesday, August 1st at 8pm EST.”
SWTOR Subreddit
We are adding a new section to the weekly Round-Up highlighting some of the interesting posts on the SWTOR subreddit on Reddit. If you haven't visited this subreddit before, it's another great place to learn new things from other players and to discuss The Old Republic.
Forum Round-Up
If TOR was a movie, who'd play as your character?: Thanks to MrSchmo for this nomination! In this thread, tell us which actors or actresses would play your character in a hypothetical SWTOR movie.
Kawiki: “Sage - Kristen Bell”
Clipperson: “male inquisitor (light-sided) = Edward Norton”
Planet suggestion thread: Thanks Vitas for this nomination! Now that Makeb has been revealed at E3, Vitas has put together a list of planets (complete with Wookieepedia links!) and asks the community which ones they would like to see in The Old Republic. Some of your answers included:
Darthsteel: “Bespin:PvP warzone
Commentor:vote as a new planet
Dathomir:vote as a new planet
Endor:PvP world
Geonosis:PvP arena warzone
Kamino:vote as a new planet
Kashyyyk:vote as a new planet
Mandalore:vote as a new planet”
Commentor:vote as a new planet Dathomir:vote as a new planet Endor:PvP world Geonosis:PvP arena warzone Kamino:vote as a new planet Kashyyyk:vote as a new planet Mandalore:vote as a new planet” SamuelAU: “I would really love to go to Dantooine and Kashyyk.”
Please Note: Below contains SPOILERS for the story of The False Emperor Flashpoint.
Solo HM Darth Malgus: A truly impressive feat, Chaori was able to solo hard mode The False Emperor. Chaori now plans on soloing every hard mode Flashpoint boss. Post in the thread to recommend who Chaori should slaughter next or shower them with praise. Rafaman: “Nicely done!!!! Damn dude... I'm going to need to get to work now. TBH, I didn't think it was possible.”
AshlaBoga: “I thought soloing the Ancient One on Taris (level 38 World Boss) was a decent fight. But I can't imagine putting 3 hours into it! Geez you really wanted to see if it was possible. K I'm going to go try to solo some stuff now (probably HM BT) you've inspired me”
SWTOR Animated Series: Exen has posted this amazing video about “the Galaxy’s unsung heroes: The Vendors.” Dealing with wannabe Siths is harder than it looks.
Exen: “I'm a big fan of The Old Republic timeline since you can really tell any story in it, so I decided to tell the story of the Galaxy's unsung heroes: The Vendors. It’s like Clerks with more lightsabers. Hope you guys like and share it so we can make more”
Which romance is best written?: Halinmonk asks the community which romance arc is the best. Some of your answers included:
Pubsam: “Oh I love the power dynamic in the Trooper/Jorgan romance. So many possibilities. That I won't mention.”
WickedDjinn: “My fav is Vette with a darkside character. Keep in mind that, IMO the relationship only makes sense from a writing standpoint if played a certain way. For instance, if your a complete chaotic psychopath it doesn't really gel. But if you play more along the lines of a ruthless warrior who still maintains *some* sense of honor, who doesn't commit violence for no reason, a leader rather that a random force of destruction, the relationship is quite plausible.”
Thank you for all of the fun and interesting discussions this week! There are many other great conversations happening in the forums that are not on this list so be sure to look around. Please don’t forget to nominate your favorite threads and events for next week’s Round-Up by posting here![Thierry Legault] doesn’t just look up at the stars, the uses a motorized telescope base of his own making to track and photograph secret objects orbiting the earth. What do we mean by ‘secret objects’? Spy stuff, of course.
Last month he captured some video of the X-37B, an unmanned and secretive reusable spacecraft (read: spy shuttle) which is operated by the United States Air Force. That was back on the 21st of May but a few nights later he also saw the USA-186, an optical reconnaissance (Keyhole) satellite.
After trying to cope with manual tracking using the RC control seen above [Thierry] set out to upgrade his equipment. He ended up designing his own software package (and then released it as freeware) to automatically track the trajectory of orbiting objects. He uses a second telescope to locate the object, then dials it in with the bigger telescope. Once in frame, the software takes over.
[Wired via Dangerous Prototypes]Brill’s book grew out of a 2009 New Yorker article about New York’s “rubber rooms,” where some 600 teachers facing disciplinary review had languished, for three years on average, collecting full salaries and accruing pension benefits as their cases snaked through the labyrinthine, contractually mandated system for terminating employees. Although these men and women represented a minuscule fraction of the city’s 89,000 teachers (and the rubber rooms have since been closed), Brill rightly argues in “Class Warfare” that rules for dismissing ineffective or even grossly negligent teachers are sometimes absurdly onerous, time consuming and costly to many schools. As he notes, even Albert Shanker, for decades the renowned president of the American Federation of Teachers, used to argue that unions had a vested interest in ridding their ranks of incompetence. Still, until the country’s recent economic collapse, New York’s problem wasn’t just getting rid of teachers; it was also retaining them. Roughly 20 percent quit after their first year alone, and 40 percent after just three years in the system.
Yet Brill wants us to believe that unions are the primary — even sole — cause of failing public schools. But hard evidence for this is scarce. Many of the nation’s worst-performing schools (according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress ) are concentrated in Southern and Western right-to-work states, where public sector unions are weakest and collective bargaining enjoys little or no protection. Also, if unions are the primary cause of bad schools, why isn’t labor’s pernicious effect similarly felt in many middle-class suburbs, like Pelham, N.Y., or Montclair, N.J., which have good schools — and strong unions?
More problematic for Brill’s thesis, charter schools, which are typically freed from union rules, haven’t succeeded in the ways their champions once hoped. A small percentage are undeniably superb. But most are not. One particularly rigorous 2009 study, which surveyed approximately half of all charters nationwide and was financed by the pro-charter Walton Family and Michael and Susan Dell Foundations, found that more than 80 percent either do no better, or actually perform substantially worse, than traditional public schools, a dismal record. The study concluded that “tremendous variation in academic quality among charters is the norm, not the exception.”
Photo
Brill obliquely refers to such research in half a sentence. He then counters that other studies have shown better results for charters, without clearly indicating what these studies are or explaining why they should trump a comprehensive, national study. He then points to the “central evidentiary value” of the Knowledge is Power Program, KIPP, the chain of roughly 100 charter schools, founded by two Teach for America alumni, that has produced consistently high student test scores and become a media darling. Yet such exceptions to the rule still don’t explain why, if unions are the crucial variable, a vast majority of charters haven’t equally thrived.
At the heart of Brill’s book is a belief that “truly effective teaching” can “overcome student indifference, parental disengagement and poverty.” For too long, Brill’s reformers argue, union leaders have used such factors to excuse failing teachers protected by tenure. Certainly many adults, not just those in unions, have written off economically disadvantaged or minority students far too readily.
Brill cites policy advocates who argue that students who have top quartile teachers several years in a row could (at least theoretically) make remarkable gains. Absent other proven criteria for determining the most effective teachers, these reformers conclude that schools should base hiring, firing and promotion decisions |
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MP3 Decoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,mp3dmod.dll,6.01.7600.16385
Mpeg4s Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,mp4sdecd.dll,6.01.7600.16385
WMV Screen decoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,wmvsdecd.dll,6.01.7601.17514
WMVideo Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,wmvdecod.dll,6.01.7601.17514
Mpeg43 Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,mp43decd.dll,6.01.7600.16385
Mpeg4 Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,mpg4decd.dll,6.01.7600.16385
DV Muxer,0x00400000,0,0,qdv.dll,6.06.7601.17514
Color Space Converter,0x00400001,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.1771 3
WM ASF Reader,0x00400000,0,0,qasf.dll,12.00.7601.17514
Screen Capture filter,0x00200000,0,1,wmpsrcwp.dll,12.00.7601.1751 4
AVI Splitter,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
VGA 16 Color Ditherer,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
SBE2MediaTypeProfile,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7 601.17528
Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder,0x005fffff,2,4,msmpeg2vdec.dll,6.01.7140.0 000
AC3 Parser Filter,0x00600000,1,1,mpg2splt.ax,6.06.7601.17528
StreamBufferSink,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601. 17528
Microsoft TV Captions Decoder,0x00200001,1,0,MSTVCapn.dll,6.01.7601.1771 5
MJPEG Decompressor,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.1 7713
CBVA DMO wrapper filter,0x00200000,1,1,cbva.dll,6.01.7601.17514
MPEG-I Stream Splitter,0x00600000,1,2,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
SAMI (CC) Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
VBI Codec,0x00600000,1,4,VBICodec.ax,6.06.7601.17514
ATI MPEG File Writer,0x00200000,1,0,atimpenc64.dll,12.05.0000.20 928
ATI MPEG Video Decoder,0x00200000,1,2,atimpenc64.dll,12.05.0000.2 0928
MPEG-2 Splitter,0x005fffff,1,0,mpg2splt.ax,6.06.7601.1752 8
Closed Captions Analysis Filter,0x00200000,2,5,cca.dll,6.06.7601.17514
SBE2FileScan,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601.1752 8
Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,msmpeg2enc.dll,6.01.7601.17 514
Internal Script Command Renderer,0x00800001,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
MPEG Audio Decoder,0x03680001,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
DV Splitter,0x00600000,1,2,qdv.dll,6.06.7601.17514
Video Mixing Renderer 9,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Microsoft MPEG-2 Encoder,0x00200000,2,1,msmpeg2enc.dll,6.01.7601.17 514
ATI MPEG Audio Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,atimpenc64.dll,12.05.0000.2 0928
AMD MJPEG Decoder,0x00800001,1,1,atimpenc64.dll,12.05.0000.2 0928
ACM Wrapper,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Video Renderer,0x00800001,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
MPEG-2 Video Stream Analyzer,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601.17528
Line 21 Decoder,0x00600000,1,1,,
Video Port Manager,0x00600000,2,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Video Renderer,0x00400000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
ATI MPEG Video Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,atimpenc64.dll,12.05.0000.2 0928
ATI MPEG Multiplexer,0x00200000,2,1,atimpenc64.dll,12.05.00 00.20928
VPS Decoder,0x00200000,0,0,WSTPager.ax,6.06.7601.17514
WM ASF Writer,0x00400000,0,0,qasf.dll,12.00.7601.17514
VBI Surface Allocator,0x00600000,1,1,vbisurf.ax,6.01.7601.1751 4
File writer,0x00200000,1,0,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514
iTV Data Sink,0x00600000,1,0,itvdata.dll,6.06.7601.17514
iTV Data Capture filter,0x00600000,1,1,itvdata.dll,6.06.7601.17514
ATI Video Scaler Filter,0x00200000,1,1,atimpenc64.dll,12.05.0000.20 928
DVD Navigator,0x00200000,0,3,qdvd.dll,6.06.7601.17835
Microsoft TV Subtitles Decoder,0x00200001,1,0,MSTVCapn.dll,6.01.7601.1771 5
Overlay Mixer2,0x00200000,1,1,,
RDP DShow Redirection Filter,0xffffffff,1,0,DShowRdpFilter.dll,
Microsoft MPEG-2 Audio Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,msmpeg2enc.dll,6.01.7601.17 514
WST Pager,0x00200000,1,1,WSTPager.ax,6.06.7601.17514
MPEG-2 Demultiplexer,0x00600000,1,1,mpg2splt.ax,6.06.7601.17528
DV Video Decoder,0x00800000,1,1,qdv.dll,6.06.7601.17514
SampleGrabber,0x00200000,1,1,qedit.dll,6.06.7601.1 7514
Null Renderer,0x00200000,1,0,qedit.dll,6.06.7601.17514
MPEG-2 Sections and Tables,0x005fffff,1,0,Mpeg2Data.ax,6.06.7601.17514
Microsoft AC3 Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,msac3enc.dll,6.01.7601.1751 4
StreamBufferSource,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.760 1.17528
Smart Tee,0x00200000,1,2,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514
Overlay Mixer,0x00200000,0,0,,
AVI Decompressor,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.1 7713
NetBridge,0x00200000,2,0,netbridge.dll,6.01.7601.1 7514
AVI/WAV File Source,0x00400000,0,2,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Wave Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
MIDI Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Multi-file Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
File stream renderer,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
ATI Video Rotation Filter,0x00200000,1,1,atimpenc64.dll,12.05.0000.20 928
Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder,0x005fffff,1,1,msmpeg2adec.dll,6.01.7140.0 000
StreamBufferSink2,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7601.17528
AVI Mux,0x00200000,1,0,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514
Line 21 Decoder 2,0x00600002,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
File Source (Async.),0x00400000,0,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
File Source (URL),0x00400000,0,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Media Center Extender Encryption Filter,0x00200000,2,2,Mcx2Filter.dll,6.01.7601.175 14
AudioRecorder WAV Dest,0x00200000,0,0,WavDest.dll,
AudioRecorder Wave Form,0x00200000,0,0,WavDest.dll,
SoundRecorder Null Renderer,0x00200000,0,0,WavDest.dll,
Infinite Pin Tee Filter,0x00200000,1,1,qcap.dll,6.06.7601.17514
Enhanced Video Renderer,0x00200000,1,0,evr.dll,6.01.7601.17514
BDA MPEG2 Transport Information Filter,0x00200000,2,0,psisrndr.ax,6.06.7601.17669
MPEG Video Decoder,0x40000001,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
WDM Streaming Tee/Splitter Devices:
Tee/Sink-to-Sink Converter,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.1751 4
Video Compressors:
WMVideo8 Encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,wmvxencd.dll,6.01.7600.16385
WMVideo9 Encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,wmvencod.dll,6.01.7600.16385
MSScreen 9 encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,wmvsencd.dll,6.01.7600.16385
DV Video Encoder,0x00200000,0,0,qdv.dll,6.06.7601.17514
MJPEG Compressor,0x00200000,0,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.177 13
Audio Compressors:
WM Speech Encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,WMSPDMOE.DLL,6.01.7600.16385
WMAudio Encoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,WMADMOE.DLL,6.01.7600.16385
ATI MPEG Audio Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,atimpenc64.dll,12.05.0000.2 0928
IMA ADPCM,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
PCM,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Microsoft ADPCM,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
GSM 6.10,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
CCITT A-Law,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
CCITT u-Law,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
MPEG Layer-3,0x00200000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
PBDA CP Filters:
PBDA DTFilter,0x00600000,1,1,CPFilters.dll,6.06.7601.17 528
PBDA ETFilter,0x00200000,0,0,CPFilters.dll,6.06.7601.17 528
PBDA PTFilter,0x00200000,0,0,CPFilters.dll,6.06.7601.17 528
Midi Renderers:
Default MidiOut Device,0x00800000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
WDM Streaming Capture Devices:
HD Audio Mixed capture,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514
WDM Streaming Rendering Devices:
HD Audio Speaker,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514
HD Audio SPDIF out 5,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514
HD Audio SPDIF out,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.17514
BDA Network Providers:
Microsoft ATSC Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSDvbNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514
Microsoft DVBC Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSDvbNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514
Microsoft DVBS Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSDvbNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514
Microsoft DVBT Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSDvbNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514
Microsoft Network Provider,0x00200000,0,1,MSNP.ax,6.06.7601.17514
Multi-Instance Capable VBI Codecs:
VBI Codec,0x00600000,1,4,VBICodec.ax,6.06.7601.17514
BDA Transport Information Renderers:
BDA MPEG2 Transport Information Filter,0x00600000,2,0,psisrndr.ax,6.06.7601.17669
MPEG-2 Sections and Tables,0x00600000,1,0,Mpeg2Data.ax,6.06.7601.17514
BDA CP/CA Filters:
Decrypt/Tag,0x00600000,1,1,EncDec.dll,6.06.7601.17708
Encrypt/Tag,0x00200000,0,0,EncDec.dll,6.06.7601.17708
PTFilter,0x00200000,0,0,EncDec.dll,6.06.7601.17708
XDS Codec,0x00200000,0,0,EncDec.dll,6.06.7601.17708
WDM Streaming Communication Transforms:
Tee/Sink-to-Sink Converter,0x00200000,1,1,ksproxy.ax,6.01.7601.1751 4
Audio Renderers:
Remote Audio,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Default DirectSound Device,0x00800000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
Default WaveOut Device,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
DirectSound: Remote Audio,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7601.17713
---------------
EVR Power Information
---------------
Current Setting: {5C67A112-A4C9-483F-B4A7-1D473BECAFDC} (Quality)
Quality Flags: 2576
Enabled:
Force throttling
Allow half deinterlace
Allow scaling
Decode Power Usage: 100
Balanced Flags: 1424
Enabled:
Force throttling
Allow batching
Force half deinterlace
Force scaling
Decode Power Usage: 50
PowerFlags: 1424
Enabled:
Force throttling
Allow batching
Force half deinterlace
Force scaling
Decode Power Usage: 0
Hey there,Since patch 1.4 I have been having issues with poor performance in game when running Crossfire. There were a few fixes that came out that helped but I'm still having a ton of problems. I have a really decent rig and I want to be able to turn everything up but can't due to performance issues. I currently have Shadows turned off (I want to use the new and improved shadows!!) and nameplates scaling with distance off (game is unplayable with that feature on). Even with these features off, I have the following issues:1. Whenever a new nameplate pops up on my screen, a split second of lag occurs. This becomes problematic when running into several mobs/players as it lags per nameplate.2. Whenever a text message appears on screen (red or yellow text with mission updates and warnings), it lags for a second or two.3. When I first start playing the game, the first time I use several abilities, it will freeze for a second or two. Once they have been performed once I think it "buffers" them and runs fine.4. Here's the big one: If I zone or alt+tab, all of the above reset and will happen again.. it appears that I lose the "buffer" whenever the game is minimized.I really hope this is still being worked on because it is a huge deal for me! Thanks!Dxdiag:By Alex Fradera
“She upset me.” Such a natural way to describe things, using the same causal language we use to talk about a racket striking a tennis ball. But is this the right way to frame our reactions to social situations? Unlike a ball, we have a say in how we swerve when struck, and what we bring to a social situation influences how it affects us. Case in point, from a US-based team headed by Andrew Woolum of the University of North Carolina Wilmington: in research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology they show how people perceive more workplace rudeness when exposed to notions of rudeness at the start of the day.
Woolum’s team recruited 81 people from an executive MBA course who worked in roles ranging from security, medicine and business. The participants completed surveys twice daily for ten consecutive workdays: they recorded their mood when they woke up, and in the evening they described the experiences they’d had at work that day.
The morning survey also linked to a short video of a workplace interaction that was supposedly material |
, your customers who wish to create both 32-bit and 64-bit applications will have to buy 2 different licenses. For example, Spatial Corporation company sticks to such a policy when selling their library Spatial ACIS.
16-bit applications
If your solutions still have 16-bit modules, you must get rid of them. 64-bit Windows versions do not support 16-bit applications.
I should explain one thing here related to using 16-bit installers. They are still used to install some 32-bit applications. There exists a special mechanism that replaces some of the most popular 16-bit installers with their more contemporary versions on the fly. It might make you think that 16-bit programs still work in the 64-bit environment, but it is a mistake, please, keep it in mind.
Assembler code
Do not forget that presence of large assembler code fragments make it much more expensive to create the 64-bit version of an application.
Toolkit
If you have decided to create the 64-bit version of your product relying on the factors mentioned above and are ready to spend time on it, the success is not guaranteed yet. You should have all the necessary tools for that and here you might encounter some very unpleasant things.
The most obvious yet most serious problem is absence of a 64-bit compiler. When we were writing this text (2009) there was no 64-bit C++ Builder compiler by Embarcadero yet. Its release was expected by the end of 2009. You cannot evade this problem unless you rewrite the whole project employing, for example, Microsoft Visual Studio. But while everything is clear in case of compiler absence, other similar issues might be not so obvious and occur only at the step of porting the project to a new architecture. You should make a research beforehand to find out if you can get all the necessary components to implement the 64-bit version of your product. You might face unpleasant surprises.
While making a decision, please keep in mind the last very important factor we have not mentioned here: the price of modifying your program code to compile it in the 64-bit mode. We will tell you how to estimate this price in one of the following lessons. It may be very high and must be considered in planning and scheduling.
The course authors: Andrey Karpov (karpov@viva64.com), Evgeniy Ryzhkov (evg@viva64.com).
The rightholder of the course "Lessons on development of 64-bit C/C++ applications" is OOO "Program Verification Systems". The company develops software in the sphere of source program code analysis. The company's site: http://www.viva64.com.
Lesson 4. Creating the 64-bit configuration
Compiler
The first thing you should do, is to make sure that the Visual Studio edition you are using allows the building of 64-bit code. If you want to develop 64-bit applications using the latest (at the time of writing this, of course) Visual Studio 2008 version, here is a table that will help you understand what Visual Studio edition you will need.
Table 1 - Capabilities of different Visual Studio 2008 editions
If the Visual Studio edition you are using allows the creation of 64-bit code, you should check if the 64-bit compiler is installed. Figure 1 shows the installation page of Visual Studio 2008 components, where installation of the 64-bit compiler is disabled.
Figure 1 - The 64-bit compiler is disabled when installing Visual Studio 2008
Creating the 64-bit configuration
Creating the 64-bit version of a project in Visual Studio 2005/2008 is a rather simple procedure. Difficulties will appear later, when building the new configuration, and searching for errors in it. To create a 64-bit configuration you should take the following 4 steps:
Step 1
Open the configuration manager as shown in Figure 2:
Figure 2 - Launching the configuration manager
Step 2
Choose support of the new platform in the configuration manager (Figure 3):
Figure 3 - Creating a new configuration
Step 3
Choose the 64-bit platform (x64) and take the 32-bit version settings as the base (Figure 4). Visual Studio environment will automatically modify the settings which impact the build mode.
Figure 4 - Choosing x64 as the platform and loading the Win32 configuration as the base
Step 4
You have now added the new configuration, and may now select the 64-bit configuration version, and start compiling the 64-bit application. Figure 5 shows how to choose the 64-bit building configuration.
Figure 5 - Now you have both the 32-bit and 64-bit configurations
Modifying parameters
If you are lucky, you will not have to adjust the 64-bit project. However, this depends upon the project, its complexity, and the number of libraries being used. The only thing you should modify right away is the stack size. If your project uses the default stack size, i.e. 1 Mbyte, you should change it to 2-3 Mbytes for the 64-bit version. It is not necessary, but it is better to secure yourself from possible issues beforehand. If you use the different to the default stack size, you should make it two, to three times larger for the 64-bit version. To do this, find and change the parameters Stack Reserve Size and Stack Commit Size in the project settings (see Figure 6).
Figure 6 - Location of project settings defining the stack size
What next?
Having the 64-bit configuration for a project does not automatically mean that it will compile well, or work at all. The process of compilation and detection of hidden errors will be discussed in the next lessons.
The course authors: Andrey Karpov (karpov@viva64.com), Evgeniy Ryzhkov (evg@viva64.com).
The rightholder of the course "Lessons on development of 64-bit C/C++ applications" is OOO "Program Verification Systems". The company develops software in the sphere of source program code analysis. The company's site: http://www.viva64.com.
Lesson 5. Building a 64-bit application
We would like to warn the readers right away that it is impossible to describe the process of building a 64-bit application in every detail. Any project has its own unique settings, so you must be very attentive when adapting them for a 64-bit system. The lesson discusses only the common steps important for any project. These steps will tell you where to begin.
Libraries
Before trying to build your 64-bit application, make sure that all the necessary versions of 64-bit libraries are installed and paths to them are correct. For example, 32-bit and 64-bit library files with "lib" extension usually differ and are situated in different catalogues. Fix the bugs if any.
Note. If libraries are presented in the form of the source code, there must be the 64-bit configuration of the project. Keep in mind that you are risking to infringe license agreements when modifying a library to build its 64-bit version by yourself.
Assembler
Visual C++ does not support the 64-bit inline assembler. You must either use an external 64-bit assembler (for example, MASM) or rewrite the assembler code in C/C++.
Examples of compilation errors and warnings
On starting to build the project you will encounter many compilation errors and warnings related to explicit and implicit type conversions. We would like to show you an example of such an error. Here is a code:
void foo(unsigned char) {} void foo(unsigned int) {} void a(const char *str) { foo(strlen(str)); }
This code successfully compiles in the 32-bit mode, but in the 64-bit mode, Visual C++ compiler will generate the warning:
error C2668: 'foo' : ambiguous call to overloaded function.\xxxx.cpp(16): could be 'void foo(unsigned int)'.\xxxx.cpp(15): or 'void foo(unsigned char)' while trying to match the argument list '(size_t)'
The function strlen() returns the type size_t. On a 32-bit system, the type size_t coincides with the type unsigned int and the compiler chooses the function "void foo(unsigned int)" to call. In the 64-bit mode, the types size_t and unsigned int do not coincide. The type size_t becomes 64-bit while the type unsigned int remains 32-bit. As a result, the compiler does not know which of the foo() functions to prefer.
Now consider an example of a warning generated by Visual C++ compiler when building code in the 64-bit mode:
CArray<char, char> v; int len = v.GetSize(); warning C4244: 'initializing' : conversion from 'INT_PTR' to 'int', possible loss of data
The function GetSize() returns the type INT_PTR that coincides with the type int in a 32-bit code. In a 64-bit code, the type INT_PTR is 64-bit and it is implicitly converted to the 32-bit int type. The values of more significant bits get lost during this process and the compiler warns you about it. An implicit type conversion may cause an error if the number of the array items exceeds INT_MAX. To eliminate the warning and the possible error you should assign the type INT_PTR or ptrdiff_t to "len" variable.
Do not correct warnings until you have learned the 64-bit error patterns. You might accidentally hide an error failing to correct it and make it more difficult to detect further. You will learn about the patterns of 64-bit errors and methods of detecting and correcting them in the next lessons. You may also see the following articles: "20 issues of porting C++ code on the 64-bit platform", "A 64-bit horse that can count".
size_t and ptrdiff_t types
As most compilation errors and warnings are related to data type incompatibility, we should consider two types - size_t and ptrdiff_t - which are most relevant to us regarding the process of 64-bit code creation. If you are using Visual C++ compiler, these types are integrated into it and you will not need the library files. But if you are using GCC, you will need the header file "stddef.h".
size_t is a C/C++ base unsigned integer type. It is the type of the result returned by sizeof operator. The size of the type is chosen so that it could store the maximum size of a theoretically possible array of any type. For example, size_t is 32-bit on a 32-bit system and 64-bit on a 64-bit one. In other words, you may safely store a pointer in a variable of size_t type. Pointers to class functions are an exception but this is a different topic. The type size_t is usually used in loop counters, to index arrays, to store sizes and in address arithmetic. The following types are analogous to size_t: SIZE_T, DWORD_PTR, WPARAM, ULONG_PTR. Although you may store a pointer in size_t, it is better to use another unsigned integer type uintptr_t for that - its name reflects its capability. The types size_t and uintptr_t are synonyms.
ptrdiff_t is a C/C++ base signed integer type. Its size is chosen so that it could store the maximum size of a theoretically possible array of any type. This type will be 32-bit on a 32-bit system and 64-bit on a 64-bit one. Like size_t, a variable of ptrdiff_t type can safely store a pointer except for a pointer to a class function. The type ptrdiff_t is also the result of an expression where one pointer is subtracted from another "ptr1-ptr2". The type ptrdiff_t is usually used in loop counters, to index arrays, to store sizes and in address arithmetic. Its analogues are: SSIZE_T, LPARAM, INT_PTR, LONG_PTR. The type ptrdiff_t has a synonym intptr_t whose name reflects it more clearly that it can store a pointer.
The sizes size_t and ptrdiff_t were created to perform correct address arithmetic. It has been considered for a long time that the size of int coincides with the size of the machine word (processor capacity) and it can be used as indexes and to store sizes of objects and pointers. So, address arithmetic was also built with int and unsigned types. The type int is used in most education materials on C and C++ programming in loop bodies and as indexes. The following example is almost a canon:
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) a[i] = 0;
As processors were developing and their capacity increasing, it became unreasonable to further increase the capacities of int type. There are a lot of reasons for that: the purposes of saving memory being used, maximum compatibility, etc. As a result, several data models appeared describing the relations of the base C and C++ types. So it is not so easy now to choose a type for a variable to store a pointer or object size. size_t and ptrdiff_t types appeared to become the smartest solution of this problem. They can certainly be used in address arithmetic. Now, the following code must become a canon:
for (ptrdiff_t i = 0; i < n; i++) a[i] = 0;
It is this code that can provide safety, good portability and performance. You will learn from the next lessons why.
The types size_t and ptrdiff_t we have described may be called memsize-types. The term "memsize" appeared as an attempt to briefly name all the types that can store sizes of pointers or indexes of the largest arrays. By memsize-types you should understand all the simple C/C++ data types that are 32-bit on a 32-bit architecture and 64-bit on a 64-bit one. Here are examples of memsize-types: size_t, ptrdiff_t, pointers, SIZE_T, LPARAM.
The course authors: Andrey Karpov (karpov@viva64.com), Evgeniy Ryzhkov (evg@viva64.com).
The rightholder of the course "Lessons on development of 64-bit C/C++ applications" is OOO "Program Verification Systems". The company develops software in the sphere of source program code analysis. The company's site: http://www.viva64.com.
Lesson 6. Errors in 64-bit code
Even if you correct all compilation errors and warnings, it does not mean that a 64-bit application will work well. So it is the description and diagnosis of 64-bit errors that we will deal with in the most lessons of our course. And one more thing - do not rely on the switch /Wp64 which is described by many people (often unreasonably) in forum discussions as a wonderful tool able to find 64-bit errors.
/Wp64 switch
The switch /Wp64 allows programmers to find some issues that may occur when compiling code for 64-bit systems. The check is implemented in this way: the types marked with the key word __w64 in 32-bit code are interpreted as 64-bit types while being checked.
For example, here is a code:
typedef int MyInt32; #ifdef _WIN64 typedef __int64 MySSizet; #else typedef int MySSizet; #endif void foo() { MyInt32 value32 = 10; MySSizet size = 20; value32 = size; }
The expression "value32 = size;" will lead to value cutting on a 64-bit system and therefore to a possible error. We want to diagnose this issue. But when we try to compile the 32-bit application, everything is correct and there is no warning.
To get ready to move the application to 64-bit systems we need to add the switch /Wp64 and the key word __w64 when defining the type MySSizet in the 32-bit version. After that the code looks so:
typedef int MyInt32; #ifdef _WIN64 typedef __int64 MySSizet; #else typedef int __w64 MySSizet; // Add __w64 keyword #endif void foo() { MyInt32 value32 = 10; MySSizet size = 20; value32 = size; // C4244 64-bit int assigned to 32-bit int }
Now we get the warning C4244 that will help us in porting the code to a 64-bit platform.
Note that the switch /Wp64 is ignored in the 64-bit compilation mode because all the types already have the necessary size and the compiler performs the necessary checking. So, as you can see, we will get the warning C4244 when compiling the 64-bit version even if the switch /Wp64 is disabled.
So, the switch /Wp64 helped developers get somehow ready to use the 64-bit compiler while working with 32-bit applications. All warnings revealed with the help of /Wp64 will turn into compilation errors or remain warnings when building the 64-bit code. And that is all aid you may except from the switch /Wp64 in detecting errors.
By the way, the switch /Wp64 is considered deprecated in Visual Studio 2008 because it is high time we started to compile 64-bit applications instead of going on to get ready for it.
64-bit errors
When we speak of 64-bit errors, we mean those cases when a code fragment that works well in the 32-bit version of an application causes errors after being recompiled in the 64-bit mode. 64-bit errors occur most frequently in the following kinds of code fragments:
code based on wrong assumptions about type sizes (for example, an assumption that the pointer size is always 4 bytes);
code processing large arrays whose size is more than 2 Gbytes on 64-bit systems;
code responsible for data writing and reading;
code containing bit operations;
code with complex address arithmetic;
obsolete code;
and so on.
In fact, all errors occurring in the code when it is recompiled for 64-bit systems arise from inaccurate compliance with C/C++ standard ideology. But we do not find it very reasonable to follow this recommendation: "write correct programs and there will be no 64-bit errors". One cannot argue against it but it has little relevance to real projects. There is much C/C++ code in the world that has been written for many decades. The purpose of our lessons is to arrange all the 64-bit errors into a set of patterns that will help you detect defects and instruct you how to eliminate them.
Examples of 64-bit errors
We will speak a lot about 64-bit errors in future but here are two examples for you to understand what these errors are.
The first is an example of using the magic constant 4 that serves as the size of a pointer what is incorrect in 64-bit code. Note that this code worked quite well in the 32-bit version and was not diagnosed as dangerous by the compiler.
size_t pointersCount = 100; int **arrayOfPointers = (int **)malloc(pointersCount * 4);
The second is an example of an error in the data reading mechanism. This code is correct in the 32-bit version and the compiler does not react to it. But this code fails to correctly read the data saved by the 32-bit version of the program.
size_t PixelCount; fread(&PixelCount, sizeof(PixelCount), 1, inFile);
A comment for sophisticated programmers
I would like to comment right away upon the 64-bit error patterns and error examples that will be discussed in many following lessons. People often argue that actually these are not errors related to 64 bits but the errors arising from an incorrectly written and badly portable code. And they also say that many errors can be found when porting code not only to the 64-bit architecture but simply to any architecture where the base types have other sizes.
Yes, that is right! We keep this in mind. But our goal is not to study the issue of code portability as such. In these lessons we are going to solve a particular local task - to help developers in mastering 64-bit platforms that become more and more popular.
When speaking of 64-bit error patterns we will consider examples of code that is correct on 32-bit systems but may cause faults when being ported to the 64-bit architecture.
The course authors: Andrey Karpov (karpov@viva64.com), Evgeniy Ryzhkov (evg@viva64.com).
The rightholder of the course "Lessons on development of 64-bit C/C++ applications" is OOO "Program Verification Systems". The company develops software in the sphere of source program code analysis. The company's site: http://www.viva64.com.
Lesson 7. The issues of detecting 64-bit errors
There are various techniques of detecting errors in program code. Let us consider the most popular ones and see how efficient they are in finding 64-bit errors.
Code review
The oldest and the most proved and reliable approach to error search is code review. This method relies on reading the code by several developers together following some rules and recommendations described in the book by Steve McConnell "Code Complete". Unfortunately, this method cannot be applied to large-scale testing of contemporary program systems due to their huge sizes.
Code review may be considered in this case rather a good means of education and avoiding 64-bit errors in a new code being developed. But this method will be too expensive and therefore unacceptable in searching for the already existing errors. You would have to view the code of the whole project to find all 64-bit errors.
Static code analysis
The means of static code analysis will help those developers who appreciate the regular code review but do not have enough time to do that. The main purpose of static code analysis is to reduce the amount of code needed to be viewed by a human and therefore reduce the time of code review. Rather many programs refer to static code analyzers which have implementations for various programming languages and provide a lot of various functions from simple code alignment control to complex analysis of potentially dangerous fragments. The advantage of static analysis is its good scalability. You can test a project of any size in reasonable time with its help. And testing the code with static analyzer regularly will help you detect many errors at the stage of only writing the code.
The static analysis technique is the most appropriate method to detect 64-bit errors. Further, when discussing 64-bit error patterns, we will show you how to diagnose these errors using Viva64 analyzer included into PVS-Studio. In the next lesson you will learn in more detail about the static analysis methodology and PVS-Studio tool.
White box method
By the white box method we will understand the method of executing the maximum available number of different code branches using a debugger or other tools. The more code is covered during the analysis, the more complete the testing is. Also, the white box testing is sometimes understood as simple debugging of an application in order to find some known error. It became impossible a long time ago to completely test the whole program code with the white box method due to huge sizes of contemporary applications. Nowadays, the white box method is convenient to use when an error is found and you want to find out what has caused it. Some programmers oppose the white box technique denying the efficiency of real-time program debugging. The main reason they refer to is that enabling a programmer to watch the process of program execution and change it along the way leads to an unacceptable programming approach implying correction of code by the trial-and-error method. We are not going to discuss these debates but I would like to note that the white box testing is too expensive to use for enhancing the quality of large program systems anyway.
It must be evident to you that complete debugging of an application for the purpose of detecting 64-bit errors is unreal just like the complete code review.
We should also note that the step-by-step debugging might be impossible when debugging 64-bit applications that process large data arrays. Debugging of such applications may take much more time. So you should consider using logging systems or some other means to debug applications.
Black box method (unit-test)
The black box method has shown much better results. Unit tests refer to this type of testing. The working principle of this technique is writing a set of tests for separate units and functions that checks all the main modes of their operation. Some authors refer unit-testing to the white box method because it relies on knowledge of the program organization. But we think that functions and units being tested should be considered black boxes because unit tests do not take into account the inner organization of a function. This viewpoint is supported by an approach when tests are developed before the functions themselves are written and it provides an increased level of the control over their functionality in terms of specification.
Unit tests have proved to be efficient in developing both simple and complex projects. One of the advantages of unit testing is that you may check if all the changes introduced into the program are correct right along the development process. They try to make it so that tests are run in only a few minutes - it allows the developer who has modified the code to see an error and correct it right away. If it is impossible to run all the tests at once, long-term tests are usually launched separately, for example, at night. It also contributes to a quick detection of errors, at least in the next morning.
When using unit tests to search for 64-bit errors, you are likely to encounter some unpleasant things. Seeking to make quick tests, programmers try to involve a small amount of calculations and data to be processed while developing them. For example, when you develop a test for the function searching for an array item, it does not matter if there will be 100 or 10 000 000 items. A hundred of items is enough but when the function processes 10 000 000, its speed is greatly reduced. But if you want to develop efficient tests to check this function on a 64-bit system, you will have to process more than 4 billion items! You think that if the function works with 100 items, it will work with billions? No. Here is an example.
bool FooFind(char *Array, char Value, size_t Size) { for (unsigned i = 0; i!= Size; ++i) if (i % 5 == 0 && Array[i] == Value) return true; return false; } #ifdef _WIN64 const size_t BufSize = 5368709120ui64; #else const size_t BufSize = 5242880; #endif int _tmain(int, _TCHAR *) { char *Array = (char *)calloc(BufSize, sizeof(char)); if (Array == NULL) std::cout << "Error allocate memory" << std::endl; if (FooFind(Array, 33, BufSize)) std::cout << "Find" << std::endl; free(Array); }
The error here is in using the type unsigned for the loop counter. As a result, the counter is overflowed and an eternal loop occurs when processing a large array on a 64-bit system.
Note. It might be so that this example will not reveal an error with some settings of the compiler. To understand this strange thing, see the article "A 64-bit horse that can count".
As you may see from the example, you cannot rely on obsolete sets of unit tests if your program processes a large data amount on a 64-bit system. You must extend them taking into account possible large data amounts to be processed.
Unfortunately, it is not enough to write new tests. Here we face the problem of the time it will take the modified test set processing large data amounts to complete this work. Consequently, such tests cannot be added to the set you could launch right along the development process. Launching them at night also causes issues. The total time of running all the tests may increase more than ten times. As a result, the test running time may become more than 24 hours. You should keep this in mind and take it very seriously when modifying the tests for the 64-bit version of your program.
Manual testing
This method can be considered the final step of any development process but you should not take it as a good and safe technique. Manual testing must exist because it is impossible to detect all the errors in the automatic mode or with code review. But you should not fully rely on it either. If a program is low-quality and has a lot of defects, it may take you a long time to test and correct it and still you cannot provide the necessary quality. The only way to get a quality program is to have a quality code. That is why we are not going to consider manual testing as an efficient method of detecting 64-bit errors.
To sum it up, I would like to say that you should not rely on only one of the methods we have discussed. Although static analysis is the most efficient technique of detecting 64-bit errors, a quality application cannot be developed when only a couple of testing methodologies are involved.
The course authors: Andrey Karpov (karpov@viva64.com), Evgeniy Ryzhkov (evg@viva64.com).
The rightholder of the course "Lessons on development of 64-bit C/C++ applications" is OOO "Program Verification Systems". The company develops software in the sphere of source program code analysis. The company's site: http://www.viva64.com.
Lesson 8. Static analysis for detecting 64-bit errors
Static code analysis
Static code analysis is a methodology of detecting errors in program code relying on studying the code fragments marked by the static analyzer by the programmer. The marked code fragments are most likely to contain errors of some particular kind.
In other words, a static analysis tool detects those places in the program text which are subject to errors or have bad formatting. Such code fragments are left for the programmer to study them and decide if they must be modified.
Static analyzers may be general-purpose (for example, Microsoft PREFast, Gimpel Software PC-lint, Parasoft C++test) and special-purpose to search for some particular error classes (for example, Chord to verify concurrent Java programs). Usually static analysis tools are rather expensive and require that you know how to use them. They often provide rather flexible yet complicated subsystems of settings and false alarm suppression. Because of this static analyzers are used, as a rule, in companies providing a mature level of software development processes. In exchange for being complicated to use static code analyzers allow programmers to detect a lot of errors at the early stages of program code development. The practice of using static analysis also disciplines programmers and helps managers control young employees.
The main advantage of static code analyzers is an opportunity to greatly reduce the costs of eliminating defects in a program. The earlier an error is detected, the less expensive it is to correct it. Thus, according to the book "Code Complete" by McConnell, correction of an error at the stage of testing the code is five times more expensive than at the stage of designing the code (coding):
Figure 1 - Average costs of correcting defects depending upon the time of their appearance in the code and their detection (the data presented in the table are taken from the book 'Code Complete' by S. McConnell)
Static analysis tools reduce the cost of development of the whole project by detecting many errors at the stage of designing the code.
Static analysis for detecting 64-bit errors
Let us point out the advantages of static code analysis that make this method the most appropriate to detect errors in 64-bit code:
You can check the WHOLE code. Analyzers can even test those code fragments that get control very seldom. In other words, static analyzers provide nearly full coverage of the code. It allows you to make sure that the whole code has been checked before you port it to a 64-bit system.
Scalability. Static analysis allows you to analyze both a small and a large project with equal simplicity. Labor intensiveness rises directly as the project size. You may easily distribute the project analysis among several developers. You need just to distribute the project's parts among the programmers.
While only beginning to work on a project, the developer will not fail to notice possible issues even without knowing all the peculiarities of the 64-bit code. The analyzer will point at the dangerous places and Help system will tell you everything you should know about this or that issue.
Costs are reduced due to early diagnosis of errors.
You may efficiently use static analysis tools both when porting code to a 64-bit system and developing a new 64-bit code.
Viva64 analyzer included into PVS-Studio
PVS-Studio is a package of static code analyzers to check contemporary resource-intensive applications. PVS-Studio includes a special static analyzer Viva64 intended for diagnosing 64-bit errors.
PVS-Studio analyzer is designed for a Windows-platform. It integrates into Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/2008/2010 development environment (see Figure 2). PVS-Studio's interface allows you to filter diagnostic warnings using various techniques and also save and load warning lists.
Figure 2 - PVS-Studio integrating into Microsoft Visual Studio
The analyzer's system requirements coincide with those of Microsoft Visual Studio:
Operating system: Windows 7/Vista/XP/2008/2003 x86 or x64. Note that your operating system does not necessarily need to be a 64-bit one to enable you to analyze 64-bit applications.
Development environment: Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/2008/2010 (Standard Edition, Professional Edition, Team Systems). You must have a Visual Studio component called "X64 Compilers and Tools" installed to be able to test 64-bit applications. It is included into all Visual Studio versions we have enumerated and can be installed through Visual Studio Setup. Note that PVS-Studio cannot work with Visual C++ Express because this system does not support add-in modules.
Hardware: PVS-Studio can work on systems that have not less than 1 Gbyte of memory (it is recommended to have 2 Gbytes or more); the analyzer can work employing several cores (the more the cores, the faster the code analysis is).
All the errors that can be diagnosed are thoroughly described in Help system that becomes available after you install PVS-Studio. You may also see Help system on PVS-Studio online on our site.
The PVS-Studio distribution kit also contains special projects serving as examples of code flaws that will help you study the analyzer.
You may download the demo-version and see the guide "PVS-Studio Tutorial" to get closer to PVS-Studio. The demo-version has several limitations:
you may use it within 30 days;
the demo-version hides the numbers of most lines containing errors and shows only some of them (although it detects all errors in the project). But we made an exception for the demonstration projects included into PVS-Studio - when you analyze these projects, you see all the numbers of the lines with defects.
At present, PVS-Studio analyzer provides the fullest diagnosis of 64-bit errors. You may study the comparison characteristics in the article "Comparing PVS-Studio with other code analyzers".
While studying various patterns of errors in the next lessons, we will often refer to PVS-Studio to show you how to detect them.
The course authors: Andrey Karpov (karpov@viva64.com), Evgeniy Ryzhkov (evg@viva64.com).
The rightholder of the course "Lessons on development of 64-bit C/C++ applications" is OOO "Program Verification Systems". The company develops software in the sphere of source program code analysis. The company's site: http://www.viva64.com.
Lesson 9. Pattern 1. Magic numbers
In a poorly written code you may often see magic numeric constants whose presence is dangerous by itself. When porting code to a 64-bit platform, these constants may make the code inefficient if they participate in address computation, object size computation or bit operations.
Table 1 presents the basic magic constants that may impact efficiency of an application ported to a new platform.
Table 1 - The basic magic numbers which are dangerous when porting 32-bit applications to a 64-bit platform
You should examine your code very attentively to check if it contains magic constants and replace them with safe constants and expressions. You may use the operator sizeof() or special values from <limits.h>, <inttypes.h>, etc. for that.
Here are examples of some errors related to magic constants. The most common error is writing type sizes in the form of numeric values:
1) size_t ArraySize = N * 4; intptr_t *Array = (intptr_t *)malloc(ArraySize); 2) size_t values[ARRAY_SIZE]; memset(values, 0, ARRAY_SIZE * 4); 3) size_t n, r; n = n >> (32 - r);
In all these cases we assume that the size of the types used is always 4 bytes. To correct the code we should use the operator sizeof():
1) size_t ArraySize = N * sizeof(intptr_t); intptr_t *Array = (intptr_t *)malloc(ArraySize); 2) size_t values[ARRAY_SIZE]; memset(values, 0, ARRAY_SIZE * sizeof(size_t));
or
memset(values, 0, sizeof(values)); //preferred alternative 3) size_t n, r; n = n >> (CHAR_BIT * sizeof(n) - r);
Sometimes you may need a specific constant. As an example, let us take the value of size_t where all the bytes except for the 4 lower bytes must be filled with ones. In a 32-bit program, this constant is defined in this way:
// constant '1111..110000' const size_t M = 0xFFFFFFF0u;
It is incorrect for a 64-bit system. Such errors are very unpleasant because magic constants may be written in various ways and it takes a lot of time and efforts to find them. Unfortunately, there are no other ways to find and correct such code fragments but to use the directive #ifdef or a special macro.
#ifdef _WIN64 #define CONST3264(a) (a##i64) #else #define CONST3264(a) (a) #endif const size_t M = ~CONST3264(0xFu);
Sometimes the value "-1" is used as an error code or other special marker and it is written as "0xffffffff". This expression is incorrect on a 64-bit platform, so you should explicitly define the value -1. Here is an example of incorrect code that uses the value 0xffffffff as an error marker:
#define INVALID_RESULT (0xFFFFFFFFu) size_t MyStrLen(const char *str) { if (str == NULL) return INVALID_RESULT;... return n; } size_t len = MyStrLen(str); if (len == (size_t)(-1)) ShowError();
To make it clear, let us explain what the value "(size_t)(-1)" is equal to on a 64-bit platform. You will be mistaken saying it is 0x00000000FFFFFFFFu. According to C++ rules, at first value -1 is converted to a signed equivalent of a larger type and then to an unsigned value:
int a = -1; // 0xFFFFFFFFi32 ptrdiff_t b = a; // 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFi64 size_t c = size_t |
, or else disapprove of them at my general conference.” –Jesus Christ, speaking to Joseph Smith (D&C 124:144)
Commentary: The Lord had just revealed who he wanted called to various positions in the church. Even though these names had come directly from Jesus, He still wanted them presented for approval or disapproval. God values & trusts the opinion of the general membership of the church.
“And all things SHALL be done by common consent in the church.” –Jesus Christ. (D&C 26:2)
Commentary: Revelation given to Joseph Smith in July 1830. Only 3 months after the official organization of the church, the Law of Common Consent was affirmed. This principle of governance was established well before the apostolic leadership was added. They are both vital components in the administration of the restored church.
“For all things MUST be done in order, and by common consent in the church.” –Jesus Christ (D&C 28:13)
Commentary: Here, Jesus reaffirms this essential principle of how His church is to be governed. This time, He leaves NO wiggle room. His words have changed from the polite “SHALL be done” to the imperative “MUST be done.” In His words, this is to be the “order” of the His church.
“It is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” –Jesus Christ, through Joseph Smith (D&C 121:39)
Commentary: Of course, God knows the nature of men. The great danger to those entrusted with authority is the temptation of “unrighteous dominion.” Even mere mortals recognize this principle. We proclaim it in these terms, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Jesus has organized His church to provide accountability to His leadership. Thus, helping to avoid unrighteous dominion and the corruption of power. That accountability is to the general membership in the form of common consent.
Going Forward
Oh, what a glorious thing! Our Savior, Lord and King has established His church in these latter-days. He is pleading with His flock to follow him. Pleading that his flock stand up, as adult fellowcitizens, and actively participate in the governance of His sacred organization. The very first revealed principle for administering the kingdom is the Law of Common Consent.
It’s time for the membership to respond to the pleas of Jesus. It’s time that we plead Jesus’ case of common consent before the leaders of the church.
I have pled with my upraised hand in sincere and loving opposition. Opposition to the continued disregard for the Law of God—the commandment of Common Consent.Russell Underwood / Corbis
Related America Underwater
Here's one for the annals of counterintuitive findings: When asked to contemplate the occasion of their own demise, people become happier than usual, instead of sadder, according to a new study in the November issue of Psychological Science. Researchers say it's a kind of psychological immune response faced with thoughts of our own death, our brains automatically cope with the conscious feelings of distress by nonconsciously seeking out and triggering happy feelings, a mechanism that scientists theorize helps protect us from permanent depression or paralyzing despair.
It might explain the shift toward more positive emotions and thought processes as people age and approach death, and the preternaturally positive outlook that some terminally ill patients seem to muster. Though it looks a lot like old-fashioned denial, that's not the case, says lead author Nathan DeWall. It's not that "'I know I'm going to die, but I just con myself into thinking I'm not.' I don't think that's what's going on here," says DeWall. "I think what's happening is that people are really unaware of [their own resilience]" whereas, with denying behavior, people usually know they're engaging in it "so, when people are exposed to serious threats, such as when they consider their own death, which is about as serious as it gets, people are coping, but they're completely unaware of it."
DeWall, a psychologist at the University of Kentucky, and Roy Baumeister of Florida State University tested that theory the so-called "terror management theory" in a series of experiments involving 432 undergraduate volunteers. About half of the students were asked to contemplate dying and being dead, and to write short essays describing what they imagined happening to them as they physically died. The other half of the group was asked to think and write about dental pain decidedly unpleasant, but not quite as threatening. The researchers then set about evaluating the volunteers' emotions: First, the students were given standard psychological questionnaires designed to measure explicit affect and mood. Then they were given assessments of nonconscious mood: in word tests, volunteers were asked to complete fragments such as jo_ or ang_ _ with letters of their choice. Some word stems were intended to prompt either neutral or emotionally positive responses, such as jog or joy; others could be filled in neutrally or negatively angle versus angry. In a separate word test, students paired a target word such as mouth with its best match: cheek, which is similar in meaning, or smile, which is similar in positive emotional content.
Students in the death-and-dying group, it turns out, had all gone to their happy place at least in their unconscious. There was no difference in scores between the groups on the explicit tests of emotion and affect. But in the implicit tests of nonconscious emotion the wordplay researchers found that the students who were preoccupied with death tended to generate significantly more positive-emotion words and word matches than the dental-pain group. DeWall thinks this mental coping response kicks in immediately when confronted with a serious psychological threat. In subsequent research, he has analyzed the content of the volunteers' death essays and found that they're sprinkled with positive words. "When you ask people, 'Describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you,'" says DeWall, "people will report fear and contempt, but also happiness that 'I'm going to see my grandmother' and joy that 'I'm going to be with God.'"
If the premise of DeWall's study seems too contrived to apply to the real world, consider this: While the number of people actually confronted with death at any given time is extremely small, the number who are going to die at some point is 100%, says Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard, from whose research the term "psychological immune response" springs. "We are all walking around, unlike every other animal, thinking, 'Oh, my God, eventually this all ends,'" says Gilbert. "This creates a state of existential dread. This knowledge pervades our everyday existence." The point of the current study, therefore, is that our psychological immune system doesn't respond to imminent death, but to the fact of death to the thought that death is inexorable.
In his current research, DeWall is finding that other threats, such as that of social rejection, elicit a similar psychological immune response except, intriguingly, in depressed people and he thinks that it's a mechanism that healthy people are probably employing constantly, as a way of fending off a lifetime of serious misfortunes: not just the looming specter of death, but also the fact that you're not going to get that promotion, or that your spouse is cheating on you, or that your kid is on drugs. "It's very difficult to keep people in bad moods, and I think this is one of the reasons why," says DeWall. "Let's say we didn't have this. I think we would have a lot more difficulty coping with failure and threats and our own mortality. It would be difficult for us to find solutions. We would be thinking about how bad we were feeling all the time."
So, if a healthy psychological immune system is a marker of well-being, then perhaps a lack of natural coping abilities signals poor mental health. But of course it's not as simple as all that. A long-term bad mood isn't necessarily a sign of maladjustment. Sometimes, it's just called adolescence.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
One year after arriving in Paisley, Kassem Ayash and his young family say they no longer feel like refugees – they have found a home.
With his eight-month-old son Abdulraham sleeping happily on his wife Hiba’s shoulder, he talks of his family’s first year in Paisley after fleeing war-torn Syria.
Three-year-old Hajar, wearing a pretty tartan dress, is running around and laughing, the picture of happiness.
PAISLEY DAILY EXPRESS: Live news as it happens
It is hard to imagine that they fled the most dangerous region on earth just one year ago.
Kassem, who uses a wheelchair, said: “We feel like this is our home now. We are looking toward the future.”
The family left their home in Daraa in Syria in July 2012, firstly to Lebanon and then to the Za’taari refugee camp in Jordan.
After more than two years, in Jordan they received the call they had been longed for – they were being relocated to the UK.
Read More News:
Hiba was five months pregnant when just over a year ago the family touched down at Glasgow Airport, following a whirlwind few days.
Speaking through an interpreter at Paisley Town Hall, Kassem, 28, and his wife Hiba, 25, exclusively told the Express about their first year in Scotland.
“A year and five days ago we arrived. It was a big, big joy for us. Such a big moment after all the suffering,” Kassem said.
“To be here, to know that we were safe, and can look forward to our life was so important.
“The first days were very smooth. We never had a cot for Hajar, so the people from the council went and got one and blankets to keep us warm.”
Both parents agree that their son, Abdulraham, who was born at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, will grow up Scottish.
“It was a difficult journey as I was pregnant, but the care I have had since coming here has been so good. The delivery went very smoothly and I am very thankful,” said Hiba.
“Our son is definitely Scottish.”
Kassem and Hiba were initially told that they would be heading for Newcastle and were given a lecture on what to expect when they arrived.
But things quickly changed and they found themselves on a plane to Glasgow and bound for Paisley.
Kassem told us: “We didn’t know anything about Glasgow, we knew nothing. We just knew we were going to the UK.”
The terror and suffering the family left behind is simply unimaginable.
When civil war erupted in Syria in 2011 everything changed for them.
Read More News:
“All the buildings were destroyed, everything was completely destroyed. There was no food, no access to medication,” Kassem said.
“The situation was terrible.
“We saw people killed, women kidnapped, bodies around us. There was so much suffering.
“We were hiding as we knew they would kill us if they found us. All the children would be given sleeping tablets to keep them calm through the bombing. It was terrible.
“We didn’t support the Free Army or the government, we would be killed if we went back.”
However, although they were delighted to arrive to the safety of the UK, the trip was tinged with sadness.
Kassem’s mother and father and seven siblings are all still in Jordan and he is not sure he will ever see them again.
“They are all still there, our extended families are all so far away. We miss them very much. There are laws which mean we are not allowed to go to Jordan at the moment,” he explained.
Hiba hopes that one day the war will end and they will be able to see their loved ones again.
Speaking with tears in his eyes, Kassem said the welcome he and his family received in Paisley was beyond anything he could have hoped for.
“Someone from the council said to me, ‘If I could change the weather for you, I would’. That sentence was enough, that said it all to me,” he explained.
“The welcome from everyone has been amazing. Everyone has been so kind and understanding. We have seen no discrimination from anyone, just love and understanding.
“The people of Paisley have been so kind to us.”
And now they have their eyes on the future and hope to make a good life in Scotland.
“I want to go to university and learn to become a teacher. I could work part-time and look after my children as well. That’s what I hope for,” she said.
“I want to keep learning English as well."
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Her husband, who worked in a mobile phone shop in Syria, hopes for the same and his English is already improving.
“I don’t want to be on benefits forever. I want to work, but at the moment that is difficult. I’m learning English, it’s hard but I will keep trying,” he said.
One thing the couple disagree about though, is the weather.
Kassem said “I like the weather. Back in Syria it was too sunny, I hated the summer. This is perfect for me.”
“I like sitting in front of the fire and keeping warm”
“No, no. I miss the sun.” laughed Hiba. “The kids can’t get out to play as much.”
Kassem says the staff at Renfrewshire Council’s resettlement team, which now supports 19 refugee families who are all based within Paisley town centre, have been incredibly supportive throughout the difficult period.
“We just want to thank Ann, Elaine, Donna, Mary and Jacqueline from the team who have helped us so much,” he added.
“And we want to thank the people of Paisley who have been so kind to us.”
The woman heading up the team to support the 19 refugee families in Renfrewshire says they have transitioned well into Scottish life.
The first group of refugees from Syria arrived on November 17 last year, with further smaller intakes happening sporadically.
Ann Carruthers, refugee resettlement manager for Renfrewshire Council, says her team try to facilitate the families as they settle into life in Paisley.
She explained: “We help them with everything to help them get settled in. We help to get them registered with GPs, organise schooling for the children, nurseries for the pre-school children, and get them signed up for benefits.
“But it’s also about getting them doing these things for themselves – showing them the bus routes they have to take and letting them do things for themselves.”
The biggest challenge that many of the refugees face is the language barrier, but Ann says they are working hard to put that right.
“They are all having lessons and they have recognised now that if they want to get into employment then they need to work on their English,” she went on.
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There have been some cultural difference to overcome too.
Ann went on: “There has been little things, like driving. Some of the men have had problems with the zig zag lines. In general though, there hasn’t been anything too major.”Search for:
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What smell reminds you most of camping? Smoke? Bug spray? Smores? Flowers?
Escape, adventure, wilderness, family, peace,fun are common words used to describe camping. It is about the shared experience, strengthening relationships and allowing oneself to decompress from the stresses of the world.
In part 1 of our series on camping, we delve into the minutia of the north American tent camper and the growing interest in paying to sleep on the ground in the middle of nowhere.Over 40 million people camped somewhere within the United States in 2013. and some interesting data has been compiled on the demographics of the who the why and the when and the where.
The typical profile is 32 years old. 60% are female.55% are married.20% are black.
More than 2/3rds of those camped sometime as a teenager and it is a gateway activity. Almost 90% continue and/or move on into more diverse camping experiences. Between cabins, RVs, camping in a tent is by far the most practiced at over 75%. They will average about 2 weeks per year over about 5 trips. Planning is typically about a month in advance, however it isn’t uncommon for campers to either commit a few days earlier or just pack the car that day and hit the road. State parks are the site of choice 43% of the time, followed by National Parks 14% and local campgrounds 10%. Among the top activities are hiking 70%, cooking 27%, photography 24%, fishing 18%, games 18%, Kayaking 14%, climbing 7% and hunting 3%. At night the grounds are ablaze as 91% will have at least one campfire during their stay, 70% will enjoy stargazing, 39% will play cards or board games, 33% read and 18% will play a musical instrument. About 40% will bring a bike. And while the love of the outdoors rarely fades with this group, the struggle to set time aside can grow difficult, as 80% are limited to increasing their backcountry experiences due to a lack of time or commitments to job, family, etc.
The highest participation is found out west in and around the huge national parks, followed by the midwest, south and then the northeast. While the majority of participants started camping early, the expanding technological age has made it easier to entice the newbs outdoors. Access to wifi is three times more likely to be the tipping point for involving new campers. Private campgrounds are beginning to include the internet, and 1/2 of all campers will at least be checking their email, while 1/3 will be in around the fire browsing online. Regardless how modern or convenient society becomes, the attraction to an escape to simple environments where one can connect with the outdoors, share experiences with family and retreat to a calm bubble will not fade. In part 2 of our series, we’ll delve into the demographics of the RV camper.
See also The #1 Danger In National Parks-YouThe parents of an Indonesian girl feared dead after she was swept away by the devastating 2004 tsunami say they have been reunited with their daughter, almost ten years after she vanished.
The parents of an Indonesian girl feared dead after she was swept away by the devastating 2004 tsunami say they have been reunited with their daughter, almost ten years after she vanished.
Raudhatul Jannah was just four-years-old when the Boxing Day tsunami hit swathes of Indonesia and countries in Southeast Asia, taking the lives of some 227, 900 people.
The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1, of which the Aceh province was closest to the epicentre.
Raudhatul and her brother were swept away when huge waves hit their family home in Aceh, Sky News reports. The entire family tried clinging to a piece of wood but her daughter and son slipped into the waters.
Jamaliah then spent a month searching for their children but to no avail, leading her to assume they had both died in the disaster. The family home was destroyed in the disaster and they relocated soon after.
However, in June her brother claimed to have seen a girl bearing a striking resemblance to her long-lost daughter, who was being cared for by a woman in a nearby district.
He discovered the girl had been swept from Aceh in the tsunami to Banyak Island and rescued by a fisherman, who placed her in the care of his mother.
Jamaliah then visited the girl in inland town of Blangpidie in the Aceh Barat Daya district in late June and found she was their daughter.
“My husband and I are very happy we have found her,” Jamaliah was quoted as saying, describing find her daughter as “a miracle from God”.
She said she had “no doubt” the girl is her daughter but would take DNA tests to prove this, News Corp Australia reports. The family say they will now resume the search for Raudhatul's brother on Banyak Island in the hope he may too still be alive.
Independent News ServiceTHEY were said to be among the most talented of their generation, recruited after exhaustive interviews and gruelling internships. They worked at firms prepared to spend small fortunes to attract and retain them lest they take their skills elsewhere. Yet the moral bankruptcy of traders implicated in the rigging of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), one of the world’s most important interest rates, is matched only by the incompetence with which they covered their tracks.
Take traders at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), who left a trail of evidence in a trove of e-mails and audio recordings detailing how they set about trying to manipulate LIBOR, even after they knew investigators were looking into the issue. “We’re just not allowed to have those conversations over Bloomberg anymore,” said one trader, laughingly, in a call to another who a little earlier had asked in writing for a rigged rate. “Its [sic] just amazing how libor fixing can make you that much money,” was the verdict of another trader.
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These exchanges, and many others, were part of a settlement announced on February 6th in which RBS admitted to rigging rates. It agreed to pay fines of $475m to American regulators and another £87.5m ($137m) to Britain’s Financial Services Authority. By the arcane mathematics determining the severity of regulatory fines, RBS is adjudged not to have been as bad an offender as UBS, which last year agreed to pay penalties of $1.5 billion, but is being dealt with a bit more harshly than Barclays, which paid fines of £290m. Regulators said they found attempts to rig LIBOR hundreds of times in at least four and a half years at RBS, compared with the “thousands” alleged in the case of UBS.
There is now a sense of routine about these settlements: the early leaks, the embarrassing e-mails, the big fines. That can make LIBOR seem like just another problem for banks to manage. RBS’s share price rose on the day of its settlement. Even setting aside the threat from litigation, that is to underplay the import of the scandal.
First, whether they had any knowledge of wrongdoing at their bank or not, the executives who were in charge of investment banking at the time rate-rigging took place find themselves under pressure to leave. At Barclays that meant the departure of Bob Diamond, the bank’s former chief executive. At UBS almost the entire leadership team at the investment bank has changed (although many were undone by a separate rogue-trading scandal). At RBS John Hourican will leave as head of the investment-banking arm, despite not being directly implicated in the LIBOR affair.
If regulators are demanding the heads of whoever was running the investment bank at the time of wrongdoing, whether they were complicit or not, that could make life uncomfortable for executives at banks yet to go through the regulatory wringer. On February 6th, for example, Deutsche Bank reportedly suspended several traders over the alleged manipulation of EURIBOR, a cousin of LIBOR. If Deutsche ends up in the same spotlight as RBS, Barclays and UBS, awkward questions will surely be asked of Anshu Jain, the co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank and the ex-head of its investment bank.
Holding executives accountable is not without risks: good people may be forced out of banks when they need them most. But it does focus the mind. The second, lasting effect of the LIBOR scandal is to make bosses pay more attention to compliance and culture. “A lot of the bank CEOs I talk with don’t worry that regulatory change could shut them down,” says Ted Moynihan of Oliver Wyman, a consultancy. “But they see the conduct issue as potentially existential.”
The scandal has also hardened the views of regulators and politicians. The inadequate risk controls at RBS will reinforce a perception that some banks have become not merely too big to fail, but too complex to manage. UBS is slimming its investment bank radically. Barclays is planning to reduce the size of its wholesale bank. RBS may face pressure to shrink its investment bank further. The storm around LIBOR is less intense than it was but its consequences are immense.Could 'Angels in America' happen today?
Twenty years ago, two California theaters found the money to develop what became a seven-hour play by a then-unknown Tony Kushner. Things have changed, and yet....
"Angels in America": In the Nov. 11 Arts & Books section, an article about the legacy of the play "Angels in America" 20 years later misspelled the last name of former Times editor Richard Rouillard as Rouille. —
The Taper production was the first complete staging of the landmark play, subtitled "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes." In it, Kushner wove a tale in which sweeping emotional, political, philosophical and theological themes unfolded in a mostly gay context: the moral obligations between people who love each other, the obligation to forgive even those we hate, and how the traditions that sustain us must evolve in a changing world.
The theatrical journey ended seven hours later with playwright Tony Kushner's AIDS-stricken protagonist, Prior Walter, assuring the audience that it wasn't so: "You are fabulous creatures, each and everyone. And I bless you. More Life. The Great Work Begins."
Twenty years ago this week, the stage lights went up on "Angels in America" at the Mark Taper Forum, and audiences immediately heard an aged rabbi in the Bronx proclaim that "great voyages in this world do not anymore exist."
"Angels in America" won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1993 and best-play Tony Awards in 1993 and '94 (one for each of its two parts, which opened on Broadway in separate theater seasons). It has gone on to sell more than 500,000 copies in book form. There's a fairly broad consensus that it is the greatest American play of the last third of the 20th century — and that nothing has happened in the 21st to rival it. Now that a generation has passed, it seems fair to ask whether the American theater remains equally capable in 2012 of what it brought forth back then.
Can such great voyages still exist?
Could five years, more than $2 million in today's currency and so much of an audience's time be set aside to write, develop and perform an unprecedented kind of work by an unproven playwright?
GRAPHIC: Memories of 'Angels in America'
There's no simple answer, based on recent interviews with Kushner, with several key figures who accompanied him along the play's path and with longtime leaders in the field of new-play development.
The obstacles to the creation of such a play have grown, most of them say, but they're unwilling to bet against the art form's continuing fecundity and determination.
"Certain things have changed in the American theater for the worse, that had they been true when I started working on 'Angels in America' would have had a negative effect," Kushner said. "On the other hand, I would hope the answer is yes."
PHOTOS: Arts and culture pictures from the Times
He says it's not the playwriting talent pool that concerns him but the funding. One big difference, he said, has been the crippling of the National Endowment for the Arts, whose 1987 grant made it possible for the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco to commission him to begin what became "Angels."
Adjusted for inflation, the NEA budget that year was considerably more than double the current $146.3 million. The Eureka's grant was in a special projects category that no longer exists, for works "that would not be accomplished without Endowment assistance." Kushner said his share mattered in ways that went beyond paying his bills while he wrote.
"Apart from the money, it was very moving to me. It had the NEA seal on the check, and it was in the name of 'The People of the United States of America.'" He says the people's imprimatur helped guide his imagination to a national scale.
In all, Kushner, the Eureka and the Mark Taper Forum received an inflation-adjusted $522,000 in grants and playwriting awards en route to the first complete production of "Angels in America" — an amount that experts say is now almost inconceivable for a little-known playwright's work. So, they say, is the five years, with few distractions, that Kushner had to brainstorm, write and refine something that wound up exceeding all normal expectations.Most manatees spend half their day sleeping in the water and the other half grazing on underwater plants. They are generally solitary creatures, unless mating, caring for their young, or sheltering in warm springs. A female will give birth about once every three years to a single calf, which will stay with her for twelve to eighteen months.
Manatees can grow up to thirteen feet (4 m) long, weigh fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred pounds (680 to 816 kg) and live up to sixty years. They have grayish-brown thick wrinkled skin and propel themselves along with flippers and a large, flat tail. They evolved over millions of years from land mammals, and their closest living relatives are the elephant and the hyrax.
EXPLORE THE SAVAGE COASTS: Lion's Mane Jellyfish | Manatee | Killer Whale | Olive Ridley Sea Turtle | Bottlenose Dolphin | Horseshoe Crab | Peregrine Falcon | Spinner Shark | Gray Whale | Moon Jellyfish | All North American AnimalsOpportunity Driving West To Reach New Rock Target
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 10, 2015
Opportunity is within 'Marathon Valley' on the west rim of Endeavour Crater exploring for phyllosilicate clay minerals.
The rover is operating in persistent RAM mode (not using Flash for data storage). On Sol 4120 (Aug. 26, 2015), Opportunity used the Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) to brush the freshly ground surface target, 'Pvt. Robert Frazer' to prepare it for in-situ (contact) measurements. After the surface was cleaned, the Microscopic Imager collected an image mosaic.
This was followed by the placement of the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). The APXS integration was performed on the evening of the next sol. Both Panoramic Camera (Pancam) and Navigation Camera (Navcam) panoramas were sequenced over several sols along with additional readouts of Flash Bank 7 memory.
On Sol 4125 (Sept. 1, 2015), the rover drove to the west about 46 feet (14 meters) in order to approach a new geological contact that may exhibit characteristics of alternation.
As of Sol 4125 (Sept. 1, 2015), the solar array energy production was 384 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.668 and a solar array dust factor of 0.582.
Total odometry is 26.42 (42.52 kilometers), more than a marathon.Students at Stanford University are preparing to compete in this year’s World Solar Competition hosted in Australia with their solar powered vehicle called the Xenith. Although the team completed the nearly 2,000 mile race from the northern city of Darwin to the southern city of Adelaide back in 2009, they placed dead last out of the 10 teams that finished.
Still, the Stanford team completed the journey two years ago, something 15 other competitors couldn’t accomplish. But this year’s race may prove to be more difficult as 42 teams are preparing to enter the cross-continent trek. Xenith crew members are hopefully, though, saying their looking to take first place in Australia.
Weighing only 375 pounds, the incredibly lightweight Xenith is said to have a top speed of 55 miles per hour, and the designers claim the vehicle might be the most efficient solar powered car in history. Perhaps the student builders are merely trying to scare the competition, but two years of work and a stated half a million dollars is a pretty solid framework from which to launch the Xenith.
No American university has won the World Solar Competition since 1987, but with colleges like MIT entering this year’s race, maybe the U.S. will bring home the gold, so to speak.Cutaneous wounds are one of the most common soft tissue injuries and usually are particularly hard to heal in aging. Recently, a team from Research and Development Center for Tissue Engineering at the Fourth Military Medical University of China identified the topical application of Metformin as the promising pharmacological approach to treat wound defects of both young and aged skin. They hope that this discovery will lead to one feasible cure of nonhealing wounds, particularly in patients with the advancing age.
The skin is the biggest organ of the human being while cutaneous wounds frequently occur and require long healing cycle, during which structural and functional damages or infection may happen. In particular, aging is accompanied with an increased risk of chronic nonhealing wounds, resulting in severe clinical burdens but without effective therapeutics. Currently, the only intervention shown conclusively to counteract aging is caloric restriction, the effects of which can be pharmacologically mimicked by reagents including Metformin, Resveratrol, and Rapamycin.
However, despite their potential to retard aging, impacts and functional differences of these caloric restriction mimetics on wound healing remain to be established. Considering that local application of reagents on the skin is convenient and may exclude potential systemic side effects, elucidating topical effects of the anti-aging pharmacology on wound healing are of significance to developing clinically relevant strategies.
Prof. Yan Jin, Chairman of Chinese Association of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine and Director of Research and Development Center for Tissue Engineering at the Fourth Military Medical University of China, leads an accomplished group that focuses on regenerative therapies. Prof. Jin’s team has recently investigated and compared potential influences of the anti-aging pharmacology on cutaneous wound healing.
They discovered that chronic topical administration of Metformin at even a low dose exerted the most profound effects to accelerate wound healing with improved epidermis, hair follicles, collagen deposition and vascularization in young rodents. Importantly, from their preclinical data, Metformin show particular promise in aging: When other caloric restriction mimetics failed to rescue wound defects in aged skin, Metformin still works to restore cutaneous integrity. “The powerful effects of Metformin are attributed to strong angiogenic and rejuvenating potential through stimulating AMPK pathway, the key mediator of wound healing that declines with age,” Prof. Jin explains.
Prof. Jin and the co-corresponding author, Dr. Cheng-Hu Hu, a young principal investigator in the lab, hold that the future looks bright for clinical application of Metformin, for it is already the world’s most widely prescribed drug as an oral anti-hyperglycemic reagent for type 2 diabetes and in the treatment of metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, “the real and potent benefits of emerging Metformin therapy go beyond its prescribed usage, including reduced risk of cancer in human and delayed aging in animals, as further proved by our data to improve wound healing of multiple mammal species and in aging,” says Dr. Hu. In conjunction with their research endeavor for regenerative pharmacological strategies, Prof. Jin and Dr. Hu are also looking into developing small molecular compound-based approaches to exert more extensive therapeutic effects, particularly on the endogenous stem cells. “Stem cell functional decline has emerged among the central hallmarks and key pathogenesis of disordered tissue homeostasis, the potential rejuvenation of which by pharmacology are worth evaluating in future studies,” they stated.
This report is a compilation of work by the research team pioneered by Prof. Jin and Dr. Hu. The recently published study on this topic, “Anti-aging pharmacology in cutaneous wound healing: effects of metformin, resveratrol, and rapamycin by local application” was published the journal Aging Cell.A second child is battling infection by a typically fatal parasite that enters through the nose and consumes brain tissue.
Weeks after a 12-year-old Arkansas girl contracted the parasite while swimming in a sandy-bottom lake at a water park in Little Rock, the Florida Department of Health has confirmed a case in Glades County, Florida. A 12-year-old boy was hospitalized over the weekend, his family told CNN affiliate WBBH, after kneeboarding in a water-filled ditch near his house.
This rare form of parasitic meningitis—primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM)—is caused by an amoeba called Naegleria fowleri. That microscopic amoeba—part of the class of life called protozoans—is a naturally occurring organism that normally feeds on bacteria and tends to live in the sedimentary layer of warm lakes and ponds.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), victims die from the amoeba after about 5 days. Since 1962 there has only been one survivor, yet the 12-year-old girl who was hospitalized last month has improved enough to be moved out of the intensive care unit at Arkansas Children's Hospital, hospital spokesman Tom Bonner told CNN.
To find out more about Naegleria fowleri, National Geographic got in touch with Jonathan Yoder, an epidemiologist at the CDC who collects and analyzes data on the microscopic amoeba.
How does this amoeba called Naegleria fowleri infect a human?
Under certain conditions, Naegleria fowleri can develop flagella—threadlike structures that enable it to rapidly move around and look for more favorable conditions. When people swim in warm freshwater during the summer, water contaminated with the moving amoeba can be forced up the nose and into the brain.
This causes headache, stiff neck, and vomiting, which progresses to more serious symptoms. Between exposure and onset, infection generally results in a coma and death after around five days.
Where is it found?
We see it in warm freshwater or in places with minimal chlorination. It is not uncommon to detect the amoeba if you sample freshwater in warm weather states.
Can it live in swimming pools?
There have been no evident cases of contamination in the United States in well-maintained, properly treated swimming pools. Filtration and chlorination or other types of disinfectant should reduce or eliminate the risk.
But it does get a bit trickier—there was a case in Arizona about ten years ago where a kid swam in a pool filled with water from a geothermal hot water source before it was treated. Unfortunately, the kid became ill and died.
Are cases of infection becoming more common?
We don't have data that says infection from Naegleria fowleri is becoming more common. In the last few years there have been four to five cases per year.
What has changed recently is that cases have appeared in places we had never seen before—like Minnesota, Indiana, and Kansas. This is |
surfing faster than ever. And it also boosts the speed of Adobe Photoshop up to five times faster. Another advantage of ASRock XFast RAM is that it reduces the frequency of accessing your SSDs or HDDs in order to extend their lifespan.
Restart to UEFI
Fast Boot is so fast that it is impossible for users to enter the UEFI setup utility during POST. Therefore, ASRock Restart to UEFI technology allows users to easily enter the UEFI setup utility automatically when turning on the PC next time. It is designed for those who constantly need to enter the UEFI setup utility.
ASRock OMG (Online Management Guard)
Limit and control your children's time spent on the Internet. ASRock OMG (Online Management Guard) technology allows you to establish an Internet curfew or restrict Internet access at specified times. Administrators are able to schedule the starting and ending hours of Internet access granted to other users.
UEFI Tech Service
Contact ASRock Tech Service by sending a support request from the UEFI setup utility if you are having trouble with your personal computer. Users may try to choose the category of the issue they have encountered, describe the problem in detail, and then attach an optional picture or log file for our technical support team.
Dehumidifier
Dampness kills most electronics, so it's a better idea to keep your personal computer dry. Now users may prevent motherboard damages due to dampness by enabling Dehumidifier. When it is enabled, the computer will power on automatically to dehumidify the system after entering S4/S5 state.
Easy Driver Installer
For users that don't have an optical disk drive to install the drivers from our support CD, Easy Driver Installer is a handy tool in the UEFI that installs the LAN driver to your system via an USB storage device, then downloads and installs the other required drivers automatically through the Internet. Completely no CD or optical disk drive required!
Tired of listening to crappy audio that makes your ears bleed? Experience high-quality surround sound from your personal computer. DTS Connect is a blanket name for a two-part system, including DTS Interactive and DTS Neo:PC, it is used on the computer platform only, in order to convert PC audio into the DTS format.
DTS, DTS-HD, the Symbol, & DTS or DTS-HD and the Symbol together are registered trademarks of DTS, Inc.© DTS, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This motherboard supports HDMI™ (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) which is an interface standard for transferring uncompressed video data and delivering multi-channel audio through a single cable. Both video and audio data signals transferred through the HDMI™ interface are digital without being converted into analog, therefore it delivers the richest pictures and the most realistic sounds.This post is by Graham Coop and Joe Pickrell.
With the availability of genomic data on large cohorts of well-phenotyped individuals, there has been an increased interest in “genetic correlations” between traits. That is, when testing a set of genetic variants for association with two traits, are the effects of these genetic variants on the two traits correlated?
There are now simple, easy-to-use software packages for calculating these genetic correlations (e.g.), and it is clear that many traits show some evidence for genetic correlation. For example, LDL cholesterol and risk of coronary artery disease are genetically correlated (e.g ).
The most obvious interpretation of a genetic correlation is that it arises as a result of pleiotropy [1]–alleles that affect one trait on average also have an effect on a second trait. This interpretation can shed powerful light on the shared genetic basis of phenotypes, and can also allow the dissection of causal relationships among phenotypes (through approaches such as Mendelian randomization).
Increasingly, however, we will be faced with genetic correlations that are complex to understand and may have multiple causal underpinnings: for example, height is genetically correlated to socioeconomic status, and educational attainment is negatively genetically correlated to body mass index.
Often when these genetic correlations are described they are simply referred to as correlations; this avoids the issue of specifying how they arise. In some cases, though, genetic correlations are directly referred to as pleiotropy. However, quantitative geneticists have known for a long time that genetic correlations arise for a variety of related reasons (e.g.). It is tempting to see the genetic correlations found by GWAS approaches as side-stepping these long-discussed issues. Indeed, if done well they can bypass some concerns (e.g. that correlations between phenotypes within families could be driven a shared environment). However, the deeper issue that genetic correlations can arise through multiple mechanisms has not gone away.
In this post, we want to discuss some of the possible interpretations of a genetic correlation. We start with the two most common interpretations (putting aside analysis artifacts like shared population stratification), and then discuss two additional possibilities, rarely directly tested, that merit further investigation.
1. “Biological” pleiotropy. In this situation, genetic variants that influence one trait also influence another because of some shared underlying biology. For example, genetic variants that influence age at menarche in women have correlated effects on male pattern baldness. Presumably this is because there are some shared hormonal pathways that influence both of these traits, such that altering these pathways has effects on multiple traits.
2. “Mediated” pleiotropy. In this situation, one trait is directly causally influenced by another. This of course means that a genetic variant that influences the first phenotype will have knock-on effects on the second. The classic example here is LDL cholesterol and heart disease: these two traits are positively genetically correlated, and it is now widely accepted that this correlation is due to a causal effect of LDL on risk of developing disease. Identifying this situation has important medical implications: since LDL is causal for heart disease, then a non-genetic intervention that influences LDL (for example, a drug or an altered diet) should have an effect on someone’s risk of heart disease.
We note that both forms of pleiotropy may be environmental or culturally mediated. For example, if shorter people are discriminated against in the job market this would generate a genetic correlation between height and socioeconomic status that fits a model of “mediated” pleiotropy.
These two explanations of a genetic correlation are of course plausible. Some other models also seem quite plausible; the relative importance of these different models remains to be seen.
3. Parental effects. For example, imagine that more educated parents pay more attention to the diets of their children, and thus their children have lower rates of obesity. This would be detected in GWAS as a genetic correlation between educational attainment and obesity, though the causal connection between the variant and the two traits is less direct than in the previous two situations. Parental effects can be termed pleiotropy, but importantly the effect is due to the parental genotype, and not that of the child, and so it can be distinguished from within-generation pleiotropy (see below).
4. Assortative mating. For example, imagine taller individuals tend to marry individuals with higher socioeconomic status. This would induce a genetic correlation between the traits. What is happening is that the alleles that associated with both traits co-occur in the same individuals (the offspring of these assortatively-mating parents).
To illustrate this point, we simulated two traits that share no pleiotropic genetic variants in common with 100 unlinked loci each. We simulated cross-trait positive assortative mating for a single generation [2]. We then plotted the effect sizes of the variants causally affecting trait 1 against these perceived affect of these loci on trait 2, as estimated from a sample of 100k children. There is a clear relationship induced by even a single generation of assortative mating.
When alleles that increase both traits are brought together in the offspring this induces a form of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between the loci underlying the same traits (even if the loci are not genetically linked). If this assortative mating continues over multiple generations this LD effect is compounded and builds to an equilibrium level of genetic correlation between the two traits (Gianola 1982).
How can we determine the relative contributions of these latter two causes of genetic correlation? Family studies could help–for example, studies in the UK Biobank have shown that assortative mating contributed to the heritability of height [3], this style of study could be extended to cross-trait comparisons. For example, the polygenic score for each phenotype could be calculated for each parent, and the genetic correlation between parents could be estimated.This would allow for the genetic effect of assortative mating to the assessed. Although we note that even if assortative mating is absent in the parental generation, genetic correlations from previous generations of assortative mating could be present (as they decay through meiotic segregation and recombination).
Similarly, parental effects can be tested by estimating polygenic scores for parent and child (see e.g. Zhang et al.); the contribution of parental and child’s genotype can then be assessed.
Overall, the study of genetic correlations using GWAS data has opened up a number of interesting directions for future work; new methods and analyses are needed to distinguish among these various causes of genetic correlation (and of course, others we have not discussed here).
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[1] Note that the pleiotropy we see as quantitative geneticists can be mediated through environmental effects. This is simply a statement that alleles affect multiple traits, not that those shared effects have simple “molecular” basis.
[2] Details of the simulation: we simulated 100 genetic variants influencing a trait with 50% narrow-sense heritability. Effect sizes for each locus affecting trait 1 were drawn from a normal distribution, with no effect on trait 2 and the same for the loci affecting trait two. We simulated positive assortative mating with a given correlation coefficient (0.3 in this case) by simulating a male’s phenotype (trait 2) given the female phenotype (trait 1) from the conditional normal, then choosing the male whose value of trait 2 was closest to this. The complete simulation code is available here.
[3] Indeed, while we have explained all of these effects in terms of genetic covariance, they can also contribute to inflating the additive genetic variance contributed by a trait. For example, couples assortatively mate by height, therefore, alleles contributing to tallness tend to be present in taller individuals even more than we would predict from their ‘true’ effect size. Therefore, the effect sizes of alleles may be mildly overestimated by this effect.
AdvertisementsI think I’m starting to resolve a puzzle that’s been bugging me for awhile.
Pop economists (or, at least, pop micro-economists) are often making one of two arguments:
1. People are rational and respond to incentives. Behavior that looks irrational is actually completely rational once you think like an economist.
2. People are irrational and they need economists, with their open minds, to show them how to be rational and efficient.
Argument 1 is associated with “why do they do that?” sorts of puzzles. Why do they charge so much for candy at the movie theater, why are airline ticket prices such a mess, why are people drug addicts, etc. The usual answer is that there’s some rational reason for what seems like silly or self-destructive behavior.
Argument 2 is associated with “we can do better” claims such as why we should fire 80% of public-schools teachers or Moneyball-style stories about how some clever entrepreneur has made a zillion dollars by exploiting some inefficiency in the market.
The trick is knowing whether you’re gonna get 1 or 2 above. They’re complete opposites!
Our story begins...
Here’s a quote from Steven Levitt:
One of the easiest ways to differentiate an economist from almost anyone else in society is to test them with repugnant ideas. Because economists, either by birth or by training, have their mind open, or skewed in just such a way that instead of thinking about whether something is right or wrong, they think about it in terms of whether it’s efficient, whether it makes sense. And many of the things that are most repugnant are the things which are indeed quite efficient, but for other reasons — subtle reasons, sometimes, reasons that are hard for people to understand — are completely and utterly unacceptable.
As statistician Mark Palko points out, Levitt is making an all-too-convenient assumption that people who disagree with him are disagreeing because of closed-mindedness. Here’s Palko:
There are few thoughts more comforting than the idea that the people who disagree with you are overly emotional and are not thinking things through. We’ve all told ourselves something along these lines from time to time.
I could add a few more irrational reasons to disagree with Levitt: political disagreement (on issues ranging from abortion to pollution) and simple envy at Levitt’s success. (It must make the haters even more irritated that Levitt is, by all accounts, amiable, humble, and a genuinely nice guy.) In any case, I’m a big fan of Freakonomics.
But my reaction to reading the above Levitt quote was to think of the puzzle described at the top of this entry. Isn’t it interesting, I thought, that Levitt is identifying economists as rational and ordinary people as irrational. That’s argument 2 above. In other settings, I think we’d hear him saying how everyone responds to incentives and that what seems like “efficiency” to do-gooding outsiders is actually not efficient at all. The two different arguments get pulled out as necessary.
The set of all sets that don’t contain themselves
Which in turn reminds me of this self-negating quote from Levitt protoge Emily Oster:
anthropologists, sociologists, and public-health officials... believe that cultural differences–differences in how entire groups of people think and act–account for broader social and regional trends. AIDS became a disaster in Africa, the thinking goes, because Africans didn’t know how to deal with it. Economists like me [Oster] don’t trust that argument. We assume everyone is fundamentally alike; we believe circumstances, not culture, drive people’s decisions, including decisions about sex and disease.
I love this quote for its twisted logic. It’s Russell’s paradox all over again. Economists are different from everybody else, because... economists “assume everyone is fundamentally alike”! But if everyone is fundamentally alike, how is it that economists are different “from almost anyone else in society”? All we can say for sure is that it’s “circumstances, not culture.” It’s certainly not “differences in how entire groups of people think and act”–er, unless these groups are economists, anthropologists, etc.
OK, fine. I wouldn’t take these quotations too seriously; they’re just based on interviews, not careful reflection. My impression is that these quotes come from a simple division of the world into good and bad things:
– Good: economists, rationality, efficiency, thinking the unthinkable, believing in “circumstances”
– Bad: anthropologists, sociologists, public-health officials, irrationality, being deterred by repugnant ideas, believing in “culture”
Good is entrepreneurs, bad is bureaucrats. At some point this breaks down. For example, if Levitt is hired by a city government to help reform its school system, is he a rational, taboo-busting entrepreneur (a good thing) or a culture-loving bureaucrat who thinks he knows better than everybody else (a bad thing)? As a logical structure, the division into Good and Bad has holes. But as emotionally-laden categories (“fuzzy sets,” if you will), I think it works pretty well.
The solution to the puzzle
OK, now to return to the puzzle that got us started. How is it that economics-writers such as Levitt are so comfortable flipping back and forth between argument 1 (people are rational) and argument 2 (economists are rational, most people are not)?
The key, I believe, is that “rationality” is a good thing. We all like to associate with good things, right? Argument 1 has a populist feel (people are rational!) and argument 2 has an elitist feel (economists are special!). But both are ways of associating oneself with rationality. It’s almost like the important thing is to be in the same room with rationality; it hardly matters whether you yourself are the exemplar of rationality, or whether you’re celebrating the rationality of others.
Conclusion
I’m not saying that arguments based on rationality are necessarily wrong in particular cases. (I can’t very well say that, given that I wrote an article on why it can be rational to vote.) I’m just trying to understand how pop-economics can so rapidly swing back and forth between opposing positions. And I think it’s coming from the comforting presence of rationality and efficiency in both formulations. It’s ok to distinguish economists from ordinary people (economists are rational and think the unthinkable, ordinary people don’t) and it’s also ok to distinguish economists from other social scientists (economists think ordinary people are rational, other social scientists believe in “culture”). You just have to be careful not to make both arguments in the same paragraph.
P.S. Statisticians are special because, deep in our bones, we know about uncertainty. Economists know about incentives, physicists know about reality, movers can fit big things in the elevator on the first try, evolutionary psychologists know how to get their names in the newspaper, lawyers know you should never never never talk to the cops, and statisticians know about uncertainty. Of that, I’m sure.As the events in Ukraine have sent world leaders scurrying to develop and spread narratives that serve their own interests, the complexities of the geopolitical and economic implications—whether from a Russian, American, European or Ukrainian perspective—have become elusive to those trying to understand exactly what's going on inside the country.
While the U.S. media is obsessed with what it likes to describe as the belligerence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the political implications the crisis is having on Obama's foreign policy legacy, much of what is lost in the coverage is a more critical look at how Cold War history, austerity economics, and deep mistrust have emerged to make the situation in Ukraine, as one historian puts it, "the worst history of our lifetime."
What follows is a brief roundup of some of the contours missing from the surface coverage by voices that take a tougher and more in-depth look at the still unfolding situation.
NATO Encroachment, Not Russian Aggression
For his part, Stephen Cohen, professor emeritus at New York University and Princeton University who has long focused on Russia, says what is constantly missing from most mainstream coverage in the U.S. is the very real perception by many in Russia who see a European takeover of Ukraine as a direct military encroachment by the NATO powers on their western border.
This, he says, may be lost on an American audience, but the seriousness of it is not lost on those who know the history of War World I and the bloodshed along the Russian front after War World II that led to the Cold War.
Appearing on CNN this weekend, Cohen told viewers that it is U.S. and European policy in recent years, not what Putin is now doing, that deserves the most severe criticism. He said:
We are witnessing as we talk the making possibly of the worst history of our lifetime. We are watching the descending of a new cold war divide between west and east, only this time, it is not in far away Berlin, it's right on Russia's borders through the historical civilization in Ukraine. It's a crisis of historic magnitude. If you ask how we got in it, how we got into the crisis, and how therefore do we get out, it is time to stop asking why Putin - why Putin is doing this or that, but ask about the American policy, and the European Union policy that led to this moment.
Asked to elaborate, Cohen continued:
I don't know if you your listeners or views remember George Kennan. He was considered [a] great strategic thinker about Russia among American diplomats but he warned when we expanded NATO [under Bill Clinton], that this was the most fateful mistake of American foreign policy and that it would lead to a new Cold War. George lived to his hundreds, died a few years ago, but his truth goes marching on. The decision to move NATO beginning in the 90's continuing under Bush and continuing under Obama, is right now on Russia's borders. And if you want to know for sure, and I have spent a lot of time in Moscow, if you want to know what the Russian power elite thinks Ukraine is about, it is about bringing it into NATO. One last point, that so-called economic partnership that Yanukovych, the elected president of Ukraine did not sign, and that set off the streets - the protests in the streets in November, which led to this violence in and confrontation today, that so-called economic agreement included military clauses which said that Ukraine by signing this so called civilization agreement had to abide by NATO military policy. This is what this is about from the Russian point of view, the ongoing western march towards post Soviet Russia.
Jonathan Steele, writing for Guardian, argues that both the US and the EU need to ratchet down both their rhetoric and threats. He contends the only real solution to the turmoil in Ukraine is one which respects the rights and aspirations of all Ukrainians. Matching Cohen's analysis in some way regarding NATO's encroachment, Steele writes:
Both John Kerry's threats to expel Russia from the G8 and the Ukrainian government's plea for Nato aid mark a dangerous escalation of a crisis that can easily be contained if cool heads prevail. Hysteria seems to be the mood in Washington and Kiev, with the new Ukrainian prime minister claiming, "We are on the brink of disaster" as he calls up army reserves in response to Russian military movements in Crimea. Were he talking about the country's economic plight he would have a point. Instead, along with much of the US and European media, he was over-dramatising developments in the east, where Russian speakers are understandably alarmed after the new Kiev authorities scrapped a law allowing Russian as an official language in their areas. They see it as proof that the anti-Russian ultra-nationalists from western Ukraine who were the dominant force in last month's insurrection still control it. Eastern Ukrainians fear similar tactics of storming public buildings could be used against their elected officials. Kerry's rush to punish Russia and Nato's decision to respond to Kiev's call by holding a meeting of member states' ambassadors in Brussels today were mistakes. Ukraine is not part of the alliance, so none of the obligations of common defence come into play. Nato should refrain from interfering in Ukraine by word or deed. The fact that it insists on getting engaged reveals the elephant in the room: underlying the crisis in Crimea and Russia's fierce resistance to potential changes is Nato's undisguised ambition to continue two decades of expansion into what used to be called "post-Soviet space", led by Bill Clinton and taken up by successive administrations in Washington. At the back of Pentagon minds, no doubt, is the dream that a US navy will one day replace the Russian Black Sea fleet in the Crimean ports of Sevastopol and Balaclava.
As for Russia's involvement, it should at least be seen in light of its own interests and the legality of the military intervention. Even if not justified, says Steele, it must be compared to that of other world powers who now wave their finger at Moscow with such hypocrisy. He concludes:
Vladimir Putin's troop movements in Crimea, which are supported by most Russians, are of questionable legality under the terms of the peace and friendship treaty that Russia signed with Ukraine in 1997. But their illegality is considerably less clear-cut than that of the US-led invasion of Iraq, or of Afghanistan, where the UN security council only authorised the intervention several weeks after it had happened. And Russia's troop movements can be reversed if the crisis abates. That would require the restoration of the language law in eastern Ukraine and firm action to prevent armed groups of anti-Russian nationalists threatening public buildings there. The Russian-speaking majority in the region is as angry with elite corruption, unemployment and economic inequality as people in western Ukraine. But it also feels beleaguered and provoked, with its cultural heritage under existential threat. Responsibility for eliminating those concerns lies not in Washington, Brussels or Moscow, but solely in Kiev.
In Crimea: 'Not separatists... Federalists.'
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Another aspect that has created controversy is whether the Russian military presence in Crimea and the rejection of the new Kiev government in other places in the south and east of the country is pretext for a secessionist movement within those provinces. Others worry that the political split between east and west could lead to all out civil war or a regional conflagration with the Ukraine army in the west, backed by the EU and US, facing off against Russian-backed forces in the east.
But Nicolai Petro, a professor of politics at the University of Rhode Island and currently a Fulbright research scholar in Ukraine, says those opposing the takeover in Kiev are not interested in splitting Ukraine, but instead are concerned about losing key rights, including their ability to retain their Russian heritage under new legal edicts. And, says Petro, those with close economic ties to Russia seeing those interests subjugated by a government beholden to European interests does little to inspire confidence in the emerging government that has taken control in Kiev.
Despite those worries, however, those characterized as 'Pro-Russian' do not want to secede, argues Petro in The Nation. He explains:
The regions in the South and East that oppose the [new government in Kiev] are not demanding to leave Ukraine. [...] They seek a more formal recognition of their rights. A popular slogan at a recent anti-Maidan meeting in [eastern city of] Kharkiv was ‘We are not separatists. We are federalists.’ Even in Crimea, the government recently put in place by local ‘self-defense forces’ has asked only for a referendum, citing the need to guarantee its autonomy ‘under any changes in central authority or the Constitution of Ukraine.’ The referendum question in fact stipulates that Crimea ‘is part of Ukraine on the basis of agreements and accords.’ In this context being ‘pro-Russian’ does not mean joining Russia. It means speaking, worshiping, and going to school in your own language, in your own country — Ukraine.
Whose Crony-Capitalism?
Lastly, informed observers note that what's really driving the crisis in Ukraine is about the country's faltering economic conditions more than anything else. What should not be lost, they suggest, is the fact that Ukraine—guided by the interim government in Kiev—is now on the verge of taking on billions of dollars in public debt by accepting financial bailout packages from the International Monetary Fund and European banks.
The Wall Street Journal reports Monday that an IMF team is en route to Kiev to begin discussions with the interim government there over the possible details of such a financial package.
As the economist Michael Roberts noted recently, "the people of Ukraine [were] left with Hobson's choice: either go with KGB-led crony capitalism from Russia or go with equally corrupt pro-European 'democrats'".
Roberts continued:
The collapse of the pro-Russian regime of Yanukovych is a big defeat for Russia national interests. Putin sees Ukraine as a satellite of Russian crony capitalism. As he once told the then-US President George Bush: “Ukraine is not even a state”. In public, Mr Putin can’t bring himself to call Ukraine anything but a “krai,” the Russian word for territory. He was determined to stop Ukraine coming under the wing of German-led European capitalism. But his man, Yanukovych could not deliver. Now the pro-European bourgeois leaders in Kiev will prostrate themselves before the EU and IMF in order obtain ‘aid’. These politicians are just as much in the hands of Ukraine’s billionaire oligarchs as the ousted pro-Russian government were. As the German journal, Der Spiegel has explained, two oligarchs, Akhmetov and Firtash, between them control over 90 MPs in the Ukraine parliament. Akhmetov is worth $15 billion and is head of the holdings company System Capital Management, which controls more than 100 companies with some 300,000 employees. They include metallurgical and pipe factories, banks, real estate firms, mobile phone enterprises and a large media company. He is the de-facto ruler of Donbass, the home of Ukrainian heavy industry and owns the football team Shakhtar Donetsk. These oligarchs soon realised well before the current crisis that Yanukovych would not be around for much longer. They began carefully looking around for alternatives.
But as Andrej Nikolaidis, a Bosnian who says the situation in Ukraine reminds him all too much about what happened in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990's, says in a piece in the Guardian on Monday: "When common people find themselves in the middle of a geopolitical storm – as the citizens of Ukraine do now, or my family back then in Bosnia – the dilemma "is this glass half empty or half full?" is irrelevant: soon, it will be broken."
And Nikolaidis continues with a warning:
In their struggle to overcome Russian occupation and survive all the Trojan horses from the institutions of global capitalism, it is to be hoped that people in Ukraine learned a thing from the war in Bosnia – that a deus ex machina from the west will never land, solving the situation and leading them into the promised land of the EU. Bosnia today is a poor and divided country, even more so than it was back in 1992. Former soldiers, hungry and sick, are gathering and protesting. "While we were bleeding, they were stealing," says one. In the past, they were ready to die for their nation and its bright future. Some Bosnians saw their future under the Bosnian and EU flag, others under the Croatian and EU flag, and others still under the flag of The Great Serbia. Lots of flags, but only one poverty for all.
What's needed in that context, according to Petro's assessment, is a diplomatic and economic solution that caters to the interests of all Ukrainans, not one driven by discussions that take place "in New York, Brussels or Moscow."
"The partners that need to resolve their differences are all inside Ukraine," he says, "and the issue they need to address is full equality between the two major cultural components of Ukrainian identity, Ukrainian and Russian. Only this can provide the basis for a common vision for the future shared across the entire land."
_______________________________An American wine fraud expert has called into question the authenticity of a treasure trove of the world’s most expensive wine after it went under the auctioneer’s hammer in Geneva.
Six lots of vintage bottles from the mythical Romanée Conti Domain in Burgundy were withdrawn from the multi-million pound auction at the last minute. The rest of the sale of 1,407 bottles – worth up to £11,000 each – proceeded as planned.
The auction house, Bagheera Wines, told The Independent that it would “urgently” verify the authenticity of all bottles in the sale. If any proved to be suspect, their sales would be cancelled.
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.
“We take the protection of our customers’ interest very seriously,” said Michael Ganne, director of Bagheera. “I am sure that the overwhelming bulk of the lots will prove to be genuine. If there is any doubt at all, the sale will be nullified.”
Mr Ganne told The Independent that he had ordered “five or six lots” to be withdrawn from the sale because of the allegations made on the site Wineberserkers.Com.
Despite the doubts, the auction raised 6.2m swiss francs - or £4.3m - substantially above the estimate
The claims were made by Don Cornwell, a Los Angeles lawyer and burgundy wine expert who has been described as “the fine wine bidder's hero” and the “wine fraudster's worst nightmare”.
Mr Cornwell has made several challenges to auctions of vintage wines in recent years. He has been involved in a number of legal actions, winning some and losing others.
Shape Created with Sketch. The top 10 countries that drink the most alcohol Show all 10 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. The top 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 1/10 10. Poland 2/10 9. Germany 3/10 8. Luxembourg 4/10 7. France 5/10 6. Hungary 6/10 5. Russia 7/10 4. Czech Republic 8/10 3. Estonia 9/10 2. Austria 10/10 1. Lithuania 1/10 10. Poland 2/10 9. Germany 3/10 8. Luxembourg 4/10 7. France 5/10 6. Hungary 6/10 5. Russia 7/10 4. Czech Republic 8/10 3. Estonia 9/10 2. Austria 10/10 1. Lithuania
In his lengthy and extremely detailed post on the Wineberserkers site, he alleged that “many lots” in the sale were “either outright counterfeit or highly questionable”.
He gave examples, with pictures, of bottles which had the wrong kind of engraved glass or suspect labels or the incorrect kind of “capsule” or protection over the cork.
Of one bottle of 1978 Romanée Conti, estimated to be worth £10,000, he said: “The bottle itself has embossed glass …That immediately told me this bottle is fake because none of the 1978 DRC (Domaine de Romanée Conti) wines have embossed glass. The only vintage which ever had that embossed glass was the 1974 vintage.”
“So obviously someone took bottles of 1974 DRC something and turned them into 1978 Romanée Conti.”
There have been a series of scandals in recent years as wealthy investors have entered the vintage wine market to speculate on price and hoard bottles, rather than to enjoy the contents. Since the wine is never likely to be drunk, counterfeiters try to make a fortune by faking the label or placing an authentic label on an inferior bottle.
Romanée-Conti has been a favourite target for fraudsters. It is is the world’s most expensive wine, grown from Pinot Noir grapes in a tiny vineyard the size of one and a half football pitches, north of Beaune.
The Romanée-Conti vineyard produces only about 6,000 bottles of red wine a a year. The wider Romanée-Conti Domain produces other much-prized wines from a half dozen Burgundy grands crus vineyards.
In their advance publicity for the sale – and another involving prized Bordeaux wines on Monday – Bagheera wine boasted that it had assembled the “ most significant auction of exceptional wines of the last two decades in continental Europe”.
Bagheera is a new auction house, specialising in vintage wine, created last year by former employees of Christie’s. Its advance publicity strongly implied that the Domaine Romanée- Conti collection on sale had been assembled by a single Swiss investor over 15 years
In his lengthy challenge, Mr Cornwell said that he was convinced that the “ DRC wines and other burgundies don’t come from a single Swiss private collector but rather from a failed Luxembourg wine fund known as Nobles Crus” which was wound up in 2012-4.
Many of these bottles, he claimed, had been offered to other auction houses in the last year and refused as being of doubtful provenance.
Asked about these allegation, Mr Ganne of Bagheera Wines, told The Independent: “I don’t want to get into a polemic. We are conducting an investigation and we will have a complete answer to all these allegation by Tuesday or Wednesday. If any lot is shown to be doubtful, its sale will not stand.”
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
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Subscribe nowPa / PA Archive/PA Images
Ken Clarke has claimed David Cameron may have done "some sort of a deal" to win the support of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers in the run-up to the 2010 general election, culminating in senior executives at the Sun demanding the government introduce prison ships to the UK because the newspaper was running a campaign on the issue.
Clarke, who served as justice secretary in Cameron's first cabinet, said he found himself lectured by Rebekah Brooks, the former Sun editor who later became chief executive of the newspaper's parent company, on the need to put prisoners on ships off Britain's shores. "Quite how David Cameron got the Sun out of the hands of Gordon Brown I shall never know," the veteran Tory MP said. "Rupert would never let Tony [Blair] down because Tony had backed the Iraq war. Maybe it was some sort of a deal. David would not tell me what it was. Suddenly we got the Murdoch empire on our side." He continued: "We won in 2010 and I found myself justice secretary, lord chancellor. Within a week or two we had got Andy Coulson on board – I think he was Murdoch’s man, that was part of the deal I assume – as the press officer. I am not being totally indiscreet. Nobody seemed bothered by it very much." Clarke made the comments earlier this month while giving evidence to the Competition and Markets Authority investigation into Murdoch's bid to take full control of the broadcaster Sky, but they have only just been released.
Pa / Press Association Images David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks.
The Tory politician went on to describe efforts by senior management at Murdoch's UK news operation to introduce prison ships. "Within a few weeks of taking over my prime minister arranged a meeting with Rebekah Brooks. Rebekah Brooks described herself as running the government now in partnership with David Cameron. I found myself having an extraordinary meeting with Rebekah who was instructing me on criminal justice policy from now on, as I think she had instructed my predecessor, so far as I could see, judging from the numbers of people we had in prison and the growth of rather exotic sentences.
"She wanted me to buy prison ships because she did accept that the capacity of the prisons was getting rather strained, putting it mildly, it was not the way I described it. "She really was solemnly telling me that we had got to have prison ships because she had got some more campaigns coming, which is one of her specialities. I regarded this as a very amusing conversation and took not the slightest notice. "As long as I was justice secretary we would not have any of this. I do not think my successor needed any promoting from Rebekah so it all went back to the norm."
Arthur Edwards / Press Association Images Rupert MurdochEver notice Ben |
help you. Father.” Her last word was a wail.
The screams continued above their heads, wave after crashing wave of them.
Father. Lin called out, “Help us!” She shouted for the king while Sima called to the lapidary. Two daughters below. Two fathers above.
Sima looked at Lin with wide eyes. “He is gem-mad.”
The King’s Lapidary howled in answer. His words came faster and faster, tumbling through the grate. Their meaning was nearly drowned by his laughter. Lin caught her name. She heard “bargain” and “promise.” The lapidary’s voice rose to a high pitch and cracked.
Sharp metal struck stone. Sima grabbed her ears, holding tight to the metal bands that wrapped her earlobes. Through clenched teeth, she whispered, “A lapidary must obey their Jewel.” The first vow a new lapidary took. Sima repeated the vow like a chant as a shriek pierced the room above them. Her face was white, but she pushed Lin away from the grate, whispering, “He’s going to break the diamond; he’ll break it and death will come. Cover your ears!”
When the stone shattered it made a noise like a mineshaft collapsing, and a scream, and a fire all at once. Sima’s eyes rolled back and Lin scrambled to keep her courtier’s head from hitting the hard pit walls. “It’s all right,” she whispered. Nothing was right. Where was her father? Where were her sisters and brothers? And their lapidaries?
The pit and its metal walls seemed to protect them from the gems, and from Sima’s father. Above, a cry of pain reverberated through the hall. Then something like rain. Then weeping. She heard the clatter as the palace guard dropped their weapons en masse and tried to flee, feet pounding, across the great hall’s moonstone tiles. She heard them fall, one by one.
Metal struck again. Sima threw up at Lin’s feet.
“Father!” Lin shouted, hoping her voice would pass up through the grate. “What is happening?”
Instead of the king, the lapidary returned to kneel on the grate. His hands gripped the bars, charred black. His eyes looked bloodred in the moonlight. “Awake,” he muttered. “Awake too soon. The commander has not yet come and you must cover your ears. You will be no good to me mad.” His voice singsonged as he stood and laughed, then lurched away.
“Sima,” Lin whispered. “What is he doing?”
Her lapidary whimpered. “He is breaking his vows, my Jewel. He has broken gems. Couldn’t you hear? The Opaque Sapphire. The Death Astrion. The Steadfast Diamond. He is about to break the Star Cabochon. We have to stop him.”
The Opaque Sapphire. The Jeweled Palace was visible to attackers without that gem. And she and Sima were trapped in the pit beside the throne. The astrion and the diamond. The borders were undefended.
All her life, Aba had made Lin recite the valley’s legends. How the first gems had enslaved those who found them; how they had maddened those who could hear them. How the first Jewel, the Deaf King, had set a cabochon-cut ruby with metal and wire. How he’d bound those who heard the stones as well and named them lapidaries. Made them serve him instead of the gems. How the gems had protected the valley better than any army.
She’d made Lin learn what could happen if a lapidary broke their vows.
The screaming had quieted above them. Sima knelt and cupped her hands so that Lin could stand on them. Lin pressed on the grate with both hands. The heavy door lifted an inch, but little more. Lin climbed to Sima’s shoulders.
“Here—” Sima handed Lin a long bone from the pit floor. They wedged the grate open and Lin pulled herself out. Looking around, she could not see the King’s Lapidary. But as Sima pulled herself up using a stretch of Lin’s robe, Lin saw her own father, lying on the ground. His eyes were clouded like ruined opals. His breath bubbled in the blood-flecked foam at his mouth. An amber goblet rolled on the floor near his fingers. The bodies of the rest of the court lay scattered. Sisters. Brothers. Aba. Lin bound her heart up with the words. Saw their lips too: blackened and covered with foam. Poison.
Sima crossed the hall, following a sound. A voice. In the courtyard beyond the throne, the King’s Lapidary stood on the high wall. He pointed at Lin, before Sima moved to stand between them. “The Western Mountains are coming—I’ve promised them a powerful gem and one very fine Jewel to marry!” He began to laugh and shout again. “They are strong! Our gems are fading. Soon their only power will be to catch the eye. The Jeweled Valley must be protected. He wouldn’t listen. I protected you!”
Lapidaries’ lathes were smashed across the courtyard. Shards of the Intaglio Amethyst that mapped the valley’s mines crunched under Sima’s feet as she walked toward her father.
“You cannot betray your vows, Father. You promised.”
Metal rained down on them as the gem-mad lapidary threw the chains and bracelets that had bound his arms and ears. “No longer!”
Sima sank to her knees in the courtyard and Lin fell beside her. They watched as the madman waited for his conquering army on the wall.
Then the King’s Lapidary fell quiet for the first time since Lin woke.
The two girls listened, shaking in the cold, for the mountain army’s drums. They wondered how long the palace’s doors could hold. But no drums came. Only silence. The King’s Lapidary climbed up on the lip of the palace wall. He turned to face the courtyard. His lips were pressed tight, his eyes rolled. He spread his arms wide. His hands clutched at the air.
Sima rose to her feet. Began to run toward the wall.
Without another word, the King’s Lapidary leapt from the wall, his blue robe flapping, the chains on his wrists and ankles ringing in the air.
And before Lin could scream, the King’s Lapidary crashed to the flagstones of the courtyard.
When Lin came to her senses, Sima was whispering to her sapphires and blue topaz, the ones that lined her veil. Calm, she whispered. Calm.
The valley’s gems. In a gem-speaker’s hands, Lin knew they amplified desire. When bezel-set and held by a trained lapidary, they had to obey: to protect, calm, compel. Only without their bezels, or in the presence of a wild gem-speaker or a gem-mad lapidary, could gems do worse things.
Sima’s gems did calm Lin. She remained aware of what was happening, but they were smooth facets made out of fact; her terror was trapped within. She was the only one left. An army was coming. The court of the Jeweled Valley—which had known peace for four hundred years, since the Deaf King set the Star Cabochon—had been betrayed. Lin felt a keen rising in her chest.
“Make me stronger,” she ordered Sima.
Sima tried her best. She whispered to the small topaz and diamonds at Lin’s wrists and ears. Lin could not hear the gems, but she felt them acting on her. Compelling her to be calm. To think clearly. She took a breath. Stood.
“We will collect all the gems we can find, Sima,” she said. “All the chain mail too.”
They searched the bodies of the court for gems. Lin sewed the gems herself into one of her old gray cloaks.
When she rolled her eldest brother’s body on its side to peel the ornamental chain mail from his chest, she wept, but it was a calm, slow weeping. The gems allowed her time to act. She would have to mourn later. She moved from one body to the next. Sima followed behind, tugging cloaks, searching pockets.
Sima removed the bands and chains from the fallen lapidaries, cutting the solder points with her father’s diamond saw.
They returned to Lin’s quarters in the heart of the palace and Lin wrapped herself in all of the chains she had collected. She pointed to the metal bands, the oaths meaningless now.
“You must do the rest,” she told her lapidary.
Sima, whispering her vows, shook her head. “I cannot do this work, my Jewel. It will harm you.”
The small betrayal made the lapidary wince.
“Sima, you must.” Lin spoke calmly, and Sima pulled the cache of tools from her sleeve. She lit her torch. Attached bands at Lin’s wrists and ankles. The metal grew hot. Lin felt her skin burn and thought of her sisters and brothers. Blisters rose where Sima’s torch came too close. Lin ached for her father.
“The mountains wish a bride and a throne,” Lin said. Her voice was flat. Her new veil hung heavy against her temples.
Sima added more chains to Lin’s veil. When Lin demanded it, she spoke the binding verses she’d learned at her own father’s side.
And then Sima backed out the door, latching it behind her. Lin listened to the lapidary’s metal vows clattering and chiming on her arms as she sped away. To the river, Sima. Run.
The noises faded. The palace of the Jeweled Court fell silent.
And Lin, for the first time in her life, was completely alone.
Copyright © 2016 by Fran Wilde
About the Author
Fran Wilde is an author and technology consultant. Her first novel, Updraft, debuted from Tor/Macmillan in 2015. Her short stories have appeared in publications including Asimov’s, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Nature, and Tor.com (Bibliography.). Her interview series Cooking the Books–about the intersection between food and fiction–has appeared at Strange Horizons, Tor.com, and on her blog, franwilde.wordpress.com. You can find her on Twitter @fran_wilde and Facebook @franwildewrites.
The Jewel and her Lapidary is out May 3 2016 from Tor.com.Police have stated there is a security issue in the shopping centre and reports suggest a suspect package has been discovered by staff. Fire crews and ambulances have arrived at the scene in west London, with all nearby roads sealed off or diverted. A cordon has been put in place as far as Ealing Green and Ealing Studios as police investigate the incident. And police have confirmed three people have been arrested following the incident.
TWITTER Ealing Broadway shopping centre has been closed
Images and videos from the scene show hordes of shoppers being escorted out of the mall by police. And residents who live nearby have also been asked to leave their homes by police. Many customers have taken to social media in reaction to the shock evacuation.
TWITTER Police have cordoned off the roads surrounding Ealing Broadway shopping centre
TWITTER The roads surround the shopping centre are also on lockdown
Tom Parry-Jones said: “Very strange scenes at Ealing Broadway. No one is panicking, just a little confused. Great work by emergency services!” He added: “Police are driving people away from Ealing Broadway station towards Hanwell. No traffic getting through.” Luca Pirovano said: “Police have cordoned off #EalingBroadway shopping centre and area. Seems big. Chopper is also flying about.” Catrin Manel added: “Ealing Broadway evacuated. Staff, public out. Roads closed. Police helicopter circling. No buses on Uxbridge Rd.”
London terror raids Sun, June 4, 2017 Police have raided a block of flats in Barking in connection with last night's London Bridge terror attack. Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 20 As police continue their investigations following the June 3 terror attacks, a block of flats in Barking is raided for possible suspects
The Metropolitan Police confirmed officers were called to the shopping centre in west London just after 6pm. A spokesman said: "Police in Ealing were called to Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre, W5 at 18:10hrs following a security alert. "Specialist officers are in attendance. Local roads have been closed as a precaution. "Two men and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of public order offences and taken to a north London police station for questioning. "Enquiries continue."
TWITTER Roads around the centre have been closed over the supposed 'bomb scare'
TWITTER A huge cordon has been erected around the sceneImage caption The PM said he hoped troops would not be in Afghanistan another five years
Prime Minister David Cameron has said he wants UK troops out of Afghanistan within five years.
Speaking in Canada, Mr Cameron said he wanted to see troops home by the time of the next general election, due in 2015, "make no mistake about it".
However, ahead of talks with US President Barack Obama on Saturday, Mr Cameron told Sky News he preferred not to "deal in too strict timetables".
Some 307 UK forces personnel have died since the Afghan mission began in 2001.
Armoured vehicle
During the election campaign, Mr Cameron said he would like to see troops brought back during course of this Parliament.
Interviewed in Canada, where he will take part in the G8 and G20 summits, Mr Cameron told Sky News: "We can't be there for another five years, having been there for nine years already.
"But one thing we should be clear about - Britain should have a long-term relationship with Afghanistan, including helping to train their troops and their civil society, long after the vast bulk of troops have gone home."
On his mind... is the fact that June has been the bloodiest month for Nato forces in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2001, with the coalition death toll standing at 80. Nick Robinson Read Nick's thoughts in full Four killed in Afghanistan named
His aides said his comments did not suggest any new timetable for bringing troops home.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said while there was insistence the remarks did not indicate a new policy, the prime minister's declaration "does highlight the fact that his mind is on how and when to bring British forces out of Afghanistan".
Mr Cameron spoke as four UK soldiers who died in an accident in Afghanistan on Wednesday - the latest British fatalities there - were named by the Ministry of Defence.
Pte Alex Isaac, Pte Douglas Halliday, Colour Sgt Martyn Horton and L/Cpl David Ramsden were travelling in a Ridgeback armoured vehicle when it left the road and landed in a canal.
'Some stability'
Mr Obama wants a US drawdown of troops to begin next summer although US General David Petraeus - who this week replaced the sacked commander of multinational forces Stanley McChrystal - is among those insisting that has to be based on conditions on the ground.
Asked about Mr Obama's preference, Mr Cameron said he would rather not "deal in too strict timetables" but wanted to get on with bringing "some stability" in Afghanistan so its people could run their own country and troops could come home.
In an interview with Canadian broadcaster CBC, Mr Cameron added that he wanted a "proper review" of progress towards the end of the year.
"I want this to be done, as far as possible, on the basis of success rather than lines in the sand and dates, but am I pushing very hard to get everything done so this can happen? Yes, of course."
He said there were three main aims - ensuring the troop surge works and counter-insurgency continues "full steam ahead", training the Afghan army and police, and achieving the political settlement needed "with those elements of the Taliban that want to lay down their weapons".
"Get those three things right and the timetables are realistic," he said.
'Mission creep'
Some 10,000 British soldiers are based in Afghanistan, many fighting a counter-insurgency campaign in the southern Helmand province.
Ministers say it is crucial to Britain's own security to ensure "a stable enough" Afghanistan to prevent it again becoming a haven for those who want to carry out attacks like 9/11.
British troops went to Afghanistan in November 2001 as part of an American-led invasion in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the US.
The goal was to topple the Taliban who had given safe haven to al-Qaeda, although in the following years the aims of the British mission broadened.
Last summer the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee said British troops were trying to do too much and had experienced "mission creep".
It said the initial goal of supporting the US in countering international terrorism had stretched into the realms of "counter-insurgency, counter-narcotics, protection of human rights and state-building".
Following a visit to the country this month Mr Cameron warned further British casualties were likely over the summer, and said he wanted to bring troops home "the moment it is safe to do so".
He told MPs that while the threat from al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan had reduced - he had been advised it would increase again if international forces left.Sporting Kansas City announced on Thursday that the club has signed defender Yann Songo’o. The 21-year-old Cameroon youth international will be added to the team’s roster pending the receipt of his P-1 Visa and ITC.
“We had him train with us last summer and we feel he is a talented, young player with a big upside,” Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes said. “We look forward to adding him and bolstering the depth of the team.”
Songo’o represented Cameroon at the 2011 African Youth Championship in South Africa, helping his country reach the final and qualify for the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He was again selected for Cameroon’s under-20 squad for the FIFA tournament and played in a 1-0 victory over Uruguay in the group stage finale to send his country through to the knockout round.
“I have lot of hope and aspiration that this will be a big experience and opportunity to show what I have as a footballer,” Songo’o said. “I want to thank the club for the chance they are giving me and I want to show my gratitude to them on the playing field.”
After developing as a youth with Deportivo de la Coruña and Real Zaragoza in Spain, Songo’o spent a short stint in France at FC Metz before returning to Zaragoza. Songo’o featured for Real Zaragoza B from 2010-2011, drawing interest from Real Madrid and FC Barcelona before moving up to Spain’s Liga Adelante (Segunda Division) with CE Sabadell FC. He appeared in a Copa del Rey second round qualifier for the club.
Most recently, Songo’o joined Pobla de Mafumet CF in January 2012. He is the son of former Cameroon goalkeeping great Jacques Songo’o, a four-time member of Cameroon’s World Cup teams, and the brother of Portland Timbers midfielder Franck Songo’o.
VITALS
Yann Songo’o
Position: Defender
Number: 2
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 182
Born: 11/19/1991
Birthplace: Toulon, France
Hometown: Yaoundé, Cameroon
Last Club: Pobla de Mafumet CF (Spain)
Twitter: @Songoo91Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during the final day of the Republican national convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on July 21, 2016. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Photo: Brian van der Brug, TNS)
LANSING -- President-elect Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Friday in the Michigan Court of Appeals, seeking to block a recount of Michigan's presidential vote, hours after a deadlocked State Board of Canvassers gave the green light for the recount to start as early as Tuesday, but more likely on Wednesday.
Trump's court action followed a similar suit filed Friday morning by Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette, who asked the Court of Appeals to send his case directly to the Michigan Supreme Court, to expedite the appeal process.
Trump, through Lansing attorneys Gary Gordon and John Pirich and other attorneys, said Green Party candidate Jill Stein's petition for a recount is technically deficient and because she received only 1.07% of the vote in Michigan, she "has no possible opportunity to earn Michigan's electoral votes or become president," but "seeks to thrust a costly and time-consuming recount upon Michigan citizens."
►Deadlock: Board vote means Michigan presidential recount may proceed
►Related: Trump supporters file suit to stop Wisconsin recount
►Related: Presidential recount kicks off in Wisconsin
►Michigan's Board of Canvassers: Who are they?
►Related: Mich. AG Schuette moves to halt presidential recount
►Related: What we know now about recount preparations
"Stein urges the board to expend tens of millions of dollars on a wild goose chase that even Stein cannot identify," the lawsuit alleges.
Stein paid a recount filing fee of close to $1 million. State officials have estimated the actual cost of the recount might reach or exceed $5 million. It's not clear where Trump got the "tens of millions" cost estimate.
In a news release issued earlier Friday in response to legal challenges Trump has brought against recounts she is also seeking in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as well as his Michigan challenge before the Board of State Canvassers, Stein vowed to fight "tooth and nail" for the recounts.
“We won’t stand down as Donald Trump and his allies seek to frivolously obstruct the legal processes set up to ensure the accuracy, security and fairness of our elections," she said in the release.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/2gWpBqqThousands of supporters have signed an online petition calling for the removal of councilwoman Kshama Sawant after she encouraged a “nationwide shutdown” on President-elect Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day.
The writer of the petition claims Sawant is “not respecting the will of the people, and it wants her removed for “abuse of power.”
“She’s using her platform to incite violence and call for protests and riots,” the petition said. “Our elected officials should be helping and bringing people together in our communities not promoting hate towards our democracy. Whether you like the outcome or not of the election, we look upon our officials to follow the laws of this country. Let’s help bring people together and follow the laws to get things done not promote hate and dismay because this election did not go her way. Let’s send a message to our local Mayor that she should step down from her position or be impeached. It is not appropriate for elected officials to call for protests.”
After Election Day, Sawant called for a massive protest at Westlake Park and a shutdown on Inauguration Day. Here’s what to know about Sawant’s call for protests.
How did Sawant encourage the demonstrations?
In a packed post-election rally at Seattle City Hall on Wednesday afternoon, socialist councilmember Kshama Sawant called for a massive protest on Wednesday night and a nationwide shutdown on Inauguration Day in response to president-elect Donald Trump.
I appeal to you, [Wednesday] at 4 o’clock, at Westlake [Park], let’s have a massive protest, and tell America we do not accept a racist agenda,” Sawant said. “And let’s make sure on Inauguration Day … let’s do a nationwide shutdown.
What happened at the protest?
More than 2,200 people responded to the Facebook event Wednesday indicating they plan to attend the demonstration in “mass opposition to Trump and his agenda.”
Read an real-time log of the protest here.
During the rally at Westlake Park, Sawant reiterated her message in telling demonstrators that “we are stronger than the billionaires” and “their capitalists system.”
The protest against President-elect Donald Trump at Westlake Center grew into a march with several hundred people across the streets of Seattle.
The protest departed from downtown Seattle and marched through Capitol Hill and ended in the University District.
The original protest was organized by the Socialist Alternative, and included concerned members of the LBGTQ community, immigrants and Muslims worried about the Trump presidency.
Can she do this?
Sawant said protesting is exactly why her constituency elected her to do. KIRO 7 News reporter Amy Clancy took your email and social media questions to the councilwoman – asking if it’s appropriate for elected city officials to call for protests.
Is this Sawant’s first time calling for a large protest?
The councilwoman made headlines in 2014 for being among several people arrested at Alaska Airlines headquarters in SeaTac during a demonstration protesting the company’s failure to pay workers $15 an hour. Watch video here.The Real Housewives of New York City season eight was reportedly going to move forward without Kristen Taekman, who has been accused of failing to have an interesting storyline. However, after Taekman’s husband, Josh, admitted to being one of the 30 million users of Ashley Madison, a source claims Bravo has changed their mind about booting her from the show.
On August 25, a source offered the following Real Housewives cast update to Real Mr. Housewife:
“Kristen didn’t have much of a storyline this season, which is why Bravo was seriously considering canning her. However, Bravo loves a good scandal, sad as that may be, especially when it can play out for their cameras. Think of all of the drama this Ashley Madison reveal could bring to the show.”
Taekman was brought aboard the Real Housewives‘ New York-based franchise during the show’s sixth season and continued her full-time role when season seven returned earlier this year. Then, as the season came to an end, the Real Housewives star was thrust into the spotlight after her husband admitted to having an account on Ashley Madison, a dating website that promotes affairs. While speaking to PEOPLE Magazine, Josh claimed he made a mistake by “foolishly” signing up for the site and offered an apology to his Real Housewives star wife and their two children.
“Unfortunately, this is bound to be a tough time personally for Kristen, but this will up her chances at a [Real Housewives of New York City] return for sure.”
As the Inquisitr previously reported, rumors of Kristen Taekman’s possible firing from The Real Housewives of New York City first began swirling earlier this summer. At the time, a source told Page Six that Taekman’s feud with her Real Housewives co-star, Bethenny Frankel, wasn’t helping her cause when it came to returning for season eight.
“[Kristen Taekman] will probably not be invited back to the show because she doesn’t fit in and her story line is stale. It will be the nail in Kristen’s coffin. Bethenny wants her off the show. She is now the anchor. [Kristen Taekman] is likely departing.”
OK! Magazine also spoke of the Real Housewives star’s possible exit, claiming she “has been way too boring. She didn’t bring enough drama to the cast.”
The Real Housewives of New York City season seven wraps its three-part reunion special this Thursday night at 9 p.m. on Bravo.
[Photo via Facebook]Asians should simplify their names, GOP lawmaker says John Byrne
Published: Thursday April 9, 2009
Print This Email This In a puzzling move which she insisted isn't about race, a Republican state lawmaker in Texas said in House testimony Wednesday that Asian Americans should change their names to ones that are easier for Americans to deal with.
Democrats jumped on the comments by state Rep. Betty Brown. Her remarks came during a Texas House Elections Committee hearing, who'd invited a Chinese American representative to testify about ballot accessibility.
Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese I understand its a rather difficult language do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here? Brown remarked.
Cant you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes thats easier for Americans to deal with? she added.
A spokesman for the Texas Republican legislator told the Houston Chronicle her comments weren't about race -- she was only attempting to "overcome problems" with identifying Asian names "for voting purposes." Brown made the comment after the Chinese American representative, Ramey Ko, said people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent had trouble voting because their legal name may differ from the English name they use on their driver's licenses.
Democrats demanded an apology. Local Democratic Chairman Boyd Richie said that the Republicans were trying to suppress votes with a voter ID bill and that Brown is adding insult to injury with her disrespectful comments.
"State Representative Betty Brown's racially insensitive remarks have no place in America, and she should immediately and unconditionally apologize for her remarks," wrote Asian-American Democrats of Texas President AJ Durrani, according to a post on the Burnt Orange Report. "Please contact State Representative Betty Brown about her unacceptable remarks and ask her to apologize immediately in a public forum."
The following video was published by Austin, Texas NBC affiliate KXAN on April 9, 2009.
The original version of this story duplicated one paragraph. It has been corrected in this version and updated with new comments and a video.
Stephen C. Webster contributed to this report
Get Raw exclusives as they break -- Email & mobile Email - Never spam:Pro investigates a wheel failure that crashed Gianni Moscon at Tirreno-Adriatico. The company says a too-narrow tire is to blame.
Team Sky experienced a dramatic mechanical failure at Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this spring. Three riders broke front wheels during the team time trial, according to Geraint Thomas. The most dramatic failure happened midway through the opening stage’s 22-kilometer TTT course. Gianni Moscon’s Pro 3-Spoke tubular wheel splintered into pieces after hitting what appeared to be a manhole cover. Moscon crashed, suffering bruises and road rash, but escaped without more serious injuries.
Following the incident, Pro conducted an investigation to replicate the circumstances of the crash and found that Sky’s narrow tire choice was to blame. “The incident occurred because the rider hit a pothole at high speed on a tire that did not meet the minimum tire width specification as advised by Pro,” the company said in a statement to VeloNews.
Pro is a component manufacturer that is part of the Shimano corporation.
According to Pro’s technical manual, the 3-Spoke tubular wheel (PRWH0038) has a minimum tire width specification of 25mm. Known for pushing the limits with aerodynamics and gear choices, it’s easy to imagine Sky opting for a narrower front tire. Most pro riders and mechanics choose 23mm or narrower with time trial bikes for a sleeker aerodynamic profile.
Team Sky was riding Continental tires at Tirreno-Adriatico during the TTT meltdown. Continental only offers its tubular competition tires in sizes 25mm, 22mm, and 19mm. So, we can assume that Moscon and his teammates were either riding 22mm- or 19mm-wide tires. These narrow tires paired with Pro’s wide 24mm rims (external rim width) proved to be incompatible over damaged roads.
In light of these findings, Pro says that its 3-spoke wheel is safe to continue riding. However, riders must continue follow the company’s specifications. The company also advises riders to inspect the wheel for damage following impact and to stop riding in the event of a puncture.These Yarn Monsters were an utter delight to make and I have laughed all the way through writing this blog post at the photographs I have been editing. This is such an enjoyable craft from start to finish and my girls just adore playing with these little critters, plus they look really cool dotted around the house. You may also like this cool roundup I did of Monsters Made From Yarn, these cool Fuggler Monsters, my other Yarn Crafts and of course I have a heap of Halloween crafts.
Materials Needed – How To Make – More Yarn Crafts – More Halloween Crafts
Materials Needed To Make Yarn Monsters
Yarn (various colours),
30cm pipe cleaners (I love cotton pipe cleaners as they not only look good buy are easier to glue things on to but you can use any kind),
eyes (stickers or googly),
scissors
PVA glue (white glue)
How To Make These Yarn Monsters You Will Need
Watch the video at the end for more detailed instructions (coming later).
1. Bend your pipe cleaner in half and then twist it about 1/3 of the way down, just shy of the three finger width (adult hand) that you will wrap the yarn around. If a child is doing this depending on the size of their hand you will need to wrap the hand around four or five fingers.
2. Wrap your yarn around your fingers so you get a nice thick wodge of yarn. Thick is best for this so ‘over doing’ is better than ‘under doing’ this stage.
3. carefully slide one of the pipe cleaner legs through the wodge of yarn and twist tightly to secure.
4. Carefully snip through the loops of yarn trying to keep the lengths even.
5. Gently pull the yarn strands down to cover the ;hoped part of the pipe cleaner and trim any irregular bits off. Create a little for with the pipe cleaner that will help your Yarn Monster stand up.
6. Curl each of the remaining pipe cleaner strands to create flat tight circles.
7. Add some eyes and let the Yarn Monster fun begin …
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});HANOVER, N.J. – While they earned all three points in their previous meeting, there remains one key factor that still has the Red Bulls scratching their heads when it comes to dealing with Orlando City SC: how to stop Cyle Larin.
In their last two meetings, the reigning Rookie of the Year has flat out torched the Red Bulls, terrorizing the New York defense to the tune of four goals, all of which came at Red Bull Arena.
Now, as they face off for the second time in less than two weeks, the Red Bulls will head back to the drawing board in the hopes of finding some way to limit the sophomore sensation.
More than most, defender Karl Ouimette knows just how lethal Larin can prove to be. Not only was he on the pitch during Larin’s goal-scoring effort on April 24, but the two are also teammates with the Canadian national team. Matching up with the Ontario native in training on regular basis, Ouimette offers a unique perspective as to how New York may want to deal with the talented forward.
“Cyle is tough guy to defend,” defender Karl Ouimette told NewYorkRedBulls.com.
“He’s big, strong, just a great finisher. You just have to make sure he doesn’t know where you are as a defender; you have to try to play with his head a bit. I’m sure it’s going to be a big challenge but I think we can do a pretty good job on him.”
Leading into their first matchup of 2016, Ouimette offered perhaps the most insightful outlook as to how to deal with Larin. However, with the recent addition of Aurelien Collin, the Red Bulls have yet another resource at their disposal.
“That’ll help for sure,” head coach Jesse Marsch said of having Collin on board. “Aurelien knows exactly what Cyle is about. But he’s not an easy guy to deal with. He’s strong, and when Kaka is feeding him balls around the box he can strike a ball. He’s also fast, so that challenges us when we’re up the field since he can find seams to play behind us.
“We’ll have to do a better job of keeping track of him, but I do think that the comment about Aurelien helping us and knowing him will be able a key factor in the game.”
Teammates throughout the 2015 campaign, Collin has seen first-hand just how dangerous the Canadian striker can be, but also boasts a wealth of experience to draw from when it comes to keying in on Larin’s tendencies. But despite his familiarity with Larin, the Frenchman was more interested in focusing on his own team’s approach rather than the opposition.
“He’s an unexpected player; he can do something amazing,” Collin told reporters. “Right now, we just have to be focused on ourselves. Whoever comes against us, we’ll manage, so I hope we’ll be focused.”
SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEW YORK RED BULLS EMAIL NEWSLETTERMachu Picchu, no Peru (Foto: Thinkstock)
Se você está escolhendo o destino para suas próximas férias, mas não quer passar pela burocracia de tirar ou renovar seu passaporte e vistos, saiba que existem países onde o único documento necessário para a entrada de brasileiros é a carteira de identidade. São poucos. Mas neles, você não terá problemas para entrar se o seu passaporte estiver vencido ou se nunca tiver sequer tido um passaporte — o mais tradicional documento de quem viaja para fora.
Vale tanto para todos os países que fazem parte do Mercosul como para os que têm acordos com as nações do bloco. Alguns dos destinos mais procurados por brasileiros estão na lista. As normas estão na Cartilha da Cidadania, um documento que reúne as regras normas vigentes de interesse dos cidadãos da região.
+ 20 apps de viagem que você realmente vai (e deve) usar
Contudo, mesmo nos destinos que não exigem passaporte, fique atento. Serão exigidos documentos de identidade recentes, com fotos que não deixem dúvida de que aquela pessoa é mesmo você, e que estejam em bom estado de conservação.
Veja aqui a lista completa de países para os quais você pode viajar só com o RG. Vai para qualquer outro lugar? Você precisará de um passaporte — confira como tirá-lo.
Argentina
Buenos Aires, na Argentina (Foto: Reprodução/Facebook)
Bolívia
Lago Titicaca, na Bolívia (Foto: Wikimedia Commons)
Chile
Parque Farellones, |
kind who has a long history of winning. But this time, Vincent has a plan… and it just might change everything.
Written By Joseph M. Petrick and directed by Petrick & Bowser, the film is a comedy about an indomitable oddball who refuses to give up on his dreams and is a reflection of the filmmakers’ own dreams. The film was made with money raised mostly from friends and family, it is a testament to the hilarity of perpetual failure and the triumph of spirit to get back up and try again.
Duration
2 min 46 sec
Views
121,920
Posted On
December 22, 2008 Director
Joseph M. Petrick
Writer
Joseph M. Petrick
Studio
Independent
Release
April 17, 2009 Cast
Andrew Bowser
Jimmi Simpson
Kevin Corrigan
Dee Walalce
Mark Boone Junior Trailer Tracks
No Music Available Comedy
Jimmi Simpson
Kevin Corrigan
Mark Boone JuniorDJ Shadow believes in following your instincts at all costs, steering clear of crowd-pleasing even if it makes life more difficult. Twenty years on from his seminal album Endtroducing…, the production pioneer talks us through the mentality that's shaped a singular career.
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It might be difficult to imagine now but Josh Davis was an innovator long before the world embraced him as DJ Shadow. As a middle-class suburban kid in Davis, California, he learned how to mould genre-bending beats while still in school, even co-founding the underground label Solesides by the time he got to university.
Today, Shadow’s name is inextricably tied to 1996’s Endtroducing…, his first and most famous album. Sounding like nothing else that had come before it, the record turned a chaotic array of source material into a postmodern masterpiece – setting the benchmark by which his four albums since are inevitably judged.
But it’s the trickle of low-profile releases and collaborations in-between LPs – as well as the music he showcases on his own label, Liquid Amber – that reveals the bigger picture: someone who’s constantly exploring the possibilities of music for its own sake.
The only time Shadow even entertained the idea of homogeneity was on his last album: 2011’s The Less You Know, The Better. It was intended as a parting gift to listeners who may have felt alienated by the more extreme elements of his catalogue. But that didn’t work, he says now. Nobody heard the damn thing.
So this time, for new album The Mountain Will Fall, Davis took his first DJ gig in 10 years and began immersing himself in the minutiae of what it means to make contemporary music. Now that he’s come out the other side of that process, Shadow explained some of the most important insights gleaned from the very outset of his journey.
Always fear boredom
“One of the many reasons I could never make Endtroducing Junior or whatever is that if I ever start making a track and I feel like I’m treading familiar ground, I just shut down creatively. I can’t continue. So that’s why with every album I always try to mix it up, whether it’s making music on a new platform or reaching out to a different type of artist.
“That’s also why I don’t make albums every year or two years: I feel like I need to live and experience things and learn from my peers, not only from the present but the past – things I never listened to before – to have something to say or even just to know what to say. To me, a career is this ever-expanding geometric shape and I’m always trying to add a new plane to it. I don’t want to go over the same portion I’ve already done.”
Learn to manage expectations
“It’s really difficult for me to externalise or anticipate people’s reactions. And I think on a certain level I probably shouldn’t try to do that, especially during the music making. I thought everybody would hate ‘Organ Donor’. I thought [Mo Wax’s James] Lavelle would ask me to take it off the record.
“The only reason I felt that way is because I made it really quickly and it felt fun. It wasn’t difficult the way most of my songs are, so I thought he would just hate it. But I hear music all the time that I think will be a hit and then isn’t. I hear music I think is terrible and it becomes a massive success, so I definitely do not have that skillset to be able to anticipate – not only in my music but in other people’s – what’s going to work or not work.
“I’ve had more knock-backs than success, definitely. If you’ve been making music as long as I have, you have to put aside any distant memories of selling 40,000 copies in a week – of a 12-inch! Now you’re like, ‘Five thousand people were willing to download it for free – yay! We’re makin’ moves!’ You definitely have this massively re-calibrated notion of what success is. But that shouldn’t be why you’re doing it in the first place anyway.”
Recognise what getting ‘in the zone’ really means
“To me, good music always has a certain amount of sacrifice connected to it. In all honesty, any second-guessing I do isn’t about, ‘Will people like it?’ or ‘Will this person I admire think I’m cool?’ It’s more about feeling like I’m in touch with my ability to make emotionally resonant music, so I have to allow myself the space to tap into that frequency. That means if I have a day where I look at my phone and it’s like, ‘Right, got a call with my lawyer at nine, then an hour to work on music, then a haircut, then more music’ – those days don’t work out for me in terms of creativity. I need a clean slate.
“It’s taken 25 years of making music to become efficient at knowing what the right circumstances are for me to tap into a certain subconscious frequency. That’s not to say I have some gift or anything. But from listening to spiritual jazz – the only genre that talks about things like ‘God frequencies’ – it’s been rewarding for me to experience that music and learn about that because I never knew what to call that connection I was trying to make.
“Everyone calls it ‘the zone’ but you can be in the zone and still not tap into the frequency. There’s more to it than that. It has to do with a state of mind, a clarity and a willingness to lay yourself out there, to go to places that you maybe don’t want to go on a regular basis.”
Appreciate the moment
“The one thing I wish I’d done a little bit more is to be aware of the moment when you’re ‘that dude’. What I mean by that is I had no idea when I was ‘that dude’. I was getting all these offers submitted to me; all these people from Hollywood were calling me up. I didn’t realise the currency I had in that moment just after Endtroducing… came out. There were any number of opportunities. I was literally offered to remix the Star Wars theme. And sure, some of them sounded like shit ideas and still do. I turned down 99 per cent of them. But I thought, having never gone through it before, that once you were the dude then you always would be. I quickly realised, ‘Oh wait, I’m not the dude anymore. He’s the dude.’ It’s the next person to come along where all of a sudden everyone wants a piece of them.
“And I guess while I don’t regret any of my decisions, I wish I had been more aware of what I was experiencing. Rather than possibly consider some of those things that were thrown my way, instead what I did was kind of let James [Lavelle] and Steve Finan, who was the other half of Mo’ Wax, navigate me towards committing exclusively to UNKLE directly after Endtroducing…
“Again, I don’t regret it; don’t begrudge them. Nothing like that. It’s just that by choosing to do that, I didn’t realise what I was inherently choosing not to do. I wouldn’t change it but [if I could go back] I would tell myself, ‘Just be aware and try to enjoy it more.’ Because I don’t tend to enjoy the very rare successes that come along. Most of it is varying degrees of disappointment. The odd occasion you do have genuine success, it’s kind of hard to trust it. I didn’t feel like I was allowed to enjoy it at the time.”
Be careful how you balance craft and career
“I’m very much a pragmatist. I do free shows all the time but I can’t do that if I don’t also do shows that pay me money. Because I have bills. I have two children. I have a lawyer. I have a manager, a publicist. I have a business manager. I have digital management. There’s literally a machine that needs to be fed on a monthly basis. Somehow I’ve figured out a way in my mind to be creative and true and inherently sound and to be able to protect what it is that I do…
“I did a big car advertisement last year and it was something that at various other times I’ve turned down. But I accepted it because I knew it would basically fund the ability for me to make an album. It meant that I didn’t have to hit up anyone for an advance. It meant that I didn’t have to stay on the road for another six months and try to save up money. It meant that I could get off the road and have nine months without worrying about paying the bills.
“It’s a treacherous ride down the river and you have to constantly navigate any number of dangers. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, for sure. I’m not saying I’m anything special or anything but when you do sit back once in awhile, you just have to exhale and feel good about the decisions you’ve made. And I do feel good about the decisions I’ve made.”
A profile of DJ Shadow appears in Huck 56 – The Independence Issue. Buy it in the Huck Shop now or subscribe to make sure you never miss another issue.
The Mountain Will Fall is out on Mass Appeal.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.15% of U.S. broadband households have antenna-only TV service
New consumer research finds steady increase coincides with drop in pay-TV subscriptions
New cord-cutter consumer research from Parks Associates shows the percentage of U.S. broadband households that use only antennas to receive TV has steadily increased since 2013 to reach 15%. 360 View: Entertainment Services in U.S. Broadband Households reveals this increase coincides with a drop in pay-TV subscriptions and an increase in Internet-only video subscriptions.
“Pay-TV subscriptions have dropped each year since 2014, falling to 81% of U.S. broadband households in Q3 2016,” said Brett Sappington, Senior Director of Research, Parks Associates. “Several factors have played a part in this decline, including growth in the OTT video market, increasing costs for pay-TV services, and consumer awareness of available online alternatives.”
Parks Associates notes declining pay-TV satisfaction in each of the last three years. Only one-third of pay-TV subscribers are very satisfied with their pay-TV service. According to Parks Associates' OTT Video Market Tracker, 63% of U.S. broadband households subscribe to at least one OTT service and 31% of U.S. broadband households have multiple OTT service subscriptions.
“Pay-TV providers are adapting to address a fundamentally different video services market than existed three years ago. Challenges still remain for consumers in aggregating and discovering their favorite content and being able to watch on their preferred screen. Live broadcasts of high-profile events remain a challenge for online delivery, though pay TV and broadcast TV conquered live distribution long ago,” Sappington said. “These challenges represent areas in which pay-TV providers, or new entrants, can still win consumer attention, viewership, and revenue.”
360 View: Entertainment Services in U.S. Broadband Households examines trends in broadband and pay-TV adoption. It analyzes the impact of over-the-top (OTT) services as well as cord-cutting and cord-shaving on pay-TV services. It quantifies the growing ecosystem of connected entertainment devices in U.S. broadband households and their impact on broadband and video consumption and also assesses consumer demand for new pay-TV features. Additional research shows:
In 2016, twice as many subscribers downgraded (12%) their pay-TV service than upgraded (6%) it.
The likelihood of non-subscribers adopting pay TV has declined since 2012.
Only one-half as many Cord Nevers adopted pay TV in 2016 (2%) as in 2015 (4%).
The size of the Cord Never segment is slowly increasing.
“With the continued decline of traditional pay-TV subscriptions, 2017 will be characterized by the rise of online pay-TV services,” Sappington said. “While traditional pay TV provides superior viewing quality, OTT video commonly excels in discovery, portability, and personalized user experiences. Consumers care less about the network used to deliver the content than they do about access to the content, ease of use, and convenience.”
More information about this 360 View is available at www.parksassociates.com. To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific data, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com, 720.987.6614.
About Parks Associates: Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research, custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service subscriptions.
The company's expertise includes the Internet of Things (IoT), digital media and platforms, entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services, digital health, mobile applications and services, support services, consumer apps, advanced advertising, consumer electronics, energy management, and home control systems and security.
Each year, Parks Associates hosts industry webcasts, the CONNECTIONS™ Conference Series, Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, and Future of Video: OTT, Pay TV, and Digital Media.
http://www.parksassociates.com
Next: 20% of U.S. pay-TV subscribers are dissatisfied with their pay-TV service
Previous: 71% of U.S. broadband households have Wi-Fi or Apple AirPort accessThe promise of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) is really bearing fruit in today’s Web. Of course, we are not talking about internal APIs but of HTTP-based ones that allow us to interact with external systems—whether its saving or searching images in Flickr, getting weather conditions, or transcoding video. For many tasks, if you sign up to use the right APIs, you can build a fully functional application by writing PHP scripts which coordinate the workflow and communications between APIs.
SPOIL Your Users with Great Helper Libraries
Let’s be clear about something up front: Building API helper libraries is hard. So how can we take the necessary evil of helper libraries and give our users a positive experience? How do we make sure our libraries are complete, relevant, and appropriate? We have to SPOIL our users with a great experience. by D. Keith Casey, Jr.
High-Performance PHP APIs
Today’s challenge is to develop high-performance PHP APIs that provide a robust backend for mobile apps. And the principal problem is not only how to optimize the code implementation. I know that a raw SQL query is much more performant than any ORM is. But what about ongoing code maintenance and flexibility? by Simone Di Maulo
Putting the Pieces Together: Building APIs with Aura (and Other) Libraries
Over the past few years, whether folks outside the community acknowledge it or not, PHP has moved from a fractured, rather backward landscape to a more modern, collaborative one focused on building small, fast, reusable tools instead of monolithic, end-all, be-all solutions. This sounds a lot like the HTTP API-driven world we live in…so let’s see if we can build a light, fast, standard API on top of light, fast, modern PHP libraries. by Ian Littman
The API Toolbox
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) make a lot of things possible. But APIs are—not surprisingly—biased towards machines, not humans. Developers tend to be human, and I’ve curated a set of tools designed to help make working in this machine-to-machine world easier. by Tim Lytle
Help Wanted
During php[tek] 2015 there were great talks and, as usual, common themes that bubbled up and generated many side conversations. Two big themes from this year’s conference were mentoring and supporting the open source community. Developers already utilize files in our repositories to explain what a project does or how to contribute; why not have a file that describes the skills and technologies used and what help is needed? by Quentin T. Schmick Jr.
Education Station: Hands-on Dependency Injection in PHP
One topic I’m particularly keen to talk about is Dependency Injection (DI). Why? Well, despite the wide range of benefits it offers, it’s still something that, in the PHP community at least, isn’t as well understood or widely used as it should be. It’s ever present due to implementations in most of the common frameworks, such as Zend\Di and Aura.Di. But I suspect that a good percentage of developers are largely unaware of it. So, over the next couple of months, I’m going to cover what it is as well as how to implement a basic DI in your applications using some of the best DI containers around. by Matthew Setter
Leveling Up: Getting a Date With PHP
At some point in your software development career, you’re nearly guaranteed to run into a problem in which you will need to know when something happened or when it will happen. In this edition of Leveling Up, we’ll be talking about how to get a date with PHP, specifically examining some of the functionality that PHP provides with the DateTime class. by David Stockton
Community Corner: June 2015
An interview with Symfony’s Fabien Potencier, php[tek] and Global Accessibility Awareness Day recaps, and more. by Joe Devon
finally{}: Where are All the Programmers?
We appear to have a mystery on our hands. I’d like to ask you, the reader, to help us solve this. It’s a very simple mystery, mind you. Where are all the PHP programmers? by Eli WhiteIt looks like Fox 29's Steve Keeley is the real joke.
A news reporter attempted to make an inappropriate joke live on the air this week, but was quickly shut down by the morning host he was teasing.
FOX 29’s Steve Keeley was doing a report on a snowstorm in Philadelphia when he commented on host Mike Jerrick’s pink sweater, saying he was going to help the host show it off with a trick he learned back in school.
He then instructed Jerrick to place his hands in a certain way that he moronically thought would make the host look gay or effeminate.
Jerrick quickly caught on and stopped the act, saying, “I don’t think this is appropriate,” before turning it into an “I’m a Little Teapot” pose.
@FOX29philly inappropriate #homophobic comment about @MikeFOX29 for wearing a pink sweater by Steve Keeley. See this video pic.twitter.com/EtB9VH2CaV — Dan Haney (@PhillyDan1958) February 9, 2017
“I’m sure I’ll think that’s funny later,” Keeley says.
“So will HR,” Jerrick retorts.
h/t: PhillyMagThe nation rejects fast food
McDonalds happy image and its golden arches aren’t the gateway to bliss in Bolivia. This South American country isn’t falling for the barrage of advertising and fast food cooking methods that so easily engulf countries like the United States. Bolivians simply don’t trust food prepared in such little time.
The quick and easy, mass production method of fast food actually turns Bolivians off altogether. Sixty percent of Bolivians are an indigenous population who generally don’t find it worth their health or money to step foot in a McDonald’s. Despite its economically friendly fast food prices, McDonalds couldn’t coax enough of the indigenous population of Bolivia to eat their BigMacs, McNuggets or McRibs.
One indigenous woman, Esther Choque, waiting for a bus to arrive outside a McDonalds restaurant, said,
“The closest I ever came was one day when a rain shower fell and I climbed the steps to keep dry by the door. Then they came out and shooed me away. They said I was dirtying the place. Why would I care if McDonalds leaves [Bolivia]?”
Fast food chain remained for a decade, despite losses every year
The eight remaining McDonald’s fast food shops that stuck it out in the Bolivian city’s of La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, had reportedly operated on losses every year for a decade. The McDonald’s franchise had been persistent over that time, flexing its franchise’s deep pockets to continue business in Bolivia.
Any small business operating in the red for that long would have folded and left the area in less than half that time. Even as persistent as McDonalds was in gaining influence there, it couldn’t continue operating in the red. After 14 years of presence in the country, their extensive network couldn’t hold up the Bolivian chain. Store after store shut down as Bolivia rejected the McDonalds fast food agenda. Soon enough, they kissed the last McDonalds goodbye.
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Deep cultural rejection
The McDonald’s impact and its departure from Bolivia was so lasting and important, that marketing managers immediately filmed a documentary called, “Why McDonalds’s went broke in Bolivia.”
Featuring, cooks, nutritionist, historians, and educators, this documentary breaks down the disgusting reality of how McDonalds food is prepared and why Bolivians reject the whole fast food philosophy of eating.
The rejection isn’t necessarily based on the taste or the type of food McDonalds prepared. The rejection of the fast food system stemmed from Bolivian’s mindset of how meals are to be properly prepared. Bolivians more so respect their bodies, valuing the quality of what goes into their stomach. The time it takes for fast food to be prepared throws up a warning flag in their minds. Where other cultures see no risk, eating McDonalds every week; Bolivians feel that it just isn’t worth the health risk. Bolivians seek well prepared, local meals, and want to know that their food was prepared the right way.
This self respect helps Bolivians avoid processed “restructured meat technology,” often used by fast food joints like McDonalds.
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The McRib: 70 ingredients all restructured into one
Did you know that the McRib is processed with 70 different ingredients which include azodicarbonamide, a flour-bleaching agent often used in producing foamed plastics? McRib’s are basically “restructured meat technology” containing a mixture of tripe, heart, and scalded stomach.
Proteins are extracted from this muscle mixture and they bind the pork trimmings together so they can be molded in a factory. The McRib is really just a molded blob of restructured meat, advertised and sold like fresh ribs. There’s nothing real about it, the preparation or the substance. In fact, McRibs really came about because of a chicken shortage. The restructured meat technology approach kept the McRib on the menu, despite the shortage, and the profits continued rolling in.
This is the very disgusting idea that the Bolivians have rejected in their country.
The Bolivian rejection of McDonald’s has set a proper example for the rest of the world to follow.
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By Lance Devon | NaturalNewsApple has begun rolling out HDR 4K content on iTunes and upgrading old purchases
In anticipation of the launch of pre-orders for the iPhone 8, Apple Watch Series 3, and Apple TV 4K (which occurs tonight at 3AM (EST) (or 12AM PST), Apple has already begun rolling out new content with support for 4K resolution and HDR video with higher dynamic range.
In addition, Apple is upgrading iTunes customers previous purchases of video to 4K HDR format, which is has promised to do so, free of charge. All the new iPhones announced this week support HDR video, and the new Apple TV 4K supports both the higher resolution and HDR video, along with Dolby Vision support.
You likely wont see all your favorite shows and movies flip to 4K HDR just yet, Apple is gradually doing this well ahead of the new phones release date of September 22.
Who is up late for iPhone/Watch/TV pre-orders? What did you order?
ViaLG may not have announced their new flagship device at Mobile World Congress, but that didn't stop them from taking home some pretty impressive awards. For starters, the LG G3 was named Best Smart Phone of the Year by the GSMA at the Global Mobile Awards that were held during Mobile World Congress. According to GSMA, the LG G3 won due to, "its quality, variety of useful features and ease of use." Juno Cho, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company said, "We are honored that so many organizations recognized the effort that went into developing the LG G3 and Urbane smartwatches."
The LG G3 has been a successful phone for LG. According to a press release, it is carried by over 170 partners globally and the company cites the LG G3 as the catalyst behind a 16 percent increase in its global revenue. The GSMA noted the LG G3s easy-to-use interface, quality specs including its Quad HD screen, its innovative camera that has a 13-megapixel shooter complete with OIS+ and Laser Auto Focus. They also pointed out the G3's Smart Keyboard, Gesture for Selfie, Flash for Selfie and its Knock Code feature as strong reasons why the LG G3 was chosen as the winner.
Along with accolades for its flagship smartphone, LG also won awards for its smartwatches. The LG Watch Urbane and Watch Urbane LTE managed to pull in nine awards during Mobile World Congress. The LG Watch Urbane took home the best smartwatch award from several technology media outlets. The watches were also recognized for being the first smartwatch with NFC-based payment features. It was also recognized for having the best and most powerful battery in the mobile smartwatch space.
LG is set to announce the upcoming LG G4 sometime in the latter half of 2015. They have also hinted that they will be releasing a second line of premium phones that will supposedly rise above the G line of smart devices. If these devices turn out to be as popular and as innovative as the LG G3, then we can expect to see more awards coming to LG in future mobile events, and maybe even next years Mobile World Congress. We will have to wait and see what LG has in store for us, if it manages to be a success such as the LG G2 and LG G3 have been, we may be in store for a treat.Pilate therefore said to Him: Art thou a King then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a King. For this I was born, and for this came I into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth My voice.
– John 23:37
The Catholic Church speaks of a three-fold office of Christ – that of priest, prophet, and king. Very few of us, it seems fair to say, would struggle with an acceptance of the first two facets of Christ’s mission. But what of His Kingship? We hear it preached (if we hear it at all) as a spiritual kingship – a kingship, as it were, over our hearts.
In his 1925 Encyclical, Quas Primas, Pope Pius XI established the feast of Christ the King – celebrated yesterday in the 1962 liturgical calendar, and next month in the new. The pope wrote in affirmation of this spiritual kingship:
It has long been a common custom to give to Christ the metaphorical title of “King,” because of the high degree of perfection whereby he excels all creatures. So he is said to reign “in the hearts of men,” both by reason of the keenness of his intellect and the extent of his knowledge, and also because he is very truth, and it is from him that truth must be obediently received by all mankind. He reigns, too, in the wills of men, for in him the human will was perfectly and entirely obedient to the Holy Will of God, and further by his grace and inspiration he so subjects our free-will as to incite us to the most noble endeavors. He is King of hearts, too, by reason of his “charity which exceedeth all knowledge.” And his mercy and kindness which draw all men to him, for never has it been known, nor will it ever be, that man be loved so much and so universally as Jesus Christ.
It would be easy enough to stop there. And for many Catholics, this is the only dimension of Christ’s Kingship about which we ever hear. But Pope Pius XI did not end the preceding paragraph there. He continued:
But if we ponder this matter more deeply, we cannot but see that the title and the power of King belongs to Christ as man in the strict and proper sense too. For it is only as man that he may be said to have received from the Father “power and glory and a kingdom,” since the Word of God, as consubstantial with the Father, has all things in common with him, and therefore has necessarily supreme and absolute dominion over all things created.
“Supreme and absolute dominion over all things created.” It wouldn’t be a daring wager to say that nearly every Christian alive today would agree that Christ’s dominion over nature, over creatures, and the universe itself is absolute. But this statement finds not a few objectors when applied to the civic sphere. For if Christ is indeed a king — The King of Kings — then surely, every nation on earth must owe Him homage.
And in fact, this is precisely what Pope Pius XI asserts. I will emphasize certain passages of particular importance:
Thus the empire of our Redeemer embraces all men. To use the words of Our immortal predecessor, Pope Leo XIII: “His empire includes not only Catholic nations, not only baptized persons who, though of right belonging to the Church, have been led astray by error, or have been cut off from her by schism, but also all those who are outside the Christian faith; so that truly the whole of mankind is subject to the power of Jesus Christ.” Nor is there any difference in this matter between the individual and the family or the State; for all men, whether collectively or individually, are under the dominion of Christ. In him is the salvation of the individual, in him is the salvation of society. “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved.” He is the author of happiness and true prosperity for every man and for every nation. “For a nation is happy when its citizens are happy. What else is a nation but a number of men living in concord?” If, therefore, the rulers of nations wish to preserve their authority, to promote and increase the prosperity of their countries, they will not neglect the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ. What We said at the beginning of Our Pontificate concerning the decline of public authority, and the lack of respect for the same, is equally true at the present day. “With God and Jesus Christ,” we said, “excluded from political life, with authority derived not from God but from man, the very basis of that authority has been taken away, because the chief reason of the distinction between ruler and subject has been eliminated. The result is that human society is tottering to its fall, because it has no longer a secure and solid foundation.” When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony. Our Lord’s regal office invests the human authority of princes and rulers with a religious significance; it ennobles the citizen’s duty of obedience. It is for this reason that St. Paul, while bidding wives revere Christ in their husbands, and slaves respect Christ in their masters, warns them to give obedience to them not as men, but as the vicegerents of Christ; for it is not meet that men redeemed by Christ should serve their fellow-men. “You are bought with a price; be not made the bond-slaves of men.” If princes and magistrates duly elected are filled with the persuasion that they rule, not by their own right, but by the mandate and in the place of the Divine King, they will exercise their authority piously and wisely, and they will make laws and administer them, having in view the common good and also the human dignity of their subjects. The result will be a stable peace and tranquility, for there will be no longer any cause of discontent. Men will see in their king or in their rulers men like themselves, perhaps unworthy or open to criticism, but they will not on that account refuse obedience if they see reflected in them the authority of Christ God and Man. Peace and harmony, too, will result; for with the spread and the universal extent of the kingdom of Christ men will become more and more conscious of the link that binds them together, and thus many conflicts will be either prevented entirely or at least their bitterness will be diminished. If the kingdom of Christ, then, receives, as it should, all nations under its way, there seems no reason why we should despair of seeing that peace which the King of Peace came to bring on earth — he who came to reconcile all things, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, who, though Lord of all, gave himself to us as a model of humility, and with his principal law united the precept of charity; who said also: “My yoke is sweet and my burden light.” Oh, what happiness would be Ours if all men, individuals, families, and nations, would but let themselves be governed by Christ! “Then at length,” to use the words addressed by our predecessor, Pope Leo XIII, twenty-five years ago to the bishops of the Universal Church, “then at length will many evils be cured; then will the law regain its former authority; peace with all its blessings be restored. Men will sheathe their swords and lay down their arms when all freely acknowledge and obey the authority of Christ, and every tongue confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.”
In a world wherein we speak so often of “religious liberty” and the “separation of Church and State,” it is difficult for us to conceptualize such a social reign of Christ. The language of the Church herself has been nuanced to such an extent that we strain to find even the faintest echoes of Quas Primas in Dignitatis Humanae, Vatican II’s declaration on religious freedom.
The religious acts whereby men, in private and in public and out of a sense of personal conviction, direct their lives to God transcend by their very nature the order of terrestrial and temporal affairs. Government therefore ought indeed to take account of the religious life of the citizenry and show it favor, since the function of government is to make provision for the common welfare. However, it would clearly transgress the limits set to its power, were it to presume to command or inhibit acts that are religious.
What does it mean to “command” an “act that is religious”? Would this include the declaration of a national holiday on the feast of Corpus Christi or Christ the King? What about imagery of the Blessed Mother or the Sacred Heart within the halls of government or on a nation’s flag? Would public references to doctrinal belief in legal documents or a national constitution violate this norm?
It is very tempting, in a world that has grown so small, and which experiences so much cultural cross-pollination, to embrace as a matter of law an egalitarian religious indifferentism. How do we account for the differing faiths of so many people in melting pots like America? Our nation was founded in large part on the principle that the government “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”. And yet, is this not the very sort of thing that Pope Pius XI warned against when he admonished rulers not to neglect “the public duty of reverence and obedience to the rule of Christ”?
It is eminently sensible to agree that in matters of religion, coercion is never desirable. Still, the establishment of the True Faith as a state religion is something other than coercion – it is confession. It lays down the bedrock principles upon which an nation is founded, the moral precepts to which it adheres, and the personal Godhead who gave it both. The plain (though forgotten) fact is that the Catholic Church has always believed — and Quas Primas affirmed — that making laws according to Christ’s precepts and ruling by Christ’s mandate is the only truly appropriate governance of society. Indeed, Pope Pius XI observed the result of failing to do so even in his own time:
The empire of Christ over all nations was rejected. The right which the Church has from Christ himself, to teach mankind, to make laws, to govern peoples in all that pertains to their eternal salvation, that right was denied. Then gradually the religion of Christ came to be likened to false religions and to be placed ignominiously on the same level with them. It was then put under the power of the state and tolerated more or less at the whim of princes and rulers. Some men went even further, and wished to set up in the place of God’s religion a natural religion consisting in some instinctive affection of the heart. There were even some nations who thought they could dispense with God, and that their religion should consist in impiety and the neglect of God. The rebellion of individuals and states against the authority of Christ has produced deplorable consequences.
Is this not the situation we find ourselves in today? Vicious, savagely immoral governments are all that is to be found now in the post-Christian West. Catholics are reduced to pleas for the very sort of religious liberty the Church once condemned as an error, and are forced to embrace the essentially anarchic principles of libertarianism, all out of desperation to preserve their ability to simply continue to exist “ignominiously on the same level” with other, false religions. Meanwhile, pagan and occult practices are on the rise — not underground, but in the open — because no logical excuse exists by which the secular state can deny them the same freedom as any other religion already given equal footing in the public square. Pluralism for one is, we are learning the hard way, pluralism for all.
In the absence of governments rightly |
their life savings when no drugs or evidence of any crime are found on them or their belongings.”This super moist coconut banana blueberry bread topped with a sweet blueberry puree & fresh blueberries is the best banana bread you will ever have.
What’s a girl to do when she has squishy bananas, blueberries begging to be used and an overstuffed pantry? She makes Coconut Banana Blueberry Bread, a moist and flavorful treat that is perfect for breakfast, dessert or those times when you are craving a little something sweet. You can easily serve this straight up or you can jazz it up, like I did, with a sweetened blueberry puree and a crown of fresh blueberries.
Personally I think the extra 10 minutes to make the glaze is well worth it, but then again I am enamored with the contrast of the rich purple hue as it drapes elegantly down the sides of the toasty brown cake.
As I was baking this banana bread, I found myself reminiscing about my weekend trips to the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, a wonderful wildlife rehabilitation center that rests at the foothills of Mount Kenya. And in true Road to Honey form, I had every intention of telling you a story about this magical place, but there is something else weighing on my mind so we will need to chat about monkeys and this sanctuary in a future post. On the upside, this will give me the opportunity to bring you another delectable banana dessert.
In the meantime, if you are dying to know more about this conservancy, you can read about it HERE.
Print Yum Banana Blueberry Coconut Bread 1 hour Total Time: 1 hour Yield: 12-16 servings Banana bread has gotten an elegant facelift with this super moist Banana Blueberry Coconut Bread topped with a sweet blueberry puree & fresh blueberries. Ingredients For the Cake: 2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 large bananas (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut (toasted)
For the Blueberry Glaze: 1/3 cup blueberries
1 tablespoon water + 1 -3 teaspoons
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup confectioners sugar Instructions For the Cake: Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Toast the coconut in the oven for about 1 minute. Spray cooking spray onto a bundt pan & coat with flour. Set aside. Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs & sugar with an electric mixer until they are well blended & light in color. Stir bananas, oil, yogurt, & vanilla into the sugar & egg mixture. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture & stir until well combined. Fold the blueberries & toasted coconut into the batter. Note: The batter will be somewhat thick. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely, then remove from the pan. Drizzle with Blueberry Glaze (recipe follows) & top with fresh blueberries. For the Blueberry Glaze: Place blueberries, sugar & 1 tablespoon of water in a small saucepan. Cook on medium heat until the blueberries soften & burst. Remove the blueberries from the heat & strain them through a sieve. Throw the skins away & allow the puree to cool. Sift the confectioners sugar into the blueberry puree, then whisk until fully incorporated. It may look like you won’t be able to get all the sugar into the puree. Keep whisking. It will eventually go in. Add water, one teaspoon at a time, until you get the desired consistency. You likely will need between 1-3 teaspoons. Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by Yummly Rich Recipes 0.1 http://www.theroadtohoney.com/banana-blueberry-coconut-bread/
As you may have gathered through my posts, our furry four legged family is extremely important to the Mr. and I so it is only natural that we get very worried at the first sign of anything “out of the ordinary”. This was no exception 8 months prior to leaving Kenya when we noticed a lump on Asia’s (our female tuxie kitty) belly. So without hesitation we rushed the little cutie to see her Kenyan veterinarian.
“It’s just a fatty tumor.” he said. “Akuna matata...nothing to worry about.”
Phew! A sense of relief flooded us as we drove her back home all the while happy as clams that the panic was not justified.
But over the months the “fatty tumor” continued to grow and the Mr. and I became increasingly worried about our little Mother Hen. Was it really a fatty tumor? Or was it something far more serious?
Then the Westgate Mall attack happened (see more about that HERE and HERE) and we moved back to the U.S.. While our sudden relocation was unplanned, the Mr. and I found extreme comfort knowing that our return, as hard as it was, would enable Asia to get proper veterinarian care.
So when we landed back on U.S. soil, the vet was the first person we saw. I couldn’t be prouder as Asia proved to be the true star patient, handing out kisses and rubs as the vet and technicians poked and prodded at her. She lay willingly on her back as they took x-rays of her little body. She didn’t even put up a fuss when they took a biopsy from the lumps on her belly.
As the vet looked at the sample under the microscope, Asia patiently sat on the cool metal exam table with her paw casually folded under intently waiting to see what was next. But while Asia was acting cool as a cucumber, there was something far more sinister happening in her vivacious little body. You see, that “fatty tumor” was not just a benign little growth but rather breast cancer. Breast cancer! Do you know how rare breast cancer is in cats? Especially spayed cats?
The Mr. and I were devastated. Asia had always served as our little protector and now the tables were turned and we would need to do all that we could to protect her from this vicious disease.
We scheduled the surgery for her as soon as possible. The surgery went well. As they handed her carrier over to us, they told us that she likely would not have much of an appetite and would sleep more than usual. But not our little Asia. As soon as she regained consciousness she made sure that everyone knew that she had missed breakfast that morning and was demanding that she be presented with a meal fit for a queen. And while the pain medication had a tendency to leave most kitties groggy, it seemed to have the opposite effects on Asia. Day and night she sat very relaxed on her “sick bed” with eyes wide open. Despite lack of sleep, she became a love machine on overdrive...purring loudly even when only the slightest glance was thrown her way.
The results came back and her cancer was confirmed. The Mr. and I were very relieved when they told us that the results showed that they had successfully removed the tumor’s margins. Asia had beat cancer and she was going to continue to be our Mother Hen for many years to come...or so we thought.
But life is never as you wish and new lumps resurfaced and were once again removed. With each surgery there was new hope that the cancer was finally gone for good. But lady luck would not have it that way. As I was taking the photographs of this cake, I gingerly picked Asia up to move her off the chair. That’s when I felt them. Two new lumps. Two new BIG lumps. Both on the same side that all the previous lumps had been on.
This will be Asia’s fourth surgery since we returned from Africa nearly two years ago. If you met her you would never know that her little body continues to fight cancer. She is spunky, outgoing and full of life. She bounces back from each surgery like it “ain’t no thing.”
We bypassed her regular vet and are scheduled to take her directly to her cancer specialist tomorrow. The Mr. and I are no strangers to this song and dance and we know what’s next. We will be converting my studio into her recovery room. The Mr. and I have vowed to continue to help her fight as long as she has fight within her.
All positive vibes as Asia continues To battle the big “C” are appreciated. She will be sporting her pink Susan B. Komen breast cancer collar.
XOXO-
Lynn
P.S. If you enjoyed your time at The Road to Honey, I would love for you to join me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest. In addition, you could receive updates from The Road to Honey directly to your inbox by entering your e-mail address in the box in the top right corner. See you soon.However, it turned out to be a test for a clock to be beamed onto the sky
Dozens of pictures and videos appeared online of the 'UFO'
Citizens in a Chilean city were shocked to find a strange circle of light floating across the night sky, and took to social media to try to find the answer to the mystery 'UFO'.
The sky above the city of Iquique in Northern Chile's Tarapaca Region was suddenly adorned with a blue light circle earlier this week.
A number of videos and images appeared on Twitter and Instagram and other social media channels, with inhabitants asking for an explanation.
One Twitter user: 'What is that on the sky?,' posting an image to their social media channel.
Another posted a picture, captioned: 'Something strange is happening on our sky'
Another seemed convinced that the city had been paid a visit by extraterrestrials, tweeting: 'It appears an UFO can be seen on the sky of Iquique. I'm nervous'
Is it a bird? Citizens of Iquique, in Northern Chile's Tarapaca Region spotted a strange light above the city earlier this week
Is it a plane? A number of photos of the hovering light were posted online by puzzled inhabitants hoping for an explanation to the 'UFO'
However, fortunately for the citizens of Iquique, no aliens were about to land.
Local authorities explained the city is building a new public clock that projects the time on the sky, and the light had been part of a 'test run'.
Authorities informed national newspaper Soy Chile that they have nearly finished the new device that is currently being tested. They did not confirm when it will be put to use.A 24-year-old transgender woman with HIV is struggling between life and death in India after a state hospital refused to admit her, saying she needed judicial permission for that.
The woman, who sought treatment for a severe urinary infection, is suspected to have been infected in February when she underwent castration.
The castration was performed by hijras, members of India’s eunuch community, in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, using primitive methods that inflict terrible pain and carry a high risk of infection.
The person undergoing the operation is held down by force by members of the community and after castration, has the wound cauterized with scalding hot oil.
The trans woman, whose identity has not been divulged because of her HIV status, was brought to the state-run SSKM Hospital in Kolkata, the workplace of Mother Teresa, by members of her community this month.
According to local media reports, urologists at the hospital said she should be admitted for treatment.
However, the hospital authorities refused to admit her, saying there were no wards for third-sex patients. She was asked to bring an order from a district judge if she wanted to be taken in.
Getting an order from a district judge or any government official is a near-impossible task for India’s eunuch community, given their lowly status in the eyes of society.
Most of them are disowned by their families and manage to survive by singing and dancing at weddings and birth ceremonies. They are mostly uneducated, live near the poverty line and run a high risk of becoming infected with HIV and sexually transmitted diseases due to lack of awareness and vulnerability to sexual violence.
The Association of Transgender and Hijra in Bengal asked the West Bengal State AIDS Prevention and Control Society to intervene but to no avail.
Finally, tired of hanging around the hospital, the patient’s friends in the community decided to take her back to Bihar and seek traditional remedies there.
Traditional remedies usually mean going to village quacks, lessening a seriously ill patient’s chances of survival.
Though the eunuch community is more visible than gays and lesbians in Indian society, has been the subject of films and have taken part in elections, their condition remains appalling with little effort by state governments to provide them education or employment opportunities.
Last month, Aadhaar, an identity card issued by the central government, recognized transgenders but few transgenders are in a position to claim the card.When I invited artist Marie Rim to Middlebury College, I didn't know what to expect. Her project "Burka Fittings Across America" asks randomly selected people to try on a burka for a few minutes and to look at themselves in a full-length mirror. Her artistic goal is to explore "otherness, embodiment and empathy, as well as the meanings Americans associate with the burka".
Some people are outraged that she is appropriating the burka for her own purposes. Others worry that it will reinforce Islamophobia. If you are optimistic, like Rim, you hope it will undermine people's preconceived notions and generate greater cross-cultural understanding. This is not your grandfather's art project, blandly hanging on a gallery or museum wall.
Marie Rim grew up on the East Coast and is a painter by training. While based in Los Angeles, she began to work with wedding dresses, redirecting her art in a tactile and interactive direction. She invited passersby to don garments she had made from second-hand wedding dresses and to examine themselves in the mirror. It was playful and good-natured. Everybody walked away happy.
Then she switched to the burka. When she tried it on for the first time, her reflection overwhelmed her. It concealed so much of her body that almost all outward markers disappeared. She realised how much feeling visibly gay had affected her at a profound level. Of course, she was hardly planning to wear the burka full time, nor was she particularly attuned to the cultural and religious significance of the burka in these early experiments. For Marie, the burka simply helped her grasp her personal experience of "otherness".
By her own admission, Marie was naïve in what she did next. She took her show on the road - literally - by asking people on the street if they would like to experience wearing a burka and looking at themselves in the mirror. She has done this in 18 states so far, and has plans to carry out the project in all 50 states.
Mixed emotions and reactions
I invited Marie to Middlebury College as a guest artist for my seminar on "'The Muslim': Politics and Perceptions in the West". She presented a short video and pictures of her artistic subjects with quotations from their experiences. She conducted burka fittings in front of the college dining hall and then spoke with my students for an hour.
Seeing the reactions to her project from people on and off campus was eye-opening. If Marie was naïve when launching her project, I was naïve in my own way. Although I study Islamophobia, I had guessed that most people would find wearing a burka demystifying. Others on campus - some of whom expressed deep doubts about inviting Marie in the first place - probably assumed just the opposite.
The reality was much more complicated. Reactions among burka-wearers were far from uniform. Most people kept it on for just a minute or two, and all of them looked at themselves in a full-length mirror only after the black robe, face covering (with two roughly inch-high by three-inch wide eye openings), and scarf were completely on. Women and men participated, as did Muslims and non-Muslims. All together more than a dozen people tried it on.
"... it [the burka] is also a mirror, seemingly reflecting back to the participant whatever assumptions he or she brought to the experience in the first place."
The majority had powerful and negative reactions. One simply said, "get it off". Another said she felt like a monster. Others felt they had lost their individuality or their ability to express themselves through something as instinctive as a smile. They felt claustrophobic or trapped, scary like a Sith Lord, or "freaked out", as if in a shroud. A few had tremendous difficulty articulating any reaction, struck speechless. One commented that she felt sorry for women who had to wear the burka all the time.
A sizeable minority, on the other hand, did not have these reactions at all. One participant said she felt protected and safe, and another mentioned that she had worn a garment that covered much of her body while in Morocco and that she appreciated the anonymity it provided her as a Western woman.
One of my students who tried it on said she felt mysterious and powerful, like a ninja. Unlike others, she did not take off the burka right away, but rather walked into the dining hall to gauge the reaction of her fellow students. Heads turned. She approached friends one by one, most of whom did not recognise her, though one woman from Afghanistan addressed her by name, seemingly adept at seeing through the cloth. Reactions ranged as widely as those who tried it on, from friends who found her frightening to those who proclaimed her "cute".
There were also a wide range of responses by burka-wearers that were nowhere near as freighted. Many people commented on the restricted sight-lines, the greater difficulty of making oneself heard, the light-weight cloth, the black uniformity (wondering if there were different colours available), or the fact that it felt like putting on a costume rather than a cultural symbol. One said he felt like an Orthodox priest.
Among the observers and the passersby, a few people were clearly intrigued and some were put-off. Almost nobody walked by without noticing. Throughout this process, for both the participants and the observers, I did my best to add context and background about the burka. I am a political scientist who studies race and ethnic politics, not a scholar of Islam, nor a specialist in burkas or cultures where they are habitually worn.
Perceptions of the burka
My goal was to let the art project unfold in a way that lets participants be true to their emotions and reactions, while also trying to explain what I knew about burka wearing. Some women were forced to wear them, yes, but some women also chose to wear them. They were as much a cultural marker as a religious one. It was possible to identify the individual wearer and her body language with practice - in other words, communication was possible even though there was a burka in the mix.
This mediation between the individual experience and the larger social, political and cultural context turned out to be essential. My students grilled Marie on how she was building this in to her project. They wanted to be sure that her motives were good ones. Unless those were true, and unless she provided information for her subjects, they feared the project risked being hurtful to Muslims and harmful to non-Muslim perceptions of the burka.
I couldn't agree more. The burka is like a prism that refracts reactions into more shades and tones than I had imagined. At the same time, it is also a mirror, seemingly reflecting back to the participant whatever assumptions he or she brought to the experience in the first place.
Happily, Marie was able to communicate her desire to proceed as sensitively as possible. She also fully recognised the need to partner with scholars and knowledgeable individuals who can provide information and context for participants. After all the feedback she has received, Marie is thinking through her next steps.
Instead of simply displaying her project in a conventional art environment, she is considering developing a website with a blog component where her burka-wearers, critics and everyone can weigh in on the project.
No matter what your reaction to "Burka Fittings Across America", the project undeniably creates friction. It is potentially inflammatory. But if handled in the right way, it also has the potential to produce at least as much light as heat.
Erik Bleich is professor of Political Science and Director of International Politics and Economics at Middlebury College and is the author of The Freedom to Be Racist? How the United States and Europe Struggle to Preserve Freedom and Combat Racism, published by Oxford University Press.
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PASSIONATELY defending his record on killing innocent civilians with drone strikes against that of his predecessor, Barack Obama, US President Donald Trump has claimed that the drone strike which has killed at least 30 innocent people in a Syrian school has surpassed any innocent loss of life under the Obama regime.
“My drone strike was the best, believe me,” Trump defended batting away statements from journalists which seemed to suggest having carried out 20,000 drone strikes over 8 years, Obama had the superior civilian death toll. This latest statement could possibly be yet another example of a lie shared by the President.
“No, mine is the best, believe me. Killing innocent people in a school, it’s the best, everyone is saying it,” Trump added, clearly incensed that there were people attempting to give Obama credit, even suggesting that Obama’s strike on a hospital in Afghanistan was the best erroneous drone strike ever carried out by a self-proclaimed Leader of the Free World.
The Republican went on to deny that his much vaunted plan to defeat ISIS was near identical to the previous administration’s; involving targeted and precision mistakes which lead to the loss of innocent life, followed by no accountability.
“Wrong,” countered Trump shutting down one journalist, “we’re going to mess up drone strikes on such a level, it’ll make your head spin. I’ll get two Nobel Peace Prizes, believe me”.
Responders to the scene of the drone strike suggested that the difference between the two methods was “unclear to them”.
Elsewhere, there were further problems for President Trump as he threatens to set the KGB on Republicans who don’t vote for his replacement healthcare plan for Obamacare.According to a recent Boston Globe poll of likely voters in New Hampshire, perhaps the most anti-tax state in this country, 73 percent support raising taxes on people making over $250,000 a year; 78 percent oppose cutting Medicare; 71 percent oppose cutting Medicaid; and 76 percent oppose cutting Social Security. Now, Mr. President, you may be saying to yourself well, that was just one poll, and it was only polling one state. Clearly, that must have been an aberration. Wrong. National poll after national poll have almost mirrored what New Hampshire voters are saying. A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found the following:
• 81 percent of the American people believe it is totally acceptable or mostly acceptable to impose a surtax on millionaires to reduce the deficit.
• 74 percent of the American people believe it is totally acceptable or mostly acceptable to eliminate tax credits for the oil and gas industry.
• 68 percent of the American people believe it is totally acceptable or mostly acceptable to phase out the Bush tax cuts for families earning over $250,000 a year.
• 76 percent of the American people believe it is totally acceptable or mostly acceptable to eliminate funding for weapons systems the Defense Department says are not necessary.
• 76 percent believe it is totally unacceptable or mostly unacceptable to cut Medicare to significantly reduce the budget deficit.
• 77 percent believe it is totally unacceptable or mostly unacceptable to cut Social Security to significantly reduce the deficit.
• 67 percent believe it is totally unacceptable or mostly unacceptable to cut Medicaid to significantly reduce the deficit.
• 77 percent believe it is totally unacceptable or mostly unacceptable to cut funding for K-12 education to significantly reduce the deficit.
• 56 percent believe it is totally unacceptable or mostly unacceptable to cut Head Start.
• 59 percent believe it is totally unacceptable or mostly unacceptable to cut college student loans.
• And, 65 percent believe it is totally unacceptable or mostly unacceptable to cut heating assistance to low-income families.
And, while the leaders of the Tea Party movement in Washington are fighting to dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and getting the vast majority of Republicans in Congress to follow their marching orders, 70 percent of those who identify themselves with the Tea Party outside of the beltway oppose cutting Medicare and Medicaid to reduce the deficit, according to a recent McClatchy Poll. Mr. President, here is the last poll I would like to highlight. It was done by the Washington Post and ABC News, and here is what it says:
• 72 percent of Americans support raising taxes on incomes over $250,000 to reduce the national debt – including 91 percent of Democrats; 68 percent of Independents; and 54 percent of Republicans.
Yet, Mr. President, there does not seem to be one Republican in Washington, D.C., who would support raising taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans – those earning over $250,000 a year to reduce the deficit. Only in Washington is it considered a controversial idea to make the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share. Instead of listening to millionaire and billionaire campaign contributors, it is time for our leaders in Washington to start listening to the overwhelming majority of Americans who want the wealthiest people in this country and the most profitable corporations in this country to contribute to deficit reduction. It is time for shared sacrifice. The middle class, the elderly, the sick, the children, and the poor have already sacrificed enough in terms of lost jobs, lost wages, lost pensions, and lost homes. When are the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations going to be asked to pay their fair share? If not now, when?
And, the fact of the matter is, Mr. President, that moving towards deficit reduction in a way that’s fair is not quite as complicated as the American people have been led to believe by the corporate media and right wing think tanks. In fact, if you are not beholden to Wall Street, large corporations and wealthy campaign contributors, and you are not scared to death of the unlimited number of 30-second ads they may run against you, it is actually quite easy. I know many people have different ideas about how we might move towards a balanced budget. I am not saying that I have all of the answers. But, let me just give a few examples of how we can reduce the deficit by more than $4 trillion dollars over the next decade that asks the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share and does not unfairly harm ordinary Americans.
First, if we simply repealed the Bush tax breaks for the top 2 percent, we could raise at least $700 billion over the next decade. The Republicans claim that repealing these tax breaks would increase unemployment. They are wrong. These tax breaks have been in place for over a decade and they have not led to a single net private sector job. In fact, under the eight years of President Bush, the private sector lost over 600,000 jobs and the deficit exploded. When President Clinton increased taxes on the top 2 percent, over 22 million jobs were created, and the revenue generated from this policy led to a $236 billion budget surplus.
Secondly, a 5.4 percent surtax on millionaires and billionaires would raise more than $383 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Tax Committee. As I said earlier, a millionaire’s surtax has the support of 81 percent of the American people according to NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.
Third, Mr. President, the U.S. government is actually rewarding companies that move U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas through loopholes in the tax code known as deferral and foreign source income. This is unacceptable. During the last decade, the U.S. lost about 30 percent of its manufacturing jobs and over 50,000 factories have been shut down.
If we ended the absurdity of providing tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, the Joint Tax Committee has estimated that we could raise more than $582 billion in revenue over the next 10 years. Right now we have a tax policy that says that if you shut down a manufacturing plant in America, and move to China, the IRS will give you a tax break. That may make sense to corporate CEOs. It doesn’t make sense to me.
Fourth, Mr. President, if we ended tax breaks and subsidies for big oil and gas companies, we could reduce the deficit by more than $40 billion over the next 10 years. The five largest oil companies in the United States have earned about $1 trillion in profits over the past decade. Meanwhile, in recent years, some of the very largest oil companies in America like Exxon Mobil and Chevron, as I pointed out earlier, have paid absolutely nothing in Federal income taxes. In fact, some of them have actually gotten a rebate from the IRS. That has got to stop.
Fifth, Mr. President, if we prohibited abusive and illegal offshore tax shelters, we could reduce the deficit by up to $1 trillion over the next decade. Each and every year, the United States loses an estimated $100 billion in tax revenues due to offshore tax abuses by the wealthy and large corporations. The situation has become so absurd that one five-story office building in the Cayman Islands is now the “home” to more than 18,000 corporations. That is wrong. The wealthy and large corporations should not be allowed to avoid paying taxes by setting up tax shelters in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas or other tax haven countries.
Sixth, Mr. President, if we established a Wall Street speculation fee of less than 1 percent on the sale and purchase of credit default swaps, derivatives, stock options and futures, we could reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion over the next decade. Both the economic crisis and the deficit crisis are a direct result of the greed and recklessness on Wall Street. Establishing a speculation fee would reduce gambling on Wall Street, encourage the financial sector to invest in the productive economy, and significantly reduce the deficit without harming average Americans.
There are a number of precedents for this. The U.S had a similar Wall Street speculation fee from 1914 to 1966. The Revenue Act of 1914 levied a 0.2 percent tax on all sales or transfers of stock. In 1932, Congress more than doubled that tax to help finance the government during the Great Depression. And today, England has a financial transaction tax of 0.25 percent, a penny on every $4 invested.
Number seven, Mr. President, if we taxed capital gains and dividends, the same way that we tax work, we could raise more than $730 billion over the next decade. Warren Buffet has often said that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. And, today the effective tax rate of the richest 400 Americans, who earn an average of more than $280 million each year, is just 18 percent, lower than most nurses, teachers, firefighters, and police officers pay. The reason for this is that the wealthy obtain most of their income from capital gains and dividends, which is taxed at a much lower rate than work. Right now, the top marginal income tax for working is 35 percent, but the tax rate on corporate dividends and capital gains is only 15 percent. Taxing wealth and work at the same rate could raise more than $730 billion over a 10-year period – and it’s the right thing to do.
Number eight, if we established a progressive estate tax on inherited wealth of more than $3.5 million, we could raise more than $70 billion over 10 years. Last year, I introduced the Responsible Estate Tax Act that would reduce the deficit in a fair way while ensuring that 99.7 percent of Americans who lose a loved one would never have to pay a dime in federal estate taxes.
Number nine, we have got to reduce unnecessary and wasteful spending at the Pentagon, which now consumes over half of our discretionary budget. Since 1997, our defense budget has virtually tripled going from $254 billion to $700 billion. Defense experts such as Lawrence Korb, an Assistant Secretary of Defense under Ronald Reagan, has estimated that we could achieve significant savings of around $100 billion a year at the Pentagon while still ensuring that the United States has the strongest and most powerful military in the world. For example, as a result of four separate investigations that I requested, the GAO has found that the Pentagon has $36.9 billion in spare parts that it does not need and which are collecting dust in government warehouses. We have got to do a much better job than that. And, much of the huge spending at the Pentagon is devoted to spending money on Cold War weapons programs to fight a Soviet Union that no longer exists. That has got to stop. Further, we also must end the unnecessary War in Iraq and the War in Afghanistan as soon as possible. These wars have gone on long enough. Reducing Pentagon spending by at least $900 billion over 10 years is something that we can and must do.
Number 10, if we required Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry, we could save over $157 billion over 10 years. As a result of the Medicare Part D prescription drug legislation signed into law under President George W. Bush, Medicare is prohibited from negotiating with the pharmaceutical industry to lower drug prices for seniors. This is wrong. Requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices could save the federal government and seniors over $15 billion a year.
Number 11, if we enacted a robust public option or a Medicare-for-all health insurance program, we would be able to save more than $68 billion over the next decade and provide affordable health insurance coverage for millions of Americans.
Number 12, Mr. President, as almost everyone knows, China is manipulating its currency, giving it an unfair trade advantage over the United States and destroying decent paying manufacturing jobs in the process. If we imposed a currency manipulation fee on China and other low-wage countries, the Economic Policy Institute has estimated that we could raise $500 billion over 10 years and create 1 million jobs in the process.
Finally, Mr. President, I think just about everyone agrees that there is waste, fraud and abuse in every agency of the federal government. Rooting out this waste, fraud, and abuse could save about $200 billion over the next 10 years.
Mr. President, if we did all of these things we could easily reduce the deficit by well over $4 trillion over the next decade, if not much more. It would be done in a fair way, and it would not unnecessarily and needlessly ruin the lives of millions of Americans who are struggling desperately just to make ends meet. Mr. President, the radical right wing agenda of more tax breaks for the wealthy paid for by the dismantling of Medicare, Medicaid, education, nutrition and the environment may be popular in the country clubs and cocktail parties of the rich and powerful, but it is way out of touch with what the overwhelming majority of Americans want.
Mr. President, as you know, late last week, Congressman Eric Cantor, the Republican Majority Leader in the House and Senator Jon Kyl, the Republican Minority Whip in the House walked out of the budget negotiations being led by Vice President Joe Biden. And, the reason they walked out was clear. They were not willing to close one single loophole in the tax code that allows the wealthy and large corporations to avoid paying taxes by stashing their money in the Cayman Islands. They were unwilling to stop tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, or close tax loopholes that give billionaires like Warren Buffet the ability to pay lower effective tax rates than their secretaries. There is apparently no end as to how far the Republican leadership will go in Washington to protect their wealthy campaign contributors, even if it means allowing the federal debt limit to expire and causing another depression.
My sincere hope is that the President will use this Republican walkout as an opportunity to rally the American people and make it clear that he will never support Republican demands to move toward a balanced budget solely on the backs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick, and the poor. But, I don’t think that the President will do this unless the American people send him a message that enough is enough! The American people have got to write to the President and tell him not to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in this country.
Do not decimate Medicare, Medicaid, Pell Grants, education, and the environment to pay for more tax breaks for the rich and powerful. Stand up for the millions, who have seen their homes, jobs, and savings vanish, instead of the millionaires, who have never had it so good.
For those of you who are listening to this speech, if you believe that enough is enough, if you believe in shared sacrifice, if you believe that it is time for the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations to contribute to deficit reduction, go to my website: sanders.senate.gov. At this website, you will find a letter to the White House that you can sign - let me read what it says:
“Dear Mr. President, This is a pivotal moment in the history of our country. Decisions are being made about the national budget that will impact the lives of virtually every American for decades to come. As we address the issue of deficit reduction we must not ignore the painful economic reality of today - which is that the wealthiest people in our country and the largest corporations are doing phenomenally well while the middle class is collapsing and poverty is increasing. In fact, the United States today has, by far, the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth. Everyone understands that over the long-term we have got to reduce the deficit - a deficit that was caused mainly by Wall Street greed, tax breaks for the rich, two wars, and a prescription drug program written by the drug and insurance companies. It is absolutely imperative, however, that as we go forward with deficit reduction we completely reject the Republican approach that demands savage cuts in desperately-needed programs for working families, the elderly, the sick, our children and the poor, while not asking the wealthiest among us to contribute one penny. Mr. President, please listen to the overwhelming majority of the American people who believe that deficit reduction must be about shared sacrifice. The wealthiest Americans and the most profitable corporations in this country must pay their fair share. At least 50 percent of any deficit reduction package must come from revenue raised by ending tax breaks for the wealthy and eliminating tax loopholes that benefit large, profitable corporations and Wall Street financial institutions. A sensible deficit reduction package must also include significant cuts to unnecessary and wasteful Pentagon spending. Please do not yield to outrageous Republican demands that would greatly increase suffering for the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society. Now is the time to stand with the tens of millions of Americans who are struggling to survive economically, not with the millionaires and billionaires who have never had it so good.”
If you’re listening out there, and agree with what I am saying, but are wondering what you can do to make a difference, I would urge you to consider signing this letter. Staying silent |
attitudes to both problems can be measured and analyzed by applying black feminist criminology. The paper suggested that this could provide insight into training men out of the sexual violence and bigotry. The paper has since been retracted.[22] The hoax has been criticized as unethical and mean-spirited, and critics of the hoax have suggested that the hoaxers do not understand the process of peer review.[23]
List of related geographers [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Domosh, Mona and Seager, Joni. (eds) (2001) Putting Women in Place: Feminist Geographers Make Sense of the World. New York: Guilford Publications.
New York: Guilford Publications. McKittrick, Katherine. Demonic Grounds: Black Women and the Cartographies of Struggle. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.
McDowell, Linda (1992) Doing gender: feminisms, feminists and research methods in human geography. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 17, 399-416.
. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 17, 399-416. McDowell, Linda; and Sharp, Joanne P. (eds). (1999). A Feminist Glossary of Human Geography. London: Arnold.
London: Arnold. McDowell, Linda. (1999) Gender, Identity and Place: understanding feminist geographies. Cambridge : Polity Press, 1999
Cambridge : Polity Press, 1999 Pratt, Geraldine. (2004) "Working Feminism." Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Gillian Rose (1993) Feminism and Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge Univ. of Minnesota Press
Univ. of Minnesota Press Seager, Joni and Nelson, Lise. (eds) (2004) Companion to Feminist Geography (Blackwell Companions to Geography). Blackwell Publishers, ISBN 1-4051-0186-5
Blackwell Publishers, ISBN 1-4051-0186-5 Valentine, Gill. (2004) Public Space and the Culture of Childhood. London:Ashgate
London:Ashgate Johnston, R.J. & J.D. Sidaway. (2004). Geography and Geographers. London: Arnold. Chapter 8: Feminist geographies.
London: Arnold. Chapter 8: Feminist geographies. Simonsen, Kirsten. (2007). "Practice, spatiality and embodied emotions: an outline of a geography of practice". Human Affairs, 17(2), 168-181.
Scientific journals [ edit ]In the age of the smartphone, the coup attempt in Turkey perhaps didn’t stand a chance. As speculation swirled on social media on Friday night, a group of mutinous troops took over the state-run TRT station — not a particularly popular network — and forced an anchor to read on air a statement drafted by them about the apparent power grab. Other military units had massed at major bridges and public buildings in Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest city, and Ankara, the nation’s capital.
The move smacked of a distinctly 20th-century operation, where uniformed men with guns could swiftly seize control of the machinery of state, starting with the media.
But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an entrenched and powerful leader, still had the upper hand. He issued a message via Facetime, broadcast by a private TV network, urging the Turkish public to rally to his cause. Mass text messages were sent out to countless people across the country. As a result, the haunting call to prayer rang out from Istanbul mosques in the dead of night at a time when nobody prays. The country was activated and on the streets. The coup-makers were soon isolated and cornered.
Much remains uncertain about the chaotic events of the past day, including the origins of the plot against the government. But it seems the coup was ill-executed from the beginning, starting with the delivery of its message. All the opposition parties in Turkey’s parliament, despite their loathing of Erdogan, rallied to the cause of the elected government and civilian rule. Most of the main branches of the military and security services remained in Erdogan’s camp.
Now, the crackdown has commenced. Nearly 3,000 military personnel have been arrested, according to a statement from the prime minister. Senior officials, including Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, say the “putsch” was led by a clique within the military outside the chain of command.
“The situation is completely under control,” Yildirim said at a news conference on Saturday. “Our commanders are in charge.”
Sources in the Turkish president’s office point to the secretive Gulen movement, led by an aging Islamic cleric who lives in Pennsylvania, as the main perpetrator. They claim that the leading military officers involved knew they would be sidelined by a purge of Gulenists in the ranks in the coming weeks and had to act fast. The Gulenists have vociferously denied involvement.
What happens next is unclear, but experts are concerned that Turkey’s already troubled democracy is in for a rocky ride.
“There was no good outcome,” said Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “If the coup had won, the state will be oppressive. If Erdogan wins, it will still be oppressive, because now there’ll be a witch hunt.”
As Erdogan’s critics point out, the Turkish leader and his allies in the ruling Justice and Development Party, or the AKP, have presided over a grim consolidation of power in recent years that has seen journalists arrested, critical newspapers and TV stations shuttered or taken over, social media censored and opposition politicians stripped of their legal immunity from prosecution.
“Erdogan will most certainly weaponize this coup attempt,” says Burak Kadercan, a political scientist at the U.S. Naval War College, subdue more of his opponents and move toward building the “absolute presidency” he has long sought. Kadercan expects “a further deterioration of Turkish democracy or whatever is left it.”
The Turkish leadership, though, sees the failure of the coup as a victory for patriots in a country with a long, turbulent history of military interventions. Erdogan has routinely cast himself as the vulnerable democrat battling the machinations of the deep state — including coup-plotters who would reject the democratic will of the people.
“Every one of them was a tank man,” Kilic Kanat wrote in the pro-government Daily Sabah, likening the coup protesters to the democracy activists at Tiananmen Square in 1989. “And every one of them acted responsibly and with courage. They showed the extent of civilian power.”
Yet the AKP is by far the dominant force in Turkey and has tremendous control over state institutions, from the judiciary to the civil bureaucracy. Earlier investigations and trials of suspected military coup-plotters had brought the army to heel, despite the ideological differences between the staunchly secular top brass and Erdogan’s Islam-influenced nationalist party.
The atmosphere of conspiracy and threat cultivated by Erdogan and the AKP had its political uses, and informed much of their campaigning ahead of two parliamentary elections last year. Its logic — presented to the party’s religiously conservative base — seems to have been borne out.
“There was this theory they presented that opposing the AKP meant supporting coups,” Cagaptay said. “Now that theory has legs.”
In Turkey’s deeply polarized political landscape, conspiracy theories whirled around Twitter that the coup was in fact an attempt by Erdogan to further expand his control. Some on social media thought the history-minded leader would see his arrival in Istanbul late on Friday night as akin to that of the victorious Ottoman sultan Mehmed the conqueror.
Others are more skeptical. “They were scared,” Kadercan said of the government. “They literally almost begged people to take it to the streets.”
The end result, though, may be very much in the government’s favor.The following information was supplied by the Goose Creek Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction.
Some people are usually worried that an open door will let flies in. It's rarely the case that you've got to worry about a stray chihuahua — a breed known more for their bark than their bite. Nevertheless, a man contacted police last week due to a mysterious dog attack.
The Woodland Heights resident told officers that he'd left his front door open and a small black chihuahua came into the home and ran into the kitchen.
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The dog had allegedly defecated throughout the house. When the man leaned down to pick the dog up, it allegedly bit him several times on the hand before running out the front door.
The man said he'd never seen the dog before. The animal was also described as having a slight rust or yellow color in its coat.
More:WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 8: Whit Ayres, President of North Star Opinion, attends the Monitor Breakfast on March 8, 2012 at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, DC. (Photo by Michael Bonfigli /The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON -- The American electorate is more diverse than ever, which means Republicans will have to attract a record percentage of minorities to win the presidency in 2016, a GOP pollster said Tuesday.
About 70 percent of the Americans eligible to vote are white, a decline of 15 percentage points since 1980, according to a new report co-sponsored by the Center for American Progress, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Brookings Institution. The report estimates that white eligible voters will become a minority in the next 45 years.
"The fundamental challenge for my side is the seemingly inexorable change in the composition of presidential electorates," Republican pollster Whit Ayres, whose clients include Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), said during a panel discussing the report. "And there's no reason to believe that that's going to stop magically."
The demographic change poses little problem for the GOP in midterm elections, when young and minority voters are far more likely than older, white voters to stay home. But in the run-up to 2016, the demographic trend has some Republicans citing a need for change.
In 2004, Republicans' most recent presidential victory, George W. Bush won 58 percent of the white vote, and 26 percent of the non-white vote -- numbers that would lose him the White House today, Ayres said.
'"That's the stunning part for me in running these numbers -- to realize that the last Republican to win a presidential election, who reached out very aggressively to minorities, and did better than any Republican nominee before or since among minorities, still didn't achieve enough of both of those groups in order to put together a winning percentage" for 2016, Ayres said.
Ayres isn't the first Republican pollster to stress the demographic challenges facing the party.
"Winning in a non-presidential-turnout year, when older and white voters make up a larger percentage of the electorate, should convince no one that we’ve fixed our basic shortfalls with key electoral groups, including minorities and younger voters," GOP pollsters Glen Bolger and Neil Newhouse wrote in The Washington Post last fall. "To win 50.1 percent of the popular vote, we estimate, Republicans will need nearly 64 percent of the white vote -- which would be a record for a non-incumbent Republican presidential candidate."
But Ayres rebutted the idea that Republicans are facing an existential crisis. "The fact is that the Republican Party is one candidate and one election away from resurrection," he said, naming Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as candidates with the potential to win.
Matt Barreto, co-founder of the polling firm Latino Decisions, also named Bush as a possible candidate to bridge the gap with Latino voters.
"There's very good reason to believe Jeb Bush has an opportunity to rebuild the GOP image if he can stay true to his message and get through the Republican primary," Barreto said at the panel Tuesday.
On the flip side, Barreto said, Hillary Clinton has an opportunity to pick up a record number of Latino votes and solidify Latinos as a Democratic voting bloc for years to come.RANDOLPH COUNTY, Ind. -- A Randolph County truck driver was arrested Tuesday for allegedly trying to arrange a sexual encounter over Facebook with a person he thought was a 15-year-old girl.
A detective with the Randolph County Sheriff's Department reportedly began communicating with 41-year-old Lance P. Parsons via Facebook Messenger under the guise of being a 15-year-old female.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday, Parsons made several sexual statements during the conversation, including graphic references to oral sex acts he would perform on the girl.
Investigators say Parsons and the undercover detective eventually agreed to meet at the Walmart store in Winchester, Indiana, to have sex. Parsons reportedly texted the detective that he was on his way from Rossburg, Ohio – about 30 miles away – where he had been loading up his semi.
When Parsons pulled into the Walmart parking lot, officers placed him under arrest. Parsons reportedly told police in an interview that he "was up there probably for talking with the young female." He also said he felt that he was lured into the situation.
According to the affidavit, Parsons told police he only stopped at Walmart to use the restroom, and then he was going to go home.
Parsons faces charges of child solicitation and attempted sexual misconduct with a minor, both level 4 felonies.Text size
Indonesian stocks dropped for a fifth day. The Jakarta Index fell 1% at midday break, extending yesterday's 3.5% decline.
Weak earnings are to blame. In the last month, analysts lowered their earnings estimates by 0.8% and 1% for this year and next. Meanwhile, Indonesia remains expensive, trading at 15.4 times forward earnings, a 40% premium to its 15-year long-term average. Analysts now expect corporates in Indonesia to grow by 8% this year and only 7.8% next, and do not see recovery till two years from now. By comparison, India, which is also not cheap for trading at 17.2 times, is expected a full earnings recovery as soon as next year.
Foreign investors net sold $173 million Indonesian equities on Monday, the most since December 24, according to Bloomberg. As of last Friday, global funds net sold 11 of the 13 trading days. Indonesia is now in the red for the year.
HSBC last week met with investors in the US and the impression the bank got was that it was "still too early" to rotate into Indonesia. Sure, Indonesia has the lowest household debt and the strongest banks in the ASEAN region, and in the long-term could be a "gradual household re-leveraging story," but in the near-term, "currency volatility remains a risk to investing in the market," noted HSBC analyst Herald van der Linde and team.
This year, the rupiah has fallen 4.8% against the dollar, the iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF (EIDO) has retreated 3.8%. For comparison purposes, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) gained 12% and the iShares MSCI All Asia ex-Japan ETF (AAXJ) rose 14.7%.Hudson on ITV’s “This Morning.” Photo by REX USA/Ken McKay/ITV/Rex
Parents will go to great lengths during the holiday season to raise extra cash for Christmas gifts. One recent poll even found that nearly a third of moms and dads will work overtime to pay for presents this year. But one British mom has found a quicker way to save: She’s selling her breast milk online.
STORY: Two Women Breastfeed This Baby
Mom of four Rebecca Hudson, 26, told ITV’s This Morning that she is selling her breast milk for a whopping $20 per 5-ounce bottle, which has earned her a total of $4,750 this year, according to the New York Daily News. Her eight regular clients include chefs using her milk as an ingredient and bodybuilders looking for extra protein.
“What they do with the milk is up to them; I’m not going to discriminate,” Hudson told This Morning.
Hudson’s youngest, Milly, was born 10 weeks early, and Hudson said she originally had trouble producing milk. But eventually it started arriving in “bucket loads,” she said, much more than Milly could drink or than Hudson could store in her freezer. Hudson says she tried to donate the milk to a local hospital but was told they didn’t need it, so she decided to go the online route after learning that it was a booming business in the U.S. “I didn’t want to pour it away because it takes a lot of work to produce breast milk,” she said. “It takes energy and time.”
STORY: How to Get More Out of Your Breast Pump
But prospective buyers — whether they are new moms with low milk supplies, chefs, or bodybuilders — should think twice about purchasing milk online, says Dr. Maureen Groer, a professor and lactation researcher at the University of South Florida College of Nursing. “When women donate to milk banks, those samples are highly regulated,” Groer tells Yahoo Parenting. “The women are tested for viruses like HIV and hepatitis. And the milk is handled carefully – it’s pasteurized, it’s pooled, and it’s flash-frozen, and delivered frozen to the hospitals that use it.”
Milk sold online, on the other hand, isn’t regulated at all, explains Groer. “There’s no way to know what diseases the woman who pumped the milk might have. How did she pump it? Were the pump parts sterile? Were the bottles used to store it sterile? Milk is a wonderful medium for bacterial growth if it’s not properly managed,” Groer says. “People are taking great risk when they buy from a donor online — especially if they are giving that milk to a baby.”
The business of selling breast milk over the Internet has grown significantly in the past year, Groer says. Websites like Onlythebreast.com allow women to advertise their milk at whatever price they choose, and sell to whomever they choose. In May, one male athlete told The Cut that he buys breast milk for the “incredible energy I don’t get from other food,” and typically pays $2.50 per ounce. “I want natural stuff that’s God-given, and if it’s ok with moms looking to get rid of it, I’ll take it.”
Groer says the practice of selling breast milk online is nearly impossible to regulate, so people should just stop doing it. She fears that it will take a tragedy — like a baby or another client contracting a disease — for organizations like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or Centers for Disease Control to get involved. In the meantime, she says, “People have to be reasonable when taking risks.”OBJECTIVE:
To determine the risk of maternal mortality and serious maternal morbidity because of major obstetric haemorrhage in Jehovah's witnesses in The Netherlands.
DESIGN:
A retrospective study of case notes.
SETTING:
All tertiary care centres, general teaching hospitals and other general hospitals in The Netherlands.
SAMPLE:
All cases of maternal mortality in The Netherlands between 1983 and 2006 and all cases of serious maternal morbidity in The Netherlands between 2004 and 2006.
METHODS:
Study of case notes using two different nationwide enquiries over two different time periods.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and risk of serious maternal mortality.
RESULTS:
The MMR for Jehovah's witnesses was 68 per 100,000 live births. We found a risk of 14 per 1000 for Jehovah's witnesses to experience serious maternal morbidity because of obstetric haemorrhage while the risk for the total pregnant population was 4.5 per 1000.
CONCLUSIONS:
Women who are Jehovah's witnesses are at a six times increased risk for maternal death, at a 130 times increased risk for maternal death because of major obstetric haemorrhage and at a 3.1 times increased risk for serious maternal morbidity because of obstetric haemorrhage, compared to the general Dutch population.Form, Smell, and Function
by Jonah Howell
Artwork by Emily Yue
The Sniffer Strikes Again, Kills Two: Giddy Couple Calls 9-1-1, Reports Loud Sniffles, Found Dead Of Frontal Lobotomy Only Hours Later
I hear it. Sniffff. Running out of time, I fling the shitterstall door wide open and hold a circular necklace pendant aloft as shield. The pendant, it’s a hoop. I smell my green soul’s near-reluctant exit. Irony. Yes. Indubitably so.
[Exeunt all SOULS, for disambiguation. Redirected from “Common spirits of the American Southeast.”]
I smell it. Sniffff. Running into time, I fling my switchblade plastic comb wide
open, carve a sweet pompadour. [Exeunt all COMBS, dancing a Scottish jig if
performed in western Mississippi.] I fling a scalpel through the eye of a real
fighter just jumped out the shitterstall. Instant lobotomy, right through that
ridiculous unlensed monocle. [Camera angle from above, 15 deg. clockwise
shows flying SCALPEL and its reflection in tile. Slow motion before entry, reposition: camera swoops in to parallel with tile. Blurry. Slow to a stop at entry. Focus moves down scalpelschaft and into pupil, switch to EEG, continue focus down optic nerve, back to occipital V1 and forward to a sparkleburst of surprise: CGI amygdala explosion, mushroom cloud shows gyri and sulci in their proper ripplywaved beauteousness. Draw focus back out to pupils: See the light leave as SCALPEL enters. Curtain, as SOUL enters air vent above shitter.] Sniffff. The iron never lies, yet the monocled do, does, have done and ever shall in yea context.
The Sniffer Strikes, Leaves Nary a Whiff: Camera Shows No Prints. Police ask all owners of Canon 5D to report to station for questioning, examination of film. Owners of Canon 5D do so with trepidation, armed with cameras.
“This your camera here?”
“No, this is.” [FILMMAKER gestures to identical CAMERA, which winks, returns
to previous aperture. Cheeky fucker.]
“Two identical members of a set are for all operational purposes the same
member.” [POLIZIA dramatically slams shut finite mathematics textbook. DUST erupts from pages in mushroom cloud, shows gyri and sulci
in their proper beauteous dynamic action.] “Cuff ‘em.”
Sighing Relief: Polizia Smell Trouble As Sniffler v. State Returns “Not Guilty.” Olfsborough court delivers landmark ruling that identical members of a set retain operational propriety: “One camera is not another camera.” “They take different pictures and as such act into different selves,” says metaphysician H. H., expert witness for the defense. “Falsch!” whispers taciturn mathematician Mat E. Matician, self-proclaimed experter witness for the prosecution. Continues he, “pssssps, spssspss. wspppsssspspwssp, tspsptsp, stpssssspts.” Judge remains nonplussed, stamps verdict with scratch-‘n’-sniff.
[Exterior Courthouse, Night. PROSECUTOR sulks on windworn sandy steps as
JUDGE steps sniffffing from a wing. Scalpel shining in his hand he strides the
sandy steps to flank the mourning PROSECUTOR.]
“’Sup?” Sniffff.
“I smell the death of promise, budding skill had I, gone tumbling under and
around my flinching frontal lobe to end in olfactory lowness. How, your
Honor, should I go? Think I by subtle resignation may perchance prove best,
with not the pomp I would expect were I to see one such as me take early
leave.”
“Falsch.” [Enter SCALPEL, grinning with no hint of malice.]
The judge, mid-Sniffff, drops grinning SCALPEL at the tearstrung wingtips on
the feet of his now baffled supplicant. “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole
of the law.”
“But…but love is the law?”
“Love under will.”
[The grinning JUDGE makes then his wobbly leave and ne’er again shall snifff. Clean scalpel passed to worthy hands, JUDGE sees some long-drawn work complete yet dearth of blood upon the sandy steps. Some choose life. That’s cool, too. Curtain.]
[Projected upon CLOSED CURTAIN] The Sniffer’s Final Whiff: Prosecutor Found With Scalpel Matching Frontal Lobe Incisions, Sentenced To Live Out His Days In Hermitous Infamy, Olfact’ry Bulbs Cut Out By His Own Scalpel.
=
Judge offers death. Prosecutor coolly chooses life and snifffles out into the scentless mists’ great bulging gyri, sulking grey but justified, or satisfied, not both.
—–
Two nights later I masturbated to the orange light flicking up from the tile of a schmutty public doubleyousee. I either came or seized, or both, or neither. In either case a little tiny bit of me died and sent its soul up through the square-grate vent conveniently located right next to the light. This vent, it burped at me, I remember through the seizing refractory haze, in indigestible oversatiation, and at once I knew I was not magnificent. Seized with the beauty of such a realization and suddenly small, I came again, really died this time, and rather than overburden the vent I flushed myself. Dust to dust, and shit.
Without A Whiff: Local Man Disappears Without Trace From Schmutty Bathroom, Leaves Only Cum And Mint Gum Wrappers. Questioned about the untimely disappearance, gas station-casino proprietor Marc Quebedeaux laments, “Boy just came and went. Like a ghost, same really, but differnt.” Fellow doubleyousee yankee Rich Malcolm, visibly flustered by the incident, remarks, “I guess God’s real, you know?” We know, Malc. We know.
[Enter YANKEE #2, large stylized cock in hand and in all ways incredibly cordial.] Two nights later I, too, masturbated to the orange light flicking up from the crusty tile of a schmutty public doubleyousee. I either came or seized, or both, or neither. In either case in rapture beheld I a vision: From out the vent beside the orange light did waft a cumsoaked spirit, and dripping unborn children on my shaven head as I looked up to see it rightly, spirited spake it to me:
[Pan camera up to divinely dripping YANKEE #1, who drifting from the vent does bow in stately cordial ease.] “Dear man compatriot to me, do hearken now to which I shall ejaculate.” [Play forced and stuttering laugh track, where clearly no laugh would be welcome or warranted.] “I once did live as you, a freely solitary youth, bearing those stigmata genius wants upon my palms. Yet for what values did I live, and do you now? Hedonic freedom, while fulfilling, leaves but bitterness, that freedom satisfies one best when in clear opposition to here-inextant inhibition. And so before thou tak’st my death as thine and drift, not unjust, to smallness in the face of All, thyself do shackle so that when thy soul does loose itself upon the nothing which has always been its base, it shall know perfect mania as mine could not, refracting in homogeneity and self-contained as yours can help but be.” [YANKEE #1 smiles archally and floating back up through the vent does set his symbol on the shaven head of YANKEE #2. Said head grows hair in flowing locks, strong locks to seal the novel covenant, that in restraint he’ll strive to live until he comes again for final power’d Death to yank him off to higher fleets of life.]
New Asceticism Comes To Town: Local Man Claims Contact With Local Spirit Led Him To A Cocked Nirvana, Advocates Restraint Then Death By Pleasure. Asked to explain his novel ideology, Local Man waxes philosophical, “Contrast can but make intenser that which once was thought insuperable. Limits then can but erase themselves by stricter observation, you know?” We know, Local Man. We know.
[Camera swings wide around a horde of serious-looking EMACIATES. A series of close-ups: All the men sport raging rigids. As do the women, less conspicuously. One strides out from the throng and, perched regal atop deep blue Mt. Cyanide, tosses back a burlap hood to address the gathered mob.]
YANKEE #2: “Do, and thou wilt.” [Drops glimmering silver scalpel, symbol to his throng of superior nonviolent death.]
EMACIATES: [In beautiful choral unison, to the tune of Johnson + Tagore’s “Gitanjali Chants”] “No pain surpasses death by pleasure, nor does any death or any pleasure.”
[The EMACIATES fling far their burlap robes and masturbate with lushly rhythmic moans. Half go blind, and, seeing it as a sign from the GRATE YANKEE (#1), increase in fervor, finish first, and hit the dirt, their SOULS grinning slyly wafting between cacti on a beige mountain pass and out of sight. Inspired, those remaining finish, die alike, and in ascent the verdant horde of SOULS sings “O Vos Omnes,” replacing of course “dolor” with “voluptas,” or “voluptatem,” as some the ANGELS alongside instructed, and some they left to guess for humorous effect. Meanwhile, back on Mt. Cyanide, a joyous YANKEE #2 surveys the field of happy lovedrunk corpses.]
YANKEE #2: “I see that it is good.” [Turning to the passing choir of SOULS and golden ANGEL guides] “Ain’t it?”
SOULS + ANGELS: “Damn skippy.”
YANKEE #2: “Alas, no savior would I be were I to show restraint and ralf on my own teaching. Wherefore dost thou tempt me so, Hypocrisy? for I would soon as yank myself forgo that act and wander elsewhere, preaching that good which has seen such mountainous successes here below. Yet doing so I’d rob it of all ethos, showing undesirable what should be seen as Godly. How then to spread divinity without transgressing it myself?” [Pan camera to overview of nearby metropolis.] “Ah, yes, example set by action, spurning word…to Elysian fields may I go with my herd, and I shall also die this day. Farewell, beauty, and all the sublime visions of Earth, the sounds of music made of earthly waves, the taste of apples plucked from wisened earthly trees. Farewell to thee, but not thy progeny, as I by pow’r of spirit shall inseminate the air ere I do go, and henceforth shall the enlighten’d Earth my footsteps follow to the steps of shining hellish paradise.”
[Close up on the angel’s face of YANKEE #2. A look of righteous and serenest calm.]
AN ETHEREAL AND SOMEWHAT FAMILIAR VOICE: “I have not forsaken you, and true to that good confidence which in you I did happily endow you’ve reached your end. A Godly and a happy ending shall it be, dear Protegé, to witness your own proper seed aloft and carrying on good winds unto the ends of Earth. Then down to beauteous hell’s Elysium, with I myself as guide lest you see more good to do and overhelp this well-help’d place. For such a thing there is as altruistic excess, and you do edge upon it in your spirit. Now, though, I leave you to your duty, but to reappear at this best story’s climax.”
[A brief glint of wispy SOUL at the corner of the shot, gone by the time the camera properly pans. Flickering light, a coarser burlap tossed away upon the naked happy dead, an empty vision, then slowly into focus: A glowing vitalized city and vital expansion of the glow across surrounding land in all directions. His role fulfilled as he saw it, YANKEE #2, clothed in robes of light, new stigmata adorning not one but two raw palms, descends to shimmering fields and welcoming open arms of those he led to perfect enlightenment. Fade to black, or white, or some solid fuzzy color.]
AN ETHEREAL AND SOMEWHAT FAMILIAR VOICE: We know. We know.
[Click. Tick. Static. Silence.]
—–
Found: Scalpel. Dirty. Unused. Sharp.
“This your knife?”
“Sniffff.” [Giggles.]Predictions from Net neutrality opponents that regulations would choke off broadband investment haven't come true, with several service providers announcing expansions in the four months since the U.S. Federal Communications Commission passed new rules, the agency's chairman says.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler defended the commission's Net neutrality rules Friday, saying that it would be "unthinkable" for the FCC to allow broadband providers to operate without consumer protection, interconnection and other basic rules. The FCC is focused on expanding broadband coverage and competition and increasing speeds across the U.S., he said, but the commission's Net neutrality rules won't get in the way.
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"We're not going to let imaginary concerns about investment incentives and the omnipresent boogieman of so-called utility regulation cause us to let up on polices to encourage fast, fair and open broadband," Wheeler said in a speech at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C.
CEOs of five broadband providers, including Sprint, Cablevision and T-Mobile USA, have discounted concerns from other providers and free-market advocates that the FCC's Net neutrality rules, which reclassify broadband as a regulated, common-carrier service, would discourage investment, Wheeler said.
Wheeler also named eight broadband providers that have announced plans to expand their broadband services since the FCC voted in late February to approve the new regulations. AT&T and Comcast, two of the most vocal critics of the FCC's vote to reclassify broadband, are among the eight providers announcing expansions since then, he said.
Comcast declined to comment on Wheeler's speech. AT&T didn't immediately respond to a request for comments.
Some broadband providers have tried to use a move from copper to digital transmission as "their ticket to escape" responsibilities such as widespread access, interconnection and consumer protection, Wheeler said.
Still, the FCC will not engage in "utility-style regulation" that Net neutrality critics fear, Wheeler said. The FCC will be a "referee" on the field, he said.
"I plan to adhere to the wisdom that the best referees do not make themselves part of the game unnecessarily," he added. "Referees make sure the game is played fairly, they don't call the plays."
The FCC will not "micromanage" networks like the agency did in pre-broadband days, Wheeler added. "In that environment, at a time when consumers are demanding better broadband, why would a rational broadband provider not make the investment to give it to them?" he said. "Only if competition is lacking, only if consumer demand is artificially limited."The San Diego Padres have reportedly signed free agent pitcher James Shields to a four-year deal expected to be worth $72-$76 million, and they are getting one of the best starting pitchers in baseball.
Over the past four seasons, he has averaged 233 innings and 206 strikeouts. In that time, he has 96 quality starts and a 3.17 ERA. That’s 19 more innings than any other pitcher in the Major Leagues. Only Clayton Kershaw and Cole Hamels had more quality starts, and here’s the list of pitchers with more strikeouts: Kershaw, Felix Hernandez, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price. How’s that for name dropping? Shields’ ERA was the 15th-best among big league starters in those four seasons, a tick behind that of Zack Greinke and Price.
The contract ends during his age-37 season, the same as the deal signed by Max Scherzer and the Washington Nationals. However, even though the Nats paid much more for their star acquisition, they still got the better overall value.
Here is how the two pitchers matched up last season in terms of conventional stats like innings pitched, wins, losses, strikeouts, etc.
Scherzer has the clear edge in wins above replacement, and that includes if you project forward over the next four years. For example, Steamer projections have Scherzer producing 3.8 WAR in 2015, while Shields is projected for 2.6. Decrease that each year by half a win for aging effects gives us the aging curves below.
One marginal win is worth $7 million and we can increase that by 5 percent each year to figure out the value each team will receive from their new starter. To make an apples to apples comparison, we will base Scherzer’s deal in today’s dollars ($170 million) to account for the deferred money. Here is how the value looks over the next four years.
The Nats get tremendous value in the deal with Scherzer ($20.5 million in projected surplus value over first four years) while while the Padres appear to have paid fair market value for Shields ($3.4 million in projected surplus value over life of contract).ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 24, 2017
Right Speech Is Not Always Gentle: The Buddha’s Authorization of Sharp Criticism, its Rationale, Limits, and Possible Applications
Sallie B. King
Georgetown University
What is Right Speech and how should it be applied in the multiple challenges of social and political life? Examining passages from the Pāli canon shows that although Right Speech is normatively truthful and gentle, the Buddha endorsed “sharp” speech when it was |
helping to limit Howard to seven points and eight boards during San Antonio's 103-83 win.
Gordon Hayward
The 6-foot-8 forward is a Butler University product who earned his first All-Star nod with the Utah Jazz last season. He comes to Boston with seven years of NBA experience under his belt.
Hayward was a star tennis player at Brownsburg High School in Brownsburg, Indiana. He played mixed doubles with his twin sister, Heather, and the duo competed together in the Indiana State Open. Heather continued her tennis career at Butler University, where Gordon would also attend to pursue a basketball career.
Hayward almost gave up on basketball following his freshman season at Brownsburg. He stood 5-foot-11 at the time and was projected to top out at 6-2 at most, so he did not think playing college basketball was a realistic goal. Hayward’s mother, however, swayed him to continue to pursue his hoops dream. He surprisingly shot up to 6-4 by the start of his sophomore season and now stands 6-8.
Hayward earned first team All-State honors during his senior high school season when he guided Brownsburg to the Indiana Class 4A state championship. He famously hit the game-winning layup during the 2008 state title game, which allowed the Bulldogs to edge Marion High School 40-39.
During his sophomore season at Butler, Hayward averaged 15.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and was named Horizon League Player of the Year. Under the tutelage of former Bulldogs head coach and current Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, Hayward helped lead Butler to a Cinderella appearance in the NCAA championship game, which the Bulldogs lost to Duke, 60-59. He was inches away from becoming the NCAA Tournament Hero, but his Hail Mary, game-winning attempt from half court clanked off the rim at the buzzer, causing Butler to fall by one point.
Off the court, Hayward’s passion is video games. He is avid in the gaming community and has even participated in the IGN Pro League. Hayward competed in his first eSports event in 2011, when was one of 256 gamers who qualified for a Starcraft II tournament in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Kyrie Irving
Irving is a four-time All-Star and was the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-3, 2016 NBA champion point guard shares a March 23 birthday with Hayward.
Irving’s father Drederick played college basketball at Boston University from 1984 to 1988. He had his No. 11 jersey retired at BU and is third on the Terriers’ all-time scoring list. After graduating, he was invited to the Celtics’ free-agent camp, but he did not earn a roster spot.
Irving was born in Melborne, Australia, while his father was playing professional basketball for the Bulleen Boomers. Irving, who has dual citizenship in Australia and the United States, is one of 15 Australian-born players to make the NBA and the first to earn All-Star status.
Former All-NBA point guard Rod Strickland is Irving’s godfather. Strickland played 18 NBA seasons and led the league in assists during the 1997-98 season as a member of the Washington Wizards.
In 2016, Irving became just the fourth player in league history to win an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal during the same calendar year. He and former teammate LeBron James joined Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on the elite list.
Irving wrote and directed a series of Pepsi commercials in which he starred as “Uncle Drew” – an elderly man with superstar street ball skills. The commercials were such a hit that they prompted Irving to create a feature-length Uncle Drew film. The movie, which also features former NBA players Reggie Miller, Shaquille O’Neal, Nate Robinson and Chris Webber, is set to release June 29, 2018.
Shane Larkin
The 5-foot-11 point guard has three seasons of NBA experience with three different teams. He has played for Dallas, New York and Brooklyn, as well as a stint overseas last year in Spain.
Larkin is the son of Hall-of-Fame shortstop Barry Larkin. Barry was the 1995 National League MVP, earned 12 All-Star selections, three Gold Glove Awards and nine Silver Slugger Awards during his 19 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds.
Larkin has three uncles on his father’s side who were also standout athletes. Stephen Larkin was a teammate of Barry on the Reds. Byron Larkin was a second-team All-American and the all-time leading scorer for the Xavier men’s basketball team. And Mike Larkin was a captain on Notre Dame’s football team during the mid-1980s.
Larkin originally wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a baseball player. When he was in elementary school he received hitting tips from all-time hits leader Pete Rose and Hall-of-Fame infielder Tony Perez.
Larkin played two seasons at the University of Miami under renowned college coach Jim Larranaga – the father of Celtics assistant coach Jay Larranaga.
Larkin averaged 14.5 points, 4.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game during his sophomore season (2012-13) at Miami, all while shooting 47.9 percent from the field, including 40.6 percent from 3-point range. He was named ACC Player of the Year and earned the Lute Olson Award, which is given annually to the most outstanding non-freshman player in the nation.
Marcus Morris
The 6-foot-9 forward is a six-year NBA vet who has played for Houston, Phoenix and Detroit. He is the twin brother of Washington Wizards forward Markieff Morris.Curious sightseers have been flocking for tickets on a “kleptocracy tour” of London after a recent spate of publicity, hoping for a glimpse into the murky world of Russian oligarchs in the capital.
But providing an insight into the lifestyles of the super-rich was never our purpose.
Rather, the tour was designed to expose how billionaires from countries such as Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have been allowed to buy London property with shady money and operate freely in our capital.
Mega-rich homes tour puts spotlight on London's oligarchs Read more
More than 35,000 London properties have offshore owners, with no one knowing who they belong to or where the money came from.
During a tour of the most opulent of these our “guides”, all prominent investigative journalists and money-laundering experts, explain the role of the so-called enablers – bankers, lawyers, agents – who facilitate the transactions and describe how dirty money has flooded our bricks and mortar.
Running a guided tour of London wasn’t the first choice of anti-corruption campaigners such as myself. The idea arose after our campaign for greater transparency of property ownership ran into a stone wall of government inaction.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest On board the kleptocracy tour bus in February. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
ClampK.org, the Committee for Legislation Against Money Laundering in Properties by Kleptocrats, was formed after my documentary, From Russia With Cash, was broadcast on Channel 4 last July. Sixteen major anti-corruption NGOs soon joined the initiative.
Less than three weeks later David Cameron announced that he was aware of the dirty money pouring into the capital, and vowed to fight it. But months have gone by without any progress by the government.
There are currently 36,342 offshore owned properties in London, and we don’t know who owns them
We needed to find a way to raise the problem of questionable cash coming into our city, much of it linked to money laundering operations thought to total billions of pounds a year.
But we couldn’t rely on the media because of the threat of legal battles. Despite the fact that our journalists used mostly public sources in their investigations, publishers are wary of reprinting accusations of potentially illegal sources of wealth.
Journalists need hard proof of ownership, yet the offshore companies these homes are registered to make it nearly impossible to figure out who they actually belong to.
Many also have so-called “nominee shareholders” acting on behalf of the real owners. Ownership can only be established if someone gets hold of the nominee agreement, but these papers are guarded away and treated as top secret.
There are currently 36,342 offshore-owned properties in London. In Westminster alone, we don’t know who owns one out of 10 properties. Not because we are rubbish investigators – rather the system of offshore corporate vehicles is designed for this purpose, so that the real proprietor cannot be traced.
This is exactly why criminals all over the world use offshore companies to hide the origin of their funds. The ease with which this can be done has turned many London properties into the reserve currency of international crime.
For example, Deutsche Bank research has shown that illegal capital flowing from Russia in the tens of billions of pounds a year has had a direct influence on the rise in property prices in London.
Inaction
Sadiq Khan: 'Make London property ownership transparent' Read more
The government has done very little to bring transparency. Under pressure from the media, they admitted to the existence of the problem and the need to subject offshore companies which own real estate assets in the UK to the same regulations as any domestic company: requiring them to disclose ownership. But sadly, the matter hasn’t progressed any further.
The lack of action from Number 10 is even more surprising given the Global Anti-Corruption Summit opening in London in May.
The government has had almost a year since we started campaigning to start a legislative reform process which could have resulted in a draft bill in time for the summit. Cameron could have shown how Britain is championing the global fight against corruption – but he has squandered the opportunity.
So it’s left to us, and projects like the Kleptocracy Tours, to try to jump-start the process of cleaning up offshore home ownership in London.
The next Kleptocracy Tour of London takes place on 12 AprilWhile Sheldon Adelson has yet to endorse a candidate for president, and refused to let reporters peek at his ballot at last month’s caucus in Nevada, it’s starting to look like the conservative rebellion against Donald Trump will not be bankrolled by the casino operator and Republican donor known for his far-right views.
Three times this week, the front page of the Israeli tabloid Adelson set up to support Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, Israel Hayom (Israel Today), has featured fawning coverage of Trump. The newspaper is widely seen in Israel as a megaphone for Adelson’s own views.
On Friday, the Hebrew-language print edition featured an interview with Trump — translated into English online — in which he assured Israelis that, far from being “neutral” on the Middle East, his election would be “tremendous news for Israel.”
His message to Israelis, Trump told the paper’s foreign editor, Boaz Bismuth, was this: “Your friend is leading in the primaries. I’ve always been your friend, even at the toughest moments. And that’s not going to change. I love you.”
Bismuth got little else from Trump, except the assurance that his election would also be “less good news for those who don’t like Israel,” but the rest of his report, a star-struck ode to ostentatious wealth, reads like it could have been written by Trump’s publicist, or his doctor.
Several hours earlier, I had arrived at Mar-a-Lago club in a cab driven by Boris, a Peruvian-born Israeli who moved to Florida. Boris told me that the Mar-a-Lago club is one of the most impressive places not just in Florida, but also the entire United States. At the gate, a striking blonde attendant named Heather greeted me. “Welcome to the Mar-a-Lago,” she said. The Mar-a-Lago club has become a center of attention during the Republican primaries. Trump bought the estate in 1985 and turned it into a 126-room paradise. And that is what Americans are hoping Trump will do with their bank accounts: take $15 or $150 and multiply it by who knows how many times. I must admit I was excited to be among the 300 media members (most of them Americans) invited to the press conference. A Trump event is the best show in town. And to see Trump on his home turf in a luxurious setting (think gold bathroom fixtures and huge chandeliers) reminiscent of “One Thousand and One Nights” is an incomparable experience. I got to see up close the man who is the main focus of global media attention today. Each new meeting with Trump is just as fascinating as the previous one.
After Trump’s primary victories earlier this week, the newspaper told its readers on Thursday that he was “Nearly There.”Usually when I go out to a magic tournament, my goal is simple: to win. There are several ways to win in Magic: the Gathering, and it’s important to embrace them all. Bringing your opponent to zero life is popular. Even forcing your opponent to draw a card when they have none left in their library is a decent strategy from time to time. An often overlooked win condition is forcing your opponent to play so long that they become dehydrated, bored, or die of old age. Pack a bag full of snacks, water, this deck, and prepare yourself to become the Fun Police:
The Goal:
The goal of the deck is to create a win condition that is so recursive, so durdly, and so slow that your opponent is too weak to carry on with the rest of the tournament after playing against you.
The Cards:
The deck is a U/W control shell with Elspeth, Sun’s Champions and AEtherlings removed and replaced with the best win condition in standard: Codex Shredder.
This card does everything you could ever want it to do, except win the game in less than about 30 turns. This card is a draw engine, a removal combo with Azorius Charm, a tutor, a Snapcaster Mage, a scry disabler, and a threat that is so underwhelming that your opponent won’t deal with it until it’s too late. If you’re going to be playing a deck with a win condition as slow as shredder, you’ll need at least one Elixir of Immortality.
Do you want to live forever? I know I do. Part of the strategy of this deck is to mill yourself with Codex Shredder to find your important “time-wasters”… I mean “control spells.” Now doing this, combined with discarding all those cards you’re going to be drawing off of those Sphinx’s Revelations for 7-15 cards every turn, you’ll need a way to put it all back into your library. If you mill this card by accident, fear not, you can always use a shredder to get it back in your hand, play it, and shuffle both artifacts back into your library to draw into them again on your next rev.
“Hey Cory, what about Psychic Spiral, that card seems pretty good, and would help you win faster.”
While Spiral and I have had some devastating victories in the past, it is going to have to sit on the bench for this one. The goal is not to win with mill, it is to lay siege to your opponent’s emotions and sanity.
This card is one of my favorite cards in the deck. His +1 isn’t fun. Making your opponent choose between giving you a Supreme Verdict or a Sphinx’s Revelation isn’t fun. The face your opponent makes when you -8 to search through your entire deck and play a Codex Shredder is priceless. Be sure to grab some random card from their deck also –Thoughtseize is usually my favorite, because it adds to their misery.
Don’t panic, I know this looks like a win condition, but let me explain. This card is in the sideboard for decks that have no way to interact with it. The goal of the deck is to stop your opponent having fun, and your opponent not being able to interact with your minor royalty does just that. In the unfortunate happenstance that your monoblack, B/W, White Weenie, or U/W opponent has conceded game 1 before time has elapsed in the round, side this guy in for a quick way to win game 2. The same goes for Fiendslayer Paladin against mono-red. If anyone can kill the fun, a Paladin can.
Notable Omissions:
Many have tried constructing other “pillow fort” style decks that involve Sphere of Safety, but I have a big problem with this. When you land the sphere, your opponent either loses hope or they know immediately if they can deal with it, and will concede on the spot if they cannot. Fun police presents no barrier; no imposing permanent that they cannot overcome. Fun police only shows you a door, open for you to walk through and win… then slams the door in your face turn after agonizing turn.
The original Fun Police list had 3 Mutavaults in it. The problem I have with this card isn’t that it is too weak, no no, the issue is that it is too strong. If you’ve got complete control of your opponent you might be tempted to try and win with Mutavault. If you’ve got one on the battlefield, and have open attacks for several turn in a row, your opponent may even call a judge on you for slow playing, and that will never do. We do the policing around here, not the judges! If you feel like you can restrain yourself from winning with Mutavault, go ahead and put it back in, if only as a way to deal with opposing Mutavaults. The same rules apply to something like Blind Obedience: make sure you don’t do something stupid like accidentally win with extort.
How to Play Fun Police:
Fun Police plays a lot like U/W control in the first 10 turns. Blow up their creatures with Supreme Verdict, handle other threats with Detention Sphere, and counter the rest. When you get Codex Shredder online early in the game, mill yourself for 1 card per turn. Eventually you will hit a card you need, like Sphinx’s Revelation, which you can simply return to your hand with shredder. Whenever the opportunity presents itself late-game, mill your opponent for one, especially if you have just Azorius Charmed an important creature onto the top of their library.
More important than how you pilot the deck, is your attitude. Should your goal be to make the person on the other side of the table angry? No. Should it be to frustrate them until they submit to your massive brain and patience? Oh yes! Don’t be a dick when you’re winning, just be calm, cool, collected, and a tiny bit smug. Take a sip of your water, but don’t let them have any, dehydration is a win condition. Take a bite of your carefully packed mid-game sandwich, but don’t let them have any, hunger is a win condition. Most of all, be sure to use the second ability on Codex Shredder way more frequently than required.
Your Worst Enemies:
While the deck is particularly resistant to mill, because of your ability to crack a shredder and get back your Elixir, sometimes you just won’t have enough time to react to this menace. Pithing Needle helps here, and be sure to save a counter-spell for this guy.
This card is almost unbeatable for this deck, but you can take solace in knowing that you’re probably the only person in history to force someone to hit Codex Shredder with Slaughter Games.
Not the card, the concept. If you can’t be patient enough to force your opponent to concede, this is not the deck for you. Go and play Pool Party if you want to have enough time between rounds to use the bathroom.
I’ve been testing this deck against people formerly known as my friends, and it has confirmed my assumption that with U/W, it doesn’t matter what the win condition is; as long as you get control of the game, you win. I’ll take it a step further and add that Codex Shredder actually makes the deck better than traditional U/W by drawing you effectively infinite copies of whatever card you need when used in conjunction with Elixir of Immortality. Test this deck out at your local FNM, or better yet at a store in a near-by town that you don’t mind being banned from, and tell me what you think.You know cricket fever is a go when the celebs are taking time out to give Afridi and the boys a shout-out.
And Meera had special advice for the Pakistani cricket team, which plays its first match of the ICC World Twenty20 against Bangladesh tomorrow.
The advice was "Don't give into pressure, give the pressure."
Speaking to the media at a press conference at her residence in Lahore, Meera gave the following message to the Pakistani cricket team:
"Please play very well. You're in India representing Pakistan and you have to return as winners. Don't give into the pressure, give the pressure. I hope you play well."
She went on to add that artists or sportsmen shouldn't feel pressurised. "You just can't perform in those conditions," she said. "We have a team of confident performers; it's one of the best in the world. I'm sure they'll play superbly."
She added that her whole family is rooting for the team:
"The Pakistani team has all my support. My whole family is praying that the team wins the match tomorrow."
When asked about Afridi's recent statement about receiving more appreciation in India, Meera said, "Maybe he wants more appreciation? But he should have been more balanced [in his statement.] Anyway, it's okay."
And of course, what's a shout-out without a personal plug-in?
"I invite the whole team to watch [my next film] Hotal upon their return to Pakistan and ask them to support Pakistani cinema."It’s been a rollercoaster ride but Super League is still offering the thrills for fans – and after success in 2015, this season is the most crucial yet
There is a quote attributed to Jacques Fouroux, who was president of the now-defunct Paris Saint-Germain club, after his side and Sheffield Eagles kickstarted the bold new era of Super League on 29 March 1996, following rugby league’s switch to summer rugby.
PSG won the game 30-24 in front of 17,873 people, offering what would ultimately be false hope on so many levels. “98% of them [the crowd] were new to the game,” Fouroux said, “but they understood it right away. They saw tries, lots of commitment and lots of movement. They saw beauty. They attended a great party.”
The party would not last long for either club. PSG folded at the end of the 1997 season and Sheffield were last seen in the top flight in 1999 after they merged with Huddersfield Giants because of financial problems. Fouroux may not have been totally accurate with Parisians and their views on rugby league but the advent of Super League and the subsequent 20 years certainly justify a lot of attributes he described on that night at the Charlety Stadium.
If nothing else, Super League has carved out a reputation as being unafraid to be brave in the past two decades. Innovations have come and gone. Some, like the Magic Weekend, have stayed, but just how much has the league moved forward since its inception in 1996?
Nobody is still playing from the inaugural season of Super League, but the Widnes captain, Kevin Brown, is more experienced than most. He made his debut for Wigan in 2003 aged 18, and as the salary cap has gradually evened the field out over the years, Brown now sees a more competitive Super League than ever before. After all his Widnes side missed out on the top eight last year by a solitary point.
“The quality across the board now is a different class,” says Brown. “When I was a kid at Wigan we used to play teams like, no disrespect, Leigh and Halifax, and you could play poor and win by 50. You were basically mucking about, and then you’d go and play Leeds or St Helens and there’d be all the best English boys and all the best overseas imports all in three or four teams. You’d have a handful of tough games a year but now it’s just week after week: there are genuinely no easy games.”
Brown’s comments seem to tally with the league tables over the years too. The gap between first and fifth in 2003 was 14 points; last year’s Super League table yielded a gap half as big. The champions of Super League I, St Helens, edged Wigan out to the championship by a point, but they were 16 points clear of fifth-placed Warrington, which does suggest that Super League’s competitiveness has increased.
The salary cap, widely seen as the reason for levelling the competition between the clubs, is another Super League innovation. The league’s general manager, Blake Solly, believes that creativity and experimentation is what now makes the competition more appealing than ever, as well as, perhaps more crucially, stability at club level in a financial sense.
“We have to be realistic and admit that other sports don’t need to do those sorts of things but we’re willing to experiment and be courageous, so we get the benefit of things like Magic Weekend, which was really well received last year in Newcastle,” says Solly. “Because we have to innovate more I think it makes us a more appealing prospect.
“The clubs as a whole are better businesses than they were then. That move 20 years ago from part-time to full-time was with clubs that weren’t ready to do it, and it put the sport back five or 10 years. The clubs are infinitely better than they were and the sport is better presented than it ever has been before, certainly 20 years ago.” Despite television money increasing, the £1.85m salary cap has remained almost the same. It is now dwarfed by the NRL’s £3.4m cap, almost double that of Super League.
Somehow, though, the league still has its appeal for the big names from Australia, such as Frank Pritchard, the Samoa captain who rejected advances from other NRL sides to sign a three-year deal with Hull. “I still had one more year at Canterbury,” he says. “But things happened over there that meant I had an option to come here, and I was delighted to take it. Super League is a challenge that really excites me.”
After arguably the most exciting season in the competition’s history, Solly knows there is a prime opportunity for Super League to break into the mainstream this year but concedes it will not be without its challenges. “Super League is in a better position to capitalise now than ever before,” he says.
“We’re working off a great platform this year. We need to attract new fans; 2015 was a great year and we got the core fans back involved properly with the sport, and now it’s our opportunity to grow that fanbase over the next 12 months.”
What was initially a bold move to turn the sport on its head in 1996 has undoubtedly paid off, but this year, on the back of such success in 2015, is without doubt Super League’s most crucial yet.Joshua Rozenberg resigned Telegraph post after editors sexed up human rights story
by Adam Wagner
On yesterday’s Newsnight (from 7 minutes 20 seconds in), Britain’s foremost legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg revealed that he resigned as the Telegraph’s legal editor in 2007 after the news desk sexed up a human rights story with false information.
The story is still on the Telegraph’s website here. It was a report of the 2007 House of Lords decision in Secretary of State for Defence v Al-Skeini & Ors [2007] UKHL, a case about whether the Human Rights Act applied to actions of the British Army in Iraq. The House of Lords ruled that the Act did apply in British detention facilities, but that it did not apply in the streets of occupied Basra. There is an excellent summary of the case by Rozenberg here.
The problem, Rozenberg revealed last night, was with a line in the second paragraph which was added by the news desk despite his objections:
The ruling could open the way for civilian victims of military actions to sue the Ministry of Defence for millions of pounds
“It would make a better story”, Rozenberg told his editors, “but it just isn’t true”. And it wasn’t. The Law Lords had explicitly rejected claims by families of “civilian victims of military action“. Rozenberg told Newsnight that a judge commented the following day that this was wrong, and it was then the Telegraph’s legal editor decided to resign.
Ironically, three years later the European Court of Human Rights effectively reversed the House of Lords’ decision. Maybe the news desk knew?
The Telegraph has been a regular offender in this blog’s posts about poor human rights reporting, but now there is hard evidence that its editorial staff, at least in 2007, deliberately manufactured false claims about human rights. They never bothered to find a replacement legal editor, which perhaps explains why their human rights coverage is now badly written and ideologically driven. We are all the worse for it.
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Read moreSen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is desperate to debate Donald Trump.
The Democratic presidential candidate told Bill Maher on "Real Time" Friday night that he'd have "loved" to discuss policy issues with the real estate mogul.
He even clenched his fists in anticipation of the televised scrap. But he was left disappointed after The Donald flip-flopped over the issue at least four times before eventually pulling out.
"Mr. Macho chickened out," said Maher, prompting Sanders to challenge the presumptive GOP presidential nominee once again.
"Trump claims to be a real tough guy, pushes people around," Sanders said. "Hey Donald, come on up, let's have a debate about the future of America."
Maher's interview with Sanders covered multiple issues, including some people's perception that he's a hardcore socialist -- which he insisted he isn't.
But it soon circled back to Trump, who Sanders said was difficult to strategize against because of his lies and apparent unaccountability.
Trump is a pathological liar, and would be a real threat to the world if he becomes president. - @BernieSanders #FeelTheBern #RealTime — Real Time (@RealTimers) May 28, 2016
Bernie's in the house! We invited Hillary and Trump, but Trump's a whiney little bitch, and Hillary couldn't open the email. - @billmaher — Real Time (@RealTimers) May 28, 2016
"I have a lot of Republican colleagues and friends who I disagree with," Sanders said. "They're not crazy. They're honest people."
Sanders called Trump "a pathological liar." "I don't mean to be malicious, but it's just the damn truth," he added. "He would not only be an embarrassment, but a real danger to this entire world if he were to become president."
Check the interview out in the clip above.
Also on the show, Maher called on people to continue using the #WhinyLittleBitch hashtag when talking about Trump on social media -- in order to brand him "like he brands everybody else." The #ChickenTrump hashtag also surfaced on the show's Twitter account.
Watch that clip here:A Christian music radio station foundation spent $10 million to buy the University of Houston's classical music station with plans to relaunch the signal later this year with its Christian pop/hip-hop format.
KSBJ Educational Foundation, which owns and programs noncommercial Christian music radio stations, acquired the 50,000-watt KUHA (91.7 FM). Subject to Federal Communications Commission approval, the station could switch from its current classical format to NGEN by late May or early June.
UH in 2010 acquired the station for $9.5 million from Rice University, where it was known for years as KTRU, and aired classical music on the signal before deciding last year to put the station on the market and move its classical programming to digital formats.
"It's a good result for Houston because classical service continues and the station stays in the hands of local owners and experienced broadcasters," said Lisa Shumate, general manager of Houston Public Media. "It enables us to continue to provide multi-platform arts and culture coverage and use our resources for continued focus in news and other local content initiatives."
Tim McDermott, president of KSBJ, said 91.7 FM will be the fourth frequency in Greater Houston to carry the NGEN format, which was developed by KSBJ to reach a younger generation of listeners than its traditional contemporary Christian music audience.
"It's a group that no one is reaching," McDermott said. "A lot of the formats are going older, and we are going to go for this unreached and very important group."
McDermott said NGEN has averaged about 35,000 to 50,000 weekly listeners through its current three signals at 89.5 FM in Bay City, 91.1 FM in the Pearland-Lake Jackson area and 99.5 FM in Sugar Land plus 89.3 HD-2. The 91.7 FM signal will enable the station to extend its reach across Houston and into the Conroe area and eventually quadruple its audience, he added.
According to Nielsen Audio, KSBJ, the foundation's primary station at 89.3 FM and 96.9 FM, ranked fifth in Houston during January with an average listener share of 5.2 percent among persons age 12-plus. KUHA had a 0.6 percent listener share in January.
McDermott said the purchase price was a "good, fair price" for a non-commercial signal. Houston Public Media, meanwhile, essentially will break even on the 2010 purchase of 91.7 FM from Rice.
Classical music will continue on 91.7 FM until the sale is approved and also can be heard at KUHF (88.7 FM HD-2), the Houston Public Media mobile app, at HoustonPublicMedia.org, on over the air television at Channel 8.5 and through iHeartRadio and TuneIn and other free mobile applications.The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers.
For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post
What is happening?
Who does this affect?
How can we stop this?
Why should I care?
“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”
“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”
“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”
TL:DR
Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’. The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune.Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected.Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action.Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation:Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch. They then provide a link tothat you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out ifare the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately.Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people.We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post.I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them.: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect.: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!A scammer is impersonating artists and scamming money from their followers under the guise |
ase (ATGL) [13], PAT family proteins [14], comparative gene identification-58 (CGI-58) [15], and lipotransin [16].
The purpose of this review is to marshal the fact that exercise training (ET) induced changes in the lipolytic molecules via β-AR, commonly expressed in white adipocytes of human and rodents. The introduced results of this review are mixed with those obtained from human and experimental animals. However, the consideration of this viewpoint appears to enable a deepening of understanding lipolytic events in white fat cells by ET, because ET-induced adaptive changes of lipolytic molecules in white adipocytes are a universal mechanism in mammalian species. Together, first, the currently known mechanism(s) of the lipolytic cascade and the molecular behavior of lipases and cofactors are outlined. Then, attention is focused on the ET-induced adaptive changes of lipolytic molecules, which were mainly obtained from our studies of white adipocytes.
2. Basic Structure of the Lipolytic Cascade in White Adipocytes
Lipolysis in white adipocytes is regulated by a multifaceted phenomenon that is subject primarily to distinct temporal controls such as hormonal stimulation via catecholamines. The hormonal activation of lipolysis in adipocytes is mediated via a traditional cAMP-dependent signal transduction process [17, 18] (Figure 1(a)). The stimulation of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), that is, -, -, and -adrenergic receptors (β-ARs), induces a conformational change in the Gα subunit of the heterotrimeric G protein (Gαβγ) that leads to GDP release and GTP binding. Activated Gαs leads to the activation of adenylyl cyclase (AC) and to the production of cAMP. However, the stimulation of GPCRs, that is, -adrenergic receptor [19], adenosine receptor [20], and prostaglandin E2 receptor [21], which stimulate Gαi, causes the inactivation of AC and reduces the production of cAMP, resulting in an attenuation of the lipolytic response. In addition, insulin attenuates intracellular cAMP production through increases in phosphodiesterase-3B (PDE-3B) activity, which changes cAMP to AMP via the activation of protein kinase B/AKT (Figure 1(b)). An increased intracellular cAMP level phosphorylates and activates cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) [22, 23] and subsequently phosphorylates hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL); it is well known that the phosphorylation of HSL at Ser563, Ser659, and Ser660, by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), enhances its enzymatic activity and that extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) induces the phosphorylation of HSL at Ser600 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes [24], although there are no studies supporting this result in primary mammalian white adipocytes. Phosphorylated HSL activates the hydrolysis of TG in adipocytes [25] through the translocation of HSL from the cytoplasm to the surface of lipid droplets [26]. On the other hand, an inhibitory effect of insulin has been reported on HSL activity [27, 28], and AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) attenuates HSL activity through an increase in its phosphorylation at Ser565 [29].
Figure 1: Lipolysis in white adipocytes is mainly regulated through GPCRs that localize on the plasma membrane. (a) Under stimulatory conditions, ligands binding to GPCRs, that is, -, -, and -AR, activate AC through the action of Gαs, resulting in an increase in PKA activity through the accumulation of intracellular cAMP, and, in turn, PKA phosphorylates and activates HSL. Phosphorylated HSL translocates on the lipid droplet and thereby activates lipolysis. (b) On the other hand, ligands binding to GPCRs, that is, -AR, adenosine-R, and nicotinic acid-R, attenuate lipolysis via a reduction in cAMP production. Insulin receptor signaling also inhibits lipolytic response via the activation of PDH-3B, a cAMP-degrading enzyme.
In 2004, three groups independently published the discovery of an enzyme that could hydrolyze TG [13, 30, 31] and named it adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL). Unlike HSL, ATGL has no specificity for the hydrolysis of MG, cholesterol esters, or retinyl esters. ATGL does, however, have a substrate specificity for TG that is 10-fold higher than that for DG [3], indicating that it selectively acts as the first step in TG hydrolysis and that its hydrolytic function is not restricted to the catabolism of lipid droplets [32] in adipose tissue. Moreover, two phosphorylation sites of ATGL, at Ser404 and Ser428, have been identified in the C-terminal region in humans [13, 33]. In contrast with HSL, however, the functional roles of enzyme phosphorylation, as it involves protein kinases, remain unknown. Together, both HSL and ATGL act hierarchically to regulate TG hydrolysis: ATGL initiates lipolysis by removing the first FA from TG to, in turn, produce DG; HSL generates an additional FA from DG and MG to produce glycerol (Figure 2). In these events, the phosphorylation of lipases plays a central role in the regulation of enzyme activity and is closely associated with the catabolism of adipocytes.
Figure 2: ATGL acts exclusively on the hydrolysis of TG. A major component of HSL activity depends on the generation of DG, a substrate from the action of ATGL. Finally, MGL acts to liberate glycerol and the final FFA.
3. Regulation of Lipolysis via the Coordinated Action of Lipases and Cofactors
The discovery of perilipin 1 provided proof of cofactors which exist in the cytoplasm and on the lipid droplet surface [34]. Perilipin 1 is the founding member of the perilipin, adipophilin, and TIP47 family (referred to as the PAT/perilipin family protein) of lipid droplet-coated proteins [35] and is expressed mostly in white adipose tissue, where it coats lipid droplets, and in steroidogenic tissue [36]. Perilipin 1 has as many as six phosphorylation sites (Ser81, Ser222, Ser276, Ser433, Ser492, and Ser517) in adipocytes by PKA [37–40]. Several studies have reported that perilipin 1 is multifunctional and is capable of reducing basal lipolysis via combining HSL with lipid droplets to form a barrier [41] and promotes the lipolysis movement of perilipin 1 away from fat droplets [42] through lipase-dependent and -independent mechanisms [43]. Moreover, the CGI-58, also known as α/β hydrolase domain-containing protein 5 (ABHD5), was found to increase the TG hydrolase activity of ATGL owing to a direct interaction with ATGL proteins [44]. CGI-58 also has the ability to be associated with perilipin 1 [35, 45–47], demonstrating that the localizations of both perilipin 1 and CGI-58 are centrally involved in the organization and regulation of lipolytic effector interactions in both basal and hormone-stimulated states. The conceptual consensus schema is described below (Figure 3). Under basal conditions, CGI-58 localizes on the lipid droplet surfaces with perilipin 1, although ATGL exists predominantly within the cytoplasm [48], resulting in an attenuation of the interaction of ATGL with CGI-58 [49]. HSL is also located entirely in the cytoplasm, where it is nonphosphorylated and removed from lipid droplets, thereby reducing the hydrolysis activity of TG in adipocytes [36]. In contrast, hormonal activation of β-ARs-PKA provokes the association of CGI-58 with ATGL in fragmented lipid droplets following the rapid, within minutes, dissociation of PKA-phosphorylated perilipin 1 at Ser517 and CGI-58 [38, 48]. During that time, PKA promotes both phosphorylation and translocation of phosphorylated HSL at Ser659 and Ser660 from the cytoplasm to lipid droplets [50], and, in turn, perilipin 1 acts as a scaffold protein to bind HSL with lipid droplets [34], which results in an inducement of the maximal lipolytic response. Thus, serial modification events of lipolytic molecules, which support the localization of lipases, would play a critical role in the adaptive alteration of the lipolytic response in white adipocytes by physical exercise.
Figure 3: Under basal and inactivated conditions, perilipin 1 and CGI-58 form a complex on the surface of lipid droplets (a). On the other hand, PKA activation leads to the phosphorylation of both HSL and perilipin 1, resulting in HSL and perilipin 1 forming a complex on the surface of lipid droplets. Released CGI-58 from phosphorylated perilipin 1 binds to ATGL to induce lipolysis (b).
4. Effect of ET on the Number of β-ARs, Which Is the First Step in the Mobilization of the Lipolytic Cascade
As mentioned in the above sections, stimulation of the β-ARs-AC system in white adipocytes results in a change in intracellular cAMP production and in the subsequent activation of PKA. Thus, an increase in the number of the β-ARs, which are expressed on the cell surfaces, would be expected to play a key role in the upregulation of lipolysis that is caused by ET. In ET, however, there is a small amount of evidence that indicates no change in the number of β-ARs [51, 52], which are measured by hydrophobic ligands, compared to the primary adipocytes of sedentary control rats. Moreover, investigation using hydrophilic ligands has demonstrated that the level of β-ARs on cell surfaces is significantly decreased due to ET in rat [53], indicating that the level of β-ARs by ET, at least in part, might be internalized into the cytoplasm rather than being increased on the cell surfaces. In addition, in rat, it has been shown that enhancement of β-ARs-AC coupling is observed in white adipocytes from ET [54, 55]. These results indicate that an ET-induced increase in lipolysis is not dependent on the number of β-ARs but rather the enhancement of the association efficiency of both β-ARs and Gs proteins. Thus, an ET-induced enhancement of lipolysis might be mediated by an adaptive alteration in post β-ARs.
Under ET, repeat exposure of high levels of plasma catecholamines during bouts of daily exercise might be likely to trigger downregulation and change the localization of β-ARs into the cytoplasm in white adipocytes. Some very elegant studies conducted by Shenoy and coworkers [56] have shown that -ARs have a functional turnover cycle from the cellular surface to the cytosol via ubiquitination in a catecholamine dose-dependent manner. Of note, the adaptive change of adipocytes in response to ET appears to be the result of the integrative effect of bouts of acute exercise. Therefore, an understanding of the acute exercise-induced trafficking events of -AR would support the clarification of adaptive moderation of β-ARs by ET. In rat primary epididymal adipocytes, our results obtained from acute exercise demonstrated that localization of -ARs on the cell surface was upregulated at least 3 hours after exercise with reduced interaction of β-arrestin 2 and -AR, whereas it returned to the sedentary control levels 24 hours after exercise [57] (Figure 4). Loss of the combination of β-arrestin 2 and -AR resulted in a reduction in -AR ubiquitination, which thereby attenuated the internalization of -ARs into the cytoplasm. However, internalized -ARs were capable of quick recycling on the cell surface [58]. Together, the turnover of -ARs that was induced by every single bout of exercise might have been the result of the reduced levels of -ARs on the cell surfaces by ET, because, in this instance, there were no changes in the total amount of β-AR [51–53] (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Internalization of -ARs from plasma membrane to intracellular space is modified by acute exercise in white adipocytes. HE-induced increase in the localizations of β-ARs into the cytoplasm might be a result of, at least in part, a mobilization of the trafficking of -ARs, which is caused by daily repeated bouts of acute exercise.
5. Adaptive Alteration in G-Proteins by Habitual Physical Exercise
It is known that both Gs protein α subunit (Gsα) and Gi protein α subunit (Giα), which are dissociated from β- and γ-subunits by stimulation of α- and β-ARs, play key roles in the synergistic action of AC in white adipocytes. ET reportedly provoked a significant increase in AC activity of rat white adipocytes [59], accompanied by a decrease in the levels of Giα protein, but caused no change in the levels of Gsα proteins in rat white adipocytes [60]. Moreover, ET significantly decreased the levels of Giα2 protein, which predominantly inhibits AC activity, in rat white adipocytes [61] and in rat pancreatic islets [62]. These results indicate that ET positively regulates the signal transduction systems through the inhibition of Giα function in adipose cells, which leads to the activation of AC. However, the mechanism(s) by which ET induces the downregulation of Giα2 protein is unknown. In our previous study, acute exercise transiently downregulated the levels of Giα2 proteins at least 3 hours after exercise via ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation machinery in rat white adipocytes [63] (Figure 5), suggesting the possibility that the downregulation of Giα2 protein by ET might also be associated with acute exercise-induced proteolysis action, because ET is often defined by a repeat of bouts of acute exercise. Indeed, it is known that promotion of the ubiquitin-proteasome system is dependent on intracellular ATP, which is produced in several cells during exercise [9]. Moreover, the levels of MuRF-1, a muscle-specific E3 ligase, are reportedly reduced by ET in chronic heart failure patients [64]. Thus, in ET, the conspicuous effect of exercise on cellular energy production and selective transcriptional systems might be one of the triggers for the downregulation of Giα2 proteins in white adipocytes (Figure 5). Such a conclusion, however, requires further study.
Figure 5: In white adipocytes, acute exercise accelerates the degradation of Gαi2 proteins through the ubiquitin-proteasome system during, and at least 3 hours after, exercise. This mechanism might become a trigger for habitual decreases in the levels of Gαi2 by ET.
6. Manipulation of Lipolytic Molecules by Physical Exercise to Supply Energy
An understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying basal and hormone-stimulated lipolysis in adipocytes has evolved in recent years. However, little is known about the effect of ET on the molecular behavior of lipolytic proteins, that is, perilipin 1 and CGI-58, in white adipocytes. In rat, ET studies have shown no change in intracellular cAMP accumulation in white adipocytes compared with a sedentary control [51], suggesting the possibility that the molecular behavior of lipolytic proteins, which occur in the cell, plays a key role in the HE-induced enhancement of the lipolytic response. Indeed, our previous study indicated that white adipocytes obtained from ET rat enhance the levels of catalytic subunits of PKA proteins and PKA-anchoring protein 150 (AKAP150), which promotes the binding of PKA and its substrate, with activation of both PKA and HSL in the lipid droplet fraction of adipocyte homogenate [65]. These results would explain the phenomena whereby the ET-induced anchoring of AKAP150 to PKA enhances the magnitude of cAMP signaling in white adipocytes, even if accumulations of intracellular cAMP fail to increase as a result of ET. In rat, levels of HSL in adipocytes reportedly are upregulated by ET despite obesity [12] or normal circumstances in an individual [66], suggesting that the AKAP150-mediated enhancing action of PKA easily provokes the interaction of PKA with HSL, thereby activating the phosphorylation of HSL in cytoplasmic space. However, in rat white adipocytes, the phosphorylation of HSL by acute exercise is accompanied by an increase in intracellular cAMP production [63]. Thus, the functional alteration in AKAP150 might play a critical role in the adaptive augmentation of lipolytic responses by ET in white adipocytes.
Alsted and colleagues were the first to report that levels of ATGL protein are significantly increased in human skeletal muscle by ET [67], although adipose tissue is used to identify ATGL [13]. It is noteworthy that the deletion of ATGL in mice impairs exercise performance [68] and that ATGL knockout mice show no increase in circulating FFA levels during exercise [69], suggesting that a molecular change in ATGL, as well as HSL, plays a role in supplying FFA from white adipocytes during physical exercise as a fuel for metabolism. To date, however, little is known about the effect of ET on the molecular changes of ATGL in white adipocytes. Recently, in rat, we demonstrated that mRNA, protein levels of ATGL, and HSL proteins all are upregulated by ET and that DNA-binding activities of peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor-γ 2 (PPAR-γ2) are closely associated with the ET-induced upregulation of ATGL [70]. Under these conditions, the binding of CGI-58 to ATGL was significantly increased on the lipid droplets with dissociations of CGI-58 and perilipin 1. These results indicate that the ET-induced acceleration of lipolytic responses is, at least in part, mediated by the hyperfunction of newly synthesized protein via the transcriptional activation of ATGL. Meanwhile, there is no evidence as to whether PKA-mediated phosphorylation of ATGL is involved in the hydrolysis of TG by ET, although at least one previous study has demonstrated that the increased phosphorylation of ATGL at Ser406, a PKA-mediated phosphorylation site, during both fasting and moderate single bouts of exercise is associated with an elevated rate of lipolysis in mice [71]. In our pilot study, ET showed higher levels of phosphorylated ATGL compared with the sedentary control in rat epididymal white adipocytes (unpublished data). These results suggest the possibility that ET might cause a phosphorylation-provoked conformational change in the protein structures of ATGL, which might result in a hypercombination of CGI-58 on lipid droplets [70], thereby enhancing the lipolytic responses in rat white adipocytes. In conclusion, several results have indicated that localization and/or phosphorylation of lipolytic molecules, such as perilipin 1, CGI-58, HSL, and ATGL, has a central function in the ET-induced adaptive alteration of lipolysis in white adipocytes and that the AKAP150-mediated activation of PKA also plays a key role in this mechanism (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Summary of HE-induced adaptive changes of lipolytic molecules in white adipocytes. ET constantly promotes the expression levels of ATGL and HSL proteins. These conditions are likely to give rise to the stimulation of lipolytic responses through adaptive changes in molecules, such as increases in the anchoring action of AKAP150, higher levels of phosphorylated HSL, and augmentation of the formation of a complex of both HSL/perilipin 1 and ATGL/CGI-58 on the surface of lipid droplet. ↑: upregulation of function and expression levels of each molecule.
7. Conclusion
It is well documented that exercise of moderate intensity accelerates the lipolytic responses in human white adipocytes [72–74]. In this review, studies showing both ET and acute exercise of light to moderate intensity [50–52, 56, 58–63, 65, 66, 70] indicated that moderate intensity of ET clearly provokes an enhancement of lipolysis in white adipocytes with an orchestral alteration in lipolytic molecules in a positive manner. However, little is known about the high-intensity exercise-induced behavior of lipolytic molecules in white adipocytes so far. Further studies are required to clarify this point.
A clarification of HE-induced molecular changes in a lipolytic cascade would apply not only to the prevention of obesity but also to the elucidation of a methodology for advances in exercise effectiveness. However, in white adipocytes no complete evidence exists to explain the mechanism(s) underlying the HE-induced adaptive changes in lipolysis. In particular, there are no new insights into the alterations in G protein-coupled receptors, nor into the family of G-proteins and related modification events brought about by HE, although a few results obtained in our studies have shown that ubiquitin-proteasome system plays a role in acute exercise-mediated amplification of the lipolytic cascade via the expression levels of both -AR and Giα2 proteins. However, it is noteworthy that more than 200 genes that regulate lipid droplet morphology have been identified in Drosophila [75], suggesting that new molecules, which are unknown in mammalian species, would be related to the regulation of lipolytic events in white adipocytes with or without exercise. In the near future, the search for new molecules with the aim of elucidating their functions in an exercise-specific manner will shed new light on the calculations of a highly effective lipolytic system of exercise and will enhance the biological understanding of white adipocytes as a “vehicle” for the storage and supply of energy.
Abbreviations
ET: Continuous exercise training GPCRs: G-protein coupled receptors -AR: Adrenergic receptor -R: Receptor Gsα: Gs protein α subunit Giα: Gi protein α subunit AC: Adenylyl cyclase P: Phosphorylation PKA: cAMP-dependent protein kinase A TG: Triacylglycerol DG: Diacylglycerol MG: Monoacylglycerol IRS-1: Insulin receptor substrate-1 PI3-K: Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase PKB: Protein kinase B PDE-3B: Phosphodiesterase-3B HSL: Hormone-sensitive lipase ATGL: Adipose triglyceride lipase MGL: Monoacylglycerol lipase AMPK: AMP activated protein kinase CGI-58: Comparative gene identification-58 PAT/perilipin family proteins: Perilipin/perilipin 1, adipophilin/perilipin 2, TIP47/perilipin 3, S3-12/perilipin 4, and muscle lipid droplet protein/perilipin 5 family proteins AKAP150: PKA-anchoring protein 150 PPAR-γ2: Peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor-γ 2.
Conflict of Interests
The authors have declared that there is no conflict of interests.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.Sheik Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, above, the Grand Imam of Egypt’s Sunni institute of learning, al-Azhar University, has warned that ‘simple and comprehensible explanations’ offered by atheists are proving seductive to young Muslims.
This, of course, is a Very Bad Thing.
Speaking on his nightly television programme, “al-Imam al-Tayyeb,” which is being broadcast during the “holy” month of Ramadan in Egypt, Al-Tayyeb, explained that atheists developed their opinions in the 18th century with some degree of politeness and respect toward those who believe in God.
But contemporary atheists, particularly after the events of September 11, have declared war against all religions, especially Islam.
He added that one of the major causes of the spread of irreligiosity and atheism in the Islamic world is that some Muslim youth do not have the support of firm thinking and belief and cannot assess what they hear, especially since those who spread atheism spread their ideas with simple and comprehensible explanations.
Experts in psychology and large financial institutions support these ideas and the danger of these institutions is that their ideas can be considered as the weapons of the West.
We think this phenomenon is an abuse of religious freedom … those who have not declared their apostasy from Islam are not considered threats to the Islamic community.
In another part of his speech, Al-Tayyeb said that some so-called international human rights organisations were trying to support Muslim apostates.
He added that some European countries have also opened the way for sexual freedoms which are hated by Muslims and make them feel uncomfortable.
In conclusion, he urged the Muslim community to take action to end the phenomenon of atheism and said that the only way to end irreligiosity and atheism is to disseminate correct religious knowledge in schools and universities and to have theological and philosophical courses in universities to protect students from deviant thoughts.Police in York, Pennsylvania arrested a man over the weekend who was accused of shooting a boy for throwing snowballs.
According to charging documents obtained by WPMT, York police responded to reports of multiple shots fired at around 2:03 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
A witness told police that he had seen a group of juveniles running in the neighborhood, and at least one of them was carrying a snowball. The witness recalled hearing around six gunshots. Then, he allegedly saw 22-year-old Jerquan Dickson come out of a nearby alley, and speed off in a maroon sedan.
When police caught up with Dickson, he told them that he did own a gun, but it was not at the current address. The charging documents said that Dickson told police that kids had thrown snowballs at his car. After following the kids to Forry Avenue, Dickson reportedly said that he fired once into the air, and then “several times” into the snow.
WPMT reported that a 15-year-old boy was recovering from “several” non-life threatening gunshot wounds at York Hospital.
Police obtained a search warrant, and recovered a 9 mm Smith and Wesson hidden in a laundry basket at a home connected to Dickson. Six 9 mm shell casings were also recovered from the scene of the crime.
Dickson was charged with two counts of felony Aggravated Assault and Recklessly Endangering Another Person.
Watch the video bellow from WPMT.
[Ed note: The report has been corrected to state that York is in Pennsylvania.]This was supposed to go out in December! But things happened. Things! You know. Snow things. Holiday things. Plagues from beyond the outer dar— uhhh, checking my notes here, not supposed to mention that last one. Things! So we’re doing this now that we’re less, um, thingy.
What Is This Exactly, Then?
This is where Fred takes a look at everything going on at the company and gives y’all a quick run-down of where it’s all at, where it’s going, and (when possible) when it’ll be happening. Keep in mind we won’t have release dates on a ton of this stuff, because we find that those create an artificial pressure to put something out before it’s done.
That said, do not despair. We’re maintaining a better pace than we ever have, and that’s thanks largely to the leadership team that the Fate Core Kickstarter campaign helped make possible at the start of 2013. And that is an excellent place to start all this. So…
The Head Is More Than Fred
While co-founder Rob Donoghue remains a big part of the creative heart of Evil Hat, heading up the occasional project or simply joining the team as a collaborator, the “head” under the Hat — the running of the company, focused on business concerns — up through the end of 2012 has largely been Fred Hicks.
With the explosion of possibility (and funding) that the Fate Core Kickstarter brought us in early 2013, we had to change all that. The Head job had probably been bigger than Fred for a while prior to then, but it hadn’t really had the spurs put to it; with Fate Core’s success, Evil Hat was poised to fail without some folks coming on to help with that work.
Sean Nittner has taken the reins of all our projects as our primary, lead project manager. Adding Sean to the company has been mission-critical — we were able to release all the physical rewards for the Fate Core Kickstarter in the same calendar year as the campaign. That simply wouldn’t have happened without Sean, or as we like to think of him, He Who Owns The Calendar. Sean is also why we’re able to run many more projects simultaneously than we have at any other point in the company’s history. He’s been an incredible addition to the team, and is the mechanic that keeps the engine humming here at the Hat.
Chris Hanrahan had already been working with Fred on some elements of marketing and business development prior to 2013. We formalized his role in 2012 as part of the run-up to the Kickstarter phase of the company. In 2013, we realized that we needed to focus him on business development (the work of figuring out where the company needs to go, who it needs to work with, and what sort of products it needs to develop, if we want to grow) exclusively. Combining marketing and “bizdev” was resulting in an overfull plate. So we found a marketer!
Carrie Harris came in as our marketing head. Young-Adult author by day, she’s been working with Sean to get our old stuff on the website updated with new content, writing copy for the site and product packaging, refining our message through the email newsletter and elsewhere, running convention relations, and more. Best of all she’s come in with a great attitude about the kind work we’re doing at the Hat, and she knows how to keep our messages fun and friendly, the way we hope they’ve always been.
So What’s Up With Fate Core?
At the beginning of this year, the things Patreon had been doing to Fred’s brain finally bubbled to the surface and he suggested to the Head that we explore the possibility of doing a Patreon campaign as a way of creating a budget and “subscription plan” for Fate Adventures & Worlds. We launched it a few weeks later and it’s been a big success! Its first adventure/setting, Venture City Stories, is due out later this month in full color with some gorgeous art by Tazio Bettin thanks entirely to the support given by the campaign’s patrons. We’ll be releasing the results on DriveThru and elsewhere as pay-what-you-want material, but if you want to get an inside view and simply commit to pay-what-you-want in advance, the Patreon campaign is the way to do it. Thanks everyone for making this real!
As a part of this we’ve also been running a search for more Fate-savvy writers. Deadline for applications is just a few days away, on March 15th, so if you’re a straggler but interested, get your application in soon. We’ve found six or so folks through the process so far, out of many dozens of applications, with more likely to emerge from the sent-back-for-revisions set. Together with the Patreon, we’ve created both a steady source of new Fate Core content and a training ground for bringing more talented, creative authors under the Hat, improving our overall ability to deliver on more stuff in the years to come. Big win!
There are also some other projects that are going to be powered by Fate Core and Fate Accelerated over the next two years (at least), which we’ll get into in more detail below.
So What’s Up With Atomic Robo?
The Atomic Robo RPG had to change horses mid-stream while it was in the layout phase due to life things (things!), which has added a few months to the timetable. That said it’s coming along great under the steady hand of layout rockstar Adam Jury. We’re down to the final 60 pages or so of the book and giving each sticky-wicket a close look. After layout is done we’ll get this thing indexed, that laid out, and push it forward into production. We’re hoping this means just another few months tops before Robo hits the shelves.
We have some other Robo ideas in the works, but they’re all at an early stage. Stay tuned later this year for more news.
So What’s Up With the Dresden Files?
The long-in-development, gigantic Paranet Papers supplement for the Dresden Files RPG should be coming out this year. It’s in layout right now, with Daniel Solis doing the work there — he’s got a lot of things on his plate, though (including helping us with Zeppelin Attack’s graphic design, see below), so it doesn’t have his exclusive attention yet. We’ve got this on a plan where we’ll be making the art happen after the layout is done, so we’re spending our art dollars intelligently and efficiently. After that art comes in and gets into the layout, we’ll be ready to publish this thing. Adding all that up that makes it look like a late-this-year thing, but we’re going to do what we can to beat that estimate.
One of the things we’re excited to have ready for this project is the art for the “endpapers” of the book — that’s the piece of paper that covers the inside of the cover of a book and joins it to the main block. The incredibly talented Mika Kuloda did this, and it just blew us away. Here’s a preview.
Backers of the Fate Core kickstarter may remember us talking about Dresden Files Accelerated, a Dresden Files RPG based on Fate Accelerated. What we promised then was that development on that project — a lighter-weight alternative RPG to our “big books” Dresden Files RPG, not a replacement — would start in 2014. And it has! The team is assembled and moving forward under the creative leadership of Leonard Balsera. That said, just because we said we’d start development in 2014 doesn’t mean that it’ll be released in 2014. You know us: we like to Get It Right. And with that in mind we encourage you to think of DFAE (as we’ve come to abbreviate it) as a 2015 thing.
We also have a couple other Dresden Files related ideas currently in the works. We’ll make noise about ’em when they’re ready. 🙂
So What’s Up With Spirit of the Century?
We just wrapped the Kickstarter for Zeppelin Attack!, a lean, pulp-themed, fightin’ deck-builder that pits the shadowy masterminds of the Spirit of the Century setting against one another in an all-out, zeppelin-powered aerial brawl for world domination. The campaign went great, funding both the core game and an atomic-powered expansion. Files are off to the manufacturer, and we’re targeting a release somewhere around August-or-so of this year.
We’re also developing two new RPGs for our continually expanding Spirit of the Century setting.
The first is Young Centurions. Set against the backdrop of the Great War (sharing the same timeline as our Sally Slick young adult novels) and using Fate Accelerated at its core, this is a young adult adventure game featuring the teenagers who will one day rise as the Centurions of the Century Club. The setting is written, and the system elements are getting polished. We’re expecting to launch a playtest of this in about a month.
The second is Shadow of the Century. This “requires Fate Core to play” supplement moves the Spirit of the Century timeline forward to 1984, where the Century Club has been driven underground and the Shadows rule the day. It’s everything you loved about action movies and television in the 80’s blended together with the crazy pulp vibe of the SotC setting. We’ve got a great team at work on this, and development proceeds apace. There are still several months of work ahead in all likelihood before this moves on to next steps.
We’re also continuing to work on the Spirit of the Century fiction line.
Brian Clevinger continues to whittle away at the Benjamin Hu vehicle The Pharaoh of Hong Kong when he’s not working on the Atomic Robo comic (which, admittedly, eats the lion’s share of his time). C.E. Murphy’s Stone’s Throe featuring Amelia Stone is working its way through the editing process as we speak; revisions ahead, more editing, and then production. No timeline yet, but this is definitely the one that’s “up next”. Chuck Wendig’s wrap-up of the Dinocalypse Trilogy, Dinocalypse Forever, should be coming to us for editing around mid-year, putting it on a towards-the-end-of-the-year timeline for release. And we’re also working with Carrie Harris to develop the ideas for the next Sally Slick novel, Sally Slick and the Miniature Menace.
So What’s Up With Don’t Rest Your Head?
We resurrected the Don’t Hack This Game project, a supplement/anthology of various hacks and twists on the setting and system of Don’t Rest Your Head, this past year. Ryan Macklin continues to work on the edits to get this one into shape, but we don’t have a timeline for release yet.
We’ve also got a board game for the Don’t Rest Your Head setting, tentatively titled Don’t Turn Your Back, in development. The design is solid but we need to get some breathing room and time to figure out how best to take on a new board game project. Both Race to Adventure and Zeppelin Attack have been great experiences for us, but they’ve also shown us where we need to grow to better support board and card games in our catalog. More news on Don’t Turn Your Back once we’re ready.
So What’s Up With All The Rest?
Lots is up! Here’s the skinny, in brief.
The War of Ashes RPG, merging cute fuzzy bloodthirsty warriors, Fate Accelerated, and (optional) miniatures combat in the style of tabletop fantasy RPGs, is making big strides in development. Sophie Lagacé has done the lion’s share of the work on this, and we’ve added Mike Olson to the team to help make the minis side of things really sing. This should be a fun one, with lots of eye-poppingly gorgeous color |
words would be similar, but there’d be no heft behind them.)
. A sneaky pick here is to grab the line “I will not sell from the crib though / No service there like a dead spot” from “Headlock.” It’s telling because, despite the fact that he won’t deal drugs from his house, the implication is that he will continue to deal drugs from somewhere. Wanting to keep doing a thing after it’s no longer necessary is a feeling that’s baked into some people (myself included) all the way down to their bones. (Undersold here among all this talk of inspiration is that inspirational bits cannot live alone in any real or actual genuine form. What I mean is that, for as great and moving as those moments are in Stizz’s music, they have to be surrounded by times when he’s expressing other emotions; grayer emotions; more dangerous emotions. He has to occasionally be angry or frustrated or sad, because those moments lend authenticity to the inspiring parts. It’s a composite picture. Without all those pieces snapped together, it doesn’t work. It’d be like walking around in a motivational poster store; the words would be similar, but there’d be no heft behind them.) The kind of inspiration where the whole point of it is just to prove someone else wrong or rub it in someone else’s face. From “Switch Places”: “I can look inside your eyes and see the jealousy / And all that’s telling me is I should be a better me.”
. From “Switch Places”: “I can look inside your eyes and see the jealousy / And all that’s telling me is I should be a better me.” The kind of inspiration where, in a fit of passion, someone says something with such urgency, with such power, that there is no option other than to be filled with strength and vigor, too. The 10th song on One Night Only is called “Doubted Me.” When the song starts—or, rather, when Stizz starts rapping, which happens after the song grows itself into existence, because mostly every Stizz song grows itself into existence—Stizz, as a way to start the first chorus, shouts, “I remember when you doubted me!” It’s a beautiful moment, if not altogether a nakedly cathartic one, and I can’t listen to it without inserting my own insecurities and imagined confrontations into the words. “I remember when you doubted me!” I yell at my invisible foes and pretend haters while I’m alone in my car driving home from work, or to work, or to an area Taco Bell, or home from an area Taco Bell.
Something that’s inspiring has a certain energy to it, a certain aura about it. Words, when stitched together in exactly the right way and said with exactly the right timbre, have a texture to them, or a gravity to them, or, in the case of any great rapper, a life to them. It’s so easy to spot. And still: Quantifying inspiration is very much an “as fuck” proposition. Cousin Stizz is inspirational as fuck. That’s about as exact as it can get.A quick look at Yelp reviews will show you that NY restaurants are not quite as good as those in some suburbs.
This, of course, makes no sense. New York is insanely competitive, with a ton of turnover and a very demanding audience. A fast casual restaurant in Shaker Heights can coast for a long time, because… it's better than the alternatives.
Thanks to marketing, the media and our culture, we spend a lot of our time comparing before we decide whether or not we're happy.
Turn back the clock just 60 years. If you lived in 1957, how would your life compare to the one you live right now? Well, you have access to lifesaving medicines, often in pill form. You can choose from an infinite amount of entertainment, you can connect with humans all over the Earth, for free, at the click of a button. You have access to the sum total of human knowledge. You have control over your reproductive cycle. You can eat sushi (you've even heard of sushi). You can express yourself in a thousand ways that were forbidden then…
That's in one lifetime.
But we don't compare our lives to this imaginary juxtaposition. Instead, we hear two things from the media we choose to engage with: Other people have it better, way better. And, it's going to get worse. Add to that the idea that marketers want us to believe that what we have now isn't that good, but if we merely choose to go into a bit of debt, we can buy our way to a better outcome…
Comparison leads to frustration which sometimes leads to innovation.
More often than not, though, frustration doesn't make us happy. It only makes us frustrated.
If a comparison isn't helping you get to where you're going, it's okay to ignore it.A secretary demanded £200,000 from her ex-boss to drop a false rape claim made after he ended their affair.
Dilrushi Mendis, 40, cheated on her husband with the married businessman until he sacked and dumped her.
But the mother-of-one refused to accept the relationship was over and launched a campaign against him, sending “revenge porn” to his relatives and turning up outside his home.
Prosecuting barrister Adam King told Blackfriars crown court: “They met in 2008 when she began working for him. They were both married, but an on-off sexual relationship began and he helped her financially.”
But in September 2013 Mendis’s boss learned her husband was moving to the UK and ended the relationship and her employment, the court heard.
Mr King said: “She did not take it well and pestered him with phone calls and he felt she had somehow gained access to his email account, because she knew about his restaurant plans one Valentine’s.
“Later that evening in February 2014 she telephoned him, when he was at home with his family, saying she was outside, and demanded to be seen.
“He met her around the corner and agreed to see her the next day, but broke the date and Mendis phoned him hundreds of times.
“She sent him a text which read, ‘If you do not come and see me I’ll do something terrible to you.’ She asked him — knowing he was a wealthy man — for £40,000 to £50,000 to open a hair salon.”
Around this time she reported him to the police, claiming he struck her. “She admitted to him she lied to the police,” Mr King said.
On the evening of March 2 last year she invited him to stay over. He arrived with a friend and still maintains they slept in a separate room.
Mendis, however, told police the men arrived with alcohol and she had two or three drinks before her former boss entered her room and raped her.
He was in his native Sri Lanka when the complaint was made and the friend acted as a go-between, saying Mendis would drop the case for £200,000.
The man did not pay and was arrested on his return to Britain in June last year. He denied the rape claim and spent three months on bail before learning there would be no charge.
Mendis, of Cricklewood, admitted blackmail. The prosecution dropped a charge of perverting the course of justice.
Defending, Nerida Harford-Bell said: “She was not paid during her employment by this wealthy and successful businessman and was on benefits.
“He did lead her to believe he would leave his wife and then live with her in Sri Lanka. That was a foolish dream.”
On Friday Mendis received eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete 80 hours community service.
Sentencing, Judge Peter Clarke said: “You have used the criminal justice system to attempt to get a large sum of money from your ex-lover.
“There were matters where you were wronged and part of your motive was impure, it was revenge on a man you felt had betrayed you.”Henry Ford and Detroit radically changed the economic geography of the world. Now, Jeff Bezos and Seattle are poised to do the same.
Customers browse books and other Amazon products at the newly-opened Amazon Books store on November 4, 2015, in Seattle, Washington. (Photo: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
Pittsburgh ruled the first machine age from 1880–1920. U.S. Steel was the dominant company with the region enjoying a divergent advantage. Either you were in Pittsburgh or you were nowhere. Detroit (with Ford at the center) ruled the first machine age from 1920–60, albeit a convergent economic geography. Many cities, not just Detroit, got rich on manufacturing. Detroit's decline also signaled the end of the first machine age. Silicon Valley and Intel ruled the divergent second machine age from 1960–2000. The popping of the dot-com bubble signaled the onset of convergent times with tech booming in other markets such as Austin, Texas. Here's the question I posed in "The Second Machine Age Is Dying":
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Silicon Valley made computing processing power, a raw value added good like steel. A few people got rich. We're waiting to see what the analogy to the Detroit automobile will be. Silicon Valley is the Pittsburgh of the second machine age. Which place will be the Detroit of the second machine age?
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I've taken a month or so to ponder the next Detroit and Ford. I've settled on Seattle and Amazon. Recently, Seattle was compared to Detroit as a cautionary tale. Detroit's lack of economic diversity put too many eggs in the automotive basket. First, Chrysler was too big to fail. Later, General Motors would be too big to fail. Similar to Detroit, Amazon now dominates Seattle.
Worldwide, Amazon has more employees than Microsoft and Google, combined. As the company exploded, so has the population of Seattle. For 2012–13, Seattle was the fastest-growing large city in the entire United States. Amazon, rightly so, gets the credit (or blame) for the influx of new residents.
But Amazon's employment boom doesn't make it Ford. Seattle's population boom doesn't make it Detroit. How Henry Ford transformed the economic geography of the world:
Henry Ford was a revolutionary. He changed all of 20th-century America. We're living in Henry Ford's world right now....... Transportation in America was terrible once you got away from the railroads. Terrible! It was an enormous burden. I mean if you're living on the farm, getting around on land is one of the biggest problems people have.
The Ford Model T solved the big problem of getting around on land, breaking the link between economic prosperity and the railroad. Ford re-shaped the geography of the country. How is Jeff Bezos and Amazon re-shaping U.S. geography?
Amazon's Model T is the cloud. Amazon Web Services sells computing power, akin to Ford selling horsepower. The cloud breaks the link between labor and firms, labor and geographic job markets. Software engineers don't need to move to Silicon Valley to find Silicon Valley work. They could be in Bangalore, India. The cloud doesn't care.
When Pittsburgh was king, physical geography determined the economic geography. Wealth diverged. Detroit leading the way, automobiles obliterated that natural advantage. Silicon Valley enjoyed a different kind of divergent advantage. Stanford University innovation was unencumbered by legacy costs and development. California was the frontier, where the ambitious could escape the stifling ways of the old guard. First the integrated chip and then the microprocessor, Silicon Valley was the epicenter of the computing revolution. Wealth diverged. Seattle leading the way, the cloud is undermining historical happenstance. We are living in the world of Jeff Bezos right now.
Jim Russell, a geographer studying the relationship between migration and economic development, writes regularly for Pacific Standard.Effective horror usually requires a highly directed experience — careful directorial control over each plot beat to keep the tension building, a hand guiding the camera to make sure you see whatever horrific creature lurches behind the protagonist. The Evil Within 2 turns this genre necessity on its head, allowing you to explore at your own pace but, as if by magic, without lessening the pressure necessary for horror to be scary.
2014’s The Evil Within wasn’t nearly this ambitious. Despite work from major names such as Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami, that debut effort from developer Tango Gameworks was somewhat disappointing. Though it had a great setting, it had no sense of pacing, an abundance of frustrating boss fights and boring writing that made it hard to care about the characters.
I’m currently eight hours into The Evil Within 2, and what’s most impressive so far is how this sequel addresses each individual complaint about the first game one by one, like it’s working through a checklist. And it does all of this on top of greatly expanding in scope and freedom.
The Evil Within 2 greatly expands the scope and freedom of the first game
October 12, 2017 - The First Eight Hours
If you skipped out on The Evil Within, don’t worry. The sequel continues the story of hard-luck now-ex-cop Sebastian Castellanos, but it doesn’t require a knowledge of the original so much as a willingness to give in to the game’s off-the-rails narrative. Three years after the first game’s murder investigation gone wrong, Castellanos is forcibly recruited by a mysterious organization called Mobius and thrust back into the “STEM” world, an alternate reality where (once again) people have begun turning into monsters that exist on the body horror continuum between the works of Raimi and Cronenberg.
While the gruff Castellanos is no more of an engaging character than last time around, he at least has a more personal motivation. His daughter Lily, who he believed died in a tragic fire years ago, is alive and trapped in the STEM world as well. It’s a small and cliché addition, but those added stakes do wonders for The Evil Within 2, providing some real momentum and a reason for Castellanos and the player to keep pushing forward.
Union feels like a real, recognizable, lived-in place
By leaping directly into the STEM world, The Evil Within 2 is also able to immediately embrace one of the best aspects of the first game: how completely batshit weird it got in its later segments. The sequel finds Castellanos jumping between odd locales right from the start. One second he’s in a strange, slow-motion killer’s ornate art gallery, and the next he’s walking through a warped flashback of Beacon Mental Hospital, the setting of the last game. The Evil Within 2 waits for the precise moment I have my bearings in a location, then rips the rug of reality out from underneath me.
Most of my first eight hours with The Evil Within 2 has been set in a sleepy city called Union. It was built by Mobius to be the ideal alternate reality utopia, and Castellanos calls it “any town, USA.” That sort of broad evocativeness works in the game’s favor, creating much more of a sense of place than the first game ever accomplished. Tacky art hangs on walls, neon signs flicker above small-town shops, and mundane junk litters closets and office desks. Union may be a fake alternate reality where you can travel through computers to get from location to location, but Tango Gameworks puts in the effort to make it feel like a real, recognizable, lived-in place — albeit one that has sunk into devastation and terror.
Beyond just being a more interesting setting, Union introduces one of the biggest departures The Evil Within 2 takes from its predecessor: large, open locations. You can spend hours exploring every inch of Union, and the game rewards that thoroughness with more of the limited resources Castellanos needs to survive. I scoured the auto shops, visitor’s centers and abandoned train yards at length, digging up ammunition and crafting material. The city is intricately designed and peppered with gifts all over in a way that really encourages taking your time.
Naturally, with a bigger area to explore come side objectives as well. The Evil Within 2 lets you find optional quests by pinpointing stray frequencies with a “communicator,” a sort of walkie-talkie that Castellanos carries with him. These extra tasks range from mundane resource drops — you’ll find many Mobius soldier corpses with a lot of ammo and pouches that increase your carrying capacity — to completely new areas and fully fleshed-out subplots. You never know what you’ll find by following a stray signal, which makes me want to hunt all of them down.
I’m astounded by the way that The Evil Within 2 takes light “open-world” gameplay and makes it work within a horror context. I’m used to horror games being strictly linear; sure, the first Evil Within had a few large rooms to mess around and try different combat strategies in, but there was always a single path forward, keeping the the pace in step. Here in Union, you can go in any direction you want, and yet the pacing doesn’t suffer.
I’m still not sure how Tango Gameworks accomplishes this, but even as I’ve run up and down the same street for the sixth time, it keeps throwing surprises at me. On my initial pass, I’ll clear a garden full of enemies. The next time through, a new one has spawned in a just-hidden-enough location to make me jump with surprise. Or I’ll run past a house I’ve already rummaged through, but I’ll hear a woman screaming, pulling me back to find something new and shocking.
I don’t know if The Evil Within 2 will be able to work this magic right up until the credits — which seem a lot further off than they did in the first game — but for now, I’m extremely impressed. The game just keeps tossing everything it has at me, and every time I think I’ve seen it all, it gives me some unique revelation, some dreadful apparition I’ve yet to encounter. That push and pull, between wanting to see what the game has in store next and being terrified to find out — that delightful feeling is why I play horror games, and so far this one is nailing it.
Update: October 18, 2017 — The finished game and score
As I worked through the back half of The Evil Within 2 last weekend, one question kept repeating over and over again in my head: How? How did they pull this off? How does it work so well?
The answer, as best I can discern it, is pacing. The previous The Evil Within struggled with this, jumping from scene to scene with no regard for letting the player breathe and spacing out reveals and building tension slowly. It was non-stop; it was exhausting.
The Evil Within 2 is a night-and-day difference from that muddled mess. It is, hands-down, one of the best-paced horror/action games I’ve played in years.
The deeper I got into The Evil Within 2, the more it became clear precisely what the game benefits from with its handful of larger open areas. It’s not about creating a huge open world that you can get lost in for ages. Rather, these bigger zones — three in total throughout the game — serve as a tool of pacing.
It’s not that these wider open spaces are safe, exactly. They have plenty of enemies and increasingly dangerous threats as the game progresses. But those enemies are also more spread out, and the game generally is pulling less tricks related to the very state of your mental being while you’re in those levels. Where the linear sections of The Evil Within 2 are more intense, these bigger areas focus more on exploration, on taking your time to explore and carefully chart your path around or through gatherings of enemies.
I made use of nearly every item I picked up in The Evil Within 2
These bits wouldn’t be as effective as they are if the resources in The Evil Within 2 weren’t so finely tuned. I made use of nearly every item I picked up throughout the whole of my 20-some hours in the game — every bullet, every medkit and especially every item that allowed me to improve my guns and abilities.
Beyond ammo and healing items, Sebastian also collects “weapon parts” and some weird green gel that drops from fallen enemies. The former is used to upgrade your guns, giving them more damage, more ammo capacity, faster reloads and so on; the latter upgrades Sebastian himself, with abilities ranging from the obvious (more health and stamina) to the game-changing (the ability to slow down time when aiming your weapons). These dual upgrade systems feel both well-developed and weighty. Choosing whether to spread my weapon parts around to different guns or focus them all into making my pistol a non-stop death machine, for example, had a major lasting impact on how I played the game, as did whether I centered Sebastian on combat or stealth upgrades.
The only part of The Evil Within 2 that doesn’t feel perfectly, tightly bound together is the crafting system. Crafting is essential in the game as a means of pulling together just a little more survival potential. Inevitably, though, I spent most of my gunpowder on the cheapest and most plentiful possible item: pistol bullets. Sometimes I would splurge on some shotgun shells or flamethrower ammo — especially right before a big boss encounter — but more often than not, I wanted the most bang for my buck, so to speak.
In particular, The Evil Within 2 seems to want you to craft lots of ammo for the crossbow, but I very rarely found that weapon worth using. As such, I ended the game with dozens of metal pipes and nails in my inventory. Your inventory is unlimited as far as carrying crafting components goes, so it’s not the worst fate in the world, but it stood out in a game where everything else seems so perfectly designed.
When you’re not searching for materials in the more open areas, The Evil Within 2 pushes you into more linear, directed sequences that move the story forward. These are where you’ll find the scariest and most pulse-pounding moments of the game, and also where you’ll fight its bosses.
boss fights in The Evil Within 2 are a blast
I want to call out the boss fights specifically, because these were another major failing of the first game. In The Evil Within, boss battles were a frustrating affair where you were provided with little sense of if you were doing real damage to an enemy or what the best method was to kill it. In the sequel, boss fights are a blast.
Both in terms of showing players that the boss is being properly injured and just visualizing elements of the environment better, The Evil Within 2 makes it really clear how to fight a boss without the need to die and restart over and over. One fight against a chainsaw-wielding monster has traps and explosive barrels set up around the environment. In another clever battle, your goal is simply to keep the unstoppable bad guy busy while a clock runs down.
There’s even a surprising boss rush that is, somehow, not awful to play.
That boss rush serves as a lead-in to the final act of The Evil Within 2, and what a final act it is. If the game as a whole is an example of how to get pacing right in video games, the last few hours demonstrate the absolute ideal approach to a conclusion — the rising action, climax and denouement each applied with skill and care.
The Evil Within 2 pulls off an ending that had me buzzing with excitement, despite it not even being a particularly good story. I won’t spoil anything here, of course, but Sebastian’s search for redemption remains pretty goofy and corny throughout. Tango Gameworks embraces that cheese, however, leaning into it and continuously raising the stakes in the finale until I couldn’t help but be drawn in. It’s just silly, dumb fun, and I loved every second of it.
Wrap-Up
The Evil Within 2 is a brilliant horror game with a masterful sense of pacing
The same could be said for the game itself, honestly. The Evil Within 2 represents one of the starkest and most astounding turnarounds from a debut title to its sequel that I’ve ever witnessed. It’s a brilliant horror game, one that understands when to ratchet up tension and when to pull back and let you collect yourself. If the first game was a failed attempt to capture the spirit of Shinji Mikami’s classic Resident Evil 4, the sequel is a successful attempt at something much better: finding a chilling, exhilarating voice of its own.
The Evil Within was reviewed using an early final “retail” Steam download code provided by Bethesda. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.The latest Elite: Dangerous newsletter was just released, and it leads off with the announcement that the space simulator has an official release date: December 16. That’s just 39 days away, and puts paid to Frontier Developments’ promises that the game would be out by the end of the year. The game can be preordered for $50, and eager would-be pilots can jump into the beta immediately for $75 (though only until November 22).
The December 16 release will be for the Windows version of the game; Mac users will have to wait until next year. Customers who buy the game will be able to download both the Windows and Mac versions (when available, obviously), and saved games will work on either platform—Windows users will be able to load their save state on a Mac or vice versa.
The fourth sequel to the 30-year old watershed space combat simulator Elite, the game came to the public’s attention in late 2012 when the developers launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the game’s completion. A playable alpha was made available to some Kickstarter backers over the summer of 2013—though access to the alpha could also be purchased after the Kickstarter closed. We dipped our toes into the game in June with the $150 "premium beta" (the beta access fee also included a copy of the released version and all future expansions), and have been in love with the game ever since.
Although the beta versions have been great fun (especially because of the game’s excellent support of the Oculus Rift), the most remarkable thing about the Elite: Dangerous development process has been the consistency with which Frontier Developments has hit its public milestones. Since the release of the premium beta over the summer, Frontier has rigorously shepherded the game through a number of iterations, and at each step the company has nailed both its estimated release dates and also made good on promises to include new gameplay features.
Ars asked Lead Designer and Elite franchise cofounder David Braben how Frontier had managed to stick so well to schedule—something that few other development houses seem to be able to do these days. The trick, it seems, is being able to make decisions on which features to include and which to drop, and then committing to those decisions. "We have been doing this for a long time now, across many different projects," he explained. "It has enabled us to gradually grow our development team over the years, and we have a very talented bunch of people with a great blend of experience and youthful enthusiasm who are putting their heart and soul into development, but all of them are used to our processes, which enables us to stay on time. Over the years we have had a diverse output and developed launch titles for new systems, and I think that experience has also helped us to learn to take a step back when making decisions about games and all the different elements within them, to maximize the chance of them being good ones!"
As promised in the Kickstarter campaign, player feedback has played an enormous role in defining the shapes and edges of the Elite: Dangerous gameplay experience. "Developing a game ‘in public’ like this has been a fantastic experience, and the direct communication with our Alpha and Beta backers and their enthusiastic support and constructive feedback has been the highlight," said Braben.
An archived catalog of community design activity can be viewed at the official Elite: Dangerous design discussion forum, which contains almost all of the game’s design documentation.
Braben is also quick to point out that the release of the game isn’t the end of its development or feature set. The latest newsletter contains a video focusing on "The Future of Elite: Dangerous," and if the video is any indication, the future will include landing on planets, walking around your ship in first-person mode, and a lot of other neat things:
"Yes, there will be more to come, and it won't stop with the Gamma," explained Braben, referring to the feature-freeze "gamma" release phase the game is expected to go into prior to release. "Game development isn't going to stop even in the ‘final’ release, so in that sense, features and content will keep going," he said.
Speaking of David Braben, he can often be found playing his own game: "Yes, I'm playing as often as I can, and yes I'm Commander Braben, and of course people have killed me," he responded when I asked him if he spends any time in the Elite universe. In fact, he draws his share of fire: "I’ve seen myself die on YouTube several times already!" he elaborated.
We have high hopes that the release version of Elite: Dangerous will tie together all the great gameplay elements that have been strung throughout the beta. We’ll definitely be giving our impressions as soon as we can get our hands on final code.EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Lakers are rolling right along in Kobe Bryant's absence and will go without their All-Star guard for the sixth consecutive game on Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs.
In pregame remarks, Lakers coach Mike Brown noted that Bryant will "most likely" miss Wednesday's game against Golden State, as well.
Brown said Bryant is continuing to show marked improvement from the tenosynovitis injury to his left shin that has sidelined him since April 7. The Lakers went 4-1 in their first five games without Bryant, which included an impressive 98-84 win in San Antonio -- owners of the West's best record at 43-16.
The Lakers did not have practice on Monday after spending the early portion of the day posing for their official team photo, but Bryant stuck around to shoot at the Lakers' practice facility.
"He's done some on-court stuff," Brown said after the Lakers' shootaround on Tuesday. "We're still taking it day by day. He's out today, but there's a lot of progress that is being made, which is good."
Brown said Bryant's activity has included playing one on one. "He' starting to move around a little bit pretty good," the coach said.
Bryant, who already is walking pain-free after shedding the protective boot that was covering his left shin, must prove to the training staff that he can run and jump without pain before he will be cleared to play.
The Lakers have five games remaining in the regular season, including Tuesday's against the Spurs. They play the Golden State Warriors on the road on Wednesday on the second night of a back-to-back and have another game against the Spurs on Friday in San Antonio. The Lakers finish the season with a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and a road game against the Sacramento Kings.
Bryant told ESPN/ABC sideline reporter Heather Cox on Sunday he will "definitely be back well before the playoffs," but Brown did not offer an expected return date for Bryant.
"I don't know if it's scientific," Brown said. "I think with a guy like Kobe, especially, his feel is so great for the game that I think he'll be able to ease in probably better than most guys. For me to sit here and say he needs five games or he needs two games would not be correct. I think it's just more by feel than anything else."
The Lakers lead the Clippers by one game for the No. 3 spot in the Western Conference playoff standings.
"If it was our goal (to hold off the Clippers at all costs), then we would be trying to rush Kobe back," Brown said. "But, the reality of it is, whether we finish first, second, third, fourth, fifth, it doesn't matter. I feel like this team is confident enough and good enough to win on anybody's floor. Now, we're not going to relinquish anything that we have control over. If it happens that we slide down, then we slide down. We'll play anybody wherever, whenever."Atlanta’s craft beer and cocktail scene is thriving. Locals never need a reason to gather, tip a glass and enjoy great conversations, friends and a good time. Luckily there are always new places to meet.
Here are some of our favorite new bars.
Red Phone Booth, located in a 100-year-old building near Peachtree Center, is a Prohibition experience featuring an extensive classic craft cocktail and cigar program. Exceptional cocktails feature 100-percent fresh squeezed juices, hand chipped double-reverse osmosis ice, a collection of some of the rarest liquors and more than a dozen tinctures, bitters and flavoring agents. Small plates include fresh seafood, carpaccio, beef tenderloin, Neapolitan pizza and house-made desserts. Showcasing the 1920s speakeasy theme, the venue features restored original brick floors, honey onyx bar, intimate fireplace, custom Italian leather couches and a hand-painted ceiling with back lighting.
5Church at Colony Square opened in the summer to rave reviews for its menu, service, atmosphere and inside bar. But 5Church saved the best for last and recently opened its rooftop bar that overlooks Peachtree and 15th streets. Enjoy gorgeous sunsets and enjoy a special “lite bite” menu that includes red pea hummus, Georgia heirloom tomatoes and a 5Church lamb burger. Try its signature, The Viper, which consists of Patron Silver, orange liqueur, lime juice, cucumber water and cayenne pepper.
Manuel’s Tavern has been an Atlanta institution since the 1950s. It’s a favorite of journalists, politicians and locals who want to sit around, drink and figure out how to change the world. Located in the Poncey-Highland area, Manuel’s has been closed for a while for renovation. It’s now re-opened and all the regulars have assumed their bar stools. This may be the closest to a “Cheers” bar in Atlanta.
AMER is located in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward and features craft cocktails as well as a small, curated selection of beer, wine, aperitifs and digestifs. However, cocktails are its specialty, and you can choose from more than 20 options. Among the “shaken” cocktails are Bone & Mast, which features bourbon, rum, banana, stout reduction, allspice, lime and bitters, while “built” drinks include Saturn, which features gin, orgeat, falernum, passion fruit, lemon and mint. There are also alcoholic sodas, such as Penicillin Pop, which features scotch, lemon, honey and ginger beer. And there are small plates such as house-made chips with carmelized onion dip, beef carpaccio with arugula.
Ticonderoga Club, located in the Krog Street Market, is a place of meeting, eating and drinking. While the menu is a bit eclectic, it features New England favorites such as Maine diver scallops and Ipswich clam rolls. Among its cocktail specialties are the Ticonderoga Cup, with rum, cognac, sherry, pineapple, lemon and mint, and the Holland Tunnel – rye whiskey, Quina aperitif, amaro and angostura.
The Consulate in Midtown by 10th Street draws its influences from around the world. Its food offers the flavors of Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Denmark and Nigeria. The bar also takes patrons around the globe by mixing craft cocktails that match with the dishes and uses spices, bitters and house-made ingredients. It also features a dim sum lunch and tapas dinner.
Find nearby Atlanta bars in your neighborhood or explore the nightlife at our Bars & Clubs guide.
Journalist Mary Welch writes business and lifestyle stories for local and national publications.Richard Gassan, an associate professor of history who taught at the American University of Sharjah, was cycling with 72-year-old Desmond Daniel to the university campus when the accident happened.
SHARJAH // Tributes have poured in for American University of Sharjah professor Richard Gassan, who died in a road accident on Monday evening while cycling with a friend.
Mr Gassan, 56, an associate professor of history, was riding with former South African cricketer Desmond Daniel when they were hit and killed by a car.
The American, who rode his bike to work every day, is believed to have died at the scene. Mr Daniel, 72, was a light-steel framing specialist.
“He was a great colleague, a really elegant human being with a great sense of humour,” said Vernon Pedersen, head of the international studies department.
“Dr Richard was always such a cheerful person who had a positive energy around him and always smiling,” said Palestinian Joulia Ewaida, 22, an international studies senior.
Mr Gassan began at AUS in 2005. He was described as a valued colleague with a real dedication to his students, many of whom held an impromptu vigil yesterday.
Shahad Qamhiya, from Jordan, said Dr Gassan was always laughing and down to earth with his students.
“Dr Richard was a kind professor and you would learn a lot in his classes,” said the international studies student, 21. “I learnt the most from the classes I took with him. You would enjoy them so much, he made learning so easy for you.”
Ahmad El Haj, 21, an accounting student from Lebanon, said Dr Gassan’s history classes were the most interesting he had ever taken.
“He didn’t take study seriously, he took it as a way of learning and made it so easy,” Mr El Haj said. “He also wasn’t strict at all, just in deadline.
“I learnt many things from him. He improved my writing and reading skills as well as my critical thinking. He didn’t teach us just to read and memorise as machines.”
Mr Gassan is survived by his mother, Martha Oehler, and his elder brother Larry.
The university’s chancellor, Dr Bjorn Kjerfve, said the professor was “an admired colleague and member of the AUS community”.
“Richard will be fondly remembered for his dedication and commitment toward his students and his pleasant disposition,” said Dr Kjerfve. “Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah and President of AUS, personally called me to convey his condolences to the AUS community and to Richard’s family on this irreparable loss.”
Flor Santos Khattab, an administrative assistant in the international studies department, said she was very close to Dr Gassan and his death was a huge shock to all.
“It is really a big, big loss and tomorrow his class and I are expecting him to come,” Ms Khattab said. “He was one of the coolest professors here.
“Even when we had pressure at work he would break the ice, just to make everyone smile or laugh, and if there was any problem he tried to |
convents, as well as of the still-existing seminaries (pastoral courses would be banned in general). The campaign also included a restriction of parental rights for teaching religion to their children, a ban on the presence of children at church services (beginning in 1961 with the Baptists and then extended to the Orthodox in 1963), and a ban on administration of the Eucharist to children over the age of four. Khrushchev additionally banned all services held outside of church walls, renewed enforcement of the 1929 legislation banning pilgrimages, and recorded the personal identities of all adults requesting church baptisms, weddings or funerals.[6] He also disallowed the ringing of church bells and services in daytime in some rural settings from May to the end of October under the pretext of field work requirements.[7] Non-fulfillment of these regulations by clergy would lead to disallowance of state registration for them (which meant they could no longer do any pastoral work or liturgy at all, without special state permission). The state carried out forced retirement, arrests and prison sentences to clergymen who criticized atheism[7] or the anti-religious campaign, who conducted Christian charity or who made religion popular by personal example.[7]
Education [ edit ]
Khrushchev claimed that communist education intends to free consciousness from religious prejudices and superstitions.[8]
One of the first manifestations of the campaign, like as occurred in the 1920s, was the removal of practicing believers from the teaching profession. In 1959, reports appeared 'unmasking' secret believers in faculties of education. In one case a Christian student was asked how she would teach in an atheistic school system, and she replied "I'll give all answers in accordance with Marxism. What are my personal convictions is no one's business."[9] The same article also took concern that atheist students felt that they could not win in a discussion with believers.[9]
The press called for more aggressively atheistic curriculum at pedagogical institutions.
In 1959 a mandatory course was introduced called 'The Foundations of Scientific Atheism' in all higher learning institutions.[10] Evolution and the origins of life began to be taught intensively in the school system beginning in 1959-1960, and all natural sciences were subordinated to the purpose of giving students a scientific-materialistic (i.e. atheistic) attitude towards nature.
Believers could be denied graduation at institutions of higher learning on account of their religion.[2]
The school system was criticized in a 1960 open letter to the Russian Minister of Education for failing to perform its duty to eliminate religious belief among its students. The letter claimed that believing parents were fanatics and that active believers as well as clergy were swindlers.[11] The minister responded by outlining what the education system had been doing and reaffirming that he regarded religious belief as a very serious social epidemic.
The atheist position was not simply concerned with trying to teach a worldview without religion, but a worldview that was hostile to religion:
Should theologians explain the Universe even from the scientific [materialistic] point of view but in the name of religion and even God Himself... we shall not stop our fight against religion [because] religion will never cease to be a reactionary social force, an opiate for the people... Evgraf Duluman, Kiriushko and Yarotsky, Nauchnoteknicheskaia revolutsiia...[12]
Anti-religious propaganda [ edit ]
The 21st Congress brought in a new, radical program of anti-religious propaganda that would stay in place for the next twenty-five years.[13]
A new anti-religious periodical appeared in 1959 called Science and Religion (Nauka i Religiia), which followed in the tradition of Bezbozhnik in aggressiveness and vulgarness, but was much less vicious.[12]
Due to the memory among many citizens of the patriotic role that the Church had played in war with Germany, the loyalty it had shown during the war and the supportiveness of the institution in post-war peace campaigns, and the failure of the regime to rewrite history in order to remove these memories,[3] the antireligious propaganda therefore avoided attacking the Church leadership or its institutional political reliability.
The church leadership also cooperated with the state's propaganda campaign by denying any persecution by the state at international peace and theological conferences,[14] as well as to foreign press.[15] The upper orthodox church hierarchy during these years largely remained unscathed by the persecution directed at the rest of the church, which the hierarchy refused to speak out about and which even made statements to justify.[16]
The propaganda, unlike in the 1930s, made no promises about liquidating the church in the near future or that the word 'God' would disappear from Russian vocabulary. There was also less artistic talent in printed antireligious cartoons and posters as there had been in the pre-war years. 'Science and Religion' even found itself having to rely on foreign atheist artists to draw their anti-religious cartoons, such as the French communist cartoonist Maurice Henry.[17]
The propaganda, like in the 1930s, lost its originality after its enhancement in 1958 as anti-religious periodicals adopted lifeless routines in their propaganda. Every newspaper was supposed to have a plan governing their anti-religious content, but few adhered to this systematically. A number had regular columns dedicated to religion and atheism which had names such as 'The Atheist Corner' or 'The Militant Atheist'. Very often they simply reprinted articles that had been originally printed by Pravda, TASS and other newspapers.[18]
As in the pre-war period, lies and incitements against religion were considered permissible only if they pragmatically served the purpose of eliminating rather than hardening religious convictions.
Very often official policies to criticize religion without insulting believers' feelings were ignored in practice, and this widespread violation caused some to even doubt the authenticity of the policy.[19] These attacks became even more unrestrained as a result of influence from the CPSU Central Committee.
Examples of article names that appeared in this time period are: 'The Howls of the Obscurantists', 'The Vultures', 'The Wolfish Fangs of "God's Harmless Creatures"', 'Swindlers in the guise of Holy Fathers', 'A Theologian-Fomenter, and 'Hysteria on the March'. Believers were called 'toadstools','swindlers', 'a horde', 'anti-Soviet subhumans' (liudishki), 'wicked enemy of all that lives', and 'the rot'. Secret monks were called'milksops', theologians of the True Orthodox Church were called'malignant', and Levitin-Krasnov who spoke out against the persecution was called 'Smerdiakov' (the despicable bastard in The Brothers Karamazov) and a hypocrite par excellence.[20]
One of the most commonly repeated antireligious arguments of this period was that the cosmonauts had not seen God when they went into space.[1] Khrushchev claimed that Yuri Gagarin said that he did not see God when he went into orbit[21] (although later evidence suggests that Gagarin himself was religious[22]) and soviet leaders saw the space programme as a tool with which to attack religion.[21]
The press always accused believers of immorality, and blamed this supposed immorality on their religious beliefs. Practicing believers were libelled as lechers, demoralized weaklings, drunks, vicious criminals and parasites who did no socially useful work, just as in the pre-war period. Similarly also to the pre-war period, accusations and hate propaganda in the press often preceded arrests of clergy.
The testimony of ex-priests who denounced their former fellow clergymen for lechery, luxury, pilfering and materialistic greed, were used when available. These 'confessions' often ended with appeals to still practicing clergy to stop fooling credulous believers and to stop enriching themselves by exploiting their ignorance'.[23]
Some, such as former professor of theology, Alexander Osipov, warned that this image was oversimplified and that religion did in fact attract intellectuals sometimes. He claimed that the church was not a senile institution ready to fall, but had great flexibility and adaptability. He also notably criticized the atheistic propaganda for being bureaucratic routine and that atheist propagandists were often ignorant of religion (e.g. confusing Jehovah's Witnesses with Old Believers, general ignorance of Christian doctrines[21]). Osipov also said that 'Science and Religion' should focus on educational material since the journal was largely unread by lay believers, but that such attacks should rather occur in the general mass media.[24]
This claim may have been incorrect, however. Believers did subscribe to 'Science and Religion' in order to make clippings of all the quotations from Scriptures, diverse theological writings or lives of the saints, that were reprinted in the journal and criticized, as this was one of the few sources available that believers could find such material within.[25]
Tolerant attitudes of children to believing parents or grandparents were criticized.
Pilgrims and pilgrimages were maligned in the press for charlatanism, clerical swindles to extract donations, and distraction of people from socially useful work. One of the most vicious examples of these was written by a woman named Trubnikova entitled 'Hysteria on the March' that described a pilgrimage to a spring in the village of Velikoroetskoe [ru] in the diocese of Kirov, where there was supposedly an apparition of St. Nicholas centuries earlier. Trubnikova claimed that she disguised herself as a pilgrim and went with them. She claimed that they were alcoholics, hysterics, hypocrites and swindlers who faked trances and miracles (there were people who dipped themselves into the spring and then shed their crutches, which she assumed was a deceitful act). The story ended with robberies, sexual orgies and a drunken murder. Trubnikova claimed that she was rescued by a voluntary police aide in the middle of the night who claimed that these anti-Soviet sub-human Christians would have no hesitation in murdering her.[26] She ended the article by appealing for a ban on all such pilgrimages, which were taking place right before the eyes of the Soviet public.
The rites of all religious faiths were claimed to be linked with spreading diseases. Jewish and Muslim circumcision was claimed to cause gangrene, leading to fatalities. The Orthodox tradition of mass kissing of icons, crucifixes and relics was treated with long discourses on how this spread infectious diseases. Communion using a shared chalice was also given such treatment. The same was true with regard to the sacrament of baptism. Full immersion baptism was alleged to lead to colds, influenzas and pneumonias, especially in infants and especially in the winter months, which sometimes led to fatalities. The overcrowding of churches was also alleged to result in spreading infectious diseases (never, however, did the propaganda also admit in the same context that the mass Soviet closure of churches or other institutions had resulted in the overcrowding).[27]
The anti-religious propaganda was largely unconcerned with objectivity and truth, but rather to build up a negative image of believers as fanatics, disseminators of disease, social pests or criminals, in order to justify the persecution to the public.
The Marxist doctrine that religion would inevitably disappear was increasingly questioned and re-interpreted. A new interpretation held that religion was forced down upon people somehow through coercive tactics of believers. For example, in a supposedly true story printed in the press on the True Orthodox Christian Wanderers (an outlawed Old Believer sect) a monastic priest with a bony predatory nose, who was hiding from the law, wandered through the woods and came upon a group of sectarians who agree to hide him while assuring him that he could have a life without working. They then produce samizdat literature that breathes hatred against everything human and to the Soviet Union especially. A college student from the city of Novokuznetsk then met this priest and had a conversation with him, in which the student expressed some thoughts that maybe there was something beyond this world. The priest then seized the opportunity and talked him into coming to a skete in Siberia. On the way, in the middle of the night, the priest grabbed the frightened student and forcibly baptized him. Then he ordered him to destroy his papers and passport, but not his money, which the priest took for himself. The article then concluded that all religious believers, who were reportedly properly characterized in this fashion, are malicious enemies of all living things.[28]
This story in the press was followed with mass arrests of believers who were supposedly running a kidnapping network as well as these supposed secret Siberian sketes and underground theological schools. Their victims were'rescued' and brought back into the secular world, and their conversion was explained as a result of their own foolishness that was taken advantage of by the manipulative clergy.[29]
The Soviet press on occasion criticized the campaign for senseless destruction of the built heritage of the country, such as the dynamiting of the Ufa Cathedral in 1956.[30] However, rarely did the brutality of the persecutions themselves find criticism in this time period. To the contrary, in the publication 'Soviet Ethnography' produced by the Soviet Academy of Sciences, for example, it wrote in one article: 'The Party has never reconciled itself and never will, with ideological reaction of any kind… The struggle against religion must not only be continued, but it ought to be enhanced by all possible means'.[31]
The 'rightist' view that religion would disappear on its own and no efforts were needed re-appeared in these years, and was criticized in the official press.
There were some admissions of the growth of interest in youth in religion during these years in the official press.
Two special 'universities of atheism' began in Leningrad and several more in its province. One of these universities was run by Znanie and other by the Leningrad Museum of History of Religion and Atheism. These universities trained lecturers, propagadanists and other agitators for 'individual work'.[11]
Clubs of atheism were formed for average people at local 'Palaces of Culture', followed by special atheist film clubs.[32]
Many conferences were held in this period on anti-religious propaganda and the issue of how to best combat religion.[33]
Foreign reaction [ edit ]
Many unofficial and semi-official reports were available in the West about what was occurring with regard to brutalities and terror, but these were largely ignored for lack of being authoritative. When reports of anti-religious persecution reached the West, the state referred to them as'malicious slander'.[14]
Among the reasons for why the campaign drew little attention were i) the regime did not attack the clerical leadership specially, as had occurred in the 1920s or 1930s ii) the clerical leadership repeatedly denied the presence of persecution or suppression of religion to international conferences as well as to foreign media iii) the campaign was not as vicious as had occurred under Lenin or Stalin, and iv) masses of people had not been mobilized for this campaign as they had been in the 1930s. Khrushchev's campaign, while being the most brutal episode of persecution after Stalin's death in Soviet history, largely went unnoticed in the Western world, partly as a result of poor coverage in the Western media, which often instead attempted to portray Khrushchev as a more liberal figure, and partly also as a result of a lack of resemblance between this campaign and the campaigns under Lenin or Stalin.[34]
Khrushchev and his regime fostered a false image of himself as being tolerant towards religion to foreigners. In an interview with American journalists in 1957 he stated:
if clergymen were to combine their religious activities with political agitation against the Soviet state this would be in violation of the constitution. And the Soviet state will not tolerate such interference. We still have people who believe in God. Let them believe. To believe or not to believe in God is the personal affair of each individual, a matter for his conscience. All this does not, however, prevent the Soviet people from living in peace and friendship. And it often happens that there are believers and atheists in one family. But those who believe in God are becoming fewer. The vast majority of young people growing up today do not believe in God. Education, scientific knowledge, and the study of the laws of nature leave no room for belief in God.[35]
Foreigners who travelled to the USSR had their visits tightly controlled so that they did not see anything that would have led to bad press for the regime.[14]
Official policies and the CPSU Central Committee [ edit ]
Much of the 'Old Guard' of the anti-religious work pre-World War II had died or they were no longer in condition to help with the new campaign.
The Central Committee issued anti-religious measures with carefully worded euphemisms. In 1958 Khrushchev published his Theses on Educational Reform that called for the development of a materialistic (i.e. atheism) world-view in youth.
The Soviet Council of Ministers issued an instruction on 16 October 1958 that cancelled the tax exemptions on monasteries and which also instructed local governments to cut the sizes of land plots being owned by monasteries and to work towards closing open monasteries. The tax rates on Monasteries were raised to 4000 roubles per hectare (400 roubles after the 1961 devaluation). Another instruction issued on 6 November of that year introduced a very high tax on monasteries.[36] Monasteries had for years served an important spiritual function in the Orthodox church as centres of pilgrimage, confessions, spiritual consoluations and for strengthening lay people in their faith; thus, shutting them down was meant to weaken the spiritual life of the church. Monasteries also had an ambiguous status under Soviet law, which made these measures easier to pass.
There were rumours, never refuted, that the 21st congress of the CPSU in 1959 had adopted a secret resolution for the annihilation of all religious institutions in the country during the implementation of the seven-year plan.[37] That conference declared that the communist society was inseparable from an atheistic upbringing of its members.[38] The new persecution that emerged was partly justified on the success that religion had achieved in the post-war era.
The January 9th 1960 Central Committee Plenum Resolution 'On the Tasks of Party Propaganda in Modern Times' called for an escalation of anti-religious persecution and criticized party organizations that were being too lax. It did not include any measures calling for moderation or avoiding insults to believers, but it reiterated the pre-war view that religion was hostile to communism. It called for the introduction, beginning in 1961-62 of special courses of basic political education in senior high school grades (which included atheistic instruction). This set off a large volume of anti-religious articles in Soviet periodicals, which for several years had been producing very few anti-religious pieces.
The CC plenum resolution brought back 'individual work' among believers, which was a concept used in the 1930s. This was a practice of atheist tutors (appointed by different public institutions including the CP, Komsomol, Znanie and trade unions) visiting known religious believers at their homes to try to convince them to become atheists. In most cases the tutors were workmates of the believers. If the believer was not convinced, the tutor would bring it to the attention of their union or professional collectives, and the backwardness and obstinacy of the specific believers were presented in public meetings before the believer's colleagues. If this did not work, administrative harassment would follow at work or school, and the believers would often be subject to lower-paid jobs, blocking of promotion, or expulsion from college if the believer was in college. Teachers commonly physically punished believing schoolchildren.[39]
Special schools had been set up in Leningrad in 1958 for the purpose of training tutors for 'individual work', which implies that the resurrection of this practice had been planned for years.
In 1961 a decree was passed that reconfirmed the ban on group pilgrimages. This was followed by campaigns of character assassination in the media against pilgrims and monasteries. This measure forbade believers from visiting monuments or graves of persons they considered to be saints. Boris Talantov reported such a ban coming even earlier in Kirov diocese in 1960.[40] Reforms were introduced in 1961 to exert tight control over church operations.
The 22nd CPSU congress in 1961 re-affirmed the need to eliminate religion in order to build true communism[38] and the need for true anti-religious education. The congress proclaimed that the current generation would come to live under true communism, which was interpreted to mean that religion needed to be vanquished within that timeframe.[3][33] The 1962 14th Komsomol congress called for a more concrete attack on religion and that it was the duty of every Komsomol member to resolutely struggle against religion.[32] This congress also declared that freedom of consicence did not apply to children and that parents should not cripple children spiritually.[7] On a similar note, the top Soviet legal journal declared that parental rights over children was a right given by the society and which could be withdrawn by the state if this right was abused.
The CPSU Central Committee issued two resolutions on July 6, 1962, directed at the leadership in Belarus and Kuibyshev Oblast that called for an end to the dissemination of religious ideas, especially among the young, and it criticized the party leadership for failing in the anti-religious struggle. It allowed for direct persecution of believers. This was re-printed in the press and followed by the whole country (as was the usual paradigm when a resolution was directed at a specific region).[33]
In June 1963, Leonid Il'ichev made a speech at the ideological plenum of the Central Committee. In it he called people who persisted in religious beliefs as amoral, and that religion was one of the extreme forms of bourgeois ideology. He advised a merciless war against religion, claimed that if they did nothing the Church would grow and that they needed a militantly aggressive assault on religion. He criticized Stalin for not holding true to Lenin's legacy in his tolerant policies towards religion after 1941[41] (Khrushchev also criticized Stalin's attempt to turn the site of the former Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow into a great Soviet monument, which Khrushchev decided instead would be a swimming pool[42]). Il'ichev, claimed that believers were 'political rascal and opportunists…[who] cheat, dissemble, hiding their hostility towards our political system under a mask of religion'.[15]
Orthodox Church [ edit ]
The two state organizations for overseeing religion in the country (one for the Orthodox, the other for everyone else), changed their functions between 1957-1964. Originally Stalin had created them in 1943 as liaison bodies between religious communities and the state; however, in the Khrushchev years their function was re-interpreted as dictatorial supervisors over the religious activities in the country. This control was not officially legislated, but it was created by secret instructions.[43]
Prior to this campaign, the famous St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow had been turned into a museum.[44] In 1958, only 38 Orthodox churches were open in Moscow.[44]
Patriarch Alexii made a speech in the Kremlin at a Soviet peace conference in 1960 in which he openly admitted persecutions, praised the role of the Church in Russia's history especially in times of crisis, and warned the Soviet government that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. This was the high point of the church hierarchy's resistance to the campaign, and it resulted in the forced retirement of the speech writer (Bishop Nikolai) and his mysterious death a few months later, as well as the Patriarchate's later submission to the new pressures.[45] The hierarchy in Russia was often criticized in Samizdat documents by people suffering persecution for its cooperation with the authorities.
The Orthodox hierarchy found itself in alliance with the state on different issues including the establishment of world peace, the abolition of race and class differences, condemning US aggression in Vietnam, and the abolition of the exploitation of the colonial system. At international conferences such as relations with other Orthodox communities outside of Russia, at the World Council of Churches, and the Prague Peace conference, the Orthodox hierarchy emphasized the religious tolerance and humanitarianism of the Soviet Union.[46] After Khrushchev the hierarchy would also lend its support to the state on the invasion of Czechoslovakia and denunciation of the right-wing military government in Greece.[46]
In 1961 the government explicitly forbade clergy from applying any kind of disciplinary measures to those under their care.[2] The Orthodox church was forced to let go of many of its regulations in conflict with the Leninist legality. Parish priests became legally the employees of the 'twenty persons' (after the church was deprived of its status of legal person, different parishes were considered to be owned by groups of at least twenty laypersons who applied) who were registered as the owners of the parish, and the priest was deprived of any administrative controls over the parish.[6] These 'twenties' also found themselves being increasingly penetrated by soviet agents who thereby hijacked control of different parishes. There was a campaign in the early 1960s to acquire more defections of priests and theologians to atheism, but the defections produced little result among the communities and the campaign was abandoned.
Very few Orthodox clergy ever became atheists in the whole history of the state.[47]
As a result of official harassment as well as practical difficulties, many believers had religious funeral rites performed 'by correspondence' wherein believers would mail some earth from deceased person's grave to a priest, and the priest would then bless the earth and return it to the believers in some fashion. In 1963 these types of funerals fell roughly between a range of 45-90% in different parts of the country in their portion of the total funeral rites.[48]
CROCA (Council for Russian Orthodox Church Affairs) relentlessly and arbitrarily appointed and removed priests through abuse of its registration and de-registration function. This led to the removal of the most popular and spiritually most influential priests from parishes, and it usually involved refusing to register any priests that were selected by popular choice of the congregation. Bishops were cowed and cooperated with CROCA, by instructing the priests under them to fulfill all of the government's instructions. Priests thereby ceased or reduced making topical or uplifting sermons as well as sermons that criticized atheism and the state ideology, but instead found themselves often simply making abstract sermons on Christian ethics. Under state pressure priests even found themselves coerced into making sermons against the presence of beggars on church steps (since the 1929 legislation had made Christian charitable efforts to be illegal).[49]
After 1960, CROCA began to forbid churches to provide temporary housing to people who came long distances to services. In compliance, church councils expelled such people. Some churches that secretly continued to do this were often visited by militia who would expel such people forcibly (even including elderly people on cold days in the winter). This measure effectively made it impossible for people from afar to attend services any longer, which further reduced church attendance (and thereby contributed to the propaganda that people were losing interest in religion). It also helped reduce income that parishes received. The lack of funds and attendance could be further used as excuses to close more parishes.[49]
In Kirov diocese after the end of 1959, priests began to receive oral orders from plenipotentiaries that forbade them to administer confessions, communion, baptisms, extreme unctions and other private religious services at private homes, even to the terminally ill, without explicit permission to do so for each case from the local soviet. It is known that a similar unpublished measure two years later was given to Moscow priests who were forced to sign it.[49] This measure when implemented could be used by the antireligious propaganda who could then claim that priests were lazy selfish people who would let a sick person die without coming to him; the fact that these instructions were unpublished meant that no priest was able to prove them to be true in the face of such criticism.[50] The authorities in Moscow denied that such a measure existed, which could further be used to allege that the priests were liars trying to slander the Soviet government.
Activities [ edit ]
At the third Znanie congress, it was reported that there were 15 inter-republican and republican as well as 150 provincial, conferences and seminars for promoting atheism in the year 1959, with the total participation of 14,000 propagandists. At one conference organized at the Soviet Academy of Sciences, up to 800 scholars and atheist propagandists participated. The congress also criticized the lack of education among many atheist propagandists, and cited an example of a cartoon in Nauka i religii ('Science and Religion') of Seventh-day Adventists praying before a religious icon as well as another example of an article in the same paper that referred to the Talmud as a Hebrew prayer book that believers held in their hands during Synagogue services. It also called for publication of a basic textbook on scientific atheism, which soon appeared and by 1964 had a circulation of 50,000 copies.[51]
In January 1960, a high level Znanie conference on atheism, encouraged attacks on the church and returning to Lenin's legacy that had been discarded in World War II.
Pentecostals were accused of causing serious mental and physical stress in their members by their practice of severe fasting and states of ecstasy as well as trances during their services. Their clergy were tried and sentenced to hard labour periodically. For example, Pentecostal presbyter, Kondrakov, in the Donets Basin mining area was accused of causing reactive psychosis in his parishioners and was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment.[52]
It was made illegal in 1960 for children and youth to attend services in the Baptist church. Similar measures to other denominations followed later. This may have been a result of the Baptists success in attracting much Soviet youth to their religion.[50] The Baptists cooperated with the state and the central leadership of their community called on its membership to try to reduce the baptism of young people between the ages of 18-30, and forbade children from attending services. This type of interference, by the state in this instance, was technically illegal under Soviet law.[53] This cooperation between the baptist leadership and the state led to a massive split in the Baptist community, when in 1962 the Initiative Baptists (Initsiativkniki) illegally formed as a community. The state engaged in massive persecutions against this new group and tried to treat the official Baptist church with many rights and privileges in contrast.[54]
The experience with the Baptist community prompted the state to be more cautious when it attempted similar measures against the Orthodox Church by banning priests from conducting services in the presence of children or youths. This instruction was never published but was usually given orally by local plenipotentiaries and involved threats of deregistration if it was not carried out.
In Kirov diocese these measures came into place in the summer of 1963, and the first attempts to implement the measure failed when mothers bringing their children to church physically assaulted the policemen and Komsomol who had gathered in order to stop them, who were overpowered. After this occurred CROCA plenipotentiaries phoned priests by telephone and ordered them not to give the sacraments to children or youths, and the priests largely complied.[54]
These measures were not applied uniformly, and numerous priests in the country continued to administer the Eucharist to children and even conduct special Te Deums for schoolchildren on the eve of the first school day in September. The authorities had much difficulty implementing these measures, due to resistance from the Patriarch who otherwise cooperated with them on most other subjects, as well as the resistance of parents. The state attempted other means to implement this.[55]
In Georgia, where there had been 2455 churches before 1917, only a hundred remained by 1962 (with 11 in Tbilisi).[56]
Many priests were imprisoned as a result of attracting youths to their services. In Orenburg diocese, for example, 46 priests were imprisoned in 1960. Clergy were harassed for working with youths down to the fall of the regime. Seminary candidates who left employment in order to go to seminary were arrested, and priests who helped them were deprived of registration.[57]
Parents of children who openly demonstrated their faith at school or of children who did not join the Pioneers or wear their kerchiefs for religious reasons were prosecuted by the courts. These court cases resulted in the deprival of parental rights and their children were sent to boarding schools. Parents who tried to raise their children in their faith could be also prosecuted and have their children removed from them.[58]
Seminaries began to be closed down in 1960. This was often done under the official pretext that they were not being used, while at the same time the Soviet authorities took measures to prevent students from coming (e.g. at the Volhynia seminary, the state ordered the institution to provide a list of names of their candidates, and afterwards it then registered the students for mandatory military service or refused their residence permits in Lutsk, which allowed them to shut down the institution in 1964 under the pretext that it was not being used).[7] The Soviet media reported that this was a natural decline of those willing to enroll and it was a sign of the decline of religious beliefs. Five of the eight seminaries in the country were shut down during this period, and in the surviving seminaries (Moscow, Leningrad and Odessa[59]) student numbers were reduced. At the surviving Leningrad seminary, for example, the population of the seminary was reduced to 70 (from 396 in 1953).[60] The lack of seminary candidates, therefore also meant a lack of priests being produced which therefore meant that more parishes could be shut down for lack of use.
Despite being deprived of their funds, the monasteries were able to hold on to their existence, until they were closed in later years directly following a massive anti-monastic campaign in the press, which depicted the funds-deprived monasteries as parasitic institutions with fields and gardens tilled by exploited peasants while the consecrated religious enjoyed themselves. The monasteries were accused of black-market dealings, sexual relations of the monks with nuns and female pilgrims, and drunkenness. The administrators of the communities were also accused of collaboration with the Nazis. The actual shutting down of the monasteries was presented in the press as being voluntarily done by the consecrated religious who were happy to join the working world. The Old Believer sect of True Orthodox Wanderers was also attacked for supposed harbouring of criminals and deserters from the war.[61] Monasteries had traditionally been the greatest centres of pilgrimage in Orthodoxy, which may have prompted the government's great interest in eliminating them. Their number was reduced from 69 in 1959 to 17 by 1965 (there were over 1000 before 1917).[62]
In March 1961, the Soviet Council of Ministers forbade parishes to engage in any form of charity or offering financial aid to other parishes or monasteries. Further methods were used to limit funds for churches, including banning sales of candles according to 1929 legislation that forbade obligatory payments to religious organizations. This allowed for even more churches to be closed. The depopulation of rural areas in Siberia, the Urals and Northern Russia as the people moved to the cities was used as a pretext to close their churches (new churches were not simultaneously opened in the cities though).[63]
After the Soviet government reconfirmed its ban on group pilgrimages in 1961, it then began a campaign to destroy grave-sites and monuments of people who were considered to be saints. Some of these sites included nationally revered sites that attracted thousands of pilgrims since as early as the 14th and 15th centuries.
In 1962, 'Administrative Commissions Attached to the Executive Committees of the City Soviets of Workers Deputies' were set up as disciplinarian supervisors over religious bodies. They were made up of state employees and members of local Soviets, and they kept religious societies under observation. They studied ways to weaken and limit the activities of religious groups, and to expose any attempts by clergy to violate soviet law. At the same time, local Soviet executives were charged with making sure that the 'groups of twenty' that held legal rights over churches were filled with reliable people who would not care for the spiritual life of the parish. Since the priests had been made the employees of these groups, this legislation allowed for the state to take control of parishes.[6] This situation often bred discontent in parishes, and led to confrontation between the executive group of twenty and the priest.[63]
According to reports from Boris Talantov in Kirov diocese, the campaign was primarily directed at liquidating churches and religious associations, and that it was being fulfilled by CROCA (later CRA) and its local plenipotentiaries with support from local governments. He said that usually the provincial CROCA plenipotentiary would de-register the priest serving a church earmarked for liquidation or move the priest to another parish. Then for six to eleven months he would permit no new priest to occupy the vacant post while ignoring the petitions by parishioners. This happened to 21 out of the 80 priests in Kirov diocese between 1960-1963. While the church continued to be vacant, the local government would then attempt to intimidate the believers to quit the religious association ('the twenty') that registered the church, after which the it was declared that the religious association no longer existed. Then the Provincial Executivee Committee would declare the church closed and hand over the building to the local collective farm or town soviet for other uses, often without informing the religious association, which would then be officially de-registered. He claimed that many reports and delegations were sent to CROCA in Moscow that gave evidence that the religious association still existed or that the collective farm in question did not require the church building for any purposes. Never would the text of de-registration decisions be shown to believers (which Soviet law in fact required), and the liquidations themselves often took place with the protection of militia and in the middle of the night. Believers would not be permitted to enter the churches and the contents were confiscated without any inventory.[64]
In his description icons were broken up and burned, service books and scriptures were destroyed, and the Communion wine was consumed by the militia. The |
lowered marathon performance, kidney disease, and osteoporosis from “eating all that meat,” but that’s not what I’m covering today. No, today the subject is gout, which occurs when excess uric acid crystallizes and accumulates in the extremities. The jagged shards embed themselves in the joints, tendons, and other tissues, causing excruciating pain, inflammation, and swelling, particularly in the big toe. Suffice it to say, it is extremely unpleasant. Sounds great, right?
Let’s move on to the question that prompted today’s post:
Hi Mark, What’s your take on gout? It apparently runs in my family, and while I haven’t gotten an attack yet, I’ve heard that a “rich diet” is the cause, which as I understand refers to meat and animal fat. Does this mean I shouldn’t eat Primal? What does the science actually say? Thanks, Will
In previous centuries, gout was described as a “rich man’s disease” or “the disease of kings.” Ambrose Bierce called it “A physician’s name for the rheumatism of a rich patient.” Basically, it primarily affected the upper class, the royalty, the aristocracy – those who could afford “rich” foods like meat, sugar, and port. In the mid-19th century, uric acid was identified as the causative agent in gout. Where does uric acid come from? Purines.
Purines are in pretty much every cell – plant and animal alike – because they provide some of the chemical structure of both DNA and RNA. When cells are broken down and recycled (like in digestion – yum, love those delicious cells!), their purines get metabolized right along with everything else. Uric acid is a major product of purine metabolism, and this is a good thing; uric acid acts as an antioxidant in our blood, protecting blood vessels from damage. But if for some reason an excessive amount of uric acid (hyperuricemia) is produced, enough to crystallize and lodge in joints and other tissues, you might get gout.
And so the standard tale goes like so:
Since we get uric acid from breaking down purines, the natural solution is to reduce one’s intake of purine-containing foods – right? That seems sensible. Reduce purines, which turn into uric acid, and you reduce hyperuricemia, which causes gout. Boom. Problem solved.
The problem for a Primal eater given this advice, however, is that the richest sources of purines also happen to be some of our most treasured foods: organ meats like sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, and brain; seafood like sardines, anchovies, herring, mackerel, scallops, and mussels; and wild game meat. Even beef and pork are moderate sources of purines. In short, everything we talk about eating on MDA is apparently contraindicated for gout prevention. How do we reconcile without destroying our brains with cognitive dissonance?
Easy. We look for the real problem. What’s more logical? That purines, which appear in all foods and particularly in some of the most nutrient-dense foods (like organs and seafood), are the problem? Or that hyperuricemia, an excess of uric acid, is the problem?
Let’s table the purine talk for awhile, given the importance of purine-rich foods in the ancestral human diet, to look at some other causes of high uric acid. What else causes uric acid to rise?
Dietary Fructose
When the liver is loaded with fructose, whether by excessive intake or a lack of liver-glycogen-burning activity, purine metabolism is disturbed and uric acid spikes. One study (PDF) found that 0.5 g/kg body weight was enough to increase uric acid levels by this mechanism.
Fructose also decreases urinary excretion of uric acid, so it’s a double whammy: fructose both increases uric acid and decreases its excretion.
Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Syndrome
Elevated insulin levels, especially the chronically-elevated levels (hyperinsulinemia) seen with insulin resistance, also reduce urinary excretion of uric acid. It’s no surprise that gout patients often display the classic trappings of metabolic syndrome, too, including diabetes, vascular disease, and poor glucose tolerance.
Back to purines. Does the advice to drastically reduce purine intake hold up?
Not really, according to this 2002 review paper (PDF). And the fructose/alcohol connection is looking stronger. Among their findings:
“A diet rich in purines will produce only a small and transient (read: impermanent) rise of serum urate by about 60–120?mol/l (1–2 mg/dl).”
“Conversely, an isocaloric purine-free diet for 7–10 days will slightly lower serum urate by about 60–120?mol/l (1–2 mg/dl).”
“A dietary study of 61 men with gout and 52 healthy men showed that although the average daily intake of most nutrients, including total purine nitrogen, was similar in both gout sufferers and control subjects, the group with gout drank significantly more alcohol than the controls.”
“Alcohol intake, whether alone or with a purine-rich meal, produces greater effects on serum urate levels than a high purine diet.”
“There is growing evidence that a low energy, calorie restricted, low carbohydrate (40% of energy), high protein (120 g/day, or 30% of energy) diet, with unsaturated fat (30% of energy) and high dietary fiber, is more beneficial in terms of lowering serum urate, insulin, LDL-C, and triglyceride levels, and hence reducing CAD risk, than the conventional low purine diet…”
Furthermore, research shows that eating purines actually increases uric acid excretion in order to maintain balance, almost like the body knows what it’s doing or something. Nah, couldn’t be.
It’s also worth noting that dietary protein has also been shown to increase uric acid excretion and lower serum uric acid. Hmm. It’s starting to sound like a low-carb Primal eating plan might just help, isn’t it?
What else should people at risk for gout or showing high uric acid levels do, other than reduce/avoid fructose, clear out liver glycogen every once in awhile (maybe by occasionally sprinting, which I could have sworn I’ve heard someone recommend before), and avoid hyperinsulinemia?
You could make sure you’re getting enough vitamin C, which is inversely associated with uric acid levels. Vitamin C is known to be uricosuric (increases the excretion of uric acid), so this association is likely causal. While I don’t think the average person needs to megadose vitamin C, it is exceedingly safe, and it’s worth a shot for people at risk for gout or hyperuricemia. If you’re at risk, shoot for at least a gram or two a day.
Be careful with intermittent fasting, which has been shown to reduce uric acid excretion (PDF). This may not matter, as in one study, complete fasting by obese subjects did not increase incidence of gout, even in one individual who had previously suffered it. Just be aware of the possibility.
Stay hydrated. Dehydration (at least through exercise) can increase uric acid retention and concentrations.
I’ve also heard a number of anecdotal reports from gout sufferers who successfully staved off attacks with a quarter teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in water, supposedly by increasing alkalinity. There haven’t been any actual studies on it, though, so bear that in mind.
But perhaps the best way to avoid gout? Get healthy. Eat well. Exercise intensely from time to time. Avoid refined sugar. Avoid obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and metabolic syndrome. If what you’re eating and how you’re living are giving you those things – or moving you toward them – they’re also likely to reduce your chances of developing or exacerbating gout.
Gout sufferers, what have you experienced since going Primal? Has it helped, or has it made the problem worse? Let us know in the comment section!
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If you'd like to add an avatar to all of your comments click here!How To Make A Girl Fall In Love With You
How To Make A Girl Fall In Love With You
So the title is “How To Make A Girl Fall In Love With You” but this actually works for men or women.
Stare into their eyes. Yup, that’s it. It dramatically increases the chances of love:
In two studies, subjects induced to exchange mutual unbroken gaze for 2 min with a stranger of the opposite sex reported increased feelings of passionate love for each other. In Study I, 96 subjects were run in the four combinations of gazing at the other’s hands or eyes, or in a fifth condition in which the subject was asked to count the other’s eye blinks. Subjects who were gazing at their partner’s eyes, and whose partner was gazing back reported significantly higher feelings of affection than subjects in any other condition. They also reported greater liking than all subjects except those in the eye blink counting condition. In Study II, with 72 subjects, those who engaged in mutual gaze increased significantly their feelings of passionate love, dispositional love, and liking for their partner. This effect occurred only for subjects who were identified on a separate task as more likely to rely on cues from their own behavior in defining their attributes. Source: “Looking and loving: The effects of mutual gaze on feelings of romantic love” from Journal of research in personality, Vol. 23, No. 2. (June 1989), pp. 145-161.
Hat tip: Oliver Burkeman’s Help! How to be slightly happier and get a bit more done
For more info on How To Make A Girl Fall In Love With You check out my post on the science behind the How To Be James Bond.
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Post DetailsM-Sport and Toyota have shared the wins in the first two rounds, despite M-Sport only having technical partner status rather than full factory support from Ford and extensive pre-season skepticism about the new Toyota project.
But Hyundai has dominated on pace, with Thierry Neuville winning 12 stages - twice as much as anyone else's tally - and leading for 23 of the 32 stages run so far before crashes in both Monte Carlo and Sweden.
M-Sport team principal Malcolm Wilson reckons the top teams are closer than any time in the past two decades.
"This is the closest I have ever known the competition since I have been running the team," he told Motorsport.com's sister site Autosport.
"Given the new technical regulations for this year, it’s incredible to see just how close the cars are.
"Every one of the four manufacturers is so evenly matched right now. We can definitely say that we are in for one heck of an exciting season in 2017."
Wilson's thoughts were echoed by his Toyota counterpart Tommi Makinen.
“The cars are very close together,” Makinen said. “This is a very, very good situation for the championship, we need to have this kind of close competition.
"This is so interesting to have so many drivers fighting in so many cars; what could be better?”
Hyundai team boss Michel Nandan promised the Korean firm's fans that it would hit back.
"We owe you revenge and we are determined to take it, starting from the next rally," he said.
"In the meantime, I think this is the right moment for me to open a quote book: 'It’s not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts.' "
The only team yet to lead a rally is Citroen, and it has only scored one stage win with Stephane Lefebvre.
But Wilson is not counting the multiple champion team out.
"It’s fair to say everybody expected Citroen to be right there among the strongest, if not the strongest,” he said. "They had taken the year off to concentrate on development.
"But listen, they will be back. Make no mistake about that."
When was WRC last this close?
For many years, WRC has been simultaneously blessed and afflicted with talent - Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier, along with their respective Citroen and Volkswagen teams, took turns to dominate to such an extent that one-horse races became the norm.
It has been a long time since a WRC season featured more than one or at best two marques with realistic title potential.
But in the late 1990s and early 2000s golden era, Ford, Peugeot, Citroen, Mitsubishi and Subaru all produced rally-winning machinery, while part-time players SEAT, Skoda and Hyundai also tried to challenge.
The 2001 season was the apogee of that period. Colin McRae barrel-rolled his Ford when he had one hand on the title and lost out to Subaru's Richard Burns by just two points.
Tommi Makinen of Mitsubishi and Peugeot pair Marcus Gronholm and Harri Rovanpera completed a top five, covered by just eight points.
Traditionally, rallying has always been a category of relatively open competition among manufacturers.
Back in the first year of what was then the WRC 'drivers' cup' in 1977, Lancia and Ford were split by just four points in the teams' standings, and Fiat and Saab also took rally wins. Lancia's Sandro Munari topped the drivers' table.Loews Hotels at Universal Orlando has quietly announced that they are trapping the 10 feral cats that live there and sending them to their deaths at a local animal services facility.
It all started in January. Florida cat lovers were stunned to learn that a hotel renowned for its model feral cat TNR program, which even included palatial feeding stations and shelters, had suddenly reversed its stance and the 10 community cats that lived there were no longer welcome. The hotel’s management planned to have them trapped and “relocated.”
Cat lovers all around the state — and soon, all around the country and even all around the world — bombarded the hotels with pleas for the cats’ lives. National groups like Alley Cat Allies got involved and volunteered to work with the hotel to find a solution that would allow the cats to stay at the only home they had ever known. It was starting to look like the colony would be allowed to stay.
But last night, Loews Portofino Bay Hotel & Loews Royal Pacific Hotel posted this announcement, buried deep within the comments to a note on its Facebook page labeled “Feral Cat Issue”:
That’s right: the hotel is having the cats “relocated to the county animal services center,” where they will certainly be killed.
The note where this comment appeared is more than two months old now. It hadn’t even been touched for weeks until a member of the public asked yesterday morning, “So, Loews, what is your stand?” Do you know what happens when comments are made to 2-month-old Facebook posts? Not much!
Who would even have known about Loews’ move if a member of the public hadn’t asked?
Why is the hotel making this drastic move? Because the Florida Department of Health and other agencies say that feral, free-roaming cats pose a public health hazard. The hotel never offered any research to back up this claim, because, well, there isn’t any.
In a four-page memo dated March 27, 2012, Loews Hotels laid out their new policy for dealing with “wild animals” like feral cats. Employees, guests, contractors, and other businesses working on Loews’ Orlando properties were forbidden to feed or interact with the feral colonies in any way and were urged to report any such activities by other employees to management. Employees found in violation of this policy will be “subject to disciplinary action.” Implicit in this warning is the threat that if a “LHUO team member” feeds or handles “feral or undomesticated wild animals,” he or she could be fired.
It turns out that the management of the Loews properties at Universal studios never returned calls or e-mails from Alley Cat Allies or any other groups that specialize in managing feral cat colonies.
Overnight, my Facebook page exploded with infuriated comments from my fellow cat bloggers and cat lovers.
The traps were set yesterday and the cats’ fates may be sealed today.
Riverfront Cats, a feral cat advocacy and care group, is urging people to contact the hotel and speak up for the ferals. “Please call the hotel and ask to speak with manager (407-503-1234). Let him or her know you have a complaint. Don’t give specifics to phone taker. Just demand to speak to manager,” and ask the questions listed on Riverfront Cats’ website.
You can leave a comment to the note on the Loews Hotels Facebook page, too, if you’d like, but they’ll probably delete it as they have with so many other comments about the cats.
The Save Loews Cats Facebook page was created just this morning. If you want to comment on Facebook, Loews Hotels can’t delete your words there!
If you do contact Loews Hotels or write on the Facebook page, I urge you to please refrain from hissing, spitting and cussing! No matter how angry you are, be polite and respectful in your dealings with them, for the sake of the cats. You can hiss and spit all you want in the comments to this post, though.
Update: Catster’s Dorian Wagner created this Facebook page this morning to draw attention to this cause. Please “like” it if you can!A Rhode Island lawmaker is defending himself after giving his colleagues a handout that showed open web browser tabs with pornographic references loaded in the background.
State Rep. Ramon Perez was testifying before the House Finance Committee on Wednesday in favor of a bill to create a fund that would pay drivers involved in accidents with unlicensed motorists, reports the AP.
As part of his testimony, he handed committee members a printout of a Wikipedia article on a similar policy in Puerto Rico.
Perez apparently did not notice the open browser tabs shown in the printout…
The tabs are a bit difficult to read, but the words “teen”, “MILF,” “young cute”, “blonde,” and “brunette” can be seen.
A clerk quickly collected the documents from the committee members, and Perez submitted a porn-free version the next day, reports WPRI.
Perez, a freshman legislator, claimed the image was not from his computer.
“I was asking a friend if they know something about it. So a friend sent me that picture with the information I was looking for. I used that picture to make copies. I didn’t see the stuff at the top,” Perez said.
Image and more here – http://www.thedailysheeple.com/oops-lawmaker-hands-out-document-with-screenshot-that-shows-open-porn-site-tabs_062017Berinthia " Berry " Berenson-Perkins (April 14, 1948 – September 11, 2001) was an American photographer, actress, and model. Perkins, who was the wife of actor Anthony Perkins, died in the September 11 attacks as a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11.
Following a brief modeling career in the late 1960s, Berenson became a freelance photographer. By 1973, her photographs had been published in Life, Glamour, Vogue and Newsweek. [9]
On August 9, 1973, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Berenson married her future Remember My Name costar Anthony Perkins. The couple raised two sons: actor-musician Oz Perkins (born February 2, 1974) and folk/rock recording artist Elvis Perkins (born February 9, 1976).[10] They remained married until Perkins's death from AIDS-related complications on September 12, 1992.[11][12][13]
Berenson died at age 53 in the September 11 attacks aboard American Airlines Flight 11, one day before the ninth anniversary of Perkins's death. She was returning to her California home following a holiday on Cape Cod.[14]
At the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Berenson is memorialized at the North Pool, on Panel N-76.[15]Finland lost its AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor’s last week, thanks to the “loss of global market share in the key information technology sector [and] structural retrenchment of the important forestry sector,” according to S&P. Today, Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb laid the blame for the decline of its tech and paper industries at the feet of one company: Apple.
“We have two champions which went down,” Stubb told CNBC. ”I guess one could say that the iPhone killed Nokia and the iPad killed the Finnish paper industry, but we’ll make a comeback.”
Before the debut of the iPhone in 2007, Nokia was worth $150 billion, accounting for a quarter of Finland’s economic growth from 1998 to 2007 as well as paying a fifth of all corporation tax in the country. But since the advent of the touchscreen smartphone, Nokia’s shares steadily lost three-quarters of their value before Microsoft swooped and bought the company’s mobile phone business for $7 billion last year. What’s left of the old Nokia now focuses on telecoms network equipment, an industry that isn’t exactly in rude health.
The outlook for Finland’s paper companies is not great either. Shares of Stora Enso have shed nearly half of their value over the past five years. It might be a stretch to blame the iPad for the decline of books, magazines, and newspapers across the world, but people are definitely consuming more digital content on devices by Apple and its competitors—including Stubb himself:
The prime minister is positive on Finland’s future, though. “Forest is coming back in terms of bio energy and other things,” he told CNBC. “And actually a new Nokia has emerged. Usually what happens is that when you have dire times you get a lot of innovation and I think from the public sector our job is to create the platform for it.”"Admiral Yamamoto" redirects here. For Imperial Japanese Navy Minister who was in office from 1898–1906 and the 8th Prime Minister of Japan, see Yamamoto Gonnohyōe
Isoroku Yamamoto (山本 五十六, Yamamoto Isoroku, April 4, 1884 – April 18, 1943) was a Japanese Marshal Admiral of the Navy and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II until his death.
Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the early years of the Pacific War and oversaw major engagements including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway. He was killed when American code breakers identified his flight plans, and the Army Air Force shot down his plane. His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II.[3][4]
Family background [ edit ]
Yamamoto was born Isoroku Takano (高野 五十六, Takano Isoroku) in Nagaoka, Niigata. His father was Sadayoshi Takano (高野 貞吉), an intermediate-rank samurai of the Nagaoka Domain. "Isoroku" is an old Japanese term meaning "56"; the name referred to his father's age at Isoroku's birth.[5]
In 1916, Isoroku was adopted into the Yamamoto family (another family of former Nagaoka samurai) and took the Yamamoto name. It was a common practice for samurai families lacking sons to adopt suitable young men in this fashion to carry on the family name, the rank and the income that comes with it. In 1918 Isoroku married Reiko Mihashi, with whom he had two sons and two daughters.[6]
Early career [ edit ]
Yamamoto in 1905
After graduating from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1904, Yamamoto served on the armored cruiser Nisshin during the Russo-Japanese War. He was wounded at the Battle of Tsushima, losing two fingers (the index and middle fingers) on his left hand, as the cruiser was hit repeatedly by the Russian battle line. He returned to the Naval Staff College in 1914, emerging as a lieutenant commander in 1916.
1920s and 1930s [ edit ]
Yamamoto was part of the Japanese Navy establishment, who were rivals of the more aggressive army establishment, especially the officers of the Kwantung Army. As such, he promoted a policy of a strong fleet to project force through gunboat diplomacy, rather than a fleet used primarily for transport of invasion land forces, as some of his political opponents in the army wanted.[7] This stance led him to oppose the invasion of China. He also opposed war against the United States partly because of his studies at Harvard University (1919–1921) and his two postings as a naval attaché in Washington, D.C., where he learned to speak fluent English. Yamamoto traveled extensively in the United States during his tour of duty there, where he studied American customs and business practices.
He was promoted to captain in 1923. On February 13, 1924, at the rank of captain, he was part of the Japanese delegation visiting the US Naval War College.[8] Later that year, he changed his specialty from gunnery to naval aviation. His first command was the cruiser Isuzu in 1928, followed by the aircraft carrier Akagi.
He participated in the second London Naval Conference of 1930 as a rear admiral and the 1934 London Naval Conference as a vice admiral, as the growing military influence on the government at the time deemed that a career military specialist needed to accompany the diplomats to the arms limitations talks. Yamamoto was a strong proponent of naval aviation, and served as head of the Aeronautics Department before accepting a post as commander of the First Carrier Division. Yamamoto opposed the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the subsequent land war with China (1937), and the 1940 Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. As Deputy Navy Minister, he apologized to United States Ambassador Joseph C. Grew for the bombing of the gunboat USS Panay in December 1937. These issues made him a target of assassination threats by pro-war militarists.
Throughout 1938, many young army and naval officers began to speak publicly against Yamamoto and certain other Japanese admirals such as Mitsumasa Yonai and Shigeyoshi Inoue for their strong opposition to a tripartite pact with Nazi Germany as they saw it as inimical to "Japan's natural interests."[9]:101 Yamamoto received a steady stream of hate mail and death threats from Japanese nationalists. His reaction to the prospect of death by assassination was passive and accepting. The admiral wrote: To die for Emperor and Nation is the highest hope of a military man. After a brave hard fight the blossoms are scattered on the fighting field. But if a person wants to take a life instead, still the fighting man will go to eternity for Emperor and country. One man's life or death is a matter of no importance. All that matters is the Empire. As Confucius said, "They may crush cinnabar, yet they do not take away its color; one may burn a fragrant herb, yet it will not destroy the scent." They may destroy my body, yet they will not take away my will.[9]:101–02
The Japanese Army, annoyed at Yamamoto's unflinching opposition to a Rome-Berlin-Tokyo treaty, dispatched military police to "guard" Yamamoto, a ruse by the army to keep an eye on him.[9]:102-103 He was later reassigned from the naval ministry to sea as the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet on August 30, 1939. This was done as one of the last acts of the then-acting Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai, under Baron Hiranuma's short-lived administration. It was done partly to make it harder for assassins to target Yamamoto. Yonai was certain that if Yamamoto remained ashore, he would be killed before the year [1939] ended.[9]:103
Marshal Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Yamamoto was promoted to admiral on November 15, 1940. This, in spite of the fact that when Hideki Tōjō was appointed prime minister on October 18, 1941, many political observers thought that Yamamoto's career was essentially over.[9]:114 Tōjō had been Yamamoto's old opponent from the time when the latter served as Japan's deputy naval minister and Tōjō was the prime mover behind Japan's takeover of Manchuria. It was believed that Yamamoto would be appointed to command the Yokosuka Naval Base, "a nice safe demotion with a big house and no power at all."[9]:114 After the new Japanese cabinet was announced, however, Yamamoto found himself left alone in his position despite his open conflicts with Tōjō and other members of the army's oligarchy who favored war with the European powers and the United States. Two of the main reasons for Yamamoto's political survival were his immense popularity within the fleet, where he commanded the respect of his men and officers, and his close relations with the imperial family.[9]:115 He also had the acceptance of Japan's naval hierarchy:
There was no officer more competent to lead the Combined Fleet to victory than Admiral Yamamoto. His daring plan for the Pearl Harbor attack had passed through the crucible of the Japanese naval establishment, and after many expressed misgivings, his fellow admirals had realized that Yamamoto spoke no more than the truth when he said that Japan's hope for victory in this [upcoming] war was limited by time and oil. Every sensible officer of the navy was well aware of the perennial oil problems. Also, it had to be recognized that if the enemy could seriously disturb Japanese merchant shipping, then the fleet would be endangered even more.[9]:115–16
Consequently, Yamamoto stayed in his post. With Tōjō now in charge of Japan's highest political office, it became clear the army would lead the navy into a war about which Yamamoto had serious reservations. He wrote to an ultranationalist:
Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it would not be enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians [who speak so lightly of a Japanese-American war] have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.[10]
This quote was spread by the militarists, minus the last sentence, where it was interpreted in America as a boast that Japan would conquer the entire continental United States.[10] The omitted sentence showed Yamamoto's counsel of caution towards a war that could cost Japan dearly. Nevertheless, Yamamoto accepted the reality of impending war and planned for a quick victory by destroying the US fleet at Pearl Harbor in a preventive strike while simultaneously thrusting into the oil and rubber resource-rich areas of Southeast Asia, especially the Dutch East Indies, Borneo, and Malaya. In naval matters, Yamamoto opposed the building of the super-battleships Yamato and Musashi as an unwise investment of resources.
Yamamoto was responsible for a number of innovations in Japanese naval aviation. Although remembered for his association with aircraft carriers due to Pearl Harbor and Midway, Yamamoto did more to influence the development of land-based naval aviation, particularly the Mitsubishi G3M and G4M medium bombers. His demand for great range and the ability to carry a torpedo was intended to conform to Japanese conceptions of bleeding the American fleet as it advanced across the Pacific. The planes did achieve long range, but long-range fighter escorts were not available. These planes were lightly constructed and when fully fueled, they were especially vulnerable to enemy fire. This earned the G4M the sardonic nickname the "flying cigarette lighter". Yamamoto would eventually die in one of these aircraft.
The range of the G3M and G4M contributed to a demand for great range in a fighter aircraft. This partly drove the requirements for the A6M Zero which was as noteworthy for its range as for its maneuverability. Both qualities were again purchased at the expense of light construction and flammability that later contributed to the A6M's high casualty rates as the war progressed.
Nagato in 1940 Yamamoto on a Navy Planning meeting on battleshipin 1940
As Japan moved toward war during 1940, Yamamoto gradually moved toward strategic as well as tactical innovation, again with mixed results. Prompted by talented young officers such as Lieutenant Commander Minoru Genda, Yamamoto approved the reorganization of Japanese carrier forces into the First Air Fleet, a consolidated striking force that gathered Japan's six largest carriers into one unit. This innovation gave great striking capacity, but also concentrated the vulnerable carriers into a compact target. Yamamoto also oversaw the organization of a similar large land-based organization in the 11th Air Fleet, which would later use the G3M and G4M to neutralize American air forces in the Philippines and sink the British "Force Z".
In January 1941, Yamamoto went even further and proposed a radical revision of Japanese naval strategy. For two decades, in keeping with the doctrine of Captain Alfred T. Mahan,[11] the Naval General Staff had planned in terms of Japanese light surface forces, submarines, and land-based air units whittling down the American Fleet as it advanced across the Pacific until the Japanese Navy engaged it in a climactic "decisive battle" in the northern Philippine Sea (between the Ryukyu Islands and the Marianas), with battleships meeting in the traditional exchange between battle lines.
Correctly pointing out this plan had never worked even in Japanese war games, and painfully aware of American strategic advantages in military production capacity, Yamamoto proposed instead to seek a decision with the Americans by first reducing their forces with a preventive strike, and following it with a "decisive battle" fought offensively, rather than defensively. Yamamoto hoped, but probably did not believe, that if the Americans could be dealt terrific blows early in the war they might be willing to negotiate an end to the conflict. As it turned out, however, the note officially breaking diplomatic relations with the United States was delivered late, and he correctly perceived the Americans would be resolved upon revenge and unwilling to negotiate. At the end of the attack upon Pearl Harbor, upon hearing of the mis-timing of the communique breaking diplomatic relations with the United States earlier that day, it is reputed Yamamoto said, "I fear all we have done today is to awaken a great, sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.";[12] however, there is no documented evidence the statement was made.
The Naval General Staff proved reluctant to go along and Yamamoto was eventually driven to capitalize on his popularity in the fleet by threatening to resign to get his way. Admiral Osami Nagano and the Naval General Staff eventually caved in to this pressure, but only insofar as approving the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The First Air Fleet commenced preparations for the Pearl Harbor raid, solving a number of technical problems along the way, including how to launch torpedoes in the shallow water of Pearl Harbor and how to craft armor-piercing bombs by machining down battleship gun projectiles.
Attack on Pearl Harbor [ edit ]
As Yamamoto had planned, the First Air Fleet of six carriers commenced hostilities against the Americans on December 7, 1941, launching 353[13] aircraft against Pearl Harbor in two waves. The attack was a complete success according to the parameters of the mission, which sought to sink at least four American battleships and prevent the US Fleet from interfering in Japan's southward advance for at least six months. American aircraft carriers were also considered a choice target, but these were not in port at the time of the attack.
In the end, five American battleships were sunk, three were damaged, and eleven other cruisers, destroyers, and auxiliaries were sunk or seriously damaged. The Japanese lost only 29 aircraft, while 74 were damaged by anti-aircraft fire from the ground. The damaged aircraft were disproportionately dive and torpedo bombers, seriously impacting available firepower to exploit the first two waves' success, so the commander of the First Air Fleet, Naval Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, withdrew. Yamamoto later lamented Nagumo's failure to seize the initiative to seek out and destroy the US carriers, absent from the harbor, or further bombard various strategically important facilities on Oahu. Nagumo had absolutely no idea where the American carriers might be, and remaining on station while his forces cast about looking for them ran the risk of his own forces being found first and attacked while his aircraft were absent searching. In any case, insufficient daylight remained after recovering the aircraft from the first two waves for the carriers to launch and recover a third before dark, and Nagumo's escorting destroyers lacked the fuel capacity for him to loiter long. Much has been made of Yamamoto's hindsight, but, in keeping with Japanese military tradition not to criticize the commander on the spot,[14] he did not punish Nagumo for his withdrawal.
On the strategic level, the attack was a disaster for Japan, rousing American passions for revenge due to it being a "sneak attack". The shock of the attack coming in an unexpected place, with such devastating results and without the expected "fair play" of a declaration of war galvanized the US public's determination to avenge the attack. When asked by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe in mid-1941 about the outcome of a possible war with the United States, Yamamoto made a well-known and prophetic statement: If ordered to fight, "I shall run wild considerably for the first six months or a year, but I have utterly no confidence for the second and third years."[15] His prediction would be vindicated as Japan easily conquered territories and islands for the first six months of the war until it suffered a shattering defeat at the Battle of Midway on June 4–7, 1942, which ultimately tilted the balance of power in the Pacific towards the US.
As a strategic blow intended to prevent American interference in the Dutch East Indies for six months, the Pearl Harbor attack was a success, but unbeknownst to Yamamoto, it was a pointless one. In 1935, in keeping with the evolution of War Plan Orange, the US Navy had abandoned any intention of attempting to charge across the Pacific towards the Philippines at the outset of a |
the world. I know for me, I first fell in love with khakis as a teenager. I found my dad’s old army uniform in the basement, washed the starch out of them, and started wearing them around. I’ve always loved the military uniform, so this is a way for us to weave in authentically-inspired pieces, but they’re updated. The fit is slimmer, we’ve run them through the filters. In the same way that Alpha started with a khaki, but we’ve updated the fit, color, and all that. My design team is obsessed with details and love anything with a military heritage to it, and updating it in a way that feels relevant and fresh.
_GQ: _It’s hard to imagine khakis ever going out of style because of their uniform roots. Do you have a personal uniform?
Conklyn: In many ways, I dress the same way I did when I was a kid. I wore my dad’s button-fly army pants rolled up with penny loafers or a white oord shirt. I just wore that the other day! Despite the fact that in the past, khakis kind of came to represent this sort of everyday, "business casual" kind of look, to me khakis will always be the epitome of this masculine, romantic sensibility. For us, we’re trying to bring that back. You could argue that besides the jean, the khaki is a very rugged, iconic garment.
_The Dockers Pop Up Shop
25 Howard St.
Tuesday - Saturday 11-8, Sun 12-7, Closed on Mondays
_Democratic presidential hopeful and self-described socialist [crscore]Bernie Sanders[/crscore] condemned Verizon during a protest Monday of company workers discontent with management.
Verizon and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) are struggling to arrive at a new labor contract. The new agreement will impact upwards of 39,000 unionized workers. Workers have held several rallies and protests to express their opposition to how the company is handling the negotiations. At their latest rally, they were joined by Sanders, who urged Verizon to negotiate a fair contract.
“All over this country, Verizon is a metaphor,” Sanders told the crowd, according to Business Insider. “You’ve got corporate America making huge profits, their CEOs getting huge compensation packages. And then with all of their money, what they do is hire lawyers in order to make it harder for workers to survive in this country.”
During his speech, Sanders addressed several key issues. The main being allegation Verizon has illegally taken steps to stop workers from unionizing. The Associated Press reports the union has claimed the company fired Bianca Cunningham over expressing her right to organize. Verizon disputes the claim. Sanders also demands Verizon create more broadband networks, an issue the union is pushing as well.
Sanders also met privately with Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). His campaign thus far has very much appealed to union members. While local unions are very vocal in their support, their national counterparts fear Sanders is not electable.
With the announcement Vice President Joe Biden will not run, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is begining to gain traction with the labor movement. Hillary has also spoken with workers struggling with their company. Clinton gave a speech at a Culinary Workers Union protest Oct. 12 outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
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Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@ dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.The x32 ABI is an application binary interface (ABI) and one of the interfaces of the Linux kernel. It allows programs to take advantage of the benefits of x86-64 instruction set (larger number of CPU registers, better floating-point performance, faster position-independent code, shared libraries, function parameters passed via registers, faster syscall instruction) while using 32-bit pointers and thus avoiding the overhead of 64-bit pointers.[1][2][3]
Details [ edit ]
Though the x32 ABI limits the program to a virtual address space of 4 GiB, it also decreases the memory footprint of the program by making pointers smaller. This can allow it to run faster by fitting more data into cache.[1][2][3] The best results during testing were with the 181.mcf SPEC CPU 2000 benchmark, in which the x32 ABI version was 40% faster than the x86-64 version.[3][4] On average, x32 is 5–8% faster on the SPEC CPU integer benchmarks compared to x86-64. There is no speed advantage over x86-64 in the SPEC CPU floating-point benchmarks.[5]
History [ edit ]
Running a userspace that consists mostly of programs compiled in ILP32 mode and which also have principal access to 64-bit CPU instructions has not been uncommon, especially in the field of "classic RISC" chips. For example, the Solaris operating system does so for both SPARC and x86-64. On the Linux side, SPARC and PowerPC Linux distributions such as Aurora SPARC Linux and Debian also ship an ILP32 userspace. The underlying reason is the somewhat "more expensive" nature of LP64 code,[6] just like it has been shown for x86-64. In that regard, the x32 ABI extends the ILP32-on-64bit concept to the x86-64 platform.
Several people had discussed the benefits of an x86-64 ABI with 32-bit pointers in the years since the Athlon 64's release in 2003, notably Donald Knuth in 2008.[7] There was little publicly visible progress towards implementing such a mode until August 27, 2011, when Hans Peter Anvin announced to the Linux kernel mailing list that he and H. J. Lu had been working on x32-ABI.[8]
That same day, Linus Torvalds replied with a concern that the use of 32-bit time values in the x32 ABI could cause problems in the future.[9][10] This is because the use of 32-bit time values would cause the time values to overflow in the year 2038.[9][10] Following this request, the developers of the x32 ABI changed the time values to 64-bit.[11]
A presentation at the Linux Plumbers Conference on September 7, 2011, covered the x32 ABI.[2]
The x32 ABI was merged into the Linux kernel for the 3.4 release with support being added to the GNU C Library in version 2.16.[12]When I first saw this ad for MAC's new "Strength" collection, it kind of stopped my in my browsing tracks. What an incredible figure that woman has — and what a striking image for a mainstream cosmetics brand to choose as an advertisement.
The woman in the photo is named Jelena Abbou. She is a Serbian-American competitive body builder and fitness model, and she is fucking impressive to look at. I really like seeing her in a makeup ad. Hers is a body that is so different from the usual physical ideal that is shoved down women's throats — the slim, uniformly "toned" but not muscular, waifish model body that we see in every other ad and magazine and T.V. show aimed at women. There's a pretty strong social stigma against women who are "too" muscular, as Samantha Escobar explains aptly here:
We all know that our society often fat shames people they deem overweight and sometimes body shame those declared too thin, but many men and women consider very muscular women to be "gross" or "unappealing." I find this strange, since — while I don't remotely condone it — fat and thin shamers tend to at least cite health as a typical reason for being assholes. When it comes to insulting muscular females, this logic makes no sense; typically, those women work out frequently and eat incredibly well in order to achieve the bodies they have. Why insult them?
Well-developed muscles are the embodiment of strength, and our culture doesn't value physical strength in women. It might even be a little suspicious of it. A man with a six-pack is supposed to be sexy; a woman with a six-pack is supposed to be "mannish." That stigma is why it's so shocking to see Abbou in a cosmetics ad: she's styled and photographed in a way that glamourizes her and highlights her beauty and her femininity, but the ad also does not camouflage or attempt to minimize her incredible body. (Which is the usual treatment that athletes, particularly female athletes, get in fashion photography — for reference, just consider any time Vogue picks a lovely, slender, female athlete to be in a fashion spread.) In fact, Abbou's muscular arms are the focus of this picture. That's what makes this ad so striking, and so incredibly beautiful.GETTY Syria, led by president Bashar Assad, has criticised the west amid the Brussels attacks
A source at the war-ravaged country’s foreign ministry claimed the attacks were the consequence of some countries "describing terrorist groups as moderate”. The comments, coming from a country that has been overrun by extremist Islamist groups including Islamic State (ISIS), who are blamed for the Brussels attack, are likely to spark fury across the Europe. Damascus used the latest massacre in a European capital to call for “international efforts to confront the danger of terrorism”.
But Syria is regarded as the world’s largest incubator for terrorist activity and has drawn thousands of Europeans to fight jihad - hundreds of whom have since returned home. The coordinated explosions prompted Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz to urge Barack Obama to stop his “ill-advised plan to bring in tens of thousand of Syrian refugees” to the United States. His sentiment has long been echoed by Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who has called for a ban on Muslims entering the country.
Brussels terrorist attacks Wed, March 22, 2017 The Brussels airport and Metro bombings in pictures, including the aftermath of the tragic scenes. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 61 A member of the civil protection holds his face in his hands as he come back from the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels
The war of words suggests sharply differing views on who is to blame for the upsurge in Islamist related terrorist activity in recent years. Despite the unnamed Syrian official’s controversial remarks, several of Syria’s neighbours expressed solidarity with Belgium. Turkey and six Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, spoke out against the attacks.
GETTY Security was tightened across the jittery continent and transport links paralysed after the bombings
GETTY Alert Level Orange sign is seen on an EU Commission building
GETTY Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz
Both Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the spokesman of President Tayyip Erdogan strongly condemned the attacks, which came three days after a suspected ISIS member blew himself up in Istanbul, killing four tourists. The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Abdullatif al-Zayani, said in a statement the GCC offered its support to Belgium. The bloc comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.The former breakfast TV host, who once underwent radical surgery in her battle to lose weight, claimed obesity in Britain has reached crisis levels so quickly that the public do not understand it and stigmatise the seriously overweight.
She said the cost of treating illnesses linked to obesity, such as diabetes and heart disease, will bankrupt the National Health Service unless action is taken to help people lose weight.
But she added that she feared a likely Conservative government will only blame fat people for their size and not help tackle the problems of poor diet and lack of exercise that lie behind it.
Miss Diamond, 54, who made her name presenting TV-AM in the 1980s, returned to television in 2002 on Celebrity Big Brother having put on 5 stones.
She weighed almost 15st when she appeared on ITV's Celebrity Fit Club in 2006, but during filming admitted she had undergone surgery to help her lose weight, having a gastric band fitted to reduce the amount of food she could eat.
Miss Diamond is now writing a book about the global obesity epidemic and chaired a discussion at the National Obesity Forum's annual conference in London on Tuesday.
New research suggests three quarters of British adults are already overweight or obese, 10 per cent more than previously feared, with the NHS spending £4.2bn on treating diseases linked to weight last year.
Miss Diamond said: "Obesity is one of those things that is hugely stigmatised in society, but the more we talk about it, the more we get it into the open.
"We are much more sympathetic to credit card addicts, alcoholics and drug addicts than the obese.
"I think it's because obesity is fairly new – there have always been fat people but they stand out and it's easy to bully them. It's happened so suddenly, in the past 20 to 30 years for adults and in the past five for children.
"Most people hate being fat, and just because they fail to lose weight doesn't mean they are lazy – it just means it's difficult."
She went on: "This is a condition that will bankrupt the NHS if we don't do anything about it.
"There needs to be a partnership between personal responsibility and the state to make the environment more healthy.
"Every thing we should go on TV and tell people how important it is.
"But anyone suffering can't wait for the Government to do anything, they've got to take action themselves."
Miss Diamond added: "I fear about the next administration – David Cameron has already said he's fed up with hearing about people being 'at risk' of obesity. They've said nothing else about it, their only utterance has been that they expect people to take personal responsibility."The website of Voga, Britain’s foremost replica furniture importer, boasts that the firm “was created to make great design accessible to all”, before adding: “The greatest mid-century furniture designs are back where they belong: in your homes.”
Except they’re not. They are in fact in a warehouse in County Kildare where, unless the UK customers who ordered them travel to Ireland to collect them, or pay a third-party delivery firm to do so, they will be resold or destroyed.
Among them is a £441 chair ordered by Orla McGrath back in March, made in the style of Danish designer Finn Juhl. The confirmation email stated it would take up to 12 weeks to arrive at her Manchester home, and the full sum, including delivery, was debited from her account. Those 12 weeks came and went, then out of the blue in August she was contacted by a Dublin shipping company demanding £70 to deliver the chair from Ireland.
McGrath called Voga, only for the firm to disclose that it had moved to Ireland since she placed her order. It offered to deduct £68 from the price of the chair to cover the extra shipping costs.
Voga, it transpires, reinvented itself as an Irish company in May to escape new UK copyright laws that would have rendered much of its merchandise illegal. There’s no mention of the relocation on its website, which also does not give an address, and the FAQs on delivery and extra charges are silent on the issue. Only deep down in the terms and conditions is it mentioned that customers must arrange their own delivery from Ireland.
McGrath is an early casualty of a change in British legislation which has made it a criminal offence to sell replicas of design icons without a pricey licence. The amendment to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, which came in to force in July, retrospectively extends the design rights to unregistered classic works created after 1957 from 25 years after their launch to 70 years after the designer’s death. This sounds the death knell for affordable replicas of 20th-century bestsellers such as the Arco floor lamp and Arne Jacobsen’s Egg chair and threatens to put scores of companies that supply them out of business.
A further proposed rule change will slap copyright on iconic pre-1957 designs which never qualified for copyright protection in the first place, making it a criminal offence to incorporate any element of them into a new work. This means that anyone without a licence from the copyright holder who is selling, for example, the Finn Juhl-inspired chair bought by McGrath could face a £50,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison. Householders who want to get the look will now have to fork out thousands rather than hundreds for a piece of furniture, and magazines will be penalised if they show photos of items protected by the copyright without buying a licence.
Voga, which sells copies of classic designs for up to seven times less than the full price, says it was forced to decamp to Ireland where the 25-year design right still applies. It can legally sell replicas to UK customers so long as it doesn’t deliver themto the UK. there. Third-party shippers who deliver them under a separate contract are not breaking the law, and Voga says it will deduct the extra cost from the bills of affected customers.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Orla McGrath ordered a chair before the design laws existed, and now has to arrange delivery from Ireland. Photograph: Rob Evans
“It’s unfortunate that due to the law change and the influx of orders some customers were impacted, and that moving systems to Ireland affected our ability to communicate with them effectively,” a Voga spokesperson says. “We thought we’d have until the end of the year to fulfil existing orders,but unfortunately the government deadline was brought forward at the last-minute.”
McGrath’s experience illustrates the shambles into which the new laws have plunged the design industry. Legislation to revolutionise long-standing design right laws was rushed out with a speed that experts say could cripple the British replica furniture, jewellery and decorative arts market. Almost overnight, companies that had been trading legitimately for decades found that they would be committing a criminal offence if they continued to sell their stock. Meanwhile, consumers will have to wait up to 40 years for bestselling designs to emerge from the new copyright.
We don’t know which orders to stop since there is no list of which designs qualify for copyright Scott Appleton, furniture retailer
It was the lobbying might of the Swiss design giant Vitra that forced the law change. It campaigned for UK copyright laws to be aligned with the 1998 European design directive which sought to give mass-produced furniture the same protection as books, music and photography across the EU. In the UK, unregistered industrially produced furniture was protected by a design right of only 25 years after its first year of manufacture, and the European parliament had agreed it could preserve this rule when it issued the directive. But Vitra, which holds distribution rights for original Herman Miller creations, including the Eames lounge chair, claimed this had spawned a cheap replica market in the UK which cost it €250m a year in lost profits.
In February 2015 the Intellectual Property Office said the law would come into force in 2020 to give companies time to get rid of compromised stock and invest in new designs. It would be applied retrospectively so that furniture with long-lapsed design rights would receive a new copyright lasting 70 years after the designer’s death. Vitra, along with three other big distributors, had wanted the law change within six months, so threatened legal action – and in November 2015 the IPO announced that replica sales of works of “artistic craftsmanship” would become illegal in 2016. But it is the proposal to close a loophole that exempts pre-1957 designs that never qualified for copyright from the new rules that threatens to destroy British suppliers, since most of the 15 best selling creations predate that watershed. Some have already gone bust after investing in new stock and designs following the government’s promised five-year transition period.
Their predicament is compounded by the fact that no one can define which works are deemed to have “artistic craftsmanship”. The Law Society has asked in vain for guidance; the government admits it doesn’t know. Instead it declares that the courts must decide on a case by case basis.
“We had a deluge of orders before the law changed, and we don’t know which ones to stop since there is no list of which designs qualify for copyright,” says Scott Appleton of Scott Howard Iconic Designs. He has written six times to Vitra and its fellow lobbyists asking which designs cannot be replicated, but has heard nothing. “We used to bring in four containers of Eames lounge chairs a week; now its a trickle because we don’t know if and when they will be outlawed.”
Legal experts are appalled by the rushed legislation. Professor Lionel Bently, director of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, says it was not required by EU law, and his concerns were ignored by politicians. “The odd thing about the pre-1957 artistic works that the government is now going to protect by copyright, is that no copyright ever subsisted in these works under British law,” he says. “The latest consultation proposes to bring these works into copyright without any transitional provisions, which will simply make illegal the sale of copies that have been lawfully made or imported before the change in the law. It is completely extraordinary.”
The IPO, meanwhile, says the legislation was necessary to protect designers, even though the creators of most of the bestselling works are long dead.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest An Egg chair created by Danish designer Arne Jacobsen. Photograph: Alamy
Vitra hails the new law as a victory for the design industry. “We welcome the decision of the British government which mandates that artistic designs will soon fall under the same copyright protection in the UK as they do in other European countries,” says a spokesperson who declines to answer which of the works it distributes qualify as artistic.
However, far from benefiting designers, the amendment will in fact hobble them, according to Ivan Macquisten, from the Expired Copyright Homeware Organisation, a campaign group set up to oppose the changes. “Any designer setting out to create a new product is faced with the minefield of ensuring that it does not incorporate any element from an earlier design that could be deemed to have an artistic quality to it,” he says.
Among the casualties is the ordinary British consumer who can’t afford to pay thousands for classic designs, while those living outside the EU can legally buy and sell cheap replicas once the 25-year design right has expired. For now, companies like Voga can get round the rules by relocating to Ireland. Not for long, though: Vitra has set its sights on forcing the Republic to harmonise its rules with the European design directive.
Ironically, those most troubled by the new laws might have been the Eames chair’s designers, Charles and Ray Eames, who thought that great design should be available to the masses. Now those masses will have to pay around £4,000 for that swivelling leather look.
YOUR RIGHTS
■ You have 14 days to cancel an online, mail or telephone order under the consumer contract regulations, provided you’ve had no face-to-face contact with the trader. If you’re shown an item then go home and confirm the order over the phone you lose the right to cancel.
■ If an item is customised you don’t have a cooling-off period and can only get a refund if it’s faulty or not as described.
■ When you place an order the retailer must send you written confirmation along with terms and conditions, details of the cooling-off period and how you can cancel. It should also advise of any charges for returning the item.
■ If a company asks for extra payment due to relocation after an order is confirmed, it may be in breach of contract and you should be entitled to cancel.
■ If the furniture doesn’t fit in your house, that is your problem and the retailer has no obligation to refund you – unless the the dimensions were wrongly advertised.Always ensure that you measure the room, hall and doorways etc before ordering to make sure the item can actually be delivered into your home.
■ If you legitimately bought a replica of a classic post-1957 design you can still legally own it and sell it on to a private individual or company. However, if it’s bought by a dealer they are committing an offence under the new rules.
• This article was amended on 21 November 2016. The headline was changed to reflect the fact that although the law change brings the UK into line with a European directive, it was not enforced by the EU.Officials escort 'Serial' podcast subject Adnan Syed from the courthouse following the completion of the first day of hearings for a retrial in Baltimore on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty Images)
Adnan Syed, whose 2000 murder conviction was chronicled in last year's Serial podcast, has moved for a new trial on multiple grounds. One of those is an "ineffective assistance of counsel" claim, based primarily on the allegation that his trial lawyer failed to follow up with a potential alibi witness. This claim actually has a possibility of succeeding, although the specific issue is different from what some media reports have suggested.
First, some legal background. A defendant in a criminal case has a constitutional right to the "effective" assistance of counsel. If a lawyer's performance falls below that standard, that "ineffectiveness" can render the entire trial void, requiring a new proceeding.
Under the leading case on ineffective assistance claims, a defendant seeking a new trial on this basis has to prove two things. First, he has to demonstrate that his lawyer's performance fell below a standard of "reasonableness under prevailing professional norms." This is an imposing burden -- the defendant must show not only that his lawyer made some errors or could have done better, but that her performance was "outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance." If he can prove that, he then has to prove that "there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different."
Syed's primary ineffective-assistance argument relates to a witness, Asia McClain (now Chapman), who wrote to Syed before the trial to tell him she remembered seeing him in a library at the time the murder allegedly took place at another location. The evidence at Syed's hearing indicated that Syed passed this information along to his then-attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, but that Gutierrez did not call McClain as a trial witness or even contact her to find out what she might say.
This motion has a better chance of success than most ineffective-assistance claims, because of a critical difference between two concepts that have been described interchangeably in some media accounts. It's sometimes reported that Syed's claim rests on Gutierrez's failure to call McClain as a witness, and sometimes that it rests on her failure to contact her at the investigative stage. It's true that Syed's attorneys have made both arguments, but Gutierrez's failure to contact McClain is by far the more powerful point.
Courts considering ineffective-assistance claims regularly state that it's not their job to second-guess lawyers' strategic decisions, and under the governing law that's absolutely correct. Defending a client in a criminal case isn't a mechanical, paint-by-numbers task. Particularly in a complex or high-stakes case, a defense lawyer has to make a number of critical, often on-the-spot decisions regarding issues such as which issues to contest, which questions to ask on cross-examination, and which witnesses to call.
It's not as simple as just lining up all of the evidence that might point away from guilt and putting it before the jurors. Some apparent "defense evidence" can end up making the defendant look guiltier, especially if it gives off the vibe of a concocted story. Even if there's no suggestion of fabrication but the evidence just seems unconvincing, putting it on could make the defendant's case look worse than it did without that evidence; indeed, there have been books written on the dangers of presenting "weak" evidence at trial.
For these and other reasons, a court will almost never support an ineffective-assistance claim based on a true strategic call such as a lawyer's decision not to put a potential defense witness on the stand. If the lawyer testifies to any remotely plausible reason for the decision -- or, if (as in Syed's case) the lawyer is no longer available to testify, such a reason can be contemplated based on the circumstances -- the post-conviction court will generally uphold the conviction.
But here's the catch -- for the original lawyer's call to be treated as a legitimate strategic decision entitled to deference, the lawyer has to have learned the information necessary to make that decision on an informed basis. If she didn't, it's a lot easier to characterize her decision as a negligent, "ineffective" one. In other words, if a lawyer meets with a witness, finds out what she has to say, and then decides for whatever reason not to call the witness at trial, that decision will almost never support a new trial on ineffective-assistance grounds. But if she never looks into the witness in the first place, the claim of ineffectiveness is much stronger--especially if the witness's testimony, if credible, could have significantly affected the case.
This is why it's so critical in Syed's case that, according to the evidence presented at the hearing, Gutierrez never even contacted McClain. With apologies for stating the obvious, a genuine alibi witness is a huge benefit to a defendant in a murder case, and it's hard to envision a situation in which an attorney can provide competent representation without even checking out the witness's story.
And if the first prong (incompetence) is proven, there's a good chance that the second prong (reasonable probability of a different result) will also be established. Many ineffective-assistance claims founder at this second stage, with courts concluding that the evidence against the defendant was so overwhelming that even an ideal lawyer wouldn't have changed the result. But as demonstrated by the public fascination with the Serial podcast, the case was hardly open-and-shut.An armored carrier, imitating an enemy vehicle, drives during military exercises conducted by Ukrainian armed forces at the Shiroky Lan training ground in Mykolaiv region, Ukraine, in this October 30, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko
KIEV (Reuters) - Three Ukrainian servicemen have been killed and seven wounded in fighting with pro-Russian separatists in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military said on Tuesday, reporting the highest daily casualty toll since mid-November.
A year-old ceasefire deal has failed to stop violence in Ukraine’s separatist eastern territories, and international monitors have voiced concern over increased shelling in recent weeks.
“Yesterday the situation on the front line escalated. In general, every third enemy attack is from a heavy weapon or mortar banned under the Minsk (ceasefire) agreement,” military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said in a daily televised briefing.
He said the fiercest fighting had taken place on the front line near the village of Zaitseve, about 30 miles (48 km) north of the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk.
The casualties reported by Motuzyanyk were the highest losses for the Ukrainian army since five servicemen were killed on Nov. 14, according to Reuters calculations based on military data.
This month, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors the implementation of the ceasefire, said he was deeply concerned about signs the conflict was escalating despite the peace agreement.
Meanwhile separatist rebels accuse government troops of violating the ceasefire on a daily basis. On Tuesday, separatist officials said shelling from the Ukrainian government side had hit Zaitseve as well as western suburbs of Donetsk.
Over 9,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed since the conflict began in April 2014, when pro-Russian separatists rose up after Moscow’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region following the ousting of Kiev’s pro-Russian president by mass protests.The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) is a facility at Florida State University, the University of Florida, and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, that performs magnetic field research in physics, biology, bioengineering, chemistry, geochemistry, biochemistry. It is the only such facility in the US,[1] and is among nine[citation needed] worldwide. The lab is supported by the National Science Foundation and the state of Florida, and works in collaboration with private industry.
Currently the lab holds a world record of possessing the world's strongest magnet for nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiments. The 33-ton series connected hybrid (SCH) magnet broke the record during a series of tests conducted by MagLab engineers and scientists.The instrument reached its full field of 36 tesla on 15 November 2016.[2]
History [ edit ]
Proposal and award [ edit ]
In 1989 Florida State University (FSU), Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the University of Florida submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a new national laboratory supporting interdisciplinary research in high magnetic fields. The plan proposed a federal-state partnership serving magnet-related research, science and technology education, and partnering industry. The goal was to maintain the competitive position of the US in magnet-related research and development. Following a peer-review competition, the NSF approved the FSU-led consortium's proposal.
Competing proposal by MIT [ edit ]
In a competing proposal to the NSF, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with the University of Iowa, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory, had suggested improving the existing world-class Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory at MIT. On September 5, 1990, MIT researchers asked the 21 members of the National Science Board (NSB) to "review and reconsider" its decision.[3] With $60 million at stake in the NSF grant, MIT stated it would phase out the Francis Bitter Lab if it lost its appeal, the first of its kind in NSF history. The request was turned down September 18, 1990.[4]
Early years [ edit ]
The laboratory's early years were spent establishing infrastructure, building the facility, and recruiting faculty. The Tallahassee complex was dedicated on October 1, 1994, to a large crowd, with keynote speaker Vice President Al Gore.
Mission [ edit ]
The lab's mission, as set forth by the NSF, is: "To provide the highest magnetic fields and necessary services for scientific research conducted by users from a wide range of disciplines, including physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, biology and geology."
The lab focuses on four objectives:
Develop user facilities and services for magnet-related research, open to all qualified scientists and engineers
Advance magnet technology in cooperation with industry
Promote a multidisciplinary research environment and administer in-house research program that uses and advances the facilities
Develop an educational outreach program
Education and Public Outreach [ edit ]
The National MagLab promotes science education and supports science, engineering, and science teachers through its Center for Integrating Research and Learning. Programs include mentorships in an interdisciplinary learning environment. Through the Magnet Academy,[5] the lab's website provides educational content on electricity and magnetism.
The National MagLab also conducts monthly tours open to the public, and hosts an annual open house with about 5,000 attendees. Special tour and outreach opportunities are also available to local schools. In an interview on Skepticality, Dr. Scott Hannahs said, "If you come by on the third Saturday in February I believe we have an open house and we have Tesla coils shooting sparks and we melt rocks in the geochemistry group and we measure the speed of sound and we have lasers and potato launchers and we just have all sorts of things showing little scientific principles and stuff. We get together and we have about 5,000 people show up to come and tour a physics lab which is a pretty amazing group of people."[6]
Programs [ edit ]
Diagram of the 45 tesla hybrid magnet
Florida State University programs [ edit ]
The Tallahassee laboratory at Florida State University is a 34,374 square meter (370,000 sq ft.) complex and has approximately 300 faculty, staff, graduate, and postdoctoral students. Its director is physicist Gregory Scott Boebinger. Its chief scientist is Laura Greene.
DC field program [ edit ]
The facility contains 14 resistive magnet cells connected to a 48 megawatt DC power supply and 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) of cooling equipment to remove the heat generated by the magnets. The facility houses several magnets, including a 45 tesla hybrid magnet, which combines resistive and superconducting magnets. The lab's 35 tesla resistive magnet is the strongest resistive magnet in the world, and the 25 tesla Keck magnet has the highest homogeneity of any resistive magnet.[7]
NMR spectroscopy and imaging [ edit ]
This program serves a broad user base in solution and solid state NMR spectroscopy and MRI and diffusion measurements at high magnetic field strengths. The lab develops technology, methodology, and applications at high magnetic fields through both in-house and external user activities. An in-house made 900 MHz (21.1 tesla) NMR magnet has an ultra-wide bore measuring 105 mm (about 4 inches) in diameter, this superconducting magnet has the highest field for MRI study of a living animals.[citation needed]
Ion cyclotron resonance [ edit ]
The Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry program is involved in instrument and technique development and applications of FT-ICR mass spectrometry. Under the leadership of director Alan G. Marshall, the program continuously develops techniques and instruments and applications of FT-ICR mass spectrometry. The program has several instruments, including a 14.5 tesla, 104 mm bore system.
Electron magnetic resonance [ edit ]
The most common form of EMR is electron paramagnetic/spin resonance (EPR/ESR). In EPR experiments, transitions are observed between the mS sublevels of an electronic spin state S that are split by the applied magnetic field as well as by the fine structure interactions and the electron-nuclear hyperfine interactions. This technique has applications in chemistry, biochemistry, biology, physics and materials research.
Magnet science and technology [ edit ]
The Magnet Science and Technology division is charged with developing the technology and expertise for magnet systems. These magnet projects include building advanced magnet systems for the Tallahassee and Los Alamos sites, working with industry to develop the technology to improve high-field magnet manufacturing capabilities, and improving high field magnet systems through research and development.
Also at the lab's FSU headquarters, the Applied Superconductivity Center advances the science and technology of superconductivity for both the low temperature niobium-based and the high temperature cuprate or MgB 2 -based materials. The ASC pursues the superconductors for magnets for fusion, high energy physics, MRI, and electric power transmission lines and transformers.
In-house research [ edit ]
The in-house research program utilizes MagLab facilities to pursue high field research in science and engineering, while advancing the lab’s user programs through development of new techniques and equipment.
Condensed matter group [ edit ]
The condensed matter group scientists concentrate on |
rest of the JV team of Keynesians who have also jumped on board are doing the same thing, just with more class and less entertainment value than the master.
Now for a real prediction: Paul will continue to be mostly wrong, mostly dishonest about it, incredibly rude, and in a crass class by himself (admittedly I attempt these heights sometimes but sadly fall far short). That is a prediction I'm willing to make over any horizon, offering considerable odds, and with no sneaky forecasts of merely "heightened risks." Any takers?Content adapted from this Zerohedge.com article : Source
It's 9am in San Francisco (and 5pm in Barcelona), so it's time to panic-buy some crypto-currency...
Bitcoin just surged over $200, back over $6000.
And Ethereum is back above $300...
For now the catalyst is unclear. However, amid increasing tensions folowing Spain's impositin of Article 155, as CryptoCoinsNews.com reports, Catalonia, which is fighting for independence from Spain, is considering an e-residency program similar to the one in Estonia. Catalonia is also considering adopting its own digital token or cryptocurrency.
The Government of Catalonia, the Generalitat de Catalunya, has sent representatives to Estonia to learn about the e-residency program, which offers a government-issued digital identity card that provides a way to operate a location-independent business online.
Dani Marco, the director of SmartCatalonia, an official Catalan agency, said the Estonians built a model of economic development from scratch. Marco appears to be heading Catalonia's e-residency initiative.
Catalonia continues to move forward with plans to create an economy separate from Spain, according to El Pais, Spain's leading newspaper. Estonia's e-residency program serves as Catalonia's model and could emulate an Estonian proposal to issue national blockchain based tokens.
E-Residency Benefits
El Pais reported that Catalonia is interested in Estonia's e-residency program since the program has no borders. The e-residency program has attracted more than 20,000 entrepreneurs from 143 countries since 2014, including 336 from Spain.
El Pais further reported that Catalonia has the largest number of entrepreneurs and those working with virtual currencies in Spain.
Vitalik Buterin Weighs In
Blockchain experts in Catalonia have sought help from Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's founder, according to El Pais. Vitalik advised the Catalonians to create an ICO to offer a currency that would work in tandem with the financing of a business project for the virtual residence program. The e-residency ecosystem could create an economic community independent of a central bank.
Estonia recently proposed "Estcoin," a national cryptocurrency. If the country follows through on this plan, it would be the first national government to launch an ICO.
Kaspar Korjus, managing director for Estonia's e-residency program, posted a Medium blog in August claiming Estonia could offer Estcoins to residents. The coins could be managed by the Republic of Estonia, but accessed by anyone through the e-residency program. The program would launch an ICO to offer the coins.
Korjus also said the ability to start a location independent company is the main factor driving the growth of the e-residency program.
image courtesy of CoinTelegraph
As CoinTelegraph reports, while the Blockchain residency program would be the first of its kind in Europe, perhaps the bigger news is that an independent Catalan government would likely not have a central bank, choosing a national cryptocurrency instead. With Russian and Kazakhstan already suggesting national cryptocurrencies, the move would not come as a huge surprise.
Disclaimer : Account @zer0hedge is not affiliated with ZeroHedge.com.
I read ZeroHedge multiple times a day to find the best articles and reformat them for Steemit. I appreciate the upvotes but consider following the account and resteeming the articles that you think deserve attention instead. Thank you!Filipino conglomerate San Miguel Corp (SMC) is readying itself to become the country’s fourth mobile operator, when it launches services via its Bell Telecommunications (BellTel) unit – acquired via its 100% owned subsidiary Vega Telecom in July 2010 – by January 2016. Manila Standard Today cites a BellTel filing with the industry regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), confirming it has signed supply agreements with contractors for equipment and software related to the build-out of its mobile network infrastructure.
If successful in its plan, BellTel would become the fourth mobile network operator (MNO) in the Philippines, after the PLDT Group (Smart and Sun Cellular), Globe Telecom and digital wireless trunking operator NOW Telecom (formerly Next Mobile). It would also face competition from established mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) ABS-CBN Mobile. TeleGeography notes that BellTel was licensed to provide commercial communications services in January 2002 and launched operations later that year. It initially focused on rolling out services to the central business district (CBD) of Makati City and special economic zones (SEZs). The company holds a range of licences, including permits for local exchange carrier (LEC), international gateway facility (IGF), inter exchange carrier (IXC), very small aperture terminal (VSAT), and internet service provider (ISP) services. BellTel currently provides fixed line, internet, leased line and data services and has a particular emphasis on delivering services to the CBD where 70% of the country’s commerce is conducted. In addition, SMC also owns Liberty Telecoms Holdings, which offers wireless broadband connectivity via its subsidiary Wi-Tribe Telecoms, and internet and data services provider Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc (ETPI).
As part of its mobile rollout plan, BellTel says it has formally integrated 197 base transceiver stations (BTS) in the country’s National Capital Region, following which the NTC has reportedly issued it with 191 radio station licences (RSLs) for the provision of mobile communications services. In the filing, SMC said: ‘BellTel will be applying for additional RSLs as soon as more BTS are integrated into its mobile network and will launch services as soon as sufficient coverage for a commercial launch is achieved,’ going on to note that to date, it has ‘expended considerable capital in relation to the acquisition and construction of sites as well as the acquisition and installation of core and radio access network equipment and software’.Bitcoin faces a fresh obstacle in China as Alibaba,the country’s largest e-commerce group, will ban bitcoin transactions starting January 14.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Taobao, China’s largest online marketplace, will not allow any transactions of virtual currencies or related products, the Financial Times reports.
Alibaba Group, an internet group of e-commerce businesses that handled over $170 billion in sales in 2012, expects to hold an initial public offering later this year, and banning bitcoin and steering clear of the sale of counterfeit goods is seen as an extra precaution.
Banning the anonymous virtual currency will “promote the healthy development of the Taobao Marketplace and to more effectively protect the interests of Taobao members,” Alibaba said in a statement posted on its website on Tuesday.
Users will not only be barred from buying and selling bitcoins, but all related activities, including “mining” the currency, which is the creation of new bitcoins through solving complex logarithmic equations.
The move is part of a larger government crackdown on the cryptocurrency, which has fast gained traction in China, the world’s second-largest economy and home to the largest bitcoin trading platforms.
In December, the People’s Bank of China banned third party sales of bitcoin, and placed a ban on financial institutions dealing with bitcoin, ordering them to halt activities by January 31, the beginning of the Chinese New Year holiday.
After hitting a $1000 high in December, prices plummeted on the Central Bank’s announcement, but has since rebounded, after Zynga, the provider of social network games such as FarmVille, said it would accept the digital money in some of its titles.
Bitcoin has faced harsh criticism from governing bodies in Europe, India, and in the US, with regulators skeptical of the cryptocurrency.
Since its creation in 2008 by a man using the alias Satoshi Nakmoto, bitcoin has gone mainstream and can be used to buy coffee, pay for online dating services, and can even be retrieved from an ATM. There are more than 12 million bitcoins in circulation worldwide.Eric Sondheimer of the LA Times broke the news this evening that 4-star linebacker Bo Calvert, from Oaks Christian High School, had flipped his commitment to UCLA following an official visit to the Bruins this weekend. Calvert was originally a USC commitment.
Oaks Christian coach Jim Benkert said LB Bo Calvert is signing with UCLA on Wednesday. Previously USC commit. — eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) December 19, 2017
Bo Calvert of Oaks Christian said he went on official visit to UCLA this past weekend. Chip Kelly offered scholarship and he loved campus. Will sign Wednesday. Now he’s studying for finals. — eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) December 19, 2017
Calvert is a great prospect for UCLA to pick up at this stage. The 6’4” prospect ranks as the 18th best outside linebacker in the country, and the 31st ranked player in California, according to 247Sports composite rankings. According to various reports, new UCLA coach Chip Kelly offered Calvert a scholarship during his official visit this weekend, which sealed the deal.
Steve Wiltfong of 247Sports talked to Calvert in the aftermath of his commitment, and he had this to say:
"They day after coach Chip Kelly got on campus he gave me a call and offered me. We talked for a little while, and I really felt the love he gave me," Calvert started in. "I was the first linebacker that was offered by Kelly and they made it known how great I would fit in their system. The entire new coaching staff along with the coaches that are staying have decades of experience and know how to use athletes and how to win."
Bo Calvert is a rangy outside linebacker, with his junior year highlight video showing the ability to get to the quarterback from a DE spot, while also being solid in coverage. He’s more of a traditional OLB than the OLB/DE hybrids that UCLA employs to great effect (think Anthony Barr for an example of that). At the college level, expect Calvert to plug in at either inside or outside linebacker, depending on the needs of the defense.
Calvert is a big recruit for the Bruins. He’s currently the only linebacker recruit for the Bruins after losing a few to decommitments, and he’ll be signing this Wednesday, which takes some of the worry about potentially losing him (Utah was the other major school trying to flip him from the Trojans). This also takes a well-regarded recruit away from the Trojans, which is always a nice thing.
With Calvert’s commitment, UCLA now has 13 current recruits in the 2018 recruiting class with the new Early Signing Period opening in just over 24 hours.
Here is a highlight video of Bo Calvert courtesy of Hudl:
Welcome to Westwood, Bo!
Go Bruins!Potential spoilers below from Star Wars: Episode VIII. Read on at your own risk and do not share the details openly on social media as to spoil anyone accidentally.
If you’re like me, Poe Dameron is one of your favorite new Star Wars characters. Pretty much everything about Poe has been really cool so far and I’m looking forward to seeing his further adventures in Star Wars: Episode VIII.
We recently got a glimpse of Poe Dameron’s Star Wars: Episode VIII costume. This is Poe’s resistance costume, not his X-wing pilot outfit (or there would be even less to say about it). In all honesty, it’s very much the same costume he wore in The Force Awakens opening at Tuanul Village in the Kelvin Ravine. The easiest way to describe the costume is to take Poe’s costume from the opening of The Force Awakens and amend it slightly in color and give it a new jacket. The pants and boots appear to the same for the most part. In my brief look, I didn’t see anything that stands out about them from last time.
His undershirt is the same style as The Force Awakens; the V-cut at the neck might be a little deeper cut than last time (but it’s more or less the same). Poe’s shirt is a grayish light blue (my wife says the color is “stone”). His leather jacket is from the Han Solo collection. It might be described as a “cafe racer jacket” but it’s not tight-fitting. They clearly shop at the same space store. It really reminds me of the leather jacket Han wears in The Force Awakens. Han’s jacket looks more black in color whereas Poe’s new coat is more “espresso” but with the glossy leather shine being identical. It appears to have a flap or breast pocket (I couldn’t identify if it was functional or not). The leather of Poe’s new jacket is really similar to Han’s jacket in The Force Awakens but it stands up higher on the neck and the lapels stick out a little more.
The new costume really reminds me of Han Solo meets Indiana Jones. Both of the jackets in The Force Awakens have some kind of tech on the left breast pocket area but the new Poe jacket doesn’t have anything in the iterations I have glimpsed. With the higher collar it certainly is the coolest of the jackets so far and that’s saying a lot considering these two bad boys from the last film:
We were also able to dig a bit in the Latino Review story we referenced a few days ago as well and it seems spot-on. I was told:
Laura Dern is a leader of the Resistance.
Leia’s ship is ambushed and she is blasted through space.
Leia ends up in a coma.
Laura Dern’s character then takes over Resistance command, but makes things far worse.
With this in mind, Poe takes control of the situation and becomes the interim leader of the Resistance.
In regards to the way Dern is portrayed, we are meant to not be sure if she is good or bad.
With all of that drama going on, it’s a good thing Poe looks like a badass in his new duds. I’m curious how big of a role General Leia will play in the next film as well. I kind of doubt she’s out of it for the entire movie. I speculate it is a good opportunity for Leia to come back at the end of the film but with Poe having proven himself as the future of the Resistance. Maybe Leia and Finn can bond over their recent comas?
More to come soon!Issue 183 November 2014 A ‘third industrial revolution’ New technological innovations are having a huge impact on the capitalist system, a subject explored in a new book, The Zero Marginal Cost Society. In this review, PETER TAAFFE outlines how they also raise the possibility of socialist transformation. The Zero Marginal Cost Society: the internet of things, the collaborative commons and the eclipse of capitalism By Jeremy Rifkin Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, £17.99 "The capitalist era is passing… [It] has peaked and begun its slow decline… At the heart of capitalism there lies a contradiction in the driving mechanism that has propelled it ever upwards to commanding heights, but now is speeding it to its death…. Intense competition forces the introduction of ever-leaner technology, boosting productivity to the optimum point in which each additional unit introduced for sale approaches ‘near zero’ marginal cost. In other words the cost of actually producing each additional unit – if fixed costs are not counted – becomes essentially zero, making the product nearly free. If that were to happen, profit, the lifeblood of capitalism, would dry up". (Chapter 1, The Zero Marginal Cost Society) The central message of Jeremy Rifkin, in this important and fascinating book, predicates the demise of capitalism brought about, among other things, by the widespread use of technology, with the amount of human labour contained in each commodity becoming smaller and smaller to ‘almost zero’. Here, Rifkin unconsciously vindicates Karl Marx – who he approvingly quotes, frequently – on the idea that there is a long-term tendency of the rate of profit to decline. However, there is also a number of ‘counteracting tendencies’ which, Marx explains, can and do delay the fall in the rate of profit, sometimes over a lengthy historical period. Indeed, in the current crisis there is a surfeit of profits – a cash mountain – that from the standpoint of the capitalists can presently find no profitable outlet. As a non-Marxist, the author does not approach phenomena – in this case, technology – in an all-sided manner. One trend is emphasised: the colossal effects of technological progress. But Rifkin envisages this developing in a linear fashion. Yet capitalism has never given a finished expression to the economic trends within it, carrying them through to a conclusion. For instance, out of competition can develop monopoly in the domestic market, only for the capitalists to face intensified competition on the world market. Similarly, Rifkin tends to underestimate the ability of capitalism to find a way out, temporarily, from a seemingly hopeless economic situation. It also bears repeating that there is no ‘final crisis’ of capitalism. If the working class fails to seize favourable opportunities to change society, then capitalism, on the bones of the working class – weakening of the labour movement, increased poverty, unemployment, etc – can establish a new unstable equilibrium. The slaughter of value through an economic recession or slump, which to some extent is happening at the present time, creates the conditions for a higher rate of profit, new fields of investment and a new cycle of growth. But then there is the resistance of the working class to a process which will add considerably to the mass unemployment and penury. Moreover, it would be wrong to underestimate the ability of the system to innovate, to create new markets; witness the introduction of mobile phones and the new markets this has created. Whether this will be enough to compensate for the collapse in older industries and the job losses which flow from this is another matter. Despite these qualifications, and our disagreement with some of the conclusions drawn by Rifkin, this is a valuable book which draws attention to the big dangers posed to the working class and its historical achievements. At the same time, we can draw positive conclusions about the future if new technology could be harnessed for the benefit of the majority. The rise of the robots The processes described by Rifkin are already well known and are having huge effects on employment prospects in those industries, music for instance, in which the product can be accessed free through the internet. Pop groups and other musicians, as well as the music industry in general, are powerless to prevent this and the ‘compensation’ for their labours now comes from spin-offs, such as gigs and memorabilia. In current conditions, technology is already a ‘jobs killer’ on a monumental scale. Economists like Robert Gordon in the US are predicting that 47% of the jobs in the US, most of them the preserve of the middle class, will disappear in the next few years through the application of new technology. The jobs of teachers and university lecturers are threatened by the mass application of online teaching, as is the architectural profession, and book production, through e-books, with knock-on effects on the book trade, the income of authors, etc. The same goes for the medical profession, with the application of highly sophisticated robots already supplanting nurses and doctors, medical technicians, etc. Nor will this process be restricted to the advanced industrial countries. The US still leads in this field, with robot sales growing by 43% in both the United States and the European Union in 2011. This, Rifkin claims, has moved "the manufacturing sector ever closer to near workless production, or what the industry calls ‘lights out’ production". China, however, as with most things in the ‘underdeveloped’ world, is also pioneering the widespread application of industrial robots. Up to now foreign capital in China has not invested heavily in robots because of the ready supply of cheap labour. But wages have increased in the coastal provinces, and this has compelled foreign capital to seek cheaper and more profitable sources elsewhere: Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and untapped cheap labour supplies within China itself. Nonetheless, robotics has also been embraced eagerly. Foxconn, the giant Chinese manufacturer that produces iPhones, is planning to install a million robots in the next few years which will eliminate a large portion of its workforce. Foxconn chief, Terry Gou, was unable to hide his satisfaction at this prospect: "As human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache". No strikes with robots! Of course, threats to jobs through the application of automation are not a new thing. Even firm capitalist economists – John Maynard Keynes for instance – saw the application of new technology in the 1930s holding out the prospect of reducing the working week to 19 hours. However, the introduction of new technology during the great depression could only add to the problems of capitalism at the time, further increasing the army of unemployed that represented a constant threat to the capitalist system. This was a factor in the technology which existed being held back then and only fully applied during the second world war, but particularly afterwards. This saw a massive boom in new industries, such as rubber, plastics, etc, as a spiralling upswing of production took place. The situation today is more analogous with the 1930s than the colossal boom of 1950-75. During the post-war period, particularly the 1950s and 1960s, capitalism was able to harness massively the advances in technique and technology in the greatest boom the world had seen. We are now, however, in an entirely changed situation, which Rifkin is aware of and provides copious details set out in an impressive fashion. Now, costs have tumbled and this will accelerate further. For the last few decades, the fear of new technological developments, combined with the outsourcing of jobs to places like China, has been a feature of the discussion about whether there was any future for manufacturing in the advanced industrial countries. Yet, while many industries and jobs relocated to China, leading to significant deindustrialisation throughout the ‘advanced’ capitalist world, the number of workers employed in manufacturing has remained pretty steady taken from a global point of view. That has now changed with the added threat to jobs posed by mass robotics. And it is not just posed for large-scale industry. Rogue landlords, the Independent reported recently, were proposing to fly drones with cameras installed over the rooftops of properties in order to assess whether repairs were needed, no doubt threatening the jobs of roofers! Even the Financial Times has ruminated on the big threat posed by robots, running stories to the effect that ‘we have to get the robots before they get us’. Rifkin argues that, if the current rate of technology displacement in the manufacturing sector continues – and he expects this can only accelerate – factory employment, "which accounted for 163 million jobs in 2003, is likely to be just a few million by 2040, marking the end of mass factory labour in the world". To be replaced by what? The capitalists have no answer to this as they have no solution to the current world economic crisis. Limitless possibility It was Karl Marx, together with Friedrich Engels, who first understood and revealed the colossal revolutionising effect of capitalism through the introduction of technology which, in turn, could lay the basis, for the first time in history, for the abolition of ‘want’ throughout the world. Limitless possibilities for humankind would flow from this. This, of course, was on condition that socialist revolution would eliminate the impediments to further progress: capitalist private ownership of industry and society, on the one hand, with the nation state, on the other. Rifkin repeats Marx when he traces the process of capitalism, initially developing a "competitive, free market". Out of this develops the tendency to eliminate competition through the establishment of a monopoly or oligopoly. Once having established a dominant position, the inclination of the capitalists to bring in new labour-saving technologies, to advance productivity and reduce prices, is held back as the monopolists attempt to keep prices artificially high. All of this has been confirmed by the history of capitalism up to now. Yet, as Rifkin points out, new, initially small, capitalist outfits can establish a niche from which they can loosen, overhaul and then often eliminate the former grip of the monopolists. However, this process, repeated again and again, leads to the inevitable creation of new monopolies. But these processes are not carried through to a conclusion of complete monopoly. Monopoly can exist on a national level but can then be undermined by economic rivals with a ‘greater share’ of the world market. The same applies to the holding back of the use of technology, as was the case in the 1930s. Rifkin gives some very good examples of how monopolies are promoted even by the apostles of the ‘free market’. For instance, former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers, together with economist J Bradford DeLong, commenting on the emerging data processing and communication technologies, opposed government intervention, in general, but favoured short-term ‘natural monopolies’. They argued that "temporary monopoly power and profits are the reward needed to spur private enterprise to engage in such innovation". Rifkin comments that in "an incredible admission", the two acknowledged that "the right way to think about this complex set of issues is not clear, but it is clear that the competitive paradigm cannot be fully appropriate… but we do not yet know what the right replacement paradigm will be". Rifkin envisages a new "third industrial revolution", which has developed out of the second industrial revolution at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, and is already under way. The discovery of energy resources, particularly oil, the invention of the internal combustion engine, and the introduction of the telephone gave rise to a new communication/energy complex that came to dominate the 20th century. His new ‘third revolution’ is linked to the ‘internet of things’ which, he envisages, "will connect everything with everyone in an integrated global network. People, machines, natural resources, production lines, logistic networks, consumption habits, recycling flows, and virtually every other aspect of economic and social life will be linked via sensors and software". Robots and technology cannot replace people completely. At present, they are "short of feeling", which human beings possess: "If your finger was as big as the Earth. It could feel the difference between a car and a house". (New York Times) However, Rifkin’s economic case seems to have been bolstered, particularly by the incredible development of 3D computers, which has opened up "limitless possibilities". 3D printing allows the possibility for machines to reproduce themselves. It sounds like science fiction but is a reality! This is a vital component of what the author calls "the Third Industrial Revolution manufacturing model". He claims this is "growing exponentially along with the other components of the Internet of Things infrastructure". 3D printers are already producing products from jewellery and aeroplane parts to human prostheses. They can print their own spare parts without having to invest in expensive retooling and the time delays that go with this. This development is rooted in ‘sustainable production’. A fundamental failure of capitalism This will indeed be a kind of revolution, but not one led by the working class and its allies, argues Rifkin. Socialism is not his alternative but something in between. Here, he betrays his roots as the son of a small entrepreneurial businessman who always looked to increase production and technique rather than speaking about ‘profit’. He sees the inadequacies of big business but does not see the potential power of the working class and the poor. We are expected to believe that, through a protracted process, a long drawn-out peaceful competition between a dying system, capitalism, and what he and others describe as "the collaborative Commons", the latter will win out. This would be a hybrid system involving a burgeoning collaboration, which is already taking place, between peoples, cooperatives, small green enterprises, etc, and which seeks to embrace the ‘best features’ of the ‘market’, capitalism. This will gradually supplant capitalism. This perspective, as the author admits, does not envisage going beyond Mahatma Gandhi’s swadeshi concept, described by Gandhi as "mass production certainly, but not based on force… It is mass production but mass production in people’s own homes". This is an unrealistic goal for replacing the ‘gigantism’ of capitalism by turning back the wheel of history to a certain localism and petty production. His schema apes the forms of production which predated capitalism proper, in the modern sense of the term, relying on small-scale scattered producers with goods collected by overseers or capitalists and usually accompanied with intense overwork, sometimes of whole families. Witness the situation in India today as small producers, the small farmers, are unable to compete with an increasingly monopolised economy. The result is mass suicides of farmers in protest at being crushed by debt; worldwide there are 800,000 suicides each year, undoubtedly reflecting the catastrophic social consequences of capitalism. Despite the utopian character of most of his alternatives, Rifkin produces here a fascinating tour de force on the implications of technology and the need to harness them in a peaceful and progressive fashion for the benefit of humanity as a whole. In fact, the evidence is so crushing against ‘modern’ capitalism’s incapacity to utilise its own creations that this book, in all fairness, should be called ‘the invading socialist revolution’ but for the fact that Rifkin rejects socialism as an alternative. This phrase was used by Engels to describe the process of ‘statisation’ in the late 19th century – the nationalisation of individual industries – that indicated the failure of capitalism and heralded the socialist future. The ‘democratisation of everything’ Yet Rifkin unconsciously recognises the favourable conditions for socialism, and some of the forces that can make this happen. Although he does not state this, he is dissuaded from drawing this conclusion because of the terrible heritage of Stalinism. But a repeat of a top-down, bureaucratic-dominated society is not possible in the highly-educated, culturally advanced society we have today, particularly in the US. Correctly, he states: "While the collaboratists [in reality, opponents of capitalism] are ascendant, the capitalists are split". He also highlights favourably the anti-WTO movement in Seattle in 1999 that prepared the way for the Occupy movement. This led, in turn, to the election victory of Kshama Sawant, the first socialist councillor in Seattle in 100 years. This new generation, whose political outlook was taking shape even before the onset of the present devastating crisis, their generosity of spirit and solidarity with the oppressed, has obviously had a profound effect on Rifkin and others, and is reflected in many of the observations he makes. The idea of what he calls the ‘commons’ or the ‘collaboristas’ is partly taken from history in the rights enjoyed by the masses in England, for instance, in the transition between feudalism and capitalism, but which were destroyed in this transition. He wishes to add to this with a philosophy of sharing through the third industrial revolution, enabling "consumers to become their own producers". These new ‘prosumers’ will increasingly collaborate in sharing goods and services in a globally distributed networked ‘commons’ and near zero marginal costs, disrupting the workings of capitalist markets. The unfolding economic clash between these forces and the capitalists is "a manifestation of cultural conflict that will likely redefine the nature of the human journey in the years ahead. If there is an underlying theme to the emerging cultural narrative, it is ‘the democratisation of everything’." However, how can this ‘democratisation of everything’ really be carried out while capitalism, with colossal giant monopolies dominating with their economies of scale, is left intact? Rifkin deals at length, for instance, with the internet and ‘the internet of things’, at the same time emphasising the approach of the new generation of scientists who freely distribute and share their latest discoveries with fellow scientists without first of all seeking financial rewards. This is in marked contrast to Big Pharma which only invests and promotes products if there is profit in it. There were no great gains to be made by inventing an antidote to the Ebola virus because, initially, it mostly affected poor people and nations. That is now changing as the current epidemic threatens the advanced world. Rifkin denounces inequality and highlights what even capitalist journals have recently recognised: that where class divisions expressed by income are starker than in other countries, there is greater resentment and class opposition. In London, there are more so-called ‘ultrahigh net worth individuals’ per head than anywhere else on the planet. They are defined as people with £21 million or more in assets apart from their main home. London has overtaken Hong Kong as the most expensive city in the world, and this is against the background of falling incomes for the great mass of British people, skyrocketing rents and mortgages, and falling wages. Rifkin also agrees with socialists that we can build a society – a "sustainable cornucopia", to use his phrase – not just of abundance but of superabundance if all the resources of society were utilised for the common good. However, he recognises the decline that has set in even among the middle class: "The United States… [had] the most robust middle class in the world in 1960… By 2012, the United States had the ignominious distinction of being ranked 28 out of 30 in the OECD countries in income disparity – the gap between the rich and poor – bettering only Mexico and Turkey". System change How to change this situation to the benefit of the vast majority of working people and even the middle class? Rifkin’s solution is to change society through argument and force of example – effectively, "behind the backs of society", as Marx commented in relation to the great socialist utopians such as Robert Owen. This is shown when he addresses his final remarks to those "ensconced in the heart of the capitalist system who fear that an approaching society of nearly zero marginal cost will spell their own ruin". He seeks to assuage them by pointing out that the average lifespan of a Fortune 500 company is only around 30 years. This amounts to him seeking to convince the fearful capitalists to calmly accept their own demise. It will not work with the big capitalists. A past British Labour leader, George Brown, was more realistic when he stated: "No privileged group disappears from the scene of history without a struggle, usually without any holds barred". The capitalists will not calmly accept their fate, making way for the likes of Rifkin with what amounts to a ‘middle way’ between the capitalists, on the one side, and the mobilised mass ranks of the working class, on the other. However, it is possible and even likely that there will be splits within the ruling class, with the more intelligent and farsighted recognising the blind alley of their system and looking towards a new system that can take society forward. This particularly applies to the younger layers, university students freed from parental control, who can embrace Marxism. However, for this to be sustained, it requires not just a critique of capitalism – which Rifkin has, in a way – but also setting out in a clear way the alternative of socialism, and building the force to achieve it: a mass party with a farsighted leadership. The capitalists’ power and wealth, their ownership of the means of production and the control of society, will have to be taken away from them through a mass movement. The idea that the opposition to the capitalists will be able to utilise the internet indefinitely, with complete freedom to undermine capitalism, is already contradicted by the encroachments which the capitalists and states have made upon this ‘free resource’. Witness the muzzle which has been placed on the internet in China, Turkey, etc. There is much in this book which is useful, indeed admirable. It points to the huge economic danger of new technology for the working class but also for the capitalists. It threatens to provoke a mass revolt, the outlines of which we can see in Scotland, Britain and throughout southern Europe in what amounts to a mass uprising of the working class and the consequences of a failing and diseased system. In this situation, the new ‘Luddites’ are not the working class but capitalism – whose historians distorted the views of the original Luddites. The capitalist system cannot fully utilise the huge potential benefits flowing from the latest developments in technique. Only a planned economy leading to democratic socialism on a national and international scale can do this and, in the process, satisfy the yearning of those, like Jeremy Rifkin and the new generation, for real change.Labour Party should be open to all socialists BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Michael McKeown (Write Back, August 29) suggests that socialists are an alien force in the Labour movement. In fact, the Labour parties in Britain and Ireland were founded by socialist militants. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/letters/labour-party-should-be-open-to-all-socialists-36090582.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article36078643.ece/37224/AUTOCROP/h342/letters.jpeg
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Michael McKeown (Write Back, August 29) suggests that socialists are an alien force in the Labour movement. In fact, the Labour parties in Britain and Ireland were founded by socialist militants.
The real "cuckoos" within the movement are the pro-capitalist ideologues, such as Tony Blair, who infiltrated these parties and conspired to shift them decisively to the right by neutering party democracy and the influence of the trade unions.
It was because of their opposition to this process that the forerunners of the Socialist Party, the Militant tendency, were expelled from the Labour parties in Britain and Ireland, rather than because they were a "party within a party".
Indeed, some of those who recently resigned from Labour's Northern Ireland executive are also members of the Co-Operative Party, which remains affiliated to this day.
While the Right-wing leadership of the Labour Party prevaricated before Thatcher, the Militant tendency led the successful battle against the poll tax, which ultimately forced her from power.
In both Britain and Ireland, the Socialist Party continues that fighting tradition today.
The mass support for Jeremy Corbyn's Left-wing policies presents the possibility of reclaiming Labour as a party for the working class in Britain, but it will require a battle to democratically oust the Blairites who continue to dominate the parliamentary party, councils and the bureaucracy.
The party should be opened up to allow socialist and anti-austerity groups to affiliate and join this struggle.
In Northern Ireland, the Socialist Party supports the building of a broad, anti-sectarian party for the working class.
We worked with others to launch Labour Alternative ahead of last year's Assembly election as a step in that direction.
Labour Alternative has been central to successful campaigns against austerity and its four candidates have won the largest votes for Left candidates in their constituencies in decades.
Daniel Waldron
Socialist Party
Belfast TelegraphNo one blinks when the editor of a magazine called Multinational Monitor (that's me) suggests that multinational corporate interests diverge from and frequently contradict those of regular people.
But it's another matter when the questioning comes from BusinessWeek.
"Multinationals: Are They |
, på att det förekommit otillåten påverkan inom kommunalpolitiken, korrupta insiders inom Arbetsförmedlingen och bedrägerier mot Försäkringskassan.
● En grupp kriminella från Södertälje och Norsborg har enligt indikationer till polisen bildat något som kallas för Assyriska nationalistpartiet. Polisen har i nuläget inte så pass bra koll på gruppen att de vet om de är ett faktiskt parti, ett verktyg för rekrytering till konflikten i Irak och Syrien, eller ett kriminellt nätverk.
Foto: PO Sännås Husby torg
HUSBY
Antal invånare: 12 108
Antal personer som förekommer i Kriminalvårdens register: 345
Benägenhet att prata med polis: Låg eller obefintlig. Många företagare i området beskriver hur många flyttat på grund av otrygghet. Få vågar anmälan brott och få vågar besöka Husby centrum efter klockan 17 då de kriminella tar över och narkotikaförsäljningen börjar.
Polisens arbetsmiljö: Här jobbar polisen med dubbelpatruller och bilar med förstärkta rutor då det är vanligt att det snabbt dyker upp maskerade grupper som kastar sten mot polisen. Det har också hänt att polis avstått att ingripa på grund av säkerhetsskäl och att vissa arbetslag undviker att patrullera i området.
Problem:
● Narkotikaförsäljning sker öppet, enligt polisens rapport.
● Våldsbrotten i offentlig miljö ökar. Ett exempel, från i maj 2015, är då en en förbipasserande 7-årig pojke och en 56-årig man träffades av skott från ett mindre handeldvapen då kriminella gjorde upp på torget.
● Här finns även ett antal löst sammansatta multikriminella grupperingar som under lång tid ägnat sig åt grova narkotikabrott, grova rån, personrån, vapenbrott, häleri och stölder. De samarbetar med kriminella i hela Järva-området och Rissne/Hallonbergen och misstänks begå brott inte bara i övriga delar av landet utan även i de nordiska grannländerna.
● Muslimska kvinnor som inte bär huvudduk möts av intolerans inte bara enligt polisens rapport utan även enligt många kvinnor som den senaste tiden gett öppna vittnesmål i media.
● Generellt är det få unga och äldre kvinnor som rör sig kring Husby centrum på kvällstid.
● Polisen har information om att det finns lokaler där rekrytering till religiös våldsbejakande extremism sker och det finns även oro att budskap om sådant sprids under vissa ungdomsverksamheter.
Foto: PO Sännås Geneta centrum
RONNA/GENETA/LINA
Antal invånare: 14 948
Antal personer som förekommer i Kriminalvårdens register: 374
Benägenhet att prata med polis: De boende pratar ogärna med myndigheterna på grund av stora problem med hot, utpressning och övergrepp i rättssak.
Polisens arbetsmiljö: Polis har utsatts för stenkastning i Geneta centrum. Polisens arbete mot narkotikaförsäljning har även försvårats på grund av vaktposter, folk som står på vakt och larmar andra kriminella när polisen är på väg.
Problem:
● Brottsligheten i området påverkar hela Södertälje, enligt rapporten, men som värst är det just nu i Geneta, med problem med organiserad brottslighet. I huvudsak handlar det om narkotika- och vapenaffärer.
● Narkotikaförsäljning sker helt öppet och kokain har blivit allt vanligare. I takt med att de kriminella börjar hantera och använda dyrare narkotika tror polisen att det finns en risk att antalet våldsbrott bland de kriminella ökar.
● I polisens rapport framgår att kriminella äter på restauranger utan att betala, kör bilar och crossar i hög fart även på parkvägar och uppträder hotfullt mot boende och polis.
● Det finns tecken på att utpressningar och beskyddarverksamhet blir allt vanligare.
● Det ska även förekomma handel med insmugglad sprit och tobak, handel med stöldgods och illegal festverksamhet.
Foto: PO Sännås Rinkeby torg
RINKEBY/TENSTA
Antal invånare: 34 903
Antal personer som förekommer i Kriminalvårdens register: 923
Benägenhet att prata med polis: Det är vanligt med övergrepp i rättssak, utpressning och hot om våld mot både privatpersoner och näringsidkare – av rädsla för detta undviker folk att medverka i rättsprocesser.
Polisens arbetsmiljö: Här kan rena fritagningsförsök och fritagningar förekomma då polisen stoppat ett fordon för kontroll. Det går ofta snabbt, sedan har ett folkhav omringat polisbilarna, beskriver polisen i rapporten. Det förekommer även att dessa folksamlingar angriper polisen. Därför skickar polisen två patruller till vissa platser och man använder fordon med förstärkta rutor. Av taktiska skäl har det förekommit att polisen undvikit att ingripa om det är ett lågprioriterat ärende.
Problem:
● Det finns just nu cirka 500 multikriminella personer i området som är mer eller mindre sammansatta.
● För att behålla makten i området begår de kriminella alla olika möjliga typer av brott. Rån, bilbränder och bostadsinbrott är vanligt förekommande.
● Skjutningar på allmän plats har i flera fall lett till att förbipasserande har skadats.
● Området är sedan många år en central punkt för narkotikahandel i Stockholmsregionen.
● Rättsskipning mellan kriminella och icke kriminella förekommer med inslag av våld och ”bötning”.
● Det ska även finnas problem med illegal spelverksamhet och insmugglade och stulna varor som säljs hos lokala näringsidkare.
● Boende har anpassat sig till situationen och undviker torg och andra platser på kvällstid.
● Personer med judisk tro undviker enligt uppgifter till polisen Rinkeby och Tensta och kristna kvinnor undviker Rinkeby centrum av risk att bli trakasserade av muslimska män.
● Här förekommer ofta öppet stöd för våldsbejakande religiöst extremistiska personer eller organisationer och det ska finnas ett stort antal sympatisörer boende i området. Även lokaler där det kan misstänkas att våldsbejakande budskap förmedlas.
SE OCKSÅ "Jag vill att folk ska se kämparglöden som finns här"
4 februari 2016 05:591 of 1 2 of 1
Thomas Mulcair has said an NDP government wouldn’t wait to act on a promise to decriminalize marijuana.
“The NDP’s position is decriminalization the minute we form government,” he told reporters at an August 20 campaign stop in Vancouver. “It is something that we can do right away.”
Asked by the Straight why the NDP favours decriminalization versus legalization—the option favour by Liberal leader Justin Trudeau—Mulcair didn’t answer the question but had this to say:
“The NDP has had the same position for about 40 years,” he said. “Decriminalizing marijuana is the position of the NDP, it is my position, and it is something that we can do immediately. Mr. [Stephen] Harper’s plan has failed so we’ve got to start doing things differently. I am categorical that no person should ever face criminal charges or a criminal record for personal use of marijuana. That has always been my position.”
In May 2015, Trudeau similarly said a Liberal government would move to reform federal marijuana laws “right away”.
At an August 19 campaign stop in Vancouver, he went further, adding that after a Liberal government is elected and has reversed laws that criminalize marijuana, it would begin discussing what should happen with people who have been charged for transgressions that the country no longer considers criminal.
On the matter of people previously charged with breaking marijuana laws, Mulcair said “That is a very important question.”
“We’ll sit down and look at that,” he added.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has consistently resisted calls for reform on marijuana laws.On July 18, 2015 three Dallas area activists headed down south to Waller County Jail to conduct an independent investigation into the murder of #SandraBland. Those activists are @LOLatWhiteFear, @WickedBeaute, and @S_Benavides1. While at the county jail the activists were able to interview incarcerated inmates through a fence opening in the back of the jail, and the actual Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith.
Afterwards, on the 4 hour drive back to Dallas that night the group stopped in Madisonville, TX to use the restroom. Across the street, Madisonville Police had a Black man pulled over and out of his car. This prompted the group to begin filming the interaction to ensure the safety of the driver.
After the driver was let go, Madisonville PD approached the group and began arguing about their efforts to #FilmThePolice. During the back and forth @S_Benavides1 used a curse word. Madisonville PD then warned him to not use profanity again, or he would be taken to jail. He did, was arrested and spent the night in Madison County Jail on charges of “Disorderly Conduct”.
Full video of the illegal arrest and interview with Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith can be found here:http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/68020238
The Supreme Court ruled in Cohen v California (1971) that profanity, specifically words such as “fuck” and “fuck you” are protected speech even when directed at law enforcement. This arrest by Madisonville PD is therefore illegal and is a violation of the First Amendment. It is also a clear attack on efforts to #FilmThePolice.
@S_Benavides1 has filed a Motion for New Trial, has pled Not Guilty to the charge of Disorderly Conduct, and will be taking the case to trial. This means we need your support in funding his legal defense!!! Please donate what you can. https://rally.org/f/kUhNYaDBy0UReebok has announced the release of the boot-like sneakers worn by Sigourney Weaver in 1986 sci-fi film Aliens.
The calf-height Alien Stompers were created specifically by the sportswear brand for Aliens – the second in the Alien movie series directed by James Cameron, which starred Weaver as warrant officer Ellen Ripley.
The designs feature three velcro straps, a bright red tongue and matching accents across the beige and grey upper.
There is a growing trend for retro trainers, and Reebok's launch follows rival brand Nike's release of the self-lacing shoes from 1985 movie Back to the Future II.
Related story Back to the Future "brought the future closer" say designers
Nike presented the first pair of the shoes to the film's lead Michael J Fox on 21 October 2015, the year his character Marty McFly travels to. Earlier this month, the brand unveiled a new pair of self-lacing trainers.
Following Back to the Future day last year, which gained a great deal of publicity, film studio 20th Century Fox has named 26 April 2016 as Alien Day. The date is connected to the fictional planet LV-426, where the parasitic life forms originate from.
The films follow Ripley's continuing struggle to escape the aliens while stranded in deep space. They feature futuristic set and character designs by Swiss artist H R Giger.
On 26 April, the movies will be replayed in cinemas, and the replicas of Weaver's Alien Stompers will be released around the same time.
A special mid-cut version of the shoes will also be available, similar to those worn by actor Lance Henriksen as the android bishop.Ottawa police have a male suspect in custody in connection with Saturday’s fatal stabbing on Somerset Street West.
Police sources told CBC News the man was arrested just before noon on Sunday.
Police have been investigating Ottawa’s ninth homicide of the year since early Saturday morning, when an injured man was taken from 494 Somerset St. W and later pronounced dead.
The victim has been identified as André Boisclair, a man with a criminal past who once admitted to driving a getaway car after a murder.
Boisclair, 37, admitted during a trial to driving a getaway car after the murder of Douglas Earl Joe in May of 1997.
A retrial was called but Boisclair refused to testify, resulting in a Canada-wide warrant issued by the RCMP in 2008.
In the warrant, they said Boisclair was the son of André Gagnon, a prominent member of local biker gang the Ottawa Outlaws.
The RCMP also said at the time that Boisclair was a long-time bank robber and should be considered violent.
The investigation into his death continues.X
The Washington Post published a story this week about the one place Saudi women can get behind the wheel – an amusement park. What looks like a very tame round of bumper cars is actually a thrilling moment for these Saudi Arabian women, who are banned from driving full-sized automobiles.On Ladies' Night women queue up for the five-minute rush where they can go anywhere they want. Well, anywhere on the small platform at least. But this experience isn't just about driving for the thrill of it. Before going to school abroad, Sama Bin Mahfooz went to the park to get some practice."We never get a chance to in Saudi Arabia – this is the right place to do it," bin Mahfooz told the Journal. "Whenever my best friend would hit me, I would tell her: 'No, let me drive, let me drive!"Ladies' Night also allows women to relax. Every employee is also female, and so the participants do not have to obey the country's strict codes of dress for the evening. Women are also allowed to use the bumper cars on nights when both men and women are in attendance, though they have to cover themselves from head to toe in abayas. When men ride the bumper cars, they do what most people around the word do – hit others hard. The park then puts up a curtain when it's the women's turn. They go back to driving politely in circles around the platform.Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are forbidden to drive. Women have been pushing for change in the kingdom for years, but have had limited success. In 2014, two activists from the UAE drove to the border of Saudi Arabia where they were detained for 25 days for the crime of "driving while female." The ban on women drivers is getting called into question, however, on the grounds of practicality. Women are entering the Saudi Arabian workforce in increasing numbers, and many families simply cannot afford to hire a driver.Former CIA Director Michael Hayden on Tuesday slammed Republican presidential nominee 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 for apparently joking about the possibility that Democratic nominee 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 could be shot.
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"If someone else had said that outside the hall, he'd be in the back of a police wagon now, with the Secret Service questioning him," Hayden said Tuesday on CNN.
During a rally Tuesday in North Carolina, Trump was talking about Clinton appointing liberal justices to the Supreme Court if she wins the White House.
“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment,” Trump said to boos from the crowd.
“By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks,” he added.
“Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know.”
Hayden said when he first heard the comments, he thought it was "more than a speed bump."
"That's actually a very arresting comment," he said.
"It suggests either a very bad taste reference to political assassination and an attempt at humor or an incredible insensitivity... to the prevalence of a political assassination inside of American history and how that is a topic that we don't ever come close to, even when we think we're trying to be light-hearted."
Trump quickly faced backlash for his remark.
“This is simple – what Trump is saying is dangerous,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement. “A person seeking to be President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.”
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) called for Secret Service to investigate Trump's statement as a threat, and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) also said the comment qualifies as an assassination threat.Most of the seven candidates in the running to be Winnipeg's next mayor showed up for a mayoral forum held at the Circle of Life Thunderbird House Saturday.
Michel Fillion didn't show. But one of the frontrunners in the race wasn't welcome.
Gord Steeves was purposely left off the invitation list. Steeves came under fire after his wife made racist comments about aboriginal people on Facebook.
The other candidates in the running to be mayor, Paula Havixbeck, Judy Wasylycia-Leis, Brian Bowman, David Sanders, and Robert-Falcon Ouellette attended.
Aboriginal issues were the focus of discussion, with the issue of missing and murdered women front and centre.
Sylvia Boudreau, one of the organizers of the mayoral forum at Thunderbird House, said organizers have been watching Steeves closely, especially during the last few weeks.
"In terms of his past involvement, or lack of involvement with the indigenous community, the decision was made not to open an invitation to him," she said.
Boudreau said Lorrie Steeves' Facebook post also played into the decision to leave him off the list, but it was more than that.
"The reason behind it is certainly not to disrupt the process, but I think in the past couple weeks, other indigenous individuals who are prominent in the community have attempted to engage him and it really hasn't gone far," she said.
Boudreau also said leaving Steeves off the invitation list was being realistic about the chances of him showing up.
"Personally if we did invite him, I don't think he would have showed. So I think we foresaw that in our crystal ball," she said.FREE DOWNLOAD: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k00a19swhwy2sp1/Adam%27s%20Weekly%20Mix%20-%20Episode%2010.mp3?dl=0
Tracklist:
Calvin Harris & Disciples - How Deep Is Your Love (Skytone & Bernie, Dirty Play Bootleg)
Florian Picasso vs. The Weeknd & Martin Garrix - Can't Feel My Origami (Adam's Mashup)
Hardwell - Mad World
Calvin Harris vs. twoloud & Bounce Inc - Blame Hope (Adam's Mashup)
Thomas Gold & Deniz Koyu - Never Alone
Quintino - Devotion
Breathe Carolina vs. Y&V - Hero (Satellite)
Dannic vs. Tom & Jame vs. Alesso - Cool Clap (Adam's Mashup)
We The People - Make Me Bounce
FTampa vs. David Guetta vs. Blasterjaxx - That Drop On The Sun (Adam's Mashup)
W&W & Headhunterz vs. Hardwell - We Control The Madness (Adam's Mashup)
Reez - Prophecy
Dimitri Vegas, Moguai, Like Mike - Mammoth (Boostedkids vs. Monkey Bros Remix)
Borgeous & David Solano - Big Bang (Zestty & Lev Remix)
ANGEMI vs. Bassjackers - Darker Than Dragon Blood (Adam's Mashup)
Noisecontrollers - Gimme ApolloFAQs
What is a Song Shop song, really?
A Song Shop Song is a personalized song written for you, by me, about anything you want. You buy a song and then tell me what you want it to be about. I write it and when your song is ready, we upload it to a place where you can download it as an mp3 and it’s yours and yours alone.
How much does a song cost?
A shorter song is $85,and a full-length song is $170. There are various other “packages” available on the front page of this site with their respective prices.
How long is each song? What do they sound like?
Song Shops are acoustic recordings done by me through a quality mike. Once and a while I’ll layer guitars or sounds but more often than not I just perform them live for a very organic, emotionally resonant feel, (which is the most fun and easy) while still having them sound great. The fidelity and production as well as the songwriting of the songs continues to improve each time we open up. The “vibe” of the song totally ranges based on what feelings your description provokes in me. They make be scream-filled, punk-ish, loud and dark or delicate and soft; bouncy and jubilant or aching and longing. You can (but don’t have to) specify what you’re looking for in that sense when you submit your description.
As for how long they are, a half-length song is usually between 1 and two minutes. A full length is generally between 2.5 and 4, but both vary and sometimes I tend to make the songs a bit longer. I’ve never received a complaint as to the length of the songs.
What is a "Featuring Sherri" song? How long are they?
"Featuring Sherri" songs are Song Shop songs featuring additional vocals by Max's wife, Sherri Dupree Bemis, of Eisley and Perma. Outside of her own band, you can hear Sherri's vocals featured on the last two Say Anything records, as well as singing with Max at www.permamusic.com. Max will write the lyrics and sing lead vocals on the songs, and Sherri will contribute backups, harmonies, and in certain cases, leads of her own. Either way, if you dig songs like "Cemetery" or "Overbiter", this is the option for you.
How long has Song Shop been around and how many songs have you written for it?
I started Song Shop in the summer of 2008. We’ve opened it once or twice a year since then, and I’ve written between 800 and near about 1000 frickin’ songs for it.
What gave you the idea for Song Shop?
With music pretty much free for the taking (which rules), I was thinking about how a musician can present something that’s totally original and ACTUALLY MEANINGFUL (not to say original music isn’t meaningful). I asked myself: as a music fan what is something I would actually want that can’t be pirated? What is something that would touch my heart in a truly direct way?” My answer was “a song written by Dave Grohl”. I thought to myself “I would probably pay a thousand dollars to have my own Foo Fighters song about my life.” Before I conned him into writing music with me for free (we’re in a band together), I would have done the same for Chris Conley from Saves the Day. Though I don’t consider myself as talented as either Grohl OR Conley, I realized a lot of kids probably would value a song written about them by me (which is crazy to think about, but uncannily it’s true). It’s become a really involved emotional experience connecting with our fans on this intimate a level and providing them something unique.
How the @#@# do u write so many songs?
I consider myself a writer before anything, so I’ve spent years (trying) to master phrasing and rhyme, kind of like a medieval court minstrel or something. Melodies come first, but since I’ve written so many already, it’s become an acquired sort of muscle memory-ish ability of mine to be able to come up with a lot of stuff and still have it be worthy of a song and from the heart. Part of how I write songs is wanting to affect an impression right out of the gate with what I say (as you may have noticed with my Say Anything work) so being bluntly honest isn’t as hard as writing some weird veiled overly poetic stuff. It’s pretty much the only thing in my life that comes this easily to me, since I’m clumsy, neurotic and have A.D.D. I’m also an easy empathizer so I actually disappear into the subject matter and emotion of the songs.
What should I have you write about?
Seriously, anything goes. Details are always very helpful, but less info (a line or two) can sometimes be just as inspiring, as it leaves me more room to expand upon the themes with my own word-play and vision; therefore you can have lots to say or a little to say and it will be equally helpful. Don’t feel “cheesy” for having me write you a love song; I adore doing so and try to make every one stand out and resonate. Don’t feel cliché for having me write a song about loneliness, angst, depression or mental health issues; the songs always reflect a part of my soul and I can write about it forever and in an infinite amount of ways. You DESERVE your song, should you want one. Everyone’s problems and joys are epic to them and that’s why music makes people feel so much. Don’t be embarrassed, this is between you and me and I’ve led a really awkward, messed up life, so I’m up for anything. If there is something you know a loved one would want, you can express the type of person they are or what they mean to you and I will do my best to make the song something they’d love. Also, something silly and lighthearted is also just as valid as something dark or deep.
Can I have you cover a song or sing guest vocals on my music instead of an original song?
Unfortunately, though you wouldn’t think so, both of these things take much more time than writing a song for me, so we don’t include them as an option in Song Shop. However, if you have lyrics you’ve written, I will change them around a bit and incorporate them into your song if you’d like. Just include them with your description and it’ll be like we collaborated on the song! I’m also known to do the odd Say Anything cover, but we try to keep it minimal.
When and how often is Song Shop open?
As of now, I can only do Song Shop in a limited capacity because of Say Anything, family, and writing comics and whatnot, and how long it stays open depends on how many people buy the songs, so I can’t say either definitively and would encourage you to join the mailing list when it’s closed and act quickly when the Shop opens.
What is the process of buying a song like? Where do I write what I want it to be about? What if something happens and I want to change my song info? How can I check the status of the song and how will I know when it’s done?
First you’ll select what kind of song you want, and then pay for it through PayPal. You’ll be emailed login info to a site where you can enter one or two paragraphs about what you want me to write about, and your phone number. You can then login back to this site any time to make sure your info is there or change the info, all the way up until when I do your song, when the status will change and your description will be locked. Once the song is done we’ll email you to notify you. At this time you can go back to the same site, download an mp3 of the song and it’s yours!
How long does it take to receive a song? When does Max work on them?
The functional basis of Song Shop, as I’ve said many times, is patience. Some people get their songs in the first couple of weeks/months after we open and it’s awesome to see people’s reactions to that. I try to do what I can through my g-mail account to see if I can get people their songs on prescribed dates, but this is in no way a guarantee.. It all depends on how many people bought songs, which kind of song I happen to be working on each day, family situation, and so many outside factors I can’t even begin to list them.
These songs and this interaction are a HUGE, HUGE part of my life. Once the shop is open, whether I’m on tour or not, I reserve special time almost every day to get a bunch of songs done. Sometimes I’m forced to take off time from writing. However, I’m back at it again ASAP and over a decade into doing this, I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I were pumping out crappy songs for the money y’all pay me and would have instead named it “Song Factory”. When it comes to having to wait a bit for your song, the only thing I can say is that, having spoken personally to literally hundreds of kids who bought songs, all of them take the time to mention that the wait is nothing compared to how fulfilling an experience having your own song is.
What are the best things I can do as a Song Shop customer to keep things functional?
First of all, complete your song description as soon as you get your payment verification email or shortly after so I can attack your song as soon as I’m ready. Also PLEASE make sure emails from noreply@merchdirect.com or my email at gmail.com aren’t going into your spam folder. The only times we’ve ever hard a harder time getting someone their song is when contact information has changed without notifying us, people don’t answer our emails, or the evil SPAM folder gets involved. Either way we’ve set up our new online status system to avoid those email mishaps, so you can check the status of your song online whenever you want and download it directly from the site. Overall, keep in touch, be patient and look for the emails we send out to everyone who bought a song that will keep you updated about the status of this “wave” of Song Shop.
If I bought a song and have a question that isn’t answered on this site, whom should I contact?
Feel free to shoot an email over to at help@merchdirect.com when it comes to the functionality of the process, or if you have a personal concern you can reach me at youboughtarecord@gmail.com. The least productive thing you can do is tweet at me or about the process. Remember there are thousands of cases involved and I’m totally anxiety ridden in general so having someone complain about their particular issue publicly gives me a mini meltdown. I am ALWAYS down to try my best to address each and every customer personally if needed.The tone of the X-Men movies has never really changed but New Mutants is clearly going to change that in a major way. Not much is known about the spinoff right now beyond the fact that it will delve into a lot of horror elements but 20th Century Fox CEO Stacey Snider has revealed just how different the movie is going to be after she was asked about audiences suffering from superhero fatigue.
Needless to say, it sounds like this will be a very different sort of adventure for Fox's mutants characters and while an R-Rating is never actually mentioned, it definitely sounds like that's a real possibility.
"Great effort has been put into making sure they’re differentiated. New Mutants is about these teenagers who are just coming into their powers. It’s like watching mutants go through adolescence and they have no impulse control, so they’re dangerous. The only solution is to put them in a Breakfast Club detention/Cuckoo’s Nest institutional setting. It protects the people on the outside, but it’s strange and combustible inside. The genre is like a haunted-house movie with a bunch of hormonal teenagers. We haven’t seen it as a superhero movie whose genre is more like The Shining than 'we’re teenagers let’s save the world.'"0
Superhero movies are consistently the top performers at the box office nowadays. The general public is intimately familiar with characters like Deadpool, Scarecrow, and of course Iron Man. But 16 years ago, the blockbuster landscape was markedly different. The Top 10 domestic grossers of 1999 included The Sixth Sense, Runaway Bride, and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Audiences were routinely turning out for movie star-fronted comedies or buzzworthy blockbusters like The Matrix, but comic book adaptations were still a low tier genre that was a hodgepodge of the violent (Spawn, Blade), the silly (Batman & Robin, Judge Dredd), and the baffling (Barb Wire).
But in 2000, filmmaker Bryan Singer forever changed the way comic book adaptations were perceived by approaching an adaptation of X-Men as a piece of cinema first and foremost. This was evident from the get-go, as Singer made the bold move to open this movie about superpowered mutants with a sequence set in 1944 German-occupied Poland, as the young Erik Lensherr’s parents are sent off to a concentration camp, thus revealing his powers for the first time.
Think about that for a second. To audiences who perceived comic book movies as colorful and silly, the first footage they saw in X-Men was of a Jewish family being torn apart at a concentration camp. The notion of blending grounded, real-world drama with a property like X-Men was unheard of. Sure Richard Donner’s Superman was a profoundly human picture, and Tim Burton’s Batman was ambitiously unique, but in the year 2000 the comic book genre was essentially dead. The circus show that is Batman & Robin had killed the Batman franchise in 1997, and all that was left were niche properties like the R-rated Blade and the dark, horror-infused Spawn. There was no template for what a superhero movie could be, but it definitely wasn’t considered a “serious” genre. Then along comes X-Men, which isn’t as dark as the niche adaptations that preceded it, but doesn’t parade its characters as silly cartoons either—Singer took a realistic approach to introducing the X-Men, and it worked tremendously.
Singer’s “in” with the film is Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, who serves as the comics illiterate audience’s surrogate. Wolverine is just as dubious as we are by the notion of a superpowered team of mutants using codenames like “Storm” and “Cyclops”, and as he grows to embrace the more comic book-y aspects of the X-Men, so does the audience. And Singer, with cinematographer Newton Thomas Siegel, eschews theatricality or grandiosity in favor of a grounded visual approach that makes the settings feel familiar and, by extension, more human despite the special effects on display.
Moreover, with X-Men Singer dove deep into the thematics of the story, not content with just making a piece of popcorn entertainment. He recognized and emphasized the parallels between the Professor X/Magneto relationship and the relationship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X while also leaning heavily on the social relevance of a group of minorities who are maligned simply because they’re different. This all goes back to the comics source material from which Singer and screenwriter David Hayter drew, but in approaching X-Men the same way Singer would approach a film like The Usual Suspects, it allowed for the drama and weight of the themes to bubble to the surface in an organic way.
The true test of this unique approach to X-Men, however, would be the box office, and indeed the film was a success, grossing nearly $300 million worldwide. It of course spawned many sequels and jump-started a franchise that’s still going strong today, but its impact on the world of comic book adaptations cannot be understated. Singer’s grounded approach to the characters and world of X-Men paved the way for Christopher Nolan to double down on that take with Batman Begins in 2005. It led to accomplished filmmaker Ang Lee tackling The Hulk in 2003’s Hulk. And yes, it opened the door to Marvel Studios venturing out on its own with 2008’s Iron Man.
Together with Sam Raimi’s equally ambitious but a tad more colorful Spider-Man in 2002—which broke out huge at the box office and officially made the superhero genre a “thing”—X-Men prepared audiences for comic book movies that could simultaneously treat the source material with respect but also work as genuinely great pieces of art. No longer was a |
for now the universe shrinks to littleness and is pitched against the still more mysterious concept of Nothingness. This is not merely something infinite; it is something humanly inconceivable. Heidegger has devoted one of his most intriguing essays to an attempt — not to define the indefinable — but to define the negation of Being, Non-Being, or Nothingness.
So there we have the Little Man gaping into the abyss, and feeling — for he still retains an infinite capacity for sensation — not only very small, but terrified. That feeling is the original Angst, the dread or anguish, and if you do not feel Angst you cannot be an existentialist. I am going to suggest presently that we need not necessarily feel Angst, but all existentialists do, and their philosophy begins in that fact. There are two fundamental reactions to Angst: we can say that the realization of man's insignificance in the universe can be met by a kind of despairful defiance. I may be insignificant, and my life a useless passion, but at least I can cock a snook at the whole show and prove the independence of my mind, my consciousness. Life obviously has no meaning, but let us pretend that it has. This pretence will at any rate give the individual a sense of responsibility: he can prove that he is a law unto himself, and he can even enter into agreement with his fellow-men about certain lines of conduct which, in this situation, they should all adopt. He is free to do this, and his freedom thus grows into a sense of responsibility. This is Sartre’s doctrine, but he does not make very clear what would happen supposing he could not persuade his fellow-men to agree on certain lines of conduct, or certain values. I think he would probably say that a measure of agreement is ensured by our human predicament, that being what we are, when our existential situation is made clear, we are bound to act freely in a certain way. Our necessity becomes our freedom. But I am not sure about this. The characters in Sartre’s novels and plays tend to act absurdly, or according to their psychological dispositions, and are not noticeably responsible to any ideal of social progress.
This aspect of existentialism seems to me to have a good deal in common with Vaihinger's philosophy of ‘as if.’ We cannot be sure that we are free, or that we are responsible for our own destiny, but we behave as if we were. And by a natural extension existentialism establishes a relationship with pragmatism – it is significant that many of Sartre's literary enthusiasms are American, and America is the home of pragmatism. But, from Sartre’s point of view, pragmatism of any kind is too superficial: it is based on day to day procedures, a sort of balance sheet of success and failure, whereas the existentialist must for ever keep in view the terrifying nature of our human predicament.To that extent, perhaps, existentialism represents an advance in philosophical rectitude.
More profoundly still, the existentialists object to pragmatism and other such practical philosophies (including, as we shall see presently, marxism) on the ground that they are materialistic. Any form of materialism, by making human values dependent on economic or social conditions, deprives man of his freedom. Freedom is the capacity to rise above one's material environment. ‘The possibility of detaching oneself from a situation in order to take a point of view concering it (says Sartre) is precisely what we call freedom. No sort of materialism will ever explain this transcendence of a situation, followed by a turning back to it. A chain of causes and effects may well impel me to an action, or an attitude, which will itself be an effect and will modify the state of the world: it cannot cause me to turn back to my situation to apprehend it in its totality.’
That turning-back to a situation is the metaphysical act there is nothing in our environment to compel us to adopt a metaphysical attitude. That is a process of rising superior to our environment, of seeing things, of seeing all nature, from a point of view external to nature. The marxist may protest that that is all poppy-cock – there is no possibility of lifting ourselves outside nature by our own shoe-straps. But that is the crux of the whole question. The existentialist, it seems to me, is bound to assert that mankind has developed a special faculty, consciousness, or intellectual self awareness, which enables him to do precisely that trick. In this matter I am inclined to be on the side of the existentialist. The higher forms of animal consciousness are connected with this impulse to detachment – detachment from the herd, from society, from any situation including the situation of man vis à vis the universe. It can be argued with force that precisely such capacity for detachment is the cause of our social disease, our disunity, and aggressiveness; but it must also be admitted that our major advances in scientific thought are also due to the development and use of this same faculty. But there is a danger inherent in detachment which the existentialist fully realizes. It is the danger of idealism. In detachment we elaborate a philosophy, a social utopia, which has no relevance to the conditions we are at any moment living through. The existentialist therefore says that man, having experienced his sense of detachment or freedom, must throw himself back into the social context with the intention of changing those conditions. Hence the doctrine of engagement. To quote Sartre again: ‘Revolutionary man must be a contingent being, unjustifiable but free, entirely immersed in the society that oppresses him, but capable of transcending this society by his effort to change it. Idealism mystifies him in that it binds him by rights and values that are already given; it conceals from him his power to devise roads of his own. But materialism also mystifies him, by depriving him of his freedom. The revolutionary philosophy must be a philosophy of transcendence.’
Before examining this doctrine from the point of view of marxism and anarchism, let us pause for a moment to examine the other typical reaction to Angst, the religious reaction, for that is an idealist attitude to which Sartre is also objecting. I am not sure that I can do justice to this attitude, but as it takes shape in the thought of Schelling, Coleridge, and Kierkegaard (and earlier still, in Saint Augustine), it seems to amount to this: We have the existential position – man confronted by the abyss of nothingness. It just does not make sense. Why am I here? Why all this complex structure, of which I am a part, a part become aware of itself? It is complete nonsense, but a simple hypothesis will make sense of it all: the prior existence of God. A transcendent creator responsible for the whole phantasmagoria of existence, responsible for me too, and my consciousness – how logical it all becomes! There may be difficult snags left over – the problems of evil and pain, for example – but a little ingenuity will soon get over them. We can't expect even a celestial omnibus to work without a little friction. And so we get, immensely elaborated, the mystical Christian existentialism of Kierkegaard and Gabriel Marcel. I am not suggesting that this is the point of view of the average Christian, or the average theist of any kind; they usually rely on revelation, on sacred scriptures and ecstatic illumination; but in so far as the religious point of view competes in the philosophical field, it is independent of these special pleas, and relies on logical argument. It is another philosophy of as if; it might be called the philosophy of only thus: only thus does our existence make sense. The sense, in such a case, is identical with what these philosophers call essence, and Sartre, if not Heidegger before him, has said that the fundamental thesis of existentialism is that existence precedes essence. Professor Ayer has attacked this proposition on logical grounds. ‘Essence’ has a confusing history as a philosophical term. It usually means what we can assert about anything apart from the mere fact of its existence (i.e. subsistence) the possibilities inherent in a thing: the Platonic Idea. Santayana, whose use of the term is a little peculiar, but nevertheless valuable in being what an avowed materialist can admit, defines the difference between existence and essence as that between what is always identical with itself and immutable and what, on the contrary, is in flux and indefinable. This agrees with Sartre’s notion of contingency; it is essence which allows for the possibility of change in the world. Santayana has a pretty little myth to describe the relationship:
‘Becoming, we might say, in the fierce struggle to generate he knew not what, begat Difference; and Difference, once born, astonished its parent by growing into a great swarm of Differences, until it exhibited all possible Differences, that is to say, until it exhibited the whole realm of essence. Up to that time Becoming, who was a brisk bold lusty Daemon, had thought himself the cock of the walk; but now, painful as it was for him to see any truth whatever, he couldn’t help suspecting that he lived and moved only through ignorance, not being able to maintain the limitations of any moment nor to escape the limitations of the next, like a dancing Dervish that must lift one foot and then the other then the other from the burning coals.’
That is by the way, but Santayana does bring out more clearly than any other philosopher I know the fact that it is by its very ideality, its non-existence, that essence is inwardly linked with existence; it is not a mere extension or part of that which exists. I do not think Professor Ayer appreciates this point, but I would not like to argue it out with him, because it is not my point, nor one to which I attach particular importance. But it does explain why Sartre can support a notion like freedom without being committed to that kind of idealism which involves a whole system of absolute values. I do not think it would make much difference to Sartre’s philosophy if for freedom we substituted the word flux. What we apprehend of the nature of things is subject to constant change, and the change is not so much inherent in the thing itself – in matter – as in our consciousness or apprehension of these essences. According to this view, essences do not change, neither do they subsist in space or time. They are merely there when we perceive them. They belong to the object, but can exist without its material presence, like the grin of the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland.
Rousseau’s mistake was to treat freedom as an essence, as an eternally subsisting value in mankind. Man is not in this sense ‘born free.’ He is born a mere bundle of flesh and bones, with freedom as one of the possibilities of his existence. The onus is on man to create the conditions of freedom. Now all this may seem to be of merely theoretical interest, but on the contrary this is where existentialism is making its greatest contribution to philosophy. It is eliminating all systems of idealism, all theories of life or being that subordinate man to an idea, to an abstraction of some sort. It is also eliminating all systems of materialism that subordinate man to the operation of physical and economic laws. It is saying that man is the reality not even man in the abstract, but the human person, you and I; and that everything else freedom, love, reason, God is a contingency depending on the will of the individual. In this respect existentialism has much in common with Max Stirner’s egoism. An existentialist like Sartre differs from Stirner in that he is willing to engage the ego in certain super egoistic or idealistic aims. He has less in common with dialectical materialism which requires him to subordinate his personal freedom to political necessity; less still with Catholicism which requires him to subordinate his personal freedom to God. He seeks alliance with He seeks alliance with a militant humanism which by political and cultural means will in some unspecified way guarantee his personal freedom.
Let me admit at this stage of the argument that I find it possible to accept some of the fundamental principles of Sartre’s existentialism. I believe, for example, that all philosophy must begin in subjectivity. There are certain concrete bases of experience – the so called scientific facts – to which we can give an existential reality, but though philosophy may use them as a jumping-off ground, they do not in themselves involve the acceptance of a particular philosophy. If they did, we should find all scientists professing the same philosophy, which is very far from being the case. Philosophy begins when we depart from existential facts and flounder about in the realm of essences. In that realm our subjective faculties – intuition, aesthetic sensibility, the esemplastic power (as Coleridge called it) of subsuming the many under the one – with all these personal and uncertain means we begin to construct a philosophy. We should still be guided by practical reason, scientific method, and logic; but these are the methods and not the substance of our discourse (a fact often forgotten by the logical positivists). By virtue of this subjective activity, we reduce irrational essences into some kind of order, the order of a carefully constructed myth or fairy-tale (as in religion) or the order of a coherent utopia (as in political idealism).
The rationalist and materialist may protest that we are merely trying to reduce everything to the terms of our romantic idealism, but we can turn on him and prove that his philosophical structure, in spite of the pseudo-scientific jargon in which it is expressed, is in no way different. It is a structure of reason, and it is idealistic in that it depends on faith – faith that tomorrow will be the same as today, faith that human beings will behave in a way he can calculate beforehand, faith in reason itself, which is, after all, only the means by which the scientist kids himself that he understands existence. Scientific method may be one thing, and productive of separately ascertained truths between which there can only be relative discontinuity, a chaos of atomized facts; or scientific method may be something quite different and move towards some ideal of harmony, of wholeness and order. But such harmony (the ideal of a Marx no less than of a Plato) is a subjective perception. The communist in this respect does not differ from the royalist or the anarchist; we are all idealists, and I do not see how we can be anything else so long as we believe that man is what he makes of himself. The difference is between those who believe that a particular ideal should predetermine mans existence (which is the official communist line) and those who believe (as the existentialists and anarchists do) that the personality of man, that is to say, his own subjectivity, is the existing reality and that the ideal is an essence towards which he projects himself, which he hopes to realize in the future, not by rational planning, but by inner subjective development. The essence can only be grasped from the particular stage of existence which you and I have at any particular moment reached. Hence the folly of all so-called ‘blue-prints for the future’; the future will make its own prints, and they won’t necessarily be blue.
To most people all this involves a sense of insecurity, as though they were sailing strange seas without a chart, perhaps even without a compass. But that, as Sartre has pointed out, is the whole point. He quotes Dostoevsky – ‘if God did not exist, all would be permissible.’ ‘In fact,’ admits Sartre, ‘everything is permissible if God does not exist, and consequently man is adrift, because he cannot find, either within himself or without, anything to cling to. At first he is without excuses. If in fact existence precedes essence, one cannot explain things in terms of a given and fixed human nature; in other words, there is no determinism, man is free, man is freedom. On the other hand, if God does not exist, we do not find ready at hand values or formulas which will justify our conduct. Thus, neither in front of us nor behind us can we find, in the realm of values, justification or excuse. We are alone, without excuse.’ Which is what Sartre means when he says that man is condemned to be free. In my metaphor, he is condemned to be adrift, and he has to invent the instruments by means of which he can steer a course; having invented these instruments, he has to set out on a voyage of discovery. He has no idea of where he will get to, where he will land himself. His life, his existence, is the voyage his reality is the fact that he is moving in a direction which he himself has freely determined.
For the moment I want to leave on one side the problem of agreement; for after all, we can’t move about an ocean in separate boats; we are passengers on ships which contain many other people, and we have to reconcile our freedom of movement with theirs. We shall be in a better position to consider this problem when we have confronted existentialism and marxism.
In view of the association of the French existentialist writers with the resistance movement during the occupation, it is a little difficult to follow the usual practice and label existentialism as a philosophy of fascism, so it seems to have been agreed to damn it as Trotskyism. Anyone less of an existentialist than Trotsky it would be difficult to conceive, so it is equally difficult to see how an existentialist can be a Trotskyite: it is merely, of course, a convenient term of abuse. But the examination of existentialism made by George Lukács, whom I regard as the most intelligent marxist critic of our time, is more serious than such tactics would suggest. It is, of course, comparatively simple to establish a connection between fascist imperialism and the philosophy of Heidegger — the connection was historical and actual during the Nazi regime. But such an association might have been fortuitous it is difficult for a philosopher to resist the flattery which a totalitarian State seems willing to bestow on him. For philosophical purposes we must seek for some more fundamental connection, and this undoubtedly lies in the nihilism which is the philosophical disease of our time. Now nihilism is merely that condition of despair which I have already described, a despair that overcomes man whenever he looks into the abyss of nothingness and realizes his own insignificance. It is a condition from which you can react in various ways: you can, of course, affirm its fundamental reality; you can remain a nihilist and refuse to believe in anything but your own selfish interests. You can react as Dostoevsky did, and become a pessimistic Christian, or you can react as the Nazis did and become a realistic power politician. Heidegger (and Sartre when it comes to his turn) reacts far more metaphysically he constructs an elaborate fire escape, a life saving apparatus by means of which man can escape from nihilism, though not denying that it still remains the fundamental nature of reality. Now that is precisely what the marxist cannot accept.
To begin with, what is this pessimistic nihilism but a reflection of the bankruptcy of the capitalist system? It has no reality the Nothingness which Heidegger and Sartre write about is a subjective state of mind. Lukacs calls it a typical fetish of bourgeois psychology, a myth created by a society condemned to death.Its existence is only made possible by an abandonment of reason, and this is a characteristic trend of modern philosophy, a trend that includes, not only Heidegger and Husserl, but also Dilthey and Bergson.
The marxist is really more existentialist than the existentialists. In theory (but not always in practice) he does not admit the existence of essences. There is only one reality, and it is historical, temporal. Man is an animal who evolved in historic time. At a certain stage in his evolution he developed the faculty of consciousness, but there is nothing mysterious about it, and its nature and scope will no doubt change again in the future. ‘Man,’ says Lukacs, ‘has created himself by his work. When man finally winds up his pre-history and establishes socialism in a complete and definite form, then we shall see a fundamental transformation of the nature of man... Creating himself historically, transforming himself historically, man is naturally (également) attached to the world by certain constant factors (work and certain fixed relationships which arise out of it). But that does not in any way effect a compromise between such an objective dialectic of history and the timeless ontology of subjectivity. No compromise is possible between these two conceptions: it is necessary to make a choice. Nor is any compromise possible between the existentialist conception of freedom and the historical and dialectical unity of freedom and necessity established by marxism. Lukacs seems above all concerned to disallow the possibility of a third way in philosophy and politics. There is idealism and there is dialectical materialism; if you are not a dialectical materialist, you must be an idealist of some sort; if you are a dialectical materialist, you must be a marxist. I think this is playing with words. There is a fundamental opposition between a purely mechanistic materialism and all forms of idealism, but Lukacs, like most modern marxists, is very careful to dissociate himself from the mechanistic school. But as soon as materialism becomes dialectical, it associates itself with contradictions, and the contradictions of matter are essences. You cannot be dialectical in thought or anything else unless you posit a realm of essence over against the realm of matter. But as soon as you admit a realm of essences, you give substantial existence to a state of subjectivity, for it is only in a state of subjectivity that we become aware of essences. If man had created himself merely by his work, he would have remained within a sensational and instinctual world, like the ant. The development of consciousness, which I agree with marxists in treating as an existential, historic event, means that subjective factors, essences, entered into the dialectical process; and only that fact can explain the evolution of man to his present moral and intellectual stature. And, of course, it is quite ridiculous to confine the evolutionary factors to work. The struggle for existence, especially in unfavourable climatic conditions, has always been a grim business. But the higher faculties of man, such as ethical consciousness, probably developed in temperate zones in Egypt and the Mediterranean basin and it was play rather than work which enabled man to evolve his higher faculties everything we mean by the word ‘culture.’(Anyone who doubts this should read Huizinga's Homo Ludens. There is no aspect of culture — language, war, science, art, or philosophy, not even religion — in whose evolution play does not enter as the creative factor. Play is freedom, is disinterestedness, and it is only by virtue of disinterested free activity that man has created his cultural values. Perhaps it is this theory of all work and no play that has made the marxist such a very dull boy.
An animal at play – animals do play and man is only an animal that has learned to play more elaborately – an animal at play is not very conscious of Angst, of the existentialists abyss of nothingness. The existentialist and the marxist may retort that only a despicable character like Nero fiddles while Rome is burning, but considering the corruption of Rome at that time, there was perhaps something to be said for Neros playful disinterestedness.Nero, however, is really beside the point, which is the relevance of Angst. To the marxist the whole business – Angst, shipwreck, nothingness – is merely another myth, like the myth of the End of the World, or the Last Judgement. But the point of view I now want to bring forward, and recommend as the true one, admits the facts upon which the existentialist bases his Angst, but draws a different conclusion from them. There is no generally accepted name for this other fellow standing by the side of the existentialist on the edge of the abyss, but he has some resemblance to Aristotle. He surveys the scene, the little speck of protoplasm which is man, the universe, finite or infinite, on which he finds himself, and, if he thinks of the universe as finite, the dreaded gulf of nothingness beyond. His feelings are feelings of profound interest, excitement, wonder. He sees Fire and Air, Earth and Water, elementary qualities giving birth to all sorts of contrarieties: hot-cold, dry-moist, heavy-light, hard-soft, viscous-brittle, rough-smooth, coarse-fine - sees these combining and inter-acting and producing worlds and life upon these worlds, and he is lost in wonder. His greatest wonder is reserved for the fact that he, man, stands on the apex of this complex structure, its crown of perfection, alone conscious of the coherence of the Whole.
I recommend, as an antidote to the existentialists, a reading not only of Aristotle, but also of Lucretius – particularly those passages where he breaks off from his description of the nature of things to praise Epicurus, the father of his philosophy, the discoverer of truth, who had parted the walls of the world asunder, so that we might see all things moving on through the void: ‘The quarters of Acheron are nowhere to be seen, nor yet is earth a barrier to prevent all things being descried, which are carried on underneath through the void below our feet. At these things, as it were, some godlike pleasure and thrill of awe seizes on me, to think that thus by thy power nature is made so clear and manifest, laid bare on every side.’ What Lucretius called ‘the fear of Acheron... clouding all things with the blackness of death, and suffering no pleasure to be pure and unalloyed’ is our familiar bogy Angst, and Lucretius’s great poem was written to dispel Angst. ‘For often ere now,’ he says, ‘men have betrayed country and beloved parents, seeking to shun the realms of Acheron. For even as children tremble and fear everything in blinding darkness, so we sometimes dread in the light things that are no whit more to be feared than what children shudder at in the dark, and imagine will come to pass. This terror of the mind then, this darkness, must needs be scattered not by the rays of the sun and the gleaming shafts of day, but by the outer view and the inner law of nature.’
Aristotle and Lucretius are not exceptions; there is throughout the history of philosophy a tradition that, while taking its origin in the same full look into the nature of things as the existentialists affect, is based on the completely contrary reaction – a reaction of curiosity rather than of shipwreck. It cannot be said that this positive reaction (or resonance as Woltereck has called it ) is any more unjustified, any less profound than the negative reaction of the existentialist. It is a question of what Santayana has called ‘animal faith,’ ‘an atheoretical force which, torn from the data of experience, constructs and guarantees and extends the world of man’ — or as Sanatayana puts it, ‘the life of reason.’
Animal faith, faith in nature – I do not think the marxist likes the word faith – he is afraid of being committed to a god. I agree that it would be better to avoid the word God. As Santayana again has said: ‘If by calling nature God or the work of God, or the language in which God speaks to us, nothing is meant except that nature is wonderful, unfathomed, alive, the course of our being, the sanction of morality, and the dispenser of happiness and misery there can be no objection to such alternative terms in the mouth of poets; but I think a philosopher should avoid the ambiguities which a too poetical term often comports. The word nature is poetical enough: it suggests sufficiently the generative and controlling function, the endless vitality and the changeful order of the world in which I live.’
The philosophy which I am trying to present – a philosophy based on a positive reaction to cosmic experience – might well be called humanism – it is an affirmation of the significance of our human destiny. Humanism is a term which Sartre has adopted and which even an intransigent marxist like Lukacs does not disdain – he calls the Leninist theory of knowledge a militant humanism (un humanisme combatif), but he qualifies this acceptance of the term by pointing out that the notion is inseparable from practical action and work.This brings me to the anarchist position, which only now, at the end of this long disquisition, can be revealed in all its logical clarity. Like the marxist – or should we say the leninist – the anarchist rejects the philosophical nihilism of the existentialist. He just doesn’t feel that Angst, that dreadful shipwreck on the confines of the universe, from which the existentialist reacts with despairful energy. He agrees with the marxist that it is merely a modern myth. He draws in his metaphysical horns and explores the world of nature. He again finds himself agreeing with the leninist that life is a dialectical process the end of which is the conquest of what Lukacs calls la totalite humaine, which presumably means a world dominated by human values. But whereas the leninist conceives of this conquest in terms of a consciously directed struggle – practical action and work – the anarchist sees it in terms of mutual aid, of symbiosis.
Marxism is based on economics; anarchism on biology. Marxism still clings to an antiquated darwinism, and sees history and politics as illustrations ot’ a struggle for existence between social classes. Anarchism does not deny the importance of such economic forces, but it insists that there is something still more important, the consciousness of an overriding human solidarity. ‘It is,’ says Kropotkin, ‘the unconscious recognition of the force that is borrowed by each man from the practice of mutual aid; of the close dependency of everyone's happiness upon the happiness of all; and of the sense of justice, or equity, which brings the individual to consider the rights of every other individual as equal to his own. Upon this broad and necessary foundation the still higher moral feelings are developed.’
There is no need to repeat here the evidence from biology, anthropology, and social history which Kropotkin brought to the support of his thesis. Even the existentialist Sartre recognizes that the liberty he desires for himself implies that he must desire liberty for others. Even the marxist talks of human solidarity, to which capitalism is the only obstacle. But biology is not enough: we are self-conscious animals, animals conscious of ‘being,’ and we need a science of such consciousness: it is called ontology.
There is, that is to say, a science of existence which we call biology; there is a science of essence which we call ontology. The purpose of these two sciences is to determine the nature of the process of life and the place of our human existence in that total process. There are people who say that this cannot be done with the instruments of reason; that there is a Ground of Being only accessible to super rational intuition, and not understandable in the terms of rational thought. Some people regard that Ground of Being as transcendent, as more or less actively intervening in the development of existence, particularly in the unfolding of our human destiny; others treat it as merely an unknown quantity; still others, the materialists among us, deny its existence altogether. The point of view I have adopted myself is not dualistic; I do not recognize two orders of reality, known or unknown. Nor is my point of view materialistic in the marxist sense. I believe, in the words of Woltereck, that ‘one stream of events embraces everything that can in any way be experienced as real: whether the events be material or non-material, a-biotic, organic, psychic, conscious or unconscious... The psychic or spiritual life of man is also part of this one stream of events we call Nature, even though under special names and with special contents: science, technics, civilization, politics, history and art. The organism “Man” produces these things in the last analysis no differently from the bird its song and the building of its next, the tree its blossom and fruit. Also the dawning of consciousness, conscious acting and conscious thinking, are natural processes just like the reactions, instinctive acts and affects in the animal kingdom. The biologist does not make a distinction between physical events (Nature), and non physical events (Spirit): there is but one stream of events with as it were a visible (material) surface and a fluid (immaterial) depth, and this distinction between visible surface and fluid depth is, for me, the same distinction that Santayana makes between material existence and fluid essence. Santayana also says that essence is not an extension or a portion of that which exists, but that it is intimately interwoven with existence; meaning, I think, that there is this flexible Inside and Outside division, but no merging across this division. There is always a division between the gas inside a balloon and the atmosphere outside – they cannot mix, but they are intimately related as pressures, as specific gravities, and react in correspondence one with the other. Essence and existence are in this manner interwoven throughout the whole evolution of life. What is important to emphasize in all this is the presence, throughout the one life process, of freedom. The presence of this element is indicated by the process of evolution itself, which is an upward process, leading from the elementary physical states of the cosmic nebulae to a biotic differentiation, then to simple and increasingly differentiated life, and finally to spiritual events, spiritual creativity and spiritual freedom.’ There has existed throughout the whole process of evolution an ability to move on to new planes of existence, to create novelty. Freedom is not an essence only available to the sensibility of man; it is germinatively at work in all living things as spontaneity and autoplasticity. ‘This “biological” freedom and what becomes of it,’ (I am again quoting Woltereck) ‘has an ontic significance quite different from the “existential” compulsion of free decision. The latter cripples our sense of vitality and consequently the advancing life of man. The freedom of spontaneous events born of the ontic centre and the freedom to mould things in such and such a way enhances our sense of vitality and makes life more intense. The joy of creating things of value, self conquest (freeing the self from selfishness and its instincts), rising above the world, and finally the spontaneous creation of new forms, new norms, new ideas in the minds of individuals – all that is the possible result of man’s positive freedom.’
Freedom, says the marxist, is the knowledge of necessity. Freedom, says Engels, ‘consists in the control over ourselves and over external nature which is founded on knowledge of natural necessity it is therefore necessarily a product of historical development. The only thing wrong with this definition is that it is too narrow. The chick that is pecking its way out of its shell has no knowledge of natural necessity only a spontaneous instinct to behave in a way that will secure it freedom. It is an important distinction because it is the distinction underlying the marxist and the anarchist philosophies. From the anarchist point of view it is not sufficient to control ourselves and external nature; we must allow for spontaneous developments. Such opportunities occur only in an open society; they cannot develop in a closed society such as the marxists have established in Russia. There is also to be observed in Engels and Marx an essential confusion between freedom and liberty: what they mean by freedom is political liberty, man's relations to his economic environment; freedom is the relation of man to the total life process.
I am afraid that these observations will seem somewhat irrelevant to the practical problems of life, but that is a dangerous assumption. Marxism as militant politics throughout the world today had its origins in such philosophical distinctions, and still today rests unshaken on such a philosophical basis. We cannot meet marxism and expect to overcome it unless we have a philosophy of equal force. I do not believe that any of the prevailing idealistic systems of philosophy will serve our purpose the marxists have proved that they have weapons powerful enough to demolish that kind of structure. They have now shown that in their opinion existentialism does not constitute a danger to their philosophical position. I believe that another philosophical attitude is possible, and that it preserves the concept of freedom without which life becomes brutish. It is a materialistic philosophy, but it is also an idealist philosophy; a philosophy that combines existence and essence in dialectical counterplay.
If finally you ask me whether there is any necessary connection between this philosophy and anarchism, I would reply that in my opinion anarchism is the only political theory that combines an essentially revolutionary and contingent attitude with a philosophy of freedom. It is the only militant libertarian doctrine left in the world, and on its diffusion depends the progressive evolution of human consciousness and of humanity itself.
Notes
Coleridge as Critic (Faber, 1949), pp. 29-30.
Trans. Partisan Review.
Trans. Partisan Review.
Horizon, July and August 1945. Rationalist Annual, 1948.
‘Apologia pro mente sua,’ The Philosophy of Santayana. Ed. Paul Arthur Schilpp (Northwestern University, Evanston, 1940), p. 526.
The marxists pretend that their Utopia is scientific, but it is just as idealistic as any other projection of our constructive faculties into an unpredictable future; and by their day-to-day modications of their plans, marxists as a matter of fact admit how idealistic their original conceptions must have been.
L’existentialisme est un humanisme (1946), pp. 36-7.
Existentialisme ou marxisme? (Nagel, Paris, 1948).
Op. cit., p. 203.
Routledge Kegan Paul, London, 1949.
Ontologie des Lebendigen (Stuttgart, 1940). The translations of passages from this book which follow have been kindly supplied by Mr. R. F. C. Hull.
Antonio Banfi, ‘Crisis of Contemporary Philosophy,’ The Philosophy of George Santayana (Evanston, 1940), p. 482.
Scepticism and Animal Faith (1923), pp. 237-8.
Mutual Aid, Introduction.
Woltereck, op. cit.Welcome to the Arm NEON programming quick reference.
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happen.The way William Merideth sees it, it’s pretty clear-cut: a drone flying over his backyard was a well-defined invasion of privacy, analogous to a physical trespassing.
Not knowing who owned it, the Kentucky man took out his shotgun and fired three blasts of Number 8 birdshot to take the drone out.
"It was just right there," he told Ars. "It was hovering, I would never have shot it if it was flying. When he came down with a video camera right over my back deck, that's not going to work. I know they're neat little vehicles, but one of those uses shouldn’t be flying into people's yards and videotaping."
Minutes later, a car full of four men that he didn’t recognize rolled up, "looking for a fight."
"Are you the son of a bitch that shot my drone?" one said, according to Merideth.
His terse reply to the men, while wearing a 10mm Glock holstered on his hip: "If you cross that sidewalk onto my property, there’s going to be another shooting."
The men backed down, retreated to their car, and waited for the police to arrive.
"His only comment was that he hoped I had a big checkbook because his drone cost $1,800," Merideth added.
The Kentuckian was arrested Sunday evening in Hillview, Kentucky, just south of Louisville and charged with criminal mischief and wanton endangerment. He was released the following day. The Hillview Police Department did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.
A measured approach?
The report of the downed drone comes a month after Ars reported on a similar incident in Modesto, California. But in that case, the drone operator was flying his drone over his parents’ farm, and it was shot down by a neighbor.
Here, Merideth, who operates a local trucking company, said that he had seen "two or three" different drones in his backyard previously over the last year and was disturbed by their presence. "What recourse do we have?" he asked.
The 43-year-old man claimed that law enforcement officials, including the county jailer, told him privately that they agreed with his actions. "The people that own the drones and the people that hate guns are the only ones that disagree with what I did," he said. "Now, if I’d have had a.22 rifle, I should have gone to jail for that. The diameter of those things are going to come down with enough force to hurt somebody. Number 8 birdshot is not. Number 8 is the size of a pinhead. The bottom line is that it's a right to privacy issue and defending my property issue. It would have been no different had he been standing in my backyard. As Americans, we have a right to defend our rights and property."
So what’s next in this bizarre tale?
"We have a lawyer and there's a court date and then there's going to be a hearing," Merideth said. "It's not going to stop with the two charges against me, which I'm confident that we'll get reduced or get dismissed completely."
And what would Merideth like to tell this errant drone operator when he meets him again?
"I would just like [him] to get some education on his toy and learn to respect the rights of the people," he said. "It's fine and dandy, and I think it's cool there's a camera on it, but just take it to a park or something—he's not a responsible drone owner."
UPDATE Friday 11:30pm CT: David Boggs, the drone operator, contacted Ars to say "Nobody cussed him," and that "We drove 3 different vehicles." Ars will have a follow-up article on Saturday morning.Wake-Up Call: Top 11 Trends of 2011 After the tumultuous years of the Great Recession, a battered people may wish that 2011 will bring a return to kinder, gentler times. But that is not what we are predicting. Instead, the fruits of government and institutional action and inaction on many fronts will ripen in unplanned-for fashions. Trends we have previously identified, and that have been brewing for some time, will reach maturity in 2011, impacting just about everyone in the world. 1. Wake-Up Call In 2011, the people of all nations will fully recognize how grave economic conditions have become, how ineffectual and self-serving the so-called solutions have been, and how dire the consequences will be. Having become convinced of the inability of leaders and know-it-all "arbiters of everything" to fulfill their promises, the people will do more than just question authority, they will defy authority. The seeds of revolution will be sown. 2. Crack-Up 2011 Among our Top Trends for last year was the "Crash of 2010." What happened? The stock market didn't crash. We know. We made it clear in our Autumn Trends Journal that we were not forecasting a stock market crash the equity markets were no longer a legitimate indicator of recovery or the real state of the economy. Yet the reliable indicators (employment numbers, the real estate market, currency pressures, sovereign debt problems) all bordered between crisis and disaster. In 2011, with the arsenal of schemes to prop them up depleted, we predict "Crack-Up 2011": teetering economies will collapse, currency wars will ensue, trade barriers will be erected, economic unions will splinter, and the onset of the "Greatest Depression" will be recognized by everyone. 3. Screw the People As times get even tougher and people get even poorer, the "authorities" will intensify their efforts to extract the funds needed to meet fiscal obligations. While there will be variations on the theme, the governments' song will be the same: cut what you give, raise what you take. 4. Crime Waves No job + no money + compounding debt = high stress, strained relations, short fuses. In 2011, with the fuse lit, it will be prime time for Crime Time. As Gerald Celente says, "When people lose everything and they have nothing left to lose, they lose it." Hardship-driven crimes will be committed across the socioeconomic spectrum by legions of the on-the-edge desperate who will do whatever they must to keep a roof over their heads and put food on the table. 5. Crackdown on Liberty As crime rates rise, so will the voices demanding a crackdown. A national crusade to "Get Tough on Crime" will be waged against the citizenry. And just as in the "War on Terror," where "suspected terrorists" are killed before proven guilty or jailed without trial, in the "War on Crime" everyone is a suspect until proven innocent. 6. Alternative Energy In laboratories and workshops unnoticed by mainstream analysts, scientific visionaries and entrepreneurs are forging a new physics incorporating principles once thought impossible, working to create devices that liberate more energy than they consume. What are they, and how long will it be before they can be brought to market? Shrewd investors will ignore the "can't be done" skepticism, and examine the newly emerging energy trend opportunities that will come of age in 2011. 7. Journalism 2.0 Though the trend has been in the making since the dawn of the Internet Revolution, 2011 will mark the year that new methods of news and information distribution will render the 20th century model obsolete. With its unparalleled reach across borders and language barriers, "Journalism 2.0" has the potential to influence and educate citizens in a way that governments and corporate media moguls would never permit. Of the hundreds of trends we have forecast over three decades, few have the possibility of such far-reaching effects. 8. Cyberwars Just a decade ago, when the digital age was blooming and hackers were looked upon as annoying geeks, we forecast that the intrinsic fragility of the Internet and the vulnerability of the data it carried made it ripe for cyber-crime and cyber-warfare to flourish. In 2010, every major government acknowledged that Cyberwar was a clear and present danger and, in fact, had already begun. The demonstrable effects of Cyberwar and its companion, Cybercrime, are already significant and will come of age in 2011. Equally disruptive will be the harsh measures taken by global governments to control free access to the web, identify its users, and literally shut down computers that it considers a threat to national security. 9. Youth of the World Unite University degrees in hand yet out of work, in debt and with no prospects on the horizon, feeling betrayed and angry, forced to live back at home, young adults and 20-somethings are mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore. Filled with vigor, rife with passion, but not mature enough to control their impulses, the confrontations they engage in will often escalate disproportionately. Government efforts to exert control and return the youth to quiet complacency will be ham-fisted and ineffectual. The Revolution will be televised blogged, YouTubed, Twittered and. 10. End of The World! The closer we get to 2012, the louder the calls will be that the "End is Near!" There have always been sects, at any time in history, that saw signs and portents proving the end of the world was imminent. But 2012 seems to hold a special meaning across a wide segment of "End-time" believers. Among the Armageddonites, the actual end of the world and annihilation of the Earth in 2012 is a matter of certainty. Even the rational and informed that carefully follow the news of never-ending global crises, may sometimes feel the world is in a perilous state. Both streams of thought are leading many to reevaluate their chances for personal survival, be it in heaven or on earth. 11. The Mystery Trend... will be revealed upon publication of the Trends Journal in mid-January. With a 30-year track record to prove it, no one has a more accurate inside scoop on the crucial trends shaping our future than Trends Journal Publisher, Gerald Celente. To schedule an interview with Mr. Celente to discuss these trends before they hit the headlines, contact: Zeke West Media Relations zwest@trendsresearch 845 331.3500 Ext. 1 ©MMX The Trends Research Institute®The Saskatoon Hilltops successfully captured their third straight national championship Saturday with a 37-25 victory over the Westshore Rebels in Langford, B.C.
The 109th Canadian Bowl was held at Westhills Stadium to decide the 2016 winner of Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL).
The Calgary Colts handed the Toppers their only loss of 2016 in regular-season play, but Saskatoon defeated their Albertan competition in the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) final to get to B.C.
Westshore amassed a record of 8-1-1 in the British Columbia Football Conference regular season.
READ MORE: Saskatoon Hilltops quarterback Jared Andreychuk looks to go out a winner
Running back Logan Fischer kicked off scoring Saturday with a Hilltops touchdown, however the Rebels evened it up 7-7 before the first quarter was over.
It was another good start to the second quarter for the Hilltops as Josh Ewanchyna took it to the end zone and Saskatoon reestablished the lead 14-7.
Next, the Rebels closed the lead to 14-10 with a field goal.
Both teams conceded a safety to make it 16-12 at the half.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan Huskies wrestling team looking to repeat 2016 success
Westhore came back in the third quarter with a touchdown to retake the lead 19-16.
Then Josh Ewanchyna made a huge kick return for the Toppers and Saskatoon was back in the lead 23-19 in the third quarter.
The Hilltops piled on with Fischer and Price scoring touchdowns to make it 37-19 with minutes left in the game.
Westshore kept the CJFL action alive with a touchdown to make it 37-25 but Saskatoon was able to hold onto its lead.
Congratulations to #44 Cody Peters and #21 Logan Fischer on being named the Defensive and Offensive Players of the Game! #nattychamps — Saskatoon Hilltops (@SaskHilltops) November 12, 2016
The Hilltops’ football club now has 19 national championships to its name.HARRISON, N.J. – The regular season is racing towards its conclusion, but two fresh faces will be getting brand new start here in the late stages of the 2016 MLS campaign.
On Tuesday afternoon, the New York Red Bulls welcomed Daniel Royer and Omer Damari to the club in a press conference at Red Bull Arena. Damari could feasibly be included in the 18 on Saturday night, while Royer’s debut could be a bit further away pending acceptance of his visa.
Both bringing vast European experience to the club, there is reason to be optimistic as the duo look to make an immediate impact.
“We feel we have a very strong team and are in a very good place, but we always have our eye out for opportunities in the market where we can improve the group,” New York Sporting Director Ali Curtis said. “These two players that we’re adding we feel are going to help us not only this year, but also moving forward. We’re looking forward to these guys getting on the field.”
Added head coach Jesse Marsch: “We’re getting two players who are very talented and fit the way we want to play. I think they’ll fit into the mentality of who we are as a group, so we’re really excited about both of them being here.”
Focusing on the attacking side of the ball in this transfer window, both Royer and Damari should provide a different dimension to the already potent Red Bulls attack.
Damari, a 27-year-old Israeli national team forward, becomes the first player ever to play for Red Bull Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg and now Red Bull New York. With an inherent familiarity with the Red Bull style of play, Damari is confident that he will be able to hit the ground running.
“I think when you play in Red Bull, you have to learn the system and how to play,” he stated. “You have to press all the time, and always press high. Like I said, when you play with Red Bull you have to know the system, and you learn every day what to do, and to show it in the game.
An impressive goal scorer with international pedigree, Marsch outlined what fans can expect to see from the Designated Player during his loan stint.
“Omer is like a second striker,” he said. “He can play up high as a lone striker, but he’s best when he plays underneath. We think the possibility of the relationship between him and Bradley [Wright-Phillips] can be really good. He’s a really smart soccer player; he’s very intelligent and smooth with how he moves around. He sees the game really quickly, he’s able to set up plays really well, and he’s good around the goal.”
Royer, a 26-year-old Austrian international, joins the club from Danish side FC Midtjylland. A technical winger with a high work rate, Marsch believes his style of play will fit seamlessly with his team’s current set up.
“We talked to a number of people that could attest to his character as a young man, we felt that he’d be a great fit,” he added. “When you see the way he trains, and the way he plays, he fits into our style of play.
“Danny is very mobile, is very aggressive, is good on the move, likes to combine, and likes to run. He’s another smart soccer player, good passer, good around the goal, so, when you start to add up all of those qualities you can start to see how, from a wide perspective, can fit into the way we play.”
The allure of playing in the Big Apple is admittedly an exciting prospect for Royer, but it serves as only a tangential attraction to his main goal.
“It’s special for me, also my friends and family because it’s not common that one of us can say that you’ve had a part of your life in New York,” Royer admitted. “Of course, I try to enjoy that as well, but the most important thing is on the pitch, and that’s what the focus is on.”
Midseason acquisitions admittedly have a bit of a spotty record when it comes to making an immediate impact with their respective clubs. However, Marsch is confident that both Damari and Royer will be exceptions to that rule, citing a familiarity with the club’s mindset.
“The commonality between these two is that they’re familiar with what we are,” Marsch told NewYorkRedBulls.com. “Now it’s more about the integration about what the league is. Most players you bring in have to acclimate to who we are and what the league is, so we’ve eliminated one of those things. We think the acclimation process will be accelerated.”Kevin Runke, the estranged husband of Camille Runke who is suspected of killing her, was found dead at a rural property south of Winnipeg, police confirm.
The 46-year-old shot himself after police tried to stop his vehicle near St. Malo, Man., on Monday, Deputy Chief Danny Smyth told reporters.
Police had been looking for Runke because they wanted to speak to him about Camille Runke's death, Smyth said.
Numerous police officers, including a heavily-armed tactical unit surround a rural property near St. Malo on Monday. (CBC) Camille Runke, 49, who had been granted a protection order against him earlier this year, was found shot to death behind a business on Marion Street on Friday morning.
Kevin Runke's body was found inside a vehicle where he'd driven off the road near St. Malo, a community about 60 kilometres south of Winnipeg near Highway 59.
"In light of the circumstances, Kevin Runke is the suspect in the murder of Camille Runke," Smyth said Tuesday.
"But I want to be clear: investigators did not have grounds to arrest Runke for the homicide prior to encountering him in the St. Malo area."
In the days after Camille Runke's death, investigators tried unsuccessfully to find Kevin Runke, who was considered at the time to be a person of interest, Smyth said.
On Monday, homicide investigators were in the St. Malo area when they spotted a vehicle that was associated with Kevin Runke at around 11 a.m., Smyth said.
Camille Runke (left) was found dead in Winnipeg's St. Boniface neighbourhood on Friday. Kevin Runke was found dead Monday near St. Malo, Manitoba. (Facebook) "The driver of the vehicle did not stop and was observed to swerve through the ditch and enter a wooded area off the road, where that vehicle came to a stop," Smyth said.
"The investigators did not pursue or engage with the vehicle or the occupant. They held their position a safe distance away and called for backup."
Winnipeg police and RCMP officers swarmed a property on Lambert Street, blocking off adjacent roads as well.
At the time, police spokespeople offered little information, only saying the scene was associated with a Winnipeg Police Service investigation.
In the afternoon, a heavily armed tactical unit arrived with rifles drawn.
Despite that, police said there was no standoff nor any threat to the public.
Smyth said after officers secured the scene, they found Kevin Runke dead inside the vehicle. There was no one else inside the vehicle, he added.
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, which investigates all serious incidents involving police officers in the province, confirms that it is investigating Monday's incident in St. Malo. It has asked for a civilian monitor from the Manitoba Police Commission, the IIU said in a news release.
Victim complained about 22 incidents
Smyth said Winnipeg police had contact with both Camille and Kevin Runke during the time between their separation in June and Camille's death on Friday.
"Investigators assigned to our East District and domestic unit had engaged with Camille on 22 separate occasions, where she had reported incidents ranging from property damage to harassment in the time period between July and October of this year," Smyth said.
Deputy chief Danny Smyth speaks to reporters about the Camille Runke homicide case on Tuesday afternoon. (Trevor Lyons/Radio-Canada) "We know that Kevin Runke was cautioned by police in early July and was asked to stop contacting Camille Runke," he added.
"Later in the month, he was charged by police for mischief. This occurred on July 24, where he is alleged to have damaged property associated to Camille Runke's residence."
Kevin Runke was also charged on Oct. 23 — a week before Camille Runke was found dead — with breaching the conditions of a protection order by not reporting a change of address.
That same day, Runke was cautioned about his alleged contact with Camille between July and October, and a report was forwarded to the Crown to consider harassment charges at that time, Smyth said.
Neighbours said Camille Runke had installed security cameras and floodlights outside her home after she had obtained her protection order.
One neighbour described Camille Runke's residence as "a fortress" and said she was "very, very frightened" by her former husband.
Smyth said Camille Runke was not afraid for her safety, but she was tired of her estranged husband bothering her.
"In her dealings with us, she was never afraid for her safety, but she was sick of the contact that Kevin had been persistent with," he said.
No reported history of violence
"We know that there was no reported history of violence or physical abuse prior to the homicide. Police were diligent in their efforts to help Camille Runke, and Kevin Runke's actions prior to the homicide did not warrant arrest or detention," Smyth said.
"But nonetheless, this is tragic. Camille Runke did everything she could to reasonably sever her relationship and protect herself from further harassment," he added.
"The investigators assigned to East District and the domestic unit, they're upset.… They're sickened that harm has come to Camille Runke. They did everything that they could reasonably do to help her."
Smyth added that even with the reports Camille Runke had filed about her estranged husband, police had no reason to believe Kevin Runke would become violent.
"It wouldn't have been enough to arrest for that homicide," he said. "I would say although I think it's reasonable for us to look at him, we had no evidence to link him to that homicide."From the moment that their last place finish in the 2014 NWSL season became official, the Houston Dash knew they were going to select Morgan Brian with the first pick in the College Draft.
Not surprisingly, the Dash received a number of trade offers all the way up to the night before the draft; including offers for multiple draft picks. Despite the interest, the Dash never entertained any offers for her.
“She’s just too good of a talent,” explained Dash head coach Randy Waldrum after the draft. “Even though we could have gotten a couple of players for her; I just think she’s that special of a talent. I think I’d be regretting it for years to come. Every time she came to Houston she would tear you up and I’d be regretting that too often.”
With their pick in the 2nd round, the Dash went into the draft with the intention of filling a clear need on the roster: center back. While the likes of Abby Dahlkemper and Kristin Grubka were unlikely to be on the board, the Dash had several players they were looking at with that pick to add to a possible center back corp that currently consists of only Niki Cross, Lauren Sesselmann and Marissa Diggs.
However, the opportunity to acquire Jessica McDonald from the Portland Thorns was presented to the Dash on Thursday night. Portland coach Paul Riley had his eyes on Jodie Taylor while the Washington Spirit were quietly looking to move up in the draft. The Thorns had no picks to trade, however, dictating a need for a third team to participate in the deal.
After discussions the evening before the draft, the teams slept on it and decided to go ahead and move forward with a deal the morning of the draft. Washington had their eye on a couple of players in particular, though, and it was not until a couple of picks before the Dash’s 4th pick in the 2nd round came up that it became clear that the deal would work out.
While it was announced as two separate trades, in truth it was a three team trade. The delay in announcing McDonald as the player traded by Portland was due to her being in Germany on loan with Herforder SV.
Trading the 2nd round pick had the potential to exacerbate the center back issue, however Waldrum and the Dash executives agreed that grabbing a player who has shown the ability to score is too valuable to pass up. “I think the whole staff agreed that if you’ve got somebody that’s scoring 10-12 goals and they are most of the time coming off the bench, that is harder to find that it is to find a good back. We can convert somebody if we have to.”
As the draft progressed, some quality center backs remained undrafted. “I was surprised that Carleigh Williams lasted until the 4th round, I thought she was going to go earlier and I was surprised Whitney Church lasted. Those two we had really high on our list. We knew Dahlkemper would go and we would not have a shot at her. We knew Grubka would go. I didn’t think Church or Williams would be there for us that late,” said Waldrum.
Not expecting that players like Church and Williams would slip to the 4th round, Waldrum and Dash Managing Director Brian Ching both had conversations in between the 2nd and 3rd round to see if they could move up into the 3rd round to take one of the center backs they were targeting.
There were no takers, but luckily both players ultimately fell into the 4th round. With Church going to Washington with the 30th pick in the draft, the Dash took Williams at 31 and got a player they view as a steal at that spot. The University of Central Florida player now has the opportunity to link up with former teammate Marissa Diggs in the Dash backline.
After the draft, Waldrum summed up the day, “We definitely got better today, no question about it with Morgan Brian. We clearly got better upfront – and the good thing is we will have McDonald all season – so I definitely think we made ourselves better adding her. Then we added a really good back; Carleigh was the conference player of the year for Central Florida and I was pleasantly surprised that she was still there.”
The Dash still have a couple of areas in the team where they will continue to look to improve; in particular they still need help at the back and they continue to look at international options for a proven goal scorer up top.
The reality of the World Cup this summer and players being away dictated many of the moves in this draft and made the immediate aftermath of the draft perhaps a bit different from the past two years. The teams spared no time in pounding the phones to try to get some of the undrafted players into camp, particularly as potential amateur players they can call up during the Cup.
As of yesterday afternoon after the draft, Waldrum had been working the phone and gotten several players to come in for a look in the preseason including a couple from Texas A&M. “I think there’s some good players who did not get drafted today who could possibly help us out, especially on that front end.”
With the draft out of the way, the next step towards the start of the season is open tryouts on February 21st. In the meantime, the Dash have come a long way since the end of the 2014 season and transformed themselves into a team that fans can expect to compete for a spot in the playoffs and perhaps even a Championship.Back in the summer of 2011, I sold my car and settled for a downgrade in order to buy a Canon 5D Mark II. And right now I don’t remember the last time I picked it up in the past year. I’ve had no need to since getting an iPhone 5 (now an LG G2).
Don’t take that as a diss against DSLRs. I bought that thing knowing it’ll have my back whenever it comes time to start shooting a project. But other than that, it’s not typically something I keep as an everyday carry-around anymore.
[EDIT 2/12: I need to clear something up here. The reason I haven’t been using my Mark II is because of how much baggage is coming with school and LSAT prep lately. I didn’t stop using my DSLR because I got an iPhone 5, but I did end up using the iPhone 5 more when I had to cut down on being able to spend time in photography.]
There’s a point to all the back-story here. One very common thing I hear from people is that they want to get into photography. Good photography. And most of the time, for them, that means they need to find a DSLR. Bad decision? No.
But necessary? Not exactly.
If you’re someone who’s just getting into the game, then listen to what you just read. You can start off just fine with the lens on your smartphone. A dope camera is great by its own means, but it won’t mean jack if the person behind the camera can’t keep up with it. Ultimately, what makes or breaks the picture comes down to (1) the person taking it, and (2) the environment the picture’s shot in. We’re living in a world where point-and-shoots are dying, and the reason is because we’re starting to realize that our phones’ cameras are starting to become enough. Here’s a few tips on how to make the most out of them.
1. Angles.
You’d be shocked by how different a picture can look when you try shooting something from above your head, or (in the case above) from the ground. It builds interest. Tip: If you’re shooting from ground level and your camera’s located on one side of the phone (i.e. iPhone), then try flipping the phone on the other side against the surface.
2. Macro.
Taking pictures of objects up close is almost like cheating when trying to take a cool shot. Close in as much on an object as you can with the phone still keeping it in focus. The best thing about shooting in macro is that you can’t get bored by it. No matter where you are, there’s always an interesting way to take a picture of something around you.
3. Experiment.
See an abandoned train you want to take a shot of? What’s the first method of taking that picture that comes to your mind? Okay, take it, disregard it, and try something different. Maybe you always take pictures with objects in the direct center. Try changing its framing. Try changing the focal point. Try slanting your camera and see how the horizon looks when it gets tilted in the background.
Just mess around. The things you learn about yourself and how you shoot will become invaluable to your skills over time.
4. Lighting / Rule of Thirds
You’re guaranteed to have heard these rules if you’ve ever taken a photography class. But the rule of thirds does make a difference. Yeah, it’s alright to go and put the focus on an object in the center of the picture from time to time; but looking at your shot through a 3×3 grid really gives a boost in how diverse your portfolio becomes. You’ll start shooting more and more once you notice how many ways you can frame what you see.
Lighting is a big thing too. Too much can wash your picture out, too little can cause the grain you see in dark pictures. Attention to both rule-of-thirds and lighting is just as important for taking smartphone shots as it is for DSLRs, but focus heavily on how you handle lighting. When it comes to phone cameras, it’s an especially significant factor into how crisp your pictures end up turning out. Oh, and speaking of lighting;
5. Don’t you ever, ever, ever use the fucking flash.
Natural lighting is crucial.
6. Balance your editing.
Filtering can be great for giving photos a vintage look or a change in tone. But there’s a fine line between that vintage and a crappy toy-cam finish. Be careful on how you approach editing pictures. If you want to rack up the likes on your Instagram feed, then I’d recommend not using its filters at all. Send your photos to Instagram after a few good touch-ups in an app like Snapseed (iOS and Android). If you want absolute sophistication, my go-to is VSCO Cam (iOS and Android), and I highly recommend using it as your main editing app. The filters and tools it offers are top-tier in how they’ll complement your shots, rather than looking like they’re layered over. While you’re at it, buy every single filter pack they offer in their store, as well. They’re worth it.
7. Take advantage of the places around you.
Traveling somewhere? Your phone’s not going to be bulking you down. Take advantage of that. If you see something that catches your interest, then take a shot right there. If you’re having a once-in-a-lifetime experience on a trip to New Zealand, then take some good damn shots of the mountains there.
Forget about the limits of what you have. Tech blogs and advertising has us believing that the pictures we take with a Nexus 4 won’t come out as nicely as the pictures from an iPhone 5S. When you’re out in the world and you’re taking a look at something worth capturing, the megapixels won’t matter. What will mater is that you have a camera, and the shots that you take with it. At the end of the day, pictures tell stories. And the strength of their words comes from the person that takes them. With the right amount of work and a keen hunger for capturing something wicked, those pictures will tell some sick stories. DSLR or not.
But seriously. Don’t use the goddamn flash.
– @drcon
AdvertisementsAn illegal immigrant is facing felony negligent homicide charges after allegedly killing a 79-year-old man while driving the wrong way on a Texas road.
Marving Andres Resendiz Zumaya, 23, is accused by local police of allegedly driving his white Ford F-150 the wrong way down Boca Chica Boulevard, according to the Brownsville Herald.
Zumaya allegedly hit a smaller Ford Ranger while driving against traffic, killing the elderly man behind the wheel. The man was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
The illegal immigrant is being charged with criminal negligent homicide for the death of the elderly man and is facing a second-degree felony charge for an accident involving a death. Zumaya is currently in police custody and is being held on $250,000 bond for each felony he is charged with.
John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.There are currently two large trade agreements under negotiation that could have a major economic impact on the global economy as they involve a dozen Pacific countries, including the US, and the EU, and would intensify trade across both the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), comprising 12 countries on both sides of the Pacific is expected to intensify trade flows between the countries involved. The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a large comprehensive trade negotiation between the US and the EU and includes innovative provisions on regulatory cooperation that could lead to global standards in automotive and pharmaceutical sectors.
Lower trade barriers will lead to increased competition and re-allocation of labor and capital towards the most productive sectors of the participating countries, which will spur efficiency in these countries.The exact benefits of both free trade agreements are difficult to quantify as models tend to be sensitive to assumptions about price elasticities and reductions of non-tariff barriers.
"Overall, we expect a positive effect of both agreements on trade and GDP in participating countries through 'trade creation'. However, countries not involved in the trade agreements may suffer in trade and GDP as a result of 'trade diversion", says Rabobank.
While a participating country is expected to gain from free trade, opening up markets could lead to considerable re-allocations of production and income. These 'allocative' and 'distributional' effects will make certain industries and occupational groups worse off under free trade. This could require redistributional measures by the government to compensate those who lose from the free trade agreement.Old-growth forests are natural forests that have developed over a long period of time, generally at least 120 years (DNR definition and consistent with definitions for the eastern United States), without experiencing severe, stand-replacing disturbance—a fire, windstorm, or logging. Old-growth forests may be dominated by species such as sugar maple, white spruce, or white cedar that are capable of reproducing under a shaded canopy. These old-growth forests can persist indefinitely. Old-growth forest may also be dominated by species such as red pine, white pine, or red oak that do not reproduce as well under shade and that require disturbance to open the canopy. These old-growth forests will eventually be replaced by the more shade-tolerant tree species in the absence of disturbance. Typical traits of Minnesota old-growth forests include:
Some trees are at least 120 years old (often at least 2–3 feet across).
Large, dead standing trees and branches (snags) are common.
Large fallen trees and branches lie on the ground.
The forest is a mix of young, old, and middle-aged trees (multi-aged).
Small openings (canopy gaps) are visible between the tree crowns.
Dirt piles and holes from tipped-over trees (tip-up mounds and pits) dot the ground.Well, here we are. This week brought the news that CNN had cut ties to Donna Brazile, the interim chairwoman of the Democratic Party and a longtime paid political analyst for the network. They parted ways after leaked emails indicated that she had shared with Hillary Clinton’s campaign some possible questions for CNN-sponsored candidate events during the primaries.
It took 20 years, but the warnings have come true — the contamination has spread and the patient is looking sickly.
The mess with Ms. Brazile draws to a close a campaign season that tore at the foundation of the wall Mr. Frankel wrote about. It started with news that Mr. Stephanopoulos had donated $75,000 to the Clintons’ family foundation; went on to include CNN’s hiring of the former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowksi as an analyst, even as he continued to be paid a “severance” from the Trump campaign; and saw Sean Hannity of Fox News (who famously intoned “I’m not a journalist”) emerge as an informal adviser to the Trump campaign.
But Ms. Brazile’s entanglement took it |
to the better controls grouping on the device.
Signal detection theory
Lastly, I’d like to look a bit at the feedback as an instrument of the long-term player learning. There’s a great talk from the Game UX Summit 2016 from Anne McLaughlin about using of signal detection theory in game feedback design, which I highly recommend.
Expression Space
Games communicate meaning through interaction. That’s the biggest difference of games from any other media or form of art. We’re not selling an experience directly, but tools for players for getting this experience by expressing themselves. And game controls is the primary expression tool.
Expression instead of learning
We’re slowly going towards gameplay design area and its relation to the game controls, and the first thing to remember here is that the player wants to communicate intent through controls, not to learn how to use controls.
We can imagine game controls as a language, where “move,” “jump,” “shoot,” etc. are verbs, and controls combinations are sentences. To successfully communicate with game systems, the player should learn this language, and if the language is unclear (verbs are not familiar to the player), has a lot of synonyms with very little difference in meaning (mechanic duplicates), and spelling and sentence structure is hard (verbs are hard to execute and cannot be combined into patterns) – the player will have to spend a lot of efforts to learn the language instead of interacting with the game.
I would recommend Jonathan Morin’s lecture on this topic if you want to know more.
Hard to master
Mastery is one of the key psychological needs in PENS framework, and the game controls contribute the most for the feeling of mastery. “Easy to learn, hard to master” – we heard this phrase many times, and it usually means a game with controls that are simple and familiar enough to clearly communicate the player’s intent, but with a big room for mastery. From the Accessibility section, we know how to do game controls “easy to learn.” Now, we need to make them “hard to master.”
Let’s look at some examples, how we can do this:
Different skill level
The most direct way (speed/reaction challenges, time pressure, etc. – everything that requires a higher level of execution of the primary actions).
On the left, it’s just usual free roam driving, without the significant requirement to the player’s skill. On the right, the basic controls are the same, but the player is required to do complex stunts and evade the police.
Control states
The same input actions but in different control states ([WASD] for ground controls, the same [WASD] for air controls, etc.).
In addition to complex stunts (on the left), we can add air control to expand space for the player mastery (on the right).
Skill Combinations
Input patterns that give basic controls new dimension. For example, in Watch Dogs 2, you can place explosives on the car, hack its steering and make a moving booby trap (on the left). Or, you can climb on the vehicle’s roof, hack its steering, and then dance on the roof while driving San Francisco streets (not the most useful input pattern, but you see the room for expression, right?).
Different goals and context
Changing goals and context, we change the very set of necessary control skills. For example, level on the left requires a combination of drone recon skill to finding a right way, then the player needs to find a scissor lift and hack it to get to the roof, and then, finally, climb all the way up. All these are basic controls, but when they put in different context and combined in an interesting way, it gives the fresh experience to the player. On the contrary, level on the right requires a completely different set of skills: stealthy usage of the Jumper drone which is able to do some “physical” hacking. Basic skills again, but stealth context delivers the fresh experience.
Additional sources
“Game Feel: A Game Designer’s Guide to Virtual Sensation,” Steve Swink
“Beyond the HUD,” Master of Science Thesis, Erik Fagerholt, Magnus Lorentzon
“Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design”, Scott Rogers
(GDC 2009) Aarf! Arf Arf Arf: Talking to the Player with Barks
(GDC 2016) Overwatch – The Elusive Goal: Play by Sound
(GDC 2010) Great Expectations: Empowering Player Expression
(Game UX Summit 2016) Human Factors Psychology Tools for Game StudiesRemember the Norway Spiral back in 2009 and the Australian Spiral in 2010? On June 7, 2012 there was another swirling spiral of light, this time see in the skies over the Middle East. People across the region reported seeing a “UFO” and soon videos began showing up on YouTube.
The strange sight has been confirmed to be a Russian ballistic missile test of the Topol ICBM from the Kapustin Yar firing range near Astrakhan in southern Russia.
In several videos from Israel, Syria, Iran and other Middle East, the object started out looking somewhat like a comet and then started spiraling.
But this missile wasn’t out of control. Alan Boyle from MSNBC’s Cosmic Log talked with space analyst Jim Oberg, who said the Topol’s “third-stage spin is a ‘feature,’ not a malfunction, and may be associated with guidance, or decoy deploy, or enhancing hardness against U.S. boost-phase antimissile weapons.”
Oberg also noted a few other “coincidences” of why this particular missile test was seen while other similar tests haven’t been viewed. If the Russians were testing the associated warhead’s ‘penaids’ — “penetration aids to frustrate tracking and targeting by U.S. anti-missile systems,” this would result in a trajectory that was higher than normal, allowing it to be seen from a greater distance.
Another contributing factor, Oberg said, is “It’s June — near the time of the ‘midnight sun’ in northern latitudes. That means sunlight is streaming over the pole, throughout the night. Something in the northern sky above the atmosphere over Kazakhstan would be backlit by that sunlight.”
Here’s another video.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Sep. 8, 2016, 9:06 AM GMT / Updated Sep. 19, 2016, 2:24 PM GMT By Aliyah Frumin
Bridgegate is back.
The scandal that has dogged New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for years—and undercut his failed presidential bid before it even began—will be given new life on Monday when the trial of two of the Republican’s former allies gets under way with opening arguments.
Related: Chris Christie Aide Accused Him of Lying on Bridgegate, Documents Say
It’s been three years since the infamous lane closures—allegedly ordered by Christie staffers for political retribution—caused a crippling traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge for days. Here’s what you need to know about the trial that everyone’s going to be talking about:
1. Who's on Trial?
Two of Christie’s former allies—his ex-deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly and his former top Port Authority official Bill Baroni. Last May, both pleaded not guilty on charges related to the lane closure. Kelly is the one who sent the now-infamous Aug. 13, 2013 email in which she declared, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
Baroni, meanwhile, argued at the time that the lane closures were part of a traffic study; federal authorities called this an excuse to cover up their plan to punish Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie’s re-election bid.
Related: Judge Orders Feds to Release List of Bridgegate Conspirators
Meanwhile, David Wildstein—another one of Christie’s former allies and a Port Authority official—has already pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme, and is expected to testify against Baroni and Kelly. Wildstein, who was the recipient of Kelly’s email, has acknowledged conspiring with Kelly and Baroni to close the lanes to punish Sokolich.
2. What will happen on Monday?
Opening argument begins, and the trial is expected to last about six weeks.
3. What about Chris Christie?
All along, Gov. Christie has maintained that he had no knowledge or involvement in the lane closures. However, Alan Zegas, Wildstein’s attorney, has previously said that “evidence exists” showing Christie was aware of the lane closures as they were happening. What that evidence is, and if it exists, remains to be seen.
The governor said late last month that he will testify if he is subpoenaed during the trial. Defense attorneys have said they aren’t ruling out calling on the governor.
Related: Christie on Former Port Authority Chairman: 'No Idea... That He Did Anything Wrong'
Even Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has weighed in on the scandal, insisting during the primaries that Christie (who has since endorsed Trump) “totally knew about” the scheme and that “there’s less than one percent chance” the governor was unaware.
4. The Biggest Question
Exactly how much Christie did and did not know. Last month, court filings were released showing former Christie aide Christina Genovese Renna saying in a text message that the governor “flat out lied” about senior staffers not being involved in the scandal.
5. The Best Case For Christie
We still don’t know who the mastermind behind the plan was and who gave the final order. Even if Christie didn’t know about the scandal, did he create an atmosphere in his administration in which staffers and allies thought it would be okay to shut down traffic lanes for political retribution? As many critics have long pointed out, even the best case for Christie—he knew nothing of his underlings' lane-closure plan—calls into questions his skills as a manager.The future is now for the Astros, as they’ll be looking to continue their winning ways and return to the postseason.
Guaranteed Contracts
Arbitration Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projections by MLB Trade Rumors)
Free Agents
Jeff Luhnow’s extensive (and sometimes controversial) rebuild of the Astros began to pay dividends a bit earlier than expected, as most pundits figured the young club was still a year or two away when the 2015 season began. For Houston fans suffering through years of losing baseball, however, the successes of 2015 couldn’t have come soon enough. The Astros led the AL West for much of the season, and while a September swoon cost them the division, they still beat the Yankees in the AL Wild Card game and took the Royals to the full five games in their ALDS matchup.
The Astros weren’t afraid to spend some money last winter in order to upgrade their bullpen, lineup and rotation, nor did they shy away from dealing notable prospects like Brett Phillips and Domingo Santana in their big midseason deal for Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers. Now that they’ve established themselves as a playoff threat, the next step will be to see how much more owner Jim Crane is willing to boost the payroll and whether or not Luhnow will sacrifice any more of his vast prospect capital in order to enhance the Major League roster.
Just under $43MM is committed to seven players on the 2016 Astros, and another $31MM is projected to go to nine arbitration-eligible players (though it’s no guarantee all will be tendered, as I’ll explore later). That adds up to $74MM for 16 players, which is already more than the $72.64MM the Astros spent on their last Opening Day roster. The payroll has gradually risen from a measly $26MM in 2013 to roughly $50.5MM in 2014 to last year’s total, so it seems like a boost into the $95-$100MM range could be coming this winter. Crane has repeatedly stated that Luhnow will have more funding available as the team’s development warrants, so if the team is contending again, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Astros pass the $100MM threshold if it means securing a player to help them make a deeper postseason run.
With so much young talent both on the Major League roster and developing down on the farm, it stands to reason that the Astros won’t be a one-year wonder. For starters, Houston’s lineup will be improved simply by getting an entire year of rookie sensation Carlos Correa and healthy full seasons from Gomez and George Springer. Gomez is entering the last year of his contract, so he’ll be lined up for a major free agent deal next winter if he gets back to his past All-Star form.
Correa, Springer, Gomez and Jose Altuve form the core of Houston’s lineup, though the Astros have several questions to be answered elsewhere around the diamond. For one, those four are all right-handed hitters, so the Astros have a distinct need to add lineup balance in the form of at least one notable left-handed bat. Several regulars are arbitration-eligible, and the team could consider not tendering contracts to some familiar names in order to free some money for bigger upgrades.
Third baseman Luis Valbuena, first baseman Chris Carter and DH Evan Gattis are all cut from the same cloth as low-average, low-OBP sluggers who provided pop in the form of a combined 76 homers. While their overall arbitration price of $14.8MM isn’t exorbitant, three players with the same limited skill set could be seen as a redundancy for a contending team. Valbuena is the most likely to stay, as he’s currently the most notable left-handed bat on the roster and can be platooned with Jed Lowrie. Valbuena is also a free agent after 2016, with prospect Colin Moran on track to get at least a share of the job by 2017.
Though Carter and Gattis are hard to replace from a power standpoint, it wouldn’t be too hard for Houston to find players to top their combined 0.3 fWAR in 2015. The Astros will pursue trades for both before the tendering deadline, and my guess is that if it came down to a non-tender decision, they’d keep the longer-tenured Carter and let Gattis go. Even if Houston tenders one or both, however, I’d suspect both would still be shopped during the rest of the offseason. You could even make a case that the ’Stros could non-tender both sluggers in order to really shake things up, but that’s an unlikely move given how Carter boosted his trade value with a late surge in September and through the playoffs.
If Carter, Gattis or both are gone, who takes over at first or DH? Prospect A.J. Reed dominated high-A and Double-A pitching last season and will compete for a roster spot in Spring Training, though it might be too early to count on him since he’s yet to play a game at the Triple-A level. You’ll likely see him hit the bigs sometime in 2016, however. The Astros won’t yet give up on former top prospect Jon Singleton due to his young age (24) and long-term contract, though Singleton has done little in 420 career PA to prove that he’s even worthy of a roster spot on a contending team, let alone regular playing time. Former 33rd-rounder Tyler White is another option after his monster season split between Double-A and Triple-A.
The non-tender question can also be asked about the catcher’s job, though my guess is that the Astros stick with the Jason Castro/Hank Conger tandem. The team loves Castro’s defense, relationship with the pitching staff and clubhouse leadership role, while Conger also had good pitch-framing numbers and hit.229/.311/.448 with 11 homers over 229 PA. Houston has been cited as a possible destination for Matt Wieters, who is an upgrade on paper. Given the question marks about his injury history and the lack of any other distinct better options on the open market, the Astros might feel more comfortable to keep their familiar catching platoon and spend elsewhere.
Left field is the only clear hole in the lineup as Colby Rasmus will hit free agency after nicely rebuilding his value with a solid regular season and a Ruthian postseason. The Astros have young options to play left field next season, as a Preston Tucker/Jake Marisnick platoon is probably the top alternative if Rasmus or another everyday regular can’t be obtained. This said, it wouldn’t be a shock if Rasmus re-signed since he enjoyed his time with the club and at least sounds open to returning. (Not to mention that Rasmus is a left-handed hitter.)
If he still intends to retire within a few seasons, Rasmus has a case for becoming the first player to accept a qualifying offer. Rasmus could take the one-year, $15.8MM deal to remain in a familiar spot for another season, as while he’d obviously make far more money in a multi-year contract, he might not want to risk being in another uncomfortable clubhouse situation for what could be the final few years of his career. (Jeff Todd and Steve Adams recently raised this point on the MLBTR Podcast.) Houston seems comfortable with the idea of Rasmus accepting. Retaining a short-term established player, after all, fits with the Astros’ long-term outfield plans with prospects Daz Cameron, Kyle Tucker and Derek Fisher all on the horizon, as well as Tucker and Marisnick in the fold right now. It’s probably still likely that Rasmus rejects the QO, but he at least has a few more layers to his decision than most.
Luhnow faces an interesting juggling act in adding players to help his team win now, yet also still maintaining and relying on the youth movement that the Astros worked so hard to build. Top-tier free agents like Justin Upton, Yoenis Cespedes or Alex Gordon would more than fill the club’s need in left field, though that would represent one less spot for Cameron and company in a few years’ time. (Center field could well be open if Gomez leaves, though Springer is surely ticketed as a long-term piece.) Of the top names, Gordon may be the best fit for Houston given that he’s a left-handed hitter, and also because the analytically-minded Astros are the sort of team that would particularly appreciate how Gordon can contribute in all facets of the game.
The same “now vs. the future” debate could be had about first base. With Reed’s big bat looming, do the Astros need a big upgrade like Chris Davis or could they acquire a short-term veteran bat like Justin Morneau to platoon with Carter/Gattis until Reed arrives? Davis checks a lot of boxes as an ideal signing for the Astros — he’s a Texas native, a left-handed hitter and brings even more power than Carter or Gattis while providing a much better all-around game. Davis can contribute from day one while Reed may need some time to acclimate to Major League pitching. That said, signing Davis would block Reed for the first few years of his career, and making Reed a full-time DH so early in his career probably isn’t something the Astros want.
Another concern is Davis’ price tag, which could be in the six-year/$144MM range and thus would easily surpass Carlos Lee’s six-year, $100MM deal from 2006 as the biggest contract in Astros history. Payroll boost notwithstanding, I don’t see Houston splurging on two nine-figure contracts this offseason, so they’d have to choose whether they want to make a big impact (if any) on the pitching or offense front.
Speaking of pitching, the rotation projects as Dallas Keuchel, Collin McHugh, Scott Feldman, Lance McCullers and Fiers, with young arms like Vincent Velasquez, Dan Straily, Michael Feliz and Brett Oberholtzer available as depth (not to mention Mark Appel down in Triple-A). Keuchel stepped forward as an ace and Cy Young Award contender in 2015, and his contract extension talks will be one of the club’s underlying subplots. Expect to hear more about this topic in February and March when teams generally turn from offseason additions to extension business. McHugh has now delivered consecutive seasons of 3+fWAR pitching, Feldman is a reliable veteran innings-eater when healthy and McCullers and Fiers have already showed the ability to dominate MLB hitters in their brief careers.
Plenty of teams would be satisfied with this pitching situation as it stands, though the Astros are thought to be in the market for a front-of-the-rotation arm to pair with Keuchel. Remember, Houston pursued James Shields last winter even before their breakthrough season, and pursued the likes of Cole Hamels and Tyson Ross at the trade deadline. While the Astros ended up with a controllable arm in Fiers and a bigger name hurler in Scott Kazmir, their next step is to land a pitcher who is both an ace and will be in Houston for several years.
Kazmir himself has stated he’d like to be that ace, though his middling results as an Astro both diminished his market value and perhaps hurt his chances of a return. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Astros check in on any of the top free agent pitchers, with David Price and Johnny Cueto perhaps getting the most focus since Houston already expressed in both starters last summer. Also, neither pitcher has a qualifying offer draft pick attached to their services, though the Astros might not mind surrendering a first-rounder for the right signing given how many good prospects are already on board. Price’s $200MM+ price tag may be too much to afford, though I could definitely see Houston getting involved with Cueto in the $115MM-$120MM range.
If a major arm is added to the rotation, Feldman stands out as a possible trade chip. The right-hander was shut down with a strained throwing shoulder in September, so obviously he’d have to prove he’s back to normal in Spring Training. Feldman brings a decent track record on a one-year, $8MM deal and could be very attractive to teams looking for a last-minute rotation boost.
This leaves the bullpen, which will be another major target area for the second straight offseason. The Astros relief corps had the sixth-lowest bullpen ERA in the game last season, though it faded badly down the stretch with a league-worst 5.63 ERA in September and October (and that doesn’t count the infamous meltdown in Game 4 of the ALDS). Luke Gregerson, Pat Neshek, Will Harris and Josh Fields will return, while Houston has already declined their $3.5MM option on veteran righty Chad Qualls, whose peripherals suggest he pitched much better than his 4.38 ERA would indicate.
Southpaws Tony Sipp, Oliver Perez and Joe Thatcher are all free agents, so the Astros will certainly have to address a dearth of lefty relief. Signing one of the winter’s top left-handed bullpen arms (Antonio Bastardo or Sipp himself) would add another significant contract to the Houston bullpen that already has over $12MM invested in 2016 salaries for Gregerson and Neshek.
The biggest relief investment could come in the form of a major closer like Aroldis Chapman or Craig Kimbrel, both of whom were heavily targeted by Houston at the deadline. The Reds and Padres are known to be asking for a large return for either closer, yet Houston is one of the few teams with the prospect depth to afford surrendering a notable minor leaguer or two for a reliever. A star closer would make the Astros’ already solid bullpen even deeper, and with the rotation ideally providing more stable innings, the relievers are more likely to be sharp late in the season.
As noted earlier, Luhnow was aggressively seeking out top talent last winter before the Astros had proven they could put a winner on the field. With a postseason berth now giving the franchise extra credibility with free agents, Luhnow could be one of the offseason’s busiest general managers given the plethora of options he has to improve the team.Macy’s, the only remaining stop in the “four-block walk” of department stores in downtown Minneapolis, may close or be significantly downsized, two people familiar with the company’s plans said Friday.
The national retailer is deep in negotiations with at least one potential buyer interested in converting the building, one of the largest properties downtown, chiefly into office space.
The makeover may include some retail space, though Macy’s future at the site on Nicollet Mall is in limbo, the two people said.
The company is assessing whether to lease back space following a sale. If it does, the two people said, it would likely be significantly smaller than its current store and may be under a short-term lease.
A representative for Macy’s Inc., based in Cincinnati, declined to comment Friday.
The fate of the building, known best as the flagship of the Dayton’s department store chain that for decades was the jewel of the Minnesota retail scene, has been the source of speculation for several years.
“It’s a lot of square footage, a lot of history and it would be a sad day for the city if they are in fact closing, though it doesn’t surprise me,” said Larry Millett, a Minnesota architecture historian. “I did the four-block walk with my mother many times back in the 1950s. We would go downtown to shop, and I would get dragged along. If you wanted to get something sort of fancy, you would go to Dayton’s.”
The other stores, each a block apart, were Donaldson’s, J.C. Penney and Powers Dry Goods.
“It was those big department stores that they really anchored the mall,” Millett said, adding that Macy’s is not only the last remaining traditional department store, it also is the last remaining of those four buildings.
Macy’s executives a year ago quelled concern over the landmark property when they listed it as one of four “flagship real estate assets” along with stores in Manhattan at Herald Square, San Francisco at Union Square and Chicago on State Street. The company at that time said it was looking to form joint ventures with real estate partners to redevelop the locations “in a manner that maintains a robust Macy’s retail store presence while also bringing alternative use into those buildings.”
But in a series of steps since then, the fate of the Minneapolis store appeared to become less certain.
In January, Macy’s hired Eastdil Secured, a prominent New York real estate banking firm, to shop dozens of its properties. In April, it appointed a new executive vice president of real estate to find ways of monetizing the flagship properties. But it was in August, when Macy’s announced plans to close about 100 stores nationwide by early 2017, that the tone and language regarding its flagship properties became more cryptic, saying it continues to “analyze possibilities” for their use.
The downtown Minneapolis Macy’s site is mammoth. It totals about 1 million square feet or about two-thirds of the 57-story IDS Center, Minnesota’s tallest office building.
The property is composed of three buildings in the 700 block of Nicollet Mall. Macy’s fills about half the space. The oldest portion — which is beloved for its ornate exteriors — was built in 1902, while the two adjoining structures were built in 1913 and 1929.
The site is sentimental for Minnesotans who remember the flagship Dayton’s department store, which was rebranded Marshall Field’s in 2001 and then Macy’s in 2006.
“It’s an essential downtown Minneapolis institution and building,” Millett said.
Wendy Jacobson of Minneapolis remembers going downtown as a child to shop at Dayton’s.
“We would do the eighth-floor Christmas store display, go to Oak Grill for lunch,” she said. Her mother, Jan Zimmerman, worked at the store through its transition from Dayton’s to Marshall Fields and eventually to Macy’s. In recent years, they would meet at the Skyroom, Macy’s 12th floor lunch spot, before shopping.
Now, Jacobson said, “We just don’t go downtown that often. It’s not that far, there’s just nothing unique downtown that you can’t get in the suburbs or elsewhere. It’s not a destination anymore.”
Macy’s has department stores in the Twin Cities at the Mall of America, Rosedale Center, Ridgedale Center, Southdale Center, Maplewood Mall and Burnsville Center. It also has two furniture galleries in the metro area.
Macy’s rebounded solidly after the 2007-09 economic downturn. But over the past two years, its revenue and profits declined as consumer spending patterns changed.
People are spending more on home improvement and experiences, like travel or spas. When it comes to clothing, more shoppers are turning to T.J. Maxx or fast-fashion chains like H&M. They’re also turning to the internet. By some forecasts, Amazon.com Inc. is expected to surpass Macy’s as the largest online seller of clothing next year.
Staff reporter Kavita Kumar contributed to this report.A communication professor known for conspiracy theories has stirred controversy at Florida Atlantic University with claims that last month's Newtown, Conn., school shootings did not happen as reported — or may not have happened at all.
Moreover, James Tracy asserts in radio interviews and on his memoryholeblog.com. that trained "crisis actors" may have been employed by the Obama administration in an effort to shape public opinion in favor of the event's true purpose: gun control.
"As documents relating to the Sandy Hook shooting continue to be assessed and interpreted by independent researchers, there is a growing awareness that the media coverage of the massacre of 26 children and adults was intended primarily for public consumption to further larger political ends," writes Tracy, a tenured associate professor of media history at FAU and a former union leader.
In another post, he says, "While it sounds like an outrageous claim, one is left to inquire whether the Sandy Hook shooting ever took place — at least in the way law enforcement authorities and the nation's news media have described."
FAU is distancing itself from Tracy's views.
"James Tracy does not speak for the university. The website on which his post appeared is not affiliated with FAU in any way," said media director Lisa Metcalf.
Tracy said he knows he has sparked controversy on campus. In one of his courses, called "Culture of Conspiracy," Tracy said some students have expressed skepticism about his views.
"But I encourage that," said Tracy, 47, a faculty member for 10 years. "I want to get students to look at events in a more critical way."
In the Internet age, "We see more and more professors getting into trouble for what they're posting on Facebook, or Tweeting," said Gregory Scholtz, director of the department of academic freedom at the Association of University Professors. "And administrations are sensitive to bad publicity; they don't like things that public might find obnoxious or reprehensible. But most reputable administrations stay above the fray and give latitude."
Robert Shibley, an official with the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said Tracy is well within his rights of free speech, especially when teaching a course on conspiracy theory.
"The only way that a university would have a right to tone it down, or insist he stop talking about it, is if students come to him and say they find it disturbing," said Shibley. "People are allowed to talk about things that are upsetting — for example, abortion."
On Monday, the website Global Research posted a timeline written by Tracy which purports to show how federal and local police agencies, abetted by "major media," conspired early in the Sandy Hook investigation to constuct a scenario pointing to Lanza as " the sole agent of the massacre" when others may have been involved.
In one of his blog posts, "The Sandy Hook School Massacre: Unanswered Questions and Missing Information," Tracy cites several sources for his skepticism, including lack of surveillance video or still images from the scene, the halting performance of the medical examiner at a news conference, timeline confusion, and how the accused shooter was able to fire so many shots in just minutes.
In an interview Monday, Tracy said "while it appears that people lost their lives" at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, he is not ready to buy that a lone gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, entered the school and methodically shot 20 children and six adults before killing himself.
Lanza is also suspected of killing his mother at their Newtown home before arriving at the school.
Asked if he has been accused of promoting fringe theories, Tracy said, "I do get that sense, from emails and otherwise."
Tracy said he believes the deaths at Sandy Hook may have resulted from a training exercise. "Was this to a certain degree constructed?" he said. "Was this a drill?
"Something most likely took place," he said. "One is left with the impression that a real tragedy took place."
But, he added, he has not seen bodies, or photos of bodies. "Overall, I'm saying the public needs more information to assess what took place. We don't have that. And when the media and the public don't have that, various sorts of ideas can arise."
Tracy said also has doubts about the official version of the Kennedy assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9-11 terror attacks and the Aurora, Colo., theater murders.
"I describe myself as a scholar and public intellectual," he said, "interested in going more deeply into controversial public events. Although some may see [my theories] as beyond the pale, I am doing what we should be doing as academics."
mwclary@tribune.com, 954-356-4465
James Tracy
Title: Florida Atlantic University associate professor, media history and analysis, political economy of communication.
Age: 47
Born: Hornell, N.Y.
Education: Undergraduate: San Jose State, communication, 1995
Master's degree: University of Arizona, media studies, 1998
PhD.: University of Iowa, 2002.
Activities: editor, Democratic Communiqué, journal of the Union for Democratic Communications.NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre strenuously opposed new gun laws — including expanding the background check system — during a contentious Wednesday morning hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
When committee chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) pressed LaPierre on his opposition to the universal background check, LaPierre repeatedly placed blame on the law currently in place that fails to prosecute individuals who are denied to purchase and own guns. “None of it makes any sense in the real world!” LaPierre said of background checks, after arguing that they would only impact “the little guy,” while criminals continue to buy guns illegally.
LaPierre’s reasoning drew a sharp rebuke from Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), who heatedly told LaPierre, “criminals won’t go to purchase the guns, because there will be a background check! We’ll stop them from the original purchase,” adding, “You missed that point completely!”
LaPierre’s position is a complete reversal from his 1999 testimony, when he told the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime, “We think it’s reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone.”
Despite LaPierre’s bluster, a majority of gun owners actually disagree with him on background checks. According to a Johns Hopkins Center For Gun Policy and Research survey conducted in October 2012, “82 percent favored mandatory background checks for all firearms sales, not just for those by licensed dealers.”
Under the current laws, the federal government has prosecuted 44 individuals out of the 80,000-plus who have lied about their criminal histories in an effort to obtain a gun. Despite the fact that the federal government has prosecuted few, there is no doubt that it has in fact kept guns out of the wrong hands.
Testimonies also came from Captain Mark Kelly, husband of former representative Gabrielle Giffords, victim of Jared Loughner’s Tucson, AZ shooting rampage in 2011, Adjunct Professor of Advanced Constitutional Law at Denver University and policy analyst for the Cato Institute David Kopel, Police Chief James Johnson of the Baltimore Police Department, and Gayle Trotter, attorney and Senior Fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.
The hearing began with an emotional appeal from Giffords, who still struggles with her speech as a result of her injuries. “Too many children are dying. We must do something,” Giffords said. “It will be hard, but the time is now. You must act. Be bold, be courageous. Americans are counting on you.”
Kelly maintained that as a gun owner, that “right demands responsibility,” a responsibility that the U.S. is failing to uphold in allowing dangerous individuals to obtain dangerous weapons.
Like Kelly, Chief Johnson — who has over 30 years of experience in law enforcement — spoke out in full support of expanding background checks to private gun sellers and gun shows, declaring, “The best way to stop a bad guy from getting a gun in the first place is a good background check.”
Other individuals on the panel, like David Kopel and Gayle Trotter, chose to focus on the proposal to place armed guards in every school and guns in the hands of teachers, rather than amending the law to assure that the wrong individuals can’t obtain guns in the first place. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), agreed with them, warning that because of America’s fiscal situation, “there will be less police officers, not more, in the next decade.” For Graham — who has received contributions from the NRA — the solution to this problem is not increasing funding for trained professionals like Chief Johnson, but having more Americans to arm themselves (a goal that universal background checks would hinder).
Although he largely opposes gun control, Kopel did argue that gun control does not violate the Second Amendment, so long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of responsible Americans. This raised the question of why he opposes the proposed reform efforts; after all, common-sense restrictions on unnecessary guns and magazines and a repair to the current federal background check system would pose no discernible threat to any responsible gun owners.
Even as the senators were debating gun violence on Capitol Hill, another mass shooting was taking place in Phoenix, Arizona.
Photo credit: AP/Susan WalshShoes are hollow objects that humans enjoy sticking their feet into as a means to keep them warm and dry, and to protect them from rough terrain. Interestingly, men and women have widely differing opinions on such a simple invention.
Just The Facts
The first shoe was invented, presumably, when someone stuck their foot inside a rabbit. Their popularity grew as people noticed how shoes dramatically increased their running speed, which improved their odds of escaping mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. One week later, shoes became a valued fashion accessory.
Cracked on Shoes
Men and women have disagreed about the importance of footwear as long as there has been language. Figuring out why could very well unlock many of humanity's great mysteries. Psychology textbooks will tell you that men seek variety, while women seek stability. It is therefore logical to assume that nature is trying to balance that out with shoes.
When arguing about the utility of a shoe purchase, it is helpful for men to keep a simple mathematical relationship in mind:
Also, logic.
While only 38 percent of men own more than seven pairs of shoes, the average woman owns somewhere between "a shit-ton of shoes" |
alone. However, clinicians must be careful about recommending the use of SAMe to patients who take other medications, because its interactions with other drugs are not well elucidated. More research is needed to determine optimal doses, and head-to-head comparisons with newer antidepressants should help to clarify SAMe's place in the psychopharmacologic armamentarium.
REFERENCES
1 Pincus HA Pettit AR The societal costs of chronic major depression. J Clin Psychiatry 2001 ; 62 ( suppl ): 5 – 9. ): 2 Kendler KS Thornton LM Prescott CA Gender differences in the rates of exposure to stressful life events and sensitivity to their depressogenic effects. Am J Psychiatry 2001 ; 158 : 587 – 93. 3 Fava M Davidson KG Definition and epidemiology of treatment-resistant depression. Psychiatr Clin North Am 1996 ; 19 : 179 – 200. 4 Fava M Kaji K Continuation and maintenance treatments of major depressive disorder. Psychiatr Ann 1994 ; 24 : 281 – 90. 5 Eisenberg DM Kessler RC Foster C Norlock FE Calkins DR Delbanco TL Unconventional medicine in the United States: prevalence, costs, and patterns of use. N Engl J Med 1993 ; 328 : 246 – 52. 6 Mischoulon D Rosenbaum JF The use of natural medications in psychiatry. A commentary. Harv Rev Psychiatry 1999 ; 6 : 279 – 83. 7 Krippner S A cross cultural comparison of four healing models. Altern Ther Health Med 1995 ; 1 : 21 – 9. 8 National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine, Practice and Policy Guidelines Panel. Clinical practice guidelines in complementary and alternative medicine. An analysis of opportunities and obstacles. Arch Fam Med 1997 ; 6 : 149 – 54. 9 Ernst E Harmless herbs? A review of the recent literature. Am J Med 1998 ; 104 : 170 – 8. 10 Spillmann M Fava M S-adenosyl-methionine (ademethionine) in psychiatric disorders. CNS Drugs 1996 ; 6 : 416 – 25. 11 Alpert JE Mischoulon D One-carbon metabolism and the treatment of depression: roles of S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe) and folic acid. In: Mischoulon D Rosenbaum J Natural medications for psychiatric disorders: considering the alternatives. Philadelphia : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2002 : 44.. In:, eds. 12 Alpert JE Mischoulon D Nierenberg AA Fava M Nutrition and depression: focus on folate. Nutrition 2000 ; 16 : 544 – 6. 13 Fava M Borus JS Alpert JE, et al. Folate, B12, and homocysteine in major depressive disorder. Am J Psychiatry 1997 ; 154 : 426 – 8. 14 Bottiglieri T Godfrey P Flynn T Carney MWP Toone BK Reynolds EH Cerebrospinal fluid S-adenosylmethionine in depression and dementia: effects of treatment with parenteral and oral S-adenosylmethionine. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1990 ; 53 : 1096 – 8. 15 Bell KM Potkin SG Carreon D Plon L S-adenosylmethionine blood levels in major depression: changes with drug treatment. Acta Neurol Scand Suppl 1994 ; 154 : 15 – 8. 16 Bottiglieri T Chary TK Laundy M, et al. Transmethylation in depression. Ala J Med Sci 1988 ; 25 : 296 – 301. 17 Matthysse S Baldessarini RJ S-adenosylmethionine and catechol-O-methyl-transferase in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 1972 ; 128 : 1310 – 2. 18 Tolbert LC MAT kinetics in affective disorders and schizophrenia. An account. Ala J Med Sci 1988 ; 25 : 291 – 6. 19 Bressa GM S-Adenosyl-l-methionine (SAMe) as antidepressant: meta-analysis of clinical studies. Acta Neurol Scand 1994 ; 154 ( suppl ): 7 – 14. ): 20 Mantero M Pastorino P Carolei A Agnoli A Studio controllato in doppio cieco (SAMe-imipramina) nelle sindromi depressive. [Controlled double-blind study (SAMe-imipramine) in depressive syndrome.] Minerva Med 1975 ; 66 : 4098 – 101 ( ). ( ). 21 Miccoli L Porro V Bertolino A Comparison between the antidepressant activity of S-adenosyl- l -methionine (SAMe) and that of some tricyclic drugs. Acta Neurol (Napoli) 1978 ; 33 : 243 – 55. 22 Del Vecchio M Iorio G Cocorullo M Vacca L Amati A Has SAMe (Ado-Met) an antidepressant effect? A preliminary trial versus chlorimipramine. Riv Sper Freniatr 1978 ; 102 : 344 – 58. 23 Monaco P Quattrocchi F Studio degli effetti antidepressivi di un transmetilante biologico (S-adenosil-metionina—SAMe). (Study of the antidepressant effect of a biological transmethylator (S-adenosylmethionine—SAMe.) Riv Neurol 1979 ; 49 : 417 – 39 ( ). ( ). 24 Calandra C Roxas M Rapisarda V Azione antidepressiva della SAMe a paragone della clorimipramina. Ipotesi interpretative del meccanismo d'azione. (Andidepressant action of SAMe compared to that of clomipramine. Interpretive hypothesis of the mechanism of action.) Minerva Psichiatr 1979 ; 20 : 147 – 52 ( ). ( ). 25 Kufferle B Grunberger J Early clinical double-blind study with S-adenosyl- l -methionine: a new potential antidepressant. In: Costa E Racagni G Typical and atypical antidepressants. New York : Raven Press, 1982 : 175 – 80.. In:, eds. 26 Bell KM Plon L Bunney WE Jr Jr Potkin SG S-adenosylmethionine treatment of depression: a controlled clinical trial. Am J Psychiatry 1988 ; 145 : 1110 – 4. 27 Janicak PG Lipinski J Davis JM, et al. S-Adenosylmethionine in depression: a literature review and preliminary report. Ala J Med Sci 1988 ; 25 : 306 – 13. 28 Fava M Giannelli A Rapisarda V Patralia A Guaraldi GP Rapidity of onset of the antidepressant effect of parenteral S-adenosyl- l -methionine. Psychiatry Res 1995 ; 56 : 295 – 7. 29 Alvarez E Udina C Guillamat R Shortening of latency period in depressed patients treated with SAMe and other antidepressant drugs. Cell Biol Rev 1987 ; S1 : 103 – 10. 30 Berlanga C Ortega-Soto HA Ontiveros M Senties H Efficacy of S-adenosyl- l -methionine in speeding the onset of action of imipramine. Psychiatry Res 1992 ; 44 : 257 – 62. 31 Fontanari D Di Palma C Giorgetti G, et al. Effects of S-adenosyl- l -methionine on cognitive and vigilance functions in elderly. Curr Ther Res 1994 ; 55 : 682 – 9. 32 Reynolds EH Carney MWP Toone BK, et al. Transmethylation and neuropsychiatry. Cell Biol Rev 1987 ; 2 : 93 – 102. 33 Cerutti R Scichel MP Perin M, et al. Psychological distress during puerperium: a novel therapeutic approach using S-adenosylmethionine. Curr Ther Res 1993 ; 53 : 707 – 16. 34 Lo Russo A Monaco M Pani A, et al. Efficacy of S-adenosyl methionine in relieving psychologic distress associated with detoxification on opiate abusers. Curr Ther Res 1994 ; 55 : 905 – 13. 35 Agricola R Dalla Verde G Urani R, et al. S-adenosyl- l -methionine in the treatment of major depression complicating chronic alcoholism. Curr Ther Res 1994 ; 55 : 83 – 92. 36 Di Rocco A Rogers JD Brown R Werner P Bottiglieri T S-Adenosyl-methionine improves depression in patients with Parkinson's disease in an open-label clinical trial. Mov Disord 2000 ; 15 : 1225 – 9. 37 Martínez-Chantar ML García-Trevijano ER Latasa MU, et al. Importance of a deficiency in S-adenosyl- l -methionine synthesis in the pathogenesis of liver injury. Am J Clin Nutr 2002 ; 76 ( suppl ): 1177S – 82S. ): 38 Rosenbaum JF Fava M Falk WE, et al. The antidepressant potential of oral S-adenosyl- l -methionine. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1990 ; 81 : 432 – 6. 39 Carney MWP Chary TNK Bottiglieri T Switch mechanism in affective illness and oral S-adenosylmethionine (SAM). Br J Psychiatry 1987 ; 150 : 724 – 5. 40 Carney MW Martin R Bottiglieri T, et al. Switch mechanism in affective illness and S-adenosylmethionine. Lancet 1983 ; 1 : 820 – 1.
© 2002 American Society for Clinical NutritionWhether you travel on business or for pleasure, the chances are pretty high that you will make use of the Internet while abroad. If you are staying at a hotel then, given the high cost of international data roaming on most mobile networks, the chances are that you will make use of the Wi-Fi connection provided by the hotel. Unfortunately, for business travellers at least, the chances are increasingly high that doing so will put your data at risk. So much so, in fact, that the FBI has now issued an official advisory for Americans travelling abroad.
Why business travellers and not those simply taking a vacation? How many people disappearing abroad for a bit of rest and relaxation pack the laptop? I would suggest the answer is very few indeed, with the vast majority being happy enough with their smartphone when it comes to travel tech and maybe an iPad or Android tablet at a push. Things are very different for the average business traveller who will, most certainly, be packing a laptop bag in order to remain productive during the trip.
As far as the bad guys are concerned this opens up a double-whammy world of opportunity. First there's the lure of the kind of data that the business laptop can act as a gateway to, and if that weren't enough then there's the laptop itself which acts as the key. Although there are plenty of emerging threats to smartphones and tablets alike, in particular for users of the Android platform currently, these pale into insignificance when compared to those targeting users of the Windows OS in just about any variety. Users of Windows-powered laptops accessing the Internet in a foreign country by way of hotel room Wi-Fi pose a particularly attractive target indeed, as the FBI alert explains:
"Recently, there have been instances of travelers’ laptops being infected with malicious software while using hotel Internet connections. In these instances, the traveler was attempting to set up the hotel room Internet connection and was presented with a pop-up window notifying the user to update a widely used software product. If the user clicked to accept and install the update, malicious software was installed on the laptop. The pop-up window appeared to be offering a routine update to a legitimate software product for which updates are frequently available."
What the FBI alert doesn't explain is that it matters not one jot if the hotel Wi-Fi service is secured, unsecured, free, paid for or anything else. This scam has nothing to do with the hotel wireless Internet service at all, but instead it has everything to do with the bad guys spoofing that service. It sounds like a complicated sting to set up on the off chance of catching a passing businessman, but truth be told it's nothing of the sort. All the would be hacker has to do is set themselves up in a hotel room, public area, car park or wherever and run a 'fake access point' using the same Service Set Identifier (SSID) as the hotel Wi-Fi itself. This identifies the access point as being part of the network that the hotel provides, and Windows will happily connect to the strongest signal any access point with the right SSID is kicking out. If that happens to be a fake one, then you are in trouble.
The FBI goes on to recommend that "government, private industry, and academic personnel who travel abroad" should update software "immediately before traveling" and if they absolutely must update whilst abroad then only to do so directly from the software vendor's website and only then after checking the digital certificate to ensure you really are connected to the genuine site.
Again, the FBI fails to mention one important thing that users of hotel Wi-Fi should be doing to mitigate the risk of fake access point hijacks, and that's applying the 'if it looks dodgy, disconnect' maxim. By which I mean that just about every genuine hotel Wi-Fi service will require you to initiate access via some kind of gateway page for the hotel chain or Wi-Fi service provider, or both. If, when you fire up your browser, you don't get to such a splash page then go ask the reception desk for advice. It also fails to recommend that those away on business should be investing in some kind of VPN for their connectivity if they expect some semblance of security while on the road.
Whatever, I'd go further than the FBI and say that the advice applies to anyone travelling abroad with their lappy, or even using the thing at home across a public Wi-Fi network. Indeed, when using any public hotspot it's worth remembering that the kind of pop-up scam mentioned by the FBI is not the only threat to worry about and some are nowhere near as visible. Take Firesheeping for example.
Firesheeping has become a generic term applied to the act of sniffing out your data whilst using an unsecured Wi-Fi connection. Also known as sidejacking, a bad guy with the right software tool can pluck your session cookie data out of thin air as you browse, answer your email, do a bit of online shopping, check your bank balances and the like. These cookie copies can then be used to continue your session after you have actually done an Elvis and left the building. Users of free public Wi-Fi, or any unsecured wireless connection, should get into the habit of only doing so if they use secure HTTPS connections exclusively during their sessions.Stamp House
WINNER – 2014 AIA ARCHITECTURE AWARDS – FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND, HOUSE OF THE YEAR
WINNER – 2014 AIA ARCHITECTURE AWARDS – QUEENSLAND STATE, TOP ROBIN DODS AWARD & MEDAL FOR RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE, HOUSES
2014 WORLD ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL (WAF) AWARDS – FINAL INTERNATIONAL SHORTLIST
Conceptual framework:
A safe and secure off-grid structure, carbon neutral in operation, as luxury retreat & sanctuary – an enigmatic bunker. A new tropical architecture of resilience, both brutal and elegant. We liked the idea that the concrete over time will age well and feature a ‘patina’ further enhancing its sense of place in the sited environment.
Public and Cultural Benefits:
A new sustainable tropical housing prototype for off-grid coastal locations.
Relationship of Built Form to Context:
By way of siting a cantilevered cyclone proof structure over an engineered water eco-system, we were intent on enhancing the sites natural wetland attributes & beauty. From the outset, we had a clear vision for the project as reflected in water with the rainforest, mountains and sky.
Program Resolution:
Critical to our approach was in developing new ways of living in tropical latitude, by providing secure yet flexible open areas for all functions including living, entertaining, dining, recreation & swimming, which are completely naturally ventilated and further enhanced with integrated building systems. These flexible main living areas oscillate around the feature central pool & landscaped courtyard, complemented with cascading waterfall features which further provides an evaporative cooling effect to both levels in the drier months. Bedrooms are designed so that each has a particular character by virtue of its orientation and unique aspect at the same time providing privacy. The undercroft houses utility areas for plant equipment.
Integration of Allied Disciplines:
In all of our work, we strive for innovation and new solutions to the problems of living with climate change in the 21st Century. Integration of Allied Disciplines was critical to the successful delivery of our vision for the project, in particular the hydraulic & structural engineering which not only facilitated the advanced sustainability initiatives but also the practical requirements for withstanding annual cyclonic weather events.
Cost/Value Outcome:
The project was developed and procured through an intensive value management process, resulting in a highly cost-effective solution to the client’s specific requirements.
Sustainability:
Stamp House is Carbon Neutral in operation. All energy is renewable, provided by the large photovoltaic array & battery storage, off-setting the use of air-conditioning and LED lighting. The entire roof area is harvested into a 250,000 litre in-ground water tank integrated with all hydraulic systems. Also featuring on-site Advanced Tertiary Sewerage treatment plant and insulated thermal mass engineering, the concrete structure is ideal for the location due to its inherent long life cycle efficiency and material properties to deal with the harsh, corrosive wet tropical environment.
Response to Client and User needs:
The Stamp House is particular to our client, a stamp dealer among other things including property developer, who had purchased 26 hectares of beach front land in the Daintree. They had a strong desire to develop a sustainable and robust estate which would ideally operate as carbon neutral in its off-grid location. They had concern regarding the annual cyclone season and associated events such as storm surge associated with king tides. They also wanted to enhance the site’s natural wetland environment.Two Florida nuclear power plants in the path of Hurricane Irma are shutting down to brace for the Category 5 storm's devastating wind and rain.
Florida Power & Light announced on Thursday it will shut down the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear plants ahead of Irma's expected arrival this weekend. The two facilities are Florida's only operating nuclear power plants. Both are on Florida's Atlantic Coast, which is bracing to get hit very hard by Irma's ferocious winds.
"This is an extremely dangerous storm," Rob Gould, chief communications officer at Florida Power & Light, told reporters.
Gould said the nuclear sites are among the strongest in the United States and are designed to withstand heavy wind and storm surge. Turkey Point's nuclear reactors are enclosed in six feet of steel-reinforced concrete and sit 20 feet above sea level, the Miami Herald reported. Nuclear plants also have significant redundancies that serve as back-ups to back-ups.
Turkey Point, located just south of Miami in Homestead, survived a direct hit from Hurricane Andrew in 1992. However, the facility did suffer $90 million in damage from that Category 5 storm, according to press reports.
"This storm has the potential to eclipse Hurricane Andrew," Gould said.
Related 'Panic buying' sparks gas shortages in Florida
Florida Power & Light declined to give specific timing on when the nuclear plants will be shut.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it expects Turkey Point to be shut down Friday evening and St. Lucie to go offline about 12 hours later, depending on the storm track.
The country has 61 operating nuclear power plants in 30 states, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Florida is also grappling with gasoline shortages caused by panic-buying from motorists in the storm's path and lingering supply disruptions from Hurricane Harvey. At least 40% of gas stations in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region are without fuel, according to estimates from crowdsourcing platform GasBuddy.Story highlights Most sticky situations can be avoided by maintaining an open dialogue
Thoughtful brides and grooms consider the finances of their guests and attendants
Guests lists in particular can be riddled with potential pitfalls
Rules are meant to be broken, so long as you are honest and communicate expectations
From what to wear to what to register for, planning and preparing for an upcoming wedding can sometimes be tricky. Navigating through each and every sticky situation with a smile can be hard work. Enter Anna Post. The etiquette expert and co-author of "Emily Post's Etiquette, 18th edition" is here to set the record straight on some of the most frequently asked wedding dilemmas.
Who should be the first to know about my engagement?
Avoid broadcasting the news (photos included) to social networks before sharing your engagement with family and friends. If you have any children from a previous marriage, they should be told first. Parents, family members, godparents, and anyone you are particularly close with should also be told before the news is public knowledge.
Am I supposed to bring a gift to an engagement party?
Traditionally gifts were not expected at the engagement party but, some guests opt to bring a small token -- like Champagne flutes -- for the couple. Because engagement gifts aren't a standard everywhere, don't expect presents to be opened at the event.
Can I have someone besides my father walk me down the aisle?
The bride's father traditionally walks her down the aisle, but you can have anyone who is significant—mom or stepdad, brother or sister—walk you down the aisle. You can even walk alone or with more than one person.
No matter who walks you down the aisle, don't let it be a last-minute decision. The most important thing is to maintain an open and honest dialogue with anyone impacted by your choice.
How do I get my guests to RSVP?
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Give guests at least 15 days between the invitation's arrival and the RSVP deadline to figure out the logistics. Sending pre-stamped enclosure cards or permitting RSVP via email may also encourage guests to respond faster.
Approximately one week before the numbers are due to vendors, make follow-up calls to guests who have yet to reply. This is a great time to ask your wedding party or family for some help.
If I know someone can't attend, do I need to send an invitation anyway?
Because an invitation comes with the expectation of a gift, you don't want people to think they have to give a gift even though they cannot attend. If someone lets you know that they have a conflict, don't follow up with an invitation. In the case of very close friends and family, you may want to send an invitation anyway with a note that explains you are sending it as a keepsake.
How can I back out of my duties as a bridesmaid if I can't afford it or no longer want to do it?
If you think financials might be a problem, talk with the bride about what expenses you might incur before accepting. Bridesmaids typically pay for their own attire (including any alterations), hair, makeup, and any travel expenses. Though the maid of honor may have a bigger time commitment, there is not necessarily a greater monetary obligation.
Other than illness, family emergency, or an iron-clad work demand, it's not acceptable to back out once you've committed. If you have no choice but to cancel, it's important to let the bride know as soon as possible.
What are my duties as a bridesmaid?
Bridesmaids generally assist in the planning of the wedding, help the bride choose her dress, attend fittings for their own dresses, and attend any parties they are invited to. Though it often makes sense for bridesmaids to throw the bridal shower, they are not required to do so.
During the wedding festivities, bridesmaids act as an ambassador of sorts to the couple and may be expected to help with the little details that keep the day running smoothly. They should also participate in any activities like a receiving line or a bouquet toss.
Can I skip the cake?
There are certain traditions, like cutting the cake, that are okay to omit. Instead of cake, you may opt for something that provides more variety such as a candy bar or a selection of pies -- it's up to you.
If you do skip the cake, be aware that the cake cutting ceremony and serving of dessert is typically the signal to guests that it is OK to leave without being rude.
Who hosts the bridal shower?
Anyone from the bridesmaids to the mother of the bride to the mother of the groom can host a bridal shower. In any case, the hostess should consult with the bride about the guest list, because shower guests should also be invited to the wedding.
Is it OK to use mobile devices to upload pictures during the wedding?
When in doubt, it's better to ask the couple's permission before posting photos to any social media outlet -- especially during the ceremony. Uploading photos not only distracts you from participating in the moment, but it also broadcasts details of the event to people who may not have been invited.
How do I decide who can bring a date?
You should extend a plus one to anyone who is in a committed relationship, whether married, engaged, or in a live-in partnership -- even if you haven't met the other half. You are not obligated to give single guests and guests who are involved in more casual relationships the option to bring a date. You do, however, want to be consistent and avoid making exceptions.
If the invitation does not say, for example, Anna and guest, guests can assume they cannot bring a date. If someone does show up with an uninvited guest, avoid an uncomfortable situation by finding a place for them and follow up with the invited guest via a polite phone call afterward.
How much should I spend on a wedding gift?
There is no minimum or maximum. When shopping for a wedding gift you should consider two things: your personal budget and your relationship with the couple. It's not necessary to pay for the cost of your dinner, but rather spend what you can afford and feel comfortable spending on something that suits the couple. Don't be afraid to diverge from the registry if you need to.
If someone asks me to be in their wedding, do I have to ask them to be in mine?
You shouldn't feel obligated to reciprocate. If you feel uncomfortable about the situation, ask them to be a reader or to fulfill some other role in the wedding. Similarly, it's a nice gesture to include your fiancé's siblings in the wedding party, but you are not required to do so.
Do I need to invite someone I casually mentioned the wedding to?
Talking about the wedding is OK, but don't extend an invitation unless you know a formal invitation will follow. It's impolite to uninvite someone, even if it was a verbal commitment. If the topic arises, you can diplomatically skirt around the issue by saying you haven't finalized the guest list.
I'm paying for the wedding myself, how can I tell my parents I don't want to invite certain people?
It may be best to give your parents an allotted amount of spots they can fill as they wish. If there are certain people you do not want in attendance, it's best to have a private and honest conversation when you first discuss the guest list. Don't insist your parents feel comfortable with the situation, but be clear about your wishes.
Am I expected to invite all of my coworkers?
You do not have to invite everyone you work with, but try to pick a logical dividing line, like your division or team, so people don't feel excluded. Treat any invited coworkers as you would friends, and invite them outside of work. Mail invitations to their home addresses and discuss wedding plans outside of the office.
Can I tell my bridesmaids what kind of shower I want?
It's a good idea to discuss the shower with bridesmaids -- or whoever is hosting -- but avoid demands, especially those that dictate the budget. For example, if you really don't want games, you may express that sentiment but shy away from requests that add extra expenses.
How do I deal with guests who ask to bring kids even after we've made it clear they're not invited?
You have to nip this in the bud. Call the guest (even if they've contacted you through another medium, like email) and kindly, but firmly explain that the invitation was just for the adults and that you hope they can still attend. Don't make exceptions -- it's not fair to other guests who respect your wishes. You can, however, invite the flower girl and the ring bearer without being hypocritical.
Can I register for gifts if it's my second marriage?
Whether it's your first marriage or your third, you can still register. There are plenty of people who may want to give you a gift, including those who have attended a prior wedding.
If you feel uncomfortable about receiving gifts, it's a good time to get creative and sign up for a honeymoon registry. It's also perfectly fine to request guests do not bring gifts.
What is the correct way to address a wedding gift check?
There is no hard and fast rule about which party should be addressed. Unless you know the couple has a joint bank account, pay to the order of either the bride or the groom -- not both -- to make the check easier to cash.
Who should host the rehearsal dinner?
Traditionally, the groom's family hosts (and pays for) the rehearsal dinner and arranges a guest list in conjunction with the bride's family. Though some families now choose to split the cost or let the bride and groom host their own rehearsal dinner, the groom's family should get "first dibs."
Am I obligated to invite a guest's date to the rehearsal dinner?
Because the rehearsal dinner is traditionally a close-knit event for wedding participants and family, it is not necessary to extend an invitation to an attendee's wedding guest.
How much should I tip my wedding vendors?
You do not have to tip vendors with whom you have a contract. Depending on service and relationship, a small gift or a cash tip is at your discretion. You should, however, distribute tips to non-contracted staff like musicians and servers.
Meals for vendors are typically included in your contract, but you should plan to pay for their dinner regardless. Discuss meal options with your venue or caterer to find something that works with your budget.
How long do I have to send a thank-you note?
Though it's best to send a thank-you note as soon as possible, you have approximately three months to express your gratitude. If the three-month timeframe has elapsed, send any lingering thank-you notes as soon as possible. Sending an email or putting a generic thanks on social media, your wedding website, or anywhere else does not replace a handwritten note.
To save time, the bride and groom can both write thank-you notes and simply sign each one. In a serious time crunch, it's acceptable to send an email that acts as a digital placeholder to say you received the gift and a thank-you a note will follow.In November, People Could Be Voting Against — Not For — Trump And Clinton
Enlarge this image toggle caption Spencer Platt/Getty Images Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The dust has settled. The mists have parted. The GOP has an apparent nominee, at long last, and it is Donald Trump.
Trump will most likely face off against Hillary Clinton, who leads Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side by several hundred delegates. And a new poll suggests that a Trump-Clinton contest would be an overwhelmingly negative fight. The November election may be decided not by which candidate is more popular but by which one is less unpopular.
In a new CNN/ORC poll, 54 percent of registered voters said they'd choose Clinton in a matchup against Trump. He only got 41 percent support. But the interesting thing is how people made their choices:
Around half of Clinton general-election supporters told CNN/ORC their vote wouldn't be so much for Clinton as against Trump. Trump's supporters were slightly less enthusiastic: 57 percent said they would be more voting against Clinton than for Trump.
It's just two questions in one poll, but it underscores what we've been hearing for weeks now: the most likely Republican and Democratic candidates are both also remarkably unpopular. Right now, by RealClearPolitics' average, Clinton's net favorability (that is, the share who see her favorably minus the share who see her unfavorably) right now is negative 16.5 points. Trump is far worse yet, at negative 37.
It's not unheard of for candidates to change voters' minds on this; Mitt Romney managed to boost his favorability numbers considerably as the 2012 election approached.
But these unfavorability ratings show the major difficulty that both Clinton and Trump would face in November: enthusiasm. That means both candidates will have to do everything they can to drum up support — an unenthusiastic voter just might not turn out at all.
Both candidates could of course boost their enthusiasm by trying to get more voters to like them. But it's also clear that many voters in this election will simply really, really dislike the other party. That means Clinton and Trump could each choose the other path: drumming up enthusiasm against the other candidate.
Trump has already proven his willingness to go negative — threatening to "spill the beans" on Heidi Cruz (whatever that meant) and attacking Clinton for playing "the woman card." Clinton, meanwhile, has a new online ad showing a string of Republicans mercilessly lambasting Trump throughout this election cycle.
That means this could just be the start of six months of mudslinging. Given how angry the electorate has been this cycle, the candidates might just do well to appeal to voters' dissatisfaction.Brazilian artist Henrique Alvim Corrêa’s career was cut short when he died at only 34 years old. But the illustrator left behind a small science-fiction legacy thanks to his 1906 artworks detailing the Martian invasion of London in H. G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds. Wells’ tale preyed upon turn-of-the-century fears about the apocalypse and other Victorian superstitions (and social prejudices) about the unknown. Corrêa’s fantastical, murky style is fitting of Wells’ dark themes. The Martian fighting machines resemble frightening legions of massive spiders. There were only 500 copies of the Belgian edition of Wells’ story with Corrêa’s artworks (currently up for auction), which we spotted on website Monster Brains (run by illustrator Aeron Alfrey), but you can see some of the images in our gallery.The Lyubovy Orlova, seen from the Antarctic Peninsula, during happier times Wikipedia A Russian cruise ship has been adrift in the North Atlantic since January, after breaking free from a towing line as it was being delivered from Canada to a scrapyard in the Dominican Republic.
The Lyubov Orlova, built in 1976, once operated as a cruise ship, exploring the icy waters of Antarctica. In 2010, she was seized at St. John's harbor in Newfoundland following a suit by a haulage contractor against the Russian owners over $250,000 in unpaid fees. The ship remained tied up for more than two years before it was sold to Caribbean buyers in February 2012.
On Jan. 23 of this year, the derelict ship left Canada for the Dominican Republic to be scrapped, but its towing cable snapped a day later. The ship escaped again after it was secured by a supply vessel on Jan. 31. It then drifted into international waters.
Transport Canada claims they are no longer responsible for the ship and that there's little chance of it drifting back under Canadian jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, according to a document from a US intelligence agency, obtained by the AFP, the abandoned ship was recently seen about 1,300 nautical miles off the coast of Ireland, and is drifting toward Europe.
"Earlier this week, Canadian officials acknowledged they did not know the location of the ship, as the vessel's global positioning system was no longer working," the AFP writes.
Irish authorities are looking over satellite data to try and locate the loose vessel since there's some concern that the ghost ship, apparently infested with rats, could hit Ireland's shore. If that did happen, the government would likely "take the ship, bring it into a port and maybe look for compensation from the owner for any costs associated with that," maritime lawyer William Cahill told The National Post's Tristin Hopper. Cahill says it would be hard to pin responsibility on Canada because it's not a Canadian registered ship.Hannes Schniepp (front) and Sean Koebley have helped to unravel the mystery of what makes the silk of the brown recluse spider particularly strong. Koebley holds a jar contain one of the hundred-odd specimens of the spider in their ISC 3 lab. Photo by Joseph McClain
Silk sleuths: Hannes Schniepp (front) and Sean Koebley have helped to unravel the mystery of what makes the silk of the brown recluse spider particularly strong. Koebley holds a jar contain one of the hundred-odd specimens of the spider in their ISC 3 lab. Photo by Joseph McClain
The scientists have given names to all the spiders in their lab. The brown recluse specimens are well secured in individual jars. They’re venomous, but Hannes Schniepp |
in Europe: From the Ancient Regime to the Collapse of Communism.Bryan Fuller and Michael Green are exiting their posts as showrunners on Starz drama “American Gods.”
Creators and executive producers on the series, Fuller and Green are said to be departing after clashing with producer FremantleMedia over budget and creative direction. Fuller and Green were said to have been pushing for an increase to the series’ budget for season two. Sources close to the production said that the per-episode budget for “American Gods” season two already nearly $10 million.
No replacement showrunner has yet been named
Green and Fuller both have multiple irons in the fire elsewhere. Green is shepherding the Netflix drama “Raising Dion” and another TV series project in the works. Bryan Fuller is working on Apple’s “Amazing Stories” as well as other projects.
After hitting an impasse on plans for season two, Fuller and Green opted to bow out. The decision comes a year after Fuller exited his role as showrunner on CBS’ “Star Trek: Discovery” amid multiple production delays.
Based on the supernatural novel by Neil Gaiman, “American Gods,” tells the story of a conflict between new and old mythological figured. The series stars Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon, an ex-con who finds himself in a tug-of-war between America’s old gods — the ones brought here via millennia of immigration, like Ian McShane’s “Mr. Wednesday” (Odin) and Orlando Jones’ “Mr. Nancy” (Anansi) — and the new gods, like Gillian Anderson’s Media.
Related Neil Gaiman on 'American Gods' Season 2: 'We'd All Rather Have It Good Than Have It Quicker' Starz Releases 'American Gods' Season 2 Trailer (Watch)
“American Gods” was renewed by Starz for a second season in May. In addition to Fuller and Green, Craig Cegielski and Stefanie Berk are also executive producers along with David Slade, Adam Kane, and Gaiman. Starz senior vice presidents of original programming Marta Fernandez and Ken Segna are the executives in charge.
In her review of the first season for Variety, critic Sonia Saraiya wrote, “[‘American Gods’] is a sprawling, beautiful show that is fascinating, brilliantly executed, and rather hard to follow. There’s a narrator who never is introduced, a series of gods who do not take the trouble to introduce themselves, and a sense of electric possibility in a landscape that is otherwise dull beyond belief. It’s not just Shadow that is unmoored, it’s the audience, too: Like the feverish terror of a bad dream, the show presents a disorienting, portentous landscape — with absolutely no instructions whatsoever.”Plot Edit
Cast Edit
Production Edit
Marketing Edit
Music and sound Edit
Release Edit
Reception Edit
Sequels Edit
At the Cloverfield premiere, director Matt Reeves talked about possibilities of what a sequel will look like if the film succeeds.[86] According to Reeves: While we were on set making the film we talked about the possibilities and directions of how a sequel can go. The fun of this movie was that it might not have been the only movie being made that night, there might be another movie! In today's day and age of people filming their lives on their camera phones and Handycams, uploading it to YouTube... That was kind of exciting thinking about that.[87] In another interview, Reeves stated: There's a moment on the Brooklyn Bridge, and there was a guy filming something on the side of the bridge, and Hud sees him filming and he turns over and he sees the ship that's been capsized and sees the headless Statue of Liberty, and then he turns back and this guy's briefly filming him. In my mind that was two movies intersecting for a brief moment, and I thought there was something interesting in the idea that this incident happened and there are so many different points of view, and there are several different movies at least happening that evening and we just saw one piece of another.[25] Reeves also pointed out that the final scene on Coney Island shows something falling into the ocean in the background without an explanation. This may have been either the satellite owned by the fictional Japanese media company, Tagruato, or the creature itself. A company news piece on the Tagruato website mentions that a piece of the Japanese Government's ChimpanzII satellite fell off into the Atlantic. Producers Bryan Burk and J. J. Abrams also revealed their thoughts on possible sequels to Entertainment Weekly. According to Burk, "The creative team has fleshed out an entire backstory which, if we're lucky, we might get to explore in future films". Abrams stated that he does not want to rush into the development of the sequel merely because the first film has been a success; he explained that he would rather create a sequel that is true to the previous film.[88] At the end of January 2008, Reeves entered early talks with Paramount to direct a sequel, which would likely be filmed before Reeves's other project, The Invisible Woman.[89] Reeves said: The idea of doing something so differently is exhilarating. We hope that it created a movie experience that is different. The thing about doing a sequel is that I think we all really feel protective of that experience. The key here will be if we can find something that is compelling enough and that is different enough for us to do, then it will probably be worth doing. Obviously it also depends on how Cloverfield does worldwide and all of those things too, but really, for us creatively, we just want to find something that would be another challenge.[90] In September 2008, when asked by CraveOnline what the current status is on Cloverfield 2,[91] Abrams stated that at this point, they were still discussing it; however, he still feels reluctant to work on a sequel. In the same interview, Abrams said that they were working on something that "could be kind of cool." When asked if it would take place in a different location, Abrams replied by saying that "it would be a totally different kind of thing but it's too early to talk about."[92] In a 2010 interview with Attack of the Show!, Abrams stated that they might abandon the filming style, stating that he and the rest of the crew would like to try something new.[93] The film Super 8 was initially speculated to be either a sequel or prequel to Cloverfield,[94] but this was quickly denied by Abrams.[95] In January 2011, horror film fan site BloodyDisgusting.com stated that a Cloverfield sequel may in fact never happen. They talked to director Reeves and he said that if he can ever get the time to sit down and talk with Drew Goddard and J. J. Abrams about sequel possibilities they will certainly make a sequel, but due to all three's busy schedules Reeves does not see this happening any time soon.[96] In a 2011 interview, Matt Reeves gave an update on the status of Cloverfield 2, saying: Getting the right idea together has been taking a long time.... You are going to see it – we just don't know when [laughs]... At the moment we are talking about the story quite a lot. Drew Goddard, who wrote the original, is going to pen the sequel and JJ Abrams is very much involved.... However, the three of us have been so busy that getting the right idea together has been taking a long time. When asked if the sequel will be shot in real time, Reeves stated, "You see, that's a difficult part: we want it to be shot like the first but how can you continue that idea successfully for a second time?... We have a lot of affection for the original and the sequel can't just be the same thing. But that is tricky when you need to have a monster destroying stuff once again."[97] In a 2012 interview, screenwriter Goddard gave an update saying, "I'm in, I'm ready to do it...someone call J. J. and tell him to get moving, but because Matt and J. J. and I have been fortunate enough to be busy, it's hard syncing our schedules up. We're all very passionate about returning to that world." When asked if an idea is on paper, he responded, "If you asked each of us what we wanted to do, you'll get three different answers, which is how the first film was. The aesthetic of Cloverfield benefits from that. Three voices pulling it. Look, nothing would make me happier than to get the three of us in the room to get started."[98] In a later interview in April of that same year, Goddard said: We didn't set out to make a franchise, we set out to make a good movie. But I love that world and that universe, so if there was an idea that excited us enough, and we felt like there was a reason to do it, we would do it. The nice thing about when you work with a guy like J.J., and the power he gets, the studio's not going to force him to do anything. And he has been able to say, we'll do it when we're ready. We're not going to just do it because it will help your bottom line, we're going to do it because there's an idea that excites us. And so that's informed our discussions. We don't feel like we have to, so it's like 'Can we come up with something that excites us enough to do it?'[99] On January 14, 2016, 10 Cloverfield Lane was revealed by Bad Robot Productions, with Abrams as a producer and Reeves and Goddard credited as executive producers.[100] The film is described as "a blood relative" but not "a literal sequel" to Cloverfield by Abrams, who produces the film.[101] The film was released on March 11, 2016 and it marks the theatrical feature film directorial debut of Dan Trachtenberg.[102] During an interview with Abrams to promote 10 Cloverfield Lane, he said the creative team behind the original had some ideas on developing Cloverfield 2, but the release of movies such as Godzilla and Pacific Rim led them to abandon them as they found the concept of kaiju movies had played out. However, Abrams also suggested that he has thought of something that if they are lucky enough to get it made "could be really cool that [it] connects some stories" in a future film, even teasing a larger Cloverfield universe.[101][103] Interviews with Dan Trachtenberg and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, director and actress of 10 Cloverfield Lane, respectively, confirm that the movie is, and always was intended to be, an expansion of the first film, with Trachtenberg calling it the "Cloververse".[104] In October 2016, it was reported that an Abrams-produced project, tentatively titled God Particle, would be the next film set in the Cloverfield universe.[105] The sequel was originally announced as a February 2017 release but has since seen its release date pushed back, most recently to a tentative April 2018 date, with the God Particle title having been dropped and the film now being referred to as Untitled Cloverfield Sequel. It has also been suggested that the original plot device of a god particle may have been completely removed from the script.[106] On February 4, 2018, during Super Bowl LII, a TV commercial aired announcing the film would be entitled The Cloverfield Paradox and would have a surprise release on Netflix after the game. In an April 2018 conference at CinemaCon, Abrams stated that "we're actually developing a true, dedicated Cloverfield sequel."[107] He also said that the sequel would be released theatrically, a departure from the previous installment, The Cloverfield Paradox, which was only released on Netflix.[108] Abrams went on to say that the Cloverfield sequel is coming "very soon."[109]
Notes Edit
^ The creatures are called HSP or "Human-Scale Parasites" in the Blu-ray's Special Investigation Mode.Cracked asphalt, crummy wooden planks and concrete-filled metal poles showcasing an endless sea of vehicles.
It’s the common theme of downtown surface parking lots, where function trumps form block after block.
That might be about to change.
New Council Member Jacob Frey, who represents part of downtown, wants to beautify the more than 70 pay lots downtown by more forcefully enforcing the city’s existing landscaping requirements. “This is something that’s already on the books. We’re just enforcing it,” he said.
The lots are so unpopular that new ones are actually already banned. The acres of asphalt are generally frowned upon by City Hall because of their blighting effect on the streetscape, inability to absorb rainwater and inefficient use of valuable land in a city striving to grow its population.
The initiative could eventually force the lots to install 7- or 9-foot strips of land separating parked cars from the sidewalk — most now have nothing. Other existing city rules that would likely be enforced require lots to have a 3-foot-high fence or hedge to screen views and to have a certain number of trees. Compliance now is spotty.
Many lots are already being developed, but at least one lot manager says he’s worried the beautification efforts will cut into the number of spots he can sell.
“How do we address the fact that we’re going to be losing a good chunk of stalls in order to meet this ordinance?” asked Jon Fletcher, the general manager of Minneapolis Parking, a subsidiary of Alatus LLC.
Frey envisions two likely results. “Either one: There’s beautification of presently ugly surface parking lots, which is a favorable result,” he said. “Or two, if those surface lots are sold off and we create green space or density, that’s also a favorable result.”
Keeping people downtown
Downtown leaders are aiming to make the city’s core a more vibrant, walkable place both for visitors and the growing number of people choosing to live there.
But a stroll downtown these days is still likely to feature entire blocks of asphalt and parked cars, which do little to entice pedestrians. Many sit largely empty on weekday nights, bedecked with crumbling wooden fences or bright poles.
Tom Hoch, president of the Hennepin Theatre Trust, said people say it contributes to an “uneven experience” of downtown in surveys they have conducted.
“If we had an environment that felt more walkable and was more engaging, we’d have people who are ultimately doing three or four or five things when they come downtown. Not just one or two,” said Hoch, whose organization has plans to beautify a non-pay lot next to the Orpheum Theatre.
The city’s zoning code already discourages downtown surface parking lots, due largely to efforts spearheaded by the area’s other council member, Lisa Goodman. City ordinances prohibit creating new downtown surface parking lots, which are defined as being able to charge customers by period of time or for a special event. They are distinct from multistory ramps.
Many of the current lots are out of compliance with landscaping ordinances either because they were built before the rules were instituted or the city never forced them to meet those specifications in the first place, said Steve Poor, the city’s zoning manager.
That would change under the current proposal, still in its earliest phases, which would tie improvements to license renewals. There are 125 lots with licenses to charge parking customers for a variety of time periods; the majority of them are downtown. The enforcement effort will focus on lots in the general downtown area.
Frey said notices will be mailed to the commercial parking lot license holders on May 1, saying they have about a year to develop a plan to come into compliance.
After reviewing the plan, the city would then give them an additional year to make the changes. “Accessory” lots used by businesses for free customer parking would not be affected.
Minneapolis is not the only city with landscaping requirements for surface parking. Chicago, for example, also requires parking lots to have ornamental fencing, trees and hedges planted within a landscaped yard. Owners balked in 2010 when they began receiving noncompliance letters.
Poor said the challenge will be finding ways to get closer compliance without reducing the overall number of stalls. “We’re not here to diminish the number of stalls,” he said. “That’s not our intention.”
There is no buffer at one of Fletcher’s lot on the northwest corner of 10th Street and Hennepin Avenue, for example. He estimated that a 9-foot strip would eliminate about 20 of the 275 stalls.
“That’s probably one of the main issues that might come up” for lot owners, he said of Frey’s efforts.
Handling runoff
Poor also noted that the surface parking lot issue has taken on more urgency because of the distribution of rainwater. As the city has seen major rain storms in recent years, surface lots with no landscaping send more water into the streets, flooding storm sewers.
“The storm sewers are having trouble handling the capacity of runoff water as it is,” he said.
Eliminating surface lots also does not necessarily mean less parking downtown. The spaces can be incorporated into a new building, should a developer choose to build there. “The city as a whole does have the goal of moving away from sort of the automobile-centric mentality,” Frey said. “But just because there’s not a surface lot doesn’t mean that you don’t have parking available.”
Some lots are already being developed. Ryan Companies purchased several lots owned by the Star Tribune with intent to build a massive office, residential and park space on the eastern quadrant of downtown. Several lots around the César Pelli-designed Minneapolis Central Library, one of downtown’s most significant pieces of modern architecture, are also being marketed for development.
“In general, most lot owners are looking for redevelopment opportunities to get the highest and best use out of it,” Fletcher said.
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Two lesbian couples in the US state of Pennsylvania have applied for marriage licences, and look set to be issued them, despite a state-wide ban on equal marriage.
The couples applied for the licences in Montgomery County on Wednesday following the decision of a county official to issue a marriage licence to a same-sex couple yesterday.
D Bruce Hanes, the register of wills in Montgomery County in southeast Pennsylvania has said he wants to come down “on the right side of history and the law”, and agreed to issue a licence on Tuesday to two women who contacted him last week.
The first couple later changed their minds, after a discussion with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, because of the pending lawsuit.
The ACLU warned all of the couples that the marriages could be struck down by courts, given the still active ban on same-sex marriages.
The state attorney general Kathleen Kane has said she will not defend the state’s ban on equal marriage, following a lawsuit being filed to challenge the ban.
The ACLU and the Philadelphia law firm Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin and Schiller, filed the complaint earlier this week in the US District Court, in an effort to have the state’s Defense of Marriage Act deemed unconstitutional.For information on Oregon's pitching staff in 2014, check out ATQ's Oregon pitching preview.
Oregon's pitching staff under George Horton has usually been a position of certainty. The characters rotate--from Tyler Anderson to Justin La Tempa to Alex Keudell to Cole Irvin to Tommy Thorpe--but the result is the same. Year-to-year, you can expect Oregon to have one of the top pitching staffs in the country. The same can't be said for Oregons' offense. When the Ducks are struggling, it's usually because they have trouble scoring enough runs.
It appears to be the case of "same story, different year" heading into this season. Three of Oregon's best offensive weapons from a year ago, first baseman Ryon Healy, OF Brett Thomas, and SS JJ Altobelli, will be playing their baseball on the minor league circuit this season. Healy's loss likely proves the most difficult void to fill, with his 11 home runs accounting for nearly half of the Ducks' total from last season.
A big chunk of that responsiblity will fall on Scott Heineman. Heineman will be the right fielder, where he made only one error last season. Heineman had an OBP of.346 last year, with upside power--19 of his 64 hits went for extra bases. He also stole 12 bases, walked 15 times, and drew ten hit by pitches. The outfield as a whole is very talented, returning a wealth of players with starting experience. That experience should translate to a lot of starts at designated hitter, and perhaps even first base, for this group. Connor Hoffman is a two-year starter in center field, and figures to start again for a third year, but his average dipped to an empty.194 last season and he needs a rebound with the bat. Kyle Garlick is back from injury, and hit.287 with 20 extra base hits as a starter two years ago. If he can round back into that form, he could be one of Oregon's best hitters. Tyler Baumgartner hit.272 with 16 extra-base hits a season ago. Austin Grebeck, son of former Major League Craig, is one of Oregon's most highly touted recruits, and could be in the mix before all is said and done.
The infield has two anchors, in third baseman Mitchell Tolman and second baseman Aaron Payne. Tolman reached base at a.392 clip, a mark which leads all returnees. Payne, in addition to being a very good defensive second baseman, reached base at a.368 clip. His.241 batting average doesn't look like much, but it was augmented with 27 walks and 16 HBPs. The obvious hole is at first base, and my bet is that an outfielder ends up at the position given the extra players at that position. Touted freshmen Jerry Houston and Mark Karaviotis should fight for the shortstop position. They rate as question marks with the bat, though both hit in high school and Karaviotis was drafted by the Diamondbacks.
Catcher will be another intersting battle. Josh Graham started 35 games last year, but hit only.147. Shaun Chase has more power, with three home runs last year, but wasn't a ton better at.209. Highly touted freshman Jack Kruger may beat them both out.
Overall, there are plenty of experienced pieces. The outfield has parts to spare, but with spots open at first base and designated hitter, there are plenty of at bats for those guys. Who ultimately ends up winning the first base, shortstop, and catching jobs are the most interesting position battles.
But equally important to the defense is where the power is going to come from. Heineman and Garlick have provided some in the past, but nobody has provided anywhere near the power that Healy did last season. Making up those 11 home runs and 20 doubles doesn't have to all come from one person, but there needs to be a consistent increase in production across the lineup to maintain last year's offensive level. And if Oregon wants to get that elusive trip to Omaha this season, they don't have to just maintain last year's level--they have to increase it.Written by Emmy Mack on April 6, 2016
UPDATE 07/04/16: It’s official Stereosonic 2016 has been cancelled.
Original Story: The hearts of EDM bros Australia-wide are about to snap like glowsticks, because reports are coming through this evening that Stereosonic has been permanently cancelled.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that festival promoters Totem OneLove and SFX Entertainment have scrapped the event, after two people lost their lives and dozens more overdosed on drugs during this summer’s festival tour.
Now these reports have not yet been confirmed by anyone in charge at Stereo, however the Murdoch rag cites “industry speculation” that the festival has been binned, and reckons they received “radio silence” after approaching the promoters for comment.
However, founder Frank Cotela did tell the paper: “I just don’t know what is going on there at Stereosonic”.
But don’t bin your stringlets just yet, because The Tele is reporting that Cotela and his partner Richie McNeill are planning on capitalising on the death of Stereo by launching a new venture, although Cotela has disputed this too, so go figure.
“Not at this stage no. Maybe at the future I will do something but at this stage there is nothing on the go,” he said.
As a bit of background, SFX bought Stereo in 2013 for $75 million but kept founders Cotela and McNeill on as consultants. But then earlier this year, the company announced that it had filed for bankruptcy in the US amid a reshuffling of the business and downsizing.
Since then, the Aussie arm of the operation has been drastically downsized.
Music Feeds have contacted Stereosonic for comment re: the festival’s cancellation.
We’ll bring you more news as it develops.
But in the meantime, looks like you may not need to renew that gym membership next month, guys.
UPDATE 07/04/16, 8.43am: Following reports of a cancellation, it appears Stereosonic’s Melbourne office is up for lease.
Gallery: 15 Pics of Stereosonic 2015 Artists At Their Most WildBrandon Flowers (center) and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (left) from the band The Killers take our money inspired personality questionnaire. -
The Killers are back at it again with a new album, but over across the pond they haven't actually left the charts since their massive 2004 hit, "Mr. Brightside." That song has been in the Top 100 in the U.K. every single year, including 2017. You might think that means that single is the most prized possession of lead singer Brandon Flowers, but actually he tells us, it's his wife — "I mean I'm hers and she's mine." Flowers and band mate Ronnie Vannucci Jr. joined Marketplace Weekend to take the Marketplace Quiz, and talked first jobs (a severed hand was involved), toothbrushes and career advice. Their latest album, "Wonderful Wonderful," is out now.
Below is an edited transcript of the conversation.
Brendon Flowers: Ron, I'd like you to fill in the blank. Money can't buy you happiness but it can buy you _______.
Ronnie Vannucci: Medicine.
Flowers: It can, that's true. [Like] finasteride.
Vannucci: That's stuff that makes your hair grow. Money can't buy you happiness but it can get you a little hair.
Flowers: Alright.
Vannucci: What do you think is the hardest part of your job that no one knows?
Flowers: I'm not a social butterfly and I'm not the most confident person in the world. So sometimes it takes a lot more than people may realize for me to get up there on that stage and do what I do. I have a lot of reverence for people that have done it before me and have been great at it. I think that might be one of the harder things that people don't recognize about me and my job.
Vannucci: What do you do to turn it on? What head space do you get into? Tell these people.
Flowers: I do everything from pray that I won't embarrass myself [and] I've gained confidence over the years because I've done a lot of practicing, a lot of rehearsing. So that helps. Being prepared.
Flowers: Ron what was your first job?
Vannucci: I was a volunteer at the hospital and I worked in the histology lab at the hospital and I ran skin samples and samples of body parts and stuff. [At] one point there was half of a hand, like the last two fingers [and I put them] in a plastic jar of formalin which is sort of a derivative of formaldehyde.
Flowers: They let you do that when you're a kid?
Vannucci: Yeah I was 15.
Flowers: How did [the guy] lose [his hand]?
Vannucci: I don't know the story behind it but it looked like it had been burned too. It was really weird.
Vannucci: Brandon, real talk: What is your most prized possession?
Flowers: I mean I think it's OK to say my wife, isn't it? I mean I'm hers and she's mine. You got to be careful nowadays about what you say.
Vannucci: Well I know but I think that's tender and coming from an honest place.
Flowers: And we have been married now for 12 years. It's pretty incredible.
Vannucci: That's like 150 years in rock 'n roll.
Flowers: Looking forward to 12 more.
Vannucci: What is the one thing everybody should own no matter the cost Brandon? I'm going to answer for you: Toothbrush
Flowers: Toothbrush is a good one. My mind went towards like can opener.
Vannucci: That's good. You never know when you're going to need to open up a can.
Flowers: What advice do you wish someone had given you before you started this career? I've got a fresh one, I'll give you time to think.
Vannucci: What do you think?
Flowers: Don't read reviews about your album or your live shows, just don't.
Vannucci: Yeah, you've been reading a lot of them.
Flowers: I always do it.
Vannucci: I don't do it. I'll go down the bunny hole too quick and I get all bummed out and I'll just get snarky and that's not good for anybody.
[Mine is] listen more. It's sounds so simple but I'm still working on this. I just think listen more in every way. Listen more, talk less.A salute to Carter, deregulation's hero
Feb. 6 would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday. To honor him, this column celebrates that great champion of deregulation, that reinvigorator of the American economy, that believer in Adam Smith’s invisible hand: Jimmy Carter.
Yes, Carter. It was the peanut farmer from Georgia who pushed the United States toward a market economy, not the one-time actor from California. Reagan certainly shared Carter’s vision on deregulation, embracing with bravado policies that Carter launched with grim solemnity. But Carter laid the groundwork for the United States’ transformation from the economic malaise of the late 1970s to the vibrancy of the following decades. More importantly, only someone with impeccable credentials as a Democrat could have started deregulation. If it took Nixon to go to China, it took Carter to embrace markets.
It’s easy to forget how broadly government intervened in the U.S. economy in the 1960s and 1970s, but many schoolbooks from that era described the nation as having a “mixed economy.” By this, they didn’t simply mean that government regulation limited pollution, promoted consumer safety and mandated a certain level of honest dealing — the sort of role regulation fills today. Rather, much U.S. regulation in the mid-20th century was devoted to restricting what firms could operate in various industries, protecting those firms’ profitability and insulating them from consumers’ demands.
Federal and state regulations mandated that only a few (or less) airlines could fly certain routes, only a few (or less) trucking firms and railroads could serve various customers, only a few banks could open in a town, that everyone had to get their utilities from the local monopoly, and that everyone had to get their phone service from the national monopoly.
This was a great arrangement if you were a shareholder, manager, employee or supplier of a government-sanctioned monopoly or cartel. It was a lousy deal for everyone else. And for the United States in the 1970s, which suddenly faced stiff economic competition from a world fully rebuilt from the destruction of World War II, the rigid, government-protected, non-consumer-responsive nature of so many vital industries was an economic straightjacket.
The problems of U.S. regulation were recognized at least a generation before Carter. John F. Kennedy wanted to deregulate surface transportation, but those plans died with him in November 1963. Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon were content with the status quo, but Gerald Ford wanted deregulation — he just lacked the political standing to achieve it.
Enter Jimmy Carter. His administration was not a bunch of Ayn Rand-spouting market enthusiasts who believed unfettered competition would bring economic nirvana. Rather, they understood that U.S. regulation largely served special interests (with the regulated industries being the most special) and government bureaucracies, not the will of consumers. Giving consumers more choices and exposing formerly protected firms to price competition was necessary policy.
Deregulation started with the airlines, where Carter-appointee Alfred Kahn told the public that the luxuries of that era’s air travel — roomy cabins, plush lounges, airline schwag and attractive young stewardesses — were products of exorbitant ticket prices that much of the public couldn’t afford. Deregulation would squeeze out those luxuries (unless the public really wanted them) — along with pilots earning $400,000 a year for 20 hours a month of work — but more people could afford to fly.
Other deregulations followed: Kennedy’s younger brother Ted held a blockbuster Senate hearing on trucking that led to its deregulation. Rail freight followed suit. Carter’s administration began work on telecommunications deregulation, though the final breakup of AT&T and the beginning of long distance competition happened during the Reagan years. Congress enacted several banking reforms and competition forced local banks to branch out, offer more services and better interest rates, and stop working “banker’s hours.” Health care providers and insurers experimented with different coverage models. Energy companies had to become more efficient at extracting, refining and distributing their product.
Not all deregulation met with public acclaim. Many consumers bristled at the rise of managed health care. Banking deregulation began only after many U.S. banks were on the edge of insolvency, and happened too late to avert the savings and loan crisis. Electricity deregulation initially brought lower rates, but prices later rose.
Still, consumers were the clear winners under Carter’s deregulations. Airfares fell by nearly 40 percent, in inflation-adjusted terms, from 1980 to 1996. Rail freight rates fell by 35 percent from 1985 to 2007, and rail productivity doubled. Trucking rates also fell, ushering in the era of “just-in-time” delivery.
Of course, many U.S. industries still benefit from government regulation. States now often step in to protect firms from consumers. Maryland is one of the most egregious culprits, dampening price competition and granting market power to gas stations, funeral homes, lawyers, hospitals — even hospices.
Still, many core U.S. industries are more responsive to consumer demands today than they were in the 1970s, and that helped to fuel U.S. economic growth over the last 30 years. On the 1980 campaign trail, Reagan often joked that economic recovery would begin “once Carter loses his job.” In fact, recovery began in part because Carter did his job. For that, it only seems fitting to praise him, on Reagan’s 100th birthday.
Thomas A. Firey is senior fellow for the Maryland Public Policy Institute and a native of Washington County.Media playback is not supported on this device Best Premier League goals
Former Manchester United star Eric Cantona has been nominated in five of the 11 categories for the Premier League 20 Seasons Awards, which mark two decades since the league's launch.
He is a contender for the best player, best goal, most memorable quote, best celebration and best striker prizes.
Contenders Best manager shortlist: Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Harry Redknapp, David Moyes. Best player shortlist: Dennis Bergkamp, Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs, Thierry Henry, Roy Keane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Alan Shearer, Patrick Vieira, Gianfranco Zola. Premier League
Alan Shearer has four nominations, while Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry have three each.
Winners will be decided either by a panel of experts or by public vote.
Steve Bruce, who captained Manchester United to the title in the first season of the competition in 1992-93, said: "All players would have loved to have played in the Premier League from the year dot.
"For me, it was just the last three or four years [of my career], but unquestionably the Premier League has been fantastic over the years."
Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira, who won the title three times with the club, added: "I love the passion around the game, I love the atmosphere in the stadiums, and I like the players playing without so much pressure, players trying to express themselves and playing with freedom."
Media playback is not supported on this device Best Premier League celebrations
The public will decide the best goal, match, save and celebrations. Panel votes will judge the best team, players, quote, season and manager.
Fact-based awards are given to the players with the most appearances, goals and clean sheets respectively.
The shortlists were drawn up following votes from national newspapers.
The winners of the player and manager awards will be announced on 15 May.Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter
Dec. 22, 2015, 1:21 PM GMT / Source: TODAY By Scott Stump
The convergence of fears over terrorism, a perceived threat of gun laws being changed and the Christmas holiday have sent gun sales soaring in what is already the busiest month of the year for firearm purchases.
Guns are at the top of many Christmas lists, especially if November is any indication.
Last month, the FBI ran more than 2.2 million firearm background checks on potential buyers, a 24 percent increase from November 2014. On Black Friday, a record 185,345 background checks were processed by the FBI.
That increase coincided with the coordinated terrorist attacks at multiple sites in Paris by ISIS gunmen on Nov. 13 that killed 130 people and wounded 368.
Weeks later, on Dec. 2, an attack on a holiday party in San Bernardino, California, killed 14 and injured 17 others.
It marked the 355th mass shooting in 336 days this year and the deadliest since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut three years ago.
RELATED: 355 mass shootings in 336 days: US has more incidents than days in 2015
At places like Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna, Georgia, business has nearly doubled compared to a year ago at this time, according to manager Eric Wallace.
"Ever since the Paris attacks, we've had a lot of customers coming in,'' Wallace told Gabe Gutierrez on TODAY. "Buying first guns, buying guns to protect their homes, their families, and themselves."
RELATED: Disney theme parks installing metal detectors
"Like any good husband, |
before disappearing. And it started to dawn on people what was going on: it was the Blessed Virgin Mary!
Here is a picture (also see article picture at the top):
She started appearing more frequently, sometimes staying around for hours at a time. She sometimes appeared to be bowing toward the cross on the church or blessing those watching on the streets below. And sometimes there appeared around her what some took to be doves of light.
Here is a picture of some of the purported doves:
Huge crowds flocked to see her. Church officials, government officials, scientists, believers, and skeptics all saw her. The President of Egypt at the time, President Gamal Abdel Nasser, visited the site and saw the apparition. TV crews captured it on film. Newspapers took pictures and wrote stories about the phenomenon. The police did another thorough investigation, but came up short: they could find no natural or human explanation.
Soon, the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Pope Kyrillos VI of Alexandria launched an investigation. At the same time, a group of Catholic nuns who saw the apparition sent a report to the Vatican, who in turn sent their own team to investigate, and who also the apparition. Because the apparition was on a Coptic church, though, the Vatican decided to let the Coptic Church officials make a ruling.
Which they did on May 5th, 1968: the apparition was real!
But that’s not all: the Egyptian government also did an investigation and, amazingly, publicly accepted the apparitions to be real as well.
In all, the apparition was witnessed by somewhere between hundreds of thousands and millions of people, until Mary appeared for the last time in 1971.
Here’s a short video about the apparition:
Our Lady of Zeitoun, pray for us!
[See also: 13 Beautiful Non-White Depictions of the Blessed Virgin Mary]
[See also: 7 Approved Recent Marian Apparitions, In 1 Cool Infographic]On Sept. 17, 2012, Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser drove to Jordan Station, a community in Niagara, Ont., wine country where the Maple Leaf train crosses a trestle bridge each day on its way from New York to Toronto.
Seven months later, the odd couple — one a Tunisian doctoral student, the other a school van driver and mover from Abu Dhabi — were arrested over what the RCMP has called an al-Qaeda-linked plot to derail a passenger train.
Most details of the alleged terrorism conspiracy remain under a court-ordered publication ban that prevents the press from reporting what the men, who are both in their 30s, are accused of doing and saying, and why they may have wanted to kill Canadians.
But some documents related to the case have now been partly unsealed by an Ontario judge at the request of the National Post and other media outlets, and they show the arrests followed a massive police undercover operation that spanned several countries.
Among the highlights that can now be revealed:
An RCMP constable and an FBI employee known as Tamer both infiltrated the alleged conspiracy early on and proved “very effective,” according to police.
In addition to Mr. Esseghaier and Mr. Jaser, two others were identified by police during the investigation in relation to terrorist activity but have not been arrested.
For Mr. Jaser, acquiring a rental house and land was “integral to his planning of terrorist acts,” the RCMP alleged.
Mr. Esseghaier had traveled to Iran prior to his arrest, the documents indicate. The RCMP has said the train plotters received “direction and guidance” from Al-Qaeda “elements” in Iran.
“The offences under investigation are terrorist acts which will cause loss of life and significant property damage,” the RCMP wrote to the court. “Esseghaier and Jaser have communicated about plans to commit a terrorist act in which the intent is to kill people.”
The suspects have not yet gone on trial so the police allegations have not been tested in court. Mr. Esseghaier, who has been trying to find a lawyer who will defend him according to Islamic law, did not object to the release of the documents.
Mr. Jaser’s lawyer declined to comment. “In view of the stage of the proceedings, it would not be appropriate for me to comment other than to reiterate that Mr. Jaser denies the allegations categorically,” John Norris said Friday.
The documents show that during the investigation, police went repeatedly before an Ontario judge to obtain warrants permitting them to do everything from marking evidence with invisible ink to staging break-ins to hide their covert searches.
The warrants and the police information used to obtain them were sealed at the time to protect the investigation and undercover officers, but those passages that can now be disclosed depict an RCMP investigation that was sweeping, highly intrusive and ultra-secretive.
Although they went to great lengths to hide it, police had the suspects under a microscope long before the arrests last April. Not only were undercover officers and surveillance teams working the case, police also had judicial authorization to covertly search homes and cars, and monitor phones, computers and bank accounts.
“This is a complicated investigation,” Cpl. Patrick Flannery of the RCMP’s Toronto airport detachment wrote in a document filed in court. “This RCMP investigation is on-going, and involves other (unidentified) associates of Jaser and Esseghaier.”
Project Smooth appears to have gotten underway early in September, 2012. On Sept 4, police already had Mr. Jaser’s home in Toronto under surveillance. Officers were also digging into the backgrounds of their suspects, checking driver’s licence and immigration records.
Mr. Esseghaier was a landed immigrant who had come to Canada in 2008. A bio-nanotechnology student, he was working on his doctorate at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, a branch of the Université de Quebec.
In the two years before his arrest, he had traveled to Zahedan, a city in eastern Iran that is frequented by al-Qaeda “facilitators” and serves as a gateway for fighters on their way to Afghanistan, the Reuters news agency has reported. The unsealed documents refer only generally to “Esseghaier’s travel to Iran.”
Born in the United Arab Emirates to Palestinian parents, Mr. Jaser had lived in Germany before arriving in Canada with his family in 1993. Immigration authorities had tried to deport him in 2004 because of his criminal record.
But he was released because he was deemed stateless, meaning he had citizenship in no country and there was therefore nowhere else to send him. Like Mr. Esseghaier, he had recently become a landed immigrant.
Both men were known for their outspoken views on Muslim issues. At the lab where he worked, Mr. Esseghaier tore down posters he did not like and pestered administrators to install a prayer room, said a colleague, who described him as “brainwashed.”
Similarly, Mr. Jaser’s “radical talk” had disturbed Mohamed Ali, a part-time imam at the Masjid Al-Faisal mosque in Toronto. Another Muslim leader, Mohammed Robert Heft, said Mr. Jaser’s father had approached him over concerns his son “was becoming too rigid, he was becoming too self-righteous, too much of a know-it-all.”
Early in the investigation, Mr. Esseghaier traveled to Toronto and stayed with Mr. Jaser, the documents say. Despite car troubles, they made a Sept. 17 road trip to Jordan Station, Ont., where the New York-to-Toronto train crosses Jordan Harbour between St. Catharines and Grimsby daily at about 6:15 p.m.
Four days after the Jordan Station visit, the RCMP went to court to get a warrant to covertly enter the men’s homes and vehicles to look for “maps, pamphlets, brochures” and other documents on “the Canadian railway system.” They also wanted to try to identify any associates.
“The idea behind using a covert entry is to gather information without alerting Esseghaier, Jaser or anyone else to this ongoing police investigation,” the corporal wrote.
Investigators believed it was critical that no one found out about the investigation. If they did, they might destroy evidence or worse. Mr. Esseghaier and Mr. Jaser “are planning a terrorist act in which the intent is to kill people. If they learned that police plan to enter these locations, they may use it as an opportunity to attack those persons involved in the execution of this general warrant,” Cpl. Flannery wrote.
To prevent that from happening, police told the court they might need “to cause minor property damage” or take cash, electronics or even vehicles during their covert searches in order to “mask their actions” by making them look like break-ins. “The hope is that this ruse would prevent Esseghaier and Jaser or any other person from being alerted to the police investigation.”
If police found firearms or explosives during the searches, they were permitted to render them inoperable or replace them with “an inert substitute.” Officers were also allowed to “mark items with special ink, visible only under ultraviolet light, in order to identify them later.”
At the time, Mr. Jaser was working for Aplus School Services Ltd., driving kids to school in the Toronto suburb of Markham. Armed with their warrant, police conducted a covert entry of his Aplus vehicle on Oct. 2.
No evidence was found and the next day they secretly searched Mr. Jaser’s own car. This time they took photos of a book written in Arabic as well as screen shots of the locations that were stored on a GPS device.
In Montreal, meanwhile, police conducted a covert entry at Mr. Esseghaier’s apartment on Oct. 22. They copied his computer hard drive and took swabs “from multiple locations in the residence” for analysis.
But with the clock ticking on the warrant, investigators could find few opportunities to discretely carry out their searches. Mr. Esseghaier was preparing for an exam and spent more time studying at home than police had anticipated, and his roommate unexpectedly returned early from a trip.
Police also hoped to search Mr. Esseghaier’s lab but it was closed due to contamination, and investigators had “concerns over the ability to trust security staff.” Neither was it simple to get into Mr. Jaser’s house. His wife seldom went out and they lived in a multi-unit building, making it more challenging to conduct searches without being seen.
After the original warrant expired on Nov. 8, police went back to court for another one. It was granted on Nov. 12. Two days later they searched Mr. Jaser’s home and copied images from a video camera they found.
Police also obtained court orders compelling Rogers, Telus and Wind Mobile to hand over records on not only the phone calls and texts made by Mr. Esseghaier and Mr. Jaser, but also the locations of the cell towers closest to the phones when each call was made.
By April, police were ready to wrap up their operation. “A great deal of time has been spent planning the train derailment,” the RCMP wrote when it applied for warrants to conduct searches at the same time as the arrests.
The arrests were set for April 6. Mr. Esseghaier was to fly into Toronto that day from New York, where he had allegedly been meeting with an undercover officer and Ahmed Abassi, another Tunisian who had lived briefly in Quebec.
According to the FBI, while in the U.S., Mr. Esseghaier had discussed the train derailment and a scenario to kill up to 100,000 people by poisoning the air and water. But the RCMP had to put off their arrests.
“As a result of developments which had occurred within a parallel investigation being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which also involved Esseghaier, the decision was to delay the arrests of Esseghaier and Jaser so as not to compromise the FBI investigation,” Cpl. Flannery explained to the Ontario court.
“Had Esseghaier and Jaser been arrested, the identity of an FBI undercover employee would have been compromised. This same FBI undercover employee has been working on the INSET investigation into Esseghaier and the FBI investigation involving Esseghaier and others in New York City. As a result, the search warrants were not executed.” INSET is the RCMP-led Integrated National Security Enforcement Team.
The RCMP waited more than two weeks before finally making their move on April 22, charging Mr. Esseghaier and Mr. Jaser with conspiracy to commit murder and terrorism offences. Mr. Abassi was arrested in New York that same day.
All remain in custody.
National Post
• Email: sbell@nationalpost.com | Twitter: StewartBellNPWhere, exactly, was the Garden of Eden? Few people stay awake at night worrying about that anymore, but for more than a millennium, from the early Middle Ages well into the Renaissance, plenty of serious thinkers, especially in the Christian West, felt compelled to grapple with the question. And not unjustifiably. The Bible, after all, opens by describing Eden as an actual place in the world, located “away to the east” at the source of four great rivers, among them the very real Tigris and Euphrates.
The quest to locate paradise—a word used by the ancient Medians and Persians to mean a walled enclosure, by the early Hebrews to mean an orchard, and by the Greeks and Romans in Egypt to mean a well-watered royal park—began in earnest in the fifth century AD, after St. Augustine made the case for its physical reality. In the centuries that followed, medieval authorities matter-of-factly placed it at the easternmost limits of the world. “Asia includes many provinces and regions,” Isidore of Seville wrote in the seventh century. “I shall briefly list their names and locations, starting with Paradise.” Seven hundred years later, the conventional wisdom hadn’t changed. “The learned conclude,” the English chronicler Ranulf Higden declared, “that the Earthly Paradise is located in the farthest east.”
But where? Medieval writers tended to evade the question, leaving the details up to cartographers, whose decisions over the centuries about where to put paradise have been studied in engrossing detail in recent years by Alessandro Scafi. A cultural historian based at the Warburg Institute, in London, Scafi first addressed the subject in the extensive scholarly compendium “Mapping Paradise: A History of Heaven on Earth” (2006), and he’s now just released “Maps of Paradise” (2013), a sumptuously illustrated volume intended for a wider audience.
The British Library Psalter Map (1265). Paradise is the little circle at the top, at the eastern edge of Asia, with the faces of Adam and Eve inside.
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Starting in the eighth century or so, it seems, medieval Christians began putting paradise on their maps: a tiny walled garden here; four converging rivers there; a cute little Adam and Eve in the nude confronting a serpent. The illustrations—and the audacious idea of putting paradise on a map at all—suggest a fetchingly naive world view. But, as Scafi takes pains to point out in both books, geographical precision wasn’t the goal of most medieval cartography. Instead it involved something much richer and stranger: an attempt to project the full narrative of Christian history onto a geographical backdrop. That’s why paradise had to be on the map. It was the place on Earth where both time and space began. Farthest east, in other words, lay at the temporal and geographical edge of things, where the known abutted the unknown and the unknowable.
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As medieval Europeans began to explore the world and expand their geographical horizons, mapmakers began to site paradise—by its nature a beyond-the-horizon kind of place—in a shifting set of locations. To follow its movements, as Scafi does in “Maps of Paradise,” is to take a tour of the limits of the world as Europeans knew it in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Variously, it appeared on the edges of what we now think of as China, at the extreme of a mistily defined India, in the nether regions of sub-Saharan Africa, as an inaccessibly high mountain, and as an offshore island that lay beyond even farthest east. All of its movements were possible, of course, because east is a relative term—which meant, as one influential 14th-century scholar complained, that it was possible to imagine paradise just about anywhere.
Related Links View Gallery Photos: Paradise mapped
New challenges arose in the 15th century, with the rise of coordinate-based mapping. Paradise now had to have a latitude and longitude. One of the earliest coordinate tables from the period, produced in 1436, made paradise its opening entry and gave it specific coordinates: zero degrees of latitude (the equator) and 180 degrees of longitude, or as far from the beginning of the European west as possible. Which was fine for a while, until it became clear that what actually lay at these coordinates was an empty expanse of the Pacific.
The British Library A map by Matthaeus Beroaldus (Geneva, 1575) depicted Paradisus as a huge swath of the Middle East.
The quest to locate paradise stands in sharp contrast with the attempt to locate hell. Everybody knew roughly where it had to be: down under the surface of the Earth, on the far side of a different unknown—which the genially eccentric Dutch geologist Salomon Kroonenberg provides a guided tour of in his newly translated “Why Hell Stinks of Sulfur,” a survey of both the literary and geological makeup of hell.
The most famous guides to the underworld, of course, are Virgil and Dante, whose poetic imaginings of the place, written almost 1,500 years apart, both still exert a mythic cultural power. But Kroonenberg goes out of his way to show just how extensively both authors derived their ideas about the underworld from the actual Mediterranean environment in which they lived. Those famous nine circles of hell? Kroonenberg locates their source in the layered limestone deposits thrust up from under the Mediterranean when Africa and Europe collided and began closing in on each other. Those underground fires, noxious fumes, and ominous rumblings? The volcanically active environs of Vesuvius and Etna. “Who knows,” Kroonenberg writes, “perhaps the Underworld would have looked very different if classical culture had developed around the North Sea.”
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Inevitably, mapmakers were asked to take stock of the various dimensions of the Inferno, as listed by Dante in his poem, and to use them to map hell onto the world. The best-known result, included in one of the earliest printed editions (1506) of “The Inferno,” relied on calculations worked out in Florence at the end of the 15th century. The Accademia in Florence later decided those calculations had to be verified, because new figures had been proposed, and to carry out the job, in 1587 they turned to one of the city’s most promising young mathematicians, none other than the young Galileo Galilei. Embracing the challenge, Galileo determined, in a genuinely impressive display of his abilities, that the earlier calculations were more accurate—and that hell, at least as Dante had described it, occupied a little less than a 14th part of the total volume of the Earth.
Our understanding of the actual underworld has evolved more than a little since then. That’s a point Kroonenberg makes abundantly clear in his book. Inadvertently, he makes another point, too, one that comes across unforgettably if you’ve spent any time pondering the age-old search for paradise. Heaven on Earth, it’s fair to say, will always lie out in the farthest east, just beyond the horizons of the real, but hell is never far away. It’s right underfoot.
Toby Lester, a contributing editor to The Atlantic, is the author of “Da Vinci’s Ghost” (2012) and “The Fourth Part of the World” (2009).Song Hye-kyo's parents got divorced when she was young so her grandfather raised her.
TV Josun "Star Talk Show" talked about Song Hye-kyo's family. Her parents are of the same age and they got married at the age of 18th. They had Song Hye-kyo and got divorced 9 years later.
Song Hye-kyo's mother had no friends in Seoul so her father-in-law helped her. He played the father role for Song Hye-kyo and attended her school events and participated in her school life.
Family counselor professor Lee Ho-sun said, "Song Hye-kyo's mother raised her daughter to be independent as she lost her mother at an early age, too".
Song Hye-kyo's mother apparently taught Song Hye-kyo to be able to survive on her own even when her mother disappears one day. She was taught to cook and feed herself since she was young.
Song Hye-kyo didn't have a lonely childhood and got lots of love from her mother who took many pictures of young Song Hye-kyo as well.
When Song Hye-kyo was young, nothing was digital so the effort the mother went through to take film pictures and have them developed shows just how much she loves her daughter.BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has blocked the impending slaughter of hundreds of Yellowstone National Park bison over disease concerns until a temporary home can be found for 40 animals wanted by an American Indian tribe.
Bullock prohibited the transfer of any Yellowstone bison to slaughter in a letter to park officials obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. The January 19 letter cited an executive order and was not previously publicized.
About 200 bison have been captured attempting to migrate from the park this winter. Federal and state officials have plans to kill up to 1,300 bison under a controversial disease control agreement.
Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk said the 40 animals wanted by Montana's Fort Peck tribes faced possible slaughter because the park needs to clear space at the facility where they're being held.
___
This story has been corrected to show that the AP obtained a letter, not an executive order
(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)Image: Wyss Institute at Harvard
Back in 2012, DARPA wanted to create a version of the human body that could be put onto a series of chips: a collection of 10 separate organs connected with blood vessel-type structures and regulated automatically -- and it was prepared to pay $37m to get it built.
The funding for the project went to the Wyss Institute, a Harvard unit that works on biologically inspired engineering projects, and the organisation expects to have a working system by next summer.
Human organs are hugely complex things -- made of different cell types, specialised environments, conduits, and interactions. Yet the Wyss has been able to make working versions of them on a chip the size of a USB drive.
The organs-on-a-chip consist of a block of silicon rubber with one main channel running through it, which is divided into an upper and lower chamber by a porous membrane. The membrane acts like the natural boundary that the body creates between two tissues in an organ. In the case of the lung, that boundary is formed between the cells of the alveoli and blood vessel cells, for example: a boundary where oxygen and carbon dioxide cross back and forth between air and the blood.
In the chip, there are two layers of human tissue (the upper layer of lung, the lower layer of capillary) that, rather than being separated simply by human cell membranes as they would be in the human body, are divided instead by a super-thin bit of rubber, and controlled by a computer unit rather than a human breathing.
In the Wyss Institute's lung-on-a-chip, air flows over the upper layer and blood flows through the bottom, exactly like in a human lung. Air is suctioned through two side channels, separated from the main channel by only the thinnest layer of polymer, at a rate and flow that mimics human breathing, causing the walls of the main chamber to bow in and out just as if they were part of a human lung.
The chips were inspired by microchip manufacturing techniques, Professor Donald Ingber, head of the Wyss Institute, told ZDNet. "We used photolithographic etching like the computer chip manufacturing people do to make these fine features. You pour liquid polymer that's a clear silicon rubber onto an etched surface. Once it polymerises, you peel it off and you have all these fine features. That method was being to be used to make microfluidic systems -- hollow channels that have branches much like microvascular networks. I started exploring combining that with cells."
So far, the Wyss Institute has made several different types of organs-on-chips: the kidney, lung, heart, gut, bone marrow, and more. The aim is to eventually link them together to recreate the physiology of the human body, with all the chip organs working together in a single system, as per DARPA's request.
It's already got four organs on a chip linked and kept functional for two weeks. By this summer it wants to do the same with seven separate organs for three weeks, and one year later, have the DARPA vision up and running.
Why did DARPA want to embark on this project in the first place? The hope it that this system can help people make drugs quicker. When a new disease arrives it can take years to invent a cure, especially as there is often a long period of testing with new drugs. But if you can test using organs on a chip, that testing time could be cut dramatically -- meaning you could release drugs more quickly, and maybe save lives.
"When we had all these pandemics, it became very clear that no matter how fast you develop a potential countermeasure or therapy, it would take years to get that to humans through the convential drug development process," Ingber said. "They felt that one of the real bottlenecks in the process is animal testing. They thought that developing a replacement for animal testing would be an enabler of a faster response to biological threats. DARPA also thinks about deference in terms of economic competitiveness, and they thought it would advance the whole biotech and pharmaceutical industry."
Before too long, the systems should be commercialised, with the automated testing unit able to automatically analyse the liquids flowing out of the chips, and see what products are there -- useful for measuring things like inflammation. It could also have visualisation capabilities, so researchers can take the chip and get an insight into the physiological processes at work.
Already, the Wyss Institute has working chips where scientists can use different imaging modalities -- microscopic or fluorescence imaging, microfluorimetry -- or mass spectrometry to analyse what's going on in a healthy or diseased organ. In some chips, it's possible to measure the barrier function of the organ by tracing which charged particles move across it by putting one electrode above the membrane and one below. In the heart on a chip, multiple electrode arrays are used to measure the electrical activity in the cells, or stimulate them with an electrical charge.
The hope is that one day, organs-on-chips can be used to replace the animal testing typically used for exploring the safety of drugs and other chemicals before they reach the market. As well as being expensive and time-consuming, animal tests are not always reliable, and come with ethical concerns that the organs-on-a-chip don't.
One of the first organs that the Wyss Institute started working on was the lung, due to its relative straightforwardness. "I thought we could get a beautiful tissue-tissue interface, because it's a really simple tissue -- one cell layer of epithelium and one cell layer of endothelium and they share the same extracellular matrix and basement membrane, and we really had a shot at mimicking it," Ingber said.
Some of the earliest experiments with the lung-on-a-chip involved tracking how the lung absorbed nanoparticulates -- the tiny microscopic materials found in smog.
"Not only could we show absorption of [the nanoparticulates], we could show that the breathing motions were critical for absorption," Ingber said -- a research first.
After talking to a pharmaceutical company, the institute gave the miniaturised lung with a drug used in chemotherapy, IL-2, that was known to have the side effect of causing pulmonary oedema -- fluid on the lung, typically seen in pneumonia. The lung-on-a-chip responded like a lung-in-a-person -- and demonstrarted that the oedema was exacerbated by the lung's breathing motion.
"We showed that we had a disease model and a drug toxicity model. We saw [IL-2 caused pulmonary oedema to develop on the lung-on-a-chip] with the same dose and over the same time course that you see it develops in humans, we saw it develop in chip. And we discovered, again, that the breathing motions were important for this toxicity -- which was never known before," Ingber said.
In future, the organs-on-chips look likely to become more specific -- for example, being tailored to pharmaceutical, cosmetic, or chemical companies specific needs. But that's not all -- one day, they could be used to mimic individual humans, ushering in an era of personalised medicine. Chips could be produced using a person's own cells, each of which contain a genome that's unique to them -- allowing them to get a window into, say, how their body would react to two different treatment options, without having to start the treatment themselves. The organ-on-a-chip will absorb the drug, respond, heal or otherwise, while the human patient doesn't have to raise -- or risk -- so much as a little finger.
Read more about medical and health technologyRuss House & Visitor Center
Marianna, Florida
Merritt's Mill Pond
Florida Caverns State Park
Blue Springs
The efforts are coming to fruition from all angles," she said, noting that the TDC has been engaged in an effort to promote Jackson County, its people, scenery, resources and businesses across the state and nation.
Crystal Clear Spring in Jackson County
The movie announcement comes just months after Fuqua and the TDC launched their new website, www.visitjacksoncountyfla.com, and following a series of meetings and conversations with state officials.
"The response from the producers has been absolutely phenomenal," Fuqua said. "Everyone thinks Florida is just palm trees, but up here we have a great variety of resources.” It was those resources - caves, crystal clear water for filming underwater scenes, friendly people and availability of affordable hotels and services - that brought the movie and its hundreds of thousands of dollars in economic impact to Jackson County.
Chris Hawthorne, Park Manager at Florida Caverns State Park, has been heavily involved in arranging filming locations for "Sharkansas." Edd Sorenson of Cave Adventurers took film crews to survey locations around Merritt's Mill Pond and is providing additional help as well. Chuck Hatcher, Jackson County Parks Director, is assisting with locations at Blue Springs.
The actors and production crews are expected to be in the area through the 28th of this month.
UPDATE: Day 2 Filming brings Stars The prehistoric sharks are coming to Jackson County!Marianna and Jackson County have been named as the film location for the new action/horror movie, "Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre."Directed by Jim Wynorski - best known for such horror and science fiction films as "Not of this Earth" and "Dynocroc vs. Supergator" - the movie is the latest in shark-related projects to enter production since the unexpected and phenomenal success of the low budget horror flick, "Sharknado."According to the film's website ( www.sharkansas.com ) the movie brings the shark horror genre to a whole new level by having sharks hunt their victims from just beneath the earth's surface. In this case, a "fracking" accident creates a crack in the earth that unleashes a swarm of monster prehistoric sharks from an ocean buried deep in the earth. The sharks just happen to pop to the surface around a prison for women in Arkansas, hence the title "Sharkansas Womens Prison Massacre."The film is not likely to win any Academy Awards, but it does represent solid progress in the Jackson County Tourist Development Council's efforts to promote the area as a location for the movie industry. According to TDC Director Pam Swift Fuqua, representatives from two different film companies have visited the county since early December and her office has received email questions from numerous other movie and television production firms.The film industry database website IMDb.com already lists "Marianna, Florida" as the production location for "Sharkansas" and indicates the film has a budget of around $600,000. While very modest in terms of movie production budgets, the money will have a significant economic impact on Marianna and Jackson County.Tens of thousands of dollars are being spent locally for hotel rooms, supplies, food and services. According to Fuqua, Madison's Warehouse Restaurant on Madison Street in Marianna has landed catering services for the film and will be supplying its award-winning local cuisine to the various film locations throughout this month. She also indicated that the filmmakers are renting boats and other services from Cave Adventurers, the diving and boat company that operates on Merritt's Mill Pond. "They even needed local banking services," she noted.The director had visited Marianna and Jackson County several times in December scouting locations before selecting the area to begin immediate production. Locations he is known to have visited include Florida Caverns State Park, Blue Springs Recreational Area, Merritt's Mill Pond and the historic Russ House."Sharkansas" is the second full-length movie to be filmed in Marianna and Jackson County. The 1989 film "The Spring" was filmed in part at Florida Caverns State Park. It tells the story of two archaeologists searching for Ponce de Leon's lost Fountain of Youth.TDC Director Fuqua hints that further projects may be in the works. "One in 25 Americans has been threatened with or faced a vicious form of digital harassment in which explicit images are shared online without the subject's consent, according to a report released Tuesday by think tank Data & Society and the Center for Innovative Public Health Research.
This kind of non-consensual image sharing, commonly known as “revenge porn,” has made headlines in recent years. But there had been little data on how widespread this type of harassment is until this new report, which was based on a telephone survey of more than 3,000 U.S. Internet users age 15 or older.
The survey found that young women and people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are the most affected by this form of cyberharassment. Fifteen percent of respondents who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual said someone had threatened to share nude or scantily clad images or videos of them without their consent; 7 percent said those pictures had been exposed. Ten percent of women younger than 30 said they had faced similar threats, while 6 percent said their images had been posted.
[Man sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for stealing nude photos in infamous celebrity hack]
Men faced similar rates of exposure overall but fewer threats, according to the study. Amanda Lenhart, lead author of the report, said that researchers decided to ask about threats because it is a common coercive tactic among domestic-violence victims.
Revenge porn can be carried out by vindictive ex-lovers who post images shared in confidence, Lenhart said. But this type of harassment can also happen when an attacker breaks into a victim's email or cloud-storage accounts or hacks a victim's webcam, the report noted.
Seeing their intimate images exposed online “is a devastating experience” for victims and can cause deep emotional scarring, Lenhart said. In some cases, it can lead to trust issues and employment problems — particularly if the victim has a job such as a teaching position or one that requires them to be in the public eye — Lenhart said.
[The Leslie Jones hack used all the scariest tactics of Internet warfare at once]
Revenge porn can also threaten victims' safety, Lenhart said, especially if the images are posted along with other personal information about the subject. Some victims have said that their harassers posted the images online with their full name, location and employment details — along with messages that might encourage a viewer to sexually assault the victims.
There are some legal options available, University of Maryland law professor Danielle Citron said. For instance, if a victim took a photo themselves, they may be able to use a federal copyright law to get them taken down. And 34 states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books aimed at punishing the perpetrators of revenge porn, she said.
But some victims struggle to get police to respond to this type of harassment, according to Citron. “Law enforcement is playing catch-up on both training about the law and technology,” she said. “When victims go to law enforcement, the response is commonly to say that nothing can be done.”
And even after a legal victory, it can be extremely difficult to ensure that all of the images are taken offline, Lenhart said. “That’s the challenge of the Internet,” she said. “Things are copied and spread.”Veterans Affairs
VA says employment portal for veterans is secure
The Veterans Employment Center is designed to give civilian employers access to a pool of veterans and transitioning workers in one online location.
Curtis Coy, deputy undersecretary for economic opportunity at the Veterans Benefits Administration, told a House panel on Nov. 3 that the system is one of the first projects developed with a special agile development team whose members come from the high-tech industry.
But the site has also drawn the attention of cyber criminals. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee's Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, cited recent reports of an email scam targeting VEC portal users.
In response, Coy said the Department of Veterans Affairs had discovered that some users were receiving phishing messages that said their names had been found on the portal and they were eligible for a $1,000 deal on a computer. The scammers told the users they could deposit a check sent to them to buy a computer but to keep the purchase under $1,000 and send the remaining funds back to the scammer in a money order. Similar scams have targeted users of commercial sites, Coy said.
VA has notified VEC users of the scam through a marketing campaign warning of offers "that are too good to be true," Coy said.
On the cybersecurity side, he said VA has been closely monitoring server facilities owned by third-party provider Salesforce.com, and no breaches or intrusions have been detected. Coy also said the VEC site holds no personally identifiable information; such information is maintained on a separate system, VA's eBenefits.
"We're pretty |
bank’s annual ‘Lend A Hand’ summer campaign, which lasts from June 1st to July 31st, aims to raise awareness about hunger in Hays County and collect monetary donations in order to combat hunger all year long.
Mothers like Michelle, whose daughter benefits from the school meal program, should never have to worry about their child going hungry. Children require proper nutrition in order to grow, which means they need three healthy meals every day.
Food that she receives from the food bank has helped provide her daughter with these much needed nutrients. Michelle says, “[The doctors] say she’s keeping up with her age level. She’s not underweight or malnourished.”
Rosalie, another food bank client, has had to make the difficult choice between food and bills. She lost her job and struggled to make ends meet.
She first visited a food bank distribution in March of this year. She says, “I always make sure that [my son] gets fed first before I get fed…he’s a growing boy. [Hunger] will affect him and his learning, his school, and his activity level.” Rosalie knows the importance of providing well-balanced meals for her son.
Kids are meant to enjoy their childhood and not worry about empty pantries.
Regardless of the time of year, everyone deserves to eat.
If you would like to fight hunger, donate now at haysfoodbank.org/donate_funds.aspx or mail a check or cash to 220 Herndon Street, San Marcos, TX 78666.
In 2016, Hays County Food Bank and its 20 + partner agencies distributed 679,456 pounds of food to an average of 8,500 food insecure residents each month. These residents were senior citizens, children, and many others facing economic challenges. “Food insecurity” refers to the availability of food and one’s access to it.
Hays County Food Bank is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit haysfoodbank.org or visit us on Facebook or Twitter at @HaysFoodBank.Federal Judge Rules Children Can Sue Govt Over Climate Negligence
November 14th, 2016 by Guest Contributor
Originally published on Think Progress.
By Natasha Geiling
On Thursday, a federal judge in Oregon ruled that a climate lawsuit brought against the U.S. government by a group of youths can move forward, a win for the strategy of fighting climate change through the judicial branch.
Our Children’s Trust, an Oregon-based non-profit, has filed lawsuits in every state and at the federal level, claiming that the U.S. government’s actions to address climate change have been inadequate and are endangering young people throughout the country. Fossil fuel companies and the U.S. government filed to have the federal lawsuit dismissed, and, on Thursday, their requests were roundly denied, as U.S. Federal Judge Ann Aiken found the group’s complaints to be valid.
“Although the United States has made international commitments regarding climate change, granting the relief requested here would be fully consistent with those commitments,” Aiken wrote in her decision. “There is no contradiction between promising other nations the United States will reduce C02 emissions and a judicial order directing the United States to go beyond its international commitments to more aggressively reduce C02 emissions.”
The lawsuit is based on the idea of the public trust, which says that the U.S. government must protect common held elements, like waterways and coastlines, for the public. Under the public trust doctrine, the lawsuit argues, the U.S. government must also protect the commonly held atmosphere — and by taking inadequate action to address climate change, they argue, the government is failing to protect the public trust.
Our Children’s Trust called the decision “astounding,” and said that the ensuing case could be “a turning point in United States constitutional history.”
“This decision is one of the most significant in our Nation’s history,” Julia Olson, counsel for the plaintiffs and executive director of Our Children’s Trust, said in a statement. “This court just gave the youth of this country the critical opportunity to protect their futures. In what will be the trial of the millennium, these young plaintiffs will prove that their federal government, in cooperation with the fossil fuel industry, has knowingly put them in grave danger, trading their futures for present convenience and gross profits for a few.”
The 21 plaintiffs, who range in age from nine to 20, are now preparing for trial, though a date has not been set.
Reprinted with permission.President Obama has recently attracted attention by acknowledging the problem of inequality and calling for a more aggressive, populist approach. But as he pivots toward income inequality and upward mobility, it’s an important time to demolish one of the most pervasive myths in our society, that there can be a distinction made between equality of opportunity, and equality of outcome. The line goes something like this:
Equality of opportunity provides in a sense that all start the race of life at the same time. Equality of outcome attempts to ensure that everyone finishes at the same time. To slightly change what the Dodo said in Alice in Wonderland, "Everybody must win and all must have prizes.” [Italics in original]
In truth, outcome determines the next generation's opportunity. Hence, Obama is right to point out that inequality harms the American Dream. Life isn’t a sprint, it’s a relay race. And where one generation finishes, the next begins.
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Great Gatsby Curve
Miles Corak is a Canadian economist most famous for producing a chart showing that income inequality and upward mobility are correlated across nations. When Alan Krueger, then president of the Council of Economic Advisers, dubbed it "The Great Gatsby Curve," economic wonks took notice.
There are four broad theories about how parents pass on advantage to their children. One way would be genetic: intelligence, attractiveness, height. Next would be culture: Parents could inculcate a strong work ethic, honesty, extroversion. Then there would be investment: tutoring, job connections, additional safety net. Finally there is the political system: reducing tax brackets, investing in local education, cutting capital gains.
Generally speaking, the first two variables would not be affected by an increase in inequality. That is, as a society becomes more unequal, wealthy parents wouldn’t become more successful at passing on their genetic material or virtues to their children. But more economic power would allow them to entrench their wealth through investment and the political process.
Gregory Mankiw, whose role as an economist appears to be signing off on whatever absurdity the GOP is promoting at the time, has come out heavily in favor of the genetic explanation and argued that there is still lots of opportunity for upward mobility. Charles Murray, the right’s old angry dad-in-chief, has lined up behind the latter explanation. But the thesis that America is teeming with upward mobility and that rich people are just more able to take advantage of it (because of either biological superiority or virtuousness) is patently absurd. It allows elites to absolve themselves of responsibility for the inequality and stagnant mobility they created with their neoliberal policy prescriptions, and claim that the American Dream is vibrant.
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But the biological thesis is in dire straits. Nathaniel Hendren, assistant professor of economics at Harvard University, tells Salon that his research with Raj Chetty, Emmanuel Saez and Patrick Kline finds:
We can absolutely reject that theory. In order to believe that theory, you have to believe that the spacial differences across the U.S. are differences in some kind of transmission of genes. Suppose you move from one area to another and you have a kid. Does your kid pick up the mobility characteristics of the place you go to? Now obviously, your genes don’t change when you move. What we find is that kids start to pick up the mobility characteristics of the place they move to, and they do so in the proportion to the amount of time they end up spending in that place. The majority of the differences across places are casual. If people lived in different places, they would have different outcomes.
The cultural thesis may also struggle to explain how increasing inequality would diminish mobility, for a similar reason. If Murray is right that virtues like religiosity and hard work explain the persistence of inequality, are we to accept that moving from one city to another makes parents less virtuous? While the number of two-parent households in a census zone correlates highly with mobility, in areas with large numbers of one-parent households, two-parent households also struggle. So even families who make the right moves may be hampered by the mobility characteristics of the area in which they live.
Although these two explanations strain to describe reality, they represent the concern of “Serious People” because they obscure the role of the neoliberalism that economics elites like to tout. Murray, for instance, has written an entire book that amounts to post hoc ergo propter hoc (i.e., mistaking cause and effect). He argues that a cultural decline has made it harder for the middle class to get ahead, when in fact the struggles of the working class explains its perceived decline in virtue. Take one example. He argues that the working class has abandoned the virtue of “marriage” and points to high rates of teen pregnancy to explain why the working class isn’t upwardly mobile and increasingly poor. But research shows the causation goes the other way; it is poverty and inequality that make the working class more likely to bear a child out of wedlock. Because of this research, parental investment and political rent-seeking best explain how inequality and mobility are correlated.
Parental Investment
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Parental investment plays a huge role in how inequality is passed from one generation to another. Miles Corak explains,
What you see in the U.S. is as the labor market has changed and as incomes become more polarized, some families have a lot more resources and there is a bigger incentive to worry about the education of their children. Labor market inequalities shadow themselves in the investment kids get. That's important in the early years, and that has an influence on longer-term outcomes.
He cites the work of economist Greg Duncan, who shows how parental investment for the top quintile has increased dramatically while the parental investment of poor children has remained stagnant. To maintain equality, the government would have to step in and fill the gap. Without investment, many children who have potential are crushed. The great paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould writes, “I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
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Parental investment also occurs as children transition to the labor market; Corak cites the work of economist Paul Bingley, which shows that the children of wealthy parents are far more likely than poor middle-class children to get a job in their parent’s firm.
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Such accumulated advantages have been described as “opportunity hoarding” by the American sociologist Charles Tilly. Brookings Institution fellow Richard Reeves warns that the wealthy create a glass floor that can easily become a glass ceiling for others.
The Political Process
The other explanation that comports with the Great Gatsby Curve is the outsize political influence of elites. The idea, forwarded by economist Paul Krugman and political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, among others, is that economic inequalities shadow themselves through the political system. Professor Larry Bartels has shown that policymakers are more responsive to the interests of the rich, so it’s not entirely inconceivable that as the rich get richer, they can start to influence the political process to their favor. The wealthy can work to undermine minimum wages, reduce their tax burden and use government power to quash unions. Such actions were common during the first Gilded Age, and there is evidence that they are back. The U.S. redistributes far less income downward than other developed nations.
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To see how inequality shapes public policy, it’s useful to look at a concrete example, like free trade. Dr. John Schmitt, an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, tells me that “the whole mechanism for improving the average income in the economy through trade is through depressing the wages of one group of workers and raising the wages of other groups of workers.” But he notes that the workers exposed to foreign competition are never doctors or lawyers; rather, they are factory workers.
As Dean Baker writes in the New York Times,
Nafta could have been structured to bring the pay of doctors and other highly paid professionals more in line with their pay in other wealthy countries by removing barriers. This would have produced substantial economic gains to the economy as a whole (it’s the exact same model as economists use to show gains from the Nafta we have), except these gains would be associated with a downward rather than an upward redistribution of income. The doctors and their allies among the elite have been able to prevent such a deal from being considered by the politicians in Washington, American workers don't have that power.
This is particularly significant because a recent paper by economists Michael W. L. Elsby, Bart Hobijn and Ayşegül Şahin finds that, “Our analysis of a range of factors behind and explanations for the recent decline in the labor share highlights that the decline of the labor share over the last 25 years is largely driven by U.S. producers facing increased import competition. Thus, if globalization continues during the next decades, then the labor share will most likely continue to decline, especially in sectors that face the largest increases in foreign competition.” That is, the greatest driver of inequality has been the free-trade neoliberal policies pushed for by economic elites, who reap rewards.
Economists Josh Bivens and Larry Mishel show that the dramatic rises in wages for the top 1 percent don’t represent increasing productivity, but rather rent-seeking behavior. They argue that:
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In short, the financial sector illustrates that in one of the most important sectors to drive top 1 percent incomes in recent years, there was an extraordinary divergence between what top managers took home and even what shareholders (surely a privileged group compared to the wider U.S. economy) gained. This type of divergence seems like powerful evidence to us that a substantial part of the extraordinary rise of top 1 percent incomes is not a result of well-functioning markets allocating pay according to value generated, but instead resulted from shifting institutional arrangements leading to shifting of rents to those at the very top.
As eminent historian Richard Hofstadter notes, “Once great men created fortunes; today a great system creates fortunate men.” Elsewhere, I’ve written about how seemingly benign policies like patents could be considered rent-seeking behavior. But we subject the poor to free markets, not the rich.
There’s the issue of political donations, too. One study finds that the Adelson family spent more money on the 2012 federal election cycle than all the residents from 12 states combined. Political scientists Martin Gilens and Larry Bartels have both shown that policymakers are more responsive to the concerns of their wealthier constituents. In 2005, Larry Bartels examined how responsive senators were in the 101st, 102nd and 103rd Congress to the preferences of various constituents. His findings are summarized in the chart below.
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While neither party is particularly responsive to the needs of poor Americans (the number is negative, meaning that if poor Americans desire the policy, it’s actually less likely to happen), Republicans are marginally better than Democrats at responding to the desires of the middle class. Even after controlling for political knowledge and voting behavior, the results held, indicating that wealth, not education or political activism, is what makes politicians respond. Political scientist Martin Gilens has developed such research into a recently released book, "Affluence and Influence," which records similar findings. Giles finds that, “Policies favored by 20 percent of affluent Americans, for example, have about a one-in-five chance of being adopted, while policies favored by 80 percent of affluent Americans are adopted about half the time. In contrast, the support or opposition of the poor or the middle class has no impact on a policy’s prospects of being adopted.”
Political scientist Frederick Solt researched political responsiveness and participation internationally and finds that higher levels of inequality decreased voter turnout and narrowed the political discussion, with poor and middle-class voters becoming disenchanted. Further, inequality separates the social ties of the rich and poor, creating an “empathy gap” that makes it harder to pass policies that could increase mobility. Political scientists Bo Rothstein and Eric Uslaner note in a fabulous paper for World Politics, “The best policy response to growing inequality is to enact universalistic social welfare programs. However, the social strains stemming from increased inequality make it almost impossible to enact such policies.” The lack of social trust caused by inequality makes increasing opportunity harder (as I’ve noted above), which further erodes social trust and increases inequality.
Wealthy citizens see themselves as “makers” and the poor as “takers,” while the poor see the rich as selfish. Rothstein and Uslaner continue later, “Unequal societies find themselves trapped in a continuous cycle of inequality, with low trust in others and in government and policies that do little to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor and to create a sense of equal opportunity.” All of these factors work together to decrease mobility while inequality increases. As Schmitt said, “It’s not just economic power that’s been concentrated over the last four decades. It’s also political power and the political power is crucial, because it is what allows us to reproduce the economic inequality we have. All of these political policies are being reinforced because the people who have significant economic power also wield significant political power and they change the rules of the game.”
The False Solution: Education
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In debates about inequality, education is generally considered to be somewhat of a silver bullet. One of the five correlations the Chetty team found was that a good education system facilitates mobility. Miles Corak noted in our interview that,
If you have an education system that relies very heavily on local property taxes, and that characterizes the U.S. more than other countries, the quality of schooling is going to vary tremendously across neighborhoods and this is in part why there are regional differences. In Canada, the funding of education is more broadly based, and there is more of a tendency to divert resources to poorer neighborhoods. In the United States, it's actually the opposite, the most underprivileged children get lower quality resources. So the United States spends more money on education than other countries, but it spends it more unequally.
The role of public policy in alleviating inequality will be most effective if it tries to pull the poor up; policies that keep the rich down will be politically unpopular. But while education is generally seen as a key equalizer, it cannot alone create upward mobility (see chart).
The chart shows that, while education certainly helps poor people move upward, they would still be better off being born without the degree but in the top income bracket. The furthest red column to the right shows that 25 percent of the children born in the top quintile who do not get a college degree stay in the top bracket. In contrast, the leftmost blue bracket shows that only 10 percent of the children born in the poorest bracket who obtain a college degree make it to the top 20 percent.
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So while education is an important step, it isn’t the only one. It is the preferred policy of the economic elite because it’s easy and safe. It doesn’t threaten their illusion that their success is based on gritty determination and above-average intellect. A real agenda for upward mobility will include higher taxes on the wealthy and capital gains to discourage rent-seeking behavior, a more equitable distribution of educational resources, a higher minimum wage, political reforms for a more open process, more unionization, universal pre-K, paid family leave, a more robust unemployment system and a more extensive social safety net.
For too long in American politics, astronomical levels of inequality have been tolerated because of the mythical American Dream. People always say that you should “dress for the job you want.” In America, most people also vote for the income you want. That’s why bus drivers in El Paso vote for tax breaks in Park Avenue. But now we know that inequality hampers mobility, and that the wealthy are creating barriers to entrench their wealth. These barriers must be broken down if we want real mobility. If the government does act, it still makes a choice: to allow plutocrats to create a system that excludes others. As George Carlin said, “The owners of this country know the truth: It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."Luke-Jr
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Re: New transaction malleability attack wave? Another stresstest? October 04, 2015, 09:09:09 PM #57 Quote from: btcash on October 04, 2015, 08:33:50 PM Quote OK. This is not "someone". It is me.
Right now the stress-test is paused. I reserve a right to resume it.
Ask me anything. Apparently you used the low/high s attack (
How is it possible that so many transactions were affected if v2 transaction are protected against this kind of attack?
Quote The advantage for programs using v2 transactions is that they can generally be constructed to be non-malleable by third parties, so v2 transactions can more safely be used for applications like the initial bond part of establishing a micropayment channel. http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/35904/how-much-of-bip-62-dealing-with-malleability-has-been-implemented
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0062.mediawiki
Quote NOTICE: This document is a work in progress and is not complete, implemented, or otherwise suitable for deployment. Why? Apparently rules 1-6 have been implemented, 7 only affects special outputs and 8,9 shouldn't be a problem (for third party malleability)
Apparently you used the low/high s attack ( http://blog.coinkite.com/post/130318407326/ongoing-bitcoin-malleability-attack-low-s-high ).How is it possible that so many transactions were affected if v2 transaction are protected against this kind of attack?Why? Apparently rules 1-6 have been implemented, 7 only affects special outputs and 8,9 shouldn't be a problem (for third party malleability) not implemented, and BIP 66 extended rule 1 to all transactions, regardless of their version.
But the main reason it isn't suitable right now is the "Block validity" section, which uses block version >=3 to trigger it.
We already are on block version 3 for BIP 66, so this needs to be updated for another version.
Furthermore, when we were initially planning to begin roll-out, Peter Todd (IIRC) brought forward some very real issues with the BIP that would have potentially been problematic, so there was a general feeling that BIP 62 had not been sufficiently reviewed/considered, and was therefore too risky. Rules 2-6 are alsoimplemented, and BIP 66 extended rule 1 totransactions, regardless of their version.But the main reason it isn't suitable right now is the "Block validity" section, which uses block version >=3 to trigger it.We already are on block version 3 for BIP 66, so this needs to be updated for another version.Furthermore, when we were initially planning to begin roll-out, Peter Todd (IIRC) brought forward some very real issues with the BIP that would have potentially been problematic, so there was a general feeling that BIP 62 had not been sufficiently reviewed/considered, and was therefore too risky.Ex-Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen became NATO secretary general in 2009 in exchange for a secret deal with Turkey and the United States to close the Kurdish Roj TV satellite broadcaster operating in Denmark, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Tuesday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – In 2009, Wikileaks published a series of secret documents stating that under the Copenhagen-Ankara secret deal approved by US President Barack Obama, the Turkish government had promised to support Rasmussen's bid to head NATO in exchange for closing Roj TV by the Danish authorities.
"A secret deal was done between Turkey, Obama, prime minister of Denmark Rasmussen, whereby he would become the head of NATO in exchange for Denmark wiping out Roj TV," Assange said via video link at the New Era of Journalism: Farewell to Mainstream international media forum hosted by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
© REUTERS / Sertac Kayar Biden to Erdogan: Kurdish PKK Remains Target in US Battle Against Terrorism
In 2012, Kurdish Roj TV broadcaster, operating in Denmark and broadcasting to Turkey, was accused of having links to the Kurdistan Workers Party ( PKK ), which is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara. The broadcaster received a fine of $900,000 and had to change a satellite provider.
The two-day media forum, timed to coincide with the 75th anniversary of establishment of the Soviet Information Bureau, which later evolved into Rossiya Segodnya, kicked off in Moscow on Monday. The event deals with the changing nature of contemporary journalism and is attended by media experts from over 30 countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the event. Assange spoke remotely via a video conference from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has been residing since August 2012.The social liberal party Yabloko in a new project of their election agenda provides for legalisation of cryptocurrencies. For the first time, the issue is brought to the State Duma in a political context.
Yabloko (“apple”) is one of the oldest political parties in contemporary Russia active since 1993. Their newly crafted election programme was created with regard to proposals contributed by voters through the party’s website. The resulting document contains 10 chapters, each developed with the help of both internal and external experts.
“All our initiatives are centred around an individual living in Russia,” declares the party’s founder and head of its Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky. “We strongly oppose the idea of the ‘special path’ of development for our country, it is impossible outside the high road of civilisation,” said the party’s Chair Emilia Slabunova.
Including the legal status of cryptocurrencies into a political election, programme is regarded as a serious breakthrough by Russian fintech community. So far, Yabloko is the first and the only party to raise the issue at a high political level.
“Somebody must start talking about this. However, it may seem pointless as an election manifesto,” told CoinFox a source close to the Communist Party of Russian Federation. “I have not heard any discussion about including [this issue] into the election programme,” CoinFox was informed earlier by a source close to another party, Spravedlivaya Rossiya (“Fair Russia”).
Last parliamentary elections in 2011 brought Yabloko 3.43% votes with the electoral threshold of 5%. The next elections will take place on 18 September 2016.
Yabloko's economic agenda includes such suggestions as reducing the number of the military to 800,000 persons, minimizing budget defense expenses to 3% GDP and raising the expenses on education, culture and fundamental science. Besides, the party proposes to renounce the construction of new atomic power plants and waste-burning plants, and wants to introduce the single compensation tax to minimize the consequences of the privatization which took part after the USSR downfall.
The legal status of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not yet determined in Russia. Russian Ministry of Justice has not approved a draft bill criminalising cryptocurrencies despite the pressure from its the Ministry of Finance. As CoinFox reported earlier, some officials at the Ministry of Justice demand additional grounds to be provided for the criminalisation of issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies, because so far the claim that they pose any danger to the society “seems dubious”.
The Interior Ministry also disagreed with the draft. They consider it unreasonable to overburden the police with additional duties related to monitoring of cryptocurrencies’ mining and use.
The new version of the draft law is expected from the Ministry of Finance by the end of summer.
Ludmila BrusMain image: Sheet
Inside his studio
First off, are you still living in your ping pong-walled studio? What initially drew you to the space?
I am no longer living there, the space functions now as a space to sleep if I am at the studio too late. I initially wanted to create a space just for sleeping and getting dressed. I spend so much time in the studio that it made sense to have a kind of space like this there for me. The space was initially conceived to be an accelerated design and build experiment in my studio. From conception to completion was only eight weeks.
Arsham, with Cloud
Your 3D work has just the right balance of mind-trickery and real architectural flair. What's your artistic background like?
I was nearly killed in a hurricane in Miami in 1992. The house I was living in with my family was pulled apart by the storm. Somehow that experience informs a lot of my practice.
If you had to choose between working solely in 2D or 3D for the rest of your career, which would it be?
3D.
Chair
How does your creative process differ from one medium to the next? We've seen that your art transcends the usual gallery-viewer pattern and has been featured in theaters and on stage. How did that jump in location first come about?
Much of my work engages architecture. It causes buildings to perform and act in ways that they are not supposed to. In my work the surface of walls and ceilings can melt and ripple in the wind. In 2005 Merce Cunningham asked me to collaborate with him on eyeSpace, his new dance. I created the stage design for that piece as well as the lighting and costumes. Following that Merce asked me to work with him many times. I am now working on the stage design for his company's final performances which will take place at the Park Avenue Armory, New York in December 2011.
How much does the'scene' and community in New York and Paris (and any other cities you've recently been working in) impact upon your work?
Because I work between art architecture and stage design, the people who are around me are often from different disciplines. My practice takes me to the forefront of all three of these practices and I am able to meet and work with some of the most amazing artists in the world.
Corner Knot
We love the Corner Knot and Sheet plaster pieces you did a few years ago. Any plans to return to that sort of project? Or are you focusing on the installation/performance work for now?
I am working now on some architectural interventions which cause the walls to appear as if they are melting. This process involves sculpting the dripping forms by hand and then having them cast in fiberglass. The works are then joined with the actual architecture and they are seamless with it. These pieces will be part of my next solo exhibition at OHWOW in Los Angeles in January 2012.
Hammock
Which have been your favourite artist, dance or fashion collaborations to date?
In the summer of 2009 Robert Wilson invited me to his compound in Watermill New York to work with him and about 100 other people on a new piece for stage. After working with Merce I had certain expectations of what it meant to create work for the stage. I entered a large room where everyone was sitting on the floor, except Bob. I was the last one to enter the room. Just as I sat down he walked over to me and took my hand. He then walked very, very slowly across the room. I too walked very slowly. When we reached the other end he turned me around to walk slowly in the other direction. I walked back the other way while a hundred people watched. After a few steps he took someone else's hand and pushed them to walk as well. After five minutes there were twenty people walking very, very slowly across the room in silence.
And which is the next dream collaborate on your list?
I would like to collaborate with David Lynch.South Africa's Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe is retiring from the government.
Parliamentarians bade a fond and, at times, moving farewell to Motlanthe on Tuesday afternoon, and he in turn, portraying the humility he is well known for, thanked the ANC for giving him the opportunity to serve.
Political parties put aside their differences to pay tribute to Motlanthe, who first joined Parliament in 2008, when he was appointed the minister in the presidency, following the ANC's Polokwane conference, and later became president of the republic when the ANC recalled President Thabo Mbeki.
It's not every day that opposition MPs would sing praises of an ANC leader, but every speaker praised Motlanthe for his "qualities of integrity, humility and honour".
Many applauded the role he played in championing the supply of antiretrovirals to boost the country's fight against Aids.
"There is no question that the person we honour today, Deputy President Motlanthe has altered history for the better, for reasons to do with his strong inner belief in justice, his devotion to public service rooted in the episcopalian tradition of the Anglican church," said the Democratic Alliance's Wilmot James.
Motlanthe was an altar boy in his youth and he wanted to be a priest.
Honour and respect
"And this ability in his conduct based on the notion of reciprocal honour and respect, we could all do well to emulate in this world dominated by so much noise, instability and the curse exercise of power.
"He exemplifies the qualities of a personality that are rare, in the world of politics, such as honour; to be held in public esteem, showing an unusual and merited respect for others once whose work invites respect and the quality of integrity," added James.
Congress of the People's Thozamile Botha said opposition parties didn't always agree with everything Motlanthe said, "but your humility and demeanour with which you responded to questions persuaded even the sceptics to let go and agree to disagree".
The Inkatha Freedom Party spoke about the role Motlanthe played while he was the secretary general of the ANC in getting the IFP and the ANC to talks in an attempt to ease the tensions between the two parties.
IFP MP Velaphi Ndlovu said: "The IFP wants to place on record, that when you were the ANC SG, the understanding between the IFP and ANC made it possible for discussions between the two parties.
"On behalf of IFP, we will always cherish your honesty and integrity."
Ndlovu said the IFP appreciated how Motlanthe conducted himself inside and outside the National Assembly "in your own manner of accepting all others despite your high office".
'Apology'
Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor, one of the National Assembly’s loudest hecklers, had earlier opened the debate with an "apology" to Motlanthe for her heckling.
"I wish to begin by saying that I do regret that you had to tolerate my heckling in your time in this House. And if I caused you not to hear the intelligent contributions from the DA, then I apologise, but I assure you that you missed very little," she said to laughter from her comrades and heckling from the DA.
Pandor described Motlanthe as a "tried and tested freedom fighter".
"He has experienced South Africa from all angles; apartheid state, emerging democracy, fledgling constitutional state and an increasingly robust nation of the world.
"And in each of these stages of the state of South Africa, the deputy president made an honourable contribution.
"He is a dignified person, a strong-willed man of principle, very suited to his name: Kgalema [SePedi for caution, correct, guide]. The name befits you in an extraordinary way," said Pandor.
She said that while Motlanthe served well when he was president, it is his service as leader of government business that has most impressed her.
"In a context, when many executive leaders seek to diminish Parliament, he has asserted the importance of Parliament and the need for the executive to account to Parliament."
Pandor said that within the ANC, Motlanthe could be relied upon to assert principle over expediency.
"He knows the movement, lives its belief and fully merits the decision that he will head the ANC political school, I can think of no better leader for the ANC political school."
She urged him to consider assisting the future leader of government business by offering orientation to the next leader of government business to ensure a similar commitment to keeping Parliament "vibrant, transparent and accountable".
'Mixed emotions'
In response, Motlanthe was his old humble self.
"After six years of history, I am running the whole gamut of human emotions from melancholy to elation. Humanity is conditioned to experience emotions attuned to the peculiarities of the moment.
"Yet for me right now this is a moment laden with mixed emotions."
Motlanthe said he was disconsolate for parting ways with members of his party, the ANC.
"You will know that my presence in this House is attributable to the ANC, which has, for all this time, been my extended family.
"As such I stood here about six years back, on ANC platform, in a prospective mood; looking forward to making my own little contribution to the vision that defines our nation.
"On the ticket of the ANC I took oath of office, both as minister in the presidency and subsequently, the president of our country. Both these occasions were of historical moment in various ways."
Motlanthe acknowledged that he became the president of our republic under anomalous circumstances.
'Destiny'
"This was the time during which our nation, for the first time since the onset of democracy, faced its sternest test. Eight months before the end of the third term of office [of the democratic state] for the sitting president, Honourable Thabo Mbeki, destiny commandeered me to assume the reigns of the presidency to see the term through.
"As the world turned many were beginning to wonder whether this conjuncture signalled the beginning of the end for our nation.
"Unprecedented, it was a defining moment. This House knows, as do many of us, that there is a standing assumption that our nation is no exception to the sad experience that has befallen many a post-colonial country, not least our continent, Africa."
Motlanthe said while bare-knuckle engagements were par for the course in Parliament, "with bruising exchanges that went beyond the pale not uncommon", he had found the House to be an epicentre of rational and level-headed discourse that left many bloodied but unbowed.
"I dare say, at the end, we are all the richer for it. Our system of democracy is ultimately about creating a multivocal society, thriving on irreconcilable ideological differences, none of which, paradoxically, can survive without the other."
He said he was filled with sadness at his departure after about six years, being asked to serve one's country at any point in history was always an honour.Last week, Noble Peace Prize winner President Barrack Obama advised that his administration would be arming the Free Syrian Army with weapons to resist the armies of Syria’s President Bashar Assad. Furthermore, they would look to implement a Libya-style no-fly zone over the country |
drugs and violence. There is no other society that I know of that has the degree of intensity and combination of these factors. “We’re Number 1! We’re Number 1!” 1. Arrogance- All of our lives we have been fed the lie that somehow we are better than everyone else. We believe this so much that we feel it is morally acceptable to stick our noses in everyone’s business. We have 777+ military bases all over the world. Our currency is the world’s reserve currency. We control most international organizations like the UN, IMF and World Bank. We control the world’s shipping lanes. Our media is the most popular and sought after propaganda in the world. Our corporations harvest the resources that our empire provides. This has lead to an American way of life that is not negotiable. We print debt and consume. This way of life was only possible by the very real and hard sacrifices made by Americans long dead. America today is nothing more than a spoiled brat blowing through the last of their inheritance. The only thing the US is number 1 in is spreading debt and death. This American arrogance will be turned on to other Americans as the dollar collapses. We will no longer be able to maintain the global empire of force without a functioning currency. All of our troops will be forced to come home and we will no longer be able to import 25% of the world’s oil. This sudden shift will turn arrogant Americans on each other as they seek to enforce their inflated sense of self worth on to others. They will think that somehow the world somehow owes them something and they believe that lesser people should make that sacrifice for them. After all, the American way of life is not negotiable… at least that’s what Dick Cheney said. “Everything is fine today, that is our illusion.” -Voltaire 2. Denial- For those that aren’t arrogant, they are in denial that somehow they are okay because they are good people. They believe that the America will recover and that the American Dream is still alive. They believe this because they either lack the ability to logically see through the lies or they believe that the people ruling them have the same morals as they do. You cannot spread freedom with war. A nation cannot enforce their will on another nation anymore than you can enforce your will upon another. There will always be blow back. Of course that is the plan of your rulers. They do not share the same values as you do. They seek to create chaos and division so that they can garner more power and profits. “You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of reality.” Ayn Rand The dollar collapse will end the ability of the average American to deny their active or passive participation in the dominance of the world by spreading debt and death. When people’s entire life’s savings are wiped away, they will wonder what their life has been all about. All of the missed times with their family and connections with others has been stained by the pursuit of material gains. Only when everything is taken from them, will they start to see the real importance of life. Many will not be able to come to terms with this coming reality. Those that are aware and prepared stand a great chance of making it through this paradigm shift and thrive. (Join the Sons of Liberty Academy.) 3. Narcissism- The amount of narcissism in America is epidemic. The fascination with celebrities and their clothes consumes so many women. Men are addicted to worshiping sports figures. We have this fear of competition and view others as enemies. This leads to shallow and transitory relationships. Americans consume their way into debt as they try to create an outer facade to hide a void in their vapid lives. The Baby Boomer generation is known as the “Me” generation. Their obsessive pursuit for material possessions was matched by their embrace of debt. The dollar collapse is going to hit the Baby Boomers the hardest as they are forced to come to term with the trail of pain they have left in their wake. Broken families and debt are just the tip of the iceberg. The war and debt machine they enabled and unleashed upon the world is a much harder reality they will have to deal with. The real problem is the sad fact that many of them will be too old to have a second chance on life. 4. Drugs- Millions of Americans turn to drugs to fill the void of true purpose in their lives. Instead of dealing with a past a hurt or seeking a higher purpose in their lives by helping others and using their natural talents to make a better world, people turn to drugs. The worst kind of drugs are the ones that people believe are making them better. The powerful psychotropic drugs like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) or more commonly known as anti-depressants. These drugs are extremely powerful and can cause psychotic breaks that lead to violence. Go to http://ssristories.com/ to see the list of nearly 4,300 cases of crime related to these drugs. These stories include everything from the Virginia Tech shooting to the mom that drowned her 5 kids in the bathtub. I would say that these drugs are much more dangerous than guns, because they cause the people to break from reality and cause the violence. I don’t have time to go into the mass medication of America and the real reason why Marijuana is illegal, but I do want to warn everyone of one thing. Nearly 10% of the country or 27 million Americans are on these drugs. Knowing that there is only a one month supply in the system and the kind of psychotic breaks that will happen if people come off these drugs too fast, this is definitely not a good thing. When the dollar collapses, we not only have to worry about the 7 to 10 day supply of food and fuel in the system, we really need to worry about the 1 in 10 Americans who are not going to be medicated while their world paradigm collapses. I can see it now, humanitarian airlifts dropping Zoloft and Lexapro from the sky… 5. Violence- Violence has been apart of our American culture since the beginning of our country. We have the most armed population and the highest crime rates in the world. The violence we will see in some parts of America could become as bad as the Reign of Terror from the French Revolution. I wrote the 2 Coming American Revolutions. One Revolution will embrace founding fathers vision of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. The other Revolution will be some collectivist vision of coercion and fear. Some parts of this country will confront the new post-dollar paradigm by embracing freedom and honest money. Others will try to hold onto power by becoming more tyrannical and finding enemies within their neighbors. We are surrounded by violence and have been desensitized anti social behavior. Our movies and video games show the killing of others but rarely the consequences of those actions. Even other anti social behavior has been normalized. I even realized my favorite show of all time Seinfeld was all about normalizing anti social behavior. The series finale was based on a man getting mugged and all 4 main characters not only not helping the man, but actually making fun of the man as he is violently robbed. This lack of empathy is at the root of our problems. So here we now have a society that not only cares only about themselves and their materialistic needs, we also have a society that no longer cares about other’s feelings. The American riots will be the worst the word has seen because of the amount of will be of arrogance, denial, narcissism, drugs and violence in our society. These factors are systemic and infect every level of society. I do fear that our nation is sick enough to unleash a series of false flag events to spread our violence even further. This violent Anger phase in the 5 Stages of the Awakening will not last long and not happen in every part of America. There will be a few months of violence that will shake the faith in mankind. Those that live by the sword, will die by the sword. After the most violent are either killed, brought to justice or burnt out, we will enter in a societal depression as we try to come to terms with what has happened. This period could last for years as we struggle with the loss of wealth and life. I am hopeful that this collapse will actually be the beginning of something really great for mankind. A new paradigm not based on debt and death is a very real outcome of this collapse. With the collapse of the dollar, those that were lured into a senseless narcissistic consumer lifestyle will be forced to come to the understanding that instant gratification is not why we are put on this earth. Those that were ill prepared for the collapse will start to ask questions, then they will seek answers, then they will want blood. The Elite that created, perpetuated and profited off of this paradigm will be running for cover as the world wakes up to what they have done. It will be nice to have consumerism, militarism and narcissism flushed away. (Read Resonate IV) This collapse will not result in a One World Order. The Elite that are trying desperately make this happen will no longer be able to operate in secrecy. Their minions will lack any legitimacy with the people they rule. After all who is going to trust a President who says he did not see this coming when you and I can see it coming from miles away. The result after a very violent Anger phase is going to be massive decentralization of power not more centralization of power. Local communities, cities counties and states will assert more power over the daily activities of our lives. Some will will slip into tyranny to make order out of chaos. Others will attract the best and brightest by embracing freedom and honest money. The end result is a life where we can reach our highest and best self. How we get there is a rough road, but one I feel is easily traveled if you are aware and prepared.
Have hope: The elite make mistakes ALL the time I Predict A Riot » Have hope: The elite make mistakes ALL the time I Predict A Riot »
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Sons of Liberty Academy Testimonial Hey Chris, Just wanted to take a moment out of my life to thank you for all the life changing decisions/events that have occurred because of the information you've brought to the forefront when I discovered you, DTOM, & the SOL academy. I shunned the psychopaths in my life, closed my facebook, took every hour of free time to see the academy and read A LOT (a first for me), learned that I have a deep innate thirst for knowledge and teaching, jumped head first on topics I would have NEVER taken an interest in if not for waking up (finance, economics, politics, psychology, to name a few), and view everything in a completely different, but forward thinking and more intricate way. What you say is so true... "once your eyes are open, you can never close them again" - EVER. The magnitude of all the changes that I've made in my life because of the SOL academy are so huge that I can't even begin to put a word on it. It's like a golden seed of life, love & truth, planted in my mind that is making me realize what does matter, what is real, and what I want be at the end of the day to myself, loved ones, and the world. Hope you're having a well-deserved and wonderful time with your family. A toast to you, the individuals in our group, and all the great and positive things to come despite such times. Peace. - Irving A. Sons of Liberty Academy Testimonial You really need to sign up at the Sons Of Liberty Academy! I have been researching, as Chris has, for the last 5 years and have found out many things that have really changed my way of thinking! After signing up with Chris I have learned a lot more and he has vilified that which I have already learned! Check it out! He will BLOW your mind and secure your future! Chris Duane ROCKS!!! -Dennis S. Sons of Liberty Academy Testimonial I just finished the 10 modules of the Sons of Liberty Academy. I have never been so educated and aware, in such a short time. I now have a game plan and see my role more clearly. It all makes sense. It is very important to understand what is going on in our world and how to fight against it most effectively. 45 hours of video is a lot of information (I spend 3 weeks day and night, going through the course). I would look for information on my own and it would take me a lot of time but to have it done and just to be able to build on that is great. I do appreciate it to be free otherwise I would not be able to take it. Thanks;
Raj Sons Of Liberty Academy Testimonial I just wanted to drop you a note and thank you. I've been studying the Academy, about to start module 5. The information I've observed to this point has opened my mind to new ideas, and also reaffirmed some beliefs I've always had. I feel a tremendous sense of confidence now, the fear is subsiding, and I'm excited to complete the Academy and find the direction I can take with my future, as well as my friends and family. As Bill Hicks said, the next revolution will be a revolution of ideas. I'm glad to be a part of this program. Many thanks,
Michael
Naples, Florida Sons of Liberty Academy Tesimonial "Silver Shield, The Sons of Liberty Academy is really fantastic! I highly recommend the Academy and the hard work and dedication to the truth that Silver Shield has put forth for defenders of Freedom and Liberty. The betrayal of the Tea Party loyalist is becoming evident. A rebellion is brewing day by day, and the Power Elite have every right to be very worried. Awaken People don't be fooled again! Join the Academy.."
-Ray Sons Of Liberty Academy Testimonial My only regret is that I did not have this knowledge 20 years ago. The Sons of Liberty Academy is truly life changing. If anyone is on the fence about joining the Academy, I will tell them they are doing themselves, their family and the country a injustice by not taking it. Don’t let the money stand in the way, the course is invaluable and will pay for it self many times over with the finance info within the course. I have two masters degrees and the Sons of Liberty Academy has been of greater benefit than all the “formal” education I have received. Thanks Chris! You are a true Patriot and hero! -Randy H. Sons of Liberty Academy Testimonial "I am very excited about what I've learned so far! I have 3 more modules to complete. I've gone through a few of them twice, especially when there is history discussed. I find that very interesting. I am going to run through the entire Academy again, and review all the additional materials linked below the videos. There is so, so much information. Thank you for your hard work putting this together. I am spreading the word."
- Michael L. Sons of Liberty Academy Testimonial "I have just finished watching Module Six and continue to be amazed at the deception perpetrated on the American people. I applaud your work and thank you sincerely for these eye-opening truths you have laid out. I never had an interest in politics or our monetary system because it seemed too confusing, however, the simple way it is taught in the Academy has far surpassed any education I have received in my 35 years on this earth." - Sean A. Sons of Liberty Academy Testimonial "In just a few short months, I've gone from being a skeptic to being a believer. I'm a born-again Christian, a veteran, and a patriot, but I'm also a realist. I now prep and am protecting my assets. DTOM has played a big part in my new education. Heck, I love the T-shirts, too! Thanks for doing a great job. Now I Get It!!!!" Harry S. Thank you for giving me the wisdom of awareness. I have been sharing it with others, but there are so many more to reach. I am not afraid of the changes we will soon see, but confident that I am prepared to handle them. We are building a strong group here in my area and have shared your website with several key people of influence here. Thank God I found you and took the time to go through the Academy. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, my life will never be the same, and for that I am very grateful. Thanks again, live free,
Mike DTOM RSSSo the rumors last month were true: Six thousand centrifuges will continue to spin, which is supposedly a great victory for the U.S. since it would mean — assuming Iran isn’t covertly operating even more centrifuges under the UN’s nose — that Iran would need a solid year to “break out” and refine enough uranium to power a nuclear bomb. Which means Barack Obama would have a year to prepare and execute a U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities to stop them.
Oh, minor footnote: Barack Obama’s never going to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. Ever. And both sides understand that.
[Six thousand is] less than the 10,000 such machines Tehran now runs, yet substantially more than the 500 to 1,500 that Washington originally wanted as a ceiling. Only a year ago, U.S. officials floated 4,000 as a possible compromise… It’s unclear how complete the draft agreement is. Iran’s deeply buried underground enrichment plant remains a problem, officials said, with Washington demanding the facility be repurposed and Tehran insisting it be able to run hundreds of centrifuges there. Iran says it wants to use the machines for scientific research; the Americans fear they could be quickly retooled for enrichment… Any March framework agreement is unlikely to constrain Iran’s missile program, which the United States believes may ultimately be aimed at creating delivery systems for nuclear warheads. Diplomats say that as the talks move to deadline, the Iranians continue to insist that missile curbs are not up for discussion… After the deal expires [in 15-20 years], Iran could theoretically ramp up enrichment to whatever level or volume it wants.
So Iran gets to keep enriching, maybe gets to keep using its heavily fortified Fordow facility, gets to keep perfecting its ICBMs while all of this is happening, and then is free to get crazy with the nuclear cheez whiz in 15 years — and amid all this, a variety of American and international sanctions would be gradually relaxed. In return for all that, the U.S. gets a handful of magic beans. Pet the Gatestone Institute, even the French — the French! — think Obama’s a sucker who’s unwittingly kickstarting a nuclear panic among the Middle East’s Sunni powers. The same guy who’s spent years talking up “nuclear zero” may end up leaving a legacy of Islamic states arming themselves to the teeth with civilization-destroying bombs:
[French Foreign Minister Laurent] Fabius himself, in a meeting last week, made extremely clear his deep distrust (“contempt, really,” one MP says) of both John Kerry and Barack Obama. Another of the group quotes Fabius as saying: “The United States was really ready to sign just about anything with the Iranians,” before explaining that he himself had sent out, mid-February, a number of French ‘counter-proposals’ to the State Department and White House, in order to prevent an agreement too imbalanced in favor of Iran… French diplomats are no angels, and they haven’t suddenly turned 180 degrees from their usual attitude of reflexive dislike toward Israel. They worry, however, that if Iran gets nuclear weapons, every other local Middle East power will want them. Among their worst nightmares is a situation in which Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia join the Dr. Strangelove club. French diplomats may not like Israel, but they do not believe Israelis would use a nuclear device except in a truly Armageddon situation for Israel. As for Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Turkey going nuclear, however, they see terrifying possibilities: irresponsible leaders, or some ISIS-type terrorist outfit, could actually use them. In other words, even if they would never express it as clearly as that, they see Israelis as “like us,” but others potentially as madmen.
I said most of what I had to say about this in this post but let me reemphasize an obvious point: All this is, really, is a punt. Obama’s stuck between two unpalatable options, bombing Iran and starting (or escalating) a hot war across at least three countries in the region, namely, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, or doing nothing and being known to history as the Man Who Let Iran Get the Bomb. A 15-year deal with sunset provisions is as explicit an attempt as you can get to push the ultimate disposition of Iran’s nuke program onto some future president. Maybe the mullahs will be deposed by then and the problem will solve itself (although it’s naive to think even a friendlier regime in Tehran will be willing to capitulate on enrichment). Maybe the U.S. will have developed new weapons by then, cyber or otherwise, that will permit a more effective attack on Iran’s facilities than we’re capable of right now. Maybe the Israelis will figure something out. Or maybe the status quo will hold, more or less, and President Hillary or President Jeb or whoever will have to make the sort of tough decision that Obama’s incapable of making. Whatever the answer, it won’t be his problem anymore. Unless of course Iran violates the agreement before January 2017. And why would they do that and risk alienating O when he’s busy reorienting America’s entire Middle East policy towards detente with the Shiite menace?
Two other points here. One: After all the Democratic screeching about Tom Cotton’s unprecedented, historic, near-treasonous Logan-Act-smashing letter to Iran, it did squat to disrupt the deal. And that was predictable, of course, since Cotton’s letter said nothing that Iran didn’t already know. It was cheap left-wing demagoguery from the word go, designed to bolster a guy whose committed the sort of sins against separation of powers that would have liberals demanding impeachment if a Republican had committed them. Take nothing these people say seriously. Two: All lefty defenses of doing a deal with Iran boil down to “the mullahs are rational.” Even if the worst occurs and they build a bomb on the sly — a prospect Obama’s Democratic supporters are clearly already preparing for rhetorically — it’s not a huge deal because Iran’s rulers haven’t made any suicidal moves to date. They didn’t fight to the bitter end against Saddam in the 80s, they preferred Shiite proxies and arms shipments to direct battlefield confrontation with the U.S. in Iraq — they know their limitations, so they won’t do anything dramatic with Israel knowing the scale of nuclear retaliation that awaits. The problem with that defense is that it assumes that things can’t get worse in Iran; the current regime is the craziest Iran is capable of, supposedly, and since they’re kinda sorta rational, that means there’s no worst-case scenario. Rule one of Middle Eastern regime change, though, is that things can always get worse (and usually do). In fact, the left’s criticism of Cotton’s letter tacitly acknowledges it: Cotton’s letter allowed “hardline” opponents of the nuclear deal in Iran’s parliament to proclaim that the negotiations were doomed and shouldn’t continue. What happens if Khamenei dies and one of those “hardliners” ascends the throne? Lefties and righties alike recognize what a nuclear clusterfark it would be if Pakistan’s leadership was deposed by something more Taliban-esque. We all understand it’d be a terrible idea to let the Saudi royals have the bomb knowing what’s waiting in the wings to replace them. What if something similar happened in Iran, with the fanatics di tutti fanatics within the regime suddenly inheriting a supply of highly enriched uranium? Why does Iran get such a weird benefit of the doubt as to its enduring stability and rationality?
Update: Ah, here’s a nice catch by Jeff Dunetz. If Iran’s nuclear production is all about supplying power plants, why on earth would they settle for only a few thousand centrifuges but insist on more than 4,000, per the AP excerpt above? Your answer:by Kunbi Tinoye via urbangeekz.com
It’s common knowledge that the tech industry has a diversity problem. Employee demographics clearly show a dearth of women and untapped minorities in the leading technology firms. Then when black and Latinx founders do decide to start businesses of their own they often struggle to raise capital. Research by the #ProjectDiane, for example, reveals African-American female founders raised a mere 0.2 percent of venture funding from 2012-2014. With that being said, there are many young and talented innovators and entrepreneurs of color making waves.
Last month a handful of these trailblazers attended the Culture Shifting Weekend‘s ‘Millennial Breakfast’ at SAP in Palo Alto. Founders were given a platform to talk about their startups to a room full of industry heavyweights. The mission is simple. Create a safe space for diverse talent to secure support, expertise, and partnerships with key players in the tech ecosystem. Co-founder and CEO of On Second Thought, Maci Peterson, at the Culture Shifting Weekend. Peterson was just one of the founders who presented her startup at Millennial Breakfast.
Lloyd Carney, CEO of Brocade Communications Systems, was just one of the influencers in attendance. Carney, a Jamaican immigrant, recently sold his company for $5.5 billion. Other attendees included Danny Allen, VP Diversity & Inclusion, SAP; Jacqueline Jones, Strategic Partnerships, Global Inclusion, LinkedIn; and Rachel Spivey, Diversity Specialist, Google, among others.“I added an element to the event,” said Andrea Hoffman, CEO of the management consultancy Culture Shift Labs, who organized the annual Silicon Valley event.
“We had a Millennial Tech Entrepreneurs and Influencers Breakfast that was sponsored by Vista Equity Partners. It was an experiment and it went really well. There’s more to come from in terms of millennial tech entrepreneurs of color.”From software to recruitment, check out this list of 20 black and brown millennial innovators and founders who all presented their startups (except two bonuses #19 and #20) at the Millennial Breakfast.
1. Stephanie Lampkin – Blendoor
Stephanie Lampkin is a TEDx speaker and founder & CEO of Blendoor, a recruiting application that reduces unconscious bias in hiring. With a 14-year professional career in tech, she is all too familiar with the difficulties faced when one doesn’t look like the typical software engineer. Through technology and data, her mission is to reduce bias and challenge the assumption that homogeneous environments are a meritocracy. Stephanie holds a BS in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from MIT Sloan.
2. Harold Hughes – Bandwagon
Harold is the founder & CEO of Bandwagon, an online marketplace and fan community designed to improve the game day experience for sports fans everywhere. As a leader in the growing startup community in Greenville, South Carolina, he is the co-managing Director of Collective: a coworking space for small teams and entrepreneurs. He is also Director of the Founder Institute-Greenville chapter, a member of NEXT, and involved in the Greenville Chamber of Commerce. He recently participated in the Google for Entrepreneurs Exchange Program in Durham, NC.
3. Maci Peterson – On Second Thought
Maci is the co-founder and CEO of On Second Thought, a messaging app whose patented technology lets users take back text messages before they get to the other person’s phone. She has been recognized on Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30 List” of 2016, and Washington Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 List” of 2015. In addition, Maci has been identified as a rising leader in technology by Revolt TV, and one of the “29 People You Should Know” by BET. Maci began On Second Thought after winning first place in the #StartupOasis pitch competition at South by Southwest in 2014.
4. Lamar Wilson – Love Will Inc.
CEO, full-stack developer, and expert blockchain architect, Lamar Wilson has been creating enterprise software for almost a decade with a recent focus on financial and blockchain technology. A serial entrepreneur, he co-founded the software development firm 212ths and created Pheeva, a mobile bitcoin wallet. Most recently, Lamar Love Will Inc, Creators of Hijro (formerly known as Fluent), where he serves as CEO and CTO.
5. Lafe Taylor – Hijro
Hijro is the financial operating network for global trade powered by distributed ledger technology. Lafe Taylor is co-founder and Chief Design Officer at Hijro, a blockchain fin-tech startup. With a background in corporate branding and a passion for entrepreneurship, Lafe Taylor leads the direction for product design innovation and ideation. Connect with Hijro and bring your organization into the future of trade.
To see full article and list, go to: 20 Millennial Tech Innovators of Color You Should Know – UrbanGeekzThe melodies are freely available in MIDI form.
Daniel Lopatin is inviting fans to remix melodies from his forthcoming Garden of Delete album to create an archive of alternate versions.
Melodies from the album in MIDI form were recently hidden in the website of Kaoss Edge, the band that may or may not have been made up by Lopatin as part of an elaborate alternate reality game.
Warp is now inviting fans to take the files (which the label has confirmed are taken from the LP) and create their own works. Finished music should be sent to Ezra (the mysterious alien Lopatin said originally gave him the MIDI files on a USB stick) at ezralien666@gmail.com. If you’re as confused as we still are about the whole affair, you can catch up here.
You can listen to one attempt below, which Lopatin shared yesterday and features all the MIDI files rolled into one video. It’s the closest we’ll have until Garden Of Delete drops on November 13.
You can grab the files here, and check out dates for Lopatin’s Garden Of Delete tour at the bottom of the page.
11/07 – Turin, IT – Club 2 Club
11/08 – London, UK – Illuminations Festival at the Village Underground
11/09 – Brussels, BE – Orangerie
11/10 – Berlin, DE – Berghain
11/20 – New York, NY – Venue TBA
11/23 – Vancouver, BC – Venue
11/24 – Seattle, WA – Neumos*
11/25 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir lounge*
11/27 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent*
11/28 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater *
12/02 – Tokyo, JP – Liquidroom
12/04 Osaka, JP – Fanj Twice
* w/ James Ferraro
Read this next: Did Oneohtrix Point Never create a fictional band?India’s bid to bring back liquor baron Vijay Mallya from the United Kingdom is built around irregularities in the Rs 950 crore IDBI Bank loan to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) and evidence about alleged illegal overseas fund funnelling of more than Rs 3,200 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which tracks overseas transactions and money laundering deals, has gathered substantial evidence on how a major portion of bank loans given to KFA was moved outside India cloaked as operational expenses or lease rentals, sources told Moneycontrol.
Between 2007 and 2012, KFA remitted funds worth Rs 3,280 crore to foreign entities, shown to be payments made towards aircraft rental leasing and maintenance, servicing and spare parts, according to the ED’s provisional attachment order issued last year, reviewed by Moneycontrol.
Sources in the Indian investigations agencies say that these funds were essentially loans raised from a consortium of banks, but were moved overseas under questionable conditions.
“There are huge variations in the payments especially in the leasing payments even or the same class and type of aircraft for the same time period,” a source, who did not wish to be identified, said.
“Despite repeated reminders, the company (KFA), has failed to submit supporting documents such as lease agreements to show that the payments were bonafide. It is clear that the bank loan obtained, have been siphoned-off abroad under the ruse of lease payments, in a calculated pre-designed manner,” the source said.
Also Read: Vijay Mallya arrest and bail: Why bankers should not rejoice yet!
According to the ED, of the Rs 3,200 crore claiming to be expenses for the airline’s operational expenses, about Rs 1500 crore were allegedly remitted overseas through letter of credit and other instruments issued by State Bank of India (SBI), Rs 531 crore through Punjab National Bank (PNB), and about Rs 1230 crore through Axis Bank.
Separately, the end-use of funds of the Rs 950 crore loan IDBI Bank gave KFA in 2009 is under question.
According to ED’s money trail analysis, Rs 423 crore of the IDBI Bank loan has been remitted overseas without appropriate supporting documents.
The ED has also questioned the IDBI Bank’s lack of due diligence in sanctioning the loan and accepting the valuation of Rs 3400 crore of the Kingfisher Brand done by Grant Thornton without verification.
“The brand valuation is done by Grant Thornton also varied much in the three reports submitted by them at different points of time to KFA,” the source, quoted earlier, said.
Mallya, under pressure from banks to repay Rs 9,000 crore loans owed by his grounded Kingfisher Airlines, left India on March 2 last year, was arrested in London on Tuesday. He was later released on bail.
The ED has also made a case alleging that Mallya received USD 40 million (out of an agreed USD 75 million) on February 25, 2016, from London-based liquor major Diageo Plc, barely a week before he left India.
According to ED, the transaction was structured in a manner to receive the payments overseas with the intent of keeping this money out of reach of India.
In November, Mallya’s lawyers told the Supreme Court that the USD 40 million has been transferred to his three children through gift settlements.
In an affidavit submitted before the apex court, he stated that the money had been transferred to his three children—Siddharth, Leena and Tanya Mallya—who were US citizens and sole beneficiaries of the three respective trusts of which he had no control in his individual capacity.
Mallya had received a payment of USD 40 million out of a USD 75 million package from Diageo following his resignation as chairman of United Spirits Ltd.
The ED has also made a case of money laundering against KFA and Mallya regarding the sale of a land of 264 acres in Coorg in January, the proceeds of which have been laundered overseas.
According to ED investigations, Endeavour Estates Pvt Ltd owned 291.31 acres of land in Biligeri village, Coorg. Of this 264 acres of land were sold in January last year. One of the directors of Endeavour Estates Pvt Ltd have given a statement to ED stating that the company and the assets belong to the UB Group, controlled by Mallya, sources said.
The ED is also pressing money laundering charges involving transactions among companies such as Pharma Trading, Kingfisher Finvest, Devi Investment Pvt Ltd, Mallya Investment Pvt Ltd, Gem Investment and Trading among others.
According to the ED, these are “investment companies of the UB Group, or Vijay Mallya, or his family members or dummy companies in names of UB Group employees having no actual activities. These had no independent source of income and were being controlled directly or indirectly by Vijay Mallya”.Chow Kon Yeow says out the of RM22.661 million, RM5.43 million will go to overall emergency works on bridges, drainage systems and river banks to be undertaken by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID). — Picture by K.E.Ooi
GEORGE TOWN, Nov 29 ― The Penang state government will allocate a total of RM22.661 million to repair infrastructure damaged by the November 4 and 5 floods.
Of the amount, RM5.43 million will go to overall emergency works on bridges, drainage systems and river banks to be undertaken by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID).
Local government, traffic management and flood mitigation committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said of the total sum approved for the DID, RM1.32 million is for the northeast district on the island, RM120,000 for the southwest district on the island, RM500,000 for North Seberang Perai, RM2.2 million for Central Seberang Perai and RM1.291 for South Seberang Perai.
“Some of the works have started due to the urgency of the repair works and some will start soon as tenders will be called very soon,” he said in a press conference at Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng's office today.
On top of these emergency repair works, Chow said the DID will also implement the RM350 million flood mitigation projects allocated by the state government in the next two to three years.
For the federally-funded RM150 million Sungai Pinang flood mitigation project, it is in the process of appointing a contractor for the design-and-build undertaking, which will take another six months.
Other than drainage and irrigation projects, the state government will also clear debris from landslides and repair damaged hill slopes.
Public works and utilities committee chairman Lim Hock Seng said there are 71 locations identified on state roads such as 45 locations along Jalan Tun Sardon, 25 locations along the Jeep Road in Penang Hill and one along Jalan Pondok Upeh.
“It will cost RM17,230,000 to clear and repair these sites and this will be funded by our existing fund for such repair works,” he said.
There are also two major federal roads that were affected by landslides: the Coastal Road linking Teluk Kumbar to Tanjung Tokong with 50 locations and Jalan Paya Terubong with four locations.
“The cost to clear and repair the federal roads are RM8.49 million and we will have to apply to the federal government for allocation since these are federal roads,” he said.
The November 4 and 5 floods were possibly the worst to have ever hit Penang, and displaced more than 12,000 people over the weekend and affected almost 100,000 people.
All five districts in the state were flooded, with evacuations needed in all.NEW DELHI: The US mainstream media have "totally discarded" their "so-called objectivity and fairness" in supporting Hillary Clinton and "disparaging" Donald Trump, China's state media alleged on Sunday.In an editoral, the Global Times criticized the "ugly unity" of the US mainstream media, which it said had "heavily hyped up Trump's insulting comments against women, while only scratching the surface of Clinton's e-mail scandals." Citing "statistics from the US," it also said that 30 out of the top 100 US dailies backed Clinton, while none were |
marginal concepts in Christianity. God’s dramatic self-disclosure to us, throughout history and most of all in the Person of Jesus Christ, is a mystery in the highest sense of the term: it is the revelation of a Reality that is utterly intelligible yet always ineluctable, ever luminous yet blinding in its luminosity. It is fitting that the liturgical celebrations that bring us into contact with our very God should bear the stamp of His eternal and infinite mysteriousness, His marvelous transcendence, His overwhelming holiness, His disarming intimacy, His gentle yet penetrating silence. The traditional form of the Roman rite surely bears this stamp. Its ceremonies, its language, its ad orientem posture, and its ethereal music are not obscurantist but perfectly intelligible while at the same time instilling a sense of the unknown, even the fearful and thrilling. By fostering a sense of the sacred, the old Mass preserves intact the mystery of Faith.[14]
In sum, the classical Roman Rite is an ambassador of tradition, a midwife for the interior man, a lifelong tutor in the faith, a school of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication, an absolutely reliable rock of stability on which we can confidently build our spiritual lives.
As the movement for the restoration of the Church’s sacred liturgy is growing and gaining momentum, now is not a time for discouragement or second thoughts; it is a time for a joyful and serene embrace of all the treasures our Church has in store for us, in spite of the shortsightedness of some of her current pastors and the ignorance (usually not their own fault) of many of the faithful. This is a renewal that must happen if the Church is to survive the coming perils. Would that the Lord could count on us to be ready to lead the way, to hold up the “catholic and orthodox faith”! Would that we might respond to His graces as He leads us back to the immense riches of the Tradition that He, in His loving-kindness, gave to the Church, His Bride!
It is no time to flag or grow weary, but to put our shoulders to the wheel, our hand to the plough. Why should we deprive ourselves of the light and peace and joy of what is more beautiful, more transcendent, more sacred, more sanctifying, and more obviously Catholic? Innumerable blessings await us when, in the midst of an unprecedented crisis of identity in the Church today, we live out our Catholic faith in total fidelity and with the ardent dedication of the Elizabethan martyrs who were willing to do and to suffer anything rather than be parted from the Mass they had grown to cherish more than life itself. Yes, we will be called upon to make sacrifices—accepting an inconvenient time or a less-than-satisfactory venue, humbly bearing with misunderstanding and even rejection from our loved ones—but we know that sacrifices for the sake of a greater good are the very pith and marrow of charity.
We have given ten reasons for attending the traditional Latin Mass. There are many more that could be given, and each person will have his or her own. What we know for sure is that the Church needs her Mass, we need this Mass, and, in a strange sort of way that bestows on us an unmerited privilege, the Mass needs us. Let us hold fast to it, that we may cleave all the more to Christ our King, our Savior, our All.
NOTES
[1] See “Helping Children Enter into the Traditional Latin Mass” (Part 1, Part 2); “Ex ore infantium: Children and the Traditional Latin Mass” (here).
[2] Chesterton, Orthodoxy (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1995), 132.
[3] Jonathan Robinson, The Mass and Modernity (Ignatius Press, 2005), 307.
[4] Ibid., 311, italics added.
[5] Ibid., 311.
[6] The same author, John Zmirak (who is sound on this issue), continues: “The old liturgy was crafted by saints, and can be said by schlubs without risk of sacrilege. The new rite was patched together by bureaucrats, and should only be safely celebrated by the saintly.” John Zmirak, “All Your Church Are Belong to Us.”
[7] As documented in Peter Kwasniewski, Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis (Kettering, OH: Angelico Press, 2014), ch. 6, “Offspring of Arius in the Holy of Holies.”
[8] See, among Lauren Pristas’s many fine studies, her book Collects of the Roman Missal: A Comparative Study of the Sundays in Proper Seasons Before and After the Second Vatican Council (London: T&T Clark, 2013).
[9] Fortunately, acknowledging that this was a mistake, Pope John Paul II restored St. Catherine to the Novus Ordo calendar twenty years later, but what about all the other saints who got axed?
[10] Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 53.
[11] See, among the many who argue for this point, Fr. Richard Cipolla, “Epiphany and the Unordinariness of Liturgical Time.”
[12] See Father X, “Losing Fragments with Communion in the Hand,” The Latin Mass Magazine (Fall 2009), 27-29.
[13] The Novus Ordo “Sign of Peace” has almost nothing to do with the dignified manner in which the “Pax” is given at a Solemn High Mass, where it is abundantly clear that the peace in question is a spiritual endowment emanating from the Lamb of God slain upon the altar and gently spreading out through the sacred ministers until it rests on the lowliest ministers who represent the people
[14] For centuries, going all the way back to the early Church (and even, says St. Thomas Aquinas, to the Apostles), the priest has always said “Mysterium Fidei” in the midst of the consecration of the chalice. He was referring specifically to the irruption or inbreaking of God into our midst in this unfathomable Sacrament.
Originally published on July 9, 2015.A major Black Lives Matter leader who helped lead the protests in Ferguson, Mo., after Michael Brown was shot and killed by police, was himself was shot and killed early Tuesday and his car was torched.
Authorities reported they found the body of Darren Seals, 29, in a burned out car near St. Louis.
Police said Seals was shot to death before the car was set ablaze in a parking lot along the Mississippi River in a northern St. Louis suburb around 2 a.m.
One witness told TV station told KMOV-TV she woke up around 2 a.m. and saw the car fully engulfed in flames after hearing a “big, big boom”.
Seals was a key leader in the protests over the wrongful police shooting of teenager Mike Brown in Ferguson on August 9, 2014.
Seals’ grandmother, Ether Seals, remembered said she remembered him as a bright boy.
“I’m just numb,” she told the NY Daily News.
“I didn’t realize how smart he was until all those things happened in Ferguson where he was living,” she said.
Seals lived just blocks away from where 18-year-old Brown was fatally shot by former Ferguson cop Darren Wilson. Brown had refused Wilson’s orders to get out of the street.
“I’m very proud of him,” Ether Seals said.
“I didn’t realize how much he’d been doing until people started calling today. I’m going to miss him so much,” she added.
Black Lives Matter leader in Ferguson executed, car set on fire was originally published on atlantadailyworld.com
Also On The Chicago Defender:Canada is imposing new sanctions on the crumbling Russian economy, and especially its crucial energy sector, as the federal Conservative government applies further pressure on President Vladimir Putin to stop funding military incursions into Ukraine.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told reporters on Friday the sanctions are necessary because there is a "militaristic leader in the Kremlin who has single-handedly tried to redraw the borders of Europe."
Canada is introducing travel bans against 11 more Russians and nine people from Ukraine, Mr. Baird said. There are also new restrictions on the export of technology used in Russia's oil sector and further definitions of existing debt and equity financing prohibitions.
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"The sanctions we have taken to date, in close collaboration with our allies and partners, are putting real economic pressure on the Russian Federation to cease military aggression in sovereign Ukrainian territory," Mr. Baird said.
The Canadian sanctions complement measures imposed this week by the European Union and the United States.
Tensions between the Russian President and his counterparts in the West have been high since Mr. Putin's takeover of Crimea earlier this year and his subsequent backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine. But recent economic instability in Russia, including a sharp drop in the value of the ruble and high interest rates, have Western leaders hoping new sanctions will exacerbate Russia's financial woes and cause the populace to demand a shift in foreign policy.
"Russians are paying for their leader's reckless aggression," Mr. Baird said. "The ruble's dive should be enough to give President Putin and his backers pause. If he wants to turn his economy around, he must pull out of Ukraine and he must return Crimea, and he must respect the international order that makes us a family of nations."
U.S. President Barack Obama announced his own trade ban on Crimea on Friday, prohibiting the export of U.S. goods or services to the peninsula. He also barred imports of Crimean goods to the United States.
On Thursday, the European Union imposed sanctions specifically targeting investment in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the German weekly Der Spiegel he fears new sanctions against Moscow could destabilize Russia and warned against "turning the screw" any further.
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Jeff Sahadeo, an expert on Russia and central Asia who teaches at Carleton University in Ottawa, said new sanctions are unlikely to help the Western cause and could make the Russians more aggressive.
The banking restrictions could make it more difficult for oligarchs and wealthier Russians to move money, Prof. Sahadeo said, and the technology sanctions could complicate business for the energy sector. But they also "play into the narrative that Mr. Putin has created about a West that is trying to chain Russia," he said. "And that, for Mr. Putin, is much more advantageous in terms of popular support." Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made the Ukraine crisis a central focus of foreign policy this year.Morgan Stanley has named Susie Huang head of mergers and acquisitions for the Americas, two weeks after her predecessor announced his plans to leave for Comcast.
The appontment of Ms. Huang, a longtime deal maker and three-decade veteran of the investment bank, was announced in an internal memorandum on Wednesday, a copy of which was reviewed by The New York Times.
Robert Eatroff, who previously held the position, disclosed two weeks ago that he was leaving to serve as a top corporate development executive at Comcast, a longtime client. His former co-head of Americas mergers, Jim Head, announced last month that he would join the merchant bank BDT & Company.
The Americas mergers position at Morgan Stanley is a prominent one in the deal industry, given the firm’s pipeline of transactions. It has worked on some of the biggest takeovers of the year, including EMC’s roughly $67 billion sale to Dell, Time Warner Cable’s $56.7 billion sale to Charter Communications and Visa’s $23 billion acquisition of its former European affiliate.A bout between Germaine de Randamie and Julie Kedzie was added to the UFC on FOX 8 on July 27, the UFC informed FOXSports.com on Wednesday.
The fight at KeyArena in Seattle will mark the UFC debut for both fighters.
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“She’s one of my Muay Thai heroes,” Kedzie told FOXSports.com. “I looked up to her when I first started fighting. It’s an honor to fight her.”
The announcement of the fight coincides with Kedzie getting medically cleared Wednesday. Kedzie (16-10) tore the labrum in her left shoulder in her last fight, a bout she lost to Miesha Tate by submission (arm bar) at a Strikeforce event last August.
Kedzie said the first thing she did when the doctor gave her the OK was head to Jackson’s MMA, the famous Albuquerque gym, to resume Jiu Jitsu training.
“Everything is fine,” said Kedzie, who was originally scheduled to fight de Randamie (3-2) in Strikeforce before Kedzie injured her knee and the fight was postponed. "It’s probably stronger than it used to be."
De Randamie, a Dutch fighter, has a 3-2 record as a pro. Her last fight was a decision over Hiroko Yamanaka at the same Strikeforce event.
UFC on FOX 8 will also feature:
Jake Ellenberger vs. Rory MacDonald
Robbie Lawler vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Mac Danzig vs. Melvin Guillard
Danny Castillo vs. Bobby GreenGet the biggest Weekday Swansea 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
Jordan Ayew is to be given as much time as possible to prove his fitness ahead of Swansea City's clash with Newcastle after being taken ill on international duty wit Ghana.
The striker was ruled out of the Black Stars World Cup qualifier against Congo in Brazzaville on Tuesday with an upset stomach.
And an image of the 25-year-old apparently in a hospital bed in Accra circulated on Ghanasoccernet.com, with reports in his homeland stating the former Aston Villa man has been hit by food poisoning.
Swansea believe the illness is a stomach bug rather than food poisoning, and Ayew will fly back to the UK on Wednesday where he will be assessed by the club's medical team.
He will not be rushed back into training, although Swansea are hopeful he will have recovered in time to be involved against the Magpies at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday.
Should he be unavailable it could mean Wilfried Bony makes an instant return to the Swansea starting line-up following his signing from Manchester City.
Bony played a full part in training on Tuesday, although the likes of Wayne Routledge and Luciano Narsingh may also come into head coach Paul Clement's thoughts.
(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)
Clement has gone with two up front in each of his startling line-ups this season.
Ayew has started all four of Swansea's games so far this season, scoring in the wins over MK Dons and Crystal Palace.MIAMI -- Miami Heat practice had ended, and LeBron James lingered under a basket, fetching free throws for two teammates as he awaited his turn to shoot.
At the other end of the gym, Dwyane Wade shook his head as he watched the NBA's most valuable player engage in the most mundane of drills.
"He doesn't -- you can see him -- rest on his greatness," Wade said. "He continues to work at it. That's what makes him special. He leaves nothing to chance."
The formal announcement of James' fourth Most Valuable Player award is planned for Sunday, the eve of the Eastern Conference semifinals for the Heat. The honor will vault him into an elite category shared by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, the only other players to win the award at least four times.
James said he was humbled to keep such company.
"I'm a historian of the game," he said. "I know the game. I know these guys paved the way for myself and the rest of us."
James' other MVPs came in 2009, 2010 and 2012. He and Russell are the only players to win the award four times in five years, and he and Abdul-Jabbar are the only players to twice win the award in consecutive seasons.
James, 28, isn't resting on his laurels. That's why he kept shooting with teammates Ray Allen and Mario Chalmers after practice Saturday, while the other Heat players had headed for the showers.
"I don't know my ceiling," James said. "I don't stop trying to improve my game -- just like today, being in here with Rio and Ray, the last guys to leave the court. I want to continue to maximize what I have."
James said his primary goal remains helping the Heat win a second successive NBA title. They're scheduled to open their conference semifinals series at home Monday against the winner of the series between Chicago and Brooklyn, which went to Game 7 on Saturday night.
The Heat have been idle since Sunday, when they completed a series sweep of Milwaukee. The most scrutinized subject during the layoff has been Wade's sore right knee, and while he expects to play in Game 1, he said he'll likely have to cope with discomfort for the rest of the playoffs.
"I told the coaches, 'Don't ask me how I'm doing,'" Wade said to a cluster of reporters. "The mind is a powerful thing. Everything is mind over matter. So when you're dealing with something, you're dealing it. You understand what it is.Published online 20 February 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.611
News
Broken bits of rubber can stick themselves back together again.
Ludwik Leibler and a bit of self-healing rubber. NATURE
Snap this stretchy piece of rubber in two, and it will heal itself back into a stretchy piece of rubber again. The material's eerie ability to 'heal' itself means that it can broken, stuck and stretched time and time again.
The self-healing rubber was made in the lab of Ludwik Leibler, at the Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution in Paris. Leibler and his colleagues built up their rubber from simple starting materials — fatty acids and urea (that's vegetable oil and a component of urine).
The resulting material is a cross between silly putty and a rubber ball — it can stretch, but when snapped in two it can be stuck back together again. The team hasn't yet tried to mold the stuff into a ball, so they don't know for sure how bouncy it is. But, Leibler adds, “knowing what I know about it, it will bounce.” Their research is published in Nature1.
The material is more than just a curiosity, says Takuzo Aida, a chemist at Tokyo University. “The discovery is very close to [being used in] business,” he says. Self-healing rubber could have applications in anything from adhesives to bicycle tyres.
Stretchy stuff
Conventional rubber is made of a single, continuous, stretchy molecule, held together with strong chemical links called covalent bonds. Once these bonds are cut by a break in the material, that’s it — the rubber can’t be reassembled.
Leibler's approach was to use small molecular groups instead: the fatty acids from vegetable oil. Reacting these molecules with urea in a two-step process stuck nitrogen-containing chemical groups (amides and imidazolidones) onto the ends of the fatty acids. The fatty acids link to each other using hydrogen bonds — a strong attractive force between hydrogen and another atom, and the bond responsible for holding water molecules to each other.
The resulting molecular system is very non-uniform: some acids have three protruding groups and some have two. This means that the compound can't crystallize into a hard, shatterable material. Instead it can be stretched to five times its original size and then return to normal, albeit slower than an elastic band would — it takes around a minute.
Sticky stuff
Press two snapped bits of rubber together... NATURE
If rubber is cut, the end groups on the acids become exposed, and the hydrogen bonds to neighbouring groups are broken. It is in the amide group's nature to seek out a partner to link up to, and this happens when the cut surfaces are brought back in contact — the hydrogen bonds can form again. The longer the cut ends are held together, the more of these partnerships are made, and the more completely healed the rubber is.
...and after a few hours you can stretch it again. NATURE
A freshly cut sample can heal enough that the re-stuck rubber can be stretched to twice its size again after just 15 minutes. The system isn't perfect yet — healed rubber that hasn't been left long enough will break again at the original 'wound' site.
The broken rubbers will stick only to the other broken piece, and the rubber doesn’t have to be mended immediately — it can still efficiently reform up to 18 hours after being severed.
Simple stuff
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Other self-healing materials exist, but their bonds knit back together only when heated or a strong force is applied. Leibler’s material works at room temperature, and just requires the two broken bits to be held together gently.
"It is a very simplistic concept, and using renewable resources is really nice," says Oren Scherman, a chemist at the University of Cambridge who will be running a session on self-healing materials at the upcoming American Chemical Society meeting in New Orleans. "It's a good indication that you can rip things apart and put them together."
Leibler has a deal with French chemical company Arkema to develop and commercialize the material. Leibler would like to see the rubber used in toys: "children like to break things, if you could heal them it would be very nice."
Watch a video of the rubber.Advertisement Man sued for ignoring his car's recall notice Fire caused six-figure damage to apartment building Share Shares Copy Link Copy
A Waukesha man accused of ignoring a recall notice in the mail is being sued for six figures.Last April, Roger Jacak was cooking breakfast for the disabled woman he cares for when the fire alarm sounded in their Waukesha apartment building.“I had to quick get her dressed and get her medications,” Jacak said.“I walked out through the door to see where the fire was, and when the police officer seen me, I said, ‘I'm going right back in to get her.’ He said, ‘No, you're not. These two firemen are going to get her,’” Jacak said.Everyone got out safely, and police documented the aftermath in photos. Investigators said the fire started in the building's underground garage. Its epicenter was the engine compartment of a now-charred 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix.The car was totaled, and the fire severely damaged the building's plumbing and electrical systems.The fire marshal's report revealed the Grand Prix was part of a highly-publicized General Motors recall in 2009.GM warned, "Drops of engine oil may be deposited on the exhaust manifold through hard braking, increasing the risk of an engine compartment fire." The fire marshal said the Grand Prix never got the recommended recall repair.The apartment complex and its insurance company are suing the car's owner, saying he "failed to have the Grand Prix serviced to fix a General Motors recall issue of which he had received written notice," causing a $500,000 in damage and lost rent.No one from the apartment complex would comment. The car's owner has moved out of the building. No one answered at his new address, his business or his phone.Court records say process servers haven't been able to find him either. Legal experts said he may be legally liable.“You get a warning from whatever motor company that this can cause fire problems. If you don't get it fixed, and you decide, No. 1, not to park it outside somewhere in the middle of the street, and you decide not to get it fixed, and the fire occurs, and it does damage to someone, liability is going to attach in that situation,” Marquette University law school professor John Kircher said.“The alarm went off, and the hallway was full of smoke,” said Gerald Long, who lived in the Waukesha apartment building. Long was evacuated from his apartment after the fire, spent 10 days in a hotel, and had to get his car a new paint job. But things could have been worse. He uses an oxygen machine to help him breathe. He said the car owner should have fixed his car.“You got to otherwise something like that can happen,” Long said.Kircher said the law expects people to fix flaws they know pose danger to themselves and others.“Read them (the recall notices),” Kircher said.WISN 12 News tried repeatedly to contact the car's owner without success, so it’s not known if he ever got a recall notice, but the Marquette University law professor said he could still be held responsible. The manufacturer usually covers the cost of repairing the defect, but consumer experts said it's much harder to get them to pay for the damage that defect caused. The best bet is usually asking your insurance carrier to cover your loss. Suing the car company might require hiring a lawyer and cost you more in legal fees than the damage itself.Kevin Durant ranks No. 8 in the ESPN World Fame 100. This story about him appears in ESPN The Magazine's June 12 World Fame Issue. Subscribe today!
HE CHOSE the house in the hills because it provided the most expansive view: the Bay, the bridge, his new city, his new home. But now Kevin Durant feared it would be just another vantage point to sustain him through yet another injury.
It had all been going so well too. Fifty-eight games into his maiden voyage with Golden State, he'd been averaging a tidy 25.8 points and 8.4 rebounds, shooting a career-high 53.8 percent. It was Feb. 28, a date he'd circled on his calendar -- the night he would return to his native Washington, D.C., for the first time in his gleaming gold and blue duds, to play in front of nearly 80 family and friends.
Just 57 seconds into the game, Wizards forward Markieff Morris lured Klay Thompson into the post as Durant watched from the weak side. Morris' turnaround jumper bounced off the iron, and Wizards center Marcin Gortat threw Zaza Pachulia out of the way in pursuit -- Pachulia flailing backward, his 275-pound body rolling into Durant's left leg. It buckled awkwardly. When Durant grabbed his knee and hopped three steps up the court, his father, Wayne Pratt, turned to his wife: "Kevin's hurt."
"I knew," Pratt says now, "because he never reaches for his leg like that."
Durant stayed in the game for 36 more seconds, jogging gingerly up the court before retreating to the bench. "Something's not right," he told coach Steve Kerr. On the sideline, Wizards coach Scott Brooks couldn't help but wince. He'd come to adore KD during the seven years they were together in OKC, back when basketball was the only thing that mattered to Durant. "I would say, 'Kevin, did you eat breakfast today?' Or, 'Kevin, you need to wash your face.' 'Kevin, you need a haircut.' He had no clue. He just wanted to play ball."
Rafa Alvarez
As Durant limped off the court, his mother, Wanda, was arriving at her seat. She'd been stuck at the turnstile, head-counting the gaggle of relatives attending the game. Before she could sit, Durant's brother Tony cut in. "Mom," he said, "it's Kevin."
Wanda hurried to the visitors locker room, warding off the rising panic in her chest. It was all too familiar -- eerily reminiscent of what she'd felt two years earlier after her son's last serious injury, when Durant had broken his foot. When she found Kevin now, he was being attended to by Chelsea Lane, Warriors head of physical performance and sports medicine. Durant's business partner Rich Kleiman was there too. The initial X-rays were negative, but Durant was clearly in pain. "I'll come with you to the hospital," Wanda assured her son.
"No, Mom," Durant said. "I got this."
Kleiman accompanied Durant on the 2.7-mile drive to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where Durant's father once worked police detail. There, the orderlies, nurses and security guards still remembered him as a gangly 13-year-old running the halls. But when they greeted him now, Durant didn't respond. "I was in a daze," he says.
Although preliminary MRI results revealed a "significant injury," Kleiman was advised not to tell Durant anything until a CT scan could confirm the diagnosis. But Durant was more than a client to Kleiman -- he talks to him eight to 10 times a day. There would be no secrets. "You have a broken tibia," he told Durant. It was an injury that would end his season.
Durant blinked back tears. Soon he was sobbing, his head in his hands. "It was such a freak injury," Durant says now. "I'm flashing back to OKC, where I had all those problems with my feet, and I'm asking, Again? Why again?"
Kleiman called Wanda. She too wept at the news. Durant reached out to Draymond Green via text. "Fractured tibia," he typed into his phone. "Done for the year." Green responded immediately: "Are you serious??"
All those months of rehab on my foot, all that angst over choosing my own path, and this is what I get? Durant's mind was racing. He remembered the isolation and uncertainty of his last injury. But then, suddenly, Durant's mood turned.
He lifted his head. He wiped his face. He straightened and told Kleiman, "C'mon. Let's get out of here."
KEVIN DURANT WAS just 18 when the Seattle SuperSonics drafted him with the No. 2 pick in 2007. Eager to establish roots in his new city, he bought a house he hoped to call home for the next decade. Instead, the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City after one season. Durant wouldn't sell that Seattle house for almost six years.
If there was a lesson to be learned from that, Durant wasn't ready for it. What he was ready for was basketball. He immersed himself in a young OKC nucleus that included Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and James Harden -- the four of them often staying at the facility well after practice, eyeballing one another in a game of workout chicken. Who's going to stop first? Who's going to leave first? Not Kevin. Never Kevin.
"I was in a different place then," Durant says. "I was in a basketball bubble where nothing else mattered to me."
It all came so fast. Yet it all took so long. After winning just 23 games in 2008-09, the Thunder surged to 50 wins the next season, the Western Conference finals by 2011, the NBA Finals by 2012, followed by Durant's first MVP award in 2014. But then Harden was traded, and bodies began breaking. Westbrook tore his meniscus in 2013 and broke his hand in 2014. And then, in 2014, a Jones fracture was detected in Durant's right foot, and the details of that injury are more astonishing than most anyone knows.
"I was the MVP one minute and in a wheelchair the next. It was awful."
On Oct. 16, 2014, doctors inserted a screw into Durant's foot and projected a return in six to eight weeks. He was back in the lineup by Dec. 2, but the pain persisted. Durant changed his shoes regularly, trying to manufacture comfort. According to Dr. Martin O'Malley, one of the consulting physicians, Durant's size 19, triple-A foot was the culprit. It's extremely long with an unusual curvature. "Pictures of Kevin's feet look like hockey sticks," O'Malley says. It was so narrow, the head of the screw was irritating the bone adjacent to it.
On Feb. 22, 2015, Durant underwent another procedure, this time to insert a headless screw, one sunk deeper into the bone. And then, after four weeks and no contact, O'Malley says, Durant broke his foot again -- in the exact same place.
O'Malley recommended a bone graft using a piece of Durant's pelvis, plus a synthetic graft made from bone proteins that would form a large, thick bone around the outside of Durant's foot for extra protection. In a sense, O'Malley was creating a bionic foot, a technique he'd never tried on NBA players. "These were desperate times," O'Malley says. "I told Kevin, 'I've never had an NBA player lose his career over a Jones fracture.' But I couldn't cut and reshape Kevin's foot. It was scary. We were all freaking out a bit."
After O'Malley operated on March 31, at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, Durant's orders were to remain completely immobile for the next six weeks. No weight on the foot. No basketball.
He was a prisoner in his own world. His mother flew out to care for him, parceling out his meds, changing his sheets and serving him meals. "I was the MVP one minute and in a wheelchair the next," Durant says. "It was awful." His thoughts spiraled. What if the graft doesn't take? There were no other medical options. What if my career is over?
Rafa Alvarez
After three weeks, he graduated to a motorized scooter. Brooks tried to keep KD engaged by encouraging him to draw up plays and inviting him to coaches' meetings, but Durant knew the drill: If you can't play, you might as well be invisible. Five weeks later, he was ambulatory but still banned from the gym, so he passed the time tinkering in the sound studio in his OKC home. When his friend Drake invited him to Montreal for a show in May, Durant realized that for once there was no reason he couldn't go. He assumed Montreal was just like Toronto, where he'd been to play the Raptors. "But then I got there and everyone was speaking French," he laughs. "I was like, Man, I gotta get out more."
His normal routine in a big city was this: stay within the confines of the hotel, eat his meals, hunker down for a pregame nap. But in Montreal, Durant walked around uninhibited, spending two days in a hockey town window-shopping and munching on Canadian pastries. "When I came home from that weekend, I felt so refreshed, and so different. Ever since then, my lens has widened."
With what he craved most -- shooting hoops -- still forbidden, he surveyed his landscape and realized his world needed a jolt of reality. For the first time in his life, he would venture out of his basketball bubble. "Basketball was out," he says. "So I thought, Let me go out and see this world I'm in."
Later that summer, on an annual overseas Nike trip, Durant rented a mountain bike in Madrid. He spent an afternoon tooling around the city. He dined at an outdoor café and lounged on a stoop. He people-watched.
Rafa Alvarez
In 2016, when The Players' Tribune offered him a press pass for Super Bowl 50, he jumped at the chance, clicking sideline photos of Peyton Manning's final game. He developed a renewed interest in his business ventures. He'd always entrusted his AAU program in the DC area to his dad, but now KD had questions: Why aren't all the kids wearing my shoes? Do we have a community service component to our program?
It was, he now says, "a young player learning about what comes next. I have a short period in my life where I'm going to play basketball. Hopefully I'm going to live to be 85 years old, maybe more. I owe it to myself to experience everything that's out there."
NOW BACK IN DC in late February, in that hospital room facing news of yet another potentially season-ending injury, Durant knew what he had to do: He had to lean on the lessons he'd learned two years earlier. There's more to life than basketball.
His deliberations on leaving OKC had been agonizing. He hated disappointing people. He'd paced his Hamptons hotel room until the wee hours of the morning. When he ultimately opted for Golden State, "he wasn't spraying champagne and screaming 'Warriors!'" Kleiman says. "He couldn't move." Overnight, Durant had been vilified as a turncoat, a front-runner, a phony. "It was surprising," Green says. "Kevin Durant was the kid with the backpack that everyone adored." Still, if he'd gotten through that, he could get through this.
Back in the Warriors' locker room, the injury was already casting a pall. The coaches, in touch with Kleiman by phone, had purposely refrained from telling the players what they'd heard. But Green, texting with Durant, was under no such restrictions. He was already quietly spreading the word from locker to locker. KD was done. Says Green: "We were all in a state of shock."
And then, as Durant was heading back to the team hotel at the Four Seasons, the doctor called with astonishing news: The CT scan had revealed a deep bruise of the tibia, not a break. The new diagnosis? A sprained MCL. Durant would be back by the end of the regular season.
THIS TIME, THIS injury, Durant knew what to do. With eight weeks off in a new city, he would lean heavily on the culture that surrounded him. He took a trip 90 miles north to Sonoma County to learn how soils and climates affect the body of a fine wine. He transformed himself into something of a foodie, exploring the restaurants of Oakland and San Francisco. When Wanda visited in the fall, he picked one of his new favorite spots, Tosca Cafe, and escorted her to a private table in the corner. The two shared a hearty pasta meal with meatballs that Wanda swears were as big as baseballs. Some nights, he startled Bay Area fans by taking in a Giants or A's baseball game, hot dog in hand, baseball cap jammed on his head.
"I think it has been liberating for him to be here," says Warriors guard Shaun Livingston. "He's living on his own terms, maybe for the first time ever."
Still, no matter how often Durant insists his move to Oakland was not merely to win a championship, the naysayers will have their say. Their narrative is clear: If the Warriors win a title, Durant will have accomplished what everyone expects. If they lose, KD is the guy who still can't get it done.
"And what if we do win?" asks Warriors GM Bob Myers. "Are we supposed to close the book on everything? Do |
And then you’d put that shit on the fridge.
On the fridge, not in it. This wasn’t food.
Don’t worry, you still had plenty of scraps. You could eat those.
Just to make the greatness greater, the boxes included cutout dinosaur cards. On their reverse sides were assorted dinosaur factoids, written with gusto by someone who was more comfortable developing promo copy for fruit snacks.
Oh, and here’s the cake topper: They also ran a sweepstakes where the winner would be identified by a roaring box. Like, if you opened the box and some hidden mechanical gizmo made dinosaur noises, you would’ve won a “Lost World Adventure.” (An all expenses paid trip for 8 to New Zealand, apparently.)
Forget the prize. The mere idea that one might open a box of Fruit Roll-Ups and hear dinosaurs screaming was enough to keep everyone coming back for more. And if you didn’t win, hey, at least you still got to play with strawberry stegosauruses.
The world has always been cold, cruel and twisted. Every generation finds new ways to cope. In 1997, we did it with Jurassic Park Fruit Roll-Ups. For a fruity few minutes, nothing hurt and the air smelled sweeter.
People who ate ten of them in a sitting weren’t “hungry.” We just didn’t want to live through the comedown.In the future, pedestrians caught in a downpour might whip out a plastic stick that looks like a hairdryer crossed with a massage wand. This would be the "Air Umbrella," a prototypical device from China that blows rain away in a circle measuring 3 feet or more.
That's the vision of Chuan Wang and other university types in Beijing and Nanjing, who have waged a very successful Kickstarter campaign to fund their magical rain-rod. They've managed to slim their umbrella down to under 2 pounds with a battery charge of 15 to 30 minutes, and promise to ship weather-ready "Air Umbrellas" by the end of 2015.
Given the short battery life, they say the product will be "more suitable for the urban citizens or people who [have] a car." It allegedly works wonders on snow, although deploying it in a hailstorm is to ask for a bruised scalp. Bonus: Once inside a building, you could probably use it to style your mussed-up hair back in place.Overview (2)
Mini Bio (2)
Kevin Conroy was born on November 30, 1955 in Westbury, New York. At age 17, Kevin earned a full scholarship to attend Juilliard's drama division, where he studied under actor John Houseman. In 1978, after graduating from Juilliard, he toured with "The Acting Company", Houseman's acting group, and in 1979, he went on the national tour of "Deathtrap". In 1980, he was cast in the daytime soap opera Another World (1964). However, he soon missed the theatre, and so he became associated with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, where he performed in "Hamlet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". From 1980 to 1985, he acted in a variety of contemporary and classic theatre pieces, including the Broadway production of "Eastern Standard" and "Lolita". He is very respected in theatre circles for his interpretation of Shakespearean characters, and in 1984, he played the title role in "Hamlet" in the New York Shakespeare Festival. Kevin returned to television in the television movie Covenant (1985). He was a series regular on Ohara (1987) in 1987, and on Tour of Duty (1987) from 1987 to 1988, before starring in a series of television movies. He is best known for providing the title role in the animated Batman: The Animated Series (1992) series.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Michael A. <michaelm_95014@hotmail.com>
Kevin Conroy is best known for his voice role as the DC Comics character Batman on the 1990s Warner Bros. television show Batman: The Animated Series, as well as various other TV series and feature films in the DC animated universe. Due to the popularity of his performance as Batman, Conroy went on to voice the character for multiple films under the DC Universe Animated Original Movies banner; along with the acclaimed video games Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009), Batman: Arkham City (2011) and Batman: Arkham Knight (2015).
As a voice actor, Kevin Conroy is best known for his starring role in the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995). He continued to voice-play Batman in the subsequent spin-off series: The New Batman Adventures (1997-1999), Batman Beyond (1999-2001), Justice League (2001-2004) and Justice League Unlimited (2004-2006), all of which take place in what is commonly referred to as the DC animated universe (DCAU). His tenure in the role also includes the theatrical film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), and the direct-to-video films Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998), Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000) and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003). He also voiced Batman for the character's guest appearances in the DCAU's Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock and The Zeta Project.
Conroy is well remembered by fans for being the first person in animation to use two distinct voices to portray Bruce Wayne and Batman, which Michael Keaton had previously done in Tim Burton's live-action Batman films. In a tally of performances that include every episode, movie and guest appearance made as Batman, Conroy has portrayed the character longer than any other actor in either live-action or animation. The previous record-holder was Olan Soule, who voiced Batman in various animated works between the late 1960s and early 1980s; including Super Friends. Apart from the DCAU, Conroy has also portrayed Batman in the direct-to-video DC Universe Animated Original Movies: Batman: Gotham Knight (2008), Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (2009), Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010), Justice League: Doom (2012), Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013), Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014) and Batman: The Killing Joke(2016).
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Pedro Borges
Trade Mark (2)
Deeply charming, yet virile voice
The voice of Bruce Wayne/Batman
Trivia (15)
Went to school with Christopher Reeve
Was raised in Westport, Connecticut.
His aunt was famed Broadway star Susan Conroy.
Attended the University College of Dublin.
In Batman: The Animated Series: Perchance to Dream (1992), he read the voice of Batman, Bruce Wayne, Bruce's father, and the evil Batman in real time, alternating between all four characters without having to pause recording.
Auditioned for the part of Joe Hackett on the NBC sitcom Wings (1990). The producers spent two weeks deciding between him and Tim Daly. The two eventually worked together on Superman (1996).
Has played the voice of Batman for more than 20 years, spanning at least 9 different television series, 12 animated movies and 7 video games. No other actor has played Batman for so long.
After providing the voice of Batman/Bruce Wayne for over ten years, he did a guest appearance for The Batman (2004) where he provided the voice of John Grayson, father of Dick Grayson (the first Robin).
After the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, Conroy participated in relief efforts by volunteering to do cooking duties for officers and firefighters.
Irish-American.
He was the first actor to portray Batman as having two distinctive vocal styles: charming and virile as Bruce Wayne and gravelly and rasping as Batman.
Gave a speech at the the 1995 Screen Actors Guild Award ceremony during a tribue to voice actors.
As of 2014, he is the only actor to play Batman/Bruce Wayne, Dr Thomas Wayne (Bruce's father) & Joe Chill (the gunman who murdered Bruce's parents). He got to play Joe Chill in Justice League Unlimited: For the Man Who Has Everything (2004) (albeit in a dream sequence).
Personal Quotes (12)
Everyone is handed adversity in life. No one's journey is easy. It's how they handle it that makes people unique.
People fantasize about being a hero and helping someone in trouble. Batman is that fantasy realized--not just for Bruce Wayne, but for the audience. Inwardly, Bruce Wayne is still an adolescent watching his parents being murdered. That will never leave him. And people really relate to that.
I love doing the voice of Batman because of the quality of the animation. The music is particularly incredible. Another bonus is getting the opportunity to work with some very respected actors who do not usually do voice work.
To me, Batman is definitely Bruce Wayne's darker side. The challenge is playing it as two separate aspects of the same person. I have to create the illusion of a Dark Knight, who's mysterious and strong.
[on Michael Keaton ] He [Bruce Wayne] is Batman. He became Batman the instant his parents were murdered. Batman needs Bruce, however hollow that identity feels to him from time to time. Bruce keeps Batman human.
[on Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995)] To be fair, I must give credit where credit is due. Although Kilmer is clearly no Michael Keaton - except for a few corny lines, which are mainly the writers' fault, and a slight lacking when it comes to the portrayal of a dark side - he did a much better job than I expected.
[on seeing the animation for Batman: The Animated Series (1992) for the first time]: "I was really blown away. I turned to Mark [Hamill] and I was like 'Did you have any idea we were working on something like this?!'"
Everyone has a private self and a public self.
Bruce Wayne is Batman. He became Batman the instant his parents were murdered. Batman needs Bruce, however hollow that identity feels to him from time to time. Bruce keeps Batman human.
I guess I am basically most comfortable when I'm alone. As a kid, I was very much a loner. I love long distance running and long distance biking. A director once pointed out that those are all very isolated exercises you do for hours at a time.
People fantasize about being a hero and helping someone in trouble. Batman is that fantasy realized - not just for Bruce Wayne, but for the audience.
I guess the biggest challenge to doing any kind of animation voice work is that you only have your voice to tell the story.Mohammad Ali Baryalei: Australia's most senior member of Islamic State funnelled fighters onto the frontline of Syria, Iraq wars
Updated
A 7.30 investigation has uncovered Australia's most senior member of the Islamic State militant group, who authorities say has funnelled scores of Australian fighters onto the frontline of the wars in Syria and Iraq.
Australian authorities say 33-year-old jihadist Mohammad Ali Baryalei, from Sydney, has a trusted position in Islamic State (IS) operational command and has facilitated the recruitment of at least half of the 60 Australians currently fighting in the wars.
7.30 has been told Baryalei, an Afghan refugee and former Kings Cross nightclub bouncer, recruited a who's who of Australian IS fighters, including Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, boys as young as 17, and at least seven Australians who would go on to be killed in Syria and Iraq.
Among them were 22-year-old former Gold Coast private schoolgirl Amira Karroum and her husband, dual Australian-US citizen Tyler Casey, who died side-by-side in the Syrian city of Aleppo last January.
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The road to radicalisation
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In January 2014, a young Australian couple was gunned down in Aleppo by rival rebel Syrian forces.
Amira Karroum and her husband Tyler Casey were devout Muslims who travelled to Syria to join the global jihad.
But how do a boy from the Brisbane suburbs and a girl from the Gold Coast beaches end up dead in one of the world's most brutal conflicts?
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Amira Karroum was born to a New Zealand mother and a secular Muslim father, who fled Lebanon to Australia and founded a multi-million-dollar restaurant business on the Gold Coast. She attended the exclusive Gold Coast Anglican private girls' school St Hilda's, before going on to study graphic design at QUT.
Amira's teen years sunbathing on the beach, going to nightclubs and working at Sea World were a world away from the radical cause she would take up a few years later.
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Tyler Casey was born in Adelaide in 1990. As a small child he moved to Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane, where his mother married a recovering drug addict. Casey and his three younger half-brothers had a tumultuous upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian home.
At 13, he moved with his mother to the United States. Separated from his younger brothers, he became involved in gangs and petty crime in the city of Colorado Springs. It was there he began his first steps on the path that would lead to an unmarked grave in Syria.
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Unbeknownst to his family, during his time in the US, Casey began to associate with followers of a senior Al Qaeda Anwar Al Awlaki, who had previously been based in Colorado and later died in Yemen; Australian authorities believe he became an international emissary for Al Qaeda.
From 2008, he was paid by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to travel to Egypt and Yemen, where US intelligence agencies report he was trained for warfare. He was also sent to South Africa for religious training in 2011, where he was filmed in the audience of a sermon by one of Syria's most prominent anti-government sheikhs, Muhammad Al Yaqoubi.
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Amira and Casey's paths crossed after each moved to Sydney. In her late teens, Amira moved with her sister to be closer to her Muslim relatives in Sydney's west. One of her cousins was Fadl Sayadi, who served five years in jail for being a senior player in the biggest terrorism plot in Australia's history. Another cousin was Bilal Sayadi, who had a history of crime dating back to his teens, including bashings, drug offences and a shooting.
Casey had taken on the name Yusuf Ali and became a street preacher, converting Australians to Islam with other devout young men involved in the Street Dawah movement.
It was through Street Dawah that he became close friends with another street preacher, Bilal Sayadi.
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Bilal Sayadi arranged a marriage between Amira and Casey and a romance blossomed - but police soon discovered the marriage was part of a bigger plot. For the couple, it was another step along the path to becoming a soldier of Islam.
Amira began posting increasingly extreme statements to Facebook, writing "the hereafter is coming" and "Jannah [or paradise] is my destination". Another post said "democracy is cancer, Khilafah [the Islamic caliphate] is the answer".
Months after the pair married, Casey told friends he was going to fight alongside Al Qaeda and wouldn't be returning to Australia or the US.
Casey's stepfather reported his plan to the Australian authorities, but on June 29, 2013 he flew to Turkey via Singapore.
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During his time at Street Dawah, Casey had met fellow jihadist Mohammad Ali Baryalei, a leader of the Street Dawah movement who would emerge as a pivotal figure drawing young Australians to Syria. It was Baryalei, now based in Syria, Iraq and Turkey, who would facilitate Casey's journey to the Syrian battlefield, along with three other young Australians.
Australian authorities say Baryalei has become the most senior Australian member of the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq, responsible for funnelling at least half of the 60 Australians currently fighting there onto the frontline. Family of the 33-year-old Afghan refugee and former Kings Cross nightclub bouncer say he claims to be living a peaceful life in Turkey.
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Phone calls intercepted by police tell the story of the group's journey to the battlefield.
From Turkey, they crossed the border to Syria in early July, where they were given battle training by Jabhat Al Nusra, an Al Qaeda affiliate fighting Assad's forces in Syria.
As with this latest generation of jihadists, Casey embraced technology from the frontline, staying in close contact with his brother, showing off his cache of weapons - including AK-47s and hand grenades via Skype.
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Meanwhile, Amira was planning on joining her husband, telling her father she wanted to be a fighter.
Under the guise of a trip to visit friends in Denmark, which was funded by her cousin Bilal Sayadi, she planned to make her way south to Syria.
Police halted her first effort to leave the country, but the next day, with the assistance of her lawyer, she left for Denmark, where she met up with other Islamists making the journey to Syria.
Amira and Casey were reunited in January 2014, but instead of fighting Assad, they became embroiled in a fierce power struggle between rival rebel groups.
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Just days after Amira's arrival in the rebel stronghold of Aleppo, they were ambushed and executed in a makeshift home they shared with a Somali couple.
Australian authorities say in a brutal takeover of their Australian Jabhat Al Nusra contingent, the house was surrounded by IS militants wielding automatic weapons and Amira and her husband were killed in a blaze of gunfire.
Her father had a heart attack upon hearing the news, saying he received a call from Syria telling him his daughter's body had been dismembered and the Somali couple was buried alive.
Within days, Casey's fellow fighters had joined Islamic State.
In January 2014, a young Australian couple was gunned down in Aleppo by rival rebel Syrian forces.and her husbandwere devout Muslims who travelled to Syria to join the global jihad.But how do a boy from the Brisbane suburbs and a girl from the Gold Coast beaches end up dead in one of the world's most brutal conflicts?was born to a New Zealand mother and a secular Muslim father, who fled Lebanon to Australia and founded a multi-million-dollar restaurant business on the Gold Coast. She attended the exclusive Gold Coast Anglican private girls' school St Hilda's, before going on to study graphic design at QUT.teen years sunbathing on the beach, going to nightclubs and working at Sea World were a world away from the radical cause she would take up a few years later.was born in Adelaide in 1990. As a small child he moved to Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane, where his mother married a recovering drug addict.and his three younger half-brothers had a tumultuous upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian home.At 13, he moved with his mother to the United States. Separated from his younger brothers, he became involved in gangs and petty crime in the city of Colorado Springs. It was there he began his first steps on the path that would lead to an unmarked grave in Syria.Unbeknownst to his family, during his time in the US,began to associate with followers of a senior Al Qaeda Anwar Al Awlaki, who had previously been based in Colorado and later died in Yemen; Australian authorities believe he became an international emissary for Al Qaeda.From 2008, he was paid by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to travel to Egypt and Yemen, where US intelligence agencies report he was trained for warfare. He was also sent to South Africa for religious training in 2011, where he was filmed in the audience of a sermon by one of Syria's most prominent anti-government sheikhs, Muhammad Al Yaqoubi.andpaths crossed after each moved to Sydney. In her late teens, Amira moved with her sister to be closer to her Muslim relatives in Sydney's west.One of her cousins was, who served five years in jail for being a senior player in the biggest terrorism plot in Australia's history. Another cousin was, who had a history of crime dating back to his teens, including bashings, drug offences and a shooting.had taken on the nameand became a street preacher, converting Australians to Islam with other devout young men involved in the Street Dawah movement.It was through Street Dawah that he became close friends with another street preacher,arranged a marriage betweenandand a romance blossomed - but police soon discovered the marriage was part of a bigger plot. For the couple, it was another step along the path to becoming a soldier of Islam.began posting increasingly extreme statements to Facebook, writing "the hereafter is coming" and "Jannah [or paradise] is my destination". Another post said "democracy is cancer, Khilafah [the Islamic caliphate] is the answer".Months after the pair married,told friends he was going to fight alongside Al Qaeda and wouldn't be returning to Australia or the US.stepfather reported his plan to the Australian authorities, but on June 29, 2013 he flew to Turkey via Singapore.During his time at Street Dawah,had met fellow jihadist, a leader of the Street Dawah movement who would emerge as a pivotal figure drawing young Australians to Syria.It was, now based in Syria, Iraq and Turkey, who would facilitatejourney to the Syrian battlefield, along with three other young Australians.Australian authorities sayhas become the most senior Australian member of the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq, responsible for funnelling at least half of the 60 Australians currently fighting there onto the frontline. Family of the 33-year-old Afghan refugee and former Kings Cross nightclub bouncer say he claims to be living a peaceful life in Turkey.Phone calls intercepted by police tell the story of the group's journey to the battlefield.From Turkey, they crossed the border to Syria in early July, where they were given battle training by Jabhat Al Nusra, an Al Qaeda affiliate fighting Assad's forces in Syria.As with this latest generation of jihadists,embraced technology from the frontline, staying in close contact with his brother, showing off his cache of weapons - including AK-47s and hand grenades via Skype.Meanwhile,was planning on joining her husband, telling her father she wanted to be a fighter.Under the guise of a trip to visit friends in Denmark, which was funded by her cousin, she planned to make her way south to Syria.Police halted her first effort to leave the country, but the next day, with the assistance of her lawyer, she left for Denmark, where she met up with other Islamists making the journey to Syria.andwere reunited in January 2014, but instead of fighting Assad, they became embroiled in a fierce power struggle between rival rebel groups.Just days after's arrival in the rebel stronghold of, they were ambushed and executed in a makeshift home they shared with a Somali couple.Australian authorities say in a brutal takeover of their Australian Jabhat Al Nusra contingent, the house was surrounded by IS militants wielding automatic weapons and Amira and her husband were killed in a blaze of gunfire.Her father had a heart attack upon hearing the news, saying he received a call from Syria telling him his daughter's body had been dismembered and the Somali couple was buried alive.Within days,fellow fighters had joined Islamic State.
The investigation into the years of radicalisation and recruitment that led the couple to their brutal deaths has discovered Casey had spent five years as an international Al Qaeda emissary before he joined the Syrian war.
Karroum's death in a hail of bullets in Syria was a world away from the life of the beach-loving teenager who grew up in a wealthy family on the Gold Coast and went to a local Anglican girl's school.
"She was beautiful," said her grieving father Mohammed Karroum.
"We had a house, a waterfront house, and she used to invite her friends and I used to make barbecues for them, barbecues, and she would be swimming, dancing.
"She goes to the nightclub with her sister, just having a good time like any ordinary girl."
Karroum's life took a major turn in 2011 when she moved with her older sister to the suburb of Liverpool in Sydney's west to be closer to their Muslim relatives.
There, the sisters began to embrace their Muslim identity.
"They start to put the hijab [on] and they don't want to take it off and everything they do, they do by the Muslim law," Mr Karroum said.
One of Karroum's cousins was Fadl Sayadi, who had been jailed for five years for the biggest terrorism plot in Australia's history.
Another cousin, Bilal Sayadi, had a history of crime dating back to his teens, including bashings, drug offences and a senseless shooting.
Bilal Sayadi introduced Amira to his close friend, Casey, a young Australian-American convert to Islam who had also moved from Queensland.
In April last year, Bilal Sayadi arranged for Karroum and Casey to marry. It was a surprise to both sides of the family.
"I said, no! And they can't get married if I said 'no'," Mr Karroum said.
"Then my cousin came to me and he started talking to me: 'he's alright, he's beautiful person'.
"And they got married there and then – that day."
Casey already a veteran of global jihad
Casey was already a veteran of the global jihad who had grown up in a fundamentalist Christian family near Brisbane with three younger brothers, including Josiah Turnbull.
"We had strict rules we had to abide by... we went to church every Sunday," Mr Turnbull told 7.30.
"We were very church orientated, did a lot in the community, helped out wherever we could."
When Casey was 13, his mother took him to Colorado Springs in the US, where he became involved in gangs and petty crime.
It was there he discovered and converted to Islam.
"He went from being bad on the streets," Mr Turnbull recalled.
"The next day when I've seen him after he came back from the States, his whole life was changed. He was good, he didn’t get into trouble, he stayed away from things."
Australian authorities believe that during his time in the US, Casey began to associate with followers of senior Al Qaeda recruiter, Anwar al Awlaki, who was previously based in Colorado and later killed in Yemen.
Authorities say he adopted the name Yusuf Ali and became an international emissary for Al Qaeda.
7.30 learned the FBI and CIA were watching Casey from 2008. They report they have intelligence he received military training during trips to Yemen.
Casey also travelled to South Africa and Egypt.
"[Tyler] went to Egypt a couple of times that I know, so something must've been keeping him to go back there," Mr Turnbull said.
"My father said he was there doing the training camps, training for war."
But it was back in Australia that Casey met a fellow jihadist who would emerge as a pivotal figure, drawing young Australians into Syria.
From Afghan refugee to IS facilitator
In Sydney, Casey became involved in the Street Dawah movement, a group of preachers devoted to converting Australians to Islam that counted Bilal Sayadi among its members.
Mohammad Ali Baryalei was a leader of the group who would go on to seal Casey and Karroum's fate in Syria.
Baryalei was from an aristocratic Afghan family who had come to Australia as refugees when he was a child.
He worked as a security guard in Kings Cross and was an aspiring actor who had a fleeting appearance in the true-crime television series Underbelly.
But his true passion was his faith and in April 2013 police say he travelled to Syria to fight with Islamic militants.
Authorities believe he has established himself as the most senior Australian member of Islamic State, involved in its operational command in Syria and Iraq as a key facilitator for Australians travelling to Syria and Iraq to fight.
In June 2013, Casey and Karroum were ready to join him.
Karroum was posting increasingly extreme statements to Facebook, writing "the hereafter is coming" and "Jannah (or paradise) is my destination".
Another post said "democracy is a cancer, Khilafah [the Islamic caliphate] is the answer."
"They (Tyler Casey and Amira) were going to go [to Syria] together, but he advised her not to, he went by himself," Mr Karroum said.
Four days before Casey left Australia with three friends from the Street Dawah, police intercepted a phone call between Baryalei and his handler in Sydney.
"Four brothers coming this week – they are leaving Australia, going to try and get them by the weekend," the caller told Baryalei.
"Abu Qaqa (Casey) is the tall one that was doing Dawah with you.
"The brothers yesterday, they were crying, affected, none of them wanted to stay in this country one second."
A month later, Casey and the other three men crossed the Turkish border into Syria.
They were put through military training before Baryalei arranged their entry onto the battlefield with the Al Qaeda group, Jabhat al Nusrah.
Casey stayed in close contact with his half-brother from the frontline.
He was showing me his ammunition or artillery he had," Mr Turnbull said.
"He had like two or three AK-47s, a few grenades, things like that. He was fighting for his religion, he was fighting for what he believed what was right.
"I was proud of him... he's doing something that was making a difference."
Amira determined to join husband on the frontline
Back in Sydney, Karroum was determined to join her husband on the frontline. But first she visited her father on the Gold Coast.
"She came and saw me before she left, I didn't know she was leaving, and she hugged me and she started to cry," Mr Karroum said.
"I knew it was different this time. I said to her, 'what’s wrong?', she said to me, 'nothing, I just love you Dad'.
"And I accepted it - I didn’t know she was saying goodbye."
With money provided by her cousin Bilal Sayadi, Karroum bought a ticket to Denmark.
"She went to Denmark, she met these people from Somalia, man and a wife - and she went to Syria," Mr Karroum said.
When she arrived in the Syrian city of Aleppo to reunite with Casey, a fierce power struggle was raging with ISIS - now known as Islamic State - and the Al Qaeda group Jabhat Al Nusra, with which the Australians were aligned.
"She sent me a message: 'Please Dad, pray to Allah and ask him to forgive you for the days, for the years you have not prayed for him, death is around the corner Dad. I love you'," Mr Karroum said.
Just days after Karroum's arrival in the rebel stronghold of Aleppo, she and Casey were ambushed and executed in a makeshift home they shared with the Somali couple.
Australian authorities say the house was surrounded by IS militants wielding automatic weapons and Karroum and her husband were killed in a blaze of gunfire.
Her father had a heart attack upon hearing the news, saying he received a call from Syria telling him his daughter's body had been dismembered and the Somali couple was buried alive.
Australian authorities believe Karroum and Casey were killed in a brutal takeover of the Australians' Jabhat Al Nusra contingent.
Within days, their fellow Australian fighters had joined IS.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, terrorism, australia, syrian-arab-republic, iraq, qld
First postedWith the off-season departure of several veterans, the Kings have turned to young centers to pivot key depth lines. Nick Shore, 23 and Andy Andreoff, 24, are operating in positions – or, perhaps, “boxes” – held in recent seasons by veterans such as Mike Richards, Jarret Stoll and Colin Fraser.
The season is only five games old, and the Kings are yet to play on the road, so it’s too early to have a clear picture painted of the players’ performances. But in Sunday night’s win over Colorado – or, for the first period, at least – the Andreoff line was highly effective as he, Jordan Nolan and Kyle Clifford had swarmed the opposing net and played with an energy that the rest of the team fed off.
“Yeah, I thought our line had a pretty good start in the first period,” Andreoff said. “I kind of ruined that by getting kicked out, but it’s good getting that confidence going playing together. The more games we play, the better we’ll play. Hopefully we can build of that first period and bring it to the next game.”
So, about “getting kicked out.” Andreoff and Avalanche forward Cody McLeod ran afoul of NHL Rule 46.7, “Fighting After the Original Altercation,” and were both assessed fighting majors and game misconducts.
The rule states:
A game misconduct penalty shall be imposed on any player who is assessed a major penalty for fighting after the original altercation has started. Notwithstanding this rule, at the discretion of the Referee, the automatic game misconduct penalty may be waived for a player or goalkeeper in the altercation if the opposing player was clearly the instigator of the altercation.
Sutter felt that the officials had the opportunity to keep the Andreoff-McLeod altercation from happening.
“I didn’t like the fact that [Andy] got kicked out. I thought it was clearly an officiating mistake,” he said. “After the Skille-Nolan fight, clearly 55 (McLeod) for them was involved in that, too, so they should’ve handled that right away and nothing would’ve happened. For anybody who knows anything about hockey, nothing would’ve happened if the referees would’ve taken care of 55 right away.”
After the original fight, according to highlights available at LAKings.com, referee Tim Peel restrained McLeod before skating to the penalty box area to communicate with the off-ice officials. At the 2:02 mark of the video below, a replay shows that as referee Kyle Rehman hovered around Kyle Clifford, Andreoff and McLeod, McLeod gave a two-handed jab to Andreoff’s back before the two engaged each other in the offending bout, earning game misconducts.
Andreoff said the secondary incident grew out of the exchange involving Nolan.
“I guess I just didn’t really like the way McLeod was talking to Noley,” he said. “He was kind of chirping him, I guess because he fought Skille. I didn’t really know about the rule, but lesson learned now, so I won’t do that again.”
The incident followed a productive 4:14 of ice time for Andreoff, who took two shots on goal and was on the ice for eight Los Angeles shot attempts and only one Colorado shot attempt, according to statistics provided by War-on-Ice.
“It would’ve been nice to see Andy not get kicked out so that they could’ve played more,” Sutter said. “It was the first game that they demonstrated that they could play to their strengths as a threesome. … If they’re just five-to-seven minute players, then that doesn’t fit either very well. The fourth line, they have to have an identity.”The hopeless polarization of American society is both a truism and a taboo. We may be divided by class, race, ideology and any number of other forces, but many of us also cling to the belief — or the delusion — that a larger consensus still holds us together. Failing that, we can at least still be nice to one another when the occasion requires. Can’t we?
“Beatriz at Dinner,” a new film directed by Miguel Arteta and written by Mike White, unflinchingly addresses that question, and declines to provide a comforting answer. The setting is a dinner party at a Southern California mansion made awkward by the presence of the title character, a massage therapist played with regal composure and understated mischief by Salma Hayek. The differences of background and economic status between Beatriz and her hosts are obvious enough, and the film hardly ignores them. But this is neither a simple satire of privilege nor a mock-provocative comedy of diversity and its discontents. It’s about a clash of values, about unresolvable contradictions. Or to put it another way, about good and evil.
Beatriz, who lives with dogs and goats and who works mainly with cancer patients at an alternative-healing center, is undoubtedly good. But because she is a Mike White heroine, she is also complicated, sometimes abrasive and not always pleasant to be around. She demonstrates obvious kinship with the characters played by Molly Shannon in “Year of the Dog” (which Mr. White wrote and directed) and Laura Dern in the HBO series “Enlightened” (which he created). Her righteousness doesn’t make her saintly. It makes her interesting.Abrothrix longipilis, also known as the long-haired grass mouse[1] or long-haired akodont,[2] is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in central and southern Argentina and Chile. The southern Chilean Abrothrix sanborni may not be distinct from this species.[3]
Description [ edit ]
The long-haired grass mouse is a large, robust grass mouse, with a head-and-body length of about 130 mm (5 in). It varies in colour across its wide range, but in most populations the dorsal hair is reddish-brown with long guard hairs, the flanks are more greyish and the underparts are grey. The tail is bicoloured, dark above and pale below.[4]
Distribution and habitat [ edit ]
The species is found in central and southern Chile, and in Argentina as far southward as the Rio Negro and Chubut provinces of Patagonia. Its chief habitat is the Nothofagus forests of the region but it is also found in rocky areas, marshy areas, tussock grass and steppe with shrubs.[4]
Ecology [ edit ]
The long-haired grass mouse is active both in the day and the night. It is an efficient excavator and digs burrows, but it is also a good tree climber. In Argentina it feeds on berries, seeds, insects, slugs, worms, fungi and fern spores. The diet differs in different parts of Chile, either consisting of insects and plant material, or insects and fungi, just insects or just fungi.[4] Breeding takes place in the spring and summer. The litter size averages just below four and at least some individuals overwinter twice. Home ranges in the Patagonian Nothofagus forest vary between 0.4 and 4.8 individuals per hectare in spring, and 2.8 to 10.8 individuals per hectare in autumn. This grass mouse is preyed on by the barn owl, the lesser horned owl, the rufous-legged owl, the white-tailed kite and the South American gray fox |
be a good role model for children.
2) This statement, which would be banal in any ordinary race, was immediately interpreted as a crippling gaffe that would imperil the senator’s reelection.
3) So the senator soon issued a statement saying she “misspoke” and clarifying that the party’s nominee is not, in fact, a good role model.
4) However, she’s still voting for him to become president.
Yes, this is how Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire began her week. Locked in a tight reelection race against her state’s Democratic governor, Maggie Hassan, Ayotte was asked during a debate whether she would tell children “to be like Donald Trump.” The moderator continued: “Would you point to him as a role model?”
“Uh, I, uh, I think that certainly there are many role models that we have. And, uh, I believe he can serve as president. And so absolutely. I would do that,” Ayotte stammered in response.
Yikes, absolutely painful response from Kelly Ayotte on whether children should look up to Donald Trump as a role model. pic.twitter.com/WvGEomS3bF — Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) October 3, 2016
Recognizing this admission for the disaster it was, Ayotte’s campaign soon sent out a statement that read as follows: “I misspoke tonight. While I would hope all of our children would aspire to be president, neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton have set a good example and I wouldn’t hold up either of them as role models for my kids.”
Now, oddly enough, Ayotte has said for months that she will vote for Donald Trump to become president, which seems like a more important topic than whether he is a good role model for young children. (She’s also bizarrely tried to create a distinction between saying she would vote for Trump, which she has done, and saying she “endorses” him, which she claims she has not done.)
But when you think about it, her logic there actually made a certain amount of political sense. Whether or not it’s accurate, she could at least make the case that Trump is deeply flawed, but worthy of supporting purely for “lesser of two evils” reasons, because Hillary Clinton is so much worse.
Ayotte’s blunder here was saying Trump is actually good in his own right. She dropped the criticism of Trump and deemed him worthy of being a role model at the very moment when his personal behavior has been even more repulsive than usual (which, for him, is saying something).
Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2016
For the most part, Republican candidates across the country have managed to avoid saying what they think about Trump’s controversies of the day by changing the subject to Clinton or conservative policies.
“We know that normal, ideologically orthodox conservative elected officials think Trump should be president of the United States,” Matt Yglesias wrote. “But to a striking extent, we haven’t heard whether they think it’s appropriate for a president to be tweeting about sex tapes, suggesting Mexicans can’t serve as federal judges, or musing out loud about abrogating NATO and leaving much of Eastern Europe open to Russian conquest.”
Ayotte’s gaffe shows that even GOP politicians in important Senate races haven’t quite managed to learn how to finesse this. Ayotte has tried to strike a balance between criticizing Trump and justifying her support for him — but in calling him a role model, she seems to have gone too far.At his first press conference after getting elected, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani singled out Saudi Arabia as the country his government would try particularly hard to build friendly relations with. He even referred to Saudis as Iran's "brothers."
Things didn't turn out quite as Rouhani had hoped.
Middle Eastern geopolitics have changed dramatically since the mid-1990s, when Rouhani had helped engineer a Saudi-Iran rapprochement. The Iraq war had caused Saudi to lose both faith in American intentions and competence. The Arab Spring -- and what the Saudis viewed as the betrayal of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak by the U.S. -- convinced Riyadh that Washington would no longer uphold its promise to secure and protect pro-Western Arab dictators.
The U.S.-led order for the region established in the 1990s was bound to collapse.
Moreover, by refraining from using military force against Syrian President Bashar Assad, America had proved that its desire to avoid new wars in the Middle East superseded its hegemonic obligations to uphold security and stability in region. It looks to the Saudis like America has simply abandoned its ally.
Moreover, Saudi oil has lost its lure. The U.S. has significantly increased its own oil production and reduced its dependence on Saudi oil. And as a result of the Iran nuclear deal -- which Saudi Arabia vehemently opposed -- Iranian oil will soon return to the world markets. Many states are planning to reduce their dependency on Saudi oil by shifting some of their consumption towards Iranian crude.
And then of course, Iran is no longer checked geopolitically by Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Add to that the lifting of sanctions on Iran -- which "may be days away" according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry -- and it becomes clear why Riyadh fears that its geopolitical decline will be exacerbated by Iran's ascendancy.
Despite this dramatically altered geopolitical map, the Rouhani government did attempt to mend fences with Saudi Arabia. Rouhani appointed Admiral Ali Shamkhani as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council -- Iran's equivalent of national security advisor. Shamkhani, who is ethnically Arab, received Saudi Arabia's highest medal in 2004, the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud, for his efforts to improve relations with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The thinking appears to have been -- at least in part -- that Shamkhani was the best suited official to orchestrate Iranian outreach to Saudi.
American order was based on the exclusion of two of the region's most powerful states -- Iran and Iraq -- and could only be sustained as long as the U.S. was willing to pay for it through its own blood and treasure.
Furthermore, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif declared his willingness to travel to Riyadh but didn't receive an invitation until King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud died in January 2015. Zarif attended the king's funeral but no Saudi official agreed to meet with him during his visit. Months earlier, Zarif did have a brief sit-down with the then-foreign minister in New York, the late Prince Saud al-Faisal, but in retrospect it is clear that very little was achieved.
Part of Iran's problem in dealing with Saudi Arabia is Riyadh's inherent sense of insecurity, rooted in its dependence on the U.S. and the outsourcing of its security to Washington. As Iranian academic Nasser Hadian points out, Saudi Arabia outspends Iran on arms by a factor of six. Its military has the most modern American weaponry. It is the key state in the Gulf Cooperation Council -- a body that was created to balance Iran's power.
Thus, Iran's power or military capabilities cannot explain Saudi Arabia's sense of insecurity. Rather, Hadian argues, Saudi's sense of vulnerability is inherent in the very political nature of the Saudi regime -- the fact that it is renting its security from the U.S. (which, incidentally, is increasingly reluctant to provide that protection). A tenant will never enjoy the same sense of security as a homeowner, so to say. This leaves Iran with limited options, as there is little Tehran can do to alleviate Saudi Arabia from this innate uncertainty, Hadian maintains.
Kerry discusses a long-term nuclear deal with Zarif at the U.N. April 27, 2015, in New York City. (Jason DeCrow-Pool/Getty Images)
What is the solution to the Saudi-Iranian conflict then?
There are no obvious short-term solutions available. Rather, the first step must be to contain tensions and ensure that they don't spill over into other areas.
Second, there must be a recognition that the Middle East suffers from a diplomacy deficit. The limited diplomacy that exists must be strengthened. The recent Saudi-Iranian escalation cannot be permitted to collapse the existing diplomatic activity -- particularly not the Syrian negotiations.
Part of Iran's problem in dealing with Saudi Arabia is Riyadh's inherent sense of insecurity, rooted in its outsourcing of its security to Washington.
While expectations on what the Syria talks can achieve must be tempered, the fact that all key outside players are at the table is an important achievement in and of itself. Neither the execution of a Shia cleric nor the sacking of an embassy -- however unacceptable -- can be permitted to scuttle the fragile Syria talks.
Third, the rhetoric must cool down on both sides and the Rouhani government must ensure that the vigilantes torching the Saudi embassy are brought to trial and punished. Iran has a shameful history of failing to protect foreign embassies, and any failure to bring the perpetrators to justice will be perceived as a lack of sincerity in reducing tensions with Saudi Arabia.
Fourth, the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council must pressure both sides to deescalate and, if possible, explore opportunities to mediate the conflict. Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit Iran and Saudi Arabia later this month. Mindful of the strong relations China enjoys with both of these Persian Gulf powerhouses and mindful of China's own interest in stability in the region, Beijing may be able to play a helpful role in defusing tensions.
In the long run, however, sustainable security can only be ensured if a new inclusive security architecture is established for the region. Any power that is excluded will develop an interest in undermining the region's security precisely because its interests are not respected. This is why the U.S.-led order for the region established in the 1990s was bound to collapse. It was based on the exclusion of two of the region's most powerful states -- Iran and Iraq -- and could only be sustained as long as the U.S. was willing to pay for it through its own blood and treasure.
It looks to the Saudis like America has simply abandoned its ally.
But until now, Saudi Arabia has sought to prevent Iran from being rehabilitated in the region's security structure. It opposed Iran's inclusion in the Syria talks, for instance, and only reluctantly agreed to partake after pressure from President Obama.
Friends of Saudi Arabia need to intervene once more and convince Riyadh of the inevitable: Iran is part of the region; it is a major power and long-term stability necessitates its inclusion in any security order. The influence and privilege Saudi Arabia enjoyed under American order will no longer be the same -- because that order is no more.
Earlier on WorldPost:Jim Jarmusch’s “Paterson” will hit theaters at the end of 2016, Variety has learned.
Amazon Studios is backing the indie drama and is partnering with Bleecker Street on the film’s release. The movie will get a platform release, expanding its theatrical footprint gradually. It will debut on Dec. 28, which allows it to qualify for awards. That’s a busy time of year, one that will also see the launches of Oscar contenders such as “Toni Erdmann,” an acclaimed German comedy, and “Patriot’s Day,” a drama about the Boston Marathon bombing.
“Paterson” centers on a bus driver (Adam Driver of “Girls” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”), following him on his daily routine, as he ferries passengers around the city of Paterson, N.J. All the while, the driver, who is also named Paterson, channels his observations into poetry, scratching out his writing in a notebook that he carries. Golshifteh Farahani (“Rosewater”) co-stars as Paterson’s supportive wife, who champions his writing.
“Paterson” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, garnering Jarmusch some of the strongest reviews of his career.
In the A.V. Club, Mike D’Angelo praised the film’s mild-mannered nature, writing, “The heart of the film lies precisely in its ordinariness, which Jarmusch somehow makes transcendent through repetition, point of view, and poetry.”
Related Amazon, Retail Behemoth, Taking Smaller Steps Into Hollywood
Jarmusch’s past films include “Down by Law,” “Broken Flowers,” and “Mystery Train.”
For the past year, Amazon has been very active in the indie space, releasing the likes of Woody Allen’s “Cafe Society” and Nicolas Winding Refn’s “The Neon Demon.” Amazon is planning to push “Paterson” for the Oscars. It won’t be the only Amazon release with an awards season campaign. “Cafe Society” could get some awards love, particularly for its screenplay and Vittorio Storaro’s lush cinematography. The company has another serious Oscar contender in “Manchester by the Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan’s searing family drama, which it bought out of the Sundance Film Festival and will release in November in conjunction with Roadside Attractions.
As part of its strategy, Amazon finances or buys films and partners with an indie company, such as Roadside or Bleecker, to distribute them in theaters. It then gets streaming rights for its Amazon Prime subscription service. That’s a different model than other digital competitors, such as Netflix, which tend to be primarily interested in releasing the films they back directly to their subscribers, often forgoing a theatrical release.Prelude to plantation: Sir Cahir O’Doherty’s rebellion in 1608
Published in Early Modern History (1500–1700)
Sir Cahir O’Doherty’s short-lived rebellion in 1608 took almost everyone by surprise. He had shown himself to be a very willing collaborator with the English Crown in the decisive phase of the Nine Years’ War (1594–1603) and afterwards. Yet O’Doherty was driven to conclude that his earnest efforts to integrate himself into the Stuart dominions were futile. The experiences of this loyalist-turned-rebel were symptomatic of the tremendous difficulties encountered by Irish Catholic lords in trying to reach an accommodation with the Crown and its officials in the early seventeenth century.
Spaniards and English
In September 1588 the ship La Trinidad Valencera sank in Kinnego Bay, on the north coast of Inishowen. It had been part of the great Armada sent by Philip II of Spain to conquer England. (The wreckage of the ship was rediscovered in 1971, and many of the artefacts recovered are now displayed in Derry’s Tower Museum.) The landing in his lordship of Don Alonso de Luzon at the head of 500 Spaniards posed a grave dilemma for Sir John O’Doherty (as he now styled himself): he was supposed to support the English against their Spanish foes, but Redmond O’Gallagher, bishop of Derry, had been campaigning zealously for Spanish support to win Irish freedom from the English and he persuaded O’Doherty to succour the Spanish survivors.
Sir John O’Doherty temporised. He discreetly made contact with Don Alonso and provided relief to the Spaniards. At the same time he sent news of the Spaniards’ arrival to the English. O’Doherty devised a plan whereby the Spaniards would give the appearance of having wrested possession of one of his castles from him. The Spaniards, however, proved to be no match for a smaller force of English soldiers. Don Alonso quickly surrendered, only to have the vast majority of his men disarmed, stripped and executed. For his part in the episode Sir John O’Doherty was lodged in a dungeon of Dublin Castle and only released two years later.
Sir John O’Doherty was a pragmatist, a man with no affection for the English or their queen but astute enough to weigh up political realities and act accordingly. He joined the Irish Confederates led by Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, and Red Hugh O’Donnell, lord of Tyrconnell, in the Nine Years’ War (1594–1603) against England very hesitantly, on the understanding that Spanish promises of massive support for the Confederates were on the verge of being realised. After several years of disappointment, however, Sir John sent signals to the English to indicate that he was willing to be a loyal subject of the queen if she could shield him from his powerful overlord, Red Hugh O’Donnell. English military tacticians were already conscious of the strategic value of Inishowen for their war against the Irish Confederates.
Cahir’s collaboration
Sir John O’Doherty’s death in January 1601 left his thirteen-year-old son, Cahir, as his heir under English rule. Red Hugh O’Donnell, however, sponsored the appointment of Felim O’Doherty, a half-brother of Sir John and an experienced soldier, as the lord of Inishowen. Cahir’s foster-brothers, Hugh Buí and Felim Riabhach McDevitt, would not accept O’Donnell’s choice. They convinced Dowcra to persuade the queen’s deputy and council in Dublin to confirm Cahir as the lord of Inishowen and assured them of his support against the Confederates.
Cahir’s decision to collaborate with the English was pragmatic: the Confederates were content to relegate him to obscurity in favour of an uncle who could lead the men of Inishowen into battle against the English, while the English, on the other hand, would make him a lord. For a young lad who had been reared in the expectation of becoming a lord the choice was easy. And there were political calculations that encouraged Cahir to collaborate. By 1600 it was very hard to keep believing that the Spaniards would keep their promise to send a large army to support the Irish against the English. It was becoming increasingly probable that the English would win the war.
The English military campaign in Ulster was murderous. The state papers contain countless reports of English soldiers killing large numbers of Irish ‘men, women and children’, burning their houses and foodstores, and either slaughtering or taking away their livestock. Sir Arthur Chichester, one of the leading English commanders in Ulster, boasted that he and his men ‘killed man, woman, child, horse, beast and whatsoever we found’. Lord Mountjoy, the queen’s deputy, had no qualms of conscience about the slaughter of the innocent: he observed that even the best Irish people were ‘in their nature little better than devils’.
Cahir became Dowcra’s protégé in Derry. He threw himself into this new role with relish. Not content with sporting fine English clothes and speaking English, Cahir supported the English army’s operations in the north-west with enthusiasm. Years later, in his memoirs, Dowcra admitted that without Cahir it would have been ‘utterly impossible that we could have made that sure and steady progress in the wars [against the Irish Confederates] that afterwards we did’. Cahir’s bravery in battle against the Confederates was acknowledged with a knighthood by Mountjoy, at Augher, Co. Tyrone, in 1602.
Once the Nine Years’ War finally ended in 1603, Sir Cahir O’Doherty accompanied Mountjoy to meet the new king of England, Scotland and Ireland, James Stuart. The king formally confirmed the young Irishman in his father’s title and lands. On returning to Ireland Sir Cahir married Mary Preston, a daughter of Viscount Gormanstown, one of the leading peers in the Pale. He became a justice of the peace and an alderman of Derry. His collaboration with the Crown was well rewarded.
Sir Cahir O’Doherty was content to be a loyal subject of the British Crown, but as an Irish Catholic with land his status was far more precarious than he realised. In 1606 Dowcra sold his position as governor of Derry to Sir George Paulett, an irascible character who had no respect for Irish people or Catholics. Paulett soon realised that his investment in Derry had been ill-advised and he looked greedily on O’Doherty’s vast estates. About the same time George Montgomery, the first Protestant bishop of Derry, Raphoe and Clogher, arrived in Derry and immediately coveted as much land as he could get his hands on. Within months Sir Cahir found himself sued by the bishop in the king’s court in Dublin for some valuable lands in Inishowen, and was given a telling lesson in the quality of British justice when the defendant was Irish and Catholic.
‘Flight of the Earls’
The ‘Flight of the Earls’ in September 1607 left the English garrisons in the north of Ireland very jittery for fear of a Spanish-backed rebellion. Early in November 1607 Paulett learned of rumours that Sir Cahir was planning to rebel—which was most unlikely—and he tried to seize O’Doherty’s chief castle, at Burt. Sir Cahir met Sir Arthur Chichester, the king’s new deputy in Dublin, who insisted that the Irish lord provide sureties to guarantee his loyalty. Sir Cahir saw the demand as an affront to his record of service to the Crown and refused to do so, but he was imprisoned in Dublin Castle until he complied. It was a humiliating experience that revealed to O’Doherty something of the reality of his status as an Irish lord.
Nevertheless, Sir Cahir tried to strengthen his position within the British political establishment. He acted as the foreman of the jury that indicted the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell of treason for their flight from Ireland. Most audaciously, he applied to join the Prince of Wales’s household, an honorary position that would place him close to the British Crown and help him to protect his interests against covetous British officials in Ireland.
But early in April 1608 O’Doherty got into a violent argument with Paulett in Derry. Paulett was extremely arrogant towards O’Doherty, who insisted that ‘I think myself as good as you’. Paulett charged O’Doherty with treason and struck him. The Irish lord ‘would rather have suffered death than to live to brook such insult and dishonour, or defer or delay to take revenge for it’. It was the final straw for O’Doherty, by that stage very disillusioned with the reality of British rule, and drove him into rebellion.
Rebellion
There were two English garrisons by Inishowen, one in Derry and the other 8km further north at Culmore. Sir Cahir and his men captured Culmore Castle with a ruse. He invited the commander at Culmore, Captain Hart, and his wife to dine at Buncrana Castle on 18 April 1608. Then he used them as hostages to take possession of Culmore Castle and its large store of munitions.
Sir Cahir O’Doherty with about 100 men captured Derry on Tuesday 19 April 1608. Paulett, as one might expect, was killed straight away. Most of the British men in Derry ran for their lives, leaving many of their women to be captured, stripped naked and held prisoner by the rebels. A Lieutenant Baker marshalled between 120 and 140 men, women and children into two houses in the centre of the town, but with no hope of rescue, and ‘wearied with the lamentable outcry of women and children’, he negotiated with Sir Cahir, agreeing to surrender if the Irish lord would allow every British man to leave ‘with his sword and clothes, and likewise all women and children with their clothes’. Sir Cahir allowed Baker and his host to leave Derry, keeping only Bishop Montgomery’s wife and Mrs Paulett ‘with some others’ as hostages. The British settlement at Derry was ransacked and then razed to the ground, ‘leaving only chimneys and some stone walls standing’.
O’Doherty’s rebellion spread across north Donegal and reached as far east as Armagh, but Sir Cahir did not possess the charisma, authority or military strength needed to give his campaign any chance of success. A number of Irish lords—most notably Sir Niall Garbh O’Donnell, who had encouraged Sir Cahir to rebel, according to Lady Mary O’Doherty—supported the English against the rebels in the hope of some reward.
Chichester denounced Sir Cahir as ‘a beast’ for ‘detaining gentlewomen and suffering them to be stripped of their apparel and disgracefully used’. He sent troops north from Dublin and regained Derry on 20 May 1608, four weeks after its capture by O’Doherty. Once further reinforcements arrived, the English laid siege to O’Doherty’s chief castle at Burt. When the English began to bombard the castle, the defenders threatened to place Bishop Montgomery’s wife in any breach made in the castle walls, but the English retorted that the king’s honour was more important ‘than any woman in the world’. Lady O’Doherty surrendered, and we are told that the bishop’s wife was returned to her ‘owner’ on 1 July 1608. Four days later, on 5 July 1608, Sir Cahir O’Doherty was killed near Kilmacrennan while leading his men against a contingent of English and Irish soldiers marching towards Doe Castle, the last stronghold in rebel hands. With its leader dead, the rebellion was over.
Conclusion
Sir Cahir O’Doherty’s rebellion was a pathetic affair that lasted only eleven weeks. He is, perhaps, most significant in historical terms as one of those Irish Catholic lords who was prepared to collaborate with the English/British Crown in the early years of the seventeenth century. Had he been treated differently he would never have gone into rebellion. Being Irish and being Catholic were grave liabilities, however, and O’Doherty was too proud to acquiesce in the inferior status that too many British officials accorded to the Irish generally. His rebellion was disastrous—and not only for his family, for it may have persuaded King James to embark on a comprehensive plantation of Ulster. HI
Henry A. Jefferies is the Head of History at Thornhill College, Derry, and Visiting Fellow in the Academy of Irish Cultural Heritages in the University of Ulster.
Further reading:
B. Bonner, That audacious traitor(Dublin, 1975).
H.A. Jefferies, ‘Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, c. 1550–1616’, in C. Dillon and H. A. Jefferies (eds), Tyrone: history and society (Dublin, 2000).
J. McCavitt, Sir Arthur Chichester: lord deputy of Ireland, 1605–16(Belfast, 1998).
J. McGurk, Sir Henry Dowcra, 1564–1631: Derry’s second founder (Dublin, 2005).Digital currency bitcoin on Friday averted a split into two currencies after its network supported an upgrade to its software that would enhance its ability to process an increasing number of transactions.
Bitcoin’s miners have signaled their support for the so-called Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 91, avoiding a split of bitcoin into two blockchains. The miners represent a network of computer operators who secure the blockchain or a public ledger of all bitcoin transactions
BIP 91 is the first step toward a larger effort to upgrade bitcoin through a software called SegWit2x. On Friday, the support for BIP 91 reached nearly 100%, exceeding the required threshold of 80%, according to analysts and market participants.
Some investors have warmed to bitcoin, wooed by its explosive performance and potential to compete with gold and government-issued money as a means to store value. Demand for bitcoin has grown in eight years to a market capitalization of more than $40 billion.
But fears about the bitcoin split dampened demand for bitcoin in recent weeks. After hitting record high near $3,000, bitcoin dropped as low $1,830 on the Bitstamp platform. On Friday, it traded at $2,647.
For more about bitcoin, watch:
The software upgrade attempts to address the bitcoin network’s limitations in processing millions of daily transactions. Bitcoin’s network has not kept pace with its growth and is unable to process all the transactions fast enough.
“BIP 91 unleashes the next wave of innovation because it has been a little bit stagnant of late for bitcoin,” said Rob Viglione, co-founder of ZenCash, a digital coin focused on privacy and security.
Before BIP 91’s endorsement, some bitcoin investors feared it could split into two independent currencies because core developers of the network and the miners each wanted different ways to increase bitcoin’s scale.
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A compromise between the two groups has been reached through SegWit2x.
“Bitcoin now has a clear run to add features that allow for faster transactions with lower costs,” said Charles Hayter, chief executive officer of digital currency analytics firm Cryptocompare.
The upgrade to bitcoin’s network will not occur until autumn, said Viglione, because several things need to happen before the new software is activated.
Market participants have complained about the delay in transactions. Analysts say a single bitcoin transaction costs on average 83 U.S. cents to execute, which means micropayments are not feasible on the network.
The network is also limited to roughly seven transactions per second. In comparison, Visa on average handles 2,000 transactions per second.Prince George recently celebrated his birthday and turned the grand old age of three years old. He did it in great style fit for the King with his mum, dad and younger sister at Anmer Hall.
Prince George’s shorts and shirt
Get the Royal shorts
Woollen Cardigan or Jumper
Classic Shoes
Classic shoes are available from Start Rite Shoes.com. For a boy to have the Prince George look you will have to buy Jo II style shoes. For the most royal look we advise to go for the navy blue colour, leather buckle t-bar classic shoes for £37.00 plus you will receive 5% KidStart savings.
Slightly cheaper version of Get the Royal look George’s shoes you can find at Mothercare Little bird by Jools Navy Punch out leather shoes starting at £28 plus 3% KidStart saving.
Princess Charlotte
Cotton Embroidery
Princess Charlotte is much younger than her older brother therefore we have seen a lot less of her mummy’s fashion taste for girls. However, we have already noticed that the Princess is often dressed in smocked dresses. Marks and Spencer offers a three piece pure cotton smocked dress for £22 plus 1.3% KidStart saving A similar dress is available at John Lewis. It’s baby’s cord smock dress for £15, previously priced at £22, with 1.5% saving. Etsy offers 5% saving and Ebay 15% on similar dresses
Princess Charlotte has also been pictured wearing cotton embroidered clothing. This is definitely a lot smarter and personal than off the shelf typical clothing. NotOntheHighStreet offers stunning dresses that have that hand made organic cotton look and feel about them, the price ranges from £20 to £50 plus 3% KidStart saving.
Monogrammed Bathrobe
If you’re going for the ‘I’m about to meet Barack Obama’ look you can purchase monogrammed bathrobes from NotOntheHighStreet available for £27 plus 3% KidStart saving.
Related Article
https://www.kidstart.co.uk/blog/the-royal-prince-george-swing/WASHINGTON — Emboldened House Republicans issued a stern but symbolic rebuke to President Obama over immigration Thursday, passing a bill declaring his executive actions to curb deportations “null and void and without legal effect.”
Outraged Democrats, advocates for immigrants and the White House said the GOP voted to tear families apart and eject parents.
“Rather than deport students and separate families and make it harder for law enforcement to do its job, I just want the Congress to work with us to pass a commonsense law to fix that broken immigration system,” Obama said before the vote.
Even supporters acknowledged that the bill by Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., which says Obama was acting “without any constitutional or statutory basis,” was mostly meant to send a message. It stands no chance in the Senate, which remains under Democratic control until January, and faces the veto threat from Obama.
The real fight may lie ahead as conservatives push to use must-pass spending legislation to block Obama.
For now, Republicans insisted they must go on record denouncing what they described on the House floor as an outrageous power grab by Obama.
“The president thinks he can just sit in the Oval Office and make up his own laws. That’s not the way our system of government works,” said Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. “This legislation says you can’t do that, Mr. President. There is a rule of law.”
The vote was 219 to 197, with three Democratic “yes” votes and seven Republican “no” votes. Three Republicans voted “present.”
Obama’s executive actions last month will extend deportation relief and work permits to some 4 million immigrants here illegally, mostly those who have been in the country more than five years and have children who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. He also reordered law enforcement priorities and expanded an existing deportation deferral program for immigrants brought illegally as kids.
Compounding the GOP’s anger, Obama’s executive action came barely two weeks after Republicans trounced Democrats in the midterm elections, winning control of the Senate and increasing their majorities in the House.
Democratic lawmakers rallied behind the president Thursday, and immigrant advocates warned Republicans would be alienating Latinos heading into 2016 presidential elections in which the Hispanic vote is expected to be significant.
“They should remember that this is not a fight between Republicans and the president,” said Clarissa Martinez de Castro, of the National Council of La Raza. “They will be picking a fight with the millions of American families who will finally find some relief.”
Even as emotions ran high in debate on the bill, many involved acknowledged it was mostly a sideshow as Republicans struggled to find some way to undo what Obama has done – not just register their disapproval. Party leaders acknowledged their options were limited given Obama’s veto pen, and no clear solution beckoned.
The Yoho bill was part of a two-part strategy by House GOP leadership to appease conservative immigration hardliners without risking a government shutdown. Their hope was that after approving it, Republicans would move on next week to vote on legislation to keep most of the government running for a year, with a shorter time frame for the Homeland Security Department, which oversees immigration. The idea is to revisit Homeland Security early next year when Republicans will control both houses at the Capitol and have more leverage. The current government-funding measure expires Dec. 11 so a new one must pass by then.
But that approach doesn’t go far enough for some immigration hardliners, goaded on by outside conservative groups and tea party senators including Ted Cruz of Texas. They say the only real way to stop Obama is to include language in the upcoming spending bill to block any money for his actions on immigration.
“I didn’t come back here to just play games,” said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz. “Our voters who sent us back here in a resounding way in the majority, and retaking the majority in the Senate, expected us to be a little more forceful in our fight.”
Republican leaders fear such spending-bill language could court an Obama veto and even a government shutdown. That’s something they’re determined to avoid, a year after taking a political hit for provoking a 16-day partial shutdown in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn Obama’s health care law.
House Speaker John Boehner made clear Thursday that his strategy would go forward unchanged and indicated he anticipated Democratic votes would help pass the spending bill. That gives Democrats leverage, and they haven’t indicated whether they will lend their support. It also could anger a bloc of conservatives in the House, but Boehner, who will control a larger House majority next year giving him more room to maneuver, showed little patience for their complaints.
“We think this is the most practical way to fight the president’s action and frankly we listened to our members, and we listened to some members who are frankly griping the most. This was their idea of how to proceed,” Boehner said.
ShareUndoing the Damage of Sunday Morning Segregation
The American Protestant tradition is one with a mixed history on race relations without question. The Presbyterian tradition, in particular, is one that has had to face its own failure of being on the wrong side of racial justice for much of American history. Even with that history, we are encouraged that the gospel really does change people and has the power drive racial healing and build racial solidarity. In The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign For Southern Church Desegregation, by Rhodes College religious studies professor Stephen R. Haynes, readers get an example of gospel transformation in the powerful story of the “kneel-in” desegregation in Memphis in the 1960s. Like most histories, we find the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Resisting Racial Integration
The book opens recounting the story of a series of nonviolent church desegregation protests across the South to test the limits of white Christian denial of their baptism by prohibiting African Americans from joining in corporate Sunday worship. Haynes explains that kneel-ins became the official name of the protests “not because kneeling was a regular feature of the visits (which it wasn’t), but because attempts to break the ecclesiastical color line were viewed as part of a larger campaign of ‘sit-ins,’ ‘sleep-ins’ and ‘wade-ins’ that was sweeping the South at the time.” The denominations barring African Americans in the South ranged from Assemblies of God to Methodist to Presbyterian churches and beyond.
The bulk of the book focuses on the events of 1964 at Second Presbyterian Church (SPC) in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Southern Presbyterian struggle with racial integration during the mid-1960s in general. What is additionally helpful in the narrative is the observation that for these white churches, the only thing feared more than racial integration was interracial marriage. Miscegenation was to be avoided at all cost and would serve as the catalyst for racial tension decades later.
What readers will find startling are the events leading to the formation of Independent Presbyterian Church (IPC) in Memphis. According to Haynes, IPC was planted as a protest against racial integration and in resistance to what was considered unbiblical involvement of the Presbyterian Church in social issues in ways that weakened the church’s core calling to evangelism and discipleship. In March 1965, right after SPC voted to embrace racial integration, over 300 people left SPC to form IPC. Because of this history, IPC has had challenges building unity with the black community in Memphis. However, after a number of painful years, IPC has publicly confessed the sins of their fathers, sought forgiveness, and is actively working toward |
being done on the treadmill."
Disadvantages
"The belt feels different: You don't get the nuances of the road. Also, if the treadmill is flat, it's easier to run on the belt than outside.
"The important thing is to keep up muscular strength and leg turnover in the offseason so balance, symmetry and the stimulation of your faster fibers are enhanced. Don't just get on the treadmill and do slow, steady runs every time.
Note: Run at a 1.5-percent incline to more closely mimic running on a flat road. When you're working on foot turnover, however, you should go back down between 0 and.5 percent.
Treadmill Workout
This workout will help you maintain muscular endurance—elevating the firing of the faster twitch fibers—and leg turnover in the offseason.
Warm Up : 8-12 minutes at 1.5 to 2 percent grade, starting off with a slow jog. In the last 3-5 minutes of the warm-up, gradually increase to your standard aerobic speed (outside pace). This gives your heart rate time to catch up. (Note: HR is not a good indicator until you've been running for about 15-20 minutes.) Once at aerobic speed, you're ready to go into the first set
: 8-12 minutes at 1.5 to 2 percent grade, starting off with a slow jog. In the last 3-5 minutes of the warm-up, gradually increase to your standard aerobic speed (outside pace). This gives your heart rate time to catch up. (Note: HR is not a good indicator until you've been running for about 15-20 minutes.) Once at aerobic speed, you're ready to go into the first set First Set: 6x2 minutes on a hill with 1-minute rest intervals; effort should be moderately hard at the offset
6x2 minutes on a hill with 1-minute rest intervals; effort should be moderately hard at the offset 45 seconds at 5 percent grade (don't change speed)
45 seconds at 6 percent grade (don't change speed)
30 seconds at 7 percent grade (don't change speed)
1 minute rest interval at 2 percent grade (remain at your aerobic pace; don't go down to a softer speed)
Repeat 5-8 more times
Second Set (leg turnover): 8-12x20 seconds at 0-.5 percent grade; you should be working at a sub-threshold pace. Segments are short to avoid unnecessary stress.
8-12x20 seconds at 0-.5 percent grade; you should be working at a sub-threshold pace. Segments are short to avoid unnecessary stress. Run for 20 seconds with good balance, symmetry and control; it's not a flat out sprint.
Jump off belt and straddle the treadmill for 20 seconds
Jump back on for 20 seconds
Repeat this sequence 8-12 times
Third Set (if time permits): Run steady at aerobic pace for 12-20 minutes (1.5-2 percent grade).
Run steady at aerobic pace for 12-20 minutes (1.5-2 percent grade). Extra Credit: Repeat sets 1 (with slight modification) and 2.
Repeat sets 1 (with slight modification) and 2. Set 1 (modification): 6x1 minute on hills from 5- to 7-percent grades. Effort should be moderately hard to hard at the end. Include a rest interval of 1 minute between each round.
Set 2: Same leg turnover set at 8x20 seconds
Cool Down
Don't forget to track your progress over time. In a four- to six-week period you might notice:
Improved perceived exertion, where the same workout feels easier.
A slight increase in speed. (Note: Don't push it. Hard efforts should be avoided; all efforts should be moderate.)
A lower heart rate for the same work load.
Sign up for your next triathlon.Apple has just given the world its first look at iPhone 3.0 — an upcoming version of the system software for its smartphone and handheld. Among the highlights are peer-to-peer gaming and cut, copy, and paste. Still missing, however, is support for running third-party applications in the background.
The company gave a preview of the next-generation iPhone software to journalists this afternoon.
The first new feature announced was In-App Purchase. This will allow companies to sell items from within applications. On-device e-book stores is one example, but developers will also be able to sell additional levels for their games. Naturally, this will still be tied to the iTunes App Store, and Apple will get 30% of the revenue.
Next to be announced was peer-to-peer connectivity. This will allow two iPhones or iPod touches to connect to each other over Bluetooth to play head-to-head games. Thanks to this upcoming feature, two devices that are near each other and are both running the same game will automatically seek each other out. While gaming is the most obvious use for this, Apple promised there would be others.
Cut, Copy, and Paste
Confirming the earlier rumors, iPhone 3.0 will — finally — allow iPhone users to cut-and-paste and copy-and-paste. Naturally, the process for selecting text will take advantage of this device’s multi-touch screen. This feature will be available in Apple’s own software and third-party apps.
And it extends to more than just text. Users will be able to copy images and paste them into an email.
MMS, A2DP, Etc.
iPhone 3.0 will also mark the arrival of other features long available in the iPhone’s competitors, including MMS messaging, Stereo Bluetooth, device search, and voice memos.
In addition, landscape support is being added to more of the bundled applications.
Apple is also going to release a new SDK (software developer kit) for handling streaming audio and video, including HDTV streaming.
Still No Multitasking
Apple had some good news and bad news for users. The bad news is that it’s still not allowing multitasking because running third-party applications in the background is more than the device can handle. Scott Forstall, Apple SVP iPhone Software, who handled much of today’s presentation, said that an IM application running in the background reduced the iPhone’s standby battery time by 80%.
Instead, the company is promising the launch the push notification service it announced with iPhone 2.0. This will allow applications that aren’t running to receive a notification that an event has happened, like an IM message is waiting. These notifications will be routed through Apple, and will require considerably less power than true multitasking.
Also Missing…
During a question-and-answer session, Apple’s Forstall was asked about a couple of other long-awaited features that weren’t announced today: a Flash player and tethering.
He declined to talk about the Flash player, fending off the question by pointing out that the iPhone already handles h.264, the streaming video format used by YouTube for its mobile site.
On the subject of tethering, Forstall said that Apple was working with carriers around around the world to build that feature into the iPhone. However, he did not get specific on when users will be able to use tether their smartphone to their laptop to share the Internet connection.
New Mapping Options
In addition, thanks to tools that will be released as part of iPhone 3.0, developers will be for the first time be able create software with maps embedded into it with relative ease. This API will provide the tools, but developers will have to supply their own maps; they won’t be able to use the proprietary ones that are part of Google Maps.
In addition, Apple will start allowing developers to access the iPhone’s location information to create navigation software with turn-by-turn directions.
Coming to an iPhone 3G Near You
Apple released a beta of the developers tools today, but iPhone users will have to wait until June to upgrade their device.
It will be available for free for the iPhone 3G and the first-generation iPhone. However, the original model won’t support MMS messages or Stereo Bluetooth.
Users of the iPod touch will also be able to upgrade, but it will cost $9.95.
Via EngadgetAll three networks on Friday hyped Barack Obama's call for "free community college," but CBS, NBC and ABC offered very little skepticism about the cost or feasability of such a proposal. Instead, Today news reader Natalie Morales sounded like a press release, enthusing, "Relief could be on the way for college students facing skyrocketing tuition costs. President Obama said Thursday night that he would like to see the first two years of community college free for everybody who is willing to work for it."
Earlier, she murmured, "Community college for free?" On CBS This Morning, Bill Plante just regurgitated why this announcement was a good move for the White House: "The idea behind laying this out today is to preview the State of the Union message, which is designed to propose alternatives to the agendas of the Republican-controlled Congress."
It wasn't until the very end of the segment that Plante quickly offered what should be an important point: "But so far the administration is not saying what this would cost."
Instead, he included two clips of Barack Obama talking up the vague proposal in a Facebook video. It was only on ABC's Good Morning America that Amy Robach noted, "Critics say such a plan is almost impossible politically, especially with no specific price tag." But that segment was only 23 seconds.
Today offered two reports amounting to 46 seconds. The best Morales could do was to explain, "Administration officials didn't provide many details about where the money would come from..."
It's not as though there aren't questions to ask. Forbes.com offered a few:
Will direct federal funding compel community colleges to improve? Free college proponents have argued that since the feds are kicking in money directly, they’ll have more power to push community colleges to get better. This seems to be the thought process behind the requirement that colleges adopt “promising evidence-based institutional reforms” (which sounds an awful lot like Race to the Top). The assumption here is that the feds will be able to drive community college improvement if they hold the purse strings. Again, I’m skeptical. To be sure, policymakers could conceivably control tuition prices through funding formulas and fiat. But they will have a much more difficult time ensuring that institutions provide a quality education at the price they charge. The federal Title 1 program in K-12 has struggled to improve underperforming public schools, even with the expansive accountability provisions of No Child Left Behind. Will federal bureaucrats have an easier time raising student achievement in community colleges? “Free tuition” won’t change how much it costs to deliver higher education, which will continue to increase. A public option would change who pays for higher education, but not necessarily how much it costs to provide it. Economists argue that traditional higher education is like other service industries: because the product consists of interaction with highly educated labor in small groups, it is difficult to raise productivity. As wages rise in the rest of the economy, colleges must pay employees more even though their output doesn’t increase, leading to higher costs. Simply shifting who pays the bill will do little to change the bill itself. So while additional federal investments might cover the cost of a free public option today, those same sums won’t go as far next year or the year after unless colleges also make changes to their cost structure. Taxpayers would have to foot an increasingly large bill.
CNN on Friday didn't cover the new proposal, but Un Nuevo Dia on the Spanish language channel Telemundo did. Host Neida Sandoval echoed the American reports, promoting "Meanwhile, President Barack Obama announced he's working on a proposal which will permit that the community universities of higher education will be free for those who are willing to work for it in the United States."
A transcript of the January 9 CBS This Morning segment is below:The latest news out of Queen’s Park is that Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals plan to deindustrialize Ontario. Of course they don’t call it that; they prefer the term “decarbonize.” But for an industrial economy, the government’s new climate action plan, leaked to reporters this week, amounts to the same thing.
The proposed scheme beggars belief. Having phased out coal-fired power, the province now plans to phase out natural gas, the only reliable alternative for non-baseload generation. Despite electric cars being extremely costly and unpopular, more than one in 10 new car sales will need to be electric, and every two-car household will have to own at least one electric car. All homes listed for sale will require a costly energy audit. Home renovations will have to be geared around energy efficiency as the government defines it, not what the homeowner wants.
Around the time that today’s high-school students are readying to buy their first home, it will be illegal for builders to install heating systems that use fossil fuels, in particular natural gas. Having already tripled the price of power, Queen’s Park will make it all but mandatory to rely on electricity for heating.
There will be new mandates and subsidies for biofuels, electric buses for schools, extensive new bike lanes to accommodate all those bicycles Ontario commuters will be riding all winter, mandatory electric recharging stations on all new buildings, and many other Soviet-style command-and-control directives.
The scheme is called the Climate Change Action Plan, or CCAP, but it would be more appropriately called the Climate Change Coercion Plan: the CCCP.
Reportedly there has been some pushback against this lunacy from within cabinet. While Environment Minister Glen Murray is driving it forward with enthusiasm, his colleagues with economic portfolios are expressing some reluctance. One imagines they have an intuitive sense the CCCP is misguided, but they struggle to say why.
Perhaps I can help. Even if one accepts mainstream climate science as interpreted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it does not imply that carbon dioxide emissions impose infinitely high costs and should be driven to zero. It only tells us that such emissions may impose modest external costs on other people that emitters should pay for. Nor does it tell us that those emission-related costs are greater than the costs of trying to stop climate change. In fact, the IPCC reports strongly suggest otherwise. Chapter 10 of the IPCC Working Group II report concludes that at low levels of warming (up to two degrees Celsius) the costs will be small relative to the impacts of other economic changes in peoples’ lives, and may well be negative (i.e., a possible net benefit from mild warming).
Translated into practical economics, we could assume that emitting a tonne of carbon dioxide causes a small amount of harm to other people: roughly between zero and 20-dollars’ worth. So emission-reduction policies that cost less than $20 per tonne to implement could be justified based on mainstream science and sound economics. Policies costing more cannot.
The Murray plan however is laden with policies that will cost hundreds or thousands of dollars per tonne to implement — far more than the value of any environmental benefits they generate. They will drive away investment and employment, raise the cost of living and eliminate economic opportunities. No longer will Ontari-ari-ario be “A Place to Grow”; it will be a place to get the hell out of if you want a job and a decent standard of living.
Glen Murray’s policies would do more economic harm than the averted climate change
For years, anyone trying to inject sanity into the climate debate was told it is forbidden to question the authoritative pronouncements of the IPCC. So it is worth quoting the IPCC verbatim on the economic issues here. After tallying up the projected effects of warming and the likely economic impacts, and placing them in the context of all the other social changes that are expected in the years ahead, it concludes, in Chapter 10, “For most economic sectors, the impact of climate change will be small relative to the impacts of other drivers (medium evidence, high agreement).” In Figure 10-1 it shows that modest warming is as likely to be a net benefit as a net cost. And in the Working Group I report, the IPCC marshals evidence that warming has been proceeding at a lower rate than expected so far this century.
Putting it all together, even if the Murray plan were to stop global warming in its tracks, the policies would do more economic harm than the averted climate change. But of course the CCCP won’t have any effect on global warming, because Ontario is responsible for such a tiny fraction of global emissions. The Wynne government repeatedly defends its bungling of the electricity sector on the grounds that at least it closed two coal-fired power plants. Meanwhile, in 2015 alone, China approved construction of 155 new coal-fired power plants. CCCP is all cost, no benefits.
Adding to the insult, it includes a carbon-pricing scheme in the form of cap and trade. The economic logic of carbon pricing is that the market identifies the cheapest abatement options and weeds out the rest. Yet with revenues from its cap-and-tax plan, the government plans to subsidize the abatement methods the market rejects. In other words, the Liberals have selected the one use of funds that destroys the economic properties of the policy instrument.
The climate file has pushed deranged extremism into mainstream policy planning. Perhaps the would-be opponents in cabinet of this disastrous proposal self-censor out of fear of being labeled — gasp! — deniers. But realism is the opposite of denialism, and what is needed now is a huge, cold blast of realism.
Ross McKitrick is professor of economics at the University of Guelph and research chair at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.News in Science
Jupiter's family of moons grows by two
Tiny dancers The largest planet in our solar system is home to two of the smallest moons, Canadian astronomers have discovered.
The discovery, to be published in the Astronomical Journal, pushes the number of Jovian moons to 67.
Named S/2010 J 1 and S/2010 J 2, the two moons are only three and two kilometres in size respectively.
S/2010 J 1 orbits Jupiter once every 2.02 years, at an average distance of 23.45 million kilometres from the planet, while S/2010 J 2 takes 1.69 years at a distance of 21.01 million kilometres.
The moons were discovered using ground-based telescopes in September 2010. Follow-up observations between October 2010 and January 2011, allowed the astronomers to accurately plot their orbits and confirm they are moons, not passing asteroids.
The researchers then used the brightness from each moon to determine their diameter.
"It was exciting to realise that this [S/2010 J 2] is the smallest moon in the solar system that was discovered and tracked from Earth," says lead author Mike Alexandersen, a PhD student at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Alexandersen and colleagues traced the path of the moons, and compared it with data collected from a 2003 survey by Professor Brett Gladman, also of University of British Columbia.
"We had actually already reported measurements of the first moon [S/2010 J 1] to the Minor Planet Center eight years ago", says Gladman, "but observations over several months are required to prove that the object is orbiting Jupiter, and this moon was too faint for the 2003 surveys to consistently track."
How small can you go?
Professor Mike Brown, an astronomer at California Institute of Technology who was not involved in the study, says spotting tiny moons around Jupiter isn't that difficult.
"The telescopes used are pretty modestly-sized compared to the largest ones that astronomers use," says Brown. "With our biggest telescopes you could go for even smaller."
He says while there is no limit to how small a moon around a planet could be, external forces could prevent smaller ones staying in a stable orbit.
'"When things get small, their orbits get affected by exterior forces, such as sunlight and collisions. At some point you're too small to have a long term stable orbit," says Brown.
"I've never thought to try to calculate that number for Jupiter, but I would guess we have quite a ways to go before we get so small things don't have semi-permanent orbits."Getty Images
For all the dominoes that may or may not fall in the NFL this offseason, there may not be a more interesting situation than New Orleans.
And we may have some clarity on that sooner rather than later.
According to Jay Glazer of FOX, Saints coach Sean Payton is meeting with General Manager Mickey Loomis tomorrow to discuss the coach’s future.
And this one isn’t as simple as stay-or-go, as Glazer specifically mentioned the possibility of whether a team is willing to give up a second-rounder to acquire Payton as an element of the upcoming conversation.
That’s an awfully specific tidbit of information, and it’s also unlikely that it’s being dropped accidentally.
Payton has said publicly he wants to return, but it may not be entirely his call. And with salary cap problems on the horizon than to contracts for Drew Brees (and others), the Saints might prefer to rebuild with a high pick and another coach if the rebuilding is inevitable.Through the first nine games of the season, the Los Angeles Rams were underdogs just twice: on the road against the Cowboys and Jaguars. That’s it.
Well, coming off of a 26-point home win over the Texans, Los Angeles will be an underdog for the third time this season when they travel to Minnesota in Week 11. The Vikings are also 7-2 despite losing their starting quarterback and running back, proving to be among the NFL’s best.
According to Vegas Insider, the Vikings are 2.5-point favorites over the Rams as of now, though that line can change before kickoff.
It’s a bit surprising to see the Rams listed as underdogs, considering they were just 12-point favorites against the Texans on Sunday. Of course, facing a 7-2 team on the road is very different than playing a 3-5 team at home, but the Rams seem to be one of the league’s best teams after 10 weeks.
Sunday’s showdown with the Vikings will undoubtedly be the Rams’ toughest test yet. Minnesota is a tough place to play as a road team, while the Vikings are getting good play from Case Keenum and his cast of dynamic receivers.
This season, Keenum and Goff have combined to throw 27 touchdown passes, nine interceptions and rack up 4,299 yards. They each have their teams sitting at 7-2, as well. Last year, they had 14 touchdown passes and 18 interceptions with a combined record of 4-12.
The post-Jeff Fisher era has been kind to both quarterbacks who have found success with their current head coaches.Infamous SF homelessness critic says he was fired by Twitter one day after news broke of his hiring
Darcel Jackson, a San Franciscan who has been homeless for two years due to unemployment, confronts Greg Gopman, left, about an unanswered email regarding ideas that could help the homeless at the Nourse Auditorium on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. less Darcel Jackson, a San Franciscan who has been homeless for two years due to unemployment, confronts Greg Gopman, left, about an unanswered email regarding ideas that could help the homeless at the Nourse... more Photo: Amy Osborne, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Amy Osborne, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Infamous SF homelessness critic says he was fired by Twitter one day after news broke of his hiring 1 / 4 Back to Gallery
Less than one day after headlines broke about Twitter hiring Greg Gopman as a contractor to work on its developing virtual reality initiative, the social media company has fired him, according to a post on his personal Facebook page.
Gopman grew to infamy in 2013, when he published a Facebook post (then doubled down on his point), decrying San Francisco's homeless population as "degenerates" and saying the city is "overrun by crazy, homeless, drug dealers, dropouts, and trash."
"The difference is in other cosmopolitan cities, the lower part of society keep to themselves," the post read. "They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet, and generally stay out of your way. They realize it's a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests. And that's okay. In downtown SF the degenerates gather like hyenas, spit, urinate, taunt you, sell drugs, get rowdy, they act like they own the center of the city."
Since his comments in 2013, Gopman has more or less attempted to make nice with the city, proposing homelessness solutions (at least one of which was profitable) and working with city officials on ways to help people out of poverty.
It seemed that things were beginning to go his way again when Twitter contracted him to work on its emerging VR initiative. The news of the hire, which hit headlines Tuesday, also prompted TechCrunch to remind its readers of Gopman's unsavory comments, and to position him as antithetical to Twitter's ongoing, and at times floundering, push to curb online harassment on their network.
Whether it was meant to or not, the article had a sudden impact. According to Gopman's Facebook, he was fired after less than a month working at Twitter because "[TechCrunch] wrote a smash piece on me last night and [Twitter] comms didn't want to deal with it."
Twitter has declined to comment on this story.
Read Alyssa's latest stories, and follow her on Twitter at @alyspereira.
Send news tips to Alyssa at apereira@sfchronicle.com.Top Official Describes DARPA Real-Time Space Awareness Efforts
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has transferred to the Air Force ownership of a revolutionary space surveillance telescope, and the agency is working on other real-time technologies to improve space situational awareness, DARPA’s deputy director said.
The Space Surveillance Telescope, developed by DARPA, was turned over to the Air Force Oct. 18 at a site atop North Oscura Peak on the northern part of the Army’s 3,200-square-mile White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
“SST is the latest example of DARPA’s commitment to a singular enduring mission -- to make those early pivotal investments in breakthrough technologies for national security. That's what DARPA's all about,” Steven H. Walker said at the transition event.
One of DARPA’s original technology development efforts during the Cold War involved improving space situational awareness to protect the United States, he said, and DARPA and the Air Force have been crucial players the field ever since.
Space Situational Awareness
The volume of space between Earth’s surface out to geostationary equatorial orbit -- a distance of about 22,000 miles -- is equal to 240,000 times all the Earth’s oceans, Walker said, and the number of objects in that segment of space is growing all the time.
“Not just the satellites but debris of all kinds, natural and manmade, and keeping track of all that is becoming a real nightmare,” he added. “That's why the Department of Defense has made space situational awareness a top priority and why few areas of DARPA research are as important to the future of the U.S. and global security.”
The SST is part of a three-pronged DARPA space portfolio, Walker said.
The agency is developing affordable, reliable access to space through its XS-1 Experimental Spaceplane program -- creating a new paradigm for more routine, responsive and affordable space operations -- and developing a new paradigm of on-orbit servicing through its Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program -- a system to repair, relocate and upgrade satellites in geosynchronous orbit to extend their mission lifetimes, he said.
Also, Walker added, “DARPA is creating real-time space situational capabilities like SST but also OrbitOutlook and the Hallmark program, where we can actually see realtime what's happening in space and do something about it.”
OrbitOutlook
More than 500,000 pieces of manmade space debris, including spent rocket stages, defunct satellites and fragments as small as flecks of paint, hurtle around the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour, DARPA says.
At those speeds, impacts involving even the smallest bits can damage satellites and generate chain reactions of collisions, increasing the amount of orbital junk and creating virtual minefields in space that could stay blocked for centuries, DARPA writes on its OrbitOutlook, or O2, web page.
O2 aims to improve the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, or SSN, a global network of 29 space surveillance radars and optical telescopes that observes and catalogs space objects, Air Force Lt. Col. Jeremy Raley writes in a post about O2 on the DARPA website.
But new space-tracking challenges and long acquisition timelines for new sensors is impairing the network’s ability to keep pace, adds Raley, a program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, which is responsible for O2 and Hallmark.
Space Surveillance Network
O2 aims to improve SSN by adding more data more often from more diverse sources to increase space situational awareness to determine when satellites are at risk, Raley writes.
Three elements make up the program -- adding new telescopes and radar from different locations that offer diverse data types, a central database for the extended telescope and radar network, and a validation process to ensure the data is accurate.
Raley notes that O2 also will demonstrate the ability to rapidly include new instruments to alert for indications and warnings of space events, and engage civil, academic and commercial entities to bring more sensors online to track space debris from a range of geographic locations.
The first element of this effort is SpaceView, a program that gives technically minded amateur astronomers a chance to contribute to space situational awareness using their own optical telescopes. SpaceView extends the network in a low-cost, efficient way, the colonel writes.
The second effort is StellarView, which uses optical telescopes and passive radio frequency telescopes at six academic institutions, DARPA says.
If successful, Raley said in a DARPA press release, “OrbitOutlook could revolutionize how the U.S. military and the global space-debris-monitoring community collect and use space situational awareness data,” doubling or tripling useful data, and generating indications and warnings in hours rather than weeks with orders-of-magnitude improvements in accuracy and affordability.
Hallmark
DARPA says it intends to use OrbitOutlook’s products and technologies in the Hallmark program -- an effort to provide breakthrough capabilities in U.S. space enterprise command and control.
Despite having to operate in a much more complex and chaotic environment, commanders with responsibility for space domain awareness often must rely on outdated tools and processes as they plan, assess and execute U.S. military operations in space, Raley writes in a DARPA post about Hallmark.
The program is working to provide a full spectrum of breakthrough real-time space-domain systems and capabilities to help address these technical and strategic challenges.
“The envisioned system would fuse information from diverse sources, allow potential actions to be simulated and effects determined in advance, and vastly reduce the overall time required to make and execute decisions and observe results,” Raley writes.
A state-of-the-art enterprise software architecture would support the ability to model space-situational-awareness and command-and-control tools, capabilities, subsystems and systems, and external interfaces to air, cyber, land, maritime and command-and-control environments, he adds.
An advanced test bed featuring playback and simulation capabilities would facilitate research and development, experiments and exercises to evaluate new technologies for their impact on space command and control, Raley writes.
And the test bed would help speed the creation and assessment of a set of new and improved tools and technologies that could be spun off into near-term operational use for the Defense Department’s Joint Space Operations Center, known as JSpOC, and the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center, known as JICSpOC, both part of U.S. Strategic Command.
JSpOC includes personnel from all four military services and three allied nations -- the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada -- and gives the commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space the ability to plan and execute command and control of worldwide space forces, according to Stratcom.
JICSpOC is a partnership among Stratcom, the National Reconnaissance Office, Air Force Space Command, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the intelligence community and commercial data providers to upgrade JSpOC mission systems and include more systems and capabilities from the partner organizations.
(Follow Cheryl Pellerin on Twitter @PellerinDoDNews)About
A note from the Project Blue team:
Today is the last day of our campaign, and while we haven’t met our goal of $1 million, the team at Project Blue is incredibly proud and thankful for the community we have built here through Kickstarter.
When we started this mission, we did so with the knowledge that it is incredibly ambitious. We carried that ambition to Kickstarter when we set such a high target goal. Over 1,500 backers have pledged more than $300,000. That is incredible. It’s truly inspiring to see how many people out there care about the future of space exploration and want to make sure we get that first glimpse at another planet like ours.
As we move forward on this journey, please be part of our mission, share your thoughts, and stay involved. We’ll keep an eye on Kickstarter, and may send an update from time-to-time. But if you want more frequent updates, as we hope you do, we encourage you to join our mailing list at projectblue.org.
As a remember —we can’t do this without you. So, please, consider a tax-deductible donation to help us launch the telescope that could find another Earth.
Donate to Project Blue
Other ways to stay involved:
Sign up for our newsletter on the Project Blue website to receive regular mission updates
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and share our content with your friends
Learn about our partner orgs: Mission Centaur, BoldlyGo Institute, and SETI Institute
Thank you for supporting and being part of Project Blue.
Finding the first planet like Earth beyond our solar system would transform how we think about our place in the universe.
Ten years ago, we didn’t know if planets like Earth were common in the universe. Then NASA’s Kepler mission launched, and changed everything. Kepler discovered thousands of rocky planets orbiting stars, some of which are at a distance where liquid water could exist on the surface. It’s estimated that there are more Earth-like planets in the universe than people alive today. But we’ve never actually seen one.
Thanks to recent breakthroughs, the technology now exists to capture a direct image of an Earth-like planet outside our solar system. That's what we aim to do.
Project Blue is a consortium of leading space and research organizations on a mission to build and launch a small space telescope to observe planets around our nearest stellar neighbors: Alpha Centauri A and B (now also known as Rigil Kentaurus).
Our goal is to capture an image, visible to the human eye, of orbiting planets. Seeing a "pale blue dot" could indicate the presence of oceans or an atmosphere — the potential to support life. It would be our first view of another world like our own. With a modest budget and a planned launch by 2020, this goal is tantalizingly close.
This isn’t a traditional space mission.
Within astrophysics, NASA has traditionally funded projects with a much broader scope, like Kepler and Hubble, rather than a project like ours that is focused on a single target. So we started this campaign with the belief that together, people all over the world can push the boundaries of discovery in space and achieve one of the greatest milestones of human exploration.
We need your help.
Project Blue brought together the technical experts who can build and launch this telescope: scientists from nonprofit organizations like BoldlyGo Institute, Mission Centaur, the SETI Institute, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Now we’re asking for your support to make Project Blue a reality.
Follow Project Blue on Twitter, like and share on Facebook, and visit us at projectblue.org.Rob Swystun, Pristine Advisers
There’s a lot to love about Fridays. Everything at work is just a little more relaxed, the weekend is hanging around at the exit, waiting to pick you up and whisk you away as soon as you get off … and people have been known to drift away from work a little early on Friday afternoon. Trying to get ahold of someone for work past about 3 p.m. on a Friday is just this side of impossible (not a hard worker like you, though; other, less career-focused people).
It’s Friday’s reputation as a bit of a lazy walk-through in anticipation of the drunken antics of the weekend (or sober, quiet reflection in your case) that has traditionally made it the go-to day for companies to dump bad news on unsuspecting investors. Had a poor quarter? Who cares? It’s almost the weekend!
In fact, as Lee Simmons points out in a Stanford Business article published in The Atlantic, companies had gotten so accustomed to offloading news about earnings shortfalls, product recalls and outrageous severance deals on the final weekday that it prompted Footnoted.com to start its brilliantly-titled Friday Night Dump, where it sifts through SEC filings submitted at the end of the work week for juicy bad news tidbits.
But, a new study is shedding light on the Friday bad news phenomenon and revealing some not-so-surprising results. While this trick may have worked once upon a time in the dark ages (here meaning pre-social media saturation), it doesn’t appear to work any longer. In fact, late-Friday releases may be getting more scrutiny nowadays due to the whole weekend effect.
The study, Market (In)Attention and Earnings Announcement Timing, written by Stanford Graduate School of Business accounting professor Ed deHaan, Terry Shevlin of the UC Irvine Merage School of Business and Jake Thornock of the University of Washington Foster School of Business, compiled a data set of more than 120,000 quarterly earnings announcements from 2000 through 2011, with precise date and time stamps.
They then compared that with actual behavior of market players following an announcement, including: the number of related articles published, downloads of 8-K filings, Google searches, and the time it took for analysts to update their forecasts.
The researchers found that markets do, in fact, seem to get distracted. But it’s not Friday and the call of the weekend that distracts markets, it’s just general busyness and off-hours that do it.
The findings show that earnings reported after hours and on busy days are significantly worse (relative to consensus forecasts) than at other times.
What they also found is that because companies change the timing of the quarterly announcements often enough, when they do seem to time a release to get lost in the shuffle of a busy day, it doesn’t look like it was done on purpose.
“That frequency of benign changes is the camouflage necessary for strategic changes,” deHaan says. “It means there’s a big enough pool to hide in.”
While the researchers obviously couldn’t know a firm’s intentions with their release timing in any given case, deHaan says, |
husband,” sentencing them to 10 months in prison and two-year travel bans. They had been trying to help a woman who claimed her husband locked her in her house and denied her adequate food and water. Saudi women and migrant domestic workers who report abuse, including rape, sometimes face counter accusations, leaving them open to criminal prosecution. Women may be charged with moral crimes, like khilwa (mixing with unrelated members of the opposite sex), or with fleeing from their homes. The male guardianship system, as well as the criminalization of pre-marital consensual relationships between men and women and of “parental disobedience,” can trap women in domestic violence situations. Intisar, for instance, told Human Rights Watch that when her mother found out she was pregnant, she forced Intisar to have an abortion. As Intisar said, “I had no other choice… If my dad found out or one of my brothers, I’ll be killed.” Intisar said her mother also confined her to the house and threatened to send her to jail. Intisar felt she had no safe options, noting that the authorities, including the police and the court system, would side with her parents. Her mother had previously threatened to bring “disobedience” claims against her and family members had beaten her during arguments. Fearing for her safety, Intisar wants to leave the country, but has no means to travel without her father’s consent. According to three abuse specialists, the Protection from Abuse Law has made judges more responsive to abuse claims. Dr. Abeer, a psychologist who has worked on abuse cases for more than 15 years, said that individual judges have increasingly accepted psychological reports, testimony and expert opinions in custody and domestic violence cases following the implementation of the law. Dr. Zahra told Human Rights Watch that she has seen abuse cases proceed more quickly and women increasingly report to hospitals to receive medical reports of physical abuse. However, she said judges still maintain vast individual discretion and women would benefit from a clearer law. Prioritizing Reconciliation over Protection Under the Protection from Abuse Law, authorities can, in cases of abuse, institute protection measures such as ensuring victims receive health care, taking steps to prevent recurrence of abuse, summoning and obliging offending parties to sign pledges, sending victims to shelters, and forcing offenders to undergo psychological treatment or rehabilitation. Even after the promulgation of the 2013 law, the authorities appear to prioritize reconciliation of the family over the safety of the woman. Basma, a woman’s rights activist, told Human Rights Watch that women are hesitant to report abuse, knowing that the authorities will try to reconcile a woman with her abuser, rather than punishing him. Two women, who male family members had abused, told Human Rights Watch they would not report the abuse, believing the authorities would not help them, but would instead return them to their abusers. Part of the problem is the legal guidance itself. According to article 10 of the 2013 law, “priority shall be given to preventive and counseling measures, unless the case requires otherwise.” The 2014 implementing regulations state that one of the goals of the 2013 law is to provide rehabilitation programs with the aim of returning a woman to her family. This is counter to UN best practice on responding to domestic violence, which recommends that responses prioritize “the rights of the… survivor over other considerations, such as the reconciliation of families or communities.” In non-severe cases, the implementing regulations state a woman should remain with her family, but that the Ministry of Labor and Social Development must obtain a statement or pledge from the abuser and the head of the family that she will be protected from further abuse. Authorities required abusers to sign pledges as part of the response to abuse before the 2013 law. This proved ineffective, according to activists. In 2008, a woman fled from her home to a shelter in Riyadh, but her father and four uncles came to the shelter, arguing it was shameful for their daughter to remain there. According to a Ministry of Labor and Social Development official, “The [men] made promises and signed papers that made it incumbent on them not to harm her.” After releasing the woman to the men, the ministry learned the family killed her. Khadija, 42, who covered domestic violence cases as a reporter, said: It doesn’t make sense to assume that [once] you’ve brought in the guardian who is abusing the woman and make him promise, ‘Oh I am not going to beat her again,’ [then] things are fine and she [can be] signed out to him. Limited Shelter from Domestic Violence The Ministry of Labor and Social Development may place a victim of domestic violence, with the victim’s consent, in a shelter without informing or requesting permission from her guardian. But implementing regulations specify that the ministry should take women to shelters only in cases of “severe” abuse and where there is no other family to host her. Domestic abuse specialists agreed that shelter administrators continue to deal with women within the framework of guardianship, generally attempting to resolve the problem between the woman and her abuser, rather than working to empower her to live independently. Shelter administrations have different policies for arranging how a woman may leave a shelter. The 2014 implementing regulations state that a woman must be allowed to leave a shelter, not necessarily with her guardian, but “in coordination with her family members in order to receive her.” The shelter staff will encourage her family members to receive her, including, if necessary, by facilitating a reconciliation process.[141] During a woman’s stay in a shelter, she may leave for certain designated activities, but if she does not return at the appointed time, the shelter must immediately inform the police, absolve itself of responsibility for her case and, when there is justification, inform her family members. According to abuse specialists, shelter administrators generally prefer that a woman leaves in the care of her guardian but, if the guardian is the abuser, often allow her to leave with another mahram.[143] For example, Samar Badawi, whose father abused her, left a shelter in 2009 with the permission of the governor to live with her brother. Another woman, Lulwa Abd al-Rahman, remained in a shelter for at least three years because she did not have permission from a male relative to exit, according to her fiancé. Other shelters appear to have policies that allow women to leave by themselves rather than into the care of a mahram. Dr. Abeer, a clinical psychologist, told Human Rights Watch that some shelters may “release” a woman on her own if she has finalized any ongoing court cases related to the abuse. She added that it is practically difficult for women to live alone—women still struggle to sign leases without a guardian and may require guardian permission to secure employment—so they may return to their abusers. As abuse often happens in the context of wider family dynamics, releasing a woman to another male relative other than her abuser does not necessarily ensure her safety. In 2009, Sura, a now-retired university lecturer, noticed one of her students was frequently late or absent. The student told Sura that her father sexually abused her. The student went to a shelter, but the shelter later released her to her uncle, who returned the girl to her father. According to Sura, the student told her that her father threatened her and told her he would kill her if she complained about the abuse again. Permission to Exit Prisons Women in Saudi prisons require a guardian to sign them out as a condition of their release. As Dr. Heba explained, “The [authorities] keep a woman in jail… until her legal guardian comes and gets her, even if he is the one who put her in jail.” If a family refuses to take a woman back to their home after she has finished her prison term, she must stay in prison or be transferred to a shelter. Continued detention following completion of a prison term, including forced stay at a shelter, constitutes arbitrary detention, is in breach of international standards, and is a form of discrimination and a violation of CEDAW. In November 2015, the Saudi Gazette reported that shelters took in 2,706 women over a two-year period after their release from prison, most of whose families refused to take them home. The paper quoted a legal expert, who stated, “The guardianship of the fathers should be immediately revoked if they refuse to take their daughters back into their homes.” Wajda, a psychologist, told Human Rights Watch that families often refuse to take back women accused of “moral” crimes. Saudi Arabia punishes individuals for a range of “moral crimes” which criminalize private consensual relations such as khilwa to zina (sexual relations outside marriage). Criminalizing these activities contravenes international standards and these “crimes” are often applied in a manner that discriminates against women. When women are released into the supervision of their families following “moral” crimes, they may become victims of further violence, including so-called honor killings. Sana, a woman’s rights activist, said, “What is really horrible here is that because of this guardianship system, women can disappear and be buried in the desert and no one will do anything about it.” In July 2009, a man killed his two sisters as they were signed out of a juvenile detention center by their father in Riyadh. According to Elaph newspaper, he killed his sisters after he discovered the nature of their “crime”—being found with two unrelated men. In late 2015, Saudi Gazette reported that four women “escaped” from a Jeddah shelter. The four women served prison terms for “ethical crimes” and authorities moved them to the shelter after their families refused to take them home. A source told Okaz that a court previously convicted one of the woman of huroob, or fleeing the guardian’s home. After completing her sentence, her father refused to take her home. Authorities transferred her to a shelter. Her brother agreed to receive his sister, but she fled from his house, was arrested, and put back in the shelter. Okaz reported that the shelter exerted “substantial efforts” before the woman’s father agreed to let her marry, that she stayed with her new husband for a few months and then fled. The authorities arrested her and returned her to the shelter. The woman was 19 at the time of her fourth “escape” from a state shelter. Instead of facilitating women’s ability to live independently, the government appears to be attempting to address this problem by pushing women toward arranged marriages.[161] Six women knowledgeable about abuse cases told Human Rights Watch that authorities try to facilitate marriages for women whose families have refused to accept them following prison terms. Nada, 26, who was an inmate in a juvenile detention center, said authorities encouraged women to accept arranged marriages and noted that the men involved in these marriages often face difficult marriage prospects, for example because they are non-Saudis or have “dark pasts.” Sowsan, an abuse specialist, said the government will find “bad, random men... that just came out of prison, very dysfunctional men, who use [the women] as concubines.” Nada explained that women are not forced to accept these marriages, but many do, and in such cases a judge steps in to serve as the woman’s guardian authorizing the marriage. According to the six experts, women are then permitted to exit the shelter under the guardianship of their new husband. Women have the right to refuse to go back to their families or to get married, but are forced to remain in the shelters if they refuse. Shelters often do not allow women to use cellphones, to exit the shelter freely, or to bring their adolescent sons with them into the shelter. Women at a Jeddah shelter reported to the National Society for Human Rights that staff occasionally mistreated women, and that the shelter was overcrowded, had poor facilities and prevented women from continuing their education or leaving the shelter. Forcing a woman who has escaped abuse by one man to choose between an arranged marriage to another, a life of imprisonment, or a return to abuse is no choice at all; it is a continuation of abuse. In August 2015, a woman committed suicide in a shelter in Mecca. A note, purportedly written by her and circulated on social media, said: I decided to die to escape hell.
V. Restricting Right to Equality in Marriage, Divorce, and Child Custody When a woman wants to divorce her husband, he can ask for anything [in order] to give her a divorce, even to give up custody. [While] he can … say “you are divorced” through a text message. —Sura, 62-year-old retired university lecturer, December 14, 2015 Inequality between men and women is deeply entrenched in Saudi marriage practices and creates an environment in which women are susceptible to family violence. Unlike men, women require their guardians’ permission to get married, and face a more difficult process when seeking divorce. In addition, a male relative may petition courts to forcibly divorce a marriage he deems unfit, and a woman’s husband remains her legal guardian throughout the divorce process, until the divorce is finalized. While a rising divorce rate has increasingly made these issues a topic of public discussion, Saudi Arabia has failed to pass a law protecting women’s rights in family issues. Saudi Arabia’s discrimination against women in family relations violates CEDAW, which provides that states “shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations.” In particular, Saudi Arabia violates women’s equal right to freely enter into and to exit marriage and to ensure men and women have the same rights with regard to guardianship of children. Restricting the Right to Marry Freely Like many other Muslim-majority countries, Saudi Arabia relies on a personal law system based on Sharia, which treats marriage as a contract concluded by mutually consenting parties. Saudi law has no minimum age of marriage. Many other countries in the Middle East and North Africa that recognize Sharia as a source of law have set the marriage age at 18 or higher, with some allowing exceptions in limited circumstances. While the Shura Council discussed making 18 the minimum age of marriage along with a package of proposed personal status changes in 2013, no formal rule has yet been passed. Local media continues to carry occasional reports of child marriages. Child marriage “is any marriage where at least one of the parties is under 18 years of age.” Child marriages violate a host of human rights and have lasting effects beyond adolescence as women and girls struggle with the health effects of becoming pregnant often and when young, their lack of education and economic independence, domestic violence, and marital rape.The UN Committee on Discrimination Against Women called on Saudi Arabia to “prescribe and enforce a minimum age of marriage of 18 years.” Saudi authorities limit a woman’s ability to enter freely into marriage by requiring her to obtain the permission of a male guardian. A woman’s consent is generally given orally before a religious official officiating the marriage, and both the woman and her male guardian are required to sign the marriage contract. In 2016, the Justice Ministry issued a directive stating women must be provided a copy of the marriage contract. Men are not required to have their male guardian’s consent and can marry up to four wives at one time. Despite the requirement of women’s consent, forced marriages continue. According to a shadow report submitted by Saudi civil society activists to the UN Human Rights Council in 2013, forced marriages and child marriages are difficult to annul, as women must prove the absence of their consent through “impossible” measures such as not attending the wedding party or not allowing their husband to consummate the marriage. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child define forced marriages as “marriages where one or both parties have not personally expressed their full and free consent to the union.” The 2013 report noted that individuals filed 62 cases requesting annulment of a forced marriage with the Ministry of Justice since 1999. Aisha and Her Five Forced Marriages In August 2010, Human Rights Watch documented the case of Aisha Ali, a 28-year-old divorced mother of three. Aisha said that her brothers, threatened, beat, forcibly confined her, and forced her to marry five men in less than ten years. She reported that she never chose to marry any of her five husbands, from whom she subsequently filed for divorce or they divorced her, but that her brothers repeatedly threatened and beat her when she refused to marry. According to Aisha, two of her husbands, including her third, also abused her. After filing for divorce from her third husband, she sought assistance from the National Society for Human Rights, not wishing to return home to her brothers. Aisha told Human Rights Watch that in 2006 the National Society for Human Rights helped place her in a shelter with her daughter for around three months. Aisha said the shelter “resolved” her case by asking her brothers to take her back to the family home. After her fourth divorce, Aisha went to the police requesting protection and help entering a shelter. According to Aisha, the police called her brothers to take her home, who later forced her to marry a fifth man.[181] Male guardians have the power to prohibit female dependents from marrying. In November 2015, a Saudi commentator wrote in the Saudi Gazette about the practice of some fathers refusing to allow their daughters to marry in order to continue taking their salaries. In these circumstances, known as adhl (defined as a man using his legal authority to prevent a woman from marrying), women may file legal cases and the judge may rule that the guardian must allow the woman to get married or step in himself to serve as the guardian sanctioning the marriage. According to the writer, 755 adhl cases were recorded in the country in 2014. These cases are often resolved in favor of the guardian, according to one activist, and a former judge told Human Rights Watch that judges often respect a guardian’s decision regarding the suitability of a marriage. In some cases, where women have married with their male guardian’s permission, other male relatives can apply to the courts to dissolve marriages of female relatives they deem unfit. In 2015, a couple, Nayef and Lina, who have two young daughters and married in 2012, were at risk of forcible divorce. Sho"rtl"y after Lina and Nayef married with the consent of her guardian (her brother), Lina’s paternal cousin brought a legal case against Nayef, requesting that a judge forcibly divorce the couple on the grounds that Nayef’s tribal lineage was lower than Lina’s. Lina told Human Rights Watch that in April 2013 the judge ruled in favor of her cousin, ordering the couple divorce and pay 50,000 Saudi Riyals ($13,300) to the cousin. The couple appealed the case, but the lower court ruling was upheld by an appeals court. In March 2015, the Saudi Supreme Court reversed the decision of the lower court, but in April 2015, according to Lina, the lower court allowed Lina’s cousin to open a new case against the couple on the same basis. In April 2005, Grand Mufti Shaikh Abd al-‘Aziz Al al-Shaikh, head of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars, stated, “Forcing a woman to marry someone she does not want and preventing her from wedding that whom she chooses... is not permissible” in Sharia. Yet the government has not taken adequate steps to stop judges from preventing women from freely choosing their spouse or dissolving marriages when male relatives claim a spouse’s status, whether tribal lineage or otherwise, is inadequate. Inequality in Divorce Women’s right to divorce is significantly more restricted than that of men. Men may unilaterally divorce their wives without condition. The man does not need to inform his wife that he intends to divorce her,nor must she be present in court in order to obtain a divorce decree. Fatima, a women’s rights activist, told Human Rights Watch that unilateral divorce is often done orally without documentation by courts, and that the burden to prove the divorce falls upon the woman. Women have no right to unilateral divorce. Women must instead seek a khul’ divorce, where a man generally agrees to the divorce on the condition that a woman pay back the full amount of her dowry, or a woman can apply to the courts for a faskh divorce, a fault-based divorce. For a faskh divorce, a woman must prove at least one of the few available grounds for divorce, which include mistreatment by the husband. Women explained that, lacking a written family law code, judges are not given clear guidance on what constitutes mistreatment as grounds for divorce. According to Reema, a women’s rights activist, physical abuse that is not life threatening or does not cause permanent damage might be considered within the rights of the husband and not valid grounds for divorce. A former judge said that women lacking clear evidence of abuse or alleging serious complaints—like bankruptcy, disability, or clearly apparent physical violence—often struggle to convince a judge they have an adequate basis for divorce. Both khul’ and faskh can require lengthy legal processes and, in the case of khul’, can be expensive. Before being granted a judicial divorce, women must also first undergo mandatory mediation, usually run by two or more male religious officials. Men seeking divorce do not have the same requirement. Two activists said many women choose not to seek divorce or challenge a forced marriage, believing the effort will not succeed. Multiple individuals interviewed by Human Rights Watch noted that women are often disadvantaged during divorce proceedings, as both judges and mediators are men, usually conservative, and often prioritize maintaining the marital relationship over the desires of the woman. Unlike men, who obtain divorce papers from courts within days of requesting them, women face many obstacles, including delays by judges. According to one 2014 news story, it took a woman four years to obtain a divorce because judges kept demanding that her guardian—the husband who abandoned her—appear in court.According to Dr. Heba, “The man can divorce in one minute. It will take him half an hour to get his paperwork done. If a woman is asking for divorce, it will take a year to get the papers.” Throughout divorce proceedings, a woman’s husband remains her guardian, maintaining the authority to control his wife’s decisions. In 2013, Dr. Heba’s daughter, Wajeha, was accepted into a university abroad. Wajeha’s husband, who she was in the process of divorcing, told her he would not authorize her travel. Wajeha’s father went to court and asked the judge to grant Wajeha permission to leave the country, offering to stand in and serve as his daughter’s guardian. The judge refused the request, noting that only Wajeha’s legal guardian—the husband she was divorcing—could authorize her travel. By the time Wajeha finalized the divorce, it was too late to accept the university’s invitation. Wajeha applied to universities again, but was not admitted into her earlier, preferred choice. Sana, a woman’s rights activist, explained that husbands also may abandon their wives without divorcing them, leaving women extremely vulnerable and unable to work, travel or access healthcare or other services for which she may need male guardian consent. Sana’s 25-year-old female relative was in such a marriage. Sana said, “She doesn’t live with him. She doesn’t see him. But she still has to get all the permissions from him.” Meena, Marriage, and the Courts Meena, 52, married when she was 20 years old. In 2010, after 27 years of marriage, Meena learned that her husband was having an affair. He began to restrict her travel, withhold financial support and, at one point, assaulted her and threatened to kill her. In 2012, Meena moved out. She brought a legal claim against her husband for the assault. During court proceedings, her husband announced he would ask the judge to order her to return to the marital home, which a husband has authority to do under Saudi law. Instead, the judge sentenced Meena’s husband to 10 lashes and three days in jail—one for each day it took Meena to recover from his assault. Five months later, after her husband appealed the verdict, court officials tried to convince Meena to settle the case. Meena agreed on a number of conditions, including that her husband provide her and their children financial support. At the last minute, her husband said she must also agree to be an “obedient” wife and drop all legal claims against him. According to Meena, “Then the judges started to pressure me, and the judges and the police and everybody pressures the woman to settle, to let it go, to let go of the rights that the law gives her.” Meena settled. During these proceedings, Meena’s husband remained her guardian. By 2015, he had revoked her travel permission and her passport had expired. In November, Meena went to the mayor, begging for travel permission. He partially agreed, sending a letter to the passport office ordering them to issue her a new passport and requesting her husband provide travel permission. When her husband refused, the passport office asked Meena’s son to grant permission for his mother to travel. In July 2015, Meena procured a divorce decree outside Saudi Arabia. In late 2015, a Saudi judge told Meena he could not accept the outside decree and ordered Meena and her husband go through the official reconciliation process, despite her six documented previous attempts to reconcile with her husband. The two men on the reconciliation committee recommended divorce, but only after trying to convince Meena, including through her son, to drop further legal claims against her husband. The judge told Meena he needed another two months to study the case. When she begged him to approve the divorce more quickly, he told her she was lucky—two months was faster than most cases. In 2016, the judge granted Meena the divorce, but her husband appealed the ruling. At the time of writing, Meena’s husband remains her guardian. She is required to request travel permission from government officials each time she wishes to leave the country. Inequality in Arrangement for Children after Divorce While the courts may order children to live with their mothers following a divorce, women do not have the right to be the legal guardians of their children. The basic rules concerning where children live after divorce transfer girls who are seven or older to the father and give boys who are nine or older a choice, according to an activist. A former judge told Human Rights Watch that, regardless of the age of the child, courts are ultimately meant to base their decision on post-divorce living arrangements on the best interests of the child. He noted that, in practice, judges discriminate against women and may base their ruling on which of the two parents appears more conservative. Sana, a woman’s rights activist, noted that this severely disadvantages women and that the father can “say crazy stuff like she practices black magic and the court will listen.” In 2014, the Supreme Judicial Council took a positive step by ruling that when children are ordered to live with their mothers after divorce, she can obtain documents and conduct government business for them. In 2015, the council declared the decision applied retroactively. The decisions enabled women to register their children in schools, take them to health centers, and obtain identity documents for them. Saudi fathers, however, maintain the right to grant travel permission for children or to authorize daughters’ marriages. In cases where children live with their mothers, she can seek travel permission from a court for them, although victories in these cases are very rare. According to a women’s rights activist, women remain significantly disadvantaged in issues involving children. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a state party, instructs states that in all matters concerning children, “the best interest of the child shall be a primary consideration.”The Convention provides that all children have the right to be heard “in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting [them],” including cases of separation and divorce, and post-divorce living arrangements. Various treaty bodies have addressed gender-based discrimination with regard to rights concerning children. The UN Committee on Discrimination Against Women called on states to ensure men and women have “[t]he same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children… in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount.”
VI. Restricting the Right to Equality before the Law I should go to the court, but it is strange because in my country they don’t think of a woman like a full person, so they prefer to deal with men. —Hayat, a 44-year-old former school principal, December 7, 2015 The Saudi government has taken a number of steps towards recognizing women’s legal capacity. In 2013, the authorities granted women the right to obtain a national ID card without guardian consent, and in 2014, issued directives declaring that women can interact with the courts without a male relative to verify their identity. In 2013, the Ministry of Justice granted women licenses to practice law and, by November 2015, nearly 70 female lawyers were licensed to practice. Despite this progress, women continue to face significant challenges when attempting to conduct a range of legal transactions without a male, from signing a lease to petitioning for divorce. Many women said they still prefer to or feel they must conduct a variety of legal transactions and interact with government agencies, including the courts, through or with the help of a man. At its core, the imposition of male guardianship denies Saudi women their right under CEDAW to “a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity.” Identity Documents Women continue to face difficulties accessing identity documents, but the government has eased restrictions on women’s ability to obtain independent identity cards and, in some cases, possess family cards, which specify familial relationships and are required to conduct a number of bureaucratic tasks. Prior to 2001, there was no individual national ID card for Saudi women—authorities registered all women under their father or husband’s family card. In 2001, the government began granting independent ID cards to Saudi women, but article 67 of the Civil Status Law stated that obtaining a national ID card was optional for women and required the consent of a woman’s guardian. In 2013, the Council of Ministers issued a decision that Saudi women must have their own national ID cards and that, after seven years, this would be the only means for women to prove their identity. Due to the changes, women no longer require formal guardian approval to apply for a national ID. Women continue to face barriers when applying for national ID cards without guardian approval. According to the Interior Ministry website, a woman must prove her identity to obtain an ID card, either by presenting her passport (which a woman cannot receive without guardian consent), by a male guardian confirming her identity, or through a related Saudi woman or two non-related Saudi woman. The website also states that a “homemaker… must submit a statement of consent written by her husband” to be granted a national ID. Women’s faces must appear uncovered in their national ID photo. Two women interviewed by Human Rights Watch noted that some conservative guardians might forbid a woman from applying for an ID if he does not want her to be photographed uncovered. Other women said that many women who wear the niqab (a veil covering the face) place a sticker over their uncovered ID photos and will only remove the sticker when interacting with women. Women must also present a family card to be granted a national ID. As family cards are generally issued to and held by male heads of household, women’s ability to conduct a number of official transactions, including applying for a national ID, without de facto guardian approval is limited. Currently, only men can register children on family cards. Fatima, a women’s rights activist, noted that some men refuse to add their wives or daughters to their family cards, rendering these women unable to prove their identity and obtain an ID card, and thus unable to access a range of government services. On October 13, 2015, the Shura Council proposed amending the Civil Status Law to allow women to obtain family cards for themselves, and to allow them to register births and deaths. Possession of a family card would enable women to conduct important bureaucratic tasks for their children, including enrolling them in school. The amendments would also grant women the ability to register births and deaths. The proposal was overwhelmingly supported—96 votes in favor to 28 against—but requires approval by the Council of Ministers to go into effect. At the time of writing, the Council of Ministers had still not approved the draft amendments. Following the Shura Council proposal, the Interior Ministry announced it would begin issuing divorced and widowed women family cards. Multiple women with whom Human Rights Watch spoke praised the decision Dr. Zahra, who handles cases of domestic violence, said that the change would particularly help women whose ex-husbands occasionally punish them by keeping their children out of school. Hayat, a 44-year-old divorced woman, said granting women the family card represents a serious improvement. Seven years ago, Hayat and her teenage son were turned away from a hotel in Riyadh because they did not have a family card proving their relationship, necessary for the hotel staff to allow the mother and son to stay in the same room. She said that the hotel staff threatened to report them to the Hai’a. Allowing women to possess a family card, as Dr. Salma, 52, stated, “Doesn’t solve the problem of guardianship.” Women still cannot travel with their children outside the country without the permission of the father, who remains the children's legal guardian, provide consent for their daughters to marry, or pass their nationality to their children. Dr. Salma explained, “The mother… is under the mercy of the guardianship of the father, but now she has more independence with this [family card]—At last, her name is next to her children [on an identity document].” Difficulty Accessing Government Services Saudi women who wear full niqab may be required to have a mu’arif (a male relative who can verify their identity) in order to carry out administrative tasks. For many years, government agencies, including courts, formerly required a mu’arif to confirm a woman’s identity. Even the most mundane tasks required a mu’arif, including in some cases to buy a SIM card. Nisreen, 24, told Human Rights Watch that while most cellphone stores no longer require a mu’arif, as recently as 2013 she had been asked for a mu’arif when attempting to buy a SIM card in Dammam, even though her face was uncovered and she showed her national ID. Saudi Arabia has taken steps to decrease women’s dependence on mu’arifs. In 2004, the Council of Ministers issued a directive requiring every state agency that provided services to women to create a women’s section within one year. In principle, women are able to conduct business inside a women’s section without a mu’arif. While setting up women’s sections inside government agencies has increased women’s access, the directive also reinforced sex segregation and created two separate and unequal systems. Women explained that women’s sections are not effective. In 2015, a Saudi commentator argued in the Saudi Gazette that women’s sections are marginalized and ineffective and do not have the authority to adequately serve women, citing a Saudi official who inspects ministries. As Reema, 36, a women’s rights activist, said, “[The government] just opened women’s sections but [hasn’t] give[n] them any real authority. Due to these and other difficulties, including restrictions on movement, guardians are often still required to act on behalf of women to conduct official business with government agencies. Multiple women told Human Rights Watch that men in their families carry out all business with government agencies on their behalf, including with courts. Discrimination in the Legal System Difficulty Accessing Courts Court officers do not always accept a woman’s ID as a means of identification and may ask for a woman to be accompanied by a mu’arif. The decision to accept the ID or not is often left to the discretion of a local court officer, according to three activists. Officers may turn women away if they do not want to see their uncovered national ID photos. Aisha, in her 50s, told Human Rights Watch that she went to a Riyadh court in 2013. She presented her national ID, but the court officer placed a piece of paper over her photo, not wanting to see her face. He told her she needed to bring a mu'arif. She called her husband, but he was unable to come tGet the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
The man stabbed more than 20 times in a vicious street attack in Salford had previously been linked to gang activity, the M.E.N. can reveal.
It is understood the victim is Leevon Birchall, who was made subject to a ‘gangbo’ order after detectives claimed he was linked to criminal activity in the city.
He underwent emergency surgery and is now in stable condition. Police are treating the Thursday night attack in Pendleton as attempted murder.
Leevon, 23, was one of the first people in Greater Manchester to be made subject to a criminal Asbo in 2012, an injunction banning them him from parts of Salford.
Along with two other men, he was also barred from communicating with alleged associates as part of Project Gulf, GMP’s anti-gang action.
But after breaking the order - and mocking police on Twitter - he was jailed for breaching the order.
It is understood he was walking near the junction of Citrus Way and Mango Place when he was ambushed by three men in balaclavas.
He was stabbed more than 20 times before his attackers were driven away in a getaway car.
The attack took place in a residential area, home to families and young children.
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One witness, who asked not to be named, told the M.E.N: “I was in bed just falling asleep when I heard a loud thud, like someone being hit by a car, I thought.
“I looked out the window and saw three men chase another man. They were wearing balaclavas.
“They were beating him up. He shouted ‘Come on boys!’ at them. He was in pain. I only found out later he’d been stabbed too.”
He added: “He shouted a woman’s name too, like he was calling for help. Then a car pulled up and the three men in balaclavas got in.
“The victim staggered into a house down the road. He was bent over and clutching his stomach.
“I’m still in shock, for something like that to happen close by. It’s terrible. I wish I hadn’t seen it.”
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Detectives are treating the attack as an attempted murder and are urging people with information to get in touch with police directly, or anonymously through Crimestoppers.
Det Insp Ben Hart of GMP’s Salford borough said the victim very nearly lost his life, adding: “Indications suggest this may well have been a targeted attack but we are still in the early stages of the investigation and remain open-minded as to their |
million contract earlier in the week, the most money ever guaranteed to a pitcher with less than two years of service time. The deal escalates to $40 million if Bumgarner qualifies as a Super 2 arbitration case at the end of this season. It also includes club option years for 2018 and 2019. This might seem like a lot of money compared to, say, the five-year, $14 million deal (with three club options) the Rays gave Matt Moore in December. But the Bumgarner contract reflects the realities of the market, and of this team: With players like Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, and Bumgarner’s teammate Matt Cain signing enormous long-term deals and fewer and fewer elite players expected to test free-agent waters in the near future, players gain leverage in negotiations, since the best ones stand to make a mint if they buck the trend and go out on the open market. With Tim Lincecum signed for only one more year after this one and justified concern that he might never again be the perennial Cy Young candidate he once was even if he does stay, it made sense for the Giants to lock up their two other aces in Cain and now Bumgarner. The hope is that San Francisco aggressively pursues a marquee bat after the ’13 season if and when the $42 million paid to Lincecum and Barry Zito that year comes off the books.
15. Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-8 (64 RS, 70 RA) (Last week: 5)
The second-steepest drop for any team, and the reasons go well beyond an ugly 2-5 week. The lineup was already struggling as Justin Upton battled a painful thumb injury; Chris Young tearing the AC joint in his right shoulder and sidelining his.410/.500/.897 start suddenly turned a once-strong Diamondbacks lineup into a Festival of Bloomquists. Upton made it back to the lineup over the weekend, but he’s now threatening the Mendoza line and might need a while longer to regain his stroke. Stephen Drew’s still recovering from a nasty ankle injury and hasn’t played a game yet this season. The curious Jason Kubel signing at least looks better now, with Gerardo Parra putting his excellent defense to good use in center while Young sits and Kubel is covering Parra’s old position in left.
A bad situation got worse when staff co-ace Daniel Hudson hit the DL Saturday with what doctors called a shoulder impingement. Soft tosser Josh Collmenter was already sitting on an ERA over 10 and needed replacing. The D-backs do have multiple attractive options to replace Hudson (and Collmenter too). For now they’re taking the path of least resistance, promoting Wade Miley from the bullpen to start Monday night. That leaves megaprospects Tyler Skaggs and Trevor Bauer and the more polished Patrick Corbin to wait for their eventual promotions. If the lineup stays short-handed for much longer and Miley can’t deliver, the Diamondbacks might have to get a lot more aggressive about their promotion policy and fast.
16. Los Angeles Angels, 6-10 (67 RS, 71 RA) (Last week: 11)
A generous ranking for a 6-10 team perhaps, but the Angels still own that deep starting rotation and Pujols-improved lineup that made them playoff and even World Series threats three weeks ago. Still, those losses are banked, and we probably need to reevaluate our year-end projections for the Halos at least a bit. The Replacement-Level Yankee Weblog, which runs detailed projections throughout the offseason and into the regular season, now pegs the Angels to win 85 games this year, five wins fewer than RLYW’s initial forecast.
The Angels did get some good news, both short-term (Scott Downs returning quickly from an ankle injury) and long-term (Erick Aybar signing a four-year, $35 million extension that looks like a bargain given the going rate for quality would-be free agents). But a poorly built (if talented) roster continues to dog the Angels’ decision-making process. The latest shenanigans happened Friday, when Mark Trumbo, who’d moved from first base last year to third base on Opening Day to the bench after repeated defensive miscues, got the start in left field Friday. The Angels hope to eventually free up lineup space by dealing Bobby Abreu. But the return of Kendrys Morales, the pending promotion of Mike Trout, and the continued employment of deceptively effective third baseman Alberto Callaspo still make it unclear where Trumbo will play, and how often. Too bad. Dude can mash.
17. Miami Marlins, 7-8 (57 RS, 53 RA) (Last week: 18)
What a weird team. The $106 million man, Jose Reyes, has been the Marlins’ worst position player year-to-date. The team’s supposed ace, Josh Johnson, has been stung by a.444 batting average on balls in play, but also by his strikeout rate getting cut in half from recent norms. Giancarlo Stanton, a dark-horse candidate for the NL home run title in some circles, hasn’t hit a single bomb, a bum knee hurting his defense too. Omar Infante is slugging.775, Hanley Ramirez is hitting like his old self (.385 wOBA) but can’t even pull off a simple tag play at third, and only two teams have been worse with the leather than Miami.
18. Colorado Rockies, 8-7 (72 RS, 77 RA) (Last week: 24)
One of the two teams to fare worse than the Marlins defensively is Colorado. And the biggest defensive disappointment on this or any other team has been Troy Tulowitzki. The two-time Gold Glove winner made six errors in his first 11 games this year, the same number he totaled for all of last season. Chalk up two of those mistakes to umpires foolishly letting the Rockies and Diamondbacks play through monsoon-like conditions on April 14. But the rest have weighed on Tulo’s mind. “It’s in my head,” he told the Denver Post‘s Troy Renck. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t in my head. I think about it because I care.”
Still, the Rockies fought off those defensive concerns to post a 4-2 week, propelling themselves into second place in the NL West. Jamie Moyer won one of those games, thus becoming, at 49 years, 150 days, the oldest pitcher ever to win a major league game. The Moyer tributes have come hot and heavy, as have the (mostly good-natured) jokes about Moyer’s age. My two favorite factoids: (1) Moyer has faced 8.9 percent of all batters in MLB history, and (2) Moyer didn’t once crack 80 mph in setting his record for the aged.
19. Philadelphia Phillies, 7-9 (43 RS, 46 RA) (Last week: 15)
How does a struggling team with three aces and a miserable offense see its fortunes slip even further? When one of those aces pulls a poor man’s Harvey Haddix, then later gets diagnosed with a strained oblique and lands on the DL. Get well soon, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Like, really soon.
20. Cincinnati Reds, 7-9 (53 RS, 69 RA) (Last week: 17)
The 30 was, is, and will remain your official home for bitching about Aroldis Chapman’s job description until the Reds finally take action. But while young righties Homer Bailey and Mike Leake or 2011 washout Bronson Arroyo figured to be the most likely candidates to see their starting job Aroldis’d, Mat Latos has been the staff’s biggest disappointment. It’s tough, if not impossible, to spot any meaningful trends over three measly starts. So we’ll simply quote some Latos numbers without extrapolation: 6.5 K/9 IP (career 8.6/9 IP), 4.7 BB/9 IP (career 2.7/9 IP), 1.2 HR/9 IP (career 0.8/9 IP), O-Swing% (percentage of pitches a pitcher makes a hitter swing at out of the strike zone) 29.4 (career 32.2), swinging strike percentage 8.9 (career 10.7). We’ll chalk this up to random chance, small sample size, and maybe missing Petco Park (though Latos showed minimal home/road splits with the Padres). But the longer the guy you traded half your farm system to get struggles, the more doubt starts to creep in.
Your #FreeAroldis update: 11⅔ innings, 18 strikeouts, two walks, three hits, zero runs, one continued relegation to middle relief.
21. Milwaukee Brewers, 7-9 (67 RS, 79 RA), (Last week: 23)
We’re about one-tenth of the way into the season and one of the most productive offensive positions, surprisingly, has been catcher. Through Saturday, catchers were hitting.254/.335/.416, basically dead even with first basemen and trailing only DHs (hello, David Ortiz) and center fielder (hellooooo, Matt Kemp) in production. The Brewers have been responsible for much of that success. Even after Sunday’s 0-for-4, Milwaukee’s starting catcher Jonathan Lucroy’s hitting a robust.256/.348/.487. Meanwhile, backup George Kottaras has been lethal in 21 plate appearances, hitting a ludicrous.440/.550/1.067. The Brewers recently signed Lucroy to an extremely affordable five-year, $11 million contract (with a club option). Meanwhile, Kottaras was an OBP hound throughout his minor league career who started developing some power once he hit his late 20s. It’s painfully early, and both catchers will surely come back to earth. But at a combined $1.2 million this year, anything north of efficiently exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen would qualify as a raging success.
22. Boston Red Sox, 4-10 (70 RS, 95 RA) (Last week: 9)
So much ink has already been spilled on the Red Sox, and Bill Barnwell weighs in today with thoughts on Alfredo Aceves at The Triangle. I liked Hardball Talk writer Matthew Pouliot’s take the best: If Bobby Valentine was hired specifically because of his tactical prowess (fine, and some weird Larry Lucchino power play), then why aren’t we seeing any of this genius at work? Granted, the front office left the bullpen vulnerable by acquiring injury-prone Andrew Bailey and not fortifying much else beyond importing Mark Melancon from Houston. Injuries to Carl Crawford and Jacoby Ellsbury have decimated what figured to be a good-to-very-good outfield. And the rotation’s big three of Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and Clay Buchholz has laid a succession of eggs, including a five-homer Buchholz strafing at the hands of the Yankees during Fenway Park’s 100th-anniversary game.
Booing Valentine for those shortcomings makes little sense. Even booing Valentine for calling out Kevin Youkilis doesn’t do much good: Valentine’s motivational techniques might be suspect, but we don’t have much proof that a manager griping about a player to the media negatively affects that player, much less the team. We do know that leaving Daniel Bard in to face Carlos Pena when Bard (a recently converted reliever-to-starter) had passed 100 pitches and Boston had rested-and-ready lefties waiting to come in could and did backfire. We know that after missing the plate by a mile repeatedly and walking Pena, Bard clearly signaled that he was done, only Valentine pushed him even further, having him face Evan Longoria. And we know that Bard walked Longoria on four pitches, cashing the only run either team would score and bumping the Rays to 3-0 on Patriots’ Day Fenway visits. Valentine also left lefty Franklin Morales to face lefty annihilator Mike Napoli on Tuesday with the bases loaded, resulting in a three-run double. He then had the right idea in getting Alfredo Aceves ready to pitch the eighth on Saturday, only to leave Morales in instead to give up a leadoff single first. Two ill-advised intentional walks merely fanned the flames, and the Yankees would eventually tack seven runs onto the seven they’d scored the inning before, turning a 9-0 deficit into a 15-9 win.
Trading for Marlon Byrd might help a little, if his months-long slump dating back to last year is more of a bad run than the aftereffects of getting beaned by Alfredo Aceves last May. Skipping Bard’s Monday start and possibly weaving him into the bullpen might help a little (though counting on Daisuke Matsuzaka as an effective replacement a month from now is probably asking too much). Being done with an impossibly tough early schedule (Tigers, Jays, Rays, Rangers, Yankees) will almost certainly help, as will moving on from a 14-game stretch in which every break that could have gone against the Red Sox did go against the Red Sox. No one wants to hear Valentine tell his team that they’ve hit rock bottom. But the truth is, they probably have. Just as the Rangers will come back to the pack a bit, the Red Sox will start stringing together wins, because there’s still plenty of talent here, and because the basic nature of regression toward the mean won’t let that not happen. Whether Boston can accomplish something more ambitious than that depends on a slew of factors, from better health to (much) better pitching to, yes, Valentine making the right decisions at the right time (granted, the former two much more than the latter). It seems unfathomable to imagine good tidings now, but this season has a long, long, long way to go.
23. Oakland A’s, 8-9 (52 RS, 56 RA) (Last week: 25)
Cliff Lee (along with Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips) and Bartolo Colon were traded for each other 10 years ago. That Colon is again pitching like the ace he was 10 years ago is nothing short of a medical miracle. That he threw 38 straight strikes Wednesday night against Albert Pujols and the rest of the Angels seems preposterous. That he’s the fourth-most-valuable pitcher in the majors so far this season seems impossible. That the A’s got Colon on a one-year for all of $2 million shows there’s still some Moneyball left in that front office after all.
24. Seattle Mariners, 7-10 (60 RS, 72 RA) (Last week: 21)
Did Brendan Ryan swing at the pitch that sealed Philip Humber’s perfect game? Sam Miller posted a screen-cap at Baseball Prospectus and yeah, I don’t know either. When in doubt, give the guy the perfect game. Except those times when you don’t.
Oh, and if Tim Lincecum wants a blueprint for how to deal with diminished fastball velocity, he should watch a video of Felix Hernandez’s last start and witness the Changeup of Obliteration.
25. Houston Astros, 6-10 (71 RS, 61 RA) (Last week: 22)
A 12-0 whitewash of Chad Billingsley and the Dodgers takes some of the sting out of a five-loss week anyway. Of course, the rebuilding Astros are all about the long view right now. So here are a few encouraging signs:
• Possible trade bait Wandy Rodriguez has a 1.42 ERA (after Sunday’s seven shutout innings).
• 25-year-old Jordan Schafer is hitting.263/.373/.368 (after Sunday’s grand slam).
• 24-year-old J.D. Martinez is hitting.309/.424/.527.
• 21-year-old Jose Altuve is hitting.321/.381/.464.
26. Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-9 (30 RS, 44 RA) (Last week: 26)
The Pirates are last in the majors in runs scored, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging average. So what could possibly make them feel good right now? A.J. Burnett! No, seriously. The exiled Yankee, whom the Pirates got for a three-day-old Primanti sandwich last offseason, destroyed the National League’s best offense Saturday, hurling seven shutout innings while surrendering just three singles and two walks against seven strikeouts. He needed just 76 pitches for the day. Burnett’s still got this year and next left on his $82.5 million contract, most of it being paid by the Yanks. You wouldn’t count on him to succeed again, say, in the AL East. But a National League contender that needs pitching help at the deadline could do a lot worse than to check in on Burnett.
27. Minnesota Twins, 5-11 (58 RS, 85 RA) (Last week: 30)
A 3-4 week and some generally competitive baseball against the Yankees and Rays were enough to lift the Twins out of The 30’s basement for the first time this year. Josh Willingham’s been one of the five best hitters in the game to start the year, hitting.328/.435/.655. Denard Span’s also hitting.328, albeit with way, way less power. Justin Morneau’s striking out more than he ever has in the early going, but you don’t say no to a 40-homer pace given Morneau’s hellacious battles with migraines and other ailments.
Francisco Liriano, on the other hand? “We’re going to step back and see what we need to do to try and help him out,” Ron Gardenhire said after the game. Which sounds ominous and maybe even a bit premature until you see Liriano’s season line: 16⅓ innings, 22 runs, 25 hits, and 13 walks.
28. San Diego Padres, 5-12 (60 RS, 71 RA) (Last week: 29)
Chase Headley before Wednesday’s Grantland Q&A sitdown:.238/.389/.500. Chase Headley after Wednesday’s Grantland Q&A sitdown:.438/.550/.875
29. Chicago Cubs, 4-12 (59 RS, 81 RA) (Last week: 27)
Starlin Castro has reached base in 55 of his last 56 games, dating back to mid-August of last year. He also has zero homers and three walks in 68 plate appearances this season. Which isn’t really a problem if he keeps hitting.365. Which almost certainly won’t happen given how tough it is to continue a.404 batting average on balls in play. Which is reasonable but also nitpicking given Castro’s age: He’s 22 freaking years old. We’re seeing some freaky ability here, like Ichiro arriving in the majors half a decade earlier, batting right-handed, and playing a pretty lousy shortstop.
30. Kansas City Royals, 3-12 (56 RS, 77 RA) (Last week: 28)
A sampling of tweets from my beleaguered Royals-fan friend and Grantland colleague Rany Jazayerli, as Kansas City built a 10-game losing streak:Barack Obama stopped by Walter Reed Army Medical Center Saturday to visit wounded war veterans, a group that he has said endures substandard care under the Bush administration.
The presumed Democratic nominee, who was in Washington to speak to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, slipped into the facility shortly after 9 a.m. without stopping to speak to the small group of reporters who follow him. The visit wasn't on his public schedule.
Obama has criticized the Bush administration for its treatment of veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and has suggested Republican rival John McCain would continue Bush policies if elected.
The administration was roundly criticized last year after it was revealed that veterans at Walter Reed were housed in rundown accommodations and suffered neglectful care.
Obama has said the country has failed its veterans by allowing such "second-rate conditions," by not giving troops enough time at home and not doing enough to support military families.
In a speech at a rally with his former Democratic opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday, Obama said voters have a choice about whether to continue spending billions of dollars every month in Iraq, and leave troops there for 20 years, 50 years or 100 years - a line that elicited boos from the crowd.
"It is time to rebuild our military and take care of our veterans," he said.
On veterans issues, McCain is seen by his supporters as having the advantage of military experience - the Arizona senator was a Navy pilot, and spent nearly six years as a Vietnam prisoner of war after he was shot down.
Obama, who serves on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, often notes that his grandfather served in World War II.
He criticizes McCain for opposing an expansion of the GI bill to guarantee full college scholarships for those who serve in the military for three years. McCain and Pentagon officials say they oppose the bill because they fear it would encourage people to leave after only one enlistment during a war.
Obama To Visit Europe, Mideast This Summer
Obama plans to visit the Middle East and Europe this summer, taking time off from campaigning in the United States in an effort to boost his foreign policy credentials.
Obama's campaign told The Associated Press the likely nominee will travel to Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The Illinois senator also has said he intends to visit Iraq and Afghanistan this summer; his campaign would not say whether those stops would be part of the trip to the Mideast and Europe.
"This trip will be an important opportunity for me to assess the situation in countries that are critical to American national security, and to consult with some of our closest friends and allies about the common challenges we face," Obama said in a statement.
"This will be an important opportunity to have an exchange of views with leaders in these countries about these and other issues that are critical to American national security and global security in the 21st century."
The campaign also would not disclose the dates of any of the plans in an attempt to protect Obama's security. Obama's campaign manager said this past week that Iraq and Afghanistan would be part of an official congressional trip. The other stops are part of a campaign-funded visit.
Obama foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said the senator wants to consult with leaders of some important U.S. allies about common challenges, including terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.
"He obviously wants to consult with the leaders of those countries but also find an opportunity to speak to the people of those countries about our shared values and goals," McDonough said in an interview Saturday.
An Associated Press-Yahoo News poll taken this month found that 61 percent of those surveyed see McCain as a good military leader, compared with 27 percent for Obama. But they see Obama as more likely to improve America's standing in the world, 43 percent to 33 percent who said the same about McCain.The New Jersey Devils have placed defenseman Colin White and forward Trent Hunter on waivers with the purpose of buying out their contracts. They will become unrestricted free agents.According to capgeek.com, White has one year and $3 million left on his contract while Hunter has two years and $4 million total left on his contract. According to Tom Gulitti of The Record, White will receive $1 million over each of the next two seasons, while Hunter gets $666,667 for the next four seasons.White has played all of his 743 regular-season games and 111 playoff games in a Devils uniform. He was selected by the club in the second round of the 1996 Entry Draft and made his debut during the 1999-2000 season. He won the Stanley Cup with the Devils in 2000 and 2003.The Devils acquired Hunter from the Islanders last week in a trade for Brian Rolston. He has played all of his 459 regular-season games with the Islanders since making his debut during the 2002-03 season. Hunter was limited to only 17 games last season due to a season-ending knee injury he suffered in November.Nedbank / bad service
1 South Africa
On the 21/05/2009 I went to ned bank @ mdantsane to find out if I can block a debit order on my account because I bank there went to a lady called linda @ the enqiuries asked her if its possible to have my wish done she firstly looked @ me as I was stupid & im asking the most imposible thing that has never been asked she answred me saying no & consantrating to her colleuge which she was talking to before she served me living me with a no & no support to her answer I was standing there like a stupid & wishing I din't go there from the first place I shared this @ work we went the to find another answer to our question she shouted us like stupid kids & sent us to the managr we did'nt complain to the manager becoz we knew that we won't find a resolution nedbank has a bad service that is always caused by this same lady no one wants to even go & ask for help @ the enquiries @ nedbank plz people do something about this as i'm angry now due to someone who needs customer care service. My email [protected]@yahoo.com. Work tel: [protected]US President Donald Trump's son Donald Trump Jr, son-in-law Jared Kushner and former campaign manager Paul Manafort have been asked to appear before US Senate committees next week to answer questions about the campaign's alleged connections to Russia, officials said on Wednesday.
The three men are the closest associates of the president to be called to speak to legislators involved in probing Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
Trump, who came into office in January, has been dogged by allegations that his campaign officials were connected to Russia, who US intelligence agencies have accused of interfering in last year's election.
Trump has denied any collusion.
OPINION: Trump and Putin: An awkward first date
The US Senate Judiciary Committee said on Wednesday that it had called Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, and Manafort to testify on July 26 at a hearing.
The president's son released emails earlier this month that showed him eagerly agreeing to meet last year with a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The meeting was also attended by Manafort and Kushner, who is now a senior adviser at the White House.
Kushner is scheduled to be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday, July 24, behind closed doors.
"Working with and being responsive to the schedules of the committees, we have arranged Mr. Kushner's interview with the Senate for July 24," Kushner's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. "He will continue to cooperate and appreciates the opportunity to assist in putting this matter to rest."
Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Trump Jr, did not immediately respond to a request by The Associated Press seeking comment about his scheduled testimony. Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said Manafort received the request on Wednesday afternoon and is reading it over.
Trump rages against Sessions
A special counsel, Robert Mueller, is also conducting an investigation of Russian meddling in the US election and any collusion between Moscow and Trump's campaign.
The issue has overshadowed Trump's tenure in office and irritated the president, who told the New York Times on Wednesday that he would not have appointed ally and former Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general if he had known Sessions would recuse himself from oversight of the Russia probe.
“Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Trump said in the interview.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, said the committee's hearing would enable the panel to begin to get testimony under oath.
"There has been an enormous amount that has been said publicly, but it's not under oath, which means that people are free to omit matters or lie with relative impunity," Whitehouse told CNN.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is conducting one of the main investigations of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US election and possible collusion by Trump associates, but the judiciary committee has been looking into related issues.
The public judiciary committee hearing on Wednesday will look into rules governing the registration of agents working for foreign governments in the United States and foreign attempts to influence US elections.
Chuck Grassley, the committee's Republican chairman, has said he wanted to question the Trump associates but has also raised concerns about why the Obama administration allowed Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who attended the Trump Tower meeting in June, into the US.
He also has called before the committee and threatened to subpoena Glenn Simpson, a cofounder of Fusion GPS, a firm that commissioned former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele to dig up opposition research on Trump, when he was a presidential candidate.Photoshop CC, Sketchup 2014, Keyshot and Cinema 4D:
Do check out my other sci-fi related works, TQ!
More info on the novel, do check it out here--> www.smashwords.com/books/view/… 'Sexy Cyberpunk' is a thrilling collection of five futuristic erotic novellas involving seductive cyborgs, adorable androids, and dangerous digital worlds.This erotica anthology includes the following:– Three femme fatales, a wetware guru, an Elite hacker, and a robotics genius, take on an impossible mission that puts their proficient skills as well as their salacious bodies to the ultimate test for freedom.– Quinn is an urban-surfer who risks his life daily, for fleeting surges of adrenaline to drown out his emotional pain. He is also an Elite hacker, who may have finally met his match. The big question though is who, and more importantly, what is she?– When Spike received an anonymous invitation, he hadn’t possessed the slightest suspicion where it would lead him, or how it would change his life forever.– A hacker toying with a Lolita sex-bot unlocks a higher consciousness, thrusting himself into a world of trouble.– A nymphet neophyte meets an Elite hacker who lures her into a hazardous world of licentious temptation and treacherous cyber-terrorism.The Indus civilization is one of the great mysteries of the ancient world. An urban society, it was made up of hundreds of cities and towns that stretched across what are today northern India and Pakistan. Though its inhabitants left great art and elaborate water infrastructures behind, we know almost nothing about the Indus people who lived between 3,000 and 1300 BCE. In fact, we still haven't even deciphered their written language.
But now, the results of a new long-term study of the northwestern Indus region have given us a new understanding of how this civilization functioned. We've also gotten hints about how the civilization coped with dramatic climate change from ever-changing weather patterns.
An international team with the Land, Water, and Settlement project in northwest India studied Indus settlements in that region between 2007 and 2014, looking at everything from water systems and plant remains to art and pottery. What they found has overturned conventional wisdom about who the Indus people were and how they lived. Now they've published a treasure trove of new findings about local centers in the Indus civilization in Current Anthropology.
Monsoon crisis
University of Cambridge archaeologist Cameron Petrie and his team found that settlements in the Indus Valley 5,000 years ago did not represent a unified culture, though clearly they shared many things in common. Some symbols and pottery styles are found in hundreds of settlements, but many were not. And when it came to farming and water management practices, each Indus settlement seemed to have its own ways of doing things.
Crops varied widely from place, though rice and millet were staples. Even growing seasons varied, with some settlements preferring winter crops and others preferring summer. Still others seemed to prefer a mix of both. The reason for this wide variation had a lot to do with access to water. The Indus region is at an environmental crossroads where monsoon rainfall varies dramatically from place to place.
Indus cities and towns, even ones that were essentially neighbors, adapted to very different patterns of rainy and dry seasons. Some used monsoon rains to water crops, others waited for rain-swollen local rivers to flood fields, while still others built reservoirs to maintain a water supply year-round. The biggest Indus cities, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, are famous for their sophisticated waterworks, far more advanced than those of their trade partners in the great cities of Mesopotamia. Though other civilizations of the same era left behind monumental ziggurats and pyramids, the Indus left reservoirs and fountains.
Then, at the height of Indus urbanization, when the region's cities were growing the largest they had ever been, climate disaster struck. The life-giving monsoons weakened starting in roughly 2200 BCE. Drought crept into some regions, while others were relatively unaffected. And yet the Indus settlements survived for centuries afterward. Writing in Current Anthropology, the researchers say this is why the story of the Indus region "provides a unique opportunity to understand how an ancient society coped with both diverse and varied ecologies as well as change in the fundamental and underlying environmental parameters."
Studying the Indus civilization might give us hints about what it takes for cities to make it through a period of dire climate change.
Mobility and diversity
One of the intriguing discoveries that's come out of the Land, Water, and Settlement project is that the Indus cultures seem to have been uniquely qualified to deal with a climate crisis. Even before the monsoon rains slackened, each Indus settlement was used to adapting quickly to new weather patterns. At the very least, they dealt with a season of floods and a season of drought every year. Beyond that, rainfall could also vary a lot over longer periods.
Preliminary evidence suggests that many settlements may have moved around quite a bit to follow farm-friendly wet weather. The researchers suggest that when we look at the hundreds of settlements left behind by the Indus peoples, we have to consider the possibility that only 5-10 percent of them were occupied at any given time. Maybe these countless cities are the remains of just a few groups setting up camp in new areas every generation. We have strong evidence that Indus population centers moved from west to east over a period of roughly 1,500 years, until finally people abandoned their cities entirely and returned to a rural way of life.
Indus people weren't just changing their locations all the time. They also changed what they ate. It seems that they planted new kinds of crops, depending on what the environment could support. Winter crops like rabi-wheat, barley, pea, lentil, and chickpea could be swapped out for summer crops like kharif-millet, rice, and tropical pulses. Often, Petrie and his team would find a mix of winter and summer crops, as if people were experimenting to find out what grew best and when.
The researchers write:
Such an environment may have required settled populations to be relatively mobile in order to survive a constantly shifting hydrology, and there may have been high population mobility between settlement locales. Individual families or kin groups potentially spread their members between multiple settlements, and individuals or groups might have moved between settlements to access available water in times of shortage or stress.
Panarchy
What's fascinating is that ecological diversity in the Indus valley seems to be echoed by a strong cultural diversity among the people of the Indus civilization. Anthropologists sometimes call this phenomenon "panarchy" to describe the interaction between environment and social structure.
Indus cities and villages produced their own unique farming practices as well as unique styles of art. Some of the researchers found "region-specific styles of pottery" in villages, unlike pottery found anywhere else, intermingled with "characteristically Indus material" like bangles and blue beads, which are found throughout the Indus region. This suggests strong local identities supplemented a broader Indus culture. We know that migration between villages and cities was common, so it's likely that people in the Indus valley thought of themselves as part of an overarching civilization. But evidence strongly suggests it was a multicultural society, meaning that there were a lot of cultural differences at the local level, too.
Current Anthropology
Current Anthropology
It was probably this multicultural aspect of Indus life that helped people survive climate change. Rather than depending on one kind of water management system or a few staple crops, the civilization was built around diverse and redundant practices. As the researchers put it, "Indus populations in some regions were well adapted to living in diverse and changeable ecological and environmental conditions and were thus well placed to make sustainable and resilient decisions in the face of environmental change." The more centralized and homogenous the culture, the more fragile it is when dealing with environmental shifts. Having many strategies and many cultures allowed the Indus civilization to react nimbly, adapting fast to environments that were literally transforming before their eyes.
Current Anthropology, 2017. DOI: 10.1086/690112The backward nationalism of the 20th century is still alive in today's Kolozsvár. Besides the general negative attitude of governmental bodies toward the Hungarian language and culture, it has occurred several times that ethnic Hungarians young people have been attacked by Romanian nationalist on the streets, the sole reason for these attacks consisted of the usage of the Hungarian Language. Romanian police is rather uninterested in these cases. This nationalism is unknown in today's western Europe.
This nationalism stems from political view that Europe knows from the first and second world war. The “patient” Europe should be cured from this deadly disease. The war in former Yugoslavia showed the devastating effects of this nationalism and blind hatred. The forceful Romanization of the autonomous population is a step back in history.
“A state which labours to neutralize, to absurd or to expel them destroys its own vitality; a state which does not include them is destitute of the chief basis of self government. The theory of nationality therefore is a retrograde step in history”.
(Lord Acton: Nationality 1862)(210) [Application number] 2014-075558
(220) [Application date] 2014/09/08
[Date of entry into force of prior right] 2014/09/08
[Date of publication of application] 2014/10/02
[Transmission date of refusal]
[Date of final disposition]
[Type of final disposition]
[Type of application]
[Trademark(for retrieval)] ＨＹＲＵＬＥ
(541) [Trademark(Standard characters)]
code=8267code=8278code=8271code=8274code=826Bcode=8264
(561) [Transliteration(reference)] ハイルール
(531) [Figure Term(Vienna Classification)]
(731) [Applicant]
[Name] 任天堂株式会社 (Nintendo Co., Ltd.)
[Address] 京都府京都 |
budget and travel interests suggest.
Communicative concierge
The concierge we worked with was excellent. She was quick to answer questions and provide suggestions. She offered to book the hotel for us (if you book your hotel with Journy concierge, you sometimes get perks like late check-out or continental breakfast) but wasn't pushy when we said we preferred to book it personally. She sent gentle reminder emails about confirming plans and was tuned into the type of restaurants and activities we wanted. This is a concierge service you would expect from a high-level credit card.
The Verdict
Journy is fun, functional and provides personalized trip concierge service to which you might not otherwise have access. Though it's not perfect, it's a fun and very personal gift for a friend or family member who's planning a special trip.
It's also an indulgent gift to yourself so you can spend your time getting your passport in order instead of praying the Yelp reviews for that amazing place aren't all shills.
Now all you have to do is figure out a way to get the time off to actually take the vacation.Over the holidays, I wrote myself a link shortener to take advantage of the fact that I've been paying for a vanity domain (an.ton.io) and to refresh my memory of HTTP redirect etiquette and the Googlebot. Watching the stats over the last month, I've been amazed at what I had erroneously perceived as amazing Twitter juice as I would easily get 1-3K clicks on any link I shared with was even mildly interesting. This morning though, I became suspicious when within 1 minute of an un-Godly early morning moment, I had received over 200 distinct clicks on my Twitter link.
A quick sampling of this first minute shed some light on just who listens that early in the morning:
date ip useragent 2012-02-14 06:33:10 184.106.83.185 EventMachine HttpClient 2012-02-14 06:33:10 50.56.19.192 EventMachine HttpClient 2012-02-14 06:33:11 50.19.36.2 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1;.NET CLR 1.1.4322;.NET CLR 2.0.50727) yolinkBot 2012-02-14 06:33:11 50.57.137.74 EventMachine HttpClient 2012-02-14 06:33:11 66.228.54.132 InAGist URL Resolver (http://inagist.com) 2012-02-14 06:33:11 184.72.46.156 RockMeltEmbedService 2012-02-14 06:33:11 173.192.79.101 NING/1.0 2012-02-14 06:33:11 89.151.116.53 Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; TweetmemeBot/2.11; +http://tweetmeme.com/) 2012-02-14 06:33:11 50.18.23.200 JS-Kit URL Resolver, http://js-kit.com/ 2012-02-14 06:33:11 46.20.47.43 Mozilla/5.0 (compatible 2012-02-14 06:33:11 69.63.180.247 Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; FriendFeedBot/0.1; +Http://friendfeed.com/about/bot) 2012-02-14 06:33:11 50.18.121.54 UnwindFetchor/1.0 (+http://www.gnip.com/) 2012-02-14 06:33:12 199.59.149.165 Twitterbot/1.0 2012-02-14 06:33:12 184.72.47.46 UnwindFetchor/1.0 (+http://www.gnip.com/) 2012-02-14 06:33:13 212.238.124.233 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.3) Gecko/20100405 Namoroka/3.6.3 2012-02-14 06:33:15 65.52.0.205 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0) 2012-02-14 06:33:17 50.17.86.151 Summify (Summify/1.0.1; +http://summify.com) 2012-02-14 06:33:18 94.212.250.64 PycURL/7.21.6 2012-02-14 06:33:21 72.55.158.72 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729) 2012-02-14 06:33:22 50.17.85.42 Java/1.6.0_07 2012-02-14 06:33:34 216.52.242.14 LinkedInBot/1.0 (compatible; Mozilla/5.0; Jakarta Commons-HttpClient/3.1 +http://www.linkedin.com) 2012-02-14 06:33:42 174.37.79.60 Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; ScribdReader/1.0; +http://www.float.com) 2012-02-14 06:33:43 50.19.205.250 Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6 (FlipboardProxy/1.1; +http://flipboard.com/browserproxy) 2012-02-14 06:34:00 64.12.237.20 Jakarta Commons-HttpClient/3.1
What is most fascinating about this is the sheer number of bots (software programs written by humans) wired into my feed (you can tell that these are what are visiting by the "useragent" column which usually identifies one of the main browsers but here identifies hand-written scripts). I expect that a couple of these are from Twitter itself and perhaps a handful of blessed partners (LinkedIn for instance) with access to the firehose, but for the most part, the bot melee must be comprised of software agents that have been written to at some point explicitly follow my account.
Given the sheer number of bots now authoring tweets, I wonder how long Twitter would continue to function bot-to-bot if every human being on the planet stopped tweeting instantly with software agents posting links that other software agents would dereference and then reply to. In Battlestar Galactica the Cylons were big toaster-like robots but maybe our artificial overlords will show up in a much more subtle way. Let's just hope if that is the case that they end up being less self-promotional than their human progenitors when it comes to Twitter!We’ve lost Justice Antonin Scalia, the conservative lion of the high court. He was a man who had the courage to ask “what do those words mean?” and then to step aside and let the intent of those who ratified the U.S. Constitution or who passed a particular law decide how he would rule. When challenged on this he would point out that he simply adhered to the democratic process. If people want to change a law or even the Constitution there is a process to do so. If and when they do this, he would rule according to the law or constitutional amendment.
With Scalia gone this transparent, honest analysis is in jeopardy.
There is no clearer example of Scalia's judicial philosophy than how he ruled on the Second Amendment to the U.S. Bill of Rights. Scalia wrote the 5-4 majority opinion in D.C. v. Heller (2008), a ruling that found that the Second Amendment protects the individual’s right to own and carry guns.
Still, anyone who reads the minority opinion in Heller will be confronted by the reality that liberal justices are waiting for an opportunity to gain a majority so they can take away this constitutional right.
The two justices President Barack Obama has already put on the high court would do this. If President Obama is able to replace Scalia on the court it would give him an opportunity to take care of what he has called his greatest regret, not being able to further restrict the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
To put this in context, it’s worth remembering that in 2008 it wasn’t even clear how the U.S. Supreme Court would rule. I remember sitting in the press box during the Supreme Court’s hearing of Heller and, when Justice Anthony Kennedy tipped his hand that he believes the right to be an individual one, a liberal journalist seated next to me gasped “oh, no!”
It was then shocking to many in the media that five justices on the court didn’t have a problem with a clear, honest and historical definition of the Second Amendment. In Heller the court upheld a federal appeals court ruling, thereby striking down D.C.’s gun ban. Justice Scalia wrote, “In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense.”
Still, Scalia didn’t overreach, but rather bound himself by the rule of law.
The majority opinion ruled that the Second Amendment is an individual right that can be regulated, just as any other right can be fairly regulated. Scalia wrote, “It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” Justice Scalia went on to say the court’s decision “should not be taken to cast doubt on many existing restrictions against gun possession, including handgun possession by felons and the mentally ill, possession in schools and government buildings and rules governing commercial arms sale. But outright bans on the Second Amendment right, like the First Amendment’s free speech, are not constitutional.”
As this was a conservative ruling, the Court used judicial restraint. They didn’t want to write legislation from the bench. They left it up to the people’s elected officials to define reasonable restrictions on the individual right and then for future courts to step in to rule what restrictions are permissible.
This is happening now. The lower circuit courts have had fundamental disagreements on what reasonable infringements on the right to keep and bear arms are. The Supreme Court will need to, sooner or later, resolve these questions. This is why, even if the Supreme Court never again questions Heller, the peoples’ right to own and carry guns will be defined by the high court in the near future.
During each presidential election pundits and politicians proclaim it to be the most consequential election in our lifetime. In this case, given the loss of Justice Scalia, it is not hyperbole to say just that.
Just consider that last month at a campaign event in Iowa, Hillary Clinton said the next president might get the opportunity to appoint three Supreme Court justices. After she said this, a person in the audience asked Clinton if she’d consider appointing President Barack Obama to the high court.
“Wow, what a great idea,” said Clinton. “No one has ever suggested that to me; I love that, wow. He may have a few other things to do, but I tell you, that’s a great idea. I mean, he’s brilliant, he can set forth an argument and he was a law professor. So he’s got all the credentials, but we would have to get a Democratic Senate to get him confirmed.”A “lacklustre” bank earnings season in the U.S. does not bode well for Canada’s biggest banks, says John Aiken, analyst at Barclays Capital Markets.
“With the ‘Big 6’ already experiencing robust capital markets gains last quarter, we believe the few positive factors driving the bottom line for the U.S. banks, are unlikely to carry over north of the border,” Aiken said in a note to clients.
“Further tempering our outlook for Q2, sequential top line and EPS growth for the U.S. banks remained relatively modest, weighed by higher loan loss provisions, and continued margin pressures.”
U.S. bank earnings have benefited from strong trading revenues and good cost control, but Aiken estimates that more than three-quarters of those that have reported so far experienced sequential declines in net interest income.
At the same time, he said a third of U.S. banks have reported higher levels of provisions for credit losses.
Aiken noted that the lacklustre reporting season has weighed on U.S. bank share performance relative to Canada’s banks, which have still underperformed by roughly 300 basis points over the past year.
“While the somewhat less than stellar U.S. banks’ Q1 earnings may have cast a positive light on the Canadian banks, we believe it could be short lived,” he said.
“With our restrained outlook, oil price overhang, and expectations of a stronger U.S. economy over the near term, we believe the U.S. banks’ outperformance over the past year will continue.”On that [Major spoiler redacted.] He is so bent on revenge, what happens to the character when he achieves that? What do you think he does then?
You know, I don’t know. It’s probably one of those things where, I think he’s searching for a way to get past the heartbreak, but my opinion would be that Drax will never get over the loss of his family. Nothing is going to cure that. I think he’s searching for it, he thinks that something might make him feel better, but my opinion is that he would never get over the heartbreak.
He has an interesting emotional backstory, but he’s also — he’s not dumb, but he’s really kind of limited mentally by his literalness. Was that fun or challenging to play, or both?
It was, you know, it was fun, and it really wasn’t challenging, and that’s mostly because of Chris Pratt. It’s just so easy playing a straight man to him. So it just — it was one of those things that if the timing was right, which again, made it very easy working with Chris, because he’s just witty and talented. And we had chemistry because basically our first screen test together was just a chemistry test. We didn’t have any dialogue, you know, we just went on and did a bunch of improv stuff to see if we did and right off the bat we just had chemistry. So in the end it wasn’t so much of a challenge.
That’s good. What was the set like? Because in the movie you guys are building a team, was it like that on set or did you guys keep to yourselves?
No! It was — actually, we were never by ourselves we spent most of our time on set, because once we were on set and in makeup and stuff it was long days. We didn’t have a lot of breaks and if there was downtime we just stayed on set. But it was just a lot of fun, a lot of chemistry, but a lot of chemistry was I think already built with casting. I think James [Gunn] kind of had a certain goal of making sure that we all did have good chemistry and there weren’t going to be any prima donnas on set. So I think that was one of his major goals, and it showed. I think right off the bat we kind of gelled right off the bat. We were over there months early for preproduction and spent a lot of time beforehand before we even got to filming so I think that was already kind of built in so once we got on set it was like a bunch of kids.
You are very tattooed and so is Drax. Did you have any input in the character design at all?
No, I went up there, you know, Drax went through a bunch of different versions. They kept, they would do makeup tests and decide they weren’t happy with certain things and then they’d do it again. But no, it was — that stuff was so far over my head anyway, because the makeup team, who was led by a guy named David White, was just so creative, man. I mean they came up with stuff that I was looking at and [was] just kind of in awe. ‘Cuz they had this big, kind of, it was a body molding where they put the tattoos on our skin, and I was looking at all the details, just so crazy, man. So that stuff’s like, I would have sounded like an idiot trying to tell these guys how to do their job.
Okay, fair enough. Do you know the plot of Guardians of the Galaxy 2?
I don’t know if there’s going to be a Guardians of the Galaxy 2 [Editor’s note: There is]. I would assume that there is going to be, and that’s really based solely off of my opinion of the film, because I think it’s great.
It’s really fun.
Yeah it was so much fun I just don’t see how they’re… when I first started watching it I was really kind of, as you would expect for me to be: looking at my performance, kind of analyzing it, and just kind of cringing, just like oh, man… But then I just got sucked into it as a fan, and I just want more, man. I just want to see more. So yeah, no. Obviously I don’t know the plot, but I’m assuming that there is going to be more to come.
So I’m assuming you don’t know when the Guardians are going to team up with the Avengers?
Laughs. And again, that would be along the line. You know, Marvel’s pretty hush-hush with everything, so like, I get wrapped up in the rumors, too, and I wanna know more, but they don’t tell me anything. Laughs
What was your favorite thing to film? What was your favorite part of the movie?
Um… Long pause, heavy sigh. It’s such a toss-up because you know, like, the Kiln, the prison set, was so amazing and you just kind of get lost in it while you’re there. So it was a lot of fun filming, but there was certain stuff we did on Knowhere — the gambling scenes — with all the extras, it was just a lot of fun. There were, like, we did a crash-site scene where there were so many extras it just felt like you were on a different planet. I’m sorry, I know I’m stretching this out, but it’s just a hard question to answer because there was just so much…
So all of it? All of it was your favorite?
Laughs. I know! It’s so uninteresting to say that. It was so much fun. It’s just hard to narrow it down to a favorite moment or a favorite scene.
No, it’s okay.
Only because this was over five months of shooting, so… There’s just a lot of good times, a lot of good laughs, and a lot of tears. Some of that stuff, like, there was a scene where, oh, you saw the film?
Yeah, I saw it last night.
Yeah, so at the end of the scene where [slight spoiler redacted, basically Star-Lord gives an inspiring speech]. But that whole scene, that was the first time I had really experienced Chris Pratt’s acting range. I had only, you know, we had done the funny stuff, but you know, he really sucked everybody in, like emotionally. You got invested. And I was sitting there thinking, this guy’s really good, really talented and kind of inspiring, and there were a couple of takes where he just kind of let it go, and it was very emotional and I started shedding tears, man. That day I was like, this guy’s a movie star, man. He’s a bona fide movie star.Pinterest Alex Wong/Getty Images
This is not what leadership looks like.
Yesterday Donald Trump flew to Texas as it faced the wrath of Tropical Storm (née Hurricane) Harvey. There's an argument that the president actually going to the site of an ongoing disaster is a bad idea. That argument claims that the president and the government should be more worried about helping people than posing for photo ops. Is there truth to that? Probably. But I'm going to give Trump a pass on that one. Times of disaster call for many different types of responses, and though tangible contributions of money, supplies, and the time of rescue workers are certainly most important, a response designed to improve morale and keep people calm isn't necessarily a bad thing.
So I guess this is all to say that I think it's a good thing that President Trump went and met with victims of the storm and provided them some reassurance that their government hasn't forgotten them. And so with that, here's Politico about President Trump's trip.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It was a presidential trip to a deluged state where the president didn’t meet a single storm victim, see an inch of rain or get near a flooded street.
Of course. Look, I do think there's a real argument to be made that it is gross to use people who are suffering as political props, but that's just it. I think it's an argument. There are two sides to that and both have legitimate points. But this? Donald Trump went down to Texas for photo ops that made him look like a leader while not actually taking the time to meet any people hurt by the storm? That is next-level craven.
There were few interactions with people who hadn’t been screened, and the president spent far more time flying Tuesday — at least eight hours — than on the ground, where he spent about three hours. Reporters traveling with Trump saw little more than he did, often quickly whisked from rooms or away from survivors or volunteers.
Perhaps Trump should take some advice from conservative pundit Laura Ingraham (now that's a sentence I never thought I'd write) and fill more government jobs, especially those that would be related to the recovery effort. But Donald Trump doesn't care about what the "best thing" to do is. He just cares about what makes him look like what he imagines a president should look like. And because we're dealing with Trump's projection of what a president should look like, we're left with a craven photo op on dry Texas streets while people are still stranded only a few miles away.
Watch Now:Twitter sparked a social media backlash after it refused to delete a tweet that called Jews “absolutely vile.”
The abusive post, which referred to orthodox Jews in an area of north-east London, read: ‘Drove through Stamford Hill today. F*** me the gaffs[sic] riddled with full blown Jews. Absolutely vile.’
It comes just weeks after the social media giant was accused of aiding and abetting anti-semitic users and failing to act against online hate.
The Daily Mail reports the original post was queried by Shulem Stern, a Hackney local, who reported the tweet within 30 minutes of first seeing it, and was horrified at Twitter’s response.
The anti-Semitic tweet was posted by ‘part time disk jockey’ Thomas Andrews at 8.40pm on October 14 and reported to Twitter at 9.03pm. Andrews later apologised for the tweet and closed his account to public viewing.
Mr. Stern told the Mail Online: “Twitter has got no interest whatsoever in moderating this kind of content. This company repeatedly allows offensive and bullying materials.”
The UK-based Campaign Against Antisemitism group accused the company of letting hate speech “run out of control”. Labour MP John Mann claimed Twitter’s decision not to remove the post showed it had “absolutely no interest” in clamping down on hate speech.
The furore comes just two months after Israeli-born Jewish comedian Shahak Shapira daubed anti-Semitic tweets on the street outside Twitter’s headquarters in Hamburg, Germany to draw attention to the social media giant’s inaction in tackling online hate.
As Breitbart Jerusalem reported, slurs including “Jewish Pig”, “Let’s gas some Jews together” and “Gays to Auschwitz” were chosen to be spray-painted by Shahak Shapira.
Shapira has produced a YouTube video to highlight his protest called ‘#HEYTWITTER’, in which he claims that he has reported almost 300 obnoxious tweets and more than 150 hate comments to Facebook so far this year. Shapira says around 80 percent were removed, but has only have received nine answers for Twitter.
A spokesman for Twitter told Reuters the company would not comment on the specifics of individual accounts for reasons of privacy, but said it strictly enforced its rules and had stepped up the policing of abuse on its network.To say that Nintendo tends to underestimate demand for its new hardware is an understatement. And now they’ve acknowledged that this is the case with the Switch as well.
The company has admitted that it underestimated how well the Switch would sell, bluntly putting it in a recent Japanese interview: “Nintendo has never expected the Nintendo Switch to sell this much”.
The company added that one of the main reasons as to why there are still shortages is not because they can’t increase production — they can, and they did — but as Nintendo puts it to Japanese news outlet Mainichi:
“Itâs easy to increase the production capacity of the factory. The finished product needs to be delivered from the harbor to the rest of the world, and rushing shipping is an extremely difficult thing to do.”
The company added that it’s also difficult to get components because other companies like Apple (and Nintendo named Apple specifically) are competing for the same components.
And Nintendo wasn’t too optimistic about meeting demand in the near future: they plan to ship 10 million units this year, but said that “in reality there are 20 million people who actually want to buy one.”
Does this mean we can expect shortages to last until well into 2018? It’s going to take a while to manufacture (and ship) all those units to meet demand of an extra 20 million people who want one.2014 is set to be another exciting year for traveling. With an ever expanding air network, exchange rates of some key currencies plummeting and pariah countries opening up little by little, there should be no shortage of bargain destinations to choose from when making travel plans for next year. Overall, I see some themes when it comes to traveling to relative value destinations for next year. Europe – particularly the eurozone countries which have been the cheapest to visit for the past 2 years compared to the historical average, will likely lose a bit of the low cost luster next year as these countries recover from the deepest recession in decades. Emerging countries, particularly those in Asia, should offer a lot more value. Japan, which for years have discouraged travelers due to the (unfair) reputation of being expensive, should also offer a lot of value next year due to the plummeting Yen coupled with a more liberal policy for tourists. Here’s a run down of some key bargain destinations to visit in 2014:
Iran
This underrated gem with a terribly unfair reputation, and my favorite destination in Asia, has always been a good value destination as far as I can remember. During my visit some two years ago, I could get a nice traditional hotel room facing a Persian garden for only $28 with breakfast, admission to several impressive attractions (including UNESCO World Heritage Sites) for less than a buck and a 6-hour luxury bus ride for only $6. Last year, the Iranian Rial plummeted by half due to worsening sanctions which made things even cheaper for travelers. I choose Iran as a bargain destination to visit in 2014 due to the new reformist leadership and improving international relations which may make traveling next year to this country a tad more convenient than in the past. There is even talk of easing visa restrictions so this is definitely a destination to keep a look out for in 2014.
Japan
Before anyone blasts me for naming Japan as a bargain destination, let me clarify that I am considering Japan as a bargain here relative to costs of traveling around this country historically. The yen has been on a dramatic slide against most major currencies for the most part of this year, thanks to the economic policies of the current government. With inflation slow to catch up, this means that prices in Japan are about 25 to 30% cheaper than they were from last year. I was shocked when I saw large bowls of noodles going for just $3.50 in cheaper restaurants during my visit earlier this year. $6 already got me a bowl of chiraishi or rice topped with copious amounts of salmon, tuna and cuttlefish sashimi, as well as a side dish. This was just not the terribly expensive Japan that I had earlier imagined. Lodging options were also reasonable if compared to other developed countries in Asia such as Singapore. $15 got me a dorm bed in a hostel, and for about $8 more, I could upgrade myself to a capsule type bed.
Aside from the obvious cost advantages, another reason to visit is the recent pro-tourism policy of the Japanese government. If you hold a nationality that doesn’t require a visa for Japan, that’s all well and good. A new development this year is the lifting of visa requirements for Thai and Malaysian nationals and the issuance of 5-year multiple entry visas for Filipinos and Indonesians. Many of Japan’s airports (long known for having expensive landing fees) have also increased their allocations to international flights, making it easier to travel into the country.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
I know that Thailand in general is a pretty cheap place to travel around so imagine my surprise when I visited Chiang Mai and found things even cheaper – especially when you consider that this is Thailand’s second city. $10 was more than enough for a private room with bath in a guesthouse, and $1 to $2 for a filling meal. With all the uncertainty surrounding emerging Asian economies for next year, it looks like there’s even more room to gain extra bang for your buck here.
Bali, Indonesia
I have always been amazed as to how Bali remains quite cheap despite the massive wave of tourists that have returned following the twin bombings that occurred in the earlier part of the last decade. This island has now become an evergreen destination thanks to the outrageously large number of things to see and do here at pretty reasonable prices. And it may just become even cheaper. The Indonesian Rupiah has slid by some 25% since the year began, and this country is seen by many economists as one of the most precarious among the Asian economies so there may be more room for further depreciation in the local currency (aka more bang for your buck). I still vividly recall the mere $10 I paid for a private room in a traditional guesthouse in Ubud with free-flowing tea and banana pancakes for breakfast. Yep, the island of the gods is definitely a haven for bargain seekers.
Montenegro
This country sandwiched between Croatia, Serbia and Albania uses the euro so things may not be as cheap here as it was, relatively speaking. However, this bite-size sample of Europe is still a bargain if you compare what you can get elsewhere in the continent. The beaches around Herceg Novi and Budva are seen to be worthwhile (and cheaper) alternatives to the ones in neighboring Croatia while expenses in this country are a lot cheaper compared to other Mediterranean old towns. I got a huge lunch set complete with drinks for Eur 5 or less while my centrally-located hostel inside a UNESCO old town was only Eur 12. Moving around the country won’t break the bank either. My bus rides, at Eur 1 to 2, were unbelievably cheap!
Kuching, Malaysia
Thanks to subsidies, Malaysia as a whole remains quite cheap despite being an upper middle income country. If you move out of the main tourist cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Penang, things could get a whole lot cheaper. Kuching in particular, is probably one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) large cities in Malaysia. A bowl of the famous Kuching Kolo Mee only set me back by $0.80 and I will always remember my days here for the cheapest meals I’ve spent anywhere in the world. It’s also cheap if you decide to splurge a bit. A spacious 45 square meter room in the swankiest hotel in town only costs less than $80. It’s a small price to pay for some luxury if you ask me.
Others:
India, already a perennial cheap destination, has become a whole lot cheaper in 2013 as the Rupee continued its slide, dragging the currency of its neighbors such as Nepal and Pakistan with it. These 3 are cheap destination to consider for 2014 though I am not of the opinion that the currency will continue to slide next year so I am not putting it up there.
The USA will most likely become more expensive to people from everywhere else, except maybe the Eurozone countries. The US Dollar will most likely strengthen well into next year due to the improving economy.
Eurozone countries and the UK are expected to continue recovering economically well into next year so this can only mean a further strengthening to the Euro which is bad news for tourists.
I would also like to stress that this list is not exhaustive. I am only able to comment on places I have been to so obviously South America is not in this list. But again, that also brings the point home on how picking on a good value destination is basically opportunity seeking. It’s useful to keep a look out on the political, economic and security situation as these could heavily alter how your budget pans out in your travels. For instance, I visited Central Java in mid-2009 which coincided with the global financial crisis and the Jakarta hotel bombings. As a result, I managed to book a swanky hotel for just $50 a night. The same hotel goes for $100 today. In such instances, turning the opposite way of where others are going would not only lead to an avoidance of crowds but also result to the discovery of yet another bargain destination.
Bino Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below. Alternatively, you can also email me at bino (at) iwandered.net. You can follow I Wander on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Also, if you liked this article, please feel free to SHARE or RETWEET More Posts - Website Follow Me:Bean soup is on the menu in the Senate's restaurant every day. There are several stories about the origin of that mandate, but none has been corroborated.
According to one story, the Senate’s bean soup tradition began early in the 20th-century at the request of Senator Fred Dubois of Idaho. Another story attributes the request to Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota, who expressed his fondness for the soup in 1903.
The recipe attributed to Dubois includes mashed potatoes and makes a 5-gallon batch. The recipe served in the Senate today does not include mashed potatoes, but does include a braised onion. Both Senate recipes are below.
The Famous Senate Restaurant Bean Soup Recipe
2 pounds dried navy beans
four quarts hot water
1 1/2 pounds smoked ham hocks
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper to taste
Wash the navy beans and run hot water through them until they are slightly whitened. Place beans into pot with hot water. Add ham hocks and simmer approximately three hours in a covered pot, stirring occasionally. Remove ham hocks and set aside to cool. Dice meat and return to soup. Lightly brown the onion in butter. Add to soup. Before serving, bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Serves 8.
Bean Soup Recipe (for five gallons)
3 pounds dried navy beans
2 pounds of ham and a ham bone
1 quart mashed potatoes
5 onions, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
four cloves garlic, chopped
half a bunch of parsley, chopped
Clean the beans, then cook them dry. Add ham, bone and water and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and mix thoroughly. Add chopped vegetables and bring to a boil. Simmer for one hour before serving.For the first time ever, Apple will stream one of its live events---as long as you own an Apple product.
In a statement, Apple said it will stream its iPod and potentially Apple TV press conference live. Typically, Apple doesn't do live streaming.
The catch: PCs need not apply. And don't bother with Android either.
Here's what Apple said:
Apple will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.
Rev up those Mac/iPhones/iPad/iPod touches.
Could you imagine the flack Microsoft would get for a Windows-only stream?University of California, San Diego researchers have developed a new injectable hydrogel that could be an effective and safe treatment for tissue damage caused by heart attacks.
The study by Karen Christman and colleagues appears in the Feb. 21 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Christman is a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and has co-founded a company, Ventrix, Inc., to bring the gel to clinical trials within the next year.
Therapies like the hydrogel would be a welcome development, Christman explained, since there are an estimated 785,000 new heart attack cases in the United States each year, with no established treatment for repairing the resulting damage to cardiac tissue.
The hydrogel is made from cardiac connective tissue that is stripped of heart muscle cells through a cleansing process, freeze-dried and milled into powder form, and then liquefied into a fluid that can be easily injected into the heart. Once it hits body temperature, the liquid turns into a semi-solid, porous gel that encourages cells to repopulate areas of damaged cardiac tissue and to preserve heart function, according to Christman. The hydrogel forms a scaffold to repair the tissue and possibly provides biochemical signals that prevent further deterioration in the surrounding tissues.
"It helps to promote a positive remodeling-type response, not a pro-inflammatory one in the damaged heart," Christman said.
What's more, the researchers' experiments show that the gel also can be injected through a catheter, a method that is minimally invasive and does not require surgery or general anesthesia.
New, unpublished work by her research team suggests that the gel can improve heart function in pigs with cardiac damage, which brings this potential therapy one step closer to humans, said Christman.
There are few injectable cardiac therapies in development designed to be used in large animals such |
, Dunne is in a rich vein of form and has become one of the most hottest talents in British wrestling. A contributing factor to his meteoric rise is the presence and aura he possesses, helped by a gumshield that makes him look utterly menacing, You see him and can't help but feel he wants to smash your face in.
He feels he is producing best work at the moment, but constantly strives for improvement.
"I was always heavily focused on the fundamentals of wrestling, it's in the last year that I realised I needed to focus on standing out. You could have the most amazing fundamentals but the audience would never even realise or the promoters for that matter. Creating an image that stands out from everyone else was very difficult for me but I finally got the ball rolling at the start of the year with the Bruiserweight idea and added one piece to the puzzle at a time and finally I'm standing out. I'm definitely producing my best work at the moment in terms of crowd responses but I'm a goal orientated person so I'm always looking to add more to my act and get even better reactions in each match."
Additionally, Trent is making waves both as a singles competitor and in tag teams. He was a mouthwatering bout with Chris Hero coming up for Revolution Pro, while he also regular delivers in two different tag-team dynamics; Moustache Mountain with Tyler Bate, and British strong style with Pete Dunne. With 19-year old Bate, he is able to show off his natural charisma with a 'Peaky blinders-esque entrance' and a whole lot of entertaining ring-work, yet with his other partner he displays a more heelish and hard-hitting approach. He enjoys the ability to flick between the two personalities.
"I don't like comparing wrestling to anything really but just to make a little bit of a comparison at this point, I kind of look at as an actor would. When the bell rings, when I'm wrestling for ICW or Rev Pro, that's the show. When you turn up or you're preparing for your match to say at a Progress show, that's all that matters - anything else that exists in the wide spectrum of wrestling needs to be put on hold because they [fans] are paying for a Progress show or a Fight Club: Pro show, or Rev Pro or ICW show, I just make sure they get the product that they pay for."
High-flyer Will Ospreay became the youngest ever and first British winner of New Japan's Best of the Super Juniors in June. Many, including Ospeay, hold the opinion that Pete Dunne would be perfect in Japan. He had a short stint there a few years back and believes there could be an opportunity to go back in the future.
"I actually spent 3 months training and touring in Japan as a younger wrestler with Michinoku Pro. They treated me great and I owe them so much for teaching me such great basics and fundamentals. That kind of training was not available in the UK at the time. I would love to be able to go back for a company like New Japan, it would feel like a full circle moment in my career to be able to go back in a company of that size. I can't thank Will enough for going out on a limb for me, especially to do that publicly. I don't know what the future holds but of course it's something I'd love to do and after Will's success as a young British wrestler going over and Revolution Pro's great work in building a relationship with them, there's every chance there could be opportunities in the future."
The final day of this series will see Jimmy Havoc, one of the biggest names in British wrestling, return to action. Havoc came to prominence thanks to his excellent storytelling in Progress in what was a lengthy story mapped, and has a reputation for hardcore matches - which go hand in hand with his dark and sinister tendencies.
Seven is delighted to throw Havoc back in the mix after a torn ACL and MCL injury left him sidelined for quite some time.
"It's obviously wonderful to have him back. On a slighty more personal level, for someone get injured no matter how severe it is especially if they are on the sidelines for any length of time - it has been quite a long process of rehabilitation for Jimmy and as I much as I say it's pleasure to have him back, I'm not sure how he'll embrace the fans."
The tag team partners have locked up with the very best in Britain and elsewhere and with the standard so high, it's no surprise that they had difficulty singling anyone out when asked for their favourite opponents.
However they did pick out some of the wrestlers who they enjoy slugging it out with.
"At the moment It would be hard to pigeonhole anything at the minute simple because the quality of wrestling is just so high. Specifically if I had to pick anyone out: Pete Dunne is really setting the UK scene alight at the moment, obviously Mikey Whiplash, Travis Branks is another one; Mark Haskins. Someone I've never had a match with but absolutely would love to [with] is Zack Gibson, he's doing some fantastic stuff at the minute but like I say, it'd be hard to pick anyone out because the quality is so high in and around the UK." said Trent.
"Mark Andrews, Sami Callihan, Will Ospreay & Tyler Bate are a few names that spring to mind. The majority of the Fight Club roster are always enjoyable to work with as it's the closest thing to a 'home' company I have being from the midlands so I have grew up in wrestling with a lot of those guys and have the same goals and I guess ultimately we all know each other so well any combination of matches is bound to be entertaining." Pete added.
A final bit of Fight Club goodness came from Trent, who talked about the "stacked" roster the company have assembled for this tour. WWE's Drew Gulak will be unable to compete but his replacement is more than up to scratch.
"We're starting at Fixxion warehouse on Friday night with an absolutely stacked card. The Fight Club Pro roster [includes] Pete Dunne, Travis Banks, Dan Moloney, Nixon Newell then you've obviously got the drops of Fire Ant, Kimber Lee, Joe Coffey making his debut, Mikey Whiplash making his debut for Fight Club Pro. I believe unfortunately WWE have drafted Drew Gulak in for Raw so unfortunately he won't be able to make it, but there will actually be another Fight Club Pro debut in Shane Strickland [Lucha Underground's Killshot]."
All images via the Ringside Perspective.
For tickets for any of the three shows visit http://www.fightclubpro.bigcartel.com/.
Featured Image Credit: The Ringside PerspectiveA new campaign finance law allows corporations — for the first time — to give as much as $12,000 a year to state political parties and campaign committees controlled by legislative leaders.
But the measure has one glaring omission:
It does not require Democrat or Republican party officials to disclose anything about the corporate cash, including where they get it or how they spend it, according to state election officials.
Everybody will now have to trust the political pros to do the right thing. The new law took effect last week.
"The advice we're giving (to the political parties) is that the statutes do not currently require registration and reporting of these corporate donations, though the Board and the Legislature could review that in the future," said Reid Magney, spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board.
"Thus, there is no way to track them in CFIS unless a party chooses to disclose them (voluntarily)," Magney added. CFIS refers to the Campaign Finance Information System, the state's online database of election spending.
Officials with the state's two major political parties would not say this week if they plan to make public this information on their own. Both issued statements saying they would simply follow the law.
What's not clear is whether GOP lawmakers — who drafted and passed the bill — intentionally left out the public disclosure requirement. Were they, in short, guilty of being sloppy or secretive?
Either way, Matt Rothschild of the liberal Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said Republicans should address the issue immediately, calling the omission "outrageous."
"We need transparency — we need openness," said Rothschild, whose group opposed the campaign finance law. "We're already drowning in a sea of dark money."
No need to worry, said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who led the fight for the new law.
Last year, Vos argued that the measure would increase transparency by encouraging corporations to give to political parties instead of third-party groups, which have limited disclosure requirements.
The Rochester Republican said Thursday that he had no idea that the new state law could add a new layer of secrecy to the campaign system.
"That was clearly not our intent," Vos said.
He said he would go to work on a bill to correct the oversight. In the meantime, he said, his legislative committee, the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, will disclose any corporate donations, even if the parties don't. He urged other legislative campaign committees to do the same.
This disclosure loophole comes at a time when Vos and other top Republicans are under fire for encouraging greater secrecy on public records.
In July, Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee slipped a provision in the state budget bill to limit what records lawmakers would have to release to the public about their work. After coming under sharp criticism from the left and the right, GOP lawmakers quickly retreated.
But then an aide to Vos sought a new bill to give the Legislature and individual lawmakers a different status on open records from other government bodies and officials in Wisconsin. The Assembly speaker backed off when this came to light in September.
In addition, an obscure state body, the Public Records Board, quietly voted last year to change the definition of transitory records, or records deemed to have only temporary significance, but recently backtracked after an outcry from open government advocates.
The board will meet Monday to revisit the issue.
Problems with the new campaign finance law first came to light at the December board meeting of GAB.
Staff members urged the board to impose registration and reporting requirements on political parties and legislative campaign committees because the new law failed to do this for corporate donations.
Until now, corporations, Indian tribes and labor unions had been barred from making contributions to Wisconsin candidates or political parties. But the new law says they can give to segregated funds created by the parties or legislative committees, all of which are barred from transferring the money directly to candidates.
Originally, the Assembly's bill put no cap on the corporate donations, but the Senate limited the sum to $12,000 a year. A compromise bill adopted the Senate language. Gov. Scott Walkersigned the bill last month.
"In order to ensure that the segregated funds are not receiving more than $12,000 per calendar year from the restricted entities, and to ensure the segregated funds do not contribute to candidates or spend on express advocacy, both receipts and expenses must be reported and tracked," said the staff memo to the accountability board members. "This should include cash balance reporting, similar to committee reports."
But the board, which is being dismantled by lawmakers, decided last month to take no action to fix the problem.
Now it appears that there won't be public disclosure of this money without a change in the law.
Asked this week if his party would voluntarily disclose corporate donations, Brandon Weathersby, spokesman for the state Democratic Party, issued a vague statement:
"The Democratic Party is continuing to work with attorneys to determine the full effects of the new law. Of course, we plan to comply fully with all state reporting laws."
Pat Garrett, spokesman for the Republican Party, offered a similar response.
"The Republican Party of Wisconsin is currently reviewing the recent changes to campaign finance regulations," Garrett said, "and, as always, will continue to operate in compliance with the law."
Not much of an answer from either party. Once again, the public is kept in the dark.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.On June 5, 2013, Barry Silbert, the 36-year-old founder and CEO of SecondMarket, called an all-hands meeting to announce a new direction for his brokerage firm.
Since its founding in 2005, SecondMarket had earned a reputation for trading exotic assets. The news that day would only reinforce it — and would give even some of SecondMarket's employees cause for concern.
A former investment banker, Silbert had built a successful company by making it possible for hapless investors to unload illiquid paper. Auction-rate securities were one of several asset classes for which he had almost single-handedly made a market amid the chaos of the financial crisis. (An effort to do the same for shares of privately held community banks didn’t work out.)
Though auction-rate securities had been his trading desk's most profitable asset for a while, he knew that wouldn’t last. No new ones had been issued in years, and the secondary market for them was beginning to dry up. Silbert needed to find a new asset class to trade in.
The company, Silbert told his staff, was going to open a private fund for accredited investors that would invest solely in bitcoin. The move would effectively put SecondMarket's future at the mercy of a volatile digital currency that most people thought was a passing fad, a mere tool for peddling drugs online, or a Ponzi scheme. Nobody even knew the real identity of bitcoin's creator, who used the handle Satoshi Nakamoto. "Highly unorthodox," the financial blogger Felix Salmon tut-tutted when news of Silbert's plan broke.
But Silbert had become a true believer. "Barry called bitcoin 'the biggest opportunity of my career,' " recalled Michael Moro, the director of SecondMarket's trading desk at the time.
Nearly three years later, Silbert's bet doesn't sound quite so crazy anymore. Bitcoin's market capitalization has grown nearly sevenfold over that period to $6.8 billion. Investors have poured more than a billion dollars of venture capital into startups that are experimenting with bitcoin and the technology underlying it, an innovation called the blockchain. And while naysayers still abound, big Wall Street firms are more curious than skeptical. Even national governments and central banks are taking a look.
Meanwhile, Silbert has gone all-in, and in doing so positioned himself at the heart of the bitcoin and blockchain industry. Ask anybody in the world of bitcoin today who is the best-connected member of the community, and odds are they will direct you to this boyish entrepreneur, a man who may be uniquely suited to bridge the gap between rebel entrepreneurs and mainstream financial institutions. In a fintech space that has seen more than its share of blowups, meltdowns, flameouts and criminal charges — and in which serious differences of opinion persist as to whether bitcoin itself will succeed or whether the blockchain is the truly valuable concept — Silbert has been a calming, professional presence, avoiding even the hint of scandal.
"He definitely approaches it from a much more practical, pragmatic angle" than do the hard-line cryptolibertarians, said Alan Lane, the president and CEO of Silvergate Bank in La Jolla, Calif., which provides banking services to about a dozen bitcoin startups. "He has been a really good bridge for a lot of the younger techie idea folks — trying to figure out how to fit them into the mainstream without losing what they're bringing."
The arc of Silbert's career — from a trader of distressed paper to a prolific investor in one of the most experimental corners of fintech — parallels a broader shift in the story of financial services. In the last few years, as the industry has recovered from the crisis, banks have turned their attention from cleaning up yesterday's messes to fending off tomorrow's challengers.
While working with banks and established investors is unavoidable, "the real innovation — the paradigm shift, the new way of doing things — is not going to be driven by the incumbents," Silbert said. "It's going to happen outside the existing financial system. And ultimately those ideas will be co-opted or bought by the incumbents, or [they] will completely displace the incumbents."
Among the first to recognize the interest that bitcoin and its underlying technology would hold for Wall Street, Silbert has found himself testifying before the New York State Department of Financial Services and coaching asset managers who manage tens of billions of dollars. Last year his fund, the Bitcoin Investment Trust, grew until it held 140,000 bitcoins — about 1% of all bitcoins in existence — and then Silbert took it public on the OTCQX market, making it the first publicly traded fund of its kind.
Alongside this he built a profitable bitcoin trading desk to serve institutions and high-net-worth individuals. The final piece fell into place last October, when he split off these businesses as wholly owned subsidiaries of Digital Currency Group, a new conglomerate, and sold the rest of SecondMarket to Nasdaq. What were once Silbert's personal stakes in dozens of digital-currency startups now belong to DCG's portfolio of early-stage investments. He intends for DCG to function as an index on the entire market, becoming "the Berkshire Hathaway of bitcoin."
To the chagrin of idealistic techie types, Silbert is not shy about appealing to the profit motive, and often touts the potential for bitcoin's price to rise. Yet he is sincerely convinced that bitcoin is not merely a good investment but a good thing for the world.
"I haven't seen Barry so passionate about something since he first started the company," said his wife, Lori Silbert. "He thinks bitcoin, and even more so digital currency, could be life-changing for our daughter."
BORN TO TRADE
Silbert, who grew up in Gaithersburg, Md., has been in training for his career from childhood. At age thirteen he was selling baseball cards — learning then that some things have monetary value simply because enough people agree they do. He invested his bar mitzvah money in stocks.
As a high school junior, he landed a part-time job at a Washington brokerage firm. Sensing his interest in the markets, the portfolio managers and traders there encouraged him to take the six-hour, 250-question General Securities Representative Exam, which would qualify him to be a stockbroker. If he passed, he would be granted a Series 7, or General Securities license, allowing him to buy and sell stocks, options and all other types of securities. Silbert took the test at age 17, becoming one of the youngest people ever to pass.
After graduating in finance from Emory University in 1998, he moved to New York and began working as an analyst at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, a boutique investment bank. In his second year, he was adopted into the financial restructuring division — with the dot-com bubble just about to burst.
The years 2000 to 2003 were "the boom years of the bust," fat years for the restructuring division of Houlihan Lokey, Silbert said. He was promoted from analyst to associate, and worked on some of the decade's headlining bankruptcies, including Enron and WorldCom. But then the pool of clients began to dry up, even as competition for their business grew fiercer. And Silbert had become bored with the work. He wanted a change.
Striking out on his own, he opened Restricted Stock Partners — later to be renamed SecondMarket. The simple phone brokerage aimed to make a market for investors with assets they were having trouble unloading through traditional means. His first target was restricted stock in public companies, sales of which had to be kept private in accordance with Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. It was a huge opportunity. In 2004, the market in restricted securities was worth more than $1.2 trillion — greater than the GDP of Australia or Mexico.
Not long after leaving Houlihan Lokey, Silbert had run his business plan by Jeff Werbalowsky, the investment bank's co-CEO. He asked whether the firm would like to invest in Restricted Stock Partners. Werbalowsky considered the business plan risky and passed, but was struck by the young former associate's entrepreneurial zeal. "He took all of my thoughts and suggestions and critiques in stride, and answered them or said, 'We'll surmount them,' " Werbalowsky said.
Silbert financed the venture with $50,000 of his own money and $350,000 from angel investors. "It was five of us, five telephones and an Excel spreadsheet," he said. "That was it. That was our marketplace."
The business grew rapidly, surviving the death of Silbert's business partner, Brad Monks, from cancer in 2007, and launching an electronic trading platform.
One of the early investors was Lawrence Lenihan, managing director of FirstMark Capital, who now sits on DCG's board of directors and investment committee. His firm put $3.8 million into Silbert's company, valuing it at more than $15 million. Lenihan's first impression of Silbert was that "he looked like he was about 12 years old." But Lenihan said he never doubted the younger man's intelligence or ability.
'THE REALLY TOXIC STUFF'
As the financial crisis deepened, SecondMarket expanded into new asset classes: auction-rate securities, bankruptcy claims, mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations — "the really toxic stuff," as Silbert puts it. It was a tough time for the established players, but for SecondMarket it was a bonanza. Trillions of dollars of assets had turned illiquid during the meltdown. SecondMarket brought buyers and sellers together and charged a straightforward commission, between 3% and 5%, on the value of what was being traded.
"The world was falling apart at that time," said Jeremy Smith, who was SecondMarket's head of strategy then. "All of these assets were freezing up, and we said, 'Hey, we're a marketplace for creating liquidity.' So every time an asset froze up, we created a marketplace for it."
Hearing what her husband intended to do for auction-rate securities, Lori Silbert asked, "Do you even know what they are?"
"Nope," Silbert replied. "But I'm going to figure it out."
By early May 2008, about $3.5 million of auction-rate securities were being traded over his company's platform every day.
At the same time, SecondMarket had begun trading Facebook stock — nearly $50 million of it — on behalf of employees who didn't want to wait for the IPO. That was how Silbert got into buying and selling stock in private companies, making a market for early investors and employee shareholders who wanted to liquidate their stake in hot startups. Facebook was a popular one, as was the video game maker Zynga. In the world of startups, early employees often take a deep pay cut in exchange for a stake in the company. There had never been an organized market for turning these shares into cash, but now, suddenly, there was.
"Barry has an unbelievable, almost uncanny ability to identify markets before they develop," Lenihan said. Indeed, by early 2011, SecondMarket had brokered sales of private-company stock — including that of tech darlings like Twitter and LinkedIn — totaling more than $500 million. It was SecondMarket's platform for these sales — known as liquidity events — that eventually attracted Nasdaq's interest.
Before the year was out, SecondMarket was flush with $30 million of new capital from two fundraising rounds, the second of which valued the company at $200 million. It was now the world's largest centralized exchange for a wide variety of illiquid assets.
But then SecondMarket went through a lean season. As the financial sector recovered from panic and the national economy began dragging itself slowly out of the doldrums of recession, secondary trading in many of the exotic financial products that had fueled SecondMarket's success began drying up. Meanwhile, the mania for over-the-counter sales of private-company stock was temporarily dwindling. SecondMarket was forced to close its offices in Israel and Hong Kong and move its headquarters out of the financial district. The company's New York workforce shrank by nearly two-thirds.
CATCHING THE BUG
Silbert began buying bitcoins in the summer of 2012. Initially he kept quiet about his stake in the digital currency, worried it would damage his reputation if word got around. Even his wife was in the dark at first. But gradually he became convinced that its technology could change the world and, consequently, that it was a spectacular long-term investment.
At first, the process of acquiring the digital currency — going through an unlicensed online exchange whose office was in Japan — made him nervous. "I would wire like $5,000 to Mt. Gox, be scared shitless that I was never going to see it again," he said.
Once he'd bought his first batch of bitcoins, though, he didn't wait long to buy more. He had caught the bug. Over the next two and a half months, with the price of bitcoin slowly climbing from $5 to $10, he invested about $200,000 in the digital currency.
Initially bitcoin was simply his hedge against what he sees as a dangerously overleveraged world. After spending his early twenties helping to liquidate failed companies, he then built SecondMarket on the bones of Wall Street's failures, its toxic assets, bad debt repackaged as good debt, on other men's missed opportunities. By the time he heard about bitcoin, he felt a little like Noah in his ark, looking out on a world awash in debt.
"When you have a world that is printing money, the concept of a decentralized, non-government-controlled, non-company-controlled currency that has a finite supply had a certain amount of appeal to me," Silbert said. "I didn't fully appreciate the whole technical aspect [of bitcoin] at first. But economically it just kind of made sense."
At one time he had been something of a gold bug, but no longer. Too many governments were stockpiling gold as a backstop to their economies. Gold had history on its side, but eventually Silbert came to see bitcoin as a far more secure investment than precious metals.
"On a probability, risk-adjusted basis, if I'm going to make a bet on what people want to own if the shit hits the fan, I'm going to want to make a bet on something that's not being held by all the central governments whose fan is being hit with the shit," he said.
While others were debating whether digital currency met the textbook definition of money, Silbert saw that bitcoin was a triple threat to established markets, because it could function as a store of value, like gold; as a method of payment for online commerce, like credit cards or PayPal; and as a global transaction network, like Western Union or MoneyGram. There are about $7 trillion worth of gold in the world today. E-commerce is a $1.6 trillion industry. According to the World Bank, a total of $583 billion in remittances flowed to nations around the world in 2014, and an estimated $600 billion in 2015. What if bitcoin were to claim even a small percentage of any of these markets, never mind all three?
"If I'm going to make an investment in a high-risk opportunity like bitcoin, I'm only going to do it if it's going to move the needle for me," Silbert said of his early investment in the digital currency. The value of bitcoin relative to the dollar, he thought, had the potential to increase by 50 or even 100 times. "If it does that," he told himself, "I will always look back on this time and say, 'Why were you such a pussy? You had the money, why didn't you do it?' "
THE BIG PIVOT
In the summer of 2013, the entire staff of SecondMarket, more than 50 employees, gathered in the rec space on the top floor of their building in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. A kind of loft with hardwood floors, it was kept stocked with snacks and drinks and served as the event space for twice-monthly "town halls" — loosely structured meetings at which employees were encouraged to speak up and ask questions.
Most of them knew next to nothing about bitcoin. Their CEO, dressed summer casual, his short blond hair combed forward in a youthful style, gave a PowerPoint presentation. He had briefed his senior leadership team ahead of time, but he knew what he was about to say would come as a surprise to the rest of his staff. He introduced the concept of bitcoin, giving an overview of its innovative features — its immunity to counterfeiting and double spending — before taking a stab at evaluating its potential for their business. He compared it to gold, to major fiat currencies.
"Look at the size of those markets," Silbert said. If bitcoin could capture just a fraction of that wealth, its value would skyrocket. The fund he was creating would enable investors to get in on the action without taking any of the risks or hassles of sourcing, storing and securing the bitcoins for themselves.
But Silbert also gave a few words of caution. There was no guarantee that bitcoin would survive, and that made his new direction for the company a risky one. "In the end, it's too early to tell," he told them. Despite the potential, "there is a real chance that it will go to zero and this was a passing fad." Even while laying out his strategy, he wanted to present the facts as soberly as possible. Throughout the presentation, however, Silbert made no attempt to hide his enthusiasm.
And he had another surprise. To familiarize his staff with the digital currency, he was going to give each of them, out of his personal hoard, two bitcoins — one to save and one to spend. At that point, most of them had heard Silbert talk about bitcoin, but very few understood what it was. "I've always thought that until you actually receive it or spend it or buy something with it, you don't fully appreciate how powerful the concept of bitcoin is," Silbert said. "So what I figured was, one, I want my employees to understand what I've been excited about it firsthand, and two, I wanted them to have some skin in the game." By spending one of their coins, they would experience the bitcoin technology, and by holding one they would enjoy the potential upside of bitcoin the speculative investment.
If you could have measured employees' attitudes as they filed out of the meeting, they would have presented as a bell curve — a small number of people totally on board with their CEO's plan, a small group of skeptics at the other end, and the majority in between, excited by the prospects but still harboring various doubts.
Silbert wasn't just planning to provide a market for bitcoin trading, as he had done with other alternative investments; he was creating a bitcoin fund. If investors didn't buy in, he would be in trouble. SecondMarket could survive, because it was doing brisk business arranging stock sales for private companies, but he would have to lay off most of his traders. The secondary market for auction-rate securities was becoming a desert, and pretty soon, if his trading team wasn't trading bitcoin — mainly, at first, sourcing it for investors in the new fund — it wouldn't have much of anything to trade. He'd also have to fire legal and technical staff who were focused on the intricacies of bitcoin. A failure of the BIT would mean cuts across the board.
He was also putting a lot of company money on the line. In preparation for launching the fund, SecondMarket bought up $3 million worth of bitcoins at between $105 and $110 a coin. Silbert's plan was to kick-start the fund with about two-thirds of the company stash; the remaining money would be kept on SecondMarket's balance sheet. The trust would provide same-day settlement of orders. One trader later explained it this way: "You make an investment, we go out and source the bitcoins, and you're an investor in the fund that day."
As 2014 drew to a close, DCG, which had yet to launch publicly, was sitting pretty despite a brutal year for the price of bitcoin. Its total assets included more than $13 million in cash plus 40,521 bitcoins, an amount then worth $12.9 million — and now, at time of writing, worth $18.3 million. Genesis Trading, which would become a subsidiary of DCG, was perhaps the leading digital currency trading desk for institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals, with a trading volume of more than $300 million since its inception and 2014 revenue of $12.6 million. The Bitcoin Investment Trust would soon become the first publicly traded bitcoin fund. It, too, was generating revenue. The company's long-term debt, in keeping with Silbert's business philosophy, was zero.
"If back in 2006 Barry had said, 'You know what, I want to manage my own hedge fund and identify and invest in asset classes before anyone else,' he'd probably be a billionaire right now," Smith said. "He has this vision where he can put together the whole long-term picture of how certain things will play out."
BITCOIN VS. 'BLOCKCHAIN'
Bitcoin has attained a level of popularity and public awareness its early adopters could scarcely dream of. But its ultimate success is far from assured. It continues to be subject to wild price swings, and critics say the extreme hoarding of some bitcoiners prevents the currency from functioning effectively as a medium of exchange.
No less a figure than Warren Buffett is on record as calling bitcoin "a mirage." While the sage of Omaha acknowledged that its payments network holds promise as a faster way of sending money around the world, he said in 2014 that "the idea that it has intrinsic value is a joke."
Last November, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, raised another worry, telling an audience that governments would squash bitcoin before it could become a true competitor to the dollar and the euro. "Virtual currency, where it's called a bitcoin versus a U.S. dollar, that's going to be stopped. No government will ever support a virtual currency that goes around borders and doesn't have the same controls."
More recently, skeptics have been giving bitcoin a sort of backhanded compliment, acknowledging the power of the blockchain but dismissing the currency as a distraction and its early adopters as kooks. Bitcoin, according to the latest conventional wisdom, is at best something banks can learn and take ideas from — it is, after all, open source — but isn't suitable for them to use.
"Satoshi, to his credit, wasn't trying to design a system with banks in mind — in fact, just the opposite," said Tim Swanson, the director of market research for R3CEV, a software startup that has put together a global consortium of banks focused on applying blockchain technology to financial markets. Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, Santander, JPMorgan and many of the world's other big banks have signed on.
Swanson points out that certain features of bitcoin as currently designed — such as a low limit on the number of transactions that can be processed each second — make it impractical for use by financial institutions. Other features, such as the ability to transact pseudonymously, are unnecessary for banks or even run counter to their compliance needs.
"Bitcoin, as it exists today, does not solve a problem that large, regulated institutions have," Swanson said.
Rather than being excited about its potential as a payment system or its possibilities as a store of value, rather than beginning to trade bitcoin as a kind of emerging-market currency — scenarios Silbert envisioned early on — financial institutions have seized on the concept of an automated shared ledger, the innovative method of asset transfer and record-keeping that undergirds bitcoin. "I would not be surprised to see over the next 10 years a radical change in business processes," said Vivian Maese, a partner in the New York office of the law firm Latham & Watkins.
Swanson estimates that at large financial institutions there are now about 500 people, all told, working on what he calls "noncryptocurrency distributed ledgers." Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of 2015, "venture capital funding in cryptocurrency startups has fallen off a cliff."
Silbert admits that he "was right but for the wrong reasons" when he predicted that Wall Street would take an interest in bitcoin's technology. Yet he remains steadfast in the opinion that the industry will come around to embracing the currency. Banks' experiments with private blockchains will prove to be nothing more than "a gateway drug, ultimately, to them using the bitcoin blockchain," he said, "and then also to holding bitcoins, trading bitcoins, speculating in bitcoins."
There's a reason Silbert is so sure of this: Even though big banks might be leery of adopting bitcoin proper, whether because of compliance costs or other reasons, Silbert said, "the individuals who work at those places, they all own bitcoin."
Still, he appears nowadays to be quietly hedging his bets. In September, DCG contributed to the $30 million Series A funding round for Chain, a onetime bitcoin startup that pivoted to focus on private blockchains and developed one for Nasdaq. In January, DCG joined in the $7.1 million Series A of another blockchain-as-a-service startup called Gem that, like Chain, has shifted its emphasis away from bitcoin, believing the needs of enterprise clients require purpose-built solutions.
THE ROAD AHEAD
By the end of last year, DCG held stakes in 60 startups across 20 countries. Among them were industry leaders Coinbase, Xapo, Ripple and Chain.
"We have now a large percentage of the earth covered from a bitcoin/digital currency infrastructure perspective," Silbert said. "We've invested in exchanges in China, in Japan, in India, in the Philippines, in Mexico, in Argentina. That gives us really fantastic insight into what's happening around the world — where is there adoption, what are governments doing, what are banks doing. … We have all the data."
One year earlier, its portfolio contained about 50 startups and was worth an estimated $11 million, by DCG's own accounting. Since DCG — and Silbert himself in his earlier investments — looks to get in at the seed stage, providing $150,000 to $250,000 in exchange for 2% to 5% of each startup, back-of-the-envelope math would suggest that the total enterprise value of those companies in December 2014 was between $220 million and $550 million. No doubt the value has grown significantly since.
When Silbert began to hunt for investors for DCG one year ago, his goal was to raise $25 million. Though he won't confirm whether the company raised that much, the quality of the investors who signed on — MasterCard, Bain Capital Ventures, New York Life, CIBC, RRE Ventures and other heavy hitters — is impressive.
DCG continues to average one or two new investments each month, and its CEO has given careful thought to the types of startups he wants to add to this burgeoning portfolio. Prior to 2015, his thesis was that digital currencies were only as strong as their core infrastructure, and so he invested mainly in companies that were building that payments infrastructure. His new thesis, since early 2015, has been that most of the essential infrastructure of the bitcoin ecosystem is now in place, at least in the United States. What is needed now is to fund |
and drawn by a person of color may prove to be meaningless and immaterial, however. People of color, including black people, are just as capable of perpetuating white supremacist ideals as anyone else (see Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas or CNN host Don Lemon). And the writer and artist are also subject to the whims of the corporation that owns Cyborg, a corporation that has proven itself to have neither the foresight nor the insight to produce anything but the most banal and unimaginative of material, catering, mostly, to the lowest common denominator, hoping that economic (and psychological) prosperity might be found there. Therefore, we cannot expect some radical shift in Cyborg’s depiction in Walker and Reis’ hands. He will not suddenly grow a penis. He will not refuse to be the mule for League business. He will likely not have any black friends of his own age to shoot the breeze with. He will likely not be in a healthy and loving relationship with a black woman. He won’t be saving the Aiyana Stanley-Joneses and Tamir Rices of the world from the police. He will likely continue his role as one of the police. And it is in this particular lost opportunity that I am most disappointed.
I’m not sure it’s fair to place such a heavy burden on Walker and Reis, as what they have to work with is 30 years of the problematic representation listed above. Nevertheless, this must be said: The mainstream comic book industry is afraid to tackle the notion of what a truly radicalized black person with superpowers would actually look like and what they do with those powers. They don’t want to discuss what they would tear down and who they would free, because to do so would be to frighten a great deal of the white people they believe to be their primary audience. So instead, we get a few of these token Negroes who are complicit with the status quo, who challenge nothing and who change nothing because, if we’re being honest, that’s just the way most white people fantasize about racial issues. White America wants black people either docile or caged. Or dead. (And I base that educated guess, as James Baldwin once said, on the state of American institutions and the performance of the country itself.) Isn’t that what the research reveals, that right alongside magical and impervious to harm, white people also see us as dangerous and scary? That is to say, White Americans see black people as both superhuman and quasi-human at the same damn time. Full ranges of humanity are reserved only for the people they consider full human beings.
If the Cyborg comic book and film do well, white supremacy will be fine with that since he was designed to be the epitome of black harmlessness and profiting off of blackness is something white supremacy has been doing so well for hundreds of years. If they don’t do well, however, it will be a…black mark on all attempts for a solo black character to have a franchise of their own. You know how it works in the world of white supremacy: If a product featuring a marginalized person does well, it’s a “fluke” (it is not as if the success of the Blade films, for example, led to a string of black superhero action movies); if it does badly, it’s because of their marginalized status. This, then, leaves black consumers once again deciding which is worse: bad representation or no representation at all. I don’t purport to have the answer to that quandary.
I was walking to the train station a few weeks ago and a black dad was having a conversation with his two elementary-school-aged sons. They were talking about Cyborg. The kids had so many questions and their father had so few answers. I wanted to intervene and share everything I knew and everything I thought, but there was no reason in the world for me to break those kids’ hearts. Those kids loved Cyborg. I could tell by the way their eyes lit up when they were talking about him. It reminded me of the first time I encountered Black Vulcan on The Super Friends. His appearances were few and far between, but I relished every one of them and in the schoolyard, all the black kids—boys AND girls (there were no black, female superheroes on television at the time; so the girls, too, had no choice)—fought over who would be Black Vulcan when we played superheroes because he was the closest thing to any of us that any of us had. So I walked on past the father and his children, but I still haven’t stopped thinking about those children. They’re me at their age and so they’re blissful and probably in their own schoolyards fighting over who is going to be Cyborg. They don’t yet have the gift of discernment that would enable them to recognize the not-so-surreptitious messages being sent to them via this particular piece of racist propaganda.
But I recognize it.
And so whenever I encounter Cyborg, I feel the same way I did when Condoleezza Rice went shoe shopping as thousands of black people suffered in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—and didn’t, at first, understand what the big deal was. I feel how I do when Clarence Thomas co-signs on a ruling that penalizes marginalized people. I feel how I do when Don Lemon and Pharrell Williams talk about “respectability” and “new blackness.” I feel a deep, abiding shame, but more importantly, a rigorous distrust.
Whose heroes are these?
Not mine.
Robert Jones, Jr. is a writer and editor from Brooklyn, N.Y. He is the creator of the social justice media brand, Son of Baldwin. He is currently working on his first novel. Follow him on Twitter @sonofbaldwin.Marten Mickos may no longer run MySQL, but his ghost still haunts the database market.
Years ago, Mickos declared, "The relational database market is a $9 billion a year market. I want to shrink it to $3 billion and take a third of the market." MySQL never got to that point, generating roughly $100 million in sales before being acquired by Sun for $1 billion, but that commoditization urge has hit the database market hard.
[ Explore the top 10 rookie open source projects of 2015, the most exciting new ventures percolating today. | Get a digest of the day's top tech stories in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter. ]
How hard? Today's open source databases comprise a fraction of the paid database market, yet now constitute as much as a quarter of all database usage. The database market, in short, is ripe for open source cannibalization.
A big market... and target
The database market is a huge and growing market. According to IDC, the overall database market tops $40 billion today and should reach $50 billion by 2017.
Most of that market is composed of proprietary databases like Oracle and Microsoft's SQL Server.
Yet despite what appears to be reasonable growth, all is not well in database land -- at least, not if you're a legacy vendor.
Growing slower all the time
As Gartner highlights in a recent research report, open source databases now consume 25 percent of relational database usage.
Why should we care? Because, according to Gartner, "The potential impact of [open source databases] capturing workloads that would otherwise go to commercial products will manifest in declining growth rates for the latter."
In fact, it's already happening. Though the proprietary RDBMS market grew at a sluggish 5.4 percent in 2014, the open source database market grew 31 percent to hit $562 million.
Think about that: $562 million in revenue but 25 percent overall database usage in a market worth more than $40 billion. What will happen to that $40 billion when open source databases claim 50 percent market share in terms of database use?
Physician, eat thyself
The database vendors need an answer -- soon. A quick look at DB-Engines, which ranks database popularity, suggests that this trend toward open source will only continue:
With very few exceptions, open source databases -- both relational and NoSQL -- are chewing into proprietary database popularity.
This isn't a development a vendor can combat through ever-tightening account control, not given the rising importance of developers. As Gartner highlights, "Developer choice, an increasingly important determinant of product usage, often occurs without reference to corporate standard preferences, as usage increasingly falls outside of IT organizations."
While it used to be the case that picking open source databases was a trade-off of robustness and performance for developer convenience, that's no longer the case according to Gartner for open source RDBMSes: "Open source... RDBMSes have matured and today can be considered by information leaders, DBAs and application development management as a standard infrastructure choice for a large majority of new enterprise applications."
Assuming the same happens in the NoSQL market -- a very good assumption-- the hitherto indomitable proprietary database market looks ripe for open source cannibalization. Mickos had the vision, but today's open source database leaders will really get to live it.Image caption The exact cause for why the fruiting season has advanced so much remains unknown
Britain's native trees are producing ripe fruit, on average, 18 days earlier than a decade ago, probably as a result of climatic shifts, a study reveals.
It shows that acorns are ripening 13 days earlier, while rowan berries are ready to eat nearly a month earlier.
Experts warn that one consequence could be that animals' food reserves would become depleted earlier in the winter.
The findings were published by Nature's Calendar, a data collection network co-ordinated by the Woodland Trust.
"Some of the changes are really quite big and quite surprising," explained Tim Sparks, the trust's nature adviser.
"This caused me to go back and look at the data again to make sure it was valid because even I did not believe it initially."
Prof Sparks said Nature's Calendar, formerly known as the UK Phenology Network, was established in 1998 to collect spring-time information.
"But the gap in data was in the autumn So, since about 2000, the scheme has also been collecting data on things such as fruit ripening dates, leaf colour change and fall dates, and the last birds seen," he told BBC News.
"We now have 10 years worth of data that can look at and identify changes.
"In terms of looking at the fruit-ripening dates and the thing that came out was that they all seem to have steadily advanced over the past decade."
Disruption concerns
Prof Sparks, from Coventry University, observed: "Rowan was the big one as it seemed to have advanced by nearly a month over the course of a decade."
He added that it was still uncertain what the ecological consequences of the advances would mean.
"Anything that changes out of synchronicity is likely to cause disruption," he said.
"What the actual consequences will be is slightly harder to work out. In this particular case, if all of this fruit is ripe earlier, and if all the mammals and birds are eating it earlier, what are they going to be feeding on during the rest of the winter?
"In terms of feeding birds, you have big flocks of thrushes coming down from Scandinavia and feeding on berry crops in Britain, and they tend to do that after they have exhausted the supply of berries in Scandinavia.
"You get these periods when hedges are being stripped bare, but the birds are going to have to do that earlier because that is when the fruit is ripe."
Although phenological records have shown that the arrival of spring is also advancing, Prof Sparks said it was "still a bit of a mystery" why the ripe-fruit dates had advanced over the past decade.
He suggested: "There is a very strong correlation between these ripening dates and April temperatures, and that might be a result of flowering dates - it might just be that warmer springs result in earlier flowering dates, and subsequently result in earlier ripening.
"But it might be a result of more sunshine; longer, warmer summers and therefore earlier ripening.
"So the exact mechanisms really are still a bit of a mystery. We know it is happening, but we are uncertain why."
Nature's Calendar is a web-based observations network and is a partnership between the Woodland Trust and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
To date, it has more than 60,000 registered recorders across the UK that observe signs of seasonal changes in the natural environment.
The trust is calling on the public to plant a million native trees in gardens as part of its "Jubilee Woods" project.
A spokesman said that the scheme would increase the abundance of food sources for birds and animals in future years.Shepard Smith has spent a good chunk of his time on Fox News today saying how today’s shooting at the Holocaust Museum vindicates the Department of Homeland Security’s report on the threat of right-wing extremists — that birthers and other such conspiracy theorists who vilify President Obama have to stop.
At one point, he focused his ire on a particular group of right-wing extremists — the Fox News viewers who write e-mails to the channel:
“I read a lot of e-mail around here,” said Smith. “And the e-mail to me has become more and more frightening. It’s not a new thing. it’s been happening over the past few months. It’s been happening, you know, to some degree, since the election process went along.”
He then proceeded to read an example of the e-mails, which he collectively described as being “out there in a scary place.”Photo by Fernanda Pereira
Panda Bear has shared a new mixtape, which is streaming online via his new website. Listen to it here. (Scroll down and the music starts playing.)
Panda Bear's new album, tentatively titled Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper, is in the works. (Seems like that might actually be the title, given that the website's address is pbvsgr.com.) Peter "Sonic Boom" Kember, the former Spacemen 3 member who also worked with Panda Bear on his last album, 2011's Tomboy, worked on this album as well.
Check out Panda Bear's upcoming tour dates:
Panda Bear:
09-12 Dallas, TX - Granada Theater (Gorilla vs. Bear Festival) *
09-13 Houston, TX - Fitzgerald's *
09-14 Austin, TX - The Mohawk *
09-16 Charlottesville, VA - The Jefferson *
09-17 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls *
09-19 Boston, MA - Paradise *
09-20 Montreal, Quebec - Rialto Theater (Pop Montreal) *
09-22 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
09-23 New York, NY - Irving Plaza *
09-25 Cincinnati, OH - Midpoint Music Festival
09-26 Urbana, IL - Pygmalion Fest
09-27 Madison, WI - Majestic *
09-28 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line *#
with Blues Control
with YACHT
Listen to Panda Bear's "COSPLAY":
Watch Animal Collective play "Today's Supernatural" at Pitchfork Music Festival:Today the NY Times has a case study on the cost of Obamacare to one small business. The business in question is Baked in the Sun, a California baker with 95 employees.
Baked in the Sun does about $8 million in annual revenue, however margins for bakers are tight so their annual profit is only about $200,000. Because the business has over 50 employees, they will be required to offer health insurance to their employees or pay a fine for not doing so.
The owners estimate that the cost of compliance would be $108,000 per year plus $10,000 in overhead to manage the plan. The cost of paying the fine for not offering insurance would be $130,000. So they have a choice between losing 64% or 65% of their annual profits.
The article goes on to note that not all employees will take the insurance being offered. Some will already have it through another individual–a spouse or parent. So the actual cost of offering a plan will likely be less than the potential cost. Of course, no one knows what the plans themselves will cost yet so it’s all a guess at this point.
In any case, just a week ago Five Guys burgers announced the cost of Obamacare compliance was going to force them to raise prices. Matt Yglesias, who writes for Slate, was quick to call them “whiners.”
Obamacare is going to reduce his profits by about one-eighth and he (and any investors in his business) will eat the loss. With corporate profits as a share of the economy at an all-time high, nobody’s going to cry for him either.
In other words, eat the 1/8 loss of profits and shut up about it. But unlike Five Guys, Baked in the Sun facing a loss of up to 2/3 of their annual profits, meaning they will almost certainly be forced to raise prices:
“It’s ironic that our success meant we could grow,” Ms. Shein said, “and
now we will be competing against smaller companies, with 50 employees
or fewer, who will be able to charge less per item because they don’t
have the financial burden of health insurance.” Prices are currently
similar among local competitors, Ms. Shein said, and she believes the
increase in her prices could affect her sales, possibly significantly.
I pointed out on Twitter that it was weird Yglesias hadn’t said anything about Baked in the Sun and his response was that he’d already said all he had to say. The cost of compliance and the potential loss of revenue from smaller competitors–it’s all irrelevant. Just stop whining, he explained.A man and woman were arrested following a slow-speed chase that ended in a bizarre confrontation. Vikki Vargas reports for the NBC4 News at 5 and 6 p.m. on May 26, 2016. (Published Thursday, May 26, 2016)
A driver locked in a standoff with police after a pursuit into Seal Beach Thursday morning took a long swig of his beer, then surrendered.
The low-speed chase of the stolen Mazda began in Westminster and ended in a standoff on Pacific Coast Highway just south of Seal Beach Boulevard. Officers had at some point flattened two of the fleeing SUV's tires by using a spike strip.
As the driver dangled his arms out of the window and yelled at officers, a female passenger got out of the SUV and was arrested.
Police believed the driver could be armed with a gun. An armored vehicle pulled up in front of the SUV while crisis negotiators tried to convince the man, who was drinking from a large beer bottle, to surrender.
After about 30 minutes, the man got out of the car, took off his shirt and was taken into custody.
Raul Negrete (left) and Joni Daniella Huerta, both 30, were arrested on Thursday, May 26, 2016 after leading police on a pursuit from Westminster to Seal Beach in a stolen SUV.
Photo credit: Westminster Police Department
He was identified as 30-year-old Raul Negrete of Westminster. Police said he has a "lengthy criminal history," and he could be linked to previous car thefts in the area.
Police say the woman, 30-year-old Joni Daniella Huerta, knew the car was stolen. She was booked for possession of stolen property.
The relationship between the man and his passenger was unclear.
Westminster police received the call about the stolen SUV from the Los Angeles Police Department. As they officers were taking the report, the GPS in the car pinged at Westminster Avenue and Monroe Street, about one block from the police station.
WATCH: SoCal's Wildest Police Chases
Southern California's wild police chases: We've all seen them, and some can take pretty unexpected turns. Watch our collection of some of the wildest moments from the most infamous, dramatic pursuits. (Published Friday, July 14, 2017)
Vikki Vargas contributed to this report.Bush: Time to take on "Mt. Washington." (AP/Eric Risberg)
In Jeb Bush's Washington, the federal workforce would shrink, a president would earn back line-item veto powers and former lawmakers wouldn't be able to lobby old colleagues for at least six years.
The former Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate on Monday embraced a series of fix-it plans that congressional Republicans and watchdog groups have tried failed to enact for decades. Democrats noted that many of Bush's wealthy supporters would be directly affected by the changes.
"Should I win this election, you will not find me deferring to the settled ways of 'Mount Washington,'" he said during a speech at Florida State University. "The overspending, the overreaching, the arrogance, and the sheer incompetence in that city -- these problems have been with us so long that they are sometimes accepted as facts of life. But a president should never accept them, and I will not."
As a gubernatorial candidate in the 1990s, Bush derided what he called "Mount Tallahassee," a city where lawmakers and lobbyists grew too cozy. Now, as a presidential candidate, he tells voters how he slashed $2 billion in spending and helped cut the state payroll by roughly 13,000 public sector workers, all while Florida's economy grew at roughly 4 percent annually -- thanks partly to a housing boom that later fizzled.
Bush, a professed policy wonk, sometimes sounded on Monday like a White House budget director or lawmaker pining to be Speaker of the House as he ticked off a series of potential reforms.
He endorsed a federal worker attrition plan Republicans have unsuccessfully pursued for years that would replace every three departing federal workers with just one new hire. He backed a GOP plan to partially restore the line-item veto by letting the White House demand a separate up-or-down vote on spending items a president dislikes. And he said he likes military contracting reforms unveiled in March that would strip away many of the mundane hurdles faced by Pentagon contracting officers.
[New proposal changes how Pentagon buys weapons]
Most boldly, Bush proposed a six-year "cooling off" period for former lawmakers who want to be lobbyists -- an aggressive expansion of current law. Once a House lawmaker leaves office, they must wait one year before actively lobbying former colleagues; senators must wait two years.
"We need to help politicians to rediscover life outside of Washington, which -- who knows? -- might even be a pleasant surprise for them," he said.
Bush said he wanted lawmakers to publish on their official Web site any time they meet with lobbyists -- including people who work in "government relations" or "government affairs." And he would also expand President Obama's current policy of banning departing executive branch officials from lobbying the administration.
The changes would have an adverse affect on Washington's $3.2 billion lobbying industry, and several former lawmakers-turned-lobbyists dismissed Bush's ideas as unworkable.
"It's over the top," said former Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), who works for Deloitte, the consulting giant. He suggested that online reporting requirements would violate the constitutional right to petition the government.
"Shouldn’t a congressman be able to meet with some expert without the world knowing about it?" he said. "Why would Congress want to give that authority up?"
Davis said he likes Bush as a candidate, but suggested the former governor might have other motives: "If you’re a Bush, running against Washington is a lot harder than if you’re other people."
Former Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who once chaired the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, called Bush's plan "far-reaching."
"It sounds good – just like President Obama’s proposals sounded good not to hire former lobbyists – but then he ended up depriving his administration of some very good talent," he said.
Obama banned lobbyists from serving in his administration except in limited circumstances. Since the ban began in 2009, at least 61 executive branch employees have received waivers from parts of the ethics pledge.
[Read the White House memo to waive ethics rule for new Senate liaison]
Waxman retired this year after 40 years in Congress and now works for a public relations and consulting shop established by his son. A vocal supporter of environmental protections and health-care reform, Waxman said he works "only for those clients and those causes that I advocated for in Congress.... I have no apologies to make for that."
Two former lawmakers-turned-lobbyists who are active Bush supporters, Republicans Tom Loeffler (Tex.) and Vin Weber (Minn.), didn't return requests for comment.
Bush's campaign and allied groups raised an unprecedented $119 million for his presidential bid in the last quarter. The campaign raised $11.4 million, with the rest raised by an allied super PAC and another leadership PAC. Given the size of the haul, Bush has faced criticism from some of his GOP rivals -- including business magnate Donald Trump -- that the large sums mean he might one day reward top donors representing interest groups or corporations.
[Raising money is a Jeb Bush family business for Jeb Bush -- even for the next generation]
Eight lobbyists raised a collective $228,400 for Bush during the second quarter, according to Federal Election Commission filings submitted by the campaign Wednesday. The top bundlers including William P. Killmer of the Mortgage Banking Association, who raised $36,200; Ignacio Sanchez, co-chair of the lobbying practice at DLA Piper, who raised $32,400; and Al Cardenas, former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and now a lobbyist at Squire Patton Boggs, who helped bring in $18,900.
A number of lobbyists, though not bundlers, also contributed the individual limit of $2,700 to Bush's campaign. They include Kirk Blalock of Fierce Government Relations, David Beightol and Brian Sailer of Flywheel Government Solutions and Josh Holly of Podesta Group. And Bush drew support from top lobbyists within major corporations including Maria Cino of Hewlett-Packard, Matt Niemeyer of Goldman Sachs and Woody Simmons Jr. of Verizon Communications.
Bush also said Monday that he would push Congress to pass legislation that would withhold pay from lawmakers who miss votes.
"A bill to dock the pay of absentee members might not pass the House or Senate, but at least it would get them all there for a vote," he said.
Catherine Ho contributed to this report.Did You Know?
Sunpetal Grove is $5 TCG Mid. Most people still think these lands are $2-$3, making them great trade eveners.
Brad Nelson tried to #Hoof the world this weekend and Martin Juza succeeded at GP Bochum. Consequently, its price more than tripled. Craterhoof Behemoth is out of stock on SCG and $16 TCG Mid.
Quick Hits
1. I somehow omitted Sphinx’s Revelation from my last article. The card is everywhere now and is $13-plus pretty much across the internet. I don’t think this card is done rising and don’t feel bad trading for them even at the new price.
2. Because of the success of U/W Flash and counterspell decks in general, Cavern of Souls has more than doubled in the past two weeks on Magic Online. While I doubt the paper price will go up that much, they are a necessity in the new Standard format and demand will increase over the next few weeks.
3. Silverblade Paladin and Sublime Archangel have had success in white-based aggressive decks the past month, and I’ve had trouble keeping any I acquire for very long. That said, I’m unsure how much room there is for either of them to grow despite their liquidity. Silverblade Paladin is approaching $10 on many websites, and Sublime Archangel is nearing or above $30 despite not being a four-of in all the W/G aggressive decks from the weekend.
4. Bonfire of the Damned is starting to see more play in various Naya and Jund strategies, usually alongside Garruk Relentless or Garruk, Primal Hunter. Bonfire is very well positioned against the aggressive white strategies and hoof.deck that did well this weekend and their continued success could see a spike in the card’s price (It’s only $28 on Legit MTG, and is a real buy-low candidate). Both Garruks are fantastic against the various Sphinx’s Revelation decks and should continue to gain popularity as those decks continue to place well. Garruk, Primal Hunter in particular has been rising and could hit $12-$15 in the coming months.
5. Two fairly different monored decks Top 16’d SCG Seattle in a weekend where aggressive decks did very well overall considering how many Thragtusks were about. Most of the red staples have already jumped, and Hellrider is up to almost $7 TCG Mid. Hellrider’s adoption into B/R aggressive strategies gives it more room to grow than cards like Ash Zealot and Stromkirk Noble, which appear to be approaching their peak values before the format changes with Gatecrash.
6. Deathrite Shaman is in a very good place. It’s both the best card in Reanimator mirrors and crushing U/W Flash in Standard, while also being a Modern staple and being played in two of the Top 8 Legacy decks at SCG Seattle. The card isn’t going anywhere, and I have to admit I was wrong about it seeing consistent play in Standard.
7. Talrand, the Sky Summoner and Wolfir Silverheart are seeing more play and are both very cheap ($3 and $4). These intro-pack rares saw much higher prices last summer, and could easily double in the next month or two if their respective archetypes remain Tier 1 (U/W Flash and G/W Aggro).
8. It appears your brains may no longer be safe so guard them carefully. There were two black aggressive decks in the Top 16 of SCG Seattle, two in the Top 8 of GP Bochum and two in the Top 8 of GP Charleston, including the winner. Time will tell whether success is sustainable, but there will be people asking for Gravecrawlers and Geralf’s Messengers again if you have any left.
9. Falkenrath Aristocrat and Thundermaw Hellkite had a lot of success this weekend. Unfortunately I think both are near their ceiling, hovering near $20.
10. Jace, Architect of Thought has been falling, and I don’t think its done. Along with the Shocklands, this will be a great buy-low in late December when everyone is focusing on Modern and Gatecrash.
Last Word
The current Standard format hates interactivity. U/W Flash tries to interact on a basic level — luckily Cavern of Souls is there to put a stop to some of that nonsense. The white aggressive decks dare the opponent to interact with Silverblade Paladin or die. Hoof.deck does not care what its opponent is doing, trying to ‘combo’ them out as soon as possible. Somberwald Sage is the obvious card that only works when no one is playing spot removal.
It’s Thragtusk’s fault.
Why would you spend a card and mana to kill half a card? What if they have four mana open? Restoration Angel completely destroys you. What if they just have another Thragtusk? We’ve had a month of Thragtusk warping Standard, until we got to the point where these ‘goldfish’ strategies are viable trying to go over the top or simply run over everyone’s favorite cow. The monored deck in Top 8 of SCG Seattle had a whopping six burn spells in the maindeck, instead opting for all threats all the time, including Hellion Crucible.
The obvious solution to me is reusable interactivity. Olivia Voldaren is insane in the current format even though the rest of Jund feels somewhat lacking. If she finds a new home or Jund itself adapts, expect her to dominate and consequentially spike in price. Cards like Intrepid Hero, Izzet Staticaster and Ulvenwald Tracker also seem very well positioned in the coming weeks and are fairly easy to shoehorn into existing archetypes.
— Paul FeudoEspinoza (forearm tightness) recently started playing catch again in Arizona and could be pitching in games in late July if he does not encounter further setbacks, Kyle Glaser of Baseball America reports.
As Glaser termed it, Espinoza is essentially at the beginning stages of spring training for his season due to all the missed time. The 19-year-old righty was shut down with forearm tightness after he reported to High-A Lake Elsinore in early April. After two weeks off, he still had lingering soreness, and his throwing program was halted after one session, Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. General manager A.J. Preller said an MRI did not reveal any damage in Espinoza's UCL, but the team is preaching patience and caution regarding his activity this season, as he would still be young for High-A even if he has to return to the level next year. While this situation is obviously concerning and frustrating for dynasty league owners, Espinoza should still be treated like one of the best pitching prospects in the minors, as few pitchers can match his long-term upside.During my doctoral training, Moynihan was offered as a cautionary tale to young academics. Moynihan, they said, dared to tell the truth about the culture of poverty in black communities. As a result, the liberal elite and angry black-activist oligarchy ran him out of society’s good graces, if not exactly out of town. We were warned against dabbling in social prescriptions: “Look what they did to Moynihan!”
We should all be so lucky as to be punished the way Moynihan was punished. Moynihan was a sociologist and a junior government official when he wrote his now-infamous treatise on the moral and economic decay of the black family. By the time he died in 2003, Moynihan was more than just a sociologist. He entered the rarified world of power. He worked with presidents. He commanded audiences within the cognitive elite. He had, I was once told by someone at a conference who’d had a bit too much to drink, a fantastic office at Harvard. Moynihan made it.
That he made it despite being “made into a racist,” as he put it, refutes the idea that being labeled a racist is some scarlet letter. It also raises questions about the renewed interest in revitalizing Moynihan’s reputation. Orlando Patterson and Ethan Fosse wrote in a new book that “history has been kind to Moynihan.” I agree. History has been kind to Moynihan. But it is not that empirical evidence of a deep culture of poverty among blacks has proven Moynihan’s case. Instead, the rapid acceleration and ruthless efficiencies of incarceration have made Moynihan’s theses seem prescient by intensifying every structural condition of race, poverty, and criminality in the United States. Moynihan is prescient only if one ignores that Moynihan went on to participate in the kind of policies and ideology that perpetuated the conditions he was originally critiquing. That kind of prescience is called winning by owning the rules of the game.
As voters prepare to turn the board over to a new gamemaster, Coates argues that the rules are still the same. Bill Clinton signed a crime bill in 1994 that effectively paid states to build prisons and reduce parole so that those prisons might stay full. In 2015, activists are circulating clips of Hillary Clinton online. In one, she can be heard calling kids “super predators” as an argument in support of her husband’s crime policies. Hillary likely borrowed the “super predators” language from a 1996 book that predicted a new crime wave unless these hyped up, extra-terrestrial, mostly poor, and almost always dark young people were locked away.
As fortune (or power) would have it, the narrative of a crime wave is reemerging. In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests all across the country, standing against police brutality and extra-judicial murders, mass media, and the pundit class are coalescing around a narrative of growing violence in the streets. A Wall Street Journal reporter puts a fine point on the connection: “The most plausible explanation of the current surge in lawlessness is the intense agitation against American police departments over the past nine months.” Waves in the bathtub aren’t even that simple to explain, much less crime waves. No one with any serious training in data, statistics, and crime attributes isolated crimes to a national trend armed with only nine months of data.GWALIOR: While rumours of differences within the Congress have been swirling ever since the Maoist attack at Darbha on May 25, Madhya Pradesh BJP on Thursday, for the first time, named senior Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi as one who had a hand in the "conspiracy”, because of which the Maoists succeeded in eliminating three top Congress leaders of the state along with 26 others. Madhya Pradesh BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar levelled the direct accusation against Jogi while addressing the BJP state executive.In fact, every speaker at the executive, including the party's national general secretary Ananth Kumar and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, raised questions on Jogi’s alleged role in the conspiracy. Kumar also accused the Congress of following a dual policy on Maoism and asked the rival party to immediately expel all Maoist sympathizers from the National Advisory Council. He named Dr Vinayak Sen as one of the alleged sympathizers accommodated in the planning commission as an advisor by the UPA government.Charging that Jogi always said Maoism was a "social movement” to scuttle all internal security operations, BJP MP Rakesh Singh said, "We demand an investigation into the role of Ajit Jogi in this conspiracy.”"Before the creation of Chhattisgarh state, we worked together in the Madhya Pradesh assembly with Karma, Patel and Mudaliar,” state BJP chief Narendra Singh Tomar said. "We are saddened and still grieving their death but the Congress wants to play politics over dead bodies of its own leaders. And the manner in which Jogi reacted, it seems as if no one else but he who has a hand in the conspiracy.”Speaking to reporters in the evening, senior BJP leader and party in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Ananth Kumar said it was Jogi and AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh who repeatedly sympathised with the red insurgents in Chhattisgarh. "In 2010, Naxals massacred 76 CRPF jawans in Dantewada district. Then home minister P Chidambaram equated Naxalism with terrorism. But 24 hours later, a letter from Digvijay and Jogi's pressured Chidambaram into eating his words,” said Kumar.Google has had a rough go of it in China. The company seems to fall farther and farther behind the home-grown search powerhouse Baidu. The latest battle Mountain View has been forced to concede is in the world of music. Google Music Search launched in 2009 as a legal alternative to Baidu's own tool that turned up primarily illicitly shared results. The service never took off, even with the backing of a local partner, and things only got worse when the web giant ceased censoring results and took it wares to Hong Kong. The |
-hour access to ice cream for BLM officials — were pushed by Utah's former Special Agent in Charge, Dan Love, who oversaw law enforcement at Burning Man for several years.
“(Special recreation permit) costs are not intended to cover junkets for federal employees, a chance to try out fancy technology, or other fringe benefits that would never be approved for regular agency operations,” Burning Man attorney Elizabeth Stallard wrote in the appeal. “Quite simply, just because the BLM is spending someone else’s money does not mean it can do so recklessly.”
BLM officials argued that the scope of the event justified all of the costs and resources, and no wrongdoing occurred on behalf of the BLM, according to the BLM's response to the appeal.
The Department of Interior's Board of Land Appeals still is reviewing the Burning Man vs. BLM lawsuit, although it is not expected to hinder collaboration on the 2017 event taking place from Aug. 27 to Sept. 4.
Read or Share this story: http://on.rgj.com/2k5QHgQIf you don’t already know, Flappy Bird is the hot new mobile game right now. The premise is simple: navigate the bird through the gaps between the green pipes. Tapping the screen gives a slight upward impulse to the bird. Stop tapping and the bird plummets to the ground. Timing and reflexes are the key to Flappy Bird success.
This game is HARD. It took me at least 10 minutes before I even made it past the first pair of pipes. And it’s not just me who finds the game difficult. Other folks have taken to Twitter to complain about Flappy Bird. They say the game is so difficult, that the physics must be WRONG.
Somewhere Mr Bourne is telling some kid that the physics on Flappy Bird is all wrong — Rohil Prathap (@RoPrathap56) January 30, 2014
Flappy bird doesn't obey any laws of physics!! — kubobubo (@VaclavekJakub) January 30, 2014
Flappy Bird, the game where you think the physics in it are just plain trolling with ya T.T — アキラー (@NurulAkiller) January 30, 2014
I swear to god, the physics of flappy bird doesn't make sense at all! — Mads Elton Nilsen (@MadsEltonNilsen) January 30, 2014
https://twitter.com/ThatPuckBeaut/status/428781313433149440
The laws of physics and gravity are exaggerated way too much in flappy bird 😒 — Gary Scott (@garyscott_) January 30, 2014
The physics in flappy bird is extremely inaccurate.. Not to mention frustrating as crap 😒😠 — Latté☕ (@La_Tayy) January 30, 2014
I wish physics even slightly applied in flappy bird — craig zeglen (@czegsmd) January 30, 2014
Flappy bird irks. The physics is all off. And im pissed — Luchini (@Bella_Bonita_) January 30, 2014
https://twitter.com/maaddawwg/status/427833802140815361
Flappy bird defies physics — Ꮳhrissy Ꭶchweninger⚓ (@pisssychrissy) January 27, 2014
Flappy bird physics is so unrealistic — Deacon Tersteeg (@Freaky_Deacy13) January 27, 2014
Like on what planet does anything fall that fast?!!?!? Have you ever heard of physics flappy bird?? — Andrew Campos (@rpeacesignohhh) January 28, 2014
Take everything you know about the laws of physics and throw them out the window: that's flappy bird — Tim Morris™ (@TIMtation_19) January 28, 2014
The law of Physics do not exist in the world of flappy bird — Brett Bader (@184bader) January 29, 2014
The physics in flappy bird are just non existent. — Iceburg Simpkins (@StonedChase) January 29, 2014
The physics of Flappy Bird is so bad which is why it's so difficult to play. It's not intuitive like most game mechanics. #sodumb — Victor (@veeedoh) January 29, 2014
So, is the physics unrealistic in Flappy Bird?
Sounds like a job for Logger Pro video analysis! I used my phone to take a video of Flappy Bird on my iPad. To keep the phone steady, I placed it on top of a ring stand with the iPad underneath.
(I’ve uploaded several of the videos here if you’d like to use them yourself or with students: Flappy Bird Videos.)
Then I imported the videos into Logger Pro and did a typical video analysis by tracking Flappy’s vertical position in the video. Sure enough, the upside-down parabolic curves indicate Flappy is undergoing downward acceleration.
But do the numerical values represent normal Earth-like gravity or insanely hard Jupiter gravity? In order to do this, we need to (1) set a scale in the video so that Logger Pro knows how big each pixel is in real life and (2) determine the slope of Flappy’s velocity-time graph while in free fall, which is equal to the gravitational acceleration.
The only thing we could realistically assume is the size of Flappy Bird. If we assume he’s as long as a robin (24 cm), then the slope of the velocity-time graph is 9.75 m/s/s, which is really close to Earth’s gravitational acceleration of 9.8 m/s/s. Flappy Bird is REAL LIFE.
So then why is everyone complaining that the game is unrealistic when, in fact, it is very realistic? I blame Angry Birds and lots of other video games. Repeating the same video analysis on Angry Birds and assuming the red bird is the size of a robin (24 cm), we get a gravitational acceleration of 2.5 m/s/s, which only 25% of Earth’s gravitational pull.
In order to make Angry Birds more fun to play, the programmers had to make the physics less realistic. People have gotten used to it, and when a game like Flappy Bird comes along with realistic physics, people exclaim that it must be wrong. As one of my students notes:
@fnoschese looks like those sorry folks need themselves some logger pro — Sam Wolfson (@sam_wolfson) January 30, 2014
UPDATE 31 Jan 2014:
Inspired by a tweet from John Burk,
@fnoschese you know what would make an awesome demo, dropping a ball and watching it fall with same accel as flappy bird. + — John Burk (@occam98) January 31, 2014
we made a video showing Flappy Bird falling at the same rate as a basketball:
Here’s what I did: We determined from the analysis above that Flappy Bird is about 24 cm across. Conveniently, basketballs are also about 24 cm across. So I had my physics teacher colleague Dan Longhurst drop a basketball so I could video it with my iPad. Dan just needed to be the right distance away from the camera so that the size of the basketball on the iPad screen was the same size as Flappy Bird on the screen (1.5 cm). Next, I played the basketball drop video and Flappy Bird on side-by-side iPads and recorded that with my phone’s camera. Once I got the timing right, I uploaded the video to YouTube, trimmed it, made a slow motion version in YouTube editor, then stitched the real-time and slow motion videos together to create the final video you see above.
UPDATE 1 Feb 2014: While the gravitational acceleration in Flappy Bird is realistic, the impulse provided by the taps are NOT realistic. Here’s a velocity-time graph showing many taps. When a tap happens, the velocity graph rises upward:
As you can see, no matter what the pre-tap velocity (the velocity right before the graph rises up), the post-tap velocity is always the same (a bit more than 2 m/s on this scale). This means that the impulses are not constant. In real life, the taps should produce equal impulses, which means that we would see that the differences between pre- and post-tap velocities are constant.
TL;DR: Is the physics in Flappy Bird realistic? Yes AND no.
YES: The gravitational pull is constant, producing a constant downward acceleration of 9.8 m/s/s (if we scale the bird to the size of a robin).
NO: The impulse provided by each tap is variable in order to produce the same post-tap velocity. In real life, the impulse from each tap would be constant and produce the same change in velocity.
UPDATE 1 Feb 2014 (2): Fellow physics teacher Jared Keester did his own independent analysis and shares his findings in this video:Repeal of the Affordable Care Act is back on the agenda, with Republicans suddenly talking about a bill that, until recently, few people in either party had taken all that seriously.
The prospects for the new legislation are murky. The proposal has generated a ton of conversation in political and health policy circles in just the past week, with multiple outlets reporting that leadership is now thinking about floor action before Sept. 30. That’s the magic date when, because of parliamentary rules, Republicans lose their ability to pass repeal with just 50 votes. But much of the chatter is hype from supporters and it’s hard to know how much enthusiasm for the proposal actually exists.
Still, even if the bill’s political fortunes are difficult to pin down, the impact it would have as a law is crystal clear. By dramatically scaling back what the federal government spends on health care and undermining rules designed to guarantee insurance for people with pre-existing conditions, this new proposal would leave millions of Americans struggling to pay their medical bills and to get coverage.
It is, in other words, another shot at full repeal, although its GOP sponsors sometimes suggest otherwise ― and that’s one reason it has escaped heavy scrutiny until now.
A New Bill With The Same Old Devastating Effects On Coverage
Those sponsors are Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina ― an unlikely duo, perhaps, given some of their previous statements about repeal. During the spring and summer, Graham repeatedly criticized his party’s leadership for trying to jam through legislation on a party-line vote, without trying to work with Democrats or going through the usual committee process.
Cassidy, for his part, famously urged his colleagues to pass what he dubbed “the Jimmy Kimmel test” ― a reference to the late-night television host’s impassioned public plea to make sure everybody has access to care, regardless of income or medical condition, after his newborn son was diagnosed with a genetic heart defect. Cassidy’s grandstanding on access to care seemed to make sense, given that previously he had worked with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on a skeletal proposal that he promised would let states keep their versions of “Obamacare” intact if they so chose. “California, New York — you love Obamacare, you can keep it,” Cassidy said.
But when it came time to vote repeal legislation in late July, there was Graham voting yes, even though leadership had ignored his pleas for regular order, and there was Cassidy right there alongside him, even though the bills would have violated the Kimmel test by depriving millions of coverage. Now the pair is back with a proposal that would (yet again) go straight to a floor vote and would (yet again) mean no coverage for tens of millions.
Starting in 2020, the Cassidy-Graham bill would eliminate both the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies and the enhanced federal funding that underwrites the expansion of Medicaid in 31 states (plus the District of Columbia). The bill would then establish a “block grant,” handing money directly to the states for helping people to pay for health care. This would produce the best of all worlds, as Cassidy and Graham would say, because it would mean states could stop worrying about the complications of the Affordable Care Act and simply use that money in ways that will work best for them and their citizens.
In reality, the Cassidy-Graham would shrink the federal investment in health care programs dramatically, by somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 billion over the next ten years, or maybe even more, according to a preliminary and rough analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Starting in 2027, the money would vanish altogether. In theory, Congress could appropriate new money then, a possibility Cassidy and Graham have raised in an effort to soothe those nervous about such a dramatic drop-off in funds. In practice, it would take $200 billion each year just to keep pace. That’d be a huge ask for any Congress.
It’s true the bill would give states new flexibility ― so much flexibility, in fact, that they wouldn’t have to direct the funding to the low- and middle-income Americans who need the help most. Nor would they have to keep regulations that prohibit insurers from charging higher premiums to people with pre-existing medical conditions, or include benefits like mental health and maternity that carriers frequently excluded in the old, pre-Obamacare days and would almost surely start excluding again if they had the chance.
“This bill is far more radical [than previous repeal bills] in that it envisions going back to the pre-ACA world, where the federal government wasn’t in the business of helping low-income adults or moderate-income people without employer coverage get health insurance at all,” Aviva Aron-Dine, senior fellow at the center, told HuffPost. “Compared to pre-ACA, there would be some extra state grant money floating around ― but it would have virtually no requirements attached to it at all and, since the funding wouldn’t adjust based on enrollment or costs, it would be hard for even well-intentioned states to use it to create an individual entitlement to coverage or help.”
Oh, and the bill would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, and do so right away ― destabilizing insurance markets and causing premiums to rise right away, according to official projections.
Exactly how many people would lose insurance, and what kind of benefits would be left for the people who hold onto coverage, is not clear. The Congressional Budget Office hasn’t had a chance to evaluate the plan yet, although Cassidy, like most Republicans these days, has already said he’s willing to ignore CBO altogether because he thinks their analysis is unreliable. (Actually, the CBO predictions of the Affordable Care Act’s ultimate coverage impact were quite good, even though some specific projections of the type of coverage people would have were way off.)
Why Cassidy-Graham Bill Might Not Pass, And Why It Might
The substantive impact of the bill and the rushed process Republicans are using to push it make the Cassidy-Graham bill look a lot like the bills that failed to get majority votes back in July, when the Senate took them up.
And the politics of repeal would seem to be no more favorable for Republicans than they did then. The 2010 health care law, which has led to a historic decline in the number of people without insurance, has grown steadily, if incrementally, more popular during the repeal debate, according to polling. Clear majorities now prefer either keeping or improving the law, flaws and all, rather than getting rid of it outright.
As it happens, in just the past few weeks, a handful of Republican and Democratic senators have taken that instruction to heart. They have been working diligently on a different piece of legislation ― a narrowly tailored bill designed to shore up the program in the states where it is struggling and, in the process, find some common ground between the parties.
This was just the kind of effort that one Republican in particular, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, had insisted he wanted when he cast a dramatic and decisive vote against the final GOP repeal proposal to come up in late July ― and it would seem like he would be loathe to short-circuit this new bipartisan effort, now that it is underway. But McCain is also very close to Graham and at this point nobody knows how he’ll reconcile personal loyalty and political principle. (So far, McCain has sent out conflicting signals over how he feels about the Cassidy-Graham bill.)
Another factor in the bill’s eventual success or demise could be the way it shifts money among the states. Because of its complex funding formula, states like Alabama and Texas would initially see more funding, while states like California and Connecticut would see dramatic cuts, according to the same Center on Budget and Public Priorities analysis. The partisan tinge to the transformation is presumably intentional, since it’s mostly a transfer of money from Democratic states to Republican ones ― and, perversely, from those states that have tried hardest to expand coverage, by expanding their Medicaid programs and promoting enrollment, to those that have done as little as possible to help their citizens and in some cases worked actively to undermine the Affordable Care Act.
But the formula doesn’t work out perfectly for Republican states, according to the same analysis. By year 10, for example, Alaska, Ohio and West Virginia would all be losing money, and that’s politically critical since Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski was one of three Republican senators who voted no on the final repeal bill while the votes of Ohio’s Rob Portman and West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito were in play until the end, although they both voted yes.
Neither Capito, Murkowski, nor Portman have said much about the new bill, nor has Collins, who was the third member of the triumvirate to kill repeal last time. The only Republican senator to indicate a clear position on Cassidy-Graham so far has been Rand Paul, of Kentucky, who has said he’s a firm no ― ironically, if predictably, because it leaves too much of the Affordable Care Act’s edifice in place.
He might stick to that position and vote no, making the GOP vote math impossible unless leaders can somehow flip Murkowski (thought to be highly difficult) or Collins (thought to be impossible). Or he might change his mind. Or other Republicans could come out against the proposal.I received an e-mail from a mysterious user named MBiehnMovieMartyr56 at 8:45 pm on a Tuesday night, November 1st, 2011. Naturally, I was intrigued. The contents of the e-mail included the sender introducing himself as legendary actor Michael Biehn.
Mr. Biehn said he was a big fan of our website: Adventures in Poor Taste. He didn’t say why and when I asked him why in a reply e-mail he ignored the question and just replied with “Yeah, that Adventure… uh Taste LiveJournal.” When I tried to correct him he feigned ignorance and set up a meeting. He told me that my unique mind would be needed for a mission of “utmost importance.” I told him I could meet him the following night. This was legendary actor Michael Biehn we were talking about, after all. This is the story of our meeting:
I couldn’t wait any longer. Opening the car door and stepping away from the taxi and looking up into that dark and starless sky across which rain went slashing and cascading from rooftops and spitting in the wake of passing vehicles and racing beneath my shoesoles and pooling at curbstones wherein the reflections of city lights quivered like tiny stars, capsized and foundering.
“You sure you want to leave with that guy you’re supposed to be meeting not even so much as showing his stinkin’ face?” the taxi driver asked, feigning compassion.
I nodded and handed him a rumpled twenty dollar bill and hustled to the sidewalk, dress shoes scudding over raindark pavement. I ducked beneath a dripping awning and rolled down my coastsleeve and checked my watch, breath steaming in the cold. Ten past midnight now. What a surprise, the big bad movie star was late. Pampered bastards; thought they were so goddamn important. Leaving a poor guy out here in the cold to shiver his ass off.
My cell phone started rattling off in my coat pocket. I reached in, grabbed it, saw a new text message from some number I didn’t recognize that read, “I’m already inside. Down in the basement. Knock three times on the door. Come alone. And hurry your punk ass up.”
I made my way inside the building. An empty room that may have once been a hotel lobby, and an enormous usher that looked like a cartoon ape with a miniaturized bellhop hat atop his head.
“Uh… hey,” I said. “This the way to uh…”
He nodded. “Yes sir. Mr. B’s been expecting you.” His voice sounded like Michael Clarke Duncan’s from Planet of the Apes.
I looked back at him and smiled uneasily, gave a meek wave of my hand in thanks. Looking back one last time at the outside world with my face nearly splayed against the glass. “Well, here goes nothing.”
Shuffling down a long hallway with frayed and rotting red carpets underfoot, to the mouth of an old staircase. I dragged down the rickety stairs. Little squishing sounds where each waterlogged footstep met old woodpanels and a shoddy banister on my left that shook and leaned and groaned. The windows here blearypaned and obscured the arched ceiling prolapsed, moldcolored, rot infused. The hell was I getting myself into?
The ground here wet with old rainwater, rustcolored twines curdling and unspooling all throughout milkbrown puddles. After passing through an overhanging garden of dead lightbulbs which swayed unevenly from the ceiling like blackened gourds, I finally found the room and knocked on the door a few times. No answer. I waited a minute and knocked again. The door cracked open and this face peeped abruptly from within, lacquered red by some eerie glow:
“Who the hell is it?” he said. “What do you want?” He sounded tired. Like a man at the end of his wits.
“It’s Russ from Adventures in Poor Taste,” I said, gingerly raising my hands over my head like some prisoner of war in the midst of acquiescing.
The rifle muzzle was staring me in the face now. Cold steel prodding my chin. Up close like this it looked wider than the f-----g Ted Williams tunnel. I heard a shuffling sound. Eerily similar to a finger applying pressure to a trigger.
“The website!” I croaked. “You asked me to meet you here. Said you had a very important offer for me.”
He paused. The gun retreated like a wounded animal into the gloom. “Yeah, I knew that,” he said. “Come in.”
The door opened fully and there he stood in murderous silhouette in the doorframe, unwavering. Watching me.
I had to turn sideways and edge past him just to get inside the door. “Thanks for meeting me on such short notice,” I said, patting rain from my coat sleeves. “I’m a really big fan of your work. My little brother has seen probably every movie you’ve ever be-“
“Yeah, whatever. Let’s skip the bullshit and get this over with,” he said. “I’m a busy man.”
A little more rude than he had to be, but maybe he really had called me here for some reason of “utmost importance,” like he had said in the e-mail. I cleared my throat. “Alright. I apologize Micha– er, mister…”
“Mr. Biehn will do just fine,” he said. He was sitting down crosslegged at a little cylindershaped wooden table with the dismantled pieces of the rifle strewn about its surface like rare trinkets for sale at an otherworldly bazaar. I watched him scoop up the pieces into his hands and then stitch the rifle back together with a series of clicking sounds, his fingers tending to and wiggling on either side of the thing as if it were some vast, mechanical Rubik’s cube.
There was an old computer in one corner. It was playing this video on mute. On repeat:
When he saw my gaze transfixed on the screen he leaned over and turned off the monitor and rubbed his hands together gingerly like a homeless man in front of a fire.
“Now, let’s get down to business,” he said. “Say you’re alot more fit looking than I thought you’d be in person. Then again, judging from the snapshots on your little website, I had you all pegged as morbidly obese slugs.”
“Yeah, I’ve been working -“
“Oh, that’s very uninteresting,” he said. We just stood there looking at each other. He with his eyes narrowed to little triagonal slits and myself with a nervous brow arched, my weight balanced carefully on the balls of my feet as if I were in the presence of some capricious jungle animal.
Then finally Micha — er, Mr. Biehn spoke again. “So as you know,” he said, “I’m not getting any younger. And in my old age, I’ve been thinking. Always thinking.”
“What’s been on your min-“
“Will you shut up and let me finish?”
I did.
He reached for the waistband of his jeans, two lean fingers pinched and playing with the apex of the glinting zipper. “Do you know what it’s like to get old?” he said. “Do you know how sparse your damn pubic hair gets?”
I cringed and looked away. “God no.”
He laughed, his hands slapping down on the table. “I’m just messing with you. Look, I’ll tell you why you’re here. As I was saying… before you opened up your barbarous mouth and interrupted me, I’m not getting any younger. Consequently, I’ve been thinking about making my final film; a film that will forever etch me in the annals of time; one that will perpetuate my very legacy.”
I scratched my head.
“You don’t know what I’m talking about do you, you little sewer urchin? You goddamn miscreant.” A lamp in the corner flickered once, made a sound like a bug zapper, then burned brightly to life once more. “I’m a martyr, kid. That’s my motif in the world of cinema. For God’s sake, that is my destiny, don’t you realize that?”
I laughed, reminded of the speech Lieutenant Dan gave in the Forrest Gump movie. “Good one Mr. Biehn. I forgot how funny you can be sometimes in your movies.”
“Does this look like the face of a man that’s trying to be f-----g funny?” he snarled. He was staring at me, humped over in his chair, his figure suddenly thin and emaciate looking beneath the ragged jacket he wore. As if some great age had suddenly come upon him.
“Uh. No, of course not,” I said. Stammering. Had his face really aged that considerably in those past five minutes or was I just imagining things? The guy was what… in his mid 50s now?
“Can you even name the damn movies I’ve died in? For f--k’s sake I die for you thankless little pukes over and over again in the vein of some cinematic Christ figure and all you can manage to do is prattle off some dumb bullshit. Real shining example of journalism you are.”
“Doesn’t that guy Sean Bean die in a lot of his movies too? Just as many as you?” I said.
“What? No. No. The guy’s a second rate hack that doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as me. A second rate hack of movie martyring. A Bush League demise impersonator. Now name some of the movies that I die in.”
“Uh well, I know you die in Tombstone. Just blown away as the infamous Johnny Ringo. And in The Rock. That one’s actually pretty cool. ‘I will not give that order!’ ‘I’m not going to repeat that order!’ ‘STAND DOWN!’ Then like 90 Marines plug you full of holes. Um… and then in Alien 3… well, I guess you aren’t really in that one are you?”
“No. No I’m not. But that just goes to show you. I’m not even in the damn movie and yet they kill my character off in what is essentially the opening credits. That’s how synonymous with unceremoniously dying I am.”
“I understand the irony that your character is killed off in literally every movie you’ve ever been in… but what does that have to do with me?”
“You’ll see. Now where was I? Right. Terminator, 1984. Well everyone knows that one, I suppose. A little movie I made with a then no-name bodybuilder that came to be known as a cult classic. I got bludgeoned to death by Arnold’s metal T-800 fists after I came back in time and f----d the stuffing out of Sarah Connor in a way that only a freak nasty futuristic resistance fighter could manage to pull off. I researched that role for about 6 weeks prior to filming. Just going over the actual positions in my head, alone, with others. Tried to get into the real mindset of how a time-traveling revolutionary would actually bang a trepidatious, big-haired milf. And you know what? Turned out to be one of my finest roles. I really nailed it.”
He let those last few words linger. He looked up and paused after like he wanted to laugh but there came only a crazed grin cracking all across his face like his skin was made of some strange porcelain and something had crashed into it.
“It’s ironic isn’t it?” he asked.
“What now?”
“You’d figure that people in the future would be like perverse caricatures of the Jetsons, screwing each other with photon lasers and shoving their junk in artificial twats that smell like cinnamon buns and that are shaped like… cinnamon buns. But it’s just the opposite. In fact, that very scene hearkens back to the days of our progenitors making every last hump count before a sabretooth tiger leapt out of the bushes and skewered their insides with gargantuan and rapacious incisors. That’s what my sex scene was like. If you pay attention closely, I mean really watch it, you’ll see what I’m talking about. The constrained urgency within each violent pelvic thrust. Two scared people from different epochs in time unclothed, sweating the sweat of horny demons, breathing loudly, their passion mounting.” His eyes looked past me now, his chest puffed out grotesquely with excitement.
“I, uh, never really thought about it that intensely,” I said, smiling and nodding. I wasn’t sure if he still thought we were the only two people in the room or if he spoke now to some phantom audience the likes of which I could never comprehend.
I looked up and rubbed my eyes in disbelief. He was now wearing a black, widebrimmed cowboy hat. His facial features had seemingly reversed in age. As if in the relation of his tale he had somehow reclaimed his youth.
“Where did you… when did y-”
“Tombstone, 1993,” he continued, ignoring my questions. “I get shot in the damn head by Doc Holiday. An honorable death If I’ve ever heard of one. Blood of the Hunter, 1995; I get ravaged by a pack of wild f-----g dogs. They tear my body to shreds while gouts of my very lifeblood obscure and stain the snow underfoot. The Abyss, 1988; I play Lt. Hiram Coffey. Did you see my mustache in that? If you looked up robust mustache in the dictionary… they’d have a picture of my mustache from that movie.”
“I’ve never… I don’t think that’s in the dictionary.”
“Before I meet my demise my head resembles that of some deranged and sweat-ridden Mr. Potato Head… being crushed. The Rock, as you so astutely mentioned, in which I am riddled by myriad machine gun bullets by my very own compatriots.” The more he spoke about his movies and his myriad deaths, the younger he seemed to look. His face as incandescent as some vampire with romantic, sexy thoughts.
“So you see, in all those films there is one binding element. My aforementioned death. And that’s why I called you here,” he said. “Like I said. I came across your little website…”
I felt a s--t-eating grin form from ear to ear. “I just wanted to say, I’m honored that you’ve heard of us… say, what did you think of that article I wrote ab-”
“Oh what did I think about that article? Not a damn thing if you want my honest opinion. Not one thought or brain synapse was wasted on your glorified LiveJournal. I’m sure it was just a riveting and enlightening treatise, kid. To be honest, I didn’t read one word on that little web live journal diary of yours. By “seen” your website what I meant is that someone told me it was disgusting and obscene and did not in any way contribute to society or to what could be mistaken by any human being for even one second as rational thought. That they had never seen a purportedly sane human being ever conceive of such atrocities without actually being locked in a padded room in some high security asylum.”
“Oh. Well how nice of them.”
“Yeah, that someone was actually me. I hated your website. Besides, there’s way too many swears. If something is funny you won’t have to say ‘f--k’ or ‘s--t’ or ‘cock’ or ‘dicks’ or ‘anal fisting’ or ‘ménage à quatre.’ It’ll just be funny on its own. That’s something you and your little LiveJournal cohorts can stand to learn.”
I wanted to tell him that no one had used LiveJournal since the dawn of the new millennium and that he had cursed more times than a truck driver the moment I set foot inside the door. I did.
“Yeah, well,” he said. “Whatever. I guess I don’t know as much about the ol’ interwebs as I’d like to believe, alright? And your foul language must’ve rubbed off on me or something.”
“Well what did you expect from a website called Adventures in Poor Taste anyways? Epic prose of Billy Shakesperian proportions?”
“Look kid, you want to hear my idea or not?”
I sighed. I’d been sitting through his insane ramblings all night hoping for just that thing. “Of course,” I said. But still, I had to wonder… “Why me of all people though?”
“Because no human being with even a shred of self-worth or self respect would even consider helping me with what I’ve got planned.”
“Hey look, if this involves me getting naked and pretending to be Sarah Connor then you can just count me out.”
He laughed for the first time, though the emotion plastered on his face seemed the opposite, like a man laughing nervously under some great anguish. And oh yeah, he had inexplicably grown a robust mustache that spanned the length of his face like a dark, unfurling vine.
“No, I want you to be the one filming it. This snuff film.”
“Snuff film?”
“Don’t play f-----g dumb, kid. Snuff film, where they film an actual murder. No special effects. No camera tricks. Just real murder. We’re gonna plan the perfect snuff for ol’ Biehnsy.”
“I know what a snuff film is, unfortunately. I just repeated you aloud for the fact that your idea is batshit crazy. And let’s say I for some reason even decide go along with it. Would it be safe to say I would be in a fair bit of trouble? You know, incarcerated for the rest of my life for murder… something along those lines?”
“That’s why I’m going to make a disclaimer at the beginning just nicely dissociating you from the crime in any way whatsoever.”
“You’re going to mention my name as the cameraman?”
“What?”
“I’d just… prefer you didn’t say my name at all and incriminate me in any way is what I’m saying.”
This time he was the one to scratch his head. Then he asked, while twirling his mustache between two fingers the whole time, “So what sort of ideas you got? How should the ol’ Biehnsy exit the stage for the last time? Come on. I know you got some ideas swirling around in that f----d up brain of yours. What sort of ideas, huh?”
“None whatsoever. I am not doing this. Nor will I partake in any way. If anyone asks me if I came here tonight… I’m going to make up a lie, if I can be frank.”
“Alright, well we’ll talk about this later. I’ll be in contact.”
“No you won’t.”
“Say you like video games, kid?”
“What?”
“I said, ‘Say you like video games, kid?”
“Uh, sure.”
“Try this on for size,” he said. Producing a walletsized picture from his pocket. He held it up to his chest for a moment, coddled it like a small infant. Then he just held it front of him, tracing his fingers along the images with his eyes closed, as if they might be some sort of strange, newfound Braille.
“You mind turning it a little bit so I can see what you’re asking me to ‘try on for size?'”
“Oh, yeah. Sure. Yeah. Look.” He turned the photo around and let me take a look.
“That’s the cover to the original Metal Gear from 1987. Solid Snake. Everyone thinks Solid Snake is so f-----g bad ass, right? Well he’s based on me! That’s me from the Terminator, the inspiration if you will.”
“No s--t?”
“Same f-----g hip pouch and everything.”
Before I had time to respond he had tucked the picture back away into his pocket. “Hey kid, take a look at this,” he said, pointing to a poster on his wall that I hadn’t noticed earlier:
“Oh,” I said. “That’s nice. But what does that have to do with anything?”
“Not a damn thing. You know that little article you’re putting up on that blog of yours, though? It’s a bunch of boring walls of text accompanied by nothing but various close-up pictures of my face. Just seems… really gay. Gay and terrible. Even for you.”
I scratched my head again.
“I’m being clairvoyant, you little twit, in telling you that the article you write about this very encounter we’re having right now will be vastly mediocre, you will never make a dime from your writing, and that I clandestinely put this picture up here on the wall when you weren’t looking so that you don’t look like an even bigger queer than you already are.”
“Um.. thanks?”
Then he was gone. I peered at the |
.
Adrian Beltre is a big influence in the Rangers' clubhouse. What was his advice after the incident?
Beltre does not talk much, but when he speaks, he tells you the truth and you have to listen. When I don't do something well, he's the first one to point it out. When I do something wrong and I don't realize, he will be the first one to say something to me, scold me, and give me advice. I am very grateful to him. [After the fight] he told me to put it behind me. He said, 'What happened already happened,' and to keep being the same player I've always been.
Rangers captain Adrian Beltre is a leader to Rougned Odor and others in the clubhouse. AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
How did you start playing baseball?
My dad and my mom both love baseball. My grandfather played professional baseball. Four uncles played. Everybody was always talking to me about baseball, baseball and baseball. Even when we would get together as a family, they were always giving me advice on how to play and how to behave on the field. That helped me to be who I am.
Who is the best baseball player in your family?
I think I am. My uncles were very good players, but I'm the best on the list.
Your name is pretty unique. Where did it come from?
In my family, every male name begins with an 'R.' All my cousins have 'R' names. My name is composed of my grandfather and grandmother's name. My grandmother is Nedia, where the last three letters of my name come from, and my grandfather's name is Douglas. Since all of us cousins have names with an 'R,' they put the 'R' in front [instead of the 'D'].
You came up to the majors so young (at age 19, in 2014). That beat all the scout projections.
In every league I ever played in the minors, I was always the youngest player in the league. That's why I always tried to give my very best -- to prove myself. Another thing that helped me was that when I was a little boy, my dad was a scout for Cleveland. My dad coached baseball players older than me. So since I was a boy I was surrounded by much older players.
[When I got called up] I couldn't believe it at first. I had just come back from playing winter ball in Venezuela. That helped me a lot because it's similar to Major League Baseball. There are many major leaguers, many retired Major League Baseball players -- to play with them helped me. They gave me many tips that helped me both on and off the field. Little things that may not seem like much, but they help a lot.
You moved to second base from shortstop -- who helped you learn the position?
My uncle Rouglas. He and my dad both worked with Cleveland. My dad worked for nine years as a scout, and my uncle played his entire career with Cleveland and later became a coach; he's still a coach there. He showed me many videos of Omar Vizquel and Roberto Alomar.
My favorite player is Roberto Alomar. To watch videos of him playing, I think it helped me a lot. The plays that I liked best were the Roberto Alomar double plays. When he grabbed the ball and threw it and jumped. I think that was always one of the things that I liked the most about him. I have several photos of Roberto Alomar jumping up in the air, and then I look at some of mine and they look more or less alike. I am proud of that.
What is your defensive approach at second base?
It depends on the hitter. For example, Robinson Cano hits the ball everywhere, and hits it hard. I will play him leaning towards the hole. Sometimes when I read a hitter's swing and see that he wants to hit the ball to the opposite side, then I move a little more towards the middle. I follow the stats and positioning that they give me, telling me where I have to play. I get to a point where I start where they tell me and then I adjust.
But it all starts with knowing your pitcher and what he throws. As an example, Martin Perez has a good sinker. Knowing Jose Altuve, he will hit it from the middle to the opposite side because it's a good sinker. I play a little more to my left because he will hit the ball between center and right. The more you play against someone, the more you know more or less how they like to hit. Altuve will hit the ball where you least expect it. That's what's amazing about him. But it all has to do with who is pitching.
What has helped your approach, being so young?
Having Elvis Andrus next to me is one of the things that has helped me the most. He helps me know the players. He and I are always talking during the game. He positions me sometimes. He tells me, 'Hey, move a little over there or towards the back or the front.' He's been in this league for many years, and he knows more ballplayers.
What is the key to the Rangers' success this season?
We have a very united team. We are a team that loves to have fun. But one of the most important things is that we are like a family. We are all good friends. Imagine this, there are Americans, Japanese, Koreans, Dominicans, Venezuelans, and we all treat each other equally. No matter where we are from. When we are on the field, we are brothers.Equifax, the credit reporting firm, is facing more than 240 class-action lawsuits from consumers — in addition to suits from shareholders and financial institutions — over the way it handled a massive data breach that affected 145.5 million Americans.
The lawsuits were detailed in the company's third-quarter earnings report Thursday, its first since revealing the breach in September. The incident prompted three top officials to leave the company, including former chief executive Richard Smith.
Equifax also said in its filings that it had received subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia “regarding trading activities by certain of our employees in relation to the cybersecurity incident.” Shortly after news of the breach broke, reports circulated that top officials had sold Equifax stock after the company found out about the breach, but before disclosing it to the public. Equifax said this week that it had cleared its executives of wrongdoing after an internal investigation found that the executives did not personally know about the breach before their stock sales.
To date, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has not confirmed or denied that the SEC is investigating those executives for insider trading, according to the Associated Press.
The credit bureau is also facing more than 60 government investigations from states, U.S. federal agencies and the British and Canadian governments, the earnings report revealed.
Equifax estimates that the breach-related costs will total $87.5 million, including the cost of the free credit-monitoring services it provides to breach victims. The company said it did not know how much it would cost them to address any judgments, settlements or penalties as a result of the breach.
“As we report our third-quarter results, we recognize that we have an important journey in front of us to regain the trust and confidence of consumers and our business customers,” said Paulino Barros, Equifax's interim chief executive in the release. “Our teams have taken immediate actions to improve our data security and provide improved support for consumers who were impacted by our cybersecurity incident.”
Equifax reported $834.8 million in revenue in its third quarter, which is up 4 percent from the same time last year; analysts had expected this, as the bulk of the company's money comes from selling services to other business, not consumers. Profits, however, were down 27 percent from the previous year at $96.3 million — in large part due to the breach.
Shares of Equifax, which have fallen more than 20 percent since the breach, took another hit after the report, down as much as 3 percent from its market close of $108.95. As of time of writing, shares were trading slightly down at $108.50.For the album by honeyhoney, see Billy Jack (album)
Billy Jack is a 1971 action/drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie The Born Losers (1967), played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the script. Filming began in Prescott, Arizona, in the fall of 1969; but, the movie was not completed until 1971. American International Pictures pulled out, halting filming. 20th Century-Fox came forward and filming eventually resumed but when that studio refused to distribute the film, Warner Bros. stepped forward.
Still, the film lacked distribution, so Laughlin booked it into theaters himself in 1971.[1] The film grossed $10 million in its initial run, but eventually added close to $50 million in its re-release,[2] with distribution supervised by Laughlin.
Plot [ edit ]
Billy Jack is a "half-breed" American Navajo Indian,[3] a Green Beret Vietnam War veteran, and a hapkido master.
Jack defends the hippie-themed Freedom School (inspired by Prescott College) and students from townspeople who do not understand or like the counterculture students. The school is organized by its director Jean Roberts (Delores Taylor).
A group of children of various races from the school go to town for ice cream and are refused service and then abused and humiliated by Bernard Posner (David Roya), the son of the county's corrupt political boss (Bert Freed), and his gang. This prompts a violent outburst by Billy. Later, Jean is raped by Bernard, who also murders an Indian student. Billy confronts Bernard, whom he catches in bed with a 13-year-old girl, and sustains a gunshot wound before killing him with a hand strike to the throat. After a climactic shootout with the police and pleading with Jean, Billy Jack surrenders to the authorities in exchange for a decade-long guarantee that the school will be allowed to continue to run with Jean as its head. As Billy is driven away in handcuffs, a large crowd of supporters raise their fists as a show of defiance and support.
Cast [ edit ]
Tom Laughlin as Billy Jack
Delores Taylor as Jean Roberts
Clark Howat as Sheriff Cole
Victor Izay as Doctor
Julie Webb as Barbara
Debbie Schock as Kit
Teresa Kelly as Carol
Lynn Baker as Sarah
Stan Rice as Martin
David Roya as Bernard Posner
John McClure as Dinosaur
Susan Foster as Cindy
Susan Sosa as Sunshine
Bert Freed as Mr. Stuart Posner
Kenneth Tobey as Deputy Mike
Howard Hesseman as Howard (credited as Don Sturdy)
Cisse Cameron as Miss False Eyelashes (credited as Cissie Colpitts)
Box-office and critical reception [ edit ]
Billy Jack holds a "Fresh" rating of 60% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 15 reviews, with an average grade of 5.4 out of 10.[4]
In his Movie and Video Guide, film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film 1.5 stars out of 4, writing: "Seen today, its politics are highly questionable, and its'message' of peace looks ridiculous, considering the amount of violence in the film."[5] Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4 and also saw the message of the film as self-contradictory, writing: "I'm also somewhat disturbed by the central theme of the movie. 'Billy Jack' seems to be saying the same thing as 'Born Losers,' that a gun is better than a constitution in the enforcement of justice."[6] Howard Thompson of The New York Times agreed, calling the film "well-aimed but misguided" as he wrote, "For a picture that preaches pacifism, 'Billy Jack' seems fascinated by its violence, of which it is full." His review added that "some of the non-professional delivery of lines in the script by Mr. Frank and Teresa Christina is incredibly awful."[7] Variety opined that "the action frequently drags" and at nearly two hours' running length, "The message is rammed down the spectators' throats and is sorely in need of considerable editing to tell a straightforward story."[8] Gene Siskel gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, calling it "a film that tries to say too many things in too many ways within an adequate story line, but it has such freshness, original humor and compassion that one is frequently moved to genuine emotion."[9] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times also liked the film, praising its "searing tension that sustains it through careening unevenness to a smash finish. Crude and sensational yet urgent and pertinent, this provocative Warners release is in its unique, awkward way one of the year's important pictures."[10] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post panned the film as "horrendously self-righteous and devious," explaining, "Every social issue is dramatized in terms of absolute, apolitical good and evil. The good guys... are next to angelic, while the bad guys are, according to the needs of the moment, utter buffoons or utter devils. Anyone with the slightest trace of skepticism or sophistication would tend to reject the movie out of hand and with good reason, since this kind of simplification is dramatically and socially deceitful."[11] David Wilson of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "If in the end Billy Jack is as much a sell-out as any glossier version of commercialised iconoclasm (Billy Jack is persuaded to accept guarantees which a hundred years of Indian history have repudiated), there is enough innocent sincerity in the film to demonstrate that Tom Laughlin at least has the courage of his convictions, even if those convictions are scarcely thought out."[12]
Delores Taylor received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcoming Actress. Tom Laughlin won the grand prize for the film at the 1971 Taormina International Film Festival in Italy.
Accolades [ edit ]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
Soundtrack [ edit ]
The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Mundell Lowe and the soundtrack album was originally released on the Warner Bros. label.[14]
Reception [ edit ]
The Allmusic review states "a strange and striking combination of styles that somehow is effective... a listenable disc whose flaws only add to the warmth".[15] The film's theme song, a re-recording of "One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)" by Jinx Dawson with session musicians providing the backing, and credited to the band Coven, became a Top 40 hit in 1971.
Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic [15]
Track listing [ edit ]
All compositions by Mundell Lowe, except as indicated.
"One Tin Soldier" (Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter) – 3:18 "Hello Billy Jack" – 0:45 "Old and the New" – 1:00 "Johnnie" (Teresa Kelly) – 2:35 "Look, Look to the Mountain" (Kelly) – 1:40 "When Will Billy Love Me" (Lynn Baker) – 3:24 "Freedom Over Me" (Gwen Smith) – 0:35 "All Forked Tongue Talk Alike" – 2:54 "Challenge" – 2:20 "Rainbow Made of Children" (Baker) – 3:50 "Most Beautiful Day" – 0:30 "An Indian Dance" – 1:15 "Ceremonial Dance" – 1:59 "Flick of the Wrist" – 2:15 "It's All She Left Me" – 1:56 "You Shouldn't Do That" – 3:21 "Ring Song" (Katy Moffatt) – 4:25 "Thy Loving Hand" – 1:35 "Say Goodbye 'Cause You're Leavin'" – 2:36 "The Theme from Billy Jack" – 2:21 "One Tin Soldier (End Title)" (Lambert, Potter) – 1:06
Personnel [ edit ]
Mundell Lowe: arranger, conductor
Coven featuring Jinx Dawson (tracks 1 & 21), Teresa Kelly (tracks 4 & 5), Lynn Baker (tracks 6 & 10), Gwen Smith (track 7), Katy Moffatt (track 17): vocals
Other unidentified musicians
Influence [ edit ]
Marketed as an action film, the story focuses on the plight of Native Americans during the civil rights era. It attained a cult following among younger audiences due to its youth-oriented, anti-authority message and the then-novel martial arts fight scenes which predate the Bruce Lee/kung fu movie trend that followed.[16] The centerpiece of the film features Billy Jack, enraged over the mistreatment of his Indian friends, fighting racist thugs using hapkido techniques.The four former Council of Economic Advisers members write that they're worried that Bernie Sanders is citing flimsy arguments from Friedman. | AP Photo Former White House economists blast Sanders' proposals
Former top economic advisers to Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are taking aim at the underpinnings of Bernie Sanders' plan on income inequality and employment, particularly expressing dismay at the assumptions of professor Gerald Friedman, who has advised Sanders' campaign on economic issues.
In an open letter to Sanders and Friedman, a University of Massachusetts at Amherst economics professor educated at Harvard and Columbia, the four former members of the Council of Economic Advisers write that they're worried that Sanders is citing flimsy arguments from Friedman.
"We are concerned to see the Sanders campaign citing extreme claims by Gerald Friedman about the effect of Senator Sanders’s economic plan — claims that cannot be supported by the economic evidence," the economists wrote in the letter posted Wednesday. "Friedman asserts that your plan will have huge beneficial impacts on growth rates, income and employment that exceed even the most grandiose predictions by Republicans about the impact of their tax cut proposals."
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The four economists who signed the letter are Alan Krueger, Austan Goolsbee, Christina Romer and Laura D’Andrea Tyson.
The Sanders campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Friedman good-naturedly brushed off the letter in an interview with POLITICO on Wednesday.
"Alan Krueger, I thought we were friends," Friedman said. "Even Christina Romer. Austan Goolsbee has never been a friend."
He added that they probably didn’t actually go through his 53-page report from January in which he gauged the economic impact of Sanders’ proposal. "I don't think they read the report. If they did, I don't think they would have said no credible economic research."
Friedman also stressed that, contrary to the letter, he doesn't work for the Sanders campaign and hasn't been involved in his operations. And he said he supports Hillary Clinton.
"My only connection to the campaign were they asked me for help on how to finance a single-payer plan," Friedman said, referring to Sanders’ universal health care plan. "My involvement with the Sanders campaign was on the health care, and also, I had gone to them because I wanted to do this study on the impact of their economic program."
Goolsbee was also quoted in a New York Times article, citing a number of economists who are skeptical of some of Sanders' economic arguments with some estimating that his proposals could expand the size of the federal government by more than 50 percent while doubting his assumptions of economic growth.
"As much as we wish it were so, no credible economic research supports economic impacts of these magnitudes," the economists added in their letter. "Making such promises runs against our party’s best traditions of evidence-based policy making and undermines our reputation as the party of responsible arithmetic. These claims undermine the credibility of the progressive economic agenda and make it that much more difficult to challenge the unrealistic claims made by Republican candidates."We don’t need to give you reasons to love the late, great Macho Man Randy Savage. The pro wrestling legend and long-overdue WWE Hall of Famer still commands the hearts of old and new wrestling fans alike. His brother Lanny — also known as WWF wrestler The Genius and my personal favorite Poffo — recently took to Facebook to remind us that even though he’s gone, those new reasons still exist:
Related Links:
Randy rescued a one-armed kitty about six months before he died. His wife still owns the cat who was named JYC, in honor of his fallen friend, JYD (Junkyard Dog)
Is anyone else incredibly sad that we don’t get a modern-day Macho Man series of animal rescue PSAs? Senior and special-needs pets always need extra help to convince people to take them home. And, you know, as a tiresome scumbag vegan, clearly I’m way more into the idea of Macho Man aggressively telling everyone ADOPT DON’T SHOP instead of snapping into a Slim Jim. Even though we don’t get that, a quick search reveals that there are numerous cats named Macho Man across the U.S. available for adoption, so hey, maybe think about rescuing a new little dude of your own.The New Orleans Saints signed Adrian Peterson, and I, like many other fans, did not know how to feel about it. On the one hand, AP is the most dominant running back of his generation, and when healthy he can dominate a game by himself. While on the other hand, he is 32 years old and is coming off a season where he tore his meniscus and was limited to only three games. Peterson has the potential to be a game changer, so let’s delve into what to expect in the 2017 season.
First of all, lower your expectations. Adrian Peterson might be a future Hall of Famer, but that is not the player who is joining the Saints. Last season Peterson looked like a shell of himself even before his injury. He was averaging a measly 1.61 yards per carry before tearing his meniscus, which would rank dead last among qualified players. Peterson is battling Father Time, who is notorious for abruptly ending running back’s careers. Last season there were only two running backs in the top 20 in yards who were over the age of 30, Frank Gore (12th) and Matt Forte (20th). The average age for the top five running backs last season was 24 years old. This emphasizes the dominance of youthful running backs, and how it can be difficult to be an effective runner when over the age of 30.
To add injury to insult, Peterson is coming off a 2016 season where he tore his meniscus. NFL running backs have to be able to change speed and direction quickly, and a major injury can prevent this type of movement. Furthermore, the Saints needed a dynamic offensive talent, but decided to make the risky signing of Peterson. This forced them to draft Alvin Kamara from Tennessee with their third round pick. The Peterson signing did not fill the void at running back that many fans thought it might, and that is why the Saints decided to spend a valuable third round pick on a player who has the potential to be an impactful pass catcher at the running back spot.
Now that all the cons are out of the way, let’s look at what positives this signing might bring the Saints. First of all, Adrian Peterson is not any normal player. He is a historically talented running back who has proven he can single-handedly win his team games. The meniscus tear is worrisome, however if any player were to bounce back from this injury it would be AP. In December of 2011, Peterson tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season. Many were worried that Peterson would never return to his dominant form, but in less than a year Peterson was back on the field to start the 2012 season. In that season, he rushed for 2097 yards, the second most in a season in NFL history. Peterson also elected to have a full repair of his meniscus rather than a trim, even though the trim would have allowed him to come back much sooner. The full repair lessens the risk of reinjury, which is a positive for Saints fans. Peterson took all the precautions necessary to extend his career, which is invaluable as a 32 year old running back.
In conclusion, even if only four running backs over the age of 31 have rushed for over 1,000 yards in a season that does not mean that this signing was a bad one. The Saints do not need Peterson to be a workhorse who runs for 1,000 yards. He does not have to turn back the clock, but rather perform as a high level back-up behind Mark Ingram, and I believe that Peterson will be able to do that. Adrian Peterson is a smart, skilled runner who has told reporters he wants to play until he is 40. As a Saints fan, I can find solace in the fact that we now have a player with three rushing titles, an MVP, a chip on his shoulder and a lot to prove.
If you would like to receive an email each time a new New Orleans Saints article is published, fill out our email notification form."Inappropriate Criteria Were Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review."
That's the title of the Inspector General's report on the IRS's treatment of tea-party related groups. It's not a very good title. A better one might be "How a group of I.R.S. employees created a politically biased test for 501(c)(4) applicants, got smacked down, quietly created another politically biased test, and then got smacked down even harder -- but in the process, created a lot of delays and trouble for the groups caught in their net."
Okay, so that's not such a good title, either.
The key story of the report seems to be this: In the summer of 2010, in response to a huge surge in 501(c)(4) applications and media stories that some of these groups were illegally acting like political organizations, a group of IRS officials developed inappropriate criteria for identifying overly politicized 501(c)(4)s applicants. Those criteria included looking for the words "tea party" or related terms. In July 2011, the director of the IRS told them to knock it off and use more politically neutral criteria that focused on the activities of the group rather than the name or ideology of the group.
Here's where things get interesting: In January 2012, that same group of IRS officials goes rogue and changes the test back without getting management approval. According to the IG report, "they believed the July 2011 criteria were too broad." They're found out three months later and, in May 2012, a new IRS director again demands the test is revised to "more clearly focus on activities permitted under the Treasury Regulations." That's the test the IRS is using now, and the IG seems comfortable with it.
Management, however, isn't happy with what's been going on. They issue "a memorandum requiring all original entries and changes to criteria...be approved at the executive level prior to implementation."
So that's the core of the story. But it's not the whole story. Much of the report is about confusion, incompetence, and unacceptable delays in the IRS unit that manages questionable 501(c)(4) applications. There's no allegation here of politicization. But it's nevertheless unacceptable:
Many organizations waited much longer than 13 months for a decision, while others have yet to receive a decision from the IRS. For example, as of December 17, 2012, the IRS had been processing several potential political cases for more than 1,000 calendar days. Some of these organizations received requests for additional information in Calendar Year 2010 and then did not hear from the IRS again for more than a year while the Determinations Unit waited for assistance from the Technical Unit. For the 296 potential political cases we reviewed, 33 as of December 17, 2012, 108 applications had been approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicant, none had been denied, and 160 cases were open from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some crossing two election cycles).
Those aren't reasonable delays. Then there's this charming tidbit: Some of the "letters requested that the information be provided in two or three weeks (as is customary in these letters) despite the fact that the IRS had done nothing with some of the applications for more than one year." Imagine you're the director of a hopeful 501(c)(4) that applied to the IRS a year ago, got no response, and then all of a sudden you receive a letter demanding tons of information within two or three weeks. It's absurd.
These delays impose a real cost, too. It's been noted that none of the groups caught in this net were rejected for 501(c)(4) status. That's true. But many of them are still waiting for a ruling, and others saw their activities held up for over two years.
Some of the information the IRA requested was also inappropriate, and could've revealed donor information that the 501(c)(4) designation is designed to keep secret. Again, quoting the IG report: "The Determinations Unit requested donor information from 27 organizations that it would be required to make public if the application was approved, even though this information could not be disclosed by the IRS when provided by organizations whose tax-exempt status had been approved."
The key question related to the political test remains: Why hasn't anyone been fired? It's not definitive whether there's any evidence that the IRS employees who created the tea-party-focused test and then recreated it after the director objected did so for political reasons. It certainly seems possible. And even if their actions were entirely non-political there was a lot of incompetence and a bit of insubordination. What were the consequences?
The key procedural questions related to uncertainty and delays in the 501(c)(4) designation process are laid out in the report. Of the IG's nine recommendations, the IRS has agreed to implement seven of them, and has proposed alternatives for the remaining two (the disagreements are over how to document the reasons that applications are chosen for review and how to train IRS specialists on the issue).
Unless significant further evidence comes out, however, this doesn't look like the rot went particularly deep. The most cynical interpretation of the facts of the case laid out by the IG are that a group of mid-level IRS employees created a politically motivated screening process for 501(c)(4) applications. They were stopped, twice, by IRS management, and procedures were put in place to ensure they couldn't do anything like it again. The employees failed, but the system seems to have worked, though not before a lot of groups received some pretty shabby treatment.CHICAGO -- Aaron Rowand never got a victory lap.
Traded less than a month after the 2005 World Series to the Philadelphia Phillies as part of a deal for Jim Thome, Rowand, one of the key figures of that Chicago White Sox title team, said he's been to U.S. Cellular Field only once sans uniform.
"During the [2006] ring ceremony," he said Friday. "That's the only time I've been to a game there, not playing."
Rowand last played in the big leagues in 2011 after winning another World Series with the San Francisco Giants in 2010. He will return to the Cell this summer when his White Sox title team is honored during a July 17-19 weekend series.
"He looks good, he could still probably go out and throw about 98," Aaron Rowand said of former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks. AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles
He was back in Chicago for SoxFest's celebration of the 2005 outfit, a group that is beloved on the South Side and probably underappreciated in the city. Nine members of the team were slated to attend the convention, and they were milling around the media social event before Friday’s kickoff, joking with each other and talking to reporters.
"Nobody looks like they changed," Rowand said. "Look at [former Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik] Pods. He should still be playing. Even Bobby Jenks. Other than a couple more tattoos, he looks the same. He looks good; he could still probably go out and throw about 98 [mph]."
He's not exaggerating. Podsednik looks as if he's still in playing shape. Jose Contreras looks exactly as he did 10 years ago, or about 45. Tadahito Iguchi came in from Japan, where he still plays. He hit.239 with 10 homers in 109 games for Chiba Lotte last season. Jenks had tattoos down his forearms and appeared very happy.
Several players joined White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and team vice president Kenny Williams on stage for a panel discussion later in the evening.
But the group was missing its colorful leader. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who still lives in Chicago, is currently out of the country, but he told the Chicago Sun-Times he will be in attendance for the team's reunion weekend.
Rowand said he wished Guillen and Paul Konerko were there, among others. Konerko was the last active White Sox from the 2005 team, retiring in 2014 after a yearlong farewell tour. Konerko is having his jersey number retired this summer, to go along with the statue the team presented last season.
"It's hard to believe he was the last one," Rowand said. "He did his duty. He's a wonderful teammate, a great guy and player, and to be able to see him go out the way he did, it made everybody who ever knew the guy happy."
What does he miss the most about Konerko?
"His candor," Rowand said.
Back in 2005, no one expected much from the Sox at this point in the winter, but they shot out of the gate and led throughout that season -- giving White Sox fans a season to remember -- before sweating out a late charge from the Cleveland Indians.
Once they got to the postseason, however, they lost only once, sweeping the Houston Astros in the World Series.
"I've played on some clubs with good people, good chemistry," said Podsednik, who hit a game-winning homer in Game 2 of the World Series. "But nothing like I remember here."
"Everybody cared about each other," Rowand said. "Everybody loved each other, and we had squabbles here and there, but it didn’t matter because we were brothers."Last time, I outlined the MSIL JIT backend from a high level, and described some of how its external interface functions.
While knowing how the MSIL JIT backend works from the outside is all well and good, most of the interesting parts are in the internals. This time, let’s dig in deeper and see how the MSIL code generation process in the JIT backend functions (and what a generated script assembly might look like).
Script assemblies
As I mentioned, the backend generates a new.NET assembly for each script passed to NWScriptGenerateCode. This API creates a new NWScriptProgram object, which represents an execution environment for the JIT’d script program.
When a NWScriptProgram object is created, it consumes an IR representation for a script program and begins to create the MSIL version of that script, contained within a single.NET assembly tied to that NWScriptProgram instance. Each script assembly contains a single module; that module then contains a series of classes used in the MSIL representation of the script. The NWScriptProgram object internally maintains references to the script assembly and exposes a API to allow the script to then be invoked by the user.
Main program class
Each generated NWScript program contains a main class, with a name of the form NWScript.JITCode.<script name>.ScriptProgram. This class, generated via Reflection, derives from a standard interface (NWScript.IGeneratedScriptProgram). This interface exports a set of standard APIs used to call a script:
// // Define the interface that a // JIT'd program implements. // public interface class IGeneratedScriptProgram { // // Execute the script and return the // entry point return value, if any. // Int32 ExecuteScript( __in UInt32 ObjectSelf, __in array< Object ^ > ^ ScriptParameters, __in Int32 DefaultReturnCode ); // // Execute a script situation (resume label). // void ExecuteScriptSituation( __in UInt32 ScriptSituationId, __in array< Object ^ > ^ Locals ); };
When it comes time to execute the script, the NWScriptProgram object calls the IGeneratedScriptProgram::ExecuteScript method on the script’s main class. A set of parameters may be passed to the script in boxed form; these parameters are the.NET type equivalents of the NWScript IR parameters to the script’s entry point symbol.
Variable types
Each NWScript IR type has an associated distinct (strong typed).NET type. The NWScript IR only deals with scalar (non-aggregate) types, so it is simple to map IR types to.NET types. The following mapping is defined for that purpose:
NWScript type mappings NWScript Type IR Type.NET Type int ACTIONTYPE_INT System.Int32 float ACTIONTYPE_FLOAT System.Single object ACTIONTYPE_OBJECT System.UInt32 string ACTIONTYPE_STRING System.String void ACTIONTYPE_VOID System.Void Engine structs (event, talent, etc) ACTIONTYPE_ENGINE_0 … ACTIONTYPE_ENGINE_9 NWScript.NWScriptEngineStructure0 … NWScript.NWScriptEngineStructure9
At the IR-level, user defined structures do not exist and are simply individual scalar variables, drawn from one of the above fundamental types. (The NWScript.NWScriptEngineStructure[0-9] types simply wrap a C++ reference counted pointer to a script-host-defined data structure. There’s a bit more to it, but for the most part, then can be thought of in that fashion.)
Subroutine structure
The JIT backend turns each IR-level subroutine into a class instance method on the main program type during code generation. IR parameters and return values translate directly to.NET parameters and return values, such that a.NET subroutine equivalent simply takes parameters and returns values as one would naturally expect.
If there was a script debug symbol table available during the IR generation phase, the.NET subroutines are even given recognizable names corresponding to their source level names (note that reading the NWScript symbol table is optional; a script can still be JIT’d even without symbol names). For example, consider the following NWScript source level function:
void PrintMessage(string s) {... }
The backend emits a function prototype for this NWScript function like so (were we to disassembly the resultant assembly with ILDasm):
.method private instance void NWScriptSubroutine_PrintMessage(string A_1) cil managed
[…]
There is one catch with this model of directly converting parameters and return types to.NET equivalents; if a script subroutine returns a structure in |
ison said he was inspired to launch his aggressive turnout operation after seeing states across the country adopt stricter voter laws, which critics say are designed to drive down turnout among minorities and those in the inner city.
“That to me is the icky side of the fence,” said Ellison, who worked on criminal justice reform before being elected to Congress.
Nationwide, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found that of the 11 states with the highest black voter turnout in 2008, seven have passed laws making it harder to vote.
In Congress, Ellison has worked the other way. He introduced a measure allowing same-day registration at polling places for all federal elections, an effort likely to boost turnout. His proposal also bans new voter ID laws.
“I would far and away rather be talking to people about their God-given right to cast a vote in support of whoever they want to represent them,” he said.Excerpt from this article: "I'm sure that many of you have heard by now of the dreaded Teuton tower rush. For those of you who haven't, you may be wondering why the Teuton tower rush in particular is so dreaded. What makes it more effective than that of other civs?" Read more...
Excerpt from this article: [No Excerpt] Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "This strategy makes the most of two overlooked bonuses the Saracen civilization receives; the reduction of the Market fee to 5%, and the +3 damage to buildings by Cavalry Archers." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "I'm sure we have all experienced that terrible moment when you're 13 minutes into the game and you have skirmishers and spearmen wandering around your base, hacking away at your villagers and destroying your economy. You struggle to fend off these early soldiers only to find the flush intensified by finding such things as towers, MAA, and military buildings popping up in and around your base. At this point, most people say you've lost the game. However, fending your opponent off, and even having a comeback is more than possible." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "This strat is used by pro players, so don't dismiss it just because you think you are "above" it.
The sling makes lower level players much more useful for the team than they would have been otherwise, as long as there is at least one good player on the team. The idea is quite easy:" Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "AK-47 Rush - Man-at-Arms Rush with the help of a tower, perhaps adding skirmishers later, when you estabilise the economy - perhaps, is the fastest rush strategy. The goal of the strategy is to hit the enemy as soon as you can, just as a fast flush, 1 or 2 minutes earlier then the enemy flush." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "This is the Japanese monk rush I’ve worked for some time on, I hope you find it interesting. Any comments and questions are welcomed but if you only want to say how dumb monk rushes are please post it in another thread." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "I am frozen, I have around 1650 rating on voobly right now and have played for about 2 years. Most of that time I have not played online at all, but only watched a few record games on the weekends. So, I would say that I know a lot about the game, but that my micro and macro are not top notch. Therefore, I think a lot of players who are around 1400-1700 will benefit from this guide even if I as a writer is quite lowish in skill. Worse player will ofc also benefit, but might be unable to copy the guide without very much practise (and thus making them 1400!)." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "This is a fast castle strategy I put together on request from TOAO_Ornlu.
It will get you to castle around 15.10min, with enough resources to make knights with one stable on villagers nonstop. You also almost have wood for another tc." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "This strategy is usable on any open or semi-open land map, but works best on arabia. On arabia if you follow this guide well, you can hit the enemy economy with 4-6 men-at-arms (m@a) at around 11.45 - 12.45, with the option of getting scale mail armor while maintaining almost continuous villager production. Japanese have two bonuses which help this strategy very much - Cheap lumber camps/mills/mining camps from the start and faster attack rate of infantry from feudal onwards." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "They key to success of this strategy is this M@A + skirm combo of Goths which can be deadly effective in an open feudal war." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "If the name doesn't say it all, you really need it. Separating the experts from the intermediates, the Galley Rush ("Grush") is the most popular strategy on water maps today. While Grushing has only been mastered by a small percentage of those competing in multiplayer, that may be about to change. Join us as Wide_Arc reveals the art of "Crappy Grushing" with the help of an example game between two extraordinary players: DaRq_GlowWorm and Myth_Ares." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "My purpose in posting this is both to get comments on my strategy from those who are more skilled than me and to teach those who are less skilled than me. Comments welcome but let's have no flaming in this thread.
One of the most popular RM game types on the Zone currently, especially in Zone room 'Mediaeval Siege', is Land Nomad. The differences between a Land Nomad map and the standard 'Nomad' map in AoK:TC are as follows:" Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "Well...since Quazitory wanted an article on drushing and since I was pretty much jobless, I decided to try to make one. Before reading this article, keep in mind that I am not very good and do not have too much experience drushing. This is as much showing my own strat and asking people to help with it as it is a tutorial on drushing for people worse than me. Quazitory - feel no need to add this if it's not good enough (likely at it's current stage). Now on to the article:" Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "The term, "Flush" stood for "Feudal Rush" when it was invented a long time ago (possibly about five to six years back), back in the days of AoK. Nowadays, the "Flush" isn't just a "Feudal Rush," it's the strategy that defines how the game is now played. Everywhere you go in Zone Rated RM, you'll see a Flush, be it a Hun Flush or not (the Huns are the most popular civ to Flush with)." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "This article consists of tips that are both useful and intriguing. Most of these may be known by good players, but it is still useful for newcomers to find tips to start off all in one place." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: ""Newbie" has various definitions. To some, it's a player who just installed the game, with the shrink wrap still lying on the floor. To others, it's someone who's tried to learn the game but keeps getting stuck. To a few, it's somebody making his debut in multi-player games. To a few more, it's somebody who is a net detriment to his team in multi-player rather than an advantage." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "This guide's purpose is to inform you why the Huns are the most used, and most dominant civilisation in Deathmatch games today. I will go into more detail than my first article on the different starts and strategies when using the Huns. Hopefully you may get a lot out of this article - your style of game play and perhaps learn more about the game as a whole." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "This article is a basic overview of what DM is, and why I, and thousands of others enjoy playing DeathMatch (DM) games.
Hopefully this will help your knowledge of the 2nd, of the 3 halves of AoK (random map, deathmatch and scenario designing/scripting). Note that this just the outline, and contains no specific guides on how to win using a certain strategy." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "Age of Empires 2 is a simple but complicated game. There are many secrets that a simple glance at the technology tree doesn’t actually tell you. This article will hopefully expose some things that the tech tree doesn’t tell you. Without further ado I present you with 5 things you may or may not know about AOE2!" Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "Today I want to talk about the market. I've always wondered how the rates change every time you ask your merchants for help to fund your war effort. And since I failed to find anything relevant, I decided to figure it out myself. Actually, in the beginning I intended to title it "How Market Really Works" (!), but I will only cover buying and selling resources here, not the trade carts." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "Knowing upgrade times of the technologies is a great tool to have. It could improve advancing, attacking, and initializing certain tasks greatly. In AoE knowing that it took 2 minutes to adavnce an age was the deciding factor for manyplayers to either not advance and build a defensive army verse a rush, or to go ahead andadvance, "I have the time." Below are all the times (in "GAME SECONDS")." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "As we all probably know, Age of Empires II - The Conquerors has four different types of resources that are required to build more units and structures, and research technologies - food, wood, gold and stone. Your civilians (Villagers and Fishing Ships) gather these resources in order to sustain your civilization. Let's give a close examination in each of these individually." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "Relics are very useful for gaining an extra gold, and in standard games, collecting all the relics starts a countdown to victory. But standard games are rare, and in conquest game, the most played ones, collecting many relics ensure you a good gold income. Relics are specially useful for the gold dependent civilizations such as the Turks." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "If your new market is completely finished, then when you delete your old markets, your carts will automatically go to the new market. However, your allies carts will go directly to his or her market and then stand idle, which may block your carts from getting through to trade. So communicate with your ally to keep the gold flowing." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "I have completed a test on elevation effects and can report the following:
The amount of elevation advantage has no effect on attack bonuses. An archer will inflict just as much damage shooting at a target just 1 elevation lower as against a target 5 elevations lower." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "Age of Kings is a game of military conquest, but beneath those charging armies is a powerful economic engine. Economic strategy is often more important than military strategy. To make the right choices you need to know the real cost of your assets in four economic sections: Pre-Castle (including both Dark and Feudal Ages), Castle, Imperial and Post-Imperial. This article will reveal the real cost of every resource, unit, building and technology in the Pre-Castle Age." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "With the release of two expert Castle Age strategies featuring Monks (the Sheriff’s SMUSH and Crexis and Methos_ST’s C&M Express), these preacher/healers have suddenly become all the rage. But how exactly do they work? What little is known of how the work comes from the kind posting of Ensemble Studios’ ES_Sandyman on AOKH. This post, combined with players’ anecdotal evidence, has come to form the generally accepted monk theory, and has provided the backbone to most strategic thinking of how monks work." Read more...
Excerpt from this article: "In AOE and ROR, n builders took T/n time to construct a building where T was the time required for a single builder. When you needed to make several buildings at once, it was often best to have all your builders on one building at a time. The advantage of this was that you could start using buildings before they are all complete while still finishing the last building in the same amount of time as if you had split your builders up." Read more...For the third straight year, Minneapolis has been judged to have the best city parks in the country. But this year, it’s sharing that distinction with a familiar rival: St. Paul.
At a news conference Wednesday, leaders of both cities will meet near their border off East River Parkway to announce they’ve tied for first place in the Trust for Public Land’s annual ranking of big city parks.
The fix wasn’t in, officials insisted. The rankings are strictly driven by wide-ranging data on park access, acreage and facilities.
In the end, the two cities that scored highest, each with 84 out of a possible 100 points — and perfect 5.0 scores — just happen to occupy the same metro area.
“It’s a remarkable harmonic convergence to have two cities next to each other, let alone cities known as Twin Cities, get twinned as the two best park systems in the United States,” said Adrian Benepe, former New York City parks commissioner who now serves as director of city park development for the trust, a New York-based nonprofit that encourages parkland conservation across the country.
The runners-up are cities widely known for their parks, including Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; New York and Portland, Ore.
There's a dog park right behind the new CHS Field in Lowertown St. Paul. Dog parks are an important part of the park rankings.
All parks in a city — whether municipal, regional, state or federal — are included for purposes of the rankings.
This was the first year St. Paul was eligible for the rankings, which were expanded this year from the 60 largest cities in the U.S. to include the 75 largest (St. Paul is 66th). Mayor Chris Coleman said it was about time.
“It’s great recognition,” he said. “Both cities have these incredible amenities here that are the envy of the country.”
“I’m not shocked that we performed well, but it’s tremendously gratifying to see how well we measured up,” said Mike Hahm, St. Paul’s Parks and Recreation director.
Jayne Miller, superintendent of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, said it was an honor to win top billing for the third straight year and to get a perfect score. She attributed the success in part to visionaries such as Horace Cleveland, the renowned landscape architect who carved out parkland in both cities more than a century ago.
“We don’t have the challenges that other cities have to map out a park system here,” she said. “What it says about the park systems in the Twin Cities is remarkable.”
Both St. Paul and Minneapolis scored high on the percentage of residents who live within a 10-minute walk (or half-mile) of a park, which Benepe said was the single most important metric. In St. Paul, it’s 96 percent, and it’s 95 percent for Minneapolis.
The median size of parks in Minneapolis, 6.8 acres, is bigger than that of St. Paul, 3.7 acres, although both outrank other cities in that category. Minneapolis spends $224 per resident on its parks, while St. Paul spends $210 per resident.
The rankings also compared the availability of four park amenities: basketball hoops, dog parks, playgrounds and recreation/senior centers.
“St. Paul is Basketball City,” Benepe said, with 4.1 hoops per 10,000 residents vs. Minneapolis’ 1.7 hoops. In dog parks, Minneapolis (1.7 per 100,000 residents) edges St. Paul (1.4).
St. Paul has more playgrounds per 10,000 residents (3.9) than Minneapolis (2.8), but Minneapolis offers 2.5 recreation/senior centers per 20,000 residents, while St. Paul has 1.8.
“What we’re looking at here is really across-the-board strength in the two cities,” Benepe said.
Officials from both cities said they can’t afford to rest on their laurels. Hahm said that St. Paul needs to continue to invest in the riverfront, downtown’s new Pedro Park, and three parks along the Green Line: Dickerman, Iris and Lexington Commons.
Miller identified three issues for Minneapolis: acquisition of more riverfront property north of St. Anthony Falls, more downtown parkland and more funding for park maintenance. Public meetings on closing that funding gap will begin soon, she said.
Benepe said that both cities should work together to capitalize on their recognition as the country’s best park cities. But is there any way to figure out which one is better?
“Maybe at the press conference, we’ll have the two park directors play HORSE,” he said.The city will fight to reverse a $65 million cut toward funding of the MTA in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed state budget.
Polly Trottenberg, the city’s Department of Transportation commissioner and an MTA board member, said on Tuesday that the de Blasio administration would look to restore the funding.
Speaking at an MTA Finance Committee meeting, she argued that a reversal was needed because of uncertainties over the federal government’s commitment to transit as well as the fact that the MTA just approved yet another fare and toll hike set to take effect next month.
“We will be working with our allies up in Albany to see if we can reverse these cuts, which we really have a great concern about,” Trottenberg said. “I also think it particularly worries me in light of the federal fiscal climate we find ourselves in, in which there are all kinds to potential threats to city [and] state budgets right now — and in a bunch of ways we don’t even know yet.”
As the city looks toward Albany, the governor’s office argues that the cut really isn’t a cut at all. Cuomo’s proposed executive budget for fiscal year 2018, unveiled last month, included a $65 million cut from the state’s general fund toward the MTA — from $309 million in 2017 to $244 million in 2018.
But the MTA’s revenues from dedicated taxes increased by more than $65 million this year. So, all told, the agency will receive an increase of $30 million in funding for the next fiscal year.CLOSE Gabrielle Giffords, former U.S. Congresswoman who survived a gun shot wound to her head, lent her support to the DE coalition, calling for better gun control. Giffords husband former astronaut, Mark Kelly spoke alongside his wife.
Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords appears at Wilmington event
Valerie Longhurst (Photo: Provided) Story Highlights The Delaware Commission for Common Sense launched Monday, urging gun control reforms.
Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords appeared at a Wilmington event announcing the organization.
The commission brings together more than a dozen advocacy organizations.
A new coalition of Delaware community leaders and former elected officials says it will push for several new gun control laws in the General Assembly this year.
The Delaware Coalition for Common Sense announced its platform Monday with a visit by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. Giffords was shot in the head in a 2011 rampage in Tuscon, Arizona, that left six people dead and 13 wounded. Since then, she and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, have campaigned nationally for gun control legislation.
Giffords resigned her House seat to focus on the long, difficult recovery from the brain damage the bullet caused. On Monday, she walked with a noticeable limp and did not move her right arm.
"Now is the time to come together and be responsible, Democrats, Republicans, everybody," Giffords said in a brief speech at Central Baptist Church at Ninth and Pine streets in Wilmington, an area that has suffered badly in Wilmington's ongoing struggles with gun violence.
Monday's event was the first public event for the coalition, which brings together more than a dozen advocacy organizations that have found their work touched by gun violence, including the Coalition Against Gun Violence, Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware. The group is based off the model of the organization Giffords and Kelly founded, Americans for Responsible Solutions.
Coalition members say their priority is passing laws aimed at preventing guns from getting into the hands of those who could prove dangerous.
Liane Sorenson, a former state senator and coalition member, said the group supports two bills she expects to see filed before the General Assembly finishes its session at the end of June.
One would close a "loophole" that allows gun sellers to move forward with a purchase if the government does not process a background check within three business days.
House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, already called for such legislation in a letter sent to Delaware's Congressional delegation last month.
Some lawmakers have already said they will oppose such a change, arguing citizens' Second Amendment rights shouldn't be denied because the government isn't able to efficiently process background checks.
But Kelly said the current law allows dangerous people to get their hands on guns, pointing out that the suspect in the Charleston, South Carolina, shooting last year got a gun because of a delayed background check. Dylann Roof faces federal and state charges in the shooting, which killed nine people during a Bible study in June.
"The counter-argument is in the consequences," Kelly said. "Does the right to getting a gun a day or two days later trump an individual's right to not be murdered?"
Federal officials performed more than 10,000 background checks in January and February combined for gun purchases in Delaware, according to U.S. Department of Justice statistics.
Gun purchases in the state have surged in recent years, something advocates attribute to growing concerns over personal safety raised by crime and recent terrorist attacks.
Sorenson said another bill will be filed that would provide a mechanism for family members to seek police help in confiscating the guns of someone they believe is having a mental health crisis or other situation that could lead to violence.
That would build upon a law passed last year – which Giffords and Kelly lobbied for in Dover – that tightened gun restrictions on those who are served with protection from abuse orders for domestic violence.
"This state's leaders did the responsible thing," Kelly said. "But there is a lot more work we need to do."
The group also supports a bill that would better tie the state's police agencies into national ballistics databases, which supporters hope will help investigators better track down those who use guns in crimes.
“Like too many people in our country, his life was cut short by a gun. As a state and as a country, I know we can do better than this.” Robin Brinkley-White, Brandon Lee Brinkley Foundation
In addition to the coalition launch event Monday, Giffords and Kelly visited Christiana Hospital and met with Attorney General Matt Denn. They also attended an evening event hosted by the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence.
Robin Brinkley-White's son, Brandon, was killed with a gun at age 25. She started a nonprofit, the Brandon Lee Brinkley Foundation, aimed at fighting gun violence in Wilmington.
"Like too many people in our country, his life was cut short by a gun," Brinkley-White said in a tearful speech. "As a state and as a country, I know we can do better than this."
As Brinkley-White finished talking, Giffords and Kelly both stood up to embrace her.
Buy Photo Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords hugs Robin Brinkley-White, whose son was shot and killed, during an event in Wilmington on Monday. Giffords, who was wounded during a shooting in Arizona, was in Delaware to help launch a new effort to combat gun violence. (Photo: JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL)
News Journal reporter Karl Baker contributed to this story.
Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the sponsor of an event Giffords and Kelly attended Monday night; the sponsor was the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence.
Delaware Coalition for Common Sense advisory panel
Gabrielle Giffords, former U.S. representative, co-founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions
Mark Kelly, former astronaut, co-founder of Americans for Responsible Solutions
Beverly Baxter, president, International Women's Forum
Robin Brinkley-White, founder, Brandon Lee Brinkley Foundation
Dennis Greenhouse, former New Castle County executive, chair of the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence
George Higgins, Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence, executive director
Gregory Jaskolker, Marine Corps veteran, retired Philadelphia police officer
Frederika Jenner, Delaware State Education Association teachers union president
Terrence Keeling, pastor, Central Baptist Church
Mariann Kenville-Moore, Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence, director of advocacy and policy
Janet Kilpatrick, New Castle County Council member
George Krupanski, Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware, president and director
Nolan Lewis, National Association of Black Veterans, Delaware Chapter #0094, director
Jeffrey Lott, Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence, communications director
Maria Matos, Latin American Community Center, executive director
Jack Polidori, Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence vice chair
Darryl Scott, former state representative
Will Smith, Organizational & Strategic Leadership instructor
Liane Sorenson, former state senator
Sandy Spence, League of Women Voters of Delaware, advocacy chair
Stephanie Staats, YWCA of Delaware, chief executive officer
Doris Thomas, Military Wives for Peace, principal organizer
Read or Share this story: http://delonline.us/1MNGQnbPolice said they still don't have a motive for the massacre
Aldridge's computer was found torched in a burn barrel outside his home and his hard drive was unrecoverable
They also found a.22-caliber rifle and pistol, several knives and extra magazines and ammunition in the car where Aldridge's body was found
Joseph Aldridge, 36, shot dead seven of his relatives and neighbors in Tyrone, Missouri before killing himself on February 26
A blood-stained.45 caliber handgun, a barrel with a torched computer inside, a red pickup truck with a shattered window on the driver's side.
These are just some of the items police discovered last February after a convicted felon went on a rampage in his small Missouri town, killing four of his relatives and three of his neighbors.
Months before the massacres in Charleston, South Carolina and Roseburg, Oregon captivated the nation's attention, it was the tiny town of Tyrone that Joseph Aldridge turned into a headline.
One neighbor told Daily Mail Online shortly after the shocking murders that Aldridge, 36, had probably killed '10 per cent of the population' in a town estimated to have 50 residents.
It was in Aldridge's red pickup truck that they discovered the pistol he used to shoot his victims.
Also inside were a.22-caliber rifle and pistol, several knives, and extra magazines and ammunition, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Police still aren't sure how Aldridge, who served 21 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to possessing drugs and a firearm in 2008, was able to obtain one of his guns.
The pistol had been purchased by Aldridge's mother a year earlier. But the.45-caliber gun had it's serial number scratched off, and police believe Aldridge purchased the rifle from a private seller.
But what police do know is that Aldridge went to the homes of his victims, all within a three-mile radius of each other, on February 26 and began to pick them off, one by one.
Aldridge used this.45-caliber pistol to shoot dead his victims before committing suicide. Police still do not know how Aldridge, a convicted felon who served 21 months for possession charges, obtained it
Aldridge's body was discovered that night by police in his red pickup truck
Pictured is photo of weapons, including knives, that were found in Aldridge's truck
Police still have not figured out a concrete motive for Aldridge's massacre
The first 911 call was made at 10.08pm by 15-year-old Mica Aldridge, who ran to her neighbor's house barefoot in the snow after she heard the gunfire.
Aldridge had just shot her father Garold 'Dee' Aldridge, 52, and his 47-year-old wife Julie Ann. Garold was his first cousin.
He would also shoot his cousin Harold Wayne 'Weasel' Aldridge, 50, and his 48-year-old wife Janell.
At some point during the rampage Aldridge also shot his neighbors Carey Shriver, 46, and his wife Valirea, 44, murdering them both in their bedroom.
Their 13-year-old son John was sleeping in another room and unharmed.
Police believe Aldridge went to Carey Shriver's parents home last, convincing them to let him in their home by revealing his mother had just died.
Pictured is Joe Aldridge's bedroom, where police noticed a clear space where his computer used to be
Police also found instruction manuals for making munitions and psychedelic drugs
Police found Aldridge's computer torched in a burn barrel outside his house, the hard drive unrecoverable
Martha Shriver, 67, said her husband Darrell, 68, asked Aldridge what they could do help.
She said Aldridge started shooting after telling them, 'You deserve this'.
Darrell Shriver was killed. Martha, who was shot multiple times and remains in a wheelchair today, dragged herself through two rooms to reach a phone and call 911 at 10.36pm.
Police found Aldridge later that night, 25 miles away from the town on a gravel road connected to an old friend from high school who hadn't spoken to him in a year.
Aldridge was inside the red pickup truck, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
Eight months after that horrific night, police have yet to uncover Aldridge's motives - though there have been plenty of theories.
A resident of the nearby town Summersville told Daily Mail Online that Aldridge and Shriver families had been feuding for years.
Bullet holes can be seen below the windows of the home of Harold Wayne 'Weasel' Aldridge, 50, and his 48-year-old wife Janell. Harold was Aldridge's first cousin
Aldridge also murdered his cousin Dee and his wife Julie Ann, both pictured here with their children
At some point during the rampage Aldridge also shot his neighbors Carey Shriver, 46, and his wife Valirea, 44, murdering them both in their bedroom. Their 13-year-old son John unharmed
The Shrivers owned 1,200 acres in Texas County, with business including construction, cattle and a cabinet making shop that employed many people in the town - including, at one point, Aldridge.
Martha Shriver told police she had never had any problems with the man who was once her science student.
John Shriver speculated that Aldridge may have been set-off after he asked his cousin Darrell for a job and was turned down, he told The Associated Press.
It was John who found the dead bodies of Carey and Valirea Shriver.
Others have said there was tension between the Aldridge cousins.
Aldridge's brother Lyndell, 53, had recently been in a physical fight with Dee and Weasel Aldridge, according to police.
Aldridge's brother Lyndell, 53, had recently been in a physical fight with Dee and Weasel Aldridge (pictured here with his wife Janell), according to police
Martha and Darrell Shriver were also attacked after Aldridge convinced them to let him inside, telling the couple (pictured here with their grandchildren) that his mother had passed away
And some have pointed to the death of Aldridge's mother Alice, who passed away from cancer only 30 to 36 hours before her son's deadly rampage. Her body was found by police.
Aldridge lived with his mother and Lyndell said he had become increasingly quiet in the weeks before her death, even shutting himself in his room when his brother came by the house to visit.
Police may never know. Aldridge's computer was found torched in a burn barrel in the house's backyard. The hard drive could not be restored.
Meanwhile, Tyrone continues to reel from the massacre.
The Shrivers' successful cabinet shop has closed its doors, as has a number of the family's other businesses.
The victims' houses remain unoccupied and their surviving children have moved away from the town, as has Martha Shriver.
'I don't think you really ever get over it,' she said. 'It just takes your whole life away.'Santorum backs nullifying existing gay marriages GAY RIGHTS
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum greets supporters at Chillicothe High School in Chillicothe, Ohio, Friday, March 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon) Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum greets supporters at Chillicothe High School in Chillicothe, Ohio, Friday, March 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon) Photo: Paul Vernon, Associated Press Photo: Paul Vernon, Associated Press Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Santorum backs nullifying existing gay marriages 1 / 9 Back to Gallery
There are 18,000 married gay and lesbian couples in California and at least 131,000 nationwide according to the 2010 census, conducted before New York state legalized same-sex marriage in July.
Rick Santorum says he'll try to unmarry all of them if he's elected president.
Once the U.S. Constitution is amended to prohibit same-gender marriages, "their marriage would be invalid," the former Pennsylvania senator said Dec. 30 in an NBC News interview.
"We can't have 50 different marriage laws in this country," he said. "You have to have one marriage law."
The comments didn't attract nearly as much attention as Santorum's recent invocation of his Catholic faith to denounce government support for birth control, prenatal testing and resource conservation - which, in the last case, he attributed to President Obama's "phony theology."
But his declared intention to nullify past as well as future same-sex marriages has reinforced his position to the right of the other Republican contenders, even though each of them has also voiced fervent support for traditional unions.
Mitt Romney, who was governor of Massachusetts when the state's high court became the first in the nation to declare a right to same-sex marriage in 2003, backs a constitutional amendment to outlaw such marriages in the future, but says he'd leave currently wedded couples alone. Newt Gingrich also wants an amendment but hasn't said whether it would be retroactive.
Ron Paul opposes same-sex marriage but wants the federal government to stay out of it - no federal benefits for gay and lesbian couples, no federal court authority to overturn state laws like California's Proposition 8 and no constitutional amendments overriding a state's prerogative to decide which of its residents can marry.
'Bigoted, shameful'
Santorum's proposal for constitutionally mandated divorces would affect couples like Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis of San Francisco, longtime partners who wed in June 2008, five months before Prop. 8 banned same-sex marriage. The couple later helped to found an organization called Marriage Equality USA.
"It's with profound sadness that I contemplate somebody running for the highest office in the land on a platform of taking away anyone's marriage," Gaffney said Friday.
Fred Karger, a longtime Republican political consultant and gay-rights activist who is also running for president and will be on the Republican primary ballot in California, said Santorum's comments on marriage were "the most destructive of any Republican candidate by far, bigoted, shameful."
Santorum's stance was endorsed by the Family Research Council, which was involved in an unsuccessful attempt to win passage of a constitutional amendment during George W. Bush's presidency.
"Same-sex marriage is an oxymoron" because marriage can only be a male-female relationship, said the council's Peter Sprigg. If the Constitution is amended to include that definition, he said, states that had recognized same-sex marriages would have to convert those relationships to civil unions.
Future conduct
Santorum's position is noteworthy because laws revoking individual rights are usually drafted, or interpreted by the courts, to apply only to future conduct.
The issue arose in California when the state Supreme Court upheld Prop. 8, which amended the state Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. The measure declared that only marriage between a man and a woman would be ''valid or recognized" in California. Its sponsors argued that the language barred the state from "recognizing" 18,000 marriages of same-sex couples who had wed in the months before Prop. 8 passed in November 2008.
But the court said Prop. 8 did not clearly inform voters that it would invalidate existing marriages. Therefore, the justices said, the 18,000 couples were entitled to rely on the rights they had gained in the court's May 2008 ruling, which briefly legalized same-sex marriage in the state.
Spelling it out
That doesn't rule out the possibility of a U.S. constitutional amendment like the one Santorum favors, which would nullify existing same-sex marriages.
"You'd have to word it so it was perfectly clear," said Jesse Choper, a UC Berkeley law professor who submitted arguments to the state's high court against the retroactive application of Prop. 8. The amendment would have to declare that "marriages that were once valid are no longer valid," he said.
Santorum, who once practiced law, hasn't said how he would draft a constitutional amendment - or how he could get one passed even while opinion polls suggest increasing public acceptance of same-sex marriage.
"Just because public opinion says something doesn't mean it's right," he said in the NBC interview. "I'm sure there were times in areas of this country when people said blacks were less than human."
A constitutional amendment requires approval by two-thirds of each house of Congress and three-fourths of the states. Even when Republicans controlled both houses in 2004, the Bush-endorsed marriage amendment failed to pass either chamber, with a handful of states'-rights Republicans joining Democratic opponents.
But Sprigg, of the Family Research Council, |
.
But I’m not complaining. Tommy Robinson, a little guy, has giant courage and he’s held up a powerful middle finger to the BBC here.
It’s possible that he might even have shamed them into scrapping their ‘Panorama’ about him.
I was impressed by this passionate speech before the film by Richard someone at 20min 30sec in on this clip.
It’s rumoured that uploaded videos are being taken down. If true, could be that the BBC has enough power and influence to get YouTube to do so. Of course, YouTube could decide itself to delete them.
Well, whatever the case, Panodrama is now all over the Internet, a blow has been struck against the vile establishment and, boy, does it do my heart good to see it!
Update 25/02:
Found another Panodrama video of the event with much better audio. It was too far from the screen to clearly see the actors in this drama, but since necessity is the mother of invention it can be downloaded and then played together with the first link on this post with that poor audio muted.
(Well, I’m going to try that now.)
Hopefully the masters of the Internet at silicon valley will allow Tommy’s video with subtitles to be posted across all relevant media.
Update 26/02:
Here’s the good-quality Panodrama from Tommy Robinson’s YouTube channel with added subtitles.Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl ticket pledges sold separately at, gulp, Ohio State (1)):
It only gets weirder from here
So this is the great cosmic joke the game has played upon the populace as we careen into the second half of the 2011 season:
Ron Zook is one of the most improbable success stories of the season. AP Photo/Seth Perlman
Ron Zook (2) is a factor. A major factor.
Who else feels like we're starring in an episode of "Punk'd"? This is a guy with a 34-45 record as coach at Illinois a guy who would have been fired at least twice by now in Champaign by most fully functioning athletic directors a guy who was fired at Florida, where he's remembered as the 37-game mistake between Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer a guy who is 0-4 against border rival Missouri, 0-2 against Fresno State and needed a fourth-quarter field goal last month to avoid going 0-2 against Western Michigan
That guy now has Illinois 6-0 for the first time in 60 years and in charge of its own destiny in the Big Ten.
How's that for some noise in the system?
It will only get noisier if the Illini keep winning. They host tailspinning Ohio State on Saturday, then travel to Purdue and Penn State. (The matchup in State College might pit the two best coordinators in the Big Ten against each other: Illinois' OC Paul Petrino against Penn State's DC Tom Bradley.)
If the Illini are still undefeated after that, get ready for potentially huge home games against Michigan on Nov. 12 and Wisconsin on Nov. 19. Or even if the Illini are not undefeated, they can potentially play spoiler to teams that are. If a bewildered national media herd migrates to Champaign for those games, it would be the Zooker whoopee-cushion capper.
The Zooker has a little Mad Hatter in him -- not in terms of winning percentage, of course. Les Miles is far superior to Zook in that respect. No, it's more in terms of puzzling syntax and his apparent immersion in some invisible fog during games.
He pulled this sideline masterpiece Saturday against Indiana: Having scored to take a 20-13 lead in the second quarter, The Zooker called for a two-point conversion.
In heaven, Bill Walsh threw down his headset.
"We were down five, right?" The Zooker said postgame. "Up five, I mean. It was 20-13? Up seven?
"Maybe I didn't know what the score was. That's happened to me before. It's usually when we're behind. I have to go back and look at it. That will give you something to pound us about."
Yes. Yes it will.
But as counterintuitive as The Zooker's success is, he's not the only eccentric coach crashing the party as this season builds to a critical mass. The others:
Dabo Swinney has been embraced by the Clemson faithful after a perfect start to the season. AP Photo/ Richard Shiro
Dabo Swinney (3), Clemson. Like Zook, he began this season on the hot seat. Like Zook, he's transformed from fan piñata to campus hero in the span of six victories. Like Zook, you sometimes wonder whether all the synapses are firing the way they're supposed to. ("Death Valley, baby! Death Valley!") But at age 41, maybe that should be expected from the youngest head coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The youthful exuberance seems to be working for him. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale from 1-10 (wherein Zook is a 10): 6. Next test: Clemson hosts 5-1 North Carolina on Oct. 22.
Mike Gundy (4), Oklahoma State. Another guy who's been known to go berserk behind a microphone. ("I'm a man! I'm 40!") Gundy also was sued by a contractor who alleged that the coach fired him on the spot for wearing an Oklahoma baseball T-shirt to do work on the Gundy house. According to the suit, Gundy was angry and profane in ordering the worker off his property. Gundy issued a statement denying the allegations. Regardless, Coach Hothead has the No. 1 scoring offense in America and an undefeated team. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: 7. Next test: at Texas on Saturday.
May all three members of the quirky cabal finish the year unbeaten. Just so we can see what they do next.
Of course, there are 10 other undefeated coaches out there in gridworld. For handy organizational purposes, The Dash has broken them down by category:
The kingpins
The guys who are at the top of the game:
Nick Saban's teams are perennial powers in a conference full of them. Ned Dishman/Getty Images
Nick Saban (5), Alabama. He's hoisted the crystal football twice, once with the Crimson Tide and once at LSU. He takes his football as seriously as open-heart surgery, wastes no time, suffers no fools, loses few games. Last public belly laugh: 1975. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: zero. Next test: LSU on Nov. 5.
Les Miles (6), LSU. Won the 2007 national title, started to fall out of favor in Baton Rouge in '08 and '09, rallied impressively last year and has cemented his credibility and popularity in 2011. A certifiably odd dude, but his players would skinny-dip in alligator-infested bayous for him. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: 8.5. Next test: Auburn on Oct. 22.
Bob Stoops (7), Oklahoma. Captured the national title in 2000, just his second year on the job, and has won relentlessly since then -- but never again won it all. BCS bowl pratfalls against LSU, USC, Boise State, West Virginia and Florida the only significant smudge on the résumé. Defense-first guy who has embraced a progressive offense that lights up scoreboards. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: 1.5. Next test: at Kansas State on Oct. 29.
Chris Petersen (8), Boise State. No national titles, but don't even think about questioning his place on this list. Merely 34-0 at home, 2-0 in BCS bowls, 7-1 against opponents from AQ conferences and riding a 16-game winning streak against nonconference opponents. Since losing acclaimed defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox to Tennessee, he is 17-1. Since losing acclaimed offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin to Texas, he is 5-0. Bus. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball scale: 1. Next test: TCU on Nov. 12.
The honeymooners
Coaches who are undefeated not just this year, but at their present school:
David Shaw has had the good fortune of having Andrew Luck at QB in his first year as head coach. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
David Shaw (9), Stanford. Swaddled in the Andrew Luck security blanket, Shaw has started his head-coaching career 5-0. May not be the Jim Harbaugh charisma volcano, but he's got plenty of personality and is putting his stamp on the job. Now the only question is what happens when the Cardinal plays a decent team (average Sagarin rank of their opponents to date: 87th.) Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: 2. Next test: Washington on Oct. 22.
Brady Hoke (10), Michigan. Hoke is the only bloke on the block who has gone 12-0 at a different address. That address is Ball State, in 2008, which means he has some experience in the miracle business. It won't take a miracle to keep winning at Michigan, although the victory over Notre Dame last month might classify as one. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: 1.5. Next test: at Michigan State on Saturday.
The elevators
Coaches who took over programs established as winners by their immediate predecessors, and have elevated them to a higher level:
Bret Bielema (11), Wisconsin. Predecessor: Barry Alvarez. Bielema has a sassy 54-16 record in Madison, and this year has a team that could potentially break through and compete for the school's first national championship. And of course, if running up the score will help make that happen, Bielema is not afraid to go there. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: 4. Next test: at Michigan State on Oct. 22.
Kevin Sumlin (12), Houston. Predecessor: Art Briles. Gifted with a sixth year of eligibility for quarterback Case Keenum and a schedule that would embarrass some Texas high schools, the Cougars are 6-0 and leading the nation in total offense. Sumlin's name has been bandied about in Hot Coach circles for a couple of years, and this might be the time to capitalize on that. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: 3. Next test: SMU on Nov. 19.
You won't see Paul Johnson's teams airing it out any time soon. John Rieger/US Presswire
The maverick
Paul Johnson (13), Georgia Tech. As the game becomes more aerial and spread-out, the master of the option keeps embracing the tight-formation ground attack. And keeps winning with it. He's 32-14 at Tech, and this year's team is his most explosive. The Yellow Jackets rank fourth nationally in rushing offense and second in passing efficiency, using the element of surprise -- just 80 passing attempts on the year, fewest of any non-service academy team -- to hit big plays through the air. They still lead the nation in yards per play at 8.04. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: 4.5. Next test: at Miami on Oct. 22.
The comeback codger
Bill Snyder (14), Kansas State. If Ron Zook can be undefeated at mid-year, so can a 72-year-old who was out of football from 2006-08. The Wildcats don't dominate, they just win -- four of their five victories are by a total of 15 points. Their defense is hard to score against and their offense is hard to watch. This can't go on much longer, but Snyder has only enhanced his hero status in Manhattan. Ranking on the Zooker Goofball Scale: 1. Next test: at Texas Tech on Saturday.
Players to watch in the season's second half
Ten guys (some obvious, some not) who will play a large part in determining their teams' fate in the coming weeks:
Dan Goodale (15), Boise State. Yeah, he's the kicker. But if you remember last year, you know how important a kicker can be when you're trying to go undefeated. Goodale has missed four extra points this season, and Petersen didn't even have the nerve to let him try a field goal until the fourth game. (He's 2-for-2 in that department, with a long of 32 yards.) The ghost of Kyle Brotzman is hovering over the Broncos.
LaMichael James is averaging 9 yards per carry so far this season. Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images
LaMichael James (16), Oregon. He might have been the hottest player in the country at the time he dislocated his elbow in a Thursday night game against California. How long he stays out will be critical to the Ducks' success. If he's back at anywhere near full speed when Oregon plays Stanford on Nov. 12, it could win the Pac-12 North and be favored to win the league championship game.
Jordan Jefferson (17), LSU. The Tigers have done just fine without their suspended starting quarterback, rocketing to No. 1 in the AP poll behind the reliable Jarrett Lee and a silly-good defense. Then the assault charges against Jefferson were reduced to a misdemeanor and he was reinstated to the team, booed in his first action back, and unapologetic when asked about the incident that landed him in trouble. Jefferson also said he wants to be the starter again -- undoubtedly a true sentiment, but probably not the best thing to broadcast. The last thing this team needs is a quarterback controversy. Miles will have to handle this with care.
Andrew Luck (18), Stanford. Against light competition this year, Luck has played with buttoned-down precision. He's averaged fewer than 30 pass attempts and three rushes per game. If the Cardinal can maintain great run-pass balance going forward, expect that to continue. But in the toughest games we might see Luck turn it loose more with both his arm and his legs.
Denard Robinson (19), Michigan. Arguably the most electrifying player in college football, Robinson's voltage has tended to dim as the season progresses and he gets beaten up by tacklers. In the final third of the 2009 and '10 seasons, Robinson's rushing dropped significantly. Will he be able to stay healthy and productive for a full 12 games this year?
Courtney Upshaw could be the difference in how far the Tide go this season. Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images
Courtney Upshaw (20), Alabama. The Crimson Tide linebacker can haunt an offense apart -- ask Florida this year, and Auburn and Michigan State last year. But he can also disappear -- in half of his 46 career games, Upshaw has not registered a single solo tackle. That includes this year against Penn State and Arkansas -- and that runs counter to Saban's fixation with trying to win every snap of every game. If Upshaw cranks it up to that level, he's an All-American.
Tevin Washington (21), Georgia Tech. After starting the season with an absurd three straight passer ratings in the 300s, his numbers were destined to go down -- but the past two games have been pretty shaky. Washington has completed just 10 of 31 passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. The good news is that he ran for 120 yards Saturday against Maryland -- but his yards per carry have dwindled the past three games. With the Yellow Jackets in surprise contention for a division title, can Washington maintain effectiveness?
Sammy Watkins (22), Clemson. The leading candidate for national freshman of the year had his third 100-yard receiving game of the season Saturday against Boston College. Can he keep it going all year, especially with quarterback Tajh Boyd dinged up?
Dominique Whaley (23), Oklahoma. Sooner or later, the Sooners will have to run the football to win a game. Might not be until January, but the time will come. Whaley is the guy who has risen to the top of a crowded depth chart at running back. He's had some good moments, but Oklahoma has spent most of its three biggest games to date -- Florida State, Missouri and Texas -- struggling to run.
Russell Wilson (24), Wisconsin. We all know what Wilson has done to turbo-charge the Badgers' offense. But here's what else you need to know: In his two previous years at North Carolina State, he was more productive in the first six games of the year than the last six. Wilson threw 33 touchdowns and nine interceptions in the first half of the 2009 and '10 seasons, then had 25 TDs and 16 picks in the second half of those seasons. He also ran for more yards (but fewer touchdowns) in those first-half games than in the second half. Wilson won't play his sixth game until this week (against Indiana); we'll see after that what a more difficult second half holds.
When the fish bait hits the fan
It's not all face paint and pompons out there. There's anger and apathy in the mix, too:
At West Virginia (25), coach Dana Holgorsen ripped the fans for leaving about 14,000 empty seats for the Mountaineers' home game against Bowling Green. There also were about 9,000 empties when they played Norfolk State. So heading into the game Saturday against Connecticut, Holgo challenged his fans.
"We have a conference game coming up this week," he said. "It's at noon. I can give you some excuses now: Playing a team that's 2-3. Well, they should be 5-0. Playing at noon. Well, who cares? Get up. Mantrip's at 9:45. Are we going to have a good crowd or are we going to have nobody there? Is the weather going to be 85 and sunny or 25 and snowing? It really doesn't matter because the coaches and players and trainers and everybody else is going to be there. That's what our job is. What's the support people's job?"
West Virginia drew 56,179 -- better, but still about 4,000 short of capacity.
At North Carolina (26) -- where many boosters were angry that chancellor Holden Thorp trap-doored coach Butch Davis just weeks before the start of the season -- the somewhat surprising 5-1 Tar Heels have yet to sell out any of four home games. Hard to know for sure whether that's a protest vote, but UNC sold out four of six home games last year.
The Dash doesn't understand why more people aren't clamoring to see the RG3 show. AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
At Baylor (27), where Top 25 rankings and 4-1 starts are rare things, the fan base remains unmoved. The Bears haven't sold out any of their four home games yet -- not even that thrilling opener against TCU -- and bottomed out with just 35,625 in their 50,000-seat stadium Saturday against Iowa State.
Then there's the raging indifference at Eastern Michigan (28), where the Eagles' first 3-2 start since 2005 did not move the needle at all. EMU is averaging fewer than 4,000 fans in three home games, which is simply sad.
But perhaps apathy is better than the tantrums in Texas, where Texas Tech (29) and Texas A&M (30) are at each other's throats.
It started when A&M athletic director Bill Byrne tweeted the following on the day the Aggies won at Tech on Saturday: "Someone vandalized our buses in Lubbock. Excrement inside and outside of buses plus spray painted vulgarities on outside. Classy."
Texas A&M assistant police chief Mike Ragan, who's in charge of security when the Aggies travel to away games, issued a statement saying that the buses were covered with Texas Tech logos in addition to profanities.
That precipitated the following statement from Tech on Monday:
"Many of you are aware of a tweet from a Texas A&M official that their team buses were spray painted and animal feces were spread inside of the buses early Saturday morning. The clear implication of the tweet was that this was the responsibility of Texas Tech fans or students. Texas Tech has conducted an investigation regarding this allegation, and has discovered the following:
"The buses were not spray painted. Instead, washable shoe polish was used on the windows of one of the buses.
"No feces were found either in or on the buses. Fish bait was dropped onto the floor of one of the buses.
"The alleged 'vandalism' was cleaned by the bus drivers and Holiday Inn staff before it was seen by the A&M official who tweeted the information.
"While incidents such as the ones alleged are inappropriate and strongly condemned by Texas Tech, it is no less wrong to condemn the entirety of our university, students and supporters by posting inaccurate information on the internet for the purpose of sensationalizing the actions of one or a very few. We are disturbed by the careless use of social media to share these inaccuracies."
Translation: C'mon, you Big 12-deserting pansies, can't you take a little shoe polish and fish bait sabotage without getting all whiny? It wasn't THAT bad!
A&M, don't expect bouquets on your farewell tour of the league. Tech, get over yourself with that ridiculous attempt at deflecting blame back at Byrne. Both sides: Grow up.
Dashette Marianela knows how hard it is to survive six weeks without throwing a pick. John M. Heller/Getty Images
LIP update
The Last Interception Pool had a wild weekend. We said goodbye to Penn State's Matt McGloin (intercepted by Iowa), Ohio State's Joe Bauserman (intercepted by Nebraska in a 1-for-10 nightmare performance) and Florida International's Wesley Carroll (the prohibitive favorite until serving up Akron's first interception of the season).
Who's left?
Chuckie Keeton (31) of Utah State is still rolling, pickless in the first 106 attempts of his college career. Next up: at Fresno State, which has three interceptions on the season.
Richard Brehaut (32) of UCLA stretched his streak to 119 passes without an interception before breaking his leg against Washington State. Brehaut will still have the NCAA minimum number of attempts to qualify for the national top 100 in efficiency for a while, so he might end up the winner by injury default.
We also had a new contestant in Gary Nova (33) of Rutgers, who has taken over as the Scarlet Knights' QB and avoided an interception in his first 68 passes as a collegian. Next up: Navy, which has four interceptions on the season.
Contest winner gets a chance to throw spirals to Dashette Marianela (34) at The Dash's next tailgate.
Coach who earned his comp car this week
Mark Hudspeth (35), Louisiana-Lafayette. The former Mississippi State assistant coach and Division II head coach at North Alabama took one of the toughest jobs in the country at ULL. In his first year, the Ragin' Cajuns are now 5-1 -- their best record through six games since 1988. Their victory over Troy on Saturday established them as the team to beat in the Sun Belt Conference, stoking hopes for the school's first bowl bid.
Coach who should take the bus to work
Mike Stoops (36) -- if, that is, he had a job to go to. Stoops was fired Monday with his program disintegrating around him at Arizona. The Wildcats have lost 10 of their last 11 games, bottoming out in a defeat against previously winless Oregon State. While The Dash is not a fan of midseason firings unless there are extenuating circumstances, it does give athletic director Greg Byrne early entry into the coach-shopping market. Keep an eye on Mike Leach in this one.
And special mention for an athletic director who should take the bus to work this week: Memphis' R.C. Johnson (37), who declared Monday that his school "deserved" to be in the Southeastern Conference. Sure. And The Dash deserves to be in Maui 26 weeks a year.
The biggest reason Memphis is of scant value to other leagues is because its football program is a dumpster fire. And the biggest reason it's a dumpster fire is because Johnson has hired poor football coaches and generally shown no vision or urgency for how to improve the product.
Putting out an APB for
Former Temple running back and school all-time leading rusher Paul Palmer (38). If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of the subject of one of the more novel Heisman Trophy campaigns ever -- Temple put out a comic book on Palmer in 1986 -- please apprise The Dash.
Meanwhile, The Dash has received only scant information on last week's APB subject, former Tennessee wide receiver Peerless Price. Two Dash spies reported seeing him recently in the Dacula/Braselton area of Georgia, northeast of Atlanta, but nothing concrete yet. The Dash will keep checking.
And in a Dash APB bonus, former Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth was spotted in Dallas on Saturday night at the Ritz-Carlton with his girlfriend and son. It was the first time The Dash had seen the famed 1980s showman in more than 15 years, but he looked very good.
Point after
When hungry in Dallas, The Dash recommends a great meal at Terilli's (39) in Lower Greenville. Go for the crab claws appetizer and a steak, and thank The Dash later. And when thirsty in Big D, grab a Rio Blanco Pale Ale (40), one of the few good microbrews The Dash has found in a city that should be doing better in that department.
Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.Many technology companies consider Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to be a foundation of the Internet economy. The 1996 law gives website owners broad immunity for content submitted by users. Advocates say that allows websites to host a wide variety of user-generated content without worrying about getting sued.
Now, Congress is considering the first significant change to the law in its 21-year history. Critics say certain websites have hidden behind the law while publishing ads for the sexual exploitation of children. Activists are pushing for legislation that would carve out a sex trafficking exception to Section 230, allowing state prosecutions and private lawsuits against websites that host ads for sex with children.
"We've crafted a law that protects a sector of business with complete immunity against civil actions by victims even where there's evidence that that company has knowingly facilitated the trafficking of that child," says Samantha Vardaman of the advocacy organization Shared Hope.
The legislation is popular on Capitol Hill. The Senate version of the legislation enjoys at least 27 co-sponsors from both parties. Similar legislation in the House has a bipartisan group of more than 100 co-sponsors. With that kind of momentum, the proposal has a real chance of becoming law.
But the technology industry and free-speech advocates say the law is a bad idea. They argue that even a narrow exception to Section 230 would open the floodgates for state officials and private plaintiffs to harass websites.
Critics point out that Congress passed legislation in 2015 designed to allow the feds to prosecute sites that host ads for sex with children. They argue that Congress should see how well that law works before legislating further.
Finally, critics say that shutting down high-profile sites would simply push advertisements underground where they will be harder for law enforcement to track.
This is really a fight over Backpage
I said earlier that "certain websites" have hidden behind Section 230, but the debate over the legislation has focused almost entirely on one website: Backpage.com. After Craigslist shut down its adult services section in 2010, Backpage quickly became one of the Internet's leading destinations for advertising sexual services.
Last year, a Senate investigative committee completed work on an in-depth investigation of Backpage and its business practices. According to internal Backpage documents obtained by Senate investigators, adult ads accounted for 93 percent of the company's ad revenue in 2011. Many of these ads were for prostitution—a service that's illegal everywhere in the United States, aside from a few counties in Nevada.
Senate investigators say Backpage executives knew that a large fraction of Backpage ads were for illegal services. In the site's early years, moderators were instructed to reject ads that appeared to be soliciting prostitution. But that was bad for business, so moderators began editing user-submitted ads instead, deleting words and phrases that indicated an explicit offer of sex for money.
In 2010, the company started automating the process so that words and phrases signaling illegal prostitution—like "full service," "no limits," and price lists for services completed in under an hour—were automatically stripped out of ads—but the rest of the ad was posted online. In October 2010, a Backpage official estimated that the company was editing 70 to 80 percent of ads to strip out problematic phrases.
Of course, changing the words in an ad doesn't change the kind of service the advertiser is offering. "Cleaning up" an ad for prostitution doesn't change the fact that it's an offer of sex for money. It simply helps to insulate Backpage from the backlash the site would otherwise get for facilitating an illegal transaction.
Disturbingly, Backpage allegedly took the same approach when it received ads for sexual exploitation of children. Rather than rejecting these ads outright, the Senate report claimed, Backpage's software would strip terms like “lolita,” “little girl,” “school girl," and “amber alert” out of ads before posting the rest of the ad online. (In a 2011 e-mail, a Backpage executive told a Texas law enforcement officer that "amber alert" was "either a horrible marketing ploy or some kind of bizarre new code word for an under-aged person.")
We asked Backpage for comment on the allegations in the Senate report, but it declined to comment on the record.
"Backpage horrifies people," says Daphne Keller, a legal expert at Stanford University. She pointed to a film about Backpage, called I Am Jane Doe, that was widely circulated on Capitol Hill and spurred legislators into action.
Hosting ads for underage sex services has made Backpage no shortage of enemies, and the company has relied heavily on Section 230 to dodge both criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.
Last year, California filed pimping charges against the three men behind the site: Carl Ferrer, Michael Lacey, and James Larkin. But the case was dismissed because the trio enjoyed protection under Section 230. California quickly filed another case against Backpage on charges of money laundering.
Last year, courts also dismissed a lawsuit from three anonymous underage girls who say they were trafficked on Backpage. The court ruled that Section 230 doesn't allow victims to sue a website over ads submitted by third parties. The mother of another trafficking victim filed a lawsuit against Backpage this year.
With Backpage largely shielded from direct legal attacks, public officials have looked for ways to attack Backpage indirectly. In 2015, Thomas Dart, sheriff of Chicago's Cook County, used legal threats to convince Visa and MasterCard to drop Backpage as a customer. Backpage sued in federal court, which ruled that Dart's campaign violated Backpage's First Amendment rights.
Anti-trafficking advocates say that this illustrates a problem with Section 230. They argue that Backpage is facilitating and profiting from the sexual exploitation of children, and Section 230 leaves victims and law enforcement with no way to hold them accountable. So they've been lobbying Congress to pass legislation that allows state prosecutors and private plaintiffs to go after companies like Backpage.
Opponents say weakening Section 230 is a mistake
Free speech advocates and technology companies don't buy this argument, however. And they point to three big problems with the Senate's Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and its House companion, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act.
First, they say that Congress already took action to address this problem. Under Section 230, the courts have given websites broad immunity against state prosecutors and private plaintiffs, but the law leaves the door open for criminal prosecutions at the federal level. In 2015, Congress amended sex trafficking laws to make advertising underage sexual services a crime. This provision was widely viewed as a Backpage killer.
Two years later, federal prosecutors don't seem to have used this new law yet. But there are rumors that prosecutors in Arizona are working on a case against the Backpage founders. Critics of new sex trafficking legislation argue that Congress should wait and see if federal prosecutors can address the problem using the 2015 law before they consider re-writing Section 230.
Opponents also worry that creating a Section 230 exception for child exploitation could be a camel's nose under the tent that would ultimately expose a wide range of websites to frivolous litigation. The Senate bill would allow "any State criminal prosecution or civil enforcement action targeting conduct that violates a Federal criminal law prohibiting sex trafficking of children." But critics say it's not clear what "targeting" means here.
For example, Santa Clara University legal scholar Eric Goldman says we should imagine if a state passed a law saying, "If you don't authenticate all of your users, you are liable for any non-authenticated content promoting sex trafficking of children." That, Goldman says, could be considered a law "targeting" a federal crime. Yet it could also have far-reaching effects, since many websites—not just companies running adult personal ads—could be forced to add age-verification capabilities to their sites.
But that concern doesn't impress Mary Leary, a professor at the Catholic University Law School and a supporter of the legislation. "I think this language is drafted very narrowly to not go there," she told Ars in an August interview. "There's no federal criminal law that says you have to age-verify users."
We won't know for sure who is right unless Congress passes the legislation and states start taking advantage of the new exception to Section 230. But the technology industry and free speech advocates worry that even a small change to Section 230 could create headaches for website operators with no connection to the sex trade. Current law gives website owners blanket immunity, allowing them to dispose of lawsuits quickly and with minimal expense. A new exemption could open the door for frivolous litigation that claims to be related to sex trafficking. Even if these lawsuits are ultimately thrown out, technology companies could face significant legal expenses in the meantime.
Even if that's true, activists say it's a small price to pay to stop the sexual exploitation of children.
"The bottom line is the interests that are facing off here are economic versus human protections," Vardaman says. "It's protection of children. We can't fathom a world in which we place economics over the protection of our children."
Why shutting down Backpage might not reduce trafficking
Defenders of Section 230 also question whether shutting down a site like Backpage would actually help victims of trafficking.
"There is neither an empirical foundation for the assumption that the platforms cause trafficking nor any evidence that shuttering them would reduce trafficking," writes Notre Dame legal scholar Alexandra Levy. "To the contrary, allowing Internet platforms on which sexual services are brokered to thrive may be key to apprehending traffickers and recovering victims."
Backpage's critics have made much of how reports of online sex trafficking have skyrocketed in recent years. That might be because the problem has gotten worse. But another possibility, Levy points out, is that Backpage has made it easier for the authorities to find out about trafficking incidents and do something about them.
If activists succeed in shutting down Backpage, that won't spell the end of sex trafficking, Levy argues. Girls will continue to be trafficked, with their services advertised elsewhere. And, crucially, these underground venues are less likely to help law enforcement to identify and rescue the victims.
Vardaman isn't convinced by this argument. She notes that there appears to have been a temporary decrease in trafficking activity in the wake of the 2010 shutdown of Craigslist—but she acknowledges, "Backpage did eventually exceed Craigslist's level of profit and activity."
The problem, in Vardaman's view, is that the authorities didn't "fill the void with new or creative law enforcement technique" after Craigslist was shut down. Vardaman acknowledges that shutting down Backpage won't cause trafficking to go away—but she believes that it's a step in the right direction.Advertisement Official confirms 1 person aboard African ship has malaria 3 other crew members, pilot also ill Share Shares Copy Link Copy
A crew member who fell ill on a ship from Africa is diagnosed with malaria, Jefferson Parish Councilman at Large Chris Roberts said Wednesday night.The crew member was taken to West Jefferson Medical Center for treatment. At least three more crew members, plus the river pilot who boarded the ship, were also expected to arrive at the hospital Wednesday night.The crew member with malaria was listed in critical condition, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said before the diagnosis was made.WATCH: CDC to board ship from Africa with sick crewWATCH: Plaquemines Parish President provides update on sick crew from African shipRAW VIDEO: Sick crew arrive at hospital"Our doctors and staff are ready and we have instituted full safety precautions in the unlikely event that this turns out to be something of concern," said WJMC spokeswoman Taslin Alfonzo. "Everyone is using an abundance of caution until the patients can actually be assessed and appropriately diagnosed."Embedded in the hospital's emergency room is the Region 1 disaster coordinator from the state, Alfonzo said.Officials in New Orleans confirmed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Coast Guard and various government epidemiologists were at the scene in Belle Chasse, where the vessel, identified as the Marine Phoenix, anchored near the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.Late Wednesday, officials told WDSU that another member of the crew -- who had left the ship to seek treatment in the Bahamas -- had died. That crew member was also diagnosed with malaria.The Marine Phoenix is a refrigerated cargo vessel flagged out of the African nation of Liberia. The 20-year-old ship weighs more than 7,000 tons and has more than 400 thousand cubic feet of space.According to a release from the CDC, the ship was reported to have traveled to a port in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and others in Africa. Officials immediately downplayed the likelihood that the sickness was related to an outbreak of Ebola in that part of the world."There is no evidence to suggest that the crew members traveled to, or had any contact with anyone from the remote island region of DRC where Ebola cases are occurring. Given this, the chance that the crew member could have Ebola is thought to be exceedingly low," the CDC stated. SEE ALSO: What to know: EbolaInitial details state that the ship alerted Louisiana and U.S. health officials that the individuals on board were sick.Officials with the CDC said a staff member |
incapable of living independently, which is rape. Verbally and emotionally forcing someone to have sex with you in order that their medical needs might be met is rape. I had sex a week after nearly losing my life because of injuries sustained by the man who was insisting I have sex with him, which is rape.
Back at our hotel, I see grass in Jill’s hair and some sort of white, paint-like flakes stuck to her cheek. We finally deduce that she passed out near the entrance to the hotel on her way to pick me up. The white flakes are from the newly-painted curb, the grass from the little patch of greenery by the door. This is bad, as she undoubtedly re-concussed herself when she fell. We are both disheartened about her passing out. This would not have happened if she didn’t need to come get me from Pig. She needed to be in bed resting as much as I.
I take a steaming hot anti-Pig shower, Jill helping me to make sure I won’t fall. The TBI has destroyed my balance and it remains poor, though I can now shower on my own, usually by balancing an elbow against the wall or leaning against it entirely if I’m really having problems.
I hate Pig for forcing me into having sex with him, I haven’t even had sex with my boyfriend yet, I’m still too hurt to want sex or safely be capable of it. Pig is not a forcible rapist, not by any measure. But he likes his coercive situations, it’s where he gets his jollies, where he feels powerful. He’s sickening.
Jill knew how I felt about Pig. I woke both of us every night screaming from nightmares of being trapped. There’s more going on than I’m writing about — Pig was doing his level best to put his lasso around my neck. He had the power to do it and he knew it, the system was on his side. He likes to call himself a “racehorse” and I always respond that I’m a wild horse. I don’t do lassos, fences, or ownership. Injured and helpless, I was terrified of being lost to Pig. If Jill hadn’t been there for me, I probably would have been.
He booked me for another overnight two weeks later, July 6 (Jill and I prepare a set of emergency codes again). This was the last time I’ve seen him and the last time we had sex. Again, I did not want to. His touch made my skin crawl. I hate him, he is repulsive. But I had to make money, I had to be a safety net for Jill as much as I could — I had a responsibility to her for what she was sacrificing for me. I had to get my medical bills paid as long as possible. I had to do what I could to secure my future because it had just disappeared.
At some point in the darkness, he said it was the best sex of his life. I didn’t know if he was making some sort of gruesome/sarcastic joke or being serious. Either way, my gorge rose, sickened at what was happening, hating him so much I came within a single arm movement of slamming the heel of my hand into the bottom of his nose. Was I really ready to sell my soul to this person whose sole redeeming quality was his money? No, I would find another way to survive. I’d already gotten what he owed me (except for Jill’s and my ongoing medical bills). I would find a way to uphold my responsibility to Jill without having to sell myself to Pig.
No other client, no matter how much I might’ve disliked him, has ever created the compulsion for a psychic cleanse. Only Pig has that distinction. (Because he raped me.)
The need for a psychic cleanse was so strong that I spent money I didn’t need to spend to repeat that exact evening a week later with my boyfriend. He was delighted with the special surprise and we had a wonderful time. The taint of Pig was washed away that night by someone who cared for me. Jill spent that night in our hotel sleeping deeply, her phone off, knowing I was safe and happy for that one night.
pigshit begins
A little over a week after this I wrote a sharp email to Pig telling him to back off. (It was my last direct contact with him for almost two years). He wanted far more access to my life than I wanted him to have. He was paying my medical bills and dancing around the fact that he caused all this. He wasn’t paying Jill as he had promised, even though he supposedly had hired her to take care of me. I was barely literate and having to deal with his constant need for contact was more than I could handle. Writing a single email took an exhausting 1-3 hours and would still be riddled with word salad (I still toss word salad when I get fatigued, verbal as well as written). Jill took the brunt of it for me, talking to him on the phone, emailing and texting him too. I kept telling her not to, but she was trying to spare me of having to deal with him. I had briefed her on both of the overnights and she hated him possibly more than I did.
He fired back a nasty response and cut all ties to me. Honestly, his response made me laugh and him cutting ties was the desired result. I had all that I was going to get from him. I had a cushion of savings to live on while I healed. I hoped I would be okay. My biggest expense was medical bills and eventually, they ate my savings.
In one of his emailed tantrums he sent me a thinly-veiled death threat that also included my mother (I forwarded the email to her). Jill suggested I get a restraining order against him. I tried, but as soon as the county social worker heard that I was an escort, she shut down. She didn’t care. She asked if he had beaten me and I said no, because he hadn’t. He had only permanently injured me through his complete stupidity, was willing to have let me die on the floor, and was more than willing to force me to have sex with him. But a beating? No, so none of this counted. (Those of who you think women have all sorts of “resources” to protect themselves from men can fuck off. I’ve seen again and again – we don’t.)
Still, I created an autoresponse just for his email addresses telling him that if he contacts me again, I’ll get a restraining order against him. It stops him from contacting me. Though it has the unfortunate effect of focusing his attention on Jill, it proves that a) I could get a restraining order against him though I’d probably have to pay for a lawyer to get it done, b) he fears a restraining order, and most importantly…c) he knows he’s breaking the law.
Jill and I look into hiring a personal injury attorney for the plane crash and hire one, whom I’ll refer to as J. He seems promising. But in the end, he betrays us as well.
In late July, when Pig was scheduled to go on an Alaska cruise, Jill began getting weird voice mails and texts to her work phone number (which Pig knew). She traced several of them, including one who was this old Shriner from Myrtle Beach, SC telling Jill to go jump off a cliff. She traced another to a bar in Port Angeles, WA, presumably where the cruise ship docked. Sure, it sounds laughable, but these random people calling were clearly doing this on Pig’s behalf. What was the point? It’s no secret that Pig and Jill disliked each other on first sight. Was it about the lawsuit? None of the messages had a clear point, other than absolute hatred of Jill and a wish for her death.
Since Pig is a pathological liar, we knew he was spinning some dramatic story of woe in which he was the victim, we just had no idea what it was (and still don’t). We assume he wasn’t telling anyone that they were harassing two brain-damaged hookers — that would put Pig in a bad light and he wouldn’t do that to himself.
The death threats continued over the next several months, interspersed with some polite but insistently repeated offers for all of us to meet for dinner at a Dallas restaurant owned by a man reputed to have organized crime connections. It was unclear what game was being played or what the messages of hate directed at Jill were really about. It got tedious after a while. Our attorney said nothing about any of this even though Jill let him know of every incident, even though it was clear Pig was harassing us via proxy — which I thought should have been an issue in the context of a lawsuit.
We assume Pig found some of these idiots due to being a criminal defense attorney. Jill tracked several of them via Facebook. They were all vague and confused messages of hatred, sent by trashy morons. Was he actually paying them? If anyone reading this likes threatening strangers over the phone for money, have I got the employer for you!
the doubletree hotel attack
Jill came to visit me in January 2013 and help me find new doctors. The emailed threats suddenly escalated to describing gruesome violence, along with personal details of both of us. We were being tailed around town by a guy who lived near me; ironically, he taught self-defense classes for women and wore his black satin dojo jacket everywhere. (One of new the threatening emails included her coffee order – easy for the Karate Guy to know since he was sitting across from us at the neighborhood Starbucks.) We debated going to the police but there wasn’t really anything the police would do. Besides, they were more likely to arrest us than Pig. Pigs stick together.
Then one day she went to work. She took my car to the hotel she had booked. I couldn’t go with her as lobby-security because I had to deal with a heating problem in my place. At the hotel, her senses tingled. Trying to find a place to park, she was blocked by a truck and the male driver asked her for directions. She felt she was being observed in the parking lot by a woman and a man. The bellboy kept trying to take her carry-on-sized bag from her and wouldn’t take “no” for an answer (this is not a hotel renowned for bellhop service). Everything felt wrong as soon as she walked into the hotel. In the lobby she saw two men, one whom really attracted her attention. Both were looking at her as if they knew her, which is what drew her attention. She knew they were paying attention to her but it wasn’t as though they were checking her out.
But she went ahead, checked in, and went to her room. We think the goon rode up in the elevator with her, we’re not sure because she wasn’t at her best and her attention was now distracted. All she knows is that she gets to her room and suddenly a man is behind her, shoving her into the room and beating her head with a loaded gun. He threatens her with the gun. “Forget what you’ve read. Don’t believe everything you see.” With this cryptic statement, he punches her in the face and anally rapes her, promising it was a lesson she’d never forget (several concussions later she mostly has – sorry goon, you weren’t that memorable). He threatens to shoot her, but a platoon of college cheerleaders running up and down the hall distracts him and he leaves.
It’s quick, about three minutes, she tells me when we later talk.
She has two back-to-back clients coming right after the attack so she sees them, then calls me. She’s afraid to tell me what happened, afraid I’ll blame her and be mad at her for some reason. I’m horrified and demand she drive back to my place as fast as she safely can, to cancel work. She gets there and I examine her head. It looks like someone stuck ping-pong balls under her scalp and the left side of her face is bruising. I have an ice pack for her.
She tells me what happened. She describes the man in the lobby, who is a longtime client of Pig’s, a Lebanese man named Bashar. I know this because I’ve had dinner with him twice. Pig assists Bashar in his various businesses and apparently Bashar was returning a favor. Or perhaps it was a trade of services as we both know the goons were on Bashar’s payroll and I strongly suspect him of having organized crime connections because of what Pig does for him. The whole situation was very different in tone than the random low-lifes Pig had paid to make threatening phone calls and emails to Jill. These men were professionals. Regardless, Pig and Bashar conspired together to assault Jill with a deadly weapon, threatened her life and probably would have killed her. These are felonies, FYI.
Jill did not want to go the police, and though I still have misgivings about it as I would’ve liked to have gotten the hotel security footage, I supported her decision. She would have been arrested, we’re both sure of that.
The attack happened on Friday January 4, 2013. Saturday Pig flew to Addison Airport. We never saw him, we know this because his flight showed up on FlightAware. I took her to a small hospital on Saturday, where she was diagnosed with a concussion and brain bruise.
When we told J about the attack, he berated Jill for not going to the police. He took no action and didn’t seem to think it was that serious an offense on Pig’s part, nor did he feel it was connected to the case. In hindsight, perhaps he already knew it wasn’t.
the goon on the plane and revelation
A few days after this, she is ready to leave. The night before her flight, she receives an email telling her she will be shot as she comes out of the terminal in Raleigh. They have her flight number and seat number. We don’t know what to do. We sit on my bed, quiet. What does one say when one’s friend is about to be killed and neither one of you can stop it?
Fortunately, instead of shooting Jill, Pig spends $8000 on a last-minute ticket to put a goon on the plane. The goon changes seats to be near her so Jill has no idea what his original seat is. He spends the 2.5 hour flight to Charlotte explaining to Jill that Pig loves his wife, doesn’t love me anymore, Pig is breaking up with me and Jill needs to break the news to me easily so that I won’t be crushed. Pig will hurt her if he finds out that she hurt my feelings when telling me that he is dumping me. Jill actually makes the goon repeat the crux of the message because she could not believe what her ears told her.
The explanation of Pig’s actions is probably the most bizarre moment of this entire saga; it’s easily the funniest. She was suffering severe pneumonia and made sure to sneeze all over the goon the entire plane trip and cough in his face. She also wiped her snot on his sleeve. I don’t know what Pig paid him to deliver the message, but Jill happily reported the expression on his face said that it wasn’t enough. She said the hardest part of the trip was not laughing when the man explained to her the point of all this.
After she gets the point of the message, the goon makes her delete all of Pig’s emails and info on her iPad, not realizing she’s already backed this up a number of times and I have copies of the backups as well. Apparently Pig sees these emails as “evidence” though of what, I’m not sure. The bigger evidence is the injuries we’ve suffered due to his stupidity in the pilot’s seat, on the way to a private vacation in which he was paying for sex, but let’s never mind all that.
She gets off the plane on her short layover and texts me. I’m in bed with a cold. She tells me I’d better be sitting down and that I can’t guess what she’s about to say, but she’s safe.
As soon as she gets into a quiet corner, she calls and tells me. I laugh so hard I’m choking and almost fall off the bed trying to breathe. Tears are streaming down my face into my ears as I cackle like a hyena. I laugh so hard that my diaphragm is sore after.
This is why they almost killed Jill?
It’s so abysmally stupid. We both assumed the harassment and attack had to do with retaining J to sue Pig for our injuries. Never in our wildest conjectures had we imagined that Pig worried about Jill “witnessing” the “love” he and I had “shared.” What were either of us going to do with any of his declarations of love to me? Neither one of us ever believed there was some grand love affair going on because…there wasn’t. He’s a client. He’s married. He’s twice my age. He permanently injured both of us. He was perfectly willing to fuck me and let me die on the floor. He raped me twice. We hate him. We were putting in a lot of effort to avoid him, while he was the one making a lot of effort to get in contact with us.
She gets on her plane to Raleigh and makes it safely home. More or less, things go quiet, though she has two burglary attempts at her apartment and a gold SUV keeps following her around. I have someone rattling my front door one morning in June but that’s it, as far as I can tell, on my end.
During her April 2013 visit she worked a couple of days and I sat in the hotel lobby as security. There was a possible goon in the lobby keeping tabs on me keeping tabs on him. It was sort of comical. At least her clients were okay. I spotted each of them as they walked in and would quickly text her. My gift at client-spotting was useful! We also got followed a little bit by Karate Guy in his black satin jacket.
the security conference
In February 2013, we go to another city far away to hold a security conference. Only we attend, but it’s a weekend of pooling information, testing theories, making plans, and laying groundwork. The attack made it clear that we’re both in danger from Pig, even if he thinks he’s successfully dumped me. We set action-dates for various things. Hiding is the best choice for us, the one women have chosen for centuries when dealing with a violent man.
So we do. I am hiding still. I can count on one hand the people who know where I am and Pig has worked hard to kill the one most easily-accessible to him. My family doesn’t know — I will not endanger them by telling them or even leaving hints.
Not that my mother cares. After the February security conference I tell her about the danger we are all in because I felt my family should be warned, I was scared for them. Her reaction was to accuse me of lying about everything, engaging in drug trafficking with Pig, and that I’m greedy for pursuing legal action against him. (My mother never commented on whether or not she felt Jill was being greedy for pursuing legal action against Pig.) While I accuse him of many things, drug trafficking is not one of them.
I no longer speak to her. She turned her face away from me for being honest, telling the truth, giving her a warning, and asking for advice and a small amount of help (not monetary help). I did nothing terrible to her, nothing to warrant her reaction. I certainly did not lie to her, but my word is clearly worthless in her eyes.
I’m fairly certain the real issue is that she feels I’m getting what I deserve for being a sex worker.
don’t leave the foxhole
Jill had to visit Raleigh in the fall of 2013 and was tailed almost continuously by the gold SUV. She got a few weird phone calls.
In February of 2014, we had a serious falling out. It started with my complaint on how she had handled a non-Pig-related situation, but Jill contributed to the disagreement in full measure. Unfortunately, she made the decision to move back to Raleigh in March. She knew as she was flying there that it was the wrong decision and I wish she had told me — I would have worked with her on finding another solution to keep her safe, no matter how mad I was with her. She stayed silent and punished herself. I got to watch my friend dying from long distance, able to do nothing to stop it.
On Monday, April 7, she is attacked by two goons in her apartment complex parking lot. She describes the two goons as white with shaved heads and brownish goatees, late 20s to mid 30s, one around 5’9″ the other around 6’1″, both around 250lbs. One had a semper fi tattoo on his left forearm. One was clearly Southern, the other had a NYC accent. She says they look like “any of 100k other shaved head white guys.”
From her email to me:
They grabbed my arms and pulled me into the woods and told me they wanted the location of [Amanda Brooks] and I could give it to them or they could take it from me. The one with the NY accent told me to make it simple and tell them where she was. I told them that I didn’t know where she was. Again the NY guy demanded punching me in the face telling me that I knew where my best friend was or I could call her and ask. I told him to fuck off and that I wasn’t giving anyone any info about her and shoved him trying to get past him and run. He caught me by the hair, knocked me down and dragged me deep into the woods. The NY guy violently shook my head while the southern guy said let’s turn her brains into scrambled eggs. They discussed that it would be easy since they already were. The southern guy asked me again. Where is [Amanda Brooks]? I didn’t say anything and tried to pull free and run. I got a barrage of punches to the stomach, the back, the head and fell into a rock which knocked me out briefly. The NY guy pulled me up by the hair and shook me violently saying it wouldn’t stop until I told them where [Amanda] was. I don’t remember who held my neck and who kept slapping me in the face, one said I was fun because I had an attitude. They shook me violently again, everything felt like a kaleidoscope and I kept vomiting which stopped the assault. The southern guy said they didn’t want to hurt me. That someone simply wants to rekindle a love with [Amanda], or some variation of that, it was explained more than once as a man who simply wants to show the love he once shared with [Amanda] and that they weren’t going to hurt her, they just needed her address. The southern guy said to the NY guy to hold me down and said “the bitch looks hot and that he was rock fucking hard” and said something to the effect of let’s “take a break and have some fun and get back to work in a few” He shoved me on my back lifted my dress put his knees in between my thighs and started to undress when a neighbor came out and told them to get away from me in Spanish. They both said fuck or something like that and ran toward the parking lot and I believe drove away. I did not get a make or model of the car or a direction that they went other than the parking lot. I rolled over and threw up again, the neighbor talked with me and advised he would take me to the hospital and took me to Rex Hospital where I was diagnosed with a concussion. I did not discuss the sexual assault because I did not want to start the process of a sexual assault investigation because I was not raped.
A police report is filed and nothing happens. We’re both thankful her neighbor was paying attention.
Their message that Pig wanted to “rekindle” the “love” that we “shared” is insane. All women agree that romantic overtures are most persuasive when they’re accompanied by the beating and attempted rape of a female friend. It certainly raised my blood temperature! After talking it over with Jill, I write him an email, inviting him to meet me for a lunch in Dallas, with certain stipulations for my safety attached. One stipulation is that it’s just lunch in public, conversation only. Another is to not bother Jill anymore.
Understand that anything I do concerning Pig is passed through Jill first, I will not further endanger her by taking any action she is not fully aware of. She and I bounced the emails before I sent them to Pig. We plan other courses of action, if necessary. She is in the most immediate danger and my actions are an attempt to protect her.
I give him some dates for our possible meeting. One of those time-frames falls in late April, when I really will be in Dallas to take care of some things. As far as Jill and I can deduce, Pig pays for a goon from Phoenix to fly out to Dallas at the end of April to deal with me. The goon is stupid enough to Tweet about his trip. My guess is after this post, he’ll be much more covert and not Tweet where he’s going and what he’s planning to do when he gets there.
While dealing with the concussion and torn neck muscle from that beating, one of two the goons approach her in the parking lot of her apartment two days later, verbally attempting to get across the idea that we owe Pig some respect. Due to her concussion, Jill has only the vaguest memory of that incident and I get few details from her.
On Saturday, April 12, the two goons in the SUV were in her apartment complex. She got a partial plate, North Carolina, first three letters CCA. She was instructed to tell me that “both of us need to learn about being appropriate in our responses.” Like Pig’s response to us is somehow appropriate? In what alternate universe?
Later that evening, Jill is attacked at a Golden Corral. A new goon sneaks up behind her, hitting her face and knocking her unconscious to the ground. He kicks her in the stomach to turn her over, wakes her up, and delivers another message of how we owe respect to Pig, and “Be advised that this is classic hawk and sparrow”, then mashes his shoe on her face. (For the record, neither of us owe Pig a single goddamn thing, most especially respect. He owes us.) Neither of us have any idea what the hawk and sparrow reference means, nor does Google, nor anyone else we ask. Pig spends tons of money on goons, but can’t be bothered to send a clear and direct message.
She drives herself to the ER. Another police report is filed, a rape kit is taken even though she explains she wasn’t raped, she is diagnosed with a small, surface brain bleed, then they send her home.
Clearly, Pig didn’t like my stipulations for meeting. So I try another tactic, being a lot nicer and less terse (no numbered list this time), and adding in a bunch of escort-y bullshit. Still, he fails to understand he’s not someone I trust in any meaning of the word and that I never have had, nor will ever have, any respect whatsoever for him. All that email got was a note stuck on Jill’s door.
Jill’s email to me:
Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2014 at 7:59 AM
Fantastic,
We have door to door thugs. Attached to my door is a message that says the following
“All that is needed is a location otherwise I’ll come to you. You need not continue to email”
Fine, I won’t email him anymore and Jill isn’t giving up my location. That should solve his personal quandary, it certainly solves ours.
Finally, the police detective assigned to her case (both attacks) talks to her on Monday, April 14. He’s so very, very sympathetic. From her email about it:
I failed as a victim so he can’t do much. I needed to catch one of the two guys and detain them in order to go ahead. He also chastised me that I didn’t dig into the guys skin to get DNA samples. He was very condescending and advised me that most girls put up enough of a fight to give the forensics people something to work with or I should have held the guy. Essentially he called [me] a coward. Not directly but in so many words. I wasn’t brave like most women and didn’t think to help the police. I took a savage beating but didn’t respond correctly. I just tried to protect my face and crawl or run away. He actually said to me “that he didn’t know what I was thinking in terms of being compliant with my attackers.”
She says the detective might want to talk to me and I give a number but I never get a call. There is no follow-up to her two violent attacks and the detective clearly doesn’t want to do any detecting. As far as we can tell, the police reports disappear, Jill isn’t allowed to get copies of them, nor can any of her doctors get copies. Funny how that happens when a rich, old, white man is involved. There can’t possibly be anything remotely illegal about hiring men to beat and sexually assault a woman across state lines, can there? Apparently not, and apparently the Raleigh PD have more important things to do than investigate violent felonies.
The Raleigh PD is very interested in chasing hookers. Jill spent a year getting followed, harassed, and sexually assaulted by an officer who finally left her alone only because he got busted for soliciting underage prostitutes.
a few words on trust, respect, and gratitude – concepts beyond pig’s comprehension
When I first met him, he constantly tried to convince me to “trust” him. Finally, like an idiot, I thought I would take the chance on trusting him. Naively, I thought that being a well-known lawyer meant he would behave in a trustworthy manner. No, in real life, it just means he knows exactly how much he can get away with – and it’s a hell of a lot.
After the plane crash, Pig often harangued both of us that we should give him our respect, trust, and gratitude at a wholesale level and without question. Never mind these are states of being one earns from another and he did nothing to earn them from us. As this history shows, he chose to trash any chance of honestly earning them.
He expected enormous amounts of gratitude from me for simply doing what he was supposed to do. Not once did he ever truly go above and beyond mere obligation. Anything he tried to dress up as a grand gesture – like have me stay in Houston to see his doctors – was only a self-serving trap. Even though Jill and I routinely debased ourselves and thanked him profusely for any small gesture, that was never enough. This desperate demand for praise and gratitude is very revealing. On an emotional level, we were dealing with a 4yr old who has serious Mommy-abandonment issues and who also expected lavish praise from Mommy simply for going potty in the toilet instead of in his pants or on the floor.
He demanded 100% trust and compliance from Jill or else he would hurt me. He told her he’d put up with me “questioning his authority,” but not her. He told her that he wanted sex and if he wasn’t getting it from me he’d get it from her. She told him “do what you have to do.” (He never had sex with her.) I didn’t know about this until well after it happened and we’d hired J.
Somewhere deep down in Pig’s tangled psyche, he must recognize he isn’t worthy of these gifts. He knows he hadn’t truly earned them from us – which is why he always felt the lack. He is not respectable, completely untrustworthy, and has done nothing to warrant gratitude. He took our lives from us, he didn’t give us anything besides misery. No one offers gratitude for that.
As a woman in this society, there is always pressure to “trust” men for reasons that are never made clear; men are so rarely trustworthy. Women intuitively know that trust must be earned and not forced. Men simply demand it from women. If a woman withholds her trust, then she’s a bitch, she’s cold, she has mental problems, etc. Men are always suspicious of a woman who holds herself in reserve – there’s something wrong with her for not giving into his demands and not him for trying to force something that can only be given.
I did give Pig my trust before the plane crash and look what he’s done with that gift. When I’ve told people this story at various points along the way, they’ve had the gall to ask “Well, why did you trust him? What did you expect?” (Never in my wildest imagination did I expect all this. Who would?) All this is somehow my fault for trusting him, not his fault for doing what he’s done. But if I hadn’t trusted him and all this happened, it would be my fault for not trusting him and therefore bringing it on myself by grievously hurting his precious feelings with my lack of trust, therefore justifying his violence. Being a woman means living your entire life in a “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” endless circle of victim-blaming.
The simple solution that offers me the most protection is: don’t trust anyone. If you have a problem with that, fuck off.
jill’s death sentence
A week after the last attack I talk to her on the phone. She’s having problems, pain and fainting. Fainting and falling is the bigger issue because she likely has re-concussed herself with her falls. Several minutes into the phone call and she doesn’t know who I am. It’s the first time I see how badly she’s injured and I cry while reassuring her who I am. I can’t help her in any meaningful way. She’s in too poor a condition to be put on a plane and she can’t drive so there is no going elsewhere to hide. If I could mount Pig’s head on a pike at the city limits of Raleigh for Jill’s sake, I would.
A week later she goes to the ER for extreme pain, mostly in her back, and limited mobility from the pain. She tells me about a bruise on her stomach that I thought might be internal bleeding. Instead, the psychologist at Wake Med reads her entire medical file and decides, apropos of nothing, that she has just gotten out of rehab and can’t be prescribed any pain medication other than Tylenol. He also questions her extensively on her propensity for lighting fires — a complete non-issue in her life – he obviously was incapable of correctly administering the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Then the doctors discover she has a blood clot in her thigh: the exact spot where the first goon ground his knee into her thigh while attempting to rape her. Wake Med combats the DVT by putting a bag of saline into her every three hours, causing her extreme pain and a weight gain of 38lbs while she’s there.
After escaping Wake Med in worse condition than she entered, she goes to her regular doctors. First, her back pain is addressed. She has a Greenfield filter in her vena cava, improperly installed about six inches below where it should be. The goon who kicked her in the stomach broke off a piece of the titanium filter and it lodged in her spine, hence, the pain. She was to have had the filter taken out a couple years ago, but lacked the money or insurance to have it done.
Much worse is the news that Wake Med delivers the coup de grace instead of Pig. Their gross medical malpractice floods her body with more fluid than she can handle: 56 liters of saline in three days. The pressure in her veins causes them to collapse and form clots from mid-torso down, the broken filter holding the massive clots in place. Half her body is one entire blood clot. Her vena cava is destroyed from the filter down.
There is no recovery when half your body’s veins are one big clot. Needless to say, her condition is fatal. But even though someone other than Wake Med discovered the problem, no surgeon would operate because she would certainly die on the table. Doctors avoid treating her, scared of a malpractice suit, and so instead contribute to her death by refusing to treat her.
One of her two regular doctors takes pity on her and treats her. She’s put on heavy blood thinners for the rest of her life. There are so many ways she could die: a clot gets past the broken filter and goes to her heart, lungs or brain; a spontaneous clot form in her heart, lungs, or brain; the massive clot becomes infected and she dies of sepsis; she falls due to low blood pressure (due to the blood thinners), whacks her head and dies of a brain bleed (due to blood thinners); she gets attacked by the goons again and dies of a brain bleed; she gets in a car accident because she faints (due to falling blood pressure) and dies of a brain bleed; her lungs fill with the excess fluid Wake Med left and she dies of pneumonia. There are more possibilities but these are the major and most likely ones. While no one wants to insure her, one could certainly take odds on her death in Vegas.
While she is dying due to blatant sexism under the guise of egregious medical malpractice, she would not have been in the hospital if it weren’t for Pig’s goons acting on his behalf. She would not give up my location under physical attack nor the imminent threat of death. That is heroism on the scale of fiction, it’s the sort of heroism normally attributed to men (who are wrongly considered the stronger sex). Both attacks contributed to her death: the first with the DVT in her leg – which alone could have killed her; the second by destroying her Greenfield filter, leading her to seek treatment at Wake Med. Not to mention that she would have died if a third attack injured her head. She truly does not have a concussion left.
On the other hand, we both agree that trying to break someone who graduated from Bruce’s School of Submission is a laughably stupid exercise in futility.
In early June, she starts having small clots lodging in her lungs and heart. It’s unclear whether the clots spontaneously formed or made their way past the broken filter, the question is irrelevant to Jill. She has a mini-stroke in September. These clots eventually dissolve thanks to the blood thinners, but more clots form (or get past the filter). At some point, a large clot won’t dissolve and she’ll die of a PE (lungs), heart attack (heart), or stroke (brain).
The clock is ticking loudly.
pig’s sorry and that means so very, very much to us – as you can imagine
On May 1 she sees the goons hanging around her apartment and she goes out to confront them. A neighbor has already called the police and they get there right around the time Jill finally staggers down the flight of stairs and over to where everyone is standing. She’s not |
the grinding of their teeth. It was probably cut at the insistence of Brandywine. The cost would have been astronomical (no pun…)
Conclusion? The first draft was serviceable, but hokey. The second draft was far superior, with less OTT action and more focus on dwindling resources and time. Had it been made then there may have been less complaints about the third movie. I would have liked to see Giler and Hill’s version of Gibson’s script: they have a knack for giving characters good, natural sounding speech. One of Alien 3′ greatest strengths, I thought, was the dialogue.
“We got the opposite of what we expected,” Giler remarked on the subject of Gibson’s screenplay. “We figured we’d get a script that was all over the place, but which would have many good ideas we could use. It turned out to be a competently written screenplay, but not as inventive as we wanted it to be. That was probably our fault, though, because it was our story. We had hoped he’d open up the story, but it didn’t happen.”
The producers didn’t speak to Gibson for the entirety of the Writers Strike (March – August 1988) until a director was attached – Renny Harlin. Giler and Hill suggested that Gibson work with Harlin to improve the script, but Gibson ended his tenure on the film at that point, blaming the two producers for wasting time, in addition to other engagements.
“Alien 3 generated a stack of scripts a foot high, before there could be a movie,” Gibson said through his Twitter feed in March 2013. “That Alien 3 script was my first screenplay. Worked w/ scripts of first two as my sole model of the form.”
“Only one detail survived [from my script],” said Gibson. “In my draft, this woman has a bar code on the back of her hand. In the shooting script [and final movie], one of the guys has a shaved head and a bar code on the back of his head. I’ll always privately think that was my piece of Alien 3.”
But that wasn’t the only detail that made it from his script to the film. Hicks asking for the armoury and being told that there isn’t one recalls the scene between Ripely and Superintendent Andrews in the final film. Also, in the first draft a specialist crew known as the “Deck Squad” are described as thus: “Their spacesuits are white, clinical; over these they wear disposable Biohazard Envelopes of filmy translucent plastic. Some are Colonial Marines, armed with pulse-rifles or flame-throwers. Others are scientists and technicians, carrying recording and sampling gear.” These, of course, match the appearance of the “Dog-Catcher Unit” from Alien 3′s finale.
Gibson later remarked on the successors to his role: “Vincent Ward came late to the project, but I think he got the true meaning of my story. It would have been fun if he stayed on.”
Special thank you to Ben Turner for trading rare Alien scripts!
And another special thanks to artist Jake Wyatt, who drew the Gibson-Alien storyboards in his spare time and allowed me to use his images. Visit his Tumblr and check out more of his fantastic art! The Jake Wyatt Riot.We're comfortably into 2019 now, and we've already seen a big smartphone launch, which means our best smartphone list has been updated with a new entry - but there isn't long until a slew of new handsets arrive, all vying for the coveted top spot in our best phone rundown.
If you're considering buying a new smartphone, you may want to hold off, as big launches from Samsung, Sony, Nokia and a number of other major Android manufacturers will take place in February.
Update: We've put the Honor View 20 through our in-depth review process and the result is a well-earned place in our best smartphones list. Read on to find out where it places.
In fact, we already know the Samsung Galaxy S10 launch date (plus the Galaxy S10 Plus, 5G-toting S10 X and foldable Galaxy X) has been confirmed for February 20.
We're also expecting launches from LG, Nokia, Huawei, Oppo and more before the end of February, so our best smartphone ranking could change dramatically in the coming weeks.
However, if your smartphone replacement simply can't wait you'll be asking, what are the 15 best smartphones available right now? Read on to find out.
We know that it's not all about the high-cost, super spec phones all the time so we've made you a handy list of all the top smartphones that you can get on the market right now, assessing what really matters to you, the buyer.
We test these phones rigorously, making sure that we check every angle and feature - but most importantly, considering whether they've got a decent battery, great screen, strong design and a cracking camera.
On top of that, they can't be too exorbitant in price either - not everyone wants or can afford a supercar of a handset, so we've made sure there are plenty of options for you there.
If you do want to focus on the cheaper side of things, then check out our list of the best budget phones of 2019 for some great ideas.
Still here? Still thinking about which phone to go for? Don't worry... there are 15 excellent options to choose from.
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1. Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
The best smartphone around? Certainly for Android fans.
Release date: March 2018 | Weight: 189g | Dimensions: 158.1 x 73.8 x 8.5mm | OS: Android 8 | Screen size: 6.2-inch | Resolution: 1440 x 2960 | CPU: Snapdragon 845 / Exynos 9810 | RAM: 6GB | Storage: 64GB/128GB | Battery: 3,500mAh | Rear camera: Dual 12MP | Front camera: 8MP
Super premium build
Excellent low-light cameras
Battery doesn't last as well as some others on the list
The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus is still the best smartphone available right now.
It's a big phone that's designed for big hands - and it takes the very best of what's on the smartphone market and puts it together in a compelling package that we've loved testing, despite the strong competition on the following pages.
Screen: The Super AMOLED 6.2-inch display has been measured as one of the very best around right now, with super colours, great dynamic range and, essentially, the very best viewing experience you can have on a mobile phone.
Battery life: The battery life on the S9 Plus is better than that seen on the smaller S9, thanks to the 3,500mAh battery in the Plus model - although it's probably the weakest part of the phone, not offering as much life as we'd have liked.
Camera: The camera on the Galaxy S9 Plus is among the best on the market, and the dual-aperture capability offers some startlingly good snaps when things get a little darker.
Colours can look a tad washed out when the exposure is higher, but the power of the sensor, with memory built into it to make it smarter than most rivals, offers very low-noise shots.
Mini verdict: If you're after a bigger phone with all the features that matter on board, the Galaxy S9 Plus is that and more.
Read more: Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus review
Price comparison: The best Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus dealsShare. The author of The Softwire and Fillion dive deep into the creation of the book, the Kids Need to Read project, and some Halo morsels. The author ofand Fillion dive deep into the creation of the book, the Kids Need to Read project, and some Halo morsels.
We know Nathan Fillion can act, but it turns out he's also quite the interviewer. We were checking in with author PJ Haarsma recently about a new project he and Nathan are involved with called Kids Need To Read when the inspiration hit: put these two together in a room with snacks and beer and a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. We're glad we did.
Fillion, who is probably the nicest dude you'd hope to meet, has achieved considerable success and is beloved by most as "Mal" on Firefly and the feature film Serenity. This year finds him gearing up for another season of Desperate Housewives as well as a provocative new art project with Martin Firrell. Fillion's Waitress film is still showing in some theaters around the country before hitting DVD this fall.
Haarsma, as reader of IGN Comics know, is the author of The Softwire series, book one of which is in stores now. You can read a lot more about PJ in our extensive interview with him last year. PJ is also the creator and developer of the original online role-playing adventure game Rings of Orbis which is getting noticed not just by its over 5,000 players but colleges and universities as an innovative and meaningful multimedia project.
Without further ado... the interview.
PJ Haarsma and Nathan Fillion
IGN Guest Interview Nathan Fillion: So it is six years ago we met. You were standing in this room with the fireplace. You were holding court. A lot of people were listening to you. And I said, "Who's that guy?"
"This is his house."
And you're unmistakable. You haven't changed your look in six years&#Array;(laughing).
The Softwire author PJ Haarsma: I had long hair then?
Fillion: You had long hair.
Haarsma: It was after the movie [Devious Beings, which Haarsma wrote and directed] and I was growing my hair out. I said I was going to cut my hair once I sold the movie. I sold the movie but didn't cut my hair.
Fillion: I accept that.
Haarsma (laughing): Chicks dig it man.
Fillion: It's very "Samsoness". So six years we've known each other but when we met, we never actually hung out or anything like that. Until we met at the restaurant on Sunset. I was chatting to you, actually I just said hello to you. You had your back to me, you were talking to another group of people and your wife and I started chatting and I found out that you guys were Canadian.
Haarsma: Yes.
Fillion: At that point we became friends.
Haarsma: Yes, that part I remember. And then we didn't talk for a while.
Fillion: We lost touch.
Haarsma: When did we run into each other again?
Fillion: It was the house of Blues, I had just gotten back from vacation and I said,
"What have you been up to?" And Marisa [Grieco, wife of PJ Haarsma] says, "Ah, we've been wasting our summer with this terrible video game called Halo. But it's really cool", and yada yada&#Array;. I stopped her and said, "You had me at HALO."
Haarsma: That's where that whole joke started?
Fillion: No actually, I stole if from Lisa Lassek, the editor from Firefly. She is wonderful. Thanks Lisa, that is a great joke. But what were you doing at the time? You weren't a writer.
Haarsma: No, I had a production company and I was shooting commercials and doing photography.
Fillion: Now at this time are you inside your body somewhere saying I wish I could write. I should be a writer- maybe I should write a book&#Array; I gotta book going around in my head&#Array;
Haarsma: Not really. I was into film and I had started dabbling in screenwriting. I had taken a couple of courses at UCLA Berkley. Is that how you say it?
U.C. Berkley? There were a couple of other ones. I met a really cool writing teacher,
Jennifer Heuff&#Array;
Fillion: You know it's a couple of Canadians when you hear, "Is that how you say it? (Laughing)
Haarsma: But it didn't spark my need to write. I wasn't thinking I wanted to be a writer. I was simply doing it as a means to an end.
Fillion: There had to be a moment where you said; you know what I'm going to take my energy in a different direction.
Haarsma:Yes.
Fillion: It takes a lot of energy to get it down.
Haarsma: I was thirty-eight years old. That's when we were playing Halo. We got Halo and the XBox on Christmas day. Patty [Swingers actor Patrick Van Horn], Marisa and I played it until December 28, non-stop. It was at a time when I didn't like what I was doing. I didn't like advertising and the movie was a mess. I just didn't know what I wanted to do anymore. That's when I returned to an incident that happened to me a long, long time ago.
Fillion: Wait, wait. The thing being? The Softwire?
Haarsma: Yes, The Softwire.703 SHARES Share Tweet
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With the craze of making DIY videos taking off, this particular video comes as no doubt. However, we still have to ask the question; Seriously? The question that this video answers is ‘what happens when you replace the car’s brake pads with eight iPhones and then apply brakes when you’re driving at 60mph’.
The team belongs to the YouTube channel Everything Apple Pro and the car used as 2002 Porsche 911 with its clippers upgraded to ones from a 911 Turbo. This modification allowed the team to fit iPhones replacing the brake pads; four iPhone 5S and four iPhone 4S were used for this task.
The iPhones did catch on fire and for all those who weren’t clear on it; No, they can’t be used as brakes. Although the host claims that the 4S is tougher than 5S but we doubt it since the 4S were placed on the rear tires and therefore didn’t take a beating that the 5S took.
Check out the video below and for those who are thinking of trying it out; don’t, just don’t.
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Effects of cultivation conditions on the growth, total lipid content and fatty acid profiles have been analysed for different varieties of Pavlova microalgae. These studies show a maximum content in lipids of 36% of Pavlova Lutheri 6 and 32.10% for Pavlova Viridis 7, 8.
Once the microalgae have been cultivated, they must be separated from the water in a time as short as possible. It is necessary to develop technologies that enable effective separation, in terms of percentage of recovered microalgae and recovery time. To choose a separation method is necessary to consider different parameters such as the type of microalgae (size, density), operating conditions (temperature, pH), and the value of the products. Methods for culture dewatering include filtration, sedimentation, flocculation, centrifugation, or electrolytic filtration 9.
The flocculation is produced by addition of a chemical substance, which helps the solute particles to adhere together. These substances are called flocculants, and there are different types: inorganic metal salts 10, organic polymer 11, microbes 12, 13. Most microalgae cells have a small size, between 5 and 50 μm. These cells form stable suspensions in medium. The stability depends on forces interacting between the microorganisms themselves and between them and the water 14. In conventional coagulation–flocculation–sedimentation, a coagulant is added to create an attraction among the suspended particles. The mixture is slowly stirred to induce particles to join together into flocs. Then, the agitation is stopped and the flocs settle down.
Electrocoagulation–electroflotation (ECF) consists of applying electrical current to treat and flocculate contaminants in absence of flocculant. Electrocoagulation is a technique where metal anodes are used as coagulants. Using the principles of electrochemistry, the cathode is oxidized (loses electrons), while the water is reduced (gains electrons). When the cathode electrode makes contact with the water, the metal is emitted into the apparatus, so particulates are neutralized by formation of hydroxide complexes with the purpose of forming agglomerates. These agglomerates begin to form at the bottom of the tank and can be separated through filtration 15-17.
A microalga is more valuable for biodiesel production as a function of its lipid content, therefore it is important to know its content and remove these lipids. Microalgae are unicellular organisms with extremely tough cell walls that can be difficult to disrupt. They can accumulate a great amount of lipids (20–50% dry weight) 18 in their cytoplasm. Some researches 19-21 have reported different methods to disruption the cells, such as mechanical pressing, microwave‐assisted extraction, enzymatic extraction, ultrasonic‐assisted extraction, and solvent extraction. However, the efficiency of lipids extraction is highly dependent on the organic solvent used. These techniques involve the use of different solvents (chloroform, methanol, hexane, …) or solvent mixtures. In general, solvent mixtures containing a polar and a nonpolar solvent allowing to extract a greater amount of lipids 22.
Pavlova Lutheri is widely used in aquaculture as live feed for marine invertebrates (molluscs, crustaceans, zooplankton) 23. It contains a high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) 24 and it could be a good example of high lipid producing marine microalgae. Some researchers have analysed the potential of Pavlova Lutheri for biodiesel production 25. For this reason, the objective of this work is the study of two separation techniques for Pavlova Lutheri microalgae and two extraction lipids techniques as previous steps for biodiesel production. The analysed harvesting techniques to recovery the microalgae were coagulation and electrocoagulation–electroflotation ECF, and the extraction lipids techniques were Soxhlet and ultrasound methods (Figure 1).Copyright © 2016 USS PUEBLO Veteran's Association. All rights reserved.
North Korea
USS PUEBLO (today)
A perspective
In the late 1990s the Clinton Administration attempted to negotiate with North Korea. At the time, the Koreans were in the process of constructing a nuclear reactor. It would be capable of producing nuclear weapons grade plutonium. The US government entered an agreement that stated in essence, if the Koreans stopped work on the reactor, the US along with some EU nations would provide them with a new light water reactor plus 500,000 tons per year of heavy fuel oil. The fuel oil to be used in the Korean oil fired power plants. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang and met with Kim Jong Il. During the course of those "negotiations" the North Koreans felt they would be able to move USS PUEBLO from Wonsan on Korea's east coast to the Taedong River at Pyongyang on the west coast. This was a voyage of over 1000 nautical miles, all in INTERNATIONAL WATERS.
The move of the ship from Wonsan to Pyongyang was handled by Secretary of Defense William J. Perry who had been appointed by President Clinton his North Korea Policy Coordinator. In that role he was in favor of negotiation and appeasement. He was instrumental in arranging Secretary Albrights visit to NK.
He allowed the ship relocation from East to West and told the US Navy - hands off.
The DVD sold by the North Koreans at the site of USS PUEBLO
now on the Taedong River, Pyongyang, North Korea.
That is on the West coast of North Korea.
USS PUEBLO port side 2010 at Taedong River dock
( © John Pavella/Flickr)
Google Earth June 1, 2013 satellite photo shows location of PUEBLO
USS PUEBLO starboard side 2012 at Taedong River dock
(photo by Joseph A. Ferris III)
NORTH KOREA: What you see as a tourist is the exact opposite of what is real. These two photos of USS PUEBLO demonstrate the paradox. PUEBLO port side - is painted and appears pristine. The 2nd photo shows the reality of the "DPRK."
USS PUEBLO - starboard side Rust BucketDuring his State of the Union address earlier this year, President Obama gave a major boost to the campaign to repeal the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy when he called for its repeal. Then a timeless Washington tradition kicked in and the can was a given a swift kick down the road: The Pentagon would study what it would need to do in order to implement repeal and report back on December 1, after the midterm elections.
The gay community, however, wasn't willing to play along. When it became clear to the administration that it needed to act quickly, the can being so far down the road was presenting problems. "I do not support the idea of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell before our military members and commanders complete their review," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a response that makes perfect sense -- if anybody actually takes such reviews seriously.
Into this debacle stepped House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). In the hectic final days of the battle over the military's DADT policy in Congress, he emerged as the central figure in a contest he'd largely stayed removed from over the years. Hoyer bridged a gulf between repeal proponents and Defense Secretary Robert Gates that only seemed to be growing wider as the moment of decision grew nearer.
Gates took very few congressional calls during negotiations, said his spokesman Geoff Morrell, but spoke twice with Hoyer and the "first call was crucial to shaping the compromise that eventually emerged."
Hoyer proposed compromise language to Gates to find out what he could live with, then organized a critical meeting with top aides from the Pentagon and White House, as well as staffers to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Speaker Nancy Pelois (D-Calif.) and Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.). (House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, who is opposed to repeal, was out of the loop.)
Hoyer's staff had written compromise legislation that was presented to the group on Monday, May 24. "They drafted the version that ultimately, with changes, became what the Pentagon in particular, and the White House and key stakeholders, agreed to be the marching orders going forward," said Winnie Stachelberg, a senior vice president at the Center for American Progress, which was in the middle of negotiations.
"It was really thanks to their work in the end that brought the disparate conversations together into one to ensure that we had a clear sense of where we were going," said Stachelberg, echoing the sentiments of Michael Cole, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, as well as lead House sponsor Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.).
"Steny Hoyer gave a six-minute, passionate speech on the floor which I think made everybody on both sides of the aisle stand up and pay attention," said Murphy, sponsor of the DADT repeal amendment. "Secondly, his behind-the-scenes effort was second to none, with our office, over in the Senate with the Lieberman [and] Levin offices."
Katie Grant, a spokeswoman for Hoyer, said her boss got closely involved when it became clear the legislation was moving forward, and worked to get military buy in.
"When it was clear the Senate Armed Services Committee would be acting at the same time the House would consider the Defense Authorization bill, Leader Hoyer felt it was important for the House to act as well on identical language, and wanted to ensure it was done in a way that respected the military while getting the votes in both chambers," she said.
Gates' objection to the course that Congress was on -- full repeal before a Pentagon study was completed -- was laid out in an April 30 letter to Skelton in which Gates said he "strongly oppose[d] any legislation that seeks to change this policy prior to the completion of this vital assessment process."
That kind of opposition would make it difficult for conservative Democrats to sign on. And it also would have freed up the chiefs of the respective branches, who are more opposed to repeal than Gates, to fire away. "If we hadn't gotten [Gates], I think it's pretty clear the chiefs would've been far more aggressive in their opposition," said one advocate, noting that a letter of opposition from military leaders that was released in the last few days could have done more damage if accompanied by a lobbying campaign.
By the time the review is completed, Democrats may not even be in control of the House -- let alone have a majority large enough to pass repeal legislation. That left the certification compromise as a way out.
"We came up with the idea of a certification trigger when it became clear, talking in particular to House and Senate targets on the Armed Services Committees and other more moderates, that delayed implementation was going to happen," said CAP's Stachelberg, who formerly worked for the Human Rights Campaign.
Some gay activists resented CAP's involvement in the debate, arguing that the gay and lesbian community can speak for itself. Stachelberg said that CAP approached the issue from a national security perspective and worked in coordination with gay groups. "Let's be clear. There are gay groups and there are gay people. So Servicemembers United, SLDN, HRC, Third Way [and] CAP, were the key gay groups working on this, and all of them knew about the certification language and had no problem with it," she said.
One of those people Stachelberg is referring to is AMERICAblog.com's John Aravosis, who was involved in the debate over DADT in the early '90s. He has reluctantly embraced the compromise as better than nothing, but doesn't think it's worth taking credit for. "I get that Winnie and HRC both have a problem with bloggers, but we wouldn't be where we are today if the gay blogs hadn't weighed in. It's usually typical of the people who screwed things up to then accuse everyone else of being less sophisticated," he said. "How sophisticated do you have to be to get a deal that doesn't guarantee repeal?"
Over the rest of the day Monday, Lieberman, Levin, Murphy, the Pentagon and White House signed off on Hoyer's language. Advocates were brought in to the White House to be told of the compromise by Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina. "People were positive," said one person in the meeting of the response to Messina's news. "There was more reluctance on the part of some than others on the language going forward, but at the end of the day you didn't have an option." The meeting included Jim Kessler of Third Way, Aubrey Sarvis of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Alex Nicholson of Servicemembers United and CAP's Stachelberg.
A holdout vote in the Senate, Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), wanted 60 days between the release of the Pentagon report and implementation of repeal.
"Senator Byrd wanted the 60 days," said Pelosi in a conference call this week with reporters. "The Senate wanted the 60 days after the report to lapse so [that] there [would] be no doubt [that] there [will] be time to review how this would go forward."
Byrd, in a statement, said that the 60-day wait would allow Congress to weigh in again. (Byrd knows his legislative calendar: 60 days after December 1, Congress will once again be considering a defense authorization bill.) "Byrd was not supportive of the compromise that was initially announced in the media on May 24. Consultations with members of the Leadership, as well as Senators Lieberman and Levin, resulted in the crafting of the Byrd 60-day Congressional review language, which was then presented to others and became part of the accepted compromise language approved by SASC and the full House," said Byrd spokesman Jesse Jacobs.
Pelosi said the House weakened its repeal language to mollify the White House. "The compromise that was arrived at -- our language in the House, as you're probably aware, was stronger language with nondiscrimination clauses in it. It was believed that it was deemed stronger if we had the exact same language as the Senate, and language that the White House would endorse, so we softened our language to meet that standard so there's no doubt there's unity -- House, Senate, the whole Congress and White House, that this repeal will take place," Pelosi said.
Military leaders refused to accept language that would bar discrimination, so the clause was dropped. And instead of repealing the policy immediately, it will remain in effect until the President, Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify repeal, which can't take place until Byrd's 60 days after the report have elapsed.
Byrd's commitment was secured Monday night, said people familiar with the negotiations. Both Lieberman and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who had pressed the White House hard over the past year to move with more speed on repeal, spoke with Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) to secure his support on the committee. Nelson said that it was important to have Gates and the military on board. On Tuesday, satisfied that the Pentagon was not in opposition, Nelson signed on, giving advocates the majority they needed in the committee. Jim Webb of Virginia, a former Navy Secretary under President Reagan, would be the only Democrat to vote no.
The House passed its amendment 234-194 on Thursday night and approved the underlying bill on Friday. The fight now moves to the Senate floor, where Republicans are threatening to filibuster the final legislation.
"There really is a difference between what values are between the parties when it comes to ending discrimination," said Pelosi, who has championed repeal of DADT for years and said that she was so excited the night it passed that she could barely sleep.Sweet Christmas! “Marvel’s Luke Cage” is officially getting a second season.
Netflix announced the news on the show’s Twitter and Facebook pages on Sunday, posting a short video that featured a sign in Pop’s Barber Shop reading “Season 2 coming soon.” The posts are also accompanied by Pop’s own motto, which Luke Cage takes to heart in Season 1: “Always forward.”
“Luke Cage” is now the third Marvel show to get a second season on the streaming platform. “Daredevil” was first to be renewed for a second season, and has also received the greenlight for a third. “Jessica Jones” was also renewed after its critically acclaimed freshman season.
Next up in Netflix’s Marvel universe are “Iron Fist” and the crossover “The Defenders,” which will combine all four superheros that had their own shows on Netflix. A release date for “Luke Cage” Season 2 was not announced on Sunday.
Season 1 of “Luke Cage” was well received by critics and fans alike. In her review, Variety‘s Maureen Ryan said, “Nothing is cooler than watching bullets bounce off Luke Cage as he brings the ruckus and schools all the fools.”
Mike Colter plays the titular bulletproof superhero in “Luke Cage,” which also starred Rosario Dawson, Mahershala Ali, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, and Alfre Woodard. Colter will also star in “The Defenders,” along with Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, and Finn Jones.The wine program at Café du Nord, curated by Ne Timeas Restaurant Group wine directors Geno Tomko and Samuel Bogue, focuses on Champagne and the diverse wines found throughout that region. With an emphasis on vintage bottles from historic Grande Marques houses to small grower producers, this list provides a broad representation of the entire Champagne region. Additional wines on the list originate from top producers in classic regions such as Chianti, Burgundy, and Côtes du Rhône. In a nod to the tradition of Champagne served as celebratory drink, and as a way to make coveted vintages accessible to all, all bottles of Champagne will be half-price after midnight, seven days a week.
Chef Thomas McNaughton has created a menu inspired by classic dishes found throughout watering holes and eateries in America in the 20th Century, and influenced by his passion for local ingredients. The menu is available to guests throughout the entire bar and options range from small snacks to pair with a drink at the bar to larger plates more suited to a seated meal.
Bar snacks include Popcorn, Bar Nuts and Beef Jerky. Fresh seafood including Broiled Oysters Kilpatrick, Shrimp Cocktail and Raw Oysters is a nod to the California coast. In addition to a selection of appetizers, McNaughton’s menu features classic entrees like the Burger du Nord, Cioppino, Chicken al Mattone and a Rib Eye Steak. To complement the half-price Champagne after midnight, Café Du Nord will also offer $1 oysters.
“This has been one of our most exciting projects to date, and to work alongside The Bon Vivants to revitalize Café du Nord has been an incredible experience,” says McNaughton. “Such a storied space offers the extraordinary opportunity to create a menu that speaks to this 100 year history of the building and pay tribute to its legacy.”
Renovations to the 4,500 square foot space, led by Ne Timeas Restaurant Group partner David White, draw design inspiration from the Café du Nord of the 1930’s and 1940’s. The wood wainscoting is complemented by vintage wallpaper, deco-era light fixtures and a 1930’s-era color palette of soft greens and grays. Café du Nord is divided into two rooms: The Bar in the front and the Viking Room in the back. Upon entering the space, guests descend a flight of stairs into The Bar, which features a 20-seat bar, complete with the original 107-year-old backbar and café table seating for 20. The Viking Room has a five-seat bar, 30 seats for guests seeking a full-service dining experience, and a stage for musical acts, which will highlight local artists.
Café du Nord will host live music seven nights a week in the Viking Room, in keeping with the recent history of the storied room. Programming will highlight local artists playing a range of styles including jazz, blues and cocktail piano, as a complement to guests’ drinking and dining experiences. Guests can make reservations by phone for the Viking Room.
Café du Nord is located at 2174 Market Street (between Church and Sanchez) in San Francisco and is open every night, from 5:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m. Food is served until 1:30 a.m. For more information, please visit www.cafedunord.com.by Spencer Irwin
This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!
It takes quite a bit of hubris to think you can singlehandedly end crime, even in just one city. I’ve never been a fan of the interpretations that paint Batman as insane or as the genesis of his own enemies, but I do think there’s some merit to examining the negative effects his crusade on crime may create. That’s exactly what Tom King and Mikel Janin seem ready to do in “The War of Jokes and Riddles,” a storyline pitting the Joker and the Riddler against each other in a city-wide gang war that, of course, Batman blames himself for.
In fact, Batman’s guilt is built into the very foundation of Batman 25, wherein King and Janin frame their flashback story as a confession of sorts from Bruce to Selina Kyle. Bruce seems to feel guilty for something he does to end the war, but it’s easy to imagine that he feels just as bad about his role, unwitting as it is, in starting it in the first place.
Essentially, Batman’s so good at his job that he’s robbed Joker and the Riddler of the one thing they love most: humor and a challenge, respectively. Both these compulsive men feel the need to kill Batman themselves to reclaim what they’ve lost, and that drives them to war because, of course, they can’t let the other kill Batman, right?
Of course, Batman’s “crime” isn’t that he’s foiled these criminals’ plans; it’s that he was unable to anticipate how his actions, as necessary as they may have been to save lives and save Gotham City, would fuel his enemies’ madness. It’s that Batman thought he had “pushed [Gotham] into the light,” when all he had done was survive the first salvo.
This “nap of satisfaction” — which you could easily rename the “nap of hubris” — is one Batman will likely regret for the rest of his days, and is almost definitely the source of much of his more paranoid and obsessive behavior. So, the fact that Bruce is now confessing his guilt to Selina is a good sign, right? A sign that he’s trying to change, trying to live up to the commitment he’s made to Selina? That would be wonderful, but alas, Batman doesn’t change that easily. Let’s see the rest of the guilt King and Janin have planned to dump on Batman by this arc’s conclusion before we jump to any conclusions.
The conversation doesn’t stop there. What do you wanna talk about from this issue?First lady Michelle Obama spoke forcefully for Hillary Clinton, and against Donald Trump, at a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Thursday. Jim Cole/AP
The tag team of Obama & Obama is becoming the most powerful surrogate operation backing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and the most effective scourge of Republican candidate Donald Trump.
President Barack Obama has the lighter touch, while first lady Michelle Obama is the more somber advocate. But they are sending the same message, which grabs headlines and holds media and public attention: Reject Trump and accept Clinton.
The president, whose job approval ratings have climbed to more than 50 percent, told a Democratic fundraiser in Ohio Thursday night that the rise of Trump is due to a long-term pattern in which Republicans played to the anger and fear |
a student loan represents taking on debt and should really be a last resort to fund a college education.
Encourage Testing for Credit
The College Board doesn’t just design, administer and report college entrance exams. Two of its programs allow high school students to earn college credits for passing examinations, potentially savings thousands of dollars of tuition.
Encourage your college-bound child to look into Advanced Placement (AP) courses and taking the respective AP tests at the end of each one for possible college credit.
The College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) seeks to give students credit for what they already know. CLEP offers a group of standardized tests that are great way to earn credit for learning gained by independent study and cultural experiences.
Though new and exciting, college is often a hectic experience for students and their parents. Taking advantage of these financial tips should reduce the stress your family faces when your youngster leaves the nest.Consumer prices jump, industrial production falls
At the same time, the monthly increase was also one-tenth of a percentage point higher than most analysts had forecast, which inflation hawks are likely to seize on as supporting their concern.
The rise was small enough to lend support to Obama's staunch view that high levels of federal spending are needed to stimulate economic recovery and pose no immediate threat of runaway inflation.
The government reported Wednesday that so-called core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in June from the prior month and a modest 1.7% from a year earlier.
WASHINGTON — Inflation jumped slightly more than expected last month, mainly as a result of an uptick in energy prices, adding to the arguments over President Obama's economic policies and cutting into the spending power of consumers who are struggling with stagnant wages and rising unemployment.
Beyond the political debate, the report suggests that the risk of deflation -- a general downward spiral in prices and economic activity -- is waning.
"One month doesn't make a big deal, but this is continuing a pattern in which we see persistence rather than the beginning of a meaningful decline" in inflation, Laurence H. Meyer, chairman of forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, said of the June report. "It will renew the sense of inflation angst."
Other analysts, though, said the June data suggested that consumer prices were not accelerating enough to cause serious inflation concerns -- and were within the comfort range for the Federal Reserve, which is trying to balance the risks of inflation with its efforts to promote economic growth.
Overall, consumer prices for goods and services in June rose 0.7% from May, with higher gasoline prices accounting for more than 80% of that gain, the Labor Department said.
From its June 2008 level, however, the consumer price index was down 1.4%, the largest 12-month decline in nearly six decades.
Pump prices have eased since spiking in early June, and hence consumer prices overall are expected to trend lower this month, with the core inflation rate remaining steady.
Still, even small price increases will cut into the spending power of workers whose earnings have flattened as unemployment has surged.
In June, average weekly earnings, seasonally adjusted, fell 1.2% from May after taking into account inflation and reduced work hours, the department said in a separate report Wednesday.
"Consumers are going to be under pressure," said Jared Franz, an economist at T. Rowe Price Group in Baltimore. But he said things were still looking brighter than in the fourth quarter of last year.
Based on nonfarm payroll data, average weekly earnings, before adjustments for inflation and seasonal variations, were $609.37 in June, compared with $613.80 a year earlier.
--
don.lee@latimes.comDuring this dispute, which lasted for weeks, millions of Time Warner customers who love boxing were unable to watch any of the Showtime networks.
CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) and Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks have reached an agreement for carriage of CBS owned stations on Time Warner Cable systems across the country, as well as Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel, it was announced today by representatives for the companies. Programming on all networks will resume at 6:00 PM ET today. Though specific terms of the deal are not being disclosed, the agreement includes retransmission consent, as well as Showtime Anytime and VOD, for CBS stations on Time Warner Cable systems in New York (WCBS and WLYW), Los Angeles (KCBS and KCAL) and Dallas (KTVT and KTXA.)
[QUOTE=ElAbad;13706762]I ditched them too. Don't mess with my boxing programming. [B]I jumped over to fios[/B] and loving it. Fack time Warner!:buttkick:[/QUOTE] Fios is the best cable provider I've ever had
I ditched them too. Don't mess with my boxing programming. I jumped over to fios and loving it. Fack time Warner!:buttkick:
Ohhhhh yeaaaaaa...finally, listen let me tell you.....i called them mofos everyday at twc, gave them a lil bit of my mind and got credit for the whole month plus hbo cinemax for free..... The question is, how much is our…
Finally! Had no more patience left.
I told them so yeah I said itCopyright by WOWK - All rights reserved
EAST BUTLER, PA (WCMH) – A woman is facing charges after police say she overdosed while seven months pregnant.
WPXI reported Kasey Dischman, 30, overdosed in her Pennsylvania home Friday. She was released from jail after a retail theft arrest just a few days before.
Doctors had to deliver by cesarean section in order to save the baby’s life.
Dischman’s child is in critical condition and on life support.
“The baby’s in bad shape,” police Lt. Eric Hermick told the Butler Eagle. “The baby’s in severe condition.”
Police said they are charging Dischman with aggravated assault on an unborn child. If the baby does not survive, they plan to charge her with homicide.
“It goes to the opioid epidemic,” Hermick said. “It’s so severe it doesn’t stop a mother 30-plus weeks pregnant from overdosing.”Welcome back for part two of my five-part series introducing you to the top 50 Detroit Tigers 2019 prospects.
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While the players listed first tend to be more highly rated by other publications, the list does include a mix of the Tigers’ best prospects and guys further down in the rankings. I’ll be going over another 10 prospects today, but if you’re interested in getting to know the first 10 players, including top prospect Casey Mize, you can check out part one of the series here.
Matt Manning, RHP
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While Casey Mize is considered by many to be the Tigers best prospect, Matt Manning should be ranked at 1B. All in all, Manning couldn’t have pitched any better in 2018. He struck out 11 batters per nine innings at each of the three different levels he pitched at last season. Manning boasts a low 90’s fastball that he can bump up to 95-96 as needed. For secondary pitches, he has a change-up that lags behind his fastball and a curveball that has proven to be a serious strikeout threat. While Manning has the stuff to be a top starter for Tigers moving forward, his delivery is still a work in progress and as a result, his command and velocity have suffered some ups and downs. That being said, the upside here is as good as any Tigers fan could’ve hoped.
Daz Cameron, OF
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One thing you’ll come to notice about the Detroit Tigers 2019 prospects is that there are a number of players in the farm system with impressive family trees. Daz Cameron, the son of former MLB centerfielder Mike Cameron, is just one example. Daz came to Detroit in the Justin Verlander deal with the Astros and has been impressing the Tigers’ front office ever since. During the 2018 season, Daz smashed 42 extra-base hits in 126 games across three levels. He followed that up with an impressive run through the Arizona Fall League, slashing.342/.435/.468/.903 over 20 games. Daz has a solid overall game and now finds himself on the doorstep of the major leagues. While there is some potential to see Daz with the Tigers this season, he likely won’t be ready to take a starting spot in the outfield until 2020.
Willi Castro, SS
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Signing Leonys Martin last offseason was initially a bit of a head scratcher for Tigers fans, but Al Avila was able to flip Martin at the 2018 trade deadline for a pretty nice return in shortstop prospect Willi Castro. Castro is likely to be the first potentially impactful middle infield bat to emerge from the system. He is an above-average defender who will definitely stick at shortstop, and he’s a switch-hitter. Why isn’t he with the Tigers now? The problem is that we’re not sure how productive he will be offensively. Castro was batting.245 with five home runs and 13 stolen bases in 97 games for Cleveland’s Double-A affiliate but exploded for a.921 OPS in 26 games for the Erie SeaWolves. Castro is likely to start the season in AAA and should get the call at some point in 2019 to show what he can do if his hitting improves.
Spencer Turnbull, RHP
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At 26 years old, Spencer Turnbull is one of the older players on this list. He came out of the University of Alabama in 2014 throwing smoke, and the only thing that has stopped him so far has been an injury-prone shoulder and inconsistent secondary pitches. Turnbull seems to have found a formula for success with his cutter and fastball. He made his MLB debut with the Tigers in late September and should spend a lot of time in the Tigers bullpen during the 2019 season.
Derek Hill, OF
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The 23rd overall pick in the 2014 MLB draft, Derek Hill has been plagued by injuries throughout his young career. There is no denying that Hill has some serious speed, but he has never lived up to the hype of being such as high draft pick. After 5 seasons with the Tigers’ organization, Hill has never made it above A+ ball and is only batting.244 over those years. The fact he went unprotected and unclaimed in this year’s Rule 5 draft says everything about his value right now. But the elite speed and defensive acumen are still there, so Hill might still make it to Detroit as a speedy bench piece.
Sergio Alcantara, SS/2B
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If you’re looking for a player to compare Sergi Alcantara to he is basically a clone of former Tigers infielder Dixon Machado. Alcantara was another piece that came to the Tigers in the J.D Martinez trade. He is a glove-first middle infielder with excellent range and a cannon for an arm. Alcantara has a smaller build which limits his effectiveness at the plate. While he has a good feel for the strike zone and can work a count, Alcantara needs to develop physically to have a future beyond a utility infielder.
Jose Azocar, OF
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After a rough 2017 season, Jose Azocar saw his stock rise in 2018 while splitting time with the West Michigan Whitecaps and Lakeland. Azocar managed to hit.297/.320/.399/.719 last season while stealing 11 bases on 15 attempts. Even though he is only 22 years old, there doesn’t appear to be much upside to Azocar after six years in the Tigers’ system. In order to turn heads, Azocar would need to have a tremendous 2019 campaign, one that would see him make his way to AA and continue to perform at a high level.
Anthony Castro, RHP
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Anothny Castro turned in a solid, yet not overly impressive year during the 2018 campaign. Castro had an ERA of 3.34 and a WHIP of 1.38 while striking out twice as many guys as he walked. Castro pitched mostly in Lakeland but did see 10 innings of work in Erie. He’ll be starting 2019 in AA, meaning this season will go a long way towards deciding what Castro’s future holds.
Pedro Martinez Jr, 3B
I did mention that there are some famous bloodlines included in the Detroit Tigers 2019 prospects, didn’t I? As you can probably guess, Pedro Martinez Jr is the son of Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez. At just 18 years old, Pedro is a long way away from the majors. He only played in 47 games last season, so there isn’t much data to project how fast he’ll rise through the Tigers’ system. However, if Pedro can put together a solid season in A- in 2019 we should be able to get a better sense of when we might see him in Detroit.
A.J. Simcox SS/IF
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The Detroit Tigers selected A.J. Simcox out of the Unversity of Tennesse in the 14th round of the 2015 MLB draft. Simcox split time last season between the Erie SeaWolves and the Lakeland Flying Tigers. While he isn’t one of the more eye-catching prospects in the Tigers’ system, Simcox is a quality ballplayer that simply serves as organizational depth.
Thanks for reading this far! If you’re interested in reading the previous post in the series, you can check it out using the link below:Robo Recall was easily one of the most exciting games we got our hands on at Oculus Connect 3 earlier this month. Epic Games turned their popular Bullet Train tech demo into a full game that’s not only coming to Oculus Rift with Touch next year after the controllers release this December, but it will also be available for free when it arrives.
In Robo Recall, you’ll spend your time unloading bullets into hundreds of robots as they descend upon you from all angles. Using the Touch controllers, you can spin around and blast them away, teleport around the environment for movement, and even reach out and rip them into dozens of pieces with your bare hands. It’s a bit of a power fantasy, with a dash of humor, and the visceral gameplay does a great job of keeping your mind focused on your virtual surroundings.
“When making Robo Recall, we started with the base of Bullet Train as it stood,” said Nick Whiting, Technical Director at Epic Games during a phone interview. “There was a lot in there that people liked, such as the action, the feel, the not too serious tone, it was very over-the-top like a comic book movie. We wanted to incorporate grabbing and punching, but we just didn’t have time to do that before.”
The team at Epic locked onto that mechanic as a big part of Robo Recall and for good reason. It’s super satisfying to watch the sparks fly and metal peel off when I rip an arm or leg away from a robotic torso. It makes me feel like a hero from one of The Terminator films.
“Bullet Train was made on a short timeframe with a small group,” said Whiting. “In fact, focused work was only around 6 weeks long and about 10 weeks overall total. We learned a lot about pushing the rendering technology with it, but because of the constraints there was just a lot that we wanted to get done that we couldn’t get done. We asked what we could do if we cranked everything up to 11, and that’s sort of how we got Robo Recall. We wanted to make the ultimate tech demo.”
Based on what we’ve seen, they’ve more than succeeded. There’s still no word on exactly when the game releases or how long it will be, but you can’t argue with free. Visually, it’s a treat, and has enough action to keep you busy. Replaying levels to get higher scores and challenging friends will be a go-to option at future gatherings and demo environments.
However, you probably shouldn’t expect official support for Robo Recall to come to other VR platforms, like the HTC Vive or PlayStation VR — at least not any time soon.
“After Bullet Train, Oculus basically asked us if we wanted to turn that into a full game. So, right now it’s an Oculus exclusive piece of content because they funded it,” explained Whiting. “But even though Oculus funded the title, they gave us a lot of freedom. That’s what enables us to to give it away for free and grow the VR market.”
You can read more about Robo Recall in our full hands-on and expect to play the game when it arrives on Oculus Rift with Touch in early 2017.
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MIDWEST CITY, Okla. - Authorities say they are learning new information regarding a shooting that killed one man.
Around 1 a.m. on Thursday, Midwest City police were called to a shooting in the 9600 block of Willow Wind, near SE 15th and Post Rd.
"911, is this a medical emergency?" asked the dispatcher. "Yes, I need you here quick. My boyfriend just busted down my window," said Jenice Jackson.
Initially, police were told that 18-year-old Jenice Jackson shot her ex-boyfriend, 21-year-old Isaiah Orange, after he allegedly broke into her house through a bathroom window.
"What happened to him?" asked the dispatcher. "He pulled out a gun and he started waving it at me and he hit me, so I shot him," said Jackson.
"The suspect came into the house without permission through an unlocked bathroom window, began assaulting her. She fired, at least, one shot maybe more, striking the suspect and eventually killing him," Chief Brandon Clabes, with the Midwest City Police Department, told KFOR on Thursday.
Next to Orange's body was a loaded.45 caliber handgun, which had been reported stolen out of Lawton.
At the time, police could not find the gun that was used to kill Orange.
However, authorities say new information is giving them a better idea of exactly what happened that night.
Investigators say Jackson lied about shooting Orange, saying she feared for retaliation.
Instead, police say her new boyfriend, 18-year-old Alex Brown, was the one who pulled the trigger.
Jackson told detectives that she and Brown were sleeping when she woke up to a strange noise. Seconds later, she says Orange came into the bedroom with a gun and threatened to kill her and Brown.
At that point, she says Orange began assaulting her and that's when Brown grabbed a gun and fired several shots at Orange.
Officials said Brown brought his own weapon to the house for protection after learning about the abusive relationship between Jackson and her ex.
On Thursday afternoon, Brown and his attorney went to the police department to hand over the gun.
"Even though it took some time to get the true information in this case, it doesn't alter the fact that Isaiah Orange forcibly entered an occupied residence at 1 a.m. in the morning armed with a loaded firearm with intent to commit a crime. Furthermore, both Jackson and Brown were in fear of their life by their own admission and took action to protect themselves," Clabes said.
Police said this is the fourth case in Midwest City falling under the criteria of the 'Make My Day' law.
"People need to be cognizant if you break into homes, there's a consequence to that and that could be you lose your life," said Clabes.
The Midwest City Police Department will present their evidence to the district attorney, who will determine if any charges will be filed against the people involved.Renaissance man and author of Processing Creativity: the Tools, Practices and Habits Used to Make Music You're Happy With, Jesse Cannon, joins Bill and Brian to discuss Jimmy Eat World's breakthrough album Bleed American (2001, Dreamworks). Jesse describes coming up in the emo scene at the same time as JEW, listening to their album Clarity as a genre defining touchstone, and loving this album when it came out. Then Brian, Bill, and Jesse talk about Mark Trombino's contributions as producer, Zach Lind's unique drumming, Jim Adkins' tone and string gauge, and a whole lot of production tips and tricks as we make our way through the album track by track.
Make sure to check out all the projects Jesse is involved with - including producing and more podcasting - at jessecannon.com!AMSTERDAM – Hamburg loan winger Julian Green may have made a grand splash in his World Cup debut this summer, but he had an entirely different first taste of Bundesliga action in Sunday's dreary 2-0 loss away to Hannover 96.
Green started on the right flank, but was pulled at the break after spending much of the first half watching the Reds swarm his side's box. And while dominant Hannover hit twice in the opening 23 minutes, the young American only had rare chances on the ball over 45, accumulating just 19 non-defensive touches.
Shortly after Hannover opened on 13 minutes, Green's cross found the head of Hamburg striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga, who nudged the ball just wide of goal.
Green would switch to the left side midway through the period and experience his only scoring chance from there. Eight minutes before intermission, a cross from the right bounced just out of the reach of Lasogga to the US international, but his one-time shot attempt was blocked by a recovering defender.
Overall, Green connected on seven of his eight passes, but went down in the ledger for being dispossessed a game-high six times. He also notched a pair of pocket-picks for himself and earned one free kick.
Green's next chance to get a game arrives when Bundesliga cellar dwellers HSV host Green's parent club, champs Bayern Munich, on Saturday.
Greg Seltzer covers Americans based in Europe for MLSsoccer.com.If you change your name can you make all your problems disappear?
The struggling insurance giant AIG couldn't even ensure its own good name.
Workers peeled off the large AIG sign at its Water Street offices in downtown Manhattan last weekend, part of a move to rebrand its core insurance business, according to reports.
The building had been mistaken for AIG's headquarters around the corner, which has only a small brass name plate that reads "American International Building," according to the New York Daily News.
AIG will now call its property-casualty company "AIU Holdings LTD" in an effort to "distinguish these well-capitalized businesses from AIG," a corporate spokesman told Reuters.
Blame Them For Your Empty Wallet
“I think the AIG name is so thoroughly wounded and disgraced that we’re probably going to have to change it,” AIG CEO Edward Liddy told Congress last week.
For the new name, AIG reached back to 1919, when it founded Shanghai: American International Underwriters, the New York Times reported.
That name is still recognized in Asia, where AIG's tentacles reach deep. Reviving the name could help AIG keep business that others have been poaching, according to the Times.
AIU hopes to eventually spin off 20 percent of the business in a stock offering, Reuters reported.
Taxpayers have poured up to $180 billion into AIG in three rounds of bailouts to prevent a systemic collapse of the financial system.
Last week, outrage reached a fevered pitch over the fact that the company paid $165 million in bonuses to workers at a company division that lost $100 billion.
A couple outfits have now begun to offer tours of executives' homes. Some of those employees in the company's financial products division have received death threats. And the House passed a bill to tax 90 percent of bonuses for AIG executives.
AIG CEO Liddy gave the employees a deadline today to let him know if they would return half or all of their bonuses, the Wall Street Journalreported.
Time will tell whether AIG's name change can help make its problems disappear.FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — Faced with a widening crisis over the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, Sierra Leone’s government said Tuesday that it would deploy hundreds of troops and police officers to ensure that patients and family members who may be infected remain isolated.
A battalion — 750 soldiers — will be sent to clinics housing Ebola patients in areas where the disease is most virulent, and the police presence will be reinforced at homes where family members are at risk of having contracted it, said Abdulai Baratay, a government spokesman.
Sierra Leone has become the center of the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola, which has instilled fear across West Africa and has spread to four countries. Sierra Leone, a country of 5.7 million people and the size of South Carolina, has recorded the highest number of cases, 646, and the second-highest deaths, 273.Last Sunday, Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, said he would bench players who did not stand during the national anthem. This threat was publicized nationally and applauded on Twitter by President Trump, who summarized the two men’s shared view: “Stand for Anthem or sit for game!”
On Wednesday, the president elaborated on his views, telling Fox News that the NFL “should have suspended” Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the anthem because “you cannot disrespect our country, our flag, our anthem — you cannot do that.” It is quite possible the players have First Amendment protection against retaliation of this kind. The First Amendment generally protects citizens against the suppression of their speech by the government, not private entities like their employers. But when the president uses the power of his office to intimidate business owners into suppressing the speech of their employees — with both implied threats and specific ones — the possibility of a First Amendment violation becomes quite real.
Whatever the Constitution has to say about the matter, however, it is manifestly clear that Jones’s threat violates federal labor law. Benching, or otherwise disciplining, players who engage in anthem protests would be illegal.
The National Labor Relation Act forbids employers from taking adverse employment actions against workers who are engaged in “concerted activity for mutual aid or protection.”
So the first part of the labor law analysis, and the easiest, is whether “benching” counts as an adverse employment action of the sort the law prohibits. Some commentators have suggested that benching is not a sufficiently severe penalty to count (as they concede a heavy fine, or loss of job, might be). But anyone who has ever played sports, or watched sports, or had a kid who played sports, knows that benching is adverse. “Getting benched” is what happens to you when the coach wants to discipline or punish you. When your job is playing sports, getting benched is a pretty good definition of what adverse employment action means.
Employers can’t punish employees for “concerted activity for mutual aid”
The real issue in the anthem protest cases is whether the players’ actions constitute “concerted activity for mutual aid or protection,” which is what federal labor law protects. Again, the “concerted” prong is easy: There’s no question that the players involved are acting in concert with one another — i.e., together. The question is whether their anthem protests — which originated and remain directed in large part at questions of racial equality and justice, including the issue of police violence, as opposed to more traditional labor concerns, such as working conditions — are the kind of concerted activity that labor law shields against retaliation.
The fact that the protests are unmistakably “political” does not take them outside the scope of labor law. The Supreme Court, in Eastex v. NLRB, established — and the National Labor Relations Board has affirmed repeatedly — that labor law protects workers who engage in certain kinds of political advocacy. The limitation is that the political advocacy, to be protected by labor law, must relate to the employees’ status as employees. (Eastex involved Texas workers who, in a flyer promoting union solidarity, also called on workers to fight against a state “right to work” law and for minimum wage protections.)
And although, at first blush, the anthem protests may not seem to be about the players’ lives as players, there are several ways in which they most definitely are.
First, race discrimination — and certainly the acute kind that manifests as police violence — affects the targets of that discrimination across all spheres of their lives. Police violence directed at African-American men may happen away from the workplace, but that can’t mean that police violence has no impact on African-American men at work. Indeed, the idea that police violence, and other forms of race discrimination, can somehow be cabined away from work, just because that discrimination occurs away from work, is false. So when players protest societal discrimination against African-American men, this is a protest that concerns their lives as employees.
To be clear, labor law would not need to treat all types of off-work dynamics that potentially affect work as protected in order to treat the forms of race discrimination under protest here as protected. The law must draw lines of this sort all the time, and distinguishing things like racially discriminatory police violence from other forms of off-work behavior should be manageable.
Second, the NFL and the agreement the league has with the players stresses repeatedly that being an NFL player involves more than what happens on the field. For example, paragraph two of the standard player agreement states that a player must pledge to “conduct himself on and off the field with appropriate recognition of the fact that the success of professional football depends largely on public respect for and approval of those associated with the game.” In other words, the job of being a football player involves much more of what in many other occupations might be classified as non-work or non-employment matters. But the league can’t expand the definition of what it means to be an NFL player solely in order to restrict player conduct. Having defined the job as a public one, the league must then own the fact that players’ advocacy efforts around “public” issues — including race discrimination — concern the players as employees.
Protesting unfair punishment by bosses is core protected activity
Third, although all the protesters have solid protection from labor law for the reasons I’ve outlined, it would be even more blatantly illegal to bench anthem protesters in cases in which they are taking a knee as a means of showing support for teammates threatened with discipline for their actions — whether those threats come from a team owner or the president of the United States. For these protesters, taking a knee is a means of, among other things, expressing a view about what should and should not constitute a disciplinary offense at work. That kind of protest is the heartland of what labor law protects: It is absolutely core “concerted activity for mutual aid and protection.”
One final note. Even if anthem protests are protected by federal labor law, the players’ collective bargaining agreement could, in theory, waive their right to engage in them. The Supreme Court, however, has held that any such waiver has to be clear and unmistakable, and there is no such clear and unmistakable waiver in the players’ agreements that I’m aware of. Certainly, the language from paragraph two of the agreement — about conduct “on and off the field,” quoted above — doesn’t meet the standard.
Nor does language in paragraph 11 of the agreement, which allows a team to fire a player if the player “has engaged in personal conduct reasonably judged by Club to adversely affect or reflect on Club.” Again, it’s not specific enough.
There apparently also is a mention of the anthem in the “game operations manual” that suggests that players “should” stand during the anthem. It is unclear (at least to me) whether or how this manual is incorporated into the collective bargaining agreement. But the use of “should” rather than “must” makes it less than “clear and unmistakable” that the players’ rights in this respect have been waived.
The longer this goes on, the more evident it becomes that the players have a legal right to engage in the anthem protests. Labor law provides one such source of protection. Noah Zatz, a law professor at UCLA, has argued that Title VII, which forbids racial discrimination, provides another source.
Whatever the source of protection, however, the illegality of the threats issued by Jones and amplified by the president is clear.
Benjamin Sachs is the Kestnbaum professor of labor and industry at Harvard Law School. A version of this piece first appeared on the site OnLabor.org.
The Big Idea is Vox’s home for smart discussion of the most important issues and ideas in politics, science, and culture — typically by outside contributors. If you have an idea for a piece, pitch us at thebigidea@vox.com.by
In the 18 months since twenty first-graders were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary, there have been 74 shootings at U.S. schools. That averages out to nearly one school shooting per week since the Newtown massacre.
In response the 74th incident, which occurred at a high school in Oregon, president Obama said, “We’re the only developed country on Earth where this happens,” and that lawmakers should be “ashamed” of not passing stricter gun control laws.
Good for Obama for acknowledging something bad about the country he leads — maybe this will make him rethink his “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being” statement last month.
But bad for Obama for turning this into a gun control issue.
It’s hard to take seriously a person who decries violence as a means of conflict resolution when that same person orders the assassination of his own citizens and drops bombs on innocent people in other countries. A few hours after he lamented gun violence in the US he ordered drone strikes in Pakistan, which killed 13 human beings.
So, it’s okay for the US to kill people in another country, but it’s not okay for Americans to kill people in their own country?
Obviously, Obama is trying to capitalize on the school shootings as a way to gain political favor for his Democratic party, and to prevent people from talking about the real causes of violence in America.
But Obama and Democrats aren’t the only ones trying to distract people from addressing the root causes of schoolyard massacres. Republican lawmakers attempt to explain away the violence by saying the perpetrators are mentally ill and that more security is needed to stop these atrocities from happening.
US militarism leads to domestic violence?
You could see it coming. Both parties are looking for a way to excite their voter base by turning this into a “Democrats want to take away your guns” and “gun control is a way to prevent domestic massacres” false debate.
The oversimplification by both parties is a made for TV, politically based distraction from talking about the root causes of American domestic killings, and as a way to keep the American people fighting each other instead of fighting the government.
Sure, debating the proliferation of guns in America is important, but what’s even more important is to have a discussion about the brutally violent culture that has been ingrained into the people of the United States by its government, television, video games, movies and machismo.
And most importantly, isn’t it time our society discusses the glorification of the military and how that translates into an everyday means of conflict resolution?
People are taught to behave like those who are most respected by society. And the military is at the top of the pecking order of American society. The days of spitting on soldiers as they return from war have been replaced by a pro-military fervor that is so strong that if one dares say they don’t “support the troops” they run the risk of being ostracized or labeled a traitor.
Politicians put the military on a pedestal. The music industry sings their praises. The sports world worships them. Video games portray them as Superman-like heroes. The media downplays their atrocities. They have national holidays in their honor. Hollywood allows them to shape movies. And you’ll even hear “I support the warrior but not the war” at antiwar protests.
Given this deification of the military, American citizens, especially children are going to think that the way to resolve a conflict is by force and not by the use of dialog or compromise. After all, even third grade students know that those in the military use guns and bombs, not words and reason to ‘stop the bad guy’ or to get payback for some wrong done to them. Our nation’s response to Sept. 11 provided the blueprint.
Using Switzerland and Norway as examples
While the US currently ranks number one in worldwide per-capita gun own ownership, Switzerland has the third highest gun ownership rate in the world, yet they’ve only had 16 random killing incidents since 1990, and their gun homicide rate is seven times less than the U.S. Though this is just one example, it suggests that gun ownership alone is not the primary issue in which to focus. And it may just be a coincidence, but could part of the reason Switzerland has a relatively low rate of domestic gun violence be due to its overall belief in not resolving international disputes with the use of the military?
Norway provided a lesson in how to respond to horrific violence following the 2011 attack by Anders Breivik, which left 77 dead, most of which were teenagers. It was the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II, and a survey found that 1 in 4 Norwegians knew “someone affected by the attacks”.
But instead of acting “tough” and implementing new laws that sacrificed liberty for “security,” Norway decided that they would pursue the path of dialog and understanding.
Jens Stoltenberg, then Norway’s prime minister, called on the nation to fight against extreme ideologies. “We should counter blind hate with argument and education.” “The bomb and bullets (from Breivik) were aimed at changing Norway, … and the Norwegian people responded by embracing our values. The killer failed, the people won.”
Wow, can you imagine if George W. Bush would have said that after the attacks of Sept. 11?
Values vs. laws
There’s no doubt that people in the US want senseless mass killings to stop. But are we strong enough as a society to get to the root causes of these killings, to really take a look at who we are and be willing to make some changes to our values, not just our laws?
People like myself who want to live in a country free of guns have to face the fact that the 2nd Amendment says that the government shall not infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. I don’t like it, but I invoke my 1st Amendment rights every time a cop harasses people at a protest I’m attending, so unless I want to be intellectually dishonest, I must accept both Amendments. This still leaves room for a discussion on background checks, assault rifles and concealed weapons.
But what may be more effective in helping stem domestic killings would be a redirection of the debate from the overly-simplistic, partisan gun control conversation to one that asks what kind of society produces this many alienated and deeply troubled people
Let’s debate the pressures that our consumer/glamour society puts on young people. And, let’s talk about our culture of glorifying violence and using aggression to resolve problems. Obama rightly stated that the US is the only developed country experiencing |
countries. Each has been consumed with domestic issues, from West Wing infighting and a special counsel investigation in Washington to a sensitive leadership transition in Beijing.
The Trump administration in particular has been stretched thin on trade. It has been slow to fill important trade-related positions, because of distractions and the lengthy congressional confirmation process. The administration has been preoccupied with rewriting the North American Free Trade Agreement and a United States trade deal with South Korea.
Trade has also been supplanted by North Korea as the most talked-about issue in Northeast Asia for President Trump, and an issue on which he wants Chinese cooperation, not confrontation. With the administration also trying to push tax policy changes through Congress, two top economic officials are not even joining the trip, but staying in Washington — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Gary D. Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council.Lt. Col. Terry Lakin, an Army physician, has refused to obey any orders from his commanding officers -- including President Obama -- until Obama produces his birth certificate.
"Any reasonable person looking critically at the evidence currently in the public domain would have questions about President Obama's claim to be a natural born citizen," Lakin says in the below video released the right-wing American Patriot Foundation. "I will disobey my orders to deploy [to Afghanistan] because I, and I believe all servicemen and women and the American people, deserve the truth about President Obama's constitutional eligibility to the office of the presidency and the commander in chief."
Lakin says this marks the first time during his 18 years in the Army that he has chosen to disobey "what I believe are illegal orders." Evidently he didn't feel the need to personally verify the citizenship of his three previous commanders-in-chief. WATCH:CARACAS (Reuters) - One hundred and twenty policemen have been murdered so far this year in Venezuela, one of the world’s most violent countries, a local watchdog said on Friday.
An opposition demonstrator shouts slogans at police officers during a protest in Caracas January 24, 2015. Reuters/Jorge Silva
The South American nation is awash with guns and has the world’s second-worst homicide rate after Honduras, according to the United Nations. Criminals have in recent years been increasingly targeting police to rob their guns, vehicles and phones.
A local monitoring and rights group Foundation for Due Process, or Fundepro, said it had registered 120 murders of policemen in the first half of 2015.
That compares with 268 killed throughout last year.
As well as robberies, the policemen have died in revenge killings and shootouts pursuing suspects.
The head of Fundepro, Jackeline Sandoval, said the governments of President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez were responsible for failing to control criminality in Venezuela and allowing impunity to flourish.
“There have been 23 security plans by the Interior Ministry, and none has worked,” she said in a telephone interview. “As long as you don’t reform the justice system, and what you have is impunity, that contributes to the national crime wave.”
On top of the police death toll, criminals have killed 35 military officials and 11 bodyguards, according to Fundepro.
Maduro’s socialist government does not give official data on police killings, but he did declare it a priority at the start of his term in 2013, and visited some Caracas slums to plead with local gangs to lay down their weapons.
Officials had no comment on the latest Fundepro data.Sure, you could use an ROV to feel like a regular Jacques Cousteau (or James Cameron, for that matter), but nothing beats the real deal: a personal submarine. UK department store Harrods used its Technology Showcase 2.0 event to highlight a mockup of Spymaster's Orcasub: a made-to-order $2 million submarine that can drop up to 2,000 feet into the briny depths. A total of two passengers can climb aboard the 4-ton, 22 foot-long submersible thanks to a pair of 360-degree domes that offer 80 hours of life support for each occupant. The battery-powered sub is piloted by using two foot pedals and a joystick, and handles somewhat like an aircraft since it was built with the principles of flight in mind.
Orcasub comes outfitted with sonar for collision avoidance, a digital long-range communications system and a 60,000 lumen LED lighting rig. What you see above is just a miniature, but Spymaster is taking orders for the real, full-size McCoy. In fact, folks who'd like to dive deeper can put in a request for pricier models, with the most expensive version nabbing explorers a maximum depth of 6,000 feet for a cool $9.32 million. If you ask us, this sounds like a perfect escape vehicle for any luxury yacht worth its salt. Hit the source link for Pocket-lint's photo gallery of the craft.A landmark treaty banning cluster bombs became binding international law Sunday.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits signatory countries from using, producing or transferring the weapons, which scatter hundreds of small bomblets over a wide area.
The scattered ordnance can remain armed for years and often wounds civilians long after conflicts end.
The treaty has been signed by 107 nations, and 37 of those have ratified the document, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan.
However, major cluster bomb-producing nations, including China, the United States, Israel and Russia do not support the accord, arguing the munitions have legitimate military uses.
Still, aid groups say the treaty is an important step in stopping a weapon they say has caused tremendous suffering to civilians.
The treaty requires signatory nations to destroy stockpiled cluster munitions within eight years and to clear contaminated areas within a decade.
Pope Benedict, speaking Sunday outside Rome, hailed the treaty, calling it an "encouraging sign" that nations can make progress toward disarmament and improved human rights.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP.Behind the U.S. task force recommendation to screen all children and adults for depression
In a recently published special report, Associate Editor of The BMJ, Jeanne Lenzer, critically calls into question the research methodologies and data underlying the latest U.S. task force recommendation to routinely screen for depression in all children and adults, aged 12 years and older, including pregnant and postpartum women.
“Some task force recommendations rely on questionable research methodologies, including the use of ‘indirect’ evidence; failure to include unpublished data; failure to check reported outcomes versus pre-specified outcomes; and, in at least one case, to have promulgated broad screening recommendations in the absence of a single randomised controlled screening trial (RCT).”
This past year’s recommendation follows a series of similar screening recommendations put forth by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Lenzer notes this recommendation comes just after Congress significantly cut funds toward the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the task force’s main government agency, in December of 2015.
“It is unclear what effects these threats have had. But in the past few years, the task force has issued several recommendations that are far more liberal in promoting interventions, which some experts say will lead to overtesting and overtreatment.”
The recommendations regarding routine universal depression screenings have sparked significant controversy among specialists in the field (see MIA report) in the past 15 years. Many of these experts, including the academic psychiatrist, Allen Frances, and psychiatry professor, Brett Thombs, express concerns with the risks involved in overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and unnecessary medicalization, especially when considering the potential harm involved in pathologizing sadness in adolescence.
Both the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Canadian task force have decided against the recommendation of routine depression screenings, noting that there is not enough existing evidence to justify the potential harm involved in its implementation. Lenzer builds upon this, in this report, by highlighting the lack of evidence, and particularly the fact that there are currently no randomized control trial (RCT) studies to support the aim of this recommendation:
“Because there are no RCTs of depression screening versus no screening that show a health benefit, the task force relied on evidence from studies of the accuracy of screening tests and, separately, of depression treatment approaches.”
Lenzer also highlights the USPSTF’s reliance on published, industry-funded data, despite the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines to attend to unpublished data. Similarly, although evidence indicates outsourced researchers are free of financial interests, the evidence-based practice centers (EBCs) where the data are outsourced and conducted, are industry funded.
“Given the history of Congressional punishment of the AHRQ for publishing results believed to interfere with industry interests, conflicts at the institutional level—rather than individual researcher level—are of concern.”
Lenzer’s investigation of USPSTF raises important questions concerning the reliability of task force recommendations and the potential harm that may result from depression screenings. As Thombs describes, the evidence does not support benefits related to screenings of depression, yet there is evidence demonstrating the adverse outcomes linked to treatment through antidepressants, and the prevalence of over-diagnosis and over-treatment of depression in community and primary care settings in the U.S.
Heneghan, a co-author of the Cochrane review, provided The BMJ with this perspective:
“In the face of no evidence, or very low quality evidence, guideline writers should refrain from making recommendations. Indeed many guideline bodies would better serve clinical practice by making fewer recommendations: reflecting more of the uncertainty around treatment decisions. What we need are fewer recommendations and more high quality evidence to base decisions on. Currently we seem to be seeing the exact opposite.”
****
Lenzer, J. (2017. Is the United States Preventive Services Task Force still a voice of caution? The BMJ. doi:10.1136/bmj.j743 (Abstract)Short, outside leg, and about as bad a delivery a legspinner can bowl, was how Yasir Shah began his MCG Test. David Warner, struggling for anything approaching good touch, tried to hit it hard but mistimed it to deep-backward square leg.
The ball might have looked terrible, and even been terrible, but it wasn't accidental. In fact, Yasir's first ball of the Gabba Test had been similar, with a similar field of six men on the leg side and three on the off.
It might have been an ugly and useless first ball, but it was part of an ugly and useless plan.
The small change, though not to the field, against Matt Renshaw was that instead of bowling down leg side, Yasir was aiming at the stumps, or even just outside off stump.
It was a delivery pitching in line with the stumps that Renshaw tried to slog sweep, and gifted Yasir a wicket. He had figures of 1.1-0-1-1. To Usman Khawaja, Yasir was outside off side again and found the outside edge twice - the ball trickled into the empty off side for runs.
Warner played a similar shot against Yasir but with an open face. Then he put away a ball on the leg side, scored easily on the off side, and then helped himself to the odd filthy ball down leg again. It was like Yasir and his captain Misbah-ul-Haq were mates of Warner, and felt bad he was struggling against the Pakistan fast bowlers.
Six overs in, Yasir's figures were 1 for 33, and the six-three field that not only seemed to provide no way of stopping runs but actively promoted them, the field that did not allow Yasir to find his line and ruined his confidence so much that he also had no length, was finally changed. All it took were three boundaries in Yasir's seventh over. The field changed for the last three balls of that over and then Yasir disappeared from the attack for 15 overs.
Perhaps Yasir could find respite in the fact that Australia's spinner Nathan Lyon struggled just as much when Pakistan batted, but in reality that was nothing new. The shouts of "Niiiiiiiiiiiiice Garrrrrrrrrrrry," from the crowd on day one at the MCG were almost loud enough to drown out the people saying Lyon's spot was in danger.
Had Steve O'Keefe been fit, Lyon might not have played the Adelaide Test against South Africa. Had the Gabba had a little more grass, he might have been dropped for that day-night Test as well. Including the first innings in Melbourne, he has 11 wickets in his last five Tests.
On day two at the MCG, Lyon bowled six out of 51 overs. He wasn't bowled when Australia needed to keep their fast bowlers fresh for the new ball and he managed one maiden in 23 overs. Lyon bowled almost exclusively outside off stump and was scored off almost exclusively on the leg side. Australia's captain Steven Smith seemed to do nothing other than put out sweepers. Lyon only bowled a dot ball only every second delivery.
It was there that Lyon and Yasir had something in common. How do you bowl dot balls when your field is set for perpetual scoring? When your field is like a prolonged, unfunny practical joke where the punchline is, 'and then he scored easily whenever he wanted to.'
When Yasir came back on, Khawaja had been on 49 for half an hour. Misbah greeted Yasir not only with a six-three leg-side field, but three of those six were on the boundary. Khawaja didn't reach his 50, Misbah's field did it for him.
The only real chance after Renshaw's wicket was a poor ball from Yasir that Khawaja edged while trying to hit it too hard. It was like being so excited to finally have your food, that you drop it as you hurriedly try to stuff your mouth.It didn't matter anyway, because Younis barely saw the chance at slip, and there was nothing else like it after.
Yasir overpitched and got hit for a four through covers. The leg slip left to make it a five-four field. In the next over, though, the field was six-three again and Warner reverse swept into the empty off side, and Misbah changed back to five-four right after. But for Khawaja the field went back to six-three, and what do you know, another boundary on the offside.
David Warner scored 45 runs off 30 balls from Yasir Shah Cricket Australia/Getty Images
The field was then spread for Warner because no one wanted to be near another fielder for fear that they would ask what the plan was. But once Khawaja was back on strike, there it was again: Misbah's six-three field, a plan so cunning it will only work when the score is seemingly 1 for 300, when it will suddenly spring to life like the spring-heel Jack and start devouring Australia's batsmen whole.
Warner hit one over long-off for six because Misbah had played him into such form that the MCG was no longer big enough to contain him. But for Khawaja, you know what I am going to say - six, three. SIX. THREE.
Why? I don't know why. Misbah just did, okay. What do you want me to tell you? Do you want me to explain why Pakistan would continually use a tactic that didn't work, that leaked runs, that produced only one lucky wicket, that they kept abandoning until they forgot why they quit it and then went back to it again? I don't know, this is silly, just make it stop.
Maybe the plan is to tire Warner out so he falls on his stumps, or to wait for a meteor to hit the ground and end this insanity, or maybe I can't count, or the #MCGsobig you can't see all the fielders. No, I can count, and I can see, and Khawaja has just swept a four past the packed leg-side field that is about as useful as a collection of samurai pizza cats trading cards, and then driven through an open off-side field that might as well have a sign on it that says, "This way for runs," being held by a smiling Misbah who thinks he is stroking a white cat but is actually holding a discarded Richie Benaud wig.
Was that too much? Need me to take it down a bit? How about some numbers? Yasir conceded more than six an over while bowling to a field supposed to stop runs. Over two-thirds of the runs off Yasir were scored on that half of the field in which he had less than two-thirds of his fielders.
Khawaja scored 51 off 52 balls against Yasir, and 42 off 95 from the seamers. Warner scored 45 off 30 against Yasir, and 99 off 113 from everyone else. Perhaps it was because Yasir was bowling to left handers, except his career average and economy rate are almost the same against left and right-hand batsmen. There was a time at the MCG when Yasir's economy rate was the worst ever for a Pakistan bowler who had bowled over ten overs. But six-three, that's your number, make as much sense of that as you can.
Azhar Ali tried to explain the tactics at the press conference, which was funny because his two overs of legspin were bowled with a much better field. His explanation made as much sense as the plan itself. He basically said, it wasn't spinning much, so Yasir bowled straight, but then when he didn't bowl straight, they smashed him, because he didn't bowl straight really much at all, and there was no one there when he didn't bowl straight.
Weirdly, Yasir's pitch map suggested he hadn't been told about the plan, and Misbah set the field like he wasn't watching Yasir bowl.
What started as a wacky plan in Brisbane became organised disaster in Melbourne. That terrible, ugly, useless first ball became a terrible, ugly, useless day. Not by accident, but by design.
Misbah might have one of cricket's sharpest brains, but at the MCG he had one long brain fart, and Yasir followed through. At least, I think that was the plan.Bloomberg Does the Halloween Special Social Security Scare Story
The Social Security scare story is a long established Washington ritual. Bloomberg news decided to bring it out again in time for Halloween. The basic story is that the Social Security trust fund is projected to face a shortfall in less than two decades. This means that unless Congress appropriates additional revenue, the program is projected to only be able to pay a bit more than 80 percent of scheduled benefits.
This much is not really in dispute. The question is how much should we be worried about this projected shortfall and what should we do about it. Bloomberg's answer to the first question is that we should be very worried. It goes through the list of potential fixes and implies that all would be difficult or impossible.
I will just take one potential fix, which is raising the payroll tax by 2.58 percentage points to cover the projected shortfall. Bloomberg tells us:
"...it’s doubtful that the American public would accept such jarring changes."
That's an interesting political assessment. It would be worth knowing the basis for this assertion. We had comparably jarring changes in the form of Social Security tax increases in the decades of 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. There was no massive tax revolt against any of these tax increases; what has convinced Bloomberg that we can never again have a comparable increase in the payroll tax?
A piece of evidence suggesting that tax increases necessary to support Social Security might be politically viable is the fact that few people even noticed the 2.0 percentage point increase in the payroll tax at the start of 2013 when the payroll tax holiday ended. This was at a time when the labor market was still very weak from the recession and wages had been stagnant for more than a decade. (A survey conducted for the National Academy for Social Insurance also found that people were willing to pay higher taxes to support the scheduled level of Social Security benefits.)
Given this history and evidence, Bloomberg's claim that the public won't tolerate the sort of tax increases necessary to fully fund Social Security looks like an unsupported assertion.
The other point on this topic is that economists usually believe that workers care first and foremost about their after-tax wage, not the tax rate. The Social Security trustees project that real before-tax wages will rise on average by more than 50 percent over the next three decades. By comparison, the tax increase needed to fully fund Social Security seems relatively small, as shown below.
Source: Social Security trustees report, 2015 and author's calculations.
Most workers have not seen their wages increase as much as the average wage over the last four decades since a disproportionate share went to those at top. These are people like CEOs, Wall Street traders, and doctors and other highly paid professionals. Workers stand to lose much more in terms of after-tax income if this upward redistribution continues over the next three decades than they would from the "jarring" Social Security tax increase that Bloomberg feels the need to warn us about.
So, of course people could get really worried about Social Security, as Bloomberg wants, or they can focus on the upward redistribution which will have far more impact on their well-being and that of their children. (Yes, this is the topic of my new book, Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer, which can be downloaded for free.)The Around The NFL crew will document the players we believe will be "Making the Leap" in 2015. This could be a player emerging from no-name status to a quality starter. Or it could mean an excellent player jumping to superstar status.
The list continues with No. 12, Green Bay Packers wideout Davante Adams.
MVP of the offseason?
Few players around the league have been showered with more praise this offseason than second-year Packers wideout Davante Adams.
Let's review:
» "Humongous upside" and "incredible" athleticism were the words Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers used to describe Adams, saying "the opportunities are going to come for him."
» Packers coach Mike McCarthy called Adams the "MVP or an All-Star" of the team's offseason, almost pointing to our "Leap" series by name in boasting that the "tremendous" 6-foot-1, 215-pounder was the "clear illustration of a player taking a jump in his second year."
» Rodgers wasn't finished, talking about Adams as a "very polished player" with "excellent demeanor for a guy who's going to be a star," specifically pointing to the requisite "note-taking, the preparation, the study habits, the focus, the practice habits" that produce the "swagger of a No. 1 receiver." The quarterback went on to compare the receiver's charisma to that of Charles Woodson, Julius Peppers and Greg Jennings during the early part of their careers.
Talent you "can't teach"
"I feel like I'm the best receiver in this draft," Adams said of a 2014 class that included Odell Beckham, Mike Evans, Sammy Watkins and enough additional talent to potentially go down as the greatest group of wideouts in NFL history.
That's the confidence Rodgers spoke of, but Adams wound up finishing 11th among rookies with 38 catches. Quiet out of the gate, the Green Bay wideout finally emerged with six grabs for 77 yards against the Dolphins in Week 6 and another seven catches for 75 yards against the Saints two games later. He then blew up in a nationally televised Week 13 win over the Patriots with 121 yards off six connections.
NFL Media's Nate Burleson thought enough of those high points to name Adams among his top-five breakout wideouts for 2015, noting how Adams "took advantage" of his opportunities with excellent route-running, especially on slant routes.
His playoff performance against Dallas was instructive: A seven-grab, 117-yard day that showed off Adams' strength and after-the-catch gifts. On his 46-yard touchdown grab in the video package below, Adams makes up for his lack of blazing speed with good routes, shiftiness and savvy field vision that resulted in extra real estate. Check out the 1:02 mark, where Adams uses his strength post-catch to toss Sterling Moore to the dirt like a ragdoll -- with one arm!
Obstacles
Last year's bursts of production hint at a high ceiling for Adams. Still, it's challenging to predict a breakout year for a guy sitting behind Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb.
I went back and looked at how No. 3 wideouts have fared with Rodgers and McCarthy at the helm. Since 2008, the third-most productive receiver -- in terms of catches -- has averaged 41.3 grabs for 570.3 yards with 4.6 touchdowns. Adams split snaps with Jarrett Boykin before finishing last year as the team's clear-cut No. 3, one reason his 38/446/3 line was slightly below the noted average.
His role is clear this season, but Adams still has two go-to talents in front of him. It's worth noting that only six rookie receivers played more snaps than Adams, but 11 saw more targets, meaning Rodgers typically looked elsewhere. Perhaps that won't be a concern after all the pretty words from the quarterback this offseason.
Expectations
History tells us that Green Bay doesn't ask its third wideout to carry the load, but Adams is helped by the absence of a bona fide playmaking tight end on the roster. Besides, he's going to see a steady diet of favorable matchups with Nelson and Cobb facing opposing top cover men.
Adams has shown enough friskiness after the catch to see more targets in Year 2. Fifty catches for 750 yards and seven scores feels about right, with those numbers skyrocketing if injuries strike Nelson or Cobb.
Around The NFL's Chris Wesseling pointed to Green Bay's attack as a threat to break NFL records in 2015, which makes plenty of sense. With Eddie Lacy on the ground, a flock of weapons through the air and the game's finest quarterback under center, defenses will have their hands full. Look for Adams to thrive and grow amid the chaos.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast welcomes back Lindsay Rhodes to recap Antonio Gates' suspension and the 'Top 100' rankings. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.Players are responsible for managing various aspects of their prison including staff, building new cells, finance, and keeping their inmates happy.
The player's role is of both architect and governor with sandbox micro-management themes such as choosing where to put lights, drains and how they connect together.
Prison Architect opens with the story of Edward, a man facing the electric chair for committing a crime of passion. Introversion have extended this with four additional chapters focusing on different characters and aspects of prison life. From Mafia Dons to power-crazed senators, Prison Architect brings these characters to life. Introversion teamed up with award-winning professional writer Chris Hastings to produce an enthralling tale of corruption and human misery set against the background of the modern prison industrial complex.
Escape Mode sees the traditional Prison Architect gameplay turned on its head. Take control of an individual prisoner, load any of the tens of thousands of prisons uploaded to the Steam Workshop and get on with the important business of escaping. Earn experience points by shanking a guard, form up a posse of rough-necks and head to the armory to shoot your way out or steal some tools from the workshop and start digging a tunnel hidden behind a picture of Raquel Welch.
The game’s open-ended sandbox has drawn in more than 1.25 million players since it was released into early access in September 2012 and with the addition of new, more linear styles of gameplay the new content will delight the existing audience and bring new players into the Prison Architect world.
Oh, and we mean world, as the full release has been localized into all 25 languages used by the Steam client ….Major League Baseball is trying, but nothing is working.
Despite rule changes and radical ideas to speed up the game, baseball has never been longer. At the start of play on August 15, the average nine-inning game time this regular season sat at three hours and five minutes.
As ESPN pointed out, it's the longest average game time in MLB history and up five minutes from just one year ago.
Despite a few small changes for the 2017 season -- requiring managers to decide more promptly whether to challenge an umpire's call and making intentional walks automatic -- the average nine-inning contest is now 3 hours, 5 minutes -- the longest average in baseball history and up five minutes from last year. That's also already the second-largest year-over-year increase since integration. And since games get slower with September call-ups, the final month will quite possibly add a minute or two to that average.
Based on the upcoming 40-man roster call-ups and managers ready and willing to empty out bullpens in crucial late-season games, this isn't going to get any better. We could be staring at a full season in which nine-inning games take longer than three hours and five minutes.
How to fix MLB
Unless something drastic changes between now and the end of the season, expect baseball to once again address this in the offseason. Unlike in past years, commissioner Rob Manfred may not simply seek ideas from players. Instead, mandates--like a pitch clock at the big league level--could be coming soon.
Joe Giglio may be reached at jgiglio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Nintendo DS And 3DS Games That Deserve Switch Successors
Nintendo has dominated the handheld market for a long time. Here are a few standout handheld titles that deserve to make a comeback.
While there are whispers of a possible 3DS successor coming to light one day, for now it seems that Nintendo's long-time two-pronged approach to publishing might be coming to an end. The Switch sits in a perfect position to consolidate all of Nintendo's talent into one device, but if it is going to be the successor to the company's handheld legacy, then it'll need to channel the fantastic games that have made its portable devices so popular. With that in mind, here are some games from the DS and 3DS eras that we feel deserve successors on the Switch.
Radiant Historia
Radiant Historia
When it comes to JRPGs, the DS was never in short supply. One title that stood out among the genre, however, was Radiant Historia. Developed and published by Atlus, Radiant Historia was set in a war-torn world that was doomed to be reduced to nothing but desert if things didn't change. It sort of combined the ideas of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross together, as you were not only traveling through time, but between two different versions of the timeline.
It's got an awesome premise, a fascinating story, and a very cool battle system. This is one classic that deserves to see some love on the Switch, even if just in the form of a spiritual successor. Atlus has provided plenty of great experiences on Nintendo devices in the past, so what's one more awesome niche title?
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
Monster Hunter
When it comes to 3DS games that deserve console quality visuals, none spring to mind quicker than Monster Hunter. The series had a slow and rocky start back on the PlayStation 2, but really started to pick up steam as it made its way onto portable platforms, especially the 3DS. Capcom tried a console release of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate on the Wii U, but the low install base for the system didn't do that port any favors. The Switch could be the perfect opportunity to see a proper, large-scale Monster Hunter release.
The series has been steadily refining itself over the past couple of iterations, and now is the time for a big change-up. Gorgeous visuals and a big world on top of the already fantastic, weighty combat that Monster Hunter is known for would be an excellent way to get the series into even more hands, as well as convince the 3DS faithful to take the leap over to the Switch.
Advance Wars
Advance Wars
Over the years, Intelligent Systems has proven itself to be the masters of portable strategy games, thanks in large part to the increasingly popular Fire Emblem series. We already know that FE will be showing its face on the Switch in the form of Fire Emblem Warriors at the very least, so let's instead talk about another series that Intelligent Systems brought to life — Advance Wars.
Set in a more modern setting as opposed to the fantasy worlds of Fire Emblem, the Advance Wars games set themselves apart from the more popular strategy series while also bringing a similar, simpler take on the genre to the masses. We received two Advance Wars games on the Game Boy Advance and two more on the Nintendo DS, so I reckon it's about time Intelligent Systems took one more swing at the series. The Switch would be the perfect place to give those old, vibrant visuals a nice, clean makeover.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
Castlevania
The future of Castlevania is up in the air right now, but Konami has already shown that it's interested in the Switch by developing Super Bomberman R for a launch day release on the device. If we're lucky, we could see the return of everyone's favorite vampire lord on the hyrbrid device as well. Most fans are probably eagerly awaiting Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night — the spiritual successor led by Castlevania mastermind Koji Igarashi, but with no solid news on it coming to the Switch, this could be the perfect time for Konami to show that they've still got it.
Symphony of the Night gets a lot of the series' love, but the GBA and DS titles served as surprisingly solid follow-ups to that style of Castlevania. They not only continue using the RPG elements of SotN, they add some interesting mechanics of their own, such as capturing the souls of monsters to make yourself stronger. Konami could use a way back into gamers' good graces, and a solid 2D Castlevania could be just the ticket.
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
Mario & Luigi
Serving as the spiritual successors to the classic Super Mario RPG, the Mario & Luigi series has been a staple of Nintendo's handhelds since the GBA. If the Switch is to be the next step for Nintendo's handheld future, then it'll need a Mario RPG to call its own. Ever since Superstar Saga, the Mario & Luigi games have primarily focused on their namesakes alone, with a two party battle system that finds more and more creative ways to have you timing button presses with each series. The most recent entry, however, showed that even this series has room for a third full-time party member. Maybe it's time to take the next step in bridging the gap bewteen Mario & Luigi and Super Mario RPG.
Alpha Dream has all the talent necessary to make really enjoyable and funny Mario-themed RPGs, so I say it's about time Nintendo gave them leeway to make another large-scale one. A big world, new and unique party members, an epic story — let the team make a Mario RPG for the ages. You don't have to bring back Geno and Mallow, just show that you can make new characters worthy of the love that those received in their day.
There are so many other great DS and 3DS series that we'd love to see make a comeback on the Switch. The World Ends With You, Elite Beat Agents, Animal Crossing, and more fantastic titles have made Nintendo the masters of handheld gaming over the years. If they can bring even half of that to the table with the Switch, then it will be a force to be reckoned with.Joy Reid took on the ridiculous claims by some that President Obama buried the news of the Russian hacks until after Election Day, based upon one tweet that the Twitter-President-elect sent out suggesting he did so.
If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2016
With that one tweet, Joy notes, the entire narrative shifted from the hacks benefiting Trump to President Obama squelching the news of the hack.
Except, of course, he didn't. If anyone squelched it, it was Mitch McConnell, who refused to be a patriot and put power and party below his country.
As Kurt Eichenwald notes in his commentary, it wasn't a secret before the election. The news of the hack was buried under all of the furor over Trump grabbing women by the p*ssy, but it was still out there.
Here on the site, we wrote about it numerous times ahead of the election, in real time, as it was happening. We didn't make those reports up. They came from reputable media sources, or Trump himself. Apparently the short memory of Beltway Villagers includes forgetting that Trump invited more Russian hacks in July of this year.
Yet the conversation still tilted, post Trump tweet, to something worse. Her panel destroys that narrative.
However, David Corn did hit on something that I think we're all feeling, and that's the sense that even as we're lighting our hair on fire outside the Beltway, Obama's usual cool-headedness isn't sufficing for those of us who really do feel as though we're facing Armageddon.
"Turning to Barack Obama, I mean, I do think there's a little bit of a challenge or dilemma for him," Corn opined. "Right now there are over 60 million Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton, and who are saying, what the heck happened? How come there wasn't more media coverage and how come the Administration did not make a bigger deal of this publicly? They did put out a statement, but in the grand scheme of things, it was sort of low-key. Not a hair-on-fire type of thing."
↓ Story continues below ↓
I understand why they didn't do that before the election, but I'm at a loss to understand why this isn't a bigger deal now? I want warrants and searches and to watch Roger Stone, Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump be led away in handcuffs, not sarcastic denunciations of media narratives.
I want pitchforks and torches. I want Mitch McConnell publicly shamed. I want to see this play out the way it should, which means identifying those inside our government who conspired to put a puppet in office and holding them to account.
Saying "Cut it out!" isn't going to be enough for me and millions of others. If it doesn't break before January 20th, it's doubtful it ever will, simply because I'm not seeing a lot of principled Republicans willing to put their country ahead of their allegiance to oligarchs and oil barons who stand to gain plenty with our new Russian overlords.
Between the FBI interference and Russian interference and a convergence of the two, this is bigger than Watergate, and the truth must come |
y4es ) bag. I reached in and never hit the bottom of the bag! I found a bag of holding! I excitedly tied it to my belt and ventured on.
The next two items were very curious indeed. I came across a tiny figurine holding a pipe and wearing a pointed, brimmed hat and robes with cheetah fringe. huddled near the figure were five tiny snowmen standing at attention. They looked impressive in their winter armor. Caps, mittens, vests of green and red. Splendid regalia indeed! I plucked the figurine and his retinue out of the box and set them on the table.
Reaching into the safe a third time, I found a small pouch with a note attached. I pulled the note from the pouch and read its words. "Rattle and shake, roll your fate. If your number is high, you are free, if it be low you belong to me. Best two of three." I Heard a rustle on the table and was greeted with a tall, skinny old man holding a pipe. This man introduced himself cordially as one Elminster of Shadow dale. He told me how he had been trapped by the mad king Petah. He said that he had let his curiosity get the best of him and he didn't have his guard up while in audience with the king. He laid on one of the kings many rugs and was asked to play a game of riddles. Unfortunately he could not recite the riddle of the Casbah and was punished by mad Petah. He went on to tell me that if I were to best him in a game of bones, he could give me the riddle to make the Casbah shake and to bring the mad king to his knees. Out the dice came and our game began. The first roll was horrible. I rolled a 3 of 20 and he rolled 19. The next roll was scary indeed! we both rolled 11 of 20. A draw! The next roll was in my favor: 5 of 20 to his 2. The last roll was crucial. I rolled the die, praying for luck. 20 of 20! Almost relieved, Elminster rolled a 7 of 20 and handed me a scroll. He and his guardians dissolved slowly. I was happy to not have to contend with his snowy knights.
Reaching into the box yet again, I came across a wrapped rectangular box. I ripped at the paper and saw a large C in the corner. Feverishly I tore at the rest of the wrapping and was confronted with the Casbah! Remembering myself, I pulled the scroll that Elminster had given me after our contest. I recited the words over and over again: "Sharif don't like it! Rock the Casbah! Rock the Casbah!" slowly the box shook and built momentum. It took what seemed like hours but I was able to turn the Mad kings palace into delicious ball of falafel. As the walls were crumbling I heard a shriek and from underneath the rubble of the Casbah crawled the mad King Petah. He was clutching his knee in agony (http://www.adultswim.com/videos/family-guy/peter-hurts-his-knee/). I quickly placed falafel upon his doughy body and consumed King Petah. The king was dead. Long live the King! A king without a Casbah, I settled for my mundane living room. Pressing my luck, I reached into the Safe one final time. I felt the stem of a heavy object. Using both hands I pulled with all my might and pulled a beautiful goblet from the box. A kings cup! I drank like a man possessed. I soon lost consciousness.
Waking up on the floor hours later, I rolled onto my side and noticed a folded piece of paper and a chocolate wrapper. "Merry Christmas from your Secret Santa! Enjoy your gifts but save the chocolate mushrooms for last. They contain magic!"Our AAR of the new digital Twilight Struggle enters Turn 2 ~
Michael Eckenfels, 28 April 2016
PART 4
TURN 2, ROUND 4, USSR
The USSR plays TRUMAN DOCTRINE, and the game prompts me to remove Influence in one country. I’m not really sure this is a bad thing…obviously, he’s playing this for its whole 1 Op, and the Event has to fire…which makes me think he doesn’t have much in the way of cards.
So, I get to choose what country in Europe, that is uncontrolled, to remove all USSR Influence markers from.
I’m thinking either Finland or Hungary, since there’s 2 Influence in each of those countries. I don’t know that Finland makes a lot of sense; it seems doing this to Hungary would be more of an advantage. So, Hungary it is.
So much for Hungary.
And what, pray tell, does the USSR do with their 1 Op? Why, throw a Coup party, of course. In Angola.
Angola’s Stability Number is 1, so doubling that to 2 means he needs a 3 or higher. The 1 Op gives him a +1. He rolls a 3, which means the Commies remove my Influence there and gain 2 of their own. Now, I’m about 90% convinced he has AFRICA SCORING.
Мудак.
Oh, and he has also brought us to DEFCON 3 with that little stunt.
But, he has also managed to secure the other 2 Mil Ops he needs, and I still need two more. I think, though, that I want to spread some more Influence and maybe try for a Coup.
Now it’s my turn. I have CAPTURED NAZI SCIENTIST, NASSER, NUCLEAR TEST BAN, and THE CHINA CARD remaining in my hand.
I should play NUCLEAR TEST BAN for its 4 Ops. My Headline won’t give me 5 Ops, but those 4 would come in handy. I don’t see how the USSR would want the Event to fire. I want to place more Influence, though – in Libya, and in Angola to mess him up there, at the very least.
I don’t want to play NASSER until I get that Influence in Libya, and I would like to play the Scientist card to get that +2 VP for going one along the Space Race track first (provided the Commies don’t try to beat me to it).
I go ahead and play NUCLEAR TEST BAN for its 4 Ops. Instead of going for a Coup, especially in Africa since the +4 to the die roll would be major overkill, I’m going to spread some good ol’ American influence around the globe.
It costs me 2 Ops to place 1 Influence in Angola, but that breaks his hold there and puts the ball in his court if he wants to play the back-and-forth game there.
I also added 1 Influence to Iran, gaining Control of that Battleground country in the Middle East, and the last Ops point went to adding 1 Influence to Libya. Unless my opponent Coups someplace in his next Action Round (AR), which would bring the DEFCON number to 2 and make it impossible for me to do that, I’m going to try a Coup myself on the next AR.
Chat about it below, or in our forums, or hit our FaceBook page >>It’s a universal truth — 69 is the funniest number. It’s the sex number. It’s the number that evokes a reflexive response of “nice” when you tweet it. It’s wonderful.
Yet in the world of sports, where adult men play children’s games, the most immature number is rarely seen. There have been 928 players to don NHL uniforms this season and not a single one has chosen 69 as his number. The Montreal Canadiens, despite retiring 13 numbers, have yet to dress a 69 even with the fewest numbers available of any franchise.
With that mind, we will honor the greatest players in hockey history to wear No. 69, as they are the true heroes, the pioneers that hopefully will pave the way for more 69s in the future. These are the six nicest 69s the hockey world has known. We have left the links for you to see so you don’t think we’re going to Rick Roll you. Or worse…
6. Florian Kettemer, Munich, German League
https://www.championshockeyleague.net/page/statistics/portrait_2776/
A veteran of eight seasons in the DEL, the defenseman has 14 goals in 331 career games. Kettemer has played for three teams in Germany — Augsburg, Mannheim and Munich — and has worn No. 69 at every stop. A 29-year-old defenseman lacking offensive abilities will never get a shot in the NHL, so he will have to be Germany’s hero.
5. Mel Angelstad, Washington Capitals, NHL
http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/a/angelme01.html
In 2004, Angelstad played his only two NHL games and did so wearing No. 69, becoming the first NHL player to do so. There was nothing remarkable about his two games — zero goals, zero assists, two penalty minutes — but leave it to a guy making his NHL debut at the age of 33 wearing No. 69 to give one of the better intermission interviews ever.
4. Pierce Grandchamp, Colorado Avalanche Sled Hockey
http://www.usahockey.com/roster_players/10193884
Grandchamp played five games for the Avalanche sled team during the 2015 USA Hockey Sled Hockey Tier II National Championship. He had zero points in those five games but that team won a championship. As far as I can tell, that makes Grandchamp the only member of a title team to wear No. 69 and worthy of a spot on this important list.
3. Andrew Desjardins, San Jose Sharks, NHL
http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2012/08/07/the-nhls-only-no-69-is-no-more/
When it comes to Desjardins and No. 69, he is both a hero and a coward. For two seasons with the Sharks, he proudly wore No. 69 after it was handed to him by the team at the end of the 2010-11 season. But he dropped it for good before the 2013 season and wears No. 11 for the Chicago Blackhawks now. It’s probably not a coincidence that he had his best season while wearing No. 69 in 2011-12, posting 17 points in 76 games. He has just 12 points in 79 career games with the Blackhawks. Andrew, please consider a switch back to No. 69 for the fans and for your production.
2. Alex Burmistrov, Ak-Bars Kazan, KHL
https://www.nhl.com/news/forward-burmistrov-excited-about-return-to-jets-nhl/c-773997
The Winnipeg Jets draft pick left the NHL to spend two seasons in Russia proudly wearing No. 69. But he returned to the Jets this season, and with No. 69 available, he could have continued the tradition but instead said in July, “I don’t think I’m going to wear the number (No. 69) that I wore in Russia.” He chose No. 6, which is sad. Here’s what’s not sad: Through 65 games, he had 6 goals and 9 assists. Nice! … But he has a goal and two assists in his past four games, thus ruining his nice season, but that does mean he has played 69 games.
1. Nicklas Backstrom, Dynamo Moscow, KHL
http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2012/11/14/photo-nicklas-backstroms-new-69-dynamo-moscow-jersey/
The 2012-13 lockout was a sad time but many NHL players made the most of it by playing overseas until the season began. Backstrom, arguably a future Hall of Famer with the Washington Capitals that wears No. 19, was originally given No. 99 by his KHL team. After asking for a switch, he got to wear No. 69. That’s pretty nice for a player who had a nice rookie season for the Capitals, when he had 14 goals and 55 assists for 69 points.
Oh, and that featured image at the top?
Greg McKegg was a third-round pick of the Leafs that never wore No. 69 … except during the 2011-12 preseason. He made his NHL debut two years later but did so wearing No. 39. In 11 career NHL games, because he angered the 69 gods, he has never registered a point.CLEVELAND — James Jones, the other player on the Cavaliers who has made five straight trips to the N.B.A. finals, contemplated the value of experience.
“We try not to look at our finals experience as an advantage,” he said. “We just look at it as an opportunity to view the game from a different perspective.”
The view looked pleasant for the Cavaliers ahead of Game 4, set for Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena. With a two-games-to-one lead against the Golden State Warriors, the Cavaliers sounded confident Wednesday even if they looked a tad haggard, as another LeBron James postseason production began to close in on history.
“You guys can see I’m not getting much sleep right now, but I’m O.K. with that,” James said. “I’m O.K. with not sleeping to be able to prepare myself and mentally keep myself intact on what’s the main objective for me right now, and that’s to make sure that my guys are laser sharp.”The Spanish National Police and Europol have raided one of the largest European illegal IPTV streaming businesses, with a focus on hijacked Premier league feeds.
In a collaborative operation with Europol, Eurojust, Spanish specialized computer crimes prosecutors, the English Premier League and content security specialist Irdeto, 12 locations were raided in Spain and Bulgaria over the course of the effort. Dubbed Operation Casper, eight individuals were arrested for the illegal distribution of 1,000 pay TV channels across two ISPs, through the use of IPTV technology.
The servers used to provide illegal access to the channels were shut down and numerous documents incriminating the individuals under investigation were also confiscated, law enforcement said.
“These actions are just one part of the largest anti-piracy campaign the Premier League has conducted to protect its copyright,” said Kevin Plumb, director of legal services, Premier League. “The raids in Spain and Bulgaria by the Spanish police and law enforcement agencies are a clear indication that IPTV piracy will not be tolerated. Our model, like other sports and creative industries, is predicated on the ability to market and sell rights and protect our intellectual property. It is because of this that clubs can invest in and develop talented players, build world class stadiums, and support young people in schools and communities across the country."
After the Premier League initiated the effort to combat illegal online redistribution of its live broadcasts, Irdeto then identified a Danish citizen residing in Spain who owned an ISP in Málaga, as reported in February. Since then, the firm discovered that the ISP was being used to illegally broadcast encrypted TV signals to thousands of consumers and businesses across Europe. That individual was unmasked as the leader of a criminal organization that was able to provide a high-quality pirate service rivaling offerings from legal operators.
From there, Operation Casper also uncovered another illegal organization located in Silistra, Bulgaria, which was operated by the same criminal network who had another internet provider in that location covering different European countries. Both of the ISPs identified were legally established, performing legal activities while also exploiting their capacities to provide illegal services.
“The efforts of the Spanish Police and law enforcement to dismantle pirate organizations like this is critical in the fight against IPTV piracy,” said Mark Mulready, senior director, Cyber Services & Investigations at Irdeto. “We continue to support our customers, partners and law enforcement agencies to identify large-scale cross-border pirate networks and help combat piracy. By detecting, analyzing, investigating and countering piracy, our collaborative efforts send a message to the pirate community that they will be found and brought to justice.”Introducing sanctions against Russia is a faulty idea by the United States because it will encourage further backbiting between the two nations, former US congressman Ron Paul told RT.
“If two countries get in war, one of the most important things they do is put on blockades, they prevent trade so the various countries can’t get their raw products,” he said. “What I keep thinking is why don’t we try to see it from the other perspective: How would we react if we couldn’t import something? What if China or Russia or somebody came in and said you cannot import certain things or we’re going to prohibit you from trading? And yet we too casually do that with others.”
Paul, the face of modern libertarianism and a former Republican presidential candidate, spoke to RT weeks after Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. American lawmakers have decried the vote as invalid, calling it an annexation and violation of international law, and have introduced sanctions against the Russian economy.
“Any type of sanctions or retaliation is detrimental to both sides. I’ve often thought that if people understood what was going on they’d express objections to these kinds of bickering back and forth,” the former congressman continued.
Paul said the geopolitical drama does not account for individual Ukrainians.
“Governments get involved and they do dumb things and the people in the middle are always suffering so if they suspend anything it’s the little guy who usually gets punished,” he said. “If we’re talking about the average person, people who have jobs, they suffer the consequences and that’s very bad.”
Meanwhile NATO announced it would suspend cooperation with Russia over the ongoing crisis. The decision could affect cooperation on Afghanistan in areas such as training counter-narcotics personnel, maintaining Afghan air force helicopters, and a transit route out of the war-torn country. Other projects around fighting terrorism, drug trafficking, and dealing with the disarmament and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction could also be impacted.
Paul, a longtime critic of NATO, said that de-escalation should be the current priority for all parties involved.
“I advocate not picking sides, so I see two sides going back and forth and my political position as an American is for our American government [to stop] picking sides and picking governments and interfering with elections,” he said.
“De-escalation in my view would involve us minding our own business…in particular the Ukrainian people should be the ones who decide which way they want to go rather than the governments of Europe or even the Russian government for that matter.”
You can watch the full interview with Ron Paul in next Monday’s edition of SophieCo.Love it or hate it, but the collaborative footwear line between Kanye West and adidas Originals dominated fashion headlines throughout the year. With their last pair of 2015 slated to drop on Tuesday, December 29, closing out a big, albeit SWISH-less year for West, we’re already looking forward to what the line will deliver in 2016.
According to our sources, the word is that there will be six more Yeezy Boost 350 colorways next year, in addition to a brand-new 550 model. It’s likely we’ll see the all-white 350s that have been seen on the feet of celebrities in recent months, but what other hues will “adeezus” bring to the table? And what could a Boost 550 look like? Your guess is as good as ours, so leave your thoughts in the comments below.The Trump administration could hit the president’s white working-class base where it hurts—threatening to make welfare cuts.
The majority of people who receive welfare checks are white working-class Americans, many of whom voted for Trump based on the pledge they would be better off financially under him.
But the president said last month he would be looking “very strongly” at welfare reform after suggesting that some people were unfairly abusing the system.
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“That’s becoming a very big subject and people are taking advantage of the system and other people aren’t receiving what they need to live, and we think it’s very unfair to them,” Trump said in October.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Monday that details of the administration’s plans to overhaul welfare would be released at the beginning of next year, stressing that Trump was particularly interested in the topic.
Donald Trump pulls white working class vote More
Christopher Gregory/Getty
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“This is something that the president has a great deal of interest in and I think you can count on probably the first part of next year seeing more specifics and details come out on that,” she said on Monday, Reuters reported.
Earlier this year, Washington D.C.-based think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a study on welfare that shows tax credits and government assistance benefitted 6.2 million white Americans without a degree in 2014, compared with 2.8 million black Americans and 2.4 million Hispanic Americans without a degree—with 44 percent of working-class class white people and 43 percent of working-class black people being lifted out of poverty by government assistance.
The president has not gone into further details on who he thinks is exploiting welfare exactly, but any cuts to welfare benefits will hit the more than 6 million working-class white people the think tank says relies on such checks.
Exit polls show that working-class people voted for Trump in droves, and it is unlikely the president will continue to find himself popular among any demographic whose budget he slashes.
This article was first written by Newsweek
More from NewsweekThe basketball part of the decision was simple for Cory Joseph, because he saw a perfect fit for his skills and experience. So he leapt at it, and it has worked out better than some would have expected.
Pickering's Cory Joseph has been a solid fit with the Raptors this season. He's been productive on the floor and has been able to handle the responsibilities that come with being a local hero. ( Rick Madonik / Toronto Star )
The other part could have been troubling, though, as the demands away from the game for a Pickering kid playing for the Toronto Raptors might have been overwhelming. The family commitments, expectations of old friends, the tugs and time-consuming issues off the floor have eaten up lesser NBA players; home may be where the heart is but it isn’t necessarily where the career thrives. Not for Joseph, however.
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Not only has he shone on the court, he’s a sometimes-overlooked vital piece of a 56-win Raptors team. He’s successfully been able to balance being the first local hero to play a vital, regular role for the Raptors with handling the responsibilities that go with his history. “I feel like I’ve got a good team controlling my situation for me,” Joseph said Friday after a final workout heading into Game 1 of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers. “There is a lot of stuff I do off the court because I’m here in my city, but obviously I understand I wouldn’t be doing that stuff if I wasn’t playing basketball so basketball is my job and it comes first. “The other stuff falls into place and I like doing that stuff off the court, whatever it may be, getting into the community. There’s definitely a bit extra to do but at the same time, I’m thankful and grateful for it.” For all of Joseph’s fame off the court and the acclaim it has brought him in the community, his play has made him invaluable to the Raptors. He has been as advertised — a tough defender, a guy able to take a lot of pressure off Kyle Lowry in a two-guard lineup coach Dwane Casey is more than comfortable with. Joseph has played more minutes this season than he had in his first four seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and has shown no signs of slowing down.
And with the Pacers rotating guards George Hill, Monta Ellis and Ty Lawson in and out, Joseph is likely to have a significant role in the best-of-seven series. And he is Toronto’s most accomplished post-season player. Joseph has appeared in 41 playoff games — Luis Scola is second on the team with 37 — and won a championship with the Spurs.
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Joseph is relatively soft-spoken but understands an enhanced leadership role might be necessary. “I feel like when the time is right, for sure I will. I have no problem voicing my opinion,” he said. “These guys have been to the playoffs two consecutive years now — obviously not the way they wanted to finish — but they know what it is, what playoff basketball is like. I don’t have to tell them what it’s like, but as the situation presents itself, I’ll definitely voice my opinion if I feel it’s needed.”The giant observation wheel slated for Staten Island's northern waterfront, touted to be the tallest in the world and temporarily named the New York Wheel, is one of the most buzzed-about city projects of the decade. We've already reported the numbers, as well as some mindbogging visuals: a 630-foot tall structure that will be open almost 365 days a year, will hold about 1,400 people per hour in its 36 capsules, each of which will make 38-minute rotations at a rate of about 10 inches per second. But at a presentation last night at laminate manufacturer Trespa's Soho headquarters President and CEO Rich Marin divulged more details about a plan that can be described as completely grandiose, brilliant, and outrageous. Marin's goal is to make it an icon for visitors, not mere amusement. "We want to make this feel not like they are going to Coney Island," Marin said, "but like they are going to the St. Louis Arch or the Washington Monument." Here now, the most interesting tidbits we learned:
12) The timeline (a.k.a. when it will be done): The wheel just entered the city's ULURP approval process and is now at the stage of getting signatures from community boards. The team will need to get the necessary "yays" from the borough president, the City Planning Commission, the City Council and the mayor?all before the Bloomberg administration leaves office. The goal is to break ground in the spring of 2014, with a grand opening on July 4, 2016 after two years of construction.
11) Sizing up the competition: The New York Wheel will be significantly taller than the structures it considers models, the London Eye and the Singapore Flyer. But then there's the matter of a rival in the Middle East. "Dubai is saying they are putting up a 688-foot wheel. I'm on the record saying, 'That's great, you can see more sand,'" Marin said. "Big is not the only issue here. Big and well-located are the issues here. It's [in] the gateway to America."
10) Seeking sponsorship: Right now the name is the New York Wheel, but Marin is on the hunt for a sponsor and says he has interested parties all lined up. So it's definitely going to be The Something Wheel. We've already got Citi Field... so will it be the J.P. Morgan Wheel?
9) What it'll look like: On the site now is a chain-link fence and hundreds of parking spots for commuters. Marin and his team (led by Navid Maqami at Perkins Eastman) have to replace the parking spots, but they plan to blanket the garage and the wheel's terminal (housing a restaurant, shop, major sustainability exhibition, and the like) with green space upon which the public can frolic. The site's design will be tweaked over the next year, but across the eight-acre expanse, the wheel and landscaping will take center stage; the buildings will be downplayed. Public paths along the waterfront are a priority, and the goal is to use the green space surrounding the wheel for open-air concerts and events.
8) Cost and Attendance: The cost to ride the wheel will be about $25/ride. A fast pass of sorts to cut the line will cost more, while kids and seniors will cost less. It's comparable to the Empire State Building. They expect 80 percent of the visitors to be tourists. The cost of construction has increased, from an initial estimate of $250 million to $300 million, so what will it take to break even? "If we get a 1.5 million people [a year] we're still making a little money," Marin said. "There are currently 2 million non-locals on the ferry every year."
7) Food with a view: Time for a chuckle. In the terminal building will be a restaurant with harbor views, literally situated between between the straddled legs that hold up the wheel. Jokes Marin: "A bar called 'Between The Legs" is probably not appropriate here, but that is where it is."
6) Just for kids: At this point, 14,000 square feet towards the western side of the site has been designated as a space-age playground. Some elements will resemble the wheel itself, according to M. Paul Friedberg and Partners landscape architect Rick Parisi, to keep the theme going. There will also be a zipline, as well as slides built into the low hills that surround the blob-shaped park on all sides.
5) How to get there: Most visitors, the logic goes, will take the free Staten Island ferry. Marin is currently in talks with different ferry companies, water taxis, and other sea-faring transit options so that visitors could come via New Jersey or other parts of the five boroughs besides just the Battery. The wheel will be located a short walk?1,200 feet?from the S.I. ferry terminal.
4) Let there be lights!: So, there will be a lot of fireworks, and not just on July 4. The Staten Island Yankees, whose ballpark is next door to the wheel, set off fireworks after every home game, and Marin plans to collaborate with them. Beyond that, the 72 spokes of the wheel will be lit with specially programmable LED lights that can be seen from across the city. Marin plans to change up the designs depending on the day?say, a pink heart for Valentine's Day, a green four-leaf clover for St. Patrick's Day, or a jack o' lantern for Halloween. Catering to the city's glut of Chinese tourists, the wheel can even get dolled up for Chinese New Year. ("City Planning said, 'It's kind of visible,' and we said, 'That's the point,'" Marin said.) Special evening events are in the works, like special champagne flights, and just like the Empire State Building, on some nights the wheel will stay open until 2 or 3 a.m.
3) What you'll see: Marin and co. checked out the potential views by taking a helicopter ride, hovering at the 630-foot height of the wheel, and assessing what visitors will be able to see besides the obvious perspective of downtown Manhattan. The verdict? Part of Central Park. The harbor, George Washington Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, and other parts of the five boroughs and New Jersey. "We're allowing people to view the Verrazzano, which people never see," Marin said. "We're going to see the ocean. We're going to see the docks up the Kill Van Kull."
2) Community response: Marin and his team have been meeting about twice a week with Staten Island residents and officials. They've faced some concerns from the neighborhood that the wheel won't be prepared to withstand a superstorm like Sandy, so they have elevated it to be well above FEMA's storm surge estimation. It's also designed to stay upright in a Category 3 hurricane, one of which last hit the city in the 1930s and carried with it 129 mph winds. Surprisingly, not that many folks are concerned about their Manhattan views being compromised, except for (and this is Marin speaking) a few "little old ladies up on that hill [behind the wheel] who don't like anything new." He adds: "You can't put up a 630-foot wheel and not block somebody's view."
1) Property values: It could very well be the time to buy property in St. George?but maybe you've already missed the boat. (Or ferry, as the case may be. ZING.) Marin reports that according to Zillow, real estate prices in the town that surrounds the wheel have "gone up faster than any other area in New York, including West 57th Street." He assured audience members that he was not buying up any land. Said Marin: "We are doing the wheel, and that's enough."
· New York Wheel [official]
· Here Now, the SHoP-Designed Outlet Mall Coming to S.I. [Curbed]
· It's Official! Staten Island to Get World's Largest Ferris Wheel [Curbed]
· All New York Wheel coverage [Curbed]The Nunavut man who led the Arctic Research Foundation to the wreck of HMS Terror says he never talked about the find six years ago, because he wasn't sure people would believe him.
It was the account that Gjoa Haven's Sammy Kogvik gave his "boss" — expedition leader Adrian Schimnowski — about the mast he saw sticking out of the water that led to the discovery of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated ship HMS Terror, found earlier this month in the aptly named Terror Bay.
"I didn't know if he would believe me," Kogvik, whose first language is Inuktitut, told CBC this week.
Kogvik says he was hunting and fishing with his buddy "Uncle James" in Terror Bay years ago, when he saw something "pretty strange."
A still from a video produced by the Arctic Research Foundation appears to show the wheel of HMS Terror. (Arctic Research Foundation)
"When I was getting off the snowmobile I looked to my left and saw something sticking out of the ice," he said.
The men decided to check it out.
"I told [Uncle James] it's one of those … might be one of those old ships that they've been looking for."
Kogvik says he pulled out his camera and had his friend take a photo of him and the mast.
"I gave it a bear hug, and both my legs around that mast."
But after Kogvik lost his camera, the men kept quiet about their find.
"I told Uncle James, don't tell anybody, because we don't have any proof … we didn't want to keep secret, but it might seem like lies to people, because we don't have any proof."
'I could not deny the story'
Kogvik joined the Arctic Research Foundation team on Sept. 2, the day before the Terror was found, and says they were originally heading west for Cambridge Bay.
Franklin's HMS Erebus was found in 2014, also with the help of Inuit oral history. (Parks Canada) "I start thinking maybe I should tell my boss about this mast we found six, seven, eight years ago," Kogvik said.
He started by telling Schimnowski other things he knew about the area.
"I guess because I was listening, he started opening up and telling me a story about a mast," Schimnowski told CBC.
"The way Sammy was telling the story, the look in his eyes, the sound of his voice, he saw something and that was real.
"When I heard that and I saw that, it was like an arrow pointing to where the site would be. I could not deny the story."
That's when the Martin Bergmann research vessel took a detour to Terror Bay.
Inuit knew location for'many, many years'
Schimnowski says it took just 2½ hours to locate the ship in the bay.
"My boss said, 'Sam, we found the ship!'" Kogvik recalled. "Everybody was yelling, too — happy."
Almost all of the hatches on HMS Terror were closed and all three masts were standing.
"It just followed Sammy's story," Schimnowski said.
Terror Bay, where HMS Terror was found, sits on the south shore of Nunavut's King William Island. (CBC)
Kogvik says his account of the ship's location wasn't the first, though.
"Oh yeah, I heard a lot of stories about Terror, the ships, but I guess Parks Canada don't listen to people," Kogvik said. "They just ignore Inuit stories about the Terror ship."
Schimnowski said the crew had also heard stories about people on the land seeing the silhouette of a masted ship at sunset.
"The community knew about this for many, many years. It's hard for people to stop and actually listen... especially people from the South."
He said he's learned that the Inuit know the land better than anyone else.
Community feast
"We are in the backyard of the Inuit, so we should listen and learn as much as we can."
The crew of the Martin Bergmann took part in a community feast in Gjoa Haven on Wednesday night to celebrate the find, complete with throat singing, drum dancing and square dancing.
The community's mayor says they're planning another celebration in the future with all the partners involved in finding Franklin's lost ships, including the Nunavut government and Parks Canada.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
April 19, 2017, 9:48 PM GMT / Updated April 19, 2017, 9:57 PM GMT By Daniella Silva
The man accused of killing a Pennsylvania state trooper was convicted of all counts by a jury on Wednesday and now faces the death penalty — more than two years after he led law enforcement on a nearly 50–day manhunt.
Eric Frein was convicted on a total of 12 charges, including first-degree murder, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. His trial now enters the penalty phase, where jurors will have to decide between a death sentence or life in prison.
Eric Frein is taken to prison after a preliminary hearing in Pike County Courthouse on Oct. 31, 2014, in Milford, Pa. Michael J. Mullen / The Scranton Times-Tribune via AP
Frein, 33, who authorities say was an anti-government survivalist, was on trial for the killing of state Cpl. Bryon Dickson and wounding trooper Alex Douglass in Sept. 2014 during a sniper attack on a police station during a shift change.
Nearly 1,000 members of law enforcement participated in the six-week manhunt in the northeastern Pennsylvania woods before U.S. marshals captured Frein outside an abandoned airplane hangar.
He was captured about 30 miles from the barracks where he was accused of opening fire on the state |
ula, and so might we our own, Kristof suggests:
To me, the lesson is that Rome was able to inoculate itself against unstable rulers so that it could recover and rise to new glories. Even the greatest of nations may suffer a catastrophic leader, but the nation can survive the test and protect its resilience — if the public stays true to its values, institutions and traditions. That was true two millennia ago, and remains true today.
Never more than this morning, I hope he is right.Lorito, 25, led the Albany Devils with 54 points (18-36-54) and 36 assists in 71 games during his first full season in the American Hockey League. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound winger also posted a plus-16 rating and 26 penalty minutes with the Devils, while tacking on seven points (3-4-7) in 11 postseason games. After playing four years at Brown University, Lorito turned pro during the 2014-15 campaign and joined Albany, recording 12 points (3-9-12) in 11 games for the Devils.
Lorito served as team captain during his senior season at Brown and earned All-Ivy League honors three of his four years with the Bears. Also during his senior campaign, Lorito tied for the team lead in scoring with 23 points (11-12-23) and became the 24th member of the Brown 100-Point Club. In all, Lorito tallied 47 goals and 59 assists in 118 games at Brown University. Before playing collegiate hockey, the Oakville, Ontario, native played two seasons of junior hockey with the Villanova Knights of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, recording 160 points (60-100-160) in 91 games.
Street, 29, was limited to 15 games with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage in 2015-16, but racked up 21 points (7-14-21), a plus-16 rating and was named team captain. He also appeared in seven NHL games with the Colorado Avalanche last season. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound center has logged a total of 29 NHL games between the Avalanche and Calgary Flames, totaling two assists and eight penalty minutes. Street has recorded 237 points (98-139-237) in 293 games among four AHL clubs, posting career-highs during the 2013-14 season with the Abbotsford Heat in goals (28), assists (32) and points (60). Street started his pro career with the ECHL Wheeling Nailers where he recorded 51 points (24-27-51) in 38 games during the 2010-11 season.
Prior to turning pro, Street played five years at the University of Wisconsin, serving as co-captain during his junior and senior year and helping the Badgers to a NCAA National Championship in 2006. In all, Street recorded 48 goals and 45 assists in 171 games with the Badgers. The Coquitlam, British Columbia native played two seasons with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the British Columbia Hockey League, tallying 102 points (42-60-102) in 110 games.
Pasquale, 25, split last season between the St. John’s IceCaps of the AHL and Brampton Beast of the ECHL. In 30 games with St. John’s last season, Pasquale owned a 13-10-3 record, a 2.62 goals-against average and a 0.919 save percentage. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound netminder has spent the last four seasons (2011-16) with St. John’s, posting a 68-58-9 record and a sub-2.79 goals against average each season. Before joining St. John’s, Pasquale split the 2011-12 season between the AHL’s Chicago Wolves and ECHL’s Gwinnett Gladiators. Prior to turning pro, Pasquale spent two seasons (2007-09) as the starting netminder for the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League, posting a 59-38-11 record and being named to the OHL’s Third All-Star Team for his efforts during the 2008-09 campaign. Pasquale was traded to Saginaw midway through the 2007-08 season from the Belleville Bulls of the OHL where he posted an 8-5-2 record in two seasons. The Toronto, Ontario, native was drafted in the fourth round (117th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Atlanta Thrashers.My experiences of Google AppEngine usage
Test description Hits per second print 'Hello world' 260 1 read from Datastore, 1 write to Datastore 38 1 read from Datastore 60 10 reads from Datastore, 1 write 20 1 read from memcached, 1 write to memcached 80 1 read from memcached 120 Non-google complete PHP application, 6 SQL queries, http://3.14.by/ 240
Scaling
Sources
from google. appengine. ext import db
class Counter ( db. Model ) : nick = db. StringProperty ( ) count = db. IntegerProperty ( )
res = Counter. gql ( "WHERE nick = 'test3'" ) print 'Content-Type: text/html' print '' print '<html><body><h1>This is datastore performance test</h1>' print '<h2>It reads a counter, and increment it''s value in datastore</h2>' for v in res : v. count = v. count + 1
print 'New counter value : ', v. count
# v.put() print '</body></html>'
Overall issues list
Any call to Datastore might fail randomly. Google says probability of this dropped from 0.4% down to 0.1, but it will be there. Datastore is not designed to be rock solid. You will have to write additional code to handle exceptions here.
Memcached is not THAT memcached you used to. This one is slow (some 100s op/s while REAL memcached could handle 10’000 and more).
You really need to find a place to serve static data. You cannot have large files here, and again, it is slow.
Some reports says URLFetch is less reliable in comparison to what we used to.
You cannot choose datacenter. For example, if you live in Europe, and AppEngine places your application at US, your users will feel it slow. It would be "moved" to Europe eventually, but you have no control over it.
Think twice - Google might serve almost unlimited number of requests if waiting for 100-200ms in average is not a problem. But to pay for that, you will have to invest a lot of efforts in making your code random-timeouts proof.
What I would like to see changed in AppEngine to make it as cool as GMail
Much more deterministic behavior. Less timeout exceptions. You may send me a warning to email saying that I need to optimize a script, but users should have 0 chance to face issues caused by that. As I was saying, it is not always possible to handle all possible issues, as we might run out of CPU time per request.
Much higher datastore & memcached performance. What if we put memcached on the same server, and communicate via shared memory? I am sure current approach is more reliable, but too slow (probably it is fast, but shared among many clients).
Datacenter selection
Cluster-aware applications API. Give us some small server-local ultra-fast storage, and give us events "initialize storage" and "release storage". That's it.
Some thoughts
Where this can and can’t be useful
Conclusion
This article was written in the first months of Google AppEngine. Today it is completely obsolete.: This article is not about "I am so clever, Google is so stupid". This article is about some Google AppEngine problems (or peculiarities) which might not be obvious for newcomers.You know, Google did really nice things: great search, and awesome mail. It gets a lot of valuable private information about our habits through that, but we continue to use these things because they are so awesome at solving their task...There was some hype about AppEngine lately, so I’ve decided to give it a try in my new project.I’ve chosen Python with Google’s native libraries to ensure best compatibility & performance.I’ve started from the performance tests, and the results were…. Disappointing:Tests were done on 20 concurrent requests from 2 different servers at the same continent. Averages for 7 seconds of execution. Some might say "Hey! They are not terrible, my [place url here] could handle just 2 hits per second, so even 38 is a nice upgrade". Well, first of all, this is hello-world class application. It is as simple as possible. Real application would have 5-25 memcached/datastore calls, and would have more logic in here. I believe that Web Developers whose "classic" web-applications could not handle 100 hits per second must be executed.You see, the only way for me to avoid suicide while working with AppEngine is to use 1 memcached call per request, and that's it.Also, for the ‘10 reads 1 write’ test I was getting ‘Error: Server Error’ for more than 10 concurrent requests (internal error was ‘too much contention on these datastore entities. please try again’).I was expecting that at some point I would get more nodes. Unfortunately, after 10 minutes of stress testing & wasting 10% of my daily CPU quota, speed was still the same. Probably it does not react on load that fast.are really simple (like this one):Samples are deployed here: http://mafiazone-dev.appspot.com/. So, Google guys are correct when they say that "performance is almost the same no matter what is the scale of your application". That's right, it is slow in low scale, and also slow at large scale. You see, even single request to anything which could hold data (memcached or Datastore) takes huge amount of time. If you need to perform serveral requests to show a page - you are likely end up in timeout exceptions sometimes. That was really disappointing.Classic web applications (like my homepage) could easily serve 10'000'000 hits per day on a single server, and with further optimization could serve 30'000'000 (at average 500 hits per second for 8-10 rush hours). How many of the projects need at least 10% of that? What if 0.01% of these hits would trigger an unrecoverable error caused by random timeouts (because any handling procedures would need extra CPU time, which is really limited per call)?Here is what you should consider when thinking about using Google AppEngine for your project:Some time ago I was working with really nice technology – it was all redundant and reliable, "cloud"-like, convenient API interfaces, but it took 4 seconds to render forum page on 4-CPU Server. It sucked. It does not matter how cool technology is If it lack performance(google’s case) or usability – it would continue to suck.It’s great for mostly read-only simple(i.e. no complex DB logic, little data) applications without load peaks. This might be awesome solution for “homepage” with some photos of your cat with rare changes and 0 maintenance and cost.It’s not that great for more complex sites which experience digg/shashdot effect from time to time. Google AppEngine would not be able to scale it rapid enough to handle 100 hits/second peak.Does that mean that Goggle devs and architectors are stupid? Not at all. It is really hard to allow scalability for software which is not specifically optimized for scalability. They did their best, but the end result has limited applicability.But if your task fits nicely in AppEngine limitations and storage performance/error rate – this might be perfect solution for you.: Yes, I know it scales if you do not write a lot. My goal was to look at the lower-level performance, the basics. No matter how many nodes you would have, you will never get 20-80ms response time (which is essential for'snappy' web-application).: Yes, I know that proper counter implementation is "sharded counter". In this article I was not benchmarking "counter", but tested some lower-level performance. Yes, we know that Datastore is slow, and it is even slower if you write to the same record. If you don't like this test, you may look at read-only and 10 read 1 write tests only.: I haven't noticed any DDOS protection, probably it was too slow to get close to 500 hits/second hard limit and 7200 requests per minute limit.Get the biggest Liverpool FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Crystal Palace have become a bit of a bogey side to Liverpool but I’m not sure that’s why we lost on Sunday.
If you look at the squad that Jurgen Klopp inherited, we knew there were going to be difficult times in certain games.
The team had a hard week with all the travel and Palace are probably one of the sides you wouldn’t want to play on the back of that.
They have the front men to hurt you and we didn’t have enough energy to shut them down. We couldn’t get amongst them and we allowed them to bring their forwards into the game.
On the day they probably deserved it but I don’t think it was the worst display we’ve seen from Liverpool at home in recent months – it was below par but certainly better than the two league games against Palace last year when Liverpool were simply abysmal.
I don’t think there is any permanent damage and I’d expect the players to come back from the international break fully recharged.
Everything is still up for grabs
But there is a limit to how far you can take any football team and Jurgen Klopp is a football manager, not a magician.
He will want to move forward with a group of players, some of whom are already at Anfield and some of whom aren’t here yet.
I’d like him to do business in the January window because there’s everything to play for.
Even when you’re winning titles there will be games and afternoons like Palace and I think Liverpool’s only target for this season – the top four as I understand it – remains full on.
The longer everything that is going on at Chelsea continues the better it will be for Liverpool though Tottenham have finally looked like they’re getting somewhere.
For Klopp as a new manager he’ll instantly have identified something he can improve upon – he’ll be thinking ‘we’re missing this and I know where to go to get it’.
For me there’s nothing wrong if he wants to go back to Germany, Jurgen should work in the market he knows best.
He’s a fan of a strong running game and that’s something you get in the Bundesliga so the players from there will be used to that already.
There’s always a risk in signing any player but it always gives you a better feeling when you go back to something or someone you know.
I hope Lovren can hit the ground running
With Mamadou Sakho set to miss two months, we will be seeing a lot more of Dejan Lovren.
And I think we should all remember what we liked a lot when we saw him at Southampton.
Klopp has already had success by saying to Sakho, “Just be Sakho, nothing more” and I think he can do that again with Lovren - “Don’t try to be something you’re not”.
Of course what we’ve seen so far has not been good enough.
I really hope he hits the ground running because when you are playing well, you just want to play games and we are entering a period after Man City where it will be non-stop and there are a lot of winnable games for Liverpool.
We’ll keep our fingers crossed but I don’t think Klopp will be worried.
One thing he could perhaps be working on is our set pieces, after all we had five corner takers on Sunday. Set pieces are more important than they’ve ever been because clubs put so much effort into them.
For several years now I’ve thought we’re asking for corner and free kicks to be absolutely perfect. For me the best at the moment, Mesut Ozil at Arsenal, just puts the ball into a dangerous area where the goalkeeper can’t get it.
You see people with their arms up in the box. Forget that, just get it into a central area away from the goalkeeper and go from there.
Klopp has done well - a seven out of 10 so far
A month into his Anfield reign I think Jurgen Klopp has done a good job. I’d give him a 7/10 so far. I think we had an unbeaten run at the end of the Brendan Rodgers era but I think we now look like a team that could win more games and perhaps go on a run of wins.
I think he has views on a lot of things that are quite simple and that resonates with fans, like saying that we decide when we’re tired after the Kazan trip – that’s how fans think too.
On the leaving early debate I think he just wanted to get it out there, I don’t think it was a direct criticism of the fans. I think he just feels in the long-term it is something that will help the team and he wants to get over the message “we decide when it’s over”.
And of course they are the best moments – nothing compares to that feeling when you steal a game right at the end.Hope makes history. So does betrayal of hope.
Early in his presidency, Lyndon Johnson inspired enormous hope. But the promise for a Great Society imploded — and disappointment jolted many former supporters, with trust and optimism turning into alienation and bitterness. The negative ripple effects lasted for decades.
Fifty years after Johnson entered the White House, the corrosive aspects of his legacy are easy to discern. A political base for progressive social change eroded as he escalated the Vietnam War and bought time with shameless deceit. For many people, distrust of leaders became the essence of realism.
Initiating a disastrous mix of rhetoric and carnage, Johnson told the nation on Aug. 4, 1964, “We still seek no wider war.” On the same day, he ordered bombing of North Vietnam in tandem with bogus claims that its navy had attacked U.S. ships in the Tonkin Gulf.
Throughout his full term after a landslide victory in the November 1964 election, LBJ continued to claim benign intent in Vietnam. “I do not genuinely believe that there’s any single person anywhere in the world that wants peace as much as I want it,” Johnson said on May 17, 1966. In mid-January 1968, he insisted that “our goal is peace — and peace at the earliest possible moment.”
For many citizens, the president’s willingness to lie while pursuing indefensible policies caused massive — and perhaps irreversible — distrust and even enmity toward the U.S. government. As a consequence, millions came to see history and current events in a starkly clearer light. By the time Jimi Hendrix performed the national anthem at Woodstock five years after Johnson’s Gulf of Tonkin speech, an unprecedented number of Americans heard the musical bombs bursting in air as horrific instead of noble.
Forty years later, the new presidency of Barack Obama was awash in a strong tide of good will, comparable, in its own way, to the wave of public sentiment that lifted Johnson as the new president after the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of John F. Kennedy. Obama had run and won on hope, and his victory — while not of Johnson’s landslide proportions — provided major momentum.
Obama pursued policies that largely undercut his lofty oratorical appeals to his base. Deference to corporate power, the military-industrial complex and the national-security surveillance state — coupled with scant action on the vastly important matter of climate change — turned him into another president eager to cater to the intersection of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.Vassilis Palaiokostas (Greek: Βασίλης Παλαιοκώστας); born 1966 at Moschofyto, Trikala regional unit is a Greek fugitive who escaped by helicopter twice from the Greek high-security Korydallos prison while serving a 25-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery. He is believed to have been the mastermind of the kidnapping of Giorgos Mylonas, a Greek industrialist, as the ransom paid was traced back to him. In 2000 he was convicted for the 1995 kidnapping of Alexander Haitoglou, the CEO of Haitoglou Bros, a food company in Northern Greece and sentenced to 25 years in prison.[1] His brother, Nikos Palaiokostas, is in prison for 16 bank robberies.[2]
The government of Greece faced intense criticism after his second escape from the same facility, and the government responded by firing three justice ministry officials and arresting three prison guards.[3]
What makes him famous in his hometown is the fact that it is said that he has given most of the stolen money to poor families, making him a local "Robin of the Poor", reminiscent of the famous tale of Robin Hood.[4] His actions have also garnered him the title "uncatchable".[5]
2006 escape [ edit ]
Two accomplices hired a trip on a sight-seeing helicopter from Agios Kosmas, a coastal suburb of Athens. They hijacked the helicopter using a pistol and hand grenade, and forced the pilot to fly to the prison.[6] When the helicopter arrived, guards believed the helicopter was a visit from prison inspectors.[7][8] The helicopter flew the prisoners to a cemetery nearby, where they transferred to motorcycles and fled from there.
Palaiokostas was re-captured two years later, on August 2, 2008,[2] in Thessaloniki.
2009 escape [ edit ]
On the afternoon of Sunday 22 February, Palaiokostas again escaped from Athens' Korydallos Prison by helicopter. He and his cellmate Alket Rizai, 34, climbed a rope ladder thrown to them by a female passenger in the helicopter as it flew over the prison courtyard.
Guards on the ground opened fire and the woman fired back with an automatic rifle. No injuries were reported due to the short gun fight, although one prison guard injured himself while trying to pull out his gun.[9]
Police said an elderly couple found the helicopter abandoned in the Athenian suburb of Kapandriti near a highway north of Athens, with its fuel tank leaking from a bullet hole.
The pilot was bound and gagged, with a hood over his head. He told police the helicopter was chartered by a couple who said they wanted to go from the town of Itea in central Greece to Athens. The couple had chartered the helicopter a number of times in the previous weeks, with the woman posing as a business woman. According to the pilot, who claimed to have been forced into taking part in the escape, Palaiokostas and Rizai were delivered to a getaway car.[10]
Palaiokostas is still at large with a one million euro bounty placed on him for information leading to his arrest.[11] His accomplice Alket Rizai was re-arrested in November 2009.[12]
References [ edit ]San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid (35) and quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) kneel during the national anthem before an National Football League game against the Los Angeles Rams in Santa Clara, Calif. The movement began more than a year ago with a Kaepernick protesting police brutality against minorities by kneeling silently during the national anthem before games. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)
A Louisiana public high school principal who ordered athletes to stand during the national anthem or face penalties is coming under fire from civil rights organizations that say the school is violating students' First Amendment rights.
In a letter sent to student athletes and parents Thursday, Waylon Bates, the principal of Parkway High School in Bossier City, La., said the school "requires student athletes to stand in a respectful manner throughout the National Anthem during any sporting event in which their team is participating."
Bates warned that "Failure to comply will result in loss of playing time and/or participation as directed by the head coach and principal. Continued failure to comply will result in removal from the team. Parkway High School is committed to creating a positive environment for sporting events that is free of disruption to the athletic contest or game."
[Trump demands NFL ‘fire or suspend’ players or risk fan boycott]
Bates's letter comes in the wake of symbolic protests by professional athletes last weekend. More than 200 NFL players took a knee or sat during the national anthem at games to protest racial injustice and in response to comments by President Trump, who likened those who protest to a "son of a b----" and said they should be fired.
On Monday, nine members of a girls soccer team in Maine knelt during the national anthem, and high schools around the country are anticipating that some of their athletes will protest in similar fashion this weekend.
The letter from Parkway High School, which is in Bossier Parish in northwestern Louisiana, drew an immediate response from the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, which put Louisiana schools on notice and warned them that "forcing students to stand during the national anthem or punishing students who 'take a knee' in protest of racial injustice and police brutality would violate students' First Amendment rights."
"Bossier Parish is threatening to punish students for peacefully protesting racial injustice and taking a principled [stand] for freedom and equality," said ACLU of Louisiana executive director Marjorie Esman. "This is antithetical to our values as Americans and a threat to students' constitutional rights."
Esman pointed to Supreme Court rulings that found state schools cannot force students to take part in patriotic rituals.
"Schools have no valid interest in turning their students into mouthpieces of government speech," she said in the statement. "Indeed, schools should respect students who embrace their constitutional rights and stand up to injustice — not punish them. And it would be patently unconstitutional for the school to do so."
Parkway's principal did not immediately return a call for comment Thursday.
Parkway High's next football game is at 7 p.m. Friday.LeBron James is giving back to his hometown of Akron, and the dollar figure on his commitment is staggering.
The Cavaliers superstar has teamed with the University of Akron to give four-year scholarships to any child who completes his “I Promise” campaign.
The annual tuition is $9,500, so it’s a $38,000 commitment to each student who qualifies. There are currently 1,100 kids in the program, and 1,200 more are expected to be added in the next four years, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Quick math puts the total for 2,300 kids at $38,000 each at just over $87 million.
“It’s the reason I do what I do,” James told reporters while announcing the program Thursday at an event for students at Cedar Point Amusement Park. “These students have big dreams, and I’m happy to do everything I can to help them get there. They’re going to have to earn it, but I’m excited to see what these kids can accomplish knowing that college is in their futures.”
The criteria for the scholarship are still to be determined, but the students will be expected to reach certain grade point averages and graduate from an Akron public high school. The LeBron James Family Foundation is going to work with the university over the next five years to raise the money needed for the inaugural class, entering in 2021.
“If you are one of LeBron’s kids,” UA President Scott Scarborough said, “we want to tell you you have a college scholarship waiting for you at the University of Akron when you graduate from high school.”30th March 2009, 11:00 am
Lately I’ve been learning that some programming principles I treasure are not widely shared among my Haskell comrades. Or at least not widely among those I’ve been hearing from. I was feeling bummed, so I decided to write this post, in order to help me process the news and to see who resonates with what I’m looking for.
One of the principles I’m talking about is that the value of a closed expression (one not containing free variables) depends solely on the expression itself — not influenced by the dynamic conditions under which it is executed. I relate to this principle as the soul of functional programming and of referential transparency in particular.
Edits:
2009-10-26: Minor typo fix
Recently I encountered two facts about standard Haskell libraries that I have trouble reconciling with this principle.
The meaning of Int operations in overflow situations is machine-dependent. Typically they use 32 bits when running on 32-bit machine and 64 bits when running on 64-bit machines. Implementations are free to use as few as 29 bits. Thus the value of the expression “ 2^32 == (0 ::Int) ” may be either False or True, depending on the dynamic conditions under which it is evaluated.
operations in overflow situations is machine-dependent. Typically they use 32 bits when running on 32-bit machine and 64 bits when running on 64-bit machines. Implementations are free to use as few as 29 bits. Thus the value of the expression “ ” may be either or, depending on the dynamic conditions under which it is evaluated. The expression “ System.Info.os ” has type String, although its value as a sequence of characters depends on the circumstances of its execution. (Similarly for the other exports from System.Info. Hm. I just noticed that the module is labeled as “portable”. Typo? Joke?)
Although I’ve been programming primarily in Haskell since around 1995, I didn’t realize that these implementation-dependent meanings were there. As in many romantic relationships, I suppose I’ve been seeing Haskell not as she is, but as I idealized her to be.
There’s another principle that is closely related to the one above and even more fundamental to me: every type has a precise, specific, and preferably simple denotation. If an expression e has type T, then the meaning (value) of e is a member of the collection denoted by T. For instance, I think of the meaning of the type String, i.e., of [Char], as being sequences of characters. Well, not quite that simple, because it also contains some partially defined sequences and has a partial information ordering (non-flat in this case). Given this second principle, if os :: String, then the meaning of os is some sequence of characters. Assuming the sequence is finite and non-partial, it can be written down as a literal string, and that literal can be substituted for every occurrence of “ os ” in a program, without changing the program’s meaning. However, os evaluates to “linux” on my machine and evaluates to “darwin” on my friend Bob’s machine, so substituting any literal string for “ os ” would change the meaning, as observable on at least one of these machines.
Now I realize I’m really talking about standard Haskell libraries, not Haskell itself. When I discussed my confusion & dismay in the #haskell chat room, someone suggested explaining these semantic differences in terms of different libraries and hence different programs (if one takes programs to include the libraries they use). One would not expect different programs (due to different libraries) to have the same meaning.
I understand this different-library perspective — in a literal way. And yet I’m not really satisfied. What I get is that standard libraries are “standard” in signature (form), not in meaning (substance). With no promises about semantic commonality, I don’t know how standard libraries can be useful.
Another perspective that came up on #haskell was that the kind of semantic consistency I’m looking for is impossible, because of possibilities of failure. For instance, evaluating an expression might one time fail due to memory exhaustion, while succeeding (perhaps just barely) on another attempt. After mulling over that point, I’d like to weaken my principle a little. Instead of asking that all evaluations of an expression yield same value, I ask that all evaluations of an expression yield consistent answers. By “consistent” I mean in the sense of information content. Answers don’t have to agree, but they must not disagree. Failures like exhausted memory are modeled as ⊥, which is called “bottom” because it is the bottom of the information partial ordering. It contains no information and so is consistent with every value, disagreeing with no value. More precisely, values are consistent when they have a shared upper (information) bound, and inconsistent when they don’t. The value ⊥ means i-don’t-know, and the value (1,⊥,3) means (1, i-don’t-know, 3). The consistent-value principle accepts possible failures due to finite resources and hardware failure, while rejecting “linux” vs “darwin” for System.Info.os or False vs True for “ 2^32 == (0 ::Int). It also accepts System.Info.os :: IO String, which is the type I would have expected, because the semantics of IO String is big enough to accommodate dependence on dynamic conditions.
If you also cherish the principles I mention above, I’d love to hear from you.
Lately I’ve been learning that some programming principles I treasure are not widely shared among my Haskell comrades. Or at least not widely among those I’ve been hearing from. I...Francis Scarpaleggia was put in a very odd position on Thursday morning.
As chair of the special committee on electoral reform, the Montreal MP was front-and-centre presenting recommendations on one of the government’s signature election promises, to change the federal voting system before Canadians next head to the polls. However, Scarpaleggia and other Liberals on the committee insist citizens are simply too apathetic right now to risk putting the complex issue to a checked-out electorate in a referendum, which was one of the committee’s central recommendations.
“We’re of the opinion on the Liberal side of this committee that Canadians as a whole are not enough engaged on the issue of electoral reform,” he argued in a press conference unveiling the committee’s report. “If there’s a referendum and people aren’t engaged in the issue and they haven’t assimilated the issue properly, what you’re going to have is a referendum result that doesn’t reflect the valid question, and that’s a very dangerous thing.”
It’s curiously circular logic, in a way. If there are no concrete choices on the table, serious debates or advertising campaigns going on, there’s not much to seize the public by the lapels when it comes to an undeniably esoteric, though important, issue. And if the government believes it’s prudent to wait for some undetermined level of interest to be aroused before it acts, it’s unlikely any of those things will take shape that might, in fact, get people to tune in.
The Liberals have made it clear they don’t want a referendum. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who pledged on the campaign trail that the 2015 election would be the last under the first-past-the-post system, has argued that status quo is the most likely outcome of putting the issue to a vote, meaning “referendums are a pretty good way of not getting any electoral reform.” Maryam Monsef, minister of democratic institutions, told the committee in July that she was skeptical a referendum was the best way, because it was divisive and a blunt instrument to decide complex matters. She has instead repeatedly insisted the government will not move forward without broad public support, but has not been specific about what that means.
On Thursday, in a lengthy press conference that included members of the electoral reform committee representing all five parties in the House, the tone shifted as time went on. What started out as cheery, collegial back-slapping about the hard work and cross-partisan bonding the committee members had done as they travelled across the country hearing from citizens and experts eventually slid into testiness and factional impatience. Near the end of the event, Nathan Cullen, an NDP MP on the committee, expressed frustration with the vague way the Liberals have defined the conditions they now see as necessary to alter the voting system.
“This test of the public has to have some undefined level of engagement before we can act: well then, when would government act?” he asked. His hope is that citizens would tune in simply because the whole exercise is central to democracy, he said. “And at some point, the minister is going to have to define what the hell she means by broad consensus, broad support. It’s a term that’s thrown out there but yet never defined,” Cullen continued in exasperation. “Well, that can be a self-defeating prophecy if you’d like.”
Later on Thursday afternoon, Monsef—who was not present at the morning press conference—appeared to further distance her government from its commitment to swift electoral reform. She threw the committee members under the bus, chiding that they didn’t offer a specific alternative to the current voting system and “did not complete the hard work we expected them to.” And on the same day the committee tabled its report, Monsef was set to launch another listening exercise on electoral reform. In a mass mailout, more than 13 million Canadian households will receive postcards inviting them to provide online feedback about their democratic values. “I don’t want to pre-judge what she’ll find with that, but we’re just saying that as of Dec. 1, we don’t believe Canadians are sufficiently engaged to have a referendum tomorrow on this,” Scarpaleggia said.A group of five South American countries is expected to propose creating a new position at the United Nations devoted to investigating human rights violations against LGBTI people.
The position — a special rapporteur, or investigator — would answer to the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is beginning its next session of work in Geneva next week.
"We are going to be presenting a resolution, but it's a work in progress," said a diplomat with one of the countries sponsoring the initiative, who asked not to be named because the proposal had not been made public.
If such a resolution were adopted, it would be a significant step towards ensuring LGBTI rights are an ongoing matter of concern to international human rights bodies. The Human Rights Council adopted its first ever resolution on "human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity" in 2011 led by South Africa, but it took LGBTI rights supporters several years to figure out how to continue to press the issue further.
That's in part because LGBTI rights blew up into a major global confrontation in 2014, thanks to the showdown over Russia's anti-LGBT law in the lead-up to that year's Olympics and the reaction of donor nations to sweeping anti-LGBT laws adopted by Nigeria and Uganda. South Africa, whose leadership had been crucial to diffusing allegations that LGBTI rights were a form of "cultural imperialism," lost enthusiasm for pushing the cause further at the United Nations.
A follow-up resolution introduced that year, sponsored by Brazil, Chile, |
Dawes, Strand of Oaks, PUP, Whitney, Hamilton Leithauser, Beach Slang, Swet Shop Boys, and The Districts.
Also playing are Major Lazer, Foster the People, Vance Joy, Milky Chance, Phantogram, Glass Animals, Majid Jordan, Mick Jenkins, Lil Uzi Vert, Tove Lo, Flatbush Zombies, George Ezra, Foxygen, Maggie Rogers, SOHN, Nina Kraviz, Temples, The Lemon Twigs, Matoma, Bishop Briggs, Denzel Curry, Plants and Animals, Arkells, Sofi Tukker, Andy Shauf, and Snails, among others.
Osheaga goes down August 4th – 6th at Parc Jean-Drapeau. General admission and VIP passes are now onsale."The creature was lying there, my sword through its helmet. Next thing I knew it was back on its feet, shuffling toward me to attack with my own weapon!"
There are stories in the darkest regions of Bryklond of the dead rising from their tombs. Yet when Bryklond’s protectors are sent to deal with the hoards, creatures that should be mortally wounded are able to regain their feet and rejoin the fight.
Cryptside Campsite is a 861 piece set. It includes one ruined crypt, a small campsite, 2 adventurer minifigs, one sorceress minifig, 3 skeleton minifigs and one zombie king minifig.
The crypt has been designed for use in table-top games and can be reconfigured as the scenario requires. The building is a combination of modules - crypt wall, plain wall, columns, broken walls, entrance wall and dead end. Multiple sets can also be combined to create a more elaborate structure.
Bryklond is a tabletop role playing game that uses Lego to construct characters and environments. The set can be used with the Bryklond rules (coming soon!) to play through a raid of the crypt. Using this set you can play as:
The Sorceress - An arguably overconfident practitioner of the arcane arts, set upon looting the crypt's precious artefacts.
The Adventurers - Hired more for their brawn than their brains, they are about to get a lot more than they were paid for..
The Zombie King - A long-dead monarch, furious that it's cursed slumber has been disturbed.
The Skeletons - Loyal servants willing to do their master's bidding, even beyond death.
Can the sorceress capture the artifact? Will the adventurers escape with their lives or will the Zombie King claim some new skeleton servants?
Please check out my other fantasy-themed sets on Lego Ideas.
Farmhouse Raid - A medieval-style farmhouse beset by raiding bandits
Modular Castle - A reconfigurable castle under siege
Caravan Ambush - A fully-laden merchant caravan passing too close to a bandit camp
All images have been rendered using Bluerender with Sunflow's mod.An endangered brown kiwi chick kicked her way out of her egg at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Va., between Saturday, July 29, and Sunday, July 30. Keepers had been monitoring the egg closely during the past week after it pipped or showed signs that it would hatch soon. They tracked the egg’s development closely by candling the egg, or shining a light on it to see the embryo’s growth. Keepers candled the egg during a Facebook Live July 27, days before it hatched.
After SCBI’s adult female kiwi Rua laid the egg, keepers placed it in an incubator with controlled temperature and humidity where it developed for 75 days. Brown kiwis are able to hunt for themselves from birth and do not depend on their parents. The chick stayed in the incubator during her first 24 hours, but was then moved to an isolette (a smaller enclosure specially designed for newly hatched chicks). Keepers moved her to the kiwi facility Aug. 3. She will eventually be paired with a male and join the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan for brown kiwi. Kiwis are monogamous and generally live in mated pairs for life.
Brown kiwis, flightless nocturnal birds, are native to New Zealand and are endangered due to non-native predators introduced by humans. They lay the second-largest eggs for body size of any bird—an average 20 percent of the female’s body weight. In 1975, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo became the first organization to hatch a brown kiwi outside of New Zealand. SCBI has hatched six kiwi eggs since 2012.
SCBI plays a leading role in the Smithsonian’s global efforts to save wildlife species from extinction and train future generations of conservationists. SCBI spearheads research programs at its headquarters in Front Royal, Va., the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and at field research stations and training sites worldwide. SCBI scientists tackle some of today’s most complex conservation challenges by applying and sharing what they learn about animal behavior and reproduction, ecology, genetics, migration and conservation sustainability.
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Photo credit: Wesley Bailey, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute: Undefined variable: attachments inon line
How can you be an effective generator of B2B leads in Australia? It depends on a lot of things. Considering that Australia is still one of the most popular countries to do business in, it will sure attracts both foreign and local investors like you. The only challenge here, so far, is how to effectively generate the sales leads that you need. Lead generation is both an art and a science. You need to master a few things, the basics of selling. While there are plenty of things that you need to consider, there are actually just three things that you have to master.
First thing, be more proactive. Business prospects will not present themselves on a silver platter. If you want your appointment setting work to be more effective, you should take the first step. Research more about your prospects. Think of solutions to problems they face even before they say it.
Second, presentation matters. The way you present your business, whether in a meeting or in a telemarketing call, is an important factor in sealing a deal. You might want to be more presentable in order to make a positive first impression.
Lastly is keeping your word. The old adage that ‘promises are made to be broken’ is one very bad concept in marketing. Whatever you claim to your prospects that you can do, you need to be sure that you can actually deliver. Failure to do so ensures failure in sales in the future.
Master these three factors, and you will make your lead generation work easier.This afternoon supporters sent in questions via Twitter that USA head coach Jurgen Klinsmann answered.Here is a full run down of the Q & A:What improvements have u seenQuick buildup out of the back. Getting better at high pressure. Still need more goals!What roll should youth leagues play in developing players?Kids need to play more consistently through the entire year.Coach's thoughts on going to training at #ESPNWWOSLooking forward to it. Awesome complex and lots to do!When will roster be out?Camp roster released in two phases: Mostly Euro-based players on 5/15, mostly MLS-based on 5/20Are you committed to 4-3-3 or could you change?Not committed to 4-3-3. We can always adjust based on our needs.Do you think that Clint dempsey should stay at fulham or move to a bigger club?It's totally up to Clint and the club.What do you look for in younger players?Many things: for example, technical skills, character, speed,Will WCQ will you use a consistent gameplan or continue to experiment?No experiments. It's about getting results.Favorite thing about living in America?It's a land of endless opportunity.Importance of staying on the same page w/ team?Don't always have to be on same page, but important to always communicate.What's your opinion of the new uniform?Awesome! I wish I could still play!What do you do for team building exercises?Take the team to special places. For example: Ground Zero, Panama Canal, Versailledo you get to play much anymore?Unfortunately not. Too busy preparing the team for the upcoming camp.Watching any @dcunited players?Constantly watching all MLS players, including Hamid, Kitchen & Pontius.5 games in 18 days. How will you keep players fresh?No problem. Players are used to playing that rhythm.Will lineup for all games be the same?23 players on roster for 5 gms. Lineups very similar, but all based on performance.Besides Germany, who's your pick for UEFA Euro 12?Team to beat is Spain, but Germany can do it.What as USMNT fans should we do to help promote the game?Come support the team. Home field advantage is huge!What kind of lineup should we expect v. Scotland?The best lineup based on form. Jacksonville is going to be great!What does it take to be a top coach?Always be a student of the game. Coaching education and licenses are important.do you have any pregame rituals?A double espresso in the locker room.Any senior players playing against Brazil?We will bring a full strength squad to FedExField. It's a great opportunity!Given the chance, what GK in history would you like to go one-on-one against?Walter ZengaWhat's most important for young players (u-8)?Play as much as possible on their own and just have fun!you believe that to be a good coach, one must first have been a goodplayer?No, not necessarily.What are your feelings about some Earthquakes players?They are doing great, and Wondo keeps scoring.Do you stay in touch with players regularly?yes - by phone, text, email, twitter - whatever it takes!Six people were killed and more than 20 others injured when a group of suicide attackers from a Taliban faction attempted to storm a court complex in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, the latest in a wave of terror attacks across the country since last week.
Three attackers hit the sessions court in Tangi town of Charsadda district, a short distance from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa capital of Peshawar, on Tuesday morning.
They lobbed grenades and fired at policemen guarding the complex before one attacker blew himself up near the gate. The other two, who were also wearing suicide vests, were killed in retaliatory firing by security forces.
The banned Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed the attack. “We claim responsibility for the attack, which is part of our Ghazi operation,” the group’s spokesman Asad Mansoor said in a phone call to the media.
District mayor Fahad Riaz confirmed the casualties. A lawyer was among the dead, officials said.
An explosion occurred at the entrance of the court complex and another near the bar council room. The bodies and injured were taken to hospitals in Charsadda and Peshawar.
The court complex was crowded in the morning, and deputy inspector general of police Ijaz Khan said police averted a major tragedy by preventing the attackers from entering the courthouse.
A Pakistani volunteer carries an injured child to a hospital in Peshawar on February 21, 2017 after a group of suicide bombers attacked a courthouse in the country’s northwest. Police said one bomber detonated his suicide vest at the court's main gate while police shot and killed the two other assailants. ( AP )
The attack was the latest in a wave of terrorist assaults across Pakistan since last week that has claimed more than 100 lives. The brazen suicide bombings have been claimed by several militant groups, including the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.
In one of the attacks last week, 90 people were killed when an Islamic State suicide bomber targeted worshippers at a famed Sufi shrine in southern Sindh province on Thursday.
The shrine bombing prompted a countrywide crackdown by security forces targeting militants and their hideouts. The military has said that more than 100 militants have been killed and many others detained.
The government has vowed to fight terrorists, including those it says are hiding in Afghanistan. The military closed the border with Afghanistan over the weekend and used artillery to pound what is said were militant camps within Afghan territory.
Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of premier Nawaz Sharif, has announced the beginning of a military operation in his province headed by the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers. Sharif said the operation would root out terrorism in Pakistan’s most populous province.
First Published: Feb 21, 2017 12:56 ISTSix practices down. Nine to go.
Alabama's approaching the midpoint of the 15-date spring football routine with the first scrimmage coming up Saturday. After watching those six practices, talking to players and Nick Saban, we've been able to make a few observations.
Let's take a look at a few as the Crimson Tide enters the third week of practice ahead of the April 22 A-Day game.
-- The most notable thing about this March/April is what isn't happening. For the first time since 2013, there isn't a high-profile quarterback competition. That means the offense can focus on building on what happened last fall instead of a round robin audition between quarterbacks with differing styles and skill sets. Jalen Hurts can take all of the first-team snaps that'll help build the chemistry and timing that may have suffered a bit last season. Saban and the offensive coaches will get a first preview in Saturday's scrimmage. He said he's looking to see how Hurts has improved decision making, pocket presence and reading defenses among other criteria.
-- Speaking of competitions, there seems to be fewer of the high-profile battles compared to previous years. The most intriguing position is in the offensive backfield. But running backs aren't like quarterbacks or left tackles. It can be done by committee. This should be more interesting in August when Bo Scarbrough and B.J. Emmons are healthy again.
"We feel one of the strengths of the team is the running back position," Saban said Monday, "having the three guys back from last year plus adding a few more that are out there right now that are showing good promise and potential. I think it's one of the strengths of our team and we'll have to find roles for some of those guys because they're some of our best players at that position."
-- You may have heard this before, but this could be a big year for Robert Foster. The top receiver in the 2013 recruiting class hasn't had the breakthrough moment just yet. He was close in 2015 before a major shoulder injury shut him down three games in. His role was limited last year with five total catches. The departure of ArDarius Stewart, O.J. Howard and Gehrig Dieter leaves the need for experience catching passes.
"I think (Foster is) playing better than he did a year ago and hopefully he will continue to improve and have a role on the team," Saban said. "I think we need for him to do that."
-- Speaking of the passing game, Saban has noted a few times they were focusing more on the passing with Hurts than his scrambling game. That shouldn't be a surprise given how the 2016 season ended and where the aerial game stood. There's no doubt the pack of running backs and his mobility will be a focal point of the offense next year, but without balance, it becomes a liability.
-- Early enrollee middle linebacker Dylan Moses doesn't look like a freshman. It's a matter of grasping the playbook at this point. Not much more to say there.
-- It'll also be interesting to see who steps up in Shaun Dion Hamilton's absence at middle linebacker this spring. He should be back from the ACL tear by August, but that still leaves the rest of spring and A-Day to develop depth. Rashaan Evans, the other middle linebacker, doesn't have much experience as a starter. Players like Keith Holcombe have paid their dues. It'll be interesting to see how they perform with an opportunity.
-- A position of interest would be safety. It lost Eddie Jackson to graduation. Minkah Fitzpatrick was a starter there to close the season, though he's back at cornerback. Ronnie Harrison figures to have his job back. It's a matter of who steps up next door. Jared Mayden is a name to remember. He's not out there right now as he recovers from hip surgery. Hootie Jones saw serious playing time last year while former top recruit Deionte Thompson could challenge as a third-year sophomore.
-- Still to be determined: the roles of JUCO lineman transfers Isaiah Buggs (defense) and Elliott Baker (offense). It's easier to work into a rotation or earn a role on a specialty package on defense while there aren't many substitutions for the offensive counterparts. Baker, a tackle, has to beat Matt Womack at this point. The redshirt sophomore has impressed Saban through six practices working at right tackle. Jonah Williams has the left tackle job.
-- We talk a lot about offense and defense, how about the special teams? More specifically, kickoff and punt return. We asked Saban about that Monday.
"I can't really say that we can evaluate it," Saban said. "We've had, I think, two days of kickoff return and two days of punt return at this point. Most of it has been fundamental stuff. I really can't really say somebody's... I think we've got enough good guys to be able to do it extremely well. I just think we gotta develop them and help them understand what that role entails and I think we'll be probably better than we were a year ago."The anonymous author of the pamphlet Onania (1716) was very worried about masturbation. The ‘shameful vice’, the ‘solitary act of pleasure’, was something too terrible to even be described. The writer agreed with those ‘who are of the opinion, that… it never ought to be spoken of, or hinted at, because the bare mentioning of it may be dangerous to some’. There was, however, little reticence in cataloguing ‘the frightful consequences of self-pollution’. Gonorrhoea, fits, epilepsy, consumption, impotence, headaches, weakness of intellect, backache, pimples, blisters, glandular swelling, trembling, dizziness, heart palpitations, urinary discharge, ‘wandering pains’, and incontinence – were all attributed to the scourge of onanism.
The fear was not confined to men. The full title of the pamphlet was Onania: Or the Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution, and all its Frightful Consequences (in Both Sexes). Its author was aware that the sin of Onan referred to the spilling of male seed (and divine retribution for the act) but reiterated that he treated ‘of this crime in relation to women as well as men’. ‘[W]hilst the offence is Self-Pollution in both, I could not think of any other word which would so well put the reader in mind both of the sin and its punishment’. Women who indulged could expect disease of the womb, hysteria, infertility and deflowering (the loss of ‘that valuable badge of their chastity and innocence’).
Another bestselling pamphlet was published later in the century: L’onanisme (1760) by Samuel Auguste Tissot. He was critical of Onania, ‘a real chaos … all the author’s reflections are nothing but theological and moral puerilities’, but nevertheless listed ‘the ills of which the English patients complain’. Tissot was likewise fixated on ‘the physical disorders produced by masturbation’, and provided his own case study, a watchmaker who had self-pleasured himself into ‘insensibility’ on a daily basis, sometimes three times a day; ‘I found a being that less resembled a living creature than a corpse, lying upon straw, meagre, pale, and filthy, casting forth an infectious stench; almost incapable of motion.’ The fear these pamphlets promoted soon spread.
The strange thing is that masturbation was never before the object of such horror. In ancient times, masturbation was either not much mentioned or treated as something a little vulgar, not in good taste, a bad joke. In the Middle Ages and for much of the early modern period too, masturbation, while sinful and unnatural, was not invested with such significance. What changed?
Religion and medicine combined powerfully to create a new and hostile discourse. The idea that the soul was present in semen led to thinking that it was very important to retain the vital fluid. Its spilling became, then, both immoral and dangerous (medicine believed in female semen at the time). ‘Sin, vice, and self-destruction’ were the ‘trinity of ideas’ that would dominate from the 18th into the 19th century, as the historians Jean Stengers and Anne Van Neck put it in Masturbation: The Great Terror (2001).
There were exceptions. Sometimes masturbation was opposed for more ‘enlightened’ reasons. In the 1830s and 1840s, for instance, female moral campaign societies in the United States condemned masturbation, not out of hostility to sex, but as a means to self-control. What would now be termed ‘greater sexual agency’ – the historian April Haynes refers to ‘sexual virtue’ and ‘virtuous restraint’ – was central to their message.
Yet it is difficult to escape the intensity of the fear. J H Kellogg’s Plain Facts for Old and Young (1877) contained both exaggerated horror stories and grand claims: ‘neither the plague, nor war, nor smallpox, nor similar diseases, have produced results so disastrous to humanity as the pernicious habit of Onanism; it is the destroying element of civilised societies’. Kellogg suggested remedies for the scourge, such as exercise, strict bathing and sleeping regimes, compresses, douching, enemas and electrical treatment. Diet was vital: this rabid anti-masturbator was co-inventor of the breakfast cereal that still bears his name. ‘Few of today’s eaters of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes know that he invented them, almost literally, as anti-masturbation food,’ as the psychologist John Money once pointed out.
The traces are still with us in other ways. Male circumcision, for instance, originated in part with the 19th-century obsession with the role of the foreskin in encouraging masturbatory practices. Consciously or not, many US males are faced with this bodily reminder every time they masturbate. And the general disquiet unleashed in the 18th century similarly lingers on today. We seem to have a confusing and conflicting relationship with masturbation. On one hand it is accepted, even celebrated – on the other, there remains an unmistakable element of taboo.
When the sociologist Anthony Giddens in The Transformation of Intimacy (1992) attempted to identify what made modern sex modern, one of the characteristics he identified was the acceptance of masturbation. It was, as he said, masturbation’s ‘coming out’. Now it was ‘widely recommended as a major source of sexual pleasure, and actively encouraged as a mode of improving sexual responsiveness on the part of both sexes’. It had indeed come to signify female sexual freedom with Betty Dodson’s Liberating Masturbation (1974) (renamed and republished as Sex for One in 1996), which has sold more than a million copies, and her Bodysex Workshops in Manhattan with their ‘all-women masturbation circles’. The Boston Women’s Health Collective’s classic feminist text Our Bodies, Ourselves (1973) included a section called ‘Learning to Masturbate’.
Alfred Kinsey and his team are mainly remembered for the sex surveys that publicised the pervasiveness of same-sex desires and experiences in the US, but they also recognised the prevalence of masturbation. It was, for both men and women, one of the nation’s principal sexual outlets. In the US National Survey (2009–10), 94 per cent of men aged 25-29 and 85 per cent of women in the same age group said that they had masturbated alone in the course of their lifetime. (All surveys indicate lower reported rates for women.) In the just-published results of the 2012 US National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, 92 per cent of straight men and a full 100 per cent of gay men recorded lifetime masturbation.
There has certainly been little silence about the activity. Several generations of German university students were questioned by a Hamburg research team about their masturbatory habits to chart changing attitudes and practices from 1966 to 1996; their results were published in 2003. Did they reach orgasm? Were they sexually satisfied? Was it fun? In another study, US women were contacted on Craigslist and asked about their masturbatory experiences, including clitoral stimulation and vaginal penetration. An older, somewhat self-referential study from 1977 of sexual arousal to films of masturbation asked psychology students at the University of Connecticut to report their ‘genital sensations’ while watching those films. Erection? Ejaculation? Breast sensations? Vaginal lubrication? Orgasm? And doctors have written up studies of the failed experiments of unfortunate patients: ‘Masturbation Injury Resulting from Intraurethral Introduction of Spaghetti’ (1986); ‘Penile Incarceration Secondary to Masturbation with A Steel Pipe’ (2013), with illustrations.
‘We are a profoundly self-pleasuring society at both a metaphorical and material level’
Self-stimulation has been employed in sexual research, though not always to great import. Kinsey and his team wanted to measure how far, if at all, semen was projected during ejaculation: Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, Kinsey’s biographer, refers to queues of men in Greenwich Village waiting to be filmed at $3 an ejaculation. William Masters and Virginia Johnson recorded and measured the physiological response during sexual arousal, using new technology, including a miniature camera inside a plastic phallus. Their book Human Sexual Response (1966) was based on data from more than 10,000 orgasms from nearly 700 volunteers: laboratory research involving sexual intercourse, stimulation, and masturbation by hand and with that transparent phallus. Learned journals have produced findings such as ‘Orgasm in Women in the Laboratory – Quantitative Studies on Duration, Intensity, Latency, and Vaginal Blood Flow’ (1985).
In therapy, too, masturbation has found its place ‘as a means of achieving sexual health’, as an article by Eli Coleman, the director of the programme in human sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School, once put it. A published study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in 1977 outlined therapist-supervised female masturbation (with dildo, vibrator and ‘organic vegetables’) as a way of encouraging vaginal orgasm. Then there is The Big Book of Masturbation (2003) and the hundreds of (pun intended) self-help books, Masturbation for Weight Loss, a Woman’s Guide only among the latest (and more opportunistic).
Self-pleasure has featured in literature, most famously in Philip Roth’s novel Portnoy’s Complaint (1969). But it is there in more recent writing too, including Chuck Palahniuk’s disturbing short story ‘Guts’ (2004). Autoeroticism (and its traces) have been showcased in artistic expression: in Jordan MacKenzie’s sperm and charcoal canvases (2007), for example, or in Marina Abramović’s reprise of Vito Acconci’s Seedbed at the Guggenheim in 2005, or her video art Balkan Erotic Epic of the same year.
On film and television, masturbation is similarly pervasive: Lauren Rosewarne’s Masturbation in Pop Culture (2014) was able to draw on more than 600 such scenes. My favourites are in the film Spanking the Monkey (1994), in which the main character is trying to masturbate in the bathroom, while the family dog, seemingly alert to such behaviour, pants and whines at the door; and in the Seinfeld episode ‘The Contest’ (1992), in which the ‘m’ word is never uttered, and where George’s mother tells her adult son that he is ‘treating his body like it was an amusement park’.
There is much evidence, then, for what the film scholar Greg Tuck in 2009 called the ‘mainstreaming of masturbation’: ‘We are a profoundly self-pleasuring society at both a metaphorical and material level.’ There are politically-conscious masturbation websites. There is the online ‘Masturbation Hall of Fame’ (sponsored by the sex-toys franchise Good Vibrations). There are masturbationathons, and jack-off-clubs, and masturbation parties.
It would be a mistake, however, to present a rigid contrast between past condemnation and present acceptance. There are continuities. Autoeroticism might be mainstreamed but that does not mean it is totally accepted. In Sexual Investigations (1996), the philosopher Alan Soble observed that people brag about casual sex and infidelities but remain silent about solitary sex. Anne-Francis Watson and Alan McKee’s 2013 study of 14- to 16-year-old Australians found that not only the participants but also their families and teachers were more comfortable talking about almost any other sexual matter than about self-pleasuring. It ‘remains an activity that is viewed as shameful and problematic’, warns the entry on masturbation in the Encyclopedia of Adolescence (2011). In a study of the sexuality of students in a western US university, where they were asked about sexual orientation, anal and vaginal sex, condom use, and masturbation, it was the last topic that occasioned reservation: 28 per cent of the participants ‘declined to answer the masturbation questions’. Masturbation remains, to some extent, taboo.
When the subject is mentioned, it is often as an object of laughter or ridicule. Rosewarne, the dogged viewer of the 600 masturbation scenes in film and TV, concluded that male masturbation was almost invariably portrayed negatively (female masturbation was mostly erotic). Watson and McKee’s study revealed that their young Australians knew that masturbation was normal yet still made ‘negative or ambivalent statements’ about it.
Belief in the evils of masturbation has resurfaced in the figure of the sex addict and in the obsession with the impact of internet pornography. Throughout their relatively short histories, sexual addiction and hypersexual disorder have included masturbation as one of the primary symptoms of their purported maladies. What, in a sex-positive environment, would be considered normal sexual behaviour has been pathologised in another. Of the 152 patients in treatment for hypersexual disorder in clinics in California, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah, a 2012 study showed that most characterised their sexual disorder in terms of pornography consumption (81 per cent) and masturbation (78 per cent). The New Catholic Encyclopedia’s supplement on masturbation (2012-13), too, slips into a lengthy disquisition on sex addiction and the evils of internet pornography: ‘The availability of internet pornography has markedly increased the practice of masturbation to the degree that it can be appropriately referred to as an epidemic.’
Critics think that therapeutic masturbation might reinforce sexual selfishness rather than sexual empathy and sharing
The masturbator is often seen as the pornography-consumer and sex addict enslaved by masturbation. The sociologist Steve Garlick has suggested that negative attitudes to masturbation have been reconstituted to ‘surreptitiously infect ideas about pornography’. Pornography has become masturbation’s metonym. Significantly, when the New Zealand politician Shane Jones was exposed for using his taxpayer-funded credit card to view pornographic movies, the unnamed shame was that his self-pleasuring activities were proclaimed on the front pages of the nation’s newspapers – thus the jokes about ‘the matter in hand’ and not shaking hands with him at early morning meetings. It would have been less humiliating, one assumes, if he had used the public purse to finance the services of sex workers.
Nor is there consensus on the benefits of masturbation. Despite its continued use in therapy, some therapists question its usefulness and propriety. ‘It is a mystery to me how conversational psychotherapy has made the sudden transition to massage parlour technology involving vibrators, mirrors, surrogates, and now even carrots and cucumbers!’ one psychologist protested in the late 1970s. He was concerned about issues of client-patient power and a blinkered pursuit of the sexual climax ‘ignoring … the more profound psychological implications of the procedure’. In terms of effectiveness, critics think that therapeutic masturbation might reinforce individual pleasure and sexual selfishness rather than creating sexual empathy and sharing. As one observed in the pages of the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy in 1995: ‘Ironically, the argument against masturbation in American society was originally religiously founded, but may re-emerge as a humanist argument.’ Oversimplified, but in essence right: people remain disturbed by the solitariness of solitary sex.
Why has what the Japanese charmingly call ‘self-play’ become such a forcing ground for sexual attitudes? Perhaps there is something about masturbation’s uncontrollability that continues to make people anxious. It is perversely non-procreative, incestuous, adulterous, homosexual, ‘often pederastic’ and, in imagination at least, sex with ‘every man, woman, or beast to whom I take a fancy’, to quote Soble. For the ever-astute historian Thomas Laqueur, author of Solitary Sex (2003), masturbation is ‘that part of human sexual life where potentially unlimited pleasure meets social restraint’.
Why did masturbation become such a problem? For Laqueur, it began with developments in 18th-century Europe, with the cultural rise of the imagination in the arts, the seemingly unbounded future of commerce, the role of print culture, the rise of private, silent reading, especially novels, and the democratic ingredients of this transformation. Masturbation’s condemned tendencies – solitariness, excessive desire, limitless imagination, and equal-opportunity pleasure – were an outer limit or testing of these valued attributes, ‘a kind of Satan to the glories of bourgeois civilisation’.
In more pleasure-conscious modern times, the balance has tipped towards personal gratification. The acceptance of personal autonomy, sexual liberation and sexual consumerism, together with a widespread focus on addiction, and the ubiquity of the internet, now seem to demand their own demon. Fears of unrestrained fantasy and endless indulging of the self remain. Onania’s 18th-century complaints about the lack of restraint of solitary sex are not, in the end, all that far away from today’s fear of boundless, ungovernable, unquenchable pleasure in the self.U.S. President Donald Trump responds to a question from a reporter during a discussion with business owners and their families in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he expected the conference committee hammering out tax legislation in Congress will work well and get the job done fast.
“I think something’s going to be coming out of conference pretty quickly,” Trump told reporters at the White House before meeting with Senate Republicans.
“We’re all on the same page. There’s a great spirit in the Republican party like I’ve never seen before, like a lot of people have said they have never seen before. They’re never seen anything like this, the unity.”Fortunately, there is a way out of this legal morass. Indeed, the law is very clear — we just seem to have forgotten about it.
The solution to piracy lies in the very nature of piracy itself. The Roman lawmaker Cicero defined piracy as a crime against civilization itself, which English jurist Edward Coke famously rephrased as “hostis humani generis” — enemies of the human race. As such, they were enemies not of one state but of all states, and correspondingly all states shared in the burden of capturing them.
From this precept came the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, meaning that pirates — unlike any other criminals — could be captured wherever they were found, by anyone who found them. This recognition of piracy’s unique threat was the cornerstone of international law for more than 2,000 years.
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Though you wouldn’t guess it from the current situation, the law is surprisingly clear. The definition of pirates as enemies of the human race is reaffirmed in British and American trial law and in numerous treaties.
As a customary international law (albeit one that has fallen out of use since the decline of traditional piracy) it cuts through the Gordian knot of individual states’ engagement rules. Pirates are not ordinary criminals. They are not enemy combatants. They are a hybrid, recognized as such for thousands of years, and can be seized at will by anyone, at any time, anywhere they are found.
And what of the Emden’s problem? Are pirates a species of terrorist? In short, yes. The same definition of pirates as hostis humani generis could also be applied to international organized terrorism. Both crimes involve bands of brigands that divorce themselves from their nation-states and form extraterritorial enclaves; both aim at civilians; both involve acts of homicide and destruction, as the United Nations Convention on the High Seas stipulates, “for private ends.”
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For this reason, it seems sensible that the United States and the international community adopt a new, shared legal definition that would recognize the link between piracy and terrorism. This could take the form of an act of Congress or, more broadly, a new jurisdiction for piracy and terrorism cases at the International Criminal Court.
There is ample precedent. In the 1970s, the hijacking of airliners was defined by the United Nations as “aerial piracy.” In 1985, when Palestinian terrorists seized the cruise ship Achille Lauro and held its passengers hostage, President Ronald Reagan called the hijackers “pirates.” Recent evidence also indicates that the Somali pirates hand over a part of their millions in ransom money to Al Shabaab, the Somali rebel group that has been linked to Al Qaeda.
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The similarities and overlaps between the two crimes have prompted some jurists to advocate abandoning the term piracy altogether in favor of “maritime terrorism.” By reasserting the traditional definition of pirates as hostis humani generis, and linking it to terrorism, the United States and other nations will not only gain a powerful tool in fighting the Somali pirates, but other incidents of terrorism around the world as well.
Recognizing piracy as an international crime will do something else: It will give individual states that don’t want to prosecute pirates an alternative — the international court. If pirates are recognized under their traditional international legal status |
them, he is convinced that if only he could be with someone, everything would magically get better. (Yeah, guess what, it doesn't. You still need to get a job/move into a better place/go back to school/get therapy/clean your toejam/tell your parents to piss off/whatever it is.) For a Nice Guy, all the responsibility for his happiness lies with his future partner. And he *will* put the burden on her, as well as guilting the hell out of her if she gets fed up with mommying him.Nice Guys think it is enough for them to be so nice, so sweet, so attentive. Because it is enough, they think it's ok to let other stuff slide. Like it doesn't matter if they have good hygiene, because a girl who cares so much about exteriors is shallow and hypocritical if she can't see past a layer of funk to the shining prince beneath. They don't think it's important to develop much in the way of social skills or good manners (although some of them do have a certain amount of charisma). They never stop to ask themselves whether the fact that they haven't dated anyone since 1997 might have something to do with their annoying behaviors or poor sense of humor. In fact, they see no reason to make any extra effort to improve themselves or present themselves well at all-- because they're SO VERY NICE.Conversely, though, most Nice Guys only fall for a fairly limited range of "hot" chicks. It's because women are all about the status for them, and they are out to prove something to the world. Some of them will deliberately only go after women who are fairly unattainable, if their martyr complex needs some care and feeding.Nice Guys usually are crap at reading body language and nonverbal cues and usually have serious personal space problems. Women get creeped out because they feel like the guy is literally clinging to them, or is coming on really strong really fast, or doesn't seem to pick up on the fact that they're tensing up or moving away. But since the Nice Guy *knows* he has good intentions, he is deeply insulted by the suggestion that his behavior is unwelcome, creepy, or even threatening. (Whereas a genuine nice guy who misreads a situation is horrified that he might have come across that way and apologizes for it.)Nice Guys are not patient. This is tricky, again, because sometimes they can *seem* very patient, but in reality they are always chomping at the bit to get into their chosen target's pants. And once they've made a move, they are all about the instant gratification. They demand response NOW. They expect and will pressure or guilt a woman into giving them a chance. It's all or nothing, and if she says no, chances are good the friendship is dead in the water. If it continues, it's almost guaranteed that it's because he doesn't believe she means no, and intends to regroup and try again.Nice Guys don't actually care what a woman wants, which is one of the keys to identifying a Nice Guy vs. a nice guy, and which runs directly counter to their most deeply held beliefs about themselves. They think that they are great, caring, compassionate partners; usually, they just want a captive audience. They don't have much respect for what her desires and preferences are unless they are for him, because if she wants something different than him, it is attributed to her dysfunction and desire to be treated badly by an asshole. They may spend some time with pick-up books and things that tell them how to get chicks, but they tend to follow the letter of the law and not the spirit. That's why he'll serenade you on a subway platform even though he knows you don't like to call attention to yourself, and then be hurt that you were uncomfortable and embarrassed by the display. He likes to make a big show out of being romantic and considerate, especially when others are watching, but he will still forget to pick up his socks even if you've told him you'd rather have a clean floor than roses delivered to your office.But the real foolproof way to identify a Nice Guy is to watch how he treats a woman who turns him down romantically. A true-blue Nice Guy invariably will unleash the scorn and contempt and resentment that's been seething under the surface all along, and excoriate the woman he claimed to care about. One of the favored maneuvers is to retreat behind sarcasm, claim that whatever she found unwelcome was "just a joke", and defensively inform her that she has no sense of humor, that she's taking everything way too seriously. Once in a while he'll try to keep being friends-- especially if he thinks there's another chance in it for him-- but he'll let fly with the snarky comments about her, the passive-aggressive "humor" that always points back to her rejection of him, and especially so if she shows interest in anyone else. He's just waiting for that romance to fail so that he can say, "see, she rejects ME when I would've treated her right, but runs after that asshole instead, and now she got hurt. I could've told her that would happen!" And you will never hear a Nice Guy say anything gracious about a guy who dates a woman who rejected him.The most insidious part of it is the way that Nice Guys turn everything back on the girl, make it all her fault. If she doesn't want to date him-- poor, poor him! What sort of shallow bitch must she be to want a relationship but not with him? Coincidentally, this tactic can sometimes score him a sympathy fuck if he's got a backup girl to run to.The absolute key difference between a nice guy and a Nice Guy is that the nice guy truly likes and respects women and doesn't feel entitled to the attentions of any woman. The Nice Guy pretends to be that, but secretly he has decided that all women suck (usually for the sins of a couple of them), and he doesn't really care about anything so much as propping up his limp ego.Guys who are small-n nice sometimes wander into Nice Guy territory, which is why I think of this as a spectrum rather than a dichotomy. But those are usually individual bad habits that are easier to fix because they don't have the deep-seated jerkitude behind them.The good news is that a Nice Guy can change. I have known guys who went for years with a sucky romantic life and who constantly alienated women who finally sat down with a trusted friend and asked to be told honestly what they were doing wrong. More importantly, they listened and tried to change their off-putting behaviors, and I can't think of one who didn't eventually find real love after that.But you have to want to change.There's one of those parody motivational posters that says, "The only consistent factor in all your dysfunctional relationships is you." There's a big ole chunk of truth in that. So if you are reading this and you think you might be a Nice Guy and you can't imagine why you aren't in a relationship, you might want to give that a think. Here's a few other friendly tips, free of charge from me to you:If a woman doesn't find you funny, it might not be because she has no sense of humor. And telling her as much isn't going to make her like you any better.No woman owes you her attention, her time, her interest, her admiration, or her love, no matter how worthy you think you are of them.You are not entitled to have a relationship in your life just because you want one.If you really aren't getting any women, it might be time to ask yourself (or someone you trust to be honest) what YOU could be doing differently.Hitting on a woman when she's talking to you about her problems is just not cool. Especially if they are relationship problems.If you can't be friends with a woman who's turned you down, especially if you find yourself getting really angry about it, you have no business being in a relationship until you work out your issues.Women generally try hard to make themselves appealing to men when they are interested in or going out with them. So take a shower, brush your teeth, put on nice clothes, and for gods' sakes if you are hoping to get laid, wash your dick. Don't expect her to overlook you being slovenly and foul just because you think you have such a sterling personality.No matter what you think, you will eventually fuck up in a relationship. Deal with it maturely and move on, and don't try to scam chicks out of their current relationships by selling yourself as the perfect partner.Don't for the love of pete be Mr. Bad Touch. If she just squirmed over a few inches, it's not because she wants you to close the distance.Flirting without expecting a return on investment is ok. Active seduction when there are clear signs that it is welcome is ok. Trying to constantly slip in "innocent" gropes, innuendo, kisses, or anything else when she's not interested is the adult equivalent of "are we there yet? are we there yet? how about now? how about now?"Body language and nonverbal cues are not that hard to learn to read.If she says you're being obnoxious, there is a really good chance that you are being obnoxious. Even if you think you're all kinds of witty and clever.Likewise, if she says something you did was weird or pushy or unwelcome, mocking her "paranoia" or getting defensive or saying it was "just a joke" doesn't make you right-- it makes you a jerk. Respect how she perceives you. You might think she was oversensitive, but you have no idea what it is like to be a woman in a world where we have to deal with unwelcome aggressive attention all the time. Treat her feelings as valid even if you "didn't mean it that way". She will respect you more for it.We can sense your hostility. It is a turnoff.Bring something to the table besides basic human decency. I'm not talking about money. Be responsible for yourself, your life, and your happiness. Have good things in your life that you want to share with a wonderful woman, rather than expecting her to fill the holes in your life. Even if you're a nice loser, you're still a loser.There now. I feel better. Maybe sometime soon I will write about psycho girlfriends and how they expect you to anticipate the things they aren't going to bother to talk to you about and how annoying it is when bi chicks treat other bi chicks like nothing more than sex toys or only get bi when it reaches, as Del so aptly put it, "Girlkissing O'Clock". But I will need to muster some inspiration for that post.Thank you for listening, and best of luck in your future. Since there have been several requests, I will just state here that it is ok to link this entry in your blog or website. Attribution can just be made to DivaLion. Please do not repost in whole or part without attribution and a link to this entry. Thanks for all your great comments!Some more or less final thoughts on this entry.Welcome to my long-time DeviantArt account!
I'm a professional visual and digital artist based in the suburbs of Montréal, Canada.
A graduate graphic designer and art entrepreneur, I am currently studying creative projects management.
I use both traditional and digital art media for the infinite combinations of creative solutions they offer together. An early interest for traditional media and a later interest for technology brought me there and still brings me to think of various ways to visually express concepts and ideas everyday.
I have a highly imaginative inner world notably influenced by writing, reading and music, which justifies a wide range of expressive subjects.My personal style is greatly influenced by surrealism and reflects a personal approach based on emotions, feelings and dreams.I make a bold, yet balanced use of color and texture.I have been published in Advanced Creation (France) and Advanced Photoshop (England) magazines. A graduate graphic designer and art entrepreneur, I am a graduate student of creative projects management.For any inquiry about my art, services and image use, please view my website or contact me at info@emilieleger.caThe man told deputies he didn't realize it was illegal to return beverage containers purchased in Ohio to a Michigan deposit machine.
BEDFORD TOWNSHIP - A Toledo man was arrested about 4:30 p.m. Sept. 2 after employees at Kroger, 3462 Sterns Rd., reported to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office that someone was placing Ohio containers in the Michigan return machines.
When deputies arrived, the man had $16.10 worth of receipts from the machine.
The suspect told officers that some of his containers were from Ohio, but he was not sure of how many as the empties were from other people. He noticed the Michigan 10-cent mark on some and thought they could be returned; according to reports, he explained he did not know it was illegal even with the marking to return containers purchased in Ohio.
In the meantime, officers found on him what is believed to be a marijuana pipe.
The suspect was taken to Monroe County Jail.For most musicians, making music is a way of venting their inner frustrations and putting their feelings out into the world in a relatively positive way. Sometimes, though, it’s just not enough. For these overflowing creatives, there’s a story that they feel needs telling without being shrouded in the cryptic poetics of songwriting. When that happens, it’s often a book that soothes the impulse. Here’s a list of five books by musicians (and one by two scene insiders) that detail everything from life on the road to raising kids and the dark recesses of the eccentric’s psyche. 6. Just Kids, by Patti Smith Bands: Patti Smith Group, various projects and collaborations Just Kids is part autobiography, part rock diary and part biography of Robert Mapplethorpe, the renowned artist and photographer. The book centers around Smith’s early life, from before she became a musician, through her love life with Mapplethorpe, on through his coming out as gay, and, eventually, his death. It’s a touching though ultimately heartbreaking story, and it's a great read. Smith is honest but not brutal, choosing to dance around a few of the more controversial subjects in her exotic life. But she does it in a way that works and feels genuine. Smith’s relationship with Mapplethorpe is one of the most bizarre imaginable. Just Kids is hard to put down. 5. Girl in a Band, by Kim Gordon
Bands: Sonic Youth, Free Kitten
After Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore divorced and Sonic Youth broke up, there was a lot of speculation about what had actually happened. Gordon was quiet for a long time, and rumors began to fly. Then, it seems, something broke inside her, and soon Girl In a Band blasted onto the scene like a ton of bricks. Where Smith took the high road, Gordon built her own highway so low it’s practically in hell. She spills the beans about Moore’s affair with an acquaintance of the band. She nails Courtney Love for being a psychotic egomaniac. She flatly says Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan was a fraud and no one ever liked him. She even goes after Lydia Lunch and her own bandmates at times. But throughout, it never seems like a tell-all hit job or retribution by a woman done wrong. It’s just the story of a life in one of the world’s biggest music groups, and part of that story just happens to be the extramarital relations her bandmate and husband engaged in that destroyed both their marriage and band. On the other end of the spectrum, Gordon details what it’s like for her daughter, Coco, to grow up in the shadow of rock royalty who to her are just Mom and Dad. It’s a weird dynamic, and Gordon is blunt about her inability at times to navigate the minefield. 4. The Karaoke Singer's Guide to Self Defense, by Tim Kinsella Bands: Joan Of Arc, Cap’n Jazz, Owls, Make Believe, Friend/Enemy, Everyoned, numerous solo albums How on earth Tim Kinsella found the time to write a book, let alone two of the things, is beyond me. To says he’s a prolific musician would be a massive understatement. At forty, he’s accomplished more than most musicians will in their entire lives. As best I can tell, Kinsella has released at least sixty records with more than half a dozen bands and as solo projects. So squeezing in a book couldn’t have been easy. Nonetheless, in 2011, Featherproof Books released The Karaoke Singer’s Guide to Self Defense, Kinsella’s debut novel that’s part Mary Higgins Clark mystery and part Naked Lunch. 3. Doomsday Bonnet, by Daniel Higgs
Bands: Lungfish, Skull Defekts, Reptile House, numerous solo projects Daniel Higgs is one of the most prolific musicians around. After fronting the droney, hypnotic Baltimore post-punk group Lungfish for two decades, Higgs kept recording and performing on his own. He also ramped up his writing, putting our numerous poetry books. And when I say poetry, I mean the kind of stuff that makes you wonder if maybe Higgs came to us from another planet. He writes more as a religious prophet than a poet. Sure, it’s weird. Yes, it’s confusing. But, man, is this guy an original. There is no one that even comes close to writing like Higgs. Choosing a single book to suggest isn’t easy, but “The Doomsday Bonnet” is an excellent combination of Higgs’s otherworldly poetry and his even more out-of-this-world art. Did I mention he’s also a renowned tattoo artist and painter? Good luck finding a copy of The Doomsday Bonnet, though. Copies regularly go for more than $300 on eBay. 2. The Anti-Matter Anthology, by Norman Brannon Bands: Shelter, Texas Is the Reason In the ‘90s, Anti-Matter was an important zine in the East Coast punk and hardcore scenes. Norman Brannon was well known for asking musicians questions that hung well outside the box of a normal interview. He famously asked one well-known musician, “Where and when did you last cry?’, a question so far off topic and out of the blue that it blew minds in the punk scene. Many years later, Brannon compiled the best interviews from his zine of the same name and published it in book form. The Anti-Matter Anthology is a fantastic look back on an important part of growing up for those who were there, and a nice history lesson for anyone who wasn’t. 1. See a Grown Man Cry Now Watch Him Die, by Henry Rollins Bands: Black Flag, Rollins Band As with Higgs, picking one of Henry Rollins’s books as the best is tough. The man has been publishing poetry and prose for so long that his books could fill half of most people’s bookcases. But See A Grown Man Cry Now Watch Him Die is exceptional, because Rollins lets loose the story of the death of his friend, Joe Cole. Cole war murdered in front of the house he and Rollins shared in Los Angeles, right in front of Rollins. It was an incident that practically destroyed Rollins and changed his life forever. Considering he was a suspect for some time in the police’s eyes, it’s not hard to see why (Rollins has always maintained the murder was a robbery gone bad and the assailant a stranger to both he and Cole). The title is apt. Rollins is brutal about the incidents, just as he was in the LA Times editorial he wrote about the incident. The picture he paints of being released from jail only to go home and clean up his friend’s blood and brains so his parents wouldn’t have to see them is tearjerking material for anyone with a heart. Honorable Mention Dance of Days — Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capitol, by Mark Anderson and Mark Jenkins This one is a little different in that the authors aren’t well-known musicians, but they have been heavily involved in the Washington, D.C., punk scene from its inception and on to the present day. The pair dig deep into the behind-the-scenes stories of some of the greatest bands the underground ever produced. Fugazi, Minor Threat, Black Flag, Soulside, Bad Brains and many others. They don’t pull any punches, either. In one story, they are horrifyingly honest about just how homophobic Bad Brains singer HR truly was. He apparently made an awful scene at the Texas home of the seminal punk band the Big Boys after a show when he discovered that one of the bandmembers was gay. The incident culminated in HR spinning in circles yelling “Babylon blood clot faggot” over and over. Yeah, it’s an exciting read. But it’s also an educational one. Anderson and Jenkins take on the job of D.C. music historians as well as anyone could have, through firsthand knowledge, interviews and stories related by friends of friends. They even dig into the roots of the Positive Mental Attitude (PMA), Positive Force, Dischord Records and the Straight Edge movement. That they were able to put the whole thing together is an accomplishment in itself, but the material within is truly eye-opening. Despite the conspicuous omission of a few notable bands like Jawbox and Shudder to Think, Dance of Days is truly a complete and detailed history of a time and place that’s immensely important to the pantheon of independent music in America.EDITOR’S NOTE: The Federal Government announced that on March 1, 2018, the oceanic whitetip shark would be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The decision comes in response to a 2015 petition filed by Defenders of Wildlife and includes provisions for protecting the sharks and their critical habitat.
This story appears in the August 2016 issue of National Geographic magazine.
This summer, we’re looking at three shark species with notorious reputations: tiger sharks, great whites, and oceanic whitetips. We’ll meet scientists who are shedding new light on these enigmatic creatures that are vital to the seas—and not as scary as you might think.
When the documentary Blue Water, White Death hit U.S. theaters in 1971, its footage of great white sharks crashing into diving cages became instantly iconic. But the footage that stands out 45 years later is a long scene showing oceanic whitetip sharks swarming a whale carcass a hundred miles off the coast of South Africa.
It is an amazing scene for two reasons: first, because the divers leave the safety of their cages to film the sharks, believed to be the first time anyone had ever tried the technique among feeding sharks. And second, because it’s a scene that might never be replicated—a marine version of the last photograph of endless bison herds roaming the North American plains. “You couldn’t count them, there were so many,” says Valerie Taylor, one of the divers. “It will never happen again—not in your lifetime. Maybe in someone else’s, but I doubt it.”
At one time oceanic whitetips were thought to have been among the most numerous pelagic (open ocean) sharks on the planet. An authoritative 1969 book, The Natural History of Sharks, even characterized them as “possibly the most abundant large animal, large being over 100 pounds, on the face of the Earth.” Once known for besieging shipwrecks and fishing boats, they’ve now all but disappeared because of commercial fishing and the shark fin trade—with surprisingly little scientific attention and even less public concern.
“We’ve absolutely annihilated the species on a global scale,” says Demian Chapman, one of the few scientists who have studied the shark. “And yet when I say ‘oceanic whitetips,’ a lot of people have no idea what I’m talking about.”
View Images An oceanic whitetip with satellite and ID tags swims near the Bahamas’ Cat Island, one of the last places the sharks reliably can be found. Before this tagging study, scientists knew little about the species.
If you’ve seen Jaws, you know something of oceanic whitetips. They’re likely the predominant sharks that plagued the crew of the U.S.S. Indianapolis after it was sunk by a Japanese submarine near the end of World War II—an event made infamous to recent generations by Captain Quint’s monologue about his experience as a survivor of the sinking. It’s impossible to capture the chilling effect of Quint’s speech in words—let’s just say it’s full of screaming and bleeding—but the last line sums it up: “Eleven hundred men went into the water, 316 men came out, and the sharks took the rest.”
The problem with Quint’s story, though, is that while it gets the tangible facts more or less right, it badly misrepresents the crew’s experience. This much is true: Of the nearly 1,200 crew members on the Indianapolis, about 900 made it into the water alive, and most of those men died in a hellish ordeal over the next five days. Only 317 survived. There were sharks—lots of them—and gruesome shark attacks.
But when I asked Cleatus Lebow, 92, a soft-spoken Texan who was a crewman on the Indy, what the hardest part of his time in the water was, before I even finished my question he said, “Being thirsty. I’d have given anything for a cup of water.” What about the sharks? “You could see them swimming around sometimes, but they didn’t bother us.” Lyle Umenhoffer, 92, told me, “You had to be alert when those sharks were around, and if they got too close, you’d kick them away. But I don’t think I was really afraid of them. We had other problems.” (Umenhoffer has since passed away.)
View Images With its winglike pectoral fins, the oceanic whitetip is built to glide through vast expanses of the ocean in search of prey. When it finds something that might be edible, it investigates relentlessly.
Now it should be said that by the time they were rescued, the survivors were spread across an area of more than a hundred square miles, and their experiences varied. And it should also be said that the dead might tell different tales. But no man I spoke to at a survivors’ reunion last summer—14 of the remaining 31 survivors were present, and I interviewed most of them—would put sharks at the top of his list of concerns during the ordeal. Technically, Quint was right that the sharks took “the rest”—that is, the men who never made it out of the water—but most of those men actually died from other causes: injuries, hypothermia, drowning, dehydration, and saltwater poisoning. “I seen men die from sharks—a few of them,” said survivor Dick Thelen, 89. But he saw two or three times as many men die from drinking seawater. As one person at the reunion put it to me, “Quint doesn’t say anything about being thirsty.”
It’s important to get the story straight because the portrayal of oceanic whitetips as voracious killers and, as such, an expendable species may have damaging consequences. On land, the effect of removing dominant predators is well understood: It creates ecological havoc. (In parts of Africa, for example, diminished lion and leopard populations have led to a rise in both baboons and their intestinal parasites, which are increasingly infecting humans.) What effect has oceanic whitetips’ virtual disappearance had on ocean ecosystems where these animals once loomed so large? We have no idea. Zero. So little research has been done on the species that even trying to understand the story of its own decline—never mind how that decline affects other species—feels like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle with most of the pieces missing. And if we mistake these sharks for villains, we’re not likely to feel any urgency about finding those missing pieces. If the Indianapolis sinking happened today, its crew would almost surely not be bothered by hordes of oceanic whitetips—and that should not be taken as good news.
Scuba pioneer Jacques Cousteau once called the oceanic whitetip “the most dangerous of all sharks,” but divers with extensive shark experience tend to have a more nuanced take on the species. Stan Waterman, another diver from the Blue Water, White Death expedition, says part of what made their dive unique was that it allowed them to see how oceanic whitetips actually behave, compared with how they were thought to behave. “It was a great learning experience,” he says, “because we weren’t sure what would happen when we got out of the cages.”
Without the protection of a cage, filmmaker Joe Romeiro made this unusual footage of the once abundant, now elusive whitetip shark.
They found the same thing so many of the Indianapolis survivors reported: Whitetips are not shy about approaching and bumping, even repeatedly, but if you stay in a group and fend them off, they’re not likely to attack—at least not when there’s plenty of other food in the water. “We got sussed out hundreds of times,” Valerie Taylor says, “and then they decide you’re not worth bothering about and go away.”
Nine to 13 feet long at maturity, the oceanic whitetip is certainly large enough to be dangerous, and it is a bold and persistent shark. The open ocean is an ecological desert, and oceanic whitetips are geared to spend as little energy as possible exploring it and as much time as necessary investigating the things they come across that might be good to eat. So they glide through the water with their long, winglike pectoral fins, and when they come across a potential food source—sailors flailing around a shipwreck, a dead whale, a school of tuna—they lock in to check it out. If you’re the only food around, the oceanic whitetip is going to be a very dangerous shark. Otherwise, it’s apt to be mostly unnerving.
One of the most interesting anecdotes about the behavior of oceanic whitetips has nothing to do with shipwrecks or divers, though. In the 1950s, fishery researchers in the Gulf of Mexico were surprised when they opened up the stomachs of whitetips and found five- and 10-pound tuna in them, because the sharks aren’t fast enough to chase down small tuna. Then one day they saw a large group of whitetips swimming through a school of tuna, at the surface, with their mouths open. “No attempt was made by the sharks to chase after or snap at the hundreds of tuna,” the researchers reported. “The whitetips were merely waiting and ready for those moments when tunas would accidentally swim or leap right into their mouths.”
View Images Filmmaker Joe Romeiro captures a close-up of an oceanic whitetip off Cat Island. The species’ reputation as ravenous killers is overblown, but divers still need nerve. The sharks aren’t shy. Their hello: a quick bump.
Of course, it’s doubtful anyone would be able to observe behavior like that now, and the great irony is that the researchers who recorded the spectacle were helping pave the way for its end. “They were out there to see what kinds of commercial fisheries could be developed in U.S. waters,” says Julia Baum, a marine ecologist who compared the data from the 1950s with more recent longline catch data to gauge the change in oceanic whitetip populations in the Gulf. “They were setting out these longlines for tuna, and the sharks were just everywhere,” eating the tuna on the hooks and getting hooked on the lines themselves. “They didn’t know if they’d be able to develop commercial tuna fisheries because the sharks were so numerous.”
The fishermen came up with two solutions: shoot the sharks before they ate the hooked tuna, and set separate lines to catch the sharks, the fins of which, they realized, were worth money. Perhaps enough money to justify catching them. And together, these two forces—a callous disregard for sharks and a growing demand for shark fin soup in Asia—have decimated global shark populations in the past several decades and have taken a particularly steep toll on oceanic whitetips. Baum’s research led her to conclude in 2004 that whitetip populations had fallen by as much as 99 percent in the Gulf of Mexico, and though her study has critics, other research has found similarly dramatic declines in the Atlantic and Pacific.
It became so clear by 2010 that oceanic whitetips were in trouble that the five major international fishery organizations that oversee swordfish and tuna fishing forbade vessels from keeping any oceanic whitetips they caught—the only shark species so far to receive that protection. And in 2013 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) enacted restrictions that severely curtail legal trade in their fins.
Oceanic Whitetip Range N. AMER. EUR. ASIA Atl. Oc. AFRICA PAC. Oc. Ind. Oc. PACIFIC OcEAN S. AMER. AUSTRAL. ANTARCTICA Oceanic whitetips prefer the open ocean and are rare in shallow coastal waters. Primary Uncertain 3,000 mi 3,000 km SCALE AT THE EQUATOR Matthew W. Chwastyk, NGM Staff SourceS: IUCN; Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO Oceanic Whitetip Range ARCTIC Ocean Primary Uncertain U.S. ARCTIC CIRCLE NORTH AMERICA EUROPE ASIA Japan UNITED STATES Mediterranean Sea Atlantic Ocean Cat I. BAHAMAS Red Sea HAWAII (U.S.) Gulf of Mexico CUBA U.S.S. Indianapolis July 30, 1945 AFRICA Cayman Is. (U.k.) PHilippines PACIFIC Ocean PACIFIC Ocean EQUATOR SOUTH AMERICA Indian Ocean AUSTRALIA SOUTH AFRICA Oceanic whitetips prefer the open ocean and are rare in shallow coastal waters. ANTARCTIC CIRCLE 3,000 mi ANTARCTICA Matthew W. Chwastyk, NGM Staff SourceS: IUCN; Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO 3,000 km SCALE AT THE EQUATOR
The question is whether the protections are too little, too late. Many bony-fish populations can quickly repopulate after being overfished, because they spawn relatively early in their life cycles and lay thousands of eggs at a time, but most sharks reach sexual maturity slowly and then give birth to small litters of pups every one or two years. These factors make them extremely vulnerable to overfishing and susceptible to extinction. And in the case of oceanic whitetips, “we still don’t even know whether they give birth every year or every two years,” says marine biologist Edd Brooks. “How do you begin to conserve an animal when you have so little information about how it lives its life?”
Brooks is one of the scientists trying to fill in some of those gaps. He’s part of a team of researchers that since 2010 has been tagging and studying oceanic whitetips off Cat Island, in the Bahamas. “Cat Island is the last place we know of on the planet where you can reliably find them in serious numbers,” he says. It was not just the first time he or any of his colleagues had done comprehensive, hands-on research on the species. It was the first time anyone had, anywhere.
Whitetip Tipping Point Hunted for their fins and often hooked as bycatch by longline commercial vessels, oceanic whitetip sharks are in steep decline. They have few offspring (two to three pups in a litter) and don’t reach sexual maturity until around seven years—traits that impede population recovery. They tend to inhabit remote parts of open ocean, making them difficult to study. 93% Fins have no taste or nutritional value, but shark fin soup lovers relish the texture of their tiny needles. Estimated population decline between 1995 and 2010 First dorsal Fin needles Cartilage Pectoral Lower caudal lobe A Fortune in Fins Oceanic whitetips are prized for their large fins. At a Hong Kong seafood market, dried lower caudal lobes can fetch $265 a pound. Surface 1,000 feet 2,000 Tracked vertical movements of a tagged oceanic whitetip shark 0-410 feet Area of highest vulnerability to fishing gear 3,000 4,000 Aug. 15 Sept. 1 Sept. 15 Deep Divers Whitetips travel mostly in the top of the water column, the same depths fishing boats target. Scientists think their deep dives are to find prey, such as squid. Fast descent Slower ascent (foraging) 10 54 Minutes Fernando G. Baptista, NGM Staff; LAWSON Parker Source: Lucy Howey, Microwave telemetry, INC Whitetip Tipping Point Hunted for their fins and often hooked as bycatch by longline commercial vessels, oceanic whitetip sharks are in steep decline. They have few offspring (two to three pups in a litter) and don’t reach sexual maturity until around seven years — traits that impede population recovery. They tend to inhabit remote parts of open ocean, making them difficult to study. Fins have no taste or nutritional value, but shark fin soup lovers relish the texture of their tiny needles. A Fortune in Fins Oceanic whitetips are prized for their large fins. At a Hong Kong seafood market, dried lower caudal lobes can fetch $265 a pound. First dorsal Fin needles Cartilage 93% Lower caudal lobe Pectoral Estimated population decline between 1995 and 2010 Deep Divers Whitetips travel mostly in the top of the water column, the same depths fishing boats target. Scientists think their deep dives are to find prey, such as squid. Surface Fast descent 0-410 feet Area of highest vulnerability to fishing gear 1,000 feet 2,000 Tracked vertical movements of a tagged oceanic whitetip shark Slower ascent (foraging) 3,000 Fernando G. Baptista, NGM Staff; LAWSON Parker Source: Lucy Howey, Microwave telemetry, INC 10 54 4,000 Minutes Aug. 15 Sept. 1 Sept. 15
Cat Island is right at the edge of the continental shelf, bringing the deep waters of the Atlantic close to shore and making it a perfect spot to find big pelagic fish such as marlin and tuna. About 10 years ago rumors started to circulate that fishermen off Cat Island were having trouble with oceanic whitetips stealing their catches. Photographer Brian Skerry sensed a rare opportunity and hired a dive operator to help him get underwater shots of the sharks. Their success led to regular dives off Cat Island. Word got out, and scientists got in on the action.
“This was the project we always wanted to do,” says marine biologist Lucy Howey. “We never actually thought it would happen, because we didn’t think we’d be able to find them.”
Howey’s team, which |
pan with 1 1/2 cups of marinara sauce. Simmer until cheese is melted. (Hint: Hot Pockets cheese is not… natural. It takes forever to melt.)
Once Bagel Bites are out of the oven, spoon the Hot Pockets sauce mixture over the Bagel Bites, spreading evenly.
Top the casserole with the seasoned tops of the Hot Pockets. Feel free to break some pieces to evenly cover the entire casserole.
Bake for 5 minutes.
While baking, pulse your Doritos in a food processor, blender, or your bare hands if you’re awesome.
Top the casserole with Doritos crumbs until fully covered, spray with cooking oil.
Bake for an additional 2 minutes until Doritos on top are hot.
Serve. Apologize profusely for making your friends eat this.moofrog:
hawfstuff:
I feel like TF2 really established great standard for character design and silhouette even though all the characters are super stylised they still look like real people, every detail feels unique even all their ears are different. This kind of attention to detail seems pretty underappreciated outside of the fanbase in general. Plus the amount of personality and expression that comes out of these characters is very self evident in all of the meet the shorts my two favourites still being Meet the Demoman and Meet the Engineer Just thought this would be a useful bit of information for young artists when it comes to overall character design, especially when designing a whole cast of unique characters.
DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HOW BRILLIANT TF2 IS IN TERMS OF DESIGN. It is one of the best examples to show someone when teaching them about character design.
Like yeah…not only do they have unique noses, jaws, ears even…valve even took the extra step to give them each distinct teeth.
My character design teacher has brought up TF2, and the concept art by Moby Francke, a few times in class. For one Moby Francke was highly inspired by the great artist J.C. Lyendecker.
And many of the key components in designing the character is gesture, shape and silhouette, and just getting in great key components that create story telling.
This is one of the reasons I love TF2 so much because it makes me just…art fangasm all over it.In a lawsuit filed last month against the Corrections Department, Middle Ground said the fee was simply a pretext for raising money “for general public purposes” and as such was unconstitutional because it amounted to a special tax on a single group.
Middle Ground has also filed suit over another provision of the law, which imposes a 1 percent charge on deposits made to a prisoner’s spending account.
Donna Leone Hamm, executive director of Middle Ground, said she thought that state legislators created the background check fee “out of sheer financial desperation” at a time when the state faces huge budget shortfalls.
“This was a scheme — in my mind, a harebrained scheme — to try to come up with the money,” she said.
Wendy Baldo, chief of staff for the Arizona Senate, confirmed that the fees were intended to help make up the $1.6 billion deficit the state faced at the beginning of the year.
“We were trying to cut the budget and think of ways that could help get some services for the Department of Corrections,” Ms. Baldo said. She added that the department “needed about $150 million in building renewal and maintenance and prior to this year, it just wasn’t getting done and it wasn’t a safe environment for the people who were in prison and certainly for the people who worked there.”
Ms. Baldo said the money would not actually pay for background checks but would go into a fund for maintenance and repairs to the prisons.
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Barrett Marson, a spokesman for the Corrections Department, said in an e-mail that it was the department’s policy not to comment on pending litigation.
Although there have been some calls and letters from potential visitors inquiring about the fee and how to pay it, no complaints had been reported from inmates, Mr. Marson said. The department has not determined whether the number of visitors to the prisons has changed since the charge went into effect, he added.
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“Maintenance funds for our buildings are scarce in this difficult economic time,” he said. “A $25 visitation fee helps to ensure our prisons remain safe environments for staff, inmates and visitors.”
Ms. Hamm, the Middle Ground director who is also a retired lower court judge and married to a former inmate, said that an earlier proposal presented to a legislative committee would have imposed the background check fee on everyone who visited inmates, including babies and children. But in the end, the Legislature limited the fees to people over 18.
The law also allows the Corrections Department to waive all or part of the background check fee in certain circumstances — for example, when an applicant just wants permission to telephone an inmate.
Ms. Hamm said that research by her organization could not find any other example of a state prison system imposing a fee on visitors.
The Arizona Corrections Department, Ms. Hamm said, has run perfunctory checks on visitors for years. In its application form, the department requires visitors to provide their name, date of birth and a driver’s license or other photo identification number. Providing a Social Security number on the application is optional, and no fingerprints are required.
Another state agency, the Department of Public Safety, conducts free background checks for people who want to review their own records and who provide fingerprints, said Carrick Cook, a spokesman.
The Public Safety Department charges $20 for criminal background checks of people who are hired as volunteers for state agencies, and $24 for checks on paid state workers, both of which involve fingerprinting. A fingerprint clearance card, required for child care and foster care workers in Arizona, costs $65 for volunteers and $69 for paid employees.
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Shauna, whose brother is at the Eyman complex, said she learned about the fee after she filed applications for her brother’s son, a Mormon missionary in Kentucky who wanted to visit his father, along with a friend and two other relatives.
She was told that the best way to pay the fee was electronically, through Western Union, but was unable to get the system to work, she said.
She was then advised to send a money order. Despite confirmation by United Parcel Service that the package had been delivered, the Corrections Department told her that the $100 payment — four $25 money orders for four visitors — had not been received, she said.
Another $100 payment was sent, and on Friday — months after she began the application process — she finally got confirmation of the payment from the department.
“I have now spent $200 of my own money to get family in,” she said, adding that it could take up to 60 days for the department to approve the applications.An unarmed black teenager in Texas was shot dead by a cop who had only recently graduated from the police academy. Just over a week before his death, a Twitter account that appears to belong to 19-year-old Christian Taylor includes messages about being afraid to die young.
I don't wanna die too younggggg — October 13th (@he_got_sneaks) July 31, 2015
While much about the fatal encounter remains unclear and under investigation, police revealed their understanding of what happened on Saturday night.
Officers responded to a burglary call around 1 a.m. on Friday, hearing reports that a suspect was damaging vehicles. First spotting Taylor moving about the lot, officers also noticed Taylor's SUV had been smashed into the front of the dealership showroom. Finding that Taylor had moved inside the showroom, Arlington Police Chief Police Will Johnson said Taylor would not comply when told to lie down on the ground, but fled to a back room. 49-year-old officer Brad Miller entered the showroom to arrest Taylor, and then an altercation broke out. Miller fired four shots, including the fatal bullets from the gun of Miller. A second officer fired a taser, Johnson said. The sequence of events was still unclear as was the exact nature of the confrontation, the chief said.
The officer graduated from the police academy in March and was working under the supervision of a training officer, but Chief Johnson maintained Officer Miller was fully trained and did not need to defer decision to use deadly force to a field training officer. Police said Miller had no experience prior to joining the Arlington Police Department. He has been placed on paid administrative leave.
The police department promised to release 911 tapes and police audio in the coming days, pledging to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation with the help of the FBI. "My promise is to work as quickly as we can to provide information to the family," he said. An autopsy was to be arranged, Johnson added.
Chief Johnson assured that if any actions were found to be unauthorized under the law, there would be "consequences."
"Everything about this is a tragedy," the chief said.
Another social media post last year appearing to belong to Taylor said he didn't feel protected by police.
Christian Taylor / Twitter
Taylor, who was a football player at Angelo State University in San Angelo, was described as a "good kid" by his great-uncle, Clyde Fuller.
“He was a good kid. I don’t see him stealing no car or nothing like that,” Fuller told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Police Sgt. Paul Rodriguez told The Star-Telegram that surveillance video at the dealership shows Taylor damaging a parked car and later driving through the showroom glass. However, Rodriguez said that officers are not equipped with body cameras, and that they haven't found security video at the car dealership that would have captured the fatal encounter. The dealership released video capturing the moments before police arrived later on Saturday. The video shows Taylor stomping on the windshield of a vehicle before driving his own car through the front of the dealership. Taylor, who is wearing sunglasses, appears disoriented as he stumbles over a curb at one point while walking around the parking lot.CLOSE Michigan State named seniors Brian Allen and Chris Frey as captains, the first time Mark Dantonio has had just two Spartan captains. (Chris Solari/DFP)
Michigan State had named three captains every year since 2010 and named four in each of Mark Dantonio's first three seasons
Senior offensive lineman Brian Allen, left, and senior linebacker Chris Frey were named Michigan State's captains for 2017. (Photo: Chris Solari/DFP)
EAST LANSING – A young Michigan State team will have just two captains this fall.
Coach Mark Dantonio broke from recent history to name seniors Brian Allen and Chris Frey as 2017 captains. They are among just eight scholarship seniors on the MSU roster.
“We took two this year because the voting, there was so much clarity as to who were the two guys. The rest of (the votes were) all sort of shaken up,” 11th-year coach Dantonio said Thursday. “It really felt like rather than revoting, the fair thing to do was to let everybody lead from that leadership group.”
Dantonio said two players each week this season, representing a variety of classes, will serve as game-day captains from their Eagle Council. Offensive lineman Allen and linebacker Frey are part of that 12-player group that includes sophomore linebacker Joe Bachie, junior linebacker Byron Bullough, junior linebacker Andrew Dowell, senior running back Gerald Holmes, sophomore quarterback Brian Lewerke, junior safety Grayson Miller, junior safety Matt Morrissey, junior tight end Matt Sokol, sophomore defensive tackle Raequan Williams and junior safety Khari Willis. The Spartans will select two more players to join that group next week.
More: 2017 Michigan State football game-by-game predictions
More: As Michigan State opens camp, Spartans' youth movement in full force
“I think with our team right now, just because me and Chris are the captains, I don’t think anyone takes that personal or anyone’s stubborn,” said Allen, whose brother, Jack, was one of the 2015 captains. “Just because we have two named captains, I think we have a lot of leaders on our team. And those guys know who they are, and it’s not gonna stop because they weren’t voted captain.
“Our Eagle Council is really strong this year. I’m really happy with how tight we are and how everyone has been keeping everyone in check and accountable. I think if anything, guys are just gonna continue to step up more.”
The Spartans have had three captains every year since 2010. They selected four captains in each of Dantonio’s first three seasons. MSU has not had two captains since the 2002 season, when Brian Ottney and Thomas Wright served the roles in Bobby Williams’ final season.
Frey said it won’t be any different having just two captains instead of three.
“Every single week, we’re still gonna have four voices as leaders on this team and four voices as captains,” said Frey, who has played in all 39 games over his first three seasons at MSU. “Everybody on this team is honestly stepping up in a leadership spot. If you’re getting time on the field, if you’re playing – and even some of the guys that don’t get time on the field – they’re becoming leaders on the sideline, their bringing energy to the sideline during scrimmages and practices. … There’s still gonna be leaders in different places in every game, it’s not just two guys.”
More: Three sets of brothers - Allens, Dowells and Panasiuks - give Michigan State a family vibe
More: Veteran LBs hope to spread energy to young Michigan State defense
The Spartans have 52 players on the roster who are either true or redshirt freshmen, 24 sophomores and 24 juniors and just 13 seniors. Frey said this season is a chance for them to audition to become leaders next season and beyond.
“We really like what’s going on with the captains, because Brian and I won’t be here after this season. We’ll both be leaving and hopefully training for the NFL,” Frey said. “We’re only gonna take this team to a certain point, and there’s so many young leaders on this team. A lot of the rest of the Eagles are younger guys. … The rest of the Eagles are gonna then step up, and they’re gonna make their campaign for captains and step up into even more of a leadership role.”
It also is the first time in more than 30 years that MSU does not have at least one black player as a captain. The last time was in 1986, when Shane Bullough and Dave Yarema were captains.
Dantonio dismissed the racial component, pointing to the makeup of the Eagle Council. Four of the 12 players currently on it are black.
“I think we’re represented across the board in all areas,” Dantonio said. “That sort of sorts itself out as it goes. But I think we’re represented.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.
Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!Imagine going to the airport to travel to London, a commute you had made dozens of times before, only to find yourself locked in a high-security psychiatric ward a few hours later, stunned and naked except for a gown and underwear, paralyzed by psychoactive drugs, and deprived of all of your belongings.
This happened to me, and you will be shocked to learn how easily it could happen to you. The airlines and their cronies in government don’t want you to know that the political abuse of psychiatry is alive and well in America.
I am a mother of two, with no history of violence or arrest, but was falsely arrested and imprisoned without probable cause, notice, warrant, charges, legal advice, hearing, or paperwork, for 18 days in a psychiatric ward at Zucker Hillside Hospital in New York City, part of Northwell Health, in June 2011, during which time I was drugged and subjected to various types of severe physical and emotional abuse — including assault, hands-on stripping, and deprivation of human essentials like water and fresh air. This was carried out by malicious staff, several of whom were unlicensed by the State to practice their profession.
I was handcuffed, perp-walked, and my car and nearly all of my belongings were confiscated, including my Macbook, iPad, iPhone, pens, paper, books, toiletries, contact lenses, medications, belt, clothing, jewelry, shoes, keys, and money.
I was denied contact with my children, including my youngest, who was only age seven at the time.
There was no signature or approval in the hospitalization process, issued by any authorized individual, committee, or court.
This is not a picture of the New York where I was born and raised; it is a grisly reflection of the political abuse of psychiatry that took place in the Soviet Union or under other authoritarian regimes.
My small-town Christian upbringing, and two college degrees, had not prepared me for this, nor had my career as a medical technology executive. I was raised in a seaside Long Island suburb where there was practically no violent crime. Even though I had traveled around the globe many times, and lived on three continents, I had never encountered a situation as terrifying as this one. I had visited some of the most gruesome hospitals in the world on business, but never had I seen anything like this.
Nothing is going to erase the psychological devastation to me from being stabbed in the back by people who owed me a duty of care. Northwell labeled me with a record of arrest and involuntary psychiatric commitment, which has been damaging to my reputation, social life, and ability to find employment, and could continue to do so for the rest of my life. I went from having homes in both London and New York, to owning no property and living in my parents’ basement. It was — and still is — terribly humiliating.
Northwell staff literally assaulted me twice, and emotionally knocked me down so hard that it has been impossible for me to get up again.
Neither Northwell nor my health insurance company — UnitedHealthcare — informed me in advance of Northwell’s usurious fees of over $67,000 ($3700 per day), gave me the opportunity to approve the fees, or told me how much the insurance would cover and how much it wouldn’t until long after I was discharged. These fees would pay health insurance premiums for two entire families for a year in New York State. They are more than twice the day rate for a suite at a five star hotel. My insurance company did not question these rates, and paid them in full even when I asked them not to.
This is astonishing given that people all over New York State are allegedly waiting for a psych ward bed.
I reported my complaint to every law enforcement and regulatory entity I could think of, at local, county, city, state, and federal levels — right up to the White House — not to mention the British government, the UN, and Interpol. So far, I have been shown almost nothing but deliberate indifference.
The maze of bureaucratic finger pointing involved would take pages to explain, but there is a good explanation in my court documents. Suffice it to say that they either ignored me or pointed the finger of blame at some other government body.
How I ended up at JFK without a passport is a long story in and of itself. If I hadn’t been in the midst of a family crisis, the abuse I endured at the hospital might not have been as traumatic as it was. But I was in the throes of an ugly divorce which was causing me unbearable depression, anxiety and insomnia.
To find some tranquility, I left my family home for my parents’ house with nothing but my little boy and a suitcase. The day after I arrived, my parents’ house flooded, and the few belongings I had with me were soaked.
I felt as though I was suffocating, so I decided to go to the UK, to see my teenager — who was in boarding school there — and my friends. I had lived in London for 11 years, and it felt like home to me. There were things about my personal life that I felt I couldn’t discuss with my family, and I wanted to deal with the emotional turmoil surrounding my divorce in my own way.
When she learned of my plan, my mother hid my passport because she didn’t want me to leave. She probably thought she was helping, but this meddlesome act infuriated me, and we exchanged some cross words about it. So I gathered up all of my other ID documents (which was more documentation than most people ever possess in their lifetimes), dropped my son at my sister’s house, where he had stayed happily hundreds of times before, and drove to JFK airport alone.
I went to the British Airways terminal, because I had flown BA many times. But BA staff refused to sell me a ticket without a passport, and wouldn’t offer me any further assistance. I started to get annoyed — although not agitated or loud — and told them I was going to call the media to the scene to document the dispute. In response, BA called the New York Port Authority police (PAPD) to arrest me.
I have dual US and UK citizenship, and was one of the early enrollees in the British Home Office’s Iris Recognition Immigration System (called IRIS). I should have been able to use this to enter the UK without a passport, since I had done so previously. The IRIS system, as the name implies, involves technology that can recognize the individual characteristics of the human eye, which are as unique as fingerprints, thereby eliminating the need for a passport. However, BA staff did not even stop to ask me about this before they called the police; they were in a hurry to confiscate my phone, handcuff me, and hustle me out of the terminal before I would be able to call a reporter.
BA observed with indifference while the police handcuffed my wrists behind my back, without charging me, without probable cause, and without reading me the Miranda rights, then deprived me of drinking water while they waited for what seemed an interminable period, and transported me in a New York City ambulance to Northwell.
I expected to be greeted by kind professionals who would tell me that it had all been a mistake and that they were terribly sorry. Instead I encountered a mammoth money-spinning machine, staffed by cold, sadistic doctors and their robotic minions. These individuals admitted that I was not violent or dangerous, but saw fit to abuse me anyway.
The staff seemed to know or care little about patients’ rights, and in fact even refused to show me the hospital’s policies and procedures. They deprived me of drinking water, food, fresh air, proper clothing, visits with family, other human essentials, and legal advice. They forcibly drugged me, by both pills and injection. They gang-assaulted me twice, both times using male employees.
The Northwell staff — sickeningly — seemed amused by the torment that they were inflicting on me.
The staff included unlicensed, unsupervised junior doctors, whose managers, astonishingly, had also practiced medicine while unregistered with the State, some for extended periods of time. I didn’t discover this until long after I was discharged, because the State makes it very difficult to obtain this information. The supervisors were almost all members of the faculty at Northwell’s medical school, Hofstra.
I was also repeatedly provoked by violent and sexually aggressive patients, in a ward environment that was something out of Lord of the Flies. Northwell employees did nothing to prevent such threats.
They violated dozens of laws: mental hygiene laws, tort laws, Constitutional rights laws, human rights laws, general business laws, anti-discrimination laws, and disability laws, to name a few. Nobody at Northwell explained to me what law they were invoking to detain me.
I didn’t learn until seven months after I was released that this was New York State’s emergency psychiatric detention law. However, I didn’t fulfill either of the two criteria for admission under this law: imminent physical dangerousness to oneself or to others.
I was not allowed to leave the hospital until, in desperation, more than two weeks later, I contacted my Congressman and the media.
After three months, I received my clinical records from Northwell, and was horrified to find that they contained sensitive, personal, confidential information — details that were unnecessary for my treatment, but which I had offered in good faith to the staff psychiatrists because I believed they could be trusted with confidential information as part of their professional duty of care. There was nothing particularly controversial in my records, but there was still some material that most people would find excessively personal in this context. There was no valid medical or psychiatric reason for Northwell to refuse to omit the sensitive information from my records, or for it to refuse to seal the records — however, it has done so. It became clear that Northwell was using my clinical records to coerce me, and it is still doing so. It is holding my personal health information for ransom, which is contrary to medical ethics.
This whole scenario has been a devastating violation of my trust, like being stabbed in the back by dear old friends. My family had raised me to trust the police, who had always been helpful to me, and I had not seen any reason to distrust them until they arrested me at JFK. Having handcuffs slapped on me threw me into such a state of shock that I was nearly speechless. I was born at a Northwell hospital, just a stone’s throw away from Zucker Hillside, and so was my eldest child. All of my own doctors were part of the Northwell network. My family had spent literally hundreds of thousands of dollars at these hospitals over the half century since I was born.
The burning question on most people’s lips is “why”? Why did they do this to me? Why did Northwell single me out for such egregious mistreatment? I have never been violent in my life, I’m not a gang or cult member, and I don’t get involved with illicit substances — even though I don’t think that would justify a hospital’s use of such vile retribution. I’m most people’s idea of a really sweet person. I aspire to leave the world a better place than it was before I arrived.
I still don’t know the answer to that question. It is likely because I had been a political whistleblower starting in Washington in about 1996, and have experienced a lot of retaliation because of that role.
It is now my sixth year since I was detained, with no justice in sight. I still have not had a hearing, although by law I should have had one within five days of being hospitalized. The litigation process should have taken about three months to reach its current stage… and it is not even close to finishing. It has been held up due not only to law enforcement and regulatory foot-dragging and cover-ups, but also to the fact that Northwell’s attorneys have persisted in lying to the court by saying that their clients complied with the law, when they manifestly did not do so.
To bamboozle the judges, Northwell’s lawyers have also repeatedly cited cases, in their legal briefs, in which plaintiffs were violent. This is an improper comparison, because I was never violent. I discovered that this is a common strategy that lawyers use against plaintiffs in mental health cases.
Torture might sound like too strong a word to use in this context, but threat of physical and mental harm is commonly used in a detention setting as a torture technique. It violates the UN Convention Against Torture. Forcible stripping is a means of sexual humiliation, which causes mental suffering, and is also widely employed to torment victims.
Investigations in my case have been covered up, and files “disappeared” at all levels — city, county, state and federal. State regulators pronounced that they could find “no deviation from the standard of care” after sham investigations into my complaint. Later, when I asked for copies of my documents under the Freedom of Information Law, they told me that their files were empty. I even saw my radio advertising campaign mysteriously obstructed, after I had successfully used it to locate other potential plaintiffs among the general public.
I was obsessed with researching the issues underlying my case and ferreting out more evidence to bolster my allegations, because I knew I was in the right and that these issues are vitally important. I have refused to give up my quest for justice, even though I have suffered terribly from PTSD, to the point where those closest to me have constantly urged me to drop the case. In the six intervening years, I could have gotten a law degree plus halfway through medical school!
Since I began this process, I have learned more about the law surrounding mental healthcare than most lawyers know, and about the political forces lurking behind the scenes of this secretive industry. Other abused patients began contacting me, with similar experiences. I realized while doing my research that I could use my litigation to help millions of other people, while helping myself.
How do we prevent this kind of egregious abuse from reoccurring? The offending companies and government agencies need to be punished, to prevent them from torturing other people in the ways that they targeted me. Fines would not be adequate, because that would merely be moving money from one of the government’s pockets to another one. The individuals at the top who are responsible need to be named and shamed. There needs to be new legislation to introduce transparency and accountability into the overly secretive mental healthcare industry, and force it to stop misusing the psychiatrist’s power of detention on non-dangerous individuals. People have trouble agreeing on the use of torture generally, but I think we can all concur that it shouldn’t be used on non-dangerous people in a healthcare setting. The federal government must stop reimbursing it through Medicaid and Medicare.
If you would like to look up my case, it is index number 602687/2015 in the Supreme Court of NY, Nassau County.
I founded a charity to help other abused patients. You might find its website helpful if you are contemplating litigation: see sanerights.org. Please tell me if my writing has helped you; such communications give me a sense of satisfaction and make this arduous journey more bearable.Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura said Thursday he is "astounded" that Republican presidential hopeful and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush would lie about sending him a box of Cuban cigars.
When the two were still in office, they attended a meeting of governors at the White House, where Ventura complained to then-President Bill Clinton about the "ridiculous" Cuban embargo and how it should be lifted, explains Politico.
Ventura said he told Clinton, "I hate to feel like a criminal every time I go to smoke a Cuban cigar," after which, "Jeb approached me and told me to keep it down."
"Don't bring that up, I don't want that up. I'll send you all the Cuban cigars you need," Bush told his Minnesota counterpart, according to Ventura.
Ventura told Politico he later placed an empty aluminum Romeo y Julieta cigar container in Bush's top pocket and said "there's my brand."
Ten days later, Ventura said, "I got a box of Romeo Julieta Cubans delivered to the Capitol in Minnesota."
Recounting the story Wednesday on his Ora.TV "Off the Grid" show, Ventura said the gift was ironic since Bush supported the embargo.
After McClatchy first reported Ventura's story, the Bush campaign reached out to Politico saying the cigars were actually Dominican.
But Ventura said that's simply not true. "What happened to the truth?" Ventura asked Politico in a phone interview. "They're trying to say that he sent me a box of Dominicans? I'm astounded by that. Why would they send me a box of Dominican cigars when I could go buy them in any cigar shop?"
Ventura told Politico that Bush's gift denial speaks volumes to the problems with his campaign.
"Come on. You're even going to cover this up? You're going to deny a box of cigars, like what: that's going to determine the election? It's a simple and true story," Ventura said. "I guess the point that I'm making is elites live by a different set of rules than all the rest of us because they can get Cuban cigars, clearly, when the rest of us can't."
Politico asked Venutra if it was possible that the cigars were actually from the Dominican Republic.
"No," Ventura said. "The cigar box was sealed and the cigars each came in a silver tube that said 'Cuba' on the side.'"
"How would Jeb be able to get his hands on a box of Cuban illegal cigars?" Ventura asked. "It shows the embargo isn't working."
Ventura, also a former Navy SEAL demolitionist and professional wrestler, told CNN Friday he would gladly be vice president for either GOP candidate Donald Trump or Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.
"If either one of them truly wanted to grab the independent — and, believe me, I am the voice of the independent voter in this United States of America," Ventura said.
"I think Donald Trump is wonderful, that he's shaking the system and it needs to be shaken to its core. We have a government in Washington that's broken clearly and it needs to be shaken up and Trump is doing that and so is Bernie Sanders," he said. "I look at both their campaigns and I see great parallels to my campaign in Minnesota where the media attacks you at every direction but yet the people stand and support you."
Ventura won the governor's office in 1998 as a member of the Reform Party after beating out his Republican and Democratic rivals, later leaving the party over internal disputes. He has since become one of the most outspoken critics of U.S. government policy and the two-party political system.Minecraft Controller Mod for PlayStation and XBox Controllers
Authors note: I've tested this in single player with an XBox controller and a PS3 controller in Windows 7 (using MotioninJoy 0.6.0005 drivers), but in theory it should work with any modern controller / gamepad.
Unlike other controller mods, this is more than just a mouse emulator. I tried to make Minecraft feel more natural with a controller, while avoiding changing any GUIs or core gameplay features. (I haven't seen the console version of Minecraft so I have no idea how my enhancements compare to theirs). Most of my effort went into improving the GUI navigation, since using a controller to move the mouse cursor around is incredibly clumsy and frustrating.
The current version is Build #133 for Minecraft 1.6.4.
Features
Configurable buttons
Controller vibrates when you take damage
Walk in any direction with fine control of speed (very useful for farming, laying tracks, etc)
Run button added: tap it while walking to start running
Swim in the direction you are looking, no need to press jump
Quick GUI navigation with D-Pad and bumpers
Sneak button is a toggle, so you don't have to hold it down
Added a toggle sneak key for the keyboard (defaults to Caps Lock)
Keyboard and mouse still fully functional
Bonus feature: Modified the debug output to show light values at both eyes and feet. Very useful for plotting builds. (Monsters spawn in light levels below 8)
Button Mappings
Gameplay (configurable):
GUI Navigation (not configurable):
Known Bugs
Very rarely, when Minecraft lags (due to loading of chunks or sound files), a button press or release may not register. If this happens, press the button again to correct it.
Installation
Download MC1.6.4Controller133.zip (Adfly) | Download MC1.6.4Controller133.zip (Direct)
I recommend using Magic Launcher to simplify installation. Otherwise:
Using a zip utility (e.g. WinRAR, 7Zip), extract the files from MC1.6.4Controller133.zip, then add them to the minecraft jar. This is located here: C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\versions\1.6.4\1.6.4.jar. Delete the META-INF folder in the minecraft jar.
If you have a PS3 controller, you will first need to install MotioninJoy 0.6.0005 drivers. Follow the instructions on their website. You may have to swap buttons around in the MotioninJoy options to make it work, or just use the XBox emulation.
If you have an XBox controller, vibration will not work unless you download the following dll files and extract them to your.minecraft\versions\1.6.4\1.6.4-natives folder
Download XBox dlls (Adfly) | Download XBox dlls (Direct)
Please ensure that your controller is plugged in and switched on before you launch Minecraft.
Older versions
Minecraft 1.6.2
Download MC1.6.2Controller129.zip (Adfly) | Download MC1.6.2Controller129.zip (Direct)
Minecraft 1.5.1
Download MC1.5.1Controller119.zip (Adfly) | Download MC1.5.1Controller119.zip (Direct)Wasserman Schultz: Sanders Made Me The "Boogeyman"; Trust Me, If I Wanted To Rig Primary I Could Have
In an interview with Shawna Thomas from VICE News, former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz disputes claims from Bernie Sanders supporters that she "rigged" the Democratic primary in favor of Hillary Clinton. Tune-in for the full interview tonight at 7:30 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I will be frank with you. If I was trying to rig the outcome of the primary, trust me, I could have -- there are so many things that we, not I, we could have done to enhance the campaign of one candidate over another...
It was mind-boggling to me that he was complaining about the number of debates. Because, things were going just fine [for him]. I think the Sanders campaign began to aggressively find a scapegoat to turn the attention away from mistakes that they made. And they did so successfully. But that's okay.Image copyright Asif Saud Image caption India's'space women' (from left) Ritu Karidhal, Anuradha TK and Nandini Harinath
Two years ago, as Indian scientists successfully put a satellite into orbit around Mars, a photograph that went viral showed women dressed in gorgeous saris with flowers in their hair celebrating at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) in the southern city of Bangalore.
It was reported that the ecstatic women were scientists and the photograph challenged the stereotype that rocket science in India was a male preserve.
Isro later clarified that the celebrating women were administrative staff, but it went on to add that there indeed were several women scientists who had worked on the mission and were in the control room at the time of the launch.
The BBC's Geeta Pandey recently travelled to Bangalore to meet |
AP) – Dutch police quickly arrested a man armed with a knife who briefly held a woman hostage Thursday at a radio station building in the Netherlands.
The woman was shocked but otherwise unhurt in the early morning incident in Hilversum, southeast of Amsterdam, said Ellen Deheer, a police spokeswoman for the Middle Netherlands region.
The man’s identity and motives weren’t immediately clear, she said.
“We will talk to him about what his reasons were to take this woman as a hostage,” Deheer said. “She is shocked at this moment. It will take some time to talk to her about this.”
The man threatened the woman with a knife outside the building and forced her inside, according to another police media officer, Leonie Bosselaar.
After sealing off the area, police “decided to end the situation” two hours later, entering the building, arresting the man and rescuing the woman, said Deheer."Bob here. How can I help you, Persephone?" Because of course it's Persephone Hazard, doyenne of External Assets and not someone who generally calls me to make polite small-talk about the weather.
I startle and nearly fall off my chair. It's the famous Elsa Lanchester scream from Bride of Frankenstein, a ringtone I've assigned to—
So I'm sitting in my office, staring despondently at a stack of ancient hard drives I'm supposed to be decommissioning per protocol (a ritual pass through the degaussing coil, followed by three brisk taps with a sledgehammer while chanting the drive's UDID, then interment at the bottom of an acid bath—or failing that, the cat's litter tray) when my phone screams.
(Editorial note: this is not part of the Laundry Files timeline (which ends in 2015); it's merely a disturbing dream from one of the wrong trouser-legs of time, in which our protagonists are confronted with a threat infinitely less plausible than any tentacular alien horror from beyond the walls of the universe...)
"Crisis meeting, room 410, right now. Drop everything, we have a situation," she barks, then hangs up. And I just know that my day is about to go from boring to exciting, and not in a good way.
I don't hang around waiting for tentacles to come out of the walls: I'm out the door so fast I leave rubber tracks on the lino. What's going on? Who the fuck knows? It's been that kind of week, or maybe month, so far. As Lenin put it, sometimes years pass like weeks, and sometimes years happen in weeks. And ever since the unexpected Brexit referendum result, I've been half-expecting a crisis-call. It's just a wonder that it's taken so long to come.
I shove through the door of the Mahogany Row briefing room to find it nearly full already. There's the Senior Auditor, chairing, along with all the other Auditors in the office right now: representatives of External Assets—including Persephone—and a bunch of senior managers, Vikram, Chris, Boris, and others. Even Mrs MacDougal from HR is present, heaven knows why, and evidently she's nervous (she always knits when she's worried: today it's something pink and disturbingly tubular, intestinal). "Yo," I drop into an unclaimed chair, "what's happening?"
The SA smiles at me, a trifle tense. "It's the new PM. There's been a cabinet reshuffle."
I blink, perplexed. "This affects us how, exactly?"
Persephone sighs exasperatedly. Vikram leans forward: "Haven't you been following the news?"
"No, I've been busy working --" I stifle the impulse to say something waspish. I've been buried under a mound of paperwork, mostly contingency planning, for the past week, trying to ignore the new, which has gone from bad to worse ever since CASE NIGHTMARE TWEED eventuated three weeks ago. Don't get me started on the idiocy of my being expected to fill in as the departmental public relations officer; hint: we're a secret government agency, we don't have a public relations officer. As for my one and only appearance live on Newsnight... let's just say I have a strong motivation for ignoring the media right now. "What's happening?"
Vikram breaks it to me: "We have a new Minister."
"What? But we're... um?" I look around. Everyone is wearing their longest Leonard Cohen face. How bad could it be? Hammond? Gove? "Come on, it can't be that—"
"It's Boris," says the SA. Then he buries his face in his hands. "Oh God."
"Buh-buh-buh..." For a moment everything goes blurry. I check my ears: they seem to be working. "Huh. I could swear you said she'd appointed Boris—" not our Boris, the ops manager with the speech impediment—"Surely that can't be right..."
Chris Womack gives me a funny, tight little smile. "You heard right, I'm afraid. The new Prime Minister is shuffling the deck and she's handed Boris Johnson the reins of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Meet the new boss, so not the old boss."
"Oh dear..." God—and by "God" I mean "Cthulhu"—I think. "Well, fuck. What do we do now? What does this even mean?"
"It means, dear boy," says the SA, grinning like a skull, "that responsibility for MI5, GCHQ, and the Security Services goes to the FCO and thus—"
"But we're SOE!" I protest. "We're still part of the Ministry of Defense!"
"Probably not," Vikram contradicts me bluntly. "We were part of MoD, but according to the classified schedule D to the Civil Contingencies Act of 2003 we're the responsibility of whoever is running GCHQ. Which means—" He coughs horribly as his internal censor cuts in just before he says something unforgivable about the Hairpiece from Hades. "It's unclear, but we can't assume that our dual reporting stovepipe to MoD will protect us if the FCO Minister decides to take a personal interest."
"We're doomed," I say, then try the second word out a second time, for effect: "doooomed."
"No Bob," says the SA. "We have a CASE NIGHTMARE plan for this sort of thing. We're simply going to have to ensure he's briefed properly, then keep calm and carry on. Without any screaming and fainting in circles, I hope."
"Oh good!" I say brightly, standing up and sidling slowly towards the door. "Then there won't be a problem—I'll just go and double-check the supplies and fallout filters on the bunker down in Dunwich for when he gets through glad-handing Vladimir Putin and whoever briefs him can—"
But the SA hasn't finished. "Of course, as a secret agency we can't risk exposing the cover of covert assets or jeopardizing the plausible deniability of our external operatives." His smile vanishes. "Persephone, cover the door in case he runs. I'm sorry, Bob, but you're out of luck this time. As our most senior public-facing media relations officer it falls to you to brief our new Foreign Secretary on what it is that we do.
"You have a preliminary meeting tomorrow, at the FCO building, at nine o'clock sharp. And this is what you're going to tell him..."
So my question for you is, what does Bob do next? And what does the Minister make of it all?Science discoveries can be described as "amazing," "remarkable," and "encouraging," but sometimes those words exaggerate the importance of new findings. Over-eager headline writers aren't the only ones to blame: A new study suggests that scientists are adding more of these overly-positive words to their studies, reports Philip Ball for Nature.
Researchers at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands scanned papers in PubMed, an online database of medical and health-related research papers, for a list of words people are using to describe their research.
They found that between 1974 and 2015, researchers are popping positive-sounding words like "novel," "amazing" and "spectacular" nine times more frequently in their papers. The analysis also showed a smaller uptick in negative-sounding words like "pessimistic," "futile," and "useless." The team reported their findings in the British Medical Journal.
Why this trend away from more neutral words? "Researchers may be tempted to make their findings stand out from thousands of others—a tendency that might also explain the more modest rise in usage of negative words," Ball writes. The Utrecht team jokingly concludes that "novel" appears to be on such a steep trajectory that every paper on PubMed will use the word by the year 2123.
While the trend may indeed have serious implications for the way that science is understood, the date of the study's publication might explain the purpose behind the analysis. Every year for Christmas, the stodgy-sounding BMJ loosens-up with a series of cheeky studies. The methods mostly remain sound, but the subjects aim to provoke a bit of levity and holiday cheer.
Here's a few of the quirky and chuckle-worthy papers from this year's edition:
Babies get in the way of research, but they aren't all bad news. One study documented the "surprisingly large number of babies born" to staff running a large clinical trial for stroke rehabilitation. Since trials often span years, researchers are interested in figuring out what potential hang-ups could delay progress. The birth of 120 babies between July 2006 and October 2014 cost the team both time and money. But updates on the baby count reported during the investigators' meetings were enjoyed, which of course was subjectively measured with a "laughometer."
An odd walk is popular with Russian officials. While watching videos of current Russian President Vladimir Putin, a group of neurologists noticed the world leader's tendency to keep his right arm relatively stiff, rather than allowing it to swing. At first they were concerned that it was a sign of some neurological distress or disease like Parkinson's. But further analysis of his judo prowess, weight lifting and swimming didn't show signs of the disease.
A training manual from the former Russian KGB suggests that firearm training might be a cause: "When moving, it is absolutely necessary to keep your weapon against the chest or in the right hand," according to the manual. "Moving forward should be done with one side, usually the left, turned somewhat in the direction of movement." The team dubbed the characteristic walk "gunslinger's gait," a moniker that will likely only add to Putin's public image.
World leaders may be subject to accelerated aging. A study compared the life spans of elected heads of government with that of their unelected runners-up. The researchers examined the lives of 540 leaders and would-be-leaders from 1722 to 2015 in 17 in Australia and New Zealand as well as countries in Europe and North America. They concluded that getting elected might cost candidates 2.7 years of their life. Given the stress of leading a country, this conclusion can't have come as a surprise.
The "curse of the rainbow jersey" probably doesn't exist. The reigning world champion in cycling traditionally wears a uniform bearing bands of green, yellow, black, red and blue when competing in subsequent races. Yet a handful of accidents that befell champions in the past have led people to suggest that the jersey spells doom.
To dispel the myth, Thomas Perneger of the University of Geneva used the objectivity of statistics. His analysis considers whether the curse could have come from a "spotlight effect," where the champion's subsequent performances receive extra scrutiny, or the "marked man hypothesis," where rivals target the champion. Neither, he concludes. The less successful season champions often encounter later in their career is simply a case of "regression to the mean"—winning is the odd occurrence and not-winning the norm.
"[M]ost countries remain grossly unprepared" for a zombie apocalypse, Tara C. Smith writes. Smith, of Kent State University, highlights the spread of woefully understudied infections that reanimate human corpses, tackling the epidemiology and pathology of a worldwide-scourge. From the 1973 accidental release of a weaponized Trixie virus on a small town in Pennsylvania to a 2002 epidemic of a rage-type zombie pathogen in the U.K., these diseases are costly for society. She urges the global community to work together to prevent further conflict between the living and the dead.
Of course the zombie paper is a joke. But the goofy studies from the special issue do end up in the research literature and sometimes end up as serious citations without the silly context. Though amusing, please keep your tongue in your cheek as you read the Christmas papers of the BMJ.The Navy SEAL killed Friday in combat in Somalia was 38-year-old Kyle Milliken of Falmouth, Maine, the Defense Department said.
Milliken, a chief special warfare officer, died during an operation against the extremist Islamic militant group al-Shabaab in Somalia. The fighting took place in a remote area approximately 40 miles west of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, the US Africa Command said.
Two other Americans were reportedly wounded in the same firefight. A Pentagon spokesman said Friday that U.S. special operations troops had come under fire after U.S. aircraft delivered Somali forces to the target area.
The troops were part of an operation conducted with the Somali National Army and the African Union Mission in the war-torn country. Al-Shabaab is closely to Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a group that has targeted Americans.
The US military has carried out airstrikes against the terror group in Somalia for years.
Last month, dozens of troops were sent to Somalia, the largest such deployment there in about two decades.
Milliken was assigned to an East Coast-based special warfare unit that was supporting Somali National Army-led operations. The Pentagon did not provide additional details about his service.
He was the first was the first U.S. soldier to die in Somalia since 1993, when 18 U.S. servicemen were killed after two helicopters were shot down over Mogadishu. The incident was recounted in the book and film “Black Hawk Down.”Threesome (stylised as threesome) is a British television sitcom written by Tom MacRae and starring Stephen Wight, Amy Huberman and Emun Elliott.[1] The series is focused around three friends—Alice, Mitch and Richie—who return home from a night out celebrating Alice's birthday and end up having a threesome, which results in Alice getting pregnant. Instead of getting an abortion, the three friends decide to raise the baby as a trio.[2] The series began airing on 17 October 2011 on Comedy Central and Comedy Central HD. It is the first original scripted comedy commissioned by Comedy Central and is produced by Big Talk Productions.
In February 2012, it was confirmed that Comedy Central had renewed the show for a second series.[3] Although this included the possibility of a 22-episode third series,[4] this did not happen.[5]
Premise [ edit ]
Threesome is a sitcom about three inseparable friends on the verge of turning 30. Alice (Amy Huberman) lives with her boyfriend Mitch (Stephen Wight) and their gay best friend Richie (Emun Elliott). Together they form three points of an unlikely triangle, living, laughing and larging it together. After a big birthday party for Alice, they end up having an unplanned threesome during which Alice becomes pregnant. After discovering that he is infertile, Mitch tells Richie that he is the baby's biological father. They then decide to ditch the party lifestyle, have the baby, and raise it together as a threesome.
Characters and cast [ edit ]
Main characters [ edit ]
Alice Heston (Amy Huberman) is the female lead. Alice's long-term friendship with Richie leads to her relationship with boyfriend Mitch. [6]
Mitch Ennis (Stephen Wight) meets Richie at his brother's funeral, and the two become friends. A blind date leads to Mitch and Alice dating. [6]
Richie Valentine (Emun Elliott): Best friends with Alice (since university) and Mitch, but unable to commit despite an active love life. [6]
Lily Owen Valentine-Ennis: is the trio's baby whom Alice gives birth to in the last episode of the first series. She is to be one of the main cast in the second series. Her characteristics are currently unknown.[7]
Supporting roles [ edit ]
Lorraine Heston (Pauline McLynn): a self-created glamour-puss and a bit of a nightmare control freak. She loves her daughter Alice dearly, but that love more often than not expresses itself as a domineering cattiness. Lorraine is all about the tan and the chatter and loves a good party, but behind the champagne bubbles the claws are out. Lorraine is wealthy and lives in Tenerife most of the year, where she flirts with boys, tolerates Alice’s father Malcolm, and drinks way, way too much.
Sue Ennis (Paddy Navin): a woman who couldn’t be more like her son Mitch, or any closer to him; two peas in a pod who still love each other's company. Sue is down to earth, unpretentious and incredibly caring – as well as charmingly sentimental and a bit of a motor-mouth. Of all the mums, she’s the least demanding, and will probably end up being far and away the best babysitter.
Jenny Rouse (Joanna Roth): Richie’s mum couldn’t be less like Sue to look at. Jenny models herself on Anna Wintour; immaculate fashions and flawless styling, and is a design icon in her own right. Well spoken and perfectly poised, Jenny is every inch a lady – but she’s not above chatting up boys on Richie’s behalf. Jenny is desperate for Richie to find someone special and give her a gorgeous son-in-law to coo over.
Dave (Adam Garcia): Richie's boyfriend.
Episodes [ edit ]
Reception [ edit ]
The series has received a mostly positive critical reaction. Actor Russell Tovey praised the series. Catriona Wightman, writing for Digital Spy, also praised the series, coming to the conclusion that "it's really rather good indeed."[8] The British Comedy Guide said "after the double-bill opener, Threesome has made a fantastic start. The potentially quite unlikeable situation and characters have proved to be anything but, and some great set-piece lines and scenes really made us laugh out loud. We found it thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, and can't wait for the rest of the series."[9] Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Catherine Gee said "Threesome throws up some funny moments and there's plenty of good chemistry between its stars."[8] In a slightly more negative-mixed-positive review, Lucy Mangan, writing for The Guardian, said "the jokes are weak but when it's not trying to be funny, Threesome is very funny."[8] Writing a negative review, again for The Guardian, Martin Skegg said "presumably it's meant to be funny, but you'll be searching high and low for the jokes."[8] David Crawford writing for the RadioTimes gave a highly positive review, saying "starting from a preposterous premise, this rambunctious comedy manages to get hearty, and frequently filthy, laughs from its unlikely situation. The humour is suitably broad for the subject matter, but there are neat gags, and wonderful physical comedy."[8] Liam Murphy, writing for On the Box, gave a mixed review, saying "this is a sitcom with potential and as long as it avoids the trappings of most comedy pregnancies (see season 8 of Friends) then I might just watch the rest of the series!"[8]
In January 2013 the British Comedy Guide gave the show the Comedy.co.uk Editors' Award saying: "We congratulate production company Big Talk and Comedy Central for giving this unique series the chance to grow. It seems to have boosted the channel's confidence in ordering more original comedy".[10][11]
DVD and Blu-ray release [ edit ]
On 17 October 2011, BBC Worldwide, released the series to download on the iTunes Store. Then as of 12 November 2012, series 1 became available to purchase on DVD-Video through 2 Entertain.
On 1 October 2012, series 2 became available to download through iTunes. A release date of series 2 on DVD has yet to be confirmed by 2 Entertain.The Professional Categories of the MTV Video Music Awards remain the biggest recognition for the people who actually create the music videos in tandem with the artists themselves. And, since they're not open for fan voting, they reflect the feelings of the industry, as opposed to being swayed by fan popularity contests. That said, Kendrick Lamar is likely as popular in the industry as he is with fans.
We're psyched to share the deserving winners of the 2017 MTV VMA Professional categories with you. Congrats to all!
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Kendrick Lamar --“HUMBLE.”
Cinematographer: Scott Cunningham
BEST DIRECTION
Kendrick Lamar --“HUMBLE.”
Director: Dave Meyers & the little homies
BEST ART DIRECTION
Kendrick Lamar --“HUMBLE.”
Production Designer: Spencer Graves
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Kendrick Lamar --“HUMBLE.”
VFX Editor: Company: Timber/Lead: Jonah Hall
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Kanye West – “Fade”
Choreographer: Teyana Taylor, Guapo, Matthew Pasterisa, Jae Blaze, Derek Watkins
BEST EDITING
Young Thug – “Wyclef Jean”
Editor: Ryan Staake & Eric Degliomini
The MTV VMAs kick-off at 8pm ET, live on MTV with simulcasts on other Viacom stations, including VH1, Comedy Central, Spike, TV Land, CMT, and Logo, plus coverage aplenty on mtv.comWashington (CNN) President Barack Obama will veto the Keystone XL bill if Congress passes a measure green-lighting the oil pipeline, White House press secretary Josh Earnest announced on Tuesday.
The pipeline is currently in a final phase of review from the State Department, which has already concluded that it would have a minimal impact on the environment. But the State Department also assessed that the pipeline would create about 42,000 jobs directly and indirectly during the construction period -- but just 50 permanent jobs.
The White House reviewed the text of the bill to authorize the pipeline on Monday, Earnest said.
Obama's objection to the legislation, Earnest said, is not based on the merits of the project so much as the idea Congress was trying to take the decision out of the hands of the executive branch.
"The President has been pretty clear that he does not think that circumventing a well-established process for evaluating these projects is the right thing for Congress to do," Earnest said.
Read Morenews 2010 Villain: Subway Fetishism
Illustration by Brian McLachlan/Torontoist.
Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains—Toronto’s very best and very worst people, places, and things over the past twelve months. From December 13–17: the Villains! From December 20–24, the Heroes! And, from December 27–30, you can vote for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year.
Ponies. When we were eight many of us wanted ponies. Or racecars, or rocket ships to call our own.
We did not get these things, and though that stung at the time, no reasonable person would have expected our parents to procure them for us. Wanting wasn’t a justification for having.
The grown-up version of wanting ponies in our current tranportation-planning climate is subways. The reasons we like subways are clear: subways are sleek, subways are fast, and subways are tidily buried underground. Wait times are (generally) both shorter and more predictable than with surface vehicles, the ride is smoother, and the climate control (a big deal in winter especially) far more effective.
These are all real merits. Our attachment to subways is not frilly and it is not superficial: study after study shows that the more comfortable and appealing a transit option is, the more likely it is to attract riders. And we need more transit riders, desperately. With the city’s population projected to grow by 500,000 over the next twenty years, we need to collectively become far more efficient in our transportation use—there simply isn’t room on the roads for us all to drive.
But liking isn’t a justification for having, either. Setting aside for a moment all the very real (and in our view independently decisive) concerns about available funding, political brinksmanship, and opportunity cost of delaying construction for the several years it will take to get approval for a new approach to transit, is this: subways are the wrong tool for the job. Subways excel at moving very large volumes of people, and are an ideal form of transit for very densely populated areas. But for all that our population is going to grow substantially, we’re not going to increase in density by anything close to the amount needed to make subways an appropriate transit choice. It is simply far more firepower than we require to move the number of people we will have to move.
Building subways in the absence of this density amounts to placing too much weight on our likes, our wishes, our preferences, and perhaps our prejudices, at the expense of everything else—efficiency, frugality, expediency, and the basic equity we should strive for by building transit to serve as many Torontonians as possible. It is inordinately, unjustifiably wasteful to hang on to this attachment—real and legitimate though it may be—when it is for something that is both unnecessary and costs three times as much as the alternative.The number of young homeless people in the Netherlands increased significantly this year, according to figures Statistics Netherlands published on Friday. In 2016 an estimated 12,400 people between 18 and 30 years were homeless, compared to 8,300 in 2015.
The total number of homeless people in the Netherlands remained stable at an estimated 31 thousand in 2016. Between 2009 and 2015 the number increased significantly from 17,500 to 31 thousand.
The number of older homeless people in the Netherlands decreased. On January 1st of this year there were over 13 thousand homeless people between the ages 30 and 50 years, compared to 16,400 in 2015. In 2015 that age group made up more than half of the homeless population, this year they accounted for 43 percent. The proportion of homeless people between the ages of 50 and 65 years decreased from almost 21 percent to less than 17 percent over the past decade.
The proportion homeless people in the Netherlands with a non-western background also increased in recent years. In 2009 about 36 percent of the homeless in the country had a non-western background. In 2016 almost half were of a non-western background. Of the non-western homeless people, almost half are between the ages of 18 and 30 years old.FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Patriots announced today that they have released 20 players to reach the NFL-mandatory 53-man limit.
The Patriots released 10 veteran players: OL Chris Barker, WR Aaron Dobson, RB Tyler Gaffney, DL Geneo Grissom, LB Rufus Johnson, DL Markus Kuhn, WR Keshawn Martin, DB Darryl Roberts, DB Vinnie Sunseri and DL Joe Vellano.
The Patriots released five first-year players: WR DeAndre Carter, OL Jon Halapio, WR Chris Harper, RB Joey Iosefa and LB Kevin Snyder.
The Patriots released five rookies, including two 2016 Draft picks: DL Woodrow Hamilton, LB Kamu Grugier-Hill, CB Cre’von LeBlanc, WR Devin Lucien and TE Bryce Williams.
VETERAN PLAYERS RELEASED
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Barker, 26, originally joined the Patriots when he was claimed off waivers from Miami on Sept. 1, 2013. The 6-foot-2, 275-pounder, entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Miami out of Nevada on May 3, 2013. He played in four games as a rookie in 2013 with the Patriots. He has spent the majority of the last two seasons on the New England practice squad, seeing action in one game in 2014 and one game in 2015.</span>
Dobson, 25, is a veteran of three seasons with the New England Patriots. The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a second-round draft pick (59th overall) of the Patriots out of Marshall in the 2013 NFL Draft. Dobson has played in 24 games with 13 starts and has registered 53 receptions for 698 yards with four touchdowns. He has played in one postseason game and has two receptions for 33 yards.
Gaffney, 25, is a veteran of two NFL seasons with New England. The 6-foot, 220-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick (204th overall) by the Carolina Panthers out of Stanford in the 2014 NFL Draft. He suffered an injury in his first NFL training camp while with Carolina and spent the season on injured reserve after being claimed off waivers by the Patriots on July 28, 2014. Gaffney was injured in training camp last year and spent the entire 2015 season on injured reserve.
Grissom, 24, was drafted by the Patriots in the third round (97th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma. The 6-foot-4, 265-pounder, played in 14 games as a rookie last year and finished with five total tackles and one special teams tackle
Johnson, 26, originally was signed by the Patriots as a free agent on Feb. 6, 2015. The 6-foot-5, 280-pounder, played in one game for the Patriots in 2015 and made on tackle before being placed on the Reserve/Non-Football Illness list on Oct. 28. He originally entered the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick by New Orleans out of Tarleton State in the 2013 NFL Draft. Johnson spent the 2013 regular season on the practice squad before being signed to the 53-man roster for the postseason. He was released at the end of training camp in 2014.
Kuhn, 30, was signed by the Patriots as an unrestricted free agent from the New York Giants on April 7, 2016. The 6-foot-4, 315-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a seventh-round draft pick (239th overall) of the Giants out of North Carolina State in the 2012 NFL Draft. He has played in 39 NFL games with 10 starts and has 48 total tackles, 1½ sacks and two fumble recoveries, one of which was returned 26 yards for a touchdown at Tennessee during the 2014 season.
Martin, 25, was acquired by the New England in a trade with Houston on Sept. 17, 2015. The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a fourth-round draft pick (121st overall) by Houston out of Michigan State in the 2012 NFL Draft. Last season with New England, he played in nine games with eight starts and caught 24 passes for 269 yards with two touchdowns. He also returned 10 kicks for 257 yards and eight punts for 92 yards. Martin has played in 57 NFL games with 10 starts and has 62 receptions for 685 yards with five touchdowns, 78 kick returns for 1,964 yards, and 94 punt returns for 858 yards with one touchdown.
Roberts, 25, was drafted by New England in the seventh round (247th overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Marshall. The 6-foot, 190-pounder, suffered an injury in the preseason-opener last season and spent his rookie year on injured reserve.
Sunseri, 22, was signed by the Patriots as a free agent on July 24, 2016. The 6-foot, 210-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft pick of the New Orleans Saints in the 2014 NFL Draft out of Alabama. He played in nine games as a rookie mostly on special teams, finishing with six special teams tackles and one tackle on defense, Last season, Sunseri, missed the entire season due to injury. He was released by the Saints on April 25, 2016.
Vellano, 26, originally joined the Patriots as a rookie free agent out of Maryland on May 3, 2013. The 6-foot-2, 300-pounder, made the 53-man roster as a rookie and played in 16 games with eight starts and also played in both postseason games that season. He finished the year with 48 total tackles and two sacks. Vellano began the 2014 season on the 53-man roster and then was part of the practice squad before being re-signed to the 53-man roster in the postseason. He played in five games with one start in the regular season and also saw action in the AFC Championship Game vs. Indianapolis. He finished the 2014 season with six total tackles and one sack.
FIRST-YEAR PLAYERS RELEASED
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Carter, 23, was signed by New England to the practice squad on Dec. 15, 2016. The 5-foot-8, 190-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Baltimore out of Sacramento State on May 8, 2015. He spent the majority of his rookie season on the Oakland practice squad before being released on Dec. 1 and signing with New England’s practice squad.</span>
Halapio, 25, was signed by the Patriots on July 27, 2016. The 6-foot-2, 320-pounder, was originally drafted by the New England Patriots in the sixth round (179th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft out of Florida. He was released by the Patriots at the end of training camp and joined the Denver Broncos practice squad for the final weeks of the 2014 season. Halapio was signed by the Arizona Cardinals during the 2015 offseason and was released prior to the start of the regular season. He has not appeared in an NFL game.
Harper, 22, originally was signed by the Patriots as a rookie free agent out of California on May 8, 2015. The 5-foot-11, 185-pounder, spent the majority of his rookie season on the practice squad after making the 53-man roster out of training camp. He appeared in five regular-season games as a reserve, registering one reception for six yards and three punt returns for 17 yards.
Iosefa, 25, originally joined the New England practice squad on Oct. 21, 2015, and had a brief stint on the 53-man roster before returning to the practice squad. The 6-foot, 245-pounder, played in two games and tallied 15 carries for 51 yards. He entered the NFL as a seventh-round draft pick by Tampa Bay (231st overall) out of Hawaii in the 2015 NFL Draft and was released by Tampa Bay on Aug. 30, 2015.
Snyder, 24, was signed to the New England practice squad on Dec. 16, 2015, and then was signed to the 53-man roster for the AFC Championship at Denver (1/24) and was active for the game but did not play. The 6-foot-2, 245-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Detroit out of Rutgers on May 7, 2015. He began his rookie season with the Lions on injured reserve before being released. Snyder then spent the last month of the regular season on the San Francisco practice squad before joining the Patriots practice squad.
ROOKIES RELEASED
<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Hamilton, 23, was signed by the Patriots as a rookie free agent out of Mississippi on May 6, 2016. The 6-foot-3, 315-pounder, played in 47 games with 25 starts at nose tackle for Mississippi and finished with 83 total tackles and three sacks. The 6-foot-3, 319-pounder, played in every game with 12 starts at nose tackle as a senior in 2015.</span>
Grugier-Hill, 21, was selected by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft with the 208th overall selection out of Eastern Illinois. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder, played in 49 games at linebacker over his four-year career and earned first team Ohio Valley Conference honors as a junior and a senior.
LeBlanc, 22, was signed by the Patriots as a rookie free agent on May 6, 2016 out of Florida Atlantic. The 5-foot-11, 190-pounder, was a four-year contributor to Florida Atlantic’s defense as a cornerback and a kickoff and punt returner. He was named a team captain as a senior in 2015 and was named the team’s Defensive MVP after finishing the year with 43 total tackles and four interceptions.
Lucien, 22, was selected by the Patriots in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft with the 225th overall selection out of Arizona State. The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder, played in 45 games with 20 starts during his college career and recorded 124 receptions for 1,827 yards and 12 touchdowns during his three seasons at UCLA and one season at Arizona State. Lucien was a graduate transfer out of UCLA, who played with Arizona State for his final season.Star News via Nate1. [+422, -29] So easy for him ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ placed at the Gangnam police station where he can see his family and friends whenever he wants ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ2. [+413, -32] Gangnam police station? How is this any different from public service??3. [+303, -43] Training takes four weeks, why is he only now being placed? Kim Junsu was placed way before him and they enlisted at the same time4. |
implemented, CDR-14 made us to list them in *features* (https://common-lisp.net/project/cdr/document/14/index.html).
if ECL is build with --with-cxx option, :CXX-CORE is present in *features*.
deprecated configure option --with-local-gmp has been removed - use --enable-gmp (defaults to auto).
configure options has been revised.
ASDF has been upgraded to version 3.1.7.26 (with a few patches scheduled for 3.2.0).
bundled CLX has been purged. Lately I've fixed ECL support on portable CLX maintained by sharplispers on https://github.com/sharplispers/clx (available via QuickLisp).
initial port for the Haiku platform. The port is done by Kacper Kasper's work, one of Haiku developers. Threads are not supported yet.
refactored ECL internal tests framework. Tests in src/tests are now asdf-loadable (with load-source-op ) and divided into test suites. make check target runs all regression and feature tests which aren't supposed to fail.
removed 15000 lines of obsolete code. Files not included in the buildsystem but lingering in the codebase or options failing to build. All info is added in the new documentation in the section "Removed interfaces".
improved man page and help output. Man page now contains up-to-date list of flags, as well as explanation of flag's behavior.
deprecated long flags with one dash, added two-dash version. Flags that aren't one-character, but start with one dash (e.g. -eval ) are now deprecated; long version --eval was added instead.
indented C/C++ code to follow emacs's gnu C style. This is a first step towards coding standards in the documentation. Additionally all in the src/c/ directory are listed in the appropraite documentation section (new-doc).
refactored list_current_directory in unixfsys.d. Function was obfuscated with ifdefs with non-even pairs of #\{ and #\}.
Issues fixedBy Express News Service
PALAKKAD: Palakkad district became overall champion by scoring 48,229 points in the state-level inter-school Sasthrolsavom, which concluded at various venues in Shoranur on Sunday. Kasaragod district bagged second place with 47,097 points, while Malappuram was adjudged third with 45,608 points in the overall category. Meanwhile, Kannur district emerged champions in the science and mathematics fairs by scoring 180 points (science) and 316 points (mathematics). In both fairs, Thrissur stood second with 162 points (science) and 302 points (mathematics).
In science, Malappuram was third with 157 points, while in mathematics, Kozhikode bagged third spot with 301 points. In Social Science fair, Thrissur was first with 181 points, followed by Kannur with 174 points and Malappuram with 166 points.
In Work Experience fair, Palakkad secured 47,582 marks to win, while Kasaragod and Malappuram were second and third with 46,449 points and 44,875 points, respectively. The on-the-spot Work Experience fair saw Malappuram scoring 44,875 marks to be first, while Kozhikode was second with 44,714 marks and Thrissur was third with 44,173 marks.CLOSE Reports are swirling that Yahoo will sell its core search and display business, but is anyone waiting in line to buy it?
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer speaks during the Fortune Global Forum in November. (Photo11: Kimberly White, Getty Images, for Fortune)
SAN FRANCISCO — When Marissa Mayer was hired to save Yahoo as CEO more than three years ago, she was greeted as a conquering hero despite what many considered a next-to-impossible task.
Today, she faces more pressure than ever to turn around an Internet icon.
As Yahoo's board mulls the sale of the company's Internet business, according to news reports, Mayer and Yahoo face a litany of problems.
Its take of global digital ad sales is shrinking. Yahoo's slice of the search market hasn't budged. The stock (YHOO) has slid 29% this year, even with intermittent breaks such as Wednesday's rally.
Yahoo declined to comment on whether the board was holding a series of meetings on the potential sale of its Internet business, which was reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. That is one of several options the board has considered as the company continues to struggle, a source close to Yahoo told USA TODAY. The source asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak on behalf of the company.
What had become an increasingly untenable situation worsened after influential activist investor Starboard Value demanded Yahoo keep its more than $30 billion stake in Alibaba Group Holding, and instead sell off parts of its core Web business. In a letter to Mayer and other executives, delivered in November, Starboard pointedly asked for a "change in culture," though it didn't go into details on what the change would be.
Starboard did not return a phone message.
The spinoff is likely to be completed in January.
Investors not only are growing restless, but Yahoo employees are souring on Mayer, Yahoo’s sixth CEO since 2007. Since she took over in July 2012, the company's annual revenue has declined 7%. Profitability has plunged despite $7 billion in spending on mergers-and-acquisitions and research and development, and amid an executive exodus.
An annual employee survey, meanwhile, found that a significant number of Yahoo’s employees disapprove of Mayer's job performance, according to a source close to the company who requested anonymity.
Yahoo declined to comment on this report, and Mayer was not made available for comment.
CRUNCHED BY COMPETITORS
Mayer was considered the right person at the right time upon her arrival at Yahoo. The company, reeling from a string of disappointing CEOs and scrambling to compete in an era increasingly dominated by mobile apps and social media, welcomed a charismatic figure who had earned her bona fides as an early Google employee.
She immediately set up an aggressive strategy of acquisitions and executive hires, and graced a magazine spread in Vanity Fair as one of the world's most recognizable female CEOs.
But Yahoo’s core business is being squeezed by a variety of competitors — from chief rivals Google and Facebook to upstarts Instagram and Snapchat.
No matter how one slices the numbers, it doesn’t add up for Mayer & Co. Google and Facebook continue to dominate the $170.2 billion digital advertising market worldwide, with a combined 40%. Yahoo’s share, by comparison, has shrunk to 2%, according to research firm eMarketer.
On the mobile ad front, it’s worse. Google and Facebook command roughly half of the $72.1 billion global market; Yahoo's share is 1.5% and falling, eMarketer says.
Even Yahoo's share of ad sales from search, a specialty of Mayer's at Google, where she was director of consumer Web products, has slipped, according to eMarketer.
Not everything has unraveled under the oft-criticized and overly scrutinized Mayer.
Highly publicized acquisitions of Tumblr ($1.1 billion, 2013), a popular blogging and social-networking platform, and mobile analytics firm Flurry have panned out, bolstering Yahoo’s 1 billion monthly active users.
Mayer made canny decisions on Tumblr and more recently on its acquisition of style site Polyvore and is a "brilliant woman," says Brit Morin, who worked for Mayer at Google and counts Mayer as an investor in her media company, Brit & Co.
"I think the vision at large was right but there’s just a tangled mess underneath that she’s still trying to untangle," says Morin.
Yahoo’s content through its sports, finance and tech properties is respected, though many question the $10-million-a-year contract lavished on Katie Couric, who serves as Yahoo global news anchor.
TUMULTUOUS CHANGE
Mayer has not commented publicly on Starboard's letter and, through a company spokeswoman, declined to comment on it for USA TODAY.
A handful of current and former employees interviewed for this article say Mayer's leadership has been hamstrung by a tendency for her to micro-manage — such as tinkering with the design of the new Yahoo logo in 2013, as well as filling in as de facto chief information officer after the former CIO, David Dibble, left in 2013. That has stalled the decision-making process and alienated talented managers, those employees say.
The management team Mayer put in place is largely gone. About a dozen key executives have left this year: Kathy Savitt, head of digital media projects, left in September for movie studio STX Entertainment; Jacqueline Reses, chief development officer, bolted to Square, which recently went public, in October; and Mike Kerns, senior vice president in charge of the home page, departed in the spring.
"I think the board needs to ascertain why are all these talented executives leaving the company and is there a culture problem," said SunTrust Robinson Humphreys Internet equity analyst Robert Peck in an interview. "And if there is, you therefore need a shake-up in management to reinstitute the correct culture and get the core (business) going again."
Maynard Webb, chairman of Yahoo's nine-member board of directors, declined to comment. The board comes up for re-election next summer.
A key misfire was the hiring of Henrique de Castro, a former Google sales executive brought in as chief operating officer. When he failed to meet advertising revenue goals, de Castro stepped down in early 2014 after only 15 months, but not before he collected more than $100 million in compensation and severance. Chief Information Officer Mike Kail, who came from Netflix, departed in May 2015 after spending less than a year at Yahoo.
Yet during Yahoo's third-quarter earnings call in early October, Mayer said the "design and changes in Yahoo's leadership team are the result of careful planning."
Alibaba remains a vexing point for Mayer, 40, and Yahoo. Mayer largely ignored the importance of the investment — currently valued at more than $30 billion — until she realized its worth, says a former company executive who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on behalf of the company.
She then tasked then-Chief Development Officer Reses with establishing a rapport with Alibaba’s management team, something Mayer refused to do, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Yahoo bought a 40% stake in Alibaba for $1 billion in 2005. (The stake is now at 15%.) Last year, Starboard — which owns 0.8% of Yahoo's outstanding shares — urged Yahoo to spin off the Alibaba stake.
A spokeswoman for Square, where Reses heads Square Capital, its business financing service, said she was not available for comment.
Relationships with advertisers and agencies have also been rocky, by some accounts. Her executive team had to persuade Mayer to attend and deliver a keynote at the January 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, as well as to attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June 2014 to network with what is a vital customer constituency for Yahoo, a former Yahoo executive said.
Reviving Yahoo will take nothing short of a "reboot," says a former Yahoo executive who asked not to be identified out of fear his friends still at the company will suffer reprisals. That will require a sell-off of non-core, unprofitable businesses and a major workforce reduction. To get big again, he said, Yahoo needs to get small first.
A MURKY FUTURE
The clock is ticking down to late January, when the spinoff of Alibaba shares is scheduled to go through. It's not just Starboard that is concerned about the tax implications of the spin. SunTrust Robinson Humphreys delivered a memo to the Yahoo board Nov. 13 suggesting that the board consider waiting until more information is gathered before actually spinning off the Alibaba shares.
A Yahoo turnaround "was a difficult situation for any CEO to step into because it is a large media property," SunTrust's Peck said. "Having said that, I think there were some strategic errors."
Mayer should have begun cutting costs earlier and could have usurped AOL's part in a 10-year deal made with Microsoft in June, Peck said. In that arrangement, AOL delivers ads across Microsoft's properties including MSN and, in return, Microsoft processes search queries and search ads for AOL.com.
A speedier push to mobile innovation and better acquisitions would have improved the situation, too. "The Tumblr acquisition for $1 billion hasn't proven as fruitful as they originally hoped," he said.
"If the core continues to deteriorate, we think that investors will get agitated and it’s likely she is not here in 12 months," Peck said.
Mayer has vowed to articulate a plan to “narrow our strategy and focus on newer products” that could result in thousands of layoffs. There is also the strong possibility of a private equity firm buying up pieces of Yahoo.
The wheels seem set in motion for changes, by January at the latest. Whether Mayer will be there to oversee them is the question.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1XIni8vSource: Serani
I've lived with since 1980 and have worked over 25 years treating children and adults who have depression.
As someone who knows what it's like to take personally, and recommend it professionally, here are the top 10 tips for getting the most out of your antidepressants.
Get a genetic test: Nowadays, medication for depression doesn’t need to be a hit or miss experience. Personalized medicine offers a unique way of tailoring medications for you and your genetic profile. Specific testing of Cytochrome p450 enzymes can help determine what dosages and the types of medication best suit your genetic makeup. Perhaps even more important is that genetic testing panels for medications can detect gene variations that are linked to poor responses to SSRI medications - heightening the risk of treatment resistant depression. Personalized genetic testing can be done by a simple cheek swab in your doctor’s office – and is frequently covered by insurance companies. Labs like GeneSight, YouScript, AssureRX and others can detail more about how this genetic testing works. Fill your prescription right away: Going straight to your local pharmacy once you’ve been handed a prescription or if it’s been called in by your doctor, assures that you can have your medication in-hand, ready to begin the next day. The faster you fill your prescription, the faster you recover from depression. Use a medication side effect checklist. Prior to beginning your medication, it’s a good idea to take an inventory of the behavioral and emotional ways you’re feeling. Medication side effect checklists can be found online, or you can just go old-school and jot down a note to monitor if you've experienced anything like headaches, stomachaches, dry mouth, constipation, or diarrhea before taking your new medication. Being mindful about how you feel physically and emotionally beforehand holds important data for two reasons. First, it helps isolate side effects and second, it helps measure improvements in your mood. Read the medicine packet: Take a few minutes to read the medication information when you pick up your prescription. Sometimes doctors and nurse practitioners don’t have enough time to go into every detail, so reading about the do’s and don’ts of taking this particular medication can help you achieve optimal results. For example, you may need to avoid certain foods with your medication. Or you may need to lessen the dosages of over the counter cold treatments, and other such things. Empowering yourself with such knowledge improves the power of your recovery. Pick and time and stick to it: Treatment consistency is the ability to stay on track with your treatment plan – and it is a big, big issue. Research says that upwards of 70% of people with depression don’t take their medication as prescribed. This is called non-compliance - and not taking medication consistently will significantly delay your recovery. I encourage you to pick a time when you're always awake, like noon, dinner time or in the evening - so you can take your medication at the same time each day. When you take your medication predictably every day, you give your body the necessary ingredients at a timely rate. Keep extra doses handy: Keep at least one day’s worth of your dosage at your place of work and in your wallet/purse in case you forget to take your medication. Having extra dosages helps if you can’t get home for your next dosage. I like having pill boxes that snap tightly closed, or a key chain that holds pills. Resist taking your entire bottle of medication with you wherever you go. The constant shaking of the bottle can flake or chip certain kinds of medications. Worse, if you lose it, you’ll have to pay full price for another refill. And sometimes doctors and nurse practitioners won’t feel comfortable ordering another prescription, especially if the medication is a controlled substance. If you have side effects, call your doctor or nurse practitioner: Side effects come in many forms. They can be dosage related – meaning once your body gets used to the medication, the symptoms fade. Other side effects won’t go away but are not life threatening. Lastly, sometimes you can have allergic or dose related side effects called adverse reactions -- which are very serious. The point here is whenever you're feeling something out of the ordinary, contact your prescribing mental professional. Explore questions of side effects to see if adjustments can be made, like changing the timing of medication (from afternoon to night, where you may through some of the side effects), taking the same dosage, but it in half and taking it twice a day – or changing medication entirely. Sometimes you’ll have to find acceptance with certain side effects – for example, which is worse…having the depressive symptoms or experiencing weight gain. Never stop taking medication on your own: Make sure you never abruptly stop taking your medication. Why? You can set into motion a serious condition called Discontinuation Syndrome. The take away here is there’s a specific way to come off antidepressant medications. Generally, your dosage is lowered a little bit at a time over the course of a week or two. This is done to help your body readjust. Antidepressants are not addictive, but stopping them without working with a prepared discontinuation plan can cause great discomfort. Be ready for a long run: When starting your medication therapy, it’s important to remember that it can take some time before you begin feeling better. It may be a few weeks or even months before a medication reaches its optimal level – and for you to experience its full benefits. Keep in contact with your doctor or nurse practitioner - and learn how to evaluate your feeling and thinking states to discover how your recovery is progressing. Consider pairing talk therapy with medication: Research says that the best approach to treating depression is the combination of talk therapy and medication. So, consider adding session work to your treatment plan. In addition to helping you monitor how your medication is doing, can teach you new ways of thinking, problem solving and how to live well in spite of having depression.
References
Haddad, P.M. & Anderson, I.M. (2007). Recognising and managing antidepressant discontinuation symptoms. Advances in Treatment,13(6):447-457
Keller, M.B. (2005). Issues in treatment resistant depression. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 66: 5-12.
Richards, C. & Michael G. Perri, M.G. (2010). Relapse Prevention for Depression. Washington: American Psychological Association.Blundering Forward in the Graveyard of Empires
by Eric Margolis
Recently by Eric Margolis: Will Uncle Sam Go Postal in SouthAsia?
Washington's national security establishment — what used in Britain to be called "imperialists" — is in a growing panic over the war in Afghanistan which, in spite of America's vast military and economic power, and cornucopia of high tech wizardry, is being slowly beaten by a bunch of lightly-armed but very fierce Pashtun mountain tribesman.
The renowned military strategist, Maj. Gen. J.F.C Fuller, defined war's true objective as achieving desired political results, not killing enemies.
Operation Enduring Freedom — the dreadfully misnamed ten-year US occupation of Afghanistan — has turned into Operation Enduring Misery.
After ten years of military and civil operations costing at least $450 billion, over 1,600 dead and 15,000 seriously wounded soldiers, the US has achieved none of its strategic or political goals. As for Afghanistan, it has suffered untold civilian casualties, villages shattered by US bombing, night raids by death squads, over two million refugees and a 30-year civil war.
At a time when 44 million Americans subsist on government food stamps and lack the kind of medical care common to other developed nations, each US soldier in Afghanistan costs $1 million per annum. CIA employs 80,000 mercenaries there, cost unknown. The Pentagon spends a staggering $20.2 billion annually air conditioning troop quarters in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The most damning assessment comes from the US-installed Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai: America's war has been "ineffective, apart from causing civilian casualties."
Washington's imperial goal was a favorable political settlement that would produce a pacified Afghan state run by a regime totally responsive to US political, economic and strategic interests; a native sepoy army led by American officers in the manner of the British Indian Raj; and US bases that threaten Iran, watch China, and dominate the energy-rich Caspian Basin.
All the claims made about fighting "terrorism and al-Qaida," liberating Afghan women and bringing democracy are pro-war window dressing. CIA chief Leon Panetta admitted there were no more than 25-50 al-Qaida members in Afghanistan. Why are there 150,000 US and NATO troops there, supposedly chasing al-Qaida?
In fact, as this writer saw himself in the early 1990's, there were never more than a small number of al-Qaida militants in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Their primary mission was fighting the Afghan Communists and overthrowing the post-Soviet Communist regimes of Central Asia.
Washington's real objective in South Asia was clearly defined in 2007 by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher: to "stabilize Afghanistan so it can become a conduit and hub between South and Central Asia — so energy can flow south."
The Turkmenistan-Afghan-Pakistan TAPI gas pipeline that the US has sought since 1998 is finally nearing completion. But whether it can operate in the face of sabotage remains to be seen. CIA is reportedly creating an 8,000-man mercenary force to protect the pipeline which runs smack across Pashtun tribal territory.
Meanwhile, Washington has been unable to fashion a stable government in Kabul. The primary reason: murderous ethnic politics. Over half the population is Pashtun (or Pathan), from whose ranks come Taliban. Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara minorities fiercely oppose the Pashtun. All three minority groups collaborated with the Soviet occupation from 1979-1989; today they collaborate with the US and NATO occupation.
Most of the Afghan army and police, on which the US spends $6 billion annually, are Tajiks and Uzbek, many members of the old Afghan Communist Party. The brutal Afghan national security service is populated by former members of the notorious, Soviet KGB-created Communist KHAD secret police. Taliban suspects captured by US and Canadian forces are routinely turned over to the Afghan secret police for torture.
To Pashtun, Tajiks and Uzbek are bitter enemies. In Afghanistan, the US has built its political house on ethnic quicksand.
Worse, US-run Afghanistan now produces 93% of the world's most dangerous narcotic, heroin. Under Taliban, drug production virtually ended, according to the UN. Today, the Afghan drug business is booming. The US tries to blame Taliban; but the real culprits are high government officials in Kabul and US-backed non-Pashtun warlords.
A senior UN drug official recently asserted that Afghan heroin killed 10,000 people in NATO countries last year. And this does not include Russia, a primary destination for Afghan heroin.
So the United States is now the proud owner of the world's leading narco-state and deeply involved with the Afghan Tajik drug mafia. No one in Washington wants to talk about this shameful misalliance. One day this scandal will burst into the open, as did US secret dealings with drug barons in Laos and Central America.
The US is bleeding billions in Afghanistan. Forty-four cents of every dollar spent by Washington is borrowed from China and Japan. While the US has wasted $1.283 trillion on the so-called "war on terror," China has been busy buying up resources and making new friends and markets. The ghost of Osama bin Laden must be smiling.
The US can't afford this endless war against the fierce Pashtun people, renowned for making Afghanistan "the Graveyard of Empires."
But the imperial establishment in Washington wants to hold on to strategic Afghanistan, particularly the ex-Soviet air bases at Bagram, Kandahar and Shindand.
The US is building its biggest embassy in the world in Kabul, an $800 million fortress with 1,000 personnel, protected by a small army of mercenary gunmen. So much for withdrawal plans. Another such monster embassy, or "Crusader castle," as bin Laden called it, is a building in Islamabad.
The stumbling, confused US war in Afghanistan has now lasted longer than the two world wars. The former US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McCrystal, just said Washington's view of that nation is "frighteningly simplistic." That's an understatement.
Facing the possibility of stalemate or even defeat in Afghanistan, Washington is trying to push India deeper into the conflict. This desperate ploy, and nurturing ethnic conflict, will ensure another decade of misery for Afghanistan and more dangerous instability for the entire region.
Washington would do well to recall the sage words of founding father, Ben Franklin: "there is no such thing as a bad peace, or a good war."
The Best of Eric S. MargolisI’ve been on a pretty major brownie kick lately – I’m talking 3 different varieties in one week. I’m officially brownied out for a while, but the good news is that I’ll be sharing all the chocolately goodness with you in weeks to come.
First on the list are these incredibly rich and decadent Peanut Butter Snickers Brownies. I first became aware of these little square nuggets of bliss when Amber guest posted her recipe for Peanut Butter Snickeroos. I was intrigued, they but didn’t make their way into my shopping cart until last week.
I tried one as soon as I got home (purely for research purposes of course) and knew they would be bad news if I kept them in the house for too long. In fact, a certain someone was smuggling them from the kitchen and into his pockets – I found the wrapper evidence in the dryer.
With a gazillion calories at our immediate reach, I decided to bake them into a batch of brownies and pass them along to my dad, brother, and mom’s boyfriend. Knowing full well they couldn’t resist noshing down on deep, dark chocolate brownies flecked with chunks of Peanut Butter Snickers deliciousness.
Well, they were a hit. My dad actually hid his and rationed them over two days, so the vulchers (co-workers) didn’t wipe him out with one pass of his desk.
These brownies are rich, decadent and have the perfect chewy texture. So sure, they may be calorie bombs. But they’re worth every extra step on the treadmill, I swear. Plus, since they’re so rich, you don’t have to have a big serving to satisfy any intense chocolate craving you may be having.
Looking for more Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bliss?
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
Tagalog Peanut Butter Parfaits
Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte
Peanut Butter Snickers Brownies Ingredients: 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa or Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
12 Peanut Butter Snickers Squares, each cut into 4 pieces Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9" x 13" pan with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. 2. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter, add sugar and stir to combine. Continue heating mixture just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but don’t let it bubble. It should get a shiny appearance as you stir it. According the lovely bakers at King Arthur Flour, heating this mixture a second time dissolves more of the sugar, which will create a shiny top crust the brownies. 3. While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with an electric mixer on low speed and add in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla until the mixture is thoroughly incorporated and smooth. 4. Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth. 5. Add the flour and stir until just combined. 6. Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan. Place an even layer of Peanut Butter Snickers onto the brownie batter. Slightly push the Peanut Butter Snickers into the batter. Top with the remaining batter and smooth the batter to cover the Snickers pieces. 7. Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool completely on a rack before cutting and serving. Notes: - I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder because I was out of Dutch-process. The results were delicious. I would not recommend using regular unsweetened cocoa.
- Not a fan of Peanut Butter Snickers? No problem. Sub in another candy bar like Almond Joy, regular Snickers, Twix, Reese Cups, etc. Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Copyright © My Baking Addiction. All images and text © for My Baking Addiction All images and text ©
Follow Jamie on Instagram. We love to see what you're baking from MBA! Be sure to tag @jamiemba and use the hashtag #mbarecipes!Wearing plainclothes and bearing a search warrant Thursday morning, FBI agents raided GOP consulting firm Strategic Campaign Group in Annapolis, Md. The firm has close ties to two key Trump advisers: former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone.
Dennis Whitfield, a senior adviser at Strategic Campaign Group, is also a director of the political consulting firm Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly, which, in 1996, merged with lobbying firm Gold & Liebengood to form BKSH and Associates.
According to media reports, both Manafort and Stone are under heavy scrutiny for possibly working with the Russian government to help secure Trump’s 2016 Electoral College win.
Regarding the raid at Strategic Campaign Group, WBALTV-11’s Jayne Miller reports:
The FBI agents used trash bags to cover a window at the third-floor offices of Strategic Campaign Group at 191 Main St. Two agents, with FBI on their body armor, started to tape trash bags over the glass door blocking out any view of what [was] going on inside. One of the agents had a side arm, one was wearing blue surgical gloves.
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The Washington, D.C., FBI field office, not the Maryland bureau, is leading the investigation into the firm’s operation, according to the report.
Kelley Rogers, Strategic Campaign Group’s founder, told reporters that the FBI was investigating his firm’s involvement in the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial race, the Washington Post reports.
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Rogers confirmed that his firm did consulting work for former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli during his 2013 gubernatorial campaign against Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the Baltimore Sun reports. Cuccinelli sued after his loss, claiming that Strategic Campaign Group did not adequately promote him.
“The truth shall set you free,” Rogers said. “I think it was frivolous then. I think it was frivolous now.
“I feel like we did everything in our power,” he continued. “Had he been a better candidate, I think we could have done better.”
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But for many political observers, the Cuccinelli angle is little more than a distraction.
Newsweek reports:
[Strategic Campaign Group] director, Kelley Rogers, has been employed by Penn National Gaming, a company with ties to the Trump Taj Mahal. The Senate Intelligence Committee reportedly has been looking into money laundering penalties levied against the Taj in 2015.
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Sen. J.B. Jennings, the Maryland Senate minority leader, says the Senate Republican Caucus has worked with Strategic Campaign Group in the past, but he will now be severing ties.
“This came as an absolute shock to us, but we have not renegotiated a contract this year because no one has really gotten around to it, and so with this, we’re just going to separate our relationship for now,” Jennings told the Washington Post.
Strategic Campaign Group’s clients also include the national Tea Party and the Conservative Majority Fund.
AdvertisementEtymology Edit
A reverse spelling of palindromes. "Semordnilap", according to author O.V. Michaelsen, was probably first used by recreational linguist Dmitri Borgmann, cited by Martin Gardner in the revised edition of C. C. Bombaugh's Oddities and Curiosities of Words and Literature (1961) [1]. The underlying concept (but not the term) is found at least as far back as Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno (1889).
Noun Edit
semordnilap (plural semordnilaps)
Examples "desserts" / "stressed"
"diaper" / "repaid"
A word, phrase, or sentence that has the property of forming another word, phrase, or sentence when its letters are reversed. A semordnilap differs from a palindrome in that the word or phrase resulting from the reversal is different from the original word or phrase. 1965, Dmitri Borgmann, Language on Vacation: An Olio of Orthological Oddities [2], page 42:, page 42: [he] then goes on to credit us with giving him some of the best examples of semordnilaps.
2000, Gail Smith, Celebrate the Piano, page 18:, Gail Smith, This song is a semordnilap. It can be played forward and then sounds different when it is played backwards.
2008, Alex Pogel & David Ozonoff, “Contingency Structures and Concept Analysis”, in Medina & Obietkov, editors, Formal Concept Analysis, page 318:, Alex Pogel & David Ozonoff, “Contingency Structures and Concept Analysis”, in Medina & Obietkov, editors, ACE is an acronym for Analysis of Concepts for Epidemiologists, and a semordnilap for ECA, Epidemiological Concept Analysis.
Synonyms Edit
Translations Edit
word, phrase, or sentence that has the property of forming another word, phrase, or sentence when its letters are reversed French: anacyclique (fr) mby Madeleine Hatfield
The discussion about which subjects students will be studying when the new school and academic year starts is an annual affair in the British media. This year’s news coverage featured Michael Palin, President of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), on geography. Michael said that ‘geography students hold the key to the world’s problems’, a statement not to be underrated in a world continually shaken by environmental, economic, political and social events.
The September issue of The Geographical Journal has further detail about this in papers currently free to access online, including Michael’s Presidential Address to the RGS-IBG at its AGM and an account of its 2011 Medals and Awards bestowed on geography’s ‘contemporary explorers’. This shows the continuing relevance of geography to world issues and the significance of contemporary geographical research, such as Dr Sylvia Earle’s on the future of the oceans and Prof. Stuart Elden’s on geopolitics. Michael’s introduction and the acceptances speeches could inspire geography students young and old, whatever their geographical interests.
Palin, M. 2011. Michael Palin on Geography: Presidential Address and Record of the RGS-IBG Annual General Meeting 2011. The Geographical Journal, 177: 275–278.
Palin, M., Earle, S., Livingstone, D., Elden, S., Lowe, J. and Owen, L. 2011. Honouring geographers and contemporary exploration: from the archive to the ocean at the RGS-IBG Medals and Awards Ceremony 2011. The Geographical Journal, 177: 279–287.
Palin, M. 2011. Michael Palin: geography students hold the key to the world’s problems. The Guardian, 18 August 2011.Details Created: 23 September 2016 23 September 2016 Hits: 2074 2074
Am I Rembrandt? (8 Nov – 5 March 2017), the final display in Dulwich Picture Gallery’s Making Discoveries series will bring the Dutch Master’s flamboyant Self-Portrait, Wearing a Feathered Bonnet, 1635,
(on loan from Buckland Abbey, National Trust) to London for the first time. The display will also delve deeper into the Gallery's own works by the painter with Girl at a Window, 1645, shown for the first time with its surviving preparatory study.
X-Ray of the painting
The status of the self-portrait as an authentic work by Rembrandt has been questioned in the past, but following extensive technical analysis and investigative work by the National Trust and leading Rembrandt specialists, it was firmly attributed to the Master in 2014. The self-portrait will inspire a wider display, exploring how curators and conservators worked together to authenticate the painting. It will also examine the authorship of other works by Rembrandt, acquired by the Gallery's founders in the late 18th century.
Dulwich’s paintings Jacob de Gheyn III, 1632, and Girl at a Window are undisputed works by Rembrandt that are often used as a standard by which to judge unsigned paintings from the same periods. Conversely, A Young Man, perhaps the Artist’s Son Titus, 1663, was previously doubted as a genuine Rembrandt due to its degraded condition, whilst Jacob’s Dream, 1710-15, was once a much admired Rembrandt until the restoration process revealed the signature of Rembrandt’s last pupil, Aert de Gelder. Seen together these works and accompanying analysis offer a special insight into the often |
I’m done.’”
And yet through all the horror, there is a sense of grace in this scene. Vervoort is not the type to solicit sympathy. She talks of her love of sparkling wine, she mockingly imitates Donald Trump’s thumbs-up gestures, and she laughs as her dog Zenn tries – and fails – to perform its party trick of balancing a morsel of food on its nose and then tossing it into its mouth. Plus, she has just published her autobiography, a diarised account of how a young woman betrayed by her body still won four Paralympic medals, not to mention acclaim as Belgium’s second most influential sports figure, behind only Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne. She hopes that it will soon be translated from Flemish to English, because, as she puts it, she wants to use sport “to inspire as many people as possible.”
When she was younger and unburdened, she dreamt of being sports teacher, even of pursuing elite track and field. But her exposure through the Paralympics has afforded her a powerful platform. She has received royal investiture from King Philippe, plus woman of the year accolades alongside Angela Merkel. Sport has been both her reprieve and her release.
Arranging an appointment with Vervoort is complicated, now that she has reached a stage when there are far more bad days than good. When I arrive, she is fast asleep after another bombardment of morphine. A few hours later, she calls, saying that she is ready to talk, and she does so lucidly, with an extraordinary mixture of passion and pragmatism. Every detail of her death, for example, has already been precisely choreographed.
She has written personalised letters to every person she cares about, stamped and addressed, to be read when the moment comes. She has suggested that her passing be marked by the opening of a red box, from which white butterflies are released. One thing is certain: the funeral will not be in a church. Not even the arrival of Christmas can persuade her to believe in any divine beneficence. As she has said: “If there is a God, it must be a bad guy to punish me this way.”
The Other Side of the Coin, her book is titled. To visit her in hospital, where she has been for two weeks for the removal of an infected portacath, a device in the veins often used for chemotherapy patients, is to see this terrible flipside in the flesh.Where the world has seen only the indomitably happy Paralympian with the lustrous smile, a couple of hours at her bedside reveals a suffering without end. “So little sleep,” she sighs. “I can’t sleep at night. My psychologist knows it. I want her to be with me when I die. She works at the hospital but even she says: ‘It is a lot that you are going through. I have never seen anything like this.’”
It is no exaggeration. Marieke is 38 years old and claims that she feels more like 90. Few people of 90, though, could countenance a deterioration like this. Once a supple and active teenager, who enjoyed basketball, triathlon and deep-sea diving, she first noticed the warning signs when she developed repetitive infections in her Achilles, which grew so severe she had to walk on her toes. Soon afterwards, she could only move with the aid of the crutches. Then her legs stopped working altogether. Quite simply, she is being physically destroyed from the bottom up. Medics speculate that the paralysis is triggered by a deformation between the fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae but are at a loss to explain the intolerable pain associated with it.
“I’m a Taurus,” Vervoort says. “If I want something, I go for it. I never give up easily. I didn’t want to accept that I would end up in a wheelchair. But in 2000 I couldn’t do it any longer, although I was still able to use my stomach and my back muscles. Even that has become less and less. Now I’m paralysed all the way to my breasts. My finger function is going down as well. I have such a strong heart, but the pain medication is doing nothing any more. They have given me so many injections that everything is broken and hard. Sometimes the liquid goes in and comes straight back out.”
Vervoort paints this picture to shed some light on the much-disputed ethics of assisted dying. Belgium has the most liberal euthanasia laws in the world, but they clearly mandate that three different doctors must agree that the patient is in a state of unbearable and incurable pain. Vervoort has long since passed this point. The paradox is that her agreement to end her life by lethal injection, in the hands of Dr Wim Distelmans, has in fact helped extend it, by allowing her the freedom of choice to die peacefully and at the time she decides. “They called him in the beginning ‘the murder doctor’ – but he saved my life. If he was not here I would have killed myself. It is just so difficult to set a date. Whenever I do, they say, ‘Are you sure, Marieke? Are you really sure?’”
The date, inescapably, is approaching. While she rests, I speak to her father, Jos, a retired professor of tax law. “We are near,” he says. “She can’t eat properly any more. All she can cope with is pudding. Everything else she throws up. The end is coming.” He measures his words carefully, without any note of desperation. He just looks very, very tired.
Beside him is Zenn, the Labrador named to reflect Zen-like calm. She is nine, and besides cavorting in the corner with assorted treat and toys, she anticipates almost every grim twist of Marieke’s declining health. “Everything I drop on the ground, she picks it up and gives it to me,” Vervoort says. “When I lose consciousness, she barks and the nurses come, and she stays licking my face until I come back around. She pulls out my socks, my jacket, opens and closes doors. She will stay with me forever. I could not even imagine giving her away.”
After a short operation on Friday, Vervoort will head back home to Diest, a little town about 40 miles east of Brussels, for Christmas. It will be the first since 2008 that she has not spent in Lanzarote, her haven of tranquility away from the torment. “On New Year’s Eve, there is a custom of eating 12 grapes, one each second before midnight,” she says, excitedly. “Then they release 1,000 balloons from a net. Now I’m too scared to go alone. But it’s my favourite place in the world. I want my ashes to be scattered in the ocean there.”
She hopes, too, that the unvarnished reality of her battle can be better understood. “Everybody sees me joyful, winning medals, being strong, but they don’t see the other side. That is why every Paralympian is, to me, a champion.” Even the silver that she grasped in Rio behind Canada’s Michelle Stilwell, in the T52 wheelchair racing class, arrived against a backdrop of trauma. “Nobody knows this, but three days before my first race in Brazil I was in hospital, because I was being sick constantly and dehydrating. I was so angry, and yet I came second. I suppose when you are mad, you are a lot tougher than normal.” It turned out to be her last appearance on the sporting stage.
There is no anger now, no energy for rancour at the degeneration of her faculties. Instead, there is only serene fatalism. She has withstood the ravages long beyond the customary limits of human endurance, even travelling to Japan with Zenn last spring to watch sumo wrestling and to see the cherry blossom. What preoccupies her now is the task of saying goodbye. Her parents, she says, will not be present when Dr Distelmans sends off to eternal sleep. “Too hard,” she says. “Very painful,” her father, agrees, quietly. “It is better that she does this with other people.”
But there will be champagne at the wake, and plenty of it. “The people will cry, but I want them also to give thanks for the life I had, for the fact that I’m happy now I’m at peace.” For the photographs, she needs one of her nurses to change her top from the standard-issue hospital smock. While I wait in the corridor outside, more injections are administered, and her screams are curdling. Walking back in, I find her face again a diagram of anguish as another sleepless night awaits. The clock has struck by 8pm. Visiting hours are over. She stretches forward and places a hand in mine. “The best goal you can have,” she says, “is to make people happy.” She can count it as a goal fulfilled.
Online EditorsOraclize, the provably-honest oracle service, is finally here!
Oraclize Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 4, 2015
We are very glad to announce Oraclize Ethereum APIs and documentation are ready and waiting for you to test!
The very first smart contract concept was designed by Nick Szabo, who said “the basic idea of smart contracts is that many kinds of contractual clauses can be embedded in the hardware and software we deal with”. For sure smart contracts represent a technological revolution in their provable autonomy (being self-enforced, self-executed, etc), but this is both a main feature and a huge limitation since their security comes today at the price of dealing with onchain data only — which means a scarse integration with software and hardware we are used to deal with.
In order for a smart contract to be really smart and useful an oracle needs to come into place, providing to it some meaningful data. An oracle, in the blockchain sense, is a third party which is sending to your on-chain smart contract some data your smart contract code cannot fetch by itself.
But how do we trust an oracle, which is a centralized party, in the first place?
Oraclize is a provably-honest oracle service, which means we are providing cryptographic proofs on the blockchain so that you can check by yourself that we did not alter the data we forwarded to your smart contract. Thanks to the TLSNotary proof Oraclize can provide today a reliable bridge between Ethereum smart contracts and the Internet.
Integrating your smart contracts with Oraclize means giving it access to any data available on the Internet. We think that it’s just by throwing tons of meaningful data into the blockchain jar that the smart contracts industry can flourish and many useful applications can finally come to life.
We are already working on a bunch of projects built on the top of Oraclize (anybody said decentralized insurance?), but our final goal is to provide the best provably-honest oracle service out there.
Other than releasing our APIs along with the documentation, we forked the Cosmo web IDE in order to provide to developers a better experience while testing their code on our playground. You will find there some example code too, feel free to poke around!
A more detailed explaination about the rationale backing the project can be found here.
We are really looking forward to see how developers will use our service, being so excited by the tons of applications that are constantly growing in our minds.
We will be around at the Blockchain Hackaton in Dublin this weekend and at Ethereum DEVCON1 in London next week, feel free to get in touch!
Thomas Bertani, founder of OraclizeA significant crack has appeared in Kuwait's glass ceiling after four women emerged winners in the Gulf state's parliamentary elections at the weekend.
The victory marked the first time women have won parliamentary seats since given the right to vote and run for office in 2005. For the past 50 years Kuwait's parliament has been the sole preserve of men.
In an election that saw fundamentalist groups lose ground, Massouma al-Mubarak, who was appointed Kuwait's first female cabinet minister in 2005, two US-educated professors, Salwa al-Jassar and Aseel al-Awadhi, and an economist, Rola Dashti all won seats in the Kuwaiti parliament.
"Frustration with the past two parliaments pushed voters to seek change. And here it comes in the form of this sweeping victory for women," al-Mubarak said today.
Aseel al-Awadhi told Reuters: "People voted for change because people are fed up with deadlocks. It is time to focus on our priorities inside the parliament."
Kuwait's ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, called Saturday's election – the second in a year – after dissolving parliament two months ago to end an impasse between MPs and the government, which is heavily influenced by the ruling family, over economic reform and alleged corruption.
The clash of wills between parliament and the government has almost halted development at a time when the country is grappling with the global financial crisis and falling oil revenues. Project Kuwait, a plan to boost economic capacity, has never made it beyond committee level because of opposition from some MPs to the involvement of foreign firms in the energy sector.
Although the Islamists – who have opposed the government's economic reforms – lost ground they still form a significant bloc with their allies from the conservative tribal areas. The Islamists saw the number of seats they hold fall to 16 from 24 in the 50-seat assembly. Conservative tribal figures have 25 seats.
Kuwait has no officially recognised parties. Candidates either belong to political groups, run independently or represent their tribes. Voters in Saturday's polls said they were fed up with years of clashes between MPs and cabinet members.
Al-Nisf, a newspaper columnist, said the win by female candidates was an achievement not only for Kuwait but around the region.
"They made it without organised political parties supporting them or a quota system. This is a huge leap forward for Kuwait's democracy," he said.
Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in 1990 played a crucial role in the liberalisation of women's political and social rights. At the time, many women assumed important responsibilities, volunteering in hospitals to compensate for the lack of medical staff, smuggling food, money, and weapons across military checkpoints.The number of home and condo sales in the San Fernando Valley spiked higher during the month of August, the Southland Regional Association of Realtors reported today.
In the Santa Clarita Valley, home prices rose while condo sales fell.
Home sales in the San Fernando Valley increased 15.8 percent to 631 transactions in August. That represents the highest number of closings since October 2012. The median price was $650,000, a 4 percent increase from a year ago.
Condo sales in the Valley totaled 262 in August, an increase of 30.3 percent compared to a year ago. The median condominium price was $411,500, up 6.9 percent in the last year.
“Too many buyers chasing too few properties listed for sale clearly are driving the increases in resale prices.” Tim Johnson, the association’s chief executive, said in a statement. “The local increase in sales appears consistent with what’s happening statewide.”
In Santa Clarita, sales of existing single-family homes increased 7.4 percent in August, with prices rising 6.6 percent to $574,500. A total of 262 homes closed during the month.
In the condo market, Santa Clarita posted a 7.1 percent drop in sales to 91 transactions. The median condo price was $360,000, up 3.6 percent from a year ago.
“The regionwide lack of inventory impacted home and condo sales,” Marty Kovacks, chairman of the association’s Santa Clarita Valley Division, said in a statement. “Buyers ran out of condo options as earlier offerings in entry-level market ranges were gobbled up and home buyers competed against each other whenever a properly priced home hit the market. There’s little surprise any more whenever the laws of supply and demand kick into action.”could tell, without even looking, that he was troubled.
"Good afternoon, Marshmallow." Maud tried, in her most pleasant monotone, "There's a snack waiting for you in the kitchen."
Moondancer looked up to his adoptive mother, and his eyes welled up with tears. He let his small body slump against her, burying his face against soft grey fur, and he began to cry.
Maud and Moony had an established routine. When Moondancer was upset, he'd often seek her out. Her powerful arms were his private shield, the one place where he was safe from everything. Maud always quietly held him until he calmed down enough to speak-and this is what she did now, gently rubbing her son's back and listening to his muffled, wet hiccups. Her sister Limestone had once referred to Moondancer as a crybaby, but Maud knew better. Her marshmallow was sensitive, like herself, and she knew that sometimes, he just needed to cry things out. So she let him.
After a long few minutes, Moondancer began to breathe normally. "....I had a bad first day, Maudie." He mumbled into her chest. "I r-ruined the ballet clothes you bought me." He hiccuped. "I'm sorry..."
"It's alright. Clothing can be replaced at little expense. But your current distress isn't just about clothes, is it?" Maud was perceptive as always, and Moondancer flinched at her question. "What happened at school today, Moondancer?"
"I....there was a colt-" Moondancer's little muzzle scrunched up in anger, "An awful, rotten brute of a colt, and he called me names, and then he muddied my clothes and tore them, and he pushed me down and kicked me-" Moondancer showed her the bruise that'd blossomed on his side. Roaring maternal rage blazed to life in Maud, burning hot enough to rival a wildfire. Not that her expression changed, of course.
"Do I need to destroy him?"
"No, no.....it's just....he called me a sissy, Maudie." Moony's ears folded back, miserable. "...Am I? Is it bad to like dancing? I-I know that Mother says I'm destined for greater and more powerful things, but..." He looked up to her with plaintive eyes, looking so very, very young. "....I think I just want to dance, Maudie."
Oh, my sweet, poor little Marshmallow.
"I know, darling." Maud scooped him into a tight hug. "There's nothing wrong with that. It is our passions that define us...so don't let anypony ever make you feel bad for who you are." She blew an impassive raspberry against Moony's cheek, and the colt let out a surprised squeal of laughter, kicking his little hooves.
"You know, lots of ponies made fun of my passion, too." She said, catching him in a nuzzle. "They thought that studying rocks was....boring."
Moondancer gasped, clutching his hooves to his mouth. "Blasphemy, Maudie!"
"I know, I know. Geology is the very pinnacle of adventure, I told them. Just yesterday, I found a piece of basalt that was only somewhat composed of plagioclase. The rest was made up of
diopside minerals, which was mildly unusual." Moondancer nodded his head with interest, delighting her. "And of course, I make other unusual finds."
She reached across her workbench and rummaged in her drawer, pulling out an odd curved item. Although it was mostly ash grey in color, the tip was a poisonous crimson, so bright it seemed unnatural...it reminded Moondancer of a fang stained with blood. For a moment he suspected it might be a unicorn's horn-but the thing was too smooth, too curved, too strange.
"This is not a rock." Maud said simply. "Nor is it a fossil, nor is it pony-made...it's organic, but I can't determine its origin. I found it out on my expedition to the Crystal Empire, half buried in ice and snow. Very odd, don't you think?" Moondancer lit his horn, and she let her son take the object into his magical hold. "That's why I think I'm giving it to you."
"Me?" Moony nearly dropped the not-rock. "But Maudie, you're the rock scientist, you're the one who can do amazing research-"
"Yes. But I'm trusting you with it now. You're holding a very big mystery in your hooves, Marshmallow, and it's all yours to unravel." She twitched the corners of her mouth in the faintest ghost of a smile. "I'm sorry you had a bad first day at school, darling. I hope this helps."
"...Thank you, Maudie." Moondancer smiled, but it was half-hearted, still tinged with sadness. Perhaps ancient pseudo-fossils weren't the best tools for cheering up children.
"And if you can't crack the mystery, at least it'll make a decent closet hook for your new ballet tights." Maud added quickly, with a wink.
That brought a grin to Moony's face."R-really? Even though I ruined the first set?" He suddenly became shy. "But they were expensive, Maudie..."
"Whatevs." Maud shrugged. It was a word she'd learned from Pinkie Pie. "Some things are worth more than money, sweetheart."
Your smile, for example.
"Now tell me, why did the metamorphic rock quit his job?"
"...Why?" Moondancer was already smiling.
"It was too hard to work under all that pressure."
"..."
"....Because metamorphic rock is created through pressure. And heat.
"Explaining the joke ruins it, Maudie. We've been over this." Moony giggled. He took her gift into his hoof, and hugged her leg tight. "...I love you, Maudie."
I love you too, Marshmallow.
"Thank you." Maud pulled him close, the wonderful little boy that was her son in all but blood. "Darling, you make me sedimental as well."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
love and bad rock puns, that's the relationship between these two
Bonus Doodle
Maud got Moony new dance clothes and everything turned out okay~
Deep inside the planet, by tectonic processes such as continental collisions, immense pressure transforms existing rock into-""Explaining the joke ruins it, Maudie. We've been over this." Moony giggled. He took her gift into his hoof, and hugged her leg tight. "...I love you, Maudie.""Thank you." Maud pulled him close, the wonderful little boy that was her son in all but blood. "Darling, you make me sedimental as well."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~love and bad rock puns, that's the relationship between these twoMaud got Moony new dance clothes and everything turned out okay~
Maud was sitting at her workbench, calmly sipping from a mug of lukewarm black coffee, when she heard the front door creak open. Her ears pricked up at the sound of tiny hoofsteps, and she knew immediately who it was, and'nother work doodleAfter Trixie and Maud Pie's decision to move to Ponyville, Moondancer has a rough first day of school. Moony goes to his mama Maudie for comfort, and she attempts to cheer up her sad little marshmallow with a gift. A strange looking "rock" she discovered while out exploring the frozen caverns of the Crystal Empire...Moondancer is the illegitimate son of Trixie Lulamoon and Duke Blueblood of Canterlot. Feeling trapped and miserable, Trixie fled Canterlot, to be later found pregnant and homeless by Maud Pie. Maud took her in, supported her, and the two eventually fell in love and function as a family unit with their son Moony. More on this backstory:This animation explains how the wealth of information that is contained in the all-sky map of temperature fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) can be condensed into a curve known as the power spectrum.
The temperature of the CMB exhibits fluctuations on a variety of angular scales on the sky. The animation shows six different maps that depict the relative 'power', or strength, of the fluctuations at different angular scales. The maps correspond to different regions of the curve, starting at angles of ninety degrees on the left side of the graph, through to the smallest scales – just a fraction of a degree – on the right hand side.
By studying the peaks in the power spectrum curve, cosmologists can extract information regarding the ingredients of the Universe, such as ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy, and the overall geometry of the Universe.
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Republicans used to exult in fielding candidates that voters would like “to have a beer with.” This year, of course, their candidate doesn’t drink beer—in fact, Mitt Romney’s so socially challenged that his advance team is wary about letting him share cookies with voters. But lately Obama has been raising the ante on social comfort, asking which candidate would you like to share a song or nod to a pulsing beat with, and the GOP clearly considers this to be some kind of dirty trick.
And so in the two days since Obama and Jimmy Fallon “slow-jammed the news” on Fallon’s late-night show (specially taped at the University of North Carolina to underline the Democratic campaign to keep student loan interest rates from doubling), the Republicans have put out two web ads. Each tries to turn Obama’s strength into a weakness, insisting that the “Preezy” is too busy being cool to be presidential:
That was from the RNC, where heads seem stuck in the primaries still—the contrast between Obama’s supposed frivolity and Romney’s seriousness actually comes off as a contrast between O’s grace and Mitt’s forced emoting, but they can’t see that yet. Their ears are still ringing with triumphalisms from the debates about Obama’s “failures.” And here’s how Karl Rove’s American Crossroads PAC hit Obama just hours later:
Both ads, of course, are a reprise of John McCain’s 2008 “celebrity” ad, which likened Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears and suggested that his fans had fallen into some kind of mass delusion. (McCain dropped that line of attack like a hot potato the moment he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate.) And both ads, aimed at college students’ swing-voting parents as well as the base, try to obscure the fact that Romney only recently came around to keeping student interest rates at 3.4 percent, under pressure from Obama. What’s more, House Republicans are still grumbling about paying anything more for education.
Nevertheless, the Republican media apparatus immediately picked up the tune, expressing horrified dismay that anyone in politics would stoop to being popular. “I think it’s nutso,” Fox & Friends’ Gretchen Carlson said of Obama’s appearance on Fallon, adding, “I just personally do not agree with the highest office of the land, the most important figure in the world, going on these comedy shows. I think it lowers the status of the office.”
Ann Coulter told Sean Hannity that it was “pathetic” for Obama to go on Fallon, where the audience, she said, is “only a few hundred thousand.” “Who are these shut-ins watching Jimmy Fallon?” (Apparently, about 2 million people tuned in the night Obama appeared.)
Never mind that Romney was on Leno recently or that during the primaries he read the Top Ten on Letterman (where he said, “What’s up, gangstas? It’s the M-I-Double Tizzle”) and is apparently weighing whether to host Saturday Night Live this fall. Almost every politician has been eager to do these comedy shows ever since Richard Nixon went on Laugh-In in 1968 to say, “Sock it to me?” There’s no good-faith argument here—per usual, the right is merely criticizing Obama for whatever he does, even when they do it themselves.
But as you watch the two ads above, it becomes clear that it’s not only Obama acting like a celebrity that has the GOP’s nose out of joint. He’s also “acting black”–in fact, he’s rubbing their faces in it, just like he did when he sympathized with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. for getting arrested in his own home. And that gleams like troll gold to Republican strategists.
Obama has dared to be a cool black man more often lately. First, in January, he sang, “I—I’m so in love with you” at a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater, with Al Green in the audience, a totally engaging moment the Rove ad doesn’t fail to sneer at. (As Maureen Dowd wrote, “For eight seconds, we saw the president we had craved for three years: cool, joyous, funny, connected.”) Then, for a Black History Month celebration in the White House, Obama sang a few bars of “Sweet Home Chicago” with B.B. King, once again looking terrifically comfortable in his own (black) skin.
By March, the right was criticizing Obama for acknowledging, of Trayvon Martin, that “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Newt Gingrich called that comment “disgraceful.”
At some level, much of the GOP base still believes that Obama’s race is somehow disqualifying for the Oval Office, and they can barely keep themselves from overtly attacking him for it. But the demographics are daunting, and their professionals know it. To see a white guy like Jimmy Fallon acting black—doing a silly Barry White impression with Obama and Roots vocalist Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter behind him—reinforces the fear among some on the right that the hip youth culture is increasingly a black culture and that it’s inexorably taking over. Obama, half-black/half-white himself, is at the center of this race jam, which is as “impure” as topical comedy itself–a mélange of news and clips of political speech marbled with rap, R&B, tech-talk and global kid culture. (Let’s hope we see more of that Saturday night when Jimmy Kimmel hosts the White House Correspondents Dinner.)
It’s all that mixing that sparks miscegenation imaginations, creating GOP fears about cool whites leaving them behind in electoral limbo, forever.
Or, as Stephen Colbert called Obama’s slow jam of the news, a “pathetically successful ploy to be appealing.”FRANKFURT/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Google and sister company Jigsaw are joining forces to defend election organizers and civic groups against cyber attacks free of charge as the broader tech industry seeks to fend off criticism that it is not doing enough to stop online efforts to distort elections.
FILE PHOTO: A ballot is cast during the general election in The Hague, Netherlands, March 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo
The growing frequency of politically-motivated online attacks — from the recent hacking of Twitter accounts by Turkish nationalists to the U.S. Democratic Party’s email breach — has left governments and pro-democracy groups scrambling for ways to thwart hackers and the rising tide of “fake” news.
Alphabet Inc subsidiaries Jigsaw and Google are offering a free Protect Your Election package to low-budget organizations. The service to ward off website attacks has already been offered to news organizations for the past year under what is known as Project Shield.
Last week Jigsaw, which develops security tools for civic groups, joined up with Google to defend a voter information website that came under cyber attack during the Dutch national election.
The KiesKompas and Stemwijzer websites — used by about half of Dutch voters to see which parties best match their political views — were knocked out by a deluge of web traffic on March 14, which spilled over into election day.
“The attack was not child’s play: it was very sophisticated because the attackers kept trying different avenues of attack again and again,” said KiesKompas director Willem Blanken.
KiesKompas, which rougly translates as ChoiceCompass, enlisted the help of Jigsaw on the evening of March 14, while Stemwijzer, or VoteGuide, signed up NBIP, a non-profit group set up by about 100 Dutch internet and telecoms providers.
The election guide services remained out of action on the morning of the vote, but both were successfully restored to service around midday.
FAKE NEWS, EXTREMISM
The rise of Google and tech rival Facebook was welcomed as a gift to democracy and free speech against autocratic governments.
More recently, however, there has been a growing backlash against fake news on social media, which has polarized political debate, and the failure to stop extremist groups using their networks to spread propaganda and find new recruits.
Google vowed on Tuesday to police its websites better by ramping up staff numbers and overhauling its policies after several companies deserted the internet giant for failing to keep their adverts off hate-filled videos.
A spokesman for Jigsaw said on Tuesday that it plans to offer the Protect Your Election suite free to individuals and organizations involved in forthcoming national votes in France, South Korea and Germany and subsequent elections as they occur.
Jigsaw is funded by Alphabet and remains autonomous from Google, though the sister companies work together on larger-scale projects.
Project Shield defends against so-called Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that have plagued the web since about 2000 and which government and commercial experts say have intensified over the past year.
Such attacks have targeted not only political parties, but also election monitors and independent news organizations in Myanmar (2010), Malaysia (2013), Ecuador (2015), Mexico (2015-2016), Montenegro (2016) and the Netherlands (2017).
Hundreds of companies compete to protect websites from intruders, including Clouldflare, Akamai and Imperva Incapsula. Basic measures are often free and more robust safeguards can cost hundreds of dollars a month.
However, sustained high-volume attacks at decisive moments during elections can quickly run up thousands of dollars in bills — a big stretch for civic groups with minimal funding.
BASELINE PROTECTION
In addition to Project Shield, Jigsaw is offering Password Alert to ward off attempts to steal Google passwords and Two-Step Verification for an added layer of protection on web and mobile accounts as part of its Protect Your Election toolkit.
News websites, human rights websites and election monitoring and information websites are eligible to apply for DDoS protection, the Jigsaw spokesman said.
Candidates and campaigns are eligible for the two-password protection tools, but not the free DDoS protection. More details can be found at: g.co/protectyourelection
This starter set of security tools offer baseline protection but can only go so far in thwarting the dizzying array of political shenanigans that now play out in cyberspace.
They could do little, for example, to ward off the hijacking of high-profile Twitter accounts by a Turkish nationalist hacker group that took place as the Dutch voted last week and attracted widespread media attention.
Slideshow (3 Images)
These attacks involved hacking into an Amsterdam-based social media analytics company to post anti-Dutch and anti-German messages amid a diplomatic spat with Turkey.
Officials at the Dutch election guides said that web traffic on their sites appeared to come from various nations but the identity of the attackers remains a mystery. Several of the officials denied a De Telegraaf report that Turkey was behind the attacks.
“There’s just nothing to substantiate that. We simply don’t know,” KiesKompas director Blanken said.(Adds gay marriage law hearing in Mississippi)
By Harriet McLeod and Lawrence Hurley
CHARLESTON, S.C./WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Gay marriage advocates won another two victories on Wednesday as the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Kansas to become the 33rd U.S. state where same-sex couples can wed and a federal judge struck down South Carolina’s ban.
The high court declined a request from Kansas officials to block U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Crabtree’s Nov. 4 ruling that struck down the state’s gay marriage ban as a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Two of the nine justices, conservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, said in the brief court order they would have granted the stay.
In Charleston, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled that South Carolina is bound by an earlier federal appeals court decision striking down Virginia’s similar law. Gergel’s decision will not take effect for one week, allowing South Carolina time to appeal.
That could allow gay couples to file for marriage licenses or begin receiving them starting Nov. 20 if the state cannot obtain a further delay through the courts.
“We’re ecstatic,” said Colleen Condon, 44, who filed the lawsuit heard by Gergel after she and her fiancée were denied a marriage license in Charleston last month.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, said he would appeal Wednesday’s ruling.
Wednesday’s court actions follow decisions last week rejecting bans in Missouri and West Virginia, the latest in a series of such federal district court rulings across the nation.
Although gay marriage advocates have had the advantage in the courts over the past year, the landscape changed last week when a Cincinnati-based federal appeals court became the first to uphold gay marriage bans.
That decision by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals backing four |
.
'Devastating'
In London on Wednesday, BP's departing boss Tony Hayward told MPs that the oil spill was "devastating" to him.
"I understand why people feel the way they do, and there is little doubt that the inability of BP, and the industry, to intervene to seal the leak... was unacceptable."
But he said it would be wrong to blame only BP.
"No single factor caused the accident, and multiple parties including BP, Halliburton and Transocean, were involved," he told MPs on the Commons Energy Committee.God save the atheists from your followers.
In a story that sounds like something out of Bizarro World, two leading nonbelievers are refusing a tax break from the IRS on the grounds that they are not entitled to it. Annie Laurie Gaylor and Dan Barker, the husband-and-wife team who run the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), are telling the federal government they do not want a parsonage exemption -- a tax break typically reserved for ministers. But federal attorneys are saying not so fast, suggesting that the atheists may, in fact, qualify.
According to Bob Smietana of the Religion News Service, the standoff is the latest ideological impasse in a legal fight over the constitutionality of tax benefits offered to “ministers of the gospel.” Under current tax laws, ministers may claim their mortgage interest and property tax payments as deductions. The foundation, however, believes that such preferential treatment violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
In 2009, the foundation filed a federal lawsuit in California to challenge the tax benefits. The lawsuit was eventually dropped and refilled in Wisconsin, the foundation’s home state. In the complaint, FFRF says that Gaylor and Barker currently receive a housing allowance designated by FFRF's governing body. They assert that they do not want or qualify for the allowance as they are promoting non-belief.
However, in a government brief on June 28, federal attorneys argued to the contrary, stating that non-theistic beliefs, including atheism, may qualify as “religious” beliefs in certain contexts because they fulfill a similar role in a person’s life. The lawyers went on to cite Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture and Secular Humanism as belief systems that do not require the belief in a deity and yet could still appoint a qualifying “minister” as defined by the IRS.
In response, Gaylor and Barker wrote declarations, once again affirming their assertion that they are not entitled to the tax break.
“FFRF is not a church, and I am not a minister,” Gaylor wrote in her declaration, filed on July 26. “The Government ignores that a substantial part of the work of FFRF is to promote the constitutional principal of separation of church and state, including by advocacy, education and litigation.”
Barker’s declaration, nearly identical, was equally fervent:
“Atheism is not a belief at all. It is the absence of belief … Atheism has no denominational or even congregational organization or structure. It is not like Christianity, which have an organizational existence and substantive dogma.”
Both Gaylor and Barker say the tax benefits offered to ministers are preferential and discriminatory. Both said they would not claim the exclusion despite federal attorneys’ suggestion that they might be entitled to it.
The lawsuit, meanwhile, will proceed either way. In 2012, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb, of the Western District of Wisconsin, issued an opinion letter permitting the FFRF to pursue their challenge. The parsonage exemption has been part of federal tax law since 1954.
Read FFRF’s full legal complaint here.The ‘Troika’ of creditors have agreed the final deposit levy on Cypriot accounts will be 47.5 percent for shareholders, bondholders, and depositors with more than 100,000 euro in the two largest banks.
The levies placed on large depositors will be used as equity to recapitalize the bank, a decision reached in March as part of the bailout package.
As a condition for receiving a $13 billion (10 billion euro) bailout package, Cyprus was forced by Troika lenders to sponsor a portion of their bailout, which they will raise by levying shareholders, bondholders, and depositors with more than 100,000 euro in accounts.
Previous exact loss estimates have ranged from 12.5 percent, later revised to 30 or 40 percent, and in April, 60 percent. Cyprus hopes to keep the deposit levy under 50 percent.
In addition, the Bank of Cyprus will be restructured under the Troika’s watch, and the second largest bank, Laiki will be completely shut down, and losses will be compensated for depositors with less than 100,000 euros.
The ‘bail-in’, or the idea of having depositors, and not taxpayers, finance the bailout, was suggested by Troika lenders and embraced by Cypriot government officials facing heated protests.
In part, the idea gained popularity because Cyprus was a financial hot-spot for foreign investment. About 50 percent of deposits in the Bank of Cyprus belonged to non-EU residents, and much of the funds were suspected to belong to Russian oligarchs.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich believes at one point there was over $30 billion in Russian holdings in Cyprus.
The Central Bank of Cyprus said domestic residents’ deposits totaled 34.96 billion euro, down 2.56 billion euro compared to May 2013.
The Cyprus scenario marked the first time depositors were forced to contribute to the bank’s bailout and now it is set to become the norm.
Cypriot Banks have weakened under the re-structuring period, and have been the source of negative credit ratings.
Both Moody’s and Standard & Poor have downgraded Cyprus credit, warning the tiny island nation may soon default on its debt again. Moody’s issued a statement in July that they had already technically defaulted again, as they delayed paying back 1 billion euro worth of bonds.
Together, the Bank of Cyprus and Laiki account for 80 percent of the banking sector in Cyprus. Hellenic Bank, formally the island’s third largest bank, is now the island’s biggest lender not under re-structuring.
By the end of 2013, the Bank of Cyprus plans to lay-off 2,500 workers, and close a number of its branches.
The future is bleak, too. The economy is forecast to shrink by more than 10 percent this year, up from the Troika’s 8.7 percent estimate in March while sorting out bailout details. The economy is expected to retract by 2016.With only a month until Election Day, early voting is already underway in some states — despite Republican lawmakers' persistent efforts.
"In almost every state where voting rights advocates have scored a major legal victory in recent months," Talking Points Memo wrote, "they have had to threaten to drag state officials back into court over the shoddy job election administrators have done following the rulings."
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In North Carolina, where early voting begins in two weeks, the GOP is doing everything in its power to circumvent a check on its discriminatory policymaking.
North Carolina's Republican-heavy Board of Elections reluctantly voted last month to allow limited Sunday voting and decrease restrictions on the total hours allowed for early voting. This comes after a federal appeals court in July determined GOP legislators in the state had passed a controversial 2013 election reform law aiming to suppress minority votes. As Talking Points Memo noted, "Early voting is disproportionately popular among Democratic-leaning minorities."
Before ultimately restoring one week of early voting in North Carolina, members of the Board of Elections were encouraged by the state's GOP top brass — as evidenced by a leaked email from North Carolina Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse — to "make party line changes to early voting" that Republicans would support.
"You take a step back and it’s really appalling," Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project, told TPM. "I mean the Department of Justice and other groups, we have all won the cases.... You would have thought we would have been finished with this whole thing, when, up until Election Day, we have to stay on these people."
Obstructionism in the lead-up to Election Day is so bad that voters in five counties — led by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign staffer Marc Elias — filed an emergency appeal with a federal court in North Carolina last week. The appeal lists among its requests more early voting hours, Sunday voting and an increase in voting locations.A 17-year-old who is facing adult charges in the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old Indianapolis man appeared in court Tuesday.
Michael Grady had his initial hearing Tuesday morning as prosecutors released the probable cause affidavit in the case. Grady had no comment as he was escorted into Marion County criminal court. Prosecutors say Grady and another man broke into David Phelps Jr.'s home and shot him to death. Phelps brother, mother and cousin were also in the home at the time of the shooting.
According to court documents, police found Grady's wallet at the scene of the June 19th shooting.
David Phelps, Jr. was found shot to death inside his east side Indianapolis home last week. His funeral was held Monday.
Phelps' relatives reported hearing the door being kicked in. They say two unknown African-American men demanded to know who was in the house. One of them allegedly pointed a gun at Phelps' mother. She says she didn't recognize the young men, one of whom started towards her sons' bedroom. Phelps' mother hid in a bedroom closet and reported hearing gunshots.
According to his brother, David Phelps asked the suspects, "What y'all doing in my house?" His brother hid in a closet and heard gunshots, then came out and found David Phelps gasping. He called 911.
Investigators found a wallet near the front porch of the home, including a driver's license belonging to Michael Erick Grady, and a BMV ID card. The address listed on the card is close to Cluster Pine, where the fatal shooting took place. They also found a bus pass belonging to a disabled man who told police he'd lost the pass months earlier. The man told investigators he didn't know Grady or Phelps.
Investigators spoke to a 15-year-old friend of Michael Grady's, whom he had called on the day of the homicide. She told police that Grady told her he'd shot someone.
Grady, who will be tried as an adult, has a trial date in late September.COMING UP AT THE LIBRARY: Conversations with a Suffragist / Louisville Children's Film Festival / Discussions on Immigration, Mental Health, and more
Louisville Free Public Library eNews | February 20, 2019 Conversations with a Suffragist Main Library, Tuesday, February 26, 6:30 PM Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote in the U.S. In this one-woman show, Bellarmine Theatre Program Director Megan Burnett brings to life Mattie Griffith Browne, a Kentucky abolitionist and suffragist whose name has largely been forgotten. Born in Owensboro, Browne grew up determined to free the enslaved people she inherited from her parents, which she did with funds she raised from writing Autobiography of a Female Slave. She sought to bring the plight of the enslaved into public view, and petitioned politicians to end slavery, working closely with Harriet Beecher Stowe. After emancipation, Browne turned her activism toward suffragism and worked to obtain the right to vote for all citizens, working with Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone and other suffragists. Join Professor Burnett for an inside look into the life of this world-changing historical figure. The program is free, no registration required. Louisville Children's Film Festival returns The 2019 Louisville Children’s Film Festival returns to Louisville--and the Library--February 22-March 2. The series kicks off at Main on Friday, February 22 (10 a.m.) with a special screening and discussion of Let’s Get the Rhythm--a documentary on the history of girls hand clapping games--with film director Irene Chagall. Afterwards, Ms. Chagall will lead a hands-on handclapping session with the audience.
Louisville Children’s Film Festival includes these free showings at the Library: Friday - Main Library: Let’s Get the Rhythm (10 a.m.); Kid Flicks 1 (12 p.m.); Kid Flicks 2 (2 p.m.); Hero Steps (4 p.m.) Saturday - South Central: Okee Dokee Brothers: Through the Woods (10am); Viva Kids Flicks (12 p.m.); Let’s Get the Rhythm (2 p.m.) Sunday - Southwest Regional: Viva Kids Flicks (1 p.m.); Kid Flicks 1 (3 p.m.) To learn more about the films, visit www.louisvillechildrensfilm.org/films.html. For the complete city-wide schedule, click here. Can you see me? Conversations About Mental Health in the African American Community Western Library, Tuesdays, March 5 - April 16, 6:45 PM Due to racism and discrimination, African Americans have an increased vulnerability for developing mental health issues. This coupled with the significant stigma attached to mental illness within the African American community often prevents discussion concerning how to identify mental illness and get help. This new seven-part series led by Dr. Stephen Kniffley--Associate Director of the Center for Behavioral Health and Assistant Professor in Spalding University’s School of Professional Psychology--will dispel myths about mental health, share information about how to seek help, and explore racial trauma and the unique impact it has on the mental health of African Americans. For more information, please call (502) 574-1779. How the Black Death Changed History Main Library, Thursday, March 7, 6:30 PM The Black Death pandemic in the 14th century decimated Europe, killing an estimated 30-50% of the population. However, not everyone was exposed to the pathogen, and not everyone who was exposed died during the outbreak. University of Louisville anthropology professor Dr. Fabian Crespo will use a syndemic approach to examine the Black Death across different disciplines such as immunology, bioarcheology, and history to generate new lessons for understanding epidemics, and the long lasting effect the Black Death had on history. The class is free, but registration is requested; call (502) 574-1623. Immigration: Stories of Status Immigration: Stories of Status Main Library, Tuesday, March 12, 6:30 PM Immigrants, migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, job-seekers…what’s the difference in these legal statuses, and why? Stephen George of Louisville Public Media will moderate a panel of experts and newcomers to unpack the complicated realities of immigration in America. Panelists and storytellers include: Rebecca Sim, Catholic Charities of Louisville; Mark Martinez, Martinez Immigration Law PLLC; Barbara Menefee, Dinsmore & Shohl., Ahmed Hussein, Agnes Kovacs and Karina Barillas. This is a #BeGolden event presented by Catholic Charities of Louisville and Louisville Public Media, and is part of Lean Into Louisville, a new Metro-wide program that centers on conversations and presentations that explore and confront the history and legacy of discrimination and inequality. To register for this free program, call (502) 574-1623. >>Click here to learn more about how Metro Government's Budget Forecast will impact libraries.A man who claims a police officer planted drugs on him saw the charges dismissed Thursday before his case went to trial, according to a Channel 2 Action News report.
But the DeKalb County Solicitor General’s Office said the dismissal has nothing to do with a surveillance video Alphonzo Eleby said proves he was set up by a police officer.
Eleby said his ordeal began in July 2012 at the Chevron gas station on North Hairston Road.
He said he stopped to speak to someone sitting in a black SUV when an officer said he smelled marijuana and arrested the driver on charges of marijuana possession with intent to distribute.
“I was searched twice,” Eleby told Channel 2. He said no drugs were found on him and he was told to sit down. An officer stood guard over him for several minutes and Eleby said he never moved.
His attorney said surveillance video from the location shows the officer call the officer guarding Eleby over to the SUV he had been searching.
As she searches the vehicle, the video shows the officer circle back to her client and toss marijuana next to him, attorney Zenobia Waters told Channel 2. Waters said the officer then picks the drugs up and repositions them. “And then he stands up and yells, ‘Look what you tried to throw,’” Eleby said.
The video shows Eleby protesting what he sees the officer do and the officer then puts him in a choke-hold while other officers look on.
Waters said in the police report the officer says he saw Eleby throw the drugs down. That’s something she said the video clearly shows is not true.
“It didn’t happen. It simply did not happen,” she told Channel 2.
Eleby believes the video is the reason his case was dismissed.
“I’m glad that camera was there to prove my innocence and justice was served,” Eleby said. “It was a blessing from God.”
Channel 2 contacted the Solicitor’s Office about the allegations.
Spokesperson Terrie Clark sent a statement to Channel 2 saying, “This case is being dismissed due to insufficient evidence because the alleged marijuana is not available. While preparing for trial, the Solicitor-General’s Office requested a release of the alleged marijuana to be used as evidence at trial.
“The DeKalb County Police Department could not produce the alleged marijuana. Therefore, the State is without the evidence needed for trial. The dismissal is not related to how the alleged marijuana came into existence at the scene of the crime nor the videotape made at the scene of the crime.”
According to a Solicitor’s Office Spokesman, the Solicitor plans a full review of the case, including the video.
—Staff writer Bryan Cronan contributed to this report.Cyclists are without a doubt the worst people on earth and deserve to be harassed, frightened, cursed at and or run off the roads, that by the way, were made for cars and nothing else!
This is how it seems to us who are out and about on two wheels – whether for recreation or commuting. I have been the victim of all of the above. There is something about wrapping a couple thousand pounds of steel and glass around some folks that turns otherwise nice peoples into intolerant jerks.
First – some facts. Bicycles are considered a vehicle and have all the same rights as automobiles on the road – including the right take a whole lane if the cyclist believes this to be the safest option – this is the law. Law requires that cyclists ride to the right as far as they feel safe. Debris, potholes, puddles etcetera often make riding too far right dangerous. It is not the automobile driver’s decision where a cyclist should feel safe. In Ohio – where I live – it is also the law that when one passes a cyclist on the road one must give at least three feet space when doing so – and one may cross a solid double line in the road to do so as long as it is safe. Again, this is the law. If drivers cared to be educated enough about this a whole lot of frustration could be avoided.
So shouting at cyclists that they should be on the sidewalk is not only dangerous – but it is legally wrong and only proves that the shouter does not know what they are yelling about. Similarly, buzzing a rider at less than three feet is not only dangerous, but also illegal.
Let’s go back to shouting at cyclists for a bit. It doesn’t work – most of the time we cannot understand what you are shouting. It’s called the Doppler effect – your irate bellowing just sounds like a dog’s bark. It’s jarring, but communicates no information other than that you are impatient. It does startle a rider though and can cause them to swerve or overreact – shouting at cyclists has been documented as a cause of death. Is it what one is hoping to accomplish when screaming or laying on the horn of an automobile? Do you want that cyclist dead? Because that is one outcome that is possible.
I know the arguments that cyclists don’t follow all the road rules – they don’t come to complete stops at lights etc. etc. This is true – not all cyclists follow every rule of the road all the time when they are out on the roads. Neither do all drivers. Does either deserve to die because of it? Let’s unpack this a little. First off, a cyclist is on a two wheeled conveyance that weighs around twenty pounds – has no protection other than a helmet. Do you think maybe they might have a vested interest in weighing the safety of bending a traffic rule? One of the reasons a cyclist might not come to a complete stop at a stop sign or red light is that they are using clipped-in pedals and biking specific shoes. That means that their feet are actually mechanically attached to their pedals a complete stop requires them to unhook their shoes.
This takes time – it also means if a cyclist in front of automobile driver comes to that complete stop and unclips – their starting up again requires re-clipping and reacquiring the motion to get rolling again – this will take a longer amount of time – time that is so often the reason cited by drivers that they are so afraid of losing behind a cyclist. The goal of a cyclist is to keep rolling. In some states it is legal for a rolling stop for just these reasons. Another reason bicyclists may roll through a red light is because many of them – especially in rural areas – are triggered by the weight of the waiting vehicle – a cyclist and their bike is not heavy enough to trip the light.
There is also the complaint that cyclists do not pay road taxes. This is simply not true – most cyclists also have cars so yes they pay road taxes. Another consideration is that road taxes are rated by the amount of wear and tear a vehicle will impart on the road. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that a bicycle does absolutely no harm to roads. Also – a big portion of road upkeep is funded though property and sales tax. Relatively speaking then, cyclist most probably pays more than their fair share of road taxes. So this argument is invalid.
Another complaint is lost time – to which I reply, really? The thirty seconds or so (and this is a estimate way, way, way, on the high end) it might take to wait to safely pass cyclists is worth risking their life? What destination or appointment is so important that it merits killing someone?
So here are some suggestions:
I’ll admit that cyclists don’t always follow all the rules if drivers admit that they too don’t always follow all the rules. Let’s just leave the enforcement up to the police and call this one a wash – okay?
Give the cyclists three feet when you pass – imagine that the rider is a member of your family.
Do not shout at, blow your horn at, throw things, or buzz too closely by cyclists – again, imagine that the rider is a member of your family.
At an intersection, if a cyclist is stopped do not ask them to go ahead of you or out of turn. You do not know what is on other driver’s minds – let the cyclists decide when they think it is safe to continue. This also goes back to the clipped in shoe thing and the fact that the cyclists are the ones who decides what they consider safe at the time. I know this is a gesture of goodwill but it isn’t really helpful.
At a red light if a cyclists motions for a driver behind them to move forward it’s because it is weight triggered light and the automobile will cause it to switch.
Take a deep breath – think about it. How much time is a driver really losing? What is there really to be so upset about, a couple seconds added on to a drive to ensure the safety of another human being?
Remember – my life as well as your steering wheel is in your hands.
AdvertisementsIt sounds simplistic, but the greatest thing to realize is that your thoughts create your reality. Once you have really internalized this truth, you can go so much further with the law of attraction than you ever could have imagined.
In this post, I want to go a lot deeper than usual. I’ve had a technique I’ve been working on for a while now, which I’ve wanted to post about for a few weeks, but other posts took precedence. Now, though, I want to introduce this technique.
But first, I want to describe how it is your thoughts create your reality, and help you to truly and fully internalize this truth for yourself.
A New Paradigm
Most people fall under a very basic, but persistent delusion: the idea that matter is prime, and consciousness is secondary.
I find this is so even for people who strongly believe in a soul and afterlife. We still have this idea that we are a soul that is trapped inside a body, and that at death, we put off the body and enter the spirit realm. In this world, it seems matter is the center, the defining structure, and consciousness must fit within its confines.
When you take this paradigm, and try to start using magic / the law of attraction in your life, you are left a bit stuck. You have a great deal of doubt, because, well, in a matter-first world, the law of attraction simply makes no sense. You think, “How can my mind possibly influence the world around me?”
In a matter-first world, we pray to God to fix our problems, because at least God can influence the world from the outside. But we, ourselves, are powerless.
Or, as atheists, we simply surrender to the fruitlessness and nihilistic pointlessness of the whole thing.
However, a new paradigm is called for, and it’s not given enough attention. This paradigm is consciousness-first. It is the idea that consciousness, not matter, is prime. Consciousness is the center, the defining structure, and matter must fit within its confines.
What if instead of being a soul within a body, you are actually a soul containing the idea of bodiness? And, that body idea must respond to the commands of the consciousness which contains it.
What would this change? Well, only everything.
Instead of you being a conscious entity that is subject to the whims of a material universe, you are a conscious entity to whom a material universe is subject, because it is contained within you.
Actually, that material universe is really just the idea of a material universe, just as the body idea is just the idea of a body, because it is really all consciousness.
Now, you have infinite power. Your thoughts create your reality, because your thoughts are the components which make up your reality. Your reality is made up of thought, and nothing more.
This all sounds nice, but how do you know it’s true? Well, let me ask, how do you know it’s not true? Just because the matter-first model of reality seems to be true, doesn’t mean it actually is. When you are in a dream, for example, it seems that the dream world is true, but it really is not. It is just a world constructed in your mind.
Unfortunately there’s no way to prove that consciousness-first is the more accurate model of reality, though it seems that quantum physics is getting ever closer to realizing this truth. However, if you try adopting this paradigm, I think you’ll see that it makes more sense than the alternative.
Seeing Through the Illusion of Internal and External
To realize how your thoughts create your reality, it is necessary to see through yet another common illusion: that of thoughts being internal, and reality being external.
One of the biggest reasons that people dismiss the power of magic and the law of attraction is that thoughts are seen as less “real” than external reality. Out there is the real world, and in here is just a collection of thoughts.
It’s a false dichotomy. If we follow the consciousness-first model of reality, then inner and outer must have no inherent meaning, other than two different ideas, or two different ways of seeing the world.
I think that for many people, reality is so slow to change because they see it as permanent or static. It’s not dynamic and ever-changing like our thoughts are.
But, if you started to see reality as just as dynamic as thought, then it would quickly be able to change to whatever you wanted it to.
Remember, if consciousness is prime, then whatever you think of reality must be truth in your universe. So, why would you want to see it as real and permanent?
When you think, you are essentially experiencing a series of images, sounds, and sensations within your own consciousness. You could call these your inner senses, because they correspond exactly to your outer senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling. All of those can be experienced in the imagination, with the “inner” senses.
So what’s the difference between thoughts experienced via the inner senses, and so-called “reality” experienced via the outer senses? Only that you give them separate meanings.
But imagine if you stopped differentiating so much. Imagine if you knew that these “outer” senses were only feeding you the same types of information as your inner senses. They were still images, sounds, sensations, etc, as created by your thoughts. They just appear to be more real, because that is the meaning you have given to them.
Once I started seeing in my own life that outer reality was just as malleable as inner, then I started being able to change outer reality far more quickly than ever before.
In fact, I would even dare to say that eventually, one could see inner reality as more real than outer, because it is the inner that is the cause of the outer, not the other way around. If your thoughts create your reality, then surely your thoughts are more real than the “reality” that they create? After all, if you don’t like the reality you have created, you can just change the thoughts that created it.
Reality as a Series of Projections
Observe the thoughts you are having right now. See that they are just a series of images, sounds, and sensations playing upon the screen of your consciousness.
And now, experience what is in your “outer” reality. See what you see, hear what you hear, feel what you feel. And imagine that these, too, are just images, sounds, and sensations playing upon the screen of your own consciousness.
The only thing that makes the latter more permanent is your own belief in its permanency.
Now recognize that each of these thoughts (which we could call “projections”), both the inner and the apparently outer, are manifestations. Of what are they manifestations? They are manifestations of your own focus and attention—of where you place your emotional investment.
If you choose to think about lack, most of your projections will be about lack. If you choose to think about abundance, then most of your projections will be about abundance.
Notice the word “choose” in both of those statements. It is always your choice, even if you don’t always exercise that choice. Indeed, this is how your thoughts create your reality.
So your thoughts, both internal and external, are just a series of projections upon the screen of consciousness. And, you have the power to change these projections, any time you like, by changing what is being projected.
What is being projected is, as I mentioned, your own focus and attention.
But, because you see the projections as reality, you waste your time trying to change the projections, instead of changing what is projecting them.
The projections are all your thoughts, plus external experience, and even your own words and actions, since words and actions are just a manifestation of your own inner state and what you hold within yourself.
Yes, I’m saying that even most of your thoughts are themselves projections, because many of them are just manifestations of current momentum. For example, if you start worrying about money, or obsessing about a relationship, you’re going to start having thoughts that reflect that focus. Those thoughts are not deliberate, but are just manifestations of the momentum of the current energy you have going. Therefore, they, too, are projections.
In The Art of Reality Creation, I discuss how a manifestation becomes more and more realized in outer reality, through a series of seven stages, one of which is your thoughts.
In any case, you can easily change the projections, by changing what is being projected. It is not as hard as it might initially sound.
The Key to Changing What Is Being Projected
In NLP, it was always emphasized to me that we can change anything within our own mind. Our mind is our domain, and NLP gave the code to programming it.
What NLP didn’t mention, but I will mention now, is that by programming your own mind, you also program outer reality. When I started trying these techniques out during my NLP training, I noticed that outer reality immediately responded to whatever changes I made within. It wasn’t only perceptual changes, which you might be able to dismiss, but real, quantitative changes to how my reality operated.
This is in fact how I started realizing that the law of attraction is true after all. I had major doubts about it before, but seeing it first-hand like this really helped to dispel at least some of those doubts, and prove to myself that my thoughts did indeed create my reality.
The fascinating thing is that the technique isn’t all that complicated. The way you change your own internal subconscious structures is by changing the representations of those structures.
Wait, what?
Thoughts hold a special place in the act of creation. You cannot change your subconscious structures by changing so-called “external” projections (i.e., outer reality), but you can change those structures by changing the thoughts that reflect those structures.
The place most people go wrong is that they try to change the content of their thoughts. If they are thinking about lack, they try to force themselves to think about abundance. But, it’s not going to work, because the mind’s still focused on lack, because it thinks that is important.
To explain this, let me explain the two properties of thought: content and structure.
The content of a thought is what the thought is about. For instance, you might be thinking of, say, a pleasant conversation you had yesterday, or you might be thinking of that person who cut you off in traffic.
The content of these thoughts are completely different. The way to tell the content of the thought is by asking, “What is it I’m thinking about?”
But you also have the structure of a thought. This is harder to define, because we simply never think about it, unless you’re an NLP practitioner. 🙂
Where the content answered the question “what?”, the structure answers the question, “how?”
There’s too much to this to discuss in one post, and it is covered much more thoroughly in The Art of Reality Creation, but I’ll discuss the basics.
Let’s just take the visual sense. Are you thinking about this thing in big, bold images, or are the images small and blurry? Are the images moving as in a movie, or are they still? Are they in color or are they black and white?
You might think, “Who cares? What’s any of this matter?” But all of these structures are encoded data, letting your subconscious mind know exactly how to think about this particular thought.
By changing the structure of the thought, you can change the importance that your subconscious mind gives to it.
For instance, take a positive memory that has significantly strong emotion. Now, double the size of that image in your mind, and bring it up close. And, make sure it’s in color.
Did the emotion intensify?
Now, bring up a negative memory that has significantly strong emotion. And now, shrink that image down to a small little thumbnail icon. And, push it far away into the distance. Dim the colors, too, or make it black and white.
Did the emotion decrease in intensity?
So this is how your thoughts create your reality. By changing the structure of your thoughts, you change the encoded data your subconscious mind holds on those thoughts, and therefore you change their projection out in apparent reality.
Remember, creation is based on your emotion. If you can increase or decrease your emotional investment in particular thoughts, then you can change how much those thoughts manifest in your reality.
That seems pretty powerful, doesn’t it?
Technique: Choosing the Images that Will Be Projected
That brings us at last to the technique I’ve been wanting to discuss. You could call it, “changing your projections”.
First, lets summarize. Reality is just a series of projections upon the screen of your consciousness. By changing the structure of those projections, you can make them more or less important to your subconscious mind. The ones you make more important will create more like projections in your reality, and the ones you make less important will begin to fade away.
How do you know if a projection is seen as important to your subconscious mind? Simply, by the amount of emotional investment you give to it. You can rate that on a scale of 0 to 10 if you like. The higher the scale, the more investment, and the more it’ll continue to manifest. The lower that scale, the less investment, and the less it will manifest.
To make this work, let’s take an example. You want to manifest more money. But every time you try, you think about how little of it you have, and how hard it is to get more of it.
So what projections do we have? We have a projection that says, “I have too little money.” That projection probably has high importance, because it has high emotional investment (your dread and disappointment when you think about it).
We also have a projection that says, “It is hard to earn more money.” Again, it seems to have high importance, because it has high investment.
Hint: You can also tell if something has high importance by how often and to what degree it manifests in your reality.
Now, the content of these projections has already been discussed. By the traditional methods of the LOA, we’d simply try to change the content from “I don’t have enough money and it’s hard to get more of it,” to “I have enough money and it’s easy to get more of it.”
But, because your subconscious mind places high importance on these projections, it’s not so easy. You’ve probably experienced trying to do this exact same thing, and your mind just jumps back to the same thoughts, no matter what you do.
So let’s change their structure. Observe how you represent those thoughts in your mind. Are they images? Sounds? Sensations?
Make the images smaller and dimmer. Make the sounds softer and farther away. Make the sensations fuzzier and less distinct.
Then repeat it. The subconscious mind needs repetition. Do the above process, then go back to the thoughts and see how much emotional investment they have. Then repeat it over again until it is significantly less. It doesn’t have to be zero, just small enough that you can change the content of the thoughts without resistance from your subconscious mind.
Great! Now, what would you rather create? Probably a thought like, “Money comes to me easily.” So what would that thought look |
. This is the untold story of O-Ei, Master Hokusai's daughter: a lively portrayal of a free-spirited and outspoken woman overshadowed by her larger-than-life father, unfolding through the changing seasons.
Other cast members include: Yutaka Matsushige (live-action Kodoku no Gourmet television series, live-action Detective Conan movie), Gaku Hamada (live-action Space Brothers movie), Kengo Kora (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, live-action Solanin movie), Jun Miho (live-action Dragon Zakura television series), Shion Shimizu (Ganbare! Lulu Lolo - Tiny Twin Bears), Michitaka Tsutsui (live-action Kiki's Delivery Service movie), Kumiko Asou (Colorful, live-action Casshern movie, live-action Space Brothers movie), and Danshun Tatekawa.
Sugiura made her manga debut in 1980 in the experimental magazine Garo, and made her mark with intricately researched historical stories about Japan's Edo period. Her unique storytelling won the Japan Cartoonists' Association Award in 1984 and the Bunshun Manga Award in 1988. She serialized Sarusuberi in Manga Sunday magazine (Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha, Ltd.) from 1983 to 1987. She passed away in 2005 at the age of 46.
Hara worked for years on the Crayon Shin-chan television anime series before garnering critical attention for such films as Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu Appare! Sengoku Daikassen (Crayon Shin-chan; Brilliant! The Great Battle of the Warring States) and Summer Days with Coo. He earned the Jury's Special Distinction and the Audience Award for the bittersweet film Colorful at Annecy 2011. He has since made his first live-action film, a 2013 biography about the Japanese filmmaker Keisuke Kinoshita.
Miho Maruo (Colorful, The Dog of Flanders, Kodocha) wrote the screenplay of Miss Hokusai, and Yoshimi Itazu (The Wind Rises, Denno Coil, planned Yume-Miru Kikai film by the late Satoshi Kon) is serving as character designer and chief animator. Hiroshi Ohno (A Letter to Momo, Wolf Children) is handling the background art.
The film will open in Japan on May 9, and Production I.G is handling worldwide distribution and sales. Anime Limited will release the film in British cinemas in October-November before releasing it on Blu-ray Disc and DVD. EUROZOOM has licensed the film in France, and the company will screen it starting on September 2.
Images © 2014 Hinako Sugiura, MS HS/Sarusuberi Film PartnersGeorge Galloway has announced that he will stand for Mayor of London in 2016.
The Respect Party leader lost his seat in the House of Commons to Labour in the general election earlier this month.
Declaring himself as a candidate on Twitter, he wrote “I'm standing for Mayor of London 2016” and urged supporters to get in touch to help with his campaign.
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.
It had long been rumoured that Mr Galloway would attempt to replace Boris Johnson, who is currently both Mayor and the Tory MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
He appeared to confirm his candidacy in April, telling Sky News: “I won't run for London Mayor if I am re-elected on 7 May. If I am not re-elected I will run.”
Mr Galloway will be facing competition from all sides of the political spectrum, including from Labour’s Tessa Jowell, who launched her campaign with a pledge to build 2,000 affordable homes a year in the capital.
The former culture secretary has been nominated by sixteen of the local London Labour parties to declare so far, while Tooting MP Sadiq Khan is in second place with 12.
London MPs David Lammy, Diane Abbott and Gareth Thomas are among the other Labour candidates running.
Four Conservative hopefuls are looking to succeed Mr Johnson, most famously former England football player Sol Campbell.
Assembly members Andrew Boff and Stephen Greenhalgh could also run for the Tories, as well as Ivan Massow.
There are several other potential candidates who have yet to confirm their intentions, including the Liberal Democrats' Caroline Pidgeon, a London Assembly member.
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 now.One of the victims of serial rapist Sofyan Boalag said the assault "will stay with me forever" — while two other women assaulted by Boalag detailed similar harrowing experiences in court Tuesday brought on by his crimes against them.
"This was an attack against my body as well as my freedom to be an individual, freedom of being a person with rights, freedom of being an independent woman," the first woman told the court while reading her victim impact statement in provincial court in St. John's.
Crying at times, the woman continued, "Fears of men, fears of walking on the streets. I couldn't walk by myself after five p.m. and I had, every day, to fight my fears and convince myself to walk to work."
It's the second day of a hearing to determine if Boalag, 38, should be deemed a dangerous offender.
Two years ago, Boalag was convicted of sexually assaulting two women and a 15-year-old girl in St. John's in the summer and fall of 2012 in St. John's.
'Broken body, broken mind'
The woman continued to outline the toll Boalag's attack took on all aspects of her life.
"For a year, I had to take a lot of cabs at night to meet with friends, and it constituted a real expense on my budget," she told the court.
"Being a victim was difficult to handle … I didn't want people to think of me as the poor girl each time they think or talk about me."
She said she waited a year to tell her sister what had happened and that her feelings about sex have been forever changed.
"It was taken without my consent, and it doesn't mean the same now to authorize or consent to intercourse. I will never have that back."
The victim says she tried to commit suicide twice and has PTSD. Afraid he will be put back on the street. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbcnl?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cbcnl</a> <a href="https://t.co/Cd0ELnYXNU">pic.twitter.com/Cd0ELnYXNU</a> —@glenn_payette
She detailed the stress surrounding getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases following the rape.
"I had always been very careful in my relationships, and in a minute, I felt that my life was in danger," she said.
"That year I felt like had the sword of Damocles dangling above my head, ready to fall each time I had a new medical exam."
She ended her statement by saying, "Being sexually assaulted lead to a year of intense stress for me — a broken body, a broken mind, a damaged freedom and a lost soul that I have had to face and repair."
'I have flashbacks of torture'
Another woman who was sexually assaulted by Boalag told the court that she has "a nightmare every night."
"I am now afraid of walking alone at night — afraid of men that I don't know," she said.
Boalag, seen here in 2016, was convicted of sexually assaulting two women and a 15-year-old girl in St. John's. (Jeremy Eaton/CBC)
She said she turned to alcohol to help her get through the trauma and became depressed. She too spoke of waiting anxiously for the results of STD tests
"I have flashbacks of torture, how I could have lost my life that day," she said.
Outside of court, she said that she now has a fear of foreign men and wishes she didn't. Boalag came to Canada from Algeria.
"I'm not a racist," she said.
Teen victim tells of 2 suicide attempts
A third victim impact statement, written by a girl who was 15 when Boalag raped her, was read to the court by Crown prosecutor Trisha McCarthy.
In the statement, the girl said she tried to commit suicide twice because of the trauma she suffered, once by swallowing 82 anti-depressants.
She said she became very unstable after the attack.
"I was deprived of being a normal teenager," she said. She told the court, through the statement, she had to drop out of high school, and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dr. Jasbir Gill testified Monday at the hearing to determine if Boalag should be declared a dangerous offender. (Glenn Payette/CBC)
On Monday during the hearing, Dr. Jasbir Gill testified that without treatment for his drug and alcohol problems and his issues with women, Boalag would be a high risk to reoffend.
But Gill — who had previously assessed Boalag at the Waterford Hospital — said with more time in prison, proper treatment and intervention, Boalag would be a good candidate for rehabilitation.
If Boalag is declared a dangerous offender, he could be given an indefinite jail sentence.
The hearing continues Wednesday, when it is expected the Crown and defence will present arguments to Judge Pamela Goulding, who is presiding over the hearing to determine if Boalag should be classified a dangerous offender.Today, we’re excited to share that fan-favorite Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope is graduating from Early Access and launching a major update on the Oculus Store!
To celebrate, we sat down with Croteam Chief Creative Officer Davor Hunski for a deep dive on the latest additions to the world of Captain Sam Stone and the Battlecruiser Saratoga.
How does it feel to see Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope come out of Early Access on the Oculus Store?
Davor Hunski: We’re super excited that Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope is now a full release and can’t wait for people to get their hands on the final version of the game! It was our first game released through Early Access and an amazing experience. We couldn’t have done it without the positive energy and feedback from our fans and VR enthusiasts.
What do players get with the new launch?
DH: We wanted to finish the game with the bang, so we did. With the epic final update, Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope introduces randomly generated gameplay, which will be available on five existing levels, plus three new levels: Arena, Endless Wave, and Daily Challenge.
Arena lets players enjoy endless variety thanks to randomly generated waves of enemies that ensure every playthrough is completely different. In Endless Wave, you’ll confront endless waves of enemies. Last but not least, Daily Challenge gives you the possibility to beat a new set of enemies on daily basis.
Oh, leaderboards, too!
Why the move toward randomly-generated gameplay?
DH: To put players in a novel situation they’ve never experienced before and see how they do. It’s the very definition of experiential intelligence—managing a new situation and solving it in a unique way. It’s also stupidly fun, and we just wanted to do it.
What kind of community response have you seen while demoing the new additions to the game?
DH: Oh, we’ve seen it all—trash talk, laughter, even tears. The Last Hope was designed to be easy to pick up so that anyone can jump straight in and start blasting away. That’s probably why we’ve seen the game used to demonstrate VR to people who aren’t necessarily gamers so many times. And that’s probably what we enjoy most—watching people react to the tech and the game for the first time. We’ve seen big smiles and heard “Wow, dude!” in 57 different languages.
To master the game—well, that's a different story.
What’s your favorite part of the epic final update?
DH: We don't want to spoil anything ahead of time so we’re leaving it up to our fans to answer by themselves (it’s Serious Sammy).
What first attracted you to VR as a creative space?
DH: It was love at first sight. We saw a huge potential in the technology and felt inspired by it, so we immediately started prototyping different things. We knew right from the start that we wanted to make a VR game, and there was no point in waiting. Since we’re huge fans of arcades, we wanted to capture that magical moment when you get to try a new cabinet game for the first time—which was the exact feeling we got with VR. And that’s how The Last Hope came to be.
Where do you think VR will take us in the future?
DH: VR is a truly impressive technology that gives you endless possibilities to explore in a new way that wasn’t possible before. It has huge potential for the future—not just in gaming, but across various fields like medicine, architecture, education, and beyond.
What’s next for you? Any exciting projects in the works?
DH: Yes, many, but our baby is Serious Sam 4. Stay tuned.
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
DH: We’re creating this great content for our fans—but also for ourselves. Everything we do starts from our passion to create the best possible games, and I think that players can feel that. We have the best team ever, and I’m truly proud of them. Share our passion, spread the love, and kill some alien scum in Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope!
Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Davor. We can’t wait for old and new fans alike to dive into the new content.
Check out Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope for Rift on the Oculus Store.
— The Oculus TeamSydney: Australia and the United States will sign a 25-year deal allowing 2,500 US Marines and air force personnel to train Down Under, Defence Minister David Johnston said on Monday, describing it as a “win-win situation”.
The agreement will be inked on Tuesday when US Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel meet with their Australian counterparts Julie Bishop and Johnston in Sydney.
Trouble spots abroad including Iraq and Ukraine will also be on the agenda for the Australia-US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN), which focus on regional security and military cooperation.
But the centrepiece will be the agreement allowing the Marine rotational deployment in the northern city of Darwin, which was first announced by US President Barack Obama in 2011 as part of his “pivot” towards Asia.
“Approximately 2,500 US defence force personnel will come to primarily the Northern Territory to exercise on the vast, open Commonwealth [government] military exercise grounds that we have,” Johnston told a joint press conference with Hagel.
“They will interoperate with Australia. They will do things that they want to, exercise activities that are important to them. We’ll assist them.”
Johnston said as many as 1,200 US Marines and air force personnel were already rotating into Darwin during the current dry season in Australia’s tropical north.
“These are the things that are benefitting Australia and the flipside of that coin is that we have just a lot of space that’s open for practice, exercises... so it’s a win-win situation for both of us,” he said.
Hagel said the deal emphasised Washington’s “rebalance” towards the Asia-Pacific, saying the United States was a Pacific power holding about 200 ships and more than 360,000 personnel in the region.
“We are not going anywhere,” Hagel said. “Our partnerships are here, our treaty obligations are here and are important to us.
“It’s pretty clear that the US is committed to this part of the world but also this does not mean a retreat from any other part of the world. We have interests all over the world,” he added.
More ways to cooperate
Hagel said the talks on Tuesday, which analysts had said would likely pave the way for enhanced military cooperation between the allies, would give officials an opportunity to explore “better ways we can cooperate”.
“We will address a number of issues tomorrow. They will focus on maritime security, special forces, missile defence and Afghanistan,” he said.
He said the situation in Ukraine would also be on the agenda, as well as the threat from jihadist fighters of the Islamic State in Iraq, where Australia has offered to assist the US in humanitarian airdrops to those trapped by the violence.
Bates Gill, chief executive of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, said the talks would be an important next step in what appeared to be “a growing degree of access and presence for American assets both human and materiel on Australian territory”.
Gill said progress had been slow but careful since the announcement that Marines would rotate through Darwin, an agreement which rankled China.
It also caused concern for some Asian neighbours who saw it as a statement by Washington that it intends to stand up for its interests in the region amid concern about Beijing’s growing assertiveness.
The United States currently has only a limited deployment in longstanding ally Australia, including the Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility spy station near Alice Springs.
Regional security issues in Southeast Asia and the Pacific will be discussed in the AUSMIN talks, along with Myanmar, where Kerry and Bishop have just attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations forum.
The ministers will also talk about Northeast Asia, comparing notes about their respective relations with China, and the challenges posed by North Korea.PARIS — The European Space Agency’s ruling council on Nov. 3 gave what should be the final endorsement needed to free up development funds for the next-generation Ariane 6 launch after a compromise on work shares between Italy and Germany.
The decision, which makes certain that both Germany and Italy will have production lines for the Ariane 6 solid-fueled strap-on booster segments — which also serve as the first stage of Europe’s Vega C rocket in development — was unanimously adopted by the 12 nations participating in the Ariane 6 program.
With this decision, there should be nothing standing in the way of approval by ESA’s Industrial Policy Committee, the last step before Airbus Safran Launchers, the company managing Ariane 6, receives a check from ESA for about 1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion). That decision is expected on Nov. 8.
“I am very happy about this decision, which required a double two-thirds majority of the participating states,” said Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA’s director of launchers. “You can imagine there was a long discussion over the P120C motor casing work.”
Booster casing issue with Italy and Germany
The P120C is the segment to be used as the Ariane 6 strap-on boosters and as the Vega C rocket’s first stage.
As majority shareholder in the Vega program, Italy had been given the P120C production award, which is now handled by Avio SpA of Colleferro, Italy.
But Germany had said in 2014, when ESA governments gave their initial go-ahead for Ariane 6, that MT Aerospace of Augsburg, Germany — majority-owned by OHB SE of Bremen, Germany — was working on a better composite production technology for the casing.
ESA governments had agreed to consider a second P120 production line pending validation of the German claims.
Since then, Germany has pressured ESA governments to accept the second production line even without confirmation that the technology would deliver on its cost-saving promise.
Germany is the second-largest contributor to the Ariane 6 program, after France, but does not have a major share in the Vega program. It was therefore up to ESA to stitch together an agreement taking account of Germany’s rights in Ariane 6, and Italy’s rights in Vega, which are both tied to the P120C program.
In a Nov. 4 interview, Neuenschwander said the Nov. 3 agreement was reached on the assumption that the production cost savings of the German technology will compensate for the increased costs of opening a second production facility.
Neuenschwander agreed that “there is an element of redundancy” in setting up a second facility, but that this is not necessarily a bad thing. If the promised savings from the German production technology do not materialize, he said, “We will reassess this in 2018.”
Final go-head on development funds set for Nov. 8
Neuenschwander said the Industrial Policy Committee decision on Nov. 8 is all but a foregone conclusion given the unanimity of the ESA council on Nov. 3.
In addition to the Ariane 6 development program and the P120C agreement, ESA’s council approved the full development of the Ariane 6 launched installation at Europe’s Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, on South America’s northeast coast.
It is not European industry, but the French space agency, CNES, that is prime contractor for the Ariane 6 launch base. Construction has begun and CNES officials have said they will be on time for an inaugural launch of Ariane 6 in 2020.
As was the case with Airbus Safran Launchers, CNES was given only a first tranche of 178 million euros of its promised funding, with the remaining 422 million euros to be withheld until matters of geographic return on the entire Ariane 6 program were settled.
Airbus Safran Launchers had been paid 688 million euros of the 2.4 billion euros covering ESA’s share of Ariane 6 development.
Neuenschwander said it should be only a matter of days after the Nov. 8 meeting until both CNES and Airbus Safran Launchers are paid the final tranches on their contracts.
Tough policy issues await in 2018
Not all issues surrounding Ariane 6 have been resolved, although the program will now enter full-scale production.
For example, the future role of ESA and European governments in maintaining Europe’s spaceport and the Ariane 6 rocket has yet to be determined. Ariane 6 represents a departure from past European practice in that industry, led by Airbus Safran Launchers, has been given full responsibility for development.
In late 2017, ESA will conduct an Exploitation Readiness Key Point, which whose conclusions will be presented to ESA’s council in March 2018. It is here that the future Ariane 6 role of ESA — and perhaps the European Commission as well — will be settled.
Among the issues: Who is financially responsible for the costs associated with a launch failure? What is the exact role of governments in the event the euro rises strongly against the U.S. dollar, compromising Ariane 6’s competitiveness? Will ESA agree to return to the current practice of topping off launch-service provider Arianespace’s annual revenue to assure it does not report a loss?The only way 2015 will not be the warmest year in global recorded history, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is if December is the coldest December in recorded history -- and is more abnormally cold than any month since data was first collected.
The NOAA measures each month against itself. So what's pictured above is how much hotter or colder each January or May or whatever was than the average of all Januarys or Mays in the 20th century. In September, we noted that the summer of 2015 was hotter globally than any summer on record.
Since then, 2015 has only gotten hotter. Here's what the final stage of the graph looks like now.
That's one way of picturing how hot it has been. Another is to color-code each month according to how much hotter or colder than average they have been since 1880 and let you scroll through. Like so.
In order for 2015 to not replace 2014 as the hottest year ever, December will need to be very, very cold. Very cold. Historically cold. In order for 2015 to simply drop to second, here's what December will need to look like:
Or, to go back to the original version of the chart, like this.
And that's simply to have 2015 be the second-hottest year on record. In order for 2015 to only be second-hottest, December needs to be more cold than any month has ever been -- 16 percent colder than the coldest month (relative to itself) on record: January 1893.
In other words, 2015 will be the hottest year on record.In May 2014, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) voted to approve the draft version of a controversial plan allowing Internet service providers (ISPs) to charge online content providers like Netflix or YouTube for the ability to transmit data to consumers more quickly.
Critics of the plan charge that these so-called ‘fast lanes’ will make it difficult for scrappy startups to compete with deep-pocketed incumbents because they won’t be able to afford same level of speedy access. However, just because ISPs may soon be able to extract a toll for access to an Internet fast lane, it doesn’t mean that every ISPs in the country will necessarily do so.
Opponents of government-enforced net neutrality, the idea that all the data flowing across the Internet should be treated the same, have argued that laws prohibiting ISPs from creating fast lanes interfere with the creative potential of the free market. The Daily Dot’s survey shows, however, that it’s often possible for net neutrality supporters to utilize those same free market principles by choosing ISPs that eschew fast lane over those that refuse to do so.
Our informal survey of 15 ISPs from across the country shows many of the companies pledge to treat all Internet traffic equally, despite an ability to discriminate for their own monetary benefit. Of the 15 companies that the Daily Dot reached out to, seven took strong stands in favor of net neutrality going forward—no matter what opportunities are opened up by the FCC.
In fact, judging from the responses, finding an ISP that won’t offer fast lanes is actually relatively simple. Instead of getting Internet service from a giant, incumbent cable or DSL provider, patronize the smaller local ISPs.
Of seven large ISPs that we either reached out to or could find having previously gone on record on the subject—Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, RCN, CenturyLink, AT&T, and Frontier—not a single one said they would rule out fast lanes. Whereas, with eight small ISPs we looked at—Google Fiber, iFIBER, Chattanooga Electric Power Bureau, Lafayette Utilities Service, Wave Broadband, Bristol BVU, Sonic.net, and XMission—seven pledged not to institute fast lanes, the other (Bristol BVU) didn’t respond.
Chris Mitchell, a director at the pro-net neutrality group Institute for Local Self-Reliance, explained that this large vs. small breakdown shouldn’t be much of a surprise. For the managers of a small, regional ISP with subscribers numbering in the thousands rather than millions, preserving net neutrality doesn’t have to be an ideological issue—it’s actually just a smart business decision.
?Some of these smaller companies will probably benefit from the end of net neutrality because it’ll give more people a reason to switch,” Mitchell explained. “Every time Comcast does something to remind everyone how much they hate Comcast, it’s a good day for the little guys.”
One problem is, a significant percentage of areas around the country lack multiple high-speed Internet providers. And in most instances where consumers only a single option, that option is typically with a large, national ISP. Where customers do have the option to pick one of the little guys, however, smaller ISPs often choose to support net neutrality principles as a way for them to differentiate themselves.
In other cases, even if a small ISP wants to strike fast-lane deals, they often won’t have the option, says Mitchell. Google may be willing to pay a premium for speedy access to a large ISP with lots of customers. But there may be little incentive for companies to strike these these deals with ISPs who serve relatively few users. (It should be noted that these fast lanes already exist for the companies that can take advantage of them.)
?There are hundreds of … [ISPs] around the country. It doesn’t make sense for Netflix to strike hundreds of individual fast lane deals,” Mitchell said.?The fast lane idea only works if there’s enough scale to even justify having the negotiation.”
Here’s the full list of how different ISPs answered the question:?Will you rule out offering paid fast lanes?”:
AT&T
As part of the company’s campaign to convince government regulators to approve its $48.5 billion bid to buy satellite television provider DirecTV, AT&T offered to voluntarily abide by net neutrality principles for the next three years. Implied in that offer are the assertions that not only would the company sell fast lanes if it the takeover were rejected, but AT&T will also begin charging for fast access fees after that three-year window has closed.
CENTURYLINK
From a CenturyLink blog post:?Customers who want higher speeds or better performance levels should be allowed to pay for them, but regulations should not require those who don’t want higher speeds or increased performance levels to pay the same rates as those who do.” Translation: CenturyLink sees fast lanes as a good way to revamp its pricing.
CHATTANOOGA ELECTRIC POWER BOARD
From a Chattanooga Electric Power Board spokesperson: “We’ve never prioritized or charged differently for different kinds of customer traffic, and we have no intention of changing that. That’s one of the great things about having a fiber optic network with virtually unlimited bandwidth is that there’s plenty of room for everyone.”
COMCAST
Speaking at a communications summer in New York earlier this year, Comcast Vice President David Cohen said,?whatever…[a fast lane] is, we’re allowed to do it.”
FRONTIER
From a Frontier spokesperson:?From Frontier’s perspective, we continue to explore the best ways to fairly and efficiently deliver content to our customers, but we will wait to see what the FCC adopts over the coming months.”
GOOGLE FIBER
In a recent company blog post about working with content providers to decrease buffering times on online videos, Google’s director of network engineering, Jeffrey Burgan, bluntly addressed the idea of fast lanes.?We don’t do that,” he wrote.
IFIBER
From iFIBER CEO Kelly Ryan:?There may come a day of reckoning where everyone will have to deal with increasing bandwidth usage. But, for right now at least, we are net neutral and have no plans to stop being net neutral any time in the future.”
LAFAYETTE UTILITIES SERVICES
From an LUS spokesperson: “LUS Fiber is committed to providing the best possible Internet experience to the citizens of Lafayette, Louisiana. Charging content providers for a ‘fast lane’ to our customers is not compatible with that commitment.”
SONIC.NET
From a Sonic.net blog post:?Here at Sonic, we appreciate the Internet. The Internet is why you subscribe, and we are happy to be your choice to deliver a fast, friendly and reliable conduit to access the Internet sites and services that you want. While we do have a lovely home page and we provide a nice array of extras, we understand that the reason you subscribe is to access the Internet. (Thanks, Internet, for being awesome!) So, we don’t disadvantage any source or type of traffic. Sonic Fusion service has no speed tiers and no usage caps. We deliver the fastest and most consistent performance possible at your location, regardless of the what you are downloading from the Internet.”
TIME WARNER CABLE
From a Time Warner Cable spokesperson: “We have a long and strong record as a reliable broadband provider and we continue to treat all Internet traffic the same. We will carefully review any rules forthcoming from the FCC.”
VERIZON
From a Verizon spokesperson:?If consumers like their online experience today, with an open Internet and the ability to access their favorite websites quickly, then they should be supportive of the current?light touch’ policy framework that began during the Clinton Administration and has enabled this remarkable broadband ecosystem. The alternative proposal to apply 1930s rotary phone rules to the Internet would for the first time represent a major change that would hinder investment in broadband networks and lead to years of uncertainty throughout the Internet ecosystem.”
WAVE BROADBAND
From a Wave spokesperson:?If you’re looking for a?yes’ or?no’ answer to whether Wave supports the idea of fast lanes, the current answer is no.”
XMISSION
From Xmission CEO Pete Ashmore:?We don’t discriminate for financial reasons. Period. As for extorting Netflix to reach our customers faster, that’s not something that’s in our best interest.”
This article was originally published June 4, 2014. You can support net neutrality by participating in the Internet Slowdown Day.
llustration by Jason ReedNFL free agency is almost here! The chaos all begins tomorrow, Tuesday March 12th at 4:00 PM EST sharp. While we wait, let's take a look at some predictions.
Evan Silva of Rotoworld recently released a list of the top 100 NFL free agents. His stated objective is "to give you a feel for the best players available, where they might fit, and how much money they might cost."
Here's a look at who he predicted the Eagles to sign and my take on the predictions.
5. Free safety Dashon Goldson -- Goldson wants Eric Weddle money -- $8 million per year -- and he's earned it while emerging as the league's premier cover safety. The 49ers never gave serious consideration to franchise tagging Goldson, and appear to have washed their hands. Philadelphia has cap space to pay Goldson, and new VP of Player Personnel Tom Gamble was in San Francisco's front office during Goldson's development. He'd fill a gaping need at free safety.
Free Agent Forecast: Eagles on a five-year, $40.5 million contract.
I'm not a big fan of this move. The positives about Goldson are he can create turnovers and play well in pass coverage. He's not a great tackler though. In fact, Goldson is 54th out of 58 safeties (min. 50% snaps) in tackling efficiency (pass coverage). He had 33 tackles and 8 missed tackles in 2013. In the run game he was 22 out of 57 and had 24 tackles to 4 missed tackles. His overall combined tackling efficiency ranks him at 43rd out of 58 safeties. Also ranked 43rd is Kurt Coleman. Ranked 46 is Nate Allen. That kind of play isn't worth $8M a year.
23. Wide receiver Danny Amendola -- The Rams don't value Amendola at $6 million per year, which is probably his floor after Brian Hartline's deal. He's likely to leave St. Louis. Amendola would be a sensible Patriots fallback option if Wes Welker departs Foxboro. If not, Amendola has been linked to the Eagles as a more dynamic replacement for Jason Avant. Chip Kelly's offense spreads the field with four and five wideouts, and explosive slot receivers are a necessity.
Free Agent Forecast: Eagles on a three-year, $18.5 million contract.
Depending on how Chip Kelly decides to design his offense, this could be a wise signing. I love Jason Avant. He has amazing hands, blocks well, runs great routes, and generally does a lot for the Eagles on and off the field. Where he lacks is YAC ability and even kick/punt returning ability which can Amendola can offer. Chip might a guy like that over Avant. I'm not strongly compelled about this deal either way, but it's surely interesting one to think about.
53. Right tackle Eric Winston -- The Eagles were among the first teams to reach out to Winston following his March 6 release by Kansas City. Athletic and an impact run blocker on the move, he's a fit for Chip Kelly's up-tempo, zone-read offense. The addition of Winston would allow Philadelphia to kick right tackle Todd Herremans inside to guard, shoring up two weak spots. Free Agent Forecast: Eagles on a four-year, $22.5 million contract.
I have my concerns about Winston as a pass blocker but his run blocking could prove valuable. PFF ranked him as the 26th best overall T and the 9th best RT. At $5.5M a year he could a solid addition to the Eagles OL.
74. Cornerback Greg Toler -- Toler appeared to be an up-and-coming star under Arizona defensive coordinator Bill Davis in 2010, starting 13 games and recording 90 tackles to go with two interceptions. An ACL tear wiped out his 2011 campaign, but Toler bounced back strong in 11 appearances last season. Davis is now the Eagles' defensive coordinator, and Philly needs corner help. The Eagles also have enough salary cap room to make interested teams go away.
Free Agent Forecast: Eagles on a three-year, $13.5 million contract.
The Bill Davis connection sure makes sense. Signing Toler could help fill one of two likely open CB spots without spending a ridiculous amount of money.
85. Defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois -- A Swiss-army-knife down lineman, Jean-Francois can play end and nose in the 3-4 and tackle in the 4-3. While not quite a special talent, Jean-Francois' versatility and age (26) make him attractive. The Niners do not expect him back.
Free Agent Forecast: Eagles on a three-year, $12 million contract.
RJF could turn out to be a valuable addition because he's a potential starter at 3-4 DE or at worst a backup at every DL position. This addition would probably also come with the approval of Tom Gamble, which is an encouraging sign.
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Silva also has former Eagles CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie ranked 32 overall and ending up with the Kansas City Chiefs under Andy Reid.
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Do you like these predictions? What would you change?Capcom has recently announced Dragon Dogma Online Beta Test will be happening in Japan this summer on three platforms, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC following exciting initial reveals that the game will be running in beautiful FULL HD and 60fps on PS4.
The character customization system In the last Alpha of Dragon Dogma Online is rather simple and minimal changes changes are allowed. Reportedly, the combat with small monsters is very easy for players and once level 10 is reached, players will get full knowledge of the new game. Eight players can enter the dungeon where they stay in a castle that is under siege by monsters from all sides.
The game developer has also confirmed that Dragon's Dogma Online will run at 1080p and in 60 frames-per-second on PlayStation 4.
During a recent meeting in Tokyo as reported by DualShockers, game director Kent Kinoshita also |
. XP and Confidence updates appear next to your player at the end of each play. A new ticker at the bottom of the screen tracks goal progress and shows updates to all the goals influenced that play. Players will also notice new broadcast interface elements that celebrate completing goals. This adds up to a groundbreaking broadcast experience for Connected Franchise.
WEEKLY GOALS Weekly goals have been refactored from the ground up by implementing a new quest-like system that chains goals together week to week. These goals are assigned based on performance, position, and career status and are both team-based and individual. For example, a “Breakout Running Back” goal may be triggered for rookie running backs that are having a great season. As goals are completed or missed, player confidence will fluctuate. Some focus on negative stats such as fumbles and interceptions, and are tied to regression.
GOAL LOADING SCREENS New goal loading screens allow players to maximize goal completion. Completing these goals during the game will give you additional XP and/or Confidence that helps players perform better on the field.
THINGS TO DO The Connected Franchise Hub is more streamlined, and players can find what they need faster than ever. It all starts on the consolidated Things to Do screen, which brings all the information from last year’s Actions and Home to one convenient location. Players can see where they stand in the season timeline, and how far they are from the Playoffs.
VISUAL TEAM DEPTH CHART One major overhaul this year is the all-new Visual Team Depth Chart, which allows players to easily see each side of the ball and make adjustments. Your depth chart is the heart and soul of your team, which is why we brought it to the forefront with the Team Panel. Simply drag and drop players to reorder the depth chart.
PLAYER CARD Another big improvement is the new Player Card, which gives players an attribute breakdown without having to scroll left or right on a spreadsheet. This screen includes all the key position attributes for the player, and which attributes are being affected by Confidence. Quickly perform key actions such as spending XP, viewing goals, adding to the trade block, and more.
NEW SCOUTING Scouting has been reworked from the ground up in Madden NFL 16. Coaches and Owners will see a “Thing to Do” item in Week 3 that instructs how to Scout. The basic concept is that you’ll spend Scouting Points on a player, learn more about their abilities, and decide whether you want to select them in the upcoming NFL Draft. Scouting Points unlock a player’s top three attributes, with the third unlock providing their true draft value. This true draft value will help teams find “Diamonds” and “Overvalued” players in the draft class. Will you take a projected fifth-round pick with second-round skills in round two, or wait until later hoping that others don’t realize his potential? These are the types of decisions that come to life with the new true talent rating.
COMBINE STATS Players can now access Combine Reports during NFL Combine Week, which includes a Combine Grade and results from six Combine events: 40-yard Dash, Vertical Jump, Broad Jump, 3 Cone, 20-yard Shuttle, and Bench Press. These results can be seen without spending any Scouting Points. Combine Reports not only include results, but also how players stack up compared to others at their position. Will you draft the fastest running back in the class, or look for a well-rounded player?
DRAFT FEEDBACK The Draft screen itself has received a visual overhaul, and now provides much-needed feedback right after selecting a player. You’ll immediately be able to see the player’s attributes and where he was ranked, which provides immediate feedback on whether or not you made a good pick. MEMBERS LIST New Members panels allow players to quickly interact with fellow league members in a Cloud Franchise. You can see their game status and whether they’re online. Commissioners can toggle Auto Pilot, clear cap penalties, and remove them from the league. SIM-A-WIN League commissioners can influence wins by using the League Schedule. Sim-a-Win allows you to set the winning team for any game that has not been played. This tool allows players to craft the season of their dreams, and also helps facilitate large multiplayer leagues.Muslim here, with a message for you Islamophobic people.
The West created this mess.
It was you who divided up the land.
It was you who put in the puppet governments.
It was you who built the oil wells on Muslim holy lands.
It was you who allowed the Jews to exterminate and enslave the Palestinians.
It was you who played geopolitical games with Iraq and Iran during their war.
It was you who gave Saddam chemical weapons.
It was you who caused the Ayatollah to come into power in Iran.
It was you who created the Mujaheddin, Osama Bin Laden, and Al Qaeda.
It was you who killed 1 million children with your economic sanctions on Iraq.
It was you who, with your gluttonous oil consumption, gave power to Saudi Arabia and turned a blind eye to their funding of Wahhabi extremism.
It was you who abused the Arab world so much that they felt they had to attack your soil on 9/11.
It was you who started an endless massacre across all of Afghanistan in retaliation against a small group that lived there.
It was you who invaded Iraq unprovoked, destroyed it's infrastructure, massacred it's people, and left it in shambles in your wake.
It was you who covertly ignited civil wars in Libya and Syria because it suited your geopolitical interests, only to let the bloodbaths stagnate when your goals failed.
It was you who not only caused ISIS to exist, but allowed them to grow like a cancer unchecked.
It was you who destroyed the lives of millions of Arabs and forced them to leave their homeland.
You are the cause of all of this. Still you go ahead and blame us for all these tragic incidents. I'm not easily triggered but shit like this makes me really mad.Patrick. All photos by the author
It was a swelteringly hot day along the sun-scorched banks of the Similkameen River in southern British Columbia. Forest fires burned to the north and south, creating a grungy orange haze over the entire valley. I sat on a log, stoned off my face, plucking a banjo and watching a pack of stray-looking dogs frolic in the water below. It was here at the ramshackle campsite of Dusty and Dusty (two BFFs, both named Dusty) that I'd posted up for the afternoon to drink warm beer and mingle with a community of transient fruit pickers in Keremeos, BC.
My dad escaped to Keremeos 15 years ago to become an amateur farmer and pursue his dream of living a neighbourless life. For as long as I can remember, my visits to the Ol' Man's place have consisted of crucial daily trips to the liquor store and participating in the weekly meat raffle at the Veteran's Hall. On this particular trip however, during the first week of July, I thought I should break this thrilling routine and actually do something.
Elaine and Daphne.
Most commonly remembered as "that place we stopped for gas," Keremeos is renowned for its lush orchards, sprawling vineyards and abundance of fruit stands. Each one painted and decorated more cartoonishly than the next, by what could have been the set designers from Sesame Street. More memorable than its colourful and fruity main drag are "The Pickers"; the dreadlocked, glazed-eyed, thumbs-out seasonal labourers that swarm the town in the summer. Mostly Québécois, these itinerant hippies hitch-hike from far and wide, looking to make some cash and score sweet BC bud.
Derek.
I set out on Tuesday morning, schlepping my camera gear and a case of Cariboo Lager with the goal of making some new friends. By noon it was 33 Celsius as haggard and exhausted pickers were making their return to the riverside campground following their 4-11AM shifts in the orchards. The first couple I met introduced themselves as "Lux" and "Bear". Both from Montreal, they had been making pilgrimages to Keremeos for years, picking fruit and selling art out of their van. Lux (who I kept calling "Jet" by mistake) had just gotten a new tattoo on her back—an intricate pink tree that weaved it's way through several rings and orbs. She explained that it was designed to help keep her chakras aligned.
Guillaume.
I continued trekking through the campground amongst a fluorescent scattering of tents and hanging laundry. Soon I arrived at what appeared to be the "downtown", a big open space with a large concentration of people milling around and enjoying chill activities. To my left was the "Italian District", a cluster of shaved-headed pickers, some strumming guitars, others carving sticks. The local hash dealer, a teenager of '70s Ozzy Osbourne resemblance, zipped by on a rusty children's mountain bike making deliveries and taking orders. Beneath a tarp to my right, a stick n' poke tattoo marathon was taking place. I spent the rest of the afternoon taking portraits while getting sunburned and reasonably faded. And despite my clean clothes and recent haircut, I tried to blend in.
Jaryd and Kiki.
The following day was spent cruising the scenic back roads of the valley and offering a complimentary taxi service to anyone in need. To and from their respective camps or the town hotspots (the laundromat, the beer store, the free WIFI-having nook in the alley behind the library), I shuttled truckloads of pickers of a kaleidoscopic variety. From the cherubic 17-year old sporting a Pokemon tank top and bedazzled neon skirt, to the Wiser's Deluxe-stinking gutter punk whose home was under a highway overpass, the characters were fascinating and endless. The enormity of the scene and collective spirit of these sorta-ambitious fruit hustlers made me realize that the significance of Keremeos was far greater than I'd originally thought. It dawned on me that this must be the Woodstock or the Coachella of fruit picking, and right now cherry season was the headlining act.
Dusty 1.
That evening I drove out to River Valley Farm, a small organic orchard in the hills east of town. I'd planned to reunite with an eclectic crew of hyper French-Canadian teenagers I'd met earlier that day. At the time, being the people-person that I am, I cleverly wrote all of their names on my hand for future reference: Félix, Gabrielle, Leo, Tristan, Godfrey, Guillaume, Kiki, Félix 2, Charlotte, Patrick, Daphne, Vern.
Dusty 2.
River Valley Farm was a slice of heaven. The pickers had been assigned their own rustic bunkhouses, lined up in a row along the quiet grassy shore of the river. As the sun went down, the sky turned a hazy flamingo hue. The Frenchies enthusiastically took turns in front of the camera, maintaining their cool between fits of arm-flailing, mosquito-killing rage. After dark, I continued to resurrect my French skills following an invitation to hang out and play a drinking game called "Buffalo." In a few short hours, it would be 4 AM and the pickers would be back to the grind, climbing ladders and filling tubs. While some retired to bed, most of us stayed up taking shots, skinny-dipping, and making up freestyle raps.
See more of Chris' work on his website.
Leo.
Vern.
Charlotte.
Lux.Docket R-31417 Details
Documents
Service List Docket Number : R-31417 Date Opened : Status : Closed Description : LPSC, ex parte Synopsis : Re-examination of the Commission's Net Energy Metering Rules found in General Order No. R-27558, dated November 30, 2005 (the “Net Metering Order”) Companies Involved : NRG Power Marketing The Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives, Inc. Concordia Electric Cooperative, Inc. SLEMCO Solaron, LLC Entergy Louisiana, LLC (ELL) Cleco Power LLC Jefferson Davis Electric Cooperative, Inc. ("JDEC") Entergy Lousiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, LLC Entergy Louisiana, LLC Wilhite Solar Solutions LLC Northeast Louisiana Power Cooperative Inc. The Citizenre Corporation Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative, Inc. (WSTE) Solar Energy Supply Claiborne Electric Cooperative, Inc. Nu-Cell Technologies Louisiana Energy Users Group Louisiana Public Service Commission One Planet Solar & Wind LLC Freedom Power LLC Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) Jefferson Davis Electric Cooperative, Inc. Entergy Louisiana, LLC Dixie Electric Membership Corporation (DEMCO) Southwest Louisiana Electric Membership Corporation (SLEMCO) Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Louisiana LLC Gulf States Renewable Energy Industries Association Gulf South Solar SWEPCO Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives, Inc. (ALEC) DEMCO Byrd Energy Louisiana Tech University, Technology Business Development Center Performance Building Consulting Cleco Power, LLC South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association Wilderness Turf Farm, LLC Louisiana Solar Corp. Northeast Louisiana Power Cooperative, Inc. Joule-Energy Jefferson Davis Electric Cooperative, Inc. ("Jefferson Davis") Alliance for Affordable Energy Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives, Inc. ("ALEC") Southwest Louisiana Electric Membership Corp. (SLEMCO) Pointe Coupee Electric Membership Corporation Louisiana Generating Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, LLC (EGSL) Lite Solar, Corp Cleco Power LLC Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives, Inc. South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association (SLECA) Bannister Solar and Energy Solutions Panola-Harrison Electric Cooperative, Inc. Optimize Solar Beauregard Electric Cooperative, Inc.An engineer, who stumbles through the clouds of pepper spray. A doctor to be, who brings medicine and lemon juice, which is supposed to help limit the effects of tear gas. A teacher, who is filming everything with her camcorder. A foreign exchange student, who is there to experience the revolutionary atmosphere. A left-wing activist, who has been camping for days on Taksim Square in the heart of Istanbul, defending it against the police.
All kinds of people are demonstrating against the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Monday night marked just the latest gathering in Turkey's biggest city, part of the wave of protests that has spread across the country after a handful of people in Istanbul came out to prevent the destruction of a small park in the city. It has become a revolt. Hundreds, if not thousands, in Taksim Square have refused to go home and continue to brave the tear gas wafting through the streets. Though the situation has calmed down since the weekend, protesters remain behind their makeshift barricades, made of police barriers and whatever else they could find.
"We are staying until Tayyip goes and we have our freedom," says 24-year-old Balkan. He has taken a break from making films and now sees himself primarily as part of the resistance movement. Looking out at the people on the square, he says "they are all my friends."
The protesters are encouraged, convinced that they have won the first victory in their struggle against Turkey's most powerful man. The police have, at least for now, withdrawn from Taksim Square and Erdogan has been forced to admit that his response to the protests has not been without error. Furthermore, the Istanbul protests have been emulated in more than 40 other cities across the country, including the capital Ankara and the coastal metropolis Izmir. The whole world is now looking at the protests in Turkey.
Losing Touch
What they have seen is a brutal police response to the demonstrations, and one that has been sharply criticized by the European Union. The United States, too, has spoken of an "excessive use of force," and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has likewise given voice to concern.
The violence has been flaring up for days. In Istanbul, the most intense clashes have moved to the Besiktas quarter, while in Izmir, a building belonging to Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) was set on fire. Police action in Ankara has been notable for its violence. Doctors and human rights activists say that more than 1,700 people have been injured in the clashes, though Turkish officials have only confirmed 170 injuries. At least two people have been killed thus far.
Yet Erdogan has merely denounced the protesters as "plunderers" and "marauders" who are being controlled from abroad. They call him simply Tayyip, often combining it with a less-than-complimentary reference to his mother. After a decade with Erdogan as prime minister, many feel as though they know him. And now they want to make it clear that they no longer take him seriously. They don't see him as a proud statesman, rather as a raging leader who has lost touch with his people. They call him a "dictator" and a "fascist," and cover buildings with anti-Erdogan graffiti.
Many of them have begun dreaming of a "Turkish Spring" modeled afterl the Arab Spring revolts that shook North Africa in 2011. "The square belongs to us," says a computer specialist who has begun coming to the protests after work. Normally, the man in his early 50s is reserved and balanced. But at the demonstration on Monday night he was filled with the euphoria of revolt.
Still, it is much too early to speak of a movement. The nationwide protests show that Turkish society, despite the economic boom and increasing prosperity, has plenty of grievances when it comes to Erdogan's rule. The question, however, is how long those grievances will continue to propel people onto the streets.
'Not Giving Up Hope'
Or whether the protests will change anything at all. They are certainly larger than usual in Istanbul, a city which sees some form of demonstration almost every day. The variety of people marching against Erdogan is also striking -- old and young, men and women, right-wing and left-wing, Kurds and Kemalists. Even some AKP supporters have turned out.
But according to current surveys, were elections to be held now, Erdogan would still win. In the last election, he managed a huge majority of over 50 percent -- and even today he remains Turkey's most popular politician.
Instead, the demonstrations could be a sign that the divisions in the country are deepening. Pollsters have begun warning of a broad schism splitting Turkish society. Bekir Agirdir, head of the independent polling group KONDA, told the Wall Street Journal that Turkey is experiencing a "worrying polarization of identities" and that "this is a dangerous direction."
Among some of the demonstrators, however, resignation and exhaustion has begun eating away at the euphoria of recent days. "I am afraid that not much will change," says Canon E., 36, who works as an English teacher. "But we are not giving up hope."Save big on Assassin’s Creed Unity, Hohokum, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, more
As promised, we’ve a number of new additions to our January sale today, including the likes of Assassin’s Creed Unity, Hohokum, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, Tales of Xillia 2, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty and EA Sports UFC. Check out the full list of deals below!
All discounts run from 7th January 2015 until 21st January unless otherwise stated.
On a connected note, there will be no PlayStation Store post today. The only new updates this week are these discounts and the January PS Plus line-up, as detailed last week. Normal Store updates will resume on 14th January.
PS4
Assassin’s Creed Unity (discount ends 14th January 2015)
Was €69.99, now €49.99
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes
Was €29.99, now €9.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
EA Sports UFC
Was €69.99, now €24.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty
Was €20.99, now €10.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Outlast
Was €18.99, now €7.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Outlast: Whistleblower
Was €8.99, now €3.59
Just Dance 2015
Was €49.99, now €34.99
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
Was €39.99, now €14.49
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
The Golf Club
Was €34.99, now €14.49
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Daylight
Was €14.99, now €4.49
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Surgeon Simulator: Anniversary Edition
Was €10.99, now €4.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Styx: Master of Shadows
Was €29.99, now €12.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Hotline Miami
Was €9.99, now €2.99
Hohokum
Was €12.99, now €6.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
The Unfinished Swan
Was €12.99, now €6.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Terraria
Was €18.99, now €10.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Nidhogg
Was €14.49, now €6.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Defense Grid 2
Was €24.99, now 12.49
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Castlestorm Definitive Edition
Was €14.99, now €7.49
PS3
Assassin’s Creed Rogue
Was €59.99, now €39.99
Far Cry 3
Was €19.99, now €9.99
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes
Was €19.99, now €4.99
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z
Was €29.99, now €14.99
Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare
Was €29.99, now €12.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Tales of Graces f (Knight Edition)
Was €39.99, now €9.99
Tales of Graces f + Tales of Xillia (Combo Pack)
Was €44.99, now €14.99
Tales of Xillia (Discovery Edition)
Was €44.99, now €9.99
Tales of Xillia 2
Was €54.99, now €19.99
Slender: The Arrival
Was €9.99, now €4.99
Just Dance 2015
Was €39.99, now €29.99
Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord
Was €39.99, now €19.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F
Was €44.99, now €26.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Ratchet: Gladiator
Was €14.99, now €4.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
inFAMOUS Collection
Was €34.99, now €12.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Earth Defense Force 2025
Was €24.99, now €9.99
MotorStorm 3D Rift
Was €9.99, now €4.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
MotorStorm Apocalypse
Was €14.99, now €6.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
MotorStorm RC
Was €5.99, now €2.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Soulcalibur II HD Online
Was €19.99, now €4.99
Bayonetta
Was €14.99, now €3.99
Puppeteer
Was €19.99, now €6.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Lemmings
Was €4.99, now €2.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Vanquish
Was €14.99, now €3.99
PS Vita
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z
Was €29.99, now €12.49
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Was €39.99, now €14.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
MotorStorm RC
Was €5.99, now €2.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
Lemmings Touch
Was €9.99, now €4.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus members
CastleStorm Complete Edition
Was €14.99, now €7.99
Toukiden: The Age of Demons
Was €39.99, now €14.99
10% additional discount for PS Plus membersFrom IOP PUBLISHING and the “our way or the highway” department:
Global diet and farming methods ‘must change for environment’s sake’
Reducing meat consumption and using more efficient farming methods globally are essential to stave off irreversible damage to the environmental, a new study says.
The research, from the University of Minnesota, also found that future increases in agricultural sustainability are likely to be driven by dietary shifts and increases in efficiency, rather than changes between food production systems.
Researchers examined more than 740 production systems for more than 90 different types of food, to understand the links between diets, agricultural production practices and environmental degradation. Their results are published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Lead author Dr Michael Clark said: “If we want to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, but still provide a secure food supply for a growing global population, it is essential to understand how these things are linked.”
Using life cycle assessments – which detail the input, output and environmental impact of a food production system – the researchers analysed the comparative environmental impacts of different food production systems (e.g. conventional versus organic; grain-fed versus grass-fed beef; trawling versus non-trawling fisheries; and greenhouse-grown versus open-field produce), different agricultural input efficiencies (such as feed and fertilizer), and different foods.
The impacts they studied covered levels of land use, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), fossil fuel energy use, eutrophication (nutrient runoff) and acidification potential.
Dr Clark said: “Although high agricultural efficiency consistently correlated with lower environmental impacts, the detailed picture we found was extremely mixed. While organic systems used less energy, they had higher land use, did not offer benefits in GHGs, and tended to have higher eutrophication and acidification potential per unit of food produced. Grass-fed beef, meanwhile, tended to require more land and emit more GHGs than grain-fed beef.”
However, the authors note that these findings do not imply conventional practices are sustainable. Instead, they suggest that combining the benefits of different production systems, for example organic’s reduced reliance on chemicals with the high yields of conventional systems, would result in a more sustainable agricultural system.
Dr Clark said: “Interestingly, we also found that a shift away from ruminant meats like beef – which have impacts three to 10 times greater than other animal-based foods – towards nutritionally similar foods like pork, poultry or fish would have significant benefits, both for the environment and for human health.
“Larger dietary shifts, such as global adoption of low-meat or vegetarian diets, would offer even larger benefits to environmental sustainability and human health.”
Co-author Professor David Tilman said: “It’s essential we take action through policy and education to increase public adoption of low-impact and healthy foods, as well the adoption of low impact, high efficiency agricultural production systems.
“A lack of action would result in massive increases in agriculture’s environmental impacts including the clearing of 200 to 1000 million hectares of land for agricultural use, an approximately three-fold increase in fertilizer and pesticide applications, an 80 per cent increase in agricultural GHG emissions and a rapid rise in the prevalence of diet-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes.
Professor Tilman added: “The steps we have outlined, if adopted individually, offer large environmental benefits. Simultaneous adoption of these and other solutions, however, could prevent any increase in agriculture’s environmental impacts. We must make serious choices, before agricultural activities cause substantial, and potentially irreversible, environmental damage.”
###
The paper: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6cd5/meta;jsessionid=5EED19C983DCCF923E49456ACD271E2D.c1.iopscience.cld.iop.org
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RedditEminem unleashed a tirade against Donald Trump with a freestyle rap on the BET Hip Hop Awards on Tuesday.
The rapper skewered the President for his stance on immigration, the Alt Right, NFL, gun control and even natural disasters.
In his verbal jabs, the 44-year-old referenced his predecessor Barack Obama, who he gave 'props' to as a far better alternative to the 45th President of the US.
Scroll down for video...
Unloading: Eminem unleashed a tirade against Donald Trump with a freestyle rap on the BET Hip Hop Awards on Tuesday
He rhymed: 'But we better give Obama props/ Cause what we've got in office now's/ A kamikaze that'll probably cause a nuclear holocaust.'
Other choice barbs included: 'Plus he gets an enormous reaction/ When he attacks the NFL so we focus on that and/ Instead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada.'
'All these horrible tragedies and he's bored or would rather/ Cause a Twitter storm with the Packers.'
Not a fan: The rapper is clearly not a supporter of the President, seen here that same day at the White House
In his verbal jabs, the 44-year-old referenced his predecessor Barack Obama, who he gave 'props' to as a far better alternative to the 45th President of the US
He rhymed: 'But we better give Obama props/ Cause what we've got in office now's/ A kamikaze that'll probably cause a nuclear holocaust'
The Lose Yourself rapper also cited Trump's criticism of war hero Senator John McCain and athlete Colin Kaepernick.
He also referenced the white supremacist march in Charlottesville.
Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, concluded his rant by saying: 'And any fan of mine who's a supporter of his/ I'm drawing in the sand a line.
'You're either for or against/ And if you can't decide who you like more and you're split/ On who you should stand beside/ I'll do it for you with this.'Bitcoin Thomson Reuters Announces Ethereum Blockchain Plans
Various companies are looking for people with knowledge and expertise in the world of blockchain and distributed ledgers these days. Thomson Reuters, a company well-known for the intelligent information and solutions regarding global markets, is hiring an Ethereum blockchain developer for one of their mobile web projects. The blockchain industry keeps creating jobs all over the world by the look of things.
Also read: Wall of Coins Review: Good for Bitcoin Beginners, So-So for Veterans
Thomson Reuters Eyes Ethereum Blockchain
As big data plays an ever-increasing role of importance in the financial world, harnessing the information gathered in an intelligent way becomes much more sought after. Thomson Reuters is the leading source of intelligent information for professionals and businesses around the world, and they have taken an interest in embracing the blockchain for one of their mobile web solutions.
Combining innovative technology – such as distributed ledgers – with expertise in the financial industry will lead to some very exciting products and services down the line. With ties to all different aspects of the financial world – ranging from legal to account and risk to taxation – as well as media and science markets, Thomson Reuters is positioning itself as one of the frontrunners to embrace new solutions.
It comes as no surprise to hear this company is exploring various emerging technologies. Whether it is financial technology, virtual reality, blockchain, or cognitive computing, Thomson Reuters has a finger in all of it. All of this research and development is conduct through their Applied Innovation arm, who also create mobile platforms for the company and their external clients.
This is where a talented blockchain developer comes into the picture, as the company is currently hiring someone who wants to take on the task of designing and implementing complex distributed ledger solutions. Rather than look at the Bitcoin blockchain, however, Thomson Reuters clearly mentions the Ethereum distributed ledger technology on their job opportunity page.
But there is more to this job than integrating the Ethereum blockchain into existing solutions, as the new staff member will help create a platform and tools revolving around distributed ledgers as well. All in all, the job opportunity paves the way for contributing towards innovation and vision in the Thomson Reuters domain.
Blockchain Keeps Creating More Jobs
There is no denying the blockchain industry keeps creating more jobs all over the world. Now that prominent companies such as Thomson Reuters and even Visa are hiring blockchain experts; there is no better time than now to get acquainted with the concept of distributed ledgers.
Albeit most of these jobs will require blockchain experts to relocate, it will only be a matter of time until these jobs are accessible to remote workers as well. Team coordination can be done through mediums such as Skype or GoToMeeting, making communication a breeze. Considering how most people are in touch with remote officers around the world on a daily basis anyway, it shouldn’t take that much effort to set up remote worker jobs in the blockchain shortly.
What are your thoughts on Thomson Reuters looking for a blockchain developer? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Thomson Reuters
Images courtesy of Thomson Reuters, Shutterstock..
CHANGES ARE COMING —- faster and faster!!
It simply points out very probable changes that are in our future
Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come.
The Post Office. Get ready to imagine a world without the
post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is
probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.
2. The Check. Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.
3. The Newspaper. The younger generation simply doesn’t read the
newspaper. They certainly don’t subscribe to a daily delivered print
edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.
4. The Book. You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD.
But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can’t wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you’re holding a gadget instead of a book.
5. The Land Line Telephone. Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don’t need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they’ve always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes
6. Music. This is one of the saddest parts of the change story.
The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It’s the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is “catalog items,” meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, “Appetite for Self-Destruction” by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, “Before the Music Dies.”
7. Television. Revenues to the networks are down dramatically.
Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they’re playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It’s time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.
8. The “Things” That You Own. Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in “the cloud.” Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing.. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest “cloud services.” That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.
In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That’s the good news But, will you actually own any of this “stuff” or |
Absolutely," he said.
With a report from CTV VancouverIt was 20 years ago today, February 22nd, that Sierra On-line had officially shut down it’s doors in Oakhurst (California), laid off 150 of their employees, and those that were not laid off, and the other one third, were offered a position in the new Bellevue (Washington) office. This was all done by the new owners of Sierra On-line at the time, Havas, which had just purchase Sierra On-line from CUC software.
Ken Williams, former owner of Sierra On-Line had sent this letter to his (former) employees:
Dear former Sierra employees, Roberta and I wish to express our deepest sympathies for the recent loss of your jobs. Hopefully, it will not be long before you resume work at Sierra in Seattle, or at some other company… in Oakhurst, or elsewhere. According to tradition, I’m supposed to say something uplifting and motivational to help everyone feel better. Unfortunately, I have failed at this task. There is really nothing good that can be said. This is a sad ending to Sierra’s twenty-year operating history in Oakhurst, which at one time, represented over 550 Oakhurst-based employees. This story should have had a happy ending, but instead has had a long string of bad news concluding with the shutdown yesterday of all of Sierra’s Oakhurst-based product development activities. The problems began with the move of corporate to Seattle. The move to Seattle was mandated for several reasons, primarily due to the difficulty we were having recruiting senior management staff and software engineers. The relocation, although it was painful for Oakhurst, was instrumental in our tremendous growth from 1993 through 1996. I remain convinced that this relocation was the right decision for Sierra, and that we would not have prospered without it. I can’t say the same about either the sale of The ImagiNation Network (INN) in 1993, or the sale of Sierra itself in 1996. When Sierra started INN in 1991, it was a decade ahead of its time. After investing millions in INN, Sierra found that it did not have the financial resources to support INN’s continued operations. In 1993, AT&T sought aggressively to acquire INN, promising to market the service and grow the company. Unfortunately, AT&T lost interest in INN and sold it to AOL, who to my great disappointment, shut INN down. Sierra, as you know, was purchased by CUC International in 1996. Because CUC was offering to buy the company at a price roughly 90% higher than it was trading, the decision was out of management’s hands. At the time of the purchase, we did believe that through consolidation with several Sierra competitors (Blizzard, Knowledge Adventure, Davidson and others), Sierra would become a much stronger company. We had good reason to believe that the acquisition would cause us to grow faster, not shrink. Unfortunately, CUC elected to transfer control of the company to Davidson, and shut down several groups at Sierra. Later, as we all know, CUC was merged with another company, HFS, to form the Cendant corporation, with roughly 12,000 employees. A few months after this merger it was discovered that someone, or possibly some group of people, within the former CUC organization had been fraudulently preparing financial statements. The actions of this handful of people, who shall hopefully get their due, caused the plunge in Cendant’s stock price, and wiped out the net worth of many HFS and CUC employees, including many of you, as well as much of my own. Cendant was sued by its shareholders, CUC’s former management team was terminated and the decision was made to sell the software business. It should surprise no one that morale suffered through all of this anarchy, and although I have not seen Sierra’s financials for several years, my assumption is that the recent consolidation of operations is driven by a quest for restored profitability and stability. If this story were written as a book, the publisher might seek to classify it as “Fantasy”, “Science Fiction” or even “Horror”. It is much too outrageous to be true. But the bad news is that these events really did happen. I console myself in the following way, and perhaps it will help you to cope with what has occurred. Let’s imagine that a stranger had walked up to any of us, on the street, in 1979, and said: “Would you like to move to one of the greatest cities on earth? While you are there, you can play a key role in creating a company that just about everyone will know and respect. Your grandchildren will be amazed when they learn that you once worked there. You will be the envy of your peers, because they will know that your team created the largest collection of hits ever to come from one company. There will even be years when you will have played a role in over half the products on the industries top ten lists! You will be surrounded by incredibly intelligent, hard working people, who will work 20+ hours per day when it takes it to get the job done. And, you will have more fun than you ever thought possible. There’s only one catch though. This will only last for twenty years.” Even knowing it wouldn’t last forever I would have followed that stranger anywhere. I’m disappointed that it didn’t last forever, but, a 20 year ride on the greatest roller coaster on earth beats the heck out of life in the slow lane any day. Life may never be the same, but it also isn’t over, and we all have some great memories we shall never forget. Good luck, and I miss you all.
On February 25th, 1999 – Josh Mandel also wrote a Sierra Eulogy…
On Monday, the last vestige of the original Sierra On-Line was laid to rest in Oakhurst, California. That branch, renamed “Yosemite Entertainment,” was shuttered on Monday, February 22nd, putting most of its 125+ employees out of work. You may not care for what Sierra has become since the days when dozens of unpretentious parser-driven graphic adventures flowed, seemingly effortlessly, out of Oakhurst. But there’s no denying that, back then, Sierra On-Line was the life’s blood of the adventure game industry. Maybe the games were a little more rough-hewn than those of its competitors–not that there were many competitors at that point. But Sierra kept adventure gamers happy and fed, gamers who would’ve otherwise starved to death on the arguably more polished, but frustratingly infrequent, releases of Lucasfilm Games (as they were once called). Sierra alone grew the industry in other ways, too. It was Ken Williams who, almost single-handedly, created the market for PC sound hardware by vigorously educating the public to the AdLib card and, shortly thereafter, the breathtaking Roland MT-32. He supported those cards in style while other publishers wanted nothing to do with them. It was Corey and Lori Cole who invented the first true hybrid, replayable adventure/RPG. It was Christy Marx’s lump-in-the-throat ending to Conquest of Camelot that reminded us that not every computer game had to have a group hug at the end. It was Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy who made us want to kill off our onscreen alter ego, to see what inventive, gooey death had been anticipated for us. It was Roberta, before anyone else, who invented strong female heroines. It was Al Lowe, bringing up the rear (literally and figuratively) by creating Leisure Suit Larry, the most popular, pirated game of its decade. We knew this because we sold far more Larry hint books than we sold of the actual software. It was the Sierra News Magazine (later InterAction) that let us feel like we knew the people making these games, that they were a family-run business, staffed by people who lived an isolated life, surrounding by idyllic, ageless beauty and creating games that were a labor of love. That was, at least for awhile, an accurate picture. This was a family we wanted to feel a part of, for good reason, and people came from thousands of miles away to take a tour and see how real it all was. But what makes the closure of Sierra On-Line’s Oakhurst facility (recently renamed “Yosemite Entertainment”) a bigger, sadder event than most game company closures–including the far larger decimation of 500 Broderbund employees–is that this was not just a game company, this was a community. Oakhurst is barely a dust mite on the mattress of America. It existed, for a long time, as a miniscule stopover for tourists on their way to and from Yosemite National Park. As recently as 1991, the mountain-bound town had not a single stoplight, just one grocery store, a single-screen movie theater, and one video rental store. There is no broadcast television (the mountains block it all). The nearest larger town is Fresno, 45 miles distant over the mountains. In severe snowstorms, the town is virtually cut off from the world. And the cable company there is still so provincial, so disdainful of outside influence, that there is no MTV offered, no Nickelodeon (or any MTV-owned stations), nothing to disturb the elderly farmer-types have been the chief population since the Gold Rush days. Sierra was the second-largest employer in town (the phone company being the largest). Thus, the people of Sierra did not simply work together as they do in most of the country. These people are families, roommates, and neighbors. The person who works in the cubicle next to you may be your girl or boyfriend, your spouse, your landlord. He/she may well have been in your wedding party, and may have driven you 45 miles to the hospital when you were sick (how else could you have gotten there?). Secrets never stayed secret for long; divorces, trysts, and personal traumas all were public knowledge. People at Sierra weren’t just working together, they were living together. Now their lease has expired and the family will all at once be scattered. The town has grown somewhat. The theater is now a multiplex, but Rusty still gives you his unabashed opinion of each film on the recording when you call for the movie times. There are several stoplights in town now. There are several supermarkets, more hotels, and the infamous “Talking Bear” has undergone a recent facelift. But the town still revolves around Sierra and tourism. And tourism may not be enough to support the town, at least in the winters when much of Yosemite (“the park” in local vernacular) is closed. With Yosemite Entertainment gone, not only are more than a hundred people out of work (some of whom are fabulously talented), but an entire community has been wiped out with the stroke of a pen. It will be morbidly interesting to see whether or not Oakhurst’s economy can bear up under the mass exodus that will result. Some may argue that Sierra lives on in Bellevue, Washington, where Al Lowe, Jane Jensen, Roberta Williams, Mark Seibert, and a handful of Oakhurst refugees still labor diligently on games side-by-side with scores of newer talent. But games like KQ:MoE and LSL7 have a distinctly different flavor than the seat-of-the-pants, funny, touching adventures that Oakhurst once produced. They are commercial. Invariably, in a company that grows the way Sierra grew, innovation gives way to emulation. Whereas Sierra’s management once strove to make it solid, profitable, and yet fun, they now strive to dominate other companies, force annual growth in the double digits, and (like so many other companies) cut jobs mercilessly to improve the bottom line and thrill the stockholders. Yet the Ghost of Sierra Past still walked the halls in Oakhurst. The rooms were adorned with the art of glories past, the artists and programmers who helped to create those glories were, in fair measure, still living and working there. Now that spirit has been exorcised by scrubbed, glad-handing executives who don’t know, or don’t care, what those artists and programmers could do when they were motivated and well-managed. People, living and working closely together in the pursuit of shared joy, were what made Sierra games great. Thank you, Ken, for creating something utterly unique, something warm, fun and beautiful. Damn you, Ken, for allowing others to tear it down. Whether you were a Sierra fan or not, we are all diminished by the loss of history, talent, and continuity within the gaming industry. Rest in peace, Sierra On-Line.
Chainsaw Monday even made it onto the news…
Needless to say Sierra had a tremendous impact on me as well…
Christopher Smith shared this with me:
It goes right up there, along the lines of The Hobbit and Star Wars in regards to how big of an impact it had on me. The same way The Hobbit opened my eyes to the world of fantasy (back in the 4th grade), the way Star Wars opened my eyes to science fiction on the big screen, Sierra On-Line opened my eyes to the story telling and the 3D adventures, that made me want to work at Sierra.
The video above goes into detail about most of those things…
The Death of Sierra On-Line is one I still mourn to this very day.
20 years later.
As evidenced by this Leisure Suit Larry fan page, and my activity (and co-admin) of the Sierra Help forums.
I want to thank Ken & Roberta Williams, Al Lowe, Jim Walls, Lori & Corey Cole, Christy Marx, Bridget McKenna, Scott Murphy, Mark Crowe, Ken Allen, Jane Jensen, plus the assortment of other creators, employees in every regard who helped create, mold and shape my creativity and help become who I am – which I think, turned out all right.
All my love to you all.
– TawmisBy Fio Borrelli
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
Once again flying under the radar, Eminem has overtaken the rap game with consistent music. After fading away, following a solid 2010-2011 run, Eminem returned in 2013. He delivered The Marshall Mathers LP 2 and Shady XV in consecutive years.
The 2014 release from Eminem was a compilation album intended to introduce the Shady Records members. Outside of this, the Detroit emcee has done collaborations with several other artists. But, rumor has it, he is looking to drop another album in 2015.
If Eminem does, indeed release an album in 2015, it will be the first time in his career where he dropped albums in three consecutive calendar years. Rumor has it, Eminem will release a new album this year, called Roots, complete with features from Xzibit and Dr. Dre. The announcement will supposedly be made during the upcoming Grammy festivities.
Follow Fio Borrelli on Twitter @Cali_Soul.Who’s been the best driver so far in the 2017 season? Read on for F1 Fanatic’s verdict on the top four.
4. Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas Beat team mate in qualifying 5/11 Beat team mate in race 5/10 Races finished 10/11 Laps spent ahead of team mate 306/651 Qualifying margin +0.05 Points 169
For Mercedes, installating Valtteri Bottas in place of Nico Rosberg has been as smooth a transition as they could have hoped for given the abruptness with which the world champion quit the sport at the end of last year.
Bottas took just three races to score his first pole position and one more to win a race. He’s since followed that up with another win and lies just 19 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the world championship. He is clearly a title contender.
The newcomer has been impressively close to Hamilton as the scoreline shows. He’s also suffered the team’s only race-ending technical failure so far, which likely cost him 15 points, which would make his championship position even stronger.
Aside from a silly mistake behind the Safety Car in China he’s been hard to fault so far. He may not have hit the same consistent heights has Hamilton, but nor has he had any of his team mate’s Monaco-style disasters either.
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3. Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen Beat team mate in qualifying 7/11 Beat team mate in race 2/3 Races finished 6/11 Laps spent ahead of team mate 185/249 Qualifying margin -0.43 Points 67
Clearly Max Verstappen deserves to be much higher in the championship standings than sixth. All five of his retirements were out of his control: his car has broken down three times and he was collected by other drivers in Spain and Austria.
When his car has kept going, Verstappen has been a joy to watch. In China, when his engine let him down in qualifying, he scythed his way past nine cars on the first lap, then passed Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo on his way to the podium.
No one would have suspected at the time that he would fail to stand on the podium again before the summer break. But those misfortunes means he’s raced fewer laps than any full-season driver so far. Azerbaijan wasn’t just a missed podium opportunity: he was running ahead of Daniel Ricciardo when his RB17 gave up and can reasonably consider this a lost win.
His car did keep going at Silverstone where he brilliantly kept Sebastian Vettel at bay, prompting the Ferrari driver to make a risky strategy decision. Hungary was a significant slip-up, however: he compromised his own race and ended his team mate’s with a careless move at the start. It was a rare example of Verstappen making the kind of error his detractors insist he makes all the time.
2. Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton Beat team mate in qualifying 6/11 Beat team mate in race 5/10 Races finished 11/11 Laps spent ahead of team mate 345/651 Qualifying margin -0.05 Points 188
It seems as if Hamilton is digging that bit deeper this year. Faced with a new threat in the form of a rejuvenated Ferrari, his drives at Shanghai and Silverstone were real top-drawer stuff.
But he and Bottas have found the Mercedes W08 to be a finicky beast which requires careful work to get the most out of. He slipped up badly with it in Monaco and failed to make the cut for Q3, consigning him to a wasted weekend.
That wasn’t the only time Bottas has been ahead of him but Hamilton has usually been able to assert himself, often through tremendous qualifying performances which have allowed him to start most races from a position of strength.
The upshot of this has been that, as has been the case for much of his time at Mercedes, we’ve had little opportunity to see Hamilton get his elbows out and fight for position, which is when he’s often at his best.
1. Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel Beat team mate in qualifying 8/11 Beat team mate in race 9/10 Races finished 11/11 Laps spent ahead of team mate 439/608 Qualifying margin -0.2 Points 202
On the strength of his performance over the first half of 2017, Sebastian Vettel has demonstrated he is definitely capable of winning a fifth world championship title. But he’s going to have a fight on his hands.
The Ferrari SF70H has only been a more competitive proposition than the Mercedes W08 on a minority of tracks. Away from those venues it has the virtue of being a more forgiving beast than the silver car, one which Vettel has repeatedly wielded to great effect to minimise any points losses.
He came from behind to win in Australia and Bahrain, and ran the lead Mercedes close in Russia, Spain and Austria. However he couldn’t dislodge Verstappen from second on the road at Silverstone and his early pit stop proved a gamble too far. He bounced back in Hungary, coping with wonky steering for much of the race.
Crucially, Vettel has finished ahead of Hamilton seven times to four. Of course that scoreline would read six-five had it not been for Hamilton’s misfortune in Azerbaijan. Vettel was extraordinarily fortunate that his punishment for a reckless piece of deliberate contact was lenient enough that he still finished ahead of his delayed rival. That moment of madness has been his only significant slip-up so far.
Over to you
Do you agree Vettel has been the best driver so far in 2017? Which drivers deserve to be higher or lower in this ranking?
Have your say in the comments."Our Home." is a work of fiction that explores themes of escapism, self-determination, and the importance of deciding one's own path in life. What is important to you, and what do you wish to protect? What is home? Is it an idea, or a place to go?
Emily Westenson is the oldest daughter in her family. Faced with mounting responsibilities and stress, a family tearing itself apart, and a sense of drive and creativity that have all but vanished from her, Emily faces each day with cynicism and exhaustion. Is this the way it has to be? Does she have to go it alone?
Presented by a team of about 30 collaborating visual novel creators for NaNoRenO 2017 in a month's time, "Our Home." draws on challenges close to the heart of the creative soul. It explores mature subject matter, mixing wit, drama, romance, and heart.
FEATURES
-A story over 70k words long. An involved and deep reading experience
-Branching narratives and difficult decisions to make
-11 endings. Will you find love? Get your dream job? Make your dreams a reality?
-About 1.5k lines of fully voiced dialogue
-An evolving project that will be updated over time after its initial release
UPDATESThis was back in January, before Michael Vick was a Jet, before seven turnovers in four games from Geno Smith and a few weeks after the 2013 Jets’ season ended with optimism.
I asked a senior Jets official about what the team would do at quarterback.
“We have no choice,” he said. “We have to ride this thing out with Geno.”
The point then was the Jets felt they had to figure out who Geno Smith is — another failure in the Jets’ four-decade quest to replace Joe Namath or the guy who could lead this team for the next 10 years. The Jets felt the results from 2013 were inconclusive and they needed to see more.
They went into the 2014 offseason committed to Smith, even as they signed Vick. The Jets informed Vick up front he was not going to compete for the starting job, despite general manager John Idzik’s public “competition” propaganda. This was always going to be Smith’s team.
The Jets can’t abandon that now.
The calls for Vick from fans and talk-show hosts are understandable, but misguided. Vick is not going to cure this football team’s problems. Is he worth one more victory? Probably. More than that? Doubtful.
People have this image of Vick from 10 years ago. He’s not that quarterback anymore. Vick showed very little in this offseason and preseason. Everyone is acting as if the Jets have Peyton Manning on the bench and inserting him into the game will solve the turnover issue.
You might forget that Vick has his own turnover issues — 52 career fumbles and 85 career interceptions. He has a career completion percentage of 56.2.
The Jets need to stay the course and stick with Smith. He may not be the long-term answer, but there is a better chance he is than the 34-year-old Vick will be.
Everyone seems to feel Rex Ryan is going to lose his job by sticking with Smith. You know how he can save it? Get his defense to help the quarterback out. Ryan loves to talk about his defense. It’s time that unit raises its game and carries this team while Smith figures things out.
When you take a step back and actually look at how the Jets played, it’s not as bad as it feels. They have lost these three games by seven, eight and seven points. They have been in every game.
The defense has given up a momentum-crushing drive in each game in the three-game losing streak. The Packers went 97 yards for a touchdown just before halftime to cut the Jets’ lead to five. The Bears marched 80 yards for a touchdown on their first second-half drive to turn a 17-13 game into 24-13. Then, this week the Lions went 90 yards in the second half to make it a two-touchdown game again.
And how about an interception, defense? The Jets and Rob Ryan’s Saints are the only defenses in the NFL without one.
The Jets know the formula with a young quarterback as well as anyone. They lived it a short time ago with Mark Sanchez. When the Jets were at their best with Sanchez, they played top-notch defense and had an effective running game. Ryan must convince Marty Mornhinweg to stick with the run. Smith has thrown more than 30 passes in each of the three losses. The Jets are 3-7 in Smith’s career when he has thrown 30 or more passes. The Jets can say they were losing and forced to pass, but none of this year’s games has been a desperate, out-of-reach situation in which they had to abandon the run.
As bad as the season feels right now after three losses and staring at Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, the Jets are only one game out in the dismal AFC East. The Patriots are a mess right now. The Bills are starting Kyle Orton at quarterback. The Dolphins look like their usual mediocre selves.
The Jets have the 11th-ranked offense in the NFL right now and the third-ranked defense. They should be better than 1-3. You don’t have to be Bill Walsh to figure out why they’re not. The minus-six turnover differential is tied for the worst in the league and the Jets are 30th both in red-zone offense and red-zone defense.
Clean those areas up, and the Jets will be OK. But panicking before the calendar even hits October is never the answer in the NFL.
The Jets decided to “ride this thing out with Geno” in January. They need to keep riding now.Select a date Select month July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 Select a category Agriculture Bihar Votes For Its (and India’s) Future BUDGET 2014 Budget 2015: Modi’s Moment of Reckoning Budget 2016: The stories behind the numbers Chart of the Day Climate Change Cover Story Currency Chaos Development Education Elections 2014 Employment Fact Check Governance Newsletter Health homepage video Hunger India’s Great Challenge: Health & Sanitation IndiaSpend In The News IndiaSpend Interviews Industry Investigations Central State Latest Headlines Latest Reports Making Sense of Breaking News Modi’s Message: India’s States Reply Modi’s Report Card Mumbai Special Mumbai Special: The Revival Agenda Opinion – Videos Opinions Pollution Poverty Prime Time: India’s Grand Challenges Resources Central State Sectors Agriculture Defence Economy & Policy Education Health Infrastructure Snapshots States Central India Chattisgarh Madhya Pradesh EAST Bihar Jharkhand Orissa West Bengal NORTH Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir New Delhi Punjab Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand NORTH EAST Arunachal Pradesh Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura SOUTH Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu WEST Goa Gujarat Maharashtra Story In A Minute The Air We #Breathe The Road To Delhi: Elections 2015 The Transition: 2015-2016 Uncategorized Viznomics: A Quick Glance At Big Issues Welfare Women Women@Work Search with Google
Members of All India Students Association (AISA) shout slogans as they hold placards during a protest outside police headquarters in New Delhi, India, October 18, 2015.
The number of rapes reported each year in Delhi has more than tripled over the last five years, registering an increase of 277% from 572 in 2011 to 2,155 in 2016, according to data released recently by the Delhi Police.
The year after the Nirbhaya incident—in which a 23-year-old paramedical student was raped by a group of men in a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012—saw a 132% spike in the number of cases reported, with a sustained 32% increase thereafter, from 1,636 cases in 2013 to 2,155 in 2016.
Cases pertaining to “assault on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty” (under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code) have increased by 473% from 727 in 2012 to 4,165 in 2016.
Government initiatives to ensure the safety of women–such as this National Vehicle Security and Tracking System and setting up of women’s helplines—have failed to effect a measurable drop in the number of reports of rape and other sex-related crimes.
At the same time, funds allocated for improving safety of women in public transport have been underutilised for years on end, as this ministerial reply in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) indicates.
Continuing horror
The first five months of 2017 saw 836 rape cases being reported to the police.
The figure does not quite capture the continuing horror that women in the National
Capital Region (NCR) face. In the 48 hours from June 19, 2017, for instance, five rape incidents were recorded. In addition to these, a 24-year-old woman was raped in a car parked outside a mall in Delhi on June 20, 2017, and another in which a 26-year-old woman was gangraped in a moving car on the outskirts of Delhi.
In 2015, the latest year for which National Crime Records Bureau data are available, the NCR region reported 3,430 rape cases, of which the Union Territory (UT) of Delhi alone reported 64%.
Source: National Crimes Record Bureau
The other most commonly reported crimes against women in Delhi are cruelty by the husband and the in-laws, kidnapping, and “insult to the modesty of women”.
Crimes covered under “assault on woman with intent to outrage her modesty” include relatively more serious crimes such as ‘sexual harassment’, ‘assault or use of criminal force to women with intent to disrobe,’ ‘voyeurism’ and ‘stalking.’
“Insult to modesty of women” covers sexually-motivated comments or gestures in a place of work, on public transport, and so on.
Why reporting of incidents has increased
The number of rapes reported each year in Delhi, as we said, rose 277% from 572 in 2011 to 2,155 in 2016, according to Delhi Police data.
Source: Delhi Police *Figures up to May 31, 2017
The rise in the number of cases does not necessarily imply an increase in the number of rapes; it can mean greater willingness on the part of survivors to approach the authorities, as well as a greater propensity among police officials to register complaints.
One government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IndiaSpend that the rise in the number of reported rapes is due to advisories issued by the government and the Supreme Court of India that action would be taken against police personnel who fail to register a First Information Report (FIR) for rape and other cognisable offences.
Anant Kumar Asthana, a Delhi-based activist and lawyer, agreed: “Reporting of sexual offenses against women has gone up with stricter implementation of laws like Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, and the [enactment of the] Criminal Law Amendment Act 2013.”
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, obligates citizens to lodge complaints of sexual offences against children.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act, popularly known as the Nirbhaya Act, came into force on April 2, 2013, and inserted a provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure to make it mandatory for criminal complaints of a sexual nature to be recorded by women police officers, and prescribes rigorous imprisonment of between six months and two years in addition to a monetary penalty for a public servant who fails to register a complaint of a cognisable offence.
“With more stringent laws being passed, public awareness being created, and the media reporting more cases of sexual assault, reporting of cases has increased, but this is still far from being representative of the number of cases that occur,” Preethi Pinto, Program Coordinator on Prevention of Violence against Women and Children at Mumbai-based SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action) told IndiaSpend.
Only 50% of all crimes are reported, and only half of these are registered as FIRs, a 2015 public survey entitled ‘Crime Victimisation and Safety Perception’ conducted by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) among households in Delhi and Mumbai, found.
CHRI estimated that one in 13 cases of sexual harassment were reported in Delhi.
At the same time, a comparison of Delhi Police reports from 2014 and 2015 reveals a rising trend in the number of rape cases withdrawn, from 81 to 104, possibly indicating a lack of faith in the criminal-justice system, especially as cases fail judicial scrutiny, IndiaSpend reported on August 12, 2016.
Conviction rate remains low
Meanwhile, the conviction rate for rape in Delhi, though better than the all-India average (see Table 2), dipped to 29.7% in 2015, the latest year for which data are available from the National Crime Records Bureau.
Across India, one in four rape trials leads to conviction, as IndiaSpend reported on March 9, 2015.
Source: National Crime Records Bureau; Figures in percentage
“Declining conviction rate in rape cases ordinarily means lesser number of registered cases could be proved in court and this gives rise to the suspicion that maybe false cases are also being registered,” Asthana said, “But it could also mean that police is not able to do good investigations or that victims are not getting quality legal representation during trial. Whatever may be the reason, declining conviction causes concern and must be examined for possible reasons.”
Government initiatives falter
After the Nirbhaya incident, the Delhi Police set up 161 help-desks staffed by female officers, and announced that 70% of female officers would report for over eight-hour shifts each day, according to 2014 Bureau of Police Research and Development study on national police working conditions. However, those who deal with these help-desks question their competence, IndiaSpend reported on August 12, 2016.
In 2013, the Ministry of Finance announced it would set up a Rs 1,000-crore ($156 million) Nirbhaya Fund to drive initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety of women in the country.
Thus far an amount of Rs 3,100 crore has been allocated, according to the government’s reply to the Rajya Sabha (upper house of parliament) on April 6, 2017. As many as 16 proposals amounting to Rs 2,348.850 crore have been received, of which 15 amounting to Rs 2,047.85 crore have been approved.
Sources: Rajya Sabha; Figures in Rs Crore
The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has initiated three schemes
under the Nirbhaya Fund—One Stop Centre (OSC) for women affected by violence, under which 84 centres are currently operational; Universalization of Women Helpline, under which 18 states and UTs have set up helplines; and Mahila Police Volunteer (MPV), whose pilots are currently running in several states.
Due to intense public scrutiny, the ministry issued a clarification on January 27, 2017, enumerating the various schemes being run by various ministries under Nirbhaya Fund. However, it made no mention of funds utilized or spent on these schemes individually, although an overall allocation of Rs 1,530 crore and an estimated expenditure incurred of Rs 400 crore was cited.
In a May 26, 2016, order, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to formulate a national policy for providing relief to rape survivors, saying the Nirbhaya Fund amounted to “just paying a lip service”.
Despite the initiatives under Nirbhaya Fund, crime against women continues unabated, amicus curiae and senior advocate Indira Jaising told the Supreme Court, The Hindu reported on February 7, 2017. “What is the purpose of having a fund when it does not reach the needy hands. It is hardly utilized and the only purpose it appears to have been used is setting up of ‘one stop crisis centres’ in different states,” Jaising said.
‘Societal attitudes must change’
Crime statistics from Delhi support this contention. Yet, laws and policing alone
cannot prevent crimes of a sexual nature.
“Preventing sexual assault is a long-term process and the most important way to do so, is to change individuals’ and society’s attitudes and behaviour. Stringent implementation of laws and strict policing will help, but the real change will come when abusers and rapists are consistently convicted for their crimes, survivors are not doubted, judged or shamed,” Pinto said.
Pinto emphasized the need to change societal attitudes by instilling healthy notions of gender equality and masculinity among children, and removing unhealthy underpinn |
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NOTE:
Older models such as the E36 can be found in the Classic section.The Problem:
Let's face it: America, as a nation, is so fat we can't even get insulted by the jokes other countries make about our moms. Of course her belt is the equator. How else would she keep her pants from falling down?
Getty
If we could cut down on the Midwest we might finally be able to draw our Bible belt in a few notches.
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Along with obesity comes diabetes, a bitch of a disease that basically stops us from eating what we want... or else. Today, diabetes is as big a part of America as apple pie and baseball, and it's not shy about showing it: According to this 2008 article, old 'beetus costs us a whopping $174 billion a year, every year. For reference, the utter carnage that was Hurricane Katrina cost us a grand total of $150 billion, and at least it had the decency to only happen once.
Photos.com
That's more than the entire 2010 Air Force budget.
One of the biggest things to prevent the "or else" effects of diabetes from happening, thus wrecking our wallets and health, is monitoring the blood glucose level of patients. But this requires you to lug around one of those glucose meters, and punch a hole in your skin to draw a tiny blood sample every time.
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The Sci-Fi Solution:
What if you had the meter always with you, and it made you look badass to boot? The researchers at MIT asked themselves this question and, somehow, came up with a solution with that rarest demographic of all, the health-conscious biker, in mind. Yes, we're talking about goddamn tattoos here, and yes, they will monitor your blood for you.In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful.
1. Mankind’s reckoning has drawn near, but they turn away heedlessly.
2. No fresh reminder comes to them from their Lord, but they listen to it playfully.
3. Their hearts distracted, the wrongdoers confer secretly, “Is this anything but a mortal like you? Will you take to sorcery, with open-eyes?”
4. He said, “My Lord knows what is said in the heaven and the earth; and He is the Hearer, the Knower.”
5. And they said, “A jumble of dreams,” and, “He made it up,” and, “He is a poet,” “let him bring us a sign, like those sent to the ancients.”
6. None of the towns We destroyed before them had believed. Will they, then, be-lieve?
7. We did not send before you except men, whom We inspired. Ask the people of knowledge, if you do not know.
8. And We did not make them mere bod-ies that ate no food, nor were they immor-tal.
9. Then We fulfilled Our promise to them, and We saved them together with whom-ever We willed, and We destroyed the ex-travagant.
10. We have sent down to you a Book, con-taining your message. Do you not under-stand?
11. How many a guilty town have We crushed, and established thereafter anoth-er people?
12. Then, when they sensed Our might, they started running away from it.
13. Do not run, but come back to your lux-uries, and to your homes, that you may be questioned.
14. They said, “Woe to us. We were un-fair.”
15. This continued to be their cry, until We made them silent ashes.
16. We did not create the sky and the earth and what is between them for amusement.
17. If We wanted amusement, We could have found it within Us, were We to do so.
18. In fact, We hurl the truth against false-hood, and it crushes it, so it vanishes. Woe unto you, for what you describe.
19. To Him belongs everyone in the heav-ens and the earth. Those near Him are not too proud to worship Him, nor do they waver.
20. They praise night and day, without ever tiring.
21. Or have they taken to themselves gods from the earth who resurrect?
22. If there were in them gods other than God, they would have gone to ruin. So glory be to God, Lord of the Throne, be-yond what they allege.
23. He will not be questioned about what He does, but they will be questioned.
24. Or have they taken, besides Him, other gods? Say, “Bring your proof. This is a message for those with me, and a message of those before me.” But most of them do not know the truth, so they turn away.
25. We never sent a messenger before you without inspiring him that: “There is no god but I, so worship Me.”
26. And they say, “The Most Merciful has taken to himself a son.” Be He glorified; they are but honored servants.
27. They never speak before He has spo-ken, and they only act on His command.
28. He knows what is before them, and what is behind them; and they do not in-tercede except for him whom He ap-proves; and they tremble in awe of Him.
29. And whoever of them says, “I am a god besides Him,” We will reward him with Hell. Thus We reward the wrongdoers.
30. Do the disbelievers not see that the heavens and the earth were one mass, and We tore them apart? And We made from water every living thing. Will they not be-lieve?
31. And We placed on earth stabilizers, lest it sways with them, and We placed therein signposts and passages, that they may be guided.
32. And We made the sky a protected ceil-ing; yet they turn away from its wonders.
33. It is He who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon; each float-ing in an orbit.
34. We did not grant immortality to any human being before you. Should you die, are they then the immortal?
35. Every soul will taste death. We burden you with adversity and prosperity—a test. And to Us you will be returned.
36. When those who disbelieve see you, they treat you only with ridicule, “Is this the one who mentions your gods?” And they reject the mention of the Merciful.
37. The human being was created of haste. I will show you My signs, so do not seek to rush Me.
38. And they say, “When will this promise come true, if you are truthful?”
39. If those who disbelieve only knew, when they cannot keep the fire off their faces and off their backs, and they will not be helped.
40. In fact, it will come upon them sudden-ly, and bewilder them. They will not be able to repel it, and they will not be re-prieved.
41. Messengers before you were also ridi-culed, but those who jeered were sur-rounded by what they had ridiculed.
42. Say, “Who guards you against the Mer-ciful by night and by day?” But they turn away from the mention of their Lord.
43. Or do they have gods who can defend them against Us? They cannot help them-selves, nor will they be protected from Us.
44. We have given these enjoyments, and their ancestors, until time grew long upon them. Do they not see how We gradually reduce the land from its extremities? Are they then the victors?
45. Say, “I am warning you through inspi-ration.” But the deaf cannot hear the call when they are being warned.
46. And when a breath of your Lord’s pun-ishment touches them, they say, “Woe to us, we were truly wicked.”
47. We will set up the scales of justice for the Day of Resurrection, so that no soul will suffer the least injustice. And even if it be the weight of a mustard-seed, We will bring it up. Sufficient are We as Reckon-ers.
48. We gave Moses and Aaron the Criteri-on, and illumination, and a reminder for the righteous.
49. Those who fear their Lord in private, and are apprehensive of the Hour.
50. This too is a blessed message that We have revealed. Are you going to deny it?
51. We gave Abraham his integrity former-ly, and We knew him well.
52. When he said to his father and his peo-ple, “What are these statues to which you are devoted?”
53. They said, “We found our parents wor-shiping them.”
54. He said, “You and your parents are in evident error.”
55. They said, “Are you telling us the truth, or are you just playing?”
56. He said, “Your Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the One who creat-ed them, and I bear witness to that.
57. “By God, I will have a plan for your statues after you have gone away.”
58. So he reduced them into pieces, except for their biggest, that they may return to it.
59. They said, “Who did this to our gods? He is certainly one of the wrongdoers.”
60. They said, “We heard a youth mention-ing them. He is called Abraham.”
61. They said, “Bring him before the eyes of the people, so that they may witness.”
62. They said, “Are you the one who did this to our gods, O Abraham?”
63. He said, “No. It was this biggest of them that did it. Ask them, if they can speak.”
64. Then they turned to one another, and said, “You yourselves are the wrongdoers.”
65. But they reverted to their old ideas: “You certainly know that these do not speak.”
66. He said, “Do you worship, instead of God, what can neither benefit you in any-thing, nor harm you?
67. Fie on you, and on what you worship instead of God. Do you not understand?”
68. They said, “Burn him and support your gods, if you are going to act.”
69. We said, “O fire, be coolness and safety upon Abraham.”
70. They planned to harm him, but We made them the worst losers.
71. And We delivered him, and Lot, to the land that We blessed for all people.
72. And We granted him Isaac and Jacob as a gift; and each We made righteous.
73. And We made them leaders, guiding by Our command; and We inspired them to do good works, and to observe the prayer, and to give out charity. They were devoted servants to Us.
74. And Lot—We gave him judgment and knowledge, and We delivered him from the town that practiced the abominations. They were wicked and perverted people.
75. And We admitted him into Our mercy; for He was one of the righteous.
76. And Noah, when he called before. So We answered him, and delivered him and his family from the great disaster.
77. And We supported him against the people who rejected Our signs. They were an evil people, so We drowned them all.
78. And David and Solomon, when they gave judgment in the case of the field, when some people’s sheep wandered therein by night; and We were witnesses to their judgment.
79. And so We made Solomon understand it, and to each We gave wisdom and knowledge. And We subjected the moun-tains along with David to sing Our praises, and the birds as well—surely We did.
80. And We taught him the making of shields for you, to protect you from your violence. Are you, then, appreciative?
81. And to Solomon the stormy wind, blowing at His command towards the land that We have blessed. We are aware of everything.
82. And of the devils were some that dived for him, and performed other, lesser tasks. But We kept them restrained.
83. And Job, when he cried out to his Lord, “Great harm has afflicted me, and you are the Most Merciful of the merciful.”
84. So We answered him, lifted his suffer-ing, and restored his family to him, and their like with them—a mercy from Us, and a reminder for the worshipers.
85. And Ishmael, and Enoch, and Ezekiel; each was one of the steadfast.
86. And We admitted them into Our mer-cy. They were among the righteous.
87. And Jonah, when he stormed out in fury, thinking We had no power over him. But then He cried out in the darkness, “There is no god but You! Glory to You! I was one of the wrongdoers!”
88. So We answered him, and saved him from the affliction. Thus We save the faithful.
89. And Zechariah, when he called out to his Lord, “My Lord, do not leave me alone, even though you are the Best of heirs.”
90. So We answered him, and gave him John. And We cured his wife for him. They used to vie in doing righteous deeds, and used to call on Us in love and awe, and they used to humble themselves to us.
91. And she who guarded her virginity. We breathed into her of Our spirit, and made her and her son a sign to the world.
92. This community of yours is one com-munity, and I am your Lord, so worship Me.
93. But they splintered themselves into factions. They will all return to Us.
94. Whoever does righteous deeds, and is a believer, his effort will not be denied. We are writing it down for him.
95. There is a ban on the town that We had destroyed—that they will not return.
96. Until, when Gog and Magog are let loose, and they swarm down from every mound.
97. The promise of truth has drawn near. The eyes of those who disbelieved will stare in horror: “Woe to us. We were oblivious to this. In fact, we were wrong-doers.”
98. You and what you worship besides God are fuel for Hell. You will descend into it.
99. Had these been gods, they would not have descended into it. All will abide in it.
100. In it they will wail. In it they will not hear.
101. As for those who deserved goodness from Us, they will be kept away from it.
102. They will not hear its hissing, and they will forever abide in what their hearts de-sire.
103. The Supreme Fear will not worry them, and the angels will receive them: “This is your Day which you were prom-ised.”
104. On the Day when We fold the heaven, like the folding of a book. Just as We be-gan the first creation, We will repeat it—a promise binding on Us. We will act.
105. We have written in the Psalms, after the Reminder, that the earth will be inher-ited by My righteous servants.
106. Indeed, in this is a message for people who worship.
107. We have not sent you except as mercy to mankind.
108. Say, “It is revealed to me that your God is One God. Are you going to submit?”
109. But if they turn away, say, “I have in-formed you sufficiently. Although I do not know whether what you are promised is near or far.”
110. He knows what is said openly, and He knows what you conceal.
111. “And I do not know whether it is per-haps a trial for you, and an enjoyment for a while.”
112. He said, “My Lord, judge with justice.” And, “Our Lord is the Gracious, Whose help is sought against what you allege.”
read tahaSpriteKit Physics
Jeremy Jacobson Blocked Unblock Follow Following Mar 12, 2017
In my previous post on SpriteKit, I went through the basics of the framework, namely SKScene, SKNode, and SKAction. I intentionally left out a key component to SpriteKit which deserves attention to itself: physics.
SKPhysicsBody
In SpriteKit, every node has a property called physicsBody, which is an SKPhysicsBody? (note the?, which makes the SKPhysicsBody optional, meaning the physics body attached to the node could be non-existent, i.e. nil ). Once you assign the physicsBody of a node to an instance of SKPhysicsBody, the body becomes attached to the node.
A physics body can be one of two kinds: a volume-based body or an edge-based body. A volume-based body has mass and volume while an edge-based body does not.
In the diagram above, the volume-based body is a circle, however, an SKPhysicsBody can take any shape: a circle, rectangle, polygon from a CGPath, or even an image (using an SKTexture ), using the initializers init(circleOfRadius: CGFloat), init(rectOf: CGSize), init(polygonFrom: CGPath), and init(texture: SKTexture, size: CGSize), respectively. While you can use any of these options for creating a volume-based physics body, there are costs to using more complex shapes.
From Apple’s SKPhysicsBody Reference — https://developer.apple.com/reference/spritekit/skphysicsbody
The image above shows a sprite node with different physics bodies attached to it: (1) a circle, (2) a rectangle, (3) a polygon, and (4) texture-based body. It is more computationally difficult to determine the collisions of a complex polygon than it is a circle. In practice, this probably won’t make much of a difference unless you have a large number of physics bodies in your scene, but it something to be aware of.
Edge-based physics bodies on the other hand are paths with no mass, in effect they are non-solid. These bodies are not moved by the physics engine, but can collide with volume-based bodies. For example, you might want a boundary around the scene that the other physics bodies can’t cross. There’s a convenient initializer for creating these bodies: init(edgeLoopFrom: CGRect). If we pass it the frame of the scene, for example SKPhysicsBody(edgeLoopFrom: scene.frame), we can create an impassible boundary around the scene.
By default, every physics body will interact with every other physics body. To change this behavior, we set the properties categoryBitMask, collisionBitMask, and contactTestBitMask on each physics body. The category bit mask tells the collision engine what category a body belongs to. Using the example above you’d have a ball category ( b0001 ) and an edge category ( b0010 ). Since we want to the ball to collide with edge, we would assign the collision and contact test bit masks of each ball and edge in the scene.
let ballCategory: UInt32 = b0001
let edgeCategory: UInt32 = b0010
let ball = SKShapeNode(circleOfRadius: 10)
ball.physicsBody = SKPhysicsBody(circleOfRadius: 10)
ball.physicsBody?.categoryBitMask = ballCategory
ball.physicsBody?.contactTestBitMask = ballCategory | edgeCategory
ball.physicsBody?.collisionBitMask = ballCategory | edgeCategory
let edge = SKPhysicsBody(edgeLoopFrom: scene.frame)
edge.categoryBitMask = edgeCategory
edge.contactTestBitMask = ballCategory
edge.collisionBitMask = ballCategory
Each ball will now collide with the edge as well as every other ball, because we used the bitwise OR operator ( | ) on the two ball and edge categories.
Forces
In order to get physics bodies to move around the scene, we use forces. The SKPhysicsBody class has methods that allow you to give it a force vector and apply it the body. The method applyForce(CGVector) accomplishes this task.
ball.applyForce(CGVector(dx: -20, dy: 30))
Think of this as pushing on the ball and letting go. The force will accelerate the ball in the direction of the vector given to the applyForce method. If the friction property on the physics body is greater than 0, then the ball will lose velocity due to friction. Another property on the physics on body, restitution, will tell the physics engine how much velocity the body will lose when it collides with other bodies. You can see this in real life when you drop a bouncy ball on the ground: the ball will bounce back up to you but at a lower height due to the force of gravity and loss of momentum from hitting the ground.
Speaking of gravity: every SKScene has a physicsWorld property where you can define how the physics in your world work. The gravity in the physics world is defaulted to CGVector(dx: 0, dy: -9.8), which is the gravitational acceleration on Earth. You can change this property to whatever you like though. If you wanted your nodes to fall to the right, you could set the gravity to CGVector(dx: 5, dy: 0). Imagine you had a game where the player would tilt their device to make the objects move around the scene. You could use the accelerometer data to update to the gravity vector, which would apply gravitational force in the direction that the device is tilted.
This should get you started with the basics, but there is much more to SpriteKit physics than physics bodies and simple forces, so feel free to ask me questions here in the comments, tweet or PM me on Twitter, or check out Apple’s documentation on SKPhysicsBody for more information: https://developer.apple.com/reference/spritekit/skphysicsbody
If you want to see a game that uses SpriteKit, check out Blueshift on the App Store!Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during the Democratic debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Thursday. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
“History has outpaced Secretary Clinton,” said Bernie Sanders, the 74-year-old socialist senator from Vermont who often appears to have stumbled out of the pages of a crumbling paperback history of 1930s radicalism. But appearances can shortchange as well as deceive: From the moment that his campaign kicked into high gear more than six months ago, Sanders has captured the radicalized spirit of a Democratic Party that is increasingly attentive to the appeal of economic populism and to the realities of racial injustice. During CNN’s Democratic debate on Thursday night, while the candidates ricocheted between discussions of global warming as the primary threat to America and whether to raise the minimum wage to $12 or to $15, it was hard not to feel that Sanders had won a battle almost as large as the race to be the 2016 nominee.
“I want white people to recognize that there is systemic racism,” Clinton stated Thursday night in one of many statements that would cause a time-traveler from the 1990s to stare with open-mouthed astonishment. Indeed, the debate functioned as a fascinating window into Democratic politics in 2016. Even a mere eight years ago, Obama and Clinton often struggled to outflank each other on the right. (Think of the skirmishes over the individual mandate.) But on nearly every domestic issue, both candidates went left, strongly so, and from health care to college tuition to Social Security, Clinton played on Sanders’ turf. Even her critiques of Sanders’ spending focused not on the deficit but on Sanders’ general sloppiness with numbers.
Most of the debate thus settled into a routine in which both candidates used their time to fortify their progressive bona fides. Sanders’ weakest issue remains gun control, where his record is relatively moderate. Clinton still makes a dog’s breakfast of any answer regarding her speeches, such as the one to Goldman Sachs. (Sanders needs to develop a better response to the perfectly reasonable question of how Clinton’s donations and Wall Street connections have influenced her as a policymaker. He might’ve mentioned bankruptcy reform.) And everyone in the Brooklyn audience cheered anything even resembling an applause line—“Let’s talk about judgment”—and I was reminded yet again that the crowds are the most annoying thing about these debates not named Wolf Blitzer.
The one area where the pattern shifted was foreign policy. Clinton remains stuck in the 1990s paradigm that she has otherwise discarded, at least rhetorically. On Libya and Syria, Clinton took a more hawkish line, as she did as secretary of state, and was (for her) surprisingly unfocused and even a little shameless. Her claim that the United States did plenty to provide for Libyans after the NATO bombing campaign is, er, questionable.
The debate lingered for a long moment on the subject of Israel, and the more Clinton talked, the more she sounded like a back issue of Commentary. She blamed the Palestinians for the failed Camp David negotiations in 2000. “If Yasser Arafat had agreed with my husband at Camp David in the late 1990s to the offer that Prime Minister [Ehud] Barak put on the table,” she said, “we would have had a Palestinian state for 15 years already.” Sanders, however, mounted a stronger, more rousing defense of Palestinian rights than I can remember hearing from a major presidential candidate. There were real differences to dwell on here, although Bernie’s suspension of his progressive new Jewish outreach director, announced shortly before the debate amid considerable hue and cry, suggested that the Democratic Party isn’t as eager to follow him to the left on Israel as it has been on domestic issues. (Still, the fact that the subject was debated so heartily is itself a sign of at least some change within the Democratic Party.)
The irony of his campaign is that the septuagenarian Sanders is probably four or eight years ahead of his time, rather than behind it. In some ways Sanders was lucky in his opponent. He wound up getting paired against someone who happens to be on the wrong end of the prevailing trends in the party—hawkish; friendly to Wall Street; an almost perfect embodiment of that otherwise nebulous term, the establishment.
Despite these advantages—not to mention a fundraising prowess that must surprise even him—Sanders is still facing an almost impossibly narrow path to the nomination, and this debate was unlikely to widen it much. Clinton’s support among minority voters, not to mention the large margins she ran up in many Southern states, are almost certain to ensure her victory. But she is not only a different candidate and political figure from the Hillary of 2008; she is significantly, ideologically distinct from where she was in 2015, and in the general election she will likely be running on a platform as progressive as the Democratic Party has had in many years. Clinton will surely move quickly and decisively to the right once she officially vanquishes Sanders, but the triumph of the Bernie insurgency is that to get back to the center now, she has so much farther to run.
See more of Slate’s Democratic primary coverage.On Tuesday, at Mozilla’s Mozlando developer event in Orlando, Florida, the organization announced that it will end development and sales for its two-year-old Firefox OS smartphones.
Although the devices have met their demise, representatives say it will continue exploring how it can work with other connected gadgets and Internet of Things technologies. In a statement to ReadWrite, Denelle Dixon-Thayer, Mozilla’s chief legal and business officer, wrote:
We are proud of the benefits Firefox OS added to the Web platform and will continue to experiment with the user experience across connected devices. We will build everything we do as a genuine open source project, focused on user experience first and build tools to enable the ecosystem to grow. Firefox OS proved the flexibility of the Web, scaling from low-end smartphones all the way up to HD TVs. However, we weren’t able to offer the best user experience possible and so we will stop offering Firefox OS smartphones through carrier channels. We’ll share more on our work and new experiments across connected devices soon.
When they debuted in 2013, the handsets offered a platform-agnostic premise, positioning itself as an affordable, Web-forward device for developing markets. Unfortunately, adoption never quite matched the promise as Android smartphones, with a broad set of apps available to them, continued to become cheaper and cheaper.Clinton Push for Civil War Grows
Most people who use social media have figured out that Facebook and Google are in cahoots with the government, for those who are well aware of the issues it’s high time you switched over to Seen.life. It is a website that is similar to Facebook but without all the censorship.
President Trump Moves Feared Private Army To America As Clinton Push For Civil War Grows
November 24, 2016
A new Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that up to 70 transport aircraft owned and/or leased by the US-based Frontier Services Group (FSG) have begun departing the Persian Gulf federation of United Arab Emirates (UAE) with their destinations being the United States and that are “packed/loaded” with arms and forces belonging to one of the most feared mercenary forces (private army) owned and managed by Reflex Responses Management Consultancy (RRMC)—and that is being viewed by Russia as the start of a second American Civil War.
Critical to note about both of these companies, FSG and RRMC, is that they are owned by Erik Prince who is not only one of the world’s acknowledged experts on creating private armies, he is also a loyal supporter of President-elect Donald Trump and whose sister, Betsy DeVos, was appointed yesterday by Trump to be his new administrations main leader in dismantling all of America’s leftist indoctrination centers—that in the US are called “schools”.
Erik Prince was the founder in 1997 of the private American military company known as Blackwater USA (that changed its name to XE Services than Academi) and was a covert member of a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) task force designated to assassinate radical Islamic terror leaders.
Upon the Obama-Clinton regime taking power in 2009, Erik Prince was outed by Hillary Clinton as a CIA operative while his company, Blackwater USA, came under ferocious attack by the US mainstream leftist media—after which he sold his company (in 2010) and moved to the UAE’s capital city of Abu Dhabi where he took up residence in one of the first luxury villas built at the Trump International Golf Club.
Once arriving in the UAE Erik Prince created a “secret army” with the backing of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan—and whom, upon Trump’s victory, sent to America’s new President-elect a personal congratulatory cable wishing him success and progress in his new position.
To fully understand why UAE’s president financed Erik Prince’s creation of this “secret army” was due to a “war/conflict” erupting between two of this nations richest billionaires and their companies–Hussain Sajwani, the CEO and founder of the DAMAC Group, and Khalaf Al Habtoor, the founder of the Al Habtoor Group.
The “war/conflict” that erupted between these UAE billionaire builders Mr. Sajwani and Mr. Al Habtoor involved Mr. Al Habtoor’s secret financing of Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh) terrorists, and that he bribed (along with other Arab Sheiks) Hillary Clinton to cover-up by becoming one of the largest donors to her campaign through her money laundering organization know as the Clinton Foundation.
Mr. Sajwani, on the other hand, who is President-elect Trump’s business partner, became alarmed at Mr. Al Habtoor’s financing of Islamic State terrorists and contacted Trump earlier this year explaining the full scope of this plot and Hillary Clinton’s involvement, after which Trump called for a ban on Muslims entering the US and to which Mr. Al Habtoor responded to by threatening that if Trump was elected, the UAE would pull billions of investments out of America.
Having the world’s 6th largest reserves in natural gas, Mr. Al Habtoor’s Al Habtoor Group “master plan” in financing Islamic State terrorists was intended to destroy the governments of Syria and Iraq in order to build a pipeline to the European Union which at this time neither Syria or Iraq will allow as they prefer working with Iran and, with Russian military power now siding against these Islamic terrorists, the only way the Al Habtoor-Clinton-ISIS plan could ever work would be in the aftermath of World War III.
With President-elect Trump’s private company planning to build more hotels throughout the Middle East in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, America’s new leader’s aversion to World War III is not only justified on an economic basis for his families fortunes, but also will allow him to spend trillions of dollars in the United States instead of on that countries needless wars in the cause of globalism.
Opposing President-elect Trump, however, are the leftists forces supporting Hillary Clinton who are not only demanding a recount of the vote she lost, but are attempting to steal the election through the terrorization of the Electors who will meet on 19 December to officially elect Trump as the next President of the United States.
The greatest fear of Hillary Clinton and her elite leftist allies is the total collapse of her propaganda mainstream media apparatus which for decades has kept hidden from the black peoples of that nation the outright genocide of their entire race—and as evidenced by one of that nations top black artists named Nick Cannon who has begun telling others of his race what has been done to them.
The fullest understanding of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party’s genocide of the black peoples of America comes from their support of the largest baby killing machine ever created in human history known as Planned Parenthood—and whose founder, Margaret Sanger, detailed the genocide of American blacks by stating: “We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”
And so successful has Hillary Clinton’s Planned Parenthood “extermination of the Negro population” been, experts at the American-based Black Genocide Organization are now reporting that since 1973, over 15 million black babies in the US have now been needlessly murdered.
With President-elect Trump having appealed to his fellow American black citizens to vote for him and asked them “what have you got to lose”, the sudden movement of Eric Prince’s private army to America in support of him “brings |
they’d want to release another? It couldn’t hurt to ask, so I reached out to the brewery’s PR team, who forwarded the query up through the chain to owner Greg Koch and brewmaster Mitch Steele, who created Levitation Ale 13 years ago. This week, we got our answer, the official recipe for Levitation Ale, which we’re now happy to premiere. Paste has premiered plenty of music over the years—we’ll happily drink to adding “beer recipes” to the list.
Like the Stone Pale Ale recipe, this one has been meticulously scaled down from a commercial production sense to fit a homebrewer’s typical batch size of 5 gallons. Really meticulously—it’s 14.4 ounces of Crystal 75L, and don’t forget the.4! Being a homebrewer of 7 years myself, this is particularly interesting for me—I may have to brew my own version of it and see how well it stacks up against Levitation Ale in my memory. For now, though, simply enjoy the recipe and instructions, which I’ve copied below in full. Further recipes are also available in the Stone Book, The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance, which is one hell of a title.
Stone Levitation Amber Ale
5 gallons (about fifty-four 12-ounce bottles or thirty 22-ounce bottles)
8 pounds, 8.0 ounces crushed North American two-row pale malt
14.4 ounces crushed 75L crystal malt
8.3 ounces crushed 150L crystal malt
1.3 ounces crushed black malt
About 8 gallons plus 12 cups water
0.28 ounce Columbus hops (12.9% alpha acid)
½ teaspoon Irish moss?
0.90 ounce Amarillo hops (8.5% alpha acid)
0.90 ounce Crystal hops (3.5% alpha acid)
0.26 ounce Simcoe hops (13.0% alpha acid)
1 (35ml) package White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast or WLP002 English Ale Yeast
0.77 ounce Amarillo hops (8.5% alpha acid)
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons light dried malt extract
I can’t stress it enough: clean and sanitize everything.
Mashing
In a 10-gallon insulated cooler, combine the malts with 3 gallons plus 2 cups of 173°F water. The water should cool slightly when mixed with the grain. Hold the mash at 157°F for 30 minutes.
Add 1 gallon plus 12 cups of 182°F water. The mixture should come up to 165°F.
Lautering and Sparging
Once the liquid is lower than the level of the grain, begin to slowly sprinkle 3 gallons plus 14 cups of 168°F water over the grains to start the sparge. Continue sparging.
The Boil
For safety’s sake, set up your propane burner outside. Set the brew kettle of wort on top and add water to bring the wort level up to about 6 gallons plus 12 cups, if needed. Bring the wort to a rapid, rolling boil. As it begins to come to a boil, a layer of foam and scum may develop at the surface. Skim it off and discard. Once the wort is at a full boil, put a hops bag containing the Columbus hops in the kettle and set a timer for 90 minutes. Stir the wort frequently during the boil, and be watchful to avoid boilovers.
At 15 minutes before the end of the boil, stir in the Irish moss. At 10 minutes before the end of the boil, put a hops bag containing the 0.90 ounce of Amarillo hops in the kettle. When the boiling time is over, turn off the heat and put a hops bag containing the Crystal and Simcoe hops in the kettle. Cover the kettle and immediately begin cooling the wort quickly.
Pitching the Yeast and Fermentation
Once the wort has cooled to 72°F, discard the spent hops and check the specific gravity of the wort with a hydrometer. The target starting gravity is 1.048 (12 Plato).
Transfer the wort to the primary fermentation bucket or carboy. Pitch the yeast (or prepare a yeast starter). Allow the wort to ferment through primary fermentation at 72°F, then transfer the wort to a carboy for dry hopping and secondary fermentation.
Dry Hopping
Put the 0.77 ounce of Amarillo hops in a hops bag and put it in the carboy. Seal the carboy with the drilled stopper and an airlock filled halfway with water and ferment at 72°F.
After 7 days, dry hopping is complete. Remove the hops bag and discard the hops. Check the specific gravity of the beer. If it’s reached the target final gravity of 1.013 (3.2 Plato), it’s ready to bottle. If not, allow it to continue fermenting at 72°F until it reaches the target.
Bottling
When you’re ready to bottle, clean and sanitize the bottles, caps, and bottling equipment. Put the dried malt extract in a medium saucepan and stir in just enough water to dissolve it. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat, cover, and let cool slightly. Proceed with bottling.
Advanced Recipe:
85.0% crushed North American two-row pale malt
9.0% crushed 75L crystal malt?
5.2% crushed 150L crystal malt?
0.8% crushed black malt?
Conversion temperature 157°F [10 minutes]?Mash out 165°F
0.108 lb/bbl Columbus hops (12.9% alpha acid) [90 minutes]
0.35 lb/bbl Amarillo hops (8.5% alpha acid) [10 minutes]
0.35 lb/bbl Crystal hops (3.5% alpha acid) [0 minutes]
0.10 lb/bbl Simcoe hops (13.0% alpha acid) [0 minutes]
White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast or WLP002 English Ale Yeast
Pitch rate 12
0.30 lb/bbl Amarillo hops (8.5% alpha acid) [Dry hop, 7 days]
Starting gravity 1.048 (12 Plato)
Final gravity 1.013 (3.2 Plato)
Ferment at 72°F"Bring Presence into Whatever You Do."
— Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle Now: A place for us to learn, practice, and awaken together
We’re pleased to offer you a very special opportunity to check out Eckhart Tolle Now for free for ten days.
It’s easy to forget to bring Presence into everything we do. We need a special place to learn and the support of a community also committed to the practice of Presence. Eckhart Tolle Now is one of those special places.
The free trial gives you access to Eckhart Tolle Now, which includes new teachings and Members-only question-and-answer sessions with Eckhart. You’ll also receive access to the video archive library, with teachings on Presence, relationships, overcoming stress, and over 200 hours of additional teachings from Eckhart and his teaching partner, Kim Eng.
Eckhart Tolle Now allows you to immerse yourself in the Presence that arises as we engage in Eckhart’s teachings. All true spiritual teachings have a certain power that goes beyond their informational value. These teachings are imbued with Presence. When you truly listen, the power within them awakens and deepens Presence. A certain shift in consciousness happens within you each time you listen.
You enter the state of Presence.
This is what is so special about Eckhart Tolle Now. It’s a place where Eckhart shares his guidance and teachings, which are imbued with Presence. You’ll join a worldwide community of people committed to awakening and making the world a better place.
This special trial is completely free. If you do decide to continue your membership, the monthly cost is just $19.95. By participating, you’ll help support spreading Eckhart’s work in the world and you’ll also have a place to support your own transformation and the arising of Presence.On May 12, there was a major outbreak of WannaCrypt ransomware. WannaCrypt directly borrowed exploit code from the ETERNALBLUE exploit and the DoublePulsar backdoor module leaked in April by a group calling itself Shadow Brokers.
The trend towards increasingly sophisticated malware behavior, highlighted by the use of exploits and other attack vectors, makes older platforms so much more susceptible to ransomware attacks. From June to November 2017, Windows 7 devices were 3.4 times more likely to encounter ransomware compared to Windows 10 devices. Read our latest report: A worthy upgrade: Next-gen security on Windows 10 proves resilient against ransomware outbreaks in 2017
Using ETERNALBLUE, WannaCrypt propagated as a worm on older platforms, particularly Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 systems that haven’t patched against the SMB1 vulnerability CVE-2017-0145. The resulting ransomware outbreak reached a large number of computers, even though Microsoft released security bulletin MS17-010 to address the vulnerability on March 14, almost two months before the outbreak.
This post—complementary to our earlier post about the ETERNALBLUE and ETERNALROMANCE exploits released by Shadow Brokers—takes us through the WannaCrypt infection routine, providing even more detail about post-exploitation phases. It also describes other existing mitigations as well as new and upcoming mitigation and detection techniques provided by Microsoft to address similar threats.
Infection cycle
The following diagram summarizes the WannaCrypt infection cycle: initial shellcode execution, backdoor implantation and package upload, kernel and userland shellcode execution, and payload launch.
Figure 1. WannaCrypt infection cycle overview
The file mssecsvc.exe contains the main exploit code, which launches a network-level exploit and spawns the ransomware package. The exploit code targets a kernel-space vulnerability and involves multi-stage shellcode in both kernel and userland processes. Once the exploit succeeds, communication between the DoublePulsar backdoor module and mssecsvc.exe is encoded using a pre-shared XOR key, allowing transmission of the main payload package and eventual execution of ransomware code.
Exploit and initial shellcodes
In an earlier blog post, Viktor Brange provided a detailed analysis of the vulnerability trigger and the instruction pointer control mechanism used by ETERNALBLUE. After the code achieves instruction pointer control, it focuses on acquiring persistence in kernel space using kernel shellcode and the DoublePulsar implant. It then executes the ransomware payload in user space.
Heap spray
The exploit code sprays memory on a target computer to lay out space for the first-stage shellcode. It uses non-standard SMB packet segments to make the allocated memory persistent on hardware abstraction layer (HAL) memory space. It sends 18 instances of heap-spraying packets, which have direct binary representations of the first-stage shellcode.
Figure 2. Shellcode heap-spraying packet
Initial shellcode execution: first and second stages
The exploit uses a function-pointer overwrite technique to direct control flow to the first-stage shellcode. This shellcode installs a second-stage shellcode as a SYSENTER or SYSCALL routine hook by overwriting model-specific registers (MSRs). If the target system is x86-based, it hooks the SYSENTER routine by overwriting IA32_SYSENTER_EIP. On x64-based systems, it overwrites IA32_LSTAR MSR to hook the SYSCALL routine. More information about these MSRs can be found in Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual Volume 3C.
Figure 3. First-stage shellcode for x86 systems
Originally, the IA32_SYSENTER_EIP contains the address to nt!KiFastCallEntry as its SYSENTER routine.
Figure 4. Original IA32_SYSENTER_EIP value pointing to KiFastCallEntry
After modification by the first-stage shellcode, IA32_SYSENTER_EIP now points to the second-stage shellcode.
Figure 5. Modified IA32_SYSENTER_EIP value points to the main shellcode
The first-stage shellcode itself runs in DISPATCH_LEVEL. By running the second-stage shellcode as the SYSENTER routine, the first-stage code guarantees that the second-stage shellcode runs in PASSIVE_LEVEL, giving it access to a broader range of kernel APIs and paged-out memory. And although the second-stage shellcode delivered with this malware actually doesn’t access any paged pools or call APIs that require running in PASSIVE_LEVEL, this approach allows attackers to reuse the same module for more complicated shellcode.
Backdoor implantation
The second-stage shellcode, now running on the targeted computer, generates a master XOR key for uploading the payload and other communications. It uses system-specific references, like addresses of certain APIs and structures, to randomize the key.
Figure 6. Master XOR key generation
The second-stage shellcode implants DoublePulsar by patching the SMB1 Transaction2 dispatch table. It overwrites one of the reserved command handlers for the SESSION_SETUP (0xe) subcommand of the Transaction2 request. This subcommand is reserved and not commonly used in regular code.
Figure 7. Copying packet-handler shellcode and overwriting the dispatch table
The following code shows the dispatch table after the subcommand backdoor is installed.
Figure 8. Substitution of 0xe command handler
Main package upload
To start uploading its main package, WannaCrypt sends multiple ping packets to the target, testing if its server hook has been installed. Remember that the second-stage shellcode runs as a SYSENTER hook—there is a slight delay before it runs and installs the dispatch-table backdoor. The response to the ping packet contains the randomly generated XOR master key to be used for communication between the client and the targeted server.
Figure 9. Code that returns original XOR key
This XOR key value is used only after some bit shuffling. The shuffling algorithm basically looks like the following Python code.
Figure 10. XOR bit-shuffling code
The upload of the encoded payload consists of multiple packets as shown below.
Figure 11. SMB Transaction2 packet showing payload upload operation
The hooked handler code for the unimplemented subcommand processes the packet bytes, decoding them using the pre-shared XOR key. The picture above shows that the SESSION_SETUP parameter fields are used to indicate the offset and total lengths of payload bytes. The data is 12 bytes long—the first four bytes indicate total length, the next four bytes is reserved, and the last 4 bytes are the current offsets of the payload bytes in little-endian. These fields are encoded with master XOR key.
Because the reserved field is supposed to be 0, the reserved field is actually the same as the master XOR key. Going back to the packet capture above, the reserved field value is 0x38a9dbb6, which is the master XOR key. The total length is encoded as 0x38f9b8be. When this length is XORed with the master XOR key, it is 0x506308, which is the actual length of the payload bytes being uploaded. The last field is 0x38b09bb6. When XORed with the master key, this last field becomes 0, meaning this packet is the first packet of the payload upload.
When all the packets are received, the packet handler in the second-stage shellcode jumps to the start of the decoded bytes.
Figure 12. Decoding and executing shellcode
The transferred and decoded bytes are of size 0x50730c. As a whole, these packet bytes include kernel shellcode, userland shellcode, and the main WannaCrypt PE packages.
Executing the kernel shellcode
The kernel shellcode looks for a kernel image base and resolves essential functions by parsing PE structures. The following figure shows the APIs resolved by the shellcode:
Figure 13. Resolved kernel functions
It uses ZwAllocateVirtualMemory to allocate a large chunk of RWX memory (0x506d70 in this case). This memory holds the userland shellcode and the main PE packages.
Figure 14. RWX memory allocation through ZwAllocateVirtualMemory
The kernel shellcode goes through processes on the system and injects userland shellcode to the lsass.exe process using an asynchronous procedure call (APC).
Figure 15. APC routines for injecting shellcode to a thread in a userland process
Userland shellcode—the start of a new infection cycle
After multiple calls to VirtualProtect and PE layout operations, the shellcode loads a bootstrap DLL using a reflective DLL loading method. The WannaCrypt user-mode component contains this bootstrap DLL for both 64- and 32-bit Windows.
Figure 16. Bootstrap DLL functions
This bootstrap DLL reads the main WannaCrypt payload from the resource section and writes it to a file C:\WINDOWS\mssecsvc.exe. It then launches the file using the CreateProcess API. At this stage, a new infection cycle is started on the newly infected computer.
Figure 17. Dropping main payload to file system
Figure 18. Creating the main payload process
Mitigating and detecting WannaCrypt
WannaCrypt borrowed most of its attack code from those leaked by Shadow Brokers, specifically the ETERNALBLUE kernel exploit code and the DoublePulsar kernel-level backdoor. It leverages DoublePulsar’s code execution mechanisms and asynchronous procedure calls (APCs) at the kernel to deliver its main infection package and ransomware payload. It also uses the system file lsass.exe as its injection target.
Mitigation on newer platforms and upcoming SMB updates
The ETERNALBLUE exploit code worked only on older OSes like Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, particularly those that have not applied security updates released with security bulletin MS17-010. The exploit was limited to these platforms because it depended on executable memory allocated in kernel HAL space. Since Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, HAL memory has stopped being executable. Also, for additional protection, predictable addresses in HAL memory space have been randomized since Windows 10 Creators Update.
With the upcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (also known as RS3), many dispatch tables in legacy SMB1 drivers, including the Transaction2 dispatch table (SrvTransaction2DispatchTable) memory area, will be set to read-only as a defense-in-depth measure. The backdoor mechanism described here will be much less attractive to attackers because the mechanism will require additional exploit techniques for unlocking the memory area and overwriting function pointers. Furthermore, SMB1 has already been deprecated for years. With the RS3 releases for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016, SMB1 will be disabled.
Hyper Guard virtualization-based security
WannaCrypt employs multiple techniques to achieve full code execution on target systems. The IA32_SYSENTER_EIP modification technique used by WannaCrypt to run the main shellcode is actually commonly observed when kernel rootkits try to hook system calls. Kernel Patch Protection (or PatchGuard) typically detects this technique by periodically checking for modifications of MSR values. WannaCrypt hooking, however, is too brief for PatchGuard to fire. Windows 10, armed with virtualization-based security (VBS) technologies such as Hyper Guard, can detect and mitigate this technique because it fires as soon as the malicious wrmsr instruction to modify the MSR is executed.
To enable Hyper Guard on systems with supported processors, use Secure Boot and enable Device Guard. Use the hardware readiness tool to check if your hardware system supports Device Guard. Device Guard runs on the Enterprise and Education editions of Windows 10.
Post-breach detection with Windows Defender ATP
In addition to VBS mitigation provided with Hyper Guard, Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Windows Defender ATP) can detect injection of code to userland processes, including the method used by WannaCrypt. Our researchers have also added new detection logic so that Windows Defender ATP flags highly unusual events that involve spawning of processes from lsass.exe.
Figure 19. Windows Defender ATP detection of an anomalous process spawned from a system process
While the detection mechanism for process spawning was pushed out in response to WannaCrypt, this mechanism and detection of code injection activities also enable Windows Defender ATP customers to uncover sophisticated breaches that leverage similar attack methods.
To test how Windows Defender ATP can help your organization detect, investigate, and respond to advanced attacks, sign up for a free trial.
Matt Oh
Windows Defender ATP Research Team
Talk to us
Questions, concerns, or insights on this story? Join discussions at the Microsoft community and Windows Defender Security Intelligence.
Follow us on Twitter @WDSecurity and Facebook Windows Defender Security Intelligence.This is just what it says it is, a living teaser poster for Pixar’s “Finding Dory.” How’s that for zen? I recommend setting it on loop and letting it just play in the corner of your desk all day long.
Really? I hope there’s an actual purpose for this. What do you think it’s for?
Disney•Pixar’s “Finding Dory” reunites everyone’s favorite forgetful blue tang, Dory, with her friends Nemo and Marlin on a search for answers about her past. What can she remember? Who are her parents? And where did she learn to speak Whale?
Directed by Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E”) and produced by Lindsey Collins (co-producer “WALL•E”), the film features the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton.
“Finding Dory” swims into theaters June 17, 2016.Click here to follow ZeroHedge in Real-time on FinancialJuice
Five years ago it was worth $0. Then, a month and a half ago it went to $150 a piece. On Monday it shot to over $600. On Tuesday, the value rose to over $900, meaning a 6, 445%-increase in value since the start of the year. It plummeted to $531 at midday today and then recovered reaching $793 while being traded on the Asian markets. Bitcoin: it’s the bonanza of the century.
Volatility and hikes are based on nothing except speculation and the desire to make a mint, thinking that you can predict what the markets are going to do. But, will that Bitcoin volatility lead to a bubble? Or is it bringing in a new era of a new type of currency that people are willing to use and that merchants are now being forced to accept? It might never become a legitimate currency in the future, but that’s hardly important when you can make a profit from it. Of course central banks are at risk from the use of virtual currencies as it would mean that they would have little control over what we spend and how transactions are carried out. Is Bitcoin the death of our central banks?
Some might say that Bitcoin is associated with crime and is an easy way for illicit transactions to take place. Tell me one currency in the world that isn’t laundered these days? Tell me one place in the world where there is a currency that is clean? Pure snow-white virgin money doesn’t and never has existed. Just because it’s associated with crime doesn’t mean it’s not good for the rest of the world. All of the currencies of the world are associated with crime somehow. Perhaps after all the fall of the Dollar, the death of the greenback will not be because the Chinese have taken the world over and imposed the Renminbi as the reserve currency on the world. Perhaps it will be the Bitcoin that takes over the world economically today.
When Bitcoin started out in 2009 after being founded by Satoshi Nakamoto (or under his real name of Gavin Andresen) one Bitcoin was worth $0.30.
It rose to $32, but then fell to $2. There are some 12 million Bitcoins in circulation today and the number of Bitcoins issued every four years is reduced by 50% (and will be until that number reaches a circulation level of 21 million Bitcoins).
The currency is already accepted on some of the world’s most highly-ranked internet sites today: WordPress.com ranked 22 in the world, offering custom-designed software and templates. They have accepted Bitcoins since November 2012. The Pirate Bay, ranked 108 in the world which started accepting Bitcoins in April 2013 for their music and move-software directory. Reddit, which ranks 117 in the world and accepted Bitcoins for the first time in February 2013 for the social and entertainment network site.
There are plenty more and they will be increasing in the future, simply because it’s the people that have decided that they are willing and ready to use Bitcoins as a means of exchange. Have the people started the demise of the Dollar and all other currencies? Are we living a moment in history that we shall look back upon in years to come as we wave goodbye to the hegemonic control of the politically-aided and biased reserve currency that is the greenback and that all other currencies are vying to overtake? Will they all lose out, because we have decided for it to happen? That will certainly wipe the smile off the faces of some at the top of the hill.
Gaining legitimacy is essential for the Bitcoin to be a valued and a valuable means of exchange. The difference between Bitcoin and any other currency that is controlled by a government is that Bitcoins have become accepted because the market has decided that they are. People want them and merchants accept them. It is not a political currency but quasi-commodity money. The number of transactions has suddenly increased since the start of November and it has now reached dizzy heights around the world. Even governments are starting to recognize the existence and the validity of Bitcoins today. Germany in August 2013 decided to recognize the virtual money as a real currency, legally and fiscally approving it is valid.
When Andresen spoke of begging Julian Assange not to use Bitcoin back in 2010 as a means of getting around the normal method of financial transactions and thus finding a route to funding WikiLeaks, he said ‘it will destroy us’ adding that they were too small a company to be able to deal with it. Although, with hindsight the ‘you-will-destroy-us’- statement probably had little to do with the nascent company not being able to cope with the financial trading of the currency that had been invented, but the fact that Bitcoin would have been closed down and nipped in the bud before it had got off to a start. Now we can see why Bitcoin wanted to steer away from that can of worms. It had greater things in its sights than WikiLeaks.
It’s a rare thing to have the opportunity today to choose which currency we want to use. Maybe this time the choice will be the right one. Maybe the central banks, the ones that have done the damage in the past and are continuing to do so today will have their power taken away from them.
Climbing the greasy pole that politics has become is nothing to do with who you are and what you say. It has everything to do with where you come from and what you have in the bank account to back you up.
Originally posted: Bitcoin Bonanza
The Super Rich Deprive Us of Fundamental Rights | Whining for Wine |Cost of Living Not High Enough in EU | Record Levels of Currency Reserves Will Hit Hard | Internet or Splinternet | World Ready to Jump into Bed with China
Indian Inflation: Out of Control? | Greenspan Maps a Territory | Gold Rush or Just a Streak? | Obama’s Obamacare: Double Jinx | Financial Markets: Negating the Laws of Gravity |Blatant Housing-Bubble: Stating the Obvious | Let’s Downgrade S&P, Moody’s and Fitch For Once | US Still Living on Borrowed Time | (In)Direct Slavery: We’re All Guilty |
Technical Analysis: Bear Expanding Triangle | Bull Expanding Triangle | Bull Falling Wedge | Bear Rising Wedge | High & Tight FlagA MOVE to scrap public subsidies to trade unions in Leeds has been thrown out.
A meeting of the council called to discuss the issue rejected a call from Coun Alan Lamb (Con, Wetherby) to end the arrangement.
In a resolution put forward by Coun Lamb, he said the annual cost to the city’s council tax payers of 15 full-time convenors was an “unjustifiable” £417.000.
He said support should be brought to an end because the council was facing massive financial pressures and cutting frontline services.
Coun Lamb said the principle of providing reasonable support to trade unions was right and told the meeting that, even if his resolution was agreed, the council would be more than meeting is legal obligations to the unions.
He said if it was felt 15 convenors were required the unions should pay for them as “they are not short of cash.”
Coun Lamb added: “Fifty per cent of council workers aren’t trade unions members.”
Coun Keith Wakefield (Lab, Kippax and Methley), council leader, said the unions worked with the authority to cut sickness absenteeism and helped it save money that otherwise would be spent on employment tribunals.
He claimed Coun Lamb’s resolution was “just a cynical ploy to deflect attention from Government cuts.”
Coun Tom Leadley (Morley Borough Independents, Morley North) said an enormous organisation such as the council needed a formal structure in relation to the unions.
He also questioned why, if the arrangement was such a problem, the council’s previous Conservative-Lib/Dem administration had done nothing to end it.
Coun Karen Groves, (Lab, Middleton Park) said working with 15 convenors was more productive and efficient than dealing with employees individually.
Coun John Procter (Con, Wetherby) listed a number of Labour councillors who had received union donations to help with their election campaigns and added: “It’s no wonder Labour members speak passionately in favour of them.”
The resolution was defeated 56-31 with four abstentions.President Trump's longtime aide and head of Oval Office operations, Keith Schiller, is leaving the White House and Washington, CBS News confirms, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
Schiller plans to re-locate to Florida. Financial considerations and some friction with chief of staff John Kelly are at the heart of the decision. The precise timing of Schiller's departure is not yet finalized, but Schiller has informed Mr. Trump of his planned departure.
Schiller is one of Mr. Trump's closest friends among his employees, and their relationship long pre-dates Mr. Trump's candidacy. Schiller had universal walk-in privileges to the Oval Office before Kelly arrived. It was customary for Schiller to meet Mr. Trump at the residence each morning and walk with him to the Oval Office. He frequently traveled with Mr. Trump as well.
Schiller's planned departure comes just weeks after Kelly joined the White House. Kelly has tightened all access to the president in the Oval Office, and that included Schiller.
The news comes after some high-profile departures, even since Kelly joined the White House. White House chief strategist Steve Bannon departed on Aug. 18, and Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastain Gorka departed on Aug. 25.Preview:
T he Sabbath is one of the great mysteries of Jewish tradition. The traditional Jew dedicates a seventh of his life in recognition of God’s having rested on the seventh day of Creation; yet the Bible offers no explanation as to why God rested. The Zohar, the classic work of Jewish mysticism, refers to this enigma as raza d’shabat, the secret of the Sabbath, and suggests that it touches the very foundations of Jewish belief.1 Indeed, the Jewish sources place the Sabbath on a level of importance higher than almost anything else in the Tora. According to the Talmud, it is “equivalent to all the commandments,” and its careful observance has the power to atone even for the sin of idolatry.2 Moreover, while other Jewish festivals commemorate events that took place in the history of the Jewish people, the Sabbath recalls something which can hardly be considered within the normal bounds of time and space, and is in fact entirely outside of human history. Thus while it is the Jewish people that, according to tradition, formally sanctifies the other festivals, the holiness of the Sabbath is understood to come directly from God.3
More than anything else, the Sabbath in Jewish tradition is characterized by its comprehensive ban on work ( isur melacha). The scope of this prohibition, and the theological explanation behind it, have no parallel in the customs surrounding other holy days, either within Judaism or without.4 Over the centuries, a colossal halachic structure has been raised around the prohibition of labor, relating it to nearly every facet of human life. The poet Haim Nahman Bialik, who as a youth received a classical religious education, was amazed by the “mighty spiritual work” invested in the prohibition of work in the Talmud. “There are one hundred and fifty-seven two-sided pages in tractate Sabbath, and one hundred and five in Eruvin[which also addresses laws of the Sabbath],” he wrote. “For the most part they consist of discussions and decisions on the minutiae of the thirty-nine kinds of work and their branches…. What weariness of flesh! What waste of good wits on every trifling point!” Bialik’s dismay was tempered with pride, however; he did not conceal his belief that the Sabbath was a great wonder of the Jewish spirit—“a source of life and holiness to a whole nation.”5
One is hard pressed to find such sentiments in popular culture today. Instead, the traditions and laws of the Sabbath are widely dismissed as oppressive or arbitrary. An example of this can be seen in an essay on the subject by the sociologist Ya’akov Melchin, writing in the Israeli journal Yahadut Hofshit:
The weekly day of rest was originally devoted to a range of leisure activities, including family and community cultural activities, blessing and prayer rituals, readings in poetry and rhetoric, and the study of the classical literature that is at the foundation of the Jewish cultural heritage. Over the years, restrictive commandments accumulated, developing into an oppressive Sabbath code full of rules and restrictions that get in the way of leisure and restrict the freedom of those enjoying the Sabbath as they please, violating the spirit of this unique institution, which is meant to grant maximum freedom to all, regardless of age, gender or class, that they may enjoy their free time as they see fit.6
Such statements are common in Jewish culture today, and reflect the gulf separating the “freethinking” view of the Sabbath, dedicated to leisure and relaxation, from that found in the traditional Jewish sources. From the traditional standpoint, the prohibition on work is not meant to establish the value of leisure, or to protect workers from the harsh realities of capitalist society. Rather, its meaning is primarily spiritual. In some respects, the prohibition of work teaches more about the nature of Jewish faith than any other commandment.
For “work” is another name for creative or productive activity, which is the center of normal human occupation. By prohibiting this kind of activity one day in seven, Judaism draws attention to human creative effort and teaches us about its essential nature—what it means, and what it requires. In the process, it also presents an original theological teaching, concerning the share in creation assigned to man by the Creator, and man’s resultant relationship with both the world and the divine. This teaching contains two contradictory elements: For six days, man exercises his will upon the world; he then exercises restraint on the seventh. Through the proper balance between these two elements, will and restraint, man’s labor acquires a kind of meaning and purpose which are attuned to the fundamental dynamic of Creation itself.Home > Japanese Entertainment > Tokyo International Film Festival to Screen 26 Gundam Films
Japanese Entertainment
On September 10, the 28th Tokyo International Film Festival announced the featured lineup for the "Mobile Suit Gundam" screening event "THE WORLD OF GUNDAM".
This animated feature is a continuation of "The World of Hideaki Anno" which was screened last year. This will be the first time the festival has had a feature which focused on a single animation series. 26 works were selected from more than 40 films, OVAs, and TV series from the Gundam series, all of which have their avid fans.
"Mobile Suit Gundam", which was created in 1979 as an animated television series by the animation studio Sunrise with Yoshiyuki Tomino as the lead director, sets in an era where intergalactic wars run rampant. The work is of a grand scale, with various youths waging war and participating in strenuous battles in their Mobile Suits.
The scheduled lineup will be enjoyed by all generations and nationalities, and will encompass the entire series, from its inception all the way to its latest installment. At the same time, some films have also been selected which will ease newcomers into the world of Gundam.
The screening's centerpiece is "Ring of Gundam", in its first screening in 6 years since its premier at the "Big Expo" in 2009, which commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Gundam Series. Also, it's the first time screening at the theater.
Tokyo International Film Festival is scheduled to be held from October 22 to October 31, 2015.
26 films List:
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM II SOLDIERS OF SORROW (1981)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM III ENCOUNTERS IN SPACE (1982)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM CHAR’S COUNTERATTACK (1988)
・MOBILE SUIT SD GUNDAM (1988)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM F91 (1991)
・MUSHA KNIGHT COMMANDO: SD GUNDAM SCRAMBLE (1991)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE 08TH MS TEAM MILLER’S REPORT (1998)
・NEW MOBILE REPORT GUNDAM WING ENDLESS WALTZ SPECIAL EDITION (1998)
・TURN A GUNDAM I EARTH LIGHT (2002)
・TURN A GUNDAM II MOON BUTTERFLY (2002)
・GUNDAM EVOLVE../7 XXXG-00W0 WING GUNDAM ZERO (2004)
・MOBILE SUIT Z GUNDAM A NEW TRANSLATION – HEIRS TO THE STARS (2005)
・MOBILE SUIT Z GUNDAM A NEW TRANSLATION – LOVERS (2005)
・MOBILE SUIT Z GUNDAM A NEW TRANSLATION – LOVE IS THE PULSE OF THE STARS (2006)
・RING OF GUNDAM (2009)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00 THE MOVIE -A WAKENING OF THE TRAILBLAZER- (2010)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN episode1 DAY OF THE UNICORN (2010)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN episode 2 THE SECOND COMING OF CHAR (2010)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN episode 3 THE GHOST OF LAPLACE (2011)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN episode 4 AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GRAVITY WELL (2011)
・MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN episode 5 BLACK UNIC |
ing long-distance catch-and-shoot threes and splitting double teams off the dribble. He even banked in a 3-pointer and drew a foul on a late-closing Davon Reed to pull Florida State within three points with 1:03 to go.
"It's a feeling I can't really describe," Rathan-Mayes said. "The arena was quiet. It was like I was in there by myself. It was a feeling I've never, ever felt before. There was nothing else happening around me."
Of the 33 points Florida State scored in the final 4:38, Rathan-Mayes had all but three of them. The only points he didn't score came via a 3-pointer by Robbie Berwick that Rathan-Mayes set up by drawing the defense and kicking the ball out.
Florida State eventually had the ball down three with just a few ticks left on the clock, but Miami would not let Rathan-Mayes attempt a 3-pointer. Angel Rodriguez committed a foul, Rathan-Mayes sank the first free throw and intentionally missed the second and the Hurricanes recovered, enabling them to escape with a narrow victory.
Though the enduring memory of Wednesday's game will be Rathan-Mayes catching fire in the final few minutes, the freshman views his performance as bittersweet because the Seminoles still lost the game. Rathan-Mayes insists he had no idea how many points he scored in the final five minutes until he overheard Miami coach Jim Larranaga telling his assistants in the hallway outside the Hurricanes locker room.
"I was surprised, but it mattered more to me that we lost," Rathan-Mayes said. "I told my guys after the game I'm extremely proud of how we fought back. We told each other we would never give up and we would keep fighting, and I'm proud of how we did that tonight."
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Sunday might be dominated by “La La Land,” but Saturday belonged to “Moonlight.”
Barry Jenkins’ luminous coming-of-age tale swept Saturday’s Film Independent Spirit Awards, taking home six awards including best feature. “Moonlight” won every award it was nominated for at the 32nd annual indie awards, the dressed-down, beachside ceremony held the day before the Academy Awards.
“Moonlight” won for its directing, screenplay, cinematography and editing. It was also honored for its ensemble cast in the Spirit Awards’ Robert Altman Award. Backstage, Jenkins said its tale of a poor, young, black kid in Miami stood in stark contrast to President Donald Trump’s administration.
“I think ‘Moonlight’ exists as a beacon of inclusivity,” said Jenkins, flanked by his African-American cast and producers.
The afternoon ceremony frequently had a strong political tenor. Casey Affleck, who won best actor for “Manchester by the Sea,” wore a shirt with the word “love” in Arabic.
“The policies of this administration are abhorrent and will not last,” said Affleck, accepting his award. Backstage, he spoke about “the torrent of terrifying news that comes out of Washington every day”
Some Oscar contenders were missing their presumed rivals at the Spirit Awards, which only nominated films made for $20 million or less (and thus disqualifying the Academy Awards favorite “La La Land”). But if “Moonlight,” nominated for eight Oscars including best picture, is to pull off the upset Sunday, it has some history on its side. The last three Spirit Awards best-feature winners — “Spotlight,” ”Birdman,” ”12 Years a Slave” — all went on to win best picture at the Oscars.
Host Nick Kroll and John Mulaney maintained a rigorously irreverent tone through a ceremony often punctuated by belly laughs. In their opening monologue, Kroll mockingly defended the common charge of “liberal elitism” often thrown at Hollywood events like the Spirits.
“We’re not in a bubble. We’re in a tent,” said Kroll, referring to the Spirits’ Santa Monica, Calif., home. “We’re fringe artists on a California beach. If we leaned any further to the left, we’d topple into the ocean.”
Instead of a lengthy in memoriam reel, they opted instead for a highlight of those who didn’t die, singling out Milos Foreman and Tim Allen while Andy Samberg, doing his best Eddie Vedder, sang Pearl Jam’s “Alive.”
Best actress went to Isabelle Huppert, the French actress of “Elle,” who bested Natalie Portman and Annette Bening. Just as Affleck wasn’t up against Oscar favorite Denzel Washington in best actor, the best actress category was missing Emma Stone of “La La Land.”
Molly Shannon, the former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, supplied one of the afternoon’s highpoints. She was visibly overjoyed by winning best supporting actress for her performance in “Other People.” She concluded her speech by exclaiming, “I really truly feel like a … SUPERSTAR!” — aping her old “SNL” character.
Other awards also went to films far outside the Oscar candidates. Robert Eggers’ well-researched “The Witch,” set in 17th century Massachusetts, won for both best first feature and best first screenplay. He thanked the Puritans for “writing down so much stuff.”
Ezra Edelman’s “O.J.: Made in America” took best documentary. Best foreign language film went to Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann.”
The Cassavettes Award, which honors the best feature made for less than $500,000 went to Andrew Ahn’s Korean gay-immigrant drama “Spa Night.” Taking the stage Ahn first remarked, “I’m going to barf,” but quickly collected himself, speaking tenderly about his parents’ acceptance of their gay son and the need for acceptance of immigrants, gays and other communities.
“We are part of this great country,” said Ahn. “And we are undeniable.”
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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
This Story Filed UnderEvidence is emerging of an increase in racist incidents in the wake of the Brexit vote. There have been more than 100 reports of racist incidents since Friday, causing alarm about increasing racial, religious and ethnic tensions.
In particular, there have been instances of Muslims targeted in racist acts across Wales and in Birmingham. During a Channel 4 news interview, a voter in Barnsley, where the leave vote was nearly 70%, said he wanted “to stop Muslims coming to this country. Simple as that”.
Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) In Barnsley, 70% of the population voted to leave the European Union @C4Ciaran found out whyhttps://t.co/KursMuHHOV
We asked young Muslims and people from ethnic minorities to share their experiences after the referendum:
‘I fear for my daughter when people are being told to “get back to your own country”’
My blood ran cold when I heard we were leaving. I live in a small town in the north-east that voted 65% to leave. The Brexit campaign made me feel like an alien, an outsider, like being brown was now bad in England. I was excluded from the debate because I was up for debate – somehow I had become up for national debate.
Recently I spoke to a mum I know from my daughter’s school who has just recently moved from London. She says she isn’t happy here as the people are not very open and friendly.
Having been born and bred in England, my nationality, my birthright, has been suddenly called into question. I am fearful for my six-year-old daughter living in a place where people are being told on the street to “get back to your own country” or to “start packing”.
Sam, 34, Middlesbrough
Jahura Hussain.
‘I doubt I would get a visa now because of my hijab’
It’s a very sad time for British politics. As a Scottish Muslim, it will affect me the same as it will affect everyone else. I feel that Muslims have actively engaged in this campaign where young people have rallied together.
However, I do feel scared to go to France and I highly doubt I would even get a visa now because of my hijab. I think that will be the case across Europe – that we will be discriminated against when it comes to travelling because of our religion or the way we dress. I think overall it’s not just about Muslims but how it affects all of us. I hope that there will be a decrease in Islamophobia though.
I was, and am, proud to call myself a European, and still believe that the European project can and will live on. Scotland has voted to remain in the European Union. I voted to remain in the European Union and I will most definitely be voting yes in the next Scottish referendum and working to ensure we return to the EU.
Jahura Hussain, 20, Edinburgh
‘There is a poisonous anti-foreign sentiment in the air’
The result has left me feeling like an outsider. As a child, I grew up in a predominantly white, working-class area, and ignorant comments were almost made on a daily basis to me. As a mixed-race child of Oriental and European descent, I felt like I had to prove myself. My mother was put off teaching me her native language as a teacher told her it would stop me from progressing and “confuse” me. I was ashamed to show off my culture.
Seeing the active persecution of ethnic minorities and immigrants, I’m scared that those feelings of isolation and alienation that I experienced as a child will come back. But on a bigger scale, to the point I fear for my safety. I walk down the street now and I’m worried that people think I’m an outsider and that they want me gone.
I’m scared to go to my home town to visit my parents. I’m scared of how people will treat my white father for being married to my Oriental mother. I am scared that she may be attacked. I feel safer being in Manchester, but there is this poisonous anti-foreign sentiment in the air.
Brexit has allowed some people to believe that their intolerance and racism is now justified. I was in Manchester city centre and a woman glared at me in disgust. Whether or not it was to do with Brexit, I am now vigilant and cautious when I used to be carefree and happy. It all builds up and as an ethnic minority I don’t know if people accept me anymore. I used to be proud of this ethnically diverse country. Now I feel scared of it.
Khristi, 23, Manchester
Hassan Qadri.
‘This is a dark time for British Muslims’
It seems Project Hate has become Project Reality and has caused an unbridgeable chasm within society. The relentless fear-mongering, deceit and lies of the leave campaign have made this a dark time for British Muslims.
I am absolutely disgusted with the result and to hear from the leave camp that this is Britain’s “Independence” day is nothing short of comical. If younger voters [had] turned out in higher numbers the results may have been different. But this is primarily an educational issue, where the young need to know why their vote counts and how this referendum was different than a general election. Simply put, the old have failed the young.
Hassan Qadri, 21, York
‘Blaming your failures in life on an immigrant is not a solution to your problems’
Many leavers are claiming they got their country back but for ethnic minorities it will become more inhospitable. When I got off the train the other day I had a mud ball thrown at at me by a group of young children asking me why I was still here. This was not long after the result. They said I had 48 hours to go back to my home country.
I am a second-generation economic migrant. My dad was a bus driver, we had little to eat and I used to collect glass bottles and return them to off-licences to get the 5p or 10p in return. I vowed to escape that way of life. I went on to university and am now within the top 2% of all earners. I studied so hard that every piece of my sinews ached. An alternative vision of reality for me would have been growing up in a village in Pakistan. It would have been difficult but I would have stuck by my values and made the best of my situation.
So whilst I can understand individual feelings of being disaffected, blaming your failures in life on an immigrant is not a solution to your problems.
I want to live in a country where people are kind, tolerant and decent, not xenophobic and prejudiced. I fear the rise of the far right and I doubt leaving the EU will make things any better for those who are already marginalised in our society. How did Great Britain become Little England?
Bil, 46, Derby
Assad Khan.
‘The leave campaign completely alienated young Muslims’
The leave campaign peddled hate, bigotry and xenophobia. Of course, not everyone who voted leave was racist, but there is evidence to suggest that a significant amount were. I can’t speak on behalf of all young Muslims but what I can say is that the leave campaign did nothing to involve young Muslims. In fact, it alienated them.
There are many young Muslims who were completely disengaged during this referendum. Seeing as turnout levels are low, it’s good to target those in the minority.
What has started to become evident is that there is a huge difference between Scotland and England and how they engage with their minority communities. I’m happy to see Nicola Sturgeon bringing the constitutional independence referendum back on the table.
Assad Khan, 18, Edinburgh
‘It was the first openly racist incident I’ve experienced in over 30 years’
The day after the result I was at Heston services for a coffee when I saw a car with a St George flag stuck on its side. Three white males, a woman and a small child saw me get out of my car, and one of them turned his back to me and shouted “fucking immigrants, we voted out!”
It struck me as a bit odd as I am not an immigrant. Having being born here and being a barrister, I don’t consider myself an immigrant in the way he implied it. This is the first openly racist incident I have encountered in over 30 years and it’s sadly looking like it is not just me.
I have two beautiful kids with an Irish-English wife. Should I leave my home country? What should I do?
Mahmud Choudhry, 49, LondonShortly before 5 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time on Friday, a small, nondescript Beechcraft Air King climbed from the runway at Mammoth Yosemite Airport, reached 15,300 feet and headed over the snow-starved Sierra Nevada.
To anyone driving past the airport, nestled on the backside of the mountain range, the airplane's departure might have seemed like just another private plane taking off from a rural airfield.
Instead, the 1960s-vintage, twin-engine turboprop – NASA's Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) – is playing a key role in helping water managers in drought-ravaged California track the amount of water stored in the state's paltry Sierra snow pack.
The aircraft carries two instruments whose data combine to provide the most comprehensive estimates yet of snow's water content – critical information for forecasting the mount of water that the mountains hold in reserve for what traditionally has been the state's dry season.
The observatory began flying in 2013 as a three-year demonstration project, starting with one watershed. On Friday, the ASO would fly two sorties, traveling along tightly spaced, back-and-forth tracks over four watersheds.
The observatory's progress during its first two years has transformed from a let's-see-if-this-works effort to a must-have data source that has caught the attention of other Western states.
Until now, water managers have never known the true distribution of snow water equivalent across a watershed, says Thomas Painter, a hydrologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and the project's lead scientist.
"You can't manage what you don't measure," he says.
Yet mountain snows provide about 75 percent of the West's water. Population growth, a relentless draw-down of water stored in aquifers, and global warming's projected impact on precipitation and soil moisture pose significant challenges for managing water resources.
As if to underscore the point, researchers at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory published a study in February that yielded projections for "a remarkably drier future that falls outside the contemporary experience" of people and ecosystems in western North America.
California, entering the fourth year of a record-smashing drought for the state, has become the poster child for that future. A third of the state's water typically has come from the Sierra snows.
Across the Sierra Nevada, however, "the snow pack is about half of the previous lowest, driest on record,” says Frank Gehrke, who heads the California Water Resources Department's Cooperative Snow Survey Program. “We're down in uncharted territory." As of April 1, the average snow pack statewide is about 5 percent of normal for this time of year.
For the few watersheds the ASO has been measuring, data on the snow pack's water content are being fed directly into a new generation of steam-flow forecast models with "quite phenomenal improvement in water-supply forecasting," Mr. Gehrke says.
ASO data have reduced errors from between 20 and 40 percent to about 5 to 7 percent for forecasts looking 8 to 12 days ahead, Dr. Painter adds. He and colleagues currently are evaluating the data's impact on projections of April-to-July run-off.
Even for watersheds with few ASO measurements and no upgraded forecast models yet, reservoir managers are eager to get the observatory's water-content data, Gehrke notes.
"Water managers are looking for any kind of information that could help them make reasonable decisions on reservoir management," he says.
The reduction in errors is a big deal, notes Jeffrey Deems, a researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., and a member of the ASO team.
"Managing a dam for water supply and hydropower, you have to be careful you don't over-top things by not leaving enough room in your reservoir, but you don't want to leave so much room that you run out of water midsummer," he says.
Managing these conflicting goals in the face of large measurement errors – particularly in the face of a changing climate – is a major challenge.
ASO is providing far more precise knowledge of the amount of water that snow in each basin represents, which "enables this new paradigm where we can manage more efficiently and to a much tighter margin," he says.
Others have taken note. NASA and Colorado recently inked a Space Act Agreement to use the observatory for snow water-content measurements in the San Juan Mountains, notes Dr. Painter. The snow pack in the San Juans feeds the Rio Grande River and one of its key tributaries in Colorado, the Conejos River. The observatory was slated to fly east Sunday to begin making measurements there during the coming week.
Wyoming and New Mexico, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, also have expressed an interest in the project, Dr. Deems says.
In addition, the ASO is scheduled this summer to build terrain maps for the entire Sierra Nevada in preparation for expanding snow water-content measurements to encompass the full extent of the range.
The observatory makes its measurements using lidar and an imaging spectrometer. The lidar – a radar-like device that bounces a laser beam, rather than radio waves, off summits, canyons, and meadows – makes initial measurements of terrain height without snow. During snow-measurement runs, the lidar measures snow height. The team subtracts the two to get snow depth. The imaging spectrometer measures the amount of light the snow reflects, important for calculating melt rates. And it reveals the nature of the surface the laser is sampling, such as snow, vegetation, or rocks, for instance.
Automated snow-measuring stations on the ground will still play a role in the measurement efforts. They dot the mountain West, providing important information about snow depth at their location and about the density of the snow. The density information feeds into the observatory's water-content calculations. But automated ground sites are set up in locations people can readily reach. They provide no information on any snow lingering between sites.
In California's Tuolumne River watershed, for instance, the highest automated measuring station is located in Dana Meadows at 9,800 feet.
"There's fully a third of the watershed above that," Gehrke says. The Tuolumne River provides irrigation water for the San Joaquin Valley and about 15 percent of San Francisco's water.
From orbit, satellites provide information on the extent of the snow pack across the entire range. But those images don't reveal snow depth or details of how patchy snowfields can be within individual basins.
Researchers are working on ways to give satellites the capability to make such distinctions, "but it's not there yet," Painter says.
During the past two years, Painter's team has improved its tools – including the aircraft it used to make the flights. It also has faced some daunting challenges, the biggest of which was providing the measurements to water managers within 24 hours of collecting the data.
The observatory visits each of its small sample of basins once a week on average.
With each flight the aircraft returns with slightly more that 700 gigabytes of data, Painter says, adding, "It takes hours just to get the data off the flight disk." Other scientists who had used similar airborne observatories to track changes in tropical-forest cover termed the notion of a 24-hour turn-around time crazy, Painter says. Yet the team managed to pull off the feat.
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Beyond ready measurements for water managers, ASO data also have developed a following among scientists studying basic interactions between vegetation, soil moisture, and climate in mountains. The demand is intense enough that the team is looking for a place to build an archive of the data the observatory gathers.
Looking back on the first two years of work, it's become clear that the ASO is an ongoing project, Painter says. "There's no going back."(Minmatar Control Tower Medium)
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C.Q.B
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hipeanut2006 (Naglfar)
Ice Fire Warriors
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Stverm Katelo (Archon)
Doughboys
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Dr Hyman (Naglfar)
C.Q.B
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Tyrlia (Archon)
Tactical Black
Capitol One (Archon)
Snuff Box
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Loren Gallen (Moros)
Snuff Box
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Santo Trafficante (Sin)
Kira Inc.
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SmarncaV2 (Vindicator)
Snuff Box
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Zorrith (Bhaalgorn)
League of Non-Aligned Worlds
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Glitch Lampshade (Bhaalgorn)
C.Q.B
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bghblue Asanari (Bhaalgorn)
Black Wolf Arms
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Lord Scillion (Bhaalgorn)
C.Q.B
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Vivid1 (Bhaalgorn)
League of Non-Aligned Worlds
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420Killer (Bhaalgorn)
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GCDJ (Bhaalgorn)
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Madbuster73 (Bhaalgorn)
C.Q.B
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Rotten Ralph (Bhaalgorn)
Doughboys
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ViggenZ (Bhaalgorn)
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PROC3SS ELEVATED (Bhaalgorn)
C.Q.B
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Redrick38 (Bhaalgorn)
Ice Fire Warriors
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Posax (Bhaalgorn)
Kira Inc.
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Casirio (Bhaalgorn)
Ice Fire Warriors
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GekoIQ (Bhaalgorn)
League of Non-Aligned Worlds
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Sven Tekitsu (Bhaalgorn)
C.Q.B
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Stacy Burbon (Bhaalgorn)
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Starninja (Bhaalgorn)
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Mortvvs (Bhaalgorn)
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Postrach (Bhaalgorn)
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fx one (Bhaalgorn)
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Jegg Shi (Bhaalgorn)
C.Q.B
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Pee Bubble (Bhaalgorn)
C.Q.B
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Serenety Steel (Bhaalgorn)
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D4rk f0g (Bhaalgorn)
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Kraus Bart (Bhaalgorn)
C.Q.B
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Xentelk Solette (Bhaalgorn)
Black Wolf Arms
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Meltur (Bhaalgorn)
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Wu Jiaqiu (Loki)
Doughboys
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C-ta Vilosa (Loki)
C.Q.B
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The Bazzalisk (Loki)
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Ilannah (Loki)
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Kikusama (Loki)
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Piir8 (Proteus)
Kira Inc.
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PERUNGA (Proteus)
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Netcat (Proteus)
Doughboys
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Aquillan Kargas (Proteus)
League of Non-Aligned Worlds
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Andy Minerosa (Proteus)
C.Q.B
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Tao BeiFun (Augoror)
HildCo Interplanetar
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Nariyu (Augoror)
Gallente Rebels Inc.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Julianus Soter (Confessor)
Moira.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Aster Vinland (Confessor)
Moira.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Niden (Confessor)
Moira.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Zexxi Purple (Dragoon)
Moira.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Xhen Zui (Svipul)
HildCo Interplanetar
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Jimbob Rock (Svipul)
Justified Chaos
Spaceship Bebop
Gallente Federation
Calhdazar Zorm (Svipul)
Moira.
Villore Accords
Gallente Federation
Veli ANDAC (Svipul)
Federal Navy Special Forces
Gallente Federation
Admrial Togo (Keres)
Doughboys
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Lakota Ellecon (Keres)
Gallente Rebels Inc.
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OnePunch Mickey (Hyena)
Justified Chaos
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Clawie (Malediction)
HildCo Inter |
in the stretch of Queen West hit by the fire. Nearby Loblaws and Crate & Barrel stores have also helped rejuvenate the block. (Ben Rahn/A-Frame Studio)
Past and present
Three buildings on the south side of Queen Street West near Bathurst Street in Toronto were totally destroyed and others seriously damaged by a still-unexplained fire in the winter of 2008.
Partly because of the gap in the streetscape left by the fire, the stretch of small boutiques, restaurants and clubs along Queen West between Portland Street and Bathurst hadn’t undergone the renewal that’s happened on blocks west of Bathurst or closer to Spadina Avenue to the east.
One destroyed three-storey building owned by Duke’s Cycle shop was rebuilt relatively quickly, but two other lots remained behind hoardings for years. The lot to the east of 619 Queen is vacant eight years after the fire.
But the area is coming to life. “One of our business cases for buying the [619 Queen] property was the new tenants [on the surrounding block] including Loblaws and Crate & Barrel have opened stores on the street,” says Mr. Hull.Landon Cassill will return to the Cup Series for Front Row Motorsports in 2017, Frontstretch has learned.
The 27-year-old has competed full-time in the Cup Series for the past six seasons, finishing a career-high 29th in the championship standings in 2016. At Bristol in the spring, the No. 38 car was out front for 20 laps, the most laps he has ever led in a single race.
Front Row Motorsports picked up a victory and made the Chase in 2016 with Chris Buescher, who was victorious in a fog-shortened race at Pocono Raceway.
Cassill is seeking to secure sponsorship for next year, much like he did in 2016, in hopes of moving forward after a career year.
“We’re continuing to work forward on everything with Front Row Motorsports,” Cassill said. “I don’t see any changes being made, but everything will be getting buttoned up in the next few weeks I’m sure.”
Cassill had a career-high seven top-20 finishes in 2016, led by veteran crew chief Donnie Wingo. With a best finish of 11th at Talladega, the Iowa native is tired of being underrated, instead wishing he was “overrated.” Cassill wants to climb the ladder with FRM, moving them up the ranks to be a more competitive team in 2017.
“Obviously, the finishes are important and I think we’ve proven that we can get good finishes by out racing people with strategy,” Cassill said. “It’s the raw speed that we want to get. We want to start making the final round of qualifying and show that we have a car that is capable of running in the top 15.
“We’ve had a good, solid season. We haven’t had a lot of failures or tore up a lot of equipment. We’ve had some good runs, so I feel like we can take that going into the offseason and hopefully make every one of our cars better and get some good pieces built for next year.”
Jerry Freeze, General Manager at Front Row Motorsports, confirmed to Frontstretch that Cassill will return in 2017, admitting that the organization’s plans are not completely laid out for 2017.
“I think so, too,” Freeze said of Cassill remaining with the team. “We still have to get everything worked out with all the partners, but we are really close.”
Freeze and team owner Bob Jenkins are high on Cassill’s potential in a racecar, and feel that he has elevated the organization since coming over last off-season.
“Landon has a real super intention to detail,” Freeze said. “I’ve never seen a driver after every race give you about five pages of everything that he did through that whole weekend. He does a really good job in testing and doing simulation work and that goes back to his days with Hendrick when that was pretty much his job. He really learned how to use it as a tool and he really has the same mindset when he got with us.”
The team will remain a two-car operation, but is still working on who will be in the second machine. Buescher has been speculated to go elsewhere, possibly opening up the seat in the No. 34 car.Olympics investigating report of kayak capsizing after hitting submerged sofa
We may already have our strangest and most amusing story to come out of the Rio Olympic games.
Paul Kelso, a journalist for Sky Sports in the UK, reported on Friday that an Olympic kayaker had capsized after hitting a submerged couch. No, really.
Hearing an Olympic kayaker may have capsized after hitting a submerged sofa. Story of day & possibly the week if true. #kayaksofa #Rio2016 — Paul Kelso (@pkelso) August 5, 2016
The report, which immediately sparked the #kayaksofa hashtag on Twitter, was not corroborated by anyone else. Nevertheless, the organizers are taking it seriously enough as to investigate it.
Breaking: Rio2016 to investigate reports of #kayaksofa. Spokesman Mario Andrada says first he's heard of it @pkelso — Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) August 6, 2016
Look, we are well aware that certain aspects of the games — particularly the Olympic village — aren’t exactly up to standard. You’d think, though, that an Olympic kayaker would be able to participate without the fear of capsizing on errant furniture. I must confess, on a personal note, that a large part of me desperately wants this to be true. It almost seems too absurd to make up.Want to make Christmas easy? �Just purchase a trip to Disneyland and put it under the tree. �Voila! �You’re done!
GetAwayToday is doing a Black Friday sale. �If you book today through Sunday, Dec 1st, you can get�$75 off any �So. Cal (Disneyland, San Diego, Huntington Beach, Carlsbad or Universal Studios) 4-night stays w/a minimum of 2 tickets. Plus, it can be combined with their FREE night specials and/or our 25% off the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort offers!!
To get this deal, you will need to book online and use promo code BlackFriday.
If you have wanted to go to Disneyland, Jan/Feb is one of the best times to go. �No waiting in line, great weather, plus things like flights are super cheap at the beginning of the year to Disneyland! �I am always itching to get out of the snow here in Utah and Disneyland is perfect. 😉
**If you don’t have all of the cash upfront for your vacation, you can still get this deal! �Just use the GetAwayToday layaway plan. �Put down $125 and the deal/vacation is yours! Then, you can make monthly payments until it is time for your trip!
IMPORTANT: �There are a bunch of hotels that GetAwayToday has with a 3rd or 4th night FREE offer! �Combine that with the extra $75 off with code BlackFriday and you could get 2 NIGHTS FREE at some of the hotels!! Score!2016 Democratic Party Platform DRAFT July 1, 2016
Keith's 7 July note: There is no mention of NASA or anything remotely close to space. No surprise. Platforms are just documents that are more focused on letting party people exercise their narrow interests than being close to anything that will ever really become a presidential administration's future policies. Besides, space is a niche issue - at best - one that usually becomes a punch line when it does creep into presidential campaigns (Newt Gingrich's moon base, John Kerry in the bunny suit, etc.) But I worked on the staff of two of Jerry Brown's campaigns (Gov. Moonbeam), so what do I know? Beam me up.
Keith's 22 July update: The revised version of the platform (as of 21 July) says: "Pushing beyond the boundaries of what we know is core to who we are as Americans. Democrats are immensely proud of all that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has done-through its achievements in science, technology and exploration-to better understand our place in the universe and inspire and educate generations of young people in this country to pursue careers in science. Space exploration is a reminder that our capacity for curiosity is limitless, and may be matched only by our ability to achieve great things if we work together. Democrats believe in continuing the spirit of discovery that has animated NASA's exploration of space over the last half century. We will strengthen support for NASA and work in partnership with the international scientific community to launch new missions to space."
Election 2016 postingsKeeping up with the industry’s fast push to electrify vehicles and produce more trucks and SUVs, Ford Motor Company’s new CEO Jim Hackett said Tuesday the automaker would boost development funds for new electric vehicles, while cutting money spent on cars and internal combustion engines.
Hackett, who was put in charge as president and CEO in May after heading up Ford Smart Mobility, has spent four months evaluating Ford’s position as an automaker and transportation company. It comes at a time when Ford is pushing its mobility solutions, but still lags behind rivals such as General Motors in terms of autonomous technologies, partnerships and electric vehicle development. Just today, General Motors pledged to launch at least 20 all-electric vehicles by 2023.
“When you’re a long-lived company that has had success over multiple decades the decision to change is not easy – culturally or operationally,” Hackett said Tuesday in a news release. “Ultimately, though, we must accept the virtues that brought us success over the past century are really no guarantee of future success.”
Ford will focus on “smart and connected” vehicles that will, “thrive in a new transportation operating system,” according to the presentation. The company says it will offer internet connectivity on all of its U.S.-bound models by 2019 and in 90 percent of its vehicles sold worldwide by 2020.
Ford will continue to pursue more transportation research partnerships
These new vehicles Ford intends to bring to market will benefit from more money towards electrification resources, on top of a previously announced $4.5-billion investment that will bring models such as an F-150 hybrid, Mustang hybrid and full EV around 2020.
While Ford says it will still be in the business of building cars, more of its attention will go towards leveraging partnerships for other forms of transportation initiatives. Tuesday’s presentation comes on the heels of a tie-up with Lyft for autonomous vehicle research and the $1-billion investment in Argo. And all this comes at the company wants to use simplified production methods to save money on the cars it does build.
Ford still has some catching up to do with a number of automakers that have pledged to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to investing in alternative fuels and figuring out which transportation paths to take in the coming decades. But Hackett seems to have received the memo that Ford needed to make some bold moves before it fell way behind its competitors.This post is part of a series that compares Ardor to other blockchain projects with similar features or goals. You can find the previous posts here:
This week I studied IOTA, a distributed ledger that doesn’t use a blockchain.
Why Compare Ardor and IOTA?
At first blush, IOTA is about as different from Ardor as a distributed ledger can be. It uses a directed acyclic graph (DAG), which its developers call “the tangle,” to represent the history of transactions, instead of storing transactions on a blockchain. It is intended to be used primarily for machine-to-machine microtransactions on the Internet of Things (IoT), a vision enabled by the fact that IOTA requires no transaction fees. And it doesn’t (yet) support the “blockchain 2.0” features that form a core part of Ardor’s appeal. On the surface, it doesn’t really look like a competitor to Ardor.
So why include IOTA in a series entitled “Ardor vs. the Competition”?
As I’ve mentioned before, my main interest with this series is in exploring different distributed ledgers’ approaches to scaling, and this is where the IOTA community has made some extraordinary claims. As I learned more about IOTA to better understand how it scales, I eventually came to the conclusion that IOTA and Ardor offer complementary (or more bluntly, opposite) solutions to the scaling problem:
Ardor dramatically reduces blockchain bloat but requires all nodes of the network to agree about the strict ordering of transactions; whereas IOTA achieves potentially higher throughput by relaxing the consensus rules a bit, allowing temporary discrepancies between transactions, but faces a significant challenge in coping with the growth of the tangle. These tradeoffs, plus what I learned about the security of the tangle, seemed interesting enough to warrant a post in this series.
If you aren’t convinced, though, please still check in next week!
After this post, I plan to shift my focus away from scalability and towards features and market fit. Stratis, Ark, and Waves are on the agenda, but I’m not sure of the order, yet.
The Tangle
Without a doubt, the key distinguishing feature of IOTA is the tangle.
IOTA’s other unique features, such as its lack of transaction fees, the fact that transactions are not strictly ordered but still eventually consistent, and the notion that (some) spam actually increases the throughput of the network, all stem directly from the way the tangle works.
For this reason, and also because I want to sidestep at least some of the recent controversy surrounding the IOTA project, I will try to focus primarily on understanding and evaluating the tangle itself, rather than picking apart the details of IOTA’s specific implemetation of it.
The tangle is a directed acyclic graph whose vertices represent individual transactions, and whose edges represent “approvals” of previous transactions. Each time a node submits a new transaction to the network it must choose two previous transactions to validate, which it references in the new transaction it submits. As the new transaction permeates the network, each node adds it to its local copy of the tangle, with one edge pointed to each transaction that the new transaction approved.
I tried my best, but this description is probably confusing. This diagram should help. Each square represents a transaction, and the arrows that point from each transaction to two others represent that transaction’s approval of the two earlier ones. The genesis transaction is somewhere far off the left side of the diagram, and the newest transactions, called “tips” in the white paper, are on the right side, shaded in gray.
What does it mean to validate, and hence approve, a transaction? Conceptually, the node doing the validation must start at the two transactions that it is validating and walk all paths back to the genesis transaction, ensuring that it never encounters a contradiction (e.g., double-spend, insufficient balance, or the like). If there is a contradiction, it chooses another pair of transactions to approve, knowing that no other node would ever approve the transaction it is submitting if it had approved a set of inconsistent transactions.
Notice that this means that each new transaction not only directly approves each of the two transactions it has chosen to validate, but also indirectly approves the transactions that those two approve, and the transactions that those transactions approve, and so on all the way back to the genesis. This is part of the basis for “eventual consensus” on the tangle.
In case you’re wondering about the computational burden of doing this validation, in practice it can be optimized substantially. Notice from the figures on this page that as you walk the tangle from the tips (far right) towards the genesis, you eventually reach a point past which all transactions are (indirectly) approved by all tips. In these figures, transactions approved by all tips are colored green. You could, therefore, cut the tangle across arrows that point to green transactions, validate the paths from those particular green transactions to the genesis a single time, cache the results, and from that point forward only validate from your new transaction back to those green transactions. This optimization saves you the time of validating the entire tangle every time you submit a transaction, and also allows the tangle to be pruned. More on that below.
Consensus
One very interesting feature of a tangle-based ledger like IOTA is that nodes that receive new transactions from their peers don’t have to immediately validate them. In fact, the tangle can temporarily contain contradictory transactions. Eventually, though, a node must decide which of the contradictory transactions to approve (possibly indirectly) as it adds a new transaction.
How does it choose between conflicting transactions? Assuming that each transaction is valid if considered separately, then the short answer is that a node could choose to approve either one. It has an incentive to approve the one that the rest of the network will build on, though, so that its own transaction will eventually be approved, too. Most of the nodes on the network are assumed to run the reference algorithm for selecting transactions to approve, so in the event of a conflict, a node has an incentive to choose the transaction that the reference algorithm selects.
In order to understand the reference algorithm, it is important to first understand the concept of the cumulative weight of a transaction.
Each node that submits a new transaction must do some proof-of-work (PoW), which determines the “own weight” of the transaction. The cumulative weight of a transaction is then its own weight plus the own weights of all transactions that have directly or indirectly approved it. In a general tangle the node can decide how much work to do for a transaction, but in IOTA all transactions require the same PoW and thus have the same own weight. As a result, the cumulative weight of a transaction is proportional to the number of other transactions that directly or indirectly approve it.
What, then, is the reference algorithm? The author of the white paper calls it Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC, see section 4.1), which is a fancy way of saying that it is a random walk along the tangle that favors paths with greater cumulative weight. This post is already getting long, so I’ll skip the details. Suffice it to say that, when there are conflicting transactions, the MCMC algorithm resolves the conflict by tending to choose whichever transaction has the greater cumulative weight behind it. Eventually, one subtangle becomes dominant and the other is orphaned. This is analogous to the mechanism that blockchains use to resolve forks, and the cumulative weight of a transaction in IOTA is a rough measure of its finality in the same way that adding blocks to a blockchain confirms previous transactions with greater and greater certainty.
By the way, the fact that nodes don’t immediately need to validate each new transaction received from their peers has big implications for performance. Each node does less work this way, validating transactions only when it submits a new transaction, and taking for granted that transactions that are indirectly approved by all tips have already been validated by the rest of the network. Also, validations run in parallel across the network, as different nodes choose different subsets of transactions to approve.
Security
So far I have mostly just regurgitated the information found in the IOTA white paper. The issue of the security of the tangle, on the other hand, is where things get a lot more interesting. While I definitely recommend reading the analysis in the white paper of different attacks on the tangle–and the rest of the white paper, for that matter, because it is very well written–I won’t discuss most of that analysis here.
Instead, I want to focus on the most obvious threat, which is a 51% attack. The IOTA devs actually refer to it as a 34% attack, for reasons that I’m not sure I understand. I suspect it’s because an attacker who waits for a fork to occur naturally only needs enough hashpower to out-compute the nodes on each branch of the fork–i.e., more than 50% of the rest of the network’s hashpower. Anyway, the exact number isn’t important, and for the remainder of this article I will use the term “34% attack.”
With IOTA, a 34% attack would look roughly like this. An attacker issues a transaction that spends some funds, represented by the rightmost red dot, then computes (or perhaps has precomputed) his own “parasitic” subtangle, which anchors to the main tangle somewhere upstream of his transaction and which contains a double-spend transaction, represented by the leftmost red dot. His goal is to add enough cumulative weight to his parasitic tangle to convince the MCMC algorithm to orphan the main tangle and follow the parasitic one.
Hopefully, the analogies to the blockchain are clear so far, because there is one more important one. Like a PoW blockchain, the tangle is secured by the current hashpower of the network, since this hashpower is what adds cumulative weight to the legitimate tangle. Unlike a PoW blockchain, though, nodes on IOTA only do PoW when they submit transactions. The security of the tangle, therefore, depends only on the transaction rate and the amount of PoW per transaction. Take a second to let that idea sink in because it is absolutely central to understanding the security of the tangle.
Because the IOTA network is currently small and the transaction rate is low, the IOTA team has established a single trusted node, called the Coordinator, that is ultimately responsible for deciding the current state of the tangle. Its purpose is to protect against 34% attacks, among other attacks. I’m not going to spend any more time on it, but I encourage you to read this critique and the devs’ responses, and draw your own conclusions about whether IOTA can be called decentralized while running under the supervision of the Coordinator.
Let’s see if we can come up with an order-of-magnitude estimate of how secure the network could be without the Coordinator. A recent stress test achieved well over 100 transactions per second (tps) on a small test network. The team suggested that 1,000 tps is achievable. To be generous, let’s assume that IOTA will eventually scale to 10,000 tps. I don’t know what the current PoW requirement on IOTA is, but let’s suppose that the average IoT device is approximately a Raspberry Pi and it runs at 100% CPU for 10 seconds to do the required PoW. Again, I’m trying to be generous; many IoT devices are considerably less powerful than a Raspberry Pi, and pegging the CPU for 10 seconds for each transaction would probably be a dealbreaker.
With these assumptions, we conclude that the average computational power securing the network is roughly 10,000 x (# of computations by Raspberry Pi in 10 s) per second, or equivalently, 100,000 times the computational power of a single Raspberry Pi. There are a lot of nuances to properly benchmarking computers, but we’re not concerned about factors of two or three–we’re just going for an order-of-magnitude estimate–so we’ll use some numbers I found on the internet.
A Raspberry Pi3 can achieve hundreds of MFLOPS (megaflops, or millions of floating-point operations per second), while high-end GPUs clock in at thousands of GFLOPS (gigaflops, or billions of FLOPS), a factor of 10,000 greater computing power. So in our hypothetical scenario, an attacker with ~10 GPUs could out-compute the entire network. Throw in another factor of 10 because I was being sloppy–maybe integer operations are a bit slower on the GPUs than floating-point operations, for example–and you still only need 100 GPUs to execute the attack.
I’m sure there are plenty of holes to poke in this analysis. Perhaps IOTA won’t run on devices all the way at the edge of the network, for example. Instead, it might run on the gateways and routers that those IoT devices connect to, which are typically much more powerful.
Still, the point I’m trying to make is that PoW successfully secures blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum because it isn’t tied to the transaction rate, or any other factor besides the economic value of the network. As the value of the mining reward (in fiat currency) increases with the price of Bitcoin, miners add more hardware and consume more electricity to mine it. The economic incentive to mine ensures that the amount of hashpower securing the network increases with the network’s monetary value.
With IOTA, in contrast, there is no economic incentive to secure the network. Moreover, the hashpower securing the network is tied directly to the transaction rate, which naturally has some upper limit dependent on bandwidth and network topology.
On this last point, the IOTA developers have made a creative argument, not included in the white paper, that bandwidth limitations and network topology actually improve the security of the network. I haven’t found an official statement of it anywhere, but after some digging I stumbled upon this Slack conversation, which is the most complete defense I could find.
Essentially, one of the IOTA developers (specifically Come-from-Beyond, a.k.a. Sergey Ivancheglo, possibly a.k.a. BCNext, also one of the original creators of Nxt), argues that the IOTA network will consist of IoT devices peered exclusively with their nearest neighbors in a meshnet topology, and that an attacker will not even have the option of peering with more than a very small number of devices on each such mesh. That is, the vast majority of devices will not be accessible from the internet or some other “backbone” of the network, and the only way to send messages to them will be through the mesh of other devices.
The general idea is that the mesh as a whole will be capable of achieving a high throughput, but each individual link in the mesh has a low enough bandwidth that an attacker would easily saturate it by trying to add enough transactions to convince the network to follow his parasitic subtangle. Since the attacker only has a few entry points into the mesh, he saturates all of them before his parasitic tangle accumulates enough weight for his attack to succeed.
I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about this argument. I personally don’t think the IOTA team has made enough details public to thoroughly evaluate it.
Speaking of bandwidth limitations, let’s talk about scaling.
Scalability
Because each node must validate two other transactions before submitting its own transaction, the IOTA team likes to point out that spam actually tends to make the network more efficient. Other members of the IOTA community get carried away with this point, sometimes even making the absurd claim that IOTA is “infinitely scalable.”
Every node on the IOTA network must eventually receive every transaction in order to maintain a globally consistent tangle. Broadcasting transactions to remote nodes takes time, though, and if the transaction rate is high enough that a node receives a lot of transactions from nearby nodes before it receives the next transactions from distant nodes, the MCMC algorithm will continue to select tips submitted by nearby nodes. Eventually the tangle splits, with only nearby nodes transacting on the local copy of the tangle and remote nodes transacting on their own, divergent copy.
So bandwidth and network topology must place some limitations on the transaction rate of IOTA if the tangle is to be consistent across the entire network. We will have to wait for more stress tests to learn what these limitations are.
Additionally, like all distributed ledgers, IOTA must grapple with bloat. Each transaction on IOTA is approximately 1.6 kB in size, so a transaction rate of 100 tps would grow the tangle at a rate of 160 kB per second, or about 14 GB per day. Needless to say, that’s an unrealistic storage requirement for an IoT device.
IOTA currently solves this problem by taking periodic snapshots of the tangle, which map its current state into a new genesis transaction, allowing the transaction history to be pruned away. In the limit of very frequent pruning, a node would only have to store enough of the tangle to be able to run the MCMC algorithm.
Syncing a new node with the network is a different story, though. Either the node must download the latest snapshot from a trusted peer, or it must start at the original genesis transaction and work its way forward through the entire tangle. There is no way to trustlessly and efficiently join the network.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the IOTA team has proposed a type of horizontal partitioning of the tangle that they call a “swarm,” where many nodes together store the complete tangle but no one node stores all of it. Unfortunately, there aren’t many details yet on how this works.
Compared to Ardor
So what does any of this have to do with Ardor?
In my opinion, there are two main comparisons to draw, namely on the issues of security and scalability.
Regarding security, it isn’t clear to me that IOTA could possibly reach a high enough transaction rate to be considered secure without the Coordinator, given the monetary value of even the current network, without choosing a very high PoW requirement.
Ardor, in contrast, has the advantage that its child chains are all secured by the single parent chain.
A “small” child chain wouldn’t need a trusted node like IOTA’s Coordinator to protect it because consensus is established by the entire network and recorded (via hashes of child chain blocks) by forgers on the parent chain.
On scalability, IOTA and Ardor both currently share the requirement that each node of the network process all transactions. With IOTA, this simply means adding transactions to the tangle, which is computationally cheap, whereas, with Ardor, every node must validate every transaction. Moreover, the clever design of the tangle ensures that the confirmation time for a transaction actually decreases as the network gets busier. I would not be surprised to see IOTA achieve higher throughput than Ardor as both networks grow.
On the other hand, IOTA faces a tremendous challenge in combating tangle bloat if it is ever to achieve hundreds of transactions per second, whereas Ardor has largely solved this problem.
Finally, it’s worth noting that a proposal on the Ardor roadmap would delegate child chain transaction processing to dedicated subnets of the network. This would potentially achieve a computational gain similar to IOTA’s “swarming” proposal, possibly allowing similarly high throughput.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve read this far (thank you!!) and were already familiar with IOTA, then you’ve undoubtedly noticed that I left out a lot of details, including its homebuilt hashing algorithm, the deliberate flaw in this algorithm that Come-from-Beyond included as a copy-protection mechanism, the use of ternary encoding, and the mysterious Jinn processor that will provide hardware support for IOTA in IoT devices. In the course of my research, I’ve formed fairly strong opinions on all of these things, but I was reluctant to share them here for two reasons.
First, I don’t have sufficient information to make objective statements on these issues. I’m not a cryptographer, and I know next to nothing about ternary computing or Jinn. The best I could do would be to offer subjective judgments of the design decisions the IOTA team made, but that would have simultaneously weakened the focus of this article and opened it to criticism from people who have made different subjective judgments.
Secondly, and more importantly, I’m more interested in the fundamental concepts behind the tangle than IOTA’s specific implementation of it. Regardless of whether IOTA succeeds or fails, the tangle is a beautiful idea and deserves all the attention we can muster.
So what can we say about the tangle, then? While I’m positively enamored with the elegance of its design and the nuances of its consensus mechanism, at the end of the day I’m afraid I’m quite skeptical of its suitability for the Internet of Things. Drop that aspect, increase the PoW requirement by several orders of magnitude, and find a way to tie the PoW threshold to the monetary value of the network without cutting ordinary users off from their funds, and I think the tangle has tremendous potential as a distributed ledger.
The last missing piece is how to cope trustlessly and efficiently with bloat, a problem that Ardor have solved extremely well. Perhaps somebody will find a way to combine the best elements of both designs at some point in the future. A lot could happen by then, especially in cryptoland.
P.S. – I promise the next article will be shorter. 🙂
View this in: 简体中文 EspañolThe flowery invitation includes an image of'special guest' House Speaker John Boehner. DCCC hits with 'R-Oil Wedding'
With Prince William and Kate Middleton drawing media attention as they prepare to walk down the aisle, Democrats are countering with their own event Friday: the R-Oil Wedding.
House Republicans and oil companies have become so closely linked, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says in a Web invitation provided to POLITICO on Thursday morning, that it’s time for them to come together in a “sacred and lasting union.”
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A flowery invitation awaits at roilwedding.com and includes an image of “special guest” House Speaker John Boehner’s head edited onto a drawing of an elaborate red dress that looks best suited for a paper doll.
“For this wedding, in lieu of gifts, the happy couple would surely prefer more Big Oil tax breaks,” DCCC spokesman Jesse Ferguson said in an email. The invitation has the Republican-Oil registered for “corporate tax breaks at the expense of middle-class Americans” at Halliburton, BP, Exxon Mobil “and more …”
Boehner suggested Monday that he might be willing to look at ending some subsidies for oil companies but spokesman Michael Steel later backed his boss away from those comments, saying the speaker “simply wasn’t going to take the bait and fall into the trap of defending Big Oil companies.”
Democrats have since seized upon Boehner’s remarks, with President Barack Obama writing in a Tuesday letter to congressional leaders that he was “heartened that Speaker Boehner yesterday expressed openness to eliminating these tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry. … I hope we can come together in a bipartisan manner to get it done.”
“After House Republicans had a decade long relationship of protecting Big Oil taxpayer giveaways, speculations and price gouging, this wedding seems like the next step. In their relationship for richer or really richer, we wish the happy couple all the best,” Ferguson said.In the popular imagination, the French Resistance against the Nazi occupation of France is associated with heroic acts of guerrilla warfare, such as blowing up bridges or derailing trains. But in one small town near Paris, two artist brothers also resisted the occupation in their own quiet way -- with a politically charged stained-glass window.
Local historians in the town of Montgeron have rediscovered a stained-glass church window that criticizes the Nazi occupation by depicting Adolf Hitler as an executioner. The dictator is shown in the act of killing St. James, who was one of Jesus' 12 apostles.
Although Hitler's distinctive hairstyle can easily be recognized in the portrait, his trademark moustache has been left out. "The glassmakers hid it behind his arm, to avoid any trouble," local priest Dominique Guérin told the French newspaper Le Parisien.
Political Message
The church's stained-glass windows were unveiled in July 1941, during the Nazi occupation. Locals believe that the two artists, the Mauméjean brothers, deliberately depicted Hitler as the executioner of St. James, whom the church is named for, as an act of artistic and religious resistance.
Guérin's predecessor Gabriel Ferone told Le Parisien that the saint represents the Jewish people, as his name in Hebrew has the same etymology as Jacob, the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. Stained-glass windows created by the brothers in other churches also mix political and religious messages, according to historian Renaud Arpin.
Authorities in the town are now hoping that the media attention will turn the church into a tourist attraction. Montgeron is only 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from Paris and is easily reachable by train.The delegates elected Tuesday night will attend next month's state convention, at which 14 of Vermont's 19 delegates to the national convention will be chosen. The five remaining places belong to Gov. Madeleine Kunin, a Dukakis backer, and four state party officials.
Mr. Jackson's strong showing in the caucuses was a disappointment for the Dukakis campaign, which has most every prominent Democrat in the state behind it, including Mrs. Kunin, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Lieut. Gov. Howard Dean and House Speaker Ralph Wright.
Mr. Dukakis had won Vermont's nonbinding primary March 1, winning 56 percent of the vote, while Jackson gained 26 percent. The primary had nothing to do with the selection of actual delegates. Changing Sentiment Sensed
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Based on that showing, the Dukakis campaign had expected to win the caucuses, but in recent days his supporters had backed off such predictions.
On the Republican side, some 1,000 delegates to the state convention were chosen Tuesday night. With 39 percent of the delegates reported, George Bush had 332 delegates, or 89 percent, with 52 uncommitted delegates, and 5 for Pat Robertson.
Mr. Robertson's campaign had hoped to elect enough delegates to give them a voice at the state and national conventions. But Bush's Vermont spokesman, Steve Watson, said the Bush forces ''rallied and were able to overcome the Robertson forces.''
At the Burlington Democratic caucus many party regulars protested the appearance of Mayor Sanders, a Socialist who ran for mayor as an independent.
Lyman Hunt of Burlington, who took the podium to speak in support of Mr. Gore, said, ''I resent intruders who would undermine and destroy the Democratic Party.'' One voter, Helen Malloy, yelled from the back of the auditorium, ''We want unity among ourselves, not with a group of outsiders.''
Several minutes later, she approached Mayor Sanders as he was returning to his seat after casting his vote and slapped him on the cheek. The Mayor, who at first appeared to think that the woman was about to greet him, looked stunned.
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''I don't think that was very nice,'' he told her.
Mr. Jackson had no paid staff in Vermont for either the primary or the caucuses, but the volunteer staff for the primary was estimated at 50 or more.Kevin D. Williamson is roving correspondent for National Review and author, most recently, of The End Is Near and It’s Going To Be Awesome.
Rand Paul’s admirers, and more than a few of his |
doesn’t mean they will be automatically disappointed by a second film that refuses to repeat that configuration.
The Empire Strikes Back deserves respect. It deserves a tender place in the memories of SFF and film fans everywhere. It also deserves to be a unique entity in filmmaking. In this case, imitation is not the best form of flattery. Please: use Empire with caution.
Emily Asher-Perrin’s parents used to call her Yoda when she was a baby. The wrinkles probably had something to do with it, but she can’t imagine her ears actually looked like that. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.Why do some of China’s biggest tech companies engage in the sincerest form of flattery? This week Lei Jun, the chief executive of Xiaomi—recently rebranded internationally as Mi—stood on stage in a black T-shirt and jeans and announced a new smartphone with a notable resemblance to the iPhone in front of a slide that said “one more thing…”
Yes, the same ”one more thing…” slide that Steve Jobs made famous…
Mi thinks “sweeping sensationalist statements” of it copying Apple are off the mark. ”We are not the only ones who have adopted the Steve Jobs presentation style,” Mi international vice-president Hugo Barra said. ”The whole world has done that.”
But Mi isn’t the only Chinese company to be imitating its Western peers. Lenovo has just unveiled a prototype of a rival to Google Glass, in which the chief innovation appears to be an ungainly-looking neck-mounted battery pack. And Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, is working on a driverless car—though it’s too early to tell how closely its designs match those of Google, which has been developing one for years.
Despite having moved up the manufacturing value chain, from supplying basic parts, to high-tech components, to selling the final products straight to the public, Chinese brands are still not widely known for innovating. ”In novel-product innovation, China is very weak,” Dan Breznitz, the co-author of a book about Chinese innovation, told the New York Times. “The political economic institutions and system in China make it so entrepreneurs can’t make profit by developing novel innovation. But this same system makes process and second-generation innovation very profitable and successful.”
But that is not to say they don’t innovate at all. A rapidly-modernizing country with more than a billion people is a great laboratory for new ideas. For non-Chinese users, for instance, WeChat is a chat messaging service much like its competitors, but the version available in China is also a blogging platform, a mobile wallet, a news reader and more; indeed, it’s called Weixin in China to distinguish it from WeChat abroad.
China’s near neighbor, South Korea, set the precedent for Chinese tech companies’ evolution. “In a region of fast growth, since the 1960s Korea has increased its per-capita-GDP more quickly than any of its neighbors,” the consultancy firm McKinsey notes. That’s also the period during which the country started to move from manufacturing high-end components for Western gadget makers to competing with them.
The liquid crystals in flat-screen TVs, for instance, were invented in Germany and pioneered in Japan, but “the Koreans came along and copied it and improved on it,” one scientist recounted to the New Yorker. “I don’t think people appreciate how really difficult it all was.” LG and Samsung bet billions on the new technology; now it’s an area in which the country’s companies innovate and dominate. LG makes TVs and phones and also the high-resolution Retina display in iPhones. Samsung sells critical components to Apple, including the Retina displays for iPads, but also competes with it directly and successfully in high-end smartphones. (The two have had a long-running legal battle over patents.)
It would be foolish to bet that Chinese firms can’t do what the Koreans did. Some of the country’s brands have gone global: Lenovo is the world’s biggest PC maker because it bought IBM’s PC business and is now trying to get its low-end server business, too. Foxconn, the major supplier to Apple, is opening a chain of wellness resorts. And outside of tech, the Taiwanese shoemaker, Stella International, which manufactures for Prada and LVMH as well as Clarks, Rockport and Timberland, is expanding its own-brand business in Paris.
A truly innovative Chinese tech company is only a matter of time. But until then, do they have to be so blatant about copying?Update 7: Big news! We're doing a livestream to commemorate the end of the Kickstarter. Check out our twitch.tv page at 6pm Pacific tonight (March 21)! Also, we're partnering with Three Moves Ahead! Check out the latest Progresscast for more.
Update 6: Art Update! You're either eagerly awaiting to see what your reward looks like OR you are holding out until your eyes are destroyed by Graham, Vincent and Campbell. The TIME IS NOW.
Update 1: Hoooooly crap, we hit our goal in exactly two hours! You guys are incredible. In celebration, our first Progresscast is up! Head over to the Updates section to listen if you pledged $10 or more.
Update 2: We continue to be blown away. The second Progresscast is up in the Updates section!
Update 3: We've got a special Dota 2 Progresscast up in the Updates section for backers! Listen and learn (how bad we are at Dota 2).
Update 4: We've posted a Progresscast discussion with Vincent Perea, one of our artist collaborators. We talk about his process as well as Zelda and chicken nuggets!
Update 5: We've released a trailer for Thirty Flights of Loving, Blendo Games' video game short story sequel to Gravity Bone! Get all the details over on the Updates page.
A few years ago, some guys with careers in the video game industry started producing a weekly podcast out of a San Francisco apartment. We had few goals, except that the show be independent, remain unconstrained by a segment-driven format, and be recorded only with all parties present in the room--not over Skype. It really worked for people, and it became a big part of our lives.
Over two years, we developed an audience who appreciated our dubious blend of interpersonal chemistry, insight into development and the industry, sometimes-pretentious musings about games, and baffling phonological explorations of Jeff Goldblum’s name. Just check out our archive! (We've heard it's best to start from episode 1.)
People tell us they miss the show. We miss creating it just as much. So, three of us have decided it's time to make this thing happen again. The current core lineup is Chris Remo, Sean Vanaman, and Jake Rodkin, with planned guest appearances by Steve Gaynor. You might unfortunately know us as Boost, Famous, Video Games, and Hot Scoops. We'd like your help. Without you, the puzzle is incomplete.
We've never charged for content. Thumbs has always been a purely volunteer activity. That became difficult once we found ourselves the custodians of a moderately successful podcast. The regular time commitment combined with the costs of equipment and bandwidth meant an activity we greatly enjoyed also became a considerable resource drain. Even now, with the podcast defunct, we spend money every month to keep the full archive available through a good host--and that's a lot more money when the podcast is active.
We never had the benefit of being attached to a large media outlet. We’ve always relied on the ever-gratifying word-of-mouth provided by our community to get our name out there. Now our goal is to make Idle Thumbs pay for itself so that once it starts up again, we can continue to produce it weekly for years to come. We still have no intention of charging for the cast.
That's only part of why we're doing this Kickstarter, though.
We want Idle Thumbs to grow. When we come back, we're planning on launching with not just the main video game podcast, but also a book club podcast in which we choose a book to read for a month then discuss it on the air, including with reader questions.
And we want to be able to fund a home base--an office, even a tiny closet-sized one, from which we can record podcasts and plan the site's future. We want to give Thumbs the space to become something more than just a hobby project.
Thumbs has gone dormant several times over the years, only to return time and time again in various forms. This time, we want it to stay active indefinitely, to cast away its once-inevitable biennial slumber--not merely to subsist but to [some kind of metaphor here about a grenade rolling down a hill].
Rewards are rad. Idle Thumbs merchandise has never been easily available, and Kickstarter offers a great system to do something we already like doing (designing and producing digital and physical goods) in a way that will help ensure the future of something we love (our goofy video game podcast). Hopefully, this is just the start.
Here's what we've got lined up:
THE "WISH YOU WERE HERE" ($10)
PROGRESSCAST: Exclusive access to short pre-launch podcasts from Chris, Jake, Sean, and possible guests as they feverishly attempt to get Idle Thumbs back up and running.
Exclusive access to short pre-launch podcasts from Chris, Jake, Sean, and possible guests as they feverishly attempt to get Idle Thumbs back up and running. THUMBACKGROUNDS: Digital Idle Thumbs wallpaper pack for your computer and mobile devices, created by designer Alex Griendling.
YOU'VE GOT MAIL: We will make and sign a postcard, and mail it to you in the actual real physical mail.
FOUNDER'S WALL: Your name on a permanent Kickstarter backer page on the Idle Thumbs website.
INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: Add $3 for higher shipping costs.
THE "VIDEO GAME" ($30)
THIRTY FLIGHTS OF LOVING: Download the video game short story Thirty Flights of Loving, Blendo Games' sequel to Gravity Bone, developed for the Idle Thumbs Kickstarter and featuring an original soundtrack by Chris Remo. It will blow you away (PC digital download). More details on the Updates page. Check out the original Gravity Bone (and other incredible Blendo titles like Atom Zombie Smasher ) at Blendo's website.
MUSIC OF THE THUMB (digital): Digital access to newly-recorded versions of several Idle Thumbs songs by Chris Remo ("The Idle Thumbs Podcast Theme," "The Fanboy's Lament," "Space Asshole," "The Wizard") and a remix by Jared Emerson-Johnson, composer for Sam & Max seasons 1-3 and much more. (See the "WORLD IS YOURS" tier for physical version of this album.)
ALSO: Progresscast access, digital backgrounds, your name on the Founder's Wall, and a signed postcard.
INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: Add $3 for higher shipping costs.
THE "STYLIN'" ($50)
WEAR THE THUMB: They thought you were ashamed of your love for Idle Thumbs. Prove them wrong with a high-quality American Apparel t-shirt emblazoned with our new logo designed by Stevan Zivadinovic. (You will be asked to indicate your size once funding has been completed.)
IDLE THUMBS STICKER PACK: Aw yeah! Rock on! Cha-ching! (These are stickers. You can stick them on things.)
ALSO: Blendo's Thirty Flights of Loving game, "Music of the Thumb" digital album, Progresscast access, digital backgrounds, your name on the Founder's Wall, and a signed postcard.
INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: Add $10 for higher shipping costs.
THE "PEREA" ($100)
VINCENT PEREA DRAWS SPACE: A distant nebula. A craggy Marsianscape. Nothing is as picturesque as space in the springtime. Receive a high quality print, suitable for framing from Vincent Perea, the artist behind The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, Where's My Water?, and more.
HOUSE OF LORDS: Your name will forever grace the distinguished "House of Lords" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall.
ALSO: Blendo's Thirty Flights of Loving game, Idle Thumbs t-shirt, "Music of the Thumb" digital album, Progresscast access, digital backgrounds, sticker pack, your name on the Founder's Wall, and a signed postcard.
INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: Add $10 for higher shipping costs.
THE "ANNABLE'S WIZARD" ($100)
GRAHAM ANNABLE'S SHITTY WIZARD: High quality set of four small frameable prints of a shitty wizard (see Idle Thumbs episode 50) from Graham Annable, the artist behind Grickle, Puzzle Agent, and more.
HOUSE OF LORDS: Your name will forever grace the distinguished "House of Lords" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall.
ALSO: Blendo's Thirty Flights of Loving game, Idle Thumbs t-shirt, "Music of the Thumb" digital album, Progresscast access, digital backgrounds, sticker pack, your name on the Founder's Wall, and a signed postcard.
INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: Add $10 for higher shipping costs.
THE "WORLD IS YOURS" ($200)
WIZARD'S EXCLUSIVE GOLD FOIL TUNIC: T-shirt with gold foil Idle Thumbs logo inspired by the logo from classic video game film The Wizard. This shirt variant only ever available through this Kickstarter!
MUSIC OF THE THUMB (vinyl): Vinyl EP featuring new recordings of four Idle Thumbs tracks ("The Idle Thumbs Podcast Theme," "The Fanboy's Lament," "Space Asshole," "The Wizard") performed by Chris Remo, a B-side featuring a remix by Jared Emerson-Johnson ( The Walking Dead game, Sam & Max Seasons 1-3 ), and cover art by talented illustrator Campbell Whyte (8-Bit Dreams). You will also receive a digital version of the album.
RUINATIONCAST: You will have the right to demand a topic we must discuss on the final Progresscast. Use this power wisely.
THAT'S WHY YOU ALWAYS LEAVE A NOTE: We will hand-write a unique note, poem, or insult on your signed postcard.
JOURNAL OF GAMES: Receive one of the few remaining hard copies of the Idle Thumbs Journal of Games, a one-off broadsheet newspaper distributed solely during Game Developers Conference 2009 in San Francisco. Content and design by Jake Rodkin, Chris Remo, Steve Gaynor, Marek Bronstring, Duncan Fyfe, David Eggers, and Snap E. Gamer.
HOUSE OF LORDS: Your name will forever grace the "House of Lords" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall.
ALSO: Art prints from Graham Annable and Vincent Perea, Blendo's Thirty Flights of Loving game, Idle Thumbs logo t-shirt, "Music of the Thumb" digital album, Progresscast access, sticker pack, digital backgrounds, and a signed postcard.
INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: Add $10 for higher shipping costs.
MAN "THAT'S A LOT OF STUFF" (is it enough?)
SERIOUSLY: This is outrageous. Look at all these wondrous Idle Thumbs treasures. You want them. Wait, you're saying you want even more rewards? Unbelievable rewards that will leave you with stories to surprise and delight your children and your children's children, honoring your family name for generations to come? Read on, friend...
THE "HOORAY FOR YOU" PACKAGE ($1000)
BE OUR FRIEND: Come have dinner with us and your plus-one, either in San Francisco when you're in town, or during a game industry event we attend, such as PAX or GDC.
Come have dinner with us and your plus-one, either in San Francisco when you're in town, or during a game industry event we attend, such as PAX or GDC. IMMORTALIZED IN SONG: Chris will write and record a song about you or a topic of your choice, and we'll play it in a 2012 episode of Idle Thumbs of your choosing. (Song topic excludes commercial advertisement.)
Chris will write and record a song about you or a topic of your choice, and we'll play it in a 2012 episode of Idle Thumbs of your choosing. (Song topic excludes commercial advertisement.) WIZARD'S CIRCLE: Your name will be proudly etched for all eternity in the "Wizard's Circle" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall, our highest honor.
Your name will be proudly etched for all eternity in the "Wizard's Circle" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall, our highest honor. AND DON'T FORGET: Art prints from Graham Annable and Vincent Perea, Blendo's Thirty Flights of Loving game, "Music of the Thumb" vinyl EP and digital album, input on the Ruinationcast, Idle Thumbs logo t-shirt, exclusive gold foil t-shirt based on The Wizard, one of the last copies of the Idle Thumbs Journal of Games, Progresscast access, sticker pack, digital backgrounds, and a signed postcard with a custom note.
Art prints from Graham Annable and Vincent Perea, Blendo's game, "Music of the Thumb" vinyl EP and digital album, input on the Ruinationcast, Idle Thumbs logo t-shirt, exclusive gold foil t-shirt based on The Wizard, one of the last copies of the Idle Thumbs Journal of Games, Progresscast access, sticker pack, digital backgrounds, and a signed postcard with a custom note. INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: At this point we are no longer concerned about that $10.
THE "HIP, HIP, HOORAY FOR YOU" PACKAGE ($5000)
BE OUR FRIEND: Come have dinner with us and your plus-one, either in San Francisco when you're in town, or during a game industry event we attend, such as PAX or GDC. Except in this version, the dinner is at a super nice restaurant. Swank.
Come have dinner with us and your plus-one, either in San Francisco when you're in town, or during a game industry event we attend, such as PAX or GDC. Except in this version, the dinner is at a super nice restaurant. Swank. IMMORTALIZED IN SONG: Chris will write and record a song about you or a topic of your choice, and we'll play it in a 2012 episode of Idle Thumbs of your choosing. (Song topic excludes commercial advertisement.)
Chris will write and record a song about you or a topic of your choice, and we'll play it in a 2012 episode of Idle Thumbs of your choosing. (Song topic excludes commercial advertisement.) WIZARD'S CIRCLE: Your name will be proudly etched for all eternity in the "Wizard's Circle" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall, our highest honor.
Your name will be proudly etched for all eternity in the "Wizard's Circle" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall, our highest honor. AND DON'T FORGET: Art prints from Graham Annable and Vincent Perea, Blendo's Thirty Flights of Loving game, "Music of the Thumb" vinyl EP and digital album, input on the Ruinationcast, Idle Thumbs logo t-shirt, exclusive gold foil t-shirt based on The Wizard, one of the last copies of the Idle Thumbs Journal of Games, Progresscast access, sticker pack, digital backgrounds, and a signed postcard with a custom note.
Art prints from Graham Annable and Vincent Perea, Blendo's game, "Music of the Thumb" vinyl EP and digital album, input on the Ruinationcast, Idle Thumbs logo t-shirt, exclusive gold foil t-shirt based on The Wizard, one of the last copies of the Idle Thumbs Journal of Games, Progresscast access, sticker pack, digital backgrounds, and a signed postcard with a custom note. INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: At this point we are no longer concerned about that $10.
PATRON OF THE SHOW: You will be the sponsor of two (2) (ii) 2012 episodes of Idle Thumbs of your choosing. Sponsorship consists of a short ad read at the beginning of the episode, and a brief jingle recorded by Chris and played at the break. (Jingles are exclusive to this Kickstarter campaign.)
You will be the sponsor of two (2) (ii) 2012 episodes of Idle Thumbs of your choosing. Sponsorship consists of a short ad read at the beginning of the episode, and a brief jingle recorded by Chris and played at the break. (Jingles are exclusive to this Kickstarter campaign.) WIZARD'S CIRCLE: Your name will be proudly etched for all eternity in the "Wizard's Circle" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall, our highest honor.
Your name will be proudly etched for all eternity in the "Wizard's Circle" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall, our highest honor. AND DON'T FORGET: Art prints from Graham Annable and Vincent Perea, Blendo's Thirty Flights of Loving game, "Music of the Thumb" vinyl EP and digital album, input on the Ruinationcast, Idle Thumbs logo t-shirt, exclusive gold foil t-shirt based on The Wizard, one of the last copies of the Idle Thumbs Journal of Games, Progresscast access, sticker pack, digital backgrounds, and a signed postcard with a custom note.
Art prints from Graham Annable and Vincent Perea, Blendo's game, "Music of the Thumb" vinyl EP and digital album, input on the Ruinationcast, Idle Thumbs logo t-shirt, exclusive gold foil t-shirt based on The Wizard, one of the last copies of the Idle Thumbs Journal of Games, Progresscast access, sticker pack, digital backgrounds, and a signed postcard with a custom note. INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: At this point we are no longer concerned about that $10.
PATRON OF THE SHOW: You will be the sponsor of five (5) (v) 2012 episodes of Idle Thumbs of your choosing. Sponsorship consists of a short ad read at the beginning of the episode, and a brief jingle recorded by Chris and played at the break. (Jingles are exclusive to this Kickstarter campaign.)
You will be the sponsor of five (5) (v) 2012 episodes of Idle Thumbs of your choosing. Sponsorship consists of a short ad read at the beginning of the episode, and a brief jingle recorded by Chris and played at the break. (Jingles are exclusive to this Kickstarter campaign.) WIZARD'S CIRCLE: Your name will be proudly etched for all eternity in the "Wizard's Circle" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall, our highest honor.
Your name will be proudly etched for all eternity in the "Wizard's Circle" tier of the Idle Thumbs Founder's Wall, our highest honor. AND DON'T FORGET: Art prints from Graham Annable and Vincent Perea, Blendo's Thirty Flights of Loving game, "Music of the Thumb" vinyl EP and digital album, input on the Ruinationcast, Idle Thumbs logo t-shirt, exclusive gold foil t-shirt based on The Wizard, one of the last copies of the Idle Thumbs Journal of Games, Progresscast access, sticker pack, digital backgrounds, and a signed postcard with a custom note.
Art prints from Graham Annable and Vincent Perea, Blendo's game, "Music of the Thumb" vinyl EP and digital album, input on the Ruinationcast, Idle Thumbs logo t-shirt, exclusive gold foil t-shirt based on The Wizard, one of the last copies of the Idle Thumbs Journal of Games, Progresscast access, sticker pack, digital backgrounds, and a signed postcard with a custom note. INTERNATIONAL BACKERS: At this point we are no longer concerned about that $10.
(Note: All pictured rewards are works in progress.)
Brendon Chung is the one-man development team behind Blendo Games, known for its incredibly diverse slate of video games including Atom Zombie Smasher, Flotilla, and Gravity Bone.
Graham Annable is a Portland-based illustrator and animator known for his Grickle comics and videos, as well as the Puzzle Agent video games. He works as a storyboard artist at Laika, the animation studio behind the film Coraline.
Vincent Perea is a Los Angeles-based artist whose video game titles include The Odd Gentlemen's The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom and Disney's hit iOS game Where's My Water?
Alex Griendling is a San Francisco-based designer and illustrator who has created movie posters, calendars, and any number of other pieces of visual media. He currently works at Google.
Campbell Whyte is a Perth, Australia-based artist. His work spans many media and includes the ever-growing 8-Bit Dreams series based on classic video games.
Stevan Zivadinovic is a San Antonio-based artist and web developer, and a long-time Idle Thumbs contributor. He is currently creating the ongoing dynamic webcomic Hobo Lobo of Hamelin."I suppose my basic feelings about the comic industry as it stands are that I just hope its final death rattle isn't too humiliating or too desperate, because it's deserved. If the industry is incapable of coming up with new ideas and a future that it can evolve into, then it really doesn't deserve to survive."
6. Adding Batman To A Universe Full Of Demi-Gods Proved To Be A Bad Idea
In any era you would be hard pressed to find more than a few people that don't have a dogmatic affinity for one Caped Crusader. Technically I am one of the masses, a geek/nerd who loves Batman, but in recent years I've grown to be dissatisfied with contemporary comics and the Big 2's treatment of their fans. As a long time comic book reader and fan, I take issue with the way in which typical comic book fans regard that which they claim to love. The influence of the fans on the events and overall landscape of comics is more akin to an eternally dissatisfied backseat driver that refuses to simply relax and enjoy the trip. It would be easy simply place all the blame on either the creators or the fans, but that would deny the symbiotic relationship that exists between the two. No, like a parent that refused to discipline their child that grew up to be an asshat, both sides share in the blame. So, how did it come to this? How did the comic book industry come to suffer mightily under the weight of arguably its greatest character? Well-Alan MooreIts important to remember that the practice of producing character centric comic books wasnt solidified until the early 1960s. For the twenty plus years prior, most comic books were magazines that featured several short stories, not unlike an anthology. This is important because it makes a clear distinction between a publishing company and the comic book company that would follow. DC as it would eventually be known, based entirely on the success of its flagship magazine Detective Comics (get it?) started out as publisher that specialized in selling comics, there was no emphasis on any particular genre, as long as it was still images and word bubbles. What stories made it into publication was dependant on the whim of the writers. There were several characters during this time that came and went, never to be heard from again. In order to make it into Detective Comics, the story had to fit into a crime and punishment motif, enter Batman the worlds greatest detective, a dramatic take on both Sherlock Holmes and Zorro with a bit of a nod to the Phantom. Batman was a huge success, and as such received special attention from the editorial staff that decided first and foremost that if they were going to continue to capitalize on the character then he would have to lose the gun and stop killing people (yeah, Batman had no issue with guns whatsoever, remember that the next time you complain about writers not being true to the character, that crap went out the window immediately). The counterpart of DCs early success was of course Superman, who like Batman existed in a fictional city and fought crime. There was also Aquaman, Hourman, Wonder Woman, The Green Lantern, Flash and others. The rise of these characters instituted the demand by the fans that would prove to be arguably comics eventual undoing. DC decided to increase sales by having a small group of their characters know each other and feature a story where the characters would meet up and tell each other about their adventures. The Justice Society of America featured a small roster of DCs superheroes, but oddly enough didnt feature either Superman or Batman; the later was considered an honorary member and rarely appeared in the stories. The early issues of JSA followed the same anthology format, except each story was set up by the characters all gathered around to tell their story. There were no teamups yet, just singular stories narrated by the heroes themselves not unlike reading Plato. After a time the heroes actually fought crime as a unit. Yet, Batman and Superman were absent from these adventures still. When DC finally addressed this issue, they sowed the seeds for mistakes to come. You see, adding a mortal crime fighter into a world that is full of godlike super-humans had to be handled with care, and the lack of care in including such a character into this world showed a tremendous lack of foresight. Simply because it would require future writers to continually justify the fact that Batman belongs as a man amongst gods. Which would have been fine, if you recognized Bruce Waynes mortality while respecting Batman as a symbol larger than any one man, we now know that this didnt happen.Researchers have developed a way to see through silicon wafers, which among other things offers a powerful new tool for probing computer chips for tiny manufacturing defects. To prove the method, the team beamed patterns of radiation onto a 115-micrometer-thick wafer of silicon that temporarily enabled electrons to flow within the material, which is normally a semiconductor. While conductive, the silicon was transparent to terahertz radiation. (“Terahertz” refers to trillions of cycles per second; such radiation lies between microwave and infrared radiation and has wavelengths between 150 nanometers and 1.5 millimeters.) Then, the researchers measured the radiation bouncing back through the silicon to discern objects or features present on the back side of the wafer (example, above, shows a 2-by-2-millimeter portion of a circuit). Using their technique, the scientists were able to spot circuit defects as small as 8 micrometers across (or about half the diameter of the finest human hair), they report online today in Science Advances. In the short term, the most likely use for the technique might be quality control in factories making computer chips. But in the longer term, the technique could be used to scrutinize thin sections of biological tissue for signs of disease, the researchers suggest. Terahertz imaging wouldn’t be useful to probe thicker slices of tissue or image body parts, for example, because water—a major component of all living tissue—strongly absorbs those wavelengths of radiation and thus blocks the technology’s ability to see into or through these objects.The WA Liberal Party's internal polling shows the state government is in a "far worse" position than that shown by published surveys, which point to a Coalition loss on Saturday, and the preference deal with One Nation is to blame.
A source who has seen polling conducted for the WA Liberal Party one week ago said the government was facing a two-party preferred position of 57-43.
This could lead to the Liberal-Nationals Coalition haemorrhaging as many as 20 seats.
The party has already given up hope in several seats including the marginals of Forrestfield, held by Nathan Morton, and Perth, held by Eleni Evangel. But a source familiar with internal tactics said the party was also not expecting to hold the seats of Joondalup, which is held by Jan Norberger with a 10 per cent margin, Jandakot and Kalamunda, currently held by Health Minister John Day with a similar margin.Meet Little Roo Russ – the cat that’s more like a kangaroo.
When the kitten and her two siblings came into the shelter in late April 2016, right away they noticed something wasn’t right. “She was considerably smaller than her siblings and the staff at the shelter noticed she was walking weird,” Marnie Russ told Love Meow. After x-raying Roo, they noticed she was born without elbow joints. Marnie, who specializes in caring for special needs, took the kitten home to take care of and soon fell deeply in love with her!
Now, eight months later, Little Roo is happy and fluffy as ever, not letting anyone stop her! “She has learned to use her front legs like a normal kitty would, so if you didn’t know her story you wouldn’t think anything was wrong with her, except when she walks she is shorter in the front,” Marnie said. The best part? “She has been successful in helping raise thousands of dollars for the organization that helped save her, the National Kitten Coalition,” Marnie said. “She is so great at giving back and she doesn’t even know it!”
More info: Facebook (h/t: lovemeow)
When Little Roo Russ came into the shelter, right away they noticed something wasn’t right
“She was considerably smaller than her siblings and the staff at the shelter noticed she was walking weird,” Marnie Russ said
After x-raying Roo, they noticed she was born without elbow joints
Marnie decided to take care of the kitten at home and soon fell deeply in love with her
Now, 8 months later, Little Roo is happy and fluffy as ever, not letting anyone stop her
The best part? “She has been successful in helping raise thousands of dollars for the organization that helped save her, the National Kitten Coalition”
“She is so great at giving back and she doesn’t even know it!”
Check out the video to see fluffy Little Roo nowCameras on Portland police cars are starting to collect information on local vehicle license plates.
The police can collect up to 128,000 vehicle license plates per day.
That means that if authorities are investigating a murder and want to check on the whereabouts of a suspect’s car three years ago, they can tap into a computer and perhaps find out where it was on a particular day.
The system is already solving dozens of crimes. But some civil liberties advocates have reservations.
Kristian Foden-Vencil OPB
Officer Garrett Dow climbs into his blue and white squad car outside central precinct in downtown Portland. He switches on his Automatic License Plate Reader and starts driving. Four cameras mounted on the roof take pictures of all the cars he passes - whether parked or driving. They then feed license plate numbers into a computer.
A dash-mounted screen pings each time the computer logs another plate’s number.
Most of the time, the system just runs in the background, filling up a hard drive. But if the system sees a number plate that’s been flagged — because the car’s been stolen or it belongs to a wanted felon — Officer Dow is alerted.
He says the value of the system was evident to him, as soon as he got it, “We turned the system on and within five minutes I was able to locate a vehicle involved in an assault,” he said.
“The chances of finding the vehicle were pretty slim. But once you put it in the license plate reader system, it’s finding it for you. It’s making the officer more efficient. Better at his job. More likely to find a car that is wanted.”
Inside Central Precinct, Lieutenant John Scruggs oversees the system for Portland Police. He says the bureau recovered more than two million dollars worth of stolen cars last year, “We’re recovering cars faster,” he said.
“We’re not necessarily recovering more cars because of it, though it seems like we’re getting more people in custody, because we’re catching the car while it’s being driven, versus being parked.”
He says the bureau now has cameras mounted on 16 police cars that have helped solve crimes ranging from hit and run to fraud, “We had one particular case, where we had an identity theft suspect, 100 counts of identity theft,” he said.
“We couldn’t locate him because he’s living out of different people’s houses. He’s living on the street in his car. The detective had no ability to follow up. But they put the plate in our system and located the vehicle, literally three days within putting it in there.”
But some are concerned that the police could use this powerful system to find out — for example — whether a local politician is having an affair; or to learn the identities of people getting together for a political rally — a possible infringement of the right to assembly.
David Fidanque, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, doesn’t mind the system being used to catch criminals. But, he says, the government shouldn’t be collecting massive amounts of information on innocent people, “What the ACLU wants to do is not to prohibit the police from using this technology,” he said, “but put strict limits on how long the data can be retained if there isn’t a hit on the license plate.”
Fidanque says the ACLU is drawing up legislation that would require police to wipe the record of any number plate logged after 24 hours — unless it popped up because of a criminal issue.
“The underpinning of our constitution is that we have the right to be left alone by government, unless the government has some specific evidence that we’ve done something wrong,” said Fidanque.
“And then the government can search our person, our property, if the government has probable cause, and they have approval from a judge. So we’re saying, let’s just stick by those rules. Those rules aren’t an obstacle to good law enforcement, they’re a road map to good law enforcement.”
Lieutenant John Scruggs is well aware of the ACLU’s objections. But he says after talking to law enforcement agencies across the country, he’s set Portland’s system to clear number plates after four years.
“Realistically the statute of limitations runs out on a lot of major felonies at seven years,” he said.
“And after four years, if we haven’t solved a crime the likelihood is pretty low. And in talking with an agency down in California, they discussed a case where they had a plate read that was valuable four years after the crime. And so I settled on four years.”
And Scruggs says the Bureau changed its policy after talking to the ACLU about collecting plates at public gatherings.
“So we don’t allow our offices to go to rallies, go to churches, those kinds of places, unless they’re on a call or some other need,” he said.
Scruggs also said the Bureau’s policy is that officers have to log onto the system to search it, and they can only use it if they’re working on a criminal investigation.
“If they log on and they don’t have a relevant case that they’re looking into, they’re violating our policy,” said Scruggs.
Earlier this year, the ACLU successfully backed an effort prohibiting law enforcement from using aerial drones for surveillance without a court order.
|
omizes inauthenticy in American politics. And opportunism. You couldn't find a better match for self-proclaimed Florida Democratic Boss Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Crist has no values and no beliefs that will ever get in the way of his business (politics)-- and neither does Wasserman Schultz. She's been busy threatening-- existentially threatening-- every Democrat even thinking about running for governor against supremely unpopular Republican Rick Scott to keep the field clear for Charlie, a former conservative Republican governor, tossed out of the party as it got more extreme and radical, and now calling himself a "Democrat."
Democrats can win statewide in Florida-- especially against someone as universally despised as Rick Scott-- without resorting to drafting Republicans. Last year Bill Nelson, a mainstream Democrat crushed Republican Congressman Connie Mack 4,521,534 (55%) to 3,457,254 (42%), winning every single high-population county in the state-- Miami-Dade (63%), Broward (69%), Palm Beach (64%), Orange (63%), Duval (53%), and Hillsborough (59%).
Last year the Democrats ran a Crist ally, lifelong Republican Patrick Murphy, against another hated Republican, Allen West. Murphy barely won (166,223-164,316) and, predictably, has been a thorn in the side of the House Democrats, as often as not siding with the GOP on crucial roll calls and working with Republicans to undermine progressive initiatives. Nice to be rid of the clownish Allen West, of course, but Patrick West is far from a Democrat. If anything, Charlie Crist is even further. A hypocritical closet case, his career has been marked by conservative positions across the board. His claim to being a "Democrat" is a lame stump speech he always gives about how couregeous he was to greet President Obama in Fort Meyers after he was eelcted President in 2008 (and winning Florida):
"I told him we would be honored to have him. As soon as I made that decision, I heard from my Republican friends. 'What are you doing?' they said. I said, 'I am going to see the president of the United States of America.' And not only did I go, but he asked me to introduce him and I said it would be an honor. So there I am standing on the podium. I introduced him and guess what, we hugged and I am proud of that. But my former party took so much umbrage to that hug, you couldn't imagine."
that to win him the governor's office-- that and how he's not as repulsive as Rick Scott? And that Debbue Wasserman Schultz is keeping real Democrats from running against him. Sure enough, He expectsto win him the governor's office-- that and how he's not as repulsive as Rick Scott? And that Debbue Wasserman Schultz is keeping real Democrats from running against him. Sure enough, most potential contenders have signaled they're not runningOctober 27, 2018, according to the "FourCast" formula currently under development by
The predictions below are based on strongly consistent patterns found in the CFP Selection Committee's weekly rankings during the 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons. If the current CFP selection commit follows these same patterns during 2018, the ranking shown below should closely match the actual CFP ranking. Obviously, there is no guarantee that the current committee will follow a similar protocol.
While the selection committee announces only a top 25, an advantage of the formula is that it can also project the teams that would be ranked from 26 through 130 if the same patterns found in the top 25 were followed. This allows teams to evaluate how close they might have been to being ranked by the committee.
Given that some of the inputs used in the predictive formula may become available just before or even after the committee's announcement of its weekly ranking, the ranking reported below may reflect alternate versions of the model very early in the week, and may be updated as additional information becomes available.
The ranking can be sorted alphabetically by clicking on the first column header.
Below is the predicted College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking for this week, covering all Football Bowl Subdivision games throughaccording to the "FourCast" formula currently under development by Jay Coleman of the University of North Florida. For weeks early in the season in which the CFP selection committee does not announce a ranking, the one shown is a projection of what their ranking would be this week if they did.The predictions below are based on strongly consistent patterns found in the CFP Selection Committee's weekly rankings during the 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons. If the current CFP selection commit follows these same patterns during 2018, the ranking shown below should closely match the actual CFP ranking. Obviously, there is no guarantee that the current committee will follow a similar protocol.While the selection committee announces only a top 25, an advantage of the formula is that it can also project the teams that would be ranked from 26 through 130 if the same patterns found in the top 25 were followed. This allows teams to evaluate how close they might have been to being ranked by the committee.Given that some of the inputs used in the predictive formula may become available just before or even after the committee's announcement of its weekly ranking, the ranking reported below may reflect alternate versions of the model very early in the week, and may be updated as additional information becomes available.The ranking can be sorted alphabetically by clicking on the first column header.I consider myself something of a pizza aficionado. I’ve eaten pizza in Chicago, New York, Italy (I ate a lot of pizza in Italy), but until I came to live out here in Missouri, I didn’t know there was also a St. Louis style as well. I love thin crust pizza (and pan, and deep dish, and hand-tossed), so I was excited to try a new variety when I found out about it, and believe me, I did not feel disappointed. The keys to a St. Louis style pizza are threefold: a thin, cracker-like crust, a special blend of cheese called Provel, and a slightly sweet tomato sauce. The crispiness of the yeast-free crust with the buttery gooeyness of the Provel are a delicious combination, and the sweeter sauce adds another twist to the classic pizza. Provel cheese is a mixture of swiss, cheddar, and provolone cheese that may be more difficult to find the further you get away from St. Louis, but don’t worry! You can also make your own blend as well if they don’t carry it in the deli section of your grocery store. Let’s make some pizza!
St. Louis Style Pizza
1 thin yeast-free pizza crust (recipe here)
1/4 pound of shredded Provel cheese (or a combination of swiss, cheddar, and provolone)
8 oz tomato sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1 tablespoon sugar
toppings of your choice
To make the sauce, whisk the tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and sugar together in a bowl. Set aside.
Shred your Provel cheese, or mix together 2 parts provolone cheese, one part cheddar cheese, one part swiss cheese, and a drop or two of liquid smoke if you have it.
Prepare your yeast-free thin crust and pre-bake the crust in a 425° oven until the edges just start to turn brown. Mine usually takes about 15 minutes to do so. Add your sauce and generously sprinkle your cheese and toppings on top. Give the pizza a final sprinkle of some oregano or homemade pizza seasoning and bake for an additional 10 minutes or so until the cheese starts to look golden brown. Cut the pizza into squares instead of triangles (it’s the St. Louis way!) and enjoy!
Mmm, thin + crispy, melty + gooey, sweet + salty…perfection. Plus, there’s something about pizza cut into squares that I really love—it feels a little rebellious. Anyway, if you’ve never tried a St. Louis style pizza before, I highly recommend it. And remember, I have an honorary PhD. in Pizza Studies from Youwannapizzame University, so you can totally trust me… xo. Laura
Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.Do you know a certain team enough to write a guide about it?
FC Porto - Team Guide for FM 2019 6905 2 Nov 1, 2018 A Football Manager 2019 guide for FC Porto with analysis to the financial situation, team depth, market suggestions and youth ranks. 6905 2
Bayern Munich’s Diversity - A Tactical Guide for FM19 8455 Oct 9, 2018 A guide on how Bayern Munich can help you get the most out of the Revamped Tactics in FM 2019, looking into using different philosophies and player roles. 8455
A Guide to Croatian First Football League 2101 Sep 10, 2018 Brief guide about HNL; the Croatian First Football League. Get familiar with the rules and regulations. Which team would make the best challenge on Football Manager 2019? 2101
Liverpool FC - FM 2018 Guide 11315 1 Jun 27, 2018 A Football Manager 2018 guide for LFC. Have you got what it takes to restore Liverpool's status as football's greatest in FM18? 11315 1
Manchester United - FM 2017 Guide 30604 3 Jun 28, 2017 A Football Manager 2017 guide all about Man Utd FC. All you need to know to get yourself started a FM 2017 save with the Red Devils. 30604 3
Liverpool FC - FM 2017 Guide 42811 2 Nov 3, 2016 A Football Manager 2017 guide for Liverpool. Have you got what it takes to restore Liverpool's status as football's greatest in FM17? 42811 2
Antwerp guide for FM17 9416 1 Nov 3, 2016 A Football Manager 2017 guide to Royal Antwerp. The Belgian side starts in second division and are in financial trouble. How will you manage? 9416 1
Club Brugge guide for FM17 - A tiny giant 12421 1 Oct 27, 2016 A Football Manager 2017 guide to Club Brugge KV. The Belgian side won the domestic league after 11 years, so you'll be in CL group stage. How will you manage? 12421 1
FM16 Tottenham Hotspur Guide 16715 1 Feb 19, 2016 A FM 2016 guide for the Spurs. Can you guide the Lilywhites to glory? 16715 1
Aberystwyth Town Guide for FM16 6180 Jan 27, 2016 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Aberystwyth Town FC. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with The Seasiders. 6180
Melbourne City Guide for FM16 5747 Jan 21, 2016 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Melbourne City. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with City and the Hyundai A-League. 5747
Reading FC Guide for FM16 8714 Dec 18, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Reading FC. All you need to know to get yourself started FM 2016 save with the Royals. 8714
Swansea Guide for FM16 10896 Dec 13, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Swansea City AFC. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with The Swans. 10896
Leicester City Guide for FM16 29241 2 Dec 13, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Leicester City FC. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with The Foxes. 29241 2
Manchester City Guide for FM16 21053 Dec 11, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Manchester City. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with The Citizens. 21053
Schalke Guide for FM16 18717 Dec 10, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Schalke 04. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with The Royal Blues. 18717
Everton Guide for FM16 18410 Dec 8, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Everton. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with The Toffees. 18410
Manchester United Guide for FM16 32933 4 Dec 7, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Manchester United. Carry the devils to English and European glory in FM 2016. 32933 4
Wolves FC Guide for FM16 15416 2 Dec 7, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide for Wolverhampton Wanderers. Can you get the Wolves back into the Premier League? 15416 2
Tottenham Guide for FM16 21144 Dec 6, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Tottenham Hotspur. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with The Lilywhites. 21144
VfB Stuttgart Guide for FM16 13378 5 Dec 5, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about VfB Stuttgart. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with the Die Roten. 13378 5
Sparta Prague Guide for FM16 9347 Dec 3, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about AC Sparta Praha. All you need to know to get yourself started with a FM 2016 save with the most successful club in the Czech Republic. 9347
Liverpool FC Guide for FM16 25699 1 Dec 1, 2015 A Football Manager 2016 guide all about Liverpool FC. Lead the Reds to glory in the Premier League and the rest of Europe in FM 2016! 25699 1
Best and the Worst of Chelsea in FM 2016 4532 Oct 29, 2015 Chelsea's best and worst in Football Manager 2016. 4532
Valencia guide for FM15 18763 5 May 22, 2015 In-Depth Football Manager 2015 guide to winning the Liga BBVA with Valencia and knocking Barcelona and Real Madrid from the top of the league. 18763 5
Wolfsburg guide for FM15 11085 May 20, 2015 Wolfsburg are fighting between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund for the tops spots in Germany. This is a detailed FM 2015 team guide on helping you take over and make Germany green with Wolfsburg. 11085
Lazio guide for FM15 16605 1 Jan 7, 2015 A Football Manager 2015 team guide on how to turn SS Lazio from a mid-table side into a European powerhouse. 16605 1
AFC Ajax guide for FM15 18622 1 Jan 6, 2015 An in-depth Football Manager 2015 team guide providing you with all you need to know about AFC Ajax including suitable tactics and assessment of current material. 18622 1
Inter guide for FM15 20659 8 Dec 25, 2014 A very in-depth Football Manager 2015 guide for the black and blue side of Milano with everything you need to know about the club, and more! 20659 8It may look like a typical U-lock, but the "intelligent" Skylock from ex-Boeing and Jawbone engineers may be the industrial-design savior that a city menaced by more than 2,000 bike thefts a year has been praying for.
Seriously. This thing can not only sense when someone is messing with your locked bicycle, it will send an alert to your smartphone to tell you something's up.
Check out the full feature list:
The 2.95-pound Skylock is loaded with the latest technology, including Bluetooth 4.0. Using a smartphone app, you simply press a button on the screen to unlock the lock.
Skylock claims its lock is as strong as any U-lock on the market, plus it's hyper-wired. The lock has built-in WiFi, allowing you to actually connect it to a nearby wireless network. If a thief comes along and starts messing with your bike, built-in accelerometers will send a push notification to your phone to alert you that evil is afoot and you're about to lose your ride. (Now, that's hella cool!)
As
The lock comes with a solar panel to charge the built-in battery. Skylock claims that one hour of sunlight provides enough power for about seven days.
The accelerometer can detect when you're in a crash. "If you ever get into an accident, the Skylock app can notify your family, friends, or even alert the authorities," the company says. Oh, and the app also asks if you're OK. So, it has a sweet side.
OK, I'm assuming many Portland bike commuters are saying, "I want. How much?"
The good news: You can pre-order it for a limited time for $159 (and that's $90 off the retail price).
The bad news: Skylock's $50,000 crowd-funding campaign just started and the company says the first locks won't be available until just before Christmas.
OK. Who wants a Skylock?
-- Joseph RoseA big push is planned Saturday by a community group to find Christine Kang as the search for the missing teen enters its second week
Buy Photo Signs have been posted at the Scarsdale Metro-North station asking for help in locating missing Edgemont teenager Christine Ji Woo Kang. Information on Kang, who has been missing since Jan. 2nd, has been added to a national clearinghouse's list of missing children. (Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News)Buy Photo Story Highlights Volunteers are planning to meet at 12:15 Saturday in Grand Central Station in the Main Hall
There have been no new sightings of Christine Kang, who hasn't been heard from since she left home Jan. 2
The search extended to Fort Lee, N.J., Flushing and other places where the teen has friends and family
The search for missing Edgemont student Christine Ji Woo Kang has moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey, and other places the teen might know people – and the community effort will continue Saturday.
Volunteers organized by the Edgemont Community Council fanned out Friday across Fort Lee and the area near the George Washington Bridge bus terminal in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan to look for the 16-year-old.
The search for the missing teen, last seen the night of Jan. 2, is entering its second week. Volunteers are planning to meet at 12:15 Saturday at Grand Central Station, near the information booth in the Main Hall by the big clock.
"We expect a large group," said Bob Bernstein, president of the group. "We are getting the community involved."
The Edgemont High School junioro hasn't been heard from since she left her Robin Hill Road home following an argument with her parents.
Surveillance cameras caught a glimpse of her boarding a New York City-bound train in Scarsdale and arriving in Grand Central Station.
But she vanished after that, despite efforts by police and family members to locate her.
NEWSLETTERS Get the Breaking News newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-888-426-6388. Delivery: Varies Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Breaking News Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters
Kang's family is of Korean ancestry, with friends and relatives in places with large Korean-American communities, including Fort Lee and the Flushing section of Queens.
"We have no evidence to think that she's there," said Greenburgh police Lieutenant Michael D'Alessio. "But we want to look everywhere we can."
Edgemont resident Jeehye Park organized a caravan of cars Friday that went to Manhattan and Fort Lee, where the volunteers handed out fliers.
"I just wanted to do something to help," she said.
Her group of about 25 people went to restaurants, stores, churches and other places in Korean neighborhoods of the New Jersey community as well as bus terminals in both Fort Lee and Manhattan.
"Just about everyone agreed to put up the fliers," she said. "They wanted to help."
Fliers have also been posted in Westchester train stations and other locations. The hashtag #findchristine is being used on social media to spread the word.
The Center for Missing and Exploited Children is helping with the search and has added Kang's name to its national database.
Twitter: @JaneLernerNY
Searchers for missing Edgemont resident Christine Kang will meet at 12:15 p.m. Saturday in Grand Central Station, near the information booth in the Main Hall by the big clock. Organizers will have fliers, tape and routes for distribution. The effort will be led by Edgemont resident Aubrey Graf, who can be reached at edgemontcares@gmail.com.
Check the group's website and Facebook page page for the latest information.
Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/1Iz9hmbVictoria to play seven exhibition games including home date on September 11th.
For Immediate Release
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Victoria, BC – The Victoria Royals today announced their pre-season schedule in preparation for the 2014-15 Western Hockey League regular season.
The Royals will play a total of seven pre-season games against teams from both the U.S. and B.C. Divisions. Victoria will make their second consecutive trip to Everett for the Silvertips’ annual Pre-Season Classic at Comcast Arena. The trip will see the Royals play three games, with their first coming on Friday, August 29th against Everett at 7:00 p.m. Victoria will then play the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday, August 30th at 3:00 p.m. before concluding the tournament on Sunday, August 31st against the Tri-City Americans at 11:30 a.m.
The Royals will then travel to Vancouver the following weekend for two games at the UBC Tournament hosted by the Vancouver Giants. Victoria will square off with the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday, September 6th at 3:00 p.m. and the Kelowna Rockets on Sunday, September 8th at 1:00 p.m. Both games will take place at UBC’s Thunderbird Arena.
The Royals lone home contest of the pre-season is set for Thursday, September 11th when they host the Vancouver Giants. Puck drop is set for 5:05 p.m. at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.
Victoria will wrap-up their pre-season with a trip to Kelowna on Saturday, September 13th to play the Rockets. Game time is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
2014 VICTORIA ROYALS PRE-SEASON SCHEDULE:
Friday, August 29, 2014
Victoria @ Everett
Comcast Arena – Everett, WA
7:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Victoria @ Seattle
Comcast Arena – Everett, WA
3:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Victoria @ Tri-City
Comcast Arena – Everett, WA
11:30 a.m.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Victoria @ Kamloops
UBC Thunderbird Arena – Vancouver, BC
3:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Victoria @ Kelowna
UBC Thunderbird Arena – Vancouver, BC
1:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Vancouver @ Victoria
Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre – Victoria, BC
5:05 p.m.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Victoria @ Kelowna
Prospera Place – Kelowna, BC
7:05 p.m.
Season ticket packages for the 2014-15 season are on sale now! Call 250-220-7889, visit www.selectyourtickets.com, or head down to the Victoria Royals ticketing office at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre for more information.
-30-When I was planning this artwork, I thought that it would be a good idea to make my chibi drawings more complex, so instead of making yet another chibi sticker, I decided to add a background and create a composition. Overall, I'm happy with the result, and I think this picture will become the first piece of a new series that I want to create during 2018: chibi characters from my favorite fandoms with their animal companions!
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Another piece in my Avatar fan art series is finished!They keep the world's wings flapping. Pexels
Bugs, well, bug a lot of people. There’s nothing quite as irritating as a fly buzzing around a room (except, perhaps, the constant itching of a bug bite). It’s hard to look at a mosquito, with its habit of spreading diseases like malaria and Zika, and not think we’d be better off without them. But insects don’t exist solely to annoy us. In fact, from the bees and butterflies that pollinate our fruits and vegetables, to the beetles that break down decaying animals, many insects help create life as we know it here on Earth. But instead of thanking them, it seems that we might be killing them. A recent study in the journal PLoS One found that the number of flying insects is on the decline, and humans are most likely to blame. This isn’t the first study to suggest that insects are disappearing. Since 2010, researchers worldwide have documented the decline of fireflies. And the disappearance of both bees and monarch butterflies, which each year traverse thousands of miles to travel from Canada to Mexico, has captured the public’s attention. In this new study researchers from The Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom chronicled not the decline of a single insect species or two, but rather overall insect population trends. And the results aren’t good. Every spring, summer, and fall for 27 years, researchers laid insect traps across 63 nature protection areas in Germany. Every 11 days or so, someone trekked out to each of those traps and removed the contents, weighing and storing their catch. As time passed, the researchers found that they were collecting fewer bugs from year to year. Between 1989 and 2016, they saw an overall decline of 76 percent in insect biomass. The researchers note that this is in line with the more noted drop in insects like the aforementioned bees and butterflies, suggesting that the dips in those insect populations are unique in only one regard: we bothered to notice.
The authors can’t pinpoint any one reason for this troubling trend. But it’s possible—and in fact probable—that many factors are at play. Changes in agricultural practices, such as the increased use of pesticides and herbicides, could be partially to blame. Pesticide use, after all, has been implicated in the decline of bees. Light pollution is implicated in the decline of fireflies, which use their glowing rears to signal to potential predators that they’re not tasty. Male fireflies use a pattern of lights to signal to mates that they are a different kind of tasty, so excess light from human structures can throw off their game. And temperature shifts due to climate change likely play a role as well. The researchers say that the fact that this decline happened to insects within protected areas suggests that many factors are involved, likely of human origin—because other studies indicate that the problem is happening not just in Germany but worldwide. We have, after all, worked hard to fashion the planet in our image. From plastic in the Arctic to a can of spam located 36,000 feet below sea level in the Marianas Trench, to the existential threat of climate change, there’s no corner of the planet left untouched by human influence. All of which is worrisome. A generation ago, Rachel Carson named her book Silent Spring because our indiscriminate use of pesticides, like DDT, was killing off not only insects, but also birds. If we weren’t careful, she warned, we would wake up to a silent spring—a spring without birdsongs or stridulating, the sound of crickets chirping. We heeded her warning. We phased out the most harmful pesticides, and developed chemicals that, though far from perfect, were less environmentally persistent. As a result, animals like Red-tailed hawks—which were once endangered because DDT softened their eggshells—rebounded.k1. Venue
A photo posted by Shirleen ️️ (@shirl_i_do_adore) on Jun 4, 2016 at 2:38am PDT
A photo posted by Believes in Serendipaciousness (@jenileereyes) on Jun 3, 2016 at 6:16pm PDT
The couple had their reception at the Khayangan Estate, a cliff-side resort venue in Bali. With a backdrop of the unspoilt ocean, it was definitely a tranquil getaway for guests over the five-day celebrations!
2. Decor
A photo posted by Shirleen ️️ (@shirl_i_do_adore) on Jun 3, 2016 at 11:30pm PDT
A photo posted by Max Loong (@max_loong) on Jun 4, 2016 at 3:26am PDT
A photo posted by TaTa ReGita (@tatacahyani) on Jun 4, 2016 at 8:35am PDT
They made their vows under a lush floral arch, with white petals scattered on the aisle. Fairy-lights and large flowers also upped the romance for the dinner reception.
3. The wedding dresses
A photo posted by Pedro Sanchez BoutiqueCoiffeur (@pedrosanchez.ch) on Jun 4, 2016 at 1:46am PDT
Sepideh (or Sepi) wore a chic, sophisticated fitted strapless sheath with white embroidered details from Inbal Dror. Her accessories were kept to a minimum - with a pair of pearl earrings and bracelet worn higher up her arms, just below her elbow. She wore a floor-length veil and her bridal hairstyle was effortless, in loose, tousled tresses.
For the evening reception, she changed into a flowy sheath, with long sleeves and a deep v neckline - much better for dancing the night away!
4. Suit & tie
A photo posted by Bobby Tonelli (@btonelli) on Jun 3, 2016 at 7:24pm PDT
Max complimented his bride and looked dapper in a navy blue suit with black trims and black bowtie.
5. Wedding party!
A photo posted by mikaonishi (@mikaonishi) on Jun 5, 2016 at 9:34am PDT
A photo posted by Max Loong (@max_loong) on Jun 3, 2016 at 1:53am PDT
The bridesmaids wore cream and ivory floor length dresses that matched the bride. Although mismatched, they tie in with the overall look (see other brides who went the matched route with their bridesmaids here - link to story). Similarly, the groomsmen wore suits that are of a lighter shade than the groom’s and neck ties instead of bowties.
6. Invites
A photo posted by Caroline Dyer-Smith (@carolinedyersmith) on Jun 2, 2016 at 8:44pm PDT
What's a travel-themed wedding without a passport? We can't get enough of the spiffy-looking invites, designed to resemble an actual passport - complete with monogram and all!
7. Wedding favours
A photo posted by Bridal Party Ballet Flats (@cinderollies) on Jun 2, 2016 at 6:46pm PDT
Such a Pinterest-worthy idea! Ballet flats were given to guests to dance in, after changing out of their heels or dress shoes.Is this the start of Barca’s efforts to re-sign Bellerin? (Picture: Getty)
Hector Bellerin’s excellence has been recognised after the Arsenal right-back was named the Catalan Young Player of the Year in a landslide victory.
The 20-year-old has gone from strength to strength at the Emirates Stadium, and has cemented his place as Arsenal’s first choice right-back ahead of Mathieu Debuchy this season.
And his performances have been recognised by this award, which is organised by the Catalan Football Federation (FCF).
Bellerin received a monster 57% of the votes, with Espanyol keeper Pau Lopez and Lazio forward Keita Balde finishing second and third with 30% and 13% respectively.
The La Masia academy graduate will receive the award at a ceremony in Barcelona on November 9th, and Arsenal fans will be seriously hoping that this isn’t the start of Barca’s charm offensive to bring Bellerin back home…Story highlights Flake said North Korea seems "intent" on continuing its nuclear development
He also said it would be wrong for Trump to end DACA
Washington (CNN) Following North Korea's latest nuclear weapons test, one of President Donald Trump's most outspoken Republican critics expressed confidence in Trump's team, but not the commander in chief himself.
Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake told Dana Bash on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that Trump, like most new presidents, was inexperienced in foreign policy, adding that he would like a "measured" response from the Oval Office.
"Obviously, you'd like a leader that is measured and sober and consistent," Flake said, adding, "We've got a good team around the President."
Flake echoed the administration's previous statements on the North Korean nuclear threat, saying all options needed to be on the table -- including military ones -- and said there is no clear path forward to resolving Pyongyang's continued nuclear development.
"It becomes cliche to say there are no good options here, but there really aren't," Flake said.What kind of city do you want, Toronto?
That's the sort of deceptively simple question that transportation expert Jarrett Walker says has been lost in the squabbling over transit routes. And it's urgent for a city struggling to keep moving in the coming decades.
Mr. Walker is the author of the book Human Transit and runs a blog of the same title. He will be appearing with Toronto Chief Planner Jennifer Keesmaat Thursday at St. Paul's church on Bloor Street East, at an event hosted by the city's planning department and the regional transit agency Metrolinx.
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Although the globe-trotting consultant is quick to caution against the "mono-modalists" who believe there is a single answer to traffic woes, he is firm that dense cities can't function without proper transit. Mr. Walker spoke to The Globe and Mail's Oliver Moore last week from Columbus, Ohio.
You're coming to Toronto, where transit planning is a political mess. What's your message?
You need to take a break from binary debates about whether or not to build a certain thing. It's pretty clear that, especially recently, we've lost track of what we're all trying to do here. So I'm going to be talking about, after you've built transit, what effect you want it to have on the city. And taking it back from that, what does a coherent network of all modes look like and, really only after that, okay, what we should build.
There's almost a capitulation – people saying 'just build something, anything.'
The downsides to building the wrong thing are not just that opponents of transit have evidence of waste, but also that you spent money serving a small number of people that could have been spent on serving a large number of people. And when I say serving I really mean liberating. In a city as dense as Toronto, transit needs to be an instrument of freedom. Transit needs to form a network that all fits together so you can get anywhere you're going. One of the things I think is most [discouraging] about the Toronto conversation is that nobody seems to be talking about the interests of Toronto, it's all about the interests of this neighbourhood against the interests of that neighbourhood. And that's another thing I'm going to talk about quite a bit.
System maps are a transit feature to which you devote a lot of attention. What's your take on the new ones proposed by the TTC?
They've picked up one idea that I think is fundamental: if you're not visually showing frequency you're not showing the system. Transit isn't useful unless it's there both where and when you need it. So whenever my firm draws a map, for example, we draw different frequencies in different colours. The service that's coming so frequently that there's basically always a next one coming jumps out at you very, very prominently. The last draft of the [TTC] map I saw is sort of halfway there, they're using kind of wider red lines for the frequent network. But I don't understand why the whole map has to be red and I don't understand why there have to be so many little footnotes. I'm constantly encouraging agencies to focus on simplicity.
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The analogy I make is that maps that don't signal frequency are basically like a highway map that doesn't show the difference between a freeway and a gravel road. If you can't see that this bus is coming every seven minutes and that bus is coming every 60 minutes, or once every Tuesday afternoon, you can't really see the network at all. All you're looking at is a bunch of lines on a map. I think that also affects the decisions that our [leaders] make, especially those that aren't transit riders themselves.
In your book you talk about a future in which transit acts as a pedestrian accelerator. Can you explain?
Transit is at its most effective when it delivers you much, much faster than you can |
Laffler and the barrel program he ran at Goose Island. So, I was looking forward to trying one of his beers.
Location: On tap and served in a tumbler pint glass at Sheffield’s in Chicago, IL.
Numbers: 6.5% ABV, ~195 Calories
Appearance & Aroma: It’s straw-cold in color and somewhat hazy. The head was foamy, white, and about a half inch thick which fell after a few minutes, but left a little bit of lacing on the glass. The aroma was tropical and fruity with some lemon and hints of spices.
Taste & Feel: The body was light-medium and the mouthfeel was smooth with just a bit of a carbonation crispness. The flavor up front was light and lemony with a bit of bready yeast. The lemon flavors turned a bit more tropical in the middle, with some pineapple and slightly fruity flavors. The tropical fruit flavors were joined by some earthy barnyard funkiness in the finish, but it was the tropical and citrus flavors that lasted briefly in the aftertaste.
Food Pairing: This beer has a lot of tropical fruits and citrusy flavors, with some funkiness on the end. I think these flavors would definitely complement fish tacos, or maybe even a summer salad.
Overall Impression: The beer was light, but it definitely had a complex mix of flavors. There was a good amount of citrus and tropical, which dominated throughout, but there were some bready-yeasty flavors up front and some earthy funkiness in the finish. From front to back, there was a lot going on, and yet it was still very drinkable. Overall, it was a good beer, but I think the flavors would be better on a hot summer day instead of this cold winter night at Sheffield’s.
My Rating:
Reader Ratings[five-star-rating]Recently, I assembled a mixed six with a decidedly English bent. One of the bottles was the Fuller’s ESB.. Now, we had a lengthy discussion regarding aging when I came across a 2010 Fuller’s Vintage Ale and with the help of Miracle Max, we put that theory to the test with 2009 through 2011 bottles. Additionally, awhile back I had the London Porter, the London Pride and the Gale’s Prize Old Ale. So, the folks at Fuller Smith & Turner are not an unknown. The Fuller’s ESB is an Extra Special/Strong Bitter and is rated as one of the finest examples of the style by Beer Advocate. While known for the London Pride, Fuller’s is the only brewer to have had three of their beers (London Pride, ESB and Chiswick Bitter) named Champion Beer of Britain.
Here is what Fuller’s has to say about its ESB:
ESB was launched into the Fuller’s family in 1971, as a winter brew to replace a beer named Old Burton Extra. The potential of the beer was soon realised and ESB was installed as a permanent fixture, creating an immediate impact. Not only was it one of the strongest regularly brewed draught beers in the country (at 5.5% ABV), it was also one of the tastiest, and as the awareness of the beer grew, so did its popularity. ESB’s reputation was soon enhanced after being named CAMRA’s (Campaign for Real Ale) Beer of the Year in 1978, and the beer has not stopped winning since! With three CAMRA Beer of the Year awards, two World Champion Beer awards, and numerous other gold medals to speak of, ESB is, quite simply, the Champion Ale.
I found the ESB to be…
Appearance: Golden amber with lots of foam and good lacing.
Golden amber with lots of foam and good lacing. Aroma: Sweet malt and hops.
Sweet malt and hops. Taste: Sweet malt, a little doughy with a slightly bitter, hoppy tang finish.
Sweet malt, a little doughy with a slightly bitter, hoppy tang finish. ABV: 5.9%
This was a very good beer that made a nice progression of flavor. Front to back, the tastes were spot on and I found that this was another spectacular beer in the Fuller’s line-up.Ariane Passenger PayLoad Experiment, APPLE was an experimental communication satellite successfully launched by Ariane-1, from Kourou, French Guiana on June 19, 1981, exactly 35 years back, marking an important milestone in India's space programme. APPLE was designed and built as a sandwich passenger-carrying Meteosat on top and CAT (Capsule Ariane Technologique) module below. It was boosted into Geo-Synchronous Orbit (GSO) by ISRO's own apogee motor derived from the fourth stage motor of the SLV-3. APPLE spacecraft was designed and built in just two years with limited infrastructure in industrial sheds. It gave ISRO valuable hands-on experience in designing and developing three-axis stabilized geostationary communication satellites as well as in orbit raising manoeuvres, in orbit deployment of appendages, station keeping, etc.
APPLE was used in several communication experiments including relay of TV programmes, and radio networking. It was used to carry out extensive experiments on time, frequency and code division multiple access systems, radio-networking computer interconnect, random access and pockets switching experiments. It also provided an opportunity to introduce state-of-the-art technologies of the day, such as momentum biased three-axis stabilization techniques, motor driven deployed solar array, earth sensing for attitude control, C-band transponder design, inclusive of composite reflector, orbit raising, station acquisition, station-keeping and a host of mission management and flight dynamic techniques.
APPLE laid the foundation for indigenous development of operational communication satellites which grew into a very large constellation of satellites in INSAT and GSAT series. These satellites revolutionized the technological and economic growth of the country. Newer applications like Tele-education, Tele-medicine, Village Resource Centre (VRC), Disaster Management System (DMS) etc., have enabled the space technology to reach the common man.
Highlights :
APPLE was dedicated to the Nation on August 13, 1981 by then Prime Minister Mrs.Indira Gandhi. The Prime Minister symbolically handed over the model of APPLE to the Minister for Communications and said that APPLE marked the 'Dawn of India's satellite communication era'.
The Prime Minister's address to the Nation on August 15 from the Red Fort was carried live by APPLE.
A commemorative stamp was released by Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department on the first anniversary of the launching of APPLE satellite on June 19, 1982.
APPLE has enabled experimentation in the advanced communications technology and has established expertise in the design; fabrication, launch and complicated post launch mission manoevres for placing and maintaining such a satellite in the geo-stationary orbit.
APPLE was used for nearly two years (deactivated on September 19, 1983) to carry out extensive experiments. Though it carried only a single C-band transponder, APPLE yielded rich dividends in technology development and operational experience in communication satellites, thus laying the foundation for the INSAT system.
Article on APPLE by Dr.R.M. Vasagam from the Book Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet
more...
APPLE Spacecraft A Commemorative Stamp released by P&T
APPLE being tested on a bullock cart
Ariane personnel in front of APPLE satellite (with square solar panels)- Courtesy: Ariane SpaceSo, here’s the main question we all need answering: Am I a hoarder?
Definition of hoarder according to Google:
a person who hoards things. synonyms: collector, saver, gatherer, accumulator, magpie, squirrel
Well… Thanks.
The Urban dictionary has a much more interesting (and real) approach to it:
Hoarder
(Adj) A word that describes anyone that feels the need to find, collect, keep, pack ANY and EVERYTHING because they do not know how to throw things away. Boy: Dang Girl! How many shoes do you have up in this closet?
Girl: Oh I only have 12 here, you should see my garage, I have about 300 there, but don’t worry they are all in boxes.
Boy: Girl you’re a hoarder of shoes.
OK.
I don’t know in your case, but I could try to pretend I’m not, I could try to make myself believe that I’m not, I could also try to create all of these excuses why I’m not, but what the hell! Let’s get to the truth of things:
I am a hoarder.
Or according to Google’s synonyms, a squirrel. Yeah, I prefer that.
And here’s why I’m a hoarder: I keep things in my life that I don’t need. And because I’m also a collector, it makes things worse!
Let me talk you through my collections first.
I love collecting things. There was a point in my life when I used to say “The only thing I don’t collect is boyfriends”. Still true! Officially I only had three. But collecting things (not boyfriends, things – although if you collect boyfriends/girlfriends I’ve got nothing against it!) brings me good memories back, it makes me feel like I’m holding a piece of history.
I look at my collections and I think “I remember where I got this, who gave me that, back then these things were so cool”. Collections and old stuff (vintage, if you prefer) make me feel like I own something special. #YeahImWeirdLikeThat
So, let me tell you which are my collections.
Stamps
Free Postcards
Coins
Pins
Magnets
OK, from this list though you can definitely say I’m a collector. But it all takes space in my life. As I’m sure it takes in your life too. My mom collects boxes. A friend of mine collects tea pots. My grandma collects thimbles. You probably collect something else that is also unique and makes you happy.
Although there’s other stuff I’ve kept throughout the years that prove I’m definitely also a bit of a hoarder:
All my books from school : all of them. Including primary, secondary, uni. All of them.
: all of them. Including primary, secondary, uni. All of them. All my notebooks from school : all of them. Yep, again, all of them.
: all of them. Yep, again, all of them. Books : I can’t get rid of my books. I love my books. Even the ones I never read and probably never will. Some of them just look cool, so they need to stay. Books. It’s so hard for me to pass by those bookshelves on the tube station and not stop and find something I totally need to read. I even took a children’s one the other day! I don’t have children!!! Oh, but I love books and I want a house with a library with those stairs attached to the wall that slide so I can reach the top shelf. I love books. (Have you noticed I love books? Like, love it? I loooove books.)
: I can’t get rid of my books. I love my books. Even the ones I never read and probably never will. Some of them just look cool, so they need to stay. Books. It’s so hard for me to pass by those bookshelves on the tube station and not stop and find something I totally need to read. I even took a children’s one the other day! I don’t have children!!! Oh, but I love books and I want a house with a library with those stairs attached to the wall that slide so I can reach the top shelf. I love books. (Have you noticed I love books? Like, love it? I loooove books.) CD’s : I also love my CD’s. I still have some classics I need to buy (well… I don’t need to but… You know…). There’s my Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, my Skunk Anansie’s Post Orgasmic Chill, my Nirvana’s Nevermind, or my Backstreet Boys’ Backstreet Back, plus the NSYNC’s No Strings Attached, and then the Portuguese version of the Disney OST of Hunchback of Notre Dame… (See there how I almost made you think I had an interesting taste in music and then it just went downhill from there… #StoryOfMyLife – damn, just realised this is a song by One Direction. “How do you know that?” you ask, “hmm…”)
: I also love my CD’s. I still have some classics I need to buy (well… I don’t need to but… You know…). There’s my Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, my Skunk Anansie’s Post Orgasmic Chill, my Nirvana’s Nevermind, or my Backstreet Boys’ Backstreet Back, plus the NSYNC’s No Strings Attached, and then the Portuguese version of the Disney OST of Hunchback of Notre Dame… (See there how I almost made you think I had an interesting taste in music and then it just went downhill from there… #StoryOfMyLife – damn, just realised this is a song by One Direction. “How do you know that?” you ask, “hmm…”) ( Talking about boysbands…) Old teen magazines about the Backstreet Boys : oh, my teenage years. Don’t even go there, I nowadays do think they’re slightly cheesy at times, but I still absolutely adore them to bits! They were the ones that taught me English, as I wanted to sing their songs correctly, so I would learn all their lyrics properly. Thank you guys! And no, I really don’t want to get rid of it.
: oh, my teenage years. Don’t even go there, I nowadays do think they’re slightly cheesy at times, but I still absolutely adore them to bits! They were the ones that taught me English, as I wanted to sing their songs correctly, so I would learn all their lyrics properly. Thank you guys! And no, I really don’t want to get rid of it. Letters, and birthday cards, and notes from friends : I have a small box with those. I can’t really throw cards and letters away! That’s rude! They’re memories! And it’s actually so nice going through them once in a while and getting those long lost memories back.
: I have a small box with those. I can’t really throw cards and letters away! That’s rude! They’re memories! And it’s actually so nice going through them once in a while and getting those long lost memories back. Old agendas: This is a tough one as well. They have my history on them. I can browse them and find the exact time I went to the dentist in 2007. Like, that’s important right? Right?
So… hoarder?
This is a pretty long list… And there’s of course loads I’m not mentioning like scarfs, bags, pens, magazines (like the Stylist which is free every Wednesday! #DamnYouFreeThings), notebooks, boxes, necklaces, earrings, frames (that I got at the end of an event.. Like, why?…) and sooooo on.
Yes. I’m a collector and a hoarder.
But I’m gradually becoming better at getting rid of things I don’t need (today I just threw away 5 pairs of slippers, and 3 other pairs of shoes as I simply don’t wear anymore because they are broken! #10PointsForGryffindor).
And, well, I know this might be a bit suspicious, but I think it’s ok to be a little bit of a hoarder. I am not a minimalist. Despite knowing how good it feels to NOT own many things, I still prefer to be the way I am and have my stuff. I love my stuff.
I believe the secret is to make sure that what we own is not getting in the way of our lives. (Right now, most of my stuff is probably getting in the way of my mom’s life as it’s back at my parents home. But that’s fine right? #MomDoesntMind – I hope)
But seriously, if we can still tidy things up in an organised way, if things fit effortlessly where they’re supposed to fit, if our wardrobes and storage places are easy to use and reach, then I think we’re fine.
Because at the end of the day I might be a bit of a hoarder but I am organised with everything I own.
It’s when we start feeling a bit overwhelmed that we need adjusting and a little help. And that’s what I’m here to do.
P.S. – A big shout out to my (not so) little brother who took the pictures for me. Portugal is a bit far away to go and take pictures of my collection, so he did it for me. He’s awesome. And single. Any takers? 😛
P.S.2 – And you? Are you a hoarder? Or a collector? Share your stories with me by commenting below!NAIROBI, Kenya — Late last year, the Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow produced a powerful short called “Last Days,” about the dangers and depredations of “ivory-funded terrorism.” Viewers — and Ms. Bigelow’s celebrity friends — were encouraged to share #LastDays on social media, which many duly did. Their efforts gave yet another boost to the widely accepted belief that terrorists across Africa are killing elephants and selling the ivory to finance their attacks. But like her full-length feature film “Zero Dark Thirty,” Ms. Bigelow is offering a beguiling story divorced from reality.
She is not alone in accepting the ivory-terrorism connection. It has been widely reported that Al Qaeda’s East Africa branch, the Shabab, uses ivory sales to fund deadly attacks like the one on Nairobi’s Westgate mall in 2013. Some also claim that Boko Haram, Islamic State’s West Africa affiliate, is in part underwritten by ivory. Hillary Clinton and other politicians have made repeated assertions that ivory funds terrorism. There is “growing evidence that the terrorist groups stalking Africa, including the Shabab with its horrific attack on the mall in Nairobi, fund their terrorist activities to a great extent from ivory trafficking,” Ms. Clinton said in 2013 at a meeting of her Clinton Global Initiative, where $80 million was promised to fight poaching. It is a message with broad popular appeal: Save the elephants and stop terrorists at the same time.
Yet there’s no credible evidence that international terrorist groups like Al Qaeda or the Islamic State are involved. And though it is true that murderous regional militias like the Lord’s Resistance Army and Sudan’s Janjaweed deal in illegal ivory, unlike the Shabab, Boko Haram or the Islamic State, they do not have an expansionist ideology with international aspirations.
Why does that matter? Perhaps differentiating between global terrorists and regional militias is making a distinction without a difference. After all, terrorists are bad and poaching is bad so why fuss over the details?There are two primary reactions to the first swell of a winter season. There are the over-frothers, usually comprised of people who have never surfed through a winter before. They may have just started the summer previous, or spent their vacations surfing but now find themselves in a position to surf daily throughout a winter. Dreams of waves above shoulder high dance through their evenings, visions of pulling into barrels and standing tall with style, gracefully exiting the tube on their very first attempt. These people barely sleep the evenings before the first winter swell arrives, checking surf forecasting websites from their phone in the middle of the night, waking their (never enthusiastic partner) from their sleep.
Then there's the second group of people. Those that know better, that know that the first swell is almost never as solid as it’s predicted. 10 feet will probably be barely 8 at most places, at the best tides, and you must pray that those tides don’t find themselves in the middle of the windiest part of the day. And if, on some circumstance, the tide and wind collaborate, and it is every inch of a solid ten feet, it will only be so at the most crowded spots. You will be sharing shoulder rubs with your entire aquatic extended family, many of whom will not know what they are doing, dropping in willy nilly without a glance so much towards the peak where they should have taken off. Many of whom will be better surfers than you, even if you are a great surfer, and they will take off on impossible looking peaks only to dazzle the crowd around you, leaving you acutely aware of your mere moderate abilities.
Most of the first group won’t even manage the paddle out, and any that do are more than likely to sit deaf and dumb on the shoulder. A good chunk of the second group will scoff at the crowd, and decide to search up and down the coast for lesser crowds, wasting precious hours of fading swell.As temperatures drop it’s time to put down your razors and pick up your beard game to help raise awareness and much needed funds for Melanoma research.
Whether you’re starting from scratch, or you’ve a well established crop, that follicle farm is about to yield much more than the odd compliment from your fellow beardsmen. As the Southern Hemisphere breaches the winter months, the true power of the beard is unleashed.
If you’ve already got a beard you know exactly what I’m talking about. In your ‘hirsute of happiness’ you’ve come to find many benefits to having a beard – being equipped with the ultimate ice-breaker is just one of them.
What is Beard Season?
“Beard Season is a non-profit charity which has started a global movement, turning beards into life-saving conversation starters,” says Jimmy Niggles, the founder of Beard Season. “No one was out there encouraging people to book a skin-check, which is a huge part of the puzzle in fighting Melanoma, which is one of the world’s deadliest cancers.”
Fortunately, Melanoma is one of the most treatable forms of cancer if detected early, so become a Beard Season Ambassador and start spreading the word. I’m sure your beard has changed your life for the better and there’s no reason it can’t do the same for someone else.
Down Under, beards are a big deal and we are very fortunate to have our much loved facial fuzz embraced by main stream media. This morning Jimmy Niggles and his Beard Season crew kicked off their campaign with a bang, on the nationally broadcasted Today Show.
Despite a big night welcoming the arrival of winter for the Beard Season Launch Party, the gents got the message out like well trained professionals. They even managed to hold it together through the kind of hilarity that live Australian breakfast TV has become known for.
Beard Season Launches with a Bang!
Always at the ready to flaunt his quick-wittedness, Carl Stefanovic pounced on a slip-of-the-tongue by co-host Lisa Wilkinson. She was declaring that if her family’s beard growing prowess was anything to go by, that she too could show her support for Beard Season.
“I tell you what, I’ll grow a beard. Cause it’s in my genes,” said Wilkinson.
In true fashion, Stefanovic chimed in and with a mention of “jeans” the focus quickly turned south. Even Jimmy Niggles got to exercise a little comedic prowess.
“We’ll have to get a photo… @BeardSeason on Instagram is where you’ll see it first,” he said.
It’s that quintessential, laid back attitude of the Aussie larrikin that lends itself to Beard Season’s potential. Shedding light on what is considered a very serious and often dark subject for many. In most cases it’s hard enough getting men to talk about health issues, let alone getting regular check ups and actively raising awareness.
So once again, we are presented with yet another good reason to grow a beard. Not only for yourself, but for the greater good of those around you.
Become a Beard Season Ambassador
So if you’re in the Southern hemisphere and you’re about put face to razor, think twice about parting with that manly mane and commit to making a difference. In fact, let’s see this go bigger and raise a challenge to not only the individual, but the big corporates like BHP Billiton who for some reason have enforced beard bans.
Let’s all up our beard game and unleash the superpowers of the almighty beard!
Simply head over to the beard season website, sign up as a #BeardSeasonAmbassador and book in for a skin check.
Then get out there and spread the good word.Mosaic-ish Nail Art
So remember a few days ago when I posted a simple manicure? Well if you know me, then simple is a no go for a long time on my nails. After wearing the plain colors for a day, I decided that some nail art was needed.
I sat for awhile trying to determine what I was going to do. Since the manicure was already colorful, I wanted to use the same colors and not add more into the mix. I think if I would have, it would have been way too confusing. I was going to attempt polka dots, but with my one lonely dotting tool, they never look right. Seriously cannot wait until my new dotting tools come!
Then I thought I would attempt some form of a tape manicure, but scotch tape and my nails never works. Even if the polish has been dry for over 24 hours, it always seems that the tape rips the polish off my nail. Plus, I can never cut it in a straight line, or the polish bleeds under the tape....it's just a mess. You can also imagine that I cannot wait for my new striping tape to come in the mail! Ahhh so excited for all the manicures I will be able to do!
So, I decided to use the colors and create a mosaic on my nails! I attempted a patchwork manicure which will never see the light of day on this blog and was kind of nervous when I started these. I'm so happy I followed through and finished the mosaic, because this became one of my favorite manicures yet!
Essence - Break Through
Sinful Colors - Frenzy, Sweet Dreams, Black on Black
So pretty, right? They were beyond shiny and sparkly as well in person!!! Best part, they were extremely easy!!!
First, I took my black polish and nail art brush and drew abstract black outlines on the purple nails. Once they were dried, with my nail art brush, I filled in random areas with different colors. I then took the black polish and re-outlined the black lines to clean up the and really make the colors look like they were placed in each area.
I think when I do these nails next time, I will use my smaller nail art brush for thinner lines and have the abstract shape areas be a tad smaller too. This way, I can fit more color on the nail. I think what I love about this design is I can combine so many different colors and still have a unique manicure! Plus, since it's so simple, it takes a small amount of time and still makes people believe you spent hours on your nails.
What do you think? Have you done a mosaic look on your nails before? Or should we call it stained glass?
Again, I'm writing this post at 1am, so I hope it makes sense, I'll edit it probably around 5pm tomorrow when I come home and have the time too!!! hahaha Until next post <3
Colors Used:Story highlights Children's survival "nothing short of a miracle," police say
Man had argument with his wife, took off with children in car, police say
(CNN) Two toddlers survived a 100-foot fall after their father -- possibly holding them in his arms -- intentionally jumped off an interstate bridge over a river in northern New Jersey, state police said.
The father died in the fall from the Interstate 287 overpass near the Wanaque River, authorities said.
"When the officers found the children conscious and alert, it was nothing short of a miracle, that's for sure," said Capt. Christopher DePuyt of the Pequannock Township Police Department at a news conference Tuesday.
Trees underneath the bridge near the river apparently cushioned their fall, he explained.
"I, like anybody that's hearing this story now or last night, if you hear the beginning of the story you're expecting the worst," DePuyt said.
Read MoreI came back to this blog the other day after abandoning it last year. The reason for my negligence? I’d found a girlfriend.
Looking back over things that you have written can be quite depressing – such as what foods you eat as a singleton and the whole dating scene. The trouble is that I am faced with that prospect all over again if I let an influx of external factors suffocate the feelings that I have for someone very special.
The title of this blog may give you a clue as to the topic that I will start to explore, but let’s get straight to the point: I am a bi guy.
The issue with being bisexual is that people assume it is a transitionary stage to becoming a fully fledged gay person, almost like dipping your toe into the unknown to see what it’s like before you take the plunge. That might be true for some people, but not all.
I’ve know that I was bisexual for years, and I don’t keep it a secret in relationships and openly admit that it is who I am. I am not willing to hide who I am to ‘fit in’. I have to admit that the majority of women you meet can feel uncomfortable with it, but there are those who simply don’t care. They ask one question: do you want to be with me?
Now let me explain that when you are bisexual that you feel the same feelings towards the person you are with as would a homosexual or heterosexual. The likelihood of you cheating is the same. The difference is managing the feelings you harbour towards those of the same gender; it could be someone you see on the street or perhaps the television, either way thoughts pass through your head that make you feel guilty and ultimately insecure in yourself – and insecure in your relationship.
As your girlfriend innocently gets on with things you find yourself freaking out that you are somehow not good enough for her, that she is compromising for someone that can’t offer her everything she needs. You then are faced with society, the majority of which are not happy with the label of ‘bisexual’ – you’re either plain weird or just a gay man in denial.
When your girlfriend reveals it to her family you have to brace yourself for the awkwardness. I have had girlfriends fall out with their parents over my sexuality, after being instructed to split up with me. Now I appreciate that this is only done out of love, but it is also fuelled by ignorance.
You wince as your girlfriend tells you that she has ‘spoken to her friends about it’ – a mixture of pity and suspicion is then the order of the day. When you meet them you hold onto your beliefs, but are acutely aware the questions they would love to ask. The worst scenario is when they have a partner who you find attractive.
Now this may read like I am not confident in who I am. The issue I have is that I think too much about what others think. But the problem is that my fears are often validated.
You may have your own ideas and opinions on someone saying they are bisexual, but please remember that these ‘weird’ folk do exist, and they have no intention of identifying themselves as anything other than what they are, despite how convenient it would be.
AdvertisementsA leading adviser at the Department of Homeland Security has jumped from the frying pan into the fire, following up comments about the Constitution being “Islamically compliant” with an even more head-turning tweet — that America is an Islamic country.
In October, adviser Mohamed Elibiary sent out a Twitter message that said, “Yes, I do consider the United States of America an Islamic country with an Islamically compliant constitution. Move on!”
The tweet generated hundreds of retweets and comments. But, as Breitbart reported, Mr. Elibiary hasn’t backed off his assessment of America.
In a tweet over the weekend, he responded to another writer with this clarification, and doubling down of his earlier comments, Breitbart found: “I said America was an Islamic country not a Muslim country. Pls study up on the difference before attacking me.”
Breitbart also reported that the tweet seemed to have disappeared from Mr. Elibiary’s Twitter feed. And he still hasn’t clarified to the Investigative Project what he meant by the comment — given Census Bureau figures put the Muslim population in America compared to the world’s at less than’s.2 percent, Breitbart said.
But some — like Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy — say his assessment of America just doesn’t fit and is pure spin.
PHOTOS: Eye-popping excuses in American political scandals
“His entire attempt to repeatedly say that ‘America is Islamic’ is pure deception in the context of an Islamist ideologue like him who has not only never critiqued Islamism but rather continuously advocates for it,” Mr. Jasser said, Breitbart reported.
“In fact, it is not. American Islamists like Elibiary have consistently rejected debate with other anti-Islamist Muslims about the threat of Islamism and the way to separate Islam from Islamism. Why? If they lost that debate, his entire raison d’être inside the U.S. government ceases to exist,” he said.
Mr. Jasser also went on to say in Breitbart that “Islamism is incompatible with liberty and is a supremacist doctrine for which he deceptively argues is Islam the faith.”
Mr. Elibiary founded Lone Star Intelligence LLC, a security consulting company, and was appointed to President Obama’s Homeland Security Advisory Council in 2010.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.When Sony announced that the PlayStation 4's Remote Play feature would be available to Android phones and tablets in November, gamers got excited... right up to the point where they found out that the feature would be exclusive to the new Xperia Z3 line. While the Z3, Z3 Compact, and Z3 Tablet Compact look like fine machines, that isn't much consolation if you can't afford them or can't even find them in your country.
XDA-Developers poster XperiaPlaystation has made a work-around for this, at least allegedly. The developer's new port of the PlayStation app should work on any Android 4.0 or higher device with access to a custom recovery. Users are instructed to flash a custom ZIP package, install a customized version of the PlayStation app. Xperia Z1 owners also need root permissions for a build.prop adjustment.
The kicker is that Remote Play itself won't be available from Sony until November, so there's really no way to test the functionality right at the moment. But when the PS4 Remote Play app is published in a couple of months' time, users should be able to download it, authenticate their game consoles, and play streamed PS4 games over a local Wi-Fi connection, and possibly a high-speed mobile connection as well. The PlayStation app will allow users to pair a PS3 or PS4 controller over Bluetooth for remote play sessions. Here's hoping it all comes together in November.
Source: XDA-Developers via XDA BlogArcelorMittal fined for fouling wetlands with mining waste
State regulators said Wednesday they have penalized an iron ore operation in northern Minnesota for fouling wetlands.
ArcelorMittal, which operates an iron ore mining and processing facility in Virginia, sends mining waste through a pipeline to a storage basin to keep pollutants out of the environment.
But the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said that system failed three times sometime between May 2013 and April 2014. Mining waste mixed with water and road debris made its way into 15.3 acres of wetlands, roughly the size of 11 football fields.
MPCA officials said the company hadn't inspected and maintained the pipeline and tailings basin properly and was slow to report the spills. ArcelorMittal has paid a $58,000 state penalty and was also fined $272,000 dollars by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Cleanup continues at the site, but state officials said in a news release that it isn't clear yet if the wetlands can be restored.
Environmental groups cite such incidents as reason to require in-depth studies for new or expanded mining projects. For example, some groups have asked a state court to require an environmental impact statement for Northshore Mining's proposed expansion near Babbitt. Environmental groups are also scrutinizing the tailings basin and waste plans for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine.The 11th hour deal struck between the Democrats and the Republicans to raise the US debt ceiling could save Barack Obama’s presidency. At first glance, the details of the package suggest a Republican win: no rises in income tax and a commitment to cut up to $2.4 trillion in government spending. Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who was compelled to take such a tough stand in negotiations by conservative Tea Party congressmen within his caucus, said that his party got “98 per cent of what we wanted”.
The consensus in the American press is that he’s right, that the deal rings the death knell of what the New York Times columnist Ross Douthat called “yet another failed presidency.” Momentum should swing behind the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, be it a big-business patrician like Mitt Romney or a firebrand populist like Sarah Palin. But appearances can be deceptive. In order to win the battle, the Republicans played a high-risk strategy. As a result, they may have lost the wider political war. The brinkmanship of the debt-ceiling talks has created a new narrative in American politics. In the popular mind, it has turned Obama from a liberal into a moderate, and the Republicans from free-market rationalists into economic vandals.
To get what he wanted, John Boehner pushed the country to the brink of defaulting on its debts. Ironically, the party of business came close to ruining America’s reputation as a place to do business. The Chinese government used its official news agency to call the debt negotiations “dangerously irresponsible” and Christine Lagarde, the new head of the IMF, spoke of a “weakening positive bias” towards the US among investors.
Pessimism about economic recovery and a palpable desperation for investment has made the average American voter wary of this kind of risk-taking. According to a recent CNN poll, 63 per cent of Americans do not believe that the Republicans have acted responsibly during the budget talks and 51 per cent say that the Grand Old Party will bear the brunt of the blame for any economic fallout. Only 30 per cent blame Obama for the crisis; 15 per cent blame both sides. There might be a demographic dimension to those statistics. Republican or Tea Party voters are largely white and old, and they are dying out. In contrast, the pool of Hispanic, African-American or poor voters who rely on the kind of government benefits imperilled by the crisis is growing fast. In many regards, the United States is becoming a social democratic nation by default |
want to go out and work for tobacco companies defending people’s right to smoke, more power to you. The next time someone calls you and asks you to break a guy’s legs, tell them to hire a capo.’” By mid-January, Hewitt had made up his mind that Scanlon’s campaign against Wigand had to be part of any coming 60 Minutes report. “Mike and I never even discussed whether or not we should report it,” Hewitt said. “John was feeding me stuff all the time,” Hewitt later told me. “He called me and told me the man was on a watch list at the liquor store.… He sent me two depositions done by Wigand. One of them, to the best of my knowledge, was under lock and key and sealed.… I kept egging him on. He was my pipeline to Brown & Williamson.”
One night in January, I telephoned Scanlon at his house in Sag Harbor. “What can you tell me about Wigand?” I asked. Scanlon mentioned the contradictions in Wigand’s testimony about fire-safe cigarettes, then warmed to his theme: Wigand, he said, “had been arrested for wife beating” and had been “shoplifting for a long period of time.” He continued, “And then there’s about 25 instances which he filed … insurance claims on lost luggage and hotel rooms broken into.… He’s got a very, very shaky record.” It seemed obvious that he was recalling the details of a written memo, although at that time I did not know of the 500-page dossier. “Who has dug this up?” I asked. “Terry Lenzner’s group?” “Yes,” he said. “They’re the investigators for B&W.… I have been hired to do what I always do, which is to try to find out what the story is and broker the story, and I’m convinced that without a single iota of doubt he is a liar.” I asked Scanlon if he had ever met Wigand or posed these allegations to him. “No. I’ve read his testimony. I don’t have to ask him the questions.” Scanlon paused. “You know, I have seen tape in which he says that he was an Olympic wrestler and a Vietnam fighter pilot.” I asked him if I could see the tape. “Only off the record, and we wouldn’t want it tied to us. We would have to have that firm agreement,” he said. I said I could not enter into such an arrangement. “We may not be able to talk, then, because what they are trying to say is that this is a smear campaign.” I said I was troubled by the implications of our conversation, the way the people who had compiled the allegations about Wigand were disseminating them to destroy his credibility. “Of course they are,” Scanlon said. “I mean, he is an incredible witness. Why wouldn’t they? I mean, if you had somebody testifying against you, and you knew they weren’t credible, what would you do?” V: The Counterattack The investigator Jack Palladino met Wigand at his house on the Colonel Anderson Parkway. In the world of hardball litigation, Palladino and his wife, Sandra Sutherland, are the Nick and Nora Charles of modern criminal investigation. Palladino wears $2,000 suits and splashy Balenciaga ties and speaks with a rapid-fire polish that hints of his childhood in Boston. At one time Palladino wanted to be a psychiatrist, and he has a persuasive narrative gift. Sutherland is the daughter of an Australian academic; her strength as an investigator is an intuitive sense of when something is amiss. They operate from the former I. Magnin mansion in San Francisco; they investigated the People’s Temple in Jonestown in the 1980s and ran the counterattack against American Express’s 1988 attempt to smear the banker Edmond Safra. They worked as well for the Clinton campaign in 1992, investigating accusations of Clinton’s infidelities. The irony was that the couple usually work for Stanley Arkin, but this time they were on the other side. “I think Arkin would explain our working for Wigand as my 60s radical sympathies,” Palladino said. He was hired by Richard Scruggs to mount a counterattack, to disprove the charges in the dossier that B&W had hired Scanlon to disseminate to reporters. Palladino and his staff of seven investigators had to move quickly. An anonymous tip had already been sent to Joe Ward of the Louisville Courier-Journal and to Doug Proffitt, a TV personality in Louisville who specializes in tabloid investigations. The letter to Ward had a “gossipy tone,” Ward told me, and said that Wigand had beat up his wife. Ward immediately suspected that it had come from the tobacco industry, and he chose to investigate further. Ward told me that even the police report had no context that he was comfortable with. Doug Proffitt, however, was less concerned. On the evening he was preparing a report on Wigand’s marital problems, I telephoned him. He sounded elated that he had a scoop. “I got an anonymous tip which I’m sure came from the tobacco industry.… There’s a side of this man that has never been told before.” Palladino met Wigand after Proffitt had aired his report. He was surprised, he told me later, that Wigand asked him to explain to his 22-year-old daughter, Gretchen, the circumstances of the case, exactly how much was at stake. “He was in a paradoxical situation. At a time when the anti-tobacco forces wanted to make him a hero, he had isolated himself from everyone, including his own family,” Palladino said. “Lock up all these papers and diaries before someone steals them,” Palladino told him when he visted his home office. When Palladino relayed to Wigand the charges about him being detailed in phone calls to reporters, Wigand responded angrily, “What kind of bullshit is this?” Once Palladino realized what was happening to Wigand, he instructed the entire staff to put aside whatever they were working on and check every aspect of Wigand’s past. “This is a war,” Palladino said.
When Wigand meets me in the Hyatt coffee shop on Saturday morning, January 27, he is carrying a stack of newspapers. The testimony from his deposition about B&W is page-one news for The Courier-Journal, The Lexington Herald-Leader, and The New York Times. “You were on CNN this morning, Jeff,” his security man says. “I bet you never thought, growing up on Bruckner Boulevard, that you would wind up on page one of the Times,” I say. “That is bullshit,” he says. “I don’t care about front pages.” I am flying with Wigand to New York, where he will be interviewed again for 60 Minutes. “Wallace and Hewitt outed me, all right?” he says angrily—a reference to the fact that his identity was leaked to the New York Daily News—as we walk toward he Hyatt parking garage. “And I intend to tell Mike what I think of him on the air.” (“We are mystified that he thinks that,” Wallace later said.) In the hotel driveway, as we wait in the car for the security man to join us, Wigand sees a man crossing quickly in front of us. “Holy shit, there is Kendrick Wells!” he yells. It is eight a.m., and Wells, B&W’s assistant general counsel for product litigation, is heading toward the company tower. “What in the world could they be doing so early on a Saturday?” Wigand asks nervously as we leave for the airport.
As Wigand and I were having dinner at the Hyatt the night before, the B&W lawyers apparently made a decision to attempt to counteract the publication of parts of the leaked deposition in The Wall Street Journal. Someone on the B&W legal team suggested that their entire 500-page confidential dossier be sent immediately to the *Journal’*s reporter, Suein Hwang. That would turn out to be a disastrous strategic error. No one at B&W had checked the accuracy of Lenzner’s report, titled The Misconduct of Jeffrey S. Wigand Available in the Public Record. The list of allegations is dense and for most reporters immediately suspect. On the Sunday that Wigand taped at 60 Minutes, Palladino met with Suein Hwang for seven hours, going over every charge in the report. “We didn’t leave the Empire Diner until the early hours of the morning,” Palladino later recalled. “The Journal editors decided they would investigate every allegation. When I got back to the hotel, I faxed my office: ‘Drop everything and work on these charges.’” The summary is divided into categories—Unlawful Activity; Possible False or Fraudulent Claims for Stolen, Lost or Damaged Property; Lies on Wigand’s Résumés; Wigand’s Lies Under Oath; Other Lies by Wigand; Mental Illness. The document is a smorgasbord of allegations, large and small. “On November 18, 1991, Wigand wrote to Coast Cutlery Company and returned an allegedly damaged knife for repair.” “On March 19, 1992, Wigand wrote to Coach for Business requesting credit to his American Express card for two returned items.” More serious for the Justice Department, the contradictions in his testimony on fire-safe cigarettes are detailed, which Wigand explains by the fact that time elapsed between his testimony in Washington, while he was still under a severance agreement with B&W, and what he was about to say about fire safety after analyzing the Hamlet-project papers.
In Washington, even President Clinton has started to grapple with the problem of Jeffrey Wigand. Does he reach out and embrace him as he did the late Tobacco Institute lobbyist Victor Crawford? At the moment, Clinton is battle-weary, according to one source close to him. He has survived the controversy surrounding David Kessler, the vigorous head of the F.D.A., an inside battle in which Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes lined up for Kessler, and Patrick Griffin, the president’s liaison to Congress, and Erskine Bowles, a deputy chief of staff, questioned Clinton’s continued support of Kessler. Griffin pointed out that Kessler would bring down on Clinton the possible loss of four tobacco states—Kentucky, Virginia, and the Carolinas—and the enmity of the tobacco lobbies. Last year B&W hired the Whitewater special prosecutor, Kenneth Starr, to represent the company in its fight to prevent dissemination of the Merrell Williams documents. Recently a top White House official called the hiring of Kenneth Starr “a travesty” because of the possible conflict of interest in investigating the president as he attempts to regulate the tobacco industry. If Clinton were to embrace Wigand, it would signal that the Justice Department had no reservations about his credibility, but as yet there has been no clear signal from Washington. David Kessler would not be interviewed for 60 Minutes concerning his relationship with Wigand, perhaps because the F.D.A. is careful to appear neutral as it attempts to change the laws and force tobacco to be regulated as a drug.
In New York we go to dinner at a Japanese restaurant with Jack Palladino. Wigand sits in a tatami room and orders baby eel in fluent Japanese. Palladino tells him, “You are a very important man at the moment. You have got to get out of Louisville. You should be at a major foundation that is doing tobacco research.” For Palladino, there is little about Wigand that reminds him of Edmond Safra, the banker—and the client of Stanley Arkin—he worked for who was also the victim of a smear. Safra was motivated by a sense of moral outrage, Palladino tells me, whereas Wigand’s level of tension is a sign of pure fear. At dinner, he is without defenses. He says, “The only thing I have is my teaching. I will not give it up. I owe the kids.” In the car on the way back to the hotel, Wigand is irritable. “I feel I am being corralled by these guys.” Wigand is tired in New York, and complains of chest pains. It is his intention to get a physical, including an EKG. He checks into the Shelburne, a modest hotel at 37th Street, although 60 Minutes has offered to put him up at the more posh Essex House, on Central Park South. “Do you know what it would be like if I were there with them?” he says. “They would be down my throat every second.” Wigand is scheduled for his second 60 Minutes interview Sunday afternoon. In the morning he calls and says, “I have to have a Save the Children tie. This is what the whole thing is about—smoking and kids. Where can I get one?” His tone is intense, serious. “I won’t go on the air without it,” he says. I meet Wigand in his room at the Shelburne. Palladino has already arrived, and paces back and forth trying to boost Wigand’s sense of self before he is filmed. “You are a man who is trying to tell the truth. They are trying to ruin your life. It is your story. You have to tell it the way you see it.” Palladino coaches Wigand on TV technique: “Don’t use too many nouns or proper names. Don’t be too technical. What you want is for them—the TV audience—to suddenly look up from their cheese puffs and say, ‘He is telling the truth.’” “I am a scientist,” Wigand responds churlishly. “That is how I speak.” “Yes,” says Palladino, “but consider it this way: you are getting a chance to tell your story in front of an audience.” While Palladino speaks, Wigand puts on a fresh shirt and takes a Save the Children tie from a Bloomingdale’s box. He knots it while looking in the mirror and then visibly relaxes. “O.K., Jack,” he says. “I feel better now.” “It’s simple,” Palladino says. “Just tell the truth. That is all you have.”
On one occasion in Louisville, I go to see the B&W public-relations man Joe Helewicz, a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun. I am brought to a reception area, a large room filled with smoke. On several tables there are containers of B&W cigarettes, Kools and Capris. Near me a salesman from Pitney Bowes smokes a Kool and says, “I am supposed to beFriday on “Ellen,” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was ” literally” stalking her at last Sunday’s presidential debate.
Clinton said, “First, it was clear that my opponent, Donald Trump, was going to try to, you know, dominate the space, almost to the exclusion of the people who were sitting there. I mean, they were sitting there so that we could talk to them, and that they could ask questions we would then answer. And because of the revelations of the public video and everything that came out on ‘Access Hollywood,’ you know, he was — he was really all wrought up and you could just sense how much anger he had. And so he was really trying to dominate and then literally stalk me around the stage. And I would just feel this presence behind me, and I, you know, I thought, ‘Whoa, this is really weird.’ And so I was just trying to stay focused.”
(h/t Politico)An attorney for the University of California-San Diego admitted in court that the school hid the identity of a witness who could have disproved (or proved, even) the accusation against a student.
Jonathan Dorfman was accused in 2011 of cheating on a test.
The "evidence" against him consisted of a changed letter at the top of the test — indicating Dorfman had changed what exam version he was taking — and a theory from a professor at a different school that statistics showed Dorfman couldn't have had so many wrong answers in common with another student, referred to as "Student X." The school alleged that Dorfman copied off of Student X.
But UCSD refused to identify Student X to Dorfman. The school wouldn't even verify where Student X was sitting in relation to Dorfman. The test was administered in different classrooms, so Student X could have been sitting next to Dorfman, or across the room, or in a different room completely, meaning it was entirely possible that Dorfman didn't copy off of Student X's test.
Dorfman has been trying to clear his name for years, and a judge is about to determine whether the school will be allowed to try Dorfman one more time (perhaps this time with the identity of Student X revealed).
At Dorfman's second hearing (both his first and second hearing decisions were thrown out by the schools provosts and a state trial judge), he argued against his accuser (his professor), by noting "40 other instances" of tests with as many matching answers as his and Student X's.
He said half of those matches came from students "who were sitting in different classrooms." Despite this, the school still found him responsible and expelled him, using the low "preponderance of evidence" standard.
The reason Student X's identity was never revealed, UCSD said, was that Student X wasn't "relevant" to the investigation because he or she wasn't also being charged with cheating. This is not how "relevant party" is defined in UCSD's policies, however, which merely state that a relevant party is "one with direct and material understanding of the allegation."
This is still a substandard definition, as Student X probably had no idea such an allegation took place or that he or she could hold evidence that could turn the case one way or the other, which means the policy was flawed to begin with.
But adding the extra caveat that a relevant party also had to be charged meant the school was changing its own definitions to further trap Dorfman. An appeals court criticized UCSD for violating its policies and Dorfman's rights to the point that identifying Student X would have been Dorfman's only means to defend himself.
The court said the school's refusal to identify Student X violated the "minimum procedural requirements" promised to students.
"The discovery of the location of where Student X sat during the exam, or in this case the identity of Student X to seek that information, falls within the evidence contemplated by the school's policies for investigating allegations of cheating," the court said, adding that Student X's identity was "highly relevant."
The court also rebutted UCSD's claim that identifying Student X would open him or her up to retaliation because Student X wasn't accused of anything, so how could he or she be retaliated against?
Judge Terry O'Rourke explained to UCSD's senior counsel, Michael Goldstein, just how absurd it was for the school to refuse to identify Student X.
"It would be so easy, wouldn't it, if we just found out that Student X was on the opposite side of the room? And then you don't have a case. And it seems to me to be the linchpin of this whole hearing," O'Rourke said.
"It's almost preposterous in my estimation that we're sitting around bickering about statistical probability and hearsay and someone calculated this or that... It's so simple to find out where the other person was sitting, and you refuse to tell anyone."
An unidentified female judge agreed, adding that it seemed "like an enormous omission" for the school to refuse the identity.
Goldstein then admitted that UCSD does not "go out and find everyone who may be relevant" to an allegation, nor does it attempt to do anything else "that would also have been dispositive."
O'Rourke quickly responded: "Well, I think there's a word for that. It's called stacking the deck."
In other words, the school is only interested in collecting evidence that would support an accusation. Goldstein also admitted as much when the female judge asked how Dorfman could have questioned relevant parties without knowing their identities. Goldstein responded: "How you get the people in the room is your problem."
That same female judge also summed up UCSD's procedure as deciding "this was enough and we're not going to give the information to the defense to try to poke holes in it." Goldstein responded to this by saying: "That is the procedure here."
It's nice that a school is finally admitting that it has no interest in the truth, and that its only goal is to kick out accused students no matter what the evidence might show. Let that be a lesson to other students out there, not just those at UCSD: The deck is stacked against you. An accusation is all the school needs to kick you out.
H/T College Fix.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.Your browser does not support HTML5 video tag.Click here to view original GIF
I enjoyed this portrait of pop-up book artist Matthew Reinhart because, well, pop-up books are awesome and will never stop being amazing no matter how old I am, or how far technology advances. But also because he explains the technical aspects that go into making a pop-up book, like the v-folds he uses to make something lunge out, the layers he builds to establish structure, and the different hinges he puts in to make objects move around.
The v-fold is the most important part in a pop-up book because it’s the mechanism that makes something actually pop up. It makes the thing move in an arc, so the wider you open the book, the more the page unfolds. You can build v-folds on top of v-folds to make the movements more complex, which will make the pop-up effect even more pronounced. It can get pretty wild.
[SciFri via Digg]Sometimes it's hard to say I'm sorry. It requires reflection. Acknowledgement. A desire to make things better.
Well Hamilton city council, I'm sorry.
1. I'm sorry you chose to say not a single word about the physical altercation between journalist Joey Coleman and Coun. Lloyd Ferguson when it happened in February 2014 at City Hall. You offered silence. As a result, you sent a very dangerous cultural message to all city staffers. As the employee culture survey results show, the working culture at City Hall is broken. Your silence makes that truth even worse for all city employees, and there are many, who are victims of harassment in the workplace. You chose silence instead of leadership.
2. I'm sorry you voted to accept Hamilton's Integrity Commissioner Earl Basse's victim-blaming report without saying a single word. On Pink Shirt Day (anti-bulling day) of all days. It's important to point out that councillors Green and Duvall chose to vote not to receive the report. Nowhere in the integrity commissioner bylaw does it say our elected leaders are not permitted to comment on a report. But you chose silence. Again.
3. I'm sorry you agreed the victim didn't need to be interviewed to complete an investigation involving an act of physical aggression. Nor the witnesses, including then-councillor Brad Clark. You chose to accept what some say is libellous content about the victim's motives and actions. You accepted the excuses for Ferguson's behaviour provided in the report including the statement that he'd had a "long and contentious day," as if that would ever excuse physical violence. You offered no support to the victim, neither through your words, nor through your actions. You chose silence. Again.
4. I'm sorry a number of you, including Mayor Fred Eisenberger, tried spinning your silent acceptance of the report, after questions from the community and the media, as a procedural issue. Some said your hands were tied. Others said it would be inappropriate to question the finding of the integrity commissioner, even though the public was not questioning the finding. Several of you said apologies had been exchanged and accepted at the time. Some even suggested the burden was on the victim to take the next steps. Then, when Coun. Sam Merulla announced he would be putting forward a motion asking Ferguson to step down from the Police Services Board, and that this matter be handed over to the police, Eisenberger said we were on a slippery slope and that we should move on. Hours later, his position had changed and he was reported to be brokering a deal with Ferguson that would include four conditions.
5. I'm sorry what this whole incident, and all of the silence from our elected leaders, says about the state of leadership at City Hall. Eisenberger says there are certain hills he won't die on. Are topics such as bullying, assault, libel, victim-blaming not on his list? At the point of writing (Wednesday morning) why have councillors Aidan Johnson, Jason Farr, Chad Collins, Tom Jackson, Terry Whitehead, Judi Partridge, Robert Pasuta, Arelene VanderBeek, Brenda Johnson, Maria Pearson, Doug Conley said absolutely nothing about this issue?
Late last week, Ontario Ombudsman, André Morin spoke out. He offered his biting criticism of the report, saying it was an example of how not to write an IC report. He even took the time to mark up a copy of the report and shared it on social media.
So council, while you could have shown leadership in the face of bullying and possibly assault, you chose silence. You said nothing. Not. A. Single. Word. That is, until you scrambled in the face of a public outcry to make something, almost anything, happen before it got even worse.
Well, it did get worse. Coleman has now released a statement saying he is co-operating with the OPP who are now investigating this incident. For those who think this is too much about too little, just take a moment to think about this question. If your child, or your spouse/partner, or your parent, no matter their age, was forcefully grabbed at City Hall, or in a local rec centre, by an obviously angry man, shouted at, and pushed backwards, what would you do? Remain silent?Some Republicans are showing a willingness to raise taxes, but conservative activist Grover Norquist, who has convinced Republican candidates and policymakers to sign a pledge never to increase rates, thinks it's all a bluff.
"No one is caving," Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Sunday. "For 20 years Democrats have tried over and over to trick Republicans into breaking the pledge. It hasn't happened. This isn't my first rodeo."
Republicans are facing pressure from Democrats to reach a deal that includes increasing tax rates to avoid a slew of other tax increases and spending cuts set to begin in 2013. And some are willing to do it.
"I will violate the pledge," said South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham Sunday during an appearance on ABC's "This Week." In return, he added, Democrats must agree to overhauling federal programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Norquist said the campaign to pressure Republicans into increasing tax rates is a trap that will ultimately make it difficult for Republicans to be re-elected. In the Wall Street Journal interview, he pointed to former Republican President George H.W. Bush, who was defeated after he violated a promise not to raise taxes. "Republicans who raise taxes have a hard time explaining to anybody other than a congenital Republican why you should elect them," he said.A BELATED happy International Women’s Day. Rarely has the day seemed more necessary than in 2015, as debate rages about the ethics and timing of the BBC documentary on the Delhi rape case, India’s Daughter. In this documentary, Mukesh Singh, one of the accused rapists, damns himself through his own mouth. Troublingly, his interview was broadcast before the case has gone to appeal.
Lest India’s Daughter tempts us to think that violence and sexual abuse against women is a South Asian problem, a campaign was launched by the Salvation Army, capitalising on the optical illusion dress that went viral recently. It shows a badly bruised white woman wearing the dress in white and gold (the colours that many of us saw in the badly lit original photograph), with the caption, “Why is it so hard to see black and blue”. This indicates that violence against women cuts across all cultures.
In this column I examine some of the key feminist essays of the last four decades in order to explore the productive overlap that exists between postcolonial studies and feminism.
Julia Kristeva’s ‘About Chinese Women’ (1977) is in some ways an example of a Western feminist making universalising, even racist assumptions. The psychoanalytic critic wrote her essay in the context of leftist politics in France, wherein China was held up as a model society. However, the piece suffered when it was digested by a wider audience, many of whom felt Kristeva was homogenising the Chinese women under study, and after the late 1970s it mostly disappeared from view.
Kristeva seems progressive on difference, warning against looking for answers in Chinese society to solve Western problems. She shows awareness of the symbiotic relationship between knowledge and power, claiming that she wants to create “open-ended” research. This is praiseworthy, but in a sense she does precisely these two things, imposing a knowledge system on others and projecting Chinese culture as a blank screen on which to resolve Western women’s dilemmas. She idealises male-female relations in China, associating the Chinese woman stereotypically with “an inexhaustible yin essence” and portraying the man as “the delicate artisan” of the woman’s jouissance, or sexual pleasure. Readers may wonder how Kristeva could have known this from a short visit and without speaking Mandarin or Cantonese.
Postcolonial feminism helps to identify and correct the blind spots of Western feminist theory which, according to Chandra Talpade Mohanty, often produces a “singular ‘Third World woman’” as a byword for “underdevelopment, oppressive traditions, high illiteracy, rural and urban poverty, religious fanaticism and overpopulation”. Mohanty argues that such negative assumptions about the Third World woman do not capture the complexity and fluidity of the lives of these women, plural. A ‘Third World woman’ isn’t automatically oppressed. If she is from a powerful class or family, she may have more power and agency than a working-class woman or even a man in ‘the West’.
Following Mohanty’s critique, Anna Rutherford and Kirsten Holst Petersen tried to unite postcolonialism and feminism through recognition of the overlap between colonialism and patriarchy in their idea of “double colonisation”. However, this suggests that racism and sexism function in the same way and only highlights two forms of oppression.
Gayatri Spivak extends double colonisation through her reinterpretation of subalternity. She writes about the difficulty of non-elite people — tribals, peasants, women, low castes and the working class — having their voices heard in an undistorted way: “Clearly, if you are poor, black, and female you get it in three ways. […] As a product of these considerations I have put together the sentence ‘White men are saving brown women from brown men’.”
Here Spivak, whose writing can be impenetrable, gives us two lovely phrases. Firstly, the idea that poor, black women “get it in three ways” indicates that a person can experience more than singular or double oppressions. This anticipates the 1990s theory of intersectionality, to which I will return. Secondly, the famous slogan “White men are saving brown women from brown men” is heavily ironic and anticipates 2000s thinking about saviours, rescue, and assumptions of superiority.
Lila Abu-Lughod wrote her essay ‘Do Muslim Women Really Needs Saving?’ in 2002 against the backdrop of the war in Afghanistan’s initial phase. She takes as her point of departure the toxic but hilarious George W. Bushism “women of cover”, which conflates the politically sensitive American term “person of colour” with the issue of modest Muslim dress. By contrast, Abu-Lughod provides a textured reading of the veiling debate. Rather than the universal symbol of oppression that many Americans assume it to be, the burqa is a Pakhtun garment and there can be empowerment in it — one anthropologist describes it as “portable seclusion”. Abu-Lughod disagrees with any enforcement of the wearing of burqas, but observes that many women wear these outfits voluntarily and don’t wish to discard them.
Abu-Lughod next challenges (George W. Bush’s wife) Laura Bush’s November 2001 speech in which the latter implicitly assumes that Afghan women will automatically be delighted to be rescued by American troops. Abu-Lughod writes: “It is deeply problematic to construct the Afghan woman as someone in need of saving. When you save someone, you imply that you are saving her from something. You are also saving her to something. What violences are entailed in this transformation, and what presumptions are being made about the superiority of that to which you are saving her?”
Abu-Lughod encourages us to think about women who may or may not want to be rescued, but more importantly deserve justice. Finally, she advocates respect for difference while not endorsing cultural relativism — the idea that everything can be understood and justified in the context of its culture. She shows that it is no self-contradiction to dislike the Taliban, while simultaneously rejecting crude online petitions about “Muslim men oppressing Muslim women”. What we should say is: a plague on both their houses.
Whereas Rutherford and Petersen talk about “double colonisation”, Spivak turns this into a triumvirate, saying if you are poor, black, and female you get it in three ways. From a postsecular perspective, Abu-Lughod and the Turkish-American scholar Esra Santesso show that if you are poor, black, Muslim and female you get it in four ways. The progression from single issue feminism or postcolonialism, to double, triple, and quadruple approaches shows there is a need for a theory which takes into account multiple oppressions.
Kimberlé Crenshaw’s 1993 concept of intersectionality fills this gap. It was further developed by Avtar Brah in a South Asian diasporic context. Intersectionality is the idea that you can have multiple identity components and grounds for oppression at once. As well as race and gender, there is class (and caste), religious background, age, disability, sexual orientation, and so on. As Mohanty delineated in the 1980s, it is important not to see a woman as an ahistoric, monolithic subject. Rather, we have to see women in context. Intersectionality assumes that sexism and racism, rather than being separate and aberrant phenomena, actually inform each other.
Perhaps intersectionality provides the best psychological scaffolding for global 21st-century women. We need to think about and resist different oppressions together without reducing differences between them or decanting one into the other.
CLAIRE CHAMBERS teaches global literature at the University of York and is the author of British Muslim Fictions: Interviews with Contemporary Writers.First published in the September 1990 issue of The Rothbard-Rockwell Report.
The libertarian movement was once a mighty movement, hardcore but not kooky, part of the mainstream of American ideological and political life. In the 18th and 19th centuries (for example, in the Jeffersonian and Jacksonian movements), libertarians were even the dominant political force in the country. America was, indeed, conceived in liberty. But right now, I'm not going back that far: I'm talking about the origins of the modern 20th century movement. For various reasons, the Progressive movement had wiped out 19th century intellectual and political libertarianism, and, by the 1920s, it was reduced to a few vibrant but lone intellectuals such as H.L. Mencken and his friend, Albert Jay Nock.
But then something happened to shock libertarianism back to life the cataclysmic Great Leap Forward into collectivism hailed as the New Deal. It's a process of historical reaction: a sudden social change will often give rise to a fierce opposition. Opposition to the New Deal was, necessarily, a coalition politics united on a negative: hatred of the socialism of the New Deal. Increasingly gathering into that coalition were the few libertarian or individualist intellectuals, the heritage and the remnants of the old Jeffersonian Democracy left from the days of Grover Cleveland men such as Senator James A. Reed of Missouri and Governor Albert Ritchie of Maryland, and Republicans, including formerly stalwart statists and Progressives such as Herbert Hoover, who condemned FDR for going much too far.
As the New Deal intensified and was championed by the Democrats, the opposition inevitably coalesced around the Republican Party. It was a strange transformation, since, from its inception in the 1850s, the Republican Party had always been the party of statism and centralized Big Government. Well, life is strange some times, and this shift was no stranger than what had happened to the Democrats, during the 19th century the party of minimal government and laissez-faire.
When Roosevelt dragged America into World War II, the growing opposition, which I have called the "Old Right," shifted its moorings and changed some of its alliances. Some economic free-marketeers, such as Lewis W. Douglas, became ardent pro-war New Dealers; while former progressives, mainly Republican, who opposed the war, began to see the deep connection between interventionism and Big Government in domestic as well as foreign policy. As a result, by the end of World War II, the Old Right, largely Republican but still including Jeffersonian Democrats (such as Rep. Samuel Pettingill of Indiana), was consistently libertarian, opposing statism at home and war and intervention abroad.
The Old Right was a strong and vibrant movement, dominant in the Republican Party in Congress (especially in the House of Representatives) and constituting roughly the Taft wing of the party. The Old Right was firmly opposed to conscription as well as war or foreign aid, favored free markets and the gold standard, and upheld the rights of private property as opposed to any sort of invasion, including coerced integration. The Old Right was socially conservative, middle class, welcoming people who worked for a living or met a payroll, and was the salt of the earth.
What the Old Right lacked was not a political mass, but rather an intellectual cadre, and the small but increasing number of hard-core libertarians influenced by Mises and Rand and Nock after World War II provided a growing intellectual foundation for that movement. What we have to realize, and we almost have to shake ourselves to believe, is that hard-core libertarians were not considered kooks and crazies; we were treated only as extreme variants of a creed that almost everyone on the Old Right believed: peace, individual liberty, free markets, private property, even the gold standard. And since we were simply consistent upholders of a creed which the entire Old Right believed, we were able, though small |
clearly not the market that these systems are aimed at. Not yet, at least. There are some very interesting changes happening in the area of consumer-level computers, where the traditional desktop idea seems to be slowly falling out of favor. Many experiments are underway to come up with something better; in the free software world these experiments have names like Android, Chromium OS, Litl, Maemo, and Moblin. Free software is trying to break new ground here; this is not a case of following somebody else's taillights. So, while your editor does not see Moblin as his system of choice at the moment, he is most interested in seeing where this project goes in the near future.Zlatan Ibrahimovic smiles for the cameras after his four goals at Troyes
Zlatan Ibrahimovic says he is likely to leave Paris St-Germain this summer after helping them clinch a fourth successive French title.
The Swede scored four goals as PSG demolished Troyes 9-0 to seal the Ligue 1 trophy with eight games left.
The 34-year-old told beIN Sports: "For the moment, I will not be at PSG next season. I still have a month and a half left here.
"If they replace the Eiffel Tower with a statue of me, then I will stay."
Ibrahimovic has recently been linked with moves to Manchester United and Major League Soccer in the United States.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said that he wants Ibrahimovic to stay when his contract ends in June.
"Zlatan is magical," he said. "He is a great player. We are going to talk him and see what he wants to do. We want him to stay."
Ibrahimovic's four goals on Sunday included a 10-minute hat-trick, which took his league total to 27 in 24 games this season and increased his tally in the French top flight to 102.
The victory over the bottom club sealed a fourth straight title after just 30 games, a record for one of Europe's 'big five' leagues.
Qatari Al-Khelaifi added that PSG will now target a maiden Champions League triumph having beaten Chelsea 4-2 on aggregate in the last 16.
"We must now stay focused because the season is not finished," he said.
"We have three more cups to fight for (Champions League, French League Cup and French Cup) but the Champions League is our biggest dream.
"We want to go as far as possible but we know there will be some very strong teams."
Their only major European trophy to date was the Cup Winners' Cup in 1996.
No-one can match us - Blanc
Manager Laurent Blanc celebrates with Angel Di Maria after PSG clinch the Ligue 1 title
Coach Laurent Blanc told beIN Sports: "We did what we needed to do, particularly in the second period.
"From day one we've wanted to set a rhythm that would be difficult to match.
"We did it and we've maintained it. We know that no-one can match us."A Lafite Rothschild Bordeaux sells for a minimum of around $500 a bottle, while humble brands like Charles Shaw and Franzia sell for as little as $2. But as far as “wine economists” are concerned, the level of correlation between the price of a bottle of wine and its quality is low or nonexistent. In a number of damning studies, they suggest that wine is not just poorly priced, but that the different tastes we describe in wine may all be in our heads.
A 2008 paper in The Journal of Wine Economics, for example, found that when consumers are unaware of a wine’s price, they “on average enjoy more expensive wines slightly less [than cheap ones].” Experts do not fare much better. The study could not conclude that experts preferred more expensive wine: “In sum, we find a non-negative relationship between price and overall rating for experts. Due to the poor statistical significance of the price coefficient for experts, it remains an open question whether this coefficient is in fact positive.”
In another experiment, critics tasted one red wine and one white wine. They described the red in language typical of reds and the white in language typical of whites. The problem? Both were identical white wines; the “red” had been tinted with food coloring.
Another study looked at the accuracy of the influential 100 point scale invented by wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr. By having judges at a tasting rate the same wine multiple times, retired statistician and hobbyist winemaker Robert Hodgson found that the judging was completely inconsistent:
“The judges’ wine ratings typically varied by ±4 points on a standard ratings scale running from 80 to 100. A wine rated 91 on one tasting would often be rated an 87 or 95 on the next. Some of the judges did much worse, and only about one in 10 regularly rated the same wine within a range of ±2 points.”
Year after year, Hodgson replicated his results. When he broadened his scope to results of hundreds of wine competitions, he found that the distribution of medals “mirrors what might be expected should a gold medal be awarded by chance alone.”
In March, we reported on these findings as we strove to determine what lies behind the price tag of a bottle of wine. As we have happily spent an extra $10 for a “nice” bottle, and at times felt certain that we suffered when we went with the thrifty purchase, we sought out an explanation for the economists' and psychologists' findings.
People in the wine industry responded nearly identically. They admitted certain shortcomings in the wine industry (that large-scale tastings dull critics ability to identify and enjoy wines, that scales ignore the subjective aspect of taste, or that 75% of the price is cachet), then maintained that they could generally identify wines they liked and that the great wines were in fact fantastic. But no one offered a rebuttal to studies that found zero correlation.
We admitted defeat, and wrote about how a wine’s price is primarily driven by factors of production (even if we were unsure that those factors impacted taste at all), branding, the existence of a large network of middlemen involved in distributing wine, and a healthy dose of snobbery and romanticism.
We refrained from drawing final conclusions about whether wine is a hoax. Others have not (see here and here, for example). They found a ready audience for their message of “Wine is bullshit.” But if wine is bullshit, does that mean that good beer, cheese, and steaks are as well?
Taste does not equal your taste buds
To understand why this may be the case, it helps to start by understanding what people mean when they say “taste.” Your taste buds tell you about the sweet, sour, bitter, umami, or salty qualities of food, but there is not a sum of each taste that equals the taste of fried chicken or fresh strawberries. Information from all 5 senses informs our perception of taste.
To test this out, try eating with your nose plugged, or remember back to your meals the last time you suffered from a stuffy nose. Just as smell and memory are closely linked, so too are smell and taste. And just as the information provided by senses other than our taste buds can make a surprisingly significant impact on how we perceive the taste of wine, the same is true for other foods and beverages.
Take color, which can trick us into tasting a nonexistent flavor in food in the same way it tricked the wine critics tasting white wine dyed red. As the New York Times reports:
When tasteless yellow coloring is added to vanilla pudding, consumers say it tastes like banana or lemon pudding. And when mango or lemon flavoring is added to white pudding, most consumers say that it tastes like vanilla pudding. Color creates a psychological expectation for a certain flavor that is often impossible to dislodge, [food chemist] Dr. Shelke said.
Sight is surprisingly crucial to identifying common foods. At Dans Le Noir, a restaurant that employs blind waiters to serve customers expensive dinners in a pitch black restaurant, diners are not told the menu. An investor in the restaurant explains that “After dinner we show them photos of what they ate and the menu, and they can’t believe it. They might get the difference between carrots and peas, but they confuse veal and tuna, white and red wine.”
There are many other examples of how information garnered from our other senses, including higher-order information, impacts our sense of taste. The surrounding environment makes a difference - we get more pleasure from food when surrounded by soft lighting. So too do our expectations: our experience with similar foods in the past, branding and packaging, and price tags all influence the taste and enjoyment we derive from food and drink.
Not all wine is the same
The best wine tasters in the world, formally speaking, are Master Sommeliers. There are less than 200 in the world, and to gain their title they must identify 6 wines in a blind taste test by grape variety, region of origin, and vintage. If we assume that the Master Sommelier title is not just a conspiracy to perpetuate the lie of wine, then their ability to pass the test seems to prove that not all wine tastes the same. But how do they succeed when “experts” can be tricked by red food coloring?
The answer, as reported by Psychology Today, is that expertise comes from applying good analysis and extensive knowledge:
Research shows that contrary to common thought, wine experts do not have more sensitive palates, per se. They don’t, for example, have lower thresholds for detecting a wine’s tannin and alcohol content. Experts are also no better than novices at tasting whether two wines are the same or different. What makes [Master Sommelier] Steven Poe an expert is how he brings his formal knowledge of wine production to what he tastes. For example, Poe would be familiar with the flavor outcomes of malolactic fermentation —a process of secondary wine fermentation. In a blind tasting, he might notice one of the flavors associated with the process—a buttery texture, for example—and then attend to the other likely flavor results of malolactic fermentation including hints of yogurt and sauerkraut. This could help Poe narrow down a wine’s region and vintage.
Master sommeliers can still likely be tricked by feints such as dying white wine red. Or they may occasionally find cheap wines more enjoyable than expensive wines in a blind taste test. They do not drink wine, find it delicious, and say, “Aha! What a delicious wine! It must be a prestigious vintage.” Instead, they have the breadth of knowledge of different varieties to follow the clues in what they taste like Sherlock Holmes crossing out possible suspects. Identifying a wine as a French bordeaux rather than a $2 Charles Shaw wine may render the wine more enjoyable to him, but the effect would be the same as when he occasionally mistakes a $25 bottle for a $500 one.
What this means
People react strongly to studies suggesting that “good wine” does not differ from the most humble vintage. It’s particularly shocking because the price of a bottle of wine can vary from $2 to over $2,000. And given the way people use the language of wine to police class lines, they are particularly popular as ammunition in a cultural war against snobbery.
But what these studies really tell us is that our idea of taste as a constant, even if appreciated in subjectively different ways, is a fiction. Due to the complicated way that we experience taste - as an amalgamation of information from all 5 senses, our expectations, and how we think about what we are tasting - taste is easily manipulated.
Our enjoyment of good food is just as susceptible to trickery. Food dye can trick us into tasting a flavor like lemon or cheddar that is not actually present. Fish markets, restaurants, and sushi joints present less expensive fish as their more prestigious (and supposedly better tasting) peers unnoticed every day. This past year, Europeans happily ate up meatballs containing horsemeat, only expressing outrage when regulators revealed its presence.
Since a $5 wine can so easily be mistaken for a $50 wine, we encourage you to unabashedly reach for wine on the bottom shelf. We've applied this principle, often a bit self-righteously. But it should also give you pause about everything you eat and drink. If you boycott expensive wine, should you also avoid sushi and seafood restaurants because you know that cheap fish can be just as enjoyable? Embrace fast food chains' practice of diluting the quality of their meat? If wine is bullshit, then isn't everything else we eat and drink bullshit too?
This post was written by Alex Mayyasi. Follow him on Twitter here or Google Plus. To get occasional notifications when we write blog posts, sign up for our email list.A new series of vulnerabilities in Android have been discovered by researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Titled "Cloak & Dagger" this new class of vulnerabilities and attack vectors makes use of overlays and accessibility service permissions in Android. These services can potentially allow for a malicious application to perform unwanted actions, including collecting data input on the device and so-called "clickjacking." The latter term being when a user might believe they are performing one action, but another is occurring beneath a deceptive overlay.
The researchers first spoke to Google about the problem 9 months ago. Although some progress has been made, a number of the vulnerabilities are still present, even in the most recent version of Android 7.1.2 Nougat with the latest security updates. Unfortunately, that is partly by design. Some of the tools, like the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW and BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE that are being manipulated for the exploit, are required by some applications.
Accessibility services, like the one used by this exploit, often have to intercept things like keystrokes and input to function correctly. After all, people who are hard of hearing or visually impaired need augmented means to ensure that the content of a given input is correct. Some of these tools can't be drastically changed without also breaking how the associated accessibility services work for people that need them. That might make potential solutions somewhat difficult in the future.
Overlays have had security implications for a while now. A screen overlay detection notification was even added in Marshmallow, though it was removed in Nougat. As a result, it isn't super surprising that an issue like this could be a problem. Perhaps in the future, we'll see a return of the overlay notification. Overlays are used via the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW which allows an application to draw over another foregrounded application. Normally you'd expect that to be used for things like a hovering indicator that stays on screen, or stuff similar to the old Facebook Chat Heads. Unfortunately, there are plenty of ways to abuse it.
Overlays don't just have to occur in portions of the screen, they can also masquerade as full-screen applications, which brings up the clickjacking problem. You might think you're using an innocuous app, but the interactive elements it presents could be performing subversive activities in the background. At least when an exploit is only using accessibility services, those services have to be explicitly enabled. If you get clickjacked those services can be toggled on in the background via input thought to be for another purpose. So when you tap to perform actions in the application, you are actually inputting past that layer below, and the app could be guiding you into settings to enable extra permissions or other nefarious acts. Any number of changes to the system can be made silently.
The same sort of overlay could also manifest itself invisibly. The researchers were able to gather input passed through the overlay in a grid to record information entered via software keyboard. With this, they were able to intercept and record information like typed text, including usernames and passwords.
At least in the meantime, Google has stated that Google Play Protect is able to detect and prevent the installation of applications that might try to use such exploits. So, perhaps right now we should be careful when it comes to installing applications from other sources or enabling their installation. Granted, that's good advice to follow at any time.I’m lucky that my mother in law is an amazing cook. I’ve learned many new recipes from her. One of my favorites is her black eyed peas in tomato sauce. They are to die for. I ate the leftovers on and off for a week straight.
Recipe
4 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Passive Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
1/3 cup olive oil extra virgin
2 cups onion, chopped white or yellow
1/2 pound blackeyed peas or substitute 2 cans, drained and rinsed
3 pounds tomatoes, peeled, diced or substitute cans of chopped tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, mashed in a mortar or chopped fine
1 teaspoon salt to taste
1/3 cup chopped scallions or parsley or celery
1/4 cup tomato paste optional if the tomatoes are not flavorful enough
Instructions
Soak the peas in plenty of water overnight. Drain and set aside while you stew the onions and tomatoes. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven. Panfry the onions till translucent and add the garlic last. Add the tomatoes and stew, covering the pan and lowering the heat, for about 15 minutes. Add the peas and an extra 2 cups of water and simmer gently about 45 minutes. Uncover and season to taste. If necessary, add the tomato paste halfway through the cooking for extra tomato flavor. Serve at room temperature with extra olive oil and pita bread.
Post your food pictures on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and tag @Healthy.Selfie to be featured on our page.On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake and 45-foot-high tsunami overwhelmed the emergency cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex on Japan’s eastern coast. Meltdowns occurred in units 1, 2 and 3, and the unit 4 containment building was severely damaged, leaving 460 tons of spent fuel stored atop the building at risk of collapse. One-third of Fukushima Prefecture (eight percent of Japan’s land mass) and 1.5 million people were affected by fallout. The region’s $3.2 billion agricultural sector was wiped out.
In the months following the multiple meltdowns, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) formed a Near-Term Task Force (NTTF) to recommend protective countermeasures. The explosive demise of Fukushima’s reactors had drawn special attention in the United States owing to a singular, alarming fact: The reactors that failed in Japan were built by General Electric, and 23 similar Mark I reactors were in operation at 16 sites in 12 US states. In addition, another eight Mark 2 reactors with similar design problems are located at five sites in four states.
On July 12, 2011, the NTTF issued a 96-page report titled “Recommendations for Enhancing Reactor Safety in the 21st Century: Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident” containing 12 “overarching recommendations.” Most were vague calls to “evaluate potential enhancements,” and “strengthen... mitigation capabilities,” and “identify insights.” There was, however, one concrete recommendation. It called for “requiring reliable hardened vent designs... [on all] Mark I and Mark II containments.”
In internal memos, NRC staff warned that safety improvements were essential for “Mark I or Mark II containments to address specific design concerns (e.g., high conditional containment failure probability given a core melt) that could result in “releases of radioactive materials, hydrogen, and steam into the reactor building.” The addition of Hardened Containment Vents (HCVs) would allow reactor operators to release high-temperature and high-pressure gasses to the atmosphere, which could prevent reactor core damage that could generate dangerous accumulations of explosive hydrogen gas.
NRC: “It Can’t Happen Here”
On the first anniversary of the Fukushima quake, the NRC issued a report that contained a surprising conclusion. The NRC ruled that a “sequence of events such as the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident is unlikely to occur in the US. Therefore, continued licensing activities [of US reactors] do not pose an imminent threat to public health and safety.”
The NRC investigation clearly identified the failure of pressure vents on Japan’s reactors as a major contributing cause of the meltdowns and explosions. Although the NRC acknowledged that the importance of HCV systems was “well established,” the NRC noted that HCVs currently were “not required” on Fukushima-style rectors in the US. Moreover, at those US sites where HCVs had been voluntarily installed, “a wide variance exists with regard to... reliability.”
To address this critical safety lapse, the NRC has proposed that all Mark I and Mark II reactors be equipped with vents sufficiently “hardened” to work during an accident. But, as Fukushima demonstrated, even hardened venting systems can fail if they rely on electricity or air pressure that could be lost during an accident. Hence, the NRC has required that new HCV systems also must also be “reliable” – i.e., designed to operate even during a station blackout “to ensure... adequate protection of public health and safety.” US operators were given until February 28, 2013, to submit plans on how they intend to implement safety upgrades.
Japan’s New Safeguards
In January 2013, Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority announced the imposition of three new safety measures for all of the country’s existing reactors. These included:
1. “Power supply vehicles” capable of providing additional emergency power for seven days in the event of a loss of outside electric power.
2. Filters on emergency vents capable of reducing the radiation emitted in the event of an accident.
3. Creation of “secondary control rooms” built at a safe distance from operating reactors. In the event of an accident, these fallback control rooms would allow operators to safely attempt to cool reactor cores, and, if needed, vent steam and radioactive gases into the atmosphere. (Germany and Switzerland already have such systems; the United States does not.)
Japan’s latest post-Fukushima guidelines also call for expanding evacuation zones surrounding damaged reactors from 5 to 30 kilometers (3 to 18 miles).
The NRC’s mandatory evacuation zone inside the United States is limited to 10 miles. During the Fukushima meltdowns, however, the State Department urged US citizens living in Japan to relocate at least 50 miles from the damaged reactors.
Lessons Learned?
To date, the NRC’s Lessons Learned Task Force has only proposed adopting one of Japan’s post-Fukushima safeguards – the installation of HCVs with radiation filters – but even this decision has come under fire. In January 2013, a phalanx of 21 pro-nuclear Republicans who serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee signed a letter calling on the NRC to quash the radiation-filtering recommendation as too burdensome for the beleaguered nuclear industry. The industry fears the cost of installing external radiation filters could lead to the shutdown of many older US plants. (Three of the Congressional letter-signers come from states where a total of five Fukushima-style GE reactors were recently found to be at increased risk of damage due to earthquakes.)
While Japan has called for swift action to address these three critical protective measures, the NRC has indicated that the deadline for action on its single safety improvement, the installation of HCVs (currently set to be accomplished by December 31, 2016), may be pushed back to December 31, 2017.
In an Order to Modify Licenses alert sent to US reactor operators on March 12, 2012, the NRC expressed concern that the Fukushima disaster had shown how “extreme natural phenomena could challenge... prevention, mitigation and emergency preparedness.” In response, the NRC ordered the operators of 20 US reactors to “implement requirements for reliable hardened containment vents at their facilities.” (The NRC actually ordered such improvements in 1989, but it turned out the vents needed electrical power and air pressure to operate, and, in the event of an accident, electricity and air pressure could be lost.)
A Thirty-Year Delay
In its March 29, 2012, NUREG-1150 report on Severe Accident Risks, the NRC concluded that “the Mark I and Mark II containments do not have the same margins of safety that other containments... have during accidents.” This report went on to state: “The NRC and nuclear industry have recognized the potential need to vent Mark I and Mark II containment designs to cope with severe accident conditions since at least the early 1980s.” [Emphasis added.]
So why didn’t the NRC act sooner? It was a cost-benefit decision. The commission ruled that the expense of the making the upgrades was not warranted due to the “low probability” of a nuclear accident. In a report dated November 26, 2012, NRC staff noted that “legislators and regulators in other countries did impose requirements in the aftermath of the accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl,” clearly choosing “the defense-in-depth argument... with less or no consideration of cost/benefit analyses.” Still, the NRC was not swayed.
In a November 26, 2012 report, “Policy Issue Notation Vote,” the NRC staff offered four options to the commissioners:
1. Continue with planned addition of “reliable hardened vents.”
2. Upgrade safety with “severe accident capable vents.”
3. Design and install “engineered filtered containment venting” to block the release of radioactive clouds following an accident.
4. Consider additional strategies to handle “severe accident confinement.”
The staff concluded both options 2 and 3 were “cost-justified in light of the substantial increase in the overall protection of the public health and safety” and recommended option 3. Neither of the two improvements will come cheap. The cost for installing Severe Accident Capable Venting Systems was estimated at $3,027,000 per reactor while the estimated unit cost to install Engineered Filtered Venting Systems totaled $16,127,000.
The Industry Pushes Back
The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and plant operators countered that expensive filters are “unnecessary” and that merely “hardening” the venting systems should suffice. The Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) argument against installing radiation filters was particularly wishful. “The best way to avoid radiological release and potential land contamination,” EPRI argued, was to “prevent an accident from occurring.” The NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards initially sided with industry’s call for “performance-based standards,” but NRC staff argued this approach would delay action by several years, thereby violating the commission’s commitment to address the filtering issue “without delay.”
Noting that filtering technologies already exist and “have been demonstrated through significant testing and application at nuclear power plants worldwide,” the staff identified evaluation of filter vents as a “Tier 1 issue” — i.e., an action “to be initiated without unnecessary delay.”
The NRC’s Tier 1 actions include: “evaluations” of flood and earthquake hazards; improved station blackout (SBO) regulations; strategies for addressing “beyond-design-basis events” (i.e., unplanned-for disasters); hardened vents for Mark I and Mark II containments; and installing instruments to monitor the stability of spent fuel storage pools.
The NRC’s Tier 2 concerns (i.e. those requiring “further technical assessment and alignment”) include: spent-fuel pool safety and evaluating the danger from hurricanes, floods and other extreme weather events.
The Tier 3 recommendations (“actions that require further staff study to support a regulatory action”) include: “enhancements” to protect reactors from fires and floods triggered by earthquakes; requiring HCVs for other at-risk reactor designs; developing strategies to prevent or “mitigate” buildups of explosive hydrogen inside containment structures; improvements in handling a “prolonged station blackout and multiunit events,” and providing staff training on how to deal with “severe accidents.”
Nuclear Watchdogs Challenge NRC to Act
Citizens groups and nuclear watchdogs recently urged the NRC to implement additional post-Fukushima safety measures, but the commission seems determined to move slowly on a small number of focused changes.
On January 31, 2013, the Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS) and other organizations submitted a citizens’ petition demanding that the NRC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) address a number of additional changes. These include:
1. Expanding the 10-mile “emergency planning zone” to include a 25-mile “plume emergency zone,” a 50-mile Emergency Response Zone, and a 100-mile “ingestion pathway zone.”
2. Update emergency response and evacuation plans to incorporate the increased dangers posed by climate change – i.e., droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding.
3. Base emergency planning on real-life experiences (i.e., TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima) and not simply on computer simulations.
4. Acknowledge the National Academy of Science finding that “there is no safe dose of radiation” and increase protection levels for people threatened by long-term and sustained exposures. (Because women and children are most at risk, federal radiation guidelines should no longer be based on the anticipated risk to “the average man.” The preferred guidelines should, instead, be based on the risks posed to a young girl.)
5. Emergency supplies of potassium iodine tablets should be made widely available to protect populations against the risk of thyroid cancer, disease and mental retardation that can result from breathing and ingesting fallout byproducts.
6. Establish “best practices” to determine whether “shelter-in-place” or “evacuation” poses the best response to a nuclear power plant accident.
It is now up to the NRC’s five commissioners to decide whether to order operators to install safety improvements that could cost tens of millions of dollars per reactor. The commissioners could insist on swift implementation or they could simply ask for “further study.”
Unfortunately, as the website Beyond Nuclear notes, “the controversial and expensive ‘fix’ for the unreliable, aging and failing GE designs has clearly politicized the commissioner’s’ upcoming vote.”An angler pulled up about two-and-a-half kilograms — more than five pounds — of controversy at the annual ice fishing derby in Blaketown last weekend.
It's the leading entry so far in the wildly popular annual event, which takes place over two weekends on Dildo Pond and is sponsored by the Newfoundland and Labrador Buy & Sell Magazine.
The fish was landed on Sunday, Feb. 14 by Owen White of New Harbour, but controversy soon swirled, with some suggesting it wasn't a brook trout or a brown trout, the only two species eligible.
A debate is playing out on social media, with mixed opinions on the species.
Magazine owner Terry Snow said the fish is being analysed by experts with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and a definitive answer should be available by mid-day on Friday.
First derby
If it's a salmon or some other species, as some have suggested, it will be disqualified, he said.
There's a lot at stake, since there are more than $30,000 worth of prizes up for grabs, including a new side-by-side vehicle, an all-terrain vehicle and power generator.
But White is convinced. He believes it's a brown trout.
"This is my first derby, my first fish, my first day, and they disqualify it," White said Thursday afternoon.
The derby has attracted as many as 2,000 anglers in past years.
Snow said there was a smaller than anticipated turnout last weekend, but he's hoping that ideal conditions will attract more people on Saturday and Sunday.BLACK YOUTH MOB Attacks Woman Near University of Chicago Campus With Kids in Back Seat
It’s an Obama world.
A mob of black youths attacked a woman near the University of Chicago with children in the back seat.
The youths were using racial slurs as the beat the car. Her two children were covered in broken glass.
The youths threw a bike through her back window.
ABC 7 reported:
Her car damaged, her nerves shaken, the victim of an alleged group attack near the University of Chicago campus with her children in the back seat of her car talked exclusively with ABC7 Eyewitness News about the incident Friday night. Police say two people were arrested and charged after the incident, but that woman says several dozen people were involved. Her two kids left covered in broken glass. The encounter left several dents in the vehicle, the back window shattered and Susan Pedersen shaken. “I’m very scared, very anxious, nervous. Just fearful,” she said. Friday night, broken glass still litters the pavement at 60th and King Drive across from Washington Park, where the attack took place around 9 p.m. Thursday night. Pedersen says she had just dropped off a friend at the University of Chicago, with her daughter and son in the back seat. She said she stopped at a red light and found herself surrounded by several dozen young people. “They were walking around both sides of the vehicle – in the front, in the back – and as they were walking across, they were hitting my car, using racial slurs and telling me that I didn’t belong in their neighborhood because I was white,” Pedersen said. The group, all African-American, she says, kicked the vehicle and shook it violently, the kids in the back screaming.BAGHDAD -- Backed by allied Shiite and Sunni fighters, Iraqi security forces on Monday began a large-scale military operation to recapture Saddam Hussein's hometown from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), state TV said, a major step in a campaign to reclaim a large swath of territory in northern Iraq controlled by the militants.
But hours into the operation, a key test for the embattled Iraqi army, the military said it still hadn't entered the city of Tikrit, indicating a long battle lies ahead.
Tikrit, the provincial capital for Salauhddin province, 80 miles north of Baghdad, fell into the hands of ISIS last summer along with the country's second-largest city of Mosul and other areas in the country's Sunni heartland after the collapse of national security forces. Tikrit is one of the largest cities held by ISIS forces and sits on the road to Mosul.
Security forces have so far been unable to retake Tikrit, but momentum has begun to shift since soldiers, backed by airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition, took back the nearby refinery town of Beiji in November. Any operation to take Mosul would require Iraq to seize Tikrit first because of its strategic location for military enforcements.
John Boehner: "Somebody's boots have to be on the ground" against ISIS
ISIS destroys ancient artifacts in Mosul
U.S. military officials have said a coordinated military mission to retake Mosul will likely begin in April or May and involve up to 25,000 Iraqi troops. But they have cautioned that if the Iraqis aren't ready, the timing could be delayed.
Past attempts to retake Tikrit have failed, and Iraqi authorities say they have not set a date to launch a major operation to recapture Mosul. Heavy fighting between ISIS and Kurdish forces is taking place only outside the city.
Al-Iraqiya television said that the forces were attacking Tikrit from different directions, backed by artillery and airstrikes by Iraqi fighter jets. It said the militants were dislodged from some areas outside the city. Several hours into the operation, it gave no details.
The military commander of Salahuddin region, Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, told the state TV the operation was "going on as planned," with fighting taking place outside Tikrit mainly on its eastern side.
"Until this moment we have not entered the city," al-Saadi said. "God willing, we will enter, but we need some time as planned," he said, adding that there is no timeframe for the operations.
"God willing, victory will be achieved and Salahuddin will be turned into a grave for all terrorist groups," he said.
Tikrit is an important test case for Iraq's Shiite-led government, which is trying to reassert authority over the divided country. Islamic State fighters have a strong presence in the city and are expected to put up fierce resistance.
Iraq is bitterly split between minority Sunnis, who were an important base of support for Saddam, and the Shiite majority. Since Saddam was toppled in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the Sunni minority has felt increasingly marginalized by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad, and in 2006 long-running tensions boiled over into sectarian violence that claimed tens of thousands of lives.
While the TV said Shiite and Sunni tribal fighters were cooperating in Monday's offensive, Tikrit is an important Sunni stronghold, and the presence of Shiite forces risks could prompt a backlash among Sunnis. The Iraqi military is heavily dependent on Shiite militias that have been accused of abusing Sunni communities elsewhere in Iraq.
Hours ahead of the operation, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a Shiite, called on Sunni tribal fighters to abandon the Islamic State extremist group, offering what he described as "the last chance" and promising them a pardon.
"I call upon those who have been misled or committed a mistake to lay down arms and join their people and security forces in order to liberate their cities," al-Abadi said Sunday during a news conference in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.
Al-Abadi offered what he called "the last chance" for Sunni tribal fighters, promising them a pardon. "The city will soon return to its people," he added.
His comments appeared to be targeting former members of Iraq's outlawed Baath party, loyalists to Saddam, who joined ISIS during its offensive, as well as other Sunnis who were dissatisfied with Baghdad's Shiite-led government.
Saddam, whose Sunni-dominated government ruled the country for some two decades, was executed after his ouster. Tikrit frequently saw attacks on U.S. forces during the American occupation of the country.Life is maddening and dull. People are treacherous. It is impossible to have any peace without being lonesome. Our species fell into a trap of words and routines. William S. Burroughs was born a century ago today, made many detailed complaints to the Management, and died in 1997.
"Communication must become total and conscious before we can stop it."
His life went like this: Born to an uptight and upper-class family in St. Louis, sent off to boarding school at Los Alamos, summer jobs working the crime beat for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Harvard with honors, the delight of Vienna's bohemian homosexual life in the last days before Hitler, two marriages (one of mercy that ended in amicable divorce, one of love that ended with his pistol), and then another 50 years of roaming this grossly mismanaged world while trying to write himself out of addiction and despair.
"Back to the case of Johnny Yen—one of many such errand boys—Green Boy-Girls from the terminal sewers of Venus—So write back to the streets, Johnny, back to the Ali God of Street Boys and Hustlers."
He is famous now for Naked Lunch, a grim comedy of weird sketches that somehow makes sense as a whole, even though the sections were randomly assembled by |
not have to stand behind what is said in super PAC ads, they have hit their rivals much harder than any campaign would dare.
In Iowa, the pro-Romney super PAC spent $3 million tearing down Gingrich with advertising that accused him, among other things, of having “more baggage than the airlines.” In South Carolina, the pro-Gingrich super PAC went after Romney’s wealth, waging what some Republicans criticized as the kind of class-warfare attack they might have expected from Occupy Wall Street.
The candidates have expressed dismay over what their own allies are doing.
“That’s something which is completely out of the control of the candidates,” Romney said in a debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last month. “One of the things I decry in the current financial system that gets behind campaigns is that we have these voting requirements that put these super PAC’s in power that say things we disagree with.”
Still, neither he nor any of the other candidates has called upon the super PACs that support them to cease fire. And after criticizing the Supreme Court decision, Obama recently gave his blessing to a super PAC that supports him.
“Our campaign has to face the reality of the law as it stands,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told supporters.
The calendar
In an interview Saturday with CNN and the New York Times, 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said she would like to see the race continue right into the convention this summer.
“I don’t think that it would be a negative for the party, a brokered convention,” said the former Alaska governor. “And people who start screaming that a brokered convention is the worst thing for the GOP, they have an agenda. They have their own personal or political reasons for their own candidate, who they would like to see protected away from a brokered convention. That’s part of the competition. That’s part of the process. And it may happen.”
A long and arduous primary is not necessarily a bad thing. Republicans often point to the 2008 race between Obama and then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that dragged on until June. It is generally believed that the lengthy battle strengthened Obama for the fall, making him a better candidate and helping him build an organization that spanned the country.
Republican leaders were hoping to see something similar in their party this time.
“When the process was set out, they wanted this to happen,” Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer said.
This year, the Republican race started much later than it had in the past, leaving the field unsettled almost into the fall. The last major contender to enter the race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, did not make his announcement until August.
And the party wrote its rules so that no one could win the nomination — which takes 1,144 delegates — with an early knockout punch.
In the first round of primaries and caucuses, for instance, most states are required to award their delegates proportionally, rather than in the GOP’s traditional winner-take-all manner. Some of the states have balked at that and are likely to lose some of their delegates as a result.
But the rules give the candidates far more flexibility to pick their battles — as the underfinanced Santorum did last week, when he swept the contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri. And in doing so, he guaranteed that the long GOP race, with all of its turmoil and consequences for the party, will continue.
Polling analyst Scott Clement contributed to this story.Cape Town – A studio guest admits he started smoking dagga live on the air on The Newsroom on the SABC's 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News (DStv 404) on MultiChoice's DStv, on Monday during an interview about the legalisation of cannabis in South Africa.
The on-air incident came in the same programme on SABC News, The Newsroom, a month after the show's regular anchor Eben Jansen was caught in an on-air outburst during an interview with the EFF spokesperson which quickly degenerated and which saw Jansen suspended indefinitely after the SABC said he wasn't emotionally fit to be on air.
Although it is illegal to smoke inside and with smoking not allowed in SABC buildings and definitely not inside SABC studios, Andre du Plessis, head of the Cannabis Working Group, suddenly lit up a dagga joint on SABC News and started smoking and puffing while The Newsroom cameras kept him on the air and showing his dagga smoking to viewers.
According to South Africa's existing cannabis law, dagga, known also as "marijuana" and "weed" remains illegal in the country.
On Monday Du Plessis was sparring live on SABC News with David Bayever, deputy chairperson of the Central Drug Authority (CDA) over the legalisation or not of dagga.
SABC News went back to a puffing Du Plessis, for any possible "closing comments" but he blew smoke at the camera, saying "that's all I got to say" after which the camera followed him as he got up, pulled his ear piece out, and walked off camera and out of the studio.
"The SABC broadcaster and the SABC Newsroom do not condone the actions of our guest Andre du Plessis," said the SABC after the incident and that the views expressed during the interview were not those of the SABC but that of the guests.
Later on Monday in an interview with rival 24-hour TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403), Du Plessis admitted that he was smoking dagga. "I'm going to admit it. During the live interview [on SABC News] you saw the pictures of people smoking it in Cape Town".
"The only thing I could do was really sit back and smoke a joint," Du Plessis said.
Listen to the interview here. Warning: Audio contains explicit language.An estimated 2,000 Palestinian political prisoners are on an open-ended hunger strike that began on 17 April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. The strike is a direct challenge to Israel’s regime of arrest and detention to try to break the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
Prisoners are specifically calling for a resumption of family visits and an end to the widespread, abusive practices of administrative detention — imprisonment without charge or trial — and solitary confinement. Ahmad Saadat, Palestinian parliamentarian and leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is currently on hunger strike after more than three years of solitary confinement. Israel currently holds nearly 20 percent of the 132 Palestinian Legislative Council members in administrative detention.
Two prisoners, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh, both being held without charge or trial, are on the brink of death after 68 days of hunger strike. Amnesty International has issued a call for urgent action to save Diab and Halahleh’s lives. Several other prisoners have also been on hunger strike for weeks and have been transferred to a prison clinic. Some, like Biab and Halahleh, have not been allowed to see independent doctors.
Today, Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights - Israel issued an urgent, joint statement regarding the grave condition of Thaer Halahleh, Bilal Diab and a third hunger striker, Hassan Safadi, whom they said are being subjected to “medical negligence” by Israeli authorities.
In contrast to the deafening silence from world media and governments, there has been widespread support for the mass hunger strike throughout historic Palestine and in exile. Nearly all Palestinian families living under Israeli occupation have been affected by Israel’s regime of arrest and detention and Palestinian political prisoners are celebrated as national heroes.
Demonstration in front of Ramle prison in Israel, 3 May. JC ActiveStills
Palestinian protesters rally in support of political prisoners outside Ramle prison in Israel, 3 May. Mahfouz Abu Turk APA images
Some of the 17 activists arrested at a demonstration in support of hunger striking prisoners outside Ramle prison are brought to court in Petach Tikva near Tel Aviv, 4 May. Oren Ziv ActiveStills
Posters of hunger striking Palestinian political prisoners at a solidarity tent in Gaza City, 4 May. Majdi Fathi APA images
Women on solidarity hunger strike at the sit-in tent in Gaza City, 4 May. Ali Jadallah APA images
A Palestinian woman on solidarity hunger strike at the Gaza City sit-in tent receives medical attention, 3 May. Anne Paq ActiveStills
An artist paints a mural at a solidarity tent in Gaza City, 30 April. Mohammed Asad APA images
A candlelight vigil in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners, Gaza City, 28 April. Mohammed Asad APA images
Children participate in a rally in support of the mass hunger strike in Gaza City, 3 May. Naaman Omar APA images
A rally in support of Palestinian prisoners in Ramallah, 29 April. Issam Rimawi APA images
Palestinians perform Friday prayers during a protest in support of political prisoners in Ramallah, 4 May. Issam Rimawi APA images
Palestinian Christians attend a special service in the West Bank city of Ramallah in support of hunger striking prisoners. Issam Rimawi APA images
Hamas supporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah call for the release of Palestinian prisoners, 5 May. Issam Rimawi APA images
A Palestinian woman waves a flag atop an Israeli military vehicle at a protest outside Ofer military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 1 May. Issam Rimawi APA images
A Palestinian man throws stones at Israeli soldiers at Qalandiya checkpoint in the West Bank during a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, 4 May. Issam Rimawi APA images
Relatives of Jordanian prisoners in Israeli jails take call for their release in Amman, 3 May. Mohammad Abu Ghosh Xinhua/Zumapress
A Palestinian woman displays a photo of a jailed relative during a protest in front of the Red Cross in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, 30 April. Mahfouz Abu Turk APA images
Palestinians hold a rally in support of prisoners in the Old City of Jerusalem. Mahfouz Abu Turk APA images
A demonstration in the city center of West Bank city of Nablus in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners, 3 May. Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills
Khader Adnan (center), who was on hunger strike for 66 days earlier this year, shows his support for the mass hunger strike at An-Najah National University, Nablus, 3 May. Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills
A rally in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank city of Nablus, 3 May. Wagdi Eshtayeh APA imagesAn 84-year-old calligrapher in southern China's Guangdong Province who started to wear women's clothes and took hormones to enlarge his breasts four years ago is the oldest man in China known to want surgery to change his gender.
Qian Jinfan decided to disclose his secret four years ago, and gave himself the feminine name Yiling. He said he wanted to become a woman since he was three and concealed the secret until he was 80.
"I thought it was great to be a girl since then," Qian told Nanfang Daily. "When I was around 14, I like swaying my hips when walking and posing in feminine gestures. But I only showed the real me when I was alone."
Qian deceived his parents, wife and son all these years. They never thought he was a transgender person though he wore long hair, bell-bottoms and tight clothes since the 1980s, the paper said.
"The current me is the real me," said Qian, dressed in leopard-patterned sun top, adding that "the past 80 years covered the true me."
He told the newspaper that he tried to take pills to look more like a woman in the 1960s, but gave up.
Qian said he has longed for transsexual surgery, but the procedure always seemed too risky and complicated.
In September 2009, Qian wrote a letter to the Foshan Cultural, Radio, TV, Film, Press and Publication Bureau in Guangdong Province, where he retired, to express his intention.
"I didn't write the letter on impulse. I didn't care whether the authority would degrade my ranking or decrease my income," he said.
After revealing his secret, his relatives, friends and the bureau have shown understanding.
"I had prepared to die to defend my decision. To my surprise, they were all very open and accepted it," he said.
The calligrapher now lives like a woman. He goes to women's restrooms and his wife is willing to go out with her female-dressed husband, the paper said.In a first, the income tax department has made public the names of 18 tax defaulters who together owe over Rs 500 crore to the government. The central board of direct taxes (CBDT) had posted the names of the tax defaulters, which include Somani Cements and Goldsukh Trade, who have a tax liability of over Rs 10 crore. Of the 18 defaulters, 11 are based in Gujarat, four in Maharashtra and the others in Kolkata, Jaipur and Hyderabad.
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The department has tried to “name and shame the defaulters into paying the dues”, a source said. The CBDT has asked the defaulters to pay tax arrears immediately.
“This is the first time the department has put in public domain a list of those wilful tax defaulters who have a tax liability of Rs 10 crore and above. In many cases the assessees were not traceable,” the sources said.
[related-post]
The department had also provided the PAN number and the last known address of the defaulters so that members of the public could also provide some information about their whereabouts, the source added.
The Gujarat-based companies in the list include Somani Cement with tax arrears of Rs 27.47 crore, Blue Information Technology (Rs 75.11 crore), Appletech Solutions (Rs 27.07 crore), Jupiter Business (Rs 21.31 crore), Hirak Biotech (Rs 18.54 crore), Icon Bio Pharma & Healthcare Ltd (Rs 17.69 crore), Banyan & Berry Alloys (Rs 17.48 crore), Laxminarayan T Thakkar (Rs 12.49 crore), Virag Dyeing & Printing (Rs 18.57 crore) among others.
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Besides, names of Jaipur-based Goldsukh Trade India (Rs 75.47 crore), Kolkata-based Victor Credit & Construction (Rs 13.81 crore), Mumbai-based Noble Merchandise (Rs 11.93 crore) are also there in the list.Image copyright Other Image caption The woman was arrested at Luton Airport after a flight from Turkey
A 25-year-old woman has been arrested at Luton Airport on suspicion of Syria-related terror offences, police have said.
The woman, from Haringey in north London, was held at 11.30 GMT after a flight from Istanbul in Turkey.
West Midlands Police said the woman is being questioned at a police station in the West Midlands on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism.
The arrest was part of an intelligence-led operation, it added.
There has been concerns over Britons travelling to Iraq and Syria to join Islamic State militants and the UK terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe earlier this year.
The government's Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill was introduced to Parliament last month. It contains a range powers including orders to block suspected fighters from returning to the UK.President Barack Obama's appearance on "Between Two Ferns," the online comedy show hosted by Zach Galifianakis, was viewed by about a quarter of the young Americans the White House was targeting, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds.
But older Americans were even more likely to have seen the video -- and they're not happy about it.
Obama's appearance on the interview show was aimed at young people the administration hopes will sign up for health insurance under Obamacare. Overall, 28 percent of Americans said they approved of the interview, 33 percent said they disapproved and 38 percent said they weren't sure.
Similarly, 39 percent said they thought the interview was "a waste of time that should have been spent on more important things," while 25 percent saw it as "an effective way to promote the health care website to young people. Thirty-six percent said they weren't sure.
The lukewarm response to the video may just reflect the fact that many people outside of its target audience ended up seeing it. Those Americans tended to dislike it, while others were more likely to say they simply don't care one way or the other.
About a third of Americans overall said that they saw the video, and a total of 59 percent said they had at least heard about it. But 48 percent of Americans age 65 and older saw it, compared to only 25 percent of Americans age 18-29. Republicans were as likely as Democrats to say they'd seen the video, with 33 percent of each saying they had.
The results suggest that replay on news programs -- some of which were quite critical -- amplified the video's message, but not necessarily to its target audience. Forty-six percent of people who say they "follow what's going on in government and public affairs" most of the time saw it, compared to 22 percent of people who follow "some of the time," 15 percent of people who follow "only now and again," and only 8 percent of those who don't follow the news at all.
Americans age 65 and up were also most likely to give the video negative reviews. Forty-nine percent of respondents in that group said they disapproved of the appearance, while only 25 percent said they approved. Older Americans were also far more likely to see the show as a waste of time than as an effective way to reach young Americans, 53 percent to 24 percent.
In contrast, younger Americans were more likely to approve of the appearance (38 percent) than disapprove (19 percent). They were about as likely to say that it was an effective way to promote HealthCare.gov to young Americans (30 percent) as to say it was a waste of time (26 percent).
The appearance divided Americans along party lines, but Republicans' negative reactions were stronger than Democrats' positive ones.
By a 62 percent to 7 percent margin, Republicans said they disapproved, while Democrats were more likely to approve than disapprove, 47 percent to 13 percent. Independents were more likely to disapprove than approve, 34 percent to 26 percent.
Republicans, of course, were also more likely to disapprove of the president's motivation for doing the interview. Seventy-four percent of Republicans said they disapproved of Obama promoting HealthCare.gov, while 72 percent of Democrats said they approved. Independents were somewhat more likely to disapprove than approve, 46 percent to 39 percent. Overall, Americans were divided 44 percent to 43 percent on whether they approved of Obama promoting the site.
The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted March 13-14 among 1,000 U.S. adults, including 357 conservatives, using a sample selected from YouGov's opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.Ads support the website by covering server and domain costs. We're just a group of gamers here, like you, doing what we love to do: playing video games and bringing y'all niche goodness. So, if you like what we do and want to help us out, make an exception by turning off AdBlock for our website. In return, we promise to keep intrusive ads, such as pop-ups, off oprainfall. Thanks, everyone!
By Operation Rainfall Contributor / September 20th, 2012
As part of the ongoing Tokyo Game Show, Capcom have released some new information, screenshots and artwork regarding the upcoming Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate; a localisation of the game released for Japanese 3DSs last year, Monster Hunter 3G.
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate will be released in March for Western 3DSs and Wii U; yes, we will be getting both versions!
Both versions of the game offer local, wireless play, so you can hunt with anyone in the vicinity no matter how you’re playing. However, only the Wii U version supports online play; so to play with your mates around the world, you’ll have to get this one.
The 3DS version of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate also utilises the StreetPass feature by sharing your Guild Card with fellow hunters you run into in the street.
Both Cha-Cha and Kayamba will be making a return in this game.
Additionally, Gematsu have managed to acquire some footage of themselves playing the Monster Hunter 4 demo at the Tokyo Game Show. Check it out:
Now for the images released by Capcom! The first three are the artwork; the remaining thirteen are screenshots:
About Operation Rainfall Contributor A contributor is somebody who occasionally contributes to the oprainfall website but is not considered an oprainfall author.
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Like this: Like Loading...The Sunni militant group ISIS, which wants to create an Islamic state spanning Iraq and Syria, has issued a recruitment video using the image and words of a dead Ontario man who had become a jihadist and joined the fighting in Syria.
Andre Poulin, from Timmins, Ont., died in fighting in northern Syria last summer. Poulin, who went by the name Abu Muslim, converted to Islam and joined the fight in Syria in 2012.
The 11-minute video is aimed at westerners and has Poulin talking about his life in Canada: "I had money. I had a good family... I watched hockey, I went to the cottage in the summertime."
Poulin's life wasn't as sunny as he painted. He had a criminal record for uttering death threats, theft, harassment and carrying a weapon. Online, he wrote that he'd been accused of threatening to blow up a Timmins gas station.
Poulin refers to his home country as "dar al-kufr" — land of disbelief — and says he couldn't live in such a place where "you cannot obey Allah fully."
He also reveals that he got married after arriving in Syria and that his wife is pregnant. Poulin says those who can't join the fight should give money to the cause.
Possible initiation, expert says
Reports say Poulin left behind a wife and young child in Syria.
Shots of Canadians fishing, playing hockey and gassing up a snowmobile are interspersed with images of Poulin.
Scenes of fighting at the airport in Aleppo are also shown with the narrator saying Poulin fought and died there.
Steven Emerson of the Washington D.C.-based Investigative Project on Terrorism said Western recruits are often made to do such videos as an initiation.
"Before they actually participate in hostilities, one of the recruitment requirements is to make a video — sort of your last will and testament — for posterity, which are then posted online should they die in battle," he said.
The video was posted online by an American organization that tracks extremist groups, the Maryland-based SITE intelligence group. It is yet unclear when the video was taken.
SITE said the video was produced by the Islamic State's propaganda wing, the al-Hayat Media Center, and was first posted on a file-sharing website. There was no immediate verification of SITE's claim from the Canadian government.
Emerson said such videos are successful as Westerners appeal more to potential Western recruits, and that is evident in the "hundreds, if not thousands" of foreigners fighting in Syria in the last five years.YouTube stars, like most social media celebrities, appear to enjoy the most uplifting glamorous lives.
But Lilly Singh, who has 7.8 million YouTube subscribers and counting for her IISuperwomanII channel and another 1.2 million-plus subscribers for her daily Superwoman Vlogs, wasn’t always in the mood to lead her followers to her happy place of Unicorn Island.
In fact, Singh, 27, started posting YouTube videos in 2010 under a heroic nickname precisely because she was unhappy with where her own life was heading.
Fast-forward to February 2016, and Singh’s 80-minute movie A Trip To Unicorn Island premiered Wednesday as one of the first four projects of YouTube Red Originals — YouTube Red launching as the video giant’s answer to Netflix and Amazon Prime, offering its own paid subscription service with access to original and archived movies, streaming series and music ad-free for $9.99 per month. The other YouTube Red Originals launching this week include Lazer Team, an action-comedy film from Rooster Teeth; Dance Camp, a fun-loving movie about dancers from AwesomenessTV; and Scare Pewdiepie, an indulgent series banking on the success of YouTube’s most popular first-person gamer to draw in paid subscribers. Upcoming original series and documentaries will arrive later in 2016 from CollegeHumor, Gigi Gorgeous and PrankvsPrank.
Singh’s A Trip To Unicorn Island serves as concert film, making-of documentary, 30-show road diary and travelogue, plus a brief autobiography of its Canadian star born to Indian parents (who get played up in very exaggerated, very popular caricatures by their daughter). Here’s the trailer:
Becoming and maintaining star status in YouTube and other social media platforms is draining. As one of Singh’s close friends and collaborators points out, it’s not a 9-to-5 job, but “wake to sleep.”
As Singh herself puts it an hour into the film, in the middle of her world tour:
“I think I had this idea in my brain that I work so hard, and I hustle, pull all-nighters, and I put my blood, sweat and tears into something, that I will enjoy it. I think I had that idea in my brain. I don’t know why? Just seems that’s the way things should be. But I feel like the past couple days, I’m like the person who works hardest in the room — at least that I think so — who’s worked the hardest, who’s slept the least, who has put this whole thing together, but I’m the person who’s having the least fun in the room. What if that’s just how it is? What if I’ve convinced myself that you work really hard, you get to have this really fun life, what if that’s just not what it is? What if I’m always the person who works the hardest, sleeps the least, stresses the most, and has the least amount of fun? Then why am I doing what I’m doing? I’m super scared that this is the life I’ve signed up for, not knowing what it is. I willingly signed up for a life and I don’t know what it is. I feel like I’m so alone in my experiences.”
Singh expresses feelings of self-doubt that virtually everyone in the virtual space has felt. And yet, the film also documents how Singh felt sharing the stage with other YouTubers at fan fests, realizing she had more to offer her fans than could be shared in a few minutes, then working to realize her vision of a world tour to connect with them.
And then there’s always what could have been. Back in 2010, when her parents wanted her to pursue a Master’s degree after University, and Singh, recalling in that moment, “My heart is just not in this.” So her father said he struck a deal with his daughter, giving her one year to see if her new YouTube channel could succeed. “That’s maybe some of the reason I put so much effort into YouTube in the beginning and even now, is because otherwise I would have been doing a job I don’t like. If I do have something I like, I better work damn hard at it,” Singh recalled to the camera.
The first voices you hear after the opening credits are those of young girls attending Singh’s concert tour.
“I think she’s a big inspiration to anybody who’s had like less confidence in themselves, and she can really like cheer you up and is just a huge inspiration to everybody”
“She got me out of my sandbox. She got me wanting to do things again, to want to make something of my life again, to be more optimistic, to be more hopeful, to want to be something, to want to be someone.”
“When my grandma died, I would watch her videos. She just makes people happy. And I still do that today.”
Even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shows up late in the film, a longtime idol of Singh’s who ends up reciprocating the fandom after learning of her through his daughter.
I’ve seen this YouTube connection between stars and fans up close, with my friends Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart, who befriended fellow YouTuber Hannah Hart for successful #NoFilter live stage shows across North America and abroad, packing theaters with adoring fans, many of them teen and tween girls. And Helbig appears early in Singh’s film to provide a testimonial of sorts to her joy and hard-working determination, saying “she’s got this unwavering passion and this transparent honesty and integrity in what she does. She’s really making an effort to make people happy.”
Singh does comedy via her parent characters, and her show brings smiles to fans through song and dance and pep talks, but Unicorn Island is much more about joy and finding your happy place, and knowing that the only one stopping you from getting there is yourself.
She described the vision for her stage production as something akin to Katy Perry meeting Willy Wonka, and there’s an overpowering visual brightness there, to be sure; a relentless work ethic behind the scenes, too.
For all of her YouTube stardom, though, it’s those real-life interactions with fans (save the ones who are just in it for the selfies) that give her the most joy and satisfaction. And for that, it’s a reminder of the immediacy of performing for live audiences. The connection between performer and audience. As Singh recognizes while on tour:
“People coming up to you in tears, parents coming up to you in tears, telling you how are the reason, your videos are the reason I decided to love myself…the reason I decided not to be depressed anymore. It’s so worth it standing on a stage, no matter how exhausted you are, no matter how much your feet hurt, no matter what injuries you have, no matter what you’re going through emotionally and physically offstage, when you get on that stage, it’s so worth it to be there in real time. No screen, no comments, no analytics. Just be there in real time, say something and see the magic on these people’s faces, see them genuinely react to what I’m saying.”
Singh was once just like you, yearning to be heard. YouTube gave her a platform for her voice to reach all the way around the world, and she wants you to know you can be heard, too. The only one stopping you is you.
Lilly Singh stars in A Trip To Unicorn Island on YouTube RedTOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) said on Tuesday it was developing fuel cell vehicle (FCV) technology using ethanol as a hydrogen source in what would be an industry first, and planned to commercialize its system in 2020 as part of efforts to develop cleaner cars.
A Nissan Motor logo is seen at the company's global headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo April 7, 2010. REUTERS/Issei Kato
The Japanese company said using ethanol, produced from crops including sugar cane and corn, to generate hydrogen-based electricity inside vehicles would be cheaper than fuel cell technology developed separately by rivals Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) Honda Motor Co (7267.T), and Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS).
“The cost and energy required to produce hydrogen can be very high, and it also requires significant investment in (fuelling and storing) infrastructure,” Nissan Executive Vice President Hideyuki Sakamoto told a media briefing.
“Compared with that, ethanol is very easy to procure, it is safer to store and lower cost. These are its merits.”
Nissan said its technology would be ready for use in vehicles in 2020, adding it could be used to extend the range of larger, electric vehicles such as delivery vans.
It would target a cruising range of around 800 kilometers per fuelling, more than the range for gasoline-powered vehicles of just over 600 kilometers.
The automaker said running costs for the FCVs would be roughly similar to those of electric vehicles, while declining to give details on vehicle pricing.
Ethanol is used as a fuel source for vehicles in countries including Brazil, but Nissan is planning to use it to generate electricity in fuel cell stacks to charge batteries which would power vehicle motors.
In developing its FCV technology, Nissan joins Toyota and Honda in a national, government-backed drive to develop a “hydrogen society”, in which the zero-emission fuel would be used to power homes and vehicles, and reducing Japan’s reliance on imported fuel sources and nuclear power.
Toyota began marketing the Mirai, its hydrogen FCV, in late 2014, while Honda earlier this year began sales of its Clarity Fuel Cell vehicle. Initial production for both models has been limited due to their relatively high cost and limited fuelling infrastructure.
Unlike its rivals’ offerings, Nissan’s technology does not require hydrogen to be stored in vehicles, reducing the need for expensive bulky hydrogen tanks, and would not require fuelling stations, which have been slow to spread globally.For the first time in Russian history, Andrzej Wajda‘s [ENG] “Katyń” (2007) has been aired on Russian public television channel “Kultura” [ENG] provoking online discussions on Stalin regime, historical truth, humanism and Russian-Poland relations.
The Katyn massacre [ENG], a deliberate execution of almost 22,000 Polish officers by the Russian NKVD officers [ENG] in 1940 remains the main unresolved historical issue between contemporary Russia and Poland. Throughout almost 50 years official Soviet propaganda said that Katyn had been a Nazi war crime until in 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev recognized the NKVD murders.
Russian government's position on the issue was far from straightforward since that. In 1990, the Russian Prosecutor's Office started investigation of the horrible incident. In 1992, Russian president Boris Yeltsin shared a part of the secret archives containing evidence of the NKVD executions. But in 2004 (already under Putin), the case was closed due to the death of the guilty (executors). Polish officers shot in Katyn along with thousands of Soviet political prisoners were neither rehabilitated nor recognized as repressed. While in Poland Katyn massacre became one of the new nation-building symbols of martyrdom, there's no common view on the issue in the Russian society as there's a group of historians promoting Soviet point of view [ENG]backed up by communist party together with some veterans of NKVD. The Soviet version is still transmitted in popular newspaper like “Pravda,”[RUS] and by some popular bloggers like Russian intellectual Anatoliy Wasserman.
Followed by a serious worsening of relations between the two countries in 2005-2007 (Meat trade dispute [ENG], Missile dispute, etc.), things started to change in 2007. The prime-ministers of Poland and Russia launched the Commission on Difficult Issues [RUS], which mission was to settle down a large number of historical issues between the countries. The Katyn massacre stood as a central point of the debate. Most experts agree [RUS] that the appearance of “Katyń” on Russian public TV was due to the work of the commission and upcoming commemoration of the Katyń massacre.
“Katyń” was aired during Friday prime-time (19:40 – 21:30) with the discussion after the show. It was claimed that the Channel One (Russian leading TV channel) simultaneously Oscar-winning “Hurt Locker” on purpose but that turned out to be inaccurate (“Katyn” ended at 21:30, while “Hurt Locker” began at this very time). Interesting feature of the TV-discussion that followed the movie was that none of the Polish representatives was invited.
The online discussion of the movie gathered more than 2100 blog posts [RUS] and became #5 topic in the Yandex discussion rating. Bloggers were divided in their opinions. Some completely denied the version of NKVD murders (claimed to be the Goebbels’ version as the Nazis were the first to announce Katyn massacres). Among those who recognized the NKVD murders, opinions weren't uniform either. Despite some bloggers’ claims “Katyń” was “market-oriented,” “Anti-soviet on purpose,” “too outlined,” “made to order,” the majority of Runetizens said they were deeply touched by the movie.
Most bloggers denounced the myth of the movie's hidden russophobia (anti-russian sentiment).
kir_mgd, for example, wrote:
Я, честно говоря, не воспринял фильм как русофобский хоть в какой-то мере.Что-то там действительно трафаретно и прямолинейно(флаг на портянки),но не примитивно и злопамятно. Впечатление очень сильное производит.
For me, frankly speaking, this film didn't seem russophobic at all. Something was a cliche and way too straightforward (tearing flag for socks), but not primitive or rancorous. I'm under very strong impression.
Moderator of the ru_katyn community dassie2001 wrote:
Никто другой в Польше не сделал бы НЕантироссийского (НЕрусофобского) фильма на тему Катыни. Вайде – удалось
Nobody else in Poland could make no-antirussian (non-russophobic) movie on the Katyn topic. But Wajda managed to do that.
One of the main current of those discussions was the search for the reason of the mass murders. “Usual” (in this kind of discussions) versions like “strategic necessity,” “revenge for 16,000-20,000 Soviet prisoners of war who died in the Polish camps after Soviet-Polish war“[ENG] and others were offered. LJ user Yasko repeated deputy Kosachev's explanation [ENG] of the massacre in terms of the essential blood-lust of the faceless totalitarian regime:
Совершенно гениально пан Вайда показал нам, что это работала именно машина уничтожения людей. А то, что эта машина – порождение именно западной мысли, западной цивилизации, это тема выходящая уже за пределы темы Катыни, в том ей масштабе, в котором надо было её сегодня раскрыть, что А. Вайда и сделал.
Mr.Wajda absolutely ingeniously showed us that it was a human-killing machine. |
.
Those 15 minutes of jokes, japes, and jest will bring a smile to your face or you’re emotionally dead. I feel safe making that proclamation.
There’s also the name “Buttman” available from the neural networks that should probably go to Lowry as well for some reason.
Big Trimm — Miami Heat
I was thinking about giving this to James Johnson and then to Dion Waiters, but I realized this should just go to their team. They take players, trim off weight, and make them better. This is a common story for the Heat. It’s the most lucrative weight loss program in the country.
Beasy Woople — Michael Beasley
I just want to call him that.
Big Pax — John Paxson
I don’t want to call him that.
The End
There were plenty of names I really wish I could have found a way to use:
The Piffet Railtlent Doge Plani
The Bost
Whoo
Bably B. Siller finger
Big Dimper
Boddy The Darm
Bobbin’ Suba K
Black Mambil
Dr. Dunk
Sweet Derr
Nut
Big Shambo
The Bearbretermond Dinger
Fortunately when the computers do take over (and they will), they should be able to finish this job for us. Hopefully we survive long enough to see it.The business model for sex trafficking as described by Swedish anti-sex work activists
Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, including sexual slavery.[1] A victim is forced, in one of a variety of ways, into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s) and then used by said trafficker(s) to give sexual services to customers.[2] There are three types of activities defined as sex trafficking crimes: acquisition, transportation and exploitation;[1] this includes child sex tourism (CST), domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) or other kinds of commercial sexual exploitation of children, and prostitution.[2] Sex trafficking is one of the biggest criminal businesses in the world.
According to the International Labour Organization, there are 20.9 million people subjected to forced labour, and 22% (4.5 million) who are victims of forced sexual exploitation.[3] However, due to the covertness of sex trafficking, obtaining accurate, reliable statistics is difficult for researchers.[4] The global commercial profits for sexual slavery are estimated to be $99B according to this same source.[5] In 2005, the figure was given as $9B for the total human trafficking industry.[6][7]
Most victims find themselves in coercive or abusive situations from which escape is both difficult and dangerous. Locations where this practice occurs span the globe and reflect an intricate web between nations, making it very difficult to construct viable solutions to this human rights problem.
Common misconceptions [ edit ]
There are a number of misconceptions about sex trafficking. Sex trafficking and human trafficking are not to be confused with human smuggling. Human trafficking for sexual or other labor may involve transporting victims across international borders, but to meet the definition of trafficking, there needs only to be exploitation of an individual after they have been coerced or deceived, so it does not necessarily involve transportation across national borders.[8] Human trafficking and sex trafficking are often used as synonyms. However, trafficking for non-sexual exploitation may be even more prevalent than trafficking for sexual exploitation, though accurate estimates of trafficking rates are extremely difficult to obtain.[9][10][11] Sex trafficking tends to receive more attention from aid organizations and donors due to the greater public outrage that forced sexual labor evokes compared to forced non-sexual labor and thus incidents of sex trafficking are more frequently reported.[9]
Sex trafficking is also commonly conflated with non-coerced sex work criminalized as prostitution.[12] This misconception stems primarily from two sources: academic anti-prostitution scholars and prostitution abolitionist activists. A minority of feminist scholars argue that all prostitution is coerced due to the prevalence of Compulsory heterosexuality and social and economic pressures stemming from Neoliberalism and patriarchy.[12][13] These arguments are often at odds with the views of sex workers who work independently, or consensually with third parties such as brothels and club owners, who see the higher remuneration and flexibility of sexual labor as preferable to poorer paying and inflexible mainstream employment where they are subject to sexual harassment and assault by male employers and colleagues.[14][15][16] A number of activist organizations seeking to provide services to trafficking victims, lobby for anti-trafficking legislation, and generally raise awareness about sex-trafficking also advocate for the criminalization of sex work that is consensual.[12] Some anti-sex trafficking programs and initiatives have been criticised for giving non-trafficked sex workers incentives to identify as victims of trafficking, to gain access to resources such as shelters.[14] Law enforcement agencies have been criticised for providing similar incentives, because they threaten them with jail time if they admit they are working by choice, while those who claim they are trafficking victims get training workshops instead of jail time.[14] Such policies, though beneficial to actual trafficking victims, inflate reported rates of trafficking.
Defining the issue [ edit ]
Global [ edit ]
In 2000, countries adopted a definition set forth by the United Nations.[17] The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, is also referred to as the Palermo Protocol. The Palermo Protocol created this definition.[17] 147 of the 192 member states of the UN ratified the Palermo Protocol when it was published in 2000;[17] as of September 2017, 171 states are parties.[18] Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol states the definition as:[19]
(a) "Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs; (b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used; (c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered "trafficking in persons" even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article; (d) "Child" shall mean any person under eighteen years of age.
Article 5 of the Palermo Protocol then requires the member states to criminalize trafficking based on the definition outlined in Article 3; however, many member states' domestic laws reflect a narrower definition than Article 3.[17] Although these nations claim to be obliging Article 5, the narrow laws lead to a smaller portion of people being persecuted for sex trafficking.[17]
The UN established various anti-trafficking tools, including a Global Report on Trafficking in Persons and an Inter-Agency Coordination Group Against Trafficking in Persons. The Global Report on Trafficking in Person provides new information based on data gathered from 155 countries. It offers first global assessment of the scope of human trafficking and what is being done to fight it. The UN General Assembly passed several resolutions on measuring to eliminate human trafficking. In 2010 the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons was adopted. Various other organizations have engaged in global efforts against sex trafficking. "The UN Protocol's is the bedrock of the international initiatives against human sex trafficking." This protocol defines certain elements of sex trafficking: "action", which describes the recruitment and transportation of victims, "means", which includes coercion, fraud, or abuse of power, and "purpose", which includes exploitation such as prostitution, forced labor or slavery, and the removal of organs. The UN requires member states to establish the trafficking of humans as a criminal offense.
United States [ edit ]
After members of Prostitutes Anonymous who were survivors of modern domestic sex trafficking spent 13 years doing TV, radio, public appearances, news interviews, etc. and calling out that this country needed to "'do something' about it" – an internationally recognized definition for sex trafficking was finally established with the Trafficking Act of 2000. It was during the same year the Palermo Protocol was enacted, the United States passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) to clarify the previous confusion and discrepancies in regards to the criminalizing guidelines of human trafficking.[20] Through this act, sex trafficking crimes were defined as a situation where in which a "commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age."[21] If the victim is a child under the age of 18 no force, fraud, or coercion needs to be proven based on this legislation.[20] Susan Tiefenbrun, a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law who has written extensively on human trafficking, conducted research on the victims addressed in this act and discovered that each year more than two million women throughout the world are bought and sold for sexual exploitation.[4] In order to clarify previous legal inconsistencies in regards to youth and trafficking, the United States took legal measures to define more varieties of exploitive situations in relation to children.[20] The two terms they defined and focused on were "commercial sexual exploitation of children" and "domestic minor sex trafficking." Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is defined as "encompassing several forms of exploitation, including pornography, prostitution, child sex tourism, and child marriage."[20] Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) is a term that represents a subset of CSEC situations that have "the exchange of sex with a child under the age of 18, who is a United States (US) citizen or permanent resident, for a gain of cash, goods, or anything of value."[20]
According to ECPAT USA, the average age of entry into street prostitution is between 12 and 14 years old. In today's culture, pimps and prostitutes are being glamorized in the media (Frundt). This is extremely dangerous as it constructs a falsified reality of what the sex trafficking industry is really like. In the United States, sex traffickers and pimps often find their victims in malls. Sometimes vulnerable looking girls will be abducted while walking to their cars if they look distracted and are alone, and other times the pimps will go up to a victim and convince them to leave with them, often offering a job of some kind and money. Emotional and physical coercion is used in order for the victim to trust the pimp and build a relationship. A lot of times, the victims are tricked into thinking they will have freedom in the work they are promised along with a large sum of money. However, what ends up happening is they become a sex slave. After the victim has agreed to the pimp's offer, they are forced into not leaving by forcing addictive drugs, with-holding money and physical/sexual abuse. It is very common in the United States for pimps to own a business or store, especially nail salons and massage parlors. It is also very common for sex slavery businesses to be conducted near U.S. military bases, because of the business soldiers bring.[22]
Profile and modus operandi of traffickers [ edit ]
Pimp-controlled trafficking [ edit ]
In pimp-controlled trafficking, the victim is controlled by a single trafficker, sometimes called a pimp. The victim can be controlled by the trafficker physically, psychologically, and/or emotionally. In order to obtain control over their victims, traffickers will use force, drugs, emotional tactics as well as financial means. In certain circumstances, they will even resort to various forms of violence, such as gang rape and mental and physical abuse. Traffickers sometimes use offers of marriage, threats, intimidation, brainwashing and kidnapping as means of obtaining victims.
A common process is for the trafficker to first gain the trust of the victim, called the grooming stage. They seek to make the victim dependent on them.[23] The trafficker may express love and admiration, make lofty promises such as making the victim a star, offer them a job or an education or buy them a ticket to a new location.[24] The main types of work offered are in the catering and hotel industry, in bars and clubs, modeling contracts, or au pair work. Once the victim is comfortable, the pimp moves to the seasoning stage, where they will ask the victim to perform sexual acts for the pimp, which the victim may do because they believe it is the only way to keep the trafficker's affection. The requests progress from there and it can be difficult for the victim to escape.[23]
Another tactic is for traffickers to kidnap their victims, and then drug them or secure them so they cannot escape.[25] Traffickers may seek out potential victims who are traveling alone, are separated from their group, or seem like they have low self-esteem. They may go to places likes malls where they are more likely to find girls without parents.[26]
Traffickers are using social media at an increasing rate to find victims, research potential victims, control their victims and advertise their victims.[27][28] Traffickers often target people who post things that indicate that they are depressed, have low self-esteem or are angry with their parents.[29] Traffickers also use social media posts to establish patterns and track the locations of potential victims.[30]
After the victim has joined the offender, various techniques are used to restrict the victim's access to communication with home, such as imposing physical punishment unless the victim complies with the trafficker's demands and making threats of harm and even death to the victim and their family.[24] Sometimes, the victims will succumb to the Stockholm Syndrome because their captors will pretend to "love" and "need" them, even going so far as promise marriage and future stability. This is particularly effective with younger victims, because they are more inexperienced and therefore easily manipulated.[31]
In India, those who traffic young girls into prostitution are often women who have been trafficked themselves. As adults they use personal relationships and trust in their villages of origin to recruit additional girls.[32] Also, some (migrating) prostitutes (See: migrant sex work) can become victims of human trafficking because the women know they will be working as prostitutes; however, they are given an inaccurate description by their "boss" of the circumstances. Therefore, they consequently get exploited due to their misconception of what conditions to expect of their sex work in the new destination country.[33][34]
Gang-controlled trafficking [ edit ]
Gang-controlled sex trafficking and Pimp-controlled sex trafficking run their operations in very similar ways. The largest difference between the two is that gang-controlled trafficking is run by a large group of people whereas pimp-controlled trafficking is run by only one person.[35] In general, gang members are expected or forced to participate in tasks that involve illegal and violent activity. Some of these criminal behaviors may include: distributing drugs, robbery, trafficking drugs, extortion, and murder.[36] One money making source that many people do not necessarily associate with gangs is human sex trafficking. Gangs are now turning to sex trafficking as it is seen as safer and more lucrative than drug trafficking.[37]
The gangs can make larger amounts of money quicker by selling other people's bodies, and are less likely to get caught.[38] In certain circumstances, gangs may team up with other gangs in the area, and work together as a sex ring. There are a number of different reasons that gangs make this decision. One reason is that it enables them to increase profits by trading different girls, women, boys or men. This gives their client, also known as a john, a greater variety of options to choose from. Clients are often willing to pay a larger price for a sexual experience with someone new. Another reason that gangs will share females is because this makes it more difficult for law enforcement to keep track of the victims, ultimately preventing them from making a positive identification.[36]
When people think or talk about sex trafficking a very common question people will ask is, “where do they find people to traffic?”. In many cases, gang members will scope girls out at malls, skip parties, online and through social media. In addition, they often will seek out female runaways from their neighborhood. Many of the girls they look for have been physically or sexually abused, have low self-esteem, struggle with drug and alcohol dependency, or are seeking a home/family environment.[39]
In order for the gang to sex traffic an individual, the first thing they need to do is gain that person's trust. They shower the victim with praise and attention, making her feel important and desired. This is referred to as the Romeo Method. It consists of different manipulation techniques. A member will take her to a fancy restaurant, flounder her with lavish gifts, and take her to parties where they are provided with endless supplies of drugs and alcohol. They also learn their weaknesses at the same time, find his or her vulnerabilities and once they find that soft spot they can use it against them.[40]
Gang members often wear certain types of clothing or colors to prove their commitment or loyalty to the gang. It is also very common to represent your gang by branding your body with tattoos.[39] Unfortunately, many victims of sex trafficking are being branded as well. By forcing a tattoo onto their victims they are essentially marking their territory and officially displaying ownership of that person.[41] In the short film, Unbranded: Sex Trafficking Tattoo Removal, Vice Media dives deep into the recovery stages of a young girl who was trafficked for three years. During her time of being exploited, she was forced to receive a tattoo by her trafficker.[42][43]
Familial trafficking [ edit ]
In familial trafficking, the victim is controlled by family members who allow them to be sexually exploited in exchange for something of value, such as drugs or money. For example, a mother may allow a boyfriend to abuse a child in exchange for housing. Usually, it begins with one family member and spreads from there. Familial trafficking may be difficult to detect because these children often have a larger degree of freedom and may still attend school and after-school functions. These children may not understand that they are being trafficked or may not have a way out. Familial trafficking is considered by some to be the most prevalent form of human sex trafficking within the United States.[23][44]
This form of trafficking is also extremely common outside of the United States. Many families from impoverished areas (India, Thailand, Philippines, etc.) find themselves in situations where debt or tradition calls for the selling of a loved one, most commonly female. In Thailand there is a tradition known as bhun kun, which establishes the youngest daughter as financially responsible for her parents as they grow old. Author Kara Siddharth interviewed a Thai victim who stated that, though she hated the men she was with, “she was proud to fulfill her duty to her parents in the form of tiny payments that the brothel owner sent to her father after her trafficking debts were repaid”. This is just one of the many countries whose lower class turn to this form of income. Many children are sold to repay debts, or merely to put food on the table for their family for a month.[45][46]
Forced marriage [ edit ]
A forced marriage is a marriage where one or both participants are married without their freely given consent.[47] Servile marriage is defined as a marriage involving a person being sold, transferred or inherited into that marriage.[48] According to ECPAT, "Child trafficking for forced marriage is simply another manifestation of trafficking and is not restricted to particular nationalities or countries".[49]
A forced marriage qualifies as a form of human trafficking in certain situations. If a woman is sent abroad, forced into the marriage and then repeatedly compelled to engage in sexual conduct with her new husband, then her experience is that of sex trafficking. If the bride is treated as a domestic servant by her new husband and/or his family, then this is a form of labor trafficking.[50]
Approximately 140 million girls under the age of 18, which is about 39,000 a day, will be forced into early marriages between 2011 and 2020.[51] Forced marriage, which is identified by the United Nations as a “contemporary form of slavery,” occurs without full consent of the man or woman, and is associated with threats by family members or the bride/groom. Forced marriage occurs not only in foreign countries but in the US as well. The service providers in the United States cannot successfully respond to forced marriage cases because they lack clarity and a true definition of what a forced marriage is.[44]
Survival sex [ edit ]
In survival sex, the victim is not necessarily controlled by another person but feels they have to perform sexual acts in order to obtain basic commodities to survive. In addition to money, persons engaging in survival sex may trade sexual favors for food, shelter, or drugs.[23][52] The most reported cases are the youth that perform sexual acts for shelter or a place to sleep. Within the youth experiences of survival sex, 8.1% of females, males, and transgender are victims. Those who perform the trafficking include immediate family, boyfriends, employers, and strangers.[53] Those who are at a higher risk of survival sex include runaways, homeless, foster kids, and orphans.[54]
Causes [ edit ]
There is not one simple factor that perpetuates sex trafficking, rather a complex, interconnected web of political, socioeconomic, governmental, and societal factors.[55] The causes of sex trafficking which have been identified lie at the intersections of these factors. There are three types of causes which have been identified: gender hierarchies, migration for work (pull factors), and neoliberal globalization (push factors).
Many scholars critique the power hierarchies based on gender, race, and class which underlie economic systems as perpetuators of women's vulnerability to sex trafficking. Copley argues that women in underdeveloped countries are powerless due to these hierarchies of power.[56] Matusek also argues this point, noting that globalization spreads power hierarchies while spreading economic policy.[57] Ideas of gender are thus perpetuated though globalization, leaving women vulnerable.[57] Matusek cites masculinity as privileged with power and control in these hierarchies.[57] Femininity, she notes, is associated with submissive and passive qualities.[57] Femininity's lack of power leaves women to be used by men and consequently be seen as disposable.[57] This view of women is perpetuated through the globalization of power hierarchies, which Matusek argues justifies and normalizes violence and power against women.[57] This normalization of violence and power is a key player in the existence and continuation of sex trafficking.[57] Vesna Nikovic-Ristanovic also cites this normalization of violence and power as a cause of sex trafficking.[58]
Nikovic-Ristanovic analyzes the role of perceived femininity in women's vulnerability to sex trafficking, by specifically looking at the links between militarism and female sexuality.[58] Nikovic-Ristanovic cites a connection between war rapes and forced prostitution and sex trafficking.[58] The way women's bodies are used in war relate to the normalization of violence and power against women.[58] Nikovic-Ristanovic argues that military presence, even in times of peace, promote ideas of gender which render women vulnerable.[58] These ideas concern hegemonic masculinity, which Nikovic-Ristanovic defines as the hyper sexuality of men and the submissiveness or passivity of women and girls.[58] Nikovic-Ristanovic notes that the global acceptance of this definition justifies exploitation and violence against women since women are viewed as sex objects for the fulfillment of male's sexual desire.[58] This Western ideal of heteronormative sexuality, Nikovic-Ristanovic argues, is also perpetuated through media and advertisements, in which women are encouraged to appear sexually attractive for men.[58]
Kim Anh Duong argues that social narratives about women which arise from power hierarchies, coupled with women's economic realities, render women vulnerable to exploitation and sex trafficking.[59] Duong identifies the prevailing narrative of women as the disadvantaged victim.[59] She cites powerlessness as the result of this narrative, which is further perpetuated by social and economic realities which result from development process which leave women dependent on men.[59] This overall powerlessness, according to Duong, makes women easy targets of exploitation and violence.[59]
Susan Tiefenbrun, like Duong, notes women's lower status of power and consequential dependence on men.[60] Tiefenbrun, unlike Duong, cites cultural norms as the cause of this vulnerability.[60] She argues that cultural norms deprive women of access to and time for receiving an education or learning skills to improve employment opportunities.[60] This lack of education and access to employment results in women's dependence on men.[60] Tiefenbrun argues that women's dependence renders them more vulnerable to traffickers.[60]
Another school of thought attributes women's migration for work in a context of strict immigration controls as the primary factor in women's vulnerability in becoming trafficked for sex. There has been an increase in women migrating within and across borders. Duong cites a demand for women migrant workers which encourages migration.[59] The globalization of neoliberalism has shifted the global economy's focus to export production. Duong notes that there is a demand for women in export production because employers are able to pay them the lowest wages.[59] Another reason for the demand of women workers is that there is a demand for care work.[59] Since care work is gendered as women's work, Duong argues that women are encouraged to migrate in order to fill this demand.[59] Janie Chuang is one scholar who notes the strict border controls which leave women who migrate for work in informal labor sectors, such as for care work, with little opportunity for legal migration.[61] Chuang notes that women are thus more vulnerable to being taken advantage of by sex traffickers who provide opportunities for illegal migration.[61] Strict immigration laws are also cited by Tiefenbrun as a key factor in individuals entering sex trafficking because women will agree to debt bondages and sex traffickers’ incentives in order to flee their social and economic realities.[60]
One cause for women's migration that is widely agreed upon by scholars is the economic pressure upon women due to neoliberal globalization. Siddharth Kara argues that globalization and the spread of Western Capitalism drive inequality and rural poverty, which are the material causes for sex trafficking.[1] Dong-Hoon Seol points out unequal development between countries as an effect of the globalization of neoliberalism.[62] He argues that the growing disparity of wealth between developed and underdeveloped countries leads to migration of women from underdeveloped countries.[62]
Duong cites structural adjustment programs (SAPs), an aspect of development policies in the globalization of neoliberalism, as a cause for women's poverty, unemployment, and low wages which promote migration.[59] SAPs affect men and women differently, she argues, because men and women experience poverty differently.[59] This is known as the feminization of poverty.[59] Much of women's time is spent doing unpaid labor such as housework and care work, leading to an overall lower income.[59] Duong further argues that women are placed at a greater disadvantage due to their lack of access to land and other resources.[59] Matusek also argues that the unequal distribution of resources and power lead to both push and pull factors of migration.[57] According to Matusek, women are pushed to migrate on account of a lack of education and employment opportunities.[57]
Other scholars focus on the demand for sex itself as a cause of sex trafficking. The pull factor comes from globalization creating a market around sex.[57] Matusek cites the commodification aspect of capitalism as the cause for the industrialization of sex.[57] The pull factor comes from globalization creating a market around sex.[57] Seol also cites the globalization of the commodification aspect of capitalism as a cause of sex trafficking.[62]
Prevention [ edit ]
Anyone is permitted to contact The National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1(888)-373-7888. The hotline is beneficial since providers are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist victims and provide information for those who are at risk. There are a variety of ways in order to help prevent trafficking. One must be aware of the indicators to identify victims: abnormal behavior, poor physical health, lack of control, and work and living conditions.[63] However, these signs may only be shown through a number of people - there may be more severe, serious indicators of sex trafficking. If you are a huge supporter in anti-trafficking, you can host events in the community to raise awareness of how people are targeted and who.[64]
One of the main causes of sex trafficking is the lack of knowledge, especially in young girls. It is extremely important to educate the youth in possible prevention methods. As social media can be a large form of “recruiting” victims, it can also be a useful tool in preventing sex trafficking (Kempadoo). Since teenagers are constantly going through Twitter and Instagram, posting possible prevention methods and information on the topic is a great way to inform your peers. It is also a fast way of posting potential dangerous/suspicious areas to avoid. One of the most common forms of abduction/coercion are in parking lots, especially if it's dark outside and not many people around. It is important to always be looking at your surroundings if you are in this position. One of the most common ways that young girls get abducted if they are walking to their car while they are looking at their phone, looking for their keys, or just distracted by something. A common tactic of the attacker will follow a girl to her car and waits to see if she doesn't leave right away. If she is on her phone it is an easy way to get in the passenger seat and oftentimes the victim will be held at gunpoint until they drive to the demanded location. Small but crucial safety tips like these should be taught in school and at home in order for children to be more cautious and aware of their surroundings when they could be in danger. For women who started as either strippers or escorts, it is extremely important to be informed of the serious danger of getting into sex-trafficking. It starts off as voluntary, but once the pimps have a relationship and they like the victim trusts them, that is when it goes downhill. Once the pimps know the girl trusts them, is when all emotions are turned off and starts treating them as slaves. Again, informing the masses is key to preventing sex-trafficking.[65]
Profile of victims [ edit ]
There is no single profile for victims of human trafficking. Most are women, though it is not uncommon for males to be trafficked as well. Victims are captured then exploited all around the world, representing a diverse range of ages and backgrounds, including ethnic and socioeconomic. However, there is a set group of traits associated with a higher risk of becoming trafficked for sexual exploitation. Persons at risk include homeless and runaway youth, foreign nationals (especially those of lower socioeconomic status), and those who have experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, violent trauma, neglect, poor academic success, and inadequate social skills.[2][66] Also, a study of a group of female sex workers in Canada found that 64 percent of them had been in the child welfare system as children (this includes foster and group homes).[2] This research conducted by Kendra Nixon illustrates how children in or leaving foster care are at a higher risk of becoming a sex worker.[2]
In the United States, research has illustrated how these qualities hold true for victims, even though none can be labeled as a direct cause.[20] For example, more than 50 percent of domestic minor sex trafficking victims have a history of homelessness.[20] Familial disruptions such as divorce or the death of a parent place minors at a higher risk of entering the industry, but home life in general influences children's risk. In a study of trafficked youth in Arizona, 20 to 40 percent of female victims identified with experiencing abuse of some form (sexual or physical) at home before entering into the industry as a sex slave.[20] Of the males interviewed, a smaller proportion, 0 to 30 percent, reported former abuse in the home.[20]
Children are at risk because of their vulnerable characteristics; naïve outlook, size, and tendency to be easily intimidated".[2] The International Labor Organization estimates that of the 20.9 million people who are trafficked in the world (for all types of work) 5.5 million are children.[67]
Children do not need to be forced into sexual exploitation according to the Victims Protection Law to be considered victims of Sex Trafficking. Under this act a child is defined as anyone under the age of 18, however the exploitation of children under the age of 14 carries a harsher punishment, though this is rarely enforced. The Bureau of Justice Statistics states that 100,000 children who fall under the age of 18 are trafficked daily in the United States, and only 150 child trafficking cases have been brought to court. Many children who are trafficked are also at higher risk of turning to prostitution, a crime that many of them face criminal charges for, even under the age of 18.[68]
The main motive of a woman (in some cases, an underage girl) to accept an offer from a trafficker is better financial opportunities for herself or her family. A study on the origin countries of trafficking confirms that most trafficking victims are not the poorest in their countries of origin, and sex trafficking victims are likely to be women from countries with some freedom to travel alone and some economic freedom.[69]
There are numerous fake businesses that sound realistic that convince people to apply for the job. Some places have a reputation for holding an illegal business in order to attract their victims.[citation needed]
Consequences to victims [ edit ]
Sex trafficked people face similar health consequences to women exploited for labor purposes, people who have experienced domestic violence, and migrant women.[70] Many of the sex workers contract sexual transmitted infections (STIs).[20] In a study conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, "only one of 23 trafficked women interviewed felt well-informed about sexually transmitted infections or HIV before leaving home."[70] Without knowledge about this aspect of their health, trafficked women may not take the necessary preventative steps and contract these infections and have poor health seeking behavior in the future.[70] The mental health implications range from depression to anxiety to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the abuse and violence victims face from their pimps or "Johns".[20] With such a mindset many individuals develop alcohol or drug addictions and abusive habits.[20] Also, traffickers commonly coerce or force their sex workers to use alcohol or drugs when they are in childhood or adolescence.[2] Many victims use these substances as a coping mechanism or escape which further promotes the rate of addiction in this population.[2] In a 30-year longitudinal study conducted by J. Potterat et al., it was determined that the average lifespan for women engaged in prostitution in Colorado Springs was 34 years.[20]
Around the world [ edit ]
Africa [ edit ]
Sex trafficking of women and children is the second most common type of trafficking for export in Africa.[71] In Ghana, "connection men" or traffickers are witnessed regularly at border crossings and transport individuals via fake visas. Women are most commonly trafficked to Belgium, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, the Netherlands, Nigeria, and the United States.[71] Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States are also common destination countries for trafficked Nigerian women.[71] In Uganda, the Lord's Resistance Army traffics individuals to Sudan to sell them as sex slaves.[71] The Nigerian syndicates dominate sex trades in multiple territories. The syndicates recruit women from South Africa and send them to Europe and Asia, where they are forced into prostitution, drug smuggling, or domestic violence. Law enforcement reported that sex traffickers force drug use to persuade these unwilling women.[72]
Asia [ edit ]
The key hubs for both source transportation and destination of the sub-region of Asia include India, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.[71] India is a major hub for trafficked Bangladeshi and Nepali women.[71] In India itself, there are an estimated 3 million sex workers, 40% of whom are trafficked children, mostly girls from ethnic minorities and lower castes. In Thailand, 800,000 children under the age of 16 were involved in prostitution in 2004.[73] Also, according to UNICEF and the International Labour Organization there are 40,000 child prostitutes in Sri Lanka.[73] Thailand and India are in the top five countries with the highest rates of child prostitution.[73] The 2014 Global Slavery Index (GSI) says that there are about 36 million victims of trafficking in the world, and nearly two-thirds of the people are from Asia. Pakistan, Thailand, China, India, and Bangladesh are in the top 10 for countries with the largest number of trafficking victims around the world. India is at the top of the list with 14 million victims, China comes in second with 3.2 million victims, and Pakistan comes in at third with 2.1 million victims.[74] Cambodia is also a transit, source, and a destination country for trafficking.[75] 36% of trafficked victims in Asia are children, while 64% are adults.[76]
Europe [ edit ]
Europe has the highest number of sex slaves per capita in the world.[77][unreliable source?] In general, countries who are members of the European Union are destinations for individuals to be sex trafficked whereas the Balkans and Eastern Europe are source and transit countries.[71] Transit countries are picked for their geographical location. This is because the locations the traffickers pick usually have a weak border control, the distance from the destination countries, corrupt official, or the organized crime groups are in on the sex trafficking.[78] In 1997 alone as many as 175,000 young women from Russia, as well as the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, were sold as commodities in the sex markets of the developed countries in Europe and the Americas[79] The European Union reported that from 2010–13 30,146 individuals were identified and registered as human trafficking victims.[80] Of those registered, 69 percent of the victims were sexually exploited and more than 1,000 were children.[80] Although many sex trafficked individuals are from outside of Europe, two-thirds of the 30,146 victims were EU citizens.[80] Despite this high proportion of domestic sex slaves, the most common ethnicities of women who are trafficked to the United Kingdom are Chinese, Brazilian, and Thai.[71] Moldova is a known country in Europe for women, children and men to be subjected to sex trafficking.[81] Girls from Moldova |
a (text) saying we're on the set with Ludacris or we could post a picture with Ludacris, and that was getting a lot more views. People like to be able to see the proof behind the text. It's a much more honest way to engage for the audience."
He says the company's success has been driven by its Instagram push, estimating that 20% of RiTE's clientele has come through the service.
Nick Teissler, a 19-year-old student at Georgia Tech, is a fan of Vine. For him and his friends, Vine and Snapchat "are bigger than Instagram." Facebook doesn't even enter into the conversation, he says. (Mark Zuckerberg, call your office.)
The Vine videos are an easy way to share humor, he says.
"Humor, kind of expressing frustration," he said. "It's rare to have an informative Vine out there." Instagram, he says with impish disdain, "is more for people who want to express themselves and let people know that they're expressing themselves."
All these services are known for their brevity and convenience. Anthony Jack, a Case Western Reserve University professor whose work crosses the disciplines of psychology, neuroscience and philosophy, likes those details: One of the great benefits of social media, he points out, is the creativity that brevity inspires.
"It encourages people to distill ideas down to their core, and then only the ones that really stick get shared. So it is an effective way of generating incisive commentary," he said.
But he wonders whether something is being lost. It takes more than brief bursts of creativity to actually, well, communicate -- to really understand someone else's perspective.
"Understanding others' experience lies at the core of true moral understanding. It connects us to others and gives us a real appreciation of their motives and beliefs," he said. "So the danger is that social media is making us fall back on what we already understand: our stereotypes and preconceived notions. When social communication is so accessible and immediate, it can also become very shallow."
Remapping the brain
That's been a concern of older generations for, well, generations.
When the telephone started becoming popular in the late 19th century, adults worried that youngsters were using it for flirtation. Television was derided as the "boob tube," and high-minded academics wondered why the promise of education and social uplift had been replaced by "Mr. Ed" reruns.
Now we have these remarkable smartphones, devices with amazing computing and imaging power, and we use them for... taking pictures of ourselves.
Tammy Vigil, a professor in Boston University's College of Communication, routinely sees it among her students. With the way these photos spread on social media, she looks at it as "sort of an interesting attempt at fame, almost. It's sort of being their own paparazzi. They put out these pictures of themselves, and they hope they get pushed on."
She finds it striking that Snapchat and Instagram express two different attitudes toward social fame. Snapchat, after all, assumes that your image will be quickly wiped. Instagram, however, is presumably forever: "It's almost like a photo album," Vigil said.
Some observers worry that photos may not provide the same nuance as text.
But Dr. Gopal Chopra, a neurosurgeon and the creator of PINGMD, a medical data communication service, notes that the brain is tremendously flexible. It's just a matter of how much effort we put into assessing all that information flying at us, he says.
The nuances we pick up through text we can also learn visually, though it takes time. Think of muscle memory, he says: With enough repetition, the brain can create new pathways for physical tasks. The same is true in going from one medium to another.
"It's plasticity," he said. "We are remapping. And it does take time. But it takes an effort to go from the BlackBerry to an iPhone."
But for those willing to make the effort, the brain can adjust.
"From a neuroscience perspective, the brain is such an underestimated storehouse and synthesis house when it comes to information," he said.
Full circle?
Another grumble is that we're leaving text behind completely and that coming generations will be worse off for it. However, Rob Weiss, a therapist and executive with Elements Behavioral Health, says that's just generational moralizing.
"When I sit down with a bunch of therapists and ask what's going on, they can't help but tell me about worried they are about young people, how young people are going to lose their communications skills, they're going to be unempathetic towards other people, they're going to be narcissistic... all of this negativity," said Weiss, whose forthcoming book, "Closer Together, Further Apart," is about the effect of technology on intimacy and relationships.
"I think this is generational. This is just like sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, when our parents were horrified."
Instead, he says, it's simply another turn -- one in which we don't know the results yet.
Besides, it's an evolution that's been going on for, well, generations. In Homer's day, the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were presented orally. Then we transitioned to the printed word. Books eventually gave way to radio -- another version of the oral tradition -- and then television.
When the Internet appeared, it was back to text. Now, Boston University's Vigil points out, text is giving way to images again -- but that doesn't mean the other forms of communication will go away.
They're all just tools, she says.
"I don't foresee (image services) meaning that we won't text anymore. It think it's going to be more of a balancing act between them," she said.
In the future, who knows? We could be communicating by Google's connected Glass eyewear or by using our tech-embedded clothing.
By then, it will be truly be Maya Shaoolian's world.
"How she gets that information she likes has completely evolved from the way you and I grew up getting it," her father said. "What we're doing now is unthinkable 20 years ago."How long can America continue to burn up wealth? How long can this nation continue to consume far more wealth than it produces? The trade deficit is one of the biggest reasons for the steady decline of the U.S. economy, but many Americans don’t even understand what it is. Basically, we are buying far more stuff from the rest of the world than they are buying from us. That means that far more money is constantly leaving the country than is coming into the country. In order to keep the game going, we have to go to the people that we bought all of that stuff from and ask them to lend our money back to us. Or lately, we just have the Federal Reserve create new money out of thin air. This is called “quantitative easing”. Our current debt-fueled lifestyle is dependent on this cycle continuing. In order to live like we do, we must consume far more wealth than we produce. If someday we are forced to only live on the wealth that we create, it will require a massive adjustment in our standard of living. We have become great at consuming wealth but not so great at creating it. But as a result of running gigantic trade deficits year after year, we have lost tens of thousands of businesses, millions upon millions of jobs, and America is being deindustrialized at a staggering pace.
Most Americans won’t even notice, but the latest monthly trade deficit increased to 42.3 billion dollars…
The U.S. trade deficit climbed to the highest level in five months in February as demand for American exports fell while imports increased slightly. The deficit increased to $42.3 billion, which was 7.7% above the January imbalance of $39.3 billion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
When the trade deficit increases, it means that even more wealth, even more jobs and even more businesses have left the United States.
In essence, we have gotten poorer as a nation.
Have you ever wondered how China has gotten so wealthy?
Just a few decades ago, they were basically a joke economically.
So how in the world did they get so powerful?
Well, one of the primary ways that they did it was by selling us far more stuff than we sold to them. If we had refused to do business with communist China, they never would have become what they have become today. It was our decisions that allowed China to become an economic powerhouse.
Last year, we sold 122 billion dollars of stuff to China.
That sounds like a lot until you learn that China sold 440 billion dollars of stuff to us.
We fill up our shopping carts with lots of cheap plastic trinkets that are “made in China”, and they pile up gigantic mountains of our money which we beg them to lend back to us so that we can pay our bills.
Who is winning that game and who is losing that game?
Below, I have posted our yearly trade deficits with China since 1990. Let’s see if you can spot the trend…
1990: 10 billion dollars
1991: 12 billion dollars
1992: 18 billion dollars
1993: 22 billion dollars
1994: 29 billion dollars
1995: 33 billion dollars
1996: 39 billion dollars
1997: 49 billion dollars
1998: 56 billion dollars
1999: 68 billion dollars
2000: 83 billion dollars
2001: 83 billion dollars
2002: 103 billion dollars
2003: 124 billion dollars
2004: 162 billion dollars
2005: 202 billion dollars
2006: 234 billion dollars
2007: 258 billion dollars
2008: 268 billion dollars
2009: 226 billion dollars
2010: 273 billion dollars
2011: 295 billion dollars
2012: 315 billion dollars
2013: 318 billion dollars
Yikes!
It has been estimated that the U.S. economy loses approximately 9,000 jobs for every 1 billion dollars of goods that are imported from overseas, and according to the Economic Policy Institute, America is losing about half a million jobs to China every single year.
Considering the high level of unemployment that we now have in this country, can we really afford to be doing that?
Overall, the United States has accumulated a total trade deficit with the rest of the world of more than 8 trillion dollars since 1975.
As a result, we have lost tens of thousands of businesses, millions of jobs and our economic infrastructure has been absolutely gutted.
Just look at what has happened to manufacturing jobs in America. Back in the 1980s, more than 20 percent of the jobs in the United States were manufacturing jobs. Today, only about 9 percent of the jobs in the United States are manufacturing jobs.
And we have fewer Americans working in manufacturing today than we did in 1950 even though our population has more than doubled since then…
Many people find this statistic hard to believe, but the United States has lost a total of more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001.
Millions of good paying jobs have been lost.
As a result, the middle class is shriveling up, and at this point 9 out of the top 10 occupations in America pay less than $35,000 a year.
For a long time, U.S. consumers attempted to keep up their middle class lifestyles by going into constantly increasing amounts of debt, but now it is becoming increasingly apparent that middle class consumers are tapped out.
In response, major retailers are closing thousands of stores in poor and middle class neighborhoods all over the country. You can see some amazing photos of America’s abandoned shopping malls right here.
If we could start reducing the size of our trade deficit, that would go a long way toward getting the United States back on the right economic path.
Unfortunately, Barack Obama has been negotiating a treaty in secret which is going to send the deindustrialization of America into overdrive. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is being called the “NAFTA of the Pacific”, and it is going to result in millions more good jobs being sent to the other side of the planet where it is legal to pay slave labor wages.
According to Professor Alan Blinder of Princeton University, 40 million more U.S. jobs could be sent offshore over the next two decades if current trends continue.
So what will this country look like when we lose tens of millions more jobs than we already have?
U.S. workers are being merged into a giant global labor pool where they must compete directly for jobs with people making less than a dollar an hour with no benefits.
Obama tells us that globalization is good for us and that Americans need to be ready to adjust to a “level playing field”.
The quality of our jobs has already been declining for decades, and if we continue down this path the quality of our jobs is going to get a whole lot worse and our economic infrastructure will continue to be absolutely gutted.
At one time, the city of Detroit was the greatest manufacturing city on the entire planet and it had the highest per capita income in the United States. But today, it is a rotting, decaying hellhole that the rest of the world laughs at.
In the end, the rest of the nation is going to suffer the same fate as Detroit unless Americans are willing to stand up and fight for their economy while they still can.Posted on Thursday, 30 June 2016 14:32
By Mark Anderson
Boko Haram has claimed responsibly for a suicide bombing in northern Cameroon that killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens more.
The bombing targeted a video club and a mosque in Djakana, near Cameroon's border with Nigeria, Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon's far northern region, told AFP.
The victims were mostly members of a vigilante group formed to root out Boko Haram members, Bakari said, adding that they had broken a curfew designed to keep people safe at night.
Boko Haram has waged a campaign of terror on Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad. Since the Islamist group was formed seven years ago, at least 20,000 people have been killed and 2.6 million people have been displaced, according to the UN.
The new bombings are a setback for west African forces fighting Boko Haram. "Since the beginning of 2016... the Nigerian military has had significant success in its battles with Boko Haram, particularly in terms of the amount of territory recovered," the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project said on its website.This article is from the archive of our partner.
Scientists at CERN are being a little gun-shy even as it appears that they'll announce they have proof of the Higgs boson—the building block of all matter—but are stopping short of calling it a "discovery." As The Associated Press' John Heilprin and Seth Borenstein report, "experts familiar with the research at CERN's vast complex on the Swiss-French border say that the massive data they have obtained will essentially show the footprint of the key particle known as the Higgs boson—all but proving it exists—but doesn't allow them to say it has actually been glimpsed."
"Discovery" is a touchy word in physics, especially when it comes to Higgs. As we noted last month, there's a scientific threshold called 5-Sigma that scientists use as a benchmark to prove that they've discovered something. And back then, there were rumors that experiments of the Higgs resulted 4-sigma signals (as our commenters have pointed out, it's about a 110x difference but is better than the initial 3-sigma "in excess" which prompted the first round of rumors), and scientists were speculating whether or not these multiple 4's would trump a 5-sigma and perhaps trigger "discovery," and how exactly CERN would spin it.An estimated 3200 years old golden bowl found in ancient Hasanlu hill
An ancient hill of 400 x 600 meters, dating back to 6000 years BC, named Hasanlu Hill, is the location where Hasanlu golden Bowl was found, somewhere near Naqadeh Township, 12km south of Lake Urmia.
The bowl weights 945 grams, with 20 cm height. Its body thickness is 4.5 cm and the diameter of the opening is 28 cm, its age is estimated 3200 years approximately.
Hasanlu Golden Bowl has been discovered by exploration group of Robert Raison in 1958 in the ruins of the burnt Hasanlu Castle. The bowl had been found beneath the remaining skeleton of a man.
Two more body skeleton of men also have been found there together with their swords and maces, suggesting that they were most likely running away from attackers, seeking a refuge to save their lives.
Archeologists believe that the castle has been set on fire and ruined in the second half of the 9th century BC.
The drawings and motives on the bowl is consisting of gods, heroes and demons, representing the thoughts and beliefs of the people and the civilization of that era.
Scenes of fighting with demons and offering sacrifices to the gods are seen on it, in two rows, semi embossed.
Hasanlu Golden Bowl has been kept in a temple for three millenniums but it is currently in National Museum of Iran, holding some old secrets from old times for us.
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Stinging from its lopsided defeat in New Hampshire and bracing for a tougher-than-expected primary fight against Bernie Sanders, the Hillary Clinton campaign has sought to lower expectations for the next contest, this Saturday’s Nevada caucuses. To do so, the campaign has been subtly pushing a curious line: Don’t read too much into the results of the Nevada caucuses because the state is disproportionately white, just like New Hampshire and Iowa.
As I explained last week, Nevada should be a firewall state for Clinton, and that’s how the Clinton campaign long painted it. But last Tuesday, campaign spokesman Brian Fallon tried to dash those impressions during an appearance on MSNBC. As recounted by BuzzFeed‘s Ruby Cramer, Fallon tried to suggest that Sanders had an edge in the caucuses thanks to the makeup of the state.
“There’s an important Hispanic element to the Democratic caucus in Nevada,” Fallon said. “But it’s still a state that is 80 percent white voters. You have a caucus-style format, and he’ll have the momentum coming out of New Hampshire presumably, so there’s a lot of reasons he should do well.”
Campaign manager Robby Mook, who ran Clinton’s 2008 campaign in the state, made a similar argument the next day when talking with congressional Democrats:
/4 Mook: “There’s a sizable Hispanic population in Nevada, but about 80% of Dem caucus voters in that state are white.” That helps Sanders — John Bresnahan (@BresPolitico) February 10, 2016
Is Nevada as lacking in diversity as Iowa and New Hampshire? Not even close. It’s actually one of the more diverse states in the country. The population is 9 percent African American, just a few points below the national average of 13 percent. It’s also 9 percent Asian American or Pacific Islander, above the national 5.6 percent average. And Nevada boasts a far larger Latino population than the country: 27.8 percent, versus 17.4 percent nationally.
Where does the Clinton campaign come up with the idea that Nevada is so overwhelming white? It all comes down to the difficult terminology of race and ethnicity. Technically, the state is 76 percent white, but that’s because most people who identify as Latino or Hispanic are included in that category. Separate them out, and the state is just 51.5 percent non-Hispanic white.
Compare that to Iowa and New Hampshire, which are, respectively, 87 percent and 91 percent non-Hispanic white.
It’s possible that Nevada’s minority populations won’t show up to caucus in large numbers. But that doesn’t seem too likely, at least based on the 2008 caucuses, when 35 percent of caucus voters were racial or ethnic minorities, according to exit polls. The state’s minority population has only grown since 2008, so there’s little reason to expect the caucus-going population to look that much whiter than in 2008.
With Sanders having captured the momentum after his big New Hampshire win, Clinton really may have a more difficult time in Nevada than she anticipated. But she can’t blame it on demographics.In the film Network, Howard Beale famously galvanises a nation with the call, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Well, I am sad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore. I am sad, loyal Conservative Woman reader, because of the war the West is waging against its own children. In reality, it is a war on life.
Over the past few weeks, I have commented on the following stories: Richard Dawkins’s condemnation of parents who carry a Down’s syndrome pregnancy to term; the insufferable moaning by feminists and their taking the joy out of life.
We had Eleanor Mills in The Sunday Times calling the Duchess of Cambridge ‘a classy brood mare’ for wanting three children. Three children, we are told today, are a ‘luxury.’ In fact even wanting one child is ‘selfish’ according to some. It is just never ending – a never-ending war on children.
The liberals like to paint conservatives as the negative ones raining on parades with the catch-call “down with this sort of thing.” Perhaps we have been guilty of this now and again, but our negativity can be summed up thus: down with the State spending other people’s money, and controlling our lives. The progressives, however, are down on children.
Do not have a child with Down’s syndrome – it will cause everyone too much suffering (no evidence for this by the way) we are told. In fact, consider having children carefully as the only reason you want to have them is to pass on your genes. If you do have children do not have more than two – otherwise you will not be able to pay for their university fees.
In addition the feminists tell us not cook for our children as this is tyranny or, in fact, care for them. This is wasting your education. Just pop them in nursery. But even if you do this you will not be happy because of the ‘second shift’: the gruelling nightmare that is going home to your own family.
Is this it? Is this what the Left have to offer – that children are the road to hell?
This type of life view is not only depressing but also dangerous on many different levels. Having children is a challenge – but it is worthwhile. This moaning about how hard it is, whether you are at home, or at work, or doing both, misses the point.
Having children involves sacrifices – everyone knew this until about 30 years ago when suddenly the boomers believed in a drug-infused haze that they were entitled to feel blissfully happy all of the time.
As this piece explains, anything that is worthwhile in life requires time, effort and sacrifice, be it your career, your marriage or raising (raising not just having) children. It is nearly always worth it. This war on children by the Left is also a war on effort.
It is also odd that the greatest wailing comes from the middle classes. When did we become so pathetic? When did we become so depressed? Juggling work and kids is so hard – there is so much laundry for me to do, which really means there is so much laundry for me to place in a machine and for the machine to do.
I cannot afford the kids’ university fees, and on and on it goes. University fees – are you serious? You do know there are mothers living with five kids in a mud hut and their kids cannot read, never mind go to university. Put a sock in it.
I am not saying that people are not entitled to advocate reform and improvement even in the West. But this is not that – this is just pointless, endless, shrill, carping. And it is never enough, is it?
Free childcare? Not enough hours. More hours? Does not start early enough. Free school meals? It is only for the youngest children. 150 channels on the TV? The neighbour has 250 and Apple has put a free, free U2 album on my amazing new phone. Oh, the horror, the horror! I need to sit down with my skinny latte.
On a serious note, the current population level and debt obligations cannot be sustained at the current birthrate. We cannot afford to view children as burdens or commodities- they are in fact our greatest resource.
Now, I am not saying parents should ‘breed for the State’ – that is communism – but it needs to be understood that any civilisation that declares war on its own children will eventually die out. This is a fact.
Western civilisation is in decline for many reasons, one of which is the modern view that children are a curse not a gift.
If you appreciated this article, perhaps you might consider making a donation to The Conservative Woman. Our contributors and editors are unpaid but there are inevitable costs associated with running a website. We receive no independent funding and depend on our readers to help us, either with regular or one-off payments. You can donate here. Thank you.Step 3
Go ahead and hit "Save Changes". Now you can go to your profile and view your text box. You may notice it's not perfectly centered.To make sure it's as close to centered as possible, take a screenshot of your text box and paste it into a photo editing program.Now that the screenshot is in your editing program, use the template below and paste it over your text box screenshot.Make sure to align the edge of the template with the edge of the text box. This will show you how far your text needs to move to be centered.Since we know one of our stackable whitespaces is roughly 4 pixels wide, three more whitespaces behind the text should get it aligned fairly well.Now that you're so close to being centered, copy the space between these brackets: ( )It's width is exactly one pixel wide, so use it to center your text perfectly.Photo by Emmanuel Afolabi
Sufjan Stevens has shared a new song called "Should Have Known Better", from his forthcoming record Carrie & Lowell. Listen to it below.
Previously, Stevens has shared "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross", off of the same release.
Read our Interview with Sufjan Stevens, and check out his previously-announced tour dates*.
*
Sufjan Stevens:
04-09 Philadelphia, PA - Academy of Music*
04-10 Philadelphia, PA - Academy of Music*
04-11 New York, NY - Beacon Theater*
04-12 Hartford, CT - The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts*
04-14 Portland, ME - Merrill Auditorium*
04-15 Albany, NY - The Palace Theater*
04-16 Cleveland, OH - Cleveland Masonic Auditorium*
04-17 Columbus, OH - Palace Theater*
04-18 Indianapolis, IN - The Murat Theatre*
04-20 St. Louis, MO - Peabody Opera House*
04-21 Kansas City, MO - Midland Theater+
04-22 Minneapolis, MN - Northrop Auditorium+
04-23 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater+
04-24 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre+
04-25 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre+
04-27 Detroit, MI - Masonic Temple+
04-28 Grand Rapids, MI - Covenant Fine Arts Center+
04-29 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall+
04-30 Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier/Place Des Artes+
05-01 Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre@
05-02 Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre@
05-04 Boston, MA - Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre@
05-05 Washington, DC - DAR Constitution Hall@
05-06 Richmond, VA - Altria Theater@
05-07 Durham, NC - Durham Performing Arts Center@
05-09 New Orleans, LA - Saenger Theatre@
05-10 Dallas, TX - Majestic Theatre@
05-11 Houston, TX - Jones Hall for the Performing Arts@
05-12 Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall@
05-13 Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall@
06-02 San Diego, CA - Copley Symphony Hall@
06-03 Los Angeles, CA - Dorothy Chandler Pavilion^
06-04 Los Angeles, CA - Dorothy Chandler Pavilion^
06-05 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater^
06-06 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater^
06-08 Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall^
06-09 Vancouver, British Columbia - Orpheum Theatre^
06-10 Seattle, WA - The Paramount Theatre^
06-11 Seattle, WA - The Paramount Theatre^
06-17 Eau Claire, WI - Eaux Claire Festival
08-14-16 Lyons, CO - Rocky Mountain Folk Festival
09-04-06 North Dorset, England - End of the Road Festival
with Cold Specks
+ with Little Scream
@ with Moses Sumney
^ with Helado Negro
Carrie & Lowell will be released March 31 on Stevens’ own Asthmatic Kitty Records.
"Should Have Known Better":
"No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross":To keep promises made at the Paris climate summit, Canada is rolling out a master plan to deal with climate change — including a phaseout of coal by 2030 and a phase in of carbon pricing by 2019.
At a meeting Dec. 9 in Ottawa, all of Canada’s provinces, save Saskatchewan and Manitoba, agreed to participate in a national carbon pricing program.
“[This] is a clear signal from the Canadian government that, from a national Canadian perspective, our federal government is serious about the fight against climate change,” says David Heurtel, minister of sustainable development, the environment and the fight against climate change for Québec. “That’s a change from the previous federal government.”
In the Canadian and US systems, Heurtel points out, provinces or states have the ability to set climate policy independent of the federal government. Québec set up its cap-and-trade system with California while Canada’s national government would not even say the words "climate change," he notes. (Cap and trade puts limits on emissions, and it "creates a market for carbon allowances," according to the Environmental Defense Fund.)
“While our federal government was pulling out of Kyoto, [which] was, up until Paris, the most significant international agreement on climate, we were still able, as provinces, to move ahead with significant moves in the fight against climate change,” Heurtel says.
In addition, he explains, 165 jurisdictions representing 33 countries and six continents have signed or endorsed the Under2 Coalition, which aims to act on its own to combat climate change. The coalition represents “more than 1.08 billion people and $25.7 trillion in [gross domestic product], equivalent to more than a third of the global economy,” according to the organization’s website. It has committed to reducing emissions by 80 to 95 percent by 2050.
“Obviously, national governments have an important role to play in the fight against climate change, but it’s also important to stress that states and provinces — what they call in UN-speak, ‘infranational governments’ — have a major role, and can still move ahead, even if a national government isn't moving at the same pace,” Heurtel says.
The Québec-California cap-and-trade system, which now includes Ottawa, is already the largest in North America. And the Canadian federal plan recognizes the system as a valid equivalent to a carbon tax. Now, other provinces have the option to join Québec and Ottawa and be part of the California system or create a carbon tax that is part of Canada’s federal system.
Ontario, for example, has now announced that it will join the Québec-California cap-and-trade system. Once that is complete, over 50 percent of Canada's economy and over 60 percent of its population will have the same cap-and-trade system, which will be linked to California, Heurtel says.
If a province instead decides to join the federal system, the federal government will return those revenues to that province in ways that will either help transition to a low-carbon economy or help consumers offset higher utility costs. Each province will have a certain amount of flexibility.
“In Québec, for example, the cap-and-trade revenues are entirely reinvested in Québec's green fund, which invests in programs to transition out of the fossil fuel-based economy, to invest in clean tech [and] to invest in the electrification of transportation, for example,” Heurtel says. Québec can now offer an $8,000 per person rebate for anyone wanting to buy an electric car and is using the revenue to expand a network of charging stations.
Since the program began, it has generated over $1.4 billion that has been reinvested in Québec's economy, clean tech, adaptation measures and mitigation measures in a number of different fields. Mexico has also begun to set up its own carbon-trading market, similar to the Québec-California model, and “has indicated its intention to not only collaborate with Québec, California and Ontario, but also to eventually link to the market,” Heurtel says.
“From a North American perspective, not only are you going to have over half of Canada with the same cap-and-trade system, but California, which is the world's sixth-largest economy, and now Mexico, [which has] 123 million people, wanting to join by 2018 or 2019,” Heurtel says.
Finally, China, the world's largest polluter and the world's second-largest economy, has announced that it will set up a national carbon market by 2018. “We’ve actually been working with China on their cap-and-trade system,” Heurtel says. “They've sent a delegation to Québec twice last year to learn from our system and to see how we can further collaborate.”
This article is based on an interview that aired on PRI’s Living on Earth with Steve Curwood.Oort is an experimental programming language I have been working on, on and off (mostly off), since 2007. It is a statically typed, object-oriented, imperative language, where classes, functions and methods can be nested arbitrarily, and where functions and methods are full closures, ie., they can be stored in variables and returned from functions. The control structures are the usual ones: if, for, while, do, goto, etc.
It also has an unusual feature: goto labels are first class.
What does it mean for labels to be first class? It means two things: (1) they are lexically scoped so that they are visible from inside nested functions. This makes it possible to jump from any point in the program to any other location that is visible from that point, even if that location is in another function. And (2) labels can be used as values: They can be passed to and returned from functions and methods, and they can be stored in data structures.
As a simple example, consider a data structure with a “foreach” method that takes a callback function and calls it for every item in the data structure. In Oort this might look like this:
table: array[person_t]; table.foreach (fn (p: person_t) -> void { print p.name; print p.age; });
A note about syntax. In Oort, anonymous functions are defined like this:
fn (<arguments>) -> <return type> {...; }
and variables and arguments are declared like this:
<name>: <type>
so the code above defines an anonymous function that prints the name and the age of person and passes that function to the foreach method of the table.
What if we want to stop the iteration? You could have the callback return true to stop, or you could have it throw an exception. However, both methods are a little clumsy: The first because the return value might be useful for other purposes, the second because stopping the iteration isn’t really an exceptional situation.
With lexically scoped labels there is a direct solution – just use goto to jump out of the callback:
table.foreach (fn (p: person_t) -> void { print p.name; print p.age; if (p.age > 50) goto done; }); @done:
Note what’s going on here: Once we find a person older than 50, we jump out of the anonymous callback and back into the enclosing function. The git tree has a running example.
Call/cc in terms of goto
In Scheme and some other languages there is a feature called call/cc, which is famous for being both powerful and mind-bending. What it does is, it takes the concept of “where we are in the program” and packages it up as a function. This function, called the continuation, is then passed to another, user-defined, function. If the user-defined function calls the continuation, the program will resume from the point where call/cc was invoked. The mind-bending part is that a continuation can be stored in data structures and called multiple times, which means the call/cc invocation can in effect return more than once.
Lexically scoped labels are at least as expressive as call/cc, because if you have them, you can write call/cc as a function:
call_cc (callback: fn (k: fn()->void)) -> void { callback (fn() -> void { goto current_continuation; }); @current_continuation: }
Let’s see what’s going on here. A function called call_cc() is defined:
call_cc (...) -> void { }
This function takes another function as argument:
callback: fn (...) -> void
And that function takes the continuation as an argument:
k: fn()->void
The body of call/cc calls the callback:
callback (...);
passing an anonymous function (the continuation):
fn() -> void { goto current_continuation; } @current_continuation:
that just jumps to the point where call_cc returns. So when callback decides to invoke the continuation, execution will resume at the point where call_cc was invoked. Since there is nothing stopping callback from storing the continuation in a data structure or from invoking it multiple times, we have the full call/cc semantics.
Cooperative thread system
One of the examples on the Wikipedia page about call/cc is a cooperative thread system. With the call_cc function above, we could directly translate the Wikipedia code into Oort, but using the second aspect of the first-class-ness of labels – that they can be stored directly in data structures – makes it possible to write a more straightforward version:
run_list: list[label] = new list[label](); thread_fork (child: fn() -> void) { run_list.append (me); child(); goto run_list.pop_head(); @me: } thread_yield() { run_list.append (me); goto run_list.pop_head (); @me: } thread_exit() { if (!run_list.is_empty()) goto run_list.pop_head(); else process_exit(); }
The run_list variable is a list of labels containing the current positions of all the active threads. The keyword label in Oort is simply a type specifier similar to string.
To |
and must prioritise how it is spent.
"It doesn't seem to me to be just that if I go to the doctor that my consultation should be free. I should of course make some contribution to that," he said.
"Yes there should be a basic safety net, I don't think anyone would disagree, but my safety net and your safety net are very different things."
In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Newman, a former chairman of the ABC, said the Australia Network television contract should never have been put out for tender.
The previous Labor government awarded the contract to the ABC over Sky, after a botched tender process.
Cabinet is reportedly considering scrapping the network in the budget.
Mr Newman says the network is beneficial for Australia and has described Labor's handling of the contract as a tragedy.
"This has left a bad taste in everybody's mouth, and I think the Australia Network, for all the good work it's doing and has done, is suffering the legacy of that flawed process," he said.
Mr Newman also defended Australia's free trade agreement with Japan, describing it as a triumph.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott secured the deal on his recent tour of Asia after more than seven years of negotiations.
The Opposition and some farming groups have been critical, arguing it fell short of what Australia could have achieved.
Mr Newman, who accompanied Mr Abbott on his trip, says you never get everything you want in trade deals.
"I think you've got to ask the question, if we were to have postponed the agreement, what incremental additional benefit would we have received by having waited another year or two years," he said.
"My sense is, and I wasn't involved in the negotiations, but my sense is very little."
Topics: budget, federal-government, government-and-politics, health-policy, health-administration, abc, trade, australia
First postedBreaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Oct. 3, 2017, 1:41 PM GMT / Updated Oct. 4, 2017, 1:42 AM GMT By Yuliya Talmazan
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel fought back tears Monday night during an emotionally charged monologue on the politics of gun control after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history devastated his hometown of Las Vegas.
“There is probably no way to ever know why a human being would do something like this to other human beings who were at a concert, having fun and listening to music,” said Kimmel, who sent his condolences to the victims’ families.
The late-night host also called out some politicians who — in the wake of Sunday's tragedy — offered their prayers and messages of support but no solutions to the issue of gun crime and mass shootings.
“With all due respect, your thoughts and your prayers are insufficient,” Kimmel said.
“We have 59 innocent people dead,” he added in response to comments by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday that it was not the right time for a political debate on gun control. “It wasn’t their time either. So I think now is the time for political debate," Kimmel said.
Authorities clarified Tuesday night that the widely reported number of 59 deaths includes the gunman.
Hours after the massacre, President Donald Trump tweeted his “warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting.”
The president also dubbed the attack an “act of pure evil,” but on Tuesday said there will be a conversation about gun laws “as time goes by.”
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., called the attack “senseless” and offered his prayers as well. Vice President Mike Pence offered condolences.
Kimmel also criticized politicians like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
“They should be praying for God to forgive them for letting the gun lobby run this country,” Kimmel said.
The comedian said he hates talking about politics on his show, but finds gun control to be a “public safety issue” worth discussing.
“I want this to be a comedy show,” he added. “I just want to laugh about things every night, but it seems to be increasingly difficult lately. It feels like someone has opened a window into hell.”
It’s not the first time Kimmel has taken on Washington.
The comedian waded into the national health care debate in May when he broke down on air talking about his infant son’s heart surgery and the state of the health care system in the U.S., imploring lawmakers to ensure there were affordable health care options for sick children like his son.
And last month, Kimmel fired back at Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., for his new health care bill, the do-or-die effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. Kimmel called Cassidy a liar for promising on the show that pre-existing conditions would be covered under the bill, but not following through with it.Yale Project on Climate Change Communication:
Our most recent survey, conducted in April, 2014, finds that by more than a three-to-one margin, more Americans think global warming is happening than think it is not. Currently, 64% of Americans think global is happening, a number that has been relatively stable over the past three years.
The reality of climate change – worldwide and in the United States – is a well-established scientific fact. The first finding in the recently released 2014 National Climate Assessment (written and reviewed by hundreds of climate experts over the past 4 years), for example, concluded: “Global climate is changing and this is apparent across the United States in a wide range of observations.”
Our survey also shows that Americans’ certainty that the Earth is warming has increased over the past three years. Currently, of those who think global warming is happening, nearly two in three (62%) say they are either extremely (30%) or very (32%) sure that it is. Three years ago, in May 2011, fewer (54%) were as sure. And over the same three-year period, those who think global warming is not happening have become substantially less sure of their position (from 52% in May 2011, to 41% today).
These findings are notable in light of the fact that the survey was conducted shortly after much of the country experienced a particularly cold winter, including the “polar vortex”, suggesting that Americans’ growing certainty that global warming is happening was relatively unaffected by their recent experience of extreme cold weather.Why you should replace your Hard Drive (HDD) with a Solid State Drive (SSD)
You're considering making the switch to an SSD, but what difference will it truly make?
With thousands of users looking to upgrade laptops we're fortunate enough to have laptops of every configuration imaginable enter our facility on a daily basis. These range from XP machines to the newest stuff on the market. We quite literally spend our day testing computers and thought to ourselves, why not show some real world information rather than the bench tests the plague the internet?. This isn't to say bench tests aren't a valuable resource and often done by very credible organizations seeking to find the true capability of each part tested. We fully understand how and why such tests are done, however from years of day in and day out testing we feel they truly leave something left to be desired.
We deal with hundreds of customers each month asking us the most simplistic of questions. We've been asked how to speed up an older laptop hundreds if not thousands of times, yet nobody has ever asked which SSD to buy. At the end of the day, the average computer user is merely looking to improve their user experience. This isn't measured by a theoretical advantage in controlled conditions with the nicest equipment available, it is measured by simple things like boot time, application load time and overall feel of the OS.
How can I tell the difference?
So we've decided to take a different approach, we all know replacing your aging hard drive should increase overall system performance, boot speed, program loading etc. Many bench tests have shown massive increases in read/write speed when comparing HDD's to SSD's, but how many of us (ourselves included) could truly tell you what that difference would be when installed into your specific laptop or one with similar specifications. Is it worth the upgrade? Which drive should you pick? Could your money be better spent somewhere else?
We've devised a relatively simple set of tests, with the average user wanting to simply have a faster feeling computer we've prioritized boot time and application load time. You may wonder why, well, because the vast majority of the general public isn't playing World of Warcraft worrying about how high they can adjust the video settings, nor are they editing 4k video. Most of us use our computers for work and school which tends to consist of your favorite web browser and simple office tasks like Word, Excel or maybe an e-mail client like Outlook. None of these would be considered computer intensive by any stretch of the imagination so the average computer handles them with ease. That doesn't mean you don't find yourself wanting a faster computer, but upgrading is typically quite expensive. Not only in dollar cost but the investment of time. For most, making the switch to a new computer takes many hours. Transferring your data is usually the easy part, most everyone has a thumb drive which makes it nothing more than a drag and drop procedure, the applications you run become the issue. One cannot simply copy a program from one Windows machine onto the next, it must be re-installed, settings reconfigured and data imported from your backup. This typically isn't hard for the seasoned vet but again for the general public it can feel like a monumental task.
So how can you get away from this costly upgrade? Well, the most obvious way is to upgrade your existing computer. If you're using a laptop you essentially have two options, memory (RAM) and your hard drive. Could you upgrade your processor? Sure, but for arguments sake it is not for the faint of heart. If you'd like to disassemble your entire laptop you're welcome to do so, again the average person shouldn't even consider it.
We've decided to cover the hard drive upgrade in this article and after testing we can quite honestly say no single change will have as profound of an effect on your computers performance. We've tested many drives ranging the whole gamut of speeds, if you aren't familiar with hard drive speeds here is a quick rundown. Older drives range from 4200 to 5400rpm. This is the rotational speed of the physical platters or 'disks' inside the hard drive. Newer laptops and some older performance machines came equipped with 7200rpm drives. The brand and style of your drive is truly irrelevant, no matter what any bench test or geek tells you, the faster your drive is spinning the faster things will load from it. Sure there are differences between two 5400rpm drives but again they are minor. From our experience the vast majority of laptops to this day are still sold with 5400rpm hard drives. Unless you've purchased an upgraded computer, it is likely a 5400rpm drive and that's fine, you'll notice a massive change when upgrading.
As for Solid State Hard Drives, there are hundreds of options and more reviews than we can count. In a general sense every single SSD is going to be vastly superior to your existing HDD. SSD's have had their issues in the past but for the most part that is water under the bridge. We see hundreds of failed or failing hard drives, but very rarely see a failed SSD. You may be wondering which SSD is best, and you're welcome to spend hours reading through reviews and comparing models but truly, you'll be hard pressed to notice a difference in the average laptop. The drives are so blazingly fast they will no longer be the bottleneck in your system, your motherboard chipset, processor and memory will now be what's holding you back. We suggest worrying more about the size of the drive than how it stacks up speed wise against its competitors. Fortunately the cost of of these drives has plummeted recently and it's become easy to find a high quality and high capacity drive at an affordable price. We've recently upgraded our laptops to use the just released Samsung EVO 850 line of drives. Why did we pick these? Well, they were newer, faster, and almost the same cost as the prior 840 line. In general, newer SSD's are better than older models and when the cost is all but identical it's an easy choice. We opted for the 500gb version and at the time of writing it is readily available on Amazon for $188.99. You may not need all that space and can cut the price in half by selecting the 250gb version. We've made a simple video to show you the results you can expect to see when upgrading from a traditional hard drive to a solid state drive, again most SSD's would have almost identical performance in your average laptop. Additionally most of the newer SSD's (and certainly the EVO 850's we bought) now come with simple software and instructions on how to move your information to them, in turn eliminating the need to re-install Windows, your programs and your data. In essence you'll install their software with the included CD, plug in the drive via an external drive enclosure (more on that here) and with a few clicks of the mouse you'll have an identical copy of your existing information. You'll then replace your hard drive with the new SSD and away you go.
Let's see it in action
The test computers being used here are identical Dell Latitude E6430s with 2.7GHz Intel i5 processors, 8gb of memory and the exact same information on each drive. These are very capable machines and likely faster than what most readers are using, regardless the tests hold true. From left to right the computers have a 5400rpm drive, a 7200rpm drive and finally a Samsung EVO 850 SSD. How did we do that? Well, to make things fair we've done a fresh install of Windows 7 Professional onto one, then cloned that drive onto the others. In essence this means each drive is loading the exact same information, on computers with the exact same specifications and the only change made is the drive itself. The difference in performance speaks for itself.
Keep in mind these are laptops with what would still be considered higher end specifications than what most are using. We've done this test on numerous computers and the results were strikingly similar. We used an HP G62 with a 2.3GHz Intel Pentium Processor and 2gb of memory running Windows 7 and the difference was nothing short of night and day. Prior to the drive change the computer was very sluggish, simple tasks like booting up took over a minute and a half. I personally would have absolutely considered selling the computer and upgrading to a newer machine. We cloned the drive to an older SanDisk SSD (circa 2013) and with no other changes the computer would boot completely in under 30 seconds. This is the kind of performance increase you could previously only dream of. There's a good chance your current laptop with a new SSD will be faster than many of the sub $500 laptops you could pick up at your local big box store today. Sure if you're getting into heavy usage their processors and memory will give them the edge but for day to day tasks the SSD is going to be a game changer for you. Hopefully this article helps point you in the right direction with your next computer upgrade, upgrading the memory (RAM) will be covered next. These simple changes can keep your aging laptop usable for years to come. Questions? We'd love to help answer them, simply ask in the comments below!Since the early days of the Space Age spent rocket stages, decommissioned satellites, and rubbish of all kinds have contaminated near-Earth space. At present more than 100 million pieces of human-made debris ranging in size from dead satellites to flecks of paint whiz around the Earth at incredibly fast speeds. This cloud of space junk poses a threat to our space infrastructure on which we now depend so much for navigation, communication, Earth surveillance, and scientific and industrial data collection, because even small fragments of a disintegrated spacecraft can seriously damage other satellites.
Does the creation of space debris mean that humanity has extended the “industrial sphere” into near-Earth space? Historian Lisa Ruth Rand, A PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses this question on episode 67 of Exploring Environmental History. She also examines why environmental historians should study the expansion of humanity beyond earth and other space environmental history related issues.
Further reading & resources
Lisa Ruth Rand, “Gravity, the Sequel: Why the Real Story Would Be on the Ground”, The Atlantic, 28 February 2014.
Lisa Ruth Rand, “How Apollo Astronauts Took Out the Trash. One small step for garbage. One giant leap for garbage-kind”, Popular Mechanics, 21 July 2015.
Website of Lisa Ruth Rand
Jan Oosthoek, “New horizons: space, a new frontier for environmental historians”, Environmental History Resources, 16 July 2015.
NASA Orbital Debris Program
Pyne, Steve. “Extreme Environments”, Environmental History 15 (2010) 3, 509-513.
Music credit
“The Astronaut” by timberman, Available from ccMixterOne of Brisbane's city leaders has been warned to "get out of the way" and not hold up a $115 million road project nine years in the making.
The Wynnum Road corridor upgrade was first announced by Brisbane City Council in 2014 following a lengthy push for a road upgrade from councillor Shayne Sutton (Morningside).
Greens councillor Jonathan Sri was accused by councillor Shayne Sutton of being unethical and giving residents false hope. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams
The early stages of the project had commenced and were received overwhelming support from both LNP and ALP councillors, but the council's first and only Greens councillor Jonathan Sri (The Gabba) was threatening to stop, or at least delay, the project, which he believed was a "mistake" and a "poor use of ratepayer funds".
On Tuesday the details of the contracting plan for Stage 1 and Stage 1B of the project were discussed at council chambers ahead of the tender opportunity being opened to south-east Queensland contractors in the coming weeks.Twitter adopts country-specific censorship regime - how will that work?
As Xeni wrote, Twitter has adopted Google's tactics for coping with legally binding censorship demands: from now on, when it receives a legal demand to censor a tweet, it will only censor that tweet for users in the country from which the demand emanates. Other countries' users will still see it. Users in the censored country will see a notice that material has been censored. Additionally, all censorship demands will be archived at Chillngeffects.org, a clearinghouse that tracks Internet censorship.
In many ways, this is preferable to the existing system, whereby legally enforceable censorship orders would affect all Twitter users. And of course, Twitter only has to honor censorship demands in countries where it has offices and assets; Lower Pottsylvania can require removal of every mention of Glorious Leader, but unless Twitter has an office there, it can safely ignore the orders (JWZ points out that Twitter has opened offices in many censorious countries and plans to open offices in more that if Twitter expands into censorious countries to attain its goal of one billion users, it will expose itself to more censorship requests, and that this expansion will be profit-driven as well because there's money to be had by setting up local operations there).
It's not a coincidence that Twitter's censorship strategy is similar to Google's -- they were both set up by Alex Macgillivray, a Berkman Fellow and attorney who recently left Google for Twitter.
One interesting difference between Google's censorship handling and Twitter's is the ability of users to directly communicate with one another in a fast and fluid manner. If a tweet is censored in Saudi Arabia, it will be very easy for Saudi users to find non-Saudi users and ask, "What was in that censored message?" and then retweet it.
Among other things, Twitter wants to expand its audience from about 100 million active uses to more than 1 billion. Reaching that goal will require expanding into more countries, which will mean Twitter will be more likely to have to submit to laws that run counter to the free-expression protections guaranteed under the first amendment in the US.
Twitter able to censor tweets in individual countriesThe folks at UCO know that staying safe in the backcountry is of the utmost importance. To help make navigation of your campsite both safe and easy, they’ve introduced the StakeLight.
Seeing that every tent needs tent stakes, they figured why not throw some LED lights into the mix? Constructed from durable 5000 series aluminum, each tent stake has been outfitted with a LED light. There 2 different modes programmed into each one, including Area Mode and Strobe Mode. Area is perfect for campsite navigation, and provides 17 lumens of light for up to 10 hours. Strobe Mode is perfect for finding your tent in the dark backcountry, and will burn for up to 24 hours. The lights are powered by 1 AAA battery, and an integrated on/off switch helps you manage the battery life much more efficiently. The LEDs have also been enclosed in a water-resistant TPE case, so rain water is nothing to worry about. [Purchase]The following paraphrased reasons for business to include bicycle parking were first summarized in a pamphlet entitled Bike Parking for Your Business, by the Chicago Department of Transportation in 1998. They are as true, if not more so, today in 2013.
Increase your overall parking capacity at very little cost.
Gain a competitive advantage by attracting bicycling customers.
Eliminates the clutter, hazards, and tree damage from haphazard bicycle parking.
Attract and retain health conscious customers and employees.
Good facilities attract more users over time.
Here are a five others that I would like to add:
Reduce health care costs and lost productivity due to illness by providing bicycle parking for improved employee health.
Many codes now provide incentives for adding bicycle parking, like allowing less motor vehicle spaces.
Helps reduce your overall carbon footprint and is good for Mother Earth.
Great public relations tool.
It will make you feel good inside.
AdvertisementsA 56-year-old nurse at a southern California nursing home thought she scored a slice of the big prize after the facility’s Jewish owner bought thousands of tickets for employees — but it turned out to all be a hoax.
The nurse’s son told her she was one of three winners of the giant $1.5 billion windfall and even sent a Photoshopped image of the supposed winning ducat.
He later admitted the claim was a practical joke, the New York Daily News reported.
“It’s a joke. It’s a prank…by my brother,” the nurse’s daughter Jennifer told the paper Thursday night. “It’s embarrassing. This is too much for us.”
The hoax ended a brief period of euphoria at the Pomona nursing home where the woman works.
It also put a sour note on what seemed like a remarkable mitzvah by nursing home magnate Shlomo Rechnitz.
Rechnitz, the largest nursing home provider in California, said he had bought over 15,000 Powerball tickets for all employees and residents at his facilities as a morale-booster.
Along with the ticket came cards reading: “We will provide the ticket. You provide the dream.”
The manager of the Pomona facility, David Levy, told the New York Post that it was pandemonium when people thought the nurse had won.
“Her reaction was that she didn’t believe it. She then pulled out her ticket and reviewed it with two other nurses — number by number,” he said.
Then the mom of seven finished her shift and went home just before midnight, reported the Post.
His boss, Rechnitz, is known for bursts of unusual philanthropy. He paid the mortgage for a financially troubled Los Angeles Chabad house and gave $1 million to Hurricane Sandy victims.
A spokesman for Rechnitz told Buzzfeed: “If it is indeed the case that someone pulled a prank on her, that’s reprehensible. She’s a wonderful lady, and an incredible employee.”
He once forked over $50 to each of hundreds of U.S. servicemen stranded at an Ireland airport.
Rechnitz has had brushes with controversy too.
His nursing homes received poor ratings in an extensive investigative report by the Sacramento Bee newspaper. And the FBI raided offices at one home in 2014 in an ongoing probe into suspected criminal activity, the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles reported.
Three ticket holders in all with a claim on a record $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot were laying low on Thursday, their identities officially still a mystery even as lottery officials revealed the retailers in California, Florida and Tennessee that sold them the lucky tickets.
Each of the winning tickets is worth $528.8 million to the holders, lottery officials said in California, one of 44 states plus Washington, D.C., and two U.S. territories that sold millions of Powerball tickets.
The winning numbers of 08 27 34 04 19 and Powerball 10, picked in a drawing on Wednesday night, appeared on tickets sold in three stores: a 7-Eleven convenience store in Chino Hills, California, a Publix supermarket in Melbourne Beach, Florida and Naifeh’s Food Mart in Munford, Tennessee. The jackpot winners overcame odds of 1 in 292 million.
“The Chino Hills winner has not come forward yet,” California Lottery said on its Twitter feed.—With Reuters
This story "Powerball Hoax Ruins Jewish Nursing Home Owner's Lottery Mitzvah" was written by Forward Staff.ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday approved the removal of moratorium on death penalty after the carnage in Peshawar killed 141 people.
Addressing an All Parties Conference (APC) in Peshawar, the premier announced that the moratorium on death penalty, which was imposed under international pressure, has been lifted.
“The prime minister has abolished the moratorium on death penalty in terrorism-related cases,” an official from Nawaz's office said.
Soon after resuming office, the newly-elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said it wanted to reinstate the death penalty in a bid to crack down on criminals and militants.
In this respect, the government had decided to hang four convicts on death row in August last year. However, a temporary stay was ordered on these executions following objections from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and rights groups.
President Mamnoon rejects mercy petitions of convicted terrorists
President Mamnoon Hussain has turned down mercy petitions of eight convicted terrorists after the government lifted moratorium on death sentence for convicted terrorists.
These mercy petitions were pending in the presidency since 2012 and today the president rejected these mercy petitions by exercising his powers, a presidential source told Dawn.
Following rejections of these appeals, orders of executions have been passed onto various prisons for hanging of terrorists.
Read: HRCP’s rally against death penalty
A day before, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam - Fazl (JUI-F) Secretary General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri had said in a press conference that a moratorium on death penalty was encouraging terrorists and had limited counter-terrorism actions in the country.
Maulana Haidri, who is Minister of State for Postal Services, had said that the state had no right to suspend the death penalty.
“Only a victim’s kin has the right to pardon the killer with or without taking compensation. This is an Islamic way of justice and being an ideological state Pakistan should have Islamic laws,” he had said.
Take a look: JUI-F criticises death penalty moratorium
The JUI-F leader had also said terrorists did not fear the writ of law only because the punishment for heinous crimes like murder and terrorism was practically negligible.
Pakistan has reportedly one of the largest death row populations in the world with more than 8,000 prisoners sentenced to death. Some 150 countries have abolished the death penalty or no longer carry out executions.
Pakistan's moratorium drew praise because of concerns its courts and police were too inept to ensure the accused a fair trial. However, a convicted murderer and a former army serviceman was executed in 2012.
Examine: Militant siege of Peshawar school ends, 141 killedA proper Six Sigma deployment includes the use of the Lean tools and strategies. Six Sigma is the umbrella deployment technique for implementing value-added enhancement tasks aligned with the enterprise wants of the organization. These targeted tasks goal Crucial to Quality (CTQ), Crucial to Schedule (CTS) and Vital to Value (CTC) alternatives inside a company. Six Sigma makes use of quite a lot of instruments and strategies, together with statistical (enumerative stats, the statistical course of management, designed experiments), drawback fixing, consensus constructing, and lean instruments. A given venture could not use the entire instruments, but most organizations discover they want many of the instruments at any given time.
Lean gives important strategies to eliminate waste from the process for the enhancement of buying needs and wants of the customers. As such, the Lean strategies present a vital technique of engaging in the Six Sigma targets. Equally, the Lean strategies require using knowledge, and statistics present the required strategies for knowledge evaluation. It's unfortunate that some Lean experts, and a few Lean Six Sigma applications, don't stress the essential significance of the statistical instruments of their evaluation since this lack of rigor will forestall tasks from realizing their full potential.
Comparison between Lean and Six Sigma tells that Lean is a philosophy of identifying and eliminating non-essential and non-value including actions to streamline manufacturing and thereby enhance high quality, whereas Six Sigma is a change administration methodology to handle, enhance, and or reinvent enterprise processes to restrict course of variations to 3.4 defects per million alternatives and thereby improve quality.
The basic difference between Lean and Six Sigma is that “Lean" is a philosophy and Six Sigma is a program. Lean makes an attempt to inculcate an organizational tradition change and everlasting habits change amongst staff, to eliminate waste, whereas Six Sigma is a methodological course of intervention that doesn't try to alter the organizational tradition or try an everlasting behavioral change amongst staff.
Process Strategies
"Lean" identifies the necessity for a course of or exercise first and if the exercise provides worth tries to enhance on such exercise via improved process of the stream and enhancing productiveness. Six Sigma focuses particularly on eliminating the process of variations to improve the process capability.
Lean, as the title suggests breaks down processes to reveal bone essentials under its guiding principle that any activity or function that doesn't add worth constitutes waste that wants elimination.
Six Sigma, however, doesn't question whether or not the activity adds value and works under the guiding principle that any variation in existing process the output is a waste.Share. The box office got a dose of the Super Soldier serum. The box office got a dose of the Super Soldier serum.
Captain: America: The Winter Soldier is no sleeper agent at the box office -- the Marvel film is crushing it with an iron fist.
Exit Theatre Mode
According to Deadline, the film turned in $10.2 million in Thursday screenings, stomping Divergent’s $1.5 million domestic intake. And now grossing over $85 million worldwide, Captain America: The Winter Soldier looks to surpass Fast Five as the highest-grossing April opening ever, domestically.
Cap 2 opened at 344 IMAX locations, and beat previous major Thursday night showings -- including Man of Steel ($9 million), The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug ($8.8 million) and Thor: The Dark World ($7.1 million).
Exit Theatre Mode
Internationally, Cap 2 has grossed $94.8 million worldwide, already surpassing the original film’s $65 million opening weekend.
Captain America: The Winter soldier is now in theatres. Go see it!
Anthony Couto is a writer for IGN. Batman Returns is his higher power. Follow him on Twitter at @AnthCouto or on IGN at TonyCouto.Photo: Randy Owen
Photo: Randy Owen
fanmade essay You Belong to Me The fanfiction boom is reshaping the power dynamic between creators and consumers. By Laura Miller This kiss never happened in ‘Twilight’ Edward and Jacob, by Randy Owen, graphite on paper.
Annie Proulx got ficced. In a recent interview in the Paris Review, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author confessed that she wishes she’d never written her most famous work, the short story “Brokeback Mountain,”about the star-crossed romance between two cowboys. Having fans is a good thing, especially for authors of quiet, spare realism — not exactly a cohort with a healthy surplus of readers. But in the last few years, writers, filmmakers, and other artists have seen fans seize control of their creations and reimagine them as fanfiction, or fic, as its aficionados like to call it. Proulx first got ficced when a whole new audience came to “Brokeback” after the Academy Award–winning film adaptation was released in 2005. Less reverent than her typical reader, these fans have busily set themselves to producing what Proulx has termed “pornish” fiction based on her story’s two main characters,. “Unfortunately,” she said, “the audience that ‘Brokeback’ reached most strongly … can’t bear the way it ends — they just can’t stand it. So they rewrite the story, including all kinds of boyfriends and new lovers and so forth after Jack is killed.” The resulting stories, Proulx grumbled, “just drive me wild.”
Proulx is far from the only mainstream artist being dragged unwillingly into a new, fan-dominated world. Once exiled to obscure corners of the internet, fanfiction — amateur fiction based on characters from preexisting works or real-life celebrities — has lately become a force driving popular culture. As Proulx realized, fans these days aren’t satisfied to just sit back and consume. They want to participate. They want to create. And they don’t want to wait for anyone else’s permission to do it. Millions of fanfiction stories have been uploaded onto vast online archives where other fans read, rate, and comment on them. Romances, often torrid, between ostensibly straight male characters like Harry Potter and his onetime nemesis Draco Malfoy are especially popular, and there’s an entire category of fanfiction, called, in which beloved male characters and celebrities (e.g., One Direction singer Harry Styles) are able, bizarrely, to get pregnant. Fandom’s untrammeled imagination is also colonizing the wider world. E L James’s Fifty Shades of Grey started as Twilight fic. And what are J. J. Abrams’s Star Trek and Star Wars reboots — which take the original source materials (called “canon” in fic circles) and shape them to new ends — if not examples of the fanfiction spirit when enabled by hundreds of millions of dollars?
Although human beings have been stealing and reworking each other’s stories for millennia, fanfiction as we now know it began back in the days of, on whose mimeographed pages female Trekkers wrote of Mr. Spock swooning in the arms of an ardent Captain Kirk. For decades, fanfiction communities — soon to migrate en masse to the web — functioned as a subset of science-fiction and fantasy fandom, where they were treated, by the mostly male nerds who ran things, like a younger sister best banished to her room whenever company came by. The internet changed all that by ushering in the era of the networked fan, often a girl who sampled her first taste of fic in. Like it or not, the once-Olympian creators of the canon — known among fic writers as TPTB, or “the powers that be” — now have little choice but to listen to them. Robust, established online networks of Harry Potter and Twilight fans played a significant role in making The Hunger Games books into best sellers and, after that, blockbuster films.
Continue reading the essay below fanmade stats Harry Styles Rules the World Fanfiction by the numbers. By david marchese Fanfiction’s great allure is its lack of boundaries. If you can think it, you can share it. But this stuff doesn’t bubble up out of nowhere, and what’s popular on the screens of fanfiction readers is a pretty accurate mirror of what’s popular in real life, too. Here, with data supplied by online fic clearinghouse Wattpad, is what fans are reading and writing about. “Casting” Making a celebrity or character the protagonist in a piece of fanfiction. Top 25 Celebrity Fanfiction “Castings” Winter 2015 - scroll for more - “fandom” A given fanfiction subject. Most Popular Fanfiction Fandoms Ranked by number of times tagged in a Wattpad story. Time Spent Reading Unusual Fandoms on Wattpad Growing Fandoms Number of story uploads, 2014 vs. 2013 “ships” The relationships between two characters. 1,010,482 Minutes spent reading fic about the johnlock ship (John Watson and Sherlock Holmes) Winter 2015 Most Popular Ships Ranked by number of times the ship was tagged in a Wattpad story. “community” Readership size and scope. Countries that upload the most fanfic to Wattpad: Total fanfiction uploads shared on Wattpad: Fanfiction uploads shared on Wattpad per day: Fanfiction uploads shared on Wattpad in 2014: PHOTOGRAPHS: EVERETT COLLECTION (HARRY POTTER); WARNER BROS/EVERETT COLLECTION (SUPERNATURAL); WALT DISNEY/EVERETT COLLECTION (FROZEN); COURTESY OF LIONSGATE (DIVERGENT ); NEWSCOM (CLIFFORD, IRWIN, HEMMINGS, HORAN); EVERETT COLLECTION/REX USA (STYLES ); PATRICK MCMULLAN (REMAINING)
Fanfiction (just one word, or you betray yourself as a noob) is the real Cinderella in this story, raised from the scullery by a fairy godmother named E L James. James’s erotica, originally titled “Master of the Universe,” reimagined Twilight’s Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen, as, respectively, a gawky ingénue and the handsome, bondage-loving billionaire who seduces her. Such stories, in which the characters are essentially the same despite significant changes in their circumstances, are called AU, or “alternate universe” scenarios.
James isn’t the only fic writer to make the leap from fan to pro: Others include the historical-fantasy author Naomi Novik and YA star Cassandra Clare, creator of the. But James proved that fic could become an entertainment juggernaut to rival the original properties that inspired it. The movie version of James’s fic raked in more than $400 million internationally in less than two weeks, so literary agents and movie producers are looking for more of the same. Last April, a military wife named Anna Todd signed a lucrative contract with a Simon & Schuster imprint to publish, in multiple volumes, an epic erotic romance about a demure college freshman’s relationship with a tattooed bad boy named Hardin Scott. When Todd’s was first posted in install |
white and she threatened CIA guard who had to beg for his life. He explains that the pencil weapon can be used to stimulate calcium atomic frequencies to cause great pain like being burned, but one was not actually burned. When the iodine setting is used by the stun gun it can cause one to bleed to death. He compared this to the black plague when people would bleed to death due to arteries being weakened and blood would leak out causing death. In an email, Charles clarified how the pencil weapon works: “The pencil weapon could be set to stimulate the atomic frequencies of Sodium, Calcium or Iodine. Stimulating the Sodium atoms caused immense pain because it caused the nerves to discharge. If the weapon is set high enough, it can cause instant death. Stimulating the Calcium atoms caused the reverse (i.e. sleep, calmness, relaxation etc ) because it causes the nerves to reset and relax. Stimulating the Iodine atoms, of course, as described in book three, causes death by internal bleeding because it causes chemical changes that allow the blood to pass through the walls of the arteries in and around the thyroid gland.”
He said that tall whites tempers can change very quickly from friendly to hostile. The pencil weapon was used against Charles in a misunderstanding that was described in his book where but the iodine setting was used which caused internal bleeding. He recalls seeing a friendly tall white female approach him when he was lying hurt and she did a kind of graceful dance around him. In an email he described that tall white as “a young female, probably equivalent to a human young woman of age 19. she stood approximately 5’10 – 5′ 11” tall. She had a male companion who I always guessed was her brother because the two of them looked like fraternal twins. She and I were completely unafraid of each other. On a number of
evenings when I was making the morning balloon run, she would come up and stand beside or near me or slightly behind me. Frequently she would come within arm’s length and still not show the slightest fear of me. Likewise, when she came in that close, I also did not feel any particular fear of her either. Her brother, by comparison, was always noticeably afraid of me and always kept his distance from me ( usually he stayed back at least 50 – 60 feet ). He obviously liked me, but also, he obviously never trusted me. For example, he would never turn his back to me when he was anywhere in my area ( i.e. within a 100 feet ).
Q. If this could occur to you after all the trust that was developed with the Tall Whites, what does that suggest for most members of humanity?
The idea that Tall Whites can turn on one and use weapons even despite all the good things that have been done is generally correct. Tall Whites differ very much in temperament and personality as do humans. He explained an incident involving a tall white general who wouldn’t brook any discussion and could be cruel if he felt he was not being obeyed to the letter. Yet the tall white doctor was quite friendly and would approach very closely. So basically the tall whites are quite varied in terms of personality.
The tall white captain described in Charles book was a nice enough guy, but he only came around humans when it was necessary. He only wanted to know about humans to the extent it would help him do his job. A cultural difference was evident as in cases where Americans might befriend a Japanese, but wouldn’t want to socialize with Japanese. He stressed that tall whites vary tremendously in personality.
Q. When was the last time you directly communicated with a Tall White?
He referred to what was described in book three which is when he left for military service in Vietnam in 1967. Subsequent to then, he has had no communication with the tall whites.
Final Comments by Charles Hall.
There are many episodes he had that he didn’t include in the book. For example, in 1965 American generals were showing Tall White Generals through the military barracks that he slept in. When that first started happening, he thought he was dreaming. He remembers Generals talking to Tall Whites about taking Air force officers with the tall whites on scout craft. In an email, Charles elaborated on this: “The American Generals were deiscussing the possibility of the tall whites taking two young American Officers on board the Tall White’s Black Deep Space craft ( ie. to another nearby star ). I personnally saw the American Genrals themselves with their tall white counterparts boarding and deboarding the white scout craft.” He thought the discussion was too risky to include since it included what he felt was sensitive material that was probably classified.
He stressed how the tall whites would follow agreements to the letter. He gave the example of an agreement he had with the tall whites. They would basically never sneak up behind him and scare him, and he would be sure to never do the same to him to them. This agreement was closely followed in all the interactions Charles had with the tall whites and helped him survive. Basically, he believed the tall whites could be trusted once they had agreed to something.
Evaluation and Exopolitical Analysis of Charles Hall
I found Charles Hall to be very credible and compelling in his response to questions. He displays great integrity and is quite sincere in describing solely the facts concerning his experiences. He described his experiences with the Tall Whites in a very objective manner, and the emotional reality of the experiences were quite vivid and conveyed much information about his state of mind and the seriousness of the experiences he had. The emotions that Charles objectively described in great detail conveyed the extent to which what he was experiencing shook his world view, and the world views of those around him.
Charles knowledge of the tall white’s interaction with the US Air force generals is very enlightening in terms of the way agreements were followed to the letter. It appears that the tall whites are quite legalistic and this appears to be something that the US military finds to be helpful in working with them. This is very significant in the technology exchanges which Hall describes were vitally important for the US military. The tall whites were quite clear that only certain categories of technology would be shared. Categories that presumably would not give the US military deep space capabilities. According to Charles, this technology exchange involved the US collaborating in the construction of scout craft used by the Tall Whites. Providing the required material for the tall whites presumably would have helped US scientists understand the principles of space flight. Since this is what Charles observed in the mid 1960s, it may be presumed that larger constructions may have been more recently attempted that have more advanced propulsion systems than nuclear power. The exopolitical question here is what would the tall whites gain or have gained in return for allowing US authorities to collaborate in building larger space craft. If technology for smaller scout craft was given in exchange for basing rights, what Earth resources would be or have been traded for larger constructions using more advanced propulsion systems?
Charles Hall comes across as very thoughtful and very intelligent. He has a Master’s degree in nuclear physics and believes he has worked out some of the main principles of the tall white’s deep space propulsion system. He doesn’t pull any punches in describing the intimidating behavior of the Tall Whites, and their readiness to use deadly force to protect themselves and especially their children against potential threats – intended or otherwise. Even surprising or scaring tall white children could lead to tall white adults intimidating humans with their advanced weaponry as his book makes clear.
Significantly, in his book he describes how the tall whites would threaten to kill humans who scared or disobeyed them [for quotes click here]. In the interview, however, he focused on how the tall whites would only respond when they were threatened in some way. He stressed the principle of “tit for tat” that the tall whites followed which is well understood in human society and is a principle found in biblical documents (lex talionis). It appeared that in the interview, Charles was portraying the tall whites in a more reasonable light than described in his book. While it was clear that Charles was being as objective as possible, the discrepancy between his book narration and the interview in terms of the conditions when tall whites threatened to kill or intimidated military servicemen and humans in general, suggested he was painting a more sympathetic picture of their behavior than in the book. This is something I hope he can clarify later since it helps contextualize the motivations of the tall whites on Earth.
Charles describes the tall whites as having no ulterior designs on the Earth in terms of colonizing it or taking over governments. He stressed the analogy of the use of overseas bases by the US military such as in the case of US bases in Italy or the Pacific. The idea was that the use of such bases was purely done to facilitate the operations of the US military, while recognizing local sovereignty and customs. So just as the US government/military has no ulterior motive for control of Italy through its base there, so too the tall whites have no ulterior motivation to control the Earth.
This is quite a controversial argument since the control of bases throughout different periods of history is quite contentious, and was part of the dynamics that drove colonialism. Indeed, the existence of military bases in the Saudi Arabia were a major factor influencing regional perceptions of US motivations in the Middle East, and influenced events in Afghanistan and Iraq. If the tall whites need the Earth as a base for their deep space operations and commerce, then it would be naïve to believe they have no interest in influencing human affairs, and political institutions. Human history shows that when foreign powers establish bases on one’s territories, it’s hard to get such powers to leave, and to prevent them from interfering from local political affairs. We may have already achieved that point due to agreements reached between the secret committees managing extraterrestrial affairs and the tall whites.
Charles believes that the tall whites have been on Earth since at least the early 1950’s, and possibly as long as a hundred years or more based on what some Tall Whites related to him, and mental images he received when reading about local history of Indian springs. This will be a critical question to explore since obviously the time of the first appearance of the Tall Whites on Earth will influence our assessment of their ultimate goals here. If they have been here for a century or more as Hall suggests and which he was influenced to believe from the tall whites, then it would be fair to assess that they have no ulterior design on controlling the Earth. Presumably, they could have easily taken over control of the Earth in the early 19th century. If however the tall whites appeared subsequent to the 1954 Eisenhower-ET agreements (see here) then it is very likely that the Tall Whites have ulterior motives which go significantly beyond merely resupplying and repairing their deep space craft on route to other interstellar locations. The use of time travel technologies might be used by the tall whites to buttress the idea that they have been on Earth for centuries, but this could be entirely fabricated.
I believe that the tall whites were associated with the 1954 Eisenhower-ET meetings and that they subsequently established their base in the Indian Springs area of Nevada in that time period. It was clear that Charles was subtly influenced by the tall whites to believe they have been present in different periods of US history. The ability of the tall whites to refer to earlier historical periods and their presence is possibly due to advanced technologies such as time travel which they can use to influence our perceptions of their historical presence. This will be naturally controversial but is vitally important as knowledge of the tall whites becomes more widespread, and their exopolitical significance is discussed.
In sum, my view is that Charles Hall testimony is vitally important information that has great exopolitical significance, and is likely to gain widespread public interest. Already, various media outlets are treating the Charles Hall story as a major disclosure event, and Hall’s obvious integrity, clarity and coherence is generating much public interest. Hall’s disclosure of his experiences at Nellis Air Force base at Indian Springs from 1965-67 will likely play a major role in public disclosure of the extraterrestrial presence, and will help shape public perceptions of extraterrestrials and their presence on Earth.
© Michael E. Salla, PhD
December 3, 2004
http://162.144.207.78/~exopoli3
drsalla@exopolitics.org
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Tags: Charles Hall, extraterrestrials, Tall WhitesCovering the Police is a collaboration with U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.
The Central Station police meeting Thursday evening was supposed to cover crime and homelessness throughout the entire police district. Instead, concerns over two people dominated the 75-minute session.
One was a woman who hangs out around the 1700 block of Sacramento Street, allegedly offering drug-laced cigarettes to fellow homeless people, community members said. The other, a man residents identified as “Timothy,” spends his time around Polk and Clay streets and the nearby Whole Foods, where he allegedly acts violently.
Tensions flared as several of the meeting’s two dozen attendees described incidents in which they said the man and woman were attracting drug crime and threatened bodily harm.
“Someone’s gonna get hurt or die,” said Erica Sandberg, a Nob Hill resident sitting at the front. “It’s reached a nadir.”
One meeting-goer referred to Timothy as an “urban terrorist.” Another called him a “local terrorist.”
“He has physically assaulted people,” said a sharply dressed man.
“We have called everybody,” he continued. “How many calls before there’s a chalk outline of a body?”
Multiple times throughout the meeting at the Powell Street veteran’s center, Central Station Capt. Paul Yep and frustrated community members interrupted each other as they attempted to get their concerns across.
At one point, Sandberg left her chair and pretended to run toward another community member, shouting threats and expletives, to demonstrate Timothy’s behavior.
Yep’s point, meted out between the back-and-forth of exasperated meeting-goers, was this: Officers respond to all the calls they can, but legal and procedural hurdles limit the actions police can take.
After more than 30 minutes, a frustrated Yep finally attempted to respond in detail.
“This is really bizarre to me,” he said. “When I hear the community saying we’re doing nothing, that boggles my mind.”
The Central Station answers 911 calls in fewer than five minutes on average, Yep said, noting that the SFPD responded to over 20,000 calls between Jan. 1 and Sept. 1 to check on the wellbeing of a person.
Yep pointed out that he cannot arrest people unless they are acting out in front of police. And the police can’t press charges; that’s the job of Assistant District Attorney Charles Bisesto, who Yep said could not attend the evening’s meeting due to a scheduling conflict.
“We share your frustration,” one attendee told him, asking how the community could mobilize to reduce the threat of the man and woman and improve the homelessness situation in general. One woman suggested folks contact their representatives at City Hall.
“Calling your politicians goes a long way,” she said over a small chorus of skepticism. “It doesn’t mean just calling them once, it means — ” but she was drowned out by more clamor.
“Okay, I’m going to get back on track,” Yep interjected. “I totally believe you when you say you saw them and they did this thing, but when we get there and they’re not doing that thing, we cannot act on it. It would be … ”
A woman from the back broke in. If police spent enough time patrolling, “you would see this,” she said, referring to the growing numbers of mentally ill and threatening homeless people.
“All you have to do is walk around the neighborhood, and you’d see it 10 times,” the woman added.
At the start of the meeting, Randy Quezada, from the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, tried to assure meeting-goers that his agency is working to address the challenges of homelessness.
On any given night, there are some 7,500 sheltered or unsheltered homeless people in San Francisco, according to Quezada. Supervisorial District 3, which encompasses most of the area of Central Station, is home to around 400 unsheltered individuals, according to this year’s Point-in-Time count.
Quezada, who was invited to lead a dialogue on homelessness, discussed the department’s services and outreach efforts, and its goal of cutting the number of chronic homeless in half.
Last fiscal year, San Francisco increased its spending on homelessness and supportive housing to $275 million.
Residents have to work alongside his department, the SFPD and other community organizations to address concerns around homeless residents, Quezada said.
But when he finally had the chance to speak at length again, meeting-goers had already made their concerns known, and more than half of the attendees were filing out.Hang around the Watt’s Up With That? blog for any length of time, and it will become apparent that His Lordship, Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount of Brenchley, is all but worshipped by many of the regulars there. No matter how absurd Monckton’s intellectual flagellations, Anthony Watts will post them, and hordes of credulous commenters will heap adulation upon His Lordship. One of Monckton’s long-time fans is Willis Eschenbach–construction manager, climate hobbyist, and frequent contributor to both the blog and the Heartland disinformation conference. Willis, unfortunately, learned what happens if you express strong disagreement with anything Monckton says, i.e., Monckton threatens to sue you. Yes, Monckton has turned yet another corner, and has begun threatening his fellow climate change contrarians, in addition to the typical academics and reporters. Witness poor Willis begging his fallen hero to reconsider!
Christopher, please, I implore you as a friend, cease with the legal threats. Every time you make such a threat of legal action against some scientist that you disagree with, your credibility sinks another notch. Yes, you have the means and the position and the title and the power and the friends and the money to cause trouble for people … do you truly not understand that your threats to use your power and money and advantages and hereditary title against some poor skeptical shlub like myself because you don’t like his claims just makes you look like an insecure bully? Is there truly no other way to defend yourself? Dang, dude, you can strip the hide off a buffalo with your unmatchable eloquence, or have half the world laughing at someone’s foolishness with your irascible wit … you don’t need legal means to set things straight, your intellect and your words are more than enough to do that.
Alas, Willis’s struggle isn’t merely against a momentary lapse in judgement by his hero. He is fighting INVIOLATE LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE–Bickmore’s First and Second Laws of Monckton.
Bickmore’s First Law of Monckton For every person who publicly endorses Lord Monckton’s climate pronouncements for merely irrational reasons, there exists a threshold in Monckton’s behavior which, if crossed, will cause said person to regret their association. Bickmore’s Second Law of Monckton Any behavioral threshold posited by Bickmore’s First Law of Monckton will eventually be crossed by Lord Monckton.
Let’s back up and examine the series of events that led to this curious juncture, so that we might recognize the inexorable march of fate, driven by the Invisible Hand of Bickmore’s Laws of Monckton.
A Pebble in the Pond
Our story begins with Dr. David Evans, an electrical engineer who goes about inexplicably calling himself a “Rocket Scientist”, and a conspiracy theorist who makes Jews uncomfortable by going on and on about an international banking conspiracy involving the Rothschilds. Evans is in the running for the Next Climate Galileo for his new “theory”, which posits a mysterious “Force X” from the Sun that influences the Earth’s climate with an 11-year delay. And it involves math. Jo Nova, Lord Monckton, and some other prominent contrarians immediately jumped on the bandwagon, but others (i.e., the ones who don’t think the Sun can possibly the culprit for recent warming) weren’t so sure. Among them were Willis Eschenbach and Leif Svalgaard. Svalgaard appears to be a solar physicist, and doesn’t buy the idea that the Sun explains everything, but I’ve heard he is some kind of “lukewarmer“. He comments regularly at WUWT, to the extent that Anthony Watts calls him “WUWT’s resident solar expert”.
The usual protocol at WUWT is that Anthony will put up a guest post by some wing nut, even if he knows it is utter nonsense. (Check out some of my favorite examples here.) Some commenters will jump right on the bandwagon, but others will disagree. A few hardy souls from Reality might pop in to take a swipe at it, and will get dog-piled. Watts and all the regulars will pat themselves on the back for being so open-minded, in contrast to the “alarmists” who are always trying to stifle such scintillating intellectual exchanges. It’s all good, as long as the conclusion to any argument (no matter how ridiculous) is that the scientific consensus on climate change is wrong, or doesn’t exist, etc.
The problem is that some of the contrarians–even the sort who hang about WUWT–still have some minimal intellectual standards. Both Eschenbach and Svalgaard were able to recognize that much of Evans’s work relied on a bizarre hodgepodge of solar data sets that was apparently corrupted by some improper data processing techniques. They spoke up, and lots of angry back-and-forth ensued, most notably with the following comment by Svalgaard.
It is worse than I thought. The TSI used by Evans is totally wrong http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/evans/graphs/prediction/total-solar-irradiance.gif Apart from the use of the obsolete Lean TSI for the early years, the most blatant error is the statement that TSI has had a sharp unprecedented drop starting in 2003-2005 to now. This is complete nonsense. Here is TSI since 2003 http://www.leif.org/research/TSI-since-2003.png There is no such drop. If anything TSI is now higher than it were in 2003. As far as I am concerned, the model is already falsified. Not by the observations but by the [almost fraudulent – as there clearly is an agenda here] use of invalid input to begin with. This concludes my comments as the prediction is worthless on its face.
Monckton Escalates
The “almost fraudulent” comment angered His Lordship, who called it “libelous”. Svalgaard returned fire, calling one of Monckton’s comments “outright stupid“, and advising, “You do yourself no favours by pretending to be so dumb.” Monckton insisted he was right, and pronounced Svalgaard’s scientific career to be over.
He is a quack, not a scientist. This was not inadvertence on his part: it was plain wickedness. Nothing he ever says again on any scientific subject can or will be taken seriously. He is finished, dead by his own hand.
Willis Eschenbach was chiming in, meanwhile, and getting a little hot under the collar when Monckton defended Evans’s refusal to make his data and code available to others. “Ooooh, bad Lord Moncton [sic], no cookies, logical fail.”
Monckton, in his usual fashion, started throwing out threats.
I have given Mr Svalgaard every opportunity to apologize to Dr Evans but he has chosen not to take it. I shall now consult the statistician, verify Mr Svalgaard’s employment status and, if any academic institution is employing him, refer his allegation against Dr Evans to the appropriate authorities as an instance of gross and persisting research misconduct.
Which really ticked off Svalgaard. “Good luck with that. I can’t wait.” Monckton then went into some detail about his plans.
I do not speak for Dr Evans in any way, and I have no idea of whether he will decide to sue. As a first step, he might request Anthony to allow him to answer the allegations in a head posting, which would go some way towards expunging Mr Svalgaard’s nastly libel of him in his calling as a scientist. Perhaps in the United States, as one thoughtful commenter has suggested, persistently and falsely calling someone “almost fraudulent” for allegedly “fabricating” scientific data is thought acceptable. Not in Australia. There, as in any British-law jurisdiction, such a libel is taken very seriously indeed. I had hoped I had made that plain to Mr Svalgaard, so as to give him the chance to get himself off the hook. For my part, I am referring Mr Svalgaard’s long list of malicious comments about Dr Evans (but not about me: I give as good as I get) to his university, which will know best how to handle the matter, for there is a rather delicate aspect that I am not at liberty to discuss here. The university will most certainly realize that the do-nothing option is not an option. The libel is too grave and too persistent. My lawyers are looking at it tomorrow to see whether malice is present, in which case the damages would triple, to say nothing of the costs. Their corresponding lawyers in the U.S. will be giving advice on whether Dr Evans would count in U.S. law as a “public figure”, Probably not, from what I know of the “public-figure” test, in which event, in order to enforce the judgement of the Australian courts in the U.S., it would not be necessary to prove malice (for, though malice seems evident, the test in Australian law is high). It would also be open to Dr Evans simply to apply to the court for a declaration (in Scotland, declarator) that he had not fabricated anything or engaged in any of the other varieties of scientific misconduct of which Mr Svalgaard has seen fit to accuse him with such vicious and unbecoming persistence. Given the sensitivity to which I shall be drawing the university’s attention, that might be the kindest course. And there, I think, we had better leave it and let the appropriate authorities take over. I have only been as explicit as this because this posting will also go some little way towards expunging the libel and minimizing the damage to Dr Evans’ reputation that Mr Svalgaard seems to have intended.
What His Lordship forgot to mention was that the 2010 SPEECH Act makes foreign libel judgements unenforceable in the USA, unless they are compliant with the First Amendment. Oh, and the allegedly libelous statements must be provably false. Given that Svalgaard only said that Evans’s mistakes were “almost fraudulent,” whatever that means, good luck with that.
The Olive Branch Gets Torched
Willis felt bad that he had let his temper get the best of him, and he regretted Svalgaard’s “almost fraudulent” comment, so he wrote another blog post called “Mending Fences“, in which he apologized for any rhetorical excesses, but defended his position. He also said that, while he disagreed with Svalgaard’s characterization, he thought it was “understandable” that he would float the idea, given the sheer number of mistakes Evans had made. Monckton showed up in the comments, once again, demanded further apologies, and hinted that he was following through on his threats against Svalgaard.
Mr Eschenbach says it was “understandable” that another contributor had accused Dr Evans of being “almost fraudulent”. It was not “understandable”. It was irresponsible and inappropriate…. There was no basis whatsoever for accusing Dr Evans of being “almost fraudulent”, and the person who made that allegation and regrettably failed to withdraw it is now in considerable trouble over it. There are plenty of fraudsters in the climate scam, but Dr Evans is most certainly not one of them.
Well, Svalgaard wasn’t having any of that, and responded with the Big Guns, namely, my own Lord Monckton’s Rap Sheet!!!!
Monckton of Brenchley says:
July 17, 2014 at 3:56 am
“There are plenty of fraudsters in the climate scam,” Like this one: https://bbickmore.wordpress.com/lord-moncktons-rap-sheet/
or this one:http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/05/moncktons-deliberate-manipulation/comment-page-11/?wpmp_switcher=mobile&wpmp_tp=0
Ouch. Monckton couldn’t let that go.
I note that another commenter here has accused me of fraud, and has cited a particular website much of whose contents I had not previously seen. My lawyers will be visiting me early next week to deal with some of the allegations on that website.
So apparently now he’s going to lob some legal threats my way, too, unless he was talking about Gavin Schmidt’s piece at the Realclimate site. If he wants to threaten me, it won’t be the first time. I am now opening a betting pool in the comments, so my readers can weigh in about 1) whether Monckton will actually follow through on his threats, and 2) if so, whether his objections will include his oft repeated claim that he is a member of Parliament, no matter what Parliament says.
Willis chastised His Lordship for his hypocritical behavior.
Finally, you advocate “greater civility all around”, while at the same time you said you are paying your lawyers to find out if David and Jo can claim triple monetary damages from Leif and unspecified “others” (perhaps including myself) for some imagined damage to their reputations … perhaps it’s just me, but I find resorting to threats of legal action and triple monetary damages in a scientific discussion, however fractious, to be … well … not all that civil …
Monckton shot back:
That commenter finally presumes to give me legal advice. With respect, that is not a matter for him, nor am I aware that he has legal qualifications. I had not until recently realized the extent to which websites all over the place were accusing me of falsehoods and fabrications of which I was not guilty. One of these accusations was so effective that even our kind host here was initially taken in by it. However, unlike the commenter who has made such an uncommon nuisance of himself here, he quietly investigated the allegation in question, found it to have been entirely unmeritorious, and was good enough to publish the results of his researches. It will now be necessary for me to have that and other libels retracted and apologized for, so that no one else is taken in.
[NOTE: That’s why I’m betting that Monckton might bring up his claim to be a member of Parliament. Anthony Watts (“our kind host”) once posted an explanation by a lawyer Monckton hired, about why he is really a member, no matter what Parliament says. I responded with a post about how ridiculous the lawyer’s claims were. ]
Which brings us back to Willis’s plea to his fallen hero.
Christopher, please, I implore you as a friend, cease with the legal threats. Every time you make such a threat of legal action against some scientist that you disagree with, your credibility sinks another notch. Yes, you have the means and the position and the title and the power and the friends and the money to cause trouble for people … do you truly not understand that your threats to use your power and money and advantages and hereditary title against some poor skeptical shlub like myself because you don’t like his claims just makes you look like an insecure bully? Is there truly no other way to defend yourself? Dang, dude, you can strip the hide off a buffalo with your unmatchable eloquence, or have half the world laughing at someone’s foolishness with your irascible wit … you don’t need legal means to set things straight, your intellect and your words are more than enough to do that.
Alas, Willis may still fail to realize that every time someone has bothered to look beyond Monckton’s “unmatchable eloquence” (translation: “bombastic nonsense calculated to impress the credulous”) they have found the “intellect” lacking and the “words” misleading. And they have very often become the target of his threats. Lest any of us forget the history, I include here the “Threatening Those Who Disagree With Him” section of Lord Monckton’s Rap Sheet. I’ll have to update it, now. [NOTE: I did update it, and have pasted in the updates below.]
AdvertisementsOn cue, Mr. Ryan said President Trump’s budget was “right on target” even as he released a statement about it that criticized Mr. Obama’s “bloated budgets that never balance.”
This about-face is not new for the party of financial responsibility. President Ronald Reagan promised to balance the federal budget and then, while in office, pushed through tax cuts and military spending that more than doubled the national debt. President George W. Bush promised to pay down the debt only to sign tax cuts and defense increases that doubled it. Republicans have a pattern of caring deeply about government finances while out of power and then forgetting those concerns when they’re in control.
But this particular change of heart on federal debt follows years of using the fear of rising government costs to severely hamper Mr. Obama’s agenda. Republicans’ opposition to spending increases was part of how the 2009 stimulus package, passed to rescue a sinking economy, got whittled down from what would probably have been a more effective figure.
Mr. Ryan called it a “wasteful spending spree” at the time, despite the fact that most analysis found that any debt added would eventually be fully offset by economic growth. Talk of a second round of stimulus was dead on arrival with Republicans. So a sluggish recovery was laid at Mr. Obama’s feet.
The debt fear-mongering had other negative consequences. In 2013, government spending was put on a destructively tight leash by sequestration, automatic spending caps that were meant to spark a grand bargain on the budget. Instead, they reinforced Republican thinking that federal spending had to be reined in. Republicans argued against speedy emergency funding when floods or hurricanes hit various parts of the country, delaying much-needed help, and tried to push Mr. Obama into bargains on spending cuts.
Democrats have turned the Republicans’ tactics against them, stating that Mr. Trump’s policies are bad because of what they will do to government finances. Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, called his tax plan “deficit-exploding.”
It must be satisfying to turn Republicans’ own debt arguments back on them. But the honest objection Democrats should raise is not how things will be paid for, but whether they’re worth the cost.
Their ability to make that argument will be tested in the upcoming debt-ceiling fight. The ceiling is merely a self-imposed cap on what the government can borrow, and it used to be regularly raised when borrowing needs bumped up against the limit. Yet with Mr. Obama in office, Republicans used deficit hysteria as an excuse when they refused to raise it without spending concessions.Hidden Honolulu: Explore the Best Secrets the City Has to Offer
We delve deep into underground passages, secret societies and mysteries—including a few we pass by every day without noticing—to bring you the best secrets the city has to offer.
By DON WALLACE with JAMES CHARISMA, ROBBIE DINGEMAN, MICHAEL KEANY, COLBY LAWTON, STACEY MAKIYA, NATALIE SCHACK, BRIE THALMANN and CATHERINE TOTH FOX
(page 1 of 4)
Photo: Aaron Yoshino
Mermaid Cave
Starting just after the Kahe power plant and before Nānākuli Beach Park, a short scramble across sharp lava drops you in an ethereal cave, complete with a shell-and-coral-spattered beach and a small pool of powder-blue sea water—perfect for graceful rolling while warbling “Under the Sea.”
City & Urban
To spice up your summer, we at HONOLULU put on our headlamps and delved deep into underground passages, secret societies, and mysteries—including a few we pass by every day without noticing. What we found ranges from spooky (a bridge haunted by a real-life killer) to savory (a whiskey club and off-the-menu secrets you can order) to selfless (off-limits areas you can only hike if you join a conservation work crew). Rest assured, we also reveal little-known treats that make life more fun, including free baseball, secret shopping deals and the spots where top Instagrammers shoot their coolest pix.
By revealing these hidden sites and activities, we are in no way suggesting that you do anything illegal or unsafe; and we strongly suggest you respect private property and the sensibilities of those who live and work in any neighborhood adjoining any of O‘ahu’s irresistible attractions. (Also, when you talk about this, whisper; someone might be listening.)
Chinatown Confidential
War, fire, disease all played a part in Downtown Honolulu and Chinatown, which makes it the perfect backdrop for tall tales as well as genuine intrigue. For Bob Au, owner of Lai Fong Department Store, the neighborhood wasn’t a den of drugs and prostitution; it was his colorful childhood playground. Au grew up in the neighborhood in the early 1960s while his family managed the iconic antique shop on Nu‘uanu Avenue.
1118 Nu‘uanu Ave., 537-3497; call for appointment.
Bob Au remembers:
“We used to go to school, then I’d come back to the store to help work. I was about 5 years old. Those days, across from Lai Fong were shoe shine boys. The Pantheon was a bar across the street, next to where Restaurant Epic is now. It was the oldest bar in Honolulu. On Hotel Street, there used to be Smith’s Union Bar, [Club] Hubba Hubba, Tradewinds Bar, a swing club. A lot of Chinese restaurants.
“Down the street, Wo Fat was going full blast, it was a well-known Chinese restaurant and a lot of famous local Chinese families would eat down there. Chinn Ho, the entrepreneur, would be down there. Hiram Fong, the late senator, he owned property downtown. This used to be the prime area to buy all your goods.
“My father had shops on Hotel Street, an arcade and a Casino camera shop; he’d sell cameras and watches and jewelry. This was right across from the old Hubba Hubba. When I was a kid and I got bored, I’d get my father’s binoculars and spy into Hubba Hubba and see the ladies. Or I’d visit the tattoo parlors, and see guys tattooed from head to toe. Never got bored in Chinatown.”
That Phantom Bridge
You’ve passed under |
enjoyed a popularity in the southern Netherlands that eventually spread throughout the cooler parts of Northern Europe.
Brussels sprouts grow in temperature ranges of 7–24 °C (45–75 °F), with highest yields at 15–18 °C (59–64 °F).[2] Fields are ready for harvest 90 to 180 days after planting. The edible sprouts grow like buds in helical patterns along the side of long, thick stalks of about 60 to 120 cm (24 to 47 in) in height, maturing over several weeks from the lower to the upper part of the stalk. Sprouts may be picked by hand into baskets, in which case several harvests are made of five to 15 sprouts at a time, or by cutting the entire stalk at once for processing, or by mechanical harvester, depending on variety. Each stalk can produce 1.1 to 1.4 kg (2.4 to 3.1 lb), although the commercial yield is about 900 g (2.0 lb) per stalk.[2] Harvest season in temperate zones of the northern latitudes is September to March, making Brussels sprouts a traditional winter-stock vegetable. In the home garden, harvest can be delayed as quality does not suffer from freezing. Sprouts are considered to be sweetest after a frost.[4]
Brussels sprouts are a cultivar group of the same species as broccoli, cabbage, collard greens, kale, and kohlrabi; they are cruciferous (they belong to the Brassicaceae family; old name Cruciferae). Many cultivars are available; some are purple in color, such as 'Ruby Crunch' or 'Red Bull'.[5] The purple varieties are hybrids between purple cabbage and regular green Brussels sprouts developed by a Dutch botanist in the 1940s, yielding a variety with some of the red cabbage's purple colors and greater sweetness.[6]
Europe [ edit ]
In Continental Europe, the largest producers are the Netherlands, at 82,000 metric tons, and Germany, at 10,000 tons. The United Kingdom has production comparable to that of the Netherlands, but its crop is generally not exported.[7]
North America [ edit ]
Production of Brussels sprouts in the United States began in the 18th century, when French settlers brought them to Louisiana.[2] The first plantings in California's Central Coast began in the 1920s, with significant production beginning in the 1940s. Currently, several thousand acres are planted in coastal areas of San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Monterey counties of California, which offer an ideal combination of coastal fog and cool temperatures year-round. The harvest season lasts from June through January.
Most U.S. production is in California,[8] with a smaller percentage of the crop grown in Skagit Valley, Washington, where cool springs, mild summers, and rich soil abounds, and to a lesser degree on Long Island, New York.[9] Total U.S. production is around 32,000 tons, with a value of $27 million.[2]
About 80 to 85% of U.S. production is for the frozen food market, with the remainder for fresh consumption.[9] Once harvested, sprouts last 3-5 weeks under ideal near-freezing conditions before wilting and discoloring, and about half as long at refrigerator temperature.[2] U.S. varieties are generally 2.5–5 cm (0.98–1.97 in) in diameter.[2]
Nutrients, phytochemicals and research [ edit ]
Raw Brussels sprouts are 86% water, 9% carbohydrates, 3% protein, and contain negligible fat. In a 100 gram reference amount, they supply high levels (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin C (102% DV) and vitamin K (169% DV), with more moderate amounts of B vitamins, such as folate and vitamin B 6 (USDA nutrient table, right); essential minerals and dietary fiber exist in moderate to low amounts (table).
Brussels sprouts, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contain sulforaphane, a phytochemical under basic research for its potential biological properties. Although boiling reduces the level of sulforaphane, neither steaming, microwave cooking, nor stir frying cause a significant loss.[10]
Consuming Brussels sprouts in excess may not be suitable for people taking anticoagulants, such as warfarin, since they contain vitamin K, a blood-clotting factor. In one incident, eating too many Brussels sprouts led to hospitalization for an individual on blood-thinning therapy.[11]
Cooking and preparation [ edit ]
Brussels sprouts prepared for cooking in a wood-fired pizza oven
The most common method of preparing Brussels sprouts for cooking begins with cutting the buds off the stalk. Any surplus stem is cut away, and any loose surface leaves are peeled and discarded. Once cut and cleaned, the buds are typically cooked by boiling, steaming, stir frying, grilling, slow cooking, or roasting. To ensure even cooking throughout, buds of a similar size are usually chosen. Some cooks make a single cut or a cross in the center of the stem to aid the penetration of heat.
Overcooking renders the buds gray and soft, and they then develop a strong flavor and odor that some dislike for its garlic- or onion-odor properties.[8][12] The odor is associated with the glucosinolate sinigrin, a sulfur compound having characteristic pungency.[12] For taste, roasting Brussels sprouts is a common way to cook them to enhance flavor.[12][13] Common toppings or additions for Brussels sprouts include Parmesan cheese and butter, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, chestnuts, or pepper. Another way of cooking Brussels sprouts is to sauté them. Brussels sprouts can be pickled as an alternative to cooking them.
Gallery [ edit ]
Brussels sprouts on stalks
Brussels sprouts ready for harvest
Brussels sprouts on stalk at a supermarket
Brussels sprout sliced in half
References [ edit ]Site last updated: 12/09/17
What is this thing?
The JJ Spotter Pack is an audio add-on for iRacing. Its goal is to significantly heighten the immersion factor of simracing by replacing the default in-sim spotter/crew chief with authentic audio from crew chief Chad Knaus and spotter Earl Barban. Even though the dialog came from stock car oval racing, the pack is purposely designed to be used for any vehicle, and for both oval and road racing. With over 3,800 samples in the pack, no two races will ever sound the same.
There are 2 versions of the JJSP: The Standard Pack, and the Cuss Pack. The Standard Pack is PG'ish, nothing you wouldn't hear on network television on a Friday night. The Cuss Pack contains the same content as the Standard Pack, but also includes profanity. It's not overboard. In all, only 3% of the Cuss Pack contains adult language. It's enough to make it colorful.
Installation instructions are detailed further down the page....
Project History
The JJ Pack was first brought to life on March 13th, 2003 for NASCAR Racing 2003 Season by Papyrus. After 3 years and 21 updated versions, it reluctantly became a "finished product" for NR03.
A couple years later when iRacing came onto the scene, the JJ pack began its migration. It started as a simple port job from NR03, but it has changed a lot since then, including a whole spotter replacement from Chris Osborne to Earl Barban in version 5.00. Work continues on further expanding the pack in iRacing, unless otherwise stated.
Distribution
JJ Spotter Pack for NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
Latest Site News
Please do not re-post the files from my work on another site, or use them in another project for this sim or any other sim: The usual and reasonable wishes from any artist or creator of things.I've moved all the NR03 stuff to its own page. Click here to go there.
12/09/17
v6.71 Update Now Available
Installation Instructions
Lap Times
This update contains... pit road clips. The latest iRacing build brought new sound for when your pit stop is complete. So with this update, Chad now yells at you some more. That's the only update from v6.70. I've got other things that I'm slowly working on, but that is all destined for v6.80.Also going forward, to make it slightly easier to build the different versions of packs (Standard -vs- Cuss), both will contain the same sound files. The only difference will be the message file. That's the file that tells the sim what to play. The Standard pack's message file will be altered so that it will not play any of the cuss audio.I uploaded both versions in self-installing.exe files like usual, plus just the.zipped up sound files as well. It was brought to my attention that the installer doesn't work on Macs... or Linux.. or DOS.. or whatever it was. With the.zip, they'd just have to be unzipped to the correct folder manually. See below.* Download your version and format of choice; There are 4 files to choose from to suit your needs. You only need 1 of them.--: The Standard spotter pack version in a self-installing.exe file. It should create and extract all the sound files to the proper folder.--: The Standard pack with just the zipped up sound files. You'll have to extract the zip manually to the correct folder location.--: Theversion in a self-installing.exe file. It should create and extract all the sound files to the proper folder.--: Thewith just the zipped up sound files. You'll have to extract the zip manually to the correct folder location.* Just run the.exe installer and everything will take care of itself. It will create a "JJ Spotter Pack" folder and extract all the sound files into it.* You will first have to locate where the iRacing core software files are. You can do a hard drive search for "spcc" and the folder should come up.* The \\iRacing\sound\spcc folder is what you're looking for. You will see a few default sound pack folders already in there; chrisWheeler, darrenManing, tj_and_steve. If you see those, you're in the right place.* Create a new folder in that SPCC directory. Name it whatever you want.* If using the.exe installer, point it to that new folder that you made when it prompts for a destination. If you're using the.zip format, extract it into the folder you created.* When all is well, your folder tree should look something like this;\\iRacing\sound\spcc\* Once installed, launch the sim and go into the Sound Options and select the JJSP from the voicepack drop down list. If you don't see it there, it's most likely because the spotter folder was created in a place where the sim isn't looking for it. Reference the picture above, that's where it should go. The voicepacks listed in the sim come right from the folder names in that \\spcc folder.* After selecting it, you'll have to restart the sim before the pack will take effect.If you didn't know, you can customize the format that lap times are given to you. The default is the full time, down to the thousandth of a second. [MM:SS.XXX] I personally go with an abbreviated format [SS.XX] to replicate how Chad gives times. However way you prefer, this can be customized in the app.ini file. Look for the [SPCC] tag toward the bottom. This is what mine looks like.Not to be confused with Eegah
Eega ( lit. The Fly) is a 2012 Indian bilingual fantasy film written by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad and directed by his son, S. S. Rajamouli. It was produced by Korrapati Ranganatha Sai's Varahi Chalana Chitram with an estimated budget of ₹260 to 400 million (US$3.99–6.14 million), and was made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil, the latter as Naan Ee ( lit. I, Housefly). The film stars Sudeep, Nani, and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. M. M. Keeravani composed the soundtrack and score. K. K. Senthil Kumar was director of photography and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao edited the film. Janardhan Maharshi and Crazy Mohan wrote the dialogue for the Telugu and Tamil versions, respectively.
The narrative of Eega is in the form of a bedtime story told by a father to his daughter. Its protagonist is Nani, who is in love with his neighbour Bindu. Nani is murdered by a wealthy businessman named Sudeep, who is attracted to Bindu and considers Nani a rival. Nani reincarnates as a housefly and tries to protect Bindu while avenging his death.
The idea for the film originated in the 1990s from a conversation in which Prasad joked with Rajamouli about the idea of a fly seeking revenge against a human. Rajamouli reconsidered the idea after finishing Maryada Ramanna (2010), and Prasad developed it into a script. The film's production began on 7 December 2010 at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad. Principal photography began on 22 February 2011 and continued until late February 2012. Makuta VFX and Annapurna Studios oversaw Eega's visual effects and digital intermediate process, respectively.
The two versions of the film, alongside a Malayalam-dubbed version titled Eecha, were released on 6 July 2012 in approximately 1,100 screens globally. The performances of the principal cast, Rajamouli's direction, and visual effects received critical acclaim upon release. Eega was one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of the year, earning more than ₹1.25 billion (US$19.2 million). Its Hindi-dubbed version, Makkhi, which was released on 12 October 2012, had not achieved equivalent commercial success as of June 2015.[7] Eega won two National Film Awards (Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Special Effects), five Filmfare Awards, and three South Indian International Movie Awards. It was screened at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, the Shanghai International Film Festival, and the Madrid International Film Festival.
Plot [ edit ]
A young girl who is unable to sleep asks her father to tell her a bedtime story. Although reluctant at first, he tells her a story of a fly named Nani.
Nani is a young man who specialises in preparing fireworks. He is in love with his neighbour Bindu, a micro artist who runs Project 511, a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Bindu also develops feelings for Nani though she does not express them. Seeking to raise money for her NGO, Bindu visits the office of a rich, powerful industrialist named Sudeep, who also finds her attractive. He befriends her, donates ₹1.5 million (US$23.03 thousand), and gains her trust. Sudeep sees Nani as a rival and plans to kill him. One night, Nani helps Bindu to finish a piece of micro art—a locket made from a pencil. While returning home, he is kidnapped by Sudeep, who kills him, making his death look like an accident. Unaware of the incident, Bindu proposes to the dying Nani by telephone; it is the last thing Nani hears before he is reincarnated as a housefly that cannot remember its previous life.
The fly's memory is triggered when it encounters Sudeep and Bindu. Sudeep asks the heartbroken Bindu to accompany him to New Delhi to meet the education minister; if she can impress the minister with a presentation about the NGO, he might help it gain national recognition. The fly causes Sudeep to have an accident on his way to the airport and writes "I will kill you" on the windshield; this makes Sudeep paranoid. The fly, who sees Bindu mourning Nani's death in her bedroom, reveals itself to be Nani by writing on the desk with her tears. It conveys the circumstances of Nani's death to Bindu, and they join forces against Sudeep. The latter's obsession with the fly affects his professional and personal life. In a chain of events, his money is burnt to ashes, leaving him almost penniless.[c]
Sudeep learns from a sorcerer that Nani is reincarnated as a fly and seeks revenge. Sudeep arranges to kill Nani but the fly escapes and causes a short circuit, killing the sorcerer and leaving Sudeep unconscious. Nani and Bindu assume Sudeep is dead but he is saved by his business partner. Sudeep is enraged when he learns that Bindu is helping the fly. Sudeep kills his partner to collect a ₹7 billion (US$107.49 million) insurance policy.
Sudeep takes Bindu to his home and Nani follows them. Nani seriously injures Sudeep with a needle. The latter clips Nani's wing and fatally stabs him with the same needle. Nani jumps through the flame of a burning match then into a loaded cannon, which fires. The projectile passes through Sudeep and hits an oxygen cylinder, which explodes and kills him. Bindu takes the fly's wing and makes an amulet with it. One day when travelling to work, an eve teaser bothers her; Nani, again reborn as a fly, attacks him with a needle before announcing his return.
The young girl is impressed with the story of the fly her father narrates.
Cast [ edit ]
Production [ edit ]
Origin, scripting and casting [ edit ]
The idea for Eega originated in the late 1990s in screenwriter K. V. Vijayendra Prasad's mind. At that time, he was joking about a housefly seeking revenge on a human in a conversation with his son S. S. Rajamouli.[9] Prasad later developed the idea as a script for an English-language film set in 1830s America, in which an African-American boy dies in an attempt to free his family from slavery and is reincarnated as a fly.[10] After completing Maryada Ramanna (2010), Rajamouli reconsidered the concept after thinking of directing a film that was distinct from any other.[11] He decided to make Eega a bilingual film in Telugu and Tamil – each scene including speech was filmed twice, once for each language.[12] The Tamil version, titled Naan Ee, was Rajamouli's directorial debut in Tamil cinema.[13] The film was presented by Daggubati Suresh Babu of Suresh Productions.[14][d]
For the first time in his career, Rajamouli began casting after the script was completed because he felt the story required actors who were suitable for the roles.[12] Nani, the protagonist, was the first of the three of the main cast members to be chosen;[3] he completed filming his scenes in 25 days.[16][e] Samantha Ruth Prabhu, the second actor cast,[3] was signed as the female lead.[17] Rajamouli chose Sudeep to play the fly's human adversary after being impressed with the actor's performance in Rann (2010),[12] and cast rapper Noel Sean as Nani's friend in the film.[18] Sudeep drew inspiration for his role as the villain from the 1983 Kannada film Bhakta Prahlada;[19][20] he was portraying a character he considered to be a "bad guy" with "grey shades" rather than an antagonist.[20]
The script was doctored by Rajamouli's brother, S. S. Kanchi,[21] while Janardhan Maharshi and Crazy Mohan wrote the dialogue for the Telugu and Tamil versions respectively, marking their first collaboration with Rajamouli.[22][23] James Fowlds was initially chosen as the film's director of photography,[24] but was replaced by K. K. Senthil Kumar due to creative differences and scheduling conflicts.[25] M. M. Keeravani composed the film's soundtrack and score,[26][f] Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao edited the film,[28] Ravinder Reddy was its art director,[29] and Rajamouli's wife Rama worked on the costume design.[30]
Production of the film began with a formal launch ceremony on 7 December 2010 in Hyderabad.[31] The original version was filmed over a six-month period and cost nearly ₹110 million; Rajamouli felt the quality of the material was poor and started again.[12][g] The film's final budget was estimated at between ₹260 and ₹400 million.[a][h]
Filming and post-production [ edit ]
left), Nani (middle), and Rajamouli during filming Sudeep (), Nani (), and Rajamouli during filming
Principal photography began on 22 February 2011 in Hyderabad;[33] ninety percent of the film was shot at Ramanaidu Studios in the city.[34] A sequence was filmed at Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy Temple in Ammapally near Shamshabad, in early March 2011.[35] Scenes with Nani, Samantha, and Sudeep were filmed during the first shooting schedule, which was completed on 16 March.[36] Shooting was disrupted in April by an ongoing labour dispute between film workers and producers. Rajamouli considered moving Eega out of Hyderabad if the strike continued.[37] Filming continued in Kokapet in early September 2011,[38] and principal photography was completed in late February 2012 as post-production began.[39]
According to Rajamouli, the film unit consulted a 3D video of the storyboard before shooting a scene each day. After the filming of each scene was completed, the editing and re-recording procedures were done with simple greyscale animation.[9] An Arri Alexa camera, a prime lens, and Scorpio and Strada cranes were used for the principal photography, while a probe lens and high-intensity lighting were used for the macro photography.[25] Senthil Kumar had to use a special lens with a minimum f-stop of f8.0; the wide apertures required high-intensity lighting to get acceptable shots.[40] He used GoPro cameras as they were the smallest possible ones that offered close to professional resolution. Phantom Cam was used to film extreme slow motion sequences; certain scenes were shot at 2,000 frames per second.[25]
Digital intermediate (DI) was conducted at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad.[25] A high-end DI system was imported and the process took six months to complete.[41] Singer Chinmayi, who dubbed for Samantha in Eega, found the process difficult because the footage did not contain the animated fly.[42] Rajamouli approached Anuj Gurwara to write the dialogue for the Hindi-dubbed version titled Makkhi. The Hindi dubbing began in Hyderabad, and Gurwara dubbed for Nani in the film.[43] Ajay Devgan and his wife Kajol, acting as parents telling the film's story to their child at bedtime, provided voiceovers during the opening credits of Makkhi.[44] The visuals accompanying the closing credits were altered to show the fly mimicking the antics of Devgan, Salman Khan, and Akshay Kumar.[45]
Visual effects [ edit ]
Rajamouli and Draper on the set
R. C. Kamalakannan and Pete Draper of Makuta VFX oversaw Eega's visual effects,[46][47] and Rahul Venugopal was the film's set supervisor and matte painter.[48] V. Srinivas Mohan, who later collaborated with Rajamouli on Baahubali: The Beginning, worked on a short sequence for the film.[49] Rajamouli planned to complete work on the fly imagery in four months, but it took fourteen.[34]
Ninety percent of the animation-related work was done in Hyderabad; the remaining ten percent was completed in the United States.[50] In an Indo-Asian News Service interview, Draper said he collaborated with thirteen experts and a large team of animators to design the fly.[51] Because the film's fly's eyes comprise 80 percent of its face, Rajamouli felt they could make it expressive; he used the 1986 Pixar American short film Luxo Jr. for inspiration. The output of the first team of animators, using the reference material prepared, was unsatisfactory and Rajamouli reworked the fly's detailing.[11] Using a powerful lens, the film team conducted an arduous photographic shoot of unconscious flies in a bottle stored in a refrigerator. After enlarging the details, Rajamouli made cosmetic changes to the fly's face to make it look appealing onscreen.[50] A new team including Draper, three concept artists, three modellers, two shader designers, two hair and fur designers, three riggers and several animators, designed the animated fly in two months.[11][51] Its head and fur were designed after shaping its body and wings. The fly was refined daily using clay models to expedite the process.[51] The animators found the sequences between Sudeep and the fly much more difficult to execute because the latter had to express emotions only though its slender arms rather than its face.[34]
Some of the special effects could not be designed in India, so Makuta VFX engaged animation consultants in Armenia, China, Iran, Israel, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The company's 30-member team underwent a training programme on acting theory and insect formats.[34] Eega is the first Indian film to use computer-generated imagery for nearly 90 minutes of its length; the film had 2,234 live-action animation shots. By mid-June 2012 Rajamouli had approved 1,970 shots; the final version was shown to the film unit after the approval of 226 pending shots.[52] The visual effects cost an estimated ₹70 million.[53]
Themes [ edit ]
pictured), saying that victories by underdogs matter.[54] Rajamouli compared the battle between the fly and Sudeep with that between David and Goliath ), saying that victories by underdogs matter.
The film's main theme is revenge; the soul of a murdered man is reincarnated as a fly and seeks revenge against his killer. Rajamouli identified some similarities to David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986), in which a scientist becomes a fly when his experiment malfunctions, and thought of Eega as a "socio-fantasy" rather than a science fiction film.[55] At a meeting with students at the Annapurna International School of Film and Media Campus (AIFSM), he compared the battle between the fly and Sudeep, which the underdog fly wins, to David's triumph over Goliath and India's victory in the 1983 Cricket World Cup.[54] Crazy Mohan compared the film with Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989), a revenge drama whose protagonist Appu (Kamal Haasan) is a dwarf.[56]
Mohan told Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu that although the film's script may resemble those of Stuart Little (1999) and Shrek (2001), the use of the plight of someone tormented by a housefly was an original idea.[23] According to Tamil film historian and actor Mohan Raman, Naan Ee—unlike the animal-centred films Nalla Neram (1972) and Neeya? (1979)—lacks a human protagonist.[4] Film critic Baradwaj Rangan found Eega's protagonist realistic, contrary to the ones in the animated films by the Walt Disney Company, except when it displays a few anthropomorphic traits.[57] Mid Day compared Eega to Cockroach (2010), an Australian short film about a man who is reincarnated as a cockroach after he is accidentally killed on his wedding day.[58]
The film's secondary theme is the survival of love beyond death. Rangan has likened Eega to a ghost film because a dead protagonist returns to his loved ones as a troubled soul.[57] Malini Mannath of The New Indian Express found the scene where the fly foils Sudeep's attempt to get close to Bindu reminiscent of one in the film Ghost (1990).[59] Mayank Shekhar criticised the relationship between the lead pair, which he said advocates stalking as an accepted form of romance.[60] Malathi Rangarajan said the antagonist took the "extreme step" of murdering the hero early in the film, in contrast with the stereotypical antagonist whose lust for the female lead has just begun and threatens the hero.[61]
Commenting on the usage of Tantrism, The New Indian Express' Kruthi Grover found the death of the sorcerer similar to the story of Bhasmasur,[62] a demon in Indian mythology to whom Shiva gives the power to reduce a person to ashes by touching her or his head. When Bhasmasur tries to touch Shiva's head, Vishnu assumes the form of Mohini and makes Bhasmasur touch his own head, killing him.[63] According to Malathi Rangarajan, the film's themes of Tantrism and black magic are reminiscent of the use of the occult as a plot device in films directed by B. Vittalacharya.[61]
Music [ edit ]
The soundtracks of Eega and Naan Ee, each consisting of five songs—one of which is a remixed version of the film's title song—were composed by M. M. Keeravani.[64][f] Keeravani said because the film's theme of revenge and the protagonist (a housefly) are universal concepts, his "only challenge" was ensuring the music did not have a "distinct ethnic or regional flavour" and "appeal".[65] He incorporated the buzzing sound made by flies into the score and exaggerated or reduced it according to a scene's emotional nature.[65] Rajamouli approached Madhan Karky to write the lyrics for Naan Ee's soundtrack after the release of Enthiran (2010), explaining the importance of each song in the film's narrative. As well as providing detailed profiles of the characters, Rajamouli enacted a few scenes, which helped Karky write the lyrics.[66]
Eega's soundtrack was released on 30 March 2012 at a promotional event at Shanti Sarovar, Brahma Kumaris' academy in Gachibowli, a suburb of Hyderabad.[67][68] The soundtrack for Naan Ee was released on 1 April at another promotional event at Sathyam Cinema in Chennai.[69] Eega's soundtrack release on iTunes was delayed until 3 April to avoid piracy and illegal downloads.[70]
Writing for The Hindu, Sangeetha Devi Dundoo called the soundtrack "melodious... sharply contrasted by the background score, which seamlessly moves from sober to playful to pulsating".[71] Another critic for The Hindu, S. R. Ashok Kumar praised Vijay Prakash's rendition of "Konjam Konjam".[72] Kumar appreciated the use of violins in "Eedaa Eedaa" and called "Lava Lava" "a good number".[64] Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India wrote that Keeravani "just seems to reserve his best for [Rajamouli]", calling the soundtrack "one of his finest".[72]
Release [ edit ]
Eega, with Naan Ee and Eecha, was released on 6 July 2012 on approximately 1,100 screens.[73][i] The Government of Tamil Nadu levied entertainment tax on Naan Ee at the rate of 30%.[76] Eega's Hindi-dubbed version, titled Makkhi, was released on 12 October 2012.[77] The film was further dubbed into Chinese and Swahili as Kungfu Housefly and Inzi, respectively; the latter was released with the slogan "Kisasi Cha Mwisho" (Fly: the ultimate revenge).[78][79] Inzi was released in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Republic of the Congo, making Eega the first Telugu film to be released in Africa.[79]
Distribution [ edit ]
Global distribution rights for the Telugu version were sold for ₹340 million, and PVP Cinema acquired Naan Ee's distribution rights for ₹50 million.[80][h] Outside India, 14 Reels Entertainment distributed Eega and Naan Ee in association with Ficus, Inc.[81] Reliance Entertainment acquired Makkhi's distribution rights.[82]
Piracy issues [ edit ]
Weeks after Eega's release, its pirated version was released; it was illegally filmed in a theatre in Varadaiahpalem, Chittoor district.[83] A forensic watermarking investigation on the pirated copies determined that a camcorder was used in the process.[84] The digital watermarking also helped investigators locate the source of the piracy of Naan Ee to a theatre in Coimbatore.[85]
According to Rajamouli, Eega was illegally downloaded 655,000 times within a week of the pirated version being leaked on the Internet.[86] Rajamouli added that a database of IP addresses of non-resident Indians who frequently download content was shared with immigration authorities which could affect their potential US residence permit applications.[84] The anti-piracy cell delinked more than 2,000 links to the pirated versions of Naan Ee on the Internet.[87]
Home media [ edit ]
Naan Ee's satellite television rights were sold to Sun TV for ₹33.5 million—a record price for a Telugu director's film, exceeding Rajamouli's initial expectations.[88][h] Makkhi's television-broadcast rights were sold to STAR Gold for ₹80 million.[89][h][90] According to STAR Gold general manager Hemal Jhaveri, Makkhi's television premiere had a target rating point rating of 3.5;[91] trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai called its performance "phenomenal".[92]
In November 2012, Aditya Music released Eega on Blu-ray with English subtitles and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround sound. The release also contained a two-hour DVD about the making of the film.[93] J. Hurtado of Twitch Film reviewed the Blu-ray version, writing, "The most egregious mangling of the film comes in the form of a severely fucked contrast scale, which leads to absurdly crushed black levels rendering nearly all shadow detail completely obliterated". Hurtado called the audio a "thing of beauty, giving good separation and a booming low end that puts you in the middle of the Eega action in a way that even my theatrical experience couldn't do".[93]
Reception [ edit ]
Box office [ edit ]
According to trade analyst Komal Nahta, Eega netted ₹170 million in South India on its first day of release.[94][h] On its opening weekend, it grossed US$538,996 from 31 screens in the United States—a per-screen average of $17,387.[95][h] In ten days, Naan Ee grossed ₹130 million from 208 screens in Tamil Nadu.[96][h] On its second weekend, Eega grossed $253,334 from 42 screens in the US, bringing its ten-day total in that country to $913,046. By then, Naan Ee had grossed a total of $14,259 in the United States.[97][h] Naan Ee earned ₹180 million in three weeks at the Tamil Nadu box office—a record for a bilingual, Telugu-Tamil film.[98][h] By early August 2012, the combined distributor share for the Telugu and Tamil versions was ₹570 million.[99][h]
According to Bangalore Mirror, the film grossed ₹1.15 billion globally as of August 2012.[100][h] Its final global gross is estimated at ₹1.25 to 1.3 billion.[b][h] Eega grossed nearly $1.08 million in the United States; it was one of the country's highest-grossing Telugu films.[101][h] It was declared the highest-grossing bilingual film in Tamil Nadu after it earned ₹246.6 million, with a distributor share of ₹85 million, in 50 days. The film broke the record held by Arundhati (2009), whose Tamil-dubbed version earned a distributor share of ₹65 million.[76][h]
Indo-Asian News Service stated that Eega was the highest-grossing Telugu film of 2012,[102] but Bangalore Mirror said it was the second-highest (after Gabbar Singh) in box-office revenue.[103] According to Deccan Herald, Eega and Julai were the only 2012 big-budget Telugu films to break even and have a positive audience response.[104] Makkhi opened poorly, despite positive word-of-mouth,[105] eventually ending up as an average grosser.[7] Regarding the performance of Makkhi, Rajamouli felt the film was poorly presented and did not reach its theatrical audience even though it was better received on television,[d] and so later on collaborated with filmmaker Karan Johar – whom he considered the "one missing link" – on the presentation of the Hindi-dubbed version of his later film, Baahubali: The Beginning.[7]
Critical response [ edit ]
Baradwaj Rangan, writing for The Hindu, said without a human protagonist, only a villain and a heroine, the audience is "led through a story that's funny, sentimental, action-packed, romantic—there's even a bit of the occult thrown in".[57] Also for The Hindu, Malathi Rangarajan wrote, "Let's celebrate the figment of [Rajamouli's] imagination that has made the housefly appear as invincible as any of our muscle-flexing heroes".[61] Karishma Upadhyay of The Telegraph called the film "a winner from |
and health care networks who sign up will be able to buy or rent Watson's advice from the cloud or their own server. Over the past two years, IBM's researchers have shrunk Watson from the size of a master bedroom to a pizza-box-sized server that can fit in any data center. And they improved its processing speed by 240%. Now what was once was a fun computer-science experiment in natural language processing is becoming a real business for IBM and Wellpoint, which is the exclusive reseller of the technology for now. Initial customers include WestMed Practice Partners and the Maine Center for Cancer Medicine & Blood Disorders.
Even before the Jeopardy! success, IBM began to hatch bigger plans for Watson and there are few areas more in need of supercharged decision-support than health care. Doctors and nurses are drowning in information with new research, genetic data, treatments and procedures popping up daily. They often don't know what to do, and are guessing as well as they can. WellPoint's chief medical officer Samuel Nussbaum said at the press event today that health care pros make accurate treatment decisions in lung cancer cases only 50% of the time (a shocker to me). Watson has shown the capability (on the utilization management side) of being accurate in its decisions 90% of the time, but is not near that level yet with cancer diagnoses. Patients, of course, need 100% accuracy, but making the leap from being right half the time to being right 9 out of ten times will be a huge boon for patient care. The best part is the potential for distributing the intelligence anywhere via the cloud, right at the point of care. This could be the most powerful tool we've seen to date for improving care and lowering everyone's costs via standardization and reduced error. Chris Coburn, the Cleveland Clinic's executive director for innovations, said at the event that he fully expects Watson to be widely deployed wherever the Clinic does business by 2020.
Watson has made huge strides in its medical prowess in two short years. In May 2011 IBM had already trained Watson to have the knowledge of a second-year medical student. In March 2012 IBM struck a deal with Memorial Sloan Kettering to ingest and analyze tens of thousands of the renowned cancer center's patient records and histories, as well as all the publicly available clinical research it can get its hard drives on. Today Watson has analyzed 605,000 pieces of medical evidence, 2 million pages of text, 25,000 training cases and had the assist of 14,700 clinician hours fine-tuning its decision accuracy. Six "instances" of Watson have already been installed in the last 12 months.
Watson doesn't tell a doctor what to do, it provides several options with degrees of confidence for each, along with the supporting evidence it used to arrive at the optimal treatment. Doctors can enter on an iPad a new bit of information in plain text, such as "my patient has blood in her phlegm," and Watson within half a minute will come back with an entirely different drug regimen that suits the individual. IBM Watson's business chief Manoj Saxena says that 90% of nurses in the field who use Watson now follow its guidance.
WellPoint will be using the system internally for its nurses and clinicians who handle utilization management, the process by which health insurers determine which treatments are fair, appropriate and efficient and, in turn, what it will cover. The company will also make the intelligence available as a Web portal to other providers as its Interactive Care Reviewer. It is targeting 1,600 providers by the end of 2013 and will split the revenue with IBM. Terms were undisclosed.
Also on Forbes:
IBM Watson Hits Daily Double Fighting Cancer With Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer, Innovation, And A Boy Named Jack
30 Under 30: The Rising Stars Transforming Science And Health
The World's Most Innovative CompaniesMedia playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Romney accuses Obama of 'apology tour'
US President Barack Obama has forcefully attacked his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, in their third and final presidential debate.
During the tense encounter in Florida, the rivals tangled over the Arab Spring, Iran, Israel and China.
Mr Obama said his rival was "all over the map" on foreign policy. But Mr Romney said the president had allowed "chaos" to engulf the Middle East.
Two instant polls said Mr Obama won the head to head.
The Democratic president went on the attack from the start of Monday night's forum, trying to trip up his rival.
'Rising tide of chaos'
But Mr Obama did not appear to land any knockout blows on Mr Romney, who has been gathering momentum with two weeks to go until election day, in a race that is now neck and neck.
Our experts' analysis Mark Mardell, BBC North America editor - Barack Obama had the best lines, but perhaps Mitt Romney had the best night. Not in the sense that he won the debate - it was a draw if you have to judge these things that way. This final debate probably won't shift the opinion polls, but it saw a marked change in emphasis in Mr Romney's foreign policy... Read more from Mark
-... Read more from Mark Kim Ghattas, BBC's US state department correspondent - Romney agreed often with the president, made sure he did not sound like he was going to take America into another war. He criticised the president by attacking him from the left a few times. Maybe that could sway some undecided voters who prefer Republican economic policies but were worried about electing a warmonger. How Kim tweeted the debate
- How Kim tweeted the debate Jonathan Marcus, BBC's defence and diplomatic correspondent - For all the apparent divisions on the campaign trail, this final debate was about proving statesmanship and a capacity to lead and to keep America safe... Read more from Jonathan
The debate at Lynn University in Boca Raton, moderated by veteran CBS News presenter Bob Schieffer, was not as fractious as their second encounter last week, when Mr Obama came out fighting after his lethargic performance in their first meeting.
But there were several scathing exchanges, with the president seeking to portray his challenger as a foreign policy novice lacking the consistency to be commander-in-chief.
Mr Obama said the former Massachusetts governor had backed a continued troop presence in Iraq, opposed nuclear treaties with Russia and flip-flopped over when the US should leave Afghanistan.
"What we need to do with respect to the Middle East is strong, steady leadership, not wrong and reckless leadership that is all over the map," said Mr Obama.
But Mr Romney charged that the president had allowed a "rising tide of chaos" to sweep the Middle East, giving al-Qaeda the chance to take advantage.
"I congratulate him on taking out Osama Bin Laden and taking on the leadership of al-Qaeda," said Mr Romney, "but we can't kill our way out of this. We must have a comprehensive strategy."
Mr Obama hit back sarcastically that he was glad Mr Romney had recognised the threat posed by al-Qaeda, reminding him that he had previously cast Russia as the number one geopolitical foe of the US.
"I know you haven't been in a position to actually execute foreign policy," said Mr Obama, "but every time you've offered an opinion you've been wrong."
Mr Romney, who kept a measured tone during the debate, described a trip by President Obama to the Middle East as an "apology tour" that had projected American "weakness" to enemies, while bypassing close ally Israel. Mr Obama called that claim the "biggest whopper" of the campaign.
The Republican also said: "We're four years closer to a nuclear Iran", although he softened the uncompromising tone that has been the hallmark of his campaign by emphasising that military action should be a last resort.
'Fewer horses and bayonets'
Mr Romney barely touched on last month's deadly assault on the US consulate. His line of attack on that subject was widely perceived to have misfired in the last debate.
The rivals also found plenty to agree on - declaring unequivocal support for Israel, voicing opposition to US military intervention in Syria, and insisting that China play by trade rules.
Mr Romney even backed the president's policy of withdrawing from Afghanistan by 2014 - something the Republican has previously disagreed with.
In one of the most biting exchanges, Mr Obama mocked Mr Romney's complaint that the US had fewer ships now than it did during World War I.
"You mentioned the Navy, for example," said Mr Obama, "and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets than we did in 1916."
Although the debate was meant to focus on foreign policy, the two candidates repeatedly pivoted back to the fragile US economy, an issue uppermost in American voters' minds.
A CBS News snap poll declared 53% believed Mr Obama won, versus 23% for Mr Romney and 24% saying it was a draw. A CNN poll put Mr Obama as the winner by 48% to 40%.
An NBC poll the day before the debate had put the men in a dead heat, each with 47% support.
Their last meeting behind them, both men have now launched a final two weeks of campaigning in swing states.
Already four million ballots have been cast in early voting in more than two dozen states.The Washington Redskins released a two-minute video Monday showing Native Americans saying they either don't find the team's name offensive, approve of the name or aren't bothered by it.
The video is part of a campaign by RedskinsFacts.com, a site supported and sponsored by former players such as Joe Theismann, Mark Moseley, Chris Cooley and Gary Clark.
"The Redskins is a powerful name. It's a warrior name," says Mark Beasley of The Navajo Nation in the video.
According to the Washington Post, many of the people who appear in the video are from Rocky Boy’s Reservation in Montana, which has received an influx of money from the team in recent weeks.
More: Tribe member says Dan Snyder dismissed his objection to name
Clark, Cooley and Moseley recently visited the reservation, where they met with Chippewa-Cree tribal leaders and visited a football practice and a rodeo session.
Watch the video here:
- Molly GearyHere’s how to SSH into an iOS device using Windows 10 and Bash natively without using any third-party apps. This guide works on Anniversary Update of Windows 10 and later.
Perviously, if you were a Windows device user who happened to also own a jailbroken iOS device, then if you wanted to SSH into that iPhone or iPad, you needed to install a third-party app on the Windows machine to get that job done.
Now with Windows 10 Anniversary Update, rather than having to install something like PuTTY to facilitate SSH access, Microsoft has brought the ability to do this natively into the latest version of Windows 10.
Before moving ahead, and as mentioned earlier, it is important to note that this particular function requires Windows 10 to be updated to at least the Anniversary Update, or a later version. So, if your machine meets this one critical requirement, let’s jump straight into the action without further ado.
Step 1: In order to set your Windows 10 PC for this type of functionality, you’re going to need to run through a few simple steps to install and enable Bash on Ubuntu on Windows 10. Thankfully, we have already been through this process in a previous post, so follow those steps through and then jump to Step 2 below: Install / Enable Bash On Ubuntu On Windows 10 After Anniversary Update, Here’s How.
Step 2: Now on your jailbroken iOS device, you’re going to need to install a small package from Cydia called OpenSSH. You can do this by launching Cydia in the usual manner and searching for the OpenSSH package. Install it via the usual method. Of course, if you already have OpenSSH installed on the device, like many jailbroken users have, then you’re good to bypass this step.
Step 3: You’re now going to need to know the IP address of your jailbroken device. Launch Settings(.app) and head into Wi-Fi. View the additional details of your connected Wi-Fi network by pressing on the information button and making a note of the IP address.
Step 4: Back on the Windows PC, in the search bar, type in bash and hit the enter button. This will launch Bash command line interface.
Step 5: Now enter the following command: ssh root@[IP Address] – making sure to replace [IP Address] with your jailbroken iOS device’s IP address as discovered in Step 3 earlier. When prompted for password, enter alpine (the default root password of jailbroken iOS devices).
Step 6: All being well, that should now give you secure access to the jailbroken device via SSH.
This will certainly make things a lot easier for jailbroken users who regularly like to transfer data back and forth without having to install third-party apps like the aforementioned PuTTY.
You may also like to check out:
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The FabFitFun Box is a quarterly subscription from FabFitFun.com. Each season they send you a box of $200+ worth items in categories like beauty, fashion, and fitness.
Each season, FabFitFun features a different design for their box. So pretty!
This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: FabFitFun Box
The Cost: $49.99 a box sent every quarter
COUPON – Save $10 Off Your First Box with coupon code MSA10
The Products: The hottest seasonal items (worth at least $200) selected by the FabFitFun team
Ships to: US and Canada
Check out all of my FabFitFun VIP Box reviews and the Women’s Subscription Box Directory!
FabFitFun sends out a mini mag in each box. It details the items included and also provides background on some of the featured makers and designers.
Every quarter, FabFitFun partners with a different charity, and for this box, the charity is the American Heart Association.
And you can a trip to Miami by sharing your unboxing photos:
Now, time for the items!
(There are a lot of pictures in this review because there are SO many items! And I’m going to show you all variants at the end of the review, too!)
BB Dakota Poncho in Black – Retail Value $70
This item is available in 3 different colors. If you are a FabFitFun select member (annual subscriber) you will be able to select the color of your choice starting November 7th!
This poncho is open in the front and drapes beautifully.
Here are the care instructions: Machine wash cold, no tumble dry, ironing OK on delicate setting, dry cleaning OK.
(The fabric is 65% acrylic, 35% polyester.)
It features a blanket stitch edge and just like a blanket, it’s super soft and cozy! (Perfect to keep at a chilly office!)
And, it is reversible!
Here’s a better idea of the size of the poncho:
(And you can see the little tag you might want to remove on the reverse side.)
8 Other Reasons 9 Lives Choker in Rose Gold – Retail Value $58
This item is available in Rose Gold or Silver. If you are a FabFitFun select member (annual subscriber) you will be able to select the color of your choice starting November 7th!
I love delicate jewelry, and I actually had been eyeing a similar style necklace at Bauble Bar, so this is perfect! And my favorite feature of this necklace? It has a 4-inch extender, so you can wear it as a necklace or a choker.
Here it is at the longest length:
And here it is at the shortest length:
I think this is my favorite piece of FabFitFun jewelry ever!
Doucce Cosmetics Freematic Face Palette in Nude – Value $70
This item is available in Nude or Smokey. If you are a FabFitFun select member (annual subscriber) you will be able to select the color of your choice starting November 7th!
These palettes are magnetic so you can swap out any of the pans:
This palette includes 5 shimmer eyeshadows, 3 mattes, and a highlighter. Here they are swatched:
The pigment is good throughout on both these eyeshadows, they were easy to blend, and I had minimal fallout.
Homemade by Ayesha Curry Ceramic Mug – Value $16
All subscribers will receive one of three designs. Designs will be randomly selected. (I’ll show you all the options at the end of the review!)
This cute mug is 15 oz and microwave and dishwasher safe! And “I’d rather be in bed,” really speaks to me! 🙂
(Did you know Ayesha Curry has her own meal subscription box? She does it all!)
Kate Somerville ExfoliKate – 1.7 oz Value $75
(Good to know for swapping – this item has an inner foil seal.)
All subscribers will receive this item.
I’ve sampled this a few times before thanks to subscription boxes, and I love it.
First, it’s a super quick-use beauty product. You only need to use it for 30 seconds (and you can leave it on for up to two minutes) and apply it twice a week. And it’s paraben, sulfate, and phthalate free!
The exfoliant particles are super fine, so it’s gentle on my skin, and I love the cinnamon scent, too. And the best part? It left my skin feeling super soft and smooth.
Pointe Studio Aloe Infused Cozy Socks – Retail Value $19
All subscribers will receive one of three colors. Colors will be randomly selected. (I’ll show you all the options at the end of the review!)
Cozy, fuzzy socks! What a perfect Winter box item! I’m already picturing myself curled up with a book, these socks, and tea in my new mug!
(FabFitFun recommends washing them on the cold setting and tumble dry low to ensure the aloe infused part lasts 25-30 washes.)
Ahava Mineral Hand Cream – Retail Value $33
(Good to know for swapping – this item has an inner foil seal.)
All subscribers will receive this item.
Another perfect winter box item! AND! FabFitFun sent us the extra-large version! And it’s another great beauty product!
The formula is super hydrating, but it somehow still absorbs almost immediately – no greasiness!
Grace & Stella Anti-Wrinkle Energizing Eye Masks – (Set of 8) Value $16
This is the Beauty Choice item. All subscribers will have the opportunity to pick between these eye masks or Nelson J. Beverly Hills Moisture Healing Hair Mask in Coconut (Value $23).
These eye masks stay on easily and they are unscented – two things that I always look for in an eye mask! The formula is made of collagen and minerals and is designed to help fight fine lines, puffiness, and under eye circles.
FabFitFun TV Fitness Ball with Jillian Michales Videos – Value $16
This is the Wellness Choice item. All subscribers will have the opportunity to pick this Fitness Ball or This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray (Value $29).
This exercise ball is paired with exclusive workouts from Jillian Michaels that you can access through FabFitFun TV. (If you are a FabFitFun subscriber, you have access!)
The ball comes with everything you need to inflate + deflate it, so it’s easy to bring in your suitcase when you’re traveling:
Here it is in hand to give you a better sense of scale:
Verdict: This box has a retail value of $373! (And this box is the lowest value variation you could receive!) Amazing! This is my favorite FabFitFun box of all time! (Fall 2016 previously held that title.) I can’t believe how many awesome items are in this box. It’feels like a perfect cozy/luxe box for Winter, too.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? As of today, 11/6, yes! (And if you sign up for an annual subscription, you’ll be able to pick the colors of your items, too!)
Coupon –Use coupon code MSA10 to get this box for only $39.99!
Value Breakdown: At $49.99 for this box, here’s what you are paying approximately per item:
Poncho: $9.38
Necklace: $7.77
Palette: $9.38
Kate Somerville: $10.05
Ahava Hand Cream: $4.42
Cozy Socks: $2.55
Mug: $2.14
Eye Masks: $2.14
Fitness Ball: $2.14
What do you think of the Winter 2017 FabFitFun box? Do you love it as much as I do?
Ready to see the other options? FabFitFun sent us some of the other options you may receive:
Here are the other two mug designs:
And here it is in hand to give you a better sense of scale:
Here are the other sock color options;
Here is the silver necklace option from the booklet:
Here is the other palette:
And here it is in hand to give you a better sense of scale:
Here are the other poncho colors:
You can totally wear this as a scarf, too!
And here are the other Choice options:
This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray (Value $29)
This sleep spray has a lavender + chamomile scent blend. (No surprise, it is very relaxing!)
Nelson J. Beverly Hills Moisture Healing Hair Mask in Coconut (Value $23)
This has a beachy, coconut scent, and you can use it in different ways:
Leave it in for 5 minutes and set with a blow dryer
Or apply post shampoo and let sit for a minute before rinsing
Apply throughout hair before swimming to protect against chlorine + salt water damage.
I went with the quicker 1-minute option, and it left my hair feeling just a bit softer!
Ok, that’s it! This might be the longest review ever! Hope it helps you pick your items! Let me know if I can answer any questions for you!
And new subscribers, use coupon code MSA10 to get this box for only $39.99!
Liz is the founder of My Subscription Addiction. She’s been hooked on subscription boxes since 2011 thanks to Birchbox, and she now subscribes to over 100 boxes. Her favorites include POPSUGAR Must Have FabFitFun, and any box that features natural beauty products!The global crisis is best understood as the convergence of the modern trends identified by Marx, Orwell and Kafka. Let's start with Franz Kafka, the writer (1883-1924) who most eloquently captured the systemic injustices of all powerful bureaucracies--the alienation experienced by the hapless citizen enmeshed in the bureaucratic web, petty officialdom's mindless persecutions of the innocent, and the intrinsic absurdity of the centralized State best expressed in this phrase: "We expect errors, not justice."
If this isn't the most insightful summary of the Eurozone debacle, then what is? A lawyer by training and practice, Kafka understood that the the more powerful and entrenched the bureaucracy, the greater the collateral damage rained on the innocent, and the more extreme the perversion of justice.
The entire global financial system is Kafkaesque: the bureaucracies of the Central State have two intertwined goals: protect the financial Elites from the consequences of their parasitic predation, and protect their own power and perquisites.
While Marx understood the predatory, parasitic nature of Monopoly Capitalism, he did not anticipate the State's partnering with Cartel/Crony Capitalism; in effect, the State has appropriated the appropriators, stripmining the citizenry to protect the financial sector from the consequences of their "business model" (leverage, fraud, embezzlement and the misrepresentation of risk). But the State doesn't merely enable ("regulate") the predation of financiers; it also stripmines the citizenry to fund its own expansion into every nook and cranny of civil society.
This is where Orwell enters the convergence, for the State masks its stripmining and power grab with deliciously Orwellian misdirections such as "the People's Party," "democratic socialism," and so on.
Orwell understood the State's ontological imperative is expansion, to the point where it controls every level of community, markets and society. Once the State escapes the control of the citizenry, it is free to exploit them in a parasitic predation that is the mirror-image of Monopoly capital. For what is the State but a monopoly of force, coercion, data manipulation and the regulation of private monopolies?
What is the EU bureaucracy in Brussels but the perfection of a stateless State?
As Kafka divined, centralized bureaucracy has the capacity for both Orwellian obfuscation (anyone read those 1,300-page Congressional bills other than those gaming the system for their private benefit?) and systemic avarice and injustice.
The convergence boils down to this: it would be impossible to loot this much wealth if the State didn't exist to enforce the "rules" of parasitic predation. In China, the Elite's looting proceeds along somewhat different rules from the looting of Europe and the U.S., but the end result is the same in all financialized, centrally managed economies: an expansive kleptocracy best understood as the convergence of Marx, Orwell and Kafka.
Read the Introduction (2,600 words) and Chapter One (7,600 words) for free.
We are like passengers on the Titanic ten minutes after its fatal encounter with the iceberg: though our financial system seems unsinkable, its reliance on debt and financialization has already doomed it. We cannot know when the Central State and financial system will destabilize, we only know they will destabilize. We cannot know which of the States fast-rising debts and obligations will be renounced; we only know they will be renounced in one fashion or another. The process of the unsustainable collapsing and a new, more sustainable model emerging is called revolution. Rather than being powerless, we hold the fundamental building blocks of power. We need neither permission nor political change to liberate ourselves. A powerless individual becomes powerful when he renounces the lies and complicity that enable the doomed Status Quos dominance.
If this recession strikes you as different from previous downturns, you might be interested in my book An Unconventional Guide to Investing in Troubled Times (print edition) or Kindle ebook format. You can read the ebook on any computer, smart phone, iPad, etc. Click here for links to Kindle apps and Chapter One. The solution in one word: Localism.
Readers forum: DailyJava.net.
Order Survival+: Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation (free bits) (Kindle) or Survival+ The Primer (Kindle) or Weblogs & New Media: Marketing in Crisis (free bits) (Kindle) or from your local bookseller.
Of Two Minds Kindle edition: Of Two Minds blog-Kindle
"This guy is THE leading visionary on reality. He routinely discusses things which no one else has talked about, yet, turn out to be quite relevant months later."
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Petitioners took to the White House website en masse on Friday, telling President Barack Obama that now -- hours after a gunman opened fire on elementary and kindergarten students at a school in Newtown, Conn. -- was exactly the time to talk about gun control.
"Today IS the day," began a petition submitted by Chris C. of Joshua Tree, Calif., through the White House's "We the People" platform. It went on to express "disagreement" with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney's suggestion earlier Friday that it was not the day to engage in a policy debate over gun control measures.
"Immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress," read another, which quickly surged past the 25,000 signatures for a White House response.
A blog at the San Francisco Chronicle reported that at least six petitions regarding gun control had been submitted in the wake of the massacre.
An emotional Obama gave brief remarks on the incident on Friday, making no direct mention of gun control but giving a broad call for "meaningful action."
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch gun control advocate, responded to Obama, calling on him to immediately put forth gun control legislation.
"President Obama rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families," Bloomberg said. "But the country needs him to send a bill to Congress. Calling for ‘meaningful action’ is not enough. We need immediate action."Body awareness is any form of awareness that is directed toward our physical appearance, movement, and sensations.
There are many different ways a person can improve their body awareness through different forms of meditation.
For example, a “breathing meditation” focuses on the sensations of breathing, a “walking meditation” focuses on the sensations of walking, and an “eating meditation” focuses on the sensations of eating.
Each one of these meditations above focuses on a different aspect of body awareness, and there are many more.
This article focuses on specific ways improving your body awareness can benefit your life.
Self-acceptance
Body awareness is nonjudgmental awareness.
The idea is to passively observe your body and its actions without thinking in terms of “good” vs. “bad,” or “attractive” vs. “unattractive.”
Instead, just act like a scientist who is observing a specimen under a microscope. Detach yourself from personal criticism, and just be interested in perceiving, understanding, and accepting your body exactly as it is.
This nonjudgmental awareness toward our bodies helps foster greater self-acceptance. We learn to appreciate our bodies more for what they are, what they do, and what they make possible, and thereby let go of constant judgment and social comparison.
No matter what kind of body awareness you practice, the goal is to always learn and accept yourself in the process.
Stress management
When you become more aware of your body and its sensations, you become more likely to notice stress, anxiety, and tension.
This is useful because body awareness gives you the knowledge of when it’s time to step back, take a break, or not over work yourself.
When you’re hungry, you know it’s time to eat. When you’re tired, you know it’s time to take a break. And when you have to go to the bathroom, you know it’s time to excuse yourself.
Without body awareness, we often ignore these important signals that our bodies send us. And when we suppress these basic needs for rest, nutrition, and digestion, they can often have negative consequences on our physical and mental well-being.
With greater awareness, we can better respond to our body’s wants and needs.
Emotional intelligence
Most emotions have both a mental and physical component.
For example, when we are nervous, we may feel a twisting in our stomach. Or when we are angry, we may feel our heart rate increase. Or when we are embarrassed, we may feel our face blush.
Often times these physical aspects of our emotions begin before we even realize what we’re feeling. So by improving your body awareness, you can also more easily identify and understand your emotions based on these small changes in your body.
Our minds and bodies are often way more interconnected than we realize. By understanding how your body works, you also better understand how your mind works.
Body awareness is a part of the broader scope of self-awareness.
Health-related behaviors
As you improve body awareness, you better understand your body and its daily habits.
For example, you’re more likely to witness how your body responds to certain urges and desires, like eating something unhealthy, or not wanting to exercise, or smoking a cigarette.
These habits are usually automatic. But as you become more aware of these reactions you are in a better position to reverse these negative patterns. You become more aware of the cues your body sends out to do something, and you can change your response to those cues.
Body awareness also makes you more sensitive to how certain food and drinks react with your body and how they make you feel. This can be useful in helping you cut out foods that cause a negative reaction with you.
Body language
A final benefit to body awareness is paying more attention to your body language.
We communicate a lot through our posture, gestures, and facial expressions. When you improve your body awareness, you become more aware of the signals you are sending out to others through these forms of nonverbal communication.
We are constantly communicating through our body language, yet often times we are completely unaware of the signals our body is sending.
With body awareness, and being a little more mindful of our body language throughout the day, we can improve our posture and how we communicate with others.
Stay updated on new articles and resources in psychology and self improvement:Dinyal New of Oakland, Calif. lost her 13-year-old son, Lee Weathersbee III, when he was shot walking out of a Boys & Girls Club on New Year’s Eve.
Just weeks after the teen was laid to rest, New lost another teenage son, Lamar Broussard, as perpetrators shot into a car occupied by Broussard and a friend in Oakland.
“I have no more kids,” New told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Each year in the U.S., an estimated 31,000 people die from firearms, according to the.
The news of her second son's death reached the Oakland mother on the same day The Annals of Internal Medicine released a study on the incidence of gun violence in America.
While the findings are not surprising—that access to firearms is associated with a higher risk of suicide and being the victim of homicide—it comes after political pressure on agencies studying gun violence has eased.
Preventing Gun Violence: Find Out What Works »
New Study Examines Gun Violence and Gun Ownership
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), performed a meta-analysis of 15 studies on gun access and gun violence.
The new analysis showed that greater firearm accessibility meant men were nearly four times more likely to commit suicide by firearm and women were almost three times more likely to be the victims of homicide.
Researchers added that about 75 percent of suicides and firearm-related homicides in which women are the victims occur at home.
“Since empirical data suggest that most victims of homicide know their assailants, the higher risk for women strongly indicates domestic violence,” Andrew Anglemyer, a U.S. Army veteran and data analytics expert in UCSF’s pharmacy and global health sciences programs, said in a release.
Read More: Sibling Conflict Can Be as Harmful as School Bullying »
The study excluded data from cases in which the death was ruled accidental. Researchers also adjusted for mental illness, arrest history, and other potential biases in the original studies they examined.
More than half the studies were conducted after a 1996 federal ban went into affect preventing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—the parent agency of the CDC—from funding research that could be seen as promoting gun control.
Sandy Hook Shootings Spur New Research
In the 1970s and 80s, the CDC tracked the impact of firearms on human deaths.
But when appropriating budget money for the 1997 fiscal year, lobbying from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other Second Amendment groups ensured that the language of the funding bill clearly stated that “none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the [CDC] may be used to advocate or promote gun control.”
Following the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. during which 20 children and six adults were killed, public outcry to curb mass shootings reached an all-time high.
Learn More: Childhood Bullying Is Tied to Adolescent Self-Harm »
The research funding ban was challenged by many, including more than 100 scientists who wrote to Vice Pres. Joe Biden to ask for data-driven policy and the roll-out of the in all 50 states.
Biden took the side of the scientists, speaking out against the lobbying power of the NRA.
“It bothers me that part of the interest group population out there is afraid of facts,” Biden said at the time. “Let the facts lead where they will, and let the research be done. That’s something that the president and I feel very strongly.”
Increased public pressure prompted Pres. Barack Obama to lift the gun research ban, making government money available to study the effects of firearm accessibility starting Jan. 1 this year.The contemporary discourse credits the modern world exclusively with improving the status of women. But thousands of years ago, Indian women had enjoyed high status. Gargi, Maitreyi and other women of Vedic lore illustrate the high status Indian women enjoyed in ancient times. The Gargi tradition in Vedic times was no exception as Avvaiyar of the Tamil Sangam period would testify. Several Vedic rishis were women. The tradition of “Brahmavadinis”, women celibates pursuing intellectual studies for life, existed in ancient India. Though less universal, the women intellectual stream did not dry up with Gargi and Avvaiyar but continued with the Karaikkal Ammaiyars, Andals, Akka Mahadevis, Meeras. Indian women, who have played a big role in moulding our culture, civilisation, arts, religion, have also handled statecraft from |
its origin. Indeed, 30 years after Jobs introduced his machine at the Flint Center in Cupertino, I am writing these words on a Macintosh.
So, at least in one sense, 2014 is just like 1984.
Steven Levy is the author of Insanely Great: the Story of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed Everything. To mark the book's 20th anniversary today, it has been updated with a transcript of Levy's original interview with Jobs in November 1983. It is available today on the Kindle version and other formats soon.
1Correction 11:09 EST 01/24/14: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that the Washington Redskins beat the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1984 Super Bowl.If god is such a brilliant designer, why did he make everything needlessly complicated? This question occurred to me after a brief conversation with a young-earth creationist. She made a post on Facebook about how the complexity of the immune system suggests an intelligent designer. You see, everyday the human body is attacked by countless microbes that would easily kill us if not for the incredibly elaborate immune system. Therefore god.
First of all, I don’t understand the logic of explaining something complex with something even more complex (god). But that tactic doesn’t seem to be very effective, so I tried a different approach. I said,
“Interesting, but then you have to wonder why God created microbes in the first place. If he hadn’t, there would be no need for an immune system. Or did the microbes come along after the fall in the Garden of Eden? If so, then did God create the microbes as a sort of punishment (why bother doing that?), or did sin somehow cause microbes to appear? And either way, did God add the immune system to humans after the fall, or did he create it in the first place knowing the fall would happen? So many questions, so few answers.”
She responded that it’s possible some microbes turned “bad” after the fall and that this is when God added the immune system. But to her credit, she admitted this is just speculation and that there’s a lot we still don’t know. I responded,
“I agree there’s plenty we don’t know. But you have to wonder how exactly sin would cause good microbes to turn bad. Since there’s no way to measure sin, there’s no test we can perform to see how this would happen, so it’s pure speculation. And if God created the bad microbes himself, why would he do that knowing he would also have to create an immune system? Why create either of them in the first place? It all seems unnecessarily complicated. I would be more inclined to believe creationism if the human body were inexplicably simple.”
Unfortunately she didn’t reply again, but I want to expand on that last point a little bit. Creationists say the complexity of the human body indicates there’s a creator. But actually, a very simple human body that magically works would be more indicative of a creator.
Imagine how incredible it would be if the human body were completely hollow. How would it move without muscles? How would it stay upright without a skeleton? How would it think without a brain? And how would it digest food without a stomach? Well it wouldn’t, unless of course there was some all-powerful designer who made it work. If food magically transformed into energy without the need for a stomach, intestines, and disgusting bowel movements, I would be much more impressed and would even believe that some sort of intelligent being must be responsible. After all, a body like that couldn’t possibly evolve.
But as it is, the human body is so unnecessarily complex, fragile, inefficient, and full of vestigial organs that I don’t see how it could possibly be intelligently designed. The complexity of the human body is what we should expect to see if evolution is true.Dive Brief:
A key legislative committee in the New Mexico House of Representatives approved a bill on Monday that would extend state tax incentives for residential solar systems, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. Without the extension, the tax credits would expire at the end of this year.
If passed by the full House and state Senate, the bill would extend tax credits, good for 10% of the cost of residential solar installations, through 2024. Renewable energy advocates credit the state tax incentives for helping drive an 81% growth in the New Mexico solar sector from 2010 to 2013.
Political opponents say the cost of the rebate, in place since 2006, is unfairly shifted to non-solar owners. Gov. Susana Martinez (R) blocked a similar solar incentive bill last year with a pocket veto.
Dive Insight:
HB 26 passed the New Mexico House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee by a 7-4 vote on Monday. The bill would provide a rebate for 10% of the cost of residential solar installation until 2019. After that year, the amount of the tax credit would drop 1% annually to 2024. The rebate to any individual would be capped at $9,000 and the total program has a cap of $5 million per year.
The Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters, and the New Mexico Home Builders Association are among ten citizens groups supporting the bill.
But the law is “Robin Hood in reverse,” according to Republican Representative Larry Scott, because it pays for solar for the “more affluent” by imposing costs on “those less affluent.” Bill supporters, by contrast, pointed out during committee debates that the rebates go predominantly to those earning between $40,000 and $90,000 annually.
Leading U.S. residential rooftop solar installer SolarCity opened an operations center in Albuquerque, the state's largest city, last year. The solar sector has added an average investment in the state of $38 million per year since 2010 and now provides more than 1,600 New Mexican jobs, according to the industry.Image caption Arash and Kamiar Alaei, seen here in this file image, were respected for their HIV work
Two Iranian doctors imprisoned for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government have been awarded a global health prize.
Kamiar and Arash Alaei were arrested in June 2008 and accused of communicating with the US to unseat the regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
One of the two brothers, released earlier this year, was able to accept the award in Washington.
Kamiar Alaeia, 37, said they had never been involved in politics.
He told the BBC World Service that a project they began in a small clinic was so successful it was replicated nationwide and in the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
"It was beyond borders really and the programme became part of the national strategic plan. When it was part of a national strategy all we did was part of the strategy and we never went into politics or other [things]," he said.
The brothers began treating patients with HIV in the late 1990s, and developed a three-pronged program that integrated prevention, care and social support.
Mr Alaei said Iran's unique demographics, with 70% of the population being under 30 years old. meant that many in the country were at risk of HIV/Aids.
"Approximately 50% of the general population are between 17 and 27 years old. So we have a huge number of people who are at risk of addiction, injection, sexually transmitted infections and other HIV-related risk factors."
Mr Alaei's elder brother Arash, 42, remains in Tehran's Evin prison where he is serving a six-year sentence.
The brothers received the Global Health Council's Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights.
Kamiar, who was initially kept in solitary confinement, said he will not feel free until his brother is allowed to leave prison.
"I feel I am not released yet," he said in an interview with AFP.
"The majority of nights I go back to prison and I continue my life in prison."What happens when the enemy of your enemy is no longer your friend? You cast him out, as Steve Jobs seems to have done to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who today resigned his seat from Apple’s board. An alliance which began with a mutual distrust of Microsoft is now under strain because of a mutual distrust of each other. Google is not so much the enemy of Microsoft as it is the enemy of the old model of device-centric computing which both Microsoft and Apple represent.
The announcement comes on the heels of an FCC investigation into Apple’s iPhone App Store that was announced on Friday evening. The subject of that investigation is nominally the rejection of a Google app, Google Voice, from the App Store, but it is really an investigation into the closed and arbitrary nature of how apps get approved for the iPhone.
In other words, Google brought down the disapproving scrutiny of the FCC onto Apple on Friday night, and on Monday morning Schmidt resigned. It is difficult not to make a connection between these two events. The FCC investigation, of course, is never mentioned in the press release (that would only invite more pesky questions from the FCC). Instead, what Steve Jobs does say in the press release is that Google’s entry into mobile operating systems with Android and desktop operating systems with Chrome OS is increasingly becoming a “conflict of interest” for Schmidt. As a result, Schmidt had to go. It also says that both executives “mutually decided” it was time for Schmidt to resign. (I can only imagine how that conversation went. Jobs: “You are going to have to resign.” Schmidt: “Okay, but can I say it was my idea?”)
Regardless of how the resignation came about (maybe it was the other way around with Schmidt telling Jobs that the two companies were increasingly coming at odds with each other), what made the two men come to grips with reality all of a sudden? If nothing else, last Friday’s letters from the FCC was a wake-up call to Apple that Google stands on the opposite side of the fence when it comes to the evolution of the mobile Web. Google wants the mobile Web to be as open as the Internet. It’s entire mobile strategy is predicated on open access for all apps, devices, and services because that creates a larger, more vibrant, and more searchable mobile Web.
Apple is not about being open. It never has been. Every app on the iPhone (all 50,000 of them) must be approved individually, for instance. This difference in approach wasn’t a problem until Google started to have mobile aspirations of its own. Asked to choose between furthering Apple’s mobile agenda or Google’s, Schmidt must choose Google’s. It is his fiduciary duty. That conflict is only going to grow. And that is perhaps why Jobs says his “effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished.” Also, the more they compete, the more they expose themselves to antitrust questions from the FTC as long as Schmidt remains on the board.
Schmidt had to go. Not just because of the dust-up with the FCC and the Google Voice app. But because Google has a different set of agendas which already are putting strains on the relationship. Google wants to diminish the importance of any single computing device in favor of Web apps which sit in the cloud and are accessible from all devices—mobile phones, Macbooks, Dell laptops, or whatever. As much as is physically possible, it wants to replace the operating system with the Web.
Ultimately, that is a bigger threat to Apple than Microsoft ever was.
(Image via Photoxpress).A new Utah father said Tuesday a hospital charged him to hold his baby after his wife gave birth last month.
Ryan Grassley shared a photo of his hospital bill on Reddit, according to Fox 13 Now. The bill showed that Grassley was charged $39.35 for “skin to skin” contact. The photo has been viewed more than 3 million times in the last day.
“The nurse let me hold the baby on my wife's neck/chest,” he wrote on the website. “Even borrowed my camera to take a few pictures for us. Everyone involved in the process was great, and we had a positive experience. We just got a chuckle out of seeing that on the bill.”
Grassley, of Spanish Fork, told PIX11 that he thought it was “funny and a bit ridiculous” and decided to share it on Reddit. He even started a GoFundMe to raise $39 to pay for the charge. He added that the money would go to a vasectomy “because I never want to go (through) these sleepless new baby nights again."
The goal had been reached by early Wednesday.
Janet Frank, a spokeswoman for the Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, said in a statement to PIX11 that there was an additional nurse in the room during the C-section which is why there was the charge.
“In general, Utah Valley Hospital is an advocate for skin-to-skin contact between a mother and newborn directly after birth. Skin-to-skin is a best practice with proven benefits for both mom and baby. We do everything possible to allow skin-to-skin after both vaginal and C-section births,” Frank said.
“In the case of a C-section, where the bedside caregiver is occupied caring for the mother during surgery, an additional nurse is brought into the OR to allow the infant to remain in the OR suite with the mother. This is to ensure both patients remain safe. There is an additional charge associated with bringing an extra caregiver into the OR. The charge is not for holding the baby, but for the additional caregiver needed to maintain the highest levels of patient safety.”
Click for more from Fox 13 Now.Despite insistence that it’s not a “moment but a movement,” national attention to the Black Lives Matter organization has faded.
Nonetheless, as a scholar of black representation and political movements, it’s clear to me that if we’re worried about how to create social and political change, we must turn back to Black Lives Matter and its model of organizing.
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With its roots in queer feminism and black internationalism, the organization continues to offer a model for struggle we cannot afford to ignore: not only a refusal of the status quo and a clear set of demands for change, but also ideology and action that promises to be something altogether different from another civil rights movement.
Black Lives Matter began online after the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin and blossomed into a real-time organization in the wake of the 2014 police murder of Mike Brown.
And today, according to a recent study, it has the support of more than 40 percent of Americans. #BlackLivesMatter is no ordinary group of protesters.
Journalist Marc Lamont Hill, who has charted the organization’s rise, writes of Black Lives Matter and network of allies, “Pushing aside civil rights-era orthodoxies, these groups have embraced queer, trans, female, and shared leadership, rejected rigid respectability politics, and resisted (to varying degrees of success) co-optation by the dominant power structure.”
In so doing, they have practiced an inclusiveness, what its founders have called an “intersectionality,” and a protective indeterminacy, that is urgently necessary for any political success in the coming years of the Trump presidency.
Intersectionality for #BlackLivesMatter is not just a matter of making sure a woman’s march reflects all women, for instance, and not just those with pink “pussies” (but also brown or trans women) or the folks who can afford to attend such a march (like working class or poor women); it is also a radical refusal to pursue methods or goals that leave behind large swaths of Black America.
As scholar Keenanga Yamhatta-Taylor points out in “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation,” as a woman-founded organization with critical distance from more mainstream movements, #BlackLivesMatter has also “made a much more deliberate intervention to expose police brutality as part of a much larger system of oppression in the lives of all Black working-class and poor people” and, in so doing, has set its sight on broader goals than those of centralized national organizations like the NAACP with ties to government-backed funders.
Such breadth is clear in its mission statement and its policy demands, which insist not only on reparations but also ground-up change through the dismantling of the police apparatus itself.
Indeed, it’s #BlackLivesMatter’s wide-ranging vision, along with its intersectionality and its insistence that its efforts reflect its diverse and often locally, rather than nationally, organized constituents, that have set #BlackLivesMatter apart from both former and current civil rights movement organizations.
To be sure, today the assaults on Black life come not only in the form of police violence – or even the resurgence of a discourse of hate directed at Mike Brown, whose spectral image is again back in the news.
Trump’s government’s defunding of the NEH will affect Black artists; climate change and the government’s dismantling of the EPA will disproportionately affect Black children, who often live in more polluted and environmentally fragile neighborhoods; and the proposed increases in military spending will result in an increasingly militarized nation, again disproportionately affecting Black Americans, who have repeatedly suffered at the hands of the national guard and militarized police. And so it is only a movement with a deep understanding of how racial oppression works systemically, how it reaches out across branches of the government, social structures and institutions, that can help us fight against the violence this government is wreaking – not only on our most vulnerable citizens, but on us all.
Instead of arguing about the goals or inclusiveness of the Women’s March or the general strike – as many of us have over the past months – or planning interest-group event after interest-group event (the Scientist’s March, for instance), we should all join Black Lives Matter, find our local chapters, and work to revitalize its visionary protests, which serve not only what scholar Robin D. G. Kelley has called the “freedom dreams” of Black America, but the hopes of all of us that someday, somehow, the government will work to better our lives.
Liz Reich, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of film studies at Connecticut College, where she teaches and writes about race and cinema. She is author of “Militant Visions: Black Soldiers, Internationalism, and the Transformation of American Cinema,” and is a Public Voices fellow.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.SCIENTISTS have discovered that worms can reproduce in “Martian soil” for the first time ever.
GETTY STOCK IMAGE BREAKTHROUGH: Scientists have found worms on Mars which means food is growing
The new findings are a major step towards colonisation of the Red Planet. Researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands carried out the experiment to simulate life on Mars – and showed that two young earthworms were born in the soil. Biologist Dr Weiger Wamelink found the creature – vital for survival of any ecosystem – in the Hawaiian soil he obtained from NASA.
GETTY STOCK IMAGE MARS: The new findings are a major step towards colonisation of the Red Planet
NASA’s soil simulant originates from a volcano on Hawaii and Dr Weiger has been growing rocket in it to which worms have been added. He said: “The worms were from my own garden.” Dr Weiger was stunned when he discovered a couple of new arrivals he hadn’t completely expected.
SWNS DISCOVERED: Worms have been born in Martian soil
The surface of Mars: could these images prove LIFE exists on the Red Planet? These images released by NASA show the surface of Mars. They have been pored over by boffins and truthseekers looking for telltale signs that water once flowed on the Red Planet, which would mean that alien life could once have flourish there 1 / 19 NASA Four geological layers to be examined by the mission, and higher reaches of Mount Sharp beyond the planned study area
“It was a surprise” Dr Weiger Wamelink And he added: “Clearly the manure stimulated growth – especially in the Mars soil simulant – and we saw the worms were active. “However the best surprise came at the end of the experiment when we found two young worms in the Mars soil simulant.” His findings have been published on the website Nature Today.For the second time this season, Tiger-Cats receiver/kick returner Chris Williams has been named the Canadian Football League’s Special Teams Player of the Week. Williams was also named the Special Teams Player of the Month for July.
Last Thursday in Winnipeg, Williams returned five punts for 146 yards (29.2 average) including a 72-yard touchdown – his fourth kick return touchdown of the season, tying Earl Winfield’s single-season team record set in 1988.
Williams also added 160 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns against the Blue Bombers, giving him his second three-score game of the year. He is the first CFL player to record at least three touchdowns in one game twice in the same season since Charles Roberts in 2007.
Heading into week 9, Williams leads the league with 584 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.The square is emptier than it was a few days ago. But day after day, hour after hour, Sabri Batur maintains his vigil at the entrance to the Forensic Institute in Ankara. He keeps asking doctors if they know what's happened to his wife. None of them have given him an answer.
Over one hundred people died and several hundred others were injured on Oct. 10 when two suicide attackers detonated bombs at a peace rally in the Turkish capital. Forensic pathologists have managed to identify most of the bodies, but no trace of Sabri Batur's wife has been found so far.
Thirty-five-year-old Fatima Batur, a local politician from Alanya in southern Turkey and a mother of two, was among the demonstrators. She was talking to her husband in Alanya on her mobile phone when the first bomb exploded at 10:04 a.m. Sabri Batur heard the blast. Then the line went dead. Bloody TV images of the attack showed the dead and the injured lying on the street. Batur later found out that the wounded were still waiting for ambulances when police arrived and began dousing them with tear gas and beating them with truncheons.
The most deadly terrorist attack in recent Turkish history plunged the country into a state of shock. But after several days of mourning, there is now a growing sense of anger. Many in Turkey who are critical of the government are asking how the state -- with its all-powerful intelligence service -- could have failed to prevent a massacre in the capital. Why was so little police protection provided at the demonstration?
Sabri Batur has been scouring Ankara's hospitals for his wife. He waits in a tent that city authorities set up for relatives of the victims of the attack outside the Forensic Institute. He looks gaunt, his eyes are bloodshot and his tracksuit top is filthy. He explains how Fatima campaigned for women's rights. "Politics were her life," he says." A year ago, she was voted local chairperson of the People's Democratic Party (HDP) in Alanya.
An alliance between Kurdish and left-wing parties, the HDP snagged 13 percent support in the general election in June, thereby ensuring that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its long-held absolute majority. This made it the butt of AKP anger and because the HDP co-organized the demonstration in Ankara, the victims of the terrorist attack can expect little sympathy from the government.
President Erdogan called snap elections on Nov. 1, in the hope that a second vote will rally the public behind him and give the AKP its absolute majority back. But the run-up to the election has seen one of the darkest chapters in its past catch up with Turkey. In the last three months, hundreds of people have died in skirmishes between the Turkish military and Kurdish militants belonging to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Meanwhile, curfews have been introduced in many cities in southeastern Turkey.
It was against this tense background that German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Ankara over the weekend to discuss the refugee crisis with Erdogan. The European Commission has drawn up a draft action plan with Turkey, whereby the country agrees to keep refugees seeking to enter the EU in Turkey, providing them with the right to live in the country legally and stepping up the fight against smuggling networks. In return, Erdogan secured a range of sweeteners he has been after for years, including a relaxation of visa restrictions for Turkish travelers to the Schengen zone in Europe.
Political Meltdown
Terrorist attacks in other cities, like Paris and New York, resulted in a heightened sense of community, at least for a while. But the events of Oct. 10 appear to have deepened divisions in Turkey. The government and the opposition are already accusing one another of responsibility for the tragedy.
After the attacks, mourning and protest marches were staged in a number of Turkish cities. Unions and organizations called for strikes. Students boycotted lectures. But there were also other voices. During a moment of silence for the victims of the Ankara attacks before a football match, nationalist members of the crowd whistled mockingly and shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest).
The attacks mark a period of political meltdown in Turkey. Erdogan's response to it has fanned the flames rather than help quell them. The president generally wastes no time voicing his opinions, but he dropped completely out of sight for three days following the attacks. The media was instructed to refrain from showing images of the events, and not a single member of the government attended any of the victims' funerals.
Objective facts play a minor role in this stand-off, as illustrated by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's pronouncement that the attack was likely perpetrated by an alliance between Islamic State (IS) and militants from the PKK, despite the fact the two organizations are arch enemies and currently fighting one another in Syria. The mood is so charged that many AKP supporters are willing to believe him. Last week, Davutoglu alleged the attack had been carried out to prevent the AKP from regaining an absolute majority in the upcoming vote. "We are the real victims," he said.
Investigators' main suspects are members of an IS terror cell based in the town of Adiyaman on the Turkish-Syrian border. Some 34 people died in July in a suicide attack in Suruc, another border town. It was recently revealed that one of the two suspected suicide bombers in Ankara was the brother of the Turkish IS terrorist who perpetrated the attack in Suruc.
This discovery makes the security forces' failure look even more heinous. While Turkish police have detained hundreds of anti-government journalists and demonstrators on suspicion of terrorism in recent years, they were unable to recognize a terror cell in the southeast of the country. This reinforces government mistrust among the section of society which already suspects the president of being in cahoots with IS.
Tactical Turmoil
Government critics accuse Erdogan of deliberately stoking chaos so as to boost the AKP's image ahead of the vote as a party that can restore order in the country. In fact, he's prompting many people to turn to the opposition. Polls indicate the pro-Kurdish HDP will attract at least as much support on Nov. 1 as it did in June. Despite the unrest of recent months, its popularity remains undiminished. According to a survey conducted in mid-October by the Gezici Institute, the AKP is polling at 40.8 percent, while the social democratic CHP is at 27.6 percent, the far-right MHP at 15.8 percent, and the HDP at nearly 13.6 percent.
The pariah of AKP supporters is Selahattin Demirtas, one of the HDP's two chairmen. The party's excellent result in the June election is mainly his doing. Even before the Ankara attacks, to many supporters of the opposition he embodied hopes for a better, more democratic Turkey. Now, his followers are hailing him as a resistance fighter in a hostile state.
A few days after the attacks, Demirtas is expected at a tea-room in Fatih, a traditional and conservative district in Istanbul. He will be meeting relatives of the victims. "Selahattin! Selahattin!"chants the waiting crowd. When he arrives, they cheer him as though he were on the campaign trail. Demirtas is wearing a black suit and tie. Looking like he hasn't shaved properly and with heavy bags under his eyes, he's showing the strain of the last few days. His staff say he's barely slept since the attacks.
"The AKP started out as a people's party, but these days Erdogan is fighting the people out of fear of losing power," says Demirtas in an earlier conversation that takes place at a guesthouse for members of parliament prior to his appearance. "We Kurds are the real enemy of the government, not IS," he says, adding that the president will even risk war to remain in power.
'A Climate of Fear and Loathing'
In the wake of the HDP's strong showing in the June vote, Erdogan has seized every opportunity to undermine the pro-Kurdish party, while pro-government media denounce Kurdish politicians as terrorists. "Erdogan has created a climate of fear and loathing," says Demirtas. In the past four months alone, 140 attacks on HDP offices have been perpetrated. Demirtas' advisers say that IS has issued death threats against him -- as they told the Interior Ministry in August -- and have stepped up his security. One adviser says Turkish nationalists pose another threat. "We take it very seriously," he says.
The streets of Fatih are lined with AKP election posters. The district is a party stronghold. But Demirtas is mobbed by people as he crosses a square towards the tea-room. The same camera teams from Turkey's main broadcaster who paid him no attention only a few months ago are now thronging around him. He travels around Istanbul in a black Mercedes.
Most of the victims of the Ankara attacks were anti-government protesters: Kurds, leftists. Demirtas talks, cries and prays with them, comforting children and generally behaving as though he were president of Turkey. "Not only Kurds died in Ankara, but also Turks, devout Muslims and non-devout Muslims," he says. "We cannot allow ourselves to be torn apart."
The Kurdish politician provides a deliberate contrast to Erdogan. While the president likes to play the part of the manly leader who persecutes dissenters, Demirtas makes a quiet, modest impression. His home is a humble apartment in Diyarbakr, in southeastern Turkey, which he shares with his wife, a teacher, and their two daughters.
Under Erdogan, Turkey has undergone dramatic change, transforming from a crisis-ridden state to a strong regional force and a potential member of the EU. His AKP has modernized the economy, bolstered the rights of minorities and advanced reconciliation with the Kurds. But Erdogan, who became president in the summer of 2014 after 11 years as prime minister, has become increasingly autocratic and authoritarian with every election -- and alienated a growing number of people as a result.
'The State has Blood on its Hands'
In fact, Erdogan and Demirtas share an almost identical biography. They both grew up in working-class families: Erdogan as the son of a poor sea captain in Istanbul's rough Kasimpasa neighborhood, and Demirtas in southeastern Anatolia. They both stand for social groupings that long suffered state repression: Erdogan represents devout Muslims, Demirtas the Kurds. Much like Erdogan in the late 1990s, Demirtas has now identified that the time is ripe for change in Turkish society.
In Istanbul's working-class Zeytinburnu district, hundreds of people have lined up, waiting for the HDP's chairman to put in an appearance. Demirtas shakes every single hand. He's using his visits to the relatives of the Ankara attacks to spread his political message. "Erdogan maintains this attack was an attack on the state," he says. "No. It was an attack on us." Demirtas places himself firmly on the side of civil society, with the government on the other side.
Demirtas no longer believes the authorities are merely inept. "If Erdogan and Davutoglu had the slightest scrap of decency, they would resign after this massacre," he says. "The state has blood on its hands."
Erdogan, he says, has long supported IS in its campaign against the Kurds and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Demirtas also believes the government gives IS free rein in Turkey, despite the Turkish military's occasional strikes against IS facilities in Syria. The Kurdish politician is convinced that forces within Turkish intelligence helped prepare the Ankara attacks, or at the very least, knew they were imminent.
Granted, Turkey's Sunni Muslim leadership long saw IS as the lesser evil in the war against Assad. Jihadists were able to cross unchecked into Syria via Turkey. The border has been almost impossible to cross since summer, but even official crossings into IS-controlled territory were previously open.
According to estimates, around 1,000 and possibly as many as 2,000 Turks are members of the Islamic State. Since 2013, the terrorist militia has managed to build up a network of local supporters, secret bases and medical treatment facilities in Turkey -- with such good contacts to authorities that it was able to secure two-year residence permits for suicide bombers passing through the country.
Jihadists didn't even bother keeping much of a low profile in Turkey. Several IS members who have either fled or been captured have said they underwent military training in Turkey.
Turkey is now facing a worsening conflict between Kurds and Turks, Sunnis and Alevis. And though Selahattin Demirtas might attack the government, he has no desire to widen the gap between ethnicities and confessions.
Change is Inexorable
But the meeting at an HDP office in Istanbul shows what he's up against. Hundreds of party members have crowded into the building's three cramped rooms and corridors shouting "Erdogan! Murderer!" Posters of the PKK's jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan adorn the walls.
Despite its successful campaign against IS, the PKK continues to be categorized as a terrorist organization by the United States and Europe, and has contributed to the escalation of violence gripping Turkey in recent months. Since July, PKK activists have killed 140 Turkish security forces in attacks. The organization is using violent means in an attempt to force Turkey to concede autonomy to the Kurds in the southeast of the country.
Demirtas rejects the PKK's violence. The cornerstone of his campaign is a pledge to reconcile Turks, Kurds and the rest of society. But he is also aware that many of his party's members are sympathetic to the PKK. His own brother fights with the rebels in the mountains of northern Iraq.
In his speech to the party, Demirtas points out that the PKK called a cease-fire in the aftermath of the Ankara attacks. Turkey, meanwhile, continued to shell its headquarters in northern Iraq. "We must not allow ourselves to be provoked," says Demirtas.
The HDP has canceled a number of major events scheduled for the next few weeks on the grounds it cannot guarantee security. Demirtas is nonetheless doing his best to exude confidence. "Change is inexorable," he insists.
In Ankara, Sabri Batur is still waiting for the results of the latest autopsies. The bodies of some of the victims were so dismembered that they can only be identified by DNA analysis. But eyewitnesses have confirmed that Fatima was standing right next to the spot where the first bomb went off.
Sabri Batur has given up hope of finding his wife alive. But he isn't ready to tell his children that their mother is dead. Almost a week after the attacks, he gets a call from his son, who asks him when she's coming back. "Tomorrow," answers Batur.12.1 Overworld Goodies Progress at dis point Total Life
Heart Pieces 41/44 Charts 43/46 New up in dis section Piecez of Heart: #42
Afta completin tha Ghetto Temple, there be now two optionizzle Sunken Treasure chests dat we can uncover n' shit. One of dem gotz nuff just some additionizzle rupees while tha second one gotz nuff Piece of Heart #42.
-Treasure Chart #12 – Five-Eye Reef – 200 Rupees
-Treasure Chart #20 – Bomb Island – Piece of Heart #42
12.2 Findin tha Wind Temple Progress at dis point Total Life
Heart Pieces 42/44 Charts 43/46 New up in dis section Characters: Fado Locations: Gale Isle
Our next destination is over at Gale Isle located just uptown of Windfall Island. Y'all KNOW dat shit, muthafucka! Sail on over n' yo big-ass booty is ghon find a big-ass gust of wind dat is blockin Link from movin forward. Y'all KNOW dat shit, muthafucka! In tha last chapta we gots tha Iron Boots from Ice Rin Isle. If you don’t have dem yet, head back ta section 11.3 ta git dem wild-ass muthafuckas.
With tha Iron Boots equipped, Link can strutt all up in tha blowin wind. Y'all KNOW dat shit, muthafucka! You’ll find dat it is originatin from a lil' small-ass statue. Pull up tha Skull Hammer n' give it a smack ta fuck wit it, openin a entrizzle ta tha inner part of tha island.
Inside of tha island, Link will find another statue wit a cold lil' woo wop on it, straight-up similar ta what tha fuck we saw at Headstone Island. Y'all KNOW dat shit, muthafucka! Pull up tha Wind Waker n' Link will learn tha Wind God’s Aria. Link is ghon be joined by Fado, a ancient sage of tha Kokiri tribe. Fado will tell Link ta seek up tha thug dat uses tha same ol' dirty instrument dat Fado is rockin n' ta teach his ass tha cold lil' woo wop dat he just hustled.
Return ta tha Mackdaddy of Red Lions n' warp on over ta tha Forest Haven. I aint talkin' bout chicken n' gravy biatch. Climb onto tha island n' strutt over ta tha closest waterfall. Usually we swin over tha waterfall rockin tha grapplin hook. But fuck dat shiznit yo, tha word on tha street is dat if you pay close attention, yo big-ass booty is ghon hear noize n' peep musical notes comin outta tha waterfall. Use tha grapplin hook from lower area n' swin right tha fuck into tha waterfall ta find a secret underground cavern.
Inside yo big-ass booty is ghon find Makar playin his Violin. I aint talkin' bout chicken n' gravy biatch yo. Dude is tryin ta learn a cold lil' woo wop fo' next muthafuckin years ceremony. Pull up tha Wind Waker n' dis will trigger a scene where Makar awakens as tha Sage n' skits tha Wind God’s Aria alongside Link. Once you can control of Link, he’ll be back on tha Mackdaddy of Red Lions, wit Makar chillin on tha Mackdaddy’s head.
Yo, sail back |
i.e. pain. Thus, they might be very useful for people with fibromyalgia. At high enough of a dose, they can cause temporary muscle paralysis. To achieve muscle paralysis, the recommended dose for large animals is 50mg per pound. Assuming a similar dose rate for humans, for a person weighing 100 pounds, the recommended dose would be 5000mg. Of course, this amount is meant for extreme relaxation to allow for surgery. A muscle relaxant effect would still be seen at much lower doses. Patients on guaifenesin for fibromyalgia take anywhere from 600 to 3600mg per day. Dr. St. Amand's own wife takes as much as 4800mg per day. So this effect would likely be significant in these people.
Additionally, in the previously mentioned study that compared Robaxin and guaifenesin, it was found that the two drugs had comparable muscle relaxant effects at similar dose levels. Since the maintenance dose for Robaxin is 1500mg, we can infer that the same level dose of guaifenesin would also have significant relaxant effects. And in fact, many people with who take guaifenesin, take a dose that is close to that amount.
However, while these drugs were mainly used as muscle relaxants, they were soon discovered to have more effects than that. Studies on mephenesin showed that it could reduce anxiety as well. In one such study, mephenesin was found to produce “a relaxation of tense muscles, leading to a feeling of reduced muscle and psychic tension, often with a sense of well-being.” However, mephenesin required many doses during the day to achieve these effects, because of it’s quick metabolization. Thus, other propanediol derivate drugs were created, in order to find a longer lasting one, with greater anti-anxiety effects. This led to the creation of the first “tranquilizer”, Meprobamate, 2-Methyl-2-propyl-1,3-propanediol dicarbamate, commonly known as Equanil or Miltown. It is no longer used, because the nervous system effect was not specific to anxiety, plus it was also very addictive. However, several other propanediols are still in use. Carisoprodol, or soma, is N-isopropyl-2-methyl-3-propyl-1,3-propanediol dicarbamate. It is a commonly prescribed muscle relaxant, and is sometimes prescribed for fibromyalgia. Another propanediol is Felbatol (felbamate), 2-phenyl-1,3-propanediol dicarbamate, an anticonvulsant. It should also be noted that some people have been found to experience allergic symptoms from propanediols, and the medical literature warns people not to use any propanediol drug if they have experienced side effects from any one of them. This might explain why some people experience immediate side effects from using guaifenesin.
It is worth noting that guaifenesin's relaxant effect on the nervous system might be the reason for its expectorant property. Guaifenesin was being used as an expectorant, well before propanediols were discovered, as it can be derived from the bark of the guaiac tree. However, as shall be shown later, guaifenesin doesn't appear to have a direct effect on mucus. Instead, it's possible that its expectorant ability is actually due to its muscle relaxant effect. Some types of expectorants are known to act via a relaxant effect, as the effect helps to soothe spasms and allow mucus to flow easier. Two common herbal remedies that are known to act both as relaxants and expectorants are kava kava and peppermint oil. Some relaxants, like pepperment oil, are also useful for digestion problems such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, so it's not surprising that some people have reported guaifenesin to be useful for IBS (although IBS is a multifaceted problem, so relaxants don't work for everyone.) In any event, this shows how a single property can have widespread and diverse effects on the body.
But guaifenesin's effect on the nervous system is not simply limited to acting as a muscle relaxant. In the 1970s, mephenesin was found to increase levels of the amino acid glycine. A later study in the 1992, showed evidence that mephenesin may be an antagonist of excitatory amino acids. This could be releavant to fibromyalgia, since studies have shown that levels of excitatory amino acids are raised in fibromyalgia, and may be involved in the pain process of fibromyalgia. And it's also been found that some people with fibromyalgia find relief of symptoms by avoiding dietary excitotoxins such as MSG and aspartame, both of which contain excitatory amino acids. Another study in 1994 on mephenesin went on to hypothesize that this effect on amino acids may be the reason for mepehensin's ability to act as a muscle relaxant: "Mephenesin acts mainly by inhibitting the polysynaptic reflexes in the spinal cord, and these reflexes are mediated by the intersegmental network using EAAs as neurotransmitters." And a study on other EAA antagnoists have shown them to have muscle relaxant effects. Interestingly, felbamate, another drug in the propanediol family, has also been found to a be a broad spectrum antagonist of excitatory amino acids. Both studies on mephenesin and felbamate indicate that they inhibit NMDA neuron receptor activity. In fact, it appears that many propanediol drugs, or for that matter most -diol chemicals, inhibit NMDA receptors. This is important, because drugs that act as NMDA inhibitors may be helping in treating fibromyalgia pain.
Thus, mephenesin, and therefore guaifenesin, may indeed have the ability to lower fibromyalgia pain levels. While there are few studies regarding this effect, one study has shown that mephenesin does have an analgesic effect. Another study on guaifenesin also shows that it has an analgesic effect.
The related drug carisoprodol (soma) also appears to have an analgesic effect which is separate from its muscle relaxant effect: “Pain was induced by a high-frequency electronic stimulator applied to normal intact teeth. By this method carisoprodol taken orally was about 5 times as potent as acetylsalicylic acid in raising tooth pain threshold. Since the pain threshold endpoint did not require activation of skeletal muscle, carisoprodol must have induced analgesia independently of its known muscle relaxant action.”
As an aside, neurontin at low doses is able to potentiate the anaglesic property of opioids such as morphine. This potentiating property is likely due to an antagonistic effect on excitatory amino acids. Increased levels of EAAs are known to cause tolerance and the loss of antinociceptive response to morphine, and neurontin has been shown to reduce morphine tolerance. While guaifenesin has not been tested for a potentiating effect on morphine, Robaxin (guaifenesin carbamate (methocarbamabol) is known to potentiate morphine. Thus, perhaps guaifenesin's ability to potentiate the effect of pain killers, is also due to an EAA antagonistic effect
Given the possibly unique mode of action of guaifenesin, i.e. an anti-excitatory amino acid effect, it might explain why some people with fibromyalgia have noticed an effect from it, while others have not. Many drugs used for fibromyalgia have varying success between patients. For example, different people respond to different pain killers, showing that not all people with fibromyalgia are experiencing the same pain problems. Some people respond to morphine, while others do not. Other studies have shown neurochemical differences in the spinal fluid of fibromyalgia patients. Pain in people with primary fibromyalgia coorelates with different excitatory amino acids, than those with secondary fibromyalgia.
The neurological effects of guaifenesin might also explain why the original study on guaifenesin didn't show any results. The patients in the study might have already been taking analgesics at doses high enough that they wouldn't see any additional effect by taking guaifenesin. Many people who take guaifenesin, often do so because they either haven't found any meds that have worked for them, or they can't tolerate the side effects from such medicines. In other words, the guaifenesin study might have not accurately reflected the population who have found the most benefit from taking guaifenesin.
As an aside, probenecid, the drug previously used by Dr. St. Amand, may also indirectly antagonize the effects of excitatory amino acids. Probenecid is an "anion transport inhibitor", meaning it can affect the transport of certain acids. Probenecid has been studied with regard to kynurenic acid, a naturally occurring EAA antagonist. In studies, it's been found that probenecid can affect kynurenic acid, and in one study on rats, it was found to increase the level of kynurenic in the brain by a factor of 2.5. And in other studies, kynurenic acid has been found to have analgesic effects.
Unfortunately, propanediol drugs often have hemolytic side effects, which is why they are not being used to treat pain. For example, the propanediol drug felbamate, was definitely found to be able to reduce neuropathic pain. But research on it was discontinued, when significant hemolytic side effects were discovered. Guaifenesin has much lower hemolytic side effects. However it is metabolized quickly from the body, so it was not considered to be useful. However, most of the research on guaifenesin was done well before a timed release version of guaifenesin was created, which would significantly prolong the levels of guaifenesin in the body. Additionally, the rate of metabolism of guaifenesin appears to have a wide range of variance between people. A study in MEDLINE shows that the half-life of guaifenesin in healthy subjects varied from 1.36 to 5.25 hours. This quoted maximum is much much higher than the average half-life which is usually reported for guaifenesin in the literature. It could be that some people have a slower metabolic rate, and that this could account for why some people with fibromyalgia find it useful, while others do not, and why the effective dose varies widely between people.
By the way, guaifenesin is a centuries old remedy, as Dr. St. Amand himself notes. He points out that extracts of the guaiac tree, have a long history of being used for rheumatism. I assume that he mentions this, as a possible proof that it can treat fibromyalgia. However the specific history, is that in the 1500s, explorers to the new world of North America became aware of the guaiac tree, due to the fact that they were looking for remedies to treat untreatable diseases, such as syphilis. Basically, they were looking for a way to make money. They discovered that the local natives were using extracts of the guaiac tree for medicinal properties, and so they tested it on syphilis. The extracts were able to treat the back pain related to syphilis, so they believed that it could therefore treat syphilis. Thus, for a long time, it was more well known for treating syphilis, than rheumatism. The fact that guaifenesin has a history of treating various ailments, supports the theory that it has a more general analgesic effect, rather than a specific effect that only treats fibromyalgia. So it's no wonder that people such as Gregory Penniston, a chiropractor who designed the GuaiLife form of guaifenesin, markets it for a very wide range of pain conditions, such as pelvic pain, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and restless leg syndrome, among others.
As an aside, if one believes that salicylates can block the effects of guaifenesin, one wonders how guaifenesin was useful at all in the past as a herbal remedy. Because in those days, extracts of the guaiac tree were created from the bark of the tree. And the bark of the tree surely should contain salicylates, according to Dr. St. Amand's theory that salicylates are abundant in trees and herbs. And even if salicylates aren't present in the guaiac bark, then they very likely are present in other herbal remedies, that patients in those days would have been taking for their pain condition. Surely some of those impure herbal remedies, would have also contained salicylates. In fact, herbal web pages specifically mention that it's ok to combine guaiac extracts with other herbs that contain salicylates:
http://www.nevdgp.org.au/info/ArthritisF/management/herbal.htm
http://www.holistic-online.com/Herbal-Med/_Herbs/h244.htm
Additionally, no herbal web page makes any mention that guaiac extracts make a person feel worse before they get better.
Uricosuric Drugs and Phosphate Excretion
Dr. St. Amand believes that the increased phosphate excretion is the reason for guaifenesin's benefit, and that by reducing excess phosphate in the body one can totally reverse fibromyalgia. While I believe guaifenesin to have some benefit, there is no evidence that it can reverse fibromyalgia, nor is there any evidence that phosphate is the cause of fibromyalgia. In addition, there is no evidence that uricosuric drugs can increase urinary phosphate excretion.
Previous to using guaifenesin for fibromyalgia, Dr. St. Amand used other uricosuric drugs, such as anturane and probenecid. Both are used for gout, due to their ability to increase urinary uric acid. However, neither is known to be able to enhance phosphate excretion. The medical literature appears to have no references to any studies which tests anturane for this ability. However, there are several studies which have tested for this effect in probenecid.
Probenecid is believed to increase urinary uric acid by reducing the amount that is reabsorbed via the kidneys back into the serum. The section of the kidneys where this occurs is known as the proximal tubule. Probenecid is secreted into the proximal tubule via a process known as renal tubular secretion, which only occurs for certain weak acids. One of those acids includes salicylates. Since this process has a limited capacity, acids compete with each other for secretion. If salicylate levels are too high, they block probenecid from being secreted.
Once in the proximal tubule fluid, probenecid is believed to act as an anion transport inhibitor, which is to say it prevents the kidneys from reabsorbing negatively charged substances, including such acids as uric acid. The following study extensively tested the effects of probenecid on urinary electrolytes, and did not find any increased excretion of urinary phosphate.
Can Med Assoc J. 1970 Sep 12;103(5):473-83 AUTHORS: Garcia DA, Yendt ER (No abstract available in MEDLINE)
Additionally, other studies have confirmed that probenecid does not increase urinary phosphate excretion, such as the following:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=809224&dopt=Abstract
In that study, the action of probenecid was monitored in connection with Didronel, a drug used for osteoporosis. Didronel has a known side effect of increasing serum phosphate levels, an effect which lasts from 2-4 weeks after discontinuing the drug. Probenecid was tested to see if it would cause any increase in phosphate excretion, which it did not. Interestingly, Dr. St. Amand actually recommends Didronel for osteoporosis for his patients, and it does not appear to cause any worsening of fibromyalgia symptoms, even in people who exhibit a rise in phosphate levels. This casts doubt on the phosphate theory, since a rise in serum phosphate levels should offset the effect of guaifenesin, but it does not.
It's not surprising that uricosuric agents cannot affect phosphate excretion. The process in the proximal tubule of the kidneys, where most of the phosphate reabsorption occurs, is highly controlled and specific to phosphate. In that area of the kidneys, there exist "type II sodium-phosphate cotransporters", which control phosphate reabsorption, and they are very specific for phosphate. They are controlled by several mediators of phosphate homeostasis (eg, parathyroid hormone [PTH], dopamine, dietary phosphate). If a drug could simply affect phosphate excretion, and not other minerals, then that would be of remarkable help for many hyperphosphate disorders. Right now, the way to treat such disorders, is via a low phosphate diet, combined with using phosphate binders that block the absorption of dietary phosphate. In severe case, diuretics are also used. However, these methods are not always very successful, or can create side effects. A drug that could remove only phosphate, without affecting other minerals, and without the need to change one's diet, would be a great discovery.
As for Dr. St. Amand's urine tests on his patients, which he claims show increased phosphate excretion, it should be noted that many drugs initially cause side effects that gradually disappear. Thus, long terminal studies are the only reliable tests. This is especially true of phosphate excretion which is very much dependent on hormonal levels. If a drug has the ability to disrupt mineral excretion, it can take many days and sometimes weeks, before the body is able to compensate for the disruption, and bring mineral excretion back to normal. For example, prednisone initially causes increased phosphate excretion, but the effect disappears after long term use.
The reason for any possible initial increase in mineral excretion, that is seen from guaifenesin, might be due to the fact that guafenesin is metabolized by the liver into an acid, which is then excreted into the urine. In theory, this could increase urinary acidity, and increased urinary acidity has been associated with increased calcium excretion. This might explain why Dr. Bennett's study showed a small but significant increase in urinary calcium. However, when initially starting guaifenesin, there might be large increases in mineral excretion, until the body adapts to the changes. For example, high protein diets that increase urinary acidity, can initially increase mineral excretion, especially calcium However, a recent long term study on such a diet, has shown that such effects disappear after several weeks. Thus, only long term studies show the true effects.
No Evidence that Excess Phosphate Can Cause Fibromyalgia Symptoms
Phosphorus, commonly referred to as phosphate, is one of the most common and most necessary minerals in the body. Phosphate is used everywhere, from the building of bones, to balancing the body's PH, and most important, for providing energy to run the body, via the formation of ATP. However, since phosphate is so common in the foods we eat, a phosphate deficiency is rare. And so is an excess of phosphate.
This is because the kidneys are the main factor in regulating proper phosphate levels in the body. And the kidneys are well able to excrete very large amounts of excess phosphate, up to several times the amount normally found in one's diet. The ability of the body to excrete excess phosphate, does not occur until a significant loss of kidney functioning occurs. For example, chronic kidney disease (CKD), does not result in a significant increase in serum phosphate levels, until stage 4 of the disease is reached.
There are several factors that influence the rate of phosphate excretion by the kidneys. The main influence is the parathyroid glands, as they controls excretion rates via the production of parathyroid hormones, or PTH. Thus, phosphate problems mainly occur due to either kidney or parathyroid problems.
If phosphate excretion is too low, phosphate serum levels rise, resulting in the condition known as hyperphosphatemia This is normally due to either kidney failure, parathyroid deficiency (hypoparathyroidism), or due to the body not reacting properly to parathyroid hormone. Such a condition is easily detected via a blood test. Initially, this condition is symptomless. The main symptoms occur due to the excess phosphate combining with calcium. This causes a calcium deficiency, which is the main source of symptoms in hyperphosphatemia. However, if phosphate levels are high enough, metastatic calcification occurs. This causes calcium phosphate to accumulate in soft tissues, resulting in deposits in the heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, brain, eyes, peri-articular tissues, and skin. But no such condition has been found in fibromyalgia, so there is no direct proof that excess phosphate is present in fibromyalgia. And even if it did exist, the effects of excess phosphate would be first seen in tissues other than the muscles, as studies show that muscle cells appear to be somewhat protected from serum phosphate levels changes. This is one of the possible reasons why hyperphosphatemia first causes deposits to initially occur in soft tissues, but not in muscles.
If excess phosphate really was the cause of fibromyalgia, then everyone with hyperphosphatemia should develop fibromyalgia. In fact, since all children, adolescents, and postmenopausal women have elevated serum phosphate levels, then all of them should also develop fibromyalgia. But this is not the case.
Nevertheless, Dr. St. Amand believes that uricosuric drugs help fibromyalgia, because of their supposed effect on phosphate excretion. Dr. St. Amand conducted a few urinary tests on some of his patients, and found that both urinary calcium and phosphate levels were raised. Since phosphate levels were raised the most, Dr. St. Amand believes it is this effect that helps to treat fibromyalgia. According to this article that he wrote: http://www.psha-inc.com/guai-support/Vulvodynia.htm
"My theory, simplistically stated, is that minimal phosphate retention year after year is leading to gradual excesses. An elevated phosphate in the blood is not tolerated since it would depress calcium levels. The parathyroid glands will not allow this and phosphate must be spread evenly not only in body fluids but also within cells."
If this statement is true, then either serum calcium levels should be depressed in people with fibromyalgia, or parathyroid levels should elevated. However, neither condition has been noted in fibromyalgia. Additionally, an increase of PTH not only increases serum calcium levels, but also decreases phosphate levels, by increasing urinary phosphate excretion.
But the body has yet another method for reducing elevated serum phosphate. It does this by decreasing levels of vitamin D. Vitamin D regulates the amount of phosphate absorption in the intestines. The decreased levels of vitamin D results in less phosphate being absorbed, and thus lowers the serum phosphate.
Thus, there are several ways for the body to reduce serum phosphate levels, in order to avoid phosphate from being deposited in cells. Only in cases where phosphate serum levels are very significantly elevated, would PTH not be able to compensate. If that was so, the condition would again be easily noted via symptoms and lab tests.
Dr. St. Amand has stated that "Phosphates readily enter cells". It is true that most phosphate is contained in the cells. Intracellular phosphate levels are much higher than extracellular levels. However, because of this concentration difference, phosphate cannot easily enter cells on its own. An active process is necessary to push the phosphate into cells. One of the major ways in which this is accomplished, is via a mechanism known as sodium-phosphate cotransporters, which are present in all cells. On the other hand, phosphate can readily exit cells via a passive process. This is because there is much less phosphate outside of the cells, and thus phosphate can ready exit cells without much resistance. This process is believed to be dependent on the amount of phosphate in the cells.
Thus, there are several methods available to cells, that can be used to control their intracellular levels of phosphate. And in fact, these processes are constantly at work, exchanging inorganic phosphate between the intracellular and extracellular space. In muscles, which have high energy needs, and which therefore contain large amounts of phosphate, the intracellular inorganic phosphate is totally removed and replaced within a couple of hours, even when the muscles are at rest. And because phosphate is so necessary for proper muscle functioning, the level of intracellular phosphate is especially well controlled in muscles. For example, studies have shown that when intracellular phosphate levels increase in muscles, due to physical activity, phosphate is released at a greater rate, and its uptake into cells is reduced. Thus, these two processes can used by cells to avoid excessively high levels of phosphate. Additionally, the concentration and electrical difference between the intracellular and extracellular space is especially high in muscles, making it particularly hard for phosphate to enter muscle cells on their own. Thus, these factors help to explain why muscles don't appear to be significantly affected by elevated serum phosphate levels, even at levels seen in hyperphosphatemia.
Dr. St. Amand also believes that the excess phosphate combines with calcium in cells to form calcium phosphate deposits in cells. However, one study has shown that intracellular calcium levels in fibromyalgia is actually decreased.
Dr. St. Amand believes that the calcium phosphate deposits in cells is the cause of lower levels of ATP, which is found in fibromyalgia. ATP is a key chemical that the body creates for storing energy. However, studies have shown no relationship to the level of ATP and actual fibromyalgia symptoms. And there have been no published studies which have found that excess phosphate is associated with ATP depletion, or for that matter, any fibromyalgia symptoms. But there are studies which show that ATP deficiencies are found in people with phosphate deficiencies, which is not surprising, since ATP requires phosphate. In fact, one study has found that some people with chronic fatigue syndrome have phosphate diabetes, a condition caused by kidneys excreting too much phosphate.
If deposits in cells is the cause of fibromyalgia, then fibromyalgia should develop slowly, as the deposits slowly grow. And the disease should be progressive, i.e. the deposits would continue to keep growing, as in conditions such as hyperphosphatemia. This would then cause symptoms to constantly get worse. However, for many people, fibromyalgia is not a progessive disease. It is true that some people do progressively get worse, but this could be due to the fact that they are not getting proper treatment, or that they have a secondary condition that is undiagnosed. And the fact that some people people develop fibromyalgia in a very short period of time, while in others it develops slowly, starting from any age, shows the wide variability of the disease. If a genetic flaw in the excretion of minerals was the cause of fibromyalgia, it is unlikely that one would not see such wide differences in patients.
Besides, if fibromyalgia was a truly a disease caused by ATP depletion from these deposits, then fibromyalgia symptoms and other ATP depletion symptoms, should overlap. For example, ATP depletion can cause muscle problems such as rhabdomyolysis. However, no such conditions are observed in fibromyalgia.
Some people have pointed to studies which show that fibromyalgic muscles contain low levels of ATP and high levels of inorganic phosphate as being proof of the phosphate theory. However, these same abnormalities have been known for a while, and are quite common in other conditions. For example, studies have shown that similar muscle conditions occur due to hormonal disorders, such as a hypothyroidism. Insulin resistance, another condition commonly found in conjunction with fibromyalgia, is also known to decrease ATP levels in muscles.
In fact, reduced levels of ATP in muscles, can occur in the average person, due to experiencing exercise that causes muscle fatigue. Basically, what happens is that ATP utilization exceeds the oxidative capacity of the muscles, leading to a build up of inorganic phosphate. Inorganic phosphate is formed due to the usage of ATP, and is then reused to synthesize new ATP. But when the oxidative capacity is exceeded, ATP synthesis can't match usage, and inorganic phosphate levels rise. Studies have shown that people with fibromyalgia have lower than normal oxidative capacity in muscles. But studies also show that untrained muscles have lowered oxidative capacity, and higher levels of inorganic phosphate, when compared to trained muscles. Thus, considering that many people with fibromyalgia have reduced physical activity, due to the pain, it's very likely that untrained muscles is a major reason why lowered oxidative capacity exists. Numerous studies by Finnish researchers, have shown that strength excercising by fibromyalgia patients, results in similar levels of increased muscle strength, when compared to normal people. This should not be the case, if fibromyalgia muscles contained significant cell abnormalities. It's because of this and other findings, that many people have thus come to the conclusion that fibromyalgia studies on muscles do not show any conditions which are the primary cause of fibromyalgia, and that fibromyalgia is not related to any muscle disorder.
Indeed, a recent 2013 study on ATP levels in fibromyalgia and non-fibromyalgia patient groups, showed that “no significant group differences existed with respect to inorganic phosphate”. And while they did find decreased levels of ATP, they stated that “the content and function of mitochondria decreases with physical inactivity”, and that this “would support an explanation of our findings of lower absolute concentrations of ATP and PCr in FMS may be due to inactivity.” Again, this supports the theory that the decreased ATP levels, may actually be the result of inactivity, caused by fibromyalgia pain, rather than the reduced ATP levels being the cause of the fibromyalgia pain.
So there presently is no proof to support the phosphate theory, nor is there any proof that ATP depletion could cause all the immune, hormonal, and brain disfunctions which have been found in fibromyalgia, or for that matter chronic fatigue syndrome, which Dr. St. Amand believes is the same disease as fibromyalgia. This is the reason why, that although ATP levels were found to be abnormal as far back as the early 1990s, present day research is not focused on that as being the primary cause of fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms.
But even if we accept this theory, we must also believe that guaifenesin can lower the serum phosphate level to the point where it would cause phosphate to be released by the cells into the serum and be excreted. Such an effect would have to be quite significant, in order to create a large enough gradient between the blood and the cells to make the phosphate want to move into the blood. And it has to be large enough to allow the released phosphate to be excreted, rather than simply being reabsorbed by other cells. Such a significant effect would be easily noticed in lab tests. And in fact, such a test should probably be used as a parameter for how much guaifenesin is needed, in order to make sure that phosphate isn't being lowered too much. Phosphate blood and urine levels are usually extremely constant, and assuming one is taking a timed release version of guaifenesin to achieve a steady decrease of phosphate, a blood test should be quite reliable. However, such tests have not been published, nor are they being used for verifying the dose of the drug. Increasing excretion of minerals can theoretically lead to many health problems. Yet, Dr. St. Amand only uses symptoms as his guide for doses. In fact, his treatment protocol expects that you will initially feel worse when taking guaifenesin, which makes one wonder how one is supposed to know if one is feeling bad or good effects, without a proper lab test.
Dr. St. Amand himself has said his theory is purely theoretical, and that perhaps guaifenesin is changing the excretion level of some other anion. His main reason for originally believing in the phosphate theory was due to what he had observed in his patients, such things as weaknesses in teeth and nails, which he believed was due to calcium deposits resulting from the high level of phosphate. However, weak and abnormal bone formations can be due to a phosphate diabetes, which we have previously described. And it can also be due to a much more common problem, which is a magnesium deficiency. Bones are not only formed from calcium and phosphate, but also from magnesium. Without magnesium, the resulting formations will be soft. Teeth will have soft enamel, nails will be brittle, symptoms which match Dr. St. Amand's observations.
Magnesium is extremely necessary for proper ATP synthesis, because ATP is stored in the body as a combination of magnesium and ATP, which is known as MgATP. ATP requires magnesium in order to be stable. Without magnesium, ATP would easily break down into other components, ADP and inorganic phosphate.
Magnesium deficiency is very common in the general US population. Not only is our daily intake low, but we eat a diet which increases the demand for magnesium. And unfortunately, urinary magnesium loss can be increased by many factors, both physical and emotional. Magnesium loss increases in the presence of certain hormones. Stress can greatly increase magnesium loss. Even loud noises can extra magnesium loss. One article on the web goes so far as to say that that almost everyone is the United States is at least marginally deficient in magnesium. So there is an excellent chance that a person with fibromyalgia has a magnesium deficiency. But since people with fibromyalgia often have high levels of stress, and a disrupted hormonal system, they are more likely to be candidates for magnesium deficiency. Plus, sleep deprivation has been shown to cause lower magnesium levels:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9068914&dopt=Abstract
Magnesium is known to regulate or inhibit many nerve receptors, such as NMDA or 5-HT3, which have been considered as sources of certain types of fibromyalgia pain. Neurontin, for example, is used because of its ability to regulate NMDA. Since magnesium also blocks NMDA receptors, studies have used intravenous magnesium therapy to try and treat similar types of neuropathic pain:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10687324&dopt=Abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9785788&dopt=Abstract
And it's because of magnesium's ability to regulate nerve functions that other fibromyalgia symptoms occur. Migraine headaches, mitral valve prolapse, and Raynaud's phenomenon, all problems commonly found in people with fibromyalgia, are also problems that have been associated with a magnesium deficiency. Without enough magnesium, nerves fire too easily from even minor stimuli. Noises will sound excessively loud, lights will seem too bright, emotional reactions will be exaggerated, and the brain will be too stimulated to sleep, all symptoms commonly found in fibromyalgia. And if the oversensitivity to light and noise reminds you of someone suffering from a hangover, they are one and the same problem, as alcohol is known for decreasing magnesium levels, and magnesium supplementation has been found to relieve hangover symptoms.
A magnesium deficiency also increases levels of substance P, a chemical which has been implicated as being responsible for increased pain levels in FMS. Several studies, such as the following, show this:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1384353&dopt=Abstract
Unfortunately, magnesium deficiency is not easily detected, as serum levels do not reflect the levels of magnesium in tissues. This is the reason why it is so overlooked and ignored, both by doctors and by studies. And unfortunately, oral magnesium supplementation can be difficult because of absorption problems. Digestion and diet play a key role in absorption. People with fibromyalgia often have conditions like Irritable Bowel System, gluten intolerance, or other problems that might limit absorption. Phosphate can bind to magnesium in the gut, creating magnesium phosphate, an insoluble salt that can't be utilized. Many forms of oral magnesium supplements are hard to assimilate. The most common, magnesium oxide and citrate, happen to be the worst to assimilate, which is why both have a strong laxative effect. If you suffer from that effect when you take magnesium, it is often not because you are taking too much, but because you are not assimilating it well. And it may take long term use of supplements before magnesium levels are raised in all the tissues, and for damaged cell functions to be restored.
Therefore, the symptoms which Dr. St. Amand has attributed to an excess of phosphate, would more likely be due to a magnesium deficiency.
What Your Doctor Never Told You About Salicylates
Dr. St. Amand, and many patients on guaifenesin, believe that salicylates block guaifenesin's effects. The theory is that the effects of uricosuric drugs are blocked by salicylates, due to their interaction in the kidneys. Dr. St. Amand believes that the reason that Dr. Bennett's study did not show any effects from guaifenesin, was that the patients were exposed to hidden sources or salicylates that they weren't aware of, such as those that might be contained in cosmetics and lotions. Dr. St. Amand believes that sunscreen lotions can be a significant source of salicylates, yet a lab test has shown that less than 1% of the salicylates over a 48 hour period are absorbed from these lotions. The form of salicylate in sunscreens is usually octyl salicylate, because it is water resistant, and thus is not very easily absorbed compared to other forms of salicylates.
But even in cases of analgesic topicals, where the salicylates |
feel-good post-Katrina narrative is gone for good. You know it's a big deal when the Senate Judiciary Committee starts to get involved.
It's admirable for Benson to stand by Loomis and Payton. But what he really needs to do is step forward and stand in front of them. He needs to lead. The time is now. The situation demands it.
To his credit, Benson has always taken a hands-off approach to the team's football operation. He understands his strengths. X's and O's aren't among them.
Over the years, he has wisely allowed his football people to perform the football work. Some of his colleagues could learn a lesson from his management style.
Since Katrina, Benson has strategically stepped farther into the shadows.
But this situation calls for Benson to step forward. It needs Benson to be hands-on.
He could start by walking into Loomis' office and demanding the completion of a long-term deal with quarterback Drew Brees.
The Saints need something, anything, good to happen right now. They are desperate for positive P.R. Other than the signings of receiver Marques Colston, guard Ben Grubbs and defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley, there's been little to cheer about for Saints fans.
The best way for the Saints to turn the tide, assuage the angst of fans and move the organization forward is to lock up Brees. Every day that passes without a long-term deal adds to the anxiety of the fan base and the rancor of the franchise quarterback.
The months-long negotiations need a boost. The silly standoff needs to cease. For the good of the organization and its loyal fans, Benson needs to insist on completing a long-term contract to ensure the face of the franchise ends his career with the franchise.
The Saints need Brees' leadership now more than ever. In the locker room. In front of the camera. In the community.
After insisting on a new deal, Benson then can turn his attention to other administrative matters.
Team sources indicated Thursday that the club was blindsided by the severity of Wednesday's sanctions. The staff held meetings Wednesday and Thursday to plot a course for the future.
Several questions must be answered between now and April 1, when Payton, the alpha dog of the organization, begins his one-year hiatus. Among them:
Who replaces Payton as interim head coach?
If it's offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. or defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, then who assumes their duties?
Who replaces linebackers coach Joe Vitt for the first six games of the regular season?
Who replaces Loomis to start the regular season?
Normally such decisions are left to Loomis and Payton. Benson would be wise to weigh in.
Benson's inner circle has always been small. Longtime advisers Stanley Rosenberg and Tom Roddy undoubtedly are at his side. Chief Financial Officer Dennis Lauscha remains a trusted source. But their expertise lies with the business side of the operation. Whom he leans on outside the organization for football advice is unclear. Whoever it is, he needs to have their input daily.
The Saints have shown admirable pluck in the face of adversity. They've overcome more in the past decade than most organizations face in a lifetime. This latest challenge, though, could be the most daunting of all.
The franchise faces a crossroads. The club's primary leaders have been marginalized. It needs its owner to become a leader again.
*******
Jeff Duncan can be reached at jduncan@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3404.This past weekend, we reported that a campaign was underway at Ole Miss to make Admiral Ackbar the university’s new mascot. As geeked out as we were by the possibility of the beloved, squidlike Star Wars Rebel Alliance Commander of “It’s a trap!” fame leading a different set of Rebels on the playing field, we were skeptical that students would want to oust their current plantation-owning semi-mascot, Colonel Reb.
Well, color us happily surprised: an early report from TMZ on yesterday’s voting says that Ackbar is currently the “favorite” among the student body.TMZ:
Tuesday, the students voted in favor of crowning a new mascot to represent Rebel Nation … and the favorite so far is none other than the most famous Mon Calamari in the entire universe. Several pro-Ackbar websites have recently emerged — making the Admiral the heavy favorite. The University tells us the decision on the mascot is entirely in the hands of the student mascot committee. The University will hold a vote in the near future — we’ll keep you updated.
As Gamma Squad points out, even a unanimous student body vote for Ackbar might run into complications: namely, George Lucas‘ protective guarding of his every creation. See: the Motorola Droid, whose creators had to pay Lucas for the rights to use the word “droid” — it’s unlikely that Ole Miss will cough up that sort of coin. But in this case, we’re hoping against hope that this campaign can upset the imperial fleet and secure Endor, or at least a bunch of tailgates.
(TMZ)After the NPR podcast Serial became a massive breakout hit, everyone wondered what story it would tackle next. Now we have an answer.
The Hollywood Reporter says it has confirmed previous reports that Serial season two will focus on Bowe Bergdahl, the American army sergeant accused of desertion in Afghanistan. Bergdahl was subsequently captured and imprisoned by the Taliban, and finally released in a prisoner exchange.
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Serial host Sarah Koenig and show producers were spotted at a recent hearing to determine if Bergdahl will face a court martial for his actions in Afghanistan. The circumstances that led to Bergdahl’s initial disappearance are the subject of much debate and warring narratives, so this seems like an ideal Serial investigation.
Serial’s first season launched a million armchair detectives (I still think Adnan totally did it) and continues to have an impact on the subjects’ daily lives. The Bergdahl case will inject global politics into the podcast, and concern an unfolding case rather than a cold one. Will you be listening?
[THR]The Real Madrid striker has been in excellent form this season, scoring 10 and setting up five in 12 league and Champions League appearances but insists he will keep improving
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema feels he still has not reached his footballing peak, insisting his best years "still to come".
The France international has started the current campaign well, scoring 10 goals and picking up five assists in the 12 league and Champions League appearances he has made for the European champions.
However, he feels he will keep improving in the coming years.
"I feel good, I'm training hard and things are working well," he told Marca. "I’m only 26 years old, so I really believe that the best years of my career are still to come.
"I’ve always heard that a player hits the high point of his professional career when he turns 26. I hope this applies for me too."
The former Lyon star added that the secret to his success is his dedication to training and feels that, although he is a No.9, he loves helping others score.
"For me, scoring goals isn’t the most important thing. What I aspire for is being involved in the collective play so we as a team create chances. There will be times when I score goals, and other times when this won’t happen.
"I love providing assists to my team-mates. If I see a player in a better scoring opportunity, I’ll pass them the ball.
"I’m pushing myself in training. Before the squad training at Valdebebas, I arrive earlier and work on improving the muscles in my legs. This helps me during matches."
It was Benzema who made the difference for his side when they lined up against Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday, scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory over the Premier League side.
The player, though, opened up several chances for team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, who needs just one goal to pull level with Raul and now Lionel Messi, who scored two for Barcelona on Wednesday, on the all-time goalscoring chart for the competition.
Ronaldo failed to find the net, but Benzema says he wants to see his team-mate match his Barcelona rival and the Madrid legend.
"We didn’t speak about this matter before the game, but sure, I’d like to see Cristiano score. I passed to him as I was keen for him to score.
"There was to be no goal, but, with Cristiano, there’s no need for alarm, if it wasn`t Tuesday, it will be in the next game. The goal is imminent and he’ll break the record for sure."This old article may have references to outdated tax rules and laws. For up-to-date information on taxation of mutual funds, refer to https://www.valueresearchonline.com/tax/
I am sure you have heard of this before: if you throw a frog (a cold-blooded amphibian) into boiling water, it will immediately jump out. But if you put the said frog into cold water and slowly heat it, it will quietly sit in the rising temperature and die.
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Assume we could choose the country we wanted to live in, and some of us do. Now imagine looking down at a country with a 4 per cent current account deficit (dependent on oil and gold prices), a negative BOP, a rising Gini co-efficient (which impacts where you put your savings), high and unrelenting food inflation, a 9 per cent overall fiscal deficit (half of which goes into various scams, thereby raising real estate prices), a 10 per cent tax to GDP ratio and inadequate gross fixed capital formation (<30 per cent). The only saving grace is what you and I, the population of India, contribute: despite high inflation, a huge savings rate that manages to fund both the government and private investment, drawing enough investment demand to add some new jobs and consequently, new demand into the economy.
Probably the only leg on which this economy has stood is the savings rate. Earners like you and me, born in the 'frugal 60s and 70s', have earned well, paid taxes and still managed to save enough to keep this country's real estate and equity markets where they are.
Now imagine that the deteriorating conditions of the second paragraph show no improvement; they continue on the back of unchanging behaviour from each of the'vested interests' that benefit from such behaviour: you know, the regular suspects, i.e. the government and its vote banks, the rich, a farmer lobby that is actually made up of politicians, and so on. Ranged against this, is the middle class of India (you and me) who don't benefit from scams, higher MSPs, crony capitalism, etc. We struggle against this, saving whatever little we earn with a frugality that is woefully missing in Europe. The frog (again, you and me) slowly starts to boil in his own water. And since it is his own water, the slow, inexorable rise in temperature is not noticed.
For a couple of generations now, Indians have lived with high and unrelenting inflation. The humble carrot used to cost 1 paisa per kg when my mother used to go to college (1955); a pure commodity has gone up 4,200 times in the 60 years since. My mother married a 3rd division, B.Com Pass graduate who started life as a stenographer (in today's language, a BPO executive) at a salary of `275 per month. Her MBA-from-a-top-institute son, now the CEO of a mid-cap company, would have to earn about `12 lakh per month to retain the same purchasing power (vis-à-vis carrots) that his father had. You decide whether this is fair. The humble carrot has beaten me.
The point is, most of us have made up for this loss of purchasing power by doing jobs much above where our parents were. If I had ended up as a BPO executive (or its equivalent), I don't know how often I would have had carrots for dinner. But I used the extra earnings from a superior career to buy a house very early (thereby saving rent, some of which now goes into buying carrots); I drove a small car all my life, and saved enough from that to pay for my childrens' school.
We are now about to lose this battle (where the savers of India finally see their savings lose value through a massive loss of purchasing power, embedded in a continuously and deeply depreciating currency). The not-so-slow, inexorable progress of inflation now eats into our savings rate, bringing down our ability to fund the profligacy of government. When we run, we go to gold as a bulwark against inflation, and look what happens: that very trend was the last straw that broke the rupee's back.
So let me be the first person to say it in these columns: we are headed into being Indonesia '97. Do you remember the story? A peak-to-trough depreciation of 83 per cent (similar to our own 60 per cent in 1991). Because that was sudden, it destroyed the economy, which took 8 years to get back its nominal numbers.
The Economist has projected a 5-8 per cent negative growth rate for most of Europe in case of a disorderly Euro-wide break-up. Many of you may not think it is likely, but that would create a -2 per cent growth rate in the US, and maybe India would be down to 1-2 per cent growth.
How are you going to manage this? The first is to accept it: the last decade has seen an unprecedented rise in purchasing power for most of the readers of this website, at least. That is, while the currency has stayed in a range of 20 per cent (40-48), our salaries have gone up by 100-500 per cent. Most of us have used this well: the extra money has mostly gone into savings and taxes. This saving has created investment demand, the produce of which has allowed the poorer people to get products cheap enough to buy. Those are the exceptions to my carrot story above: mobile phones, cars, TVs, ACs, air travel, etc. Even real estate construction has not been able to beat the rise in purchasing power of the Indian middle class. The exceptions: oil, coal, power, etc.
All of this is going to see a reversal now. The long-term correction in purchasing power that this currency'readjustment' will now see needs to destroy a lot of import demand. There is not enough latent demand in the West, nor enough purchasing power there, for Indian exports to take off. The only answer is import compression (unless solar, that great, bright hope of mine, kicks in quickly enough), which will create demand destruction.
I am contributing in a small way. In my (economic) position, it was not possible to do more, but I have returned my company-maintained Honda Civic, in favour of my own little Santro. Left to myself, I would have shifted to an electric scooter, except that the people around me don't read my columns. When (and why) will this change? Not by government action, most certainly. The Minister concerned has just clarified that the pass-through of oil prices is not being extended to diesel, kerosene and LPG. So the rest of India will continue to burn a hole through the taxes I pay (which, by the way, have reached 9 times my household expenditure). So I give 9 times to the government what I spend on myself: think of what the Republicans are saying in the US…at this rate, does it make sense to work at all? Remember: the money I save at the end of these taxes, is wasting away at the rate of 4,200 times per generation (if the prices of carrots are any yardstick). Do I have a chance?
All rational economic choice (theory) would tell me that with such loss of purchasing power, it no longer makes sense to carry out any enterprise at all. The only mitigant is that the cycle will (someday) turn, and no fault of the government. With all this in place, there will suddenly be a new (energy) technology, which will drop this cost out of the household budget, returning a sharp jump in purchasing power to our hands. So let us turn all our savings firepower into those companies that will bring about an energy revolution into India. Do you see them around? At least the state of Gujarat has used its own funds to put up 900MW of solar capacity. If this becomes an annual habit, then we finally know which government to choose: the country called Gujarat.
The day we hit an annual run rate of even 3,000-5,000MW of solar capacity coming up through internally generated funds, we will see a sudden change in attitudes across India. It might happen because of a pass-through of rising coal prices (unlikely, given this government's attitude), or because our savings end up funding solar capacity with lower interest rates. That would be something to hope for.
Meanwhile, look to invest in companies that are net exporters, with Indian cost structures and Indian Rupee debt. Most of Indian industry is positioned exactly the opposite: net importers, competing with the landed cost of imports and with highly dollarised balance sheets. The market downturn is because of the latter; the comeback will be driven by the former.
This old article may have references to outdated tax rules and laws. For up-to-date information on taxation of mutual funds, refer to https://www.valueresearchonline.com/tax/
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views held by Value Research and its employees.(ABOVE) Action from the sold-out Estadio Cibao FC in the Liga Dominicana de Fútbol's inaugural game between Cibao FC and Atletico Vega Real on March 8, 2015, in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
SANTIAGO, Dominican Republic – A filled-to-capacity Estadio Cibao FC was the site Sunday for the inauguration of the Liga Dominicana de Fútbol (LDF), the Dominican Republic’s first-ever fully professional league.
The historic event -- watched by a crowd of 6,000 at the newly-constructed venue on the grounds of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra – was attended by CONCACAF General Secretary Enrique Sanz.
“Congratulations to the Dominican Football Federation after more than a decade of work on the inauguration of the LDF,” said Sanz. “It is a historic step not only for the island, but for the Caribbean and the entire Confederation. This is the beginning of a dream to further develop Dominican football, while taking it to the top level of competition.”
Inauguration speeches were made by Federacion Dominicana de Futbol (FDF) President Osiris Guzman, FIFA representative Gregory Englebrecht and Cibao FC President Manuel Estrella. The official kickoff for the match between host Cibao FC and Atlético Vega Real was presided over by Jaime David Fernandez, the Dominican Republic’s Minister of Sport.
"The Federación Dominicana de Fútbol feels elated that the country has joined the world of football,” said Guzman. “I want to acknowledge the efforts made by this university, along with a group of entrepreneurs, to make sure this project was achieved.”
In September 2014, CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb was present at a gala event in Santo Domingo held by the FDF at which he endorsed the new league’s launch. Nearly six months later, that vision was realized.
The 10-team LDF was created to lift and further develop football in the country.
The clubs participating in first campaign are: Atlantico FC, Atlético de San Cristobal, Atlético Vega Real, Barcelona Atlético, Bauger FC, Cibao FC, Delfines del Este FC, Moca FC, Pantoja FC and Universidad Dominicana O&M.
LIGA DOMINICANA DE FÚTBOL
Week 1 Results
Cibao FC 2, Atletico Vega Real 2
Atletico San Cristobal 3, Delfines del Este FC 0
Moca FC 0, Bauger FC 0
Barcelona Atletico 1, Atlantico FC 0
Atletico Pantoja 2, Universidad O&M 1
(ABOVE) CONCACAF General Secretary Enrique Sanz (middle, right) and Federacion Dominicana de Futbol President Osiris Guzman (middle left) at the Liga Dominicana de Fútbol's inauguration ceremony on March 8, 2015, in Santiago, Dominican Republic.Image copyright Police Scotland
Police have released a CCTV image of a woman they want to speak to in connection with a hate crime in Edinburgh.
The incident happened at Sofi's Bar in Henderson Street, Leith, at about 18:00 on 4 March.
Police said a female member of staff was subjected to homophobic abuse.
The woman on the CCTV image is in her mid-30s and is wearing glasses. She has shoulder-length hair which is dark at the roots and lighter at the ends.
She is about 5ft 7in tall, of heavy build. At the time of the incident, she was wearing blue jeans and a long grey coat.
Image copyright Google Image caption The incident happened at Sofi's Bar in Leith
PC Shona MacKay, from Police Scotland, said: "The comments directed towards the member of bar staff were completely unacceptable and we continue to progress this inquiry to trace the suspect.
"We are keen to hear from anyone who recognises the woman pictured in the CCTV footage and would ask the public to come forward if they can help us identify and trace this individual.
"In addition, anyone with any further information relevant to this investigation should also contact police immediately."Texas Rangers projections: PECOTA, the projection system Baseball Prospectus utilizes, has spit out its projections for the 2016 season, and Texas is projected to finish with an 80-82 record this year. That puts the Rangers third in the A.L. West, behind the Astros (87-75) and the M's (84-78).
In looking at the numbers, PECOTA appears to be bearish on the team's pitching staff...Texas is projected to finish with the 4th most runs in the A.L., but 14th in runs allowed, better than only Baltimore. The only pitcher PECOTA has better than 1.4 WARP is Cole Hamels, at 2.4.
Among the other interesting projections league-wide, PECOTA has Cleveland as the best team in the A.L. with 92 wins, trailing only the 94 win Dodgers in all of baseball. And the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals, who PECOTA has been bearish on the past few years, is projected to end up with just 76 wins, while finishing last in the American League (by a fair margin) in runs scored.As Joe Rogan says, the Diaz brothers’ volume striking attack involves them throwing multiple punches, often without fully committing to them.
"40, 50 percent. Then, suddenly...they slip in a full power shot!"
Trickery, trickery.
But...
what if they never threw that power shot?
What if they threw at 40, 30 percent?
…
20?
What if they never really committed to any punch, making it harder and harder for their opponent to land effective counters? What if they took a weapon that few have ever really tried to master, that of sheer, raw ineffectiveness and honed it and honed it again, to the razor’s edge?
What then…?
Jake Shields fights are hilarious. Why don’t you like them? What’s wrong with you.
The Inversion King
Due to expectations fostered by a cultural milieu where fights are resolved by hitting shit, and the simple aesthetic fact that kinetic impact looks cool, grappling is not as popular as striking.
Jake fuckin’ Shields is here to single-handedly invert that bitch-ass paradigm. He’s now one of the latest in a long line of wrestlers using his grappling prowess to keep it on the feet. He is a walking, breathing, expectation-subversion metaphor. He is here to show you that despite what you’ve learned - "Real men fight with their fists!" / "Lay-and-pray wrestlers are ruining the sport!"- that stand up fighting can be awful. Awful.
Hell, he doesn’t even peck away at his opponent and then run away like legendary striking chickens Dominic Cruz, Lyoto Machida and Carlos Condit. He stands toe-to-toe with his opponent like a god damn man, bites down on the mouthpiece, and goes to work creating magically abominable interactions of fist and face.
The Tennessee-born fighter has always been a square peg in a round hole. He’d be a little weird as an individual, but he stands out like a sore thumb as a member of the Cesar Gracie crew. He’s dorky and awkward alongside his Stockton homies, with their raised middle fingers and disdain for authority. Making it even weirder is that for all their kvetching about finishing fights and wrestlers ruining the sport, he’s a decision machine who has won countless fights with top control grappling.
Prior to his UFC run, he was considered a pillow fisted wrestler with absolutely hopeless stand-up but an excellent grappling game. All of that changed with his title shot against Georges St. Pierre… and the birth of Lumpinee Shields.
OK, fine.
FINE.
No it didn’t.
But, he has undeniably improved his stand-up, into… well. Something.
Bear in mind. This man is a professional combat sports athlete. He had an 694-fight win streak before he came to the UFC. He beat Dan Henderson! Convincingly! He fought for the title for Christ’s sake.
Yet, time and again, the cage door closes. Shields looks frantically worried, near tears. He steps in, channelling a nerdy kid who’s been told to hit the heavy bag by his overbearing jock dad. His face is scrunched up in equal parts determination, fear, and a terrible, soul-deep knowledge that he’s just not very good at this. And then...
bap bap bap.
The other man generally looks confused, so Shields does it again. He forces himself to reach out, pad his fists lightly against the other fighter’s face, like he’s removing makeup using the back of his gloves.
bap bap bap.
Then, shit yeah, it’s time for some clinching. Shields taps feather-light at his opponent as they jockey for position, maybe hits some knees to the thigh.The clinch is eventually broken, and this time perhaps the opponent crashes a blow through Shields’ guard. He takes off some of the impact, but it clearly hurt.
Shields redoubles his efforts. He doesn’t want to be here, he hates doing this, but he will not give up, will not cry. He throws shots back, perhaps harder, sharper, more powerful than he ever has before.
bap bap bap.
There’s no sense of conviction in the cage. The opponent doesn’t look like he believes that Shields can hurt him. Shields doesn’t look as though he believes Shields can hurt him.
Frustration and boredom rise like steam off the fans. Dana White is unhappy. Many, many minutes later, the fight is over, and the only people particularly convinced seem to be two of the judges. It’s probably a split decision or something and Shields has won because he hit the other guy more times, kinda. The opponent is angry. The fans are traumatized. Shields still looks pretty worried.
Transcendent
One of the many great things about high level sports is seeing people who are transcendent at what they do. St Pierre and his ability to shut down foes with a few elegant, finely crafted tools. Jones’s creativity. Aldo’s physical clockspring explosiveness.
Jake Shields, in his current incarnation, is transcendentally horrible, and that’s awesome, and something which you should frankly appreciate more than you do. If someone fights him, the chances are that even if the other guy somehow manages to win, the fight is going to be so horrific that he and everyone else will wish that he had just never gotten in the cage in the first place. It is starting to go beyond dull. It’s starting to approach art, or better yet, comedy.
Jon Fitch and Clay Guida were pilloried for being boring, yet given the right matchups (Erik Silva and Ben Henderson respectively, for example), they had thrilling performances. At time of writing, it’s unclear how anyone puts on an exciting fight against Shields, unless they blast him out of the water early like his namesake did. He is simply too good at sucking opponents down into a low damage, uninspiring hell. He is the bland Doctor Weir of the octagon.
The St. Pierre fight at UFC 121 was no doubt greatly changed by Shields clawing GSP’s eye. Regardless, it still ended up being one of those contests which will, together with your Cotes and Hardys and Hominicks, forever be marked down as a "he won but".
In his most recent fight, Tyron Woodley was the physically superior fighter, with infinitely more power and a better wrestling pedigree. Somewhere in the second round, while Shields dabbed tentatively at his foe’s face like a cat at a stream of tapwater, I just started laughing uncontrollably.
There’s something deeply, blackly comic about a man who can take this bloody sport and turn it into something so fundamentally ridiculous, at the highest level and in the premiere organization, no less.
I do understand that it is not everyone’s brand of humour. He is put in what should be intriguing fights and manages, with boggling consistency, to turn them into the pugilistic equivalent of Birdemic or The Room. It’s like watching the Jesus vs Satan boxing match from South Park, but in real life.
October 9th, up against Demian Maia, Shields will step into the cage again, terrified game face on, gloves packed with murderous goosedown.
Everyone likes Maia. He’s one of the genuinely nice guys in MMA, and BJJ experts are fun to watch because they twist other humans into pretzels or juice their heads. He’s passed through the growing pains of his adolescent striking phase, uses what he learned from it to close the distance on his opponents without getting Marquardted. 170 is clearly his optimal weight class, and he now has a relative physicality to go with his superlative grappling technique. As such, Maia is one of the few semi-intriguing potential matchups left for Georges St-Pierre (assuming he beats Johnny Hendricks).
The matchup with Shields could actually be decent. It might become a grappling showcase, where Shields’ wrestling-jiu jitsu hybrid goes head-to-head with Maia’s prodigious ground fighting expertise.
However, it also could very well be... indecent.
If it is, and one of the last GSP challengers is knocked off in Shieldsian fashion, if the story of the fight isn’t one of the ground, but is one of the clinch, and the long slow clock, and bap bap bap... my advice, for the sake of your sanity, is to at least try to see the funny side.
grrrr. intimidating.
TIPS FOR ENJOYING A JAKE SHIELDS FIGHTRecent headlines blare like warning sirens: oil prices soar to pre-recession heights and proceed relentlessly higher. Will gas go to $5? Even inflation deniers like Ben Bernanke acknowledge the danger this poses to the still tenuous recovery; although the mainstream commentariat conveniently blames pandemonium in the Middle East.
To understand whether our recovery is in jeopardy, we must first grasp what prospers us, why economies recede and then what rejuvenates them.
There is a natural symphony to the market. Everyone seeks the best available outcome. Our unlimited desires are tempered by scarcity, yet we all strive to get what we can while wanting still more. Price signals orchestrate this perpetual friction between buyers and sellers into a concert of mutual satisfaction.
Wealth creation emanates from the value sellers add for which buyers are willing to pay, but buyers ensure efficient utilization of resources by insisting on lower prices. The more freely prices may move and the more certain the scale, the better the invisible hand can conduct a harmonious improvement in living standards for all.
A recession occurs when our aggregate output veers off tempo from society's wants. GDP represents a basket of goods and services. If our demands shift dramatically or discord renders existing production unprofitable, the economy must correct. A recession is the process by which producers are redirected back into concert with what consumers now request, as can be produced profitably.
The freer the economy is left to transition toward fulfilling the demands of the new era, the faster recovery hums back into tune. When politicians prop up failing firms or resurrect dying industries, they trap precious resources in arrangements focused to the old market realities. Bailing out the failures of the past prevents the successes of the future.
Neither does deficit spending stimulate the instruments of wealth generation. Politicized spending rudely interrupts the market's performance by intercepting scarce resources and parking them in uneconomic overtures to favored sections of the audience.
Conversely, Schumpeterian creative destruction transfers capital and resources into bands playing fresh numbers while composing innovative products ready for the challenges of the new paradigm. We cannot continue building houses in Las Vegas or other locales where a plethora of homes sit vacant. Nor should we manufacture goods rendered obsolete by technological advances or shifting tastes.
Investors grasp this quickly. Homebuilders in overbuilt areas and firms producing what consumers no longer value are accordingly deprived of capital. This inflicts pain on those workers, suppliers, and investors, but the market adjusts except where recovery gets drowned under the din of interventionist clatter.
Capital chases the choicest ideas in pursuit of profit. Where capital flows, jobs follow and growth renews. The market allows the finest instruments and best artists to achieve profits, which trickle into goods, jobs and amusements for the rest of us.
Growth continues chiming along until some large scale change triggers numerous firms across varied industries to suffer simultaneously. Rarely could one firm's folly or another's brilliance alter the market's rhythm.
Oil shocks have frequently instigated such large scale dissonance. Many industries and nearly everyone personally gets hurt by rising gas prices. If this happens gradually, we adjust, but a rapid increase creates chaos. Heretofore profitable firms get squeezed as rising transportation costs overwhelm thin margins. If energy remains expensive for an extended period, the entire economy suffers as the number of failed firms mounts.
Recessions in the mid Seventies, after the first Gulf War and even the Great Recession of late were all attributed to rising fuel costs. Hence the renewed concern that the current spike could knock recovery off key.
What causes oil to spike?
The price of anything has three components: supply, demand and the scale used for measurement. As we demand more of something buyers bid its price higher. If the available supply increases faster, the price falls.
An infinite array of factors can shift either supply or demand. Demand for oil increased over recent decades as previously moribund economies such as the former Soviet Union, India and China joined the chorus. They consume far more energy. Demand also fluctuates as the world economy goes through cyclical gyrations.
Supply can be curtailed by OPEC, though not as drastically as people assume. Or it can be hindered by environmentalists extorting politicians into refusing to let us drill. Supply has recently been threatened by the internal unrest in several large oil producing nations. This invited speculators to bet on rising prices.
But the ebbs and flows of international commerce cannot entirely account for the roller coaster ride of oil. Speculators may accelerate these turns, but when they bet rightly this actually smoothes the spike by moving the increase forward. It thus becomes more gradual. When wrong, the speculators lose dearly as prices fall.
There must be more here than normal cyclical movements or speculation. Thomas Carlyle said, “Teach a parrot to say'supply and demand' and you have an economist.” Most currencies were then defined in terms of gold or silver. No more.
Now supply and demand dance on a wobbly scale, which corrupts price signals and misdirects capital and resources. Even successful firms generating value for customers can be knocked off balance. As the dollar slips prices leap for anything denominated in dollars. Fluctuations in the dollar will always appear first in international commodities such as gold, oil or food ingredients.
Were the dollar still defined in terms of gold, or at least defended by our monetary masters, fuel's cost would be purely derived from changes in supply relative to demand. But everything from foreign currencies (the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars all test record highs) to precious metals (setting new records almost daily) and crop futures (corn and wheat have nearly doubled this year). None of this can be blamed on North Africa's discord.
Turmoil abroad has certainly lifted oil prices, but they were rising rapidly long before Tunisia, Egypt and Libya revolted. As investors around the world fled to the safety of the dollar in late 2008, oil cost $35 a barrel. It had already crested $80 and trended towards the century mark long before the Arab world rattled.
Producers, whose cost structures include any of these commodities, which to some degree include everyone, will stumble badly. During the Bretton Woods era, with the dollar pegged to gold – at least tentatively – oil prices remained remarkably steady. After the dollar began to float in 1971, both oil and gold soared. Now they soar again. Or do they?
Perhaps oil doesn't soar, but the dollar plummets. Will it take our recovery down too?Earlier this week, the International Red Cross confirmed the existence of a secret “Black Jail” within the Bagram prison complex in Afghanistan, where high-value detainees were held and allegedly abused. Since then, additional details have continued to emerge.
The New York Times reported last November that former prisoners and human rights researchers had described how prisoners were held at the facility for weeks at a time without being allowed outside contact. The BBC also obtained accounts from prisoners who said they had been subjected to isolation, sleep deprivation, and cold.
The American vice admiral in charge of detainees, however, continued to deny both the existence of a separate facility and the allegations of abuse until the International Red Cross confirmed the claims.
Now The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder has been able to paint a clearer picture of the facility. His sources tell him that it is run by the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center (DCHC), whose operatives perform the interrogations on behalf of a subunit of the”elite counter-terrorism brigade” known as Task Force 714.
Task Force 714 was formerly commanded by General Stanley McChrystal, who now leads US forces in Afghanistan. According to Ambinder, DCHC is a “relatively new organization |
(2008). Based on a previous short story he had written, the novel follows a young otter who has grown up in a conservative, religious household, only to find out in his teens that he is attracted to a male fox from a different school. Although this is a coming-out tale, it’s anything but unoriginal. Gold breaks the story down into three parts: coming out to oneself, coming out to family, and coming out to the general public. The otter Kory deals with tremendous intersectionalities throughout his journey: homelessness, poverty, religious differences, physical abuse, and, of course, relationship trouble. Quite different from that Argaea series, Waterways is set in an entirely modern context, and it deals with current social issues. In this book, Gold makes very strong political and social claims, setting him apart as a very polemical writer, and not just an entertaining one. This sets him apart from other LGBT fiction writers, as he demonstrates he is able to be completely serious with his fiction, using a gay couple to reflect on current issues through their connections with others who are suffering, rather than making the gay couple a symbol for all current issues. This novel was his debut to modern fiction in the fandom, and I know I have taught this book twice: once in a college composition class, and once as a guest lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University for an LGBT literature course—and yes, the book was required for purchase at the university bookstore.
However, Gold’s biggest claim to fame was his next novel series, set in the Forester Universe. The first book, Out of Position (2009), follows football athlete Devlin Miski and his unintentional romance with English major Lee Farrel. While Dev struggles to fight his homosexual feelings toward Lee, the fox Lee tries to advocate for equal rights, often at a risk to Dev’s career. Yet, the two complement each other and help each other to grow, both in their professions and in their personal lives. This series concluded early in 2016 with the book Over Time, the fifth installment. This time, Gold’s secondary genre is sports fiction. And many furries, myself included, despite our aversion to sports, have found ourselves enraptured by the species-based intricacies of Gold’s football. We stand in the crowd, cheering with Lee. We root for our own athletes. Still on sale sporadically, but I have seen athletic jerseys for sale based on Gold’s fictional teams. If Waterways showed Gold’s political side, this series shows his activist side. Personally, I have read most of the major award-winning mainstream LGBT fiction, and none of it has captured the political situation of LGBT people and potential solutions as thoughtfully and as evocatively as Gold has in this series.
His last major milestone has been his Dangerous Spirits series, which started with the 2012 book Green Fairy. This series is much more experimental, emulating the shifting voices and perspectives in postmodernist novel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. This series starts with the 1901 Moulin Rouge, as well as modern times. The books progress into the late 1800s Russia and the early 20th century in New Orleans. This series is not as erotic or as adult as his earlier works, yet it still deals heavily with LGBT contemporary issues and ways to deal with them. Like his other works, it creates a very believable world that is a safe space for LGBT readers, letting them know they are not alone and that it’s important to keep fighting.
Over the past twelve years, Gold has written numerous other pieces as well, including In the Doghouse of Justice (2011) and The Silver Circle (2012). Gold also edited a 2009 anthology based on the Ten Commandments, aptly called X. Along with multiple short stories in Heat and Fang, he also had an essay published in the 2015 nonfiction study on furries, Furries Among Us. In this, he wrote about his views on furry erotica: where it has been, where it is, and how it will likely continue. His other nonfiction includes a comic, drawn by Keovi, in Erika Moen’s Oh Joy Sex Toy; and a piece on the furry fandom in Uncanny Magazine in 2016.
I have had the opportunity to work with Gold on numerous occasions: from an interview I conducted for my class lecture to editing his essay for Furries Among Us. And I have always been delighted with his attention to the craft of writing and his dedication to the furry fandom. He has been an influential figure in the furry writing community as a driving force for slice-of-life fiction and using furry fiction to make social commentary. Now that we are in the start of a second decade since his first major publication, I am confident that I speak for the furry community in general when I say that we look forward to the next ten years of Gold’s fiction. He has inspired both readers and writers.
Ever onward, fellow furs.
– HowlThis year for Christmas I got my fiancé a medical ID bracelet. Rather than being engraved with her information, it has an online profile that a first responder or doctor can view in three ways: by scanning a QR code, entering the band ID and pin online or calling the service and providing the ID and pin. After receiving the bracelet and going online to create her profile, we were pleased with just how easy it was to enter information.
As I gave the profile a closer look I saw something curious. The profile page that you are sent to after registering is http://example.com/profile/XXX where XXX is a number. Being the curious web developer I am I decided to check out what would happen if I were to change that number by 1. When I did I was shocked to see that I could access all the information about someone who had registered just before us! I was astounded at how easy it was to view everyone’s personal medical information simply by changing a number in a URL. The information varied from addresses and phone numbers to medical conditions and insurance information.
While this information was read only, I was still concerned with how easy it was to access. Anyone could register on this website for free, without ever buying the band, and be able to find other profiles just like I had. I mulled over what I found and decided that the next day I would send an email to the company to bring it to their attention and suggest a course of action. I found their email on the Contact Us page and I also sent a copy of the email to security@example.com which bounced, sadly.
I decided to track the emails with the email tracking extension, Sidekick to ensure that they opened it, as well as to get an idea of how many times it was viewed. It proved to be a good decision. The day I sent the email it was opened 10 times so it seemed as though my discovery had gotten some attention. Anxious for a response, I kept waiting. And waiting. Over the course of 13 days my email was opened 19 times. (The email was opened the day I sent it 1/7/2015 but it seems that Sidekick isn't displaying that data since I started writing this blog post.)
Every few days I would check to see if the problem had been resolved. Almost two weeks passed with no progress so I sent a follow up email.
My follow up email was opened 15 times in the course of 2 days.
On the 21st, exactly 2 weeks after the initial email, I received a response stating that the problem had been fixed! Eager to test it out, I tried to access other profiles and was happy to see that I was redirected to their homepage if I was not logged in to the profile I was trying to view.
We have a duty to our users to keep their information safe and secure. This is particularly important in the case of personal and sensitive information. There are no excuses in this day and age to leave user information out in the open for anyone to discover.
As a proof of concept of how easy it would have been to scrape all the information on their website, I wrote a little python script that would access a profile and grab all the information available and print it out in JSON.
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup from ftfy import fix_text import json import requests def parseProfile(profileUrl): r = requests.get(profileUrl) if len(r.history): # Hit a non existant profile. # They redirect 302 when a profile doesn't exist return None responseText = r.text soup = BeautifulSoup(responseText) data = {} data['profile_url'] = profileUrl data['name'] = soup.find('h1', id="profile-name").text data['about'] = soup.find('div', class_="quick-about").text data['picture'] = soup.find('img', class_="img-responsive")['src'] collections = ["vital_medical_conditions", "emergency_contacts", "allergies", "physicians", "insurance_informations", "other_informations"] for collection in collections: collectionArray = [] infoDiv = soup.find('div', collection=collection) if infoDiv: for infoRow in infoDiv.find_all("div", class_="row"): infoRowDict = {} for info in infoRow.find_all("h5"): information = fix_text(info.parent.text).split(':') if len(information) == 2: infoRowDict[information[0].replace(" ", "_").lower()] = information[1] else: # Insurace information's name doesn't have a ':' infoRowDict['name'] = information[0].replace('Name', '') if len(infoRowDict): collectionArray.append(infoRowDict) data[collection] = collectionArray ### # Personal Info doesn't have a collection and they use the 'emergency-contacts-pane' class twice so little hack around ### personalinfo = soup.find('div', class_="personal-info-pane") collectionArray = [] infoRow = {} for info in personalinfo.find_all("h5"): information = fix_text(info.parent.text).split(':') infoRow[information[0].replace(" ", "_").lower()] = information[1] collectionArray.append(infoRow) data['personal_info'] = collectionArray return data def main(): data = {'profiles': []} x = 1 urlBase = "https://www.example.com/profile/" while(x < 20700): profile = parseProfile(urlBase+str(x)) if profile: data['profiles'].append(profile) else: print("Profile %s doesn't exist!" % x) break x+=1 print json.dumps(data, sort_keys=True) main()
Here is a sample output. (Created from memory as I never saved one from when I created it.)- One Detroit man has been arrested and police are searching for another suspect for making threatening comments against police on social media.
The man posted a comment on his Facebook calling the man responsible for the deaths of five officers in Dallas this week a hero.
"These individuals that are on social media making threats regarding the suspect -- this violent terror suspect, that's what he is --a hero, that's a problem," said Detroit Police Chief James Craig. "The threat on white officers -- because that's the specific threat -- is a threat on all officers."
Investigators believe the Dallas shooting was in direct response to two police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota -- white police officers shooting black men.
Craig credits his department to having a good relationship with the community, and while what happened in Dallas could happen anywhere, he said it likely would not happen here.
"If we had an individual like this terror suspect in Dallas I'm confident that if people became concerned about someone in our community that was planning an attack on police officers... that someone would tell -- someone would say something."
He added the key is transparency to foster good relations.Designing a 3D Printed Acoustic Violin
in Downloads, Tutorials
To celebrate the release of a new formulation of our White Resin, Formlabs engineer Brian Chan challenged himself to create a fully-functional acoustic violin, using a 3D printer.
We partnered with violinist Rhett Price to debut the violin in a new video, featuring an original song composed by Rhett and recorded on the 3D-printed violin.
“It was an amazing opportunity to work with Brian and Formlabs on this project, and have the chance to perform on such a modern spin of an instrument I've been playing for 23 years,” Rhett said. “The sound quality of the violin Brian engineered was unbelievable, and the technology is absolutely incredible.”
Read on to get an inside look at Brian’s design process, including downloadable.STL files of the violin, and watch the video to see and hear the violin in action.
See and hear the violin in action in our new featuring an original song by Rhett Price
Formlabs Engineer Brian Chan on Modernizing an Icon
The violin's form is very recognizable. It’s been around for centuries, and has barely changed in design. Violin music has evolved to such a high level that the instrument has attained an almost legendary status in our culture.
The difficulty of designing an acoustic instrument is that it needs to sound authentic, without the help of amps, filters, and other things you can use for an electric instrument. For a violin, the entire body of the instrument contributes to the sound, so the geometry, internal structure, and material properties all come into play.
A few years ago I built a traditional wooden, hand-carved violin based on tracings of a Guarnerius in a book from 1884, Violin Making, As It Was and Is by Edward Heron Allen. This year, I tried to do the same with modern design tools and 3D printing.
Traditional Violin Anatomy
The violin has evolved into an organic shape that is closely tied to its function. The neck supports the four strings, which stretch over a bridge pressing onto the hollow body. In the middle of the body, there is a waist to allow full motion of the bow.
The front face of the violin is traditionally made from spruce, which is flexible and light in weight so that it can vibrate responsively. Some of the force of the strings (and some of the lower frequency vibration) is transmitted to the maple back of the instrument via the sound post—a spruce rod that is friction-fit in between the front and back plates. Along the inside of the front face is the bass bar, a strip of wood that reinforces the front and helps transmit the vibrations to the whole surface.
I wanted to design a 3D-printed violin to have the same internal structure: a hollow shell with the soundpost near one side of the bridge, and a strengthening bar of material along the inside of the front. Later, I would experiment with the dimensions of these various elements, but it was important to get the basics right.
Modeling a Violin in CAD
A violin is hard to draw on paper and even harder to draw on a computer. The most notable features of a violin’s geometry are the front and back plates and the scroll.
What helped me figure out how to model the front and back faces was a doodle I sketched years ago (redrawn here with more detail) of how to define the body of a violin. Many computer programs create surfaces as a sort of warped cartesian plane. Because these surfaces are based on a grid, they can have up to four natural singularities, which would correspond to the four corners of a rectangular grid.
A loft of the front of the violin in Onshape, showing cross-sections (outlined in orange) and guide curves.
Luckily, the violin body has four corners, while the rest of the boundaries are smooth. In Onshape, I was able to define this shape as a loft, with corners of the cross-sections located at the corners of the violin. To constrain the loft to the right shape, I used the C-shaped outlines and the centerline contour as guides. These cross-sections and guides are based on actual outlines of a Stradivarius violin, which can be found in the same book I used to construct the traditional Guarnerius violin.
Basic loft of the violin scroll in Onshape, with a side view (in orange) and surface lines (in black) showing the local orientation of the spiraling side faces. The side view and all the surface lines are individual sketch features which can be modified to change the overall shape of the scroll.
The scroll is another iconic piece of the violin that I was able to define using a well-placed loft. The cross-sections were connected by a 3D spiral-like guide that went along the edge of the scroll; I later added chamfered edges and fluting to match the style of a traditional scroll.
The Violin Prototyping Process
I originally wanted to create one 3D-printed violin, simply to prove that it worked. Indeed, the first one worked for a while, but as we tested the prototypes, it became clear that numerous improvements would be necessary. By the time we shot the video with Rhett, I had built five different 3D-printed violins.
I printed the violin using the Form 2 and Formlabs’ White, Black, and Tough Resins. Stereolithography made sense for this project because the violin needed to be strong enough to withstand several different directional forces, and SLA parts are isotropic, meaning that they are equally strong in every direction. Also, the complex geometry of the instrument demanded tight tolerances for both small and large features, which the Form 2 was able to print consistently.
See what you can create with a Form 2 Explore the materials to discover the one that fits your needs.
Request a Free Sample Explore the materials to discover the one that fits your needs.
Thick panels, no reinforcement
The first violin played well, but the sound was noticeably muted in comparison to a traditional violin. Additionally, over time, parts of the violin warped under the force of the strings. After a month, the body was so curved that the strings were touching the fingerboard and it could no longer be played. This warpage was a combination of the creep of plastic under high stress (there’s about 10kg pressing down through the feet of the bridge) and not enough post-curing of the parts.
Meanwhile, even though the fingerboard was reinforced by four brass rods, it was not rigid enough, and I had modeled in some blind holes from which I could not clear all the resin after printing. The isopropyl alcohol and resin caused these areas to swell and crack over time. Because everything was glued together at this point, big upgrades were not really possible, so I retired the first violin.
Version 2
Screw-on neck and fingerboard, thick panels, carbon fiber reinforcement on body and fingerboard overhang
After the warping of the first violin made it unplayable, I designed a new version with carbon fiber struts running along the inside. I also made the neck/scroll assembly detachable, as well as the fingerboard. This allowed me to easily replace one of the components if it broke or needed a re-design. I post-cured all of the parts much more thoroughly to reduce the amount of warping. These changes resulted in a much more stable structure, but over time, part of the neck warped under the tension of the strings. It was clear that more carbon fiber struts were needed to stiffen the neck, as I did with the body.
Several musicians who tested the violin mentioned that it was too heavy and not loud enough. I considered making changes to the design that would solve these two problems as well.
Version 3
Screw-on neck and fingerboard, thin panels, carbon fiber reinforcement on body, fingerboard, and neck
The main difference in this version was that the front face was much thinner (1.7 mm, a reduction of almost half from the original 2.7 mm). Thinning the face resulted in a much louder sound, since the strings don’t have so much mass to vibrate. I also reinforced the neck with two bars of carbon fiber and hollowed out much of the neck and scroll to make the instrument lighter. A few trials with musicians confirmed that the instrument sounded much better, and wasn’t such a strain to hold while playing.
Exploded view of the violin, showing all 26 3D-printed parts (strings and other off-the-shelf hardware omitted).
This third and final (for now!) violin consists of 26 3D-printed parts that can be printed in just four or five overnight prints on a Form 2. All of the additional hardware, like strings, screws, and carbon fiber rods are easily obtained (more information on Pinshape).
“Once the design was finalized and I brought the violin home to write and record the track, I was extremely surprised by the sound,” Rhett said. “This entire project has completely challenged my perspective on what can be successfully created with a 3D printer, and it's exciting and inspiring to see things like this in my lifetime, and to be involved in the process of creating it!”
Violinist Rhett Price plays Formlabs engineer Brian Chan’s 3D-printed violin. Visit Rhett’s Facebook page to hear more of his music.
Create Your Own 3D-Printed Violin
When a valuable object is crafted, one tends to focus on the finished product, and treat it as a sanctified object as soon as it leaves the creator’s hands.
When it comes to a project like this one, created with the help of cutting-edge design tools and 3D printing, the most important “object” is not the physical violin, but the design itself, which can (and will) continue to evolve. Now that the groundwork has been laid, we can experiment endlessly with different dimensions, materials, and other parameters to see how they affect the sound and playability.
I hope that other tinkerers will take up this design and add their own changes as they see fit. To try it out, download the violin files from Pinshape, along with the original Onshape design.
I look forward to seeing your versions soon!WHEN Dane Gagai was brought down to Newcastle in 2012 he didn’t think much of the Hunter city.
He flew down for one day to meet then-Knights coach Wayne Bennett and take a look around, to see if the club was a good fit for his blossoming career.
He umm’d and ahh’d, but eventually gave in to the lure of playing under supercoach Bennett.
Gagai admits he almost never returned to Newcastle. And it was a bizarre mistake from the club that almost cost them a future representative star.
TRIPLE SIGNING: Transfers to rock NRL
“When I came here they actually didn’t take me to the nicest part in Newcastle and I was only here for the day,” Gagai told foxsports.com.au.
“I didn’t know too much about Newcastle to be honest, I didn’t think it was the nicest place.
Live stream the 2017 NRL Telstra Premiership on FOX SPORTS. Get your free 2-week FOXTEL PLAY trial and start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW!
Dane Gagai of the Knights is tackled by Shaun Kenny-Dowall of the Roosters. Source: AAP
TEDDY FALLOUT: Chook meets with Brown
“I was contemplating what I wanted to do and I said I’ll give it a shot, I’ll play under Wayne, can’t go wrong there.
“Then when I got here a few of the boys took me down to Merewether and I thought they should probably bring players down this way a bit more.
“Show them the nicer side to Newcastle; it’s such a good town and the fans are unbelievable.”
Gagai’s sales pitch
While Gagai was far from rapt with Newcastle upon first inspection, he’s grown in love with the steel city in the five years since packing up and shipping south from Brisbane.
And it’s that lifestyle the Origin star says the NRL club should be using to sell the famous blue and red strip to prospective recruits.
Without the lure of the game’s most experienced coach, and with a dearth of on-field success in recent seasons, the sales pitch may be in danger of falling short.
But Gagai says Newcastle the city is enough of an attraction to lure quality to the football club.
After all, it’s worked its charm on him.
Ben Ikin, Nathan Ryan and Ben Glover are joined by Rabbitohs GM of Football Shane Richardson to discuss the club’s plan to win their next premiership.
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“I guess it’s what type of lifestyle you want to live, and you want to be happy outside of footy as well,” Gagai explained.
“That’s when most players play their best, when they’ve got a lot of things going right for them outside footy, and I find Newcastle a nice place to live.
“It’s chilled, I’ve taken up surfing since I’ve been here, and I’ve always loved the beach, loved the water.
KENNEL CLEAN OUT: How prized pups affect Des’s Dogs
“The positive is you don’t have the traffic to contend with, or high mortgages and big rents.
“A lot of the boys like playing golf and we’ve got some good quality golf courses in Newcastle.
“Down at the beach at the Surfhouse there’s a nice view right on the water where you can grab some lunch and a coffee.
“It’s a nice part of the world to live, that’s for sure.”
Dane Gagai of the Knights in action. Source: Getty Images
In Browny we trust
Coach Nathan Brown was handed a grenade when he took the reins of Newcastle last year, but he’s been working tirelessly to put things right.
The salary cap is under control and the club is now focusing on recruiting some high-end talent to the NSW central coast.
So far they’ve landed young gun Kalyn Ponga.
But on the flip side the Knights have missed out on the signatures of Test prop Matt Scott and premiership utility Jack Bird by the skin of their teeth.
Whatever Brown and the recruitment team is trying to achieve, Gagai says the playing group has total faith in the direction the club is heading.
That faith has been nurtured through the recruitment of lesserlight players, rather than the big names that have slipped the net.
“We obviously believe in what Browny’s doing and the people he’s brought in,” Gagai said.
“You’ve got to remember he brought in Mitch Barnett who wasn’t a full-time first grader (at Canberra), and now he’s in our starting side and he’s one of our best players.
“He’s done that with a couple of players — not just Mitch Barnett, but he’s brought Brendan Elliott, Jamie Buhrer, Rory Kostjasyn who brings a lot of leadership and brings out the best in our younger players.
“He looks at the whole package, so when he does bring in a player that’s playing well for us it does give you confidence for the future.”
Landing the big fish
Matt Scott and Jack Bird are out of the picture — signed by the Cowboys and Broncos respectively, having dodged Newcastle’s pursuits.
But that isn’t stopping Brown and the Knights going after that elite signing.
Kiwi halfback Kieran Foran is the latest off-contract star said to be in the club’s sights, and Brown admitted this week he’s met with the Warriors playmaker.
Gagai says landing that “big fish” would be a coup for the club and a shot in the arm for a playing group trying their heart out each week.
“It is good when you do sign those key players, you do get excited for it. When you do get those key signings it obviously boosts the confidence in the team,” he said.
“Not only that, when you bring in a key player it means there’s another position taken so it makes the playing group stronger because people want to keep playing in the NRL, it makes your club stronger.
“It’s no surprise (Foran is) a world-class player, he’s been proving that since he’s been back in the NRL.
“He’s a quality player and would add a lot of value to any team he goes to.”
Whether Foran signs with the Knights or not, Gagai knows Brown is the man to lead the proud Hunter club into a new era of success.Salumerias are the new black. Every chef with a meat grinder is falling over themself to add “house cured meats” to the menu. There’s only one problem with this trend: most of the stuff is not any good.
There is a reason why Italy’s Parma is famous for its prosciutto and Spain’s Serrano ham and Jamon Iberica move otherwise law abiding travelers to smuggling. This stuff has been really good for centuries. So every time I see “house cured meat” on a menu I wonder, why bother when Prosciutto di Parma would be better?
The thing is, while we can get Prosciutto di Parma and Serrano ham in this country, the same is not true for good Italian salamis. Even at gourmet stores, virtually everything you see, no matter how authentic the look or name, is made in New Jersey. Or Wisconsin. Or San Francisco.
That’s not to say there aren’t some pretty fair Italian-style salamis and other cured meats available, but most do not live up to their promise – or prices. I was very excited to visit Seattle’s famed Salumi Cured Meats, but the reality is, if the proprietor were not related to media darling Mario Batali, you’d never hear of this place. It’s merely okay. Ditto for Batali’s own house cured offerings at Pizzeria Otto and other places. When Salumeria Rosi opened on New York’s Upper West Side, I was really excited and the place is cool, their imports and restaurant food are great, but the meats? Not so much.
The good news is that I have finally found an honest to goodness salumeria here in the States that is making products to rival the best of Europe. I’m talking first rate soppressata, coppa, guanciale, finocchiona, pancetta and even lardo, that decadent Tuscan specialty that makes you feel guilty but tastes so good.
The place is Salume Beddu in St. Louis. Beddu translates to Beautiful, and it is an apt choice.
One odd specialty worth trying is Spalla Cruda, their Spanish-style cured pork shoulder. The whole shoulder is deboned, flattened and cured like prosciutto, but is tenderly fat, like a half and half mix of prosciutto and lardo. They source their own Spanish breed mangalitsa pigs from local Missouri farmers, along with Berkshire pigs, and natural is not enough for co-owner Ben Poremba, who explained to me that their pigs are “traceable, because I know the farmers, what they are fed on, when they are slaughtered, and how they are bled. I even have some say in what they are fed. I don’t think ‘natural’ is enough anymore.” Whatever he is doing works. This stuff is addictive.
Co-owner Mark Sanfilippo is a native St. Louisian, from a city devoted to all things pork with a heavy Italian immigrant base. His unlikely partner, Poremba is from Israel, the last place anyone expected of find great Italian salami makers, by way of learning the craft in Parma. I visited the shop last week, tasted just about everything, loved it, and brought a whole bunch back home. If you go there, not only can you load up, but you can enjoy their fresh sandwiches, daily specials and cooked fresh (uncured) sausagesANKARA, Turkey, July 28 (UPI) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday it was impossible to continue peace talks with Kurdish militants in Turkey.
In a brief address before he left Ankara for a state visit to Beijing, Erdogan said, "It is impossible for us to continue the peace process with those who threaten our national unity and brotherhood. Turkey has the strength to hold terrorists and so-called politicians accountable for the blood of our martyrs. Stepping back is out of the question."
As the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), regarded as a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the United States, has grown in power and a with record number of parliamentary seats in a June election, Kurdish militants have attacked targets in Turkey. The Turkish government, which has recently stepped up its involvement against the Islamic State in neighboring Syria, officially makes no distinction between IS and the PKK.
Erdogan's government has begun a crackdown on groups, including the PKK, seeking an independent Kurdistan, with over 1,000 arrests in the past several days and airstrikes against PKK positions in Iraq. Kurdish lawmakers have condemned the government's actions against IS as a cover for a broader attack against the Kurds.
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Turkey's growing involvement in fighting IS, and attempting to bring down the Syrian government of president Bashar al-Assad, has led to a Turkish recommendation of a buffer zone between Syria and Turkey. The zone would allow Turkey to attack PKK positions on the border.
The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, both within the country and in Syria and Iraq, has claimed over 40,000 victims since 1984.The Wazzir pictured after the riots and fires on Good Friday.
April 2 1915, Cairo–Today was Good Friday in 1915, and as such many soldiers away from the front lines were given leave. This was especially true in Cairo, where many ANZAC and British forces were stationed before the planned Gallipoli invasion. As a result, there was an unusually large crowd in Cairo’s red light district, the Wazzir, that evening. It is not entirely clear how the disturbance started, but the most commonly cited factor was a soldier from Manchester finding his sister working in one of the establishments; she had apparently been abandoned by her former employers in Egypt. When attempting to rescue her, the soldier was thrown out of a window by the proprietors. On Friday, a group of soldiers, already quite drunk, “stormed” the building in question, rescued the soldier’s sister, then set fire to the building. The riot then spread to other soldiers and many other buildings were set on fire. Over 2500 soldiers were involved, 50 of whom were eventually arrested several hours later.
It is quite possible that the pretext of saving a woman from “white slavery” was invented; there are no records of the woman in question, and the men had plenty of other grievances against the pimps of the area that could have induced (and certainly helped spread) the riot. These included high prices, watered-down drinks, and recent outbreaks of venereal disease among the clientele. Charles Laseron, an American-born Australian soldier (and veteran of the Mawson Antarctic Expedition), was in Egypt at the time (though not present at the riot) and reacted thusly: “It is a great pity for the name of Australia, but it is a comfort to think that there was a goodly proportion of New Zealanders and Territorials among the crowd, and the blame is not wholly ours.”
Sources include: Randal Gray, Chronicle of the First World War; news.com.auIt's confirmed. Dairy products and sugar cause acne.
As our sugar and dairy consumption has increased over the last 100 years so has the number of people with acne. We now have over 17 million acne sufferers, costing our health care system $1 billion a year, and 80-90 percent of teenagers suffer acne to varying degrees. The pimply millions rely on infomercial products hawked by celebrities or over-the-counter lotions, cleansers, and topical remedies. Recent research suggests that it's not what we slather on our skin that matters most but what we put in our mouth.
Many have suggested a diet-acne link, but until recently it has not been proven in large clinical studies. Instead dermatologists prescribe long-term antibiotics and Accutane, both of which may cause long-term harmful effects. In 2009, a systematic review of 21 observational studies and six clinical trials found clear links. Two large controlled trials found that cow's milk increased both the number of people who got acne and its severity. Other large randomized prospective controlled trials (the gold standard of medical research) found that people who had higher sugar intake and a high glycemic load diet (more bread, rice, cereal, pasta, sugar, and flour products of all kinds) had significantly more acne. The good news is that chocolate (dark chocolate that is) didn't seem to cause acne.
The dietary pimple producing culprits--diary and sugar (in all its blood sugar raising forms)--both cause spikes in certain pimple producing hormones. Dairy boosts male sex hormones (various forms of testosterone or androgens) and increases insulin levels just as foods that quickly raise blood sugar (sugar and starchy carbs) spike insulin.
Androgens and insulin both stimulate your skin to make those nasty, embarrassing pimples. One patient recently told me he would give a million dollars for a pill to cure acne. He doesn't need to. It seems that for many the cure to acne is at the end of their fork, not in a prescription pad.
While pimples are not as simple as too much milk or sugar in your diet, both have a significant impact. Nutritional deficiencies as well as excesses can worsen acne. Correcting common deficiencies including low levels of healthy omega-3 anti-inflammatory fats, low levels of antioxidants such as vitamin E, zinc, and vitamin A, and including an important anti-inflammatory omega-6 fat called evening primrose oil all may be helpful in preventing and treating unwanted pimples. I will explain how you can correct and incorporate all of these nutritional elements of your diet and outlines some supplements that will help you fight acne in a moment.
But first it is worth taking a deeper look at milk and sugar.
Stay Away from Dairy and Avoid Acne
One scientist referred to milk as a "complex aqueous, suspended fat, liposomal, suspended protein emulsion". What we do know is that milk is designed to grow things--namely, babies--and in the case of cow's milk, calves. It is naturally full of what we call anabolic hormones (the same ones that body builders and A Rod use to grow big muscles, and which cause bad acne). These are mostly androgens (like testosterone) and growth hormones including insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). There is no such thing as hormone-free milk.
Here's a short list of the 60-some hormones in your average glass of milk--even the organic, raw, and bovine growth hormone free milk:
20α-dihydropregnenolone
progesterone (from pregnenolone)
5α-pregnanedione
5α-pregnan-3β-ol-20-one, 20α- and 20β-dihydroprogesterone (from progesterone)
5α-androstene-3β17β-diol
5α-androstanedione
5α-androstan-3β-ol-17-one
androstenedione
testosterone
dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate acyl ester
insulin like growth factors 1 and 2 (IGF-1 and IGF-2)
insulin
This is what our government suggests we drink in |
to start on, with nothing else regulating the pit stop time, such as multiple tire changes or fuel.”Spotify likes playlists, and it thinks you do, too.
Today, Spotify is rolling out its newest feature: “Behind the Lyrics” playlists put together by the Wikipedia-but-for-music service Genius. Users on iPhones will be able to look at cards with tweets from the artists, news snippets, song lyrics and other related material.
This week, Spotify listeners can peruse lyrics and annotations of songs on the “Behind the Lyrics (Hip Hop)” playlist, information supplied by Genius. Also available today are customized playlists from rapper Pusha T, DJ Diplo and singer Tinashe. Next week, Spotify will be launching a “Behind the Lyrics (Hits)” playlist for Top 40-style music.
In July, Spotify added the “Discover” music playlist, a personalized set of songs put together by a computer that analyzes what users listen to. Tech bloggers, and presumably a lot of Spotify customers, really like “Discover.”
Spotify is locked in a battle with on-demand listening rival Apple Music for premium subscribers who pay $10 a month to listen to on-demand music without ads. Last June, Spotify said it had around 20 million paid subscribers, and news recently dropped that Apple Music had broken the 10 million subscriber mark.
Features like “Discover Weekly” or “Behind the Lyrics” playlists are one way in which Spotify is trying to distinguish itself, while Apple has invested heavily in efforts like its Beats 1 Internet radio service.In February, The Guardian reported that editors at Wikipedia had “voted to ban the Daily Mail as a source for the website” after deeming it “generally unreliable.”
The Daily Mail, a UK-based daily print and online publication with a daily newsprint circulation of 1.5 million and 238 million unique visitors a month, responded with a series of angry articles, ambushed one editor at his mother's home, and released a statement saying it banned its own reporters from using Wikipedia as a source in 2014.
Except, Wikipedia never truly banned the Daily Mail. Many citations pointing back to the Daily Mail are still live, and new ones have appeared on Wikipedia since the kerfuffle. So what's going on?
H.G. Wells predicted the need for something like Wikipedia back in 1937, saying that “without a world encyclopaedia to hold men's minds together in something like a common interpretation of reality, there is no hope whatever of anything but an accidental and transitory alleviation of any of our world troubles.”
Wikipedia editor Andrew Davidson shared that quote at the beginning of a talk in London earlier this month in which he explained how Wikipedia editors clean up the site. The site's editors, who are volunteers, have always struggled over the essence of facts. Famous battles breaking out over the origin of hummus, when to use Gdansk versus Danzig, and how to spell the word “yoghurt.” This process is decentralized, democratic, and well-documented; these arguments play out on the "talk" pages for individual entries as well as forum threads dedicated to editor discussion, where they are saved forever.
There are no rules on Wikipedia, just guidelines. Of Wikipedia's five “pillars,” the fifth is that there are no firm rules. There is no formal hierarchy either, though the most dedicated volunteers can apply to become administrators with extra powers after being approved by existing admins. But even they don't say what goes on the site. If there's a dispute or a debate, editors post a "request for comment," asking whoever is interested to have their say. The various points are tallied up by an editor and co-signed by four more after a month, but it's not a vote as in a democracy. Instead, the aim is to reach consensus of opinion, and if that's not possible, to weigh the arguments and pick the side that's most compelling. There was no vote to ban the Daily Mail because Wikipedia editors don't vote.
The Daily Mail is known, especially online, for sensationalist content, sloppy reporting, borderline plagiarism, and the occasional fabrication. The paper made up an entire story — with quotes and colorful description — reporting the wrong verdict in the Amanda Knox trial. However, it has won kudos for original reporting and was named newspaper of the year at the latest Press Awards. Wikipedia editors frequently argued about its validity as a source in the discussion section for individual entries. In this case, an editor submitted a broader request for comment about its general reliability. Seventy-seven editors participated in the discussion and two thirds supported prohibiting the Daily Mail as a source, with one editor and four co-signing editors (more than usual) chosen among administrators declaring that a consensus, though further discussion continued on a separate noticeboard, alongside complaints that the debate should have been better advertised.
Though it's discouraged, the Daily Mail can be (and still is) cited. An editor I met at a recent London “Wikimeet” said he'd used the Daily Mail as a source in the last week, as it was the only source available for the subject he was writing about. The site has a link filtering tool that automatically bans spamming sites, text with excessive obscenities, and persistent vandalism (trends such as leaving "your mom" on pages), but it has not been activated for the Daily Mail.
The change is less of a ban and more of a “general rule not to use Daily Mail references when better ones exist,” said John Lubbock, communications coordinator for Wikimedia UK, the charity that helps fund and organise the encyclopedia, but doesn't direct its efforts.
Lubbock noted that the move means editors will replace Daily Mail links with better sources, but with some 10,000 in use, that work may never be fully completed. If there's no more reliable source, editors have to make a judgement call: if only the Daily Mail is saying something, can we trust it? If not, delete the fact. If so, keep the link.
There was no vote to ban the Daily Mail because Wikipedia editors don't vote.
That practice isn't new on the site, and it isn't limited to the Daily Mail. Buzzfeed is generally considered not reliable by Wikipedia editors discussing the issue on the Reliable Sources noticeboard, though such discussion isn't binding and won't be seen by many editors. While its listicles may be of little use to an encyclopedia, it has an investigations team and was shortlisted for a Pulitzer this year.
Meanwhile, less-reputable sources including Russia Today and Breitbart aren't listed as unreliable. However, editors on the site and those I spoke to pointed out that editors shouldn't need reminding that those aren't trustworthy sources.
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Debate aside, the Daily Mail itself noted that the "vote" saw 53 editors decide for the millions who use Wikipedia, but the encyclopedia isn't a democracy. The “Request for Comments” pages where such debates happen are rooms for remote debate that anyone can take part in. And there, consensus isn't about tallying votes, but weighing the merit of arguments.
That means a minority could win a dispute by making a better case, though in the case of the Daily Mail, a majority of editors involved in the conversation did back the “ban.” It's a small slice of the the 135,000 people who edit the site each month, though one editor pointed out that the vote was “watched” by more than 2,000 users, more than a usual debate would see.
Editors often do reach consensus. They have to in order to disable open contributions for controversial pages, for example. They recently introduced tighter guidelines for entries on living people to avoid fake death reports and libel. They've also agreed to use systematic reviews rather than individual studies as citations on medical pages.
Enforcement is a different matter. These decisions are typically enforced by editors who revert changes that don't meet the agreed-upon standards. This means the back-and-forth continues on Wikipedia's pages. The Daily Mail decision supported using an automated edit filter, but with it not in place and no apparent plans to do so, there's no reason a person new to the site would even know about the “ban.” And even if an automatic edit filter was used, it wouldn't outright ban the Daily Mail as a source. Though that is technically possible, it would simply show a warning message but then let the editor still click to save the link to the Daily Mail. Remember, there are no firm rules.
As foolish as some Wikipedia battles may seem, eventually consensus is reached, reality is decided upon, and we can feel like we're on solid ground
In the end, there was no vote, there is no ban, and plenty of other newspapers have had similar treatment, with a Wikipedia guide to potentially unreliable sources listing the Sun, Daily Mirror, TMZ, and Forbes.com. Listing the Daily Mail as an unreliable source is merely a trump card for editors to batter each other with during their constant debates about sources. If you want to link to the Daily Mail, be prepared to defend why. If you can't, the link will be replaced.
As foolish as some Wikipedia battles may seem, eventually consensus is reached, reality is decided upon, and we can feel like we're on solid ground. The site's volunteer editors are bickering their way to a “common interpretation of reality,” something we desperately lack here in 2017, with newsroom cuts gutting fact-checking, the rise of fake news, and a president who constantly contradicts himself. “We don't have the certainties we used to… that leaves people unsure what's reliable and who to believe,” one editor told me. “People in politics play off that, to confuse people, to paralyze them.”After White House senior advisor for policy Stephen Miller took the podium at a press conference two days ago and proceeded to shred CNN’s Jim Acosta over the history of immigration and the irrelevance of sloganeering, Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe — the same man who represented Al Gore in his 2000 Supreme Court case for the presidential election recount, among others — took to Twitter to vent his spleen.
Here’s what he tweeted:
There should be a law barring the payment of federal funds to non-humans. No further filters needed to expel Miller from the federal payroll https://t.co/wfnppAp6fC — Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) August 3, 2017
This is not a good look.
Calling people with whom you disagree on politics “non-human” is dicey stuff. Tribe used to be better than this, but clearly President Trump’s election has warped his once-sharp mind. In February, he said that Justice Gorsuch’s Supreme Court seat had been “stolen” from Obama:
2/ what accepting nomination to a stolen SCOTUS seat says about the nominee's values & character; what the now-stayed travel ban says about — Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) February 14, 2017
And he’s engaged in conspiracy after conspiracy theory regarding the Trump administration. As BuzzFeed notes:
On April 22, Tribe shared a story from a website called the Palmer Report — a site that has been criticized for spreading hyperbole and false claims — entitled “Report: Trump gave $10 million in Russian money to Jason Chaffetz when he leaked FBI letter”…. “I don't know whether this is true,” Tribe’s tweet reads, “But key details have been corroborated and none, to my knowledge, have been refuted. If true, it's huge.”
And he’s repeatedly tweeted out material from nuttier-and-nuttier Louise Mensch:
Tribe has obviously been driven around the bend by Trump’s win. That’s too bad, because Tribe was always a brilliant fellow. Now he’s just another conspiracy theorist with an ax to grind.Story highlights Two women and two men are hospitalized with leg injuries, an ambulance service says
The crash took place on "The Smiler" at Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire
(CNN) A roller coaster car collided with an empty car Tuesday at a UK theme park, leaving four people with serious injuries, officials said.
The crash took place on "The Smiler" at Alton Towers Resort in Staffordshire.
Sixteen people were on the ride, according to a statement from the park. Everyone was evacuated, and the four with serious injuries were transported to hospitals.
A statement from the West Midlands Ambulance Service said two men, aged 18 and 27, and two women, aged 17 and 19, suffered serious leg injuries. All four were flown to regional hospitals for treatment.
Twelve other people had less serious injuries, the statement said.
Read MoreThe opening-day gross of $9 million marks the biggest for any Warner Bros. movie, although even a strong China showing may not stop the tentpole from losing money, complicated by the fact that the China Film Group is withholding payments to Hollywood.
Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros.' Pacific Rim is off to an impressive start in China, where it opened to an estimated $9 million Wednesday.
The movie, from Guillermo del Toro, marked the biggest start for any WB film, eclipsing the opening day of the final Harry Potter film by 23 percent. It also toppled Universal's Fast & Furious 6 from the top spot at the Chinese box office and boasted the second-highest opening day of the year for a Hollywood title after Iron Man 3.
PHOTOS: China Box Office: 10 Highest-Grossing Movies of All Time
Nevertheless, even a stellar run in China isn't likely to save the film from losing money. It also has to open in Japan, Brazil and Spain.
Pacific Rim has grossed roughly $240 million to date worldwide, a soft number considering its $200 production budget and likely $175 million global marketing spend. Legendary Pictures took the lead on the project, including putting up much of the money, and is still considering a sequel, although sources say WB won't be involved with a follow-up. (Legendary leaves the studio at the end of the year for its new co-financing and co-producing deal with Universal.)
PHOTOS: 30 Groundbreaking Sci-Fi Films
Pacific Rim also debuts amid the revelation that the government-affiliated China Film Group has stopped making box office payments to Hollywood studios because of a dispute over who should pay a new 2 percent value-added tax. Studios haven't been paid since late last year and are owed tens of millions of dollars. As it is, they get back only 25 percent of Chinese box office receipts, if that.FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- An Arkansas athletic department employee injured a leg Saturday when a T-shirt gun apparently malfunctioned during the first half of the Razorbacks' victory over Louisiana-Lafayette.
School spokesman Kevin Trainor says a marketing department intern, whose name he declined to give, was injured and transported to Washington Regional Medical Center.
A loud explosion was heard from the southeast corner of Razorback Stadium while the Ragin' Cajuns were driving during the first quarter. Following the explosion, emergency medical personnel were seen responding to an injured patient who was taken from the field on a stretcher.
A police officer was seen afterward holding the T-shirt gun, which is used to fire shirts into the crowd.
A hospital spokesperson was unable to release more information about the intern's condition without a name.Earlier today, it was announced that Okami would be getting an HD re-release on current gen platforms and PC. It has also been confirmed that Okami will also be getting a Western re-release.
The Okami HD remaster will sport resolutions up to 4k and will be available both physically and digitally on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a digital-only release on PC.
4k resolutions should bolster the already beautiful looking game to new heights. Okami utilizes a stunning painterly aesthetic inspired by traditional Japanese Sumi-e art. Players assume the role of Amaterasu, a powerful Japanese Sun Goddess who has taken the form of a legendary white wolf while on a quest to defeat the evil Orochi.
Aside from the unique cell shaded art style, Okami allows players to engage in battles through the use of the Celestial Brush, a legendary magic imbued paintbrush turned weapon. Attacks are done through simple button presses, however, thanks to the Celestial Brush, every animation is fluid and visually appealing, with explosive inky blotches and swipes of paint-fuelled fury that helps break up the otherwise fauvist landscape.
Okami originally released on the PlayStation 2 all the way back in 2006. Since the original release of the game, Okami has seen several re-releases beginning with the Nintendo Wii and most recently with an HD remaster on the PlayStation 3 in 2012. Okami also received a direct-sequel on the Nintendo DS, the game was known as Okamiden and was released in 2010.
Interestingly enough, the Wii release of Okami got extra attention by both the press and fans alike, as the North American cover of the release had an IGN watermark that could be visible near Amaterasu’s face. Thankfully, Capcom was quick to admit to the error and offered consumers free replacement prints that omitted the IGN watermark.
The 4k release of Okami HD will be available December 12, 2017 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The game will retail for $19.99 USD or $24.30 CAD.Vampires beware: Morrisons unveils super-strength garlic bread
By Amy North
Morrisons has launched a super-strength garlic bread, said to be 600% stronger than a traditional garlic flatbread, for Halloween.
The potent 10-inch ‘Dracula’s Devil Garlic Bread’ is the garlickiest supermarket garlic bread ever, said Morrisons. It will be available from the retailer’s pizza counters across the UK for £1.60 from today (Thursday 26 October) to Sunday 5 November.
To achieve the super-strength taste, the effects of which could last up to 12 hours, three types of concentrated garlic are blended as part of a unique recipe. Customers are recommended to eat green apples, fresh mint and parsley afterwards to neutralise the lingering garlic bread flavours.
“For all those families who wanted to be truly prepared, this product will scare away even the most determined vampires. Perhaps one to avoid on first dates, though,” said Morrisons pizza buyer Jenny Dixon. The limited-edition bread even comes with a sticker saying ‘not for vampires or first dates’.
Morrisons isn’t the only one to unveil Halloween-specific NPD, with Marks & Spencer unveiling a spooky version of its popular Colin the Caterpillar cake, while Asda has rolled out pumpkin-shaped crumpets.This article is over 3 years old
• 27-year-old Hungary goalkeeper out of contract on 1 July • Brendan Rodgers looking for cover after releasing Brad Jones
Liverpool are close to making Bolton Wanderers’ out-of-contract goalkeeper Adam Bogdan their third agreed signing of the summer.
The 27-year-old is available on a free transfer on 1 July having rejected the offer of a new deal at the Macron Stadium and has held talks over a move to Anfield.
Ings and Milner look a better fit for Liverpool than the 2014 vintage Read more
The Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, needs back-up for Simon Mignolet after the club released Brad Jones at the end of last season and was impressed by the Hungary international when he gave a man-of-the-match performance at Anfield in last season’s FA Cup fourth round.
Rodgers had wanted a new goalkeeper to rival Mignolet as first choice in January but appears to have settled for experienced support instead after the Belgium international improved significantly in the second half of last season.
Bogdan is currently preparing for Hungary’s European Championship qualifier in Finland on Saturday but his agreement with Liverpool could be announced this week.
The Bolton keeper’s arrival follows the free signing of James Milner and the purchase of Danny Ings, who remains the subject of negotiations between Burnley and the Anfield club over his transfer fee.Two people were killed Thursday during a shooting spree that spanned 50 miles and three counties in Oklahoma, officials with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said.VIDEO: Suspect arrested after 50-mile rampage shootingOfficials said (Jeffrey) Kent Powell, 45, of Arapaho died at the scene and Billie Jean West, 63, of Lone Wolf was pronounced dead at a Weatherford hospital after being shot when they were driving along Interstate 40 early Thursday morning.Jeremy Doss Hardy, 36, of Pasadena, Texas, was arrested on complaints of driving under the influence.Video: Clinton man killed in I-40 gunfireAuthorities said the rampage started on Interstate 40 in Canadian County around midnight.Officials said a car was run off the road near the Canadian County and Caddo County line.Video: Family devastated after Lone Wolf woman killed in I-40 shootingsInvestigators said Hardy continued driving west on I-40 and shooting at different vehicles.Several tractor-trailers were shot at, but no additional people were hit.The Custer County sheriff said Hardy surrendered peacefully at 12:39 a.m. Authorities are still getting phone calls from people whose vehicles were hit during the rampage. Anyone who has a vehicle hit by gunfire should contact the Custer County Sheriff's Office.The Oklahoma Highway Patrol and OSBI will continue to investigate the incidents along with local authorities.31967416
Two people were killed Thursday during a shooting spree that spanned 50 miles and three counties in Oklahoma, officials with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said.
VIDEO: Suspect arrested after 50-mile rampage shooting
Officials said (Jeffrey) Kent Powell, 45, of Arapaho died at the scene and Billie Jean West, 63, of Lone Wolf was pronounced dead at a Weatherford hospital after being shot when they were driving along Interstate 40 early Thursday morning.
Jeremy Doss Hardy, 36, of Pasadena, Texas, was arrested on complaints of driving under the influence.
Video: Clinton man killed in I-40 gunfire
Authorities said the rampage started on Interstate 40 in Canadian County around midnight.
Officials said a car was run off the road near the Canadian County and Caddo County line.
Video: Family devastated after Lone Wolf woman killed in I-40 shootings
Investigators said Hardy continued driving west on I-40 and shooting at different vehicles.
Several tractor-trailers were shot at, but no additional people were hit.
The Custer County sheriff said Hardy surrendered peacefully at 12:39 a.m. Authorities are still getting phone calls from people whose vehicles were hit during the rampage. Anyone who has a vehicle hit by gunfire should contact the Custer County Sheriff's Office.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol and OSBI will continue to investigate the incidents along with local authorities.
AlertMeIn Southern Africa, the 5MW Ombepo Wind Farm is expected to be connected to Namibia’s national electricity grid by the end of this month.
Speaking to The Namibian, project manager Jan-Barend Scheepers said: “We have erected the first four wind turbines, and work is in progress to lift another one.”
He added: “Although it was very difficult to get the wind turbine components on site, it was an absolute pleasure working with Namport to get all parts on site.”
Ombepo Wind Farm
The construction of the $13.6 million wind power project at Lüderitz is being built by Namibia-registered company, Innosun Energy Holdings, owned by Namibian and French investors.
The Namibian reported that the Lüderitz Town Council holds a 5% stake, started in mid-2016.
Scheepers noted that the project developers, in terms of the power supply agreement, charge the national power utility, NamPower, per unit of electricity fed into the national grid.
“The cost of per unit electricity is cheap,” he said.
“We are now bringing solutions to Namibia to keep the money here,” he said, adding that Namibia spent billions of dollars on importing electricity from neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe, media reported. Read more...
Having created an estimated 70 local jobs, Innosun will build a third 5MW solar park at Aussenkehr, on the banks of the Orange River, as well as a second wind farm to supply Namdeb.
“One good thing of localising power supply is that it reduces energy loss along the grid,” Scheepers said.
Featured image: archiexpo.comA crowd attacks participants in Ben Gurion Airport (Photo: Joseph Dana)
Joseph Dana has been stationed in Ben Gurion Airport all day reporting on the “Welcome to Palestine” initiative. The scene he has shared can only be described as chaos. Israel has barred journalists from entering the airport, arrested Israeli activists who came to Ben Gurion in solidarity and stood aside as Israeli passerbys cursed, spit on and punched “Welcome to Palestine” travelers arriving from abroad.
In an piece on +972 titled “Air Flotilla” successful in exposing Israeli blockade of West Bank, Noam Sheizaf has described Israel’s response to the protest as “panic” and added, “it seems that the whole country has gone mad.” That looks about right, and it appears the “air flotilla” has also been successful in exposing the delusional siege mentality that seems to be governing Israel and the vast majority of its citizens these days. The government’s existential fear of tourists visiting the occupied territories is yet another sign that the delegitimization of Israel is a self-fulfilling prophecy that Israel’s leaders seem bent on bringing to fruition.
Below is Dana’s live twitter stream from this morning and be sure to read over the last few hours.On November 29th, 2010, Julia O’Dwyer’s “nightmare” began, as she would later write in her blog.
The police had come to her door in Derbyshire, England, looking for her son, Richard, then a 22-year-old college student. He was accused of running a website that had made him hundreds of thousands of dollars, but, they claimed, violated copyright laws.
They were “looking for Mr Big & trappings of wealth,” she told the Daily Dot. But they “were a bit let down, as the staircase was ripped out that day, so they needed a ladder to get to Rich’s room.”
The same day, London police did find Richard at his university in Sheffield. They brought him in and interrogated him for a little over half an hour about his site, TVShack, which linked to streams of pirated TV shows and movies—much of it copyrighted by the Motion Picture Association of America. He insisted to them that his site was no more than a search engine, that though his site might point to illegal streams, he’d never uploaded or hosted copyrighted material.
Her son’s case took a turn for the worse six months later on May 23rd, when Julia and her son went to London to answer bail. The criminal investigation was being dropped in the UK, the Solicitor told her. But the news was not good.
Instead, he received a much more damning charge: extradition to the United States for violating American copyrighted materials. They were sent immediately to the City of Westminster Magistrates Court, where Richard was taken away in handcuffs.
She asked him if he was OK. “He said he was, but he looked in shock,” she said.
Richard spent the night in jail and surrendered his passport. He posted £3000 for bail and was released the next morning to continue his studies until his hearing.
Julia knew in her heart that her son was the victim of gross incompetence and injustice from the courts but she wasn’t sure how to fight. But when “people kept asking me if we had a campaign website,” she responded with a blog, which she titled “Extradition: the fight of our lives.”
She has used it to keep people updated on the case—and to keep her own record straight.
Her first post was her memory of that November, peppered with additional information, like that during the interrogation, Richard “answered all questions but was upset and tearful during this interview—something I found out only nine months later when I requested the transcript of the Police interview.”
Since then, she’s devoted herself to Richard’s cause, largely by increasing her online presence.
Her blog posts range from short updates to heartfelt pleas.
After a Magistrate ruled against her on January 13, she went home and wrote a blog post titled “Disastrous Day at Westminster Magistrates.”
“I could tell what was coming as the Judge read through his ruling which by the way is still full of inaccuracies which have already been highlighted at various earlier hearings. Basically he could not think outside of extradition box and did not have the technical brains to understand the evidence put forward, despite our efforts to simplify with diagrams and a video tutorial.”
In June, she also started a Twitter account. She’s active there as well—her account shows she’s tweeted 26,619 times, usually linking to stories about copyright or infringement cases or retweeting support for Richard.
Answering emails, trying to research laws, and getting Richard’s story out into the world “has completely taken over my life.”
A divorced mother of two—Richard’s younger sister lives at home—advocating her son’s case “is a full time job.” Julia has also taken a lot of sick leave from her job as a children’s nurse.
On Tuesday, British Home Secretary Theresa May signed an order authorizing Richard’s extradition.
That decision was “expected,” though, Julia said. Now it’s time for appeal. Richard, she says, is trying to live a normal student life until his next court date.
“Extradition is extremely destructive.”
“He’s on a work placement this year,” she said, working on an app development company, “so no real studies.” His friends help keep him distracted and humble: he “doesn’t like the limelight over this,” she said.
She considers fighting for Richard her duty as a mother, saying he needs to finish his education and “wouldn’t have a clue about what needs to be done,” anyway.
“I think the world needs to be aware of the danger facing Internet user. Be aware that US laws are not the same as their own countries laws. “It is a terrifying experience.”
Photo from Julia O’DwyerThe iOS 4.2 is still far from perfect and a few things can still be improved. On 22 November 2010, Apple released the version 4.2 (or 4.2.1 to be precise) of its mobile OS, the iOS. This update allow Apple to unify a wide range of its mobile devices under the same iOS version (iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad), which share nearly similar functionality. The iPad gets the full capability of iOS 4.2 such as multitasking, Game Center, and the improved mail client. The new IOS also introduced some new technologies, such as the AirPlay that allows you send an video or audio files to any compatible device or AirPrint that allows printing documents, web pages or photos directly from mobile devices to a compatible printer (although it only supports a few HP printers). Apple also offered one little thing: allowing you to discover the location of an iOS mobile device for free. So far, it is only available to those who have MobileMe account.
Unfortunately, the iOS is definitely not perfect yet and you may say, it still lacks certain features that could make it even better. This is a list of things that need to be improved soon.
Better notification system
Introduced on iOS 3.0, the notification system allows apps to alert users without having to run the actual application. Not bad really, but this system is currently very limited. We tend to ignore those notifications instinctively without taking some time to open them. What follows is the nagging feeling of having missed something. Worse, when notifications arrive quickly, they make the previous ones invisible. If you watch a video and a notification arrives, you can’t put it aside, so you can return later. Options are quite limited in opening or closing the notification and obviously Apple needs to revise its notification system in a bit more elegant way.
More flexibility in multitasking
The biggest innovation in the 4.2 iOS was undoubtedly the multitasking, which allows you to open more than one app at a time. To improve battery life, Apple has devised a rather clever way of putting open and unused apps on “suspended” status. They do not consume processor resources and have no impacts on device’s performance and battery life. Apple also puts in place some libraries that allow true multitasking capability for some apps. You can use GPS navigation feature in the background, listen to a song while making VoIP calls. Only recently Apple expands the scope of multitasking by giving an opportunity for some applications to download contents regularly when in the “suspended” status which would avoid having for example waiting for RSS feed or news to be updated when the application is reactivated. This is also useful for Twitter or Facebook users to get updated status in real time. However, Apple needs to add an option to automatically close suspended applications that haven’t been used for a certain time period.
Improvements on Mail Client
Since early iOS versions, the Mail client is always evolving. Today, it can sort your e-mails by several criteria, display one inbox for all accounts and synchronize easily. Unfortunately, it still lacks a few features found in desktop mail clients, for example, the ability to mark e-mails, delete many e-mails, and send e-mails to a contact group. Of course, your own wish list can be longer. For example, Apple should integrate features such a spam filter, Smart Folders, or better text processing options (like bold, italics, etc.).
Better data sharing
One of the biggest drawbacks of iOS is the inability to smoothly handle two similar apps at the same time. Since the release of iOS 4.2, things have changed significantly and the device can now determine about whether a file type is supported, for example, it will open Excel documents with Numbers or videos with VLC. However, it’s still a pain to open two similar applications because they use the same storage location. Each application should have its own internal storage to ensure smoother flow. Although Apple has tried everything to avoid it, iOS may need a centralized storage to allow applications exchange data more freely.
Similarly, sending data to other mobile iOS device is always complicated. Often, you need to go through iTunes to drag files onto the application. Meanwhile, DropBox or MobileMe synchronization is performed online and other applications use virtual Web servers that act like a hard drive on your desktop computer to allow seamless data transfers. This problem also occurs on applications that send files by e-mail. Again, Apple should find a simplified and unified method for sending data to other iOS devices.
Tasks management in iCal
Because iOS is a mobile operating system, iCal is commonly used by users of iOS devices. But you may wonder why Apple fails to include a list of upcoming tasks in the iOS calendar while a similar feature is still present in the Macs.
Wireless synchronization
Certain data can be synchronized wirelessly between iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad with a desktop computer still needed between these devices. Indeed, MobileMe or other free services like Google Sync can synchronize contacts, emails, documents or bookmarks seamlessly through the air, but reliable Internet connection is not available in some places. These days, data synchronization through USB cable already feels outdated. If synchronization of music library and video on the 3G network appears too expensive or can be unreliable, why Apple does not allow synchronization through the Wi-Fi network? It would be convenient to transfer photos to your Mac from the iOS devices without having to use a USB cable.
Screen lock
Android users will tell you, there is nothing more convenient than having a steady stream of information displayed clearly on the home screen, for example, weather, stock prices, incoming emails, and appointments. However, Apple still has no plan on using screen lock on their devices.
Streaming files to iOS devices
With iOS 4.2, you can use AirPlay to send a stream of video or audio from your iOS devices to compatible devices, like the new Apple TV or an AirPort Express. But iOS devices are not really intended to store plenty of videos or photos and would need a large external storage, so it would be nice to view or play files on stored on a network drive or a Mac directly in your iPad or iPhone. The Apple TV is able to play files stored on desktop computers, even so this feature is still not available on iOS devices. There are some applications that can access to music library from mobile devices like Airfoil Speakers Touch, but this feature requires the installation of proper software on the desktop computer.
Make AirPrint more accessible for iOS
It was heralded as a huge revolution in the wireless printing field, but the fame of AirPrint quickly wanes. Currently, AirPrint is only supported by 11 HP printers. At this moment, Apple has removed printing feature via shared printers from Macs or Window PC.
Restore the screen orientation lock on the iPad
Something a little unusual happened with the iOS 4.2, Cupertino has changed the orientation lock button function on the iPad. It is now only used to mute the overall sound, just like the iPhone, the locking is now accessible by double-clicking the “Center” button. If you are already accustomed to this feature, the change is clearly annoying.
And many others
Obviously, iOS still lacks many features to achieve perfection, here are some of them
Customization of ringtones and alerts
Better management on multiple user accounts (especially on the iPad)
Better file transfer files via Bluetooth
Flash disk storage mode for iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad when connected to a Mac
Voice dialing (useful when using headphones)
Voice control for to third-party applications
Automatic podcasts download
The ability to mute all notifications
Better management of tabs in Safari (iPad)
FaceTime via the 3G network
Obviously, the iOS will continue to evolve in 2011, maybe even much more than the Mac OS X. But, let’s hope these features will be available for us soon.Squatting is my catnip. Fun. Fulfilling. It is the perfect synthesis of adventure, ideals, camping, stealth, nesting, and the total joy of one’s labor directly meeting personal needs. I remember my first squat – not just sleeping in an abandon building but really owning it and making it a home – years ago at The Crumble. I remember how the little fibers of my body and tissues of my heart all sang to me: bringing direct action and tangible change to long-held personal beliefs on property ownership and at the same time the thrill of living outside the law and having a very active relationship with the place I lived. That was five years ago, and I haven’t paid a dime on rent since.
But never have I ever had a squat like the Lizard Palace…
The story I heard was that it was abandon because of transportation difficulties – being only practically accessed by boat. I heard that the Thai family who owned it were now just holding onto the property, waiting to re-develop when a road is eventually built to that side of the island. Whatever the story, I got the hottest tip of my life from a drunk Australian lady one day. “Oh yeah,” she slurred. “There’s an abandon resort at the very eastern pinnacle of the island. It’s really hard to get to, though, it takes like an hour hiking over a really steep footpath – so nobody really goes out there.” And |
didn't want to comment on the Kobus case. In testimony to Congress this year, authorities said they understand the important role that whistleblowers play.
But Kobus and his lawyer say that no one at the FBI was ever punished for involvement in the timecard fraud. In fact, they say, some of the supervisors went on to win promotions.
That concerns Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley.
"Whistleblowers should not have to fear retaliation for speaking up and they should not have to wait a decade for relief, and they should not have to apply to Congress to see justice done," Grassley says.
Grassley is exploring how to make it easier for FBI employees to call out bad behavior and misuse of funds. That includes the possibility of allowing bureau workers to sue if the agency and the Justice Department take too long to review complaints.
Authorities point out the Justice Department is responsible for reviewing and adjudicating these kinds of claims.
An investigation by the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional auditing agency, recently found that the FBI's system for reporting whistleblower allegations is confusing and burdensome. And FBI workers have fewer protections than federal employees at many other agencies because of the bureau's sensitive national security operations.
That's something Robert Kobus says should change.
"I still enjoy working there, and I am still going to try my best to make changes so that no one else is in a situation like I am," he says.The War On Democracy
Versión en español
'The War On Democracy' (2007) was John Pilger's first for cinema. It explores the current and past relationship of Washington with Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Chile.
Using archive footage sourced by Michael Moore's archivist Carl Deal, the film shows how serial US intervention, overt and covert, has toppled a series of legitimate governments in the Latin American region since the 1950s. The democratically elected Chilean government of Salvador Allende, for example, was ousted by a US backed coup in 1973 and replaced by the military dictatorship of General Pinochet. Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador have all been invaded by the United States.
John Pilger interviews several ex-CIA agents who took part in secret campaigns against democratic countries in the region. He investigates the School of the Americas in the US state of Georgia, where Pinochet’s torture squads were trained along with tyrants and death squad leaders in Haiti, El Salvador, Brazil and Argentina.
The film unearths the real story behind the attempted overthrow of Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez in 2002 and how the people of the barrios of Caracas rose up to force his return to power.
It also looks at the wider rise of populist governments across South America lead by indigenous leaders intent on loosening the shackles of Washington and a fairer redistribution of the continent's natural wealth.
John Pilger says: "[The film] is about the struggle of people to free themselves from a modern form of slavery". These people, he says, "describe a world not as American presidents like to see it as useful or expendable, they describe the power of courage and humanity among people with next to nothing. They reclaim noble words like democracy, freedom, liberation, justice, and in doing so they are defending the most basic human rights of all of us in a war being waged against all of us."
'The War On Democracy' was a Youngheart Entertainment, Granada and Michael Watt production. It was released in UK cinemas on 15 June 2007 and broadcast on ITV1, 20 August 2007. Directors: John Pilger and Chris Martin. Producers: Chris Martin and Wayne Young. Editor: Joe Frost. The film was made with the support of the humanitarian financier Michael Watt.
Awards: Best Documentary Award, 2008 One World Awards, London. The panel's citation read: "There are six criteria the judges are asked to use to select the winner of this award: the film's impact on public opinion, its appeal to a wide audience, its inclusion of voices from the developing world, its high journalistic or production standards, its success in conveying the impact of the actions of the world's rich on the lives of the poor and the extent to which it draws attention to possible solutions. One film met every one of these. It was the winner of the award: John Pilger's 'The War on Democracy'."Coming back from its second-largest halftime deficit of the season, the No. 1 Florida Gators (31-2) fought hard to take down the Tennessee Volunteers (21-12) in the second half and pull away for a 56-49 victory in the semifinals of the 2014 Southeastern Conference Tournament at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA.
Florida did not trail for the final nine minutes of the contest after facing a consistent deficit over the first 31 minutes of the game but eventually extended its winning streak to 25-straight games dating back to Dec. 2, 2013. UF outscored UT 28-14 in the second half, holding its opponent without a field goal for a 9:29 stretch.
OnlyGators.com breaks it all down with eight quick-hitters:
It was over when: Leading by two with less than two minutes to play, Florida took off on a fastbreak created by a steal from sophomore guard Michael Frazier II. Senior forward Casey Prather exploded to the hoop for a dunk but was grabbed around the waist with two hands by Antonio Barton, who was assessed a flagrant foul. Prather made both free throws (after missing two earlier) to give UF a 53-49 lead with 1:21 left. UT did not score again. Prather posted 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting with a team-high five assists though he did commit four turnovers.
Prominent player: Senior center Patric Young put together a dynamite second half, scoring 12 points in the latter 20 minutes to finish with team-highs of 16 points and eight boards on the afternoon. Young also hit all four of his free throws, including two in the final seconds, to help the Gators put the game away.
Significant stretch: Florida opened the second half with a 10-2 scoring stretch, taking advantage of four Tennessee turnovers to erase its seven-point halftime deficit and retake the lead 38-37 with 14:49 to play. The Gators would give up their lead again as they went back-and-forth with the Vols, but the 10-2 run helped UF regain its confidence after a difficult first half.
Check out the second half of The Fastbreak…after the break.
First half focus: Leading by two with about six minutes remaining until the break, Tennessee went on an 8-0 run to hand Florida its first double-digit deficit since Nov. 12, 2013 at Wisconsin. The Gators went 4:51 without a point and were eventually able to cut the Vols’ lead to single-digits in the final seconds of the opening period when Wilbekin hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to get UF within seven of UT. Wilbekin left with 14 points on 3-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, forcing a team-high four steals in the process.
Perfect play: With nine minutes left in the game, Young saved a rebound by diving out of bounds. The ball quickly wound up in the hands of sophomore guard Michael Frazier II, who drained his first and only three-pointer of the game to put Florida up 45-43 on Tennessee. Though the Vols tied the game four minutes later with two free throws, the Gators never fell behind for the duration of the contest. Frazier scored seven points, only attempting two shots from beyond the arc, but grabbed four boards and matched Wilbekin with four steals.
Standout stat: Both teams saw almost no scoring contribution from their respective bench with each only getting five points from its non-starters. There were also three total technical fouls in the game with UT’s Jeronne Maymon and UF redshirt sophomore F Dorian Finney-Smith each fouling out of the contest.
What it means: Florida advances to the finals of the SEC Tournament for the second-straight year and third time in the last four seasons but has not won a tournament crown since 2007. The Gators also fought back from their second-largest halftime deficit of the season and won a game after trailing by double digits for the first time during the 2013-14 campaign. UF is now 4-0 in neutral-site games this season.Photo: Levi Brown; Prop Stylist: Ariana Salvato
In the 13th century, the Chinese emperor Kublai Khan embarked on a bold experiment. China at the time was divided into different regions, many of which issued their own coins, discouraging trade within the empire. So Kublai Khan decreed that henceforth money would take the form of paper.
It was not an entirely original idea. Earlier rulers had sanctioned paper money, but always alongside coins, which had been around for centuries. Kublai’s daring notion was to make paper money (the chao) the dominant form of currency. And when the Italian merchant Marco Polo visited China not long after, he marveled at the spectacle of people exchanging their labor and goods for mere pieces of paper. It was as if value were being created out of thin air.
Kublai Khan was ahead of his time: He recognized that what matters about money is not what it looks like, or even what it’s backed by, but whether people believe in it enough to use it. Today, that concept is the foundation of all modern monetary systems, which are built on nothing more than governments’ support of and people’s faith in them. Money is, in other words, a complete abstraction—one that we are all intimately familiar with but whose growing complexity defies our comprehension.
Today, many people long for simpler times. It’s a natural reaction to a world in which money is becoming not just more abstract but more digital and virtual as well, in which sophisticated computer algorithms execute microsecond market transactions with no human intervention at all, in which below-the-radar economies are springing up around their own alternative currencies, and in which global financial crises are brought on for reasons difficult to parse without a Ph.D. Back in the day, the thinking goes, money stood for something: Gold doubloons and cowrie shells had real value, and so they didn’t need a government to stand behind them.
In fact, though, money has never been that simple. And while its uses and meanings have shifted and evolved throughout history, the fact that it is no longer anchored to any one substance is actually a good thing. Here’s why.
Let’s start with what money is used for. Modern economists typically define it by the three roles it plays in an economy:
It’s a store of value, meaning that money allows you to defer consumption until a later date.
It’s a unit of account, meaning that it allows you to assign a value to different goods without having to compare them. So instead of saying that a Rolex watch is worth six cows, you can just say it (or the cows) cost $10 000.
And it’s a medium of exchange—an easy and efficient way for you and me and others to trade goods and services with one another.
All of these roles have to do with buying and selling, and that’s how the modern world thinks of money—so much so that it seems peculiar to conceive of money in any other way.
Yet in tribal and other “primitive” economies, money served a very different purpose—less a store of value or medium of exchange, much more a social lubricant. As the anthropologist David Graeber puts it in his recent book Debt: The First 5000 Years (Melville House, 2011), money in those societies was a way “to arrange marriages, establish the paternity of children, head off feuds, console mourners at funerals, seek forgiveness in the case of crimes, negotiate treaties, acquire followers.” Money, then, was not for buying and selling stuff but for helping to define the structure of social relations.
How, then, did money become the basis of trade? By the time money makes its first appearance in written records, in Mesopotamia during the third millennium B.C.E., that society already had a sophisticated financial structure in place, and merchants were using silver as a standard of value to balance their accounts. But cash was still not widely used.
It’s really in the seventh century B.C.E., when the small kingdom of Lydia introduced the world’s first standardized metal coins, that you start to see money being used in a recognizable way. Located in what is now Turkey, Lydia sat on the cusp between the Mediterranean and the Near East, and commerce with foreign travelers was common. And that, it turns out, is just the kind of situation in which money is quite useful.
To understand why, imagine doing a trade in the absence of money—that is, through barter. (Let’s leave aside the fact that no society has ever relied solely or even largely on barter; it’s still an instructive concept.) The chief problem with barter is what economist William Stanley Jevons called the “double coincidence of wants.” Say you have a bunch of bananas and would like a pair of shoes; it’s not enough to find someone who has some shoes or someone who wants some bananas. To make the trade, you need to find someone who has shoes he’s willing to trade and wants bananas. That’s a tough task.
With a common currency, though, the task becomes easy: You just sell your bananas to someone in exchange for money, with which you then buy shoes from someone else. And if, as in Lydia, you have foreigners from whom you’d like to buy or to whom you’d like to sell, having a common medium of exchange is obviously valuable. That is, money is especially useful when dealing with people you don’t know and may never see again.
The Lydian system’s breakthrough was the standardized metal coin. Made of a gold-silver alloy called electrum, one coin was exactly like another—unlike, say, cattle. Also unlike cattle, the coins didn’t age or die or otherwise change over time. And they were much easier to carry around. Other kingdoms followed Lydia’s example, and coins became ubiquitous throughout the Mediterranean, with kingdoms stamping their insignia on the coins they minted. This had a dual effect: It facilitated the flow of trade, and it established the authority of the state.
Modern governments still like to place their stamp upon money, and not just on bills and coins. In general, they prefer that money—whether physical cash or digital—be issued and controlled only by official entities and that financial transactions (especially international ones) be traceable. And so the recent rise of an alternative currency like Bitcoin [see “The Cryptoanarchists’ Answer to Cash,” in this issue], which is based on a cryptographic code that allows for anonymous transactions and that so far has proved to be uncrackable, is the kind of thing that tends to make governments very unhappy.
The spread of money throughout the Mediterranean didn’t mean that it was universally used. Far from it. Most people were still subsistence farmers and existed largely outside the money economy.
But as money became more common, it encouraged the spread of markets. This, in fact, is one of the enduring lessons of history: Once even a small part of your economy is taken over by markets and money, they tend to colonize the rest of the economy, gradually forcing out barter, feudalism, and other economic arrangements. In part this is because money makes market transactions so much easier, and in part because using money seems to redefine what people value, pushing them to view things in economic, rather than social, terms.
Governments were quick to embrace hard currency because it facilitated the collection of taxes and the building of military forces. In the third century B.C.E., with the rise of Rome, money became an important tool for unifying and expanding the empire, reducing the costs of trade, and funding the armies that kept the emperors in power.
The decline of the Roman Empire, starting in the third century C.E., saw a decline in the use of money as well, at least in the West. Parts of the former empire, like Britain, simply stopped using coins. Elsewhere people still used money to balance accounts and keep track of debts, and many small kingdoms minted their own coins. But in general, the circulation of money became less central, as cities shrank in size and commerce dwindled.
The rise of feudal society also undercut money’s role. The basic relationship between master and vassal was mediated not by payment for services rendered but rather by an oath of loyalty and a promise of support. Land was not bought and sold; it belonged, ultimately, to the king, who granted use of the land to his lords, who in turn provided plots of land to their vassals. And feudalism discouraged trade; a feudal estate, or fief, was often a closed community that aimed to be self-sufficient. In such a setting, money had little use.
Money’s decline in feudal times is worth noting for what it reveals about money’s essential nature. For one thing, money is impersonal. With it, you can cut a deal with, say, a guy named Jeff Bezos, whom you don’t know and will probably never meet—and that’s okay. As long as your money and his products are good, you two can do business. Similarly, money fosters a curious kind of equality: As long as you have sufficient cash, all doors are open to you. Finally, money seems to encourage people to value things solely in terms of their market value, to reduce their worth to a single number.
These characteristics make money invaluable to modern financial systems: They encourage trade and the division of labor, they reduce transaction costs—that is, the cost incurred in executing an economic exchange—and they make economies more efficient and productive. These same qualities, though, are why money tends to corrode traditional social orders, and why it is commonly believed that when money enters the picture, economic relationships trump all other kinds.
It’s unsurprising, then, that feudal lords had little use for the stuff. In their world, maintaining the social hierarchy was far more important than economic growth (or, for that matter, economic freedom or social mobility). The widespread use of money, with its impersonal transactions, its equalizing effect, and its calculated values, would have upended that order.
Money’s decline didn’t last, of course. By the 12th century, even as the Chinese were experimenting with paper currency, Europeans began to embrace a new view of money: Instead of being something to hoard or spend, money became something to invest, to be put to work in order to make more money.
This idea came with a renewed interest in commerce. Trade fairs sprang up across Europe, frequented by a community of merchants who had begun to do business across the continent. This period also saw the emergence of a banking industry in the city‑states of Italy. These new institutions introduced a host of financial innovations that we still use today, including municipal bonds and insurance. The banks fostered the use of credit and debt, which became ever more central to the economy as kings borrowed to finance their military adventures and merchants borrowed to fund their long-range trades.
The invention of the bill of exchange, which laid the groundwork for the emergence of paper money in the West, also occurred during this period. The bill of exchange was a sort of precursor to the traveler’s check: a document representing a quantity of gold that could be exchanged for the real thing in a different city. Traveling merchants liked the bills because they could be carried around with far less risk (and exertion) than the precious metal.
By the 16th century in Europe, many of the ideas about money that shape our thinking today were in place. Still, money remained a physical thing—that thing being a piece of gold or silver. A gold coin wasn’t a symbol of value; it was an embodiment of it, because everyone believed that the gold had intrinsic worth. Likewise, the amount of money in the economy was still a function of how much gold and silver was available. The rulers of Spain and Portugal didn’t quite appreciate the limits of this system, however, which led them to plunder their New World colonies and accumulate vast hoards of precious metals, which in turn triggered periods of rampant inflation and enormous tumult in the European economy.
These days, countries have central banks to oversee their money supplies, as well as to set interest rates, combat inflation, and otherwise control their monetary policy. The United States has the Federal Reserve System, the Eurozone has the European Central Bank, the Maldives has the Maldives Monetary Authority, and so on. When the Federal Reserve wants to increase the money supply, it doesn’t have to go looking for El Dorado. Neither does it phone up the United States Mint and order it to start printing more dollars; in fact, only about 10 percent of the U.S. money supply—about $1 trillion of the roughly $10 trillion total—exists in the form of paper cash and coins.
Instead, the Fed buys government securities, such as treasury bills, on the open market, typically from regular private banks, and then credits the banks’ accounts with the money. As the banks lend, invest, and otherwise spend this new money, the overall money supply that’s circulating increases. If, on the other hand, the Reserve wants to decrease the money supply, it does the opposite: It sells government bonds on the open market, again typically to private banks, and then deducts the sales price from the banks’ accounts. The banks have less money to spend, and the money supply shrinks.
The sophisticated and relatively opaque machinations by which central banks keep economies afloat may make the Spanish Empire’s inflationary foibles look quaintly naive. But in fact the fine-tuning of monetary policy—the delicate juggling of interest rates, money supply, and other financial mechanisms so that an economy keeps expanding at a steady, manageable rate, without excessive inflation, unemployment, debt, or boom and bust cycles—is still a work in progress, as the ongoing economic woes in both Europe and the United States demonstrate.
Back to the 1600s: The view of money as commodity began to shift only with the widespread adoption of paper currency, which found the warmest welcome in the American colonies. In 1690, for instance, the Massachusetts Bay Colony issued paper money to fund a military campaign, and did so without explicitly promising to redeem the bills for gold or silver.
Later, during the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress printed “continentals” to pay for the new country’s war debts. These bills were in principle backed by gold, but so many were issued that their collective value far exceeded the available gold. When soldiers and merchants discovered they’d been paid in near-worthless scrip, it inspired a backlash against paper money; the U.S. Constitution, for instance, prohibited states from using any other money than gold and silver coins. It wasn’t until 1862, during the Civil War, that Congress finally passed a law allowing the government to print paper money, or “greenbacks.”
That’s not to say that paper money was unavailable before then. Even as the U.S. government minted nothing but coins, private banks, often called “wildcats” [PDF], began issuing what in effect became thousands of currencies. Like the wartime continentals, these bank notes were in theory backed by gold, but it was hard to know whether a bank actually had enough gold to back up its notes, bank regulation being pretty much nonexistent at the time. Unsurprisingly, the wildcat era was fertile ground for fraud. What is surprising perhaps is that most banks did a reasonable job of keeping their currency and their gold reserves in balance, and the U.S. economy grew briskly.
The Bank of England, meanwhile, took a far more sober approach. In 1821, it adopted the gold standard, promising to redeem its notes for gold upon request. As other countries followed suit, the gold standard became the general rule for developed economies. The discovery of major new gold fields over the course of the 19th century ensured that the money supply kept growing.
The gold standard, as it was intended to do, brought stability to prices and was enormously beneficial to property holders and lenders. However, it also brought deflation—that is, prices generally fell—because as countries’ populations and economies grew, their governments had no easy way to increase the money supply short of mining more gold, and so money in effect became more scarce. Deflation was hard on farmers and borrowers, who longed for a little inflation to help them with their debts; when money gradually loses some of its value, so, too, do people’s debts.
The gold standard also didn’t prevent economies from falling into recession, and when they did—as during the worldwide slump known as the Long Depression, which lasted from 1873 to 1896—adherence to the standard made it difficult to do any of the things that might have quickly set things right, like cutting interest rates or pumping more money into the economy. As a result, economies took a long time to recover from downturns.
Of course, clever financial minds will always find an end run around the rules. Having a gold standard, it turns out, didn’t completely limit the growth of money. Banks could still make loans against their gold reserves, and they did so freely. Economic historians now believe that the amount of paper currency in circulation dwarfed the actual amount of gold and silver that banks had on hand. And so, while money was still tethered to gold in people’s minds, it had already begun to become unhooked.
What finally derailed the gold standard was World War I. Governments needed more money for their militaries than they had in gold, and so they simply began printing it. And though many countries tried to return to the gold standard after the war, the Great Depression ended that experiment for good.
The result? Currencies today are “fiat” currencies, meaning they’re backed by the authority of the issuing government, and nothing more. In the United States, for example, that means the government accepts only dollars as payment for taxes and requires its creditors to accept dollars in payment for debts. But if people were to lose faith in the dollar and stop accepting it in everyday transactions, it would eventually become worthless.
Many people find this situation unnerving, which is why there are perennial calls to return to the gold standard. The reliance on fiat money, we’re told, gives too much power to the government, which can recklessly print as much money as it wants. Yet the truth is that this has always been possible. Even with the gold standard, governments revalued their currencies from time to time, in effect dictating a new price for gold, or they ignored the standard when it proved too limiting, as during the First World War.
What’s more, the notion that gold is somehow more “real” than paper is, well, a mirage. Gold is valuable because we’ve collectively decided that it’s valuable and that we’ll accept goods and services in exchange for it. And that’s no different, ultimately, from our collective decision that colorful rectangles of paper are valuable and that we’ll accept goods and services in exchange for them.
The reality is that it’s a good thing that we’ve moved away from the gold standard and the idea that money needs to be tied to something else. In the first place, it’s honest: As soon as we left behind the habit of trading cattle for barley (both of which had intrinsic value), money became a social convention, and paper money just makes that convention obvious. These days, instead of worrying about where we’re going to find more gold and silver, we can focus on how to wisely manage the money supply for the greater good.
Second, and more important, abandoning the gold standard has given central banks much more flexibility in dealing with economic downturns. Recessions are downward spirals: Instead of spending and investing, people and businesses hold on to their cash, which shrinks overall demand, which forces businesses to cut back, which creates unemployment, which shrinks demand even more.
One solution is for governments to make up the difference by spending more. But it’s also important for interest rates to drop and for the money supply to increase, thereby making it easier for people to borrow money and helping overcome their reluctance to spend. Such actions are easier for the folks at the Federal Reserve and other central banks to pull off when they don’t have to worry about maintaining the gold standard. And recessions have been shorter and less painful since the gold standard was abandoned. Even the most recent global downturn, severe as it was, was minor compared to the Great Depression.
Of course, all this talk of central bankers tinkering with the money supply is precisely what critics of the fiat money system dread, because they believe it will inevitably lead to runaway inflation. And history does show that when a government massively and carelessly expands the money supply, it ends up with hyperinflation and a worthless currency, as happened in Weimar Germany in 1923 and in Zimbabwe just a few years ago.
But such episodes are rare. In the past 90 years, the United States and Europe have had just one sustained bout of high inflation—in the 1970s. That track record should engender some faith; on the whole, central bankers act responsibly, and healthy industrial economies aren’t prone to regular inflationary spirals. But that faith is apparently hard to muster; instead, it feels to many of us as if inflation is always about to soar out of control.
This irrational fear is ultimately a legacy of the way money evolved: We cling to the belief that money needs to be backed by something “solid.” In that sense, we’re just like Marco Polo—still a bit amazed by the thought that you can base an entire economy on little pieces of paper.
And yet we do. For more than 80 years, we’ve been living in a world in which money can be created, in effect, out of thin air. As we’ve already discussed, the central banks can create money, but so can ordinary banks. When a bank makes a loan, it typically just puts the money into the borrower’s bank account, whether or not it has that money on hand—banks are allowed to lend more money than they have in their reserves. And so with each home equity loan, car loan, and mortgage, banks add incrementally to the money supply.
There is, to be sure, something a bit eerie about all this, and periods like the recent housing bubble, when banks made an extraordinary number of bad loans, should remind us of the dangers of runaway credit. But it’s a mistake to yearn for a more “solid” foundation for the monetary system. Money is a social creation, just like language. It’s a tool that can be used well or poorly, and it’s preferable that we have more freedom to use that tool than less.
Over the course of history, the material substance of money has become less important, to the point that these days people talk easily about the possibility of a cashless society. The powerful combination of computers and telecommunications, of smartphones and social media, of cryptography and virtual economies, is what fuels such talk. And that progression makes sense because what matters most about money is not what it is, but what it does. Successful currencies, after all, are those that people use: They lubricate commerce, allow people to exchange goods and services, and thus encourage people to work and create. The German sociologist Georg Simmel described money as “pure interaction,” and that description seems apt—when money is working as it should, it is not so much a thing as it is a process.
This, perhaps, is what Kublai Khan understood seven centuries ago. It’s what we’re still trying to understand today.In some hardscrabble East Bay neighborhoods, people die of heart disease and cancer at three times the rates found just a few miles away in more well-to-do communities.
Children living near busy freeways in Oakland are hospitalized for asthma at 12 times the rate of young people in Lafayette’s wooded housing tracts.
The East Bay’s striking health inequities extend far beyond life expectancy and involve more than differences between the rich and the poor. Disparities exist up and down the East Bay’s socioeconomic ladder, according to data compiled by the Alameda County Public Health Department for Bay Area News Group.
Middle-class communities in Dublin, Castro Valley and Fremont have higher heart disease death rates than wealthier neighborhoods in Walnut Creek and Berkeley, but lower rates than struggling areas of East Oakland and North Richmond.
These facts have led public-health leaders to advocate to equalize opportunities for healthful living, instead of focusing only on a never-ending battle to treat disease.
Alameda and Contra Costa County health leaders have stepped outside of their traditional roles to tackle the root causes of ill health. That means attempting to ensure people have clean air to breathe, decent housing, walkable neighborhoods, well-maintained parks, violence-free streets, and grocery stores with fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Your choices are shaped by the options you have and the environment you live in,” said Dr. Wendel Brunner, Contra Costa County public health director. “We want to create an environment that supports individuals in making good choices.”
The new direction also means addressing the health-sapping economic stresses and lack of opportunity and power that plague some communities, said Dr. Anthony Iton, who recently left his position as Alameda County’s public health director to head an Oakland foundation’s health disparities program.
Iton changed jobs in part because of his frustration at being unable to win widespread political support for such public health initiatives.
Examining asthma rates reveals a stunning pattern. By far, the most hospitalizations occur in low-income communities near the Port of Oakland, along busy Interstate 880 in East and West Oakland, and the convergence of freeways near North Oakland and Emeryville.
The medical staff at Children’s Hospital Oakland has worked for more than a decade to bring down asthma hospitalizations, with limited success.
Asthmatic children seek emergency room help there 5,000 times a year.
Nearly one-fourth of them will return within 12 months.
Asthma colors much of John Fitzpatrick Jr.’s young life.
Bronchiolitis first hospitalized the easygoing fifth-grader when he was eight months old. Since then, he has returned to the emergency room so many times his family has lost count.
“He had some scary times when he was younger,” said Mindy Benson, the asthma program manager at Children’s Hospital Oakland who has treated John for many years. “It was really hard to get his asthma under control.”
Now 10, John attends Santa Fe Elementary School. He lives in a two-bedroom rented house in the 94608 ZIP code with his brother, mother and grandmother.
This North Oakland ZIP code has the East Bay’s second-highest asthma hospitalization rate. Highway 24 and Interstates 580 and 80 pass close by. Nearly 200,000 cars and trucks use the I-80/I-580 interchange each day.
“Where they live, every day there is soot on the window sills,” Benson said. Soot is also in the air that neighborhood children take into their lungs.
Asthma occurs when airways become restricted, making breathing difficult. Numerous triggers exist, including auto exhaust, industrial emissions, tobacco smoke, dust, mold, pets, weather changes, even strong emotions.
John routinely takes six medications to help control his asthma and uses a nebulizer 10 to 15 minutes every morning before he goes to school, and again at night before he sleeps.
“The stuff that works for him has real terrible side effects,” including causing frequent headaches and nosebleeds, said his mother, Dorthy Littman. “But he needs that.”
John keeps an inhaler in his backpack and sometimes has to stop playing during school recess to use it.
He loves basketball and baseball but has to limit his activities because of breathing difficulties.
“I’ll be wheezing,” he said. “It’s not fun because I want to run, and it slows me down.”
The inability to sustain prolonged physical activity has affected his weight. During a recent doctor’s visit, he was chagrined to learn that at 4 feet 6 inches tall, he weighed 102 pounds.
“He’s gotten extremely overweight,” Benson said.
Benson, who has analyzed asthma statistics for years, has noticed a link with low-income communities.
West Oakland youths breathe in diesel exhaust from trucks, trains and ships at the port, and the aging homes near the waterfront become magnets for mold, she said.
John and his mother lived in West Oakland during the first few years of his life. John is allergic to mold and mildew. It was a constant struggle to keep it out of the home.
“No matter how you clean it, it still comes back,” his mother said.
John sees Benson once a month to help control his asthma. Because his mother does not own a car, they ride three buses to reach the clinic. John misses a day of school each time, and his mother takes a day off from her job providing home care for the elderly.
Volunteers from the American Lung Association gave Littman a special vacuum and anti-allergen solution to help control dust in their home. But that is a difficult task. Their house has no bedroom closets, so “we’ve got baskets and tubs with clothes in them because there’s nowhere to put stuff,” she said. It accumulates dust.
John’s older brother walks him to and from school each day. They pass through an industrial area where at times, “it smells like tar or primer or something,” his mother said. “John’s thrown up a few times on the way to school.”
He knows exactly how often. “It’s seven times,” he said.
Despite the asthma triggers, many families in John’s neighborhood cannot afford to move, so county leaders are seeking ways to lessen the exposure to health threats.
One policy that many believe contributes to the high asthma rates is a truck ban on Interstate 580 in the upscale Oakland hills. This funnels large volumes of truck traffic through low-income communities lining Interstate 880 in west and East Oakland.
The ban has existed since the freeway opened more than 40 years ago. In 2000, the California Trucking Association sought to overturn it, but ran into fierce opposition from hillside residents, the city councils of Oakland and San Leandro, and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. After the public outcry, state lawmakers made the ban permanent.
Alameda County health leaders and others have seized on a different target: the Port of Oakland, where they have fought to reduce diesel emissions from trucks, trains and ships.
The diesel exhaust has led to a cancer risk in West Oakland that is three times higher than the Bay Area average, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District told federal officials in September.
Yet some view this struggle as an improper attempt by Alameda County health leaders and others to rein in a major economic force.
“People see us as operating outside of our purview,” said Iton, now senior vice president for healthy communities with the California Endowment in Oakland. “But spewing chunks of carcinogen out of an industry on a day-in, day-out basis that’s proven to cause lung cancer, heart disease, and asthma is not good for people living adjacent to these places.”
So, he said, the county ought to lessen “the burden of disease that they have |
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Lettered Vehicles When at our showroom see the Wall of Fame of Justin Bolton's racing. Justin is a 2-time NASCAR stock car winner at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. You can visit his website at http://JustinBolton.com. Alliance featured in the Tribune Review on Sunday, 4/10/2011
Click here to view the article. Alliance Garage Doors & Openers is the preferred authorized dealer for C.H.I. Overhead Doors and LiftMaster garage door openers. We service and stock garage door opener parts for LiftMaster, Craftsman, Chamberlain, Genie, Allstar, Allister, Stanley, Multi-Code, Mega-Code and Linear. Alliance Garage Doors & Openers takes great pride in the quality of work provided to each and every customer (whether it is for a small residential job or a large commercial one). A definite plus over the big box stores. You can trust Alliance Garage Doors & Openers for professional garage door installations, garage door opener installations, garage door repairs, garage door opener repairs, and yearly maintenance checks on your existing garage door. We are proud to serve our residential and commercial customers in Greensburg 15601, Irwin 15642, North Huntingdon, Latrobe 15650, Jeannette 15644, Ligonier 15658, Derry 15627, New Derry 15671, Delmont 15626, Export 15632, Murrysville 15668, Mount Pleasant 15666, Scottdale 15683, Acme 15610, Connellsville 15425, New Stanton 15672, Youngwood 15697, New Alexandria 15670, Unity Township, and other locations in Westmoreland County, Fayette County, Indiana County, Somerset County, and Allegheny County. Alliance Garage Doors & Openers' professional employees (no subcontractors) will install your new garage door and/or garage door opener in your home as if it were their own home. Our name, Alliance, says it all -- we build a "Relationship You Can Count On" for all of your garage door and garage door opener needs. Our customers tell it best. Click here and read some of our customer replies. Visit Alliance Garage Doors & Openers at: 4560 Route 30, Greensburg, PA 15601
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Greensburg, PA 15601 (Between Beatty Crossroads & Mt. View Inn light) Sales - Service Professional Installation s Fully Insured - Free estimates PA Home Improvement Contractor Registration No. PA 14607 -- READ MORE Search Alliance is a distributor for: Garage Doors Garage Door & Gate Openers Commercial Door & Gate Openers Garage Door Openers & Accessories Alliance serves the following areas: G reensburg 15601, Irwin 15642, North Huntingdon, Latrobe 15650, Jeannette 15644, Ligonier 15658, Derry 15627, New Derry 15671, Delmont 15626, Export 15632, Murrysville15668, Acme 15610, Mount Pleasant 15666, Scottdale 15683, Connellsville 15425, New Stanton 15672, Youngwood 15697, New Alexandria 15670, Crabtree 15624, Unity Township Also serving areas in: Westmoreland County, Fayette County, Indiana County, Somerset County and Allegheny County Alliance is a proud sponsor of:A transatlantic team of scientists have discovered a secondary sensory system, independent of the well-understood nervous system, hidden in the skin. These may be at the root of inexplicable chronic pain syndromes like fibromyalgia.
"It's almost like hearing the subtle sound of a single instrument in the midst of a symphony," said senior author Frank Rice, PhD, a Neuroscience Professor at Albany Medical College (AMC), who is a leading authority on the nerve supply to the skin. "It is only when we shift focus away from the nerve endings associated with normal skin sensation that we can appreciate the sensation hidden in the background."
The research team discovered this hidden sensory system by studying two unique patients who were diagnosed with a previously unknown abnormality by lead author David Bowsher, M.D., Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool's Pain Research Institute. These patients had an extremely rare condition called congenital insensitivity to pain, meaning that they were born with very little ability to feel pain. Other rare individuals with this condition have excessively dry skin, often mutilate themselves accidentally and usually have severe mental handicaps...
The answer appeared to be in the presence of sensory nerve endings on the small blood vessels and sweat glands embedded in the skin. "For many years, my colleagues and I have detected different types of nerve endings on tiny blood vessels and sweat glands, which we assumed were simply regulating blood flow and sweating. We didn't think they could contribute to conscious sensation. However, while all the other sensory endings were missing in this unusual skin, the blood vessels and sweat glands still had the normal types of nerve endings. Apparently, these unique individuals are able to 'feel things' through these remaining nerve endings," said Dr. Rice. "What we learned from these unusual individuals is that there's another level of sensory feedback that can give us conscious tactile information. Problems with these nerve endings may contribute to mysterious pain conditions such as migraine headaches and fibromyalgia, the sources of which are still unknown, making them very difficult to treat."UPDATE (7.20 p.m. IST): This blog was updated with quotes from officials and more details about the Aaakash tablet. Scroll to the end for tech specifications.
After over a year’s wait since a prototype was first shown to reporters last year, proud Indian officials publicly unveiled the world’s cheapest tablet computer on Wednesday.
Tripti Lahiri/The Wall Street Journal When the world's cheapest tablet goes into commercial production, it will be known as UbiSlate.
The device, widely known as the “$35 tablet,” is being seen not just as a valuable educational tool for graduate students, but as a milestone in India’s development from a tech services country to one that innovates and develops original products.
At least that’s what Indian officials and hardware developers at the New Delhi launch appear to be hoping.
DataWind Ltd. Chief Executive Suneet Singh Tuli, whose company is manufacturing the product, said at the launch that along the way he heard a lot of skepticism, including that “it can’t be done by Indians.”
“This is a made-in-India product,” said Mr. Tuli. “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this.”
The tablet, which was developed in partnership with IIT Rajasthan, actually costs closer to $50 – the government is paying 2,250 rupees each for the first 100,000 batch of them, according to DataWind. Previously it was referred to as the Sakshat tablet, but now it’s being called “Aakash,” or “sky.”
Mr. Tuli said at the launch that the goal is to get the price down to $35, and eventually maybe to $10.
A clearly overjoyed Kapil Sibal, the human resources development minister, whose ministry oversaw the development of the device, billed it as India’s as a gift to the world’s children – and an anti-poverty tool.
“Today we demonstrate to the world that we will not falter in our resolve to secure our future for our children,” he said. “Let me not limit the achievements of this great enterprise to only our children…this is for all of you who are disempowered.”
IIT Rajasthan director Prem Kalra, also at the launch, said India would one day be known as a "hardware hub,” rather than a software hub.
About 500 students from government engineering schools were at the launch and were among the first to get their very own Aakash devices. These students will be field-testing the devices and will have to provide feedback within 45 days, for the next version.
Suyash Katiyar, a 21-year-old student who was at the launch, said he was pleased to see icons for developer tools and Facebook on the main screen, as a well as the option to use a QWERTY keyboard. He did say at first brush it was a little slow and the “resistive” touchscreen meant that he had to press quite hard at times. This could make fast-paced five-fingered typing a little difficult.
Aakash will only be available to Indian graduate students, but there will be a commercial version, too. Called UbiSlate, it will cost around $70.
Mr. Sibal warned the audience that some tech watchers might mock the device but he suggested that Indians should say this to naysayers: “It is not the device that is crude, it is your comments that are crude.”
Technical specifications:
Operating system: Android 2.2
Screen: 7″ resistive
Processor: 366 MHz + HD video co-processor
RAM: 256 MB
Flash memory: 2GB + 2GB Micro-SD (expandable up to 32 GB)
USB ports: 2
Network: WiFi (GPRS & 3G options)
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.Prepare yourself for some extreme weirdness. We are enormously excited to announce that our latest major EVE: Valkyrie update, Wormholes, is now live. As well as delivering a whole new game mode, there’s a raft of other stuff included in the update, so let’s take a quick look at what’s on offer.
Wormholes Mode
This whole new play mode is like nothing you’ve seen before in Valkyrie. Every weekend a new wormhole will open up in New Eden, offering pilots new ways to play the game and previously unseen features. Inside a wormhole, players will find maps that are eerily familiar, based on the regular maps yet twisted and corrupted in unexpected ways. Also, the gases that permeate a wormhole will affect a ship’s capabilities and weapon effects. As a special bonus for the launch, the first wormhole has opened right now and will be available right through the weekend.
Leagues
This alpha feature has been introduced with the aim of enhancing competitive play. There are four leagues, the highest of which is Diamond League. Pilots placed here can be considered the best of the best. Ruby League will contain around 1000 pilots and anyone placing at this level can consider themselves to be masterful pilots. Sapphire League will contain 10000 flyers and getting a place here should be seen as a considerable achievement. Finally, Emerald League contains any remaining players who take part in PvP battles and provides the springboard to the higher leagues.
Com Alerts
We’ve had loads of great feedback from the Valkyrie community regarding the game’s Com Alerts feature and the results of that process have been implemented in this update. Attack and Defend have been replaced by Heal Me and Assist Me, as well as context-sensitive messages and icons that appear above a pilot’s ship when the alerts are issued. These changes should improve the speed and efficiency of using Com Alerts.
Those are just the highlights of the new Wormholes update. In addition, graphical improvements have been made to the UI, and PS4 players will get support for the Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS 4 controller. There are also improvements to in-game training and a whole bunch of balancing tweaks.
Get the full story from Lead Game Designer CCP Roo right here, then dive into your cockpit and prepare yourself for truly the most unique Valkyrie experience. There’s loads of new stuff to explore and get to grips with, so have fun out there, pilots.
Fly safe!LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - “The Cape,” from creator Tom Wheeler, delves into the dark, seedy underbelly of a city filled with corruption and power-hungry, comic book characters.
English actor and cast member James Frain poses at the after party for the world premiere of the film "TRON: Legacy" in Hollywood, California, December 11, 2010. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok
The new NBC drama centers on police officer Vince Farraday (David Lyons), who is framed for murder and accused of corruption, and as a result, is forced to create an alter ego based on a fictional comic he and his young son read.
Taken in by an eclectic group of circus performers who provide him with his superhero “ability” (yes, with a cape), Vince teams up with an enigmatic blogger named Orwell (Summer Glau) to try and clear his name.
“True Blood” alum James Frain, who portrays the calculating Palm City leader Peter Fleming, recently talked with The Hollywood Reporter about his latest project.
“He’s such a manipulative strategist and he doesn’t really live in the world of people, he lives in the world of strategy,” Frain said of Peter’s alter ego Chess. (Not to mention “there’s a goal he’s working toward.”)
THR: You play Peter Fleming, and then there’s Chess.
James Frain: I play basically two guys, two characters fighting for the mind of one man. He has created this alter ego as a way of controlling the city, but it turns out that this character starts controlling him. We go into that a little bit with a bit more of the psychology of who this guy is and why he’s done this strange transformation. But what’s also interesting about it is the villains on the show - and there are lots of them - are very colorful and larger-than-life characters, and I think that’s where Vince kind of gets his inspiration from, adopting a disguise. They’ve created the world of disguise and he has to operate within it.
THR: Will we find out more about your character specifically? Why he created this alter ego and why he has this need to be this other person?
Frain: And what drives him. They’ve got this interesting concept where you’ve got these regular serialized characters who have big story arcs that play out over the episode and you also have these “crime within a crime” stories of individual bad guys. But it turns out that there is in fact a great big nexus of control that’s going on behind the scenes. As the series plays on, we start discovering that there are layers and layers of machinations and power structures that are going on.
THR: What did you think of the first two episodes (the two-hour premiere)?
Frain: It’s a very ambitious show, so there are a lot of elements that have to come together, particularly the tension between it being something that is serious and very rooted but also quite fun and this need to have a light-hearted flavor to it. I think that’ll be the secret, if the show works, that’ll be the secret that drives it.
THR: What can you discuss that’s coming up?
Frain: We start to find out that Peter is a little bit more of a ladies’ man than we first thought. As the show goes on, the guy who he is by daytime, the guy who he is in the mask, becomes more and more separate and this conflict starts opening up. There’s going to be some action with a young woman that comes up that’s very interesting.
THR: Have we met her in the first two episodes or is she a new character?
Frain: That’s a surprise.
THR: How will the dynamic between Peter and Vince evolve throughout the course of the season? (Note: There are mild spoilers.)
Frain: They have to go head to head. Vince has to confront this guy but he’s in a very unusual position of not being able to destroy him. The obvious thing to do is to take your revenge and go get the guy who framed you, but he can’t do that. He needs to keep this guy alive because he can’t prove his real identity without him, and so he realizes that to really be free, he has to frame this guy and flip the tables on him. And so it’s not just a straightforward combat, it’s more psychological warfare.
THR: Is there a similarity between Franklin on “True Blood” and Peter on “The Cape?”
Frain: They feel very different to me. I don’t know what it looks like on the outside, but Franklin Mott in “True Blood”... he was pretty much batshit crazy but in a very specifically disordered way, whereas Peter Fleming is much more comfortable in the world of power. The thing about Franklin was that he was an outsider and a free spirit and he didn’t really fit into any of the power structure. He just wanted to be on a wild ride with Tara, where Peter Fleming isn’t really interested in having a connection with people. He just wants to accumulate power.
THR: Are you nervous about ratings?
Frain: How can you possibly not be nervous about ratings? I don’t know. You’re rolling out a new show, of course I’m nervous about ratings. Because it doesn’t matter how good you think it is and it doesn’t matter how good you think it is. At the end of the day, we all hand it over to the audience to decide. The people will decide. It’s kind of like Gladiator. We get the thumbs up or not.
“The Cape” airs its two-hour premiere Sunday at 9 p.m. on NBC, before moving to Mondays following “Chuck.” share.In this early (the first?) women in prison classic, Barbara Stanwyck plays Nan Taylor, a deacon’s daughter who strayed to a life of crime, a lady for whom the lessons of reform school “didn’t take,” and who is now a gangster’s moll caught participating in a bank robbery. When she’s the only one of the gang arrested and denies knowing anything about the heist, she becomes a political football in the battle between evangelist Dave Slade (Preston Foster) whose tough-on-crime stance threatens to unseat the District Attorney. In this small world, it turns out Slade grew up with Nan, remembers her very fondly and tries to bend rules and arrange for her release.
Slade promises to forgive Nan’s past bad behaviour and pledges to love her no matter what she’s done, which prompts her to come clean and confess to her part in the bank robbery. To her surprise, Slade is horrified and sends her to prison for 2 to 5 years. Nan quickly adjusts to to life at the penitentiary, relying on her bravery, resourcefulness and quick wit to make friends and confront enemies. When her gang buddy Don (Lyle Talbot) ends up an inmate on “the other side of the wall,” in the men’s section of San Quentin, Nan tries to help him escape. She suddenly accepts Slade’s peace offerings just so she can use him, and then vows revenge when the breakout is foiled and it looks like Slade is the squealer.
A brief detour now into the lives of some actors that inspired this movie. I wrote an article on the life of character actor Paul Kelly where you can read more about this, but the short version is that he spent time in San Quentin for manslaughter. In a fistfight he killed the husband of Dorothy Mackaye, an actress with whom Kelly was involved at the time and later married. Mackaye was found to have concealed evidence in the case, so she also served time. She wrote a play about her San Quentin experience which was the basis for this movie (its title changed from the original, Women in Prison, to Lady No. 6142 to Betrayed, and finally to Ladies They Talk About).
This movie’s picture of prison is campy, colourful and highly entertaining, thanks to the actors and the details of the community’s quirks and hierarchy. Singer Lillian Roth plays Linda, the prisoner who sees Nan as a sassy kindred spirit, immediately strikes up a close friendship and shows her the layout, where to find more allies and who to avoid (namely the butch inmate who likes to “wrestle”). Maude Eburne plays the brassy, lovable Aunt Maggie, a former madam who now hogs the common area’s rocking chair (“I’ve got a season ticket!”) and keeps an eye out for Linda and Nan’s interests. A formerly well-to-do lady nastily bosses around “her” servant, laundry woman Mustard (Madame Sul-Te-Wan), Ruth Donnelly is one of the nicer matrons whose kindness is exploited by Nan during the escape scheme, and Susie (Dorothy Burgess) is a nasty inmate whose fanatical crush on David Slade remains problematic when both she and Nan are released. The inmates are allowed to decorate their cells as they wish so Nan makes hers frilly and homey and relies on her record player to conceal Don’s tunneling. Linda pins up a photo of Joe E. Brown and serenades it, giving Roth one of two memorable musical moments. The other is getting to hear Etta Moten sing “St. Louis Blues” while Nan writes a letter.
Stanwyck makes Nan fascinating, as tough as she is sympathetic, a woman whose hard shell and smart mouth protect a vulnerable and wounded heart. She arrives in prison emotionally defeated, further depressed by the indignity of getting an old rag as her prison uniform, and terrified by the scary scrutiny and hazing she gets as the “new fish.” She later admits to being scared of her first encounter with her fellow inmates, but you’d never know it the way she marches right up to the radio and turns it off at the first sounds of David Slade’s revival meeting broadcast.
Characters’ backgrounds, actions and mistakes say a lot about about hypocrisy, forgiveness and potential. Slade is the son of an alcoholic loser who becomes a famous evangelist with a huge following and considerable political influence. He’s no phony but just when he could alter the course of Nan’s life, he fails to forgive her. Nan is a good girl gone bad with enough conscience and common sense left to feel and do the right thing, and she chooses honesty right when a lie would buy her freedom. Susie hangs on Slade’s every moral teaching and religious lesson but is motivated by jealousy of and hatred for Nan. And the police detective (DeWitt Jennings) who recognizes and arrests Nan, is more her understanding equal than her enemy (“you have your racket and I have mine,” Nan says). He’s the one who ends up making it possible for Nan and Slade to truly forgive each other and be together, when he follows a different law than the one that could put Nan away again.
It’s a redeeming romance and a juicy part for Stanwyck and it’s part of the Remembering Barbara Stanwyck block of fun hosted by In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood– please click here to read all the other posts.Allinsure director Peter Chamberlain and Jamie Wilson, owner-director of advertising agency Coordinate, are in charge of running the club after getting in touch with former Knights captain Mark Rummukainen. Chamberlain has had 15 years experience as an umpire with AFL Canberra and has had links with Softball ACT, while Wilson's company was behind the CBR Canberra marketing campaign launched last year. Wilson said the considerable public interest in reviving a Canberra men's ice-hockey team since the demise of the Knights had shown the city was capable of sustaining the Brave. ''Clearly there's an appetite in Canberra for sport and for this team,'' Wilson said. ''I think there's enough passionate Canberrans who want to see national sporting teams in this market … If we can bring the entertainment value to the game and engage the community, then I think this will be a team that will be around for a long time.''
The Brave has signed up four game-day sponsors, is in discussions with three organisations in regards to naming-rights sponsorship and will also receive $29,000 in ACT government funding for national sporting teams. Adopting the CBR brand instead of having Canberra in the team's title is sure to divide opinion. Rummukainen said he would have liked to have asked the public to vote on a new name, but it wasn't feasible given there is just more than a month to go before the season starts. ''We're over the moon, we got the call from the league and we're all shaking,'' Rummukainen said. ''We would have liked to have gone to the public on the name, but with time constraints we couldn't do that.
''The league said we could have had six imports if we couldn't field a strong team, but with the proposal we put forward the league feels we'll be competitive and we feel the same way.'' ACT Sports Minister Andrew Barr said having the CBR name would further promote Canberra to the rest of the country. ''We welcome the Brave adopting CBR into their name,'' Barr said. ''At its core, the brand project was designed for the Canberra community, and it's great to see it being embraced by different partners like the Brave. ''Canberra's ice-hockey fans are renowned for their passionate support, and I urge Canberrans to get behind the new team to ensure its viability.''
Loading The Brave open its season at home against the Newcastle North Stars on April 12. AIHL site: click hereIn the last few articles, we have examined what to eat around our running workouts for performance and recovery, discussed how top runners can fuel their potential, and looked at some important supplement options for runners.
This article will put these tenets together in the context of your actual marathon race. I will discuss carbo-loading protocol, race day nutrition, and what to eat immediately after your race for optimum nutritional recovery.
Marathon Nutrition: T-Minus 72hrs
With your last long run complete 6-8 days prior to your marathon, now begins a crucial period of glycogen restoration, muscle recovery, and hormone boosting. These things can be accomplished through training reduction, rest, and especially- nutrition.
Starting roughly 72hrs before your race, begin a regimen of high-carbohydrate eating to supplement your normal daily diet. Don’t overdo things at meal time trying to pile-on the plates of pasta, but rather make a conscious effort to have carbohydrate-containing snacks on hand at all times. This is carbo-loading without the purposeful “depletion stage” of old.
Bagels, energy bars, pretzels, baked potato chips, dried fruit, etc. would all be fine to include at this time; even if you wouldn’t normally have a snack at 10am between breakfast and lunch, try to have a handful or two of raisins or dried pineapple to keep your glycogen stores consistently stocked. At meals, reduce protein and fat intake slightly to make room for an extra serving of rice or potatoes. Do not try to eliminate any macronutrient from your diet, but rather switch your normal proportions a bit to include slightly more carbs than usual.
If you were on a diet before your marathon, relax it in this window and for several days after the race.
Marathon Nutrition: T-Minus 24hrs
The day before a major marathon, you will be nervous, perhaps travelling, or walking more than you realize around the bustling expo. DO NOT NEGLECT TO EAT AT REGULAR INTERVALS THE DAY BEFORE A MARATHON! You may be able to still nail a 5K-10K race with too little fuel in the tank, but the marathon is not forgiving in this regard.
Keep light snacks on hand to have while perusing the expo, chatting with racing friends you haven’t seen in a while, and in the car/plane while travelling.
The key meal the day before a marathon is actually not dinner like you may expect. You need 8-12hrs to process digesting food into useful muscle glycogen, so lunch the day before your race is very important. This would be the time to splurge a bit on the pasta, bread, and dessert, as you can use these calories to the max in your race the following morning. After this, you may need a good nap
The night before a race, eat a smaller meal than lunch, but still be sure to fully nourish your body. Avoid spicy foods, exotic cuisine, roughage, or anything you aren’t used to eating before longer runs and workouts. A big deli sandwich, a rice-based meal, light pasta dish with an olive oil sauce, or even a thin crust pizza might do the trick in topping off your glycogen tank at this time, but you have to find the right meal for your particular stomach.
Marathon Nutrition: Race Day…
When your alarm clock goes off at 5am on race morning, the outcome of your marathon may be unpredictable, but your pre-race nutrition doesn’t have to be. If you accomplish the below steps in regard to your nutrition before the race, you will toe the line well-fueled, alert, and ready to perform.
Hydrate
When you first get out of bed on race morning, try to drink 16-20oz of water or sports drink to rehydrate your body after a night’s rest. This fluid will help relax tight tissue after sleep, prime your muscles for running, and help you naturally wake-up as you dress for your race.
Get Alert
For some people, a mug of coffee or tea prior to running gets them ready to go in the morning. The caffeine, aside from helping you fight morning drowsiness, can also aid in performance by making free-floating fatty acids more available as a running fuel, and delaying the onset of fatigue.
If you aren’t a caffeine drinker, then use this time to go through a light stretching/mobility routine to get the blood flowing. This, of course, should be done whether or not you enjoy a morning cup of joe.
Fuel
After you’ve had some fluids, try to eat a small meal 2-3 hours prior to warming-up for your race (yes, you need to wake-up at least that long before your race). Go for some easy-to-digest carbs, a little bit of protein, and a little bit of fat for satiety before the race. Some good options are below that would contain 300-500kcals, a good number to shoot for prior to your 26.2mls.
Bowl of Instant Oatmeal and a Banana Energy Bar, Banana Large Bagel w/ Spread of Choice English Muffin or Toast w/ 1tbsp of Peanut Butter and Honey, Sports Drink
During the Race
On the race course, there will likely be a variety of fueling options available to you. Hopefully you will have experimented with the drink and/or gels provided on the race course in training so you will know how you respond to them gastro-intestinally.
Never take a gel (concentrated carbohydrate solution) with a sports drink to wash it down, as this much sugar on a testy mid-marathon stomach may cause issue; go for water with your gels instead to aid absorption and rehydrate. The below plan should get you from start to finish just fine. The goals with mid-marathon fueling are to enable you to maintain pace, avoid the “wall”, stay reasonably hydrated, and recover faster from the event because you will be breaking-down less muscle tissue to cover the distance.
Pre-Start
Sip on water or sports drink up to ten minutes prior to the gun.
40min or 5mls– 4-6oz Sports Drink
80min or 10mls– 1 Gel, 4-6oz Water
120min or 15mls– 1 Gel, 4-6oz Water
200min or 20mls– 4-6oz Sports Drink
220min or 23mls– 4-6oz Sports Drink
Finish (water as needed along the way)
Post-Race
After you finish the race, expect your stomach to be “off” for a few hours. This is natural, and usually can be alleviated with some aggressive rehydration in the form of water or sports drink. Try to drink 24oz of clear fluid before you go near the beer tent. Grab a snack of your choice even if you aren’t hungry; a bagel, pastry, some fruit, chocolate milk, etc.
Walk around for 10-15min as your cool-down and to relax your leg muscles. Avoid deep stretching for 48hrs after to your race to allow any muscular micro-tears to heal, but you can perform some light range-of-motion work during this time if you are hurting.
As soon as you are able, try to eat a good meal similar to your lunch the day before. It is perfectly fine to splurge a bit after your race, dietetically speaking. You’ve earned a few days of true rest and recovery after your race, so enjoy this time away from a strict routine!Here are the sections you will find:
Section 1: What I'll be discussing in this how-to essay There are many good reasons to want to disappear from society. There are many bad reasons to want to. There are many good ways to disappear from society and there are many bad ways to disappear. While I won't delve too deeply into the whys of disappearing, I will cover my opinions on how to disappear successfully. This essay covers what I consider to be the most salient points on how to disappear and remain successfully hidden in American society. If you have further suggestions, please don't hesitate to E-Mail me at the address provided at the bottom of this text so that I may include your ideas. If you're thinking of hiding from a moral responsibility -- such as child support -- I want you to stop reading this right now and shoot yourself. This web page isn't for you. If you're thinking about committing a crime and then trying to get away with it, don't be an idiot: you will get caught -- it's just a matter of when -- and nothing on this web page can possibly help you. If you're thinking of running from an abusive ex-husband or ex-boyfriend who wishes to do you harm, I wish you the very best and hope that some of these suggestions and contact references prove helpful though most of it, I'm afraid, is probably unworkable, silly suggestions that won't help you one bit.
-- it's just a matter of when -- and nothing on this web page can possibly help you. If you're thinking about taking your children with you, DON'T! Bring yourself and your children to a shelter in another State but for no reason should you ever drag your children around with you while on the run or while hiding. They don't deserve the abuse and you're being selfish if you try to. If you need help caring for your children but need to run from a dangerous spouse, ex-spouse, girl/boy friend, or ex-girl/boy friend, dial 1-800-4ACHILD and ask about what your options are for your safety and the safety of your child or children. Call before you leave if possible but most certainly call someone if you and your children must flee. Also: The number of the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233. The authorities will be highly motivated into tracking you down if you bring your kids with you as well. Think about what's best for those you leave behind and, as difficult as it will be leave them behind!
Bring yourself and your children to a shelter in another State should you ever drag your children around with you while on the run or while hiding. They don't deserve the abuse and you're being selfish if you try to. If you need help caring for your children but need to run from a dangerous spouse, ex-spouse, girl/boy friend, or ex-girl/boy friend, dial and ask about what your options are for your safety and the safety of your child or children. Call you leave if possible but most certainly call someone if you and your children must flee. While there are many shelters for women, finding a shelter for yourself and your children if you are a man is going to be difficult. References provided toward the end of the essay should be helpful in this regard yet understand that if you're a man fleeing spousal abuse, America just doesn't care too much about you. A man still has many options, however, yet, in America, there are fewer than for a woman. Women who make allegations of child abuse against their husbands, ex-husbands, or ex-boyfriends are likely to be considered truthful in American society in far greater percentages than such claims made by men against their female counterparts. A man who must take himself and his children away from an abusive female is likely to be accused of child abuse and American society is likely to believe the allegations. Because of this, whether you're a man or a woman, protect yourself from such allegations by documenting abuses before you flee to a shelter with your children. Once at the shelter, make sure that a service worker at the shelter is given a copy of (or a chance to review) your documentation. It's greatly unfortunate that you will have to face legal needs when you're trying to escape from a criminally abusive person but legalities is something you must be prepared to face before you make your break. The fact that you took yourself to a children's shelter or a battered-woman's shelter goes a long way toward establishing your innocence in allegations likely to surface later. Women are assigned priority status when it comes to such things. If you are a man fleeing an abusive woman, understand that whatever you tell the authorities (or organizations which provide assistance) will be greeted with undue skepticism. |
the full experience in Hawken without ponying up for Meteor credits, the currency of the game. These are bought in the obligatory store, which looks a lot like any store in every other free to play title. I've become more comfortable with these having started gaming on Android devices. Games like the amazing Dead Trigger and Blood and Glory: Legend have convinced me that there's nothing wrong with giving your credit card info to myriad game publishers, and if you deny the market-like flavor of these places is addictive, you're doing it wrong.
I for one fully embrace our new credit-minded benefactors. Daily deals, daily rewards, 20% extra for every $10 pack..actually I'm now officially addicted to the word pack. Anything with pack in it is good. I love checking the store to see what deals are up, since you can get different Meteor credit, hmmm, packs, weapon and credit packs, upgrade packs...well, you get the packture.
Sure, you could go the way of Hawken credits. These are the free version of Meteor credits, and can be used to buy stuff. You know most free to play games have this dual currency system, and naturally the free side of it takes forever to accumulate. Honestly if you even have a very part time job, the war in Hawken's story will likely be over by the time you have enough to put together the mech you want.
Besides, if you like something, pay for it. That's my approach, so if I enjoy a game offered to me supposedly for free, I'm more than happy to share with the developers. I don't think Hawken has an "unlock everything" option like some of the other freebies, where you pay $60 upfront and everything currently in stock becomes available to you.
Another point to remember is that Hawken is still officially in beta stage, so everything about it can change. I don't expect it to, and it definitely feels more finished than many paid games, but its status needs to be mentioned.
I've compiled a quick photolog of my antics to give you an impression of what Hawken is about, so let's get in that mechanical suit and take her for a spin.
This is my beloved Bruiser mech, which I bought with my first Meteor credit....pack. I've only begun tuning it so it's quite basic at level 3, but you level up quickly if you have the time to spare.
The main game modes, very much like any other multiplayer shooter. There's even a killcam. If they called this Modern Mech Ops of Duty, I don't think anyone would be overly surprised!
There are also training missions before you actually unlock all game modes, but that takes like a couple of matches and is very quick. By the way, the music that plays in the background doesn't really change, but it's very good. You'll be humming it in no time.
Mech selection and outfitting screen. Currently the weapon selection is rather limited, but Adhesive are constantly hard at work updating Hawken, and I believe right about now a massive patch is incoming that will add much to the roster of carnage implements.
Once inside your mech and in-match, Hawken's Unreal Engine 3 graphics impress with a very distinct style. This is a good looking game, though to be honest the visuals are intentionally washed out and have a grain effect to compensate for missing detail. The scenery is also not very deformable, but all that doesn't take away from the very creative art on show. The graphics artists definitely did a good job generating a unique feel. As you can see, your mech gets two primary weapons, plus special abilities like mines, deployable turrets, and EMP blasts.
Maps are brilliantly designed and sized. You never have to wander too long in search of action, and the average lifespan is sufficient to prevent frustration, yet keeps you on your toes. Unlike some other shooters, Hawken is very balanced. Even a total newbie can jump in with a level one default mech and wreak havoc on much more experienced players. This optimization is testament to Adhesive's dedication to making Hawken a really accessible experience.
It's also a very social game. People I've encountered so far tend to be very chatty, and team play is encouraged. The announcer even keeps harping on about how together we live, separated we die. Other gamers will cover you, and you're expected to come to the rescue when the other team attacks one of your comrades. The forums are also very lively.
Hawken almost goes the way of regenerating health. In a move that would have shocked mech games from the 90's, all you have to do to fully repair your mech on the spot is hold C. You then go into repair mode, with little bots flying around and sparks and the whole shebang. This only takes a couple of seconds, but you're entirely vulnerable while repairing. If you're in the area and see someone repairing, you're supposed to guard them. Of course showing courtesy to repairing opponents is not expected. It's discouraged.
Despite all that camaraderie, I've been getting this screen a lot!
One downside to Hawken is that as of this writing there aren't many maps available, at least for TDM, which is my primary mode.
And they can be classified into what I call the desert maps and the blue maps...I like them all equally!
Another great thing about Hawken is that it's crazy vertical, which is always nice in a shooter. You can literally climb all the way up there, then rain misery on your opponents. Who will promptly blow you away with guided Hellfire missiles. But such is the lot of the mech rider.
So, Hawken. Thanks to Adhesive for the great effort, and to Meteor for their support of this gem. If you have time, download it from the link above. It's free...but won't stay that way for long, that much I can guarantee! You'll fall in love, and then spending becomes the right thing to do.
If you're a Hawken gamer already, let us know in the forums, soldier.If you are looking for a super deal on DIY 3D printers, the FLSUN3D metal frame Kossel Delta (DIY kit) and the FLSUN3D Prusa i3 (DIY kit) are now available for a great price on 3dprintersonlinestore.com. Both 3D printer kits are now on sale and available with more than 40% discount on the original price.
FLSUN3D metal frame Kossel Delta
This 3D printer works with a Delta technique and all metal structure which is known to improve printing accuracy and be more stable. Filament compatibility: PLA (Without Heatbed), Wood, Nylon, PVA and flexible filament (With heatbed). The printer comes with a free auto leveling upgrade. The heated bed can be added to the purchase for an extra $34 USD. The Delta comes with clear instructions that show all process of assembly and use. Each step has image guidance which makes the instructions easy to read and understand.
Right now, with a 43.6% discount, the 3D printer is available for $225 USD. What else is included in the price?
8 GB SD Card
LCD Control Panel
SD Card Reader
40 m Filaments
One Spare Nozzle
One Roll Masking Tape
Technical specifications of the FLSUN3D DELTA
Max Nozzle Temperature: 260°C
Max HeatBed Temperature: 100°C
If you’d like to purchase the FLSUN3D Kossel Delta or for some more information, click here.
FLSUN3D Prusa i3
The FLSUN3D Prusa i3, as the name already gives away, is based on the all famous RepRap Prusa model. The Prusa is know to be one of the best affordable DIY kit designs made so far. Thus, you will have a great time using this printer. You will need a little bit of technical background to build this 3D printer.
The model i3 printer comes with a better solution for limit switch position, easier to adjust and control. The filament compatibility is: PLA ABS, PETG, Wood, PVA and Flexible Filaments.
This 3D printer is now available with a discount of 40.4% making it $238 USD. Besides the printer, you’ll also get:
1KG(Roll) Filament(either ABS or PLA)
MK2A Heatbed
8 GB SD Card
LCD Control Panel
SD Card Reader
One Spare Nozzle
One Roll Masking Tape
Technical specifications of the FLSUN3D Prusa i3
Max Nozzle Temperature: 260°C
Max HeatBed Temperature: 100°C
If you’d like to purchase the FLSUN3D Prusa i3 or for some more information, click here.FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Near the end of Sunday's practice, Atlanta Falcons cornerback Robert McClain stepped in for a few reps at free safety.
Now, McClain doesn't expect to suddenly be thrust into a role with the first group. But he is more than willing to provide depth at the position, if called upon.
"With our packages, everybody knows everybody's position,'" McClain said. "I've done safety-type work. But that's the first time I've been in there actually doing the base safety stuff and learning some of the blitzes that they do. So, I'm really learning the entire defense now. Even though I've already studied the entire defense and tried to learn different intricacies of the defense, I'm really having to fine-tune myself at the safety right now.''
The reason is obvious. The Falcons lack depth at safety right now with projected starting free safety Dwight Lowery's status in doubt following his third NFL concussion and second-year player Zeke Motta unlikely to play this season coming off neck surgery. Not to mention rookie Dez Southward suffered a left knee injury, although Southward was back to practice on Sunday in a very limited role. So the coaches decided to cross train both McClain and rookie cornerback Ricardo Allen at safety.
McClain continues to compete for the nickelback role along with Josh Wilson and Javier Arenas. Wilson seems to have gotten the longest look at the position so far, although McClain has held his own. Arenas had a rough day with a couple of penalties on Sunday. All three are expected to get opportunities to be the primary nickel during four exhibition games.
However the battle unfolds, McClain's versatility with picking up safety and his ability to be a special-teams standout should only help his standing.
"I've always known what the [safeties] had to do with their jobs, which helps me play fast on the field,'' McClain said. "I'm not the super-fastest guy, so I've got to be one of the smartest. And knowing my assignment every play helps. Knowing the safety assignments already have helped me adjust at safety.
"You have to be a student of the game no matter what position you're playing. Left corner, right corner, nickel, you have to be able to play all three. If you're playing free safety or strong safety, you have to able to play both safety spots. To be a student of the game and to really perfect your craft, knowing what the other 10 guys are doing helps you a lot.''
Maybe the development of Kemal Ishmael next to William Moore and the growth of Southward will keep the Falcons from digging too deep at safety. But if not, McClain will be ready.
"Just like Coach [Mike] Smith said: Your role can change any time,'' McClain said. "I've always been a player who accepts my role, accepts my job and does it 100 percent. I just want to win. I want the team to be happy. I want the morale, the fans, and everybody to be happy because we're winning. Whatever it does for the team, that's what we're all going to do.''The card game is heading online for the first time in a flash-based web game.
The Pokémon Company is turning the videogame-inspired Pokémon collectible card game back into an online video game that will launch this spring.
The game will launch with three pre-made decks to play with. Players will also be able to use decks from the upcoming Black & White expansion, by using codes that come with the decks themselves.
The game will have 12 computer opponents with varying personalities and strategies which will supposedly challenge players at any skill level. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the game will have any facility to play against other people, but that could always come later on if there's sufficient demand for it.
It's not the first time the card game has been turned into a videogame - Pokémon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color has that distinction - but it is the first time it's been playable online. Better still, the game is free, so you'll be able to play even if you've never bought a Pokémon card in your life. You can get updates on Pokémon Trainer Challenge via the official website, and the game itself launches on April 6th.
Source: KotakuGunshots were fired at the Pentagon Tuesday in what security officials described as "a random event."
Sources tell Fox News that the shots were believed to be fired from a high-powered rifle.
Police who protect the massive Defense Department headquarters temporarily locked down some road and pedestrian entrances to the building after a civilian reported he may have heard shots at about 5 a.m. on the south side of the facility.
Steven Calvery, director of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, told reporters that five to seven shots were fired at the third and fourth floor windows of the Pentagon's south side at 4:55 a.m. Tuesday.
The bullets did not penetrate the windows, he said, and two bullets were found embedded in the shattered glass.
The windows of the offices hit were under renovation and were not occupied. No one was injured in the shooting, authorities said.
Sources close to the investigation said the shots could have been fired from highway 395. Authorities were combing a grassy area on the south side of the building and checking surveillance footage from neighboring locations for any clues in the shooting.
No suspects have been identified and a motive is yet to be determined in the shooting.
Calvery told reporters Tuesday that authorities are investigating whether there was any connection between Tuesday's incident and Monday's discovery of bullet holes in windows at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Va., some 30 miles south of the Pentagon.
A cleaning crew at the museum associated with the Quantico Marine Base called police when they noticed the bullet holes in windows high up in a part of the building that faces Interstate 95.
Police believe the shots were fired at the museum late Saturday or early Sunday, when no one was inside. Investigators used a crane to inspect the damage Monday. Because of the height of the holes, police suspect the bullets were likely fired from a rifle, but they are still working to determine what caliber of bullet was used.
Several glass panels were hit, causing about $20,000 in damage. None of the museum's artifacts -- including a harrier jet hanging near the damaged windows -- were hit.
Lapan said this was the first incident of its kind since early March, when a gunman opened fire at a security checkpoint into the Pentagon in a point-blank attack that wounded two police officers.
The shooter, identified as John Patrick Bedell, 36, of Hollister, Calif., was shot by police and died hours after being admitted to a hospital in critical condition. Authorities had no motive for the shooting, but there had been signs that Bedell may have harbored resentment for the military and had doubts about the facts behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Fox News' Justin Fishel and the Associated Press contributed to this reportFirst let me say this post is not intended to minimize the struggle of people of color, or make the argument that white privilege is somehow a disadvantage, quite the opposite. Being white myself, my general philosophy on the subject is to keep quiet and support others who have more to bring to the conversation than I do. In this case, however I believe this story is relevant.
I grew up in an upper-middle-class neighborhood. In the sixth grade, I became friends with a kid on my basketball team I’ll call Andy. Andy had a rebellious spirit that drew me to him, being a 12 year old kid myself. Andy listened to heavy metal, played guitar, and seemed to have chip on his shoulder. Andy’s family was a little more well off than mine, so the fact that he had all the best Nintendo games didn’t hurt either. Andy’s father had worked his way to to up to CFO of a large company.
As Andy got older, I began to see that his mean-streak wasn’t just the usual adolescent defiance, but that he in fact had a self-destructive personality. He would party hard, drive like he was invincible, and occasionally got into physical altercations. Partly as a result, I drifted apart from him. In high school, his family moved out of state to New Orleans for his father’s new job, and we went to different colleges. I did go and visit him once over the summer when he was home from college, and it was then that I saw how well off his family had become. His house was similar to a large gated house you might see in the Garden District.
While I was there he relayed a story to me... He was driving with his girl friend and they were either high or drunk (or both), and there was more in the car (I don’t remember every detail as it was 20 years ago, but he would have been about 20 years old at the time). When he saw the flashing lights in the rear-view mirror, he thought the better choice was see if he could get away rather than pull over and face possible arrest. After a high speed chase through the streets of New Orleans, he realized he wasn’t going to get away and eventually pulled over and gave up. I don’t know the particulars of how he was treated at the scene, but I feel like if he had been forcibly slammed to the ground or over the hood of his car he would have mentioned that detail. Instead, according to his story, the police simply drove him home, and handed him over to his father after explaining what had happened. No arrest, no charges were filed, not even a speeding ticket. That wasn’t the only time he had had run-ins with police either, but he had never been arrested to my knowledge. After that visit, we fell out of touch.
Several years later, a mutual friend sent me a link to a news story about Andy. He had been driving at high speed at night and wrapped his car around a tree killing himself in the process, thankfully he was alone in the car, and no one else was involved. I couldn’t believe it, but at the same time I wasn’t surprised either. I saw this story earlier today about Neil DeGrasse Tyson being stopped by police at least a dozen times, seemingly just for being black, and it made me think about my life growing up and how different my experience has been compared to people of color. It was then that it occurred to me the irony that if Andy’s license had been suspended, maybe things would have turned out differently for him.
I’m sure most police officers think they are doing the right thing when they make a decision to let someone off or throw the book at them, but how can anyone really know what consequence would be best for the individual or society at large? It seems consistency in how the laws are applied is the best we can work towards.Story highlights The government says two paramilitary groups plotted to kill Maduro
The groups are made up of nine Colombian citizens
Maduro won a tightly contested election against Henrique Capriles Radonski
Former President Hugo Chavez died in March
Venezuela has thwarted a plan by two paramilitary groups to kill President Nicolas Maduro, state-run VTV reported Monday.
Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said members of the groups, made up of nine Colombian citizens, were arrested Sunday in the country's northwest before they were able to enter the capital, Caracas, with heavy weapons.
Intelligence officials are tracking a third group, he said.
"This may be part of a plan that was orchestrated from Colombia to kill President Maduro and de-stabilize the Venezuelan government," he said.
The two nations have had a contentious relationship since 2007 when then-President Hugo Chavez said he was cutting ties with Colombia and especially former President Alvaro Uribe. He said the Colombian president had bowed to pressure from Washington "to get rid of Chavez."
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In March of this year, Maduro struck a similar tone, accusing Uribe of hatching a plan to send a paramilitary force into Venezuela to kill him.
An attorney for Uribe called Maduro "a desperate person who holds power illegitimately."
Maduro was sworn in as president on April 19 after winning a tightly contested election against Henrique Capriles Radonski. Election officials credited Maduro with 51% of the vote.
The election followed the death of Chavez, who died in March following a long battle with cancer. He was 58.
While both Maduro and Capriles have publicly called for peace after the announcement of the tight election results, tensions have been running high in Venezuela.
Ahead of the suit, Capriles told CNN affiliate Globovision that the results were illegitimate and new elections should be held.
"According to the law," he said, "what should happen would be a new election, without any of the irregularities that we have denounced."Despite his recent statements about the types of undocumented Mexicans who come over the border, and his stubborn refusal to walk those statements back as he’s seen business deals crumble, a Washington Post article on Tuesday revealed that Donald Trump may be reliant upon undocumented-immigrant labor to construct his latest real-estate development.
The Post interviewed several construction workers and day laborers working on Trump’s new $200 million Washington, D.C., hotel, and discovered that some were undocumented immigrants, afraid for their jobs in light of Trump’s announcement. Others, who agreed to be interviewed on the record, said they were once undocumented immigrants who obtained legal status, and expressed “disgust” at Trump’s disparaging comments.
“The majority of us are Hispanics, many who came illegally,” Ivan Arellano, a mason who originally came from Mexico and eventually gained his legal status through marriage, told the Post. “And we’re all here working very hard to build a better life for our families.”
Daniel Gonzalez, an El Salvadorian who was granted asylum, worried that Trump’s anti-Hispanic sentiment would jeopardize their jobs: “He might come one day and pretty much tell us to get the heck out of here.”
Others pointed out that they were endangering their lives for the construction of Trump’s hotel, and that they’d been law-abiding residents since they arrived in America. “Do you think that when we’re hanging out there from the eighth floor that we’re raping or selling drugs?” Ramon Alvarez asked rhetorically.
During his presidential announcement speech, Trump accused the Mexican government of allowing “rapists” and drug dealers across the border into the U.S., comments that prompted several large businesses—Macy’s, NBC, Univision, and Serta among them—to drop him as a partner. So far, Trump has adamantly refused to apologize.
Trump’s legal counsel told the Post that the workers were all hired by Lend Lease, one of the largest construction contracting companies in the world, to build Trump’s hotel. A spokesman for Trump told the Post that the Trump Organization never had any issues involving illegal hiring practices, and said it was Lend Lease’s “obligation” to ensure that their contractors were documented. Lend Lease declined comment to the paper.A crumbling ice shelf along the West Antarctic Peninsula has become the latest polar poster child for global warming.
This week, researchers in the United States, Britain, and Taiwan released images of long stretches of ice shearing away from the shelf. What started with the loss of a relatively thin, 26-mile-long iceberg at the end of February cascaded into the loss of 160 square miles of ice by the end of last week.
Its erosion won't affect sea levels. Like an ice cube in a filled cup, it's already in the water. And the handful of glaciers that feed into the shelf, called the Wilkins Ice Shelf, are small. Still, researchers say, the event represents a marker. The region has seen unprecedented rates of warming during the past 50 years. Two of the 10 shelves along the peninsula have vanished within the past 30 years. Another five have lost between 60 percent and 92 percent of their original extent. Of the 10, Wilkins is the southernmost shelf in the area to start buckling under global warming's effects.
"Wilkins is a stepping stone in a larger process," says Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., who discovered the breakup in satellite images. "It's really a story of what's yet to come if the mainland of Antarctica begins to warm."
So far, the shelf has lost about 3 percent of its total extent, which covers an area more than twice the size of Rhode Island and is up to 820 feet thick. But all that sits between the shelf's new seaward edge and a vast expanse of much weaker shelf ice is what researchers dub a "thread" of strong ice. And Wilkins's erosion is happening faster than researchers projected.
"In 1993, we predicted that this was going to be a vulnerable ice shelf," says David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey. "But we got the time scales completely wrong. We were saying 30 years at that time, and now it's happened within 15."
Glaciologists are concerned about Antarctica's ice shelves because most of them represent brakes of solid ice that slow the glaciers' flow to the sea. Without those brakes, the glaciers would surge, calve into icebergs, and significantly raise the sea level.
The region of greatest concern is West Antarctica, which includes the peninsula. Using satellites, scientists have been tracking snowfall, ice loss, and changes in the region's gravity field to gauge the amount of mass the continent's two large ice sheets are gaining or losing. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is separated from its eastern sibling by a long chain of mountains, so gains or no change in mass for the continent as a whole may still mask significant changes on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Recent studies have added to a growing body of evidence that key glaciers flowing from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are thinning at rates not seen since the last ice age. For instance, for the past 4,700 years, the Pine Island Glacier has thinned at a rate of about 1-1/2 inches a year, according to a team of scientists from Britain and Germany. That rate is similar to those of other major glaciers in the region. But between 1992 and 1996, Pine Island Glacier thinned at an average rate of 63 inches a year. Their results appear in the March edition of the journal Geology.
Meanwhile, a team led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Eric Rignot published satellite radar data showing that while East Antarctica's ice sheet lost virtually no mass between 1992 and 2006, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was losing 132 billion tons of ice a year by the end of that period. Scientists attribute the losses to warmer air and ocean temperatures, which melt the glacier's shelves from above and from below.
But the Wilkins Ice Shelf is a different breed in the way it forms, explains Dr. Vaughan.
Although it's been stable for as long as scientists have been able to reach the continent and study it, the shelf scientists see crumbling today appears to have formed either between the Roman era and the Medieval Warm Period or with the onset of the Little Ice Age. Indeed, he adds, "it's kind of a come-and-go ice shelf" compared with the other vanishing shelves, which have been stable far longer.
Wilkins appears to have started as seasonal sea ice that gradually thickened, Dr. Vaughn adds. Shelves built of glacial ice are stout, because the weight of each succeeding winter's snow has compressed the layers beneath until the glacial ice becomes solid.
By contrast, Wilkins and a handful of ice shelves like it are more porous. Over centuries they too thickened with each winter's snowfall. The weight of the new snow, however, drives a preceding year's layer under water before the upper layers build enough weight to squeeze the tiny nooks and crannies out of it.
The task now is to tease out the precise mechanisms triggering the recent collapse, researchers say. By figuring out the breakup mechanism in detail, scientists should be able to improve the models they use to anticipate the behavior of other ice shelves as climate and ocean conditions continue to change, Dr. Scambos says.Authors born between
200 BCE
and
2
Contents
Introduction
Fear of Death
Material Nature of Mind
Different Natures
The Mortality of Mind
Nothing to Fear in Death
The Struggle to Escape Oneself
Source
Titus Lucretius Carus (c 99-55 BCE) is known as the author of the poem, De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things). Other than that, virtually nothing is known about Lucretius other than what can be deduced from the poem itself. From this source (some 7,400 hexameter lines), he appears to have been a well-educated Roman who had traveled as far as Sicily and avoided falling victim to the murderous politics of his time. His poem was an attempt to popularize the “obscure discoveries” of Epicurus, who lived about 240 years earlier. By doing this, Lucretius provided what is now the fullest surviving exposition of Epicurean philosophy. In it, Lucretius argues that the darkness of the mind brought about by superstitious fears should be scattered by a dispassionate view of the inner laws of nature.
Lacking Greek sources of comparable length, we have a hard time estimating how much of Lucretius' exposition in Latin is simply translation as opposed to original thinking directed to rendering coherent what may have been much briefer fragments. Latinists suggest that he appears to have developed a technical vocabulary that reflects the Roman rather than the Greek philosophical spirit—practical rather than metaphysical, well-suited to the Epicurean materialistic viewpoint. Lucretius is among the few philosophers to have cast their exposition in poetic form. Although the translation here is in prose, the emotional vigor of the poem still peeps through in the concrete imagery and the forcefulness of the exposition.
The extracts given here deal not with the atomic theory of the physical world but with that theory’s account of the mind and understanding. Lucretius also talks about the soul, or anima, which translates as a life spirit or vital spirit that was considered present in the body in some way that involved air and warmth. In establishing the material basis of mind, Lucretius lacked the modern concepts of the cell and the nervous system, with its voluntary and involuntary components. He could not, therefore, equate the tens of trillions of processing elements (synapses) in the nervous system with the atoms he proposes as furnishing the activities of the mind. Similarly, with the concepts he had to hand, he had to talk about motion rather than electrical and chemical activity. He was able, however, to point out the logical absurdity of supposing an immaterial mind could influence a material body. His arguments for a materialistic, atomistic basis for the mind point the way towards modern neuroscience and its emphasis on molecular processes.
1 I have shown how atoms are the beginnings of all things, how they differ because of their diverse shapes, how of their own accord they fly through space, impelled by everlasting motion, and how each individual thing can be created out of them. Next, I must turn to the nature of the mind and the soul, and drive away the archaic fear of a world beyond the grave. This fear can utterly confound the life of man to its very root, clouding all things with the blackness of death, and leaving no pleasure pure and unalloyed.
True, men often declare that disease and a life of disgrace are more to be feared than the pit of death. And they may say that they know the soul is made of blood—or else of wind, if by chance their whim so wills it—and therefore that they have no need at all of our philosophy. Yet, you may be sure that this is nothing but idle boasting to win praise, and not their true belief. These same men, exiled from their country and banished far from the sight of their countrymen, stained with some foul crime, beset with disease heralding approaching death, keep going all the same. To whatever situation they come in their misery, in spite all their talk, they sacrifice to the dead, slaughter black cattle, and lay out offerings to the gods of the dead. In their bitter plight, they far more keenly turn their hearts to religion.
That is why it is more fitting to judge the quality of a man when he is in doubt and danger, and to observe his manner in adversity; for then at last an honest cry is wrung from the bottom of his heart: the mask is torn off, and the truth stands exposed.
2 Just as children plunged into darkness tremble and fear every little thing, so we sometimes dread in the light things that are not one jot more to be feared than the imaginings of children shuddering in the blackness. This terror, this darkness of the mind, must be scattered, not by the rays of the sun and glistening shafts of daylight, but by a dispassionate view of the inner laws of nature.
First, I say that the mind, or intellect, in which is placed the reasoning and guiding power of life, is a part of a man not one iota less than hand and foot and eyes are created parts of the whole living being. Others have said that the experience of the mind is not located in any particular part, but is a certain vital characteristic of the body, which the Greeks call a harmony. This characteristic would make us alive to sensation, even though understanding resides in no particular part of the body—just as good health is said to belong to the body but is not itself any bodily part of a healthy man.
But in not placing the sensation of mind in any part of the body, they seem to me to wander very far astray. Thus often the body may be obviously sick, yet we feel pleasure in some other hidden part. Or the reverse—one wretched in mind may feel pleasure in all his body. It is the same sort of thing when a sick man's foot is painful, while his head may be in no pain.
Furthermore, when the limbs are given over to gentle sleep, and the heavy body lies slack and senseless, yet there is something else in us, which at that very time is stirred in many ways, and admits within itself all the emotions of joy and the irrational cares of the heart.
3 The soul, or life spirit, is also not a harmony that the body feels but is in the limbs. First, when a great part of the body is removed, life often lingers on in our limbs. Second, when a little heat has left the body and some air has been driven out through the mouth, that same life suddenly abandons the veins and leaves the bones. So you can tell from this that not all kinds of elements have an equal part to play in supporting life. Rather, it is the atoms of warmth and wind— moving air—that nurture life within our limbs. It is this heat and life-giving wind that abandon our dying frame.
Therefore, since the natures of mind and soul have been revealed as a material parts of man, give up the term harmony, which was handed down to musicians from Mount Helicon: or else they themselves have dragged it out from somewhere else to give a name for their thing, which then was without a name of its own. Whatever the story, let them keep it. Listen to the rest of my discourse.
4 Now I say that this mind and soul unite and form a single nature, but that the lord over the whole body is reason. This we call mind or understanding, and it holds sway in the middle region of the breast. For there it is that fear and terror throb. Around the same region are soothing joys. There too, then, is the understanding and the mind.
The rest of the soul, spread throughout the body, obeys and is moved at the will and inclination of the understanding. The mind alone has understanding for itself and rejoices for itself, when no single thing stirs either soul or body. And just as, when head or eye hurts within us at the attack of pain, we are not tortured at the same time in all our body, so the mind sometimes feels pain by itself or waxes strong with joy, when all the rest of the soul throughout the limbs and frame is not roused by any fresh feeling.
Nevertheless, when the understanding is stirred by some stronger fear, we see that the whole soul feels with it throughout the limbs, and then sweat and pallor break out over all the body, and the tongue is crippled and the voice is choked, the eyes grow misty, the ears ring, and the limbs give way beneath us. Indeed we often see men fall down through the terror in their mind; so that any one may easily learn from this that the soul is linked in union with the mind. For when the soul is smitten by the force of the mind, straightway it jolts the body and pushes it on.
This same reasoning shows that the nature of mind and soul is bodily. For when it is seen to push on the limbs, to pluck the body from sleep, to change the countenance, and to guide and turn the whole man—none of which things we see can come to pass without an impetus, nor impetus, in its turn, without body—must we not allow that mind and soul are formed of bodily nature? Moreover, you see that our mind suffers along with the body, and shares its feelings together in the body. If the shuddering shock of a weapon, driven within and laying bare bones and sinews, does not destroy life, yet faintness follows, and a welcome loss of consciousness. Then, a turmoil of mind returns, and from time to time, as it were, a hesitating will to rise up from the ground. Therefore it must needs be that the nature of the mind is material, since it is distressed by the blow of material weapons.
5 Of what kind of matter this mind is, and of what parts it is formed, I will now go on to tell you in my discourse. First of all, I say that it is very fine in texture, and is |
maturity to do - their editor doubles down on the original offense and tries to use the same misapplied label to shirk accountability. Again, the EVE community reacted, with Jester replying with a stinging rejoinder to Schusters rationalizations. This is important and thus bears repeating: cyberbullying is a serious problem, and this obfuscatory behavior serves only to trivialize a significant real-world issue by using it to escape responsibility. The entire situation demonstrates the danger of gaming bloggers with no formal training proclaiming themselves journalists and essentially roleplaying as reporters while negligently glossing over the shoe-leather basics of the job. Yet what is noteworthy to the broader EVE community about this scandal - beyond the obvious caveat not to trust a reporter who doesnt play or understand our game - is the fact that a previously inchoate group of EVE bloggers, podcasters and radio shows hosts have, over the course of the Incarna Crisis, developed into a force significant enough to challenge first CCP and now even the broader gaming media. A year ago I dismissed the EVE bloggers as an echo chamber - and at the time it was true. That was before Jesters infamous Curves blog rocked EVE to its core, the riots were reported on in real-time by EVE Radio, and the common player turned to the community media instead of the official forums to find out what the hell was going on. In the intervening months, what was once an echo chamber has matured into a capable and credible force that straight up beats the professional gaming media at their own job - and holds them accountable for their failures.
style="margin: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; float: right; width: 200px; height: 118px;"border="1">Today is the 10-year anniversary of the official debut of the Tesla Roadster, Tesla’s very first vehicle, which also effectively launched the automaker out of ‘stealth mode’. The vehicle debuted on July 19, 2006 at the Santa Monica Airport with more than 350 people attending the event.
The Roadster was the first phase of Elon Musk’s ‘Secret Master Plan’ for Tesla. The automaker is now in the last phase of that plan and Musk is reportedly about to unveil a second part outlining the company’s future.
But while we wait for the second part of the plan, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane to remember the Roadster on its 10-year anniversary.
Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel recently recalled the launch of the Roadster at the 2016 Tesla Shareholders meeting:
“It was a very pivotal event in the company’s history. It was the time when we went out of stealth mode. Before this, nobody never heard of Tesla, we didn’t have a single media article. We had never taken any customer deposit, we had no customer, we had no sales team. But this event was awesome. We had two prototypes. We had that yellow mule and then we built two working prototypes for this event. It was a red car and a black car. We had this kind of concept at the time where we’d have an event to give customers test drives and then we’d start taking reservations – and do it all in some giant big party at an airport.”
Straubel recalls convincing hundreds of customers to place a reservation for the vehicle despite the prototypes “hardly holding together” during the event:
“Those two cars were basically destroyed by the end of the night. That was most of our durability testing and we actually had to drive them behind a curtain to pump ice water in parts of the powertrain in order to keep them from overheating for more test drives.”
Here Elon Musk talked to journalists at the event:
It’s interesting to see how the message hasn’t changed much in the last decade.
Elon was the also first customer to receive the Roadster on February 1, 2008. A month after Tesla handed him the keys, he wrote about his experience with the car:
“It has been a blast driving my Tesla Roadster every day for the past several weeks, using it as my daily driver from Bel Air to Hawthorne. I really think this is the most fun car I’ve ever owned, beating out the McLaren F1 and my 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo. […] Reaction from driving the car around Los Angeles has been great. It’s thumbs up wherever I go – something that never happens when I’m driving the Porsche. A big advantage of the Roadster is that I can show up to an event like Global Green or Conservation International in a hot sports car and actually get a better reaction than if I drove a Prius! The Roadster has twice the energy efficiency of that gas hog. :)”
Tesla ended up delivering over 2,000 Roadsters between 2008 and 2012. Most recently, Tesla started offering battery pack upgrades at cost to current owners to thank them for their early support of the company.
The automaker is also reportedly working on a next generation Roadster to launch by the end of the decade.
Here’s a few pictures of the Roadster 2.5 via Tesla and further down, you can read the original press release of the Roadster debut:
Tesla Roadster S. Photograph James Lipman / jameslipman.com UK 07803 885275
Here’s the official press release for the launch of the Roadster:Representative Peter King (R-KY) lashed out at fellow Republican Rand Paul on Sunday over National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden.
King said on Fox News the United States should take whatever action necessary to extradite Snowden to the United States.
“I think it is important for the American people to realize that this guy is a traitor, a defector, he’s not a hero,” the congressman added. “And I heard Senator Rand Paul this morning actually compared Snowden to General Clapper. What’s happened to our country? This is a traitor, and for anyone to be comparing him to a U.S. military hero is absolutely disgraceful.”
Speaking with CNN’s Candy Crowley, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that National Intelligence director James Clapper “lied in Congress in defiance of the law in the name of security,” while “Snowden told the truth in the name of privacy.”
During a Senate Intelligence committee hearing in March, Clapper falsely said the NSA did not collect data on millions of Americans.
Watch video, uploaded to YouTube by Rep. Peter King, below:A young, promising assistant coach has joined the list of head coaching candidates for the Oakland Raiders.
ESPN’s Josina Anderson reported early Wednesday morning that the Raiders have requested permission to interview Indianapolis offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. He is considered one of the bright young coordinators in the NFL and he is expected to be a strong candidate to be an NFL head coach in the near future.
Hamilton has been lauded for his work with Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. Hamilton coached Luck at Stanford as well. The Raiders, of course, feature a young quarterback in Derek Carr, who just finished his rookie season. The prospect of Hamilton leading Carr is likely intriguing to both the Raiders and to Hamilton.
Hamilton joins a growing list of coaches the Raiders are reportedly interviewing. The others are Philadelphia offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, San Francisco tight ends coach Eric Mangini, Oakland interim coach Tony Sparano and Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. Hamilton and Bowles are the only two in the group that do not possess previous NFL head coaching experience, which is a desire of the Raiders.
Denver defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, a former NFL head coach, is also expected to be high on the Raiders’ list.
Hamilton is like the other names on this list. The Raiders showing interest in him is likely a sign that owner Mark Davis is leaning toward keeping general manager Reggie McKenzie.After a long season, twenty-nine cars dove into the treacherous first corner of the Nürburgring, to compete in round penultimate round of the 2016 iRacing World Championship Grand Prix Series. Greger Huttu from Team Redline started from pole, with Coanda’s Martin Krönke alongside. The two led ineX’s Joni Törmälä, ahead of Coanda’s Mitchell deJong, ahead of Redline’s Olli Pahkala.
The field got cleanly through the opening lap, with few shuffles for position, as the field quickly became divided into multiple three-car trains, notably led by Törmälä, another by Mogar Filho from Radical’s, and another by Orion’s Davy Decorps. Overtaking proved difficult on the German track, with many corners only providing a single racing line, and the DRS effect not big enough.
Around lap twenty, due to tyre wear and perhaps frustration of being held back, the field came alive. In a matter of laps, it became clear that Filho was struggling for grip, as he was overtaken by Orion’s Martin Čolak. Apex’ Patrik Holzmann tried to do the same in the first corner, but he and Filho dove into a space that wasn’t big enough, sending Holzmann in a spin. Mere seconds after, Orion’s Ilkka Haapala nudged Coanda’s Martti Pietilä around in the same corner, yet in a completely separate incident.
All cars opted for a one-stop strategy, which window was opened by deJong and Pahkala who stopped on lap twenty-six. Törmälä tried to stop few laps later to cover deJong, but came out of the final chicane with loads of wheelspin, and ended up spinning the car on pitlane entrance. The Finn did manage to pit a lap later, albeit with lost time.
Huttu and Krönke remained out much longer, each of the two waiting for the other to blink. Krönke tried to get a lead lap and a corresponding point, while Huttu felt no need to pit earlier, having track position. Krönke eventually pitted on lap thirty-four. Just on pitlane it was evident just how conservative Krönke was running his race, taking no risks on speeding with a very calm pitlane entrance. The German rejoined behind teammate deJong in third place, but overtook the American a few laps later on much fresher rubber. Huttu, meanwhile, pitted a lap after Krönke’s stop, maintaining the lead.
The rest of the race was rather quiet, especially at the front, but perhaps it was the metaphorical calm before the storm, ahead of the final race of the season. Huttu took the win, having led every lap. Krönke followed home fifteen seconds behind, ahead of deJong who took the final podium position.
The title will go down to the wire, Krönke leads Huttu by seventeen points, and a fourteenth place at Circuit of the Americas will seal the championship for the Coanda driver.
iRacing’s WCGPS continues Saturday October 8th, at 14:00 GMT (9AM ET), at Circuit of the Americas. Via this link you can view the live broadcast on iRacing Live, with coverage by RaceSpot TV.
For a full season’s calendar, click here.Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla knows a great songwriter when he hears one. That’s why he signed on to produce William Fitzsimmons’ Lions, out February 18 on Nettwerk. The new album charts the homespun Pittsburgh-based musician’s journey on the road to personal growth since completing his last album, 2011’s Gold In The Shadow.
Fitzimmons, a former mental health counselor born to blind parents, knocks it out of the park with “Fortune,” a cascading, mysterious song about a moment at the crossroads.
“‘Fortune’ is a song about making a decision to walk through a river of shit instead of turning around,” Fitzsimmons tells us, “even knowing there might not be anything but the same pain you’re trying to leave behind on the other side. It was written about someone in my life who I watched make an enormous sacrifice without any expectation following it. I don’t remember ever feeling so impressed and confused in my life. I only hope I can be that brave when the time comes.”
You can get a free copy of “Fortune” by pre-ordering Lions at iTunes.
RelatedPresident Trump signed an executive order on Friday temporarily banning immigration from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The initial order extended to refugees and green card holders.
Reverend Al Sharpton weighed in on Trump’s executive actions with a tweet and a sermon saying that Jesus Christ himself was once a refugee:
Before you head to church today, remember to thank God for his son, Jesus a refugee who fled to Egypt. — Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) January 29, 2017
Sharpton referenced Matthew 2:13 to say that he worshiped a refugee: “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.'”
RELATED: Two girls can barely hold back tears as they wait to find out if their Iraqi mother will be allowed into the United States
Many conservatives on Twitter were less than receptive of his thoughts:
@TheRevAl He paid his taxes unlike you. Different times, no comparison. He also returned to his home. — Bryan K. Davis (@BryanDavis2014) January 29, 2017
@TheRevAl You are no Reverend. You're a viper who spews poison. An angel of the Lord commanded Joseph to flee to Egypt. Repent, Al. — Chef Michael Perry (@lcbchefperry) January 29, 2017
Regardless, Sharpton challenged the criticism by reading the definition of a refugee and reviewing his chosen verse from the Bible, drawing a parallel between the two.
My response to those who say Jesus was not a refugee. We can have different opinions, but we can't have different facts! pic.twitter.com/450bQSxDpg — Reverend Al Sharpton (@TheRevAl) January 31, 2017
RELATED: In a letter to President Trump, Evangelical leaders said they are “troubled” by his refugee banThe White House in its Friday-of-a-holiday-weekend news dump cited an ongoing legal dispute in Nebraska over approval for the Keystone route through the state as the reason for the latest in years of delays.
But there is no reason that dispute should change the federal government's decision on whether building the pipeline is in the national interest.
President Obama's own State Department has now twice concluded that the pipeline would cause no net harm to the environment. And State is involved only because the pipeline crosses the Canadian border, which does not, in fact, extend into Nebraska. Indeed, it seems fairly clear that on the merits, the administration would likely have approved the pipeline months if not years ago.
Read More U.S. extends Keystone XL comment period, delaying final decision
But there are at least 100 million reasons why the president has held up the decision.
Those reasons live in the bank account of hedge fund manager Tom Steyer who has pledged to spend $100 million helping Democrats avoid disaster in a 2014 midterm election where their Senate majority is in serious jeopardy. Steyer's No. 1 issue? Stopping the Keystone pipeline.
The San Francisco money manager on Friday declared the latest delay "rotten eggs" for pipeline builder TransCanada and "good news on Good Friday for those who oppose Keystone as not being in our nation's best interest."
The delay, however, was not at all good news for vulnerable red state Democrats, including Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and others.
Read MoreWhat Happens if the Keystone XL Pipeline Isn't Built?
Landrieu has the most to lose given that she is a strong proponent of the pipeline, which would deliver crude product from Alberta's oil sands to the Gulf Coast for refining and sale on the global market.
And the Louisiana senator, who already trails Republican Bill Cassidy in early polls, has cited her influence in Washington as a key reason for voters to keep her on the job. She used her first ad of the campaign to do that very thing (immediately drawing rebukes from Republicans for recreating scenes in the Senate).
But now Landrieu, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has demonstrated a total inability to actually influence the administration on a key decision that would impact the economy in her state.
Landrieu on Friday blasted the administration's decision as "irresponsible, unnecessary and unacceptable." And some make the case that Keystone gives her an opportunity to create distance between herself and an unpopular president.
That may be true but is likely swamped by the fact that Landrieu's key selling point—I can deliver for Louisiana!—is now fundamentally undermined.
If Landrieu goes down in November, as she very well may, she can probably thank the Obama White House for her defeat.After 29 years as an NFL analyst with ESPN, Hall of Fame broadcaster Tom Jackson is retiring.
Jackson, a three-time Pro Bowler and a member of the Broncos' Ring of Fame, spent his entire 14-year playing career in Denver. He will work his final ESPN assignment this week at the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend in Canton, Ohio.
Hall of Fame broadcaster Tom Jackson is retiring after 29 years as an NFL analyst at ESPN. Ben Solomon/ESPN Images
"I have been blessed in my adult life to work for two companies, the Denver Broncos and ESPN, to do two things that I love -- play football and talk about football," said Jackson. "Having joined in the early stages of ESPN and remained with the same company for 29 years is especially gratifying. This move just comes at a time when the priority of my life is spending time with my family."
Jackson has been a mainstay on ESPN's NFL programming alongside host Chris Berman for nearly three decades, making the duo more family than co-workers.
"Tom long ago became almost a brother to me," said Berman. "I know every day he appeared on ESPN was a treasure for football fans. His knowledge, his passion, his insight, and his overall joie de vivre makes him special."
"Tom has been an integral part of ESPN's presentation of the NFL for three decades," added ESPN President John Skipper. "His influence as a trusted voice and mentor for the generation of players who followed him is an important part of his legacy. He has been a pleasure to work with and he will always be an ESPN family member."Pawel Wszolek has scored in his last two appearances for QPR
Pawel Wszolek's late winner saw Ian Holloway win back-to-back games for the first time since taking over at QPR.
Idrissa Sylla volleyed the hosts ahead when he reacted quickest to Christophe Berra's poor defensive header.
Tom Lawrence spectacularly equalised early in the second half as he blasted into the top corner from 25 yards.
David McGoldrick, Myles Kenlock and Lawrence had chances to put Ipswich ahead, but Wszolek rounded the keeper and shot home after a defensive error.
QPR, who had lost six in a row before their win at Wolves on New Year's Eve, move up to 17th place in the Championship, two points and two places behind Ipswich.
McGoldrick had two good chances early on for the Suffolk side before Sylla's opener, but Rangers' Guinean striker was forced off with a neck injury soon after giving his side the lead.
Lawrence equalised soon after the restart with an effort that is likely to be a contender for Town's goal of the season, but they missed a series of chances before the home side's winner.
Adam Webster misjudged the flight of a ball over the top and Wszolek took advantage, controlling well before taking it around fellow Pole Bartosz Bialkowski and slotting home.
QPR manager Ian Holloway:
"The window's massive for us and now people have seen us win two games they might actually want to come here instead of thinking 'Do I want to go in to a dressing room like that?'
"No-one likes to have a terrible run like that. It's a horrible feeling and I felt so down, but I never showed the lads because what they were producing at times was quite promising but they were getting nothing."
"Football's about having a balance of legs and knowledge and experience and youth.
"We've also got to see fight here - and we saw that again today. Now I can have a look at things and see what's right for us."
Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy:
"We played really well today but we conceded two really bad goals.
"We created a lot of chances and the second half was a great performance, but we didn't manage to score and then we gave away a milky goal.
"It was a good performance all round, but they put it in the net instead of us. It should have been a 1-1 draw and if we don't win that game then there's no way we should lose it."BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand has amended a royal property law to formally give King Maha Vajiralongkorn full control of the agency which manages the multi-billion dollar holdings of the monarchy.
Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun watches the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony in central Bangkok, Thailand, May 12, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
The newly amended Crown Property Act, announced in a palace statement on Sunday, replaces three laws dating back to as early as 1936, and is the first amendment to legislation concerning crown property in decades.
It is the latest change to give greater authority to the king, who has shown himself increasingly assertive since ascending the throne in December following the death in October of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who ruled for seven decades.
The exact size of the Crown Property Bureau is not made public, but recent estimates have run to more than $30 billion through its holdings in real estate and other investments.
The amendment places the management of crown property under the direct supervision of the king. It states that the bureau’s properties, in addition to the king’s private properties, will be managed “at His Majesty’s discretion”.
It also states that the monarch can assign the Crown Property Bureau, any individual or agency to manage the properties and assets.
It gives the king sole power to appoint a board of directors to manage crown property and appoint its chairperson, a position previously held by whoever was finance minister.
RICH LIST
Rich-list publisher Forbes once described the former king as the world’s richest royal, but was rebuked by the Thai embassy in Washington, which said assets in the Crown Property Bureau were not his property but held “in trust for the nation”.
A distinction was made between the king’s private property and crown property, which belongs to the monarchy as an institution and was under the direct management of the Crown Property Bureau.
Crown property, but not the king’s private property, had previously been exempted from tax. The amended law says both could now be subject to tax, though it did not elaborate.
A member of the Crown Property Bureau declined to comment on the law when contacted by Reuters.
The bureau holds a share of Siam Commercial Bank Pcl, Thailand’s third-biggest commercial bank. It is also the largest shareholder of Siam Cement Pcl, Thailand’s largest industrial conglomerate.
Those two stakes are together worth more than $9 billion.
The amendment to the law follows the transfer in April of various royal agencies from the government to the king’s supervision.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, but King Bhumibol wielded great influence and his son has shown himself to be assertive.NEW DELHI: Cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar and veteran actress Rekha who were nominated to Rajya Sabha around two years ago have spent "zero" rupee on development in their respective adopted areas.Official reports published on the website of ministry of statistics and programme implementation reveal that the celebrity MPs did not spend anything from their members of the parliament local area development ( MPLAD ) fund.The Upper House parliamentarians get to adopt a district of their choice for development. Each Rajya Sabha member is entitled to Rs 5 crore a year from their MPLAD fund. Sachin Tendulkar adopted district is Mumbai suburban, but Rekha has not bothered to even adopt a district.Neither sent any development project proposal to the government. Both have accumulated Rs 10 crore each in their two year old accounts.WASHINGTON — Exactly three years after Pope Francis cast a wreath into Mediterranean waters remembering the thousands of immigrants who have perished there, a group of immigrant advocates in Washington remembered other lives lost, and lives that thrived, in another part of the world.
On July 8, the Washington-based Faith in Public Life center organized a vigil that aimed to recall the pope’s visit in 2013 to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which serves as a major entry point into Europe for migrants and refugees, principally from Africa and the Middle East.
Sara Benitez, the group’s Latino program director, reminded those who attended of the pope’s words then, particularly when he warned of the “culture of comfort, which makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people.”
Benitez said the group wanted to “lift up the message of the pope,” to pray for him and to remain concerned as he is, about the lives of immigrant brothers and sisters and “shake ourselves out of our complacency.”
At Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Benitez and the rest of the group prayed the rosary in English and Spanish, and in between prayers, they read stories chronicling the conditions that immigrants from Latin America face as they seek refuge — including violence and wars — situations similar to those faced by immigrants who head to Lampedusa.
Lidia Rivas, a Salvadoran immigrant who attended the event, said she wanted to be present to give thanks for the people who have made her feel welcome in the United States, a place she has called home for the past 11 years.
But she also wanted to pray, she said, for those in her native country who are facing violence and who are trying to find a way escape it. El Salvador was named the most dangerous country in the world earlier this year after figures from the country’s Institute of Legal Medicine tallied 6,656 homicides last year, or 116 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.
The violence has fueled an exodus of women and children out of the country.
Monsignor Vito Buonanno, the basilica’s director of pilgrimages, welcomed the group and spoke of his Italian family’s tale of immigration. He urged the group to pray for politicians and for others to find mercy in their hearts for immigrants, reminding them that the Catholic faith encourages understanding and solidarity with others.
The group carried yellow and white flowers — the same colors as the wreath the pope cast off in a now iconic moment at the port of Lampedusa. The group placed a bouquet of flowers at the base of a statue of St. Frances Cabrini, an Italian who made the United States home in the late 1800s and is patroness of immigrants.
Known as “Mother Cabrini,” she was the first naturalized U.S. citizen who became a saint.
Buonanno encouraged the group in their effort and told them to “bring back courage, bring back hope, and bring back love” from the day’s experience.Libertarians across the nation can breathe a collective sigh of relief today as we buckle down to watch yet another nationally televised political circus play out in the GOP primary. Our voice of reason, Rand Paul, hasn’t been cut out from mayhem just yet. It looks like we can look forward to a few more swipes at the likes of Chris Christie before the end of this campaign.
As we all remember, the media was not kind to Rand’s father Ron four years ago. In fact, they seemed hell-bent on pushing his anti-establishment ideas out of the Republican discourse, even going so far as to leave his name out of polls he did well in, while focusing their praise on those who underperformed.
This cycle, with candidates like Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson leading the pack in the race for the GOP nod, has been thought of as the year of the anti-establishment candidate. So why has the intellectual and literal heir to Ron Paul done so disappointingly poorly?
It was a little over two years ago when we first got our hopes up about a Paul victory in the Republican primary. The younger Paul was still riding the momentum from his Kentucky senate victory in 2010, and had emerged as a front-runner for the 2016 Republicans. That much could easily be written off, it was after all, an entire three years before the next presidential election.
2016 Republican primary polling data, from RealClearPolitics
But little Paul kept at it, and after taking a few dips below tired old neocons like Huckabee and Christie, he reemerged as the front-runner in the summer of 2014, and then again in late November, before finally dropping down again as Jeb Bush began to rise above the pack. Alas, fate seems to be telling us that this would be the last time in the 2016 cycle we would see our man doing so well in the polls. To make matters worse, as the campaign wore on, whispers of dissent began to be heard from behind hardcover copies of Human Action and in between episodes of The Tom Woods Show.
Among Ron Paul’s more hardcore libertarian following, Rand Paul had begun to draw criticism for watering down his positions to fit the mainstream conservative mold. He stopped talking about the absolute right to discriminate for private property owners. He started talking about drug courts instead of about outright legalization. Had Rand gone soft on us? Many libertarians started to wonder, and still do wonder today.
Before I get into an analysis of what went wrong (and right) with Rand’s 2016 presidential campaign, let’s set one thing straight: He’s still one of us.
I’m sure we all rolled our eyes when Obama’s views on gay marriage “evolved” just before the 2012 election, and the older and wiser of us may even remember how George W. Bush campaigned against nation building in 2000 before going on to invade two countries. The point is, it shouldn’t be surprising to us of all people who politicians mislead and sometimes outright lie to the public about their positions on issues to get elected. It is a well-documented phenomenon that candidates will swing farther left or right to appeal to win primaries and then move to the center for the general election.
I hate to burst the bubble of everyone who was attracted to Ron Paul’s frankness, but libertarian politicians are not immune to this, nor should they be, if they want to get elected. How do I know Rand Paul is doing this rather than genuinely evolving his beliefs? Rand grew up sitting around the dinner table with his father’s frequent house guest Murray Rothbard. If you don’t know who that is, just know this; he takes libertarianism to its most extreme: anarcho-capitalism. That’s an ideology the elder Paul has semi publicly flirted with on more than one occasion.
A teenage Rand certainly took those lessons to heart, and when he campaigned for senate no one doubted he was every bit as radical as his father. I could be wrong on this, but I doubt that a principled ideologue’s beliefs would change so dramatically in a mere five years. I certainly do doubt however the sincerity of Donald Trump, who was cheering for Obama while Rand was fighting for liberty.
Rand may not be the milquetoast conservative he sometimes makes himself out to be, but what good is a strategy that involves pretending to be something you’re not? Ask Donald Trump. The billionaire demagogue has been far from consistent; trampling all over the political spectrum since he first gained his fame, and shockingly few people seem to care. As he’s so fond of pointing out, he’s currently way up in the polls.
This is not to say that Trump will actually win the nomination; the costume he’s put on for the primaries is one that the establishment is probably too afraid of to allow. However, that doesn’t mean we libertarians shouldn’t hold our noses and take notes. What I believe we are witnessing now are the death throes of the modern GOP. The party establishment is weak, it has no clear leader. Hillary Clinton (yuck) is almost inevitably going to be our next president. History has shown that it’s at times like these when one party begins to completely collapse, and the political scene becomes increasingly dynamic.
A party can only take so many losses before it starts to lose credibility, and when that happens, all sorts of unorthodox candidates start to emerge to reshape it, or pull it apart at the seams. This is the often chaotic transition between “party systems”, as political scientists call them. The last time this happened was the election of 1940, when in the wake of economic hardship, the Republicans had no answer to a polarizing progressive president, and turned to a businessman with no government experience even though he held positions which were unusual for his party.
Sound familiar? They say history rhymes, but that businessman’s name didn’t rhyme with dump. It was Wendell Wilkie, and he lost badly to FDR, thus beginning the 5th party system which we are now seeing collapse.
So what does all this have to do with Rand Paul? It comes down to having the right idea at the wrong time. Paul has tried to appear more mainstream this cycle, and despite the heat he’s taken for it, I don’t find anything wrong with that strategy per se. Some criticize this pseudo populism on the grounds that it hasn’t worked well for Rand compared to his father’s more principled grassroots campaign. While that would seem to be a valid critique on the surface, closer examination of the polls tells a different story.
In the 2012 Republican primary, Ron Paul reached his peak at nearly 15 percent support in national polls, while in the 2016 primary Rand Paul peaked at 17 percent in 2013. Right away that should diffuse the idea that Rand did worse overall than his father, but still it sounds like only a modest improvement. That is, it sounds like a modest improvement until you take into account three important factors.
2012 Republican primary national Polling data, from RealClearPolitics
Firstly, Ron got his 15 percent when only two other candidates remained in the race, thus making it easier for each candidate to win higher percentages of public support. Rand meanwhile got his 17 percent when the field was still very turbulently divided among seven major candidates. Secondly, Ron was only very briefly in second place in an early field of seven candidates, after which he was relegated to third fourth and fifth place. As I mentioned earlier though, Rand was thrice the leading GOP candidate, and second or third for all of the time he wasn’t until late February, 2015.
Finally, there is there’s the matter of the thirty pieces of silver to take into consideration. I previously alluded to the media’s extensive efforts to silence the elder Paul in 2012, but you’ll notice that despite his little speaking time, Rand hasn’t quite been smeared the same way his dad was. In fact, by including him in this latest debate, CNN is actually going a bit out of their way to help him. The network had previously declared that only candidates who poll an average of either 3.5 nationally or 4.0 in Iowa or New Hampshire would be allowed to debate. Rand technically comes just.2 percent shy of the latter criteria, but they are letting him join the debate anyway. One finds it hard to imagine them extending the same generosity to his more hardline father.
None of this is meant as a knock against Ron Paul. Quite the contrary; if not for Ron there could certainly be no Rand, both in the obvious biological sense and the political one. Rand has inherited a large following which certainly helped him get as far as he did, and without his topical last name one does wonder if he would have been able even to succeed in the Kentucky senate race.
Moreover, it should be noted that Ron likely didn’t have quite the same objectives when he began his campaign as Rand. In contrast to Rand, I don’t believe Ron ever really thought he would be president, but instead used his presidential campaign as a platform to spread the ideas of libertarianism. By that metric Ron was wildly successful, as we can see by the relatively large share of the vote won by the libertarian party in 2012, and by the momentum of Rand Paul himself.
By those metrics, it remains to be seen whether the younger Paul will equal his father’s success, but in the conventional task of running for president, becoming president, it is fair to say Rand has gotten considerably closer with his strategy of putting on his “electable” shirt and giving his diehard supporters a nudge and a wink. Whatever strengths this strategy has to offer, one thing seems abundantly clear: it would be put to better use in calmer political waters. It does us no good to be admitted to the king’s court on the day he’s being hanged.
If that’s what Rand Paul’s admittedly dwindling chance at the GOP nod feels like, take heart. Libertarians have this to look forward to: if Trump or someone equally as unorthodox does take the GOP nomination, there will be plenty of disaffected conservatives for the LP to pick up. Despite this hope, one can’t help but think that it might have been better for Rand to have stuck with the hardcore libertarian firebrand strategy this year. In Rand’s defense, this is no ordinary year!Almost 20 cultural hubs in Toronto could qualify for a new property tax category under a draft plan that will lower the skyrocketing rates many have been struggling to afford. On Tuesday, the province gave the city the go-ahead to start creating the special category for buildings that house artists and non-profit organizations.
Trinity-Spadina MPP Han Dong says the Ontario government will work with Toronto to create a new property tax category giving arts and culture hubs like 401 Richmond a break.
Such a move will help centres such as 401 Richmond St. W., which has struggled to afford its tax bill amid sky-high assessments in a booming real estate market. “This is a tremendous day; this has been a year in the works,” said downtown Ward 20 City Councillor Joe Cressy, who has been behind the push for the separate tax assessment category. “We’ve been seeking to finalize an arrangement with the province whereby we would create a new subclass for creative hubs. “With this announcement, we’re ready to go.”
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Cressy will formally propose a motion at council in two weeks to work with the province, and said a draft definition is already in the works, that, if accepted, would mean about 17 buildings in the city |
, most of them could be warriors. Since the mother ship appeared to be carpeted with Locust cityscape on the inside, we can extrapolate trillions more aliens there as well.
Turning the Tables (The Return of the Semper Fi).
HOLE #16. Having had the opportunity to examine advanced alien technology at Area 51 for almost 50 years, why would the government still be paying $900 for toilet seats? Why wouldnt we all be flying to work (living in space, etc.) by now?
HOLE #17. Since the aliens demonstrated the ability to control unwilling humans telepathically, including suppressing autonomous life support functions, why didnt they simply broadcast a worldwide command to stop breathing?
HOLE #18. Biohazard 4 containment for an extraterrestrial threat shouldnt even have windows, let alone ones you can shoot through with a sidearm. Besides, if you can shoot in, they can shoot out.
HOLE #19. We know the Locusts had complete control of gravity, since the mother ship wasnt spinning and their saucers and fighters floated in mid-air. So why were Our Heroes pressed back into their seats at takeoff, and why werent they thrown forward when docking (matching velocities) with the mother ship?
HOLE #20. Even though they demonstrated some sort of command autopilot near the mother ship, our advanced ETs didnt bother with IFF. But why would such a hostile race allow one of their frontline fighters that had been missing for fifty years inside the one asset they couldnt afford to lose? Why didnt the telepathic aliens detect the presence of human minds when the fighter entered the portal? Given their technology, would a fifty year old craft even look the same to them?
HOLE #21. Although they are very user-friendly, Apple PowerBooks probably are not interoperable with ET control systems. Given the aliens telepathy, it is not clear what physical principle they would employ for communications, let alone using ASCII digital code carried by electromagnetic waves. Casting Tom Cruise wouldnt fix this problem.
HOLE #22. If the Locusts actually had been eavesdropping for 50 years, known exactly where to hit us, and understood English, then they also should have watched War of the Worlds from numerous television broadcasts and thus, been prepared for sneaky Terran tricks like bacteria, computer viruses, or using one Trojan horse to insert another.
HOLE #23. Surely the mother ship could have provided direct fire support from high Earth orbit against those troublemakers in its view, like at Area 51, who hadnt been killed yet by the saucers. Collateral damage not only wouldnt have deterred them, it seemed to be one of the Locusts military objectives.
HOLE #24. Unless one catalyzed destructive potential already present, it would have been impossible to destroy the mother ship with any H-bomb that exists today. Assuming the ship was a typical metal such as iron, to liquefy/vaporize it as shown would have required a monster twenty trillion megaton weapon (but essentially infinite yield would be required if it was degenerate matter). Since there is no theoretical upper limit to the yield of a thermonuclear device, and bigger bombs do tend to be more efficient, a bomb large enough to do the job might approach the theoretical D-T fusion limit of 80 kilotons per kilogram. The largest warhead the U.S. ever fielded was the nine megaton W53. (The Soviets lit off a much bigger one, but engineering data are unavailable.) Scaling up from that, our Locust Killer must be at least 4 000 yards in diameter by 11 000 yards long, possibly as much as three times that each way. Just building an LK would require a global effort for years. Which we dont have. Our Heroes would have needed to boost an intact saucer just to boost their weapon. Which the Locusts wouldnt have allowed. Even if antimatter weapons were feasible (all the worlds accelerators together can make a tenth of a gram per year at most) wed need over 400 million tons of the stuff.
Fortunately for Our Heroes, an interstellar drive that could push one fourth of Earths moon across the light years would easily provide enough energy to destroy the mother ship. Although it seems like a long shot to stake planetary survival on a lucky secondary explosion of the power plant (and which one of Our Heroes had a schematic with a big red X on it anyway?) humanity really had nothing to lose. The question is, would anyone have wanted to be in the same solar system (not to mention in close orbit) when it went off like a mini-nova, outshining the Sun itself? Assume Mama Locust was at Lunar orbit. Since Luna is about 60 Earth radii away, Earth subtends about 1/7200 th of the sky from there. At the instant of destruction, a 550 km shell of just-molten iron would have illuminated the exposed hemisphere with a minimum of 17 megaton-equivalents of light per second. As the fireball expanded over time and radiated its energy to space, Earth would ultimately intercept 1/7200 th of the total energy releasethree billion megatonsi.e., on the order of thirty Dino Killers. By the inverse square law, the closer the mother ship orbited, the more energy would be received. Estimating the chance of survival on the surface after all that is left as another exercise for the reader.
Postgame Victory Bash (Smash?)
HOLE #25. After cleverly (and literally) hoisting the aliens on their own petard, any survivors (underground and in polar regions) would then have had to deal with the seismic aftereffects of the victory. An 800 billion ton saucer falling two miles (guesstimated hovering altitude) has 5.6 x 10 18 calories of potential energy, or 5 600 megatons. Which would be converted with high efficiency to ground shock (not smoothly either), resulting in numerous earthquakes no less than 8.6 on the Richter scale. Times thirty six, i.e., shake and bake. These are numbers even tectonic plates would respect; our planet would ring like a bell. There are a few upsides, however. For instance, with present demand, people would not have to dig up a single pebble of mineral ore for the next 100 000 years, let alone recycle one more soda-pop can as the film was constantly reminding us to do. Pitch recycling instead of pitching cans, so to speak. Maybe that giant ringing sound is the empty-beer-can futures market collapsing.
Again, if saucers were made like the mother ship, not only would the quakes be far worse, but the hulk would sink through solid rock as if it were taffy, causing Earthlings to miss out on their salvage bonanzas.
HOLE #26. Delivery via Meteor Express of miscellaneous bits of mother ship could also prove problematic, since it contained a hundred million times the mass of a single saucer. If the bits didnt burn up on atmospheric entry, surviving suburbanites all over the world could look forward to shoveling five hundred feet of Locust slag from their driveways. (And they could forget their pool filters.) Even if they did burn up, our air and water would soon acquire a distinctly metallic tang. (Fortified with iron�degenerate matter, whateverso kiss your teeth good-bye.) The air would become unbreathable as the planets inventory of oxygen gas got used up making Locust fly ash instead. Rather like Los Angeles, but with ferrochemicals on a planetary scale. Gooey alien body parts would have been explosively decompressed and flash frozen into trillions of hypervelocity ice sculptures, posing a traffic hazard for intrepid collectors of celestial curios and Locust objets dart. On the other hand, the ring which Earth would acquire when the debris settles into stable orbits will ensure beautiful sunsets for the next hundred million years or so. Might even be enough time for a new form of intelligent life to evolve to appreciate them. Perhaps our Fearless Leader ought to have consulted the Ewoks about their experience with this sort of thing first.
Notes and Sources
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1. Clarkes Dictum: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
2. Technical advisor was a Marine 2LT. Only one, and so junior for such a project?
3. r crit ~ 100 km for most bodies in our solar system.
6. Radiative heat transport view factor from saucer to ground ~1.0
7. USA daytime average, ~200 W/m²
8. Solar constant at Earth orbit, 1353 W/m²
9. Air: c p = 0.241 kcal/kg-K, c v = 0.174 kcal/kg-K [Weast&1979]
10. At an average 1 gram/cm² of fuel on Earth's land surface, Terran surface carbon inventory ~1E12 tonnes
11. DH f CO2 = 94.05 kcal/mole [Weast&1979]
12. By Pierre LEnfants own city plan, center mass of Washington DC is Capitol, not White House.
13. Btw, notice the view from the strippers front door at the beginning of the movie? Hard to believe that ecdysis covers a $10K mortgage payment.
14. National policy is dispersal of NCA and Presidential successors, not collocation for convenient targeting.
16. CVN-71 (TR) is 1089 ft L x 252 ft W x 36 ft draft + ~150 ft height; complement = 6072. Island, sponsons, etc. tucked into box.
18. H c TNT � 820 kcal/kg, but defined as 1E12 cal/kt. [Weast&1979], [Craig&1986]
19. H v H 2 O = 539.55 kcal/kg, c p = 1 kcal/kg-K, M.P. = 273K, B.P. = 373K@stp
20. H f Fe ~ 65 kcal/kg, c p = 0.108 kcal/kg-K, M.P. ~ 1800K, B.P. 3000K
21. For ground bursts, the energy partition is 65/20/5/10. See Craig, 1986.
24. And scorch lots of Locust paint. The probability of kill in this scenario would be about 1.000001; 1.0 being apportioned to the attackers, and the rest to the alien target.
25. One defense tactic that may work: Deploy surface-to-surface missiles with enhanced radiation warheads (neutron bombs) on fully tracked mobile launchers. Station launcher with bulldozer to clear path in evacuated target city. When saucer arrives, drive launcher under center of saucer. Presumably, defensive shield opens in order for primary weapon to fire out. As beam weapon extends, fire missile into array. Nuclear blast causes no net increase in damage to city.
Alternative: Upon arrival, fire automatic AAA weapons continuously from rooftops to discern shield opening. The instant forward observers see direct hits on hull, trigger high yield ground burst under center. Award CMHs posthumously.
Assault technique that might work: Bore a vertical shaft more than halfway down into a saucers hub with multiple tacnukes in succession, then deliver a multimegaton bomb to the bottom of the pit on a heavy cruise missile via a pop-up maneuver. To symbolize the newfound Terran spirit of international fraternalism (and interstellar xenocide), it would be nice to borrow a 20 Mt citybuster from the Russians. Unfortunately, the CEP of an SS-18 Mod 4 isnt good enough to assure placing the reentry vehicle (RV) in the hole. Furthermore, the upper and lower surfaces are the most difficult to attack as they have the best geometric view factors for defense. The rim is more vulnerable to attack, but also less worthwhile to hit. Defensive fire could be suppressed with single Trident missile launches MIRVing into salvos of warheads every few minutes, staggered to prevent fratricide. The boomers (ballistic missile submarines) could redeploy after each shot before the ponderous saucers could react. The Trident D5 missile also has maneuverable RVs (MaRVs) in case the target tries to dodge.
29. Swerdlow, Joel, Under New York, National Geographic, Feb 1997
30. About fifteen billion per saucer if they bunk in shifts as sailors do. Worse yet, U.S. amphibious assault fleets in WWII averaged 9 tons of ship per man, including fire support; at that rate, the aliens could pack a hundred billion shock troops in one saucer in transport mode.
Sources
About the Author
Robert Kennedy is president of the Ultimax Group Inc., a corporation distributed across 11 time zones from Moscow to L.A. He speaks enough languages to start bar fights in all of them. Robotics engineer, amateur historian, and jack of all trades, he spent 1994 working for the House Science Committee's Subcommittee on Space as ASME's Congressional Fellow. On the Sputnik anniversary in October 1997, he managed to make the Russian evening news. Robert telecommutes from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he resides with his wife, numerous cats, the occasional horse, and a yard full of trees and Detroit iron.
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West Coast: (888) ULTIMAX..................................................................East Coast: (800) ULTIMAX Outside USA: +1 (865) 405-5806 -- note number has changedPresident Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt
CAPITOL PARK - Birmingham, Al
OCTOBER 24, 1905
Mr. Rhodes; and you, My Fellow-Citizens: I wish to say that I am stirred most deeply by this magnificent reception from what Mr. Rhodes has so well called the Magic City of the South. Alabama has made a wonderful record. At the close of the war, shattered, war-swept, it seemed that it was im possible for her people, in the grip of poverty as they were, to rally ; and any people less strong than you of Alabama would have failed ; but you had the stuff in you and you succeeded. About the year 1880 the tide turned, and the last quarter of a century has seen in Alabama a progress that would have been absolutely impossible in any other age or in any other nation than ours. The agriculture of the State went upward by leaps and bounds; but even more marvelous was your mechanical and industrial success. You have in this State coal and iron, the two basic elements in modern industrialism, and you have also a wealth of water power only partially used; and given that amount of natural resources and the right type of man to use them, the result will be what we have seen. But there is something that is ahead of any kind of natural resources, and that is the citizenship of the man on the soil. Proud though I am of your extraor dinary industrial prosperity, I am prouder yet of the men who have achieved it. Think what it means for our nation to have the President of the United States greeted as he has been today, with on his right and his left hand as the guard of honor the veterans of the Civil War, the men who wore the blue, the men who wore the gray, united forever. As I came up the street nothing pleased me as much as the sight of the school-children drawn up alongside the line of march. Remember that we shall leave this country in the hands of the children of today, and that the American of tomorrow will be what we train the boy or girl to be. If the children are not well educated, if they are not brought up as they should be, the State will go down. We of this generation have received a splendid heritage from you men of the years of 60 to 65. Honor to us if we treat your great deeds as spurring us onward; and shame to us if we treat your great deeds as excuses for our own idleness or folly. When I speak of education I do not mean only education in intelligence. That counts tremendously; but education in character counts more. It is character that determines the Nations progress in the long run. In the organizations of veterans after the Civil War each hails the other as comrade. It makes no difference whether the man was a lieutenant-general Or whether he was the youngest recruit that served at the very end of the war. All that is asked is, did he do his duty in the place in which he was. If he did, you are for him. If he did not, you have no comradeship with him. I ask that the same lesson that you of the Civil War applied practically in your own persons during and since that war be applied by the rest of us in civil life. I ask that we scorn alike the base arrogance of the rich man who would look down on his poorer brother and the equally base envy of the poor man who would hate his richer brother; and that you apply to every citizen of this Republic just this one test the test that gauges his worth as a man. Does he do his duty fairly by himself, his family, his neighbor, and the State and the Nation? If he does, be for him, whether he is rich or poor, because if you do not you are recreant in the spirit of Americanism."Murmuration Nation" is the title of the long-awaited solo album by Indigo Girl Emily Saliers and it does not disappoint. Anticipated like Christmas morning, the songs are "wrapped" in diverse musical stylings but the real present inside-- the insightful lyrics--are quintessential Saliers: social commentary, invitations to ponder and consider, and yep...good (and sometimes bad) ol' love. The record kicks off with "Spider", with its shimmery, hypnotizing groove. Next is "Fly", a rockin' reflection on the recent election that gives the album it's name,central image and a surprisingly upbeat message. "Match" the 3rd track, begins with a rumble and eases into a laid back r and b style. "OK Corral" is meant to be played loud and shows off Salier's fluid vocal style with a hard look at the American gun issue. "Serpent Love" co-written with producer Lyris Hung is another slow groove about toxic love. In "Long Haul" a country flavored song about a committed relationship Saliers gets a chance to trade off lyrics and harmonies with Jennifer Nettles (of Sugarland fame) and is a standout in an album of diverse and engaging music. A not-so-positive love story plays out in "Sad One", which feels perfectly at home set beside other Saliers classics like "Mystery". "Slow Down Day Friend" is another mellow love song while "I'm High I'm On High" kicks off with a creeping guitar line that slithers around aggressive accusing vocals. "Poethearted" describes an artist who is full of dreams but sorely lacking in the work part of artistry. This song is beautifully arranged with plenty of violin backing from producer Lyris Hung. "Hello Vietnam" is perhaps the most musically surprising song, with its changes in tempo and sound.. Rounding out the album is "Train Inside", which is one of Saliers' most haunting love songs. This song has been on the playlist of many Indigo Girls/Four Voices tours over the last two years. It never fails to move audiences. "Murmuration Nation" deserves to be heard by music lovers outside the "progressive folk" genre. Emily Saliers is a masterful musician, singer and writer and this new expression of her range is engaging and perfectly executed. Are you listening? You should be.Share
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new winner. Clocking in at the remarkable processing speed of 30.65 petaflops without breaking a virtual sweat, it’s our pleasure to introduce the Tianhe-2, a Chinese super computer that is quite comfortably the fastest computer on Earth.
The Tianhe-2, also known as the Milky Way 2, is the creation of China’s National University for Defense Technology. The device was built to “provide an open platform for research and education and provide high performance computing service for southern China,” according to the University of Tennessee’s Jack Dongarra. Dongarra helped compile a list of the Top 500 supercomputers in the world, and wrote a report on this latest machine.
The Tianhe-2 reportedly has a storage of 12.4 petabytes and memory of 1.4 PB. In case you’re not familiar, a petabyte is the equivalent of 1,000 terabytes, or 1,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. Yes, that’s five commas.
As you might expect, something of that scale requires some power to run properly. “The peak power consumption under load for the system is at 17.6 [megawatts],” Dongarra explains in a white paper about the computer, adding that “this is just for the processors, memory and interconnect network. If cooling is added the total power consumption is 24 MWs.” To put that in context, the high-speed Eurostar train that runs underneath the ground between England and France operates at about 12 MW, with most traditional high-powered electric locomotives peaking around three to five MW.
The machine runs on Kylin Linux, an operating system developed by teams at the National University for Defense Technology, and is built of a staggeringly large system. Dongarra’s report mentions touring “the computer room” that includes Intel Ivy Bridge and Xeon Phi processors, and lots of them. “There are 32,000 Intel Ivy Bridge Xeon sockets and 48,000 Xeon Phi boards for a total of 3,120,000 cores.”
In the tests, the Tianhe-2 managed an impressive speed of 30.65 petaflops, which makes it 74 percent faster than the previous holder of the World’s Fastest Computer record. A petaflop, for the curious and unsure, equals one quadrillion – a million billion – floating point operations per second, also known as… a lot. It’s part of a series of terms that includes megaflops, gigaflops, and teraflops, and until as recently as 2009, a petaflop was more a theoretical concept than an actual computing reality. The first computer to reach a petaflop was IBM’s Roadrunner in June of that year.
What makes the Tianhe-2 even more impressive – as if being a full 74 percent faster than its closest competition wasn’t enough – is that it wasn’t even operating at full strength during the testing. According to Dongarra, it was only at 90 percent capacity when it clocked the amazing 30.65 PF speed. Just imagine how fast the computer could go if it really tried.A MAN died of a heart attack after being repeatedly shot with a Taser in one of the first uses of the weapon in NSW, but police omitted it from official records, including on the man's death certificate.
Gary Pearce, a violent, mentally-ill 56-year-old, died about two weeks after being shot with a stun gun when he threatened police with a frying pan in May 2002.
The link between his death and his being shot by a Taser could have been used as evidence of the risks of the controversial weapon, but was only made public by the NSW Ombudsman on Tuesday.
The Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, yesterday admitted he only learned of the Taser link on Tuesday night, when he was given a copy of a scathing report by the Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, into the use of stun guns.
The revelation comes on the back of a growing body of international research that draws links between the weapon and a series of deaths.After a much-needed bye, the Cowboys traveled east to take on the New England Patriots and their Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady.
The theme all week in the media was how Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan would choose to attack Brady and this Patriots offense that puts so much pressure on your ability to not only cover their outstanding skill players, but still keep enough defenders in the box to deal with a running game that was physical at the point of attack.
I will give Ryan and his defensive staff a great deal of credit for putting together a game plan that made it difficult for the Patriots to move the ball for the majority of the day. Ryan's troops were able to force the Patriots into something that they don't normally do -- turn the ball over. The only other game I studied getting ready for this game in which I saw the Patriots struggle with turnovers was their loss to the Bills.
I thought it would be difficult for the Cowboys to force this Patriots offense into turnovers, but they forced fumbles and put enough pressure on Brady to force him into two interceptions. Ryan did it with a variety of fronts and coverages.
One of Brady's greatest strengths of is his ability to come to the line, check the defense and move his personnel around to make you pay for the look you are giving him. Ryan played with his nickel-and-dime packages throughout the contest, which allowed him to get his best cover men on the field at all times. It was the first time that he was able to do this since the first week of training camp in San Antonio.
ORLANDO SCANDRICK VS. WES WELKER
We all know the type of player that Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker is. He is a dynamic weapon who rarely allows the defense to rest. He will line up all over the formation and can be used in so many different ways.
With all that being said, there was no doubt in my mind that Orlando Scandrick could line up against him and battle him for 60 minutes. Welker is so dangerous not due to his speed or hands, but his quickness. He is an explosive athlete. Scandrick has always been able to play with quickness.
Of all the cornerbacks on the Cowboys roster, Scandrick is best suited to play the slot because he is comfortable carrying receivers all over the field. When you play the slot in this league, you better be ready to have to cover the whole field.
Where Scandrick was so effective was his ability to understand what Welker was trying to do to him.
One of the best examples of this was on the last drive of the game for the Patriots. With 1:39 left and the ball sitting on the Cowboys 30, Ryan had his dime package on the field. At the snap, safeties Gerald Sensabaugh and Abram Elam dropped into a Cover 2 look with the middle of the field open.
Scandrick was one-on-one in the slot with Welker, who started on an inside route. Scandrick was able to use his quickness, maintain his position and defend the ball as Brady tried to fit it into a tight window. The cornerback was right there to knock it down.
If Scandrick does not get his hand on that ball, there is an outstanding chance that Welker scores on the play. Most cornerbacks in this league playing that route would have been flagged for pass interference.
I was not one bit surprised that Scandrick was able to play Welker so well. His conditioning appeared good and I knew that he would be prepared mentally to have to deal with Welker.
For the Cowboys going forward, this was a great sign with Scandrick back in the lineup. He can do so much in coverage and also be used as a blitzer, which is something that Ryan makes as part of his package.
JASON GARRETT'S GAME MANAGEMENT
Jason Garrett's red-zone play calling shouldn't come as a surprise. Stew Milne/US Presswire
I respect Jason Garrett as a head coach. I believe he is the right man for the job, but I also believe that with the newness of the job comes situations in game management that will need to be addressed.
I can't tell you how many questions I get about the play calling, whether it is at the end of a game or in the red zone. I don't understand why everyone is so up in arms about Garrett's red-zone play calling. What have you been watching the last two years?
I go back to a game in which Garrett tried to force the ball to special teams ace Sam Hurd against Champ Bailey in Denver while Jason Witten blocked air. I remember a game against the Chargers where Leonard Davis and Andre Gurode couldn't secure the linebacker through the "A" gap but Garrett continued to call that play until Marion Barber was stopped on downs.
In a game in which the Cowboys needed touchdowns, they had to settle for field goals. Let's take a look at the plays that were called with 6:39 left in the fourth quarter with the ball on the Patriots 10:
First-and-goal from the 10: Witten starts at fullback then motions left, Martellus Bennett is in line with Miles Austin in the right slot. Dez Bryant is wide right. Tashard Choice is the single back. The Patriots are in their nickel package.
Garrett makes a nice call on a delay screen to Bennett, who holds for just a second as a blocker then releases to his left. Guard Bill Nagy and center Phil Costa release from the inside to work in front of Bennett. Nagy is the lead blocker and throws his body into the support. Costa misses his man, who trips Bennett.
On the front side, Andre Carter has rushed wide around left tackle Doug Free, who doesn't finish his block. Carter, hustling on the play, gets back to the outside and makes the tackle after a 5-yard gain.
Second-and-goal from the 5: Garrett goes with the gun, putting Choice in the game next to Romo. Kevin Kowalski is now in the game at left guard because of the injury to Nagy. Austin is in the slot to the right with Laurent Robinson wide right. Bryant is outside left. Witten is in line on the right side. Patriots are in regular personnel.
This was the one shot that Garrett was going to take with Bryant on the jump ball. Bryant goes inside then works back out near the sideline. Leigh Bodden is in coverage and is off-balance but recovers. Witten goes vertical but is doubled, Austin runs the out. Robinson is one-on-one with Devin McCourty, who is in man coverage runs across the back of the end zone with some separation right to left. Choice goes through the line then works to his left.
Tony Romo looks left to check Witten and Robinson but comes back to the left side. Bryant is deep in the left corner without much room. Safety James Ihedigbo is sitting on the goal line in coverage with Brandon Spikes waiting on Choice. Romo throws the ball into the ground.
Third-and-goal from the 5: Robinson is wide right and comes in motion toward Austin in the slot. Romo is in the gun with Witten to his right and Choice to his left. Bryant is wide to the left with Ihedigbo once again on the goal line. Bryant releases inside.
At left tackle, Free checks inside with his hand on Spikes, who is blitzing from the backside, but doesn't pick him up. Costa blocks back, getting his man. Spikes is now chasing the play from the backside as Free lets him go to pick up Carter. Spikes quickly closes down as Choice gets the ball from Romo on the shovel pass.
Play looks like it has a chance if Spikes was blocked, but he is not and Choice is tackled for a 3-yard loss, which results in a field-goal attempt.
Here is the breakdown of the second-to-last series for the Cowboys, when Garrett choose to run the ball three straight times:
The situation for the Cowboys was first-and-10 from their own 28-yard line with 3:36 remaining and the Cowboys holding a 16–13 lead. Before the snap, Romo has to move Bryant across the formation because he was lined up in the wrong spot. Bryant is now wide right with Witten lined up behind him before coming in motion inside to line up right off Tyron Smith's hip. Bennett is in line on the left side, Phillips is lined up at full back.
At the snap of the ball, Spikes attacks Costa on the blitz over his nose, which Costa tries to adjust to handle his charge. As Costa is fighting Spikes, he bumps into Phillips, whose path is now thrown off. DeMarco Murray never gets started with the ball in his hand. Phillips doesn't get enough of his man. Witten on the front side is beaten by Ihedigbo, who makes the tackle for a 2-yard loss.
Second and 12 after a Patriots time out: Garrett sticks with his three tight end package. Austin is wide right, Murray is the single back. Witten is in line to the left, Bennett on the right. Phillips is a wing left. Phillips motions left to right, Kowalski pulls from his left to right.
The line blocks back to the left. Kosier blocking down hits Spikes but falls off the block, which causes Murray to have to adjust. Bennett doesn't move his feet at the point of attack. Shaun Ellis swims Bennett and is able to adjust to Murray for the tackle and a loss of one.
Third and 13: Garrett goes with three wide receivers and one tight end. Witten slot left, Austin and Robinson outside left. Bryant is lined up wide right. Shotgun with Choice left of Romo. Patriots counter with seven defensive backs. But Tyron Smith is flagged for a false start.
Third and 18: Garrett keeps the same personnel group in the game. The Cowboys go bunch left with Witten, Austin, and Bryant. Robinson is wide right with Choice lined up left of Romo. The Patriots go with six defensive backs. Austin motions left out of the bunch. The Cowboys use draw blocking on the inside handoff to Choice. Costa and Kowalski again cannot handle Wilfork, who makes the tackle.
ROMO'S INTERECEPTION
Bryant is wide right, and Austin is in the slot inside of him. Witten is slot left. Robinson is outside him. Choice is to the right of Romo, who steps up for the blitz pickup. Patriots cornerback Kyle Arrington is covering Austin in the slot and drops into his zone. Bryant runs up 8 yards then inside but really rounds the route off at the top. Choice picks up Spikes on the inside blitz, but Spikes spins off him because he doesn't hit him square.
Romo is affected by the pressure in his face and now is trying to throw the ball off his back foot. Smith gives up outside pressure to Andre Carter. As Bryant is running his route, I question whether he is really running it at full speed. Romo's pass was way off his back foot and not accurate, hitting Arrington in the chest. I thought it was a poor route but a poor pass as well.A PAIR of armed robbers at a village post office in North Yorkshire were hunted down by a trio of have-a-go heroes - one who chased them thieves on his combine harvester.
Farmer Tom Harland, along with postman Simon McCluskey and John McDonagh hunted down gunman Andrew Waldron, 22, and masked sidekick Joseph Crosby, 50, after they stormed a post office, armed with an air pistol.
York Crown Court heard Waldron waved the P17 air pistol at postmaster Mike Bunn’s head while Crosby demanded he filled a bag with cash.
Mr Bunn, whose wife Christine was working behind the counter at Hinderwell Post Office, North Yorkshire, managed to retreat to a back room for a pick-axe handle, as the robbers made their escape.
But the men, both wearing balaclavas, were spotted making a run for it down the high street by local residents just after the raid at around 12.45pm on August 11.
Mr McDonagh, who was visiting the local area with his partner, followed the pair in his car and managed to restrain Crosby with the help of Mr Harland and Mr McCluskey.
Waldron was found hiding in bushes by another villager who held him down until police arrived.
Crosby of Stokesley, and Waldron were charged with attempted robbery and possessing an imitation firearm.
Waldron admitted both offences, while Crosby denied possessing the firearm, but was found guilty of the offence after trial.
Mr Bunn told the court he and his wife, who are both in their 60s, initially thought Crosby and Waldron had come in dressed in gloves and balaclavas as a “joke, but in bad taste”.
Crosby and Waldron, who had cased the post office for about a month, told police they carried out the robbery to pay back a large drug debt.
Crosby told officers that the dealer they owed money to was the getaway driver, but he has never been caught.
Mr Bunn said he and his wife have suffered sleepless nights, nausea and flashbacks since the raid.
The court heard the robbery had a “huge impact” on the whole village.
Crosby, who has previous convictions for theft, fraud and smuggling, claimed he had no idea a gun would be used.
However his trial heard he had passed the weapon to Waldron on their journey to the post office.
Waldron was jailed for six years and Crosby was sentenced to 11 years in prison.Introduction
GIRLS’ FRONTLINE is like Kantai Collection (or KanColle) with personified guns instead of personified ships. It’s a Chinese mobile game (developed by MICA Team and SUNBORN Network Technology, published by DIGITALSKY), so you can make all the knock-off jokes you like, but there’s a lot of obvious quality in the game’s production. I haven’t played the game myself, but I have found myself taken with its art and character designs.
The subject of today’s review, Mauser Kar98K, is one of the collectible characters available in the game. If you’re at all familiar with guns, or have played any of the hundreds of games |
300 metres to go when he dropped near the intersection of King and Wellington streets at 11:15 a.m. and never got up, race organizers say. He was transported to hospital “with no vital signs,” the race’s medical director Bruce Minnes said in an emailed statement, but not before a bystander rushed in to help by administering CPR with the help of the Marathon’s first responder units. Their efforts to revive him failed.
“The race director [Alan Brookes] has since reached out to family of deceased and offered condolences,” marathon spokesperson Julia Wall-Clarke told the Post. “We now respect the families wish not to comment further.”
At the family’s request, the Marathon said it will not publicly identify the runner and there is no word on the cause of death or whether an autopsy is being ordered to determine the cause if it is at all unclear. The race has also not shared where the runner is from.
In his statement, Mr. Minnes stressed the high level of medical staffing at the race, which saw approximately 23,000 participants run 5km, half and full marathons Sunday morning along the city’s waterfront. The event had a total of 65 medical providers available along the race route, including 18 Canadian ski patrol bike units, 9 First Aid stations, five ambulances and emergency room doctors, nurses and sports medicine practitioners, he said.
“Today has otherwise seen a light to medium overall situation with regards to the number of individuals who required medical assistance with a total of seven hospital transportations,” he said. “One of these transportations included a female spectator in active labor.”
This man’s death is not the first to happen during a marathon in Toronto. Between 2002 and 2006, there were at least four deaths at Toronto races. And last month, a 32-year-old man collapsed of a heart attack a mere two kilometres ahead of the half marathon’s finish line in Montreal.
But there was indeed joy at the race’s finish despite the runner’s tragic death. 100-year-old Fauja Singh of India broke a record Sunday, becoming the world’s oldest marathon runner when he crossed the finish line approximately eight hours after his start. The centarian’s feat will go down in the Guinness Book of World Records. Kenyan Kenneth Mungara won his fourth consecutive marathon title, finishing the race in two hours, nine minutes and 51 seconds — the time it takes many runners to complete the half marathon. Canadian marathon runners Reid Coolsaet from Hamilton and Eric Gillis qualified for the London 2012 Olympics as well — another rarity. All in all, said Ms. Wall-Clarke Sunday afternoon “It was a really successful day here today.”
National Post with files from Postmedia NewsThe young Wales-based builder Pi Super Yachts recently unveiled its Dragonship 80 concept, an over-the-top sailing trimaran it plans as its flagship vessel, in association with McPherson Yacht Design. For sails, the Dragonship 80 uses three large airfoils similar to the ones on the boats that competed in the most recent America’s Cup competition. Instead of being controlled by sheets, the yacht’s airfoils are supported by masts that can make complete rotations clockwise and counterclockwise. This allows the system to automatically position the sails to achieve the optimum angle to the wind. Solar cells integrated into the fabric of the airfoils will recharge the ship’s all-electric propulsion system, eliminating the need for fuel and reducing emissions.
To maximize space on the main hull, the two side hulls contain cabins for the boat’s 17 crewmembers—except for the captain’s cabin, which is in the main hull—as well as storage space for toys and tenders. These side hulls extend the ship’s beam to nearly 100 feet, which can create docking problems in many marinas. To address this, they will be able to fold up alongside the main hull, reducing the ship’s beam to a more modest 66 feet. Inside the main hull, which sleeps as many as 12 guests, amenities will include a bar, library, spa, and gym. Because toys and tenders are stored on the outer hulls, the aft space that would normally be reserved for a garage instead houses the owner’s cabin, which features a balcony and private foyer. Construction of the Dragonship 80, which is the first in a line of four yachts that will eventually include 162-, 115-, and 82-foot versions, is expected to begin within a year and a half. (www.pisuperyachts.com; www.mcphersonyachtdesign.com)These are five books people are talking about this week -- or should be:
1. No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America by Ron Powers (Hachette Books)
“I hope you do not ‘enjoy’ this book. I hope you are wounded by it, wounded as I have been writing it,’’ declares Powers in the preface to his bracing new book about mental illness. “Wounded to act to intervene.” Powers, who had two schizophrenic sons — one took his own life — draws on his personal experience to explain the mental health industry’s evolution and its many failings. Powers has a distinguished literary resume: co-author of Flags of our Fathers, author of a Mark Twain book that was a National Book Critics Circle award, and a Pulitzer Prize winner for his television writing in the Chicago Sun-Times. In this latest work, he artfully fuses his family’s personal experience with social history to create a powerful and terribly sad story.
2. The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of Les Miserables by David Bellos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The origin story of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece Les Miserables is an epic tale, and Bellos is the perfect writer to tell it. A renowned translator of modern French literature, and author of Is That a Fish in Your Ear?, a brilliantly cheeky book on translation, Bellos writes about Les Miserables in the larger context of 19th-century French life. He illuminates the shifts in Jean Valjean’s perspective on the poor, how Hugo’s writing process evolved, and reports on the 1862 release party, one of the biggest book bashes in history. (The menu ranged from songbirds wrapped in bacon to locally sourced crayfish.) This book is a joy to read, and Bellos makes a convincing case for his claim that “among all the gifts France has given to Hollywood, Broadway and the common reader wherever she may be, Les Miserables stands out as the greatest by far.”
3. The Devil and Webster by Jean Hanff Korelitz (Grand Central Publishing)
What happens when a student protester at an elite New England college grows up and becomes its first female president? Jean Hanff Korelitz answers that question and more in this compulsively readable, uncanny, and irreverent novel that focuses on an American college campus to expose our current national psyche. Korelitz — author of Admission, a college-admissions novel that was made into the 2013 film starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, and You Should Have Known, about a New York shrink who learns her husband of two decades is a sociopath — is an expert on the art of deception, a talent she puts to excellent use in her latest book. In The Devil and Webster, she churns the college melting pot to explosion by adding, among other things, a polarizing Palestinian campus leader and a controversial tenure case complicated by a secret.
4. A Question of Order: India, Turkey and the Return of Strongmen by Basharat Peer (Columbia Global Reports)
In this fascinating book, Peer argues that the world is “increasingly dominated by governments that are both democratic and authoritarian on the same afternoon.” He spent a year a half in India and Turkey to understand the rise of strongmen leaders and expose the terrible human toll such governance exacts. Peer, who was born in Kashmir, notes the parallels between the two countries in his title. “Strongmen are revisionists who share a love for rewriting school textbooks, retelling tales of ancient glories, and reviving old wounds,” he writes in this urgent work, which some American readers may find hits close to home. “They are united by their promises to make their countries great again.”
5. Our Short History by Lauren Grodstein (Algonquin Books)
This deeply affecting novel takes the form of a letter, written by a high-powered single mother, a successful political consultant who is in the late stages of cancer, to her six-year-old son. Channeling the narrator, Grodstein writes: “I still haven’t decided how often I want you to think of me in the future, Jake, or what kind of memory I want to be.” She sits down with her shiny new laptop and writes a book “with chapters, a title, and maybe even an appendix of photographs.” While the narrator is writing her letter, and managing a political campaign, Jake’s biological father returns to the picture. This is a tearjerker of a story, but not a mushy one — and it provides a charming, occasionally funny portrait of a mother trying to come to terms with both her death and her legacy.This week’s release of Palestinian prisoners sparked contentious debate in Israel over how high a price Israelis are willing to pay to revive talks with the Palestinians. Many Israelis expressed grief that Palestinians who had killed innocent Israelis, including a Holocaust survivor, should be released from prison merely as a gesture to the Palestinians.
On the Palestinian side, of course, there was much joy and celebration, as long-serving prisoners who had committed vile acts of terror were returning home earlier than expected.
People who get their news from the AP or the BBC, however, may be forgiven if they thought the two perspectives – Israeli and Palestinians – were morally equal. That’s exactly how they were presented by the media giants.
Mission May 2019
According to the AP, thousands of Palestinians have spent time in Israeli prisons for a wide range of violent acts, from stone throwing to murder.
Palestinians tend to view prisoners as heroes, regardless of their acts, arguing they made personal sacrifices in the struggle for independence.
In Israel, many consider those involved in the killings as terrorists, and some of the attacks are engraved in the nation’s collective memory.
In presenting both views as essentially equal in moral weight, the AP is drawing readers to conclude that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” That adage was employed by Reuters executive Stephen Jukes at the start of the Second Intifada to explain why Reuters refused to call a Palestinian who blew up innocent people on a bus a terrorist.
The BBC’s coverage of the prisoner release essentially follows the same formula. There are interviews with family members of the terrorists and their victims. One side is ecstatic about the release, and the other is pained by it.
The prisoners are seen as heroes of the Palestinian cause, but on the Israeli side they are simply seen as terrorists, our correspondent says.
Simple enough. It’s only Israelis who consider the acts committed by the released Palestinians, including in one case a murder with an axe, to be terrorism. The message from the AP and the BBC is that morality is subjective – at least when it comes to the Palestinians.
The moral ambiguity shown by these media outlets is part of a larger culture of impunity for the Palestinians. It starts with the insistence that terrorists should be referred to as militants, not terrorists, and eventually the moral scales shift so that they are balanced equally between the terrorists and their victims.
As if to underscore the ubiquity of Palestinian impunity, the BBC article ends with a short reference to an outbreak of violence in Gaza that took place as the prisoners were being released:
In a separate development on Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had carried out air strikes on rocket-launching sites in northern Gaza.
The strikes were launched overnight in response to the firing of two rockets from Gaza towards the Israeli town of Sderot, the military added.
The short interlude is striking for two reasons. First, it only reports the violence after Israel responded, not when the Palestinians attacked. And second, it never mentions the Palestinians by name. There were simply two rockets fired from Gaza.
The media’s desire for balance in reporting on issues related to the launch of peace talks should not result in moral ambiguity. The media has an obligation to report on events as they truly are, and if that means reporting that violent terrorists were released from prison, it should do so without hesitation.
Image: CC BY-SA HonestReporting.com, flickr/DieselDemon.
Mission May 2019When using a promises library like bluebird in Express, you might have found it somewhat awkward to use them correctly - it's easy to forget to tack on a.catch statement at the end of a chain of promises.
Fortunately, there's a solution for that, and it's called express-promise-router!
Using express-promise-router
express-promise-router is a slightly modified version of the regular router that ships with Express, that expects a route to return a promise object. It then automatically attaches an error handler to the promise, that will forward any errors to your regular error handling middleware, so that you can handle them as if you called next(err).
With the regular Express router, your code might look something like this:
var express = require ( "express" ); var router = express. Router (); router. get ( "/", function ( req, res, next ){ Promise. try ( function (){ return doSomeAsyncThing (); }). then ( function ( value ){ return doAnotherAsyncThing ( value ); }). then ( function ( newValue ){ res. send ( "Done!" ); }). catch ( function ( err ){ next ( err ); }); }); module. exports = router ;
And this is what it looks like with express-promise-router :
var expressPromiseRouter = require ( "express-promise-router" ); var router = expressPromiseRouter (); router. get ( "/", function ( req, res ){ return Promise. try ( function (){ return doSomeAsyncThing (); }). then ( function ( value ){ return doAnotherAsyncThing ( value ); }). then ( function ( newValue ){ res. send ( "Done!" ); }); }); module. exports = router ;
Note the following:
We no longer need to define a.catch handler. We now return the chain of promises from the route.
That's it! All errors in your chain of promises now end up in your regular error handling middleware, where you can log them and send an error page.
Does this support the same features as a regular Express router?
Yep. The express-promise-router module really just wraps the native router, and adds error handling to the route methods. That's all it does.
Can I also return promises from.param() calls?
Yep, since 0.0.7. They're handled in the same way as the regular route methods. If an error occurs in the.param() call, the request will be aborted, and the route after it won't be run - in other words, like it should be :)
And how about.use() and.all()?
Yes, same as for.param().
What if I don't return a chain of promises from my route? Will it break?
Nope. The express-promise-router module only implements special behaviour when a chain of promises is returned. Otherwise, it has the default behaviour of the Express router.
Can I still use next() manually?
Yes.
My rejections are ending up on my console anyway. What gives?
Make sure you're actually returning the chain of promises from your route or middleware. It can't handle promises that you don't give to it!
How do I send different kinds of errors? I want to send different HTTP status codes.
Ideally, you'd use a module like errors for this. You can either use the standard HTTP error methods that it provides, or even create your own errors - and then handle all of them in your error handling middleware, like normal.
You can just do something along these lines:
app. use ( function ( err, req, res, next ) if ( err. status!= null ) { var statusCode = err. status ; } else { var statusCode = 500 ; } res. status ( statusCode ). send ( err. message ); }
My next Node.js article will be an in-depth guide to promises, and how they can help you escape from callback hell. I know I promised that last time, but this time it's really going to be the next post :)
I am currently offering Node.js code review and tutoring services, at affordable rates. More details can be found here.This header image is of an art installation in the Forest of Dean, UK. But apparently people have sometimes reported odd stairs in the middle of the deep forest. The stairs come in all shapes, all sizes, and all materials. The only consistent elements are that they all lead nowhere — and you must never touch them.
This reddit thread, and others like it, are weaving a series of eyewitness reports of strange stairs, usually deep in the wilderness. Often they are pristine, without any leaves or debris on them, but sometimes they are weathered and old. Most people who see stairs experience a strong feeling of dread and leave immediately. I’ve found two reports of people who climbed them. One said that he lost all hearing and had an overpowering sense of being hunted, then he ran away. The other lost consciousness, and woke up miles away with cuts on her arm.
Apparently the stairs are a well-known phenomena in the forest service, and rangers tell their new trainees to ignore the stairs and never, ever step on them. No explanations are ever given. Probably because they don’t have any. It’s just tradition among those who work in the wilderness to warn their colleagues away from mysterious stairs in the woods.
It isn’t every day you hear about a new paranormal phenomenon, especially one that seems to be commonly known in certain lines of work. I don’t think I’m ever going to go camping again. But if I do, I’ll keep my eye out for stairs.Belgium 5-1 Luxembourg: Romelu Lukaku bags hat-trick as Adnan Januzaj makes his debut for the Red Devils
Chelsea striker Lukaku bags his first hat-trick for Belgium
Tottenham's Nacer Chadli and Wolfsburg's Kevin De Bruyne complete rout
Manchester United's Adnan Januzaj comes on for his first Belgium cap
Vincent Kompany, Jan Vertonghen, Thomas Vermaelen, Marouane Fellaini and Kevin Mirallas also star
Manchester United midfielder Adnan Januzaj made his Belgium debut on Monday night in the Red Devils' rampant win over Luxembourg, with Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku bagging a hat-trick.
Januzaj, 19, committed himself to Belgium last month despite being elibile for Albania, Kosovo, and even England in time for the 2018 World Cup.
VIDEO Scroll down to watch Adnan in his first senior training session for Belgium
Salute: Lukaku scored his first ever hat-trick for Belgium in the win over Luxembourg Red Devil: United man Adnan Januzaj opted to play for Belgium last month
Power: Romelu Lukaku piles through the Luxembourg defence in the first-half
Aware: Luxembourg's Aurelien Joachim (right) passes Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne Former club mates: Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne share a moment after the third goal Match facts
Belgium: Courtois, Alderweireld (Vanden Borre 46), Vermaelen (Van Buyten 46), Kompany, Vertonghen (Lombaerts 77), Witsel (Defour 46), Fellaini, Eden Hazard (Chadli 46), Mirallas (Januzaj 46), De Bruyne, Lukaku (Origi 61).
Subs Not Used: Mignolet, Bossut, Mertens, Dembele, Ciman, Kaminski.
Goals: Lukaku 3, 23, 53, Chadli 71, De Bruyne 90 pen.
Luxembourg: Moris, Janisch, Chanot, Philipps (Holter 83), Mutsch, Schnell, Jans, Krogh Gerson (Turpel 88), Bensi, Joachim, Da Mota Alves (Laterza 77).
Subs Not Used: Joubert, Hoffmann, Bastos, Payal, Martino, Deville, Schinker.
Booked: Philipps, Mutsch.
Goals: Joachim 13.
Att: 16, 000
Ref: Tom Harald Hagen (Norway). United star Januzaj made his debut, coming on at half-time as Marc Wilmots ringed the changes, with Vincent Kompany and Eden Hazard rested among others. And Lukaku, who was on loan at Everton last season, sealed his treble by running past two defenders and driving low into the net. Tottenham's Nacer Chadli added a fourth, finishing well after good work by the hosts down the right. And the Premier League dominance shone through again, with former Chelsea man Kevin De Bruyne slotting home a penalty late on to complete the rout.
'It was a good performance,' said Lukaku. 'What makes me happy is that we performed as a team.' Belgium had Sammy Bossut in goal, who would normally be the fifth-choice keepers but because of injuries and an extended rest for No 1 Thibaut Courtois, he had a winning debut. Simon Mignolet was still suffering from a sore muscle in his hip and Wilmots decided to rest him.
Belgium play Sweden on Sunday and Tunisia on June 7 in its final warm-up games ahead of leaving for Brazil.
Play it safe: Chelsea's Eden Hazard attempts to get an effort in, but was rested at half-timeIt had been a great last couple of months for James Gandolfini and his HBO-based Attaboy Prods. They set up three major TV projects, whose future is now uncertain following the actor-producer’s untimely death today at age 51. In April, Gandolfini got Bone Wars at HBO Films, reuniting with his The Incredible Burt Wonderstone co-star Steve Carell. It is a fun project, in which the two were to play famous post-Civil War paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, whose notorious fossil race led to the discovery of more than 160 dinosaurs. The film was in nascent stages, with no script written yet. “Unbelievably sad news. A fine man,” Carell tweeted today.
R.I.P. James Gandolfini
Then in May, HBO gave the green light to Criminal Justice, a limited series starring Gandolfini in his post-Sopranos series return. The project, written by Richard Price directed by Oscar winner Steven Zaillian, was originally piloted as a traditional drama series last year. After HBO passed on the pilot in February, it garnered interest from other nets. Meanwhile Gandolfini and Zaillian decided that a limited series would better serve the narrative, leading to a seven-episode order at HBO. “A real man, like they don’t make anymore,” Zaillian said today of Gandolfini. “Honest, humble, loyal, complicated, as grateful for his success as he was unaffected by it, as respectful as he was respected, as generous as he was gifted.”
Loosely inspired by the 2008 BBC series, Criminal Justice stars Gandolfini as an ambulance-chasing New York City attorney who gets in over-his-head when he takes on the case of a Pakistani (Riz Ahmed) accused of murdering a girl on the Upper West Side. All sides indicated it is too soon to make decisions or even discuss the feature of the series, which had been reworked as a limited series and was yet to film any episodes beyond the pilot. While the character played by Gandolfini is central to the ongoing storyline, I’ve learned that the pilot episode centers on Ahmed’s character, and Gandolfini only appears in the last minute for the final scene in the pilot, making recasting an option should HBO decide to proceed with the series as originally planned.
And just two weeks ago, in one of the first buys for this coming broadcast development cycle, CBS gave a script commitment to Taxi-22, an adaptation of the French Canadian comedy, with Gandolfini attached to executive produce through Attaboy. That is a promising new chapter for what has been a passion project for Gandolfini, whose company had been developing the property at HBO for the past three years. The project remains in development, but it won’t be the same without Gandolfini, Taxi-22 executive producer Clark Peterson said. “We are devastated. He was a great man and a unique embodiment of creativity, humanity, and humility. I can confirm that the development of Taxi-22 will continue, but we’ll always be flying in the missing-man formation.”
Gandolfini and Attaboy, who had been at HBO since The Sopranos in one of the longest TV producing relationships in the business, had several other projects in various stages of development, including Big Dead Place, an HBO drama based on Nicholas Johnson’s memoir, and HBO Films’ Eating With The Enemy, in which Gandolfini was to play Bobby Egan, a New Jersey rib joint owner who became involved in back channel negotiations with North Korea to stop producing nuclear weapons in the 1990s. Pat Healy wrote the script based on a book, and the project, a co-production with Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Prods., had been looking for a director. I hear there was a recent reading with Gandolfini and Hangover‘s Ken Jeong and that De Niro had been eying the role of Bobby’s father. “Jim Gandolfini was my friend,” Healy tweeted today. “I saw him on Friday. When I went to shake his hand and wish him a good trip, he gave me a big hug. I’ll miss him.”
While The Sopranos movie fans so passionately pleaded for never happened, it was fitting that the last project with Gandolfini to premiere before his death was the May 27 Nickelodeon kids film Nicky Deuce, which reunited many members of the Sopranos gang: Gandolfini, Tony Sirico, Michael Imperioli, Steve Schirripa and Vincent Curatola. “Jim was one of my best friends, he was there whenever I needed him,” Sirico said today. “God bless him.”Legendary Star Trek actor and social activist George Takei has spoken out against Warner Bros. Pictures' alleged plans to cast a live-action version of the classic Japanese animated film, AKIRA, with Caucasian leads rather than Asian actors. In response to the publication of a purported "short list" of actors including Justin Timberlake and Robert Pattinson, among others, Takei endorsed a Facebook petition called "Don't Whitewash AKIRA" that people can sign to make the powers that be aware of their wish for the film to be cast with Asians.Created by Katsuhiro Otomo in the form of a manga serial and feature-length animated film, both of which are considered landmark works of art and superlative examples of their respective mediums, AKIRA is an indelibly Japanese story of super-science, politics and youth in revolt set against a post-apocalyptic version of Tokyo. Its main characters are Kaneda and Testuo, two motorcycle gang members and the best of friends -- until the latter is cursed with uncontrollable powers.
Otomo explores apocalyptic themes in the series a way that only a Japanese creator could, telling the story of a conflicted, corrupt and desperate city borne out of a catastrophic event that recalls the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Everything about the story is informed by the Japanese people's struggle to redefine their nation in the post-war era, including the shocking nihilism of its young protagonists.
Last month, Deadline published what its sources characterized as a short list of lead actors for the two principal roles in AKIRA : Robert Pattinson ( Twilight ), Andrew Garfield ( The Social Network, Amazing Spider-Man ) and James McAvoy ( Wanted, X-Men: First Class ) for Testuo; and Garrett Hedlund ( TRON: Legacy ), Michael Fassbender ( X-Men: First Class, Inglourious Basterds ), Chris Pine ( Star Trek ), Joaquin Phoenix ( Walk The Line ) and Justin Timberlake (everything that is ghastly and awful). None of these performers are Asian.
In an interview with The Advocate, Takei, who has long used his prominence to champion Asian-American actors and culture, correctly observed that fans of AKIRA strongly identify with Japan and the Japanese people.
The manga and anime phenomenon is mostly white in this country. It originated in Japan, and, of course, it has a huge Asian fan following. But it's the multi-ethnic Americans who are fans of Akira and manga. The idea of buying the rights to do that and in fact change it seems rather pointless. If they're going to do that, why don't they do something original, because what they do is offend Asians, number 1; number 2, they offend the fans.
Additionally, Takei said he is surprised that Warner Bros. hasn't learned from past mistakes with whitewashing like the abysmal Dragon Ball movie and, more specifically, M. Night Shymalan's similarly disastrous adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, another piece of animation based on Asian culture that was remade with Caucasian performers :
The same thing happened with M. Night Shyamalan. He cast his project [The Last Airbender] with non-Asians and it's an Asian story, and the film flopped. I should think that they would learn from that, but I guess big studios go by rote, and the tradition in Hollywood has always been to buy a project, change it completely and flop with it. I think it's pointless, so I thought I would save Warner Bros. a bit of failure by warning them of what will most likely happen if they continue in that vein.
Despite the organized protest against the state of affairs surrounding the casting of AKIRA, it is all based on rumor. Anime News Network reported that Warner Bros. had no comment on the Deadline story, and Robert Pattinson addressed the AKIRA rumor in an interview with MTV News. The actor claimed he was aware of the report but suggested he hadn't seen a script, although he is a fan of the anime and "likes motorbikes."
In his interview with The Advocate, George Takei suggested part of the problem with the AKIRA situation, as it presently appears, is the lack of progress Asian-Americans have made in the entertainment industry as compared to African-Americans.
Can you name one bankable Asian-American star? No. There isn't. You have Denzel Washington, Samuel Jackson. A whole host of them.One can't name a single Asian-American whose name you can take to the bank and get a project financed. We are making headways. I'm not a pessimist. We have made tremendous headways from the time I started in this business in 1957. Asian faces are part of the ensemble in many TV shows playing not roles that are specifically Asian, but playing doctors and detectives. Advances have been made, but we have still not caught up with the African-American achievements.
Given the uncertainty of the situation, it may be too early to condemn Warner Bros. or AKIRA producer Leonardo DiCaprio in a manner as overt as a petition, but there is certainly a lot to fear from a Hollywood adaptation of this beloved Japanese work. We've discussed "colorblind" casting before, most notably with regard to the upcoming Thor film, in which Idris Elba, a British actor of African descent, portrays the Norse deity Heimdall, who in the Marvel comic books was depicted as caucasian.
In such an instance, it seems permissible -- some would argue necessary -- to include at least in supporting roles actors whose appearances reflect the fabric of society, especially when doing so would not detract from the story or the idioms of the characters. Indeed, had Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch not chosen to recast the Caucasian hero Nick Fury as a Samuel L. Jackson lookalike in The Ultimates, there would hardly be any characters of color at all in Marvel Studios' cycle of superhero movies.
While colorblind casting can often add ethnic diversity without detracting from the story, there also exists a regrettable pattern of inadvertently removing racial minorities who are already underpresented -- something that significantly detracts from their overall representation in media. This is particularly true in in comic books whose creators and publishers often replace newer minority heroes with more classic or recognizable versions that as a consequence of time and circumstance tend to be Caucasian.
Given this phenomenon and what George Takei accurately stated about Asian representation in film and television, it does seem a shame to consciously perpetrate such a thing upon AKIRA, which is easily the most iconic Japanese comic book and animated film to ever be released in the United States, and whose explicitly ethnic and cultural truths are at the very core of its story and characters.
[ Via Anime News Network ]Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in all the emotions that come with the sport of hockey, that you don’t realize all the heart-felt moments. A go-ahead goal has you jumping around, fist-pumping and yelling, or a big save keeps your heart pumping at a rate you can’t handle. Then there’s the moments where millionaire hockey players take the time to realize that a little consideration towards the fans can actually go a long way.
Last year, we saw that when Sam Tageson was given a one-day contract with the San Jose Sharks. The 18-year-old life-time fan, suffering from a life-threatening heart condition, was granted his Make-A-Wish request when he got to spend the day with the Sharks organization, but it didn’t end there. Tageson was granted access to equipment, his own jersey and a pair of skates, and was told to skate out with the team during their pre-game warm-ups. Skating through the mouth of the Shark, Tageson was then recognized as he stood on the bench, receiving thunderous cheers that sent him into an emotional out-burst.
The 2014-15 season brought us some more memorable moments and it’s time to take a look at the five best incidents involving a fan and a player’s (or team’s) intentions of making it a day they’ll never forget. We decided to go with moments that took place on the ice, either during a game or during pre-game warm-ups. This means that Alex Ovechkin granting a girl her wish and PK Subban surprising a group of fans by going undercover both don’t qualify for this list.
Best Fan-Related Moments of the 2014-15 NHL Season
5. December 15th, 2014: Barrett Jackman encounters his littlest foe.
In a game between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues, things got heated and in the moment, Blues defenseman Barrett Jackman took on veteran Jarome Iginla in a spirited fight. Both men are no slouches when it comes to dropping them, and they gave each other quite the battle. On his way to the penalty box, Jackman spotted the littlest fan sitting by rink-side, giving him the evil eye. Jackman played it off, waiving to the girl but then decided to slide over and give the little girl a staring contest. Confused, the little girl turned away, unsure of what to make of the situation. The cute moment was caught on camera and left many awing.
4. March 31st, 2015: Antoine Roussel makes a fan’s day.
It’s common practice for fans to bang the glass when players are nearby, as a way of getting a player’s attention. During the pre-game skate of a Dallas Stars home game, a little boy did just that. 24-year-old Antoine Roussel decided to have some fun, repeatedly elbowing the glass where the kid stood, and turning to him to flash a smile. During warm-ups, you’ll see players getting into the zone, focusing on their match-up and getting a good skate in, so it’s nice to see players taking the time to recognize the young fans and giving them something to remember.
3. March 14th, 2015: Carey Price takes a selfie with a fan.
Selfies have become quite the craze in today’s society and what better time to do it than when you’re sitting by rink-side and you want to show it off to all your family and friends. For this young Habs fan, it was the selfie seen all around the hockey world. As the Montreal Canadiens were leading the New York Islanders by a score of 2-0, Carey Price was hanging out by the bench during a TV time-out when he noticed the young boy next to the bench, attempting to take a selfie while some of the players were near him. Price, who is usually focused and calm, decided to lean over and get into the frame, making sure the boy’s picture was one he’ll never forget. Days after the wonderful moment, the child wrote a letter to Price, thanking him for taking the time to pose for the picture.
2. October 11th, 2014, November 18th, 2014, January 19th, 2015: #Jerseygate
In what was dubbed as Jerseygate by The National, this event was a protest by fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs who were no longer willing to put up with their team’s shortcomings. It started off in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Down by a score of 5-2 and late in regulation, a fan threw his jersey onto the ice. Again, it happened in a game against the Nashville Predators where they were losing by a score of 8-2. A fan decided to have his anger known by throwing his jersey onto the ice. Unfortunately, no incident was as bad as the January 19th game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Not one, not two, but THREE jerseys were thrown onto the ice. It was so bad, the three individuals were actually charged for their actions. Because there’s nothing worst than a fan showing upset he is than to waste money on a team he is mad at, and throw it all away for nothing.
1. November 7th, 2014: Boston Bruins make a young boy’s dream come true.
If you don’t know the name Liam Fitzgerald, then surely you missed out on the most beautiful stories of the 2014-15 season. Seated on the bench during the Boston Bruins pre-game skate, 8-year-old Liam Fitzgerald held his arm out, fist clenched, waiting to bump fists with the players of the Boston Bruins as they made their way off the ice. All the players noticed him and gave him the gesture he was waiting for, some took more time to give him a pat on the head or an extra slap of the hands. It was a moment that the hockey world loved and the Bruins organization did it one better when they serenaded the young man with a pre-game ceremony, unveiling a custom hockey card and gathering around him, embracing Fitzgerald as part of the Bruins family. In the world of hockey, where players make millions and emotions |
Times, both failing American rags, are usually a conduit in “determining” the outlook on the Middle Eastern region.
The reason why the Deep State wants Egypt so badly is because it serves a crucial strategic role within the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Al-Sissi has positioned himself as a bulwark against religious extremism and a strong leader who can maintain stability in Egypt, even as neighboring countries like Libya, Yemen, and Syria have collapsed under civil wars fueled by foreign intervention. On the other hand, the importance of Egypt’s relations with the Gulf allies should not be understated, as the security of the Gulf region is a part of Egypt’s as well.
Trump knew this, as the Israeli-Palestinian peace process had been on his mind (and in his campaign promises).
After their first meeting in September 2016, Trump called al-Sissi a “fantastic guy” and touted the “chemistry” between them. A couple of months later, al-Sissi was the first world leader to congratulate Trump on his election win!
For Trump, time is of the essence because in November 2016, when Obama was still President, Egypt signed a three-year $12 billion agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that aimed to help the country achieve macroeconomic stability and promote inclusive growth. Egypt has also been negotiating funding agreements to fulfill its ambitious commitments in the IMF program with France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and other G8 member countries.
According to The Nation, “the economy is on the brink of collapse, with skyrocketing inflation, massive debt, and austerity measures that recently helped secure a stringent new IMF loan”.
But that’s not to say that Egypt is only having problems outside its borders, they’ve plenty of problems with jihadi violence right at home.
For example, al-Sissi and his government are major targets of ISIS-related terrorist attempts. Cairo has been battling militants in the Sinai since 2013; in late 2014, the militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledged loyalty to ISIS. Days later in Amman, Jordan, at the 28th Arab summit, el-Sissi called for a “comprehensive” approach to fighting terrorism in the Middle East that underlines the role religious institutions, particularly Egypt’s al-Azhar, can play in that effort.
Egyptian authorities are to try 292 Islamic State militant group (ISIS) suspects for involvement in plots to assassinate Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
All individuals reported by the Egyptian public prosecutor to the military judiciary are accused of being members of an ISIS affiliate in Egypt known as the Sinai Province.
The suspects are alleged to have been part of a total of 22 cells and involved in 19 attack plots, including one against al-Sissi in Egypt and one against him while on pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, according to state media.
Come to thing of it, the only ones who have a problem with al-Sissi are literal terrorists:
“We’re giving $1.5bn to an autocrat who has killed thousands of people, who has imprisoned tens of thousands of people, including Americans,” said Mohamed Soltan, an American who was jailed in Egypt for nearly two years. “We’re here to shed light on their plight.”
“We need to tell the world what kind of man Trump is bringing to the White House,” Soltan, who was jailed after attending a sit-in against Morsi’s removal in Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya square, told Al Jazeera.
Hundreds of people were killed as security forces dispersed the protest on August 14, 2013. Soltan’s father, a Muslim Brotherhood official, was also arrested and imprisoned.
Mass trials have since been held for thousands of Brotherhood supporters [editor’s note: when someone is a “Brotherhood supporter, they’re literally ISIS”], and hundreds have received death sentences or lengthy prison terms.
No wonder Trump was able to strike a deal with al-Sissi, both are under constant threat of islamist extremism! But here’s why all of this is important in the first place: Aya Hegazi was attempting to give “street children” a better life. She was attempting to lift children living in poverty out of their socio-economic class, something that is taboo in the Middle East.
It has long been known that the entirety of the Middle East has been a huge boon to human trafficking. Muslims literally invented the slave trade down in Africa.
Aya sure had a lot of empathy, contrary to the fabricated police reports:
“We had no proper food. They used to show us porn movies and make us sleep with the kids who wanted to leave,” he said. Youssef testified to witnessing daily sexual assaults that were provoked by watching porn films, saying that the foundation’s administration was aware of this. He also testified to sexually assaulting a child called Kamal (who according to the forensic report was not sexually assaulted). However, Youssef negated this story when questioned at the prosecutor’s office, when he was no longer in the hands of the police.
“She was very strict about no slapping, no beating, no cursing, no cussing of these kids,” Naglaa Hosny told NPR’s Leila Fadel in 2015. And she did not allow any of the volunteers to call them awlad shawaraa — street kids. She told them they are awlad beladi — the children of my country.”
When Hijazi, Hassanein and five other people were arrested, Hijazi was hit during her interrogation.
“She did not cry,” Hosny said of her daughter. “She’s a tough one.”
But when authorities read the accusations of physical and sexual abuse of the children, “that’s when she started crying.”
But now that she’s free, her saga is mostly over. What remains is why Trump was able to orchestrate what he did at that time.
He fired Comey so as to get at McCabe (whose wife received bribes from Terry McAuliffe – friend of the Clintons!). He “appointed” Robert Mueller III as Special National Counsel over the Russia Investigation (who is a legislative “hit man”, utilizing his previous record as a means of securing whichever verdict the incumbent DOJ wants him to secure)…and he’s been confronting the CIA utilizing their very same tactics. Like Vladislav Surkov mentioned, it’s all about confusing the people so effectively that they don’t realize what’s real and what’s not anymore.
It’s long been known that the CIA owns everyone of any media influence in America (and abroad). This means that, indirectly, the CIA owns all the late-night talk-show hosts, one way or another.
In leaving for his trip to the Middle East, as well as simply not tweeting out derision against Fake News, he gave the liberal media enough rope to hang themselves (and their handlers). Each and every day the media rails against Trump, more and more people feel they’re being unfair against the President unconditionally.
Trump just didn’t necessarily feel empowered by his social status enough to tackle the CIA head-on like JFK did. See, when JFK was railing against the Press, he was actually congratulating them. JFK was the Obama of his time, charming and beloved – they also covered up his sexual impropriety.
JFK knew the media was in his pocket, given how hard he defended Nixon from the very same liberal slurs that could have befallen him:
“You have no idea what he’s been through. Dick Nixon is the victim of the worst press that ever hit a politician in this country. What they did to him in the Helen Gahagan Douglas race was disgusting.”
Unfortunately, in their haste to feel smug and superior, the liberal media is finally pushing out their last memo from the Deep State – to fire Kushner. It’s not because of the “Russian connection”, but because Trump made him out to be his political pinata. Specifically, Donald left Kushner in charge of the “Israel-Palestine” peace-process, and since the Israel-Palestine peace process is considered the bulwark of the interventionist, globalist, Deep State, ShareBlue has had an initiative to get rid of Jared at all costs.
As a member of the president’s family, Kushner had to retain a law firm to navigate him through potential legal obstacles to working for his father-in-law– specifically, an anti-nepotism law which states that “a public official may not appoint, employ, promote, advance, or advocate for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement, in or to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official.” But his legal counsel, WilmerHale, concluded last month that precedent was laid for Kushner by Trump’s former rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who won a court case in the 1990s in her fight to chair a national task force on health care reform for her husband, then-president Bill Clinton. That case found that existing law bans appointments to agencies and departments, but not within the White House itself.
The “problem” is that Trump’s detractors don’t realize that once again, they’re playing into his hands. By focusing on a non-existent Russian connection, by focusing on the son-in-law’s identity as a Jew (which is actually somewhat racist – the idea that only a Jew could solve the problem), he’s buying time he doesn’t even need to once again solve problems behind closed doors.
Since he started planning for Middle Eastern peace in September, took the beginning steps in December, and went head-on in April, he’d laid the framework before he’d even left America for his “goodwill” tour between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
People keep assuming things that are valuable to them are valuable to Trump. In harping on his “legacy in the making”, in slandering him for a Russia connection, they fail to realize that Trump doesn’t necessarily have the same goals as everyone else. His prime goal is to “fight for the American people”.
Trump might actually appreciate an impeachment if Mueller were to deliver the conditions to him. It would give him a way out, as liberal insanity day-by-day is enacting their wishful fulfillment of his murder in public. Especially since by then, 2018 at least, he would have empowered leaders like al-Sissi to finally build up their nations to be prosperous once again.
Either way, it looks like this is the continuation of a beautiful friendship.
This article is now on Right Side News.
AdvertisementsSubmitted by Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,
If the first forty-eight hours are any measure of the alleged Trumptopia-to-come, the leading man in this national melodrama appears to be meshuga. A more charitable view might be that his behavior does not comport with the job description: president. If he keeps it up, I stick to my call that we will see him removed by extraordinary action within a few months. It might be a lawful continuity-of-government procedure according to the 25th Amendment — various high officials declaring him “incapacited” — or it might be a straight-up old school coup d’état (“You’re fired”).
I believe the trigger for that may be an overwhelming financial crisis in the early second quarter of the year. In, the first case, under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, it works like this:
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Or else, it will be an orchestrated cabal of military and intelligence officers — not necessarily evil men — who fear for the safety of the nation with the aforesaid meshuganer in the White House, who is summarily arrested, sequestered, and replaced by an “acting president,” pending a call for an extraordinary new election to replace him by democratic means. I’m not promoting this scenario as necessarily desirable, but that’s how I think it will go down. It will be a sad moment in this country’s history, worse than the shock of John Kennedy’s assassination, which happened against the background of an economically stable Republic. History is perverse and life is tragic. And shit happens.
Returning to the first forty-eight hours of the new regime, first the ceremony itself: there was, to my mind, the disturbing sight of Donald Trump, deep in the Capitol in the grim runway leading out onto the inaugural dais. He lumbered along, so conspicuously alone between the praetorian ranks front and back, overcoat open, that long red slash of necktie dangling ominously, with a mad gleam in his eyes like an old bull being led out to a sacrificial altar. His speech to the multitudes was not exactly what had once passed for presidential oratory. It was not an “address.” It was blunt, direct, unadorned, and simple, a warning to the assembled luminaries meant to prepare them for disempowerment. Surely it was received by many as a threat.
Indeed an awful lot of official behavior has to change if this country expects to carry on as a civilized polity, and Trump’s plain statement was at face value consistent with that idea. But the disassembly of such a vast matrix of rackets is unlikely to be managed without generating a lot of dangerous friction. Such a tall order would require, at least, some finesse. Virtually all the powers of the Deep State are arrayed against him, and he can’t resist taunting them, a dangerous game. Despite the show of an orderly transition, a state of war exists between them. Anyway, given Trump’s cabinet appointments, his “swamp draining” campaign looks like one set of rackets is due to be replaced by a new and perhaps worse set.
Trump was correct that the ruins of industry stand like tombstones on the landscape. The reality may be that an industrial economy is a one-shot deal. When it’s gone, it’s over. Even assuming the money exists to rebuild the factories of the 20th century, how would things be produced in them? By robotics or by brawny men paid $15-an-hour? If it’s robotics, who will the customers be? If it’s low-wage workers, how are they going to pay for the cars and washing machines? If the brawny men are paid $40 an hour, how would we sell our cars and washing machines in foreign markets that pay their workers the equivalent of $1.50 an hour. How can American industry stay afloat with no export market? If we don’t let foreign products into the US, how will Americans buy cars that are far more costly to make here than the products we’ve been getting? There’s no indication that Trump and his people have thought through any of this.
Trump can pull out the stops (literally, the regulations) to promote oil production, but he can’t alter the declining energy return on investment that is bringing down the curtain on industrial society. In fact, pumping more oil now at all costs will only hasten the decline of affordable oil. His oft-stated wish to simply “take” the oil from Middle Eastern countries would probably lead to sabotage of their oil infrastructure and the cruel death of millions. He would do better to prepare Americans for the project of de-suburbanizing the nation, but I doubt that the concept has ever entered his mind.
The problems with Obamacare, and so-called health care generally, are burdened with so many layers of arrant racketeering that the system may only be fixable if it is destroyed in its current form — the overgrown centralized hospitals, the overpaid insurance and hospital executives, the sore-beset physicians carrying six-figure college-and-med-school loans, the incomprehensible and extortionate pricing system for care, the cruel and insulting bureaucratic barriers to obtain care, the disgraceful behavior of the pharmaceutical companies, all add up to something no less than a colossal hostage racket, robbing and swindling people at their most vulnerable. So far, nobody has advanced a coherent plan for changing it. Loosing the Department of Justice to prosecute the medical racketeers directly would be a good start. Overcharging and defrauding sick people ought to be a criminal act. But don’t expect that to happen in a culture where anything goes and nothing matters. A financial crisis could be the trigger for ending the massive medical grift machine. Then what? Back to locally organized clinic-scale medicine… if we should be so lucky.
Saturday afternoon, Trump paid a call at CIA headquarters, ostensibly to begin mending fences with what may be his domestic arch-enemies. What did he do? He peeved and pouted about press reports of the lowish attendance at his swearing in. Maximum meshuga. I’m surprised that some veteran of The Company’s Suriname outpost didn’t take him out with a blowgun dart garnished with the toxic secretions of tree frogs.
Do you suppose Trump is going to improve? That was the hope after the election: that he’d take on some POTUS polish. No, what you see is what you get. I can only imagine that what’s going on behind the scenes in various halls of power would make a Matt Damon Bourne movie look like a sensitivity training session — grave professional men and women on all fours with their hair on fire howling into the acoustical ceiling tiles.
Don’t forget that it was the dismal failure of Democratic “progressive” politics that gave us Trump. His infantile lies and foolish tweets were made possible by a mendacious political culture that excuses illegal immigrants as “the undocumented,” refuses to identify radical Islamic terror by name, shuts down free speech on campus, made Michael Brown of Ferguson a secular saint, claims that there’s no biological basis for gender, and allowed Wall Street to pound the American middle class down a rat hole like so much sand.
You think this is the dark night of the national soul? The sun only went down a few minutes ago and it’s a long hard slog to daybreak.Wow!
Black Democrat Brunell Donald-Kyei was a Democrat Lieutenant Governor candidate in Illinois. Then, she was a Bernie supporter. Now, she’s telling the world that Donald Trump is the man to be President.
She went on Fox & Friends to say why.
Watch:
She’s right!
Here’s the transcript:
“See people keep saying, ‘Oh, Donald Trump doesn’t talk right. He doesn’t sound right.’ And what I would say is, ‘See, Donald Trump is not a politician. We can help him in office to be more Presidential. To be more politically correct.’
But see, Hillary Clinton’s problem is that she has no conscience. You can’t teach conscience. When you talk about four Americans dead in Benghazi. When you talk about the federal subpoena where you violated a federal subpoena – obstruction of justice – that’s at least a felony! When you’re talking about how the children of the people of Haiti were mistreated. When you talk about her saying she was under sniper fire in Bosnia and you find out that wasn’t true. And the list goes on and on.
And then you got five of her top officials with immunity deals where the FBI has agreed to destroy evidence – Like I said, ‘You cannot teach conscience.‘”
Wow – That’s from a Democrat!!Nuns sing as they wait for Pope Benedict XVI's departure from the monastery of El Escorial in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, near Madrid, on the second day of his four-day visit to Spain coinciding with the World Youth Day festivities, August 19, 2011 Reuters/Andrea Comas Late on New Year's Eve, Justice Sonia Sotomayor granted a small number of religiously affiliated groups a temporary injunction from a provision in the Affordable Care Act that allows them not to cover contraception in their health care plans if they fill out a form that states that they want an exemption from the law for religious reasons.
Go ahead and read that sentence again. These Catholic non-profits that wanted an exemption from covering their employees' contraception needs—and got an exemption from covering their employees' contraception needs—are now fighting the provision (that exempts them from covering their employees' contraception needs) simply because they don't want to have to fill out a form that states that they are exempt.
Why? Because their employees need that form in order to get birth control directly from their insurers (which they need to do because their employers—these Catholic non-profits—are exempt, as they want to be).
That's right: These groups are arguing that filling out a form is a violation of their religious freedom, and that "religious freedom" means that you should have control over your employee's health care decisions even when they happen outside of the insurance coverage you directly provide for them. Even the lawyer for one of the groups, the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged, admits that this lawsuit is about trying to weasel out of nothing more onerous than signing a piece of paper. "Without an emergency injunction," Mark Rienzi told the AP, "Mother Provincial Loraine Marie Maguire has to decide between two courses of action: (a) sign and submit a self-certification form, thereby violating her religious beliefs; or (b) refuse to sign the form and pay ruinous fines." And a spokeswoman for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, lead counsel for the Little Sisters, said, "The government has lots of ways to deliver contraceptives to people. It doesn't need to force the nuns to participate." The problem is that the government agrees and has set up a system so that the nuns can opt out. The nuns refuse to opt out, however, because opting out on paper will allow their employees to get that contraception coverage.
It's important not to read too much in Justice Sotomayor's willingness to grant these groups a temporary injunction from signing a piece of paper. The injunction is only to allow the status quo to continue until the case gets heard in court. That won't be great for the employees of these groups, who will have to continue without employer-provided contraception coverage and will also be unable to get coverage directly from their insurance companies, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the court is siding with the Sisters on this one.
Amanda Marcotte is a Brooklyn-based writer and DoubleX contributor. She also writes regularly for the Daily Beast, Alternet, and USA Today. Follow her on Twitter.CTVNews.ca
In what some suspect is Apple’s way of getting bearded hipsters to shave, some iPhone 6 users are complaining that the device is pulling out their hair every time they make a call.
"Beardgate" is following right on the heels of "bendgate," where users warned that the iPhone 6 can bend if left in a pocket.
Users with facial hair are complaining that when they hold the device to their face and then pull it away, some of their hair is left behind.
It appears that hair is getting stuck in a seam between the glass cover and the aluminium shell.
Customers have taken to Twitter to complain, spawning several hashtags like #beardgate, #hairgate and #seamgate.
My hair keeps getting caught in the microscopic seam between glass and aluminium on my iPhone 6 — Kavan (@KavKilledKenny) October 1, 2014
#Beardgate is real. I thought I was alone! Let me tell ya, it really hurts! — Vik Binning (@VikBinning) October 4, 2014
PSA: when making calls with the iPhone 6 using the “electric razor” grip or caressing it on your beard, make sure you use a case. #beardgate — Jim Blanchard (@JimBlanchardArt) October 7, 2014
Anyone else getting beard hairs pulled by the iPhone 6/Plus? It catches my scruff in the seam and yanks it during calls. #hurts #beardgate — Chad Coleman (@dominocollege) October 1, 2014
Some quick-thinking social-media users also designed some ads for the new smartphone/razor.
When your razor is simply not enough! Try the #iPhone6. Find your smooth one tedious hair at a time #beardgate pic.twitter.com/M18egRjSYO — Fit Girl (@FitGirlATX) October 7, 2014
Even Gillette took the opportunity to plug its product.
Your phone may be smarter than ever, but leave the shaving to the experts. #beardgate pic.twitter.com/eEbH96bdS3 — Gillette (@Gillette) October 6, 2014
The company has yet to respond publicly to the complaints.January 03, 2016 Mississippi River flooding to threaten more levees, homes after leaving St. Louis area submerged
By By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist. January 03, 2016, 11:51:54 AM EST
Deadly flooding is expected to surge farther south along the Mississippi River over the coming days, putting many more levees at risk for failing and more homes and highways under water.
Communities along the Mississippi River in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana should be prepared for flood issues over the coming weeks as the copious amount of water travels farther south.
Water levels will continue to rise in Memphis, Tennessee, and Greenville, Mississippi, as well as Baton Rouge, Louisiana, through the second week of January. Levees will be forced to hold back the rising water, but in some cases may fail, as has been seen in the past week. Residents in these areas will want to be prepared for potentially historic flooding.
Flooding on the middle portion of the Mississippi River and some of its tributaries reached levels not seen during the winter months since records began during the middle 1800s.
Communities near St. Louis were devastated as the river entered major flood stage early on Wednesday morning. The river receded to a moderate flood stage early Sunday morning local time and will continue to lower through the week.
While the river has crested, several more days of flooding are still expected which will slow down cleaning and recovery efforts. On Saturday, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon requested a federal emergency declaration to assist with debris removal and recovery costs.
“Devastating, record flooding has affected hundreds of homes and businesses across the St. Louis region and left a trail of destruction and debris,” Gov. Nixon said in a press release. " “Missouri response agencies, businesses, volunteers and citizens have responded heroically to the challenges, and now as we work to recover and move forward, I’m requesting federal resources for debris removal to speed the recovery process and ease the burden on strained local communities.”
Missouri floodwaters nearly submerge traffic lights
Flooding is also occurring along the Illinois, Bourbeuse, lower Missouri, lower Arkansas, Meramec, and part of the lower Ohio rivers.
As waters continue to recede in the St. Louis area, flooding will move downstream along the Mississippi through the middle of the month putting more communities and residents in danger.
Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau on its way down. Peaked at 48.86'. Down to 48.53' and slowly falling. — NWS Paducah (@NWSPaducah) January 2, 2016
In addition to setting a new high mark for the winter months, water levels on the Mississippi and other rivers are rivaling the marks set during the summer of 1993 and spring of 1995 and 2011 in some cases.
The 1993 flooding was one of the “most damaging natural disasters to ever hit the United States,” according to NOAA. The catastrophic flooding resulted in 50 deaths and damages totaling $15 billion. Thousands were forced to flee their homes, with many unable to return for months.
On Wednesday, record-high flood levels were reached along portions of the Meramec River at Eureka, Valley Park and Arnold, Missouri.
According to the Associated Press, the levee protecting much of St. Louis held. However, major highways were closed due to high water, including portions of Interstate 55 and I-44. High, fast-moving water halted barge operations at the busy port.
The Mississippi crested at 42.58 feet at St. Louis on Friday, shy of the 1993 record.
However, the record of 45.91 feet at Thebes, Illinois, set during May 1995, was topped on Thursday evening. After reaching 47.74 feet, water levels will continue to lower this weekend.
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, will continue to experience high Mississippi River levels through the early part of this week after breaking the record on Friday.
Many communities along the middle and lower Mississippi Valley will be dealing with long-duration high water lasting days after the crest has occurred.
It may take a week or longer for water levels to fall below flood stage, following a crest.
Periods of below-freezing temperatures will cause some flooded areas to turn icy and will add to the challenges of cleanup.
Communities already hit hard by flooding
Floodwaters forced the closure of two sewage treatment plants in the St. Louis area, according to the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District.
Thx TerryBranstad & Iowa Nat'l Guard for joining @Missouri_NG to provide drinking water to High Ridge after flood of treatment plant — Governor Jay Nixon (@GovJayNixon) December 31, 2015
The flooding led to 11 United States Postal Service stations around the St. Louis metro area to relocate temporarily, according to NewsRadio 1120 KMOX.
Interstate 55 and I-44 reopened south of St. Louis on Friday after conditions eased in the area, the AP reports.
According to the Mississippi Valley Division of the Army Corp of Engineers, Col. Anthony Mitchell, St. Louis District commander toured the federal levee around Valley Park, Missouri, with Valley Park Mayor Mike Pinnese on Wednesday.
The division stated earlier in the week that 19 levees are highly vulnerable to flooding in the Mississippi Valley.
"The St. Louis District has more than 50 engineers and technical experts deployed throughout the region supporting local flood fighting efforts with some of the highest Mississippi River levels since the Great Flood of 2011," the division said in its Facebook post.
At least 11 levees have failed as of Friday afternoon local time, the AP reports. Residents of East Cape Girardeau and McClure, Illinois, were urged to evacuate Friday by local authorities due to a potential overtopping of parts of the East Cape Girardeau levee.
Twelve Illinois counties have been declared disaster areas by Gov. Bruce Rauner, according to a press release.
Flood prevention efforts are ongoing downstream in locations such as Memphis, Tennessee.
At least 24 people have been killed by the dangerous flooding, the AP reports. Out of the 14 deaths in Missouri, 13 were caused by vehicles being swept off flooded roads, according to state officials.
Flooding to work downstream through January
The smaller tributaries of the Mississippi will crest relatively quickly following the tremendous rainfall from the storms after Christmas. Meanwhile, the Mississippi River and large tributaries near the main waterway will take an extended period of time to crest and then fall below flood stage.
Even after the Mississippi and its tributaries crest in Missouri and Illinois through the first week of January, waters will continue to rise in portions of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.
"It will take weeks or until the latter part of January for the last of the crests to cycle southward to the Gulf of Mexico," AccuWeather Meteorologist Jim Andrews said.
Along the Mississippi, flooding is likely downstream during the middle to latter part of January, including in Osceola, Arkansas, Memphis, Tennessee, and Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Springlike flooding occurs amid El Niño pattern
Since December and November have been so warm and so wet, the atmosphere and watershed are behaving more like it's spring.
Temperatures over much of the Mississippi Valley have averaged 8-12 degrees Fahrenheit above normal and featured highs in the 60s and 70s during December.
RELATED:
Weekly wrap-up: Deadly flooding hits Missouri
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Frigid air with highs below freezing to shock central, eastern US during January 2016
During November and December, frequent storms loaded with abundant moisture have delivered rainfall well above average to much of the Mississippi Basin.
The pattern is typical of an El Niño, but rainfall of this magnitude has crossed into uncharted territory for the region.
Since Nov. 1, St. Louis has received more than 18 inches of rain versus the average of 6.50 inches typical for this time frame. St. Louis shattered its December rainfall record of 7.82 inches set during the El Niño of 1982. This December, St. Louis received 11.74 inches of rain.
Farther north along the Mississippi River, Minneapolis has received nearly two and a half times its normal rainfall since Nov. 1.
Just after Christmas the bursts of rain, which amounted to 6-12 inches in some areas, sealed the fate for river flooding.
"Rainfall is significantly less over the central United States during the winter, when compared to the spring and summer," Andrews said
"During the wintertime, more precipitation falls as snow over the region, which tends to absorb the runoff and causes river levels to fall."
Flooding in the spring to early summer is much more common as rainfall ramps up and snow melts over the northern tier states, eastern slopes of the Rockies and the west slopes of the Appalachians.
"The amazing thing about this flood is that it has occurred with very little snow melt," Andrews said.
Less rain in the near-future, but flooding potential to return
There is some good news in the short term.
Colder and drier weather will return during much of January, and freezing temperatures at night will slow the runoff.
Storms that roll through will drop much less water on the region, in comparison to late December. Once the rivers crest, they should not rise significantly in the weeks ahead.
However, there is the potential for another round of flooding during the spring of 2016.
"We still have to go through the snowy part of the winter season over the North Central states," AccuWeather Chief Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.
Hundreds of flood rescues across Missouri and Illinois
The main storm track will shift southward during the winter but will return northward in the spring with the combination of a thaw and rainfall.
"El Niño may still be strong enough to enhance the strength of the storms and the amount of rainfall during the spring," Pastelok said.
AccuWeather Meteorologists Jordan Root and Brett Rathbun and Staff Writer Kevin Byrne also contributed to this story.
Report a TypoA snakebite victim who was treated at a North Carolina hospital came away with more than just fang marks when he received an $89,227 bill for an 18-hour stay.
Eric Ferguson, 54, from Mooresville, N.C., told Charlotte Observer medical writer Karen Garloch that he got the staggering bill for his visit to Lake Norman Regional Center after a snake bit him in the foot while he was taking out the garbage.
According to his bill, the hospital charged a whopping $81,000 for a four-vial dose of anti-venom medicine.
For comparison, Ferguson and his wife found the same vials online for retail prices as low as $750.
Ferguson, who is insured, told the Observer his care was "beyond phenomenal."
"It was just the sticker shock," he said.
The hospital reduced the bill to $20,227 because of a contract with Ferguson's insurer. In the end, he paid $5,400 of his own money for his deductible and co-pay.
The hospital defended its prices, saying it has to charge prices higher than retail because of the various discounts it is required to give insurers.
The Fergusons' case is, of course, not unique. A 2013 cover story by Steven Brill in Time magazine ("Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us") detailed the "outrageous pricing and egregious profits" destroying the U.S. health care system, noting that Americans were expected to spend an estimated $2.8 trillion on health care last year.IRBIL — Dozens of Yazidis captured during the Islamic State’s sweep into the northwestern Iraqi city of Sinjar have been shown converting to Islam in a video released by the extremist group.
The video shows a group of about 60 men gathered in a hall listening intently to an Islamic State imam as he extols the virtues of Islam. Another scene shows the men praying in a mosque. Then the slickly produced video switches back to the hall, and two of the men are seen accepting the embrace of the imam, and holding up their index fingers, a gesture of solidarity adopted by the Islamic State.
Islamic State has released a video that the group claims shows Yazidi men preparing to convert to Islam. (Reuters)
In an interview, the imam says the conversions are genuine.
“I give you the glad tidings that there are many families who converted to Islam, and I met them. They are women, children, and elderly, and they are happy for converting to Islam, and they said that we came late to them,” he says.
In interviews shown in the 11-minute video, three of the converts also say they willingly changed their religion, and they urged other Yazidis who have fled the militant advance also to embrace Islam and return home.
“You can say that we were in darkness and now we became almost, as it can be said, in the light. We see the Islamic religion as the true religion,” says one of the converts, who identifies himself as a teacher from Sinjar.
“We have found the right path. Before this time we frankly did not know about it,” said another former Yazidi, who did not identify himself. He assured other Yazidis that they will be treated well by the Islamic State if they return and convert.
All of the men shown in the video seemed in good health, but some appeared distinctly nervous.
Hundreds and perhaps thousands of Yazidis were rounded up in the Islamic State rampage through the remote area, an ancestral homeland of the ancient and much persecuted Yazidi faith.
Many of them are women, who are being held separately from the men and have reported intense pressure to convert, or lose their freedom forever, as the Islamic State seeks to propagate its extremist version of Islam across the areas it conquers.
Tens of thousands fled for their lives as the extremists closed in on the Sinjar area on Aug. 3 and are now living as refugees in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region.
The video opens with an intonation describing the Yazidis’ beliefs as “pagan” and repeating the charge, rejected by Yazidis, that they worship the devil.
“The beliefs and rituals practiced by members of the Yazidi sect are strange!” it says.
The video closes with a scene of the men jumping into a rocky pool, shouting, “God is Great.”Bridgette C. Gordon (born April 27, 1967) is an American retired female professional basketball player. She was a member of the United States women's national basketball team, that claimed the gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games |
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